Good sound comes from good people

TUE MADSEN

Tue Madsen. 40-year old, very successful Danish sound engineer and music producer. The owner of famous Antfarm Studios (his customers' list is impressively long and features such renowned and famous bands as MOONSPELL, ROB HALFORD, HATESPHERE, ILLDISPOSED, THE HAUNTED, SICK OF IT ALL, DARK TRANQUILLITY, BARCODE, GOREFEST, HEAVEN SHALL BURN among others). Very friendly and talkative person. Exclusively for Metal Portal the guru of atomic metal sound shares some of his deepest secrets. Sit down, shut up and listen. More...

XX Years Of Metal

ROBERT KAMPF

20 years and no piece of silence: two decades are for every of bands the enormous time of life – for the independent label, that still looks forward and expands itself, it’s a very noticeable kind of merit. CENTURY MEDIA is no firm resting on the laurels, dreaming about the better times or living by her back-catalogue. The label works international, distributing her stuff with the help of EMI and feels with the all of metal and hardcore bands like at home. As the second death metal wave was released by the traditionalists like ASPHYX, GRAVE and UNLEASHED in 1990 was known the same good that it will be continuing like with the friendly for experiments MORGOTH. TIAMAT put the mile stone for the supremacy of appearing gothic metal-sector, MOONSPELL, SENTENCED and THE GATHERING congenial developed it. The Dutch experimentalists THE GATHERING were by this opportunity the point of crossing with a new trend: the atmospheric metal with the women voices, that together with the label neighbors of LACUNA COIL pushed it up and barely made possible the later success model of NIGHTWISH. This splits between the tradition and the modern trademarks made for the all bands of CENTURY MEDIA the commonwealth of the united extreme music arts. In traditional metal except of ICED EARTH, JAG PANZER and later NOCTURNAL RITES or DREAM EVIL were shaped the new profiles by the progressive representatives like NEVERMORE and reformed ANGEL DUST. In the sector of black metal evinced itself especially strong the contrast of the hardest album of ULVER “Nattens Madrigal” with the vanguard of SOLEFALD, BORKNAGAR or SIGH. Precisely the same stays it in the sector of hardcore: with CRO-MAGS, RYKERS and MERAUDER were standing at the same time under the contract in Dortmund the precursors of the later metalcore. A years later the fruits of this work will be gathered – being a form the German sign-board HEAVEN SHALL BURN or the direct merciless terror. More...

FEMALES IN METAL

Marta Samitowska

Although metal music scene is dominated by male musicians, ladies have always been there. Just to mention here about such brave chicks as Lori Bravo (NUCLEAR DEATH), Katherine Thomas (THE GREAT KAT), Nicole Lee (ZNOWHITE), Doro Pesch (WARLOCK), Jo Bench (BOLT THROWER) or Sabina Classen (HOLY MOSES) who's enormous determination, strength and passion helped them to survive in this brutal male's world... More...

LIONESSES OF METAL

Female growlers

Women in metal music do not have an easy life. Female metalhead is usually treated like a sexual object, superfluous add-on, or at best as a nice decoration. In the following article I would like to present a few female metal vocalists, very strong personalities and talented artists. They are pretty much different from one another but there's also a common thing. I mean, they are all using growl and scream as their primary singing style. Women of flesh and bones, there's no doubt about it. Nevertheless listening to their vocal parts you would have to check this fact once again. Go ahead! More...

Successful in music industry

BRIAN SLAGEL

On account the merits of Metal Blade boss could to be taken only two of facts. He exactly has discovered SLAYER and offered to METALLICA a phonographic debut, putting “Hit The Lights” on the first edition of compilation “Metal Massacre”. It’s enough to build him a monument alive. Brian Slagel doesn’t want however to retire and smoking a pipe, whisper nostalgically to the past. This guy still has a music hunger, a feeling of good understood mission and still awaits the new arts of business challenges. The company directed by him had of course the days of boom and fall, but the moments of those first were of course often. Only the fact of existence a 25th years Metal Blade bastion on the market must to reason a big respect. Today Brian manages by a powerful firm, which still plays a very big role in the creating of metal music. More...

The story continues...

Black mass or innocent games with Devil

February 2004. Norwegian black metal group GORGOROTH makes a material for its first DVD in Krzemionki TV studio in Krakow. The concert setting, which is to be the main idea of this release, consists of wire entanglements, rams’ heads scattered around the stage and crosses in the background with naked fake-blood-smudged people hanging on them. Few days later public prosecutor's office in Krakow receives an application to prosecute the band and organizer of the concert for the offence to religious sensibilities. Satanist hunt in Poland begins.
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XVI With Full Force

A paradise for metalheadz!

There are only three months left and once again we'll have a chance to celebrate one of the most exciting metal events. Of course there are many summer open air festivals. But there are very few that are as great and as interesting as WFF, too. Every year the first weekend of July is the time when the metal maniacs from the whole Europe and even more distant places enjoy three days non-stop party. More...