METALBULLETINIrutenvlews & Revrews

4(Decembeo

interviews: Amon Amarth, Angra, Bavmorda,Crisis de Fe, Twisted Into Form ,Zero Hour

reviews: Beyond Twilight, End of Destiny,Harkonin, l , Inf l ict ion, Necrodemon, Mournblade,Pacto de Sangre, The 69 Eyes

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Twisted Into Form(December Btn)

The name of their album is THEN COMES AFFLICTTON TOAWAKEN THE DREAMER (on SENSORY/LASER,S EDGE:www.lasercd,com). People into seriously skilled, rnteiligent metalshould investigate the album, which is a good combination of ski l land catchy songs, This requires several listens before it starls tomake sense as a whole, The first listen just impresses and snowswhy you need to play it again to hear all that's going. Once your earsadjust, the songs begin to stand out as units and that's when youstart to get a sense for what they are doing, At the same time, this isnot so prog that only musicians enjoy it. The tracks are songs, notsolos or wanker music, Read on to find out much more info and whatgood sports they are in answering some annoying questions. someof the answers have two members answerino.

The album is very good! | l ike that i t 's complex, but you're not"music for musicians." Obviously, the talent on the album isreal ly good. What are your plans for promoting the album? anytour ing?Kaj Gornitzka: First of all: Thank you for your kind words aDout ourmusicl l 'm happy to hear you say that you don't have to be amusician to enjoy it - we've been kind of curious about thatourselves, l 've always hoped our music would not be only "music formusicians" and it's nice to get some feedback on the matter. when itcomes to promoting the album, we are mosfly doing as manyinterviews as we possibly can, trying to spread the word and get abuzz going. we are also trying to make sure the distribution is goingsmoothly, especially since we had some problems in the beginning -sony delivered the cD two weeks late, which unfortunatery gave us abit of a headache.,. Now everything should be on track, thoughso far we have no plans of going on tour, mosfly due to a ratherdifficult rehearsing situation (l l ive in Portugal right now, while the restof the band is in Nonruay...) , but at some point lwould r ike to be abreto do some shows, of course. we have received some festivalinvitations and are currently discussing the possibilities

Of course, people who hear your music know that 's i t 's notsimple music. But, to your own ears, do your songs sound verycatchy? Does i t sound as immediate as "Breaking the Law"?!!Kaj: By the time you have played, rehearsed, written and recordedany given song, you know it so well that in a way it does become kindof "Breaking the Laui'-ish, but I also know that what the band hearsand what everyone else will hear are two very different things. I havealways considered our songs to be very melodic, despite ail the oddrhythms and weird meters and so on, and I don't see why theyshouldn't be accessible to a lot of people who wourdn't normailylisten to this kind of music. I think we have some very catchymelodies, actually - even if they sometimes might be a liti le hard tosing along to , I don't think "immediate" is the right word, though,because it is the nature of this type of music to require a litfle morefrom the listener than just one spin of the record and voiral My hopeis that the album is catchy enough to get people hooked, while stil lhaving enough layers to keep them interested.

Do you have a myspace page?Kaj: Yes, we do, if anyone wants to check it out, they will find it atWyl0ry.ny._spe9_e..-c_oJlllg_l-fL-c_LAll-!vlg_t--e_dj[!9j9-rm There are two songs fromthe album there, both of which can be downloaded to your very ownand trustworthy pal, the computerl We also have our very ownwebsite at www,twistedintoform.no, where we in addition to (thesame) downloadable songs have put up a couple of tabs for anyonewho wants to know what we're playing. Well, what l 'm playing, atleast; l 've been meaning to add the bass.lines also, but I need Erik to

least; l 've been meaning to add the bass-lines also, but I need Erik towalk me through what he plays first. There should be more tabssome day, too - when I have time to transcribe more of the music.

Do people do headbanging at your concerts?!!Kaj: To tell you the truth: lwouldn't know.,, We haven't played anyconcerts with Twisted into Form yet, so l'd have to take a guess onthis one, There are parts in our songs that definitely calls for someserious headbanging, so I would hope that given the chance, peoplewould. On the other hand there might be some tricky beats to bang tohere and there - but where there's a will, there's a way, isn't there?

"The Thin Layers of Lust and Love" has slow, humming soundfor the first two minutes? ls that guitar, keyboards or what? Howis that sound achieved?Kaj: lt is the guitar that's making the sound, yes, but l 'm using an E-bow as well, which is a little battery driven gadget you place over thestrings to make them resonate all by themselves. The magnetic fieldproduced by the E-bow makes the string vibrate, producing acontinuous and sustained note that leaves the left hand (or right ifyou are left-handed, of course) free to play the notes, and you canmake the guitar sound like almost anything. There are no keyboardson this song; in fact, the only songs that has any programmed partsin them are "The Flutter Kings" and the instrumental "Tea/'.

"Tear" has what sounds like bells. Care to explain?Kaj: "Tead' is, as I said, one of the two songs that actually have somesampled sounds in them. Edk programmed the whole thing on his oldcomputer, then each of us recorded our parts. All the MlDl soundsthat were left after that were replaced by a friend of his who got moreor less carte blanche to do what he thought would fit the mood of thesong best. He came up with some pretty weird sounds, but to methey seem to belong there.

Erik Aadland: ln the sketch for the song, I actually used bells. AndAndreas Moxnes got this sketch for sound replacement purposes.There are stil l bells in there, albeit a few other sounds as well.

"Manumit" has growling. Who is doing the growling? By theway, what is a "Manumit"?Kaj: Hehe, that would be me... I haven't done much growling before,so it was definitely a challenge, The reason it is there in the firstplace, is that I tried just about everything else on that particular riff,but I never found anything that I l iked. The guitar riff is not exactlystraight, it has a few oddly insefted sixteenth notes, and I wanted todo something with the vocals that worked rhythmically, as opposed tomelodically, I could easily have made a normal melody-line on top ofthe riff, that wasn't a problem in itself, but all the stuff I tried just madethe background feel more normal, too, The growling focuses on acompletely different aspect of the relation between the voice and themusic, and I though it brought an extra freshness to the song."Manumit" is not a noun, actually, it 's a verb, and it means "to releasefrom slavery''. Which is exactly what the song is about - bearing inmind that slavery can take many forms, even as a mental state,

ls your music is made for men or both for sexes? Metal bands,like Slayer, Pantera, Manowar, etc., make music which is about

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being "macho" and when they talk about women they're onlysexual objects.Kaj: The music was not conceived in a gender perspective at all.Historically, metal has mostly been a guy thing, of course, but Icertainly do not see our music as being particularly macho, Eventhough the more technically focused parts of our album will probablyappeal more to men than to women, there is nothing in the musicitself that says it should be this way - and when it comes to lyricalcontent, we explore other themes and mental states. l 've alwaysfound that particular gender part of the metal-scene annoyinglystupid and infantile. Not the Slayer/Pantera way of being tougherthan all, that is, which can be pretty cool if it 's done well, but ratherthe Manowar way.,,

What would you l ike to see happen with this album?Kaj: Apart from the obvious rock star multi-millionaire kind of thing,you mean? Well, since fhaf is not very likely to happen, I guess Iwould settle for really good distribution, so that as many people aspossible will get the chance to discover the album, The truth is thatwhat we have achieved just by getting it released is more than weever hoped for when we started playing together, and to me anythingelse is just a huge bonus, We have gotten some pretty fantasticfeedhaek so lar and almost all the reviews l've seen aret u t j

i nc red ib ly pos i t i ve , U l t ima te ly , I suppose I j us tw a n t e v e r y o n e t o g o o u t a n d g e t o u r a l b u m , . ,

Final ly, did you get your name from Forbidden?! Are you fans ofWatchtower at all?Kaj. Yes, the name is borrowed from Forbidden, but it 's not becausewe have any special musical bond with that band, really Erik used tolisten to them a bit in their early days and I guess that's whv hethought about it, but the reason we chose Twisted into Fom as aband name is because we thouqht it would fit the music

Erik: Exactly, I l istened a bit to the demo they released bef:r: iretrfirst album, as well as their debut, That's about it.

Kaj: As for Watchtower, they have been a source of insptra::n ofcourse; they are both legendary and groundbreaking witnin :n: r'retalniche they more or less invented, Personally l 've always fcui: tneirvocal-lines slightly off-putting, but musically they arc er::3m3lyimpressive. That being said, I don't consider them to be a car. cularinfluence on the music I write - they have been more of ai: indirectsource of learning for me, because all the guys in Spirai Arcnttect,where I played for a long time, were hugely into Watchtower At onepoint we even did some covers live, so I guess I would have to callmyself a bit of alan, after all, And Spastic Ink - now there's a bunchof guys who knows how to treat an instrument or two!

Erik: I l istened to Control and Resistance a lot in the late 80s,Awesome record. Awesome playing! And I have to concur with Kajthat the Spastic Ink stuff was pretty mind blowing when it firstsurfaced as well, I remember lrstening to the demo to Ink Completefor more than a year before the album was released. Totally freshand intelligent from a metal perspective. The first time I listened toSee and it's Sharp! was really special. Brill iant idea and execution,

Thank you for your t ime.

Thanks a lot for giving us the chance toappreciate it.THE END

talk to you, we really believe something and tomorrow it is shit, we did not find a strangername and we were out of beer..,

The singer, Juampa, is a hybrid between a Navaho Indianand Jim Morrison. Not only physicai ly.. .his head is boi l ing, just take alook at the lyrics, In addition, he doesn't know how to vomit from acar going at 160 ki lometers per hour without the puke cominq backinto the car. Aleks (bass) a stallone fan and suffers from nlruouslaughter, mental alienation when he sees women walk bv and foroetswhat he was talking about. pako (guitars) is a cool dude who w"henyou turn around will hit on your neck and will tell you that it wasn,thim Riki (drums) is a totally different story. He's noble, but aheadcase, talks to animals and has a bar and keeps up alive andkicking and drunk. As for me, I coilect drawings of Leela (from"Futurama") naked. I have a spiderman outfit that I wear often andsometimes I find myself invorved in fights throwing dogshit at myfr iends faces...Nothing supernatural. , ,we're al l clowni and freaks. onoccasion we have caused the bassist to vomit from laughter, liningthe band bus with salami or have caused a fire with the pyrotechnics,

How "successful" is the band in Spain?In this country success arrrives when you can play in the u s orsouth America. There are many groups here, lifi le qualitv (with theexception of a few), lots of rivalry and infrastructures thai stand outbecause of their absence in comparison with the rest of Europe (notto mention the U.s.). There are onry several festivais. To make aliving from the music is a utopia. we can at least not lose money wrththe band. we can go play at the side of the country, play a concert,including with pirotecnics and stil l cover the costs which issomething to keep in mind.

How has the music evolved?Things flow better now. At the beginning we used to make everythingcomplicated. You have all your rife to make your first album andcomplicate it, then you barely have one year to make your secondone. what is clear is that "less is more," we usually don't like bandsthat play too fast, but those that pray less and make it sound betterLittle by little we have focuse on making songs that can be singles,that get in your head the whole day, that are fun io play and to hearfrom the audience, but of course, we always leave a couple of songsto be rough and fast with doubre bass to surprise the audience. ofcourse, n0 One can accuse of being light because, for example, wehave songs that could the soundtrack to a bombing and we put a lotof efforl into making them devastating live,

What subjects do your lyrics touch on?we don't like to do politrcs with music, on the other hand, peopleused to look at us funny when we found comical the lyrics of certainpower metal bands. of course, we don't do "dungeons and dragons',nor do we sing "Oh, baby, I love you,, In any song. In reality, we arepretty metaphorical and we touch on desires, liberties, good vibes oanguish that create certain feerings in life, general situatrons that weall find ourselves in our lives at one time or another. ,,Tiempos oegloria" ("Times of Glor/') is from the point of view of a victim of thewar in the Middle East. "Mares de ambicion" ("seas of Ambition,,) is adialogue between the moon and the Earth. "Toda mi bondad" 1,,All MyGoodness") from the new cd is about drowning your sorrows inalcohol when your ioved is not near, "Lejos de Dioi" i"Far from God',)

CnlSlS pg FE (midNovember)

This is a traditional heavy metal band from spain that has fun, catchystuff, For example, their album "En compania de lobos,, (,' ln thecompany of wolves") (2000) is a great fun, hm album from staft tofinish. "Razas de noche" ("Night people," is my loose translation)followed the debut and now they have "lll". Here's an interview tointroduce to you to a metal band with a perspective from a place thathas a smaller metal scene. Does adversity make them serious abouttheir music? They sing in spanish, but don't let that get in the waybecause they rockl Metal singing sounds the same in any languagecuz it's hard to make out what people are saying anyway, plui,metal bands are not exacily revealing the secrets of the'universe, soyou might as well relax cuz around the world there is metal beingdone in all language. Below are their answers (translated fromspanish) to some questions. Miguer (guitars) gave the followinganswers,Jn*Hrt*i*t,trk*

Who is Crisis de Fe?!we grew up with the golden bands of the BOs and even thoughnowadays we listen to all types of music, the only thing we agree onto not end in fist fights during rehearsals is heavy metal...thb goodstuff, Maiden, ozzy, Kiss...nothing too complicaied or aggressive,because we have never been virtuosos. Basically, the group Deganin 1998, though we were friends long before that. ihat yJur- *. madea demo, "Angeles Muertos" ("Dead Angels,,), very punk and badlyrecorded and self-produced, we began playing around our area ofValencia, we got good reviews and decided to go fonruard playingbecause the best thing we know how to do and we go crazy if w-don't. we have three albums. we have played on all over spain withgreat spanish bands, such as Baron Rojo, obus, saratoga,Beethoven R, Def con Dos, etc. and we're proud of that. I neverthought that I could ever play with those bands., ..

why do you cal l yourselves "crisis de Fe"? can you tel l someinteresting info about the guys?In the beginning we were cailed "Deja-Vu" because of the Maidensong from somewhere in Ttme, but we ran into many problems urhenwe tried to register the name: there were many groups with thatname. so, we sat down to drink nonstop until we came up with the"most unusual" name or the beer ran out, "crisis de Fe" is a song bythe group KTULU, Besides the religious meaning, life is an eternalcrisis of faith on the things that surround you, a pendulum: today you

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is about how you feel at the end of your life. "El viejo reloj" ("The OldClock") would perfect for a soundtrack to a Clint Eastwood movie..,.

How can people reading this interview hear your music?to wunru.crisisdefe.com and

vrvwv,mvspace.com/crisisdefecrisisoffaith to download songs,videos, buy merch, talk with members of the band. lf you are in aband and can't dedicate ten minutes to a fan, it means you are apiece of shit. We are what we are thanks to them, and even thoughit's not possible, our goal to is to make them happy, We're moreneryous than they are when we talk,

Anything to say to people in the U.S.?Above all, I want to thank you for your interest in the band and telleveryone on the other side of the Atlantic that we're dying to gothere. We know people there love this music for real and not becauseit's a fashion. Your country is the birthplace of rock and we've alwaysfelt like we should've been born there. Take advantage of the music!I hope soon we will see you face to face!!THE END

Zero Hour

lsn't it good when a band changes your mind? I used to not like thisband because I thought they lacked emotion in their prog metal. As itturns out, I stil l don't like their earlier stuff! But how things changelCheck out "Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond" for an example,Everything is so much better (in my opinion)l The songs are alive!The feeling is there! The metal rocks! And this is prog metal, believeit or not! | wanted to find out what chanqed for the better.

Your new album is surprisingly catchy!! Your previous "TheTowers of Avarice" left me cold. lt 's a talented album, but itdidn't catch my ear. This one, however, certainly does!! Did youtry to do something different with this one, to make the songsflow better?Jasun, Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond and Towers of Avarice aremy favorite releases we've put out. The reason I say that is becauseboth were very focused CDs and the most organic material we'veput together. The reason for Towers being so cold rs because theband was in a very cold period due to the frustrations of the theA

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music business, Thats why I love the CD so much because its verypure. Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond is a CD of feeling reborn as aband. When putting together the CD the band was very positive inmaking the best CD we could possibly make and very excited forwhat we've achieved. I mean, you could get down and technical withthe different oatterns we used for each album and the use ofdynamrcs. The reasons why these CDs are different is because ofthe mood and atmosphere that was following the band in theseperiods. The mood changes everything because the writing outlookwas very similiar for both CDs meaning writing material withoutboundaries

What does the title track refer to? The cover artwork has adesolation motif and on the back there's a brain on fire. Whocame up with the concept for the artwork?Jasun: I provided Bjoern with the story behind the cover and hecaptured exactly what I wanted. The story with Specs Of PicturesBurnt Beyond is about a man who sees images but his memory isdistorted so he has recollection of what he sees but the memory isbumt away as he's trying to remember the story behind the image.Bjoern did a t I amazing job

The drumming has a part icular rhythm, i t 's sod of zig zag typeof beat. ls this something that the band has discussedcollect ively or does the drummer just do his own thing?Jasun: Troy and Mikey build the foundation when it comes to therhythm section, Troy has an amazing ear to steer Mikey in the rightdirection when he's drawing a blank to a beat. The two have greatinteraction and its really about them putting together the crazyrythmic ideas in Zero Hour

People sometimes use the word jazzy when talking about ZeroHour. For the record, do you guys actually listen and like iazz?

l ^ ^ , , ^ . T . ^ , , ^ ^ . J I.roDuu, ruy drru r afo very much into jazz. lf you listen to the PatMetheny group they will do long compositions that dont follow anyparticular format, its more cinematic/film score-ish. Troy listens to alot of Jazz bass players, you have Jaco, Michael Manring, StanleyClarke, Victor Wooten. I love the players such as Wes Montgomery,Russell Malone, George Benson, Pat Metheny. l 'm also into manyfusion players that helps builds the inspiration for myself in ZeroHour.

You have a track called Zero Hour. Why call that it that this pointin your history?Jasun: The song just kinda screamed Zero Hour with the beginningalmost being a clock ticking into rhythmic chaos. At the end of thesong there's crazy three part harmonies on the guitar that collide withTroy's arpeggio's and sync with the drums to having that clock keepntt.qhinn itself back before it hits twelve.

Where did you find the new vocalist? ls he really as talented ashe sounds on the a lbum?!Jasun: The band knew of Chris with his old band Power of Omens,We were a fan of his vocals and met him at Prog Power USA 1where both Power of Omens and Zero Hour played. Watchin Chrissing live you knew he was the real deal. He hit everything with easeand Chris truly has an amazing voice. I chatted with him for 45minutes and Troy, Mikey and I said that guy is a great singer and

great guy, I contacted Chris right after "A Fragile Mind" came out andasked if he would do live shows with us. We knew his voice couldpull everything off and that everyone would get a long great on theroad. I asked him as a favor because I thought Power of Omens wasstill going but he was telling me at the time that Power of Omens wason its last leg. Chris said I'm a huge fan of Zero Hour if you guy'swant me in the band I'm all for it, So we decided instead of touringlets do a new CD and show everyone the Zero Hour for many yearto come. As for I am here, all the music was written before Chrisentered picture

How dedicated to practicing are you?How many of the solos onthe album were unplanned, improvised in the studio?Jasun: You dedicate a massive amount of time and thought to playthis style. I think when you're starting to work solo's out in the earlystages o{ the band you can be quite obssesive on how you conductyour solos, Now after all the years of playing, writing and recordingyou know when a solo is called out for because it will scream outsolo. The solo sequences in the song Specs of Pictures BurntBeyond was all worked out and improvised in the studio whilerecording.

Final ly, the bass player is the most ignored guy in metal music.So, can you tell us what he's doing?Jasun: Troy is all over the CD doing Arpeggio's, tapping sequences,speed plucking and many crazy time signature runs throughout theCD. When you hear the CD you will hear why he's one of the bestBass players tn Prog-Metal,

Do you have a myspace page?Jasun: Yes we do and everyone can check out Zero Hour atwww,myspace,com/zerohourband and www.zerohounrueb.com andplease check out our news page for upcoming shows and tours.

Thanks for your t ime.Thank you Mauricio for spreading the word about Zero Hour, wereally appreciate it.THE END

Amon Amartht^rouror

t h o

After hearing the wonderful new Viking death metal exposition that is"With Oden on Our Side" I sent some ouestions off to the band.Johan Hegg (vocals) answered before their schedule show on Dec.12 in Milwaukee, With albums like "Vs the World," a perfect metalalbum, which came with an extra cd of other stuff that was notavailable before and with the monster dvd, "Wrath of the Norsemen,"which is 3 discs with 5 shows and their constant touring, this band ison a path to be everywhere and be heard. lf you have not heardthem yet, go to myspace.com/amonamarth and listen to "Death inFire" and see how great this group is.

The new album is faster. Did you want to getback to the more aggressive style?I think there are many reasons for that, but the main reason is prettysrmple actually. For this album we had pretty good ideas for fastersongs, which we really didn't have for Fate of Norns. I also think thatthe fact that we can make our living as musicians nowdays havemade it easier for us to focus on the song writing, We have moretime to develop our ideas, and I think that's the reason this album ismore diverse than the previous albums as well

So, is this then a synthesis of your evolution so far?Well, as I said, we have more time to develop our musical ideas nowthat we can make a living as musicians.

OK, so, is Fredrik happier playing faster or playing the massive,rol l ing thunder of "Vs the World"?Hahaha, yeah maybe. Seriously though, I don't think it works thatway really, I think all of us are happy to play good songs, and I thinkall of us are very proud of all the albums and we still have to play theold songs live, so I don't think there's any big difference.

Are special releases ("Vs" and the dvd) part of your conspiracyto conquer the world with Amon Amarth music?lf I told you I would have to kill you, hahaha. Seriously, we always tryto oive our fans somethino extra. weather it 's live or with a new CD orDVD r o t o 2 e o

ls everyone happy touring this much and working this hard?Well, it 's easier now that we don't have to have normal day jobs onthe side, so I guess all of us are pretty comfortable with touring, eventhough you get home sick from time to time. The only one who has afamily in that sense is Johan Soderberg, who is married and has adaughter

ls it stupid or fun to make music videos for MTV, with fakeplaying and stuff?Well, it felt kind of wierd, but personally I think it was a funexperiense, and l'm not sure I prefer a live video, They can be coolas well, but then agarn all l ive videos virtually look the same. To me itdoesn't matter really

Swedes, you've said before, don't l ike your music. Has thischanged now?!It's changing actually, and we are getting a bigger following inSweden, The new album actualiy made it to number 21 in theSwedish album charts, I guess our pedormances on big festivals inEurope have opened the eyes of a lot of fans travelling from Sweden,

Does Olavi (guitars) speak Finnish and Swedish?Yes, he speaks both Finnish and Swedish, but I think he mainlyspeaks Finnish with his parents.

Final ly, when are you coming to Wisconsin again??l'm not sure, but we are going to the US in December supportingChildren of Bodom, and l'm pretty sure we'll be hitting Chicago atleast, but keep an eye on our web site - wvw,amonamarth qom - fornews about tour dates and other stuff.THE END

Angra(Dec 1o'n;Look it here, friend, Angra plays heavy metal and they are from Braziland they rock. They are a quality, intelligent metal band with talent.They have a new album, "Aurora Consurgens," that's impressive, asusual. I could do a long introduction, but I gotta jet outta here,running down the street to print this issue of the zine. Besides, readthe interview and go to their website to find out more if you don'tbelieve it. The singer, Edu, is the man answering the interrogations

3fl*ffnl and soccer

ls Angra getting heavier with each album?!! "Rebirth" ismellower, "Temple of Shadows" faster, now, "Aurora" yourheaviest.EDU FALASCHI: YES! WE ARE GETTING HEAVIER! AURORACONSURGENS IS THE MOST POWERFUL, MODERN ANDHEAVIER ALBUM THAT WE'VE DONEI PROBABLY 'CAUSE

THEGUITAR SOUND AND THE VOCALS THAT ARE MOREAGRESSIVE THAN BEFORE!

What is the "Brasil Metal Union Festival"? How great was thisshow in front of a home country audience?!IT IS ALWAYS GOOD WHEN WE SEE A BIG FESTIVAL LIKE THISHERE IN BMZIL, IT 'S GREAT FOR THE WHOLE SCENE, IREMEMBER WE PLAYED FOR MANY PEOPLE IN THISFESTIVAL, AROUND 3,OOO PEOPLE WE WERE FINISHING THETEMPLE OF SHASOWS TOUR AND IT WAS GREAT TO DO ITHERE IN BRAZIL TO OUR CLOSEST FANS!

You played 124 shows?! Does everybody in the band liketouring and l i fe on the road?TO BE REALLY HONNEST! NO! OF COURSE WE LOVETRAVELLING AND MEETING OUR FANS AROUND THE WORLD,BUT WHEN WE GO TO EUROPE AND WE STAY EVERYDAY,DURING OURS AND OURS INTO A TOURBUS , CLOSED, WITH30 GUYS TOGETHER, GETTING SICK, DURING 2 MOUNTHS FARAWAY FROM THE FAMILY, IT'S NOT SO FUNNY! BUT WHEN WEARE ON THE STAGE WE FORGET ANY PROBLEMS AND WEJUST ROCK! ! !

Why were the drums recorded in Germany? The rest of themusic was recorded in Brazil, right?CAUSE WE WERE IN ITALY TO PLAY N THE LAST "GODS OFMETAL FESTIVAL'" SO WE DECIDED TO GO TO GERMANY INTHE SAME WEEK TO RECORD DRUMS, SPECIALTY CAUSE

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OUR PRODUCER LIVES THERE AND WORKS THERE : 'WASTHE BEST CHOISEI AND THEN IN THE END WE CAME BACK TOBRAZIL TO RECORD THE RESTI

Heavy/power metal sounds "European," even though bands canbe from anywhere in the world. ls there no way to bring inBrazi l ian music into power metal?BUT ANGRA IS LIKE THISI WE ARE COMPLETLY DIFFERENT OFANY EUROPEAN BAND, WE MIX METAL, WITH CLASSICALMUSIC AND BRMILIAN RITHMS AND HARMONIES! NOBODYSOUNDS L IKE US!

Having said that, there is a l i t t le bit of a Brazi l ian element on thisalbum. Can you tel l us what that is? What are the sounds at thevery beginning of the album, for example?IN THE BEGINNING WE HAVE A "BERIMBAU' SOUND, IT 'S ABRAZILIAN TYPICAL INSTRUMENT IT'S AN INSTRUMENT OF AVERY FAMOUS DANCE MIXED WITH A KIND OF A FIGHTCALLED "CAPOEIRA', MANY SLAVES, DURING THECOLONIZATION TIMES IN BRAZIL, DEVELOPED THIS CULTURETO EXPRESS THEIR EMMOTIONS AND TO CRIATED A KIND OFA DEFENCE, CAUSE THEY DIDN T HAVE ANY GUNS TO FIGHTAGAINST THE RICH MEN, THAT CONTROLED BRAZIL IN THATTIME, SINCE 1600 A C UNTIL 19OO A C BUT IN THIS ALBUM WEHAVE OTHER BRAZILIAN ELEMENTSI

Wil l you use Poduguese again, l ike on "Temple"?MAYBE IN THE FUTUREI I IWE L IKED THE IDEA! I I

Also, is i t impossible to make this type of music and to havelyrics that talk more about Brazi l ian history amd culture ?IT'S ALWAYS NICE TO SHOW TO THE WORLD THAT WE AREBRAZILIAN AND OF COURSE DIFERENT OF MILLICN OF BANDSTHAT ARE SOUNDING THE SAME THINGII WE THINK THAT WEHAVE ONE OF THE RICHEST CULTURE OF THE WORLD, WITHMANY DIFFERENT INFLUENCES, INSTRUMENTS, HARMONIES,ARRANGEMENTS, ETC SO WHEN WE MIX IT WITH METAL WECREAT A NEW KIND OF MUSIC! AND FOR US IT 'S VERYIMPORTANT SO, WE WANT TO USE OUR BRAZILIAN ESSENCEAS MUCH AS POSSIBLEI

Final ly, can Brazi l win the next World Cup in South Afr ica?!What i f Brazi l has to play against France again?!I DON'T KNOWI IF THEY PLAY WITH THEIR HEARTS, I BELIEVE

THAT, BUT IF THE PLAY THINKING THEY ARE THE BESTEST OFTHE WORLD, LIKE IN THE LAST CUP IT WILL BE DIFICULTIFRANCE? THEY DON'T HAVE ZIDANE ANYMOREI IT'S AGOOD THING FOR US! HAHAHA!! ITHE END

Bavmorda/ D o n o m h a r\ u v v v r I t v v l 10)This is a fast power metal band that recorded a demo this pastsummer I decided to ask sorne annoying questions to try to get themto fight back and tell me that only power metal matters and that Ishould go fly a kite, Their demo shows potential, which is why thereare on here. They are from chicago, but we can forgive them for that.

It 's not their fault, as long as the Bears don't win the superbowll I

:_l?fff only two teams: the Packers and whoever beats the Bears.

How you do view the music you plap what is Bavmorda is al labout, yo?!!! Are based in Chicago?I see us as a power metal band wlth progressive touches, The riffsremind me a lot of what is or what was going on in the U.s. powermetal scene, a la Onward (R.l .P,), Destiny's End (R,l ,p.), JagPanzer, steel Prophet, and old savatage. The progressive touches Imentioned are much like those of the John Arch era of Fateswarning. The guitar melodies sound like something out of theGothenburg scene. The drums are very much inspired by Lamb ofGod and latter-period Death, we even have the occasional blackmetal riff going on. 0f course, my vocals kick it ord school. I preferto sing clean, operatic vocals. overall, we're reaily just a sum of ourcollective influences, and that sum will be greater once we get ournew members (Jon Kwiatek and Jose salazar) in on the writingprocess. we are from the chicagoland area, though we rehearse inthe south subur'os. Oh, and don't ever say "yo" again.(chicago arrogance telling people how to tatk. Eat your sandwich, Al)

what are y'all 's musical goals with this band? what do you thinkthat you bring to metal that's cool or creative with your songs?obviously, we'd love to be able to get a sweet recording contract,tour the world extensively, and make a nice living off of our music.The sad truth, as you know, is that this music is certainly not themost popular style out there, Personally, I'm happy just to be a partof a band, especially one that allows me to use creativwe freedomwith my vocal style and lyrics. I've met my goal, so I'm just enjoyingit, As for the band, we're hoping to get a fuil-rength arbum releasedby the end of next year, and we'd like to have a raber back it withdistnbution, lf we need to handle everything else, that's fine. Also,we're not worried about sounding just like another band. I know wehave our similarities to the bands that have infruenced us, but thecombination of influences works well enough to set us apaft fromother bands in our genre. whether that's cool or creative is up to thelistener. How's that for a cop out?Lots of power metal bands have fast songs and rely on the

play-on, generic, fast r i f f ; thinking that i t sounds goodautomatically. Agree or not?!That sort of thing happens a lot in power metar. Let's face it: there'snothing new under the sun, and that's especiaily true for powermetal. I think too many of these bands think that they have to be fastall the time, unless they're playing a ballad. However, I can't knockthem if they're playing what they feel and the songs are solid.Nobody plays power metal in hopes that it ' i l change the wodd. lt 's alabor of love. That said, I know our songs are generally veryspeedy. Most of these songs were originally written for a death metalvocalist. lf you want to hear what some of them sounded like, go towww.mvspace,com/christpuncher. Only two songs have beenwritten since I joined. once the new guys learn everything, we'll startworking on new material. I think we'il be showing more diversity inthe future, especially since Jon is in the band. He has a lot of ideas,and I think they're going to kick us into gear.

ls your demo on myspace?our address is wvw.myspace.com/bavmordarocks. you can hear

the full demo as well as an old recording from our days as Vulture.The song is called "Normal," and it's stil l in our repertoire,

I saw you live recently for a Halloween show. you guys jokearound on stage, even during a song. ls this from not taking thesongs seriously or not having confidence?It's not about having a lack of confidence in our music or not takrngthe music seriously. lt 's quite the contrary. we goof around becauseit's fun, plain and simple. we're very much into bands with a senseof humor, parlicularly Helloween and Edguy. Tobias sammet put itbest when he said that his band takes their music seriously, but theydon't necessarily take themselves too seriously. That's the approachwe take on stage. Just because the songs are serious, it doesn'tmean that we have to just stand motionless on stage to play them.Music can be entertainment as well, so as long as we don't have anlron Maiden budget, you folks are stuck with bad jokes.

You hit those high notes, but in a club with bad sound that doesn'talways work. How do you think you should address this problem?Are those high notes necessary?I'm glad you addressed this. ,l think the problem is that mosi sounoguys at the bar level don't really give a hoot about the bands that areplaying, especially if they don't know them. Most of the time, they'llturn a few knobs and walk away. All I need is for them to turn themid-levels up. I need to start messing with sound equipment moreso that I'm not so ignorant on the issue. Trust me, the notes arethere, I'm not tooting my own horn, but I know my capabilities l'veworked my tushie off to sound the way I do, and I think I'm oettinothere. lt 's not absolutely necessary to'go for notes that high urr tn.time, but I think the songs call for it when I do it. Besides, some ofmy favorite vocalists are screamers, so that's naturally going to showl n m\ / \ /n rna THE END.

R E V I E W SEEYOND TuIIILIGHT: FOR THE LOVE oF ART AND THE MAKNG(NIGHTMARE RECORDS)This is a prog metal audience's dream come true. Aspiring progmusicians will find lots of very interesting things, This is not dumbeddown metal, as a certain Dream Theater zearot is prone to say. Thisrs one song with some 43 sections that the band calls "movements,"You need patience and a desire to hear bands that take prog metalto the limit. Most rock conventions are thrown out the window andthis is more like classical music translated into prog metal and there'sa huge disregard for the catchy song convention. For example, theyhave parts where the music is played and recorded backwards. so.now you will find the subliminal messages right in front of you!l JudasPriest and ozzy have nothing on these guys. "suicide solution" ain'tnuthin.

By the way, their previous album Secfion X is a veryenjoyable album that stnkes a great barance between catchysongwriting and progginess. However, this album is total progginesswith no regard for people who want simpre music, This is for the progmetal elite who demand complexity in structures, ideas andexecution, lt 's for you, you metal nerds!l

END oF DESTINY: IHE IHOUGHIIESS EXISIENCE (OPENGRAVE RECORDS)The breakdowns, the chugging guitars and the angryscreaming/shouting make it clear this is hardcore, lt 's melodic,despite the shouting. lt wouldn't sound out of place next to Disturbedon the radio. www. endof desti nymusi c. com

www, myspace. com/endof desti nlm usi c

HARKONIN: GHAIV//\4A (CHUNKS OF MEAT REC)This is upfront thrashing/black metal raging in speed, tongue-lashingvocals, These 16 songs are no nonsense, just lots of expected lyricsabout the night, darkness, hell, etc. The riffing is tight and the bandhas even a black metal sound, the guitars have a lot of old schoolthrashing going on. The vocals are of the Quorthon/Mille Pelrozzavariety. This band is fast and tight and all that, but it 's not aboutspeed per se. The songs have more than speed going, The changesin rhythms in the songs make for an enjoyable fisten. Also, this is aband and sounds like one, not some one-man project. lt is surprisinghow much variety they pack in some songs, including sometechnicality. People who can't enough of that old-style thrash riffingshould be interested. The recording sound quality is similar to that ofa solid demo, which makes the music sound not as full as it shouldbe. Overall, it 's pretty good, but not awesome metal.ww.narKOntn.com

l: BEIWEETV IWO IttrORtDS {NUCLEAR BLAST)I was expecting not to like this because people were saying it wasrock music and stuff. lt 's really nice that this is not a rock album lt'sgreat to hear Abbath back in action, even if this is not lmmoftal. Hesounds like himself, so things are fine in that department. Armageddais the taking care of the battery, The speed is that of traditional heavymetal: nothing fast, just keeping a beat, and doing it well, Demonazwrote the lyrics forthis, In addition, Arve from Enslaved and King (ex-Gorgoroth) are doing their thing here lmagine thrashy/black metal-ish riffing using some heavy metal melodies with Abbath's vocals.That's what this is, "Far Beyond the Quiet" actually has cleaner,singing black metal vocals, similar to viking metal Bathory. "TheStorm I Ride" is just plain catchy." l 'm not saying this is lmmortal-ish,but I am saying that will please a lot of lmmortal fans because thisgood and even better cuz I was expecting something like ChromeDivision or Brand New Sin. Yeah, this is metal. www.i-metal.net

INFLICTION: IHE S/LENCER (CRUZ DEL SUR)There is something very modern about this group, They combinegrowling, singing, proggy elements. Apparently this ltalian band hasbeen around since 1995 playing their melodic growl 'n'sing metal.They have a pop sensibility, too, making them not "harsh" metal,despite the growling. The song are catchy and do sound European.Heck, ain't no surprise that even a little goth sneaks into the sound,Not anything original, but they are good at their craft "Paperlife" is atotal mega power rock ballad (lt has piano at the beginning and thengrowling and clean singing and pop keyboards) that will be liked byall, even by that weird guy down the street who claims that hedoesn't like ballads, You never know, these guys could be total rockstars in Europe. However, here in Wisconsin, they are only minorcelebrities down on Willy Street, wvwv,infliction.itwww. cruzdel su rmusic, com

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NECRODEMON: lcE FIELDS oF HYPERI?N(OPEN GRAVE RECORDS)The overall theme is winter, snow, freeze, cold and death By theway, this band is from the land of eternal frost bite winter: San Diego,Just kidding. I don't know, Go to their website, At any rate, the guysare a snowball of thrash, death and black rolling down the frozenmountains (of San Diego) and sound like a bunch of totalunderground metal freaks. lt 's thrashy, fast, with evil goblin vocals.Here's an underground band that does this for metal and not muchglory, but they don't care. They just roll with the snow and thrash. OldGerman thrash is here, old U,S, thrash is here, partying like it 's 1985.Those interested in lesser known bands that labor in the metalunderground have one more band to investigate. Beware, if you wantnice, modern, "catchy''metal, you need not look here cuz it's garage-ish, www.necrodemon,com www.myspace.com/necrodemon

MOURNBLADE: MANGLED L/ES (OPEN GRAVE)16 minutes (5 songs) of Motorhead-ish riffing, hardcore-ish drummingand throaty, screamed angry vocals. The sound is raw, garage-ish,kind of punk-ish, metal-ish, loud rock, Sounds like a demo, but withsound of this band, everything will sound unpolished, lt 's angry,mosh-friendly type of stuff Simple, the way a hammer functions. Nomelodies. www, myspace. com/man gl edl i es

PACTO DE SANGRE: ALERIA (KHAOSMASTERPRODUCTIONS)This band is from Puerto Rico and they play traditional heavy metalthat definitely has the BOs heavy metal influence. The musicianship isgood, as well as the vocals The songs are distinct and they havetheir own sound They sing in Spanish, but they also have two inEnglish, Also, this band has an upfront, direct religious message Thelyrics are adaptatrons of biblical texts encouraging conversion,repentance and the like. Fans of upfront Christian bands will beinterested. lf you do not want to hear anyone preaching salvation,you should ignore this. www,planetrockpr,com

THE 69 EYES: FRAMED /N ELOOD (CLEOPATRA RECORDS)The full title is Framed in Blood: The Very B/essed of The 69 Eyes.There are 1B songs here, which true to the title, all sound like hitsThe tracks have a fun, rocking David Bowie/Billy ldol-fronting-Type-O-Negative attitude. I guess the band and their bands considerthemselves goth rock. I don't know anything about that. However,they have a huge, vibing, big rock sound, pretty radio/video friendly.The voice is substantially low, like Tiamat or Type 0 Negative(except that it doesn't sound as artificially low as Type), This is alsoupbeat. They cover'Call Me" by Blondie. Yeah, i t 's pretty gothic now.The last half of the album has higher vocals and the music overall islighter in mood, happier, if you will, Don't worry, there is stil l plenty ofThe Cure-type moments to make sure you remain misunderstood byyour Ozzy and AC/DC-listening neighbors wvwv.69eyes com

Ii nte/re/vi ews by mauri ci o: theoutcastzi ne@j uno, comcontact this email about reviews, interviews; all metal is welcomed]