Music

In a new interview with Full In Bloom, guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett of the legendary Canadian power trio TRIUMPH was asked if being involved with the making the forthcoming first-ever feature documentary about the band’s dramatic career “reignited any animosity” between him and his bandmates, drummer Gil Moore and bassist Mike Levine. He responded (hear audio below): “We’re good. We’re old grown-ups now. [Laughs] That stuff is ancient history, because we resolved our issues a long time ago, and we’ve sort of come to terms with that in very adult grown-up kinds of ways. Having said that, it’s not great when you’re revisiting things in your life that give you sorrow. “It was not an easy time from 1987 through about 1993 — it was a ...

We’ve come a long way from the days when being remotely progressive in metal was seen as an act of extreme radicalism, but it’s still quietly thrilling to see the continued rise of bands like BLACK CROWN INITIATE. The progressive death metal scene has often suffered from too weighty a debt to the first few OPETH albums, with bands falling over themselves to plug a gap Mikael Åkerfeldt was only too happy to leave behind. But this Pennsylvanian unit were always audibly smarter and more unpredictable than many of their supposed peers, and “Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape” continues the extraordinary expansion their sound has undergone since 2013’s “Song of The Crippled Bull”. Four years on from the immersive sprawl of “Selves We Cannot Forgiv...

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has blasted bands who rely heavily on pre-recorded tracks during their live performances. In recent years, more and more artists have been given a pass for using backing tracks, drum triggers and other assorted technology that makes concerts more synthetic but also more consistent. Speaking to “Live From Nerdville With Joe Bonamassa” about some rock acts’ reliance on pre-recorded tracks, Ian said (see video below): “I don’t wanna sound like an old man, but, I mean, come on. Look, I get it — if it’s some kind of giant pop act and giant production, or something like that, or if it’s PINK FLOYD doing ‘The Wall’ and there’s recorded stuff — voiceovers, whatever, things like that… But I hate going to a show ...