Carl Begai

Since I don’t trust myself to post much of anything on the site while I’m back home in Toronto, I’ve decided to yap a bit early about homeland noise currently massaging my brain.

James LaBrie of Dream Theater fame is gearing up for the release of his new solo album, Static Impulse, on September 28th. No question, it smokes. Fans of his 2005 outing Elements Of Persuasion will be pleased to hear that guitarist Marco Sfogli and keyboardist Matt Guillory are still on board and shredding up a storm. LaBrie’s band also inclides Halford bassist Ray Riendeau and Darkane drummer Peter Wildoer, the latter being particularly significant in that he does a fair bit of kicking and screaming throughout the record. The song ‘One More Time’ is currently available for streaming here and… let’s just say some of the diehard Dream Theater fanatics are going to need a sedative. A full-on review is in the works but has to be held back until the beginning of September due to certain promotional requirements. As in, I don’t want to bite the hands that feed. Suffice to say LaBrie has made some ballsy decisions on the album and turned out a killer piece of work. (continue reading…)

Folks that visit this corner of the blogosphere are aware that I recently did an exclusive interview with new Crimson Glory vocalist Todd La Torre (found here). On the same day I interviewed the band’s founding guitarist, Jon Drenning, to discuss the events leading up to La Torre’s induction into the band. We also talked about Crimson Glory’s forthcoming studio album, which is due to be conceptual piece in tribute to former vocalist Midnight.

“I was shocked, yeah,” Drenning says of the similarities between La Torre’s and Midnight’s vocals. “It came as a complete surprise because we were preparing for the ProgPower X tribute show to Midnight, organizing these metal singers from around the world who had graciously offered their time and talent, so we really didn’t need another singer. Matt Laporte from Jon Oliva’s Pain dedicated his time as well to play guitar and dulcimer on the night because he and Midnight had been good friends, and he mentioned to me that he knew a drummer who was an aspiring singer. He said ‘I think he might be your guy.’ I told Matt there was no way. There were people from all over the world interested in auditioning, there was no way I was going to find a singer for Crimson Glory in my own backyard. Finding one Midnight was special enough. Finding another singer with those qualities in my own backyard again… what are the chances of that?” (continue reading…)

Quite possibly the ultimate hit and miss band, My Ruin have been slugging it out for over a decade, gaining a small but loyal following while leaving most of the distortion-loving masses scratching their heads over who and what My Ruin is all about. The former can be blamed on crap international distribution, the latter on the band’s stunning penchant for crossing between the old school and nu-skool without breaking a sweat. Ghosts And Good Stories – My Ruin’s sixth official full length album – is their strongest outing since A Prayer Under Pressure Of Violent Anguish from 2000, with vocalist / wordsmith Tairrie B. and guitarist-turned-multi-intrumentalist Mick Murphy having locked into and refined a definitive sound. The record is bookended by two shots of doom, ‘Diggin’ For Ghosts’ and ‘Deathknell’, contrasting Tairrie’s now-trademark spoken word elegance against a Black Sabbath-painted canvas. Second tune in, ‘Long Dark Night’, sets a death punk tone for the album that persists even when the songs drop to a half speed groove, and regardless of tempo Ms. B’s performance is always in your face. Her full-on screech was second to none before Pro-Tools screwed up the industry, and her performance on Ghosts And Good Stories (‘Excommunicated’, ‘Suicide Tuesday’, ‘Abusing The Muse’) serves notice to lovelies like Maria Brink (In This Moment) and Candace Kucsulain (Walls Of Jericho) that delivery is everything. And in this case, brutally effective. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Thirty years ago Sarcofagus guitarist Kimmo Kuusniemi would have died laughing in the face of predictions that Finland would become a focal point for the international metal community. This year he released documentary offering a look into why this is indeed the case, and nobody is laughing at a job well done.

When exactly this small Northern nation began spitting out high quality metal is up for debate. Suffice to say that when Kuusniemi left his native Finland almost 20 years ago for the UK it was because his band Sarcofagus and the music he loves were viewed as nothing more than a joke by the people around him. His documentary Promised Land Of Heavy Metal – put together with partner in crime and life Tanja Katinka Karttunen – showcases Kuusniemi’s journey home to a musical climate far different from the one he left behind. It explores how and why the “new” Finland ticks as loudly as it does, and allows him to say “I told you so” to the people that dismissed metal as a joke.

Kuusniemi: “In the Sarcofagus days a lot of the press people treated me well because I was a reasonable person, so they didn’t want to put me down, but the people that had classical training in music saw the whole metal thing as absolutely ridiculous and stupid. They didn’t even consider it music, saying it was just a phase. We were up against a small country mentality: ‘If you don’t do things the way we do them, we’re all against you.’ That’s why I left Finland, because it was so negative. When we returned to make the film I found the people were much different because of the European union. The borders were open. In the old days all the bands were sort of like enemies; there was competition. That’s changed a lot, and all the bands and artists we met were really nice. There were no ‘stars’, unlike the ‘80s where a lot of these musicians were full of themselves even though nobody knew them. These Finnish bands now are so down to earth that I feel Finland is a much better place than it used to be.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

It’s hard to believe, but Loudness is pushing the ripe old age of 30. Quite an achievement considering the band has had three singers, the grunge direction adopted by guitarist / founder Akira Takasaki in the ‘90s all but destroyed their credibility, the original line-up’s reunion in 2001 featured a heavier and darker sound compared to ‘80s Loudness, and the passing of drummer Munetaka Higuchi in November 2008. The band’s new album King Of Pain sends a strong message, however, that Loudness are alive and well in 2010 and nowhere close to pulling the plug. The old school edge that has been largely absent from their sound since the Spiritual Canoe reunion album is back, as is the energy that made Loudness an international success story three decades ago.

On November 25th, 2006 Loudness played their 25th Anniversary show in Tokyo, Japan., It was 25 years to the day they officially became a band. Frontman Minoru Niihara reflects on the evening and what it meant.

“I’m astonished by the fact that this band is still around after 25 years,” he says. “It’s almost 30 years now. It’s just so amazing when a metal band continues for over 25 years. We could never imagine that when we started. It was impossible without the loyal fans and we thank every one of them from bottom of our hearts. As for the concert, the atmosphere was very at-home throughout the show. We played a lot of classics and that brought back a lot of memories. It was very emotional for me when we (band and audience) all sang along together.”

Less than two years later, however, word came down that Higuchi was battling liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma). He was hospitalized for treatment on April 7th, 2008 but passed away on November 30th. It was a devastating blow for everyone in and around the band. On February 14th , 2009 the band performed a tribute show dubbed Munetaka Higuchi – Forever Our Hero. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

I recently caught up with Crimson Glory guitarist Jon Drenning for BW&BK to discuss the band’s surprising decision to carry on with a new singer (click here). “Surprising” because original vocalist Midnight, who passed away in July 2009 due to liver and kidney failure, was a defining element of the Crimson Glory sound. As far as the metal universe was concerned it could never be duplicated faithfully, with Drenning and his bandmates at the top of that list. New voice Todd La Torre has proven everyone wrong, even though he had no designs on doing so when he was asked to step up.

“Matt Laporte from Jon Oliva’s Pain and I are friends, and he told me he was doing some rehearsing with them, but it really didn’t mean anything to me,” La Torre admits. “I’d heard the name Crimson Glory before but that was about all I knew about them. Matt told me that if the guys were to hear me sing they’d shit themselves, so that night I checked out some of their stuff on YouTube. The ‘Lonely’ video was the first thing to come and I thought it was cool that the guys had been on MTV before (laughs). When I heard the first verse I though the vocals were beautiful, and I loved it. It had everything I liked in a song.”

“Long story short; when I got to the rehearsal there was a part of me that was nervous. I’d done some research on them probably two days before the rehearsal, so I was able to pick out the guys in the band from the videos (laughs). It was cool but I wasn’t really starstruck or anything like that. Sadly, and blasphemy for the true Crimson fans, I didn’t know their stuff (laughs).” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

YouTube is known as a junkyard for vidiot disasters big and small, but there’s no question it has also proven its worth on the music front. Bands and record labels and have locked into it as an important promotional tool, and it’s the go-to source for vintage and brand new live footage from your favourite artists. In addition, musicians from all walks of life use YouTube to pass on their knowledge with instructional video clips, the vast majority of them offered for free. It’s also the primary form of promotion used by independent artists as a way of getting their music heard, and I’ve been blown away more than a few times by some of the talent that’s out there.

I was recently cruising YouTube and ended up reliving my kid years a little bit when I stumbled over the video for ‘Standing In The Dark’ by the Toronto band Platinum Blonde. A song I’d heard a billion times growing up, a video burned into the back of my eyes, yet I was instantly enthralled (yes, so much so it deserves a big-ass word). It was and is a cheesy early ’80s video, but it’s one of those signposts in my life that can’t be ignored. As the song played through, however, I noticed a clip for a cover of another Platinum Blonde hit, ‘Doesn’t Really Matter’, on the side of the page. It practically screamed “Click me!” due to the band never having made any real noise outside Canada, and remembered only by Canucks over the age of 35. So I did… and was blown away. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

During his departure-turned-hiatus from Soilwork between 2005 and 2008, guitarist Peter Wichers turned to production work and succeeded in carving out a lucrative new career. Having made his mark in 2008 with Nevermore frontman Warrel Dane’s first ever solo album, Praises To The War Machine, 2010 finds Wichers with two more critically acclaimed releases: Soilwork’s new record The Panic Broadcast and Nevermore’s surprising return to old form, The Obsidian Conspiracy. During our interview about The Panic Broadcast, he also discussed how he ended up working with Nevermore and his influences on their new record.

“The Obsidian Conspiracy was a great opportunity for me and I really enjoyed working with them,” says Wichers. “I didn’t know too much about them other than what I saw on Headbanger’s Ball when I was a teenager, but then we toured with them for A Predator’s Portrait. We learned so much from those guys and we stayed in touch, and the whole Nevermore thing came about because of Warrel’s solo record. I got involved with it, he asked me to write for it and was really happy with the end result, so I guess from that they decided to give me a shot with the new Nevermore record.” (continue reading…)