Current playlist/My actual faves

1. GOD MACABRE: The Winterlong
2. GUTTED: The Mankind Carries The Seeds Of Hell
3. CROWBAR: Sever The Wicked Hand
4. EXTREME DEFORMITY: Internal
5. OBITUARY: Cause Of Death
6. BOLT THROWER: Warmaster
7. SINISTER: Legacy Of Ashes
8. UTUMNO: Across The Horizon
9. ETERNAL DARKNESS: Total Darkness
10. SORORICIDE: The Entity

Death - The Sound Of Perseverance - Reissue (Relapse 2011)

Nehéz. Nagyon nehéz. Nagyon nehéz bármit is írni Chuck Schuldiner pályafutásáról, a színtérre kifejtett felbecsülhetetlen hatásáról. Pláne olyat, amit még eddig nem írtak le illetve elfogultság nélkül
Jó magam a Leprosy-val ismertem és kedveltem meg a Death-et és azóta legnagyobb kedvenceim között tartom számon a zenekart. Az most mellékes, hogy kik és hányan fordultak meg a bandában az évek folyamán, hogy egyetlen egy albumot sem rögzített ugyanaz a tagság, egy dolog viszont tagadhatatlan: az összes Death kiadvány minőségi korong és Chuck mindig egy lépéssel a mezőny előtt járt, sohasem ismételte önmagát, sosem adta ki kétszer ugyanazt a lemezt. A műfaj alapvetéseit, megkerülhetetlen klasszikusait készítette el. Amikor a Death pályafutásáról beszélünk, megállapítható, hogy lemezről-lemezre fejlődött a zenekar, a Spiritual Healingtől kezdve pedig egy komplex, progresszív irányba indult el Chuck és tette azt úgy, hogy az agresszivitás csorbát szenvedett volna. Meglátásom szerint ennek a folyamatnak a tudatosságon kívül az Atheist Piece Of Time örökérvényű klasszikusának is elévülhetetlen érdemei vannak. No meg annak, hogy a Humanen a Cynicből ismert Sean Reinert és Paul Masvidal játszottak. Mindenféle bántó vagy becsmérlő szándék nélkül jegyzem meg: egyikük sem említhető egy lapon Bill Andrews-zal vagy Rick Rozz-zal. A Death-re jellemző fejlődés, progresszivitás ezen a korongon érte el csúcspontját. A Mester ezt a lemezt szánta az utolsó Death anyagnak (nem tudom, hogy hová lehetett volna még innen fejlődni, továbbmenni), habár azzal nem volt tisztában, hogy három évvel később agytumorban életét veszti. Pár évvel eme korongot megelőzően alapította meg a Control Deniedot, mellyel új utakat keresett, mellyel új utakon indult el. Annak ellenére, hogy minden eddiginél hosszabb dalokat írt és tett fel Chuck erre a lemezre, nem esett az öncélú művészkedés, magamutogatás csapdájába, hiszen a dalok megjegyezhető, befogadható részekkel éppúgy rendelkeznek, mint lélegzetelállító, élményszámba menő váltásokkal. A The Fragile Art Of Existence-t (a Control Denied bemutatkozása) rögzítő tagság háromnegyede volt ez esetben a Főnök segítségére: Richard Christy dobos, Shannon Hamm gitáros és Scott Clendenin basszusgitáros. Nem sok zenei múlttal rendelkeztek az új arcok. Shannon a houstoni Metalstormmal készített egy demót 1991-ben, Scott a Control Deniedban mutatkozott be, Richard Christy pedig a Burning Inside-ból, a Public Assassinból és az Acheronból volt/lehetett ismerős. Minthogy Gene Hoglan, James Murphy, Steve DiGiorgio, Sean Reinert és/vagy Paul Masvidal nagyon magasra tette a lécet teljesítményével a korábbi Death lemezeken, gondolom nem lehetett könnyű dolga Chucknak megtalálni a megfelelő embereket a hangszeresi posztokra, de ma már tudjuk, hogy ez maradéktalanul sikerült. De még hogy! Teljesítményüket a zseniális és lélegzetelállító jelzőknél kevesebbel nem lehet illetni. A lemezen található dalok közül néhányat eredetileg a debütáló Control Denied albumra szántak, de Chuck egy, 1998-ban a Metal Maniacsnek adott interjújában tagadta, hogy a Control Deniednak írt szerzeményeket űrkitöltő jelleggel használták(volna) fel a The Sound Of Perseverance-en. Ennek ellentmond, hogy Tim Aymar tavaly decemberben azt mondta, hogy néhány Control Denied dalt „Death-esítettek” és azok felkerültek a lemezre. Tulajdonképpen mindegy is ki mit mondott, az igazság sajnos most már úgy sem derül ki. Mikor a Death leszerződött a Nuclear Blasthez Chuck beleegyezett abba, hogy készít ez utolsó Death korongot és a továbbiakban a Control Deniedra koncentrál. A már fentebb említett progresszivitás, fejlődés első sorban abban nyilvánult meg, hogy a korong hossza egy picivel több, mint 56 perc, ergo hat percet „ver” az előző Symbolicra. Meglepetésként hat a Mester éneke, állítása szerint unta már a hörgést, a korongon egy durvább, extrémebb power metal stílus, előadás hallható, melyre a legjobb példa a megklippesített Spirit Crusher. Ha pedig ez nem lenne elég bizonyíték, meg kell hallgatni a Judas Priest Painkillerjének zseniális feldolgozását, amelyben Chuck egy az egyben úgy énekel (legalábbis megpróbál), mint Rob Halford és egyből értelmet nyer az énekre vonatkoztatott „másság”, a power metalos megközelítés. A Flesh And The Power It Holds a maga nyolc és fél minutumával a leghosszabb, legösszetettebb Death felvétel, az instrumentális Voice Of The Soul maga a csoda (ez volt a második instrumentális tétel a Death történetében a Cosmic Sea után), a többi szerzemény pedig szimplán zseniális. Valami azért lehetett abban, hogy a kompozíciók némelyike a Control Deniednak íródott, mert a lemezre felkerült az A Moment Of Clarity, amely a Control Denied harmadik demójának címe volt. A lemez megjelenését követően Európában a Benedictionnel, Amerikában a Hammerfall-lal turnézott a Death, az album pedig Németországban a 60., míg Ausztriában a 35. helyig jutott, amely megkoronázta ezt a bámulatos, kolosszális alkotásokkal kísért pályafutást. A Relapse által megjelentetett második deluxe verzió 2 és 3 CD formátumban lát majd napvilágot február 15.-én a kiadótól ismert igényes kivitelben, kiadatlan demónótákkal megspékelve, remasterizálva.
Hosszan tartó betegség és küzdelem után, 2001. december 13-án Chuck szervezete végül megadta magát a ráknak és a metal műfaj egyik kiemelkedő alakja távozott el közülünk, sötét, fekete fátylat borítva a metal színtérre, egy óriási betölthetetlen űrt hagyva maga mögött. Életműve befejezetlen maradt, emlékét mindörökre szívünkben őrizzük.

Carl Canedy speaks about Stricken By Might of E-X-E

How did you get the job being the producer of the debut E-X-E record titled „Stricken by Might”? Were you familiar with this band prior to the work?
I wasn’t familiar with them but David Carpin came to me with the band asked me to work with them.
How do you view, that E-X-E found themselves stuck in the middle of the thrash explosion a little too late for 1985’s releases like Agent Steel’s, Destructor’s, Abattoir’s, Over Kill’s or Savage Grace’s etc. debuts?
I would say that was correct. The timing for them was a little off, sadly.
Did E-X-E seem to take a little more influences from the speed metal side of things rather than Bay-Area?
These guys were way more New York than West Coast. There was no mistaking that.
Is the diversity all over the place?
I think they could have used a little more time on the road perhaps.
Do you think, that the guitars are razor sharp and stand out more than anything else? Do the instruments themselves often sound downright evil, giving practically every song quite a dark and utterly metal atmosphere to the music?
I thought these guys were pretty scary musically. Not as people because they were all great guys but musically they were definitely there in dark side of metal.
Would you say, that „Stricken By Might” is a mixture of fast furious thrashers and generic heavy metal? Does/Did the record mix elements of conventional heavy/power metal and more furious speed/thrash metal?
I would have to agree with that and yes to everything. I think that is both its strength and weakness.
Do you agree with, that tracks, such as „Slayer”, „Metal Hell” or „Warchild” are forgotten, underground classics?
I loved the songs but that type of thing is best left to the fans.
Did the record have a pretty raw sound?
Absolutely raw however as I recall David had a huge hand in the mixing process. He had a certain sound he wanted and we spent time trying to find that for him. I don’t think we always agreed with him but he was the label exec so we did what we could to make him happy without selling out the band.
What do you think about, if E-X-E had not been for terrible label backing and lineup shifting, we might still be hearing from these guys?
Well, I think you’ve nailed it on the head. David was a bright guy but seemed distracted from his duties at times. Ultimately the label was unable to deliver what the band needed in the way of support. I also agree that the band had its own issues with regard to band members. The best thing about Shatter Records was Monte Connor. He was such a fan and such a smart A&R guy but was basically working at a sinking ship. Fortunately for the Metal world Monte was able to transition into another position and has been VP of A&R at Roadrunner Records for many, many years. He’s signed not only some hugely successful artists but Metal artists who helped carved their own niche’s in the Metal world. So I guess that E.X.E. and Shatter Records obviously had the talent behind them but not the label head to make things happen. Monte has remained a good friend to this day and on several occasions we’ve discussed our experiences with Shatter (David Carpin) and bands such as E.X.E.. If Monte had been given more support I believe we we would have seen major success from that label. Sadly, David was unable to keep it together long enough for his artists and staff to prove their talent.
Did this album develope a small cult following, but never received much attention? Did the record draw a lot of fans attention back in the day?
I’m aware of it receiving good reviews but I don’t believe it sold nearly as well as it should or would have had Monte been able to promote it properly.
In your opinion, did it succeed in making a name for yourself both as musician and as producer? Were all of the groups satisfied with your work? Can you tell us your best and worst experiences as producer?
I’ll take this question in several parts.
Did it succeed in making a name for yourself both as musician and as producer?
I believe I am now referred to as both musician and producer. To that end, yes, it did help enhance my rep.
Were all of the groups satisfied with your work?
I wish I could say yes to that question but in honestly I doubt that there’s a 100% satisfaction on their parts with my work. I can only say that I always brought my best intentions and worked as hard as I could with what I was given. I don’t think that any of the groups would deny that and I’m grateful that many of the musicians I’ve worked with have been kind regarding our time together and have remained my friend. I’ve been fortunate priviledged to work with some extremely talented artists.
Carl, thanks a lot for the interview, anything to add to this feature?
The only thing that I would add is that I’m ever grateful to The Rods fans. In recent years between contact either live or through the internet I’ve met so many fans and I’m truly appreciative for their kind words and support. I’m always amazed and humbled at how loyal they are. The Rods fans have really stuck with us and now that we’re releasing new product I’m looking forward to meeting many more of them. Thanks for giving me a chance to discuss these bands. Some really interesting and insightful questions and I’ve enjoyed answering all of them.
Cheers,
Carl

Carl Canedy speaks about Exciter's Violence And Force record

Carl, how did you end up becoming the producer of the second Exciter record titled „Violence And Force”? Were other producers also in mind or...?
Jon and Marsha Zazula contacted regarding working with the band. I loved their music so I signed on. As for other producers, I’m not sure as I wasn’t privy to those discussions.
As the producer of The Rods albums, would you say, that you have quite a lot experiences considering producing a record?
I would say that now I have some experience. In those days of producing Exciter etc. I had an energy and some knowledge of how to get energy on tape. I always worked hard to get the best performances and energy transferred to the recordings. We had limited budgets and not always the best gear to work with but my goal was always capturing the band energy. Over the years I’ve learned much more about engineering so that if and engineer now told me that a particular sound was best they could do and I wasn’t happy I would know how to get past that. In those days I was, at times, limited by the engineers and studios in which we were working. I know do extensive pre-production and demos and make the entire process much more fun and less stressful. In those days there were few options with tight deadlines and budgets other than to just get it done.
Do you agree with, that in 1983 Exciter released a classic speed metal album in the form of „Heavy Metal Maniac” which had to have been a major influence in the development of thrash metal? Can it be considered as the very first thrash/speed records of all time, since it came out before Metallica’s „Kill ’em All” or Slayer’s „Show No Mercy”?
Going to back to what I’d said about first hearing Exciter and really loving the band was how much energy these guys had. They were so raw and hardcore about their music. Dan Beehler’s voice was so balls to the wall that you had to love it! I don’t think Exciter got close to the recognition they deserved.
When talking about the thrash heyday of the early 80’s, Canada’s pioneers of rage, Exciter, takes a back seat to no one, they were playing a distinct, rabid Venom/Motörhead/Anvil/Raven style, correct? Can be Exciter labelled as Canada’s answer to Motörhead or were they faster, rawer and more brutal than Lemmy and his Co.?
I think it demeans everyone listed to say that one was more or less that another on any level. They were all part of something that many other musicians didn’t have the desire or balls to do. Put it all out there without concern for hit singles or power ballads. They were all pioneers and as such deserve each their due.
To which extent were you familiar with them? Did you like their awesome, brilliant debut „Heavy Metal Maniac”?
I had heard about them but only really dialed it in when approached by Jon and Marsha.
In your opinion, musicwise did they have something to do also The Rods with or…?
Since we hadn’t heard of them really nor did we know them personally I would say that there was no real connection of any kind until we met.
While their debut album was released by Mike Varney’s label Shrapnel, „Violence And Force” came out through Megaforce, do you know something about the label change?
I think when you say Mike Varney’s name to many musicians you’ll have the same reaction and similar shared experience. They came to me with their story about their time with Shrapnel which in many ways was similar to that of The Rods. Let’s leave it that the music biz ain’t always pretty. Mike has done a lot of good for many musicians and shined a light musicians who might not otherwise have had the exposure or credibility given to them by being associated with Mike.
The band entered the Pyramid Sound, Ithaca, New York, November 1983, how did the recording sessions go? Was it easy to work with those guys with?
I still love the guys and have from day one. They are extremely talented and dedicated. There is nothing negative I can say other than I wish we’d been able to sonically have done better for them. They were a blast to work with and have nothing but good memories from my time with them.
Were Exciter prepared to record their second full length? Did they record some demos or pre-production materials before the recording sessions?
As I recall we may have done some demos (I’ll have to check my files) but they were ready to record. They knew what they wanted and weren’t allowing any partying to get in the way of their recording time.
While it doesn’t do anything different as it’s debut, one thing for certain the sound is way more polished and nowhere near the ass-kicking rawness of Exciter’s debut album but none-the-less it’s an excellent follow-up, what do you think about it? Is the sound a bit clearer than the one on the debut but it’s still heavy, corrosive and total speed, as the genre command?
As I’d stated in the prior question I wish we’d been able to do a bit more for them sonically. Comparing the two albums is probably something the fans can debate. I know these guys have never been anything but a fucking tank at high speed their entire career.
Did Exciter’s second album appear just as the metal world was feeling the impact of the thrash boom and the band was astute enough to adapt to the change?
I can’t say directly about that but it seemed to me that Excited was being Exciter every step of the way. They weren’t interested in jumping on any band wagon. They were leading the parade.
Does/Did „Violence and Force” feature the same characteristics of their debut?
Without a doubt you can’t have musicians with such strong personalties not bring to that each record. Their musical signature will carry through every time.
Do you agree with, that this album feature some of the greatest songs by this band and the title track is one of them? What are your fave songs from this record?
I thought these songs were excellent. I would have to go back and listen again to decide if I had a true favorite. There are some standout tracks but I felt and feel that it was an album that successfully made a musical statement as a whole.
Can be the songs devided into two parts? I mean, the first ones being speed metal monsters, and the second ones being slower mid-paced traditional heavy metal tunes; the faster songs are definitely better which is obvious considering that after all this is a speed metal band…
I’ve always thought that if you do a break down or mix it up a bit it makes the impact of the sledgehammer more exciting. I liked the way they did their bone crushing mid tempo stuff.
How do you see, that Exciter’s style on „Violence and Force” isn’t really thrash although they were certainly fast enough to keep up with the new breed and doubtless influenced the scene with this release?
As I’d said these guys were doing what they loved with their music. They were being themselves not jumping on a musical trend.
According to guitarist John Ricci, at this point, they were still discovering theirselves, the success of their first record was unexpected, so they wanted to follow up with even a greater record, what do you think about it?
Isn’t that the mark of a great artist or band? Need I say more?
Is it an absolutely outstanding record? Is it a legendary album of a legend?
I can’t make that call. I loved working with the band, I love the record, and I love the music. I think were trying to make a cohesive album and to that end I believe we succeeded.
Did Exciter manage to catch the attention of the then leading heavy metal label in the US?
That aspect of the business was something that Jon and Marsha were handling. I do believe they had interest but from whom or where it led I have no idea.
How was the record welcomed? Did it fulfill the hopes that were added to it? I mean, did it satisfy the demands of the fans?
I can’t recall all of the reviews from the time. I was busy and didn’t always follow every review. I don’t think any album can satisfy all fans but I think it served them well. I say that despite a cover which I found a bit weak.
Megaforce Records which at the time couldn’t be a better place considering the label had just released Metallica’ „Kill ’em All”, and later on Over Kill’s „Feel the Fire”, so being stuck next to those two definitely gave them an advantage in exposing them to a bigger audience, how do you explain this? Did Megaforce really help a lot the band? Did they really support Exciter?
Jon and Marsha, to my knowledge, never signed a band they didn’t believe in. They were tireless promoters but they didn’t promote something their hearts weren’t committed to. It certainly was an advantage for the band in the fact that all the bands on the label had credibility given to each other by their label mates. They were all in good company.
They were not all that popular, though they have always made great quality songs throughout their career; Exciter was a band that never hit it big but should have, correct?
Again, I feel that Exciter is a band who has not gotten the recogition they deserve.
Is Exciter often overlooked when it comes to metal?
Without a doubt!
It seems, a good friendship have woven among you and the band, because during 1984 Exciter embarked on the Hell On Earth tour with Metallica and with your band The Rods, how did that tour come into being exactly? How did the whole tour go? Did the bands get on well with each other?
Sadly this tour never materialized.
Dan Beehler was involving in your project Thrasher, what can you tell us about it? Could you give us details about the Burning At The Speed Of Light record?
When Duck (Andres Duck MacDonald) and I were working on Thrasher album we discussed musicians who would be right for the project. I’d always loved Dan’s voice and Dan as a person. As Duck and I worked on the song Burning At The Speed of Light we knew there was only one guy who was going to bring to it what it needed. Dan came in and just sang his ass off as he always does. The guy gives a hundred percent every time.

Raging Steel interview with Dan and Dave

Old school thrash metal (and the '80s as a whole) a favourite music of mine. In the recent days/months I discovered a very young and talented Swedish outfit Raging Steel. Their awesome effort Guilty As Charged rooted in the '80s thrash, that I recommend for the fans of that genre. Enjoy this interview.

Dan, around the early ’2000s seemed in Sweden a kind of thrash metal boom, a lot of bands started popping up, such as Leprosy (they became Caustic Strike), Oppression, Corrupted, Hazard, Terror etc. were you familiar with those bands?
Hey David, and thanks a lot for doing this interview!!! Well David, when I moved to Sweden back in 2005 I had no idea at all who those bands were actually. Mostly due to the fact that I didn’t have any connection to the Swedish underground scene when i lived back home in Norway. Hehe, I remember the first time I heard Corrupt. It was their Born of Greed demo... I was literally totally blown away by their aggression, their speed and the way they played their thrash. They played like back in the ’80s! With all those riffs, the crushing „grabs your balls” bass, those pounding drums, the raw hateful vocals, the sound, how they changed the tempo and beats in every song. And especially, with something most bands lack of today, feeling and the spirit for playing pure metal. Now that was thrash! It was thrash with a fistful of „Fuck all them shitty asshole wannabe new age metal rapers” if you know what i mean. As with Oppression, Lethal, Caustic Strike, Divider, Immaculate and Entrench to name a few, they all shared that same spirit and some still carry that torch!
Not like most of todays bands. Today all you see are these cookiecutter fuckers who absolutely have to have the cleanest production, absolutely need the biggest drumkit, absolutely need to have the most cash, and not to forget their total ignorance of actually having a sound thats unique and personal... Shit did i just go berserk? Well, anyhow, that was how i became familiar with the Swedish bands and the scene over here.
What made those guys playing in the vein of early thrash outfits, such as Kreator, Destruction, Slayer, Testament etc.? Was their goal keeping the ’80s thrash scene alive?
Good question! I think what made them play in that vein is as with the rest of us... the urge to get out there and headbang, be able to play and let the aggression, feelings or whatever just rip out through the music without having to be affected by commercialism and bullshit. Besides that, its just pure fucking neckbreaking metal haha! As to think of such a goal, hell yes! I believe their goal was to keep the ’80s thrash scene alive, but in a new face so to speak. We live in the 2000s now, and things will obviously never be the same after all them moneysmoking cocksuckers (Yeah you know who you are!) milked and raped the thrash scene back in the ’90s. I think the old school metalheads just got sick of listening to shitty popfuck metal. So then in the end, they took shit in their own hands and the goal became to show that real metal still exists...
How about Swedish thrash bands, such as Merciless, Agony or Mezzrow? Why did it fail them to break through? I mean, it failed them to make a name for themselves…
Man its hard to tell actually... Bands as Merciless, Agony and Mezzrow all deserve the respect they never got. The biggest reason in my opinion, is that they never broke through because there mainly never was any larger thrash scene in these parts of Europe, and still there ain't such a big scene here. But back then you had the black metal hailing from Norway, the famous death metal from Sweden and on top of that I dont think the Swedes, Norweges, Finnish and Danish really could appreciate their thrash metal at that time. EVEN though it was in the ending phase of the ’80s. Look at these bands today, now most metalheads who dont have their head up their asses knows who Merciless, Agony and Mezzrow are! And totaly love the music! Bad timing perhaps?
Would you say, that the Swedish thrash bands never played an important role during the ’80s, like the German or American ones and weren’t so influential? Were they overshadowed?
Id say the contrary, of course the Swedish bands played an important role man! Maybe they didn't get heard of too much globally, but id bet my ballsack that a little underground guy named José was hanging out in his friends basement over in Brazil or wherever, smoking some shit, drinking some beers, moshing and headbanging till his eyeballs fell out of his ass, WHILE listening to Merciless, Fallen Angel etc etc!! But to compete with the German or the US bands on the other hand was most likely really hard at that time. I mean, those two scenes grew fast as hell when the wave first started. They have some of the greatest bands and was also the „introducers” of thrash/speed metal... So if i would say that the Swedish scene was overshadowed? Yes, but that doesnt necessary decrease the quality of the Swedish thrash! And where would todays Swedish bands be, without their predecessors? Probably having just a hard time as those back in the ’80s.
Let we speak about your current outfit Raging Steel, how did the band get together?
Hehehe... By satans will!! No im just kidding! Or am i? Well... its a real fun story actually! To begin with, Vitja and I have known each other and have played together since ’05. First time i met him was when i was auditioning to play guitar in Electricution hehe... I thought he was a maniac who was ought to kill me or something haha! But the audition went as it went, i brought some whisky to the rehearsal and it ended with me getting in the band and Vitja hugging my toilet later that evening hahaha!! Now, it was the summer of 2008 and Vitja and i was hanging out at my place for a month where we partied and got shitfaced everyday like normal people... But in addition to that, I had already started to think of a new band since our former band Electricution was starting to loose motivation. During that month I wrote most of the songs thats featured on our debut album with Vitja, we still cant remember any of the writing process though hahaha! Nevertheless we recorded test versions on some of the tunes in the apartment, which ended up sounding pretty awesome. After that i called Emil (Braindead), since we both was in the same class in college and asked him if he wanted to play bass in our new band. And without hesitation he was there! As for Dave, I met him at random parties back in the days. What year i actually cant remember, but he was a cool guy with long hair who was into old school death metal. And i knew he could play guitar really well, plus he never said no when i offered him beer! So after a few calls and he had listened to the test versions, he too didnt hesitate to join. With that done, we started looking for a rehearsal where we could start working some more on the songs. From there on we have all grown together as a band, a unit, but mostly as really good friends! Which i think is very unrare these days...
It seems, Raging Steel isn’t your first band, since you are involving or were involving in other acts, such as Electricution, Torn Apart and Chainsawtan, how about these acts? Is Raging Steel the most important for you?
Yeah Electricution was a fun time. We thrashed around the city and Sweden playing our asses of without mercy, even did a gig in Norway with none other than Pentagram from Chile! Which was totaly bad ass! But sadly in the end of ’Cutions time, some of the guys lost motivation, and i think their passion for playing music just quite didnt grow as it should have. Now, i dont carry any negative feelings against those guys at all, we split up as friends and they still are really good mates of mine (I even live in the same apartment as the vocalist/bassist haha). I just think its a shame that such a raw, old school speed/thrash band dont exist anymore in these dire times of Swedish thrash metal...
As for Torn Apart, that was Daves former band so il let him talk about that himself.
Dave: Well, Torn Apart was formed around 05 with the notion that no brutal bands were active in Umeå at the time, at least that I was aware of. It was mostly melodic stuff around so I wanted to just slaughter and brutalize Umeå in the way I deemed fit! So I got 4 other guys together and we started playing around in Umeå til’ we recorded the first demo that was later released as a 4 track EP on Pathologically Excplicit Recordings, titled Craving Pale Flesh around 06. Then we continued writing stuff and playing live now and then til’ around 08 when the singer left the band. At the same time I had jumped on the Raging Steel bandwagon so I myself started losing interest in continuing playing with Torn, as I consider him the best Death Metal vocalist in our town and it would be hard replacing him AND that I had some downhill spiral with my inspiration in writing riffs and wanted a fresh start. So as all that shit was flying Torns way we had plans on recording our first full length album, so we did that even though the singer and I had quit the band, but it turned into a 9 track Death Metal album that has yet to see the light of day as it hasn’t been released, shame, as it is one brutal album! After the recording was done we parted ways as friends and I moved on to play with Raging Steel.
Dan: Chainsawtan on the other hand, is a new but old school black metal band where Vitja and Emil featured as session members for their first gig. The gig was actually on Forlorn Fest this year, Swedens only black metal festival that was held here in Umeå. Check it out if you are into black metal!
To conclude for me personally, Raging Steel is the only band I want and its one of the most important things in my life. Its the place where i go when i need to exert my aggressions, when i need time off from todays fucked up society and its people. I think, the bands chemistry alongside the musical freedom (take this sentence as you will) and passion to play old school metal, not for money and not for any one elses sake but our own, is what a band should be all about.
Do you take the band seriously by the way? I mean, what are your goals that you wanted to achieve, to reach Raging Steel with?
Haha of course, metal ain't a joke! And maybe thats one of the goals we have, to show people that you don't fuck around with it... But i couldn't say that we have any other concrete goals more than playing our metal, crush, kill and headbang around. Hopefully someday though, we might be able to go on a tour and have a fucking ball with metalheads around the world!
Who came up with the band name? Would you say, that it speaks for itself considering your music and stuff?
Another great question haha... As with the writing in ’08, i still dont recall if it was me or Vitja who came up with the name. The name for itself does speak for our music, I mean, we are raging and we like cold bloody steel. No but the music itself is Raging all the way.
You are from Umea, the home of Swedish outfits, such as Naglfar, Bewitched or Guillotine, what can you tell us about the metal scene of the town? Are there clubs, shows in support of metal?
The metal scene here in general is really big actually, theres always new bands in all kinds of genres evolving and popping up. Back in the past Umeå was mainly a punk city as I've learned its story, and id say it still is, but now its even a metal city. Umeå has even been proclaimed culture capital of 2014! When it comes to the thrash scene in Umeå there really ain't so many bands, you have us, Lethal, Evolvator, Electricution and Guillotine... I hope someday that the old school metal scene in Umeå will grow even further. As for clubs, there are a few that dares to have metal bands live and then on the other hand theres mostly underground punk/hardcore gigs. But as time passes I've noticed that more and more clubs are leaning into the old kind of metal.
What about your influences? Do all of the band members have a common musical taste or do everybody have an own fave? Do you listening to other type of music besides thrash?
Yeah totally, we all listen to old school metal! Creative wise, our lyrics and music are influenced from a personal perspective in terms of madness, death, satan and hell. Ive always said that lyrics are personal and flexible, and should be written from your own view on things and experiences. How people choose to see the meaning of our lyrics are up to the ones that listen to it. Some may understand them, some may not... As for the differences in the band regarding genres, i myself listen to ’80s thrash and death. But I also listen to NWOBHM, speed metal and good old heavy that goes all the way back to the 70’s! Other than that, i also like Jimi Hendrix haha!
I know Vitja is moreover a ’80s death/thrash, punk and hardcore fanatic while Dave originally is an old school death metal guy, but he also digs the old ways of thrash. Emil on the other hand is pure ’80s thrash and heavy metal in his choice of music, if you want metal, hes the guy to be thrashed by!
In 2009 you released a rehearsal tape, titled „Pits Of Hell – Rehearsal Tape #1”, can you give us details regarding on this material? How long did it take for you guys to write the material?
That tape is actually the first demo on the tunes that evolved to be the ones on the „Guilty As Charged” album! The material as i said earlier in the interview was written in ’08, it took about 1-2 months to finish up every song before we started rehearsing them. When we recorded the tape we had just been rehearsing the songs for about 1 month or so, and the only recording equipment we used for it was a friends old tape recorder from the ’80s haha!
Did you promote this stuff at all? Did you try to make a nme for the band with the help of this material?
We did some promotion for it, but we only sold it to some friends and around the people we hang with. Other than that, we didn't actually think to much about making a name for ourselves with it, it was mostly intended for the band to fine tune the songs before we were going to record it in the studio. Eventually, labels became interested in the material and wanted to hear more.
It was followed by the three tracker „Guilty As Charged” in the same year, was it a promotional material? Was it shopped around to attract label interests?
The three tracker that we released was actually a promo that we gave to people at our gigs, to labels and any that wanted it. Many have been confused that its a demo, but it originally was a promo with raw mixes on some of the studio version songs.
August 2009 you entered the DimRakk studios in Umea to record your debut record „Guilty As Charged”, how did the recording sessions go?
Hehe, studio recording.. what can i say? For Me, Vitja and Emil it was our first time ever in a real studio as Dave had been in studio with Torn Apart earlier. But studios are studios... One guy who sits and tell us we cant play this kind of music and the other telling us our equipment is outdated... Fuck that, people who cant see music and its way of life for what it is shouldn't be in studios. Anyway the recording sessions went really good regardless, we only had 2 weeks time to record all the 9 songs and we had been rehearsing them now for 3-4 months and did our first gig during that time too. The drums took about 2 days to record, the guitars about 3, the bas 1-2 days and the vocals about 1 day i think. We did actually have some time over when everything was recorded, but on some mysterious occasion the guy who engineered us said theres was no more time... So we did it all in a total of 1½ weeks.
Did you have a decent budget to record the album or did you pay the studio costs by yourselves?
We paid for the studio time ourselves, and we didn't have any budget since we all were really really poor and unemployed at the time. To afford it we had to sell some of our shit and borrow from our families. In fact we didn't even have a dine over after we had paid for the studio time... Couldn't pay for rent and shit and had to live on almost no food or beer for a month.
Were you prepared to cut the material?
No, we didn't want to cut any of it. Before we started the sessions we had chosen all the songs we wanted to keep, and thus the fact that all the songs we recorded contained something special which we had worked our asses off for.
Why didn’t make up new tunes on the record? Did you simply re-record the „Pits Of Hell” material or…?
We already had a lot of new tunes before that recording came to life actually, but we wanted to keep the „old” songs exclusiveness, history and raw feeling. So we chose to re-record the „Pits of Hell” tape, but with the finished versions of the tunes of course!
I for one would say, it’s a very cool thrash metal album, rooted in the ’80s and similar to early Slayer, Metallica or Merciless, how do you view it? Would you tell us more about the album?
Thanks a lot David!!! Id say the album speaks for all the individuals that understand metal and its aggression, the hate, passion for real music. The album itself is fast paced all the way through with riffage and solos, raw vocals, pounding drums n bass, but in a contained chaos straight from hell. We aren't trying to be the fastest or anything like that, music ain't about trying to be someone but being yourself. And the record expresses just that, i mean we are four poor guys that just want to play metal as we see it! Soundwise most modern people will most definitely hate it, but for those who still loves the feeling and punch in the ’80s sound it will hopefully be enjoyed with a beer and lots of headbanging haha!
Do you agree with, that your vocals are a little death metal influenced?
Yeah i have to agree to that, and not just a little haha! Singers such as Jeff Becerra, Mille Petrozza and Ventor, Pat Lind, Darren Travis, Paul Baloff, David Vincent and Anton Reisenegger to name a few have been a really great inspiration to me. Ive always wanted to be able to expose my aggressions in a really hateful way besides just playing guitar, so naturally a kind of an evil streetwise death/thrash vocal evolved.
How would you offer the record for those, who didn’t listen to the record or aren’t familiar with the band?
To those kind of people i would offer it as a very raw, aggressive and diversified old school thrash metal record from a band that puts the music and headbanging as priority one. Not money or fame but with the urge to want to break some necks live. Easy said, if you like 80’s thrash/death metal you should give our record a chance!
The album was mixed at the RR Studios Umeå, by Robin Rehnstrom, was it his first experience as mixer? Were you satisfied with the end result?
It was his first experience in mixing a full length album yes, but he had been mixing a lot of other stuff before this as personal projects etc. But we chose to go with him cause frankly, id hate to see some all knowing modern fag make a „default fabric” cookie cutter sound to our record. And with Robin here i knew he understood what we wanted to achieve and the meaning of our music, which ended in us being very satisfied with the result.
By whom was it produced and engineered?
The record was produced and engineered by Hans Johansson at DimRakk studios, but the producing was with our directing.
What type of reviews did you get on the record? Do the thrash fans like it?
So far we have had only a phew reviews on the record as I've seen. But the reviews we've gotten have been in good favor of the record, makes us really glad to see that our record is being appreciated! Yeah totally, it seems that people like our music. So i certainly hope that they'll stick with us till the next album, if „Guilty as Charged” was from ’84 then the next will be ’85!
Though it was not until the year 2010 that you signed with Bay Area based label Reinig Records and managed to release their first full length, how did you get in touch with them? Weren’t other label interests in the band?
Yeah there was a few other labels that showed interest. At first, we were going to release our record through a Swedish label, but communication between us and the label wasn't good enough so in the end we chose not to release it through them. During that time JoJo from Reinig Records had sent us some mails and we started talking, he showed a lot of interest in our music and the band. So we were talking to a few other labels after that but in the end we chose to go with Reinig Records since they were the ones that cared the most for the musical aspects of our metal, the rawness of old school metal and the knowledge of how a metal record should sound! Plus JoJo is the one of the coolest metalheads I've talked to ever, so it felt natural to let him and Reinig Records release our record since he know that sound and spirit also has a meaning to a record!
Does it mean, that the reason of the delay was, that you hadn’t any label? Didn’t you think about to release it as a self-financed/self-released material?
Hmm both id say, we had lots of bad luck and the fact that we had a label with bad communication; delay was inevitable. And self finance was in our minds as well, but if we were to release it on our own the record might never have gotten released with us not owning a penny and no one wanting to employ us for regular jobs. So when Reinig approached us with the papers to sign, it was like a dream come true for us haha!
How much support, promotion do you get from the label? How many copies were sold from the album?
From the label we have gotten lots and lots of support and promotion. They've been spreading the word over in the US and the rest of the world! But they've also helped us personally when we have had rough times over here, which in my opinion is what a label is about. Bringing forth the music and caring for the bands that they sign! How many copies that have been sold i don't have any numbers on actually. I just know that we finally have gotten a chance to share our metal with the rest of the world, and hopefully we will be able to share the stage with like minded metalheads in the future!
Over time, the band has played on festivals like the Norwegian Raise the dead fest alongside Sodom, Asphyx, Angel Witch, Manilla Road, Ram and more, as well as on the House of Metal festival in your hometown Umeå, which is one of the biggest metal festivals in Northern Sweden, can you tell us more about those gigs? Were they your first live experiences by the way?
Raise the dead fest was actually our 3rd or 4th gig i think, we had a really good time over there! Despite the fact that half the band was sick with fever, we drove for over 13-14 hours to get there, we had to pay for our hostel when we were promised a free staying place (we were the only band that didn't get it for free mind you) and that we didn't get the promised time to soundcheck properly or eat anything before we had to go on stage. But nevertheless we did our gig the best we could and we got our fun, also we saw bands that we never thought we would see live or play live with even!
The House of Metal show on the other hand, we had our best time and gig ever id say. They gave us all that was promised, beer, food, good times and an audience that knew how to fucking let hell loose.
Were there still other shows in support of the record besides those two festival appearances?
Yeah, we have been playing around Sweden on clubs and pubs at various occasions now. We even did a „mini-mini-tour” with Immaculate for a weekend that was totally heavy mental man! Haha, we partied, played, headbanged and just had a ball! The last gig we did was at the UmeMetal open air festival here in Umeå, had a bad sound live and didn't even got the time to pre party since we were first out of all the bands. But it was fucking fun!! As for now we are planing a lot of gigs for the coming year and a proper release gig for „Guilty As Charged”, its going to be a blast from the past here in Umeå when that gig opens the gates!
In the future, Raging Steel will continue to burst aggression, play fast as hell, worship satan, when do you plan to record and release the second album? Do you already have some songs written?
We don't have any date for when we will start recording our next album. Our schedule as for now is that we have... without spoiling to much, the whole next albums songs ready actually. For the time being we are rehearsing them new songs and keeping a steady fine tune for every time we rehearse them, making sure they come out the way we want it. Hopefully, we will be done rehearsing in the beginning phase of next year and already started the recording. So keep your eyes open for our next record, it will be even more evil and raging than the first! Trust me!
Dan, thanks a lot for the interview, your closing words are coming…
The pleasure is all mine David, hope to talk to you again when the next album hits the lights! As for final words, don't try to be someone else but yourself. Thats when the real music is made! You cant cheat metal, and metalheads deserve real fucking metal! Metal till’death!!

Top 20 metal releases of 2010

1. HEATHEN: The Evolution Of Chaos
2. CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED: Charred Walls Of The Damned
3. ARKAIK: Reflections Within Dissonance
4. MAGMA RISE: Lazy Stream Of Steel
5. FORBIDDEN: Omega Wave
6. WHEEL: Wheel
7. INTERMENT: Into The Crypts Of Blasphemy
8. HAIL OF BULLETS: On Divine Winds
9. BRAIN DRILL: Quantum Catastrophe
10. OZZY OSBOURNE: Scream
11. FIRST SIGNAL: First Signal
12. ENFORCER: Diamonds
13. RATT: Infestation
14. BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION: Black Country Communion
15. WALL OF SLEEP: When The Mountains Roar
16. GRAVE: Burial Ground
17. DAY SIX: The Grand Design
18. IMMOLATION: Majesty And Decay
19. SINBREED: When The World Collide
20. SINISTER: Legacy Of Ashes