THE SWILL: More Michigan metal

Posted on August 16, 2017 by leifkringen

Seemingly out of nowhere came Michigan’s The Swill and surprised both me and others with their excellent second EP “Master of Delusion”. As the CD-version of this EP, done by Dystopian Dogs, also included the band’s debut EP, “Thirst For Misery”, it became obvious that The Swill were certainly not newcomers. As I guess I am not the only one who didn’t follow the band from the very first steps, this interview with guitarist Dan McCormick tries to catch up with the history of the band as well as celebrating the release of the impressive,brand new EP. Continue reading →

WALPYRGUS: Weird, funny and creepy

Posted on August 3, 2017 by leifkringen

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Metal Squadron was one of the first, if not the first, to feature Walpyrgus, back when their demo was first released on tape through Swords & Chains. Some time ago I was contacted by Sure Shot who does promotion for Cruz Del Sur, the band’s label nowadays, but as this happened around the time I had strong doubts about the future of this webzine, nothing came out of it. When I contacted Scott Waldrop some months later, I have to admit that I didn’t expect such an inspired feature as this one became. After all, he had already chatted to quite a few different medias when this interview materialized. As you can see for yourself, Scott did an excellent job answering my questions in an honest way, and I tried to get him to speak about some stuff that hasn’t already been covered to death in previous features. Enjoy! Continue reading →

BELOW: In the best Swedish tradition

Posted on July 9, 2017 by leifkringen

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Sweden has a long and rich history when it comes to epic, melodic doom metal. I don’t have to educate you about Candlemass of course, but lesser known bands as Sorcerer and Memory Garden, amongst others, are also part of the tradition. Below are a newer band carrying the same torch, first with the release of “Across The Dark River” back in 2014, and following it up with “Upon A Pale Horse”, their second for Metal Blade, released back in May this year. Continue reading →

NIGHT DEMON: We play shit that we like

Posted on May 28, 2017 by leifkringen

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With the release of “Darkness Remains”, Night Demon should be able to please most of those who enjoyed “Curse Of The Damned”, the band’s debut album from 2015. Jarvis Leatherby and his companions still deal in strongly NWOBHM-based metal performed with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. While the new album is the main talking point, Jarvis also lets us in on life on the road as well as his involvement in Jaguar and Cirith Ungol. Continue reading →

HOLY MARTYR: The whole story

Posted on May 11, 2017 by leifkringen

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After a long period of silence, it’s almost six years since “Invincible” was released, Holy Martyr cement their place as one of the most reliable Italian bands nowadays with the release of the concept album “Darkness Shall Prevail”. This particular feature, based on no less than four different interviews done with the band throughout the years, the first one back in 2002 and the last one in March this year, should be one of the very best sources of information on Holy Martyr out there. Grab a cup of coffee, and put everything aside while you let guitarist Ivano Spiga guide you through the history of Holy Martyr.

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TRIAL (swe): Always in motion

Posted on April 20, 2017 by leifkringen

The new album from Sweden’s Trial, “Motherless”, is one of those releases that will create mixed opinions among the people who enjoyed their stellar 2015-release “Vessel”. It’s certainly more on the experimental side of things, and I guess the fact that I haven’t fully made up my mind about it, suggest that it isn’t the easiest to digest. I guess only time will tell how good an album “Motherless” is. Last time I did something on Trial, I spoke to Andreas Johnsson, and he told me that my interview object this time around, the band’s other guitarist, Alexander Ellström, was partly responsible for him playing guitar in the first place. Continue reading →

CHEVALIER:Bringing back the power and energy

Posted on March 26, 2017 by leifkringen

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As long as there is some quality involved, bands that stick out by doing something different, have a good chance of being featured here at Metal Squadron. Finland’s Chevalier is one of those bands, as their newly released, so far digital-only, demo “A Call To Arms” features raw speed metal, pretty fresh and original song writing and a fitting minimalistic production. I caught up with guitarist and main songwriter Tommi to get the details on this newly formed, Helsinki-based act. Continue reading →

EZRA BROOKS: A vision of arcane heavy metal

Posted on March 9, 2017 by leifkringen

When musicians decide to do something slightly different within the frames of traditional metal, it usually catches my interest. Ezra Brooks, a solo adventure by S. Vincent, based in Toronto, Canada, really appealed to me, more or less upon first listen. The unpolished production, the cool riffs and solos, and the rather limited, but yet cool vocals all worked quite well. Since I first heard the demo material about half a year ago, the songs have been remastered, an extra track added and the material released on CD via Barbarian Wrath. “Target” is one of the more original sounding releases in our field so far this year, and more than interesting enough for me to hook up with Vincent for for some much needed info on this project. Continue reading →

HÜRLEMENT: Positive energy and unity

Posted on February 27, 2017 by leifkringen

After a somewhatmediocre debut released back in 2009, Hürlement from Paris in France showed real signs of improvement with the follow up “Terreur Et Tourment”from 2013. Fast forward another four years, and the band is ready with their third full length release, “La Mort Sera Belle”, another fine album destined to appeal to everyone into honest, classic heavy metal in the vein of Running Wild and Manowar. I got in touch with singer Alexis who put a real effort in to shed some light on both the history of the band as well as the brand new album, out since early January on Emanes Metal. Continue reading →

ATTACKER: An improved band

Posted on February 17, 2017 by leifkringen

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I did an interview with Attacker when they released their excellent album “Giants Of Canaan” early in 2013. When the new one, “Sins Of The World” arrived and proved to be just as good, the need to do a more indepth article on the band with main songwriter Michael Benetatos felt really strong. After a couple of weeks with questions and answers bouncing back an forth between us, with Michael doing and oustanding job, this feature has finally come to its conclusion. It’s an indepth article focusing of course, on the period since Michael joined the band back in 2001 with emphasis on the last two albums, both releases being among the very best metal albums released in this millenium. Continue reading →

VULTURES VENGEANCE: A personal sound

Posted on January 13, 2017 by leifkringen

After the really promising demo “Rising”, Italy’s Vultures Vengeance secured a deal With Gates Of Hell Records and released the mini album “Where The Time Dwelt In” last October. It took some time to finish this interview, but in the end, all band members contributed to what can be viewed as a follow up to the chat we had back when the band first sprang onto the scene. Continue reading →

ETERNAL CHAMPION: Not driven by praise

Posted on November 29, 2016 by leifkringen

A lot of the background and history of Eternal Champion were covered in the first and second interview we did with the guys. This Third one could and probably should, have been published earlier, but singer Jason Tarpey is a busy guy, and it has been a tough couple of months for me as well, not being able to devote as much time as I like to the site. However, patience is always rewarded, and here is chance to get some information on “The Armor Of Ire”, clearly one of the very best releases of 2016. Continue reading →

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