The Metal Mag n9 March - June 2015

The Metal Mag N9 March - May 2015

This issue is special, having two gigs to film and edit. You can get to the Utube page for watching them! The Anthems of Steel festival in Bressuire with a mix of Heavy , Thrash,. Punk, Rock representing great bands from France. A second show I have the chance to attend at the AION bar bringing once again cool tunes. Check them out!!! The pin up beeing the nice Jen from the radio Metal Messiah who gently accepted to support the mag, I ask you to drop by her page and support the lady!. The cover been once again of my friend Marie who realises awesome paintings that blows your imagination and as an artist I had to show the world her artork, hope ou enjoy as much as I do.

Thank you for reading, and watching ;)

The Editor : Franck Michaud #P.2-3 Mist #P.4-5 Temtris #P.6-9 Fake Messiah #P.10-12 Axe Master #P.13-14 DSG #P.15-17 NIghtrage #P.18-20 Lurking #P.21-22 Once Human #P.23-24 Massacre Machine #P.25-27 bandemonic #P.28 Anthems of steel/aion #P.29 The best reviews

Logo @Franck Michaud Cover artwork @Marie La chipie

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Hello!

Thank you for the interest. Sending back the answers!

1/you have conquered the world with two songs, do you think it was the best thing to do?

When we recorded our demo, we only existed a year or so. We felt the time was right to show our friends what we have been working on. Phobia and The Living Dead were the only songs that were, in our opinion, complete at the time.

Such a positive feedback from all around the globe was very unexpected.

2/you are a whole female band, was it a choice?

The vocalist Nina and the drummer Mihaela decided to form the band. They thought it would be interesting to have an all-female band. We do have a male guitarist now though, after all, music is all that matters.

3/you are the second female band I hear from Slovenia, is Metal not yet accepted there or you just have troubles to get heard abroad?

Slovenia hosts a big festival, MetalDays (formerly MetalCamp), so I would say metal is accepted very well here. Our country is really small, so our metal scene isn’t large either. I do not think we have trouble getting heard, it’s just that the number of bands from Slovenia that go abroad is much lower because we also have less bands comparing to Germany, Sweden, etc.

4/you recently got a deal how did it happen? is the fact you sold your 2tx cd?

I believe it happened because the owner of Soulseller Records, Jorn, liked our music, saw potential in us and decided to offer us a deal.

5/Have you got enough songs to release a complete album and go on tour?

We are releasing a 4-song EP on May 8th, so we are focused on that at the moment. There are new songs in the making though, hopefully a full-length will follow soon.

6/what made you want to have your own band? have you had trouble getting a stable line up to keep the soul of the band?

We wanted to play and create metal music. We did not have many problems, all of us are original band members, except the lead guitarist, Blaz, was recruited in July 2014.

7/your influences are from the 70’s /80’s, who introduced you to those bands and what do you like from them?

Friends, family members, or we discovered them by ourselves. I believe every musician you ever come across impacts you and your perception of music. Our influences are very different. We listen to everything from blues to extreme metal and classical music. When it comes to the atmosphere we want to create in our music, we mostly look up to traditional doom artists, classic rock & heavy metal.

8/what inspire your lyrics and how do you write your songs?

Every song is about an experience or feeling. Some are about love, others about our fears, many are inspired by the feelings of depression, loneliness and hopelessness. The lyrics are mostly written by Ema or Neza, and usually they aready have an idea of how the song should sound. Most of the riffs are the product of Ema and Neza’s mutual work, some are written Ema alone. When we have the fragments we need for a song, we all work together to combine them.

9/what means the band’s name?

We chose the name after we had already written a couple of songs, so the name came relatively late (right before our first gigs). We feel it represents what we’re about, since mist is secretive, dark, melancholic… The same as doom metal.

10/your cover album is artistic what does it represent and who designed it?

Both covers, for ¨Demo 2013¨ and ¨Inan’¨were created by our drummer, Mihaela Zitko. She has been an artist all her life and she goes to art school. ¨Demo 2013¨ cover portrays diversity in nature, the living and the dead in coexistence.

We seek inspiration in nature and its differences, especially in the human mind and soul, where each human being experiences their good and bad sides, which are forced to coexist.

11/would you say the social medias helped you a lot?

I don’t think so. I believe we have had a good press coverage, our friend Bojan Bidovc manages all that is connected to the PR. We are very thankful for all the help he has given us.

12/have you sent many cds to get that fame and how long it took?

We have been active since July 2012 and we released our first demo in October 2013. We gave away about 100 CDs, and then sold about 150 more. The demo has been rereleased on vinyl and CD and is now available for purchase via Soulseller Records. I think we have a long way to go before we can say we are ‘’famous’’.

13/what’s the metal scene over there and have you got musicians friends in bands you support?

As I already mentioned, we have a big festival MetalDays, but the scene itself is small. The most popular genres are thrash, death, black, folk metal. Underground tours by foreign bands are mostly unsuccessful here, the commercial bands get much more attention. Since the scene here isn’t large, we tend to know almost everybody, especially the people in bands.

14/which bands you’d love to tour with?

Manilla Road, Jex Thoth, Blues Pills, Forsaken, Cauchemar, Blood Ceremony, Purson, Funeral Circle, Desolation Angels, Kadavar, and of course all the doom legends; Pentagram, Candlemass, Saint Vitus. Not to mention Black Sabbath.

Thank you for your time and support!

www.faceboook.com/mist.doom

r inge s h it w w Rodda e i v r Inte evieve 15 Gen rch 20 Ma

1/who started the band and what was the idea?

The band Temtris was created in 2002 by myself , Anthony Fox and Wayne campbell. We wanted to bring a strong metal band with big vocals and we did not want to restrict ourselves with what style it was . Just metal and good metal.

2/the logo and cover album look close to death metal although you have a melodic voice (london wildstarr ,Leather leone chastain...) one growling voice in the background, sometimes thrash riffs (pantera, meanstreak) are you mixing your musical style or there is a story behind those creations?

The logo was designed by a band member and we wanted something that was strong and stood out. We do have death vocals in some of our songs for layers. The Album cover was designed like that to match the evil themes on the album. Shallow grave is a very dark album lyric wise.

3/your song titles sound dark , although your voice gives a great vibe to it. What inspires you and are they just part of putting feels into the music?

The album Shallow grave does have dark themes and we usually end up writting albums that are almost concept ideas but not quite to that extreme. Sometimes we write about personal experiences ( The Entity ) is a song written about a ghost that i have seen on more then one occasion. When i sing i put my soul into it and do my best to tell the story to the audience.

5/they are some french vocals, are you speaking french? what does it mean to you having another language?

The French Vocals on Silent Tears were done by a friend from a radio station in France. Yes it is French and it just gives a different layer to the album and the song.

6/on your website there is only one album although on utube they are some cover looking like you have other albums..have you released other albums or this one is just getting a better mix?

Temtris have released 3 albums ...Threshold was self released and only sold at shows. The second album is Masquerade and this was distributed by Battlegod Productions worldwide but is currently sold out accept for a few copies here and there. Our 3rd album Shallow grave took a long time to complete due to lineup changes and other issues that were out of our control. But this album is also distributed by Battlegod worldwide and has received amazing reviews.

7/your video looks like you’ve been shot in a box, how it has been set? who had this idea?

Our video was shot in a bar at our town and then the band shots were filmed in a studio. We really like the sin city feel to the video and we are looking a recording a new single and making a new film clip too this year.

8/you seem to play live shows a lot, (from the vids on you tube) how long have you been together and is the metal scene strong in australia?

We have played a lot of shows and have pushed really hard. Temtris has been going since 2002 and wont be stopping anytime soon. The metal community here is always growing and i love to chat and be friends with everyone involved.

9/which bands are giging with you ?

Temtris has been playing with bands such as Metraya, Pegazus, Dark order, and we recently supported Accept in November 2014 to a sold out crowd of 800.

10/you have great reviews, are there only from the songs you uploaded on your site or you sent out albums before?

Temtris used a promotion company sure shot worx from Germany to do our promotion and thats is how we had so many reviews done for us. We also advertise in big mags such as Terrorizor , metal maniacs and legacy to name a few.

11/have you sing in another band before? have you worked this melody in your voice alone or in school?

I have been singing in bands since i was 14 years of age , i also had professional singing lessons for 1 year .

My first band was a covers band doing metal songs on the local scene. Then i joined Labyrinth and we recorded and self released an EP. My style of singing has always naturally been like this but my range has got bigger and my voice stronger over the years.

Then in 2002 Temtris began and here we are.

12/are you doing it all yourself or you’re looking for a label?

Temtris is distributed by Battlegod productions worldwide to Code 7, H’art, Amazon, omega and itunes. We are happy working with Battlegod at the moment and we are currently writting and will soon be recording our 4th album.

http://www.temtris.com

Audrey

Bonjour The Metal Mag, pour commencer, merci beaucoup pour l’intérêt que vous portez à ma vie d’artiste, et pour le soutien que vous apportez à mes groupes et à moi-même depuis quelques années déjà.

Je vais répondre à vos questions avec grand plaisir!

1/Tu sembles avoir débarqué de nulle part, comment t’es tu retrouvée dans un groupe de Metal?

Alors pour la petite histoire, j’ai mis les pieds dans le milieu de la musique en jouant de la guitare dans deux groupes de Metal en France. J’avais 16 ans il me semble. J’avais pris quelques cours de guitare à l’école de musique Patrice Joly, ce qui m’avait permis de progresser assez vite avec un bon encadrement, et surtout de pouvoir apprendre sur des morceaux qui me plaisaient.

Pour la petite anecdote, lors de mon premier cours, mon prof m’a demandé ce que je voulais jouer. Je lui ai dit Big Bad Moon de Satriani! Haha! Il m’a dit que c’était un peu compliqué pour commencer la guitare, mais que c’était un bon choix! Ca c’est sur!

Ensuite j’ai continué de jouer de la guitare dans un groupe de Metal Suisse où je faisais aussi des backing vocals. Et là j’ai compris que ma place était au chant, je me sentais beaucoup plus libre de mes mouvements, et surtout, j’arrivais à véhiculer ce que je ressentais au travers du chant, ce qui n’était pas forcement le cas à la guitare. Pour finir j’ai décidé de me consacrer uniquement au chant et de laisser la guitare de côté. J’ai donc quitté ce groupe, et ai très vite rencontré les gars de Fake Messiah. Ca a tout de suite fonctionné, j’ai mis beaucoup de mes tripes dans ce groupe depuis 2010, c’est vraiment un projet qui me tiens à coeur. On peut dire que c’est mon premier groupe sérieux.

Sinon j’ai toujours baigné dans le Rock/Metal, mon papa en était très friand!

2/joues tu d’un instrument?

Alors j’ai eu l’occasion de jouer de plusieurs instruments jusqu’à maintenant, notamment du violon ou du piano quand j’étais plus jeune. Mais aujourd’hui je ne joue plus que de la guitare, pas très assidûment ! Et de la corde vocale !

3/comment as tu rencontré Franky de dagoba?

J’ai rencontré Franky lors de la première édition d’un festival Metal sur deux étages que j’organise aux Prisons de Moudon en Suisse chaque année. Il y avait Dagoba en tête d’affiche cette année là, c’était vraiment une chouette soirée. Ensuite nos chemins se sont croisés plusieurs fois lors de concerts avec nos groupes respectifs. C’est un musicien vraiment doué, et pour ne rien gâcher, super sympa.

Hello The Metal Mag, first of all thanks a lot for your interest in my artist life and all the support towards my bands and I for many years.

I’m gonna reply to your questions with pleasure!

1/You look like coming from nowhere , how did you get into a Metal band?

For the little story , I put my feet in the music field by playing guitar in two Metal bands in France. I was 16 I guess. I took few guitar lessons at the school Patrice Joly, which led me to progress pretty fast with a good environment and to be able to play the songs I like. The anecdote for my first course my teacher asked me what I wanted to play. I told him I replied “big bad moon “ from Satriani ahah! He told me it was a bit difficult for a start on the guitar but it was a good choice. For sure!

Then I kept playing guitar in Switzerland Metal band where I also did backing vocals. I undertood singing was what I loved. I felt free to move and tell what I feel which isn’t easy on the guitar.

I finally decided to leave the guitar and be a singer full time. I left the band and met very quickly the guys from Fake Messiah. It worked straight from the beggining, I got myself completely into since 2010 it ‘s really a project I’m the most involved in and really important to me.

I think we can tell it’s my first serious band.

As far as the music I always been into Rock/ Metal my father beeing a big fan.

2/Do you play any instrument?

I occasionnaly played many instruments until now, as violin or piano when I was younger,.

But today I don’t play guitare anymore but mostly Vocal cords!!!

3/ How did you meet Francky from Dagoba?

I met Francky at the first edition of a Metal festival on two levels I organise in Prisons De moudon every year. Dagoba was the headliner this year, it was a really cool evening. Then our path crossed many times when we played live with our bands. He’s a good musician very talented and not to mention really nice person.

I recomand anyone who needs a drummer for record ing an album or any other deal.

Je le recommande aux personnes qui auraient besoin d’un batteur de session pour enregistrer un album, ou pour tout autre collaboration.

4/tu es dans deux groupes est ce compliqué?

Le fait d’avoir plusieurs groupes ne me pose pas de problèmes particuliers, il faut juste être bien organisé et assidu.

Moi je vis pour ça, donc ça n’est jamais trop ! J’ai même intégré un troisième groupe il y a peu. Il s’agit de Noein, groupe Français qui officie dans du Cyber Metal / Metal Indus. Ce que j’aime bien aussi dans le fait d’avoir plusieurs groupes, c’est de pouvoir varier un peu les styles.

Avec Fake Messiah nous faisons un genre de patchwork Metal ! Difficile à définir notre style qui est plutôt varié d’un morceau à l’autre.Et avec Emma-O on fait du Thrash/ Death Metal. J’ai également un projet solo, mais celui là il faudra attendre un petit peu pour avoir quelque chose de concret.

5/Ecris tu tous les textes?si oui de quoi parles t’ils?

Avec Fake Messiah, sur les 12 titres que nous avons sorti, j’en ai écrit 10. Les deux autres textes ont été écrits par un des guitaristes, que j’ai arrangé par la suite sur les parties instrumentales. Ces textes parlent, pour certains, de mon vécu, d’autres de cauchemars, et d’autres d’histoires imaginées.

Avec Emma-O j’ai écris l’intégralité des textes de notre premier album Un des guitaristes m’a un peu aidé pour certaines phrases ou pour l’arrangement de certains passages.

Je parle aussi de mon vécu ou de cauchemars, de choses de tous les jours.Cet album est plus taillé pour le live je dirais, il y a moins de lignes de chant que dans Fake Messiah, pour laisser plus de place pour interagir avec le public.

Concernant Noein, sur les album sortis actuellement je n’ai pas écrit de paroles, comme je viens d’intégrer le groupe.

Mais les futures morceaux sont en cours de composition en vue de la sortie de notre prochain EP, et quelques textes sont déjà écrits, voir terminés. Là il s’agira d’un EP concept qui sera dans la continuité de leur dernier album.

Je n’en dirais pas plus pour l’instant !

En général j’aime bien écrire mes textes suivant ce que m’inspire l’instrumental, mais j’aime bien aussi quand les autres membres du groupe apportent des idées ou des textes. Tout comme j’aime bien apporter des idées pour les parties instrumentales. C’est un travail d’équipe !

6/tu fais des photos superbes est-ce un passe temps ou tu es payée comme modèle?

Merci pour le compliment ! Actuellement je fais ça comme passe temps, ou plutôt comme passion je dirais. Pouvoir exprimer des choses au travers d’une image, travailler le côté artistique avec son corps ou avec des éléments de décors me plait beaucoup. J’ai eu la chance de collaborer avec

4/You are playing in two bands is it complicated?

Having several bands doesn’t trouble me you just need a good organisation. I live for music so it’s never too much! I even joined recently another band the third one called Noein, in Cyber Metal/ Indus. I like to have several bands with different styles you have more possibilities and changes. With Fake Messiah we play a Patchwork Metal! Pretty hard to discribe as each song has a different style. With Emma-O we play Thrash/ Death Metal.I even started a solo projet, but you’ll have to wait before it gets finalised.

5/Do you write lyrics? if so what are they talking about?

With Fake Messiah on the 12 songs I have written 10 of them. The other two ones have been written by the guitarists, and I then arranged somme instrumental parts.Lyrics are talkin for some about my own life , some are about nightmares, and others are just story tales from my imagination.

With Emma-O I wrote all the first albums lyrics, one of the guitarist helped me a bit to place some vocal lines.I also speak about personnal life events, nightmares and everyday’s life. This album is much more for live performance and have less vocals than Fake Messiah to have more exchange with the public.

For Noein, the albums actually out I haven’t written anything as I just joined the band. I will on the futur tracks for the next EP and some lyrics are already written. This will be a concept album to follow what they did before. I won’t tell more...

In general I love to write lyrics depending on what the music inspires me but I like when the band members participate and give their ideas. As I like giving ideas for instrumental parts, it’s team work!

6/you’re modelling with amazing photos, are getting paid or it’s just for fun?

Thank you! Actually I do this in my spare time, much more like a passion. Expressing myself through photos, working the artistic part with my body and all the elements around me pleases me. I had the chance to

de super photographes, et de beaux projets sont encore en cours.

work with great photographs.And still beautiful projects coming.

7/que penses tu de la vie de musicien, les concerts les enregistrements…

7/ What do you think of the musician ‘s life ? gigs , recording...

J’adore vraiment cette vie, qui est certes, pas toujours facile, mais qui me procure beaucoup de satisfaction. J’aime bien l’aspect créatif de la composition, de l’écriture, le partage qu’il peut y avoir entre les musiciens lors de ce processus.

Le côté que j’apprécie le moins serait l’enregistrement, j’ai une sorte de blocage si on peu dire ça comme ça, je n’arrive pas à me lâcher autant qu’à un concert par exemple. Et en parlant de concert, je dirais que c’est carrément ma raison de vivre ! C’est ce qui me fait vibrer, pouvoir m’exprimer comme je le souhaite, partager de bons moments avec les musiciens et avec le public, c’est vraiment mon truc !

I really love this life, which is not always easy but gives a lot of satisfaction. I like the creative way for the composition, writting, sharing between musicians while creating. What I don’t like much is the recording part I got a kind of frustration I don’t manage to feel myself compare to concerts. Talking about gigs it’s my reason to live! It makes me feel good and help me to express myself the way I want, sharing with the public and the musicians it’s really my thing!

8/vas tu souvent aux festivals? as tu le temps?

I must say the year 2014didn’t get me much time for music. I had to face the death of my father and it has been very tough , even today while writting to you my throat is painful and keep my breath bringing a lump. I

Je dois dire que l’année 2014 ne m’aura pas laissé beaucoup de place pour la musique, j’ai dû faire face au décès de mon papa qui a été très difficile à encaisser, même encore aujourd’hui je sens ma gorge qui se sert rien que d’écrire ces mots. Je n’ai donc pas eu le temps, ni l’esprit à sortir en festivals. J’aurais peut être dû d’ailleurs ! Mais je compte bien me rattraper cette année, que ça soit dans le public ou sur scène avec un de mes groupes ! Il faut dire que j’organise aussi pas mal de concerts, donc mes week-end sont très vite pris, ce qui me laisse finalement peu de temps pour aller en festival en tant que public.

8/Are you often atend festivals? Have you got time?

9/quels sont tes groupes préférés? ceux qui t’inspirent?

Ouf.... Difficile à dire, suivant l’état d’esprit dans lequel je suis, je dirais que mes groupes préférés sont Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Chimaira, Dagoba, les incontournables Pantera, et Devildriver pour en cité que quelques uns. Et dans un autre registre je dirais Marilyn Manson, qui m’inspire beaucoup, les ZZ Top et Seasick Steve. Je me suis penchée récemment sur les albums de Devin Townsend, et je regrette de ne pas avoir écouté ces albums plus tôt. Ils sont vraiment incroyables !

10/y’a t’il des nouveaux groupes que tu suis et que tu recommande?

Les premiers qui me viennent en tête sont Deus Ex Machina, formation Suisse qui s’appelait auparavant Ironoya. Stephany leur chanteuse, a vraiment une voix que j’aime beaucoup, et les morceaux sont bien composés et restent en tête. Ensuite je dirais 6:33, je ne sais pas si c’est un nouveau groupe,mais je l’ai découvert récemment, et ça vaut vraiment le détour.

C’est un groupe Français qui fait du..... du...... de la super musique addictive! Je vous invite à aller écouter ce qu’ils font pour vous faire une idée de leur style, parce que je serais incapable de vous dire ce que c’est ! J’espère pouvoir les voir un de ces jours en live.

didn’t have time nor the wish to go out for festivals, I probably should! I want to get that over and I will be in the public or on stage with my bands 9/Which are your favorite bands? the ones that inspire you?

Ouch ... difficult to say, it depends in which state of mind I am, I would say my favorite bands are Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Chimaira, Dagoba, and of course Pantera, Devil driver to name a few. In a different style I would say Marilyn Manson who inspires me a lot, ZZtop and Seasick Steve. I recently discovered Devin Townsend ‘s albums and I regret I didn’t listen before as it’s unbelievable.

10/Are there any new bands you are following or you will recommand?

The first ones that pop into my head are Deus Ex Machina, Swiss band was called Ironoya earlier. Stephany

11/es tu amie avec les musiciens? comment vous êtes vous rencontrés?

Je me suis liée d’amitié avec la plupart des musiciens à force de les côtoyer et de passer du temps avec eux, maintenant ce sont des amis avant d’être des musiciens avec qui je fais de la musique. Et pour les autres j’étais déjà amie avec eux avant de faire de la musique avec.

Un des guitaristes d’Emma-O faisait partit du deuxième groupe que j’avais intégré en France quand je jouais de la guitare par exemple. Lui était derrière la batterie à cette époque là. On s’est rencontré soit lors d’une audition, soit à des concerts, soit par le biais de connaissances en commun.

12/t’occupes tu d’organiser des concerts et promouvoir tes groupes?

Alors j’organise pas mal de concerts, actuellement je suis à la présidence et à la programmation des Prisons de Moudon, et auparavant j’ai pu faire la programmation de deux festivals open air en Suisse et plusieurs soirées ponctuelles.

Pour mes groupes je fais pas mal de management et de booking oui. Surtout pour Fake Messiah et Emma-O. Pour Noein je fais un peu de booking, mais ce n’est pas moi le principal bookeur.

J’aime bien m’occuper de ces aspects là aussi.

Voilà !

Pour le petit mot de la fin, je remercie The Metal Mag pour leur intérêt et leur soutien, je remercie les lecteurs qui auront pris le temps de lire cette itw, et un énorme merci à tous ceux qui nous soutiennent au travers des réseaux sociaux et lors de nos concerts.

A bientôt sur les routes !

www.fakemessiah.ch

their singer has a really nice voice I love a lot the songs are well composed and you keep them in mind. Then I would say 6:33 don’t know if it’s a new band but I discovered them recently. It’s a french band that plays...great addictive music.

I invite you to have a listen and make up your mind about their style cos I’m unable to tell you what style is it! I hope to see them live one day.

11/Are you friend with the musicians? how did you meet?

I’m friend with most of the musicians cos I spend so much time with them it came naturaly and so they are the friends I play music with. For some we were already friends before joining the band. One of the guitarist from Emma-O was in the second band I used to play guitar in France he was the drummer. We met at auditions or at gigs or from other friends.

12/Do you organize gigs and do you promote the band?

I organize many gigs, actually I’m the president for the programation at The Prisons de Moudon, and I used to organise two Open Air festivals in Switzerland,and ponctual evenings.

For my bands I do a lot of management as booking, mostly for Fake Messiah and Emma-O. For Noein I’m booking but it’s not my principal task as there is someone for this. I just love coping with those aspects.

That’s it!

A little word to end, I thank The Metal Mag for the interest and support. I thank all the readers who take the time to read and a big thank you for the support and following towards social networks and gigs. see you soon on the road!

www.facebook.com/EmmaO.band

1/what happened to the band? why making an album now?

JOE - Well, in the early 90’s, Axemaster unfortunately changed its name and musical direction. Agreeing to do that is one of my biggest regrets in my musical career!

So the band was not active for a long time, even though a couple European indie labels did re-releases of our early material. A new album now was 100% ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, the band could not get ANYWHERE just resting on material that’s 25 years old or more!!! We had to show people that the band is now better than ever and putting out stuff that’s new and improved. That we are not a bunch of old asses who can’t rock anymore!!!!! I totally believe that “Overture to Madness” does that and more, and there are more albums to come!!!!

Geoff – I can’t be happier that Joe decided to make a new album under the old banner, it’s exciting to be a part of a project with a legacy.

2/have you always played in different bands or you just decided to get back to music?

JOE - Oh yeah, I NEVER stopped playing and doing releases. I put out albums with the bands Reign, Dream or Nightmare, and Inner Terror. Actually, the Reign album “Now and Forever” was recently re-released by Divebomb Records. It’s pretty cool that the guy who played drums for that band is now the drummer of Axemaster.

3/have you been in touch for all these years or you had to find one after one?

JOE - I’m the only member remaining in the band who was with Axemaster before, former original member Brian Henderson played on our new album but is no longer with the band. But since I formed Axemaster, am the only one who played on all our releases, and wrote probably more than 90% of the music and 75% of the lyrics for them, the band’s going to keep the same basic kind of style as long as I’m here writing most of the music (there are small differences, but the sound is basically true to the band’s roots). I know and talk to some of the former members besides Brian, and have no problem with any of them, but they are doing different things now.

4/are those songs fresh or you took old ones and remastered them ?

JOE - ALL the songs are 100% new. We are considering re-recording an old song or two for the next album. But like I said before, it was TOTALLY important for us to show with “Overture to Madness” that Axemaster is back with a vengeance, and it would not have had the same effect if we would have just recycled a bunch of old stuff!!!!!!!

Geoff – Nothing on this album is a leftover, Joe worked on completely fresh music, and once I joined I wrote the lyrics. So what you are getting is really and truly brand new.

5/have you chosen the cover artwork or someone worked with you to release it?

JOE - I found the artwork we used for the cover and inserts during a search of the internet for something we could use. We had an artist who was going to do an original work for the album, but he quit the project not long before our deadline so we were concerned that the cover would either have artwork that had nothing to do with the album title, or so plain that it would be boring. We were in a tough spot, but after doing a whole lot of searching I found that painting which is really kick ass, relates to the album title, and was done in the 1600’s so it was legal for us to use. You can do wonders with a lot of hard work and a little luck!!!!

Geoff – It was a close call, thanks to Joe’s persistence that we have such a cool album cover. I can’t tell you how peeved we were when the artist we chose bailed.

6/how did you get signed by puresteel?

JOE - A good friend of mine and one of our main European contacts quite a while ago introduced me to a person from the company who knew a lot about the band from our past releases. Then, once we started actively looking at companies to release the album, my friend talked to other people at Pure Steel and I think really helped push the deal through. I believe the combination of my friend’s help, the fact that we have a recognized name, and them really liking the new songs, all played a role in our being signed by them.

7/many 80’s bands are reforming what is the reason for? do you think Metal is dead and needs to be remade?

JOE - Oh no, even when metal was down so much in the late 90’s and early 2000’s I NEVER thought it was at all dead! The popularity of most musical styles have both up and down times depending on trends, but just because a style’s popularity goes pretty much away for awhile doesn’t mean it’s dead! There are a lot of reasons that bands have been returning, one that I think is pretty universal (and was a definite consideration in our return) is that there is now a bigger and better market for metal than there has been in a long time. Personally, I was surprised how many fans Axemaster had through our time away, there was actually a demand for our returning, so coming back made sense.

But even more important to me was that Axemaster was always my favorite of the bands I’ve been in, I always loved the style, it was really ME. It was what I really wanted to do, and I’m at the point in my career to where I don’t want to mess around trying out different things that I don’t know how much I will be into and how they will be received.

I want to stick with one thing as my last band, and I want that to be playing the kind of music I love the most, that’s AXEMASTER!!!!

Geoff – I think the return of heavier music has to do with 2 things. #1 Bands who have been at it for a long time find themselves in a position to be able to make music and release it. #2 the music industry generally goes through a 10 year cycle, people get tired of one thing and move on to the next. Right about now fans are getting sick of what’s been pushed on them by the big labels and are looking for something heavier again. So it’s time for all of us who have been on the heavier side of things to come out from hiding.

8/are they any bands you have followed over the years?

JOE - The only band I really FOLLOW much is my favorite band Chastain. They are the only ones that I have actively looked into what’s happening with the band. The other one I followed somewhat was Heaven and Hell, but obviously that only lasted a short time unfortunately. Other than that, I keep up as best I can with the metal scene in general, but not any specific band usually (unless something major is happening with a band I like).

Geoff – Unlike Joe I follow tons of music, On top of the big names there are countless bands I follow, and even more that I discover. For instance recently I discovered a band from Brazil called Necropsya, a New York band called Dying Eyes of Sloth, and one from Italy called Demolition Train. Pile those on top of the locals, and National acts Like the return of Sanctuary and I have a full time job just in music…lol.

9/do you still have your old equipment or you moved to new digital ones?

JOE - For live I have basically the same kind of guitar equipment and pedals I always used. My amp does have some digital components, but I use it because it has a kick ass overdrive sound, not because I can use a bunch of different digital sounds. I could use either digital or analog as long as it has that sweet killer overdrive! For recording though, my studio is all digital and I have a digital pedalboard I use to record guitar and bass. So I guess the answer to your question is a little of both.

10/most bands have digital artwork these days yours is not, what’s your view on this?

JOE - Digital artwork is probably easier all the way around, many artists these days mainly do digital stuff. To me it doesn’t really matter, if it’s kick ass, it’s kick ass, it doesn’t make any difference how it was created. As long as it looks totally professional, I don’t care either way.

11/have you written about personal dreams? have you written a book that made this album being like one in a music way?

Geoff – There is a lot of personal themes on this album, some of the bad shit that happened to me over the last few years is included. Although all of the stories are metaphorical, a lot of the pain and anger is real. Not so much dreams but definitely personal.

12/would you say it’s harder to be musician today? have you encountered troubles for that album?

JOE - In some ways it’s harder now, in other ways it’s easier. Computers and the internet are both a blessing and a curse. You can afford to do much more promo through the internet, I would go broke (or worse!) if I did all the promo I do now and had to pay for all the postage. Plus, I was able to record, produce, and master all the material on my studio computer; we wouldn’t have had anywhere near enough money to put out a recording of the quality of our album if we would have had to do it in a studio. It’s all because of what you can do now on a computer because I don’t have anything close to big money gear!!! But, of course, illegal downloading hurts bands unbelievably, and

most people have SO MANY different bands constantly pushed on them through the internet that they have started ignoring them for the most part. So it takes much more to get people’s attention and to get them to give a band a fair listen. Like I said, both a blessing and a curse!!!!

Geoff – Getting noticed is harder among the mass quantities of bands on the web, but on the basic level of actually being a musician I think there are more options available to you to be heard. What you do with that is entirely up to you.

13/have you got a recording studio? have you got mixing or engineering knowledge?

JOE - Like I said, I recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered the album at my home studio. I didn’t have a whole lot of experience when I started this project, I had done a few demo things with other people in the past, but had never attemped to do anything anywhere close to doing an entire professional release on my own. That’s one reason why the album took so long to finish, I did a lot of trial and error with the sound, learned a lot as I tried a lot of different things, but doing all that took time. Plus I was fortunate enough to have a couple professional producers give me advice and observations that GREATLY helped me get a totally pro sound. Now I know what it takes to get a good sound, but it sure took a lot of learning to get to this point!!!!!

14/what are your favorite bands ? have you changed your likes with time?

JOE - Like I said, my favorite band overall is Chastain, after that would probably be Iron Maiden. There are a WHOLE LOT of others that I get into though, like Dio era Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell, some stuff by Slayer, Testament, Candlemass, and early stuff by Metallica, Savatage, and Kiss.

Geoff – Wow that would be a hell of a list so let me run down a few, anything Dio did, Sabbath, Nevermore/Sanctuary, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Jason Becker, Perzonal War, Metallium, Paradise Lost, Wretch, Picture, Paradox, Adrenaline Mob, Beyond Fear, Iced Earth, Diamond Head, Fleshcrawl, Headbore, Jag Panzer, Iron Maiden, Psychostick……., I should stop this could go on all day. My likes don’t necessarily change but they expand over time on top of the amount of metal I listen to, are all the non metal bands too, my collection is ever expanding.

Last words

JOE - I always give a huge thank you to all the fans who have always supported my projects, especially Axemaster!

You are why we are where we are and are still moving forward, so you have my eternal gratitude!!! You can check out more about us and our material (including the first video from “Overture to Madness”).

Geoff – Hails and Horns to everyone, it’s you who make what we do important! www.axemasterofficial.com www.facebook.com/axemasterofficial https://www.youtube.com/user/axemasterofficial

We do not really know much about the early days of DSG, so please bring a bit of light into our darkness?

As you know, after Manowar, I put out two solo Albums, Ashes to Ashes & Hellborn. There was some downtime until Still a Warrior was complete as I worked on some other projects with several different bands! Mostly fill ins and in a guest artist capacity.

Did you plan to release something like a “solo-album” those days, or have you been sure that you wanted to start a new band?

I’m a big fan of singing on a record so I prefer having a band as opposed to being a solo artist and playing with tracks.

But I do both.

However, as for me it seems as if it didn’t take too long after the band got together until you released “Ashes to Ashes” – did you already had written those tracks earlier?

I had the music mostly done while my old singers Trace Zaber & Dennis Hirshauer wrote the lyrics…“Hellborn” followed a few years later, and again, I was not really sure about the thing if DSG is a band, because you had to cooperate with other musicians.

What has been the reason for those line- up changes in the past?

I wanted to have total control over my projects and I have a vision that not everyone shared. So….anyway....next question…ha..ha…

Nowadays I’m really sure and there’s no doubt if DSG are working as a “collective” of musicians, because the current line-up is stable since a few years. How did you get in touch with Gabriel, Michael and Warren?

I have known Warren from my early Chicago days as well as Gabriel. Mike Streicher is the new guy who I know from the current club scene in Chicago.

Are those guys still involved in other bands/ projects at the moment?

Yes, we all have been known to dabble in other things. I play in Devil Land & do some solo shows.., Warren also fronts Damien Thorne & Heaven & Hell Chicago (Dio/Sabbath Tribute, which also featured Jason Ward from Flotsam & Jetsam on bass and Michael Posch from Pamela Moore band on guitar). Gabi did some dates with Pamela Moore (Sister Mary from Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime) & plays in a ton of other projects and Mike Streicher plays in Blackened (Metallica Tribute).

When did you start to compose the new tracks and did you start composing with any special intention?

I write the music and then Warren & I work on the melody. He does the lyrics as he’s the storyteller in the band….

Sometimes, we develop concepts & titles together.

Did you start to write the lyrics first or did compose songs before and decided about the lyrics later?

Warren likes me to hand him a finished idea and he typically writes to it….it has worked out well for us that way, I don’t see that changing….

How do we have to imagine the song-writing-process in general?

Well, as a musician, an idea will come to me and I have to put it down while I remember it. Warren reads a lot of books and has a strong sense of human emotion, history & mysticism in his lyrics.

Is the title “Still A Warrior” mentioned to be related to your Manowar-Past?

Yes it is, I’m still alive and kicking after that period in my career was over!

How would you describe the difference between “Still A Warrior” and you’re your former records?

This record really takes the melody of Ashes to Ashes & the heaviness of Hellborn and is really a blend of both. In my opinion, this is my favourite one so far….

Do you have any idea what we might have to expect in the near future?

I imagine we will start working on new material soon and getting our live show tweaked a bit….

Who had been responsible for the “artwork”?

Eddy Schneider the III, he’s a friend of mine from Chicago. He does great work and we are really happy with the images he created.

Are there already plans for an upcoming tour to promote “Still A Warrior”?

We are hopeful to play some dates soon, the final tour schedule hasn’t been presented to us yet…

Will it be possible for us to see DSG on stages also here in France?

God willing, we would love to play for our French & European fans!

Did you already played shows within the last couple of years?

I have done some solo appearances and Warren has done some overseas festival dates in Denmark& Greece with Damien Thorne.

Are there any other projects like this that you have been involved or are you about to handle?

I am a musician and I love to play, I won’t ever rule something in or out but it comes down to time and money of course.

For sure it´s a bit too early for detailed future plans, but what do we have to expect next?

Promoting Still A Warrior and making our live show the best it can be. Then we’ll probably do some supporting dates and eventually concepting & writing the next album.

www.davidshankle.com

1/ What happened for you to change a singer and how did you find the new one?

Our old singer Antony needed to leave because it didnt working out between us and also we had some personal issues, I felt relieved when he left since he created many problems in the band. I found Ronnie Nyman through our mutual friend Jesper Strömblad and we just clicked, he is a guy like us and understand where Nightrage is coming from, he is on that buisness for many years and we are striving for the same goals and have the same sort of ideals for the music.

2/Does changing singer brings a new sound/vision to the band?

Yeah definitely I feel that Ronnie brought a new fresh sound with his vocals, he put a lot of effort and thought for his lines, also he has this amazing excitement and awesome character that made all the difference in the world on the new songs. I think that we have managed to maintain the Nightrage sound all over the place, but with Ronnie`s contribution we found the sound and the needed strength as a band that we were always looking for. So I think Ronnie its a great addition for Nightrage and we have a really good chemistry both as songwriters and friends for the best of Nightrage.

3/As a perspective of the fan base aren’t you afraid of loosing some? have you read some negative comments so far?

No thats not something that we ever got to be afraid of, I feel that we have a very loyal fan base that believing and loving the sound of Nightrage and also they are great followers of the style,the songs and the albums that we are releasing those 15 last years. I mean if you look on the history of the band we got too many changes on the line up already, that could actually kill any band instantly, but on the contrary the only thing that keeping us alive so far its the love of our fans and the stable sound metal style that we always maintained to keep it evolving without letting down our audience and also our selves. I dont want to sound like a fan pleaser here as we are not, but what we are doing its coming from the bottom of our hearts, it has this pure artistic integrity and passion, playing the music that we love.

Of course we have gotten negative comments along with the good ones, and thats ok for me as long the comments they have a meaning and a good explanation. I mean we cant please everybody, this cant be 100% unfortunately, you need also some sort of criticism as well, you need a balance and we have learned to live with that, we are trying to not listening to any kind of reviews bad or good or we dont believe too much on either of both, we have faith on ourselves and on our music, and we know what we are doing its from the best of our abilities. The only truth here its that we are still here, we have thousand of fans listening to our music that we have a great connection, and we feel so proud of our new album ”The Puritan” 4/How did you get signed by Despotz Records? why have you chosen them? swedish reason...

I found Despotz after checking that female band Crucified Barbara and wondering which label they were working with, at the same time our deal with Lifeforce has ended after a 3 album deal and they werent interested to work anymore with Nightrage, that is when we started making some new songs, we got some initial interest from some labels but nothing that we felt that was good enough for us and the songs that we had. So when finally we got in contact with Despotz records from the first time we just clicked and they really liked the 4 song demo we have send them, so they are offered us a deal that was really good and we could see a great potential in our cooperation. So far everything working really smooth on our cooperation and they delivering everything that they have promised to us and even more, they having great ideas down and they are cool people, that they know the buisness and they are lovers of the music.

5/With the explosion of powerfull bands how hard is it to create new songs that kick?

Its always a great challenge and sometimes can be the hardest thing in the world to come up with something original, fresh and not repetitive. You need to feel inspired to compose material that makes you feel good and excited at the same time, that inspirational mode it´s when you know that you are creating something that its good enough to please you, or get the people´s attention. Song-writing its not an easy task and you need years of experience to be able to compose some good music along with some great texts. We feel blessed that we still can do that, writing songs that are inspiring for us and also for the people out there, it´s the biggest reward for us as artists to get some good feedback from the fans and that always making us feel great to get the chance to share our music and art with the great network of music lovers.

6/Your cover is pretty ‘simple’ compared to your oldest ones , how did you choose it? does it reflects your music or you just loved the expression of it?

We are very happy with the new cover for ”The Puritan” and Mirfin from Cephalospinal design, did a great job with it. We wanted to have a really simple message on the cover and we wanted something that stands out and that could draw people´s attention instantly. Mirfin was able to deliver to us this great cover after some initial tips from us since he is really talented, and we felt from the first time when we saw his new artwork that he captured and also understand the lyrical themes and ideas we had for the new album.

7/What was the start of the lyrics writtings? do you just write that comes to your mind or it really follows a line through the whole album?

I´m always writing some random thoughts down about things that I get affected or inspired and then me and Ronnie sit down and we are exhanging our ideas of all the different themes and situations that we want to describe, or it can be one word or just a simple line that its the core of the whole lyric idea of the song. It depends of the mood, the time, the different life situations, the ups and downs of life, anything can be the beggining idea to start writing, we are wrting about the things that most of the time its difficult for us to express, and its always a cool way for us to be able to get out all the thoughts and ideas we have and need to tell about, stories sometimes that even ourselves didnt know ever existed.

8/You have four years between the last album, what happened ?

Actually its 3.5 years to be correct the time between the last album Insidious and now ”The Puritan”. We have released Insidious on 2011 and we had to play many shows to promote it in between ,also we needed some more time to feel inspired to write newer songs and also our deal with Lifeforce has come to an end ,we needed to find a new label home, have to deal with line up changes again, and I have to move back to Sweden, all that stuff and the fact that we needed to wait longer for Despotz records preparing the new album release, and also that we have to wait for Dug out studios schedule to record the album, delayed the whole process. But I still feel that 3.5 years its an ok time to wait when you want to give your best to your fans and dont just wanna make an album for the sake of it.

9/Have you composed songs with the oldest singer and had to work them again with the new one or you made the whole as the new line up?

No all the songs are composed after he left anyway and we havent make any collaboration with the old singer at all for this new album, well for me it was clear and i felt it that we will not continue working together. I´m glad that we written this album together with Ronnie and it proved to be a great writer as well, plus a great band member to have to collaborate with. We have written all the lyrics together and also he helped me with all the new song arrangements, as he has great ideas and also our vision its kinda the same for the new songs and the overall sound of the new album, and you can actually hear that great spirit and our cool collaboration on ”The Puritan” 10/Swedish Metal has many bands have you got friends in the music, some bands you love to play live with? isn’t there a competition?

Yeah its a great scene here and so many cool bands around, I know all of the great bands and we have collaborate and play with the most of them. I dont think there is any competition on that scene in particular, I feel that people helping each other and there still this feeling of brotherhood. Its definetely a great atmosphere to get along and also a great scene to be a part of. I like to play with any kind of band big or small doesnt really matter for us, as long we have a good time and we love the music.

11/Your new singer has a Hard Core type of singing, why not getting a Death Metal one?

I think Ronnie has both qualities and he is a great death metal vocalist as well, he has a history with playing melodic death metal with other bands and personally I think he is doing an exceptional work both as a vocalist, performer and on stage he is one of the best frontmen that I have ever the chance to work with. So we are very happy to got to work with him and made Nightrage stronger than ever before.

12/Would you say changing label help you staying free? or you think it’s necessary in the biz?

There is no rule about that and sometimes you need to make the move and get to work with people that you feel that they have better ideas, they are loving your music, they are professional and they understand what you are trying to achieve with your band. And thats what exactly Despotz records its doing for us, they have a really good plan, they know the buisness and most important they are loving the music that we are doing. So far they have delivered amazing stuff for us with all the great promotion they are doing and the best is yet to come.

13/ You are three members on your site, who does the drums? why there is not a permanent member?

Yeah this time we got to be 3 guys and that felt good anyway it was a matter of necessity as well since we had people leaving the band and all that stuff. Jo Nunez did session drums on the album and because of the fact that we couldnt, and there was no time, to find a permanent drummer before the recordings, we decided to stay a trio for the new album. We are going to work now with a new guy that he is interested to play with us, we will jam for a couple of shows with him and why not if everything felt into place he can be the permanent drummer in the band later on.

14/You had an intense worldwide tour, which country is the most important to you? do you know where your fan base is? which country you’d like to tour where you haven’t so far?

Yeah we did some cool shows with the previous album Insidious, and we got to play in Europe, North America, Russia and Asia. I feel that every kind of place can be special for us since we love to play the music for our fans and spread the word out there. I think that we have a cool fan base in Japan, Europe and North America, and one of the places that we would love to play its Australia and South America, we are working on that idea right now and hopefully we would have the chance to play on those new continents soon enough.

15/Are you using the social medias ? It seems to be a good help for music?!

Yeah definetely its the future and you need to be there for sure, its always takes countless hours to be able to promote the band there and can be hard, but its surely worth it since you got connected with so many people and get a direct feedback from the fans.

16/Which songs are in your Ipod/iphone? are you listening to new death metal bands?

I´m listening to every kind of music that my ears liking, its not nececarilly need to be metal as long its good music that makes it for me. Some movie soundtracks are always interesting and awesome to get into. I´m always listening to new metal releases and checking out whats going on, its so cool to see some new bands coming out spreading the spirit of metal writing some good music, so inspiring and cool to see that.

Omnium Gatherum its a great band, that i liked most recently.

17/Are they any new bands you follow or recommand?

I like my buddy Gus G solo band, and Ronnie´s other band ”Always War” that they are playing harcorem with a metal touch which i like a lot.

www.nightrage.com

1/qui a fonde le groupe et quel etait l’idee?

1/ C’est Jean-Philippe (notre ancien batteur et aujourd’hui notre manager) et Wil (notre guitariste) qui ont crÈÈ le groupe dÈbut 2008. L’idÈe Ètait de crÈer une musique originale tout en gardant leurs influences I /who has created the band and what was the idea?

It’s Jean Philippe (our old drumer and now our manager) as Wil (our guitarist) who started the band back in 2008.

The idea was to keep their influences while creating something original.

2/vous avez un nom plutot different, que veut il dire et pourquoi ce choix?

2/ Lurking... signifie tapis dans l’ombre. C’est une rÈfÈrence indirecte aux contes de Lovecraft qui se base sur une croyance lÈgendaire fondamentale, qui est que notre monde fut ‡ un moment habitÈ par d’autres races qui, parce qu’elles partiquaient la magie noire, furent dÈchues de leur pouvoirs et expulsÈes, mais vivent toujours ‡ l’extÈrieur (tapis dans l’ombre), toujours prÍtes ‡ reprendre possession de cette terre. Lurking... est donc une rÈfÈrence ‡ toutes ces forces latentes qui n’attendent qu’‡ surgir.

II/You have an original name what does it mean and why this choice?

Lurking... means hidden in the shadow . It’s indirectly refered to Lovecraft stories based on legendary beliefs which is at a moment in our world they were different races who used black magic so they were emptied of their power and thrown away but somehow still live in the shadow ready to take over the world. Lurking is just a reference of all those forces awaiting to come out.

3/as tu toujours ete dans le groupe? As tu chante dans d’autres formations?

3/ Non, je suis dans le groupe depuis 2011. J’ai chantÈ dans d’autres formations, comme Dreamond etc.

III/Have you always been in the band ? Have you sung in other bands?

No I arrived in 2011. I sung in other bands such as Dreamond..etc.

4/visiblement vous rejoignez les groupes actuels qui melangent une voix feminine melodique et une voix masculine genre death/black quel en est la raison?

4/ Nous ne rejoignons pas tout ‡ fait ce style de groupes. En gÈnÈral dans la plupart de ces groupes, la fille ne se contente que de la partie chant clair tandis que le chanteur s’occupe du chant saturÈ. Dans Lurking... Anthony et moi nous faisons du chant saturÈ et du chant clair ou “clair ÈcorchÈ” pour Anthony. Nous trouvons que le mÈlange chant clair et saturÈ apporte une plus value ‡ la musique en gÈnÈral, c’est pourquoi nous avons choisi cette voie.

IV/Obivously you are like all the new bands which mix melodic female voice with male growling Death/Black what’s the reason for?

We aren’t really like all bands, In general most bands the girl is only singing the clear part and the guy sings the growling part. In Lurking... Anthony and myself both sing the distorted voice as the clear one and shredded one for Anthony.

We feel the mix between clear and saturated brings more value to the music that’s the reason we chose this path.

5/etes vous fan des loup garous? ‘underworld’ etc... est ce juste une idee partie comme ca?

5/ Nous aimons en effet beaucoup les loups garous. D’ailleurs l’un de nos morceaux sur notre album parle d’une lai datant du 12Ëme siËcle de Marie de France. La lai de Bisclaveret. Elle traite d’un chevalier atteint de lycanthropie.

De plus, comme mentionnÈ plus haut, Lurking... signifie tapis dans l’ombre, les loups garous sont l’exemple type du

genre, ils se tranforment en loup garou qu’‡ la pleine lune. Et rappellons que le Loup Garou est mÈtaphoriquement cette force cachÈe en nous mÍme qui ne demande qu’‡ se rÈveiller.

V/ Are you fans of the werewolf? “underworld” ..or was it just a fun idea?

We love werewolves a lot, we have a song talking about 12thcentury ‘s story from Marie de France.’La lai de Bisclaveret’. It talks about a horseman who got lycanthropia. As I said Lurking means hidden in the shadow, werewolf are the best to describe this, they transform when the full moon arise. This is exactly what we are a hidden part that needs to come out.

6/l’image sur facebook a le signe de morbid angel et autres symboles, font elles parties de croyances ?

6/ Ce n’est pas le signe de Morbid Angel, c’est tout simplement liÈ au concept de notre nouvel album.

VI / The pic on Facebook got the Morbid Angel sign and other symbols are they part of your beliefs?

This is not Morbil Angel Sign, it’s just linked to the new album.

7/qui a fait la peinture de votre album? avez vous discuter avec lui ou il a ecoute votre musique ?

7/ Notre nouvel artwork a ÈtÈ conÁu par le talentueux artiste Jeff Grimal qui est lui mÍme aussi trËs inspirÈ par l’univers de Lovecraft (tout comme nous). Nous avons eu l’occasion de partager la scËne avec son groupe ‡ Paris, il connait donc notre musique et nous avons pu lui donner des informations sur les nouveaux textes afin qu’il puisse s’en inspirer.

VII /who designed the cover ? have you talked to him or sent the music?

Our new cover artwork has been created by the talented artist Jeff Grimal who is very inspired by Lovecraft as we are.

We had the occasion to share the stage with his band from Paris. He knows our music and we gave him information about the lyrics so he could get inspiration.

8/qui ecrit les texts? de quoi parlent ils?

8/ Pour le deuxiËme opus, avec Anthony, je me suis occupÈe des textes. Nous avons Ècrit de petites histoires inspirÈes de l’univers de Lovecraft. Il faudra acheter notre prochain alum pour en savoir plus HÈhÈ !

VII /Who writes the lyrics, what are they talking about?

For the second album with Anthony I dealt with lyrics, we have written small stories inspired by the univers of Lovecraft. You must buy the album to know much about it ahah 9/comment creer vous les chansons?

9/ Wil est notre principal compositeur. On le surnomme “la machine ‡ riff” il a toujours ÈnormÈment d’idÈes. En temps normal, Jphi et lui se voient pour Ècouter, synthÈtiser et clarifier les idÈes. Ensuite Wil nous prÈsente le rÈsultat en rÈpËte, qui est notre base de travail pour que nous y apportions notre touche personnelle.

IX /How do you write your songs?

Wil is our main composer. We call him ‘the riff machine’ he got many ideas.

Usually Jean Philippe and Wil meet together to listen and clarify ideas .Then Wil present us the resul at the rehearsal this is how we work so we all bring our final touch.

10/Avez vous joue a l’etranger?

10/ Nous n’avons pas encore eu l’occasion et la chance de jouer ‡ l’Ètranger. Nous espÈrons remÈdier ‡ cela dans les mois ‡ venir.

X/ Have you played abroad?

We haven’t yet but we will remedy in the next few months.

11/Avec quel groupes francais vous vous entendez bien et joue en concert?? avez vous des amis musiciens?

Lurking... a eu l’occasion de partager la scËne avec Ènormement de groupes plus sympathiques les uns que les autres, nous avons toujours eu la chance de tomber sur des gens adorables. Nous avons jouÈ avec des groupes franÁais comme The Great Old Ones (le groupe de notre illustrateur), When Reasons Collapse, Deficiency, Dylath Leen, Diary of Destruction, Unscarred, Infectious Hate, Kortex et bien d’autes ! Et nous nous entendons trËs bien avec chacun d’entre eux.

XI /With which french bands have you played live and have you got friends with musicians?

Lurking...had the chance to share the stage with many bands each as nicer as the others ones, we always had the chance to get very adorable people. We played with bands such as The Great Old Ones (the cover design’s band) When Reasons Collapse, Deficiency. Dylath Leen, Diary of Destruction, Unscarred, Infectious Hate , Kortex and many more! we got on pretty well with all of them.

12/quelle difficulte rencontrez vous de nos jours pour faire connaitre votre groupe?

12/ Les groupes locaux ont toujours des difficultÈs pour se faire connaitre. AprËs de notre cotÈ nous avons ÈnormÈment jouÈ sur Paris, donc meme si les gens ne connaissent pas forcÈment notre musique, le nom de notre groupe leur dit quelque chose. Nous avons tout fait par nous meme, y compris la vente de notre premier album. Nous n’avons pas de structure sur laquelle nous appuyer pour nous aider ‡ nous faire connaÓtre, mais nous avons quand mÍme vendu notre album: “Betrayed”, dans plusieurs pays (Espagne, Italie, Belgique, Turquie, Angleterre etc.)

XII /Which Difficulties you had to get heard?

Local bands have difficulties to get heard, For us we played a lot in Paris so people who don’t know us have heard the band’s name and our music. We did it all by ourselves even the sells of the albums. We don’t have a strong stucture to hold on to get support but we have sold our album ‘Betrayed’ in many countries (Spain, Italy, Belgium, Turky, Uk etc...)

13/quels sont vos groupes preferes ou ceux qui vous inspirent?

13/ Nos influences sont plutot ‡ aller chercher dans le Metal des annÈes 80 /90. Nous pouvons dire que nous nous retrouvons autour des groupes comme Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura, Pantera, Machine Head, In Flames, Death, Obituary, Paradise Lost, Anathema, Candlemass etc.

XIII /Ou are your favorite bands or the ones that inspired you?

Our influences are mostly in the 80’s n the 90’s . We are inspired by Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura, Pantera, Machine Head, In Flames, Death, Obituary, Paradise Lost, Anathema, Candlemass etc.

http://www.facebook.com/lurking.band

logan: 1/why starting a band? what made you want to do it and why not joining a band as you did before?

1) I have been behind the scenes for about 12 years producing and mixing other bands after playing machine head and Soulfly.

When I collaborating with Lauren my passion to play metal was re-ignited. It’s been a long time since I’ve played in a band but my passion to play music never died.

2/how did you get your wife involved? is it easier?

2.) Lauren is not my wife yet, we are engaged. Is it easier to be in a band with my fiancé ? It’s a unique creative situation. Our chemistry in the studio and outside the studio is so special that it does make being in a band together more exciting.

3/are you tired of playing with another guitarist so you wrote the whole stuff? how did you get the other members?

3.) Lauren and I wrote all of the music together and recruited talented, like-minded players through my network of musical relationships.

4/how is the life of sound engineer? which bands have you recorded so far? Does that brings another vision of music to be written? do you still have that beauty flying V from 1995?

4.) I love producing and mixing other bands. I’ve been fortunate to work with some great bands like Gojira, five finger death punch, devil driver, and fear factory. I enjoy helping realize their music and doing my best to make it sound amazing.

I do not still have that Flying V from 95.

5/looking back would you say living machine head was a great decision? what do you think of their success and the fact ex violence guitarist is in?

5.) I don’t have any regrets leaving machine head, that was a great time in my life. I’m very happy for their current success and the fact that Rob Flynn and I are friends. Robb invited Lauren and I recently to “An evening with machine head” in LA, and it was awesome.

6/what’s the meaning of the bands name and have you searched for it or it just came out like a dream out of your head?

6.) Once Human- we were all humans until wealth disconnected us, race separated us, religion divided us, and politics classified is. Lauren came up with the name Once Human.

7/The music as nothing related to what you’ve done before, have you changed your music likes?

7.) once human had it’s own identity that will reveal itself soon when our album is released. The body of work will speak for itself. I live metal like I always did.

8/you already did video and planned the whole concept with cd release etc.. do you have relation in the biz or talented friends? have you got your own label?

8.) we made a 4 song demo, shopped it to some labels and got signed by earMusic in Europe with distribution through eOne in North America.

9/what’s your view on the metal scene and what has changed ?

9.) The music business is more about relationships than it is about anything else. I’ve been in this business for 20 years and have good relationships.

I love the metal scene for a bunch of reasons, most of all because new sub genres are constantly evolving and traditional metal never goes out of style.

lauren : 1/have you sung or play guitar in other bands before?

1) I started playing at age 15 and always played/ scream in garage bands or have been part of underground side projects, but was never taken seriously because I don’t “look metal”.

2/have you wrote the lyrics? if so what is the line?

2) Logan and I wrote all the music and lyrics together.

3/what led you to sing that way?

3.) In those garage bands and jam sessions when I was a teen, we would always “free jam” black metal. I tried screaming into the mic one day after a few drinks, and I’ll never forget the look I got from the guys.. “Where the fuck did that come from?!” When you idolize Dimmu, opeth, Absu, and so on, I guess it comes from there!

4/which band has influenced you?

4) I cannot list all the black metal I like because it would take forever! But I love melodic/symphonic black metal. When I was a teen my favorite album was puritanical euphoric misanthropia by dimmu. It’s still my favorite album of all time to this day! Tied with that is Blackwater Park by opeth. Deliverance and Damnation are way up with my top albums too! I love nearly everything opeth and dimmu have ever done. I’m also influenced by Devon Townsend, arch enemy-wages of sin album, absu-Tara, children of bodom (follow the reaper) Etc.etc. classical music and Spanish guitar. The first album I ever bought for myself when I was a kid was yngwie malmsteen- trilogy!

5/have you got engineering skills or tech one?

5.) Logan does all the audio engineering. I do video directing and editing. The “devil can have you” video was self shot, produced, and edited by me (although you only saw the teaser!) I am currently writing the storyboard for our first music video and will be directing that as well.

6/is it a great fun to have a band with your husband?

6) Logan is not my husband yet! We are engaged.. But yes, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me. We are the best team creatively.. I admire him so much and I know he feels the same about me. The album is a great mix if my influences and his combined. You can hear just by how the music sounds, it was created by soul mates..

With black souls

www.facebook/oncehuman

Here you go, Sir.. Interview with Massacre Machine’s guitarist “Big Daddy Shred” 1/did you start the band? when and what was the aim?

Yes, I started the band. The band has existed in some form since about 1987 and it was formed as an outlet for original music I had started writing.

2/what’s the reason for the name?

We were trying to come up with an ominous attention grabbing name and after trying many that were already taken we hit upon Massacre Machine. The thinking was that we were gonna “Massacre” people’s ears and be as meticulous as a “Machine” about it.

3/how long the band has been going? did you have line up troubles that would give a break?

As I mentioned, we’ve been around since 1987-88 and is still going strong to this day. Along with myself, Brice Hamrick (v) and Mike Atkinson (b) have been with me since the beginning. It’s rare to have a group of guys still playing 28+ years on. We’ve had a time finding that elusive 4th guy for drums but have finally found him with adding Chuck Cooper.

4/have you released albums so far?

We’re broke working stiffs with no backers so everything for us comes out of pocket. We did manage to release a 5 song EP titled “Blood of Souls” 5/have you got label interest?

We’ve tried but none at present.

6/with which bands have you played live so far?

No one any more notable than we are (LOL) 7/what’s your relation with other Metal bands, is there union or conflict?

We’re sort of the mentors in our home area due to our longevity and hard built reputation. We get along great with other bands. The Memphis/Mid-South area is very unified and we all play shows together and help each other cross promote. All good.

8/ what’s your relation with Roeller Custom Guitars except your guitar?

I have a very good relationship with owner, Brett Roeller. I am an endorsed artist with them and my guitar is completely custom to my specifications. Any player in the market for a high end custom, I would highly recommend at least contacting Brett with your vision. I would also like to recommend and endorse VonYork USA guitar strings and Ubermut pedals. Great companies, products and people to work with.

9/have you given them instruction to make it?

Yes, it is entirely a custom build to my specifications.

10/who inspired you to play guitar? how long have you been playing?

My first influences were Jimmy Page, Ace Frehley, Richie Blackmore and Alex Lifeson. Then as time and I progressed, I discovered players like Randy Rhoads, Criss Oliva, Tony MacAlpine, George Lynch and Dimebag Darrell.

I started playing about 14 years old so 38 years now.

11/you state to be humble do you think too many guitarist are over the top?

There are some pretty arrogant players that have no place to be and those that can obviously back it up. Either way, it never matters how good you think you are. If you ever hope to make a living as a musician then it only matters to others that will pay to see you perform, buy your music and merch, or hire you for studio work. Being an unappreciative smug prick will not engage any support for you.

12/how would you describe your music, or is there a band that influence the most your creation?

We are all products of the late 80’s to early 90’s as it relates to our individual influences. Every band would like to think they have their own sound. Fortunately for us, most people think it’s difficult to pigeon hole us to a specific sound. Short answer I usually give to people is...Judas Priest meets Pantera.

13/who gave you that nickname and do you find it’s cool musicians have one?

I wasn’t looking for anything clever to market myself as a “brand”. It was quite accidental. We were playing a hometown club one evening some years ago and after a blistering solo, some guy at a table close to the stage jumps up and hollered “Look at BIG DADDY up there SHREDding his ass off”. Well it stuck (LOL). Yeah, I think if a player can market himself and his band with a stage name then sure...Why not ?

14/are you all good friends? who creates the music?

Yes, we’re close possibly even closer as any blood relationship. Even though I have written the majority of our music to date, each member has free creative reign to put his stamp on it as long as it fits and overall serves the song. I usually come up with lyrics and then a cadence to sing them to which becomes the riff but everyone has input and everything is split equally. None of us could perform this material without each other.

15/what would you say to a guy who asks advice to shred on the guitar?

Take bits and pieces from those players that you really appreciate but incorporate those into creating a style of you own. Don’t be an Yngwie copy or a Dimebag copy. Learn from whomever but strive to be yourself. As boring as it is, practice scales with a metronome or a drum pattern program. I personally just “grip it and rip it” and play what’s pleasing to my ears. Thanks for taking the interest in wanting to know more about myself and Massacre Machine. Keep defending the faith ~ Shred

www.massacremachine.com

1/you released this album on Steel Gallery Records, did you write it before getting signed? how did you find the label? Are they old songs you modified?

‘Fires Of Redemption’ had been recorded about 3 months previous to its release from Steel Gallery Records and it actually consists of 9 new compositions and one re-recording of the “The Seeker” that was originally featured on the “Chains” EP (2012), so we could say that they’re almost all new songs but some of them were actually a bit ‘older’, meaning the main ideas. During that 3-months-period before the release, we had been looking for what could possibly be the best option at that time, to release our debut album. We already knew the c/o of Steel Gallery Records, Kostas Athanasoglou, he listened and liked very much our ‘digital promo’ and that was it, actually. The rest is history…

2/can you tell about the name of the band? looks like you added “Ban”...have you had problems with other bands name?

No, no, we didn’t add “Ban”, there was never any problem with other bands’ names…or at least, so far there has been no problem! The name was from the very first moment “BanDemoniC”, actually! There are 2 explanations about it, one seems quite common and the other is a bit ‘contradictory’, but let’s leave it to the people, let them guess about it!

3/the logo has cool design but just a sketch no special color or effect, is it what you wanted? it has several ideas is it to express all your influences?

The logo is exactly what we imagined. We had been given 3 options, 3 sketches, every option was very cool but that had the exact feeling we wanted.

4/have you written the ablum like a book?

There’s not a common story-line for the entire album, but there’s a kind of concept story that consists of 2 tracks, “Disingenuous” and “ Martyr”. It’s about a character called “Martyr”, and describes the way he was balancing between darkness and light and how the dark powers tried to deceive him attempting to make him a slave of evil.

5/ Did you have other bands before? your album is such awesome.

Thanks a lot for the praise! Some of the band members had some other bands but they were like ‘school bands’/cover bands, a bit amateur and there were no actual goals to fulfill, actually.

6/How did you get that designer creating your album cover? have you participated to it or he just got inspired by the lyrics?

We contacted Dimitar Nikolov back in 2012 to design our “Chains” EP’s cover artwork and the actual result satisfied us very much so, we decided to proceed with him in our debut album, too. There was a clear, a definite ‘vision’ behind the cover of ‘Fires Of Redemption’ and we believe that it helped Dimitar deliver this awesome artwork. It could be considered as the perfect match between our ‘vision’ and his talent!

7/although you are very heavy they are some Thrash intros or outros riff , have you all different musical taste?

Of course, each one of us has different musical taste but we also have common interests and bands that we all love and respect! More or less, our heavy metal influences are the same!

8/you have released a perfect album, have played with many legend bands. Are you still living in greece? is the Metal scene is good?

We all live in Greece and that ain’t change very soon, we guess! Well, during the recent years there’s been great progress in the metal scene of our country, many bands release high quality albums, they tour...However, there are still obstacles to overcome and issues to be fixed but there’s been great progress, especially in the Thrash Metal genre!

9/you had great people mastering the album how did it happen?

After finishing the mixing process at Valve Studio, Thessaloniki with the precious aid of our good friend, Stratos Karagiannidis, we wanted to find a ‘master’-man that could give our stuff more powerful sound and, if possible, more ‘prestige’ to our release, too. It eventually ended up being Jacob Hansen, guitarist of the power metal band Pyramaze and a person that has worked with bands like Pretty Maids, Primal Fear, Doro, Epica, Volbeat, Tyr, Destruction, Heathen, Onslaught and many more!

10/did you have contact with the bands you played live? are they still friends?

It would be really awesome if we could be friends with every single band we share the stage, but it’s a bit difficult but besides that, we still keep contact with many band members/bands we have shared the stage in the past, especially via Facebook. We believe that our ‘friend-bands’ are Wardrum, our label mates that we recently did some shows together and the Heavy Metal maniacs from Larisa (GR), Warwolf.

11/have you taken vocal courses? who has inspired your voice?

Well, not exactly…George has been a member of a choir for about 2 years and there he learnt the basics and from that point and on he’s searching for new vocal techniques and tries to improve his vocal abilities on his own. His main inspirations are the ‘Metal Gods’, Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford as well as Tobias Sammet and Michael Kiske.

12/have you played abroad? which countries you’d like to play and is there a band you’d love to have on the bill?

We’ve never played abroad so far, but it’s in our plan to do that as soon as possible, hoping that it will be in late September/Early October. We have no specific countries we’d like to play…We want to play for passionate heavy metallers, that’s all but if we could make a mini UK tour some time, it would be very cool! Touring the land that gave birth to Heavy Metal…that would be AWESOME! Considering the band that we’d like to tour with…hmmmm…well, it’s more or less the same as the countries. We don’t have specific ‘wants’, but it would be awesome if we could be the support act for an Iced Earth Tour! You never know…dreams may come true!

13/have you got chances to play festivals?

What could have been done by us, is already done, regarding the festivals issue. We’ve sent our E-Press Kit to many festivals and it’s actually up to them if they’re going to give us the chance, but to be honest, it’s quite difficult, especially when we’re talking about a band that is at the beginning of its career and not so popular. On the other hand, we think positive, we believe in our music and hope that they’ll like our stuff and give us some chances!

14/are you all participating in the writting of the music and the lyrics?

Music is mainly composed by the guitarists, Erik Karamanis and C.A. Chairopoulos, but the rest of the band members may add some ideas. Now we’re working on the 2nd album, some other guys started take initiative in that

aspect and this could lead to a ‘wider’ sound. Regarding the lyrics, it’s Adrian Kyprianos’ (Drums) job, sometimes aided by Erik Karamanis, too.

15/which Greek band you are friends with and which ones you will recommand to follow?

Definitely, one band to recommend would be Wardrum! Just give yourselves the chance to listen to these guys and you’ll understand…

16/what’s your view on modern Metal ? when did you discover Heavy Metal and wanted to play that style?

There are many new bands that kick ass and of course, there are many other bands that are not actually of our style of preference. There’s a wide variety, that’s both good and bad, because you can find high quality stuff but on the other hand you can find lots of trash! Heavy Metal found us, we didn’t discover it, hahaha…We started listening to heavy metal at different ages but we decided that this was the style we wanted to play at the time we founded the band.

17/what are you using as equipment?

We use Ibanez and Jackson guitars, Dean bass guitar, Tama drums and Zildjan Cymbals, R-Stick drumsticks, No-logo guitar picks, Shure microphones. More or less, that’s the stuff we use.

18/some bands like to sing a song in their language , have you thought about it or you find it useless?

We believe that it doesn’t fit in our genre…On the other hand, Greek language sounds very good in the music of Rotting Christ which is actually more about mysticism than ours and that creates a trully dark vibe!

http://www.bandemonic.com www.steelgallery.com

Live interviews : Anthems of Steel festival 9 May 2015 Spidkilz Thrashback Mobutu Desillusion

AION #4 12 June 2015

Bestial Legacy Silver Machine www.youtube.com/user/DAH369metho (uploads) Cameraman, Interviewer, Video editor : ŠFranck Michaud

REVIEWS

Some of the best for 2015 but check the site for all bands

Edge Of Paradise : “Immortal Waltz” CD 2015 Pure Steel Records. USA Heavy Metal band. My metal supporters know I love this band and interviewed them as reviewed their first album. I can say the band has worked hard to find their way and sound. Line up changes and many live performances help to grow and this is a perfect album. What most to see after supporting them one of my favorite label signs them!!! the starts is powerfull with force that kicks straight in your face. The atmosphere is joyfull and the new bands universe is like a journey into their show ;) A dream that leads you to happiness and the keyboard slightly used gives that impression beeing in a movie. Margarita’s enchanting voice captures you to lift you up in the air. Let the circus go on and enter in a world full of madness, poetry and craziness! It could be Hitch cok paradise with marylin manson as the actress... Michael Wagener once again has hit the sound to power the beauty of the beast! They have made an awesome work and that totaly blows , a new name design and a very well found sound. Last track is just... surprise! 100/100 David Shankle Group : “Still a warrior” CD 2015 Pure Steel Records. USA Power Metal with no surprises awesome guitarist chose great musicians to make a perfect album. This is for me pure 80’s Metal with heavy rythm and a melodic voice that kicks from the first note. Damien Thorne’s singer brings melodies we could hear in bands such as Lethal, Dio, ...Pounding drums and a solo part with the ‘kings of metal’ reference from Dave’s crazy fast solos he likes to play today. The cover album represents well the music very powerfull and pounding ‘till the end! If the band plays live this will be a blast!!! Some great musicians guests are on the album too like Michael Angelo Batio...and else you’ll see by yourself once you got the album in april! what else to say? it’s just kick in the butt and enjoy your day with happiness ;) 100/100 Mobutu : “Axl Rose is dead” MCD 2015 Volvo Gang records France. Excellent package of a thin carton cover with awesome design!!! I apology for not reviewing this earlier. I saw the band live at Anthem Of Steel Festival and got their powerfull CD!!! Check out my utube channel to learn more from the band! This is pure fuking Rock n Roll and they recently changed line up so new drummer and new guitarist.

They will compose soon for a new cd. Basically for all the fans of kick ass tunes mainly inspired by Motorhead the only member left is the singer bass player who hits his instrument like crazy making me think of Jason Newsted or Steev Esquivel (they are all guitar players first ) a punchy distorted sound and a singer with a strong energy. You got to get their stuff or at least see them live it’s worth it!!! 100/100

Dogbane : “When Karma Comes Calling” CD 2015 Heaven And Hell Records.

The band is back with another great groovy album that reminds the 80’s with a cover close to Gream Reaper. They have their sound pretty forged into Metal.

Their songs are still talking about life so we can say they stick to their roots and it’s good to hear! The fifth song ‘devil by the horns’ has a Sabbatish touch ;) This is a great album and I can’t stop listening to it. I bought it on Bandcamp as it’s digital but will be released soon for sell on hard copies! One of the best band that represent well that label. It’s fukin pure Heavy Metal and it rocks 100/100

To be continued.... on the website many great albums to check!!!