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Interviews   

Borknagar: Øystein G. Brun finds balance between progress and tradition

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 9:54 am by Spaceman

Nobody knows for sure whether it is the return of famous bassist/singer ICS Vortex that sparked off Borknagar’s creativity, or if it’s precisely the band’s creativity that drove the man to join it again. Probably a bit of both. Whatever the answer, the Norwegian band is about to release Urd, a most accomplished and rich album. Possibly even the most accomplished and rich album in their career.

We simply had to know more about the genesis of such an album – for this is not the sort of result you get in a snap, from one day to the next. Øystein G. Brun, the band’s founder, guitarist and main composer, told us as much: not only did the band start shaping Urd before its predecessor, Universal, was even recorded, but this album demanded all of his time, 24/7, during six months. For this time, beyond mere composition, Borknagar wanted to polish every single detail, especially the production aspect.

So here we are: Borknagar are back, and they bring with them an album that deserves every scrap of attention you’ve got. Cherry on the cake, this is also a very balanced album, standing somewhere between a desire for progress and a will to keep all the key elements that have made the band’s strength since they started off. The title of the album, Urd, is therefore a tribute to the past – the kind that makes you go forward.

Interview.



Interviews   

Paradise Lost : the idol isn’t always the one you’d think it is

Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 6:28 pm by Spaceman

Nick Holmes, Paradise Lost singer, is a guy full of contradictions: he hates idol worship while being himself considered as an idol by his numerous fans. He’s fascinated by religions even though he finds them beyond understanding. According to him, Paradise Lost is, above all, a metal band, but still according to him, one of the band’s most important records isn’t metal at all. Sadness doesn’t inspire him because he thinks it’s too negative, but then sad music makes him feel good, and is considered positive. This complexity is probably a part of what makes the artist’s subtlety and, by extension, Paradise Lost’s uniqueness. Maybe that’s when you’re torn between opposites in your urges, your ideas and your feelings that creative energy starts to flow.

If there’s a permanent feature that never, or almost never failed Paradise Lost, it’s creative energy, proof of this being their new opus Tragic Idol that’s being added to an already rich and exemplary discography. No style experiments anymore, but a real expertise that makes them more than ever the kings of gothic doom metal.

We talked to Nick Holmes on the phone a couple of days ago, and he answered our questions.

Read the interview…



Interviews   

Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, joined in heavy matrimony

Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 6:02 pm by Metal'O Phil

You’d dreamed of it, and so had they. Now they’ve done it. Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske joined forces in a single band, with every intention of making it a solid, long-lasting project. In any case, Kai, Gamma Ray’s frontman, intends to put himself into this new band, Unisonic, as much as into his main project, and to take turns with each band every other year. Given the tastes boasted by Kiske, who has for years tried to distance himself from the metal world, this project is probably the most likely to appeal to his die-hard fans, frustrated by his most recent career choices.

After the appetizer that was the EP Ignition, the album of the same title will be released at the end of the month. A heavy metal album, all at once fresh, inspired and varied, which, without revolutionizing a genre struggling to try new things, offers exciting heavy riffs and melodies. But the band mainly rests with a rather dreamy duo: Kai Hansen on guitar and Michael Kiske behind the mike. A prestigious combination for any heavy enthusiast, which Kai talks about with wonder in his voice; for him, this collaboration was painfully obvious, Michael being, in his own words, his musical soul mate.


Interview…



Interviews   

Overkill’s positive aggressiveness

Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at 2:20 pm by Metal'O Phil

“It’s been one hell of a ride!” That’s what Bobby Blitz Ellsworth would like his wife to have engraved on his gravestone. Nothing really original here, you’d think. The line between what deserves to be call a classic and what is merely cliché can only be drawn based on our own criteria. Nevertheless, when you talk to Overkill’s emblematic frontman, you can’t help but realize that the only real difference between the two is sincerity. A cliché is only disturbing if it’s the only thing you remember from a work of art, if it’s perceived as a grotesque costume. When a work of art is created through pure spontaneity and authenticity, that feeling just melts away. Honestly, would anyone here call Lemmy a cliché?

More to the point, the members of Overkill won’t revolutionize music, but there’s little doubt they do things with passion. They love what they do. Even better: they STILL love what they do, even after the twenty-fifth anniversary of their career. We’ve asked Bobby to give us his feelings, his analysis, his memories regarding this band life. And the main point is pleasure. A pleasure the listener will perceive in the band’s aggressive but still positive music, as well as in the friendship that unites the musicians. What the title of this new record, The Electric Age, describes is precisely the effervescence that goes beyond the album, beyond the stage, and implants itself in the listener’s mind, making Overkill part of a community and of a genre they’re proud of.

On the occasion of the release of The Electric Age, on March 30th, this little chat was the opportunity to look back with an enthusiastic and talkative Bobby Blitz on Overkill’s longevity and its place in the world of music and thrash metal.


Interview…



Interviews   

Municipal Waste thrives (and survives) through partying

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 1:05 pm by Radio Metal

Following the example of Tankard, the guys from Municipal Waste play thrash, drink, party, mess around and put their audience in a trance. In terms of personalities – and there really wasn’t any doubt about that –, they’re spontaneous people, whose career as the spearhead of revival thrash metal was not planned at all: “When we were starting the band we would always listen to that, it’s just a no-brainer to play that kind of music for me. “. On and off the stage, this sense of partying is also a way to survive the trying rhythm of a tour.

On the occasion of the release, on April 13th, of the excellent The Fatal Feast (as opposed to “fist”, as some journalists with their minds stuck in the gutter would think), an album which conveys the band’s passion for horror movies, we had the opportunity to talk to guitarist Ryan Waste. After the interview, our translator Chloé concluded that our minds were indeed forever lost in the gutter. Which Ryan Waste himself did confirm. And that is no small feat…

Interview.



Interviews   

ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN: OPTIMISM AND HYPERACTIVITY

Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 6:29 pm by Metal'O Phil

Everything Is Changing is the first album where Anneke Van Giersbergen is truly coming to terms with her condition of solo artist. Musically speaking, while its predecessor, In Your Room, was full of obvious joy, this new record gets back in touch with a still positive but more measured and deeper emotion, which takes the full weight of life into consideration.

More than opinions, this interview with the ray of sunshine that is Anneke conveys enthusiasm and freshness. Ever since she left The Gathering, the singer seems to have reached a form of bliss in her life: while she makes every artistic idea that goes through her mind (from a children’s play to a song with Napalm Death…) a reality, she spends all the time she needs with her family.

Anneke Van Giersbergen exudes happiness, and that’s enough. And when you read this interview, you’ll envy her her enthusiasm and her serenity.

Lire l’interview…



Interviews   

Black Stone Cherry rocks without getting hammered

Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 5:41 pm by Metal'O Phil

A few weeks ago, we had John Fred Young – Black Stone Cherry’s drummer – on the phone. He had just come back from a tour, opening for Alter Bridge.

Having an erratic phone-line, this interview was hard to process. It was scheduled to take place two days earlier and had to be postponed for the following reason, which we laughed about with our contact from the record label: “Listen, I’m sorry, we’ll have to postpone the interview: we lost him, we don’t know where he is.” Many labels and managers probably get to experience this surreal situation pretty often when having to deal with somewhat absent-minded musicians who tend to disappear without a warning. Anyway, this was one of those interviews that could have never been published on Radio Metal.

Click here to read next…

Interviews   

Anathema: the contrast of happiness

Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 4:56 pm by Metal'O Phil

For the past two years, Anathema have been feeling better in every respect: personally, professionally and musically. When we interviewed him in 2010 on the occasion of the release of We’re Here Because We’re Here, Danny Cavanagh told us: “I am in a better place in my life and so my music and my band are in a better place emotionally”. And in the present interview, conducted on the eve of the release of the band’s next album, Weather Systems, Vincent Cavanagh does confirm this fact: Anathema have never been prouder of their releases than in these past two years.

An enthusiasm that can be heard in the musical evolution of the English band. Not that their albums are particularly exuberant or festive – they simply convey a feeling of deep calm. Or how to find happiness by going through every single experience of life, including the worst kind, with great composure. Some will blame the band for not writing as many hymns to sadness as before (“Anathema sounded better when they were low”). Whether you like them or not, We’re Here Because We’re Here and Weather Systems go much farther than that, by embracing and looking at life and all its contrasts – hence the climatic metaphor used on this latest record.

But this feeling of accomplishment does not keep the band from being humble, or from imposing no interpretation, even their own, to the listener. What truly matters is the sharing of feelings: “It’s up to you to decide what we do; […] someone on the other side of the world can listen to this music and relate that is some way to their own life, because the experiences we talk about are quite universal”. Vincent actually considers that he’s being “controlled” by his music, and not in control of his own art.

Click here to discover this interview…

Interviews   

Kill Devil Hill: Rex Brown’s “musical journey”

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 1:54 pm by Metal'O Phil

Rex Brown’s enthusiasm about his new band with Vinny Appice, Kill Devil Hill, can only be matched by his refusal to talk about the Down case. Tired of being asked about his health, he even implies that his ex-colleague Phil Anselmo may have distorted reality a bit when talking about his health issues as he announced the bassist’s departure from Down. A departure Brown credits to musical reasons, his “musical journey” in which Kill Devil Hill seems to be the next step, a spontaneous and simple band who’s lyrics and artwork aren’t to be read too much into.

However, though he insists that there is no bad blood between him and his colleagues from Down and Pantera, we can’t help growing impatient about the release of the autobiography he’s currently working on to know what actually happened.


Interview…



Interviews   

Napalm Death: trying to change things

Friday, February 17th, 2012 at 11:23 am by Metal'O Phil

Not so long ago, I stumbled upon a video on TV, which, with a healthy dose of humor and cynicism, denounced the fact that, on the occasion of almost every presidential election of the French fifth republic, every future president made more or less the same promises, which could be summarized thus: “I will be the President who brings change”. While of course, at the same time, accusing their predecessor of being opposed to said change. Far from sharing the view that “politicians are all rotten anyway”, Mark Greenway, aka “Barney”, Napalm Death’s emblematic frontman, blames the lack of change on the political system and its restraints, rather than on the people who make it up – some of them having, after all, a concrete project.

Changing society and fighting for its ideals are life-long struggles, whose results are barely, if at all, visible. But as Barney would put it, it’s better to “try and do something and make very small steps, rather than do nothing at all and have no doubt”.

This interview is of course not all about society, but also about music. About Napalm Death’s music and its possible evolutions, and about music in general, with Barney insisting on the importance of judging a piece of art with spontaneity and through one’s emotions, rather than through classifications, of which the metal audience remains very fond.

Click here to read this interview…



<<Previous
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    Sonata Arctica and its youth
    Sunday, 6 May 2012 à 21:16
    Michael Schenker pays homage to a closing musical era
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    Gojira: L’Enfant Sauvage track by track
    Tuesday, 1 May 2012 à 16:46
    Gojira’s Subconscious
    Sunday, 29 April 2012 à 13:25
    Gojira: Joe Duplantier answers your questions
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    KREATOR: MORE THAN JUST THRASH
    Wednesday, 25 April 2012 à 14:18
    Andrew W.K.: Carpe Diem
    Monday, 16 April 2012 à 14:14
    Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke): visionary or idealist?
    Thursday, 12 April 2012 à 9:47
    Jim Marshall: more than a brand
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