Saturday Singles: Voltang - "Garbage People" (Official Music Video)

Voltang is a (hardcore & punk-infused) hard & heavy rock/raw heavy metal band from Hamilton, Ontario. Earlier this month the group put out the official music video for "Garbage People". That in and of itself isn't all that weird.I mean bands put out music videos all of the time. The only thing that is strange about  "Garbage People" is that it is from the band's 2016 album, "Bad Sounds". Loud and proud (and quite a bit like a sharp stick to the eardrums!), the video for "Garbage People" is two or so years late to the party. Even so, Voltang drops a hammer to the top of your head with this maddening metal number. Like the album from which it came, "Garbage People" is mean and ugly. It's pumped up by anger & frustration and geared towards today's lost generation of punks, metalheads, and misfits of all shapes and colors. With a run-time of 4:22, Voltang's new video is better late than never...



"Garbage People" Official Music Video:

Interview with Serbian death metal band Nemesis

Nemesis is a five-piece death metal band from Serbia. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with the group. 

Andy-First off I would just like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us. How are things going for you today?

Anja-We thank you for reaching out and noticing our work! Everything is going great! Winter is harsh this year so we were hibernating a little, but we are back on the metal horse! We will try to make this year prosperous and successful.

Andy-Would you mind introducing yourself to our readers?

Anja-Nemesis is an all-girl death metal band from Serbia. The band has five members: Sanja on vocals, Aleksandra on lead guitar, Tijana on rhythm guitar, Anja on bass and Selena on drums. We all come from different cities, of various education and taste, and we do think that this makes us different than a usual band.

Andy-How did the band first come about?

Anja-Nemesis is a band founded in 2013 with idea to gather female musicians and do something totally unexpected – to form a death metal band. Serbia is a country where folk music (not in a good way folk) and EX-YU rock are mainstream and are cherished dearly by the audience. Death metal music seems appropriate music to fight stereotypical concerts with tribute bands that play songs that we heard so many times. We wanted to make something different.

Andy-I think you succeeded in that! Now, I believe that I read somewhere that you were named after an Arch Enemy song. Is that correct?

Selena-That is partly correct. We love Nemesis song by Arch Enemy, but our main idea was to name the band after the Greek goddess Nemesis. She represents everything we fight for: Justice, order, truth and punishment for those who are arrogant and think they are above gods, or in our case, laws.

Andy-Very cool. Besides Arch Enemy, who are some of the band's main influences?

Anja-There is a lot, each band-mate has a different taste, making us unique but also strange. There are few bands that we would point out: Kreator, Death, Pantera, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Gojira, Trivium, Nevermore… The list is very long and we could say there are a lot of genres that are influencing us, we are pretty sure that it will be noticeable in our upcoming recordings.

Andy-Word has it that you have a new EP in the works. How is that going and when came fans expect to see it?

Sanja-Yes, that is correct. This week we will be recording final parts of vocals and songs. It should be sent for production-mixing very soon. Hopefully it will be out by the end of April. We are very excited and we cannot wait to see reactions and comments from our fans, we really did put a lot of effort in making these songs!

Andy-Are there any song titles that you can share?

Selena-Sure. Our audience already had the opportunity to hear our first single "Vengeance", which will be on EP, and other three are: "Living Dead People", my personal favorite, "Savages" and "Divine Retribution".

Andy-I just love the video for your song "Vengeance"!* How did that come about?

Sanja-The video at the first, didn’t have any story, we wanted to present ourselves as a band, hence the classical band on a stage video. Thankfully to our great friends and supporters Branislav Radovanović and Relja Ilić we were able to make this video look brutal, full of colors and present us in the best possible way. First thing that was filmed was us playing in Cultural Center in Pančevo (town near Belgrade), but we felt like we wanted to spice it up. The parts were I am the only actor was a little bit spontaneous representation of me as an "avenger". It was a great experience, a lot of fun and I cannot wait to start filming our upcoming video!

Andy-If there is such a thing, what is a typical show like for your group? 

Sanja-Typical for our show is – energy! Each show would be fueled with energy, sweat and people jumping and moshing around. I think that we communicate and share our energy with audience each time, even people who would see us for the first time would feel good and end up moshing and headbanging. At the end of show we would get lots of hugs and compliments. We love our shows! 

Andy-Who are some of the group's that you've played with so far? 

Sanja-There was a lot of awesome bands with who we shared the stage, but we would like to highlight few local bands who are also our friends – Jenner, Void Inn, Demist… Of course we would point out and very popular Pero Defformero, with who we will be playing on March the 3rd in Belgrade. When it comes to foreign bands with who we played I would highlight Brazilian band Nervosa. We hope to play with them again soon, the girls are so awesome and sweet! Maybe we should mention a upcoming gig that will definitely be great? We are going to Ljubljana on March the 11th and we will be playing with famous band Hell Cats! Our colleagues from band Jenner will be playing also! We are very excited and we will do our best to travel outside Serbia as much as possible because we would like to spread the word that Serbian metal bands exist! 

Andy-It sounds like your band is very active. Do you have a favorite show that sticks out?

Anja-Favorite show would be definitely a concert with a very popular Serbian band Pero Defformero, that we mentioned question ago. Guys from the band were fabulous and were the best hosts. Also there is another show that sticks out. Our dear friends organized a road trip with 7 bands to their hometown, Golubac (near a border with Romania). There we played a gig with other metal bands including Jenner from Belgrade and we can say some friendships were made that night. 

Andy-You brought up Jenner (who I just love and have covered before) o that brings up a important question. With their signing, Serbian metal is a hot topic these days. Has Jenner's success helped the scene out any?

Selena-The girls from the band Jenner are our friends, and we are really happy for them. We don’t think it helped us in direct way, but they did help when it comes to girl bands in general. Maybe there is someone who read the name of our band for the first time in their interviews, but more important is that they are showing the world that girls can play some badass metal. 

Andy-Damn right they can! Has there been any label interest in your band?

Selena-There were some foreign labels offering to sign us, but we want to wait till we enter the studio with album material. We think that even our most loyal audience will be pleasantly surprised when they hear all of the songs. There are many labels out there and we will try our best to find the best offer there is. We want to go big or go home. 

Andy-I hope you go big! You all deserve the success and metal fans deserve more (high-quality!) death metal bands. Where can our readers find out more about you and hear your original compositions? 

Sanja-For now, this can be done by following our Facebook  page and our YouTube channel. We can proudly say that our webpage is under construction, it should look great and be easy to use. For now, you can be up-to-date by following our mentioned pages. It would mean a lot if our fans would like our page and give us a follow. Also we are inviting the readers to hit a like button! 

Andy-Yes! Heavy Metal Time Machine readers be sure to head over to the band's Facepage page and hit that like button!! It's always important to support great metal bands, whether here in the U.S. or overseas. I always let artists have the last word. Is there anything that we didn't touch on that you would like to address? Words of wisdom for other death metal bands? Want to say something to your fans or would you like to slam the hammer down on your detractors? Whatever it is the mic is all yours and yours alone!

Anja-We appreciate it! There are things to address, it could be a whole topic with few pages. Metal is really an underdog at this point, but we will make some changes, I am sure! Words of wisdom are simple – do it, make it happen! There is a lot of metal bands struggling and maybe would think that they should quit, don’t! Make a drastic change if you feel that you are sinking, or going nowhere. And when it comes to our fans, we would like to thank them, we are here because of them, because they believe in us. Their support is endless and it is pushing as forward. We would also like to thank you for making these questions for us, hopefully you will be able to enjoy new music videos and our EP.

Andy-I sure hope so and again, thank you all so much for chatting with us. Don't be a stranger and please be sure to let us know when you release your new EP.



*Here is the official video for "Vengeance":

Blackening - Nightmare (Official Video)

Blackening is a young thrash metal that is lead by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Oliver Hayirli and has a cool style that is very similar to early Metallica. The band, which also features lead guitarist Wolfgang Hoffegger and drummer Klaus Hoffegger (Brothers? Cousins?), just welcome in a new bassist in Sebastian Köck and from the sounds of it they have a lot of original compositions worked out. One such number is "Nightmares" which you can check out below. Hopefully we'll be hearing more from the guys in Blackening seeing as this band is energetic and efficient!

Warfield-"Barrage Fire" Single

IMM Records
2015

Active since 2012, Warfield is a five-piece thrash metal band that currently has one demo ("Killing Ecstasy") and one EP ("Call to War") to it's name. Released in 2012 and 2014 respectively, Warfield's previously-released recordings have been well-received by not only the general public, but by critics and fellow thrash bands. With their latest single, "Barrage Fire" this Kindsbach/Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate-based band continues upwards in their journey towards the top of class and thanks to a terrific mash-up of classic bands like Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus, Kreator, and Sodom and newer acts such as Legion of the Damned and Suicidal Angels these Teutonic warriors are closer to that goal than ever! For Warfield (who should not be confused with the four or so other metal bands sporting that moniker) it's all about the THRASH and that starts up front with lead vocalist Johannes Clemens and then runs straight on through to the drumming of Dominik Marx! In-between all of that metal madness you've got the shredtastic(!) performances of guitarists Matthias Clemens and Dominic Potts and the hotter than hell heaviness of bass player Ethan Stokes! The five members of Warfield (who incidentally seem to range in age from 18 to 22!) have more than enough talent to go around as heard on this new single, but please don't just take my word for it! Click on the video below and see/hear for yourself why the Germany's thrash scene just keeps on getting better and better! You can find and then follow Warfield online by heading  here and then you can download the band's latest EP, "Call to War" off of iTunes or Amazon.

Metasic-"New Design" Music Video

Tradiio Recordings
2015

Formed in November of 2014, Metasic is a London/Essex five-piece whose heavy rock/alternative rock sound has justifiably-enough drawn comparisons to the likes of Faith No More, Queens of the Stone Age, and Nine Inch Nails. "New Design" is the second single from the group's 2014 debut EP, "Falling Into Place", and come August 17th it looks as if it is all set to see a (new and improved?) re-release with two re-mixed versions being tacked on for good measure. In the meantime be sure to check out the band's official video for "New Design" which can be viewed by heading here.

Metal News: Dead Inside Records announces the signing of hard rock/groove metal band Muckagee!

In what will most certainly be a win-win situation for all parties involved, Dead End Records (a fantastic new independent label based in the San Francisco Bay Area that was built by musicians for musicians!) has 

announced the recent signing of San Jose, California's own Muckagee. With one full-length CD already to their name (2012's well-received "What you See") and a new EP entitled "Twisted Control" in the works, Muckagee (pronounced: "Muck-ah-jee") is all set to bring their grove-infused hard rock/alternative blues metal to the main stage for all to hear and (damn-straight!) enjoy! In the meantime the hard & heavy group has released the official video for their track "Over". Appearing on the group's 2012 debut-album, "What You See", "Over" is a groove-heavy pressure cooker where lead vocalist Mzao "Mo" Waters (a one-man wrecking machine with a powerful set of pipes!) and crew slowly turn up the heat before burning it all down! With Bob Lemos and Alvin Gatewood scorching the lines on guitars and the tight rhythm section Dave Wilson and Art Williams (bass and drums respectively) providing a blistering back end this California five-piece has all of the tools necessary to take that next big step!

Danger Zone-Fire Fire (Single)

Self-Release/Independent
2014

It's been two years since we last heard from Italy's Danger Zone. The thing is, based solely on the high quality melodic rock/hard rock that fans (incl. yours truly!) have come to know and love so much from this Bologna-based group, that seems like more of an eternity! Formed in 1980 (with highly skilled guitarist Roberto Priori serving time as the sole original member!) and known as much for the cult 1984 release, "Victim Of Time" (one EP that I have long dreamed of seeing it get a proper* CD release!) as they are for their excellent 2012 comeback album, "Undying" (with a handful of demo recordings and the very cool "Line Of Fire" nicely sandwiched in-between the two proper studio releases) Danger Zone has long been the type of band that is lovingly embraced by those in the know while (sadly) mainstream success seems to be just beyond the group's reach. One can only hope that the future holds better things for Roberto Priori and his brother's in arms as Danger Zone, which is lead by Giacomo Gigantelli (Spitfire) and (as of this fantastic cover song) has "officially" welcomed new bassist Matteo Minghetti into the fold (with long-time drummer Paolo Palmieri (as wonderful as ever) rounding things out) is simply far too talented and way too good to be ignored forever! Maybe the group's next release (reportedly in the works and rumored to be issued later this year or early 2015) will finally open some eyes & ears to this band's full-potential? In the meantime Danger Zone has released this digital single as a means to tide over fans and possibly hint at what is in store for the new album. Originally performed by Japanese band EZO and often-times covered by Danger Zone on the live stage, "Fire Fire" is a damn near perfect choice of covers for these Italian hard rockers seeing as it's chock full of contagious riffs and it hits the listener from all these different directions at once! Available on iTunes as well as Amazon, "Fire Fire" initially slipped past me someone how this summer but I've more then made up for that oversight by BLASTING (!) this hot slab of hard rock fury over and over again since just discovering it this past Friday! You can check out them video for this hell-raising rock number right below and if you are not entirely  familiar with this highly-underrated Italian group then be sure to check out any of links that I've posted below!

 

*There is a bootleg split CD by Revenge of True Metal Records floating around, but more then anything I would love to see this incredible EP re-mastered and re-packaged with some bonus demo material and possibly even "I Can't Live Without You" from the 1987 compilation album Metalmaniac!

Links:

"Line Of Fire" review:
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2011/04/danger-zone-line-of-fire.html

Article about "Victim Of Time":
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2012/05/forgotten-gems-danger-zone-victim-of.html

Review of 2012's "Undying":
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2012/10/danger-zone-undying.html