From Wales comes Paraskenia. A metal band that released with "When Darkness Falls" their debut single. An interview with singer Lee David Bowen who likes to traverse the worlds of opera, musical and metal. 

​Now you sing with Paraskenia next to opera/classical repertoire (and musical) also metal. What was there first: your interest in opera/classical music or your interest in pop/hardrock/metal?
As a teenager I was a massive metal fan and loved anything to do with Iron Maiden.  My favourite albums being Powerslave, Iron Maiden [their self titled debut] and Killers.  Halloween's Keeper of the Severn Keys Part one & two were also favourites of mine for the drama and storytelling.  I was lucky enough to see both these bands live during the 80's and 90's.

Growing up in Wales, "The Land of Song", I was also introduced to classical music at a young age and the first opera I saw was WNO's production of Tosca with its powerful opening had me hooked.

What are the technical differences for you between singing opera and metal?
The style of Paraskenia's music allows me to sing in the same way for both metal and opera.  I believe that good technique and building stamina are integral in both styles.  Having worked as a principal in the West End in The Phantom of the Opera. where we performed 8 shows a week and with many major Opera companies in the UK, I believe I have a good stamina so I'm not pushing my voice.

Do you need to take special care when singing metal (with amplified instruments). Do you (have to) take special measures to protect your voice?
It's all about good technique and not pushing the voice.  Also the other members of Paraskenia are knowledgeable musicians and understand the nature of both classical and metal singing.  Gareth Long on keyboards is an operatic bass (touring with Scottish opera at the moment).

Before any performance whether classical or metal I try to get plenty of rest and avoid alcohol.  I also find meditation and yoga really beneficial.

4. There is perhaps a tendency to held pop/rock music, from an artistic point of view, in less higher esteem than opera/classical music. How does that work for you? How do you value both? And do you encounter any prejudices against pop/rockmusic in your own classical music environment?
I haven't really come across much prejudice in the classical music world and generally find that most musicians appreciate all good quality music even if its not to their particular taste.  

5. What are your favorite singers? (Any genre possible.)
Bruce Dickenson (Iron Maiden),  Siegfried Jerusalem, Simon O'Neil, Sir Bryn Terfel and Stuart Burrows. 
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Paraskenia:
Lee Bowen – Vocals
Gareth Long – Keyboards
Andy Slade – Lead Guitar
Richard Emanuel – Rhythm Guitar
Ben Thomas  –  Bass Guitar
Ceiran Jenkins –  Drums

. What is the story (if there is one) behind the name Lelahell?
Lelahel (with one 'l' letter in the end) is an angel of the zodiac exercising dominion over love, art, science and fortune. We appeal to this being of light for good luck and good fortune. We added an 'l' because there is already an Italian rock band named Lelahel, and Lelahel is also my nickname so to make a difference between them I added a second 'l' in the end of Lelahel.
 
2. On both your albums you are telling the story of Abderrahmane. What lies at the root of this character? (e.g. religion, mythology, folk stories, real life events etc.)  
Each Lelahell release is conceptually linked to the character of Abderrahmane, yet focusing on another evolutionary step—another chapter in his own book. In the lyrics of our first EP "Al Intihar" Abderrahmane is tired of his own life full of constraints, so he commits suicide. Our first album "Al Insane... the (Re)Birth of Aberrahmane" deals with his rebirth. Our new album "Alif" is now focusing on Abderrahmane's first steps in his new life, just like a child learning to speak, walk, learning about the world around him. Yet this is full of foes and fears, that's why Abderrahmane needs to save himself from those dangers.
The root of that character is a pure fiction!
 
3. Is there a special reason why you choose to write your lyrics from the perspective of Abderrahmane? (What  inspires the band the most when it comes to writing lyrics?)
Abderrahmane is the name of my father (R.I.P) and my son. When it comes to writing lyrics we get our inspiration from our past experience, our daily life and everything around us (nature, society …)
 
4. What are your main motivations to play this kind of music (death metal)?
The main motivation is we like that sound, we like the sound of the guitars, we like the fast rhythms and the guttural vocals!  

5. What musician / bands made you wanted to play music yourself? What bands are of the biggest influence on your music?
The biggest influence is the old school death metal scene with bands such as: Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Death and more …

6. Is there a metal scene in Algeria? And if so, what is it alike? (Does is know subgenres? If so, which of the subgenres are most popular?)
The metal scene in Algeria isn’t as new as people imagine, it exists since almost 3 decades. I’m one of the formers of that scene, and one of the last active survivors!
When we started in the early 90’s it was really difficult because we were the firsts, there was no models to follow, no experienced musicians to ask, no references,  but we were very ambitious  and motivated . Some years after in the mid 90’s it was the golden era of the Algerian Metal, a lot of bands were formed, a lot of people in the concerts, full support from government, … But 10 years later a lot of commercial musical styles appeared in Algeria, and the authorities were not supporting that music anymore because it was something ‘non’ conventional and ‘occidental’ so it was really difficult to find venues for that music and a lot of musicians have stopped playing because they approached the 30’s and preferred to focus on their life (job, marriage,…).
In 2018, things have changed. There are some new promising bands that were formed and have made some interesting releases, there are also more concerts but not enough, we are trying to change things with government to get more access to the venues, and why not create a big international festival! 
The most popular subgenre in Heavy Metal are Death Metal  and Thrash Metal.
 
7. What is the writing dynamic among members of the band (does only one person write the songs or is song writing more a band effort)? Does each band member bring their own specific influences or are all the band members into the exact same music?
I’m the only one who writes the music and lyrics. The band started first as a one man band, it is the right method since the begining of Lelahell, and maybe it will change for the future.

8. Lelahell's music has influences of Algerian folk music. Does the band (its members) have more influences outside metal?
We all listen to different music than metal, but we don’t use it in the music of Lelahell, we just add some folk scales and rhythms!

9. How do you see your own musical development? Are there musical areas that you still want to explore?
For the future we will focus more on the music itself, I mean the arrangements and the interaction between the instruments. We will add new sounds to the music of Lelahell. Stay in touch and you will see!
 
10. Do you believe that music (and heavy metal in particular) can be more than just entertainment? Can it be a force that can change things for the good on a larger scale? (Music as a mean that can raise awareness about, for instance, political and environmental issues.)
There are many people that consider it as more than an entertainment; it is a way of life in certain regions like Finland, Norway or Sweden.

Bonus question: do you have any specific goals in mind for the band (besides world domination of course)?
Our main goal is to create something in the music that people will remember it for a long time, for example a new sound or maybe a different way to play the music, or a new concept, or I don’t know something different.

LELAHELL's latest output, ALIF, is a follow-up to their debut All Insane ... The (re)birth of Abderrahmane.  ALIF tells the story, in music and lyrics (in English, French and Arabic), of Abderrahmane. A man who takes his first steps in his new life, like a child that has to learn to speak (again), to walk and has to learn about the world around him.  A world that harbours many dangers. 

With PARAMNESIA the album opens in kick-start mode and takes the listener from there. Caught in a desert storm of fiery riffs, with references in rhythm and melody, to Algerian folk music, the death metal of the Algerian combo massages the ears and cleanses, like good metal should, the soul from everyday's weariness. If the music on ALIF gives us any indication of the way Abderrahmane deals with the dangers he encounters we can consider the third track of the album, the contemplative instrumental THOU SHALT NOT KILL,  an aural depiction of a resolution made in vain.

ALIF contains aggressive and violent music, packed in tight instrumentation. The folkore references   (e.g. the intro of INSIRAF / MARTYR) bring colour in a musical world of black and grey and are used freely and thoughtfully. The result is always organic and adds significantly to the energy of the music. This is  heavy metal world music, one cannot help thinking of Max Cavalera's Soulfly, that leaves an ironclad groove in your brain every time you listen to it. And although the vocals stick to a staccato / hardcore grunt most of the time, the music contains a rich array of melody.  
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ALIF is knuckle sandwich death metal that comes with a lot of atmosphere. When we arrive at the last track, the instrumental IMPUNITY OF THE MUTANTS, we await a album-closener that sounds like an accumulation of everything that has passed us by in the nine previous tracks. It leaves us with the feeling (whether we were able to follow the lyrics or not) that we have been through a lot. That we've witnessed a story that came with an urge - as if it fought its way out to the world. A story that is not only  most pleasant to listen to but that is also worth telling. 

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LELAHELL:

RECORDING LINE UP for ALIF : 
Redouane Aouameur :  Guitars/Bass and Vocals
Hannes Grosmann : (ex-Necrophagist ex-Obscura, Alkaloid, Blotted Science): Drums

ACTUAL LINE UP:
Redouane Aouameur : Guitars and Vocals
Ramzi Curse : Bass
Slave Blaster: Drums  

ALIF by LELAHELL on Bandcamp >> 

Interview with Redouane Aouameur >>

London is calling from the crypt. No stranger to the music of Wagner, Strauss and Bruckner, British band Hex Morbidity deliver their black metal with a strong taste for melancholy. Their latest release entitled “Decree of the Nazarene” comes  with a lyric video that is available to view now.

As often the beating of the dark wings of romantism feels like a breath of fresh air. Enjoy!

Line-up:
Jarod Lawley - vocals and guitar
Torbjørn Jørstad - guitar
Demitri Levantis - drums
Arianna Mahsayeh - cello
Desirèe Catena - bass 

https://www.hexmorbidity.com/

​Surfing on the enticing waves of the New Wave of Brazilian Heavy Metal (named of course after The New Wave of British Heavy Metal from the 80s) THE DEVILS are coming to metal town. In 2015 the band released their first EP "First Time, Homemade" and with their newly released "WE ARE THE DEVILS" their first full album sees the light of day.
 
On the day of hearing their album for the first time, I've read about plans to give Buffy the Vampire Slayer a reboot and, in relation to THE DEVILS, the soundtrack of that series, the infectious guitartune of Nerf Herder, immediately jumped to mind. THE DEVILS deliver their musical output with the fresh energy of a punk act while delving deep into stainless steel repertoire of bands like Metallica and Motörhead (with "Skullking" and "No Bull" the album contains tributes to respectively Cliff Burton and Lemmy).
 
THE DEVILS is a band that knows its classics. On "WE ARE THE DEVILS" they draw from a rich range of influences in which the band members show themselves to be tight instrumentalists with singer Heron Ribeiro in the role of scream king. A singer who, both in the subject of lyrics (women) and the scope of his singing, occasionally reminds us of David Coverdale (for example in the first track "Light"). With rolling bass intros (Mr. Buddy), guitarsoli that reach out to Joe Satriani and Storm & Trash in the best Slayer-tradition (Madman), the boys show themselves devotees of the genre that know how to forge a metal song. With a band sound that is dynamic, organic and highly energetic, it's not difficult to imagine the live shows of THE DEVILS as  real parties.
 
Thumbs up for THE DEVILS, "WE ARE THE DEVILS" is top-notch hard rock/metal entertainment. Soundtrack for a hot summer, music for a cold beer.

Heron Ribeiro – Vocals 
Yan Barbosa – Guitar 
Murilo Larrubia – Bass 
Daniel Bins – Drums

Apart from the usual suspects that operate in the field of progressive rock, Rush and Dream Theater, Brighton-based Prog-metal trio Milk White Throat draws from influences that range from The Mars Volta, Neurosis and Tool to Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley and Nick Cave. 

For anyone who takes pleasure in listening to music that comes with shifting time signatures and chord progressions that go beyond the obvious.  

This is the lead single for their latest EP 'House of Fire'
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On Seven Deadly Sins Croatian band Dreamborn combined their love for classic heavy metal with a strong taste for melody (see the review here). With ​Heart of Steel, coming from that album, the band releases its first official video. 

A free download of the song can be found here : ​

Making your dream come true with a guitar. That is what Sam Russell is doing. Previously he shared the stage with Steve Vai and with the release of his album Impetuous Desire a deeply rooted wish sees the light of day. Sam Russell is a guitarist from West London, England, who wrote all the songs for Impetuous Desire himself and recorded them with the help of Jason Bowld on drums (Bullit For My Valentine) and the Grande Dame of German hard rock,  Doro Pesch.
 
Sam Russell's album debut is rooted in traditional blues-based hard rock, complemented by neo-classical and symphonic elements (think Ingwie Malmsteen but also of Sammy Hagar and a band like Fates Warning).
 
With a recording of Bach's first and second cello suites for electric guitar already under his belt, a choice of topics that go from (lost) love to Dante’s La Divina Comedia, and music that makes excursions from lyrical voices to violent grunts, Russell shows himself a versatile artist. Illustrative of the variety of musical tastes that are on display here, are the songs Leigh Wood and Fire, Desire. The first one a ballad sung by Doro Pesch - a dream within a dream coming true for Russell - and the second one a skull crusher of a song (with Ryan Mueller on grunt) that puts the listener in a Death Metal state of mind. Daniel Leigh is the third singer on the record, a voice with a pleasant sense for melody, who can be heard (with the exception of the instrumentals Longing, that comes with a cello, and Riffstrumental) on the rest of the songs.
 
Sam Russel combines his taste for story telling in catchy songs in which the guitar soli are like the bubbles in the champagne. Despite the use of many resources (Waves of Tomorrow has for instance seven guitar tracks), and a predilection for grand gestures, the production doesn't lean too much towards bombast. The album has a clear, transparent sound in which details get the attention they deserve.
 
A man (or a woman) with an electric guitar is like a kid with a big toy and with that big toy Sam Russel fulfills a dream. With Impetuous Desire, Sam Russell made a dream of a record that, with the excitement that comes from witnessing dreams come alive, is both a showcase of his current skills and a promise for the (nearby) future.

Dave Van Detta is an one-man-metal band from Serbia. Rich and voluptuous orchestrated music that is grinded with raw and expressive vocals. Symphonic rock with a bite. This is his new single.

From Chicago comes HEMI, a power trio that, on their way to world domination, just released their studio album Avalon. From the opener Re/Vengeance (in which the Bad Brains in their best hardcore mood knock on wood) to The Final Deletion, HEMI shows itself to be a power trio in which their unified force is many times greater than the sum of the individual parts. With fierce, personal lyrics by bass player Trent Zuberi, who together with drummer Mike Cieplik provides a rock solid basis, and the adventurous input of guitarist (and keyboard player) Tim Wilkens, the band offers with Avalon a versatile listening experience in which classic metal ingredients together with multicoloured and imaginative accents are successfully assembled into aural cluster bombs. Listen to the intro of Decay and the instrumental Avalon Averted, songs in which atmospheric music creates a cinematic space in the head in which images are chiseled that - long after the songs have finished - remain in place. More as an addition than standing in stark contrast comes Death Wizard, a knuckle sandwich of a song in which the instrumental ornaments between the choruses provide exotic highlights. From Death Wizard it goes at a gallop to the steel staccato riff of Darkhorse, after which The Final Deletion marks the end of a metal trip that, with its 25-minutes, might have taken a little longer.

TRENT:  I personally am rooted in older metal from the 70's and 80's with a big emphasis on the power side such as Manowar and DIO and then to the thrash aspect of Anthrax and Megadeth. I also absolutely love 80s New Wave and Pop. 
​My biggest contribution to the album were the lyrics. Which I bring from personal feelings along with fantasy-like storytelling. I would say the emotion of my lyrics is always rooted in some feeling I am experiencing or a personal aspect I am dealing with but I like to also tell a story because I feel like I want to give the listener a chance to put themselves in the shoes of the story alongside me. I am a huge fan of metaphors and symbolism as well, my lyrics are littered with it constantly and it's such a trip when someone actually picks up on it or catches it because then I know they were seeing it through my eyes. I always like to keep in mind that a musical work is just as much a story as it is a composure. Yeah the riffs and beats will pulsate through your body and make you bang your head but if you can captivate someone with words strong enough that it moves their mind as much as their body, you really engage a listener in a much deeper way.

TIM:  Trent and Mike are much more rooted in classic metal and thrash as well as classic rock.  While I have great respect for the originators, I draw much more influence from metalcore, melodic death metal, prog, and punk.  My favorite bands combine different sub-genres of metal into a cohesive sound (Revocation comes to mind), and with our contrasting influences that was our goal on Avalon.
When it comes to musical influence in writing, I have played classical and jazz piano my whole life so I always had appreciation for metal bands that add those sounds into their music.  Many don't realize how much commonality there is between metal and classical music, and now more and more modern prog bands like Intervals are incorporating jazz stylings into their sound.  Beyond that, I am a huge hiphop fan of all kinds, just as much if not more than metal!  I find the two genres strike a perfect balance when thrown onto the same playlist  

MIKE:  I am very into the classic "big-sound" powerful bands such as Led Zeppelin, Metallica, DIO, and Iron Maiden. Pretty much anything with a big booming sound.
Outside of metal I am really into Jazz. It's one of those genres that I grew up listening to that always interested me, specifically as  a drummer. Some of my biggest influences are Chick Corea and Dave Weckl. Their fusion styles really opened my eyes to what more is possible from a drummer as it relates to other styles.

Trent Zuberi - Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar
​Tim Wilkens - Guitars, Keyboards, Backing Vocals 
Mike Cieplik - Drums and Percussion