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By Andrew Bansal

Long Beach CA hardcore punk veterans Final Conflict were one of the innovators of the genre back when they started in 1983, and have more or less continued along the path for the past three decades. Recently, they sprung into action making appearances at various festival gigs, and put out a reissue of their iconic 1988 debut album ‘Ashes To Ashes’ via Oakland-based DIY label Tankcrimes Records. They’ve also been confirmed to participate in the Breakdown Fest at Los Globos in Los Angeles, slated to take place August 15-17, with Final Conflict scheduled to appear on the final day. Last month, I had a pleasant and insightful chat with vocalist Ron Martinez to discuss this reissue in detail, along with a few other things. Read the conversation below. Continue reading “Final Conflict Frontman Talks ‘Ashes To Ashes’ Reissue + More”

Interview by Avinash Mittur

Midnight Chaser is a band that waves the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal flag through their music but with an American 70s hard rock twist, starting out in Pittsburgh PA, moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, and now having decided to move back to Pittsburgh. They released their second full-length album ‘Lion’s Choice’ a couple of months ago, and just performed at the Old Town Pub in Pasadena last night as part of a West Coast tour. Our LA resident yet SF Bay Area metal expert Avinash Mittur conducted interviews with the band in two parts, in San Francisco in November 2013 and last night. Read the in-depth conversation below. Continue reading “In-depth Interview With Midnight Chaser”

By Andrew Bansal

Los Angeles-based extreme metal trio Harassor have been the city’s epitome of subversive music for the past dozen years, and continuing on with their destructive, unrelenting brand of musicianship, they recently released their new full-length album ‘Into Unknown Depths’, a record that justifies its title and reaches further than Harassor have ever done before. On July 17th, they put on a typically skullcrushing performance at Complex in Glendale, for a show featuring a four-pronged lineup of great bands put together by Church Of The 8th Day and Thee Static Age. Before the show, I sat down with all three members of Harassor, namely Pete Majors (vocals), James L Brown III (guitar) and Sandor GF (drums) for a detailed chat. Read the conversation below. Continue reading “Delving Into Unknown Depths: A Detailed Conversation With Harassor”

By Andrew Bansal

Besides his classic tunes and theatrics, shock rock legend Alice Cooper has always had a reputation of recruiting greatly talented musicians to partake in his band, and when it comes to the live show, which is by no means solely reliant on the theatrical aspect alone, the musical abilities of his band members are of huge importance. Los Angeles-based guitarist Nita Strauss, previously known for her involvement in world famous all-female Iron Maiden tribute band The Iron Maidens along with acts such as Femme Fatale, Critical Hit and several others, is the newest to tackle the challenge of living up to the Alice Cooper band’s legacy and is currently scorching stages with them across the North American continent. Yesterday (Thursday July 31st), I had a chat with her over the phone and talked about all things Alice Cooper. Enjoy the conversation below. Continue reading “Guitarist Nita Strauss Talks All Things Alice Cooper”

Interview by Jason Williams

Based out of Los Angeles, Our Own Accord is a metal quintet that blends a variety of styles and sub-genres into their sound and appeal to a broad range of metalheads. They recently participated in the Orange County stop of the annual Summer Slaughter tour as one of the local openers on the second stage at the Observatory in Santa Ana, on July 18th 2014, and our man Jason Williams caught up with vocalist Alex Gray and guitarist Julian Batisda before the show to give us an insight into the band’s history, music and future plans. Continue reading “An Introduction To LA Metal Band Our Own Accord”

Interview by Jason Williams

Rapidly rising Italian symphonic extreme metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse recently concluded the ‘Conquerors Of The World’ North American tour, a co-headlining run with Greek extreme metal force Septicflesh and support acts Black Crown Initiate and Necronomicon. The band put on a typically fiery performance at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip last Tuesday July 8th, and our man Jason Williams was on site to cover the show for us. He sat down with vocalist/guitarist after the end of Fleshgod’s set for a detailed one-on-one conversation. Extreme metal fans, read the interview below and introduce yourself to the righteousness of Fleshgod Apocalypse. Continue reading “In-depth Interview With Tommaso Riccardi Of Fleshgod Apocalypse”