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French Trial Of VARG VIKERNES Postponed

Manos Spanos
According to the BBC, a French court has postponed the trial of BURZUM mastermind Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) — who is currently facing charges in France of inciting racial hatred and glorifying war crimes — after his lawyer requested more time to read documents and prepare his defense. Vikernes will now have his day in court in June 2014. Vikerenes, 40, who has been living in France for the past three years, and his wife were arrested in July as a preventive measure after Vikernes posted aggressive racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments on Internet forums. The couple's home was searched and five guns were found, including four rifles legally purchased by Varg's wife as a member of a rifle club. "That was at the origin of the investigation. There were several suspicions that made the services fear he could possibly carry out a violent act," the Paris prosecutor's office said. Vikernes in August announced his plan to sue the French authorities for what he called his "brutal" arrest. Writing on his official blog, Vikernes said: "We want to sue the authorities for arresting us for no good reason whatsoever, doing so in the most brutal way possible and with children present, and also for without any reason taking away our right to own or even possess weapons. Marie [Varg's wife] has a crime record white as snow, so there is no reason for them to take away her right and freedom to own weapons. I have a record in Norway, from 1993 and 2003, but I have never done anything criminal in France, and I can own most weapons even in Norway if I want to, so they have no good reason to take away my right and freedom to own weapons either. Especially not when they have done so under such circumstances. "The only problem is that we can not afford to sue them, and we see no other solution to this than to ask for help from you. It pains me much to do so, and I have struggled a lot with myself to make me do this, but I think this is the right thing to do right now. They have done everything they could to make sure we could not afford to sue, so I think they really don't want us to. We ask for help to sue from you, from individuals probably not directly affected by this case, because we believe that we are fighting not only for our rights and freedom, but also for the rights and freedom of every other citizen in France, and perhaps also in other European countries, who also risk being subjected to this type of treatment in the future. We need to tell the authorities that we don't accept this and that what they do is illegal. We cannot allow them to abuse their power like that and get away with it. This time they did this to us, we don't know what else they might do to us in the future if we just let them get away with what they did this time, and the next time it can be your neighbour's turn. Or your friend's turn. Or someone in your family's turn. Or your turn." A lengthy video interview with Vikernes and his wife about their recent arrest can be seen below.
03 min read

VARG VIKERNES To Be Tried For ‘Inciting Racial Hatred And Exalting War Crimes’

Manos Spanos
According to International Business Times, BURZUM mastermind Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) will to go on trial in France on charges of inciting racial hatred and exalting war crimes on the Internet. Vikerenes, 40, who has been living in France for the past three years, and his wife were arrested in July as a preventive measure after Vikernes posted aggressive racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments on Internet forums. The couple's home was searched and five guns were found, including four rifles legally purchased by Varg's wife as a member of a rifle club. "That was at the origin of the investigation. There were several suspicions that made the services fear he could possibly carry out a violent act," the Paris prosecutor's office said. Vikernes in August announced his plan to sue the French authorities for what he called his "brutal" arrest. Writing on his official blog, Vikernes said: "We want to sue the authorities for arresting us for no good reason whatsoever, doing so in the most brutal way possible and with children present, and also for without any reason taking away our right to own or even possess weapons. Marie [Varg's wife] has a crime record white as snow, so there is no reason for them to take away her right and freedom to own weapons. I have a record in Norway, from 1993 and 2003, but I have never done anything criminal in France, and I can own most weapons even in Norway if I want to, so they have no good reason to take away my right and freedom to own weapons either. Especially not when they have done so under such circumstances. "The only problem is that we can not afford to sue them, and we see no other solution to this than to ask for help from you. It pains me much to do so, and I have struggled a lot with myself to make me do this, but I think this is the right thing to do right now. They have done everything they could to make sure we could not afford to sue, so I think they really don't want us to. We ask for help to sue from you, from individuals probably not directly affected by this case, because we believe that we are fighting not only for our rights and freedom, but also for the rights and freedom of every other citizen in France, and perhaps also in other European countries, who also risk being subjected to this type of treatment in the future. We need to tell the authorities that we don't accept this and that what they do is illegal. We cannot allow them to abuse their power like that and get away with it. This time they did this to us, we don't know what else they might do to us in the future if we just let them get away with what they did this time, and the next time it can be your neighbour's turn. Or your friend's turn. Or someone in your family's turn. Or your turn." A lengthy video interview with Vikernes and his wife about their recent arrest can be seen below.
03 min read

NECROPHOBIC Parts Ways With Vocalist TOBIAS SIDEGÅRD

Manos Spanos
Cult Swedish black/death metal act NECROPHOBIC has officially parted ways with vocalist Tobias Sidegård. A Swedish appeals court last month reduced the prison sentence for Sidegård, who was accused of beating his wife multiple times between September 2011 and April 2013. Sidegård was originally sentenced to 18 months in prison for "gross violation of a woman's integrity," and offense that was first introduced into the Penal Code in 1998 dealing with repeated punishable acts directed by men against women who have or have had a close relationship with the perpetrator. On September 20, the Svea appeals court found Sidegård guilty of simple assault — a less serious offense than "gross violation of a woman's integrity" — and reduced his prison sentence to six months. The musician was also ordered to pay his wife 16,000 Swedish kronor (approximately $2,500) in damages plus interest. Said NECROPHOBIC in a statement: "Tobias is no longer a member of NECROPHOBIC. The verdict following his trial regrettably left us, the band, with no other choice. "As stated before, NECROPHOBIC do not accept or tolerate domestic violence in any way. "We will now search for a replacement. "Tobias will make a statement of his own within the next couple of days, which he will publish on his Facebook page." In addition to allegations of violence against his wife, Sidegård was suspected of physically abusing his daughters with a homemade bullwhip. The Swedish-language document detailing the Svea appeals court's decision to reduce Tobias' sentence can be downloaded as a PDF file at this location. Two separate Swedish media reports (in which Sidegård was not identified by name) from May 2013 regarding the allegations against the NECROPHOBIC frontman can be found by following these links: * Aftonbladet.se
03 min read

TESTAMENT Singer: ‘We Get Inspired By New, Up-And-Coming Thrash-Style Bands’

Manos Spanos
Brendan Crabb of Australia's Loud magazine recently conducted an interview with vocalist Chuck Billy of San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Loud: The further your career progresses, the more beloved many of those staples become to the long-time fans. How difficult is it to compose new material that can sit alongside the usual suspects of your live sets, and become accepted? Chuck: Well, I think because we never really write the same record, so I think that it's not just more of the same thing. You don't know what you're going to get on a record from us. We're always writing and that tends to get better and better as writing goes. We've been fortunate to play a lot more festivals over the summer when we go to Europe, so it kind of sticks in the back of your mind, that it's nice that you wrote a song that has those hooks or melodies where the crowd can respond and participate. We have a couple of those on this record, we always seem to have a song that kind of has a sing-a-long or a sing back or answer back, and it's been working. [laughs] So we've kinda been sticking with that I guess. Loud: On the live front, there's the impending release of your new DVD. What can you tell us about that? Chuck: Well, there's about 19 songs on it, and we put songs from the beginning of our career all the way to where we are now. It's actually a really good representation of where the band is today. The last DVD was in '05, and that's when we had the reunion with the original lineup. They only really wanted to play some of the stuff that they recorded on, so it's kinda nice, here we are now playing more of the current stuff. We decided to capture it, and we're really proud of it because we put a lot of effort into this DVD. It sounds really good, and it looks really good as well. So I'm pretty pumped on it. There's some backstage stuff and interviews, a video on it and the making of the video. Some cool stuff on there. Loud: Is the DVD somewhat of a stopgap before you bunker down to write the next album? Chuck: Well, we start it in January. We're doing the LAMB OF GOD, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and HUNTRESS tour, and after that, that's the last tour and the first of January we start writing. Then hopefully have a record out by summer. Loud: Where do you envision the next record heading then? Chuck: Not sure. I mean, Eric [Peterson, guitar], I kinda play off of what Eric, what the mood or what the riff is, you know? He kinda has the beginning; he starts it out and gets it going first. Then it just kinda develops from there. I don't know what style of vocals I'm going to be singing yet, until he gets those riffs on the demo.
03 min read

Report: Neal Morse – Athens, Greece

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
Fifteen years ago exactly in September 26th 1998, I had the luck and privilege to witness live and get to know in person one of my biggest heroes in life, Chuck Schuldiner from Death. This day had always a special place in my heart, especially after Chuck’s passing. Luck brought it this way so that I would witness another gig this special day and it’s another great reason to remember it through the years to come.
05 min read

CARCASS Frontman Says Illegal Music Downloading ‘Can Be A Positive Thing’

Manos Spanos
Tarja Virmakari of Metal Shock Finland and TrueMetal.it recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. Asked about his views on illegal music downloading, Walker said: "It can be a positive thing, if people download an album, hear it, enjoy it and buy it. The danger is that there is a hard core of people who download and never buy anything, and that's damaging to the music scene. They're not supporting anybody, they're not supporting the artists as fans. But for the most part, I think it's positive. Because I understand fully why people do it. There's so much music out there; people don't have the money or the resources to buy everything. And also people have probably spent or wasted money in the past on albums that have disappointed them. So it gives people a chance to test something before they buy it. I personally don't think it's any different to hearing music on the radio. But, like I say, it's that hard core of people, who… their attitude is very nihilistic and it's out of step with the idea of what being a fan is about. You shouldn't be trying to damage the artist who's trying to being people pleasure. We're not at war with the audience." CARCASS' new album, "Surgical Steel", sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on September 16 in the U.K., September 13 in the rest of Europe and September 17 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The effort was produced by Colin Richardson(FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) and mixed by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY). Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in CARCASS' current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash(PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON). In a recent interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Walker stated about the new CARCASS CD: "We think we've made a good album, so it's gonna be very interesting when people get to hear the record. We can't wait to see what people think." He continued: "It sounds like CARCASS. Even the drumming sounds like CARCASS. Everything about it… I think it's gonna shock people, how good it is. I think it's got all the elements that people like, yet it still sounds fresh. So that's all I can say, really, 'cause we don't really sound like any other band, and the fact that after 17 years, we wrote music and it still sounds likeCARCASS, I think it's good." Regarding the direction of the new CARCASS album, Walker previously stated: "We've taken stylistic cues from all the albums because it's in our blood, but it's no rehash or mess of ideas. I think it sounds almost like the missing link between the third and forth albums but with some groove in there. I've jokingly christened some parts 'trad blast' and some 'death sleaze'… don't think for a minute this is just some nostalgic throwback album — we're setting up another 17 years of ideas for other bands to copy and clean up on. [laughs]"
03 min read

SYLOSIS Frontman: ‘In Car-Accident Terms, We’re Alright’

Manos Spanos
British metallers SYLOSIS have been forced to drop off their North American tour with TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER and AFTER THE BURIAL after being involved in a serious RV accident Tuesday night on their way to a show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In a posting on the band's Facebook page, SYLOSIS guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton writes: "Myself, Rob [Callard, drums] and [Alex] Bailey [rhythm guitar] have just been released after over ten hours in hospital. Carl [Parnell, bass] is being kept in overnight as he's in too much pain to walk but should hopefully be released tomorrow morning (Montreal time) once some of his muscle pain/swelling has subsided. "All four of us and our driver were hospitalized, but seeing as Bailey was the only one who didn't get taken in on a stretcher and a neck brace, he wasn't treated as urgently. He's just had his back sewn up and is off to the scrap yard where the RV was taken to get people's clothes and some personal items — hero. "We're all very lucky. We've mostly just been stitched up (my eyebrow, a few on Carl's legs and Bailey's back), badly bruised and what feels like full-body whiplash. "In car-accident terms, we're alright, but in general terms we're not physically capable of continuing on with the tour and aim to get back to our families and friends [as soon as possible] to recover. "We want to thank the paramedics, the passersby who came to our help, the staff at the hospital and all of the fans and bands that have wished us well. It means the world to us." SYLOSIS' latest album, "Monolith", was recorded with Romesh Dodangoda in Wales at Monnow Valley Studio and was mastered by Jens Bogren (SOILWORK, AMON AMARTH, BLOODBATH) at Fascination Street Studios. The concept for the lyrics were loosely inspired by the Greek tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. The artwork was created this time around by Dan Goldsworthy (ACCEPT, HELL).
02 min read

CARCASS: New, Previously Unreleased Song ‘Zochrot’ Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
A new, previously unreleased song from reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS was made available through Decibel magazine's Flexi Series. "Zochrot" was included in the subscriber version of the magazine's October issue. You can now stream the track at this location. A limited number (fewer than 30) of copies of the issue that includes the flexi is available for sale in the Decibel webstore. CARCASS' new album, "Surgical Steel", sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on September 16 in the U.K., September 13 in the rest of Europe and September 17 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The effort was produced by Colin Richardson (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) and mixed by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY). Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in CARCASS' current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash (PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON). In a recent interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Walker stated about the new CARCASS CD: "We think we've made a good album, so it's gonna be very interesting when people get to hear the record. We can't wait to see what people think." He continued: "It sounds like CARCASS. Even the drumming sounds like CARCASS. Everything about it… I think it's gonna shock people, how good it is. I think it's got all the elements that people like, yet it still sounds fresh. So that's all I can say, really, 'cause we don't really sound like any other band, and the fact that after 17 years, we wrote music and it still sounds like CARCASS, I think it's good."
03 min read

TRIVIUM’s MATT HEAFY Says There Isn’t Enough Of A Brotherhood Within The Metal Scene

Manos Spanos
U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine recently asked guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy of Florida metallers TRIVIUM to give us his thoughts on the state of metal in 2013. As ever, his answer was an interesting one. Check out the clip below. "The state of metal in 2013… It's in a great place and it's also in a bad place," Heafy began. "I think the fact that there is so much… I guess to each his own, and I always talk about being acceptant of all styles of life and all genres of music — I mean, you can learn something from everything — there is a lot of manufactured nonsense out there. "For me, when I think of hardcore and I think of metal and I think of bands that I love from those genres… I don't know. In my head, I know what they should sound like. And I can see what these bands are all copycatting off each other's copycatting and not quite making anything original and not making anything of their own; they just keep copying a form of a copy. "I know I've been looking for that young, new metal band. "Where are the kids that are picking up a guitar, saying, 'Hey, I wanna be like IRON MAIDEN,' 'Hey, I wanna be like METALLICA'? Instead it's bands that are putting weird dance music in with heavy music. Which is fine — I guess they're doing something that kids love — but for me, as a metal fan, I'm missing out on where are the young kids picking up a guitar and starting metal bands. I guess there are a few last hopes out there — there are some really incredible bands that are doing some really incredible things. The fact that METALLICA and IRON MAIDEN are bigger than ever is a really, really great thing.
03 min read

MIKE PORTNOY ‘Couldn’t Relate’ To DREAM THEATER’s New Material

Manos Spanos
In the October 2013 issue of Modern Drummer magazine, drummer Mike Portnoy (THE WINERY DOGS, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB) spoke about how the combination of his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and having a memory unlike most other people's would make him an obvious choice for taking on more of a leadership role in a band setting. "With DREAM THEATER, I very much ran the show because my OCD allowed me to handle the additional roles," he explained. "Luckily, those guys [the other members of DREAM THEATER] always trusted my direction. OCD can be a detriment, though. I know it sometimes makes my wife crazy, and I'm sure it must have driven the guys in DREAM THEATER crazy at times too, but they rolled with it. " He continued: "It was never about being a control freak because I was an egomaniac. It was just my obsessive-compulsive nature. "When I first met [future DREAM THEATER bandmates) John Petrucci and John Myung when we were eighteen years old, I think they immediately recognized that part of my personality, and they were very comfortable with that dynamic. John Petrucci and I balanced each other out through the years with our strengths and weaknesses. He never cared much for all the little details and organizational stuff, and I never cared about the business or financial aspects, which he was very good at.
03 min read