Gothic - Demons ~ Album review

After a long hiatus, Metalitty returns with an incredible album from Romania!

Formed in 1992, GOTHIC stands as one of the oldest metal bands in Romania. Their music blends elements of gothic and melodic death metal. Honestly, I had never heard of them until they dropped their latest album, "Demons"! This band is seriously underrated!

Gothic underwent name changes to Ali (e) n and then to Innerfire in 2003 when Alin Petruț relocated the band to Belgium. However, when Alin was deported back to Romania in 2005, he reformed the band, which separated from Innerfire, which remains active to this day.

After releasing two full-length albums, "Touch of Eternity" (1997) and "Expect the Worst" (2013), the band is back with their latest release, "Demons," as mentioned earlier.

The album takes listeners on a journey through various styles. The melodic riffs, fast beats, and intense growls in the opening track, "Shadow Man," reveal that Gothic is not purely gothic; I would consider this song more death metal. The album also contains hints of doom metal, power metal, as heard in "Destroying the Masses," and even a symphonic metal touch, particularly in "Demons," one of my favorites from the album! Each song is a distinct journey! George's vocals are outstanding, giving Gothic a unique edge! I also appreciate how Alin Petruț and Taly are able to play different styles while staying true to the band's core sound. Vlad Golgotiu's drumming makes the album powerful, strong, and ALIVE! All these elements make "Demons" a masterpiece! Even the artwork is fantastic, and the surprise: IT WAS MADE BY THEIR BASS PLAYER! Yeah! How great is that?

Overall, the album is fantastic! If you haven't listened to it yet or haven't heard of this band before, now is the perfect time! And if you enjoy it, please consider purchasing it here: http://shop.loudragemusic.com/gothic-demons

Metallica- "Hardwired... to self-destruct" Album review

Today is the day that many people have been eagerly anticipating, some for months, others perhaps for years! Ladies and gentlemen, today marks the official release date of Metallica's tenth full-length album, "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct."

Following the release of the first single, "Hardwired," on August 18, many minds were left in awe! People were particularly impressed by the nostalgic elements reminiscent of "old Metallica," if I may use that term. There is a distinct presence of the band's original writing style, delivering a heavy and powerful track that embodies the essence of what a "Metallica" song should be.

However, true enthusiasts knew to reserve their final judgment until they had experienced the album in its entirety.

With the subsequent release of two other singles, "Moth Into Flame" on September 26 and "Atlas, Rise!" just before the album's full release, I found myself thinking, "This is going to be a masterpiece," and indeed, Metallica did not disappoint!

The album is presented as a double album, with all three singles featured on the first disc, which is characterized by its heavier and more robust sound. The tracks are filled with powerful riffs and drum beats, and James did a commendable job, showcasing some different singing styles in certain tracks.

The second disc, which is longer in duration, takes on a more progressive tone. It incorporates melodic and atmospheric elements, featuring some truly epic riffs and solos, especially in the track "Confusion." Personally, I was captivated by the solo in this particular song.

Just before the closing song, "Spit Out the Bone," which is arguably the heaviest track on the album, the band pays tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister with the song "Murder One," another standout track in my opinion.

Despite its 70-minute runtime, I initially had concerns that the album might become "boring." However, this was far from the truth! Each song takes the listener on a unique journey, making for a truly exceptional listening experience.

As their diehard fans like to say, "Welcome back, masters" ;)

Interview with Greg from Allegaeon

-First of all, thank you for your precious time and welcome to Metalitty Webzine! So let's start with a little biography of the band. And how did you come up with the band name?

Hey friend! My pleasure. Well, OK, let's see, the band has been around in some form or another since 2005ish. I came into the picture in 2007 when the band was still called Allegiance. The lineup back then was James Cummings on vocals, Ryan Glisan and myself on Guitar, Aaron Donahoe on Bass, and our drummer at the time was named Nick, and I forgot his last name. Nick was an amazing artist and kinda got called up to draw Batman for DC comics. Of course, we all said, "Get the hell outta here and go save Gotham!" So we brought Jordan Belfast into the band. Around the beginning of 2008, we started getting cease and desist letters from a couple of bands around the world called Allegiance. Hence changing our name to Allegaeon. Which is gibberish, and all it meant was we weren't gonna be sued for the name because it's so stupid who'd want it? HA!! Our vocalist James was focusing more and more on his career, and he ended up leaving, so we brought in Ezra a few weeks before we did our first EP. Between the EP and getting signed, we parted ways with Aaron and got a new bassist by the name of Mike Papajohn, who appeared in the "Cower Before Me" and "Nex of Terra" videos. He couldn't take off work for a tour, so we got Corey Archuleta, and then signed with Metal Blade Records in 2009. Fast forward a couple of years and a couple of albums, everyone besides Corey and myself has managed to suffer enough to still be doing this. haha

-As mentioned before, you're releasing your new album soon! Can you tell me more about it?

Sure, it's our 4th album for Metal Blade, and we're incredibly excited for it to come out, which will probably be in September. It's our longest record to date and has some new things on it. Still continuing with the orchestration thing we started on Elements but a little more on the epic scale. I wish I could go more into it, but I'm forbidden!

-Who inspires you to write music? And is there any particular process in writing it?

We take inspiration from everything going on that interests us in music. From Dimmu to the playing of Ben Woods. It's a very wide array. We love music, so if it's good, we find a use for it.

-Who writes the lyrics?

Well, historically, it's shifted around quite a bit. Ezra, Ryan, and myself split the lyric duties quite heavily on the first two albums. On Elements, Ezra did most of it, and I contributed only 1 tune. This new record, I think I had my hands in 5 of the 11 originals. However, Riley would always kinda finish what I started after he saw how I wanted it. Riley did an amazing job.

-So this is your first album with Riley! Do you think the vocals in this album will be kinda different? I mean did Riley add his own touch to your music?

Yeah, he did. We really pushed him to pull out everything he is capable of. Except for Opera, I think we kinda touched on everything. Throat singing, pitch screaming, singing, gurgling death metal vocals, shrieking highs, and crazy lows. We've usually only been limited to mids, and variations of those mids before, so hearing the full range thrown in is pretty amazing.

-We all know how you guys are so cool and funny, so I had to make a funny question haha! We noticed that you had so much fun in the studio with Dave Otero... what's the story behind the back of his head? Many people are really curious to know.

The joke spawned, I think, because all the pictures we ever see of him are from behind. I guess his girlfriend Chelsea made the comment they should count. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me, plus I was bored.

-Tell me more about your news and upcoming events!

Well, right now, we don't have anything really planned apart from just getting the record out and getting all our music videos put together. We filmed so much studio footage we need to get that all edited, plus there was a little documentary of the album we need to release. All good stuff.

-Thank you again Greg! Do you have any message to your Moroccan fans and Metalitty readers in general?

Thank you to everyone! We heart your face! Keep metal strong!

Interview with Julien from Gorod

1- First of all, thank you for your precious time and welcome to Metalitty Webzine! So let's start with a little biography of the band.

Julien: Hello everybody! Gorod was founded in 1997 in the region of Bordeaux. The only two founding members still in the band are Mathieu, who is the main composer/guitar mastermind, and Benoît, the bearded bass player who previously played in Voracious Grangrene with Guillaume (the first Gorod's singer I replaced in 2010). Nicolas (Arcania), the other guitarist, joined the band in fall 2010, soon after me, and Karol (Juggernaut, Hell in Town, Erlen Meyer) has been our drummer since early 2014. Gorod released its first album, "Neurotripsicks," in 2004, and we just released the 5th under the name "A Maze Of Recycled Creeds." The band has been touring more and more, mostly since 2011, and now it's time to hit the road to promote our last effort!

2- You just released your 5th full-length album entitled "A Maze of Recycled Creeds." Can you talk to me about this masterpiece?

Julien: This is a concept album including nine original songs. It's maybe one of the most technical and also the most flowing Gorod's albums. Each song is really different from each other, and this album needs a couple of listenings in order to start to get into it. It was 100% homemade. Mathieu composed the whole music and recorded it in his own studio. I wrote the whole concept and lyrics, and we worked with a comic book artist who lives very close to the band's area. It took a long time to create this piece, but it's finally done, and we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed doing it.

3- What do the lyrics deal with?

Julien: The actual main topic is that of what I call “self-indoctrination.” This phenomenon seems to affect many people, especially during hard times. In "A Maze Of Recycled Creeds," I chose the example of the Rosicrucian Order to illustrate the main topic with a complete immersion in the life and work of a fascinating guru: Joséphin Péladan. He revitalized the sect at the end of the 19th century and succeeded in doing great things despite being quite a ludicrous character. Each song is a satiric piece confronting various points of view through many characters and their emotions involved.

4- "A Maze of Recycled Creeds" is your 5th full-length album as I mentioned before! What makes it different from your previous ones?

Julien: To be honest, this new one is my favorite Gorod’s album, including “Leading Vision.” This one is a bit different from all previous albums. It is simultaneously more open and more complicated than “A Perfect Absolution,” but it sounds like Gorod, reuniting most of the good recipes I used to enjoy when I was still not playing in the band. It feels like all the various influences are more accepted and unchained than in the past. Everything sounds more consistent and flowing in the end. Even if there are tons of information, and, this one is maybe slightly an easier listening than the two previous ones, but it's only my opinion, hehe!

5- Who inspires you to write such good music? And is there any particular process in writing it?

Mathieu: One of the biggest influences remains “Latin jazz.” Classic jazz bores me most of the time, even if I can appreciate it sometimes. Traditional world music is also one of the most important influences I have, and this one is particularly useful to make original music in my opinion, as it is often basic and rough in some way, and very far away from what we are used to listening to nowadays. I like to start a song by picking up a chord progression or a theme from these genres sometimes. It's just some kind of tribute; my goal is not to copy but just to spice the music with extra ingredients, to make it surprising and unexpected. On this last album, the Thrash metal influence is clearly hearable. There is a thrash metal revival for some years, with new bands making the following of the 80's and 90's legends, and I'm totally into it. Bands like Vektor, Revocation, Angelus Apatrida, or Municipal Waste are really enjoyable to me because even if they are close to the older bands, they give a positive evolution to the genre. The songs “Inner Alchemy,” “Dig into Yourself,” or “Celestial Nature” sound like thrash metal sometimes. I think it's a matter of tempos. Drum patterns and guitar riffage are necessarily different at 160 and 200 BPM or more. And the way of headbanging too! And even if thrash is older and maybe slower than Death Metal, it has a fast feeling and instantly dancing effect on me!

6- According to you, which is more difficult: Writing lyrics or composing music?

Julien: It's both totally different and complementary. It's really not the same job but both need time to feel satisfied with the final result. Taking a global view is normally not an option and it needs time in the end. But I don't think that Mathieu is suffering as much as I do when he writes music because it's pretty natural for him to compose this kind of complicated harmonies. Harmonization is, by the way, a characteristic way of composing songs for Mathieu. But the fact is that he doesn't really leave room for the vocal patterns when the composition is over, it's very hard to find a place for vocals in such rich music.

7- Tell me more about your news and upcoming events!

Julien: The next upcoming event is a Canadian tour in spring 2016. Hope there will be more tours to come. And I really hope that we'll play in Morocco someday! As a windsurfer, Essaouira is a very famous place for me, and I'd love to spend some time there, one day. We'll see!

8- Thank you again Julien! Do you have any message to your Moroccan fans and Metalitty readers in general?

Julien: You're welcome! Just hope to visit your country someday and can't wait to finally meet and hang out with metalheads in Morocco! All the best!