Swinging The Axe With BRIAN SLAGEL From METAL BLADE RECORDS

Interview by Kris PetersFifteen albums in to their career and US/French-Canadian based melodic death metal syndicate Kataklysm are still as relevant as ever.With a back catalogue filled with success and a recent history of capitalising on every opportunity, Kataklysm are deep into the promotional campaign for their new album Goliath which will be released on August 11 through Nuclear Blast Records.HEAVY recently sat down to chat with guitarist JF Dagenais to find out more."It's a weird thing," Dagenais replied when asked if the whole album process becomes easier the more you put out. "On the one hand we've done it so many times before that we're not really stressed about it and it's kind of natural to us. But on the other hand we're the type of people that we wanna release quality, and we wanna push ourselves as hard as we possibly can. We're always anxious to see what the reaction's gonna be on the new music and the stuff we do. We really do care to an extent. At a certain point you have to let it go, because everyone's gonna have an opinion on whatever it is you do, but we actually really do care. When we hear a lot of negative stuff it actually hurts. I'm not gonna lie, but I just try to push it away (laughs). But sometimes when it's constructive I like to listen and get a few pointers but if it's just mean to be mean I think it sucks, but it is what is."In the full interview JF talks about the musical side of Goliath and what they were going for, the two singles released and the two part story they tell, how Goliath reflects the current state of the world, taking their time with Goliath and how that influenced the final product, the early days of Kataklysm and how their focus has changed over the years, musical experimentation and where to draw the line and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

19 Jul 202314min

Pioneering New Zealand outfit Kaosis first introduced Australia to their high-energy brand of impossible-to-classify music pre-covid with a whirlwind assault that was as visually terrifying as it was sonically stunning.Blending metal, hip hop elements, dance undertones and whatever else fit into their musical magic ball, Kaosis made an immediate impact and were quickly claimed by many music lovers as their own.Through repeated visits the band have enhanced that reputation, headlining Moondoll Festival as well as Dead Of Winter and converting many traditional metal listeners into fans with their infectious performance and presentation.For their next visit, Kaosis will be part of the Numetal Mayhem Festival which hits our shores in October featuring former vocalists of Slipknot and Mushroomhead in a world-first line-up that already has punters scrambling for tickets.Of course, being the highly active band they are, when HEAVY caught up with frontman XEN to discuss the tour he also had plenty more to tell us including signing to Nuclear Blast imprint Blood Blast Records, synergies between Dubstep and Metal, A metalheads guide to dubstep, signing a deal with Merchmasters and plenty more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

14 Jul 20239min

This October Numetal Mayhem is delivering to Australasia two of the most iconic men from two of the biggest Nu Metal bands ever.For the first time in history lead singers from rival bands, Slipknot and Mushroomhead, will share the stage together, ending the legendary feud that has been waged in the press and across social media for twenty-five years.Waylon Reavis is returning to Australia after a 9-year hiatus when he stunned stadiums as the frontman for Mushroomhead at Soundwave 2014. To this day, Reavis is widely acknowledged as being the stand-out vocalist for the iconic masked group and his ongoing success with A Killers' Confession is testament to that ability.Reavis will be playing all your favorite Mushroomhead tracks including I’ll Be Here, Simple Survival, 1200, Our Apologies, Save Us and QWERTY. Mushroomhead have never toured New Zealand and have made no indication that they will be traveling to Australia anytime soon. If you want to hear these classic Mushroomhead tracks this will probably be the only time you will get to.With public interest for the Numetal Mayhem Tour intensifying, HEAVY tracked down Reavis to get some more information.Some of the topics of discussion include Numetal Mayhem and what he is bringing to the tour, first details about his new album coming out later this year, the contentious issue of merch cuts, rising tour costs and how to still make a profit, surviving cancer, pop in metal and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

14 Jul 202319min

Megadeth are a band that has polarised music lovers almost from the outset.Despite a successive string of hit albums, the band has always been more defined by past members and their ongoing feuds with vocalist Dave Mustaine.While music will always be the victor, these public disputes have always threatened to overshadow the music and while those spats continue to this second there is also another, more poignant and pressing matter to divert our attention.The debut Australian tour dubbed Kings Of Thrash which features two of Megadeth's most noticeable and popular former band members in guitarist Jeff Young and bass player David Ellefson is finally coming Down Under.After setting stages alight overseas, Kings Of Thrash have landed in Australia for a run of four shows starting in Canberra on July 12 before winding its way through Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney over successive days.What's more, the set will consist of two classic albums - Killing is my Business….and Business is Good as well as So Far, So Good… So What - which will be played in full in this country for the very first time.HEAVY tracked down Jeff Young for his only Australian interview (Ellefson handled the bulk of press)."It's a brutal show to perform," Young smiled. "Our drummer goes through three t-shirts sometimes per show. He rings out his shirt and can fill up a full glass of water (laughs). It's two brutal albums, a lot of fast tempos and shredding chops abound. We've already done this tour. We did about a month and a few days in America already, so I think we got our conditioning up. I think we're good to go, all systems go."We ask if playing albums front to back poses specific difficulties, especially considering when they were recorded the likelihood of them being played in their entirety would not have been considered."We've really just worked through each song," he measured. "It was lucky, back when I got the gig I went down to Capital Records and I had the engineer pull the two inch tapes for Peace Sells and Killing Is My Business and I soloed all the rhythm guitar parts and all the lead solos, and by some miracle I saved those cassettes all these years and that's what I used to go through each song measure by measure, cell by cell, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence. I was kind of the musical director that had to crawl through and relearn or learn all the guitar parts, because I had done maybe four Killing Is My Business songs back in the day and of course all the So Far, So Good, So What stuff. That was a little easier to pick up because I played on that record. But I spent a lot of time just crawling through in slow motion. I have an app that once I extracted all the notes and the audio from the cassettes and I put it in my laptop, then I could put it in this app and slow it down by percentages to really hone in. So what we're performing is as close to the record - with a little freedom to improv in some solos - but certain solos I made sure to get note for note. If it's something really memorable or melodic, something that really sticks in your head... Like, Peace Sells I will do all Chris Poland's solos on that note for note. You know you can always expect that in an encore at a show, but some of the other solos we had a little fun with but it's a pretty accurate rendering, as they say."In the full interview Jeff talks more about what to expect, his time with Megadeth and memories of recording So Far, So Good, So What, the other members of the band and how faithfully the old songs are recreated, Mustaine's recent claims that none of the other members aside from Marty Friedman have done anything with their lives, his other musical projects, a possible future collaboration with Ellefson and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

12 Jul 202330min

After exploding onto the metal scene with their debut album Echoes Of The Soul in 2021, Brazilian death metal outfit Crypta soon found themselves connecting with music lovers on a global stage.Led by former Nervosa member Fernanda Lira (bass, vocals), Crypta, which is now rounded out by Jéssica di Falchi (guitar), Tainá Bergamaschi (guitar) and Luana Dametto (drums), soon carved their own niche in what is essentially a male dominated realm of death metal.Their blending of classic and modern death metal with significant extreme and black metal elements, while not unique, was still a scintillating breath of fresh air, but the pressure was always on for the band to deliver with the all important follow up.That album comes in the form of Shades Of Sorrow, which will be released on August 4.Shades Of Sorrow is everything Crypta has promised and more. A scathing indictment of metal music delivered with enough lashings of unexpected beauty and chaos to suggest Crypta are a band only just getting started.Lira sat down with HEAVY to discuss the album in greater detail."I'm very excited," she beamed at the approaching release date. "It's getting closer and closer, there's a couple of weeks left (laughs), so I'm overall just really excited and that's because I love the album! We are so happy and satisfied with the album and we believe in it so much, we just wanna share it with the whole world and see if people can have fun spinning the record. That's an interesting thing... I don't feel nervous, or anxious, or pressured at all. With our first album I have to admit that I was feeling a little bit pressured and a little bit insecure. First of all I have anxiety disorder, so that was fucking up my mind a little bit back then, but also it was my new band. People had never listened to anything from the band. I was curious as to what their reaction was gonna be but now I know we do have fans, we can see how fans are excited about our band and about us releasing a new album... so we're confident about it. There's no room for any anxiety or pressure. We're just really, really happy and excited to be sharing it. It's like when you have a very precious gift to someone, and then you can't wait for that birthday to give them the gift? It's kind of like that, a childlike wonder. That's how I'm feeling."With Shades Of Sorrow receiving rave advance reviews we press Lira to reveal more about its musical nature."This album, comparing it to Echoes Of The Soul which was our first album, I think it's a way more mature album," she measured. "That's the word I like to use because that's what it is. Don't get me wrong, I love our first album, but back then we were still experimenting. Trying to find out what was our sound; what was the essence of the band musically speaking. With this new album and the feedback from the first album, I think we could understand what people would expect from a Crypta album, and we captured that. Then we started experimenting on top of what we already had set as our essence. So this freedom was important to us and I think that's why the album is more mature." In the full interiew Fernanda delves more into the musicality of the album, the two singles released and how they represent the album, the beautiful piano intro and subsequent interlude and closing passages, the album title and where it comes from, the early days of the band and their early vision, how it has changed since, touring plans and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

12 Jul 202328min

When Before The Dawn went on hiatus a little over a decade ago the chances of the band ever reuniting was slim to say the least.Plagued by line-up changes and label problems, the band were imploding at a rapid rate, losing the most important thing of all.Hope.Now, fast forward a decade, and Before The Dawn return triumphant with a new vocalist and revamped line-up as well as a blistering new album Stormbringers, which was released on June 30.Described as seeing Before The Dawn "back stronger than ever", Stormbringers is more than just another comeback album.It is sonic proof that music will always be the victor no matter how insurmountable the odds.Band founder Tuomas Saukkonen - in his first ever Australian interview - joined HEAVY to tell us more."It's been really good," he enthused of the early reception to the bands comeback album. "We were resting a little bit because... we did a few changes to the line-up. We changed the vocalist, who replaced actually two vocalists in the band - I used to be the frontman doing the growling vocals, but I started playing drums only. So there's big changes visually and also in the audio but it's been amazing so far."We press Tuomas on the musical components of Stormbringers."Well, if somebody is not familiar of our previous albums, I think the Finnish melancholy plays a huge part," he replied. "We are very sad people up here in the North (laughs). If you look at Finnish bands in general the melodies they make are quite gloomy, and Before The Dawn is no exception to that. But I think we are on the most positive side of Finnish metal. Our melodic death metal is quite stage friendly and more like rock and roll oriented, if that is allowed to be said about metal in general."In the full interview, Tuomas talks more about the album musically, their new vocalist and the unusual circumstances around which he came to be in the band, how the band has come back stronger, fears people may have forgotten about Before The Dawn during their hiatus, their upcoming tour with Wolfheart and Hinayana, Australian tour plans and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

11 Jul 202319min

Interview by Kris PetersKing Parrot have always epitomised the working class of Australian metal.Brash, confident, unflinching and honest to the core, the boys have never wavered from their passion, bringing to the surface a newfound generation of Australian music that has its roots deeply entrenched in laconic Aussie humour laced with massive doses of pent up attitude and aggression.That labour of love has seen King Parrot tick off many milestones over their musical career, with the recent announcement of a handful of US dates with none other than Pantera perhaps the bands crowning achievement to date.But first the boys have a few celebration shows in their home country with vocalist Matt Young more than happy to chat with HEAVY and reveal all of the bands upcoming plans.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

7 Jul 202322min

Interview by Kyra-Jade CoombsYOU ME AT SIX – Josh FranceschiYou Me at Six are due to start their Australian tour for the first time in 5 years this July in Perth on the 9th and finishing up in Melbourne on the 16th. It’s been a long-awaited return for the band and fans alike. Heavy took the chance to catch up with Josh Franceschi to chat about the upcoming tour and some insight on their newest album, Truth Decay.Australia has been a home away from home for the boys. Our knack for being welcoming and laid back has always been something Josh looks forward to and this time around they get to enjoy our ‘colder’ weather instead of coming in the guts of our Aussie summers! There’s always been a connection between You Me at Six and our Australian bands. Whether it be on our home shores or abroad they’ve always clicked and ‘banded’ with our musos. We touched on playing shows or festivals with Parkway Drive, Yours Truly, Tonight Alive, Northlane and Tame Impala, for balance of course. One thing that stood out for me was Josh mentioning our (bands) have this self-sufficient ‘fuck this, we just got to do it ourselves’ attitude that isn’t waiting for anyone to sign them… actually getting out there making their dreams come true by themselves. This made me feel a huge sense of pride about our musicians. He isn’t wrong, we have so many amazing bands that spend day in and out grinding to make it in this industry.Truth Decay has amassed millions of streams on platforms, and I wondered how this resonated with You Me at Six. Josh made a really good point in stating that this really didn’t mean ‘fuck all’. A song can stream well and in a live environment can fall dead. He would rather gauge a songs success in how it is received playing a show, when they feel most connected to their fans. Seeing fans singing along to an album with all their heart when it’s only just been released means so much more then any stream would. You Me and Six are just shy of being together for 20 years and I wondered how they nurtured their professional and personal relationship together to which Josh replied, “Our collective goal is to take care of one another verses anything else”. Keeping everything equal and fare, talking through decisions and never disrespecting one another for something that might feel ‘good’ at the time. They’ve known each other since they were kids and treat each other as if there are truly family. “I could pick up the phone at anytime to their parents and know full well I’m doing right by their sons”. Being kind and respectful comes first and the music goes with this. I feel a lot of bands could learn from this way of thinking.There’s plenty more covered in the full interview, have a listen and enjoy. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

7 Jul 202316min