The UK's Most Dedicated Metal Blog
Out of nowhere, Xandria have seen an astronomical rise in popularity. Perhaps it is owed in part to a line-up change that saw popular Dianne van Giersbergen take charge on vocals, and a subsequent album that took Europe by storm. We speak to Marco Heubaum about Xandria’s future plans to revel in this found popularity!
Authenticity in the modern day has become somewhat of a misnomer. Able to mask technical shortcomings, abilities are enhanced with the use of the arrays of technology now readily available. Kindly sitting down with us shortly before their performance at London’s Underworld, we spoke to Ignite bassist Brett Rasmussen once again regarding not only their brand new album A War Against You but the sheer importance of being a real live band. In a day and age when it is all too easy to conceal faults with tricks, seeing a band perform live truly separates the men from the boys and for those who might have ever seen Ignite know just how crucial this can be…
The international symphonic metal maestros have just released a new album entitled ‘Codex Atlanticus’. What we weren’t expecting that it is an absolute stunner! We interview bass-man Fabio D’Amore to find out the more intimate details of the album and just what shaped such a fine effort.
Technology can very much be a double edged sword in the world of Metal. Owing to its recent decline in sales almost making years of work redundant however it has also given birth to an entirely new movement. Progressive Metal strives to be unique, creative and truly experimental. Releasing their third album last year, Tesseract are pioneers of the genre. Despite having only released three albums in their life span, bar a couple of EP’s the band’s musicality is absolutely limitless. Creating a compromise between the more progressive arc whilst retaining a memorable sense of melody the band are easily one of the most exciting musical projects to come out of Metal in a long time. Shortly before their set at London’s Koko, guitarist and all round good bloke James Monteith kindly took time out to speak to me about Polaris, Tesseract and their ethos and Cube II : Hypercube…
After returning with the what many people deem slightly lack lustre Back To The Front, Entombed A.D. perhaps began on a slight misfire. Now releasing their second effort under the A.D. monicker the band have well and truly delivered the goods. Speaking to legendary Death Metal vocalist and all around nice guy L.G. Petrov we went in to see just exactly makes not only a Death Metal vocalist tick but release a truly fantastic new record.
The nature of Progressive music is to question the etymologies of sound. Often breaking through the pertaining boundaries be it within musical composition, theoretical ideas or plain and simple musicianship. Set to release their brand new second album All That You Fear Is Gone (Feb 26th), Headspace are gearing up for a new chapter in their Prog life. We were very luckily able to speak to the delightful lead singer of Headspace, Damian Wilson. Among other we discussed the brand new album and its surrounding themes, what a band sounds like with such a vast and eclectic mix of musicians and of course the p word, Prog.
With a 30+ year career, Rage are undoubtedly the overlords of the heavy metal underworld. They may not be well known in certain parts of the world. But their influence is certainly tenable. Their future was cast into doubt last year when a sudden split upset many, but Rage have returned with a new line-up and the announcement of a brand new album. We spread our curiosities, along with many, about what exactly happened last year with the split, and also celebrate the new era of Rage.
Having been welcomed back to the Thrash Metal arena what seems like a lifetime ago with previous release Worship Music the silence will soon be broken to reveal the next stage in Anthrax’s plan. Back in November whilst on tour with Slayer we had the absolute delight of speaking with Joey Belladonna. Focusing primarily on brand new scintillating effort For All Kings, we spoke to the singer about what the recording process was like when creating the album. Giving a detailed account of what we can come to expect from a singing standpoint as well as what it was like incorporating new guitarist John Donais on the new record whilst also discuss classic Thrash origins and returns. Set to take the world by storm with For All Kings to be released in just two days time we welcome the new age of our five kings, this is Anthrax at their best.