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By Andrew Bansal

Veteran photographers Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen have put together a fantastic 272-page photo book titled “Murder In The Front Row: Shots From The Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter”, which consists of more than 400 pictures that give you a feel of what Bay Area thrash scene was like in its embryonic stages. The book has already received unanimous praise from the biggest names in the genre, and is undoubtedly a worthwhile item for all fans.  Continue reading “Interview: Brian Lew Discusses “Murder In The Front Row” Photo Book (Audio)”

By Andrew Bansal

Brooklyn-based hardcore trio Vise Massacre are set to release their debut full-length album “Expendable Humans” on January 10th 2012. I reviewed the album yesterday, and I’m already a huge fan of it. As a result, I immediately jumped on the first opportunity to talk to guitarist/vocalist Rich Muller to discuss this album, among a few other things. And just like the music on this album, his answers were short, precise and to-the-point. Continue reading “Interview: Vise Massacre’s Rich Muller Discusses Debut Full-Length”

By Andrew Bansal

Led by frontman Ken Sorceron’s forward-thinking and ambitious approach, Los Angeles-based extreme metal band Abigail Williams have never shied away from experimenting and attempting new things each time they’ve stepped into the studio. They’ve done it yet again with the new album “Becoming”, through which they’ve broken new ground and found themselves pursuing a musical style they hadn’t touched before. This album, set to release in the US on January 24th via Candlelight Records, is the band’s darkest, most intricate, and most compelling musical composition till date. Continue reading “Interview: Abigail Williams Frontman Talks About New Album, Recent Mayhem Tour”

By Andrew Bansal

People often ask me, “What’s your favorite interview from among the ones you did lately?” So I figured, I should make a list of my favorite interviews of the year. As compared to the other three lists I did so far this year, this one was the hardest, by a long way.

In terms of interviews, 2011 has been a frustrating year for me. Quite a few of my confirmed interviews didn’t happen as scheduled. It was either due to incompetent tour managers or simply because of musicians acting unprofessionally and blowing me off for no apparent reason. As a result, the number of interviews I did this year was far lesser than the 439 I did in 2010. Nonetheless, this year to date I’ve done 381, which is still a lot, and I enjoyed each and every one of them. Hence choosing 20 favorite ones from these was by no means an easy task. The following are what I came up with as my favorite, in order from #20 to #1. I’ve also included the interview links in case you wanted to check them out. Continue reading “20 Favorite Interviews Of 2011”

By Andrew Bansal

Swedish death metal veterans Grave have been around for more than 25 years, and frontman Ola Lindgren has stood tall amidst line-up changes and a brief hiatus to keep the band going, and stay more or less true to the old-school death metal style through which they initially gained popularity in the early 90s. Their latest album “Burial Ground” came out in late 2010, an album which perfectly exemplifies this musical style. Right before the band prepared to write material for the next album, they decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album “Into The Grave” by playing it in its entirety first in Europe, and then in North America. Continue reading “Interview: Grave Frontman Talks About “Into The Grave” 20th Anniversary Tour, Next Album, Solo Project (Audio)”

By Andrew Bansal

Vreid are one of the very few Norwegian black metal bands that express themselves purely on the strength of their music, and not by the use of Satanic gimmicks. They have been around for 8 years now, and have been quite prolific at releasing new music regularly, having put out five studio albums already. Their music is an intriguing combination of black metal and rock ‘n roll, and the lyrics are mostly based on war-like concepts. They employed the Norwegian language for a good chunk of the lyrics in the past, but in the latest album “V”, they have shifted completely to English. Continue reading “Interview: Vreid Bassist Discusses North American Tour, Hurricane Irene Experience (Audio)”