Vulture

Dark Dungeons Atelier – Stefan Castevet Art: Velio Josto We’re living more or less apart from each other, so the whole songwriting process is done at the desk. So whenever a cool idea pops up, we sit down, tab, or record and then exchange ideas. No candles, skulls or goat blood are involved. Music, for…

Lik

Misanthropic Breed by Tomas Åkvik I started playing the guitar as a kid; my dad taught me the basics, and then I went to a guitar teacher for many years. Still, I was a terrible student, never practising my homework. I only wanted to make my music, but the things I did learn are still…

Ensiferum

Thalassic by Sami Hinkka Back in 1995 when Markus Toivonen (guitars, backing vocals) founded this band, he was at his friend’s home and started to go through Finnish-Latin-Finnish dictionary and there it was ‘Ensiferum: The one who carries a sword’. It fit perfectly the ideas he had for the band; heroism, fantasy, medieval-ish and metal…

Déluge

Ægo Templo by François-Thibaut Hordé I did not wake up one day with the idea of creating a band called Déluge. I have been in bands since I was 14 and for the first time, I wanted to create music on my own. I wanted a flood of guitar walls, a flood of emotions, a…

Falconer

From a Dying Ember by Stefan Weinerhall I chose the name Falconer since I felt it represented both freedom and pride in a way. Also, it had that notion of medieval times that fitted our concept. Plus, it short and easy.  I knew that ‘From a Dying Ember’ would become our final album and felt…

Blaze of Perdition

The Harrowing of Hearts by Sonneillon Blaze of Perdition’s name is an evolution of XCIII’s previous band called simply Perdition. He wanted to keep this word, but make the new band’s name more individual, and we collectively came up with Blaze of Perdition. It refers to the spiritual or metaphorical inner fire burning in humans,…

Accu§er

Accuser by Frank Thomas The Accuser always has something to do with justice and law. The paragraph character symbolises that. The band name with the paragraph is our logo. We started looking for the name at ‘A’ in the alphabet and didn’t get far. All songs represent unity. Some elements might fit into the early…

Harlott

Detritus of the Final Age by Andrew Hudson The band name Harlott, it means very little. It was just a word that sounded cool phonetically when I was a teenage boy and the extra T is alleviate issues we used to have with pronunciation as people kept coming at us with ‘Harlow”… which was weird.…

Hamferð

Ódn By Jón Aldará, Theodor Kapnas TK: Hamferð is a doom metal band from The Faroe Islands. The music which we write is heavily inspired by our surroundings as well as the history and culture of The Faroe Islands, which we feel gives us a unique sound. There is a certain Faroese tone, a sort…

RAM

The Throne Within By Tobias Petterson Our music can be described as relentless heavy metal, with one foot in the classic sense and kicking in the door of boundaries with the other. RAM is heavy metal but has never been shy to mix in elements from other subgenres. Speed, thrash, doom, even black metal –…

Intronaut

Fluid Existential Inversions By Dave Timnick HMA: What does ‘Fluid Existential Inversions’ mean? Well, it has a few different meanings for us, but ultimately it’s a commentary on the involuntary instability facing humans and all life on Earth in these turbulent, uncertain times. HMA: On Metal Archives, under the lyrical theme, we have on your…

Visigoth

Conqueror’s Oath By Jake Rogers HMA: How do you describe your music? We play heavy metal music, no more, no less! HMA: Tell us about ‘Conqueror’s Oath’? ‘Conqueror’s Oath’ marks an attempt to tighten our songwriting and provide the listener with a more immediate and concise experience than the long-winded approach of our debut record.…

Ketzer

Cloud Collider By David Gruber Based in Cologne, Ketzer (“heretic” in German) is comprised of five individuals who joined together as teenagers to release Satan’s Boundaries Unchained(2009). Hailed as one of the best blackened Thrash Metal records of recent years, the quintet’s debut launched them out of the underground and onto some of Germany’s most…