Heavy Music Magazine Issue #9 by HEAVY Music Magazine

BLACK METAL SPOTLIGHT: BEHEMOTH, SATYRICON, THE AMENTA  a u s t r a l i a’ s p u r e s t h e av y m u s i c m a g a z i n e 

$9.95 inc.gst

Gojira

leading the global metal invasion at Soundwave

The Dillinger Escape Plan BEAST MODE ENGAGED

Orphaned Land Metal in the middle east

m asto d o n /// a S KI N G A LEX AND R I A kylesa /// five finger death punch LIVING COLOUR /// THY ART IS MURDER Baroness /// architects buried in verona voyager /// alter bridge /// Sydonia

oz underground

ADVENT SORROW ♦ SENSORY AMUSIA gay paris ♦ ELECTRIK DYNAMITE

plus Misery digs up some malevolent memories in metal rewind

ISSUE 9 $9.95 inc.gst ISSN 1839-5546

here right

contentsissue9

14 orphaned land

22 behemoth

18 GOJIRA

29 The Amenta

24 the dillinger escape plan

The music of the Israel’s biggest metal band is playing a role in re-uniting the Middle East.

The French metal masters are in town for Soundwave and talk of a new album abounds.

Greg Puciato opens up about unusual songwriting techniques and his dislike of Fred Durst.

Nergal discusses the recording process of the Polish giants’ tenth album, and reveals an unlikely muse.

The Amenta’s decision to quit as a live band speaks volumes about the state of the scene.

baroness

From broken bones to broken vans, John Baizley unloads about old wounds and new beginnings.

Satyricon. Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

6 Shrapnel 12 Hi-Rotation c u l p r i t s 22 Curing concert Executive editor & publisher douchebaggery Olivia Reppas editor 26 Five Finger Death Nick Lord Art Director Punch Peter Falkous Consultant 31 Chicks that Rock: Kylesa Publishing Effie Dimitropoulos 186Red Pty Ltd 34 Heavy Surveillance ASSISTANT editors Tennille Secomb Amanda Mason 39 Mastodon COVER PHOTO hoskingindustries.com.au 44 Asking Alexandria Distribution Gordon & Gotch 47 Living Colour Printing Blue Star Group 48 Architects (Printed in Australia) 50 Alter Bridge Specialist contributors Sam Bean – bass Brens – drums 52 Pinups: Mike Saputo Rob Dave Higgins – airwaves Amanda Mason – legal 55 Buried In Verona Doug Steele – guitar Contributors this issue 56 Thy Art Is Murder Rob Brens Jay Clair 58 Oz Underground Nathan Eden Emmett 62 Metal Rewind: Misery Patrick David Griffiths Peter Hodgson 53 Unveiling the Wicked Steven Jenkins Gareth Jones Karl Lean 64 Dotted Lines Nick Lord Simon Lukic 66 Strings & Skins Sebastian Mackay Amanda Mason 70 Fuggenweirdshit Anthony Moore

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!

Damo Musclecar Will Oakeshott Michelle O’Rance Tennille Secomb Sheri Tantawy Justin Tawil Glen Trask Tom Valcanis Josh Voce Kama Way

welcome

No one is safe

e’re celebrating a milestone here at HEAVY. We’re turning two! I know, I know. It’s not a giant milestone, and certainly not the 1000th issue of Rolling Stone or the 30th anniversary of Kerrang! Hell, in magazine years, we’ve really only just been born, but we’re treating our second birthday as a victory of tenacity because we’ve accomplished it in an age where everything is disposable and nothing seems to last. While independent publishing houses, record labels and film studios have stumbled all around us, we’ve dug in to create, develop and sustain a magazine that supports and nurtures some of the least commercial genres of music known to the industry. As music fans today, we are spoiled; the unworthy beneficiaries of an unprecedented surge in the number of bands producing music of outstanding quality for our consumption, but is there too much of a good thing? How many bands have you introduced into your playlist in the past two years? How many of them are you still playing today? How many of them are even still active? With each new year, we uncover new discoveries but we also farewell old favourites. Enter (and exit) The Amenta, the industrial and blackened metal masters who (along with Tasmania’s Psycroptic) have been the flagbearers for Australian extreme metal internationally since the band’s inception in 2002. I’ve lost count of the number of international metal blogs that have awarded perfect marks to the band’s Occasus and nOn albums and I expected the accolades to continue in 2014 after 2013’s excellent Flesh is Heir. Instead, the group closed the year with the shocking and unexpected announcement that their time as a live band was over. The story of what went wrong, handled superbly in our exclusive interview with Cain Cressall on page 29, is a must-read for anyone not only playing in an Australian metal band but following one. Here was a band with every weapon in its arsenal calling it quits not because of a lack of ability or because of any internal crisis. No, here stands another world-class Australian band worn down by the physical and financial pressures of touring in an increasingly competitive industry. This year brings much excitement for music fans but also much uncertainty. Support the bands you love for the scene is changing once again, and no one is safe. - Nick Lord

Photo: Nelli Scarlet

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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.

Stay in the know. Subscribe to HEAVY for just $39 and never miss and issue. Four times a year, HEAVY will be mailed straight to your door without you lifting a finger. Email: subscribe@heavymag.com.au Photo: Nellitoday. Scarlet 5

intothevoid

Stoner/fuzz news with Anthony Moore

Sun and Sail Club

The trio have released their inspiring and unique debut album Mannequin, featuring Bob Balch of Fu Manchu (guitar / vocoder vocals), Scott Thomas Reeder of Kyuss / The Obsessed (production / bass) and Fu Manchu drummer Scott Reeder. This is an amazing collaboration well worth checking out.

Inedia

The Shepparton rockers released their debut album Life Sucks, Then You Die November 2013. It captures their energetic, antic fuelled live mayhem perfectly and is full of grungy punk goodness. Their Facebook bio says it best: “If you like beer, flannies, weed, guitar solos and general debauchery, start listening to this band.”

Weird Festivals Words: Amanda Mason

So many music festivals are cut with the same set of cookie cutters, but there are some that refuse to be shaped. They defy convention, smashing the molds into millions of tiny pieces. These are those festivals. Rock Bitch Boat Halloween Party Another addition to the increasingly popular ‘festival on a boat’ trend, the Rock Bitch Boat Halloween Party combines the joy of metal with the carefree waiver of morality, thanks to the anonymity of Halloween costumes. The festival is a three-day boat cruise that departs from Stockholm, Sweden, and includes such activities as a masquerade ball, Halloween karaoke, a best costume contest, a guitar battle and – because it surely won’t end in a whole bunch of buyer’s remorse – a tattoo store.

Firelord

Italian stoner doom metal band Firelord’s debut full-length album, Among The Snakes is massive! It’s a worthy follow up to their 2011 The Burning EP. For fans of Monster Magnet and Sabbath who love their riffs with loads of dirt still left on!

Photo: Joseph Andersson

Sexy/HEAVY

What a perfect name for the Melbourne sludge’n’roll band. Think Queens Of The Stone Age and early Shihad. Possibly not a bad description considering that Tom Larkin (Shihad) sat in on drumming duties for their recording, yet it’s the industrial, NIN-like guitars of Logan Jeffs that really throws it into that mix. Grab their debut Battlesushi now.

RECOMMENDATION

New Release: Riff Fist – For A Few Riffs More 7” Melbourne riff kings Riff Fist are following up their debut Fistful Of Riffs EP with this massive For A Few Riffs More 7”. It’s released on orange whip vinyl and limited to 250.

c h e ck em out

Riff Fist @Bandcamp

Magic Circle Festival Magic Circle Festival should really be called Manowar Fest, or Festowar, or Manofest [or Festymanfest? – Ed.] Yeah, Manofest sounds cool. (Note to self: trademark Manofest.) The festival, put on by Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio’s Magic Circle Music record company, is a fine display of the exact theatrical excess one would expect from Manowar, which is good because Manowar headlines it! Other than Manowar, Magic Circle has included some big name acts, such as Alice Cooper, W.A.S.P. and Arch Enemy, and attracts more than 25,000 attendees each year, presumably owing to the remarkably cheap entrance price – it was €10 per day in 2007, and has increased to €77.50 seven years later. Gathering of the Juggalos The Gathering of the Juggalos is a festival for fans of hiphop duo Insane Clown Posse Photo: Guido Karp © 2007 Magic Circle Entertainment (ICP), and presented by their record label Psychopathic Records. Now, ICP isn’t rock or metal or anything even vaguely heavy but we think the band’s use of corpse paint and their decision to invite rock and metal artists like Soulfly, Fear Factory, Andrew WK, GWAR, Powerman 5000, Static X and Drowning Pool is enough to qualify the Gathering as a heavy festival. According to the festival’s website, the festival has a history that includes attendee deaths, arrests and, best of all, flying faeces. [Sign me up – Ed.] Sounds like super-happy fun times. As with any festival hosted by business-savvy record labels, it does boast a line-up that showcases Psychopathic Records’ artists, but also includes some more interesting forms of entertainment, such as ladies oil wrestling, a freak show, a bouncy castle, air-brush face painting, a wet t-shirt contest, a juggalo night court (yes, it’s a Judge-Judy-style juggalo judicial system) and some other things that I’m too uncool to have any idea what they are but which sound delicious, like Violent J’s Michael Jackson Moonwalk BBQ Blowout Pyjama Jam and Ladies Night, hosted by Sugar Slam.

Words: Amanda Mason

HEAVY Reading If you’re one of those people who needs to read all the way to the end of a bad book in the hope it will improve, then the world of rock books can be a minefield. To save you from tearing your eyes out at just how bad some rock and metal reads are, we’ve compiled a list of our favourites. The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rockstar – Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins (2008) The Heroin Diaries is the journal of notorious Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx during his heroin-fuelled downward spiral at the pinnacle of his career in the early ‘80s. Argued by some to be fictional, the diaries break up the ‘dear diary’ format with commentary and anecdotes from Sixx’s various bandmates, other musicians, managers and lovers. All were added retrospectively, which makes it a killer read and a total page turner. [Perfect for anyone considering a career as a junkie – Ed.]

Mötley Crüe: The Dirt. Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band – Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx and Neil Strauss (2002) Not for the prudish or faint of heart, The Dirt begins with Vince Neil bestowing the name “Bullwinkle” upon Tommy Lee’s “moose-faced girlfriend” before describing her as “a squirter”, and that’s just in opening paragraph. The biography goes on from there to tell the debaucherous tale of Mötley Crüe from the perspective of each of the four members of the band. In true West Hollywood style, no revolting or illicit detail is spared.

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell – Marilyn Manson and Neil Strauss (1999)

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell is one messed-up read but in a much more sadistic and disturbing way than The Dirt. The book covers Manson’s childhood, including his Christian upbringing and grandfather’s weird sexual fetishes, right through to the peak of his career where it contains sickening accounts of the many ways in which Manson’s sadly-willing fans were degraded. Fascinatingly disgusting, this book is definitely only for those with a penchant for the macabre. My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns ‘N’ Roses – Steven Adler and Lawrence J Spagnola (2011)

My Appetite for Destruction tells the tale of original Guns ‘N’ Roses’ drummer Steven Adler, providing behind-the-scenes insights into the band as well as details of the ups and downs (mostly downs) of Adler’s chilldhood and later life. These include growing up with Slash, Adler’s hardcore drug addiction and sacking from Guns ‘N’ Roses, and his health issues, including heart attacks, strokes and a suicide attempt.

Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir – Dave Mustaine and Joe Layden (2011) So Megadeth frontman and resident egomaniac Dave Mustaine wrote a book. Are there a bunch of sulky rants about his former band Metallica in which he pretends not to care but is still burning inside some 30 years later? You bet there are. As with most metal memoirs, it also covers his childhood, his drug addictions, the hand injury that almost cost him his career as a musician and his ridiculous number of trips to rehab. Mustaine’s story isn’t particularly inspiring, but it’s kind of endearing and you come away with a little bit of a soft spot for crazy ol’ Dave. Thoughtprovoking insights into the man who has played a seminal role in heavy metal history.

Slash – Slash and Anthony Bozza (2008) Slash’s book is, surprise, another story of the hedonistic delights and excesses of the ‘80s. The Guns ‘N’ Roses guitarist tells the story of his life, from childhood to drug addiction. it includes the trials and tribulations of Guns ‘N’ Roses and takes an interesting look into the red-headed enigma who is Axl Rose. Usually very private, Slash comes off as genuine, honest and down to earth, a trait that’s somewhat uncommon in those that have lived the kind of life that he has. Overall, Slash is long but worth it. [That’s what she said – Ed.]

Lemmy: White Line Fever – Lemmy Kilmister and Janiss Garza (2003) If you’ve seen Lemmy, the 2010 documentary on Motörhead’s multi-moled frontman, then there’s little point reading this book; it’s just an extended version with fewer pretty pictures. If you haven’t seen the documentary, however, then Lemmy is an informative read. Written in the singer’s typically-unassuming style, the book covers his time in Hawkwind and Motörhead, his sexual conquests, love (albeit briefly), drugs, alcohol and the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. It is, at times, a little tough to get through, but does have the odd spot of humour and generally provides an in-depth look into the life of a very unusual man.

NEW ‘BEATS’ IN STREAMING SERVICES

presented by WIFIREMUSIC.COM The streaming music business is one crowded jam session. Pandora Media, Spotify, Rdio, Songza, Google Play Music All Access, iTunes Radio, and others all vie for music lovers. The category is filled with conflicting formats, pricing strategies and features, and no dominant business strategy has yet emerged. So does the world really need another music app? Beats Electronics, the company behind the popular line of high-end headphones and speakers, launched Beats Music on January 21. It’s the latest entry to the music streaming wars and the brainchild of record producer Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr. Dre. The service offers on-demand tunes similar to Spotify but with playlist suggestions curated by industry experts like Trent Reznor. Like other leading rivals, including Rdio and Google Play, Beats Music boasts an on-demand library of more than 20 million songs. As a USD$10 per month subscription service, Beats Music has attracted a number of large strategic partners including Netflix, AT&T and Target stores. Coupled with Dre’s celebrity, endorsement from Ellen DeGeneres and advertising on the Super Bowl, this new player in the market could explode. The good news for recording artists? There is no ‘free’! Iovine thinks the Beats Music subscription model is a smart business strategy and, ultimately, good for the music industry. Free services pay next to nothing in royalties, set by federal law and based on revenue, and draw 80 per cent of listeners, he says. Artists “feel cheated,” Iovine says. “These free services are confusing and a mess.” As a subscription-based service, Beats will bring in more revenue and pay out more royalties to artists and rights holders than free services under standard industry contracts for streaming music services. The Beats Music App is not yet available in Australia, but hopefully it won’t take long. Well-curated playlists that give fair royalties to recording artists is something that we look forward to seeing in the near future. Wifire Music artists’ releases will be delivered to the new Beats Music platform so... bring on the royalties.

WE HAVE A WINNER

We are proud to announce the winners of the Wifire/HEAVY Global Distribution Competition. It was fiercely contested and Wifire Music staff had some tough decisions to make, but the winners are Sierra Leone - Parasite Squad - Stray Dog Strut - The Hazard Circular Bizar Bazar - Carbon Black - Brolga Boys - Headbore All winners will be contacted and their submitted releases distributed free for three years with all royalties from the sales paid through to them. Thank you to everyone who entered. Digital Music News is brought to you by Wifire Music, Australia’s only online music distribution.

APPLE

AMAZON

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

Words: Amanda Mason

The Anti-Valentine’s Day playlist

Valentine’s Day – the most hated day of the year for bitter, old spinsters – is a day full of clichés, overpriced roses and a colour spectrum only containing garish shades of red and pink. If you’re also a bitter, old spinster, are allergic to chalky heart-shaped candy with grammaticallyincorrect messages, or are just generally opposed to enforced romance (at least until someone gives you a card that says “I choo, choo, choose you”), then this playlist is for you. As a special Valentine’s Day gift to you, we’ve made all these songs into a Spotify playlist for your listening pleasure. Visit bit.ly/heavyplaylist

Slayer – Love to Hate Manowar – Pleasure Slave Reverend Horton Heat – Big Red Rocket of Love Crotchduster – Let Me Into Starfish Land Nile – Masturbating the War God Kiss – Let’s Put the X in Sex My Chemical Romance – I Don’t Love You The Devin Townsend Project – The Mighty Masturbator Motörhead – Sex and Outrage Steel Panther – Weenie Ride Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me NIN – Closer Ratt – Lay it Down Queensrÿche – I Don’t Believe in Love Cannibal Corpse – Pounded Into Dust Mötley Crüe – Too Fast For Love Benighted – Sex-Addicted Judas Priest – Turbo Lover Necrophagia – Deep Inside I Plant the Devil’s Seed Andrew WK – I Get Wet Marilyn Manson – Valentine’s Day Ozzy Osbourne – Goodbye to Romance Papa Roach – She Loves Me Not Rainbow – Jealous Lover Static X – Love Dump Atrocity – Tainted Love Parkway Drive – Romance is Dead Gwar – Sex Cow Tool – Hooker With a Penis Six Feet Under – Let Me Put My Love Into You Check it out

HEAVY Playlist @Spotify

Words: Josh Voce

Massacra (FRE)

Founded way back in 1986, Massacra was resurrected from the grave by Century Media late last year. A compilation was put together to reflect the bands mark on the old-school death metal scene. Interestingly enough, Massacra moved away from the blast beats and disjointed rhythms of death metal and gravitated towards the groove metal scene heralded by Pantera. They were clearly playing on the brutal word ‘massacre’ when creating their band name, but somehow it confusingly comes off looking like a type of women’s eyeliner. Well, there is a clothes shop and death metal band that share the name Witchery, so why not expand the horizons to make-up?

Ignivomous (VIC)

Walls crumbling down around you, fire-vomiting iniquitous beings and incessant violence are just some of the images Ignivimous conjure up when abruptly played in one’s ear. Their last display of menacing death metal was released in March of 2012 via the American label Nuclear War Now!, but legend has it these foul beasts will unleash a brand new offering in the midst of this season. Stay tuned for more dark sardonic metal in 2014.

Decomposing Serenity (USA)

Vile and infectious goregrind is the name of the game for this uber fast one-man band. Witter Cheng, the brainchild behind this monstrosity, is originally from our own backyard. He now resides in Elko, Nevada, brewing more hedonic thrills to add to this decomposing symposium of his. 2013 saw the release of two split releases: one with Disgorgement Of Intestinal Lymphatic Suppuration and another with Crematory Digestor. Both are not for the faint of heart, and both are equally as hard to namedrop into conversation.

Apparitions Of Null (NSW)

Apparitions of Null are a highly atmospheric progressive death metal band from Sydney. It’s great to see bands that still give a fig about ambience, atmosphere and intricacy with a splash of Gregorian chants. Apparitions Of Null should be applauded for their attempt to try something different. On their recent show with Rise Of Avernus and France’s Hypo5e, they performed a 30-minute post-Gregorian chant-infused progressive technical death metal song called ‘Neurofragmentation’. How’s that for creative endeavour?

Have you ever sat and thought about why you love the music you do? Probably not, so as you’re reading this, think of those bands that you just can’t get enough of. I’m sure a few bands are popping in your head right now and hopefully they’re from different genres. Now focus on the particular songs from those bands you like. Really think about them – I’m doing it as I type this so we’re in it together, but I’m not going to mention mine here because that will ruin the exercise. Once you’ve got your bands – I’m guessing you’ll have at least two – and once you’ve got your songs in mind – the ones that instantly jump into your brain when you think of your favourite bands – then go ahead and lock them in. These are what we’re now working with. Now think about why these songs affect you so much, and the best parts of these songs. Is it the riff, the solo, the singing, the bass, the drums or something else entirely that grabs you and refuses to let you go? Whatever it is, this is the exact reason you love the music you do. It doesn’t matter what genre it is.

Music affects us all differently. It’s primal. We can’t choose what we like; the music chooses us. Why have I made you read this drivel and think about that? Simple. To prove that we all like different things and that we should spend energy on celebrating the things we love, not waste energy on the things we don’t. I have spent far too much time in my life hating on music – it’s a hazard of the job I’m in. I’ve found it’s a much happier me when I just pump up the music I love instead of knocking down the music I don’t like. We’re a lucky bunch of people, those who love heavy music. It does something to us that makes us want to band together and celebrate the shit out of it. We know those who don’t get it never will, but even within our own great community, there’s hatred for the tastes of others and there shouldn’t be. If you don’t like something, that’s fine. Let it go and don’t listen to it but don’t rag on someone else for liking it... unless of course it’s Lady Gaga – she can get f**ked! Sorry Doug Steele, you’re on your own there. 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.

Slamming Studio Report: Voyager

Perth’s Voyager is hard at work on another album. HEAVY editor Nick Lord chased down drummer Ashley Doodkorte and extracted some information about the new tunes and their upcoming tour with Israel’s Orphaned Land. The new album is not named after a Shakespearean play. Why not? Most of Shakespeare’s plays were written by Sir Francis Bacon. There are vegetarians in our band! What’s it called then? Current frontrunner is ‘V’ because it’s our fifth album and we’d be crazy to pass up that Roman market. We also might call it ‘I am Voyager’. Where are you recording it? Drums at Sumo Studio with Matthew Templeman. Scott (guitar) is tracking the rest and only wants a frozen banana in return. Danny records vocals and wibbly electronic bits in his home studio so they magically turn up in the tracks without us knowing. What stage are you up to? Most of the album has been tracked, and we’ve started hearing completed mixes. Mastering will be handled by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios. What disasters have you encountered? Danny knocked over my beer while he was plugging in a mic... and never apologised. He has no idea what I’m going to do with his photo in the album booklet; it may or may not involve a goat. Any retro vintage gear? The only vintage stuff I’ve seen are the pants Alex wore when he was tracking.

response has been phenomenal, and we thank all our pledges. An extra $7k. Do you each pocket $1,400? No way. A band is expensive. The pledges mean there won’t be goons trying to take our thumbs anymore (I love my thumbs). Your Kickstarter campaign mentions Voyager cookies. Can I get some? Let’s talk sometime. You have no idea what you’re in for, baby. Just how far would the band go for money? (I have some saved up and...) Two words: ‘massage’ and ‘mayonnaise’. Who hates paying for lunch? That’s me. I bring lunch from home. They see me eating risotto; they be hatin’. What gets you through the studio sessions? Dirty mags? Bongs? Youtube cat vids? Dirty mags? Simone would kill us and restring her seven-string with our guts. What’s a bong? I wish I could deny cat vids. As for the sessions, the Voyager wagon runs on iced coffee. Sell the album without saying “best yet”. We’ll use guitars, bass, vocals, keys and drums to form an audible progression from one group of sounds to another. We’ll do this ten to twelve times, and explore a theme, a story or an idea each time. [I see what you did there.] Okay, it’s actually The Meaning of I with bigger balls and a cleaner tuxedo. You’re touring with Orphaned Land. What will you teach them about Australia? How “your shout” works. How much does it suck to tour from Perth? Distance is a killer! What else do we really need to know? Catch us live on Feb 21 at the Amplifier Bar in Perth or see us on tour with Orphaned Land in late March. Check Facebook for more.

Who last said ‘autotune’ in the studio? I couldn’t tell you; his (her?) head and hands were missing when I discovered him (her?). You beat your Kickstarter goal by $7k! We pinch ourselves every day. The

Photo: Tony lendrum

Battlegod Productions turns 20 Two decades of decadence for one of Australia’s oldest metal labels

Nothing seems to last in the music industry these days. Bands come and go after one album, while labels seem to change every few years. It’s for that reason that every Aussie metal fan should be acknowledging the 20th anniversary of home-grown metal label Battlegod Productions. Battlegod Productions started life way back in 1994, when Gorgoroth from Aussie band Baltak decided that he needed a label that would suit his band without having to deal with a label on the other side of the world. The label rapidly signed a slew of other bands, including Mortifier and Abotus, both of whom were beginning to make waves right around the world. Today Battlegod Productions (BGP) is very much international, representing bands not only from Australia but also from Germany, Macedonia, Italy, Norway, the United States, Serbia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Over the past 20 years, BGP has blessed Australia with some of the finest extreme metal albums to ever hit our shores, releasing Baltak’s Macedonian War (2003), Pegazus’ Live! Thunder Down Under (2005), Dark Order’s The Violence Continuum (2006), Saxorior’s Volkerschlact (2008) and May Result’s Slava Smrti (2008). Despite difficult industry conditions worldwide, Battlegod Productions isn’t slowing down. The label recently signed another wave of new (and not so new) bands including Nergard (Sweden), Tyrant Wrath (Sweden), No Body’s Fool (Australia), Subliritum (Norway) and Antares Predator (Norway). Yes, it sounds like the metal will continue to pour out of one of Australia’s oldest metal labels for some time yet. HEAVY staff congratulate everyone at Battlegod Productions. May your swords stay sharp and your arrows fly true for many years yet. Words: David Griffiths

album of the issue

The Satanist by

Behemoth

Nuclear Blast

Blackened death metal Gdańsk, Poland behemoth.pl Review: Tennille Secomb The tenth album from the Polish heavyweights has a raw and open nature that draws on Zos Kia Cultus (2002) as much as Evangelion (2009) and perfectly evolves it. All the archetypal, epic elements of Behemoth are audible as the tracks build operatic atmospheres in the background of the band’s vicious drums and furious, signature-style riffing. Presented with incredible cohesion, The Satanist features a comparably natural production to previous efforts with the bass slightly more apparent than usual. The guitars, thick and ethereal, sit back a little further in the mix and Nergal’s vocals are placed right at the fore, threatening to spit on you with every curse-ridden lyric he unleashes. ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ opens the album like a slow, lurching call to war; ‘Furor

iPad

Divinus’, leaves no moment to breathe before exploding with relentless blasting that drives the song right into ‘Messe Noire’, which concludes with a monumental guitar solo. The second half of ‘Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer’ is one of the most illuminating points of the album with its irresistibly chunky groove and Nergal fiercely bellowing Latin phrases like a possessed curator. [Oh, wait... – Ed.] ‘Amen’ is reminiscent of earlier work such as ‘Shemhamforash’, while the title track is slower-paced and laced with keys and more instrumental guitar work. ‘Ben Sahar’ and ‘In The Absence Ov Light’ raise the energy again but the closing ‘O Father O Satan O Sun!’, Behemoth’s second longest track to date, reaches a new magnitude of dramatic proportions. Overall, The Satanist could not possibly disappoint; the dynamism of each track and monolithic energy underpinning the album will become the yardstick of death metal this year.

Faceless

Hyrda

Beloved

UNFD/Artery

Warner Music Australia

Buried in Verona Metalcore Sydney, Australia buriedinverona.com

Review: David Griffiths

Nothing fuels an album like emotion and Buried in Verona have drawn on personal feelings regarding those whom have attacked them over the years to deliver their best album to date. Faceless offers strong messages about not giving up on dreams and other life lessons in a mixture of new sounds from the band. Some tracks border on being vitriolic, lifting BIV into a new form of metalcore, while other songs see them recapture a nu-metal sound that fans of bands like Korn and Mudvayne will simply lap up. From the softer but meaningful ‘Set Me On Fire’ to the aggressive and masterful ‘Illuminate’ Faceless is just one of those albums that doesn’t miss a beat. It is an instant classic that gets better with each listen.

Within Temptation Symphonic metal Netherlands within-temptation.com

Review: Karl Lean Despite the success of The Unforgiving (2011), there were murmurs of ‘too commercial’ amongst some fans. As if to prove every action has a reaction, the band has found a heavier and more up-tempo style with their new release Hydra. All the elements that define Within Temptation are present: strong song writing, symphonic arrangements, great melodies, and Sharon Den Adel’s flawless vocals. The guitars have more presence and ‘grit’ this time around, and the extensive use of double kick beats helps cement the heavier feel. There’s also a range of guest vocalists that add extra layer of contrast to the album, including Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish), Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage) and rapper Xzibit. Within Temptation are committed to musical evolution, not revolution. If you’re already a fan, this is a great addition to the playlist; if you’ve tried the band before and found them wanting, this probably won’t win you over.

I Killed the Prom Queen

Metalcore Adelaide/Melbourne, Australia ikilledthepromqueen.com Review: Amanda Mason The first since their reformation in 2011, IKTPQ’s long-awaited third studio album, Beloved, should satiate existing IKTPQ fans whilst garnering the affection of a new legion of modern metalcore fans. The album has greater commercial appeal than 2006’s Music For the Recently Deceased, which can probably be attributed to founding member Jona Weinhofen’s stint in Bring Me the Horizon, coupled with it being produced by Fredrik Nordström (Bring Me the Horizon, In Flames). Despite a bevy of new band members, Beloved is redolent of an IKTPQ album, but there are some unusual elements present, like clean vocals reminiscent of early 2000s punk rock in ‘Bright Enough’, symphonic infusions in ‘Kjaerlighet’ and atmospheric interludes in ‘Brevity’, but to keep the old IKTPQ fans happy, these are all sandwiched between the deep, rumbling growls of new vocalist Jamie Hope (ex-Red Shore).

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h it th e p it

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‘Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel’ @YouTube

‘Splintered’ @YouTube

‘Dangerous’ @YouTube

‘To the Wolves’ @YouTube

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Chronolyth

Independent

Melodic death metal Brisbane, Australia chronolyth.com Review: Glen Trask

Released at the close of last year, Sovereign is the debut full-length from Brisbane’s groove metal quintet Chronolyth. The album captures a youthful hunger that exemplifies the energy upon which this band thrives and the result is a soundscape bursting with emotion and enthusiasm. Recorded with producer/engineer Nik Carpenter, and mastered by the legendary Zeuss, Sovereign sees Chronolyth traverse a vast musical terrain. Tracks like ‘Bitten Reflection’ and ‘Condemned in the Throes of Remorse’ are high-octane, mosh-friendly jolts to the system, while ‘The Heresy (Crucify Your God)’ and ‘Behold the Tyrant’s Fall’ build an introspective and powerful atmosphere, demonstrating Chronolyth’s versatility as musicians. A stellar first release that forecasts a promising future for these young men.

Architects

Epitaph/ UNFD

Metalcore Brighton, UK architectsofficial.com Review: Will Oakeshott Architects have found redemption from their controversial discography with their sixth fulllength Lost Forever // Lost Together. Bursting with intensity and energy conducive to a live setting, Architects return to their mathcore roots on tracks like the Dillinger Escape Plan-influenced lead single ‘Naysayer’, without ignoring their capacity for melody, as on ‘Grave Digger’ and ‘Dead Man Talking’. Henrik Udd and Fredrik Nordström’s production has modernised the sound brilliantly with light electronic flourishes, new tones and string inclusions as heard on ‘Colony Collpse’, the eerie ‘Youth Is Wasted On The Young’ and ‘Broken Cross’. This is summarised perfectly with the closer ‘The Distant Blue’, a five minute adventure of everything these British underdogs represent musically. This is more than Architects reclamation of their place, it is their magnum opus.

Plagues of Babylon by

Iced Earth

Century Media

Heavy metal Tampa, Florida icedearth.com Review: Ellie Combes

In a band with an endlessly changing line-up, Plagues of Babylon sees vocalist Stu Block cementing his second full-length with Iced Earth in good fashion. The highlight of what is an otherwise fairly dull affair, Block delivers his most unique performance to date on Plagues of Babylon, although the tracks present such a musically-consistent sound, the album verges on monotony. While the choruses in ‘The Culling’ and ‘Cthulu’ are inspiring, the final two songs are rather disappointing, letting the album down. Penultimate song ‘Highwayman’ is a classicsounding rock track featuring the vocals of Schaffer himself as well as Michael Poulsen (Volbeat) and Russell Allen (Symphony X). Overall, while Plagues of Babylon has a darker and heavier sound than they have released in years, the tracks fail to make a lasting impression.

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‘Sovereign’ @iTunes

‘Lost Forever // Lost Together’ @YouTube

‘Plagues of Babylon’ @YouTube

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Lost Forever // Lost Together

Sovereign

Reality Kicks by

Sydonia

Independent

Alternative hard rock Melbourne, Australia sydonia.com.au Review: Nick Lord

Sydonia has never been an easy band to pin down, and the Melbourne quartet’s latest take on alternative hard rock is no exception. At just four seconds shy of an hour, Reality Kicks has given Sydonia the time and space they need to flex their musical muscles, and they do so across a wide range of styles, from retro-inspired college rock to metal. Across all 13 tracks, performances are strong and production sharp; however, alternative rock albums are made or broken on vocals alone. Thankfully, Dana Roskvist’s diversity is on show throughout and he has no trouble balancing punchy rock vocals against gentle ethereal melodies. What makes Roskvist so extraordinary is his ability to channel other vocalists: the intro to ‘Home’ is breathlessly Chino

Moreno (Deftones) against a nu-metal percussive groove; the waltzing acoustic rhythm and alternative-folk melodies in ‘Reality Kicks’ hauntingly Anathema-like; ‘TL’ throws back to ‘80s new wave like a modernised Flock of Seagulls, with its driving feel and soaring chorus. And so it continues. I hear Jonathan Davis, Mike Patton and even Chad Kroeger at different times, but that’s the beauty of it – Roskvist gives just a taste (and the band set the music perfectly) before he is gone again, far too quickly to claim he’s lifting styles. Such range means there’s something for everyone here. Rockers will love ‘Sinner’ and ‘Words’, Metalheads will reach for ‘Shame’, ‘Crash’ and ‘C13’ (even with the nu-metal influence), and everyone else should have no trouble finding moments they love. Only ‘Nobodies’ falls flat but that won’t stop Reality Kicks from featuring heavily on playlists this year. riff it out

‘Reality Kicks’ @YouTube

feat. PARADISE (WHAT ABOUT US? w/Tarja) and DANGEROUS (w/Howard Jones) Also available limited deluxe 2CD special edition w/100 page hard cover booklet

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Words: Tom Valcanis Photo: Ami Bornstein

Israel’s Orphaned Land are the most famous Oriental-style progressive metal band in the world. It’s a fine feat in itself but the true triumph lies with their celebrity amongst not only Israelites but other Muslim Arabs, including Palestinians. It is Kobi Farhi’s voice that has sung this miracle of metal into life.

ugust, 2013. Orphaned Land singer Kobi Farhi leans

relaxed and shag-haired, against an old brick well. He’s in the courtyard of an ancient hotel, the Khan al-Umdan and the sun is fading on rows of arches that have been shorn from sandy-coloured stone. It’s silent and lonely, save for Kobi’s stone bracelets clacking in the breeze. The Khan was a place for wanderers stopping at the Old City of Acre, abutting the north coast of Israel. Israelites founded Acre in the 3rd century B.C. and the town has seen Roman, Greek and Ottoman occupation through the ages. Today, it’s the place that the Ba’hai, a religion emphasising the unity of humankind, consider their holiest. In May 1948, Israel re-captured the city, forcing over 13,500 Arabs out. Moroccan Jews settled amongst Arab Muslims and Christians until October 2008, when an Arab citizen drove through a Jewish settlement during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. What followed was five days of ferocity and violence. Abed Hatout, lead singer of metal band Khalas, stands to Farhi’s left. They’re talking, laughing together. Farhi is a Jewish Israeli; Hatout, an Arab Palestinian. In each other’s minds, they are brothers – brothers of metal. Abed and Kobi’s bands have shared stages, tour buses and beer. “The only time we disagree is on who has to pay for the beer,” Hatout says. Palestinians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, Westerners and Easterners – all probably think this scene a fiction. Some dumb hippie trip. Couldn’t happen, wouldn’t happen. It did happen though. It happened dozens of times. Hundreds of times. The power of music has brought together the warring Jews and Arabs. They stand side by side with horns raised, singing in Hebrew, in Arabic, in English. Such is the power of Israel’s Orphaned Land; such is the brotherhood of metal. The idea of Jews bonding with Palestinians flips the narrative on its head. In all our lifetimes, a clash of civilisations is how it was, is and always will be – war, intifada and despair, all without end. “The situation in the Middle East is very, very, very complicated,” Farhi begins, tucking long curls of brown behind his ear. “The thing is that the Western world is really fed by the media reports. The media reports, of course they always sell fire – Jews coexisting with Arabs in friendship never gets too much attention. “I’ll give you an example [of friendship across cultures]. With Orphaned Land, an Israeli Jewish metal band, we have dozens of Arab fans. People have heard of the intifada, but how many Australians have heard of the coexistence that Orphaned Land is creating?” Jews, Arab Israelis and Palestinians flock to see Orphaned Land when they play in Israel, and the band has gathered fans all over the Arab world. “Egypt, Syria, Iran, Lebanon... everywhere,” Farhi says. These fans have to travel to Turkey to see Orphaned Land perform because Farhi and the band are Israeli citizens with Israeli passports and Arab nations won’t let them past customs. “Imagine Arabs traveling all that way to see an Israeli band because we cannot go to Arab countries,” Farhi says on the obstacles they’ve overcome. “If you see the intifada, if you see the fight, if you see the wars in Gaza, imagine that those guys from both sides are suddenly in the metal concert and everything is OK for a few minutes.

“I mean, when the name Orphaned Land comes to a conversation, immediately it’s, ‘Oh, it’s those Israelis with the Arab following.’ We’re metalheads and not to be considered to be Satanist? That’s one hell of an achievement. Politicians can learn from metalheads. Religious priests can learn from metalheads. We’re the best dudes around I think,” he laughs. In 2012, The Turkish government bestowed upon the band a ‘Friendship and Peace’ award for forging friendship among Muslims, Jews and Christians. It shows, at least to Kobi, that he’s brought more change to the region by singing in a metal band than “fixing cars all day long” in the Israeli Defence Force would ever bring. “I was a car mechanic in the army,” Farhi says, describing his life before Orphaned Land. “It was just something I really hated. I mean, every Israeli citizen is obligated to go to the army for 3 years [but] I wasn’t a fighter even at the time I was a soldier. At one point, I realized that I would be able to contribute much more as a musician.” Celebrity and praise among Arabs, at least in the eyes of the West, is an accomplishment that decades of diplomacy has never even touched, let alone grasped firmly in both hands. Divisions run deep in the Arab world and soldiers for peace are often the targets of both sides. “You know, I would say that 95 per cent of the comments that we ever got are so positive and understanding,” Farhi cheerfully reports. “We’re greeting Muslims for their holidays on our page and 90 per cent of the comments are always great. Then, of course, there is these 5-10 per cent of comments which are just nasty, or threatening, or wishing us to rot in hell or to die. “You need to understand the brainwashing that is going on in Arab countries, as well as in Israel, but especially in Arab countries where the regimes are not democratic.” Orphaned Land courted controversy wearing religious garb in press photos. Farhi himself wore Jesus’ crown of thorns and robes in publicity stills for The Way of ORWarriOR, but when his harmonies flow in both Arabic and Hebrew, it seems to open up common ground for both the sons of Abraham. “Do you know that, according to history, both Israelis and Arabs are descendants of the biblical Abraham?” Farhi enquires. “He had two sons from different mothers; he had Ishmael and Isaac. The Jews are sons of Isaac, the Arabs are the sons of Ishmael. So, according to history, we’re family – we’re brothers. Politicians have been dividing us for so long that even we have forgotten.” To Farhi, music transcends the political and the physical. Because of this, Orphaned Land never talk of political change. They speak only of understanding. Understanding one another. “I never wrote a song about an ex-girlfriend,” Farhi jokes. “I know for a fact that many Israelis and Arabs changed their opinions on each other because they share one thing in common; a love for Orphaned Land. Music has this magic to touch our hearts in ways that are spiritual. You might be sitting down and the music isn’t [literally] touching you in any way but you find yourself bursting in tears or having goosebumps. That’s very spiritual. I would even say that music is a cure; it’s a cure for our heart. It’s a comforting friend. It’s a hug. It’s there in a time of need.” Is the Middle East a situation without solution? Farhi feels education will cut this Gordian Knot that has been tightened by fighters and politicians for centuries, and compounded in the modern age by parents giving toy guns to children as young as four. In twenty years’ time, these children will be carrying

cover story

the real thing; desensitized to rout “the other side”; ready to fight and die. “I would change the whole education system,” Farhi implores. “I would just throw away Napoleon stories and Alexander the Great stories and all this bullshit. I would just throw it away. I will teach them about the value of life and I will teach them about listening. I will teach them how to listen. Listen to yourself but listen to the other side as well. Try to understand his story, try to be in his shoes, and try to put yourself in his shoes.” In the face of all the worthy work of Orphaned Land, does it matter that the band has released just five albums in their 23-year history? Does it matter that Yossi Sassi, their original guitarist, left the band prior to the recording of 2013’s All is One? Do record deals, DVDs, and world tours matter? Notes make the phrase. Phrases make the verse. Verses make the song. Just as the tree does not grow without first planting a seed, Orphaned Land can’t reap unity without sowing it with their music. How they make their music is unimportant. How music brings brotherhood is what we must focus on, Farhi says. “Is it a weaker story?” he asks, tackling the media head-on. “It isn’t a story of a complete utopia because I just came back from a European tour where I shared a tour bus with Palestinian band Khalas. Israeli and Palestinian leaders, it takes them six months just to bring themselves into the table to have a conversation –

“Israeli and Palestinian leaders, it takes them six months just to have a conversation. but we just shared a tour bus with a [Palestinian] band.” 16

they have so many preconditions on just going to the table. They have problems sharing the same landscape, the same city, the same country or the same building, but we just shared a tour bus with a [Palestinian] band. We lived together in a bus!” Again Farhi returns to the belief that there isn’t enough Intifada is an Arabic word that recognition of the positives literally translates to ‘shaking off’ and is used in the context of shaking occurring all over the region off oppression. In English, intifada every day. is synonymous with ‘uprising’ or “Stories like that are never ‘rebellion’. Many violent and bloody getting the headlines,” he says. “If intifada have swept through the Middle East from the 1960s to today we get, I don’t know, half a page and Farhi and his Palestinian brothers at the back cover of a magazine, have seen two of them: the First people are all over us or like, Palestinian intifada of 1987 to 1993; ‘Wow, the press is covering you.’ and the Second Palestinian intifada of 2000 to 2005. I’m saying again and again, ‘No, that should be the headline of ch e ck e m o u t the magazine.’” And right now, halfway ‘All is One’ around the world in Australia, @YouTube it is, and somewhere Farhi is probably smiling again. H

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Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Reigning French metal gods Gojira have been preparing for far more than just Soundwave. Ahead of the band’s return to Australia, the charismatic Joe Duplantier gives HEAVY the forecast for what 2014 holds in store.

ojira have just finished rehearsing at a practice space in New York City. The band are spending two weeks writing songs for a new album, although fans will have to sit tight as the material won’t quite be ready by the time Gojira arrive in Australia for Soundwave this year. “Right now it’s just a bunch of riffs and we are still working on the structure of the first song so we are not going to try and present that yet,” frontman Joe Duplantier says. “At the end of 2013, when we were on tour with Slayer in the States, we were composing and recording new songs on the bus, which was a first for us. We want to release an album; it’s our absolute priority for this year so we are completely focused on that.” Gojira’s music is as progressive in its inimitable sound as in the philosophies underpinning the lyrics. Ever-inspired by the natural world and where it’s headed, the band’s music reveals the

intelligent and socially-conscious mind of Duplantier. Articulate and intuitive, it is impossible not to be enraptured by the vocalist’s silky aura as he expounds his impassioned love affair with music. “I was always a very, very intense person,” he concedes. “If there’s something I wanna push, I’ve gotta do it. There’s no other way – no one can stop me from something I want; I’m very obsessive sometimes. When I started to play music, I didn’t have any plans, I didn’t know what was going to happen and I didn’t care. I was always in the present moment.” Being incredibly driven and yet possessing the patience to allow things to evolve in their own way, Duplantier has maintained an ideology that he not only applies to his craft but to life itself. “Personally, I just follow my intuition. If it’s something I like but I don’t know where it’s going to take me, I just go for it. It’s the same thing with relationships,” he says. “Things happened progressively

cover story

“It’s a very fragile thing when we compose a song; we don’t know where we are going with it. We just try to relax, express ourselves and let it flow.”

A family affair Words: Tennille Secomb Gojira sure like to keep it in the family. Joe and Mario Duplantier are the two powerhouse brothers behind the music, but there’s a raft of relatives involved in various band endeavours. Their sister Gabrielle has contributed photography for the band on all albums except From Mars To Sirius (2005) and is herself an accomplished photographer. Their cousin Alain is a renowned cinematographer and photographer. Not only does his portfolio comprise such notables as Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Björk and Baz Luhrmann but he is also responsible for directing the video to the 2005 title track ‘To Sirius’ as well as the ‘Love’ film clip from the 2001 album Terra Incognita. What’s more, the video clip for ‘Vacuity’ from The Way of All Flesh (2008), filmed near the band’s home town in Ondres in the South West of France, features the Duplantier’s cousin actress Claire Theodoly. c heck em out

‘Vacuity’ @Gojira

[with the band], organically, but we never really had a plan. When it started to work and be successful, we were not surprised or disappointed – it was just the way it was. Now entering their 18th year as a band, Gojira are one of the rare few groups to last that long without a line-up change. The brotherly dynamism of Joe and Mario (drums) Duplantier is bolstered by the complementary talents of Christian Andreu (guitar) and Jean-Michel Labadie (bass), and Duplantier believes there are key factors in Gojira’s longevity. “We were lucky that we found each other and it’s cool to have my brother in the band. We all love each other very much and always respect one another,” he says before adding with a laugh, “and no, we’re not doing drugs! To stay healthy and productive, not doing drugs is a big, big part of that.” Gojira’s organic attitude runs deep. It’s not just in their lifestyles or lyrics that they promote such an ethos; it is the energy upon which the band is founded. It is precisely this thinking that fuels Gojira’s unadulterated creativity... and they’ve got it in spades. Aside from their musical capabilities, the brothers Duplantier are talented artists. Not only are they responsible for the band’s artwork, but Mario also sells his own surrealistic paintings on the internet. As the elder of the two explains, there is a close correlation between Gojira’s musical output and the Duplantier brothers’ artistic output. “The music inspires the art and the art inspires the music. The whole thing is an expression of what we are and the impact that the world has on us. It’s a very, very fragile thing when we compose a song; we don’t know where we are going with it. We just try to relax, express ourselves and let it flow,” he says. “It’s the same thing with pictures, with drawings, with CG colours. Everything is just one effort, one expression like dancing. The artist is the hands and the music is the feet or something, I don’t know,” Duplantier chuckles. Excitingly, Duplantier reveals that fans will soon be able to purchase yet more Gojira art in the form of a picture book, which will contain photographs taken by both brothers as well as their sister Gabrielle and various other people surrounding the band. The book will accompany Gojira’s impending live DVD and is intended to stand alone as an artistic object. “We are going to release [the DVD] with a book because nowadays you have to put something else out there to make a sale, like a t-shirt or a photo of our bass player naked,” Duplantier jokes. “Otherwise, people don’t buy things anymore so the record company wanted to add something and I suggested a book.” Recorded live at London’s Brixton Academy in March as part of the Jägermeister Music Tour, this next release will be the band’s third live DVD and is offered sincerely as the best of them all. “We worked very hard on this thing,” Duplantier says. “We are behind literally every step of the way in producing and preparing this DVD; the visual editing and mixing of the sound, the way it’s released and promoted. We worked very closely with all parts of this and I think it’s the best sounding and the most interesting [DVD] visually so we are very excited.” The road ahead of Gojira is auspicious; a myriad of opportunity afforded by their creativity and humility lies before them. As the band prepare for another Godzilla-sized year, it could be possible to write Gojira off as having already ‘made it’ (as far as extreme music can actually make it), but their upward trajectory seems to show no limits. “We are not going down, really; we are just going up. There’s always something ahead of us that’s exciting and that helps us to stay focused,” Duplantier says. “When we started, we just wanted to go fast and be like Metallica and Pantera and Slayer, and now we are 30, almost 40, and we just want to be ourselves. We’ve evolved a lot and have families and are different people... almost. There’s something still intact since the beginning and that’s the passion for music – the fire we carry inside.” H

Words: Sebastian Mackay Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Everybody’s favourite mathcore and chaos metal band has arrived once again and Greg Puciato wants everyone to know just how much he hates Fred Durst.

otorious bank robber and violent criminal John Dillinger was so infamous by the time he was shot dead in 1934 that a death mask was cast of his face that remains on display in Washington DC’s Crime Museum. Yet Greg Puciato, vocalist for the band that carries the Dillinger name, says he prefers trophies to masks, and fullheaded ones at that. In fact, if possible, he’d like to take such trophies straight from the living, and he’d start with Fred Durst, vocalist for pioneering American numetal act Limp Bizkit. Durst is “completely void of artistic merit but he just keeps coming up. It would be like when Medusa was slain and they took her head as a trophy,” Puciato says of a Durst decapitation and, despite the cheerful upward inflection in his voice, he seems quite serious about it. “Yep,” he declares loudly. “Kill the f**king monster and keep his head as a trophy.” There’s laughter but not the maniacal kind. Puciato isn’t quite insane, though he proclaims himself – along with the other members of Dillinger – to be “a little bit ADD”. Musically, the band’s barometer oscillates between frenzy and outright chaos, and it’s this unhinged energy that has led to them being labelled as a ‘mathcore’ band. The mathcore label doesn’t bother Puciato but he is quick to state that the band’s jagged, stop-start approach and non-linear songwriting structures are not a deliberate attempt to confuse the listener but are instead a more natural occurrence, and the result of a band trying to stave off boredom. “It wasn’t until we played it for someone else and they said “Holy shit, this is all over the place,” that we realised how it might not make sense.” Unique songwriting requires a unique approach, and Puciato says the band assemble songs piece by piece, rather than sitting down and writing a complete song in one session: “A pick up here and a track there, and we keep doing it and doing it until we get the end result.” The end result – a schizophrenic collision of sounds and rhythms that appear to occur randomly and without obeying rules of time and meter, but which are actually highly-complex, non-repeating structures – was an accident that the band tried to play down when journalists first started applying the mathcore category. Alas, as Puciato says, “Once something is created and put out into the world, you have no control over what people do with it or call it.” Dillinger’s fifth and latest album, One Of Us Is The Killer, is founded on feel, and aims for the heart and the gut. The record was an effort to step away from being purely cerebral, according to Puciato, and is driven by a sense of maturity. “You’re not just pissed off anymore or a ball of energy,” Puciato says of getting older. “You feel different things as a human and you’re affected more than just pissed off,” For Puciato, there’s now two types of energy: “‘F**k yeah’ and ‘f**k you’,” he laughs, adding that both of them are always present in differing quantities.

c h ec k em ou t

‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ @YouTube

“It takes me a long time to unwind from one of our shows,” Puciato says. “I usually don’t go to sleep until 8am the next day.”

Good gigs come in small packages Words: Sebastian Mackay Greg Puciato says smaller shows and stronger set lists are significant factors in driving up the energy during the band’s shows. There’s a big difference between performing to a crowd that’s 15 feet away and performing to one that’s just two feet away. The band work hard to overcome any potential disconnect and to bring as much energy as possible to their audiences but the large stages and short set times of festivals can sometimes make the task more difficult. Festival set lists can be as short as nine songs and The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato says the band battles regularly with which songs they should include. Puciato believes the best thing about festivals is encouraging people who might not normally be fans to come and see them live. He says sweaty, intense performances delivered in close proximity with the audience show the band in their natural habitat and also give them the chance to play not only their most popular songs but also their own personal favourites as well.

Must be hard to calm the beast after a show. “It takes me a long time to unwind from one of our shows,” Puciato says. “I usually don’t go to sleep until 8am the next day.” To help the process, the singer has some surprising musical preferences... including Janet Jackson. “I love early Janet Jackson. From a production standpoint, what they did makes you think ‘How the f**k did they do that without [digital audio workstation software] Protools?’” To Puciato, it’s about stripping away the mainstream pop context and appreciating the techniques involved. For example, he loves the use of real synthesisers to make the background and ambient sounds on those early Jackson records, and also believes the analogue production methods (and mistakes)

help to make the music more genuine than many of today’s digital records, which are 100 per cent perfect. “When you take that away [the pop context] and just listen to the production through headphones, [you hear] a little bit of ambient noise that comes in one ear for five seconds.” To Puciato, the type of music is less important to the musical process. It’s all about art over craft. “There’s a big difference between art and craft. Craft is easy,” he says, adding, “There are a lot of people that can play Jimi Hendrix or Van Halen, but to play something with feeling – something you feel every time you listen to it – is what makes a good song.” Discussing festivals now, Puciato says his ideal bill would involve the newly-reformed

Van Halen, The Cure, Apex Twin and Depeche Mode. As a performer, however, festivals sometimes take on the vibe of a travelling circus and leave him feeling like a caged animal: “You begin to feel like you’re in a zoo or an aquarium just being observed,” he says, though he accepts that festivals work “commercially”. On the plus side, festivals also mean the band can connect with more people. “We get to make new fans and show them we’re here, but we also get to piss off a bunch more people too,” he grins. “There’ll be people that don’t like us and we’re more inclined to go that way.” As for what fans can expect from the band’s sets, Puciato remains tight-lipped but says all the tracks on One Of Us Is The Killer are in the rotation except for two: “And we’re working out how to get those two in there also.” H

Curing CONCERT

DOUCHBAGGERY Words: Patrick Ogle Photo: John Raptis

It’s festival season, which means the masses are out in force... and there’s nothing like a large group to bring out a douchebag or two. This handy guide shows how to recognise and avoid even the most annoying concert and festival douchebags.

ave you been at a concert or festival and become irritated by the people around you? Or, even worse, have you realised, in a moment of clarity, that it might be you who is the one irritating people? In the former case you have met, and in the latter case you may be, a concert douchebag. Some would use the phrase “these days” when talking about concert douchebags but really this sort of behaviour has always been with us, at least for the last 30 years years or so. There are many douchebags who will disrupt or totally wreck a concert experience. Here are some of these as well as a few ways to deal with their irritating behaviour.

The Wanderer The wanderer believes, with metaphysical certainty, that the spot over there by the mixing desk is way better than the spot over here, where he’s currently standing... and he has to get there immediately and at any cost. Oddly, once he arrives and scans his surroundings, he realises, by some quirk of fate, that this new spot isn’t the spot for him... but that

one over there just might be. The wanderer can move up to 30 times in a 40-minute set, and does so while spilling drinks, trampling toes and blocking the views of anyone unlucky enough to be near him. Solution: You can growl when he comes near, use your friends to create giant walls of flesh or just position yourself where no one would ever want to be. If all that fails, marking your position with a giant circle of urine can help to keep away unwelcome visitors. Barring that, you could just hold him down and cut off his feet. Gigantor Gigantor really isn’t a douchebag as such; he’s just an obscenely large person who unintentionally torments the world with his enormousness. Standing seven foot tall and weighing over 400 pounds, if Gigantor were at the beach, he would block out the goddamn sun. Now, being big isn’t a problem, but it is a problem when they always seem to stand in front of me.

Solution: Well, let’s start by removing the hormones from our meat, and encouraging all extremely large people to either not have children or to engage in activities that inhibit growth. By restricting the dietary intake of large children to just one meal a day, and making it a meal of coffee and cigarettes, you’ll be improving the concert-going experience for painfully average people everywhere for generations to come. In the process, however, you might destroy basketball as a professional sport. [sounds like a win-win situation – Ed.] The Beer Sponge The Beer Sponge is similar to the Wanderer but there is a purpose to their movements, and it’s get beer not only for them but for everyone around them also. Beer Sponges usually gather really close to the stage, and usually in the company of other Beer Sponges. During the event, they move from the concert to the bar and back again without ever pausing to enjoy the show. Once a night, they’ll stop at the restroom to drain their 17-litre bladders but, otherwise, they weave through the crowd holding four to six beers high above them like an offering to Dionysus, the Greek god of intoxication. Alas, very little beer makes it to Dionysus or even back to the Beer Sponge’s original spot because most of it is by now running down the backs or drizzling the hair of the people he’s crashed into on his way across the room. Naturally, this necessitates a return to the bar to get another four warm, flat, eight-dollar beers. Solutions: The best way to avoid the impact of the Beer Sponge is, paradoxically, to stand near the bar. They’re always very careful for the first few steps and still have their treasured beers at chest height for the first few steps, so any damage is minimal. Another strategy is just to join them. If you spill enough beer on yourself, you won’t notice them ushering back and forth all night anyway. Of course, you can always start drinking earlier in the day and get so hosed that you don’t make it to the show. The Yammerer The Yammer just cannot stop talking. He can be heard talking from the moment he approaches you, and doesn’t stop for the entire concert. Yammerers may be content chatting to those around them but some decide the middle of a Fear Factory show is the perfect moment to call that old friend. Naturally, much shouting ensues. Yammerers generally rely on other Yammerers to yammer, and when they congregate together, they can create quite a din. I once saw a sold out show by an acoustic artist where a group of Yammerers talked so loudly that the artist stopped to tell them to shut the hell up. Quick to answer back, one Yammerer pointed out that they had paid to get in so they could talk as loud as they wanted. This logic is pretty hard to counter. I mean, if you pay to go to a restaurant, it is perfectly acceptable to take a shit on the table.

Solution: There are two dominant strategies for handling “I love you” girls. One is to travel back in time to convince her parents that she needs more love. The other is to try to fill that love quota yourself. The choice, as they say, is yours. The Traffic Beaters In any group scenario, there are some who feel that they have to beat the crowd out the door, even if it means missing half the concert. Perhaps because they’re only staying for a short while, they gather right up the front of the venue to ‘make the most of it’ before they’ve got to leave to beat that traffic. Around five songs in, a Traffic Beater will start to fidget and look at his watch. He’s realising that the show is going to end in around another hour and that there will be no way for him to exit the building first and beat that traffic rush if he’s not near the exit. The real panic kicks in when he realises he might even have to wait his turn to file out of the venue behind other people. He’ll start to sweat, and take his keys out of his pocket to save time on the way out. He might even check the VicRoads website for traffic updates before he painfully and clumsily pushes his way back through the crowd and all the way to the entrance, stomping on toes as he goes. The Traffic Beater is at every gig, and can usually be seen dragging a pissed-off woman behind him as he charges for the door. Solution: To avoid the Traffic Beater, one should stand up the back for the entire show. Leaving before the show starts is a good way to make sure you’re ahead of him and not arriving at the venue at all will also help. The people listed above are just a small handful of the type of concert and festival douchebags operating all around the world. Many more types exist and different festivals even have their own unique douchebags that vary in size, shape and severity. Don’t feed any of them after midnight, and be safe this summer. H Patrick Ogle is a Chicago-based writer. His work can be seen at www.mapanare.us and www.patrickogle.com

Solution: Tongues can be removed with a pair of pliers and a sharp knife. [An open and shut case? – Ed.] The “I love you” girls These delicate little things are not really douchebags, but they are incredibly annoying. Shouting “I love you, Eddie” at a Pearl Jam concert is understandable but shouting it 203 times is another thing entirely and it places them firmly into douchebag territory. Any incessant bellowing is annoying but it is somehow more annoying when someone feels the need to publicly profess their love for someone they’ve never met, simply because that person can sing/dance/play guitar.

Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Courtesy of Rocket Distribution

After one of the busiest years in the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career, enigmatic Behemoth frontman Nergal is preparing to do it all again with new album The Satanist.

“Metal has always been about rebelling against any oppressive systems. Religion, being one of them, is a very natural target to fight and rebel against.”

Reigniting the Inferno Words: Tennille Secomb Drummer Inferno was absent from Behemoth’s Australian tour in October 2013, following on from his appendix surgery mid-last year. HEAVY got an update on the blastmaster’s health. “He’s been rehearsing on his own and we are reuniting for the [February] tour,” Nergal says. “He’s doing fine. He’s still far from the shape that he was in before, but it’s just a matter of time until he is back in shape and he will do it eventually because he’s a strong motherf**ker. I don’t see it going any other way.” c h ec k em ou t

‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ @YouTube

dam ‘Nergal’ Darski is discussing the recording period for Behemoth’s monolithic tenth album The Satanist. “I was basically living like a monk,” he says, explaining that he moved out to Warsaw with the band because it was logistically easier than staying in their hometown of Gdańsk. “It was a cool time but there was a very dark and sinister vibe around it,” he says. “It was around January/February and it was f**king freezing and snowing in Poland so there’s a very cold reflection [in the album].” Nergal developed a strict routine to ensure he maintained focus during the long and difficult recording process. “Every day would look the same: spend all day in the rehearsal room with the guys, go home and train, then I would light some candles and stay up reading books until 11pm before going to bed and repeating it all,” he says. The result is Behemoth reborn. Marking a notable shift in the band’s energy, The Satanist is imbued with a raw freedom that at once reflects Behemoth’s black metal beginnings and simultaneously indicates the next phase of their evolution. This allencompassing sense of reflection and reincarnation is inevitable when the driving force behind the band stands at the altar of death and conquers it.

Nergal agrees that The Satanist feels like a new era of Behemoth, and offers that it is because of the tangible relationship between his art and himself. “It’s the tenth record but, for some reason, it feels like a new beginning for us,” he says. “I have always considered [music] as a mirror of what happens in my inner self. It’s a way of channelling all the transformations and challenges that happen within me.” And Satan knows there have been many. This is the first album from the Polish heavyweights since the 2009 opus Evangelion and also since Nergal’s death-defying encounter with leukaemia. The Satanist is culmination and catharsis of the hardest part of their journey so far. “There have been a lot of challenges on the way,” Nergal admits. “This has been the most time and energy consuming project we’ve ever accomplished, and getting the right mix was the biggest obstacle, but writing it felt natural and we achieved what we were aiming for.” With a title like The Satanist, it’s impossible to avoid entering into a religious discussion with one of the most controversial men in modern metal. “Metal has always been about rebelling against any oppressive systems,” he says. “Religion, being one of them – maybe the strongest of all; it is spiritual totalitarianism – is a very natural target to fight and rebel against because we feel limited by it. Especially for me, coming from such a conservative country, I personally love delving into it.” Manifesting itself as much in the music as in the lyrical content of each song, such religious antagonism is a trademark that continues to define the band, but one of the biggest influences on The Satanist wasn’t evil at all – it wasn’t even metal. “I remember around the time when we were writing the record I was listening to the new Nick Cave album so much,” Nergal says. “I would say that Push the Sky Away [2013] was one of the main inspirations for me – not literally because it’s obviously not metal, but it’s bluesy and angelic – and maybe that was what made me write more sinister and creepy atmospheric stuff instead of just fast, aggressive music.” Behemoth are in the best position they have ever been in. They are now preparing for another whirlwind year with the February release of The Satanist and an extensive touring schedule that has already seen the band commit to large-scale European festival appearances such as Wacken and Hellfest. After more than 22 years, Nergal ruminates that the band’s main journey has been off-road. “I’ve toured a thousand miles on a mental level. It’s been so much work on myself and I’m really proud of everything I’ve accomplished. I have a lot of love for myself, and that’s very important, but it took me some time to actually learn that. To find this love and embrace myself in the right way... I just feel so much better as a person. I love the place I am in now.” H

Words: Karl Lean Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Las Vegas, Nevada. Sin City. Loud, brash, and home to America’s latest metal masters.

ive Finger Death Punch (5FDP) dominated the US mainstream charts in 2013 with both volumes of double album The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, debuting at number two. Two albums in the US Top Five in one year means 5FDP are now firmly entrenched in the big league. So, why a double-album-as-two-single-albums release? Guitarist and founding member Zoltan Bathory has the answers. “It was not something that we planned on, not a conscious decision on our part like, ‘hey, let’s do a double album,’” he offers. “We were just coming home from touring and we’d had a studio with us on the road so we wrote the frames of six or seven songs. The way we write, we write the music first and once it’s done we give it to the vocalist Ivan, so he gets the songs in almost final form. By the time we had Ivan come in to start work on the vocals we were probably 14 songs in. While he was catching up and writing the lyrics for those songs we were still writing.” Bathory is quick to add that once the band was writing they were keen to keep the momentum going. “It’s not like a nine to five job, either it comes or it doesn’t – it’s like surfing, you wait for the wave and if the wave is coming you have to surf. That’s what we were doing, we kept writing and writing and ended up with 20 something songs.” With a pool of songs written and ready, it was time to cut it back to the ‘best of the best’, right?

“By the time Ivan caught up with us we were looking at this material and we all believed these were pretty much the best songs we’ve written. All these songs are really important to us so we just couldn’t make up our minds which ten or 11 songs we were going to go with,” Bathory explains. The band told the label about their little predicament, saying they loved all the songs so much they wanted to release them all. When the label said no, the band decided to let the label choose which tracks would appear on the album: “They came back a week later and said ‘ok, we see your point, guess it’s going to be a double’,” he says amusedly. Give either of the new albums a listen and it’s hard not to agree with the decision to go for a double release. There’s little doubt The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell Volume 1 and Volume 2 are the finest 5FDP recordings to date. Bathory agrees. “I think it took us three recordings, and now this fourth and fifth to come into our power, so to speak, and the band has become solidified and crystalised. Even though the first three records were extremely successful (all three went gold) I think we have managed to come to a more perfect form. I think these two records encompass all the elements that were good about the first three, it’s what we were really meant to be.” The new songs are clearly 5FDP tracks, yet they seem both more aggressive and more melodic than previous albums. That’s a pretty impressive compromise.

c h eck em out

‘Lift Me Up’ ft. Rob Halford @YouTube

Halford not only agreed to perform on the track, but also flew out to Las Vegas to spend time with the band and record his part. “It has more energy and it’s more aggressive than previous ones,” says Bathory, “yet you don’t really perceive it right away because it’s balanced. The first record was really heavy compared to the second and third, but I would say these are a real interesting combination. We became the band we wanted to be, I think this recording encompasses what we always wanted to do. There’s a lot of melody and a lot of depth. So in some weird way we managed to make it all harder, yet also a more melodic,” he laughs. A feature of Volume 1 is the extensive use of guests on various tracks, including Max Cavalera, Jamey Jasta, Maria Brink and Tech N9ne. But

perhaps the most interesting is the collaboration with legendary Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford. “It wasn’t a preconceived thing,” Bathory explains. “We were listening back to the songs and listening to ‘Lift Me Up’, and somebody said it almost sounded like Ozzy or Judas Priest as it had a sort of pretty prominent heavy metal vibe. We’d heard that Rob Halford likes Five Finger Death Punch – he’d said we are one of his favourite bands from the new crop of metal, and a light bulb went off. [We were thinking] there was nothing to lose. What if we reach out and see if he will sing on it? It’s a long shot but maybe.” Halford not only agreed to perform on the track, but also flew out to Las Vegas to spend time with the band and record his part. “That’s one of the Founding Fathers of the genre, there in the studio with us, a voice that we grew up with and we ended up hanging out for a couple of days. That was f**king amazing, and once we did that it was like kids in a candy store, let’s invite all our friends! We wanted to make sure people understood this was a Five Finger Death Punch album, and on top of that give you all these collaborations that we enjoyed doing.” Original bass player Matt Snell left the band in 2010 and was replaced by Chris Kael following the recording of the American Capitalist album. The new albums are his recording debut with the band, and his presence has again helped grow the band. “We love Chris, he’s probably one of the best things that happened, he’s such a balancing element and a really laid back, cool dude,” states Bathory. “We needed somebody like that, we are very strong personalities, everybody’s kind of crazy in different ways so his coming to the band was sort of a balancing factor. And he’s actually doing a lot of backup vocals on this album, and live as well. He’s the new guy so he impacts everything, he’s an awesome new element of the band.” The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1 and Volume 2 are out now. Check it all out live at Soundwave 2014. H

Words: Tennille Secomb Photo: Matt Allan

After more than a decade of domination, Australia’s extreme metal beast The Amenta are retreating to their lair. Vocalist Cain Cressall lets us feast on the inside of his mind one last time... or is it?

verybody says it’s better to burn out than fade away but it can be a bitter pill to swallow when the band in question is calling it quits at, debatably, the highest point of their decorated career. Just last month, industrial death metal masters The Amenta announced plans to retire as a live band. What this means is unclear but what is apparent is that, after fully expending themselves on their pulverizing, third full-length album Flesh is Heir in 2013, The Amenta have now reached what vocalist Cain Cressall describes as “a stalemate”. “In a way, it just feels like we are flogging a dead horse,” Cressall says of the band that began in 1997 as Crucible of Agony before rebranding as The Amenta in 2002. “Despite how much blood, sweat and tears have been put into the last couple of years, and the acclaim we got from the newest album, we’re still not that much further along than we were ten years ago.” The band’s exhausting touring schedule has taken its toll, and a rise in personal responsibilities now mean that not everyone can continue justifying the financial expense that comes with touring. Notably, keyboardist Timothy Pope was absent from a string of shows in 2013 when the band toured in support of Flesh is Heir. “I guess that’s where it started,” Cressall says. “Tim’s got two kids and a house now, so he had to start taking a step back from the stage until it got to a point where he didn’t know when he’d be able to do it again. He’s still been just as involved with the writing and creating process as ever before but touring is expensive.” According to Cressall, the costs associated with writing and recording aren’t as drastic for the band, “but touring always seems to cost a lot of money”. Pope co-founded The Amenta with guitarist Erik Miehs. Was he happy to let the band continue without him? “[His family] is an important responsibility but no, I wouldn’t say he was happy to let us continue moving forward,” Cressall laughs. “I think he misses playing shows and I don’t think this was something that was easy for him to just walk away from, but he got used to the idea in time.” The Amenta, also comprising drummer Dave Haley [Psycroptic, Ruins] and bassist Dan Quinlan, have called this period of hibernation “an indefinite hiatus”, but it must be hard to believe it’s all over with the

band teetering so close to breakthrough success. “At the moment it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but in a couple of months we’ll probably start feeling a bit lost,” Cressall admits. “We’re all very passionate musicians and we’ll always want to be creating new forms of horrible music, and that’s something that won’t cease.” For now, that creation will occur solely through their various side projects, but the big question is whether The Amenta will ever resurface from the murky depths from which they take their Egyptian name. “I’ve got a pretty good feeling that we’ll pick up where we left off,” Cressall muses. “There are a few bits and pieces that were in the works. I’m sure at some stage we’ll pull it together and release something, whether it’s a full-length or an EP. It would be good to tie up our loose ends.” Although the end seems to have arrived prematurely, The Amenta have cause for reflection, having achieved considerable success throughout their career. They released three highly-acclaimed fulllength albums and four EPs, and toured internationally multiple times with some of the biggest names in extreme metal, such as Deicide, Vader, Obituary, Warbringer, Decrepit Birth and Behemoth. “Sharing stages with bands that got me into extreme music like Obituary is right up there,” Cressall says of his highlights, “but I’d still say the proudest achievement would be first tour I did with the band. The odds were against me from the beginning – I got swine flu after the third show and we were playing 38 shows in 40 days across North America and Canada. Prior to that I’d never done more than four shows in a row. I just threw myself into it and we played every show and came out the other end stronger for it.” Cressall had only just joined The Amenta before the 2009 tour, replacing Jarrod Krafczyk. Erik Miehs and Cressall had met while hosting each other’s bands in their respective hometowns of Sydney and Perth and, when the time came for a new vocalist, Cressall’s demented, writhing stage presence came to mind as the most suitable choice for the band. The Amenta had already released Occasus (2004) and nOn (2008) and, after throwing Cressall into the deep end with touring, they began compiling material for what would become the VO1D EP in March 2011.

Unable to sit still Words: Tennille Secomb The Amenta may be taking a break but its members will be directing their creative energies into other outlets. Cressall will be busy finishing off a new release for his Perth band Malignant Monster; drummer Dave Haley will continue with Tasmanian heavyweights Psycroptic and Ruins; and, bassist Dan Quinlan is rumoured to be resurrecting the pieces of his previous band, Pain Division. As for guitarist Erik Miehs? “I’ve got a very strong feeling he’ll be knocking up new Amenta ideas in no time, but we’ll see what happens,” Cressall laughs. “He’s really busy as a sound engineer and always has a lot going on even if he isn’t writing or recording for a while.” c h ec k em out

‘Teeth’ @YouTube

It was Cressall’s first as vocalist and includes reworked versions of earlier The Amenta tracks as well as what Cressall describes as “a bunch of more experimental weirdo stuff”. Over the next year, The Amenta played some of their biggest shows, with Morbid Angel and Belphegor, before releasing the Chokehold EP in May 2012. More of a studio effort than they had previously done, Chokehold took a turn into a darker, grimier territory for the band and just three months later the Amenta announced another impending album. Such a rapid release schedule was popular with the public but demanding and exhausting for the band. “Flesh is Heir was an extremely wild, draining experience because of the level of commitment and dedication that was required to make that project what it became,” Cressall remembers. “Everyone in the band was going through personal changes, and a few traumas, which all ties in with the concept revolving around human struggles that the album deals with. “We didn’t settle for anything when making Flesh is Heir. There was no detail too small to be scrutinised; everything was constructed and deconstructed and reconstructed. It gave me a totally different perspective on songwriting because I’d never worked in that way before. The actual relationship between everyone in the band was a very different dynamic to what I’d been used to previously and it changed the way I approached songwriting and arranging, and space and weight. It won’t sound similar at all, but I think the next Malignant Monster will be heavily inspired by the experiences that I’ve been through writing with the Amenta guys.” Yet despite their momentum, their rising stature, the global critical acclaim for both their albums and their live shows, despite all the factors of success and the time spent crafting their own incomparably-wretched sound, fewer people were turning up at their shows. Cressall believes the challenges that faced the band in 2013 were, and continue to be, representative of the current state of the music industry rather than anything the band did wrong.

“It’s just really chaotic at the moment and there’s just so much on offer that punters are just generally losing interest and gigs don’t have quite as much importance anymore.” “It’s not just an Australian thing,” Cressall says. “Across the board, it’s becoming flooded these days. Everything is so accessible and bands are so self-sufficient; it’s getting to the point where everyone is in a band and everyone’s a promoter. You can’t book a show a year in advance without turning up on the night to find out there’s three other shows on in the same city. It’s just really chaotic at the moment and there’s just so much on offer that punters are just generally losing interest and gigs don’t have quite as much importance anymore.” Talking about extreme metal’s place in the world, Cressall reflects on humanity’s need for order and categorisation, and how this need leads people to avoid music that is difficult to define. “Extreme music in general is a niche market, but if you wanna do something really f**ked up that confuses people, you’re just limiting yourself even more,” he says. “I don’t think we’ve got an easy enough tag to be a really cool band. There are no cool gimmicks and I don’t think we were in the right place at the right time.” Although The Amenta have developed one of extreme metal’s most unique sounds, it is the opinion of this writer that they have often been eclipsed by bands who, while not necessarily breaking any ground musically, have encountered more fortuitously-timed and hypeinducing circumstances. Cressall isn’t phased. “I don’t think there’s anything particularly exciting about playing to huge crowds just because you’re a flavour of the month or because you dress up as a pirate,” he says. “I find it a lot more inspiring to be playing a small show to really intense, extreme-minded individuals than playing to a crowd of sheep.” Cressall hints that it won’t be long until fans see him on stage again because music remains his career: “I’ve never really given myself anything to fall back on and [music] is all I’ve been truly committed to since I was 15. I’m just kind of blindly walking forward and I think it’s just something I’ll keep doing whether it’s the right thing or not.” H

Laura Pleasants Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Geoff Johnson

Kylesa’s Laura Pleasants sits down with HEAVY for one of the most delightful interviews we’ve ever conducted.

aura Pleasants appears a paradigm of relaxed contentment, seemingly a woman who knows exactly who she is. Either that or whatever she had for breakfast hit the spot. She looks and acts at ease with a constant smile and yet somehow I understand that if I use the obvious pun she will make fun of me. So I don’t. But a conversation with her is quite ‘pleasant’. Surely the guitarist is one of the lucky few left on the planet to thus far shield her ears from certain aural displeasures the music world often taints us with. She insists she is yet to hear a Justin Bieber song. What if she accidentally hears one and likes it? “Trust me, that won’t happen,” she laughs. The songwriter admits that she likes a well-written pop song but feels that metal is where her musical heart belongs, simply because it is “much more real than the polished pop crap.” In particular reference to pop music and her gender she explains, “Sex sells, tits sell. I get it, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have to use that as a selling point for your music.” Does she believe that metal fans are different? Do they respond to the same sort of exploitation? “Overall, I think that metal fans are into the music.” Then she adds with her comfortable grin, “Guys don’t go to a metal show to

pick up chicks anyway.” Pleasants shares the guitar and vocal duties in Kylesa. Those unfamiliar with her band will discover a brilliant punk-tinged aggression existing alongside psychedelic sludge metal. She sees being on stage as her opportunity to experience a unique feeling. “I used to get nervous but not so much anymore. It’s a specific, excited feeling when I’m playing in front of an audience. I’m sharing something with people and not just doing something for myself,” Pleasants explains. From a creative perspective, the musician is inspired mostly by rock music. “I listen mostly to guitar-based music because, well, I’m a guitarist. But I also like some electronic stuff and jazz too. If it’s good, it’s good. I’m not going to judge based upon genre,” she says. Except Bieber? “Except Bieber.” A native of North Carolina, Pleasants attended the Savannah College of Art and Design and her creativity is not limited to musical expression. She finds satisfaction not derived from music as an avid photographer. Illustrating the difference between the two she explains: “Music

ch e ck e m o u t

‘Unspoken’ @iTunes

“I have been super busy recently starting a record label. I need to be prolific; I have a lot of ideas,” she says before explaining that she has written music not suited to Kylesa that “will surface somewhere at some time.” is a collaborative effort. Photography is from my eye. It’s shaping light. It’s documenting events. Photography is my visual journal of life.” She is not wasting time on any front it seems. “I have been super busy recently starting a record label. I need to be prolific; I have a lot of ideas,” she says before explaining that she has written music not suited to Kylesa that “will surface somewhere at some time.” Pleasants will tour Australia in March and April with Kylesa,

who were forced to postpone their scheduled shows in December last year. She says she has very fond memories of Australia during her band’s Soundwave appearances in 2011. “Personally, I fell in love with the place,” she says. “Also, Soundwave was a great experience. I got to see some great bands. Meeting Buzz and Dale from the Melvins was a definite highlight for me. The energy is so fantastic and seeing all these cool bands in the same place is great,” Pleasants adds, clearly enjoying the festival spirit. Kylesa’s music employs the use of coexisting male and female vocals and uniquely, two drummers. Ignoring supposed musical boundaries the band fuses avant-garde experimentalism with big ol’ dirty riffs from the stoner text book. It makes for an interesting and absorbing world where feelings of reflection and aggression are naturally evoked in equal measure. Pleasants says her band is enjoying playing tracks from their new album Ultraviolet (2013) but Australian audiences will hear a full range of songs. “We want to play some old material and some new,” the guitarist offers. “When playing live I think it is important to mix it up. I’ve never been interested in playing songs front to back.” On a more personal note, what made Pleasants decide to be a metal musician? “The best part of being a musician is artistic expression,” Pleasants concludes. “Fans of heavy music love it because it’s something different. It looks and sounds different. It walks a different path.” H

Words: Tennille Secomb

Batpiss

Squash Bowels Celebrating their 20th anniversary this April, Polish outfit Squash Bowels have been busy churning out their unrelenting goregrind for two decades with no sign of remitting. Demonstrated by their most recent effort, Grindcoholism (2013), the now solidified line-up is producing some of the band’s best work to date – which is saying something with 29 releases including six full-lengths, two EPs, five demos and 16 splits. The curious band name comes from hefty night of drinking between the boys who were drunk on a polish beer from Bialystok called Herbowe (Dojlidy Breweries) – an etymology entirely appropriate for these ‘grindcoholics’. Founded in 1994 by Rogal (drums), Lechu (guitar), Paluch (bass) and Mariusz (vocals), Squash Bowels have changed line-ups more times than they’ve said “grind”. The current combo, however, has been locked in since 2007 with Arthur “Paluch” Grassman (Exit Wounds) the only founding member who remains; guitarist Andrzej ‘Andy’ Pakos (ex-Damnable) joined in 2003 when the previous guitarist left after recording their third album, No Mercy (2004), and Mariusz

‘Melon’ Miernik (ex-Damnable) joined five years later. With this line-up, the trio released the acclaimed Grindvirus in 2009, which left fans salivating until their pulverising return last year. The ever-evolving line-up in the early years can be detected in the nuances of the music and structure of the songs, and this new phase sees Squash Bowels successfully merge crusty, old school grind with a modern death metal groove. Having toured all across Europe, the USA and Mexico, including performances at some of the world’s largest extreme metal festivals such as Maryland Deathfest and Obscene Extreme, Squash Bowels told HEAVY their wish for 2014: “We are really interested in playing in Australia and New Zealand. If somebody would like to invite us… get in touch!” check em o u t

‘Grindcoholism’ @Bandcamp

Against the Grain Long before the city’s motor industry fell to pieces and spiralled into financial ruin, there was a time when Detroit was once America’s home of rock’n’roll. Some would argue that it still is, being responsible for the likes of MC5, The Stooges, The White Stripes and this full-throttle powerhouse, Against The Grain (ATG) – a band so fuel-injected on guitar riffs and Motörhead, they show no sign of ever slowing down. Forming in 2009, ATG have quickly earned themselves quite a following as they keep it simple by delivering riff after riff after motherf**king riff. The band’s style is fast and powerful and can be best described as a mix of ‘80s metal and ‘70s rock’n’roll crossed with some Black Sabbath, and played at 100 miles an hour. It sounds larger than life and, after witnessing one of their live shows, you’ll find it hard not to agree that it actually is. After dishing out their debut record Motor City Speed Rock, ATG have been clocking up

more than 100 gigs a year. Their work ethic is nothing short of admirable, considering they have no label throwing money at them for tour support. These guys are doing it old-school, holding on to the DIY ethic that rang true with punk rock throughout the late ‘80s and ‘90s. Now on the strength of their latest album, Surrounded By Snakes, ATG have continued touring extensively which has them garnering the attention of legendary punk and rock stalwarts like Saint Vitus, Agent Orange, Dwarves, The Hookers, Electric Frankenstein, and Zeke. Having a great résumé under their belts in such a short time, 2014 is already shaping up to be one helluva year. With an endless amount of shows and Self-Destructo Records reissuing their out of print records, it shouldn’t be long before this hard working band catches the attention of Australian promoters and we see them grace our shores.

check em o u t

familiar Collingwood faces). Their sound is the unmistakable amalgamation of each members’ own unique style and influences; doom-infused garage punk that threatens to max out the speakers with every crashing beat and bellow. They have put out a demo that was released on tape in 2012, all of which have been recorded at their stomping ground, The Tote Hotel. Batpiss’ most recent effort Nuclear Winter was recorded by good friend Tom Lyngcoln of The Nation Blue, and both bands featured in a joke-gone-too-far MS Paint Exhibition by Sarah Thompson in November last year. With what appears to be a never-ending reserve of high-end energy, you can guarantee that, for Batpiss, 2014 is going to be another year of relentless gigging, hangovers and injuries sustained in the mosh-pit.

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‘Loose Screws’ @YouTube

Words: Anthony Moore

‘Surrounded by Snakes’ @YouTube Words: Damo Musclecar

Stalwarts of the Collingwood underground, Batpiss, have been making a right old mess of Melbourne’s local pubs since 2011. Riding the piss-stained high of 2013, the bristling brotherhood have barged into the New Year with reckless furore. Comprised of vocalist/bassist Thomy Sloane, guitarist Paul Pirie and drummer Marty Baker, the trio were catapulted forward by the May 2013 release of their debut fulllength, Nuclear Winter, which incited a violent frenzy around them as they trampled over all in their path. What ensued was a wildfire year of booze, gigs and tours with the band’s reputation for chaotic live shows earning them support slots with some of the biggest names in the scene. Over the past few years, Batpiss have shared their sludged-out stoner rock on stages with bands such as The Nation Blue, OFF!, Helmet and The Bronx. The boys also recently made their first video clip, ‘Loose Screws’, which was produced by Chris Matthews. It’s a particularly gory yet well-constructed affair in the vein of their close friends King Parrot’s ‘Shit on the Liver’ clip (in fact, Ari actually features in the video, among a string of other

Captives Tasmanian forest horror band Captives may derive their name from their home on the ‘convict island’, but they are definitely not being held prisoner. Since forming around February 2012, the band have barely stood still, wasting no time playing shows and getting into the studio. Brothers Aaron (vocals), Mitch (guitar) and Matt Damon (drums) were previously in a band together called The Dirty Love. They were later joined by Marcus Wynwood (guitar) from The Marvins and then when forming Captives, found Michael Lord (bass), previously in Always On Top and The Charlie Parkers (2003 TAS Triple J Unearthed winners). They released their self-titled debut EP in September, which was recorded at The Studios In The City in Melbourne by Ben Ehrenberg and Tom Larkin and mastered in Sydney by King Willy Bowden. Captives set out to truly capture their sound, which they describe as “straight up, no bullshit”. All the songs were tracked live and are raw, yet full of emotion and guts that explode

out of the speakers and off the stage. They have received comparisons to bands like The Bronx, Rocket From The Crypt, Glassjaw, Motörhead and even Fear, which is fine with the them as they proudly wear their influences on their sleeves. The band admit they aren’t out to change the face of rock’n’roll, yet Captives’ energy and strength is addictive as they tear through their sets with tornado-like ferocity and razor-like precision. They’ve already shared the stage with bands like Gay Paris, Clowns, High Tension, The Snowdroppers, Born Lion, The Sinking Teeth, Super Best Friends, The Mercy Beat, Drifter, Inedia, My Echo and Hounds of Hiroshima. With Captives currently back in the studio working on their debut album, 2014 is set to be massive! c h ec k em o u t

‘Snake in the Pit’ @YouTube

Words: Jay Clair

Rise of Avernus

Chronolyth Youthful exuberance mixed with a fire-like intensity creates what is known as the band called Chronolyth. Hailing from Brisbane and founded by Alex Nisirou (guitar) and Hamish McSorley (vocals) in 2011 as Stigmartyr, this band has already had its share of evolutions, including line-up changes and legal issues. Recruiting Michael Gee on drums (Ignite the Chamber), Ben Constable on guitar and Jimmy Barrett on bass (Awaken Solace), led the band in a new direction so the boys hit the road to put Chronolyth out to the local metal community and show what they had to offer. Deriving their name from the Cannabis Corpse song ‘Chronolith’, Chronolyth’s initial success is a testament to their work ethic. A very solid live unit, the band have played events such as Dead of Winter Festival and Ye Gods of Metal Festival, along with their own headlining shows. Such exposure has even seen the guys invited to guest-host several local and international radio shows such as Triple M, Triple J, AndrewHaugRadio and The Rock FM (New Zealand). The Chronolyth fire is fuelled by the connection with their fans during a live show

Harlott Never snub a Battle of the Bands comp. Erupting in 2006 from a suburban high school, Melbourne thrash brats Harlott began with this competition and have since rampaged through live music venues across Australia. Lead singer/guitarist Andy Hudson (ex-Festation, ex-Mason) is a self-confessed thrash addict, seeking speed and aggression, who uncovered the nascent talents of Dan Van Twest (ex-Vengeance Behold, ex-IRE) on drums; rounding out the outfit is the talented Tom Richards (bass) and Ryan Butler on guitar. The boys have been playing for more than seven years now, but their break came when they scored the Children of Bodom tour in 2011. They’ve been putting in the hard yards more than ever over the past few years, gigging with the best of Australia’s thrash

– a feeling that is certainly reciprocated by the crowd as they are riled up by the smashyou-in-the-face adrenalin of the music. Releasing their debut album Sovereign in December last year, Chronolyth are currently on a 27-stop tour across Australia. The Sovereignity Australian Tour includes rural towns such as Orange, Dubbo, Shepparton and Mildura, and wraps up in March. Blending groove metal and melodic death, Sovereign was recorded at Core Studios on the Gold Coast with producer Nik Carpenter (Aversions Crown, Rome, Lynchmada) and mixed/mastered in the U.S by Chris ‘Zeuss’ Harris (Hatebreed, Whitechapel, All That Remains). As the Chronolyth boys spread their chaos across Australia this summer, we keep spinning Sovereign and HEAVY are pegging this band as one to watch out for.

has drawn on its members’ diverse musical background, which ranges from classical to hard rock, metal, funk fusion and acid jazz, to create a new sound of metal not previously heard before. Their unique style incorporates many different genres that build atmosphere as the band seek to create soundscapes that take the listener on a journey. Rise Of Avernus are now on the verge of becoming a global sensation after signing to Italian label Aural Music/Code666, who over the years have signed a who’s who of the black/melodic metal worlds. This will soon mean that the beautiful sounds of L’Appel du Vide will soon be heard right around the world. So keep watch, HEAVY fans; it won’t be long before Rise Of Avernus take to the stage again with Kylesa in April and Septicflesh in May – this is a bandwagon you won’t want to miss.

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‘Condemned in the Throes of Remorse’ @YouTube

‘A Triptych Journey’ @YouTube

bands and refining their own signature style of aggressive thrash with a shot of bombastic Australian swagger. Last year, Harlott’s debut album Origin was released independently and recorded with Chris Themelco at Monolith Studios, adding another stellar entry to their discography. In 2011, the boys did a six-track demo entitled Virus, which was done cheaply and quickly, intending to show people what they were about. Eager to return to the studio, Harlott recorded None a year later. A fourtrack EP produced by Ermin at Systematic Productions, the release a preparation for the album that would follow. Harlott were recently signed to Italian label Punishment 18, who will be releasing and distributing Origin worldwide, and the boys now have their sights set on a European tour. So before they explode overseas, make sure you catch these guys for a live show packed full of high-energy thrash metal, enthusiastic moshing and generally a chuckle or two.

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Words: Kama Way

Most recently opening for Greek extreme metallers Rotting Christ, Rise of Avernus have made very big waves in a very short amount of time. Comprising Ben VanVollenhoven (guitar/vocals), Catherine Guirguis (vocals/keys), Matthew Bell (guitar), Daniel Warrington (bass guitar) and Andrew Craig (drums/percussion), Rise Of Avernus formed in 2012 and since then have toured right across Australia with the likes of Beyond Terror Beyond Grace, Apocolyptica, Mnemic and Enslaved. As if that isn’t enough, these Sydney based progressive doom metal artists have also impressed music lovers and critics alike with a self-titled EP and a debut album called L’Appel du Vide, which was acclaimed as a masterpiece of orchestral and progressive doom metal. Taking the Avernus part of their name from a crater in Italy that was once believed to be the entrance to the underworld, the band

Words: David Griffiths

‘Origin’ @YouTube

Words: Josh Voce Photo: Marian Morgan

Orsome Welles There is certainly something special about young, Melbourne prog rockers Orsome Welles. It could be their unique blend of heavy progressive rock, intertwined with the kind of melodies that exude serenity to instil a sense of originality with a fresh sound. Or it could just be that their name is ripped straight from the multi-talented filmmaker Orson Welles, with a minor adjustment to make it more, well, awesome. 2013 saw the band play a string of shows all over Victoria, including a headline spot at The Happy Wanderer Festival and various gigs at local venues with fellow proggers Kettlespider. With no physical embodiment of Orsome Welles’ music currently in existence, you may think an EP or demo is around the corner, but you’d be wrong. Bands that are fairly new traditionally build a rapport with audiences through demos, EPs, splits and small local shows. Orsome Welles, however, have a

different agenda in mind; the quintet have chosen release a full-length album first up to allow the band to make a serious impression on fans and to ambitiously put their mark not just on the local scene but also on the wider captive audience. This point is all the more evident as Orsome have secured themselves a spot on an upcoming tour with Israeli metal legends Orphaned Land, and will join them for three dates on the Australian east coast during March. After honing the art of playing live during 2013, Orsome plan to win over some new fans outside their home state of Victoria and hopefully to return home with twice as many fans as when they left. c h ec k e m o u t

??? @YouTube

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‘Curl of the Burl’ @YouTube

Mastodon Words: Peter Hodgson Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Mastodon’s Brent Hinds takes a brief break from recording studio album number six to chat about Soundwave, guitars and whether the new release will be another concept record.

nlike the extinct mammal species with which they share their name, Atlanta, Georgia’s Mastodon will never ever stop evolving, adapting and thriving. You could describe their sound as progressive but that wouldn’t capture the group’s classic rock elements; you could describe it as metal but that wouldn’t touch on the band’s groovier moments; you could certainly call their sound modern psychedelic but even that feels to be at odds with their southern-rock edge. Whatever the hell you want to call them, Mastodon are returning to Australia as part of the equally unstoppable Soundwave juggernaut, and the tour comes at an interesting time for the band. Touring for their last album, 2011’s The Hunter, is wrapped up, and work has long since commenced on the follow-up, meaning fans can expect to receive a Mastodon that is fresh from an intensive round of recording sessions – a group with an eye to the future. In fact, those recording sessions are currently so demanding that bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders, who was originally scheduled for this interview, had to pull out just 15 minutes beforehand because he was running behind recording vocals for the new album. In steps guitarist Brent Hinds and the machine rolls on. “We’re looking forward to coming back over there,” Hinds says of Soundwave. “It’s fun, and there’s a lot of bands on it.” Fans are looking forward to it also, mostly in the hope that Mastodon’s Soundwave sets might feature some new music, even a world premiere perhaps. “We’re gonna try to work some of the new stuff together,” Hinds says promisingly. “I think it’s safe to say ‘Yes, we will be playing one or two new songs.’ We’re about 63 per cent in the middle of making this album – we’ve got a lot more work ahead of us. We’ve got about, let’s see… 17 or 18 songs, and I’ve done six or seven guitar solos, one vocal track and all my rhythm stuff is done. So we’re right in the middle of it.” The recording of lead guitar is historically a deeply personal and delicate process that differs for every guitarist. Some like to set up a creative atmosphere with lamps, candles and what have you – stopping just short of David Lee Roth’s famed ‘bring a bunch of sand and beach towels into the studio’ approach – while others prefer to just knock it out. Hinds admits that he aligns more closely with the ‘get it done’ philosophy. “I just like to get everything going as soon as possible, so I just prefer to just do it. I don’t do anything to get into any kind of headspace or

nothing. Well, I probably take a few bong hits or something like that, but that’s it,” he admits candidly. In their quest to capture studio greatness, Mastodon has developed a reputation for exotic vintage gear. Hinds’ guitar gear collection for the album includes a whole bunch of Marshall, Vox, Fender, Laney and Orange amplifiers, and an extensive arsenal of Gibson Flying Vs and Les Pauls, as well as a few treasured, studio-only instruments. “My older stuff I usually don’t take on tour,” he says of his guitar choices, adding, “and I’m using a lot of Nick’s stuff [producer Nick Raskulinecz]. I’m also using some rentals – I rented a 1956 Fender Stratocaster the other day; it was friggin’ awesome.” Another instrument that has worked its way into the sessions is a lap steel. “I’m playing a lot of slide guitar on this record,” Hinds continues. “I’ve always been partial to slide and I guess I use it in kind of DavidGilmour psychedelic sense. I’m not using it in the traditional tunings or map-outs of E but, nonetheless, it’s screaming. Especially when you track a couple of tracks of slide; it’s pretty awesome.” Hinds has also worked with Lace Pickups on a signature pickup line since The Hunter: “Lace is making the Hammerclaw, which is my name for it. They’re pretty high output. It’s more or less like a Sustainer pickup, y’know?” There’s also been talk of a potential Gibson signature guitar that would be based on the Silverburst Flying V that Hinds can regularly be seen playing live. “Now I just need Gibson to make me a guitar and it would be complete. I think they’re saving me for last for some reason,” he laughs, referring to the fact that co-guitarist Bill Kelliher already has a signature Gibson guitar called the Golden Axe Explorer, while Sanders has a signature Fender Jaguar Bass model. So with our brief interview time almost up, it would be a crime not to ask about one particular recurrent band trait: Mastodon have established something of a habit of recording concept albums, albums with a unifying theme or a narrative. Will that be the case for the new one? “Nah, not so far, really,” Hinds says. “Every time we do an album, people expect us to do another concept album. I’m really hoping it’s not a concept album but you never know – stranger things could happen. Right now we’re just putting the album together piece by piece and it’s coming together nicely.” H

Baroness Words: Justin Tawil Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

From broken bones to broken-down vans, Baroness frontman John Dyer Baizley unloads about old wounds and new beginnings.

he tour cycle for Yellow & Green (2012) was dramatically brought to a screeching halt when a bus crash in a town near Bath sent their vehicle flying off of a viaduct. Extreme injuries were suffered by all passengers and resulted in a lengthy break for Baroness while everyone recovered. Coming out the other side, the band now has two new recuits: bassist Nick Jost and drummer Sebastian Thomson. Soundwave 2010 was the first time the band set foot on Australian soil, and Baizley is super excited to be here for Soundwave 2014. “It was pretty bleak,” Baizley says. “I was broken in half, and in several pieces in several places; I wasn’t looking forward to anything particularly.” Baizley recalls the gloomy outlook he had on the future of his music, “but as I got further and further away from the accident it became apparent to me that things were going to be fine, and they are today.” Getting to that place was obviously not an easy task, and John’s artistic side ended up providing a much needed outlet for all of his frustration. “I did a couple album covers last year, and that was all while I was recovering,” Baizley says. “I think I was just working to take my mind off of my discomfort [and] my pain... To build up my confidence again, so even the pain that I was in itself was inspiring in a way. The whole last year I needed to take a very bad situation and figure out a way to make it a good situation. I did it artistically, and I did it musically.” When people go through intensely devastating and dramatic events they often come out the other side with some sort of mental transformation, however according to Baizley, it isn’t necessarily true in this case. “Honestly, nothing has changed; I still feel the same way, that’s the important thing. It wasn’t like I was miserable before and now I’m happy or I was happy before and now I’m miserable,” he explains. “For us it’s exactly the same. We’re back on track now, we’re not thinking about the accident all the time anymore – we’re thinking about writing a new record and doing more tours. That’s kind of a gift for us because it was very nearly the case that we would never be able to consider doing any of that again.” The success of the band didn’t happen overnight; the band has been touring with an ever-changing line-up since 2003 and put in the hard yards to get to where they are now.

“I can’t even count the number of vans that have broken down. It’s something that used to happen on the regular,” Baizley says. “When that sort of thing happens you learn how to deal with problems, that’s the whole point of that. When you’re not making money, nobody cares who you are and you have to fight for everything. That’s the most important thing to understand in terms of where we’ve come from.” While the industry will be constantly evolving in different ways, Baizley believes that remembering these harder times does a lot to keep things in perspective. “I think the important thing with us is that the cornerstones of our initial intent are still intact. You get bigger, you get smaller, there’s more money, there’s less money, there’s more people, there’s less people. It doesn’t matter, that’s only material, fact is that you have to love what you do because it’s not an easy lifestyle. It’s full of risks and there’s virtually no money in it, so you do it because you love it, and you’re willing to put up with anything because of it.” Changing a line-up will always be greeted with scepticism from certain fans, but in this case it seems that the changes have only been for the better. “They’ve only been in the band six months and we’re already considerably better than we were before the accident, so I’m excited to see what happens when we start to write again. I think we all are, there’s definitely a mutual sort of excitement happening right now and we have yet to actually sit down to write anything, but that’s what we’re doing this month.” They’ll be playing Soundwave 2014 with this line-up and according to Baizley, will also be playing a couple of sideshows while they’re here. Baroness seems to improve and evolve in different ways with every album. Whether it’s different tunings, different members or otherwise, the band never cease to continue growing. “We just [write] from different points in our musical career,” Baizley explains. “We want each record to be sort of a picture of who we are when we write it... I think the exciting thing about being in this band is that we don’t have to write the same record over and over again, we can do whatever the fuck we want.” Seeing as the band have been through plenty in the last couple of years, they’ll be writing from an incredibly interesting place, which makes whatever they come up with next extremely enticing. H

Crashing Through with Converge Words: Justin Tawil The first live onstage performance John Baizley gave after Baroness’ tour bus crashed was with Converge at the Decibel 100th-issue concert, where he played guitar and sang on the song ‘Coral Blue’. This was merely two days after he was able to get around without his wheelchair. “It was exciting for me to finally get out of the wheelchair where I felt kind of trapped, it was definitely not an easy place for me to be in any way,” he says. “The fact that I got up and was able to play with anybody and do anything was awesome, it was a very powerful moment.” c h ec k em out

‘Take My Bones Away’ @iTunes

"It was pretty bleak. I was broken in half, and in several pieces in several places; I wasn’t looking forward to anything particularly."

Words: Sheri Tantawy Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Unlike their black metal peers who celebrate a more ‘controversial’ faith, be it Satanism or Paganism, Satyricon frontman Satyr believes religion has nothing to do with black metal anymore.

o much has changed since the ‘90s: Fenriz has a Twitter account; Mayhem are making money; Varg Vikernes has moved from stabbing his mates in the face to conspiring against the French government, and all while in and out of prison. It seems that the more things change, the more some things stay the same. Take Satyricon, for example. They too were a black metal fixture in the ‘90s, corpse paint and all. These days, however, it is widely known that the band have more of an affinity with nature than with nude forest romps [see the band’s classic video for ‘Mother North’]. Vocalist and guitarist Satyr today holds the opinion that lyrical content does not define a particular genre, nor does the religious agenda of its perpetrators. Satyr recalls a conversation taking place in the early ‘90s with former peer, Euronymous of Mayhem, who had this idea in his head that any style of music with Satanic lyrics had to be considered black metal. King Diamond’s Danish heavy metal band, Mercyful Fate, was in that list and it was then that Satyr truly began to consider the matter. “It’s such a complex matter and I remember telling him that I thought it was a little extreme. What about Deicide from Florida who are clearly extreme with Satanic lyrics? Surely that has to be black metal?” As conversations came and went, Euronymous’ response was often the same: “He would turn around and tell me that he didn’t know, this is

borderline and it was all very vague.” Despite its religious connotations, black metal has always been about musical expression, the feel, and, as Satyr points out, the idea that these two elements go hand in hand simply gives lyrical content within the genre too much power. “First and foremost, one’s musical expression is defined by the ‘feel’ in the music. To me, the way black metal feels is what is important.” He draws upon the parallel to the blues, because the blues is so very much defined by a feeling, “and such is black metal.” Black metal has still historically been supported by imagery from the occult. Satyr entertains the idea that Satanism is one of many indirections in the world, like the occult, and is interested to see just how many religious people are actually in the world of metal. “I will never be a Satanist, as much as Satyricon has never been a Satanic band. I don’t want to advocate that sort of mentality,” he says. “I think it’s absolute insanity that heavy metal artists come out like bornagain rockers. How the f**k can you be a Christian playing in a metal band? That is so far away from the ideals of metal.” He then went on to give examples, with a laugh, as to the ludicrousness of “Republican rednecks” spreading their political propaganda through this style of music, and would rather have a metal scene filled with “Satanists being really extreme” if that were the case. Satyr joined Satyricon in 1993 during the time of the second wave

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‘Our World It Rumbles Tonight’ @YouTube

“A scene is what we had in the ‘90s; a collective of bands playing amazing music of historical quality that would last for decades and influence bands for generations to come. That’s a scene.” of the black metal movement. It was a time when Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor and Immortal surpassed their predecessors of black inspired thrash/death; when Satanism and church burning became synonymous with black metal, as did the name Varg Vikernes, which today rolls off the tongue of every National Socialist like sweet honey nectar. Two decades later, renegade church burners are considered medieval and the extreme Satanic antics that once defined a sub-culture of young men and women are a case for a good ol’ blacklist on the touring front with that sort of behavior no longer being tolerated. “To me a scene is a living culture and not defined by a few bands playing black metal with its attendants sporting black metal shirts. A

scene is what we had in the ‘90s; it was a collective of bands playing a completely new genre of amazing music of historical quality that would last for decades and influence bands for generations to come. That’s a scene.” Satyr recalls. “The environment we grew up in musically had a strong sense of togetherness, but equally strong sense of competitiveness. Everyone strived to be really unique.” Satyr continues to strive to be unique and feels that it’s his responsibility to push the boundaries and keep the essence of the black metal scene alive. “I do feel that’s my responsibility. I do feel that it is the responsibility of all bands; it’s the only way to enjoy doing what we do,” he says. “We work very hard to try and do interesting, cutting edge stuff. As long as we have fun doing that we will continue.” Satyricon are playing at Soundwave this year in support of 2013’s eponymous self-titled album, and it’s their first tour of Australia since 2009. “Obviously it’s not going to be the same as Satyricon headlining with the last two records; we are playing a big event, bigger shows and bigger audiences,” he says. “We are going to try and do everything we can to get the most out of what we have, which is a very good relationship with our Australian fans.” Satyr recalls how Australia embraced Satyricon back in the band’s early days: “If you look at the early ’90s, Australia was one of the very few places that had a strong interest in our work even before we toured there, from a very early point on. I’m talking ’94. We already had a big following in Australia and it will continue to be that way. I feel that Australians get it. They get our music, our message. They get what we do.” H

From corpse painters to chart toppers: a brief history of Satyricon

1990 The band forms as Eczema. Members are Vegard ‘Wargod’ Blomberg (bass), Carl-Michael ‘Exhurtum’ Eide (drums) and Håvard ‘Lemarchand’ Jørgensen; 1991 Eczema rebrands as Satyricon and shifts in style to focus on traditional black metal. Satyr joins; 1992 Satyricon releases the All Evil demo and celebrates by booting out Exhurtum who told gutsofdarkness.com in a 2006 interview it was because he “preferred hanging out with my girl at the time rather than kicking down gravestones together with the band”. Wargod leaves also; 1993 Kjetil-Vidar ‘Frost’ Haraldstad is hired on drums and Satyricon releases The Forest Is My Throne. Lemarchand, the last founding member, departs shortly after but contributes guitars to Dark Medieval Times; 1994 Satyricon releases Dark Medieval Times and begins life as a two-piece, using session musicians for studio and live performances. The album has a distinctly folk influence and features flute and acoustic guitar. They follow it with Shadowthrone, another medieval-inspired album released in the same year; 1996 The band release Nemesis Divina. The single ‘Mother North’ becomes a genre-defining classic; 1999 Rebel Extravaganza is released, marking a massive shift in the band’s sound and image. Gone is the traditional black metal imagery and composition in favour of nihilistic, futuristic-wasteland themes and an almost-zombie approach to corpse paint and attire; 2002 Fifth album Volcano arrives and Satyricon achieves breakthrough success with a fusion of black metal and rock’n’roll loosely dubbed blackened rock or black’n’roll by fans; 2006 Sixth album Now, Diabolical continues the Volcano crossover blueprint. The band achieves more mainstream success, hitting #2 in Norway; 2008 Satyricon achieve their first gold record in Norway with The Age of Nero; 2013 An eponymous Satyricon release, the first in five years and the band’s eighth full-length overall, charts heavily across Europe. It peaks at #1 in Norway; 2014 Satyricon arrives in Australia to play Soundwave 2014.

Words: David Griffiths Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

In recent years, Asking Alexandria have faced some out-of-the-ordinary happenings: a tour bus crash; the roof collapsing on fans. Now they face their biggest challenge to date – the threat of an Aussie heatwave.

T NEW ALBUM NEVER SURRENDER COMING IN 2014

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he temperature is nearing 45 degrees celsius while I’m chatting to Ben Bruce, the lead guitarist of UK metalcore outfit Asking Alexandria. It’s day three of a week-long heat wave in Victoria and Bruce has heard about it. He lets out a gasp of fear when he finds out it’s forecast to reach as high as 47 on the final day of ‘the wave’. “Man that is ridiculous,” he says, a tremour evident in his voice. “What is going to be when we are there? I remember when we did Soundwave in 2011; it was really hot and I remember watching 36 Crazyfists from the side of the stage. I saw their drummer vomit all over his kit because he was suffering from heat stroke.” That’s enough weather talk. It’s obvious that Asking Alexandria are looking forward to making the trip for Soundwave, even if festivals have previously been the source of some embarrasment for the band. “We were playing at a festival in California a few months ago and we were on right before Avenged [Sevenfold],” Bruce says. “I looked down off the stage and saw something I could jump on, thinking I could then hop towards the crowd. Instead I ended up falling face first off the stage and face-planting into the grass in front of everybody. Nothing was hurt but my pride,” he laughs. With Soundwave now the focus of conversation, Bruce describes what it’s like for Asking Alexandria to find themselves playing in the company of Green Day, Gojira, Mastodon, Rob Zombie, Stone Temple Pilots and Australia’s own Thy Art is Murder. “It’s awesome,” he says confidently. “You struggle so much in a band until one day you get to play with all these incredible artists that have inspired you to get to where you are. We’ve played alongside bands like this a few times now, but it’s the kind of thing that doesnt come into your head when you first start a band or when you’re growing up. It’s not like you think ‘One day I’ll be in a band and play with all these other bands.’ At the same time, it can be very humbling because you realise when you meet these bands that they’re just normal dudes like you and me. They’re all down-to-earth guys who have the same love and passion for music that you do.” Despite all of the bands with whom Asking Alexandria have shared stages, Bruce admits that he can still be left star struck from time to time. “We had just got off stage after one of our shows in London a few years ago and we were all tired and sweaty,” Bruce recalls. “This older dude walks into the Green Room looking so familiar until it

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‘‘The Death Of Me’ @YouTube

hit me. It’s Charlie f**king Watts from The Rolling Stones! He was watching the show with his granddaughter and said we’d done a great job. In the end I didn’t say anything; I just listened and shook my head like a school-child.” It’s not all rockstars and free beers, however, and Bruce admits there are downsides to lengthy tours such as Soundwave. “As a band we’ve experienced some of the highest points of our lives over the past few years. We’ve bonded like a family, travelled the world and lived out dreams, but those highs have come with some low points too: We get lonely, you miss our families, we miss our friends and we’re away from home all the time.” The demands of touring can be draining, and Bruce expands on the double-edged sword that is a musician’s lifestyle. “A lot of times, in this band, we turn to drinking and stuff to get through the hard times [Mmm, I love ‘stuff’ too – Ed.] which just deteriorates our health and relationships. While we’ve done the greatest things you could wish to accomplish, we’ve also been through the toughest times of our lives personally as well. There

are plenrty of ups and downs but that’s the way it is for everybody. “You can’t moan about coming to Australia though,” he adds. “People have to save to holiday here and we get paid to come and play our music. You just have to stay positive and remember why you love what you do.” Fans of Asking Alexandria can get excited about the prospect of seeing their UK idols perform tracks off their hugely successful Reckless & Relentless (2011) and From Death To Destiny (2012) albums. Those looking to get up close and personal with the band may even want to start hanging out at tourist attractions while they’re here. “We’ve been to Australia twice and we’ve never bothered to do anything except go to the venue and eat at McDonalds,” Bruce laments. “This time I want to go explore, see the Opera House and do some of the touristy things.” Whether you want to stalk them in public places or just enjoy their show at Soundwave, Asking Alexandria is one band that you won’t be disappointed to see. H

"We’ve been to Australia twice and we’ve never bothered to do anything except go to the venue and eat at McDonalds. This time I want to go explore.” 45

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Words: Nathan Eden Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

Corey Glover, the voice of Living Colour, chats to HEAVY about playing festivals, Mick Jagger and meeting new people.

iving Colour seem to enjoy what they do, even after so many years in the heavy music game. As if emphasising the point, they are one of the very few bands pictured on the Soundwave artist webpage with smiles on their faces. “I’m looking at the website now and, yeah, we are one of the only bands smiling,” laughs longtime vocalist Corey Glover. “We were goofing around with the cameraman in Europe and just having fun.” This enjoyment of their art mixes with an inclination for spontaneity that mean fans at one Living Colour gig will experience something different to those at another. “We have never played the same way twice,” Glover explains. “In fact, I’ve never even sung a song the same way twice. Our performance will always be different each time.” It’s at festivals where the band get the best chances to experiment with their show, according to Glover: “At Soundwave there’ll be plenty of other bands around too, so maybe some onstage collaboration might be possible”. There wouldn’t be many metal bands who could say that they got their first big break from Mick Jagger, but that’s exactly who gave the boys from New York City a leg-up in the ‘80s. English-born ringleader Vernon Reid put together many line-ups under the moniker Living Colour before settling on a stable band sometime around 1986. Jagger produced the demo that helped the boys secure their first record deal. “We also did the Rolling Stones tour in 1989, which was great for us. He’s the reason why the band got a good footing from the start,” Glover says of Jagger. During this tour, Living Colour served as an opening act with Guns n’ Roses. Since that time, Living Colour has been credited with influencing many bands, including the mighty Rage Against the Machine. Glover explains the effect their musical diversity has had on crowds and other bands by saying, “I love Rage. I’ve seen them play and they were amazing. We did some shows with Stone Temple Pilots and some festivals with them. They were great too. It’s like a mutual appreciation society.” He then asserts, “We’ve been at this a long time. I know some folks come and see us because they love bands that we have had an influence upon.”

Stylistically a fusion of hard rock, metal, jazz, blues and funk, Living Colour are best known in the mainstream for their most commercially successful tracks: ‘Cult Of Personality’ and ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’. The former includes political references whilst the latter was written along more traditional themes but both showcase the songwriting of its band members, in particular guitarist Reid, with Glover’s impressive vocals soaring above. Living Colour’s whole catalogue includes elements that have seen them dubbed ‘funk metal’ and placed alongside other alternative metal bands. In terms of maintaining direction and a fan base, Glover insists that it is his band’s ability and desire to play as they feel that affords them their own inspiration and longevity. “We’re influenced by what we’re feeling at the time of writing or playing. It’s difficult to live in the future and you sure can’t live in the past,” he insists. This year marks the close of the 25th anniversary for the release of the band’s celebrated debut album Vivid. At Soundwave, fans can expect a mixture of old and new material as diverse as the genres within which the band operates. As Glover explains, “The end of 2013 is the end of our anniversary and, with a new album out, we’ll be playing a bit of everything. When we get back from the road we will finish the new stuff in the studio so by the time we get to Australia, crowds should be hearing new material.” In particular reference to Soundwave, Glover adds, “Australian fans will get exactly what they’ve come to expect from Living Colour. It depends on how we are feeling but we’ll be fresh out of the studio, so we’ll be ready to go.” In reference to his earlier mention of the possibility of members of other bands joining his onstage, he adds, “I’m just looking forward to hanging out and seeing who’s around. As a musician at a festival, you get to meet plenty of other bands.” On behalf of his band, Corey Glover’s message to Australian heavy music fans is in typically good faith and spirit: “Come out and have a good time. We’re looking forward to meeting some new people. We’re also looking forward to meeting some old people too,” he laughs. H

An English(axe)man in New York Words: Nathan Eden Living Colour’s bandleader Vernon Reid shares a similar story to that of the often lauded guitar-god Saul Hudson, aka Slash. Doing a reverseHendrix, both Slash and Reid were born only a few years apart in London before relocating to the United States at a young age to grow up respected and acclaimed guitarists whose influence may be heard in many of the tunes penned by musicians in their wake. Often included in top 100 lists alongside Slash, Vernon Reid’s take on heavy riffage and anarchic solos necessitated the term ‘funk metal’, whilst inspiring guitarists such as Tom Morello to experiment with new sounds.

Words: Will Oakeshott Photo: Courtesy of United

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Architects guitarist Tom Searle talks to HEAVY about studio life, touring and the new album.

owards the end of 2013, British progressive metalcore outfit Architects were reaching a peak of their career. After 2011’s controversial record The Here and Now, the band toured extensively on the back of their fan-redeeming fifth album Daybreaker (2012) and the four main Architects members were following on a path to success that they had worked so diligently to achieve. However, there is only so much people can endure with a work ethic of this magnitude and eventually for Architects, they encountered “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, as guitarist Tom Searle explains. “We did the Vans Warped tour in the USA, came home and hammered ourselves for a month to finish writing the new album,” Searle says. “We recorded it for a month directly after that, placing an unhealthy amount of pressure on ourselves in the studio. It was necessary though, this is our sixth record, we need to make good music at this point – otherwise it is a little bit embarrassing.” Searle says the studio environment was one of the most challenging aspects of recording. “Henrik Udd and Fredrik Nordström did amazing work, don’t get me wrong, but we suffered some serious cabin fever as there is nowhere to go and have fun where their studio is located,” he says. “We left on a plane to tour Canada and the USA whilst still in the mixing process, and after a week of touring in America with Protest The Hero, we had burnt ourselves out. We made the tough and unbelievable decision to come home, but we know it was the right one now.” The situation looked bleak and there was much concern about Architects’ future, but the downtime brought with it a silver lining too. The band finally got the well-deserved rest they so badly required and excitingly announced that album number six, entitled Lost Forever // Lost Together, would soon be released. Conceivably Architects’ best work yet, Lost Forever // Lost Together is eleven tracks of high-intensity, progressive metalcore, embracing the mathcore elements of the outfit’s earlier releases but also including the melodic moments that have won over so many fans. This writers ranks it as the best representation of Architects work; a perfect introduction to the band for new fans, and a release that helps old fans to move beyond prior conflict. “I’m extremely proud of Daybreaker but there was one thing I did take away from that album when approaching the writing process for Lost Forever // Lost Together,” Searle says. “I found that there was an abundance of down-tempo songs that didn’t translate so well live, or even to the extent of not being viable to play live because the energy of the show would drop too much. So, this time, we wanted a record full

‘Naysayer’ @YouTube

of songs where we would be spoilt for choices on what to play in the live setting, and one in which every song would connect well live and also be less politically-driven, lyrically. I really believe we have accomplished that and I think it is Architects doing what they should be doing.” Searle adds that Architects were intent to develop more individual themes and evolve their earlier sound with the new album. He says that each song was composed with a particular topic in mind, drawing on personal interactions and emotional reactions. “For example, the hopelessness in democracy,” Searle explains. “Even though a person may vote and get their say, ultimately they have to choose between two terrible options. Realistically, they are the only options because they are the viable ones to be elected, which is pretty shit. But we wanted to explore the feeling behind that, and not just that as a statement. “There are some really personal songs on there too that both Sam (Carter, vocals) and I could relate to – we both pretty much lost our minds recording the album. A track that represents what I am talking about really well is ‘C.A.N.C.E.R’, which is obviously about that horrible disease, so it isn’t entirely political.” Signing with Epitaph records was a dream come true for the band after completing their contractual obligation with Century Media; however, the album’s release in Australia will be taken care of by the popular new label We Are Unified. Naturally, the next question on every fan’s mind is if this means Architects are coming back to Australia sooner rather than later? With four past tours including Parkway Drive, Soundwave, Comback Kid and The Amity Affliction, Searle displays an avid interest in returning to our country. “It’s our favourite place in the world to go,” he says. “I don’t know what politics or timing issues influence the decision for us to come back, but it feels like I’m just watching bands we know always go back there and we are left feeling insanely jealous.” “I believe we are coming back this year,” Searle reveals before adding, “If it were up to me it would be every year! The first time we were amazed you all knew who we actually were because that had not happened to such a large extent anywhere else in the world. In Europe and the USA we have had to hammer those places to get people to almost notice us on a much smaller scale, but Australians were so welcoming.” Fans eagerly awaiting the band’s return can get a fill with the new album from Architects, Lost Forever // Lost Together, which is set to drop in March 2014 via UNFD in Australia and elsewhere through Epitaph. H

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‘Addicted to Pain’ @YouTube

Words: Karl Lean Photo: Austin Hargrave

In the middle of a busy touring schedule, HEAVY catches up with Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti.

ark Tremonti is clearly a guitarist who likes to keep busy, dividing his time amongst a number of projects including his original band Creed and his recent solo efforts. Right now though, it’s time for his ‘other’ passion, Alter Bridge, to step back to the foreground. Fortress is an album that Tremonti feels takes the band further than they’ve been before, with a more energetic style. “We’re very happy with it,” Tremonti says. “It feels like we’ve hit our stride and everything is looking up. We tried to do a few new things with the album, tried to do things to make it as unpredictable as possible, and the feedback so far has been great,” he enthuses. “I think we just wanted to make sure these songs were going to translate well live, and usually high energy stuff is what works well for that.” Once again working with producer Michael Baskette, the band has taken a different approach to the writing and recording process for the new album. “We spent a lot longer this time on pre-production and on working out the arrangements to make the most out of each song and try to go somewhere different to what we’d done in the past,” Tremonti explains. “Our producer Elvis – that’s his nickname, because he looks like Elvis – becomes kind of the fifth voice and gets a say on how these songs are going to be arranged during pre-production. We all get together in the

studio and work on the final arrangements and tempo map the songs. We love Elvis; he’s a great producer. He gets the most out of us.” The twelve tracks on the album cover a number of lyrical themes, moving from betrayal and poisoned relationships through to apocalyptic topics. The track ‘Waters Rising’ also sees Tremonti taking on the vocal duties for the first time with Alter Bridge. “It was coming down to the wire, time-wise, and Myles was working on all his lyrics and said he hadn’t come up with much on ‘Waters Rising’,” says Tremonti, explaining that Elvis then suggested letting Mark having a go at the track and sing the lead on it. “I’d done the solo album and a few fans had been asking about it for this album, so it seemed the obvious choice,” he says. Having broken the ice, Tremonti is open to the idea of more vocal work in the future. “We’ll just have to take it day by day, you never know. We’ll have to see what happens when we get back together.” Fortress is a rich blend of energy and subtle touches, an album that rewards repeated visits. Even Tremonti finds his favourite songs changing over time. “I would say that ‘Cry of Achilles’ is definitely one of the top songs. ‘Fortress’, the title track, is another one I really love. But really, whatever day you ask me I’ll have a different one that I really dig, I guess it changes,” he laughs. Both Tremonti and vocalist Myles Kennedy write and perform with other projects. One thing he’s very careful about is ensuring there’s a clear separation in styles between each band. “I think we just have this kind of natural intuition that tells us where things might fit,” says Tremonti. “Early on with Alter Bridge we were just trying not to reproduce our previous band; three of the four members

were from Creed and we wanted to make the sound as different as possible so we sort of naturally build up this filter. Our drummer Scott is really good at it; if we play anything that’s similar to Creed the alarm goes off.” Tremonti believes that making these multiple bands work is really an exercise in planning, making sure that the right amount of time is spent to meet each project’s needs. “We’re busy guys” he laughs, “but as a song writer it’s great to have lots of outlets, to make sure all your best stuff gets put on records. It would be a shame to have it all go to waste some day.” As a self-proclaimed lifelong metalhead who started in his early days listening to Metallica, Tremonti is an avid listener of contemporary bands.

“We just wanted to make sure these songs were going to translate well live, and usually high energy stuff is what works well for that.”

“I’m exposed to a lot of music through satellite radio, a lot of new bands. And I download off the radio whatever I hear that I dig. The last song I downloaded was a band called Skeletonwitch. I’m a fan of Opeth, and Lamb of God are one of the best metal bands out there, and, of course, Meshuggah, Gojira, all these young and progressive metal bands.” He even has a few Australian bands in his sights, “I know 12 Foot Ninja’s from Australia, heard a lot of them lately and dig it. Karnivool is another great band.” Australian fans now get their chance to hear the new album live as part of Soundwave 2014. Tremonti is looking forward to playing here again, on both the main stage and side show dates. “Last time we came was one of the most fun tours we’ve ever been on, we can’t wait to get back,” he says. “We’ll have a mix of all the records out there, play all the favourites really. For Soundwave we’ll probably just do most of the high energy stuff live, because the sets will be shorter. “For a Sidewave we’ll do a mixture of all the albums. I think it’s good to mix it all up, club shows are fun, arenas are fun. There’s nothing like a festival when you connect with the crowd. It’s good to do it all.” Tremonti also has a few personal reasons to enjoying the festival dates: “When we do these festivals you get to see so many bands – I remember seeing Rage Against The Machine at one of the shows we played, which blew my mind. I was thinking this could be the best live band I’ve ever seen. And I got to see Judas Priest the same night – it’s fun doing festivals for sure.” It’s been almost three years since last album AB III. For a legion of patient fans, Fortress is exactly what they would have hoped for. Fortress is out now. Look for Alter Bridge as part of Soundwave 2014. H

Words: Sheri Tantawy Photo: Mike Saputo

Saputo Style

When the opportunity arose to ‘geek out’ with Detroit-based illustrator Mike Saputo, HEAVY’s own design nut Sheri Tantawy jumped at the chance. Saputo is responsible for ultra-slick posters and apparel for Metallica, Alice In Chains, Insane Clown Posse, Eminem and so many more.

’m always very interested in learning about other artists creative processes as while the steps are often the same, what the artist learns during the process is always different. Mike Saputo displayed an affinity for drawing at a young age and then life intervened as he grew older. Around 1992, as he meandered through college not really knowing what to study, his father suggested graphic design. Hungry for change and something that could satisfy his yearning, Saputo’s turning point arrived when Scott Hamilton from Small Stone Records took a chance on him, asking him to design a CD package for Glasspack in 2002. Saputo excelled and the work flowed; CD covers and posters fuelled his momentum. His artworks are highly detailed vector-based renders, and he tells me that it’s actually a combination of vector and traditional Ink. “Sometime’s I’ll go straight vector but mostly I’ll do the inking with [Faber Castel] Pitt pens and take it straight into Illustrator or Photoshop and do the colouring there,” Saputo says. His first experience with Illustrator was in 1994 using Illustrator 5. When I ask him what the most difficult technique yet conquered is, he remains humble. “I don’t feel like I’ve conquered any techniques,” he says. “I’ve got a long way to go in my artwork to claim I’ve conquered anything. If anything, I’m still learning. I think most artists would say the same thing. If you feel like you’ve conquered, what’s left to do? We’re always trying to top the last thing we did. There’s always room for improvement for sure. “The dude I was working with was great, every time I asked him something about it [Illustrator] he screamed “read the manual!” That’s how I learned, the manual. Even though I know Illustrator and Photoshop like the back of my hand, sometimes I feel I’m still using it at a basic level, especially when looking at some of the other artists today. The best artists are the ones you look at and say ‘How the HELL did they do that?!’” The level of intricacy in his illustrations is absolutely incredible and there’s a noticeable trend between stripped-back occult imagery and high-res photography-based prints to explicitly involved line work in four colour prints. Saputo’s method of work is still more in line with the graphic designer philosophy, meaning he has to adapt his style to fit with the client. He’s also of the opinion that because band merchandise is so noticeable it’s quite easy for a novice to simply do some background research and produce something of similar quality. “Even if you’ve never done a tee or poster before, you still have a shot at being hired and producing a finished piece,” Saputo says. Saputo draws inspiration from the works of [Rick] Griffin, one of the leading designers of the psychedelic poster movement in the

1960s. He also references Art Nouveau, graffiti, Filmore posters and horror/sci-fi. “I love symmetry in design,” he says. “Growing up it was Kiss and Run DMC records, Godzilla, Ultraman, Dracula and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Conan the Barbarian. It was Spiderman, Hawkman (I know, right? Hawkman?) It was fast cars, Sherman Tanks and M60s. Later on in life, I would discover Frazetta, Wrightson, HR Giger, Rick Griffin, Mark Dancey, Joe Coleman. Most recently it’s been Aaron Horkey, Martin Ansin, Ken Taylor, Kilian Eng and a tonne of other guys who have been challenging me to be better. All of this and more have contributed in some part to my aesthetic.” Phew! What a list! Saupto transforms these inspirations into his own polished compositions and says the process of creating his illustrations is often one of experimentation and intuition. “There’s something to be said about designing by intuition, though,” he says. “I find myself doing that more often than not. Usually the first thing I try is usually what I end up going with.” Saputo undertakes an extensive amount of research when he receives a brief, which can involve learning about the gig, the artist, the music and past artwork as this provides a good framework to work from. Once he’s happy with the concepts he can begin. After scanned in colouring is attempted in Illustrator or Photoshop, with the help of a few neat filters from Flaming Pear, the design is ready for print. So it seems on my little journey to oust the artist and discover their trade secrets, I’ve arrived at my destination with no magic tricks; the magician’s top hat doesn’t even contain a white rabbit! Saputo’s advice is to “read the manual” to master the technicality of our digital allies and get to know your craft. Another important ingredient is passion – there’s so much satisfaction to gain from doing what you love. There’s a whole world of creative opportunities involved and you can essentially be your own boss. “I don’t think I could go without some form of creative expression, it’s just part of me,” Saputo says. “Always has been, always will be. Unfortunately right now I can’t support my family on this work alone. So sometimes having a nine-to-five becomes quite a burden when a big job comes in. I find myself working 16 hour days in addition to day-to-day family stuff, but in the end for me it’s worth it. I want my future to consist of music and art only. If I could make a living off this, I would be a happy man. Maybe if I’m lucky…” H

Sheri is a Melbourne-based graphic artist, lecturing at SAE Qantm Creative Media Institute

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Mike Saputo @mikesaputo.com

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Words: David Griffiths Photo: Kane Hibberd

Back to their roots Words: Dave Griffiths

Anonymous keyboard warriors may have tried to make life hard for Buried In Verona over the past couple of years but the band have responded, targeting them in new album Faceless.

he last two years should have seen Sydney band Buried In Verona in celebration mode. Their 2012 album Notorious hit #20 on the ARIA charts and earnt them an ARIA Award nomination, exceeding their wildest dreams. The band also managed to obtain US management before touring internationally with Emmure and Chelsea Grin. All of these achievements have been soured for the band by a viscous group of online trolls who have led a long campaign attacking Buried In Verona’s look, their sound and their fans. The campaign reached boiling point when some 5,000 disparaging comments were placed on Buried In Verona’s Facebook page, before the band found themselves the target of a Twitter war between rival acts. Now, however, the band are hitting back with new album Faceless. Buried In Verona’s lead vocalist Brett Anderson is very honest about where the inspiration arose for their stunning new album. “A lot of stuff I drew from all the shit we copped pretty much constantly just for being Buried In Verona,” he says. “Just a lot of stuff I had to get off my chest in regards to all the hate we get and dealing with that and turning it around to a more positive thing where it’s more ‘F**k you! We’re still playing around the world and releasing albums so think what you think.’” Faceless isn’t all bellowing thunder. Anderson is quick to explain how tracks like ‘Illuminate’ are about positive themes of tenacity and not giving up on dreams. “A couple of things nearly ended Buried In Verona this past couple of years,” he admits. “Just the amount of touring and things

If fans think they can hear some flashback sounds on Faceless, they shouldn’t worry that they’ve gone back in a time machine. “We wanted to go back to our roots on this one,” vocalist Brett Anderson says. “Something a bit heavier. Me and the boys grew up when nu-metal was really big so we wanted to bring some nu-metal aspects in and do something we’re really happy to play for the next two years of our lives – there’s stuff like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Mudvayne that you can hear on the album.

like that. It is a very expensive thing to go around the world two or three times and it makes think if it’s all worth it. We got to a point where we were like ‘Yeah, it’s worth it’. [‘Illuminate’] is just about how, at the moment, it is absolutely f**ked, but sometimes you have to go to your darkest place to find out exactly what you want to do.” On Faceless, listeners hear a much deeper side of Buried In Verona rising to the surface, something Anderson says the band wanted to get across from the get-go. “When we put the intro together, we really wanted to put together some mini speech to just set up the whole album, like saying ‘You’ve lost us before you found us’ or ‘You judge us before you know us,’” he explains. “The first lyric of the album is ‘Now we are climbing out of a hole.’ This album for us is exactly that; we are getting out of a hole we are in and hopefully we are going to f**k some shit up around the world.” Anderson says the album is also very personal for him: “I always write very personally and I write about stuff that has actually happened to me because, for me to be able to scream, be angry and be emotional, I have to mean what I say. I definitely write very selfishly about stuff that has happened to me and I think people can relate to it because I go through things every day that other people go through.” There are always nerves before a new album drops but BIV have been buoyed by the fact that first single ‘Splintered’ and the ‘Illuminate’ video have been well received – once the trolls had their go – by the group of people the band really respects: their fans. H

Words: Steven Jenkins Photo: Courtesy of Soundwave

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‘Purest Strain of Hate’ @YouTube

World domination is what Australian deathcore heavyweights Thy Art Is Murder plan on for 2014, and this year’s Soundwave festival is just the beginning.

estern Sydney’s Thy Art Is Murder have exploded since the 2012 release of their second full-length album, titled Hate, with constant touring around Australia, Europe and the United States. Singer Chris ‘CJ’ McMahon says the band is stoked to be playing alongside so many amazing bands, including some strong Aussie talent. “We’re going to be coming home off the back leg of our Russia and UK tour so punters can expect us to be in top form,” McMahon says, “and we plan on destroying every single show we play at Soundwave.” When asked whether he prefers playing in front of thousands of people at a festival to club shows of a more intimate nature, McMahon makes it clear that it doesn’t really matter as long as there’s a crowd. “Festivals are awesome because the shows are hectic, the sound production and lighting is incredible and there’s catering and alcohol – it’s like a big party backstage,” he laughs. “We played in front of 17,000 people in Belgium and it was just insane; the stages are bigger and you’ve got more room to move around. But we will always love the smaller club shows because that’s where we started. The crowd is right in your face, there’s people crowd surfing... and I’m crowd surfing on them! You get more intense because everything is much more concentrated, everything’s a bit more chaotic, but I just love playing shows regardless.”

“I promise this new album is going to crush and punish everything,” McMahon says. “It’s going to start World War Three.” The band plan on releasing the follow up to their critically-acclaimed album Hate, the album that sky-rocketed them from small club shows in suburban Australia to festivals in America and Europe alongside some of the biggest names in metal today. Along the way, McMahon says Thy Art have been making friends with acts such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, who are also playing at this year’s Soundwave. “We’re going to meet them when they get off the plane in Brisbane, look after them, show them around and help them get settled in, even though they’ve been here a few times before,” he says proudly. “We are all super close friends now; myself and Ben Wienman (guitarist) are almost borderline gay lovers now. [Not that there’s anything wrong with that – Ed.] We stay in contact often through email and Skype so we’re very much looking forward to seeing those guys again and sharing the stage with such an awesome bunch of people.” The Dillinger Escape Plan aren’t the only friends of Thy Art Is Murder on this world class line-up. “We know a couple of dudes from Suicide Silence, A Day To Remember, our Australian mates from In Hearts Wake and Dream On Dreamer,” McMahon continues. “I can’t wait to watch bands like Korn, Whitechapel, Gojira, Mastodon – so many good bands playing.” Critics bestowed the dreaded ‘deathcore’ label upon Thy Art pretty much from the outset. The descriptor is something of a poisoned chalice, allowing bands to pull in the core-friendly youth, though often at the cost of the old-school, anti-core metal elite. McMahon says the band tries to ignore such things and concentrates instead upon winning over as many fans as possible with memorable stage shows that leave the punters wanting more. “It’s a full time thing for us now; this is our job and this is our life,” he says. “We don’t have time for anything anymore; it’s just touring and the band all the time. We didn’t know that the worldwide audience would accept Hate and love it as much as we did, and it’s really been mindblowing how many more fans we’ve gained over the past 12 months of touring. The response from record labels and other bands has been phenomenal. There are a lot of bands all over wthe world that we haven’t met yet but they completely back us just because of that album – it’s a dream come true.” This next year plans to be an even bigger one for this band who intend to continue their rise to fame. A new album will be recorded once again at The Machine Shop by producer Will Putney, who has done such amazing work for bands like Upon A Burning Body, Fit For An Autopsy and Impending Doom. “I promise this new album is going to crush and punish everything,” McMahon says. “It’s going to start World War Three.” The touring that has become a constant part of their lives will definitely be on the agenda. “We just want to conquer the world and have fun at the same time.” McMahon has one last final message to all the readers whom he hopes to see in the pit at Soundwave: “Thanks for all the fans that have supported us for the last few years and gotten behind us. If you’re not a fan or never even heard of us then check us out. If it’s not your thing then that’s cool, but if you do enjoy what we do and you like our sound and become a fan then welcome to the family.” H

Sensory Amusia

Death metal Perth sensoryamusiaaus.bandcamp.com/

The recent hype surrounding Perth band Sensory Amusia isn’t for nothing. Maybe there’s nothing to do but practice on that isolated Western coast or maybe there’s something in the water but, whatever it is, the city has once again produced a band that has the metal scene taking notice both here and abroad. Forming in 2009, Sensory Amusia derive their name from the medical condition that makes a person unable to interpret or appreciate musical sounds. But make no mistake, the foursome in this band do not suffer from this condition. The band is the brainchild of guitarist Shaun Maloney and original vocalist Chris Maloney. The two were looking for a new project after the demise of their previous band, Burn For Me. Together they decided to create Sensory Amusia and, after recruiting bassist Joel Parkyn, they began writing for their first record – a self-titled EP that was released in September 2010. It was in the same year that drummer Chris Gebauer joined the band. Gebauer brought with him a wealth of experience, having bashed the skins for Arturo Chaos from 2007. By combining a mix of death and grindcore, along with elements of modern and technical metal, the seven-string guitars and crushing six-string bass riffs are complimented by aggressive vocals and complex drums. Altogether, Sensory Amusia produce a brutal sound that has propelled them into the spotlight. They started to build a name for themselves on the back of their EP and quickly established a solid fan base in the local metal circles. Their technical grooves and aggressive grindcore style garnered interest from venues and promoters as they played swathes of local

shows. The ruthlessness of the music spoke for itself as Sensory Amusia began to get offers for national and international supports such as Nile, Psycroptic and The Amenta. In 2011 Chris Maloney left the band and was replaced by Jared Bridgeman on vocal duties; this has been the only change since the formation and the line-up remains solid. Both Bridgeman and Parkyn were new to being a part of a band, but this hasn’t hindered their progress. In fact, things only seemed to be getting bigger and better as the quartet was selected to play Soundwave in 2012. However, 2013 was the year that things really exploded for the band as they released their debut album, Disrepair. Produced entirely in their hometown of Perth, Shaun tracked the guitars, bass and vocals himself, while drums were tracked and mastered with Sam Allen at Crank Studios and Electric City Studios respectively. Sensory Amusia also managed to do some relentless touring last year. Not only did they continue picking up international supports in Perth, the guys joined Kataklysm on their Japan tour, Oathean on their tour of South Korea and played to adoring crowds at Hammersonic Festival in Indonesia. Things are only going to get bigger for Sensory Amusia as they continue to write music that is complex and pushes the boundaries. Determined to appease and excite their growing fan base, the band have revealed that they are currently writing a follow up album that is promised to be even more brutal and technical than Disrepair. Take the plunge, amuse your senses. H

latest release

Words: Michelle O’Rance Photo: Peter Stewart

Disrepair by Sensory Amusia Words: Michelle O’Rance

Disrepair is the debut full-length from Sensory Amusia and as first efforts go, this one meets and exceeds most expectations. The complexity of the music combines all the elements the band are striving for and more. While they call themselves a death metal and grindcore band, there is a definite djenty-groove mixed into the sound. The guttural, aggressive vocals are relentless throughout the ten tracks and are well-mixed against the crunchy, grinding guitars. Stand out songs include ‘North Carelle’, ‘Introspection’ and ‘Activation Synthesis’, which features Cain Cressall (The Amenta, Malignant Monster). For fans of djent, grind and tech death, check this one out and keep an eye out for Sensory Amusia as their music translates well in a live environment. ch e ck e m o u t

‘Activation Synthesis’ @Bandcamp

Gay Paris Armed with an explosive, outrageous and booze soaked live show, the distinct stoner rock and bluestinged sound of Sydney-based four piece Gay Paris has seen them steadily earn their reputation as one of Australia’s hardest touring acts. Formed in 2009, and releasing their debut album The Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter soon after, the band have been on wild and unspeakable adventures, spreading their gospel to every state, territory, city, town, hamlet and sewer in the country. The formation of the band is hazy at best with band vocalist Luke ‘Wailin H’ Monks quipping: “It is hard to remember unless some awesome historian writes it all down and then academics argue about the credibility of each other’s hermeneutic process regarding historiography.” Although, as Luke’s version of events would later have it, he first met Black Tooth (guitar) at a party and attempted to ravish him with his mouth (though he was fended off) before deciding to write music together. Slim (bass) was discovered doing the vertical snake at a combination death metal/funk soul-train night spot and was bribed into the band with three bowls of delicious drinking beer. Their first drummer quit the band to become a respectable adult and decent human, so the boys dragged Six Guns up out of his terrible drug haze and then gave him some more drugs so that he would join the band. Infamous viral videos, which spawned a high level of fan interaction, enabled the band to independently produce, record and release their sophomore album The Last Good Party in 2013, with famed US producer Sam Pura (Basement UK, The Story So Far, Transit) at

the Recording Oasis on the Gold Coast and have the album mastered by Grammy Award winner Brian ‘Big Bass’ Gardner (QOTSA, Dr Dre, Jack White). Since its release The Last Good Party has received a plethora of rave reviews, despite nearly becoming the album that never was, as Luke became very sick during the recording process and lost his voice for a couple of months. Thankfully this illness was overcome; Luke regained his voice and was able to complete the album, ensuring the party was not over prematurely for the boys who were ultimately strengthened because of the experience. The release of The Last Good Party coincided with them joining the Harbour Agency and undertaking a mammoth 40-date tour to celebrate the release of the album. Led by the singles ‘Ash Wednesday Boudoir Party’ and ‘Trash Bird at Confessional’, along with their accompanying film clips, constant touring has seen the band showcase their impressive high energy live show and spilt-beer levels to the masses. The cult of Gay Paris has continued grow rapidly since and has seen them become the major draw card to festivals such as Cherry Rock, Rock ‘N’ Load, Dead of Winter and more. With ongoing discussions about being international fancy boys for a short period of time, and an extensive national touring schedule which has seen the band share the stage with such various accomplished and differing acts, as the Snowdroppers and King Parrot, the party is not about to stop yet. If this is indeed the last good party, Luke warns readers to take heed of the numinous muse who screams, “Don’t you dare stop dancing, or you’ll die.” H

Stoner Rock Sydney youtube.com/user/GayParisMusic

latest release

Words: Gareth Jones Photo: Courtesy of Gay Paris

The Last Good Pozible Option by Gay Paris Words: Gareth Jones

When it came time to record their latest album The Last Good Party, Gay Paris found themselves in the financial position to essentially either tour or record. Not being a band to compromise on anything, they turned to a fan-funded Pozible campaign to help fund the new album. As an ‘exchange of services’ the band turned to inventive ways to reward their generous fans, such as hosting a ridiculous dinner party, re-enacting orgasm scenes from bad, early ‘90s movies and even included their bassist Dean ‘Slim Pickins’ Podmore break dancing to Meshuggah whilst wearing a pink leotard, in a busy Sydney shopping mall. ch e ck e m o u t

‘The Last Good Party’ @iTunes

Advent Sorrow

Symphonic death metal Perth adventsorrow.com

Advent (noun. /ˈadv(ə)nt,-vɛnt/): the coming of something or someone extremely important. Sorrow (noun. /ˈsɒrəʊ/): a feeling of deep distress. It takes a unique band to evoke every emotion that defines their name and yet these Perth natives live up to the legend. Through the harrowing tales told by their music, they induce the feeling of suffering and distress conjured by their name. Advent Sorrow as a name couldn’t have fallen to a more fitting band in a more fitting position. Formed in 2010 by close friends, Advent Sorrow’s mission was to create the darkest, most expressive, music they could muster. Inspired by a hoard of musical influences, the band, comprising Rhys King (frontman), Thomas Waterhouse (guitarist) and Ben Hanson (guitarist), first unleashed their sound upon the world in 2012 with their debut EP Before The Dimming Light (BTDL). The release is a concept EP that follows a murderer into the pits of insanity and it proves an impressive point; concept albums don’t need to be 40 minutes long. Effective, dark, twisted and melancholic, BTDL is a unique and haunting experience that builds an encapsulating atmosphere from the first note to the very last. The EP was mixed and mastered by their former guitarist James Archbold and sold, recorded and distributed independently (you can feed that to the hipster wolves – indie music doesn’t come more tormented and demented than what’s on that CD). Amusingly, their Bandcamp page offers a digi-pak of the release in “Satan’s preferred choice”. If anyone has met the devil, it’s Advent Sorrow, and, if they have, they’re still not short of a sense of humour. Rather refreshing, given their subject matter. The recent video to their single ‘Like a Moth to the

Flame’ epitomises the darkness that lies at the core of the band. Bathed in theatrics and filmed in the last “dirty” cell in the former Freemantle Lunatic Asylum, it’s dripping with the type of grisly imagery that their lyrics evoke. “Dirty” cells were residences for patients that couldn’t care for themselves and were left to their own devices. Notoriously filthy, it is the only cell of its kind in the now-refurbished State Arts Centre. A deliciously memorable experience. The stint in the asylum hasn’t meant Advent Sorrow are backing down. There is an album on the horizon (mixing and mastering duties have been given to Sam Allen and Electric City studios) plus a 7” single version of ‘Like a Moth to the Flame’ on its way to accompany the album’s arrival. Each part is a step toward a greater evolution for a band that has already shown that they’ve made their home in the darkest corners of each of their listeners’ minds. From the outset, Advent Sorrow have wanted to evoke nightmares and leave you changed on the deepest levels. Their EP is one way of doing this, while the other is the deep and complex image, both in the music video and the way the band present themselves. Image is part of creating atmosphere and it’s the apparent darkness they seem to radiate that seals the package – connections between Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir come naturally when you experience every aspect of Advent Sorrow, and so they should. The band have aligned themselves with Marduk, Taake and Carach Angren already and are carving a name for themselves like the corpses they must carve up in their spare time. If what we’ve seen so far is anything to go by, the music, the experience, will come harder, faster and darker than they’ve so far done. H

latest release

Words: Sebastian Mackay Photo: Dark Spirit Photography

Before the Dimming Light EP by Advent Sorrow Words: Sebastian Mackay

Orchestration, piano and dark and poetic lyrics combined with a grisly and powerful vocal delivery make the atmosphere on Before the Dimming Light utterly immersive. From the first few bars of ‘Before the Dimming Light’ you’re captured by these masters of their art. ‘A Porcelain Mistress’ lifts the EP into another level of brutality while maintaining everything that makes Advent Sorrow masterful. ‘Withered By Her Curse’ is the type of track that will leave you feeling changed and back for more. On this release Advent Sorrow capture different genres brilliantly and layer them into a gothic influenced soundscape, albeit one that’s bloodied, cut, filled with voodoo needles, dripping with screams and a little bit charming. Of course, it’s the type of hypnotic charm that conjures the dead and burns witches, but it’s charm nonetheless. ch e ck e m o u t

‘Before the Dimming Light’ @Bandcamp

Electrik Dynamite

Words: Patrick Emmett Photo: Andrei Sablinskis

There were many things about rock music in the ‘80s that were truly special. Whether it be the galloping rhythms and epic dual solos of NWOBHM bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, or the unforgettable harmonies, massive choruses and love themes from glam rock legends like Ratt and Whitesnake (in the late ‘80s, of course). With a love for this style of metal, Electrik Dynamite formed in Melbourne in 2007 not to replicate it, but take the best parts from it and give it a new-found energy, creating music that is, as The Rock would say, “simply electrifying”. Any fans of Tenacious D will know that Electrik Dynamite got their name from the movie The Pick of Destiny. The ‘k’ on the end of electric was added to “zazz the band name up”. Originally, the members were named after characters from the ‘80s cult-classic film Top Gun, but after many line-up changes, they had used up all of the main characters, and ditched the names with the introduction of their new singer, Dan Brittain. It must be said that this six-piece is not a glam metal band, as they have been often labelled. They are usually referred to as “party metal”, which is an accurate description, as well as “sex rock” and many other names. The genre is something that the band hates explaining, but it’s still heavily ‘80s influenced, only modernised. Although glam and traditional heavy metal are two genres that have been a strong influence on most aspects of the band, what sets them apart from the new wave of ‘80s-influenced bands has been noticeable since their formation. The drum aspect is a big example of that, with Ben (Clark) coming from a hardcore/punk background. Disillusioned with the simple drum work of bands in this style of metal, he keeps things interesting with more over-the-top drum work, which still fits in well with the music.

Their 2008 EP Electrify the Night was a mixture of Iron Maiden with keytar (yes, keytar!), hardcoreesque breakdowns and occasional metalcore growls. After that – with their 2011 full-length Hair.Denim.Sex. Metal and 2013 singles Showgirls & Steel of Fortune – they have slowly drifted away from the breakdowns and growls, and added a tad more glam metal to their sound. In 2012, the band recruited Dan Brittain (formerly of Perth band Shots Fired) after original vocalist, Ryan stepped down to pursue a career in tattooing. While he was touring with Shots Fired, Dan caught the attention of bassist Duane ‘Ice’ Jackson one night at the Cherry Bar in Melbourne, and joined the band months later when Ryan announced his departure. Vocally, Dan brings a different vibe to the band, with less of a metal voice, and more of a ‘70s rock voice – think Robert Plant, David Coverdale and Ian Gillan. What has helped broaden Electrik Dynamite’s fanbase is not only their incredible stage presence and electrifying live performance, but their openmindedness to playing with different bands instead of sticking to the one style. Proof of this was their Australia-wide tour with deathcore heavyweights Thy Art Is Murder in 2010, when they released their debut album The Adversary. The band were also the support act for Black Veil Brides when they played their Soundwave Festival sideshows in 2012, and they did a national tour later that year with power metal veterans Lord. In 2014, Electrik Dynamite will be heading back into the studio to record their second full-length album, the first with Dan Brittain on vocals. They have cut down on playing shows to have as much rehearsal time as possible, so they can make an electrifying follow-up to their first album Hair.Denim. Sex.Metal. Rock! H

Party metal Melbourne electrikdynamite.com/home

A Maverick Move Words: Tennille Secomb

When the band started, they decided that each member would take their stage name from characters in the ‘80s cult classic Top Gun. With all of the line-up changes since then, they have managed to go through all of the main character names, and had to look through the back credits. When long-time member Ryan “Maverick” Reeve stepped down from vocals to pursue his tattooing career (Progression Tattoo in Adelaide), they retired the Top Gun stage names and announced Dan Brittain as the new vocalist.

Current line-up (some with Top Gun names): Dan Brittain – Vocals Cam ‘Flexx’ Wilson & Lockie ‘Circus’ Knight – Guitars Duane ‘Ice’ Jackson – Bass Sarah ‘Cougar’ Lim – Keytar Ben ‘Stinger’ Clark - Drums ch e ck e m o u t

‘Midnight Rider’ @ReverbNation

Misery Words: Simon Lukic Photo: Courtesy of Misery

ustralia and extreme metal go hand in hand. Despite our distance and relative isolation from the international scene, this nation has always been in the thick of it when it comes to aural violence. As the genre evolved, gathering speed and weight, the soaring vocals of the early metal years were replaced by demonic guttural growls, guitar harmonies were superseded by atonality and drum patterns accelerated from mid-tempo grooves to all-out blast beats. In the jousting for position that followed, Misery from Queensland were one band that will be remembered for pushing boundaries. Misery was formed in 1991 by guitarist Scott Edgar and bassist Damon Robinson after time spent in local Brisbane metal bands Anger In Motion, Black Magic, Guardian, Northwinds and Savage. Before long, vocalist Darren Goulding joined the band, along with drummer Anthony Dwyer and fellow Northwinds guitarist Brad Allen. Allen was soon replaced by guitarist Laszlo Khaninghinis

In the early ‘90s, Queensland’s Misery set the tone for the seminal Aussie death metal sound, and landed a coveted spot on Big Day Out while doing it. and it was with this line-up that Misery found stability, recording their first collection of original music, the demos Sorting The Insects (1992) and Astern Diabolos (1993). The pair of demos gave an early indication of what was to follow. Inspired by the growing death metal/grindcore movement, the songs still maintained a harsh thrash sound that was common with the early death metal recordings of the time. There was also a distinctly doom influence within the music as well, which was an approach that Misery was to explore further as they grew as a band, giving their music another dimension. Misery’s initial recordings gave the band a great deal of momentum and it wasn’t long before the group had recorded and released their debut. Arriving in 1993 via the Velvet Urge label, A Necessary Evil was a bonecrunching affair that featured new recordings of the previously-released demo tracks. Even though the material had been heard before, the recording of A Necessary Evil carries a viciousness and atmosphere difficult to ignore. The album made an immediate impact and Misery landed a national tour supporting Austrian death metal legends Pungent Stench.

Following the tour, Goulding was replaced by Moises Contreras of Mausoleum as Misery moved to release the Insidious EP. Contrera provided a strong vocal presence and fans responded positively, scooping up the EP. The band released a video for ‘Torn’, which was subsequently banned due to the graphic nature of the clip’s gore-filled narrative. Far from discouraging the band, Misery surged forward, landing international support slots with both Deicide and Morbid Angel, and were even incredulously added to Australian summer rock festival Big Day Out’s Queensland roster. Despite this, Contreras exited the ranks and, in his absence, Robinson made the decision to front the band. Hooking up with Sydney based record label Warhead Records, Misery released their second album, Revel In Blasphemy, in 1997, which was an even darker body of work than preceding albums. Here, the music was even more ominous and foreboding, and supported by a production that helped to bring the band’s sinister ambitions to life. After a flurry of domestic shows, the band began putting together songs for another album that they slated for a 1998 release;

words Damo Musclecar

however, their momentum ground to a halt when Warhead Records closed its doors, leaving Misery without label support. It wasn’t until 2000 that the group released third album Curses on Venomous Records. After a 2001 tour of New Zealand, Khaninghinis left the band. Rather than replace him, Misery chose to continue as a three piece yet during this time, work on the band slowed significantly as various members began pursuing side projects. Perhaps it was the effort of releasing two albums and an EP across different labels, or perhaps the band never felt comfortable as a three piece, but Misery lost all momentum when Robinson announced plans to move to the United States in 2005. Many believed that this would be the end of the band and, by all accounts, it was... but not until the group had recorded one final collection of songs. On Demon Wings came out in 2007 through Obsidian Records and featured Damon Robinson on vocals/bass, Scott Edgar on guitar and Anthony Dwyer on drums. It was Misery’s final album and, in acknowledgement, the trio completed their journey with a tour of the east coast of Australia two years later in 2009. Soon after, Misery called it quits. Misery’s 14-year run yielded three albums, an EP, a couple of demos and a video, and most would agree that the group left an undeniable mark on the Australian metal scene. Despite having formed at a time when death metal was in its infancy, Misery’s old-school sound has aged well and lost none of its hate-filled intensity. Their back catalogue epitomises all that is great about extreme metal and they remain a timeless example of pure Aussie death metal. H

listen now

‘Torn’ @YouTube

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

Shake Bitch,Feel Be MyThe Slave 1988) (MCA, ) 1983 (Metal Blade Records listen now

‘Be My Slave’ @Youtube

emphis, Tennessee; known to many as the birthplace of rock’n’roll, this wonderful city brought to life the careers of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and of course, Elvis Presley. Each of these rock legends piled into Sun Studios and collectively made history. They will forever be synonymous with the city and its heritage but for me, Memphis will always have a much deeper meaning; it is this city where I was taken to the infamous Shangri-La Records by cult filmmaker, John Michael McCarthy, and I found this long lost slab of hot wax. One look at the album’s cover which had vocalist, Betsy, decked to the nines in her bondage get-up and I knew that this record was going to be some serious heavy metal gold. California’s Bitch were really onto something when they decided that the world was short of heavy metal jams fronted by a self-proclaimed dominatrix. It wasn’t long before the band decided to deliver the hot debut Be My Slave and to spice up their live shows not only with their ball bustin’, old-school metal, but also with the addition of a male slave some years before The Genitorturers were ever doing such a thing. Take that, Mr and Mrs Dave Vincent! If you can get past the bonus pin-up of Betsy in her studs and bra and make it to the actual playing of the record, you will be greeted with opener ‘Right From The Start’, which is straight up, balls-to-the-wall heavy metal. It reeks of the ‘80s and the lyrics are just horrible yet, believe me, it grows on you... but only just. Think of late night music videos from 1983 – a band on stage rockin’ out in leather with lots of smoke machines. That’s what I picture Bitch to be like on stage. ‘Be My Slave’, ‘Leatherbound’ and ‘Riding In Thunder’ are all cut from the same mold – it took me eight listens before I realised that they were three different songs! They were all quite forgetful, although the lyrics, man, the lyrics! You just can’t go past classic lines like “You live for my command, You’ll serve at my demand. You’re kept like an animal in a cage, the victim of my unruly rage.” Honestly, I think there’s something in that for all of us. Exactly what, I don’t know, but Bitch know a bargain when they see one: “I paid a decent price, yeah… You were on sale and you looked kinda nice” Betsy continues. And you thought Ronnie James Dio was an intellectual lyricist?! The final cut on side one is the token ballad and, to put it bluntly, it’s f**king woeful. It drags on and on and is possibly

the worst thing about this record. ‘Save You From The World?’ How about you save me from this goddamn song! If there wasn’t another side to review, Be My Slave would have quickly become Be My Ashtray. So staying strong and hanging in there, I approached side two. Starting with ‘Heavy Metal Breakdown’, I’d say it’s probably my favourite track on the album. It’s loud, fast and thrashin’ like good ol’ metal should be, and comes complete with, you guessed it, breakdowns. If the album could keep this up, they may have gone on to record their own groundbreaking version of Master Of Puppets or British Steel. ‘Gimme A Kiss’ follows with possibly the most repetitive pinch harmonic riff that has ever been laid to tape… and I’ve seen Black Label Society so that’s saying something. It’s here Betsy is at her poetic best, “Oh, the way you yank my hair moves me like this. It just makes me wanna kill you. Well just gimme a kiss.” Well Betsy, how about you gimme a break? I mean, really? I have no words. I stayed that way for most of the way through the next track, ‘In Heat’.The generic guitar work was so bad that I almost flung this record at the wall but then, like a blessing from the gods, it happened: a guitar solo from hell is delivered like a poor man’s Eddie Van Halen meets Venom’s Mantas, and it’s totally bitchin’. But then it ends and goes back to its boring riff and terrible lyrics and I just shake my head. Why do you let me down, Bitch? They tried to redeem themselves with ‘Make It Real (Make It Rock)’, which sounds like a Twisted Sister song title, but that’s where the comparisons end. It’s just all bad, except the guitar solo. Hey, I’m seeing a pattern here. The final track is ‘World War III’ and I’m already cringing at the lyric sheet that tells me ‘Repeat Chorus Four Times’. You’re really going to do this to me Betsy? Why you so mean? This song should have been their Rocket Queen moment but ended up nothing more than an annoying riff and horrible everything. They blew it. To be honest, Be My Slave dished up exactly what I was looking for: outdated metal tunes with lyrics that didn’t rhyme and repetitive choruses. This is pure unadulterated Unveiling The Wicked heaven. As Betsy screams “Yeah, it’s a steal. All you need is talent and sex appeal.” I guess they’d know. I’d give it around six whip lashings out of ten. H

Booking a Gig

Words: Amanda Mason, lawyer, Dwyer Bruce Legal

Most local gigs will be booked without written agreements, but that doesn’t mean that a contract doesn’t exist between the band and the venue or promoter. Usually, where the band and the venue or promoter have booked the gig and agreed upon a fee, a binding contract will exist, irrespective of whether there is anything in writing. Local bands playing small gigs for little money probably wouldn’t press a venue/ promoter (let’s just refer to venues and promoters as venues from here on in) to provide a written booking agreement, but a written agreement, even a simple one, is preferable to evidence the terms of the agreement and to ensure that there’s no confusion between the parties. Confirming the booking In the absence of a written agreement, a band can provide themselves with some assurance by writing to the venue to confirm the details of the booking and this can be relied upon later in the event of a dispute. To confirm the booking, write to the venue stating that you are writing to confirm your understanding of the agreement and that, if any of the details you’ve provided are incorrect, they should contact you as soon as possible to rectify any misunderstanding. Then you should outline the terms of the agreement as you understood them, which can be done in dot point form, and should include as many of the following as possible: • Artist name, ABN and address; • Venue name, ABN and address; • Event name, date and location; • Fee, including how and when it will be paid. If the fee is to be paid based on a percentage split of ticket sales, then also include the ticket price and, if possible, the venue capacity; • Minimum ticket sales. Sometimes the venue will require a number of tickets to be sold and if that number isn’t sold, the band will have to pay the difference between the number sold and the minimum; • Time of performance and set length; • Order of the billing; • Times for bump in, bump out, sound check and doors open;

• Equipment to be provided by the venue; • Anything else that is to be provided by the venue (eg. food and drinks); • Whether sound and lighting technicians will be provided; • Establish whether the venue is paying for transportation, accommodation and per diems (daily allowances for expenses) where it’s not a local gig; • The amount of promotion the venue will perform; • Whether the venue has insurance; • Whether the venue will charge a cancellation fee for no shows; • Merchandise sales (eg. will the venue charge a fee, will a merch desk and/or sales staff be provided); • Number of complimentary tickets provided. Promotion If it’s a gig for which you’re getting paid a percentage of ticket sales or for which you’ve incurred travel and accommodation expenses, then you should also consider detailing the promotion arrangements or budget so that you know what sort of promotion the venue will perform. There’s no point spending $1,000 on airfares to play a show that hasn’t been promoted and ends up having 12 attendees. If you haven’t discussed promotion or any of the above things, you can always call the venue to discuss and then include it in your confirmation of the agreement. Insurance Another thing that a band really should consider is insurance. Check to see whether the venue has public liability insurance and insurance that will cover your instruments and equipment. Even if the venue does have both, it is still a good idea for bands to take out their own insurance policies to ensure that they’re sufficiently covered. If, for example,

an audience member is injured by a band member during a performance, that audience member may choose to sue the band, rather than the venue, to recover damages for the injuries that they’ve sustained. As such, it’s recommended that bands take out their own insurance policies as well as checking whether the venue has them. Written booking agreements If you are lucky enough to be provided with a written booking agreement, it should include all of the things set out above, but will probably include a few other clauses that you may need to watch out for. Recording If a written booking agreement includes a clause that allows the venue to record the band’s performance, either audio or video, then this is something that the band should pay close attention to for a number of reasons. Firstly, a band can play a cover song live without infringing copyright because the venue has, or should have, the appropriate licence from APRA/AMCOS to allow for this, but if the band doesn’t own the copyright in the song, it will need a licence from the copyright owner to record that song. Without such a licence, the recording will infringe the copyright in the song. Secondly, if a venue records your performance they may intend to commercially exploit it to make a profit without paying you any royalties and the contract may require you to consent to this. Thirdly, the venue will own the copyright in the recording and you will have no control over how they use it, which means that you and your band could end up being associated with something that the band disagrees with or damages the band’s reputation, for example, a commercial for an anti-homosexuality campaign.

“To issue a valid invoice, you will need an ABN so if the band doesn’t have an ABN (it should have one, as it is a business) it will need to apply for one a month or so prior to the invoice deadline”

Invoicing clause A written booking agreement will often contain a clause that requires the band to provide the venue with an invoice within a certain time frame following the gig before the venue will make any payment to the band. You will need to take note of the final date to issue the invoice and then ensure that you send the venue an invoice prior to this date. To issue a valid invoice, you will need an ABN so if the band doesn’t have an ABN (it should have one, as it is a business) it will need to apply for one a month or so prior to the invoice deadline because the ABN application process can take up to 28 days or even longer if there is a problem with the application. It’s always a good idea to have lawyer look over any written agreement, especially if it involves a lot of money or is a multi-date international tour, because there are a lot of little tricks and traps that are easy to fall into and you want to ensure that you’re getting exactly what you bargained for. A lawyer will almost always be able to negotiate you a better deal too, so the legal fees, which can sometimes be a little costly, may end up being well worth it in the end. 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.

Words: Douglas P Steele XII

Where Art Thou Guitar, Satan?

Slap on the face paint, get one of those Kerry King nail-leather wristband thingies, grab your black Les Paul, plug straight into a Marshall, crank all the dials clockwise, and pray to Satan. Okay, that last bit is usually optional... but not if you wanna play black metal, this issue’s genre.

The thing I like about black metal is you don’t need a great deal of music theory, and any sort of riff you can conjure up will most likely work, so long as it’s picked fast. As a rule of thumb, whatever your lowest string is, that’s the key in which most of the songs will take place – I’m not having a swipe. It’s justtuning a pretty fair assessment of all heavy music, and this is because Standard

you’ll most likely be riding the lowest string in more than a few of the riffs. As far as black metal melody goes, some of the single-string runs may be chromatic in nature – chromatic is a scale in which every note is just a half-step apart (E, F, F#,G,G#,A,Bb and so on).

bm chromtic

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When it comes to technique, no matter how many notes you’re playing with your left hand, your right hand is going flat out, usually to match the drummer’s blast beat or double kicks. To achieve fast chromatic runs with ease, assign each finger to its own fret – first finger, first fret; second finger, second fret; and so

on. This way, it’s possible to come up with quick-moving riffs without moving your hand too much... and they’ll sound nice and evil also. Black metal songs are moody and evil, so lead guitar scales will usually be Aeolian (minor) or Phrygian (the 3rd mode of the major scale).

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14 13 12 12 12 12

The Aeolian (minor) scale will give a hopeless and pissed-off feel, while the Phrygian one will lend a bit of an uneasy, mysterious feeling to the songs. Phrygian can sound a tad Spanish, but this can

be covered up with the addition of liberal amounts of corpse paint, an amp cranked to 11 and one hell-uv-a bad-ass scowl.

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13 13 12 12 12 12

Let’s go ahead and add a diminished scale to this list also. Diminished scales and chords are great on guitar, because the notes

are always three frets apart.

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If the power chords are starting to sound tired, but you still desire ominous content, try some three-string diminished chords and minor diads. “What?” you ask. Play a two-string power chord but reverse the fingers in create an inverse shape where (for example) your first finger is on the 5th string, 3rd fret and your third (or fourth) finger is on the 6th string, 5th fret. BOOM!! Minor diad, right there – the root note will be whatever

your third/fourth finger is on. Move those around in minor thirds (frets 3, 6, 9, 12) to get a sound that’s as evil as you can get! Diminished chords can be played in one of two ways: root and flattened 5th; or, root, flattened 5th and octave. The left-hand fingering is way easy and (I just noticed) if you move the minor diads every three frets as we already discussed, it’s just another version of the diminished chords anyways. The more ya know, huh?!

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9 8 7

5 4

That ought to get you started, and it’s not too tough to uncover heaps more with a little practice and experimentation. Just remember

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4 6

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to thank Satan for each new riff you write to lock in the evil. Hail, dark one. Hail! H

Doug Steele is guitarist for progressive metal and jazz fusion masters Alarum, a popular emcee, a radio presenter and a voiceover artist. He’s also a guitar teacher, founder of the eclectic Guitar Fight Club clinic and something of a YouTube celebrity, thanks to his prolific output of free lesson material via his own channel. He can be seen on HEAVY mag’s own HEAVY TV, and followed via his website: dougfcknsteele.com

The many colours of black metal

There are many ways to approach black metal bass playing but the best approach is not to overthink it.

Words: Sam Bean Photo: Alex York

The challenge with writing about the bass playing in black metal is that it’s such a pluralistic form of music. One cannot generalise about the music in this genre – depending upon which band you’re talking about, black metal flits back and forth between classical, punk, folk and numerous other influences. You can’t talk about specific techniques such as the accenting and gallops of thrash, or the ability to move between picking styles inherent in prog. Therefore I’m invoking what I call the ‘Fenriz Rule’: when I generalise about black metal (BM), I am excluding all bands who aren’t a bunch of Scandinavian satanist/paganist nutcases making pure evil that sounds like it was recorded in a cave – no kids, no chicks, no Colin Richardson, no folk, and definitely no fun. At its core, BM is a primal expression of evil where the modern notion of metal – musicianship above all else – is flipped on its head. In traditional BM, the attitude and emotion and message come first, and the music can go eat a dick. This presents special challenges for a bassist. Firstly, BM bass players are more famous for murdering their bandmates than for playing their instruments. Secondly, let’s be honest, it’s rare that one hears bass playing in metal that couldn’t have been replicated by turning the bass up on the guitar tracks. This goes doubly so for BM, where the guitars contain much treble and fuzz. Normally this would be a joy for bass players as it leaves plenty of space for a visible bottom end to shine through, but BM bass players often join in on the fuzz-fest and wield dirty, swampy tones. So it goes that one of the more important pieces of equipment for BM is distortion. Clean, spanky tones are to be avoided. Don’t be shy with the distortion, and don’t bother

pulling a ‘death-metal tone’ by scooping out all the mids either. You’re fine just raiding whatever spare guitar distortion pedals are lying around to be honest; however, the omnipresent Big Muff pedal tends to be favoured – its distortion is solid and wide enough to fill any space and it also has a sound that hearkens to the ‘70s rock/Venom soil in which BM has its roots planted. Attack is important with that much distortion, so most people use a pick instead of finger-picking. It’s all much of a muchness to my ears. Heavy distortion offers its own compression so you won’t have any dips if you absolutely must pick with your fingers. It must be pointed out that finger-picking represents a level of skill and accomplishment

completely unnecessary for BM bassplaying. Additionally, the picking in BM is quite constant so you’ll want whatever style gets you through. With both the bass and the drumming, endurance tends to be the name of the game. As for the bass guitar itself, use whatever. Resist the urge to get something high-end; it will be a complete waste. Purchasing a juicy old Rickenbacker for BM is like buying a vintage Jaguar for a destruction derby. Go for something that looks evil like a BC Rich Warlock Bass. The weighting of their neck sucks so if you ever let it go, the headstock will bang on the floor but nothing screams “Satan!” more than a Warlock bass, and that’s what it’s all about. For cabs and amps, I’m not even going there. Just make sure that the speaker cones aren’t punctured so that your wall of filth comes out with great vengeance and furious anger. I can sum the actual music up pretty easily: your scales are chromatic or diminished, your chords are minor not major, and the picking is constant. You don’t need to worry about accents or gating as the waveform of a BM song basically looks like a steamroller that has just crushed an ink factory. Okay, now a few words before anyone gets hot under the collar with my gross generalisations. Yes, I am aware that Dimmu Borgir often play with a clean tone, that Emperor’s bassist had some sweet gear, that Mayhem play challenging material, and that Altar of Plague’s production is second to none; however, they have each evolved from the template I’ve outlined. In fact, modern BM is so vast I’d require every page in this magazine to cover all its approaches, which is why I ignored them... ‘coz not being inclusive is totally BM. H

Sam Bean played bass for The Berzerker and UK death metallers Mithras, releases solo CDs as The Senseless, and records with international breakcore outfit Kiri Kiri Kiri. Read about his unprintable industry experiences at www.thesenseless.wordpress.org

Grim skins and Frostbitten stringdoms. Words: Rob Brens

Put down that corpse paint. It doesn’t record particularly well so you’ll need a lot more than that to effectively capture that black metal sound. While the spikes, paint and leather might be a largely recognisable characteristic of the black metal genre, such props say little of the sound, which is very distinctive in itself. The obvious question here is what is black metal? When you break it down to its elements, its components are derivative of a number of metal genres, especially more recently as black metal has come to take many forms. It’s one of those genres that people can’t describe easily, but know it when they hear it because of one defining characteristic. And what is this defining characteristic? Atmosphere, or at least it is within the old school of black metal, which I’ll be focusing on today. The tools that are used within black metal might be commonplace in many genres across metal but, in this case, the difference is application. Atmosphere and drums are seldom mentioned in the same sentence, but what you’ll notice are the extended passages of blast beats and double kick. The intended effect here isn’t so much intensity but an overall ‘wall of sound’, similar to the approach taken by the guitars that utilises either lots of rung-out chords or fast tremolo picking. While it’s hard to envisage atmosphere and space being created by a barrage of notes, this is where the production factors in. The drum sound would typically follow one of two approaches: super dry, short sounding drums with minimal attack that so often result from lo-fi DIY recording sessions; or boomy, spacious drum sounds that contain a large amount of room sound while still

retaining that lo-fi effect. Conversely to this, newer-school black metal recordings favour a more modern production, similar to that found in most other metal genres, but these bands still have enough black metal elements to fall into the genre, even if only as black metal hybrids such as the ‘blackened death metal’ of Behemoth or the symphonic black metal of Dimmu Borgir. Hence, the lo-fi sound creates a smoothness that removes the attack of the notes and facilitates a steady stream of drums, as opposed to the machine gun effect employed by most modern extreme-metal bands. Establishing a pulse isn’t as paramount as achieving this wall-of-sound effect. Depending upon which branch of black metal you’re leaning towards, you could easily get away with getting the consistency of your blast beats and accompanying double-kick patterns somewhere in the ballpark while making sure your accents and stops are in the right place. Note that I’m not rationalising laziness and sloppy playing because if you’re playing an older style of black metal, the looseness may be required to achieve the desired wash-over effect. Darkthrone and some of the older Emperor and Immortal recordings are good examples of this. On one hand, this is good news for the budding black metal drummer as the way to develop the ability to blast or hold doublekick runs for a long time is to, you guessed it, hold blasts or double-kick runs for a long

time. One thing I stress is for drummers to take into account how long you might find yourself having to play and to practice so you can play for longer. For example, if you have a song where there’s consistent blasting for two minutes, practice so you can hold it for four or five minutes. If you can’t reach your desired goal, keep at it, like going to the gym; however, while there may be a little bit of a margin for consistency, playing for such extended periods of time requires drummers to a) practice consistently to continue to build strength, and b) keep an eye on technique – it’s great to play heaps and build strength but doing it with the wrong technique is going to dig you into a hole that may damage your playing and, worse, open you up to a world of injuries. So if you’re blasting, make sure you’re not clamping down on the stick, use as much rebound as possible, keep tabs on your breathing and definitely relax. Bear in mind, this article is really just a shorthand entry into a genre that is wide and diverse, and while the tools may be few, feel is super important if you’re looking to play to a black metal audience otherwise your playing won’t translate so well. Like all music, there’s room for all kinds of approaches, and any style might just be a launching pad into your very own unique version of black metal so explore frequently and remember to have fun. Or not. But always be grim. H

Rob Brens is one of Australia’s hardest-working drummers. As well as being a fixed member of death metal demons Hadal Maw and progressive metal masters Alarum, he has handled the sticks for King Parrot, Dreadnaught, Desecrator, Aural Window, Infinity, Moneypenny, Cherry Bomb, Brad Pascoe, Luthor, Tristan Coates, Stan Bicknell, Phantom Power Wizard Master Smasher, Sexual Chocolate, Ace of Spades and The Australasian Michael Buble Show... and that was just last year. He also offers lessons through his website at www.robbrens.com

Words: Amanda Mason

We’re all aware of the glorious metal/animation crossover Metalocalypse, but that’s not the only place that you can indulge your childish love of cartoons alongside your eternal lust for metal. Mastodon also recorded the song ‘Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife’, which appeared in the opening of the ATHF movie, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres. In the movie, the song was performed by some very metal looking foods – a pretzel with a flying V guitar, a corpse-paint laden box of candy, a pierced jube and a corn chip with its mouth sewn shut. Fun fact (as if these other facts weren’t fun enough): Neal Peart of Rush also did a brief cameo in the movie.

The F’n Osbournes

Majestic Loincloth

Released as a web series via YouTube, Majestic Loincloth is described as being for fans of “heavy metal Viking rock opera homoerotic medieval animated musical cinema,” which is, surprisingly, a pretty apt description of the show’s genre. The show is a comedic combination of animation and live action that revolves around viking/power metal songs composed by the show’s creator, former Iced Earth and Death drummer Richard Christy, along with current band-mate Jason Suecof, of Charred Walls of the Damned.

Heavy Metal

Released in 1981, Heavy Metal, is an animated collection of violent and erotic sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories adapted from a magazine of the same name. John Candy and Eugene Levy provided voices for a couple of the characters and the soundtrack is littered with rock and metal songs by the likes of Black Sabbath, Sammy Hagar, Blue Öyster Cult and Cheap Trick. It was later followed up by Heavy Metal 2000 in, surprise, surprise, the year 2000 and starred Billy Idol with a tasty metal soundtrack including songs by Pantera, System of A Down, Machine Head and Coal Chamber. Here’s a fun quote from a robot voiced by John Candy in the 1981 version that gives a nice little insight into the movie: “Earth women who experience sexual ecstasy with mechanical assistance always tend to feel guilty.”

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as it was originally titled, now known by a different title each series (Aqua Unit Patrol Squad One, Aqua Something You Know Whatever and Aqua TV Show Show), is an animated TV series starring a meatball, fries and a shake. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal) and Alain Johannes (performed on various QOTSA and Eagles of Death Metal albums) wrote and performed the theme song used for season eight, Aqua Unit Patrol Squad One.

Cuppa Coffee Studios, the studio responsible for Ugly Americans and Celebrity Deathmatch, had begun working on the concept of The F’n Osbournes, a stopmotion animation starring Ozzy and the Osbourne family, but the studio has advised that, unfortunately, it hasn’t made it past the review stage and may never eventuate. Original plans were for it to be voiced by the Osbournes themselves with guest appearances by big name rock and metal legends, Marilyn Manson, Slash, and umm... Justin Bieber, plus the family’s yappy pooch menagerie.

Animetal and Animetal USA

While not an animation, Japanese metal band, Animetal, are known in Japan for their covers of theme songs to anime and tonkusatsu (special effects) shows, capitalising on Japan’s love of those genres. In 2011, five years after Animetal embarked on their indefinite hiatus, Animetal USA emerged. Animetal USA are chock-full of metal pedigree with members Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Whitesnake), Jon Dette (Slayer, Testament) Mike Vescera (Loudness, Obsession, Yngwie Malmsteen) and Chris Impellitteri (Impellitteri). Like their predecessors, Animetal USA also cover anime theme songs, but in English rather than Japanese.

The Animated Tales of GWAR

The renowned online purveyors of comedy, Funny or Die, have teamed up with GWAR to present The Animated Tales of Gwar, a cartoon featuring the band and the proponent of musical parody, Weird Al Yankovic. The eight minute and fifty-eight second long video was published on funnyordie.com in November 2013 and already has over 51,000 views.

KISS Hello Kitty

The now ubiquitous KISS and Hello Kitty collaboration is set to add a new money maker to its already endless and needless array of money makers, which include eye glasses, toilet paper, tissues, fabric, combs, gumboots and lingerie. The series, tentatively titled KISS Hello Kitty, will feature four Hello Kitty cats in KISS makeup apparently living out their rockstar dreams. Paul Stanley, the KISS singer/guitarist with the pretty red lippy, has referred to the show as bringing “the Kiss Hello Kitty juggernaut to yet another generation.” Why wait for the zombie apocalypse, we may as well pop those cyanide capsules now.

THE SATANIST OUT NOW

Australian Exclusive Bonus Track CD/DVD + Digital. Ltd Exclusive CD/DVD. Deluxe 2LP. evprecordings.com.au | facebook.com/EvpRecordings | behemoth.pl | facebook.com/behemoth | rocketdistribution.com.au

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