Let this talented Italian band bring you the best Hard Rock from the 80’s you can think of, and you’ll then feel a lot closer to the always coveted Rock N’ Roll heaven.
After you take a listen at Closer To Heaven, the brand new release by Italian Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band Danger Zone, you will certainly start asking yourself why those talented rockers are not among the top Hard Rock bands in the world such as Whitesnake, Scorpions, Def Leppard and Van Halen, even being founded in the early 80’s (more specifically in 1983) like most of our favorite bands from this always pleasant subgenre of heavy music. If you’re a fan of that old school Hard Rock sending a message of love and freedom to the entire world, this album is for you, and Danger zone will soon become one of your favorite new (or maybe I should say veteran) bands without a shadow of a doubt.
Due to adverse circumstances, the band had to go on a hiatus between 1989, a few years after the release of their debut EP entitled Victim of Fate, until 2011 when their first full-length album Line of Fire finally became a reality after so many years on the shelf. However, it was worth the wait, as all their releases after the band got back together in 2010 are beyond awesome, and of course it couldn’t be any different with Closer To Heaven. Always loyal to their roots and never giving up on their dreams, this Bologna-based band offers the listener 11 tracks of pure Hard Rock from the 80’s without sounding cheesy or outdated in Closer To Heaven, and that’s all that’s needed for this album to be considered a mandatory addition to your Hard Rock collection.
I know I’ve already mentioned the name of this band in this review, but if you love the Hard Rock played by Scorpions you’ll go crazy with the opening track Turn It Up and its blazing riffs, powerful keyboards and a gripping rhythm, all perfect for lead singer Giacomo Gigantelli to provide his classy vocal lines. Then in Go! (Closer To Heaven), an acoustic start flows into a powerful Hard Rock ahthem that sounds taken from those cult romantic comedies from the 80’s, where keyboardist Pier Mazzini nicely complements what lead guitarist Roberto Priori and guitarist Danilo Faggiolini offer through their solos and riffs respectively; while in Higher Than High I really thought for a few seconds that the iconic Klaus Meine was about to start singing. This song showcases that traditional Hard Rock that dominated the American territory during the 80’s, with a chorus catchier than anything you can imagine and Roberto kicking ass with his guitar solos.
Now let drummer Paolo Palmieri and bassist Matteo Minghetti, both supported by Pier’s keyboard notes, guide us all on a Rock N’ Roll road trip in the amazing I’m All In, with highlights to the great performance by Giacomo with his passionate vocals, followed by Here Where I Belong, a semi-acoustic power ballad where the whole band works together and in sync to fill all spaces in the music with smoothness and energy, creating a pleasant atmosphere for couples to enjoy it together. The following tune, I Love Crazy, is a solid display of American Hard Rock with the traditional riffs by Roberto and Danilo shaping the musicality, and you’ll surely start banging your head or tapping on your desk with the beats by Paolo (not to mention its lyrics will stick to your head and you’ll get yourself singing them everywhere you go).
In the average All For You, a promising start slows down a bit too much, making the whole track sound like filler despite another good vocal performance by Giacomo; whereas in the thrilling T’night, with the keyboards by Pier shining brighter than ever and fire flowing from the guitars, the band blasts a classic Hard Rock chant perfect for people to go crazy on the dance floor at a Rock N’ Roll party. And it seems that the party doesn’t have a time to end based on what the band brings forward in Human Contact, again presenting Scorpions-like riffs and electrifying vocals by Giacomo.
The unstoppable guitar duo Roberto and Danilo steal the spotlight in what’s in my opinion the best of all songs in Closer To Heaven, entitled Not That Lonely, and with Paolo offering the most Rock N’ Roll beats you can think of there’s nothing I can say about this song but that it kicks fuckin’ ass hands down. And lastly, Hard Rock Paradise is an ode to all things Hard Rock, reminding me of some of the biggest classics by Van Halen with all its elements taking us back to the golden years of Hard Rock. Well, I’m pretty sure that was the band’s main goal when they wrote this rockin’ anthem.
You can find more details on the past, present and future of Danger Zone at their Facebook page or YouTube channel, and party until you drop to the sound of their dancing Hard Rock and Rock N’ Roll by purchasing Closer To Heaven at the Pride & Joy Music webstore, on iTunes or on Amazon. You don’t need to travel back in time to the 80’s to listen to good Hard Rock music: simply let Danger Zone bring that for you and you’ll feel closer and closer to the coveted Rock N’ Roll heaven while listening to their powerful hymns.
Best moments of the album: Turn It Up, I’m All In and Not That Lonely.
Worst moments of the album:All For You.
Released in 2016 Pride & Joy Music
Track listing 1. Turn It Up 4:22
2. Go! (Closer To Heaven) 3:50
3. Higher Than High 4:10
4. I’m All In 5:12
5. Here Where I Belong 4:26
6. I Love Crazy 4:26
7. All For You 4:24
8. T’night 4:35
9. Human Contact 4:13
10. Not That Lonely 3:35
11. Hard Rock Paradise 4:29
Band members Giacomo Gigantelli – vocals
Roberto Priori – lead guitar
Danilo Faggiolini – guitar
Matteo Minghetti – bass
Pier Mazzini – keyboards
Paolo Palmieri – drums
I am, I am all that’s inside you… I am, I am evil burning through!
Have you ever been bitten by a cobra? If not, this is probably the best opportunity you will ever have in your life to finally feel the powerful venom of a spellbinding snake flowing through your veins in the form of old school Heavy Metal, and I’m sure you’ll just love the experience. I’m talking about the stunning Canadian metaller Brittany Paige, better known for her onstage moniker Kobra Paige, the fiery frontwoman of Canadian Heavy Metal band Kobra And The Lotus. Are you ready for a metallic snake bite?
Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Kobra is a classically trained singer and pianist, having completed Grade 8 in vocals and Grade 6 in piano with The Royal Conservatory of Music, before forming Kobra And The Lotus in 2008 together with guitarist Chris Swenson and drummer Griffin Kissack. She said she was doing classical training from when she was very young until she lost interest in it, getting into Heavy Metal and Rock N’ Roll during her high school years especially because there was something in heavy music with a strong connection to what she loved the most in classical music, allowing her to explore her true voice. “I felt it was an extremely natural progression because metal allows for that chest voice to be used”, she explained. In addition, she mentioned she was going to university without a real intention of doing music seriously, although she truly wanted to start her own metal band anyway. After starting singing and writing music she felt so passionate and alive she decided to go ahead with her music career, which also meant the end of university for her.
Despite not pursuing a career in classical music, the classical training was essential for our blonde bombshell to learn the art of singing and how to properly take good care of her voice. “I’m so scared of that because I can’t just buy a new guitar. I only have this one instrument and you don’t want to blow it, so absolutely the breath exercises and the tools that I learned from it have very much helped, made me more knowledgeable”, she said in one of her interviews. Well, she said she was blown away at a Judas Priest concert after the band played their thunderous classic Painkiller, and she also fell in love for the powerful multi-layered voice by Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, so it makes total sense for her to be so worried about her voice as we all know how demanding singing like Rob Halford and Robert Plant can be to any mortal person, right?
Still under the name Brittany Paige, she released with Kobra And The Lotus their debut album Out of the Pit, in 2009, before adopting the name Kobra Paige and releasing two more albums with the band, the self-titled Kobra and the Lotus in 2012 and their most recent full-length album High Priestess in 2014, as well as an EP with cover versions for renowned Canadian rock bands entitled Words of the Prophets in 2015, and a 7″ vinyl EP named Zombie also in 2015, released as a Halloween treat and containing the songs Zombie and Remember Me. She also took part in the Heavy Metal/Hard Rock project Tony Gabriele’s Orbynot, recording vocals for their 2012 album Try to Stop Me, and is constantly lending her voice to the metal army known as Metal All Stars, sharing the stage with iconic musicians such as Tim “Ripper” Owens, Ross the Boss, Vinny Appice and Paul Di’Anno, and more recently to the cult Melodic Power Metal act Kamelot during their latest world tour. And you better get ready, because Kobra And The Lotus announced back in November 2015 they are gearing up for their fourth full-length album, a double disc entitled Prevail, to be released in a not-so-distant future (you can pre-order it HERE).
There are several videos on YouTube where you can enjoy her electrifying vocals and looks, and more important than that, feel the remarkable shift in her voice through the years. As a “few” suggestions, I believe you can take a listen at the old school thrashy tunes Snake Pit, Ride Like Sugar and Cynical Wasteland, the thunderous Welcome To My Funeral and I Am, I Am, the sexy heavy ballad Black Velvet, the Power Metal epicness of 50 Shades Of Evil and Forever One, the band’s thrilling cover versions for Motörhead’s all-time classic Ace of Spadesand Rush’s groovy anthem The Spirit Of Radio, and their awesome performance at the famous festival Bloodstock Open Air in 2012. When asked about that change, Kobra said it happened mainly from their first to their second album, when she started following a direction where she felt more comfortable with her voice, sounding more organic, honest and authentic, and also evolving with the other band members in terms of skills and songwriting.
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Based on her vocal style and the music played by Kobra and The Lotus, you might think her biggest influences come only from traditional Heavy Metal, like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, who obviously had a huge impact on her life and who she would simply love to tour with. However, our gorgeous Kobra is a fan of all types of music, from old school metal the likes of Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P.) and Iced Earth, to Folk/Viking Metal such as Eluveitie and Amon Amarth, to obviously classical music, in special German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven. As pretty much all successful musicians, she doesn’t stick to only one music genre, which helps her evolve as a singer and songwriter by expanding her horizons and bringing to her mind huge amounts of creativity and passion.
As expected for such a charismatic persona like Kobra, she was invited to take part on an interesting documentary called Soaring Highs and Brutal Lows: The Voices of Women in Metal after her performance at the famous Metal Female Voices Fest in 2013, touring then with other female vocalists in different festivals and telling their own stories in the world of heavy music. Talking about the life on the road, Kobra said once that “any person obviously has to be really into heavy metal, living and breathing for it, in order to be on the road constantly”, and in regards to being a beautiful woman among so many male metalheads, she said that one of the funniest things that ever happened to her on tour was when Kobra and The Lotus were touring around Canada the first time and she got a lot of questions like “are you the merch girl?”, surprising them all the minute she got onstage.
Her hobbies and interests are also very common for most of us, especially if you enjoy more physical stuff such as kickboxing and hiking on a mountain. Moreover, as she’s so focused on her music career and loves all things music so much, she has also nurtured an interest in musical theater, something she used to do at a younger age, looking into some Broadway scoring to improve her skills and capacity for innovation. One curious detail about her is that, even after spending so much time on the road with the band, she’s an avid traveler, always searching for exotic destinations to visit and new cultures to learn about.
Lastly, in case you haven’t noticed yet, our metal viper has the tattoo of a dream catcher on her arm, something very meaningful to her since she was a little girl. Her mom used to take her to sun dances, increasing Native American influences on her while she was growing up. Besides, she used to have constant nightmares until she was 13, when her parents put a dream catcher over her bed as a protective symbol, which ended up working really well for her. I’m pretty sure her nightmares are long gone by now, not due to the dream catcher but mainly because of her badass attitude and inner strength. In other words, I can’t think of any entity brave enough to disturb the peace of our headbanging cobra, and if anyone or anything dares to do so, they will mercilessly have their asses kicked pretty bad.
Despite its interesting concept and excellent production, Jomsviking never truly takes off, offering the same old, same old fighting chants we’ve seen countless times before.
“The Jomsvikings and their world is the background for the story of a young man that is in love with a girl but unfortunately she’s being married off. He accidentally kills a man when this happens and he has to flee — but he swears to have revenge and win her back. He can’t let go of the past. He feels that he’s been wronged and his life has been destroyed. The way the story evolves is not a happy story.”, said frontman Johan Hegg in an interview to Blabbermouth about Jomsviking, the tenth studio album by Swedish Melodic Death Metal band Amon Amarth, and also the first concept album in their solid career. However, despite being quite an innovative idea, it didn’t thrill me at any single moment during the entire album, a huge letdown taken into account the high expectations I had when I first heard our talented Viking warriors were recording a concept album.
The Jomsvikings might have been a semi-legendary order of Viking brigands of the 10th and 11th centuries, but all we get in the album is the same old Amon Amarth with some slight changes in their musicality and nothing truly remarkable about those infamous mercenaries. For instance, their excellent 2011 release Surtur Rising tells a lot more about the mythical giant Surtr than Jomsviking tells about the Jomsvikings, and it’s not even close to being a concept album. At least the artwork, once again designed by Tom Thiel, keeps up with their previous releases, but musically speaking Jomsviking doesn’t bring anything fresh to the listener. It doesn’t harm the band’s career either, but it leaves that annoying sensation you feel when it’s more than obvious that a band like Amon Amarth can do a lot better than that.
Johan’s voice sounds really odd in the first few lines in First Kill, but fortunately that doesn’t last long and he gets back to his regular “Viking mode” after a few seconds. Although the song itself sounds traditional Amon Amarth at first, you can feel it’s a bit more melodic than usual, mainly due to the great job done by guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg. And can the intro in the exciting Wanderer be considered “Viking Heavy Metal/Hard Rock”? Anyway, I like what I hear even the song not being played at full speed like many of their classics. It’s groovy and dark Melodic Death Metal made in Scandinavia with a beautiful melody in the background, a powerful chorus and tons of melancholy, turning it into one of the best songs of the album. On a Sea of Blood, which brings forward some welcome elements of Power and Heavy Metal, was born to be an Amon Amarth classic, with session drummer Tobias Gustafsson doing an excellent job in keeping the energy flowing smoothly during the entire song. While listening to this tune, all you’ll think of is grabbing your sword and shield and heading to the battlefield, no doubt about that.
One Against All keeps the violence at a high level, being extremely melodic at all times thanks to the guitar lines by both Olavi and Johan Söderberg, and despite offering nothing new musically speaking I guess not a single fan of the band will complain about it. And who doesn’t enjoy a song about drinking beer? That’s what you get in Raise Your Horns and its cliché but fun lyrics (“So pour the beer for thirsty men / A drink that they have earned / And pour a beer for those who fell / For those who did not return”). The music itself is quite lame, but again this is Amon Amarth, not a Progressive Metal band, which means fans will enjoy singing it along with Johan during the band’s live concerts. One might ask why I said bad things about the album in the beginning of this review, but so far I’ve made many positive comments about the songs presented until this part of the album. Well, that’s the main issue with Jomsviking: I’m not really sure how all songs are connected to the album concept, as they all sound regular songs to me with the word “Jomsviking” randomly added here and there. This is also the case in The Way of Vikings, sounding the same song Amon Amarth have recorded a billion times already, a below average chant with a strong “been there, done that” feeling.
After a boring intro, At Dawn’s First Light gets to a decent melodic ambience that albeit generic ends up working well with the lyrics, but again don’t expect to find anything fresh in its musicality (except for the blood of your enemies, of course); followed by One Thousand Burning Arrows, by far the most boring track of all. I’m not kidding, after less than two minutes my attention turned to something else deu to the lack of anything interesting in it, a song filled with uninspired beats, riffs and vocals with absolutely nothing special, failing miserably in the end. At least Vengeance Is My Name puts the band back on track, translating the bloodshed of a battle into words (“The next man over reaches / And so he winds up dead / One cut is all that’s needed / I removed his head”), with the music also following the same level of violence.
Then we have the good A Dream That Cannot Be, featuring one of the greatest metal divas of all time, the unstoppable German amazon Doro Pesch. She kicks some serious ass together with Amon Amarth, bringing a breath of fresh air to their sometimes tiring music. Maybe they should have more female guests in their future releases, who knows? Anyhow, closing Jomsviking we have Back on Northern Shores, and I honestly don’t understand why Amon Amarth insist with long “epic” songs to conclude their albums as it never works as expected. Its riffs and rhythm are somewhat decent but way too repetitive for seven minutes, and again I turned my thoughts to something else after a short while. Next time they craft a lengthy chant, I hope they at least add some breaks, variations and additional layers to the sounding, otherwise I won’t even bother listening to it until the end.
To sum up, I’m sure a considerable part of the longtime fans of Amon Amarth all around the world will enjoy Jomsviking, saying it’s a great album and many other positive things about it, but as I said before it lacks a lot of power if compared to its predecessors and, a lot worse than that, it doesn’t say anything truly remarkable or worth about the Jomsvikings. Although the album has its moments and can entertain you for a few spins, I’m more than sure you’ll get really tired of it after a few weeks even with the new elements added to the music. And if they ever decide to write a concept album again in their career, may that be a true concept album and not just a bunch of same old, same old generic fighting chants they have done so many times before.
Best moments of the album: Wanderer, On a Sea of Blood and A Dream That Cannot Be.
Worst moments of the album:The Way of Vikings, One Thousand Burning Arrows and Back on Northern Shores.
Released in 2016 Metal Blade
Track listing 1. First Kill 4:21
2. Wanderer 4:42
3. On a Sea of Blood 4:04
4. One Against All 3:37
5. Raise Your Horns 4:23
6. The Way of Vikings 5:11
7. At Dawn’s First Light 3:50
8. One Thousand Burning Arrows 5:49
9. Vengeance Is My Name 4:41
10. A Dream That Cannot Be (feat. Doro Pesch) 4:22
11. Back on Northern Shores 7:08
Band members Johan Hegg – vocals
Olavi Mikkonen – guitar
Johan Söderberg – guitar
Ted Lundström – bass guitar
Jocke Wallgren – drums (live)
Guest musicians Tobias Gustafsson – drums (studo recording)
Doro Pesch – guest vocals on “A Dream That Cannot Be”
A mini-album of Extreme Metal made in Canada that will suffocate you heartlessly, savagely and diabolically, or everything you always look for when in pursuit of evil music.
If you don’t know what suffocating Black/Death Metal is even being very fond of extreme music, I highly recommend you take a listen at Abyss of Excruciating Vexes, the new release by Canadian metallers Paroxsihzem. For instance, the name chosen by this talented horde formed in 2007 in Toronto, Ontario derives from the word “paroxysm”, which means “a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity”, an honest and precise epitome of what their music represents and all the emotions that will arise when it starts penetrating your mind.
Although Abyss of Excruciating Vexes is a mini-album containing only four brand new compositions and a cover song, you will be able to witness the band moving towards a new and exciting direction in its 25 minutes of the fastest, most violent and most vicious material they have ever done. Featuring a visceral and disturbing artwork by the band’s own lead singer Krag, Abyss of Excruciating Vexes has all the elements we crave in Extreme Metal and more, turning this quick and incendiary album into a must-have item for the collection of any admirer and connoisseur of the darkened heavy music crafted in the underworld.
The dissonant beginning in Dillanties Torture warns the listener of the massacre that’s about to come, a gruesome Black and Death Metal onslaught led by the deep and sick growls by Krag where drummer Abyss seems to be under some kind of evil spell, blasting his furious nonstop beats and fills. In other words, this tune presents a demonic sonority forged in the pits of hell that will please all fans of traditional Black Metal. Then in Bellicose Psychosis you will face bestiality in the form of music, where Impugnor shows how he masters the art of creating wicked riffs, consequently building a dark atmosphere for Krag to fire his vociferations. I would say this is a fusion of pure Black Metal instrumental with pure Death Metal vocals, and the result couldn’t sound more impactful.
Impugnor and Abyss are on their satanic mode in BZ Experiment, a song inspired by the Edgewood Arsenal human experiments conducted from 1948 to 1975 by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, which musically speaking is presented by the band as a feast of blast beats and aggressive riffs and solos, with absolutely no signs of modernity or alternative elements, just plain old school devastation “made in Canada”. Then in the excellent Isolation the band needs less than five seconds to break your spinal cord with their brutal assault of Black Metal, with highlights to the awesome job done by Krag who goes from the deepest guttural a la Chris Barnes to vicious screams closer to what George “Corpsegrinder” Fischer does. Put differently, a powerful “tribute” to ancient and contemporary Cannibal Corpse in what’s the most insane tune of the MLP (and obviously the best).
Lastly, Paroxsihzem have a special gift for us entitled D.C.M., also known as “Dead Cunt Maniac”, a top-notch cover version for a classic song by French Black/Death metal act Arkhon Infaustus, but adding their own touch to the sounding. The song’s growls and riffs get to a truly Stygian level, with its ending leaving you completely disoriented so obscure it is. And you can listen to the entire MLP on the official Hellthrasher Productions’ YouTube channel, if you have an uncontrollable inner desire to experience that disorientation yourself.
All the brutality and doom ignited by Paroxsihzem can be enjoyed by visiting their Facebook page, while Abyss of Excruciating Vexes (which by the way serves as a bridge to the band’s next full-length album) is on sale at the Hellthrasher Productions’ BandCamp page or webshop, released exclusively on 12” vinyl and limited to only 250 copies. This is high-end Canadian Extreme Metal that will suffocate you heartlessly, savagely and diabolically, or everything you always look for when in pursuit of evil music.
Only a couple of weeks after watching Iron Maiden kicking fuckin’ ass in Montreal and Toronto, I knew my next concert had to be beyond amazing to keep the electricity flowing, otherwise I would start yawning during the show and not even a cold beer would wake me up. Fortunately, what I was able to witness yesterday at the Phoenix Concert Theatre here in Toronto together with thousands of other crazy metalheads was a fantastic night of obscure and blasphemous music, as part of the infamous Blasfemia Amerika Tour 2016. From start to finish, the night was absolutely flawless. And we were treated to the darkest and most amazing music we could possibly imagine as a warm-up for Behemoth, offered to us all by the gorgeous and charming Danish multi-instrumentalist and model Amalie Bruun, the mastermind behind the one-woman Black Metal project MYRKUR (or “darkness” in Icelandic).
For obvious reasons, our Valkyrie of Black Metal couldn’t deliver the whole concert by herself, having as a very solid support band guitarist Teloch (Mayhem), bassist Liam (Dillinger Escape Plan) and drummer Øyvind Myrvoll (Nidingr), helping her blast Myrkur’s entrancing music last night. She was responsible for both clean (almost operatic) and harsh vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, dancing and more, though. Is there anything she cannot do? Anyway, with stunning compositions like Den Lille Piges Død (“the little girl’s death” in Danish), Mordet (“assassination”) and her flawless version for Bathory’s Song to Hall Up High, Amalie hypnotized the entire crowd, drawing sighs from every single person during the smoothest passages of her songs and inspiring some decent mosh pits during the heaviest moments. If anyone asked me to summarize Myrkur in only a couple of words, I would definitely select “beauty” and “beast”, and you’ll notice she does that personality split herself on purpose, having two microphones during her performance: her right one being used only for clean vocals, while the left one is used for her demonic screaming. Would this be her depiction of the angel on the right shoulder and the devil on the left? Also, almost at the same time she got flowers from a fan and thanked the audience for such an amazing reception, when a guy asked her to play some nonsense song, she replied with a gentle “suck my dick”. Do you want to know more about this angel of darkness? Go check her BandCamp page, where you can listen to everything she’s already released in her promising career.
Setlist Den Lille Piges Død
Hævnen
Onde Børn (False Start)
Jeg Er Guden, I Er Tjenerne
Mordet
Dybt I Skoven
Skøgen Skulle Dø
Skaði
Song to Hall Up High (Bathory cover) Norn (outro)
Band members Myrkur – vocals, piano, guitar
Teloch – guitar
Liam – bass
Øyvind Myrvoll – drums
Finally, one year after their last concert in Toronto, the best metal band in the history of Poland returned with their magnificent Blackened Death Metal to storm the city once again and leave us all completely disoriented when their black mass was over. If a regular BEHEMOTH gig is already outstanding, I have no words to describe what witnessing them playing The Satanist in its entirety followed by some of their biggest classics feels like. Not only each and every song from The Satanist was played to perfection, but the stage was also amazingly set and the theatrical performance by all band members was sensational. I hope no one from those stupid churches ever goes to a Behemoth concert in Toronto, otherwise they might be banished from Canada like it happened with the band in other places.
If Myrkur was the evil queen of the night, the one and only Adam “Nergal” Darski could be considered our hellish king (or should I say priest?), commanding his loyal bandmates and the entire crowd with his refined technique as a guitarist and his trademark growls. I was eager to see the classic Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel live for the first time, and after Nergal appeared holding two torches up high and the music started, I got even more than what I expected. In addition, after each song of The Satanist the band had something different to offer, either being a disturbing video on the background, some extra smoke, dark lighting, or a wicked narration connecting it to the following opus. I’m not even going to say how incredible my other two favorite chants of the album, Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer and the mesmerizing O Father O Satan O Sun!, sounded. You have to be there to feel their fury and darkness.
When The Satanist part of the gig was concluded, Nergal and his horde still had some classics to blast our ears and fuel the insane circle pits that were consuming the entire venue, starting with the bestial Pure Evil and Hate. If anyone lost their lives during the execution of this anthem, I wouldn’t be surprised. Moreover, both guitarist Patryk Dominik “Seth” Sztyber and bassist Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski seemed to be having a great time during the encores, mainly due to the awesome reaction they got from the fans who couldn’t stop slamming into the pit, and especially during songs like Conquer All and the last one of their setlist, Chant for Eschaton 2000, two high-octane compositions that sound even more powerful live than their already demonic studio versions. Except for the considerable line at the end of the concert for the coat check, everything else was beyond perfect, lefting us all wondering when Behemoth will return to Toronto to take over our beloved city one more time.
Setlist Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel
Furor Divinus
Messe Noire
Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
Amen
The Satanist
Ben Sahar
In the Absence ov Light
O Father O Satan O Sun!
Encore: Pure Evil and Hate
Antichristian Phenomenon
Conquer All
Encore 2: At the Left Hand ov God
Slaves Shall Serve
Chant for Eschaton 2000
Band members Adam “Nergal” Darski – lead vocals, guitars
Patryk Dominik “Seth” Sztyber – guitars
Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski – bass guitar
Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Promiński – drums and percussion
These up-and-coming metallers from Cincinnati, Ohio will show you how Death Metal can easily embrace elements from all other genres and subgenres of heavy music without losing its essence, always remaining loyal to its violent and gruesome roots.
Discharging their fast and furious Death Metal directly from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio to the entire world since 2012, American metallers Verment are ready to attack once again with their brand new EP entitled Death’s Domain. If you’re a fan of bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide, The Black Dahlia Murder, Suffocation and Angelcorpse, let me tell you that you’ll definitely have a very good time during the 24 minutes of deep vociferations, crushing beats and blazing riffs found in this unrelenting 7-track album.
Although some of the band’s main influences are purely Death Metal, Verment do not stick only to that genre of heavy music in their compositions, blending elements from Thrash, Melodic Death and even Blackened Death Metal in their musicality, not to mention they also add a modern twist to their sounding in order to sound fresher and more impactful than other regular Death Metal bands. And if you’re good at “deciphering” what lead singer and bassist Eric Payne is vociferating throughout the entire EP, your experience listening to Verment will become even more interesting than expected.
And the band is not kidding when they say they’re not purely Death Metal, as the excellent opening track Casket Fever is actually a bit more Thrash than Death Metal per se. Moreover, the growling by Eric Payne is full of anger and perfectly represents the message in the lyrics (“Exhuming corpses in the darkness / Taking from the hand of death / All to please the inner demon / That is keeping me from rest”), with the clean and melodic solos by Dustin Stockhoff bringing a welcome harmony to the music. That blustering fusion of extreme music subgenres also work really well in Amon’s Wrath, where Black and Death Metal are put together in a neck-breaking tune made to listen at top volume, full of violent riffs by Nick Moeller while drummer Alex Hooper is as heavy and precise as he can be behind his drum set.
Wings of Bone, which is perhaps the most Death Metal song of all, offers the listener two and a half minutes of brutal and technical devastation flawlessly led by Nick and Alex, with both deep guttural and sharper demonic growls by Eric being spot-on; while Vile Incisions leans towards more traditional Death Metal, especially due to its technical riffs and solos. In addition, Eric’s screams match perfectly with all instrumental pieces, with the last part of the song being a demented feast of blast beats commonly found in old school Black Metal. And get ready for the insane circle pits that will be generated by Obsolescence Reality, which has that constant metallic rhythm we all love in Death Metal, but with the addition of some nice breaks to add more flavor to it.
Before the album is over, their Thrash Metal vein returns in Chemical Indoctrination, without of course being less Death Metal than expected. It’s a faster and more straightforward tune where both Dustin and Nick have amazing performances with their riffs and solos, providing Eric all he needs to fire his hostile screams. And lastly, Parade of Filth closes the album in a solid way showcasing putrid lyrics that are the nightmare of every soccer mom (“It’s quite a sight to behold / All walks of life convening / It makes me sick to see this rotten malánge / Flesh folding over, repulsive odor / I am no better but I certainly do not reek of shit”), while Alex displays all his darkest abilities during the song’s almost four minutes. In other words, this is basically the opposite of mainstream, which means diehard fans of old school Death Metal will love it.
Whether you’re a hardcore Death Metal fan looking for a new addition to your collection of aggressive hymns, or a not-so-delicate soccer mom who felt significantly insulted when I said the music by Verment might be one of your worst nightmares, go check their Facebook, SoundCloud and ReverbNation for more of their venomous music. Death’s Domain, which can be purchased at the band’s BandCamp page, will show you once again why Death Metal is, and will forever be, the only type of extreme music that can easily embrace elements from all other genres and subgenres of heavy music without losing its essence, always remaining loyal to its roots.
Best moments of the album: Casket Fever and Wings of Bone.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2016 Independent
Track listing 1. Casket Fever 3:18
2. Amon’s Wrath 3:26
3. Wings of Bone 2:31
4. Vile Incisions 3:27
5. Obsolescence Reality 3:41
6. Chemical Indoctrination 3:30
7. Parade of Filth 3:47
Band members Eric Payne – vocals, bass
Dustin Stockhoff – lead guitar
Nick Moeller – rhythm guitar
Alex Hooper – drums, backing vocals
One of the most prominent and innovative French bands of all time returns with a true masterpiece of complexity, darkness and heaviness, shining brighter than the main star of the Phoenix constellation.
There’s a thin line between change and evolution several bands worldwide can’t or simply just don’t know how to walk without losing their balance and, consequently, damaging their core essence. Fortunately, this is not the case with French Neo-Metal adventurers Eths, who in my humble opinion have just released their boldest and most innovative album to date, the splendid Ankaa, but still being the Eths we all learned to love. Although I had been preparing myself for quite a while for another blast of creativity by Mr. Staif Bihl and his bandmates, I must say I was blown away by the level of intricacy, darkness and heaviness found throughout the entire album. This beautiful work-of-art crafted by this distinguished group hailing from the city of Marseille, France is the perfect depiction of what evolution in music is all about, and it will surely help spread the electricity and emotions flowing from the music by Eths to the entire world.
Ankaa, which features a unique selection of guest musicians such as Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Sarah Layssac (Arkan), Jon Howard (Threat Signal), Faustine Berardo and session drummer Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork), not to mention it is also Eths’ first full-length album with the stunning Rachel Aspe on vocals, shines brighter than the main star of the Phoenix constellation, which by the way was the inspiration for the album name. “This album is linked to the cosmos and the concept of rebirth for the band as well as personally”, said Staif, and that’s indeed what you’ll experience while listening to each one of its twelve jaw-dropping multi-layered songs, all beautifully and meticulously connected to tell a bigger story to the listener. Again, Eths might have changed their musicality in Ankaa considerably, but it was a change towards evolution that no one in their right mind should ever complain about.
One of the best compositions in the history of Eths, entitled Nefas (the Latin word for “atrocity” or “wrong”), kicks off Ankaa in a very impactful way, being insanely heavier, faster and darker than anything the band has ever done before. It’s a feast of Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal, Alternative Metal and many other subgenres of heavy music perfectly put together, and pay good attention to what our screaming diva Rachel does with her “voix incroyable”, it sounds beyond astonishing. Nihil Sine Causa (or “nothing happens without a cause”, from Latin), featuring Sarah Layssac and Jon Howard, is yet another obscure and thunderous composition where the band’s mastermind Staif showcases his always solid guitar lines, with the addition of the Arabic words by Sarah as well as the electronic effects during the song’s second half bringing a fresh taste to the music. And in Amaterasu, part of the Japanese myth cycle seen as the goddess of the Sun and the Universe, Dirk (who sounds like a beast behind his drums) makes a great duo with newcomer Damien Rivoal and his low-tuned and heavy as hell bass lines. Moreover, it’s impossible not to love this brutal Groove Metal aria, and I don’t recall coming across such a powerful triumvirate of songs like these starting an album in recent years.
All the craziness, occultism and darkness found in Ankaa keep growing with each and every song, and in Seditio (or “rebellion”, from Latin) that couldn’t be any different. It amuses me how Rachel can sound like a beauty and a beast at the same time, showcasing all her vocal skills and contributing to the song being heavier than usual but still innovative and progressive, just like we expect from such a talented group of musicians. Then we have the startling Nixi Dii, a general term applied by the Romans to those divinities who were believed to assist women at the time when they were giving birth to a child, where its eerie background effects, demonic drumming, choir-like backing vocals and lots of breaks and variations, together with Rachel growling like an evil queen, are all the ingredients you need for awesomeness. In other words, it offers you eight minutes of the best modern metal music you can find in the entire world. And just when you think things couldn’t get more alternative we’re treated to Vae Victis (Latin for “woe to the vanquished”), with Staif providing an amazing piano base for Rachel to shine once again, this time with a mix of clean vocals and visceral growls. As a side note, the production of the album is so brilliant you can clearly hear every single note coming out of each instrument, enhancing the overall experience even more.
The next song, named HAR1 (the acronym for human accelerated region 1, a short DNA region identified recently to have evolved the most rapidly among highly constrained regions since the divergence from our common ancestor with chimpanzee) and featuring Björn “Speed” Strid, gets closer to traditional Melodic Death Metal thanks to the contribution of Björn, but of course with Eths’ own touch added to it; while in Sekhet Aaru, the Egyptian reed fields considered the heavenly paradise where Osiris rules in ancient Egyptian mythology, your soul will be transported to those fields in a flawless fusion of alternative and occult music. Sarah is back with her gorgeous voice as a guest vocalist in Kumari Kandam, which refers to a hypothetical lost continent with an ancient Tamil civilization (located south of present-day India, in the Indian Ocean), perhaps the closest song to Eths’ old musicality with Damien and Dirk providing all the uproar while Rachel takes care of the song’s tranquility, sorrow and anguish.
Ankaa Deluxe Digibox
Last but not least, Eths bring forward a spine-tingling trilogy inspired by the Orion constellation, accurately representing the idea of rebirth. The first piece of this trilogy is named Alnitak, a multiple star (also known as “Zeta Orionis”) that’s part of the famous Orion’s Belt, which Staif effectively translated into an epic and vibrant chant overflowing his deepest emotions. The second piece, entitled Alnilam, a large blue supergiant star also known as “Epsilon Orionis” estimated to be 275,000 to 537,000 times as luminous as the Sun and around 34 times as massive, is an extremely powerful and aggressive tune led by a relentless Rachel, with Dirk yet again pounding his drums mercilessly. And finally, the climatic end to this trilogy comes in the form of another violent chant with esoteric passages and a pleasant ambience named Mintaka, from منطقة (“manṭaqa”), which means “the belt” in Arabic.
As aforementioned, calling Ankaa simply as a “change” in the music direction by Eths is an understatement of the actual evolution Staif, Rachel and the others reached with their musicality, as well as of the brilliant destiny that lies ahead for them. Ankaa is not just another regular metal album, and I’m sure it will shortly become a reference in contemporary heavy music. Thus, if you want to join Eths in this exciting path they are taking towards the future of Heavy Metal, I suggest you go grab your copy of Ankaa (which can be listened to in its entirety HERE), in special its top-notch deluxe digibox including a CD and an exclusive DVD “Live at Hellfest 2015” in digisleeve with a 24 page booklet, an Eths metal key ring and a pyramid folding card, at the Season Of Mist webshop or at the Napalm Records webshop. After listening to such a masterpiece like Ankaa, you will quickly realize it is no wonder Eths are considered by many the most prominent and innovative French band of all time.
Best moments of the album: Nefas, Nihil Sine Causa, Amaterasu, Nixi Dii and, from the Orion-inspired trilogy, I would say Alnilam is the most entertaining composition.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2016 Season Of Mist
Track listing 1. Nefas 3:50
2. Nihil Sine Causa (feat. Sarah Layssac and Jon Howard) 4:53
3. Amaterasu 3:57
4. Seditio 6:36
5. Nixi Dii 7:58
6. Vae Victis 5:05
7. HAR1 (feat. Björn “Speed” Strid) 4:04
8. Sekhet Aaru 4:09
9. Kumari Kandam (feat. Sarah Layssac and Faustine Berardo) 4:15
10. Alnitak 4:04
11. Alnilam 3:40
12. Mintaka 5:07
Band members Rachel Aspe – lead vocals
Staif Bihl – guitars, keyboards, programming, vocals
Damien Rivoal – bass
R.U.L. – drums (live)
Guest musicians Dirk Verbeuren – drums (studio recording)
Sarah Layssac – additional vocals on “Nihil Sine Causa” and “Kumari Kandam”
Jon Howard – additional vocals on “Nihil Sine Causa”
Björn “Speed” Strid – additional vocals on “HAR1”
Faustine Berardo – additional vocals on “Kumari Kandam”
Do you think you’re worthy of joining this Russian army of Alternative Metal? If your answer is yes, then it’s time to get armed to the teeth with their uproarious and ruthless music.
Don’t you just love when completely independent bands are capable of delivering to the world music that sounds a lot more entertaining and well-crafted than many of the already established and famous groups that have a lot of support from their record labels? Maybe that’s simply a statement of how many magnificent musicians are out there just waiting for their chance to shine to a bigger audience, or maybe that only proves how much the passion for heavy music can push the musician even further in their creative process. In the case of Russian Groove/Alternative Metal act Be Under Arms I would say it’s both, and after listening to their excellent new album Doomed To Life you’ll understand how this solid balance between technique and feeling will take this band to stardom.
Despite being a fairly new band, formed in 2013 by the dynamic duo Anna “White Queen” Logacheva and Vladimir “Szandor” Nasonov in Moscow, Russia, Be Under Arms already released a full-length album in 2014 named Let Shots Will Be Your Music, displaying what would be perhaps the most “Americanized” sounding you might ever find on Russian soil. Now with Doomed To Life their main influences coming from bands like Slipknot, Stone Sour and Five Finger Death Punch become even more noticeable, which combined with their unique concept, blending the atmosphere of old westerns with steampunk and our modern and urbanized world, makes their music even more electrifying. Even the dystopian album art transpires rebellion and anarchy. Put differently, are you ready for a neck-breaking experience offered by these talented Neo-Metal troopers?
Be Under Arms kick off the album with the theatrical and contemporary Armed & Defenseless and its Slipknot-inspired intro in an interesting blend of Alternative and Symphonic Metal, where Vladimir is responsible for the deep guttural growls while Anna takes care of the clean (and almost operatic) passages and high-pitched screams, followed by Lord Of The Bomb, a polished onslaught full of elements from Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal. Vladimir pays a tribute to the most gruesome Death Metal singers such as Chris Barnes and Jeff Becerra, with bassist Dmitriy Kashirin and drummer Denis “John Doe” Vinitskiy adding tons of groove to the musicality, therefore enhancing the song’s punch. And their working single, Burn For This, is an breathtaking fusion of the high-speed and intricate music by Arch Enemy with the straightforward aggressiveness of the Butcher Babies, with the final result sounding beyond entertaining. Moreover, pay good attention to the metallic riffs by guitarists Viktor Gostemilov and Dmitriy Solo and to the passionate performance by Anna, they truly deserve that.
The whole band demands we keep banging our heads nonstop in March Of The Iron Hearts, a tune that leans towards pure Groove Metal with nuances of Death Metal, and as aforementioned it amazes me how a Russian band can sound so American and consequently ready to conquer the Western side of the world. And yet again inspired by the Butcher Babies, Keep This World provides the listener a violent ambience where Vladimir sounds as bestial as possible on vocals, with the song’s guitar riffs penetrating our heads and piercing our brains mercilessly. Then out of nowhere Be Under Arms morph their musicality from brutal Death Metal to modern Alternative Metal and back again within a short span of five minutes in the thrilling Locked And Bound, where Anna once again steals the spotlight with her deranged screams and also with her potent clean vocal lines.
Don’t even think about taking a break, because there’s a lot more to come in this awe-inspiring album, starting with To Rise From The Ashes, which presents that characteristic riffage from bands such as Slipknot by Viktor and Dmitriy, helping Vladimir and Anna in offering a great vocal duo to the listener. Be Under Arms then put the pedal to the metal in a hurricane of Melodic Death Metal full of anguished growls, fast beats and tons of groove entitled No Place Like Home, a short and sweet tune perfect for putting the audience to “dance” (or, in other words, slam into the circle pit). Surprisingly, after that we’re treated to a distinct chant named Spit On Your Grave, which is in fact a thoughtful power ballad despite its demented name (who doesn’t love that movie franchise?). While Anna’s vocals work extremely well during the whole song, Vladimir sounds a little weird with his clean vocals, somewhat like a gothic singer from the 80’s, but in the end when all is put together the result is very pleasant indeed.
The last part of the album gets back to sheer brutality, as you’ll be able to enjoy in Human Testing, which due to being slightly rawer than the other songs will surely cause a strong pain in your neck and maybe some bruises when played live. Then we have the title-track Doomed To Life showcasing the best riffs of the whole album by far (Viktor and Dmitriy were remarkably inspired when they composed them), with all other instruments being boosted by that energy flowing from the guitars and consequently turning this into another top moment of the album. On the other hand, in Kings Of Wasteland they tried to be even more alternative than usual, and despite not being a bad song it sounds a bit over the top. That doesn’t harm the overall quality of the album at all, but it’s surely the weakest chant in Doomed To Life. Lastly, we have the vile Metalcore chant Becoming A Monster, where we can enjoy a more introspective side of the band with highlights to the outstanding performances by Anna and Denis (not to mention its short but effective guitar solo), perfectly depicting the name given to it.
Do you think you’re worthy of joining this uproarious cyber army of Alternative Metal from Russia? If your answer is yes, go check their Facebook page, VKontakte and YouTube channel, and in order to get armed to the teeth with their ruthless music, you can find Doomed To Life on sale at the band’s official webshop or BandCamp page, as well as on iTunes. As aforementioned, based on what you will be able to witness in Doomed To Life, you’ll quickly realize this talented sextet from Moscow is actually “doomed” to awesomeness.
Best moments of the album: Lord Of The Bomb, Burn For This, No Place Like Home and Doomed To Life.
Worst moments of the album:Kings Of Wasteland.
Released in 2016 Independent
Track listing 1. Armed & Defenseless 4:39
2. Lord Of The Bomb 3:53
3. Burn For This 3:53
4. March Of The Iron Hearts 2:57
5. Keep This World 3:43
6. Locked And Bound 4:57
7. To Rise From The Ashes 3:29
8. No Place Like Home 2:24
9. Spit On Your Grave 2:36
10. Human Testing 3:19
11. Doomed To Life 4:27
12. Kings Of Wasteland 3:06
13. Becoming A Monster 4:28
Band members Anna “White Queen” Logacheva – vocals
Vladimir “Szandor” Nasonov – vocals
Viktor Gostemilov – guitar
Dmitriy Solo – guitar
Dmitriy Kashirin – bass
Denis “John Doe” Vinitskiy – drums
A solid and energetic album highly recommended for fans of Melodic Death Metal, crafted by a Finnish band that has all it takes to become a future reference in Scandinavian heavy music.
Featuring high skilled musicians previously known from groups such as Thunderstone, Agonizer and Before The Dawn, here comes Finnish Melodic Death Metal band Among The Prey directly from the city of Jyväskylä, the largest city in the region of Central Finland and on the Finnish Lakeland, firing a pugnacious fusion of traditional and modern Melodic Death Metal in their debut full-length album Only For The Blinded Eyes. And before I even begin the detailed review of this 9-track album, I might say this is undoubtedly an excellent choice for fans of a genre that became a synonym to heavy music from all over Scandinavia.
The reason for that is quite simple as Among The Prey deliver exactly what Melodic Death Metal demands to be truly entertaining, including enraged screams, melodic guitar lines and vigorous beats. Formed in 2013 and having released a demo entitled My Demons in 2014, it’s time for the band to reach higher grounds and send their special message to the world with Only For The Blinded Eyes. “The whole point of the album was to make music as it always should be done. If the artist has something to say, he puts himself truly in the line of fire and pours it all out. So that every played note and every vocal line would transfer those raw emotions to the listener. I hope we succeeded in that, so it can be heard why this album just had to be done”, said the band’s founder and frontman Iiro Kuntsi.
In the opening track, directly named Smile, the band offers us all huge doses of violence but with that characteristic polished sounding of Melodic Death Metal, and you’ll quickly notice how each band member masters their respective instruments. As expected, Iiro leads the attack with his sick growls and piercing riffs, making an excellent duo with the other guitarist for Among The Prey, Joni Laine. The following tune, Beyond Repair, is a modernized sonic devastation highly influenced by Groove Metal, where its nonstop beats are enhanced by its excellent guitar lines, turning this into a song tailored for igniting a fun circle pit with your friends during the band’s live performances; whereas the title-track Only For The Blinded Eyes gets darker than its predecessors, exhibiting lots of elements from the Gothenburg Sound but with the band’s own touch. For instance, especially during the song’s chorus the band seems to be paying a “tribute” to iconic bands such as In Flames and Soilwork.
Drinking from a similar music fountain of bands such as Arch Enemy, Among The Prey bring forward the very melodic and thrilling Burning Down In Hell, certainly one of the best tracks of the whole album (if not the best) mainly due to Iiro’s raging vocals, in special during the song’s catchy chorus about sorrow and regret (“Why did I do this to myself / Why can’t I make it go away / Over and over again / I’m burning down in hell”). Following that awesome chant, we have Pieces, which despite being a more introspective tune it still contains the unique fury crafted by the band. In addition, the precision by drummer Atte Palokangas is outstanding throughout the entire album, which can be witnessed in detail in his excellent performance during this song.
In Wake Up the band keeps blasting pure Melodic Death Metal, with the groovy and rumbling lines by bassist Toni Keskinen and the riffs by both Iiro and Joni elevating the overall quality of this neck-breaking chant. However, in order to avoid getting stale, the second half of the song presents a different approach from its first “act”, which in the end is a welcome breathe of fresh air and only makes things even better. In Your Face is another good display of the highly-developed skills of all band members, a solid fusion of Melodic Death Metal and Groove Metal that should sound very powerful during their live concerts, while in Two Worlds Colliding, a song about violence and betrayal (“Left behind, forgotten / Bout to walk this path / Blinded by all your / Darkened words / Violence has left me numb”), there’s a lot of hatred flowing from Iiro’s screams, with the only problem being that the song gets a bit tiring after a while. And finally, Dancing On Our Graves comes crushing with its four minutes of blazing riffs in perfect sync with the rhythmic drumming by Atte. This is perhaps the song with the highest amount of elements from different types of heavy music other than Melodic Death Metal, which makes me wonder the level of complexity the band could have reached with a couple of extra minutes if it was slightly longer than the final result (which is already really good, anyway).
In a nutshell, as I mentioned before Only For The Blinded Eyes is a solid and energetic album highly recommended for fans of Melodic Death Metal, crafted by a band that has all it takes to become a future reference in this type of heavy music. You can get more details on Among The Prey, their music, their tour dates and their future plans at their Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud and ReverbNation, and grab your copy of Only For The Blinded Eyes at the Inverse Records webstore or at the Record Shop X webstore.
Best moments of the album: Smile, Burning Down In Hell and Wake Up.
Worst moments of the album:Two Worlds Colliding.
Released in 2016 Inverse Records
Track listing 1. Smile 3:49
2. Beyond Repair 3:51
3. Only For The Blinded Eyes 3:53
4. Burning Down In Hell 3:44
5. Pieces 4:45
6. Wake Up 4:15
7. In Your Face 3:04
8. Two Worlds Colliding 4:02
9. Dancing On Our Graves 4:16
Band members Iiro Kuntsi – vocals, guitar
Joni Laine – guitar
Toni Keskinen – bass
Atte Palokangas – drums
If you want to know more about the past, present and future of Neverworld, one of the most promising Heavy Metal bands from the UK, take a shot at this fun interview with the band’s lead singer and guitarist Ben Colton. Can you guess which songs he would save for the future of mankind? You will surely enjoy his list.
The Headbanging Moose: Could you please introduce yourselves to the readers who are getting in contact with Neverworld for the first time? What’s the origin of the band, your main objectives and your dreams? And what was the inspiration for the name Neverworld?
Ben Colton: Howdy! Certainly. I am Ben, lead guitarist and vocalist of the band Neverworld. We formed in late 2009 and the plan was always to take it as far as we possibly could. We sat down and discussed at length about the music we wanted to make and it became apparent quite quickly that we would need a suitable name. A name that would give us the scope to be the audio/visual outfit that we wanted to be. So Neverworld was born and 6 and a half years and 3 releases later here we are! Our main objectives at this point in time are to keep progressing, keep pushing the boundaries, keep playing awesome shows and to keep having lots of fun doing it!
THM: I have to admit I can’t stop listening to your brand new album, the excellent Dreamsnatcher. It’s perfect for listening at home, at the gym, on the road or anywhere else. How did the whole process to compose the album go? Was there anything you think that could have worked better in the recording period?
BC: Well thank you very much that means a lot to us and I really appreciate the feedback. The recording process this time around was actually a lot of fun. We knew what we had to do and that was better than ‘Visions Of Another World’. So every week we would go into the studio and write riffs, choruses, verses, intros etc. until we felt we had 10 songs that completely summed us up. ‘Dreamsnatcher’ is an album that defines who we are right now and for that reason it was a great relief to achieve that. We learned a lot doing our first album so we didn’t make the same mistakes. All the music was written in about 8 months and then it was a case of writing the vocal melodies and lyrics. From the writing process to the demo stage to the actual release it took 18 months which was awesome. When you’re a perfectionist, and this band has a few, you will probably always look back and say I could of done that better but there comes a point where you just have to bite the bullet and leave it to the critics mercy! So far so good!
THM: Although none of your releases are concept albums, there’s a special concept behind the band as a whole. As quoted on the review for your 2014 release Visions Of Another World, you said that “Neverworld is a place of dreams, a world we all visit in our sleep and the band explore this magical realm in their lyrics and artwork.” Having said that, what’s the link between Visions Of Another World and Dreamsnatcher? Is there any type of storyline connecting both albums, and even your debut EP Welcome To…, from 2010?
Album Review – Neverworld / Dreamsnatcher (2016)
BC: Basically there are some links in certain songs like ‘Visions Of Another World’ and ‘Dreamsnatcher’ but we are yet to explore the Neverworld concept fully. We are writing and recording demos already and the plan is now to release an EP toward the end of this year and then a concept album. It’ll be our third full length album and that feels like the right thing to do. We’ve discussed it in the past and we all knew the day would come where we did the whole concept thing. It’s very early days yet but we are planning the story and will write accordingly to fit that. It’s likely to be pretty dark but all will become clear as to what Neverworld is and what can happen there!
THM: There are several details that make Dreamsnatcher a must-have for fans of traditional Heavy Metal. The guitars are heavier than ever, the overall production is a lot more consistent than in your previous releases, there are many interesting additional layers of intricacy added to each and every song, among other things. How do you see the evolution of your music so far, and what can we expect from Neverworld in the future?
BC: Evolve is a great word where music is concerned. It’s something you have to do to keep it fresh and interesting. We will never make the same album twice. You’ll always know it’s us but you won’t always be able to predict what’s coming! You are one of the first people to mention the added layers of the songs and I’m really pleased you noticed! That was a very conscious thing. I love the way certain bands build songs with layers. They can be very subtle and you may not notice them initially but take them out and the song can sound naked! The future of our music I guess will depend on many factors but for me I’d like us to add more progressive elements. Mainly for the reason that there really are no rules with progressive metal and I love that. I hate restrictions. Fortunately we have none really. If an idea is cool then we use it. We do exactly what we want and that is make music that we’d like to listen to!
THM: Before we talk about a couple of specific songs from Dreamsnatcher, I just wanted to quickly go back to Visions Of Another World, where you performed an amazing duet with British singer Christina Gajny in the powerful ballad Blood and Romance. Can you tell the readers more about how Christina got involved with Neverworld and how this beautiful song was recorded? And why are there no guest musicians in the new album?
BC: Christina was just meant to be for us. I woke up one day and just thought it would be cool to do a duet with a female vocalist. So I hit the net to seek one out. She was the first one I looked at and the last. I listened to her doing a cover of ‘Black Velvet’ and was blown away. She is an incredibly versatile singer with a staggering grip on melody. I think Blood and Romance really helped us. Christina was in a band called Interlock just prior to doing the duet and was fairly well known in London. Because of her when we started playing London there were actually people there to see us! I did want her on ‘Dreamsnatcher’ too but in the end we decided that we had the 10 songs we needed and also it was another 10 songs we could add to our live performance. We’d been playing pretty much the same set for 2 years and we desperately wanted to be able to pick from a bigger selection so we could give our die hard fans a new experience every time we played. However we are indeed working on the follow up to Blood and Romance with Christina. It’ll probably be called ‘A Gothic Tragedy’ and will be part 2 in the vampire/mortal love saga. Writing is under way and it will be on the EP release so if you love Christina’s voice as much as we do you can get excited about that! I know I am!
THM: Now let’s get back to Dreamsnatcher, more specifically to the opening track, the epic Into the Mouth Of Madness. This is not a regular opening song for an album, being more progressive, more melodic and a lot longer than the opening songs found in most Heavy Metal albums. I would say it’s a similar situation to what Iron Maiden did in their 1995 album The X Factor, when they had the 11-minute masterpiece Sign of the Cross kicking off the album. Why did you choose this specific song to be the first of the album? Aren’t you afraid it might be too complex or maybe too lengthy for the average listener who’s just getting to know the music by Neverworld?
BC: Into The Mouth Of Madness was actually the first track we wrote when we went back into the studio again. I think it was what set the bar for the whole album really and also sums Neverworld up in 9 minutes or thereabouts! It’s kinda got everything. The intro, the prog, the metal, the big chorus, the epic solo section, light and shade etc. It seemed the obvious choice to us to kick things off for ‘Dreamsnatcher’. If you don’t ‘get’ that track then I don’t think we are for you! So no I wasn’t worried about it putting anyone off because anyone who doesn’t like it probably won’t like the rest of the album either! From a personal point of view a lot of my favourite songs are long, epics. ‘Still Remains’ for example by Fates Warning is my all time favourite song. It has everything! I think every album we do will end up having a few epics on. It’s becoming a bit of a habit for us! A cool habit though I think!
THM: My favorite song in Dreamsnatcher is by far the high-octane Under The Asylum. As mentioned in the review of the album, this song has the perfect balance between aggressiveness and harmony, being highly recommended for any type of metalhead from anywhere in the world. What inspired you to write this song, and can you provide us some details on the story being told through its lyrics?
BC: Thank you! I’m glad you dig! It’s a lot of fun to play live too. The inspiration for the song comes from a couple of things. I grew up near a mental asylum. Near it. Not in it! It was a Victorian era one and only shut down in 1998. Going round the place when it was derelict was an eye opening experience to say the least. That place was dark. It had its own atmosphere and was the size of a village. It just oozed sorrow and woe. I’d always felt it was a great theme for a song anyway but then American Horror Story season 2 came out and that kicked the idea off again. So really the song is about the underground workings of an asylum and all the nasty shit you don’t see happening. Very Neverworld!
THM: What are your biggest influences in music? Do you only listen to Heavy Metal, or do you also drink from the fountain of Jazz, Blues, Pop or any other type of music? And if you had to select five albums that define who Neverworld are today, which ones would you choose?
BC: Haha well I certainly don’t drink from Jazz fountain but I listen to all sorts really. Obviously being a guitar player and a singer it’s either guitar or vocal based but of course I prefer it when it’s both! Heavy Metal was my first love as a child and that just captured my imagination. In later years you learn to appreciate different things. I love classic rock as in Blue Oyster Cult, Van Halen, Boston, The Eagles etc. I love prog, hair metal, Thrash, Motown, even Grunge era stuff too (although I don’t call Mother Love Bone, Candlebox, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains ‘Grunge’). I just like good music. Well played, well sung, well written. I don’t have any rules anymore. I just like what I like. Ok picking just 5 albums is a really hard thing to do but because it’s what influences my own part of the Neverworld sound it’s a bit easier. As much as I love Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Manowar I find that I am no longer influenced by them. It’s strange but I lean towards more progressive stuff now just because there are so many more elements going on to keep your mind occupied. Ok here goes!…
1. Fates Warning ‘Disconnected’ – Brilliant album by the criminally underrated Fates. This album is the soundtrack to my life. Love it!
2. King Diamond ‘Conspiracy’ – King seems to have got bigger and bigger over the years and that pleases me a lot. The guy is an evil genius and Andy LaRouque is one of my favourite guitar players. It’s not until you sit there trying to work out King’s music you realize how complex it is, how clever it is. Love this album. A huge influence on me.
3. Crimson Glory ‘Transcendence’ – This album is just timeless. A masterpiece by a band who should have been playing arenas. Very classy, very intelligent music!
4. Winger ‘Pull’ – I imagine a few people will shake their heads at this choice but Winger are an amazing collective of breath taking musicians. Kip Winger is one of the most intelligent song writers out there. When you really listen to a Winger song and analyze it you can hear all the magic that has gone into making it. I chose ‘Pull’ for the groove aspect. Some of the riffs on this album are jaw droppers! Also Kip is one of my favourite singers and Reb Beach is one of my favourite guitar players. Another big influence for sure.
5. Queensrÿche ‘Rage For Order’ – Geoff Tate has a pretty bad rep these days. Personally I couldn’t care less what people think of him as a person, he’s a God of a singer. Just watch ‘Live Evolution’ to see his prowess in all its glory. I adore this album. The songs are great, the vocals are soulful, theatrical, grand, unusual. A perfect album!
So there are my 5. Just want to give a quick shout out to Lost Horizon, Circus Maximus, Redemption, Megadeth and Magnitude 9 too. They are all big influences on my part of the Neverworld sound too!
THM: If you were given the task of saving only between 10 and 20 songs from any music genre, band or artist for the future of mankind, which ones would make it to that special playlist? Let’s imagine you would add those to a capsule that would be preserved for a very long time and opened only in a distant future, and those would be the only songs left on earth, just for you to have an idea of how important your mission would be.
BC: Haha that is a very important mission indeed! Ok all these songs mean something to me. They all helped me. They changed my life and the way I think about music. Here goes…
Album Review – Neverworld / Visions Of Another World (2014)
THM: Talking about what any musician loves the most, which is playing to a live audience, what are your current and future tour plans for the UK and/or any other countries? How difficult it is for you to schedule tour dates and to be on the road for long periods of time? And what has been the band’s most memorable concert to date?
BC: It is difficult to tour for long periods due to all of us having work and family commitments. However we are planning on doing a week long tour this year with scattered dates surrounding it. Playing live is very important to us. It’s a hard feeling to beat when you’re up there and the crowd are with you. We are always looking for dates in the UK and abroad so keep an eye out for us in the near future. I have several fond gig memories with Neverworld. Our home town club shows are always special. Very well attended and there’s always a great buzz but the 3 that really stand out for me are when we played with Freedom Call at the Barfly in Camden on the night we released our debut. The place was absolutely packed! We opened and went down a storm. That was awesome. The next is again in Camden but this time at The Underworld. Purely because it was The Underworld. What an honour to play that hallowed stage. I’ve seen most of my favourite bands there so it was great to be able to tick it off the list. Lastly when we played Larissa in Greece. We left this weird building in the middle of nowhere to get something to eat thinking well this is going to be shit! When we came back the place was full! Couldn’t believe it! That was a great night playing with our friends Wardrum and completed an absolutely awesome experience. We’ve actually been pretty blessed with live shows over the last 4 years. We’ve played with some fantastic bands too. Long may that continue!
THM: Thank you very much for your time, I truly appreciate that. Please feel free to send a final message to all our readers and all metalheads not only in Canada, but everywhere else in the world.
BC: No, thank you! It’s been an honour. I just want to say a huge thank you to all the good people out there supporting us. If I could put into words how much we appreciate it I would! The Neverworld family is growing all the time and that my friends is awesome! I really hope you all enjoy the new album! Peace and good will to you all \m/
After you take a listen at Closer To Heaven, the brand new release by Italian Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band Danger Zone, you will certainly start asking yourself why those talented rockers are not among the top Hard Rock bands in the world such as Whitesnake, Scorpions, Def Leppard and Van Halen, even being founded in the early 80’s (more specifically in 1983) like most of our favorite bands from this always pleasant subgenre of heavy music. If you’re a fan of that old school Hard Rock sending a message of love and freedom to the entire world, this album is for you, and Danger zone will soon become one of your favorite new (or maybe I should say veteran) bands without a shadow of a doubt.
Now let drummer Paolo Palmieri and bassist Matteo Minghetti, both supported by Pier’s keyboard notes, guide us all on a Rock N’ Roll road trip in the amazing I’m All In, with highlights to the great performance by Giacomo with his passionate vocals, followed by Here Where I Belong, a semi-acoustic power ballad where the whole band works together and in sync to fill all spaces in the music with smoothness and energy, creating a pleasant atmosphere for couples to enjoy it together. The following tune, I Love Crazy, is a solid display of American Hard Rock with the traditional riffs by Roberto and Danilo shaping the musicality, and you’ll surely start banging your head or tapping on your desk with the beats by Paolo (not to mention its lyrics will stick to your head and you’ll get yourself singing them everywhere you go).
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THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 