Dark metallers from Hamburg, LORD OF THE LOST, have recently completed a run of successful UK performances with KMFDM.
The band are back with their second ensemble album titled “Swan Songs II”, set to be released on October 6th via Napalm Records. Metal Shock Finland Senior Manager Alison Booth caught up with frontman Chris Harms andbass player Class Grenayde at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester, before their show. The special Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem radio show featuring the interview and LORD OF THE LOST tracks will be repeated this Saturday (16th September) night/Sunday morning, from midnight GMT on http://www.totalrock.com.
You can check out a few excerpts from the chat and the full audio interview can be heard on the player below:
Discussing the tour, Chris explained:
“We actually don’t have that many British fans, that’s the reason we’re here. So we play bigger halls in Germany and we’re very well known in Scandinavia and some other countries, but the UK never really took notice of us.
I was the lucky guy who was able to produce the new KMFDM record, so Sascha of KMFDM asked me if I wanted to play live as well and he was like ‘well as half of the band is coming, maybe the rest want to come too’, so we can make a whole tour in the UK and US with LORD OF THE LOST and KMFDM. So that’s why we’re here and it’s very interesting to be in that situation again where 90% of the people do not know us at all.”
On the forthcoming release “Swan Songs II”:
“The thing about that is, what we’re doing right now here with KMFDM is actually the end of our rock tour from how we actually sound. This whole Swan Songs thing is some kind of internal side project, it’s all acoustic with a string ensemble. So this is the completely opposite side of Lord Of The Lost, you won’t hear any of that tonight.”
On what’s to come from LORD OF THE LOST, Chris stated:
“With the American shows, the whole promo thing for our rock album Empyrean just ends and we come back and two weeks later the ensemble acoustic tour starts, then we have Christmas. In January we hit the studio to record the new regular LORD OF THE LOST record. It’s gonna be our first regular album on Napalm Records so that’s gonna be a big thing.”
On August 29th, Metal Blade Records and BMG released“For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records” – written by label founder and CEO Brian Slagel with Mark Eglinton, and featuring a foreword by Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich. Celebrating the storied label’s 35th anniversary, “For the Sake of Heaviness” is an inside look at how Slagel built Metal Blade from a one-man operation in his mom’s non-air-conditioned garage to the preeminent international home of heavy music that it is today.
On August 3rd, Metal Shock Finland‘s CEO/Founder and President Tarja Virmakari had a chance to interview (for Truemetal.it) BRIAN SLAGEL, talking about his book “For the Sake of Heaviness: the History of Metal Blade” in detail. See below the list of main topics. Join the conversation below, enjoy!
To read the interview on Truemetal.it, in Italian, go here.
The main topics of the interview:
(0:20) Now that the book is written, what are your feelings?
(1:14) When was the moment you decided to write it with Mark Eglinton?
(1:55)The name of the book: “For The Sake of Heaviness” is the song of Armored Saint…
(2:29)Lars Ulrich wrote in his foreword: “When you tell the story of Brian Slagel and chart the course of Metal Blade Records, the three words that come to my mind are loyalty, consistency, and dependability.” How do you respond to his definition?
(3:20) Reading the book, it’s clear that you really live what you do! so the passion is your real life-style, philosophy! But please tell me, was there a moment that you just wanted to give up and change the direction?
(5:03) How important was the work of the talent scouts? You tell in the book that often you went to gigs, looking around for new bands, who played live, after a hard work and long time they had spent in the rehearsal rooms. While today anyone can record a demo with the simple computer intake and softwares…
(6:47) Talking about different metal genres, I think now-a-days it’s pretty difficult to categorize some bands, also because new sub-genres are born nearly every day, but to your opinion, is it so important today to stamp the bands under the specific styles?
(8:44) Your personal favourite sport has always been ice hockey, and you’ve had some many great opportunities to put it together with metal, would you like to tell me some of your greatest memories?
(11:20) Metal Blade has been involved in almost every movement that has happened in heavy music since 1982. You havent really followed any mainstream trends, but you’ve singed the bands that you like, despite their music style or what the others think about them. Is this the leading guideline for the success of Metal Blade?
(13:29) Also your mother’s role in all this was very important…
(14:28)I’m part of Alpha Omega Management, and as Bill Metoyer is part of our team, too, I just have to ask about him and his contribution… you also mention him several times in the book.
(16:09) you wrote: “it’s unrealistic to hope that you’re going to hit the board with every dart you throw. That’s not going to happen, but I’m a firm believer in the idea that, to be successful, you’ve got to keep throwing the darts.”
(17:39) To your opinion, where is the record business going?
(20:51) “For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records” comes out On August 29th, what will happen the day after?
(21:38) With the exclusive box-set, besides the book, there’s also a music casette including great songs from the Metal Blade history! The choice to put them on a handwritten casette was something that tells a lot of your “old school” passion.
(22:40) A classic question (honestly this one comes from my 12-yrs daughter): if you would find yourself stuck in a desert island for a month, which 5 albums or things you would take with you?
(23:40) What is your message to all those bands out there whose dream is to become “somebody” and who would want to be signed by Metal Blade?
To order “For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records”, please visit: smarturl.it/mbr35th – where an exclusive box-set is available, with the following contents:
–For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records book
–For the Sake of Heaviness cassette
–Metal Blade Records 35th anniversary bookmark
–bookplate autographed by Brian Slagel
* box dimensions: 9.375″ x 6.375″ x 1.25″
See below for the For the Sake of Heaviness cassette track-listing:
SIDE A
1. Fates Warning “Guardian”
2. Lizzy Borden “Lord of the Flies”
3. Omen “Holy Martyr”
4. Cirith Ungol “Black Machine”
5. GWAR “Gor-Gor”
6. Cannibal Corpse “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled”
7. Six Feet Under “War Is Coming”
SIDE B
1. Mercyful Fate “Egypt”
2. King Diamond “Voodoo”
3. The Black Dahlia Murder “Funeral Thirst”
4. Unearth “Black Hearts Now Reign”
5. Amon Amarth “Twilight of the Thunder God”
6. Visigoth “From the Arcane Mists of Prophecy”
For the Sake of Heaviness pulls back the curtain to reveal the definitive look at how Metal Blade began, what they’ve accomplished, and where they’re going. Slagel reveals the early advice he gave that helped guide Motley Crue‘s career; how he helped Metallica replace their bassist – twice; his detailed work on Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper re-issues; his behind-the-scenes role in the careers of Slayer, GWAR, Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Goo Goo Dolls, and Lamb of God; and his unlikely ventures with kindred metal heads – from hockey star Ken Baumgartner, to celebrity chef Chris Santos, to The Howard Stern Show‘s Richard Christy, to comedians Jim Florentine, Don Jamieson and Jim Breuer.
Heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT will celebrate their newest album’s live premiere exclusively tomorrow at Wacken Open Air, “Night To Remember” which makes it very special. Our Mohsen Stargazer Fayazi had an interview with the legendary Wolf Hoffmann, they talked about “The Rise Of Chaos”, Wacken, his plan for retirement and much more.
I’d like to compare you with Jimi Hendrix, or better say you are the Jimi Hendrix of Heavy Metal.
W: (Laughs) I never thought of myself that way, it’s only one Jimi Hendrix. But Thank you very much!
I’d like to know your opinion on your guitaring skills and if you have any methods?
W: “I don’t think I really have a method – it really comes as second nature to me at this point in life. I guess I’ve been playing for so long and writing songs for so many years, it’s nothing I actively think about much any more. For me, the challenge is always to come up with something that I find exciting and if I find it exciting, then hopefully other people would too. You know, after you’ve written hundreds of songs in your life, of course it doesn’t get easier to come up with something that’s totally typical, but at the same time something new that you find yourself exciting.
So that’s why it sometimes takes many weeks and months to write these songs. In this case it took us the better part of last year, Peter and I were sitting there for months at a time.”
How does a song come together?
W: “It’s a little different each time. The Rise Of Chaos for instance for the longest time was just an empty riff song. It was just really almost like a jam session with a bunch of riffs and I had this just sitting there for a long, long time never really knowing what to do with it and I tried several other approaches. First of all where to sing and what to sing. And finally we came up with that line The Rise Of Chaos and it seemed to fit the spirit of these riffs, because they’re all very wild and a bit crazy in parts.
So The Rise Of Chaos was something that grabbed our attention. Other times it’s hook lines, like we’re talking about with Analog Man. It’s a saying that’s been around the band for years ’cause Mark has always been bitching about technology when things go wrong. He’s always been saying ‘I’m an analog man trapped in a digital world’, so we thought ‘wow that’s cool, we should just write a song’. So, with that in mind you sit there and think how you can sing that, what’s a good phrasing, what’s a good tempo, what’s a good riff to go with it.
But most of the time it’s the music first, where you have some sort of riffing and some groove and a drum beat. And you find that exciting and then you start thinking what to sing on that, ’cause it goes hand in hand. One without the other doesn’t help at all.”
How was working with Andy Sneap again?
W: “Oh it’s great! He’s like an old brother, he’s part of the team at this point. We didn’t really want to change any of that because we knew it works. We really wanted to concentrate on the songs and the material and not on any of the peripherals.”
Indeed on The Rise Of Chaos you were loyal to the ACCEPT traditional metal style, but I can say that you made it a little different this time with some elements – it’s more melodic, especially in the riffs and solos and song structures.
W: “It really just so happens. You can never go out and say to yourself ‘ok I want to make an album that’s 20% different and 30% the same’, it just doesn’t work that way. You just write the best songs you can and they shape up in a certain way. It just takes on a life of its own and leads you to do different things, until one day you arrive at something that you like. And you do that many times over until you have a complete album.
It’s only now the album is finished and people hear it with fresh ears and they’re telling me it’s this or that and I always have to say ‘ok I have to take it for what it is’, it wasn’t planned that way.”
Since 2010 when you returned to the business, it’s obvious that your lyrics are now more adult, more serious and more about the world today in a direct manner unlike the days of ‘Fast as a Shark’.
W: “It’s usually Peter and myself together exchanging ideas, demo stuff. It can be quite funny sometimes (laughs). Sooner or later we’re looking at lyrical content and what inspires us. We have a cheat sheet of many hook lines and ideas and we go through that and see what’s best.
Those are usually based on stuff we find interesting that comes up in conversation and stuff we see on the news. We’re not doing fantasy because we have no interest in fantasy. Actual events or occurences right now.”
So let’s talk about the lyrics….
“Mark writes the lyrics, Peter and I usually just have a title or a hook line then we say ‘we’ve got a song called The Rise Of Chaos, here it is Mark. Write whatever comes to mind, whatever it means to you.’ I’m not involved in the actual writing and meaning of the lyrics that much.”
So let’s talk about the ‘Night to Remember’ at Wacken – are you excited about it?
W: “Very excited – this is the first time we’re gonna be onstage with an orchestra, it’s gonna be crazy.
It’s the first time that I’m gonna play songs from my solo album Headbangers Symphony. And it’s the first time you’re ever gonna hear Accept songs that you’ve heard before, but they’re gonna be completely differently arranged for the orchestra. I think it’s gonna sound killer.”
Accept seems to be built to create flames on stage and I know very well that you love to be on it, so can you tell me what is magical about it and if you have particular memories?
W: “It’s just something that’s unlike anything else in life. Just being out there in front of people and just playing songs and everyone reacting to them. It’s an unforgetting feeling, it’s almost like a drug – once you’ve had it, you want it again and again and more of it, it’s crazy man. I don’t know that there’s anything else in life that compares to it, at least I haven’t found it.
It’s an amazing feeling to start a riff and everybody recognises it and arms are flying in the air, people are singing along – it’s goosebump material right there. It’s just an amazing feeling.
I’m not interested in perfection, I’m just trying to get there and realising that nothing ever can be perfect, you take it for what it is. It’s why people like live shows – we’re not trying to have the kind of show where everything is choreographed and scripted and everything runs off a laptop, because there are performers nowadays where everything is basically run by a computer and they’re just lip synching along and moving to a scripted show. Not so much in metal. I think metal is something that’s made by humans and humans have their own characteristics and they perform slightly different every night – that’s why not every show is 100% the same.”
My next question might sound a bit silly, but it’s something that concerns me – do you think about retirement?
W: “No – because I’ve been retired already. I came out of retirement to start this whole thing again. I know what retirement is like and this is much more exciting, why would I look forward to retirement? (laughs)”
I would like to know what is the most interesting thing about heavy metal for you?
W: “It’s the fan connection I believe. It’s a very unique metal thing, where you have such a strong (or we as metal bands) loyal followers.In our case, they’ve been following us for years and years, decades really. I think it’s something quite unusual in the music world, where a lot of times it’s here today and gone tomorrow. The metal community is so loyal and so long term and this is something quite unique. I’m very aware of it and I think it’s fantastic.
It’s such a gratifying feeling to see that fans are listening to albums or songs we wrote thirty or forty years ago. If we make an album today, The Rise Of Chaos, who knows, it might be around twenty or thirty years from now, people might still be listening to it.
That’s why we have such a respect for what we do and for the fans, because it’s got such a long staying power. So we wanna be super careful not to release something that won’t stand the test of time.”
Athens based modern metal band SCAR OF THE SUN formed in London back in 2005. Following acclaim of their demo material by the Greek Metal Hammer, the band went on to record their first album “A Series Of Unfortunate Concurrencies”. The album was released in 2011 via Scarlet Records, under the production of Rhys Fulber (FEAR FACTORY, PARADISE LOST, MACHINE HEAD).
SCAR OF THE SUN released their second album “In Flood” in 2016 and earlier this year completed their first UK tour, as well as some European dates, as special guests on FIREWIND‘s “Immortals” Europe and UK Tour, along with Swedish metallers MANIMAL.
Metal Shock Finland Senior Manager Alison Booth recently caught up with vocalist Terry Nikas and guitarist Greg Eleftheriou to discuss the current album and new developments from the band. Alison‘s radio show Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem (every Tuesday on http://www.totalrock.com) also featured the interview this week, along with tracks from “In Flood”. The show will soon be available to listen to again here. You can read some excerpts from the chat below and listen to the full interview on the audio player:
On creating “In Flood”, guitarist Greg stated:
“Compared to the first album, it’s more guitar oriented I would say, because the guitarists of the band took a more vital part in composing this album. So we’re really happy about this evolution that the band had. We changed some small things here and there and with discussion, that’s how we formed In Flood.”
Vocalist Terry described working with producer Rhys Fulber:
“I’m a sound engineer so I was familiar with the work of Rhys Fulber – initially with FEAR FACTORY and then with PARADISE LOST and other bands. The sound that these bands have was exactly the sound that we wanted to have, ’cause we believe that we play modern metal, that’s what we think and that’s what we’re trying to do actually. All the productions he is involved in have this huge and clean sound and that’s what we wanted to have, he’s the master on these things.
We worked together on both albums and we were very satisfied with the result. Rhys likes our music very much and he’s actually involved in the songs, putting in ideas here and there and all this works very well, we’re very happy about it.”
Moving on from discussing working with FIREWIND‘s Bob Katsionis and any future collaborations, Terry revealed:
“We’re actually now recording our third album, which is completed obviously from a composition point of view and we decided to work on this album almost completely on our own. Although there is one more song where there is an input from Bob again. At the moment there are no other guests on this album.
It will be ready during the summer, it will be mixed and mastered, by the end of the summer it will be done. We don’t know yet about release date, we have to talk with the label about it.”
Greg described the music for the new album:
“I think the next album is gonna be the heaviest one, it’s more aggressive, it has many aggressive guitar riffs, Terry has more brutal vocals. There are some faster songs, but we keep those melodic elements that we love to hear and we love to write. So imagine our melodic stuff with a lot more aggressiveness and heaviness.”
Terry explained:
“The vocals will be quite different to the first two albums. Other than that, we just wanted to make a heavier album for some reason. You can say we’re a bit more angry and that comes out on our new album.”
GORESOERD is one of the top metal bands in Estonia. Their latest album “Antikeha”, published last year, was one of the nominees for Estonian Music Awards in „Metal Album of the Year“ category. In between a busy springtime with a lots of shows and summer festival performances yet to come, Metal Shock Finland’s freelancer Katrin Malt had a short chat with band’s guitarist Rasmus Tauk. The full interview can be heard on the audio player below.
Firstly, some language lessons, as to foreigners, Goresoerd is kind of a hard name to pronounce. People try to pronounce it as an English word, but actually the name is a mix of two languages.
Rasmus explained:
“Gore is an old English word, meaning Blood. Soerd is an Estonian word, meaning Abomination. So all together, it’s kind of a, well, fucked up thing.“
Goresoerd’s music is raw and aggressive, but there is also melody and they even have a bandmember, whose speciality is sampling and turntables. An interesting combination, is that what makes Goresoerd stand out amongst other Estonian metal bands?
“Maybe. We combine elements of different genres, so it might be one reason why we’re so unique.“
Speaking of standing out, Goresoerd’s stage look is kickass. White shirts, red blood, zombie apocalypse.
“It gives an extra effect“ said Rasmus.
So it is art. Just like their merch – their shirts are always so neat, piece of art. How important is selling merch anyway, let’s say to an underground metal band?
“Merch, nowadays, for all the bands, is crucial. If you don’t sell merch, you’ll loose the main income.“
And some words about touring as well. Goresoerd was an opening band for Napalm Death’s Baltic concerts. They have an amazing crew and touring is purely fun, but besides Baltic states, most of the touring takes place in countries like Poland, Czech Republic and so on. Why?
Rasmus was struggeling with the answer at first:
“Yeah, we’ve been there a bit more than in Finland. Why? Maybe it’s easier to travel there, excpense-wise. Easier for us to go there. We’ve had some fun shows in Finland as well.“
So it’s not that the audience’s demands in „north“ and „south“ are that different. Could it be, that the music market in Scandinavia is flooded with great bands and it’s hard to get in?
“For Estonian metal bands, definitely. When you take Finland, there are thousands of metal bands. It’s hard to distuinguish there.“
To finish up the chat, Rasmus spoke a little about the gigs coming up. Goresoerd’s next gig takes place in Hard Rock Laager. Hard Rock Laager is the biggest annual metal festival in Estonia.
As one of the Estonian headliners, Goresoerd promised a special live show:
“We’re planning a bit more on visual side. More lightning and show elements!“
Listen to the whole chat here:
So be prepared for a zombie attack, in Goresoerd style. If you haven’t seen them yet, do check out their latest video “Neetud”:
New York death metal pioneers SUFFOCATION will unleash their new album “…Of The Dark Light” on June 9th via Nuclear Blast Records. Some weeks ago Metal Shock Finland‘s CEO/Founder and President Tarja Virmakari had a chance to interview (for Truemetal.it) the band’s bassist, Derek Boyer, talking about the upcoming album in detail. See below the complete list of topics. To know more about this and much more, please join the conversation below.
0:00 – Welcome to TrueMetal, how are you doing?
1:03 – What can you tell me about the songwriting behind your latest album, “…of the Dark Light”?
4:34 – How would you describe the album lyric-wise?
7:28 – Why did you choose the title of the 6th track as the name for the album? Is it because it reflects the content of the album?
9:54 – I think you should listen an album in its entirety before judging it…
11:47 – Let’s talk about the album’s artwork
13:35 – It’s been 4 years since the last album, you’ve been touring a lot and I imagine you need a lot of concentration for the songwriting, so you can’t do it while on tour…
15:30 – With no italian dates planned, can we hope to see you anytime soon?
17:15 – Will we se Frank Mullen playing with you in the next tour?
19:08 – So we’ll see Kevin Muller sing with you?
21:05 – Have you ever heard some Italian death metal bands? If so which are your favourites?
22:47 – Thanks + message to the fans and TrueMetal readers
To read the interview in Italian, on Truemetal.it, go HERE.
“…Of The Dark Light” was produced by SUFFOCATION and tracked at Full Force Studios with longtime engineer Joe Cincotta (OBITUARY). Mixing and mastering was handled by world renowned producer/engineer Zeuss (HATEBREED, ARSIS, SUICIDE SILENCE). Cover artwork was created by Colin Marks (ORIGIN, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, KATAKLYSM).
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