Rebuilding The Past: An interview with painter, Martina Hoffmann Floridian Prog metallers, Cynic, have always adorned their album covers with paintings by the late, great American artist, Robert Venosa. His visions possess a translucent, ethereal and spiritual quality that has captured the attention of audiences for decades. That same could be say about the body…
Interview with Northern Doom Masters Kongh Kongh is a three-piece metal band from Sweden, currently located in Stockholm and Växjö. Released three full-length albums and toured Europe several times. Their third album “Sole Creation” was released worldwide on via Agonia Records in February 2013, followed by a co-release show with Terra Tenebrosa in Stockholm. The…
The term Clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning “clear” and voyance meaning “vision”) is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses,12 a form of extrasensory perception. A person said to have the ability of clairvoyance…
A ghost has been defined as the disembodied spirit or soul of a deceased person, although in popular usage the term refers only to the apparition of such a person. Often described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular locations or people that they were associated with in life or at…
“Alive!” changed everything for America’s favorite masked band, KISS. In fact, this mega-successful double live album, provided the quartet a definitive god-like status as part of the American Hard Rock scene. Furthermore, it paved the way for their subsequent iconic recordings, “Destroyer”, “Rock And Roll Over” and “Love Gun”. The album’s cover sleeve featured a…
Michael Monroe on ‘Horns and Halos’ and the key to happiness. Time erases a lot of things. It is, as William Faulkner once put it, the mausoleum of all hope and desire. I don’t remember everything about my teenage years. There was a lot of loneliness, a lot of anger and a lot of confusion.…
Fast rising Huntress speaks to Heavy Music Artwork With their distinctive and seamless blend of heavy sounds encompassing thrash, death, black and a healthy slice of classic rock, Los Angeles quintet Huntress have blazed a significant trail around the globe since their inception in 2009 and subsequent signing to Napalm Records in 2011.The combination of…
Exhibiting Jean Delville ‘Maître de l’idéal’ interview with Miriam Delville Many Metal fans have been introduced to the world of Jean Delville via the cover artwork of Morbid Angel’s “Blessed Are The Sick”, which features the 1895 painting “Satan’s Treasures”. However, the late Belgian artist produced a vast body of work that also included many…
Pre-show chat with Johan Söderberg of Amon Amarth Amon Amarth is currently one of the most famous bands in the world, adored by thousands for their distinctive brand of melodic death metal, characterised by “epic-sounding brutality”, compelling melodies, primal vocals and Viking-inspired song lyrics. The band’s name is the Elvish moniker for Mount Doom in…
In conversation with Liv Kristine of Leave’s Eyes Comprised of members from Norway and Germany, female-fronted symphonic rock/metal sextet Leaves’’ Eyes have always displayed as much depth and diversity in their music as they encompass different nationalities. A union between former Theatre of Tragedy singer Liv Kristine and death metal quintet Atrocity, featuring Kristine’s husband,…
To name the best albums of the year has not been easy, and to rank them to top 20 was even harder. After a year of pounding our eardrums with devastating metal, it should be safe to say that metal in 2013 is richer, more creative and ever more eclectic. 20 Rob Zombie – Venomous…
Interview with legendary Greek designer Ioannis Legendary Greek designer, Ioannis, probably holds some kind of world record related to having worked with more iconic bands than anyone else. He’s done artworks for Deep Purple, Fates Warning, King Crimson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Uriah Heep, Allman Brothers, Dream Theater, Quiet Riot, Styx and the list goes on… His…
Set was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, a god of the night identified with the northern stars. In the earliest ages of Egypt this Prince of Darkness was well regarded. One persistant token of this regard is the Tcham scepter, having the stylized head and tail of Set. The Tcham scepter is frequently found…
US thrash veterans speak to Heavy Music Artwork “On our new album we more than ever felt an artistic obligation to our fans to give them a really big-sounding record,” says Katon W. De Pena the vocalist of the American thrash metal act HIRAX. He is referring to Immortal Legacy, the latest release by his…
SACRIFICIUM. Sacrifices or offerings formed the chief part of the worship of the ancients. They were partly signs of gratitude, partly a means of propitiating the gods, and partly p999also intended to induce the deity to bestow some favour upon the sacrificer, or upon those on whose behalf the sacrifice was offered. Sacrifices in a…
In conversation with film and cover artist Colin Marks Colin Marks is a London based artist working primarily within the heavy music/film industry. He has run the personal design studio Rain Song Design for several years, and has worked with bands such as Strapping Young Lad, Exodus, Nevermore, Suicide Silence and countless others. Alongside this…
When creating metal album art it is assumed artist will use more black/red than light red/beige. All the darkness, blood and monsters are known as the conventions of metal but taking a closer look to the colour palettes of famous metal albums gives a slight different result. I took some classic metal albums from Black…
The Runes are not merely alphabetical symbols, used in ancient Germanic alphabets. The history of the Runes stretches back quite a distance and while it is true that the symbols themselves likely find their origin in many cultural sources, the inner essence of the Runes is something truly arcane and Otherworldly. The first hint to the…
Swedish sleaze/punk metal outfit SISTER, loud and in your face! SISTER was formed in early 2006. Glam/sleaze enthusiasts like me will probably remember them as a colourful gang of glammed-out teens who popped up almost out of nowhere. These guys were truly underground back then and everyone dug them thoroughly. There was a lot of…
The 14th century was an era of catastrophes. Some of them man-made, such as the Hundred Years’ War, the Avignon Papacy, and the Great Schism. These were caused by human beings, and we shall consider them a bit later. There were two more or less natural disasters either of which one would think would have…