As most of the regular readers have probably noticed by now, I was offered the chance to stream one of the very best metal albums released this year here at Metal Squadron. The album in question is of course “The Reaper’s Spiral”, from Terminus, soon to be released on CD by Stormspell and on vinyl and tape format by Horror Records. Continue reading
It’s all a bit predictable, isn’t ìt? A band releases an album, and since they want to promote it as good as they possibly can, they say “yes” when you approach them about an interview. Sometimes it makes things more interesting when you are able to break out of this pattern and do an interview when a band is at a different stage in the process. This is exactly what happened this time around, as I approached Sin Starlett in the wake of the release of their very impressive vinyl single. Continue reading
I have to admit I wasn’t too impressed by “Born By The Wind”, the debut demo from Starborn, the Newcastle outfit formed back in 2012. When I heard the preview track, “Triumphant Resolve” from the forthcoming EP “The Dreaming City”, things really changed. I was astonished to hear how much the band had improved. The vocals, the general performance, the songwriting…Pretty much everything was two steps above the demo. Continue reading
1. TERMINUS ”The Reaper’s Spiral” (Stormspell)
– Wait until you hear this one. Old songs are improved, new ones slay! If you don’t enjoy this one, you are simply not into heavy metal!
2. STARBORN ”The Dreaming City” (Stormspell)
– Speed, melodies and power blended very well together. Huge improvement on their demo. Continue reading
Raven were extremely important for me developing an interest for the whole NWOBHM-movement during the late eighties. I remember buying the rather suspect sampler “The Devil’s Carrion” on vinyl for as little as five dollars, and also recall how impressed I was with the quality of the songs. Continue reading
Herzel is a new band from the region of Brittany in France, and like most good French acts, they use their native language. Their first demo, “Unis Dans La Gloire” was released earlier this year, and we invited one of the guitarists in the band, Kevin Le Vern to shed a little light on the history of Herzel as well as the recent developments in the band in the wake of the demo-release. Continue reading
1. IRONSWORD ”None But The Brave” (Shadow Kingdom)
– First impression: Very good, but better than their two last masterpieces? I don’t think so.
2. RAVENSIRE “Rehearsal Demo 2015”
– Out of the blue. A raw demo recorded pretty much live in the studio. Three strong songs in the vein of the material on “We March Forward”.
So far, the highlight of 2015 when it comes to epic doom metal, surely belongs to Crypt Sermon. What this Philadelphia-based quintet has achieved on their first full length release, “Out Of The Garden”, is nothing but impressive. Metal Squadron got in conctact with guitarist Steve Jansson to get more information on the band and the new album. Continue reading
Two songs might be all we’ve heard so far, but when they’re so damn good as “The Horror” and “Satan’s Hallow” are, the expectations are immediately raised. So far, the two tracks are only available through Bandcamp, but they are soon to be released both on tape and 7” through Sword & Chains and Underground Power respectively.
Continue reading
I hope some of you took the time to read the first part of this special about the newly released split featuring Eternal Champion and Gatekeeper. This second part focuses on the the Canadians in Gatekeeper. Judged by the quality of the new material on this release as well as the forthcoming split with Funeral Circle, the guys have taken huge strides since we last caught up with them here at Metal Squadron, when the EP “Prophecy And Judgement” was released. As always, guitarist Jeff Black is the one answering our questions, and you can always count on him putting his heart into it. Continue reading
Similar to the feature I did when Convixion and Wrathblade released their split-EP “Alive Aftershock” via Eat Metal towards the end of 2013, I decided to hook up with Eternal Champion and Gatekeeper to discuss both bands contribution to the recently released “Retaliator/Vigilance”-split on No Remorse Records. This first part, focuses on Eternal Champion, and all the questions are answered by singer Jason Tarpey. Continue reading
Sorcerer is a band whose name brings tears of sentimentality to many the eyes of many fans of underground doom metal from the late eighties and early nineties. The band released a couple of demo tapes that left its mark on the scene and has been kept alive by rereleases and new and upcoming acts namedropping the band. In 2010 the band reunited, with singer Anders Engberg and bass player Johnny Hagel on board to the Hammer Of Doom-festival in Germany. Continue reading
It’s early days, but Sacral Rage might well be the underground heavy metal sensation of 2015. Even though the quartet showed great promise with their EP “Deadly Bits Of Iron Fragments” released back in 2013, the brand new full length, titled “Ilusions In Infinite Void”, due out at the end of this month through Cruz Del Sur is even more intricate and mature. Continue reading
Alongside the established acts that we featured quite a few of lately, the main idea behind Metal Squadron is to give exposure to new and upcoming acts. Having only released a promo tape containing two tracks, Australia’s Teuton is probably a new acquaintance to many, but judging from the quality of the material, the band, featuring a couple of members currently also in Outcast, needs to be followed. Singer and guitarist Jake gives you everything you need to know about this promising act. Continue reading
1. SACRAL RAGE “Illusions In Infinite Void” (Cruz Del Sur)
– Riffs and vocals straight out of the US school of metal. The best Greek band ever! Interview coming very soon.
2. SORCERER “In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross” (Metal Blade)
– High quality power doom with superb vocals. Interview coming soon! Continue reading
I’ve done several features on Enforcer for Scream Magazine, the last one, done around the time of the release of the last album, “Death By Fire”, turned out to be a pretty extensive interview, spread out over three pages in the February-issue back in 2013. Why am I mentioning this? Just because if you miss something in this brand new feature, it’s most likely because I’ve covered it before. So, the main focus here is “From Beyond”, the brand new album. Nevertheless, singer and nowadays also guitarist, Olof Wikstrand turned up pretty inspired for this chat, resulting in an article well worth reading for old and new fans of the Swedish quintet. Continue reading
While everyone seems to be waiting in anticipation for the new album by Sacral Rage, the debut album from War Dance, in a completely different style of course, is also slowly drawing some attention. “Wrath For The Ages” has been out on the reliable Eat Metal records for a few weeks now, and we got in touch with guitarist and main songwriter Tassos Pananoudakis to get some more information on this act. Continue reading
So, Visigoth turns out to be the first band featured twice with an interview here at Metal Squadron. As we go into our second year of existence, I guess it’s just natural that a few acts that we have featured before, pops up again. While the band had just released the cool EP “The Final Spell”,when we last featured them, they’ve now taken a step further and is ready to unleash their first full length releases onto the masses. We hooked up with singer Jake Rogers to get all the essential details on Visigoth’s Metal Blade debut. Enjoy! Continue reading
It’s been a turbulent three decades years for Colorado’s Satan’s Host. After the cult classic ”Metal From Hell” (1986) the band dissolved to fade into obscurity before guitarist Patrick Evil resurrected the band in the late 1990’s to churn out some pretty extreme black metal albums for the next decade to come. Following the unexpected return of original singer Harry Conklin in 2010 Satan’s Host again chose the left hand path and have released three slabs of death/black metal style music held together by Conklin’s clean but powerful air raid siren. Continue reading
So, yet another year has passed, and it’s time to look back and reflect on what was. In this first of two parts where I look back at 2014, I will focus on Metal Squadron. Part 2 will dwell around the year in metal, with of course, my top 15 list for the year that is soon coming to an end. Continue reading
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