Interviews

Audio Interview With NEOLITH: Talking About “Izi.Im.Kurnu-Ki”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on April 4, 2015

Posted in: Int. News, Interviews. Tagged: "Izi.Im.Kurnu-Ki", Irek "Beast" Gawlik, Neolith. Leave a comment

Photo by Dawid Rychel

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Polish black/death metal machine NEOLITH, formed in 1991, recently released their new album “Izi.Im.Kurnu-Ki” (“Fire.Wind.Hell”) via Non Serviam Records. The album was recorded at Creative Studio and Kola Studio (Winter 2013/2014), mixed and mastered by Tom Zalewski at Zed Studio (March 2014). The new tracks are far more advanced, aggressive and brutal if you compare them to the familiar black/death metal style of Neolith from earlier recordings.

The lyrics speak of the Gods that are. The Gods that have been. The Gods that shall be. The concept might seem vague, misleading and deceitful in its meaning. Make no mistake here! These words are first and foremost to honour En-Ki – Lord of the Earth and His incredible journey from the stars to us, His flesh and blood. And yet it is just a humble touch of “The Lost Book of En-Ki”.

Recently Tarja Virmakari had a chat with NEOLITH‘s drummer Irek “Beast” Gawlik, which was his first ever audio interview in English. Tarja and Irek discussed in detail about this new effort, but also their 7″ vinyl release together with the resurrected Polish Death Metal legend BETRAYER. Join the chat below to hear all about this and more:

More information at https://www.facebook.com/neolith – http://www.neolith.pl

Interview With Bison Steed, REIGN OF FURY: Talking “Death Be Thy Shepherd”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on April 3, 2015

Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: Bison Steed, BLACKDIAMOND, Reign Of Fury. Leave a comment

Interview By Blackdiamond

Bison Steed Since releasing their debut album “World Detonation” in 2012, British metallers REIGN OF FURY have been pretty busy lads! They are very active on the live circuit and also personally planned and performed a 12 date UK tour for the charity “Headbangers Balls” (raising funds and awareness for testicular cancer and the Teenage Cancer Trust) two years running.

The band have recently announced they will appear at this years’ Bloodstock Open Air Festival, which takes place at Catton Hall, Derbyshire, from 6-9th August. REIGN OF FURY also have a run of UK dates, the first one starting today, 3rd April.

I caught up with vocalist Bison Steed recently and we discussed newly released album “Death Be Thy Shepherd”, touring, future plans and more. Check out the full chat on the audio player below. (Apologies for the echo in places, due to the Skype recorder)

Listen to one of the new album tracks ‘All Is Lost’:

REIGN-OF-FURY-cover

REIGN OF FURY on Facebook

REIGN OF FURY Official Website

Audio Interview With ROBERTO TIRANTI, Talking About NEW TROLLS, LABYRINTH, VERDE LAURO, Collaboration With Ken Hensley And Roberto’s Debut Solo Album “Sapere Aspettare”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on March 30, 2015

Posted in: Int. News, Interviews. Tagged: "Sapere Aspettare", Roberto Tiranti. 1 Comment

RobertoTiranti

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

One of the most beautiful Italian metal voices, ROBERTO TIRANTI (Labyrinth, A.P.D., Mangala Vallis, Ken Hensley’s Live Fire) released his debut solo album “Sapere Aspettare” at the beginning of February 2015, via Old Mill Records, capturing the essence of Roberto’s 26 years of music. The album has many friends as guests, involved in the making of this important first step towards what Roberto defines “freedom”, including: Stef Burns, Aldo De Scalzi, Irene Fornaciari, Mattia Stancioiu and Marco Barusso.

Active on the national and international music scene since 1996, Roberto Tiranti was in NEW TROLLS for seven years, participating in two Sanremo Festivals and taking part in more than 400 live shows. From 1997 to 2014 he was the lead singer of LABYRINTH, the leader of the heavy metal genre in Italy recording 7 albums and touring worldwide. Roberto’s career includes several collaborations with Ian Paice (Deep Purple) Martin Barre and Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull), Glenn Hughes, Fairport Convention etc. Currently he is the lead singer/bassist with Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep, recording the album “Trouble” in 2013. Other band members are Ken Ingwersen (guitar) and Tom Arne Fossheim (drums), with whom Roberto Tiranti launched the project, WONDERWORLD.

Recently Tarja Virmakari “met” Roberto Tiranti via Skype webcam, talking about his years in NEW TROLLS and LABYRINTH, how his collaboration with URIAH HEEP’s Ken Hensley started, about new project WONDERWORLD he launched with Ken and other members, and of course Roberto talked in detail about his debut solo album “Sapere Aspettare”. Among the topics was also VERDE LAURO, a Cultural Project which has added music to some of the poems belonging to Francesco Petrarca’s opera: “Canzoniere” (commonly Anglicised as Petrarch (1304-1374) was an Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists). At the end of the interview, Roberto offers to Metal Shock Finland‘s readers the exclusive acoustic live version for the song “I Remember” from his debut “Sapere Aspettare”, to listen to it and to discover more about all the discussed topics, please join the chat below.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Roberto-Tiranti-Solo-Artist/28167190948

Roberto Tiranti “Crazy” Featuring Irene Fornaciari

RobertoTiranti-cover

alessandro-del-vecchio

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

How do you introduce, in a proper way, one of the most searched musicians, teachers, songwriters and producers worldwide? Maybe it’s better leave the name speak for itself: Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you Mr. ALESSANDRO DEL VECCHIO, involved in several bands, projects, and in Music with all it’s flavours and genres.

Hardworking Italian Bluesman, with an international Rock edge and attitude! His curriculum vitae features some of the highest names in the rock scene. Worldwide artists such as Morris Albert, Ian Paice, Glenn Hughes, Steve Walsh, Andre Matos, Bob Harris, Bobby Barth, Axe, Eden’s Curse, Ken Hensley, James Christian, Robin Beck, Clive Bunker, Carmine Appice, Jeff Scott Soto, Clive Bunker, Time Machine, Scott McGuill, Igor Gianola, Marcel Jacob, Tony Franklin, Bernie Marsden are just few of the many that had Alessandro playing, singing both background and lead vocals, arranging or producing. He’s known for his Hammond playing, his furious key solos and his high-tenor vocals. He has records out with labels like EMI, EMI-Toshiba, Sony Music, Universal Music, Universal Music Japan, Nippon Crown, Spiritual Beast, King Records, Frontiers, Mtm Major Music, 7Hard, Avenue Of Allies, AFM, Metal Mayhem, Warner Bros Records. He has performed on more that 80 records and toured worldwide since 1999 as a pro musician.

Here would be enough material to write a book, therefore Tarja Virmakari found herself in the front of accurate Artist Study to be able to find the right key words to conduct an interview as an overview of Alessandro’s musical life. So, last week Tarja and Alessandro “met” via Skype webcam, and during this 1:14 hours long and pleasant chat, among the many topics, Alessandro talked about the recent and upcoming activities of REVOLUTION SAINTS, HARDLINE, EDGE OF FOREVER, VOODOO CIRCLE, RATED X, LEVEL 10 and VERDE LAURO. Besides these, Tarja and Alessandro talked about his production work at Frontiers Music and the upcoming second edition of Frontiers Rock Festival, and his work as teacher and vocal coach at Lizard Academy. Alessandro also paid his own tribute to Fergie Frederiksen and Mike Porcaro, also talking about the great Jason Becker and his inestimable career. He also revealed his big dream about the band he would love to work with… To discover more about these and all the discussed topics, please sit down and join the chat below.

http://www.frontiers.it – https://www.facebook.com/frontiersmusicsrl

Audio Interview With KRAMPUS: Filippo Talks Band Philosophy And Their Continuously Evolving Music, Announce New Album

Posted by tarjavirmakari on March 22, 2015

Posted in: Int. News, Interviews. Tagged: Krampus. Leave a comment

Krampus-2015

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Italian Alternative Metallers KRAMPUS are no longer a folk metal band, and maybe never have been one, really! Their continuously evolving music is freedom to experience all the colours of the borderline of metal and more. It’s a journey to the unknown, without losing the tracks, tradition and philosophy which KRAMPUS is proud of. KRAMPUS are: Filippo – Lead Vocals, Marika – Violin, Alessandro – Guitar & Backing Growl, Davide – Bass and Matteo – Bagpipes, Whistles, Flutes, Irish bouzouki.

Three years have passed since our last interview with KRAMPUS, so it was about time to find out what’s going on with the band today. Tarja Virmakari had a pleasant chat with the band’s vocalist Filippo, talking about their recent years, present activity and revealing that a new album is in the works. To find out more about the discussed topics, please join the chat below.

More information at http://www.krampusfolk.com – http://www.facebook.com/krampusfolk – http://www.twitter.com/krampusfolk – http://www.youtube.com/user/KrampusFolk

Audio Interview With EYES WIDE OPEN: Talking “Aftermath”, Recent European Tour, And Upcoming Shows With HATEBREED

Posted by tarjavirmakari on March 10, 2015

Posted in: Interviews, News. Tagged: 'Eyes Wide Open', Aftermath. Leave a comment

EyesWideOpen-2015

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Since their humble beginnings in Karlstad, Sweden, back in 2011, EYES WIDE OPEN have more than just made themselves a name: In less than two years in existence as a band, they have gathered a huge following and 15 fan clubs worldwide. With the spring of 2012 marking the release of their debut EP; “Revelations”, this is a career seldomly seen. In this short period of time they have played two of Sweden’s largest rock/metal -festivals, toured throughout Sweden, Denmark and Norway, had a lot of airtime on alternative radio channels all over the planet, achieved no less than 62.000 followers on Facebook and much, much more. Their latest effort, the debut full-length “Aftermath” came out at the end of 2013, including 11 brand new tracks and a much more diverse sound. With this album, EYES WIDE OPEN further cement their position as a one of the frontrunners in Swedish metal today, with strong melodies, big riffs and their trademarked use of megaphones.

A couple of weeks ago Tarja Virmakari had a nice Skype chat with EYES WIDE OPEN guitarist Kristofer Strandberg, drummer Karl Adamsson and bassist Jesper Lindgren. The discussed topics were, of course, the band’s latest album “Aftermath”, recent European tour and the upcoming support shows with HATEBREED, on March 30th (at Re:Public in Minsk, Belarus) and 31th (at SENTRUM in Kiev, Ukraine). To find out more about what Tarja discussed with Kristofer, Karl and Jesper, join the chat below.