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

Shit that makes me happy

I vividly remember picking this up about 2 years ago at a local record shop, Reckless Records. What caught my attention was the tits. Not too big, not too small, just about right. And of course, I realized this was a metal album. Very fucking metal indeed.

When you YouTube "vicious attack", you may come across another stellar Chicago, IL based thrash act.

Welcome To The New Site!

Formerly known as "Somberlain Magazine", the internet has proved to be a more useful tool than the traditional pen and paper method to reach the heavy metal masses. I'll be posting up reviews and interviews this week, including an interview with Cardiac Arrest! Stay tuned.

Here to bring you the very best of thrash, heavy, death, and black metal, our purpose to to provide you good interviews, helpful reviews, and stellar downloads. Keep supporting metal!

-Satanic Hispanic