Interviews
To date, we have conducted 844 interviews. If your band is available for an interview, feel free to contact us and we'll see what we can do. Here are our latest:
Displaying records 1 - 25 of 844 1 2 3 ... 33 34 Last
Band Photo: Iced Earth
The 1st Night: The Iced Earth Tour With Stu Block
Over the past few years, Iced Earth released the admirable efforts “Framing Armageddon” and “The Crucible of Man.” The former featured vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens and the latter marked the return of Matt Barlow. The two albums were met with equal mediocre fan response. It seemed as though the band lost a little steam. With Barlow departing for a second time, guitarist Jon Schaffer had a plan.
Century Media representatives suggested he check out a stellar new vocalist from a Canadian progressive extreme band called Into Eternity, a band that was making great waves in the metal scene. After seeing the fire in Stu Block’s eyes that he desperately needed, Schaffer was impressed but still a little unsure on how Block’s patented “hybrid vocal” style (combining traditional, extreme and death style vocals) would fit in with Iced Earth. After just one tryout, Stu was hired. The end result was the realization of Schaffer’s vision: “Dystopia.” The album reinvigorated the band and the reviews proved it.
What followed was a highly successful tour of Europe in late 2011, which brought them to the eve of the first night the most prolific power metal tour to hit North America in years: Iced Earth co-headlining with Symphony X. Now, Hartford isn’t exactly the first place you would think of for prolific tours, but Connecticut was blessed with the opportunity to be the first to witness this event (see our show review). Stu Block sat down with Metal Underground in the back lounge of the band’s tour bus to give the low down on his recruiting.
Band Photo: Ministry
Al Jourgensen Gives Dope on "Relapse"
Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen has made a career out of bashing the policies of the Bush family. In 1992, he released “Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs,” which contained sound clips of George Herbert Walker Bush’s famous “New World Order” speech. Eight years later, Jourgensen revisited anti-Bush songs on “Houses of the Molé.” This time, a different Bush was in office—George Walker Bush. Even though his policies were similar to his father, there were still differences. These similarities and differences were reflected on the song “NO W,” which showed Jourgensen rearranging the letters in the title of “NWO,” as well as building on a similar musical foundation.
“Rio Grande Blood” (2006) and “The Last Sucker” (2007) featured an album cover depicting G.W. Bush surrounded by various symbols of secret societies such as Masonic pyramids. The latter record portrayed our former president as a David Icke-type shape-shifting reptoid. These three albums were part of a Bush-blasting trilogy. It seems as if Al Jourgensen pens his best material when a Bush is in power. At the end of the Bush era, Al Jourgensen announced that the group’s 2007 record, "Last Sucker" would be Ministry’s swan song. With no Bush in the White House, Jourgensen tapped out of Ministry material. Five years later, the father of industrial metal returns with a new album, “Relapse,” available March 27, 2012.
Mike Scaccia urged Jourgensen to make another Ministry album when the two were recording “Biker’s Welcome! Ladies Drink Free,” Jourgensen’s anticipated country band. Scaccia previously played with Jourgensen on “Psalm 69.” Joining Scaccia on “Relapse” are his Rigor Mortis band mate, Casey Orr, Tony Campos (Static X) and Tommy Victor (Prong). Even though the Democrats are in power, the state of our country and the world has fueled Al Jourgensen with enough material to write one last album.
Al Jourgensen spoke with Metal Underground on the phone about recording the new Ministry album and his Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters debut, as well as touching on his love for tattoos, support of the 99 percent movement and doomsday predictions.
Uncleansed Discusses New Vocalist James Vandenberg
Texas boasts one of the largest death metal scenes in the world. Death Metal-themed festivals provide a forum for the legions of death and grind acts to puke forth cadaverous abominations upon the heads of their cannibalistic followers. Houston-based Uncleansed is a group that has always battered and splattered the ears of this scribe on the festival circuit.
I reported their powerful performance at Goregrowler's Ball 5. Vocalist Shawn Whittaker seemingly derived his voice from the bottomless perdition. Recently, the group announced Whittaker left the band and welcomed new vocalist, James Vandenberg from the Austin’s Perversum as their new growler. Along with drummer Darrell White, Vandenberg corresponded with Metal Underground.com via email about joining the band, his first live performance and new material.
Band Photo: Biohazard
Biohazard Guitarist Talks "Reborn In Defiance"
Biohazard reunited in 2008 with the line-up that arguably performed the best albums the band has written to date, including the self-titled debut, “Urban Discipline,” and “State Of The World Address.” They went on several tours to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary, and even found some time to get back in the studio and record a new record, “Reborn In Defiance.” While it was important for fans to hear music from the core group of musicians who made some of the most reveled hardcore records of the ‘90s, the reunion was also an opportunity for four guys to come together after over a decade apart and hash out their difference. I spoke to guitarist Bobby Hambel about his return to the band, bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld’s departure, and his excitement of Black Sabbath going back out on tour.
Martin Steene Discusses Iron Fire's "Voyage"
Just after the “To the Grave” album, Iron Fire made a pact. With a changing world and the ever growing stagnation surrounding power metal these days, the band made a decision to play with the sound to freshen it up and elevate the band beyond the norm and above the fray. The change was delayed a bit with the release of “Metalmorphosized,” which was not the original planned album, but one that ended up as a collection of unused songs that were re-recorded along with three newer sounding tracks that were intended for a later release. It was a test by the band to see how the fans would react, mixing standard brand Iron Fire with new fresher sounding power metal. With the reaction solid, the band continued to “metalmorphosize” the sound until it eventually became “Voyage of the Damned” (see our review here).
Martin Steene caught up with Metal Underground to discuss his views on power metal, how it needs to change and why Iron Fire had to make a leap of faith in an effort to separate itself from the pack and drive the power metal scene into a new stratosphere. Steene also makes a desperate plea for a phone call from Ayreon's Arjen Anthony Lucassen!
Band Photo: The Body
Interview with The Body; Video Available
The Body is like a relentless road warrior; bringing you the heaviest, most distorted two-piece metal you've ever heard. Having just wrapped up a tour with Thou and soon to set off with The Braveyoung, The Body just don't stop recording and performing music. I caught up with drummer Lee and guitarist/vocalist Chip at the Zeitgeist in New Orleans to talk about the many and varied recent albums and what their favorite films are. I included the bonus footage "The Body: The Search for the Robo Cop Pinball Machine." A transcription is below the video footage.
Band Photo: Napalm Death
Napalm Death Frontman Discusses "Utilitarian"
Britain's Napalm Death, one of the world's seminal acts in grindcore, death metal, and extreme music writ large, are set to release their fifteenth studio album "Utilitarian" late next month via Century Media. Phoning me from his Birmingham home, gruff (and outspoken) vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway joined Metal Underground for a refreshingly candid chat to discuss just that. Here's what took place:
Band Photo: Psycroptic
Dave Haley of Psycroptic Discusses New Album
It's not a stretch to say that I absolutely loved the new Psycroptic album or that the band is capable of putting on a great show in a live setting.
After hearing the changes made on "The Inherited Repression" I was interested to see what drummer Dave Haley of Psycroptic had to say about their creative process that led to the new album being such a breath of fresh air in a predictable metal scene.
Aborted Explains New Album "Global Flatline"
The death masters from Aborted will be dropping another slice of blistering metal mayhem tomorrow, aptly titled "Global Flatline." To get an inside look at the new release, I got in touch with Aborted vocalist Sven de Caluwé and chatted about everything from shooting music videos to fielding fan questions.
Check out the full interview below, in which Sven offers his thoughts on critical reaction to the album (You can find Metalunderground.com's own review here), getting guest spots from members of The Black Dahlia Murder and Benighted, and Aborted's plans to hit the road in February.
Matt Johnsen Of Pharaoh Talks About The New Album
As Pharaoh's fourth album, "Bury the Light," will be unveiled on March 6th in the U.S. (February 24th in Europe), it is hard to fathom that this Philadelphia power metal band is going on seventeen years of existence. But much can be attributed to all of the members of Pharaoh being vocal about creating quality power metal for the sake of doing so, trudging on all these years for the love of what they do despite not achieving great commercial success. "Bury the Light" is the logical progression from Pharaoh's last one, "Be Gone," and unleashes ten tracks of epic power metal that will further cement this band's status as one of the best traditional metal bands currently out there. Streaming the new track "Castles in the Sky" here on Metal Underground recently, we also caught up with cerebral and quirky Pharaoh guitarist Matt Johnsen to get his take on the new album, the band and the metal community as a whole.
Interview With Ben Ward Of Orange Goblin
It's been five years since their last release, and Orange Goblin has never gone out of style. Soon to release "A Eulogy for the Damned," the long-running creepy stoner band has concerts lined up in support and celebration of the anticipated album which is already garnering a great response. You can read a review of it here. I was able to talk to vocalist Ben Ward about the album and exactly how H.P. Lovecraft and his monsters came into play.
Band Photo: Cannibal Corpse
Rob Barrett of Cannibal Corpse Discusses "Torture"
Cannibal Corpse has left a trail of bloated, blue-skinned bodies that traces back twenty-two years. The skull envisioned on “Eaten Back to Life” spilled out its writhing, maggot-filled content. Since then the group has followed the maggots’ slimy trails and found ten to twelve horrific scenarios of death about every other year. Although getting older, the group’s twelfth full-length “Torture” (available March 13th, 2012 via Metal Blade) proves these death metal legends are not ready to be tagged and bagged just yet.
More bands have mimicked the group’s bludgeoning style and grotesque imagery than any other group in death metal. Although they weren’t the first death metal band, one could make a strong argument they are the most popular. Staying on top takes hard work, but Cannibal Corpse is up to the task. Each interview concerning “Torture” reveals its subject exclaiming the greatness of the album. From the graphicness of the cover art to the compositions to the speed and the production, each member has extolled the virtues of “Torture.”
Guitarist Rob Barrett offers the same positive tone as his comrades of carnage. In the following interview Barrett states the album is drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz’s best performance of his career. He also explained how splitting time between two recording studios—Erik Rutan’s MANA studio in Florida and Sonic Ranch in Texas—helped the band get the best sounding record possible. Before diving into the details of making “Torture,” we spoke to him regarding his mates’ recent injuries.
Nephelium Chats About "Coils Of Entropy"
Eventually all things break down and all life dissolves into nothingness: this is the message of Nephelium's "Coils of Entropy," a lesson in old school, brutal, and utterly soul destroying death metal.
Take part in the decay and check out samples from the album (reviewed here) or download the full song "Merciless Annihilation" free via Nephelium's Bandcamp and Reverbnation pages.
The album doesn't officially drop until February 7th, but after hearing an advance copy I had to get ahold of the crushing death metal act to find out the story behind "Coils of Entropy." Drummer Alan Madhavan corresponded with me to share the tale of the band moving from the United Arab Emirates to North America, striking a balance between outright brutality and complex song structures, and to tell all upcoming metal bands to never surrender.
Kambrium Blazes A "Shadowpath" To Glory
Kambrium has been navigating the sea of bands in the bursting German scene for a couple of years now. In 2010, they self-released the stunning EP “A Silent Moon.” In 2011, the band released “Shadowpath,” which brought an overwhelmingly exciting and refreshing sound of epic progressive death metal. At the same time the band can blastbeat with the best black metal bands they could stand alongside such symphonic greats like Epica (see Metal Underground's review of "Shadowpath"). The sound drew the attention of Massacre Records who quickly signed the quintet and issued “Shadowpath” worldwide.
Keyboardist/songwriter Jan Hein checked in with Metal Underground to talk about “Shadowpath” and how a bunch of untrained musicians spawned the idea of Kambrium during a party over a couple of beers in 2005.
The Kandidate Steps Forward
Extreme. Aggressive. Confrontational. Intimidating. All familiar words in the heavy metal genre, but a single listen to The Kandidate will make you wonder whether you've wasted those words on lesser, undeserving bands. This Danish quartet pummels viciously away at your sense of physical safety until you can nearly smell the lead from the aural pipe swinging toward your head. But if you can withstand the beating, you'll marvel at The Kandidate's organic, streamlined blend of heavy subgenres that boasts a sly and infectious charm beneath its tough veneer.
One of the sources of that charm is guitarist Allan Tvedebrink, who graciously phoned me from his home in Denmark to discuss his love of music and songwriting, the stylistic evolution on The Kandidate's impending sophomore album "Facing The Imminent Prospect Of Death," and more.
Band Photo: Chthonic
Chthonic Discusses Terrorist Threat Against Tour
There's no other way to describe “Takasago Army” other than an absolute masterpiece of an album that's going to go down in history as one of the best metal albums of the past decade. It made enough of an impression on me that I absolutely had to meet the band myself. This was the first time since I was writing for Ultimate Poser Blog that interviewing a band had managed to turn me into a drooling fanboy. Thankfully, I was able to meet all of Chthonic, and found that everyone in the band is absolutely 100% awesome despite my wide-eyed fanboyism emanating as an aura around me. Freddy Lim was cool enough to chat with Metalunderground.com about Taiwanese politics, the Far East metal scene in Asia and Oceania, and an actual terrorist threat against the band's most recent North American tour.
Ed Warby Discusses The Making Of The 11th Hour
It may come easy for most to be sad, moody depressive and otherwise despondent in one’s daily life. Just through dealing with the world’s daily negativity or living through the death of loved ones and friends, it is easy to see how the road to sadness is a slippery one to travel. It is a whole other thing to tap sadness and despair so perfectly through music that it alters the listener’s emotional state. Now try to accomplish that essentially on your own. Welcome to the world of Ed Warby.
Warby, who is best known for his drum work with Gorefest and Hail of Bullets, caught up with Metal Underground to discuss the making of The 11th Hour’s “Lacrima Mortis,” which stands toe to toe with the greatest doom metal masterpieces of all time. With The 11th Hour set to unleash its tears of anguish onto a world already filled with so much despair, we learn that Warby is more than just a mere drummer. He is a one man band. Unlike other one man projects, with something not quite right with at least one of the instruments, Warby is a perfectionist who will work until “the 11th hour” to dazzle and stun the world to prove he is an aficionado of doom.
Band Photo: Arch Enemy
Michael Amott Discusses His Future
Michael Amott is by far one of the most influential names in metal, having released some of the most important metal albums of the past 20 years with both Arch Enemy and Carcass. Having spent his entire adult life on the road and still growing Arch Enemy's commercial potential, it's safe to say that Michael Amott has secured his name in metal history.
Metalunderground.com got the chance to meet with the guitar wizard himself to discuss his musical influences, juggling two bands and what it's like to have been in a band with your brother for a decade and a half.
Mastodon Discusses New Album And Tour Plans
Mastodon is one of those bands that can’t disappoint even if the band tried. Having seen Mastodon live twice I'll definitely say that anyone looking to see the group in concert is probably going to have a total blast.
What's more important is that the Mastodon guys are actually awesome in person. Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor sat down to talk about their new album “The Hunter,” their recent tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Elmyr and what original vocalist Eric Saner is up to.
Diecast Gearing Up To Storm The Metal Scene
Boston metalcore act Diecast has been relatively quiet since the release of 2006's "Internal Revolution," but that's just the calm before the storm as the band gears up for what may just be its biggest year yet.
With new material in the works and more tour dates being lined up, the band is excited to be headed back into the scene in a big way, and as details are still being finalized I got the chance to chat with guitarist Jon Kita.
Jon shared the history of the band, from the highs of touring with nationally known acts to the lows of dropping off the Century Media roster, and also filled me in on the band's upcoming output that will ensure 2012 will be the year of Diecast.
Clutch's Tim Sult Discusses Playing Special Shows
Heavy rock’n’groove maestros, Clutch recently returned to the United States after a European stint supporting Danish rockers Volbeat. As of December 27th, the Maryland-based group began a run of five dates in the east coast with Corrosion of Conformity. Ten days prior, the staff at the Austin, Texas nightclub, Emo’s flew Clutch out to play two special shows.
The first show, on the 17th, took place at Emo’s East. This large club formerly went under the guise of The Backroom. Since opening the new location, Emo’s has announced it will end fifteen years of punk and metal at its Sixth and Red River location. Emo’s has the reputation of being a legendary rock club, so the club decided to go out in style by bringing Clutch in to play an intimate show inside it’s club (the outdoor venue closed its doors a few weeks back).
Before and after taking Emo’s East’s large stage with tangible lighting, Metal Underground caught up with Space Master General, guitarist Tim Sult to get the details about these special shows, Clutch beer and new material.
Nothnegal Discusses Upcoming Album "Decadence"
Burgeoning Maldives based act Nothnegal is about to crack wide open the gates of the melodic death metal scene with the upcoming debut album "Decadence," which spices up the formula with the unexpected addition of industrial and symphonic elements. Check out Metalunderground.com's full review of "Decadence" at this location.
As the official release of "Decadence" nears, guitarist Hilarl and keyboardist Marco touched bases with us to discuss the upcoming album, signing with Season of Mist, and recording tracks for the release all around the world.
Check out the full interview below, or get a taste of "Decadence" by listening to the album's teaser trailer here.
Band Photo: Abnormal Thought Patterns
An Interview With Abnormal Thought Patterns
Jasun and Troy Tipton have been an unstoppable duo for over two decades. Making a name for themselves with the progressive metal act Zero Hour, they astounded listeners with Jasun’s guitar antics and Troy’s technical bass playing. However, in 2009, Zero Hour went on hiatus as Troy had ulnar nerve entrapment surgery. Ever since then, they have been busy with Cynthesis and a new instrumental project, Abnormal Thought Patterns. Abnormal Thought Patterns allows the brothers to let loose without a vocalist or traditional song structuring holding them back.
With an EP recently released, and new material being written, the band doesn’t seem to be a one-and-done project. Jasun Tipton spoke to me in early December about Abnormal Thought Patterns, an update on Troy’s condition, and what the future of Zero Hour may be.
Regal and Thunderous Ideas: An Interview With Czar
Chomping at the bit with energy, Chicago three-piece Czar has released an impressive EP and one album, titled "Vertical Mass Grave." Defining Czar's sound is a bit like searching for a black shirt in a dark room, although one thing is certain: It has a trail-blazing quality to it. Czar's Brian Elza, Dan Brill, and Jason Novak explain their craft, their songs, and themselves.
Heart Of Barf Talks Sax In Metal And More
Going about as far from the traditional metal lineup as you can before entirely leaving the genre behind, the Heart of Barf trio defies expectations by consisting of a drummer, sax player, and extreme vocalist.
If the lineup and the name makes you think the group is joke to laugh at for 10 seconds and move on, think again: although clearly not taking themselves too seriously, the guys from Heart of Barf make surprisingly well crafted music that effectively shows the sax is a metal instrument. You can check out several songs from the band by heading over here.
To get the inside scoop on Heart of Barf and find out how the bizarre combination of musicians came to be I got in contact with sax maestro Ed RosenBerg, who discussed the band's history, how metal groups have used sax in the past, and the difficulties of writing sax parts for a heavy and fast paced band.
