Interview with Brittney Slayes of Unleash the Archers

      Brittney Slayes, vocalist for the Canadian Epic Metal band Unleash the Archers, took a few minutes out of her day to speak to us at Five Magics Music about the new album "Apex" that is being released June 2nd through Napalm Records!

Alestorm "No Grave but the Sea" Review

      The pirates of Scotland (and Ireland and Hungary and wherever else) are back. Alestorm, Power/Folk Metal masters are back for their 5 th album “No Grave But the Sea” and man, if you’re a fan of the album then are you in for a treat.

      The album kicks off at full speed with “No Grave But the Sea”, the title track sets the standard right off the bat with full epic sounding orchestration mixed in with the Folk/Power Metal style Alestorm are known for. The chorus is full of gang vocals that will easily get any crowd singing along, much like many other songs on this album. Another one of them being the lighthearted, feel good track “Mexico”. Have you ever wondered why people love going to Mexico for holidays? Well, Alestorm spell it out pretty quickly mentioning that “the alcohol is free” twice before you’ve even reached the first chorus.

     “No Grave But the Sea” takes things one step further than any past release has. The last Alestorm album “Sunset on the Golden Age” saw the introduction of Elliot Vernon, the band’s new keyboard player who also supplies some harsh vocals for the band, this album sees Vernon take centre stage during some songs to belt out some ferocious vocals. One of the main ones being the band’s first single “Alestorm”, which pretty much spells out for you the meaning behind the band’s name. This album is also the first with new guitarist Màtè Bodor aka The Actual Human Bobo, while Alestorm have never exactly been known for guitar solos, Bodor might be the reason that changes. “Bar ins Imbiss” is a song about, here’s a shocker, pirates and drinking, but the song also features a few separate guitar solos that aren’t just there as a sense to “show off” you can hear the passion and emotion in them and I makes them stand out that much more.

Now for the song I figured would be full of Vernon's harsh vocals, but instead it’s a lighthearted, upbeat and all around fun song, “Fucked With an Anchor”. The song is very simplistic in sound, imagine sitting around a campfire thinking of 4 letter swear words and making a song out of them, simple right? The song is full of gang vocals, upbeat riffs and curses that stunt your vocabulary to nothing but swear words.

      Beginning to end “No Grave But the Sea” is a I’ve step for Alestorm. Bowes takes a step back and everyone has equal spotlight from solos to vocals. If you were a fan of the band’s last putting “Sunset on the Golden Age”, then this new album will be right up your alley, sounding like a perfected version of “Sunset…”.

Also, for some insight into the album by the Captain himself, click here to listen to our interview with Chris Bowes

Interview with Chris Bowes of Alestorm

     The Captain of the ship known as Alestorm, Christopher Bowes himself has taken time out of his day to talk to us, OH WOW! We sat down, talked about the new album "No Grave But the Sea," touring, going out with some pop punk bands this summer and even how fun "Fucked With an Anchor" is!

Check out the video below to hear all about the great adventures of Alestorm!!



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Varg "Götterdämmerung" Review

            The wolf returns! That’s right after the success of last year’s “Das Ende Aller Lügen” Varg have returned with another Napalm Records release, “Götterdämmerung”! Mixing the pleasure of Melodic Death Metal with traces of Black Metal, especially in the vocals, Varg fill any void you could have had with the new EP.

Now four songs might not be enough for the die hard Varg fan, calm down you just got an album last year I think you’ll get over getting only four new songs so early. The album kicks off with the title track, “Götterdämmerung”, which will be a killer live track and show opener I can already tell. The track is full of energy, the main riff is about as catchy as they come and Freki's vocals on this track are full of power. At the halfway mark the song slows down and even in a whisper the vocals will send as a chill down your spine and with the choir style backing vocals the song sounds so full it’s practically bursting at the seams.

If you want to talk about songs that sound full though, you need to give a listen to “Knochenpfad”. Sounding like an intro to a horrific war scene with the orchestration and almost pain filled voice, this song kicks off just right. The sound of this song once all the instrumentals kick in is so full of power it’s almost a shock to the senses and this is the song where the Black Metal influences really kick through in the vocals. Freki not only sounds pissed off, but his vocals have a touch of pain to them. As the song progresses the main riff, which will get your head bobbing regardless, slowly evolves to incorporate more sound and different little pieces and parts until everything fits together like a puzzle and creates something outstanding.

I’ll be honest, this was my introduction to Varg and with it I went back and checked out other albums and songs. This is a killer band that adds more with each and every album. Varg fans should be more than pleased with “Götterdämmerung” as it's worth many listens. This Will keep you coming back for more, you’ll keep noticing little parts you might not have caught, you’ll fall in love with it. If you don’t know Varg, much like myself, I highly suggest this EP, believe me.

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