SKULL NEWS met singer and frontlady Netta Laurenne of Smackbound in Helsinki. This powerful person has one of metal’s most versatile voices, is also a successful actress and can sing any genres from opera, to jazz, pop, metal. Netta sat down with us to talk about Smackbound’s debut 20/20, their next album in the making, their creative process, women in metal and how to stand up for yourself.
Mathias Lillmans aka “Vreth”, singer of Finntroll met Skull News on Skype to talk about Finntroll’s new album “Vredesvävd” (find our review here), tour plans, band history and how to stick troll ears to your head.
The young finnish band Memoremains mixes pop and metal in a fresh, energetic sound. After three years of touring all over Europe, while succeeding on streaming platforms and having the support of legendary bands like Battle Beast, the young band has found their own style and is now ready to present their debut album “The Cost of Greatness”. We met Memoremains on Skype to talk about their musical vision and the upcoming album.
Finnish melodic rock band Brother Firetribe released their new album Feel The Burn – a tribute to appealing US-American dreams of long road trips, vintage cars and old rock music. Creatively playing with these clichés, Brother Firetribe still reinvent themselves on this record, not only in the course of the change in the lineup. Indeed, it stirred up the dynamics in the band and tickled them to find a new, fresh twist of the band’s sound. SKULL NEWS met singer and writer Pekka Ansio Heino to talk about the new album.
Avatar räumen gerade mit ihrem neuen Album Hunter Gatherer die Charts auf und bekommen in der internationalen Musik-Presse durchweg Lob und positive Kritiken. Auch die Fans der schwedischen Melodic Crossover Metal Band sind begeistert, vor allem vom Variantenreichtum und Stilmix der Platte. So finden sich Anleihen an bekannten Gruppen wie Soilwork, andere Songs beziehen sich auf die simplizistische Aggression von Rammstein, wieder andere klingen progressiv und verspielt wie System Of A Down. Trotzdem bleiben Avatar sich selbst treu. Wie machen Avatar das nur?! Unser neues Teammitglied Hugo hat bereits eine ausführliche Rezension zu Avatar’s neuer Hitmaschine verfasst, einmal auf Englisch und einmal auf Französisch, und gemeinsam haben wir Frontmann Johannes Eckerström per Skype zum Interview getroffen.
Fresh and hot post-metal band Tarmak from Belgium just released their debut Plow where they explore rhythm and groove and the limits of rock music. The creative trio, Sander (guitars, vocals), Geert (bass), and Simon (drums), took their time to answer our questions. Have fun reading our interview below!
A few weeks ago, SKULL NEWS already presented you the outstanding heavy metal album Cacophony Of Souls by REECE (El Puerto Records) on which David Reece (Accept, Sainted Sinners, Bonfire and many other) not only shows a whole new level of vocal versatility. But also shows new, more emotional sides of himself, and of course kicks asses as ever. David Reece is currently under quarantine in Italy and cannot tour with the new album. But he uses his involuntary time off to write new songs for his band as well as for a secret new project. Discover what David Reece has up his sleeve in our interview!
SKULL NEWS hat euch bereits das neue Album Soundsphaera von Sons Of Sounds vorgestellt und nun hat sich ihr Gitarrist, Wayne Beselt, die Zeit für ein Interview genommen. Sons Of Sounds machen abwechslungsreichen Heavy Rock und lassen sich von Schamanismus, Mythologien, Literatur, Träumen, aber auch von Balkanmusik und Iron Maiden inspirieren. Wie das klingt?! Lest am besten unsere Album-Review, hört euch das Album Soundsphaera an und seht die Jungs live, zum Beispiel am 5. März 2020 im Don’t Panic in Essen!
“We are living in Israel. So, these stories of armies, police, chaos, terror, it is part of my life. We have rockets falling on our heads and ever since I was a kid – I grew up in a very mixed city, together with Arabs and Jews – I always had been influenced about how people can get along. But there had always been this reality of terror attacks and wars, people who say they hate me. There are always these two sides.”
“I thought, if the world is better – what the fuck will be the music of this world?! Art is about what is hurting you, what you feel, I mean you write about your pain and what bothers you. If everything is okay, what will I write?”
” Also, you should remember that Israel is not one culture. In my opinion, Israel has an identity crisis itself. There are so many cultures there, it is hard to not get inspired, it’s so heterogenic. That’s what Melechesh is about, too.”
“This word apparently has very different meanings everywhere. For the Germans, the “Orient” means the Middle East, but for me, it’s a word from colonial times. It’s absurd! Everything else is “occidental”: Metallica is occidental, and Slayer and Primordial, they are all “occidental”. ”
“For me, personally, I’d say that music is for everyone. No-one owns it. I mean you should respect the others and like it, then it’s okay.”