Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

Kittie threw down the gauntlet in 2007 with Funeral For Yesterday, an album that earned them a truckload of credibility amongst the metal masses for nailing the coffin shut on the alterna-nu-metalcore sound that yanked the spotlight in their direction in the late ‘90s. The highly anticipated 2009 follow-up, In The Black, cemented Kittie’s place at the table occupied by old school metal purists and a younger generation with its collective head in the right place. No surprise, then, that I’ve Failed You stomps even deeper into the realms of metal, crushing any lingering thoughts of the foursome as nothing more than an all-female novelty act. The level of musicianship and song dynamics on the album, on the other hand, is a bloody revelation.

Not that Kittie didn’t have the chops before, but if “maturity” is a dirty word the ladies have been mud-bathing for the last year and come out all guns blazing. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Back in July, vocalist Amanda Somerville spilled the beans on her first official metal solo project, Trillium (interview available here). With the release of the debut album, Alloy, only weeks away she shot a video for the song ‘Coward’, and we got together the following morning over tea to delve a little deeper into the new album.

It’s safe to say Somerville efforts will surprise a lot of fans – in a good way – and earn her some new ones along the way as Trillium plays out. And while it’s a no-nonsense metal album, anyone that’s followed Somerville’s decade-long non-metal career will wonder if some of the songs were consciously tweaked from a singer / songwriter / acoustic state to the tough-as-nails tracks we’re hearing now. Take away the distortion and the tracks in question would easily fit on her 2009 solo album, Windows.

“It was very conscious, actually,” Somerville reveals. “Songs like ‘Path Of Least Resistance’, ‘Purge’ and ‘Mistaken’ were pretty dark, and I’d planned to put them on my next solo album, which was going to be darker and heavier than anything I’d done before anyway. I had all this material that was building up, and since I’m a piano player and not a guitar player, it was clear to me I’d have to work with someone who played guitar as their main instrument like Sascha (Paeth / producer) or Sander (Gommans / HDK) so they could metal it up. That was the idea from the start, and the way things progressed led to those songs being on this album.”

“The songs that I wrote with Sander – and he’s a prolific songwriter, cranking them out like crazy – we already them had in mind for this project. Sander was totally into it, and every time he sits down with his guitar a song comes out of it. The way we typically work, he writes the instrumental parts and then I come in and suggest whatever changes I think should be made. Then I take the song and write a vocal line and lyrics to it. Sander likes a good challenge as well, though, and when he heard the piano / vocal demo I had for ‘Machine Gun’ he asked if he could work on it. He came up with the big main riff, which really supplements the running theme through the whole song.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Following is an excerpt from my latest BW&BK interview with Edguy / Avantasia frontman Tobias Sammet for the new Edguy album, Age Of The Joker….

“I think Edguy has always maintained the integrity and the key elements of our sound,” says Sammet, “but we’ve always dared – and it’s really stupid to use that terminology – to do what we feel (laughs). It really sounds odd because it’s something you take for granted when you speak to an artist. An artist should always be doing what he or she wants to do.”

Which is the very reason for Edguy’s continued success, as Sammet has no problem dropkicking the box marked “Fan Expectations.”

“I’ve said this before, but we don’t work for a pizza delivery service. Just because the fans ask us for something, it doesn’t mean they’re going to get it from us (laughs). It doesn’t work like that when you’re creating art, and we’ve always done what we wanted. I’m really happy with the album, and it’s a heartfelt happiness. I don’t know what to think about the musical direction of it, if we’ve gone back to the roots or whatever. That was never our goal, we didn’t really strive for that.”

“The thing is, if we were to do 10 songs like ‘Babylon’ for example, it wouldn’t work. Sometimes I really feel the need to do a song like that, and you can hear that in songs like ‘The Arcane Guild’ and ‘Breathe’ on Age Of The Joker. When we did the Theater Of Salvation album, although we loved that kind of music, I think we really wanted to make sure that we came up with a statement. I don’t think it was a conscious thing, but I think we really wanted to make sure we had a label put on us.” (continue reading…)

Yeah, about a week early, but I’m planning on going out as Silent Bob for Halloween and have to practice not talking shit. So, before I take my vow of quietude…

Eclipse Eternal – home town T.O. black metal skull crushers and a favourite of Swedish producer-to-the-gods Fredrik Nordstrom – have signed with Archaic North Records and will release their new album, The Essence of Hopelessness, on January 14th, 2012 (cover art can be viewed on the left). The band returned to ex-Megadeth guitarist Glen Drover’s Eclipse Studio for the recordings, and according to the pre-release hype sheet it’s going to be the sort of chaos-driven smackdown fans are expecting:

“They have delved into their innermost suffering and wrenched forth an album that is both poignant and memorable. From cold atmospheres to absolute chaos, from acoustic and spoken word interludes to ripping shredding, this album is as brutal as it is stirring.”

So, take that as you will, but past experience has taught me that anything Eclipse Eternal releases rips metal trendies like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle Of Filth to shreds. (continue reading…)

In 1999, Canadian vocalist / keyboardist / guitarist Lawrence Gowan was invited to join U.S.-based rock legends Styx as a permanent band member. The news came as a surprise on many levels. For one thing, Gowan had replaced Dennis DeYoung, considered by many fans to be the The Voice of the band, and the vast majority of those followers were completely oblivious to Gowan’s star status at home. He was a dreaded unknown. Gowan fans, meanwhile, were left wondering how a star of the Canadian ’80s pop rock scene had managed to attract the attention of a band that had been around for 20 over years by that time.

The band recently released the Regeneration album, featuring re-recorded versions of Styx favourites (and a Damn Yankees song or two). And while I didn’t have the chance to speak with Gowan or his bandmates, credit where it’s due to my BW&BK colleague Mitch Lafon for a fantastic in-depth chat with Gowan about the record and his career. An excerpt is available below.

By Mitch Lafon

BraveWords.com: Gowan was a staple on Canadian radio and TV in the ‘80s. ‘Moonlight Desires’, ‘A Criminal Mind’ and ‘Strange Animal’ were top hits…

Gowan: “’Moonlight Desires’ was a #1 video. ‘A Criminal Mind’ was #1 in Montreal.”

BraveWords.com: A friend of mine, Sean Kelly, just did a cover of ‘A Criminal Mind’ on his new solo album – Where The Wood Meets The Wire (Universal).”

Gowan: “I heard that. It’s great.”

BraveWords.com: It just goes to show that people still love that song, but how come Gowan didn’t break through in the United States?

Gowan: “I’ll explain that, but it’s a terribly long, drawn out and boring story. So, last year when I did the Return Of The Strange Animal record – I decided to tell the story in cartoon form. The link is: Gowanstrangeanimal.com. What you’re getting at here is the two completely different music businesses that exist today and existed in the ‘80s. Yesterday, Todd came to me with a new artist from Australia that I had never heard called Gotye. I immediately put in on, looked him up on Youtube… There’s the difference today. If somebody came to me back in the ‘80s and said there’s this new Australian band called AC/DC. How can I get their record? I’d have to go to the import section of my local record store or… But today you can access anything from around the world instantly. Everyone now, automatically gets a world wide release because of the Internet, but the way it was in the 1980’s was the polar opposite of that. The record companies decided who got released where and why. A terrific example would be The Jam in England. They’d play Wembley Stadium in England, but you could barely find their records in the United States and that was the same situation for Platinum Blonde and me in Canada. We were signed to CBS records and although we had international deals and out sold some of the biggest international stars (in Canada) – we couldn’t get a guaranteed release in the United States. It seemed like the hurdle just kept moving and moving and moving…” (continue reading…)

A blast from the past, posted a few years ago on Facebook and resurrected here in the now because it’s one of those fond memories that never gets old for me. Any Canadians reading this will appreciate the irony that wraps this tale up…

Some names have been changed to protect the presumed innocent…

A few years back, my best bud Paco decided he was going to visit me in Germany. He was overdue for a vacation and worked out a trip where he’d spend time in Holland with friends, then come visit me in Nuremberg, and cap things off with a jaunt through the pubs of Ireland (I’m happy to report he survived the last bit). I was all for it and was looking forward to four days of playing tour guide, talking metal, drinking copious amounts of beer, and (as it turned out) adopting the word “SMORE!” to express our appreciation of the opposite sex. We used it a lot.

Things began in Munich where, following the 45 minute subway trip from the airport into the city, I dragged Paco to the infamous Hofbräuhaus, a tourist trap armed to the rafters with beer. In other words, our version of Disneyland. We stashed his bags in a locker at the train beforehand and took our time doing The Walk downtown. We had a good two and a half hours to kill before our train to Nuremberg was due to leave, so no rush, everything was cool. Good weather, awesome scenery of the female variety – there’s something to be said for German engineering after all – and when we finally got to the ‘Haus, great malt beverages. We killed a liter each, shot the shit, I think I may have ordered a second beer (dumb idea). We took our time leaving, even getting one of the girls working there to show us her rather large pretzels (no, really) figuring 20 minutes was plenty of time to get back to the station.

My dear friend Audrey will tell you this is one of the dumbest assumptions person can make when travelling around Munich…

Paco and I quickly realized I’d made a “slight” error in judgment with regards to time versus distance, a fact we were reminded of by the clocks that were seemingly hanging on every street corner and on the side of every building. We were forced to run for our train; not a fun exercise when you’ve really gotta pee and you’re buzzing. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

One thing Blood Stain Child guitarist Ryu can never be accused of is a lack of creativity. Just like his constantly evolving image – one needs only to glance through promo pictures from the past eleven years for proof – Ryu’s musical vision continues to widen with each album. For the band’s fifth record, Epsilon, he did what nobody expected and added a female lead vocalist to Blood Stain Child’s ranks; his two-part replacement for the departed Sadew. Bassist and original vocalist Ryo is back up front as well, but the present focus is ultimately on Greek singer Sophia, who plays the melodic contrast to his death metal growls. This has added a completely new dimension to the band’s recognizable trance metal sound, raising eyebrows and dropping some jaws as Epsilon continues to circulate. As expected, not everyone has accepted the change with good graces and Sophia has quite naturally been singled out as the cause of the so-called “problem.” She sees no reason to be concerned, however, as her new bandmates would have left her recordings on the cutting room floor had she proven to be incapable of carrying the songs.

“I guess you thought much deeper than I did,” Sophia remarks. “Don’t forget I’m a typical Sagittarian, looking for adventure and new experiences. Also initially, Ryu asked me to ‘sing on a few songs,’ so I basically considered it a participation rather than becoming an actual band member. A couple of months later, though, while I had already started working on the songs he’d given me, Sadew left, so the band had no lead singer anymore. That’s when Ryu simply asked me ‘Do you wanna be the lead singer?’ I was like… (pulls a shocked expression). Before I could even answer firmly, he told me ‘Welcome to the band, everybody’s waiting for you in Osaka (laughs).” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Redemption’s latest album, This Mortal Coil, can be considered business-as-usual in that it continues the band’s cycle of cranking out new music every two years. And while that may sound like a warning bell heralding a lack of inspiration on the band’s part, this is in fact a very good thing given that guitarist founder Nick van Dyk wrote the album while courting a death sentence. It was as ominous as it sounds; diagnosed with cancer, van Dyk was told in no uncertain terms that his years were numbered. Rather than accept his fate he sought out treatment, simultaneously composing music that paid homage to and built on Redemption’s brand of no-nonsense aggressive prog metal. This Mortal Coil was the end result, loaded with more riffs per square inch compared to Redemption’s previous records and bleeding melody by the bucket. Even when you’re only three songs in, there’s no doubt that van Dyk’s ultimate test pushed his inspiration to new heights.

“Absolutely,” van Dyk admits. “Not sonically so much as lyrically. Not to make the whole interview about this, but I was diagnosed with blood cancer three years ago and told that I had three to five years to live. I was fortunate that I was diagnosed by accident and had the opportunity to research the one guy in the world who thinks he can cure it. I went through a pretty intense therapy for it, but as of now the odds are very much in my favour that I’m cured. I’m on some pretty horrible medicine for the next 18 months or so, but it’s all manageable.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

In a recent interview with Sinner bassist/vocalist Mat Sinner about the band’s new album, One Bullet Left, he offered BW&BK his thoughts and impressions on the forthcoming Primal Fear record, Unbreakable, which the band had just finished recording at press time. He reveals the band opted to go back to square one rather than trying to one-up their over-the-top 2009 effort, 16.6.

Following is the exclusive look into the record, due to be released on January 20th, 2012:

“We reduced the journeys to different styles of music on the new album,” Mat reveals. “I’m trying to find the right word… let’s just say there weren’t a lot of strange experiments. We went back to where we started with the riffs, meaning that the main riff is the main point in the song. That’s how we made music in Primal Fear when we first started (in 1997). With Magnus (Karlsson) and Alex (Beyrodt) on guitars, and Randy (Black) on drums, we have the strongest Primal Fear line-up ever, and the shows we’ve done recently prove that. We played Wacken this past summer, we just did some shows in Poland, and it was killer. We tried to get that vibe, that attitude, and put it on the album. We wrote songs that go back to the basics, and some fans will love them for that reason alone. You hear the riffs and you know it’s Primal Fear.”

“It will be a different album. If people want to hear totally innovative and new music, they shouldn’t wait for this album.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

By Carl Begai

Success breeds contempt faster than crack-addicted rabbits trapped in a barn, and in the great tradition of tearing down those that have more than other folks on the same page, anyone brazen enough put a death grip on the brass ring is guaranteed to be slammed for it. This has been Munich-based French-American photographer Audrey Dujardin’s reality for the last year as her career has picked up speed. Ironically, any negativity that has come her way has had more to do with other ventures added to her resumé rather than her increased body of work behind the camera. A return to radio, diving deeper into video journalism / production, hosting metal festivals, work as a vocal coach, and exhibiting occasional pirate-like tendencies with mic in hand on Alestorm’s stage, have all contributed to an increased number of keyboard warriors asking who the fuck Dujardin thinks she is, and taking their supposedly allotted pounds flesh accordingly.

Dujardin is too busy working to notice, however; a concept her naysayers haven’t quite gotten a handle on.

“It’s funny,” she says, now able to laugh off the vast majority of attempts to bring her down. “A few years ago when I was doing stuff with Emilie Autumn, people thought I was full of shit and just bragging my ass off… until they saw the photos. Then it was ‘Oh shit, if she’s on stage, then maybe she’s not making it up…’ I ended up getting this wave of hate from people after the Metalfest this year, which was an event I hosted. People say awful things when someone becomes successful, so you can imagine what they were saying about me. The truth is that I work myself to the point of exhaustion. This shit doesn’t happen on its own; it happens because I’m on the phone all the time, I’m networking all the time, and I’m where I’m supposed to be when something needs to get done. This doesn’t happen because I show my tits or anything like that.”

Don’t mistake this as bitterness talking. Instead, call it attitude laced with justified contempt for people who can’t fathom what it means to put skull to grindstone. (continue reading…)