In a show of diva-esque conceit, I can lay claim to having locked on Lacuna Coil long before they were a big deal in Europe and less than a footnote on the North American metal scene. We go back to 1998 and the release of their self-titled EP, a venture that attracted the attention of anyone in tune with the likes of The Gathering and Theatre Of Tragedy, both of whom were in their heyday. The band did their Italian heritage proud, displaying the characteristic energy of a traditionally passionate people, excited at the prospect of being able to chase their dreams at a professional level. The band is older and wiser now, but there’s no lack of enthusiasm when discussing their newest work, Dark Adrenaline. Sure, it may be tempered somewhat by a sense of responsibility for the career they’ve created, but there’s still a sense of “I can’t believe this is my life…” in the air as vocalist Cristina Scabbia delves into the new record.

“That’s very true,” she says. “That was true especially in the very beginning, when things are happening and you don’t really know how it works. That’s when every little thing gets you excited. The things that get us excited now are different. We’ve grown up, we have a lot more experience; we’re not virgins in the music business anymore (laughs).”

Up until recently, Cristina was known as the face of Lacuna Coil as well as one of the voices. Understandable given her striking good looks, but in the years following the band’s 2002 breakthrough that focus grew to a potentially unhealthy level. Essentially, Lacuna Coil were on their way to being another Hottest Chick In Metal band. Cristina agrees with the suggestion that the image had started to overshadow the music, which is why there’s been a significant move away from putting her in the spotlight.

“We did that on purpose because we always try to experiment with things, and we were probably one of the very few real metal bands to play the sexy card and the fashion card in pictures. I have a lot of fun at photo sessions playing with different images, but at a certain point we said ‘You know what? People need to realize that Lacuna Coil is about teamwork.” It might be easier for a label to work with solo pictures because the female singer appeals more to people, but we needed to promote the fact and make it clear that this is a band. It’s not Cristina and some session people. We agreed to do a lot more band photos, and there were times when I refused to take any solo shots. It was like, ‘What’s the point in doing that?’”

“It’s not bad in the sense that it’s still promotion, like it or not. It really depends on the band. Some bands like to have all the attention put on the woman, and that’s good for them. Every band has a different career and a different point of view.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

For information on Lacuna Coil go to this location. Click here to check out ‘Trip The Darkness’, the first single from Dark Adrenaline.

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This interview never would have come to pass if it wasn’t for a tip from ex-Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young, who suggested checking out an indie band called Six Hour Sundown on YouTube during a weekly round of “Look what I found…” They came across as a better than average ‘80s-flavoured hair band for the modern day (minus the poofy hair), and the singer was a familiar face. Quick online investigation confirmed that it was indeed Lauren Harris front and center, but Six Hour Sundown’s appearance in the ring has been so low key that most of the initial attention received is the result of genuine curiosity rather than Iron Maiden family tree hype.

“It has been rather low key,” Harris agrees, “because we were doing the Maiden thing through 2008 and 2009, and there was a lot of hype around it at the time. I haven’t really been in the spotlight for the last couple years, and I’ve started up a new band using a new name rather than using my own name again. I’ve started from scratch, really.”

Most people would agree that dropping her own name in favour of Six Hour Sundown can only benefit Harris in the end. The move was made, she says, when her touring band fell apart.

“The first album was a solo thing, but when I was on the road with the guys it turned into more of a band. It was only natural for that to happen since we spent so much time together, and we really were like a family. You hear about some bands that just don’t get on, they’re not like real friends, but we were friends. But, because of other circumstances, it couldn’t continue. Randy (Gregg/bass) was in New York and we couldn’t keep flying him over to the UK because money was an issue. And with Richie (Faulkner/guitars), well, he went off and joined Judas Priest (laughs). Tommy (McWilliams/drums) left a while back because he was never going to do the drumming originally; he was part of the producing side of things, and he became our drummer because we needed one. It just became a long term thing. When Olly (Smith/drums) got involved he became part of the family, so Six Hour Sundown is me and Olly continuing on with a new band (also featuring Tom Gentry, James Bennett and Mitch Witham) which we started when Richie left in February 2011.”

Some people might consider Harris’ debut a case of taking the easy way through the front door. Now, however, she can be held accountable – for better or worse – for everything that goes down from here on out.

“I’m happy for it to be my fault now, to be honest (laughs). I guess with the first album, because we were put out with Maiden and Within Temptation and bands like that, I kind of felt because of the type of music I was doing that I probably would have done better if I’d gone out with someone more mainstream. That’s why it was a bit of a battle. I’m a bit uncomfortable with playing some of the songs on Calm Before The Storm to those audiences anyway, really. With Six Hour Sundown, it’s completely me, where I co-wrote every track on the album and it’s the direction I want to be going in.”

“When I think about it now, I can’t believe how much we actually got away with,” she adds. “I really can’t. Richie and I and our label were talking about it before he left the band; we were listening to the album and said we couldn’t believe it. And some of it we didn’t get away with because people did give us a lot of stick for it, which was fair enough.”

At this point, a release date for Six Hour Sundown’s debut has yet to be finalized, but they’re hoping to have something out before summer in order to take advantage of the festival circuit. Smart money has the band issuing a second single in early 2012 to keep the buzz going; momentum that will likely grow thanks to Faulkner’s presence on the new album. Like it or not, he’s a selling point for anyone who considers him a worthy replacement for Judas Priest’s K.K. Downing.

“Yeah, it will be a selling point, which is great. We obviously didn’t know what was going to happen when we recorded the album, because we recorded it last January and Richie left the band in February to join Priest. We were saying ‘Oh my God…’ because we’d just paid for the recording and thought we might have to do it all over again. We decided no, we can’t go back and re-record everything because it would destroy us financially. But, we’re very happy for Richie because Priest is a great opportunity for him.”

As opportunities go, supporting Iron Maiden in any capacity ranks near the top of the heap, and Harris doesn’t downplay the significance of that achievement. For a young artist presenting music better suited at the time to an Avril Lavigne-oriented crowd, it sometimes amounted to a hazing at the School Of Rock, and Harris learned a great deal from the experience.

“Something like that does teach you a lot. Over that two or three year period I grew so much as a performer. I learned how to deal with things like people giving me the finger and spitting at me… I learned to deal with any situation. When I first started to read comments on YouTube or on forums where people were completely slagging me off, it really upset me like it would with anybody. But towards the end of that period and now, I don’t give a shit what anybody thinks. I’ve done it all. I’ve been in a total male environment as well, which was really difficult to start off with because I had to prove myself, and some men don’t want to give you, as a woman on stage, the time of day.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

- Photos by John McMurtrie

Check out Six Hour Sundown here.

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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.”

“It’s not that I wanted to write songs or an album about having cancer,” he adds, “but there’s a thought process that one goes through when you’re confronted by your own mortality. It raises all kinds of questions: What the hell have I done to put myself in this position? Life is fleeting, what regrets do I have? Am I choosing a path to get better that’s going to work? How do I take stock of my life in the time I have left? I’d never put myself on the level of Rush or Neil Peart, but when he went through those losses in his life everyone knew the lyrics on the next Rush record were going to be deeply emotional and personal.”

“It’s difficult to go through this without being moved by it, but I didn’t want to make a concept album about me. In the past I’ve talked a lot about relationships, which is something everybody has to deal with in their lives. This time it was about confronting one’s mortality, which is something we as human beings have to do. It was like, ‘Here are some thoughts on that, your mileage may vary.’”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

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Once upon a time, Kittie irritated the hell out of me.

It didn’t matter that I was a huge believer in and supporter of Canadian metal and assorted aggressive offshoots; the hype that surrounded their 1999 debut album Spit rubbed me the wrong way. It blew my mind that a band featuring a singer with zero vocal control was able to sell a song like ‘Brackish’, Kittie’s teen angst calling card featuring one of the most annoyingly memorable choruses known to man, woman and pub crawling beast. Any attention I paid to the band after that record was out of masochistic curiosity, and fleeting at best.

Fast forward to 2007 and a four song EP entitled Never Again dumped in my lap by management via BW&BK HQ. I couldn’t believe my ears even after repeated listens, and I was left wondering what the four women masquerading as Kittie had done with the Lander sisters. They were, after all, the creative core of the band and had proven limited in that capacity as far as I was concerned. This new material, this was music. Hell, it was fucking metal.

And singer Morgan? She’d picked up control, shred-ability, and a Flying V along the way.

Calls were made, emails were sent, and I learned that Kittie was a family affair, with Morgan (vocals/guitars) and Mercedes’ (drums) parents taking care of most of the band’s legal and promotional affairs. The interview with the sisters that followed, for the Funeral For Yesterday album, proved to me that the ladies could stand on their own feet rather than needing to rely on mommy and daddy. They were also real musicians with a clear view of where they came from and a vision of where they wanted to take their music. They turned me into a Kittie fanboy.

Sadly, in August 2008, David Lander passed away unexpectedly.

We weren’t close friends by any means; we were business associates with a mutual respect for one another. David appreciated my honesty with regards to Kittie’s music – old and new – and he understood I wasn’t interested in raking his daughters over the coals in the press. I appreciated the fact he didn’t play the car salesman pitch trying to sell the band’s new album, and his enthusiasm for his daughters’ work was down-to-the-core genuine. There’s a stack of emails here to prove it.

No question, David Lander would be proud of how far Morgan, Mercedes and Kittie have come.

In a recent interview for BW&BK about the band’s new album, I’ve Failed You (the guts of which can be found here), Morgan discussed the not-so-new and improved Kittie, who can finally boast about having the same line-up for more than one album, and have a killer record to show for it.

“It’s weird,” Morgan says of the band’s evolution. “The way I look back at that now, we were all really young and there was a lot going on in our lives. It’s a really hard thing to endure. People grow up and change, their paths change, so it makes sense to me that those old line-ups didn’t stay together. We’re older and wiser now, definitely a little bit jaded because of all the things that have gone on with the industry, so it’s easier for us to roll with the punches these days. We’re also a lot more laid back, so that helps.”

“You also have to have fun doing this. Growing up the way we have in this industry has created something of a paradox in our lives. On the one hand we had to grow up really fast and take on a lot of responsibility, and on the other hand it’s enabled us to stay 16 forever. I think we’re pretty normal human beings to be able to carry on as we have.”

Over the past 12 years Kittie have experienced everything from major league tours to legal hassles, overbearing critics and numerous line-up changes, as well as the loss of a key element behind the scenes. The fact they’ve had the tenacity and willpower to keep pushing forward is more than merely admirable.

“A lot of that has to do with the particular work ethic instilled in us a long time ago,” says Morgan. “There’s also the passion to create and to prove that we still have something to offer, something that’s worthy of people’s respect.”

Family members taking part in a joint venture, no matter how close, are bound to butt heads every so often. Morgan and Mercedes have avoided the magnifying glass with regards to any sibling rivalry, and given everything Kittie has been through it’s a bit surprising they’re sharing the same rehearsal room.

“I’m surprised, too (laughs). But again, we try to remain as professional as possible when we’re out there, and keep the bickering and stuff that’s between the two of us to a minimum. You mentioned that you were corresponding for ages with my mom and dad, so you know that they are good people and that all they ever wanted to do was support their daughters and our friends, and help us achieve our dreams. They have a lot to do with why we’re still here.”

“My dad was always our biggest fan,” Morgan adds. “He always wanted to see us succeed and was really, really proud of us and the things he helped to build with us. Whether it was driving the van for us because we couldn’t drive yet (laughs), tour management, going on Ozzfest with us, he was a really enthusiastic guy. He loved his family and wanted to see us happy. I guess that’s his legacy, and we feel that continuing with that same attitude is a good thing.”

Check out Kittie’s new single ‘We Are The Lamb’ here. For more info on I’ve Failed You and the accompanying live mayhem, go to their Facebook page.
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The remaining members of legendary Toronto club band Slash Puppet, who were a fixture on the Canadian scene from 1989 – 1995, paid tribute to late guitarist Lou Garscadden on August 4th, marking 10 years since his passing. He was 36 years old.

The band issued the following statement:

“Ten years ago, Toronto, Canada, and the world lost a phenomenal guitar player and a true rock star when Louis Peter Garscadden passed away on August 4, 2001. It is truly unfortunate that more people the world over were not able to experience his obvious and overwhelming talents as a guitar player and his warmth and charm as a unique personality. A true original, and a true rock star who deserved a hell of a lot of more notoriety than he ever received. One of the best… period.”

No Strings Attached, a CD version of Slash Puppet’s 1989 demo tape known as The Demo, was issued through Sun City Records out of Australia on September 3rd, 2007. I caught up with frontman Mif for BW&BK to discuss what was an unexpected release, and during the course of the interview he addressed Garscadden’s tragic passing:

“So far as we know, it was due to a heart attack. I remember his family telling us that Lou had come home one evening around 5:00pm or 5:30pm to his grandmother’s place where he was residing at the time, told his grandmother that he was going straight to bed as he was feeling a little run down that day, only to have his grandmother find him deceased in bed the next morning. The word spread around like wildfire as all the guys in Slash Puppet and myself rallied to make sure that all of his friends and associates knew. His funeral was packed to capacity and the service was heartfelt, not a dry eye in the house as his coffin was escorted out of the chapel to the Slash Puppet song ‘Hitch A Ride (On A Train)’. Ironically apropos if anyone is familiar with the lyrics about a journeyman always trying to find his peaceful place in the world. Canada and the rock ‘n’ roll world lost a true talent verging upon legend by my estimation when Lou passed away, and he will always be sorely missed by his friends, family and bandmates, and always remembered. Believe me when I say, Louie was one of the finest guitar players in Canada if not the world. He was definitely one of the most charismatic Canadian artists and personalities out there. This guy lived and breathed rock ‘n’ roll, he was the real deal, and had Slash Puppet not been sideswiped by the whole grunge thing and had made it to loftier heights, Lou Garscadden as well as Bart (guitarist Frank Bartoletti) would have been iconic guitar players and international guitar heroes. No doubt in my mind!”

Click here for the complete interview.

Check out the official Slash Puppet tribute page on Facebook here. Go to this location to watch the band’s video for ‘Slowdown’, taken from their original demo.

As first impressions go, the video for Pain’s new song ‘Dirty Woman’ is a sure sign that mastermind / Hypocrisy frontman Peter Tägtgren is still having a truckload of fun with his one time side project. Nothing says “devil-may-care” like a performance clip featuring well endowed women posing for the camera, with a drummer unleashing hell and violence on an uncooperative drum kit in the background. Flames included.

“That was my idea, actually,” laughs Tägtgren. “It was the first time I ever got involved in the concept for a video, which was really simple; a bunch of really cool guys playing the song, and then the shit hits the fan. And yeah, it was tempting to turn around to see what was going on when we were filming because all I heard was ‘Bam! Wham! Bang!’ and all kinds of shit going on behind me. I really like the end result.”

Pain’s new album, You Only Live Twice, finds Tägtgren picking up where the band’s previous record Cynic Paradise left off, but he’s twisted their trademark sound into something darker and heavier along the way. A calculated move, but when asked if the fans have become more critical or more accepting of his experiments with the Pain formula – an ongoing process since the band’s 1996 inception – Tägtgren admits he doesn’t have a clue.

“I don’t know. In the past people always said ‘Pain is just a side project…’ and they liked it for what it was. They didn’t care that I was in Hypocrisy, a lot of them didn’t even know Pain’s background; they just liked it for the music. The band’s following has been growing steadily, and I guess people are getting more picky about what we do (laughs).”

Originally launched as an industrial metal project, Pain has evolved to a point where the electronic tweaking makes up a small part of the overall sound. These days Tägtgren seems more concerned with melodies and bare-faced distortion, which has worked in Pain’s favour over the last few years.

“I just try to write good music,” states Tägtgren. “It doesn’t matter if it’s fast or slow as long as it’s good. Pain has actually always been about the groove from the very beginning. Of course, within the groove there’s all this stuff around the music that changes every now and then. It all depends on what kind of mood my brain is in (laughs). I always try to stick with a good groove, and as long as it rocks I don’t care if it’s fast or brutal or rock n’ roll.”

‘Dirty Woman’ falls into the last category, on a level that inspired one YouTube viewer to accuse Tägtgren of listening to too much AC/DC in his spare time. He takes it as a compliment.

“It’s pretty funny to see all those comments, and that’s one of the reasons I chose ‘Dirty Woman’ as the first single. I wanted to get a reaction, and people were freaking out wondering what the fuck I was up to now (laughs). Songs like ‘Dirty Woman’ and ‘Have A Drink On Me’ (from Cynic Paradise), those are tracks that nobody ever expected from me. Pain isn’t for the Hypocrisy fans, so I don’t expect anything from them, but when the Pain fans are reacting to it the way they have been – thinking I’m insane for doing a rock song like that – that’s great.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

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Devin Townsend has been on and off the road for the past year pushing his “this was me, this is where I’m going” tetralogy, kicked off by the Ki album and yanked into motion with Addicted in 2009. At press time he was gearing up for the release of Deconstruction and Ghost, totalling four very different records that scared the hell out of a large part of his fanbase.

“It’s funny,” laughs Townsend. “I think of the whole process of these four records – and granted, I’m completely self-centered when it comes to why I write because I’m not catering to what people want (laughs) – a lot of it came down to confronting a fear I had of myself and my own process. I remember years ago, I was always second guessing what I did under the assumption of ‘How are people going to perceive this?’ These four records, the whole thing was saying ‘Fuck it.’ If I’m accountable to myself in terms of trying to be the best person I can be, if I let it flow naturally, there’s no more that needs to be said. What I can say about these four records is that there’s nothing on them conceptually or lyrically that I can’t stand behind.”

Which brings Townsend to the point he’s been trying to make since the release of Ki; there won’t be another Strapping Young Lad album. Talk of Deconstruction being the heaviest, craziest music he’d ever written – a claim made by Townsend and several people around him – had fans thinking it would be SYL music under a different name. Turns out it’s anything but that.

“The thing I find funny and frustrating is that it’s almost like people didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t want to do Strapping anymore. For the past four years it’s been ‘Oh yeah, sure, you’ll be back…’ and I’m saying ‘Look guys, I’m not lying to you here.’ I’ve done Strapping to a point where I can’t do it anymore. There’s no ulterior motive, there’s no drama about it; I just don’t want to do it anymore because I don’t feel like writing like that anymore. Let me refine that; it’s not even that I don’t feel like it. I’ve changed so much that it’s impossible for me to write like that. That’s the truth. So, when Deconstruction was coming out I was telling people it was one of the heaviest and most chaotic things I’ve ever done, but it’s not Strapping. The reaction was ‘I can’t wait for it because I wanna hear more Strapping…’ and I was like, okay, let me tell you again… (laughs).”

“What Deconstruction represents for me, and what the project of doing all four records represents, is a sense of closure. It’s never going to be closure from the perspective of the people that still won’t listen. They’re just pounding their heads against a wall. What I wanted to do with these four records and impress upon people with Deconstruction is that I have changed, but if I was to do something that was heavy with the same intention of Strapping Young Lad when that’s who I was, this is what it would sound like in the now. The reason why I finished with Ghost is because I’m hoping to make very clear to people that regardless of my heavy intentions, it’s not what I want to do with my future. But I think I had to make a record like Deconstruction to put it forth to people; this is what I choose as heavy at this point because of how my life has changed. For the people that don’t want to accept that, there’s nothing I can say.”

Go to this location for the complete interview. Click here for a look inside Townsend’s new project, Epicloud.

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I recently did an “interview” with a guy I’ve known for a long time. His band is gearing up to release a new album, and because I’m a fan and a friend I elected to do a story for BW&BK. As much as I was looking forward to speaking to him again, however, I was also dreading it because during the last three of four interviews we’d done he started ranting about how the music industry has gone to hell, how the artists are getting fucked, how no one is buying music anymore, and on and on. I still have all these interviews on tape and they’re completely interchangeable because of this incessant bitching.

Sure enough, five minutes into our latest chat he started in on the industry. I tried to steer the conversation back to the new album three or four times, but he managed to turn things around so we were back discussing how the music industry is fucked. I probably should have said something, but out of respect for the man and his music I kept my mouth shut, gritted my teeth and dealt with it. It was an excruciatingly painful 35 minutes.

As we were wrapping up, however, he had the audacity to tell me he was going to email me the concept for the new album “so I could send him more questions for a better interview” because I didn’t ask him about the album concept. I said “fine, cool, no problem,” but I was stunned, insulted, and over the last week have become increasingly pissed off.

I have no problem with people criticizing me, but it seems to me that if someone would stop whining and moaning so much about his chosen profession and how the world is so goddamn unfair there might be room to ask pertinent questions.

There’s no argument that the music industry is in trouble. Doesn’t matter if it’s metal or not, thanks to illegal downloading the artists and labels are losing money, everyone in a position to sign or sell bands is scrambling and cutting corners, anything to slow or hopefully stop a domino effect that is doing major damage to everyone involved. I’m not on the receiving end of a lot of that, so I don’t know the extent of just how deep the damage goes (my best bud Paco could probably right a book on it…), but I can see how a musician who has been in the biz for over 20 years would become embittered and disillusioned. Especially when he’s seen bands that used to be on the same level as himself enjoying some ridiculously amazing success in recent years.

That said, the way I see it, the present industry situation is like a bad relationship: if you’re unhappy and it’s killing you, hopefully you’ll have the sense to get out and find something better. If you choose to stay because of the kids, money or those weekly Hi-Def no-teeth blowjobs before Sunday brunch, shut the fuck up, grin and bear it. That was your choice and nobody needs to hear about how unhappy you are.

There are plenty of bands and artists that can’t hack the present day state of the music industry, and with good reason. I’ve seen several bow out publicly and admit they couldn’t deal with the new grind, or make a quiet exit and go on with their lives, never to be heard from on a musical level ever again.

On the other side, there are plenty of metal and rock bands that are putting skull to grindstone and suffering for their art. I’ve spoken to more of these acts than I can count, and I’m always amazed and in awe of the fact that they are not only willing but actually able to carve a life out of their art when the industry is in a state of decline. They love what they do and it shows not only in their music but in the way they present themselves. Are they getting screwed? A lot of ‘em are. So what’s the payoff? I have no idea, but they have my respect.

These bands / artists are also the reason I love my job.

Bottom line: as a professional musician, to do nothing but whine every time you release an album…in this case five or six years running…maybe it’s time to move on. Scratch that. It is DEFINITELY time to move on. Make music because you love it, not because feeling sorry for yourself is second nature, or because you think the industry owes you one.

Sadly, I’m not professional enough to separate my personal feelings from business. There will not be a story in BW&BK with the subject of this blog because the “interview” is a sad and bitter rant that no one needs. There won’t be an album review because the record is mediocre at best and I’m no longer able to focus on the positive aspects of the music.

And there won’t be another interview done by me with the individual in question until he pulls his head out of his ass and gets his shit together.

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Back in January, former Megadeth guitarist Glen Drover offered a look inside his solo debut, Metalusion, which had just been completed. The record has since been released and received unexpectedly glowing reviews. Not that odds were in favour of Drover releasing something stale and sub- par, but smart money was on a large portion of his Megadeth-bred fans being disappointed that Metalusion isn’t the full-on rip-yer-face-off metal shred record they were expecting. All in spite of Drover’s warnings it wouldn’t be.

“A few people have made comments about that,” Drover agrees, “but it hasn’t been as common as you might expect. But, in my opinion… do we really, really need another album like that? There’s so much of that out there and it’s all great stuff, but for me to do a full blown instrumental metal record with solos every five seconds, it gets boring for me after five minutes, never mind 50 minutes of it. With all due respect to the guys that are doing that stuff, it’s cool, but it’s just too much for me. With that kind of thing I almost start asking where the vocals are.”

“I listen to instrumental stuff as much as I listen to music with vocals. Me and Shawn (Drover / Megadeth drummer) did the instrumental stuff way back in the early ‘90s when we were starting to get the Eidolon thing rolling. We just had a four track, a drum machine, some guitar gear, and we did the best we could, and it turned into a metal band with vocals. This time out, I just wanted to do an instrumental album properly.”

Defining “properly” as not boring the masses to tears with bars upon bars of “need more frets!” wankery.

“You’ve got to be really careful with instrumental stuff. Trying to hold the listener’s attention without vocals isn’t an easy thing to do. When you’re doing this kind of music you have to make it colourful. You can’t restrict yourself to one style. My tones are still there, so it’s not like I’m playing country music (laughs), but there are other things that we’ve embraced on the album as well, and I think that’s what keeps people’s attention.”

“One of the things I’m most proud of on this album is that there’s no trickery,” he continues “As you know, there’s a lot of trickery that goes on these days with auto-tuning vocals, tweaking the guitars and drums. There’s nothing like that on Metalusion. It’s just really good musicianship; all the guys are great players and we just took our time doing it. We’re really happy about the fact we did it the old school way. It’s cool that people are able to construct songs and make music using these computer programs that are out there, but to have the drummer actually playing all the parts and getting the best performance possible put to tape, for example, that’s the best.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

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Being as I’m one of the dinosaurs that got into In Flames when they were “just” some loud little death metal band out of Sweden – it was The Jester Race album in 1996, to be exact – I was as put off as my old school brethren when the band decided to get all polished and modern on Reroute To Remain in 2002. In the long run, however, I discovered things weren’t anywhere near as disastrous as I expected them to be, and over the last nine years I’ve come to regard the post-2002 In Flames catalogue as being something worth taking the time to explore. New album Sounds Of A Playground Fading is their latest effort, standing head and shoulders above anything the band has done over the last decade in my “humble” opinion.

There are plenty of In Flames fans that will gladly disagree, of course, because it still ain’t death metal…

“There will always be people like that,” says guitarist Björn Gelotte. “I mean, I’m one of those people. I’m not a huge fan of the last few Dio albums, I’m still a fan of the older ones. It comes down to the period in my life when I discovered that music, and I totally respect other people’s opinions. The only thing is, I don’t go screaming over the internet about the stuff I don’t like (laughs).”

Like bandmate Anders Friden (vocals), Gelotte doesn’t concern himself with the criticism thrown In Flames’ way. If they had bowed to public opinion at any point during their evolution it’s fair to say the band would have either gotten lost amongst the current glut aggression-happy legions or crashed and burned entirely.

“That’s the only thing that counts, how I and the other guys in the band feel about it. There’s no point or possibility to cater to everybody. We’ve never done that and we’ve been outspoken about that. We’re gonna get shit from a lot of people and we’re going to get love from a lot of people. That’s the nature of this band and it’s always been in our cards. We’re used to that. We’re doing this for us and not for the people that are freaking out.”

That said, Gelotte offers insight as to why Sounds Of A Playground Fading works as well as it does…

“I always like having dynamics in a song, on an album, in the setlist. That’s what keeps things interesting. Your ears and your mind will only take so much of the same thing before tuning it out completely. On Sounds Of A Playground Fading, the essence of In Flames remains the same now even if the way we wrote was different; it starts with a riff or a melody and grows from there. It’s a matter of arranging the music, and that’s where I think things got a little harder. We tried to get to the good stuff fairly early, having good hooks and strong melodies, and maybe not only on the guitars. We focused on the vocals more, and then only on the vocals when we started building the songs around them. So, it was a very interesting process from beginning to end.”

Check out my full BW&BK interview with Gelotte and Friden at this location. Additional words of wisdom from Friden, along with a story for the ages about idiot In Flames “fans”, can be found here.

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