Demon, please leave my mind… Delusional fight… Beaten, feel so traumatized… Outraged and down…
As June in the Northern Hemisphere is always splendid, our metal lady of such a warm and vibrant month also had to be a splendid one. However, you’re absolutely wrong if you think she sings about happiness and joy. Quite the contrary, she doesn’t care if it’s sunny and warm outside, delivering a Stygian blend of Atmospheric Black and Doom Metal with her band powerful enough to block the sun like a true sonic eclipse. Her name is Kristien Cools, the frontwoman for Belgian doom entity Splendidula, and you better be ready because once you enter her realm of gloomy and visceral doom, there’s no escape.
Born on September 22, 1985 in Mol, a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, but currently residing in Temse, a municipality in East Flanders, Belgium, Kristien is not only a metal vocalist, but she’s also a digital creator and a financial assistant. Regarding her studies, she went to the Provincial Kunsthumaniora Hasselt (PIKOH), to SISA in Antwerp, and also studied Desktop Publishing at CVO Heusden-Zolder. In addition, she’s is in a relationship with Belgian musician Joachim Taminau, who’s by the way the drummer for Splendidula.
Kristien said that she already started singing from the very first moment she could, already as a young child. Even back then she said “I’m going to be a singer,” and she has stuck to that ever since. “I was in my first band when I was 17, with which I did gigs and recorded a CD. Splendidula is definitely the band where things got more serious. I actually waited a very long time before taking singing lessons, but I once read an article about a singing teacher who teaches the technique for heavier singing in a healthy way, and that piqued my interest.”
Effortlessly blending genres to create a unique and captivating sound while dealing with delicate topics such as spirituality, depression, nightmares and death, Temse, Belgium-based Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal entity Splendidula started back in 2008, but none of the founding members are part of the band anymore. As a matter of fact, the band only released their debut self-titled album in 2013, already including Kristien on vocals, but with a completely different lineup with David Vandegoor and Adriaan Paszewski on the guitars, Jo Flemings on bass, and Patrick Vanderhenst on drums. After that, already featuring Joachim Taminau on drums (as well as other band members), the band released the albums Post Mortem, in 2018, and Somnus, in 2021.
Things unfortunately took a dark turn for Splendidula in 2022 with the passing of bassist Peter Chromiak, who played with the band in the albums Post Mortem and Somnus. Both guitarists at that time, Pieter Houben and David Vandegoor, found it impossible to carry on and Kristien and Joachim had to find new band members. After guitarist Guy Van Campenhout joined the band, and with the departures of guitarist Kim Van Stichel and bassist Bart Deroissart, they released their 2026 opus Absentia, a deeply personal journey through themes of loss and remembrance, available on BandCamp and on Spotify. Furthermore, in all of their albums you’ll find really touching, grim and scathing creations such as Absentia, Echoes of Quiet Remain, Behind My Semblance, Oculus, and Drocht.
According to the band, their name is derived from “lamprohiza splendidula,” the Latin name for “firefly,” aiming to represent the mysterious and peaceful feeling that these insects express when they fly around trees or float over water at night. Sitting at the crossroads of Atmospheric Black Metal and Doom Metal, the band blends the raw intensity of Black Metal with the deep, immersive atmosphere of Doom Metal, and while classic influences are certainly present, their focus is on crafting a layered, emotional experience. The combination of visceral screams, ethereal synths, and heavy instrumentation builds an atmosphere that is both intense and hypnotic, as their music is all about emotion and immersion, drawing the listener into the darkness they create.
Kristien also had some interesting comments about the music style played by Splendidula in one of her interviews. “We actually started writing music without wanting to play a particular genre. For us, the atmosphere that a song radiates is more important than whether or not we fit into the box we’re put into. During this process, we’ve evolved to a sound with a typical Doom metal base, accompanied by different influences from Sludge, Post and Black Metal. In this way we’re not limited to the boundaries of a particular genre. We want to continue evolving and explore musical boundaries, without standing still, and of course we hope that our audience will show the willingness to grow with us.” Regarding the band’s usually bleak artworks, she mentioned that the band decided to go for a really somber, yet very meaningful style of monochromatic art, to connect further with the concept of dreaming. “Actually a part of the population dreams solely in black and white, and a lot of theories suggest that people tend to dream in black and white when they experience something traumatic. After overcoming that difficult period, colours are gradually returning. We found this connection between dreams and reality very intriguing.”
Although Splendidula is obviously Kristien’s only band, you can also find her as a guest vocalist for the song Of Winter’s Woe and Whishes Whispered, from the 2021 album Prelude to Void, and all female vocals in the 2022 album A Voidchaser’s Elegy, both by German Ambient Doom/Post-Metal act Eirð, with her delicate yet visceral vocals matching perfectly with the long composition by the band’s mastermind Andreas Georg Libera, going on for over 10, 15 and even 20 minutes. I’m sure we’ll see more special appearances from Kristien in the near future for other bands that play Black, Death, Doom, Post-Metal, or any other subgenre of extreme music, as her voice fits perfectly in any of the darkest styles in Heavy Metal.
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Within the Black Metal spectrum, Kristien said that some of her major musical influences are renowned acts the likes of Rotting Christ, Wiegedood, Austere, Hecate Enthroned, and Urfaust, among several others, saying she’s always been drawn to Atmospheric Black Metal. “There’s something about the darkness and atmosphere that truly moves me. It’s more than just music, it’s an emotional experience. Outside of metal, my ‘feel-good’ music is New Wave and EBM, as I love the melancholic yet danceable energy these styles bring. I listen to many genres, what truly matters is that the music evokes emotion,” she commented.
As the band wanted to dedicate Absentia to their deceased bassist Peter Chromiak, and as Kristien was looking for a way to express her emotions even further, that album is the one where you’ll find her most aggressive vocals, having received lots of tips on how to properly venture through the realms of screaming and guttural singing. “Personally, I like to be able to vary as much as possible, both the low and high vocals, and now with the screams added, so that people stay captivated, and for me that is interesting too, of course.” Not only that, she mentioned that the band’s creative process includes writing the music first, starting from a basic riff in the rehearsal room, and then experimenting with song structures and implementing some of their personal influences, which is when she begins crafting her vocal lines as well. “Remarkably, I usually create my vocals while driving the car. Belgian traffic jams seem to be the perfect occasion to play some rehearsal recordings and start singing along. In this way I often create melodies very instinctively, and only at the very last stage, these melodies are also accompanied by written words.”
Needless to say, Kristien loves to perform live, having already played in different Belgian cities like Antwerp, as well as outside of their homeland, and at Belgium’s second-largest metal festival, Alcatraz. Furthermore, when asked how she would determine the setlist when Splendidula is scheduled for a 30 or 40-minute slot anywhere, taking into account their songs are long and detailed (sometimes surpassing the nine-minute mark), she said that can be a bit of a puzzle, but in the end everything makes sense and the show flows really well. Also, as the band consistently uses visuals in the background, like video footage, to create the perfect atmosphere and give their concerts a more theatrical vibe, there’s always lot of work to be done by Kristien and the boys, but it’s all worth it as the audiences love every single second of their performances.
Lastly, as a Belgian citizen that’s proud of the metal scene in her homeland, Kristien recommends Antwerp’s own Doom/Death Metal band Marche Funèbre, who by the way released the amazing album After the Storm, in 2024; West Flanders-based Atmospheric Death/Black Metal act Thurisaz, who unfortunately played their last concert on December 6, 2024 in Kortrijk, Belgium, before calling it quits; and Mechelen’s own Atmospheric Sludge/Post-Metal band Pothamus, who released in 2025 the album Abur. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see Kristien as a guest vocalist for one of these bands, or any other band from the darkest and most melancholic side of music, right? Because we need more of the voice of Kristien Cools in our rotten and decaying world, as her singing is as comforting as it’s dark and gloomy.
Tomorrow’s song will never sound again… Silence reigns in the hall of the dead…
Let’s set fire to the always vibrant month of May here on The Headbanging Moose with a multi-talented lady that lives and breathes music and arts in general. Just like Midas, it looks like everything she touches turns into gold, or maybe I should say Heavy Metal gold, as all of her bands, projects and contributions sound, look and feel phenomenal. She’s the face of the amazing extreme bands Withered Land and Monumentum Damnati, while also involved in several other musical projects, not to mention she also produces music videos, album artworks and booklets, and she plays most of the instruments used within her genres. You’ll be absolutely stunned after knowing more about Olga Kann, also known as Ольга Канн or Volha Aleksandrovna Kandziuryna, an unstoppable Belarusian artist who surely makes the world of heavy music a much better, more fun and more interesting place.
Born on April 21, 1992 in Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha rivers, the beyond talented Olga creates music that is both beautiful and chilling to the listener, never following the same formula nor sticking to any specific metal or non-metal genre or subgenre. It was in the year of 2020 when Olga founded her main project, the stunning Epic/Symphonic Black/Doom Metal entity Withered Land, an original blend of extreme music styles inspired by the achievements of the Scandinavian scene, the atmosphere of Summoning’s music, folk, and a fantasy world ambiance. As the sole member of Withered Land, Olga can not only sing, but she also plays bass, keyboards, kantele, tagelharpa, and she’s also responsible for all songwriting, lyrics, artworks, designs and booklets, with only the guitars and drums being played by guest musicians in her albums.
When asked about what inspired her to start Withered Land, she said that some developments were many years old, but basically the conceptual canvas was completed in a relatively short time. “I’m a big fan of ‘depressive seasons’. Ordinary life falls asleep and archaic creativity awakens. So, one Autumn/Winter I again had an irresistible feeling that it was time to bring this project to light. Cold, lifeless gusts of wind swaying the twisted branches of trees on the devastated ground. I looked again at the devastating motives, and melodies swarmed in my head. Walking through the snow-covered, fluffy snow-white forests, epic-ness was added, and sublime feelings took me far from here in my thoughts,” commented our Queen of Snow. “This is not my first project (and not my last). But it is special to me in many ways. Here, as in no other place, the burden of choice rests solely with me. What can I say? Art is my gift and my curse. If you objectively look at the world, I live a little, I constantly create. For yourself or for others. This is my Sisyphean stone I constantly raise uphill.”
To date, Olga and her alter-ego Withered Land have unleashed upon us mere mortals two full-length albums, plus a few singles before the official album release dates. In 2021 her debut full-length offering, entitled The Endless Journey, saw the light of day (or the dark of night, whichever you prefer), with songs like Over Distant Shores embracing us all in absolute darkness. In it, a fearless but wounded warrior fights in his main battle, for his life, being on his own kind of esoteric journey on the other side of consciousness. On his way he will meet the mighty mountains, cold rocks and distant shores, but no one knowns if his spirit will be able to return to the world of the living. “I was waiting for that moment in my life when my experience, accumulated over the years, will allow me to create those arrangements, go to that production to release this material. I don’t think it’s the perfect version of that album, but it’s definitely perfect for that moment. With all its shortcomings and virtues, this is selfless love like between mother and child.”
Regarding her sophomore album, Hall of the Dead takes the listener to a world of fantasy, presenting rich, monumental arrangements reminiscent of Summoning, being neatly crafted and forming a cohesive whole. “The album was originally conceived as a concept album. I try to make all my albums, including the albums for other projects, not as a best-of collection, but as a complete work, united by a concept or a single narrative. This is a powerful source of inspiration, allowing you to experience the music and lyrics from beginning to end, making the story as honest as possible. On the other hand, this can impose certain limitations. But I think a concept, or at least a general mood, is important for an album as a format; otherwise, it would simply be a compilation album, in my opinion,” she commented. “The album’s overall concept revolves around death, about the inevitability of fate, the suffering of a wandering warrior. About the cycle of things in nature and the cyclical nature of existence. About the fate of kings and simple beggars; the hall of the dead awaits everyone.”
According to Olga, while the debut album by Withered Land featured more of a journey, a prologue of sorts, Hall of the Dead is undoubtedly a descent. Furthermore, her sophomore album also represents a much richer, more textured offering by our she-wolf, with her core Black Metal being enriched with touches of Dungeon Synth and Viking Metal, for example. “It’s very important to me to make the material not standard black metal, but to introduce various elements that will help immerse you in the story in a more engaging way. To combine new combinations, without regard for fashion or tradition. I love the atmosphere of dungeon synth, as well as the melodic/pagan feel reflected in Viking stuff. In general, an idea or concept is born first, and then the style is formed. It would be wrong to box myself in and limit my creative imagination. I follow what comes from within.”
One of the best songs in Hall of the Dead is undoubtedly All Dead, All Rotten, inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. ‘’This is the only track on this album focused on Tolkien’s worlds, specifically the history of the Dead Marshes. It shares a common theme with the other tracks: tragic deaths, desolation, and devastation. Echoes of a bitter past hang in the air as the listener slowly wanders through a hazy halo. The bitter fate of people, warriors, no matter who won the battle, the price was high, and in the end, none of it mattered. Such things should never happen again, but they always do,” commented our talented she-demon. Other amazing songs from the album are the title-track Hall of the Dead, Through the Winterhold’s Blizzard, and Dark Pale Winter, and don’t forget to check Withered Land on BandCamp and Spotify as well to enjoy all of the project’s other songs.
After the release of Hall of the Dead, fans worldwide started to ask if Olga and her Withered Land would bring the power and darkness of the studio to the stages, and everyone was extremely excited when she confirmed she already had a live lineup and was planning some shows. However, she confirmed she wouldn’t be doing any extensive or exhausting tours. “I’m quite a flighty person, and given the right amount of energy, health, and desire, I can take on many adventures. But for now, I’d like to focus on studio work, streaming, building a community around my work, playing concerts in my country, and, if possible, going to major festivals abroad.”
Olga is also involved with another amazing project, the international Melodic Doom/Death Metal act named Monumentum Damnati, a Latin phrase that roughly translates to “Monument of the Damned,” alongside the mysterious vocalist Thanatos. Olga, who goes by the moniker Abhoth in this case, takes care of all guitars, bass, keyboards and drums in Monumentum Damnati, as well as the artworks and booklet layouts, focusing on horror, philosophical themes, mythology, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and more, having released with the band so far the albums In the Tomb of a Forgotten King, in 2020, when she only played bass, and From Beyond, in 2025, already taking care of the guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and kantele, not to mention she’s also responsible for the songwriting and lyrics on both albums.
In addition, she has also started to put more focus on her solo career as well, and you can already find on BandCamp and on Spotify her very first album of covers dedicated to some of the biggest names of the genre in history (played on unusual, old instruments from Northern Europe, such as the kantele, tagelharpa, and flute), titled Ethnic Black Metal vol. 1, including her personal and heartfelt rendition of the songs For All Tid by Dimmu Borgir, The Legend of the Master-Ring by Summoning, Dunkelheit by Burzum, Nostalgia by Nocturnal Depression, Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels by Silence, Expandera by Lifelover, Freezing Moon by Mayhem, and Längtar Bort Från Mitt Hjärta by Shining. “To be honest, recording covers always seemed like a wild idea to me. However, it turned out to be a fun and interesting experience, at the very least. I also managed to create unique arrangements rather than rerecording identical to the original material. I wanted to give myself a break from my own material and return with a renewed mindset. And perhaps one of the best ways to do this was to use ethnic instruments.”
Another one of her bands is Bleeding Malice, a Dark Deathcore project formed at the beginning of 2020 by Olga Kann on bass and Alex Rabets on vocals, combining elements of Hardcore, Deathcore and Metalcore while the lyrics contain social issues, philosophy and religion, and psycho-emotional experiences. To date, the duo has unleashed upon humanity the 2021 album Thy Kingdom Come, available on BandCamp and on Spotify, and you can enjoy some of their videos on YouTube including Thy Kingdom Come, Stillborn Hope, and The Last Prayer. There’s also a very cool footage of The Last Prayer live at Cerberus Fest in 2024, where you can see how badass Olga is onstage armed with her bass and vocals.
As if Withered Land, Monumentum Damnati and Bleeding Malice weren’t enough, Olga also formed another project named Cryo Depth in 2020, blending Dark Ambient with Drone, vintage horror, neoclassical, cinematic and space music, inspired by games such as Stalker, Resident Evil 4, Outlast, Clive Barker’s Undying, Amnesia, Scratches, Silent Hill, Penumbra, and Sublustrum, having released so far three full-length albums, those being Monolith (2020), The Haunted Stories (2021), and Gravedigger’s Diary: The Lurking Fear (2023), plus a few more recent singles, all available on YouTube, on BandCamp and on Spotify. If you want to check her latest singles, you can check the official videos for Witnesses Of Our Decay and Dead Whispers, both featuring Shane Beck (The Last American Poet) on vocals. But wait, as there’s more, as she’s also the mastermind behind Symphonic/Technical Death Metal band Life for Ner’zhul, having founded the project in 2025. Labeling Life for Ner’zhul as “Warcraftian Extreme Metal,” she released the debut single The Scourge Of Lordaeron in the middle of 2025, but nothing else since then. And as a guest musician, she recorded the kantele in the single Живое (Alive) together with Russian Melodic/Progressive Power Metal band Winteria. All of her bands and projects can be found by clicking HERE, and I bet we’ll see a lot more from Olga in several other interesting musical endeavors in the near future.
As already mentioned, Olga is also an accomplished and extremely creative designer and artist, having already taken care of countless artworks, booklets and even music videos for an array of very distinct bands. Just to give you an idea of how awesome she is as a designer, among some of her best works you’ll find the artworks for the 2025 album The Embracing Light of Rarohenga, by German Melodic Death Metal band Aeon of Awareness; the 2023 albums I – These Bones Became the Roots of the Forest… and II – On These Shores Where Nothing Now Stands, by British Pagan/Atmospheric Black Metal act Blencathra; the 2026 album Ablution, by American Black Metal band Elseetoss; the 2021 album Eternal, by Scottish Atmospheric Folk/Black Metal band Ruadh; and the 2022 album Memoriae, by Italian Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal act Vesperhymn, among countless others. “Creating art, videos, and booklets is my main and only job, just like music. I’ve been working towards this for a long time. I didn’t want to work a regular job, in a group setting. I’m a completely unsociable person in life, with my own work/activity/rest schedule. Some things come out more sincere, others are a little more a result of self-discipline. But each time it’s a search, a look within. Inspiration comes or doesn’t, but the main thing is the idea. You can feed it with anything, the main thing is to have a strategy and stick to it. My main inspiration is to never go back to an office job, haha. But seriously, all this art in its various forms is pieces of my puzzle that bring me together and make me who I am. This whole journey is something akin to finding and maintaining integrity, self-identity.”
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Speaking of what inspired her to begin creating music and art, her idols and influences, Olga said it’s actually hard to remember when it all started. “From a very early age, I was exposed to hard rock, glam, and art-rock; my father is a big fan of all of them. When I was about 10, I first heard Megadeth and thought they were powerful. During summer vacations, my cousin and I would wake each other up with Sepultura songs; their extreme vocals were a great way to stay awake during fishing trips or early morning hikes. We’d play them on cassette tapes. I remember with great inspiration those times when we’d rewind cassette tapes with pencils. We didn’t skip songs, listening to albums in their entirety was magical,” she commented, also having some very nice words to say about her very first major influence. “My favorite band since childhood was Iron Maiden. I loved literally everything about them: the bassist/leader, the unique lyrics, the original mascot, the memorable vocals, the three guitars, and their signature drums. It was largely thanks to this band that I wanted to start my own band. Even back then, I was drawing logos for potential projects. However, I never wanted to play heavy metal. I didn’t have any strategy.”
Then closer to finishing school she discovered Black and Death Metal, including a lot of bands from the Scandinavian scene, especially Finnish bands, as well as Melodic Death and Power Metal. “I loved the combination of keyboards, symphonic orchestrations, and heavy riffs. I loved the combination of clean male vocals and extreme sounds. I wanted to play that. My first bands were inspired by doom, the gothic scene, and some melodic death. Regarding Withered Land, the idea of playing black metal came to me quite late; I’d never really wanted to write black metal specifically. A lot has changed since I heard Caladan Brood. It’s still the kind of album you could easily add to your funeral playlist. You can listen to it again and again in any mood, or when you’re not sure what you want to listen to. Of course, Summoning, Bathory, Thyrfing, Amon Amarth, Finntroll and a number of other projects inspired me with their themes and epicness.”
Not only that, Olga is also highly inspired by fictional worlds such as The Lord of The Rings, nature (especially during its “depressive seasons”), esoteric and sacred worlds, literature, video games, and films. “I am a psychologist by education. Perhaps this fact also influenced the sources of my inspiration in some way. I love hidden meanings, complex characters, their contradictions, doubts, decisions, and actions. My graduate thesis was related to the concept of death in different cultures. Many years have passed, but this topic does not leave me in my art. One of the most sacred things, like the sacrament of birth, so the sacrament of passing beyond life is the most interesting object of study,” she complemented, also saying how important nature is in her life in general. “The earth remembers everything: bloody battles, the fall of great cities, the creation of the greatest buildings, and their destruction. In a sense, the earth is time. Ruthlessly all-consuming, but invariably bestowing in return. Flowers will sprout on the remains of the fallen warrior’s bones and provide food for thirsty bees. Is this not the true poetics of metaphysics?” That also explains her openness to create something new with each project and album, experimenting with an array of styles such as Dungeon Synth, Folk and Viking Metal, Doom and Gothic Metal, and so on.
In regards to her extreme vocal technique, she mentioned that she studied extreme vocals with teachers for a while, but she was not entirely happy with the results because there aren’t many professional extreme vocal teachers, at least in her homeland, and online classes aren’t exactly convenient for her. “Now I devote a lot of time to practicing clean vocals with my coach and occasionally extreme vocals. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m making steady progress, following the goals of my projects. I don’t have a goal of becoming the best vocalist or the best bassist; I don’t dedicate much time to one thing, and I don’t do musical sports. I’m a multitasker who makes music first and foremost. I enjoy creating music, visuals, and lyrics, and singing my own lyrics is even more enjoyable than listening to someone else. In reality, anyone can learn; it’s just a matter of how much they’re willing to put in and how much they want to. I don’t want that as much as I want the joy of creating music itself, so I don’t expect any particular heights. But a highly motivated person usually learns quickly. It’s definitely not something you’re born with; it’s something you train yourself to have.”
As one of the torchbearers of Belarusian heavy music and arts in general, Olga said that unfortunately she can’t support the current state of her homeland, in special with the mood of the post-Soviet communist abyss. She also mentioned that despite the fact the metal scene in Belarus is not as big as in other countries, she still had a lot of fun and learned a lot during her early days. “In comparison with the advanced countries, our metal scene was not so developed. But the years of youth were nonetheless truly interesting. I was able to make interesting acquaintances, attend interesting events, concerts, theater performances, and all that. Being young, inexperienced, but ambitious guys, we gathered at music studios. I don’t even remember how many people I had a chance to play with in my whole life – a lot. We organized concerts, gatherings, participated in the activities of webzines. Well, it’s not something unique. But I am still grateful to any environment, whatever it may be. I know friends who have a metal scene in much worse situations. Well, in any case, I believe that it is not the place that makes the person beautiful, but the person make the place beautiful. Too many negative thoughts when I think about it.”
According to Olga, one of the biggest issues in music and arts worldwide, if not the biggest issue of all, is the overuse of AI. She said that the whole essence of art has been wiped out by the AI phenomenon, and this isn’t like when computers first appeared and people screamed that music and arts in general were finished. “I think humanity will lose its meaning completely when art can be created not only with words and prompts, but simply by the power of thought, and a special device will produce a finished product straight from the brain. Does anyone want to experience that time? A madness in which the entire essence of life and the creative process is devalued.” Furthermore, when it comes to our “classic” problems, it gets even worse. “Civilized societies continue to experience military conflicts, the global pandemic crisis has hit hard, economic sanctions and total isolation, the Cold War, genocide, the incitement of religious and gender conflicts, animal abuse, environmental disasters, social inequality… If you look deeply at the world, look into this abyss, the abyss will look back at you. I’m a pessimist by nature, and if I think too much, it’s scary. Art is one way to save ourselves from the monstrous reality around us and in the world at large,” she commented.
When asked if she’s a spiritual person, she said that can be said about her, but only in the sense that she believes in a certain Absolute, or wants to believe in it. “I do not recognize religions in the form in which they are in their pure form. I am impressed by the ideas of ancient Greek philosophy and Roman philosophy. In terms of interaction with the outside world, the ideas of Buddhism are close to me more, I suppose. From each idea, I want to take a little bit of everything, and brush aside something.” She complemented her thought with her view of our present-day society and world in general. “I would like to believe in a higher good, but every day I look around and see different things. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I tend to notice one thing and try to block unpleasant information. However, here it is difficult. This evil corrodes everything around. Yes, there is no light without darkness. Nevertheless, it seems that now the balance is upset, the world is again going in the wrong direction, and it is sad to realize this. Probably not only the vision of the beautiful, but also the terrible has driven artists from time immemorial. As they say in the dramaturgy, every performance should have a problem/conflict, otherwise the action impossible. So, I think the imperfection of the world and its perfection in separate things at the same time attracts the artist, me in particular.”
Last but not least, as you might have noticed, our metal lady of the month never stops, letting her creativity flow majestically and, therefore, continuing to grow as a musician and an artist. “In any case, the more you practice, the better you get. For someone who loves composing music and dedicates a significant part of their life to it, everything happens naturally. Regular practice is essential. I play quite a few instruments and also practice both extreme and pure vocals. It’s a lot of work, and of course, I could choose one and become a virtuoso in it, but I wouldn’t be interested in it without everything else,” she commented. “The life of a multi-instrumentalist composer is never boring.” She also strongly believes presenting a true expression of oneself through music, letting all emotions and message flow organically and with originality, will always be more important than simply following a traditional song structure. “There’s no point in doing what someone else, or even yourself, has already done. I add different stylistic elements, different themes, and change my approach to arrangements. I’m very grateful that listeners embrace this and enjoy experimenting with me.” As you can see, Olga is an unstoppable force of heavy music, always ready to stun us all with her innovative mind and approach, and may she keep melting our faces with her undisputed talent and scorching music for many years to come.
“My favorite band since childhood was Iron Maiden. I loved literally everything about them: the bassist/leader, the unique lyrics, the original mascot, the memorable vocals, the three guitars, and their signature drums. It was largely thanks to this band that I wanted to start my own band.” – Olga Kann
Ciao, miei cari metallari! Are you ready to embark on a wild journey to the “Bel Paese” together with The Headbanging Moose to know more about our metal lady of this month of April? Not just a metal singer and songwriter, but she’s also a psychologist and psychotherapist, creating a strong connection between heavy music and mental health, or as she prefers to say, she talks to the community where loud music meets deep healing. Bridging metal, psychology, and visual art, shaping a voice and a vision that are both intense and deeply human, she’s the frontwoman for the up-and-coming Italian band 5RAND, and one of the must-see names of the new generation of growlers. Her name is Julia Eleonora, better known by her stage moniker Julia Elenoir, and she will kick your ass mercilessly with her undeniable talent, charisma and passion for all things Heavy Metal.
Born and raised in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy, Julia has been creating music since her childhood, having grown up surrounded by rock and metal. She started playing classical guitar at the age of 13, and formed her first band when she was 17, beginning to compose her earliest songs. Over the years, her musical style evolved naturally from lighter styles like Hard Rock to a heavier, more introspective metal sound, with Death Metal becoming her main style. “Because I love its edge, its rawness, the catharsis it creates. The extreme side lets me explore, push boundaries and channel aggression and vulnerability at the same time. With 5RAND we mix melodic death and deathcore …not to provoke, but to dig deeper,” she said when asked why she decided to follow such an extreme path with Death Metal.
Founded in 2015 in Rome, Italy by Julia on vocals and Pierluigi Carocci on the guitars (who was working on his own solo project), Riccardo Zito on bass, and Francesco Marroni on drums, but currently formed of Julia and Pierluigi alongside bassist Acey Guns and drummer Andrea De Carolis, the up-and-coming Melodic Death/Groove Metal act 5RAND builds on a punishing modern metal foundation layered with the cinematic depth of melodeath, creating an intense and emotionally immersive soundscape and, therefore, carving out a distinctive place in the modern metal scene. “The name 5RAND comes from a South African 5 Rand coin that Pierluigi once received from a shaman as a good-luck charm. It stayed with him and with us,” explained Julia in one of her interviews. “Musically, we live at the crossroads of aggression and melody. We play, we record, we move forward.”
Having since toured extensively across Europe, sharing the stage with iconic acts such as Dark Tranquillity, Vader, Butcher Babies, Infected Rain and many others, 5RAND alredy released their debut album Sacred / Scared in 2017, followed by their 2019 sophomore Dark Mother, and their excellent third installment Ordhalia, from 2025, a sonic evolution in their already solid career, sounding darker, more introspective, and conceptually daring. Furthermore, Julia has written all the lyrics for 5RAND and has co-composed the music for every song released by the band to date, showing how much she’s involved with 5RAND. Not only that, even Julia couldn’t give a precise answer when asked how she would label the music by 5RAND, just to give you an idea of how dynamic, fresh and unique their style can be. “That would be hard to say precisely, since we don’t fit exactly in only one subgenre, like many many modern bands don’t. We’ve got a bit of Thrash and Death Metal, but also Industrial Metal and a lot of melodies too.” And if you want to experience their music in loco you can find their albums on Spotify, and also visit YouTube to enjoy their official videos for songs like Old Angel Midnight, Paint of Pain, Erase, Several Injuries, Cordyceps, live versions of Preacher of Lies and Cordyceps, and many more.
Owner of such a powerful and versatile voice, it was obvious that we would see Julia as a guest vocalist for different bands and projects. For instance, you can find her doing all female vocals for the 2022 album Ex Mortis Gloria, by Bristol, England-based Technical Death Metal band Imperium; as a guest vocalist for the song A New One, from the 2018 album Liberation, by Italian Symphonic Heavy Metal band Infinita Symphonia; and also as a guest vocalist for the 2020 album Phagocity, by Italian Groove Metal outfit South of No North. Moreover, when asked about venturing on a solo project in the near future, she said that’s indeed a possibility. “I’m always open. For now, I’m focused on 5RAND, but I don’t rule out solo work or collaborations in the future. Art is fluid; it transforms. I’d especially like to do something acoustic with my own songs, but for now we’re working on the next release.”
As expected, Julia is highly influenced by some of the most important names in the history of heavy music. “Growing up, we’d say the classics: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer… now the names are slightly different and more recent though, like Slipknot, Gojira, Fear Factory,” she commented. In addition, as one of the most promising female growlers of the current scene, Julia is also a huge admirer of the music by Arch Enemy and Jinjer. “I’ve been inspired by voices like Corey Taylor from Slipknot, and among the women I really admire Cristina Scabbia, Alissa White-Gluz, Tatiana Shmayluk, and other artists who know how to blend intensity and versatility. I admire anyone who can shake me to the core while destroying the stage.”
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Regarding her vocal technique, Julia said that she works a lot on her clean and growl dual-voice style. “It’s not about volume, but control, endurance, and intensity. You have to be able to express emotion even when the voice is rough. I always warm up, focus on breathing, and pay close attention to vocal health. Clean parts and growls require completely different mindsets.” She practices a lot everyday, always focusing on warmups and breathing exercises, saying that singing in a Death Metal and/or Metalcore style has its easy parts, as well as really hard ones. “The hard part is keeping vocal health and expressiveness. The ‘easy’ part or at least what becomes more natural with experience is letting emotion flow once technique is solid.”
If there’s one thing that Julia and the boys from 5RAND enjoy doing, that’s hitting the stages with their live concerts. After signing with Art Gates Records, the band started working on new dates, aiming at expanding their touring and reaching a wider audience. A very good reason why all of us should keep an eye on their social media, because if 5RAND are taking your city by storm anytime soon, you surely don’t want to miss it. Also, when asked which song she likes to sing live the most, she mentioned the excellent Cordyceps. “Cordyceps because the crowd goes particularly crazy with that song, but I love to sing all our songs.” Julia also has her “hobbies” behind the scenes during their tours. The rest of the band said they suspect Julia really enjoys watching people eat. “That’s why everything she cooks is in enormous quantity,” commented her fellow bandmates.
When questioned about the current metal scene in Italy, she said that Death Metal, as well as Progressive and Power Metal, might probably be the most appreciated genres by Italian fans, apart of course form the bigger bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and so on, but she also said that the majority of the Italian people tend to be a bit “lazy” in their musical taste and aren’t that eager to discover new bands or genres. “People mostly like what they already know,” she commented. Furthermore, she also mentioned she’s proud to see a new generation of women participating in the scene in Italy. “We’re seeing more and more women in metal bands, which is obviously very good! Many of them are very talented, maybe they’re still a bit confined to the symphonic style and to singing (too few women play an instrument on stage), but we hope their number keeps growing; versatility will come eventually.” However, she also believes everyone should be treated equal in heavy music. “I don’t think a band should be considered just for its members’ sex. In a better world, the musicians’ sex shouldn’t be more important than the colour of their hair.”
As mentioned in the beginning of this tribute to our multi-talented Italian diva, Julia is also a professional psychologist, having studied Psychiatry, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (with a major in Psychology) at Sapienza Università di Roma, graduating in 2013, and having also got a major in Brief Strategic Therapy (BST) from Scuola di Specializzazione in Psicoterapia Breve Strategica, currently running her own initiative named “Harmony of Chaos”, offering a fusion of metal music and insights on mental health. Not only that, Julia seems to be a philomath, having also obtained a Master’s Degree in Web Marketing and ICT and a degree in Marketing, Management and Business Economy, both also at Sapienza Università di Roma. And when she’s not studying, she loves arts, books, and sports, especially outdoors and in nature, as well as cooking a lot and keeping fit. As you can see, Julian never stops, she’s always creating new things, always searching for something new, always broadening and deepening her knowledge, and may she keep condensing all that awesomeness in the music by 5RAND for many years to come, because it’s people like Julia who definitely contribute to a much better world.
“Joining 5RAND in 2015 was a big step. I’m also passionate about psychology… in fact, I’m a psychologist and later specialized as a psychotherapist with a metal soul. I love helping people overcome mental struggles.” – Julia Elenoir
Are you ready to burn in the fires of extreme music together with our metal lady of this month of February here on The Headbanging Moose? I’m sure you are, and get ready as her incendiary vocals will melt not only any snow left from this harsh winter, but also your faces, leaving you completely disoriented after all is said and done. She’s an Extreme Metal vocalist, an opera singer, a soprano, a singing teacher, an actress, and a vocal coach, making the whole world of heavy music a much better place for us fans of hypnotizing and powerful vocals. Her name is Jessy Vignolle, sometimes referred to as Jessy “Christ” Vignolle, or simply Jessy Christ, the frontwoman for French metal sensation Usquam, and once you know more about her life, her career and her music, you’ll certainly get addicted to her distinct voice, charisma, and aggression.
Hailing from Paris, France, Jessy has been a curious child from the early age of eleven, discovering her passion for music through the guitar, piano, and singing without a defined direction, exploring everything from classical to rock. All that passion led to her first ever concert as a singer and guitarist at the age of 13, joining her first band a year later. Exploring multiple musical styles including Pop, Jazz, Indian music, Celtic music, and many more, while also drawing inspiration from all their unique characteristics (which she sees as future strengths), Jessy enrolled in musicology and earned a bachelor’s degree in musicology, a master’s degree in artistic supervision, and a master’s degree in artistic engineering. At the same time, she pursued a professional career in classical music, studying operatic singing at the Savigny-le-Temple Conservatory in Paris under Véronique Laguerre and joining the Che Calda Voce opera company led by Laura Marin. Not only that, she also made her mark in the rock and metal music scene, performing on numerous French stages such as La Cigale, La Boule Noire, and La Machine du Moulin Rouge, among others, as well as at festivals.
It was not too long ago, in the not-so-distant year of 2024, when Jessy joined Usquam as their new vocalist replacing Lucas Henry. Formed in 2018, this Paris, France-based Melodic Black Metal band released in 2021 their debut EP Reborn, followed by their fantastic first full-length opus Ex Nihilo, in 2025, already with Jessy stealing the spotlight with her undisputed vocals. Exploring the secrets of dark music, inspired by the observation of a world oscillating between decline and progress, the band currently formed of our metal lady Jessy on vocals alongside Eithenn and Draugr on the guitars, and Alwan on bass aims at spreading their dark philosophy all across the world, and you can get a very good taste of their music on YouTube, BandCamp, and Spotify, enjoy their official videos for the songs Arcana Nox, Altar Ego and Ego Sum (Qui Sum), and keep an eye on their social media for their live performances, in special if you live in France.
Apart from her promising career with Usquam, Jessy can also be found as a guest and as a live vocalist (under the moniker J.V.) for French Black Metal entity NZGL, founded by vocalist, guitarists and bassist Gaël Liger, recording vocals and having also written some of the lyrics for their 2025 album Tales from the Pale Moon… And Other Stories, available on both BandCamp and on Spotify. In addition, she’s also involved with an Industrial/Gothic Rock band named Syndro-syS since 2013, having released with the band the 2015 album Corporation, available on BandCamp. The band doesn’t seem to be active anymore, as they’ve been dead silent since around 2020, but the music is still great and definitely deserves our attention. Who knows, maybe we can all inspire Jessy and Syndro-syS to get back in action if we listen to their music enough, right?
Anyway, Jessy can also be seen as a guest musician to a few very interesting bands and projects since the beginning of her undisputed career. For instance, she recorded all female vocals for the 2022 EP Exist in Ruin, by American Symphonic Black/Death Metal project Exist in Ruin; vocals for the songs Kimi Ga Yo, Seducing Dementia and Whispering Clouds, from the 2013 album Les 12 vertiges, and for the song Hate Me, from the 2019 album Le festin du lion, by French Electronic Industrial Metal act Herrschaft; vocals for the song L’étranger, from the 2018 album Standalone Episodes, by French Progressive Heavy Metal band Seasons; and vocals for the song The Edge of Time, from the 2015 album Symbiosis, by French Melodic Death/Groove Metal act T.A.N.K. Not only that, she also worked as a vocal coach for French Black Metal horde Houle in their 2022 self-titled EP, and their 2024 album Ciel cendre et misère noire.
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An opera singer, soprano and vocal coach, , as already mentioned, Jessy is more than a passionate musician, offering an array of services to accompany most types of celebrations including baptisms, weddings, funerals and tributes, as well as private events, supported by a varied repertoire of sacred music, operas and popular music, such as Ave Maria (Franz Schubert), Voi che Sapete (Wolfgang A. Mozart), When I am Laid (Henry Purcell), La Vie en Rose (Edith Piaf), Someone Like You (Adele), S’il Suffisait d’Aimer (Celine Dion), and many more, always delivering every piece with a ton of emotion to retrace your most beautiful memories. Not only that, she also lends her voice, composes and also collaborates with many international musical projects, just like her guest contributions to the aforementioned metal bands.
As a vocal coach and singing teacher, she will help you understand vocal technique and discover your voice, whether you are a beginner, an artist, or a professional speaker, using a personalized teaching approach that adapts to your needs, mastering several techniques that intertwine theoretical knowledge of the instrument and live practice. Jessy teaches artists and private individuals, always keeping in mind that each student is a unique individual with their own aspirations and energy. Since 2022, she coaches magistrates at the Paris, Angers, and Rennes Courts of Appeal to help them develop their voices as a professional tool. Furthermore, she incorporates elements of the Alexander Technique (a psycho-physical re-education method that improves posture, reduces tension, and enhances performance by teaching musicians to move with more awareness and ease) into her practice to give her students the tools to understand the fundamental mechanisms of their instrument and develop their autonomy.
If you think that’s not enough, Jessy is also an actress, embodying the voice that will bring your audiovisual production to life through voice-over or dubbing, for example, and she participates in some classical concerts within the network of conservatories in the Grand Paris Sud region. Moreover, apart from her private lessons as already mentioned, she also organizes and hosts conferences, masterclasses and workshops. You can enjoy several of her works on the Productions page on her own website, from video clips to short stories and TV ads. But wait, as there’s still more. Jessy has also embarked on a new endeavor, creating her own herbal tea intended for singers, voice professionals and all food lovers, having selected herbs with virtues recognized by voice specialists and entrusted the preparation of the recipe to Happy Plantes, a company of passionate herbalists, very involved in ethical production. The final product is named Élixir du chanteur, and you can get your own package from Jessy’s Big Cartel. The tea can be enjoyed as a snack or as a treatment for those who wish to prevent issues like vocal fatigue, respiratory tract, gastric protection, hoarseness, and so on, all certified from organic farming.
I told you that after knowing more about the indomitable Jessy “Christ” Vignolle you would get more than addicted to her voice, her music, her charisma, and maybe even to her herbal tea), and as long as she keeps firing her whimsical and hypnotizing vocals together with Usquam or any other band or project, we can rest assured the entire world of music will be a much better place. Would it be too much to ask Jessy and Usquam for a US and Canada tour? I’m beyond certain the fans on this side of the pond would go mental with their music. Thank you, Jessy, for your amazing contributions to music in general, and for making heavy music a much better place with your badass attitude. À plus tard!
I’m always on my own… Even in my dreams I die alone… Loneliness is a garment… Made of shadows hanging above…
There’s nothing better than kicking off the short but always freezing cold month of February than with an ultra talented vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who personifies the underground like our metal lady of this month, setting fire to the atmosphere with her undisputed blend of Extreme Metal. Known for her involvement with some amazing underground bands the likes of Zion Code and Cordiscord Elysium, and more recently for her undisputed solo career, releasing an array of first-class albums, she brings the noise directly from Germany to The Headbanging Moose, taking no prisoners in her quest for heavy music. Her name is Vanessa Funke, and after knowing more about her life and her career, I’m sure you’ll get addicted to her fusion of Melodic Death and Gothic Metal with an overdose of raw emotions and, therefore, feel beyond eager to get caught in a mosh while she kicks some serious ass both in the studio and onstage.
Hailing from Finnentrop, a municipality in Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Vanessa said in one of her interviews that music has been all around her basically her entire life, mentioning she remembers hearing the intro to Thin Lizzy‘s version of Whiskey In The Jar as a child and imagining that she would play it herself. “It took a while for me to pick up an instrument though, which was about 2009. I was absolutely fascinated with Mike Oldfield around that time, especially that he can play all those different instruments and basically creates albums almost on his own. That really was the impulse that led me to playing guitar and later keyboards. When I got into metal about two years later, I started to play it myself too.”
She believes the first ever metal song she learned on the guitar was Weather The Storm, by Finnish melodeath masters Insomnium, becoming the rhythm guitarist shortly after for a band named Storm Unleashed, which was basically her first step into the music business, naturally evolving more and more even after she decided to pursue her solo career. Clearly a huge fan of the Melodic Death Metal from the 90’s and 2000’s, she also started incorporating elements from Gothic Metal into her music, giving it even more depth, which consequently allowed her to explore darker emotions in her compositions.
Speaking of her solo career, it all began in 2017 when she started recording a few demos, which only came to light in 2022 as a compilation encompassing those demos from 2017 until 2021. After that, she kept firing her own blend of Melodic Death and Gothic Metal through the 2022 EPs Sorted Out and Broken, followed by the split Ode to Hopelessness (alongside French Depressive Black Metal act Angel of Suicide), her first full-length album Solitude, plus the splits Nothing Left… (with UK-based Black Metal outfit Black Apathy) and Anthems of Gomorrah / Vanessa Funke (with Pinellas County, Florida-based Black/Death Metal horde Anthems of Gomorrah), all also in 2022.
Then in 2023 she released the EP Reflections, the splits Lonely Suicide (with American Atmospheric Black Metal creature Nymphrenia), In the Shadow of the Lights (with a band named Luroga), A Road to Nowhere (with Panama’s own Black Metal entity The Last Weapon), and Barely Living on the Edge… (with the bands Nymphrenia, Black Apathy, Shallow Existence, and Have a Nice Life…), and her sophomore full-length opus entitled Dawn. In 2024, the EP Lament and the full-length Void saw the light of day, while in 2025 she brought into being the split Locomotion of Escape (with a band called Tachanka), and her fourth full-length installment, titled Requiem. All of those releases can be found on BandCamp and on Spotify, and on her official YouTube channel you can also find her official videos for songs such as Worthless, Broken Ground, Infelicity, and I Need You Tonight, among several others. Not only that, her music is also featured in a few interesting compilations, including the songs Solitude on the LDP Smörgåsbord Series #2 (released by Liminal Dread Productions in December 2023), Sorrow on Mind Over Metal 4: Volume 1 (released by Cave Dweller Music in May 2024), Buried on Black Metal Against Blackout (released in January 2024), and Dead Souls on Heavy for the Hollers (released by Liminal Dread Productions in November 2024).
One very interesting fact about her solo albums is that all of them have just one word in the title (Solitude, Dawn, Void, and Requiem), not to mention she keeps an impressive streak of one album per year. “I actually try to keep up the pace with one full length release every year. I’ve written so many songs that I have enough material for at least another album right now and several rough sketches and demos. When I get into this certain creative flow, I try to let it all out. Later I come back to these ideas and refine them. Having just one word as the title wasn’t something I planned. I released an EP called Broken in 2022, after that my first album Solitude followed and I basically just stayed with those one word titles since then. Fun fact: the album title never appears as a song title on the same album, but I do tend to use it later. For example, Solitude is the title of my first album, but also the title of the first song on Requiem,” explained our unstoppable metal diva.
Furthermore, she also explained the reason why the song titles in her latest album Requiem also have just one word, like Useless, Worthless, Sorrow, Death, and Buried, but that doesn’t mean her music should be labeled as Depressive Black Metal. “On this album I came up with the song names before I had the music. I wanted to be inspired by those simple words, like what do I feel when thinking about them and translate that feeling to music. Of course reading those titles can definitely imply something depressive, which is partially true because of the story behind it. But the music isn’t depressive black metal in my opinion, more a mixture between atmospheric black metal and funeral doom. The melodic death and gothic influence isn’t that strong here.”
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Apart form her undisputed solo career, Vanessa is (or was) also part of an interesting music project assembled to celebrate the 36th birthday of Alicia Cordisco (of Arizona’s own Thrash Metal beast Transgressive), with its collaborators spanning countries across three continents, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The name of such a unique project is Cordiscord Elysium, a Melodic Death and Power Metal outfit with several guest musicians from different underground bands, and that released their debut EP titled Alicia Cordisco’s Amazing Birthday, in 2025, followed by the EP Alicia Cordiscord Autumnal Ball, and the single All Carols are Bangers, both also from 2025, and all available on BandCamp. From all songs recorded so far by the project, the most interesting one is hands down their cover version for Eagle Fly Free, by Helloween.
Prior to flying solo, Vanessa was a member of a Zanesville, Ohio-based Progressive Melodic Death Metal/Metalcore band named Zion Code, taking care of their vocal duties from 2022 to 2024, plus playing guitars, bass and keyboards for the band between 2023 and 2024. Formed in 2021 by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Brandon Mitchell, the band has already released seven full-length albums and two EPs, with Vanessa being part of the 2023 albums Zion Code and Festung, and the 2024 albums Apocrypha and New Dawn Rising. Curiously enough, nothing is available on BandCamp nor on Spotify anymore for reasons beyond our knowledge. Anyway, apart from recording vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards and drums in those albums, Vanessa was also responsible for the production, mixing and mastering, and even the artwork for the 2023 album Festung. I’m curious to listen to Zion Code as I haven’t had a chance yet, but apparently there’s nothing available anywhere, not even unofficial videos uploaded on YouTube by random users.
She can also be found as a guest musician for some very interesting bands and projects. For instance, she recorded vocals for the 2025 album The Burden of I, by Tucson, Arizona’s own Melodic Black/Death Metal musician Alicia Cordisco; vocals for the 2023 single We Can Win, by California-based Avantgarde Black/Power Metal act Black Stag Rising; the dialogue on the song Lebenssinn, from the 2023 EP Die Welt schläft ein, by French Black Metal entity Myrkyttää; additional vocals on the song Remember Me, from the 2025 album Down the Drain, by American Depressive/Atmospheric Black Metal act Nymphrenia; and additional vocals on the song Writhing in Agony I: Reopening Wounds I Have Once Forgotten, from the 2023 EP Writhing in Agony, by UK’s Depressive Black Metal act Shallow Existence. Not only that, Vanessa was also responsible for the artwork for the 2023 album Broken Cleansing and the 2023 EP Afuckt Up Mess, both by American Metalcore/Technical Death Metal act A Karmic Gray, and for the artwork for the 2023 EP Chaos Undivided, by Ohio’s own Death Metal brigade Bloodthirster.
When asked about how she feels having the drum arrangements (as well as the mixing and mastering) done by Michael Easley for her latest album Requiem, she said that it was an exception under her one-woman band project. “I usually do everything myself. This one album is actually the exception. I used a pretty old drum plugin initially, which lacked some human feel. As Michael is a drummer, he offered me to change it a bit and put a bit more life into it, which I gladly accepted. But nothing was done without my approval of course. Also a lot of the music was recorded at a time where my mixing skills weren’t that good. So Michael basically polished it to make it sound similar to my previous albums. For the next album I already have a higher standard I set for myself, so I’m pretty sure right now that if I get it right the way I imagine it, there’s no need for changes afterwards.” Furthermore, she also shared a few words about her writing and composing style. “When I start to write a song, I only have one chords progression or a melody from which I build up the whole song. So most things actually just happen during the recording process. There’s not much planning ahead usually.”
One very interesting thing about her album Requiem is that it is based on her own experiences as a teenager. “If you look at the album in two different sides (songs 1-5 and songs 6-8), there are two different things I wrote about: the first side deals with the feeling of spiraling deeper into depression, while the second side deals with intrusive thoughts. I couldn’t be completely neutral, but I still tried to keep things vague enough so others can find their own story in this. For me personally this story is deeply tied to dysphoria, something that was really strong when I was younger, the fear of coming out and not being able to live as myself. Even if I’ve come a long way since then and it isn’t that bad anymore, I still felt the need to have an outlet for all these emotions.”
Last but not least, Vanessa is not the type of person that’s very active in social media. “I do use Instagram and Bluesky apart from Bandcamp, but generally I’m not that good in this social media game, so my accounts there are definitely not as professional as bands often have them. But I generally don’t feel the need to change that, as it feels more comfortable for me like this,” she commented, and we must all agree she’s doing the right thing. Focusing on her music, on the quality of her final product, is way more important to us listeners than having an active Facebook or Instagram account. And don’t worry, Vanessa, because your music is so good we can take care of the social media posting on your behalf, spreading your emotional music to the four corners of the earth. Because, in the end, that’s what good music is all about.
What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age! But do you know what will crush you like an insect here on The Headbanging Moose? If you said it’s a ruthless bass player as our metal lady of this month of January to properly kick off the year of 2026, you’re damn right, my friend. She’s not only a member of one of the must-see names of the current Death Metal scene worldwide, but also a very talented tattoo artist. Her name is Samantha Mobley, also known as Sam Mobley, the badass bassist for Texas-based Death Metal entity Frozen Soul, and the owner and artist at Heavy Metal Tattoo, and after knowing more about such an up-and-coming artist who lives and breathes heavy music, you’ll definitely feel the heat in this always bitterly cold month to kick off another headbanging year in style.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Samantha has always loved arts and music, constantly creating art as a child. “I’ve been an artist since I was a little girl, I would draw on anything I could get my hands on. Being a quiet and sensitive child, art was a perfect outlet for me, and it took up most of my time growing up, as well as having a love of music since I was little,” she commented. Always placed in advanced art classes in which she excelled, those were basically the only formal classes that allowed her to have structure and craft her technique. “I have done freelance photography, logos, artwork and graphic design since I was a teenager. I’ve become proficient in digital media, watercolor, oils, graphite, charcoal, acrylic, clay, and now, putting designs on skin,” said Sam, showing how talented she is not only in music, but also in arts in general.
Long before becoming a bassist, she spent around 11 years working as a pet stylist at a veterinary clinic, bathing, brushing, and styling everything from chihuahuas to great danes. “When Frozen Soul started, I was on a completely different career path. I was like a hermit pretty much. I just went to work and came home.” Also, despite the steady income coming form her days as a pet stylist, her decision to leave that stability and pursue her passion for music is a testament to her courage and determination, and all that can be easily noticed when you listen to her ruthless bass in any of the songs composed by Frozen Soul, proving she took the right decision to invest in her career as a musician.
She was gifted her first guitar at the age of 8, and a cherry red electric guitar at age 10, casually playing off and on throughout the years, always trying to teach herself the basics in between her studies. “I would listen to the radio, record it on a tape player, and teach myself how to play.” Sam grew up on 90’s alternative music, but quickly progressed into listening to heavier and heavier music in her teenage years. “The first thing that made me pick up an instrument when trying to learn how to play guitar was the band Kittie. I saw that they were all female and was like, ‘Shit, if they can do it, I can do it!’ I messed around with guitar in my free time when I was younger but as I got older I just really wanted to pursue music as it’s always been a huge passion of mine. When I finally got the opportunity to do so with Frozen Soul, at the time, the bass was the only instrument open. I had to learn it fast and now it’s my first instrument of choice, but I still play guitar passively too I guess.” She mentioned in an interview that she picked up bass at the end of 2018, and started practicing with a Black Metal band called Vermiculated. While short lived, it allowed her to get some experience under her belt. “We broke up right before I started playing with Frozen Soul, and shortly after (about a month or two after recording the Vermiculated demo) we recorded the Frozen Soul demo.”
However, not everything in her life has been as smooth as her career as a musician and as a tattoo artist, mentioning in an interview she struggled from the age of 15 up until about a few years ago with a mental illness misdiagnosis that deeply affected her life. “It caused me so many hardships, damaged relationships, setbacks, trauma, and ultimately, it caused me a lot of grief with the time lost in my late teens and all through my twenties. Now that I am in my early thirties, things have gotten much better for me because, honestly, I stopped being afraid of everything. I was too scared to go out of my comfort zone for too long and that squandered my potential because of it,” she said back then, but fortunately now she’s stronger than ever, kicking ass on and off stage with Frozen Soul, and spreading the beauty of her tattoos to the four corners of the earth.
Speaking of the frostbitten creature known as Frozen Soul, the band got together back in 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas, when vocalist Chad Green (End Times, Vulgar Display) and guitarist Michael Munday (End Times, Wildspeaker, Creeping Death, Disencumbrance, Contusions) set out to revive the primal force of 90’s Death Metal. After laying down initial riffs steeped in themes of winter’s desolation, the duo realized they needed a rhythm section capable of matching their vision. That’s when they recruited Sam, longtime acquaintance of both Chad and Michael. “I knew Michael and Chad, and they’re like, ‘Well, we need a bass player.’ I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to learn how to play bass,’” she said in one of her interviews. Currently formed of our dauntless Sam Mobley on bass, the aforementioned Chad Green on vocals and Michael Munday on the guitars, Chris Bonner (Steel Bearing Hand, Tolar, Distort, Obstruction, Unit 21, Wild//Tribe) also on the guitars and Matt Dennard (End Times, Sage Fortune, Humanerror, High Anxieties, Negaduck, What They Lack) on drums, the band released the demo Encased in Ice, in 2019, followed by the split Live in Chicago 10/23/2019 (with the bands Molder and Coffin Rot), in 2020, their debut full-length album Crypt of Ice, in 2021, and their sophomore beast Glacial Domination (co-produced by Daniel Schmuck and Trivium’s own Matthew K. Heafy), in 2023 (including additional vocals by Sam herself on the song Morbid Effigy, which also features guest vocals by John Gallagher of Dying Fetus), all available on BandCamp and on Spotify.
The cold and ice-theme of the band might not make a lot of sense at first, as Texas is absolutely scorching during most of the year, but Sam perfectly explained why the band decided to move in such a unique direction. “We wanted to incorporate a band theme that was both true to the brutal nature of death metal without being played out . We like to think our theme sets us apart and gives us a different feel than most bands. It may be hot here, but we’re cold blooded,” she commented. Furthermore, if you want to feel the frostbitten Death Metal crafted by Sam and the boys, you can enjoy the official videos for the fantastic, bitterly cold Death Metal bangers Glacial Domination, Crypt of Ice, Arsenal of War, Encased in Ice, and their most recent single, a cover version for White Zombie’s Creature of the Wheel. Not only that, as Frozen Soul are a band that simply kicks ass onstage, you can also check out several videos on YouTube with their live performances, like their demolishing full set at Bloodstock Open Air Metal Festival 2023.
She mentioned in one of her interviews that some of her favorite bands growing up and her biggest influences are, in no particular order, Dissection, Acid Bath, Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Bolt Thrower, Crowbar, Black Sabbath, Pantera and Type O Negative, and let’s be honest, all of those influences can easily be seen in her playing style and sound. “I basically just try to be as punchy as possible without overpowering the guitars. I try to be as heavy as possible – the nastier the tone the better.” Frozen Soul are actually compared to Bolt Thrower a lot, and Sam is truly proud of it. “Jo Bench (Bolt Thrower) and Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) are my two main influences on bass,” she commented. Moreover, although we don’t have her list of top 10 albums of 2025 yet, you can find online her top 10 albums of 2024, a kickass list, by the way, including Mortal Wound’s The Anus of The World (10), Modem’s Megalomania (9), Gost’s Prophecy (8), Undeath’s More Insane (7), Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere (6), Enforced’s A Leap Into The Dark (5), Fluids’ Reduced Capabilities (4), 200 Stab Wounds’ Manual Manic Procedures (3), Necrot’s Lifeless Birth (2), and Fulci’s Duck Face Killings (1).
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Let’s now switch gears to her career as a tattoo artist. Owner and artist at Heavy Metal Tattoo, she specializes in colorful traditional and neo-traditional tattoos. “I started a tattoo apprenticeship in 2019, and graduated to a full time tattoo artist that same year.” She said that when she was a teenager, she was also big into painting and charcoal arts. “I took a little break from it in my twenties but it’s really what I love to do. Tattooing has always been super cool and at the time was a good way for me to earn a living while still doing art everyday. I did an apprenticeship and then I got really busy with clientele and then the opportunity presented itself for me to open my own shop. I knew nobody was going to let me work at a regular tattoo shop and be gone seven months out of the year on tour so I decided to open my own shop and that’s pretty much how it was all born.”
With Heavy Metal Tattoo, she has put together a solid team of tattoo artists who share a collective vision to make the shop an all-inclusive and safe space for their vast clientele in a male-dominated industry that has often not prioritized inclusion. “I want everyone to feel like they are welcome there and that it’s a safe play to get tattooed where you’re not going to get harassed or feel uncomfortable by male tattooers — which is a pretty big problem in the tattoo industry. Everyone’s welcome and I just want everyone to have a good time. I also want it to be a good environment for everyone who works there to grow in their career.” She also had some nice words to say about how to gain a loyal clientele. “Networking is a newer thing to me as of this past year… I’m pretty introverted. I’ve found Instagram to be the best for showcasing your work and gaining new clientele. Tattooing my friends that are also musicians or heavily involved in the local music scene has been very helpful too,” commented Sam in one of her interviews.
Back to her career as a musician, more specifically to the equipment she uses as a bass player both in the studio and when she’s kicking some serious ass across the stages worldwide, Sam said that she currently alternates between an 87 NJ BC Rich Warlock with DiMarzio pickups in it, and a 5 string Legacy Series Widow with active EMG pickups, while her pedal board consists of a Decimator, the Lone Wolf Audio Caveman pedal, a Metal Muff and her tuner. For her cab, she plays on a 8×10 Ampeg, and for her head she uses an Ampeg SVT4PRO.
Having already scored high-profile tours with Death Metal legends the likes of Cattle Decapitation, Aborted and Gatecreeper, and an arena run with Swedish Melodic Death Metal veterans Amon Amarth, Frozen Soul are already a force to be reckoned with when they hit any stage, but of course as their touring schedule gets busier and busier, all band members, including obviously Sam, have less and less time for other activities outside of the band. “It’s been very busy and very crazy. Last year, I think we toured seven months out of the year but this year has been a constant grind with touring to get our name out there and promote our new record. It’s been awesome though and it’s been nice to see the reception to everything. That tour with Amon Amarth really was an affirmation that we are doing the right thing. For some of the shows, we were playing to six-thousand people a night, so going from 800-cap venues to that was a little bit jarring but also really cool,” she commented.
During such a hectic touring schedule, Sam always finds time for herself. “For self care, on an off day I will do my own thing and take an Uber somewhere to get a pedicure, manicure or maybe a massage. I feel like that is very important for me on tour because I’m always the only woman in the band. It’s very chaotic and hectic every day, so having a little bit of peace, at least once a week is essential,” she said, also commenting about other things that help her calm down, relax and decompress from her touring madness. “Sometimes, I’ll go find a local card store and play Magic: The Gathering or go shopping even if I don’t end up buying anything. I feel like I’m kind of bougie but I bring a massage gun, face masks and satin eye things to help me go to sleep which really helps me. I also bring my Steam Deck so I can play video games. Any little thing helps.”
Moreover, among all concerts ever played by Frozen Soul, there’s one in particular in 2024 that holds a very special place in her heart. “One of the things that I’m super proud of is when we played Red Rocks Amphitheatre last year with Amon Amarth, Cannibal Corpse, and Obituary. All of our families flew out for that. I did special makeup. And I had special stuff on. I had a special bass. And I played what I would consider a perfect set. We were technically the first death metal band to play there. So we have a plaque at Red Rocks. And that means I’m the first female death metal musician to play there as well.” Her first ever concert with Frozen Soul was also a special one for her and the boys, of course. “It was weird for me because I had never toured. Hell, my first live show was with Blood Incantation and Necrot. That was my first time playing live – ever! I still actually get nervous to this day.”
As a proud and strong woman, Sam also had a few beautiful words to say to any girl who wants to start a career in heavy music or in tattooing. “I am in two professions that are male-dominated. My advice is to study hard, work your ass off, and don’t take anyone’s shit. Do everything with your whole heart because anything less is not worth doing. My advice for other women and younger women especially would be to just figure out what means the most to you and just go for your dreams. The worst that can happen is that you fail. And even failure is not an excuse to give up. Keep trying, learn from your setbacks, because sometimes wonderful opportunities will present themselves as a result.”
As expected, our dark diva is also a huge fan of the occult. “I have an entire wall of books that are just occult and astrology stuff. I used to study pagan witchcraft when I was younger and studied it heavily for fifteen years and am still very interested in it. I would say the ‘three of swords’ card is my favorite, I actually wanted to get that tattooed on my chest at one point. I’ve always liked the imagery of it and think it looks sick.” There are lots of excellent interviews online with Sam where she talks about different topics like that, such as episode 55 of the series “She’s with the Band” by Knotfest, where she discusses her passion for Death Metal and tattoos, being the only woman on tour with a lot of men, and more, and you should definitely go check all of those interviews, as well as the music by Frozen Soul. Because Samantha Mobley is an indomitable bassist and tattoo artist that’s getting stronger and more prominent in the world of heavy music year after year, and you better get ready as once she hits you with her devilish music and art, there’s no escape from her ice-cold embrace.
Lionesses are the primary hunters in a pride, working together to bring down prey, and are faster and more agile than males. And in this cold and dark month of December our lioness Aleksandra “Lioness” Stamenković, guitarist for an array of awesome metal bands including Jenner, Frozen Crown, Chaos Rising, and Sigma Epsilon, will shred her prey to pieces armed with her scorching riffs and solos, as our metal lady of the month. Having said all that, get ready for a wild ride together with Aleksandra and her unstoppable axe, bringing absolute fire to The Headbanging Moose and, therefore, leaving you completely disoriented and eager for more of her first-class music. The days might be getting shorter, and the nights are surely getting longer this time of the year but, in the end, that’s the perfect environment for Aleksandra to hunt us down and to crush our damned souls with her electrifying blend of Heavy Metal magic.
Born on August 5, 1996 in Belgrade, the capital of the southeast European country of Serbia, Aleksandra is the younger sister of Marija Dragićević, the drummer for one of her bands Jenner, showing the talent and passion for heavy music runs wild in their family’s DNA. She was first interested in music back in 2011 when she was 13 years old, saying she wanted to play bass guitar, but as she couldn’t afford one she used to borrow it from one of her sister’s friends. However, she said that “destiny” decided she was going to become primarily a guitarist in 2013, having bought her first guitar back then, therefore starting her journey in heavy music.
Although she’s a renowned musician in the world of Heavy, Power, Thrash and Speed Metal, Aleksandra also nurtures a deep passion for medicine and graphic design, having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine from the University of Belgrade in September 2021, and becoming a certified nutrition coach, combining her artistic passion with a commitment to promoting healthier lifestyles. And yes, she’s THAT smart and intelligent. In addition, although she mainly writes original songs, she started a YouTube channel back in 2020 where she posts covers of her favorite songs, like for example Into the Lungs of Hell, by Megadeth, Abigail, by King Diamond, and Coma of Souls, by Kreator, among several others, and apart from the usual social media you can also find her on Linktree, Patreon, and Big Cartel.
It was in December 2013 when the indomitable Stamenković Sisters founded in Belgrade the ruthless Speed/Thrash Metal beast known as Jenner, from the ashes of a Glam Metal band they had named Cat O’ Nine Tailz, in which she played bass, and that disbanded after two years. Aleksandra started playing the guitar back then, and with the support of Marija they started searching for two guys to play with them to form a band in the vein of Madam X, but they ended up meeting two girls instead, vocalist Anđelina Mitić and bassist Jana Bacić, and so Jenner was born. Named by Aleksandra after Dr. Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823), an English physician and scientist known as the “father of immunology” for creating the world’s first vaccine, which was for smallpox, the girls started playing covers of their favorite bands including Warlock, Judas Priest, Grim Reaper, and Saxon, and as a year later they became more interested in Thrash Metal they started playing covers of Agent Steel, Exodus, and Anthrax, just to name a few, as well as they started writing their own songs.
After a few lineup changes, the band is now a trio formed of Aleksandra on vocals and guitar, Marija on drums, and Anja Mirković on bass. Under different lineups, but always with Aleksandra and Marija in their formation, Jenner released a demo back in 2015, their debut full-length album To Live Is to Suffer, in 2017, the EP The Test of Time, in 2020, and their sophomore opus Prove Them Wrong, in 2024, with Aleksandra becoming responsible for the band’s vocal duties starting in 2019, as you can see in their 2020 EP and their 2024 release. Not only that, she also took care of the design and logo of their 2017 debut, and of their 2020 EP, expanding her skills even further as a musician and as an artist. You can enjoy basically their entire discography in places such as YouTube, Spotify, and BandCamp, and of course have an absolute blast with their official videos for songs like Night Without Dawn, The Test of Time, Never Say Die, and No Time for Prayer, among others. Moreover, don’t forget to check Beacons for all things Jenner.
Aleksandra has also been part of two other amazing bands for a few years, those being Sigma Epsilon and Chaos Rising. Regarding Belgrade-based Sigma Epsilon, the band has been delivering a more straightforward, no shenanigans blend of Thrash Metal since its inception back in 2014, when a few members of a Serbian band named Prisoner, those being her boyfriend Emil Ivošević on vocals, Stefan Tomić on the guitar, and Nikola Simonović on drums, left the band and started creating their own music. It was only after Aleksandra joined them that they released their first offering, the 2019 EP Svi putevi vode do smrti (or “all roads lead to death” in English), followed by the 2021 single Ruka koja mrda usta, or “the hand that moves the mouth.” She mentioned in one of her interviews that the band is working on a new conceptual album, but until then simply go to BandCamp or Spotify to enjoy their existing songs, and also go check the official videos for the songs Svi putevi vode do smrti, Kap, and Trofej.
The metal machine Chaos Rising is a collaborative international metal project formed back in 2019 open to every female artist interested in metal music, with the project’s participants and guests offering an amalgamation of styles from Groove and Thrash Metal to traditional Heavy Metal and also Melodic Death Metal. It’s indeed a phenomenal initiative showcasing the power of women in heavy music, and if you don’t have enough time to check all of their songs on BandCamp or Spotify, you must at least listen to the song with our dauntless diva on the guitars, the excellent Prisoner, also featuring Miss ScarRed (Germany) on vocals, Catherine Fearns (Switzerland) on the guitar, and Stéphanie Nolf (France) on bass and drum programming.
Furthermore, starting now in 2025 she has also become one of the guitarists for Italian Power Metal warriors Frozen Crown, joining the also indomitable girls Giada Etro on vocals and Alessia Lanzone on the guitar, as well as Federico Mondelli on guitars, keyboards and vocals, Francesco Zof on bass, and Niso Tomasini on drums. Having already played with Frozen Crown during the summer festivals this year, Aleksandra is already fired up to start working with the band on their future releases, and the band is also extremely excited to have her as a permanent member. “Some may question our decision to include in the band someone who was born so far away from us, in a non-EU country, even! Truth is, you don’t choose your family – you build your own. Aleksandra appeared in a pretty challenging situation, and helped us go through both the shocking realization of Jade’s health conditions and the sudden line-up shake, motivating us and gracing us with her enthusiasm. Her incredible dedication, humility, and constant positivity proved we have just found the perfect fit, and after working together for a while, it just ‘feels right’ to start this new chapter with her, and to entrust her with the Crown and the Sword,” commented the band.
If that’s not enough for you, you can also find Aleksandra as the guitarist for Slovenian Heavy Metal beasts Hellcats from 2017 to 2022. “In 2017 Hellcats needed a female guitarist to play with them in Arena Stožice where they would be supporting Slovenian punk band Pankrti on their 40-year band anniversary. They couldn’t find someone closer, so they asked me. At first I thought that it will be only for that concert, but we got along nicely, and I really liked them as people and as musicians,” commented the lioness. In addition, Aleksandra also played bass live with Serbian Melodic Death Metal band Nemesis a couple of years ago, and with the aforementioned Serbian Speed/Thrash Metal band Prisoner back in 2017.
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Not only that, you can also find Aleksandra shredding her guitar as a guest musician in the song Open Your Eyes, from the 2025 album Retribution, by Hungarian Heavy/Power/Speed Metal band Burning Sun; in the song Cimmeria, from the 2023 compilation By This Sword We Rule: A Decade of Steel, by Serbian Epic Heavy/Power/Doom Metal band Claymorean; in the songs We Fight Like Lions and Fear and Regret, from the 20187 EP II/III/IV by Serbian Stoner/Sludge/Southern Metal band Superhammer; and in the song Creatures from the Depth, from the 2019 album Monuments of Fallacy, by Croatian Thrash/Death Metal band War-Head. She has also played with other bands including Realma and Black Widow Conspiracy, has collaborated with several brands such as Harley Benton, Blackfire Pickups and Safari Pedals, and she is a proud partner with Guitar Pro, Guyker, Drop Strap, Playtronica, Ordyh, and Enya Music, aligning with companies that support her music and gear choices.
Her idols and influences are what anyone would except from an avid thrasher like Aleksandra, including some of the most important names in the history of Thrash Metal like Megadeth, Anthrax, and Testament, all playing a crucial role in her style and career, of course. Moreover, when asked which attributes a brand new Speed or Thrash Metal band should have in order to become unique and successful, her answer was exactly what we all want to hear from hardworking metal musicians like her. “People need to make music the way they feel. It doesn’t matter what genre it is, because listeners can recognize energy and sincerity, even when it comes to metal,” she said, and when asked what would be her ideal live show when performing as a band, she also focused on the importance of feeling you’re doing things right. “I’m not sure there’s an ideal performance. What is important is the feeling on stage. And for that to happen I just need to have no technical problems on stage. I’m not asking much.”
As a huge supporter of the underground, and of course as a proud Serbian, Aleksandra was asked not too long ago about the current scene in her homeland, including bands, fanzines, webzines and anything else connected with heavy music. She said that, unfortunately, the situation looks “complicated” as despite the fact there are tons of excellent bands in Serbia, very few webzines promote them, and therefore very few people attend their concerts. Well, let’s say that’s not an issue exclusive to Serbia, as everywhere you go you’ll face the same lack of proper support, with very few kids these days getting into heavy music and succumbing to to the most generic playlists shoved down their throats via all types of social media.
Aleksandra also proved to be an old school metalhead, maybe like Accept would say, an “analog woman”, as she simply loves when an album is released as a vinyl and/or cassette, supporting the revival of those formats (although she said she prefers CDs because they’re more practical). “I’m not a collector myself, but I have some old vinyl and cassettes which I inherited from my mother and I’m really happy that I had an opportunity to have my music on vinyl and tapes,” she commented. Furthermore, when asked about the impact of digital platforms on the careers of bands and artists, she said that Bandcamp for instance helps a lot, but it shouldn’t be the only way of promoting and selling music. “I still haven’t tried other platforms, but I can notice that they’re widespread. I think the ideal way I promote bands is combining all the available methods,” said our unstoppable lioness.
She was also asked in one of her interviews about the greatest satisfaction that music has brought her, and her answer was once again beyond awesome. “The fact that I achieved my goal. My goal was to have at least one physical release of my music, a CD that I’ll be able to show to my children and grandchildren one day. To have something behind me that other people will be able to see and hear and maybe find themselves in it. To inspire others.” Aleksandra also prefers working with a label instead of going full DIY because she believes there are several things she couldn’t do on her own, like a full-bodied promotion of her albums and tours, which makes sense as she can put all her focus on making music, and that’s what really matters in the end.
Lastly, when asked about what a band should sacrifice in order to be successful, and if she has ever sacrificed anything in her life for a better future of her bands, she mentioned she had to reconsider many times what she wanted with the band and whether it was worth it. “In the end, I decided to dedicate myself to education and family, and for the band to be my hobby. Because of that decision, we often have to sacrifice the time we would spend with the family or learning to have a rehearsal or a gig.” To be fair, at least it looks like she’s been able to balance everything quite well in recent years, managing multiple bands, projects and other aspects of her life, always delivering to us avid fans high quality heavy music, and may our unrelenting lioness keep roaring for many decades to come for our absolute delight.
The month of November has always been cold, rainy and dark in the northern hemisphere, the perfect type of weather for some ass-kicking Extreme Metal. However, this time The Headbanging Moose will travel all the way to the stunning Australia not only to experience a much better weather, but also to enjoy the Black, Death and Thrash Metal attack by our metal lady of the month. She’s the lead guitarist for an amazing thrash squad from Down Under named Thraxas!, as well as for a ruthless Black Metal horde known as Pestilential Shadows. Her name is Aleks Radmanovich, and she will mercilessly shred you to pieces armed with her unstoppable axe. Having said that, do you think you have what it takes to face one of the most badass guitarists from the current Australian metal scene?
Born and raised in the charming city of Sydney, the dauntless Aleks began her career in Heavy Metal back in 2018 when she joined the four-piece thrashing machine named Thraxas!. The band was actually formed a few years prior to her becoming their axe lady, more specifically in 2011, by vocalist Chris “Bull” Woods and drummer Izak Easterbrook (of Divine Carnage), and the only release by the band before Aleks joined their ranks, as well as bassist Dan Andrews, was their 2018 debut demo Slave Wages. As their lead guitarist, she released with Thraxas! the single Cthulhu Rising, in 2019, the 2021 EP Planetary Terrorism (under the moniker Aleks Rad), the 2025 single Blast Shadows, and more recently their first full-length opus, titled Violent Vacation. Not only that, Aleks was also responsible for the layout and design of their debut EP Planetary Terrorism. All of those songs and albums are available on BandCamp and on Spotify, and you can also visit their official YouTube channel to enjoy their official videos including Concrete Cowboy and Ecophagy.
In addition, apart from Facebook and Instagram, you can also stay up to date with all things Thraxas! by clicking HERE, and if you want to know even more about the indomitable Aleks and her scorching axe you can find a few interesting videos and interviews on YouTube, including the highlights of her chat with The Horsemen Podcast earlier this year, her guitar playthrough for the song Exemplary Punishment, and a video named 5 Minute Series – Aleks Rad where she talks about her idols and influences like Alex Webster of Cannibal Corse, Iron Maiden, Candlemass, Slayer, Exodus (mentioning her favorite Thrash Metal album of all time is Tempo of the Damned, by the way), plus her own rig rundown. No idea why the video is named “5 Minute Series” as it’s only one minute and a half long, but that doesn’t really matter as Aleks kicks some ass even in such a short period of time.
In 2024, Aleks joined Sydney, Australia’s own Black Metal veterans Pestilential Shadows, spreading her dark wings over humanity under the Stygian moniker Drekavac. A Drekavac, also called drekalo, krekavac, zdrekavac or zrikavac, is a mythical, monstrous creature from South Slavic folklore, known as “the screamer” or “the screecher” from the verb “drečati” (“to screech”). It is often the spirit of an unbaptized child, though sometimes described as an undead man. Let’s say that’s exactly the sound emanating from her fiery riffs and solos in Pestilential Shadows, sounding as dark, menacing and evil as possible, therefore showcasing a more obscure side of our unstoppable Aleks.
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The band was formed way before Aleks joining them, though, more specifically in 2003 by vocalist and guitarist Balam, who had been playing in local Black Metal bands since 1997, with the goal of creating atmospheric and intense Black Metal and cement its reputation as one of the most innovative bands in the scene. Currently formed of Balam on vocals and guitar and Aleks (or Drekavac, as mentioned) also on the guitar, alongside Lithuz on bass and Basilysk on drums, the band had already released the albums Embrace After Death (The Fate of All That Lives II) (2005), Cursed (2006), In Memoriam, Ill Omen (2009), Depths (2011), Ephemeral (2014), Revenant (2021), and Devil’s Hammer (2024) before Aleks became part of the band, but she was still able to play some live shows in Australia with them before the recordings for their ruthless eighth studio album Wretch started.
Released by the uncanny German label Northern Silence Productions in conspiracy with Brilliant Emperor Records this past September, Wretch continues the band’s progression (or regression) toward uglier, gnarlier expanses, offering more of their trademark ruminations on death and the beyond. The album has already led Pestilential Shadows to tour Europe in late August through September, followed by an October tour in their homeland Australia and in New Zealand, allowing fans from different parts of the world to witness the power of the Stygian riffs by Aleks. The band can be found on Facebook and on Instagram, and you can purchase or stream Wretch (or any of their previous albums) from BandCamp or Spotify. You can also enjoy Wretch in all of its glory on YouTube, and also enjoy the official video for the song DeathKnell, with Aleks shredding her axe while displaying her badass Black Metal attire and corpse painting. She also played live back in 2022 with a Sydney, Australia-based Death Metal outfit named Deiformity, formed back in 2016, and although there’s nothing released by the band with Aleks on the guitar for obvious reasons, you can still enjoy their 2018 debut (and only released to date) titled Corpse Stomper on BandCamp.
It looks like Aleks has recently started her life as a digital influencer by launching her own YouTube channel; however, maybe due to her busy life on the road, there’s only one video online so far, a cover version for Joe Satriani’s A Celebration. Well, who knowns, maybe we’ll get more killer videos like that in the not-so-distant future. Anyway, switching topic a bit, Aleks is endorsed by Blackstar Amplification, Schecter Guitars, and D’addario Strings, currently touring with the Blackstar Amped 3, HT Stage MKIII and HT Metal 100, Schecter Evil Twin V and Hellraiser, and playing D’addario NYXL 10-46 and EXL 11-56, and if you’re able to catch her live with either Thraxas!, Pestilential Shadows, or Deiformity, you’ll see how her equipment makes her sound feel extremely powerful onstage, exactly what we all want in extreme music.
Internally, I feel like a cosmic explosion. It’s where the stars are born. It’s where stars die.
In order to properly celebrate 13 years of The Headbanging Moose, our metal lady chosen for this month of October is the ultimate definition of the underground, and I’m sure that after knowing more about her, you’ll get addicted to her ass-kicking music. She’s the frontwoman for a phenomenal new supergroup named Visitant, as well as the vocalist for the also excellent band Voraath, not to mention she’s also an extremely talented voice actress. Call her by her real name Chelsea Strickland, or by her artistic moniker Chelsea Marrow, she will kick your ass with her undisputed Extreme Metal growls, undeniable charisma, and a deep passion for the darkest and most extreme side of music. Having said all that, do you think you have what it takes to enter in the realm of fire and flames ruled by one of the most talented female growlers of the current heavy music scene? Or in other words, get ready to be pulverized by Chelsea’s scathing vocals in our humble tribute to such a multi-talented woman.
Born on February 2, 1988 in Pensacola, Florida, in the United States, Chelsea started her career in heavy music as the vocalist for a Florida-based Blackened/Melodic Death Metal band named Accursed Creator, with whom she recorded the singles All Will Suffer (2016), Prelude of Worms (2016), and Scourge of Tested Flesh (2018), as well as the three-track EP Sins of the Father in 2016, which includes one of the singles, Prelude of Worms, before departing from the band in 2020. Their new vocalist is a guy named Kodiac Jackson, who joined the band in 2023, but they haven’t released any new material yet with him on vocals. You can enjoy their songs with Chelsea on vocals on both BandCamp and Spotify, and enjoy their official videos for songs like Throne of Iron and Scourge of Tested Flesh on YouTube.
A few years after leaving Accursed Creator, our talented she-wolf joined Asheville, North Carolina-based Technical/Experimental Death Metal band Voraath, alongside Daniel Presnell and Tylor Kohl on the guitars, Paul McBride on bass, and Joshua Nassaru Ward on drums, replacing their previous vocalist Brad Parris, having recorded with the band the excellent Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters back in 2024, available on BandCamp, Spotify or any other streaming service. In one of her interviews when she joined the band, she explained how everything happened. “I’ve been friends with Joshua Ward, who’s the current drummer for Voraath, for a couple of years, now. In the past, we’ve discussed the possibility of having me feature on a Voraath song. I believe it paved the way to where we are now. There were some recent lineup changes, and Josh reached out to me. He offered the opportunity to be a permanent member of Voraath and I happily accepted with no hesitation.”
Chelsea likes to describe Voraath’s sound as an auditory odyssey both extreme and emotional. “We wanted to keep our roots and extreme metal while still exploring storytelling,” she commented, also explaining what’s behind their masks and costumes. “We built our own multiverse with cosmic entities who have propagated life throughout a biocentric universe. It’s a complex story but we are in a post-apocalyptic future ruled by corporations and interdimensional entities, and we are just a group of hired retrieval experts trying to support our families in this dismal reality when we are hired to retrieve something that’s beyond our understanding, unearthing the body of a otherworldly being which in the lore is how we get our armor and mask, infused with technology not of this world.”
Unfortunately, the ultra talented Joshua Nassaru Ward, of bands like Rapheumets Well, Olkoth and Xael, sadly passed away on December 31, 2024, and that might have been the end of Voraath as well. Joshua, along with his fiancée and two other people, was killed in a car accident when a drunk driver crashed into their car on New Year’s Eve. Not only Chelsea lost a good friend, but her passion for Voraath and the future of the band together with her bandmates was beautiful, and I’m sure her heart and soul might be broken into tiny pieces after what happened with Joshua based on her previous comments about the band. “Everyone in the band is so fucking talented. I love the depth and storyline behind the music. There is a whole visual experience, in addition to the epic soundscape that Voraath creates. Envisioning myself as an outsider, I see this band as something truly to behold. Memorable.”
Although we might not know what’s going to be of Voraath, Chelsea can also be found now as the frontwoman for a newborn Blackened Death Metal beast named Visitant, and let me tell you such an up-and-coming underground supergroup will crush you like a putrid insect so heavy, dark, emotional and visceral they sound. Formed in February 2022 in Pensacola, Florida by our ruthless diva Chelsea on vocals alongside guitarist Taylor Tidwell (Accursed Creator, Unaligned, Withered Throne), bassist Kilian Duarte (Abiotic, Lattermath, Mimesis, Scale the Summit), and drummer Anthony Lusk-Simone (Abiotic, Lattermath, Pathogenic, Shroud of Bereavement, Your Pain Is Endearing, among many others), this powerhouse of a band brings endless savage energy to the metal community armed with their debut offering, entitled Rubidium, a monster of Blackened Death Metal displaying a stunning yet suffocating artwork crafted by Chelsea herself.
All tracks in Rubidium are fantastic, which each one having a special meaning for Chelsea and the boys. For instance, she had a few words to say about the idea and video for the killer single Fodder. “In the dream, I attempted to bring my friend back from the dead against the warnings of my ancestors – and everything went wrong. It felt like a horror short from my subconscious, and the video captures that eerie, ritualistic atmosphere.” Furthermore, in a recent interview to the excellent The Zach Moonshine Show, Chelsea opened up about the band’s journey, the personal grief behind Fodder, and channeling pain into power through music. “I’m just putting every bit of my spirit into it,” she commented, reflecting on the band’s rise and her transition from Voraath to Visitant. She also discussed the haunting inspiration behind Starless, describing it as “the embodiment of shadow work,” and explained the dreamlike vision that drives her lyricism and visuals. “I like to take personal experiences and turn them into ghost stories.” If you’re eager to know more about Visitant and put your hands on Rubidium, you can find the band on Spotify, purchase the album by clicking HERE, or simply access this link for all things Visitant.
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Chelsea can also be found as a guest vocalist for some amazing metal bands from the underground scene. Her first contributions happened back in 2019, when she recorded guest vocals for the songs Black Annis, from the album Fear In Fiction, by American Metalcore/Rap Metal musician and audio engineer Sammy SlamDance, and Ancient of Days, from the album Dead Gods, by the now defunct American Progressive/Brutal Death Metal band Nekroí Theoí; followed by the song Entity 6, from the 2023 EP Wounded, by American Technical Deathcore piece Fleshbound; and more recently the female vocals for the single Ascended Deliverance, released earlier this year by UK’s Sludge Metal outfit Tigguo Cobauc. She also sang with an American Death Metal band named Seditious Deceit back in 2020, although there isn’t much information about how she contributed to the band’s music at that time. In addition, Chelsea was also responsible for the artwork for the split album Ashes of Dagoth, by American Melodic Death/Black Metal band Ob Nixilis and American Post-Metal act To Keep the Wolves Away, once again showcasing her passion for the darkest side of arts.
When asked about her idols and influences in one of her interviews about Voraath, Chelsea mentioned Sci-Fi movies and video game soundtracks as her main references, while also drawing inspiration from bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septicflesh, Cattle Decapitation, Acid Bath, Alkaloid, and Igorr, mentioning in special Fleshgod Apocalypse and Cattle Decapitation as their biggest influences and the top bands she would like to collaborate with either by herself or together with Voraath (and I’m sure with Visitant as well). Moreover, speaking of collaborating with other bands, which leads to also touring with her own band plus other bands, Chelsea also had a few words to say about how anyone can better manage their time and relationships with all band members. “Have a pliable and comprimisable attitude. You’re stuck in a vehicle with four to five other people so developing good coping strategies and having solid communication with each other is important.”
As aforementioned, our she-wolf is also a respectable voice actress, working in the “monster sounds” division of The Monster Factory (or La Fabrique de Monstres), having the ability to craft sounds that resemble zombies, undead creatures, ghouls, vampires, trolls, orcs, goblins, demons, aliens, wizards, humans, animals in general, small creatures, insects, ghosts, whispers, dragons, and robots. For instance, as part of The Monster Factory team, she provided choir vocals for the soundtrack of the 2020 video game Doom Eternal. Not only that, apart from her career as a musician, a voice actress and a visual artist, Chelsea also works as a social media marketing manager and barista at Pacific Kava Bar in Florida, as one of the sponsored artists by CAD Audio, and as a photographer at Metal Purgatory Media and at Chelsea Marrow Photography, proving how relentless and focused she can be.
After all is said and done, I’m sure you perfectly understand now why Chelsea was chosen as our beyond talented metal lady to celebrate another year in the life (and death) of The Headbanging Moose. She lives and breathes heavy music, she never gives up no matter what, and she will keep delivering first-class extreme music for us avid metalheads for many decades to come without a shadow of a doubt. Keep an eye on her social media because we’ll probably see Visitant paying a dark and ruthless visit to several cities and towns in North America anytime soon, hopefully also spreading their blackened wings over Canada, Europe and all other parts of the world, giving us mere mortals the chance to witness live onstage one of the must-see names of the current extreme music scene worldwide. Needless to say, Chelsea will love to see you in the crowd headbanging to her infernal vocals.
Demons from the war now lives… Rain down explosions upon us… Terror in the air!
As we’re heading to the end of another hot and humid summer, let’s keep the temperatures as warm as possible with our metal lady of this month of September, and you better be prepared as she will breathe fire into your damned soul with her scorching guttural. She’s the unrelenting frontwoman for an amazing Italian Technical Death Metal band named Mechanical God Creation, and since mid-2024 she has also become a vocalist for a ruthless Italian Black Metal band named Stormcrow. As you can see, she takes no prisoners in her quest for extreme music, and I’m sure you’ll have an absolute blast listening to the amazing music crafted by her bands. Her name is Luciana Catananti, a talented she-wolf that will kick your ass mercilessly, keeping the fires of Death and Black Metal burning brighter than a thousand suns in her beautiful homeland.
Born on May 2, 1985 in Bergamo, an Italian city northeast of Milan, in the Lombardy region, Luciana was part of a band named Art of Mutilation when she lived in the UK, and also a member of a band called The Anger back then, but there isn’t much information about The Anger anywhere. Well, at least we know that Art of Mutilation was a Melodic Death/Thrash Metal band based in Birkenhead, England in its early days, then moving to Wrexham, Wales, and the band lasted between 2002 and 2011 before splitting up. Luciana was only part of the band in the year of 2005, having recorded with them the demo Mortality that same year. The demo had only three songs, those being Eviscerated, Blackened Sculpture, and Cabal, and as you can see by the only two songs available on YouTube, Luciana and the boys were a really promising band (which unfortunately is no more), and her vocals were already ruthless.
It was then in 2006 in the charming Italian city of Milan when Luciana founded Mechanical God Creation alongside guitarist Simo, and quickly adding bassist Andrea “Veon” Marini, guitarist Andrea “Runza” Galdi, and drummer Mattia Jay “Jambra” Giambini to their lineup; however, as all four already left the band after a few years, she remains as the only member of the original lineup. Their music also morphed from Melodic Death Metal the likes of Arch Enemy in their early days, hence the name of the band (taken from their 2005 masterpiece Doomsday Machine), to a more visceral, brutal and infernal form of Technical Death Metal, even adding hints of modern-day Death Metal and Progressive Death Metal to their core sound, as you can se in the evolution of their music from their 2007 demo …and the Battle Becomes War, to their 2010 debut Cell XIII, followed by their 2013 sophomore Artifact of Annihilation, and finally their 2019 album The New Chapter, all available for streaming in most streaming services like BandCamp, YouTube and Spotify, except for their demo, and you can also enjoy a lot of official videos like Terror In The Air and I Am The Godless Man, and lots of cool live footage including Walking Dead live in Russia in 2014, on their official YouTube channel.
Although Mechanical God Creation haven’t released any new material since 2019, we can also enjoy our dauntless growler as the new frontwoman for an Italian Black Metal band named Stormcrow since July 2024, under the moniker Vexa (maybe taken from a half-troll from Dungeons & Dragons, who knows). Playing what they like to label as “Alpine Black Metal”, the band currently formed of our beloved Luciana, or if you prefer, Vexa on vocals alongside Vastis also on vocals, Astaroth and Tohrus on the guitars, Zedar on bass, and Wraith on drums has been making a name for themselves since 1997, having already released the demo Hell on Earth (2000), the EP Wounded Skies (2004), and the full-length albums Disposition to Tyranny (2012), Face the Giant (2019), and more recently Path to Ascension (2024), all available on BandCamp and on Spotify. Furthermore, although Luciana has only been playing live with the band for now, with no participation in any of the band’s albums, not only you should still listen to all of their discography as their music is awesome, but it will also give you a very good taste of what Luciana has to offer when hitting the stages together with her new horde (and stay tuned as their 2026 European dates are coming soon).
Apart from Mechanical God Creation, Stormcrow, The Anger, and Art of Mutilation, you can also find Luciana as a guest vocalist for the song Urban Massacre, from the 2019 album 1996, by an Italian Death Metal/Grindcore band named Abbinormal. It’s a one-minute song, which might be very short for us metalheads eager for more of Luciana’s vocals, but enough already to show how violent she can sound. She has also recently contributed with her powerful vocals to a track titled Portals, on the new album by legendary Dutch Death Metal band Pestilence that should see the light of day sometime still in 2025 (or maybe only in 2026). In addition, you can also find on YouTube a cover version for Lamb of God’s Walk With Me In Hell by Luciana alongside Italian guitarist and bassist Francesca Mancini, of bands like Chaos Rising, Necrosy, and Sudden Death, and let me tell you that such an incredible female duo kicked some serious ass with their rendition of one of the best songs by Randy Blythe and his crew.
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Highly influenced by bands the likes of Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Deicide, just to name a few, Luciana enjoys writing caustic, harsh lyrics that reflect the daily reality and the problems we all face in the time we’re living that is so full of very important and sudden changes from the cultural, political and technological point of view. Moreover, apart from heavy music, Luciana also enjoys listening to bands and artists like David Bowie, Adele, Coldplay, and Amy Winehouse, showing her eclectic music taste, and when asked which was her first ever live concert and the very first album she bought, she mentioned the always controversial Marilyn Manson (saying it was a great show and that he is a good frontman, but also pointing out she doesn’t listen to him anymore), and probably a Metallica album as far as she remembers.
Having already played at some of the biggest festivals in Europe with heavy music giants including Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Megadeth, Graveworm, Meshuggah, and Amon Amarth, just to name a few, Luciana also mentioned in one of her interviews that she really enjoys a festival in Slovenia named Metalcamp, saying that although it’s not as big as Wacken Open Air, it’s a very nice festival in the midst of nature. I really wish both Mechanical God Creation and Stormcrow would cross the pond and come play a few shows in Canada and in the United States, but I understand it’s not easy nowadays to tour the world due to the high touring costs. Well, maybe I can catch them at an European festival next year, right?
Despite being a proud Italian, while at the same time of course having her own constructive feedback about the current political and social landscapes in her homeland, Luciana is not very involved with the Italian underground scene. She mentioned in one of her interviews that she obviously knows bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse are proudly carrying the Italian flag everywhere they go, and she feels very happy for them despite not being a true fan of their music.
Currently working in the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) department of WormHoleDeath and Epictronic, Luciana mentioned in an interview that one of her biggest mistakes in music was having stopped to play the piano after years playing it, as it certainly helped her to feel calm. However, if you think she enjoys movies that would also make her calm down and relax, you’ve got another thing coming as her favorite flicks are horror movies with zombies or exorcisms, with her favorite one being the classic Dawn of the Dead. Maybe one day we’ll see Luciana joining the cast of a horror movie, playing some sort of she-demon, screaming at our faces, and sending shivers down the spines of the lighthearted. Because she’s a true extreme music diva, and she will show no mercy for your soul armed with her phenomenal vocals and badass attitude.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 