Darkness swept the fields of Catton Hall with the sounds of squeaky horns bellowing at each moving step, blood curdled as the clown brought his horror tricks to spook the living daylights of fellow Bloodstock folk, the unmistakable smell of burning leather descended on the summer air, and a whispery breeze came from the deepest bowls of hell, alas Kent's Vampyra were alive.

    Here is a quartet full of camaraderie, eloquence and practical jokes, that even the likes of Sweden's Avatar could stand in awe if they so caught the live performance by Vampyra. It was just so that we dissected and disembowelled the plague bearers of Vampyra through the interrogation, but alas they were left with their souls intact, suffice to say they recovered well....


Being interrogated was Boingo the Clown, the Gut Rumbler of Vampira, Ingrid Orlock, Skin Basher of Vampira, Madame Hex, the Screaming Banshee for Vampira and Count Venom II, the Wire Shredder for Vampira.

Here is the transcript of their fateful questioning.

​
Musically, you sound like as if Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sex Pistols, and The Cure and Lacuna Coil produced offspring. Is that a fair assessment of your style?

Ingrid Orlok:-

     "Well, I don't actually know much about The Cure and Lacuna Coil. So I can't really comment on that, but I'll take your word for it. [Madame Hex adds - 'Probably, yeah. We sound like music.']"


In which case, we'll flip the script. Musically, who are your influences?

Count Venom II:-

     "Well, I watched Wednesday 13. The others, they were lazy and tired. So they all went back, they all went to bed because they're pussies. Lightweights. They can't handle a metal festival. But they're good, they're decent musicians. That's, that's why I keep them around."


Would Vampyra ever create a mini movie involving yourselves?


Madame Hex:-

     "​I think he might mean our human alter egos, 'cause that's who we've played before. For some reason, people think this is a character. No, no, no, we've got human alter egos. You know, I have to go to Morrison's to do shopping at some point. 

Ingrid Orlok:-

     "We do blend into... when we're not performing, we try to blend into human society by trying to be as boring as possible. So that would not make an exciting movie ever, I'm afraid. But if we appear as ourselves, that's another story all together. Um, sorry, what was the question? If there was a movie?"


Count Venom II:-

     "A mini movie. Just a day in the life of Vampyra, I guess."


Madame Hex:-

     "Yeah, that's it. That's a really good idea actually. Yeah. [Boingo adds 'I think it would be cool, If we got the right actors and actresses].


Ingrid Orlok:-

     "A millennia in the life of Vampyra. That's what we ought to call it that. A millennia."


Considering we're halfway through the year, what plans do you have for the rest of 2026, going into 2027? What are you scheming?


Boingo:-

     "[at the time of the interview a busy month in August]. We're not just playing Kent, we are trying to branch out further. So we've got gigs in Brighton, we've got gigs in, where else? London. We just want bigger and better. Just keep going, get ourselves out there as much as possible. We'll be hopefully raising money to release an EP.

     'Cause we've got songs we've played live but we've never recorded, so we wanna get that done and get some studio time in."


Count Venom II:-

     "And once we got all that out of the way, probably write some more songs, much to this dismay of... I don't know why I say that. I keep saying that, but I think people actually like us, so. We're trying to create chaos."


[Count Venom II + Madame Hex turned the banter level up beyond level 13 at this point]

     "We're trying to create chaos [CV II]. Why do you like that? [MH] It's very disheartening [CV II]. You humans are weird [MH]. I spent the past two days crying in my tent because people kept coming up to us saying, "I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys". And I'm like, "No, you're not supposed to." [CV II] You're not supposed to like us. [MH]


Boingo:-

     "To quote The Doors, "People are strange". 


Madame Hex:-

    "That's the inspiration of 'I Don't Wanna Be Human', it's like, we took one look at the people when we got to earth, and we're like, "Jesus, I'm glad I'm not like that."


https://www.facebook.com/p/Vampyra-100082807840648/

     If you want an example of a Bloodstock success story, Seething Akira is a perfect example. The Portsmouth, Hampshire natives started off their venture over 15 years ago, since then they have graced the fields of Catton Hall four times! Come August 2027 it will be 10 years since they played on the New Blood stage.

     Fast forward to 2021 and they were invited back to play the Sophie Lancaster stage. Ever pushing, ever wanting to break new ground, they were invited once again back to Bloodstock to play the coveted Ronnie James Dio main stage! Now, 2026 saw them invited back for a fourth time and this time stepping afoot the Sophie Lancaster stage which is bigger and badder than previous years.... well, all that was left for them was to be interrogated by Global Metal Apocalypse!

Jordan (drummer) and Spud (bassist) were the elected candidates.

Your unique sound reinforces the fact metal continuously evolves, as a band how would you say your sound has evolved? 

Jordan:-

     "I mean, it sounds cheesy, but I think we're all trying to push ourselves in new and different ways, as songwriters, as musicians. Like, Charlie's doing so much more singing now. Like he really wasn't before, and he's really taken that on. It's absolutely wonderful. Do what you love, but always try and open yourself up to the possibility of change. And I think that's what we're gonna try and do with our new material that we're writing now."


Spud:-

     "That's right. I think we've got, between the band members, we've all got such a broad variety of genres of music we enjoy. And just bringing that in, keeping the sound still SA, but a little bit different as well. I think it's about what you present rather than the actual, the packaging, you know?"


2024 saw the release of your latest album “Cancel Estate”, you mention you're writing new material, are we likely to see a new album drop late 2026 / early 2027? 

Spud:-

     "We are currently in the lab, as we speak, writing away. So we are looking to make a release early-ish next year."


Speaking of which, what are your plans for the 2nd half of 2026 going into 2027? 

​Jordan:-

     "So other than writing, we've got a bunch of amazing shows coming up. We're back in Europe again. We're back at Euroblast in Germany. We got a couple of shows coming up in Nottingham, supporting MC DevO, and playing [now played] Tuckstock. Um, let me see, we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Lounge in autumn. So to be invited to that as well is just incredible, and we're with our mates Confessions of a Traitor in December. So we are all over the country. All over Europe. If you walk out your door, you're gonna see us. We wanna see your faces."


Summarise Bloodstock in 3 words only.

Jordan:-

     "An amazing opportunity."


Spud:-

     "A sense of community." [four words but we allowed it] 


With that in mind, do you think that metal music specifically is one of the only music genres to bring in people from different backgrounds?

Jordan:-

     "I don't know. I mean, I mean it depends how deep in the psychology you wanna go into that. I think a lot of people who are attracted to metal have a sense of being other, like, don't really fit in.
And it creates empathy. So when you do meet people who are different people, you're much more open to say, "I love your character. I don't care what you look like or what you dress. Just make sure the shoes aren't shit, stand around."


Could we see collaborations between Seething Akira and artists like Stormzy or Dizzee Rascal? 

Spud:-

     "I would go Dizzee Rascal. Like, I was a big fan back in the day, and he's just been around for a bit longer, so yeah, I'd say that."


Jordan:-

     "Do you know, I know absolutely nothing about rap. I mean, to be honest, I wouldn't... They both seem like splendid chaps. Although, there's that one Dizzee Rascal song which I absolutely love. Oh, what is it? It's in Kingsman. 'Bonkers' - Sick. I love that. So it would have to, it would have to be, um, yeah, Dizzee Rascal."


https://www.facebook.com/seethingakira/?locale=en_GB

     
     Death Brigade won the Bloodstock Metal 2 the Masses Somerset heats this year, and so in dong so have brought with them their interesting take on the melodic death metal sound; with a sprinkling of black / death metal for good measure. Having dropped their debut EP "Rites of War" back in January, things could not have started any better for the ensemble as they aim to push forward and remind metalheads worldwide that the Somerset metal scene cannot, and will not be left behind.  

     Charlie (lead guitarist), Kieran (drummer) and Phil (rhythm guitarist) all took time out to talk about the band's history, their unique style of melodic death metal, how it feels playing Bloodstock's 25th anniversary and future plans. No trench foot was noted down after the interrogation.

For those who are unfamiliar with Death Brigade, please provide the band's back story.

Charlie:-

     "I think the backstory of Death Brigade came from our lead singer, Anthony Gill. He's very much into table top board games, war games, that kind of stuff, very Warhammer-esque. He found something called Trench Crusade, and he goes 'I want to put together a band that's you know, likens this kind of sound, this kind of thing', he found Paul, Kieran and myself and we just went yeah okay we're cool with this, and we kind of decided on a sound quite quickly."


Kieran:- 

     "Anthony really wanted to do something in the sort of style of Malfoy Gore, Corona Fever, all those like Black and Death Metal sounds. So yeah, it was like, because he came to Bloodstock a couple of years ago and he said, 'I want to do something that I can play at Bloodstock with', he went about and found it."


I read that you've only been around less than a year, so to actually win the Somerset Metal to the Masses and going on to play Bloodstock, surely it cannot start any better than this?


Charlie:-

     "I'm going to speak for the band now, it's one of those things, we I think to the date of Bloodstock, we actually formed... yeah, next week (commencing 3rd August), a year ago. We actually went to our first ever practice. This was the first time everyone met everyone and we went, okay, what are we going to do? And then we had our first ever gig this year, January 23rd, at the Cobblestones in Bridgewater.

     Bloodstock wasn't even on our minds, let alone Metal 2 the Masses. And so we just entered it for a bit of exposure, why not a few gigs here and there and everything. And then we ended up winning it, so it's just been absolutely insane. For a band that took only what, five, less than five months to win and play Bloodstock, from forming, in a way, it's insane. We're essentially supporting Judas Priest in our first year as a band."


Kieran:- 

     "January to July, that was it. From the first gig to winning Metal 2 the Masses and being here. It's just insane. It's been such a meteoric rise. I still can't really get over it myself. I'm pinching myself out of here right now, to be honest. And we're like three days away [at the time of the interview] from playing on the New Blood stage."


You won the Somerset Metal 2 The Masses finals, so how does it feel to play Bloodstock and fly the flag for the Somerset metal scene? 


Charlie:- 

     "Yes, a big shout out to the metal scene in Somerset. There's a lot of talented bands there. We had a very stiff competition. We were lined up with Nomad Lizard, Helen Bach and Rosa Mortis. All three bands that you should check out yourself as well that they're totally talented dudes, they know their craft, they know what they're doing and everything like that."


Talk us through the Metal 2 The Masses finals, from the moment you graced the stage, to the results being announced.


Charlie:-

     "We were quite lucky that we were put in a favourable spot on the bill, because it's randomly drawn on the night, so you turn up, that's when you find out what slot you're in. We were luckily the final slot out of the bands on the evening. There was a headliner after us, last year's winners, but out of the four Metal 2 bands, we were the last ones to play. From the moment we got there, like, Rosa Mortis, they opened up the night, and we were sat there thinking, we've got to... we have to really, like, put on our A-game now, because they opened up, they put on a hell of a show.

     It really kicked us up the arse, and we thought, you know, let's just go for it. It kicked us up In the arse in the right way because they just came out the gates 100% storming, and just went oh my god, we really need to actually step our game up for this"


Kieran:- 

     "When we got to the end of the night, it was just like you know we dreamt about it ,we thought maybe we could do it We also thought surely not as we've only been going for five months, but when our name was called out we thought wow, this is just insane, how can we ever talk despite being here at Bloodstock, it still doesn't feel real. 

     There's a big shout out to a lot of the South West bands performing like Carrier Sunk and Martyrs Saint, it's nice to represent this part of the UK as well. Just because it's the South West, don't discount it, there's a lot of like good music going on"


That's the thing, when people think of English metal they tend to hone in on the Midlands, London, etc and places like the South West seem to be forgotten about, so on that note please shed some light on the Somerset metal scene

 
Charlie:-

     "I think it's hard to say where it really lies, because I think for the few years that we've watched it and been participants of, like the voting system and everything, to have us as a newly formed blackened death metal band who have kind of risen through the ranks and everything like this, it's just like we get the sense that this is kind of what the scene needed in a way, someone just a bit avant-garde, a bit left field, we're doing something totally different - we've got the costumes, we're not playing it safe, we thought we should go balls to the wall.


Kieran:-

     "There's a lot of doom metal bands in Somerset or there has been for the last few years and I think like one of the reasons we did so well is that we just did something completely different to all of that, and I think that if there's one thing I'd like to get out of what we've done this year is that I'd like to inspire the next generation of 'not doom bands' to sort of come out and just enter the competition, because you know you can do it."


Charlie:-
     
     "Doom Metal definitely has its place. We're not discounting it at all, but as I said, I think because we were that band that were different, that's what made us go through. I think we're just these new kids on the block, and everyone's like, what on earth is this new sound?"


You dropped your debut EP “Rites Of War” in January this year, what was the reception like? Any listeners from overseas get in contact? ​


Charlie:-

     "I think we did get quite a few overseas because Spotify is quite good in that sense. It shows you the different areas of where your music's been listened to, where it's been picked up and all that kind of stuff. We had a very good reception of it because obviously we've, you've got to remember, we've toured, I say toured in the loosest sense. We've done shows and shows and shows of just like, that's our set list. So what you're hearing on the EP is what we've done live in the same order.

     It's it's been nice to show the EP live and everything, to places like Plymouth's The Junction, and to Bristol and Cardiff to a point, and go yeah this is still what we do, we're still developing our sound because obviously we're such a young band and everything, so to get that kind of response back from people actually listening to it, it's just it's it's mind-blowing because you just think I didn't even know that many people I don't think I've met that many people and they're listening to our stuff."


Kieran:-

     "Since we were announced as the winners for Somerset Metal 2 the Masses, I think we've been watching our Spotify numbers just go up and up and up and we're on like 900-odd monthly listeners now, which is just insane. We were on 250 about a month ago and it's just gone absolutely wild. So yeah, a lot of people checking us out for Bloodstock."

Now your style of melodic death metal is quite atmospheric – talk to us about the writing process and how you devise your sound? 


Charlie:-

     "The writing process, I would say it varies between who you speak to in the band. You know, it's one of those, but it's a nice point I want to stress. Like, we all come from, like, a lot of us have never been in bands before, so we're very used to writing kind of by ourselves in our own bedroom. So we go, actually, I've got a really cool idea. I'm going to run with this thing, see where it goes, and then I'm going to... You know, mix it down, do all that kind of stuff, and then send it to the rest of the band, and they go, oh, it's too melodic for me, it's too happy. And they go, oh, I need to add more Satan to it or something like that, you know, add more dissonance.

     But what is nice is that we get to the point where we're all happy with it, and then we take that to the practice rooms and go, right, everyone familiar with the song? Cool. And then we go rehearse it as a song. Until like us, so myself, Kieran, Paul, whatever bassist we've got on for that night, are happy with how the song should sound. And at that point, that's when we introduce the vocalist, Anthony, to kind of go, right, see how you feel doing these kind of vocals over it. You know, and it's, he usually comes out with some really cool stuff. It does take a bit of like prodding and, you know, kind of, you know, poke the bear.


Kieran:-

     ​"I mean, he's quite green, isn't he? So like, we need to direct him a bit. But... he always comes up with the goods, his vocal performance on the night is second to none, but it's very much a case we just have to bribe him with a McDonald's when it comes to writing some lyrics. So sit down there with a McDonald's and write some lyrics."


Charlie:-

     "The process I would say is kind of unique in a way, because there's no definitive 'this is how we write', and I don't think we ever want to go for that kind of, we need to write like this menetality. It's a very organic way of doing it. A lot of the songs from the EP either came from, originally, Paul, myself, Paul Kieran, or even Ant as well to a point, who just went, 'I've got a really fucking cool riff, I'm going to go with this, you guys deal with it, put some drums to it and everything else, go learn that'. And then we were like, actually, that's pretty cool.

     Or in some cases, when I write something because I write it too complex, it's, you know, tech death. It gets rewritten, but it's nice that it gets rewritten because, like, it's ideal for that because it's just, you know, it makes the song flow better. It just feels more natural from it."


You spoke about your stage outfits earlier. I had noticed that it's got elements of steampunk in there, but also Benedictine monks. How did this attire come about?


Kieran:- 

     "It all comes from the Trench Crusade theme, which we sort of like loosely based the band on. And so one of the factions in that is the, there's like heretics, it's like an alternate universe World War I in the game. And the basic history of that is that back in the Crusade times, a rogue faction of Templars opened a portal to hell, demons came out, and then fast forward to World War I, it's just demons versus people in World War I style.

     And so our outfits kind of come from that universe, and it's just, you know, we're the religious faction. It just looks really cool on the stage. It started as like we're all wearing monk outfits and we've slowly kind of like customized them ourselves, and now we've got something a bit more of our own to work with. So I think they'll evolve as time goes on as well. We've also got some barbed wire now."


We're halfway through the year, so what are the plans for the rest of the year going into 2027?


Charlie:-

     "Definitely an album. We've got a lot of new songs that are kind of in the foundation, you know, mechanical stages of like being formulated into a song. We've got definitely two or three down that we're kind of happy with what we are, it's like 'that's Death Brigade'. But I think the latter part of the year we're just going to really focus on not necessarily gigging and getting out there, just kind of like we need to put an album out there to really define what Death Brigade is you know, and this is a really important moment as a band as with any other band who's ever done anything, you know it's just we've got to do that next step of being confident enough to release something that we're like this is how we want to sound.


Kieran:- 

     "Obviously we like the EP so it started off as like 'here's a load of songs that all the individual members had and we've put them together and we've made them work as a band', but what we're doing now is we're sitting down together and making sure that these songs are a coherent Death Brigade sound that we can then sort of put out and showcase this is what we are, have a listen. We'll try and get that at the end of the year really, that's the plan. So after Bloodstock, we're going to sit down and put that out.


Finally, any greetings, thank yous or well wishes you would send out to friends, family, fans etc?


Charlie:-

     "Well, biggest thanks to my mum. She made a lot of the costumes for the band. She's the fashion designer as well, so it's nice to kind of share her artwork. I think everyone who's ever supported me individually and what I've done with this band as well as an entity, you know, it's amazing. Thank you. I love you all. I will try and honour that by playing Bloodstock with the best position I can as a guitarist."


Kieran:- 

     "Thanks to my girlfriend Leah who does all of our content for us and sorts out our social media stuff, she does a lot of that so slaving away in the background. She's not even managed to be able to be here this weekend so yea, sucks to be you, but yeah thank you very much for that and also all the Somerset bands who were part of the Metal 2 the Masses this year ,they put on a really good show and I mean a lot of them are here to watch us play this weekend as well. Everyone supports everyone else down there and it's just such a good scene to be part of so."


Paul [who undertook cameraman duties during the interview]:-

     "For me, I'd like to say a big thank you to a number of promoters in the local area who, before we were even really a band or before we'd even played our first gig, had booked us for shows and shown a lot of faith in us to actually deliver what we've managed to deliver. So yeah, thanks to those".


Cheers Death Brigade, stay metal.

https://www.facebook.com/deathbrigadeband/

     You may not have heard of Vanitas, but for those who have, they will vouch at how majestic this quintet are. Where Symphonic Metal collides with cinematic arranfements, and is sprinkled with dark RPG score influences, this ensemble showcased their unique twist on the EMP stage at Bloodstock Open Air, despite the searing heat the crowd did not hold back in rejoicing the magic bestowed upon them, it was as if Disney suddenly turned metal and Mickey Mouse became a metalhead - totally rewriting the score of Fantasia or for the animal kingdom, bringing a dose of 'Hakuna Metal' to the barren lands of Bloodstock's 25th anniversary.

     Vocalist Jade Maris, drummer Jackson Cann, and one of two guitarists - Mitchell 'Mitch' Barlow took time out to speak with GMA about their craft and welcomed us into their world. 

For those who are unfamiliar with Vanitas, please provide the band's back story? I heard you're referred to as when 'Disney meets Periphery', please explain how this quote came about? 


​Mitch:-

     "Essentially we formed under sort of a joke name years ago and didn't really take things too seriously when we were at university, and then we wrote a song called 'Ghostly Coast' which is Vinitas's first ever single and that song made us go ah we should probably take this more seriously. After that we released our debut EP Vanitas, we then gained the lovely Jackson, released our Chaos Theory EP and then released our Journey to the Sun EP last year."


Jade:- 

     "Yeah so we're all massive Periphery fanboys and girls and they're one of our biggest inspirations, we make progressive metal, in a kind of gentle metal way but then the Disney part comes in because we are a symphonic metal band as well, so we pride ourselves on big epic orchestral arrangements inspired by video games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, something you could hear in a Disney movie too so hence the 'Periphery meets Disney'.


Okay so if you were to liken yourself to a Disney character, who would it be?

Jackson:-   "I mean, he's technically a Disney character, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, but if I had to choose a strictly Disney character, probably Stitch." [Jade agreed this was a fair assessment of Mitch's character]


Jade:-   "I would pick Simba from The Lion King because I've always been obsessed with that movie when I was a child." [Mitch agreed with her character likeness]


Mitch:-   "I would go with Remy from Ratatouille because he's little and cooks a lot and that's just a vibe." [Jade and Jackson agree on the height and Jade adds that Mitch does cook a lot]


Your sound is an eclectic mix of Symphonic Prog Metal, Cinematic Metal and djent, how did you curate your sound; are you all video game score fans? 
 
Mitch:-

     "Essentially a lot of our songs start sort of with mostly a guitar part, for example 'Behind the Mask' started off as just its intro riff and I was like okay cool, maybe put some orchestra behind that sort of as an intro leading into it, and then like the verse that was all orchestral chords and I was like okay, I've got this really cool like chordal movement now, I'm going to put some chugs under it. So it's kind of, most of the time it starts with guitar, and the orchestra gets added after but there's a fair few examples where the orchestra parts come first then the guitar gets added"


Considering you're inspired by composers like Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame, has Vanitas ever considered lending songs to RPG games; have you been approached by video game designers? 

Jade:-

     "That would be an absolute dream of ours and we've been chatting to a video game designers recently so watch this space, in the future hopefully we'll get ourselves into a video game. We've already dipped our toe in a little bit, so we have two covers that we released officially. We did a cover of 'I'm Here' from Sonic Frontiers, because if you look at Mitch's leg tattoo, he's a massive Sonic fanboy.

     And we also did a cover of '115' from COD. 'Zombies' as well which was quite popular, we did it as a Halloween cover a couple years back"


Mitch:-

     "Yeah it would be an absolute dream from my part, everyone else likes JRPG's, but I've been playing JRPG's practically since I came out of the womb. I remember playing Final Fantasy Tactics on the DS and being like, what is this? I love it. And then getting like 13 and then eventually going to like 7, 8, 9. I'm a real big fan of like the Tales of series as well. Like basically if it's a JRPG, I'm like sick, I'm playing it. Big shout out to Persona as well."


Jackson:-

     "Yeah, doing video game music would be very, very fun. Some of my favourite albums are video game albums. Cough Cough, Mick Gordon's doing Cough Cough, but it'll be very fun."


So you're all fairly big in the gaming world as well, are there any particular games that you wish you'd see your songs in?

Mitch:-

     "Any Sonic. Any Sonic. Just straight up, any Sonic would be an absolute dream. Our other guitarist, Elijah, isn't here, unfortunately, but Call of Duty would be a banger. I mean, they've had Avenged Sevenfold in enough time to give it to the little guys too, you know?"


Jackson:-

     "Yeah, probably COD. And I know it would never happen, but a Doom soundtrack would... I just can hear like 'Behind the Mask' on like an Egyptian themed zombies map. When you do the easter egg like it would just fit really well."


Jade:-

     "[COD] is a good shout. For me like it's got to be Final Fantasy game and of course we are named after Kingdom Hearts and there is a new Kingdom Hearts game coming out so you know that would be a dream.

     The next Kingdom Hearts game in 20 years we'll try and be on that one."

With that in mind is it fair to say that metal music has many possibilities to tap into other entertainment forms never explored before? 

Jade:-

     "Yeah, I think there's a big crossover between metalheads and nerds, and people that like things like table-top games, D&D, movie soundtracks, video games, so I think we definitely intersect those two worlds quite a lot as a band. We like to advertise ourselves as, we're for metalhead nerds, that's who we are, what we're about, and I think there's a big audience of people that love that shit."


Mitch:-

     "To get all philosophical for a brief moment, metal's always kind of been for like the little guy so to speak, and a lot of nerd culture like for example D&D you know that kind of started out like, I think it's natural for metal to kind of embrace that. I mean off the top of my head, Tesseract did a whole game for one of their albums and like they were teasing their singles through the game, so if you complete the game (if I remember right), you've got one of their newest singles first before it was ever released on streaming platforms. I think it's just a natural progression that metal integrates itself more in more like nerdy subcultures.


Bloodstock celebrates it's 25th anniversary, summarise the festival in only 3 words.

• Jade -   "Heavy. Epic. Metal!!!!!"
• Mitch -   "Metal. Heavy. Epic"

 

• Jackson -   "Big Boys Bands - Judas Priest is technically a boy band. All metal bands are boy bands if you listen to them enough."

Honing your craft across 3 EPS and now showcasing them at Bloodstock's 25th anniversary must be one of your career highlights? 

Jade:-

     "We've been basically dreaming of this day since we first started the band. We've taken part in the Metal to the Matters competitions a couple of times, made it to the final, but never quite made it through. And I'd like to think that our performance at Bloodstock is evidence that if you persist, if you work hard, if you keep trying, you can get where you want to be. So we are extremely excited to bring our songs to the Bloodstock crowd."


Jackson:-

     "It'll be very, very exciting to play. It's like... We're playing just before Lamb of God, who are in my top three bands of all time, so that is huge. Huge."


Mitch:-

     "For me personally, I've been doing Metal to the Masses competitions on and off for, I think, nine years. So to actually finally be here and be like, oh my God, we are playing, it just feels insane. I don't know how else to put it. It feels insane. A bit surreal. Yeah, surreal is a good way to put it. It's just, you know, there's... There's a funny story where when we all got the email about it we were all at like our day jobs at the time and all of us just like did our best to ditch whatever we were doing at our day jobs and just message each other, be like yo have you seen the email?


Was it easy to switch yourselves off from work at that moment in time?

Mitch:-

     "From my perspective, it was like I was in work brain, checked my phone to see the time, saw the email and my brain, I just went giddy for ages and went around telling myself, Jesus Christ, what is going on?

     I think all of us were like, Jesus Christ, we want to tell someone what we had to keep it entirely in the band. And that was hard. Just because of all of us, it was no, I don't think, I think it's safe to say that it was no secret that all of our like immediate friends knew that this was something we wanted to do. So keeping it secret from them, that was the hardest part."


Jackson:-

     "Yeah, I was sat at work and my Apple Watch went off with the WhatsApp notification of Elijah. Just all caps, GUYS, GUYS, check the email. I'm like, what? And then I scrolled up a bit on the WhatsApp chat and then saw what he was about and nearly wet myself at work.

     Like the people who come to basically every show. That we ever do, like keeping it from them and being like, I can't tell you. It was hard, difficult, but you know, we all, we did it. We got through."


Jade:-

     "Now for the majority of Vinitas we are all music teachers so I was in the middle of teaching a class and the email like flashed on my laptop as I was mid-lesson and I just had to like completely compose myself and try and not pull a face in front of the students and then as soon as the students left the room I just kind of had a little dance on my own in the room and rang Mitch.

     I did eventually tell the students, I was like it was meant to be kind of strictly confidential until the announcement in April so I had to like I had to try really hard to keep it to myself for a while but in the end yes I definitely told them."


This also surely is rebuffed by your exposure on BBC Introducing? Has it become ever more challenging for unsigned bands to get noticed? 

Jade:-

     "I'll be honest, like, BBC Introducing, they don't tend to play super, super heavy stuff, so I would always shoot our shot, you know, I'd send the application off every single release and go, oh yeah, no, probably not. And then got the email through that we've been playing, we've been played quite a few times now, and I've just, it's just really nice to see the love for metal. We're all from Birmingham, obviously the home of heavy metal, so it's good to see our hometown sort of repping heavy metal on the radio as well."


Do you feel in that case that the mainstream media ought to pay a bit more attention to metal considering how popular it is nowadays?

Mitch:-

     "Yes, it's bigger than people realise and I just think they don't think it's marketable on like mainstream TV and big channels and stuff, but like when the World Cup was on and it was in between halves and they played Pantera I got really hyped and a lot of people got really hyped, so I think they need to lean into that more, do more stuff with metal because it is huge, it's massive."


Jackson:-

     "I think from my perspective I'm quite happy in the idea that I think a lot of, for lack of a way of putting it, gateway bands are popping off more. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea but Sleep Token, like I'm so glad they've popped off because It's just another band that has any chance of like teasing someone from, the lack of a better way of putting it, the mainstream sort of music fear and teasing them and getting them interested in dipping their toes, I'm fully happy for that to like just keep being a thing, and I just hope that continues because i know like i know there's quite there's quite a few bands that played like Glastonbury this year that was like a bit more metal focused and stuff."


It's similar to artists like Billie Eilish who endorse metal music in the same way and of course a certain demographic of people within the metal community, they look at pop artists and think 'you know they're not metal enough', is that a fantasy? Do you think that pop artists are not metal enough?

Jade:-

     "There's room for everyone in the metal scene and that's something that we really strive ourselves on. I think it doesn't matter if it's heavy or not heavy or who's playing the music. If people like it, they like it. I mean as a progressive metal band we're all about mixing genres, mixing influences and I think that's where metal shines the best because it shouldn't be like this is metal, this is not metal. Let people enjoy what they enjoy."


Mitch + Jackson:-

     "I also just secretly hope that more crossovers happen, like the whole Ed Sheeran and Cradle of Filth thing.

     It's like Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry did the song 'Hive Mind' earlier this year and it absolutely popped off with people who like metal and people who like rap, like what Denzel Curry does and him supporting Deftones, I think has also brought people in but more crossover stuff, yeah I definitely definitely want that, yeah like the Ed Sheeran and Bring Me The Horizon stuff. To be honest I almost feel like Ed Sheeran's becoming like the 'hey guys check out this cool music guy in the mainstream media' kinda guy I think yeah."


Has it become even more challenging these days for unsigned bands to get noticed?

Jade:-

     "Definitely. We're in a sea of saturation of unsigned independent bands like ourselves trying to get heard. As you probably know, social media is the way to go for a lot of these bands, but it can be tiring. We're here to make music, but you feel like you have to become a full-time influencer just to get your name out there. There's a lot of the parts of content I really enjoy, and what I enjoy about it is connecting with people, getting to meet so many lovely people. But the endless... grind of it all, you know, never having time to actually sit and make the music, which is the most important part, of course.

     So, I do think it's difficult for bands, but what I also think is it's more accessible than ever before. You know, you don't need to have rich parents, I mean, rich parents help, but you don't need rich parents, you don't need a massive record label or a giant multi-million dollar studio. You can, you know, make some music on your laptop, upload it to District Head for, you know, maybe £10, and you can release some music."


For the 2nd half of 2026 and going into 2027, what are your plans?

​Jade:-

    [At the time of the interview the Bullhead Festival announcement was under wraps] "Can't say too much yet but we have a really big announcement coming in the next week or so depending on when this interview goes online and we have more music before the end of the year you can expect that, and our biggest project yet in 2027 so look out for that.


Any final comments? Any hello's, thank yous, that you want to send out to your friends, family etc?

     "Thank you Bloodstock, thank you everyone who's ever come to watch us play even if you didn't like us thanks for coming anyway, big up to big Jay and big Shell, and finally embrace Sonic and play more Sonic games, the music's really good I promise and also praise the sun."


Thank you, Vanitas. Stay metal.

https://www.facebook.com/vanitasbanduk​

England has a sensational metal scene as a whole and yet if you microscopically looked at each city or region, there are even more metal bands than you can see at first. One such band is Bristolian quintet Ironvolt whose own brand of Groove Metal has caught some considerable attention in the underground, with a band name sounding much like the metallic, groovier version of AC/DC, they are sure to go full throttle after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Vocalist Minka Miles and lead guitarist / backing vocalist Aaron Miles faced our interrogation, we wer kind with them... the electricity was spared in this instance, but they had the burden of being weighed down by ten tonne lead.

Minka, do you feel that sexism and misogyny still exists in metal? Have you yourself received any remarks? If so how did / would you respond?

Minka:-

     "I think it exists everywhere, although thankfully I haven’t actually experienced it within music myself. I would say the closest thing to sexism I’ve experienced in music has been having venues put Ironvolt on bills with exclusively other female-fronted bands, despite having no similarity besides that. We’ve played with completely different genres because of this and it’s very jarring. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened in a while and we usually get booked to play with similar-sounding bands now, but it used to really annoy me and the rest of the band."


Tell us more about the Bristolian Metal scene, is it stronger than it has been? What challenges do bands face?

Minka:-

     "It seems to be extremely tight-knit, everyone knows each other. It’s pretty nice and I think there’s more support within that scene than there is with a lot of others. The Bristol metal scene also welcomed us really openly, despite our sound not being conventionally metal."


Aaron:-

     "Honestly there are so many good bands coming out of Bristol. There's a lot of unsung talent, sadly with either no means to get places or just haven't been noticed by the right people yet. That's why there's so much love for Metal 2 The Masses in Bristol. The community gets together and welcomes all these faces, some older 'veterans' of the Bristol scene who you just know you're going to enjoy, and some brand new faces with just as much kick-ass as the vets."


For metalheads visiting Bristol what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

Minka:-

     "For pubs there’s The Gryphon, The Mother’s Ruin and The Crown, I’ve spent a lot of time in all of those. As for venues it’s gotta be The Fleece, The Louisiana, and The Exchange."


Aaron:-

     "The Crown in St. Nick's market is a great place for all kinds of Metalheads, plus its club venue The Trap, as there's a great range of faces that regularly visit. The Gryphon is a landmark and it regularly tops the local pubs chart. The Hatchet is a super popular venue which hosts all sorts, and there's countless local venues that do regular "fresh talent" shows. The Fleece on St Thomas Street, The Thunderbolt on Bath Road and The Louisiana on Wapping Road are some that we've frequented and always had a great reception. If you just want a great night, though, check out the Fleece's monthly Metal club nights."


Do you have any thanks or greetings you wish to send to friends, family or fans?

Minka:-

     "Anyone who is listening to our music at the moment, thank you so much – and to everyone who has come to a show before. And of course, to everyone who is going to come to our shows in the future. Thank you, you’re lush."


Aaron:-

     "Keep it real homeslices"


https://www.facebook.com/ironvoltmusic/

Malicious Inc. are set to set the British Metal scene ablaze with their finely balanced sound of Groovy Nu Metal as shown on their debut EP 'Red Flag';  which was released through the Italian label Sliptrick Records. Morgan Weeds the band's lead guitarist filled in GMA with the details of their new release, what the Bristolian Metal scene is like and what metalheads can do down their, how they got in touch with Sliptrick Records and why in the space of 1 year 5 months they've managed to unleash a debut single and follow-up EP.

During the interrogation Morgan referred to Korn, Disturbed, Nu Metal, Bristol, Korn, and some more Nu Metal, Groove Metal and somehow... Bristol. Suffice to say he finished happy as Larry.

Too often are bands of yesteryear forgotten about or fall by the wayside, but in counteracting that there are times where bands are effectively pulled out of hibernation, such is the case for NWOBHM quartet Troyen who received the harking call to reform and drum out material to quench the thirst of their fans. Now armed with newfound rigour, the Cheshire natives are due to release a new album, hopefully play some UK and European shows next year to mark 40 years of the band and prove that it doesn't matter about your age, as long as your heart is in the music, endless things are possible as drummer Jeff Baddley told GMA during his interrogation.

Outside of music what hobbies and interests do you have? How have you all been coping during the lockdown?

     "Music is our main focus and it’s been difficult during lockdown especially for me as I don’t have the space at home to set up my drum kit and unleash my frustrations. We have all spent time doing all the jobs we had been putting off around the house and some that didn’t. We’ve been in constant contact with each other as we are collaboratively writing new material for our new album., whilst also spending time keeping our social media pages updated."


What do your families think of your music, are any of them musicians also?

     "None of our family members are musicians although they are very supportive of what we do even though NWOBHM may not be their thing."           


What next for Troyen? Are you drafting up late-2020, early 2021 plans?

     "We have pretty much written off 2020 for live music, but we’ll have to see how that unfolds. We are writing a new album initially for release in November 2020 but that may be pushed back to early 2021 pandemic and social distancing allowing. 2021 is our 40th year anniversary we are booked for UK festivals and to return Europe to play in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and The Netherlands."


Do you have any thanks or greetings you wish to send out to friends, family, fans etc?

     "We’d like to thank all our fans, friends and families for their continued support. Without you we’d be nothing. We will just continue to ride the wave and play for as long as people want to hear us after all you don’t stop playing music because you get old, you get old because you stop playing music.  Stay safe."

https://www.facebook.com/Troyen14

Swapping the back streets of London / Essex for the sun-soaked pavements of Los Angeles should be an easy task surely? Well for Joe Crudgington it's worked out alright, although for the time being he's back in London. Being the frontman of Industrial Rock / Metal outfit Drownd brings it's own challenges as he goes on to explain during our interview with him, but things on the other hand are sweet too - a label signing, an album release later this year and a full live show to come... Joe talks to us about this rollercoaster ride and why metal is close to his heart.

Hi guys so firstly how does it feel signing to Armalyte Records?

     "Hi Rhys! Yeah man, it was a great thing to sign up to Armalyte at the start of last year. It's nice just for a bit of recognition that people are into your stuff and it's not just yourself grinding away thinking that you're writing good stuff. The guys that run it are great too - massive music fans that have been in the scene for ages so they know what they're talking about, plus their roster includes some pretty impressive artists (PIG, Cubanate, Chemlab, plus loads of others), so it's quite an honour to have my name, DROWND on there with them. They're just a really nice label to deal with and genuinely care about the quality and content of the finished product - the way to be as far as I'm concerned."


Given the nature of the band in terms of the line-up, you must be excited to finally showcase your music live at the end of the year?

     "Ah for sure - DROWND did it's debut show on the 10th December 2019 at The Black Heart in Camden with Riotmiloo supporting. It managed to pull a decent crowd for a first show, as really, no one had any idea what to expect - people had basically just put a load of faith in me and hope haha... It could in theory have been a total s**t show, but alas, as a debut, I think it went really well - sounded great thanks to all the hard work programming the live set, rehearsing it up and visually I think it came across pretty well. Definitely plenty of room for improvement, but a good first show to get under the DROWND belt. There will be big changes to visuals, stage attire and line up changes in the future too, so plenty of exciting stuff for the DROWND live shows if this pandemic bulls**t ever leaves us to crack on and pick up the pieces."


Given you're into Marilyn Manson, NIN and Gary Numan, etc were they artists/bands you grew up listening to, or was your music landscape totally different?

     "I've always been into heavy music since I was a kid - I mean I think I speak for a lot of people my age when I say that I was massively into the music that was on the soundtracks of games like Tony Hawks Pro Skater, Matt Hoffman's BMX, Dave Mirra's BMX etc... These tracks were like a gateway into Manson and NIN - I mean when I first listened to NIN and what Reznor was doing, it blew my f**king mind man - I'd never heard anything like it - the songwriting, the sound design, the production and engineering of the records, etc - just something else entirely.

     I still listen to these artists literally everyday, alongside a lot of soundtrack / score work (the American Beauty score has been being played heavily recently) and also since I found out about him a while back, I've been well into an artist called Ghostemane - I love his heavy, evolving, genre spanning music and he's got the images and visuals as well as a savage live show to back it all up. Skynd are another one - again, great sounding original, well produced music but with concepts, visuals and a live show to back it all up - the full package."


Last year you moved to California, what was the transition like from living in the grey streets of London to the sun-soaked boulevards of Los Angeles?

     "Whoa L.A. is a crazy ass place - that's for sure. It's worlds apart from other cities like London I think - people seem somewhat more inclined to help and collaborate out there. I mean I've been fortunate to meet some great and talented people in my time there and would consider to be good friends too. The weather out there helps massively, I mean, where I was, you'd get up in the morning, virtually guaranteed sunshine and crazy high temperatures, have a swim, have some breakfast and then crack on with writing music.

     The alternative music scene seems a lot bigger out there too with plenty of different gigs going on all over. It's quite an inspiring place to be too - I mean, I love down-town L.A. - a lot of people hate it, but it's so f**king weird and scary in certain areas that you can't help but be inspired. The best part is when the sun drops and it turns to night - down-town L.A. completely changes and so do the people haha... At the moment I'm back here in London which seems like an absolute world away from L.A. what with the current pandemic sticking its teeth in nicely, but fingers crossed this s**t will be over soon and I'll be back out there asap."

Do you feel that in recent years the Industrial - Goth blend has had a resurgence of sorts? Or has it been chugging along nicely?

     "Hmm I'm not really sure - I think it's always been there and always will to a degree. I think every now and then an artist or two will make it big from kinda within that scene, but as far as my experience goes, the goth / industrial stuff has always seemed pretty insular - just my opinion. That said, the fans and people involved in the goth scene are HUGE supporters which is great and they are genuinely interested and care about the music that you put out."


Joe, you undertook red carpet duties at both The Heavy Music Awards and Metal Hammer Golden God awards - talk us through your emotions that night.

     "Haha yeah that was great for sure - it was bizarre. I mean, we would be knocking about backstage and then Ozzy Osbourne would just casually walk past... It was also the first time I met Skynd too who were there and involved with the event which was great."


Given the state of the world as it is with COVID-19, do you feel it's more important than ever for musicians and fans to engage together in any way they can?

     "It's a weird time to be in at the moment, isn't it? So much uncertainty. That's what is doing me in, the fact that I can't plan anything - we've already had one DROWND show pulled thanks to COVID-19 which was supposed to be at the Lounge in Camden which will be rescheduled at some point. The other band I play in, Sulpher, has had loads of dates cancelled and re-arranged which sucks - we literally played 2 shows in Toronto JUST before everything got shut down - we only just managed to get flights back to London haha! If I'm honest, I'm highly doubtful we're gonna be doing any live shows for the rest of 2020, I mean, I've basically resigned myself to it all kicking off again in 2021, but fingers crossed I'm totally wrong and we can get back to live shows and some sort of normality. But in the midst of this lockdown I have been writing like nothing on earth and it's the best sounding stuff I've written to date in my opinion, plus I've got tonnes of ideas for videos, images etc which we are currently filming and putting together as part of a real special release. Watch this space.


What are your plans for the forthcoming year? Do you have any greetings you wish to send out to friends, fans, etc?

     "I think I kinda rattled on a bit with the last question and semi-answered this one. But yeah, my plans are basically finish what I'm working on (which I'm very excited about) and see what people think of it. Then I'd like to see where we stand with live shows and get some worthwhile gigs booked up. There's also some exciting Sulpher dates lined up too with a few festival slots and a couple O2 shows and maybe some small tours later in the year, but it's all a bit hush hush for now and just waiting to see where we stand with this current pandemic. Time will tell.

Thanks for your time mate, Joe."

https://www.facebook.com/drownd
https://www.instagram.com/drownd_music/

Arguably you can place Anaal Nathrakh in the same bracket as Australia's The Berzerker and Canada's sorely-missed Strapping Young Lad, for being pure fucking extreme metal. For a duo who have been serving up nihilistic and downright filthy albums since 1999, Anaal Nathrakh have shown no signs of slowing down and with the forged relationship between V.I.T.R.I.O.L.: and Irrumator, they are unbreakable; no matter how many pieces of equipment they go through by harnessing their beautifully dark minds in synchronicity.

Album no.11 will see daylight sometime this year but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is no clear cut release date, but what is clear cut is that it's destined to leave you needing fresh underwear. It was then only fair for GMA to interrogate V.I.T.R.I.O.L. about the unmovable partnership the band has, what he has been doing since the UK went into lockdown and how music distribution has changed in context with what challenges the band faced years ago to what newer bands could face these days... oh and having a question about the new wave of British Extreme Metal being answered in a unique way; the interviewee asking the interview; much love Dave :).

Album #11 is coming out this year, is there a definitive title yet or are some ideas being bounced around; what stage is the album at?

     "Hello. Yes, everything is completely finished, we handed the whole album over to Metal Blade Records a while back. But then immediately after we’d done so, the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off.  So we’re in limbo to some extent now, and we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Presumably MB want to continue to release music, because people out there in the world in lockdown can still seek out and listen to new music – in fact music might be a particularly important thing for many people at the moment. I’ve been listening more myself, certainly. But at the same time, presumably the people at the label, the pressing plants, the distributors and so on are mostly working from home or furloughed. So yeah, the album is complete, but we’ve no idea what will happen with it next."


What can you tell us about the new album that has no relation to the previous album? e.g. themes, differences between this and "A New Kind of Horror"?

      "Well the last album had a lot to do with the First World War because of the time we were writing it, which obviously isn’t the case with this one. So in terms of subject matter it’s very different in many respects. There’s a lot in it, but I suppose you could say that a lot of it focuses on the position of the person or individual – basically, you or I, or a person we could very easily have been – in the world. That’s especially the case with the cover art, too, which is particularly striking this time. I’ve been thinking a lot more about art over the last year or so, and in working with Mick [Kenney] on the artwork for this album, we’ve really outdone ourselves. 

     But art aside, in general, I think we humans are increasingly subject to manipulation, for example even to the extent that the Government’s responses to the coronavirus crisis here in the UK were initially dictated not by experts on viruses, but by behavioural scientists. And it’s turned out that in many respects, even though the album was written before the virus came along, it’s just as applicable in the new updated global context. Musically it’s more direct, I think. For the kind of music it is, I think it’s probably more accessible – obviously I don’t mean it’s pop music, and something filled with blast beats and screaming can only be accessible in a relative sense. But even by our standards as a band you can latch on to despite the viciousness of the music, I think it’s even more immediate than before. But we won’t know whether that’s borne out in other people’s experiences until the things is finally fucking released!"


As a band you've been going 21 years now, (how time flies) would you agree the British Extreme Metal is experiencing a new wave of bands?

     "Haha, I’m not sure how the two halves of that question go together! When you’ve been doing something for ages, it usually means you have less of an idea what’s going on with people who have just started doing it, not more! I think perhaps your question would be better answered by a journalist like you rather than by me." [Rhys: Touche Dave, got me there; the UK Extreme Metal scene is amidst a new wave for sure]


As the UK is in lock down, what have you been doing at home both musically and in other hobbies?

      "It’s a weird mixture of intentions and inertia. I think a lot of people have found themselves expecting and fully intending to get on with all the little projects they’d not got around to, but then in reality sitting in their pants eating shit in front of the TV. My mental escape has always been games, so I’ve been playing quite a lot. I’ve also been thinking about some philosophical stuff – I recently finished a really big piece of work, and it’s possible that I could polish some parts of it and seek to publish them, so I’ve been thinking about some problems that I’d have to solve to get them to publishable quality. 

     It won’t make sense to many people, but if you’re into that sort of thing, basically it’s about the roles of cognitive vs. conative elements of a hybrid metaethical position. But mostly I’ve been sitting on my arse and festering into an ever greater loathing of my fellow humans and the twats on the telly and the radio who act like they know what they’re doing, but who are actually incompetent, self-serving, arse-covering fuckwits. Just like everyone else."

Arguably you're one of the strongest metal duo's to be still active and so what is it that makes you both tick along nicely?

     "Tick along nicely? This is Anaal Nathrakh, not a long-running car boot sale or someone’s happily married grandparents. We do what we do together because when we get together and work on this stuff, the results excite us. We specifically don’t have a trick or formula that makes things smooth and easy. That would be boring, and alienate us from any creative satisfaction. There’s never any thought of ‘ok, back to the old job, and this time around…’, because every new thing we do is ad hoc and vital and expressive, not mechanistic. We have a significantly optimised approach to recording, for example, because we know what we’re doing, but despite that we haven’t recorded in the same place twice in a row in nearly a decade, we usually use different equipment, and the cares and concerns we have at any given time are fresh and immediate. 

     A band like Bolt Thrower could perhaps approach an album and say to themselves ‘OK, how do we talk in a slightly different way about war this time?’. And it worked brilliantly for them. But that’s just not how our minds work. Yes, when we work together on Anaal Nathrakh there’s a similarity or continuity with our previous stuff, because it’s us and it’s Anaal Nathrakh. But beyond that there’s no trick or method – we do what we do because we know who we are, we know we get on well, and we know if we focus and work as hard as we possibly can, we will think the results are fucking brilliant.  Even if nobody else did, haha!"


What (in your opinion) are the biggest challenges facing the new crop of metal bands coming up the ranks in the UK?

     "I have little idea, to be honest – you’d have to ask someone who’s in that position. If anything I’m sick of the solipsism that makes people feel entitled to comment on the predicaments of others without actually understanding the peculiar difficulties of others’ situations. It’s like an MP saying they could live on universal credit when they haven’t got a fucking clue about life outside their privilege.  Having said that, one of the big things must be how to adapt to the fact that the world has moved on in terms of distribution and performance channels. Nowadays a lot of music culture revolves around Instagram and so on in a way I find distasteful, but which is simply the norm to most people. That’s an issue for all bands, but it must be especially acute for those trying to build some initial recognition and rise among the plethora of others on Bandcamp or wherever. 

     It still applies if you have significant recognition among potential fans, of course, but if hardly anyone has ever heard your band name yet, it’s got to be harder. We had early success on mp3.com back in the day – it was more like an early YouTube kind of thing back then, not the corporate pop shit thing is it now – but nowadays you have to navigate a much more complex network of genre tagging, big-data-style keyword heuristics, game search results, all that kind of shit. In the end though, nepotism will always be the most effective tool. So be good friends with someone influential, butter up or pay the appropriate people to get into the frame for the big tours, and in the UK, be from London. Then you’ll soon be doing better than us and be more able to answer that question than we are."


What plans for the year ahead do you have (COVID-19 depending); did you have before this pandemic?

      "Well, it’s basically impossible to answer that question. As it happens, we were planning on keeping a somewhat lower profile in terms of shows, just playing key events. But now we don’t even know when the album is likely to come out, everything’s cancelled, and no one can book shows and tours at all. For example, just as the virus blew up in the West, we were in talks about a really big festival show in South America, possibly along with some tour dates on that side of the world. But that’s completely out the window now. Depending on how the prognosis for society develops, perhaps we’ll have to think of something innovative and unconventional to do. But for the time being, it’s a waiting game to see what will happen."


Do you have any greetings or thanks you wish to send out? Any final words?

"Thanks. Remain indoors."

https://www.facebook.com/Anaalnathrakhofficial

In a series of posts, GMA will be speaking to bands worldwide about film soundtracks they feel that could have been written using metal music. Up first is Gothic Metallers Winter Storm who hail from the West Midlands, England.

1. Silence of the Lambs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Mm8Sbe__o

     "I don't think this soundtrack gets the credit it deserves. It's some of Howard Shore's best work by far; it's not all about Lord Of The Rings. I would love to have his insight when putting together a piece of music to set the tone for a scene / movie."
 

2. A Clockwork Orange - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-1Mup0UI0

     "I adore this soundtrack and the approach Walter (now Wendy) Carlos brought to it. I'm a huge fan of neo-classical music, so to have a soundtrack that so heavily relies on reworked Purcell and Beethoven pieces is fine by me! To bookend a film of that nature with Queen Mary's funeral march and then Singing in the Rain is a touch of genius."
 

3. The Lion King - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7xBISLBIA

     "I'll be 34 in February, but listening to this soundtrack takes me back to being a fascinated 8-year old kid watching the film at a local cinema for the first time. It is, in my opinion, quite possibly the best soundtrack ever written."
 

4. The Never-ending Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeFni9dOv7c

     "Who doesn't love a classic cheesy, 80s film? This is another film that fascinated me when I was a kid and that was largely down to the soundtrack. It's the first time I remembered paying specific attention to character themes/leitmotifs, and how certain instruments used in certain ways can evoke particular emotions: the joy of riding Valkor, the sadness of losing Artax, the fear being stalked by Gmork..."
 

5. Saturday Night Fever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyJDYTG5leQ


     "The Bee Gees are literally some of the best songwriters of all time. Sadly, they're mostly lost on my generation, but some of the material they wrote - especially before their disco phase - is incredible. It's not surprising to me that they went on to write, what was then, the most successful soundtrack of all time."


Winter Storm have also released the first single 'Astral World' today, here is a link to the video.

https://youtu.be/Jc0PIm4VAA4

One of the UK's finest melodic metal bands, Winter Storm, are back after a short break with their third full length album. Their latest offering, 'Relapse in Time', follows on from the story that began with their second album, a concept album, 'Within The Frozen Design'. The story begins with the protagonist believing he is designing his own universe, but, as events unfold, it turns out it was all a coincidence and he spirals into madness. The story continues in "Relapse in Time', where the protagonist awakens with no idea of where he is, in a strange land of deserted plains, and a Mars-like terrain.

After forming in 2008 Winter Storm have moulded and changed their sound to make their own unique form of Melodic Metal, which is displayed in the new album. They wished to fuse metal (including 7 string guitars) with melodic keyboards and vocals. Winter Storm have been seen supporting the likes of Delain and Leaves' Eyes as well as performing at Bloodstock Open Air, Hammerfest, HRH Metal and Wizzfest Belgium.

Quote from Hannah, the vocalist of Winter Storm:

     “I am very pleased to announce Winter Storm will be bringing out our long anticipated third album Relapse In Time on the 11th October. First of all I would like to thank all of our friends and fans for waiting so long to hear this album. With this record we are planning to bring a new sound forward; fusing our melodic metal sound with a symphonic and more technical edge.”

‘Relapse In Time’ will be released at The Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton on Friday 11th October and will be available on all digital platforms.

Winter Storm on the run up to the release of ‘Relapse In Time’ will be releasing a teaser trailer every Friday until the release date, you can check out the first teaser here: https://youtu.be/XbM4f3iGhSM

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Twitter: @winterstormuk1

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Twitter: @fatangel_family