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"Our darkest greetings earthling on Halloween. You no doubt will be sitting in your costumes drinking blood, eating sweets and watching horror movies, but have you wondered how some of the musicians you know got into Halloween? The world's musicians have their own stories to tell, whether it be positive or negative, let us hear them. Please remember to stay safe, don't be a nuisance but do go out and creep everyone out, I am now going back to sleep in my grave... muahahahahaha.." "Oh and earthlings, before I go, the following ghoulish disciple tribes were disturbed on All Hallow's Eve: Deathstars, Cold Black, Cnoc An Tursa, Days Of Our Lives and Beneath" [This message was picked up by a medium contacting the recently deceased editor]
Is Halloween celebrated in Sweden? If so, how? Did you celebrate it when you as a child? Halloween didn't exist until the mid 1990's here in Sweden, so personally I have never had any relation to Halloween itself, however for me death is in vogue 365 days a year. As I just said, we didn't have Halloween when i grew up, and it's just a commercial thing for stores to sell some goods a la American lifestyle. It's not a big thing here in Sweden, even though it might have grown since it first emerged, you cannot compare it to the UK or USA, etc. What three horror films would you watch on Halloween? I like watching Italian horror movies, movies like "Dario Argento" and "Lucio Fulci", in fact the best, so maybe "The Beyond", "Profundo Rosso" or "Suspiria". If you had to dress up as any horror or Gothic character, who would it be and why? I don’t like Goth personally and I would never dress up, but Skinny is more of dress up kind of guy. Actually, I met him at some fetish model Halloween-party thing in Stockholm a few years back, he was dressed up as Spongebob Squarepants. He had this huge cardboard box over his head and stomach, and yellow stockings. It was all very well made. You couldn’t see it was him so I smashed him in the big yellow cartoonist paper face right in-between those f**king mega eyes when he came up dancing next to me. What is one thing you would and one thing you would not recommend to do on Halloween? I would recommend people to have intercourse, and I would not recommend them to skip it.
Is Halloween celebrated in Denmark? If so, how? Did you celebrate it when you as a child? Yes we do celebrate it just not on a big scale, sure many people wear costumes and dress up, but we don't celebrate it in same way as the UK and the USA for example It is because of this that I did not really celebrate it that much when I was a child. What three horror films would you watch on Halloween? Well I'd definitely watch the film Halloween for sure, but other than that I don't actually know what else I would watch. If you had to dress up as any horror or Gothic character, who would it be and why? Hmm.. probably Freddy Krueger, simply because I just think he looks really scary What is one thing you would and one thing you would not recommend to do on Halloween? Hmm.. I actually don't know. I'd say go out and have fun, but don't go crazy and end up breaking the law!
What three horror films would you watch on Halloween? Oh f**k, erm, I don't really watch many horror films lol, actualy i like Sleepy Hollow does that count? (ed: yeah). If you had to dress up as any horror or Gothic character, who would it be and why? I'll go with the headless horseman just seeing as i like Sleepy Hollow lol, or even the werewolf because I have a really hairy chest haha What is one thing you would and one thing you would not recommend to do on Halloween? How do you celebrate in Scotland? I recommend you dress up in something interesting and go out with friends and get absolutely hammered. I recommend you don't take your costume off until the next morning, doing it sober is a lot safer.
Is Halloween celebrated in Gibraltar? If so, how? Did you celebrate it when you as a child? Yeah its celebrated down here. It's pretty much what you'd expect from it you know... Kids dress up and knock on doors for sweets. Teens go to parties go a little crazy. Adults act a little childish... You know getting loose a little. I celebrated it as a kid and I still do now! I mean its just another excuse to have some fun with friends, family and all that. You are never too old for Halloween haha What three horror films would you watch on Halloween? Dawn of the Dead (original of course!). Silent Hill (Seriously this film was great don't know why so many hate it) and for the last one errrr I'll go with the first Resident Evil film just because I could do with a laugh haha If you had to dress up as any horror or Gothic character, who would it be and why? Pennywise the clown... do I really need a reason? Nothing creepier than a clown. Imagine being in a dark bar and then some random clown pops up and scares the crap out of you haha. What is one thing you would and one thing you would not recommend to do on Halloween? Do: Dress up! Nobody likes a downer that just goes out in casual clothes! Enjoy it as it only comes once a year! Don't: Try and fire breathing when drunk... trust me! Seen this fail wayyyy too many times and its just not fun.
Is Halloween celebrated in Iceland? If so, how? Did you celebrate it when you as a child? Yes, but it wasn't celebrated before. We have our own day where we used to make these little bags and tried to hook them with needles on other people. We would also walk into stores and sing Icelandic songs just to get candy. It didn't involve any horror or anything dark, just silly costumes. What three horror films would you watch on Halloween? I'd probably watch Brain Dead, 28 Days Later and Freddy Krueger. But since I play PC video games a lot, I'll probably play Alien: Isolation which is a super creepy game. Or maybe Brutal Doom which is a mod made for the old game Doom from Id Software. If you had to dress up as any horror or Gothic character, who would it be and why? Definitely Pinhead from Hellraiser. He's probably the most evil villain I can think of, at least at the moment. What is one thing you would and one thing you would not recommend to do on Halloween? Getting wasted is always a good plan. That or have a good time with the family. I'd say it's not recommended to do hard drugs on Halloween since some of those costumes are so well done and realistic, people could panic which is not really a good thing. People should have fun, that's number one.
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 "Päde and myself (Chrigel) talk about writing and recording some new Brana Keterna songs now and then. That would be fun!" Eluveitie, one of Switzerland's most successful metal exports have this year released their sixth album 'Origins' to sensational appraise, as well as reaching #1 in the Swiss album and the U.S. Heatseekers Albums charts. GMA therefore felt it was about time we sat down and spoke to Chrigel Glanzmann, frontman and founder of the Swiss Celtic / Melodic Death metal band. We spoke about the album, the Swiss Metal scene, how metal is become more and more appreciated, Chrigel's past bands Branâ Keternâ and Môr Cylch, and how a little help from outside the metal world goes a very long way. By Rhys Stevenson  Origins is out now via Nuclear Blast - click image to purchase Hi Chrigel, as Eluveitie's sixth album 'Origins' was released 1st August 2014, could you give a brief background behind each one of the songs? The conceptional topic of the album is Celtic mythology, aetiological tales to be more precise - the origin myths of the Gauls.
Regarding the album cover which depicts the club-shaped halo of Sucellos, what made you decide in choosing this particular god and does it relate to the album title? Yes it does. Well, as mentioned above, “Origins” deals in-depth with Celtic mythology and spirituality. From the moment the basic idea for the album was born, it was clear to us that we wanted a very simple, maybe a little abstract and mystical album artwork. We wanted something emblematic, something that represents and expresses the lyrical content of the album symbolically. Yet it wasn't very easy to find something like that. I mean, if “Origins” was a concept album about the Catholic religion, for instance, when we could have pictured a crucifix on the cover, haha. Would have been easy. But in Celtic culture? There no such symbol which kinda stands for “Celtic mythology” or so. I searched intensely and worked together with the University of Zurich (where I'm friends with a professor who's specialised on Celtic culture and arts). In the end it all came back to the Celtic god Sucellos. The album's dealing with aetiological tales from ancient Gaul, and in those mythological subjects Sucellos appears over and over again (even though often only in scientific theses, since divine names were not written down by the Celts – it all remains pretty mysterious). Several Sucellos statues have been found in archaeological excavations. In one of them Sucellos is depicted with kind of a “halo” - some kind of a sun-shaped half-wheel, which consists of several mallets (such as the one he usually hold in his hand). You had Alexander Morton guest as narrator for "Origins" and "Eternity", how did this come about and what was it like working with him? It's always amazing to work with him. Love that dude! I got to know him during the production of our last album "Helvetios" (where he also did some narrations). I was looking for a suitable narrator who is able to transport and express the right atmosphere and emotion. One day I accidentally came across the movie "Valhalla Rising" where Alexander plays the role of a shaman. The moment I heard him talking in that movie, I knew that I've found the voice I've been looking for!  'Origins' reached #1 on the Swiss Album and US heatseekers album charts, as well as reaching the top ten on the German album and UK Independent Albums Breaker charts. What was your reaction to this and do you feel metal music is steadily gaining more mainstream appreciation? Of course we're super happy and thankful for that! I think every style of music experiences has its ups and downs if it comes to popularity. Metal music is doing quite well at the moment, I think. At least there are less mutual reservations from the "mainstream audience" than 20 years ago. ;) Could you give us a brief history of your adjacent bands Branâ Keternâ and Môr Cylch (if both are still active)? Both bands are not active anymore. I've been playing metal music for quite a while now. My first Death Metal band (called Sacer) was formed by myself in 1991. But I also played traditional Celtic Folk Music for many years. Môr Cylch was a traditional Irish music band I formed around 2000 or so. Actually it was originally a kind of an attempt to form a band like Eluveitie, but it ended up becoming a purely acoustic, traditional folk band, haha. Brana Keterna was also a folk band I formed about half a year before I formed Eluveitie. Three Eluveitie members also played in that band (Linda Suter, ex-Eluveitie; Meri Tadic, ex-Eluveitie and Päde Kistler). It was just some kind of a fun project. You know, to just play music without any (stylistic) limitations. It partly sounded pretty crazy, haha. The band never officially broke up, but it has not been for years now. But maybe we'll do something with Brana again one day. Päde and myself talk about writing and recording some new Brana songs now and then. Would be fun! Because Eluveitie's lyrics are generally in English and sometimes Gaulish, how do you go about constructing the lyrics? From the planning to the recording stage. Well, Eluveitie's lyrics are basically in English. Some of our songs I write are in Gaulish (probably 1 or 2 songs per album). But the use of the Gaulish language is rather a form of "artistic work" to me. It's more about giving the narration of history some more "flesh and blood". If it comes to the Gaulish language I always work together with diverse scientists - regarding the translations / reconstructions to the pronunciations. Check out Eluveitie's new music video "King" which is taken from their latest album "Origins" below. When not working or with Eluveitie, what do you do to pass the time? Sports? Traveling? Honestly, there virtually is no time when I'm not working for Eluveitie. Eluveite is a 150% job! If I do have some spare time (which literally only happens every couple of months), I like to cook (haute cuisine) for instance. :) Most of us do sports / work out, but that's mostly an on-tour-activity and it's basically about staying fit and in shape. I mean, you're not getting younger, haha! Focusing on the Swiss Metal scene as a whole, how well-appreciated is the music there? Are there any new bands fans should check out? Eluveitie is well appreciated in the Swiss Metal scene! Of course there's this kind of "super true" underground part of the scene (usually kinda black metal-ish), which hates us for being internationally successful. But I think that's just a normal phenomenon you can observe in every country's metal scene. ;) And yes, there's a lot of really amazing metal bands in Switzerland! I'd name Blutmond, for instance (a very original avant garde black metal band including a Saxaphonist)! Anna sometimes does guest vocals for this band. They're definitely worth checking out! As Eluveitie cover Celtic / Helvetian history and folklore, do you personally feel Eluveitie's music could be a good education tool for students studying Celtic Studies per se? Haha, I don't know. Honestly, I think our albums can be an introduction to the subject and they partly also contain interesting stuff for people conversant and experienced with Celtic history. But if you really want to deal intensely with this matter, then go to university or at least an academic library! ;) But speaking of that, a year ago I was invited by the University of Zurich to lecture during a lecture series on the Gallic wars. It was pretty cool! :) What plans does Eluveitie have for the rest of 2014 and into 2015? Well, last month the "Origins World Tour" just kicked off with 30 shows in North America. October till Christmas we'll be touring Europe (including the UK). After that we'll have a break for a few weeks and then the touring will go on (South America, Eastern and Northern Europe and Russia, Asia, Australia and South Africa). The Origins World Tour will presumably keep us on the road for the next two years. Personally speaking do you feel that Folk Metal, in specific Celtic Metal, is not greatly represented as it could be? To be really honest - I don't know. We just do our thing, we play the music we want to play and we never really cared about if it's called Folk Metal or whatever. We hardly ever look at what's going on around us. In that sense we don't have much of a clue about the whole Folk Metal genre, honestly. Finally are there any hello's and thank you's you wish to send out to fans, friends, etc? Well, for me it simply remains to say "thank you!" for this interview and thanks a lot to all the readers for their interest in Eluveitie! See you on the road! We'll play in:
https://www.facebook.com/eluveitie http://eluveitie.ch/   GMA took some time out to talk to Colin Parks, formerly of The Conflict Within and now member of Devilment about their forthcoming tour with Motionless In White and Lacuna Coil. We also spoke to him about Halloween, which will appear in another article soon as well as what he thinks is wrong with the metal scene as a whole. We felt to keep the originality of the interview, we would post the audio version in it's entirety and not write anything down. We would appreciate feedback regarding this interview post and whether you want to see just audio or not in the future. https://www.facebook.com/devilmentcorps  By GMA's Bangladesh Correspondent Nabil Abaddon Global Metal Apocalypse has always been at the forefront in covering undiscovered talented Metal bands from the obscurest of places. In the past, we have covered some really talented and uprising bands from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand etc. This time our attention turns towards the Sri Lankan Black Metal quartet Serpents Athirst, who are causing quite a stir in the Asian Metal scene. Formed in 2011 and performing regularly at local venues with a demo tape released through Eternal Transmigration Records (Bolivia), the band gained widespread attention when they played at Trendslaughter Fest IV (India) and shared the stage with the likes of Impiety and Orator. They recently signed to Irish label Invictus Productions to release their upcoming EP. Serpents Athirst are going to tour Bangladesh and play at the Banish The Posers Fest 2014 on November 7th. Banish The Posers Fest is the biggest Extreme Metal festival in Bangladesh and was established by the local cult organization Primitive Invocation. The festival started last year with the bill comprising of Thailand's Savage Deity, Bangladeshi bands Morbidity, Orator, Nafarmaan and Warhound, India's Purgation and Malaysia's bands Lobotomy and Kathgor, This year Primitive Invocation took the next big step in their existence by announcing the first ever major Asian Metal band Impiety (Singapore) to perform at this year's Banish The Posers Fest. The rest of the line up includes Serpents Athirst (the first ever Sri Lankan band to play in Bengal), Orator, Nafarmaan, Morbidity and Enmachined. Click here to read about the event. Returning back to Serpents Athirst, GMA caught up with their drummer / main composer Obliterrator and he had a lot to say.  Infernal hails Obliterrator, can you tell our readers a few things about the first period of the band? Hails Komrade! Serpents Athirst formed in 2011 by two members in order to spread our message to the select few through live rituals and releases. Our influences from the start varied from savage acts like Venom, Blasphemy, Sarcofago, Black Witchery, Bathory and Immortal. How does the band name depict the ideologies of the band? Trends have caused a countless number of blemishes on this world and in order to project our hate towards trends, organized religion and weak monuments, we’ve chose the best representative to invoke that flame and spread our message: the serpent. A vile horde of serpents growling in thirst of the bloodshed of the weak. Our lyrical themes include death worship, theistic satanism, blasphemy, war and violence. This is the very first time that a Sri Lankan Metal band is going to play in Bangladesh. How excited is the band in terms of performing at Banish The Posers Fest 2014? What should the Bengal hordes expect from Serpents Athirst? We’re absolutely stoked. We have played with a few hordes previously at Trendslaughter. Impiety and Orator are just a few who shared the stage with us. It’s an honor to share the stage with more Asian bands. Serpents Athirst will promise to deliver the most destructive performance at this bastard of a ritual! It seems that Serpents Athirst's compositions are velocity driven; its hateful and bestial. How does the band write its songs? Does the guitarist come up with the basic structures or are the lyrics written first? I, stand as the composer of the band. However, at our own ritual sessions / rehearsals, there are instances where the rest of the brigade puts a mould together and is then sharpened and ready to spread like venom at the next live ritual. Check out the song ‘Ritual Vomitting’ from their upcoming EP here Serpents Athirst's upcoming EP "Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration" is to be released through Irish label Invictus Productions. How did this record deal come about? Speaking of the EP, can you tell us about the songs in it? How much time did it take to make the entire EP? We were offered a deal for the EP. Considering the fact that Invictus Productions is a pioneering establishment, we got hold of the deal and are currently working with Darragh from Invictus to get this EP released. The EP features 3 Songs + samples / interludes which were all put together within a period of 3-5 months. |
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