Interviews

“I’ve just always been around my scene in Arizona starting [with] the first band we were playing bowling alleys and backyard shows and stuff,” frontman Joe Cotela explains from the back of the DED tour bus. Whether able to be seen from outside the scene or not, DED has been around for the last four years, quietly stitching together the album RESENT.

The most beautiful art is always vulnerable. If there is any band that knows anything about this very concept, it is Louisville’s genre-defying quartet, Greyhaven. Coming into their fourth studio release, Keep It Quiet, opens the door to another level of emotional exploration. “I think we just kind of naturally want to push the sound of the band further and further with every record, you know,” responds vocalist Brent Mills.

The past handful of years has seen the Oxnard, CA quintet take to the road supporting Municipal Waste, Exodus, the Cavalera Conspiracy and Necrot, and Garcia reports nothing but good about the experiences. “I love playing guitar and being in a band is awesome,” he gushes.

“I wake up in the morning and I feel I need to buy canned goods, I think we’re officially under authoritarian rule,” says Chokecherry vocalist E Scarlett Levinson. Fortunately for Scarlett and co-singer Izzie Clark, they have a glorious debut album in ‘Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls’ to at least briefly distract them from the nation’s present scarily toxic state.

Verily, the gentlemen behind Carach Angren, Ardek and Seregor, are insanely gifted. Their talents are all too magnificently displayed on the EP The Cult of Kariba, which reaffirms Carach Angren’s continued originality. As Ardek states, “We do our own thing. I think it’s cool when a band does something different.”

Norway’s legendary extreme metal pioneers Cadaver, founded in 1988, have undertaken the noble task of presenting a sonically updated version of their debut album, Hallucinating Anxiety, 35 years later. In celebration of Listenable Records’ reissue, we discussed the effort with the massively influential Cadaver co-founder, driving force, and sole constant member, Mr. Anders Odden.

Sven Erik “Maniac” Fuzz-Kristiansen is a genius in the true sense of the word — an unsurpassed artist within the realm of black metal, which he helped pioneer, and beyond. Of course, we were absolutely thrilled to be kindly granted the rare opportunity to interview the living legend Maniac — a privilege we never thought we would have. Maniac’s eloquent and enlightening answers certainly prove why he is one of the very-very best.

“If you can believe my parents, they said that I sang before I spoke,” Rautiainen explains with a small, but reserved smile, “So, I’ve always enjoyed singing and performing.” Luna Kills’ Lotta Rautiainen’s singing sounds like it’s been wrapped in silk, a jazzy full-bodied tone that bellows and bewitches with precision and authority. It’s an interesting juxtaposition to the fury of nu-metal that envelops her sound.

The timeless and historic masterpiece Grand Declaration of War (2000) by The True Mayhem represents one of black metal’s greatest moments. Blasphemer most certainly is the genre’s best guitarist as he combines superhuman technical perfection with divine artistry, ceaseless ingenuity, and pure emotion. In honor of Blasphemer’s full-length debut with Mayhem, Grand Declaration of War, we present our dialogue with the master himself.

Nine records deep, Bayside is more full speed ahead than ever before. Singer Anthony Raneri is energetic when asked about the band’s longevity and charmingly candid when presented with thoughts on the band’s calculated but numerous zigs and zags.