It took a hard-fought audition to do it, but the Italian award-winning guitarist Gianmaria Puledda, known professionally as “Jommy”, has found his new home with the dynamic New York City based street metal band SPREAD EAGLE. Jommy will be playing favorites such as “Switchblade Serenade” and “Scratch Like a Cat” on Spread Eagle’s upcoming tour.
Jommy is renowned throughout Europe’s heavy metal / hard rock community. One of his unique talents is the ability to play the Greek bouzouki, which led him to the creation of a particular style defined by some as “Mediterranean Metal”.
Spread Eagle launched their guitarist open audition in March 2022 with an invitation by Spread Eagle bassist Rob De Luca to submit videos performing Spread Eagle songs. The band narrowed down the contestant pool to Jommy and ten other venerable guitarists, whose performances were posted online for public comments.
Jommy advanced to the group of two finalists and was named first choice after an audition in New York City. He was chosen as the winner, due to his “superior technique, tone, groove and image”.
Throughout his career, Jommy has performed in major live concerts and tours, opening for Vision Divine (with Fabio Lione), Saurom and headlining many other shows. As a highly in-demand lead guitarist, Jommy has collaborated and toured with renowned heavy metal acts in Europe, among them Screaming Shadows from Italian maestro Francesco Marras, also guitarist of Tygers Of Pan Tang.
Spread Eagle is certainly no new name in hard and heavy music, releasing two major albums with MCA / Universal Records, “Spread Eagle” (1990) and “Open To The Public” (1993) and also “Subway To The Stars” in 2019, released via Frontiers Music SRL. The live line-up features founding members Ray West on lead vocals and Rob De Luca on bass, (UFO, Sebastian Bach, George Lynch), and Rik De Luca on drums. The band have several upcoming US shows, the dates can be seen below.
Greek symphonic death metal titans SEPTICFLESH have been a force in the music world for more than thirty years, having formed back in 1990 and releasing their debut EP in 1991. They built a huge following of devoted fans over the years and are still gaining new generations of them, eleven studio albums later.
The brand new album “Modern Primitive” was released on 20th May via Nuclear Blast Records. A week before the album release, Metal Shock Finland’s Alison Booth caught up with SOTIRIS ANUNNAKI V. for her radio show Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem, which is broadcast every Tuesday from 6PM GMT on UK station TotalRock. The show with Sotiris can be heard here.
Much of the interview was of course about the new album and how it developed during difficult times, its production and also looking ahead to touring again and more! You can listen to the interview on the audio player and read some excerpts below:
On working with producerJens Bogren, Sotiris explained:
“Well, we were really happy with the result that he managed to produce with Codex Omega, it was our first collaboration. And so he was the first on our list for the next album and fortunately he had also the time. He’s a really powerful producer, with understanding not only for metal, but also for music in general.
So, from the point of production, it’s essential to have someone that can digest the magnitude of channels that we provide, we provide more than one hundred channels of recordings. So we needed someone that will be really clever and he’s a master in his field. He was really open minded – we wanted that. We didn’t want someone to enforce an opinion you know. We wanted to discuss and listen to the options. He also had a lot of patience with us, we are really difficult [laughs].”
Discussing recording the album during the pandemic:
“Yes and actually it affected us as musicians and composers and so you can say that a lot of our experiences enforced from the lockdowns, from the situation, one way or another were incorporated on this album, so it’s a special album.
Also, all this time that we had in our hands, we had the chance to reflect on our direction as a band and everything and also to reflect I think about the direction generally, philosophical point of view, the direction of mankind. And that influenced me to write a lot of lyrics that are dealing with things that are involved around today. And so the majority of the songs are down to earth you can say, but it’s not an earth healthy, but an earth that declines.
So you can say that this album has this ominous atmosphere, all the way from the start to the ending song and it defines its character.
We had a female choir, male choir and children choir. So as I told you from the start, we had to find solutions, because our dream was really demanding. The whole creation we had in our mind evolved around many people, many musicians. We had also a lot of traditional instruments and we had to record for instance some Greek traditional instruments like a bouzouki, also we had to record a mandolin and a lot of other instruments. We had to communicate and we had to use the different studios. We had in some cases to be allowed to have a lot of people together, perform together and it was a really giant step for us. Of course, in the past we always had this symphonic element, but this time it was on the next level of difficulty.”
On the upcoming European tour with HYPOCRISY:
“Hypocrisy is a great band and the people that listen to Hypocrisy and the people that listen to Septicflesh have a lot of common ground – there is something that unites us. We have the opportunity to play a longer setlist, that is important for us. And I think as you said the mix is really good and the people that come will be really satisfied.
The next two years for us will be full of touring around the world.”
Black Lion Records is pleased to welcome heavy metal act RF Force to the label’s eclectic artist roster! Hailing from Sao Paolo, Brazil, RF Force brings back the old-school vibes that we just come to love and associate with bands such as Judas Priest, Saxon, Dio… So dust off your leather jacket, grab your beers, and saddle up!
RF Force says about their signing: “We’re very excited to be part of Black Lion’s cast as their first traditional Heavy Metal band. We are excited that now our music will reach more and more people around the globe.“
Black Lion Records comments: “We are super pleased to announce the signing of RF Force. When Marcos showed the music video for the track ‘Fallen Angel’ I was completely blown away and instantly said we need to sign these guys.”
The band’s debut album will be released this summer in Europe and the U.S. via Black Lion Records and in Brazil via Classic Metal Records. To shorten your wait, the band has released a first and electrifying preview of what to expect from the upcoming album! So sit back and enjoy the brand new music video for the track ‘Fallen Angel’, streaming here:
Polish death metallers from CATHARSIS have released the first music video from their latest album “Human Failures” released mid 2021 via Mad Lion Records. The aesthetics of the video reflects the band’s fascinations with old black and white horror movies and was shot in the original ruins of the mausoleum nearby the palace in Sławików (Poland). Check out the video:
The video was directed by Marcin Pawłowski, who is also the author of the script. Movie editing and digital processing was done by Endorfina Artmedia.
Adam Mamok comments: “We are very pleased with the end result. This time it took us a long time to get the whole thing completed. The plot is divided into two parts. A story, which is a metaphore for the lyrics of “Your Truth” and shots of the band. I admit, that it was great fun for us and we discovered each other in new roles. The convention of an old movie from the 1930s adds to the dark atmosphere of this video.”
The year of the corona-pandemic, when the world was forced into a standstill, five old friends finally put an old idea in motion. The result is a brand new band, THE HALO EFFECT, who recently inked a contract with Nuclear Blast.
The members of THE HALO EFFECT are not only masters of their domain, but also pioneers of the Gothenburg melodeath scene, who, at some point, have all been members of fellow Gothenburg icons IN FLAMES: Lead guitarists Niclas Engelin (ENGEL) and Jesper Strömblad (CYHRA), lead singer and lyricist Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY), bassist Peter Iwers, and drummer Daniel Svensson. Today, the band are giving metal fans all over the world a taste of their sound with debut single ‘Shadowminds’, that comes together with a music video. Its brooding atmosphere, melodic riffs and harsh vocals provide a perfect example of what THE HALO EFFECT is about.
Watch the music video for ‘Shadowminds’:
The band comments: “We are incredibly excited to unveil this new band with one of the first songs that we wrote together. We felt strongly that this was the right direction for the band. Finding identity, finding a drive and passion is what the song is about and also what this band is about. What drove us to do this in the first place, what obstacles have we overcome in order to fully commit to this lifestyle? It’s about how easy it is to get lost if you lose focus and passion for what you do. With the video we wanted to convey the emptiness of the city in the early stages of the pandemic and what we saw outside of the studio as we were writing but we also love the cool dystopic imagery so we made the city look even more barren and destroyed. Enjoy!”
The initial thought behind THE HALO EFFECT was to go back to the roots and explore the classic Gothenburg Sound, and the band manage just that. Their new take on the iconic sound is sure to appeal to fans of the classic melodeath sound.
The band have also announced their first ever tour, accompanying Swedish death metal berserkers AMON AMARTH and US thrashers MACHINE HEAD on 31 dates throughout Europe and the UK.
The band comments: “We could not be more excited to partner with Cobra Agency for our first tour of Europe together with metal giants AMON AMARTH and MACHINE HEAD. Working together with people who are passionate about the road, the crews, the bands and the fans means a lot to us and doing this together is something we very much look forward to. See you in Sept/Oct!“
European Tour 2022 AMON AMARTH, MACHINE HEAD /w THE HALO EFFECT 08.09. UK Nottingham – Arena 09.09. UK Cardiff – Arena 10.09. UK London – Wembley Arena 12.09. UK Manchester – Arena 13.09. IE Dublin – 3 Arena 16.09. CH Zurich – Hallenstadion 17.09. AT Vienna – Stadthalle 18.09. PL Krakow – Tauron Arena 20.09. EST Tallinn – Saku Arena 21.09. FIN Helsinki – Ice Hall 23.09. N Oslo – Spektrum 24.09. S Stockholm – Hovet 26.09. DK Copenhagen – Forum Black Box 27.09. DE Hamburg – Barclays Arena 28.09. DE Frankfurt – Festhalle 30.09. DE Oberhausen – König Pilsener Arena 01.10. DE Berlin – Velodrom 02.10. NL Amsterdam – Afas Live 04.10. IT Milano – Lorenzini District 06.10. ES Barcelona – Sant Jordi 07.10. ES Madrid – Vistalegre 08.10. ES La Coruna – Coliseum 09.10. P Lisbon – Campo Pequeno 12.10. FR Paris – Zenith 14.10. DE Munich – Olympiahalle 15.10. DE Leipzig – Arena 16.10. CZ Prague – Tipsport Arena 18.10. HU Budapest – Barba Negra 20.10. LUX Esch zur Alzette – Rockhal 21.10. BE Brussels – Forest National 22.10. DE Stuttgart – Schleyerhalle
THE HALO EFFECT is: Niclas Engelin | guitar Jesper Strömblad | guitar Mikael Stanne | vocals Peter Iwers | bass Daniel Svensson | drums
Swedish death metal legends HYPOCRISY are celebrating their 30th anniversary – and what better way to celebrate than by releasing their highly anticipated new album “Worship”! The band’s thirteenth album, the first in eight years, is due for release on November 26th via Nuclear Blast.
Metal Shock Finland’s Alison Booth caught up with Peter Tägtgren for the Halloween edition of her radio show Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem, which is broadcast every Tuesday from 6PM GMT on UK station TotalRock. The show with Peter can be heard here.
Of course the chat centred around the forthcoming album, but also some other subjects and Peter had plenty of interesting things to say! You can listen to the interview on the audio player and read some excerpts below:
On the positive feedback to the new singles already release, Peter expressed:
“You never know what to expect, I mean generations come and generation goes. But you know, it seems like people stuck to us which I am very grateful to and yeah, it’s amazing I would say, it’s more than we thought.“
Discussing the first single ‘Chemical Whore’, Peter explained:
“Yeah it’s kind of ironic I would say. Because I mean, when you see a few comments going ‘Oh is this an anti-vaxx song?’ I’m like ‘Come on man!’ We did the video in September 2019 so there’s no way.
It’s definitely about how I see doctors and the pharma industries are in cahoots. You know like ‘if you force pills down the throat, we will give you some percentage’, so to say, you know just in a wider simple aspect. So, doctors don’t really need to prescribe you these pills, but if they do, they will make a couple of bucks more, so they’d rather do that – some of them. I’m not saying everybody, I’m just saying, you know sometimes instead of taking a pill, maybe it’s better to go to a psychologist to talk about it, you know.
I mean, the whole reason why I wrote this song from the beginning was actually I have a lot of friends that I’ve seen going down on pills. You know, this Benzyl that’s in the pills, that’s really addictive. Yeah, it becomes a very bad circle of needs so to speak, so I just felt I needed to open up about it.”
Describing “Worship”:
“I would say my whole idea of this album or writing this, is mainly just to write better Hypocrisy songs and a fatter production, that is the goal. And I think it has all the elements you need in there – there’s a lot of sad songs, a lot of slow songs, a lot of mid tempo songs, a lot of epic songs, you know like you float away on it. So, I hope people will be happy with it. To be honest, I really never know what Hypocrisy fans want from Hypocrisy [laughs]. ‘Cause I mean in the past, there’s been so many different kinda styles of albums, but you still have this feeling of Hypocrisy in it. So I guess it’s in my DNA when I write music, I think in a certain way and yeah, it becomes Hypocrisy no matter what. But I definitely feel it’s closer to maybe the end of the nineties albums, you know in the way of the style of songs so to speak, I would say. But still, it’s Hypocrisy today. It’s nothing I wanted to clone myself or anything with the songs, it’s just what comes up in my mind.
Mikael and Horgh, they contribute with a couple of riffs each as well. So I mean it’s important to write with your heart I think and not look around and see what’s popular and what is not,. You know it’s this is Hypocrisy and this is how it always will sound, so take it or leave it.”
Discussing the album cover art:
“Yeah, it was actually an idea that I came up with when I was in a hotel in 2017 in LA. I was just laying in bed and got an epiphany or whatever you wanna call it, like ‘wow’ and I just start finding paper to write on. I was drawing on a piece of napkin and shit, you know with the pyramids and the cross, it looked like hell ’cause I’m not a good drawer. Then I took a picture and sent it over to Nuclear Blast, the CEO, I was like ‘I got this great idea about this shit you know and if he can help me develop it with someone that knows what to do’. And that’s what Blake did and he did a fantastic job.
So, the album cover was done before the album was written and the videos were done before all the album was done, I mean all the songs on the album were done. So we did pretty much everything backwards than we normally do. We did photo session in April in 2019, we did a video in LA that’s not out yet and then we did Chemical Whore in September 2019, so everything was done before actually all the material was done. Which is good though, ’cause otherwise we’d have had to wait a little longer, because normally you only focus on writing good songs and record it and boom! Then the company goes ‘You have any photo?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you have any videos?’ ‘No’. [laughs] ‘Later maybe later’.
So it was good to have this kind of set up for once. You know, these things that you don’t think about, that will come eventually and becomes very important, is done before you’re done with the album.”
On the tour situation, Peter revealed:
“I’m afraid it’s gonna be another wait. Actually, we had a tour for October/November this year, but we never announced it because we were just watching how things were going bad during the summer. Because actually, the album was I think supposed to come out at the end of the summer so we would have a month before the tour start. But the pandemic, it made it hard to get all the vinyls and things because the factories doing vinyls were under the Covid thing, so not everybody could work and things like that. So you know, to get a vinyl in three months actually became seven months, then eight months and nine months waiting because of this whole pandemic stuff. So yeah, what can you do and so suddenly now we’re here in November for the release. So yeah, I was glad we didn’t announce it at all.
So right now we pretty much have a new European tour done for September/October next year and I can tell you there’s some UK shows, not only one, only go to London of course that everybody do, but we’re gonna do a couple more I think, that’s what they’re working on.”
To pre-save the album and for more details, visit the official HYPOCRISY website here.
HYPOCRISY is: Peter Tägtgren | Vocals, Guitars Mikael Hedlund | Bass Reidar Horghagen | Drums Thomas Elofsson | Session Guitarist
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 