The Metal Voice recently interviewed Udo and Sven Dirkschnider where they both talked about their decision of re-recording of Accept’s classic album BALLS TO THE WALL.
The album will be released February 28, 2025 via Reigning Phoenix Music.
Udo was asked by The Metal Voice why they decided to re-rerecord the Ball to the Wall album he said, “It was not planned (the Album). We were just planning do a 4 year anniversary of Balls to the Wall on tour and some festivals (playing the whole album). A lot of singers came up to us and said are you doing anything special for the 40 Years of of ‘Ball to the wall’ and I said we are planning a tour (playing all the songs off the album) and then they came up and said I would really love to sing a song on that Album. So I thought to myself this album to touch it again is very critical and criminal, this is like the holy cow of Accept. So then we were sitting down and thinking and saying okay what can we do? If we do it we do it with guest singers. So then we made a list with all the singers we had in mind and started talking to the record company and of course the record company always said wow yeah great idea. For me I’m happy that we did the whole thing. I’m really happy with the result.
The result is a tribute to the history of heavy metal and proof of how enduring and inspiring this album remains, even four decades later.
Balls To The Wall feat. Joakim Broden 5:46 London Leatherboys feat. Biff Byford 4:00 Fight It Back feat. Mille Petrozza 3:44 Head Over Heels feat. Nils Molin 4:21 Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had feat. Michael Kiske 4:52 Love Child feat. Ylva Eriksson 3:42 Turn Me On feat. Danko Jones 5:17 Losers And Winners feat. Dee Snider 4:21 Guardian Of The Night feat. Tim Ripper Owens 4:25 Winter Dreams feat. Doro Pesch
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Tobias Sammet about his upcoming album AVANTASIA album HERE BE DRAGONS which will be released on Feb 28, 2025 on NAPALM RECORDS.
Also in the chat Tobias talks about Avantasia’s origins and guest singers over the years.
When asked about why he first started Avantasia “I wanted to work with other people, not that I didn’t like working with my band fellows. I wanted to look outside the box and see what else I could experience and learn. I wanted to work with Michael Kiske (Helloween) because he had turned his back on heavy metal and apparently they didn’t want to reunite with Helloween (Laughs). They didn’t want to make a reunion so I said okay somebody’s gotta do it so let me do it. I was a huge fan of Michael Kiske. I’m still to this day and so that was one of the reasons why I did it was because I wanted to have Michael Kiske sing my songs. Classical double bass beat power metal songs. I also wanted to work with Bob Catley and David DeFeis and yeah just do an album and look outside the box. I knew his (Micahel Kiske) fan club president and I said like if you could pass on the message that that I have a couple of songs, I’m a real nice guy, I’m not a Satanist and also have a little budget so um if he here’s my number. And he called me we just talked and we liked each other. He’s a very lovely person and he’s a very good friend now. We hit it off really well and that was the starting point. That was a big important thing about the first Avantasia album. Michael Kiske is the only one who’s been on every Avantasia record so far except for me Bob Catley who was on everyone since the second one which was recorded at the same time as the first one so technically Bob Catley has been there from the start.”
When asked why Michael Kiske wanted to be called Ernie on the first album “That was his own idea back in the day. I wanted to have Michael Kiske and I said I want you to be on the record because you mean so much to me and I made the big mistake telling him like even if I didn’t have your name it’s not because of your name it’s you could be called anything. I just want you and your voice and he said okay then let’s call me Ernie on the record and he put it in the contract. I said are you serious, Ernie? I mean why don’t we just call you Joe Vocal or whatever but no no let’s do it Ernie, that’s his sense of humor. I said okay Ernie and Bert, great let’s do it. He (Michael Kiske) was hesitant I believe back in the day because he had announced in advance that he would never return to metal again and metal was music of the devil and you know and it was all said and done back in the 80s. He will never return, his heart is elsewhere and all of a sudden he returns to the metal scene appearing on a Metal Opera with Kai Hansson and Markus Grosskopf appearing on nine songs singing Speed metal songs. He probably thought people would think that’s weird with everything he said in advance so he said let’s call me Ernie. So we did it and everybody knew oh Michael Kiske (on the record). So on the second record I asked him like I mean it’s still in the contract but do you seriously want to be called Ernie again everybody knows and he said and why don’t we just go with Michael Kiske (laughs).”
[Artwork by Rodney Matthews]
Here Be Dragons Tracklist: 1 Creepshow 2 Here Be Dragons 3 The Moorland At Twilight 4 The Witch 5 Phantasmagoria 6 Bring On The Night 7 Unleash The Kraken 8 Avalon 9 Against The Wind 10 Everybody’s Here Until The End
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy about reuniting with band and the bands new album Parasomnia, which was released on Century media Feb 7, 2025.
When asked about singer James Labrie’s health (as the had to cancel a show) “He’s okay, we’re in Biloxi (Mississippi) today and it looks like the show will go on. So he is doing much better. He really was in bad shape yesterday and couldn’t even speak so unfortunately we had a situation where we had to pull the plug on the show which you know I don’t know if that’s ever even happened with us. Sometimes these things happen. You know a singer’s instrument is their voice and sometimes if you’re really sick, I mean he literally couldn’t even speak, so it was it was rough but the show will go on today in Biloxi.”
When asked now that he is back in Dream Theater does he have less responsibilities, overall “Well things are delegated a lot more now than they were in my first round. Back before 2010 I was pretty much overseeing like everything and after a while it started to become a little overwhelming. Once I left obviously the bands divided up the responsibilities and delegated things. And now coming back it just took a little time to figure out who was going to do what. I think we got a real good system (now) and everybody’s a lot more involved than when I used to be back in my first time around. So it’s definitely more of a you know a band dynamic in that sense.”
When asked what was the specific moment where he knew he wanted to be back in Dream Theater “There wasn’t a specific moment, it was a culmination of a lot of smaller moments. I had reconnected with all the guys on a personal level so we were all in very good places personally. Then I had been connecting on a musical level with John Petrucci for his solo album and tour and then along with John (Petrucci) and Jordan (Rudess) together to do a third Liquid Tension Experiment album. So all these little kinds of baby steps kind of led the way and uh ultimately um here we are.”
When asked if their absence as the classic line-up made the heart grow fonder “Absence does make the heart grow fonder there’s no question about it. I think the time away we really learned to appreciate how special this chemistry of this lineup is. We now feel it now making the new album and now being on tour celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary. So this lineup is really like the classic lineup. We made so many memories through the years together with this lineup and so much music but yeah we all are so happy to be back together again.”
When asked how he feels about performing live the songs he was not on, like Barstool Warrior (Mangini era) “It was important to me, believe it or not. I’m the one that writes the set list and these guys gave me full on freedom when it came to the Mangini era material. I knew it had to be represented, you can’t just brush away five albums from these guys career because I’m back. It would have been pretty selfish and disrespectful. It wasn’t even considered to not be playing that material. Like I said they gave me the freedom to pick and choose songs that I could relate to and be comfortable with. When you come see the live show it sits right in the middle of the set very comfortably with everything else that is part of my catalog. “
When asked about a slight nod to Rush on the new album Parasomnia “There’s always Rush in every song Dream Theater has ever written throughout our entire career dating Back 40 years ago to the very first Majesty demos. Rush has always been our biggest collective influence. so yeah there’s no question that that stuff comes through. I mean there’s some riffs in The Shadow Man Incident that sound like it could have been off a Hemisphere or Permanent Waves and Night Terror has got a whole big kind of 7/8 section which is very Natural Science, so yeah I mean that stuff inevitably comes through no matter what.”
Track list 01 – In The Arms Of Morpheus 5:23 02 – Night Terror 9:55 03 – A Broken Man 8:30 04 – Dead Asleep 11:06 05 – Midnight Messiah 7:58 06 – Are We Dreaming 1:28 07 – Bend The Clock 7:24 08 – The Shadow Man Incident 19:32
James LaBrie – Vocals John Petrucci – Guitar John Myung – Bass Jordan Rudess – Keyboards Mike Portnoy – Drums
The Metal Voice recently interviewed with former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes on a live youtube stream/ chat. In the interview Holmes talked about his upcoming Canadian East tour and his exclusive W.A.S.P. setlist in select cities, as well as talked about the W.A.S.P. live and studio albums he played and did not play on.
Chris Holmes was asked by a fan (Charles) why he doesn’t perform live any of the songs from the three reunion (WASP) albums (K.F.D 1997, Helldorado 1999, Unholy Terror 2001). Holmes said, “I didn’t write any of the songs, I didn’t play any of the music there. I didn’t play any of the guitar. I think I played a solo on one of the songs. Blackie thought he could play guitar good. You can listen to the guitar work, it’s not me. Why is my name there I don’t know? But I didn’t play guitar on those albums. ” He continued,” There was a live one. I obviously played the live one, the Double Live Assassins (1998). I had to play on that but I hate to tell you this if you believe me or not it wasn’t live. None of it was live. We recorded it in the studio. They just put it in a loop (Audience sound). Do you think WASP is going to play that perfect, no mistakes, live come on. Live albums you’re going to hear mistakes no matter what. If you’re a professional and you play guitar, professionals will make a mistake but it will be covered it up so you don’t know. He continued,” You think the first (WASP LIVE ALBUM, Live in the Raw 1987) was live? You got another thing coming dude. Before the San Diego show, the drums were live but we were not in front of an audience. We came into soundcheck with a mobile recording unit, recorded everything straight. So we got the drums and we went and recorded everything after that (in studio), the crowd was on a loop. I’m telling you the truth.”
Live… in the Raw is the first live album released in 1987 Double Live Assassins released in 1998
Canadian EAST 2025 Tour
March 19 – Piranha Bar, Montreal, QC (V.I.P. Clinic and Live Q and A, exclusive short set ) 20 – La Maison – Cornwall, ON 21 – The Rockpile, Toronto, ON 22 – The Rockpile, Toronto, ON (Special W.A.S.P. Show) 27 – L’Anti, Quebec, QC 28 – Piranha, Montreal, QC Full Show W.A.S.P. Set List 29 – Elks Lodge, North Bay, ON 30 – Brass Monkey, Ottawa, ON
The Metal Voice recently interviewed Lacuna Coil Singer Cristina Scabbia.
Scabbia talked about the bands upcoming studio album Sleepless Empire which will be released February 14 2025 via Century Media. Plus she talks about technology, Social media and recalls working with Dave Mustaine on A Tout le Monde which she contributed vocals back in 2007 on a remake of the song on the Megadeth’s album United Abominations.
When asked about the new album Sleepless Empire musical direction “It’s probably a very balanced record that brings you stuff from the past but it’s very present and future orientated. It’s a weird mixture that brings more heavy stuff because that’s what we like. Instead of going softer we’re going the other way because that’s what we like for personal taste and I think it’s working really well. The songs that we put out are having a great feedback and we’re happy.”
When asked how they go about choosing Death and clean metal vocals on their songs “There are some parts that are calling your voices. I mean Andrea (Ferro) has a very strong, very powerful voice that makes sense in the aggressive parts and the heaviest parts of the songs. My voice is more angelic, epic, melodic in a way so obviously it helps more to open up some parts and make them even more dreamy or atmospheric. We don’t sit down and share vocal parts getting jealous about oh you sung three choruses and I sung four verses. We don’t care. It’s the song calling for your (type of) voice and if you look at it the voices are instruments that you can add to every composition.”
When asked about her singing with Dave Mustaine on A Tout Le Monde in 2007 on Megadeth’s United Abominations ” I remember we didn’t meet before the recording. All I had was the original version that I already loved, so I had to create from scratch harmonization’s and embellishments. I worked with (producer) Andy Sneap. I went to the studio and I stayed there for a couple of days. I arrived in the evening. I spent one day recording everything that I had in mind or Andy had in mind. So we gave all the recorded material to Dave and Megadeth and then they did the mixing the way they wanted to. But I basically re-sung exactly what Dave was singing. I did all the harmonization’s I did some oohh and ahhh without Really knowing what they wanted from it because the communication was made through email. When my management asked me to sing with them I said immediately yes because it was a such a cool experience and a privilege and I love that song. But then after a while I went to Los Angeles and they were filming the video (for the song) and that’s exactly when I met (Dave Mustaine and Megadeth) for the very first time. The video was filmed in two days. I did all my filming in the second day and the first one was the band performance, so I went to the place where they were filming and I started to talk to Dave and he was super cool and super kind. Then we went on tour a couple of times together. I didn’t know what to expect (meeting Dave Musatine) because you know many people have different ideas of Dave so I was just like oh my God I was almost afraid to meet him and he was a super gentle sweetheart. I remember the first day on tour with him he left a bottle of champagne with a us and a note ,thank you for being on tour with us. It was super nice, he we asked him to take a picture with all the band and he was happy to do it. I remember that he only got pissed with me once. I remember that he threw a party after one of the gig, it was just like okay let’s organize a margarita party something like this for all the group, of all the Tour, all the bands., to create an event that would bring us all together. I remember that there was metal music blasting but after a while I got tired because I love metal music but to me party music it’s another type of music sometimes. So I was just like okay let’s change a little bit let’s put you know I don’t know from music from the 70s and or some disco music and he just looked at me like so pissed. (laughs). But he did give me one of his guitars to thank me for singing a song with him. I remember that he came with two guitars, one was the angel of death and the other one was a guitar with all artwork of United Abomination and he asked me to choose. I was just like I am in one of the albums but the other one is the Angel of death! “
Two nights only (Jan 29-30, 2025) at the world famous Place Des Arts Centre (Wilfrid Pelletier Hall), It’s Voivod meets The Montreal Symphony Orchestra for the first time, conducted by Dina Gilbert. It’s Progressive Thrash, meets Class. Today we talk opening night.
Voivod, hailing from Jonquière, Quebec 43 years ago now based in Greater Montreal, with the present line-up consisting of guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (2008–present), bassist Dominic “Rocky” Laroche (2014–present) and co-founders vocalist Denis “Snake” Bélanger and, drummer Michel “Away” Langevin. The band found mainstream success in the late 1980s with their fifth studio album Nothingface (1989). However nothing has stopped this band’s upwards global momentum in the past decade and a testament to this are accolades such as the band winning the “Visionary” award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. In 2019, Voivod’s fourteenth studio album, The Wake, winning the Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year and in 2023 another Juno for Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year’ Category For ‘Synchro Anarchy’
The band musically has never stopped evolving, changing and mutating, always putting the band musical challenges first and foremost and their fans joining them on their ride. The constant pivoting of the band also led them premiering their long anticipated documentary last year entitled WE ARE CONNECTED at the Fantasia Festival documenting the band’s journey to the present times. (more to come on that)
So this is where we are today, Voivod taking on yet another musical challenge of fusing their world, with the classical world.
I will be honest when the idea came out that Vovoid would do a symphonic performance I may have paused for a second saying, wha?? But as the idea settled it all seemed so clear, welcoming and exciting. The band’s music may sound punky, alternative and thrashy to the layman but when you peel away the layers of Voivod music the core is intricate, progressive, epic and precise. Which is exactly what Classical music is as well.
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Ads
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
Kimmo Kuusniemi's Ancient Streaming Assembly - 'Perpetuae Memoriae', ft. Tuomas Rounakari + Steve Di Giorgio - Click image to watch the video
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 