Interviews

Demons & Wizards, the power metal side-project featuring Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kürsch, has returned after a lengthy hiatus. The band kicked off its A Magical Encounter with Demons & Wizards Tour—its first tour in nearly two decades—in Europe last summer in Saarbrücken, Germany, including a headlining show at Wacken Open Air, while their North American headline tour began in Los Angeles with Lizzy Borden and Tyr as support.

Ghost has been on the rise for nearly a decade, getting exponentially larger with each year, each album, and each tour. Ghost has had its best year yet, jumping from theaters to arenas, opening for Metallica, and finishing out their Prequelle tour cycle with US and European tours. We spoke with Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge at the end of the US The Ultimate Tour Named Death. With just one more run of dates before taking all of 2020 off from touring, we found out what we could expect in the next chapter of Ghost…a new album, the end of Cardinal Copia, and a new Papa?

Abigail Williams is one of the most diverse bands in modern metal. Their earlier material was the perfect combination of melodic and technical with plenty of black metal influences. But the band’s newest release, Walk Beyond the Dark, introduces a more evil atmosphere to Abigail Williams’ signature sound. We spoke with Sorceron about the writing behind Walk Beyond the Dark and the band’s tour with Ensiferum, Kalmah, and Aenimus.

Technical death metal band Nile has been churning out slabs of authentic Egyptian inspired metal since 1993. The band is on fire as of late with a renewed sense of brutality, which is on full display on its ninth full-length, Vile Nilotic Rites, its first album in four years. We spoke with Sanders about Vile Nilotic Rites, how he’s inspired by Egyptian history, and news on his future solo album.

Metal musicians from all different types of bands and backgrounds came together in 2017 to form Bad Wolves, a Los Angeles based supergroup that blended pounding yet accessible hard rock with some of the most infectious melodies around. Recently, drummer John Boecklin spoke with us about Bad Wolves’ new album, N.A.T.I.O.N., acting as a producer as well as a musician, and the various ways he likes to think outside the box.

Twenty-six years later, we finally discover the fate of the protagonist from Life of Agony’s groundbreaking debut River Runs Red at a time that couldn’t be more fitting in the rise of support for mental health awareness. With a reinvigorated lineup, featuring drummer Veronica Bellino, the band has returned with unwavering passion and relentless energy on their new album The Sound of Scars. Find out more as we chat with bassist and songwriter Alan Robert.

Lizzy Borden may take its namesake from an infamous murderer, but the band’s music is intended to take you on a visual journey like no other. Having just returned from a very successful tour with Tyr and Demons and Wizards, we had a great time chatting with the frontman himself about the tour, the anniversary of Visual Lies, and more.

Strange as it may sound to say, what stands out most about Liverpool based trio Dawn Ray’d is that the black metal sound is all that’s really attaching them to the black metal scene. Hailing from the same boundary pushing outskirts as outfits like Wolves in the Throne Room, Alcest, Panopticon, and those who dare weave other genres around black metal’s DNA helix—in their case, classic folk and protest music—Dawn Ray’d has found kinship with the DIY scene, squat and underground independent venue touring circuit, and make no bones about their far left politics.

With the band’s third full-length album Macro out on Napalm Records, Ukrainian extreme metal band Jinjer pulls inspiration from within while speeding forward on the road to success. We spoke with bassist Eugene Abdukhanov on what it feels like to be “On the Top” amidst their almost completely sold-out headlining US tour.

Six long and quiet years have passed since The Almost last graced our speakers. With a very public saga of the demise and subsequent rebirth of vocalist Aaron Gillespie’s juggernaut of a full-time job, drumming for Underoath, fans of his side gig weren’t holding their breath for a follow-up to 2013’s Fear Inside Our Bones. As fate would have it, keeping fans in the dark is exactly what Gillespie needed to complete Fear Caller.