TRAVELER: The world needs another Riot

Posted on February 3, 2019 by leifkringen

Traveler was featured here at Metal Squadron less than a year ago when their superb demo was released. Things have happened really fast for Matt Ries and Jean-Pierre Abboud since they recorded the demo tunes. A record deal is in place, the lineup completed and the band is already confirmed for some prestigous underground fests. Have Matt simply followed along with all the stuff happening to the band, or has he had to put on the brakes somewhere in the process? Continue reading →

SACRAL RAGE: Attracted to paranoia

Posted on November 22, 2018 by leifkringen

With the stellar first full length, “Illusions In Infinite Void”, Sacral Rage from Athens, Greece showed that they can provide competition for absolutely everyone out there. Their brand new album, “Beyond Celestial Echoes” is more or less of thee same sky high quality, and I needed to get in contact with singer Dimitris K. once again. I take for granted that you still have strong feeling for “Illusions In Infinite Void”, but do you sometimes go back and listen to your first EP, “Deadly Bits of Iron Fragments” as well? Continue reading →

GATEKEEPER: Pushing creative boundaries

Posted on April 15, 2018 by leifkringen

As we have already covered the early days in not only one, but two previous interviews, it felt natural to catch up with the happenings after the split Gatekeeper did with Eternal Champion in March 2015. To help us out, we got Geoff as usual, but new singer Jean-Pierre, who is also Geoff’s roommate, filled in on some of our questions. 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 →

DARK FOREST: Into the other world

Posted on August 12, 2016 by leifkringen

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I’ve covered Dark Forest before, both when “Dawn Of Infinity” and “The Awakening” were released. The result of those two email-conversations can be read here. Even though Christian Horton is one of those musicians that put a lot of effort into his answers when he does interviews via the internet, I really wanted to speak to him personally this time in an old school phone interview. Christian accepted, and here you can read the result of our hour long chat about past, present and future in the Dark Forest-camp. The main focus however, is the brand new album “Beyond The Veil”, to be released through Cruz Del Sur towards the end of this month. Continue reading →

RAVENSIRE: Unleashing the beast

Posted on February 5, 2016 by leifkringen

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For me, personally, “The Cycle Never Ends” is one of the most anticipated heavy metal releases of 2016. I love the raw, barbaric sounds of Ravensire, and I thought the songwriting on their previous effort “We March Forward” was rock solid. So good in fact, that I awarded the album with a 85/100 rating here at Metal Squadron, which in turn led to a place on my top five-list for 2013. So, is the new album worth the wait and the anticipation? For sure, “The Cycle Never Ends” is another highlight of pure and crushing heavy metal, at least as good as it’s predecessor. Guitarist and main songwriter Nuno Mordred was happy to answer all our questions.

Continue reading →

MAGISTER TEMPLI: “We want to sound underground”

Posted on August 25, 2015 by leifkringen

The statistics really speak for themselves. So far I’ve done something like a hundred interviews for Metal Squadron, and Magister Templi is only the second one conducted with a Norwegian band. Okay, so a real traditional metal scene never existed in this country, apart from a few bands during the eighties, but seeing how our neighbours in Sweden produce one great band after the other, its really a mystery why something decent can’t come out of Norway anymore. Magister Templi has already shown a lot of promise with their first few releases, the EP “Iao Sabao!” and the full length “Lucifer Leviathan Logos”, but their brand new one “Into Duat” is definitely a step up in my opinion.
Continue reading →

SACRAL RAGE: Songs like illusions

Posted on March 10, 2015 by leifkringen

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 →

PLAYLIST: Week 9

Posted on March 1, 2015 by leifkringen

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 →

VISIGOTH: Heavy metal with a human element

Posted on February 1, 2015 by leifkringen

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 →

MAUSOLEUM GATE: Heavy metal with seventies influences

Posted on October 16, 2014 by leifkringen

Finland’s Mausoleum Gate is the latest in a line of bands trying to do their own thing rather than just copying the NWOBHM, which has already been the flavor of the month, for some time now. Their self titled, debut album has just been unleashed onto the metalheads longing for some really obscure metal influenced by acts from both the seventies and eighties. We spoke to guitarist Count La Fey about most things related to Mausoleum Gate. In short: the past, present and future. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Playlist: Week 25

Posted on June 19, 2014 by leifkringen

1. DEMON BITCH “Death Is Hanging…” (Dying Victims)

– So far only available on tape.Not that far away from the sound of fellow Detroit-outfit Borrowed Time. Unique vocals and a nod to bands like Mercyful Fate and Helstar too. Four really cool songs!

2. STONE DAGGER “The Siege Of Jerusalem” (Electric Assault)

– With the release of this 7″ inch, finally the tape can get some rest. One of the most promising new epic metal bands for a long time. Believe the hype!