Interviews

Closing out the summer, Austin, Texas based Hinayana drops their Napalm Records debut and hotly anticipated EP, Death of the Cosmic—four driving, blood pumping tracks that squarely establish that the Nordic countries no longer claim an icy monopoly over authentic melodic death metal.

Inspired by Swiss metal band Celtic Frost’s iconic 1985 album, To Mega Therion, Swedish symphonic metal forerunners Therion has successfully carved out its own niche within the metal world since its 1988 formation. On the band’s 17th full-length record, Leviathan (released through Nuclear Blast Records), all the Therion trademarks are represented.

Stick To Your Guns is a band that has always been confident about the anthemic themes within their music to tell the stories of truths that exist in our lives. Those truths extend beyond the self and into the world around us. “We are the universe experiencing itself,” vocalist Jesse Barnett examines.

We caught up with the always astute, eloquent, and hilarious guitarist Matt Fox to discuss coming back from the grave, releasing a record no one wants or cares about, and why zombies are lame.

Australian progressive metal act Ne Obliviscaris has unleashed their latest album Exul, which took years to make thanks to the pandemic and was a long process but worth the wait. “It was incredibly difficult (laughs), yet incredibly rewarding with how the final product turned out.”

In doing this interview with Frank about his memoir, Fathers, Brothers and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment and Anthrax, it seems like we had known each other for years. There’s a lot to take in with Frank’s book, and there are no spoilers here, because Anthrax fans, and non-metal fans alike, should pick up the book and feel the same personal connection with how the man told his story.

Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is another crowning achievement from the one band that continues to defy the notion that with age inevitably comes mellowing and that the best stuff is the early stuff. We caught up with vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway after his morning bike ride along the seaside to discuss relentless un-relentlessness, treating fellow human beings as human beings, and “doing the Swans.”

Triptykon has just released the band’s live performance of Requiem, a project that has been in the works for over 30 years. Performed at the Roadburn Festival in 2019 with the Metrople Orkest, this recording brings Requiem to life and is released in memoriam of Martin Eric Ain and HR Giger. Requiem (Live at Roadburn 2019) consists of three tracks: “Rex Irae,” which was released on Celtic Frost’s Into the Pandemonium, the newly written “Grave Eternal,” and “Winter,” which appears on Celtic Frost’s Monotheist album.

Set your stopwatches boys and girls because Australia’s Werewolves are breaking all accomplishment records with the same land speed quickness as a suicidal Fun-E car pilot tearing up the Bonneville Speedway Salt Flats powered by a combination of nitrous oxide and Usain Bolt’s fast-twitch muscle fibers. It’s not that the band (drummer Dave Haley, guitarist Matt Wilcock, and bassist/vocalist Sam Bean—with umpteen years of combined experience playing in the likes of Akercocke, The Senseless, The Berzerker, The Antichrist Imperium, Ruins, King, Abramelin, and more) was able to…

Outburn had the pleasure of speaking with Italian melodic rock star Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil at the band’s Los Angeles show with All That Remains a few days before the release of the band’s new album, Black Anima. We dug deep into the inspiration behind Black Anima—Lacuna Coil’s ninth full-length studio album—and Cristina’s personal philosophy on the healing power of music.