Norwegian progressive metallers ARTICULUS will release their debut album, simply tiltled “I” through their own label Etymology Recordings on November 1st, 2019. The album features 12 songs of atmospheric progressive metal that all tell the story of a historical figure or event, guided forward by extensive use of melody and heavy guitars, and framed in drums performed by Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth).
The themes on the album are rooted in an appreciation for history and art. The album is written, produced, engineered, performed and mixed by Willumsen and Malm, with the notable exception of Verbeuren’s drums. The elaborate artwork is created by Francisco Solé, known for creating the artwork for the mysterious ’90s film “The Ninth Gate”.
The album will be availble on vinyl, digipak-CD and limited edition double cassette boxset as well as on all digital platforms. The physical formats all contain a unique 16 page art booklet with drawings by Solé.
Tracklist:
1. The Bonfire of the Vanities
2. Beneath the Veneer
3. The Unconfined
4. Absinthe
5. And Velvet became Iron
6. Mutiny
7. The Smouldering Ember
8. Pulse of the Earth
9. Letter from Rome, 1610
10. The last
11. A Fair Intruder
12. An Asp unto my Breast
Legendary former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland has announced he has signed to David Ellefson’s relaunched COMBAT RECORDS label, who will release a deluxe reissue of his 1990 solo debut RETURN TO METALOPOLIS in November. Originally released on Enigma Records in 1990, METALOPOLIS was Poland’s return to the stage after his 1987 departure from Megadeth. Regarded by many as an unsung shred masterpiece, Metalopolis showcases Poland’s signature Jazz-infused thrash/rock style, in a collection of timeless instrumental compositions.
Says Poland, “I was out of Megadeth, and went through rehab and had gotten clean. I had no gear, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to ever play guitar again. Friends started bringing me gear; guitars, amps, pedals, telling me, “you have to play again.” So, I started playing. Andy Sommers, Megadeth’s agent, heard I was clean and doing well, and the Circle Jerks needed a bassist, so I toured with them for over a year, playing bass. And while I was doing that, I was in the back of a 16-passenger van, writing the songs that would become Return to Metalopolis.”
“I didn’t have a drummer, so I asked my brother Mark to play on it. I said, “We’re gonna make a record, and I need you to play drums.” He agreed, and we started doing demos. Janie Hoffman shopped it and we got a really good deal with Capitol Records, but shortly after we did the deal, for whatever reason, we get a call from the A&R guy who says they can’t do the deal on Capitol, but they offered me a deal on Enigma. So that’s where it came out.”
Poland continues, “I just feel like it’s timeless. I don’t listen to it and think that it’s some dated 80’s bullshit. It’s not like that for me. Of course, I’m super close to it, and I love it, but I really feel like it has held up well.”
The Return to Metalopolis reissue will be released on November 22nd on double CD, and digital, and in December on limited edition double LP, and Cassette, remastered with bonus material, including live tracks that originally appeared on the out of print 2007 release Return to Metalopolis Live, plus 3 brand new tracks recorded in 2019, featuring the rhythm section of Carlos Cruz and Chase Bryant of Warbringer.
After over a decade with Metal on the backburner, despite guest appearances with Lamb of God, Tourniquet, Redemption, and more, with Poland focusing his energy on playing and recording with his Jazz fusion trio OHM, which also featured late former Megadeth drummer Nick Menza, and the Chris Poland Resistance, another fusion project being released by the eclectic Modern Jazz-centric Ropeadope Records, Poland has also announced work on the long-awaited follow up to METALOPOLIS, to be released in 2020 on COMBAT.
“I never really got away from Metal, I’ve always been a Rock guy. And even the stuff we do with Ohm is really heavy and dynamic. But when I started playing with Nick (Menza) he really put a fire under my ass to write new, heavy music. I was over at his house every night after work, my wife told me I was having a “bro-mance”, but I couldn’t stop writing songs. Nick and I had hooked up with James Lomenzo (ex-Megadeth, White Lion), and we were actually going to start a band together, which didn’t work out, but I had literally hours and hours of ideas for songs that me and Nick were going to do together when he passed away. Now I’m working on putting them all together for a new solo release that will also come out on Combat.”
On reconnecting with his former bandmate David Ellefson, and his Combat Records imprint, Poland adds, “I’m super excited about it. I had been talking to Thom (Hazaert), David’s partner, and we had been bouncing ideas back and forth. The two of them came over to my studio in LA one night, we had a meeting, and ended up hanging out for hours and talking about it, and it just felt right. David said, “We started on Combat, and this record deserves to come back to Combat.” And he was right.”
Poland also appears on the track “Hammer Comes Down” on Ellefson’s debut solo release Sleeping Giants, in stores now via COMBAT, which also features Hazaert on vocals. Poland will Ellefson, Hazaert and their live band onstage Thursday, September 5th in Fullerton, CA at The Slidebar, as part of David Ellefson’s BASSTORY tour.
“Honestly the whole thing was a blur. Thom had told me they were working on what would become the SLEEPING GIANTS record, and I asked him if I could play on it. It was great to reconnect with David, musically, and the song has such a great energy. It was such a quick, painless process, and there’s so many other incredible players on the song, Mark Tremonti, etc, that it really couldn’t have been any cooler.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and his Business partner Thom Hazaert about the new Dave Ellefson Autobiography that they both co-wrote “More Life With Deth” (out July 16 via Jawbone Press) and companion Album “Sleeping Giants” ( July 19 on Combat Records). Ellefson also spoke about his early days in Megadeth during the Combat Records era and his drug addiction and recovery.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about the difference between this new Autobiography compared to the first one
“The first book was a little more focused on David’s spirituality and sobriety and it talked about Megadeth from a little bit of a generic backstory, it didn’t really get too deep into a lot of Megadeth’s topics. This time we set out to make just a Rock and Roll book. I would say this book is like a superhero movie origin story. I acquired the Combat Records name and that gave us the opportunity to go back to the beginning again and really tell that origin story of Megadeth during the Combat era. But this time we have some other guest voices in the book too giving their perspective. We really did a good job of chronicling the early Megadeth history but with some other people that were there too, to give a different perspective and validate everything what was said and what went on.” Thom Hazaert
When asked about Acquiring the rights to the legendary Combat Records name
“Combat Records had a whole generation of punk and thrash fans. When Thom approached me with the idea I started thinking about Combat and all a sudden it took me all the way back to 1983 and 84 especially 84 with Megadeth. That was when we started having conversations with record labels to sign Megadeth and Combat Records was the one that won out and that’s what Killing is my Business came out on. So in the book, it largely took me back to telling the earliest years of the Megadeth story and you know it that is a period of time when there’s not a lot of information. “ David Ellefson
When asked why Megadeth broke up in 2002 and why the band reformed in 2004 without Ellefson
“Dave Mustiane quit the band, he folded the band and I mean he basically quit. So again if quit and we didn’t have a quarterback, so there is no one to throw the ball so essentially the band was done. However in 2004 Mustaine reformed the group but suddenly all the business dealings were changed and everything was different and I was not on board with it, so I didn’t I agree to it and they basically moved forward without me being part of the band .Part of me was kind of relieved because it was a lot, I mean Dave and I have been going almost 20 years at that point. It’s just a lot you know you’re creative people, I mean Megadeth is a real rock and roll band man it’s dangerous, its dynamic, its charismatic, it’s all the great things that make great rock and roll but the Train was always ready to fall off the tracks. So I just kind of moved on, I just got busy with my life and moved on. I wasn’t gonna sit around and cry about it I was a young man with a young family I was in my 30’s and we’ve made money, we’ve done some things but I was young I wasn’t ready to retire. I wasn’t done with my life’s purpose. Young families are expensive and there’s a lot of life ahead, so I had to get up and get to work and I think that largely is the story of the next the next phase of my life in this new book. “ David Ellefson
When asked about being broke and stranded on tour during the Killing is my Business tour
“1985 June- July where we’re opening for labelmates Exciter and the tour dates were just canceling left and right because the agents was just horrible. We called the label and said we are broke and they said you guys just need to go home and get jobs and we were like we are on tour supporting your album? David Ellefson
When asked about the Motley Crue Biopic Dirt and how David Ellefson was there when Nikki Sixx temporary died
“I was there, Steven Adler and I were friends and I didn’t really know the other guys too much. I was at the Franklin Plaza Hotel and I was up there and Fred Coury from Cinderella. I’d never met Nikki before and we’re just partying and Nikki come busting into the room and I wanted to see if I could get some drugs off of him but they didn’t have any so I guess they were looking for some too. At the wee hours of the night they left and went in the room next door and I mean literally I don’t know 15 minutes later a girl comes running oh my god, I think he’s dead. You could hear the sirens. Fred looked at me and goes, you got a car, get me the hell out of here. It was pretty hardcore stuff man thank God I really wasn’t around it, I mean I had no part of it.” David Ellefson
When asked about the songs on new Album Sleeping Giants
“It was during the Basstory tour last year I was getting up on stage every night and doing a couple of songs with David. We have a studio in Tampa called Mastersound and we’re like let’s go into the studio and just write a song for fun. So we went in the studio and jammed for 20 minutes and Dave had the riff for the new song Vultures and we wrote the song literally in a half an hour. Dave went in and tracked his rhythm guitar and his bass and I tracked the vocals that same day and it was done. And at the time we said let’s just take use that song and use it as a free download with the new book. That’s how it all evolved. So then we wrote another two new songs and I kind of said Dave don’t you have some F5 demos or some other stuff . So he dug up all these extras he had, all these killer F5 demos that were never released and then Dave say’s I do have this song with John Bush on vocals, I’m like are you fucking kidding me? So this new Sleeping Giants album has new songs and has cool rarities from David Ellefson’s career that all tie into the book.” Thom Hazaert
When asked about considering Annihilator’s Jeff Waters as Megadeth’s guitarist in the early days
“Jeff was and is a kick-ass rock star lead guitar player and a you know he’s the founder of his band. He’s the writer, he’s the whole musical muscle of that group and you know for him to leave that would mean to leave all of his work behind to come and be the guitar player and Megadeth.
Annihilator were doing very well back in the day so, right guy, wrong time. Jeff is friends with me and Dave Mustaine, we’re good buddies today but sometimes things just aren’t meant to happen at that particular time. ” David Ellefson
When asked about overcoming his drug addictions
“I was on the drug and alcohol train for ten years. At the beginning it was a lot of fun. I mean it was kind of the social lubricant you know everyone around doing it. When I moved to LA in 1983 cocaine was on the cover of Time magazine that year. It was just the era you know that was the 80’s. it was sex, drugs and Rock and Roll. I hit a wall when I was 23 during So Far, So good So What album cycle and I talk about in the book. I had to get clean, it wasn’t going go away. I came out the other side of it. Today being in Megadeth and doing Basstory tour we travel the world and I’m able to talk either publicly or privately with people about adiction and it’s a cool platform to be able to help people if people reach out and need help.” David Ellefson
“Sleeping Giants” will be a retrospective featuring several new tracks, plus a collection of demos and unreleased material from F5 and David’s other projects “Sleeping Giants” will also include a second bonus disc, featuring a compilation of EMP and Combat Records artists, including LAST CRACK, DEAD BY WEDNESDAY, DOYLE, Mark Slaughter, RON KEEL BAND, HATCHET, WRATH, Marc Rizzo, and more.
Album was Produced by Ellefson and Thom Hazaert (who also provides vocals for the new tracks), with a multitude of guests, including legendary MC Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who shares vocals with Hazaert on the title track, Mark Tremonti, Eric “A.K” Knutson (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM), Ken Mary (ALICE COOPER, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM), Steve Conley (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, F5), Ethan Brosh, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (GUNS N’ ROSES), Dave Sharpe and Opus Lawrence of DEAD BY WEDNESDAY, Illias Papadakis (MEMORAIN), Dave McClain (MACHINE HEAD, SACRED REICH), Andy Martongelli (ALTITUDES AND ATTITUDE) and more, plus a remix by “Game Of Thones” star Kristian Nairn (HODOR), and unreleased songwriting demos featuring vocals by John Bush (ARMORED SAINT, ex-ANTHRAX), and David Glen Eisley (HOUSE OF LORDS, GIUFFRIA).
Disk 1
01. Vultures
02. Sleeping Giants (ft. DMC)
03. Hammer (Comes Down) (ft. Mark Tremonti, Chris Poland, and Eric AK)
04. Vultures (Kristian Nairn Remix)
05. If You Were God (ft. John Bush) *
F5 Demos
06. Deadman Rise
07. I Fall
08. Bleeding
09. Why Can’t We Die
10. Dying On The Vine
11. Faded
12. Undeniable
13. Feel Your Pain
14. Out In The Rain (ft. David Glen Eisley) *
15. Voices (ft. David Glen Eisley) *
* Previously unreleased demo
Disc 2: EMP/Combat Artist Sampler
01. LAST CRACK – “Golden Age”
02. CO-OP (ft. Joe Perry) – “Howl”
03. GREEN DEATH (ft. David Ellefson) – “Pure Torture”
04. SEMBLANT – “Scarlet Heritage – Legacy of Blood Pt. III”
05. HATCHET – “Back Into Dust”
06. MARC RIZZO – “Downside Up”
07. MARK SLAUGHTER – “Conspiracy”
08. DOYLE (ft. Alissa White-Gluz) – “Kiss Me As We Die”
09. DEAD BY WEDNESDAY – “You & Die”
10. EVIL UNITED (ft. Jason McMaster) – “Operation Overlord”
11. SUNFLOWER DEAD – “Turn Away” (Radio Edit)
12. ARISE IN CHAOS – “The Divine”
13. DOLL SKIN – “Daughter”
14. PSYKOTRIBE (ft. David Ellefson) – “End It”
15. ARCHER NATION – “Severed”
16. RON KEEL BAND – “Fight Like A Band”
17. WRATH – “Draw Blood
MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson has announced the release of “Sleeping Giants”, a companion LP to be released July 5th (CD/Digital, Aug 30th on LP) on Combat Records, in conjunction with his upcoming memoir “More Life With Deth”, in stores July 16th via Jawbone Press. Co-written with Ellefson’s business partner Thom Hazaert, “More Life With Deth” is the follow up to Ellefson’s celebrated “My Life With Deth”, and delves deeper into the later stages of Ellefson’s career, as well as a thorough exploration of the earliest days of Megadeth and beyond.
Featuring cover art by Melody Myers (Altitudes and Attitude, Marc Rizzo, Escape The Fate), “Sleeping Giants” will be a retrospective featuring several new tracks recorded by Ellefson and Hazaert, plus a collection of demos, and unreleased material, from F5 and David’s other projects, including the unreleased demo “If You Were God”, featuring John Bush (Anthrax, Armored Saint), plus several unreleased demos featuring House of Lords/Giuffria vocalist David Glen Eisley. The CD version will also include a second bonus disc, featuring a compilation of EMP and Combat Records Artists.
Produced by Ellefson and Hazaert, with additional production from ICON guitarist John Aquilino at the Platinum Underground in Phoenix, “Sleeping Giants” is tentatively set to include a multitude of guests including legendary MC Daryl “DMC” McDaniels, who shares vocals with Hazaert on the title track, Ken Mary (Alice Cooper, Flotsam and Jetsam), Steve Conley (Flotsam and Jetsam, F5), Ethan Brosh, Bumblefoot, Dave Sharpe and Opus Lawrence of Dead By Wednesday, Mark Tremonti, Juan Garcia (Abbatoir, Body Count), Illias Papadakis (Memorain), Dave McClain (Machine Head, Sacred Reich), a remix by Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn, and more.
Check out a teaser video of the title track at the link below:
Says Hazaert, “David and I were in Tampa for PBX – Playback Independent Music Expo, and had just finished an amazing run of BASSTORY, where I ended up performing with him, and several of our friends, including Bumblefoot, and Dave Sharpe and Opus from Dead By Wednesday. We capped it off with an amazing all-star BASSTORY jam at the Brass Mug in Tampa with Dirk Verbeuren, Troy Sanders from Mastodon, Jason Bieler of Saigon Kick, Head from Korn, Kyle Sanders from Hellyeah. It was insane. So, we went into a local studio, MASTERSOUND in Tampa, with the Dead By Wednesday guys, and ended up writing and tracking “VULTURES”.
He adds, “David had all these other amazing instrumental songs and parts, laying around, that I had always loved, and we just ended up getting a bunch of guests to play on them, polished some of them up, I wrote lyrics, laid down vocals, and the rest is history.”
Says Ellefson, “I love to collaborate and It’s timely and fitting to work up these song ideas with my friends, and get to break out and release some of these great demos and oddities from over the years, the stories behind many of which are told in the book. And to be able to include many of the EMP and COMBAT artists, I think it really brings another dimension to the stories we’re telling in More Life With Deth.”
Adds Hazaert, “It truly was just writing and making music from the purest place of writing and making music… like, buddies in the garage jamming on songs. And while everyone knows him as a bassist, David is such an incredible guitar player, and songwriter, and I love that we can finally showcase that. And to have a bunch of our friends who are IN the book play on it, and for me and David to collaborate the way we did. I think it’s really special. And, at first, we really didn’t know what to do with it, or if we would even do anything with it, for that matter. We’d discussed the idea of releasing the new tracks as singles, then an EP, and then we came up with the idea to create a sort of “island of misfit toys” b-sides release, with all this killer stuff David had been involved with over the years, and it really all just kinda fell into place.”
(Ellefson/Hazaert 2019)
1. Vultures
2. Sleeping Giants (ft. DMC).
3. Hammer Comes Down
4. Vultures (Kristian Nairn Remix) (Unreleased Demo)
4. If You Were God” (ft. John Bush) (F5 Demos)
5. Deadman Rise
6. I Fall
7. Bleeding
8. Why Can’t We Die
9. Dying on The Vine
10. Faded
11. Undeniable
12. Feel Your Pain (Unreleased Demos)
13. Out In The Rain (ft. David Glen Eisley)
14. Voices (ft. David Glen Eisley)
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)
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Former Megadeth, King Diamond guitarist Glen Drover. Drover spoke about his new Band/Project Walls of Blood and his new album Imperium which will be release February 22 2019 via Metalville. He also spoke about his days recording with Megadeth on United Abominations and King Diamond’s album House of God.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about his new project Walls of Blood
“I started this project about six years ago. What happened was for fun in between whatever I was doing at that point, I got Henning Basse (Firewind, Mayan) to sing an old Eidolon song that I’d always loved but unfortunately was destroyed by mediocre vocals. So I gave Henning the lyrics but not the original music, I didn’t want him to listen to the original melodies and he just loved it and we did the track and it came out killer. Then shortly after that I had started talking to Todd LaTorre from Queensryche and he said yeah let’s do a song. So I thought to myself you know what how about an album that’ll have multiple guest singers on it. Ten songs, ten different singers and that was the original design and that’s what ended up happening in the end. I think we did a good job and making everything sound real cohesive with all the different singers. It’s pure heavy metal, there’s some pretty heavy stuff on it you know, there’s a lot of melody too.”
When asked if he would Tour with Walls of Blood
“I compare my situation to Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, Jake formed a band and released an album that had different singers. I think he was testing the waters, since he had not been in the industry for sometime. Then he did a tour and it turned out really positive and then on Jake’s second album he decided just to have one singer and tour. I feel the same way let’s see how it goes on this album, test the waters and then I am open to anything that makes sense in regards to touring.”
When asked what he thinks of Megadeth’s United Abomination album today
“I think it came out really well, it’s a very strong album, there are songs on there that I favour more than others of course but overall I think it’s a great album. My favorite albums by Megadeth are the first three ones, especially So far So good, So What and Peace Sells But who’s Buying.”
When asked about his experience working on the album with Dave Mustaine and if Dave sang him the solos to reproduce
“Dave I got along with him really well, he wasn’t a taskmaster with me you know I always went in very prepared. I did my homework so much that he really didn’t question a whole lot. When it came to solos I would do something and then Dave would go why don’t you try something like this. Dave was not singing all the notes in the solos he was just kind of mimicked the melodies and the flow of the tempo of the solo. That’s what it was like for me I can only speak for myself. “
“I remember doing Sleepwalker, the first song on the album. By the way, that song wasn’t going to make the album thank god it did because it’s pretty much one of the very a few up-tempo tracks because there were too many mid-tempo songs and we needed something that was going to be more of a fast. But Dave didn’t want to do it. In the end what happened was me and Andy Sneap did a demo of it and sent it to the record company and they said yeah we’re using this one. So I guess Dave was overpowered on that sorry Dave but that’s how the story went.”
When asked about his experience working on the King Diamond album House of God
“It was amazed experience. How I got the gig was as I sent an audition tape in the early 90’s to their people while I was still living at home, I was really young. King liked it and we kept in contact and then the situation came up in 1997 and he called me and said you want a job and that was that. It was great everybody got along really well together. In the studio I just went in and had a lot of fun. They flew me into to Dallas and I spent two weeks just doing all my solos. I would do three or four songs a day and then I go back to the hotel that night and work out the songs for the next day and I go in. I also had a great time touring but my lifestyle had changed, I got married and I had a kid on the way, so I couldn’t just rely on the sporadic touring that would happen here and there.”
When asked if he had any regrets leaving King Diamond and Megadeth too soon
“For King Diamond I don’t have any regrets because I’m not sure how much of a difference it really would have made after I left King Diamond, their next album was Abigail two. Yeah it that came out okay but I would say the House of God album is a little stronger. For Megadeth there was issues that came up and I had to go at that point. I couldn’t have stayed any longer because of what was going on and I didn’t have any regrets. If I stayed in there longer there might have been more problems but I I left when I had to and that was that.”
WALLS OF BLOOD, “Imperium”, contains 10 songs of “high-class power metal,” with guest appearances by some of the genre’s most acclaimed vocalists, including Tim Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND).
Drover handled all guitars and keyboards on the album, while the drums were tracked by Scott Barrymore and bass by Chris Myles (except the songs “Discordia” and “Tarnished Dream”, which feature bass by Joe DiBiase). All music was recorded, produced and engineered by Drover at Eclipse Recording in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
“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 Nasse)
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)
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
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’:
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 