I caught up with Chris Barnes of the infamous Six Feet Under to talk about past releases, current plans and future ideas etc, Chris used to sing in the legendary Cannibal Corpse but now sings for Six Feet Under of whom are signed to Metal Blade and hail from Tampa, Florida.

The interview is twenty-six minutes long so take your time in listening, but it is very VERY worth it.

https://www.facebook.com/sixfeetunder

RHYS STEVENSON

_ I caught up with Mr V (Andreas Hedlund - on the left) of Swedish Black/Folk Metal duo Vintersorg about their upcoming album, band history, the Swedish Metal scene and some other questions here and there, heja Sverige!

Who came up with the band name and what does it mean?
 
Mr V: The band name is something that I came up with back in the beginning of the 1990’s and an approximate translation would be something like “Winter Sorrow” but it has a more poetic feeling in Swedish, as well as a close bond to our folklore and historical writings.

What languages are your songs generally in and what are the main lyric topics?
 
Mr V: The songs on the new album are all in Swedish but we’ve had albums that are all in English also. It’s a matter of inspiration and what kind of emotional basis we want to transfer to the listener. I’m in some other bands as well where the lyrics are all in English so it’s nice to have both languages to express myself through. The lyrical content swirls around the relation between man and nature, on both physical, biological, mental and a historical plane and with nature I mean everything from the surroundings to the cosmological matters that have spawned us as humans. The lyrics have quite a poetic tone and are equally important as the music.

If you had to describe your music without using genre-tagging or clichés, what would you say?
 
Mr V: It’s hard to describe Vintersorg in words as it’s a mixture of many different musical elements. You have a lot of folk music, then a large portion of metal, the more calm and nearly ambient elements and all balanced out by a very intricate instrumentation. I also use a lot of different types of vocals and a lot of vocal harmonies…you see ..it’s impossible.

Your forthcoming album ‘Orkan’ will be your eighth album, what have you made different (if anything) from this album compared to your past albums?
 
Mr V: Vintersorg has always been a band that has evolved with every new album and that’s a very strong foundation in our art. To feel free to evolve and discover new grounds to embrace, just follow where the inspiration takes you and not calculate how that will effect the band commercially, that’s what real art is about from where I’m standing. The album is a continuation from the last one “Jordouls” but with some fresh angles and a more perfected production I would say. Some song have a bit darker atmosphere but I’m all from the inside..so it’ll be interesting to see what people from the outside will think.

How popular would you say Metal music is in Sweden in general and are there any upcoming young bands you wish to note?
 
Mr V: I think metal is very popular and is a large genre that covers people from 15-50 years old, just look at Sweden Rock festival…it’s a huge festival for a country that only have 9 million inhabitants. I’m not that updated about the scene as I live quite remote from the large cities, very far north actually and I mostly listen to old progressive and symphonic rock.
 
In respect of your upcoming release, which tracks would you say stand out from the album?
 
Mr V: It’s an album where all the songs need to be there to have the total atmosphere of what we wanted to achieve this time around, but songs like “Istid”, “Polarnatten” and “Myren” is some that will dwell your mind for a while I guess.
 
What plans does the band have for 2012 and beyond?
 
Mr V: Release the album and start work on the next one, we’re not a live act at this point in time. But we have so many things to do with our bands like Borknagar, Fission, Cronian and TME and we’re now resurrecting the old troll OTYG and are going to do a new album with that band as well…so we have plenty to do.

If you could give any advice to musicians who want to form a band or bands but not sure how to do it / having trouble doing so, what would you recommend?
 
Mr V: Just follow your vision, even if that some time means that you need to struggle a longer time than if you jump on the most popular genre of the moment, but you’ll last so much longer and it’ll give you much more back emotionally, and for me music is very much emotion based.
 
Finally are there any plans to tour the UK at some point?
 
Mr V: No, as we don’t play any shows at all.

RHYS STEVENSON

I caught up with Sahil Makhija, vocalist and guitarist of renowned Indian Metal band Demonic Resurrection about their scheduled performance at Bloodstock Open Air 2012 this year, this is what was said.

1. Is this Demonic Resurrection's first time playing in England?

Yes this will be the first time that we play in the UK.

2. What are your anticipations about this performance, do you feel it will open the global metal scene up further?

We're really looking forward to it and it seems we have some really passionate followers of the band there so we're dying to come play for them and hopefully introduce a whole bunch of new folks to our demonic brand of metal. I'm not really sure how and if it does anything for the global metal scene but sure hope it does at least get us some more offers to come back

3. You'll be performing amongst some of Metal's heavyweights such as Evile and Anaal Nathrakh, are you nervous about it or excited or both?

Not nervous about playing alongside anyone really, because it's not a contest we're just happy to be on such an impressive bill and more than that I'm looking forward to watching and meeting my idols Nile, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Testament etc.

4. What are you most looking forward to besides playing and meeting your idols?

We'll be working on some club dates and we're really looking forward to those additional shows. Not to mention the whole experience of touring in a van, carrying your backline around and all that stuff. In India we're pretty much flown around, got cards and drivers provided by the promoters, along with stay backline etc. So we'll rough it out in the UK that should to be fun.Not to mention I'm going to go crazy with the food find some good meat and wolf it down.

5. How would you sum up Bloodstock Open Air in general?

Metal As Fuck! \m/ Can't wait for it!

6. Do you feel that festivals like Bloodstock bring a community together and is there any big festivals in India or Asia alone?

Considering I've never been to Bloodstock I can't say what it does but I'm pretty sure most metal festivals bring people together, it's a whole bunch of metal heads in 1 place. In India we have Independence Rock the longest running festival in Mumbai, 26 years and counting, Great Indian Rock Festival about 17 years running and the more recently NH7 Weekender Festival. So these definitely do bring people together, build a sense of community and I'm sure Bloodstock does the same.

7. If there is something you wish to take away from playing at Bloodstock, what would it be?

As cheesy as it sounds I'm going to take away hopefully some great memories of playing a kickass show, meeting amazing musicians and watching amazing bands and most importantly getting to meet all the wonderful people in the UK who have been supporting Demonic Resurrection.

Interviewed conducted by RHYS STEVENSON

I interviewed Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy to catch up what is new with the band, what's in the closet for the quintet and what is the path behind them like. Tune in for future plans, past events and much much more.

RHYS STEVENSON

_With Crash Mansion I spoke to (L-R - Chris Jackson, LJ Hardwood and Sammy Scarlett; Kidd was not present at this time (far left)) outside Southend Chinnerys at The Dead Lay Waiting gig w/ Scarred By Beauty, Silent Descent and Crash Mansion.

With Silent Descent I spoke to Tom Callahan (far left) outside Southend Chinnerys at The Dead Lay Waiting gig w/ Scarred By Beauty, Silent Descent and Crash Mansion.

With Scarred By Beauty I spoke to Jonathan Albrechtsen (centre) _outside Southend Chinnerys at The Dead Lay Waiting gig w/ Scarred By Beauty, Silent Descent and Crash Mansion.

RHYS STEVENSON