Interview With Orphaned Land

Last year Orphaned Land delivered an instant classic in the form of The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR. It’s also a band with a strong message to look past racial, ethnic and religious differences and accept people they way they are. I had the pleasure of doing an interview with guitarist Matti Svatizky. He had a lot to tell about the Orphaned Land’s recent tours with Katatonia and Amorphis, a very memorable trip to India, working together with Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Kirk Hammett’s (Metallica) appreciation for the band and showing a different side of his native country Israel..

Omnium Gatherum – New World Shadows

My first introduction to Omnium Gatherum was their The Redshift album. At first I wasn’t particularly taken with that album, but over time it grew on me and nowadays it’s one of my favourite albums. When I received the news that the band was working on new material, my expectations went mountain high. With high hopes I entrusted their latest offering, entitled New World Shadows, to my ever hungry CD player…

Omnium Gatherum – The Redshift

Omnium Gatherum are a melodic death metal band from Finland. They have a couple of albums under their belt, including Spirits And August Lights (2003), Stuck Here On Snakes Way (2007) and The Redshift (2008). Subject of this review is their third studio record, entitled The Redshift.

Dark Tranquillity – We Are The Void

Dark Tranquillity are one of the founders of the so-called Gothenburg styled melodic death metal, together with In Flames and At The Gates. Through the years the band evolved, gradually drifting away from their extreme metal roots. The culmination of that process came in the form of Projector (1999). The feedback was mixed; some applauded the band’s need for experimentation while others accused Dark Tranquillity of selling out. On later albums like Damage Done (2002), Character (2005) and Fiction (2007) the band

Detonation – Emission Phase

Utrecht based Detonation are another fine Dutch metal band. They got a couple of releases under their belt, most notably An Epic Defiance (2003) and Portals To Uphobia (2005). They’re clearly inspired by the Gothenburg school of melodic death metal, but they do give their own fairly original flavour. Their third full-length, entitled Emission Phase (2007) is their finest effort to date and it’s on display now.

Soilwork – The Panic Broadcast

Alright, time to be brutally honest here. I haven’t been remotely excited about anything Soilwork related since the release of Natural Born Chaos back in 2002. I find Figure Number Five lacklustre at best, Stabbing The Drama barely acceptable and Sworn To A Great Divide is still collecting dust in some dark corner of my room. Hence my cynicism and scorn towards the latest album by Soilwork, entitled The Panic Broadcast.

Persefone – Shin-Ken

Besides being one of the tiniest countries in Europe, Andorra isn’t known for having a vibrant metal scene. In fact, I don’t know of any band from that country. That’s about to change, because Persefone puts Andorra firmly on the metal map with their Shin-Ken album. Let me tell you, this record is one hell of an introduction.