Heavy Music Magazine Issue #8

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HEAVY MAGAZINE & DIRECT TOURING PRESENT

AUSTRALIAN TOUR

JANUARY 2014

THURSDAY 16 JANUARY | CROWBAR | BRISBANE TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM WWW.OZTIX.COM.AU

FRIDAY 17 JANUARY | HEAVYFEST @ THE HIFI | SYDNEY TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM WWW.THEHIFI.COM.AU

SATURDAY 18 JANUARY | HEAVYFEST @ THE HIFI | MELBOURNE TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM WWW.THEHIFI.COM.AU

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contentsissue8

14 Parkway Drive

26 Karnivool

18 Vans warped 2013

28 Rotting Christ

26 Brewtality in pictures

32 Schools of Rock

Australia's biggest metal band is coming home, this time to headline the Vans Warped festival.

Catch up with The Offspring, The Used and For All Those Sleeping as we preview everyone’s favourite punk, hardcore and metal festival.

Beer and blastbeats were the orders of the day as 33 bands joined HEAVY’s own interpretation of Octoberfest. We were there. We took photos.

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Is Karnivool on track to become the world’s biggest rock band? If so, we’re along for the ride.

They’re Greek, they’re angry and they’re coming this way to dominate HEAVYFEST 2014.

Music courses are soaring in popularity. As a part of our education special, we discuss what to study and where.

Words: Michelle O’Rance Photos: James Hartley

6 Shrapnel 30 Soulfly c u l p r i t s 36 Five Minutes Alone... Executive editor & publisher Olivia Reppas 38 Industry Insight editor Nick Lord 42 BTBAM Art Director Peter Falkous 44 Kvelertak Publishing Consultant Effie Dimitropoulos 46 The Faceless 186Red Pty Ltd ASSISTANT editors 49 Kreator Tennille Secomb Amanda Mason 50 Heavy Legends COVER PHOTO James Hartley 53 Dead Letter Circus Distribution Gordon & Gotch 54 Tumbleweed Printing Blue Star Group (Printed in Australia) 56 Chicks That Rock Specialist contributors Rob Brens – drums 59 Pinups Drew Dedman – bass Dave Higgins – airwaves 62 Heavy Surveillance Amanda Mason – legal Doug Steele – guitar 64 ‘Oz Underground Contributors this issue Rob Brens 68 Metal Rewind Nathan Eden David Griffiths Lord 69 Unveiling the Wicked Nick Simon Lukic Fabio Marraccini 70 Dotted Lines Amanda Mason Anthony Moore Damo Musclecar 72 Strings & Skins Lav Nandlall Will Oakeshott 78 Fuggenweirdshit Michelle O’Rance

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!

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Stuart Ripper Brad Rogerson Tennille Secomb Sheri Tantawy Justin Tawil Tom Valcanis Vix Vile Josh Voce

welcome

S

Every little bit helps

omething’s in the air. It’s not immediately recognisable because it’s something the Australian scene hasn’t experienced for quite a while. In fact, there are probably entire generations of gig-going punters who are too young to have even known it but it’s definitely there, unmistakable to those who’ve encountered it before.

There’s a movement going on. Right now, it’s still slight – more than a ripple, not yet a wave – but there are similarities between what’s happening in the scene today and what was taking place in the mid to late ‘90s, when defining acts like Damaged, Blood Duster, Sadistik Exekution, Deströyer 666, Alchemist, Psycore, Misery, Beanflipper and so many more created the community that built the scene.

That sense of community has been missing for a long time – I have to track back to the impact made by The Wolves in ‘98, ’99 and 2000 to think of when it was present at all – but it’s finally returning. On the back of a few breakthrough acts, (mostly the tireless and seemingly omnipresent King Parrot), fans are getting behind bands once again; they’re feeling excited about new sounds once again, and turning up to gigs once again. Over 600 people passed through the doors of HEAVY’s Brewtality event in October, and we’d like to thank everyone who attended for making it a night that exceeded our wildest expectations.

I guess the point is that metal and rock is, at its epicentre, community-based music. The scene can’t survive, and certainly can’t thrive, without the combined support and effort of its own community. In this issue, I’d like to introduce you to a slightly different HEAVY mag. We’re still interviewing and reviewing world-class bands both here and abroad but you’ll also notice that we’ve got a few new articles that investigate specific cultural issues that we believe are of strong interest to our readers. We call this our sealed section and, this issue, we’re turning the spotlight onto music education, finding out what you can study, where you can study it and how it can help you to land that job in music you’ve always wanted.

The aim is to think bigger, to open the discussion and to share a little information that we thought others might find useful.

I suppose you can think of it as our way of giving back to the scene.

– Nick Lord

Photo: Nelli Scarlet

Advertising Enquiries sales@heavymag.com.au +61 (0)402 856 632

HEAVY Music Magazine is Published by MLM Media Pty Ltd PO Box 1313 Lalor VIC 3075 ACN 151 654 330 The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Publisher MLM Media Pty Ltd 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.

Subscribe to HEAVY for just $35 for four issues and enter the draw to win an exclusive copy of Issue 7, signed

by King Parrot, as well as Frankenbok and Pentagram DVDs. Email: subscribe@heavymag.com.au Photo: Nellitoday.

Scarlet 5

For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls GIFTS UNDER $10

In the words of the great King Diamond, “Christmas time is here again, Santa needs a helping hand.”

HEAVY is here to give Santa a great, big helping handjob. No, wait... just a hand, a helping hand, with our Christmas gift-buying guide.

Pickmaster plectrum cutter Know someone who forgot to order their Chrisco Christmas hamper in January and missed out on paying for all their holiday food in 53 easy, weekly hamper repayments? Well, a Chrisco Christmas hamper isn’t the only way to avoid unholy Christmas debt. Put an end to holiday overspending by giving that special someone a plectrum cutter, then encourage them to use it to turn all their credit cards into guitar picks. $34.95 from opusdesign.com.au Shredders’ knitted sweaters It wouldn’t be Christmas without a knitted sweater, er... at least in the northern hemisphere, and the uglier the sweater, the more awkward the family photo, especially if every member of the family rocks one out. Autralian shoppers needn’t be dissuaded by hotter-than-Hades temperatures over December. Just hack those sleeves right off and drive the ladies wild with a sexy sweater vest. Totes hot. $US79.99 at shreddersapparel.com

Iron Maiden’s Eddie mask Any Iron Maiden fan would love to find this Eddie mask stuffing their stocking on Christmas morn’. Almost as much as any iron maiden would love to get her stocking stuffed by Bruce Dickinson. $US28.99 at amazon.com Battlecross glass pipe Battlecross have really pushed the boundaries on ethical merchandising with the release of this limited-edition ‘War of Will’ glass pipe. Ethical conundrums aside, it would make a nice gift for lovers of the song ‘Sweet Leaf’ by Black Sabbath, if you catch my drift. $US29.99 at indiemerch.com Metal Evolution: the Series (DVD) Who the hell wouldn’t want 462 minutes of the best metal documentary in existence? Eleven episodes across three discs covering the evolution of metal? Best present ever, and all for around $38 from your good ol’ DVD retailer.

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Low Torque

This heavy, southern-tasting, stoner metal band set up shop in March 2010 and released their self-titled debut in April 2012. Their songs are hefty and they’re fittingly described as ‘an old man snarling for bacon’.

Formed in 2002, the band released their debut in 2009 to critical acclaim and they’re now getting set to release their long awaited second album. Dollar Llama bring elements of grunge, heavy stoner and metal to the table.

Dethlehem foam battle sword 9000 Dethlehem have managed to fulfil every metal nerd’s fantasy by combining RPGs, foam sword battles, medieval themes and metal. If only they could somehow get porn in there too. Now you can enjoy the fun of foam sword battles from the comfort of your own home. $US6 at dethlehem.com

GIFTS UNDER $100

To punters delight, the Portuguese rock scene is growing stronger every day, with grandma’s garages and backyard sheds giving birth to new bands all around the country and the punters are loving it. Below are some kick arse bands to check out that are all expecting to have new albums out in early 2014.

Dollar Llama

Black Dahlia Murder squirt gun Loved ones who spend too much time offing bitches in GTA V, this brightly-coloured squirt gun now lets them to pop a cap of H2Oh, oh, oh into their very own ho, ho, ho. $US5 at indiemerch.com

Austrian Death Machine’s A Very Brutal Christmas EP Stuck trying to buy for a lover of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christmas carols and bad metal? Austrian Death Machine, side project of As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis, ticks all the boxes. A metal rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’? Check. So-bad-they’regood Arnie impersonations? Check. In light of Lambesis’ recent criminal trial, we probably wouldn’t recommend giving this to your wife - A Very Brutal Christmas may not send the message of Yuletide love that you were intending. $US2.99 at indiemerch.com

intothevoid

Stoner/fuzz news with Anthony Moore

Dapunksportif

Fuzz-driven, stoner rock to its core. Founded in 2010, the band released their third album, Fast Changing World, in November 2012.

Lazy Lizard

Featuring the best of ‘90s alternative, grunge and a hint of stoner, Lazy Lizard’s debut is expected to blow minds and looks set to be a massive release.

EXPENSIVE GIFTS (KA-CHING) Rockin Australia book of gig posters Three hard-cover volumes clock in at 1,260 pages,and feature a staggeringly, nostalgic array of 2,272 posters from Australian rock tours between 1957 and 2007. The book is limited to a print run of 666 so you’ll need to get your pre-orders in fast. $350 at starmanbooks.com.au All-Star Guitar iPad controller Merry axemas! This is the perfect gift for the loved one that’s always wanted to learn guitar but is about as motivated as a Hungry Jacks burger boy working New Year’s Eve. Just slot an iPad into the full-size guitar controller, bust out the All-Star Guitar iPad app and learn to shred the easy, digital way. It’s compatible with a bunch of other apps and, if you don’t have an iPad, it has an adapter so you can use it with the iPhone 4, 4S and iPod Touch (4th gen). $149.95 at the usual department stores.

Marshall amplifier bar fridge A bar fridge disguised as a Marshall amp? This is the best thing that has ever been invented in the history of inventions. It’s now available in Australia and, yes, it even goes up to 11! $495 from elfa.com.au

The Fuzz Drivers

Laced heavily with perfect, classic, rock rhythms, vocals and shredding solos, The Fuzz Drivers debut is available now as a free download on their website (thefuzzdrivers.com). The band recently signed a deal with Ripple Music so their second album is set to be huge.

RECOMMENDATION

New Release: Souq - At La Brava Souq’s music is a strange mix of heavy rock that sounds like it’s backed by The Melvins playing a brass section, which works extremely well. Their debut At La Brava is out now. Check out their clip for ‘Desert Snake Catcher’. c hec k em o ut

‘Desert Snake Catcher’ @YouTube

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DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS

presented by WIFIREMUSIC.COM YOUTUBE AUDIO

A new service from YouTube now allows uploaders to select soundtracks for their videos from a pre-existing library of license-free music. After creating some unique video content, YouTubers often find themselves scrambling for background music to add to their masterpiece. Although publicly available copyrighted music can technically be used, it’s often matched by Content ID (youtube.com/t/contentid) and monetised with ads by the copyright owner (or blocked entirely). This can be less than desirable for the creator.

YouTube’s new Audio Library (youtube.com/audiolibrary) strives to change that. The Audio Library offers license-free, downloadable music for creators to use in their videos. YouTube has made it possible to add audio tracks to videos for some time now, but until now, creators haven’t had much control of the audio that was made available. With the new Audio Library, YouTubers can now download the entire track and mix or edit it to fit their needs accurately. Previous audio was simply a ‘drag and drop’ feature that limited creative flexibility.

At only 150 tracks, the Audio Library isn’t very expansive, but it is growing all the time. Furthermore, YouTube provides a form for musicians and producers to submit their own music to the library. As this collection grows and appeals to more users, the library will surely become more comprehensive and will help provide YouTubers with a means of moulding the audio of their videos to fit their creative vision, while avoiding unwanted consequences from the use of copyrighted content.

Users will now see a new section in their channels called ‘Creation Tools’, which hosts the Audio Library. Tracks can be searched by genre, duration, instrument, and even mood. You can then download and edit any way you’d like to fit your new YouTube video. Interested users can try the service by visiting YouTube’s website.

GET AFFILIATED

Affiliate linking is a seamless way for labels, independent artists and filmmakers to earn additional revenue beyond the royalties earned through digital sales for something they are already doing – marketing their content.

You can foster this additional revenue stream, in the form of affiliate commissions, by signing up with affiliate programs such as Apple’s iTunes affiliate program and the Amazon Associates program that reward you for referring subsequent sales in their stores via specialised links.

It’s like your own international sponsorship.

APPLE

AMAZON

Words: Amanda Mason

Say no to carols this Christmas Christmas carols sang by rosy-cheeked choirs of tedium make baby Jesus cry. Instead, we’ve come up with a Christmas playlist that’ll help you break that yuletide monotony... in half! But if you start spin kicking baubles off the tree, or stuffing presents right through the back of your stockings, don’t come crying to us.

No Presents for Christmas - King Diamond Mistress for Christmas - AC/DC Black Xmas - Venom Silent Night - Manowar Kidnap the Sandy Claws - Korn Jingle Bells - Austrian Death Machine O Holy Night - Rob Halford White Christmas - Queensrÿche White Christmas - Guns N’ Roses Jingle Bells - Skid Row Heavy Metal Christmas (Twelve Days of Christmas) - Twisted Sister Christmastime - Smashing Pumpkins My December - Linkin Park Sleigh Ride - August Burns Red Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Dez Fafara (DevilDriver) and friends.

Little Drummer Boy - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Dokken X-M@$ - Corey Taylor Thank God It’s Christmas - Queen Christmas Love - Billy Idol Christmas is Here - Survivor Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) - The Ramones God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Dio, Tony Iommi and friends Run Rudolph Run - Lemmy, Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl Christmas With the Devil - Spinal Tap Johnny Died on Christmas - Nitro

Words: Josh Voce

DIE PIGEON DIE (VIC)

Possibly the heaviest band in Victoria, Die Pigeon Die (DPD) have recently awoken from a few years of slumber. The four piece gore-grind band reunited for a gig at The Gasometer in August, alongside grind legends, The Kill, and in addition supported Canadian mincecore/grind punks, Archagathus, on their tour of Australia in October. Their 2007 release, Ripped From V to A, is a short, but sweet, dose of what DPD has on offer. Traces of groove can be found among the accolade of extremity, as well as a surprise face-melting solo. This is some seriously heavy gore-grind, astonishingly tuned all the way down to G! Now that’s bottom end for you.

VOMITORY (SWE)

After twenty four years of sodomising the world with their eclectic brand of death metal, Vomitory have decided to gracefully hang up their boots and it’s only right that they receive a mention before they finally put an end to their madness. It’s difficult to have a signature sound within the cluttered world of extreme death metal, but Vomitory are truly a band that had their own unique stamp on the genre and they can easily be distinguished amongst their peers.

Vomitory released eight full-length albums over the course of their career, including the 2004 magnum

opus Primal Massacre. Opus Mortis VIII, the band’s swansong album, is all that you’d expect from the seasoned veterans and is a fitting send off to a solid death metal band.

AMASSING THE INIFITE (QLD)

Amassing The Infinite have only been on the scene for a short time but their musical prowess is unadulterated and nothing short of remarkable. Combining elements of progressive metal and extreme death metal, Amassing The Infinite are well trained in balancing the formula to create an arduous yet enjoyable listen for anyone who dares to dissect the ceremonial anarchy on display. The band’s debut EP, The Bridge, is out now and is well worth the listen for those that prefer their chops full of meat, yet with a certain level of sophistication.

IMPALED (USA)

This self-confessed Carcass rip-off band are so good at what they do that you could easily be forgiven for mistaking them for the real thing. Impaled recently re-recorded and re-released their first album, The Dead Shall Dead Remain, appropriately re-titled to The Dead Still Dead Remain. The full original line-up contributed to the resurrection of their out of print, debut album, which will likely go down as a death metal classic for the second time.

I think there’s a movement happening, [Hey, didn’t I just say that? - Ed.] and I’m not talking in my bowels.

I’m talking about in the charts. Sure, they’re still being dominated by disposable pop, but some real music is creeping in.

At the time of writing this, Arctic Monkeys have just debuted at #1 with their album AM, and let me tell ya, it’s a bloody good album, made with real instruments and real musos.

If we go back a couple of months we had The Amity Affliction debut at #1, Avenged Sevenfold at #2, Nine Inch Nails at #3, Parkway Drive at #3, Karnivool at #1, Dead Letter Circus at #2, DevilDriver at #14 and this is just on the mainstream ARIA charts.

There’s others I’ve missed but you get the point – real music is getting noticed, played and purchased.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, maybe I’m hoping for change, but maybe, just maybe, people are getting sick of disposable, meaningless shit and are looking for something real,

something with heart and soul, and something with some bloody oomph.

It happened a while back, maybe 15 years or so when we had Aussie bands like Grinspoon, 28 Days, Jebediah, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar, The Living End, Area 7 all charting well. Sure, whilst it’s not exactly heavy metal, it was rock. It was in our live venues, in was in our veins and it made us feel alive.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of our music having a stigma attached to it. It’s a bloody biased, ignorant stigma as well, and I get that not everyone will understand heavy metal, and I’m not trying to change anyone, but there are people on the doorstep in suits, wondering what it’s like inside. They’re curious, so rather than just shutting the door on them, lets encourage them to take a look around, and even stay a while. Maybe they’ll like it, maybe they’ll buy it, and maybe we’ll see more of the stuff we like getting noticed by the stuffy, ignorant types because it’s in the charts “so it must be good”. H 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.

This column is a paid promotional feature by Wifire Music, Australia’s only online music distribution.

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Watain

Century Media

Black metal Uppsala, Sweden templeofwatain.com Review: Sheri Tantawy These guys live and breathe black metal, and it’s unsure if that’s a good thing given their hair-brained ‘shock-rock’ prehistoric antics – they’re one match stick short of a church burning, but that was so ‘90s.

Cutting each other up and dousing ourselves in pigs blood while surrounded by animal carcasses is how we do, baby.

The Wild Hunt is brutally unapologetic and exceptionally dynamic for this genre. Watain branch out into beloved metal territories by including clean vocal hooks, acoustic passages, tribal percussion, pagan chants and strings sections throughout – close listeners might even hear what sounds like an accordion thrown into the mix!

There are elements of traditional gothic rock fused

iPad

Late for Nothing

Aftershock

Independent

Century Media

UDR

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Desecrator

Thrash Melbourne, Australia desecrator.com Review: Damo Musclecar

Packed with four hard-hitting tunes of titanic thrash and cut from the same cloth as Exodus, Testament, Coroner and Overkill, Down To Hell is a solid release from this Melbourne quartet.

Wearing their influences on their battle jackets, all the clichés are firmly in place here. With all the trends happening in metal today, Desecrator’s devotion to ‘80s thrash is genuine and refreshing.

Clocking in at 25 minutes, Down To Hell is filled with chug riffs and wailing solos. Vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter Riley Strong’s vocals are delivered with brute force and power, and the musicianship from all involved is flawless. The only things missing are more songs.

Down To Hell is available now through the band’s website.

Props to the guys for also releasing a kickass-looking vinyl record.

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iwrestledabearonce Deathcore/metalcore Louisiana, USA iwrestledabearonce.com

Review: Sheri Tantawy On Late For Nothing, Courtney LaPlante joins this enigmatic sextet aiming to add depth and dimension. Her vocal style is different to former frontlady Krysta Cameron, and she gets off to a good start, applying frantic, extreme vocals to ‘Thunder Chunky’, ‘Letters to Stallone’ and ‘I’d Buy That For A Dollar’.

Enter the eclectic, overpolished ‘Firebees’, however, where LaPlante’s clean melodies and harmonies come into full effect, and she sounds strained and forced at times.

Compositionally speaking, this album is simpler, fusing form with function to present a more balanced sound than previous efforts. The rhythm section provide a solid framework, the guitar work has matured into the main focus, and some luscious piano and electronica offer variations in ambience and atmosphere throughout – they’ve even wrangled in virtuoso Steve Vai to play on ‘Carnage Asada’.

Solid but no standout.

check em out

get a ta ste

dow n ’ n ’ dirty

‘All That May Bleed’ @YouTube

‘Album teaser’ @Soundcloud

‘Thunder Chunky’ @YouTube

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Motörhead

Rock UK/USA imotorhead.com Review: Damo Musclecar Since Lemmy’s health scares, the world has waited anxiously to see if Motörhead has still got it, and Aftershock is everything you would want and expect from the power trio.

Whether the band is playing loud, fast and thrashin’ or whether they’re bringing back their blues roots, Aftershock is all hit and no miss. Lemmy still sounds as good at 68 as ever, and Phil Campbell’s flawless riffs and under-rated playing is to be applauded, as is Mikkey Dee’s four-on-the-floor drumming.

Aftershock packs a hell of a punch and, for their 21st studio album, it’s a well-deserved two thumbs up.

Born to lose, live to win – deaf forever!

Colored Sands

Death Beat

Season of Mist

Cooking Vinyl Australia

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Gorguts

Death metal Quebec, Canada gorguts.com

From the Shadows to the Fire

High Tension

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Hardcore/punk Melbourne, Australia hightension.com.au

Scar the Surface

Independent

Melodic metal/metalcore Melbourne, Australia facebook.com/scarthesurface

Review: Tennille Secomb

Review: Anthony Moore

After a 12-year hiatus, Gorguts have produced one of the best death metal releases of 2013 with Colored Sands. Laced with discord and virulence, the atonal dissonance of this new Gorguts incarnation retains characteristic elements of their earlier work while progressing their avant-garde sound under a fresh line-up.

From the opening ‘Le Toit du Monde’ to the closing ‘Reduced to Silence’, the heaviness of this album is articulated through swirling riffs and pummelling drums that thematically harness both the majesty of the Tibetan people and the despair of their history.

Lemay’s ferocious vocals are a highlight throughout and, when combined with some hypnotically-unhinged guitar work, Colored Sands leaves an overall impression of utter pestilence. Make sure you check out album standout ‘Enemies of Compassion’.

Death Beat is the perfect follow up to the band’s debut High Risk, High Rewards 7”, from which three of the four tracks are thankfully included. This album comes packed with so much enthusiasm. From the outset, the guitars and drums reek of guts and attitude, and once Karina Utomo kicks in her vocals, your possession is guaranteed.

Growling vocals with plenty of emotion; driving chaos, beauty and depth; striking chords and some of the most kick-arse guitars I have ever heard; an artillery of intense drumming – all these combine into an extremely solid release.

Highlights include ‘Collingwood’, ‘Astral Plane’, ‘Your Mates’, and, of course, ‘High Risk, High Rewards’, the song that introduced us to the band by way of a sledgehammer to the face.

Death Beat is the reason that music, ears and attitude were all invented and it’s my pick for best album of 2013.

shock yourself

t h e s tan d o u t

treat your ears

b l as t i t l o u d

‘Heartbreaker’ @YouTube

‘Enemies of Compassion’ @iTunes

‘Mountain of the Dead’ @YouTube

‘BLAST IT’ @YouTube

The HEAVY MAG android app is live & get

the apple mac version from itunes

The No.2 iTunes Metal album.

Featuring remixes by

Mortiis Dope Divine Heresy Dismantled Angelspit Shiv-R And more

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Review: David Griffiths Melbourn’s Scar the Surface have released one of the surprise hits of 2013. From the Shadows to the Fire isn’t just one of the must-have albums of this year, but is also an album that will be known in years to come as the one that announced Scar the Surface to the world.

From start to finish, this is one of most musically-perfect albums that you are ever likely to hear. Frontman Daniel White reveals himself to be one of the best vocalists going around as he finds the right mix of melody and brutal growls/screams throughout. Given that he is backed by the tight, stand-out riffs of Daryl Smeele and Shane Grant, it is easy to see why From the Shadows to the Fire turned out to be such a fine album.

Tracks like ‘Hangman’, ‘A Strength That Overcomes’ and ‘The Traveller Has Come’ reveal Scar the Surface as metalcore at its finest – a band with a big future.

album of the issue

Bring the blackness

The Wild Hunt

with black metal savagery on tracks like ‘De Profundis’ and ‘The Child Must Die’, while the ferocity of ‘Black Flames March’ and ‘All That May Bleed’ is exemplified by excellent riffage that certainly captures fans hook, line and sinker. The title track is a doom-laden dirge introducing flamenco-inspired licks, and ‘They Rode On’ is an epic ballad of heart-breaking acoustic work textured with mournful leads and vocalist Erik Danielsson’s clean delivery, which harkens to an Agallochinspired charm – yes, it’s true that clean female vocals do feature on this track.

The disjointed, uncomfortable bipolarity of this album presents a natural progression for the Swedes as they explore raw sounds, new styles and play with emotional nuances that draw inspiration from Deströyer 666, Mournful Congregation, Bathory and Dissection.

Down in Hell

Surgical Steel by

Carcass

Nuclear Blast

Death metal/grindcore Liverpool, England facebook.com/OfficialCarcass Review: Nick Lord It can’t be easy for a band to release an album after years apart that perfectly captures all their old hallmarks. Atheist did it after a 17-year gap, and now Carcass has achieved it after, yep, another 17-year gap – the sonic similarities between both bands just make this an even freakier coincidence.

Surgical Steel is Carcass at their best, serving up generous helpings of their infamous sound with such exactness that one is instantly transported back to the band’s early works.

From the first raspy growls of ‘Thrasher’s Abbatoir’, it’s clear Jeff Walker, Bill Steer, Daniel Wilding and legendary producer Colin Richardson have set out to recreate the band’s early sound, and they do it so well that the overarching sentiment is one of

super-charged nostalgia.

It’s all here: signature gallop beats (‘A congealed clot of blot’); puss-filled death’n’roll (‘The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills’); Michael-Amott-inspired melodic thrash and soaring leads, even without the man himself (‘Unfit for Human Consumption’); blasting Liverpool grind, circa 1989 (‘The Master Butcher’s Apron’); chanting hook choruses.

Surgical Steel isn’t a comeback; it’s a celebration. It rights the wrongs of Swansong, the miscalculation that brought the band to an ignominious end, and reminds everyone how easily Carcass cuts through modern death metal’s safe, over-produced and uninspired production, which Walker mocks as “low tensile dearth metal” on the ingeniously-titled ‘Noncompliance to ASTM F 89912 Standard’.

This ain’t no swan song; this is Carcass on song. Expect accolades to follow. taste the steel

‘Album teaser’ @YouTube

”… hands down a near perfect match of styles” – SFMEDIA “…it’s one great remix after another” – Victim Of Sound

Out now on iTunes, Google Play and all digital retailers worldwide.

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Thrashy goodness

Vengeance Falls by

Trivium

Roadrunner Records

Metal Florida, USA trivium.org Review: Michelle O’Rance

“NEAR PERFECT” metalobsession.net

Metalcore kings Trivium are no strangers to pushing the limits and, on their sixth fulllength release Vengeance Falls, they have taken their music in a different direction yet again.

Vengeance Falls not only heads back to the band’s thrash roots, but also retains the mature sound they developed on 2011’s In Waves.

David Draiman (Disturbed) produced the album and his influence is evident throughout, especially in the lyrical content and the noticeable lack of heavy screaming from vocalist Matt Heafy. A little less screaming can definitely be a good thing, and here it’s a sign that, with this album, Heafy and Co. have really tried to concentrate on creating powerful music that

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New album, the tide, the thief & river's End, out Now www.welkinrecords.bigcartel.com

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Review: Tennille Secomb Cultivating an atmosphere of apocalyptic desolation, Vermis is as grimy as it is savage.

Churning, discordant riffs lace

Metallica Through the Never Released 10 October 2013 Picturehouse Entertainment

Review: David Griffith

still retains some dynamic range. There are more subtleties here; maturity in the songwriting that underlines Trivium’s elevation to the ranks of established veterans.

Vengeance Falls combines the technicality of Shogun (2008) with the simplicity of In Waves and it works. Trivium’s brutal riffage is still present, as are some killer solos, and Nick Augusto’s drumming improves with every album.

‘Through Blood And Dirt And Bone’ throws back to early Trivium, and ‘Wake (The End Is Nigh)’ shows off Heafy’s crooning; both are standouts.

Vengeance Falls might take a couple of listens before oldschool Trivium fans to warm to it, but it is by no means a bad Trivium album. Get the deluxe edition for three bonus tracks, including a cover of Misfits’ ‘Skulls… We are 138’. thrash it out

‘Through Blood And Dirty And Bone’ @YouTube

the album while moments of pure fury are book-ended by staggered drums that lumber alongside strangled guitar in a dark spiral of hypnosis.

Production-wise, the dull thud of the kick drum adds to what is, overall, a very natural sound masterminded by drummer Jamie Saint Merat. Choosing a standout track is hard as the song structures engulf you in the chaos, with all the constituents fusing together to form a claustrophobically cohesive whole, but ‘The Imperious Weak’ is a good example of the deep, grinding aggression that Vermis encapsulates because of its articulated pace and catchy yet obscure riffs. c ran k i t u p

The Imperious Weak’ @YouTube

The re-emergence of the ‘music film’ as a large cinematic event has been something of a painful experience over the past few years. Painful because so many have tried and got it wrong, while only one band and filmmaker seem to have hit the nail right on the head.

Both The Jonas Brothers and One Direction delivered woeful concert footage and documentary mash-ups, while classic concerts on the big screen from Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Jimi Hendrix – yes, even the dead aren’t safe – offered some respite from a concert point-of-view but not from a filmmaking stance.

The only band who can hold their heads high are The Rolling Stones who delivered the magnificent Shine A Light, brilliant crafted by the expert hand of director Martin Scorsese who set about capturing a band in a way no filmmaker had ever done before.

Now metal legends Metallica enter the modern musicfilm fray. Of course, seasoned fans will know Metallica are far from new to the music film/DVD format, and have

put out a tonne of releases over the years, including the brilliant S&M concert and the gripping documentaries A Year and a Half In The Life Of Metallica and Some Kind of Monster. With Metallica Through The Never, the band really wanted to do something completely different. Yes, they still wanted to deliver concert footage to their fans right around the world but they wanted to bring in a filmmaker who could introduce some kind of narrative [I see what you did there – Ed.] to separate this from other concert-footage films.

So the band sent a callout to filmmakers to submit their ideas and, after a false start with Dutch director Anton Corbijn, Metallica finally settled on Nimrod Antal, a director mostly known for Predators, his 2010 addition to the Predator action franchise, and his horror thriller Vacancy.

As a film, Metallica Through The Never will split audiences. On the positive side, the concert footage looks spectacular. Antal uses 24 cameras to capture the

band better than they’ve ever been captured before, and the inclusion of the gamut of Metallica live tricks and gimmicks, like the collapsing Lady of Justice statue and the roadie who catches fire, as well as a slew of special effects, all lift the concert aspect into the realms of greatness.

As a band, Metallica are unsurprisingly on song, delivering a set list of greatest hits that includes ‘The Ecstasy Of Death’, ‘Creeping Death’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Fuel’, ‘Ride The Lightning’, ‘One’, ‘The Memory Remains’, ‘Wherever I May Roam’, ‘Cyanide’, ‘...And Justice For All’, ‘Master Of Puppets’, ‘Battery’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Hit The Lights’ and ‘Orion’.

Cynical fans, of which Metallica has many, will be quick to point out that all of the stage antics have been seen before, specifically in the live footage from Live Shit: Binge & Purge and Cunning Stunts, and some might even say Metallica look a bit flat, seemingly going through the motions in places, but the stage antics were never this well captured on other releases and any performance lulls are generally offset by the energetic performance of bassist Robert Trujillo and the spectacular pyrotechnic show and giant video-screen stage. For the most part, fans will be happy with the concert footage as Metallica deliver the goods. Antal captures the audience participation well, also, and there are moments, like the sing-a-long finish to ‘The Memory Remains’ that are so spine-tingling that you feel as though you’re amongst the crowd.

Sadly though, it’s the narrative of Metallica Through The Never that lets the film down. Antal’s idea is to introduce a horror/mystery subplot that sees a young Metallica roadie named Trip, played by Dane DeHaan (most recently seen in Lawless and The Place Beyond The Pines), venturing into the city to recover a bag from a broken-down Metallica truck. The viewer never discovers what’s inside this bag, so it’s really just an elusive MacGuffin, the name given to a plot device that has no actual purpose but to drive the plot forward, and is not unlike the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Antal sets a supernatural theme early into Trip’s journey when we see Kirk and a technician holding a bleeding guitar, and Trujillo shaking the foundations of the venue during his pre-show warm-up with some concretebreaking bass playing. As Trip ventures across town, not all is at it seems. He’s involved in a car accident and emerges from the wreckage to find that the city has become an apocalyptic warzone and that he is in the middle of a riot between various gang-like characters and the police.

Trip attracts the attention of a masked horseman who relentlessly pursues him as he searches to claim the bag, and Antal manages to seam the concert tracks effortlessly into Trip’s journey, providing a perfect soundtrack to the violence and horror unfolding around him.

As the story continues, the narration falls away and the Trip descends into some fantasy sequences that are beautifully-shot but largely uninterpretable. Filmgoers will leave with a myriad of unanswered questions: What exactly is in the bag? Why is there a riot in the city? Who is the horseman? Is this the Apocalypse? Is Trip really just tripping and are we witnessing his drug-induced visions?

Ultimately, nothing is really answered and this is sure to frustrate many audience members, especially given that the city, and Trip, seem to return to normal by the end of the film.

Metallica Through The Never is certainly a film of two parts but, in the end, it will probably be remembered as a movie for ardent fans only, and one can’t help but wonder what might have been. On a sidenote, credit does need to be given to the band for paying tribute to fallen bassist Cliff Burton for not only by releasing the film on the 27th anniversary of Burton’s death but by also including the now obligatory cry of “Pancakes” during ‘Master of Puppets’ – search out the Cliff Burton Pancake story if you’re unaware of this piece of metal folklore. H

David Griffith attended a press-only preview screening of the film at the Kino Cinema, Melbourne.

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cover story

cover story

I Words: Michelle O’Rance Photos: James Hartley

In amongst a hectic touring schedule, Parkway Drive vocalist Winston McCall chats with HEAVY about the band’s past and present, their tenth-anniversary tour and, ultimately, how they plan to remain relevant in an ever-changing industry.

t’s kind of incredulous to think that Parkway Drive is a household name in Australian music now. The surfer punks turned rockstars have climbed to the very top of the Australian music pile with a crushing brand of metalcore that has subsequently spawned hundreds of imitators, all eager to follow in the band’s footsteps. From humble beginnings, the lads are now bona fide international headliners with a catalogue of chart-topping albums so, unless you live under a rock, Parkway Drive are one band that really shouldn’t require an introduction.

This year marks ten years since the group first began jamming out of the ‘Parkway house’, as it is known, in Byron Bay on the northern coast of New South Wales. It was there they were discovered by Michael Crafter, frontman of I Killed The Prom Queen and Confession.

In those early days, the band got to work creating a form of metalcore not really heard in the country before. The relentless breakdowns, the punky pace, McCall’s throaty roar and the absence of the melodic singing that had been so popular to the genre all combined in the music that first grabbed Crafter’s attention and it wasn’t long before others began to notice this fresh new sound.

It was under Crafter’s guidance that Parkway Drive burst onto the Australian scene in 2003, influencing and driving the metalcore genre in this country. Since then, the band have recorded four studio albums and two EPs, released two DVD documentaries and seven film clips, and have toured the world over, playing everything from small South American clubs to some of the biggest and most revered stages a metal band can achieve; however, success did not come easy.

To reach such dizzying heights, the band slogged it out, playing shows to nearly empty rooms both at home and abroad, touring without money, without a label and, at times, even without members of the band. At any stage, they could have packed their bags and come home but grit and determination kept them going.

Parkway launched into an Australian anniversary tour in September to celebrate their ten-year milestone, hitting 12 dates in five states. Vocalist Winston McCall, one of the nicest dudes around, explains that the tour was a throwback to those old days spent playing in tiny community halls in small towns with only a handful of kids showing up to watch them play. Resultantly, the

idea behind the tour was to strip it back to basics; to play smaller venues and keep it intimate, even if it meant playing two to three shows in each town to satisfy the suffocating demand for tickets.

“Each night there were two different sets that we played,” McCall says. “There is a lot of songs that we haven’t played in a long time, so we literally had to re-learn some of our older stuff.”

Good mates and similarly-matched metalcore acts Confession and Northlane were obvious choices as tour support acts, but the addition of punishingly-heavy deathcore act Thy Art Is Murder had some fans wondering.

“I don’t normally listen to death metal, but recently we were at a festival and I heard them [Thy Art Is Murder] and they were the only band that stood out for me,” McCall explains. “When I went back and looked at the timetable and I realised who it was, I was like ‘Oh OK, that makes sense’, as I had heard so much about them.”

To McCall, it was a perfect choice – Thy Art Is Murder are a band that can draw in a different crowd but still appeal to Parkway Drive fans.

“Also having [Michael] Crafter, the guy who let us loose on the world basically, and Northlane on the tour, along with Thy Art Is Murder, was great for both the nostalgia and for the new, and we thought it would work well,” McCall continued.

Work well it did. The tour sold out most shows and had the desired effect of transporting the band and their fans back to those early Byron Bay days.

McCall remembers those days well, and is all too conscious of the influence that the lads have had on the metalcore scene in Australia, and the way in which they have paved the way for many bands. To this day, the guys remain huge advocates of helping out younger bands whenever they can, as highlighted with the recent tour.

“We had help picking them [the local supports] and some of the bands we knew and some we hadn’t played with before. We tried to have as much input as we could, but these days because we are away so much, it can be hard to keep up with everything,” McCall says.

It isn’t just keeping up with new local bands that has Parkway Drive busy. While they love being on tour and flying the flag high for Aussie metal, they embrace the continual changes in the music

Australia’s metal darlings Over a ten-year history, Parkway Drive have amassed a veritable army of fans including a couple of prominent metal powerbrokers. Here’s what Triple J metal presenter Lochlan Watt and Metal For the Brain co-founder Rodney Holder have to say about Parkway.

“The first time I heard Parkway Drive was when I was a member of a MIRC server dedicated to pirating Australian metal and hardcore. Don’t Close Your Eyes [EP, 2004] had leaked onto it some months before the actual release, and having seen their name around a bit, I downloaded it out of curiosity. The production was harsh and the songs were brutal – I honestly didn’t enjoy it on first listen and decided it was too heavy for me but, for whatever reason, I went back to it and realised after a couple of listens that it was f**king great. From that point on, I was hooked on Parkway Drive.” – Lochlan Watt hosts Triple J’s The Racket, Tuesday nights from 10pm AEST. “Whilst I didn’t immediately think the music was anything too out of the ordinary, there was just something about them that was interesting. Perhaps it was the whole ‘hardcore kids playing brutal metal’ that I found interesting. Regardless, I had a gut instinct about Parkway Drive when I first saw and heard them. So much so, that I even travelled to Byron [in 2005] to interview the band for my video zine before many people even knew who they were.” – Rodney Holder was the drummer in seminal Canberra metal act Alchemist, and one of the organisers for legendary benefit festival Metal For The Brain.

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cover story

A decade of destruction: Parkway Drive’s celebrated discography.

• 2003 – I Killed the Prom Queen / Parkway Drive Split CD (Final Prayer Records) • 2004 – Don’t Close Your Eyes EP (independent/re-released in 2006 on Resist Records) • 2005 – Killing With A Smile (Epitaph/Resist) • 2007 – Horizons (Epitaph/Resist) • 2010 – Deep Blue (Epitaph/ Resist) • 2012 – Atlas (Epitaph/Resist) c h ec k e m o u t

‘Wild Eyes’ @YouTube

that they encounter as they find new ways to be influenced and inspired within their own music.

Recently the entire band had an eye-opening experience with one of the stalwarts of the international metal world: Rammstein.

While at Download Festival in the UK, Parkway experienced the German industrial metal act for the first time and were completely blown away.

“To be honest, the best experience that we have had so far and the biggest musical revelation that we all had on that tour was Rammstein. It was something that we didn’t expect, but we watched them at Download this year and it was absolutely, f**king phenomenal. I really didn’t expect it, but they were one of the best bands I have ever seen. No one even comes close!” McCall gushes.

“We all watched them from different areas and then we came together backstage and were like, ‘Who else thinks that was the best band in the world?’ and then we all just lost our shit!” he laughs.

It is realisations like this that make Parkway Drive want to continually discover new influences and inspirations so that they can push themselves to continue to be a relevant force in their musical field. Responding to the query about whether the band has new material on the way – Atlas, their fourth studio album was released in October 2012 – McCall explains that putting together the music is such a physical activity for them that writing on the road and getting together enough songs for an album can be quite a challenge sometimes.

“You hear of bands who are like, ‘Yeah, we have 30 songs’ and you think, ‘How the f**k do you have 30 songs?’ We struggle sometimes to get to the 13 or however many it is that you have on an album,” McCall laughs.

The band have toured relentlessly over the years and have discovered that they can’t just do what everyone wants them to do if they’re going to stay on top.

“We have never been concerned with staying up to date with any trends or being relevant with anyone,” McCall explains.

“It is more the fact that we have done what we have wanted to do.

Relevance for us is personal relevance.”

The band believes that it is only by keeping themselves entertained that they will stay at the forefront of their game.

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If they start to think that they should do things based on what others are doing or what their fans may expect of them, or even that they should try to guess what fans want to hear, then they’re almost sure to trip themselves up.

“It is really fun for us to make this music,” McCall explains.

“We don’t like making the same piece of music over and over again so there are always little changes but, at the same time, we like what we do – there will always be fast parts and there will always be breakdowns. The bits in between are what shapes the sound of Parkway Drive.

“There is definitely a lot of space to move and the ideas that pop up to us as we get older, more influences creep in from outside – the idea of using more melody as a contrast as opposed to just flat-out brutality, those things start creating different sounds,” he says.

For the fans, it is probably a relief to hear that the signature Parkway sound will remain dominant in their future albums and McCall is quick to laugh off the idea that the band could wander into territories such as the purveying djent trend or even put out remix albums, explaining that it just isn’t them or their style.

“No way! None of us are into that kind of stuff either. It [the remix] has really crept into metal over the last few years but I don’t want to hear a ‘whump-whump’ remix of our music. F**k that shit!” McCall laughs.

So fans, breathe easy. There will be no Skrillex collaborations in the near future for Parkway Drive. McCall says the band would much rather hear an acoustic version or a piano cover of one of their songs than anything else. Organic elements are more aligned with what Parkway Drive strive for in their music and instruments such as strings or trumpets are likely to emerge if the group is looking to experiment as these elements lend more towards song structure.

As the band prepares to head out on the Vans Warped tour at the end of November, there still may be quite a wait before new material arrives, but it is nice to know that Parkway Drive aren’t going to try to fix something that ‘ain’t broke’ and that their fifth record will likely see them continue their reign at the top of the metalcore scene both in Australia and around the world. H

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ch e ck e m o u t

‘Nitro (Youth Energy)’ @YouTube

Words: Damo Musclecar Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Almost two-decades after the release of breakthrough album Smash, guitarist Noodles chats with HEAVY about punk rock, humble beginnings and all that success.

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or years it has been said that Nirvana’s 1991 magnum opus Nevermind opened the gates of the mainstream for punk rock to come charging through at full pace. By 1994, Green Day’s Dookie and Offspring’s Smash, two albums released just two months apart, became two of the biggest records of the ‘90s.

While it can be said that this moment of change in commercial music can be best described as ‘before or after Nevermind’, there is no denying that the impact of punk rock’s place in the mainstream was here to stay.

Smash was released on 8 April 1994 by a band that was, at the time, deeply sceptical about how many copies it would sell – their previous effort, 1992’s Ignition, had sold a considerable amount but no one in the Offspring camp was prepared for what would follow. “When we were almost done and we were guessing how many copies this record was going to sell compared to Ignition which, I think, was at about 40,000 copies sold, we were saying, ‘Man, Smash is gonna do double that; it’s going to do 80,000,’” remembers long-time guitarist Noodles (aka Kevin Wasserman).

“Greg [Kriesel, bassist] said, ‘Nah, it’s gonna sell 120,000 copies’ and we were like, ‘No way, dude. That’s crazy.’” Much to the surprise and shock of both the band and their fans, Smash went on to sell over 20 million copies – a feat no other punk band had achieved before.

With such a successful release by an independent label, it

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wasn’t long before the major labels came sniffing around the punk rock scene looking for the next big thing just like they had done just a few years earlier in Seattle with the grunge movement.

“Nirvana really smashed down the doors of punk,” Noodles says.

“Nevermind just came in and burned down the musical landscape.

Everything changed after that, dramatically. Even though Nirvana were called a ‘grunge’ band, they were still, to me, a punk band with maybe a little slower tempo. They were one of the first bands that came out warts and all. Up until that point it was just pretty guys with lots of flash. So I think Nirvana were the first punk band to really make it big. Then the major labels started looking for the next Green Day and Offspring and they came up with Bad Religion, NOFX, Pennywise, and Rancid – all these bands that we’d been playing with for the last ten years up ‘til that point.”

Bands like Green Day and Offspring were heavily criticised by their core fan base for their newfound success – fans who had followed them from their early days felt the bands had turned their backs on the punk rock community by crossing over into the mainstream – but Noodles suggests that if it wasn’t Offspring, it just would’ve been another band.

“I was fine with punk music being accepted by the mainstream because I think the mainstream was ready for it. I remember seeing Nirvana smash their instruments back in ’92 on MTV and

I thought ‘F**kin’ A! It’s about time that music I love is getting its due. I think the mainstream audience was clambering for something new and punk rock was something new. They were done with the polished arena rock, the polished heavy metal. I’ve been in arguments with people over who was punker than thou and I always thought it was a dumb argument – nobody has a monopoly on punk.”

At the same time, the punk scene in Berkeley, California was healthy movement thriving on the hard work of countless bands.

The area had a community-run punk venue named Gilman St and was home for Lookout! Records, a label run out of a bedroom by a young punk named Lawrence Livermore. Lookout!’s roster included such bands as Operation Ivy (who became Rancid), The Donnas, Screeching Weasel, Corrupted Ideals (featuring Larry LaLonde of Possessed and Primus fame) and, at the time, a little-known trio called Green Day. The three kids from Oakland had released two successful albums on Lookout! Records before major label Reprise Records came and snapped them up. When their major label debut Dookie broke in 1994, Green Day were quickly dismissed from the very punk scene they had helped to build. They were banned from Gilman St and found themselves on the receiving end of much abuse and ridicule, most of it emanating from legendary punk bible Maximum Rock N Roll (MRR), a long-running DIY zine with worldwide distribution and a strong anti-label stance.

When punk rock broke through and local bands Green Day and fellow emo-punk band Jawbreaker signed with Reprise and Geffen respectively, MRR released an issue directly attacking major labels with a cover photo that showed someone with a gun in his mouth above the caption, ‘Major labels: some of your friends are already this f**ked’.

In 1997, Green Day channelled their frustration with their old scene into their most heartfelt song, the single ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’, which is an acoustic ballad that vents the band’s feelings towards those who turned their backs on them after their success – you couldn’t get much more punk rock than that, and the single went on to sell over two million copies. Take that, Gilman St! After all successful albums, the expectation for even more success can attach itself like a ball-and-chain to every ensuing release. Noodles describes the pressure that The Offspring had to endure after Smash as nothing short of exhausting.

“We were feeling all kinds of pressure – one, to better Smash, and two, to prove we were punk rock and can do an old-school punk rock record or another Ignition, but we didn’t let any of that bother us,” he admits. “We’d been a band for ten years before we had any notoriety or infamy. We just thought about going in there and writing great songs, not worrying about what other people think. You can’t make great music when you’re worrying about what other people are going to think about it. You have to take each song as it is, and just let the chips fall where they may.

That’s how we have always made all our records.”

The commercial results may not have been greater than Smash, but Ixnay On The Hombre, the band’s first release for major label Columbia Records still went platinum in 1997, selling over one-million copies. As time went on, the band would continue to achieve moderate success but never again reach the commercial high of Smash. “I think Smash stands on its own,” Noodles says proudly. “It’s a great record and it did really well as far as sales and as far as radio play. The biggest achievement for us with Smash was that we were still on an independent label – we were still on Epitaph then and that’s the number-one-selling independent record probably of all time because now records don’t sell, so that [sales] record is something we’ll probably hold on to.”

Noodles doesn’t seem at all bothered by the way physical record sales dropped for the band since Smash, and instead finds humour in the scenario.

“I don’t measure the success of any record by how it sells. If that’s the case, then The Lion King soundtrack was the best record

that came out that year (1994) and, of course, that’s ridiculous,” he laughs.

With punk now commercially acceptable, leading punk bands because household names, introducing a new generation of fans to not only punk’s embattled music but also the punk lifestyle.. Coloured hair, nose rings, studded jackets and tattoos became uniform among the youth, no longer considered rebellious, and even today, punk culture and fashion remains prominent much in the same way that heavy metal’s hair bands influenced fashion in the ‘80s.

Importantly, albums like Smash and Dookie are still relevant now and both have aged well, especially when played live, which is wild considering they were released before a great number of today’s concertgoers were even born. The longevity of Smash is something of which Noodles is particularly proud: “It’s great to play those songs; it’s like it came out this year, and they still go over great. We’re seeing different generations of people and a lot of new kids at the shows now as well, and we feed off that new energy on stage every night – if we don’t have people movin’ around, singing along and getting into it, it’s hard for us to get into it as well.”

Thankfully, Australian fans will once again have their chance to get movin’ and groovin’ to both Offspring and Green Day as both will be gracing our shores over the next four months as part of the VANS Warped and Soundwave tours respectively. As the 20th anniversary of each band’s landmark albums approaches, fans are sure to be treated to many tracks from these classic releases, making it one hell of a party. H

Damo Musclecar’s Essential Punk Before Smash and before Dookie, here are five essential punk rock albums that everyone needs in their collections.

The Exploited – Troops of Tomorrow (1982)

Even though they went kind of metal in their later days, this early slab of angst is a flawless collection of songs that just screams punk rock. Vocalist Wattie is seriously pissed off and each track sounds like the result of a riot between police and punks. Guitarist Big John went on to play with Nirvana for a while as a touring second guitarist.

Jello Biafra With D.O.A. – Last Scream of the Missing Neighbours (1989) After the demise of the highly-influential Dead Kennedys, vocalist Jello Biafra bounced back with this incredible collaboration with his Canadian chums D.O.A, which is an all-out political attack on the CIA and the American Government. There are only six tracks but there’s not a dud amongst them and the 14 minute ‘Full Metal Jackoff’ is one of the most powerful and lyrically-frightening songs the man has ever penned.

Screeching Weasel – My Brain Hurts (1991)

Produced by Al Sobrante, an alias for Green Day’s original drummer John Kiffmeyer, My Brain Hurts is possibly the greatest punk rock album of the ‘90s, and is packed with endlessly-catchy anthems and four-note guitar solos. This album is so infectious that I spent eight hours listening to it on repeat the day I bought it. You will most likely do the same.

The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)

The hugely-underrated and largely-overlooked debut album by Minnesota’s finest Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is packed with 18 songs of punk rock fury that became the basis for what was to become some of the ‘80s most genuine and purest rock records. Features the critically-acclaimed ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Tim’. Highly recommended.

Hard-Ons – Love is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts (1989)

Australia’s very own Hard-Ons have been touring the globe doing our country proud for almost 30 years now. Being one of the hardest-working bands in punk rock history has paid off in spades with a slew of near perfect albums and Love is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts stands proud as the definitive album in their extensive back catalogue, dishing out 12 songs of killer punk rock in just under 30 minutes.

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c hec k em o ut

‘Mark My Words’ @YouTube

Words: Will Oakeshott Photos: Courtesy of Soundwave

For All Those Sleeping Minnesota melodic deathcore outfit For All Those Sleeping went back to school to shoot their most recent music video, and loved every second of it.

Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

R Ahead of their appearance on the bill at the Vans Warped tour’s Australian leg, The Used’s Jeff Howard talks to HEAVY about his festival experiences and what it’s like being the antithesis of a rock star.

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f one asks the guys from The Used about their place in rock n’ roll history, they’ll says they’re just music fans who happen to play.

Since their genesis in 2001, The Used has experiences relatively few line-up changes when compared to other long-established bands and there exists a sense of unity amongst members that their fans appreciate. One of The Used’s original members, bassist Jeff Howard, welcomes new and old ‘Users’ by explaining, “Our band is like a family; if you come to a show there’s a good chance that you’ll meet us afterwards. We are fans of music and so it only makes sense that we would want to meet kids who appreciate ours.”

Vans Warped ticket-holders will be able to observe the band members as beasts in their natural habitat – doing what they love in front of receptive crowds whilst indulging in a smorgasbord of other talent.

“I’m excited to see all the other bands on the tour but nobody in particular,” Howard says. “What I don’t look forward to is playing with rock stars; all that pretentious stuff died years ago.”

The bassist’s recent listening habits may explain why he’s a little coy about the bands he wants to see at Warped: “I know this might sound strange but, lately, all I’ve been listening to is world music – Lebanese and Afro-Cuban stuff. Guys like Parkway Drive are great but it’s the other stuff I’m into right now.”

The Used’s latest full-length record, 2012’s Vulnerable, hints at a diversity of different genres. There are slight tinges of hip-hop and even elements of drum and bass in parts but, ultimately, this is still a hard-rock record.

“People have called us everything but we play rock music,” Howard insists, before referencing a band infamous for the rockstar behaviour he detests. “What would you call Guns n’ Roses?

They have all sorts of stuff but, in the end, it’s just rock music. So is Faith No More, and so is The Used.”

So deep into their rich career, the band has plenty of material to work into the live set which, as Howard explains, can be difficult to do within the meagre allotments that festivals so often command.

“It can be really tough to figure out which songs to play during the 35 minutes we’re allowed,” he explains. “We have lots of cool stuff and we’ve found that, in Australia, the first two albums seem

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eturning to play a gig at your high school after making it big in music would be the dream for many musicians. For All Those Sleeping adopted this exact premise as inspiration when filming a clip for their latest single ‘Mark My Words’.

“Sartell, Minnesota is where we went to high school, and we tried to make the clip as close to our past lives as we could,” guitarist and keyboardist David Volgman-Stevens explains. “We actually shot the video on a school day, and the kids were all extras, but it was still awkward. One teacher decided to bring her class in to watch. We were going crazy, screaming, swearing and being really loud, and it shocked this poor class of ten year-olds. Maybe we were an inspiration for them and they’ll become rock stars,” he laughs.

Driving the project was Tony Snider, son of Twisted Sister’s legendary Dee Snider, a vocalist who’s own band also used high schools in their videos, most memorably in 1984’s ‘I Wanna Rock’.

“That whole family is kind of warped and different; they’re always pushing the edge of normality,” Volgman-Stevens laughs.

“We were going to take it [the video] a lot further, be a lot more crazy, racy and controversial than just kids pitting. In the end, we just had bad ass kids representing us, which is a bit of a lie because we were all losers in school.” [Such honesty - Ed.] There’s a scene in ‘Mark My Words’ when For All Those Sleeping are mistaken for Hoobastank. The results are so hilarious that this writer has to ask if there’s any background between the two bands.

“Hoobastank are cool and we have nothing against them,” Volgman-Stevens says. “We were put on the spot during the shoot and we just started naming heaps of bands until someone said ‘Hoobastank’ and we knew that was the one.”

Volgman-Stevens says the band are excited about their Down Under debut with Vans Warped but also slightly apprehensive.

“We’re all super excited to be coming down your way, although I doubt if I will enjoy the weather that much – I heard it gets as hot as hell in your country in summer.”

Pack your sunscreen, boys. We’ll see you at Warped. H

to be really popular. We want to play songs that are fun for us and for the fans so we’ve got about five or six tracks from each album ready.”

The Used have played to Aussie audiences on many occasions in the past but have never been part of a Warped tour in Australia; this country’s last taste of Warped was in 2001, just one year before the band’s formation. Howard describes the dream of playing his first US Vans Warped shows with great anticipation.

“When we played our first [Warped], it was mind-blowing and changed something for us in a very positive way,” he enthuses, adding that the travelling rock festival has always held a special place in his heart. “It’s something special – you could see the tour come by your house and it was incredible that all these cool bands would be playing in the same place at the same time.”

Howard explains the band’s commitments in the lead up to their visit: “We’re on a seven-day run in the US. The month in between finishing those dates and Australia, we’ll be in the studio.”

Are fans likely to hear any new material debuted on our shores?

“It can be odd for fans wanting to hear songs they know but yeah, there is a possibility of us playing some new stuff,” he adds, unapologetically. “One of the main reasons bands play festivals is so that people who may not have seen them are introduced or even reminded of a band they once loved. Promotion doesn’t work the way you might think it does and so festivals are a great way to take your music to more people.”

Howard is unsure whether there’ll be any side shows at this stage but he has the following message for Australian fans; “Come to the show [Warped]. We’re excited about our new record, which puts a different spin on our sound and, at the same time, maintains who we are. It has been inspirational for us and we’re equally excited to play in front of Australian crowds. We’ve had great experiences there and love it.” H c h ec k em ou t

‘I Come Alive’ @YouTube

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“Making hay while the sun shines, I got there early and it didn’t take long until both venues were shoulder-to-shoulder.

The diversity of the bands kept me moving between venues and a little pizza shop along the way ensured my stamina into the night. The stellar turn out bolstered Melbourne’s reputation as the leader of heavy music.”

...and that’s the line-up on just one of the three monstrous stages (Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“This next one’s called... SOCK PUPPET!” (Keswick from Orpheus Omega. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“If only this microphone... were an ice-cream cone.” (Sam from Zelorage. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“Wasn’t gonna drink; got wasted. Wasn’t gonna mosh; got slammed. Abreact, Hadal Maw, Join the Amish and Internal Nightmare took turns melting my face off and laughing. Got stuck in the cupboard of heat-filled heaty death upstairs and almost f**king died. Was more effective than any diet. Pizza place had $2 pizza slices. All was forgiven.

Cant. F**cking. Wait. For. Next. Year.”

Tennille Secomb “We play fast. We get undressed even faster.” (Riley and Paulie from Desecrator. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

Nick Lord

Just like Sarah herself, keytars never go out of fashion. (Sarah from Electrik Dynamite.

Photo by Silk Imagery.)

On one of the most glistening Saturdays in October, 33 of the best Australian acts descended on Collingwood’s renowned Tote and Bendigo hotels in a frenzy of hard rock, heavy metal and free beer. Here are some of the best shots from the day as well as a few thoughts from the Heavy writers.

It’s not the Holy Grail, just another golden ale.

(Azza from Frankenbok. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

“Whyyyy... [did I park in a one-hour zone?!]”

(Daryl from Scar the Surface. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

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Adelaide was never like this. (South Australia’s Truth Corroded. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“Mmm, they’re all so hot at HEAVY.” (Phoebe from Heaven the Axe, lookin’ all Wednesday Addams. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

“A mammoth event with a beefy line-up of diverse and talented musicians taking on some of the finest venues in this city.”

Justin Tawil

“Join the Amish, join the Amish, join the Amish.” (Pete from Join the Amish, telling you to... er, join the Amish. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

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I am become beard; the destroyer of clippers. (Dan from Frankenbok. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

Do you even 8-string, bro? (Ben from Hadal Maw. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

Singing backups never felt so good. (Paul from Bronson. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“There’s something self-indulgently gratifying about watching your tormented ex spit hate songs about you while being crushed in a wave of rank, sweaty 20-to-30 somethings in a room the size of a trailer.”

Onesies are all the rage nowadays. (Sam from I Am Duckeye. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

Best photobomb ever? (Dani, our merch superstar.

Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

Sheri Tantawy.

“Sunshine, beer, foot-long sausages (yep, it was a total sausage-fest) and a slew of 30 or so killer metal bands. What more could a gal ask for? Cupcakes? There were some of those too.”

Amanda Mason

“We got Greeeeg, we know how to use him.” (Greg from Dreadnaught. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

“Every band, every punter, everyone involved put in 110 per cent and it showed, kicking us in the face all day long.”

Anthony Moore.

“Who’s the heaviest guy in the room? I’m the heaviest guy in the room.” (Aaron from Hadal Maw. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

“I want her.” “No, I want her.” (HEAVY head honcho Liv and HEAVY editor Nick wrestle over Phoebe from Heaven the Axe. Photo by Silk Imagery.)

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“Say ‘Ronald’ one more time, I dare you. I double dare you.” (Paul from Internal Nightmare. Photo by White Demon Imaging.)

Apologies to any bands not featured here. Only so many pages. On the plus side, you can tell your friends it’s because the photographers were headbanging too hard to get a decent shot. Head on over to www.heavymag.com.au to view full galleries from both Silk Imagery and White Demon Imaging.

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D

rawing in part on the themes of previous albums, and yet continuing to evolve in every direction, Asymmetry contains the most diverse and mature music the band has ever made.

“It’s just a representation of what we’re thinking with what we were going through,” says bassist Jon Stockman. “It’s some of the hardest and heaviest stuff we’ve written... and some of the lightest stuff as well.”

“In general the main inspiration for this record was life itself.

I know that sounds really broad and kind of weird, but it’s about the cycle of life and the shape it has. That was part of it anyway.”

Asymmetry draws on a myriad of themes, including cymatics, the study of visible sound and vibrations that inspired Sound Awake, as well as larger perceptions of fear, death and even aliens.

“On ‘Nachash’, that stems from talking about cymatics and the understanding of knowledge being granted on people – it’s a twist on the apple on the Garden of Eden,” explains Stockman.

“Then, the notion of death and not being afraid of it was something we were really working with on the last song. It’s about accepting nothingess, and not being afraid of becoming nothing.

[Also] the idea of extraterrestrials plays a part in some of the songs as well. It’s all very different and is different song to song.”

When played through, the album is a sonic representation of its title, at first laced with the unique heaviness and groove that Karnivool have built their reputation upon, and then giving way to a more melodic second half full of blissful atmospheric passages.

Although the album is carefully structured, Karnivool set out to please themselves first, using their music as a catharsis rather than pandering to expectations.

“Once we’d written the material for about 60 per cent of the record we started to get an idea of what it was going to be like,” says Stockman. “It’s never really a conscious decision to set out and write a specific type of album – it just comes from the subconscious of where we we’re at.”

Wherever that place was, it’s taken them to an even better place now. Returning again to dominate European touring markets, it seems like a long way from where they started.

“I started in 2000 with the band and I think it’s done many changes,” says Stockman.

“It’s changed so dramatically I can’t really even put it into words, just from record to record even. The way we look as well, the way we used to wear our hair – it’s quite funny,” he laughs.

As Karnivool’s sound has matured, they have solidified a particularly loyal fan base and effectively future-proofed the band.

With rampant illegal downloading shifting the financial landscape of the music industry, there is now a hefty weight bestowed upon the live performance. But Karnivool have nothing to fear, because they deliver the whole package; the power and honesty displayed in their live performances articulates the emotion and intellect captured on their albums.

“For me, I think our fans are quite loyal to what we do and the live show is what they come for more than anything,” says Stockman. “When it comes to music sales of CDs, we’ve never really been in the bank of wanting to make our living from CDs anyway and I think the record industry hasn’t really kept up with what’s happened in the cyber realm. It feels like a mixed blessing with people stealing your music, between them spreading it to other people [but] not getting paid, so it’s sort of a two-edged sword.”

As Karnivool continue on their international tours in support of Asymmetry in Europe and the UK, these talented musicians are proving themselves to be one of Australia’s proudest exports.

Seemingly an endless fountain of creativity, Stockman hints that there may even be side projects to come.

“I don’t want to let too much out of the bag,” he says cautiously, “but there could be some other side projects stemming from members within Karnivool. Nothing more than that though because it might not happen.”

But what Stockman can confirm is on the horizon is an endeavour of his own.

“A few years ago I started to do stuff with a band calling Floating Me. I’m due to do some more stuff with them really soon, so that’s what I’m looking at doing [at the moment].”

While we wait to hear more about these extracurricular activities, Karnivool are enjoying their hard-earned success and retain a humble philosophy as they live out the dream of every musician.

“It’s something that doesn’t happen overnight,” says Stockman.

“It’s just a really slow process where you have to make a lot of sacrifices to do what you love. That’s sometimes enough for a lot of people and that keeps them going. We’re in a fortunate position now where we can just do the music, and that’s enough for me.

That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” H

Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Kane Hibberd

Karnivool are at the pinnacle of progressive rock in Australia. They are hardworking, talented and, with the gravity of their latest album Asymmetry now fully realised, their success is inexorable.

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Six String Surprise Words: Tennille Secomb

Part of Karnivool’s immense sound is owed to the deep groove of Jon Stockman’s six string bass. But, as the bassist explains, it wasn’t necessarily a natural progression: “It’s funny because I actually didn’t want to get a six string,” he says, “It was our first Big Day Out slot in 2002 on a local stage; at that point I’d had my bass stolen out of my girlfriend at the time’s car so I had to get something for the show. [The guitar shop] didn’t actually have any five strings; they only had six strings, so I thought ‘That’ll do!’ I got it on the Thursday and I had to learn how to play everything by the Sunday, so it was a bit of a weird gig. I couldn’t really get into it because I had to focus on what my hands were doing,” he laughs.

c hec k em o ut

‘We Are’ @YouTube

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The Artist Formerly Known As Necromayhem Words: Nathan Eden A look back at Rotting Christ’s early days reveals ties to the infamous Norwegian black metal scene of the early ‘90s. Mayhem guitarist Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth was impressed enough to show interest in signing Rotting Christ to his Deathlike Silence Productions label. Before a deal could be worked out, however, Euronymous was famously slain by Burzum’s one-man-band, Varg Virkines aka Count Grishnackh. At this time, Sakis Tolis went under the moniker Necromayhem as his band released a string of classic black metal albums including Non Serviam – an album title which retains meaning in the bands present-day philosophy as they continue to release extremely strong material. c hec k em o ut

‘Non Serviam’ - live @YouTube

T

Rotting Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Season Of Mist

Christ HEAVY magazine turns two in January and to help us celebrate, Rotting Christ are filling the main slot at HEAVYFEST in Melbourne and Sydney.

HEAVY catches up with front man Sakis Tolis to talk about playing live, their latest album and clean-living.

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hey grow up so quickly. January 2014 marks the second birthday of HEAVY and Greek extreme metallers Rotting Christ have been enlisted to headline celebrations in Sydney and Melbourne, following their own show in Brisbane. Touring nationally with Rotting Christ is Sydney’s blackened death machine, The Amenta, and Melbourne’s Terra Australis.

Renowned for their fierce live performance, Rotting Christ helped define the Greek black metal sound early in their career.

Having established themselves as part of the scene in the early 90s, evil-in-chief Sakis Tolis lists his early influences.

“Venom, Bathory and Celtic Frost,” he says. “But as time went by, I feel that we did create our own sound and I am proud when people say that our music style is simply Rotting Christ.”

When speaking of style and sound, Rotting Christ have gradually incorporated different elements, their sonic evolution allowing room for more experimental instrumentation.

“I do follow new bands, if only for matters of production,” explains Tolis, “but I don’t listen to a lot of modern music. I’m more interested in the atmospheric black and death metal of the ‘80s and ‘90s. I am fascinated with local ethnic music that really creates atmosphere and believe me, there is a lot if you search around.”

These elements have been introduced progressively to the point where the band’s current release Kata ton Daimona Eaytoy contains the use of horns, bagpipes and chants along with female vocals. Recreating these sounds live can pose a challenge but Tolis insists that Australian audiences will enjoy the full range of his band’s powers.

“Fitting all those pieces together on stage is hard indeed but making it happen is a result of a lot of hard work during rehearsals,” he says. “We also work on ambient sounds during the performance to make the crowd trip during our set-list. You will see when we are there,” Tolis assures.

Tolis separates his band from the pack by adopting a philosophical approach that filters through into the songwriting.

At first glance, the title of Rotting Christ’s latest full-length offering may seem like something to do with Aleister Crowley, or even Jim Morrison, but Tolis says that it relates to the philosophy of the band. “Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού is an Ancient Greek maxim that translates in to English as ‘True To Your Own Spirit’. This title reflects the non serviam path we have followed since the beginning,” explains Tolis.

It is a philosophy at times misunderstood, perhaps most

famously when Dave Mustaine refused to play with Rotting Christ on the bill. The spoilt, only-child-like display resulted in Rotting Christ being robbed of the chance to play a festival in their home nation. Tolis dismisses such ignorance by saying: “I am more than democratic and everyone has the right to his or her beliefs,” but adds that he has never spoken to Mustaine of the incident. “Why speak to him about it? I just don’t give a shit and will not support his conservative views.”

In terms of Australian audiences, Tolis recognises this country’s Greek heritage. In particular, he hopes that Melbourne’s Greek community shows its support.

“We know that Melbourne has the largest population of people with Greek heritage outside of Greece, so we call on them to come to our show. Metal is metal everywhere and judging from our previous visit to your land, it should be good.”

Metal might be metal, but it isn’t very rock’n’roll these days for the boys from Rotting Christ, it seems. The band has released 11 albums over a long career and Tolis has sage advice for a band that wishes to maintain such an intense live performance.

“Quit cigarettes, alcohol and drugs,” he says. “Try to get enough sleep and eat properly too. I know that doesn’t sound very rock’n’roll, but after many years on the road the only way to keep your energy alive on stage is to reduce some of your vices. We trip in a different way nowadays and most importantly, we respect people that pay for their ticket to see the band. We do not want them to see four guys pretending to play metal who are just waiting for the show to be over.”

They may be living clean but Tolis is still prepared to buy a round at the bar after the show. When asked what he knows of the Australian metal scene, the guitarist/vocalist says he hopes to make new friends over a beer or two whilst in the country.

“I had my friends from Zemial but they are in Greece now,” he says; “it’s the same for Deströyer 666 who are in Europe.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many friends from bands in Australia but I would love some band members to show up at our shows if they have time. I will pay for the beers after our appearance. We always like to hang out with fans.”

After witnessing their acclaimed live show there are sure to be many who are happy to return the shout. Tolis has only one message for Australian fans ahead of January; “Until we meet up, keep the spirit alive”. H

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c h eck e m o u t

‘Bloodshed’ @iTunes

Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Riot! Entertainment

With the release of Soulfly’s ninth studio album, Max Cavalera tells HEAVY of the diverse range of influences making up the family affair that is Savages.

“I thought this track reminded me of a punk song,” says Cavalera, “and my son has this awesome punk voice, kind of like old Corrosion of Conformity.”

As usual with a new Soulfly record, there are numerous guest performances, one of which may hint at what is playing on Max’s iPod. Jamie Hanks of I Declare War offers vocals to the death metal extremity of ‘Fallen’. Cavalera explains that his recent artistic inspiration is derived from bands including, amongst others, Tasmania’s Psycroptic and Sydney deathcore giants Thy Art Is Murder.

While Max says he wrote ‘Fallen’ with Jamie’s vocals in mind, another of the album’s cameos was born from spontaneity. Mitch Harris happened to drop by the studio and Max just had to ask him to contribute.

“Mitch had a day off and came by. I saw him there and just couldn’t resist getting him on the album, man. He’s fantastic.

‘K.C.S.’ was the perfect track because I wanted to see how his vocals worked with a slow, heavy riff rather than the faster stuff he plays with Napalm Death.”

‘K.C.S.’, Max explains, is a song that ties in quite well with the album’s title and general lyrical theme. ‘Savages’ refers to the broad subject of humanity and its seemingly inherent need to destroy itself despite technological progress.

“It’s about the human condition,” he says. “People all over the world continue to hurt and kill each other. We have the internet, missions to Mars, and all that sort of stuff. Yet brutality is still the essence of mankind.”

Neil Fallon of Clutch is another artist asked to contribute to Savages in the name of experimentation. Whilst Max took advantage of having sound engineer Sam Hofstedt on hand to create some “fun, Nine Inch Nails-type sounds and ideas” to add

diversity to the mix, it must have been a difficult endeavor to create the ultimately victorious cross-breed of heavy genres that is ‘Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla’ with Fallon.

“I thought it was a wild idea to include Neil on the track,” he says. “Having his heavy Southern rock influence certainly added something to that track and the album. I’m so happy with how things turned out and if you look at the record as a whole, there’s everything from extreme death metal tracks in some parts to flamenco guitars in others. I think it worked and turned out great,” Max enthuses.

It is hard to disagree with him and listeners of Savages will surely find that they do not want to. Cavalera was thrilled to work with acclaimed producer Terry Date and says: “We achieved the exact sound we wanted and I could not be any happier with the result.”

With Soulfly tours through North America and Europe to go alongside his involvement in the Metal Allstars tour of South America in November with the likes of Phil Anselmo and Joey Belladonna, Max is sure to be kept busy. It does not seem to weary him though, after decades in the metal game. Enthusiasm at being a heavy music fan, blessed to be living out his dreams, appears to protect him from complacency.

“I’m looking forward to playing with those guys,” he says.

“Especially Phil. I can’t wait to hear him sing.”

Likewise, many Australian fans will be itching to hear Max’s familiar war-cry bark, which it seems will be in the near future.

“The last time I was down there in Australia was with Cavalera Conspiracy at the Big Day Out and absolutely loved it. So I will most definitely be back in the country with Soulfly at some stage soon.” H

Savages Soulfly Words: Nathan Eden

M

ax Cavalera should have run out of riffs by now. Spanning decades, his is one of the most envious careers of any metal musician. From the early days as an angry Brazilian teen founding Sepultura with his brother, through to the most recent of Soulfly’s nine studio albums, Max has managed to become one of the most instantly recognisable names in the heavy music scene worldwide.

At some point in the latter half of his time with thrash giants Sepultura, Brazil’s answer to an angry Bob Marley began to experiment with tribal beats and world music, fusing traditional South American drums and native Indian chants with distorted riff-fury. Many years later in 2013, Soulfly’s ninth installment, Savages, proves once again that this was no party trick and that there is as much purpose in the band’s experimentation now as there was in the ‘90s.

Despite many team-member changes, Max’s vision has ensured

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that Soulfly has been a cohesive, creative unit throughout. Savages sees Max fronting a band that, like Sepultura, has another Cavalera sitting on the drum stool on a full-time basis. Having played on tracks previously in Soulfly, Max’s son Zyon becomes a permanent member of the band for the first time on this latest release.

Zyon is a very capable drummer, says his father.

“He plays a lot like his uncle; he hits very hard,” Cavalera explains. “We practiced and practiced for like, seven or eight hours a day for a month and a half in the lead-up to recording the album.

I’m extremely happy with his work and proud that he was able to contribute and come up with the drum parts on his own.”

The new album’s opening track ‘Bloodshed’ is clearly one of the leader’s favourites amongst the new set for a couple of reasons. Not only is it built around what Max describes as “the best riff [he has] written in the past twenty years”, but it also contains the vocals of yet another Cavalera, Zyon’s brother, Igor.

Equal parts death metal and groove, Soulfly’s ninth album is in part, an obvious shot in the direction of metal extremity whilst still bouncing along with a victorious nod to thrash as Max Cavalera continues upon his quest in searching for the perfect riff. This time around, guests include Mitch Harris of Napalm Death, the perfect death vocals of I Declare War’s Jamie Hanks on stand-out ‘Fallen’, and the surprisingly symbiotic meshing with Clutch’s Neil Fallon on the southern rock-infused highlight, ‘Ayatollah Of Rock n’ Rolla’. Max’s son Zyon plays drums for the whole set while the infectious opening track ‘Bloodshed’ sees Max’s other son Igor, lends punk vocals to a true Cavalera affair. Soulfly are clearly enjoying making music and are in full-flight throughout Savages.

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Schools of Rock Words: Nick Lord

Photo courtesy of JMC Academy

The popularity of tertiary music education is skyrocketing in Australia as the industry pushes for new entrants to hold basic levels of qualification in all positions. In this special report, HEAVY highlights the courses and where they’re offered.

S

o you wanna work in music? We get it. You’ve thought of nothing else since purchasing your first CD and windmilling your air guitar until the wee hours. You dream of nothing but headlining Monsters of Rock, already tell everyone you know you’re “going on tour soon” and meticulously sculpt every aspect of your image right down to the bootlaces, just to make sure you’ll look the part if, and when, that dream job presents itself. Alas, the keyword ‘rockstar’ doesn’t return too many search results in online job listings these days.

Perhaps you can land a job as a roadie, a merch assistant or even an instrument tech.

What a cool gig that’d be. You can follow your favourite bands, see all their shows for free, rub shoulders with rockstars, go drinking with the fans, and basically just experience the life of a touring musician, all without having to learn an instrument. But a lifetime of heavy lifting, fast food, 12-hour bus rides and cramped hotel rooms might not be everyone’s cup of tea. The work can be backbreaking, the pay ain’t that great and most of those stories you hear about roadies scoring with groupies are, well, stories – this ain’t the ‘80s anymore, kid.

All is not lost, however. Despite the

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manic downsizing in recent years that has lead to the closures of a giant number of record labels and CD retailers – and forced more than a few musicians to ditch their dreams and get real jobs – music remains a giant industry that employs thousands of people, particularly on the live front. Flowing just below the surface of the stage is a thick vein of jobs that’ll get you closer to the action than you ever dreamed. If lugging road cases isn’t your thing, it might be time to get some skills together, and what better way to give you the chance to do something you really love than by going back to school?

In Australia alone, there are over 100 different tertiary courses dedicated to some aspect of the music industry. Almost every university in the country offers some form of music-related education to its students, as do a wide array of TAFEs and private colleges.

By far, the most popular field of study is the cover-all course in ‘music’, generally available as a Bachelor of Arts (music) or as a stand-alone Bachelor of Music but also available in Certificate II, Certificate III, Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma levels at some 60 tertiary institutions across the country – and that’s just counting undergraduate options.

The field is vast and entrants into music

courses can now feast upon a smorgasbord of units without even having to tackle an instrument. A quick read of just one particular course description shows the breadth of directions students can take.

There’s music history, music technology, instrument studies, music industry studies, music arrangement, song writing, artistic judgement, stagecraft, business principles, arranging for horns, arranging for strings, music in visual contexts, improvisation and rhythmic studies, copyright agreements, arranging for large ensembles, world music, composition, creative music technology, ethnomusicology, musicology and performance.

Whew, it’s enough to make your head spin, and that isn’t even all of it. Such profundity highlights just how popular music has become as a field of study – hell, in New South Wales alone, students can take a straight-up ‘music’ course at 19 different universities, TAFEs and colleges. Queensland and Victoria aren’t far behind either.

Note that this isn’t taking into account the number of courses offered in sound production and audio engineering, another field that is also booming. Covering everything from audio and acoustic theory to advanced recording techniques, audio

production courses are currently available in qualifications ranging from Cert II to Bachelor at over 30 institutions Australiawide.

Lance Krize is the head VET coordinator and live sound lecturer at SAE, a private college founded in Australia in 1976 that now boasts 55 campuses worldwide. In his seven years as a head lecturer with the school, he’s seen a remarkable rise in enrolments.

“It’s amazing how many students we’re getting,” he says excitedly. “Numbers have gone up immensely [since he started] – they’ve tripled, maybe more – and courses have exploded also. It’s no longer just a school of audio engineering. There are all different kinds of audio courses and music-related business courses, as well as all the gaming and film courses we now offer.”

Krize believes the rising enrolment number is really a reflection on the state of the industry.

“People are realising that it’s not like the old days when you can just go out there and learn from scratch by bugging people; you have to go out with an education now,” he explains. “Just having a qualification behind you means you’re better off from the start.

You’ll still work your way up the ranks, but it doesn’t take as long.”

To Krize, the benefits of training are plainly obvious, and any costs are offset by increased employability and better job conditions for graduates.

“First off, you’ll make a lot more money much quicker if you’re properly trained.

When you don’t know what you’re doing, bands don’t really want to hire you.”

Speaking about his own live sound course, Krize is adamant that students learn the exact skills they need to put self-taught mixers to shame.

“A soundman can make or break a show – if you’re lousy, people will go away thinking it was a lousy show even if the band was fantastic; if you’re good, people can come away thinking it was a great show even if the band was ordinary,” he says, adding that education is also a way to speed up the knowledge process, crucial in a society now obsessed with immediacy of information: “School gives you the knowledge you want so much quicker than if you were to go and do it yourself. When you get out into the world, you know what you’re doing right off the bat.”

Glenn Ferguson is head of audio engineering and sound production at Australia’s JMC Academy, another private college that offers degrees and diplomas in music, audio engineering and entertainment business management, as well as game design and film/TV production. He agrees emphatically that education saves students time and money when getting themselves established in their chosen fields, stating that the old way was the long way around.

“Once upon a time, if you got a job as an assistant engineer or a runner, you’d spend the first year making coffee and lunches,” he says. “After that, you might have been lucky enough to become a tape operator for another year or so.”

Ferguson believes the boom in courses reflects a changing industry in which employers now expect job seekers to satisfy certain competency standards before they even begin.

“Nowadays engineers don’t have time to teach people so it’s not really possible to learn on the job like before,” he says. “They [employers] expect you walk in and be able to work the patch bay and set up mics straight away, for example.”

In this sense, Ferguson believes the schools are doing the industry a favour by not only preparing new entrants, but also by vetting potential workers, sifting out the undesirables ahead of time and, thus, minimising risks for employers.

“I guess if anyone did try to walk into a job in this day and age, employers would say they’ve already got their pick of graduates so why would they employ you? They’re looking for people dedicated enough to put in the time and effort to learn their craft in advance,” he says. “Plus, really, they use us [the schools] as a filter – we get to observe students to see if they’re reliable and if they have a good attitude. Rather than putting ads into a newspaper and getting random applications, they [employers] just contact us directly because we send reliable workers who are already trained, have the right personality and can work as part of a team.”

There’s a common gripe in audio engineering for bands that there are too many students and not enough jobs, and that the rise of DIY recording has led to a sharp decline in the number of bands who are recording albums in studios.

Ferguson agrees that the landscape has changed as far as bands are concerned but stresses that there is more audio work than ever before as long as students cast a wider net.

“More stuff is being recorded now than ever before, but it’s just more efficient nowadays. Big studios are suffering because you don’t need a great big console to do overdub work, which means there are more opportunities for up-and-comers to eat into that market, especially when $10,000 will buy you a studio able to handle jingles, voiceovers and post production work,” he says, adding that a career in audio is about so much more than recording bands.

“Sure, all the students come in thinking it’s about rock music but there are so many other options than recording the next Karnivool album. Plenty of students end up going into acoustic design, designing rooms or measuring traffic noise on infrastructure projects and making a very good living – it’s not all pop songs and jingles.”

Shifting direction and moving away from audio production, another rapidly growing field of study is that of music business and management, which is again available in a variety of different qualification levels (from Cert IV to Bachelor) at over 20 institutions nationwide. Twenty doesn’t sound like many, but it’s important to remember that all of the students studying the aforementioned ‘music’ courses are not counted in this yetare still unlocking similar course content. For the purpose of comparison, ‘music business’ in this article refers to dedicated music business courses only, of which there are no music performance or music theory components.

“I guess if anyone did try to walk into a job in this day and age, employers would say they’ve already got their pick of graduates so why would they employ you?”

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Get in the game

Music business and management draws in hundreds of aspiring music lawyers, accountants, promoters and band managers each year to study themes such as international touring, copyright and publishing, tour and performance management, contract negotiation, music distribution management, artist management, occupational health and safety, and how to secure funding. Sales of recorded music might have reduced to a trickle, thanks to the omnipotent immediacy of illegal music downloads, but live music is thriving as artists move to arrest the income shortfall created by the loss of album revenue, which is a likely reason for the popularity of a field that deals largely in touring contracts and artist management.

“It’s not like the old days when you can just go out there and learn from scratch by bugging people; you have to go out with an education now.”

Live music and touring isn’t only about rock bands, as highlighted by the slew of courses appearing under the banner of live production, theatre and events. One only needs to flip through the weekly entertainment guide to see just how many theatre shows and musicals are running on any given weekend, collectively employing thousands. Students in this field study audio visual systems, event management, lighting, live production, multimedia, sound production, stage management, theatre technology and much more, and might hope to gain employment in large-scale musical and theatrical productions.

The theatre sector also receives significant amounts of attention for students in the venue and event management field, which offers a full complement of courses at 23 institutions Australia-wide. Slightly different from standard event management, the emphasis in these courses is on managing music and stage venues, which extends way beyond the Bald Faced Stag in Sydney or the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. If you can’t get a gig mixing for Karnivool, shifting gears a little and targeting the thriving theatre sector could prove lucrative. Who knows? With the right knowledge of venues and events, you might even end up working on Shane Warne the Musical. Sure, laugh now, but a paying gig is a paying gig.

As JMC’s Glenn Ferguson mentioned,

qualifications are crucial to getting a start, but turning those qualifications into paid work is all about casting a wider net. For example, sound and stage students might not have considered just how many opportunities are available at high-school musicals right across the country. Kew High School one day, The Lion King the next, right?

Outside the main fields of study discussed here, there are many more musicrelated courses available for students looking to up-skill in a niche area. Those interested in hands-on work might enjoy the Certificate III in Musical instrument making and repair, for example, available at the Northern College of the Arts and Technology in Preston, Victoria.

Trying to list them all here would be cumbersome and really doesn’t address the aim of this article, which is to highlight that there’s no shortage of courses available to those wanting music-industry careers.

While it’s certainly true that the act of studying a music-related course cannot provide students with any guarantee of employment or income, further education does equip students with the necessary technical knowledge they need to enter the industry and launch their careers. It needs to be said that studying is far from the only way to get a job in the industry, but it is an advantage that isn’t available to those who choose to go it alone and, in such a cut-throat business, every little bit helps. H

To help you on your way, we’ve compiled a list of Australia’s most popular undergraduate music courses and the institutions that offer them. This list is by no means exhaustive and is intended to help those looking for a starting point by giving a general overview of what is available and where to go. audio engineering and sound production Themes: Audio and acoustic theory, music production, recording techniques, electronics, live sound, sound aesthetics, audio system design, sound for TV radio and film, project management, electronic media, sound editing, mixing and mastering, and more.

Suits: anyone seeking to work with sound. Roles include audio engineers, live mixers, acoustic designers, voiceover artists, jingle writers, folly artists and many more.

Options: cert IV (1yr), diploma (1yr), advanced diploma (2yrs), bachelor (3yrs)

NSW Australian Institute of Music, Illawarra Institute of TAFE, JMC Academy, SAE Institute/ QANTUM, Sydney Institute, Western Sydney Institute of TAFE

music business and management courses Themes: professional communication and practice, entertainment marketing, accounting fundamentals, copyright and publishing, event and festival management, international touring concepts, licensing and branding, project-funding, artist management, contract management, occupational health and safety, and more.

Suits: anyone looking to learn more about business issues common to the music industry.

Roles include promoters, managers, venue operators, accountants, tour operators, publicists, concert promoters, even managers and many more.

Options: cert IV, diploma, advanced diploma, bachelor.

NSW Australian Institute of Music, JMC Academy, Sydney Institute, University of NSW, Western Sydney Institute of TAFE

music Themes: music history, music theory, music technology, instrument studies, music industry studies, music arrangement and composition, live sound and production, music performance, musicology, ethnomusicology, rhythmic studies and much more.

Suits: anyone looking to study the theory and performance of music. Roles include musicians, music teachers, composers, conductors and more.

Options: cert II, cert III, diploma, advanced diploma, bachelor.

NT Charles Darwin University

TAS TasTAFE University of Tasmania

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QLD Central Queensland University, Gold Coast Institute of TAFE, James Cook University , JMC Academy, SAE Institute/QANTUM, Southbank Institute of Technology, Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE SA Music SA, SAE Institute/QANTUM, TAFE SA, University of Adelaide

NT Charles Darwin University QLD Gold Coast Institute of TAFE, JMC Academy, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE, Queensland University of Technology, Southbank Institute of Technology, Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE

TAS TasTAFE VIC Australian College of the Arts, Australian Institute of Music, Bendigo TAFE, Box Hill Institute of TAFE, JMC Academy, Northern College of the Arts and Technology, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, SAE Institute/ QANTUM, Victoria University, Wodonga Institute of TAFE WA Castlerock Institute of Music, Central Institute of Technology, SAE Institute/QANTUM, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts VIC Australian College of the Arts, Australian Institute of Music, Box Hill Institute of TAFE, JMC Academy, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, RMIT University WA Castlerock Institute of Music, Central Institute of Technology, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts

SA Music SA

QLD Central Queensland University, Gold Coast Institute of TAFE , Griffith University, JMC Academy, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE, Queensland University of Technology SAE Institute/QANTUM, Southbank Institute of Technology, Southern Cross University , Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE, Tropical North Queensland TAFE, University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland SA Music SA, SAE Institute/QANTUM, TAFE SA, University of Adelaide

Live Production, Theatre and Events (Technical Operation) Themes: audio visual equipment, event management, lighting, live productions, multimedia, sound production, stage management, theatre and events, theatre industry, theatre technology and many more.

Options: cert IV, diploma, advanced diploma.

Suits:anyone looking to study the tasks and themes associated with running theatre productions and other live entertainment events. Roles: producers, directors, playwrights, scenic designers, lighting designers, show control designers, technical directors and more.

NSW SAE Institute/QANTUM, Sydney Institute, Western Sydney Institute of TAFE

Venue, events and event management Themes: professional communication, entertainment business, professional practice, entertainment marketing, event management principles, promotion and publicity, creative content design and distribution, touring concepts, licensing and branding, and more.

Suits: anyone looking to learn how to manage venues and run events. Roles include event planners, event managers, venue operators and proprietors, tour bookers, booking agents and many more.

Options: cert IV, diploma, advanced diploma, bachelor

ACT Canberra Institute of Technology

QLD Entertainment Technical Event Training College, Gold Coast Institute of TAFE, SAE Institute/QANTUM, Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE, Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE SA TAFE SA

NSW APM College of Business and Communication, Hunter Institute, Illawarra Institute of TAFE, Martin College, McCleay College , Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, William Blue College of Hospitality Management QLD APM College of Business and Communication, Entertainment Technical Event Training College, Martin College

VIC Australian Guild of Music Education, Australian Institute of Music, Box Hill Institute of TAFE JMC Academy, Monash University, MWT Institute, Northern College of the Arts and Technology, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, SAE Institute/QANTUM, University of Melbourne , Victoria University WA Australian Catholic University, Australian College of the Arts, Castlerock Institute of Music, Central Institute of Technology, Edith Cowan University, Illawarra Institute of TAFE, SAE Institute/QANTUM, University of Western Australia, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts TAS TasTAFE VIC Northern College of the Arts and Technology, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, SAE Institute/QANTUM, University of Ballarat WA Castlerock Institute of Music (tech production), Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts

SA Music SA, TAFE SA, University of South Australia VIC Holmesglen TAFE, LaTrobe University, MWT Institute, Swinburne University of Technology , William Angliss TAFE, Wondonga Institute of TAFE WA Australian College of Applied Education, Central Institute of Technology, Challenger Institute of Technology, Curtin University, Polytechnic West, West Coast Institute.

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Five minutes alone...

As part of our exploration into music education, HEAVY spent five minutes with four people all making a living from music in four very different ways.

with a touring musician Dave Haley Psycroptic drummer (also Ruins, The Amenta and Blood Duster)

with a studio engineer/producer Warren Hammond Chief engineer and producer at Penny Drop Audio (Belakor, House of Thumbs, Machido, Jerrico)

with a promoter Glen ‘Dysie’ Dyson Director/owner of Soundworks Touring (Hate Eternal, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and more)

with a music teacher Alisha Gartland Owner and head vocal coach at The House of Voice

How did you get started?

It was really by default – I didn’t really choose this; I just fell into it because I liked playing drums and touring in bands, and I realised it took up way more of my time than I could manage while holding down a real job. So I wouldn’t say I chose it. I’d say it chose me.

What study or training have you done?

In terms of playing instruments, I took lessons when I was younger and I still take lesson to this day so I am always trying to better myself as a player and a musician. In terms of the business side of things, I thought I should have something to fall back on so I studied business and marketing at TAFE and university. I’ve also learnt lots from real life experience and doing things, like making a f**kload of mistakes and trying not to do them again.

What skills are most important?

Time management. Making sure you’re doing everything as efficiently as possible is pretty much it.

What are the conditions like? (the pay, the hours, etc...)

The hours are all day, every day. I am always having to work but it’s work that I enjoy. In terms of money and the conditions, the money is just enough to get by. I consider myself not a musician but a glorified hustler, and also a removalist because I’m always moving my own gear around the place.

Advice for those who wanna be a muso?

Practice your instrument. If you love it, just keep doing it. If you don’t love it, do something else. It’s not that easy to make a living in the industry but if you want to do it, you can. You’ve just gotta find the right way.

What are the best and worst things about it?

Never being off the clock, and always working. That would probably be both the best and the worst thing, because it keeps you motivated and focussed but sometimes it’s hard to switch off.

Would you recommend the job?

Well I don’t know anything else. I can’t hold down a job so this is why I do it. I wouldn’t say I recommend it, but I wouldn’t say I discourage it. It’s not for everyone.

Rate your occupation on a scale of 10 for its quality of work and for its ‘rockstar’ factor. (Are you truly living the dream?)

Work would be 10, rockstar would be -5.

How did you get started?

I used to be in a band called Purged. My exposure to studio life at that time is the reason I got into engineering. I was the only member of the band who enjoyed the tireless hours in the studio.

What study or training have you done?

I did a Cert IV in Audio Engineering at RMIT, but I was already into engineering and doing a little bit of live sound by then. I did the course mainly because I didn’t know anyone else who was an engineer and I had no network. I think I’m the only person out of 100+ students who had his own studio at the end of it, although I still finished in the bottom five per cent of the course (laughs).

What skills are most important?

Smile and show your value. You’ve gotta be able to get really good value for your dollar.

What are the conditions like? (the pay, the hours, etc...)

I’m lucky because I have my own facility and my skills are honed in a particular way. During the busy periods it can be full time, but that is polarised by the quiet periods where it might be only one or two days per week. Most engineers have other sources of income.

Overall, is the job hard?

Not when you’re passionate about it. The only hard part about the job is that the industry is softening. We all love music and none of us can think of anything better to do with our time, but when the industry softens around you, it has an impact.

Best and worst things about it?

That’s easy. It’s because I love it that it’s bittersweet.

Would you recommend the job?

That question is like when you’re having a bad day and someone asks “How’s your day?” and you answer with “Yeah, good.”

Advice for those going this direction?

If you get into it as a passion, make sure mum and dad have some money. If you get into it as a career, you better have some pretty exceptional skills and an experienced engineer by your side.

Rate your occupation on a scale of 10 for its quality of work and for its ‘rockstar’ factor. (Are you truly living the dream?)

Work level is about a 9 and the rockstar level is about a 2.5.

There’s not much glam going on, and not a lot of free champagne and crack making its way into the studio. It’s head down, bum up.

If not, someone else might do the work faster and cheaper. That’s the motivating factor.

How did you get started?

It was really unplanned. Brad [Wesson] and I owned rehearsal studios in Perth and have always been in bands. Dave Haley from Psycroptic got in contact about working together to bring Hate Eternal out. Hate Eternal put in a good word with their manager Gunter Ford, who also manages Nile, and, before we knew it, we were touring them as well. It took off from there.

What study or training have you done?

I’d owned my own businesses previously – I used to be a gardener and a lawn mowing contractor – and I did a TAFE music course for a couple of years, which helped.

What skills are most important?

It’s just about trial and error, taking calculated risks, being very careful with budgets and having good communication skills.

What are the conditions like? (the pay, the hours, etc...)

I’d say part-time money, full-time work. Roughly eight to ten hours most days but sometimes 16-17 hour days if things are busy.

There’s not much money in death metal, that’s for sure, but it’s really fun. I make half the money I did 12 years ago but I’m 1,000 times happier so it’s okay. It’s enough to get by. We’ve also got a label and a merch company, and I do a lot of freelance promo work.

Overall would you say it’s a hard job? What are the best and worst things about it?

You’ve just gotta be really organised, which is probably the hardest part. There’s a lot to be done and not everyone can do it.

Do you recommend it as an occupation?

No. Definitely not, because there’s too many of us out there at the moment; there’s too much competition. Australia definitely doesn’t need any more promoters. Turnouts are getting smaller, and other promoters are charging way too much for tickets. People aren’t aware of how much money it costs to put on a tour.

Any advice for those going in this direction?

Only do it if you’ve got experience in the industry. I wouldn’t just go out and become a mechanic because I like cars. I don’t know the first thing about cars, so why would I become a mechanic? You’ve gotta at least be in a band or put on shows and work with some other bands. You’ve gotta do the ground work.

Rate your occupation on a scale of 10 for its quality of work and for its ‘rockstar’ factor. (Are you truly living the dream?)

10/10. If you’re not going to rate yourself then why be in it!

How did you get started?

I’m a performer myself with an Opera background but I studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium and had worked as contemporary singer prior to that. On my own path, I had pursued operatic study and continued to Victorian College of the Arts.

What was your certification?

A Diploma of Music and a Bachelor of Music.

What skills are important as a music teacher?

If you want to be a teacher in music schools, you have to at least do a Diploma of Education. Study whatever you are passionate about, and then pursue your teaching on top of that. It’s important for upcoming teachers to really know their craft, especially for singer, because singing involves your body and your muscles, which can give you problems later down the track if you dont do it right.

What are the conditions like? (the pay, the hours, etc...)

Owning my own business, I get to choose my own hours.

I usually work about seven hours a day, generally from early afternoon until late evening. That leaves the mornings and weekends for performing and composing. It’s an ideal outcome because you get to impart knowledge and develop people, and run a career as an arist also. Doing private tuition, the pay is really quite good but it’s based on your knowledge. If your skills don’t match up then people will soon have that figured out.

What are the best and worst things about it?

The best thing is that you get to change people’s lives. Your voice and yourself are fairly inseparable, so anything that’s holding you back muscle-wise is holding you back in your life as well. It’s not really the worst part, but the business side is probably the less creative part that’s not necessarily what a music teacher would do if they were working for someone. You have to be able to balance your time to run the business and give it the attention it needs.

And so overall you would recommend it as an occupation?

Oh definitely! Absolutely.

What is your advice to someone going in this direction?

Take the time to really know craft.

Rate your occupation on a scale of 10 for its quality of work and for its ‘rockstar’ factor. (Are you truly living the dream?)

Definitely 10/10. I actually don’t feel like I work a day in my life because everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned for myself.

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All photos Jay Hynes

Words: Sheri Tantawy Photos: Jay Hynes

Snap Happy

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Jay Hynes, in his own words 2

View Jay Hynes’ work at www.jayhynes.com 3

Back in 2000, art director Jay Hynes took a part-time course in photography. A decade later he was shooting rock and roll’s biggest names, as well as the occasional rock and roll grandmother.

I

t’s not hard to see that Jay Hynes has a unique eye for photography.

His images appear natural and organic, each capturing an instinctive feel. Having always been fascinated by music and the creative process in general, Jay explains that his inspiration stems from the way a musician hears a riff in their head and contextualises it into a song, a release and a performance.

“Every photographer has a style and everyone sees a gig differently.

My style or feel has come from what I learnt as an art director and the type of photography I’ve always admired – photo journalism,” he says, adding that sometimes instinctive feel just comes down to luck.

Foraging through his extensive folio, there appears to be little to no post processing in his live shots as opposed to his promotional/ conceptual pieces. His reasoning is pure and real, shedding a new light on his unapologetic raw style. “You’re shooting to capture a single moment, there are no second chances,” he explains. “To me, the great photo journalist doesn’t need a lot of retouching; they either have the shot or they don’t.” Although Hynes advises that some light colour calibration may occur in post, he has no qualms against extensive retouching, adding that it just isn’t his dig: “I see shooting live as a real challenge and I’m very hard on myself, so if I don’t get the shot I’m after, no amount of post processing or retouching helps.”

Hynes’ love of music posters fuelled his passion for Rock Photography and he’s spent countless hours scouring the shelves of stores to find the latest Guns N Roses or Midnight Oil posters.

“I used to put my name on the promo posters in records stores so that when they were finished with them, they’d become mine,” he explains. “I also used to carefully rip down gig posters around town and put them up on my wall.”

His portrait series Grandmas Rock is a unique juxtaposition of darling old biddies going about their daily lives while sporting black band shirts. [Pioneers repping pioneers, ey? – Ed.] “I really wanted to do something different and I had a few ideas but none of them were quite right,” Hynes says, explaining how the shoot came to pass. “Somehow, I thought up grandmas in band t-shirts.”

The photos are subtle and, as he continues to explain, it’s the reason why the subjects are completing daily tasks like ironing, making the bed and even enjoying a cup of tea dressed in fine porcelain china.

“Asking a grandma if I can come into her home for a couple of hours and take photos of her while she wears a ‘Highway to Hell’ t-shirt wasn’t easy but they were all fantastic to work with,” he says.

Hynes is a fan of conceptual pieces but says he has always enjoyed the honesty in portrait photography, so much so that he prefers it over conceptual work.

Is rock photography really a viable source of income though, even with the insurgence of big name acts flooding Aussie stages every other

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day of the week?

“Photography is definitely a viable source of income but shooting only live music certainly wouldn’t be,” he says. “You still need to shoot portraits, promos and other commercial work to survive.”

Hynes finds that the music scene is comparatively less ruthless than advertising creatives and is actually really friendly. He recalls a turning point in his career when a reputable photographer called him up out of the blue and asked if he’d like to shoot Kanye West for him because he was double booked.

“I managed to get some okay shots of Kanye and was asked if I’d like to continue shooting for them [the publication]. I always find the most talented people are the most decent and he’s probably never given it much thought, but that was a turning point for me.”

Photographers need drive, motivation and a keen eye for detail for their work to succeed, and Hynes says passion is essential: “I believe any profession or life pursuit requires passion, without it your wasting your time.” He believes that the critical component in undertaking photography is how a photographer sees the world.

“If you compare shots from various photographers at the same gig, you’ll notice remarkable differences and beautiful subtleties because they each view the subject differently. Some photographs will stand out compared to others.”

While he quips that there’s no personality trait needed, essentially some self awareness helps, especially when you’re squashed in a pit or when you’re getting to know your subject in the studio.

“An almost insane work ethic helps too,” he adds.

With this statement, Hynes questions the modern day notion that an education is crucial to becoming a great photographer, stating, “Many brilliant photographers have studied the craft at university but there are many just as brilliant who don’t have any formal education. There are arguments for both but I don’t have a university degree in photography.”

Speaking gear, Hynes’ rig includes a Canon 1Dx and a 5DmkII, and a stack of Canon L-series lenses, including the workhorse 24-70mm f2.8, the essential 70-200 f2.8, the sweet portrait hero that is the 85mm f1.2, the trusty candid 50mm f1.4 and a 24-105 f4. These lenses all have fast apertures that work best in low light, fast action situations. “I also have a Profoto battery pack kit, a bunch of soft boxes, a beauty dish and standard reflectors,” he adds. Having said that, Hynes advises that some of his favourite shots are the ones that rely on sunlight only. “Also, I use Capture One and shoot tethered to the laptop when doing portraits or studio work to keep my workflow efficient.”

Asked to name his dream shoot, he responds without hesitation: Acca Dacca (AC/DC) live, and Bon Scott for portraiture. “Look, obviously that [Bon Scott] isn’t going to happen, so I’d settle for Malcom Young,” he says, adding, “He’s a genius.” H

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5

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AIRBOURNE – This is from Airbourne’s latest tour at the Corner Hotel. I think I’ve shot them more than any other band – I’m a big fan. I still remember seeing them at the Duke, a pub in Prahran [Melbourne] that has now closed down, years ago when they first began. There was about 20 people there but Airbourne played like they were playing the biggest stadium in the world. As it turns out, years later, they do that for real.

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FRANKENBOK – This is Dan, lead singer of Frankenbok. It was taken at during my Backstage at CherryFest series, late 2012. I’d just shot the band and then began shooting individual shots. Without a word, Dan pulled this pose and I very quickly shot a couple of frames. I’ve found, most of the time, the less I instruct a band, the better the shots turn out. It’s probably still one of my favourite portraits.

3

PiL – This was shot at The Palace from PiL’s tour earlier this year. A few days before the gig, John Lydon had an argument with Carrie Blackmore [on Channel 10’s The Project] that got a fair bit of publicity so I wasn’t sure if he was going to stop mid song and scream at one of the photographers in the pit. Turns out he was great to shoot.

4

DEATH GRIPS – This was shot at this year’s Big Day Out. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying but they were probably the most intense band on the bill.

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NORTHLANE – I was booked to shoot Karnivool at Melbourne Town Hall in August and got there a bit early so I grabbed a beer and watched the support act Northlane from the sound desk. I decided to pull out my camera to get a few shots. I had to wait for a bit to get this but I’m happy that I did.

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BITTER SWEET KICKS – This is Johnny Kicks from Bitter Sweet Kicks from my first Backstage at CherryRock series.

I’d already shot the band earlier in the day and got chatting to him about his Rose Tattoo tatt and how great Rose Tattoo are. Later on he walked around backstage after their set, naked except for his bass guitar. He literally just walked in-front of the backdrop and started skolling his JD can. He then disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

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photo: James Hartley

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Words: Lav Nandlall Photo: Courtesy of Metal Blade Records

Between the Buried and Me Metal has been blasphemed by an ignorant mainstream, resurrected by a blue-collar force, supported by legions of wayward souls and right there by your side when nobody accepted you. As Between the Buried and Me’s Paul Waggoner affirms, it is about more than just the music; it is an identity.

“B

eing in a band has shaped me and made me a better human being,” says Paul Waggoner, guitarist for Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM). “This has been my life for the past thirteen years and I know that this is my thing, my specialty.”

Deriving their name from the lyrics of Counting Crows, the North Carolina five-piece has garnered a solid repute in the metal community with their tasty licks, powerful performances and proficient musical technicality. It has taken a stalwart line-up and years of musical maturity to make BTBAM the enigmatic band they are today and their textured progressive style has initiated a new fusion of metal and, in the process, noosed a broader audience.

“We never thought that we would even be able to tour the entire United States of America,” Waggoner says, “much less travel overseas to all these different places around the world. It’s been a dream come true and it’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this now for over 13 years.”

When was the big break?

“For us, back in 2008 when we were asked to tour with Dream Theater, that was a big deal for us,” he explains. “We felt validated by the music community because Dream Theater, whom we always idolised, had personally asked us to go on tour with them – so it was really an honour.”

Waggoner says another touring privilege is, in fact, Australia: “There are always little things that are really an honour, like going back to Australia again and playing for the second time. It is actually extremely rare for a band to go to Australia twice in a touring cycle but when you guys asked us to come back, it made us get pumped

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up. The people are great, the shows are great and it’s worth the very long aeroplane flights.”

When BTBAM touchdown on Australian soil this month, they will perform their grotesquely-beautiful album The Parallax II: Future Sequence in its entirety, a release best described as blazing rhythms beneath a canopy of evil.

Waggoner explains that the concept album was deliberately written as one piece of music to encourage fans to listen to the album from start to finish with no pauses.

“We want to present it that way live as well. It is a challenge but we want to give it a shot – it could be cool... or not,” he laughs.

Despite the artistic challenge presented by the technicallyprogressive nature of their music and the success that has followed the band, BTBAM has only recently been able to securing a line-up.

As of 2005, bass player Dan Briggs was the last member to settle into the current line-up. Nonetheless, how many members can go down before it stops being Between The Buried And Me? “We always say that the next person who goes, that will be the end of the band but now I’ve said that, I’m sure something horrible is going to happen,” Waggoner says with a hearty laugh. “For right now, though, I think we are done with line-up changes. The changes made early in our career were due to members not wanting to tour and wanting to have normal jobs with a normal life, so we had to find people willing to sacrifice their normal lives for being a rock‘n’roller. I like these guys, we are all on the same page and I hope it remains.”

Another point of continuity going forward for BTBAM will be

ch e ck e m o u t

‘Astral Body’ @YouTube

current label Metal Blade. Since departing with Victory records, the band have found triumph with their new partner.

“We’ve done two records now with Metal Blade,” Waggoner says. “They give us control of what we do and they’re pretty good with their suggestions in terms of packaging, artwork and printing.

We have a good relationship with these guys and they know exactly what they’re doing. I wouldn’t say that Victory was bad but the band was a very strange fit. I don’t think they knew what to do with us as far as our genre and marketing goes.”

Excitingly, Waggoner reveals that the inexhaustible band will start writing new music not long after the Australian tour.

“We’re always writing music individually as we are all very creative but we haven’t shared it with one another as yet,” he explains. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do but it will get there.”

Each of the members of BTBAM have some sort of musical side project except Waggoner. Is that due to the fact that the axe-wielder is too busy furiously practicing his swept-arpeggios to get involved in other projects?

“Actually no, it’s mostly contributed to the fact that I’m lazy,” he says. “I’ve never really been compelled to start a new band.

Everything I write I want to be a Between The Buried And Me possession. That’s my main thing – that’s my baby – so I’ve never wanted to do a side project.”

As the BTBAM guitar wizard in residence, Waggoner has earned himself high-ranking spots on various polls as one of the global scene’s best modern metal guitarists.

“A lot of years have been spent practicing on the guitar so it is nice to be validated now and again,” he says, “but I’m sure there are a lot of people on that list who I grew up idolising and patterning my style after, so it’s a huge honour to even be considered – it’s actually very humbling.”

The full anatomy of BTBAM will be on display when they head Down Under this month. H

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Photography by Angela McConnell - Bike from Victory Motorcycles

Words: Tom Valcanis Photo: Stian Andersen ch e ck e m o u t

‘Bruane Brenn’ @YouTube

Kvelertak went from eccentric Norwegian mouthful to metal gods in the time it takes to shoot whiskey. With three guitarists, one wonders how bloody the fights are over who takes the lead. One third of Kvelertak’s guitar battalion, Vidar Landa, gives us the skinny.

K

velertak sound huge because they are huge. This great, burly shagpile of punk-loving metalheads goes further than most.

Whipping across stages around the world, Kvelertak (or Chokehold if you’re of the Nordic persuasion) possess a trio of guitarists and Vidar Landa is one of those proud axemen.

It’s not a constant case of bust-ups and barneys, Vidar assures.

“It all naturally fell into place,” he says, explaining the guitar roster.

“From the beginning, when we were making songs, the guitars were for the different layers. We never really decide who goes for a lead; it really pushes off into different songs. Apart from that, it’s pretty obvious that Maciek gets the lead,” he laughs. “He does all the badass solos; he’s the best guitar player in the band.”

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So much for Metalocalypse-style bickering, but why fuss and pout? It’s not their style. Besides, life’s exceedingly good for Kvelertak. In 2011, scarcely one year after their self-titled debut, demand for Kvelertak was high but just one year earlier, no one knew who they were. Come Soundwave, and a side tour opening for genre luminaries Gojira and Mastodon, Keverletak found themselves commanding thousands of sunburnt Aussies to abandon self-control and shout in a language they don’t even understand. Truth be told, the kids would probably do the same even if Kvelertak’s chosen tongue was Klingon.

“Even Norwegians don’t know what Erlend is saying most of the time,” Landa jokes.

“It’s a big part of what we do.

We just play songs we really like ourselves. There’s always a catchy element to each of our songs.”

“People react and relate to the energy at our show. Vocals are more like an instrument instead of poetry in itself. Some bands have fans that sing along to all the lyrics and that makes it a better experience for them and for the band too. For us, we interact with the crowd more through energy and head banging than our lyrics.”

It’s fair enough, too. When you’re getting a real live arse-kicking, there’s scant time to ponder the societal and cultural ramifications.

That’s Kvelertak’s live M.O. They’re like a bolt gun to the frontal lobe. Furious rhythms and pointed licks spilling over with primal, rock’n’roll energy like a cup of beer caught in a mosh. Better still, they’ve singlehandedly demolished the grim and humourless Norwegian metal cliché, turning it on its corpse-painted scone.

Bottom line? Kvelertak want you to leave reality at the door and just rock, man.

“It’s supposed to be fun,” Landa muses. “It’s a big part of what we do. We just play songs we really like ourselves. There’s always a catchy element to each of our songs but we’ve never tried to be black metal or hard to get. We’ve always been kind of shameless in that way. That was part of our intention to make music people actually like.”

Bending the ear of the general population? That takes some mighty specific ears to achieve, a special set of ears wielding musical power. One such ear (more accurately, a pair of them) belongs to Converge’s master-knob twiddler and noisemaker Kurt Ballou.

Ballou’s commanded the slider-boards for death thrashers Black Breath, Canadian noise rockers KEN Mode and stoner darlings High on Fire.

Slap Kurt’s name on the front of artwork by John Baizley, Baroness’ inimitably-psychedelic cover artist, and you know you’re holding something stellar in your paws – stellar and insane.

Shopping around to produce their first, self-titled record, Landa didn’t think Kurt would take notice of what he describes as, at that time, “a pretty shitty band from Norway”.

“Eventually, he invited us over,” Landa continues, adding, “It’s the best thing that could’ve happened to us.” Wringing Kvelertak’s potential from their sweat-drenched loin cloths began with a fouryear sprint toward overnight success. Beginning in 2006, the band was just “fooling around, drinking beers and rehearsing”. Kvelertak buckled down in 2008 when drummer Kjetil Gjermundrød [Don’t even try pronouncing it - Ed.] whipped them into a stage-ready powerhouse.

“At that point, we started to sound like a real band,” Landa notes. “We have a festival in Oslo that’s kind of like Austin, Texas’ South By Southwest festival but on a much smaller scale. We played that in 2009 and a lot of booking agents and festivals saw us and we got booked for the Roskilde Festival and the Oya Festivalen in the same year. At that point we decided to put everything else aside and see if we could do this for a living.”

Rolling the hard six to go pro was their best decision. Ever.

During 2010, the reverence Kvelertak garnered felt years, if not decades old. Viral doesn’t quite cover it; epidemic sounds about right. As YouTube numbers soared and crowds swelled, Landa hardly dreamed of titanic success. World domination had never been on Kvelertak’s wish list.

“Even at the beginning, we weren’t a really ambitious band,” Landa confesses. “We were surprised by the big following that we had in Europe and especially in the United States. We’re not a huge band over there, but it’s pretty cool we can do our own headline tours. It’s kind of interesting for the type of music and language we’re singing in.”

When talk of a second album began, fear seized fans: what if Kvelertak had peaked? Already?! This year’s follow up record Meir was released beheath the weight of giant expectation – how do you follow a body of work that received a gold record from rock superstar Dave Grohl? Kvelertak could’ve collapsed under the pressure but, instead, they just did what comes naturally.

“We didn’t feel any pressure,” Landa finishes, “because we just want to tour and go to places we haven’t been before.”

Huge is as huge does, right? H

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The Faceless

The covers album is expected to be released early next year, but Australian fans don’t have to wait that long for their next dose of The Faceless, whom you can catch on their current tour with South Carolina heavyweights Nile. H l ate s t re l ea s e

Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Courtesy of Soundworks Touring

Autotheism

by The Faceless Words: Tennille Secomb

Michael Keene started The Faceless when he was just eighteen years old, but the success of the band cast him into a mould that could not contain him. As The Faceless make their way back to Australia, Keene explains how their most recent album, Autotheism, is an attempt to find “fulfilment” where brutal death metal could no longer satisfy.

“A

t the time [of Akeldama (2006)] I guess I felt like I had something to prove, and now I really don’t. When you’re young, technical death metal is a really good genre to try and let that out.”

The melodic exploration with Autotheism (2012) that set The Faceless on a divergent tangent directly reflects Keene’s inner turmoil. Taking twice as long to release as the previous album, after the immense success of Planetary Duality (2008) and the ensuing tours, Keene says he needed to take some time to consider the future of the band.

“For the first two and a half years after Planetary’s release, we were touring so much. Then I guess at a certain point I was at a crossroads and I got sort of burned out by what I was doing.

“I think that has a lot to do with why the album sounds so different. I got to this place where I felt like I wasn’t really being fulfilled, and I had some choices to make about what the future was going to be.”

The clean vocals and indulgent melodies are an obvious departure from The Faceless’ previous albums that enamoured the technical death metal community, so it was always going to be a question of whether fans were ready to take the leap that Keene was making. Of course, Autotheism is still highly technical, and in many ways supersedes the rest of their discography in complexity, but metalheads are tough critics and Keene was quick to dismiss those bad reviews circulating on the internet.

“If you base the reception off what people said on the internet,” he explains, “you might think that it [Autotheism] wasn’t wellreceived because there were a lot of people that were jarred by it.

I guess a lot of people were expecting Planetary Duality Pt. II, or something, but I would never want to make the same album twice, you know – it doesn’t make sense to me.”

Yet the passion invoked in anger is, ironically, often stronger than that in love, and despite what internet trolls had to say, Autotheism has become The Faceless’ most acclaimed album to date, debuting at number 50 on the Billboard 200 and hitting number one on the CMJ radio loud rock chart.

Sporting an almost entirely new line-up since their last visit to Australia on the Summer Slaughter tour in 2009, Keene, now the only founding member remaining, says that the live show is also at its best.

“The live performance is significantly better than it’s ever been, for a variety of reasons. The major one being the new guys, they are definitely exceptional players and I think we’ve really locked things in.”

With the departure of Lyle Cooper (Absvrdist) earlier this year, drummer Alex Rüdinger is the newest addition to the rehashed Faceless line-up, which also includes 2011 recruits, virtuoso bassist Evan Brewer and vocalist Geoffry Ficco, as well as guitarist Wes Hauch who joined before the recording of Autotheism last year.

Rüdinger, formerly of The Haarp Machine, joined The Faceless fresh from his own line-up controversy, when everyone except guitarist Al Mu’min quit the band. In spite of whatever went down there, Keene has nothing but adulation for his new drummer.

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“Alex is really awesome, he’s something else. Very impressive.

He hasn’t been in the band for too long, but we’re super impressed with him. He really nails everything and it’s changed the live performance a lot. It’s crazy actually, he makes songs feel easier to play because he’s so locked in – it’s really a pleasure playing with him.”

Now that the latest incarnation of The Faceless is secure, it’s full steam ahead in their new direction and the next stop is the covers album. Certain to include hits from David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, and Depeche Mode, as well as Soundgarden, At The Gates, and Megadeth, Keene knows it can be a precarious task trying to tastefully recreate the classics – especially during this period of redefining the band.

“If anything, the cover album will probably be the most singingheavy thing that The Faceless ever does,” says Keene. “Obviously it could get corny really fast, but I made sure I picked [songs] that I could translate really well without sounding silly.

“Some of the songs are sort of similar to the original arrangements and some of them are more in the style of the Faceless. There’s a bit of everything on there though, because it’s just everything that I like.”

With more grandeur, but less archetypal brutality, The Faceless divided fans in 2012 when they delivered Autotheism. The album is technically very complex, and the songs are well structured to cultivate mood and emotion but the predominance of clean vocals are immediately off-putting and require some getting used to. Again handled

by Keene, the production is crisp, accentuating the tight guitar work, and both clean and heavy vocals are well placed in the mix. The tracks, however, are hit and miss; for example, while ‘Accelerated Evolution’ is a highlight because of its overall flow and thoughtful composition, ’The Eidolon Reality’ is generally repetitive and unengaging. Nevertheless, Autotheism is incredibly progressive and melodic in the context of the band’s previous albums, requiring an open mind on behalf of fans but ultimately offering a well-rounded and intricately layered aural experience.

What’s Evan Brewing?

Words: Tennille Secomb

Although Michael Keene says he’s sure the line-up is solid, rumours have sprung up since Evan Brewer’s noted absence on their recent American tour with Between The Buried and Me and The Contortionist, as they make their way to Australia.

On 27 September, Brewer announced via Facebook that he was “using the time to explore a potential musical opportunity”, yet stated he was not looking to quit the band.

Interestingly, when asked by a fan Brewer revealed that he would not be appearing on the Australian tour in November as neither his ticket nor visa was booked, despite the fact he was keen and available for the shows. ch e ck e m o u t

‘Accelerated Evolution’ @YouTube

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c hec k em o ut

Kreator Words: Patrick Warnes Photo: Heilemania

‘Phantom Antichrist’ @iTunes

Heavy, melodic and full of resurgence, Kreator have amazed and influenced listeners ever since they released Endless Pain in 1985. Over the past decade they have not only tapped into a younger generation of fans, they have developed an even more extraordinary sound.

N

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ot long after releasing the critically-acclaimed album Phantom Antichrist in 2012, German thrash legends Kreator have released the live DVD Dying Alive, a testament to the band’s insatiable touring ethic, which remains undiminished even after so many years.

According to vocalist and guitarist Miland Petrozza, Dying Alive has been well-received so far. “In Germany we just got into the official top ten,” he beams, adding, “Obviously, our fans really like it.”

With tours of China, South America and North America booked in for the near future, the guys are no strangers to foreign lands, and yet they chose Oberhausen as the site for Dying Alive.

“Oberhausen is very close to our home city – only 20 minutes away” Petrozza explains. “Logistically, and in terms of organisation, it made total sense. It was the last show of the tour and we were ready. We knew at this place that we could get all 24 cameras prepared a couple of days in advance. We wanted to make sure that it [Dying Alive] was done properly because we had a couple of problems the last time we tried to do this.”

Petrozza is speaking of Live Kreation, the 2003 live doublealbum that the band had originally intended to release as a DVD. “We couldn’t use the footage because everything went wrong,” he explains. “The team didn’t know what they were doing and a lot of cameras were set up wrong, so this time we wanted to make sure everything was all in our hands and we organised everything ourselves.”

Speaking of creative quality control, the melodic direction on Phantom Antichrist harkens back to 2005’s successful Enemy of God in a way that seems deliberate. Petrozza is quick to point out that any resemblance between the albums is unintentional and that the songwriting process for Phantom Antichrist was natural.

“We just instinctively wrote new songs and they just turned out to be more melodic than Hordes of Chaos,” Petrozza muses, “so yeah, maybe more like Enemy of God. When we write songs, it’s not something we plan; it’s just whatever comes out. With Phantom Antichrist, the songs came out complex, melodic and even strange sometimes – a lot of mid-tempo but a lot of very fast stuff” One thing about Kreator is the consistence of their live sets, and the band has developed a reputation for playing older classics at the expense of newer material. “It’s very hard [to fit everything in], and you’ve just gotta make a decision,” Petrozza says. “There’s a couple of songs we can’t leave out, like ‘A Pleasure to Kill’ – if we left that out, people would kill us. It’s always hard to come up with a set list that makes everyone happy and has a good flow.”

The band’s inability to break away from their classic material has Petrozza thinking that there might be some value in running special tours that focus on lesser-known material.

“For people that like the more obscure stuff, maybe it would be a good idea to have a tour where we play this kind of material,” he says.

Kreator’s last tour of Australia, in 2009, was a big success and Petrozza believes it won’t be long until they return again, even

hinting at a Soundwave appearance.

“Either in the first half or the fall of 2014, we will be in Australia,” he says confidently. “If Soundwave would invite us, we would play, but they haven’t invited us yet.”

Outside of touring, Petrozza reveals plans to commence writing new material in 2014: “We have the first half of 2014 off so we will start demos after the next tour, which will be at the end of December.”

Fans will be hoping the band can release by early 2015, and that a tour follows shortly after. H

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Words: Fabio Marraccini Photo: Roadrunner Records

After more than twenty years of forging progressive metal while achieving legendary status in the process, Dream Theater have recently been associated with controversy and a question-marked future due to the departure of the founding member and drummer extraordinaire Mike Portnoy. But they’re out to prove they are as strong as ever.

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was totally involved in writing, and his contributions were nothing but essential.

Mike is a very musical and intuitive guy; he goes way beyond just playing the drums. On some songs we would do the first or second take and he would stop us and come up with cool ideas to improve the song,” he adds. “We pretty much developed the songs together.

Add on the amount of energy you feel in the room when he is around. He was a catalyst on this album for sure,” he confirms.

After this many albums, the band decided to self-title their release, and that is for a very good reason.

“A Dramatic Turn of Events was a transitional album, an interlude. We had to prove to ourselves that the band could function without one of its founding members,” explains LaBrie. “That is proven now, so the new album is like a new beginning. This is why it is self-titled. As usual the core team of writers were Jordan [Rudess] and [John] Petrucci, but everyone else including Mike had an active voice in the creation. It’s back to being what we are, and to having a great time while making an album,” he concludes.

Known for bringing progressive metal to a wider audience, and for inspiring lots of bands along the way, Dream Theater now have to rub shoulders with many of their pupils in the music marketplace. Not a problem, apparently.

“Progressive metal is a reality now, but if you remember, we were a sore thumb 20 years ago. When Images and Words came out, grunge was huge, and it was based on simplicity,” he cleverly responds. “We were the opposite of that: technical, complicated and sophisticated. And yet the album was a success not only here in America but in other parts of the world. So back then we established the way we wanted to write songs.

And since then we have kept our integrity, our sound signature. We would never change because of what is going on in music,” he adds.

Some of these so-called prog acts that emerged since then became huge. The likes of Opeth, Tool and more recently Mastodon might have grown even bigger than Dream Theater, but that’s not at the centre of LaBrie’s musical radar. “I try to avoid listening to the same kind of music that we play”, he says.

“I think if I did that I could end up trapped in a niche, and even become influenced by the very bands I had an influence on. All the bands you mentioned are extremely talented and unique sounding, but I just don’t immerse myself in them. Bands like Sleeping with Sirens, Alter Bridge and Deftones, for example, are on my radar now instead.”

Due to the technically challenging nature of the music they play, a good part of their fan base seems to only be seeking the technical or virtuoso side of the band, but LaBrie’s not

phased.

“We are technical for sure – that is part of the kind of music we play – but there are many more sides and layers to Dream Theater.

To me it is all about creating memorable songs. Not intentionally difficult or easy, that is just a consequence. On this last album there was a lot of focus on vocal melody, for example. Jordan and I went out of our way to get the best potential from the songs. We turned every possible stone. There was a great sense of involvement during the making of this album,” he says proudly.

Saving the best – or the beast – for last, we had to pop the Portnoy reunion question.

“No reunion planned now, and I don’t think there ever will be,” he says. “Mangini is our drummer until we or him decide to call it quits. He fought hard for this position and he deserves to be where he is. He’s not only a phenomenal drummer and musician, but also a wonderful human being,” he concludes.

Many other bands have endured the departure of founding or deemed essential members; some survived, some didn’t. The crystal ball may be foggy, but Dream Theater’s musical quality seems to be untouched, and their will to survive seems to be unscathed. H

l ate s t re l ea s e

F

eaturing some of the more proficient and skilled musicians in the whole heavy music business, Dream Theater are quite often labelled – or mistaken for – a band for musicians. Yet there’s far more to their music than simply running unusual scales at the speed of light on the guitar while changing odd time signatures every couple of bars. Their music is nothing but melodic, immersive, exciting and inspired. More than 20 years have elapsed since their seminal sophomore album Images and Words sent shockwaves around the metal community.

With the recent departure of an influential founding member, many cast dark shadows over their future. Singer James LaBrie took some time to talk to HEAVY and gave us his view on the matter.

Right off the bat we questioned how the band took Mike Mangini in during the recording of the upcoming self titled album – his second with the band.

“Absolutely naturally,” says LaBrie. “He

Dream Theater

by Dream Theater Words: Fabio Marraccini

This album shows that, drummer change aside, this is still by far the most relevant band in progressive metal. It surely feels looser and more natural than the previous one, where the lack of gel between the longstanding members and their new drummer could be heard. ‘The Enemy Inside’ is a classic Dream Theater song – long keyboard and guitar arrangements, majestic vocal lines, and a rhythm section that requires a masters degree in music to be decoded. The shining moment is the muscular prog exhibited during long closing track ‘Illumination Theory’, a five-part opus that shows why this band deserve their stellar reputation. c hec k em o ut

‘The Enemy Inside’ @YouTube

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ch e ck e m o u t

‘Lodestar’ @YouTube

Words: Lav Nandlall Photo: Kane Hibberd

Dead Letter Circus Dead Letter Circus recently embarked on their largest national and international tour on a mission to sway more than just the Australian crowd. Vocalist Kim Benzie chats to HEAVY about the shows, the music business and why live performances are vital in a music career.

A

fter selling out their last four national tours, progressive rock band Dead Letter Circus are no stranger to the stage. Ruled by adrenaline, the five-piece Brisbane band are in the throes of completing an ambitious three-month tour that began in Adelaide and closes in New York City. Ruled by adrenaline and excitement, vocalist Kim Benzie says it is about more than just the music; it is about the communication of feelings.

“Playing live is as honest as it gets,” he explains. “When you’re on stage and in front of people, you get to experience things first hand. It’s very different to when you are writing music in your room or studio, or something like that.

“When you go out on the road to play, you get to witness the energy passing between you and the audience. It gives you a clue as to what is going to work – what excites people – and gives you a sense of perspective,” Benzie continues. “Just seeing the reaction is honest feedback because it’s not like reading a review where you are not sure.”

According to Benzie, the live show is an aspect of a band’s trade that is of utmost prominence for building a solid reputation, garnering new audiences and ratifying a solid stream of support – especially in the band’s country of origin.

“Australia has a huge population and it is a very free country,” he says, “so doing something like being in a band is a lot more achievable than being in other places where your focus is on surviving everyday.

“In Australia, if you want to go to the top, you have to be good.

The music scene is good because we have top artists that are focused. Otherwise, you have a lot of people swimming around in the music business confused,” he adds.

Dead Letter Circus are far from confused and have been working intensely on their craft for nine years. There have been a few lineup changes along the way, but the current crop of members have generally proven to be consistently industrious musicians. Such effort has been validated by the boisterous success of their debut album This Is The Warning, which climbed to number one on the ARIA album chart before it was followed up by the outstanding The Catalyst Fire.

“I think we have evolved and become vessels for our music,” Benzie says. “Everyone in the band is quite creative and there are

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several people who have brought a concept into this new album.

Having a band where everyone is a multi-instrumentalist is excellent and it makes The Catalyst Fire work.”

The 2011 national tour saw Dead Letter Circus raising awareness about the dangers of coal seam gas, but on the most recent national tour, the band was significantly less political.

“We just wanted to rock out and play some new songs [this time around], Benzie remembers. “We did try to mix it up from the past to the current, as well as spread it all out. This is the first time we will have more to play in all our shows as we now have a back catalogue of good songs.”

As for the preceding national tour, Dead Letter Circus was joined one more by favourites Closure in Moscow and Sleep Parade.

“We just really like those guys; they’re very cool with their act and we are really good friends. A part of touring is the friendship and the brotherhood,” Benzie adds. “On the road, we spend a lot of time together and it’s important to get along.”

Closure in Moscow and Sleep Parade said bon voyage to their brothers in September as Dead Letter Circus departed to South Africa to headline the KRANK’D UP festival.

“We have always wanted to go [to South Africa]. It’s an amazing blessing,” he says, adding that it is actually their 2012 tour in India that remains closest to the vocalist’s heart: “Playing in India was absolutely amazing and it blew my mind. I couldn’t believe there were 3,000 kids there singing the words to every song and just going crazy – it was unexpectedly surreal.”

The touring lifestyle is tough despite its charming appeal; band members change and some bands break up, but most bands become a tight knit family. How has all of this affected Benzie?

“I went from being just a guy living in Brisbane to becoming a citizen of the world,” he says. “Lyrically, the things that I cast my eyes over definitely became a poetic view and I’ve also become a lot more confident– the more you sing the better you get.”

Proving that persistence is key, Dead Letter Circus are currently winding up their tour of the US and Canada, where they are supporting progressive heavyweights Periphery and deathcore outfit Born of Osiris. Considering their love for live shows, it shouldn’t be long until the band are back on the road again soon, so don’t miss them next time they come to town. H

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Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Shock Records

c h ec k em o u t

‘Mountain’ @iTunes

To the uninitiated ear, Tumbleweed’s new album Sounds From The Other Side may seem like early Queens of the Stone Age, albeit with a more confident and gifted vocalist; however, Josh Homme was still hanging out in Kyuss when ‘The Weed’ delivered 1995’s stoner classic Galactaphonic.

T

umbleweed’s legendary Australian album Galactaphonic followed

singles such as the irresistibly heavy riffs of ‘Daddy Long Legs’ and ‘Sundial’, and marked the definitive moment of their career to that point. The band became a popular live act and undeniable force despite possible misconceptions.

Having previously supported Nirvana on their only tour of Australia in 1992, Tumbleweed had already been affixed the ‘grunge’ tag. Such a label unfairly undersold their unique brew of fuzzedout, winding riffs and psychedelia that the band used to carve their own heavy groove of importance into the face of Australian rock.

Vocalist Richie Lewis points out the duality of the Nirvana link. “Obviously that association is still around given that we are talking about it now,” he says, “but it provided us with just as many opportunities as it did hassles. I was 21 years-old and they [Nirvana] were my favourite band at the time, so it was a great experience.”

Lewis lists other influences on the band in the early days as MC5, the Stooges and plenty of Australian punk bands. Beginning in Wollongong during the early ‘90s, Lewis likens the local music scene to that of other similar-sized cities such as Geelong. “It was more about surf and sport – very working class. Musicians back in those days were definitely in the minority,” he says.

Tumbleweed released Return To Earth in 1996, spawning the catchy single ‘Silver Lizard’. The pressures of personal and professional relationships saw Tumbleweed disband not long after the release of 2000’s Mumbo Jumbo, the album to be the band’s last until now, 13 years later. Lewis says that rather than becoming “just a nostalgia act”, the birth of a new album is a sign of their will to play together again after a successful reunion at Homebake in 2009.

“We felt we had unfinished business,” he explains. “Really, we just wanted to play more. The album was our way of doing so whilst ensuring the band remains creatively viable.”

Writing the new 13-track collection took some three years, on and off, and another year to record. So instrumental in defining

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the band’s sound during the Galactaphonic days, producer Paul McKercher was again called upon to help the band put the new album to two-inch tape. Lewis is clearly delighted with the results.

“We’ve been able to make our best record to date and it sounds exactly as we’d hoped. It captures the band’s sound as we are now, without being too far from what we did in the ‘90s,” he explains.

When asked if there was any temptation to use a modern approach to recording, the vocalist simply says no.

“Recording the album in analogue was the only real option; it provides a sound that just isn’t obtainable in digital. It’s amazing what you hear – you listen to the music and hear the warmth and heaviness I think is missing from a lot of modern rock.”

The lead single is the infectious mid-paced groove of ‘Mountain’.

It’s a seven-minute freak-out reminiscent of Rose Tattoo’s ‘Astra Wally’, and clearly not aimed at commercial radio.

“It’s a great live song and an audience favourite,” Lewis says, adding that commercial success “doesn’t matter really. We’ve learnt to live without Tumbleweed.”

Aside from ‘Mountain’ and the urgently heavy stand-out ‘Dirty Little Secret’, Sounds From The Other Side has lighter moments too.

The beautiful ‘Drop In The Ocean’ is a favourite of Lewis’ and one he hopes to convince his band mates to release as a future single.

“I hope I can twist the boys’ arms down the track,” he says.

“I love that song. It sums up everything I’ve ever wanted to say.”

Tumbleweed are not looking too far forward at this stage, but whether they release anything else in the future or not, there is an obviously rekindled chemistry at the moment that fans of good-old hard rock can only hope will continue.

Tumbleweed still have something to add to the Australian heavy music scene but, as with other revivals, there will always be the naysayers. A response to such critics is best expressed through a line from the band’s 1995 single ‘Hang Around’.

“If it’s new and it’s true then they call it retro.” H

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Photo: Eugenio Mazzingh

Solo Soprano Words: Nathan Eden

A

s a classically-trained vocalist responsible for paving the way for female-fronted hard rock bands such as Evanescence, while also creating room in metal circles for her distinctly- operatic approach, Tarja Turunen’s speaking voice is as expected: confident and purposeful. As she speaks, ahead of filming a video for her new single in Buenos Aires – the city she now calls home – her strong Finnish accent only slightly hints at her time in Argentina.

Many years have passed since Turunen rose to fame as lead vocalist for Finland’s most successful musical export Nightwish, and if her self-assured and frank discussion of her present album and future plans is any indicator, her artistic aspirations aim to soar as high as her lyric soprano.

“What motivates me as an artist is everything from the interesting people I meet to becoming more confident with my art,” Turunen says. “I am able to work with some very talented people whilst continually taking singing lessons to keep improving. It brings me to the realisation that I don’t need to be afraid.”

Since being dismissed from Nightwish in 2005, Turunen has released a string of successful and ever-evolving solo albums.

While she clearly places much importance on the fact that she has derived plenty of confidence and artistic growth from composing her own tunes, she insists that her core fans remain the ones that know her as the founder of ‘opera metal’ with Nightwish.

“The bridge with my old band mates is totally burned but the nature of passionate metal fans means that most of them are still with me. Without them, I would not be here talking about my career; they stayed with me when I had no wings,” she admits.

Turunen has grown new wings. In between a two-year tour cycle for her new album Colours in the Dark, she will juggle the release of a classical album and a few supporting shows, as well as motherhood after giving birth to her first child, Naomi, in 2012. She has much to be proud of, not least her journey toward becoming a songwriter in her own right.

“When I was in Nightwish, I was the singer but not a songwriter.

I will be forever grateful that I was afforded that opportunity but I have since discovered that what I really love to do is write songs,” Turunen explains. “I struggled for the confidence on my first solo

Photo: Poras Chaudhary

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album but, with the help of song writers like Mattias Lindblom and Anders Wollbeck, I just thought, ‘F**k it, I need to do it on my own’ by the time I reached the second album.”

The vocalist is clearly gratified to have the chance to share not only her voice, but also her particular skill-set with others. She has regular students to whom she passes on advice and says, “Often I am able to share my knowledge with students but not so often with other professional singers; however, I do sometimes find myself advising athletes on certain breathing techniques.”

When considering Turunen’s musical style, it may come as a surprise to find she doesn’t listen to much metal.

“I listen to a lot of classical music and I also love the rock classics like Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel.

When it comes to metal, I much prefer the American bands to the European ones. The melodic stuff is what comes through in my work but when listening to others I love the energy and groove of the American bands with those brutal and crunchy guitars.”

Colours in the Dark is the next step in a career that has seen Turunen go from six year-old piano student to household name in her native land, all the while helping define a new genre in heavy music and lighting the way for others to follow.

Strangely, her music owes much to an unlikely source of inspiration, for it was soul music that first led her to the dark side.

“As a fifteen year old, I would sing Whitney Houston songs but afterward my throat would hurt and I lost my voice sometimes,” she says. “My music teacher turned me on to classical music and I was fascinated. Ultimately it led me to heavy music also..”

Despite the infectious energy and groove she projects on stage and in interviews, Turunen admits to regular bouts of nervousness: “At the moment I am a little nervous at shooting the video for the second single from my new album. Usually though, it’s before playing live, but if I didn’t have any butterflies, I would know there was something wrong and I would make mistakes – I get nerves all the time but it works for me.”

There’s some irony in the notion that Turunen appears confident even when discussing her nerves, but one doesn’t rise to the top without projecting at least a little fearlessness... and that’s exactly where she intends to stay. H

“By the time I reached the second album I just thought, ‘F**k it. I need to do it on my own.’”

l ate s t re l ea s e

Instrumental in the pioneering of symphonic metal, Tarja Turunen and HEAVY look at the past, present and future of her role in the worldwide heavy music scene.

Colours in the Dark

by Tarja Words: Nathan Eden

What is great about Nightwish efforts involving Tarja Turunen is the way in which her incomparable vocals are matched with great musicianship.

This album finds the soprano take centre stage a little more, but rightly so in a solo release. Opener ‘Victim of Ritual’ goes very close to matching her former band’s intensity. Whilst the heavier tracks ‘Never Enough’ and ‘Neverlight’ are carried by great riffs that could be from the Jerry Cantrell-handbook. Considering the album as a collective, there are far more positive elements than negative.

Existing fans will appreciate artistic growth and confidence in what they love about Tarja, the artist. First time listeners will be blown away with the vocal performance and find the perfect starting point to discover her discography. ch e ck e m o u t

‘Never Enough’ @iTunes

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Vance Kelly’s highlydetailed illustrations are in hot demand right across the metal and hard rock spectrum.

He takes time out of his busy schedule to chat with Melbourne-based graphic artist and SAE Qantm Creative Media Institute lecturer Sheri Tantawy.

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t was back in the ‘90s when Vance Kelly was introduced to digital art, while working part-time at a t-shirt-printing company.

Having spent most of his life drawing and painting using traditional means, he was overwhelmed with the new technology and struggled initially to master the mouse in order to produce his drawings. These days, his tablet and stylus are just other tools amidst pens, brushes and, of course, his canvas.

“Whoever created that technology should be sainted,” Kelly says of his digital toys. He still believes that the use of traditional mediums is a must for artists the fundamentals of their trade but says it’s impossible to ignore just how much time is saved when working with computers: “Creating art digitally definitely helps with deadlines and gives you the ability to have your work in a format that can be easily reproduced for a multitude of uses.”

In Kelly’s case, having the knowledge to work with traditional media is a tremendous boost to maximising the techniques of painting and illustrating digitally. For Vance, the most rewarding aspect of a career in graphic design is being able to share his work with others, a process that enables him to continue honing his abilities.

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“I would like to become more skilled in my craft and create works that will leave a lasting legacy,” he says.

A great proportion of Kelly’s work is in posters these days, and his illustrations have appeared in promotional material and album art for a slew of rock and metal names, including Slayer, Alice in Chains, A Perfect Circle, Mastodon, Orange Goblin, Pentagram, Soundgarden, The Sword, Huntress, The Cult, Phil Anselmo and so many more.

The process is not without compromise; when colourful illustrations are transformed into polished compositions, the results are not always as expected.

“Sometimes along the way you find out certain elements don’t quite work out as you first imaged that they would,” Kelly explains.

“When that happens you begin to experiment with different layouts and moving elements around. It’s similar to solving a puzzle.”

Resultantly, Kelly’s workflow when creating posters and album art for bands is a little different than it would be if just creating art for his own folio. When creating a poster, for example, he is contacted by the venue, the promoter or the band and he works to satisfy a brief that is specific to that event. Album artwork is

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more involved, requiring the artist to work closely with the bands to develop an artwork style and feel that complements the group’s existing image and, of course, music.

“Initially we go over ideas and concepts for the albums and I work up sketches until we find the right direction. Once that’s nailed down, I complete the cover artwork and use it as a visual theme for the rest of the packaging,” Kelly says of how he maintains a visual design consistency throughout an album or CD package.

His works are rife with sleaze and symbology, and it’s clear Kelly finds mythology and the occult fascinating. He explains that the dark and light themes found within those realms have always intrigued him, and that the female form also holds a special place in his heart. The women in his imagery are strong, provocative, mysterious and powerful heroines and goddesses. This particular representation of women is in stark contrast to the females we are so used to seeing on many rock and metal album covers, shirts and posters. Often shackled, bound, gagged, blindfolded, covered in blood and violated in horrifying extremes, they are either presented as sacrifices or unlucky voiceless victims who’ve been stripped of their liberties; however, the women in Kelly’s work stand tall, their pride exemplified in their nakedness – their bodies are a visual feast and we are invited to celebrate their individual identities and shameless beauty. Through his drawings, women are free from the

bonds of oppression that have been instilled in society over time, where this fear of ‘woman’ and her sexuality has been known to cause violent reactions.

As his roster of high-end clients keeps growing, there’s little time for this self-taught Louisiana-based artist to indulge on personal projects. When he does look outside metal, Kelly seeks inspiration in the illustrations of William Blake, John William Waterhouse, Frank Frazetta and many more. Each of these artists are varied in style yet they have all had their own way of communicating their ideas, applying different techniques and using different mediums to accomplish incredible pieces, and Kelly finds them worthy of admiration stating, “”While not influenced directly by their styles or techniques, I am inspired to create my own works that evoke a similar feeling.”

“I am truly humbled that people enjoy my work enough that I can earn a living from creating art,” he says.

Of course, you know you’ve made it when one of your high-end clients is Slayer and to finish, Kelly makes mention of his most work for the world-renowned thrash godfathers with pride: “The last poster I did is my most favoured and enjoyable project so far. It was a limited-edition offset foil poster for their Australian tour, and John at Beyond the Pale did an amazing job with the printing.” H

For more on Vance Kelly, check out vancekelly.com, vancekellyart.blogspot.com or follow him on twitter at twitter.com/vancekelly. For commissioned pieces, email: vance.kelly@gmail.com.

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Odiusembowel

Words: Jay Clair

Jack The Giant Killer A film by the name of Jack the Giant Killer was released in 1962, inspiring the band which was born in 2008. Unlike the movie (which apparently sucks) these guys are pretty f**king rad. Earlier this year the quintet released a new song online ‘Moths & Memories’ and it’s getting decent attention.

A combination of breakdowns, riffs, and softer parts filled with emotion, Jack The Giant Killer (JTGK) make an interesting addition to the Australian heavy music scene.

Having initially commenced as a band during their high school days, they moved from performing covers to their own originals.

Since then, the line-up has had a few changes and is now a meld of musicians who came together through networking in the Adelaide alternative music scene. JTGK have been extremely busy playing shows over the last few years and have established themselves as a headline act of the local live music scene. With three independent releases under their belt they are well poised

ABREACT The gold rush may have ended over a century ago in Bendigo but it seems that the Victorian rural city may still be producing some gold of the musical kind… this time in the form of hardcore four-piece ABREACT. Inspired by the sounds of Converge, Deftones and Raised Fist, ABREACT formed when Tim Young, Lee Chatterton and Kris Hayden all met at High School – vocalist Mat Bartleson was added to the line-up in 2012 when their previous front-man departed.

After their formation in 2008 the band were soon impressing Bendigo with their conviction and gritty determination as they made a name for themselves by playing at local pubs and any party they could get an invite to. The hard work paid off and since then the band has found themselves headlining their own tour as well as touring with the likes of Sydonia, Texas In July, Heaven The Axe, Dreadnaught, Frankenbok, King Parrot and The Amity Affliction.

Words: David Griffiths

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to continue producing new music and remain prominent amongst its genre’s followers.

All releases have been worked locally with Kyle Bloksgaard including their latest EP titled The Drowning King.

Jack the Giant Killer are currently in writing mode, putting together a new album that is expected to drop around the end of the year.

The band are taking a much more mature approach to this release, applying as much attention to it as they possibly can.

So for those of you tired of waiting, just hold up! Their music is written with a purpose and meaning, something to help release emotion; whether it be anger, sadness or happiness, it will be great to finally hear the end product.

Grinders Odiusembowel first ruptured the placenta of Christchurch, NZ in 2002.

Amusingly, ‘Christchurch’ could not be a more ironic name for the town from where such unholy musical blasphemy was birthed. The group performed under the name Fleshwound for their first 6 months of activity, before reforming as Odiusembowel after only one short recording.

Following a handful of local shows, metal festivals and scoring impressive support slots for Deeds Of Flesh and Disgorge, the band relocated to Melbourne in 2007.

A substantial number of line-up changes have occurred since their inception, much to founding members Dan and Ricki’s frustration, at one point even contemplating shackling future members to iron bars in the rehearsal studio. Considering this, they have done very well to maintain and develop their sound, while still surging forward and expanding their fan base.

Sonically, the word dynamics is not in the vocabulary of Odiusembowel. Urgent, minor guitar melodies ascend and descend

‘Remnants’ @YouTube

Black Sheep Wall

Words: Damo Musclecar

Words: Lav Nadlall

‘Punch F**ked‘ @YouTube

Words: Tennille Secomb

Aosoth

Words: Brad Rogerson

c h ec k em ou t

‘Moths & Memories’ @YouTube

check em out

Words: Jay Clair

Black Sheep Wall are a band that don’t pigeon hole themselves into any specific genre – they are simply a ‘heavy band’.

While that is an apt description, they could simultaneously be described as a charismatic ball-tearing wall of sound.

Hailing from Moorpark, California, the name Black Sheep Wall has its origins in the famed computer game Starcraft, as a cheat code that unveils the entire map of the game and was also initially a song title of an Admiral Angry track.

Having formed in 2006, most of the members met each other through high school, but Scott and Jackson’s history dates back to their kindergarten days. Along with Brandon, these three played in a band called The Don Maestri Experience, which was disbanded to primarily create what is now known as Black Sheep Wall. The ride so far has been fairly bumpy, with several member and label changes, along with a slight hiatus. The band have continued on and recorded two full lengths, with their most current release, the It Begins Again

check em out

The recent release of their debut album Entities saw the band receive strong support from radio station, Triple J. The first single taken from the album, ‘Bomber’, quickly went to the number one spot on the Triple J Unearthed metal charts, while ABREACT were also chosen to play at Triple J’s Groovin’ The Moo Festival in May this year.

ABREACT attribute part of the reason Entities sounds so good to the influence producer Travis Johnson had on it and also to its German mastering by Dennis Israel, who has worked with the likes of 3 Inches Of Blood, Misery Index and Amon Amarth.

Currently excited about the release of their new single, ‘Remnants’, ABREACT are also in the middle of planning another national tour and filming some video clips, as well as writing new material and heading back into the studio.

frantically between gut-wrenching rhythmic chugs that lock tightly onto pummelling blast beats, creating the feeling of being constantly thrown to the edge of utter chaos and then just as suddenly pulled back again. Coating the tracks in harrowing highs and intestinal lows, and with an apathetic yet intriguing stage presence, vocalist Passengerofshit Trendy barely gives you a chance to breathe let alone crawl away from the relentless aural onslaught.

The boys have made regular appearances around Victoria and NSW, but only a few in the early stages of this year, supporting Dawn Of Azazel in March and playing Obscene Extreme Australia in April alongside Rotten Sound, King Parrot and Blood Duster.

However, the second half of 2013 has seen the Odius camp become a hive of activity.

Not only have they been busy recording their next release, the boys also travelled to the US for a string of highly notable shows including the all-day metal fest Building Temples From Death in Houston, Texas, Bonded By Brutality Tour, and. New Jersey Death Fest before supporting Gigan in Clifton Park, NY. It appears things are taking off in a big way for these self-described angry metal whores.

EP, helping them establish themselves and have played with the likes of The Red Chord, Converge, The Acacia Strain and Despised Icon.

Black Sheep Wall have decided to get back into the studio to record their third LP and it is expected to be released in early 2014. With a strong ethic revolving around their integrity, Jackson believes this can go further than their actual content. They want people to hear a band that they believe in from beginning to end. Commitment to their fans is something they take very seriously and are always thankful for their continued support. With an imminent release and their heavy, ethereal back-catalogue, fans will surely continue to show their support to these guys as they bring a very unique flavour to the scene.

France is notorious for producing super weird, super cool shit, and breaking out from the horde is Aosoth.

This swirling blend of avant-garde black metal is beginning to gain global momentum, so pay attention fans of Portal, Stomach Earth, and to a lesser extent, Watain (whose vocalist/bassist Erik Danielsson designed their logo).

Named after a female deity from the pantheon of the 09A, Aosoth present classic French black metal, heavily laced with Satanism, dissonance and malevolence.

ch e ck e m o u t

ch e ck e m o u t

Black Sheep Wall @Facebook

‘An Arrow In Heart’ @YouTube

The first incarnation of the Parisian band was born in 2002 as a side project of long-established French black metal act Antaeus, with the exception of their drummer, Storm, but weren’t really active except for a single split with the band in the same year.

Later restarted as an independent entity, Aosoth began to take off in 2006 when musical mastermind Bst (aka Sébastien Tuvi, ex-Aborted) officially joined the band.

After another split in 2007 – this time with label mates Temple of Baal – the first fulllength album, self-titled and demarcating the band’s solo venture, was released the following year. Since joining the band, multiinstrumentalist Bst has been responsible for the engineering, mixing and mastering of all Aosoth’s releases from BST studios in France. Also comprising vocalist MkM (famed for his ritualistic self-mutiliation on stage with Antaeus) and bassist INRVI, Aosoth have solidified their status with the release of their fourth full-length album IV: An Arrow In Heart. Fully emancipated from the nascence of their earlier works, IV showcases evolved song structure, musical composition and production, and unequivocally places Aosoth in the vanguard of their genre.

Warped, incensed and seething pure evil – Aosoth tick all the black metal boxes.

Now, who do we have to crucify to get an Australian tour happening?

ch e ck e m o u t

Neotokyo @Website

The Hookers

The Hookers formed way back in the depths of Lexington, Kentucky. Originally named Fayette County Hookers, the band shortened their name to The Hookers in 1996 on the eve of their debut release, a 7” single aptly titled ‘Kiss My Fuckin’ Ass’.

The Hookers are unapologetic in their sound which is a Molotov cocktail of raw ‘80s metal ala Manowar and Motörhead mixed with the Southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Oak Arkansas topped with the punk fury of bands like Misfits and Zeke. Mixed together they make a sound in the spirit of true underground heavy metal.

Growing up on a farm as a child, vocalist Adam Neal or The Rock N Roll Outlaw, as he is also known, spent a lot of his time watching horror films. With an insatiable lust for gore and Hammer Horrors, Neal decided to mix his two favourite past-times – movies and music – into one and thus was born The Hookers. Their lyrics are heavily inspired by horror movies and heavy metal which makes a great combination for artistic relief.

sc en e r a li a’ sm a g a z i n e  in ’ a u st sic t h r a shi a ’ s p u r e s t h e a v y m u tr  aus

The band have recently reissued their long out-of-print fourth album from 2011, Horror Rises From The Tombs, as well as a compilation LP of out-of-print singles.

They are also trying to reissue their debut full length, Satan’s Highway, which was originally released on the Sub Pop off-shoot label, Scooch Pooch Records back in 1998.

Their work ethic is commendable and they show no signs of ever slowing down.

With over 20 releases to their name, The Hookers are dedicated to the heavy metal underground. Their love for the road sees their endless touring schedule just go on and on and with that in mind, we can only cross our fingers that someone will bring this heavy metal thunder to Australia. c h ec k em ou t

The Hookers @ReverbNation

al

Neotokyo Sometimes a band sneaks up and surprises the hell out of you. Case in point is Neotokyo, a four-piece band from Sydney.

Taking their odd name from a Mars Volta track and referencing the fictional city that the anime Akira takes place in, Neotokyo agree that their name reflects a sense of the new as well as the mysterious. However, the real mystery of the band is how they have managed to slip past the radar of good music. With their cut-out-the-fat approach to music and easy-listening arrangements, Neotokyo have successfully got listeners hooked to their debut EP, Pillars. The EP was tracked at Electric Sun Studios with pre production by Lucius Borich (Cog / Floating Me), mixed by Chris Sheldon in the UK (Gyroscope / Biffy Clyro / Oceansize) and mastered by Steve Smart at Studio

301, which has resulted in a blend of sophisticated and progressive sounds with an alternative rock ambiance.

Neotokyo don’t have any major political or social agendas as a band; for them, it’s an uncomplicated process and they prefer to write from personal experience about the things that have impacted on them at an emotional level. They say that, as musicians, it is just a case of trying to push the boundaries of the writing process and do something they haven’t done before, letting the outcome evolve organically.

Neotokyo’s latest release is the standalone single, ‘Neon’, and with more new material on the horizon, tours are imminent.

Highly underrated and certainly worth your time. Check these guys out at their single launch at the Spectrum, Sydney in December.

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Circles

Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Courtesy of Circles

ROME

Words: Vix Vile Photo: Greg Morgan

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elements of technical and classic death give them their own unique sound.

During the recording of the full length, Hansen, a stalwart of the extreme drumming world, was a touring member of Scottish brutal masters Man Must Die and was living in Canada at the time. The band utilised the internet to converse, trade ideas and send demos, and eventually Hansen moved back to continue his work in the studio and has remained ever since.

When it comes to the writing process, songs are produced on the fly. With an initial direction for the music in mind, their sporadic impulses take over to develop each track. They write songs that each member enjoys listening to themselves as fans of metal, which in turn helps them gel with their listeners.

That same energy is brought to their live shows, and their genuine camaraderie shines over to audiences, allowing for a good time for all involved. The boys are older and wiser now, and knowing how the game is played, they bring all their past experiences to push the band in exactly the right direction.

It hasn’t all come without some minor obstacles, though, as the band found some cities outside of the Gold Coast were hesitant in booking them to play shows. But persistence prevailed and the band has gone on to prove to people that they are just as capable as any of the former bands they all played in and still have what it takes.

Unlike where the Romans failed, these emperors of metal will rise above and quite possibly conquer the world. H

Metal Gold Coast romemetal.bigcartel.com

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After the door closed on some of the members of Gold Coast’s Devolved, ROME burst another one open and are ready to show Australia that a new emperor is in town.

When five of the original members of Devolved decided they wanted to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their inaugural debut Technologies, along with former The Berzerker drummer, Todd Hansen, the long time mates embarked on a national tour in mid-2011 as Devolved Technologies. Being on stage together, guitarists Mark Walpoe and Brett Noordin, bassist Joel Graham, vocalist Nik Carpenter and sampler Patrick Brown knew they couldn’t stop with just a reunion tour. Unable to continue under the Devolved moniker, they decided to continue on a new path, and ROME was born.

Quickly releasing a demo and beginning work on a full length album, Noordin and Brown moved on and another former Devolved member, bassist Wayde Dunn was brought in, finalising their current line-up.

Although each member garnered respect on a global scale, ROME started from scratch, cutting their teeth in their hometown and going on to unleash their extreme metal assault on the rest of the nation. After releasing their debut self-titled full-length earlier in the year, the band embarked on a tour around the country.

ROME consider their name to be an acronym for Rulers of Mother Earth, which is what the Romans were when they reigned supreme, and this is the prime motivation for the members. Global domination awaits.

ROME’s style is extreme metal, but with so many ideas brought into the mix of music they play,

ROME by ROME Words: Vix Vile

If Julius Caesar still ruled the world, this album would be what you’d hear blaring from the walls of the Colosseum. Possibly explaining why some of it has crumbled away, the intensity these five legends of the Australian music scene have brought to the arena would bring any gladiator to their knees.

Astoundingly heavy while still taking the time to cultivate eerie ambience, this debut album from ROME combines blistering drums, ferocious guitar riffs and slight electronic nuances for an intense overall sound.

Fast, brutal, but with plenty of soul, it’s a struggle to pick which out of the eleven tracks is the highlight – a sure sign of a great album.

try and create music they enjoy listening to, and we just happen to love it. Seriously. There’s not even anything deep about the name that alludes to the interconnectedness of... anything. With their first show looming and a name still lacking, Hunter simply flicked through a local street press with his eyes closed and stuck his finger randomly on a page.

Circles? Yep. That’ll do.

Adding to their down-to-earth attitude, Circles have a particularly hands-on approach when it comes to producing their music. As documented in their studio diaries, Circles record, mix and master in the home studio of guitarist Ted Furuhashi. Affording the band the time to achieve their exacting standards, the result of their DIY method is a carefully crafted sound that not only offers headbanging rhythms but also considers melody, ambience and emotion.

With the deluge of djent bands pouring into the rising tide of metal, it can be hard for bands to keep their heads above water, which is why signing to British label Basick records was such a lifesaver for Circles. Currently their only Australian band, Basick has given the band that much-need international promotion, placing them alongside other metal heavyweights such as Misery Signals, Blotted Science and Uneven Structure. Now, off the back of their first international tour including an appearance at Germany’s Euroblast Fest, Circles are spiralling towards serious success.

Built on a foundation of progressive metal and hard rock, Circles represent a modern and evolving Australian sound. With their easily accessible riffs, hard-working attitudes and desire for sonic exploration, it’s no surprise they’re attracting fans from all across the metal spectrum. H

Progressive metal Melbourne circlesband.com

l ate s t re l ea s e

Djent has become a dirty little word in the metal community, but the movement seems to be settling into its stride; once contrived song structures are mitigated with various elements of death, nu-metal and classic rock. Inspiring the evolution of the genre, albeit unrestricted by it, Melbourne band Circles first set the spirograph in motion with their 2010 demo Prelude, but really caught people’s attention with the beguiling grooves of their acclaimed EP, The Compass.

Now, fresh from their European tour supporting The Dillinger Escape Plan and basking in the afterglow of their first full-length album, Infinitas, Circles are proving that they are a real contender in the metal arena.

Formed in Melbourne in 2009 by drummer Dave Hunter and guitarist Ted Furuhashi, the pair has known each other since primary school, and began demoing songs while playing in various other bands.

When the potential for Circles was realised, bassist Drew Patton was recruited and guitarist Matt Clarke was sourced through Myspace, which eventually lead to Perry Kakridas joining on vocals. The band performed their first show as a support for Brisbane rockers Dead Letter Circus, and while they claim it was “terrible”, the crowd’s reception and ensuing accolades suggest otherwise. Topping the Australian Metal iTunes chart with The Compass and receiving airplay across the globe, Circles’ well-timed release put them at the forefront of the steadily growing Aussie djent/prog scene.

Since then, the band have done four tours of Australia’s east coast and it has become evident this truly is a labour of love for the affable quintet.

Their music isn’t laden with political opinion, nor does it reveal the secrets of the universe when played backwards. Like all good musicians, Circles

Infinitas by Circles Words: Tennille Secomb

A natural extension of their attention-grabbing EP, Circles’ debut album Infinitas is as heavy as it is harmonic. Produced entirely in guitarist Ted Furuhashi’s home studio, the sound is crisp though heavily compressed and highlights the thick bass which drives the songs. At times Kakridas’ clean, soaring vocals are pushed almost too hard, but the heavier, growling sections are wellexecuted and overall the balance is effective. ‘As It Is Above’ is a standout for its immediate head-banging groove, as is ‘Wheels In Motion’ for its pervasive melody. Infinitas is a djentymash of accessible riffs and pounding drums in the vein of Tesseract but with a more boisterous vocal delivery and encompasses a well-woven crosssection of genres that deserves a listen by fans of all persuasions. c hec k em o ut

‘As it is Above’ @YouTube

c he ck e m o u t

‘Love To Rose’ @ReverbNation

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King of the North Words: Patrick Emmett Photo: Jay Hynes

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sing harmonies to the equation, and you have a wall of sound bigger than most four or five piece bands can create. You would never guess that they are a two piece band if you listened to them without knowing it was just an unsuspecting duo.

The feat they achieved throughout their first year as a band was incredible – the first successful achievement being their support slot of pub-rock legends Cold Chisel at Festival Hall back in April 2012.

Not only did that huge support slot expose them to a big crowd, but the multi-cam live footage of the gig on YouTube helped fuel their popularity even more.

A storm of appearances at big shows appeared for the band around and after their Cold Chisel gig, including the opportunity to play festivals like Cherry Rock, Gumball, Queenscliff and Rock the Bay, and support slots for The Angels, Cosmic Psychos and Gary Clarke Jnr. Despite all this, releasing their debut, self-titled EP to a sold out Evelyn Hotel and packing out the front bar of The Espy was when they really started to make a name for themselves.

2013 began with the duo playing local shows, including a very short series of Rock vs Metal shows with King Parrot and ISAW, and support slots for a number of big-name international bands. But the live footage is what they’ve been all about this year, with their local TV appearance on Basement Apes Live at The Tote (you can watch the whole set on YouTube) and packing The Evelyn Hotel again to film a live music video.

King of the North have been working hard on their debut full-length album, recorded at Hothouse Studios in St Kilda, and should be ready by the time you have finished reading this article. H

Rock Melbourne kingofthenorth.com.au

l ate s t re l ea s e

King of the North are simply a rock’n’roll band and nothing more than that. There’s no use of the overthe-top subgenres being thrown around a lot lately; this is rock’n’roll with the spirit of Aussie pub-rock bands like AC/DC and Rose Tattoo, blended with the soul-crushing stoner rock grooves of Black Sabbath and Kyuss.

Previously Adelaide guys and members of the band Sandcastle Harum many years ago, long-time friends Andrew Higgs (guitar/vocals) and Danny Leo (drums/ vocals) have both relocated to Melbourne for their new project. Higgsy got the band name from his years of religious torment as a kid; the ‘King of the North’ is mentioned in a biblical prophecy as a secret world power and unknown enemy that would rise up against the ‘King of the South’, defeat it and bring about Armageddon.

Since their live debut in January 2012, King of the North has left punters from all across Australia rocking out with their fists and beers raised, and one thing on their minds: “How does a two-piece band sound this big?!”

If you’ve ever been through the stress of finding a second guitarist, a vocalist, a bassist or any extra dedicated members for your own band, you would know how hard it can be. However, King of the North doesn’t seem to have a problem with that.

Having a front man that is both the guitarist and vocalist is something a lot of bands do, but one thing that makes this duo truly unique is Higgsy’s pioneering of his signature ‘three-from-one guitar technique’. This technique involves making a single guitar sound like two guitars and a bass guitar simultaneously. Add the face melting, dynamic drumming of Danny Leo and his incredible ability to

King of the North

by King of the North Words: Patrick Emmett

Real Aussie bands are born, bred and educated in Aussie pubs. That’s what Melbourne duo King Of The North were taught. They were obviously taught well, because their self-titled EP is bound to impress younger rock lovers of today, and give older rock fans many flashbacks to the ‘70s/’80s pub rock scene. Throw a bit of influence from heavier bands like Black Sabbath, Kyuss and Danzig into the mix, and you have five dynamic, riff-driven rock gems that beat the expectations of any debut release from a local rock band. Even though King Of The North are still unsigned, the EP leaves you hanging for the imminent release of their debut full-length, and demonstrates they have the potential to become one of Australia’s leading rock bands. c he ck e m o u t

‘It’s Been Too Long’ (Live) @YouTube

Truth Corroded

Words: Amanda Mason Photo: Cassi Rogers-Altman

Formed in 1997, South Australian veterans of extreme thrash, Truth Corroded, cite one of their influences as Sepultura, which is no surprise as the band can trace its origins back to a Sepultura cover band that founding members Mark Lennard (guitar), Jason North (vocals) and Greg Shaw (bass) played in prior to Truth Corroded’s inception.

The original line-up, consisting of Lennard, North, Shaw and Adam Milburn (drums), disbanded in 2002 following unfortunate and tragic circumstances, but after a two year hibernation, the band emerged as a five-piece to focus on their thrash and death metal roots, stronger and more determined in their revamped form. After a couple of line-up changes, Truth Corroded settled into their groove and have really proved themselves as a force in the domestic scnee. The current team consists of founding members North and Shaw plus new members Wayne Batters (guitar), Chris Walden (guitar) and Kieran Murray (drums).

Truth Corroded are known within the industry for their infallible work ethic, fervent dedication and hands on approach to their musical career. In 2005 they took that approach to the next level, clearly demonstrating their commitment and can-do attitude, when they formed their own record label, Truth Inc. Records. The label has since released all of Truth Corroded’s albums and has grown to represent a number of Australian and international heavyweights including Gold Coast metalcore veterans, Lynchmada, and Finnish melodic death metallers, Mors Principium Est.

Following their reformation in 2004, the band have released three albums and toured extensively with trips to Asia, Europe and, of course, around Australia. Not only are they experienced tourers, but their résumé boasts an impressive list of support slots including that of metal behemoths Sepultura, Fear Factory, Lamb of God, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Death Angel and Municipal Waste.

Truth Corroded have just finished recording a new album, The Saviours Slain, with producer Mark Lewis (DevilDriver, The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel), which is scheduled for release in November 2013. The new album will feature a string of prominent guest artists. Renowned drummer, Kevin Talley (Daath, Chimaira, Misery Index), who also performed on the band’s previous album Worship the Bled, handles the drumming for the whole album; San Francisco Bay Area thrash legend Craig Locicero (Forbidden) plays lead guitar on the song ‘They Are Horror’ and Malevolent Creation’s on again, off again, on again death metal vocalist Bret Hoffman lends his vocal chords to the song ‘Last of My Flesh’.

If the band’s previous releases are anything to go by, The Saviours Slain is sure to be a splendourous, aural assault packed with the mind-altering, rhythmic intensity of return guest performer Kevin Talley’s drumming; the powerful, driving guitar and bass riffs of Wayne Batters and Greg Shaw; the technical precision of former member Corey Grieve returning to do a guest spot on lead guitar and the strong social and political message conveyed by singer, Jason North. H

Extreme thrash Adelaide truthcorroded.com c hec k em o ut

‘Pride of Demise’ @YouTube

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listen now

‘D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n’ @YouTube

Allegiance T

Words: Simon Lukic Photo: Tony Harrison

he style didn’t resonate with everyone, but those enamoured by the speed and aggression of thrash, ate it up. And soon enough, there were bands forming across the country.

One such band was Allegiance, from Perth, Western Australia. Those who remember are not lost on the fact that the quintet had everything going for them and should have been huge.

The band formed in 1990 and the original line up consisted of vocalist John Mihos, guitarists Tony Campo and Steve Hidden, bassist Dave Harrison and drummer Conrad Higson. They hit local venues and soon realised that changes were in order. Higson replaced Mihos on lead vocals, while Glenn Butcher was brought in on drums and Jason Stone replaced Hidden on guitar. Interestingly enough, the band maintained this line-up until their break up.

A string of demos were soon released with Make The Pledge debuting in 1991. Studio Live and Torn Between Two Worlds followed in

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Australian metal fans have always embraced extremity and when thrash reared its ugly head, many took to it enthusiastically. The tape trading network introduced the uninitiated to a new sound and rest is history.

1992. This burst of activity brought Allegiance to the attention of many, with Torn Between Two Worlds raising their profile on the east coast of Australia. The sound and performance of the tape was crushingly intense, but the musical proficiency and song writing was at a level that belied their years as a band.

The demo also brought them international attention and reportedly sold a staggering 3,500 copies. Back at home the band were hitting the live front in a major way, playing the annual Bindoon Rock outdoor festival for the first time to a crowd of 10,000 people in February 1992.

Allegiance soon ventured to the east coast.

First, flying to Melbourne in July as the state representative in the finals of the Yamaha Rock competition, followed by a show at the Australian Metalfest at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, exposing the band to more potential fans.

In 1993, Allegiance returned to the Bindoon Rock festival, as well as performing at the Big Day Out. National tours with

Kreator and Fear Factory came and went and Allegiance soon became a major fixture on the touring circuit as well as the go to band for most promoters.

The then ex-Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford soon welcomed Allegiance to his management company EMAS. In 1994, after a March tour with Halford’s band, Fight, Allegiance signed an Australian deal with the ID Phonogram label.

Their debut album, D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n, was released in 1994 and hit the Western Australian mainstream ARIA chart at number one. It remained in the top five for a further three weeks, which is an amazing feat for any Australian band. D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n was a long time coming for fans and they were not disappointed. The songs had been honed to perfection as a result of all the live work and Allegiance were rewarded in kind. The international press was unanimous in their praise, with UK magazine Kerrang! giving D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n a KKKK review, which is their version of four stars.

A national tour with The Poor followed, as did the release of two video clips to promote the album. Allegiance also entered ABC’s Triple J studios and recorded Time To React – Live!, which was released in 1995. More touring with Slayer, Biohazard, Machine Head, Channel Zero and shows at the Big Day Out in both Australia and New Zealand followed widening their fan base.

New material was on the cards and in 1996 Allegiance released Skinman, a title chosen in memory of a member of the band’s road crew who committed suicide. Skinman was a slight departure for the band as new influences started creeping into their sound. The worldwide interest in thrash metal was waning and Allegiance sought to inject their music with some new flavours. The music was still aggressive and in line with their past, but the approach had shifted slightly.

Released in November by Mercury Records, Skinman debuted on the ARIA charts at number 11.

Despite the success, there was tension within the band and Dave Harrison left the fold in 1997. This signaled the demise of Allegiance and they disbanded shortly after.

After a few years of silence Allegiance played a reunion concert in November of 2000. They reunited again in 2003 for the NYE Kikstart concert and again in 2004 to play with KISS at WACA. The highest of honours was awarded to the band when they were inducted into the Western Australian Music Hall of Fame.

Allegiance’s tenure as a band may have been short, but their achievements were great. As far as Australian thrash metal goes, there is no band that has amassed a greater grass roots following or equalled the chart success and national press coverage that Allegiance enjoyed.

More importantly, Allegiance bridged the gap between the underground and the mainstream, and were, for a time, the leading heavy metal band in the land. H

Their debut album, D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n, was released in 1994 and hit the Western Australian mainstream ARIA chart at number one. It remained in the top five for a further three weeks, which is an amazing feat for any Australian band.

HEAVY’s Damo Musclecar scours the globe in search of metal’sJET forgotten BOY gems.

Feel The Shake rage(MCA, ‘Nice1988) ‘N’ Dirty’ listen now

‘Nice’n’Dirty’ @Youtube

W

hen I travel to the USA, I always make sure I stop in at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. Not only is it the biggest record store I have ever been inside of, but it is also a haven for old ‘80s hair metal - being so close to the infamous Sunset Strip has its perks. Towards the back of the store you can uncover a treasure trove of heavenly delights, all for the bargain price of one dollar (plus tax). It’s here that I spend countless hours flicking through endless copies of Carole King’s Tapestry and Herb Albert’s Tijuana Brass Band just to find those pots of gold. Tucked behind a beat-up copy of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume One is where I found Rage’s classic from ‘83.

When I returned home and the needle hit the groove, I was thrashing like a maniac… whiplash! Nine months on and my neck still hurts. This album is serious business, my friends.

Side one opens with an AC/DC styled rocker titled ‘American Radio Stations’. A call to arms, if you will, for those radio DJs to pay close attention to the rock’n’roll that emanated through the stacks of Rage.

It’s quite a generic anthem with bad lyrics featuring American geography and sing-along chorus’, but the solo reeks of classic ‘70s rock, even if it consists of around four notes and a couple bends. The song ‘Wasted Years’ follows on and, while not having the same impact as Iron Maiden’s hit of the same name, it does feature some nice galloping guitar riffage and some bitchin’ slide guitar. This is actually one of the better tunes on the album. The track, ‘Woman’, sounds as though it was penned by KISS (it wasn’t) and would have sat nicely on their hugely underrated Unmasked album. The vocals, the phrasing, the guitar work and the drumming all borrow heavily from the face painted quartet, which gets no disapproval from me. It’s a great tune that deserves a fist pump and possibly some air guitar. Following with ‘Heartbreaker’, it’s no question that these snazzy lookin’ bad boys were indeed just that. While the guitar tone could have had some work, the dual lead harmonies that are usually found on Thin Lizzy records run rampant through this song sending an

ode to the late and great Phil Lynott. There’s also a piano. Truly groundbreaking stuff!

The verses of ‘Silver and Gold’ sound so much like Bon Jovi’s ‘Raise Your Hands’ that I started singing along to the BJ smash hit, losing my train of thought from New York to Tokyo. This album’s no Slippery When Wet, but it must be noted that ‘Silver and Gold’ was written and released considerably earlier than the infamous song we know and love.

I just hope Rage are collecting their royalties.

Side two gets down to business right from the get go with ‘Long Way From Home’.

A hard rockin’ balls to the wall tune that I can personally identify with, considering I am usually globetrotting when I find these golden nuggets of vinyl. ‘Only Child’ opens with some sweet Joe Perry style slide guitar that rings in shades of the blues. A stand out track and no doubt a staple on trucker radio stations across the USA’s Midwest.

With the omission of the word ‘Love’ in the song’s title, ‘Blame It On The Night’ reminds me of early Whitesnake, which is never a bad thing. I recall hearing this on the radio back in my youth, but I could be confusing it with the 400 other songs that it sounds like. It’s not hard to imagine what ‘Wild Cat Woman’ sounds like. It has the ballsy title to fit the swagger of the Aerosmith-esque riffs and it’s here that vocalist Dave Lloyd does his best Sammy Hagar impersonation. ‘Final cut, Ready To Go’, steals the riff from KISS’ ‘Cold Gin’ and turns it into the ‘Nutbush City Limits’. A four on the floor rocker with dual solos and a boring drum beat. Regardless, it still kicks some serious ass!

Nice ‘N’ Dirty is a solid piece of work and a perfect sign of the times and what was to come. A bit early to fall into the ‘80s glam era, Rage delivered a great sound of hard rock and old-school metal that even today still deserves your much needed attention.

Sure, there are better albums out there, but Rage managed to mix the best of ‘70s classic rock with early ‘80s metal, finding a happy medium to make the two work flawlessly. Brilliant! Side note: The photo of guitarist Keith Mulholland on the back cover looks considerably like late Powder Monkeys’ vocalist, Tim Hemensley. H

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Choosing a Band Name Words: Amanda Mason Lawyer: Dwyer Bruce Legal

You may think that choosing a band name is as simple as clicking a button on an online band name generator, however, legally speaking, there are a lot of other things that need to be considered before you start using a band name.

Step 1: Google search Once you’ve come up with your band name, you need to ensure that no one else is using that name. The easiest place to start a search to see if the name is in use is with good ol’ Google. A Google search will yield the most results and can save you from wasting your time with fiddlier, more technical searches. If the name is already in use by another band or anything music related, then ditch it and go back to your random band name generator. It’s also best to avoid using a name that’s already in use by anyone or anything in the entertainment industry as music and entertainment fall into the same class of trade mark, which we’ll get to later. If the name is in use, but it’s being used for something that is unlikely to ever be confused with your band, then you can consider moving forward and using the name.

Step 1: Google search

Step 2: ASIC search The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the government body that regulates companies, the stock market and financial services. Visit their website at asic.gov.au and perform an organisation and business name search to see if there are any companies or businesses registered using your proposed band name. If you’re using a word that’s purposely misspelled, then also

Step 2: ASIC search

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perform a search using the correct spelling.

If there are no companies or businesses using the name, then you can move onto the next step. If the name is already registered go back to step one with a new name. If the search reveals business names and companies with that name, but that say “removed” or “deregistered” next to them then that means that the companies and businesses are no longer trading using those names, so the names are up for grabs.

Step 3: ATMOSS search ATMOSS stands for the Australian Trade Mark Online Search System, which is a database of trade marks registered in Australia. Visit pericles. ipaustralia.gov.au/atmoss/ falcon.application_start (or save yourself five minutes worth of typing and just Google ATMOSS) and click ‘Enter as Guest’. You can perform a search using two separate words by entering them in the top two empty text boxes. If your proposed band name is only one word, type it in the first box. If it’s two words, type one in each box.

If it’s more than two words, you’ll have to repeat the search until you’ve searched using each word and with different combinations of those words. If you’re going for a lengthy, metalcore name filled with words like ‘and’, ‘the’ or ‘it’, you can just do the search using the main words. As with the ASIC search, if you’re using misspelled words, then search using the correct spelling too.

Step 3: ATMOSS search

If any of the trade marks that are similar to or the same as your proposed name have been registered in classes 41 or 9, then forget the name altogether because those classes include activities that your band intends to trade in such as musical performances and recordings. Classes 16 and 25 are also good ones to avoid because they include merch like stickers, posters and clothing.

To grossly simplify the trade mark and trade practice laws: you can’t trade using a name that is deceptive, misleading, likely to deceive or mislead or that is likely to cause confusion. So that’s why you want to avoid having a similar name to a business that trades in a similar area to you.

If there is a trade mark that is the same or similar to the name you intend to use, but not registered in classes 9, 16, 25 or 41 then you might be able to use it, however if the class is similar to those classes you should seek professional advice because there can be a fine line between acceptable and infringement. If you don’t want to see a lawyer, you can use TM Headstart, which is a service provided by IP Australia (for a fee) that will give you an indication of whether the name would receive trade mark registration.

Step 4: Domain name search If you get to this point, you now need to check if there’s a decent domain name available.

Using one of the millions of domain name registering websites, search to see if your proposed band name, or at least an appropriate variation of it, is available. If so, move on. If not, rethink.

Step 4: DOMAIN search

Step 5: Apply for an ABN and register a business name Once you’ve determined that your band name passes all of the above tests, go and apply for an ABN and then register the band name as a business name. A band is a business trading under the band’s name.

As such, it needs an ABN and a registered business name. You can apply for an ABN from the Australian Businesses Register website abr.gov.au and you can register a business name from the ASIC website asic. gov.au.

Step 5: APPLY FOR ABN

Other countries The ASIC and ATMOSS searches both only search within Australia, so there is a possibility that your band name may already be registered as a company, business or trade mark in another country, but to search every country would be incredibly time consuming and hopefully the Google search would have alerted you to some of them anyway. You could consider searching the major countries that you think your band might end up trading in, such as the US or parts of Europe, but searching every single country is pretty extreme.

If your name does end up infringing a trade mark in a particular country, you can just trade under a different name in that country, just as Ghost are known as Ghost B.C. in the US. H Amanda Mason is our resident legal expert. When she’s not changing the world as a lawyer with Dwyer Bruce Legal, she loves to scour Twitter for tour rumours.

Follow her at twitter.com/metalawyer.

other

countries

If your search yields no results, great! You can move on. However, it is likely that you’ll be presented with a list of results with either the same or similar names. Now this is where it gets technical, too technical to fully outline in this article, but you can find further trade mark information on IP Australia’s website, ipaustralia.gov.au, or you can visit your trusty lawyer. If your search comes up with a number of results, check each one to see how similar they are to your chosen name and then if they are reasonably similar or the same, look at the classes they’ve been registered in.

A trade mark class is the general area of trade that a trade mark is protected within.

A trade mark registered in class 2, which relates to paints and resins, would probably not prevent another trade mark from being registered in class 32, which relates to beverages, because the two trade marks are unlikely to ever be confused. A full list of the classes and their descriptions can be found at xeno.ipaustralia.gov.au/tmgns/facelets/ tmgoods.xhtml.

If you’re going for a lengthy, metalcore name filled with words like ‘and’, ‘the’ or ‘it’, you can just do the search using the main words.

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6.66 ways to improve at playing thrash

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Also, it’s worth mentioning that all of the riffs below are in the E Phrygian scale and written for a 4-string bass; however if you play a 5 or 6 string, I recommend you move all these down to the low B string. H

best. Slayer, Metallica, Death... the greats all started with fast, furious metal, aka thrash! Now the trick to playing tight, fast and accurate riffs is to practice slowly with a metronome and focus on your articulation and muscle memory. Playing a 45-minute set at 220 beats per minute (bpm) can be exhausting, so learning to keep your hands relaxed is essential. Set your metronome between 80-110bpm and play these exercises

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Ex.1 E-Phrygian scale

The Phrygian scale is the 3rd mode. It can also be described as a minor scale with a flat 2nd note.

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Ex.4 Straight-sixteenths

If you’re gonna bring the thrash, you’d better bring the technique.

Thrash metal, speed metal and black metal all have one common denominator: precision and pure, unadulterated speed.

Combining stop-on-a-dime accents, unison riffing with guitars and machine-gun 16th notes to reinforce the might of the double kick.

Played well, thrash metal packs a punch like no other heavy sub-genre. It was pretty much the first, and remains pretty much the

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Words: Drew Dedman

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Slayer’s ‘Angel of Death’, you know what part it is. Some hammer ons/pull offs on the A string, everything is slow enough to do ALL DOWNSTROKES. I see lots of cheaters out there. Don’t cheat. If it’s slow enough to do all downs, do all downs.

Thrash Guitar Words: Doug Steele

Ahhh, I love the ol’ thrash. Plug in, scoop out the mids on that high gain amp of yours and let the downstrokes dominate. The key ingredients to thrash guitar playing are muted power chords, right-hand stamina (teenage males have this mastered), and a less conventional, evil and ominous sound.

Let’s grab some chuggy bits from my favourite Thrash bands…

I love Anthrax. I went from Dokken and Van Halen to Anthrax and Metallica over the summer of ‘87. The muted power chord was (and probably still is) my favourite thing to listen to and play on the guitar.

This little bit right here is off the song ‘Among The Living’, just before the verse. The key is to mute the low E string, but let the fingered chords ring out. It can be a bitch if you’re dumb. Combine fast tempo and headbanging and it can get downright challenging. Add to that all downstrokes, and get ready to sweat New York style!

Photo: Rod Hunt

kick in the balls. There’s a much easier way to play this, but you omit that nifty little A power chord. And we don’t want Dime giving us the finger from heavy metal heaven, do we? Nah man, we don’t.

This next riff is ‘Metal Church’ by a band called Metal Church. I only had the one album, and I only listened to two songs; ‘Beyond the Black’ and this one. The riff is fairly straightforward with some lovely chromatic business, with C# being the tonal centre. Because of the speed of the sixteenth note triplets, it’ll have to be alternate picked.

I suggest listening to the riff until you can hum it perfectly. Then, try playing the alternate picked part starting on a downstroke, then start again and play the riff on an upstroke. Pick the way that’s most comfortable and stick with it. Right hand mute where need be.

Slayer’s ‘Angel of Death’, you know what part it is. Some hammer ons/pull offs on the A string, everything is slow enough to do ALL DOWNSTROKES. I see lots of cheaters out there. Don’t cheat. If it’s slow enough to do all downs, do all downs.

Now this horrible piece of music right here is Pantera’s ‘Cowboys from Hell’. Why is it horrible? It’s alternate picked, you have to downstroke on the A power chord but an upstroke on 3rd fret low E string. It’s like a tongue twister for your hands. This is the correct way to play the song. I’ve seen Dime on the 3 Watch it Go videos and he doesn’t play anything higher than the third fret on this particular riff. I can play all kinds of things on guitar. Playing this riff to speed is a hefty

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TIPS: If you’re right hand muting and your guitar has a floating Floyd Rose whammy bar, be mindful of how hard you mute. You may be accidentally raising the pitch of the note with the heel of your hand.

I kind of like the way it sounds, so I’m happy to mute and have the note raise one eighth of a semi-tone. It’s metal, man. Let’s not forget that.

As far as amp settings go, they’ll fluctuate, but usually it’s gain on full, bass full, treble at 3 o’clock, and mids right down. If your amp is farting, back off the bass a touch.

Scales in thrash: minor pentatonic, minor scale, diminished scale.

Don’t know what those are? Hop on YouTube, there’ll be 400 dudes to show you, including myself. Choose the least annoying human.

Want to hear more good thrash? Aside from the Big Four, there’s Forbidden, Vio-Lence, Exodus, Death Angel, Sacred Reich, SOD, Machine Head, MOD, Laaz Rockit, and of course, Testament. H

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Let’s ignore any notions of how much easier this approach is but rather acknowledge the sonic impact that this type of groove has.

Skank You Very Much Words: Rob Brens

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If you’ve listened to thrash metal, you’ve heard the ‘skank beat’ and if you were to learn its most basic form (example 1), you’re pretty much 80 per cent of the way to being a thrash metal drummer – though not necessarily a good one. To me, what makes a drummer so invaluable to the song writing process is how he shapes the form of the song with peaks and valleys.

While bands such as Metallica and Megadeth may be considered to be a more progressive form of thrash, even ruthlessly intense bands such as Slayer would break up their musical barrage with a simple halftime section, which could be achieved just by halving the speed of the skank beat.

I start with this point because no matter what drumming techniques you learn from here on out, they’ll be a waste if you operate on ‘11’ all the time – even Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth know when to dial it back.

Remember, a scream seems a lot louder when it starts from a whisper; simply put, while being a dominant tool utilised in Thrash metal, it’s still only one tool and can seem all the more effective when contrasted with other ideas, especially less intense ones.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to the finer points of the skank beat. Something so crass sounding as this beat could, and by all rights, should, be approached with minimal thought, but it’s very interesting how the slightest alterations can impact on the feeling of a song, overall.

Never has the role of a thrash drummer sounded so intelligible, has it?

Look up any video of a prominent thrash drummer such as Dave Lombardo and you’ll find that when they play something like the skank beat, their right hand (or whatever their leading hand is) won’t be hitting every single note at the same volume with the same motion, but rather with a ‘pumping’ motion of sorts. While I could spend an entire article on the principles of this technique, the fact is

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that often times this motion occurs naturally when attempting higher speeds and is not only excellent for economy, but it also creates a nice roundness to the sound. What this technique also creates is an accent on the quarter note, which some people land with the bass drum (example 2) and some people with the snare (example 3).

Big deal? What I’d recommend is trying both and deciding for yourself. What I find is landing the accent on the bass drum puts emphasis on the pulse which grounds the beat a lot more and can make it easier to grasp, listening wise. Putting the accent on the snare shifts the emphasis to the off-beat, which can create much more of a tense, pushing feel. At this point I might recommend investing in a microphone for your bass drum, particularly for rehearsals, as the bass drum can get lost very easily amidst all the chaos and is also the anchor for the pulse a lot of the time. It makes sense to at least ensure that it’s heard, right?

So let’s assume that you’ve tried these two approaches (which, if you’re used to one in particular, you’ll find switching to the other to be surprisingly difficult) and that you’ve tried them on different surfaces such as the hihat, ride cymbal, china, floor tom, rim of your snare, your co-workers, anything you can think of, let’s see how else we can split this up.

For less experienced drummers (or perhaps ones that are lacking in speed who are still keen to indulge in the trash genre), you’ll find that they’ll use this beat by halving the amount of notes in the leading hand and once again, landing the hits with either

the kick drum (example 4) or the snare (example 5).

Let’s ignore any notions of how much easier this approach is but rather acknowledge the sonic impact that this type of groove has.

Yes, there is significantly less effort involved but you could also view it as an approach that creates a lot more clarity; however, I personally find this removes a lot of intensity, which might almost seem contradictory to the intention of the style of music we’re dealing with. On the other hand, it introduces more of a groove element to the music, as there’s even more emphasis created on the pulse.

A great example of this can be found on Thy Art Is Murder’s Hate album. While it’s understandable that this type of skank beat is used given that the tempos are ridiculously fast, I believe for their style of music, it suits very well as it is more groove-oriented.

So here we are, an entire article dedicated to one beat. But why not? It’s been the foundation for an entire genre of music. While this whole thing could be written off as over analysing (which I don’t usually believe in, but it probably is anyway), what I hope this may address is some new approaches for people who may have hit a technical or musical wall and this might provide something that will suit better. For every type of skank beat, you could find a prominent metal drummer that utilises it very well, so if you only take away one thing from this article, it’s acknowledging that everyone has their own approach that works for them. What will yours be? H

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4 y ã4 œ 4 y ã4 œ 4 y ã4 œ > y ã >œ y > 㜠y 㜠y 㜠y 㜠y 㜠y 㜠y 㜠y 㜠‰ 㜠‰ 㜠‰ ã

y œ y œ y œ yœ œy yœ > y œ > y >œ y œ œ œ

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> y >œ y >œ y œ y œ y œ y œ y œ y œ y œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰

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y œ y œ y œ yœ œy yœ > y œ > y >œ y œ œ œ

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y œ y œ y œ yœ yœ yœ > y œ > y >œ y œ œ œ

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y œ y œ y œ yœ œy yœ > y œ > y >œ y œ œ œ

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Words: Amanda Mason

King Diamond ‘No Presents for Christmas’ hoodie

Releasing a song entitled ‘No Presents for Christmas’ has surely been a Jesus Day merchandise goldmine for King Diamond. What better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ than by ‘repping’ a known follower of LeVayan Satanism at Christmas midnight mass.

Christmas baubles

Again, King Diamond with the genius ‘No Presents for Christmas’ holiday merch. Now, I’m usually anti-Christmas decorations, but it’s just so hard to resist the opportunity to gently caress King Diamond’s baubles. Slayer, Metallica, Motörhead and Anthrax have also released their own Christmas baubles.

TRIVIUM Vengeance Falls OUT NOW

DREAM THEATER Dream Theater OUT NOW

Havok Christmas t-shirt

Let’s face it. Who doesn’t want a t-shirt that shows a skeleton strangling Santa Claus alongside the words ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal’, all printed in a good bleeding font. Nothing says Christmas like the undead committing Santacide. Nice work Havok, nice work indeed.

‘Let’s Rock This Christmas Down’

DEVILDRIVER Winter Kills OUT NOW

Ex-Runaways members Lita Ford and Cherie Currie recently reunited to record a special Christmas song called ‘Let’s Rock This Christmas Down’, which should be released just in time for, yep you guessed it, Christmas. I’m looking forward to the release of this song about as much as I’m looking forward to the next One Direction album (already pre-ordered both on iTunes). [Would be funnier if it weren’t true, Mason – Ed.]

Dark and Sombre greeting cards

Christmas and black metal go together like Mötley Crüe and tea parties. Yeah, maybe members of Mayhem, Burzum and Emperor gave black metal a bit of a bad rap with the whole church-burning thing, but it’s still amusing to celebrate Christmas with black metal greeting cards. Dark and Sombre Greetings make a heap of evil-looking, black metal-themed cards (darkandsombergreetings.com). The greeting inside this card reads ‘Happy holidays’ but my favourite is a picture of a burning church with the inappropriate message, ‘Congratulations’.

SATYRICON Satyricon OUT NOW

Catch TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER,

AVENGED SEVENFOLD and ALTER BRIDGE at

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AVENGED SEVENFOLD Hail To the King OUT NOW

ALTER BRIDGE Fortress OUT NOW

SCAR THE MARTYR Scar The Martyr OUT NOW

maniacsonline.com.au au.roadrunnerrecords.com warnermusic.com.au

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