Being one of the few epic power metal outfits in Alberta has provided the Edmonton-based Samandriel with their fair share of challenges while preparing for their debut album, Awakening [Independent, 2010]. The epic October-scheduled release – sure to be chalk-full of powerful riffs, fantasy-type solos and booming operatic vocals – has been long in the making, and is the perfect showcase of over a year’s worth of hard work. The band has been busy making the rounds in the Alberta scene, and I had a chance to catch up with …

“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 …

How long have you been a musician?
I’ve been a musician long enough to not be able to remember not being one.
What is your favourite metal memory?
That’s easy: Smushed up against the barrier watching Machine Head destroy the place while donning a smile so big it hurt!
What do you find inspiring about Alberta’s metal community?
I find some inspiration in Alberta’s metal scene in a commonality in peoples’ thinking of doing what you can with what you have. It’s about perseverance and, to a lesser extent, acting as a division of a …

Exit Strategy – “The Apostate’s Creed” (CD)
“The Apostate’s Creed” Track List:
1. In The Name Of
2. Anti-Theist
3. Scraping Carmen
4. Fields Of Meat
5. The Infernal Fiction
6. Virus
7. The Rotting Acre
8. Bride Of The Prophet
9. Haggard
Release Date: August 28, 2010
Label: Independent
KING: Exit Strategy’s The Apostate’s Creed is a perfect example of intelligent brutality. The music is unrelentingly intense, but not without being memorable. The guitar and bass work together to create a technical whirlwind of riffs that are just as heavy as they are unrelenting. Casey Rogers’ blasting drum beats are tempered with …

Phantom Limb is just about ready to unleash their first album to the Alberta metal crowd, something that has been in the works for a while, and that many in the metal community are looking forward to. The band has a lot of talent and experience to draw from, with each member having contributed substantially to the metal scene over the years.
Guitarist and vocalist Greg Musgrave, who plays bass for another Calgary-based act, Exit Strategy, has been practicing his art for over 10 years now and, as a result, has …

Update: Thank you so much to everyone who came out, rocked out, and supported the first annual Alberta Metal Awards. The bands that played were amazing, the bands that came out to support – you are all awesome in every way – and I think our emcees did a great job keeping the night rolling along and making people laugh. And, of course, thanks to The Distillery for having us. It was a lot of fun and we hope that next year can be even bigger …

Divinity – “The Singularity” (CD)
“The Singularity” Track List:
1. Abiogenesis
2. Beg To Consume
3. Lay In The Bed You’ve Made
4. Emergent
5. Transformation
6. Monsters Are Real
7. Embrace The Uncertain
8. Formless Dimension
9. Approaching The Singularity
Release Date: August 10, 2010
Label: Candlelight Records
KING: From beginning to end, The Singularity is a non-stop assault of technical brutality. The production on Divinity’s second full length album is top notch and crystal clear, without losing any of the sheer aggression or excitement.
The musicianship on the The Singularity is outstanding. While most albums seem to have one stand out performance …

What is your favourite thing about festival season?
I’d have to say the best part is the variety. There’s usually a good mix of bands and something for everybody. And there’s always that one band that everyone is there to see.
Inside or out amongst the elements?
Being an outdoors kind of person, outdoor festivals are without a doubt more fun, especially when there’s camping involved. Music, camping and copious amounts of beer is an unavoidable good time.
What is your favorite festival memory?
There are a few that stick out, but the most memorable …

Touring, for some bands, is as simple as loading your gear and selves into a van and heading down the road, and hoping to make enough off a cut of the cover charge and merch sales to make it back home again in one piece.
Others taking a slightly different approach.
A wise musician once said: “I bought four cases of Fun Dip!”
Actually, that was Andy Sidloski, bassist for the band Silent Line, but he makes a valid point.
He’s thought about what it means to go on the road, and he wants …

Relax and have fun. According to living metal legend Gene Hoglan, that’s the key to drumming. After all, “It’s not ‘rocket surgery;’ it’s just drums,” he exclaims.
“A lot of guys turn it into something really intense and difficult and not fun,” Hoglan states.
“When you’re all tensed up, that just makes it not fun, and you get this horrible struggling strained face on. That looks like you’re killing yourself, and that doesn’t look like fun. Unless you like looking like that,” he laughs. “I try to practice Occam’s Razor when it …

Edenbridge – “Solitaire” (CD)
“Solitaire” Track List:
1. Entree Unique
2. Solitaire
3. Higher
4. Skyline’s End
5. Bon Voyage Vagabond
6. Inward Passage
7. Come Undone
8. Out Of This World
9. Further Afield
10. Eternity
11. A Virtual Dream?
12. Brothers On Diamir
13. Exit Unique
Release Date: July 2, 2010
Label: Napalm Records
KING: Solitaire is my first introduction to Edenbridge, although this is their 7th album since their 2000 debut. What we have here is female-fronted symphonic metal, a sub-genre that seems to have fallen out favour over the past few years, possibly due to the influx of bands following the exact same …

Which are your top five favourite metal bands of all time?
Slayer
Iron Maiden
Lamb of God
Motörhead
Opeth
What is your earliest metal memory?
I think my earliest metal memory comes from a show at the Multi in Calgary. I was just there to see a random show with some friends, and this band, Chupacabra, was on the bill. I loved how heavy they were and had the time of my life headbanging and moshing. I had heard metal before, but had never seen it live. That was when I realized how much I actually liked …

“Living in a town full of Jesus-worshipping hillbillies can inspire one to do a lot of things,” states Jess Morrison, the sole promoter behind Calgary, Alta.’s Devil’s Work Promotions, which found it’s start in 2007 in nearby Lethbridge.
“It was kind of a selfish beginning,” she candidly admits. “I was sick and tired of the bar scene/meat market full of grabby drunk dudes. I wanted to go to shows. No one was making it happen so I figured, ‘Why not me?’”
Morrison had no background in show promotion or booking at the …

“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 …

Necronomicon – “The Return of the Witch” (CD)

“The Return of the Witch” Track List:
1. Into the Fire
2. The Awakening
3. The Time Is Now
4. Necropolis
5. The Order of the Moon
6. The Return of the Witch
7. Lillith
8. Alpha and Omega
9. Seven

Release Date: June 4, 2010
Label: Napalm Records
KING: It’s impossible to listen to Necronomicon’s latest album and not draw comparisons to the likes of Behemoth, Nile and Dimmu Borgir. But Necronomicon are much more than the sum of those parts. They are certainly their own animal with a …

How do you support your metal community?
Most of my friends are metal heads, and and I try to go see their shows as often as I can. Which is great in Edmonton. There are so many good metal bands performing constantly, it’s hard to miss them all. Every show I go to, I try to bring a friend who hasn’t heard them before. It’s always great to see new friends meeting the old, and appreciating each other’s abilities.
Do you play the guitar you are posing with?
No talent on the …

Derailed have travelled down the tracks of heavy metal mayhem since 2008, at least in their current formation. There’s a wealth of experience amongst the Calgary, Alta. four-piece, but for lead vocalist Johnie Sinclair and bassist Steve Legault, the band’s two newest members, they can hardly hold their excitement when describing the feeling of performing original and fresh material in a live setting.
“This is where I have always wanted to be,” exclaims Sinclair. “When I think back to when I was 15 and 16, sitting in a garage, this is …

To say I’m a big Alice Cooper fan is a bit of an understatement. My fascination with the king of shock rock started back in 1988 when Alice and crew came to my hometown. After seeing the videos for “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)” and “Teenage Frankenstein,” the 9-year-old me decided that this should be the first rock concert I would attend. My mother, on the other hand, did not agree and in doing so inadvertently started a life-long obsession with Alice, and heavy metal in general. These …

The Unravelling – “13 Arcane Hymns” (CD)

“13 Arcane Hymns” Track List:
1. Move Forward Until You Are Dead
2. Becoming Chaos
3. Fire Breather
4. Open Skull
5. Last Rights Protest
6. Revived
7. Unscripted Disclosure
8. In The Safe House
9. Where Will It End?
10. Disconnect – Connect
11. My Resignation
12. Arjuna
13. Victory Song
Release Date: May 13, 2010
Label: Independent
KING: It’s impossible to explain The Unravelling’s sound in one sentence. To say it has elements of metal, rock, progressive touches and even an industrial influence that occasionally raises it’s gritty head doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of …

How welcoming has Alberta’s metal community been to your act?
So far the reactions have been great. I’ve been performing for just over a year now, and the bands have been very supportive and stoked to have me involved. I’m really looking forward to my next shows coming up in the summer months. I’m sure there are a few negative reactions to my “heavy metal pole dancing,” just as there are in general to the sport of pole dancing. It does have its association with strip clubs (and rightfully so sometimes) …

From the outside, there is nothing remarkably endearing about the brick building that blends almost seamlessly into the architecture of downtown Calgary. Aside from a small chalk board with hastily scribbled lunch specials and a sign above the entrance way proclaiming it as a drinking establishment, there isn’t much to distinguish it from any other watering hole in the city.
But deep within its bowels, down a long flight of stairs that descends well past street level, there exists, very fittingly, a haven for underground music.
Most people know it simply as …

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 …

Okay, so they’re not exactly “Maidens” this month, but we simply couldn’t resist pulling a small stunt on our dear devoted readers. This is, after all, our very first April Fools’ Day issue, and we wanted to celebrate with a little laugh, and at the same time answer a number of requests from our female readers.
We’d like to thank the guys for being such good sports and posing for us, some even clocking in a few hundred kilometres just to help us out.  We’d also like to give a shout …

Omega Crom – “Blood, Steel & Fire” (CD)

Release Date: April 5, 2010
Label: Reversed Records
“Blood, Steel & Fire” Track List:
1. Warpath
2. Battlefield
3. Calling of the Dead
4. The Passing of Azazel
5. The Prisoner (The Drawing)
6. Playing God
7. Parliament of Stone
8. F.F.O.H.T.L.
9. Metal Revolution
The problem with most debut albums is that they only gives you a glimpse of what a band could be, but Omega Crom’s Blood, Steel & Fire comes across as a very focused and cultivated effort. This may have something to do with the fact that Omega Crom has been …

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 …

Recording can be daunting enough on its own without factoring in the task of finding a studio that not only suits your technical needs, but is comfortable to be in and fits your budget. If you’re Calgary musician Anthony Blaine, the solution is simple: just open your own.
Okay, so maybe it’s not all as simple as that.
The idea to one day open a recording studio was there, and Blaine even had his eye on a location, so when the space became available, it didn’t take long for the dream to …

You hear the buzzing of drunken voices cluttering the room and you start to get excited. You can literally smell the heavy metal in the air from the 200 sweating bodies that just moshed their asses off to the band before you. You see your band mates plugging in the last of their cables and you hear the last floor tom sound check fire off like a cannon. You walk on stage and grip the mic like it’s your last bottle of water in the desert. You look out into the crowd and …

How do you stay active in Alberta’s metal community?
Being a part of the Pitch Black staff keeps me fairly active in the local metal scene. I also really enjoy putting on shows. Last year, I was heavily involved in organizing Red Deer’s Rock 4 Santa charity show. It was a lot of hard work, but so much fun and such a rewarding experience. When I’m not working on Pitch Black, I spend a lot of time booking/promoting shows and organizing merch for my husband’s band, Awkward Silence.
How did you first …