Category Archives: By: Matthew

We Are The Real McKenzies

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The Real McKenzies – Interview

The Real McKenzies logo

The Real McKenzies is a Canadian Celtic punk band founded in 1992 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Paul McKenzie is the founding member and the band is credited as the cornerstone of the Celtic punk movement. In addition to writing and performing original music, The Real McKenzies perform traditional Scottish songs, often infusing them with a punk-influenced sound. They have shared stages with many other bands inside and outside of their genre including Rancid, Shane MacGowan, NOFX, Flogging Molly, The Misfits, Metallica just to name a few. They are hard working as a band in studio and out of the studio, constantly touring and sharing their music with others (as well as a drink or two, three, four!)

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Spellblast – ‘Classified-V’ (2022)

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Rating: 7.5/10 Release: 16 November 2022 Label: Independent Spellblast fans, the Truth Is Out There! Gone are the old west references, this album gives us more. The songs tell a story, using lyrics and various effects to enhance the back story. The concept of ‘Classified –V’ reminds me of Iced Earth’s ‘Horror Show’, whereas … Continue reading →

Fortíð – ‘Dómur um dauðan hvern’ (2022)

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Rating: 9/10 Release: 18 November 2022 Label: Lupus Lounge Viking/Black Metal act Fortið (Icelandic for ‘past’) has given us a two track EP bringing forth more darkness from the shores of Iceland.  The band has evolved both musically and lyrically since conception, taking a different musical direction similar to Enslaved … Continue reading →

Classified Material?

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SpellBlast Interview

Italian folk/power metal SpellBlast hails from Bergamo, an Italian city northeast of Milan, in the Lombardy region. Born in 1999, they have released four full length albums with a new album ‘Classified – V’ due out soon. ‘Horns of Silence’, their debut album, was released in 2006 and involved some folk influences with lyrical themes inspired by fantasy tales and J.R.R. Tolkien references. In 2010, ‘Battlecry’ was released with themes involving ancient Norse mythology. ‘Nineteen’ was released in 2014, and the band took to executing a crowdfunding campaign, thus creating a concept album based on the Stephen King book ‘The Dark Tower’ saga. The album took previous folk themes and morphed them into more of an “old west” direction. The last album, released in 2018 titled ‘Of Gold and Guns’ brought us another concept album. The band chose to keep the old west direction, but using legends and references to figures that helped shape the old west in the United States. Spellblast has had some notable guests on some of their releases, such as, Elvenking’s singer, Damnagoras, as well as Fabio Lione from fellow Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire.

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From the Cold Woods of Latvia

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By: Andrejs Pidjass

Varang Nord interview

Varang Nord is a folk metal band from the cold woods of Latvia.  Founded in 2014, their music combines death metal riffs with epic lyrical themes and accordion accompaniment.  Lyrical themes reference Nordic culture, mighty battles, sacrifices to the Old Gods and festivities involving pints of ale.  One of their crowning achievements has been winning the Wacken Metal Battle in 2019, just before Covid -19 ravaged the world.  In 2021, their album ‘Pārķiuņa Uomurs’ was nominated as ‘Global Metal Release of the Year’.
The album was produced by the band and recorded at their personal studio. Mixing and mastering was by Gints Lundbergs at Latvian Sound Division Studio.

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Mandragora Thuringia Interview

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Between Humans an Nature

Mandragora Thuringia was founded in 2008 as a cover band and at that time, in its infancy, they did a lot of musical exploring, being influenced by bands like Alestorm, Korpiklaani and Sabaton. The band really began to take off in 2016 with independently releasing their first EP “Mandragora Erwacht” (Mandragora Awakens) that brought forth some live shows which saw the band gain some fan base and popularity. In 2019 they released ‘Der Vagabund’, and had shows planned to support the new release when the global pandemic hit and brought things to a sudden stop as with most musicians.  While a lot of newly formed bands gave up and parted ways, Mandragora Thuringia went into overdrive mode writing new songs and used the time to write the new album “Rex Silvarum’.

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Mandragora Thuringia – ‘Rex Silvarum’ (2022)

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Rating: 8/10 Release: 4 November 2022 Label: MDD Records Mandragora Thuringia (definition: the Latin name ‘Mandragora’ for mandrake which bridges humans and nature) is a fairly new band in the folk metal scene with their debut album ‘Der Vagabund’ (2019). 2022 brings us a new release “Rex Silvarum’ (King of … Continue reading →