When Motionless In White brought to the world their combination of Metalcore and Gothic Industrial tinged metal, there were those in the metal industry who raised eyebrows and embraced a sceptical view of combining these music styles. Fast forward 2 decades and the combined sound is still riveting and being embraced by more walks of life than at first fathomed. The latest incarnation comes from Chilean ground-breakers We Are The Monster, whose ferocity is only matched by their pitch black darkness and brooding atmospherics. 

     Ahead of their maiden release with Spanish metal label Art Gates Records, the hotly-tipped and widely anticipated album "Born In The End" of which drops 29th January 2027, the sextet took time out of their duties to talk to Global Metal Apocalypse about their humble origins, their journey so far (including supporting Avatar, Jinjer and most recently Deviloof) and what the future ahead will bring arguably the greatest Chilean metal export since Pentagram (Chile) and Criminal. 

For those who have not heard of We Are The Monster, could you explain how you came to form the band - were you in previous bands to begin with?

     "We Are The Monster was born from the idea that a band could be much more than just music. We wanted to build a universe that truly represented us, one where crushing riffs, emotional atmospheres, electronic elements, a strong visual identity, and our personal story could all coexist.
Most of us came from different bands within the Chilean metal scene. Every project taught us valuable lessons and gave us important experiences, but over time we realised we all shared the same vision: to create a band with an international mindset from day one.

     We didn't just want to write songs; we wanted to create an experience that people could hear, see, and feel."


Individually could you tell us who you are, what you play / do in the band and how you got into playing music; are any family members musicians or inspirations?

     "Each of us found our way into music through different paths, but we all share the same passion for creating something that truly connects with people:-

• Zero - the founder, songwriter, and lead vocalist of We Are The Monster, is the person who brought the project to life. His vision was to create a band that combines modern metal, a dark visual identity, and a conceptual story inspired by our origins. Since childhood, music has been his way of expressing himself, and today he leads much of the band's creative direction.

 

• Anaxor - is our keyboardist, scream vocalist, and is also responsible for the synthesizers and makeup that has become a defining part of our image. Her contribution goes far beyond the music, she played a major role in creating the visual identity of We Are The Monster. She has always been drawn to heavy music and artistic concepts that blend powerful sound with gothic aesthetics.

 

• Leo - is our lead guitarist. His playing brings the aggression, technique, and melody that defines a huge part of our sound. He fell in love with the guitar and heavy music at a young age, developing a style that has become an essential part of the band's identity.

 

• Nick - is our bassist, provides the weight and foundation behind every song. He has always viewed the bass as much more than a supporting instrument, striving to give it its own personality and presence within our compositions.

 

• Jay - is our drummer. His energy, precision, and creativity are essential to both our live performances and our recordings. Music has always been his way of channelling his energy, and that comes across every time he sits behind the kit.

 

• Javier - is our rhythm guitarist. His role is fundamental in building the backbone of our sound, bringing power, consistency, and a strong connection with the rest of the band. His passion for guitar started at an early age, and he has become a key part of We Are The Monster's evolution.

     While some of us grew up in musical families and others discovered music on our own, we all share similar influences. Bands like Motionless in White, Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, and Spiritbox have all had a significant impact on us. We also draw inspiration from industrial metal and electronic music. That combination of influences is what has ultimately shaped the identity of We Are The Monster."


The Chilean metal scene is strong with some notable successful exports, could you consider yourselves the next wave of Chilean metal?

     "Chile has an incredible metal scene filled with talented, hardworking bands. We have nothing but respect for everyone who paved the way before us.

     Whether we're part of the next generation of Chilean metal isn't for us to decide, that's something time and the audience will determine. What we can say is that we work every single day to represent Chile in the best possible way and prove that world-class music can come from the southernmost part of the world. 


     If our journey inspires future Chilean bands to dream bigger, that alone would make us incredibly proud."


You recently released your self-titled single ahead of your 2027 album release "Born In The End", it sounds like you're taking a far heavier and darker approach to your craft, was this the plan?

     "Absolutely. "Born In The End" isn't just an album it's a story. Every riff, every synth, every lyric, and every visual element exists to build that universe.

     We wanted everything to sound darker, heavier, and more cinematic without losing the emotional side of our music. For us, the contrast between aggression and atmosphere is a fundamental part of who we are.

     Our self-titled single is simply the gateway into everything that Born In The End represents."


From hearing your music, there is a major leaning towards Motionless in White as a core influence, so how do you try to distinguish yourselves from them; I noticed there is more of a Metalcore approach?

     "Motionless in White has been a major influence on us, just like many other bands we admire. They've shown that heavy music can be massive, melodic, and visually ambitious. But influence is only the starting point.

     Our identity comes from blending modern metalcore with electronic music, cinematic production, and our own narrative inspired by darkness, emotion, and the experiences we've lived as people.

     Our goal has never been to sound like another band. We want someone to hear one of our songs and immediately say, "That's We Are The Monster.”

​Welcome to Born In The End.

​This is only the beginning, and we hope to meet all of you somewhere in the world very soon"

Whilst most of Europe's metal listeners are so transfixed on what's happening in the metal scenes within Western, Northern and Southern Europe, on the other side of Europe a handful of countries often get forgotten. OK so The Ukraine has Jinjer and Moldova has Infected Rain leading their respective scenes charge, but how long did it take for those metal scenes to receive widespread acknowledgement from the metal masses? Exactly. Well now it's the turn of the Belarusian metal scene to stake it's claim on European soil, the band leading the charge and flying the flag for Belarus is Belle Morte. The symphonic metal quartet are set to unleash their mastery through their debut album "Crime Of Passion", which will be released through Italian label Wormholedeath sometime in 2021.

GMA spoke to 4 of the 6 members about the debut album, how Belarus has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, what it was like growing up as metalheads and why people should check them out... discussing their unique take on the symphonic gothic metal sound.

Key:

• BM - Belle Morte - vocals, lyric / music author
• SB - Sergey Butovsky - bass guitar, arrangements, sound producing
• RG - Rostislav - drums
• MS - Maria - keyboards
  

The two guitarists who did not answer questions are

• Ilya Rogovoy
  
• Ilya Petrashkevich
  

Tell us what it is like growing up as metalheads in Belarus? What challenges do you face within the Belarusian Metal Scene?

BM:

     "I have nothing to compare with, but from my personal perspective Belarusian metalheads are the nicest people, they are super friendly and helpful. I wouldn’t say I faced any significant challenges with the local scene. Unless we count the fact that it’s almost impossible to make a living doing music here, most musicians have to combine their “hobby” with a job where they get paid. It does lead to certain limitations."


RG:

     "It’s complicated :) there are a lot of metalheads here, but in general society perceives them as somewhat marginals. Government doesn't embrace the fact that metal music has the same rights to exist as music of the other genres. Soviet legacy is still very prominent here. On the other hand, it’s getting better and during past years we have had a lot of great bands come here. But organizing a gig is still a very stressful and complex thing to do. For example, you need to get a tour permission, which is issued by a commission (none of its members have any relation to music). And they can refuse to issue it because of “low artistic level”, even if your music is literally a masterpiece :).

     Local gigs are like swings. We used to have pretty wild underground gigs; then everything died out for a while. Then there was a period when we had great concert organizers, who put in a lot of effort and their own resources in holding top-level concerts. And then the pandemic happened. The bands also suffered from missing quality booking agencies, labels etc. The majority have to work somewhere else to make a living, and take care of organizing concerts, printing merch, releasing albums etc. on their own. We have many talented musicians, but not all of them are ready to deal with all of that, and it’s sad."


How has Belarus coped with the COVID pandemic; what restrictions / lockdown protocols were put into place?

BM:

     "There is a huge difference in answer depending on whether we talk about the Government or people living here. The Government shamefully failed to take any measures at all. We didn’t have any restrictions, all the borders were open, the severity of the pandemic was denied and laughed at in official media. Medical workers were not provided by appropriate protection means. And real numbers of those who got infected and those who died, were concealed. Medical workers, who had courage to tell publicly how bad the situation was, got fired and repressed.

     On the other hand, Belarusian people have shown the level of solidarity we didn't see here before. They created special funds to help medical workers and provide them with protection means, food and other supplies. They distributed printed instructions telling older people how to protect themselves, and again - helped with delivering foods and medicines. Although officially there were no protocols whatsoever, people started following WHO recommendations by their own initiative."


For metalheads visiting Minsk, what sights or attractions would you recommend (in a normal world)? What bars, venues, festivals are there?

RG:

     "TNT club (which might appear very ordinary if you don’t live here) :). The biggest festivals are Kupalskaje Kola, Our Grunwald, UMF (United Metal Festival)."


MS:

     "In good old times when we went to bars and clubs, if I wanted to hang out in a friendly atmosphere, I went to TNT club. You could always meet someone from your mates there!"


SB:

     "In addition to what Rostislav already mentioned, Brugge club. But it looks like it didn’t survive the pandemic…"


Aside from the album launch, what plans do you have for the year ahead and do you have any greetings or thanks you wish to send out?


BM:

     "We try to stay positive regarding the COVID situation and prepare ourselves for a productive year. For sure we’d like to have the album presentation (hopefully not just online, and hopefully more than one gig). Besides, we are doing a lyric video for 'Broken Things'. In the parallel we still have a lot of work in the studio, as we want to record our second EP this year. We have a very clear concept for it, and expect it to have a lot of unusual collaborations and musical instruments we haven’t used before. Last but not least: we are thinking about shooting our third music video."


SB:

     "I am very grateful to Kirill and Arthur, who helped us with guitars’ recordings at the times when we didn’t have a permanent line-up, long before Ilya joined us. And we are thankful to our families and friends for their support during the whole time!"


https://www.facebook.com/bellemortemusic

As far as the Horror Metal style goes, lyrically it's self-explanatory, musically it's a lethal concoction of pure darkness, ghoulish atmospherics and sounds so spooky that they leave even those in the stiffest form of rigor mortis weak at the knees (OK that's perhaps a tiny bit too dark). Scream Baby Scream don't hold anything back and use their imagery, theatrics and lyrics to seep bleakness into the listener, making them feel cold and at best frozen-to-the-band. GMA gave this quartet a paranormal investigation, we had to make the ghostbusters redundant for these are no match for said group, they needed a proper exorcism... they survived suffice to say.

Well we say 'they' survived, only Becky and Damien awoke from the coffins... perhaps garlic doesn't work after all.

What plans did you have this year that have either been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19?

Damien:-

     "Like all the artists, due to the coronavirus pandemic we had to postpone some gigs until 2021 and the recording of the new album until the end of 2020, but we tried not to stop. During the lockdown we have worked on the new songs and now we are ready to start rehearsing."


Speaking of which what plans do you have for late 2020 / early 2021?

Damien:-

     "As you already know, the 10th of April we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the band and we released the video of our single “Mouth Of Madness”, taken from the upcoming album “Too Much Heaven On Their Minds”. As soon as this coronavirus pandemic ends, we’ll record and release the new album, some new videos and plan a 2021 European tour to promote “Too Much Heaven On Their Minds”...


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

Damien:-

     "Our basement, if they are brave enough (laughs evilly)! It can be an amazing experience like meeting the Sawyers or Dr Satan! Just kidding... I guess the best place to visit in town, beside the city centre obviously, is the Rock’N’Roll club near the central station."


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

Damien:-

     "First of all thank you for giving us this opportunity. I’d also like to thank all the witches and ghouls out there for their great and constant support!"


Becky:

     "We hope all of you are safe because the coronavirus isn't a funny thing, a zombie apocalypse is much better so stay tuned for that!"

https://www.facebook.com/screambabyscreamrock/

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

https://www.facebook.com/winterstormuk
Twitter: @winterstormuk1

https://www.facebook.com/fatangelpr/
Twitter: @fatangel_family

Mentioning the Eurovision Song Contest usually brings to the fore the flamboyant outfits, lovey-dovey pop songs and the evident 'block-voting' syndrome. However occasionally the event delivers some rather outstanding and unique entries, from Heavy Metallers Lordi (delivered Finland's first ever win in 2006) to Hungary's Post-Hardcore group AWS (post-Eurovision performed at Wacken Open Air)... then came Iceland's turn to abandon the safe-zone, free itself from the shackles of formulaic Eurovision pop music and embrace a darker, more aesthetically-pleasing and original tone in the form of Hatari, who are a 'Award-winning, anti-capitalist, BDSM, techno-dystopian, performance art collective'.

Of course they are not a metal band, however arguably through their performance which befits that of a Rammstein show; through pyrotechnics, elaborate outfits and singing in a language that demands your utmost attention, they might as well be. The unfurling of the Palestinian flags will be seen as a political statement and perhaps the most controversial thing to happen at Eurovision (although the counter-argument is Ukraine's winning song '1944' by Jamela; centres around the deportation of the Crimean Tatars), could the Eurovision be political in that it allows Australia and Israel to participate, but not Kosovo nor Gibraltar or the Faroe Islands due to the latter two not being independent nations. With that in mind it does beg the question whether the ESC is contradictory in it's own rulings or whether there needs a massive shake-up... let's face it will Punk Rock ever get a look in? Maybe the UK should send the Sex Pistols... let's see how far that goes, but for now GMA caught up with Matthías Haraldsson, harsh vocalist of Hatari and discussed about post-Eurovision events, their first EP 'Neysluvara' and of course if everything is going according to plan. 

For your listening pleasure we have included the single / music video for 'Klefi / Samed', curated by Hatari and Palestinian musician Bashar Murad. Next to this is 'Hatrið Mun Sigra', Hatari's Eurovision song, whilst the jurors did not really appreciate the song, the public vote was very high - they finished 10th... we like to think Europe understand the message Hatari are conveying.

Hatari are currently doing shows in Iceland and abroad, check out their Facebook page for dates coming up and ones to be announced.

London show has sold out.

https://www.facebook.com/hatridmunsigra/
https://hatari.is/

Most people would associate Taiwan as one of those countries you could find labelled on the inside of some of the garments you own, but for metalheads it's known as a vibrant metal scene with ChthoniC as their leading export... following in the Oriental Black Metallers footsteps are a legion of metal bands who are ready to take the Taiwanese scene forward onto newer and greater heights.

One such band is Frost Tears (冰霜之淚), whose blend of Symphonic Gothic Metal and Oriental Metal is so amazing that you would lost in trying to find a band who can be compared to this majestic group. GMA spoke to the group to find out what life as a Taiwanese Metal musician is like, plans for the year ahead among other things. Answers are gratefully and surprisingly received in both Taiwanese and English.

It is an undeniable fact that Africa, along with Australasia / Oceania, are the last frontiers of metal music, with the exception to a handful of countries e.g. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. Of course in Sub-Sahara Africa and North Africa there are far more metal scenes than in West Africa. However with Gabon's Iron Sliver, Nigeria's Threadstone and Ghana's Dark Suburb making noise, it was only fair for Cameroon to join the metal music movement.

Roar Of Heroes are a Symphonic / Gothic Metal unit who are comprised of two musicians - Azra-Freyja and Anarchist 1st), formed from the ashes of a previous moniker - 'Silent Echoes', a six-piece band whose activities did not last long and thus gave birth to this new entity.

GMA caught up with the duo and asked them what it is like to be metal music fans in Cameroon, what challenges there are and where do they see the African Metal movement in the future.

Spain has a very vibrant metal scene that sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to what bands emerge from the sun-soaked nation, so when the Symphonic Metal 'forajido' group Diabulus In Musica joined up with Finnish Neo-Classical Metal exports Amberian Dawn, it was only right for GMA to grill this five-piece ensemble and interrogate them as if they were our amigos (of course they are!).

Having been around for a decade and only two founding members remaining in keyboardist / growler Gorka Elso and vocalist Zuberoa Aznárez, it was the latter who stepped up to the plate to share their thoughts on their tour, the critique of their latest album "Dirge For The Archons", music, politics and the much 'beloved' Eurovision...

Halloween is once a year, or is it? Not according to American quintet Eternal Halloween whose demonic stature is sure to garner attention from overseas as arguably the States answer to the UK's Evil Scarecrow. Moreover this Los Angeles (or as they might call Los Hellos), California-based horde have only been around a year and are already causing a buzz across the American Metal underground, let's just hope their name is not a reference to the Aiden song otherwise things could get quite confusing. Eternal Halloween were happy to spare some time to answer some questions GMA had in store for them...

Whether you consider yourself a pioneering band or a band who wants to bend a genre so much that the sound evolves itself from the original formulaic infrastructure it's built upon, one thing for certain is that making music requires three solid and key components:- commitment, defiance and the so-true notion of 'patience is a virtue'. Devilment are a perfect example of this, having been freed from the shackles of a demonically-plagued past with in-house quarrels, strived forward to tour with Cradle of Filth of Black Metal fame and rode the waves to summon their second album due to be released this year, it's clear that this Suffolk horde are on a winning run and that no matter what challenges pose them, they're geared to assault these challenges with newfound rigour.

GMA spoke to Colin Parks (Lead Guitarist) to gain an insight into what the future holds for this Witch county brethren, their impending album release and subsequent tour, past relics and some rather dark and disturbing secrets (you filthy animal).

Has Devilment ever considered dabbling in the dark side of East Anglia's history? Maybe a song about the 'Black Shuck'?

"We kind of do with the Witch County Suffolk motto, Suffolk has a very rich history and is a very diverse county, in fact I love it to be honest. There are definitely some nods lyrically with regards to this question, just grab out the Devilment album sleeve and have a read through the last album."



With Brexit on the horizon, as a band are you concerned about touring outside the UK?

"Not really, the whole Brexit thing divided a nation, in truth I do not think it should have been put to the public, sometimes the peasants do not know what is in their best interests. It will make things harder with travel and it will in truth be a pain in the ass, but it is what it is, music will always win over politics so I am sure everything will all be just fine."



To the best of your knowledge, where is the furthest your music has been picked up? Are you surprised by this?

          "Australia is one of the furthest confirmed album sales, support for Devilment in Australia is fantastic, I have seen the posters and band being played on the TV's in the record stores myself. Funny as it seems to actually be pushed more away from our shores. The United Kingdom is a funny one, its a tough market to crack. There is a lot of elitist bullshit in all genres, if people spent as much time supporting one another as they do slagging every band off in the comments section of what ever post then we would be richer musically for it."



Finally have you got any greetings you wish to send out? (Feel free to add any info as you wish)

"Just to say a big thank you to my fellow band members, during the album process it has been tough for Devilment as a band, loosing Dan originally was a set back, but losing our friend and brother Aaron was a hard one to take for all of us as we are all family, Dani still plays football with azza every Wednesday night!

Want to thank Matt for stepping in and smashing it out the park, we could not have found anyone better for this. Lastly massive thanks to our fans and family for believing in us, for allowing us to do something that we all love with every fibre of our soul, so THANK YOU !!!!!

Now roll on November 18th when you can all hear this monster!!!!!!!"


As Colin said, Devilment's new album "II: The Mephisto Waltzes" is out 18th November via Nuclear Blast

https://www.facebook.com/devilmentcorps/?fref=ts