Band of the Week- PARALYZER

Not to be confused with Paralyzer of IL.

PARALYZER

FROM: TENNESSEE & VIRGINIA, USA

LINE UP:

Bass: Neal
Vocals: Josh
Drums: Chris
Guitar: Isaiah
Guitar: Dillon

 

GENRE: THRASH METAL

Short interview with Josh Thorne:

So tell us a bit about Paralyzer bro.

 

Paralyzer began in early 2010, even though Neal had been wanting to start a thrash band for some time before that. The original lineup was Neal Williams, Mike Plaster, Chris Blevins, Brian Neece, and Dave Killebrew. The lineup has changed quite a bit in the last year, but the lineup in Paralyzer now is the strongest it's ever been. As far as our sound goes, it's thrash metal. Musically, all of us come from some pretty unique and different backgrounds, but when we come together to write songs, we thrash. Period.

Have you guys put out any releases since your inception?

There was a two-song demo recorded before I joined the band, and both songs are available on our Reverb Nation page for everyone to check out. Right now, we're putting the finishing touches on our first official EP that we'll be recording in the next month or so.

I understand that you just joined the band, what's it been like since? 

It's been a relatively easy transition, dude. I basically went from hanging out with the band all the time to hanging out with the band all the time, and holding a microphone, haha. Everything has been really great though. We're almost constantly writing new stuff, and booking as many shows as we possibly can, so no complaints here!

Nice man! Good to know it's been smooth. For those who haven't heard the old Paralyzer material, what can we expect from the new stuff, sound wise?

Expect a tighter, heavier, and way angrier sound. The four songs we're putting on this EP are the best songs we have written, as far as I'm concerned. Those songs are "Death Cult", "Hellish Demise", "Thrashoholocaust" and "Genocide Season". If you like violence, you'll like this. Bottom line. 

That sounds fucking awesome man. This sounds very promising! When can we be on the look out for the new Paralyzer? 

We're hoping to release the EP sooner than later, for sure. As I said, we'll be heading into the studio later this month and once everything is prepared, I'd say we'll shoot for a summer release. We're also going to be recording two more, older songs of ours for a split EP with our friends in Unspoken Triumph from Chattanooga, TN and that will likely drop shortly after the EP, if all goes according to plan.

Sounds like a battle plan my friend. Any last words?
Thanks for the interview! The blog is absolutely sick, and more people should follow your lead and do whatever it takes to keep extreme metal fans in the loop. Be on the lookout for new music from us very soon, listen to Ice Cube, and show love to cop killers nationwide

http://www.facebook.com/ParalyzerMetal

http://www.twitter.com/paralyzerva
http://www.myspace.com/paralyzermetal

Band of the Week- STRAIGHT JACKET

 

STRAIGHT JACKET

FROM: VIRGINIA BEACH, USA

LINE UP:

Bailey Arnold - Guitar & Vocals
Kasey Pritchard - Guitar
Gage Shanahan - Bass & Vocals
Matt Washburn - Drums

GENRE: THRASH METAL

Short interview with Gage Shanahan

What can you tell us about Straight Jacket? 

Pretty much, a few High schoolers who all wanted to get together and make some good ol' thrash and thats what we've been doing for about 10 months now haha.

In those 10 months, what would you say is your biggest accomplishment?  

Writing as much as we have, and having done one self-produced demo EP and one professionally done demo LP within such a short time. its kind of amazing how much we've written.

Sounds good! You guys have released some previews for us via YouTube, I'm hugely into "Necromacht". What direction do you guys take lyrically and musically? Influences?

!ell...for the most part, we kinda just go with it, anything fast, heavy, and not too simple...Vocally we just write what Bailey (our guitarist/singer) can sing while he plays. we go for the classic thrash topics when it comes to lyrics...war, demons, anger, history, stuff like that. influences are anything thrash/metal, some punk. But we've been told we do sound alot like DARK ANGEL.

Gnarly. Very gnarly man, and I really do hear a lot of old school DARK ANGEL, SLAUGHTER (CAN), and SLAYER going on. Any slated release for the new demo?

Probably here in late april. we've been having a few money issues here and there, so we've gotta finance some art and other things since we're going to be independently distributing the demo, but luckily we've got tons of request from all over the world for it. we're definately excited to get it out there.

Very much looking forward to this. Any last words?  

Just wanna say to keep an eye out for some real underground metal, and I wanna give a shout out to the POSSESSOR guys and NEMESIS!!

http://www.myspace.com/straightjackethrash
http://www.youtube.com/StraightJacketThrash

Also on Facebook and Reverbnation

INTERVIEW WITH HAVOK

In this short but gnarly interview (which was done in Jan/Feb, but had setbacks in our behalf), I got the chance to catch up with guitar diablo, David Sanchez of HAVOK. On the brink of releasing a new albu, these new-school thrashers delivered us to evil with their debut "Burn", and their sophmore effort "Time Is Up", diminishes any talk of trend-hopping. These guys are far beyond that, and now it's time you take note. Class is in session.

So tell us a bit about yourselves for the unfortunate souls who have not experienced Havok.

Well, we're a thrashy metal band from Denver, Colorado. We officially had our first show as "HAVOK" in February of 2004 and have been playing out ever since. To this day we've released a bunch of EPs and one full length album. We just finished work on our second album and it should be coming out in Spring of 2011. Shwing!

How did you guys come to be? You're one of the heavyweights in the new era of thrash acts to come out recently. 

I started the band in high school with a drummer that I met. We began jamming and playing METALLICA songs together, then got a guitar player and bassist. Within a few months, we had an hour of metal covers down and a few originals, so we started gigging. We released a couple of demos and EPs with that original lineup, then after a couple of member changes, we started touring in 2007. Touring has been our main priority ever since then. We have toured the country many times since then and we will continue to do it in 2011. This new album will bring lots of time on the road!

Speaking of which, you guys are set to hit the road with MALEVOLENT CREATION soon, excited to get back to what you guys do best? (Upon release, they already played. I love Malevolent, but hands down, Havok stole the show.)

Hell yes! Touring is what we love more than anything, so we are totally psyched to get out again! We would rather be on the road any day than sitting at home doing nothing. Ha.

Burn is a killer album, absolute thrasherpiece where all the hitting comes off hard. I know you guys have been working on number 2, what's new this time around?

Ha, thanks! We have just about finished work on our new album, "Time Is Up". Release details about the album should be released early this year. It absolutely destroys the last album in every way, so I can't wait for our fans to hear it. If you liked "Burn", you're going to like "Time Is Up" 43 times more... The songs are better in every single way possible. This album is faster, catchier, more technical, and way heavier than the first one, so I feel like metalheads are in for a real treat when they buy this one. Keep an eye out for details about the upcoming album!

 

Very nice, looking forward to it. Your last big tour, I believe, was with Primal Fear? How was your reception to all the, what I assume was dominantly, power metal/traditional fans? I also know you guys pulled off a few solo dates, how was that reception?

The Primal Fear tour was rad! We had a great response every night. With PF being a traditional metal band, that means their fans like it old school, so we fit in in that respect. When we play solo, it all depends where we are.

I've recently heard "Scumbag in Disguise" off of "Time Is Up", and I gotta say that I was blown away. It's very heavy and quite fast, and the solo's are just blistering. If the album is just as punishing as this song, you guys have a lot coming your way. 

 

Thanks a lot man, glad you dig it! I think "Scumbag In Disguise" is a good representation of the whole new album. Anyone that likes that song, will definitely want to get "Time Is Up." The entire album is aggressive, heavy, technical, and catchy. It'll be worth the $10-$15 to buy it.

 

I'll most definitely be picking it up, and I encourage our readers to support these thrash heavyweights as well. "Time Is Up" will be out March 29th, 2011 via Candlelight Records.

 

Rad! Thanks for the support. Much appreciated!! See you on the road.

 Again, at the time of this interview, done between Feb/March of 2011, "Time is Up" has officially been released to the masses. Pure fucking thrash metal insanity, buy it NOW.

http://www.HAVOKband.com
http://www.thirddegreemerch.com/havok
http://www.reverbnation.com/havok
http://www.myspace.com/HAVOK

 

 

POSSESSOR INTERVIEW

Hailing out of Virginia (USA), East Coast thrashers POSSESSOR vomit forth old school sounding metal, complete with Satan, babes, and leather. I've been hooked on these guys for a while and fetl they definitely deserved some more exposure for the heavy duty activity they've been conuruing since their 2009 formation. Here's an interview I did with their drummer/founding member Chris Sobltone.

So you guys recently got off the road with VINDICATOR and AGGRESSOR, how did that go? 

It went really Awesome! the dudes from both bands are awesome as shit! Aggressor being from Canada and all their humor is a lot different than here in the States. Some of the jokes that are acceptable there isn't the case here. haha. But yea it went really well, we got a lot of exposure and meet alot of cool people. Couldn't have went better!

Sounds like a long way from your beginnings with Robbie Rainey in AXE BITCH. After that dissolved, how did Possessor come into being?

Aha! Good 'ol Axe Bitch! Those were the days. But yea after about 6 months of no Music, Robbie and I decided to try again. I automatically went to Craigslist and posted an ad for a old school thrash guitarist. After about 3 days of that ad being up Kevin Chappel called me up one afternoon and said he was the man for the job. I said awesome and Me, Robbie, and Kevin meet up at Robbie's house to see if this guy was all what he said he was. Turns out he was exactly what we were looking for after writing "Taste The Blade." Then he mentioned that he knew another guy named Mike that he used to be in a band with. I told him to bring him on over next Sunday. Then Mike showed up and really impressed us. As of that day the soild Line-up Formed. We couldn't find a Bass player for about a year and then Jon Pierson came to a show we did in support in PAUL DI'ANNO. Jon said That he played bass and after a couple of weeks of coaxing we finally got him to come to a practice. We thought he was great and as of July 24th Possessor was finally complete haha. There's the short version anyways haha.

Sounds like things played out well! You guys have also released a demo, which I have a signed copy of. I gotta say, this shit sounds old school as fuck. What are you're primary influences as a band? Not only musically, but what's the driving force behind Possessor's agenda on old school thrash metal?

Yeah everything turned out just great! Thanks for the compliments on our sound man, we really try to bring back our favorite parts of old school metal and add our own little mix in too. Our main drive as a whole comes from just sheer outrage and anger at what has become acceptable as music and what has become acceptable as metal. The carbon copy new metal bands aren't memorable in our eyes, always the same vocal style, same down tuned guitars, and its very over produced most of the time. We really just want to make music that we would enjoy listening to. That's the Basic Drive Behind Possessor. Bring it back and keep it heavy.

And that's the way it should be. You fucks are like the musical version of what Verbal Razors aims to be. I know by association that NEMESIS are another sick band from the East coast, any other notable mentions you want to shoot at us and other fans of the old school sounds?

Absolutely! There is another VB band that's our partners in the fight to keep the metal alive. STRAIGHT JACKET! There the young thrash assault and there taking it back right along side of Possessor. You can check them out at http://www.myspace.com/straightjackethrash . They're a killer band.

Very nice man, I'll add a feature on em as well! What can we expect in the future from Possessor?

Definitely dude, SJ is awesome! The future of Possessor looks good. Early 2011 The CD "City Built With Skulls" is Scheduled to come out with a tour to tour to follow. Bunch of local shows. Hopefully some label action there. Never know with us we are pretty spur of the moment guys. I guess everyone has to stay up with the facebook to know.

Badass man, I'll definitely be looking forward to that. Any last words?  

Last words? I guess the only Words would be THRASH HARD AND STAY HEAVY

Possessor are definitely worth checking out, and ordering their demo is a must, which is packed with hitters including my personal favorite "City Built With Skulls". Blazing solos and shrieking vocals have paved way for this thrash metal onslaught.

http://www.myspace.com/possessormeta
lwww.possessor.bigcartel.com
also, look em up on Facebook

SPELLCASTER INTERVIEW

I vividly remember hearing SAXON for the first time: It was 1980, I was young and thirsty, and "Princess of the Night" was blaring out of my little radio. In essence, that seems like the ideal time for a person like me. Sadly, I missed out on those times b ya decade or two. But that's okay. We have SPELLCASTER. From the high lands of Portland, OR (USA), come the 5 piece chainsaw champions, recently signed to HEAVY ARTILLERY RECORDS, delivering us speed metal mayhem to a new generation of metalheads who may have or may not have experienced W.A.S.P., EXCITER, RAZOR, or, satan forbid, JUDAS PRIEST. I've had the pleasure (to kill) to interview Cory Boyd, 6 string slinger for the up and coming group who have just recently released their brutalizing EP, "Spells of Speed".


So I know you guys recently got back from a small stint on the road, and as far as I know it's been the most extensive gigging done in support of your recent signing to Heavy Artillery Records. How did it go?

It was great man! we got to go to a lot of new places most of us had never been too, drink beer, and play Heavy Metal so it definitely went very well.

It seems like there's been a rise in old school sounding metal bands the last few years- Cauldron, Voltax, Enforcer- why do you think there's been a resurgence in it?

I think there has been such a resurgence because nothing is more loud, powerful, and energetic than Heavy Metal music. People want to crank up a record, or go to a show, have fun, and listen to music that gets their blood pumping, and I think Heavy Metal brings that to the table.

 I love how he capitalizes "Heavy Metal" like a pronoun. Death to those who refuse to refer to metal as a pronoun.

You guys have certainly put a lot on the table in response to all the overseas acts taking a similar approach. With the success of your EP, what can we expect from the full length?

Thanks Chris! all the Metal Maniacs out there can expect some new songs that we're very excited to get into your ears, definitely more touring around Spring/Summer, and hopefully our first music video.

What's the reception been like for Spells of Speed? 

It's been pretty good so far man, we received a lot of positive feedback from people who bought either the Vinyl or CD, and the reviews on various websites, zines, etc. have all been pretty good, even the blabbermouth review was decent and those guy's are usually dick's when they review bands that aren't hipster metal haha.

Ah that's true. Blabbermouth always seem love all the bree bree bands with their trendy sounds. So what's the next move for Spellcaster?

Haha oh how they do. The next move for us is to get our full length done, we're gonna head down to a local studio and record at the end of this month and then it's scheduled to come out in May. Once summertime comes around we plan on doing some extensive touring in the U.S and hopefully Canada depending on how we are doing financially, and if the album does really well and get's us out there, our biggest goal is to go to Europe.

Fuckin' A. I think you guys would be taken with a lot more interest over in Europe or South America then here in most of North America. They're the biggest ragers haha. I forgot to ask some other basic stuff: How did Spellcaster come into existence?

Yeah, granted there are ton's of true metalhead's here in the states but man, it's like every where else it's like a fucking religion! Spellcaster came into existence after I quit a band I was a part of most of High School back in 2008, I wasn't happy with the direction it was going and wanted to start a more traditional metal band with a dose of speed and intensity. After getting our drummer Shad on board, I met our singer Thomas at a job we were both working at, heard him sing, thought he had pipes, and he hopped on as well. We then went through a few line up changes with the Bass and second guitar positions until we recruited our buddy Gabe Franco on Bass, and our buddy Tyler on second guitar who was actually in the band I played in back in High School.

So I'm assuming you guys clicked well. Do any struggles come about with 5 members and touring? 

Yeah we all mesh very well personality and songwriting wise. Oh yeah, obviously packing 5 guy's(Actually 6 including our buddy Logan who did lights for us) in a ford Econoline van for 3 weeks, barely getting any sleep, you don't know whether you'll make enough money to get home, and your giving your all at every show you start to get worn down after a while and arguments and things like that happen, but they always get resolved very quickly.

That's good man, bands that deliver real metal like you guys need to stick around. Any last words for our readers?

Thanks man! we definitely don't want to go away any time soon. Yeah, our debut album "Under The Spell" will be coming out in May on Heavy Artillery Records so definitely be on the lookout for that, and we'll be touring a lot this Summer so come out to a show, buy some merch, and enjoy a rip roarin' Heavy Metal show! And last but not least thank you very much Chris for doing this interview and helping us spread our brand of spellbinding Heavy Metal!

Cheers Man!

 And so I return to reminisce on the good days when ANGEL WITCH was around and I wasn't. if you're a fan of traditional metal but don't mind a circle pit or two, be sure to give a much-needed listen to SPELLCASTER.

http://www.myspace.com/spellcaster123
http://www.spellcaster.bigcartel.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/SpellcasterUS
http://www.last.fm/music/Spellcaster