CONTENTS

02 - Contents 03 - News 04 - THE GREAT KAT 09 - Article The Metal Phase 10 - WARD 10 13 - Music Reviews 15 - DIMMU BORGIR 18 - Movie Review 19 - THE CLAN DESTINED
SLAUGHTERAMA 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Greetings readers, Welcome to the biggest issue yet of Slaughterama, containing four great interviews as we celebrate three years that the zine has been operational. As has been the case lately, heaps of awesome bands have been announced as touring NZ soon. The most exciting event on the horizon for me would have to be ROCK 2 WGTN, the massive stadium extravaganza happening at Westpac Stadium on March 22 and 23 2008. KISS has been announced as a headline band, along with OZZY OSBOURNE. Monster band LORDI is also stated to be appearing, with more acts to be announced soon. Can't wait for that one! House of Noizz, Auckland's Heavy Metal radio show is now on earlier, at 10:40PM Friday nights in Auckland on Planet 104.6FM. Make sure you tune in to hear some great new Heavy Metal, along with all of the classics! Now you can buy all of the current and back issues of Slaughterama on www.trademe.co.nz. We are also working on adding some new and exclusive merchandise soon, so all going well we will have further announcements about that in future issues. Thanks for continuing to support the zine and Heavy Metal media in this country. By purchasing Metal albums, attending Metal concerts and buying this zine, you are sending a clear message to bands, promoters and record labels that New Zealand is a great place to tour, with a dedicated fanbase. Catch you next time, and be sure to check back on youtube for Slaughterhouse TV, as there will be a new episode up very shortly to coincide with the release of this issue of Slaughterama! Hail!!!!!!! BRENDON WILLIAMS Editor

ENQUIRIES: Phone - 021-146-6477 E-mail - slaughtermail@gmail.com Website - www.slaughterhouse.co.nz Mailing Address Slaughterama Zine P.O. Box 12-978 Penrose Auckland 1642 New Zealand VISIT US ONLINE! www.slaughterhouse.co.nz www.myspace.com/slaughteramazine This issue of Slaughterama is dedicated to the memory of William Sontgen.

ZINE CREATED BY

ALL SLAUGHTERAMA BACK ISSUES NOW AVAILABLE ON TRADE ME!

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NEWS
KING DIAMOND has received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill" off the group's latest album, "Give me Your Soul Please". Dave Mustaines credibility has decreased tenfold with the release of his personalized brand ofcoffee. Interested in getting an autographed bag of joe? Thatll only be $40.

King Diamond

Megacoffee Longtime QUIET RIOT singer Kevin DuBrow was reportedly found dead at his Las Vegas home on Kevin DuBrow November 25. The cause of death is currently uncertain. He was 52. 3 INCHES OF BLOOD has kicked out drummer Alexei Rodriguez in the wake of an apparent 3 Inches of Blood altercation with SAXON drummer Nigel Glockler at the Hard Rock Hell festival in the UK over the weekend. Following the October 28 release of Activisions Guitar Hero III many of the artists with tracks featured in the game saw impressive spikes in both album and single sales. British metallers DRAGONFORCE, however, have claimed the #1 spot for digital single sales amongst other tracks included in Guitar Hero III for Through the Fire and Flames, a track from their Roadrunner Records debut, Inhuman Rampage. g

AVANTASIA's "Lost in Space - Part 1" and "Lost in Space - Part 2" EPs recently entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 9. It is the highest single chart entry in the history of Nuclear Blast Records. "The Scarecrow" will be released overseas on January 25, 2008 as a standard CD as well as rare picture (double) vinyl. Swedish death metal legends GRAVE have posted the following update: We are proud to announce that we have signed a record deal with Regain Records. After 15 years and 7 albums on Century Media and free from any contract we felt the need to try something Grave signs new. The recording of our 8th album began this week and is scheduled for release before the Summer.

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Max Thrasher: Hi, this is Max from New Zealand's House Of Noizz Kat: What's up? Max: Aaaah Hi Kat: Are you doing an interview or what? Max: Yeah Kat: Good. What's your first question? Max: Yeah, right Sorry, before I start, there's Brendon Williams here with me, he's the coproducer of the show.

FROM THE VAULT

This interview with The Great Kat, an American shredder, was originally conducted about a year before the first issue of Slaughterama saw the light of day. The interview was broadcast on the House Of Noizz radio show and then put on the shelf. However, we thought it was simply too good to be left out of the zine and therefore decided to publish it under the "From the Vault" banner, so all of our respected readers get a chance to enjoy it. Basically, Kat's way of doing interviews is just like her music; extremely energetic, noisy and chaotic, and demands an enormous amount of concentration from the interviewer. Having said that, we didn't expect such a sonic assault from the guitar goddess and she took us totally by surprise. To be completely honest, we're not quite sure who interviewed who...

Kat: What? What did you say? Brendon: I'm here too, don't hurt me!

The Great Kat: Yeah, this is The Great Kat, who's this?

The Great Kat A very unique woman.

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Kat: What's your name? Brendon (giggles): My name's Brendon, mistress. Kat: OK, what do you want? Max: OK, aaah Kat: OK, my first question to YOU: (screams) WAKE UP, NEW ZEALAND!!!!!! THE GREAT KAT IS GOD!!! Have you seen the website www.greatkat.com? Max: Yeah Kat: And did you hear The Great Kat's shred-classical music? Max: Yes Kat: How does it make you feel?? Max: Huh Brendon (giggles): Horny. Kat: What? Brendon: (still giggles): Horny.

from all over the world, brilliant reviews, alright?! Shred/classical music must be taken seriously, The Great Kat is a new Beethoven! Get it? Brendon (not giggling anymore): We get it! Max: Oh my god! Kat: Good! Max: So, I heard you do research on journalists who interview you? Kat: I did research on you, Max, and I realize that you want the ideal of Heavy Metal, right? That's what The Great Kat is all about! I'M HERE TO SAVE HEAVY METAL!!!! OK?!!! The Great Kat is a Julliard graduate violin virtuoso. Taking classical music into the new millennium. I take classical pieces - Wagner, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Paganini - I take this music, energize it, edit it, re-arrange it for the 21st century. Then I mix it with Heavy Metal, BRINGING CLASSICAL MUSIC INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM! BRINGING HEAVY METAL INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM!!! WHAT ELSE? Is there anyone else, who's saving Heavy Metal and Classical music? Only The Great Kat, RIGHT??!!! Max: right ooh Kat: Let me ask you about the "Wagner's War" CD. You've heard it. So what have you heard?

Kat: No-no-no, Max: Well, the whole thing it's wait! Is it like 11 minutes long Brendon in the WAKE UP NEW ZEALAND!!!!!! background Kat: OK, what did you like? saying "Horny"? Cuz if it is, you've got about 3 seconds left of your interview, man! OK, I want you to be serious! See, Max: The whole thing. All of it. the same way you take Metallica seriously and Slayer seriously, you're gonna take The Great Kat Kat: How does the song "War" make you feel? seriously, because I have proven myself! The Great Kat, the fastest shredder of all time! The "Wagner's Max: It's very strong. War" CD got brilliant reviews all over the world - from "Guitar World" magazine, from "Spin" Magazine, Kat: RIGHT!! BUT HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL??!!

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Max: Aaah. Scared Kat: And did it make you want to get out there and do the killing? DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE GOING TO WAR?!!!! Let me ask you a question: do you realize what's happened on 9/11?? Do you realize what's going on in this world? I mean, we're not talking about New Zealand with ALL THESE LITTLE HOBBITS RUNNING AROUND, ALRIGHT?!! WE GOT NEW YORK CITY, PLANES GOING INTO BUILDINGS, KILLING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE!!! This is what I'm talking about. Do you realize what "Wagner's War" is all about? Max (frightened): Yes, ma'am Kat: Ok, this is what it's all about. 9/11, man! People coming in, taking our planes and driving them into the buildings that are just a couple of miles away from where The Great Kat lives in New York, OK?! I'm a New Yorker, I live in New York city, and a couple of miles down the road we got 9/11!!! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!! THE TERRORISTS HAD COME INTO OUR COUNTRY, INTO MY CITY, NEW YORK CITY, AND STARTED THE WAR!!!! THAT'S WHY "WAGNER'S WAR" IS HERE!!!

Brendon: How do you feel about the music coming out at the moment, Kat? The pop music of today? Kat (yells): WHAT POP MUSIC?!! IT'S ALL CRAP!!! SHRED-CLASSICAL IS THE ONLY MUSIC!! WAKE UP!! Max: Are there any bands on the modern scene who can come even clo Kat (interrupts): NO!!! Max: close to

Kat: It's all crap, it's all boring!! You wanna get into the past - listen to that crap. You wanna get into the 21st century - listen to The Great Kat! What I'm doing is actually taking classical music and energizing your brain with classical music. That's what The great Kat is doing! OK?! I'm actually taking the violin virtuosity and Max: OK, in general, what the classical influences you to write this geniuses, and music. Sorry, masterpieces!! The energizing it. See, masterpieces. we don't have time Are you on Kat: What influences me is Internet? Yes, Beethoven. Taking classical music obviously you are! and bringing it to the new Do you wanna go millennium. Using Beethoven and slower? NO! You using classical music. That's what wanna speed your influences me, OKAY? brain, right? So why would you listen to You wanna speed your brain, right? boring slow music? Max: OK So, if Beethoven Have you seen The heard your interpretations of his Great Kat "Guitar Shredder from Hell" music video? music, what do you reckon he'd say? Kat: Basically, he'd be bowing to The Great Kat. He'd be saying that The Great Kat is God and that The Great Kat is the new Beethoven of the 21st century. That's what he'd be doing if he was around today. Max: No, actually Kat: WHY NOT?!!!

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Brendon: We don't have it in New Zealand unfortunately. Kat: Okay!! Well, what we have to do is all go to The Great Kat website www.greatkat.com, g.r.e.a.t.k.a.t. dot com!!!!! We're all gonna go to The Kat website, we're gonna get energized, we're gonna go, check out the music video, there's photos, there's guestbook, there's music, there're videos, the Katstore, articles in fact there's a review from YOU, Max, saying that "Wagner's War" is rated 10/10!!! Saying "Wagner's War is yet another masterpiece from the FASTEST GUITAR-GODDESS ALIVE!!! The new album is bound for ETERNITY!!!" OKAY?!!! There're all these goodies. I want everybody on the website RIGHT NOW!!!! We're gonna see you energizing, and my goal right now is to take you, Max and you, Brendon, and we're gonna make you geniuses, bowing to The Great Kat! You're gonna be playing Kat's music 24 hours a day! We're gonna make the Kat channel right there, OK??!! The music The Great Kat is composing right now is for the new video game for X-Box and Nintendo - so you're gonna go get that, go to the Kat website, get all the information, that's what you're gonna do right now!! And you're gonna play some music!! You're gonna play "Zapateado," right?? WHAT YOU GONNA DO? Max: Aaah. Kat (yells): COME ON!!! WAKE UP!!!!! Brendon: Yeah, we gonna play The Great Kat. I'm very excited to Kat (not listening): Here's what you're gonna do you're gonna play "Wagner's War," you're gonna play "The Ride of the Valkyries"!!!!! Max: Yeah, alright. But I got more questions here. Kat: WHAT ELSE!! Max: You were named one of the Top 10 Fastest Shredders of All Time. Why not THE fastest shredder? Kat: Because these people see The Great Kat as female! They think she can't be better than guys!!! See, the problem is, when you're female you got to sit around, wait for them to understand that females can be as good and BETTER than guys!! So I have

to play twice as fast, I have to be a junior graduate violin virtuoso. I have to go and be Beethoven!! I have to be violin virtuoso and a guitar virtuoso!! I got to be better, I got to be faster, I got to be more brilliant and more outrageous - that's why The Great Kat is GOD!!! Now, when they'll get up and wake up, and UNDERSTAND it - maybe they'll put me to number one! I DON'T CARE!!!! I'M NOT DOING THIS FOR THE NUMBERING!! I'M DOING THIS TO WAKE YOU UP!!!!! Brendon: How long did you spend perfecting your art? Kat: I studied for several years, before going to the college, then I studied for 6 years, played concerts throughout the United States, discovered that the classical music is DEAD!!! And discovered Heavy Metal through Judas Priest and Ozzy. Then I discovered that Heavy Metal mixed with classical music is the way to the future. I took classical music, I mixed it with Heavy Metal, picked up the guitar, systematically transcribed all my violin solos to the guitar and changed history! Brendon: But do you still listen to Judas Priest and Ozzy? Kat: I listen to it once in a while, when I come across it. Yeah, I listen to it. But I'm already too far beyond it! Those guys are still on their first level of Heavy Metal. What else? Max: All of your compositions are very short. Why is that? Kat: It's short and to the point! It's like Internet - fast, short, to the point!! Max: A word of wisdom from you to the young guitarists. What should they do to be able to play like you? Actually, is it at all possible - to play like you? Kat: GIVE IT UP!!! (giggles) You can't be a violin and guitar virtuoso, man!! You can not do it!! Because people who play violin don't have possibilities to play guitar, and people in Metal don't have the genius to play violin! Do you know how hard the violin is? Go listen to it!! I play "Zapateado" faster than anyone ever played it! It's extremely hard! That's why my playing is incomparable! You wanna compare all those other guitarists - that's fine, let's go and

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compare them. But The Great Kat is not comparable to anybody! WAKE UP!!!!! Brendon: For you to play these instruments, they surely must be crafted by master craftsmen. Who do you endorse as being good enough to make these instruments? Kat: The Great Kat plays a variety of instruments. I play a bunch of different guitars, I play a bunch of different violins, I have Italian violin, German violin I don't endorse anybody right now, because when they come and say "The Great Kat is God, and we'll let you take all of our company over and DOMINATE THE WORLD!!!" - then maybe I'll talk to them. WHAT ELSE?!!! Max: Is there a difference between The Great Kat and Katherine Thomas? [The Great Kat's real name - editor] Kat (yells): NO!!!! I AM THE GREAT KAT, GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!! MOVE!! Max: Okay. Brendon: Have you ever been arrested for assault? Kat: NO! MOVE!!!! Max (nervous laughter): Oh, shit, I'm running out of questions Kat: OKAY!! YOU GOT ONE QUESTION LEFT! WHAT IS IT??!!!!! Max: Your message to the New Zealand fans of The Great Kat?

guys, you just need to be guided correctly! The guiding I'm gonna give you is this: Spread the word, you're gonna play shred-classical all day, you're gonna promote The Great Kat on your website as The Great Kat is promoting you on The Great Kat website! You, Max and you, Brendon - we're gonna take over the world! RIGHT?? Max: Definitely Kat: WE'RE GONNA TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! We're not only gonna update Heavy Metal and classical music, but we're gonna update all those idiots who think that Hip Hop and all that crap-Rap is gonna be saving the planet! WAKE UP!!!!!!!! IT'S CRAP!!! We gotta get everybody into shred-classical music, we're gonna play the "Wagner's War"!! The Great Kat is the fastest guitarist in the world!! This is the future!! You're gonna energize everybody. And here's my last words to you: WAKE UP!!!!! OKAY??!!! Max: Yup. Kat: SAY IT!!!!! SAY "THE GREAT KAT RULES"!!!! Max: The Great Kat rules! Brendon: The Great Kat rules!! Kat: SAY ENERGY!!!! IT WITH

Brendon: THE GREAT KAT RULES!!! Kat: HERE YOU GO!! TAKE CARE!! Max: Thank you very much for doing this interview for us! Kat: NO PROBLEM, BYE!! (hangs up) I AM THE GREAT KAT, GET OUT OF MY WAY!!! MOVE!! of me... g Max: Oh, Jesus, Lord almighty! This woman scared the living hell out

Kat: Here's my message: I want YOU, Max! You're gonna go and spread the word of The Great Kat! You're alright

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THE METAL PHASE

The Metal Phase By Brendon Williams I am currently witnessing another few people go through what I refer to as the death throes of of their Metal Phase. In my experience, well over half of the people who get into Heavy Metal in their teenage years drop the music like a bad habit later in life. It's almost as if these people decide that by shedding their love of Heavy Metal they have extended their musical awareness, and have become an adult. For me, even though I like and appreciate other genres of music, Metal has it all. Hell, every genre is represented; folk, opera, jazz, new age, country (even rap sadly)... Back a few years when House of Noizz was as much a Heavy Metal social club as a radio show, I remember regularly getting together with a bunch of people who I thought carried as much of a die-hard dedication to Metal as myself. I even went to gigs and met similar folk. And a some of them slowly but surely moved on. They may occasionally still listen to Metal at home in their bedrooms, but I'll bet that more than a few simply can't be bothered with Metal anymore. When people reach adulthood, they tend to really mellow out. I can't imagine pulling half of the stupid stunts I used to pull, and I'm nowhere near as angry at the world, at other people, or at life as I was in my teens. I guess for some there is a justification to use Metal as a tool to release all of those bad feelings and get on with life. Then once you don't feel the anger as much, you don't need the tool to make the anger subside, so you can throw it away. Hmm... logical I guess, but what of reminiscence? All of the good times in my life (and a surprising amount of bad) have a Heavy Metal soundtrack far too special to ever discard. The memories that playing certain songs can generate often brings lost, forgotten memories back more powerfully than a photograph. Would it be rude of me to suggest that the Metal Phase collective haven't put the time into the music that they would have you believe? That when a life changing event takes place, perhaps they are listening to Coldplay instead of Carpathian Forest? So what happens next? Well, if the pattern is the same as it has been so far, another crop of young, die-hard, True Metal fans will rise and make their mark. And as is the similar cycle with bands, the most passionate will survive, while the fakers and the followers will simply fall by the wayside and be forgotten. Good riddance to bad rubbish. g

Metallica Rulez! lol.

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The lunatics from Ward 10 have managed to get out. On CD, that is. We spoke to the Gimp for some more information on this twisted release.

The debut Ward 10 album "Curing Those Who Are Normal" is out now. Tell us what we can expect from it. You can expect something that is, at its core, heavy groove laden tracks of vicious Metal but offers something new and (hopefully) a bit different to what youre used to. Weve taken our love of Metal and experimented and mutated it and ended up with something were really proud of. While we never sat down and said Right, lets do something different it just happens that way. We only have two rules when it comes to writing material; 1. Whatever sounds good, no matter what rules or conventions it flaunts, go with it. And 2. There are no rules. So you can expect the record to grab you hard by your balls/poon and give you a good hard seeing to! You can also definitely expect to be a lot less normal after listening to it! Plus we put a lot of subliminal messages throughout the record so if youre a bit weak minded you could find yourself doing all sorts of things. Nothing that would cause you or anyone else harm, well not physical anyway. So many great NZ bands never manage to put out a full length album. What was one of the biggest obstacles to the project and how did you get around it? Just finding the time to do it and

then knowing when to stop (ok thats two obstacles but its not like you can just go to University and learn numbers good.) We all have full time jobs (well Dave claims his 15 hour weeks are full time) so just getting the time when we were all available to record was difficult to begin with but like anything, if its something you really want to do you just find the time. Then after the recording was done I did the mixing myself at home. Fitting that in around work, other commitments and social niceties wasnt easy, but again you just do it. For several months I was working on it at night, sometimes till 4am and then getting up at 6 to go to work. And it was a very long process because I was learning as I was going and Im very much a perfectionist. With mixing there are an infinite number of possibilities you can try so you get to a stage where its 99% as good as youre going to get it and you just have to let that last 1% go otherwise youd spend your whole life working on it. Plus when the wife said she was going to cut me off until I was done, that sped things up no end! What is the most disturbing Ward 10 song on the album and why? Well, really the record only has one song on it. Its a 50 minute piece of epic Metal mayhem that contains various pieces with different flavours or tones to it. The record is split up into tracks but thats just for convenience. You really need to listen to it from start to finish, in order to really understand it and get the most out of it. If you listen to the record on random play like a friend of ours

The Gimp. A Very sick man.

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did, it really sounds like someone hacked up some music and sewed it back together wrong. We like to think the one song on the record is pretty disturbing though. Please write your favorite lyric from the CD, and explain it if necessary. Tunnel so deep and dark Once so high now down so far So deep within it burns Darkness Ill leave that up to interpretation because when I read it now it takes on a whole different meaning for me than what I originally intended it to mean. I like lyrics like that, where the interpretation is open, the wider the better. I think that way people can personalise the music and can go deep inside it themselves by whatever means necessary. Now that Ward 10 has made one album, how long will it take to write and record the follow up? This record took us over a year from when we first started recording to having the final product. So because its taken so long we actually have a fair bit of new material already. I think its more a case of when well get a chance to spend another year recording and mixing than when well get a chance to write some new stuff. Were currently in the middle of our World Tour of the North Island with Just One Fix. Something again that takes up a hell of a lot of time organising and running (although Ive been lucky enough to have loads of help from my beautiful wife, without which we wouldnt have been able to do it thanks love!) So after the tour Im taking a break. Then in January Im going to become a Dad for the first time! And we cant wait for lil Gimpy! So itll be a little while before we start looking at recording a

follow up. But rest assured we already have vicious killer new material that were extremely happy with and its definitely a question of when as to doing a second record. Where is the album available and how much can people expect to pay? People can get the record direct from us at shows or wherever. Were selling it at shows on our tour for the we do it for the love and want to spread some onto everyone Ward 10 Not normal at all. price of only $20! You can also get it at Real Groovy stores throughout NZ and Equinox in Wanganui, retailing at $24.95. We have links on our website to take you straight to the purchase page on the Real Groovy online store. They have free shipping anywhere in NZ. You can find this and many many more interesting and denormalising things at www.ward10.co.nz or www.myspace.com/ward10band. Tell us about the overall Ward 10 sound; how you put it together, and what it represents to you. Tricky. We dont really have one overall sound. We generally just plug in and see what happens and because we all have a vast range of influences, what we end up with is pretty varied. I guess generally though its a lot of loud bad ass guitars with bass lines that add to the phatness but also cut through as well. The vocals differ depending on the feel of the material from full out wicked screaming to more recognisable gravel tones. Then we back everything up with huge programmed beats. This enables us to go from standard drum sounds to all sorts of different beats and samples as well as adding in any other sounds that we might want to use to simply enhance the undercurrent of the music through to completely

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taking it over. And then at some stages we throw in a live cello to mix things up! What's the biggest difference between Ward 10 live versus Ward 10 on a CD? Ward 10 on CD sounds great. Ward 10 live sounds great too but you get all the visuals to go with it. Weve always been big on putting on a show rather than just getting up on stage and trying hard out to play every note as perfectly as possible. Yes that can be impressive but it doesnt really give the fans much of a performance to come along and watch. We really like to have people walk out of our shows and talk about what theyve just witnessed so we always try to give a performance thats hard to forget, as much as some people may try! Please share a short road story from the current Ward 10 tour.

suspiciously like horse cocks, Martin nearly missing his flight cos hes too hungover, tricking Riccardo into thinking Martin had missed his flight 30 minutes before the show started, almost running out of gas in the van every half an hour (its running a 350 chev!), pretending to have tourettes and randomly yelling out Piss! Piss out my ass! all day, drunk chicks pole dancing on microphone stands, Stuntcock filming his cock escaping off into the bushes, all the standard clichs really. When are Ward 10 going to take off all the insane costumes, tone down the crazy music, and just try to be normal? We tried that once. We had an acoustic jam at Daves place years ago. But it just doesnt work. What were doing demands that it be done the way we do it. If you tried to normalize it, it just wouldnt work, besides were here to promote awareness of normalcy being a disease and were trying to cure all those poor people who are suffering from this illness. The most tragic thing is that most people suffering from normalcy dont even realise they have a disease! Help spread the word and lets make this a better world! g

Another tricky one, you know what goes on tour stays on tour... My personal favourite so far is when Nurse Z got a double lesbo rape attack in a Taupo strip bar! I cant really say much more about that though on record, but if you see me around, off the record and after a few beers would be a great time to ask about it. The things that I can talk about dont really seem very exciting in comparison, you know the usual stuff like breaking a string that you dont have a spare for at sound check, blowing your radiator hose half way between gigs, not knowing where Dave is most of the time, Nurse Z getting everyone pissed on tequila shots and not being able to drive back to our 5 star accommodation, Dave chowing down on some Mt Maunganui sausages that ...people suffering from normalcy dont even realise they have a disease! looked very

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MUSIC REVIEWS
WARD 10 Curing Those Who Are Normal No Label 2007, CD
The experimental and dark sounds of Ward 10 captured here on their debut album. First up, it is not one for closed minded Metal traditionalists; these guys are willing to use anything at their disposal to craft their sound. It has a strong electronic foundation, with a sharp edged bass sound (sometimes slapped out!) and a well overdriven powerhouse guitar. My brain automatically pictures this music being played in a cesspit of sin and debauchery; anywhere you'd find PVC, whips, chains, sex, pain, fear, sweat, or any combination thereof. Well worth a listen, and for anyone who buys the album or not, check out Ward 10's live show to educate yourself on one of NZ's few theatric bands.

WORLD WAR FOUR World War Four No Label 2007, Single/Promo

World War Four are a very impressive band. Their rock solid music is well written and catchy, with the presence of the secret ingredient that is lacking in so many other bands' songs nowadays; a decent amount of hooks. On top of this, the vocalist, Paul Axeman Martin is a talented singer who proves that you don't need the pipes of an opera singer, just the right attitude and delivery. I really enjoyed World War Four's music. The only thing I felt was missing was a guitar solo or two, but that's the old school metalhead talking!

nnnnnnnnnn (9/10)
Review by Brendon Williams

nnnnnnnnnn(8/10)
Review by Brendon Williams

SIXDAYWAR Freedom in Exile No Label 2007, EP

IMPALED NAZARENE Manifest Osmose Productions 2007, CD

The tenth album from Impaled Nazarene sounds effortlessly crafted, and with 17 years behind them now, that's not surprising at all. Here the infamous Finnish extreme masters have made their longest album, but the songs still scream by at an astonishing rate, easily over a hundred miles an hour! No time to sit and reflect while listening to this one; this album inspires action. Fed up with shit? Ready to demolish something? Just pissed off in general? Listen to Manifest while you're in the process of doing something about it! Some fantastic guitar work... my pick on this album is the track entitled The Calling.

A satisfying piece of work from SixDayWar. It's been quite a long time since their first EP, and the band has seen its fair share of hard times lineup-wise, but this EP shows that their spirit and dedication is as strong as ever. The sound on this recording is a lot more raw and thrashy than what was captured on Permanent Shadow - this can be a good or bad thing depending on what your personal preference is. I really like the new sound on par with the old, and my favorite track on this CD is Termination. Bring on the full length album!!!

nnnnnnnnnn(8/10)
Review by Brendon Williams

nnnnnnnnnn (9/10)
Review by Brendon Williams

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MUSIC REVIEWS
HELLOWEEN Gambling with the Devil SPV / Steamhammer 2007, CD
I think the biggest problem Helloween face these days is the challenge of living up to their classic work from the late '80s / early '90s. Even though the latest albums were top-notch by any band's standards, Helloween still struggled to repeat the triumph of 'Keepers' or even 'Master of the Rings'. However, as I said, the material is of the highest quality with some kick-ass hooks, like 'The Saints', 'As Long As I Fall' and 'The Bells of 7 Hells'. All in all, the name of Helloween has always been synonymous with high quality Heavy Metal and 'Gambling with the Devil' is not an exception. A wonderful album from one of the most unique bands out there.

NIGHTWISH Dark Passion Play Roadrunner 2007, CD

The long awaited 'post-divorce' album from this Finnish heavyweight. Tarja Turunen is now replaced by the new singer Anette Olzon and I suppose many fans waited to see how the band changed. I must admit the feel of old Nightwish is still intact massive sound, beautiful arrangements, a little bit of industrial. If anything, Nightwish got a little heavier. Anette's voice is higher and in parts bares striking resemblance to The Gathering's Anneke Van Giersbergen. As for the rest of it everything seems to be in order. A very nice record, sure to please the old fans and quite possibly gain the band some new ones. Highly recommended.

nnnnnnnnnn (8/10)
Review by Max Thrasher

nnnnnnnnnn (9/10)
Review by Max Thrasher

WINDS Prominence and Demise The End 2007, CD

I'm sort of hanging in the air here. I swear I must've written 5 different reviews on this one! On one hand, I'm not particularly impressed by the songwriting abilities of this Norwegian band. Progressive Metal with lots of piano, which is about 15 years late to the party, if you ask me. HOWEVER!!! Having people like Eikind (ex-Khold), Carl Tidemann (ex-Arcturus) and Hellhammer (Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir) in the line up didn't hurt, and the technical virtuosity saves the day. Personally, I'll come back to it just to hear Tidemann's shredding. Have a listen if you want to hear some MEAN guitar passages. Otherwise, don't bother.

LIMBONIC ART Legacy of Evil Candlelight 2007, CD

nnnnnnnnnn (5/10)
Review by Max Thrasher

This one is for people who like it fast and furious (VERY fast and VERY furious, that is). To me it sounds a lot like what Naglfar and Nokturnal Mortum used to do in the beginning of their careers no nonsense, vicious Black with drilling guitars, doublekick and occasional clean vocals and keyboard breakdowns. Truth be told, Limbonic Art don't break any boundaries, but they're good at what they do this shit is going to seriously scare teeny boppers and whiny emo kids. The bottom line is, if this sort of symphonic Black Metal is your cup of tea, Legacy of Evil can not be missed.

nnnnnnnnnn (8/10)
Review by Max Thrasher

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spontaneous sounding album all over. It has less orchestrations. It's a more guitar-based album; stripped down. It still has all the elements that we're known for, and we're taking it a bit further. It's a heavy and dark album for sure. It's probably the darkest album we've done. Dimmu Borgir's website announces that their new album In Sorti Diaboli is their most elaborate and thrilling effort so far. The band has always pushed convention, and has never been afraid to do what exactly they want to do. However, some have viewed this pioneering of Black Metal as counterproductive to True Black Metal ideals, and have concluded that Dimmu Borgir is no longer even classed as Black Metal. We spoke with guitarist / lyricist Silenoz about these things and more. And this is what he had to say... The previous album, Death Cult Armageddon (not counting the re-recording of Stormblast) has this huge symphonic sound. What about the new one? We've still got these parts that are really huge, but this time we didn't use the live orchestra, we used samples and keyboards. Why didn't orchestra? you use the

Dimmu Borgir Nasty buggers. based.

You know, we just felt like we didn't really have to. With modern technology you can make it sound authentic even without the real orchestra. We proved to ourselves that we can record with an orchestra and this time we're taking it back to basics. Plus our keyboard player wasn't that involved with the songwriting at the beginning, so it's only natural that the album is more guitar-

How's things there, Silenoz? Oh, we've just been touring for the first half of this year and doing some festivals, so all is good. You've also got a new album, In Sorti Diaboli. You're happy with it? Very much so! We feel like we've done a great album and the response so far has been very positive, so it seems like we've done a good job! For the people who haven't heard the album yet, could you give us a small description of it? I think it will be safe to say that it's a more

The last few albums were really symphonic. Do you see yourselves as a rock ' n ' roll band or a symphonic piece? It's hard to say, because we never really sat down to analyze the categorization for our music. I suppose it would be safe to say that we're a Metal band first and foremost and that's what we base everything on. How do you write music? Do you sit down and write down the score or do you get together in a rehearsal room and jam it out? On the new album that was actually the case. We just got together in our practice place and started

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jamming. And we didn't bother making demos, like we did on Death Cult - down to the last detail before we went to the studio. This album was more spontaneous, direct and jammed-out material. Everything was recorded very quickly, and that's not very normal for us. We usually take 3 - 4 months in the studio, but this time everything was done in 5 weeks. I think that helped the sound, too. For you as a musician, do you find it more satisfying to just jam it out, or do you prefer to work with symphonic pieces and the orchestra, and have everything written down? Well, we don't actually know how to read notes, so that makes it a little difficult to have it written down... (laughs) We just know what we play, basically. The keyboards are certainly a part of the writing process, but if it doesn't really matter if we write with guitars or keyboards.

Black Metal fans, trying to say that you're selling out. What do you have to say to these people and how do you think they came to these conclusions? Honestly I don't really know. I think it comes down to intelligence, basically. (laughs) Obviously, if they knew what we sound like these days they wouldn't say stuff like that. But at the same time we don't really care. We do what we do and that's all that matters. People are entitled to think what they want we don't care. And why should we care? We've got our fans and we couldn't give a fuck about the rest. When you're signed to a proper label and you start to tour, that's when you start to see things from a different prospective. That's why we're different from so-called purists and underground bands. Once you come out of your own basement and start to experience stuff around the world, that's when you automatically see things from a different angle. So that's what makes us have a different approach from those underground bands, because what they see is their own four walls. We're on a whole different level. Do you still have connections to the True Norwegian Black Metal scene? If you put it this way, I think we're one of the truest Black Metal bands around, because we do exactly what we want, no matter what other people expect us to do. There is still a lot of movement in the Norwegian scene, but I think most of the serious bands are more concerned about the musical part and they keep the ideology a on more personal level; they don't brag about it in the interviews. And that's what we do as well. Instead of talking about our personal issues, we keep it to ourselves and try to channel it through the music and the lyrics. Dimmu Borgir is such an evil-sounding group... Thank you! (laughs) You're welcome. So how do you approach this topic? Do you sincerely believe in it, or are you just trying to scare people the way Ozzy Osbourne used to back in the day? I suppose it depends on what you call evil. To me religion and Christians are evil, because religion enslaves people and oppresses them. I see Satan as a liberator, and that's the side we take, although

...we're one of the truest Black Metal bands around... So you guys have enjoyed a massive success, probably one of the biggest extreme Metal bands, but at the same time you drew criticism from the

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obviously metaphorically and symbolically we don't believe in a physical Satan or physical God. I recognize Satan in an ancient meaning of being a force within the natural balance and the way of transforming an individual into something stronger and better. Let's get back to touring and seeing the world... How much fun goes down on a Dimmu Borgir tour? Do you still party on the road or is it more like get into town, play the show, get the hell out, go to the next town? Oh, we're known for being a pretty easily accessed band on all fronts. (laughs) Take it any way you want. But once the show is done, we're not afraid of not taking ourselves too seriously. We don't mind to party and talk to the fans. That's how it's been from the start. We're from Norway and even if we tried to apply a Rock star image, it wouldn't work, because that's not how we're raised. However what we experience on a six-week tour is something most people don't experience in their lifetime. (laughs) Something we're really grateful for! So would you say a lot of your dreams come true with Dimmu Borgir? I mean, you've got girls out there wearing Dimmu Borgir bikinis! Yeah, of course when you have a certain amount of success, you've got a certain amount of bullshit with it too, but when you look at a bigger picture, all the stuff we've experienced is more than we could dream for when we started. And that's how it is for every serious band. When you start, you simply like playing music together. And if you want things to happen for you, you've got to make them happen. You've got to be stubborn! About those bikinis. Not many extreme Metal bands can afford to do that. Yeah, but then not many extreme Metal bands have got that many girls following them around. And we don't have only hairy sweaty men at our shows, we've got females too. So when the label suggested it, we thought, why not. Gotta do something nice for the ladies. (laughs) So how do the merchandise sales go for you? It's doing well. It's the main income; when we're on

tour that's what we live off. When it comes to the production side, our expenses are so huge, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. But what keeps us above the surface is the merch sales. Back in the days Iron Maiden were said to sell more t-shirts than actual albums. What's it like for Dimmu Borgir? I couldn't really tell you; I don't have any figures. But we certainly sell quite a lot of CDs, considering the music we're playing and the fact that CD sales have gone down drastically these days. What do you think about the industry, actually? Do you think the Internet is ruining it for people? I guess it's a difficult situation because of downloads, and it seems like people are not that critical about what they buy or don't buy. When I want an album, I don't want to download it from the Internet, I want the booklet and everything that comes with it. I grew up in the '80s and we always bought vinyls, because vinyls looked killer! And these days I think this generation of kids is expecting to get everything for free. They didn't grow up thinking that you have to work to get things. Things weren't free when I was a kid, so why should they be now? A very good point! So to wind-up the interview, when are we gonna see you in New Zealand? I wish I could give you a straight answer, but all I know is that we should be going to Australia and New Zealand some time next year. I know that we've been in touch with the right kind of people and it looks very promising. I don't want to say something which might not happen, but the chances are better than ever for us coming down there next year! g

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MOVIE REVIEW
The characters are straight out of a dodgy comic book; a corrupt music agent whose every second words is a swear, a drugged out stereotype hippie roadie, not to mention the main character himself King, the Rock & Roll Frankenstein monster. Getting back to the 'difficult to watch' comment, the overall gay theme makes this the type of movie that insecure macho men and closet fags will be totally unable to sit through. There is a gay sex scene which is probably a lot more watchable and funny than something like Brokeback Mountain, but at the end of the day it's still a scene where a dude is screwing another dude. If you don't get offended by that kind of content, then you shouldn't be too bothered. If you do, then you will absolutely HATE Rock & Roll Frankenstein. g

ROCK & ROLL FRANKENSTEIN A different kind of monster Directed by Brian O'Hara Starring Graig Guggenheim, Jayson Spence, Barry Feterman, Hiram Jacob Segarra, Andrew Hurley Summary by W.B. Music agent Bernie Stein, his scientist nephew Frankie, and a drugged out roadie named Iggy team to create a superstar by putting together the remains of dead rockers. All goes according to plan until a mishap leads Iggy to steal Liberace's private parts instead of those of Jim Morrison. The monster is brought to life and is on the road to rock 'n' roll success when the Liberace side of the monster begins to assert itself, with tragic results. Review by Brendon Williams This film is absolute trash. Toilet humour and gay jokes galore. Nothing scary, but plenty of campy content, bad music and interesting gerbil scenes that are all difficult to watch. The King.

It's alive!!!!!!!

RATING: nnnnnnnnnn

(6/10)

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crazy! The cymbals and everything were rolling around, we were getting sea sick on stage... (laughs) There were 2,000 crazy headbangers on the ship! So it was a very busy year really. Loads of Metal fans would have come across bands directly influenced by Martin Walkyier's musical endeavors. His first band, the nowclassic SABBAT is arguably the best British Thrash Metal act. As a matter of fact, their chanting riffs and Martin's spiteful, venomous vocals proved to be so influential, many Black Metal bands accepted it as a primary influence. Walkyier's next band SKYCLAD pretty much single-handedly developed Folk Metal, introducing violin taking over some lead parts something that had not been done in Metal before that, and which seems like a commonlyaccepted move today. Now, six years after Martin's departure from his own band, he brings a new one SKYCLAD's logical continuation, THE CLAN DESTINED. And as always, it's a real gem with kick-ass melodies, heavy riffs and Walkyier's savage singing manner and wicked sense of humor. Your latest release, In the Big Ending... [2006] is a really wonderful piece of work. It's a shame there's only 6 songs on it. You see, the guy I was working with, Iscariah [exImmortal], I don't know what happened to him. He had some sort of a strange nervous breakdown and quit. So it was left for me to finish the whole thing off. Thankfully I have some very good friends people like Andy Sneap [original Sabbat guitarist and now a well-known producer] and James Murphy [exTestament, Death, Obituary, etc] who helped me finish recording it and helped me with mixing and production. In the Big Ending was meant to be a demo and if Iscariah hadn't quit by now it would be the second or third album. Iscariah was one of the weirdest people I've ever met. I'm glad I don't work with him anymore. I think I'll be a bit more careful who I work with in the future. It's a crazy line-up you've got there. Iscariah, James Murphy, Les Smith [ex-Anathema, Cradle Of Filth], Andy Sneap, Jay Graham [ex-Skyclad, Return To The Sabbat]...

So what's the latest news, Martin? Well, the latest news is that I've decided to carry on with The Clan Destined; I'm gonna be doing some new music with various different people. I'm doing a song with Simon Jones, the guitarist of Sabbat. We're also doing the new video for The Clan Destined, track 4 from the CD, A Beautiful Start to the End of the World. It's crazy, it's turning into some kind of a little Steven Spielberg movie. I'm working with a team of young film makers and they're absolutely awesome! It should be done by February next year [2008 editor] and we're gonna be putting it all over Youtube and everywhere, so everyone will get a chance to see that. Also we're doing the Sabbat reunion. All the shows are going very good, we played on a cruise ship sailing between Sweden and Finland last week and that was

Martin Walkyier Yeah, if I do any new TCD material, Jay will be playing drums, definitely. He's a good friend of mine and great to work with. I thought of giving up music

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altogether. But now I think I'll carry on. The response was absolutely fantastic and I think that when the new video comes out it's going to be amazing. I've got to try and see if it's possible to carry on and do some more. Well, do us all a favor and don't disappear anymore. Six years between Skyclad's Folkemon [2000] and The Clan Destined record is just way too long. I know! I'm used to doing an album a year, and if it didn't go wrong and if Iscariah wasn't a crazy lunatic, I'm sure it would all move much faster. I hope it doesn't take me another six years to make more music! (laughs) Your lyrics are very poetic and meaningful. How difficult do you find it to write something with such substance?

I don't find it difficult at all. We live in the world full of corruption and people like George W. Bush who seems insane and willing to send us to World War Three as quickly as possible. So as long as there are people like that in the world, I'm not going to run out of inspiration. How much work usually goes into the lyrics? Do you write, re-write and change things around, or do you just sit down and think Alright, I'm gonna write 'Devil for a Day'? Actually, Devil for a Day did happen like that. It was written in about half an hour. It came out of nowhere. But sometimes it's like getting blood from a stone. You know what you want to say but can't make the words fit with the music. Sometimes it takes three months to write a song and sometimes it takes 30 minutes. It really depends on the track. Listening to Skyclad's earlier songs like Building a Ruin, Jumping My Shadow or Badtime Story one probably can't help but think Jesus Christ, this guy's gonna top himself! Comparing to that, In the Big Ending is much more on a positive side. So what's happened there? I don't know if it is on a positive side. In the Big Ending is a sort of a documentary on the way the planet's going, with all these religious fundamentalists and things like that. If people don't change their ways really soon and realize that we all share this planet together, we're gonna end up in one big mess. I'm not actually a suicidal kind of guy, but it's very interesting writing a song on a brink of becoming that way. I find a strange kind of humor in writing like that. Going to the lowest and the darkest place in you to find these lyrics it's a kind of exploration of your personality. And I think by writing these things down and getting them out of my system it's a kind of therapy for me. In life generally I'm quite a happy, positive guy. And being able to write it down and scream it out in lyrics is very rewarding and very therapeutic. Do you think people are still attracted to books and poetry?

...being able to write it down and scream it out in lyrics is very rewarding and very therapeutic.

I think they are. Unfortunately we live in the world where 99% of people only want to watch Big Brother, and we live in the world where George W.

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Bush can be the president of the United States. But there is a percentage of people who are very intelligent, who like books and poetry, and watch movies that have meaning to them. And obviously there are people who don't care about that and only want CGI special effects. Reading along to the lyrics of Swinging Like Judas and More than War it seems pretty obvious what position you take on such things as the war in Iraq. But do you think this planet's fucked as the lyric goes, or do we still have a chance? I think if we did something about it immediately, we'd still have a chance, but unfortunately I'm not that positive at the moment. The way things are going, we can't keep taking from the planet and polluting it. I think even a child could see that. At the moment there's a big thing in the UK about recycling and all of this, but when you've got countries like America who are responsible for a large part of carbon emissions and a lot of countries who are developing economically, like China, India and Pakistan recycling and choosing not to use your car every day is just a drop in the ocean. It's a shame that the leaders of the world don't see what a mess we're making and do something about it. I'd like to be positive, but when you look at things more realistically, it doesn't look too good, does it? Do you think that people are just that stupid, or that they just don't care, like an after me, the flood kind of attitude? Yeah, I'd say people don't care. I think it's going to take a real shock. I think humanity will get a wake up call real soon. By the time we actually realize what's happening to our planet, it could be too late. So what are your plans for when it all turns to shit? I'll go to New Zealand! (laughs) I will be knocking on your door with a suitcase! I really think that in about 50-60 years time this planet will become a very uncomfortable place. It will become hotter and hotter, there will be no gasoline and if there's no gas, everything comes to a halt. There's no police, no army, no food in the stores. We had a petrol strike here a few years ago and within a week there was nothing in the shops. And the fuel resources are

running out! One day there will be no more and our politicians aren't bothered with developing renewable energy sources. They're making too much money off gasoline and fossil fuels, and bombs and bullets. Obviously you are a thinking man. Did you ever think that your energy could better be used in politics? I'd love to try that, but it's very difficult. You'd have to align yourself with one of the political parties in order to get your foot in the door. I don't know about New Zealand, but here in England I don't know who to vote for, because none of the parties are any good. I used to be a Labor voter, and I'm ashamed to say I actually voted for Tony Blair when he first got into power. I thought that after the almost right-wing government of Margaret Thatcher we were finally in for a change for the better. But looking at it now, I think I was a bit nave. I think all politicians are the same. Even if you're not in politics anymore, like Tony Blair he's now gonna tour the United States, giving lectures on the war on terror and how he supported George Bush, and he'll get paid millions for that for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, the poor soldiers he sent off to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the poor Iraqi and Afghani people who are living with his decisions they're in a whole world of shit now. Since we're on it, what do you actually think about the Iraqi conflict? Do you think the western governments should've kept their noses out of it? The whole thing in Iraq was a set up. America and Britain wanted to get in there, because they know the world's oil is running out and the 9/11 attacks were the perfect excuse to go marching into other people's countries. And basically, it's all about oil, it absolutely is. It has nothing to do with saving the Iraqi people and you can see what a mess we made of it! Nothing good ever comes out of wars and invasions, you only have to look at history. Surely these politicians when they were planning the invasion, if they bothered planning, didn't remember Vietnam and Korea. The British tried to conquer Afghanistan in Victorian times, the Russians tried to do it, and they couldn't win. These people can pop out from a hole in the ground and then disappear into the mountains. They are perfect guerrilla fighters. The Taliban was trained by the SAS and British Secret Service in guerrilla warfare. We supported Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war. We

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know what weapons he's got, because Britain and America sold him the fucking lot! I'm sure there was a way to do it. You can't tell me that somebody couldn't have had a quiet word with Saddam Hussein and said, Look, Saddam, it goes one of two ways. Either you toe the line and do what we're telling you to do, or it ends with you being found in a hole in the ground with a beard down to your waist and end up getting hung. He was a cruel vindictive bastard, but he managed to run that country for 35 years and keep it under control. To suddenly take him away has left a void and all these little Saddams are all fighting for power. Unfortunately, it's the normal people who don't want war, don't want anything to do with it they are the ones who are suffering. It sounds shit and patronizing, but in Iraq you've got Sunni Muslims, you've got Shiite Muslims and God knows how many other branches of Islam, and they all hate each other to death and have for a thousand years! And when you take away a man who was ruling them with an iron hand, they've just been waiting to take on another village or the neighbor who prays in a different way or who they have had an argument about a sheep that goes back hundreds of years. I could've told Tony Blair and George Bush, You don't want to open that can of worms. I know people are dying in there, but there's 50,000 people dying every day in Africa. You don't go marching in there with your soldiers to do anything about that. All these war-mongering politicians are the very same people ranting on about wars and what we are gonna do to stop it. And it's very strange that God seems to talk to them all, doesn't He? George W. Bush speaks to little baby Jesus every morning. You are Christian, Martin? quite antiaren't you

What I'm against is that these words are being twisted around by money and power hungry people. I'm not anti-Christian, but apparently George Bush and Tony Blair are Christians. Thou shalt not kill these four words! It doesn't say Thou shalt not kill, unless he's got a turban on his head. It's quite clear, so why aren't they following that? The basic doctrines of Christianity are very good. Love one another, look after one another, turn the other cheek. So why aren't they following it? Ok, well, from politics to music. What do you think about the situation in modern music? It's actually quite good. If you look at the underground, I think there's a lot of things happening. It's very good that Heavy Metal is being recognized and given credit for being a very clever type of music. What about your own work? Do you think you get enough recognition? Well, my stuff is very underground... Why?

George W Bush speaks to little baby Jesus every morning. I don't know, it's probably too different. You generally find that everything that was thought about and done with love and care and great attention to detail

I'm not anti-Christian at all! If Jesus Christ came back tomorrow, I'd be the first person to say You're a good fellow and I'll follow you. If Christ lived, he was a good man who had a lot of good things to say.

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generally tends to be in the underground. If I had one loop on the drum machine and sang some banal pointless lyrics... not even sing them... rapped them or talked them... This R&B makes me laugh. I'm thinking, gosh, I wish I could do a concert like that! I wouldn't be even sweating! There's me screaming my lungs out and dripping sweat, and turning red as a tomato on stage, and there's this guy standing on stage having a quiet little conversation. (laughs) What is wrong with people, Martin? Why would somebody listen to some chap rapping some absolute drivel, rather than listening to intelligent, meaningful lyrics? I think a lot of people use music as an escapism to get away from the harsh realities of everyday life. Which is fair enough. Personally, I don't. When I listen to music, I like it to be thought provoking, have good lyrics and make me look at things in a different way. But a lot of people just want kind of love songs... Well, we got love songs - Devil for a Day, Beautiful Start to the End of the World... Yeah, that's what I mean. You can write a love song in a different way. You don't have to do it like all these rap and R&B guys do, or Whitney Houston... I hear these people who are gifted with amazing voices and I'm listening to what they're actually singing I'm thinking, who wrote these lyrics for them? Because they're absolute rubbish! There are quite a few more questions we could ask you, Martin, and perhaps one of the most important ones is what the hell happened to Skyclad there? Why did you leave the band? Myself and Jay Graham got a bit tired from the way the band was going. If I do something, I like to give it 110% and the

way the other guys were treating the band was kind of like a hobby. We wouldn't rehearse before tours and stuff like that and although our last album together [Folkemon; 2000 - editor] turned out good, it was really a mystery how it turned out as good as it did. The whole thing was chaos disorganized and unrehearsed. And I knew that if I stayed with Skyclad, every album we'd do after that would be slowly and slowly degenerated and the whole situation would get worse and worse. I'd rather be leaving on the high point of an album like Folkemon, instead of being in a band that by now would be a shadow of its former self. I'd been thinking of leaving Skyclad for about 5 years before I actually did. I thought if I'd stick with it, things would get better, but nothing has improved and I knew it was time to move on and do something else. Have you heard the stuff they've done after you left? No, I've never listened to it. Honestly, it's of no interest to me. I've seen the CD where they've done some cover versions of the old songs where they didn't even give me credit for using my lyrics. Which is not only rude but also rather illegal. You know, they weren't the people I thought they were. And it's rather disappointing. Before we finish, is there anything else you'd like to add? And maybe leave a message for the New Zealand fans? Thank you so much for your support! And thank you to those who bought our In the Big Ending CD! Unfortunately it's only available from our website [www.theclandestined.com] at the moment. Hopefully we will set up world-wide distribution for it very soon. And I'd really like to play down there. I don't know what kind of following Sabbat's got in New Zealand, but we're going to many new places these days! g

I'd been thinking of leaving Skyclad for about 5 years before I actually did.

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