When drummer George Kollias joined the Egyptian-themed death metal band Nile in 2004, the band moved away from the intricate compositions that had categorized earlier albums and embraced a more traditional death metal style.
The move was intentional, and made because Kollias was such a monumental death metal drummer. Mixing Middle Eastern instrumentation, chanting and sound effects into songs ”is something that Nile [...]
Interview: Nile guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade discusses “Those Whom The Gods Detest”
Interview: Udo Dirkschneider of Accept and U.D.O.
Udo Dirkschneider is an icon in metal. As the frontman for Accept, Dirkschneider created a string of metal anthems, including the grinding “Balls To The Wall,” the mammoth “Metal Heart,” the mercilessly awesome “Fast As A Shark” and the pounding “Living For Tonight.” But let me be honest: After 1990, I had no idea Dirkschneider [...]
Interview: Scar Symmetry guitarist Jonas Kjellgren discusses new vocalists and new album
When the members of Sweden’s Scar Symmetry announced they were parting ways with vocalist Christian Älvestam last year, it seemed to signal the end of the band.
Älvestam’s departure couldn’t have come at a worse time. The band had just released “Holographic Universe,” a blistering piece of melodic death metal. With the proper promotion and touring, [...]
Interview: Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine discusses “Endgame”
Dave Mustaine has nothing left to prove to the world of heavy metal and could easily hang up his guitar with his legend intact. But the man simply refuses to rest.
You know Mustaine’s story: After being booted from Metallica in the early ’80s, Mustaine set a goal of creating a band that would rival Metallica in power and aggression. [...]
Interview: Edguy guitarist Dirk Sauer talks about “Tinnitus Sanctus” and the band’s evolving brand of power metal
Edguy guitarist Dirk Sauer says the band’s new album, “Tinnitus Sanctus,” combines some of the “epic” power metal trademarks with a more straight-ahead rock approach.
The change is for the better, Sauer said, because the individual band members have grown as musicians.
When Edguy was formed in 1992, most of the band members were in their early [...]
Interview: Obituary vocalist John Tardy talks about “Darkest Day,” his career in music and the band’s influence on death metal
Although the Florida death metal scene was spawned in the early 1980s by bands like Death and Possessed, many of the influential members of the scene are still actively making records and touring today.
John Tardy, vocalist for Tampa’s Obituary, thinks the seminal band has not only survived, but – with the just released album “Darkest Day” [...]
Interview: Abigail Williams works to create larger than life metal
n the early 1990s, Norway spawned two very different styles of black metal — the stripped down, lo-fi primal screams of bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem, and symphonic black metal bands like Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, who blended blistering metal and breakneck speed with the influences of classical music.
Ken Sorceron, lead vocalist for Abigail Williams, [...]
Interview: S.W.W.A.A.T.S. brings political death metal to Owensboro
John Paul Collett II, vocalist for Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky, is fan of the old-school death metal that originated in his home state of Florida. Musically, the band blends traditional death metal with technical precision and elements of grind to create a vicious assault.
But Collett said he hopes fans do more than [...]
Interview: Devin Townsend talks about “Ki,” his four-album concept project and returning to music
Devin Townsend – founder and frontman for Strapping Young Lad and a prolific solo artist – had completely burned out on the music business by the time SYL did the 2006 Ozzfest tour.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that my wife was pregnant during Ozzfest,” Towsend said during a [...]
Interview: Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson talks about the band’s first major U.S. tour
Norwegian psychedelic Vikings Enslaved have been crossing and recrossing the United States all the month of May, as the main support on Opeth’s latest U.S. tour.
The tour has been a golden opportunity for Enslaved to play before large audiences. On paper, tour has been hectic, with only four days off between May 1 and the [...]
