METAL-ZEN

Prior to Glenn Harveston booking the Grammy-winning Swedish power metal band, the only mustache I was familiar with was the one I couldn’t grow on my upper lip if my life depended on it.

However, the videos (”Double Nature” and “Dog Wash“) Glenn posted in his April 9th, 2008, ProgPower Forum introduction to Mustasch — the final addition to the PPUSA IX lineup — were quirky, kick ass, and strangely hypnotic.

Clearly I, like many ProgPower USA IX attendees, had some boning up to do.

Bone I did. And I found my jaw often needed picking up off the floor.

Songs like “The End” from The Latest Version of the Truth [Swedish Grammy winner, 2007] rendered me speechless. The song is a tour-de-force homage to Pink Floyd, Supertramp, and “Kashmir”-era Zeppelin — with a groove so deep and infectious (eerily reminiscent of the score to the movie T2 as the robots marched over the [Read more →]

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My interview with Aydan, guitarist for and co-founder of the Italian power/folk-metal band Elvenking, got off to a rocky start. Our Skype connection didn’t work. He could hear me. But I couldn’t hear him. Aydan futzed with a few wires and twirled a few knobs, but the situation didn’t improve. So we decided to try again in 15 minutes in case it was a Skype connection problem. No dice. Same thing happened. At that point, Aydan suggested we wait an hour until vocalist Damna, who’s reportedly a bit of a tech wizard, arrived for a band meeting. Maybe he could figure out the situation. He could. And, apparently, did. Later, when I called Aydan again, things worked fine. Thanks, Damna!

This was a lot of fun. Even though I was interviewing Aydan, Damna was in the background occasionally [Read more →]

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As all good ProgPower USA fans know, Saint Deamon was one of organizer Glenn Harveston’s famous curveballs. Many of us hadn’t heard of the new Swedish/Norwegian power-metal super group (comprised of ex-members of Dionysus, Highland Glory, and Sinner) when Glenn booked them.

But, as is always the case, Glenn’s instincts paid off. The band has quickly become a PPUSA Forum favorite with their debut album In Shadows Lost From The Brave boasting an infectious sound and a singer (Jan Thore Grefstad) with a voice that some say is among power metal’s best.

I spoke with drummer and founding member Ronny Milianowicz (ex-Dionysus) on March 27th of this year. I was aided and abetted by bassist Magnus “Nobby” Norberg who hooked me up with Ronny and supplied all of the behind-the-scenes photos.

Shortly before our interview, Ronny sent an e-mail that detailed some of the many things going on in his life at the moment. In addition to a dizzying number of gigs and recording sessions, he concluded with this phrase:

Then I raise and change dypers on my 2 huligan children 1,5 year and 2 month.

/Ronny

I thought that was hilarious and couldn’t wait to mention it during our interview. As luck would have it, I got to do just that within the first 30 seconds.

Enjoy!

RM: Hello.

BM: Hi, is this Ronny?

[Read more →]

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