Promoting metal as art and culture
Reaching horizons with Angra After the release of “Angels Cry: 20th Anniversary Tour”, Brazilian power/progressive metal Angra returns to the UK. Guitarist and founding member Rafael Bittencourt, talks to HMA about the band’s interest in art, literature, the music industry and Rhapsody of Fire’s own powerful singer, Fabio Lione. We couldn’t be happier to see…
New label and singer, Amberian Dawn appear as focused as ever After 6 years together, Amberian Dawn announced to the world they were parting ways with 3 of their band members, including original singer Heidi Parviainen. Two familiar faces were then brought in to fill the voids left on drums & guitar by way of…
Finlands Tuska Open Air Metal Festival (shortened ‘Tuska’ which means ‘pain’ in Finnish) is one of the biggest metal fests in Northern Europe. This was the 17th time it was held and during the three metallic days it gathered over 20 000 visitors. With such amazing headliners as Dimmu Borgir, Anthrax, Emperor, Satyricon and Children…
Voice of Legends: Sebastian Bach! Oh jeez, really? How do you even start? It’s Sebastian Bach. As in Skid Row Sebastian Bach! As in some of the greatest ballads in rock history Sebastian Bach! It’s the guy whose music I blasted loud enough to drive the whole neighbourhood insane when I was growing up. It’s…
In conversation with David and Aaron of Red Fang “The record sounds very excellent and professional, you can tell that they’ve been practising their instruments. Their songs sound more thought-out and trippier. Bryan and Aaron sound like they’ve gotten better at singing. Every song has a riff you like. Mike Scheidt from YOB sings on…
Don’t fear the Return of the Reaper Metal scene in Germany has kept its strength since the early 80’s with many big bands flying the flag. Not all of those who started the scene are still among us but some are. One of those survivors is Grave Digger who started their pounding metal journey from…
Are you ready for a rock sensation? Her name is Mia Klose Let’s talk about famous and talented women in rock’n’roll. Lita Ford, Courtney Love, Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Siouxsie Sioux? How about Mia Klose? Climbing up the steps to fame two at a time Mia and her band went from playing small venues to…
The true story of the fall of the Devil…from the Devil’s perspective. Newly arrived are brought to the gates of Hell and find Satan their teacher of Heaven’s history, his rise to power in God’s Heavenly City, and his ultimate fall from grace. Satan, indeed, lost the war in Heaven but the “true” history of…
Cult of Luna Goes Beyond the Redshift Saturday 10th May London hosted an audio-visual experience built around a concept and line up curated and headlined by Sweden’s post-metal band Cult of Luna. An artist who for over a decade has helped mould and expand the notion of what heavy music can be, the diverse musicians…
The X Word, a sacrifice interview After six albums and through many line-ups changes Germany’s proud Xandria is still firing their symphonic metal and hitting road with their brand new album ‘Sacrificium’. Heavymetalartwork.com got the chance to talk with Steven Wussow and Marco Heubam about their past, present and future. HMA: First of all congrats…
The Dictionnaire Infernal (English: Infernal Dictionary) is a book on demonology, organised in hellish hierarchies. It was written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy and first published in 1818. There were several editions of the book, but perhaps the most famous is the edition of 1863, in which sixty-nine illustrations were added to the…
Shade Themes From Kairos is a new iteration of the dream for all the guitar freaks out there, bringing together a couple of singular players together, just to see what happens. In this case, the players were old friends and collaborators Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O’Malley, playing in a space engineered and co-populated by Randall Dunn. The Shade album began in 2009, when Belgian filmmaker Alexis…
Interview with Superheroes of metal a cappella Take five singers and a drummer and set up a power metal band. Not an easy task to do yet this German quintet Van Canto has become a pioneer of what they call “hero metal a cappella”. A new sub-genre is born to the already pretty full field…
The Book of Ceremonial Magic by Arthur Edward Waite [1913] IT is only within recent times that the attempt to communicate with the dead has been elevated to the dignity of White Magic. Here it is necessary to affirm that the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism are to be distinguished clearly from those of old Necromancy.…
The Magic of Language Language and magic are so intertwined with each other that the phrase “magic word” entered the meme-scape of everyday culture long ago. Like magic itself, magic words or languages were considered to be “ancient artifacts” of a bygone era. That the spoken word is an indispensable tool of magic is indisputable. The…
Becoming an adept in the black arts is something that takes time and patience. You just can’t wake up one morning and decide to become a successful black magician and then expect to have mastered the arts by setting sun. It doesn’t work that way. The Power or Force that we associate with magick is…
Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and…
The Sermon to the Hypocrite Do Thy Will l Magickal currents pass as the Great Wheel swings endlessly to and fro driven by words of power whose origin is inestimable. Spare was a watcher on the threshold. AGAPE of the Christos had spent its force. It laid upon the land as a shroud when once it had been…
A Russian Visionary: Interview with Denis Forkas Most Metal fans, know Russian painter, Denis Forkas, as the creator of mind blowing visions for the album covers of bands like Locrian, Horseback, and more recently, the mighty Behemoth. His works are full of cryptic imagery, traditional art overtones and symbolical significance. They challenge viewers to look…
Extreme Shots Presents: A conversation with Chad Lee If you go to Hard Rock/Metal shows regularly, it’s very probable that you’ve seen veteran photographer Chad Lee capturing stills of some of your favorite artists. Some of these include SLAYER, METALLICA, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, MACHINE HEAD and many others. Although live photography has been Lee’s forte…