January 2013 - HM Magazine

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MY HEART TO FEAR January 2013 • Issue Number 162 $1.99 DIGITAL EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME

JOY ELECTRIC | LEVI THE POET | AUGUST BURNS RED | PILLAR | MATISYAHU | GIFT GUIDE

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL, flight testing & TIME TRAVEL? read it all in the book Desert High HM Editor Doug Van Pelt’s first novel

DesertHighBook.com

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TA B L E O F C O N T EN T S

HMMAG.COM/SUBSCRIBETOHM

From the assistant editor Rob Shameless

RESIST THE CHEESE So, once again I was asked to write the letter from the assistant editor. To be honest, I really don’t know what to say. I don’t want to be cheesy and talk about Christmas and the reasons we need to keep Christ in Christmas. That it is not about the gifts we get or the money we spend on first world luxuries (when third world countries get a shoe box that we spend $20 on). I did have a thought today while I was out on a date with my wife. How offended are people that do not believe in Jesus feel about the two months that get shoved in their face with Christmas music that sings about a guy being born that they don’t even believe in? They may not even be offended. It may bring back some good memories of childhood. It could bring up bad ones as well. Making them remember why they hate Christianity and Christians. I do not have the answer to this thought. It is just something that I thought about while I waited on my wife in Barnes and Noble while drinking a hot chocolate from Starbucks. #firstworldluxuries #reflections #overpricedbooks.

This month a newly-signed band from Solid State Records made the cover, named My Heart to Fear. I am at peace with it now that they bought me off with free merch. #joking. I really wanted Levi The Poet to be on the cover. But I am a Hobbit and I do what the grumpy old man says. #holidaymovies. Doug told me he did this back in the day when Embodyment first signed to Solid State (Issue #73). I thought that was cool, so why not trust the guy? I really hope you like this issue – seeing that there is really not a lot of bands coming out with new releases. We did miss a few that we found out about after our deadline was up.

One I hope to cover next month is Starflyer 56. Jason Martin left Tooth and Nail at the same time his brother (Ronnie of Joy Electric) did. Both put out a record independently-funded by fans through Kickstarter. Releasing them just three weeks apart. #brothersmartin #IAMACEO #DMA #AWESOMENESS I’d like to take time to thank Doug for letting me have a hand in the pot and messing up the soup. He is very patient with me. I should have been fired a handful of times. I still do not know why he keeps me around. I am very grateful to be able to do what I do for HM. He might fire me at the end of the month. So thank you for reading, and please send me all the hate mail: rob@hmmag.com #cottonheadedninnymuggins #manwiththeplan #hardmusicmagazine #twentyeightyears #Mayanswerewrong #2013 #endofadecade #lastissueoftheyear #gotjokes

SPINNING AT LIVING SACRIFICE ANTESTOR MY HEART TO FEAR ALAN HAYNES ROBERT RANDOLPH SCORPIONS DEMON HUNTER BLOODGOOD

NOW

Conceived in Fire Omens Lost Between...

Wishing Well The Slide Brothers Unbreakable True Defiance To Germany w/Love

Metal kings.

New album coming soon.

So great to hear this band getting breaks and growing.

He’s my uncle ‘n’ he ain’t heavy, but his blues is great.

Some great pedal steel wailing and working (it).

Oh no! Here goes Doug again! Sigh...

Perfect deadline jams.

Enjoying a live set from a band in its prime.

REGULAR Letters Hard news Live report Heaven’s metal fanzine

06 08 10 49

FEATURETTE Pillar Brandon and seth

14 15

FEATURE 2012 in review August burns red Levi the poet Joy electric My heart to fear Matisyahu

16 20 22 24 26 31

INTERMISSION Gift guide Columns

33 42

REVIEW Music Lifestyle Indie pick

35 38 47

05

06 L E T T ER S T O T H E ED I T O R ®

PASSWORD HELL C O LU M N S 57

VOL. 12 – LEAVING THE L IG HTS O N

Every summer, my family took a week off for vacation.

Some families went to Disney World (we saved up when I was younger, then my mom got pregnant with my little sister and the trip was scrapped.

Luckily, Mk and I have since reconciled).

Some families go see the Grand Canyon or take some epitomic crosscountry trek, hitting up every great American landmark.

Some families fly together to stay in faux-exotic, completely tour-ized Caribbean islands to stay at all-inclusive resorts where the kids can swim with dolphins and the parents can waste away in proverbial Margaritaville.

Most families in the very least cross state lines for warmer climates and over-priced attractions.

My family drove two hours south to a Bible camp on Lake Michigan.

What is a Bible camp? A Bible camp is where you go stay in a cabin and walk to church service twice a day – morning and night. Everything an adolescent loves about Sundays in a conservative family – times two, in more rustic conditions. All the cabins were named after a different country.

This probably represented some global mission outreach, or maybe was a clever way to rank the accommodations from 1st to 3rd world. We always stayed in Korea (interestingly, we represented both North and South…).

I’m not going to say I hated it; I actually enjoyed it most of the time. My parents, through a combination of economy and contentedness, never traveled far. In college I made up for this (my first time on a plane that wasn’t a decommissioned bomber at the Kalamazoo air museum was at 19). I eventually traveled to Los Angeles, filmmaker’s Mecca, with my broadcasting class. I chaperoned a destination-secret trip to Toronto for a youth excursion. My travels culminated in a month’s stay in Egypt with a brief stop in London at the end of my junior year, but earlier that school year

pounding on a table top to make his CD player skip (This makes me sound like Bam Bam from the Flintstones, but I assure you this was not my personality).

It was commonly accepted that when a CD skipped it was getting scratched, unless it was already scratched, in which case the scratches caused it to skip. James insisted that skipping was caused by a hiccup in the laser to CD relationship, in this case due to vibrations through the table under the weight of my hammer. James insisted it was no harm to the CD. I kept hitting the table, mischievously believing I was scratching the CD to his own ignorance.

This CD was Quayle’s self-titled (and only) album.

I was listening to Quayle’s self-titled on my portable CD player on the ride from the airport to our hotel having just landed in Cancun. Billy asked me what I was listening to. Billy was an interesting person, in that he did not like music. He dressed like he liked music, but found it a false pursuit. He also hated hanging out with bands on the day of a show, because of their preoccupation with the self-importance of the upcoming show (okay, I’ll give him that one).

“Oh, you’ve never heard of them.”

“Yeah, that’s what you guys all say.”

My brother actually contributed to my life and tastes probably more than any singular person. This is sometimes hard to admit, since we are so different at 27 and 30 respectively, but it has been a good three years since he’s threatened to sue me. He brought Quayle to our cabin at Bible Camp, and like the grooves in a CD, those songs are etched into my mind when I recall the anticipation between church and beach on those familial vacations.

Quayle is one of those rare gems, tastily dipped in nostalgia that still holds up extremely well as ‘90s alt-rock. Underneath my appreciation for Quayle as a time machine, the music is damn good. The singer has a distinctly nasal voice, and the music is tight and intricate. There’s just something I love about knowing this album got little play when it was released in 1997

COLUMN LOVE Who writes that column (Reunion Tour: Tales from the Conservative Underground)? I enjoy it.

–Chad Olson, via email Ed – Thanks for noticing! I’ve been loving it, too.

That brilliant and fun column is written by Matt Francis. Contact him at mfrancisfilm@gmail.com

METAL MENTAL HEALTH Dear H.M. Magazine Staff, Doug Van Pelt cut an incision three-fourths of the way around the crown of my scalp and flapped my scalp over. He then cut all the way around the top of my skull with a Dremel tool with a rotary saw blade. He lifted off the top of my skull and poured a half-pint carton of eggnog into my cranium. The eggnog was laced with a Humanistic Studies Liberal Arts education. Doug Van Pelt then glued the top of my skull back on with Titebond carpenters’ glue and sewed my scalp back up with 20-pound test fishing line. Now my head is full of a Liberal Arts Education in Humanistic Studies, and, this head of mine don’t need no education in it. Is there anything you can do about that?

–Carl Crowther, via email Ed – No offense, Carl, but you’re insane!

EVEN THIRD DAY Thanks so much for the newest issue of HM! I love it! Disciple, Supertones, Flyleaf, Iona news, I even read the article on Third Day... Thanks again!

–Eric A. Lowe, via email

“MEDICATION” NEEDS TO GO VIRAL Hi Doug, I enjoyed my conversing with you. And it was fun to be mentioned in your magazine... Nice thing to say about Medication. I had site visits for both Medication and Don’t “F” with me. I love my own voice, whatever the view. Most of the Rolling Stone albums I bought, I did not like until I had gotten to know them, and each of them became my favorite album. I can hear your critique in the album Darkness in the Light, however, I don’t feel like the album falls short of its purpose. Thanks again for noticing me. I’ve seen visions and heard voices that cause me to continue to seek my prize.

–Trey Forbes, via email

I went to the link below and typed in the right password and login, but it keeps saying it’s incorrect.

Is there meant to be something I type in the (coupon/token) field?

–Jeremy Woods, via email Ed – Good question! The coupon/token field is an un-used/unnecessary field that’s kind of permanently part of our login/subscription page.

Please ignore it. Thanks for reaching out when you had trouble logging in. I’m glad it’s now fixed.

JANUARY 2013 EDITOR/PUBLISHER MANAGING EDITOR MKTG & ADS CONTR EDITORS

E-NEWS HOUND METAL MANAGER

Ed – No. In August Heaven’s Metal merged with HM and it is now a lengthy section inside of each monthly issue of HM and it’s all digital/online (and out of print, though you can order print versions of HM/Heaven’s Metal Mag at www.lulu.com).

Sarah Brehm, Tony D. Bryant, Jef Cunningham, Daniel Garcia, Seth Hecox, Steve Karras, Jamie Lee Rake, Sarah Roberts, David Stagg

BACK PAGE PROOFREADERS

Lyle Wall Corey Erb, Valerie Maier, Carolyn Van Pelt, Victoria Wrann

SCRIPTURE

MAILING ADDRESS

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CDS FOR $1.99 EACH Some great albums here!

–Matt, via website Ed – Yeah, I agree. We acquired some great older titles and wanted to make them available for super cheap at the hmmag.com/hmstore

CHRISTIAN RADIO FEEDBACK I wish I’d gotten to you sooner about the Industry Profile in the last issue, as I’d rather drop the negative speculation about other stations with chart methodology. That doesn’t build the body and is an error on my part. If you can delete that, I would like to do that. What I would rather say (without naming bands) is that I think Christian rock radio needs to a better job of vetting bands. Not to be judgmental, but to take stand for righteousness. There is a band who had a member that said in a Youtube video that he believes in evolution; there are a couple of bands that have promoted swearing as a good thing. We quit playing them after finding these things out, but these bands are still getting widespread airplay. There’s an old school band where the lead singer became an agnostic and they are still getting airplay some places. I believe we need to put the hearts and souls of the kids and young adults listening to us before the choice of bands we play and stop playing bands that are (as a whole band or as individual members) promoting sin and/or promoting a non-Christian worldview, even if that band has been historically marketed as a Christian band, or even as Christians in a band. Blessings and Blastings, –Colin “Cruz” Strombeck, via email Ed – Thanks again for sharing your heart, thoughts and experience with us, Colin. I think it’s cool that we’re able to stream your station on our free HM-branded Firefox browser. Keep up the good work.

BONUS NOTE: This issue is called the “January” issue for obvious reasons (it came out so late in December). All subscriptions will be adjusted. Email me with any subscription questions (editor@hmmag.com).

Matt Barber, Kemper Crabb, Matt Francis, Chad Johnson, Mike Reynolds Jason Irvin Chris Gatto

CONTRIBUTORS

FANZINE IN PRINT? Are you still sending Heaven’s Metal to subscribers?

–Gary A., via email

Issue #162 Doug Van Pelt Rob Shameless Doug Van Pelt, Frontgate Media

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HARDNEWS Quick & concise

News bullets Demon Hunter is heading out on U.S. tour with headliners In Flames, who will be on their Sounds Of A Playground Fading Tour from February through March.

PARAMORE RELEASING NEW ONE

SLEEPING AT LAST GET AMBITIOUS

SELFTITLED 4TH ALBUM OUT APRIL 9

AN ONGOING SERIES OF EPS

The album – Paramore’s fourth full-length studio recording – was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson, known for his work with such diverse artists as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Tegan and Sara, and M83. The first single from Paramore is entitled “Now.” Paramore – singer Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York reveal: “The whole making of this album was a rediscovering of ourselves as a band and as friends. It was a process that allowed us the freedom to explore new territory artistically and to liberate ourselves as musicians, singers, as people! Sincerely, we feel that the best way to give it a name is just to call it what it is. This album is us.” (full blog post – http://bit.ly/SACUMi) The band will herald the release with a Southeast Asian/Australian tour. The trek includes dates in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as a prominent role on Australia’s annual Soundwave festival tour.

“Atlas is an ongoing series of EPs inspired by the origins, emergence and experiences of life,” explains the band. (sleepingatlast.com/new-project-announcement-atlas).

“Unlike my previous EP series, Yearbook, Atlas has no end date in mind – it’s an ongoing project that I have thematically mapped out over the next few years. Each year will feature a determined amount of songs/EPs. This first Atlas year, 2013, will feature 28+ brand-new songs, spanning over 6 EPs! The first EP (5 songs) is called Darkness and will release on Jan. 17th.

Owl City has a new mobile app to access Owl City news, videos and music on the go. It’s also home to content you can’t find anywhere else, like special tour pictures and messages from Adam. Get it for iPhone and Android.

Stryper’s manager, Dave Rose, has written a book – Everything I Know About the Music Business I Learned from My Cousin Rick: The Musician’s Practical Guide to Success.

Icon for Hire have released a new video for the song “Off With Her Head.” See it: http://smarturl.it/offwithherhead.

Solid State labelmates Fit For A King and The Overseer are going out on a coheadlining tour in January and February, bringing their equally impressive live shows to fans on the West Coast, Midwest and Southwest.

Hawk Nelson have signed to Fair Trade Services, who will release the band’s sixth studio album, titled Made, on April 2. There is a lyric video of the debut single, “Words,” on Youtube.

Flyleaf have released a video for “Call You Out,” their second Single from New Horizons.

Slospeak Records just announced the December 11th release of SONS’ acoustic EP titled, Keep Quieter.

Red releasing fourth album in February

Whatever you thought you knew about Essential Records rock band Red, think again. In fact, that’s exactly what the four-man alternative rock band wants you to do with every track on its fourth project Release The Panic -- think again. Think past your first blush take on Red’s lyrical ideas, think beyond the signature aggressive paint-peeling riffs and new-found evocative grooves, and think through the universality of struggle, pain and ultimately hope living in these new songs. Teaming with legendary producer Howard Benson (P.O.D., My Chemical Romance, Daughtry, Skillet and many more) and mixed by both Howard Benson and Mike Plotnikoff, Red has uncovered a potent set of standout songs -- including “Perfect Life,” “Die For You,” “Same Disease” and the title track -- sure to get fans talking, rocking and yes, thinking. “One of the things Howard stressed was that if he had heard it before, he didn’t want to hear it on this record,” says drummer Joe Rickard, “so that’s why we were really striving to make this as original as we could.”

After 18 years of faithful service to its artists and the music industry worldwide, YoungSide Records will be closing its doors for good on December 31, 2012. We’ll miss them and their music releases.

Theocracy have released an epic new Christmas song, “Wynter Fever,” which can be heard in their lyric video at http:// youtu.be/5jwHLsKsiCA Lust Control released a new Christmas song (“Chasing Mrs. Claus ‘Round the North Pole”) on Rottweiler Records’ Fleas Naughty Dog, Volume 3.

Volume 2 of the popular Rock Stars on God series. This collection of 25 interviews from the pages of HM Magazine features: Thrice, Collective Soul, Taking Back Sunday, Extreme, Megadeth, Fight (Rob Halford, Judas Priest),ChrisCornell(Soundgarden),MorbidAngel, King Diamond, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, HIM, Slayer, Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot, Lamb of God, Type O Negative, Every Time I Die, The Alarm, Midnight Oil, Scott Stapp (Creed), My Chemical Romance, Ronnie James Dio.

Q: What do you think of Jesus Christ?

A: “Wow, you caught me off guard on that one.

You know, growing up as a Christian, I believe in Him as my Savior.”

–Ed Roland, Collective Soul (pg. 87)

Get it now at hmmag.com

Priest), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Morbid Volume A n g e2 of l the , popular Rock Stars on God series.

This interviews fromCradle the pages ofof K icollection n g of 25Diamond, HM Dimmu Borgir, HIM, Slayer, F i Magazine l t h , features: Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot, Thrice, Soul,O Negative, Taking Every Back Time Sunday, Lamb of Collective God, Type I Die, Extreme, Megadeth, Fight (RobOil, Halford, Judas(Creed), Priest), The Alarm, Midnight Scott Stapp Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Morbid My Chemical Romance, Ronnie JamesAngel, Dio. King Diamond, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, HIM, Slayer, Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot, Lamb of God, Type O Negative, Every Time I Die, The Alarm, Midnight Oil, Scott Stapp (Creed), My Chemical Romance, Ronnie James Dio.

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10 LIVE

LIVE REPORT Unsilent Night December 1 REVIEW BY ROB SHAMELESS PHOTOS BY AMANDA HANCE (Dallas, TX) Unsilent Night is a festival that is a

annual winter event put on by Dallas/Fort Worth talent buyer Third String Productions. It’s a mix of pop punk, hardcore, metal and dubstep. With an allday fest (sometimes) you have some bands that you don’t care for, as well as bands you are excited to see. I missed the new up-and-coming Fort Worth hardcore band Def inite Choice. The band released their new EP Spiritruth at the fest. From the word around the fest, these guys did a amazing job.

First band I did get to see was Dallas thrash band Messengers. They performed songs off their Strike First debut, Anthems, and including a few new songs they recorded earlier this year. Their singer, Chad Paramore, announced that he will be taking a break from the band to lose weight and get healthy.

Next up was a back-to-back fun in the sun and heavy darkness set, as I watched Dallas’ pop punk band Thirtyseven and metalcore band Mouth of The South. Both had great energy and were on top of their game. This was the first time Moses of Thirtyseven had played a show after he had been diagnosed with diabetes.

After Thirtyseven it was back to the Plug Your Holes stage to watch Solid State’s new Texas band Fit For a King. These guys have been doing it big even before they were signed. They were on top of their game and sounded great. It was high energy, heavy and off-the-wall.

After a good break I went to watch one of HM readers’ favorite bands, Oh, Sleeper.

These guys were on it the whole night. It was a bittersweet set, though, as it was the last time we would see James Erwin play guitar for the band. I was glad I was there to watch him play his last set. He is a great dude and I wish him the best with whatever he does.

After Oh, Sleeper we watch The Chariot play the quietest set they have ever played in Dallas/Fort Worth. Why was it the quietest, you ask? Their van broke down on the way and they were stuck in Springfield, Missouri.

I was bummed that I did not get to end my

year with one of the greatest abstract art shows I have ever seen.

After getting my blood sugar up, I got ready to watch For Today. These guys always empower you to be the best Christian you can be. The crowd was so big I could not even see the pit from the stage. This was the first time I have seen Mattie preach the Gospel in front of a mixed crowd and have hecklers. I think he handled it very well. They played a good collection of hits. They even had a new intro since the last time I saw them (which) was this last summer at Warped Tour. We got some insider news that we will post once it goes public. Just know that, if you are a fan of this band, you will be wanting to save your Christmas money for their Fight The Silence Tour.

Photos (clockwise from top): For Today; Thirtyseven (x2); For Today; Mouth of the South.

[Photos by Amanda Hance]

PHOTOS 11

Oh, Sleeper’s Micah Kinard (Photo: Amanda Hance)

12 LIVE

Oh, Sleeper’s Nate Grady (Photo: Amanda Hance)

PHOTOS 13

For Today’s Brandon Leitru (Photo: Amanda Hance)

14 F E AT U R E T T E

Album: TBD Label: Facedown Release Date: August 14, 2012 Members: Kramer Lowe, vocals; Kyle Phillips, guitar/vocals; Andrew Higginbotham, guitar; Justin Allman, bass; Mark Hudson, drums/vocals RIYL: Blessthefall, Between the Buried and Me

PILLAR

facebook.com/onwardtoolympas

For nearly three years, the band Pillar has been relatively silent, leading to speculation that the successful Christian rock band had finally come to an end.

But a sudden update to Pillar’s Facebook and Youtube on October 27, ignited fans into a frenzy, not only because it revealed a new album was in progress, but because the lineup reunites Rob Beckley, Noah Henson, Michael ‘Kalel’ Wittig and Lester Estelle Jr., the group from Pillar’s most booming years.

Beckley and Wittig started Pillar in 1998 with several friends. After releasing two independent albums, Metamorphosis and Original Superman, Pillar signed to Flicker Records. The album Above was released in 2000, and the track “Open Your Eyes” won a Dove Award in 2001 for Hard Music Song of the Year.

Henson, known for his iconic dreadlocks and masterful guitar-work joined Pillar in 2002, the same year Fireproof came out. Not long after its release, Estelle Jr. joined. Extensive touring with Skillet on the Alien Youth Tour contributed to Pillar’s fast rise in popularity. Fireproof sold over 300,000 copies and received a Dove Award for Hard Music Album of the

BY SARAH BREHM

Year, winning over Demon Hunter’s self-titled album and Project 86’s Truthless Heroes.

to an end, it seemed that Pillar had closed this rock and roll chapter.

But it seems that God had other plans.

In 2004 Pillar released Where Do We Go From Here. It had multiple hit singles, including “Bring Me Down” and “Frontline” and also received a Dove Award nomination for Rock Album of the Year.

The Reckoning came out in 2006, debuting at number 70 on the Billboard Top 200, and giving the band its first Grammy nomination for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. This was followed

by For the Love of the Game in 2008, which saw more success and more Dove Award nominations. It was after this album that Estelle Jr. and Wittig stepped out of Pillar to pursue other things and spend time with family.

Pillar’s most recent album, Confessions, came out in September 2009, receiving yet another Dove Award nomination. Interesting fact: Joe Rickard, now the drummer for RED, recorded all the drum tracks for this album.

As Pillar updates and tour dates slowed down, and eventually came

“This is our official announcement to you guys, our fans,” says lead singer Beckley in the video update released last month. “We are going to put another Pillar record out with the four members that you know and love.

“Just so you guys know, our hearts have been just completely restored as friends and with our relationship with God and just where we are right now.

We are all in great places, and we are incredibly thankful where we are. Thank you to the fans for giving us this time to be able to regroup and solidify our lives to be better husbands, to be better fathers, and to be better people. And now it’s all on you guys to go conquer the world just like the Underground Army that you were in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 – all those years that we were able to do this. It’s time to reenlist and go do this!”

And just like that, Pillar’s back!

BRANDON MICHAEL WILLIAMS SETH ANDREW HECOX

On December 4, the world shook with the release of a new folk album. The album is titled All Folked Up and has critics raving and listeners rolling on the floor laughing at the insanely clever title that gives the album its own character.

The album is a collection of 10 folk/ Americana songs by Seth Andrew Hecox and Brandon Michael Williams. Seth is known for his work in Becoming The Archetype as well as in Anchors. Brandon is know for his work in Anchors and as a solo artist.

This album represents the best work from either, if you happen to like folk.

Focusing on story telling and musical straightforwardness, the album fulfills all that a human desires and will ultimately bring about world peace.

So Seth and Brandon got together for a Q and A. Here it is!

Seth: Tell me about the genre of the album. Is it a polka album or is it a techno album? I’ve heard both and frankly, I’m a little confused by the concept of one album melding those two sounds.

Brandon: It is officially (if we get right down to it) a Tolka album. It is a genre we invented, because we thought more bands should continue the tradition

BY SETH HECOX

that Led Zeppelin handed down to us of mixing Tolkien ideas to music. Also, Tolka is more fun to say than any of the other possible possibilities. We just hope that the Tolka needs of the masses can be fulfilled by listening to our album All Folked Up (coming out 12/4).

Let me tell you a joke. If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it. That always cracks me up. It should really crack you up, considering you’re a musician.

Is it your favorite joke of all time? If so, why did you decide to try to fix the folk genre when it wasn’t broken?

Justify the existence of an album in a genre that has already been perfected by such notable acts as the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Douglas Bubbletrousers.

First, I hate that joke, but that’s only because I don’t get it. I think this one is much better: If it ain’t Classical, don’t classify it ... but I also don’t get it, either. One thing that the folk genre is missing right now is two guys singing elaborate and metaphorical stories while acoustic guitar and harmonies bring their stories to light.

That’s really what the folk scene is missing. Anyway, I’m actually not sure why I’m being asked this when I’ve already told you that our new album All Folked Up (coming out 12/4) is officially a Tolka album.

F E AT U R E T T E

15

Ok, I’ll finish with this one. When you were recording this album, how irritating and annoying and frustrating and downright anger-inducing was it to listen to Seth always talk about how awesome he is and how awesome his other band is? Did it ever get annoying listening to him just go on and on about BTA this and BTA that and “Wow, look how great my hair looks” and all that nonsense?

At what point did you just want to strangle him and scream that you never want to be like him no matter how wildly successful he is?

Hmmm ... great question! Seth actually didn’t mutter one word throughout the entire recording process. All of his vocals were done by Google and all of his musical ideas were presented to myself and the producer in dropbox files. He also didn’t talk about BTA at all, though I brought up how awesome they are (in past and present) from time to time. Overall, the only strange thing is that he used and played exclusively First Act gear. I guess he’s just that good of a musician, which is why everyone should buy the album we are releasing that he played so excellently on called All Folked Up (coming out 12/4).

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I do believe that in 2012 Hell froze over. We had bands that we never thought would get back together like: Refused, At The Drive In, Quicksand and Chain of Strength. All these bands were bands that a lot of Christian bands looked up to. I know that Focused covered Chain of Strength and were good friends with them back in the day. Stavesacre credits Quicksand as a main influence on the band.

We saw Five Iron Frienzy play live and record a new record after a 55-minute funded Kickstarter last year. Their Kickstarter was the fastest as well as highest funded music Kickstarter since they launched the website in 2009.

A lot of us cried when we heard that bands like A Plea For Purging, Hands, As Hell Retreats and UnderOath were calling it a day. But, just like in nature, with things dying new things start to grow. Shane from Hands started a new project called Everything In Slow Motion. A one-man record just like Collin Simula’s (exSymphony In Peril) project Maranatha.

Maranatha is one of a few projects that came out of nowhere that took me by surprise. Becoming one of my favorite bands of the year – along with Overcome guitarist Steven A. Cosand’s Sanhedrin project. Both projects may or may not have gotten the praise or recognition they should have.

I really don’t know where to go from here. I am just being honest. I have been trying for months to help take this magazine to the next level, but I just find something else to fill the time that I should be trying to find tutorials on how to get HM on tablets. I wanted to launch it with this issue. Time just went by in a flash, though.

I have been married to the same girl for a little over a year now.

She had a daughter from another marriage. Both of them are the loves of my life – along with God. God, the girls and my hobbies are what take up my time. What are my hobbies, you may ask?

Video games, movies, filming with my DSRL, editing on my Macbook and helping put together HM. HM is a hobby? You don’t get paid? Yes, this is a hobby. It has been for three years. Every writer besides Doug does not get paid. Video killed the radio star and the internet killed the printed word. Maybe one day, God-willing Doug can pay his staff (again).

Until then, we stand behind him and help write content.

I am okay with staying home and watching movies with my girls and putting my daughter to bed (rather) than go to a show now.

“Welcome to the adult crash.” I wrote that phrase to every friend I saw that turned 21 this year. I think this year is when I hit the

adult crash, and I am okay with that. Maybe not the truth. I hit the adult crash in September 2009, when I moved in to my first apartment where I was the head of the household for the first time. Since then I have moved into two other apartments.

My first one was a one-bed one-bath in downtown Ft Worth. It was a apartment complex for elderly, the physically and mentally disabled. I lived there for seven months, then had to move out due to the complex was being condemned. I got a $200 gift card to Walmart and a full-size double stack air mattress from the deal.

Second apartment complex I lived close enough to Six Flags Over Texas that I hitchhiked a few times. My apartment was great.

Dishwasher, garbage disposal, fireplace, two-bed one-bath.

The first night I stayed there I had A Hope For Home stay with me. I had a handful of bands stay with me. It was fun to serve my friends. In 2011 my fiance moved here and we lived in this apartment for seven months.

Now we have moved to a three-bedroom two-bath. We have had a few bands stay, as well as my mother-in-law. We don’t have that many people come by, but when we do it is a treat to hang out and serve them.

Every magazine has end of the year lists and I guess my favorite releases where Maranatha’s Incarnate EP along with the Sanhedrin split. As well as Pro Human. Pro Life. by Sanhedrin. Both of those are my two underground releases that need more r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

Gungor’s A Creation Liturgy is my worship record of the year. You cannot get any better than Gungor live on vinyl. For the hip-hop head in me, I am going to have to go with Excellent by Propaganda.

This is more than a hip hop record. This is a life record. Not sure if I fully understand what that means. I just know that it had more depth than any other hip hop record this year.

For me Demon Hunter had the best music video for “My Destiny.”

It was the best metal video I saw all year. It had skating, Demon Hunter rocking out in a small room and no performances in the woods. Second best for me was The Overseer’s “Amend” video.

Since becoming a videographer this year and editing with Adobe Premiere, that video made my head spin on how it was shot.

Just like skateboarding. I am mesmerized now on how complex or simple things are shot and edited. I do hope one day I can film things that people will see and enjoy. As well as get paid for them on the side. So here’s to 2013 – a year of learning the tricks of the trade and helping bring life to this great publication. As well as life to my family and friends.

—Rob Shameless

Artwork: David Moore

YEAR IN REVIEW

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This year has been a quiet one for me regarding music. However, I can say that the two albums that caught my attention were I Am from Becoming The Archetype and True Defiance from Demon Hunter. Ironically, I saw both of these bands together on the same tour back on July 3, 2006 in Michigan and from frequent readers of HM Magazine, they should see that I wrote articles for both bands.

However, out of both of these albums, I Am stands out the most. This is coming from a guy who is obsessed with DH, so much that I have 2 DH tattoos. BTA came strong with this album not only in sound, but in attitude.

Longtime listeners of BTA will agree that this album stands out from the rest. BTA has always been technical in their writings and “Fantasy world” inspired lyrics. To some, I Am brought a fresh new view on BTA in regards to heavy low-tuned guitar riffs and mean scary-type vocals. I have heard some people criticize this album for being not as technical or just another album with numerous breakdowns. Regardless of your view, BTA got people’s attention with this album and possibly left a crack in the earth’s core.

True Defiance took some time getting used to. Most likely because I was too busy still rocking out to The World IS A Thorn. I will say this album touched more on DH’s emotional side. True Defiance to me seems to be DH’s mature album. The lyrics have deep meaning and are heartfelt, and the tracks are hard not to sing-along to. Seeing DH perform songs from True Defiance on the Scream The Prayer Tour gave me a new appreciation for the album. Witnessing lead vocalist, Ryan Clark, accomplish his new vocal techniques live was mind-blowing.

—Daniel Garcia

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IN REW

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2012in review

18 A N N UA L

2012 has been an interesting year for Becoming The Archetype and for me personally. A lot of stuff happened, a lot of progress was made and a lot of nostalgia is already sprouting (laughs). I bet you could say the same about your year.

People always say the year just flew by and I never understand that statement. Objectively, time moves at the same speed for everyone, so the concept that it went faster this year than in other years or that it went faster for you than for another person is silly on a literal basis. But even figuratively, I feel like the saying is more revealing about the person saying it than it is about the experience being described. A person that says the year just flew by must have had a much different experience than me. For me, so much stuff happens in a week that often just last Sunday feels like ages ago. When I think back on January of 2012 (eleven months ago), I feel like a different me was doing those actions that I recall. I feel like I’ve changed in substantial ways that make those events seem more like a story I’m hearing than like something I personally experienced. Perhaps it’s that way because of the nature of what I do for a living and for my hobbies.

Perhaps it’s a reflection of my personality or my particular way of viewing the past. For whatever reason, I feel like so much happened in 2012 for me that it’s worth taking a look at and jotting down some thoughts.

photography are all insanely over-saturated markets that don’t have much money in the first place. If you’re not willing to lose money doing it, look elsewhere for a job or hobby). In January, my first edition of Metaphysical Monday went live on indievisionmusic.com and seemed to generate some good discussion. Metaphysical Monday is a weekly column I do for IVM and IVM is a great community centered around faith-based underground bands. I love that site. MM explores the place where faith and art intersect, although I like to be a little experimental sometimes and write out of either pure silliness or understated humor. I’ve posted an article in that column every Monday morning since then except for a month or so hiatus I took during the BTA CD release shows this fall. For the pictures associated with each article, I just used images I found on google that pertained to the content of the article. That only lasted a few months, as I started to feel bad about stealing other people’s pics and being horribly unoriginal in my artistic responsibility. So, now I draw a picture for each MM article using the free SketchbookX app on my iPad. Seth W showed me that app and I’ll speak more about him later. Anyway, the IVM gig is what sort of launched my hobby writing career and led to me writing for HM.

At the beginning of this year, Becoming The Archetype had a slightly different lineup. We had a fill-in on drums that we thought was gonna be in for the long haul. He ended up quitting (politely, to his credit) just a couple months after “joining.” At first it was frustrating, but it forced us to look for another drummer and that turned out to be a huge blessing: our bassist Codey helped us find Chris Heaton. Chris turned out to be the dream drummer for BTA and he owned every aspect of what we asked him to do. So if you wanna view that as a super-spiritual scoreboard, that’s God – 1, Fears – 0.

Since then, I started writing for HM Magazine and got to review some great albums and interview some cool people. I interviewed Dustin Kensrue of Thrice for a retrospective article during their farewell tour. I interviewed Jordan Mancino of As I Lay Dying for an article about their new album. I interviewed Josh Dies about the new Showbread album. Josh was the most revealing and honest, but all three interviews were fun and enlightening.

Aside from HM and IVM, I also wrote a whenever-they-felt-like-it column for metalsucks.net called Grand Slams, where I reviewed the last couple weeks of the MLB season. As a huge MLB fan and avid fantasy baseball player, I do want to congratulate myself for winning 3 of the 4 leagues I played in and tying in the 4th league. Way to go, Seth.

Another development way back in January was that I started writing. I would say “professionally,” but I still don’t get paid by anyone, so I guess it’s more of a hobby (Pro tip: Don’t get into any form of art unless you love it enough to spend money doing it. Music, writing, painting, drawing,

Aside from writing for these websites/magazine, I also started online classes in January, so I could finish my Bachelor’s Degree in Business.

Online classes are great, because you can do them in your sweatpants while eating pizza and watching Arrested Development. It’s kind of a Artwork: David Moore

YEAR IN REVIEW

daily occurrence now. I’ve got one year left till I graduate, then my wife is making me consider going for a Master’s Degree. Ugh, women and their desire for educated husbands. Speaking of my wife, I have a wife and a son! So, we enjoyed family life together. That also happened in 2012.

In the music world of my life, I was finally able to realize the long-held desire to do alternative renditions of BTA songs. I’d wanted to do either jazz covers of BTA songs or remixes or something. So I was able to convince Solid State Records to allow me to do a remix EP. I had some very talented friends in Sean Patrick Murphy (who played sitar on Celestial Completion and had been a friend of mine for years) and the Born of Water duo from Nashville. I got the files we needed and sent them to those guys and gave them permission to make new songs using the material I gave them. And what I got back were 6 fabulous songs that I honestly like as much as the full-length albums themselves. Born of Water did one track, the first one, and it’s a lot of fun. Sean did the other 5 tracks and the whole EP sounds so fantastic that I listen to it frequently still. I’m allowed to do that because in a very real way, they’re not my songs. Sadly, Sean died shortly after the project was completed, so he never got to see the EP finalized. I still miss him and wish he was around. He was a very talented musician and a good friend. I miss him quite a lot.

BTA then entered the studio in May and we recorded our 5th full-length album, I AM. On our way to record in Cape Cod, MA, with Shane Frisby, we picked up Seth W. Seth started and ran Buzzgrinder.com for several years before being hired by AOL to run their heavy music site Noisecreep.com. He left Noisecreep when the industry started to collapse a couple years ago and is now just a super talented dude with no job to work because no jobs are really worth working in the industry.

Similarly, one of the most talented photographers I’ve ever known, Keaton Andrew Coblentz, sold his photo gear and is now biking around the rim of the U.S.. He’s on Instagram and posts his adventures, which are fun to view. But back to Seth W. Seth draws robots now and stayed with us during the recording of I AM. He gave me several great ideas about writing and music and business in general. Seth is a good friend,

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not only because he has a great name, but also because he’s just a truly intelligent, caring individual. I value those traits quite highly.

I AM was released in September and I’m proud of it. BTA played a lot of shows and some cool festivals we’ve never played before, like LifeLight and Creation (both coasts). Right after it came out, I recorded a folk album with my friend and long-time music collaborator Brandon Michael Williams. We had written 10 songs throughout the early part of 2012 and raised money via Kickstarter. With that Kickstarter money, we recorded those 10 songs and just released the album on December 4! I’m pleased with that album and most people that hear the songs seem to like it, so I’m satisfied with its reception.

Around the time that we recorded the folk album, I took a position as, officially titled, “Organist and Choir Master” of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Marietta, GA. I had previously been attending a Presbyterian (PCA) church that I really enjoyed. But I needed money and I happen to play piano and direct choirs adequately well. So I’m now on my second church music leader job (the first was a position at a Southern Baptist Church that I had to resign to join BTA on the road). Being in an Episcopal Church is an interesting experience for me, as I’d never even been in one before.

So yeah, I think that just about wraps it all up. Three album releases, one BTA member change, revolutionary ideas from Seth W, the loss of a friend in Sean Patrick Murphy, a new job at a new church, a new writing career for 2 different websites and a magazine and online classes kinda have a way of filling up a year, ya know? If this were a website article, I’d ask about the major events of your year. But it’s not, so why don’t you tweet at me (@sethhecox) or read and comment on an article at IVM or come visit my church or go to a BTA show or buy the folk album or hit me up on Facebook? I’m not too hard to get ahold of, I guess.

Reflect on 2012 and prepare for 2013. It may be an arbitrary day to start afresh, but any day is as good as the next, so take Nike’s advice and Just Do It! —Seth Hecox

Artwork: Eric Timm

20 FEATURE

IT STARTED AS AN IDEA, REALLY, WHEN A PROFESSIONAL IRONWORKER/ GLASSBLOWER AMBITIOUSLY PURCHASED A TRACT OF LAND TO FOUND HIS GLASSWORKS SHOP. HENRY STIEGEL HAD VISIONS OF A BOOMING CITY WITH HIS GLASS COMPANY AS THE NUCLEUS, THRIVING FAR BEYOND HIS DEATH, HIS LEGACY SOLIDIFIED. He fell a little short. While the town he founded lived on, his shop closed up in 1780, his work a financial failure. It’s too bad, really, because if he were born 100 years later, a railroad would open up in his backyard and undoubtedly be the steroid shot he needed.

This railroad is actually pronounced redd-ing, but you probably know it as Reading Railroad, and you probably know it from playing Monopoly. The town Steigel founded is officially called Manheim, and even though Steigel’s company dried up, this Reading Railroad would afford the town the ability to stay a town – and not dry up.

It’s this Manheim place that would come to be known as home to August Burns Red. It only has a shade under 5,000 people. The closest city is Lancaster, PA. Technically Manheim is considered its borough, but the town is still only an hour-and-a-half drive West from Philadelphia on I-76.

August Burns Red loves Manheim. They love home. Guitarist JB Brubaker is an avid Phillies fan, tweeting about their games while on the road in Not Philadelphia. They aptly named their live album – recorded in Manheim – Home. If you ask them, they’d say the best show they play all year is in their hometown.

And that’s one thing they’re always sure to do: Play a Christmas show at their self-appointed home venue of The Chameleon Club in Lancaster. It’s their homecoming dance every year. A couple years into playing this annual show, the band also started to release one Christmas song a year, mixing these into their Christmas show set

lists. After four years of it, the only logical thing to do was see it through to its conclusion: “We enjoyed the songs as much as anyone else,” drummer Matt Greiner says to me. “We decided to write enough songs to put together with the previously released Christmas songs and make a nice Christmas CD for all the moms and dads out there who don’t like our band!”

Partly tongue-in-cheek, partly in truth, Greiner (who, along with Brubaker, vocalist Jake Luhrs, bassist Dustin Davidson and guitarist Brent Rambler, make up the quintet) knows their genre isn’t for everyone, including some of their closest kin. “I have a lot of friends and family who aren’t particularly fans of the ‘screaming’ aspect of August Burns Red,” Greiner says. “When they found out that we were covering songs instrumentally that for the most part they were familiar with, they were happy! My parents were especially excited, because I told them that we were going to make a CD of instrumental Christmas covers just like Trans-Siberian Orchestra.”

So, to write Sleddin’ Hill, their fifth studio release, was the perfect overlap in the Venn diagram of what home means to August Burns Red: On the one hand, they get to exercise their creative freedom to re-write and experiment with classics in a genre they’re already helping to re-write.

On the other, they’re simultaneously appeasing some of their closest loved ones by writing a record that’s more palatable for their tastes.

It’s largely vocal-free, and even without the screaming, not all of the songs are pure metalcore, either. (Start with “Sleigh Bells” and halfway through it you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.)

AU G U S T B U R N S R ED

With an infinite catalog of Christmas songs, it’s no surprise they chose the ones that were equal parts musically based for their re-do-ability and equal parts firmly rooted in the nostalgia of home. “Not all Christmas songs lend themselves to faster tempos and experimentation,” Greiner says, “so there were other factors to consider, of course. For the most part, however, all of the ‘covers’ on the record are songs we grew up listening to and caroling on the streets of Manheim, Pennsylvania.”

Although officially home may be Manheim for ABR, unofficially, their home is often a tour bus. They play a bazillion shows a year, and most recently, it’s of the international variety. They have just come off a stint in Europe, culminating in Paris, and by the time you read this, they will have finished up another leg in South America. Laughingly, Greiner explains it like this: “My favorite show of the (European) tour was the very last show, because I knew we were going home the next day!” (Kidding aside, he admits the Parisians got after it when they played there. “No, really, I did enjoy the last show, because there were about 20 people who were getting up on stage during the show and singing along and stage-diving.”)

The story writes itself here: The band plays non-stop in Europe for over a month in October and November, come home for a week, then turns around and heads out halfway down the globe again to finally come home to rest their heads for the holidays. The story is quintessential. College kids do it. Family members in other cities do it. Professionals do it. And they’d

Photo: Michael Todaro

all probably echo the same sentiment Greiner does when he says to me, “When I go away for weeks on end the only thing that I really get excited about is being at home and seeing the people I love the most.”

Their Christmas show set lists now have a bunch of options to choose from, thanks to Sleddin’ Hill. The only negative here, really, is that recording it this year set back the recording of their newest record a bit. With all the experimentation on Sleddin’ Hill, as well as taking steps with their 2011 release Leveler, I wanted to know if this was the new direction for the band’s sixth studio effort. ”Ask me again in a month!” Greiner says. “I have yet to start writing drums to the songs (Brubaker) has written.

Because we spent so much time this year working on the Christmas record, we aren’t as far along in the writing process as we’d like to be. What does that mean? Working hard over the holidays and right up until the studio time we have booked winter of 2013.”

He does tell me Brubaker is still doing the main songwriting on the record and Greiner has nothing but praise for his abilities. In fact, the last time I profiled August Burns Red for their 2009 release Constellations, Greiner told me very clearly that the band’s goal, solidly behind Brubaker, was to write the record they wanted to hear.

And here, three years later, he can only paint the early stages of this future record with the same brush:

ambitious about focusing all of our time and energy into writing a CD that we are proud of. We strive to push ourselves as musicians and thus write the kind of record we’ve never written. We will be playing these songs on tour around the world in years to come and that alone is a high standard we hold ourselves to.”

And who knows? As August Burns Red’s tastes change, as they grow and evolve, as their records continue to stretch the boundaries of what metal music is, maybe the palettes of those back at home will start to change a little as well. Maybe Sleddin’ Hill will be their gateway drug. But even if our mothers never get on board with metal, I can guarantee they’ll always have an open door for us when we come back home – and August Burns Red will be walking back through those doors in Manheim, doing their own version of caroling, every year.

So do what you have to do this holiday season. Take the Reading Railroad. Take a flight. Drive cross-country. Just get home, wherever that is for you. It’s how August Burns Red would have it. And if your home happens to be near Lancaster, Pennsylvania around December 25, everyone’s family at The Chameleon Club. Trust me: August Burns Red will take you in like a brother.

“Our mentality has always been to write the kind of record we’d want to listen to as a band. Between the five of us, we have very eclectic influences. We are

BY DAVID STAGG

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22 FEATURE

LEVI THE POET,HAS LEAPT INTO THE FUTURE WITH ALL THE GUSTO OF ONE OF HIS SCREAMING POEMS – PUTTING FEAR IN ITS PLACE AND SPEAKING FORTH DON MILLER-ESQUE STREAMOF-CONSCIOUSNESS INTROSPECTION-TURNED-CONFESSION. AND, LIKE HIS PREDECESSOR, BRADLEY HATHAWAY, LEVI HAS DISCOVERED MUSIC. BUT, UNLIKE SAID CHRISTIAN SPOKEN WORD PIONEER, HIS POETRY REMAINS IN THE FOREFRONT.

How’d you crank out another new album so quickly? What’s the heart behind this one?

Well, as far as the quickness goes, it has been about a year since LTP has done anything new (Ed – translated from Levispeak, this means “You are an idiot, Doug.

Can’t you read a simple calendar?”), and even the Monologues EP was comprised of poems I had already been performing for a while, so it feels really good to finally have an album coming out with brand new material that no one has heard before.

The heart behind it? I think the heart behind it is this: I have done a pretty good job thus far at exemplifying suffering – and that has been fine, because we weep with those who weep, and we don’t have to be strong all of the time – but I want to do a better job at exemplifying celebration. There are aspects of Seasons that are heavier than anything I’ve done, and yet I believe that

there is more specific joy and hope placed in the Person and work of Jesus. So it is not a light, happy-go-lucky album, but I do believe that it is a joyful album. In Jesus, we have cause for rejoicing. He sings over us with gladness.

What are some things that inspired you to share the stuff here?

My first album was called Werewolves, and I used to write about cuddling with them, which was halfway a joke, and halfway a picture of clinging to the things that were comfortable in my life regardless of how destructive they were. I wrote a piece that hasn’t been released once that said, “I know my sweet seductress, and her name is depression. I wrote best beneath that demon’s destructive oppression.” So I named this album Seasons and intended to move from “a time to weep and a time to mourn” and take a step toward a time to laugh and a time to cast those things away.

But man, that’s not to say that opposition has ceased and it’s a simple “be positive” thing. My dad killed himself last year. My mom and sister don’t live anywhere near me anymore. Pain doesn’t disappear and the world doesn’t stop moving. The tongue still holds the power of life or death, and mine has still been an agent of death. You’ll hear a lot about those things in Seasons, but my heart’s desire is that Jesus would be at the center of it all. That this wouldn’t be an album whose key character is “Woe” with Jesus as the bumper-sticker copilot, but that it would be an album about our Suffering, Sympathetic, Servant HighPriest who carries us through the storm.

You used some music on this one.

What inspired that change?

I wanted my wife, Brandi, to be able to play with me. She’s an amazing pianist, and it was so much fun getting to write with her.

We also had our friend, Alex Sugg, write

LEVI THE POET

the songs with us. He has a project called Glowhouse that I love and toured with this year, and I think he is a phenomenal musician. Couldn’t have done it without him. I still wanted LTP to be a spoken word project, so the music isn’t overkill like I just switched genres, but it is a progression, and we’re excited about that.

What are some recent life lessons you’ve learned?

Be present with my wife. A guy at Cornerstone Festival this year told me not just to make sure she’s okay, but to continually pursue her and seek to make her happy. I’ve been trying to be better at that. Also, everyone’s story is important.

I feel like, somehow, in trying to be a big proponent of that truth, I’ve slowly lost it, and I shouldn’t write off anyone’s experiences, or stories, because those are theirs, and it’s what they have. I shouldn’t write off mine, either. Sometimes, I think I stifle the work of the Spirit by trying to rationalize everything that happens according to my own logic, rather than just being confident in Him and His work, and letting it be.

Which groups are you working closely with? (I’m curious if you’re still working closely with XXXChurch.com). How’s that going?

I am still working pretty closely with XXXChurch, yeah. Writing blogs for their website once or twice a month, and speaking on their behalf whenever an opportunity comes my way. Brandi and I did a run for them on For Today’s Fight The Silence Tour in March and April of this year, which was really great. I performed “Pretty In Pornography” and introduced the audiences to XXXChurch and what the ministry is about. It was a pretty crazy experience, but one I’d do again.

You’ve been going to a ministry school of sorts with Mars Hill Church. Tell me about that.

The school is called Re:Train (retrain. org). Essentially, it is an eight-month-long theology course that is designed to be as practical as it is educational. It is a fifteencredit-hour course that many seminaries will accept as legitimate, as well, so if I ever do decide to continue in my schooling, I’ll have a bit of a start, at least. (Of course, I don’t have a bachelor’s degree, so there’d be a lot to work out there. I don’t have any

plans for that right now, anyway, but the option’s available.) Anyway, it has been quite the adjustment since the classes started in August – touring less and making room for class and writing. Although the material is applicable no matter what the ministry situation, Re:Train is specifically tailored to those serving within the context of a local church. Brandi and I are very involved in Mars Hill whenever we are off of tour, and a lot of close friends in the church are taking this year’s course with me, so it has been great to both serve and learn alongside with them and meet new people that fly in from all over the country to participate in the school.

What are your plans for 2013? I’m curious about touring, merch, other projects, videos to accompany, etc, etc.

Well, Re:Train lasts until April, so I’ll continue to be limited on how much I can do and how long I can be out until then.

Brandi started doing all of the booking and contact for Levi The Poet to help me after school started, and she is amazing at it – definitely better than I ever was. She’s got administrative and organizational skills that I’ve never had. I know she has some ideas in the works. We’d love to tour with some more bands again, especially since the last couple of runs we’ve done have been solo tours – it’d be good to have more company out on the road. We will have a few videos coming out to accompany the release of Seasons, as well as a book project I’m working on with our art and design man – ToothFeather – that I want to release this year. It’s been really cool to have a lot of local friends and artists incorporated into this project with us. Everything we put out comes from our local community in Albuquerque – it’s almost like our own little team out here, which has been so cool because we all get to help one another out and be creative – from video to merch to music and beyond. Recently, some of us down here decided that we wanted to make a shift from the (for lack of a better term) “band model” of putting something new out once a year or once every 18 months, and start treating Levi The Poet as more of an art project that releases more frequent content in various mediums. Now, who knows how frequently or when that will start happening in a more noticeable way – but that’s the goal and hopefully we’ll get there.

What have you revealed about yourself to the public this past year that you did not reveal the previous year? Why? I am going to give you the lamest answer ever – I don’t know. Honestly, this year, I’ve kind of been trying to figure out that not everything needs to be broadcast and, in lieu of that, haven’t done it as much. Part of that comes from being married and trying to respect Brandi by having a personal life that is ours and not everyone’s.

What are some of your favorite albums? Why? Nearly everything Humble Beast has been putting out recently, I love. Been jamming Propaganda’s Excellent and Beautiful Eulogy’s Satellite Kite nonstop on this tour and have loved hearing the way they truly are creating excellent, theologically-sound rap that doesn’t suck as art. I feel like that genre needed a whole remodel, and I’m excited to see that coming from folks like Humble Beast and the OneOneSix / Reach Records crew.

On the flip side – I’ve also been listening to a lot of Macklemore and P.O.S. – so I guess I’m on a hip hop kick as of late. I started to get into Macklemore a few years ago after I saw his Wing$ video, and then really got interested when I saw that he was an independent dude coming up from Seattle.

I’m probably a sucker for anything coming out of there, because I love that city so much. P.O.S. is a dude out of Minneapolis that has toured with a bunch of people, including Underoath (one of my favorites), and sampled some of their stuff into his raps. He’s weird, and that’s probably why I like it. Both artists are, in my opinion, very intelligent and unique. I love to see DIY and independent artists coming up like that.

I do a top-ten albums of the year list every December, so when I get home from tour I’ll probably think through what those are and write about them. That’s always fun.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I miss you, and I love HM. Thank you for always supporting me and, invariably, Brandi.

BY DOUG VAN PELT

23

24 FEATURE

J OY EL EC T R I C

25

WHENEVER I SIT DOWN AND TALK WITH A MUSICIAN, IT IS ALWAYS TIME PLEASANTLY SPENT BECAUSE OF THE VARIED PERSPECTIVES ON THE STUFF OF LIFE. THE TIME SPENT TALKING WITH RONNIE MARTIN OF JOY ELECTRIC WAS AN EXERCISE IN ROAMING THE HILLS OF MUSIC, BOOKS, WORDS, AND JOYS FOUND IN SIMPLE THINGS. “NOSTALGIC” IS THE TERM THAT MARTIN PROVIDED WHEN I ASKED HIM TO COMPLETE THE PHRASE, “PERSONALLY MUSIC IS…” AS THE CONVERSATION UNFOLDED, I FOUND MYSELF FEELING A BIT NOSTALGIC, HEARING ELEMENTS OF THE PAST IN THE PRESENT WHETHER SOUND, STYLE, OR SOURCE AND THINKING ABOUT THEM WITH FOND AFFECTION. Martin recently parted ways with long-time label Tooth & Nail Records to record and produce an independent album that is due out December 4th, titled Dwarf Mountain Alphabet. It is Joy Electric’s 14th full-length album and the latest of over 30 released in the last 18 years. It also marks the longest stretch between releases at four years – longer than any other time in his career. When I asked why the long delay, he said, “With the incredibly intense process of studio production and producing music nearly every year since 1991, after the last release, we wondered, ‘What’s the next step? Is there a next step?’”

His family also made the move from Southern California and part-time ministry to Ohio and full-time ministry.

The newest album was funded by a Kickstarter.com campaign and was fully funded in a matter of hours. His response was one of surprise and feeling blessed.

“Everyone has been so supportive.” His fans have come to love his ‘signature sound,’ which is the “Product of growing up a piano player, loving ‘80s music, pop songs and the synthesizer’s ability to create and layer sounds.” When he first began producing records, he enjoyed being, “a unique sound amid early ‘90s rock.” From the beginning, Martin’s music has reflected things past – whether the electronic sounds of days gone by or inspiration from books by the likes of Lewis, Tolkien or MacDonald.

He loves “The idea of translating an idea or an image into a pop song. I love great stories, abstract things, and the Avant-garde. I like the abstract and a lyric that is not crystal clear and is out of the box, though you can go too far.” When I asked about how he comes up with his album names, he said, “I don’t know.

I love words and combinations of words that evoke abstract imagery.” The latest, Dwarf Mountain Alphabet, was inspired by a visit to Japanese gardens with his daughter.

What are some of his favorites from his own creation? “I love minimalism, but struggle to do it. Some of my favorites are the more personal (songs) … of albums; My Grandfather, The Cubist, I love the music, but The Otherly Opus, I liked the songs, but not the production.” His favorite period of his own music is the mid-2000s to 2008 range.

When it comes to personal patterns and musical influence, Martin says, “I always go back. I am a music history guy, so I go back to the roots of electronic music – guys like Jean Michel Jarre, a French pioneer in electronic music using ‘70s synthesizers.

It’s magic within limitations. I also enjoy songwriting-oriented bands, minimalist artists like Innocence Mission. It’s simple, beautiful and melancholy.” So what have some of his favorites taught him musically?

“Minimalism and that I struggle to do it.

It’s too easy to layer (music). I am insecure about my music, but love the minimal, sparse music that does not add a lot of elements.” What is he listening to these days? “Christmas music, all the old great Christmas music. I am a Christmas fanatic.”

Also, he has been listening to Beach House’s Bloom album (released 2012).

And what have his old favorites taught him spiritually? “Music is a gift from God. A reason God blessed us with music is it has the potential to give us a glimpse of Christ.

He is a creative God that makes beautiful things.” What he loves most about making music is the ability to write songs and to perform songs. “I love to perform, especially at festivals.” Some of the fondest memories have been from Cornerstone, Purple Door and such faraway places as Norway and the Netherlands. “There is nothing like performing for a large gathering of fans.”

But, he says, Christian artists sometimes have more dangers to be mindful of. In particular, Martin says, “Two pitfalls are pride/ego from accolades and bitterness.

Growing discontent due to career path, or disillusioned with their place as a musician within the church culture and going the other way. Bitterness cannot allow you to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water.’”

What will December 4th find Martin doing?

“Waiting for emails. I enjoy reading both the positive and negative feedback. I love criticism, too. I get a kick out of it and appreciate anyone who takes the time to write.” Established fans excluded, who would he recommend Dwarf Mountain Alphabet to? “Anyone who loves pop music and who likes ‘80s music a little bit. It’s easy on the ears and not complicated. It is the record I have been wanting to make for a long time. It is the best elements of my music, so it should appeal to many people.”

The most pleasant aspect of the new album for Martin was the song “Whose Voice Will Not Be Heard.” He said of it, “It’s the type of song I have wanted to write for a long time.

The production came out like I wanted it to.

It was the moment of you know you did it – a satisfaction. It’s one of my favorites.”

What’s next for Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric? Christmas of course. “We wake up at the crack of dawn to open presents.

It’s my favorite day of the year.” And he will continue to do what he loves: reading and writing. Always having had a love for reading and writing, his own writing was, “A natural thing to come out of music.” These days find him reading books by Kevin DeYoung, Paul Tripp, Timothy Keller, Matt Chandler and in reformed theology. He has been writing articles for the Gospel Coalition and has his own book due out March 1st titled Finding God in the Dark.

BY SARAH ARENDAS ROBERTS

twas grace: my hea 26 COVER STORY

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT THE WORLD WILL END THIS YEAR IN CHAOS BECAUSE OF THE PLANETS ALIGNING TOGETHER. PEOPLE WILL BE RUNNING IN FEAR FROM FIRE FALLING FROM ABOVE AND PERHAPS THE PEOPLE ON DOOMSDAY PREPPERS WILL STOP BEING MOCKED AT. HOWEVER, THIS ISN’T STOPPING MY HEART TO FEAR FROM MAKING NOISE IN THE MIDST OF PROPHESIES AND THEORIES BEING THROWN AROUND. MHTF is a band that basically loves to play honest music. After seven and a half years of hard work and dedication, it’s time to rejoice. They are now signed onto the Solid State Records roster and released their EP titled Lost Between Brilliance and Insanity. The group started with bassist Taylor Pool and drummer Luke Brady, who shared a 9th grade art class and decided to start a jam session in Pool’s basement.

“Taylor played guitar at the time and talked Luke into a jam session, while I was living out my middle school life,” said lead vocalist Trevor Pool. “One day Taylor, our friend Brandon and Luke came over to our house to play. As they were playing, a 13-year-old me went down to the basement to ask to be in their cool band. My brother gave out an abrupt ‘No.’ After I told on him, my mother walked downstairs in her apron and ordered Taylor to let me play with them. Three months later we started playing one original song called ‘Board Game’ and two cover songs, which were ‘Awake’ by Godsmack and ‘The Spy Hunter’ by Project 86. We called ourselves Tearbook.”

Lead guitarist Dale Upright joined Tearbook three years later after being discovered at a Little League World Series game wearing a guitar belt buckle.

The band’s manager at the time, which was the Pool brothers’ dad, was hesitant about letting a sudden stranger into the band. However, after hearing his audition and sweeping all over the guitar neck, Upright was immediately in.

“After three years of being terrible, we started improving a little bit and recorded our second record with Jesse Sprinkle at his studio, Bluebrick Recordings in Avon, New York,” said Pool. “We were sitting in the studio with our friend Ryan ‘RJ’ Jones and he said we should change our name, because the new album was such an improvement over what we were for the three previous years. It

art to fear

MY HEART TO FEAR 27

BY DANIEL GARCIA

“When me to

28 COVER STORY would give us a fresh start with a new band name and sound. We started throwing band name ideas and our drummer Luke picked out My Heart To Fear, which comes from the old hymn, ‘Amazing Grace.’”

members feel valued and happy, then we are all valued and happy. We don’t give one hundred percent so we get anything back, but just because it’s the right thing to do and we believe that applies to the world.”

MHTF stands on the personal foundation that the love of Christ needs to be spread throughout the world without the typical Christian anecdote. The band has survived this long through strong friendships and relationships inside and out. It is through the self principles of Christianity and respecting everyone’s opinions that has kept them together this long. Like all relationships, they do have their times of disagreements and verbal fights, but there is love at the core of MHTF.

A new listener to MHTF might make the mistake of passing them off as just another metalcore band. However, this group deserves the effort of a second look with their swell mixture of breakdowns, melodic and harsh vocals, guitar sweeps and passionate heart-bound lyrics. Of course, this has been done by many acts, such as August Burns Red, As I Lay Dying and War Of Ages, but then again they each have something unique to show. As for MHTF, they just do what they want, plain and simple. There are no limitations to what they want to show and no genre labeling is going to stop that.

“We very much want to show the people that Christ’s love is what this world needs,” said Pool. “Not more materialistic ways to distract ourselves from the things that matter – not more money, just selflessness and love. Think about it like this: If each member of MHTF is giving one hundred percent of their efforts to make the other

A major emphasis to MHTF is in their lyrics.

Pool explains how the band’s music is difficult to comprehend already, therefore he believes there shouldn’t be any verbal fillers to enhance the musical aspect. One could truly say that “Honesty is the best

policy” for the writings of Trevor Pool.

“I just want to be upfront about the things I write,” said Pool. “I have always tried to just say what I feel. For example, if I write a song about who made God, I am not going to talk about how ‘These waters surround my mind, questions that reach up to the sky blah blah blah.’ I’m going to talk about how God created time itself, and since time only applies to our increasingly deteriorating closed-system universe and nowhere outside of it, God isn’t living in a realm where time dictates anything or even exists for that matter. Therefore God can’t be born or die, because he created birth and death. All in all, we just want our music to have heart.”

Lost Between Brilliance and Insanity is an EP that didn’t come easy and MHTF has all the reason to be prideful of it. After being on a three-and-a-half-months long tour that wasn’t doing well in 2011, Taylor used the software Tabit to create new songs. As the tour ended, the band was dying to get these new tracks recorded. Dave Cutrone, a close friend to the band, recorded their songs at

n I went through doubting my belief in God, it brought search for Him in so many different ways...”

MY HEART TO FEAR 29

Yukonotron Studios in Scranton, PA. This resulted into their winter release Into The Maelstrom. It was then that they picked five of their favorite songs from that album and had them remixed by Jason Suecof of Audio Hammer Studios in Sanford, FL. From these five tracks became Lost Between Brilliance and Insanity.

MTHF released in late November a music video for the single “Blood Money.” It already has over 7,000 views on YouTube and is going viral on social media.

“The album is different from any other release – not only for the recording quality, but because it is all of my most intense emotions and thoughts,” said Pool. “‘Blood Money’ was my thoughts on corruption and lack of compassion in the church. ‘Legends Never Die’ was a song we wrote to say that we can have brotherhood and family (with) what we believe. We welcome all into the MHTF brotherhood, because we are all in this world together searching for what we believe. ‘Life Under The Stairs’ was written simply about how I want to fall in love before the end of the world comes. ‘Dear Mr. White’ was written in 2010 in response to this guy that had called my house for seven months threatening to kill my family, because he hated our band and what we stand for. ‘The Witching Hour’ was written about my experiment with talking to demons and filming them in my house, and how it proved to me that God exists through the applied duality principle. Honestly, the EP really doesn’t have a specific message, each song speaks for itself.”

MTHF was offered to be represented by seven record labels, but Solid State was always in their eyes. While putting together press kits, they wanted to get the attention of Solid State badly. Believe it or not, MTHF sent them a real actual toilet. Inside the bowl was their newest release, A Ship Built To Sink. They autographed the tank and along the toilet seat was the phrase: “Please listen to our music, it’s not crappy.” To ship a toilet from Pennsylvania to Washington cost the band three hundred dollars. It took two years to hear back from the Seattle-based record label.

“A&R Rep, Micah Dean and Founder of Solid State, Brandon Ebel, enjoyed our music and realized how much we’ve improved,” said Pool.

“We eventually met with them in person at SXSW and they instantly felt like family. We all hit it off from the first meeting together. We want to publicly say thank you to Brandon, Micah and all of the folks at Solid State for believing in us. All of us grew up jamming out to Demon Hunter, Zao and Project 86. I remember showing all my friends in 9th grade ‘One Thousand Apologies” by Demon Hunter and telling them how it is the greatest song that has been or ever will be made. Now we’re on the same label with them. How cool is that?”

changing. We are just busier than we have ever been.”

With being signed to a major label, future planning for new music and tours, all was never well with MHTF. Two years ago, the band’s old guitar player, Brandon, departed and this put the group at a standstill, even close to throwing the whole act away. Brady helped find a new guitarist named Jay Grahman and he fit perfectly. He was along for the ride of band tours and also getting kicked out of their church because of the band.

“Personally, depression changed everything about who I am,” said Pool. “When I went through doubting my belief in God, it brought me to search for Him in so many different ways – such as, but not limited to, astrophysics, theology, apologetics, archaeology, historical findings and other ideologies. Bands such as The Classic Crime and Brand New also changed my life and lyric writing immensely.”

When it comes to mind, Lost Between Brilliance And Insanity could not have come out at a better time. As stated earlier, “Blood Money” is about the hypocrisy in the church of God. The Gospel has always been used incorrectly. Whether it has been used as a political talking point to gain trust among voters, to distract the good into evil doings and to deceive many into their own understandings about life, this is nothing new and won’t change till the end of time. Many belief systems have a Gospel, a Savior and a way towards eternal life, but for Christianity, Pool sees the difference based on the simple fact that Christianity is based off of Christ-like selflessness.

“It’s about putting yourself last, even when you know no one is going to know or care,” said Pool. “I believe that ‘you will know them by their fruits’ also greatly applies to religion. Look at countries like India, which is rampant with poverty. The government and citizens are largely dictated by the principles of Buddhism, which is based off of the concept of putting yourself first. The basis of enlightenment is feeling no pain, therefore it’s all self-focus. People are so focused on themselves that there is minimal growth and charity. Why do you think America has been so great for so long? Not because we are a Christian nation per se, but because we based our laws off of selfless Christian principles and welcoming people of all beliefs into the nation.”

MHTF strongly believes that they are exactly where God wants them to be. A good way of keeping everybody humble unto God is by keeping all of their “love” mail on file. On a daily basis, the band receives numerous testimonies from people lost in their faith. Drug addicts, cutters, suicide attempters and alcoholics send them mail about how MHTF has touched them. This is a band that takes all their fans seriously to heart.

It’s common for bands to – in some ways – change their style or appearance when signed to a label. There have been many times where bands have to compromise their sound to attract certain audiences that the labels want to gain. This can range from putting on makeup or crazy hair styles for the next promo pictures, or more clean vocals during the chorus. This won’t be the case for MHTF, because it is who they are that have brought them this far. They like to be seen as a group of average guys who enjoy playing beautiful music.

“There is no one who is different from us,” said Pool. “They long for acceptance, love and respect just like we do. If we can help direct them to that, then there is hope for them. We get these messages on if not a daily, at least a weekly basis. We keep those, so we can never forget that – after all the music videos, press interviews, shows, traveling and fun – ultimately it’s all about serving God and glorifying Him and the love of Jesus Christ.”

“We love what we do and want to show the world that we are just average dudes with a big sound and a lot to say,” said Pool. “On the other end of that spectrum, everything’s going to change. We are busier than ever. Our EP is being sold at all Hot Topic Stores nationwide, the ‘Blood Money’ video is on YouTube and Vevo, we are writing a new full-length for release next year and touring pretty much all the rest of 2013. So in that respect, everything is

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FEATURE 31

What Matisyahu Says MUCH HAS BEEN MADE OF MATISYAHU SINCE HETOOK CLIPPERSTO HIS DANGLING BEARD AND SIDE-CURLS, 86’DTHE BLACK FEDORA, AND SHOCKINGLY EMERGED FROM HIS HASIDIC OUTER SHELL ONE YEAR AGO. RECENT PHOTOS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HIP HOP REGGAE SENSATION NOW REVEAL A CLEAN SHAVEN, HIP ROCKER, LOOKING MORE LIKE HE CAME FROM A GQ PHOTO SHOOT THAN THE PAGES OF A ROMAN VISHNIAC BOOK ABOUT YESHIVAS IN PRE-WAR POLAND. THE ARTIST’S BRASH IDENTITY MAKEOVER WAS INITIALLY UNSETTLING TO HIS DIE-HARD FANS, WHO FEARED THAT IT SOMEHOW WOULD DIMINISH THE INTEGRITY OF THE MUSIC. THEN, TO THE MANY OTHERS DRAWN MORE TO MATISYAHU’S BEAT-BOX, DANCEHALL-TOASTING SKILLS, HIS “GET-UP” WAS MERELY INCIDENTAL TO HIS APPEAL. AND THEY WERE RIGHT. NOW, JUST OFF A FIVE-MONTH TOUR PROMOTING HIS LATEST ALBUM, SPARK SEEKER WITH BACKING BAND THE DUB TRIO, HE IS ABOUT TO TAKE HIS ANNUAL HANUKKAH CELEBRATION, “FESTIVAL OF LIGHT” ON TOUR – EIGHT DATES OF ACOUSTIC SHOWS BEGINNING AT THE NOB HILL MASONIC CENTER IN SAN FRANCISCO ON DECEMBER 8TH. STEVE KARRAS HAD THE PLEASURE OF TALKING TO MATISYAHU ABOUT MUSIC, TRANSFORMATION, AND LIFE AFTER THE BEARD.

W2C: Your producer and collaborator Kool Kojak said this about your new album: “[Spark Seeker] is a documentation of this episode of change we went through and we documented it with expressions of our feelings and soul through music.” Beyond your obvious change in physical appearance, how else would you describe the change?

MATISYAHU: Change is an internal thing. Different things happen or transform and music and art is a documentation of that. I don’t think I can put my finger on that specifically or say, “Well, I was Hasidic and now I’m not Hasidic.” It’s not that simple.

Do you think you’re taking more conceptual risks with how you approach your art?

To some extent, though I wouldn’t call them risks. I would say that as I’ve gotten older I trust my intuition more; I allow myself more freedom both musically, creatively, and my own life existentially. That’s part of the change. Letting go, opening up, trusting.

You’ve regularly made reference to Bob Marley in interviews but were you hip to dub music, like King Tubby, Scientist, or some of the great dancehall toasters?

Oh yeah, I listened to a lot of dub and roots reggae but my other big influence was the conscious dancehall wave of the mid-90s artists like Capelton and Buju Banton.

What about Shabba Ranks?

He was before that and he wasn’t coming from so much of a spiritual thing. His was more of a party-vibe.

Have you been down to Jamaica to see where all that great music was recorded?

On my last record, Light, we went down to Jamaica and worked with Stephen McGregor and Sly [Dunbar] and Robbie [Shakespeare] and recorded in some of the classic studios in Kingston.

That must have been incredible to work with Sly and Robbie.

It was just so cool to have them on the album. They’re old-school guys, the originators. Watching Robbie write his bass lines was an incredible experience.

How did the experience of recording your new album diff er from earlier recordings? What was special about this?

I guess, every record I have made has been different. With Light, I collaborated with a lot of different producers and musicians I respected and we all wrote and worked on material which I then took to an old-school producer, David Kahne, and we put it all together. The lyrics came first – they were written before the music. [Spark Seeker] was made more like I would have recorded when I was in high school or college – me and a friend hooking up, writing songs together, having a good time, taking a field trip (in this case Israel). It was a more relaxed and fun process. And I think it’s reflected in the music.

How did you hook up with the musicians who play on the album, particularly Zohar Fresco and Ravid Kahalani? Did you know them before you went to Israel?

I met them through one of my best friends, [saxophonist] Daniel Zamir who I knew from college. We got religious at the same time. He lives in Israel now and

32 FEATURE

runs a music school. He brought in most of those guys.

I used to feel that had Bob Marley been born in Detroit or NY and never discovered Rastafari he still would’ve been crafting amazing songs with memorable hooks and

girls would come, there would be an uncomfortable, “Ok, I’ll take a picture with you but you can’t touch me” and there would be these boundaries and lines. I realized that’s what Shlomo had to deal with. He wanted to be loving toward everybody and not have those boundaries.

“When I was a kid looking for meaning in my life, music gave me that sense of empowerment, identity and spirituality. The place I discovered it was in Bob Marley’s music.” then it hit me that his spirituality was central to his productivity and success. Has Judaism been an engine in your creative output?

Yeah, big time; but the place I really learned that, in more than one way, was through Bob Marley. When I was a kid and I was looking for meaning in my life, music was the thing that gave me that sense of empowerment, identity, and spirituality. The place I discovered it was in Marley’s music. So, for me music and spirituality was always going to be linked up. And then on top of that, since reggae was referencing Old Testament that’s where I learned how to use the Bible for my source of inspiration.

When you started getting religious and were listening to people like the late musician Shlomo Carlbach, did his music appeal to you on more of a lyrical and religious level than let’s say a melodic level?

Actually with Shlomo’s music it was the melodies and the vibe, and the heart – the simplicity of it. It’s actually a lot like reggae music to me. Music to me is not about the complexity but the heart and feeling of it. Shlomo’s music had that feel to it and when I discovered it I was in his synagogue on the Upper-West Side.

Was he alive still?

He had already died but I got the vibe of his music from that place. The Rabbis and the people I was connecting with, that were close to him were able to transmit the spirit of what he was all about.

Since Carlbach was greatly infl uenced by the late-60s hippie and drug lifestyle on campuses and eventually moved away (like you) from Hasidism, did you look to his story for inspiration when you decided to further evolve and shave your beard?

There are some similarities but Shlomo came from within a deeply-orthodox world and then went through a time of revolution when the whole world was evolving, yet he brought this authenticity with him because of where he came from.

With me, I come from going to Phish concerts, a different place. When I became religious it was full-force for me. And, through the lifestyle of being out on the road with non-Jewish musicians, in non-Jewish nightclubs and going all over the world opened me up to having experiences that other religious men might not have to think or worry about.

There was a time when I wouldn’t shake hands with women.

If a bunch of 15- year-old boys would come over and I’d be all arms around them, taking pictures with them and then some

Yet the new album is called Spark Seeker, which sounds almost Hasidic in conception with regard to the concept of “the spark of God.” That’s the idea, about finding the spark and getting to the core. But I’m not putting the boundary around it in terms of it being a Jewish spark necessarily. There is that but it’s also about seeking the spark which is what I believe music has the potential for being and what I feel our generation of young people is looking for.

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ALBUM REVIEWS

35

Album reviews

35 ALBUMS 38 GEAR, GADGETS, COMICS, BOOKS & FILM

AUGUST BURNS RED SLEDDIN’ HILL

August Burns Red are unquestionably the masters of today’s metal scene. Their technical prowess combined with top notch songwriting have propelled this band to the top of the modern hard music heap.They’ve also got a great deal of whimsy to boot. Sleddin’ Hill is a joyous display of both their metal mastery and unique sense of humor. This 13-song collection of holiday mirth is a combination of old holiday standards and a couple of unique originals that is sure to please any metal fan looking for a Christmas record that’s not going to drive them mad.

Rating system 05 04 03 02 01 *

CLASSIC FABULOUS SOLID SUSPECT AMISS 1/2

The album leads off with an original track titled “Flurries,” with soaring lead work over its heavy rhythm section. It’s honestly the perfect leadoff track for this Yuletide-inspired album. On the standard Christmas tunes the band adopts a fairly predictable but highly enjoyable formula, where the band hammers away while the lead guitar sings out the melodies we’ve known seemingly our entire lives. There are so many great songs worth noting, the rest of this review would just be a track listing from the album. But one track I really wanted to single out is the wonderfully moody “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” This song has an ominous but positive foreboding, and to me feels like what the world could have felt like in the hours leading up to the birth of Christ. It’s that heavy presence you feel when you know that something important is about to take place, and I think ABR did a wonderful job of capturing that intangible feeling.

With only a few exceptions Sleddin’ Hill is a funfilled almost punk influenced modern metal holiday masterpiece that will become required listening for all metalheads through the festive season.

[SOLID STATE] JEF CUNNINGHAM

36 A L B U M R E V I E W S

LEVI THE POET SEASONS Levi The Poet has kept slam poetry alive and well since Bradley Hathaway has become a folk artist. Seasons is Levi’s second record on Nashville’s Come & Live label. This record adds the element of atmospheric melody. With poems that are sometimes sung with smoothsounding music – to poems said over tracks that could be on the last Chariot record. Seasons also has tracks that are just Levi and a microphone. I do like how he doubled up on parts on “The Teacher Speaks.” Levi is trying things that he has not done before. This album is showing an honest side that we have not seen for Levi on tracks like “Infirmary” and “Dear Peantist.” This record shows that Levi is not afraid to take risks with what he says. As well as adding elements with sound that he has not done before. [COME&LIVE] ROB SHAMELESS

GREEN RIVER ORDINANCE A GREEN RIVER ORDINANCE CHRISTMAS Looking for a little bit of hipster cred while listening to a few of your favorite Christmas time standards?

Then look no further. Released in November 2011, this all-too-short collection of classic holiday tunes quickly became the album I reached for most often when it came across my desk shortly after Halloween. GRO isn’t breaking new ground on any of the tunes covered here, but lead vocalist Josh Jenkins’ plaintive and emotive voice makes you believe every word when speaking of the birth of the Christ on the tracks “Silent Night” & “O, Holy Night,” which to me serve as the pinnacle of the entire EP. The standard winter-themed songs often present around Christmas are also represented, and are performed with joy and mirth and – unless you liken yourself to ol’ Ebenezer – will have you merrily singing along. It’s short and sweet and to the point and a high recommendation for this season’s festivities. [GRO] JEF CUNNINGHAM

MY HEART TO FEAR LOST BETWEEN BRILLIANCE AND INSANITY My Heart to Fear have put together a solid EP. The album has highlights and lowlights, but for an EP it shows glimpses of things to come. With tracks like “Blood Money” and “Legends Never Die,” the band showcases choruses that will get the crowd going and have you singing along in your car. The down side to the album is that every song seems to start the same way, with a similar guitar riff, similar growls, and begins to start a cycle. The different breakdowns and choruses are the highlights of the album. MHTF experiments with their sound seeing what fits their style and it shows throughout the album.

[SOLID STATE] TONY D. BRYANT

BRANDON MICHAEL WILLIAMS SETH ANDREW HECOX ALL FOLKED UP Many hard bands have gone soft in the past.

When Strongarm broke up they came back as Further Seems Forever. Brett Detar left Zao to do The Juliana Theory. Members from Six Feet Under started Brandtson. Blake Martin of A Plea For Purging started a solo project a few years back. Recently the members of the defunct death metal band Indwelling started an Americana/folk band. Around the same time Seth Hecox of Becoming The Archetype got with his friend Brandon Williams to start a Americana/folk duo in the veins of ‘70s singer/ songwriter artists like Bob Dylan. Plus bands like Wilco and Mumford & Sons. It is not strange for a heavy artist to show a softer side. As we can see, history repeats itself on this subject a lot. All Folked Up is another fan-funded record through Kckstarter. This record is great. It is one of those records you will find wanting to listen to over and over again. With great biblical themes throughout the record, you could almost label it as a worship record. All Folked Up is the perfect record to change gears from metal and hardcore. [HARRISONGS] ROB SHAMELESS

THE LEE BOYS TESTIFY This family-based band (made up of brothers Alvin, Derrick and Keith Lee, also including Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel), Alvin Cordy Jr. (bass), and Earl Walker (drums) know how to get a juke joint up and stompin’ in the “Sacred Steel” vein of things (like Robert Randolph and his family band). A couple of notables guest on the album, including Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Bros. Band) and Matt Slocum (Sixpence). On this studio album they get both soulful and rowdy, but not after starting with a simmering, slow-cooker called “Smile.”

Like a lot of gospel music, The Lee Boys will get things going with a tight, snappy rhythm that gets louder and aims for off-the-hook and improv jams.

Take the hypnotic spell of tunes like “So Much to Live For” and the title track. If they don’t get you up and moving and then having felt like you’ve been somewhere and expended energy by the time you’re done listening, you might be dead.

[EVIL TEEN] DOUG VAN PELT

Ratings

YOUNG OCEANS ADVENT Young Oceans has done a wonderful job of creating an ambient EP in Advent, taking old hymns and re-vitalizing them for the Sufjan Stevens/Iron and Wine crowd.

While not as epic as a Sigur Ros album, this eclectic group of musicians take the slow building approach of setting a scene, before adding on to it, thickening their plots with each verse and chorus.

The self-proclaimed “neo-alternative worship” band born out of New York City’s Trinity Grace Church succeeds with Advent, but it’s more of a meditative record; you probably wouldn’t put it on and listen to a couple singles. It does a much better job as personal worship and background music to set the mood. [STREET TALK] DAVID STAGG

KINGS KALEIDOSCOPE JOY HAS DAWNED Having heard far too much poorly executed Christmas music, I am skeptical when it comes to Christmas albums. It seems almost like if a musician has reached the penultimate in their career, a Christmas album is mandatory. That being confessed, I approached Kings Kaleidoscope with a bit of trepidation. I was met with a musically well-executed album complete with Christ-centered selections, and enough unique musical translation that the album was enjoyable. If you enjoy Christmas music and want something fresh, Kings Kaleidoscope’s Joy Has Dawned album will happily make your rotation list. [MARS HILL] SARAH ARENDAS ROBERTS

DV

Writer

August Burns Red Sleddin’ Hill

03*

04

Levi The Poet Seasons

03*

04

Green River Ordinance A Green River Ordinance Christmas

03

04

My Heart To Fear

Lost Between Brilliance and Insanity

04

03

Brandon Michael...

All Folked Up

03

04

Young Oceans Advent

04

03*

Kings Kaleidoscope Joy Has Dawned

03

03

The Lee Boys Testify

03*

Sufjan Stevens Silver & Gold

04

The Old-Timers Soli Deo Gloria

03*

Joy Electric

Dwarf Mountain Alphabet

04

Eddie Kirkland Kings & Queens

03*

Unspoken Get To Me

04

The Rose Hill Powerless

03

Join The Dead

02

S/T

04

04*

ALBUM REVIEWS

SUFJAN STEVENS SILVER & GOLD Really, how much can a singer say in a second Christmas album that he couldn’t say in his first? If you’re a singer inhabiting such a peculiar combination of humility and grandiosity, multi-instrumental prowess, cross-genre imagination and seemingly extremely caffeinated work ethic as Sufjan Stevens, whose first seasonal release was a set of five CD-EP’s, there’s still apparently plenty to communicate ... on another quintuple-disc opus. But where 2006’s Songs for Christmas sounded and appeared like the (way long) set of tunes recorded for friends’ Yuletide gift receipt glorified into a package released to capitalize on burgeoning indie-whatever that means nowadays-notoriety, Silver & Gold possesses the earmarks of Stevens’ keener self-awareness as a capital-S Star within a certain strata of celebrity. And it’s not really the worse for that known-ingness. Yes, he goes on at questionably extraordinary lengths with cuts running upwards of 12 and 15 minutes, the latter being the noisiest of the 58 tracks. But he’s almost too pithy elsewhere, with numerous instances of getting it just right throughout. And though Stevens dabbles in dubstep, glitchy punk and early ‘80sstyled industrial, there’s a surfeit of what’s become more or less his formula over his past few vocal albums: gossamer chamber folk, the rhythmic pulse of Phillip Glass classical systems music, the cracked transpositions of Americana per Charles Ives and the stirringly wan tenor that sounds adept complementing the lot of it. Amid his sonic smorgasbord is a philosophical rumination in the liner notes on Christmas in most every manner it can matter to someone, and the combination walk in tandem well with one another. Probably not the comfort music for family get-togethers that the Perry Como and Andy Williams Christmas discs have become, but we’re living in different times about which Stevens gets some of the point here.

[ASTHMATIC KITTY] JAMIE LEE RAKE

THE OLD-TIMERS SOLI DEO GLORIA With an album covering/painting of a big circle-pit and mohawk-wearing punks, pierced and other street-level folks moshing around, one doesn’t have to guess that this is a 25-minute slab of old school punk rockin’, but it’s also a speedy worship service. Fast, barely in control and close to the edge, it breathes with a passion that can’t be minimized with low-budget production. “This City” conjures sonic images of early Crucified or (obviously) a little Outer Circle.

Tunes like “Posi Isn’t Enough” keep it going at full-tilt. It roars with authority and conviction. Gotta love this. [THUMPER PUNK] DOUG VAN PELT

JOY ELECTRIC DWARF MOUNTAIN ALPHABET Yes, Ronnie Martin has pep to spare in his pursuit of peachy synth-pop on the umpteenth Joy Electric album and the first outside Tooth & Nail Records’ artist roster. Amid all his retro-futuristic knob twiddling, keyboard plinking and sequencer programming, however, all is not always so cheery in Electircland. The prevailing JE modus operandi may be to make music perfectly fit for the aerobics class at an especially hip Curves franchise, but don’t be fooled. Martin has before and here again on Dawrf Mountain Alphabet can explore myriad more dire emotions. Since he seems pretty happy on his Facebook posts, it’s likely as anything that his odes to obscurity, sadness and catharsis are as much born of existential worldweariness as they are from plugging away at an impressive and growing oeuvre that remains under-appreciated, even among the oxymoronic demographic designation of Christian hipsters.

If the former hypothesis has any credibility,.

Martin’s operating in a musical mode that many wouldn’t deem “authentic” for his sentiments as the accompaniment for the works of Bob Dylan, Mark Heard or Leonard Cohen makes his music no less affecting. And like King David toward the end of his psalms of complaint or Jeremiah at his most lane lamenting, Martin’s faith is evident, if hard fought. This Mountain is fit for dancing, but Martin suonds like he’s doing so from bittersweet release. [EEPSOCIETY] JAMIE LEE RAKE

EDDIE KIRKLAND KINGS & QUEENS It’s not often that typical praise and worship albums get reviewed in HM. This one isn’t exactly “typical,” though. Yes, there’s anthems that urge the listener with the vocal desperation in Kirkland’s voicer in the leadoff track, “Here and Now,” and there’s some polite radio-friendly sonics in “Brighter Days,” but the clapping sounds in “Here and Now” and the chiming mandolin in “The Solution” give it some aesthetic “magic” that resonates beyond the formulaic. It’s alive, not dead. Granted, the album does take a dip midway through into the land of petering out and becoming very average, so it’s not all fresh and new and thriving on its potential, but there are special moments.

[NORTHPOINT/EMICMG] DOUG VAN PELT

37

UNSPOKEN GET TO ME You know that cute faux-pouting vocal that artists like Maroon 5, John Mayer and Train will bring? It’s a little laid-back, a little uptempo, possibly calculated, but infectious melodically like a hard piece of caramel candy.

Pop enough to move the bodies of 40-something soccer moms, but organic sonically enough to get those beatnik indie rockers to close their eyes and sway a bit, too. ABR, AILD, TDWP and most acronym’d metal band fans will hate the sweetness of Unspoken (and more power to ‘em), but it’s hard to knock this radio-friendly rock when it’s done this well. [CENTRICITY] DOUG VAN PELT

THE ROSE HILL POWERLESS Sure, the shock is worn off when you hear a small little female belting out blood-curdling screaming. I mean, little Dacey of Still Breathing and Lacey of Flyleaf were doing this many, many years ago ... and don’t forget that tough gal named Ally French from Bloodlined Calligraphy orchestrating the circle pits close to the stage.

Enter Bethany Durbin from The Rose Hill to this conversation, who holds her own in this scrappy metal onslaught that pays homage to some classic metal and the speedy bits of metalcore/deathcore.

The drumming swells of tunes like “His Choice” reinforce the harcore origins of the “core” suffix to the genre they fall into. Authentic? I think so.

Innovative? Maybe not, but who cares? It’s heavy and it kicks ... and that’s enough for some of us.

[SANCROSANCT] DOUG VAN PELT

JOIN THE DEAD S/T Metal aficionados will know the name of guitarist Michael Phillips (Deliverance, Fasedown, The Sacrificed), but few might know about his pre-1990 band Decadence with vocalist Paul White. Both Phillips and White reconnected years later and decided to re-record some of their early demos, which evolved into this 4-song EP. For good measure, they threw in 11 bonus tracks of various types (demos and live recordings, including a live Deliverance cut, “In You” from 2009). While some songs might sound slightly tired or sonically muddy in parts, it earns collector’s points and features some really good guitar playing throughout. [ROXX] DOUG VAN PELT

38 B O O K S & R A P H I C N O V EL S

LIFEstyle

books & graphic novels FULL DISCLOSURE DEE HENDERSON

UNFINISHED RICHARD STEARNS

Midwest Homicide Investigator Ann Silver is a cop’s cop. She gets called in to help on the worst murder cases. Paul Falcon is the FBI’s top murder cop in the Midwest. Their cases intertwine and something happens. To watch the book trailer, visit FullDisclosureNovel.com. [ Bethany House ]

The author of The Hole in our Gospel returns with Unfinished: Believing is Only the Beginning. The author calls Christians “living in a ‘magic kingdom’ to remember those living in ‘tragic kingdoms’ and references our lives like a line of spiritual dominos. [ Thomas Nelson ]

ANSWERING THE CALL KEN GIRE REAL LIFE JAMES CHOUNG

In True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In, Choung took a napkin-sized sketch to help believers share a more holistic gospel.

With Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out, he expounds on a simple diagram of discipleship. [ InterVarsity Press ]

This book celebrates the life of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, who is called “The Doctor Who Made Africa His Life.” He pursued the God-given call to treat all life as sacred, especially in those places on the fringe – in Africa. Author Ken Gire wanted to give today’s generation a look into the man who continues to impact the world today – 100 years after his work. [ Woodsley Press ]

JUDGE R.J. LARSON STARFLOWER ANNE ELISABETH STENGL

Stengl’s unique inspirational fantasy series Tales of Goldstone Wood continues when a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps fairest Lady Gleamdren.

The Bard Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission. The last thing this immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal. [ Bethany House ]

The main character in this book (Kien Lantec) is a military judge-in-training and the last thing he expects on his first day of military leave are marching orders from his Creator to warn the people of ToronSea against turning their backs on the Infinite to worship a new goddess.

Written to give the reader empathy and insight into the lives of Old Testament prophets. [ Insight Editions ]

THE LAMB’S AGENDA SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ JESUS IS ______.

JUDAH SMITH

Pastor Judah Smith is best friends with Masters champion Bubba Watson and skateboards with Justin Bieber. He’s a pastor that defies stereotypes.

Three years ago his church launched a “Jesus Is ____” sermon series to get Jesus on the mind of the city of Seattle. The dialog was revealing ... and inspired a book. [ Thomas Nelson ]

THE ESSENTIAL SUPERNATURAL NICHOLAS KNIGHT

This large gift book is the “Ultimate Visual Guide for the critically acclaimed TV series.” Subtitled On the Road with Sam and Dean Winchester, this licensed book gives unparalleled acces to the series with 192 pages of in-depth insight into the show’s mythology, creatures and characters. [ Insight Editions ]

Subtitled: Why Jesus is Calling You to a Life of Righteousness and Justice, author Samuel Rodriguez (the leading spokesperson for Hispanic Evangelicals) offers a blueprint for Christian rejuvenation, a prophetic call to orient our lives at the nexus of the cross. [ Thomas Nelson ]

THE BREATH OF DAWN KRISTEN HEITZMANN

Four years ago Quinn Reilly’s brave testimony helped put a dangerous man behind bars. She has lived in fear and seculsion ever since. Now that man is getting out, just as Quinn has overcome those years of isolation and started to care for little Livie Spencer and her widowed father, Morgan.

When she starts to receive threats, Quinn’s worst fears are realized. [ Bethany House ]

GADGETS 39

LIFEstyle THE THOMPSON TEE We gave one of these a real test – by wearing it under the grueling conditions of working for UPS during the Christmas season. The reinforced armpits are unusual, but does the job of blocking underarm sweat (using its Hydro-ShieldTM barrier layers. [ thompsontee.com] DV [Setup Ease: A+ | Performance: A | Price: $19 ]

CLEARSOUNDS SMARTSOUND EARBUDS These over-the-ear buds stand out with their innovative “reverse sound” technology that doesn’t funnel db’s into your ear canal like a fire hydrant. No, these acoustic chambers have the speakers faced away, so when the tunes come into your ear, they’re mixed with a slight delay that rocks the sound with a spatial and surround effect. While they don’t fit or plug into your ear, they perform well. [clearsounds.com] [Setup Ease: A+ | Performance: A- | Price: $49 ]

gadgets SCOTTEVEST FLEECE 7.0 This fleece jacket passes the most important test first – it looks cool. Then it ups the cool factor by including so many trick hiding places, like the inside viewable smartphone pocket, a place around the neck to thread your headphones, the water bottle hold-in-place strap, myriads of other hidden compartments and an extandable key holder. There’s only three words left to say: Bond. James Bond. [jbl.com] DV [ Setup Ease: A+ | Performance: A+ | Price: $160 ]

PHORUS PLAY-FI SPEAKER Now you Android users can stop complaining about the iPhones getting all the cool add-on gadgets. While Android smartphones are not as “intuitive” (i.e. “user friendly”) as those other Apple devices, they do offer the basic smart necessities. While this beast had crude inadequate setup instructions, it is possible to get this speaker jamming in less than an hour. I like the either/or capability of Bluetooth and wireless network (Wi-Fi) access.

And the oh-so-important volume factor performs well, too. [phorus.com] DV [Setup Ease: D | Performance: B+ | Price: $199 ]

40 G E A R

LIFEstyle

gear

LOXX STRAP LOCK SYSTEM LOXX is a uniquely designed German engineered and manufactured strap lock system. LOXX’s combination of sleek, low-profile looks, outstanding instrument protection, and ability to cover a broad range of strap sizes and thicknesses makes it the most advanced and effective strap lock design available. [ loxxusa.com ]

PORK PIE ROUND DRUM THRONE Until you’ve sat on a Pork Pie Round Drum Throne, you haven’t known true comfort. The Pork Pie’s padded, comfortable seat is made to support large drummers. Double-braced legs keep the stool steady. [ porkpiedrums.com ]

HM Magazine Podcast Episode #25 2011

podcast.hmmag.com

THE HM M MAGAZINE M AZINE PODCAST T IS ALWAYS FREE

PODCASTHMMAG COM PODCAST.HMMAG.COM

LINE6 HDPOD500 Line6 has upped its game with tone modeling. Colorful clean tones that sparkle and sing with dizzying levels of detail. Dial back your guitar volume to get sweet-spot breakup from warm, earthy crunch tones. Line 6 HD amp models feel, behave and sound like no others.

They contain up to 10 times more amplifier DNA than our previous modeling for a playing experience that can only be described as HD. [ line6.com ]

MIXED IN KEY Mixed In Key has just released new software that analyzes your music library and provides unique “danceability” ratings for each song.

Mixed In Key has long been the industry standard DJ software, but this makes it even easier for aspiring DJs. The Danceability capability, which is completely independent of tempo, makes it easy to sort your entire music collection into low, medium and high-energy tracks. [ mixedinkey.com ]

More

DVDS & FILM

LIFEstyle

41

film THE LOST MEDALLION: THE ADVENTURES OF BILLY STONE One of the funniest karate fight scenes ever shows up here – it’s akin to Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid making squawking chicken noises and sticking his tongue out like fart noises at his youthful enemies just prior to knocking them out with spin kicks. The movie is a tale within a tale – a fantasy about ancient civilizations, yet centered around young love, friendship and the quest for power. [ Methinx Entertainment ]

COSMOPOLIS Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) heads out on a crazy, cataclysmic day and it implodes on him. Apparently, he’s not all that. The world he encounters is not tame, thus the deserved R-rating. [ e-one ]

COPPER Copper is BBC America’s first original scripted series. It’s set in 1860s New York City. The 10-part drama centers on Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones, MI-5), an intense, rugged Irish-American cop working the city’s notorious Five Points neighborhood. Corcoran is struggling to maintain his moral compass in a turbulent world, while on an emotional and relentless quest to learn the truth about the disappearance of his wife and the death of his daughter. His friendship with two Civil War compatriots – the wayward son of a wealthy industrialist and an African American physician who secretly assists Corcoran with his detective work – takes him to the contrasting worlds of elegant Fifth Avenue and an emerging African-American community in rural northern Manhattan. The three men share a secret from their experience on the battlefield that inextricably links their lives forever. [ BBC ]

KILLER JOE Man is depraved and this dark/black comedy thriller unashamedly delves into this depravity and makes a shocking impression. Matthew McConaughey’s Killer Joe character conveniently works for the Dallas Police, sometimes investigating the murders he performs with his side job as a hit man. There’s a scene where a makeshift family knit together by betrayal and murder says grace before a meal, affirming it “in the name of our Savior, which is Jesus,” which offers the starkest contrast between insanity and inner peace. This movie is crazy. [ Lionsgate ] [ Cuss: 50+ | Gore: 4 | Sex: 10+ | Spiritual Conversations: 70 ]

2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA This documentary on Obama caused quite a stir prior to the election. It makes a strong case by constructing an anti-imperialist/anti-colonial mindset by the president.

Unlike an Alex Jones documentary, it’s less sensational and thus believable. Now that he’s been elected for a second term, perhaps leftists will watch it objectively to see if there’s any merit to the claims (but don’t hold your breath). [ Lionsgate ] lence & how tuitous sex, vio e. s w/cussing, gra er viewing it with someon ne sce of er = numb on” aft itual conversati KEY to Ratings pir “s a rt sta be to easy it would

42 C O LU M N S

WITH KEMPER CRABB Concerning “Jesus is My Girlfriend” Songs: Observations on the Imbalances of Today’s Worship: A Christmas Excursus I interrupt this series at the behest of one of HM’s editors, who has requested that the articles for this issue be concerned with Christmas thematically, and that those articles not be too “cheesy.” The request that cheesiness be eschewed in association with the Christmas articles, is in itself a recognition of the pervasiveness of the same problem which has generated a proliferance of “Jesus is my girlfriend” songs, that problem being the current exaltation of subjective experience and emotion over objective truth and ethics (not to mention, of course, that our editor is right to make his request in light of the fact that Americans consume way too much cheese, in terms of foodstuff as well as in other areas across the spectrum of our lives).

As always, I do recognize that experiential and emotional aspects of existence are necessary and vital for a balanced Christian life. However, if those aspects are allowed to eclipse or negatively affect the other vital aspects of life (objective truth, ethical behavior, etc.), the resultant imbalance produces a distorted cultural situation very similar to, well, the one in which we are all currently living. Readers of this column have seen (and will, Lord willing, continue to see in future articles) the effect of this imbalance on Evangelical worship and its attendant music, but today we’ll look at its impact on our observance of Christmas.

This is, in some ways, easier for me to see than most Evangelicals because, as an Anglican (née Episcopal) Evangelical, I observe the Church’s historic calendar, which ramps up to the celebration of Christmas by a prior observance of a seasonal period of fasting and self-examination called Advent (though, happily, increasing numbers of nonAnglican Evangelical congregations have begun to observe Advent of late).

By way of illustration, let me tell about something that happened to me back in Advent of 1995. I overheard a (non-Anglican) friend of mine mocking my own Advent fast as legalistic and unnecessary.

My friend didn’t realize that I was standing behind him when he made his disparaging remarks, but the wide eyes of the people he was talking to alerted him to my presence there. When he (sheepishly) turned around to face me, I just quoted Mark 2: 19-20 to him, which says: And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the

bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

I then asked him if he was really a friend of the Bridegroom and, if so, when the last time was that he had fasted. Also, I later reminded him that Advent fasting (which is not always a food fast) was entirely voluntary, an ecclesiastical aid to the selfexamination and repentance required by God as an ongoing act for believers in Christ.

Now, aside from the confusion between once-forall justification and ongoing sanctification exhibited by my friend, his perspective concerning Advent was rooted in the modern Evangelical attitude of gauging the value of things of the Faith by their experiential and emotional impact upon the believer. Unquestionably, the overwhelming emotional affect of the Christmas celebration of the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus, the Foundation of our salvation, is massive, especially when surrounded by the centuries of accompanying seasonal familial traditions enacted during the season. Christmas is unarguably a time of hope, of joy and of positive affirmation of our worth in the sight of God. This is precisely the reason why Christmas needs an Advent season (just as Easter needs a Lent), a period of concentrated and sustained repentant self-examination to remind us of just why it is that Christmas (and Easter) were necessary in the first place, and to call us both attitudinally and actionally back to what we should be and do: A reality-check on our own spiritual conditions.

And that, of course, is the rub. Strenuous and prolonged examination of our individual spiritual states generally does not (at least initially) leave individuals in an exalted emotional state, but rather with sorrow over their failures, and with resolve to submit themselves to God’s Will and see their lives sanctified by His Power. Although this ethical examination and resolve do engage the emotions, those emotions engaged are not ones which leave a person feeling ecstatic or good, and thus are decidedly not the emotions most Evangelicals seek.

Much easier to simply omit such an exercise (and season), and expand the feel-good festivity outward to, oh, say, the day after Thanksgiving.

We Evangelicals are so focused on the pursuit of good feelings that we sometimes strive to obliterate the reality that, while we are redeemed in Christ, we are still sinners in need of constant repentance and grace. Do we not, as individuals Continued opposite page

C O LU M N S 43

Guest editorial by Chad Johnson

Trusting God VS. fearing man.

“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”

–Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man lays a snare... There are two sorts, types, kinds of fear that every believer faces. The first is fear of what man thinks, what man might do, or whether man’s approval is in order. Second is a more general fear and bright host to the dark path of destruction.

This fear is what I would describe as “anti-promise,” meaning that whatever God has said (promised) fear is doing its best to keep us far from. If God says He loves you, fear would tell you He doesn’t. God says He would provide according to His riches, fear says He won’t.

God says according to the stripes of His Son you were healed, fear screams, “never!” Neither of these fears find their roots in love.

John Wesley wrote: “...a snare is an occasion of many sins.” Once hooked on fear, detox is brutal. Jesus crucified death so we might live fear-free. ...but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Whoever. The Gospel is not an exclusive cult of elitist worshipers. The Good News holds arms-wide to receive the wayward, stranded, abused and hurting; a Father welcoming home His long-lost son. If you don’t know Jesus, get to! He knows you, and well. Trusting God stands diametrically opposed to fearing man. The two cannot go hand in hand. One will lose and one will gain. Enemy, life and flesh are hungry to steal the simplicity of trusting God. Trusting in the Lord is the only place to be truly safe. Many of life’s distractions promise a pseudo safety, but they lie, steal and cheat. Don’t fall for their traps. Run to the Lord’s open arms, flinging the fear of man from your shoulders to His. He longs to crush your burdens and release you from them.

Prayer: Father! I wrestle (most days, if I’m honest) with fear, in general and the fear of man. I come to you, humble and broken, in desperate need of help. Holy Spirit, You are the Helper. As I give God my fears, would You help remind me of God’s promises and His heart toward me? Draw me into truth, keep lies far from me.

Fear, go!

+ Come&Live!

P.O. Box 50967 Nashville, TN. 37205 e: chad@comeandlive.com web: www.comeandlive.com

The Christian & Art | Cont’d and the Church corporate, live in a society where there’s a 50% divorce rate, where alcoholism and drug use have skyrocketed, where sex trafficking proliferates, where 4000 children are murdered every single day, and where the clear majority of Americans do not know Christ as Savior and Lord, and yet most Evangelicals vote their economic well-being rather than the tenets of Scripture, and seek personal experiences rather than evangelizing, advancing the Kingdom, or even praying?

We live in a culture under judgment, and we have met the enemy, and he is, regrettably, us. The self-fixated, emotionally-addicted Church could profitably use a time of repentant self-examination and fasting from our all-important pleasures.

Christmas is coming. God has mercifully given us time to prepare by repentance for the great feast of the Incarnation to come. Let us prepare to keep the feast. Hope that wasn’t too cheesy. Merry Christmas.

[kemperercrabb.net]

g_editorial

guest editorial, God editorial | mike reynolds, guitarist, For Today

44 C O LU M N S

Devotions with Greg Tucker Words that hunger for definition: Faith – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Faith IS substance, it has matter to it and it causes invisible things to be seen. It casts a shadow of the invisible God. Faith is a doing produced by an internal conviction of a truth.

The antithesis of faith is not works, but simply a wrong definition of faith.

Works are not a requirement for salvation, faith in Christ alone will guarantee salvation. However, true faith that guarantees salvation IS NOT ever found without the accompaniment of works.

They are always found together.

“You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.” (Matthew 7:16-20) Now this recognition is for the sake of the body. If Jesus did not intend for us to discern between who is and who is not authentic, then He would not have told us that we would recognize them by their fruit.

Jesus says clearly, if they are doing sinner things it is because they are sinners. If their confession of Christ and good fruit are apparent then we know that they are good. Very black and white: Sinners sin, righteous folks do righteousness.

Many believers consider themselves sinners, so be it, but I however am washed by the blood of Jesus, I was a sinner and He changed me. I am not a sinner anymore, nor anyone who has trusted in Jesus.

You will recognize them and when you recognize them what are you to do? Guard your heart with diligence and do not permit the false thing to redefine true faith. Anytime faith is mixed with its antithesis the result is synthesis. Synthetic faith.

Do not permit the false thing into your spirit as Jesus said, “be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Luke 12:1) They were doing some of the right activities in the broad eye of the public, but with a closer look we see they were not true believers in private.

They did not recognize Jesus when He came, because they did not know Him by true faith.

True faith is seen by observing what we are and what we are about. This true faith in not merely “in the heart” and no where else to be found.

This true faith is in equal proportion to the life being lived presently. The life a man lives is connected directly to what a man believes. They cannot be separated.

A few verses later Jesus says, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25) Not only does this hint that the storm IS coming, but that the man who hears and acts on Jesus’ words is the man who will not be shaken.

Similarly Jesus says, “But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed.

And its collapse was great!” (Matthew 7:26-27) Believing then must be established as an internal conviction always followed by actions proportionate to that faith.

James also says it this way, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.”

(James 2:14-18) Faith without works is dead, there is no evidence or demonstration of living faith without works, it is worthless. A good way to say this is that faith without works is not true faith that can save. We must demonstrate to the world faith that can save or it is worthless. True faith reaches God and by touching God no man can remain lazy.

If our faith cannot save us from the temporary symptoms of sin then what good would we expect it to accomplish in eternity? If our faith is such that it does not affect permanently our temporary surroundings then we can be assured that it has not changed out eternity.

“You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder. Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected.

So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”

(James 2:19-26) The whole man is whole with body and spirit, without one or the other he is incomplete, likewise faith without works is incomplete.

“Now without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) “Everything that is not from faith is sin.”

(Romans 14:23) Without the single motive of pleasing God by trusting Him all works are worthless(Isaiah 64:6), the goal is never works, the goal is Gods pleasure and glory. When the motive shifts from us and becomes centered on Him then it is impossible for works not to follow. Again, works are not the goal, but the evidence of true faith.

This also reveals to us that actions without this motive to please God are not just works that go unaccounted for, but they are counted as sin against God. It is a sin against God to think that by our activity we could earn something with Him or somehow please Him apart from the blood of His Son and His resurrection life.

Thanks for reading.

In the next article I will cover how faith is a gift from God and that no human being can initiate faith.

[All scripture was taken from the HCSB is not otherwise noted]

C O LU M N S 45

VOL . 14 – HAPPY CHRISTM AS

Ah, Christmas – One of two major holidays in Christendom, it splits significance with Easter as the precursor to the ultimate act of redemption; the prequel to the ultimate Gospel news.

But Christmas distinguishes itself as the more prominent. It envelopes all of December, even stretching into November – setting the days immediate post-Halloween as the tipping point into a dominoes’ tumble toward the ultimate day of gift expression. It has the widest color scheme, the broadest appeal and most attention given and the largest media output devoted to its themes, Christian and secular. And what keeps the Christmas season so widespread? A cynic could argue consumerism; an idealist could argue the universal themes of love, family and giving; but a music lover could vote for great songs with enough variety to keep all-Christmas-music-December radio from going stale for at least the 12-days of Christmas.

I was inside a mall around Christmas time. I tend to avoid malls in general, and more so leading up to Christmas. However, as a developing youth and before getting my license, Saturday familytime consisted of visiting different malls within a 40-mile radius of our home in rural Michigan. My mom and sisters would shop; my dad and I would languish in the food court, find an arcade, or talk sports on those convenient benches facing fountains outside of the large department stores as we whittled away the time until it was time to return to doing equally nothing at home.

On one such occasion I was in a certain store that prides itself on punk concepts by selling Goth clothing to mostly overweight teenagers. While searching through the extra-large leftovers of the clearance rack for an acceptable band I listened to (or a credible band that I wanted to pretend I listened to), I heard a familiar sound over the overhead radio: “I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus … underneath the mistletoe last night”. My ears instantly perked up; it was a familiar ploy – take a popular song, destroy the tempo and add power chords … this has led to numerous compilations, ironic covers to please crowds at concerts and even a gold record for the Ataris. This was Fanmail’s cover of the classic kiddy-Christmas tune from the BEC compilation, Happy Christmas.

Fanmail had used this same formula to success on their aptly titled debut EP, Here Comes Fanmail (“Every Breath You Take” the Police) and to shocking embarrassment on their final release (the painful “I Want it That Way” from The Backstreet Boys).

Besides the twinge of validation at hearing a band from my own subculture inside a wordly establishment, Happy Christmas (volumes 1 and 2) is a great collection of alternative carol classics and equally stand-outish originals ripe for the Yuletide holiday.

Here are some personal favorites:

“Christmas Day” (MxPx) An original, synth-led blast of punk rock that actually stands as a favorite of the band’s entire discograpy.

MxPx has a long standing tradition of releasing a Christmas song every year to their fanclub, which they recently compiled into the 14-track Punk Rawk Christmas in 2009. This may be the best of the collection as it’s also so simple at summing up the holiday spirit: “A little goes a long way on Christmas Day.” “Winter Wonderland” (Joy Electric) If there was ever a band that was destined to sound like Christmas, it’d be the bright and twinkling electronica of Joy Electric. Between the two compilations we have the classic “Winter Wonderland” as well as the original “Lollipop Parade.” Joy E also released The Magic of Christmas in 1996, featuring these and 8 more holiday tracks, and it actually sounds like what real North Pole elves would probably listen to.

“I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day” (All Star United)... And why can’t it? Probably because our economy would implode at the thought of eternal holiday combined with daily gift giving, or be forced to simultaneously acknowledge Christmas while forcing the commerce sector to work. Eventually, Christmas would be devalued to the point of just another calendar day, below even that of the weekend. We would lose Christmas altogether. It would better to bring the celebration of Christmas into our hearts on a daily basis, as The Huntington’s got down with “It’s Always Christmas at My House.” Much better than my roommate’s version: they threw a Halloween party, complete with orange string lights, a fog machine, and multiple skeletons aligning the walls. Then they left those decorations up through Thanksgiving and counting. Nothing says count your blessings like a plastic skeleton grabbing his crotch over the mantle. Trees and wreaths might get tiresome in the summer months, but who doesn’t light string lights year round? Especially the white classy ones.

“You Gotta Get Up (It’s Christmas Morning)” (Five Iron Frenzy).

It might be safe to say the original by Rich Mullens is only a classic in my own childhood house. Here, the playful nature of the original carries over into the bouncy ska rendition, although its single greatest quality might be recalling Mullens’ initial sincerity.

Hopefully, Christmas songs bring back warm memories of past holidays, as these compilations do every time. So Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

46 C O LU M N S

Guest editorial by Matt Barber A prayer for Sandy Hook In light of today’s horrific developments in Newtown, Conn. – developments so sorrowful that no words will do. I offer, instead, the only words I can at this inexpressibly mournful time: A simple prayer. ~ Matt Barber Please come, Lord Jesus.

Come, King Jesus.

Come soon I pray.

Yet, even still come now, Holy Spirit, until such time.

We need you.

As the banked fish gasps for that which, without, she will surely die, so too do we gasp for living water-fused crimson that flows freely from Life’s pierced side.

The people of Sandy Hook assuredly cannot endure without your supernatural grace.

Give them grace and comfort pressed down and running over.

There are things so wicked we cannot bear.

There are things manifestly beyond our understanding. Things of which, and perhaps for our own sake, You have kept from our grasp.

Such a thing is this.

We cry out, Abba, Father!

Torrents we weep for the families of Sandy Hook.

Our souls groan for the people of Sandy Hook.

Our spirits are broken for the babes of Sandy Hook.

Hold them close, dear Alpha and Omega – the great I Am. Comfort them.

Love them.

You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through You. Show this to all who are alive in flesh but dead in spirit.

Show them Life in death and that Life is You. Reveal Truth and Life in the Spirit despite death in the flesh.

You are the Way. Pull near to your bosom forever the precious slain of Sandy Hook.

Let our lips say, “Oh, death, where is your sting?” – even until our hearts believe it.

There is no hope save You, oh Christ, and, save us, can You alone.

Evil triumphs, so it seems, sovereign Lord.

Do they mock You? So they try.

But You won’t be mocked.

Let us rest assured that vengeance is Yours, Christ Jesus.

He has not escaped Your justice.

The enemy of the world will not escape your justice.

But for Your bounty of blood, who can escape your justice?

Yet, for those who believe, Satan’s ransom is paid in full.

Let us, even now, hear the laughter of our beloved Sandy Hook babes – hidden most high – while, at length, they play together, joyfully, at your nailpierced feet.

Thank you, Jesus!

Thank You, Jesus, for John 1:1, which proclaims, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Thank You that the Word is with the bereaved of Sandy Hook.

Thank You, Jesus, for Matthew 11:28-30, which summons, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Oh, Christ, give rest to the most weary and burdened of Sandy Hook.

Thank You, Jesus, for Matthew 5:4, which vows, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Only You can comfort those beyond worldly comfort.

Comfort them, King Jesus, we plead.

We wait upon you, Lord Jesus.

We remain still.

Until You return, King Jesus.

And You will.

Oh, and how You will.

It is in Jesus’ name; the name of all names – the name at which demons shudder and both saints and angels rejoice – that I pray.

Amen.

Darkness consumed this man, and so he did the liar’s bidding – Satan’s work.

Cowards.

Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action.

(This information is provided for identification purposes only.)

INDIE REVIEWS

47

Heaven's Metal T $11

http://www.hmmagazine.com/2011/02/worship-at-eleven/

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Biogenesis #95 : INNER SIEGE | DEMONICIDUTH AT DIKAION FEST

50 TABLE OF CONTENTS

®

NOTE FROM THE NEW MANAGING EDITOR | CHRIS GATTO Greetings Headbangers, As we come into the season where we celebrate our Lord's birth on Earth as an infant some 2,000 years ago, remember that Christmas is about giving, not about receiving, as the world would have you believe. It is the perfect time to share God's love with your fellow man. Theocracy's new 10-minute Christmas song and the beloved Brutal Christmas – The Season in Chaos compilation from the long defunct Sounds of the Dead Records label will get you in the proper spirit.

This month we are happy to bring you some face time with Chaz Bonds' other band – BioGenesis; brand new power metal from InnerSiege, and an international report on the Dikaion Fest in Ecuador from Demoniciduth frontman Tanaak.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Chris Gatto, Managing Editor

®

HEAVEN'S METAL FANZINE JANUARY 2013 [#95]

THE METALLIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS Biogenesis #95 : INNER SIEGE | DEMONICIDUTH AT DIKAION FEST

49 THE COVER Thanks to Adam at Soundmass, we were able to get some nice 51

LIVE MUSIC REPORT

Dikaion Fest

color photos of our returning metal heroes in Biogenesis. Here's the alternate.

51 DEMONICIDUTH Taanak from Demoniciduth gives us a report of the intense

Hello, Heaven's Metal readers!

I'm back from Ecuador, where Demoniciduth played the Dikaion Fest, while visiting my wife's family (she's Ecuadorian). I have included some pics for you to see. First day of the fest was focused on Bible teachings from different band members, including myself.

I focused on Israel, the Middle East conflict and its connection with Christ's return. Then, the second day was the concert. Many impressive bands. I was totally amazed by the quality of Punto Fossil, a metalcore band with a young girl screaming. Most of the other bands were playing heavy/progressive metal. Then, came Python, brutal grindcore & Golgota, the most ancient unblack metal band from Ecuador. Demoniciduth was next, with Golgota's Lord Ekklektus on guitars, Krino on drums and myself on bass/ vocals. It was a collaboration, because my former members have left the band. It was great! I introduced each song with a short biblical explanation, focusing again on the theme of the last CD. Soon after, I watched the events in the Middle East & thought that what I preached should hopefully have a double impact!

Dikaion festival with his band, Punto Fossil, Python (what a killer band name!),

God bless, Taanak/Demoniciduth Demoniciduth (demoniciduthofficial@gmail.com) is an unblack metal band from Switzerland.

Golgota and lots of teaching. I wish we all could've been there.

Biog Biogenesis

52 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L

BACK IN THE LATE 1990'S ROWE PRODUCTIONS NS WAS MAKING A NAME FOR ITSELF IN UNDERGROUND HEAVY METAL, AL, HELPING BREAK BANDS ATUM AND MANY OTHERS. OTHERS LIKE ANTESTOR, EXTOL, METANOIA, ULTIMATUM BIOGENESIS WERE ANOTHER BAND RELEASED ON ROWE BACK IN A TIME WHEN HEAVY METAL WAS CONSIDERED A DIRTY WORD. UNLIKE MANY OF THE OTHER BANDS MENTIONED, HOWEVER, BIOGENESIS DIDN'T GO ON TO RELEASE ANY MORE ALBUMS AFTER THEIR ROWE PRODUCTIONS DEBUT ...

UNTIL NOW. READ ON AS CHAZ DISCUSSES THE HISTORY OF THE BAND AND THE REASONS FOR THE LONG WAIT FOR THEIR SOPHOMORE ALBUM. Give us a bit of background on Biogenesis. When were you formed and what is the current line-up?

I formed the band between 1996 and 1997. I had a vision to form an innovative band that would combine the best elements of styles that are almost nothing alike in their own right. I wanted the best of melodic metal and emotion-filled ballads mixed with the power and aggression of thrash and death metal, layered with the best of some of the more modern groove-laden styles of metal. Today, original members Nevin Cline, Randy Walton and myself have returned for what we see as a comeback. However, we recently parted ways with long-time guitarist James Riggs. We now have a new guitarist named Darin Moore.

Bio’s first album, The Mark Bleeds Through, was released in 2001. It’s been over ten years between Bio releases. What went on with Biogenesis in that long silent period?

Man I tell you what, I could literally write a book based on this question alone. Where to start is the real question here. Following the release of our debut, we were quickly emerging as one of the hotter topics in the scene and many were predicting bigger things for us in the future. After we returned home from a successful tour with Mortification, things began to slowly unravel. To be honest, there was division within the band and, to me, that was truly the beginning of the end, so to speak. It was, “this guy is going through a divorce" or "this guy struggles with this or that and we need to replace him.”

We began to shuffle members around for the wrong reasons and, quite frankly, it was never the same again until now. In spite of that, however, we began writing for a follow-up to our debut and there was a great buzz and anticipation among our new fan base. During the writing process we met up with people who were offering to help us to reach the next level. The first step was to get on to a bigger label. At one point we even considered relocation. We were granted a release

from Rowe Productions in order to pursue what we thought would grow our name as well as our fanbase. To make a very long story short, everything that we thought we were about to gain just began to crumble. The result was that we were left without the support of a label and no financial backing of any kind. In addition to all of that, we made several attempts to record our second album and each time we would only get the drum tracks recorded or we would get through the first track and something would happen that would prevent that album from ever getting done. It was beyond frustrating. It really seemed like there were outside forces doing anything they could to keep that record from ever seeing the light of day. Sometimes it was our fault and sometimes not, but the result was always the same. While all of this is going on our fans were getting tired of waiting and the buzz began to die out as months turned to years without a second album.

In 2005 long-time Guitarist James Riggs and I had a huge falling out.

It has been well publicized in the past, so I see no reason to go into details now. All I will say is that a life-long friendship was over and I immediately made the decision to end Bio. I felt at the time that James was such a huge part of our image and sound that it wouldn’t be Bio with a different guitarist. About two years went by without me even speaking to James until I had learned that his wife had passed away due to a drug overdose. James began to work on turning his life around and was also working hard to regain the friendship that we had lost. Over time I forgave him and moved past what had happened. At that point I saw no future for Bio and looking back on all the potential that we had just really bothered me – and still does, to be honest. It makes you wonder what would have happened if things would have gone as planned and we were able to put out a killer sophomore album while the buzz was still hot. Finally, in 2009 James and our drummer Nevin basically talked me into doing a reunion. At first I was

52 BIOGENESIS Scott Waters catches us up with a band that shook its fist at the world over a decade ago and has then been somewhat silent (save for the singer's time with his other band, Jacobs Dream. Get all the info here.

56 INNER SIEGE Chris Gatto introduces us to a powerful new melodic power 56 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L

metal band with a great interview..

58 ALBUM REVIEWS More than one.

BY CHRIS GATTO

WE AT HEAVEN'S METAL STRIVE TO KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE ON ALL YOUR FAVORITE HEAVY BANDS PAST AND PRESENT, WHILST EVER KEEPING AN EYE TO THE FUTURE. ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF BEING A ROCK JOURNALIST (IS) TO TURN METALHEADS ON TO NEW BANDS. WITH THAT IN MIND, LET ME INTRODUCE INNERSIEGE TO ALL YOU TRUE METAL PURISTS. DESPITE THEIR EURO POWER METAL INFLUENCE, THIS BAND IS AMERICAN THROUGH AND THROUGH, COMING TO US FROM PEORIA, ILLINOIS. THEIR DEBUT KINGDOM OF SHADOWS WILL BE RELEASED EARLY DECEMBER ON ROXX PRODUCTIONS. SPEAKING WITH US IS VOCALIST JEREMY RAY...

Hi Jeremy. How are you doing? First off: Is it InnerSiege or Inner Siege?

Hey Chris. Doing fine. One word – Capital "I" and Capitol "S." Can you give us a quick rundown of Inner Siege's band history?

InnerSiege was formed in 2009. We wanted to form a power metal band in the vein of (the) metal so prevalent in Europe. For all of us, we found very little interest in the U.S. mainstream modern metal scene throughout the '90s and into the 2000's.

Slowly, we all began to discover bands such as FireWind, Dream Evil, Primal Fear, HammerFall, etc., and they began to influence us musically. Another big influence was the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, GA that's held every year. Members of InnerSiege have attended the festival for many years, so we not only have listened to the genre, but have experienced it live in a festival atmosphere and have discovered many amazing bands. We all just love the music and the passion of the fans. That was the beginning inspiration of wanting to do something different with InnerSiege.

58 A L B U M R E V I E W S

ALBUM REVIEWS DISCIPLE O GOD SAVE US ALL Singer Kevin Young is quickly closing in on 20 years of metal ministry as Disciple. Gone are any nu metal trappings, as well as former band members Tim and Brad, but his younger band has found a cohesive sound and yet still sounds like Disciple.

The album hits hard with heavy rockers like "Outlaws," the title track, "Unstoppable," the punk guitar-fueled "The One" and "Kings," which brings to mind Rob Zombie, tempered by the trio of songs "Once and For All," "Someday" and "Draw the Line," which sound like they were made for rock radio. (As an aside, why do all Christian radio stations play whiny pop music and adult CCM? As Twisted Sister used to say, "I wanna rock!") Hard to classify, much like their peers Project 86, yet O God Save Us All shows a band that is biblically based and ready to bring the rock.

Recommended. [Fair Trade] Chris Gatto

MALCHUS / POSPOLITE RUSZENIE CAPUT MUNDI / SWIEBODNOSC This full-length split is comprised of 7 songs from up-and-comers Malchus and 3 from newcomers Pospolite Ruszenie, adding a significant addition to the folk metal repertoire – and 2 thoroughly different takes on it as well. Malchus take their heavy, gothic-tinged form of extreme metal and add just a touch of folk in the melodies and song structures.

For them, folk is an influence, not a defining characteristic. They have gotten heavier, too, since we last heard from them on Didymos.

Pospolite Rusznenie, on the other hand, take a handful of Eastern European folk sounds (both bands are from Poland) and a handful of heavy metallic rock and combine them in equal measure. Does it work? Let me just say I dare you to put this disc on and not dance around the house like medieval minstrel-cumwarrior! [Nocturnal Mass] Loyd Harp

TED KIRKPATRICK EDGAR ALLAN POE: SPOKEN TALES OF A TORTURED GENIUS Once upon a midnight dreary Tourniquet madman Ted Kirkpatrick pondered how he could share his love for the writings of Edgar Allan Poe with the world. Readers may recall that Tourniquet performed "The Telltale Heart" on Crawl to China, but this was not to be a band project, or even necessarily metal (although what's not metal about Edgar Allan Poe's scary tales?) So Ted gathered seven vocalists from near and far (Eric Wagner, Les Carlsen, Luke Easter, Jamie Rowe, Rob Beckley, Warrel Dane, and Frank Marino) for a spoken word album of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works. Think of it as a book on CD, with minimal instrumentation. Hearing the different voices and different instrumental approaches is really cool, but Les Carlsen and Warrel Dane's performances really shine through as over the top. Nicely fleshed out. Available from the tourniquet.net shop.

[Pathogenic] Chris Gatto

Surf this: fairtradeservices.com, tourniquet.net, nocturanalmass.com, roxxproductions.com

ULTIMATUM HEART OF METAL 20 YEARS OF ULTIMATUM Usually when you throw a birthday party all your friends bring you presents, but for this package, the fans get all the gifts. There is a single disc available by this title. It contains a best of Ultimatum with new artwork, songs from each album, new tracks, and newly remixed tracks for a whopping 18-track beatdown by the thrash metal juggernaut.

Now, if you purchased the limited run of 100 boxed sets (and I'm guessing they are GONE), you also received the Roxx reissue of Puppet of Destruction, Before the Pit – a lengthy disc of outtakes, demos and alternative cuts from the Into the Pit recordings, a live DVD including the Extreme Mardigras show from 2002, the Up From the Ashes 3 show from 2010, and other footage innumerable. Also included are a sticker of the new Heart of Metal artwork, patch (for your denim), signed guitar pick, autographed band pictures and other goodies, all packaged in a keepsake black box with silver writing, hand numbered 1- 100. The killer boxed set party favor may be gone, but if you are an Ult fan, you can still pick up the 20 Years single disc or a t-shirt at roxxproductions.com and celebrate 20 years of metal with the band. [Roxx] Chris Gatto

Heaven's Metal Editorial Team: Chris Beck, Keven Crothers, Chris Gatto, Mark Blair Glunt, Loyd Harp, Johannes Jonsson, Mike Larson, Jeff McCormack, Steve Rowe, Jonathan Swank, Doug Van Pelt, Todd Walker, Scott Waters myspace.com/heavensmetalmagazine 1-year subscriptions (12 issues): $12 (Everywhere, man) Advertising Info: editor@hmmag.com | 512.989.7309 Editorial Info: metal7@ptd.net or chris@hmmag.com POB 4626, Lago Vista TX 78645 Copyright © 2013 Heaven’s MetalTM. All rights reserved.

51

LIVE MUSIC REPORT

Dikaion Fest

Hello, Heaven's Metal readers!

I'm back from Ecuador, where Demoniciduth played the Dikaion Fest, while visiting my wife's family (she's Ecuadorian). I have included some pics for you to see. First day of the fest was focused on Bible teachings from different band members, including myself.

I focused on Israel, the Middle East conflict and its connection with Christ's return. Then, the second day was the concert. Many impressive bands. I was totally amazed by the quality of Punto Fossil, a metalcore band with a young girl screaming. Most of the other bands were playing heavy/progressive metal. Then, came Python, brutal grindcore & Golgota, the most ancient unblack metal band from Ecuador. Demoniciduth was next, with Golgota's Lord Ekklektus on guitars, Krino on drums and myself on bass/ vocals. It was a collaboration, because my former members have left the band. It was great! I introduced each song with a short biblical explanation, focusing again on the theme of the last CD. Soon after, I watched the events in the Middle East & thought that what I preached should hopefully have a double impact!

God bless, Taanak/Demoniciduth Demoniciduth (demoniciduthofficial@gmail.com) is an unblack metal band from Switzerland.

Bio

52 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L

BACK IN THE LATE 1990'S ROWE PRODUCTIONS NS WAS MAKING A NAME FOR ITSELF IN UNDERGROUND HEAVY METAL, AL, HELPING BREAK BANDS LIKE ANTESTOR, EXTOL, METANOIA, ULTIMATUM ATUM AND MANY OTHERS. OTHERS BIOGENESIS WERE ANOTHER BAND RELEASED ON ROWE BACK IN A TIME WHEN HEAVY METAL WAS CONSIDERED A DIRTY WORD. UNLIKE MANY OF THE OTHER BANDS MENTIONED, HOWEVER, BIOGENESIS DIDN'T GO ON TO RELEASE ANY MORE ALBUMS AFTER THEIR ROWE PRODUCTIONS DEBUT ...

UNTIL NOW. READ ON AS CHAZ DISCUSSES THE HISTORY OF THE BAND AND THE REASONS FOR THE LONG WAIT FOR THEIR SOPHOMORE ALBUM. Give us a bit of background on Biogenesis. When were you formed and what is the current line-up?

I formed the band between 1996 and 1997. I had a vision to form an innovative band that would combine the best elements of styles that are almost nothing alike in their own right. I wanted the best of melodic metal and emotion-filled ballads mixed with the power and aggression of thrash and death metal, layered with the best of some of the more modern groove-laden styles of metal. Today, original members Nevin Cline, Randy Walton and myself have returned for what we see as a comeback. However, we recently parted ways with long-time guitarist James Riggs. We now have a new guitarist named Darin Moore.

Bio’s first album, The Mark Bleeds Through, was released in 2001. It’s been over ten years between Bio releases. What went on with Biogenesis in that long silent period?

Man I tell you what, I could literally write a book based on this question alone. Where to start is the real question here. Following the release of our debut, we were quickly emerging as one of the hotter topics in the scene and many were predicting bigger things for us in the future. After we returned home from a successful tour with Mortification, things began to slowly unravel. To be honest, there was division within the band and, to me, that was truly the beginning of the end, so to speak. It was, “this guy is going through a divorce" or "this guy struggles with this or that and we need to replace him.”

We began to shuffle members around for the wrong reasons and, quite frankly, it was never the same again until now. In spite of that, however, we began writing for a follow-up to our debut and there was a great buzz and anticipation among our new fan base. During the writing process we met up with people who were offering to help us to reach the next level. The first step was to get on to a bigger label. At one point we even considered relocation. We were granted a release

from Rowe Productions in order to pursue what we thought would grow our name as well as our fanbase. To make a very long story short, everything that we thought we were about to gain just began to crumble. The result was that we were left without the support of a label and no financial backing of any kind. In addition to all of that, we made several attempts to record our second album and each time we would only get the drum tracks recorded or we would get through the first track and something would happen that would prevent that album from ever getting done. It was beyond frustrating. It really seemed like there were outside forces doing anything they could to keep that record from ever seeing the light of day. Sometimes it was our fault and sometimes not, but the result was always the same. While all of this is going on our fans were getting tired of waiting and the buzz began to die out as months turned to years without a second album.

In 2005 long-time Guitarist James Riggs and I had a huge falling out.

It has been well publicized in the past, so I see no reason to go into details now. All I will say is that a life-long friendship was over and I immediately made the decision to end Bio. I felt at the time that James was such a huge part of our image and sound that it wouldn’t be Bio with a different guitarist. About two years went by without me even speaking to James until I had learned that his wife had passed away due to a drug overdose. James began to work on turning his life around and was also working hard to regain the friendship that we had lost. Over time I forgave him and moved past what had happened. At that point I saw no future for Bio and looking back on all the potential that we had just really bothered me – and still does, to be honest. It makes you wonder what would have happened if things would have gone as planned and we were able to put out a killer sophomore album while the buzz was still hot. Finally, in 2009 James and our drummer Nevin basically talked me into doing a reunion. At first I was

ogenesis RE-BIRTHING THE METAL

BY SCOTT WATERS

BIOGENESIS MAD MAX 63 53

56 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L 54

" I feel that metal is a platform to speak your mind as much as it is entertainment."

only looking to do some reunion shows and maybe a reunion album.

However, God had other plans.

sixth studio album. The working title is Where Vultures Gather.

You heard it first right here.

Reviews of The Mark Bleeds Through seemed to all complain about the lack of guitar solos. However, the demos for some of those songs contained some nice lead work. Can you set the record straight about what happened there?

We actually recorded our first album twice. The first time we spent a few months in the studio. However, after we finished the record, we were told by the label that the production was not up to standard and were told to record the record again with a producer of their choosing.

However, this time the budget was much smaller and so the album that you all came to know was actually recorded in about three to four days.

We were told by the producer that we would not be present for the mixing process and so it was really a mixture of those two issues.

You use a wide variety of vocal styles on both Biogenesis releases.

I hear some Jimmy Brown (Deliverance) and Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine) influences in some of your singing, but you also use some more aggressive vocals styles that help to give the music charisma and variety. With Jacob’s Dream you obviously stick more to straight-forward singing. Perhaps you can tell us some more of your other influences and what you are trying to achieve vocally with Biogenesis, as opposed to Jacob’s Dream.

I consider myself to be a hybrid vocalist. Growing up my early influences were primarily in melodic metal. I admired the vocalist of bands like Iron Maiden, Sacred Warrior, Deliverance and so on. Over the years I began to get into some of the heavier bands. During the pre -Bio days I had fronted rock bands, power metal bands and even a death metal band. By the time I was forming Bio I really wanted to make my own mark on the scene. I wanted people to be able to know who it was that they were listening to. I really strive to be an innovator.

One of my goals was to get to the point where I could do some thrash style screams while actually hitting notes and scales rather than just a monotone shout. In Bio I am completely free to be as creative as I wish in everything that I do.

Is there any chance those old Biogenesis demos will be officially released?

Yes. In fact, it is something that we have discussed with Soundmass and it appears to be a very real possibility. Stay tuned.

The Rise The Fall The Rebirth is the new Biogenesis CD. As I recall, it was originally supposed to be released a year or two ago and on a different record label. What caused the delay?

We had signed a contract with Retroactive Records back in 2009. It was never really explained to us as to why, but as time went on it seemed that we were being set aside in order to put other releases ahead of ours in spite of the agreement. Or at least that is the way it seemed to us. I’m not really sure why on any of that, but you can imagine our thoughts after all that had prevented a second album in the past and it seemed like it was a classic case of, “here we go again.” Thankfully, Soundmass offered to release the record, so I asked for a release from Retroactive and we signed with Soundmass right away. I would just like to say that there are no hard feelings towards Retroactive Records or anything like that. It's a business and we all understand that.

To be honest, the recording process took much longer than planned as well, which also pushed the release date back. There were many scheduling conflicts and unexpected challenges along the way, but thankfully the ever-elusive second Bio Record was finally unleashed.

The Rise could have been the 2002 follow-up to your debut. How did you manage to keep such a consistent sound despite the years between releases?

Well, for starters, a few of the songs on the new record were actually written around 2003 and were intended for the follow up. Aside from that however, Biogenesis is like a brand to us and when we write as Bio we think as Bio. Its like, when I listen to something really fast and heavy and I’m enjoying the rush from the power and intensity but then after awhile I start to long for something more melodic and emotional.

Or when I’m getting into a really great melodic band and then I start to long far something heavier. Biogenesis is where both of these worlds collide. We want to be a band where basically there is something for everyone and as long as we write with that mentality and dedication it will always sound like Biogenesis.

You are also the vocalist for American power metal band Jacobs Dream. Is there any news you can share from that camp?

We are actually recording in the studio now for what will be the band's

In Jacobs Dream it is obviously a little different as you eluded to.

Prior to joining JD I had never actually filled the shoes of a former vocalist so all of that was completely new to me. I wanted to add my own identity to the band but I also respected who they were as well as what their fans would come to expect. They have been great about allowing me to be myself. Even though my vocals are mostly clean, I still throw in a raspy Chaz scream every now and then just to help set JD apart from the rest of that genre.

Do you consider Biogenesis to be a “Christian band”?

That is a great question. Honestly I feel that metal is a platform to speak your mind as much as it is entertainment. I’m not a really big fan of titles or tags to be honest. I’m not really a believer in Christian mechanics. I don’t wear Christian clothes and so on. Everyone in Bio has a relationship with God. Since I am the only one who writes lyrics for Bio, you will always get a piece of my mind and soul when you listen to Bio. That being said, I see Biogenesis as a metal band no different than any other. We say what we believe in just as any other band would do but our stance is clearly pro God and I do want to be a positive influence on those who listen to us whether it leads them directly to salvation or whether it simply brings hope to their lives in some way. If even one person feels even a little better than they did before the show or before they listen to our music then Bio was successful on that day.

Is there anything else you care to share with Heaven’s Metal readers?

I just want to thank the fans who waited all these years and never really quit on us. This new record is for you. As for the future, there is a lot to look forward to. In fact I believe that we are actually stronger than ever before and a new album is indeed on the way. Thanks and God bless you all.

56 H E AV EN ' S M E TA L

BY CHRIS GATTO

WE AT HEAVEN'S METAL STRIVE TO KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE ON ALL YOUR FAVORITE HEAVY BANDS PAST AND PRESENT, WHILST EVER KEEPING AN EYE TO THE FUTURE. ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF BEING A ROCK JOURNALIST (IS) TO TURN METALHEADS ON TO NEW BANDS. WITH THAT IN MIND, LET ME INTRODUCE INNERSIEGE TO ALL YOU TRUE METAL PURISTS. DESPITE THEIR EURO POWER METAL INFLUENCE, THIS BAND IS AMERICAN THROUGH AND THROUGH, COMING TO US FROM PEORIA, ILLINOIS. THEIR DEBUT KINGDOM OF SHADOWS WILL BE RELEASED EARLY DECEMBER ON ROXX PRODUCTIONS. SPEAKING WITH US IS VOCALIST JEREMY RAY...

Hi Jeremy. How are you doing? First off: Is it InnerSiege or Inner Siege?

Hey Chris. Doing fine. One word – Capital "I" and Capitol "S." Can you give us a quick rundown of Inner Siege's band history?

InnerSiege was formed in 2009. We wanted to form a power metal band in the vein of (the) metal so prevalent in Europe. For all of us, we found very little interest in the U.S. mainstream modern metal scene throughout the '90s and into the 2000's.

Slowly, we all began to discover bands such as FireWind, Dream Evil, Primal Fear, HammerFall, etc., and they began to influence us musically. Another big influence was the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, GA that's held every year. Members of InnerSiege have attended the festival for many years, so we not only have listened to the genre, but have experienced it live in a festival atmosphere and have discovered many amazing bands. We all just love the music and the passion of the fans. That was the beginning inspiration of wanting to do something different with InnerSiege.

INNERSIEGE 57 What can we expect from your debut Kingdom of Shadows (nice cover art, by the way)?

Thank you. The cover art was done by Gustavo Sazes of Abstrata.net. He does work for the who's-who of European and South American Metal. We have been fans of his work for a long time and just had to have him work on this album.You can expect some heavy guitar groove and thick riffage. You'll hear some influences of what is considered " Classic Metal " and there's some blistering fast and melodic, tasty solos by Kevin and J.L.. Speaking of those guys, our guitarists are unreal. J.L. is the fastest guitarist I've played with and Kevin plays with such a strong melodic sense. InnerSiege has a really, really talented guitar duo. I don't think fans will be disappointed.

We have clean and clear vocals with some guest female vocals from Sheri Bjorn – formerly of Wedding Party and currently Dark Valentine – as well as my wife Kristina Ray. We even have our Engineer, Colt Capperrune, doing a guest vocal on the song "Excuses" and our bass player Ravn (of Frosthardr) throwing in some black metal vocals on the "Dragon Rider" track. We feel there is something for most everyone on the album.

Does having Ravn of Frosthardr fame (and also having worked with Antestor and A Hill to Die Upon) in your band bring any of the black metal element to your music?

Not the current recorded music. He came into the InnerSiege family after we had already written all of the material. Funny thing about Ravn – we didn't know if he would want to play with us since we weren't going to be playing a heavier, more aggressive music like he is used to playing. Being a frontman, songwriter and guitar player, we knew how valuable his input would be. He surprised us when he finally told us he would like to be our full-time bass player. When I asked him if he was worried about what his fans and friends would think about playing in a wimpy power metal band, in true Ravn form, he said, "My friends and fans know ... I do what I want." ... and THAT just proves how metal he is. (laughs) Nice.

Ravn brings an incredible aggression to our live show.

His showmanship is top-notch. There is no doubt, the dude pours everything he has into his performance. He really does take the InnerSiege live show to a whole new level. We are lucky to have him.

What are some of your favorite bands to listen to?

Jeremy: Kamelot, Dream Evil, Within Temptation, Sacred Warrior, Silent Force, Queensryche.

Kevin: Angra, FireWind, Yngwie Malmsteen, Thomas Blug, Queensryche.

Wade: Kiss, Iron Maiden, Stryper, Saxon, Hammerfall.

J.L.: Dream Theater, Evergrey, Symphony X, Freak Kitchen, Megadeth.

Ravn: Motorhead, Darkthrone, Seigmen, Immortal, AC/ DC, Alice Cooper, Khold, Megadeth.

Who is your biggest influence as a singer?

Wow, tough question. I guess I have to start back at the beginning to answer that question. So, I'd say early on it was Michael Sweet and Ray Perra, Geoff Tate, Ray Alder and Midnight of Crimson Glory. Currently it's probably Roy Kahn and Tommy Karevik of Kamelot and D.C. Cooper. There's so many good vocalists, but those are the ones I pay close attention to.

What kind of message do you bring with your music, and how important is it for bands to have

something worthwhile to say with their art?

That's a very good question. The answer to that question is why some have called Kingdom of Shadows a concept album. For this album, we purposely have given no ending conclusion or resolution to some songs. We purposely didn't end some of the songs on a positive, happy note. Some may listen to the album and see no common thread, but there is a common thread and it's up to the listener to find it. We have some dark songs on Kingdom of Shadows and that was on purpose as well. In a nut shell, we want the listener to "think" and ask questions of themselves and ask questions of their society and their world. I personally believe (that) with human nature, if we have a resolution or add closure to a topic, we naturally can put an issue to rest in our minds. We purposely did not resolve some songs so they wouldn't be so easily put away. We really wanted the listener to decide for themselves what the album means. We want them to connect with it on their own, so it will mean something to everyone individually. If we told everyone what "we" thought it all meant, then there is a chance our interpretation wouldn't connect with you.

Therein lies the "concept," I guess. I suppose the listener will let us know if that was a dumb idea or not. (laughs) To what degree does faith play in what you write about?

Well, first off, everyone has faith in something. Maybe it's money, maybe it's their government, maybe it's their intelligence, maybe it's a religion. A faith in "something" is in a person's very core. They can't escape it. So, with that said, our faith is central to our world outlook and therefore is the very prism or glasses through which we see our world. For us, faith is impossible to ignore, so it's in everything we do, it's our guide through life.

Some may see it in our lyrics, some may not.

I've heard you guys describe yourselves as being more influenced by Euro power metal than American. How would you describe the difference between the two styles?

Strictly speaking of the USA mainstream, when grunge and alternative music became the record industry's hot ticket, the US record labels all but abandoned the metal genre. It became uncool to be a metal head. Bands and musicians began to change their sound and look. Many of them ran from metal like it was the plague. I think we all can agree that's true. Europe continued to embrace metal in the mainstream. Bands in Europe stayed true to the classic metal roots and then began to merge metal with their different cultures and influences, creating many subgenres. Folk, Pirate, Viking, Battle, Symphonic, Goth, etc. Metal really grew and expanded in Europe.

It's in those cultural flavorings and subgenres that create the biggest difference in European and American metal. Euro metal isn't afraid to dabble in the fantasy of tales and fables as well as suit up in leather and spikes and punch you in the mouth. We all love that aspect.

Honestly, most of the American mainstream metal just doesn't do it for us. It's just personal taste with us. We appreciate the American mainstream scene. We just don't get inspired by it. We only have about 200 years of American history to pull from. Historically, Europe has a lot more years on us. Europe also has about 30 extra years of refining the entire metal genre on us, too.

In a nutshell, we in InnerSiege are more interested in what Europe and South America have done with metal and all the subgenres that have come from it. We do realize there are amazing metal bands in the American underground and indie scene that always stayed true to

metal. We appreciate and honor them just the same.

Traditional and power metal owe a great deal to the late great Ronnie James Dio for his swords, dragons and magic imagery. Can power metal truly be power metal without its connection to fantasy and sci-fi?

Oh yeah, for sure. There's lots of non-fantasy power metal out there. FireWind, Brainstorm, Tad Morose and Primal Fear come to mind, but I think the wonder and imagination of the fantasy is also a huge draw. It's an escape from your present reality and it's exciting, like a good story in a book. I don't know very many people who aren't captivated by the Lord of the Rings or the Narnia series. It's a sure-fire win putting stories like that to metal music. We actually have a couple of songs that dabble in the story telling / fantasy arena and then we have a few songs that don't. We think we did a good enough job capturing both the fantasy and the reality.

What is your plan for conquering the world (or at least just a piece of our metal kingdom)? As making music has become a less lucrative way to make a living with each passing year, how hard is it for a band to find success these days?

Our plan is simply to make the best metal possible.

Stay true to the genre, stay true to each other and do our best. Focus on those bands in a position we want to be in and do what they do to achieve success. If we make it, fine. If we don't, fine. We are actually very neutral about "success". At the end of the day, we are more concerned that we did our best and held nothing back. That's really "success" to us. Did we do our best with the time and talents we were given? We believe it is very hard these days to make a living making music, especially original music. I was told by a label exec that even members of the most popular Euro power metal bands have day jobs. I've read threads on forums about metal artists and their day jobs. It's no secret we all have to work nowadays. For me, I know the business side of InnerSiege is like having another job. I have to work at it every day. I once heard that you have to work on your band business for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 2 years before you start getting regular calls for gigs and such. That's a lot of time spent. I look at Lance King and Wretched from Grave Robber, those guys are working non-stop and they probably would tell you they wish they could do more. It's not easy, but if you put in the time, it's worth it.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us and can't wait for this release!

First off Chris, Thank you very much for your interest in us. It is an honor and privilege to have this opportunity with you and Heaven's Metal. Heaven's Metal and a few members of InnerSiege go waaay back to the beginning years. That doesn't date us, does it?

Ha! Don't worry, we won't kiss and tell.

Second, we are very active on Facebook. We are posting photos and status updates continually. We also have a Youtube page with alot of behind-the-scenes videos from the recording of Kingdom of Shadows. We really want to be a band that stays in contact with its fans, so go "like" us on Facebook. You can find us by searching, "InnerSiege" ... and that's all I've got for now!

Thanks again!

58 A L B U M R E V I E W S

ALBUM REVIEWS DISCIPLE O GOD SAVE US ALL Singer Kevin Young is quickly closing in on 20 years of metal ministry as Disciple. Gone are any nu metal trappings, as well as former band members Tim and Brad, but his younger band has found a cohesive sound and yet still sounds like Disciple.

The album hits hard with heavy rockers like "Outlaws," the title track, "Unstoppable," the punk guitar-fueled "The One" and "Kings," which brings to mind Rob Zombie, tempered by the trio of songs "Once and For All," "Someday" and "Draw the Line," which sound like they were made for rock radio. (As an aside, why do all Christian radio stations play whiny pop music and adult CCM? As Twisted Sister used to say, "I wanna rock!") Hard to classify, much like their peers Project 86, yet O God Save Us All shows a band that is biblically based and ready to bring the rock.

Recommended. [Fair Trade] Chris Gatto

MALCHUS / POSPOLITE RUSZENIE CAPUT MUNDI / SWIEBODNOSC This full-length split is comprised of 7 songs from up-and-comers Malchus and 3 from newcomers Pospolite Ruszenie, adding a significant addition to the folk metal repertoire – and 2 thoroughly different takes on it as well. Malchus take their heavy, gothic-tinged form of extreme metal and add just a touch of folk in the melodies and song structures.

For them, folk is an influence, not a defining characteristic. They have gotten heavier, too, since we last heard from them on Didymos.

Pospolite Rusznenie, on the other hand, take a handful of Eastern European folk sounds (both bands are from Poland) and a handful of heavy metallic rock and combine them in equal measure. Does it work? Let me just say I dare you to put this disc on and not dance around the house like medieval minstrel-cumwarrior! [Nocturnal Mass] Loyd Harp

TED KIRKPATRICK EDGAR ALLAN POE: SPOKEN TALES OF A TORTURED GENIUS Once upon a midnight dreary Tourniquet madman Ted Kirkpatrick pondered how he could share his love for the writings of Edgar Allan Poe with the world. Readers may recall that Tourniquet performed "The Telltale Heart" on Crawl to China, but this was not to be a band project, or even necessarily metal (although what's not metal about Edgar Allan Poe's scary tales?) So Ted gathered seven vocalists from near and far (Eric Wagner, Les Carlsen, Luke Easter, Jamie Rowe, Rob Beckley, Warrel Dane, and Frank Marino) for a spoken word album of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works. Think of it as a book on CD, with minimal instrumentation. Hearing the different voices and different instrumental approaches is really cool, but Les Carlsen and Warrel Dane's performances really shine through as over the top. Nicely fleshed out. Available from the tourniquet.net shop.

[Pathogenic] Chris Gatto

Surf this: fairtradeservices.com, tourniquet.net, nocturanalmass.com, roxxproductions.com

ULTIMATUM HEART OF METAL 20 YEARS OF ULTIMATUM Usually when you throw a birthday party all your friends bring you presents, but for this package, the fans get all the gifts. There is a single disc available by this title. It contains a best of Ultimatum with new artwork, songs from each album, new tracks, and newly remixed tracks for a whopping 18-track beatdown by the thrash metal juggernaut.

Now, if you purchased the limited run of 100 boxed sets (and I'm guessing they are GONE), you also received the Roxx reissue of Puppet of Destruction, Before the Pit – a lengthy disc of outtakes, demos and alternative cuts from the Into the Pit recordings, a live DVD including the Extreme Mardigras show from 2002, the Up From the Ashes 3 show from 2010, and other footage innumerable. Also included are a sticker of the new Heart of Metal artwork, patch (for your denim), signed guitar pick, autographed band pictures and other goodies, all packaged in a keepsake black box with silver writing, hand numbered 1- 100. The killer boxed set party favor may be gone, but if you are an Ult fan, you can still pick up the 20 Years single disc or a t-shirt at roxxproductions.com and celebrate 20 years of metal with the band. [Roxx] Chris Gatto