Napalm Death Frontman On Songwriting And Touring

Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with NAPALM DEATH frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the group's songwriting process:

"We try not to be too relaxed when we're writing songs, because we feel that urgency and that on the edge sort of feeling can be helped by not giving ourselves too much time to come up with the material. I wouldn't want that kind of loose vibe that some other bands have. I would think that we would kind of get bored if we had to write an album that way. The momentum would be a little lacking I think. We like that pressure. At times I'll find myself at my computer tapping out lyrics with absolute ease, and other days I can have a complete mental block and find myself screaming the place down. But at the end of the day, that pressure to come up with stuff really works. I don't know why, but it just does. I guess we've just found our little way of making things work for us. This time around, we put ourselves under a little bit of pressure, as we always do, went in there and came up with whatever we came up with. There was no great master plan. We just came up with some songs, and recorded what we felt was good at the time. It was the same deal as always when it comes to making NAPALM DEATH albums. Only this time, I think everything came together perfectly."

On the new album's guest appearance by Anneke Van Giersbergen from Dutch progressive act THE GATHERING:

"Some bands might drag guests in for their album purely for the sake of having that someone sing on their album. But for us, we always do things in context. Jello Biafra (who appeared on 'The Great And The Good') was totally right for that track that he did. In fact, when you listen to the original guide vocal I did before Biafra did his thing, you can tell that he took the track to a whole other place. That's the whole point. If you're going to bring in another guest, they have to compliment the song, or add to the song rather than just sound the same. And for this album, Giersbergen's contributions to both 'Weltschmerz' and 'In Deference' were totally in context. Some people might say it's a bit fucking weird, but it's in context with what the song is actually about. You have to hear the song, because without hearing it, it does sound a little strange having someone like Giersbergen singing on a NAPALM DEATH track. I think both tracks sound very much like CELTIC FROST around the 'Morbid Tales' (1984) era. But then when you think of other bands in the past, like CRASS and CONFLICT, who always added female vocalists, it's not that strange. I always loved that, because it was in complete contrast to what the male vocalists were doing. I think it worked, because they complimented the songs really well. I've read what some people have already posted on some forums, but stuff like that is inevitable! (Laughs) They're saying things like, 'Ah! Operatic metal vocals! What are they doing?' Those people haven't heard that song yet. Once they hear it in context, they'll understand."

On touring:

"We're just about to dive in at the deep end, but it'll be fucking great. I'm dying to get out there and play some more shows. I love touring! (Laughs) Touring very much depends on your own feelings about yourself. Contrary to some romantic visions some have about touring or being in a band, it's a hard fucking slog. It really can be sometimes. You have to be ready to deal with that. Some people just aren't built to tour. When I say that, I don't mean the hedonistic side or the excessive side, because that's not NAPALM DEATH's about anyway. It's hard in the sense that you're away from home, there's no grounding and there's no personal touch about that nomadic life. You're either in a van or sharing a bus with a bunch of people just heading from place to place. You have to be equipped to deal with that. I am now, but I wasn't equipped for that for some time. Now, I'm really positive about life on the road. I like to make a positive out of anything. I'm looking forward to it, because I know that in the live sense, we're honed to a point now where we really fucking go for it. We're finding that we're really enjoying it now. It's great. We're even hoping to tour Australia this time around. It just hasn't worked out in the past, but hopefully that won't be a problem from this point on. We fucking need to be down there. It's been some ten years since we were last down there! (Laughs) We definitely make conscious efforts to make a tour work down there with our other tours (Regions such as Japan and Asia), so hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later."

Read the full article at The Metal Forge.

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Distorted Mind is Looking for New Members

Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Will Bozarth of the New Jersey black/death/doom metal band Distorted Mind is looking to reform the band with new members. He currently is seeking another guitarist, bassist, and drummer.

He issued the following update on Myspace regarding this choice:

"Seeing that there is a bunch of Distorted Mind material that seemed to be lost forever, I decided to do something about it. Towards the end of Distorted Mind, I had written all of the music for the following songs:

Fires of Fate
We Die Tomorrow
Carving Insides
Injection till Death
Ambush

I feel that these songs should not be lost forever, and since I retain 100% of the musical credits, I will be recording and releasing them under the name Distorted Mind.

There will be another Distorted Mind release, and it will be done properly. Keep a look out."

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Killswitch Engage Announce "Secret" MySpace Show

Monday, November 20th at the Key Club in West Hollywood, CA. For more information on the show, which is sponsored by MySpace, you can check here.

In related news, you can also stream the band's entire new album, As Daylight Dies, over at their official MySpace page.

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Cauldron Announce Tour Dates

CAULDRON, the new band formed from the ashes of the now-defunct Toronto traditional metal act GOAT HORN, has announed the following dates:

Nov. 17 - Parma, OH @ Jigsaw Saloon*
Nov. 18 - Youngstown, OH @ Nyabinghi*
Nov. 19 - Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar*
Nov. 23 - Montreal, QC @ Katacombes
Nov. 24 - Moncton, NB @ Paramount
Nov. 25 - Halifax, NS @ Pavilon (early show)
Nov. 25 - Halifax, NS @ Gus' Pub (late show)
Nov. 30 - Ottawa, ON @ Cafe Decuf (with JOE THRASHER and TOXICATOR)

* with SKELETON WITCH

CAULDRON features in its ranks former former GOAT HORN members Jason Decay (bass, vocals) and Al Biddle (drums), along with guitarist Ian Kilpatrick. The band recently uploaded a demo version of the song "The Striker Strikes" from its upcoming EP "Jump in the Cauldron" at this location.

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Vader Post Live Video From Switzerland Online

A video clip of Polish death metallers VADER performing the song "Helleluya (God Is Dead)" on October 5, 2006 at Les Docks in Lausanne, Switzerland, has been posted online at YouTube.com.

VADER's "Impressions in Blood" album entered the Polish national chart at position No. 8. The band's video for the song "Helleluyah (God Is Dead)" has been posted online at YouTube.com. The clip was shot with director Andrzej Wyrozebski, who is said to be one of the leading movie producers in Poland. Janusz Król (known from the Polish fantasy movie "Wiedzmin") was responsible for all special effects and the whole set design. Slawomir Panasewicz (who has worked on over 140 video clips!) was a cameraman.

"Impressions in Blood" was recorded at Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland and features artwork by Greek artist Seth (ROTTING CHRIST, PARADISE LOST). A full-length MP3 of the song "Warlords" can be downloaded at this location. More...

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Mastery Announce Tour Dates

Toronto "instrumental" thrash band MASTERY has announced the dates for its headlining tour in support of the band's Corporate Punishment Records debut album, "Lethal Legacy".

MASTERY's new album "Lethal Legacy" has been receiving major praise within the metal community since its release. Metal Maniacs said, "While 'Lethal Legacy' pays homage to the classic thrash of the late '80s/early '90s with nods to TESTAMENT, FORBIDDEN, VIO-LENCE and METALLICA, it doesn't sound as if the band are pinning for the glory days." More...

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Crest of Darkness Part Ways With Guitarist

Norwegian black metallers CREST OF DARKNESS will travel to Outer Sound Studios in Rome, Italy on Monday (Nov. 20) to begin recording their fifth full-length album, "Give Us the Power to Do Your Evil", with producer Giuseppe Orlando (NOVEMBRE). Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Your Demons", "Revenge Complete" and "Death and Pleasure". An early 2007 release via My Kingdom Music is expected.

In other news, CREST OF DARKNESS has announced that it has parted ways with guitarist Akke due to "personal reasons" and has replaced him with Rebo from bassist/vocalist Ingar Amlien's hometown of Gjøvik.

CREST OF DARKNESS' fourth album, "Evil Knows Evil", was released in early 2004 through My Kingdom Music. The follow-up to 2000's "Project Regenration" was recorded at MLP Studio in Gjvik, Norway with co-producer/engineer Nils H. Mhlum. Mastering took place at Outer Sound with Giuseppe Orlando.

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Edenbridge Announce Details Of Asian Tour

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE has announced the details of its upcoming Asian co-headlining tour with VISIONS OF ATLANTIS. The dates are as follows:

Dec. 29 - Taiwan - Taipei - Armed Forces Cultural Center
Dec. 31 - Hong Kong - Kowloon - HITEC Auditorium
Jan. 02 - China - Guangzhou – (to be announced)
Jan. 04 - China - Shanghai - The Ark
Jan. 06 - China - Beijing - Star Live

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Stormhammer Announce New Drummer

German power metallers STORMHAMMER have announced the addition of drummer Johannes Lang (STYGIAN SHORE) to the group's ranks. Lang was the stand-in drummer for the band's shows in Frauenfeld and München following the departure of Chris Widmann in August due to "personal reasons."

STORMHAMMER's upcoming CD, tentatively titled "Bridges to Eternity", will be he group's first with singer Mike Zotter (NEVERLAND, DREAMSCAPE), who joined the band in July 2005.

STORMHAMMER released their third album, "Lord of Darkness", in May 2004 via Mausoleum Records.

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