Interviews

Interview With JULIA AND THE ROOFERS Talking Debut Album ‘The Will Of Evil’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on March 9, 2021
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Just recently, Italian Rock Grunge Project JULIA AND THE ROOFERS released their debut album ‘The Will Of Evil’, strongly influenced by the sound of the Seattle bands of the 90s as well as by the angry approach typical of the riot groups (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Hole, Babes in Toyland). The album is now available digitally on the main digital platforms, and physically on Amazon, eBay, Spotify + on the band’s Bandcamp page.

Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to talk with the band’s frontlady Julia and Ranza, talking widely about the band’s debut album ‘The Will Of Evil’, which was released on January 7th 2021 via Diamonds Prod, and many more. Read the interview below.

  1. Hello JULIA AND THE ROOFERS, welcome to Metal Shock Finland! First a question to you, Julia, entered the musical world in 2010, would you like to tell me about how?

Julia: Hi Tarja! I started playing when i was 15 in a band made up of some school friends. When I realized music was more than a passion I started studying singing and guitar. Then I joined a Led Zeppelin tribute band and this experience completely changed my point of view and “trained” me. After that I tried a lot of diffenre genres: I played guitar in a reggae band but also sang in some prog, heavy and thrash metal bands.

  1. Please tell us, how you came up with the project, formed in 2018, and why this name? How is it connected to roofs, lol, or just a nice nick to your band mates?

Julia: At first we were an acoustic cover band because where we live is very difficult to play in an electric set. So at the beginning we just wanted to play and have fun till we decided to try composing something new taking adcantages of the lockdwon period. I left my colleagues choose the name and they insisted on calling themselves “roofers”.

Ranza: About the word “roofer” we choose this one with Peso because sounded cool, yeah guys, we fix roofs lol, last year we discovered that in english slang it means “pushers” lmao

  1. Infact, talking about your band mates, Peso and Ranza, how did you meet each others? And what are their inputs in this project, concerning the songwriting etc?

Julia: I met Peso and Ranza when I started taking guitar lessons at musicart school with Pier Gonella. I performed a few times with Peso for various events sponsored by the school until he offered me to start a band. this is how Julia And The Roofers were born.

Ranza: I first met Julia in a concert organized by the school where I teach guitar, when I was coming in the theatre where the bands played I heard her singing and I thought “Wow! She has a great voice!” Then six years later I started playing with her.

  1. What are your personal influences, music-wise?

Julia: Personally I consider Led Zeppelin my biggest influence as a singer and a musician but I also like Alice In Chains especially Jerry Cantrell’s work as a composer.

Ranza: My influences come from jazz, I love John Coltrane and Pat Metheny, ‘70 rock with Beatles and George Harrison and one of my favourite metal records come from Finland: “Elegy” by Amorphis, I think it’s a milestone in my musical growth.

  1. Talking about the songs themselves, from where you take the topics and inspiration?

Julia: This album is a very personal work. I decided to talk about some episodes of my recent past that I wanted to exorcise using all the bad memories and anger to create something useful and start over.

Ranza: It was a pleasure and honor to work with such a musicians like Peso and Julia and I really enjoyed and had fun studying the harmonic arrangements. I only regret that we had not the magic of work together in a rehearsal room and in a recording studio but, well, I think we did a great team work.

  1. How would you describe your musical style?

Julia: We tried to make something different not focusing on a specific genre. Anyway my grunge influence is very recognizable as well as some reference to the sound of the 70s. I think that Peso gave that heavier touch to the songs and Ranza worked hard to make everything homogeneous.

  1. We all know that this current world situation has changed the music industry, but you didn’t stop, and during the lockdown you decided to draft your debut album ‘The Will Of Evil’, please tell us more on how it came together?

Julia: Because of pandemic we had to work remotely so I played the drafts of the songs via Skype and I recorded them with my phone so they could work on them too. It was a bit of a complicated process but it allowed us to arrive in the recording studio prepared and motivated.

Ranza: Sometimes, working one by one, we felt differently the feelings of any single song, I remember that one time, when I was first approaching “bones” I played a totally different intro and she told me “this is not what I have in mind” lol, but we worked to give form to Julia’s ideas and this is good.

  1. Your debut album ‘The Will Of Evil’ was released on January 7th 2021 via Diamonds Prod, what can you tell us about its sound?

Julia: I think this album is something to be listened to without prejudice, without imposing limits related to genres and styles. This is what I recommend: close your eyes and just listen!

  1. Is it a concept album, or does it have 9 separate stories?

Julia: It’s more a concept album, all the songs are shades of the same story. To sum up the record is about a toxic relationship.

  1. Just recently you released 3 singles + videos from the album, ‘Sound of Evil’, ‘Eros & Thanatos’ and ‘River’, why these choices as first singles?

Julia: We chose at first “Sound Of Evil” ’cause when we were recording it we fell in love with the song which also sees the participation of Pier Gonella as solo guitarist. With the second single “Eros And Thanatos” we wanted to show our dark and erotic side which we best represented in the video. For “River”, the third one, we created a lyrics video cause it’s one of the most representative lyrics of the album.

  1. As we don’t yet know when the proper shows and tours will be again possible, how will you support the album in the meantime?

Julia: We planned to make more video to support the project hoping to be able to perform live as soon as possible.

Ranza: The best thing to support the album is to work hard for live shows, the arrangements in the recording are rich in overdubbings and we have to recreate the same feelings in three on stage.

  1. And what about your future plans?

Julia: We are getting ready to be ready to play the record live but we are also working on some new material.

Ranza: Cross the fingers while we wait for a change of season when people and musicians can come back to live shows, we really miss them.

  1. Now the word is yours, what is your message to our readers and your fans?

Julia: Thank you so much for your support! You can find us and all our songs on our Facebook page, Bandcamp, Spotify and Youtube! We can’t wait to play all these songs and entertain you all! See you very soon.

Ranza: I’m really pleased to talk to Finnish pals ‘cos guys YOU ROCK! You have a lot of the best metal musicians ever!

Current line-up
JULIA – voice and bass
RANZA- guitar, sitar and keyboards
PESO drums

The Will Of Evil -tracklisting:
River
Summer (seems so easy)
Sound of Evil
Come to an end
Eros & Thanatos
The rope
Gardens
Down in the net
Bones

“The Will Of Evil” was recorded and mastered by Pier Gonella at MusicArt Studio.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/Julia-and-The-Roofers-113700193813172

Check out the videos + singles, taken from the debut album ‘The Will Of Evil’.

Interview With ENDEZZMA’s Priest And Prophet M. SHAX, Talking New Album “The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” + More

Posted by tarjavirmakari on March 8, 2021
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Norwegian Black Metallers ENDEZZMA released their third album “The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” on January 22nd via Dark Essence Records. With this album, Endezzma take a huge step forward in songwriting. Mixing the raw grimness of the early days of black metal with the epic grandeur of later bands, the album bridges the gap between the dark anthem and primitive aggression.

Just recently, Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to talk with ENDEZZMA founder, priest and prophet, M. Shax, talking widely about their new album “The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” and many more. Please read the chat below.

Hi M. Shax, and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! How are you doing and how has this 2021 started for you?

Hello Tarja. I’m doing fine thank you. The start of the year has been as good as it get. Feels good to finally have the album released after such a strange and troubled period. It feels like an eternity since we finalized the production. The response and the attention concerning the new album have been extraordinary, so we’re very satisfied with the situation. Even though it feels kind of weird and strange dropping a new album not being able to head out on tour and do festivals in support of it.

Let’s go back to 2005, when the band was formed. How were the scenes back then?

Looking back now I must say it feels like 5 years more than 15 or more! In my eyes the extreme metal scene and especially the Black Metal have been in a constant change over time. From being a pure underground riot wrapped into a musical revolution back in the early 90’s until todays more commercial oriented picture. Black metal in the start of the 90’s was a rather unique, fascinating, and dangerous time. Back then it was much about revolting against already set patterns, musical styles, and traditions, but also aside of the musical aspect revolt against society and the establishment as well. The acceptance of extreme metal from the global audience have made things a bit different, I guess. For us the main drive has always been to make music that we burn passionately for and express it with sincere energy and devotion. In that way we cruise forward with the same intentions in 2020 as back in 2005.

Please tell me about the band’s name ENDEZZMA, what does it mean and what is the story behind it?

I always liked operating with unique words and making up new words that have special meaning to our own philosophical world and platform. The word Endezzma is put together by some key-basic fundamental aspects. It’s a personal word dealing with the portal to death.

On January 22nd you unleashed your third effort “The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” via Dark Essence Records. What can you tell us about its sound and songwriting process?

When it comes to the actual sound it’s a complex ride with a matter to get the point where all components and factors blend perfectly together. Mixing epic expressions with brutality. It’s particularly hard to blend grace with primitive aggression, but that’s also what’s make the process so challenging and intricate.
The final sound is essential and very important for us. We want to bring elements like atmosphere and grace into the mix but at the end of the day what is our absolute focus is to keep the energy and intensity at a high level. You got to get some demon-sweat on your back when you listening to a Endezzma album, that’s important, it must be tense and intense. We do what we do with an uttermost passionate devotion and the listener must get that vibe and energy through the speakers. We are very proud and satisfied with the new album and the work we put into it. And the value must always be that the listener should get a full package from the visuals and artwork to the philosophical thematic to the powerful soundscape, nothing is coincident, all details is though through and serve a purpose … Its solid wood…
When it comes to the songwriting process, we usually all together make a plan where we want to go with the album. Figuring out what kind of structure we want to achieve before we start. Working towards a goal. It’s mostly Malphas that start with riff ideas and making pre-productions with his ideas, then we send it around, back and forth, making changes and inputs. I make the lyrics and we later work and adapt the songs and lyrics to suit together, making the changes needed. When we get a sufficient result that we feel connect with our goals we bring it into the rehearsal-room and finalize the songs and add the final ideas and fills. This time around also Nihil, the other guitarist contributed to songs. It was really a band effort where everyone contributed with inputs and ideas. I think that’s the key answer to why it ended as good as it did.

The album was mixed and mastered at Necromorbus Studio Stockholm by the great producer Tore Stjerna. How was your collaboration with him, and what is his input to the album sound?

Tore knows the drill. He has obviously worked with his chare of bands up through the years and ages of metal and especially black metal so it’s easy to make preferences that he relates to an understand. The communication was simply outstanding and also his understanding in meeting our demands and desires sound-wise. He is also a drummer which gives him a good perception, depth, and insight in how to make a good drum sound that is both powerful with punch and sometime floats into the mix naturally without taking too much room and space. One of Stjerna’s first impression when he heard the recording was that we sounded like a “young Emperor but with a good drummer” , that was quit an interesting consideration , and maybe not that far from the truth in how we think and how pretentious we was according getting the right sound on this album. 

In generaly, how your sound has changes in these past 16 years?

The music on the new album is maybe the most diverse and multi-layered material we have ever made and the most planned and worked through album we ever made. The traditional Endezzma roots is there but we have explored new territories music wise. This evolution has maybe added yet another epic and monumental layer to the expression. We still wanted to bring forth our pervious intense sound. Endezzma have an old school fundament and we are very aware of staying true to our core essence as well as develop our sound and music.

What are your musical influences?

I think I’m not able to point out an exact source of musical influence. All the members of the band have a genuine interest in music and we always listened to a lot of music across the genres. But the old school dark metal will always be burned into our core of course. When that is said Endezzma always operated without no boundaries when coming to the sonic expression. No musical limitation whatsoever. We are pushing the borders and bringing the old school expression into modern landscapes. I think that’s how music develop into healthy musically directions when you follow your heart with a touch of old instincts. You should never expect to get the obvious when you listen to a new Endezzma album.

The album title “The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” is the 4th song in the album, why this choice?

It’s kind of a concept album since all the thematic is built around the same philosophy that is visualized through the album artwork, lyric and musical. The musically thematic and lyrics are connected and that’s why the songs are placed in a certain order on the album. We have earlier written much about death, and the meaning of death based on how you live, present yourself and our inner darkness. Through the album philosophical thematic we have created certain characters and placed them into a certain landscape and mythical setting. You have lot of energies talking and a huge symbolism that we invite the listeners to dive into. It’s like poetry, everyone will maybe sit back with a different reaction after they both read and listened…

The album coverart is very impressive, what can you tell me about it?

Thank you. Actually, the album cover got a lot of attention. The artwork is painted by a Serbian artist Stefan Todorovic and his Khaos Diktator agency. It’s a very special painting that we are very devoted and satisfied with, very describing, and capturing according to the lyrical and philosophical platform of the album. I had a very clear art direction concerning what we wanted from the artwork, but he added so much energy and depth in it. The painting, together with the title, tries to paint a picture as detailed as possible in the listener’s mind. The Archer, fjord and the thunder are 3 essential key words in the album’s philosophical agenda. The Archer is the main magus and the fjord is the passage and the thunder manifest the fire and the energy of this grand epic and mythical world of stellar darkness. It’s kind of a concept album since all the thematics are built around the same philosophy that is visualized through this above-mentioned elements and key words. We have earlier written much about death, and the meaning of death based on how you live, present yourself and our inner darkness. Through the album philosophical thematic we have created certain characters and placed them into a certain landscape and mythical setting. You have lot of energies talking and a huge symbolism that we invite the listeners to dive into. It’s like poetry, everyone will maybe sit back with a different reaction after they both read and listened…

We’re currently living some pretty weird times, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We all know how it has changed the music industry, and nobody knows if and when the live shows and tours can happen again, without restrictions. But despite it, how will you promote the album?

Since the album was just done and ready before the covid crisis hit we have planned a good and tidy drop with a promotion stretching out as much as possible. Luckily we all ready had video productions lined up and done right on time before the lock down, and that turned out to be a crucial thing according to the promotion when concerts and toured become impossible.
We have all together dropped 4 new music videos from the last year and until now.

Looking back to the band’s career, what are your highlights, so far?

It must be the new album. We really did a massive investment in The Archer, Fjord And The Thunder, both mentally and sonically. We are truly proud of the new album and how it turned out and we are looking forward to bring this beast of a album with its spectacle out on the road and up on the stages across the world.

What will happen in the ENDEZZMA -camp next, i.e. what are your plans for 2021?

We had so many plans for both last year and this year that now are floating and uncertain. But I hope we can soon see the end of this fucked up situation and start to practice what we preach again.
We have festivals and tours lined up all through Europe and even a cross the shores in US and the South America. We will tour as much we can with the new album.
If the situation doesn’t allow any travelling throughout the year we will again enter the studio to work and record the next new album again. No time to waste when the stellar darkness call ! Maybe we will have 2 new albums to promote until we are able to tour again, who knows ,….. but the Archer !

And now the word is yours, what is your message to our readers + your fans?

Thank you Tarja for your questions and time.
We are hungry and morbid sick to get out on the road playing The Archer Fjord And The Thunder for our fans and audience. Meanwhile check out the new album and get your mind and souls into the epic morbid world of the Archer and prepare yourself. See you out there soon!

Watch

‘The Archer Fjord And The Thunder’ Tracklist:

  1. The Awakening
  2. The Name of the Night is a Strong Tower
  3. Anomalious Abomination
  4. The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder
  5. Formless and Void
  6. Garden ov Heathen
  7. Wild Gloriour Death
  8. Open Your Eyes and Stab the Sight
  9. Arrows of Equilibrium
  10. Closure

“The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder” was released the 22nd January 2021, via Dark Essence Records, and is available in Digipak CD, digital and LP formats, with an A2 poster included with the vinyl version.

Webshop: https://www.darkessencerecords.no/shop/
Endezzma bandcamp: https://endezzma.bandcamp.com/releases
US webshop: https://darkessence.aisamerch.com/

Endezzma was formed in 2005 on the ashes of Dim Nagel by frontman M. Shax, the original lineup featured Urgehal’s late, and much lamented, Trondr Nefas. The band now consists of Morten Shax (vocals), Malphas (guitars), Nihil (guitars), Aske (bass) and Skriu (drums).

Band: https://www.facebook.com/endezzma
Label: http://www.darkessencerecords.no

Interview with DORO: “We already have six songs for the new album”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on December 10, 2020
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . 7 Comments

Interview By Alison Booth

Metal Queen DORO has certainly earned that title, with a career spanning over more than three decades. From the first album release with her band WARLOCK in 1984, Doro paved the way for women in metal and has long been an inspiration, empowering so many artists in the rock and metal industry.

After releasing her first album post-WARLOCK in 1989, Doro has never looked back, with a steady stream of albums and collaborations with many artists over the years.

Just a few weeks ago, Doro released a best of album, “Magic Diamonds – Best Of Rock, Ballads & Rare Treasures”, via her own label Rare Diamonds Productions. The album contains a fantastic collection of 56 songs with 20 rock songs, 18 ballads and 18 rare treasures!

Metal Shock Finland Senior Manager Alison Booth, recently caught up Doro who was the special guest on the 8th anniversary of her radio show Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem at TotalRock. The whole show can be heard at this location.  You can hear the chat on the audio player below, along with a selection of excerpts to read:

Discussing the new album, Doro explained:

“There’s another box set and it has two double vinyl, one is white, the other is clear. It all looks nice, sounds great.

I did it because it was impossible to tour this year and we had two European tours and two American tours, Australia, South America. Everything was lined up, tons of great festivals and everything got cancelled or postponed. So I thought yeah I wanna go back into the studio, working on some new songs, which I did. And then I thought, maybe I want to put out a best of record. At first I started with like fifteen songs, then it was twenty five, thirty five, forty five and now fifty six songs!

And there’s still some songs I would love to put on maybe volume two in the next couple of years or something. There are so many songs that deserve to be heard in a different arrangement or live. That’s what I miss the most. There’s tons of live versions on there, so even if people can’t come to the concerts, they can definitely get the excitement and the power when you listen to it.”

Doro expressed her thoughts about the pandemic:

“It was a big shock. My last normal gig was actually March and we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Saxon in my former hometown in Düsseldorf, Germany. And there was Saxon and Diamond Head, Tygers Of Pan Tang and us and we had a great, great night – it was awesome!

Then, two days later they announced only a thousand people allowed in the venue, then it went down to five hundred people, then nobody and yeah, so March was our last normal gig. Then we thought maybe we can hang in there till the summer festivals. Yeah and then summer festivals one by one got cancelled or postponed, it was shocking, it was shocking.

I did a couple of things which was like totally different, was a big challenge. We did some drive-in shows. For the first time it was weird, because it felt exactly like our All We Are video that was shot in 1987, where everybody was in their cars and we were performing on top of the tour bus and then with the magic of metal and you know and Warlock, it came to life and we were rocking out together and it felt exactly like that. I hopped on stage and I saw only cars, it was so surreal but it was fun. We made it I think that everybody had a great time, it was exciting! And we actually recorded some songs and one song is on the Magic Diamonds album, which I like so much. It’s Love Me In Black and you don’t see any audience participation but you can feel there’s a good vibe going, a nice, magical version.

It was a rough year I think for everybody and we try to stay positive, but it’s hard when you’ve nothing to do – especially for the band and the crew. But we’re hoping next year we’ll get back to normal kind of, it would be awesome. And if not, then we’ll work on a new album.”

Doro had lots to say on the topic of duets:

“Actually, all my duet partners were always great because we stayed great friends. Like there’s one song on this album with Udo Dirkschneider and it’s a cover version of Breaking The Law, because Judas Priest was my first band I’ve toured with in 1986 and I always wanted to say thank you to Priest, so we recorded Breaking The Law and I was just working with Udo Dirkschneider on his album and said ‘hey Udo you wanna work on my album as well?’ with an orchestra, it was really nice, came out so great. We always love to play Breaking The Law.

There’s another duet with Tarja Turunen who sang for Nightwish and this song’s called Walking With The Angels – something that fits so perfectly because she has such an angelic voice.

And then there’s one song, Bad Blood, that’s with Blaze Bayley. We are great friends for a long time. And Descent, that’s another song with Pete Steele and unfortunately he is not any more with us, but he was a great guy. He was the tallest guy I ever met, he was such a gentle giant.

And then my favourite duet is Love Me Forever with Lemmy. That was my first time that I did a duet and it was in 2000. We recorded it for my Calling The Wild album. We did two songs, one was Alone Again and the other one was Love Me Forever and Eric Singer is playing drums on it, the KISS drummer and Bob Kulick, he played guitar on it and it was in his studio. And Bob, he passed away a couple of months ago, I couldn’t believe it. We always stayed friends. So these duets, they mean a lot to me, especially Love Me Forever with Lemmy and Descent with Pete Steele, because you know – I feel we’re very connected in heart and soul, but it’s kinda tough to live without them. Lemmy was my best friend, I loved him so much.

On the “Ace Of Spades” anniversary:

“Somebody sent me the nice box set, oh it’s awesome! If people want to get something really special, this is wow, it’s so nice. Yeah Ace Of Spades was my favourite album. I had my first band in 1980 and when this one came out, like wow, it was so inspiring. I still love that song Ace Of Spades, oh my God. And Love Me Like A Reptile was the second song on Ace Of Spades and it was by coincidence that Dave Ellefson said ‘hey you want to sing a MOTÖRHEAD song?’ And it was oh yeah! Maybe it was meant to be, it was a lot of fun!“

Looking ahead to the future, Doro revealed:

“If I could do ten or twenty more records it would be awesome. I love people and that’s I guess what I’m here for and yeah, I just wanna make people feel great and get inspiration, motivation and positive metal power – that’s what I would love to continue doing. There’s not much, I don’t have any other dreams – I’m definitely living the dream, making music. I always wanted to become a singer since I was three years old.

But I love animals too, that’s my other passion and I just wrote a song for the new album and it’s called Heavenly Creatures, that’s a work title.

Yeah next year and hopefully a tour behind the new album, but we’ll see. But we already have six songs so I think middle of next year the album will be done.”

Official DORO Facebook

Official DORO Website

Interview with WOLF HOFFMANN: “I’m sure we can all meet again”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on November 25, 2020
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

Interview By Alison Booth

During these difficult times, there is always some positivity to be found when it comes to music. So, we are very lucky that metal giants ACCEPT were not going to let a pandemic stop them and have created their forthcoming 16th studio album “Too Mean To Die” over this last year! The album is set for release on 15th January 2021 via Nuclear Blast.

Metal Shock Finland Senior Manager Alison Booth, recently caught up with ACCEPT mastermind and guitar legend Wolf Hoffmann, who was a guest on her radio show Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem at TotalRock. The whole show can be heard at this location. Of course the new album was discussed, plus lots more! You can hear the chat on the audio player below, along with a few excerpts to read:

Discussing the recording of the album, Wolf explained:

“Yeah it’s crazy, we couldn’t finish. We had about half of it recorded and we all went back home to regroup and write the rest of the material and we wanted to meet again later in the year and all of a sudden the countries were closing down and nobody could come or leave. I mean, we could travel within the U.S. but Andy couldn’t come back. So we had no choice but to try to find a remote solution and after lots of trial and error, we found a solution that seemed to work technically quite well. Unfortunately, my internet connection broke down the whole time. But we made it work in the end and when the connection was stable, it worked surprisingly okay. You know, it’s not your first choice, but it worked. It was almost like a Zoom call, it’s kind of okay. It’s not perfect, but it’s still better than nothing if it gets the job done. But you would still want to be in the same room with people you talk to basically.

Wolf discussed how the pandemic has affected ACCEPT:

“Tell me about it, it’s been terrible for us. We had all of last summer’s festivals cancelled and pushed back to 2021. So everything was pushed back to next year for the festivals and then our headline tour was to coincide with the release of the album in January, but that won’t happen. It’s all been pushed back one complete year to 2022. Yeah it’s a long time, so we have to wait and see how things are going.

A lot of bands have been postponing their releases, but we decided that it’s probably not a bad idea to just go ahead and release it now, give the fans at least something to listen to. I’m sure we can all meet again basically, but it serves nobody’s interest if we just wait with the release until we can tour again, because who knows when that is.“

Talking about the new songs:

“‘Symphony Of Pain’ was one of the songs that was actually written first. I had that sort of more or less finished, just sitting there waiting to be performed. And then one of the other earlier songs I did was ‘Undertaker’ which was based on some lyrics Mark wrote. Mark gave me these lyrics and he wrote ’em sort of like a poem without any music in mind, just a bunch of words about an undertaker. I thought it’s kind of a cool subject title and I wrote the music sort of to fit the lyrics and you know, with that little intro it turned out quite a little eery and spooky, which kinda fits the subject obviously and turned out alright.

It’s nice to see people’s reaction. But I’m getting different reactions from journalists and big fans all over the board. Some people like the more moderate songs like ‘Undertaker’ and ‘Overnight Sensation’ and then other people go for the kill basically, with ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ and ‘Too Mean To Die’ – the more in your face metal kinda riffs and songs.“

Wolf talked about the changes in the band:

“Yeah it’s crazy – we lost one guy but gained two new guys, two for one (laughs). I mean with Peter, it’s just sad. It just killed me at the time but I’m sort of over it now, because it’s just after all these forty years, it was a sad departure. But I have to respect it and I mean, people move on and he made the decision. He no longer wanted to be in the band and what can I do? I just move on and move forward. I wouldn’t say Martin stepped right in his footsteps, that would be ridiculous because hey, I played with Peter for forty years. But Martin really is doing his best and he’s doing a tremendous job filling in, he’s great. He even contributed a lot to the songwriting, which took me completely by surprise. He wrote some great songs for this album and that was a blessing, he’s awesome. I really didn’t want the album to be all mine, mine, mine – I didn’t want it to be like a solo album, so I welcomed input from everybody and Martin was the guy who really stepped forward and delivered some cool stuff.“

We discovered what a great player, nice guy and easy going and perfect fit for the band Phil is. You know, when we toured with him on this orchestra tour last year, Headbanger’s Symphony, Symphonic Terror tour and we found out what a great guy he is. We basically didn’t want to let him go after this tour, it’s as simple as that. And we decided, why not have three guitar players? We did some shows together and it worked brilliantly. I gotta say I was not one hundred percent sure it would be as good as it is, but I was actually pleasantly surprised how well it sounds and how well it looks and how well it works on stage. It’s a good camaraderie in the band and yeah, it’s just one more guy, awesome! And he plays a lot of lead on the album too, so we deliberately made enough space for him to be on the album and especially with that in mind for live shows. We gave him enough space to play leads and with trading licks and we do a lot of twin leads together – so there’s a lot of room for Phil on this album.“

Order “Too Mean To Die” here

Official ACCEPT Website

Metal Shock Finland’s Exclusive Premiere: IVORY MOON – New Single And Video ‘Man With A Face’ + Interview

Posted by tarjavirmakari on October 29, 2020
Posted in: Int. News, Interviews, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

After releasing their new album a few weeks ago, Italian Symphonic Metallers IVORY MOON, have teamed up with Metal Shock Finland to premiere exclusively their new single and video for the song ‘Man With A Face’, taken from the band’s new album ‘Lunar Gateway’, released on October 2nd, via Volcano Records & Promotion.

‘Man With A Face’ is a melodic and powerful song, accompanied by an intense and delicate video, illustrated and masterfully created by Sergio Giardo, designer of Nathan Never. The video tells a story of a hyperuranic journey, between planets and oneiric visions, which ends in an unexpected way.

Watch and enjoy ‘Man With A Face’ here:

To celebrate the video premiering Metal Shock Finland‘s Tarja Virmakari had a pleasure to interview the the band, please read below:

  1. Hello IVORY MOON and welcome to Metal Shock Finland. Today we’ve a pleasure to premiere your stunning new single and video ‘Man With A Face’, please tell us the story behind it?

Hi Metal Shock Finland and hello to all your readers too! The new video was a beautiful unexpected gift from our graphic designer, Sergio Giardo, a fantastic artist, illustrator and cartoonist of the comic Nathan Never for the comic book publisher Bonelli Editore; The song is about how in the world people have and forced to wear many faces. Therefore it is always difficult to be yourself and not feel judged for what you are.

  1. What are your musical influences, besides symphonic metal?

Our musical tastes range from extreme metal to 70s progressive rock, from Metallica to Yes, Queen, Megadeth, Slayer, Dream Theater and each member of the band has a different musical background.

  1. Please introduce us the band members and their roles when writing music and choosing song topics.

Fabrizio zucchini is the founding member of the band and rhythm guitar. He is the composer of almost all the songs. Andrea Campisano is the solo guitarist and arranger of the songs. Fabrizio Sclano is the band’s bassist and historical member of the band. Fabio Bonuglia is the keyboardist and composer, together with Andrea, of the atmospheres of the new album. Patrizio Izzo is the male voice and singer who has been active in the field for a long time. Loretta Venditti is the female voice and composer of some of the album’s lyrics. Emiliano Cantiano is the drummer and is another well known member of the metal scene. Mainly, as anticipated, the songs were born from a collaboration between Fabrizio Z. And Andrea with the contribution of the other members.

  1. Your new album “Lunar Gateway” came out on October 2nd, via Volcano Records & Promotion. How it’s been welcomed by Symphonic Metal lovers?

We had good feedback from old fans and new ones, positive reviews from the press. We can be satisfied with how the promotion and listening of the new album is going.

  1. We’re living now quite difficult times, due to Covid-19 pandemic. Now that touring and playing live seem to be nearly impossible, how will you promote your new album?

We would have liked to do some dates in the national territory starting from December but with the current situation we have to adapt to the new provisions and we hope to be able to return live as soon as possible, and in the meantime we are preparing to be ready!

  1. What are your highlights, so far?

The songs: Based on the feedback from the critics we can say that the songs have all had a good response as we hoped.
The line-up: having changed almost completely, has a lot to give in view of the live shows and can guarantee continuity to the project

  1. Now the word is yours, what is your message to our readers, your fans and music business?

Thanks for the support from our old and new fans! Listen to all the music possible, go to concerts to be able to support and keep the scene alive! Support those who, like us, have the same passion as you! Stay metal!

———-

IVORY MOON was born in the summer of 2000, in Italy, and May 2002 saw the first Ivory Moon promo cd being released. In early 2004, the debut album, “On The Edge of Time” was recorded and released by Battle Hymns Records. In late 2005, the line-up underwent some changes, and the band started to work on new songs and ideas for the next album. During 2006, Ivory Moon took residence at Temple of Noise Studios in Rome, to record “Human Nature”. The album was tracked, mixed and mastered by Christian Ice and released by Ulterium Records. “Dark Time” was released in 2012 by Spider rock promotion and was followed by a promotion tour with Freedom Call. The New album ‘Lunar Gateaway’, released on October 2nd 2020, via Volcano Records and Promotion, was mixed and mastered in Temple of Noise studios, with a renewed line-up made up of old and new friends: Patrizio Izzo and Loretta Venditti voices, Andrea Campisano and Fabrizio Zucchini guitars, Fabrizio Sclano bass, Fabio Bonuglia Keyboards and Emiliano Cantiano drums. ‘Lunar Gateaway’ will keep true to the style of the previous records but with a much more modern sound. It will surely be the most complete album of the band: 10 songs of pure metal with symphonic, prog and hard rock influences, in the classic style of Ivory Moon.

“Lunar Gateway” tracklist:

  1. Human Greed
  2. Here We Are
    3.Man with a Face
  3. Darkside-The Angel of the Night
  4. Astaroth
  5. Breath
  6. Blood Vampire
  7. Lochness – The Legend of the Lake
  8. The Dominion Saga
  9. The Game of Life
    Running Time: 50’59”

IVORY MOON Line-up:
Loretta Venditti – Voices
Patrizio Izzo – Voices
Fabrizio Sclano – Bass
Andrea Campisano – Lead Guitar
Fabrizio Zucchini – Rhythm Guitar
Fabio Bonuglia – Keyboard
Emiliano Cantiano – Drums

Also watch/Stream:
Here We Are [OFFICIAL AUDIO] – https://youtu.be/XIqhLz9LL0k
Human Greed [OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO] – https://youtu.be/2nGAmewEusc
The Dominion Saga [OFFICIAL VIDEO] – https://youtu.be/rpwLry05mx4

More information at:
BAND: https://www.facebook.com/ivorymoonofficial
LABEL: http://www.volcanopromotion.com

Interview With Rob The Witch, NECRONOMICON: “As long as I play my music I’m happy”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on August 24, 2020
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Interview By Alison Booth

Rob The Witch

Since their incarnation in 1988, the Lovecraftian inspired pioneer of blackened death metal, NECRONOMICON, has certainly established itself as one of the hardest working bands in the industry. Founded by composer, guitarist and frontman Rob The Witch in Quebec Province, Canada and following an early demo and EP, the band released its first full length album “Pharaoh Of Gods” in 1999.

A steady release of five further albums and a high level of commitment to touring and performing on stage has been a constant in the life of NECRONOMICON, all the while establishing an ever growing fan base around the globe. Changes in line up and other issues haven’t been a deterrent for the charismatic Witch King, resulting in the sixth brutally dark album “Unus” being unleashed in October 2019, via Season Of Mist Records.

Alison recently caught up with Rob The Witch for her Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show on UK station TotalRock. The whole show can be heard on Mixcloud at this location, but the audio interview (split into two parts for radio) can be listened to below. Many topics were discussed with the eloquent frontman, from the worldwide pandemic to Dean guitars and more in between! Check out a few excerpts from the chat, followed by the audio:

Discussing touring, Rob stated:

“Touring is what I like the most, it’s being on the road – I don’t get enough of that. I did like around twelve hundred shows in my career, I lost count, I know it’s over a thousand. It’s just doing my music you know – recording albums, going on tour and just rocking the stage you know. That’s just what I want to do. When I started Necronomicon, I was seventeen, now I’m almost fifty, I never stop. As long as I play my music, I’m happy, I’m satisfied with that.”

Regarding the Coronavirus pandemic and getting back to touring in 2021, Rob expressed:

“Really, really not easy, that’s one thing. I think that pretty much any artist that does this mostly for a living will feel the impact pretty well. When you’re going on full tours like months at a time and spend many, many, many, many hours you know practice by yourself, but I mean like many hours per week – days per week literally practising with your band, you have situations like that coming out of nowhere in a way, it’s pretty challenging actually. For example, our drummer is stuck in California, can’t come to practice and it’s been months, so it’s really not easy.

Of course we’re trying to see what we can do now. Nothing is certain at this point how it’s going, it’s totally out of control, especially in the U.S. I mean in Canada we’re doing really good, they responded really quick, I don’t know how it is in Europe. I really don’t know how we’re going to do that, because when we finished the U.S. tour we were already planning to go in Europe and something happened and we had to pull out. And that tour started without us and the tour went to hell because Covid started. So, at first I wasn’t really happy because we had to pull out of the tour, then I realised after it was almost a blessing. These bands that were on tour in Europe were in a really shitty situation because of that. They’re having some major financial problems due to what happened there. If we’d been on that tour it would’ve really fucked us, really in a bad way. So, the fact that we’d been forced to pull out of that tour and not going, saved our ass in a way. That’s the irony of that.”

On videos and being creative, Rob had lots to say:

“I don’t wanna bash any of my friends or other bands – there’s a lot of bands I respect musically and stuff like that. But if you have to shoot your band in an abandoned warehouse, stay home come on, I mean be more creative. It’s supposed to be art.
I don’t get the people going on stage with their flip flops and Cannibal Corpse shirts, even their glasses. Even fucking Judas Priest, they go on stage with outfits and stage clothes. Even Metallica, ok they don’t have armour and stuff like that – but if you see James Hetfield or Kirk Hammett in the street, they’re not dressed like they’re dressed on stage, it’s totally different. Music is art, so why don’t you do it properly you know?

When you go to see a show, you need to see something, you need to have a visual of it. I’m going to take a band that’s really shitty music to me right now – that’s Ghost, I really don’t like what they’re doing. The first album was really good, I really liked it, the rest – ugh! But they would never have succeeded if they didn’t have the image. The same for Slipknot and the same for Dimmu Borgir or any bands that had success with that, it’s a part of the game. You sell a product and the image of a band is fifty percent of the job, if not more.”

If you’re lucky, you can see the uncensored video of ‘The Thousand Masks’ – unfortunately some countries have blocked it:

Some live NECRONOMICON with ‘The Time Is Now’:

NECRONOMICON:

Official Facebook Page
Official Instagram
Official YouTube