Metal Riot

Apex is choosing to accept your fate and make the best of it! – Brittney

Don’t be mistaken, the title of this article is not implying that Apex from Canada’s much raved about Unleash The Archers is a failure by any means, rather that it proves they have so much to give that they can climb the metal stairway to heaven immeasurably from here. Apex is already an album of the year contender to a few of my friends I have spoken with.

Formed in 2007, the power metal and thrash hybrid band eschew boring classifications and instead just boldly mold themselves into their own metal unit, a true heavy metal band like Judas Priest, Sister Sin, King Diamond, Accept, Huntress, Valient Thorr, Ross The Boss Band, Tower, The Agonist or any real deal blue blooded defenders of the faith out there.

Let’s catch up with vocalist Brittney, who I personally always say has some of the best pipes in the game these days, and get the scoop on the new album Apex.

Read onward BELOW!

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L-R: Sam Kiszka, Josh Kiszka, Danny Wagner, Jake Kiszka

A lot of bands can be like a family, functional or dysfunctional. The fans become extended family tree members through involvement and the branches grow. In the case of Michigan exports Greta Van Fleet, three members of the band are brothers! Talk about learning to share!

We recently interviewed hard rockers Paralandra who have a father / daughter team in the band and they manage to get along. I can’t imagine it is always easy for brothers, but the band certainly have a unified sense of energy to their classic rock influenced ear burners. Hey, it works for my cousins in Texas band Hawk Vs. Dove. People have been raving about GVF’s Black Smoke Rising, with comparisons to Led Zep and The Black Crowes coming to mind. That said, the guys are also set on making their own mark while drawing from the well of soul, rock and blues stomp of lore and yore.

Read more BELOW.

In the microcosm of friends that I live in there are many women coming together to support and exalt one another in the arts. This is a marked shift from what you see in pop culture which is women competing with one another, exploiting their selves and each other for success, and approval from our patriarchal culture. – Sera Timms

Ides Of Gemini are one of the more deserving bands in the underground, always searching for both revelatory experiences and the breaking of new ground within their art. While the band have benefited from strong support from major players within the scene, from early support from Neurot to a tour with Ghost to finding a new coveted home with Rise Above Records, the band have also faced their share of setbacks that have forced their momentum to sort of develop via ebb, flow and word of mouth despite their hard work. Original drummer Kelly Johnston-Gibson incurred a career-threatening injury while on tour in the US in 2015, causing founding members J. Bennett and vocalist (and then-bassist) Sera Timms to reassess their next move. After enlisting Scott Batiste of Saviours as a stand-in drummer for a short West Coast tour, things clicked and Scott soon became a permanent member. The band then expanded to a quartet for the first time, as Sera relinquished her bass-playing duties to newcomer Adam Murray.

The band have never shied away from making their own path and now return with an album called Women, a simple celebration and study of the sacred feminine perfect for these times when the President sexualizes his own daughter while cutting off all funding to UN Family planning or when just the other day one of the premiere and most dedicated writers in metal – who happens to be female – was attacked deplorably by a site for having a disability . It is great to see some bold art from a band that is far more respectful and also features a woman in a primary – not token/ fashion appendage – role. Sera’s drifting vocals on the hook of new song “Mother Kiev” are positively consuming yet far from predictable, while many still gush about the band’s bold recent take on “Strange Fruit” as a doom dirge. You can hear a mid tempo new track “The Rose” now at Cvlt Nation.

Women is produced by the talented Sanford Parker and features guest appearances from Tara Connelly of Clay Rendering (on Queen Of New Orleans) and Marriages and solo singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle (on She Has A Secret), a personal favorite of mine. Nicola Samori’s cover art looks like something out of a museum, delicate and yet strong and romantic despite being interpretively marred by a partial smear. But perhaps that is up to the viewer or listener to decipher if the art or songs indicate damage, obscurity or survival.

Read my latest interview with the band, this time with vocalist Sera Timms, below.

Death metal fans are raving about the new self-titled Obituary release for excellent reason. From the hysterical video for “Ten Thousand Ways To Die” that picks up where their Inked In Blood “Violence” clip left off and is bound to get a chuckle out of almost anybody, to more rock solid songwriting that builds on one of the most impeccable musical legacies in death metal, Obituary are both writing for themselves and pleasing die hard fans at the same time. The results will have fans crashing down doors like the zombie hordes the Florida greats seem to fear most.

Next year will mark thirty years since the group changed their name from Xecutioner and made metal heavier forever. It seemed about time for a self-titled album under those circumstances, but I spoke with one of the founders, Trevor Peres, to get to the bottom of it all.

More below.

When I first heard Paralandra I knew they had a great chance of becoming one of my new favorite hard rock bands. The commercial crossover appeal of Lacuna Coil or Halestorm married to a deeper strain of bluesy hard rock and alternative groove gives this Springfield, Missouri act an edge that has many eyes on them already.

You can catch them on The Alive Tour this April or on a great opportunity slot playing Rocklahoma  alongside many acts including Three Days Grace, The Cult, Taking Back Sunday and more this May.

Drummer Nick Gray fills us in on band dynamics, their sound and work ethic, recording and almost getting to open for Scott Weiland.

Read more about this inspiring bunch of true believers BELOW.

‘Yeah, records on vinyl are a big thing here. Frankly, I prefer it the way it was, as an outsider thing with record fairs, hole in the wall record stores and seedy second hand shops crammed with used porno mags and Bonnie Tyler maxi singles. No, wait, maybe I don’t.’ – Benediktator

If you want to have your day or night irrevocably changed, like entering into a magical and demented forest from which you might not return for a hundred years, look no further than the third release from Norway’s saturnine prog force Tusmørke. Fort Bak Lyset is the album in question, a veritable circus of odd riffs, vertiginous chanting, danceable merry making and impishness on a profound scale. Svart Records is lucky to be releasing this insanity on the masses, dangling a truly adventurous musical carrot out there for the brave souls willing to follow the super weird music into the laughing forest.

Enlightened psychedelic progenitors Benediktator, Krizla and the phenomenon Marxo Solinas speak to us today from a realm of imagination so that we might glimpse a slight understanding of the inner workings of this peculiar and splendid group’s latest.

More below.