Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Kiros, and how long the band has been together?
Barry MacKichan, I’m the singer/bassist for Kiros. We’ve been touring since 2004.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Originally from Calgary Alberta Canada. The scene has changed a lot over the years, but it was an incredible launching pad for us in our early years. There was a ton of support for local artists and a sense of DIY pride in everything. Sadly, we barely get to play there anymore. Most of what we’re doing is in the USA or Europe now, and our lineup has members from Colorado and Texas, so playing a hometown show usually needs to be part of a tour.

How did the cooperation with Ain’t No Grave Records come about?
We were first approached by ANGR in January 2011. We were initially very surprised by their interest, not being a metal band and all. But after talking to them, seeing what we’re both all about, we both felt like it’s a perfect fit. We officially signed with ANGR in May 2011.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Lay Your Weapons Down title?
The whole album is a concept album divided into three chapters: 1)The Revolt 2)The Trenches 3)The Surrender. The record tells a story of an internal war raging inside our hearts and minds, revolting against truth, the resulting suffering and fighting (life in the trenches) that comes while wrestling with the consequences of our coup, followed by the glorious and beautiful surrender of our hearts and lives, occurring in our most honest moment of recognition that we can’t save ourselves. Surrender in this case, is not a sign of weakness or defeat, but an awakening. It’s giving up the broken lives we weren’t meant for, and finding ourselves in the process.

Select two songs from the new album and what inspired the lyrics.
“Unshaken” is our current radio single. It’s about a strengthening resolve to have your actions line up with who you say you are. I want this to be more and more true in my life all the time. “Broken State” is a song about self realization, seeing what’s broken, seeing where we fall short, but feeling deep inside there is more to this life than that condition.

What could one expect from a live Kiros show?
Expect us to leave the stage exhausted, poured out, and covered in sweat. And expect yourself to be included in the music and the show, connected with the sound and lights. We want to create an experience, not be just another group of guys playing their instruments.

What was the experience like playing Warped Tour and how many dates did you play?
We’ve played a total of 54 Warped dates over the years. It’s an amazing tour, very well run, and there’s a lot of heart behind it. It’s crazy days, crazy drives, exhausting, dirty, and worth every second. Warped Tour has its own community, and it’s like a traveling city. We hope to do more Warped Dates in the future.

What are you looking forward to the most about the RedVolution 2012 Tour?
There is so much I’m looking forward to on that tour, but I think the biggest thing for us just to be releasing our new record, getting to play the new songs live, and to share them with what promises to be some big crowds.

Has Kiros ever played here in the Los Angeles area or plan to do so in the future?
We’ve been fortunate enough to play a bunch in the LA area. Chain Reaction, The Whisky, The Glass House, Warped Tour, Bamboozle etc. Great city, great scene. We will be in Redlands CA on March 16th at Packinghouse on the REDvolution tour.

Being on Ain’t No Grave Records, would you consider Kiros to be a Christian band or ministry? Why or why not?
Kiros is a band. All of us in the band are Christians, and it’s hugely important to each of us in our personal lives. Because that’s a big part of our identity as people, it permeates everything we do, band included. If we separated the two, it would feel very dishonest to us. That said, we don’t want to only play churches for the rest of our musical careers, we aren’t exclusive to the Christian music industry or the scene. We don’t write music for only Christians. We are honest about who we are and what we believe, and it’s in our hearts to share such epic hope and indescribable love like we’ve found. If we are a ministry, it’s because each of us takes our faith seriously and wants to share it.  One extension of our faith through this band is our work with Christian organization World Vision. We are currently involved in a project with them helping to prevent child prostitution, child soldiers, and child slavery.

Are you or any of the other members involved with bands or projects outside of Kiros?
Not at the moment. I’m always writing songs, and sometimes they aren’t Kiros songs, so maybe they’ll find their way onto a solo CD or something. No written out plans at the moment.

How fun or scary was it to pose with that rather large snake in the photo shoot you did?
It was really interesting! The snake really wasn’t dangerous, more just curious. We had snake handlers right by us the whole time, so we knew if a problem occurred they’d rush right in. It is amazing how powerful they are. You treat them with sense of awe knowing it’s a good thing they aren’t hungry at that moment.

Any final words of wisdom?
Never be afraid to ask yourself “why?” That question has served me very well in searching for truth.

(Interview by Kenneth Morton)

Kiros on Facebook

Commented MASTER founding bassist/vocalist Paul Speckmann: “The New Elite deals with the problems we face in society at this current time. The rich are getting richer and the poor are starving on the streets all around the world while men battle each other for world dominance! Governments are grabbing the world by the balls and dictating the new rules of the soon-to-be New Elite, while the youth of today just sit down and take it. I really wonder if and when the youth of today will take a stand against these crazy fucked-up, ruthless world leaders. The time has come to stand up and be counted!”

To check out “Smile As You’re Told,” the fourth track off the new offering, visit Pulverised Records SoundCloud Page.

The New Elite Track Listing:
01) The New Elite
02) Rise Up And Fight
03) Remove The Knife
04) Smile As You’re Told
05) Redirect The Evil
06) Out Of Control
07) As Two Worlds Collide
08) New Reforms
09) Guide Yourself
10) Souls To Dissuade
11) Twist Of Fate

The New Elite will be released via Pulverised Records.

MASTER:
Paul Speckmann – Vocals, Bass
Alex Nejezchleba – Guitars
Zdenek Pradlovsky – Drums

http://master-speckmetal.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Master/18521536017
http://www.myspace.com/masterspeckmann
http://www.pulverised.net

Black As Death

What started as a side project for Magic Kingdom guitar master Dushan Petrossi a decade ago, has taken on a life of its own, IRON MASK eventually becoming the more popular of the two outfits.

Following the release of 2009′s Shadow of the Red Baron, the blistering Black As Death is IRON MASK’s fourth LP in a decade. Boasting over an hour of the band’s renowned talent through a diverse array of lightning-fast metal, glorious ballads, dizzying neo-classical arrangements and straightforward hard rock thunder. Dushan Petrossi and his band merge exceptional musical prowess with epic accessibility, making Black As Death a must-hear for fans of Firewind, Dio, Iron Maiden, Yngwie Malmsteen and Rainbow.

Black As Death Track Listing:
1. From Light Into The Dark
2. Black As Death
3. Broken Hero
4. Feel The Fire
5. Genghis Khan
6. God Punishes, I Kill
7. Rebel Kid
8. Blizzard Of Doom
9. The Absence
10. Magic Sky Requiem
11. Nosferatu
12. When All Braves Fall

IRON MASK lineup:
vocals – Mark Boals (Holy Force, The Codex, ex-Royal Hunt, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, etc.)
vocals – Roma Siadletski (Magic Kingdom)
guitars – Dushan Petrossi (Magic Kingdom)
bass – Vassili Moltchanov (Magic Kingdom)
drums – Ramy Ali (Evidence One, Justice)
keyboards – Mats Olausson (ex-Ark, ex-Yngwie J. Malmsteen, etc.)

http://www.iron-mask.com
http://www.last.fm/music/Iron+Mask
http://www.dushanpetrossi.com
http://www.afm-records.de
https://www.facebook.com/afmrecords

The self-titled full-length album was produced by Juan Urteaga (Machine Head, Testament) and features killer artwork from Marc Sasso (Dio, Halford) fully capturing the group’s evil-tinged thrash metal sound.

“All of us in Blessed Curse are extremely proud to announce our partnership with M-Theory Audio for the North American release of our head-banging debut album,” states Blessed Curse drummer Derek Bean. “We look forward to continuing to work with Marco Barbieri, as we are shooting to release both versions of our album around the same time so everyone everywhere can have an opportunity to purchase this piece of true heavy metal, Blessed Curse style. True metal maniacs everywhere intense heavy metal has returned with the B.C. Beast!”

The band, formerly known as Devastator, have worked with M-Theory Audio founder Marco Barbieri for the past 3 years via a publishing/development deal with his Salem Rose Music Publishing company and in that time released two demos, toured the US, played a multitude of shows in their home state, changed their name and continued developing their own sound.

M-Theory Audio was started as a collaborative imprint in 2009 to release Papsmear’s “Music to Kill By”, a collection of ‘80s demo and live recordings from his old friends in the Las Vegas thrash act. “Continuing that tradition of helping friends seemed natural again,” explains Barbieri. “Blessed Curse have come up with a great album and I am pleased to assist them further by making it more easily available domestically”.

The domestic release will contain the same cover artwork but a completely different layout, plus a bonus track – a cover of Judas Priest’s “Metal Gods”. Watch for an April tour announcement coming soon.

For more information:
www.facebook.com/blessedcurseofficial
www.facebook.com/salemrosemusic

Téras track-listing
1. Téras
2. Pale Horse
3. III: Death Dimension Phantasma
4. The Monolith
5. An Extension Of His Arm And Will
6. Bring Out Your Dead
7. Come Perdition
8. Invoc(H)ate
9. The Dying Flame Of Existence

The album will be available as regular CD, limited deluxe CD Digipak (incl. the studio bonus track “Tired Bones” and a logo patch), digital download and noble deluxe 2LP with 180g vinyls, gatefold sleeve, an etching on side D, printed inner sleeves as well as the aforementioned bonus track.

Prior to the album’s release, Century Media Records will release the An Extension Of His Arm And Will 7″ EP, limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. The EP includes the exclusive non-album track, “As Long As They Fear“. Check out www.cmdistro.com for the ultra-rare colored vinyl version.

More news about NAGLFAR and Téras will be announced soon, so stay tuned!

NAGLFAR online:
www.naglfar.net
www.myspace.com/naglfar
www.facebook.com/naglfarofficial

QUALMS

Reacting to seasons in reverse, we’ve often spent winters sweating, fraught with fevers found in moldy garages, damp basements, and heatless vans, but our goals have shifted, reset, certainly undergone a subconscious self-exposition as if they were human, breathing—freaking—and rolling back their eyes to study their own brains, delicately and/or calamitously arriving at this very conclusion: two is more productive than five and one is lost alone.

In short: we’re completely crazy for what we do.

Big Broken tracklist:
1. Polarized
2. Denial Isle
3. Ghost Bones [feat. Orca Orca]
4. Ice Pill
5. Runaway

The Burial

“We are so grateful to be a part of the label and are stoked to hit the road with new material.” – Todd Hatfield

You can hear the first song from their new album “Pearls; The Frailty of Matter” here: http://www.youtube.com/facedownrecords

The Burial will be playing Facedown Night at Facedown Fest on April 7, get tickets here: http://www.facedownfest.com

http://www.facebook.com/theburialin

Westcoast Worldwide Records

“We couldn’t be more excited to join the WCWW family” states vocalist Eric Muniz. A lot of what we are about is old school ethics, hardcore pride, and hard work. Westcoast is totally about that too. It seems to be a great fit and we couldn’t be more in to it”.

“We love Brawl’s old school approach to hardcore”, comments Westcoast Worldwide founder Mikey Hood. “Friends, family, good times, and hardcore. That for us is really what it’s all about. These guys are rad. We love bands that play, and book tons of shows, and open venues, and really keep their scenes going. As for the sound, If you like bands like Death Before Dishonor, Propain, North Side Kings, or Breakdown you will love Brawl.”

Founded in 2010, Brawl has been pummeling the Northwest with two DIY releases under their belts, in addition to several tours. “Being a hardcore band from Boise is tough”, says Muniz. “There wasn’t a ton of opportunities for a band like us, so we had to make our own. We’re just four guys that really love this music and this scene, and we feel very fortunate that we get to play it, book it, be so involved in it, and enjoy it so much. Not only in our home state, but in other places as well. This really is our way of life.”

“Punishment” by Brawl will be available March 6th, 2012 on Westcoast Worldwide Records

Look for Brawl on tour with Murder Death Kill in Spring 2012

http://www.facebook.com/Brawl208

www.westcoastcoastworldwiderecords.com

Phantom Antichrist marks the band‘s debut for Nuclear Blast and is set to be released June 1, 2012 (Europe) and June 5, 2012 (North America)!

Furthermore, KREATOR will also release an exclusive 7“ single of the titlesong on April 20, 2012. The collector’s item will be available in coloured red vinyl (limited to 250 pieces) as well as in clear vinyl (limited to 250 pieces, exclusively available at the Nuclear Blast Mailorder – www.nuclearblast.de/shop).

KREATOR will exclusively perform a new song during their shows at this years METALFEST open air events!

Find the cover art for the 7“ single attached!

For more info visit: www.kreator-terrorzone.de | www.facebook.com/kreatorofficial | www.nuclearblast.de/kreator

Heart To Heart

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Heart To Heart, and how long the band has been together.
Hello there! My name is Nick Zoppo and I am the voice of Heart to Heart. Heart to Heart was established in 2009. Going strong ever since.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We are based out of Pismo Beach, CA which is part of the Central Coast. Located mid state right next to the beach. Our music scene has sadly been dying for a while now. But we have been grateful of the work that has been put into building it back up. We get a lot of support from all of our friends and family which makes it incredible to us still. Although is still needs work. For instance, kids didn’t care about genre so much back in the day or who was playing. Everyone came out to have a good time. Regardless. Working on bringing that back. We have a lack of all ages venues so we try and throw shows whenever we can when SLO Brew isn’t available. Sad thing is everyone around here needs to wake the fuck up! They are surrounded by amazing local bands like PK, Briertone, Halo Of Gunfire, The Mighty Fine, New Tomorrow, and Parley. Don’t believe me check them out for yourself. All the local bands are all supportive of each other. Grateful for that. They all deserve your time. Check them out.

How did the recent DisasTOUR go and what were some of the highlights?
We have agreed that this tour was one of the top best tours we have done to date. It went by so fast which was new to us. We laughed hard all day everyday which made it all that much more worth it. It’s actually quite funny because before tour we had only knew The Sheds. We had no idea what Currents was going to be like. When we tour we like to spend time with the other bands and fuck around when we aren’t at shows. Little did we know they were a perfect fit and the crew that was apart of this tour was awesome! Couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people to travel with. We noticed this tour that the shows we better than any other tour. It’s cool to see how things having been growing for us as a band. I’d have to say highlights of the tour was the constant fucking around between all of us. Always pulling pranks and rolling dice for each other’s little bit of money we had left.

What inspired the lyrics for the three songs on Deathproof?
Well this release was the most open about my life I have ever been. May not be able to see it but it’s hidden in plain view. Everything with the record all has meaning behind it to where it all ties into together to get the name DEATHPROOF. With that being said “Requiem” is about losing my father to a drunk driving accident and how it affected me, moving on to “Recollections” this song deals with the struggles and misfortunes I dealt with growing up and even though those times are over it still comes back to haunt me no matter how long its been, last but not least the last track entitled “Lessons” is about dealing with myself and how I can’t learn my lesson after fucking up over and over again. I’ve met other people who have been through the same things I have or maybe not as bad of a case, sometimes been through worse and somewhere along the line took a wrong turn. That’s how I got the name DEATHPROOF. With everything I have been through I am still on my feet and trying to make it to the “end” whenever that may be. This release will always be important to me. So if you haven’t heard pick it up. Get to know a little about myself.

What did Kyle Black contribute to the overall recording process and how was he to work with?
We love working with Kyle Black. We have never met someone who cares so much about what he is working on. He is very hands on and gives it everything he has. He is not afraid to tell you what sucks. He pushed us so hard it kind of turned us on it a weird way. He was open to ideas as were we and working together was just a great fit. Kyle is a great dude with a huge heart and that makes working with him that much better. Can’t wait to work with him again.

How close are you to recording a full length album?
Can’t ruin the surprise now! But I will say this, close. Very close.

How did your collaboration with Anchor Eighty Four Records come about?
I knew Cody from an old band of mine. We played a few shows together back in the day. It wasn’t until one of our shows in LA that he came out to and saw us and we caught back up. Filled us in that he had started Anchor Eighty Four records and he enjoyed what he saw. We talked for a while and then decided to put out a record. Now working on a full length with him and him as a smaller label and us as a smaller band it works out perfect. We grow together and have a better personal relationship. We are in love.

What could one expect from a live Heart To Heart show?
You can expect us playing with our shirts off, sweaty as shit, and right up in your face. We love to get personal at shows and include everyone. It’s an experience that’s for sure. I say some of the stupidest shit on the mic sometimes so that’s always great to see they say… It’s really hard to say. I don’t even know what to expect sometimes. Come out and see for yourself.

Do you have any unusual stories from the road you could share?
Hahaha, oh wow… I don’t even know where to start. Some of the most random shit happens. On this past tour we happened to come across this huge pink dildo that we had named “Pink Panther”. Pink Panther then became the tour mascot and was everywhere. From around someones neck to even acting as a drum stick. Got the weirdest looks from people but eh what are you gonna do. We actually made up a little game. Rules were if you fucked up (i.e. lock keys in the van, step in dog shit and bring it in the van, ect) a vote was brought to council (the whole tour package) and if vote passed you had to wear Pink Panther for 24 hours and it had to be visible. Morgan from The Sheds still owes us 24 hours but he was afraid his mom would somehow see. If we don’t get those hours we will have to do our Heart to Heart famous trick and shave his eyebrows. I’d rather take the eyebrows anyways.

Have you ever played Warped Tour and if so, what was the overall experience like?
Never played Warped Tour but it is for sure on the list of things to do. Been a dream of mine since I was 13 years old. It’s gotta happen sometime… right?

What’s up next for Heart To Heart?
We start a short run in February with our best friends in Stickup Kid from San Jose, CA and a few dates with We Still Dream on Eulogy Recordings. For dates check out www.hearttoheartca.com.  After that we take a break and prepare to start recording the full length. Really excited for the future. Got some tour announcements to make for later in the year so stay posted.

Any final words of wisdom?
As of lately I have been tripping out on how much busier the band is getting. I’m happy to say I am doing what I said I would be doing when I was 13. I followed my dreams and I am happy to be able to say that. Not everyone can do the same, But only you can control that. So if there is something you want go after it. It’s in arms reach.

Heart To Heart will be playing at the Cobalt Cafe in Canoga Park with We Still Dream!  Check out their Facebook page for other dates across the country.

(Interview by Kenneth Morton)

Heart To Heart on Facebook