EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH JOHAN WESTERLUND OF MOON SAFARI !!
JOHAN WESTERLUND OF MOON SAFARI TALKS ABOUT THEIR UPCOMING ALBUM “HIMLABACKEN VOL.2”, JAPAN, PROG SCENE AND MORE !!
スウェーデンの新世代プログバンド MOON SAFARI には停滞気味の所謂”プログレ”シーンに新風を吹き込み、活性化させる事が大いに期待されています。別段、何か新しい事をやっている訳ではありませんし、演奏技術が特別優れているわけでもありません。ただ彼らの生み出すメロディーは BILLY JOEL や ELTON JOHN といったポピュラー音楽稀代のメロディーメイカー達に勝るとも劣らないほどのクオリティーを誇っています。瑞々しく爽やかで突き抜けるような美しいメロディーに強力なコーラスワーク。これをプログロックのフィールドで具現化出来ているバンドは他に A.C.T くらいではないでしょうか。今回弊誌ではベーシストの JOHAN に新作 “HIMLABACKEN VOL.2”, 「YOUは何しに日本へ」で生歌まで披露した日本についてなど語っていただきました。
WORLD PREMIERE: NEW SONG !! “THE PRICE” OF LEPROUS !!
SPLENDID NORWEGIAN MODERN PROG BAND LEPROUS SET TO RELEASE THEIR NEWEST STUDIO ALBUM “THE CONGREGATION” ON 5/25 !!
IHSAHN との共演などという枕詞はもはや不要、ノルウェーの唯一無二、現代最高のプログメタルバンド LEPROUS が 5/21 に新作 “THE CONGREGATION” をリリースします。今回公開するのはアルバムからのファーストPV, THE PRICE”。傑作 “COAL” の路線を引き継ぎながらもエレクトロニカな雰囲気も感じられ、何よりやはり彼らの持ち味であるメロディーが素晴らしく、アルバムが楽しみでしかたがないですね。MIX は勿論 JENS BOGREN !!
“The Price was the obvious choice for us to make a video of. It’s straight to the point, technical, focused, catchy and shows a new side of LEPROUS.
We’re very happy to be working with Twitchy Films also this time, and they’ve done a impeccable job creating an atmospheric and artistic video clip.”
“THE PRICE” はまさにPVにふさわしい曲だと思ったよ。テクニカルでキャッチーで同時に LEPROUS の新しい面も見せているよね！！
1. The Price
2. Third Law
3. Rewind
4. The Flood
5. Triumphant
6. Within My Fence
7. Red
8. Slave
9. Moon
10. Down
11. Lower
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME SET TO RELEASE THEIR NEW ALBUM “COMA ECLIPSE” ON 7/7 !!
I wouldn’t say it’s a new sound, but it’s not as heavy and it’s weirder at times. More grown-up. I think it’s the biggest stylistic change for us since the period from [2005’s] ‘Alaska’ to [2007’s] ‘Colors.’
“Once again, the band has returned with an ambitious concept album. This time, the story follows the wanderings of an unidentified man, stuck in a coma, as he journeys through his past lives. Each song is its own episode in a modern day, sort of The Twilight Zone-esque fashion. The unidentified man enters each world and is offered a choice: stay, or move on to the next in search of something better, something more “perfect.”
CARD-CARRYING MEMBER OF THE BIG FOUR, ANTHRAX SET TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM LATER ON THIS YEAR !!
グラミーにノミネートされること5回、METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER, とともに THE BIG FOUR の一角を堅持し続ける THRASH METAL LEGEND, ANTHRAX。JON DONAIS をギタリストに迎えて初の新作の発表を今年の後半に控えて、新曲をコンピレーションに提供、公開しました。”SOROR IRRUMATOR”。前作 “WORSHIP MUSIC” もガッツィーな好作でしたが、同時にジョーイに合っていない曲、曲ごとの出来不出来が存在したのも事実。今回公開された新曲は前作のキラーチューン “FIGHT ‘EM ‘TIL YOU CAN’T ” を超えるような素晴らしいデキ。ジョーイのボーカルも冴え渡っています。アルバムに期待大です！！
»Worship…« was made up of a lot of different types of songs, some thrashy, some very mid-90s ANTHRAX-sounding, but this new one is really thrashy.”
“The thing about ANTHRAX… we have this heavy, thrashy music and Joey’s powerful and melodic vocals. I love heavy music, but I also love melody, so the challenge is to blend them together so they sound like ANTHRAX, and I think we’ve done a really good job of that, especially on this new record.
I know that there are a lot of expectations out there for this new album, but that doesn’t really affect us because we write the way we write. We’re all from New York, so we love a challenge, and while I’m happy to have people say that ANTHRAX is back and that ‘Worship Music’ was the best album of our career, we raised the bar on this one, I think we have the goods with the new songs, and I’m proud to say that. At the end of the day, all you can do is have it come from the heart, do your best, and hope that people like it. That’s what we did with ‘Worship Music,’ and look what happened.”
“The lyrics I write tend to go along with the way the music sounds, and this new music is very angry, Lots of people said that »Worship Music« was a return to the roots of the band…well, this record is even more so. Unlike »Worship Music,« we wrote this new album with a line-up, with Joey in the band, and that has made all the difference in the world. Joey being a part of the band again, going on five years already, it definitely feels like a unit. Everything that was great about him on ‘Worship’ is there even more on this new record.”
WORLD PREMIERE: NEW SONG !!”CRUSHING THE HUMAN SKULL” OF VOID PARADIGM !!
FRENCH BLACK METAL SUPER GROUP VOID PARADIGM SET TO RELEASE THEIR 2nd ALBUM EARTH’S DISEASE !!
以前 8bit/EDM を取り入れたオーサムなフレンチプロジェクトPRYAPISME を紹介しましたが、彼らのレーベル APATHIA RECORDS からフランスのブラックメタルスーパーグループがセカンドアルバム “EARTH’S DISEASE” をリリースします。ATARAXIE, SORDIDE の JULIEN PAYAN, 同じく ATARAXIE の JONATHAN THERY, そして PIN UP WENT DOWN の ALEXIS DAMIEN というフレンチブラックの猛者たちが集い発信するサウンドは実にインテリジェンスでヒプノティックでストレンジ。それでいてブラックメタルの持つ”危険なにおい”も存分に発する素晴らしいアルバムです。特にIHSAHN, DEATHSPELL OMEGA, VED BUENS ENDE のファンにオススメです。
LEGENDARY JAPANESE “CINEMATIC HORROR METAL” BAND, SIGH SET TO RELEASE MASTERPIECE “GRAVEWARD” ON 4/27 !!
NEW SONG !! “OUT OF THE GRAVE” !!
【ABOUT GRAVEWARD】
2 and a half years were required to finish up Sigh’s 10th studio full-length album “Graveward”, which embraces everything from vintage keyboards such as Minimoog and Fender Rhodes to real orchestral instruments. Each song ended up in having more than 100 tracks and the total amount of the sound data exceeded 100GB. “Cinematic Horror Metal” should be the best phrase to describe this most layered grandiose album in Sigh’s history.
Inspired by a little chat with Fabio Frizzi, well-known for his legendary works for Lucio Fulci’s movies like”The Gates of Hell” and “The Beyond”, “Graveward” was composed as a homage to Italian zombie flick classics, Hammer Horror Films, and King Diamond. Of course the musical influence is as wide as ever including aforementioned horror soundtrack composers (Fabio Frizzi, Goblin, James Bernard, Jerry Gold Smith, and John Carpenter), and their roots (Schoenberg, Webern, Stravinsky, Bartok, and Charles Ives), left-of-center rock / metal artists (Celtic Frost, King Diamond, The Beach Boys, Magma and Frank Zappa), Free Jazz (Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and Peter Brotzmann) and some Central Asian traditional music.
“THE GATES OF HELL”, “THE BEYOND” といった LUCIO FULCI の映画への仕事でよく知られるボローニャのコンポーザー、FABIO FRIZZI との会話から着想を得て、”GRAVEWARD” はイタリアゾンビ映画の名作たち、HAMMER HORROR FILMS, そして KING DIAMOND へのオマージュとして製作されました。勿論、音楽的影響は多岐に渡ります。前述のホラーサウンドトラックコンポーザーたち (FABIO FRIZZI, GOBLIN, JAMES BERNARD, JERRY GOLD SMITH, JOHN CARPENTER), そして彼らのルーツ (SCHOENBERG, WEBERN, STRAVINSKY, BARTOK, CHARLES IVES), 中道左派のロック/メタルアーティストたち (CELTIC FROST, KING DIAMOND, THE BEACH BOYS, MAGMA, FRANK ZAPPA), フリージャズ (SUN RA, ALBERT AYLER, PETER BROTZMANN), そして中央アジアのトラディショナルミュージックに影響を受けています。
【NEW FACTOR】
”Graveward” is a big step forward from Sigh’s past albums in every aspect. The biggest evolution was brought by You Oshima, who joined Sigh as a new guitarist in 2014. He is known for his own project “Kadenzza”, who released two albums via France’s Holy Records so far. What he brought to Sigh is not only the new dimension of the guitar playing but his outstanding skill of mixing the songs. As he has his own studio, we were able to take whole three months to mix up those hundreds of tracks properly.
“GRAVEWARD” は SIGH の過去のアルバムたちに比べて全ての面で大きく前進しています。最大の進化は 2014 年からバンドに加入した新ギタリスト YOU OSHIMA によってもたらされました。”KADENZZA” という彼自身のプロジェクトでも知られていて、今までにフランスの HOLY RECORDS から2枚のアルバムをリリースしています。彼は新機軸のギタープレイだけでなく、際立った楽曲のミキシングスキルもバンドにもたらしました。彼は自分のスタジオを所有しているので、３ヵ月間まるまるこれら何100ものトラックを適正にミックスする事が出来たのです。
【GUEST APPEARANCES】
“Graveward” welcomes various guest musicians including Matthew Heafy from Trivium, Fred Leclercq from DragonForce, Niklas Kvarforth from Shining (Sweden) Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ, Metatron from The Meads of Asphodel and so on. The cover artwork was done by Costin Chioreanu, who worked with Ihsahn, At the Gates, Deicide and Ulver.
“GRAVEWARD” には様々なゲストが参加しています。MATTHEW HEAHY (TRIVIUM), FRED LECLERCQ (DRAGONFORCE), NIKLAS KVARFORTH (SHINING), THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL などなど。アートワークは IHSAHN, AT THE GATES, DEICIDE, ULVER との仕事で知られる COSTIN CHIOREANU 氏が手掛けています。
