Metal Music NEWS and interviews

  1-Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the project? Where is it from? Hello! Thanks for having me. Rodtgod was founded to recycle leftovers from other projects and bands. After a couple of years I had so much of those that I thougt I’d try to glue it all together. Et volà!   2- “Graveside Service” is your upcoming EP, how long did it take to compose it? Roughly a month. Couple of weeks give or take. The lyrics always come first and those are usually a matter of an hour each. If it feels right, I jot it down and then check what fits musically. This was the first material I didn’t originally intend for any other band I was involved, so it took a bit more time to finish it, but it went surprisingly smooth. I think I found a good working process though this. I will only record “new” material from here on. So I can use a streamlined process like that! 3- What musical ...

1-Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the band? Where is the band from? Hey there, thanks very much for having us. Well, Lankester Merrin is a melodic metal band of five members from Germany/ Lower Saxony founded by Flo Schulz (lead guitar) and Cat Rogers (lead vocals). Shawn Layer (drums), Jan-Philipp Merten (bass) and Chris Müller (rhythm guitar) completed the band.   2- “Dark Mother Rises” is your new album, how long did it take to write it? Good question…  Actually the songwriting progress by Flo and Cat, mainly Flo, had started years ago before even Lankester Merrin was founded. They were so many ideas, riffs and lyrics that, in time, were creating our songs. So you can be sure that the songs for our third album are already in the “making of”.   3- What musical influences inspired the songwriting? Here we go… One of the biggest influences are the “oldies...

Musicians looking for an easy way to take their valuable pedals to a concert performance may want to check out this handy guitar pedal case from Mr. Power. Depending on your needs a bigger or smaller board will help you get your pedals to where you need them. Today I am showing you the guitar pedal case that I use to take my guitar pedals to gigs and rehearsal. This is an inside look and could be useful to many other musicians looking for sturdy carrying case. I have had this on by Mr. Power for over five years or more and it keeps my pedals protected even on the road and in harsh weather conditions. If you are looking for one and would like to see it in more detail you can visit this Amazon Affiliate link to view it in detail. Also if you do make purchase I will get a small commission from a qualifying sale which in turn helps me keep creating helpful content for you and others. Visit here https://amzn.to/3RL3GoI Also need to tell you that the board, velcro and extra wing ties are all...

Polish act Atrocious Filth have announced a second album “OVV” will be available in vinyl format via Moans Music and Fabryka Hałasu . This follows a limited local-only run of the LP in the band and label’s home country.  Listen to OVV via Bandcamp or Spotify Watch a music video to the track "L", filmed at Olsztyn Puppet Theatre:  While the band may be little known in the wider music world, Atrocious Filth’s history goes back to the early 90s and could be considered a hidden gem for aficionados of heavy, pummeling and experimental music. The band was founded in 1991 in Olsztyn, Poland by the late ex-Vader drummer Krzysztof ‘Docent’ Raczkowski, Sławomir ‘Małeg’ Jóźwiak (bass) and Andrzej ‘Andzia’ Choromański (guitar). The band’s debut album, “100% Jesus”, was released in 1994 on cassette and only 14 years later on CD.  Following a nearly 20-year break, the band returned in 2016 with a fresh line-up and a new EP “Moans” with a new present-day sound, but continuing the atmo...

1-Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the group? Where is the band from? In 2015 Liquid Earth was born in a shipping-container on the outskirts of Vienna. The instrumental trio takes you on a journey through psychedelic soundscapes and heavy riffs. So grab a beer and prepare for take-off! After the heavy-psych band released their self-produced debut-album "Slow Grown" in 2018, their single "Teufelsmusik" was released on December the 4th 2020 via "Electric Fire Records". On October the 21st 2022 their second album “Teufelskreis” was released. 2- “Teufelskreis” is the band's new album, how long did it take to write? It took quite some time. From the first song we started writing and the time we held the LP in our hands it took almost 3 long years. A lot of things like the production of our vinyls were delayed due to the pandemic. 3- What mus...

 1- Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the group? Where is the band from? - Thank you for having us. According to our bio, Hellgrimm is a power trio forged into the darkness of addictions, death, and demons with stories based in fiction and fact. We celebrate nostalgia for 1970s - 80s stadium rock. Hellgrimm is based in San Antonio, Texas. 2- “Ritual” is the band's new full album, how long did it take to write? - I started coming up with the idea for the songs of “Ritual” while we were recording “The Hunger” in 2020 just after the pandemic hit. Then Erica and I spend time playing the songs live and tweaking them at the beginning of this year, then we started laying down the tracks. This is typically how we write new music.     3- What musical influence inspires the band's compositions?   I have been listening to a lot of the NWOBHM bands and after we r...

Today I would like to introduce my readers to the band Darker Than Fiction and their brand new lyric video Pharos.  Darker Than Fiction is a five piece band consisting of CJ Parker, Josh Hall, Jamie Moore, Andy Hillis and Josh Hedden. Their sound is described via their official band page as  "A blend of cutthroat down-tuned aggression and haunting melodic passages". The band is from Peoria Illinois. They got their start in 2017. Their Youtube channel features three videos with the latest one "Pharos" gaining big momentum.  The majority of my post here on Metal Music Midwest are interviews and promotion. It is rare that I do reviews anymore but the band recently played at The WC Club and I had a chance to see them live. They brought a lot of energy to the stage and the people responded with great admiration for the songs they were delivering that evening. Pharos was one of those songs amongst others.  I need to state that my perspective of the music is from a early d...

Swedish melodic death/thrash practitioners VITTRA are pleased to unveil a new video for “Sommarfödd.” The track comes by way of the band’s critically lauded debut full-length, Blasphemy Blues, released in Europe late last year. VITTRA’s Blasphemy Blues boasts a gripping combination of crushing death metal with strong songwriting and catchy hooks.  Originally called Vildvittra, based on the characters created by Astrid Lindgren as part of Ronja Rövardotter [Swedish for "Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter," a children’s fantasy book first published in 1981], their name later evolved into VITTRA, inspired by the mythical creatures appearing in Swedish folk stories. And while Swedish folk is a recurring theme weaving in and out of their music, the band is firmly rooted in melodic death and thrash metal in the veins of Dissection, early In Flames, Megadeth, and At The Gates. Comments the band of their frosty new video,  “Sommarfödd = The raw forces of a dark cold winter, combined with t...

Watch the music video: https://youtu.be/DzsQTocxc6c The Finnish hippie metal superstars Egokills are back - bigger, badder & more dangerous than ever! The latest Egokills banger is called Life’s a Party and it is a reminder of what life’s about in these dark times. The song comes with a movie quality music video, directed by the bands long-time friend Timo Lepistö and shot by Anthony Putkonen. The video portrays the band in its natural habitat, partying around their own camper van. Vocalist Janne Selo plays the main part. Selo has also written the song. The banjo riff at the beginning is played by Egokills’ own guitar virtuoso Niko Viita-aho when the band happened to find a real banjo from Fantom Studio. “The spring is in the air and I can hear the internal banjos playing. Life’s good!”, Janne Selo comments. Third Egokills album is ready and will be released in fall 2023. Matti Lötjönen acted as the executive producer and Olli Anttila produced the vocals. The release party of Life’...

  Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview.  Could you give our readers a brief description of the band?  Where is the band from? We are Ob Nixilis hailing from Colorado Springs, CO USA.  We are a melodic blackened death metal band consisting of four members.  Jeremy is our drummer/lead vocalist, Manny plays guitar and does backing vocals, Matt plays guitar and Joe plays the bass.  The band started in the bleak winter of 2020 when Jeremy and Manny first met and began to jam together and write songs as a two piece.  Shortly after they began regular rehearsals, they were joined by former bassist, Pat, and they began work on writing the material for the band's first EP, Grimoire of the Dead.   As a three-piece band, they played some house shows and some local shows, and then upon Pat’s departure from the band, they were joined by current bassist Joe. The band began to actively seek a sec...