Regular readers of the site more than likely know that I’ve got a HM2 pedal sized boner for old school Swedish death metal. It’s my first love of the vast metal genre going back to Entombed’s Left Hand Path. So the genre’s massive recent revival has me pretty giddy. Especially when bands from all over the world are delivering very impressive take’s on the classic sound. and even more vital to the genre seeing as the genre’s fore bearer’s are now defunct (Dismember), wheezing into the end of their career (Entombed, Grave) or simply overlooked nowadays ( Unleashed). Luckily the mantle has some worthy carriers. Whether it’s the Fin’s like Winterwolf and Cryptborn, Eastern Europeans like Morbider and Brutally Deceased, Americans Fatalist and Horrendous or home grown talent like Entrails, the genre is in safe hands. And there are no more impressive hands than Germany’s Revel In Flesh, who with their debut album Deathevokation have arguably jumped up to the top of the heap with Entrails. A mysterious duo comprised of Maggesson (drums/guitars) and Haubersson (guitar/bass/vocals), Revel in Flesh makes no bones about their chosen influences, so I visited with Haubersson to revel in the old school even more….

Is Manilla Road a cult heavy metal band? Who cares? You shouldn’t. What you should care about is the fact that this superb Wichita-based group has been raising the flag and saluting since 1977 in spite of a music scene that has been far too indifferent in the United States, at least outside of a rabid core fan base. As usual, Europe has been a different story for Manilla Road, a region in which the act has no trouble commanding a festival audience. It seems all Europe sees is a forward thinking band with lyrical themes that run deep and a style that is musically progressive, yet firmly based in classic heavy metal, rather than “cult.” All cynicism about America’s fickle attitudes aside, the fact is that Manilla Road is a celebrated, highly influential Heavy Metal institution with an impressive body of work that has been given a boost this century through CD and vinyl reissues by Shadow Kingdom Records in North America and High Roller Records in Europe. The last album, Playground of the Damn, was released last year and since then the band has brought in a great new German-based drummer in Andreas Neuderth and is planning to release a follow-up album before 2012 becomes a memory. In the interim the self-titled debut from Hellwell, the side project of guitarist/vocalist/composer and founding member Mark “The Shark” Shelton, will be released through Shadow Kingdom Records. All that and more awaits your prying eyes in this interview with the ever genial and always interesting Shelton. Read on and Up The Hammers!

If you’re choice of metal falls squarely into the Brutal Death Metal camp, then surely you are familiar with North Carolina based Comatose Music and its Chairman, CEO, and Overlord Steve Green. Steve is certifiably workaholic and selective about releasing only those albums in which he personally believes and to which he can provide the proper support/promotion. Having personally ordered from www.comatosemusic.com (including distro items), as well as reviewing Comatose titles (Thirst of Revenge, Bloodsoaked, Face of Oblivion, and others), I can state without equivocation that Mr. Green runs a tight ship and offers quality products at great prices. He also deals in decibels as guitarist in his own bands Atrocious Abnormality (current) and Lust of Decay (on hiatus). Steve’s story is one of dedication, determination, attention to detail, and above all else customer service. Read the interview and for the love of all that is brutal and unholy order something from Comatose Music!

Pick a random European kid off a random street in Europe and ask him/her what music instrument they picked up first. Chances are, you will get one of these three answers: (1) Piano (2) Violin (3) Clarinet. It is no big secret that European metal musicians often start out with Classical music before moving into heavy metal territory, and the converse is often true for American metal musicians. Stéphan Forté is European and started out the European way, but as neo-classical metal tradition would have it, he has mastered the electric guitar very skillfully (and beats many Americans at this staple instrument of theirs). The suave shredder may not be a household name like George Lynch or Yngwie Malmsteen, but watch out; the frontman and lead guitarist of French progressive neo-classical metal band Adagio is off to a great start with his fairly new solo project! His virtuosic skills and penchant for mid-paced Romantic-inspired solos might just set him apart from the speed-crazed and “djent”-obsessed contemporary metal crowd. I smell a new guitar hero from France.

Arguably the best of the upcoming traditional metal bands in the United States today is Pharaoh. Bury the Light, their impending full-length on Cruz Del Sur Music, serves to further illustrate this point with even more depth and innovative craftsmanship than displayed with 2008’s Be Gone. Guitar aficionado and former Metal Maniacs scribe Matt Johnsen recently spoke to Teeth of the Divine about the coming to fruition of Bury the Light and all that is Pharaoh.

If you’re into mind-blowing, metallically forceful instrumental acrobatics then you damn sure better check out Blotted Science, the trio led by master mind/master musician Ron Jarzombek (Spastic Ink, WatchTower). Debut full-length The Machinations of Dementia was released in 2007 and had fans of progressive, technically insane, and undeniably heavy instrumental metal music sitting in a pool of their own drool with heads spinning. New EP The Animation of Entomology is even better, owing in part to a broader array of atmospherics and sounds to go with the ridiculously complex playing of guitarist Jarzombek, Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster, and Obscura drummer Hannes Grossman. Quite a lineup, wouldn’t you say? Oh, and the album concept is 100 percent bug-related and insect centric in a film score kind of way. You’re scratching your head and wrinkling your forehead, aren’t you? Just read on. It’ll make more sense once you read Jarzombek’s explanations.

The times I don’t mind the tedious process of transcription is when it pertains to an interview with a member of one of my favorite bands. That was without question the case with this recent telephone conservation with UFO drummer Andy Parker, my second with the British rock veteran, Texas resident, and all around affable fellow. Four decades strong and UFO sounds as great now they’ve ever sounded. The names occasionally change and there is a more pronounced blues streak on albums released this century, but more than anything else UFO continues to churn out intelligently written and memorable hard rock. New album Seven Deadly is another notch in the belt of that proud legacy. Along with Parker (a founding member) and guitarist/keyboardist/songwriter Paul Raymond, Phil Mogg (the other remaining founding member) leads the effort with an emotive, soulful voice that is one of the most unique and recognizable in rock, while guitarist Vinnie Moore shreds and blisters with some of the best chops in the business. Quite simply, UFO was, is, and always will be one of the best, most influential bands in hard rock and heavy metal. Period!

This one took a little while to complete, but it’s finally done. I found myself rather smitten with Cerebral Bore’s 2011 Earache debut Maniacal Miscreation, an album self-released by the Glasgow unit a year earlier. It punched and kicked in all the right brutal death metal places, offered just the right amount of groove and technicality, and left a memorable impression owing to some pretty darn effective arranging. Hard workers these Scots and it seems to finally be paying dividends, a case in point the band’s North American tour later this month with Goatwhore and Hate Eternal. Now all that’s left for you to do is read this Q&A session with founder/guitarist Paul McGuire, which will in all likelihood send you scrambling to find the link for Earache’s on-line store so that you may purchase Maniacal Miscreation with the money you’d set aside for self-help books and green tea.

After a decade of being in a state of half-life or half-death, the sadistic jokers in us all thought that San Diego’s premier metalcore outfit, As I Lay Dying, might have gotten so weak that they will finally fulfill the prophecy of their ill-fated name and, well, kick the musical bucket. Contrarily, the famed Christcore group are not only still alive and well, but have been consistent in the quality of their work by meeting expectations with flying colors (again) on 2010’s chart topper, The Powerless Rise. Being one of the rare few metalcore acts around that don’t attract an ammo-truckload of explosive hate, As I Lay Dying are still going strong ten years on, thriving on the positive attention of music fans instead of feeding off the negative attention generated by perennial controversies surrounding the –core sub-genres—a banal and verbally-abusive phenomenon that plagues many of their contemporary counterparts to no end. Having decided to take it easy this year and celebrate their tenth year anniversary, the group recently released their second and latest compilation album, Decas. From his San Diego dwelling (and a few weeks before Decas was released), frontman Tim Lambesis elaborates on various aspects pertaining to the new compilation, what a physically active person he is during his spare time, and gives an update on his Arnie-themed spoof project.

Canadian modern metal act Threat Signal are no strangers to the rough and merciless tides of the music industry. Having only been around for a mere 7 years, the band is already the billionth victim of the MLC (Multiple Line-up Changes) Syndrome, and is precariously close to losing its roots entirely with only singer Jon Howard left from the original roster. With that said however, the band as an entity itself has evolved a lot since its early days. For a recording project that was initially accomplished entirely on Jon’s home computer, it sure has paid off well by getting Jon on-board the world-renowned Nuclear Blast roster; a dream that motivates countless metal bands worldwide to pursue their chosen path diligently, but which is often dashed with the cruel flick/click of an uninterested finger. Teeth of the Divine speaks with Jon to discover what plagued the stability of Threat Signal’s line-up over the years, find out what the new record is all about, discuss what the big guy Zeuss brings to the production table, and how Threat Signal was probably “djent” before “djent” even got coined.

Listen, do we really need another interview with Glen Benton ranting about how much he hates Christians as well as his ex-wife? Or Trey Azagthoth calling out fans that don’t like his music as fake fans? Well, how about a (first) interview with an independent, local (at least to me) artist who has released 5 albums in 2011 alone? A young man I decided to meet up with while on a business trip in his neck of the woods and interview him after hearing a number of his albums and being impressed by them. That man is Adam Kalmbach, the lone spirit behind Jute Gyte. And when I met Adam I was a little shocked when you consider the nasty and abrasive nature of albums like Old Ways, Verstiegenheit and his latest effort, Impermanance. Well, spoken, intelligent, unassuming and critically knowledgeable about music, I should be glad the racket he produces is so vitriolic as this Jekyll and Hyde effect would be a terrible thing if it manifested itself outside of his music. A one man black metal act that has Burzum, Leviathan and Xasthur level potential that you all should get to know… please meet Adan Kalmbach AKA Jute Gyte.

With so many deathcore, melodic death metal and old school death metal bands releasing new records recently, it makes listening to a new, normal, straight-up extreme death metal record refreshing—which usually isn’t the case. Amidst the soulful and lush tunes of acts like Arch Enemy and Insomnium, the brutal breakdowns of Suicide Silence and All Shall Perish, and the traditional onslaughts of Vader and Decapitated, hearing some crushing and no-frills-yet-modern-sounding death metal from Swe—melo-death—den is truly surprising.Introducing: As You Drown. This death metal quintet may still be wet behind the ears, but they sure play fast and hard like Behemoth—minus the blasphemous lyrical theme, elaborate costumes and occasional illegal stage antics of course. As with many other bands, As You Drown don’t just look up to Behemoth. They worship the traditional death metal veterans as well (as you will see later on in this interview).It’s no wonder then that their music is a face-flaying aural concoction of mini-gun drumming, killer riffs and pissed off vokills. In my first feature for this site, I spoke with frontman Henrik Blomqvist to find out more about their latest giant-rodent-themed record, their tour experiences with legendary bands, and Ikea meatballs among other things.

New Jersey’s Symphony X have been churning out album after album of top-quality neoclassical prog metal for almost two decades. 2011’s Iconoclast, which takes on a heavier, grinding-gears mechanized theme, still sees Symphony X at the tip-top of their game. Guitar virtuoso Michael Romeo spoke to Teeth of the Divine recently about his role in constructing and molding the band’s most solid album to date.

Having the utmost respect for what guitarist, keyboardist, and composer Nicolas van Dyk has done with Redemption since debuting with 2003’s self-titled album (followed by knocking one out of the prog metal park with 2005’s The Fullness of Time) and deep gratitude for what the music has meant to me personally, it was with great sadness that I heard the news of his cancer diagnoses a few years ago. At the time, the rare from form of blood cancer with which Nick had been diagnosed was said to be incurable. Fast forward to 2011 and Nick is a man renewed, having faced down his disease and for all intents and purposes conquered it with the help of a doctor in Bart Barlogie that took conventional wisdom and flushed it down the toilet. Van Dyk took the experience of that fierce, emotionally-draining fight and channeled it into his most powerful set of lyrics to go with what may be Redemption’s most aggressive and deeply emotional musical effort to date in This Mortal Coil. At once metaphorical and introspective, This Mortal Coil is musically complex and undeniably heavy, yet as melodically accessible as anything the group has ever released.

APMD (All Pigs Must Die) is a band committed to uncompromising sonic warfare. Its sound and lyrics assault the listener in a fury of blackened death filled anthems.” Yep, I lifted that straight from the band’s Facebook page, thinking it a perfectly apt description of the aural terror inflicted upon the listener by All Pigs Must Die. One of a growing number of bands that blend gnarly death, d-beaten crust, and vicious hardcore in a way that is somehow fresh and exciting, APMD swoops in like an elite commando unit, executing its mission with deadly efficiency, leaving as quickly as they arrived, and with not a soul left alive in its wake. That’s what is in store for you with each and every spin of Southern Lord full-length debut God is War. Featuring members of Bloodhorse, The Hope Conspiracy, and Converge, this is one band does not – in the most direct way I can put it – fuck around. Adam Wentworth provides the debriefing.

With album number 3, Maledictus Eris, Denmark’s Svartsot have continued their consistent enjoyable take on folk laced death metal. However, rather than frolicking synths and fruity jigs, Svartsot deliver folk metal with a bearded, burly presence that’s as much Amon Amarth than anything else. But what makes the consistency surprising is the band turn over and the fact that guitarist Cris Frederiksen is the only remaining member from the debut, Ravenes Saga. So I visited with Cris to get a little more insight in the band’s new line-up, as well as some details on the new album.

I’m thinking this is the third interview I’ve done with Billy Nocera of Razorback records over a time span of what must be approaching 10 years, maybe eight. Heck, I don’t remember precisely, but I know that up until now I hadn’t interviewed him for Teeth of the Divine. Given some changes in Billy’s life on both the domestic and label fronts, it seemed a good time to check in with this long-time lurker of the underground. In this installment of the, uh, Razorback interview series Billy talks about the label’s doomier end, his marriage to Vanessa and their relocation to Kentucky, the world of underground distribution, and various other Boar-ing topics. If you’ve any interest in acts like Wooden Stake, Fester, Crypticus, Hooded Menace, Mausoleum, Church of Misery, Coffins, Blizaro, Revolting, Scaremaker, Mausoleum, Decrepitaph, and Fondlecorpse (to name a handful), then you should probably take the plunge and read on. Have horror will travel. Can you dig it? The grave I mean.

One of those “old and forgotten Eastern European jewels“ that I Hate Records has been mining as of late, the rediscovered, repackaged, and reissued Let Draka/Flight of the Dragon from the Czech Republic’s Drakar nearly defies classication. Progressive thrash? Sort of. Quirky metal? You’ve just gotten in warmer. Creative music? Let’s go with that one. Vocalist/guitarist, founder, and visionary Ivan Sekyra takes us back to beginning, moves us through the middle, fast forwards to 2011 and tells the tale of a small Swedish label reissuing a little known album – in two-disc format for English and Czech speakers alike – from a killer cult Czech band . Read on; you just might learn something.

That ominous rumble you’re hearing in the distance is not a thunderstorm forming somewhere in the east. It’s the sound of CIANIDE’s Gods of Death moving steadily toward you. If you’re a friend, chances are you’ll survive the arrival. Foe? Forget about it; assume the position and starting kissing your ass goodbye. The long-running Chicago outfit has been leaving bruises and abrasions with every release unleashed, but the ugly death marches and rotten speed-kills of Gods of Death (Hells Headbangers) will in all likelihood be the one to inflict the most damage on unsuspecting listeners, in some cases lethally. Vocalist/bassist Mike Perum offers some pointers that will help you prepare for the impending carnage. Pay attention; your life depends on it.

Bassist/vocalist Jon Necromancer, drummer Joe Warlord, and guitarist Carcass Chris are veterans of the Chicago metal scene who knew exactly what they wanted to do when the self-titled debut from Bones was recorded. Screw pretension, fuck marathon studio sessions, and to hell with anything that isn’t made from a vocal, a bass line, a guitar riff, and drum beat. A power trio on multiple levels Bones brings it hard from note one, grooves it up, breaks it down to its bare essence, and kicks a ridiculous amount of ass in the process. Since all are ex-members of defunct Chicago legends Usurper, vagaries of that sound are present. But even more prominent is a bludgeoning, raw, and righteously rockin’ vibe that fuses the styles of bands like Master, Venom, and vintage-era Motorhead in a way that is 100 percent Bones. Jon Necromancer breaks it down even further for us. [DISCLAIMER: This interview, as well as the album review, was written before Bones became a client of ClawHammer PR, so don’t think for a moment that there is some insidious connection between the two.]

Color me blown away, bowled over, and knocked flat on my back by Running out of Daylight, the sophomore album from international metal outfit The Living Fields! Chicago-based, but inclusive of a vocalist in Jonathan Higgs (Monsterworks) that lives in London (and who has never met the other members) and a Canadian drummer (Chad Walls) that’s done time in death dealers Lecherous Nocturne and Brodequin (among others), the story of this band of brilliants is as interesting as the music is ridiculously good. Guitarist/bassist/composer Jason Muxlow (Earthen Grave) is the ring leader and the newest TLF Syndicate member is guitarist Samu Rahn. Progressive doom is the workable description, provided you realize that it there is more at work here. Masterful incorporation of strings (violins, cello, etc), epic arrangements, memorable melodies, tons of riff crunch, and the impacting versatility of Higgs’ vocals begins to tell the full story. You just need to buy the damn thing; that is, if you’re at all interested in owning one of the best metal albums of 2011. Perhaps the view from native New Zealander and London resident Higgs will paint you a clearer picture.

With the release of their third album, Scotland’s Alestorm have not only continued with the metallic shanties about all things Pirate-y, but they’ve upped the ante of their scope and grandiosity. As Black Sails at Midnight Improved upon Captain Morgan’s Revenge, so has Back Through Time also improved; bigger, more raucous fun and more metal, Back Through Time shows Alestorm as consistent as any folk act in the scene today. Oh and you want epic? How about Vikings battling Pirates (“Back Through Time”) and the return of the mighty Leviathan in an eight minute black metal styled track (“Death Throes of the Terror Squid”)? I visited with scallywag Chris Bowes to find out even more about one of my very favorite current bands and one of my favorite albums of 2011.

Roger “Rogga” Johansson (Bone Gnawer, Demiurg, The Grotesquery, Ribspreader, Paganizer, etc) is at it again! The multi-instrumentalist, composer, death metal warrior, and affable Swede, is pleased as punch with In Grisly Rapture, the excellent new album of catchy, horror-choked death metal from the Revolting trio. And he damn well should be! Everything from the music to the lyrics to the artwork is first rate and will surely end up one of my favorite death metal albums of 2011. Rogga breaks it down for us.

A stalwart of the Chicago doom/death metal scene for over a decade, Novembers Doom raised some eyebrows with their last 2 albums; 2007s The Novella Reservoir and 2009s Into Nights Infernal Requiem. The band injected more pure and aggressive death metal into their melancholy laced sound, with surprisingly brutal results. However with their latest release, Aphotic, the band appears to have returned to their doomier, sadder and more tempered releases of their first 5 albums. So while casually Facebook chatting with Novembers Doom drummer and fellow metalreview.com writer Sasha Horn a full fledged interview sort of evolved. And here is the subsequent impromptu result….

Peter Tägtgren is a man who is defined by his work, a body of music and ideas that is always morphing and pulling to and from the abyss. He has given life (and death) to fathomless classic albums and hardly needs an introduction, so one won’t be given here. The at one time one-man project Pain, and new album You Only Live Twice, is the man’s current focus, the details of which he divulges here. But fear not — the Hypocrisy mastermind also discusses that which put him on the metal map.