In 2006, guitarist and vocalist James Farwell began a new musical project in search of heavier melodies. Soon after, Bison B.C. was born on the West coast of our fair country. This four-piece heavy metal outfit from Vancouver, B.C. are continuing to pump out that delicious stoner-inspired progressive metal, so showcased in their last release, Dark Ages [Metal Blade, 2010]. We spoke with Farwell about the inspiration behind the music, the changing dynamics of the metal scene, and the importance of the live show in developing the musician-fan relationship.
First things …

“What originally just started as a project quickly turned into a real band,” states System Divide vocalist Miri Milman. “After recording the Collapse EP, we realized that we had something unique going on and that we all work well together.”
Since forming in Tel Aviv, Isreal in 2008, the melodic gothic metal group has been hard at work forging their own musical path. Now, armed with a record deal and a new full-length album, The Conscious Sedation [Metal Blade, 2010], scheduled for a Sept. 14 release, System Divide are ready to …

The Summer Slaughter Tour is on its way to Canada again, and Cephalic Carnage is looking forward to playing this year. The well-known grindcore band will be releasing Misled By Certainty [Relapse Records, 2010], their sixth studio album, at the end of August.
We caught up with guitarist Steve Goldberg via phone as he and the band prepared to begin their fourth show of the tour in New Mexico. Goldberg reveals his hopes for the tour, his distaste of hot weather, and talks about the band’s latest musical offering.
What do you …

Skeletonwitch has come a long way since their first show on a homemade stage in their front yard, performing for a crowd of drunken University students, but it comes as no surprise when you take a look at their musical skill, talent for songwriting and hard work ethic.
The five-piece metal act is preparing to storm Canada in the beginning of July – and do a little camping along the way – then head back to their native U.S. for the much-anticipated Ozzfest. It doesn’t stop there, though, as they won’t …

“Lurking, waiting, writing, conspiring,” is what B.C. band Auroch have planned once their current tour wraps up later this summer.
“Another tour is already in the works with a certain band, but I can’t say anything about that just yet,” teases guitarist Sebastian Montesi. “Time will tell what the future holds.”
What he isn’t keeping mum on is Auroch’s debut album, what it’s like heading out on the road with French death metallers The Seven Gates in their first tour on North American soil, and another recording for the discog from the …

The last time Special Ops decided to head out on a cross-Canada adventure of hard-rockin’ musical proportions, those plans were forced to a slamming halt when bassist Waldo Thornhill was diagnosed with cancer. While Thornhill underwent treatment and then recovered, the band redirected their energies from the open road and onto their next studio album, Through the Heart of the Infidel [Thorny Bleeder Records, 2010].
“We all moved in with Waldo at the studio since cancelling the Phase 2: Amidst The Madness Tour, and we decided to try something new,” said …

“It’s nice and tight and hot and you get a good connection with the audience; they’re right there,” breathes Mikael Stanne, his arms reaching out, fingers twisted, claw like.
The Dark Tranquillity frontman is relaxing on the band’s tour bus, parked just outside The Republik. Certainly not the stadiums and arenas the band usually plays, but a welcome venue, especially to watch the Swedish musician’s face light up when asked about the stages they’ve booked for the We Are The Void tour.
“It was so much fun yesterday,” he says, referring to …

A legion of underground fans patiently waited to catch Slough Feg live and in person in Alberta. That anticipation was finally satiated last fall when they took the stage at Club Night during the Noctis III Metalfest, playing to one seriously enthusiastic crowd.
And now, less than a year later, they’re coming back for a second uproarious set and are ready “to pour some metal down their faces,” according to the band’s bassist, Adrian Maestas.
The band has been invited to perform at the Noctis IV Kick-Off Party, set for June 19 …

Montreal’s Barn Burner is at it again, setting fire to the metal scene across Canada in support of their latest album, Bangers [Metal Blade, 2010]. The four-piece heavy metal band came together in late 2002 as a party band that played keggers and local pubs, but have grown substantially in talent and musical style over the years, confirmed by their recent signing to Metal Blade Records in 2009.
Their true music-style is difficult to identify, with many picking and choosing from lists of bands, trying to piece together Barn Burner’s true …

“When I formed the band years ago, it was just part of a dream I had to combine the two types of music I like best: traditional Celtic folk music and death metal,” explains Chrigel Glanzmann about his Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. The eight piece group is comprised of musicians playing unique instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, fiddle and bodhrẚn, to name a few, along with the traditional electric guitars, basses and drums you expect to see weilded by a metal band. Glanzmann himself is the group’s lead …

“One of our biggest challenges is that we live on an island. We are surrounded by water and it costs us $300 return just to get to Vancouver for a show,” reveals Mike Selman, guitarist for the Victoria-based metal quintet Unleash the Archers.
Take into consideration the cost of fuel, and the amount of money an independent metal act playing original music is bound to not get paid, and Selman admits the jaunt across the water is more of a detriment.
A sure way to avoid the huge cost for a one-night …

Finland’s Barren Earth first formed in an official capacity in the fall of 2007, a group of experienced musicians comprised of Mikko Kotamäki on vocals, Janne Perttilä and Sami Yli-Sirniö covering the guitar duties, keyboardist Kasper Mårtenson, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine and Marko Tarvonen on drums.
But the guys didn’t perform their material live for the first time until in February of this year.
“We didn’t really have any reason to play live because we didn’t have any releases, and we were busy arranging the music,” Laine says during a phone call from …

You may not have heard of Tosin Abasi yet but a quick look at any number of guitar virtuoso lists will confirm his place among the upper echelons of shredders.
As the mastermind behind Washington DC’s instru-metal project Animals As Leaders, Abasi first made a name for himself as the guitarist for the now defunct metal core quartet Reflux, whose only album The Illusion of Democracy [Prosthetic Records, 2004] is still heralded by many as a staple for fans of heavy music.
But unlike Reflux, the music on Animals As Leaders’ self-titled …

Mechanize [Candlelight, 2010] marks the first release in five years from Fear Factory, and the first since 2001’s Digimortal [Roadrunner] to feature Dino Cazares on guitar.
Mechanize is the band’s seventh release to date, and features original members Cazares and vocalist Burton C. Bell, and a rhythm section not to be messed with in bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan, best known for their work together in Strapping Young Lad.
“Yeah, Strapping Young Lad and the many, many other projects they’ve worked on. It’s been great because these guys are real …

It wasn’t too long ago that we chatted with Shawn Drover, talking mostly about Megadeth’s Endgame [Roadrunner, 2008], the recording studio and, of course, his heat vision and other superpowers, as an entire thread on the band’s forums will attest. In fact, this guy could probably give Chuck Norris a challenge, especially when you add the fact that he is the backbone to one of the most popular metal acts in the world. No pressure, right?
The laid back Canadian drummer has a good laugh; he takes it all in stride. …

Testament has long secured their legacy as the unofficial fifth member of the so-called “Big Four” of thrash metal (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax). As one of the few Bay Area thrash bands still around from the genres early years, and certainly one of the few bands that are still putting out consistent releases, Testament is about to head through Alberta with fellow thrashers Exodus and headliners Megadeth, who are celebrating 20 years since their monumental release Rust in Peace [Capitol, 1990].
While the concert’s line-up is sure to get any metal …

Richard Christy made his first comedic contribution to The Howard Stern Show in October 1999, just a few months before joining Iced Earth. The drummer, who recorded three albums with the Florida-based metal juggernauts between 2000 and 2004, was simultaneously recruited by Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer for his side project, Demons and Wizards.
Previously, Christy spent three years with metal legends Death, and appears on their 1998 album The Sound of Perseverance [Nuclear Blast, 1998], not to forget a number of other musical groups, including the death metal act Burning …

“Just stop talking about it,” exclaims Angela Gossow of the extreme metal group Arch Enemy. “When you read a review and it says, ‘Oh, by the way, it’s a chick singer.’ That’s just like, ‘Okay, here we go again.’ I wish they’d write on the quality of the vocals and the quality of the band performing.”
She looks forward to the day when the mainstream media focuses on musicianship first, “because so many metal bands have female musicians nowadays, if you look at the big picture.”
She calls the reviews “repetitive,” whether …

Casey Orr was a fan of GWAR for years before taking on the role of Beefcake the Mighty in 1994, a character introduced in 1987 and portrayed by bassist Mike Bishop until Orr took over, and by Todd Evans in the early 2000s.
“I was one of those guys that when I saw GWAR I was like, man, that’s what I wanted. That’s what I was standing in front of the mirror mimicking Kiss and that what I wanted to do. I wanted to do the whole full show. And when …

“Often times I’ll write something and I’ll think this has to have been written already,” says guitarist Mike “Gunface” McKenzie, of Massachusetts grindcore act The Red Chord.
“I’ll write something, and then I play it for the guys and I say, ‘Hey, does this sound like somebody else’s riff?’ because it sounds familiar to me, and they’re like, ‘Uh, no…’ and I’ll be like, ‘Are you sure? Then why do I feel like I already know this?’”
Anyone who is familiar with The Red Chord and the albums they’ve released since founded …

According to Bobby Thompson, fans of Job For A Cowboy can look forward to “intense live shows and a good time” when checking out the Arizona-based deathcore band .
They’re on the road with grindcore act The Red Chord, and living comedic thrash legends GWAR, the tour’s headliners, which can’t be an easy spot to fill. But Thompson is confident that concert-goers, no matter who they’re there to see and hear, won’t leave disappointed.
“The GWAR show rules,” exclaims Thompson, one of JFAC’s extraordinarily gifted guitarists. “I don’t blame them if they …

It has been said that idle hands are the Devil’s workshop. The same cannot be said for Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan, at least the idle hands part. Rutan, the guitarist and lead vocalist for the Florida-based death metal four-piece, is one of the hardest working musicians in metal, with his band touring a good chunk of the year.
When he’s not on the road, you can most likely find him in his studio, Mana Recording Studios, working on any number of projects. This year alone, he’s had his hand in Nile’s …

When he was six-years-old, Calgary, Alta.-born Arjun Gill moved to Saudi Arabia. His dad worked for a major oil company, and the family spent the next 11 years in the Middle Eastern country on an American compound. Doesn’t exactly seem the most likely place for heavy metal to grow and take flight, but in this musical genre, history tells us that anything can and will happen when inspiration to create takes hold.
Now back in Canada, this time on the west coast in Vancouver, Gill is wrapping up his high school …

“When I was growing up in small-town Montreal, I would travel 40 minutes on the train just to go and get one record. I’d buy it, and then on the way home I’d look at the artwork and read the lyrics and credits and everything, just frothing at the mouth until I could run home off the train and play the record for the first time, never having heard it. Those days are long gone for the most part, but I’m glad that some people still enjoy that,” says Megadeth …

Formed in 1997 as Crucible of Agony, the industrial death metal act from Sydney Australia changed their name to The Amenta in 2001. The following year, they released their debut album, a three-song EP entitled Mictlan. Two years later, Occasus [Listenable, 2004] hit the music market. It would be another five years before their second full-length album nOn [Listenable, 2009] would reach store shelves. But even longer in the making was the band’s North American debut.
That’s about to change.
The Monsters of Death Tour, featuring Vader, Decrepit Birth Warbringer, Augury and, …

“We’ve done a lot of support stuff, so it’s cool to go out and finally play our own tour, and to play longer,” says Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu during a recent phone interview.
“Not a lot of fans have had the chance to hear us play a full set, they’ve only seen the support tours where we perform for maybe 30 minutes.”
The thrash metallers from Orlando, Fla. were gearing up for a show in Portland, Ore. during the first leg of their headlining tour, the band’s first since 2006, and Beaulieu …

Few metal bands have the mystique surrounding them that Cynic does. Originally formed in 1987, the band made a splash on the scene with their highly acclaimed first album, Focus [Roadrunner Records] in 1993, and then broke up shortly after its release. The band was one of the first to blend different genres, taking death and progressive metal and joining it with jazz and fusion. That mixture, along with liberal uses of female vocals and a vocoder is the core of Cynic’s sound.
In 2006, after 12 years apart, the band …

The Blackout Brigade emerged from the ashes of two other bands that went up in flames when members quit in the quintet’s hometown of Winnipeg, Man. According to guitarist Danny Ransom, the remaining members seamlessly joined forces to form a new band fueled by rage, whiskey, and a passion for the hardcore sound.
“We’re all buddies, and this is a labour of love, so if we got into quitting/hiring nonsense it wouldn’t be fun, plus we’re way too lazy and disorganized to teach these songs to other people, so if someone …

The Black Dahlia Murder first unleashed their crushing take on melodic death in 2000, and the Michigan-based quintet hasn’t let up since.
A six-song demo, What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse [The Black Dahlia Murder, 2001], and the four-song EP A Cold-Blooded Epitaph [Lovelost Records, 2002] introduced metal fans to the unforgiving brutality of a truly original sound. That sound, and a relentless passion for playing live, brought about a new relationship with Metal Blade Records, one that still exists today with the late-September release of the band’s highly …

*Warning: Article contents may not be suitable for all readers. Discretion is advised.

“I’m so terribly sorry,”grunts Oderus Urungus, arriving late for our interview after what he calls “a minor crisis in the Slave Pit.”
He’s one busy frontman, er… alien, and GWAR is no ordinary band.
“I’ve been doing all kinds of ridiculous things. I wrestled this big redneck dude named Tracy Smothers. Choked him the fuck out,” Oderus says of the IWA pro wrestler he sparred with back in June for some reason unbeknownst to the majority of humankind.
“And for some …

To say that 3 Inches of Blood tour a lot would be a bit of an understatement.
“That’s our modus operandi,“ states guitarist Shane Clark, with the kind of gusto one hears only from those so passionate about their craft, it’s something they live and breathe.

“The last time I averaged it out, during an album cycle, we toured for 12 out of 14 months. Not all exactly in a row: there would be two weeks home here, two weeks home there,” continues Clark, who has been part of the Vancouver-based …

“We built a bomb shelter, you know, stuff like that,” jokes Hucifer, frontman for Montreal’s latest musical export, Fattooth, as the group embarks on their North American Natural Disaster Tour.
All kidding aside, the band has been rehearsing constantly in preparation for their first cross-country tour, a 19-show journey that will lead them from Thunder Bay, Ont. to Vancouver, B.C.
“We work hard at bringing it for the crowd and putting on a performance. It’s all about the performance and the stage show for us, and we’ve refined it. We’ve played a …

Since its inception in 1995, Vans Warped Tour has been associated with punk music. Over the last few years, however, the sounds coming from the festival’s multiple stages have grown more diverse, including genres of the indie rock, hip hop and reggae persuasions.
And because out of punk have the metalcore and hardcore styles emerged, it only makes sense that bands like Underoath and Dillinger Escape Plan have showcased their talents with the festival in recent years.
The 15th installment of the touring festival seems even more diverse, with even more metal-influenced …

When Scale the Summit was announced as a replacement act for this year’s Progressive Nation Tour, they were completely unknown to me. But halfway through “Bloom,” the opening track from their latest release Carving Desert Canyons [Prosthetic, 2009], I was convinced Dream Theater drummer and Progressive Nation founder Mike Portnoy had made a great decision.
The songs throughout the melodic and completely instrumental album focus more on composition and fluidity than on blistering chops and maniacal time signatures, although those don’t fail to make the occasional auditory appearance, reminding listener’s of …

John Baizley is knee deep in the recording studio. The lead singer, guitarist and visual artist for the proggy, sludgy metal quartet Baroness has been working on the band’s latest album, and fans of the group will be pleased to hear it’s almost a wrap and ready to hit the road.
“It’s going great,” Baizley says enthusiastically of the as yet unnamed album set for fall release. “Our drummer and bass player, Allen [Blickle] and Summer [Welch], have finished all of their commitments to the record, and those guys are back …

“Extreme is 13 bands in one small-assed club,” exclaims Michael Schleibaum of the Washington D.C. quintet Darkest Hour.
“All smelly, been driving to each show and just metal as hell,” the guitarist continues. “Honestly, this is the biggest collection of dirty, crazy dudes that you could get.”
He’s referring to this year’s Summer Slaughter tour, a musical blitz sponsored by Fangoria and Decibel magazines that’s got 13 bands playing 40 gigs in less than two months, and that’s not including the special guest bands slated for occasional shows throughout the North …

The release of a new album often goes hand-in-hand with a road trip, especially when you’re trying to make a living from it.
Death metallers Goatwhore are no different. Except maybe for the fact that they tour a lot.
This month, the quartet is headlining across the continent, with two shows here in Alberta to promote “Carving Out The Eyes of God” [Metal Blade, 2009].
“That, and to have a good time, pretty much,” says vocalist Ben Falgoust, who also shares his vocal chords with the four-piece grindcore act Soilent Green.
Self-described as “a …

“A mini Stonehenge will drop down halfway through the set when we remove our wizard capes to reveal the – just kidding” Lee Aaron jokes about her upcoming Alberta performances.
And I have to smile at the throwback, because the first thing that pops into my head is a leather clad Aaron brandishing a sword in the video for “Metal Queen” [1984, Attic], the hit song off her album of the same name, the one that launched the Canadian songstress into the rock history books and forever cemented her with the …

“Ahhh, well, I can’t say much about it yet, but I know we’re coming to Canada in July,” Chimaira guitarist Rob Arnold said from the other end of the phone line.
“And that’s all I can say about it,” he teased.
The Ohio-based groove metallers recently announced a U.S. tour to start at the end of July, and since they’ve been out of the recording studio for a while now, they’ve got some time to kill.
What isn’t shrouded in mystery is the supreme metal awesomeness that is “The Infection.” The six-piece band’s …

“When we first started, we weren’t very serious. We’re still not serious, actually. We’re serious about the songs and the music, but as far as getting up on stage and acting hammed… well, it’s a massive production,” admits Admiral Nobeard, guitarist and frontman for the thrashy pirate metal trio Swashbuckle after zigzagging around his point.
Okay, so maybe rum, randiness and little high seas hijinx are a given when you dress like Captain Cook and play alongside an inflatable ship to a crowd more eager to raise their hooks than horns …

Very few words are needed to introduce Napalm Death, but here it goes:
The extreme metal band from Birmingham first formed in 1981 and established their distinguishable sound of rapid-fire riffery mixed with aggressive vocals, short, shotgun songs, and an overall ethos of soul at the core of each and every melody.
Today, none of the founding members are present within the Napalm fold, but the “newest” guy in the band, drummer Danny Herrera, has been involved for more than 25 years. The result is a unique musical chemistry and a collection …

“My mum thinks – she’s wondering when I’m going to buy her a house, because she thinks I’m like Mick Jagger and it’s like, ‘I don’t know if you know, but it’s heavy metal and we barely scrape by.’ So, some day I’ll buy her that house, but right now she’s just going to have to wait,” says Buz McGrath, one of two guitarists from Massachusetts hardcore outfit Unearth.
“She doesn’t really pay attention to the music; she just wants to see her little Buzzy playing guitar,” he laughs. “And she’s …

“It’s about time for us to hit the U.S. and Canada, and a tour like this is a good way to start,” said Korpiklaani bassist Jarkko Aaltonen from his home base in Finland, just a couple of weeks before embarking on the North American leg of PaganFest II. “We actually did one indoor festival show in Calgary a few months ago – October, perhaps? That was a good show. We played good, and the audience seemed to like it.”
This year’s Pagan Fest has 21 scheduled stops across the continent, including …