BLASTING YOUR SPEAKERS!!! (playlists for month June)

From now, you can leave as a comment your playlist for every month. Choose up to 5 albums that have been loaded to your player the most times, the running month.

INTERVIEW: GREGOR MACKINTOSH (Paradise Lost)

Interview by Thanasis Mpogris.

Paradise Lost is one of the 3 most influential bands of the last decade, for the heavy metal sound, with Dream Theater and Pantera. Shortly after the release of their new masterpiece “In Requiem”, we had the honor to talk with the lead guitarist and music composer of the band, Greg Mackintosh.

Thanasis: Greetings from Greece, Gregor. I'm Thanasis from Hall of music blog/zine. Please accept my congratulations for your new masterpiece. It's gone short time since the release of "In Requiem" album. How do you feel about it?

Gregor: Very happy with it. It turned out exactly how we wanted. The record label seems to be doing a good job too.

Th: The new material, sounds to my ear as a return to the 1992-1994 era of the group. Heavy/doom riffs, dark atmosphere and melancholic mood. Was that return, a decision or something that came natural?

Gr: I can draw comparisons with older albums like Gothic, Shades of God, and Icon, but I think that's because the same people played on all these albums. With In Requiem we wanted a more raw sound. We have done a lot of experimenting
and it just feels fresh for us to do an album like this right now.

Th: I believe that the new album is the best that you released since "Draconian Times". Do you agree with that?

Gr: I think it depends on your perspective. A lot of our records are quite different and i believe they are all strong in different ways. In Requiem is the heaviest and most organic album we have done for quite some time though.Th: The sound of the new album is incredible. How it was to work with Rhys Fulber and Mike Frazer? Does Rhys tend to be what Simon Efemey was for the band, in mid '90s?

Gr: Rhys is involved like an outside view of the songs. He honestly tells us his opinions on things and we trust that opinion, even though sometimes we don't agree. We approached the production of this album very differently. There is a big trend in music to completely edit your music within programs like pro tools, to achieve a perfect sounding album. We deliberately did the opposite. We wanted an album that was not perfect, but retained the energy and life that happened when the songs were first written. The drums were recorded in a day and a half and not edited. Same with the bass and so on. I think Mike Frazer, who mixed the album has done an amazing job. We wanted a big symphonic sound, but also a very live, organic sound. Not an easy thing to achieve but I think he did it.

Th: From the beginning, Paradise Lost made a progress from album to album and every time you appeared a new face, without losing your identity. What kind of progress do you feel that you made on the new album?

Gr: On In Requiem we took the more movie score approach, and less poppy less commercial song structures. This makes it probably less immediate than our last 2 albums, but hopefully it makes it more interesting to listen to.

Th: Some days ago i watched the "The Enemy" videoclip. Amazing work. Very "doomy", in many ways.

Gr: Thanks

Th: I would like to made you a question not so relevant with the new album. Which is your opinion about the music downloads from internet? Do you believe that the whole thing, can work for a band of against?

Gr: Great for exposure, terrible for sales.

Th: On July 8, you gonna be headliners for the Gagarin Open Air Festival, here in Greece. Which is your memories from past live shows in our country, and which are your expectations for that day?

Gr: We have always loved our visits to Greece. We have lots of friends there and the shows have always been great, thanks to the fans. If the next show there is anywhere near as good as previous shows we have done there, it will be great.

Th: I wanna thank you Gregor for the interview. It was such an honor for me and "Hall Of Music" to talk with you. I wish you the best for the future. Take care.

Gr: Thanks.

10 KILLER METAL CONCEPT ALBUMS, Pt 2

1. BLIND GUARDIAN – NIGHTFALL IN MIDDLE EARTH (1999)

J.J.R. Tolkien is one of the most influential writers for several heavy metal bands. Blind Guardian’s 6^th studio album is based exclusively on Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion” book, a book with a large collection of tales from the First Age of Middle-Earth. This album is probably the most mature of the band, with many fresh elements inserted into the band’s music, without at the same time, the band to lose its identity. All the band’s members are giving a recital, each one on their own position. The folk character of the songs helps at the maximum the listener to create pictures at his mind and functions for a poetic, romantic and medieval atmosphere.

2. NEVERMORE – DREAMING NEON BLACK (1999)

The story behind the concept of this album is based on a loss of a beloved person of Warrel Dane, who is the vocalist of the band. Dane's old girlfriend left him when she joined a religious cult and was never heard from her again, and he began having nightmares of her crying out to him as she drowned. This has been confirmed by Warrel himself in an older interview. Here we have to do with the tale of a man’s slow plunge into insanity, after his girlfriend’s death. The pain, the sorrow, the rage, the desperation and the fear are sung through the lyrics of the songs. The heavy, the thrash, the death, the power and the speed metal are all combined to a very successful way, with an amazing outcome.

3. PAIN OF SALVATION – BE (2004)

Daniel Gildenlow (vocals/guitar) is the mastermind of the band. Almost whatever that someone can find on Pain Of Salvation’s albums, all are his creations. He is a genius of our days and it’s dead sure that after some decades he will be praised for this reason. “Be” is the 5^th album of P.O.S. and also their most ambitious album, both musically and lyrically. The concept of the album is a story that is a collage of several theories around the creation of the humans by God. God created people feeling the need to understand better his own nature. Continuing, we, the people, are creating several small things trying to explore our nature, and a circle is going on. We have to do with a philosophical concept with many extensions. The main idea behind all this is a big WHY, and not HOW, we have been created by God. If someone wants to find out some more things about the concept, can visit this link. Musically the album is a church, were the folk, the avant-garde, the progressive, the soundtracks and the rock elements are married, with every single moment to make the listener to hold his breath.

4. EVERGREY – THE INNER CIRCLE (2004)

This is the band’s 5^th album and maybe their most mature one. The concept has to do with a man who decides to follow a heretic cult, with the hope to change some things to his life. Slowly, after entering the cult, some problems are appearing to his family, and as he is trying to explain his wife and his child about his decision, finally he falls out with them. He tries to understand if he has chosen the right way and sometime the people who are leading this cult, are trying to persuade our hero to bring also his child to this cult, in order to proselytize him from young age. Then he realizes the dark side of all these and tries to escape from the cult, but its leader don’t let him go away and encourages him to commit suicide. On the music section of the album, we have to do with very emotional songs, which are following the mood of each moment of the concept and enhance the cinematographic character of this dramatic story.

5. BRUCE DICKINSON – THE CHEMICAL WEDDING (1998)

The big return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, to the metal music has been made a year ago, with the “Accident Of Birth” album. But on 1998 they created an amazing concept album. The lyrics of the album are all inspired from texts and poems of the famous English poet, visionary and painter, William Blake. The lyrics are containing stories of alchemy and mystery, that lead the listener to think about different subjects, all dressed by heavy and atmospheric music. The final result is monumental and the “Chemical Wedding” is more than a classic heavy metal album.

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH

A new column is now reality and its name is "Photo of the Month". The chosen photo will have to do with music, but it will be seen from a humorous aspect.

This Month in the photo we can see, his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, trying to make a breakthrough to the rock audience, in order to preach the speech of Lord. Horns up Ben!!!

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10 KILLER METAL CONCEPT ALBUMS, Pt 1

1. QUEENSRYCHE – OPERATION: MINDCRIME (1988)

This is the best concept album in the history of heavy metal. Through its concept the band makes a very strict critique to a system that fails. The television makes its propaganda, the money can buy almost everything, governments are simple puppets of thirds, people without will who watch what happens around and can’t react. It appears the decay of our society in its majesty. We have to do with a concept that, despite the fact that created almost 20 years ago, is to the point still today. It’s needless to speak about the music. Whoever who listen to it has only things to win.

2. IRON MAIDEN – SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON (1988)

This album is the last of the great classic albums of this band. It's also Iron Maiden's seventh studio album, which makes a neat tie-in with the album's title and the subject. The album is based on the fantasy novel “Seventh Son” by Orson Scott Card, that tells the tale of a child that possesses occult abilities and from it’s moment of birth is subject to manipulation by the forces of good and evil, and must come to terms with his powers and how to use them. For many people, including the man who drops these lines, this masterpiece is the best album that the band ever created. Apart from its lyrical depth, the music is flawless with much experimentation in band’s sound and composing course.

3. W.A.S.P. – THE CRIMSON IDOL (1992)

The story of the album talks about a teenager named Jonathon. He is a complete failure to his parents eyes, and after his brother’s death, to a car accident, he runs away from home. In a music store he sees a guitar and he wants to become a rock star. After much work Jonathon manages to find a contract for a record and to become a rock star. He finds out that the life isn’t as glamorous as it seemed to be. Jonathon has fame and fortune, but not the one thing he always wanted, the love and acceptance of his parents. One night before a concert, Jonathon calls his parents in an attempt to reconcile their differences and heal the emotional wounds between them. Jonathon realizes that he will never be accepted by his parents and decides to commit suicide. During the aforementioned concert, Jonathon removes the strings from his guitar, shapes them into a noose and hangs himself. This album is the peak moment of W.A.S.P. and it is a well of emotions. The music is genial created as the mood matches perfect with lyrics’ each moment.

4. DREAM THEATER – METROPOLIS PT II: SCENES FROM A MEMORY (1999)

The biggest progressive metal band here presents a concept album that has as a main character Nicholas. Nicholas discovers, with the help of an hypnotist, that in his previous life he was a woman, Victoria Page who was part of an erotic triangle between two brothers. In the meantime, a dramatic story of love lust in the end of the decade of ‘20s, takes place. The music of the album is a travel to different kinds of music, such as metal, prog-rock, oriental, Charleston, and the catalogue has no ending. If “Operation: Mindcrime” was the best concept album of ‘80s, then for dead sure “Scenes From A Memory” is the same for the ‘90s.

5. AMORPHIS – TALES FROM THE THOUSAND LAKES (1994)

From their first release, Amorphis showed that they were able for big things. This is their second full-length album and they created a concept album, with the lyrics to be based on the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. In the lyrics, we can find tales from the Finnish mythology that illuminates the happiness, the grief, the conflicts and other folds of the every day lives of Finnish ancestors’. A new dimension reveals into band’s music, as it is more melodic than their debut, with a further use of keyboards and clean vocals on the songs. This album is often hailed as one of the better Amorphis records, and as a very influential and historically significant, in the development of the Melodic Death Metal and Doom Metal genres, album.

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IN MEMORY OF : CHUCK SCHULDINER (05/13/1967 - 12/13/2001)

He was born on May 13, of 1967, on Long Island of New York. He was the youngest of three children. He started to play guitar at his 9 and on his teen age he formed his first band, Mantas, with Kam Lee (drums/vocals) and Rick Rozz (guitars). The band recorded their first demo “Death By Metal” on 1984 and shortly after this, they changed their name to “Death”. After several changes to the line-up of the band and the recording of some more demos, they recorded the 1987’s “Mutilation” demo, which makes Combat Records to sign a contract with the band. It was on 1987 that the band released their debut album “Scream Bloody Gore”. A year later and after a complete change to band’s line-up, Death released one of the most influential albums for death metal genre, 1988’s “Leprosy”. On 1990, Death released their 3^rd full-length album, “Spiritual Healing”, and a new face of Chuck Schuldiner appeared. The gore lyrical theme was abandoned and a new social theme appeared. The music turned to be more progressive and complicated to structure, with many technical parts and many melodic too.

On 1990, and after some disputes into the band, Chuck expelled Terry Butler (bass) and Bill Andrews (drums) and decided to continue Death as his band with session musicians to come and go. It was then that Chuck earned the reputation of a “perfectionist” person, besides metal community. On 1991 “Human” album released, which was the breakthrough for the band, and the song “Lack Of Comprehension” was the first videoclip that they filmed. Until 1995 Chuck released (1993) “Individual Thought Patterns” and (1995) “Symbolic” albums and the parade of session musicians continued, with Gene Hoglan (drums), Sean Reinert (drums) and Andy La Rocque (guitars) to be some of them. Shortly after “Symbolic”, Chuck dissolved the band and begun to compose material for his new project Control Denied. Finally Chuck left aside for a while, the idea of Control Denied and he released another Death album on 1998, the “The Sound Of Perseverance” album. Some of the songs of the album was initially intended to be into Control’s Denied debut, but finally appeared to Death’s “swan song”. Finally Control Denied made their debut on 1999 with “The Fragile Art Of Existence”.

In May 1999, Schuldiner experienced pain in his upper neck, which he initially thought was a pinched nerve. On his birthday, May 13, 1999, Schuldiner was diagnosed a type of brain cancer that invades the brain stem and immediately underwent radiation therapy. In October 1999, Schuldiner’s family announced that the tumor had necrotized and that he was on the way to recovery. In January 2000, Schuldiner underwent surgery to remove what remained of his tumor. The operation was a success, however, the Schuldiner family was struggling financially. The total costs of the operations would come to $70,000, a price the Schuldiner family could not afford. Many fundraisers, auctions, and benefit concerts took place to help cover the costs. The money began to come in as the metal community, in total shock, realized that Schuldiner's life was in danger. The metal community and the Schuldiner family showed deep concern because Schuldiner could lose his life due to lack of funds.

Schuldiner continued to work on his music, continuing his work with Control Denied. About two years after his original diagnosis, in May 2001, the cancer returned and Schuldiner fell ill again. He was originally denied surgery (which he needed immediately) due to lack of funds. A press release called for support from everyone, including fellow artists. Jane Schuldiner, his mother, urged all who read the statements about Schuldiner and his illness to go out and get insurance, showing her frustration in the American system. Schuldiner had gotten medical insurance after his first surgery, but the insurer had refused to pay because the tumor existed before he had gotten the insurance. Schuldiner received a chemotherapy drug, to help with his therapy. Like most drugs used in the treatment of cancer, the side effects were harsh and weakened Chuck greatly. Undaunted, Schuldiner fought on. In late October/early November, Schuldiner became ill with pneumonia. He died on December 13, 2001 at approximately 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

His mother, Jane Schuldiner, handles his legacy. She frequently interacts with Schuldiner's fans and has stated many times that she enjoys his music. Schuldiner's sister Beth seems to keep track of his recordings. Beth has a son named Christopher, who also plays guitar and has all of Schuldiner's guitars except his first one, which his mother keeps. Chuck with his departure, left behind a big treasure, his music, which will be eternally influential for everybody who will play death metal. Death metal as a genre is his spiritual child. The void of Chuck’s absence is huge, six years after his death. He paid homage to death, calling his band at the same name, but death took him next to him very early. Rest in peace, Chuck.

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