Interviews

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.

Blending both Japanese and English lyricism and featuring production and several guest features by Matthew Kiichi Heafy (Trivium), RYUJIN’s high speed riffs and breakneck guitar descents pair with traditional Japanese elements on their self-titled album.

It almost beggars belief that, 17 years into Midnight’s career, they remain something of a best kept secret—a seditious pleasure celebrated only by those who lurk in the darkest alleys of the underground. Founded in Cleveland in 2003, Midnight is a one-man shop, conceived by multi-instrumentalist Athenar, whose original vision saw the band staying well out of the spotlight, favoring EPs and split releases over full albums. The approach was both celebrated and bemoaned by his growing fan base.

On the heels of its newly released five track EP, Days Before the World Wept, the band is still waiting to finalize a tour to finally start playing live again. During a recent interview, Vicky talked about the new album, lyrical inspiration, and her other musical projects.

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.

ManiaCult has all of the usual traits of an Aborted album—brutality, technicality, and absolute craziness. Even with some newfound diversity, Aborted is still a classic gore and guts band. We spoke with Sven de Caluwe about writing and recording the album during the pandemic, the sound behind ManiaCult, and his best music business advice.

We spoke to multifaceted shred queen Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper, Iron Maidens) directly after her first solo show and the live debut of Controlled Chaos to talk about guitar technique, The Guitar Collective tour, balancing life on the road with Alice Cooper and her own material, and, of course, all about her new album.

We spoke with Robin Staps, founder and guitarist of progressive metal titans The Ocean (also known as The Ocean Collective), to learn how he and the band are doing now that they’ve released their latest record, Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic. Staps shared the writing process behind the record, the band’s plans amidst the pandemic and for next year, the inner workings of the record label he founded, Pelagic Records, and more.

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.”

A lot rides on a band that wants to be more than a talented cover band on YouTube. “Going into the second release, Welcome to the Chaos, we belong to the rock community, are playing the festivals, going on the tours, and meeting all these bands. It all feels real now. I feel now like we have made it,” says vocalist Bryan Kuznitz