We just got wind of a new metal show launching on NYC’s underground outlet East Village Radio called The Metal Inquisition. Curated by a couple dudes from the band Demassek, The Metal Inquisition is trying to get a permanent spot on the station’s schedule. We figured more metal is better than less metal (naturally), so we thought we’d put the word out to all you interweb listeners.
Check out their inaugural episode HERE, where they spin some classics gems from Angel Witch, Holocaust, Maiden and more.
The Heavy Metal Inquisition airs tomorrow, Tuesday 31 from 12-2pm. Go to East Village Radio for more information.
Wendy Dio, the wife and manager of legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio (HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW), has released the following statement on RonnieJamesDio.com:
“Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.
Thanks to all the friends and fans around the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up.
Long Live Rock and Roll, Long Live Ronnie James Dio”
“We want to speak the truth and keep it as brutal as it is,” says Witchaven vocalist/guitarist Demolition Henry. “We were driving through New York City and we saw that giant board that has the national debt…it’s fucked up! We’re trying to wake people up and show them what’s real. We don’t want to bullshit anyone.”
Combining black metal and politics isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, but Southern California’s best-kept secret aim to deliver their far left views through whatever means possible. Through their MySpace bulletins and blogs, Witchaven shed light on every possible mishap in the American and capitalist systems. And what better way to grab people by the ear than with an insane blend of black and thrash metal…a method Witchaven perfectly execute (most recently on the Totalitarian State of War demo compiliation).
The band—rounded out by co-guitarist Jerry, drummer Lerby and newly recruited bassist Jorge—takes the raw metal-rock sound of Venom and injects it with a blasphemous dose of 1349-style black metal and a bit of Discharge-worthy punkish mayhem.
I first encountered Witchhaven on Bonded By Blood’s Masters of Disaster’s tour. They they played on top of a bowling alley here in New York City, and I was instantly hooked. Then, a couple months ago when I got the chance to see them kill everything in their path on their home turf in Montclair, CA, I knew that this is the band to look out for in 2010.
After Witchaven’s half-hour long unholy thrash assault at the Mutant House in Montclair, I caught up with the guitar duo of Demolition Henry and Jerry, and discussed politics, the curative powers of weed, the influence of James Brown and how to make it as an unsigned metal band in the digital age. —Henry Yuan
For those unfamiliar with Witchaven’s history, tell us about how you guys first started out. DEMOLITION HENRY We started back in 2006. We were originally a Venom tribute band that would just play a couple of shows. We actually called ourselves Witching Hour since that’s our favorite Venom song, but we soon found out that some other band already had the name. We decided that a similar name was Witchaven, and we stuck with it. When we first started, it was just me on guitars and vocals and my friend Tommy on bass. We eventually found some members, did a few tours and released a few EPs.
Fast-forward to today and we now have a solid lineup and are ready to release a full-length album in December/January. In the spring of 2010, we’re gonna go on a full-throttle tour of the States where we’re gonna play, party, drink, smoke weed and have a hell of a good time. [laughs]
How did you promote yourselves with no label support? HENRY All we really did was use MySpace, internet forums and things like that. When we released our demos, we usually just let people download them for free. JERRY A lot of it was just word of mouth. HENRY Yeah, just like back in the old days. People just talked about us because they liked us. It’s crazy. Like, our name would just pop up in random forums in these “best new wave of thrash bands” lists. JERRY We would go to places we’ve never been to before and people would recognize who we are. I don’t really know how, but it happens [laughs]
You guys play a unique blend of black and thrash metal. Who are some of your influences, both past and present? HENRY Hands down our influences from the past are Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. A little later on, we started to go in a more Motörhead-style sound. Now we’re incorporating more of a technical sound like Kreator, Necrodeath and Merciless. Some other bands we really like are Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed, Deströyer 666… Nowadays, we look to a lot of death, black and a lot of punk… You could even call us metal-punk I guess. JERRY A lot of D-Beat and shit’s that not even metal at all, like weird funk shit, James Brown… just everything, you know?
Demolition Henry
A lot of thrash and extreme metal bands are coming out of the L.A. area these days. What makes you guys stand out? HENRY When we write music, yeah, we write thrash, but we’re not trying to recreate anything. We want to progress from what our originators did. Nowadays, everyone wants to write the same kind of thrash with the same intro, same riffs, but we’re trying to do something different. We’re thrash, but we have so much more in the music on top of that.
The L.A. scene seems to have a real unity to it. When you guys were out on the road, how did the other scenes across the country stack up against it? HENRY Every scene seems to be the same to me. There’s a unified scene in metal in general. You can always expect a great time when you go to a metal show. I guess a good or bad time, depending if your nose is broken or not. [laughs] JERRY I’ve also noticed that everyone in a scene knows each other, much like here. When we play a show, we will always see familiar faces, even if we’re in Portland or something. It’s the same exact thing but with different faces. It’s the same with Texas, or Boston, or wherever. HENRY Every scene out there is keeping it true and they’re only getting bigger. A lot of younger kids are coming out, too. We’ll be out on the road for a few months and when we return, we’ll see those same kids with long hair and they’re rocking the denim. It’s awesome because it’s finally spreading! Realistically, there are a lot of posers, too, but you know what? (more…)
Swedish melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES are set to release The Flames of the End, a brand new 3-disc DVD set, through Earache Records.
AT THE GATES released their definitive album, Slaughter of the Soul on Earache in 1995, before touring the world and abruptly disbanding. Members of the band went on to play major roles in other notorious metal acts such as THE HAUNTED and CRADLE OF FILTH, before reforming for a one-off tour in 2008 to rapturous response.
Now, to celebrate AT THE GATES’ massively influential career and historical reunion tour, the band will be releasing The Flames of the End, an extensive, in-depth and definitive 3-disc DVD set on March 9th, 2010.
Watch the preview below:
Housed in a deluxe six-panel DVD digipak with a 40-page colour booklet, The Flames of the End will include three indispensable DVDs:
Disc 1 ‘Under A Serpent Sun – The Story of At The Gates’ – a brand new documentary with a running time of over 2 hours, detailing the band’s entire career with exclusive interviews and footage, filmed and directed by guitarist Anders Bjorler.
Disc 2 ‘Purgatory Unleashed – Live at Wacken’ – a 75-minute live set from the band’s reunion set at the Wacken festival in 2008 in front of 100,000 people.
Disc 3 ‘Only the Dead Are Smiling’ – 26 rare and archive live performances of the band playing in locations around the globe from 1991 – 2008.
AT THE GATES guitarist ANDERS BJORLER comments:
“It’s now almost two-and-a-half years after the first telephone call to the guys regarding the reunion plans for 2008. Looking back at it today, I am very pleased and happy we pulled it off in the short amount of time and clearing all the planning hurdles with our other bands; The Haunted, Disfear, Brujeria, Nemhain, Slakattack etc.
“I started preparing for the documentary ‘Under A Serpent Sun’ already in 2007. I got myself a new camera, ’cause the old one gave up on me. The downside to my filming plans was actually reliving all the feelings associated with At the Gates. I didn’t want to miss anything. I talked to fans, journalists, and everybody was just overwhelmed by the whole thing. All of us basically took the time to experience this tour to the fullest extent. We appreciated every second of it, because we knew that in a few months it would all be over. All the troubles of the past were washed away. We were basically enjoying touring again.
“After the reunion tour, I sat down and had a look at all the material we had collected. We had a bunch of stuff filmed from pretty much everywhere we played. The quality was very diverse, but at the same time intriguing, and it gave me the inspiration to continue on the documentary. I had made some interviews beforehand with Tomas, and continued tracking down people with knowledge of the past – Alf, Jesper Jarold from At the Gates, and a bunch of people from other bands at the time. We hunted down a few hundred old pictures, old crappy VHS and HI-8 recordings from the rehearsal room, live shows, on the road footage etc… ending up with a 130-minute documentary. I want to express gratitude to the people helping us out with old material: photos, videos, stories etc… It wouldn’t have been possible without your help!
“The Wacken show was planned ahead as being the #1 show on the upcoming DVD. It captured us at our finest moment, just after the US tour, and it’s definitely one of our finest moments. We were blown away of the fact that we actually played for 60,000 people.
“So, enjoy ‘The Flames of the End’ DVD box set. We have really put our hearts into this release, and it’s a fine last document of the band.”
Prosthetic Records has posted an interview with SKELETONWITCH from their in-store appearance at Vacation Vinyl in Hollywood on October 11th. This is the second installment of the label’s new PROSTHETIC TV Webisode series. The footage can be viewed below:
It isn’t very often that I have the patience to watch concert DVDs in their entirety. After all, isn’t the main reason to watch a concert to experience the music live?
I usually find myself getting psyched for the first two songs, and then right after that I start to get sleepy. It’s for this reason that I have stopped buying concert DVDs in the past year or so. However, I have noticed that this format has gone through some pretty big upgrades. Most new DVDs boast some fancy packaging, loads of bonus material, and superior visual and audio technology.
So when Dismember’s latest DVD, Under Bloodred Skies (Regain), came across my desk at work, I figured what the hell. After all, Dismember are fucking awesome.
WATCH THE UNDER BLOODRED SKIES PREVIEW BELOW
Under Bloodred Skies features two discs packed with material. The first disc contains the standard, main concert footage shot with multiple cameras at last year’s edition of Germany’s brutal Party.San Open Air Festival.
Like Dismember’s studio albums, you pretty much know what you’re going to get: top-notch Swedish death metal, with that particular chainsaw guitar tone. This is a band that doesn’t require any special effects or any stage props (though I love how they hang Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead posters on their amps) to get their lethal message across (though the occasional “headliner” treatment of pyro is present). Overall, their live show is presented quite accurately here and the video/audio quality is definitely top notch.
But it’s disc two—entitled Death Metal & More Mental Illness—which really held my attention. It may seem like a standard bonus disc with a documentary and backstage footage, but it also contains footage from a concert in the Netherlands during the Masters of Death tour (with Unleashed, Grave and Entombed).
The accompanying documentary features in-depth interviews with every member of the current band. It gives a pretty good look at their 20 years together and the band, and is a nice update from their last DVD, Live Blasphemies.
In pure Dismember humor there’s a large amount of footage of the guys playing ridiculous jokes on each other and the fans. Without spoiling anything, I want to mention the amazing montage of the band headbanging with anything they could find, as well as an amusing bit with new drummer Thomas Daun brushing his teeth.
Overall, Dismember’s latest DVD offering is definitely a golden one. The playing is tight, the tone is deadly and the headbanging is, well, as banging as ever. Under Bloodred Skies presents the perfect amount of material for a heavy metal DVD: two concerts, a documentary that isn’t boring or generic, and loads of entertaining bits that really humanize this amazing band. —Henry Yuan
Japan’s most exciting experimental rock act BORIS strike again with a thrid promo teaser for Japanese Heavy Rock Hits, a three-part 7″ series showcasing their wide-reaching, genre-smashing sound. The band has been locked in the studio over the last few months and in association with Southern Lord are ready to bring to you its latest offerings. The final release of the 7″ trilogy will be released later this month. Don’t miss it. Check out the third video teaser here:
September Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 1
Side A: “8″
Side B : “Hey Everyone”
October Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 2
Side A: “H.M.A. – Heavy Metal Addict”
Side B: “Black Original”
November Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 3
Side A: “16:47:52…”
Side B: “..and Hear Nothing”
Tom Gabriel Warrior, the founder of Swiss pioneers Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and now Triptykon has announced the first confirmed acts to appear at his curated event, titled Only Death Is Real during Roadburn Festival 2010 in Tilburg, Netherlands on Friday, April 16th.
Following is a list of the confirmed artists (along with Thorr’s Hammer, Trinacria and NWOBHM- legends Witchfunde) each of which were handpicked by Tom, and following are their comments about being selected:
JESU
“Of course, it is an honour for Jesu to be personally invited by Tom G. Warrior to perform at his individually curated ‘Only Death Is Real’ event at Roadburn 2010. It goes without saying, that the music of Tom G. Warrior has had an immense impact on the music, I, Justin K Broadrick, have been producing since 1985, in all of my guises, be it Napalm Death in the eitghties, Godflesh in the eighties and nineties, and Jesu currently…” –J K Broadrick.
EVOKEN
“It’s truly an honor to be invited to play at Tom Gabriel Warrior’s ‘Only Death is Real’ at Roadburn 2010. Tom G Warrior’s playing, as well as his work in Celtic Frost and Hellhammer are not only a staple in the metal world, but one of our main influences and reasons why Evoken exists today. When we started Evoken, never in our dark imaginations would we have thought this day would EVER come. To be invited by our main influence in metal, who all will agree is one of the most well-respected and talented individuals… Tom Gabriel Warrior. We accept this dark gift in complete honor. We shall deliver nothing less than uncompromising, soul-crushing heaviness that Evoken can only bring forth… Be Warned!” -Vince, Evoken.
PAGAN ALTAR
“The call from Tom G Warrior to join him at Roadburn came as a complete and utter surprise to Al and I as we had not the slightest inclination we would be asked. Recognition from one musician to another to us is one of the highest accolades we can think of and so would like to say thanks to Tom for asking us. Pagan Altar as a band are really up for it and looking forward to playing at Tom’s ‘Only Death Is Real’ show and are indeed proud to share a stage with these guys!” -Alan & Terry Jones, Pagan Altar.
VALBORG
“We met Tom and Tryptikon bass player Vanja in Switzerland before a Valborg concert and had some really great conversations. So it was indeed a very special honour that we got invited by Tom to play at the Roadburn 2010. In the midst of irrelevance, Tom G. Warrior gave us more confidence to go ahead on the path we chose. We are still fans and he is the master of extreme metal. So, we will slay the world to pieces at the Roadburn Festival to honour his almighty work. Be prepared motherfuckers! Feel the aggression rise” -Christian, Valborg.
SERPENTCULT
“We were speechless, but extremely honoured and humbled when we got the invitation by Tom to perform at the next edition of Roadburn. Celtic Frost and Hellhammer had such an important impact on us that it inspired us to pick up our guitars many years ago. Now we find ourselves being invited to Roadburn, by the very creator of this music himself. We can’t wait to head back to the stages of the 013 venue! Our appearance at the festival will also give us the opportunity to present our new album ‘Raised By Wolves’ to the world” -Fred, Serpentcult.
SHEVER
“Tom always supported us to continue in our chosen musical way -we feel very honored and happy about his invitation to Roadburn 2010, and having the possibility to contribute some evil witch doom to this unique event –a dream came true, and we’re ready to give all we have for this show!” -Nadine, Shever.
NONEUCLID
“We are very honored to be part of this festival, and this special night. I have been into Celtic Frost since I was 13. I had just started playing guitar, and they were my first contact with non-tonal music – a fact that had far-reaching consequences, since life took me to become a contemporary composer. Celtic Frost’s approach to their lyrics also made a mark on us all; their taking the listener into rotten evil worlds while maintaining a high level of dignity made 90% of metal bands look like embarrassing adolescents in my young eyes, and they set the bar high in the black sonic arts for everyone who came after.
When V Santura joined them as touring guitarist, that was the biggest thing ever to happen in the music scene of our home town… it seems unreal that now, so many years after, the mighty Tom G. Warrior tells us he’s into our little band. So when The Warrior calls, there can only be one answer from us and that’s ‘yes Sir, with pleasure’!” -Morean, Noneuclid.
In addition, Tom Gabriel Warrior will introduce his new incarnation, Triptykon, who will make their on-stage debut at Roadburn 2010 in the headlining slot in support of their forthcoming album, tentatively titled Eparistera Daimones.
The four-day Roadburn Festival will be held once again at the esteemed 013 venue, and Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland from Thursday, April 15th through Sunday, April 18th, 2010. Pre-sales will start, Saturday, November 28, 10:00 Central European Time.
California’s Warbringer are not only a leading force in the new wave of thrash metal, they also just may be the genre’s best example of a true working-class metal band. If you’ve been to any “major” heavy metal concert this past year, chances are you’ve caught their set. They’ve shared the stage with bands like Nile, Swallow the Sun, Finntroll, Kreator, Obituary, Agnostic Front, Slipknot and more. Which is all to say: these guys aren’t shy about paying their road-dog dues.
I’ve seen these guys at least four or five times in the New York City area. So when I had the opportunity to travel out west to catch their Halloween set at the Mutant House in Chino, California, I figured I knew what to expect. I was wrong.
The band headlined the annual Thrashoween gig, which also featured Witchaven, Bonded By Blood and Exmortus, in a location that was quite literally a converted chicken coop. The locals completely packed the place, and when Warbringer ripped into their set, which featured cuts from their latest effort Walking Into Nightmares(Century Media), the place went nuts. Talk about witnessing the power of home-field advantage.
But before the chicken-coop onslaught, I sat down with Warbringer frontman John Kevill for a little chat, during which we talked a bit about the American Vs. Europe scenes, opening for Megadeth and why it’s important for a young band to hit the road…and hit it hard. —Henry Yuan
First off, I want to congratulate you guys on getting an opening slot for Megadeth. Is it true that the band personally invited you guys to play?
JOHN KEVILL Oh, thanks man! Well, we were supposed to be opening for the entire tour but obviously, it didn’t happen so now we’re only doing a week’s worth of shows. Dave Mustaine originally wanted this band Arcanium on, and we’re only filling in for the dates Machine Head can’t do. Still, we’re opening for Megadeth! We’re actually gonna be second on those shows. [laughs] I can’t really tell you if Dave Mustaine actually knows who we are or not, though it would be cool if he saw us and went, “Fuck yeah! Those guys are awesome!” We’ll see. I heard a lot of things about him from both ways. I’d love to meet him and tell him, “Hey man, thanks for making music that rules.”
You guys have been on the road constantly for a few years now. Looking back, do you feel that experience influenced your writing on Waking Into Nightmares?
KEVILL Not really. We’ve toured with all kinds of bands, from Kreator to Nile to Suicide Silence, and we’re not that influenced by them. Our attitude is that we’ll tour with any band even if the music isn’t exactly the same as ours. It works out great this way because kids want to come out to shows to have a good time anyway. Like with the Finntroll show: not everyone there went strictly for folk metal. But we had a really good time on that tour and so did the fans. We got ourselves out to an audience that wouldn’t hear of us otherwise. As long as the opportunity’s good, we’ll play with anybody. That said, I think Adam [Carroll, guitar] went on a bit of an Exodus binge after we first toured with them.
What were some of the highlights and low points of some of the tours you have been on? Any specific shows/tours that sticks in your memory?
KEVILL Hm, highlights… a lot of the Kreator tour, for sure. It was Kreator, Exodus and us, and we were the three thrash bands on the tour so it worked out perfectly with the crowd, who were mostly thrashers and raged for sure. They were some of the biggest and craziest shows we ever did. Lowest points? There was one show in Danville, Virginia, where we played to just two people. Two people, man.
Woah, what happened there? KEVILL It was one of those shows that we did coming out of a tour. If we end a tour on the east, we’ll play a few shows on the way back, so it’s not a straight drive back. Sometimes, those are the worst shows, the routing shows, because it’s basically you and whoever the promoter picks. Once in a while they’ll do a good job. But sometimes those “off-market” places can be disastrous. But the two people who came out in Danville knew who we were, and they raged. Hat’s off to those two people: you gave us a show! [laughs]
Having played across North America as well as in Europe, do you see any notable differences in terms of audiences, scenes, organization, etc.?
KEVILL Yeah, I kinda do. The European metal fans are a little more, well, serious about metal. They generally know their stuff and there’s a more die-hard metal audience. In the states, there seems to be more kids at the shows. That’s good, too, because these guys are just getting into metal and are really excited about it. But really it just depends: We’ve had both great shows and bad ones in Europe. Oh, and in Europe, they have those huge festivals, which are pretty much an institution at this point. Like, they can get all these metal bands for a four-day extravaganza to play for thousands of people…and it actually happens!
Do you feel that those festivals happen over there because it’s more accessible geographically whereas it’s much more difficult to get around here in America?
KEVILL I think it depends. I mean, if you have a festival in a really populated area, I think it’ll work because, including the areas around it, the population density is super high. In Europe, indeed you can get around easily, as we did last year when we were driving laps around Germany. It takes about 10 or 11 hours to drive from one side of the country to the other, and Germany is pretty much one of the biggest countries in Europe. You can get across the Netherlands in like a few hours, you know? Compare that to here, like, if there’s a festival in the east coast and you’re from California, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, etc., you have to go a much longer distance just to get there.
What was it like to have played in the world’s biggest heavy metal festival, Waken Open Air? (more…)
