When it comes to down to delivery high quality thrash metal few do it better than Testament. Albums like “Practise What You Preach”, “Souls Of Black” and “The Gathering” are mandatory staples for everyone with a preference for thrash metal from the Bay Area. The band last album, “The Formation Of Damnation” is a tough act to follow by any standard, so let’s see what Chuck Billy and his musical partners managed to accomplish on “Dark Roots Of Earth”, their latest offering.

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Surprisingly, one of the most ferocious and hard-hitting releases coming from Norway this year wasn’t created by a band covered with paint, dripping with blood or praising the name of Satan. Please meet Purified In Blood, a group of friends with a shared love of metal’s aggression, punk hardcore attitude and a concern for environmental issues.

Guitarist Sander Sagblad Loe and vocalist Hallgeir S. Enoksen talk about metal, veganism and global freedom.

 

Flight of the Dying Sun, the third album from Norway's Purified in Blood, is one of the most potent and surprising records of the year. Filled with bone-crushing riffs, thunderous rhythms and some blistering solos, this new effort touches a wide variety of styles with astounding results. 

In the press sheet, vocalist Hallgeir S. Enoksen defines the new effort as “… the missing link between «Reaper of Souls» and «Under Black Skies»”, adding that “Flight of the Dying Sun” fuses the rawness and intensity of the first record with the more organic and varied sound of the second album. I take it this was conscious decision of the band, to encompass all the traits of your past efforts into this new work right? 

Sander: No, that was never the idea and I would not put to much weight on what Hallgeir said in the press sheet. We always try to look ahead and try to come up with new stuff that we have never done before. So if anything we try to avoid doing what we have done in the past. I am easily bored and I think it is important to always come up with new and exciting stuff to keep myself interested. We will always keep it hard, aggressive and heavy, but still add new dimensions and flavours to keep pushing the boundaries of what you can and can’t do in metal. The idea is to never stagnate. Development and evolution is key. 

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Two years on from their much lauded second album “Under Black Skies”, Norwegians Purified In Blood are back with a new effort and minus a lead singer following the departure of one of their two vocalists, Mr. Glenn Reaper. Not that this change affects or hinders the impact of their hardcore-fuelled death metal attack as the band sounds fiercer and angrier than ever on “Flight Of A Dying Sun”, plus sole vocalist Hallgeir pulls out an incredibly monstrous performance.

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No matter what you think of the returning Spineshank’s new album there is no dismissing the anger and venom which soaks every note and word within its walls. Guitarist Mike Sarkisyan stated "Some of us were going through divorces, others lost people very close to them and that's what basically surrounded us during the creative process." This emotional turmoil and its heightened shadows inspired an openly evident atmosphere on Anger Denial Acceptance for a release bruising and raging storm.

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Ex-Venom drummer Anton Lant's Def-Con-One project consists of 12 groove metal songs that wouldn't sound out of place next to Lamb of God or Pantera. As the songs are such a far stretch from Venom, I was a bit surprised when opening song "Never Look Back" blasted through the speakers. The chugging riffs and clean to shouted vocals remind more of "As the Palaces Burn" or even more aptly "Far Beyond Driven" then anything Venom has ever done.

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Inspired by the failures of mankind PROCESS OF GUILT have created the most accomplished and raging album of their career. Proud of the new effort and determined to make 2012 their biggest year yet, guitarist and vocalist Hugo Santos tells all to Scratch the Surface.

It’s been three years since your last album “Erosion”, how does it feel to have “Fæmin” finally out? 

We're really glad to finally have a new album out, but it's important to state that we didn't spent the last three years making it. We only started writing what would become «Fæmin» in the beginning of 2011 and it was a hard working process, since we basically started from scratch, but that gave us the opportunity to compose a strong and concise album from start to finish. Given the experience provided by our last releases, «Fæmin» is, the album that took us less time since we entered the studio until the moment it was released. It was also our most concise experience regarding production. We only took about one or two months for all the recording, mixing and mastering, somewhere between last September and October. Nevertheless, it's always a good and positive feeling to have the record out. 

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After the stunning “Songs for Burning Lovers” on Deranged Records, former Cursed vocalist Chris Colohan retakes the offensive once more with Burning Love and offer us their second full-length, “Rotten Thing To Say”, a potent blend of punk roughness, rock n roll sleaziness and hardcore aggression.

While Burning Love are not as incendiary or raucous as Cursed were, these songs still pack some furious punch as their share the same fascination for a piss n’ vinegar, boisterous attitude as songs like “Tremors” and “Pigs City 1” clearly illustrate.

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When it comes to fusing moments of fragility together with sullen heavy parts few do it better than Jonas Renkse and Co, better known as Katatonia. These Swedish formation started out as a doom/death metal band, but along the way they shed their death metal roots, much like Anathema and The Gathering. However, Katatonia has always maintained a certain metallic edge to their music, with albums like Viva Emptiness (2003), The Great Cold Distance (2006) and Night Is The New Day (2009) being some particular poignant examples/ Let’s see how the band fares on their new album, entitled Dead End Kings...

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Montreal, Canada five-piece The Agonist are fast becoming one of the most exciting and interesting bands in modern metal music. Three years on from their surprising and critically acclaimed second album “Lullabies for the Dormant Mind”, this year the band returns with an incredible new record that tops everything they’ve done in the past and boasts an astonishing progression.

Scratch the Surface scribe Raymond Westland quizzed vocalist Alissa White-Gluz in order to find out more about their third fulllength record “Prisoners”. 

I was pleasantly surprised by “Prisoners”, the latest album by Montreal, Canada-based The Agonist. Vocalist Alissa White-Gluz was kind enough to provide us with some insights on the album, working together with Cryptopsy guitarist Chris Donaldson and getting involved with MTV… 

Thank for you doing this interview for Scratch The Surface. I must say I’m quite impressed with your new album. Are you happy the way it came out? 

“Yeah. It’s hard to be happy with something like this because you always want to go back and fix one thing or re-do one thing, but you just have to at one point be happy with how it turns out and go from that.” 

This time around you chose to go for a more straightforward metal approach. What triggered this? 

“Well, I completely disagree with that statement, and you’re the first person who’s said that, so I don’t know how to answer that question. I think it’s not a straightforward metal approach. I kind of wish it was, but I don’t think it is at all, I think it’s quite the opposite. It’s more technical and progressive than the last album.” 

Can you share some insights on the themes and subjects touched on “Prisoners”? 

“The lyrics for this album are, I guess, less perceptive. I kind of just wrote the lyrics and let them live as they were. I didn’t try to overdo any of them or rewrite them a million times, because at first I was doing that. Like with ‘The Escape.’ I wrote that song like three times before it turned into what it is now. So for the rest of the songs, I was like, ‘okay, it’s going to take me ten years to write this album if I do it that way,’ so I just kind of let the lyrics come out and left them as they were. Even to the point where songs like ‘Idea Moto’ are automatic writing.”

Read entire interview featured on Issue 3 here.

Issue 3 of SCRATCH THE SURFACE MAGAZINE is available now via subscriptions and features interviews with BARONESS, HORSEBACK, ROYAL THUNDER, PURIFIED IN BLOOD, PROCESS OF GUILT, THE AGONIST and ICARUS WITCH.

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