FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
There is something solid, straightforward, almost wholesome about 3 Inches of Blood’s brand of traditional heavy metal that is particularly satisfying. Cam Pipes sang about orcs and hammers while unleashing a series of throaty old-school wails—what was there not to love?
Natalie Zed reviews the May 13th Toronto performance by 3 Inches of Blood and Goatwhore at the Mod Club
Overkill focused upon their latest effort, Ironbound, clearly one of their best albums in years, and one of the best albums of the year thus far. And they did justice to classics like “Hello From the Gutter” and “Elimination.”
“Israel is not an easy place for a normal life, but OL’s music can emerge only from a place such as the Holy Land. The multi cultural life here, being a spiritual center, a center of religious wars and conflicts and even being a Jewish back to his homeland after 2,000 years. I’m in a heaven of inspiration.
Being an artist is always a struggle, especially in a country where the army is needed much more than art. Sometimes it’s very hard for us to get support or any attention to what we have to say. It’s a sacrifice and a choice we took, so we don’t complain. At the end of the day, I feel lucky to have a band and to give people some hope and moments of happiness.”
Adam Wills in conversation with Orphaned Land mastermind Kobi Farhi about their latest album, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR.
The answer to whether or not a listener is satisfied by We Are The Void will boil down to individual taste; some will find it phenomenal and some will find the offering paltry and mawkish.
“Our band’s name has closed many doors for bigger success,” admit Sakis. “Some of our shows have been canceled, some of the distributors didn’t accept our albums due to our name, we’ve even received death threats…but we keep on rocking with this song. We keep on punching conservative ideas and opening new paths in the name of freedom. And do you know something? I think that it’s better that we didn’t get more success and become commercial! That would mean that we would have betrayed our roots and betrayed ourselves…and this is a vanity.”
Metal George Pacheco in conversation with Rotting Christ frontman Sakis Tolis about their first twenty years as Greece’s most well-known black metal band.
Combining world music sounds (steel drums, tubular bells, an orchestra, occasionally and a barge-load of goth-sounding synths) with giant and meticulously executed black/death/math metal guitars, Finntroll (literally, the translation is ‘Finn Troll,’ taken from an old Finnish folk legend) come off sounding like the most cinematic and archaic metal band of all time as songs like “Solsagan,” “Ett Norrkensdad” and “I Trädens Säng”bludgeon out a sound that is equal parts European folk, metal and industrial and all aggressive as hell.
Hellbound’s two-part interview with Celtic Frost and Triptykon founder Tom Gabriel Fischer continues. Today, Fischer talks about his signature guitar sound; composing several tracks on the new album; his relationship with Martin Eric Ain and what will be included in Triptykon’s set list.
When you were working on Triptykon’s debut what was
`I didn’t just leave Celtic Frost in the heat of the moment. It took an immeasurable amount of personal problems for me to walk out of my own band. I was the main songwriter in Celtic Frost. We worked for so many years to achieve the status that we only achieved at the very end. It was difficult to let that go on every level.`
Justin M. Norton interviews metal mastermind Thomas Gabriel Fischer about his new outfit Triptykon and the incidents surrounding its formation and the break up of Celtic Frost
Unleashed’s tried and true formula is a simple yet very effective one: big, meaty old school death riffs, songs that engage audiences instead of challenge, and loads and loads of good, old fashioned Viking shtick, thicker and tackier than Mackintosh toffee. It’s been done to death to the point where Unleashed couldn’t be more predictable, but from 1991’s seminal “The Dark One” to 2004’s brilliant return to form “The Longships Are Coming”, this is one band where we’re totally willing to ignore their lack of new ideas, and simply relax and have fun.
Boasting the most robust guitar tone of the band’s career, Trouble shifted to a riff-heavy approach and embraced the almighty groove. Trouble did not abandon its zeal for all things 70s so much as it reconciled this enthusiasm with a straight-up metallic punch. However, what truly allowed Plastic Green Head to stand out was its songwriting.