Heavy Music Magazine Issue #12

HEAVY’S BEST SNAPS OF 2014  A U S T R A L I A’ S P U R E S T H E AV Y M U S I C M A G A Z I N E 

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DEVIN TOWNSEND ZILTOID ATTACKS! AT THE GATES READY FOR A RIOT DZ DEATHRAYS STRAIGHT FROM THE ARIAS CAVALERA CONSPIRACY /// A MARAN T HE ANAAL NATHRAKH /// AVERSIONS CROWN S T O R M T H E S K Y /// K I N G P A R R O T Y N G W I E M A L M S T E E N /// S Y L O S I S DEVILSKIN /// T H E AGONIST HA N D OF ME RCY /// F LYIN G COLORS

OZ UNDERGROUND

MESHUGGAH LOOK OOK WHO’S ALIVE AGAIN

AEON OF HORUS ♦ DREAMTIME H E L L I O N S ♦ I C O N O C L A S T

P L U S

W E

R E M E M B E R

C H R I S T B A I T

ISSUE 12 $9.95 inc.gst ISSN 1839-5546

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CONTENTSISSUE12

16 DEVIN TOWNSEND

26 DZ DEATHRAYS

20 AT THE GATES

32 MESHUGGAH

23 AVERSIONS CROWN

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Everybody’s favourite alien delivers with Z2 but still the intergalactic war rages on inside his head.

The progenitors of melodeath are back with a vengeance after 19 years wandering the wilderness.

Australia’s deathcore darlings are a destructive force, tormenting tours with their triple-guitar terror.

We talk to the Brisbane party thrashers fresh from their ARIA victory for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album.

It’s 25 years since Meshuggah began. Can anything stop this runaway tone train?

LENS TO LENS

HEAVY’s own photographers go toe-to-toe to critique each other’s favourite images of 2014.

Photo courtesy of Century Media

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6 Shrapnel 12 Hi-Rotation 22 Cavalera Conspiracy 24 Storm the Sky 28 Sylosis 30 Yngwie Malmsteen 36 Amaranthe 38 Anaal Nathrakh 40 Devilskin 42 Hand of Mercy 43 Flying Colors 44 Past Blasters: Christbait 50 Oz Underground 54 Heavy Surveillance 57 Chicks That Rock: Vicky Psarakis 59 Pinups: Alan Ashcraft 61 Industry Insight: Jason Fuller, Goatsound 63 Dotted Lines 65 MYOFB! 66 Fuggenweirdshit

Got a smartphone? By that I mean an iPhone or an Android? If so, this magazine you’re holding is about to come alive with HEAVY MUSIC! But first you’ll need a QR code reader, and we recommend you download the FREE Digimarc Discover app from iTunes, or wherever else you can get your hands on it.

By simply holding your smartphone about 6-10cm above a QR code (ie. that Lego nightmare looking thing above) you can instantly access songs (and/or videos) on that same band you’ve just been reading about.

Pretty cool, eh!? It’s a whole new magazine reading experience.

Enjoy!

WELCOME

C U L P R I T S EXECUTIVE EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Robyn Morrison

EDITOR

Nick Lord

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Amanda Mason

ART DIRECTOR

Peter Falkous

PUBLISHING CONSULTANT

Effie Dimitropoulos 186Red Pty Ltd

COVER PHOTO

Courtesy of Century Media

DISTRIBUTION

Gordon & Gotch

PRINTING

Blue Star Group (Printed in Australia)

SPECIALIST COLUMNISTS

Sam Bean – Past Blasters Dave Higgins – Airwaves Rodney Holder – MYOFB! Amanda Mason – Legal Anthony Moore - Rock Damo Musclecar - Vinyl

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

Matt Allan Matt Bolton Rob Brens Joshua Bulleid Callum Doig Matt Doria Nathan Eden Patrick Emmett Nick French David Griffiths Paul Hammond Gareth Jones Karl Lean Emmy Mack Carl Neumann Will Oakeshott Michelle O’Rance Jackson Price John Raptis Tennille Secomb Alex Sievers Sheri Tantawy Jeremy Vane-Tempest Tom Valcanis Josh Voce Patrick Warnes

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A SUMMER OF GIGS

t’s December – high point of the year in this ol’ town. The weather’s warming up and I’ve got time off work. So much to do, man. So much to do. It’s gonna be epic.

Jennifer Lawrence just squeezed out another Hunger Games movie. You’ll be seeing that, right? And Interstellar?

Everyone’s loving it, dude. See it at IMAX where the screen is seven stories high. Get the large coke, large popcorn and choc top combo. It’s the Holy Trinity.

This weekend there’s soccer on, and the cricket starts soon.

You like sport? Me too. I never miss a Boxing Day Test and I’ll definitely be at the World Cup. Tennis in January will be good too. Tickets start from $39 but it’s $75 for centre court. You’ve gotta go centre court, bro. It’s the best.

Hey, did you hear The Prodigy is playing Future music? Sikk!

Yeah, that’s right. $145 this year, bro. Don’t worry, I’ll grab ‘em.

You can get me back later, aye.

I might also pick up tickets for Billy Idol at Day on the Green. Yeah, he’s playing with Cheap Trick, Choirboys and The Angels. It’s only $100 for GA, man. Sorry, $106 with booking fee.

What else is on? What’s that? Your mate is playing at the Bald Faced Stag? Six bands, two interstaters. Sounds cool, man.

How much? What? $14? Really?! Um, I dunno, man. I’ll see how I go.

It’s a safe assumption that we’re all gonna go to some events this summer, and we’re all gonna get out there and spend some money. Australia’s a great country and we’re spoiled rotten as far as events go, especially if you live in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or Sydney. We love having so many choices but if we want to keep it that way, we have to share the love around.

I’ve been thinking and I’ve come up with an idea. Let’s declare this the summer of gigs. Let’s do it together as a community of live music lovers. Let’s each take a personal oath that we’ll attend two local gigs in January and another two in Feb. That’s only four gigs in two months. You can do that, right?

Let’s see bands we’ve never heard at venues we’ve never visited... and let’s take friends who’ve never been.

By all means, keep going to festivals, movies and sporting events. Do what ever you like. Just squeeze in a couple of local bands as well and watch the scene come alive.

Let’s make this the summer of gigs!

In other news, I’d like to officially welcome our new owner Robyn Morrison to the mag.

Robyn and the HEAVY HQ team are gearing up for a hell-uv-a year in 2015 and we hope you’ll come along for the ride.

– Nick Lord

Photo: Nelli Scarlet

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HEAVY MUSIC MAGAZINE is published by SF Media PO Box 2206 Fitzroy, VIC 3065

The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of publisher SF Media or Editor. All statements made, although based on information believed to be reliable and accurate, cannot be guaranteed and no fault or liability can be accepted for any error or omission. All material published in this magazine are subject to copyright provisions and cannot be reproduced, in part or whole, without the written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

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Email: subscribe@heavymag.com.au Photo: Nellitoday.

Scarlet 5

Words: Josh Voce

Words: Nick Lord Photo: Dean Hobson

Tales and Fails

PATISSERIE (JAP) Not quite the cake-baking themed sing-along band you might expect with a name like Patisserie. This Japanese band fuse super-fast blasting with heavy riffs, pitch-shifted vocals and some widdly guitar breaks reminiscent of the early ‘90s death metal scene. Patisserie will be on tour in Japan with Australia’s own Die Pigeon Die for the Super Brutal Gore Attack tour in January 2015.

REALIZED (JAP) Punky hardcore thrash also from Japan. Their music is as fast and aggressive as a chihuahua on crack and as hooky as the final scene in Hellraiser. Realized is not without a few breakdowns and slow head-banging riffs to break it all up; throw in a few melodic sections every now and then with some high-pitched screeching vocals and only then will you realise what you’re in for. These crazy hooligans will be joining Die Pigeon Die and Patisserie for a few select shows on the Super Brutal Gore Attack Japan tour.

Spinal Tap moments and the kind of hedonistic excesses we all read about in the legendary Mötley Crüe biography The Dirt aren’t just happening in books or on the big screen. No way, man. There are people out there living that shit for real, yo. Anyway, as much as people love to tell stories, HEAVY loves to print them so we invited YouTube megastar and guitarist Doug Steele into the offices, plied him with booze and rolled tape. A few drinks later and voila: instant column. Enjoy.

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DID ANYONE RECORD THAT? “I was working at a star party for 2day FM up in Sydney and I had to take a tonne of expensive recording gear with me to get a lot of vox pops [short interviews] of stars that were there and that kind of thing. Afterwards, we all went out on the town after and I was sick of carrying all of the recording gear so I shoved it in a bush.

I was going to come back to it later, I promise. Only problem is that I forgot where I stashed the stuff. Thousands of dollars of recording gear, gone. Boy did I get my ass kicked!

“Another time, still working for 2Day FM, I was doing the Jeep ‘Black Thunders’ thing and I had to drop by my house to get something. When I was inside, some goddamn junkie broke into the Jeep and, yep, stole some more recording gear! Can you believe that shit?! So I moved to Melbourne.”

when I saw him again. Thinking I’d give them back, I wandered over and said he could have the sunnies for $5. Man, he said something about needing to ask his wife because he didn’t have any money on him. Ha! Bye bye sunnies, bitch.”

THE MALMSTEEN BLUES “Back when I was living in California, I went to the NAMM show and Yngwie [Malmsteen] was there, walking around being all Malmsteen. I walked up to him, ripped the sunglasses off his head put them on and walked away. Anyway, I must’ve been wearing them for a good half hour

Doug Steele is guitarist for progressive metal and jass fusion masters Alarum, a popular emcee, a radio presenter and a voiceover artist.

He's also a YouTube celebrity thanks to his obsession with filming himself. Check out his stuff at dougfcknsteele.com

SEAT OF SAURON “So I went to the very last premiere of Lord of the Rings in New Zealand years back. I was working for Kyle and Jackie O [Oh God, no.

Why! – Ed.] and they wanted me to get a toilet seat signed by all the Lord of the Rings cast members. Well, being the reliable dude I am, I got drunk off my ass the very first night, went up to my room, puked all over the floor had to have the guy from housekeeping come in and clean it up. Man, that puke was so solid he used a dust pan and just scooped it right off the floor. Thing is, I really could’ve done with that toilet seat right about then.”

INVOLUNTARY CONVULSION (AUS) Involuntary Convulsion have had a busy 2014 – they’ve made multiple festival appearances (Living Death Fest 2, Sonic Forge and Sonic Carnage) and are now on the verge of releasing their next EP. The band’s name is a great depiction of the music they play, frantic complex riffs, jarring drum fills and extra low-end breakdowns in the vein of Disentomb, all culminating in a sound that will make you twitch uncontrollably. You can help the band fund their EP by heading over to their Bandcamp and simply pre-ordering their EP. Do it now. C’mon. Do it. Do it now. C’mon!!

DEAD INSTRUMENT (DEN) Dead Instrument are a mega speedy, intense, noisy grindcore band from the country that invented the loudspeaker. This music is so fast and frenzied that by the time you finish one song, you’ve actually listened to three. How is that possible you ask? Have a listen and find out for yourself. Dead Instrument had not one but two releases in 2014. An EP titled See Through Negative and a split with P.L.F. For Fans of The Kill.

Words: Nathan Eden Photos: Courtesy of King Parrot

Catch up: King Parrot

The last time HEAVY caught up with the guys from King Parrot was earlier this year in February. I joined their jolly bass bandit Slatts for a vodka and raspberry and talked at length about Slatts’ moistened anticipation for their upcoming North American tour.

This time, we’re checking in with Matt Young to see what’s what inside the wickedly brazen world that is King Parrot and those dudes must’ve loved that tour in North America; they’ve been back twice since and are even there right now, touring with Down, Orange Goblin and Bl’ast.

Yep, it’s going swimmingly for the lads.

They’ve been violently flashing their true colours from Los Angeles to Louisiana and it’s working.

KP’s social media pages are bulging with new admirers and people keep rocking up to the shows. Hell, they supported Carcass, FFS. Carcass! They also duked it out with Thy Art Is Murder.

Youngy’s all full of love for the States and Canada and that’s all good and well but we’d rather know if they’re getting the job done over there, spreading the Aussie way.

Youngy: “We don’t go there and set goals but it makes sense that you put all of your effort into what you do. What’s working over there for us is that we’re a band from a long way away who have a couple of f*cking great videos, a super aggressive live show and a few real personalities on stage.”

Well, seriously... who’s gonna beat that?!

Youngy: “It is what it is. Our approach is original but it’s easy to fall in to the trap of being

just another Aussie metal band. We have been lucky to play with some great bands and also played some cool places. We did SXSW14 then Phil Anselmo asked us to play his Housecore Horror festival in Texas.”

It seems the boys also spent some time running around in the woods whilst in the States. Imagine being a fly on the wall of that cabin.

Youngy: “We have a friend with five hundred acres in Vermont. It meant we could make as much noise as we wanted as we were writing some new songs. I think we might have been a bit naïve before with Bite Your Head Off. The new album will be the typical thrash and grind of King Parrot but it feels more concentrated, and with maybe a few more flavours.”

Don’t change too much, boys. Don’t ruin a good day, and don’t go dropping in any of that country stuff you’ve been playing on the tourbus, now.

Youngy: “No country. I don’t think we’ve broadened our horizons quite that far just yet.

I really like what I hear when I listen to the new songs. I have played some new stuff to a few people in our inner circle of friends, and judging by their reactions, they feel the same.”

The inside word is that the band will record the new album early next year after returning from the Down tour.

Youngy: “We’ve got the new songs ready to record in January. We’ll be all set to continue spreading the disease of King Parrot.”

We don’t know about the rest of you but at HEAVY, we’re ready to be infected. [Ew – Ed.]

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Words: Damo Musclecar

Unveiling the Wicked

VENOM – “Prime Evil”

(Under One Flag, 1989) BOW YOUR HEAD

‘Prime Evil’ @YouTube

It would be delusional to dismiss Venom’s influence in metal. They were the first to take things to the extreme both lyrically and musically. Mixing a punk rock attitude and sloppy playing with satanic themes and an abundance of angel dust, Venom had no qualms in pushing limits and kicking ass. Their live videos were on constant rotation in my teen years watching as they destroyed every piece of crappy equipment the band had. It was really quite mind-blowing and over the top and they knew it.

For what Venom lacked in musical talent they made up for with enthusiasm and this, my dear friends, is why they forever will be, in my opinion anyway, the greatest metal band of all time. Their debut album, Welcome To Hell, not only kick-started a whole new genre but also solidified them as a force to be reckoned with. Their second album, Black Metal, is without a doubt one of metal’s most important records and, along with Scandinavia’s own Viking metal legends Bathory, Venom really took extreme metal to, well, the extreme.

That was until Venom decided they couldn’t all get along anymore and after a series of bizarre line-up changes whereby the only original member seemed to be the drummer, Venom thought it was a good idea to follow Celtic Frost in toning down what made them great and try their hand at a more produced ‘rock’ album. Ok, so using the term ‘rock’ might be a bit overdoing it.

Let’s just say that Prime Evil is definitely not Black Metal, nor is it even a Calm Before The Storm. It’s just Prime Evil... and the first album without original bassist and vocalist Cronos (aka Conrad Lant).

The opening title track starts with what appears to be a dial-up modem connecting to a bulletin board. Yeah, this is old school. New bassist and vocalist The Demolition Man (aka Tony Dolan) kicks in with a funky bass line while guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn plays a generic chord progression when a chant of “Prime!” gets this song under way. It actually sounds borderline rap/ metal but that quickly gets put to rest and the evil shines through as Anthony “Abaddon” Bray rocks away with a stock drum beat. I know all this sounds negative but really, it’s hard to not enjoy its infectious grooves.

The album then gets back on track to the sound we expect from the awesome foursome with the song ‘Parasite’ (not a KISS cover). It’s a heavy, pounding headbanger that brings back the sounds of the old Venom we know and love. This feeling of joy follows with slower number ‘Blackened are the Priests’, which is still very much classic Venom even with its clichéd song title.

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The pace picks up again with the two-minute quickie ‘Carnivorous’ while Side A finishes with ‘Skeletal Dance’ a most-bitchin’ thrasher.

So far, Prime Evil is a win.

Side B begins with a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Megalomania’, complete with cowbell. It’s quite an interesting yet powerful version, and I guess you could say it’s been Venomed? I’m sure the Sabbath purists will be offended regardless, which was probably Venom’s intention from the start. The pace picks up again with the fast rocker ‘Insane’, which flies the cliché flag high once again but why expect anything less? Like everything else Venom does, this rules. ‘Harder Than Ever’ sounds a lot like a leftover track from Welcome To Hell until it gets to the chorus, which sounds like it should have been on an ‘80s KISS record. It comes with brotherhood lyrics of united metal forces that I’m sure had Manowar looking to sue. That’s a missed opportunity, Mr DeMaio.

Just sayin’.

‘Into the Fire’ follows, which is pretty tame in terms of Venom awesomeness, and the record finishes with the album’s token song of sex, ‘Skool Daze’, a follow-up to Black Metal’s ‘Teacher’s Pet’. Filled with Steel Panther-esque lyrics revolving around a student hooking up with the teacher, this song is as cheesy as their previous attempts at writing about sexual fantasies. Really, the guys should stick to Satan.

Still, don’t let this debacle put you off from the previous 35 minutes of greatness. Just like the aforementioned Celtic Frost, don’t crucify a band just because they made one mistake. Besides, I think Cold Lake was a pretty good effort. Whoever thought Tom G Warrior would sing about cherry orchards and roses without thorns? That’s throwing a major spanner in the works.

If Prime Evil is, or was, your introduction to Venom then you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re nothing special. For me, this album is still great but I am a one-eyed Venom fan in that I think they can do no wrong. Even when they were completely shit, I still feel they were better than 90 per cent of metal bands.

No one could do shit better than Venom and they knew it. They unabashedly wrote generic, sloppy, over the top, metal-punk albums that to this day stand on their own and in front of the pack and that is why they will forever be the greatest and most important band in heavy metal. Prime Evil is included in that sweeping statement. Nine ‘rhythm guitarists nobody remembers named Al Barnes’ out of ten.

intothevoid

STONER/FUZZ NEWS WITH ANTHONY MOORE

Words: Amanda Mason

Australia Day Playlist

Don’t fancy listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown on Australia Day? Well throw another shrimp on the barbie and fire up your very own Australia Day playlist, featuring 34 old and new tracks by some of our greatest home-grown Australian artists. Stream it for free via Spotify at bit.ly/AusDayPlaylist.

Dead Kelly Hobbs’ Angel of Death Airbourne Parkway Drive Sadistik Exekution Psycroptic Alchemist Destroyer 666 Dreadnaught Be’lakor Aeon of Horus The Mark of Cain The Berzerker House of Thumbs Alarum Silverchair Aversions Crown Karnivool Disentomb Blood Duster King Parrot Cosmic Psychos Make Them Suffer Ne Obliviscaris Portal Se Bon Ki Ra The Amenta The Red Shore Truth Corroded Thy Art is Murder Vanishing Point Twelve Foot Ninja Frankenbok Dead City Ruins

Sons of the Southern Cross Jack the Ripper Live It Up Carrion Agonizing The Dead Carriers of the Plague Great Southern Wasteland Australian and Anti-Christ 10 Times the Pain Abeyance Refraction Familiar Territory Black Heart Home Undivided Pure Massacre Hollow Planet We Are Purity Severed By the Antediluvian Northcote Shit On the Liver Can’t Keep a Good Man Down Neverbloom Of the Leper Butterflies Kilter All You Can Be Slave The See of Annihilation They Are Horror Reign of Darkness King of Empty Promises Coming For You F*ckenKuntz GET YOUR SHRIMP ON Hapenzella

Australia Day Playlist @Spotify

Sydney: Wolf Shield: Randy Reimann, singer and co-founder of seminal ‘80s, ‘90s band Massappeal has returned to his punk roots, sampling the last few seconds of old ‘80s Massappeal rehearsal tape recordings and using them to create completely new tracks. Check out the track ‘No More’ on Detonic Recordings: Normalised Compilation.

It’s out now on vinyl.

Poland: Snake Thursday are releasing the follow up to their 2012 Cruise Mode EP, the self-released full-length Iter. Think classic stoner rock in the vein of Kyuss and Nebula but this is no rip-off; it’s full of rocksolid riffs!

Italy: Flying Disk have just released their full-length Circling Further Down. The album is a co-production between seven labels who all receive varying amounts of the 500 CDs produced: Vollmer Industries, Tadca Records, Rude Records, Dreamingorilla Records, Taxi Driver Records, Scatti Vorticosi DIY Records and Canalese Noise Records. They describe themselves as stoner rock/ noise/post hardcore and have an ability to reel you straight in.

RECOMMENDATION

Melbourne: Psych rockers Seedy Jeezus are releasing their debut album on vinyl mid-January and it features artwork by singer/guitarist Lex Waterreus who is one-half of the art group Mr Frumpy. The album is recorded, mixed and produced

by Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Saint Vitus, Stone Axe). The first single, ‘Shakin’ The Fuse’ is available mid-December as part of a red vinyl split 7” with NZ legends Head Like A Hole. The track is dedicated to American actress Tura Satana who died in 2011 and is best known for the 1965 Russ Meyer film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! She is also featured in the cover art.

GET SEE D Y

‘Shakin’ The Fuse’ @YouTube

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2014: The Year That Was

Now that the end of another year is here, let’s take a moment to reflect on the year that was. It’s 2014 all over again, only this time in crossword form, so get out your HB pencils and give it a shot but remember, kiddies: no Googling!

Across

3. Jeff Loomis and Alissa White-Gluz both joined this band in 2014.

4. The band that released .5: The Gray Chapter.

5. The first single off Mastodon’s album Once More Round The Sun. 7. Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick both announced their departure from this band in 2014.

9. Superjoint Ritual reunited for the ____________ ____________ Film Festival.

12. The Amity Affliction released this album in 2014.

14. Belphegor’s 2014 album.

16. The album This Is Your Life was released as a tribute to who?

17. Name of the band that released At War With Reality.

18. Name of the metalcore frontman sentenced to six years in prison.

19. Name of the band fronted by Mark Hunter that broke up in 2014.

20. Behemoth’s 2014 album.

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Down

1. This Australian band released the single ‘Echoes to Come’ off their upcoming album.

2. Nick Holmes was announced as the new singer of this death metal band.

6. Dave Brockie, vocalist of ________ passed away on 23 March.

8. The Beauty of Destruction is the debut album by this band.

10. 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of this Metallica album.

11. This Australian band broke a record with their crowd-funding campaign.

13. Name of the band that won a Grammy for ‘God Is Dead?’

15. Esoteric Warfare was released by which black metal band?

Words: Amanda Mason Photo: Courtesy of Nuclear Blast

Crobot – the choice of champions Hailing from Pennsylvania in the US, Crobot are a super-funky, riffheavy, hook-laden amalgamation of, blues, metal, rock’n’roll and a touch of funk that just ooze gritty, old-school cool.

The current line-up have only been together for a little over a year but they’ve hit the band chemistry jackpot, forming what they refer to as a “mystical bond”. Brandon Yeagley (vocals and harmonica – oh yeah baby, there’s harmonica all up in there) and Chris Bishop (guitar) founded Crobot and then later poached brothers Jake and Paul Figueroa, who play bass and drums respectively, from another band to fill out the rhythm section and dayamnnn grrrrrrl, do they got rhythm.

Crobot’s debut album Something Supernatural was released in October and, if you like that deep, riff-laden, bluesy, stoner rock sound that’s a throw-back to a bygone era, well then this is the album for you. Something Supernatural is powerful and full of raw emotion, both musically and lyrically and will really strike a chord with fans of bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Clutch, Wolfmother and Soundgarden as Crobot’s sound seamlessly blends musical elements reminiscent of those bands, while incorporating some sweet, up-beat funk.

If you think that Something Supernatural sounds like an album that’d float your boat then you’re in luck because we’ve got three copies to give away to you, our lovely readers, but beware because Crobot have issued a public service announcement warning that listening to their music has been known to get people stoned.

If that doesn’t deter you and you want to go into the running to win a copy of Crobot’s Something Supernatural, send your name and address to info@heavymag.com.au by midnight (AEDT) on February 1, 2015 and we’ll choose three lucky entrants at random who will each receive a copy of Something Supernatural.

BLAZE IT UP

‘Nowhere to Hide’ @YouTube

BITCHES BE BITCHES

Alrighty, it’s rolled around to that time of year. Christmas? Ah, no.

It’s the time when Soundwave announces its line-up!

Yes we’re being drip-fed again but c’mon, surely by now, people realise that one line-up release wouldn’t be feasible until at least December and, if Soundwave did that, people would be baying for blood.

People want names and they want them NOW, goddamit.

Maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous but I would have thought that even people with a modicum of sense would understand that booking bands takes time – not everyone can say yes straight away. It’s about availability, dollars, contracts and ducks in a row, and blah blah has to happen before so-and-so can commit. This stuff takes a long time, people. Do you think they just throw Download or Wacken together in a heartbeat? No chance.

The new two-day format will be an interesting development, I think it’ll work for a lot of reasons. Hopefully it means longer set times, shorter walks between fewer stages and more dark time for headliners. It also means two days of awesome music!

As I type this, the second announcement is just a couple of days old and, of course, out come the whingers, right on cue as they do every year. It seems inevitable that the same old keyboard warriors pipe up every year with “I

don’t know any of these bands. Why would I pay $200 to see bands I’ve never heard of? You know the type.

They’re the ‘why don’t they cater a festival for just my tastes’ crowd.

To those whiny little bitches, I say firstly, complaining that you don’t know any bands is ridiculous. If you can’t name 10 bands on this year’s line-up, you’re cooked. it’s your fault. Secondly, your complaints are your own fault. That’s right.

You only have yourself to blame.

Get on YouTube, you lazy bastards, start typing in these ‘unknown’ band names and start discovering new music. Who knows? You might actually find something you dig.

Maybe you’ll find a new band and you can be the cool kid who saw them at Soundwave in 2015 before everyone else.

Example: Killer Be Killed are making their live debut at Soundwave 2015, which is going to be f*cking crazy! For the uninitiated, Killed Be Killed are Sepultura’s Max Cavalera (who needs no introduction), Mastodon’s Troy Sanders (who really shouldn’t need an introduction either), The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato (he also doesn’t need an introduction) and The Mars Volta’s Dave Elitch (OK he might need an introduction but just a little one).

Soundwave is coming and it’s gunna be awesome as usual. Chin up kids.

Rant Over.

Tune in to Distortion every Saturday night at 11pm1am (Melbourne time) on MMM 105.1FM as Higgo spins the best in metal from around the country and the globe.

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ALBUM OF THE ISSUE

SKY BLUE BY

Devin Townsend Project

HEVYDEVY

Progressive metal Vancouver, Canada hevydevy.com Review: Joshua Bulleid This surprise companion piece to Z2, the Devin Townsend double album consisting of disc one Sky Blue and disc two Dark Matters, is the introspective foil that Sky Blue plays to its bombastic counterpart.

Satisfyingly for many, Sky Blue continues to expand upon the niche carved out under the Devin Townsend Project moniker – it has a more concise and consistent aesthetic that makes it a far more suitable successor to 2009’s Addicted than 2012’s Epicloud, while its ethereal tones hark back to classic Devin Townsend Band output such as Terria (2001) and Accelerated Evolution (2003).

For all its careful restraint, Sky Blue is not without its share of rockers. ‘Fallout’ is a standout, again delivering the driving ‘80s rock anthem feel that Devin and his femme fatale Anneke Van Giersbergen mastered on ‘Hyperdrive’ (Addicted), complete with its giant power-pop chorus

iPad

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and distortion-drenched guitars.

‘Rejoice’ too is a resplendant opener with a haunting, almost spiritual chanting chorus providing the gloriously hooky melody.

Playing a strong supporting role are ‘A New Reign’ and the title-track, both upbeat numbers that see Townsend openly flirting with a more electronic approach before he launches the listener into full-blown industrial/dance with ‘Silent Militia’.

As good as Z2 is, of the two discs it is Sky Blue that emerges as one of the best albums Townsend has ever released. It’s compulsory listening, will feature highly on end-of-year lists and is, if nothing else, another remarkable stepping stone in the career of metal’s most supreme being. File next to the entire shelf that makes up Townsend’s far-reaching back catalogue. Highlights are ‘Rejoice’, ‘Fallout’,

TYRANT

INKED IN BLOOD

NUCLEAR BLAST ENTERTAINMENT

GIBTOWN MUSIC/RELAPSE

BY

Aversions Crown

Deathcore Brisbane, Australia facebook.com/aversionscrown

BY

Obituary

Death Metal Tampa, Florida obituary.cc

Review: Nathan Eden

Review: Matt Bolton

From the artwork and track titles to the chopper-stuttered newsflash intro, Tyrant continues with the ‘Austr-alien’ sci-fi themes of their 2011 debut Servitude. Whilst some may argue that, in between their penchant for sincerely heavy blast-beats, Aversions Crown lack the attention-grabbing groove of other deathcore merchants, they successfully colour some potentially dull open-note chuggery with otherworldly atmospherics like melodic leads and three-guitar textures.

Opener ‘Hollow Planet’ appears in a slight reworking of its previous incantation as a single – the leads are further forward here – and other highlights are ‘Overseer’ and ‘Faith Collapsing’, a good example of band’s ability to maintaining the listener’s interest during moments of relatively mid-paced technicality.

Overall, Tyrant doesn’t get lost in the mediocrity of deathcore’s standard clichés and may even satisfy a few tech-death fans as well.

The Tardy brothers are back with vengeance, releasing the best album they have in years. This is the ninth album for death metal veterans Obituary, and the guys are at the top of their game, capturing a flawless sound at Redneck Studios in Gibson, Florida. Inked in Blood doesn’t let up from the get-go with album opener ‘Centuries of Lies’ announcing Obituary’s arrival at break-neck pace. As usual, John Tardy’s vocals stand worlds apart from other death metal vocalists, given his uniqueness. Behind him, brother Donald Tardy continues to master the kit, whether thrashing away or locking down a groove with bassist Terry Butler. The slow, heavy riffs that we have grown to love are still here, thanks to guitarists Trevor Peres and Ken Andrews, and throughout the record there is a distinctly hardcore vibe in places that brings Madball to mind. Listeners will find no fillers here and the relentless riff-fest will induce its fair share of frantic headbanging.

Standout tracks are ‘Violent

by Nature’, ‘Pain Inside’, ‘Inked in Blood’ and ‘Deny You’.

HYMNS FOR THE BROKEN BY

Evergrey

AFM RECORDS

Power/progressive metal Gothenburg, Sweden evergrey.net Review: Karl Lean Evergrey’s first album in three years marks the return of guitarist Henrik Danhage and drummer Jonas Ekdahl after their departure in 2010. Perhaps it’s the welcoming of familiar faces, perhaps it’s just the ‘right time’, but the result is amazing.

Throughout Hymns for the Broken, the basic construction is simple enough but the constant use of subtle layers makes for rich yet highly accessible songs. The guitar riffs are heavy and memorable, and the piano sections that float in and out of the mix give a haunting vibe that contrasts and supports the anthemic choruses. The feel is grand, powerful and uplifting and vocalist Tom Englund doesn’t miss a step, delivering soaring refrains one moment and aching melodies the next.

Hymns of the Broken is strong throughout all of its twelve songs and every track brings a contribution to the table that rewards the listener more with each listen.

HANDS IN THE AIR

DON THE CROWN

GET SL U DGED

SING THE HYMN

‘Rejoice’ @YouTube

‘Hollow Planet’ @YouTube

‘Violence’ @YouTube

‘King of Errors’ @YouTube

THE HEAVY MAG ANDROID APP IS LIVE & GET

THE APPLE MAC VERSION FROM iTUNES

BY

In This Moment

ATLANTIC RECORDS

Metalcore/Industrial Los Angeles, USA inthismomentofficial.com

SUN EATER BY

Job For A Cowboy

METAL BLADE

NOT TO BE MISSED

BLACK WIDOW

ROCK OR BUST BY

AC/DC

SONY

Death Metal Arizona, USA jfacmetal.com

Review: Emmy Mack

Review: Michelle O’Rance

In This Moment’s fifth studio album and first major-label outing sees the band moving in different directions. Black Widow injects the LA five-piece’s organically metalcore bloodstream with industrial metal plasma crawling with carcinogenic pop, and frontwoman Maria Brink is the vampire who sucks it all in – the Lady Gaga of heavy metal is in fine form here, shifting gears regularly from sultry pop melodies to ball-tearing metal screams.

Like the vast majority of songs on the ambitious 15-tracker – two are bonus tracks – the brittle verse of ‘Bones’ gives way to a titanium chorus, buffered by monstrously drop-tuned guitar chuggery. The bad news is the band’s metal section largely plays second fiddle to over-the-top production and synthesised soundscapes no doubt afforded by Atlantic’s oversexed budget.

Just like In This Moment themselves, Black Widow is sure to stimulate discussion and polarise listeners, which is surely the objective, right?

Job For A Cowboy are one of the most gifted death metal bands around and on the back of the release of their fourth full-length, Sun Eater, you are looking at an album of the year contender. Here is an album that has all the critics raving and it’s easy to see why.

Sun Eater does pick up a little where Demonocracy left off but on this album you are treated to a sonic evolution. They leave their deathcore roots behind and completely embrace death metal.

New bassist Nick Schendzielos (ex-Cephalic Carnage) brings his own style to this album and is rewarded with a prominent position in the mix.

It’s hard to find fault with Sun Eater. The technical prowess of JFAC’s music shows off their ability but it does so without any show ponies vying for the spotlight. There are no 7-minute solos or any selfindulgent egotism here.

If a standout track has to be picked, the first single off the album ‘Sun of Nihility’ is what will draw you in. Surprisingly strong.

Rock Australia/USA/Belgium/New Zealand

acdc.com Review: Damo Musclecar For a band that stays reasonably quiet when not touring or recording, it was quite a surprise when vocalist Brian Johnson advised that AC/DC’s new album was done and that it only took them a measly ten days. True professionals at their craft, AC/DC have once again delivered exactly what it is they do best: good ole blues-based Australian rock’n’roll.

Rock Or Bust is their 16th studio album and is unsurprisingly dominated by Angus’ catchy guitar riffs. Perhaps more surprisingly, Johnson’s signature wail still sounds like the new guy we’ve all grown to love over the past 34 years. Rock Or Bust is without a doubt their best effort since The Razors Edge. Sure, it sounds like every other AC/DC album but when you’re on a good thing, stick to it.

And let’s face it, it would be pretty un-Australian to find fault in an AC/DC album. True story.

GET BITTEN

GET A JOB

P L U G IN

‘Sick Like Me’ @YouTube

‘Sun of Nihility’ @YouTube

‘Rock or Bust’ @YouTube

DARK MATTERS BY

Devin Townsend

HEVYDEVY

Progressive metal Vancouver, Canada hevydevy.com Review: Matt Doria

Canadian prog-metal mastermind Devin Townsend is widely acclaimed for his profound storytelling and insane sense of humour and Dark Matters, disc two of his ambitious double album Z2, is littered with hearty belly laughs at the hand of an enthrallingly frivolous arc. Though it doesn’t quite capture the anomalous essence of its predecessor, this follow-up to bombastic metal/ musical hybrid Ziltoid, The Omniscient is an abrasive, boisterous farce highlighted by an eccentric cast of coffee-driven characters and masterful textural production.

Let’s face it: of the two Z2 discs, it was always going to be the one with Ziltoid that came under the most scrutiny and the record suffers slightly from Hollywood Sequel Syndrome, wherein the end product underwhelms against its source material and fails to reach the high expectations of its audience.

Despite this, there’s more than enough jocosity and wit throughout Dark Matters to make it a memorable musical romp.

Scattered bursts of zestful effects and interspatial undertones add an impelling level of dynamism to the record and the casting is sublime, specifically Dominique Lenore Persi as the War Princess and Chris Jericho as Captain Spectacular. Devin remains the star and his performance surely sets him up for voice acting should he ever tire of music.

Musically on Dark Matters, Townsend experiments gratuitously with unusual instruments and electronica, though this experimentation works to compliment the album rather than overpower it. The record as a whole is less metallic than fans may have wanted but what it lacks in heaviness it makes up in sheer zaniness and energetic flair. Townsend has a remarkable expertise in curating masterful compositions, and this record is no exception. Dark Matters is a triumphantly-riveting narrative that’s certain to captivate new fans and seasoned devotees looking for a little deviation.

SH O O T I T U P

‘Deathray’ @YouTube

DEBUT ALBUM “SENIUM” OUT NOW 13

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED

BLOODSTONE & DIAMONDS BY

Machine Head

NUCLEAR BLAST

Metal California, USA machinehead1.com Review: Carl Neumann It’s possible that ‘Now We Die’, the opening track of Machine Head’s Bloodstone & Diamonds, will shoot you straight back to that first moment you heard Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn yell, “Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!” It’s seriously antagonistic and the most explosive song on the album, closely followed by the rampaging funnel of the enmity that is ‘Game Over’.

Amongst the angry tones are scattered dynamic textures and subtle details that succeed in breaking up the album up and allowing listeners time to push their eardrums back into place.

Tracks such as the brooding funeral dirge ‘Sail Into the Black’ and the deeply dark ‘In Comes the Flood’ have a somewhat gloomy beautifulness to them but some thrashers might find themselves reaching for the skip button.

Produced by vocalist and guitarist Robb Flynn with Juan

14

Urteaga, and mixed by the legendary Colin Richardson, Bloodstone & Diamonds is 12 tracks clocking in at just over 70 minutes.

There’s no doubting that this is a big-sounding metal record but there are a couple of shortcomings and overproduction is the first of them. Flynn has always been a man who enjoys mixing a variety of guitar effects and usually gets them pretty spot on. Here, however, the effects can seem overused, unfortunately conducing a detached guitar sound that forces you to tweak your neck to listen-in rather than just enjoy it.

The second downfall is the track composition. At first the album appears disjointed. After a few plays, it starts to congeal but it never really flows.

Still, there’s great depth, choir and orchestral parts and even some of Flynn’s spoken-word diatribe. All in all, this complex mash of brutal clout, durable experimentation and forlorn atmosphere makes Bloodstone & Diamonds a standout on par with their first and greatest album Burn My Eyes.

TELLURIAN BY

Soen

SPINEFARM

PRIMUS AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY WITH THE FUNGI ENSEMBLE BY

Progressive metal Sweden/USA facebook.com/soenmusic Review: Nathan Eden Let’s start off with the possible cliché that Soen have matured on their second record. Those who claimed 2012’s Cognitive showed them to be a poor-man’s Tool may now have to find a new angle from which to launch their hate.

There are progressive tinges along the Tellurian journey but it’s the so-called supergroup’s understated confidence that really makes this record better than most.

There’s nothing as instantly gratifying here as ‘Savia’ from their debut – single ‘Tabula Rasa’ coming the closest – but disposable catchiness is not what Tellurian is about. A truly rewarding listen comes on the back of tracks like ‘Kuraman’ and ‘Ennui’, each an exercise in restrained brilliance for ears that don’t need overloads of crash-and-bang for satisfaction.

The highlight of the album is ‘The Words’, a mostly drum-less exhibit of song-writing beauty that highlights Joel Ekelöf’s superb vocals. You will hear heavier albums this year but you may struggle to find an album as sophisticated.

Primus

CITADEL BY

Ne Obliviscaris

SEASON OF MIST

PRAWN SONG RECORDS

Experimental Rock USA primusville.com Review: Callum Doig Primus have been alternative music’s most idiosyncratic entity since their debut in the early ‘90s but who would’ve thought their current release would invoke Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory?!

On their eighth album, that’s exactly what Primus does and it works.

When you hear tracks such as ‘Candy Man’, ‘Golden Ticket’ and ‘Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride’, you feel a creepy yet quirky aura that tips its hat to the sinister nature of the original story and the madness that infects Wonka’s mind. Throughout, the band captures a sound that is distinctly different from the funky slapback they’re most commonly associated with and hardened fans might struggle with the new direction. Certainly, this isn’t Primus at their absolute best but this is an album that will attract its fair share of curious onlookers and will stand out with Willy Wonka fans as a convincing rendition of the movie’s original soundtrack.

Progressive Metal Melbourne, Australia facebook.com/NeObliviscarisBand

Review: Patrick Warnes Technical death metal and beautiful jazz-like classical instrumentation collide as Melbourne six-piece Ne Obliviscaris reach outside the box for album number two. Citadel is similar to its predecessor Portal of I except Citadel is more death than black metal and flows better overall. The technicality, face-destroying blast beats and heavy vocals of songs like ‘Painters of the Tempest Part 2’ and ‘Pyrrhic’ ensure the metalheads get what they want while delicate classical flourishes that appear in unique and entertaining ways allow the album to breathe.

Ne Obliviscaris are definitely re-inventing the wheel as far as classically-infused black metal is concerned but strong song writing ensures that wheel never rolls into a mire of messy ideas even if the violin and clean vocal interludes sometimes act as a distraction from the main action. It’s a very European sound sure to appease fans of, well, classically-influenced blackened metal and a few more.

W HAT NOW ?

TA K E TH E TRIP

TA K E TH E TOU R

ENTER THE CITADEL

‘Now We Die’ @YouTube

‘Tabula Rasa’ @YouTube

‘Golden Ticket’ @YouTube

‘Painters of the Tempest (Part II): Triptych Lux’ @YouTube

MILKING THE STARS: A RE-IMAGINING OF LAST PATROL

EARTHBORN EVOLUTION

PEACEVILLE RECORDS

BY

SEASON OF MIST

BY

Bloodbath

Death metal Stockholm, Sweden bloodbath.biz Review: Tennille Secomb With a history of revolving band members, Bloodbath return for their fourth studio album with Paradise Lost’s Nick Holmes fronting the band. Holmes’ gothic background and grimy, gurgling vocals are a surprisingly good fit, despite not being as deep as his predecessors’. After six years, Grand Morbid Funeral delivers the kind of straight-up traditional death metal that these Swedish stalwarts are known for, but with a slightly rougher edge that harkens back to some of Bloodbath’s earliest work. The production is clear and well-balanced to showcase the band’s new vocalist yet musically it remains raw and understated, creating an overall atmosphere that mirrors Holmes’ horror-inspired lyrics. Standout tracks like ‘Famine of God’s Word’, ‘Mental Abortion’ and ‘Unite in Pain’ epitomise the dirty, hard-driven energy that makes Grand Morbid Funeral a dense, fleshy release with an anatomy of meaty riffs, powerful drumming and fierce, snarling vocals into which to sink your teeth.

Monster Magnet

BY

NAPALM RECORDS

Stoner Rock New Jersey, US zodiaclung.com Review: Dave Griffiths If the last time you heard Monster Magnet was back when their music graced The Matrix soundtrack, it may be time to go back and pay these behemoths of the stoner rock genre another visit.

A quick description of Milking The Stars: A Re-Imagining of Last Patrol does set the alarm bells ringing. A band saying they reimagined their last album to sound a little different would normally scream of a band looking for quick dough for minimum effort... but that isn’t the case here. This is an album that does stand-up by itself.

On Milking the Stars, the band wanted to bring a 1960s sound to the album and they do that so well that at times you could be forgiven for thinking that you have taken a trip back to that endearing age of combi vans and campout festivals.

Tracks like ‘Mindless Ones ’68’ and ‘No Paradise For Me’ bring a certain fuzz to the guitars and vocals that seem to have been lost over the years. Four new tracks and some live inclusions mean even hardened fans will bepleased.

Beyond Creation

Progressive death metal Montreal, Canada facebook.com/BeyondCreationOfficial Review: Jackson Price Earthborn Evolution is the

follow up to Beyond Creation’s 2011 debut Aura, an album that grabbed the undivided attention of both headbangers and prog fiends alike. The formula hasn’t changed either sound or songwriting but a more expansive approach has this record covering ground from twisting progressive soundscapes to chugging death metal windmill sections.

Dominic “Forest” Lapointe’s now signature fretless bass sound and technical proficiency is definitely one of the flagship traits here; however it doesn’t overshadow the chops of Simon Girard (vocals/ guitars) and Kevin Chartré (guitars) who both lay down some tasty guitar work that intertwines blues, jazz and classical themes into their technical shredfest.

Opening track ‘Elusive Reverence’ gives the listener an insight to what’s coming and ‘Theatrical Delirium sets Beyond Creation apart from the peers. This is progression and song writing, not the ‘rinse, repeat, release’ strategy popular of the genre.

GET MORBID

FEEL THE PULL

GO BEYOND

‘Unite in Pain’ @Soundcloud

‘The Duke’ @YouTube

‘Neurotical Transmissions’ @YouTube

EXTREME EXCELLENCE

GRAND MORBID FUNERAL

APEX PREDATOR BY

Napalm Death

CENTURY MEDIA

Grindcore Meriden/Birmingham, UK napalmdeath.org Review: Nick Lord There’s a tendency to look at ‘old’ bands and assume their output is low quality, no longer relevant and therefore dismissible. Is Napalm Death an old band? Mate, they’ve released 15 albums and have just entered their fourth decade – they’re the oldest f*cking band! – but there’s no sign of Barney, Shane, Mitch and Danny slowing up, which is both tremendously exciting and frightening. Instead, they’re possibly becoming more extreme.

Certainly the rage that should’ve simmered years ago is now an endless rolling boil of vitriol. In the crosshairs again is the band’s ceaseless war on “the predatory capitalism that causes so much poverty, misery and death”, says the presser, and ‘Smash A Single Digit’, ‘Metaphorically Screw You’, ‘Stubborn Stains’ and ‘Bloodless Coup’ seem written specifically to soundtrack a riot.

Napalm Death continue their experiments into industrial-

tinged sludge here as ‘Dear Slum Landlord...’ and ‘Apex Predator’ utilise lumbering, chanting and quasi-electronic skree respectively to unsettle and antagonise listeners.

There’s plenty of familiar ground too: ‘How the Years Condemn You’ is Napalm by numbers with single-string riff verses giving way to walls of tremelo-picked chords that roll in atop giant tom fills; ‘Cesspits’ offers stomping power-chord riffage at 200bpm. Both will be fan favourites along with ‘Beyond the Pale’, which swings like a workboot to the head on a Friday after last drinks.

Engineer Russ Russell delivers an attack-heavy mix loaded with razorwire guitars, necksnap snares and lacerated vocals, and he does so while preserves the band’s signature sound – this could only ever be a Napalm Death album.

A blastfest of spitting venom and hate wrapped up in an open letter to the Western world, Apex Predator will make an ideal KK gift this Christmas.

Keep us honest, Napalm.

TA K E T H E T R I P

‘Tabula Rasa’ @YouTube

Cranking out low, loud riff rhythms while shredding the dark energy of the universe with searing light beams of power and brilliance.

Motherslug do that in spades.

- Heavy Planet

ONE TWENTIES BOOK YOUR SPOT NOW

Music and merch available at www.motherslug.bandcamp.com

15

cover story

Words: Michelle O’Rance Photos: Courtesy of Century Media

The mad scientist of metal has emerged from his laboratory with Z2, the latest instalment in the story of an omniscient alien who really only wants a good cup of coffee. Devin Townsend chats with Tom Valcanis about the intergalactic war that rages on inside his head.

F

riends, metalheads all, feel proud. Feel proud to stand in the presence of Devin Townsend. In a cosmic sense, we all are.

What’s a few thousand miles to a light year? He’s in Vancouver, I’m in Melbourne. Even as he speaks, his energy crackles into my fingers over mountains and oceans. My insides turn to electric cotton candy, expanding by the second, filling me and then the room, and then God knows where.

All this from talking to some bald Canuck? Don’t be a moron, man.

What do you think of when you’re thinking of Devin Townsend? Perhaps he’s the skullet-wearing maniac, Strapping Young Lad’s barely-civilised shrieker. Perhaps he’s the forlorn wanderer, passing barefoot through Terria’s fog-capped forests.

Perhaps you remember him on stage rocking a purple suit or a giant novelty cowboy hat, swinging hips like Ziltoid himself.

Perhaps he’s a bald pile of effects pedals. Perhaps he’s a man, as he is, bewildered and living in a world we call home.

Dev’s been dubbed a “genius”, a “virtuoso”, a “creative mastermind” and each album he records is hailed as a technical

16

achievement, a great leap forward for artists and music producers alike. Over almost two decades he’s released 22 albums of music that he mostly penned himself. He mastered metal long ago with Strapping Young Lad and has dabbled in pop, prog, electronic, ambient and even country & western music with Ocean Machine, Infinity, Casualties of Cool, Punky Bruster and The Devin Townsend Project. He’s even found time for dalliances with other luminaries such as Dutch opera-metal and rock producer Arjen Lucassen.

“Well, it’s just a contribution to a certain period,” Townsend begins, casually brushing off his expansive oeuvre. “Everything is definitive in its own ways but also nothing really is.”

With that, we also remember Townsend’s work behind the desk, an extensive catalogue in its own right. Working with Lamb of God, Darkest Hour, Misery Signals, Soilwork, Gwar and Bleeding Through, just to name a few.

Perhaps not for master shredder Steve Vai, we wouldn’t even be talking right now. Vai hired Townsend as a vocalist for his 1993 record Sex and Religion and has extolled his talents ever since. In

cover story

B LA ST O F F

‘Watch Ziltoid Episode 1’ @YouTube

an October 2009 interview with Metal As F*ck, Vai said, “I can count on one crippled hand people I think that are truly genius in this business and I genuinely count Devin as one of them.”

‘Genius’ is well worn these days, like a Maiden t-shirt bought during the summer of ’82. While metal’s largely stuck rehashing its most popular trends for all eternity, true genius is the genre’s rarest element. Townsend’s output can’t be compared to metal’s past, nor to metal’s too-familiar present. He has blazed new trails as a songwriter, a vocalist, a producer and as a guitarist.

Yet Townsend doesn’t feel like he’s labouring vainly to keep his ‘virtuoso’ status. His creative process seems so prosaic it’s almost unbelievable.

“There is a certain amount of focus that has to go into it technically,” Townsend says. “I mean, in terms of the creative aspect, I don’t remember writing anything. You know?”

We couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“I put on a movie and just have people hang out,” he continues.

“Sometimes it’s friends. Maybe it’s the fact that I have been doing it for so many years, or something, but I think that my best work happens when I don’t focus on it. It’s just an auto-pilot thing.”

This seems like a stab in the back to artists, besieged by that perfect lick, phrase or image. Townsend’s way isn’t a panacea for those who feel chronically inadequate. It’s not like that at all.

“Of course there are moments where all of a sudden you stop talking and turn off the TV and you really dig into it, but it’s

“You want to be successful in your field, you want to actualise all these creative thoughts, but you know, on some level, I’m afraid of it. I’m afraid of succeeding. – I sabotage it in lots of subtle ways.” always kind of unconscious. I think that’s how I’ve been for many years. There’s not a lot of romance or smoke and mirrors about it – I just do it, and I don’t think about it,” he says, admitting that his natural flow has yielded results in a still uncertain past.

“That’s why there’s a lot of my stuff that I have done that even I think is questionable, but it was an accurate representation of where I was at so I did it. Then you move on.”

It’s perhaps the best insight yet into how he remains so prolific in his output.

“I’ve got friends who can’t finish their records because they are afraid that it’s not perfect. I think just the inherent quality of doing this, it is completely imperfect. If you get hung up on it, I think that’s where you can go astray.”

Good is the enemy of best. That is the insurmountable peak to be conquered. Fans will say Townsend already stands at the summit but, by his own admission, there are many more sharp hills to climb. A first for Dev, he sat in session with a hypnotherapist prior to recording recent double album Sky Blue and Ziltoid, The Omniscient follow-up Z2. Afterwards, his world pulled apart beneath him.

“It wasn’t, uh, a dramatic life thing,” he says, playing it all down. “It just allowed me to open up and interact with something that’s been there forever. The whole duality for me is this – of course you’re going to go back and forth between styles. I want to hide from people but I want to be in the band.”

17

cover story

In our bodies lie multitudes and Townsend’s is no different.

His brash onstage persona belies urges to drop his axe and go play outside. Parts of him break to weep at night. There are deafening calls to pack it in, head home and never return.

“Part of that duality is you’re afraid of the things that you want,” he says. “You want to be successful in your field, you want

“Everybody’s an artist. It’s much less about a big dick-swinging contest between who is better and more about how willing are you are to analyse your nature and to be true with yourself.”

18

to actualise all these creative thoughts, but you know, on some level, I’m afraid of it. I’m afraid of succeeding. – I sabotage it in lots of subtle ways. That duality absolutely is something that I felt like I needed to confront. I’d be surprised if all of us don’t need to confront that on some level. I think some people just do it differently, right?”

The gulf between potential and its realisation is deeper and wider that any artist can rationally navigate. Sometimes you just have to say “f*ck it” and jump... and that takes balls of Goddamned steel.

“You could be [terrible] or that you’ll think you’ll be awesome.

Then you’ll have to take the ramifications of being the guy who’s awesome,” Townsend continues. “I saw a documentary on Woody Allen last night and whatever people think of him, even whatever I think of him, he said one thing that was really interesting – sometimes you hit the mark and sometimes you don’t but you can’t let the successes scare you away from experimenting with things that have the potential of not being as good. It’s really about an intellectual and artistic sort of purge of this compulsion.

“The beauty is much more than a need to be perfect, or a need to impress, or a need for validation. I mean all that sort of hits you in so many ways. Even though it’s embarrassing to do something that people don’t like or to do something that people will be critical of, I think as long as you can still look them in the face and say, ‘Whatever you think of this, it’s what I meant to do.’”

Throughout his years of inhuman productivity, Townsend knows there are times when he didn’t hit the mark. Yet, each record represents a conscious force, repelling the vicious armies

cover story of self-sabotage – the fear of failure; the fear of success; the fear of ridicule.

“There are other periods but ultimately they can’t prevent you from being an artist. I mean that’s just unhealthy,” Townsend says sincerely.

The October just passed, Townsend hosted a series of guitar clinics all over Australia. They sold out, natch, yet he still doesn’t seem to know why Australia makes such a fuss.

“I was under the impression it was going to be a guitar clinic,” he says. “Like you had all the Paul Gilberts and Joe Satrianis, all these rippin’ guitar players. I got a handful of licks but it’s not my thing. I was really intimidated – well, not intimidated. Just despondent about it. I’m gonna go down there and people are gonna expect me to start pulling out these licks. I hate that shit. It’s not that I don’t respect it, but man – I never do that. So it ended up being me talking and playing what I wanted to play, what I like to play on the guitar.

It really hammered home that there’s no reason to try and be anything other than I am.”

Townsend says this with quiet reserve. Perhaps in his view, there are billions of reasons to be someone else.

What separated him as a guitar player, as a performer, from the Yngwie Malmsteens and Paul Gilberts of the world is simplicity. Wearing loose T-shirt and shorts, Townsend shuffled up on stage, all gangly and geeky and gently frying in Australia’s springtime sun. He started playing. That was it.

His guitar clinic was clinical, more so to himself than anyone who witnessed it. It caged a monstrous self-judgement from knocking him back on his ass.

“God man, you just... you know, you hate being such a mouth piece,” he says as though he’s once again in the therapist’s chair. “You’re putting yourself in a scenario with this guitar clinic where you’re coming across the world, and all you’re doing is the thing that you are embarrassed to do with this guitar. You’re like thinking whether or not other people think of you as being a narcissist. Do they think you’re full of shit or high on yourself for thinking that it’s worth people’s time to come there and see you? By the end of it you’ve realised you have to submit to it.”

Townsend doesn’t use the singular personal pronoun much. It has a dissociative effect, putting distance between all those self-limiting beliefs and his conscious mind. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why he smoked pot so bad until kicking the habit in 2006. When those poisonous thoughts flooded back in, he wasn’t able to write for an entire year.

“Ultimately this isn’t for everybody,” he says with reluctance. “I don’t go into this thinking my goal is to help fans by speaking to them or any bullshit like that. My thought is more like, ‘Well, I’m f*cked. I’m lost. I’m a mess but this is where I’m at. This is how I do what I do,’ and there are people who have some sort of emotional investment in that.”

Whether he’s risen above the murk of self-doubt is still an unknown, even to himself. Just like one of Zeno’s paradoxes, Townsend sees himself as just one of seven billion humans running towards perfection that’s always two or three – or ten – steps away. He himself isn’t quite sure.

“Maybe I’ve overcome it and I get a cape now or something,” he says, chuckling. “Maybe I’m just like totally f*cking beat and I’m now like ‘F*ck it, I might as well go say what I want to say.’ What I was partially able to get across with those clinics was this: music is about a connection to your condition.

“You don’t have to be high on acid to recognise that everything is connected. It is. Music is a by-product of all of the shit that goes into [creating] this – fears and weaknesses and strengths and mistakes. All that shit.”

Townsend’s leitmotif is connection to the universal. We all have our fears and weaknesses, strengths and mistakes.

We’re all just lissom consciousness, recombinant stardust. When he can’t believe he’s just an ordinary guy, it’s not a condemnation of his considerable ability. It’s a statement of triumph.

He, like all of us, wasn’t sick the day the teacher told us how to live prosperously and happily. We’re all just figuring this shit out. It’s why he’s driven to create, even if it means endlessly battling his inner demons. Music is the universe where his soul flies free.

“Everybody’s an artist,” he declares. “It’s much less about a big dickswinging contest between who is better and more about how willing are you are to analyse your nature and to be true with yourself. I’m nowhere near where I need to be but I’m pointed in a direction that I have a perspective on.”

And as the battle rages on and the albums tumble out, Townsend really only hopes for one thing – that you’re enjoying what you hear. H

THE DEFINITIVE DEVY Words: Tom Valcanis

If you’ve heard nothing but awed gushing about Devin Townsend’s massive body of work, it’s insanely difficult finding a point of entry. From hyper-aggressive metal to ambient down-tempo pop and back again, Dev’s got something for not just every metalhead but every music fan.

Here are the essentials: Strapping Young Lad – City (1997) Considered one of the best metal albums ever released not only by us at HEAVY but also by UK metal bibles Revolver and Terrorizer, City is the unvarnished, mechanised and manic Devin, set upon by desires to make everything heavier than everything else. Every thwack of the drum seems to explode; hounding riffs threaten to blow your speakers up; Dev’s hair-raising screams echo between your ears for days.

It’s a lesson in elasticity – Dev bludgeons as well as he sutures.

Devin Townsend/Ocean Machine – Biomech (1997) Recorded in his home studio, Ocean Machine was Townsend’s first experiment with clean tone, auditorium-sized choirs and airy ambience.

Separate from Strapping Young Lad, this groovy, Lord Tennyson-quoting sonic opera touched on his feelings of isolation, depression and a fear that he may never find home.

Buried under it all, there is genuine hope.

Devin Townsend – Terria (2003) One doesn’t listen to Terria so much as one experiences it. Terria is Townsend’s embrace of Mother Earth, a concept album/lovesong to his home country, representing the beginning of his climb up and out of the belly of the whale. Songs like ‘Deep Peace’ feel like he’s speaking directly to the listener and Terria is a perfect synthesis of lulled guitar, stream-of-consciousness picking and fiery vocals.

If you find it on vinyl, don’t let go of it.

Devin Townsend – Ziltoid, The Omniscient (2007) Townsend made metal fun again with Ziltoid, The Omniscient. Another selfpenned concept, this time centred on the villainous fourth-dimensional alien Ziltoid. The plot? Ziltoid is holding the good citizens of Earth to ransom unless he’s brought the world’s finest cup of coffee. Can Captain Spectacular save us? (No, really.) Don’t be afraid; it’s not all ‘50s Z-grade schlock ‘n’ swinging licks. Instead, the listener is transported to a colourful cartoon world of daring, heroism and self-examination. It’s all lovingly rendered by pastiches of Townsend’s works to date, while growing and adding as only Devin does.

Devin Townsend Project – Deconstruction (2011) Calling in favours from Ihsahn (Emperor), Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and the late, great Oderus Urungus (GWAR), Deconstruction is – you guessed it – another concept record. Through music, the listener joins one man’s odyssey to find the true nature of reality. To venture any further would be to spoil it. Deconstruction is both sides of a very metal coin – comic and serious; crushing and clean. It’s a big listen and Townsend’s esoteric, heavy jams clock in at nine, 11 and 16 minutes respectively. In Devy’s own inimitable style, Deconstruction is an unlaundered representation of Townsend as man, facing his fears with the simple act of committing guitar to tape.

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Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Century Media

STANDING A THE GATES AT OF IMMORTALITY

Sweden’s At The Gates are back with new studio material and it only took 19 years.

Founder and long-time vocalist of the band that practically invented the infamous Gothenburg sound chats with Nathan Eden.

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hen At The Gates released the predecessor to this year’s At War With Reality, the metal world was a considerably different place. Slaughter of the Soul dropped way back in 1995 to widespread critical acclaim and today sits alongside Meshuggah’s Destroy Erase Improve, and Fear Factory’s Demanufacture as game-changing records to come out that year.

So much has changed since then. Entire scenes have come and gone, taking with them thousands of bands who have been unable to keep their heads above a fickle tide but, in a testament to At The Gates’ tremendous influence, the vast majority of bands that remain fit snugly under the blankets of melodeath and metalcore, subgenres widely considered to be offshoots of the ATG legacy.

Vocalist Tomas Lindberg shrinks away from claiming too much influence over the latest wave of melodic metal.

“Maybe we were just one small part of that,” he says. “There are a lot of different genres and that one didn’t exist back then. I think we are pretty far away from that really.”

Lindberg is right that Slaughter of the Soul doesn’t sounds

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anything like metalcore. It is free of the repetitive, monotonous breakdowns and blatant riff-stealing that plague the current scene and has one foot firmly planted in thrash; however the argument remains that the album simplified the approach to songwriting and opened the door for bands to seek more accessible styles that critics have subsequently derided as the ‘dumbing down’ of metal.

This all makes ATG’s decision return with new material not only very, very interesting but also fraught with challenges. Surely it’s impossible to just pick up where they left off after all this time, right? Right?

Released in late October this year, At War With Reality has been received with arms wide open by the greater metal community, validating the band’s decision to “never say never” after years of reformation teasing. Lindberg has had almost two months to soak up the praise for the new record and to perhaps take a few deep breaths in relief. He credits a band made up of more tolerant members with enabling this latest victory.

“We are all grown-ups now,” he laughs. “As a band, we are able to take time for reflection. We seem to have a little more respect

At War With Reality

by At The Gates Words: Jeremy Vane-Tempest

“We wanted to prove our relevance and be ambitious with the new record. We played the songs that we wanted to hear... The new album is still brutal but we are more in control” for each other, especially when writing; just listening to each other,” he explains, adding, “It felt awesome to release the new album. It feels even better and more right now that we are playing it live. So far, we have played about half of the songs from the new record live and the reaction is rewarding, very rewarding.”

At War With Reality is not necessarily a concept album but it does follow a theme of magic realism to provide cohesion. “It’s more of a philosophical concept album as opposed to a story like a King Diamond album,” Lindberg explains. Having a narrow focus helped the band to write songs that gel into an album.

“We wanted to prove our relevance and be ambitious with the new record,” Lindberg clarifies. “We played the songs that we wanted to hear but I felt that a bigger concept would bring things together. It helps prove the point.”

Vocally, Lindberg’s delivery on At War With Reality seems clearer, his diction more audible without losing his trademark gruff. Could this be an attempt to draw more attention to the band’s lyrics? Lindberg says no, insisting that, unlike the decision to create an album with a definite path, this was not a conscious decision.

Rather, it is a reflection of the mentality of the band in 2014.

“I put that down to maturity. The new album is still brutal but

Is At War With Reality better than Slaughter of the Soul? To me, the answer is an emphatic yes but few seem willing to admit it. Unfortunately, At War With Reality suffers from the same problem that Machine Head’s Unto The Locust did: its predecessor was a genuine game changer and everyone was still too busy fawning over it several years later to notice that they’d upped the bar again.

While there’s no career-defining track like ‘Blinded By Fear’, the complete package is a far more potent, focused and deadly beast than its raw, untempered sibling. ‘Order From Chaos’ is the most experimental song they’ve ever written, ‘The Circular Ruins’ is a head-banging classic and Tomas Lindberg’s trademark squawk never sounded so vital. Spinal damage guaranteed within four listens or your money back.

OP EN T H E G AT E S

‘At War With Reality’ @YouTube

we are more in control, and the vocals are part of that,” he says, adding that elements of writing lyrics and creating themes mirror his life outside music, where he works as a schoolteacher. “I have a great interest in exploring ideas and knowing more. That is often reflected in the lyrics.”

Perhaps central to the band’s mature outlook is that they no longer feel they need to prove their relevance.

“Ultimately, we created this music for ourselves, really.

Without the fans though, we are nothing; we wouldn’t be here. If they didn’t like it, we’d be okay with it anyway but it is a huge plus that it has been so well-received.”

With their decision to record a new album validated after such a long absence, what does the future hold for At The Gates?

Lindberg responds as though he is revelling in the current situation. “We have a lot of shows planned and lots of them are sold out already,” he beams. “It’s amazing. We are reaping the rewards of this past year’s harvest.”

Does this mean there will be more At The Gates albums?

“I don’t want to make any promises or commitments either way... but I don’t want to commit to not doing another album either,” Lindberg laughs. H

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TA P IN TO T H E R AG E

‘Pandemonium’ @YouTube

Words: David Griffiths Photo Courtesy of Napalm Records

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY

If there is anyone who could be forgiven for having a rockstar attitude, it would be Max Cavalera, the man behind legendary bands Sepultura, Nailbomb, Soulfly, Killer Be Killed and Cavalera Conspiracy. Yet Max remains focused and clearly fixed on one goal – to keep the metal coming.

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here is no way you can be into heavy music and not know the name Max Cavalera. Most of us would have grown up listening to Sepultura and Soulfly and, in a way, Max Cavalera has almost become a spiritual leader to a legion of fans who await his albums with feverish anticipation. The good news for them is that Max and his brother Igor have returned with Pandemonium, the latest Cavalera Conspiracy record that Max himself dubs the band’s most brutal to date.

It’s easy to hear that Cavalera is extremely content with just how heavy the sounds on Pandemonium are.

“We went for a more brutal approach,” he declares. “Igor and I started playing really fast metal when we were kids and we always liked playing fast more. Some of my favourite stuff was the really fast stuff with Sepultura so I wanted to take a trip back to the days of two brothers playing fast but with the feel of all the great metal that we listen to now.”

Cavalera is confident he’s achieved exactly that.

“The album has a state of mind, an attitude, that really is pandemonium, that shows we are confident to make a fast album today,” he says. “A lot of bands slow down when they get older but we decided to do the opposite and go faster. And I’m really proud of Pandemonium because I think we got a really great sound on the album – very ugly, very dirty. To me, it’s my favourite Cavalera album.”

As expected, the record is heavily influenced by some of the bands Cavalera has been listening to lately.

“I would just go home and write riffs each time, and I was writing a lot of faster, heavier riffs because I was listening to a lot of grindcore – a lot of Lock Up, Pig Destroyer – and that influence comes out on Pandemonium.”

Cavalera admits that producing the record himself gave him great autonomy and the ability to steer the ship without distraction.

“I had a vision for the album and I just stuck to that vision and didn’t let things distract me. I was the producer of the album so I made sure

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MUM, I WANT TO BE A METAL GOD Words: Dave Griffiths

You have big dreams of metal stardom and all your friends think you have what it takes but there’s still one person you have to get past – your Mum. Well, Max Cavalera has been there and done that already and he’s here to hand out the advice.

“My mother in the beginning resisted a little bit, tried to keep us from this music,” Cavalera admits.

[Mine too! – Ed.] “She didn’t want us to see KISS when they toured in Brazil; she forbid us to go, which was a drag. Little by little though she knew we loved this music and there was nothing she could do about it – this was a battle she wasn’t going to win.

In the end, our house became a heavy metal headquarters with twenty people staying over at a time [laughs].” Metal 1, mum 0.

that Igor stayed fast and I made sure that the album stayed fast. We got what we set out to achieve and I’m proud of that.”

There’s a real sense of brotherhood coming out during our discussion and I ask him what was it like in the Cavalera household with two budding metal stars as kids.

“We started listening to classics like Queen, KISS and then we moved onto Black Sabbath, Rush, Motörhead and then we discovered thrash and death metal – that’s when everything went hardcore; that’s when everything changed for us. We discovered bands like Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Hellhammer, Discharge... that’s when our life went upside down and we decided that we wanted to play and make music.”

It’s a well-known story that the two brothers turned to metal to deal with the extreme poverty of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Cavalera confirms it.

“Igor and I started Sepultura when we were thirteen years old. It was great; we loved the power and the aggression of the music. It was something that we could really connect to,” he says, adding, “Living in Brazil at that time, we were very angry and very pissed off. We didn’t have much money so music was our life and I am glad that we discovered this heavy stuff that helped us cope with life in Brazil at that time.”

Fans of Cavalera Conspiracy can certainly look forward to the guys heading to Australia at some time during 2015 and Cavalera’s current listening habits give some early indication of who they might choose as support bands when they do tour here.

“There are some really cool people that I haven’t got to work with yet – the guys from Kreator; the guys from Celtic Frost. Then there’s Psycroptic from Tasmania and King Parrot from Australia. I just heard those guys the other day,” Cavalera says of King Parrot, “and they are great. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.”

Until that day arrives, the band’s many Aussie fans can enjoy the sweet sounds of Pandemonium while dreaming of a day when perhaps the king himself shares a studio with some Down Under talent. H

TA K E T H E P L UNGE

‘Vectors’ @YouTube

Words Will Oakeshott Photos Kane Hibberd

AVERSIONS CROWN Words Nathan Eden Photos Courtesy of Nuclear Blast

Vocalist Colin Jeffs from Aussie deathcore artists Aversions Crown, talks to Nathan Eden about the band’s second album, playing with three guitarists and writing at least one song that isn’t about aliens.

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elf-described “Austr-alien” deathcore merchants Aversions Crown have, just last month, knocked out their second full-length release Tyrant, following on from 2011 debut Servitude. The new album sees them maintain their mix of extreme sensibilities and technicallytinged, blast-beat madness, all tied together with what is fast becoming their own trademark science-fiction feel. In fact, if anything, the band has upped those sci-fi themes and accompanying atmospheric touches throughout the latest release.

The album contains two singles that were re-recorded following their release back in 2013. These are the thrilling ‘Overseer’ and the alieninvasion nightmare of ‘Hollow Planet’, which has a suitably fantastic video. As the band’s vocalist Colin Jeffs explains, those singles served as something of a bridge between their debut and the recently-released follow-up, which took a bit longer to arrive than the band first hoped.

“With Tyrant, it took a lot of work to get it out,” Jeffs begins. “It was a rewarding process, especially now that we managed to do it, but the recording process just took a lot longer than we thought it would at first.”

The album opener ‘Hollow Planet’ is a deliberate effort to push melody to the front of the mix, which might be interpreted as a strategy that carries throughout the rest of the album; however, Jeffs insists that the added melodic influence wasn’t deliberate at all but rather just a result of revisiting earlier work and interpreting it in a different way.

“We first recorded those songs two years ago. We just saw them in a different way this time,” he explains.

Jeffs is well-spoken, considered and articulate. It’s almost difficult to imagine him as the same dude who barks those ever-so-low death growls and throat-shredding screams. He says that, in terms of his own influences, the vocalist who most makes him want to spew aggression into a mic is Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder.

“I’ve always based what I want to do with vocals on The Black Dahlia Murder; that’s what I’m aiming for,” Jeffs asserts. “The other songwriters in the band might be inspired by newer stuff like Whitechapel but, then again, I know in terms of drumming, Jayden really loves bands like Behemoth and Nile. Our influences are across the board.”

Aversions Crown now employ the services of three guitarists. I ask if this is a help or hindrance, suggesting that it could possibly cause

confusion when trying to recreate their layered, atmospheric complexity in a live-setting. On the contrary, Jeffs assures me it is a necessity.

“The third guitar option helps throughout everything we do,” he insists. “To recreate our sound live, we need a third guitarist. Before we had one, we’d lose one side of the rhythm whenever there was a lead.

Now, there is pretty much not a moment of a song where there isn’t some sort of lead going on.”

On the new record, Jeffs sites the track ‘Avalanche’ as a personal favourite. It’s perhaps best described as Meshuggah-meets-BDM and hints at songwriting maturity not before seen from the band.

“It is a bit of a different sound for us,” he explains of ‘Avalance’. “It’s the song with the least amount of extra-terrestrial lyrical content; possibly our only song that isn’t about aliens. Musically, it’s about grooves rather than endless blast-beats [and] our friend Nick from Molotov Solution guests on it.”

Aversions Crown have recently finished an Australian tour with the United States’ Molotov Solution in support, during which the band were able to play ‘Avalanche’ live with Molotov vocalist Nick Arthur, who guests on the track.

“It was great because of the relationship we have with them,” Jeffs says of that experience. “They are an influence on us too.”

From here, Aversions Crown are off to play Europe a second time on a three-week run from late January to mid February then they’re off to the States.

“We plan to go to the States a few months after Europe during their spring. We want to do as much as we can and play to as many people as possible,” Jeffs says.

While Aversions Crown appears to be one of a growing number of Aussie heavy bands whose star is on the rise, Jeffs points out that it isn’t always easy for heavy bands to get their name out to the metalconsuming public.

“Get to a show; pick up the album,” he suggests. “It’s not easy to get our music out there, even with the internet. I just hope metal fans will share our music and support us and bands like us.” H

Read what we think of Tyrant, the brand new album from Aversions Crown. Turn to page 14

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DIG ‘ EM U P

‘Same graves’ @YouTube

Words: Will Oakeshott Photo: Neal Walters

Existential themes are a big part of Storm the Sky’s latest album Permanence.

Permanence Co-vocalist Will Jarrat talks to Will Oakeshott about how different problems often lead to common conclusions.

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he subject of existentialism is one riddled with uncertainties and confusion, and a topic that philosophers have discussed, interpreted and researched since the dawn of humanity. For those who are unacquainted with the subject, it is basically the study of existence.

Common questions include “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose in this life?”

Will Jarrat, co-vocalist for Melbourne-based melodic metalcore outfit Storm The Sky drew subconsciously on the topic when crafting what would be the sextet’s debut album Permanence.

“I’m a horribly logical person. I would not call myself an existentialist by any means but it is an inner realisation that guided me to the subject,” Jarrat explains. “It started with typical questions like ‘What is the point of me being here?’”

Jarrat admits that existentialism can be angst-ridden but it’s different to the usual frustrations of youth: “It’s not the depressive anguish feeling you get as a teen in high school but more along the lines of ‘How can I be a more permanent part of my peer group, family and loved ones?’”

Over time, the answer revealed itself.

“I realised in the end that it doesn’t actually matter,” he explains.

“We are all human and we should work together as one instead of individually to create permanence in a sense.”

It’s intense subject matter for a man just entering his twenties, but, as the softly-spoken Jarrat continues, it is his experience and advice that has helped him discover his conclusions.

“It came from me overcoming the shitty urges of feeling pointless and feeling that there is no reason for me to be pushing myself so hard in a devil-worship band,” Jarrat laughs. “All my older peers told me that I am wasting my time with that idea; I think getting over that made such a big impact on my strength and character and, in turn, I noticed everyone around me started catching onto my discovered happiness.

“If you jump onto the bandwagon of positivity, it really helps out

people around you as well as yourself.”

It’s a philosophy that encourages people to help each other not for themselves but for the betterment of the group.

“Understanding your own insignificance and accepting it is the main way of achieving that and realising, ‘I don’t matter at all but everybody does; I’m going to help everyone and I feel better.’”

So how did this translate into the songs that make up Permanence?

“To be honest, I was feeling that way the whole time I was writing it,” Jarrat admits, “but I never set out to write about it deliberately. It naturally became the main topic of the album so it came out accidentally.

Each song discusses an individual problem that I was facing at the time, all are separate of each other but they all lead to the same conclusion about permanence. So it was ten songs about ten problems that came to the same conclusion almost inadvertently.”

January 16, 2015 will see the worldwide release of Storm the Sky’s debut album Permanence through monster indie label UNFD and Rise Records abroad, a signing that has delighted the band and one that holds the potential for quick ascension.

“UNFD is going to take over the world,” Jarrat says decisively. “They keep building and creating partnerships worldwide that are boosting them immeasurably. We had been in talks with Luke (Logemann, A&R for UNFD) about releasing the album then when it came to that time, they just told us what they planned to do with the record and the distribution through Rise Records.”

The first showcasing of the album will be a tour with experimental post-hardcore favourites Chiodos straight after the already sold-out UNIFY festival early next year.

“We are all really happy with everything so far and it was the best decision we have made,” Jarrat says of the signing. “We cannot wait for the UNIFY festival; it’s going to be so amazing!”. H

Permanence

by Storm The Sky Words: Will Oakeshott

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The world of melodic metalcore is sort of like a game of chess. There are the main dominant players, the helpful senior subordinates and then an abundance of minimalistic minions (pawns) who occasionally make a defining move.

If this writer had to liken Melbourne’s Storm The Sky (STS) to any piece on the board, it would be the knight, versatile, strategic and differential but with not quite the stature of a bishop or the power of a rook. STS are offering a clever combination of heavy metalcore and pop-rock melody on their debut album Permanence, arguably the best in Australia. Highlights include the Emarosa-inspired progressive ballad in ‘If I Go’ and the breakdowndominated ‘Oh Sister’, which sounds a lot like In Hearts Wake and even features IHW vocalist Jake Taylor. In essence however, STS are a younger brother of We Came As Romans and promise big things.

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT Z² · OUT NOW check out special offers and rare collector‘s items at www.INSIDEOUTSHOP.de

Z² is a massive double-album battle between the textured lushness of DTP‘s ‚Sky Blue‘ and the orchestral bombast of the Ziltoidian ‚Dark Matters‘.

Available as: DELUXE 3CD DIGIPAK with special artwork in embossed silver-foil slipcase, CD and DIGITAL ALBUM

AT WAR WITH REALITY OUT NOW! The masters of Swedish Melodic Death Metal have returned with their highly anticipated follow up to 1995’s ‘Slaughter Of The Soul’!

“The greatest Swedish Death Metal band ever reclaims their rightful throne.”

– Decibel Magazine Available as: CD (20 pages booklet) · LTD. MEDIABOOK CD (40 pages booklet, 2 bonus tracks & patch) · GATEFOLD 180GR LP (20 pages booklet & poster) · DIGITAL ALBUM

SANCTUARY CLOUDKICKER

The Year The Sun Died OUT NOW The US metal legend feat. vocalist Warrel Dane (ex-Nevermore) returns!

Dark and diverse metal mastery.

Available as: LTD. EDITION MEDIABOOK CD (incl. Bonus track) · CD · LP · DIGITAL ALBUM

check out special offers and rare collector‘s items at www.CMDISTRO.com

Live With Intronaut OUT NOW An historic event!

Prog’s most enigmatic artist emerges for one tour only.

With post-prog /metal INTRONAUT as his backing band, CLOUDKICKER’s music is brought to a raw studio-live setting for the first time!

Available as: LTD. EDITION CD DIGIPAK DIGITAL ALBUM

www.CENTURYMEDIA.com

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C ATC H S O ME R AY S

‘Northern Lights’ @YouTube

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DZ DEATHRAYS: Words: Matt Doria Photos: Tom Oldman

UNCLASSIFIABLE

Brisbane party thrashers DZ Deathrays are in it to win it, and they definitely don’t f*ck around. Drummer Simon Ridley reveals to Matt Doria how the two-piece made their ARIA-winning masterpiece Black Rat and where they go from here.

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our years on the scene and with two killer full-lengths under their belts, Brisbane party-thrash duo DZ Deathrays are quickly climbing their way to the top of the food chain, chewing mercilessly through their competitors left, right, and centre. The ludicrously aggressive two-piece just bagged their second ARIA win for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album, edging out The Amity Affliction, Shihad, Sleepmakeswaves and High Tension.

In all honesty, the ARIAs (Australian Recording Industry Association Awards) have never had a significant impact on the heavy music community. In fact, metal has been downright ignored until recently. It’s a densely-commercialised affair by mainstream snails for mainstream slugs. It makes DZ Deathrays’ win an even more impressive feat – they’re now holding official certification that the head honchos of the music industry consider their record the very best within its respective genre.

The ARIAs took a hit this year with papers reporting that artists weren’t interested anymore. Sia, the biggest award-winner on the night with four, didn’t even show up to watch Chet Faker out-hipster everyone with his pet beard but DZ Deathrays have taken their accomplishment with high regards.

“It feels surreal,” drummer Simon Ridley begins. “We never thought we’d win [an ARIA] in the first place and now we have two. I guess it’s pretty wild.”

The album that won it for DZ Deathrays is Black Rat, the band’s sophomore release, which dropped in May and generated a storm of praise. A messy, sweaty compilation of all-out passion, Black Rat has been a champion release for the pair, catapulting their signature underground sound to an entirely new dimension.

If you were to disagree with the album’s ‘metal’ classification, you wouldn’t be alone. Though it’s not without its shreds and some amicably growly vocals, there’s nothing about Black Rat that screams ‘brutal’.

Ridley agrees, sharing his confusion with the ARIAs’ categorisation: “It’s weird because I’ve never thought we were that much of a ‘heavy’ band.”

Exactly where DZ Deathrays stand on the genre scale is inconspicuous; they have the energy and anarchy of a hardcore thrash band but their heaviness is contrasted by the dancey atmosphere and liveliness of old school garage punk. Rather than f*ck around with labels and trademarks, Ridley prefers to play things plain and simple. “I just say that we’re a rock band; it’s easier to explain to people,” he says.

“The term itself is very open-ended and broad.”

The formula is a simple, yet effective one: jump into the studio and smash out whatever feels right. When you’re not trying to squeeze yourselves into a mold, your end product comes out sounding a lot more natural and authentic.

“This isn’t like ten years ago, when everyone had their own niche, and everyone was trying to start their own wave of music,” Ridley declares.

Eager and intense with a summery vibe, Black Rat is what happens when DZ Deathrays catch up with iconic producer Burke Reid, smash back some brews and jam out some tunes. Recorded in the former house of an INXS member over a period of two weeks, the record is an amalgamation of all that is filthy, sweet and beautiful about punk rock.

“We drank a lot of beers, worked on songs all day and went swimming every night. It was awesome,” Ridley says of the Black Rat recording Words: Matt Doria sessions.

“It’s usually just Shane, myself, and a little 8-track recorder. We look for a good riff, or something we can work around and then we try to put that into a basic song structure,” Ridley explains of their creative process. “That’s where Burke came in. Because these songs weren’t fully formed, he was able to impact them and he knew where to push them.”

With DZ Deathrays a duo Have you ever listened to an album so intense, so fierce and fervent that operation, a major concern is how you felt like you needed to take a they’re able to create a full, enriched shower afterwards? If your answer is sound. Disregarding the stigma no, familiarise yourself with Brisbane helped the band push out an album dance punk duo DZ Deathrays and prepare for that to change. Black with more depth and density than Rat is DZ’s second studio album and otherwise possible. it’s an all-out assault of the senses.

“On this record, we decided not Authentically capturing the rough, to worry about the extra limitations sweaty essence of the DZ Deathrays live experience, Black Rat is a raw, that come with being a two-piece,” stripped-back punk rock beast. Though he states. “We threw in a lot of extra it’s a minimalistic and personal guitar lines whenever we felt like we sounding record, the two-piece have needed them.” thrown some extra riffs into the mix for a more aggressive, cinematic sound.

When they’re not in the studio There’s a distinct summery vibe here thrashing away or accepting awards – the record is jam packed from start on behalf of those thrashes, DZ to finish with skate-park theme songs Deathrays are on the road, exploring and road-trip anthems; all that’s missing is a thick rimmed pair of servo the world with their instruments close sunnies and a Frozen Coke. by. Amongst a flurry of shows Down Under, 2014 saw the duo make their way to Europe and the UK for the band’s second appearance on the Reading & Leads Festival.

“The first time we were on one of the smaller stages and this time we opened up the BBC1 tent, which was the second biggest stage there,” Ridley says as he graciously reflects on the trip.

With a steady rise in notoriety comes a steady rise in self-progression.

“It means that we have to keep pushing ourselves a bit harder each time,” Ridley says. “That’s a good thing. There’s nothing worse than being in a band and feeling like you’re stagnating.”

Looking to the future, it seems fans might see a follow-up to Black Rat sooner than expected. “Mainly, we’ll be writing for our next record,” Ridley says of the duo’s plans for 2015. “We’re hoping to get that out before 2015.”

Well, we look forward to seeing the duo on stage at the 2016 ARIA Awards to accept their third win for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album! H

Black Rat

by DZ Deathrays

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Words: Callum Doig Photo: Courtesy of Nuclear Blast

NOT SO DORMANT

One might think Syloisis is a band unhurried, given it took them nine months to release their latest album but, as frontman Josh Middleton tells Callum Doig, the race to the top of the metal heap is a marathon of persistence, not a sprint.

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ritish band Sylosis have been an autonomous entity of thrash, death and progression in the world of metal since the early 2000s. With three albums on the shelves and a fourth due in January, frontman and founder Josh Middleton is feeling very pleased with the band’s progress.

“I think it’s definitely our best album to date,” he says of Dormant Heart. “We began recording it back in March this year so it’s been a long wait, a long build-up to get it out there and I can’t wait to get it released.”

March is some nine months back, and while Metallica infamously took nine months and $1m to record their eponymous record, Middleton says the band consciously broke the sessions up to keep sane.

“With Sylosis, everything usually ends up taking longer than we’d like it to,” he laughs. “We started tracking drums back in March earlier this year and then we went on tour for a bit, then recorded guitars, then we did some festivals and then we did vocals. Really, it was all like a few different bits in the studio broken up by some touring.”

In fact, Sylosis are so conscious of their penchant for drawing out the recording process that they took steps to ensure fans didn’t feel they were waiting too long.

“We didn’t actually announce that we had written an album when we began recording it because we always end up running into delays,” Middleton says, “and when it gets delayed, people get excited and then that excitement wears off so we kept it a secret until just a few months ago.”

Furthering the surprise, Dormant Heart is Sylosis’ final album with long-time drummer Rob Callard, who left in June after almost a decade with the band. Callard’s replacement, Ali Richardson, progressed quickly from fill-

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in tour drummer to fully fledged member of the band and Middleton couldn’t be happier.

“Ali only joined a couple of months ago,” Middleton says.

“We recorded with Rob back in March then went on tour with Ali in April. Ali is still very much the new guy but we already know that it works – I can’t wait to do the next record with him; he’s an insane drummer.”

Dormant Heart sees the band continue its exploration of diverse and interesting approaches. Middleton assures fans that the record is still crushing and hints at the emergence of a metal subgenre that might surprise a few fans.

“I guess it’s just a bit more variation. In the past, it’s been really centred around the thrash stuff and a lot of the songs were really fast. On the whole, it’s really heavy still – one of our heaviest – but, we wanted to focus on mixing it up a bit and bringing in doomier elements.”

Wait, did he just say doomier? Explain yourself, Middleton.

“We’ve got a new single called ‘Leech’, which is a bit different, very dark and, yeah, doomy. It was cool to do something stripped back and less technical but it doesn’t exactly represent where we’re heading in the future,” Middleton says [...and fans everywhere let out a collective breath – Ed.] Could the experimentation with slower music be a sign of maturity within the band? “When you’re a teenager, you’ve got all of this angst and then, when you’re starting to pay attention to the world outside of your little bubble, you start to get a bit more jaded – it’s a different type of anger and the record is inspired by that kind of stuff.”

A new album means another new tour of course. Can Australian fans expect to see the British thrash quartet back

D O O M IT U P

‘Leech’ @Vimeo

Grill’ Em All Words: Callum Doig In 2013, Sylosis made their Australian debut at Soundwave Festival, an experience vocalist and guitarist Josh Middleton will never forget, particularly because of the chance it afforded him to play alongside some of his idols.

“We love Australia and Soundwave is just so good; it’s so well-run and there were so many great bands,” he says of Australia’s largest metal festival. “In terms of bands, it was Metallica and Slayer I wanted to see most.”

Yet Middleton admits that the real ‘action’ took place backstage: “The night before, Metallica were having a barbecue so I got to meet James Hetfield!” he laughs.

Crazy.

“It’s definitely a lot harder for younger bands starting out just now; it’s really tough. There are so many bands competing and it’s hard to get a foot in the industry.”

here any time soon?

“Hopefully, man. You know it’s never up to the band and depends on there being an offer but we always tell our manager, ‘Please, can you get us something in Australia?’

Any opportunity to come and we’ll take it,” he says.

Sylosis have been going for over a decade and have burned through four albums, countless tours and festivals, and probably a few neck vertebrae. Alas, there are no secrets to the band’s longevity beyond good ol’ hard work and perseverance.

“It was always the aim and, hopefully without coming across arrogant, I think we were just so dedicated to do it,” Middleton says of making it this far. “We just kept doing it, persevering and concentrating on designing the best music we could. Just the fact that we haven’t given up is the reason why we’ve come all this the way – we ain’t no overnight hype.”

Middleton is well-placed to talk about how the industry has changed for aspiring bands, and he’s adamant it’s tougher now.

“When we started, it was so long ago. We were just kids and the music industry was very different; everything just seemed to be easier probably because there weren’t as many bands around,” he explains. “It’s definitely a lot harder for younger bands starting out just now; it’s really tough. There are so many bands competing and it’s hard to get a foot in the industry.”

Any advice for the kiddies?

“I think if you just knuckle down, stick with it and put the effort in, it will eventually pay off. We definitely don’t take it [longevity] for granted.”

Dormant Heart is out worldwide through Nuclear Blast on January 12. H

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“I’m the kind of person that just won’t give up, you know. I’m just completely f*ckin’ relentless – I won’t stop!”

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S H R ED IT

‘Far Beyond The Sun’ @YouTube

Words: Carl Neumann Photo: Courtesy of Nuclear Blast

There’s only one Yngwie. The man who made spandex infamous chats with Carl Neumann about the relentless drive it takes to be the greatest guitarist of them all.

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ate in 2013, everybody’s favourite neo-classical guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen released his written memoirs, entitled Relentless. In the introduction he explains the origin of what is possibly the most mispronounced name in music.

“When I was a little kid in Sweden, nobody was named Yngve (or Yngwie) or anything like that. Pronounced ‘Ing-vay’, it’s a very unusual and very old name. I used to think it would be cool if I’d been called by one of my other names – Lars or Johann – which are quite common.

That changed when I finally researched what Yngve means.

What’s in a name? Plenty, according to Malmsteen.

“I discovered that Yngve is connected to the Swedish word for ‘young man’, yngling. So I assumed that Yngve probably meant something like ‘young Viking’. I further learned that the first name of Old Norse god Frej was Yngve – Yngve-Frej – who was the god of fertility, sex, and love.”

Of course. What could be more fitting than that?! Malmsteen’s real name is Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck and the tale goes that he changed his name when he was 12, adopting and slightly altering his mother’s maiden name of Malmsten.

I’ve met Yngwie before and found him to live up to his arrogant reputation. In fact, the first time I timidly approached the demigod, he looked straight at me and asked abruptly, “Who the f*ck are you?”.

The fact that I’d snuck backstage into a restricted area at the venue (The Palace, Melbourne) had nothing to do with it at all. I politely introduced myself, shook his incredibly soft, sweaty hand and skittered out the back of the building like a dog with a stolen sausage.

In the lead up to the interview, I became unusually nervous about meeting him again. All sorts of feelings went through my mind and I even tried to get out of it by asking his management for a replacement journalist, but the Gods of Fate postulated that I must go ahead and confront the greatness that is He; the Great Yngwie.

The phone rings and a voice at the end of the line says in a strong Swedish accent, “This is Yngwie Malmsteen.” A shiver runs down my spine, cold sweat pimples my brow and a sick feeling washes over me.

What do I do? What do I say? Do I just hang up? Pull yourself together, man. You don’t hang up on Gods. You kneel!

“Holy f*ck, I wasn’t expecting you Yngwie!” The sickening feeling grows ever stronger as I realise I’ve pronounced his name ‘Ingee’!

To his credit – and my surprise – Yngwie is polite and eager to continue.

Since the death of Robin Williams, the media seems to have soaked up every opportunity to promote how life is insufferable and unbearable for so many people so it doesn’t take long for us to start discussing some of the hardships that Malmsteen has faced in his illustrious career. There’s been drug dependence, theft and family tragedy but, throughout it all, Yngwie has persevered to become the fiercely talented and well-known

musician he is today.

“That’s why I wrote my book,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about – it’s about being relentless and having enormous struggles. If you give up then that’s the end of it, and I don’t do that,” he said, laughing joyfully.

Something was wrong. This was not the Yngwie I’d come to know; there’s something calm about him now, thought I wouldn’t go so far as to call it humility. “The book depicts my whole entire life; it’s got everything in it – the personal experiences as well as the musical, and the career aspect. It definitely gives a deep insight into what I am all about.”

As we’ve been discussing Williams’ suicide, I ask if Malmsteen ever thought during those dark times of giving up and ending it all.

“No, I never did. Even at the darkest moments of my life, the worst times, I’ve always been optimistic. I always dig myself out of the hole and come out better than before,” he said, pausing for reflection. “I’ve never been near those kinds of thoughts and I feel very saddened about that approach. I would never contemplate it. No. Absolutely not.”

It’s in line with Malmsteen’s never give up attitude, which is so much more than just a part of his image.

“I’m the kind of person that just won’t give up, you know. I’m just completely f*ckin’ relentless – I won’t stop! Even as bad as something might look at that moment, it can only get better. If you hit the bottom, where can you go? You can only go back up, right?”

Of course, it begs the question, just how low has Malmsteen gone?

“Low, trust me. Very low.”

He is emphatic.

“I mean I’ve had family deaths, car accidents, all my money stolen, f*cking earthquakes... a lot of bad stuff has happened to me but I’ve never been the person to say, ‘Oh, shit, got to give up now.’ No! F*ck no!”

I hear a powerful thud that sounds a lot like his fist slamming down on something in emphasis.

“As long as I am breathing I’m going to live. You have to be like that, to be relentless!”

The great man himself is bringing his famous Fender Stratocaster back to Australia in February on a tour enticingly entitled “The very best from the king of shred – live on stage.” Fans can expect the complete arsenal of neo-classical wizardry as he shreds his way through masterpieces such as ‘Repent’, ‘Dream On’, ‘Rising Force’, ‘Arpeggios From Hell’, ‘Mr. Crowley’, ‘Far Beyond the Sun’, ‘Heaven Tonight’, ‘Black Star’, ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’, ‘Spellbound’, ‘You Don’t Remember’, ‘I’ll Never Forget’, ‘Critical Mass’ and more.

With twenty studio albums and sixteen documentaries and live videos under his horned helmet, Malmsteen has time and again proven himself to be a relentless rising force.

Yngwie Malmsteen is touring New Zealand and Australia between Feb 5 and 12, 2015. Tickets are available via the usual outlets. H

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MESHUGGAH: ALIVE AGAIN Words: Rob Brens Photos: John Raptis

Meshuggah is back with new performance DVD The Ophidian Trek. Mårten Hagström talks with Rob Brens about why a band that never released any live videos before has now released two in just a few short years.

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ega-influential metal giants Meshuggah are commemorating 25 years since the release of their first EP and, to celebrate, the band recently bestowed The Ophidian Trek upon fans. Yes, it’s the second live DVD from the band and comes just four years after Alive but guitarist Mårten Hagström says there’s a perfectly good reason.

“We felt like when we started touring for the Koloss album, we had our shit together” Hagström explains. “We had our own sound guy and all the stuff was coming out in a really nice way but this was the first time we were able to really design a stage, to really present more of a show rather than just five guys hammering away at their instruments. So we figured we should really start documenting this.”

Hagström indicates that the differences between the DVDs are significant enough that they can co-exist without crossover.

“The old DVD (Alive) was cool and all but it’s more like the grit of touring. This [The Ophidian Trek] is more of the whole experience as far as the visuals go.”

The incredible stage setup that Meshuggah are touring with these days would come as a bonus for stalwart fans who have never considered the band’s presentation integral to their attraction. In fact, the biggest part of the live Meshuggah experience has always been the breath-taking sight – and sheer audacity – of bringing these masterful compositions

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to life in a live setting.

‘Inhuman’ is probably the most-used phrase when describing Meshuggah as live performers; however, Hagström assures us they are most certainly mortal.

“It happens [mistakes], but I wouldn’t know the frequency. If you make a really big one, it sticks to your mind and you’re out to make that mistake a few more times till you get it right again – it tends to come in clusters.”

Hagström goes on to explain that the experience is akin to existing in your own bubble while performing and that the band has learnt to find ways to counter mistakes as efficiently as possible.

“Say Tomas [Haake, drums] f*cks up at a certain point, we’ve got this rule that the rest of us just keep playing. Because we all play to a click, we always stick to it. It means if you f*ck up, you don’t think about it; you just pause to get your bearings in your ears and go again. A total breakdown occurs when someone never catches up but that happens like once every five years. I guess you could say we kind of practice f*cking up,” he laughs.

The commemoration of the hallowed quarter-century milestone calls for a moment of retrospection. Meshuggah have always had a strong cult following, particularly since the release of their defining thrash/ fusion album Destroy Erase Improve, but it was their introduction of

seven and then eight-string guitars that started to really turn heads.

Hagström insists that the quest for more strings sprang from pure inspiration, not from trends occurring in metal at the time.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have the time to evolve in our own bubble, and that’s affected the way we play music. We’ve always been looking for ways to find our expression and that experimenting led to us finding the eight string guitars” he explains, then goes on to elaborate on the history of their sound. “If you look at Chaosphere, people might say ‘Okay, you discovered the eight string and released Nothing’ but there’s a few songs from Chaosphere that are also single-string riffs that could work out easily on the eight string. So we had already started moving towards that style of playing with our song ideas, not just the instruments that were suited for it.”

For Meshuggah the idea has always come first, pushing the band into new technology and not the other way around.

“Our way of coming up with ideas pointed us in the direction of what we wanted to sound like; we were modelling the tone off what we had been writing,” Hagström says.

Meshuggah’s reputation goes beyond merely just making their guitars sound lower than most, and to accuse them of such would be an unfair dismissal even if the eight-string guitar is now indelibly attached to the band’s image.

“That [eight-string] guitar produces a tone that doesn’t really fit when just down tuning a six string; it sounds different and we were

fortunate to be first with it,” Hagström explains, acknowledging that they will forever be known as the eight-string band no matter what happens. “Our guitar tech has a couple of band projects where he plays a lot on an eight-string and he says, ‘It doesn’t matter what I play; when I play on an eight-string, people think it’s Meshuggah.” H

TU N E IT DOW N

‘Dancers to a Discordant System’ @YouTube

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THE MANY STYLINGS OF AMARANTHE

Words: Karl Lean Photo: John McMurtrie

If there were ever a metal band perfect for Eurovision, it is Sweden’s Amaranthe.

Vocalist Elize Ryd took a call from Karl Lean to discuss album number three Massive Addictive.

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maranthe are on tour, travelling somewhere between New Orleans to Florida, and vocalist Elize Ryd is chatting excitedly about the band’s recent US shows with Within Temptation.

“We have been seeing a huge success from our tour with Within Temptation,” Ryd says. “For example, yesterday in New Orleans, we had a headlining show and we met people who were like ‘We saw you supporting Within Temptation in New York and we thought you were so great that we flew here just to see you again.’”

It’s a level of support that is reflected across Amaranthe’s social media pages as well, with plenty of new fans voicing their love of the band and their intention to support the tour.

“It’s great actually; I’m very happy that they have received us with open arms,” Ryd says.

The new album, Massive Addictive, is just two months old and is a noticeable advancement in the group’s sound. Ryd credits the band’s main composer and guitarist Olof Morck with kicking things up a notch.

“He wanted a more updated sound,” she explains. “He got a lot of inspiration from modern bands and he worked very hard to find that perfect sound for us.”

For her own part, Ryd has used the album as a chance to push her horizons: “Because I’m most involved in the vocal melodies, I felt that I wanted to use my voice more, play around with the melodies a bit more.”

The band’s lyrical themes are also evolving.

“We wanted it [Massive Addictive] to be more personal,” Ryd explains. “When I write lyrics they are always personal but the whole

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album is generally more like that this time. Jake wrote a song about his daughter who is newborn and Olaf has one song that he wrote completely by himself, which is very personal to him.”

Just one glance at the album’s tracklisting and the intent of the songwriting is immediately clear – none of the songs break the fourminute mark, and the album seems built for radio. Ryd confirms that this is precisely the style they were seeking “We are not the kind of band that wants to make longer songs,” she explains. “We want to write short, catchy tracks. Making songs between three and four minutes makes you want to hear them again; they don’t bore you.”

A major part of the uniqueness of the Amaranthe sound is the use of three vocalists. The clean vocals of Ryd and male vocalist Jake E are complemented by growler Henrik Englund, who makes his recording debut with the band on Massive Addictive. Amaranthe place great emphasis on positive energy and Ryd feels that Englund really brings that to the band.

“He fits perfectly; he’s a very positive person,” she says. “He laughs all the time and is so funny, and when it comes to his vocals, he’s very talented – he can change his tune and growl in different styles, which makes it very good for us when writing because we know he can do all these things; we don’t feel any limitations.”

With the tour moving into its second stage – a series of headlining gigs in the US – the band are looking ahead to 2015 and a possible trip to Australia.

Massive Addictive

by Amaranthe Words: Karl Lean B E A D D ICT E D

‘Drop Dead Cynical’ @YouTube

“We are talking about it right now,” Ryd confirms, “and it seems like we are going to make it. I’ve always dreamed about going there. It seems like people and bands really enjoy coming to your country so it’s something we are definitely looking very much forward to.”

Ryd, who also moonlights as a guest vocalist in Kamelot, came close last year when that band toured Down Under but she was regrettably unavailable. It is this work with Kamelot that led Ryd to one of the most unique moments in her career so far – the chance to sing with Nightwish beside Alissa White-Gluz (now with Arch Enemy).

“It was so weird,” she recalls. “I had these dreams to sing with Nightwish and it became a reality. It was a real once-in-a-lifetime experience and very special.”

The touring work with Kamelot is just the tip of the iceberg for Ryd. She’s a self-confessed workaholic who has appeared as a guest on a wide variety of albums and tours. She attributes her popularity to a strong demand for female vocals.

“I’m one of not so many females in the business so, if someone is looking for a voice, I get lots of requests.”

It’s exactly how she wants it to be though, and is always looking for chances to explore new options.

“I love to do different things, I just don’t feel that I can only do one certain kind of music.”

This love of music in its many forms comes through in the way Amaranthe write and perform, and Ryd can see the influences clearly.

“My personal favourite style is musicals; they’re so theatrical,” she says. “With Amaranthe we have three characters with dialogue in every song so when we write a song it’s like writing a musical every time. I guess that’s what I like about the music I’m in now – rock and metal have very strong expressions and that’s what I love.”

For Ryd and the rest of the band, Massive Addictive is just the latest expression in their unique and continuing take on metal. H

Sweden’s Amaranthe have always been a strange blend of Eurovision pop and melodic metal. Freely mixing genres the way they do can mean there is something for everyone on an Amaranthe album. Conversely, it can mean there’s something to irritate everyone as well.

With Massive Addictive, the band seems to have finally nailed the balance of styles. Everything fits together without too much jarring and the hybrid nature of the band’s sound is highlighted perfectly by the presence of all three vocalists – Elize Ryd on clean female vocals, Jake E on clean male vocals and Henrik Englund as the resident growler.

The production is typically huge, giving plenty of punch to the melodic choruses, and songs like ‘Digital World’ are instantly accessible. This is an album built for radio; none of the twelve tracks exceed four minutes, reinforcing the overall ‘pop metal’ feel .

Massive Addictive will not appeal to everyone but should extend Amaranthe’s reach to a few new fans.

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Words: Michelle O’Rance Photos: Paul Kenney

The twisted and violent lyrics of Anaal Nathrakh give listeners a grim insight into the tortured mind of vocalist Dave Hunt, a man obsessed with the endless imperfections of society and the ruse of big business. He talks with Michelle O’Rance.

D

ave Hunt and Mick Kenney look like the most unassuming pair of dudes. Bespectacled and bearded, there’s nothing about them that would indicate that they were the brains behind the beast that is Anaal Nathrakh, one of the heaviest bands on the friggin’ planet.

Take one listen to their music though and you realise that you are in for a frightening and twisted but wonderfullyexecuted wild ride where black, grind, death, industrial and even electronic elements collide in a sickening cacophony of bent metals, fusing into the skin of listeners in a kind of violent possession.

Desideratum is the latest offering from the British duo.

Vocalist Dave Hunt, known as V.I.T.R.I.O.L by pretty much everyone except his mum, is enjoying the response so far and he laughs off the critics who are openly deriding, almost relentlessly, the industrial and electronic direction the band has taken.

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“We had lots and lots of ideas [for Desideratum],” Hunt says. “We also decided to get in touch with a guy called Gortek who does electronic music. We had sent him rough versions of the majority of the album and he just put a load of mad electronic stuff over it.”

The foray into electronica wasn’t too much of a stretch for a band with a history of experimentation.

“We have always like that kind of thing but it was cool to hear what someone who does this as a trade would come up with because he [Gortek] does it full time whereas we’re just dipping our toes in the water and fumbling around.” Anaal Nathrakh have never been a band to follow the rules and Hunt is a staunch believer in writing for yourself, and not writing for the fans, the critics or the labels. This is why he thinks it is amusing that the band are likened to industrial metal or that they are even criticised for heading in that direction.

“I have to admit, I really don’t understand the use of that word that much,” he says of the term ‘industrial’. People seem to use it when there are electronic elements and to be honest, people love their genre names [laughs]. They use industrial metal to describe bands like ‘Front 242’ so I have no idea what it means!”

Despite all this talk of electronica, Hunt is adamant that fans needn’t panic.

“The direction hasn’t veered off massively,” he says of the sound on Desideratum. “If we wanted to do something that was totally different, we would do it outside of Anaal Nathrakh because there is a certain idea that is behind Anaal Nathrakh and we want to make sure that we keep that idea and the feeling behind it.” Anaal Nathrakh, for those who don’t know, is the incantation murmured by Merlin in Excalibur during his Charm of Making. While the idea for the band name stemmed from nothing else except that the pair enjoyed the film and liked the way it sounded, the factors that inspire the band’s music are another story.

Hunt is almost obsessed with the way that the world works and how society is tricked by big business and big money into looking one way while companies do something else. This helps make Anaal Nathrakh’s music seem so chaotic to the listeners; Hunt is reaching into his rage but also addressing issues from afar, with lyrics and titles that hint at a more overarching viewpoint.

“The music is a product of personality, the way that there are deeper things not necessarily hidden but not in plain view,” he explains. “What the rage is about is that we aren’t getting what is really going on. We, as humans, aren’t aware of the way the world is in many ways and what human experience is. If you are going to try and articulate that, it is going to be less than straightforward.”

To Hunt, humans see what they want to see and in that sense they enable their own narrow view of reality.

“One of the themes that has run through a few songs is the idea that we paint ourselves a picture [of what we want to see],” Hunt explains. “Like when we look in the mirror, we see not necessarily what is really there but what we tell ourselves that we see, if you know what I mean. It is a bit unusual to include this kind of stuff in the lyrics but that is where the rage comes from for me.”

Unusual is par for the course as far as the way this band works. The album title, Desideratum, means something that is needed or wanted but, to Hunt, this is intended in a different way.

“To be honest it didn’t occur to me that people would know what it meant! A lot of people thought it was Latin,” he laughs, “but the title reflects a different aspect to me.

It is more intended to be a trigger; to be about thinking of the nature of desire in general. I think it is more of a rich concept with a lot of darker stuff in it.”

This profound darkness works seamlessly for Hunt and Kenney who, as a twosome, operate with little to no outside influence. Although they have begun performing live and recruiting live session musicians to do so – even though it’s something that they were never intent upon doing – there is no talk of them becoming more than a two-piece studio band.

“We don’t really want any more input into writing,” Hunt says. “If we were struggling to come up with ideas or we tried our hardest at something that we found didn’t really work, we would want it [others to join the band] but we don’t feel the need for anyone else to tell us what to do basically.”

With that, Hunt has made it crystal clear that Anaal Nathrakh will continue to operate entirely upon its own terms, answerable to no one and entirely unaccountable to critical opinion. It’s a message of strength and defiance, which is precisely what comes across on the new record.

Desideratum is in stores and available online now. H

“What the rage is about is that we aren’t getting what is really going on. We, as humans, aren’t aware of the way the world is in many ways and what human experience is.”

DESIDERATUM

by Anaal Nathrakh Words: Jackson Price

TIM E FOR A N A A L

‘Idol’ @YouTube

Blackened industrial grind? Extreme electronic death glitch? However one describes the sound of Anaal Nathrakh’s latest release Desideratum, it is an album that stands on its own among all the heavier and harderhitting musical works this year.

This is Anaal Nathrakh’s 8th fulllength recording and the follow up to 2012’s Vanitas, an album that caused ripples across the extreme metal world, and Desideratum doesn’t pull any punches. By the time the listener reaches second track ‘Unleash’, the British duo will have made their capabilities crystal clear.

Over a solid base of grinding drums and groove-laden guitar riffs, Anaal Nathrakh layers a sonic mayhem of samples and other synthetic sounds to create a platform for frontman V.I.T.R.I.O.L.’s expansive vocal techniques, from black metal screeching to soaring vocal melodies of an almost operatic nature.

Desideratum isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea but those who enjoy it will struggle to find anything else close to it in 2014.

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Words: Karl Lean Photos: Steve Dykes

DEVILSKIN: TIME TO RISE

For most people, New Zealand is better known for hobbits than hard rock but Hamilton-based four-piece Devilskin have a plan to change that. Bassist Paul Martin chats with Karl Lean about the challenges of the New Zealand rock scene and keeping it in the family.

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hase one of Devilskin’s grand plan to raise the profile of New Zealand’s hard rock reputation fell into place in July when the band’s debut album We Rise went straight to number one on the NZ charts and remained there for three weeks. It was an astonishing result for a band without major label backing.

“We certainly get no favours from the industry over here,” bassist Paul Martin says. “They’ve only just started taking notice of us since the album came out. That’s the really satisfying thing about being where we are; we’ve worked really hard for four years. To debut at number one over here and stay there for three weeks against all the majors, we didn’t expect that kind of result.”

For Martin it’s been a reward for effort. The band came together in the middle of 2010 when Martin managed to ‘accidentally’ bump into vocalist Jenny Skulander one evening. He’d heard her singing in a previous band and had marked her down as someone to keep an eye on.

“She was keen to jam and I was stoked,” he recalls.

Long time mate Nail was an obvious choice for the guitarist slot because, well, “he’s brilliant,” Martin adds.

“He lives and breathes guitar and he’s always been the most passionate member of the band.”

Martin had originally planned to play guitar as well but swapped to bass when the band couldn’t find a suitable bassist, and the final piece of the puzzle locked into place when his son Nick joined on drums in 2011, if not without some gentle persuasion first.

“Our original drummer had a motorcycle accident so my

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son was press-ganged into it,” Martin laughs. “I threatened him that he’d be grounded if he didn’t come and help us out and he’s been with us ever since.”

Playing with his son adds a new level of enjoyment but is not without its own challenges.

“Nick’s my best friend as well” Martin says of his 15 yearold son with obvious pride. “It’s a bit weird sometimes when we go to a strip bar or something after a gig and he yells out from the other side of the room ‘Dad’ but he’s a great kid and

“Having her out front [Skulander] is just the most fantastic thing. She’s gorgeous and catches people’s attention and once they hear her sing, we can see people’s jaws drop when she belts it out. She most-certainly sets us apart.”

We Rise

by Devilskin Words: Karl Lean

SH ED YOU R SK IN

‘Start a Revolution’ @YouTube

a fantastic musician – I get goosebumps playing with him every night.”

The family vibe within the band is set to strengthen as Skulander prepares to marry Martin’s wife’s brother Phil.

“She’s almost my sister-in-law now, which will make her Nick’s Aunt!”

Right from the beginning, Devilskin were prepared to put in the hard yards. Home-grown rock and metal isn’t really mainstream in New Zealand and this gave the band a forged-in-fire mentality. They spent countless hours playing and touring, refining both their performance and songwriting abilities.

“Songwriting is something that seems to come pretty easy to us,” Martin says. “When we get together we can bang out riffs into songs pretty quickly. It’s purely organic; it’s just the way we write, the way we play, the way we sound.”

Skulander and Martin share the lyric duties and together they draw on a diverse list of classic heavy metal bands for inspiration, like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Motörhead, Suicidal Tendencies and Uriah Heep. They’re bands that, according to Martin, always wrote lyrics that have meaning.

“I’ve never been a fan of the disposable pop song; it has to have meaning,” he declares. “A lot of it [Devilskin’s lyrics] is personal. Let’s face it, we’re all human and human emotions run through a whole range every day. Life’s not just black and white so the song writing needs to reflect that as well.”

Martin is quick to point out that it is Skulander who is often responsible for the more aggressive lyrics.

“Jenny’s are probably a little bit more visceral,” he explains with a laugh. “She’s pretty good with the expletives when she wants to be. For example, there’s a song called ‘Violation’ on the album that she wrote after her house was robbed. We just stand back when she lets rip on that one.”

The presence of Skulander out front is a key component of Devilskin’s success. Embodying a retro, ‘50s pinup styling, complete with red roses in the hair and satin corsetry, Skulander is perhaps more rockabilly than rock’n’roll and it’s certain that her unique look plays a role in garnering attention for the band “Having her out front is just the most fantastic thing,”

It only takes one listen to realise why We Rise went straight to number one

Martin beams. “She’s gorgeous on the album charts in New Zealand.

This is hard rock perfected, an album and catches people’s attention that sounds instantly familiar but also and once they hear her sing, fresh and unique. we can see people’s jaws drop There’s a striking diversity of songs when she belts it out. She moston offer here – the smooth groove of ‘Little Pills’; the call to arms of ‘Start certainly sets us apart.”

A Revolution’; the brooding ‘Burning Based in New Zealand, Tree’. Devilskin even wander into Devilskin is about as far away rock ballad territory with ‘Fade’ and from the rest of the rock/metal successfully emerge without sounding even slightly generic or cheesy. Every world as a band can be. To track stands on its own while still combat this and to help them contributing to a greater whole. reach out to a wider audience, The performances are the equal of the band released four video the songwriting. The rhythm section lays down the structure perfectly, clips from the album and a setting the stage for guitarist Nails to live DVD titled Live at the deliver some outstanding solo work Powerstation, which Martin says – check his leads on ‘Fade’ to find a exceeded their expectations. classic example of the ‘less is more’ approach. Yet it’s the vocals of Jenny “We were absolutely blown Skulander that drive this opus from away when we saw it [the great to brilliant. Her amazing range DVD],” he adds. “We haven’t and power are on display throughout seen our show before and it’s the album and the intense ‘Until You Bleed’ offers a perfect snapshot of spectacular. All this time, we everything she can bring. just thought our lighting tech was trying to burn our eyes out.”

Live at the Powerstation is raw and captures the band as they really are, even with occasional mistakes. It’s something that Martin believes protects the band’s integrity.

“We wanted to keep it honest, there’s a few warts in there that we could have tidied up but we thought no, let it go.”

There’s even a moment during the filming where Martin manages to smack himself square in the nose with his bass just before the encore, resulting in much blood: “I had about a minute before I had to get back out again so I had ice on the nose. It’s the one time on the night when I remembered it was being filmed so I was pretty stoked with the editing at the end because you can’t really tell!”

Ultimately, it’s a statement of the band’s everlasting push-through commitment, which will go far to helping them with their ultimate goal: to be a larger New Zealand export than Lord of the Rings. H

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BEG F O R ME R C Y

‘Axis’ @YouTube

Words: Will Oakeshott Photos: Jared Leibowitz

HAND OF MERCY

The replacement of a singer can spell the end for a band but it doesn’t have to be the case. Hand of Mercy guitarist Dawson Michaels chats with Will Oakeshott about a recent line-up change during the recording of the band’s third album Resolve.

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hat do Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Killswitch Engage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Arch Enemy and Pantera have in common? All are bands who have thrived after replacing their vocalist, and now Hand of Mercy are hopeful of doing the same. The Sydney-based hardcore band went one step further, replacing Scott Bird with Nick Bellringer even though the decision meant the band would have to re-enter the studio to re-record Bird’s vocals, a cost most bands wouldn’t be able to absorb.

The decision to re-do the work the band had completed for record number three Resolve was always going to be a gamble but guitarist Dawson Michaels says the benefits overwhelmingly outweighed any hesitance.

“The whole process was pretty drawn out but we are really stoked with how everything has panned out,” he says. “We wouldn’t change anything for the world.”

So how did the handover work exactly?

“We essentially finished the record at the start of 2014 with Scott’s vocals but we knew that something was up with him and that we may not be continuing on with him; the band just wasn’t his number-one priority,” Michaels says. “We made the call to push back the release and have the vocals re-done as we really wanted the person singing on the record to be the person who would be touring it for years to come.”

Delaying the album must’ve been a nail-biting decision for a band in a steady growth cycle but the guys are glad they did it.

“It was really tough to have to sit on the record and wait to find a new singer, re-record the vocals and get the album out but it really has worked out better than we could have imagined,” Michaels adds.

It didn’t come easily for Bellringer, who was playing bass in Take Us To Vegas at the time. The audition process involved not only recording covers of cuts from Hand Of Mercy’s back catalogue but also required Bellringer to be available to tour and write with the band; however, the proof is in the pudding. Resolve shows a band of five musicians who have matured beyond their years.

“It’s funny how things work out but after everything that has happened, Resolve has turned out to be an even more fitting title then we originally thought,” Michaels says, looking back on the trying time the band has endured in 2014.

“To be honest, we were thrown in the deep end pretty hard as we parted with Scott without having anyone specifically lined up. We had a heap of friends and other people send us demos but Nick’s really stood out. He did a version of our song ‘Rumble In The Grundle’ and it blew me away.

Michaels says Bellringer’s attitude also complements the band, which was an important factor in the decision: “Not only were his vocals great, the way he handled himself, his initiative and his positive attitude really stood out. We flew him down to Sydney a few times to hang out and practice through some other songs, which was really important I think. There is no denying Nick has a great voice but, more than anything, we wanted to get to know him and know that we could spend nine months of the year together.”

Touring is a lifestyle for Hand of Mercy and 2015 will be no different.

The road cycle is about to being again in support of Resolve, and on a much grander scale now that the band has signed with Rise Records for international distribution through their Australian label UNFD. “When we found out about the UNFD/Rise deal we were blown away,” Michaels says excitedly. “Their reach and influence in the USA is unmatched in our genre of music so we are all really excited for what the future has to bring.”

Europe also holds a special place in Michaels’ heart and he’s keen to return.

“The fact that all of the fans in Europe are so into the music and really want to get into what you are doing is great, and seeing cool sites by day and playing great shows every night just makes for a sweet experience.”

Resolve is out now through UNFD/Rise Records. H

Resolve

by Hand of Mercy Words: Dave Griffiths Attempting a genre like moshcore should be simple; there are only so many ways to write a breakdown interestingly. What Sydney’s Hand Of Mercy have accomplished with Resolve is a sense of maturity rarely heard, and against some hefty odds too. Opener ‘Axis’ is nothing shy of a punch to the listener’s face, lead single ‘Static’ showcases a desperation in new vocalist Nick Bellringer’s voice and the title track is slightly reminiscent of The Amity Affliction in both sound and structure. ‘Desperate Measures’ includes the heaviest groove the band has written and the closer ‘Emerald City’ is easily the most intriguing with an excellent atmosphere and diversity that would even make The Ghost Inside envious. This is Hand of Mercy’s finest release and while it’s not yet in the same league as the titans of the genre, like Bury Your Dead, the band is without doubt on the correct path.

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C H E CK IT O U T

‘Second Nature’ @YouTube

Words: David Griffiths Photos: Jim Arbogast

Flying Colors may have sprung from the dream of a producer but with one critically acclaimed album under the belt the boys are back with some Second Nature.

F

lying Colors started off as a devilish plan in the mind of executive producer Bill Evans back in 2008. Evans wanted to test what would happen when he threw a pop vocalist into a room with some seasoned and proven hard rockers. What sounded like a recipe for disaster instead resulted in the birth of a debut album that rocketed into hard rock and heavy music charts right across Europe.

For those not aware of Flying Colors, the band is made up of Steve Morse (guitarist of Deep Purple), Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold drummer), Neal Morse (keyboardist from Transalantic) and Dave LaRue (a bass guitarist who has worked with the likes of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani). Then, just to spice things up, Evans threw indie-pop singer Casey McPherson into the deep end to take on the role of lead singer. The unlikelihood of the pairing up was not lost on McPherson during the band’s early days.

“Things all got started with Mike (Portnoy) being a fan of one my first bands, Endochine, and then of Alpha Rev,” McPherson explains.

“He had received an album of mine from a mutual friend of ours so Mike and I had already run into each other a few times. We met up at a studio in New York. I was there recording an Alpha Rev album and he was there doing his last Dream Theater record. We hung out and my name was put forward while they were looking for singers.”

Right from the beginning, McPherson was conscious of the deep history between his bandmates.

“I was certainly the odd man out. Mike and Neal have played together a lot, Steve and Dave have played together a lot so I was just lucky not to get fired on the first day,” he laughs.

McPherson says he never felt nervous around the guys. Instead the extensiveness of their respective careers invigorated him and the ideas flowed.

“We just all jumped in head first and great things happened,” McPherson beams. “There were so many great ideas that all we had to

do was pick and choose.

“You know music isn’t a ‘who you are’ thing; it’s a ‘what you can bring to the table’ thing,” McPherson says of dynamics within Flying Colors.

“Music is universal; it levels the playing field. Maybe I can’t play the 500 beats a minute that Mike or Steve can but I can bring some sweet melodies.”

Flying Colors’ eponymous first album peaked at position 81 in the US and also charted in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, France and the UK. Approaching their sophomore release Second Nature, the band really had to take stock during the writing process, which has given the album much more personal feel to it.

“For me, a big part of this album was thinking about becoming okay with who you are,” McPherson explains of Second Nature. “I feel that we use the pain of our past and consumerism to try and create a facade that we think we are supposed to be or who we think we want other people to see us as. For me, lyrically and musically, a lot of these songs are about exploring that place of being exactly who you are or who you should be without reservation.”

Did the success of the first album bring with it certain pressures to perform commercially?

“This band is really special. We don’t care what happens to Flying Colors; we just love making the music together,” McPherson says of the connection he shares with his bandmates. “Even if just five people bought the record and everybody said they hated it, we would still go back and do another record because we are having so much fun doing it. The fact that other people are loving it and understanding it makes it feel even more like it is supposed to be.”

It must come as a relief for fans to hear that the band is in it for the long haul, irrespective of commercial impact but just one listen to Second Nature reveals immediately that the guys aren’t likely to struggle for sales anytime soon. H

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PA C K A CO N E

‘Loose’ @YouTube Words: Sam Bean Photos: Courtesy of Jason Vassallo & Craig Westwood

There were heavy bands and then there was Christbait, industrial weight riffage that flattened all who heard it and pioneers of the stoner groove metal movement that spawned such bands as Blood Duster and Pod People.

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ne of the best measures of the excitement and sheer weight of Christbait was when Fear Factory came to Australia on their debut tour in 1993. Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares was doing a radio interview, handing out rote answers to the usual questions right up until he was informed that Christbait were one of the support bands. The big man exploded with joy.

“Christbait? We’re being supported by Christbait?! Oh man!”

“Oh, you know them?” the announcer asked.

And Dino was like, “Hell yeah, we f*cking know them!”

Christbait had an influence that went beyond Melbourne, beyond Australia and beyond just heavy metal. They were a Melbourne five-piece who started in the late ‘80s but found their footing in the early ‘90s. I could faff-on about their origins and early shows, how they grew as a band and all that crap but let me cut right to the chase: Christbait was known because they were heavy, soooo heavy!

They weren’t heavy because they had the goriest lyrics or the fastest drummer. No, they had the fattest, dirtiest, sickest guitar sound out of almost every band going, bar England’s Bolt Thrower. They played songs with enormous Mariana-trench

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grooves so deep and dark that butt-ugly fish swam between the beats.

Every element of every Christbait song was paced to place the greatest possible weight on the riffs and so thick was the effect that attending a Christbait gig was like getting run over by a steamroller driven by a fat man eating fried chicken.

Once their ball-smashing, neck-crunching guitar tone caught your attention, there was plenty of other stuff to keep your interest. The arrangements and vocals were courageously minimalist; songs quite often used feedback and dissonance to form arrangements and create some totally un-metal moods.

Check out ‘Sphagnum’ to see how they could switch gears from extra-heavy to mysterious and beautiful. This was straight-up dope music that would go from raging and crushing to lost and ethereal. It worked wonderfully, especially live. In fact, most of Christbait’s tracks had a blissful edge stashed away somewhere, and anyone reading this who stood in front of the stage while the band smashed out ‘Truckin’ knows exactly what I’m talking about – you’d be standing there enjoying the hell out of yourself, wondering how a song so grindy

“Attending a Christbait gig was like getting run over by a steamroller driven by a fat man eating fried chicken.” and filthy could feel so transcendental. This was the advent of stoner rock and groove metal and Christbait were the pioneers.

For most people, their first introduction to the band would have been the 1992 Yeast EP (released on the very-Melbourne label Dr.Jims), which kicks the doors in with opener ‘Loose’.

And that’s all the introduction you really need. It opens with the most disgustingly filthy riff by any band ever before singer Jason Vassallo starts yelling his f*cking head off. You can listen to the first thirty seconds and not only know whether the entire EP is for you but whether the band itself is for you.

Yeast came as a bit of a shock, quite honestly. Metal releases by Aussie bands back then were more infrequent and often marked with amateur production which noticeably lagged behind what was coming out of Europe and the US. Yeast matched everything else out there, and with their weird aesthetics such as their skull logo with the spinal column mohawk, Christbait made it obvious that they weren’t trying to be like anyone else.

Their live shows were often at the seminal Great Britain Hotel in Richmond, Melbourne, on bills that were strange combinations of punk, hardcore and metal. Their gigs were some of the first I attended, and I just assumed that all gigs must be half-metal, half-punk and smelling of patchouli – it actually took

some time to figure out otherwise.

Christbait always wore the hippy-punk connection on their sleeves and, in case they were being too subtle about it, Vassallo confirmed it to the world when he was quoted in The Age’s ‘Good Weekend’ guide with journalist Jim Schembri: “We’re hippies!

That’s what we are. We write poetry!” Vassallo declared, and a legend was born.

I guess what I’m saying is Christbait never seemed bothered with trying to fit into the usual metal template. They’d play gigs with non-metal bands like The Meanies and Spiderbait all the time when they weren’t crushing hapless support bands. They more than held their own when supporting internationals as well, mixing it with the likes of Morbid Angel, Helmet and Killdozer. Oh, and that gig they played with Fear Factory at the Sarah Sands? Fear Factory loved them so much, they held a postgig onstage impromptu jam with them under the name ‘Hate Factory’. A recording of the jam can be found on the compilation Sounds of Ordinary Madness, a gem of a CD required when timetravelling back to the beginning of the ‘90s.

So why didn’t they become world famous or even nationally famous? At a distance, I can only guess. The world doesn’t tend to favour the weird or the trailblazers and Christbait were both.

They didn’t fit the template and the industry just didn’t know what to make of them. Bassist Nadia Markovic labelled them “poobumdickywee music”, which amazingly enough didn’t clear things up. Song titles like ‘Sphagnum’ and ‘Yeast’ also didn’t make it clear what they were about either. This was the pre-internet era so there was never a chance of them ‘going viral’. Most of all, their second album Dirtypunkmutha took four years to record and information for it swings between being a Shock Records release or independent release… never a good indication for a smooth delivery.

The band split up soon afterwards and scattered across the Melbourne scene, joining Magnacite, Dread, and Demonother.

The guitarists found success by forming Dern Rutlidge with Jason PC from Blood Duster, swapping metal for rock and doubling down on the stoner. I have no idea if any of them are doing anything remotely constructive today... but we’ll always have the ‘90s. H

THE COLLECTED CRUNCH OF CHRISTBAIT

1991 – Prod (demo) 1991 – Promo tape (demo) 1992 – Yeast (Ep) 1994 – Truckin/I Got Crazy Things (split) 1996 – Dirtypunkmutha Christbait was Craig Westwood and Jason Miszewski on guitar, Jason ‘V’ Vassallo on vocals, Nadia Markovic on bass, and Lenny Markovic on drums. Dirtypunkmutha and the Yeast EP are absolutely essential albums if you can find them.

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HEAVYSNAPS All photos and captions by Matt Allan & John Raptis

Come join the fun as HEAVY's two main photographers, John Raptis and Matt Allan, pick apart each other's favourite photos from throughout the year. They're both as precious as all hell so things are sure to get nice and messy in this war of frames.

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John’s photo: Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) Matt: If you were any closer for this shot, you would have been flogged by all of the hair flying around. This is one of those photos that every photographer wishes they took themselves and there is a reason this picture was a finalist in the Monster Photo Competition earlier this year.

It’s just f*cking awesome!

Matt’s photo: Brant Bjork (Kyuss, Vista Chino, Fu Manchu, Fatso Jetson, Che) John: I clearly see you have a thing or two for drummers hey? They’re always the hardest to photograph at a gig. Especially the metal guys who practically sit behind an entire drum shop as their kits are so big.

In all honesty though, this is one of the best drummer shots I have seen.

The colour, the framing and that expression on his face is superb.

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HEAVYSNAPS ROUND

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Matt’s photo: Jason Torrens (Bugdust) John: You know, I know exactly what filters you’ve used to achieve this look, but what separates you from others who use filters like this is that you know how and where to use them.

Massive depth of field happening here and your eye is immediately drawn to the main subject… the drummer. You sure you don’t have a thing or two for men in the back?

John’s photo: John 5 (Marilyn Manson) Matt: Check out the eye contact in this photo! Maybe John 5 was simply daring you to edit this photo in colour instead of your normal mono fare, but what does a guitar player know about such things right? The clarity, tone and depth to this picture is just brutal and it’s this kind of super-human capture I enjoy seeing from you on a regular basis.

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HEAVYSNAPS John’s photo: Anders Fridén (In Flames) Matt: I know you love it when the artist comes down to court you from the front of the stage so I’m not at all surprised to see this shot here. What does surprise me is that it’s in colour!

You have an uncanny knack for being in the right place to get the shot and this is no exception. I’m really digging the green highlights. I still can’t believe I’m actually seeing green though!

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Matt’s photo: Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) John: Looks like this one would have been swamped in all sorts of red, but you’ve managed to get a good finished product in this edit. The yellow light compliments it all nicely and I love that look of concentration in the subject’s eyes.

Matt’s photo: Bert McCracken (The Used) John: Another ripper bludgeoned to death with those filters. All kidding aside, this features some beautiful colour. His hair looks great and the way it’s lighted is tonally amazing.

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John’s photo: Gojira Matt: My love affair with Melbourne’s Palace Theatre was over before it really began but you obviously knew the venue like the back of your camera.

I never saw the Palace in full circlepit mode but I can feel the frenzy in the air through this capture so I’m not surprised at all to see that you high-tailed it out of there. I suppose someone has to take the ‘safe’ shots though right?

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HEAVYSNAPS

Matt’s photo: Philippe Boucher (Beyond Creation)

John’s photo: Papa Emeritus II (Ghost) Matt: I think your slightly unhealthy fascination with Papa is well documented but I was standing right next to you in the photo pit while you were taking these shots so I totally ‘get it’. It’s one thing to listen to a Ghost album through the speakers but it’s something else entirely to be standing there watching them on stage and you’ve nailed it with this one.

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John: Well lookee here, a drummer again! Another bathed in red – the bane of rock photographers everywhere – but the blue light has breathed all sorts of new life into this one. You’ve managed three excellent shots of the dudes we hardly ever see on stage and I’m sure the drummer’s union will be paying you off handsomely. Great shot!

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Hellions

Words: Jeremy Vane-Tempest Photo: Kane Hibberd

Hellions formed in Sydney in 2013 from the ashes of local hardcore royalty The Bride. As well as trying to decide what the hell to call themselves – apparently one of them just threw out the word ‘Hellions’ one day for a laugh and it stuck – the band have endured a series of line-up changes and are currently operating as a three piece. As of November 2014, Dre Faivre is the throat shredder, Matt Gravolin plays double duty as the guitar player and secondary throat shredder and Anthony Caruso whacks the skins. Who the hell needs bass, right?!

When they’re not tearing it up for Hellions, Gravolin and Caruso also play for Sydney pop-punk outfit Heroes For Hire. Don’t let that dissuade you from checking them out though because Hellions are as far removed from pop-punk as Lamb of God are from The Wiggles. Purveyors of a caustic mix of math time-signatures and punk hardcore sensibilities built around a potent metallic core, their music draws influences from a diverse array of artists. Think Slipknot blended with My Chemical Romance then add a dash of letlive. for good measure and you’ll have a sound that’s somewhere near Hellions.

Hellions are going places quickly – they’re wellknown for their manic live performance and also for the uniqueness of their music. They’ve shared the stage with hardcore luminaries The Ghost Inside, Every Time I Die, Attila and Emmure, and landed themselves a spot on the Sydney leg of Australia’s 2013 Vans Warped tour. They also signed to Aussie label UNFD, released their debut album in September 2013, landed a US distribution deal with metalcore label Rise and scored a European distro deal with Avocado.

Not bad for a bunch of misfits from Sydney that only started this band about eighteen months ago.

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Mind you, that kind of success is almost a given when the music is as good and, more importantly, as unique as what Hellions offer. Metalcore hit its peak in the mid to late 2000s and hasn’t progressed an inch since then. Every breakdown, every sing along, every double time beat – it’s all far too predictable [I hear that – Ed.]. That’s what makes Hellions great – they’re everything that metalcore isn’t! A vibrant, fresh sound that runs the gauntlet from mosh-friendly throwdown epics to heartbreaking tales of loss and everything in between, Hellions match The Chariot’s intensity and La Dispute’s emotional weight with consummate ease, and they often do it in the same freaking song.

Awesome, yes?

Better yet, Hellions are not only incredibly tight onstage, but are also kickarse dudes off it. To celebrate the release of Die Young, the band held a competition that can only be described as a hardcore kid’s wet dream: three lucky winners were treated to a Hellions live set in each of their homes. Yes, that’s right. If you’re picturing an oddly heart-warming scene consisting of twenty-odd teenagers swinging off clotheslines, fighting with garden hoses and generally making a nuisance of themselves to the pulsating rhythm of a metallic math hardcore band that set up a couple of amps in the driveway, you’re bang on the money. Hardcore lives, man!

If there’s one thing to take away from this, it’s that Hellions are a live band. Their albums are just an excuse to hit the road again. You can listen to Die Young as much as you want but until you see them in their true home – Blacktown Masonic Hall – with Dre running around the stage beating a tom drum with a stick while screaming into the mic firmly clenched between his teeth... well, you just haven’t lived. H

Hardcore/punk Sydney hellionsaus.tumblr.com

Die Young

by Hellions Words: Jeremy Vane-Tempest

Hardcore punk tinged with mathematical staccato rhythms and a razor-sharp metallic edge – that’s a very basic description of what Die Young brings to the table. Don’t be turned off by said description because there’s so much more to be found here than breakdowns and two-step.

‘Infamita’ is your pit-friendly anthem, featuring fellow western Sydney boy Adrian Fitapaldes of Northlane fame on guest vocals, while ‘The Grandfather Clock’ is the most heartbreaking tale this side of Roy Orbison’s biography. If you’re into songs that are hard, fast and as focussed as an ADHD kid off his meds then this is your kind of thing.

SC R E AM I T O U T

‘Firmament’ @YouTube

Dreamtime Words: Sofie Marsden Photo: Amy Wardrop

months, not only creating new music but also touring extensively. The band performed at Psych Fest in Austin, Sydney and Tokyo, as well as doing their own tour of the United States West Coast. Closer to home, Dreamtime supported Kikagaku Moyo’s 2013 Australian tour and scored local support slots for Earth, Earthless, and Kadavar.

While these support slots were well deserved for the band, it would be extremely limiting to compare them to other artists. Some groups stand out from the pack by forging a unique sound that cannot be explained but needs to be experienced firsthand. Dreamtime are one such group. Jim Morrison and Roky Erickson’s influence on frontman Zac Anderson’s vocal style does not go unnoticed; however, lyrically, he is in a world of his own.

The touring has been a profound experience for Dreamtime that has enabled them to perform with some of their favourite artists and meet fans from around the globe. There are not many people who can honestly say they went back to a fan’s house on the other side of the world to experiment with a variety of hallucinogens before wandering the streets of San Francisco, alone and high, at three o’clock in the morning, but when you’re in a psych rock band, these things happen.

After a busy two years, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Dreamtime to take it easy in 2015. In fact, next year is shaping up to be an even more hectic time for the Brisbane group, with tours planned for Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe.

The unofficial mission statement for Dreamtime seems to be clear – to tour and help as many people to experience their music as possible. So let go, embrace the fantasy and whimsy of the psychedelic, and let Dreamtime lead you into their magical world. You never know what you may find. H

Heavy psychedelic Brisbane dreamtime.bandcamp.com

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Psychedelic rock isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but who doesn’t love being completely absorbed and taken in by music? Brisbane’s Dreamtime could fit into a multitude of different genres but what sets them apart from the crowd is how mesmerising and all-consuming their music is.

Much like Disney’s Alice In Wonderland, Dreamtime may appear to be harmless rock fun on the surface, but things start to get weird once you fall down the rabbit hole.

Kicking around Brisbane since 2006, Dreamtime, consisting of Zac Anderson (guitar/synth/vocals), Tara Wardrop (percussion/drums), Catherine Maddin (bass/vocals), and Fergus Smith (guitar/synth/shahi baaja), are a band who walk to their own beat. Their two albums, 2011’s self-titled release, and 2013’s Sun, encompass all that is great about experimental rock and are examples of what can be achieved when musical boundaries are well and truly broken down.

Earlier this year, independent label Conquest of Noise issued re-presses of both Dreamtime releases on vinyl, featuring brand new artwork. Like the music, the artwork is bold and exciting, a perfect visual representation of what’s in store once listeners drop the needle on their record players. As if vinyl wasn’t nostalgic enough, Sun will also have a limited release on cassette tape, thanks to Singaporean label Rockpod.

It is no surprise that Dreamtime have managed to create such captivating, and interesting music.

Each of the band members have almost a decade of experience playing their respective instruments in various groups, covering many different styles. This has helped the band to ensure that not only is their music well performed, but it is anything but stale and repetitive.

Dreamtime have been busy over the past 24

Sun

by Dreamtime Words: Sofie Marsden

Dreamtime’s second release, Sun, is every bit as psychedelic and rambunctious as their 2011 self-titled album but packs way more punch.

Not many bands can accurately describe themselves as heavy psych but, for Dreamtime, that’s the only way to describe the unique mixture of sounds that appear on Sun. Standout track ‘Baphomet’ is a mash-up of sounds that starts listeners off in the rainforest before transporting them to a grungy otherworld of rock and cosmic grooves. The album feels like a psychedelic rock’n’roll journey through time and space that will pull you in and spit you out, leaving you wondering where the hell you’ve been.

START T H E D R E AM

‘Sun’ @Bandcamp

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Aeon Of Horus

Words: Joshua Bulleid Photo: Jon Hocking

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Festival in Adelaide. Furthermore, the guys have just completed their first European tour where they scored a slot at Prog Power in The Netherlands.

Although they were the only band on the festival bill to feature death metal vocals, Aeon Of Horus were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of European fans whose insistence of singing along with the songs instantly laid to rest any unfounded concerns the festival organisers might have had when booking the band.

Prog Power was a landmark appearance that surely places the lads at the forefront of Australia’s European prog-invasion. In fact, the Australian progressive metal scene could hardly ask for better ambassador than Aeon Of Horus, whose sound draws openly on prog luminaries such as Cynic, Textures, Devin Townsend and Ihsahn but also adds a hefty dose of brutality not unlike Behemoth and Hypocrisy.

Furthermore, Hocking also plays in the progressive metal group The Levitation Hex, which features current and ex-members of Australian stalwarts Alchemist and Alarum.

Aeon Of Horus successfully combine their variable influences to create a coherent listening experience that is both undeniably dark and emotional, as well as thought-provoking, providing a suitable and somewhat unexpected, soundtrack to Alistair Crowley’s Book Of Lies, the tome from which the band’s moniker is drawn.

Technical yet atmospheric, demanding but still accessible, Aeon Of Horus will continue to push the boundaries of what Australian progressive music has to offer in 2015, whether through new music or the relentlessness of their live tours, which often involves careening down the German Autobahn in a motor home full of gear at 135km per hour.

For this band on the rise, there really is no time to waste. H

Progressive death metal Canberra aeonofhorus.net

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Coming from a collective musical background including, but not limited to, jazz, funk, blues, black metal, death metal, progressive rock and electronica, Aeon Of Horus are not a run-of-the-mill progressive death metal act.

Aeon of Horus formed back in 2006 in Canberra when drummer Ben Hocking and a few of his friends grew fed up with trying to find members for the various local bands they were fronting at the time.

This collective of musicians came together under the banner of a common goal – to push the barriers of music and to put in the time and effort required to make a significant impact on the scene.

Since then Aeon Of Horus have gone through significant changes to their line-up. Singer/keyboard player Andy Annand joined Hocking, guitarist Barry Feeny and bassist Scott Carter for their striking 2008 debut The Embodiment Of Darkness And Light before the line-up shifted again to include guitarists Pete Meere (ex-Templestowe) and Carlo Beasley, and bassist Adam Brown.

Aeon of Horus followed The Embodiment Of Darkness And Light with the Exile EP in 2011 before unleashing the relentless and somewhat masterful Existence (2014), an album that has been a steady fixture in the HEAVY office. Interestingly, all of the band’s releases, including their self-titled 2006 EP, have been mixed and mastered at Split Second Studios in Amsterdam by Jochem Jacobs, the legendary guitarist and producer behind Dutch progressive djent masters Textures. Jacobs is also known for his work with Australia’s The Red Shore.

Of course, Aeon of Horus shouldn’t be an unknown name to HEAVY readers. The band has supplemented their formidable studio output with persistent tours of the Australian East Coast. They have also anchored such festival line-ups as Brisbane’s Metal Heart, Melbourne’s Sonic Forge and The New Dead

Existence

by Aeon Of Horus Words: Joshua Bulleid

Existence is a far more considered and cerebral effort than Aeon Of Horus’s 2008 debut, made up of songs that weave their way into your psyche, delicately poking and prodding at it from different angles rather than boring directly through the listener’s skull.

The keyboards are less a driving force this time around, instead providing Existence with fluttering textural layers, while newcomer Adam Brown’s bass stands out at the forefront of the action, leading the way with its jazzy, staccato flair.

Despite its gushing technicality, Existence never becomes overbearing.

Instead, each of its instruments suitably combine to create compositions that shift and grow, all the while convincing you of their substance and worth rather than having it taken for granted.

GE T T E CH Y

‘Release’ @YouTube

Iconoclast Words: Gareth Jones Photo: Dark Spirit Photography

Iconoclast 1: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration. 2: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions. Brutal in definition and musical styling, the name chosen by this unrelenting Perth based five-piece extreme metal is certainly fitting.

Iconoclast formed in late 2012 after guitarist Cody Brooks approached the other members, guys he knew from the local scene, to see if they were interested in some of the music he was writing. Suffice to say, it all came together organically from there.

Armed with an EP that dropped in 2012 titled Autonomist and three music videos released thereafter in ‘Dissimulate’, ‘Seditionist’, and ‘Born of Malice’, Iconoclast have certainly made a large impact in a short space of time, turning heads Australia-wide with their unrelenting brand of revolutionist fury.

The band consists of members Mitch Macari (Vocals), Cody Brooks (Guitar), Craig Buckingham (Guitar), Chris Van Zwam (Bass) and Tim Stelter (Drums), and Iconoclast is an exponent of the DIY ethos that is a feature of so many Australian metal bands.

All of their current releases were self-produced and tracked by the band themselves before they enlisted some esteemed professionals to add the final sheen to their sound. Most recently, the band had their standalone singles mixed and mastered by Buster Odeholm (Vildhjarta, Humanities Last Breath) who, according to the band, absolutely nailed it.

The band’s resourcefulness doesn’t just extend to production; they book their own tours also, while Brooks pulls double duty, handling the band’s managerial duties also.

Self-management and promotion has not held the band back at all, and there has been no shortage of touring opportunities presented to Iconoclast in their relatively short career. Shows right across the country with bands such as I Declare War, Graves, Aversions Crown and Molotov Solution have brought enough attention to garner the boys support slots with The Acacia Strain, Northlane, Thy Art is Murder, Born of Osiris, Volumes, Veil of Maya and Make Them Suffer, mostly back home in Perth.

Perth’s relative isolation from the rest of the country and distance from the main touring hot spots of the Australian East Cost definitely brings its fair share of challenges but distance is nothing that Iconoclast haven’t been able to overcome thus far.

Now, as the band puts the finishing touches on their debut full-length album, which will be out in early 2015, the future looks bright. The release of this highly anticipated debut album will see the guys back out on the road doing what they do best, touring every nook and cranny of Australia and beyond throughout 2015 as they continue their steady rise.

Make sure you catch Iconoclast as they look to carve out a long-lasting impact in both the Australian and international metal scenes. H

Metal Perth iconoclastau.bandcamp.com

Autonomist

by Iconoclast Words: Sofie Marsden

Released at the tail end of 2012, Iconoclast’s debut EP Autonomist, which was self-produced by the band and crafted with the mixing and mastering expertise of Singapore’s Roland Lim (Make them Suffer, Birds of Tokyo), introduced the band to the world in a big way.

The core of Autonomist is forged upon a strong death metal foundation, layered with atmospheric sounds, spacey guitar leads and bouncy, aggressive breakdowns. Lyrically, the band deals with themes of oppression, uprising and liberation, all conspiring together to provide the listener with some serious food for thought and delivering a strong, loud wake up call.

This is powerful crushing metal just the way we like it.

S MA S H T H E ICON

‘Born of Malice’ @Bandcamp

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Words: Matt Doria Photo: Serena Lee

Words: Anthony Moore Photo: Kurt Pleavin

Ageless Oblivion

Hobo Magic

If you’re in the mood to be blown away by breakdowns and gutted by gutturals, look no further than Ageless Oblivion. Hailing from the faraway land of Hampshire, England, these death metal moguls play some of the fiercest, most destructive music under the sun.

The band was formed roughly eight years ago when guitarist David Porter, drummer Richard Wiltshire and vocalist Steve Jones grew weary of the stagnant trend-centred bands that were floating around at the time.

With a passion for punishing, sinister death metal and the talent to match, Ageless Oblivion quickly rose to cult status within the underground scene.

Having since welcomed bassist Sam Chatterton in 2009 and guitarist Gareth Nash earlier in 2014, the ferocious five have shared the stage with such blue chip acts as Aeon, Dyscarnate, Gorgoroth and Vital Remains, just to name a few.

Hell-bent on jamming out intense, claustrophobic-sounding tunes, Ageless Oblivion can be characterised by their murderous ire and poignant extremity. While

they can be labelled with genres from all over the shop, the band themselves prefer to stick with ‘metal’.

“We just play the kind of music we would like to hear, with the hopes of carving our own niche on the way,” Porter explains.

Ageless Oblivion have two indomitable fulllengths under their belt, 2011’s Temples Of Transcendent Evolution and 2014’s Penthos, both produced by industry favourite Chris Fielding and released on metal heavyweight Century Media Records. If you’re anything like us and clamouring for more, fear not, as the killer quintet have already commenced writing their upcoming third release.

With an eagerness to travel more in 2015, there’s a shining glimmer of hope that we might see Ageless Oblivion down under sooner, rather than later.

CHECK EM OUT

‘Glacial Blood’ @YouTube

Noosa-based Hobo Magic find it hard to label their stoner/blues/rock sound which, when seeing them live, has some very distinctive elements of old-school jazz and blues deeply rooted in their style. They draw influences from all kinds of music, though mainly from those that created the classic heavy sound and grooves like Black Sabbath, Budgie and Rush.

Hobo Magic started in 2009 when Jake Bennett was sick of listening to friend Connor Mitchell jamming for countless hours on riffs by Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Bennett decided to pick up the bass and the band was born. The guys would spend their hours sending each other live footage from the ‘70s on YouTube as inspiration to explore those sounds and song writing styles. At the time they were only in their early teens. They found original drummer Daniel Leech who was in their school jazz band. Leech has since left and been replaced by Carter Veltmeyer, who has finally locked in that missing piece and riffs have flowed easily since.

Hobo Magic have supported some amazing Australian bands like Motherslug, Child and Lizzard Wizzard, as well as internationals

Windhand and Beastwars. For this young band of 18 and 19 year olds that eat, sleep and continually rock out for riff heavy music, they’re keen to just keep on playing gigs and writing new material.

Hobo Magic may be Mitchell and Bennett’s first band, with Veltmeyer previously playing in death metal band Bury The Existence, but there is definitely no lack of playing and song writing strength. They’ve already recorded and released a digital EP and will be releasing it on CD soon with an album to follow. The band will continue to record using their previous organic approach to capture their live sound with musical integrity. The Hobo Magic EP was recorded with members playing live in Mitchell’s living room all plugged in to a 24-track Tascam desk with some extra guitars and vocals added after.

Keep an eye on Hobo Magic as big things are brewing!

C H EC K EM OU T

Hobo Magic @Bandcamp

Words: Patrick Emmett Photo: Aaron Grubel

Alkira

Welcome to Alkira Avenue, shot in front of a live studio audience. In this episode, you will see an average day in the life of “Horny Housewife” Kyle Rockwell, “Grumpy Old C*nt” Trev, and the unimpressed neighbour Matt ‘Skitz’ Sanders, all residents of 3 and 5 Alkira Avenue, Adelaide, South Australia.

That is a brief summary of Alkira’s music video for their new single ‘Submission Therapy’, which features legendary Australian metal drummer Skitz and deserves some type of award for how great it is.

Originally formed by Ryan Quarrington (drums) and Kyle Simpson (guitar) as a Sex Pistols cover band in high school, the band was born in 2008. After several line-up changes under the name Fish (named after a serial killer), Quarrington and Simpson eventually formed a stable line-up with Greg Phallus (guitar/vocals) and Sean Grubel (bass) and settled on the name Alkira, which is the Aboriginal word for sky.

Alkira play music in the vein of old-school thrash metal but they aren’t content with regurgitating stale musical concepts like the

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majority of new-school thrash bands. This is imminent on the first listen of their debut album Juggernaut. Backed by EPs Down to the Hills and Red Devil, which were released prior to Juggernaut, the recently-released full-length displays an onslaught of thrash with hints of death metal and multiple ideas that help them stand out from other bands in their genre.

Alkira are a band best experienced live and their fun, chaotic show has earned them many support slots around Australia over the years, including opening for Australian bands King Parrot and Psycroptic, along with internationals including Fear Factory, Municipal Waste and even a tour of South East Asia with Havok at the start of 2014.

In support of the new album, Alkira will spend 2015 thrashing their way through New Zealand for the first time with 8 Foot Sativa and Frankenbok, as well as performing a few local festival shows across Australia.

CHECK EM OUT

‘Submission Therapy’ @YouTube

Words: Pat Warnes Photo: Stefan Müller

Parasite Inc.

Germany has been known to have some great metal bands like Kreator, Sodom and Primal Fear and southern German band Parasite Inc. are no exception. These melodeathsters have been pummelling their audience with metal goodness since 2007.

Combined with a goal that their fans will take power and joy from their music, their sound is characterised by tight melodic writing accompanied by the brutal vocals of Kai Bigler and, of course, this is all in the vein of death metal.

Since their inception, Parasite Inc. have, like most bands, have lost a few members along the way but, luckily, they’ve been able to find replacements within the local scene.

Despite the line-up changes they’ve persevered and have released their wellreceived debut record Time Tears Down as

well as playing on a number of German festivals including Summer Breeze Open Air. Time Tears Down ascended to number 12 position on the Japanese import CD charts and also stayed in the top 30 of the official German Metal Rock Charts for several weeks, which is quite a feat for a debut recording.

Looking into the future, 2015 is sure to be the year of the parasite as Parasite Inc. plan to write their sophomore album and tour internationally. Who knows? Maybe that ambition will lead these guys to Australia where Aussie fans can truly witness the magic of Parasite Inc.

C H EC K EM OU T

‘The Pulse of the Dead’ @YouTube

Words: Nick French Photo: Norman Weedall

Voros Voros, a Hungarian word meaning ‘the shade of red specific to spilled blood’, is quite an apt name for an Adelaide band looking to spill some blood of their own... metaphorically, of course.

Formed in late 2012 from the ashes of the much-respected melodeath dispensers Double Dragon, drummer Liam Weedall and guitarist Davin Buttery immediately acquired the services of vocalist Ty Braithwaite (ex-Juggermath and Treachery). Earlier this year, guitarist and backing vocalist Matt Disisto (ex-Beyond The Oblivion with Weedall) and bassist/backing vocalist James Read (ex-New Paradigm) both jumped aboard.

In their short two-year existence, Voros have already shared the stage with Canadian titans Kataklysm, New Zealand legends 8 Foot Sativa and Japan’s Gotsu Totsu Kotsu and have held their own with home-grown favourites King Parrot, Frankenbok, Voyager and Lord.

Words: Will Oakeshott Photo: Michael Danischewski Voros play a brand of metal that’s hard to categorise - part death, part progressive, part groove but always heavy. Exhibit A is their 2014 tri-release The Sky Burial, which comprises three two-song EPs released at various times throughout 2013. The Sky Burial EPs showcase the band’s chops and demonstrate their intent to be a powerful force on the local scene. All were recorded at Against the Grain Studio with Andy Kite and mixed and mastered by Darren ‘Jenk’ Jenkins (Mortal Sin, DepriVation, Daysend).

On the topic of the band’s music, drummer Weedall explains that they want to pump up the listener while also keeping them guessing so they try to create music where each song has a different feel with varied tempos and styles as well as unexpected changes.

Keep an eye out in January for the upcoming video clip for the song ‘Mired In Perpetual Deceit’ and their debut album will follow sometime thereafter. 2015 will also see the guys touring all over South-Eastern Australia. The sky is the limit from there.

CHECK EM OUT

The Sky Burial EPs @Bandcamp

Words: Alex Sievers Photo: Dan Maynard

Azreal

Since their inception, Gold Coast-based Azreal have been working hard on expanding both their groove metal pallet and their local cred, although this hasn’t been an easy task as lovers of old-school metal are a dying breed in the local scene.

When listening to any of the band’s albums, be it Better Dead or their most recent effort, Premonition, it’s easy to hear the classic, groove-laden influences of bands like Pantera and Machine Head.

The band have been assigned a wide range of different sub-genres of metal, including the incredibly specific grooveinfused thrash metal but the band prefer to think of themselves as just metal. Simple, just like the band’s goal that listeners of their music have fun.

“Musically, we just want them to bang their heads and have a good time and enjoy the music,” guitarist Jimmy Glinster says.

The four-piece, made up of vocalist Luke

Colossvs The unfortunate problem that comes with applying genre is that it instantly classifies a band. This labelling sadly affixes a judgment and direction on said band that may even hinder their initiative. For Melbourne’s Colossvs, being categorised is intolerable.

Guitarist Michael Calle describes the band’s music as a hybrid of death metal, hardcore and black metal but they try not to limit themselves to any genres.

Forming originally from well-established hardcore and metalcore acts including The Broderick, Hopeless, In Trenches and Carpathian, Colossvs released a threetrack demo in 2010 – recorded by Martin Kirby (Carpathian) and mixed by Jay Maas (Defeater) – and toured Australia on the back of it. They then shelved the project so members could return to their other betterknown bands.

Following the dissolution of some of those other bands, Colossvs reunited and selfreleased a 7” entitled Cleansed in Blood/ Reborn in Sin, which was produced by Mike Deslandes (Coerce). The release gave the

band further momentum and got them back into the swing of things, allowing them to tour South East Asia and Japan earlier this year in support of it.

Colossvs’ debut album Unholy, recorded with Mike Deslandes and mastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon), has just been released via Monolith Records, a label owned by Lochlan Watt, host of Triple J’s The Racket and the band’s new vocalist. Along with guitarist Joseph Ceraso, bassist Adam Willett, drummer Ash Denman and Michael Calle, the quintet haven’t stopped since.

But what separates Colossvs from the rest?

Calle feels that the heavy music scene has become sterile and processed in the quest for perfection, making it almost soulless. He hopes that Unholy feels like the antithesis to that trend and that people appreciate the record in its organic and unpolished form.

Colossvs are certainly making waves and, for those that haven’t heard them, they’re well worth investigating.

C H EC K EM OU T

‘Christburner’ @YouTube

Words: Matt Bolton Photo: Mavro Asteri

The Black Moriah Hosking, guitarist Jimmy Glinster, bassist Scott Campbell and recently-recruited drummer Chris Dennis, are very keen to take this seven year-old outfit well into the future.

This year has been a solid one for the band with various tours, a new album and even a spot on HEAVY’s own Brewtality Festival.

On top of all that, the video for ‘Surveying the Fearful’ from their latest album, Premonition has just been released in time for Christmas. As for 2015, Azreal will be bunkering down in the studio to write some follow up material, so make sure you make a mental note to keep an eye on these guys because they’re sure to be one to watch.

CHECK EM OUT

‘Cease to Be’ @YouTube

Texas-based The Black Moriah was named after Tombstone, Arizona’s famous horsedrawn hearse, which is incredibly apt as their sound is best described by the band’s guitarist/vocalist Zawicizuz as “blackened thrash for a desert funeral”.

The Black Moriah was formed in the blast furnace of Northern Texas in 2009 by Zawicizuz and percussionist/vocalist The Mad Arab, both of whom had previously played in Bleed The Son. Zawicizuz also boasts an outstanding resume, having played in Infernal Oak, Rape Pillage and Burn and, most notably, black metal veterans Absu. The pair later recruited the band’s second guitarist, Alkehest.

In the short time since their inception, the band has burst onto the scene, hitting hard and taking crowds by storm, most notably appearing at Phil Anselmo’s first Housecore Horror Film Festival in 2013 and also touring with Absu.

Fans of Absu and black metal in general will not be disappointed by the thrashing tracks that fill the band’s dark, debut album

Casket Prospects, which was recorded at Zawicizuz’s WoodenHorseStudios and mastered at Nomad Studios. The band are currently in the pre-production stage of their follow-up album Road Agents of the Blast Furnace.

The Black Moriah’s emphasis is on raw, driving aggression with in-your-face riffs and no fillers, and this is what they want their listeners to take away from their music.

The band cites their influences as “’hymns buried deep beneath the dried earth” and claim to drink “the spirits of past greats Bathory, Kreator, Motorhead, Venom and other kings as they frequent dens of iniquity, homes of misfortune and girls of ill-repute”.

If that sounds like your kind of thing then The Black Moriah are definitely a band that are not to be missed.

C H EC K EM OU T

The Black Moriah @Bandcamp

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Words: Michelle O’Rance Photos: Courtesy of Century Media

Ever since Vicky Psarakis took over from Alissa WhiteGluz as front-woman for The Agonist, she’s been on a steep learning curve. She talks with Michelle O’Rance about life before The Agonist and how much of a trip it has been so far.

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icky Psarakis is not a well-known name among metal circles. Well, not yet anyway. The 26 year-old, self-taught vocalist who can growl and scream with the best of them but can also break into soaring sweet melody has been thrust into the spotlight as the new vocalist for Canadian melodic-death metal band The Agonist.

Psarakis was hand-picked by the band to replace Alissa White-Gluz after she succeeded Angela Gossow in Arch Enemy, but then HEAVY readers are astute enough to know that already, right?

Stepping into the large combat boots of White-Gluz could have been a daunting task for Psarakis but the Chicago-born musician is taking it all in her stride and loving every second.

“Filling Alissa’s shoes obviously is a big deal but the band has always been on my side and pressured me in a good way,” Psarakis says excitedly of her transition into The Agonist. “They are very happy for me to do things in my own way to make sure that I am comfortable.”

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H EA R H ER R O AR

‘Disconnect Me’ @Youtube

Psarakis has seemingly come from nowhere. Little is known of her background in the wider metal community and much curiosity surrounds just how she came to be fronting an international touring band at some of the world’s largest heavy music festivals.

Relocating from Chicago to Greece at an early age, Psarakis knew even back then that she wanted to be a musician. After discovering that she had a knack for singing, she began taking classical lessons but soon decided this direction was not for her.

“I don’t really use that voice much [classical],” she explains. “I got into it when I was young and I took lessons for about two years before I realised that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Bands like Epica and Nightwish use that type of voice but I felt that it would limit me to stay at that so I stopped taking lessons and continued on my own.”

Psarakis mainly shifted to singing contemporary music as a way to challenge herself and test her abilities in a more mainstream context.

“I remember waking up one day – I think I was 23 – and I realised that I wasn’t actually singing; I would just sing the notes and do whatever felt comfortable and easy. So I started to challenge myself,” she says. “I was inspired by friends as well and when I started my YouTube covers, I would choose songs that were a challenge for me.”

Psarakis’ YouTube channel covers everything from Disney melodies to Iron Maiden classics but it was one day at a metal bar with a friend that she began to explore the heavier side of singing.

“I can’t remember the song; it was something death metal though and my friend and I started growling for the hell of it,” Psarakis laughs. “Then my friend said to me, ‘You should do this.’”

Still, crossing over to the dark side wasn’t a quick transition.

Firstly, Psarakis started a project called E.V.E that evolved into a full-scale band. E.V.E. released an EP in 2012 that shows off Psarakis’ love for progressive metal and rock and highlights her ability to deliver clean, melodic vocal lines.

Alas, E.V.E was not meant to be, and it wasn’t long until The Agonist guitarist Danny Marino discovered Psarakis online via her YouTube channel.

“It was a complete secret,” she remembers. “After they found me on YouTube, I got a message one day from Danny (Marino) and he told me how impressed he was with my singing. We got to talking and about a month after that he told me that the band’s situation had changed and that they were looking for a new vocalist.”

Of course Psarakis jumped at the opportunity and the two started sharing ideas, sending music back and forth. Soon enough, Marino shared a song that Psarakis had written with the rest of the band.

“I guess they all enjoyed it!” Psarakis laughs. “Next thing I knew I was in the band and flying to Montreal to work on some music.”

The early indication from the band is that Psarakis has definitely brought a different style and a fresh approach to The Agonist’s forthcoming new material. Even when performing the band’s previous hit singles and fan favourites, Psarakis hasn’t let White-Gluz’s style influence her, nor has she tried to emulate her.

In fact, the two have never met! ”It’s a tough spot,” Psarakis explains of the pressure to keep it real. “If I had listened to the old songs a lot, I might have ended up copying them. So I wanted to keep it inspiring, like what comes to mind when I hear that riff. I wanted to approach it as if The Agonist were a completely new band.”

Of the new album Psarakis says that her bandmates also weren’t afraid to experiment.

“There is a difference in this album, not just from a new singer and my new ideas but from the music too; it is more digestable and to the point. There are a few songs where we experimented a lot.

For example, there are two songs on the album where there is no screaming at all and there is a lot more singing than on previous records. In general, we weren’t afraid to experiment,” Psarakis hints without giving too much more away.

Vicky Psarakis’ first album with The Agonist is due out on February 23. Until then, there are some teaser tracks available online for fans to hear what Psarakis is all about. Those who do check out what she has to offer are unlikely to be disappointed. H

“I can’t remember the song; it was something death metal though and my friend and I started growling for the hell of it. Then my friend said to me, 'You should do this.'”

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Words: Sheri Tantawy Art: Alan Ashcraft

With his use of bold colours and impactful textures, American artist Alan Ashcraft is fast becoming an album cover specialist. He lays it all on the table for Sheri Tantawy.

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everal years ago I graduated from a mixed-media type of arts degree and decided that a career in graphic design would be the smart thing to do for a young, bushy-eyed, emotive artist.

I figured there was no real money in art and my only chance of survival would be to offer my soul to the world of corporate branding, with its cold client brief, rigid rules and unfeeling deadlines.

I don’t remember how it happened but I found myself freelancing instead, designing album cover art for bands, apparel, print posters and online assets. I guess my style just wasn’t cut out for corporate. Artist and designer Alan Ashcraft is also a freelance graphic designer working in album art design, apparel, print and identity but, unlike me, his heavily-textured niche style is revered and sought by businesses big and small as well as record labels and bands. Yet, for those of you who have this glamorous idea of free-

spirited freelancers rolling in corporate money, Ashcraft is here to ensure you think again. “You [the freelancer] have to like spending the majority of your time alone in a bedroom or office. It’s not too bad though because you’re also broke, so you can’t afford to go anywhere anyway!”

Ashcraft considers this a “small price to pay” as he is most happy when he is creating: “As human beings, we’re constantly in search of a way to make our mark on the world and this is one of my ways.”

Ashcraft has designed for clients such as Rise Against, My Morning Jacket, Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects, Suicide Silence and wrestling legend The Ultimate Warrior. He considers learning to balance the responsibilities of everyday life one of the great challenges of his job.

“Time management is a key factor in becoming a successful freelance designer,” he says. “As you move up in the industry, you’ll

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start to notice that how talented you are isn’t as important as how reliable you are.” [Hear that, writers? – Ed.] When asked why he pursued graphic design, Ashcraft quips that he walked into a HotTopic, looked at the wall of band merch and thought, “I can totally do that!” He got his first gig when a local band approached him about designing merch for them: “I only charged them $50, but after looking back at what I sent them, it probably wasn’t worth much more than that.”

As a firm believer in that an artist’s style is ever evolving, his work is an extension of his thoughts, feelings and opinions of which are products of his environment.

“The subjectivity within is the element that ensures evolution,” Ashcraft explains. “My work a decade ago was as awful as anyone’s with ten years’ less experience than what I have now.”

Ashcraft’s manipulations are heavily textured, impeccablycomposited digital collages that are rendered seamlessly and many things draw him to this style.

“I have a fascination with the challenge of it, the difficulty within the process of making 50-100 photos look like one single moment in time – a moment in time that never was. Oh, and I also can’t draw.”

His most notable design, or at least the one of which he is proudest, is the cover for Across The Sun’s album Before The Night Takes Us (Metal Blade Records), a band for whom he is also charged with full time drum duties. The art here is a beautifully-rendered

digital manipulation made up of many images, post-processed colours and gorgeous textures. The photos are a combination of shots he took himself and high-quality stock images sourced from other photographers.

To Ashcraft, the beauty of the design lies within the process as much as it does the finished product.

“As I’ve grown artistically, I’ve taken more pride in my process.

I’ve come to understand that the less pronounced parts of my work can have an equally present effect as the ostensible focal point,” he says.

Handling the art direction and layout for his own band’s album was a true testament to his efforts as a musician and a designer.

“The artwork itself came together rather easily. It was the pressure of creating the visual representation of music that I played a large part in writing that challenged me. There was also a lengthy revisions period between both the band and the label but despite all obstacles, it remains the single most rewarding piece I’ve done to date.”

Ashcraft has seen many poor choices made by young designers looking to break into band work and his advice is clear: “Don’t be in a rush to work with your favourite band or label. Focus first on learning the craft, attacking your perceived weaknesses and establishing an effective workflow. Do great work and trust it’ll get noticed.” H

Alan Ashcraft is a US-based graphic designer who enjoys listing mildly-interesting facts about himself: he has a dog named Scary Spice, he hates tomatoes and can be found at www.itcamefromthesky.net. Sheri Tantawy is a practising graphic artist residing in Melbourne and lecturing full time at Sae Qantm Creative Media Institute.

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Words: Will Oakeshott & Nick Lord Photos: Matt Allan

JASON FULLER

CHANNELLING THE GOAT With over two decades as an engineer and producer at Goatsound Studios and a bassist with porno-grind legends Blood Duster, Jason Fuller knows a bit about recording music. He shares his views on recording, bands who DIY and the insanity of throwing down big dollars for international producers, all while building his brand new studio.

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ussie metalheads have a not-so-discreet adoration for grindcore masters Blood Duster. The band was at the forefront of the Australian extreme metal movement in the ‘90s and their role in steering and influencing the scene can’t be understated.

Less is known, however, about Goatsound Studios and the role that it has played in shaping the sound of much of that extreme metal.

Goatsound Studios is run by Jason Fuller, the long-standing Blood Duster bassist whose extraordinary output as an engineer and producer has seen him smear his grubby hands all over a substantial stack of the nation’s best metal and rock albums.

King Parrot, Mindsnare, Clagg, Violent Soho, Captain Cleanoff, F*ck... I’m Dead, Pod People, The Kill, The Mung and just about every other crustcore, pornogrind and mountain fuzz band in the goddamn country have passed through Goatsound. Add international clients such as Brutal Truth, The Dwarves and Nick Olivieri and one can start to understand the impact Fuller has had on shaping the sludgy sounds that spew from our speakers.

Kids don’t often grow up wanting to be audio engineers by default; this kind of thing usually starts when they stumble into a studio as a musician and leave wanting to be on the other side of the mixing desk, which is exactly what happened with Fuller.

“Basically the whole obsession began with the first Blood Duster record,” he explains. “We went in and did a really quick recording and I instantly fell in love with it. It was about a twelvehour session of tracking and mixing but it hit me and I knew I

wanted to get involved with recording and producing. I did it for Blood Duster records and ended up with a Pro-Tools rig and a few more microphones, which grew to 20 microphones. Before I knew it I had outgrown my home studio and had to upgrade and build my own studio.”

From there it was really a question of building some know-how and spreading the word.

“I never knew any theory of how things worked; I just guessed around the idea and moved microphones around until it was good,” Fuller laughs, adding that an early job working as a mastering engineer at a vinyl pressing plant really helped him to cut his teeth.

“I got a job at Zenith Records, a vinyl-record pressing plant in Melbourne, and found myself not only cutting vinyl but mastering recordings. I can confidently say that I mastered hundreds of recordings before opening my own studio. I also probably cut a thousand records so I reckon I might have those particular skills covered.”

While we speak, Fuller is frantically trying to finish construction of his brand new recording and rehearsal facility in the northern suburbs of Melbourne; he’s covered in plaster dust as a result.

“Who the f*ck would do this?” he asks, looking around. “Who would build their own studio?! You have to do what you love, I guess. I wish I could stop this nonsense but I physically can’t work a job with office hours. I would rather kill myself.”

It’s a tricky time to build a recording studio. Recording gear is cheaper than ever before and more bands are now trying to

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“If you’re going to record your own albums, you need to spend time to get good enough. This can take 10 years. Shouldn’t a musician just concentrate on writing great songs?” go it alone, recording themselves in an effort to circumvent the traditional expenses of the proper studio recording. Hell, there are bands who don’t even bother to press CDs anymore.

To Fuller, the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach is littered with broken dreams and is definitely the hard way around.

“I’m always for DIY but bands see someone using a ProTools rig and think they’ll just buy their own rig and record themselves an album. Don’t buy a ProTools rig. It will destroy your band!”

What Fuller means is that the time and energy required to learn audio engineering will end up distracting bands from doing what they do best – writing and performing their music.

“If you’re going to record your own albums, you need to spend time to get good enough. This can take 10 years. Shouldn’t a musician just concentrate on writing great songs?”

He cites his own experience with Blood Duster as a prime example: “With Blood Duster, it took me a decade to get to where I wanted to be as an engineer and the band probably suffered to some degree.”

Fuller also believes bands don’t generally understand the value that engineers provide: “Bands are all looking to save a buck but they don’t realise that when you come into a studio you’re buying so much more than just the gear; you’re buying knowledge, experience and a great-sounding room.”

Of those who do come in, he cautions bands against thinking producers can fix poor songwriting or musicianship with a twist of a few knobs and believes there’s a chasm of misunderstanding about what a producer can achieve with studio magic.

“As a producer or engineer, I realised quickly that I can help bands only so much, especially when the session is just a few days.

If they’re shit and there is an amazing microphone in front of them then that’s what the listener is gonna get: a shit band recorded well, and nobody cares for that.”

Of course, when the opposite is true, it’s a joy to behold.

“If you have an unbelievable drummer in a horrible room with

a second-rate microphone, it will still sound unbelievable every time. It’s talent that drives it.”

An odd contradiction is that bands will track themselves then throw down big bucks to have their work mixed overseas. It makes no sense to Fuller, who finds the glorification of producers in the hard rock and metal world, especially international ones, bewildering.

“I think the title of producer or engineer can be overrated, and I definitely think the title of mix engineer is overrated” he explains.

“Mixes depend upon quality source material. If the source material is good then that’s the biggest step in getting a good mix. You don’t need to go overseas to get that.”

Surely he himself has producers he loves.

“Yeah, of course. I like Billy Anderson’s work (Mr Bungle, Fantomas, Cattle Decapitated, High on Fire, Orange Goblin) and Eric Valentine also (QOTSA, Good Charlotte, The Dwarves, Slash) but I didn’t really look up to anyone in particular when I got into this,” Fuller says. “I just love bands, man; it’s their music that makes a session great.”

Of the dozens of bands to have come to Goatsound seeking to tap into Fuller’s reputation, is there a project that sticks out as particularly memorable?

“Being asked to mix Brutal Truth’s record Evolution Through Revolution, which came out through Relapse Records, was obviously a huge honour,” he says.

Fuller’s decision to build his own studio from the ground up is the final chapter in his pursuit of a good-sounding room: “I don’t want the room to ever be the reason I can’t get the recording I want.”

This level of perfectionism is why bands come to Goatsound.

It’s what separates him from the rest and if he only had one piece of advice for budding engineers, it’s to avoid the temptation to do too many things at once.

“Do just one thing and do it really well,” he finishes, “or else you’re gonna end up doing many things and doing them poorly.” H

The all new Goatsound Studios will be open by the time this article goes to print and will include rehearsal spaces and possibly some decent coffee. For more information, hit up goatsound.com.au. Fuller says Blood Duster plans to release an album sometime in the next two decades.

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Words: Amanda Mason, lawyer, Dwyer & Co Legal

Forming and operating a band can be a complex exercise that involves meeting particular legal obligations and, over the past three years, Dotted Lines has discussed them all. It’s time to look back at the most essential ones.

Registering an ABN One of the first steps for any band that intends to earn money is registering an Australian Business Number (ABN). If the band is operating as a partnership, and the majority of bands will be if all members are contributing to the band’s expenses, the ABN should be registered in the names of all members.

You will need an ABN to issue a valid tax invoice, which is something that most venues will require you to provide them with before they will pay you for a gig.

Registering a business name Unless your band is operating as a limited or proprietary limited company and has been incorporated accordingly, it’s likely that the band is operating as either a sole trader or a partnership and will need to register the band name as a business name.

An example of a band that may operate as a sole trader is where one person operates the band’s business, paying its expenses and collecting its profits, while the rest of the band is made up of session musicians or sub-contractors. An example of a band that’s operating as a partnership is where all of the members contribute to the band’s

expenses and are entitled to share in the band’s profits.

A sole trader that trades in their own name, like a solo artist, does not need to register a business name provided that they are trading in their real name and not some sort of variation of it, but in the heavy music arena that doesn’t happen too often.

Business names can be registered online at asic.gov.au for $34 for one year of registration or $78 for three years. You can also use the registration of the business name as evidence to enable you to register a .com.au domain name for your band.

Entering a band agreement If your band is operating as a partnership, entering into a band agreement to formalise that relationship can help prevent countless problems in the future.

It’s not uncommon for bands to treat the band as a friendly, artistic, collaborative endeavour, which, granted, it is, but it’s also a business and any business savvy person would lawyer up to formalise that business relationship.

On countless occasions I’ve had clients involved in disputes with aggrieved

ex-band members. Disputes will arise over a variety of things, some legitimate and some ridiculously trivial and motivated by spite, but they often revolve around the ownership of equipment, intellectual property (the band name and copyright in songs, sound recordings and artwork), other band property (CDs, banners, equipment, merchandise etc.) or money.

These kinds of disputes are not only difficult for the parties on a personal and emotional level, but also on a professional level because they can damage the band’s reputation, cost the band a lot of money in legal fees, prevent the band from releasing or selling a recording and can even result in the band having to change its name. All of which can be hugely detrimental to a band, both financially and otherwise.

A good band agreement will cover the majority of circumstances that commonly give rise to disputes, thereby stopping any arguments in their tracks. A band agreement will usually set a band back several hundred dollars, and it’s well worth having a lawyer tailor an agreement to your band’s specific needs, but several hundred dollars split between the members now is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting lawyers

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If your band is operating as a partnership, entering into a band agreement to formalise that relationship can help prevent countless problems in the future .

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involved later when something goes wrong.

You’ll often be able to get a band agreement drafted by a lawyer for a flat fee, so you know exactly what you’re up for, but if you go to a lawyer with a dispute later you’re going to be looking at legal fees of, on average, between $300 and $600 per hour plus, if the matter goes to court, you’ll need a barrister on top of that so you can double those figures. As they say, sometimes you’ve got to spend money to make money or, in this case, you’ve got to spend money to avoid spending more money.

Copyright It’s really important for bands to have a basic understanding of copyright law because a band’s business revolves around copyright material.

There are two main types of copyright that are relevant to bands and musicians.

The first is the copyright in the songs themselves - the composition, melody and lyrics - and the second is in the copyright in the sound recording of the songs.

Both copyrights are not necessarily be owned by the same people. Normally, unless they’ve assigned their rights, the copyright in the song itself is owned by the

song writers and that ownership is recorded with APRA (the Australasian Performing Rights Association) so that the song writers can receive royalties. The copyright in the sound recording may be owned by any number of people and varies depending on agreements made in relation to its creation, but most commonly it will be owned the band that played the songs on the sound recording, the person who paid for the sound recording (eg. record label) or the recording studio if the band hasn’t paid their bill (many recording studio contracts will include a clause whereby the studio retains ownership of the master until their fees are paid).

Copyright is an area that can in no way be confined to a few paragraphs; however if you would like more information on copyright you can find a more in-depth article on it in issue three of HEAVY, which is available at heavymag.bigcartel.com. H Amanda Mason is our resident legal expert. When she’s not changing the world as a lawyer with Dwyer & Co Legal, she loves to scour Twitter for tour rumours. Follow her at twitter. com/metalawyer.

WORK YOUR SHIT OUT, BRO older words: Rodney H If you just want to jam with your mates, write a few tunes and have a bit of fun on stage, then nothing I write here will be of much relevance; however if you dream of one day earning an income from your music or music ventures – secretly, don’t we all? – then it is imperative that you learn to mind your own f*cking business!

Minding your own business is about becoming aware that you are working within the music business, not the music hobby.

Accordingly you should treat, plan and run your activities like a professional business operation.

Most musicians are notoriously bad at considering their careers like a business, particularly at the beginning of the enterprise.

Some believe that a business mindset seems inappropriate and even pompous. Others have moral issues with the commercialisation of their art, believing that the monetisation of their music diminishes or compromises its artistic value.

It never ceases to amaze me how many musos start a band, press some CDs, print merch, organise shows, produce marketing materials and yet are completely oblivious to the fact that they are actually running a small business. Or perhaps they are conscious that they’re running a business but don’t take it seriously or don’t know how to take it seriously.

So take it from a guy who played in and managed the same band for over twenty years. I’m the dude who got ripped off, missed opportunities, made mistakes and generally learnt the rules of the game the hard (and slow) way, all because I was oblivious to treating my music activities like a professional business.

Remember that it’s your enterprise so take the initiative and the responsibility. If you can afford and trust someone else to do it for you then that’s great but I suspect the majority of you reading this won’t have the luxury of that option.

Hell, even if you could afford it, what’s to stop you ending up like U2’s Adam Clayton, whose business assistant of seven years ripped him off $3.6m. Ouch!

No one is ever going to care about your business and your money as much as you do so educate yourself about the industry and how

Want to make money in the music industry?

Then it’s time you learnt to mind your own f*cking business. In this brand new column, Rodney Holder takes readers behind the scenes of the music industry to show them how things really work.

it works. Treat your music endeavours like a business from the onset because you never know how successful you might become.

Man, I can already hear your excuses.

“I can’t be arsed doing all that work.”

“It takes energy away from the creative side.”

“What is this shit? I just wanna party.”

“Nobody tells me what to do.”

Look, don’t be a f*cking wimp! No one ever said that any of this music business stuff would be easy. In fact, some of it is damn difficult but if your dream is to make money in music then you’ve gotta mind your own f*cking business.

What’s the point of being the best guitarist or drummer around if you can’t get to gigs because you’re stacking shelves at Coles?!

Okay I’m not saying that you need to run out and register a company after two jams with the kid down the road but if you are serious about leveraging your music industry endeavours for financial gain, be a goddamn pro about it.

So where should you start? Here’s an introductory checklist of some of the things you might like to consider:

• Business name registration? Will you rely on common law for protection? Will you formally register your business name or will you trademark it?

• Are you working with others? Songwriters, performers, business partners, groupies... If so, pull up a chair together and discuss openly the rules. Put those rules in writing and bam, you’ve got the makings of a formal partnership agreement.

• Don’t forget to lay claim to all of your essential social media addresses – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Soundcloud, Grinder... er, um... and don’t forget your .com web domain – hugely important!

• Look at your business (artist) name. Is anyone else using it? If there are and they used it first you’ll probably need to axe it. The last thing you want is to be legally forced to change your business name and have to rebuild your brand years later.

Of course, you could just leave it and see what happens – metal-archives.com has almost 100,000 registered bands and 32 of them are named Legion. [A legion of legions! – Ed.] If you had the name first, get a good lawyer onto it. If you don’t know one, one will be made available for you (see page 63 for HEAVY’s personal recommendation).

• Your business structure? How will you operate as an entity? Will you work as a sole trader, a partnership, a company, or trust? Or will you utilise a combination of these structures?

• Open a business bank account. Save hard and invest your funds wisely. Continually reinvest your income back into the business.

• Will you register for GST or not? Quarterly BAS are a pain in the arse but there are numerous financial advantages upon registering.

• What book-keeping system will you use? What about taxation and tax deductions? You’ll need a good accountant and a good system.

Tax deductions in business are awesome.

Spandex deduction anyone? Conversely, tax debts suck a poo!

• Put all of your deals in writing. Use blood where possible.

As you can see there is a lot of work that is required when you start to mind your own business, and this is merely an introduction. It is absolutely essential that you learn the rules of the game so that you have the best chance at succeeding.

In the words of Paul Stanley “Music and business go hand in hand, because if they don’t, someone else will be making your money for you.”

Listen to the man. He knows his shit! H

Rodney Holder has been a drummer, writer, promoter and manager in music for over 20 years so when he talks, you listen. He's best known as that guy from Alchemist, that guy from Metal For the Brain and that guy who runs musicbusinessfacts.com.

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MORE OMGWTFBBQ!!! ALBUM COVERS

Here at HEAVY HQ, we love to sit around scouring the net for the most inappropriate album covers we can find. As Christmas is a time for giving, we thought we’d share some with you.

ACID BATH – WHEN THE KITE STRING POPS An underground classic from 1994. Features the crudely-painted art of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Look at the pom poms on that hat. And what’s with that messed-up, backwards-looking little hand? Lucky Gacy killed better than he painted. What... too soon?!

DEVOURMENT – MOLESTING THE DECAPITATED

Wowee, this is one weird cover. If you didn’t look straight at the guy’s junk, you’re a liar.

Luckily, we’ve blacked it out for you. Still, it’s smack bang in the middle and if you could see it, you’d see a creepy, little sausage weiner in an oversized skin pillowcase. Secondly, the guy has no head. Thirdly, it’s called Molesting the Decapitated; it’s the totally-weird trifecta.

W.A.S.P. – ANIMAL (F**K LIKE A BEAST)

OK it’s not an album but W.A.S.P.’s single ‘Animal (F**k Like A Beast)’ had a pretty ‘out there’ cover. I’ve seen David Attenborough – I’m practically an expert on animal mating – but I’ve seen neither an animal with a circular saw for genitalia nor an animal have sex with a circular saw – and it’s not through lack of trying!

REGURGITATE – SICKENING BLISS

The cover of Sickening Bliss, Swedish goregrind band Regurgitate’s fourth full-length, looks like something you might find in your mum’s record collection until you realise that the young lass is holding her own bloody entrails in her arms. It’s quite the ol’ juxtaposition.

Yeah, I said juxtaposition. I know about art and shit. What of it?!

HELLOWEEN – PINK BUBBLES GO APE

Ah, Helloween. Random, much? We’ve got a woman, possibly in a wedding dress, about to deep throat a sardine while Velma from Scooby Doo watches from down the hallway. And is that a bear? or possibly Big Foot? Pink Bubbles Go Ape indeed.

SCORPIONS – LOVEDRIVE

Scorpion’s Lovedrive caused quite a stir in its day (1979). You wouldn’t think a bit of bubblegum boob would get an album cover banned but it did. Lovedrive was also voted best album sleeve of 1979 by Playboy, which is how you know that bubblegum boobs were totes hot back then.

THE HANDSOME BEASTS - 04

There’s Handsome Beasts’ singer Gary Dalloway slumped in the middle of the zero, a chick in the 4, a scantily-clad nun, a howling Doberman and a pig. ‘Nuff said really. Also search for The Handsome Beasts’ 1996 album Beastiality. You won’t be disappointed.

TORSOF*CK – EROTIC DIARRHEA FANTASY

You know what’s even harder than spelling diarrhoea*? Googling an album entitled Erotic Diarrhea Fantasy. And yes, that’s two girls, one in sailor costume, kissing amidst a vomitworthy sea of dirty butt-water. There are no more words left to describe this cover and, even if there were, they should never be spoken. Writer out. *Side note: Has anyone else ever thought that the more appropriate spelling of diarrhoea is dye-a-rear? Mind blown? You’re welcome.

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