Italian metal quartet SOULS OF DIOTIMA are currently in the studio, recording the follow-up to their last album “The Sorceress Reveals – Atlantis”, which was released in 2016.
The band are recording the new album, their fourth release, at Crehate Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer Oscar Nilsson and I caught up with vocalist Claudia Barsi and drummer Giorgio Pinna just before they headed to Sweden. To find out more about what to expect, you can listen to the full interview on the audio player below.
Describing the new album, Claudia revealed:
“This time we are working on the more dark Sardinian legends with mysteries, so practically the second part of “The Sorceress Reveals – Atlantis”. It will be a more direct album. The music will be more powerful, this time it’s different – more metal.”
Check out a couple of shots from the studio:
For all the up to date SOULS OF DIOTIMA news, check out the band’s Facebook Page here. Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show recently aired the interview along with the band’s music, which will soon be available to listen to again here.
SOULS OF DIOTIMA are:
Claudia Barsi: Lead Vocals Giorgio Pinna: Drums Gianmaria Puledda: Guitar Antonio Doro: Bass, Vocals
Just recently, Italian alternative metallers BREAKING LARSEN THEORY premiered their new video ”Dream in Colour” exclusively on Metal Shock Finland, taken from the band’s debut album “Wasted Words”, released on May 23rd, 2017, on Volcano Records.
Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to interview the guys, so let’s learn more about the band and video, and what will happen next? BREAKING LARSEN THEORY will take a hiatus to see what the future will bring along? Let’s hope to see the band active again, delivering the need to break the belief that the underground scene is dead! Please join the chat below.
1. Hello BREAKING LARSEN THEORY and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! How are you doing?
Hi, Metal Shock Finland !!! Thanks a lot guys for your support!
2. Please, introduce your band and band members to our readers.
We are Phil (the voice) and Teo (guitarist) of BLT from Milan (Italy)
3. Your band name, BREAKING LARSEN THEORY, brings us to my next question, what’s the story behind it?
The BLT project stems from the need to “break” the belief that the underground scene is dead, it’s like a noises voice that return and return as a feedback and we want bring people to go out and share their love for music, having fun and reviving their interest. It is also born to encourage young artists to create their own vision of music, going beyond covers and obstacles, so turn up the volume and start to play!!!
4. What are your musical influences?
BLT’s music is a mix of Modern Hard Rock and Alternative Metal with electronic influences but we’re also inspired by classic progressive rock and Post Grunge sounds.
5. Just a couple of days ago we had a pleasure to premiere your new official video “Dream In Colour”! What can you tell me about it? As a video and song and its message?
”Dream in Colour” is the last track of our record and is like the end of a trip inside ourselves when we realize that even if life is hard we can find the strength to stand up and move on the road to our objectives.
6. The song “Dream In Colour” is taken from your debut album “Wasted Words”, which came out on Volcano Records in 2017. Would you like to tell me more about the album and its topics?
”Wasted Words” like i’ve said before, is a trip inside ourselves but it’s seen with the eyes of an artist and every track is like a stage of the route. Basically this Album would like to say to all those people that think to waste their feelings and time believing in their dreams, are wrong.
7. How it was received among your fans?
It’s been great to see the emotion in the eyes of those who listen to your music and have fun when you’re on stage. Many people have also written to us to ask for a copy of the album or to organize a show in their city, even from Japan, and we feel very happy and honored.
8. Two years have passed since then. What have you been doing in the meantime?
Meanwhile we started to write new songs. unfortunately, we have to separate again from a person who left the band while the project began to materialize, when we were starting to reap the rewards of hard work and money invested but musicans with we have collaborated ’till today have turn this band in an inconclusive journey. So now we’re gonna take a break to dedicate us to our solo projects and to looking for somebody want to work with us seriously as we always try to do from the beginning, hoping to find somebody that love this band as us.
9. Now the word is yours, what is your message to your fans and Metal Shock Finland readers?
So we want to thank all those people that supports us and we hope that you guys will keep to listen our music and believe in us, ’cause we don’t wanna stop and someday our hardwork will give its fruits and we will enjoyn’ it toghether. We love you all.
We recently had the pleasure to chat with the Father of Death Metal, Jeff Becerra from POSSESSED. In this extensive interview we discussed in depth their newest studio release “Revelations of Oblivion”, including how the current line-up of the band came together, the creative process of the record and Jeff’s sources of inspiration. We also covered the upcoming world tour and his favorite gig after their comeback. Finally, we talked about the current state of the Metal scene in Europe and the US as well as the present and future of Death Metal. Welcome to listen to the interview on YouTube.
Just recently Metal Shock Finland‘s David Araneda had the honor to chat with bass legend Steve Di Giorgio. Steve talked his newest project SPIRITS OF FIRE and his collaboration in the upcoming ARCH/MATHEOS album. Steve and David also covered the last updates regarding SADUS’ new material, DEATH TO ALL tours and some thoughts on CONTROL DENIED’s ill-fated second album. To finish up, we talked about the current state of TESTAMENT’s follow-up to “Brotherhood of the Snake”. Welcome to listen to the full interview in Soundcloud, below:
Three years have passed since the last album “Braindead” was released by Finnish thrashers LOST SOCIETY, but during that time the band have not stopped, unleashing their energetic onslaught of live performances to the masses!
LOST SOCIETY have just completed a very successful first ever headline ten date UK and Ireland tour and MSF Senior Manager Alison Booth caught up with charismatic front man Samy Elbanna before their performance in Sheffield. (Also for her Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show, check the page for more news!) Samy had lots to say on what’s happening with the band and much more – check out some excerpts from the chat below and listen to the full interview on the audio player:
Discussing touring, Samy stated:
“It’s been pretty crazy because most bands usually go in cycles, they first tour then they go to the studio, then the tour and so forth. But for us it’s been a bit different – we’ve been kinda doing everything mixed up. So while we’ve been touring all the time, we’ve also been writing a lot of songs and hit the studio many times. So actually, last year’s autumn went pretty much in the studio and I can tell you that once we get back to Finland, there should be something new for everyone to listen to. And this year there will definitely be a lot of Lost Society coming out for everyone to hear and we’ll be touring a lot. And probably going to the studio again ’cause it’s been almost three years since the last release and I think it’s really amazing in the sense that we can still tour off of those three records and that really says something to us, like more than anything.
So it’s gonna be more of like a massive thank you to all of our fans when we release our next release. So stay tuned everybody, something’s happening!”
When asked about when the band will release a new album, Samy revealed:
“I can’t tell you any details but we’re gonna put out something for everyone to hear within the next month and then after that, we’ll see how the schedule happens. The first three (albums) were released via Nuclear Blast and the next one, that’s one of the things I can’t talk about. Our website will get all the information first, probably before me! (laughs)”
With Samy Elbanna Sheffield 2019
Reflecting on the band’s journey so far:
“I mean first of all, goddamn! I hadn’t even thought about that, it is almost a decade, holy shit! I think the most important thing is that it really doesn’t feel like it’s that long and I think it’s really impressive, let’s say with what’s happening nowadays. I don’t think there’s a lot of bands that stay with the same members from the beginning till this day. I mean one of the biggest and the most important things is the chemistry within the band. We have this, me and these three guys who are best friends, we’ve known each other for ages and we practice on a daily basis. So, I mean it’s impossible to have problems with these guys. It’s like we’re brothers and I would say it’s been a really crazy journey.
And I think at this point already in 2019 we have achieved more than any of us thought could be possible by playing this kinda music. And I mean of course a part of it is like the thank you to our guys. Of course we have some unbelievably awesome people behind us – you know, all the labels, the managements, everything. Without them we couldn’t do this, I’m humbled by all of it and I’m really looking forward to what’s gonna happen in the future. But one thing’s for sure, we’re not stopping any time soon!”
Discussing the band name and today’s society:
“I was twelve when I came up with Lost Society. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s changed a lot from that day when I thought ‘Hey Lost Society, that sounds pretty cool!’ Well you know, we’re pretty lost in this society.
We’ve all had in the band this kind of policy that we don’t like to talk about politics or anything about this, or be really judgemental about anything, but holy fucking shit! I mean, when you look all around us now, it’s a mess. For us, we’re lucky we’re able to tour, we all have a house and stuff like that, but there’s a lot of shit happening all around us and I think the band name is more relevant than ever.
Also, I think once we put out new music I think a lot of people will notice that there’s a lot more lyrical themes that kinda are more
Sheffield 2019
relevant with this whole lost society thing. Because I think for the first two records, lyrical themes on the songs were like pretty thrashy, all kindsa stuff mixed together. But once I kinda realised at some point, and yeah I’m pretty slow (laughs), so I realised after that you can really make a difference with your art. Because you know for me, I’ve always been a guitarist, I haven’t considered myself a singer, at least in the beginning of the band. So once I realised that I also have the power to write whatever the fuck I want, I think that was the turning point for me, because I want to help fans in the way that these massive bands have made an impact on me. We’re trying to make the world at least a little better place with our music and hopefully that’s what’s happening.”
On future tour dates, Samy explained:
“When we get back home from this tour, we’re gonna be doing a few shows, just a few one-offs in Finland and through that we’re gonna start our festival season. We’ll have some shows, but we’re gonna save some time also because we’re gonna be doing some additional recording in the summer. As I said, we have a lot of material that we wanna record and release as soon as possible, so it’s gonna be cool.
And I think this whole thing that we tour and record at the same time, it’s kinda good for us because we love playing live and I think we do that enough and then you go to the studio, you just have a completely different mindset to recording, because you listen to everything. Not only you listen to, ‘is this a good song’, but you also listen to ‘how could we make it better so it works live’ even better. So it works for us and we love it!”
Well known for his time with MEGADETH, KING DIAMOND and his own power metal band EIDOLON plus more besides, Canadian guitarist Glen Drover is back with a brand new project – WALLS OF BLOOD. The album, titled “Imperium” featuring an esteemed assortment of metal vocalists such as Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND), is set for release on 22nd February via Metalville.
MSF Senior ManagerAlison Booth recently caught up with Glen to chat about the album in more detail, as well as various other subjects, including the story of a career highlight at the UK’s Download Festival. You can read a few excerpts from the conversation below and the full interview is on the audio player:
Discussing “Imperium”, Glen stated:
“I think it’s the strongest album I’ve ever done, period. This album for me, you know I worked on it sporadically over six years and I’m just really proud, I love the whole album. I couldn’t be happier right now.
It was all people that I really wanted to work with and some, in fact most of them, were singers I might not have worked with before, but wanted to.
And then there were situations where I would approach somebody that I wanted to have on the album and then I would write a song around his type of style – something I knew he would probably be comfortable with and be able to deliver.”
On Matt Cuthbertson, who provides vocals on the track ‘Walls Of Blood’:
“Yeah he did a really good job. The band Untimely Demise, they’re from Canada and I really liked his, he’s got the raspy, growly voice like a lot of bands do – but he has more of an identity I think. I find, with all due respect to the bands that do sound similar in the vocal department, sometimes I can’t tell them apart. But there are some that have an identity, ‘oh yeah, that’s him or that’s her’ or whatever, you know. And he’s one of those guys and I just thought he’ll do really well on the song. Shawn wrote the lyrics and away we went.”
Talking about what’s next for WALLS OF BLOOD and if there’s any possibility of touring, Glen revealed:
“I’m gonna wait to see how it’s received and how I feel about it down the road. One thing I can say is that I probably wouldn’t do another album with multiple vocalists, because I’ve already done that now and it’s a little bit harder. I’m very, very happy that I did it and I’m extremely proud of the album like I mentioned, but I don’t think I would do that again. I would do an album with one singer.
As far as touring, no not at this point because of everything I just said, but is it possible that I could streamline it where it’s one line-up of say four guys, yeah and play shows, absolutely possible. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna know when the time comes and it would be very easy to do that. I have a couple of vocalists in mind, one in particular, I’m not gonna mention his name, that I know would be able to do all the different material that’s on the album.”
Reflecting on highlights from his career, Glen reminisced about a MEGADETH performance:
“Highlights, there’s a few. And you know, speaking of the UK, I gotta say, that’s probably if I had to pick one particular event it would’ve been the first time we played Download. We played there twice, but you know you can’t forget that.
We played on the main stage. I remember we were back waiting as the into was about to be rolled. And I was looking out in the field on the main stage at Download and there was a lot of holes. I went ‘oh shit, I was hoping it was going to be full!’ And then just before the intro, I looked my other way and in droves there’s all these people coming down the pathway ’cause one band just finished on another stage. By the time we got on stage there was not a piece of grass you could see, it was just so electric. As far as you could see, everybody was going nuts, you could feel it – it was so heavy with electricity. We played for fifty minutes and it felt like five minutes, literally. That has to be the pinnacle for me.”
“Imperium” Track Listing:
01. Leave This World Behind (feat. Nils K. Rue)
02. Discordia (feat. Todd La Torre)
03. Waiting To Die (feat. Chuck Billy)
04. Blood Sacrifice Ritual (feat. Henning Basse)
05. Tarnished Dream (feat. Tim Owens)
06. Walls Of Blood (feat. Matt Cuthbertson)
07. The Fault Of Man (feat. Henning Basse)
08. Dark Lords Of Sleep (feat. Dan Cleary)
09. Junkhead (ALICE IN CHAINS cover) (feat. Lance Harvill)
10. Seven Spirits (feat. Henning Basse)
Well known for his time with MEGADETH, KING DIAMOND and his own power metal band EIDOLON plus more besides, Canadian guitarist Glen Drover is back with a brand new project – WALLS OF BLOOD. The album, titled “Imperium” featuring an esteemed assortment of metal vocalists such as Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND), is set for release on 22nd February via Metalville.
On Matt Cuthbertson, who provides vocals on the track ‘Walls Of Blood’:
