Xavier Baecke took GRIMM to Tommy Johansson. Not only Sabaton’s lead guitarist, but also the founder, vocalist, and guitarist of Majestica, Sweden’s national karaoke champion, Youtuber and just one of the best guitarists in power metal. We talked about his main influences for his guitar play, his hot take on if Sabaton is power metal or not, and a possible little peek at future projects. The dream for any reporter with a warm heart for (power) metal.
A chat with Mr. Lordi about the new Lordi album ‘Screem Writers Guild’ (out since March 31st via Atomic Fire Records), how he was inspired by the “Universal Monsters”, a couple of things he did differently for this album and how the process was to get to their new looks. He also gives us a brief update about a translation of his recently released monster of a book about everything Lordi!
A chat with Jaakko and Niko from Marianas Rest about their new album ‘Auer’, set for release via Napalm Records on March 24, and how they’ve tried some new things with their music without losing the band’s soul, by having the courage to follow where the songs were taking them, bringing in clean vocals and a guest vocalist for the first time.
A chat with Pressure Points about how they’re happy with the new line-up of the band and their brand-new album ‘The Island’, released on Art Gates Records last Friday. Make sure you catch them live at one of their future dates, like for instance the Kaamos Cruise in September!
A talk with Niilo and Ville of Insomnium about their new album ‘Anno 1696’, how the short story it’s based on was specially written by Niilo for the album, how much they love putting together special editions and a kind of whole experience for their fans and how they got Johanna Kurkela and Sakis Tolis to join them on some tracks!
A talk with Joonas and Ben from Oceanhoarse about the new album ‘Heads Will Roll’ and how their state of mind was different with the recording of this one, trying to get a more raw and dirty sound to take it even closer to a live feeling than before!
A chat with Johannes from Avatar on the new album ‘Dance Devil Dance’ on why this is the best album of them as of yet, how they did things somewhat different and tried to approach everything in such a way that they thought people could dance to even blast beats and why now was the time for them to self-release the album.
A chat with Björn Gelotte about In Flames’ amazing year in 2022, their new album ‘Foregone’ and how everyone seem to link it to a different stage of their sound with the way they put the mixing and production together this time around. We also touch on his personal writing process and how incredible it is to him to be able to have their music transcend into other forms of art like the upcoming graphic novel!
A chat with Tuomas Seppälä from Amberian Dawn about their ABBA cover album ‘Take A Chance’ and their process to get to selecting the to be covered songs and establishing a sound that is Amberian Dawn while staying as close as possible to the originals.
A chat with Sara Strömmer of Shereign about the release of their debut album “Ghost Diaries”, the themes and artwork of the album, the planned release shows with Dark Sarah and how she would describe the band in images, with a very interesting result!
