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COVER STORY
STORY OF THE YEAR: Dan Marsala is attempting to act as gangster as possible. So far, the straight edge vocalist doesn’t sound very convincing. Marsala continues to argue that point otherwise and will soon be ready to hit the road with his bandmates — lead guitarist Ryan Phillips, rhythm guitarist Philip Sneed, bassist Adam Russell, and drummer Josh Wills — for the 2008 edition of the Warped Tour. It couldn’t arrive at a better time, because the melodic quintet is in the midst of promoting their third studio album, The Black Swan.
The new record has an assortment of melodically heavy sing-alongs, like “The Antidote,” “Tell Me (P.A.C.),” and the leadoff single “Wake Up.” There is even a hardcore stomp on the political “Welcome to Our New War.” But The Black Swan isn’t just a carnival of aggression. Periodically, tender compositions break up the extreme vigor during “The Message” and “We’re Not Gonna Make It.” By the sounds of it, Story of the Year is feeling the best they ever have. Maybe that’s why Marsala feels so gangster.
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
PROTEST THE HERO: At the age of 13, five guys from suburban Ontario decided to pick up some instruments in the hope of emulating their favorite Southern Californian punk bands. Nine years later, the same five guys have unleashed Fortress, an epic collection of complex progressive and technical metal saturated with brutality, powerful melodies, and breathtaking invention. Disillusioned by the general stagnancy of the heavy music scene, vocalist Rody Walker takes some time to fill us in on the new record, the state of technical musicianship in the underground today, and their intent to avoid adding to the plethora of sound-alike metal bands out there.
CHILDREN OF BODOM: Bristling with a punk energy and otherworldly technical chops, Children of Bodom’s latest disc Blooddrunk is a masterwork of everything these Finns do so well. From the explosive opening of “Hellhounds on My Trail” to the blinding “Roadkill Morning,” there is barely a moment of peace as the band charges through a maelstrom of thrashy riffs, virtuoso solos, and ravaging vocals. Vocalist and guitar whiz Alexi Laiho offers his thoughts on the band’s sixth studio release and what keeps Children of Bodom going strong.
SOILENT GREEN: Sludge death monster Soilent Green is back with Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction, their most powerful and heartfelt collection to date. Now entering their 20th year, the New Orleans band’s path has been anything but obstacle free, and over the course of their career they’ve been through multiple disasters and tragedies. We caught up with guitarist Brian Patton to get the lowdown on the new record and to gain an insight into how the band kept going despite the seemingly endless shitstorm they have weathered over the years.
TERROR is unequivocally one of the biggest hardcore bands in the world. Terror is a band that walks it like they talk it and never makes a bad album—always in your face, always intense beyond belief, and always delivering the goods to their legion of fans. New disc The Damned, The Shamed is another impeccably written and recorded firestorm of hardcore rabidity, and one can tell from talking to vocalist Scott Vogel that he knows it.
SHAI HULUD: After leaving fans of emotionally evocative, thrillingly brutal, bloody heart pinned to sleeve underground music to wander for five long years across the vast expanses of a milquetoast metallic hardcore desert, Shai Hulud has returned with a near-perfect collection of vengeance anthems on Misanthropy Pure. “A delay of five years between records is asinine,” guitarist Matthew Fox admits.
GOLDFINGER: While many of his music peers have called it quits or lost their relevance, John Feldmann keeps stepping up to the plate. Hello Destiny epitomizes Goldfinger’s epic journey and represents the band finally coming full circle. With this one, they’re back to the old-school with their original sound, original artwork, and the return of Charlie Paulson. Rest assured, however, this is no step backward. This is Goldfinger, older, wiser, and just as wild.
STICK TO YOUR GUNS: Though just as sonically aggressive as other bands in the melodic hardcore scene, Stick to Your Guns brings an open armed message of hope instead of the cathartic exorcism of frustration and anger. With the positive outlook of Comes from the Heart, drummer Casey Lagos is anxious to hit the road and bring Stick Your Guns’ high-spirited brand of heaviness to the masses.
VALIENT THORR is here to change the world. Really. Immortalizer is a tour de force of heavy riffs, addictive grooves, and full on positive vibes. And did we mention that they are from the planet Venus? Taking some time out from ensuring the prolonged existence of the human race while curing the ills that plague society, vocalist Valient Himself gives us the goods on the band’s interplanetary history, the upsides to not fitting into any specific genre, and that all-important plan to save us all.
FEATURED INTERVIEWS
MISERY SIGNALS
MEANS
TESTAMENT
IN FLAMES
TAKE THE CROWN
36 CRAZYFISTS
BORIS
AT THE SOUNDAWN
SECTIONS
SHOTFIRE: Architects, Dragonforce, Evergreen Terrace, The Red Chord
LIVE: Facedown Fest, From First to Last
TOUR JOURNAL: All That Remains
LAST SHOT: The Bled
BATTLE OF THE BANDS: Win your band a $25,000 record deal!
+ OVER 140 NEW MUSIC REVIEWS: Alive in Wild Paint, American Me, Another Day Late, Arsis, At the Soundawn, Awaken Demons, The Bangkok Five, Beat Union, The Bellrays, Belphegor, Birds of Prey, Blacklisted, Blackstrap, Black Tide, Boris, Broadcast Sea, Burning Skies, The Cast Pattern, Cataract, Cavalera Conspiracy, Children of Bodom, Cholera, Dark Fortress, Deicide, D'espairsray, A Different Breed of Killer, Disfear, Divinity, The Dodos, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Eyes Set to Kill, For Today, From First to Last, Goldfinger, Good Riddance, Greely Estates, Heaven Shall Burn, In Flames, Ivoryline, Jucifer, Kataklysm, Kingston Falls, Korpikaani, Kreator, Less Than Jake, Man Man, Midnight Juggernauts, Ministry, The Morning Light, Mychildren, Mybride, Nasum, Nine Inch Nails, The Old Haunts, Once Nothing, Opeth, Origin, Ours, Pennywise, The Pharmacy, Plague Bringer, P.O.D., Polar Bear Club, PPT, The Republic Tigers, The Russian Circles, Secret & Whisper, Sevendust, Shai Hulud, Shy Child, Soilent Green, Stick to Your Guns, Story of the Year, Take the Crown, Testament, Thrice, The Ting Tings, Tripping Horse, Under the Flood, Unearth, Unearthly Trance, Vvervvolf Grehv, Witch, and more!
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