For four days in March 2008, MetalKult’s Brad Angle and Jimmy Hubbard took a journey to the grim-cold heart of Norwegian black metal: Oslo, Norway.
In this revealing four-part series, we catch up with a few of Norwegian black metal’s leading acts. We go on a pub crawl through Oslo’s hottest metal bars with 1349’s Seidemann (bass) and Archaon (guitar), visit Notodden’s ancient Heddal Stave Church, head off to Emperor/Zyklon drummer Trym’s Emperial Tattoo studios (where Hubbard gets some seriously Nordic needle-and-ink action), hang with Emperor vocalist/guitarist Ihsahn at his Symphonique Studios, tour the rebuilt Holmenkollen Chapel (which was burned in 1992 by members of the black metal community), go to Helvete (the late Mayhem guitarist Euronymous’ record store and informal black metal “inner circle” headquarters) and chat with Satyricon in their cavernous rehearsal studios.
Check out this rare glimpse into the lives of these artists below. (more…)
When Gothenburg melodic death metal pioneers In Flames came to New York as part of Gigantour 2008, MetalKult had a chance to sit down with guitarists Bjorn Gelotte and Jesper Stromblad for an exclusive riff lesson.
In the following lessons the pair demonstrate how to play a selection of new and classic tracks from In Flames’ nine-album catalog. Tracks include “Moonshield” from 1996’s The Jester Race and “Gyroscope” off of 1997’s Whoracle, as well as “Bullet Ride” (Clayman), “Zombi Inc.” (Colony), “Take This Life” (Come Clarity), and “Disconnected,” “March to the Shore” and “The Mirror’s Truth” (from A Sense of Purpose).
Watch below as Gelotte and Stromblad explain how they achieve their signature sound, which includes extensive twin guitar harmonies, complementary melodic lines and downright brutal riffage. Enjoy! (more…)
Withered, the Atlanta based quartet whose debut album, Memento Mori was one of the most talked about releases in recent extreme music, is set to release their new album, Folie Circulaire, on June 24 via Prosthetic Records.
The 10-track album was produced by Phillip Cope (Kylesa, Baroness) and features artwork by Paul Romano as well as guest vocals from Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway and a cover of Necrophobic’s “Into Armageddon.”
To download an MP3 of “The Fated Breath” go to (more…)
When Arch Enemy came to The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on their Tyranny & Bloodshred tour, in support of their latest album Rise of the Tyrant, MetalKult dropped by the venue for a little pre-show Q&A with guitarist Michael Amott and singer Angela Gossow.
In the following interview, the pair discuss (amidst the racket of soundcheck) the return of guitarist Christopher Amott, the new musical directions of Rise of the Tyrant, the challenge of being a front-woman and the imminent return of Amott’s pre-Arch Enemy band Carcass. (more…)
+++ Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour, which starts on May 9 in Philadelphia and ends on May 30 at West Hollywood’s House of Blues. With supporting acts Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind, it should be a crazy time. So keep checking back each week to get the inside dirt! +++
Well, it’s finally here: the first update from the Tyranny & Bloodshred tour! We are one week in and it is going well!
So far, all places were nicely packed, some actually sold out! Given the current economical situation in the USA we are more than happy that people still come to see the show!!!
Canada is a different story – ALWAYS full house, no worries attached! Great place to visit if you’re a touring a metal band! If only there weren’t those awful border crossings. But we’re lucky to not have any criminal records/weapons/drugs onboard and even manage to look very innocent and sober at 5am in the morning It also helps having all the paper work in order – but the customs still manage to keep us on our toes for at least three hours every time. We don’t have anything like this in Europe.
Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind – a diverse and really good package – the fan response is very positive! Things go smooth and quiet backstage. All bands are grown up and know the secret of a good tour: Respect for each other…and keeping the shower clean for the next person to get in!
It’s a bit of a clusterf**k backstage, small and midsize U.S. venues tend to have little room backstage (and still often no shower – why???) . Especially the first show at the TLA in Philly (9 of May) – That venue scared me! The ceiling is six-and-a-half feet high, which means [bassist] Sharlee [D’Angelo] basically touches it with his hair. Plus there’s only one shower, which you step out of and right into the guys from Firewind, as their ‘dressing room’ is in front of it. No privacy – but a good hug from [Firewind guitarist] Mr. Gus G instead makes up for the claustrophobic atmosphere!
The show is ok, if a bit tame maybe. And all the bands kinda have to warm up as well. The first two shows are always a bit shaky, with new or very old gear, finding that right mindset again and simply working as a team.
Talking gear: Look at these beauties:
And here is a good clip of Dark Tranquility’s ‘ Wonders At Your Feet’
And Divine Heresy, tearing up the stage with new singer Jake:
Towson, 10 of May, Recher Theater is great actually! The venue itself doesn’t look like much, but there is so much space backstage! And a pool table too! We get more people that night then last time when we played in the area on the Black Tyranny tour. I am happy we are able to still tour over here and enjoy the ride! Thanx for having us back and coming out to the shows!!!
Check out “Blood On Your Hands” from that show:
All happy and clean we make our way to New York, Irvine Plaza (11 of May). No shower backstage. Nice. But the venue is packed and we play our best show in New York that day! I also get to meet the good people from MetalKult.com for an interview and we have our first fanclub meet’n’greet, which is a lot of fun actually!
I manage to give away our New York pizza to the fans outside. They looked so hungry. And we just get too fat eating that stuff EVERY night anyway!
Here are some cool pictures from the show:
Here’s “Ravenous” from NYC:
We all get to bed late, despite the next early morning’s IRS office visit we have to face. Yep, we are paying taxes in the U.S.! We are good people! All that and more in the next update! The office visit was quite exciting by the way. A woman fainted in the waiting line. She came out of it quickly, but it caused quite a commotion! And the very friendly lady at the desk helping us with the paperwork had a big fat smile on her face, after I told her that she “fucking rocks.” Haha.. I don’t think they get too many metal bands coming through.
Berlin, Germany’s extreme metallers THE OCEAN are about to embark on their first U.S. tour in their 7+ years of being a band, in support of their latest release Precambrian. Supporting THE OCEAN will be Lair of the Minotaur and Kylesa (co-headliner), Intronaut, Withered, and The Destro on select dates.
Make sure to visit the Legions of the Winged Octopi Tour MySpace page for details on how to win free tickets, merch, and CD’s from The Ocean! http://www.myspace.com/legionsofwingedoctopitour.
Add the bands Legions of the Winged Octopi Tour contest widget to your MySpace, Facebook, and any other networking or blog sites! Get The Ocean’s tour/contest widget HERE
THE OCEAN’s first Metal Blade release Aeolian, which came out in spring 2006, proved this was a band not to be ignored internationally. The reactions to the album – for the first time on a worldwide scale – were indeed amazing. The disc was ‘Album of the Month’ in the Swedish Close Up magazine, while Kerrang! called it “complex” and “mercilessly tight”, rewarding it with 4 Ks. Revolver gave Aeolian a 5 out of 5 ranking and stated: “THE OCEAN make the guitar / bass / drums axis seem monstrously huge, bringing a symphonic richness to the music without sacrificing its ear-bludgeoning quality”.
At the end of 2006, the band commenced work on Precambrian, a double album which was released November 27th 2007. Its concept and album artwork evolve around the early days of our planet, when mother earth was a hostile and uninhabitable place devoid of life and reigned by fire, sulfur and streams of red-glowing lava. The two disk CD is composed of a mini-CD with 22 minutes playing time entitled ‘Hadean/Archaean’, and a full-length CD with 61 minutes playing time, entitled ‘Proterozoic’, both referring to successive geological eras. Guests on the album include Caleb Scofield (CAVE IN, ZOZOBRA, OLD MAN GLOOM), Nate Newton (CONVERGE, DOOMRIDERS), Dwid Hellion (INTEGRITY), Tomas Hallbom (BREACH), Eric Kalsbeek (TEXTURES) and musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Guitarist and founding member Robin Staps had this to say about touring North America for the first time:
“It’s not easy for European metal bands to tour in North America and we’ve been wanting to get over there for a long time, so we’re very happy that the extremely positive feedback that ‘Precambrian’ has received in Canada and the US finally makes it possible now. This is a killer package that you don’t wanna miss”
THE OCEAN – Legions of the Winged Octopi North American Tour (more…)
With a title like Hammer Battalion, what would you expect? Yeah, possibly the heaviest Unleashed album yet… Out on June 9th, this juggernaut of Swedish death shows the act at their most volatile.
The battle call has been raised! With their unstoppable new album Hammer Battalion, Sweden’s mighty Unleashed have forged the blood and spirit of their Viking ancestry into a modern weapon of Death Metal mastery. A true rallying cry for the dedicated metalhead legions around the globe, Unleashed has done what previously seemed impossible: raising the intensity level without losing their trademark skill of melding uncompromising brutality with extreme listenability. Experience and believe!
Hammer Battalion takes a battle-hardened axe to the misguided concepts of self-subjugation, transparent corruption and unneeded suffering in the name of religious figureheads and provides a perfect link between the ancient struggles of their Nordic forefathers and the ills of our modern society. The blistering “The Greatest Of All Lies” and “Long Before Winter’s Call” take on old religious myths re-cast as pure fact, while “Your Children Will Burn” serves as a warning of the consequences of blind faith. “Whatever is done in the name of different religions is often done against Mother Nature,” notes vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund. “And she has the means of striking back.”
Hedlund and company have not only worn their Viking heritage on their sleeve for years, they’ve also proven to be one of history’s most important flag bearers for metal-heads around the globe. At its heart, Hammer Battalion serves as a testament to these legions of proud fanatics, and delivers a commanding message loud and clear. “Rebellion is rising,” notes Hedlund when discussing the album’s title track. “We will form a number of battalions all over the world with warriors who are not afraid to fight. We are tired of being sitting ducks for bullshit authorities who know nothing better than to oppress us for reasons they won’t explain. We will take command of our own lives and get to work. Either like the chameleon – smoothly changing colors to benefit our survival, or by the furious rage of a Viking warrior – whichever suits us best. To the common man, his various pathetic and hollow forms of music is a hobby. Our music is a way of life. Join your local Hammer Battalion or start one yourself!”
Hammer Battalion proves to be a high point in the career of a band who has had many. For nearly 20 years, the warriors of Unleashed have been the ultimate embodiment of Death Metal – employing a driving fortitude that has helped them to become one of the top extreme bands on the planet. Always unyielding and without a hint of compromise, they have remarkably brought the spirit of the Viking past and the glory of pure Death Metal together in this new century. While the Hammer Battalion hordes are assembling around the globe, Unleashed are preparing their live assault on Europe and North America. To Valhalla!
For more info check out www.unleashed.se and www.myspace.com/666unleashed
TOXIC HOLOCAUST has entered the studio this week to begin recording their Relapse debut, An Overdose Of Death…
TOXIC HOLOCAUST’s Joel Grind is teamed up with legendary producer Jack Endino (HIGH ON FIRE, ZEKE, DWARVES) at Soundhouse Recording studios in Seattle, WA. This will be the first TOXIC HOLOCAUST recording where Grind has not recorded and performed all instruments himself as he has also enlisted good friend and ZEKE drummer Donny Paycheck to lay down the drum tracks.
Grind recently checked in from the studio: “My first experience in a real studio has been going well. Working with Jack Endino has been very smooth, he is on the same page as I am when it comes to what things should be sounding like. So far we have only laid down the drums and some guitar tracks, but they are sounding killer! It’s shaping up to being a savage record!”
Additional studio updates will be made available via the TOXIC HOLOCAUST MySpace during the course of the recording. An Overdose Of Death… is expected to see a late Summer release date.
TOXIC HOLOCAUST has also recently been added to the North American leg of the AT THE GATES reunion tour. This tour, which also includes DARKEST HOUR and MUNICIPAL WASTE, will kick-off on July 9th in New York City. TOXIC HOLOCAUST will follow-up this tour with an appearance at the Hole In The Sky Festival in Norway and a Fall tour with OVERKILL. A complete listing of TOXIC HOLOCAUST tour dates can be found below with more to be announced soon.
Additional information on TOXIC HOLOCAUST can be found via the band’s MySpace: www.MySpace.com/ToxicHolocaust.
In what is easily Canadian black metal noise extremists Wold’s most mind-numbing and surreal listening experience yet, Stratification is a listening experience not for the weak at heart; a harsh audial sleigh ride through a violent unforgiving winter landscape.
A scenario where you picture yourself helpless and alone on a vast desolate prairie, caught in a winter storm where there is no chance of escaping. If Wold have created polar reactions within the extreme black metal underground, then Stratification is destined to bridge that chasm even further.
Thoughts about Stratification from the mouth of the beast:
“The creation of Stratification was not only about generating waves and strange sounds. Music inspired by winter or music that tells winter tales in general also played as a huge influence; such as Winterreise by Franz Schubert among many others.
“Also later stuff like R. Strauss’s use of high soprano vocals, especially Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and even some Polish shit like Lutoslawski’s Twenty Carols. I was also inspired by the sickness of Romantic music and the ideal of an eternal feminine spirit. Stratification is nihilistic with its escape into harsh whiteouts and its procession of graceful crystal-like airy sounds.”
To download and listen to the track “Frost Crystal Symmetry,” click (more…)
+++Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour. But before that madness begins on May 9 in Philly, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what’s to come. Below is the dirt from our recent shows in Glasgow, Manchester and London. +++
23.04. Birmingham
Together with those Brummy bastards we are kicking off the short but sweet ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ tour with Opeth! Its very nice meeting these guys again! Per and Fredrik are basically part of the Arch Enemy family!
Today is quite a busy day for Michael and Daniel. Terrorizer UK are here to conduct a lengthy interview for both Arch Enemy and Carcass – plus an insane photo shoot in the vein of the movie 28 days Later! I captured Michael and Daniel looking a bit on the…ermmm…infected side. Just check out their bite and strangle marks! Yeeeeees, that reunion is going well. Haha.
The show itself went well – the UK is always great when it comes to live shows! But the set didn’t flow so well, so we decided to cross out the guitar solos and add “Enemy Within” instead for the upcoming show in Glasgow!
24.04. Glasgow
I wake up at an the ungodly hour of 7AM, peeing blood. We decide to get me to hospital in an ambulance, so I get medical attention quicker and get some sleep afterwards. Exciting! The two meds are very funny and keep cracking jokes with a thick Scottish accent.
Turns out I have a bladder infection – I was quite in a bit of pain for over a week. I cant help but tell the crowd about ‘Blood Pee’ – its not as exciting as blood puke, but still a good Dethklok moment there. Btw, I will be in some of these episodes, playing a very insane character ☺ I have already recorded one episode, I will do more when we get to L.A. on the U.S. run!
The Glasgow show is awesome! Raging, set – it works a lot better, but Vultures doesn’t take off live, so we decide to swap it with “I Will Live Again” for the Manchester show!
And here comes Blood Pee:
The setlist has emerged to this version by now:
25.04. Manchester –
Raving mad! Together with Glasgow the highlight of the UK tour. Great crowd, fantastic new venue (purpose built, clean, lots of rooms and showers) and for the first and only time during the UK run – good catering! The set works great tonight and we are getting very excited about London tomorrow. We will have some pyros at the end of the show. We also know 4350 tickets are sold already – the Brixton academy will be packed!
Check out the review and pictures from Manchester HERE.
26.04. London
Opeth – as different as they are musically from us – experience the same crowd reaction. Birmingham good, Glasgow and Manchester super intense. All camps are a little nervous about London.
The Arch Enemies backstage, discussing tonight’s set:
All the media will be there, the venue is huge, but a bit of a dump as well.. The PA system cant match the Manchester Academy system, the sound on stage is pretty indifferent. And the audience is too far away from the stage – that photo pit is taking up a lot of space. It’s a bit of a shame, because we play the show for the fans and not for the photographers – and I like being able to see people in the front row straight into the eyes. All these factors fall short tonight – but we get a huge mass of people instead! And the show is probably the best we have ever played in London. Apparently it sounded massive upfront and the circle pits, hands in the air and chants reassure us, we are doing great tonight. And the pyro plus big bang at the end is pure rock’n’roll magic!
Here’s a couple pix:
And here the Grand Finale on video:
It is Sharlees birthday today, so there will be quite a lot of partying going on later. I have press lined up for Sunday, so I decide to leave rather early. We need to clean out the bus and move into a hotel room. I look forward to the festival season and a less rigid tour schedule – I haven’t really chilled for ages.
Here I am with my buddy Payman in the hotel lobby, where I will be doing my Sunday press. The fucker didn’t let me win though!
Now its Monday, midnight. We are almost home. I am beyond tired and looking forward to my fluffy bed! We will have a few days rest, until next week: When the Tyranny & Bloodshred tour will kick off in the U.S. and I will do another 4 weeks of mad screaming
This tour is going to be fun and will be our last U.S. tour for a while. We will do festivals in Europe in the summer, then Carcass will do some touring. We are thinking about another European round maybe end of this year. SO WHOEVER WANTS TO SEE US IN THE US: DO IT NOW, WE WONT BE BACK BEFORE LATER IN 2009!
This EU and UK tour has been an absolute success, we played to more than 15.000 fans in these 2 weeks and we explored new territory: Russia! I want to say a big, hearty THANK YOU to everybody who came out to the shows! And to all the bands, who came along for the ride: Textures, 3 Inches Of Blood, Devildriver and the great Opeth of course! Our crew did a fantastic job – We will bring the whole lot with us on the US run! Its good to have this ‘family’ with us – it’s a well-oiled machine with a heart of STEEL and a brain made of METAL!
Hope to see some of you out there!
Angela
PS: We have just launched our UNITED ENEMIES fanclub! Check it out HERE and join us!
PURCHASE TICKETS to the TYRANNY & BLOODSHRED TOUR by clicking the links below
It also helps having all the paper work in order – but the customs still manage to keep us on our toes for at least three hours every time. We don’t have anything like this in Europe.
