Where Did Mary Go?

Jon Schaffer is the founding member, chief songwriter, and driving force behind Iced Earth, Demons & Wizards, and Sons of Liberty .  Jon was also the first person to plead guilty to the charges brought against him for his role in the breach of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in the largest prosecution in the history of the United States.   After a wide-sweeping pardon in 2025, he retur...

When Matt Barlow announced that he was leaving Iced Earth in 2003, fans and the metal world in general were stunned by the decision.  Iced Earth had risen to international acclaim since he joined the band prior to 1995’s Burnt Offerings , ascending with each subsequent release to become one of the most well-known entities in the realm of heavy metal on the back of the powerful combination of Jon S...

Chris Caffery was always meant to play guitar for Savatage, even if the route he took to becoming a permanent member of the band was anything but linear.  From his first gigs with the band in 1987 at only 19-years old while they toured for Hall of the Mountain King , there was a new role carved out for him as second guitarist in a band that had never utilized one before.  Having connected with Sav...

If you’re familiar with Håvard Ellefsen , better known as Mortiis , then you know that his musical career has evolved and changed many times since he was a member of Emperor in their founding years.  Since departing the legendary black metal group in 1992, Mortiis embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s that featured several releases which would heavily influence the dungeon synth genre, befo...

Though it may seem that Lex Legion took the metal world by storm a few months ago by announcing their debut album in late March, the project boasting four of the five members of the classic late 1980s King Diamond lineup that created Them and Conspiracy had been in the works for much longer than that.   According to guitarists Andy LaRocque, King’s legendary axeman for more than 40 years, and Pete...

From a young age, everyone around her seemed to know that Tarja Turunen would have a future in music due to her incredible voice.  What many didn’t see coming though, was the way in which that voice would become part of a groundbreaking style of music that essentially created an entirely new genre of music.   After years of training in her youth and teenage years as in classical music, Tarja was s...

Though they’ve been together since 1982, you might be surprised to learn that Armored Saint has only released 8 studio albums to date despite their long history as a band.  When it’s released on May 22nd through Metal Blade Records , Emotion Factory Reset will become the 9th record in their 44-year history.  While most would consider that a low total for a band that’s been at it for as long as the...

For over thirty years, Russell Allen has had one of the most powerful voices in heavy metal music.  Through his work as frontman for progressive metal titans Symphony X , performances with Trans-Siberian Orchestra , solo work, and a number of collaborations, Allen has come to be known the power, grit, and versatile nature in which he delivers his vocals.   Those vocals are usually for lyrics based...

How do you describe something that you never thought you’d see?  That’s the task I’m faced with trying to explain the performances I witnessed on February 26th and 27th at Tavastia in Helsinki as the surviving members of Children of Bodom reunited for the first time in nearly seven years to celebrate the band’s music and the legacy of Alexi Laiho in front of fans who traveled from all over the wor...

Call it cliché, but the namesake of the first record Zakk Wylde ever performed on back in 1988 with Ozzy Osbourne could very easily be used to define his illustrious career to this point.  When Black Label Society releases Engines of Demolition on March 27th, it will mark the longest gap between albums for the group since they formed.  In that time between records, Wylde has toured the world with...

Throughout the long and storied history of American heavy metal legends Corrosion of Conformity’s existence, Woody Weatherman has been the only consistent member since the group started way back in 1982 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Being the sole constant in the band, he’s been witness to a number of changes and transformations.  Bandmates have come and gone, and then come back again.  The musical...

When two teenagers from the suburbs of Helsinki traveled three hours northeast to Lappeenranta during the summer of 1995 to knock on the door to the basement of a church, they might not have known at the time that the man who answered would become integral in helping them achieve their rock and roll dreams.  The young men, Alexi Laiho and Jaska Raaitikainen , arrived there in hopes of recording th...

Before meeting him, a future bandmate of Chuck Billy’s recalled seeing him work his way to front row of a KISS concert in this way:  “One figure stood out among the carnage, someone so large, he could push his way through anyone else in that crowd.  With a height of 6’4”, wild black hair, and a chest like a gladiator, he stood out.  Slithering to the front row, he ruthlessly pushed aside anyone wh...

The concept of death and Mayhem have been intertwined since most of the world first learned about them.  It’s been an integral part of the black metal pioneers’ story that has become so synonymous with the group that for a long time, it overshadowed their actual music, as many of the infamous events the world came to know them for occurred prior to the band actually releasing a full-length album. ...

Imperial Triumphant has been pushing the limits of metal since they formed in New York City in 2005.  By incorporating avant garde, jazz, and experimental sounds into their black metal delivery, the trio has risen to prominence with their last string of releases, culminating with this year’s Goldstar which has been praised by critics and fans alike as one of the top metal releases of 2025.  Though...

Chama, the title of Soulfly’s thirteenth studio album released on October 24th through Nuclear Blast Records , is a Brazilian word with a dual meaning: it means both ‘flame’ and ‘a calling.’  The album is accompanied by a short story describing the journey of young man searching for meaning and direction in life traveling from the Brazilian slums to the jungle seeking inspiration, led by a flame. ...

When Agalloch surprisingly disbanded in 2016, there was a collective sign of disappointment from those in the know in the metal community at losing one of its most creative, authentic, and genuinely unique bands.  Agalloch rose to prominence through a progressive metal alchemy that combined black metal, neo-folk, and atmospheric elements which set them apart from their peers in the late 1990s and...

Amorphis' fifteenth studio album, Borderland , was released on Friday, September 26th. To celebrate this milestone release in the band's 35th year of existence, founding member and guitarist Esa Holopainen and keyboardist Santeri Kallio made an appearance across the pond at Lucky 13 Saloon in Brooklyn, a metal institution since 2003, on Friday evening. Labeled as a record release party,...

Mark Menghi certainly didn’t take the traditional route to prominence in the rock and metal world.  In fact, if you look back at his story, it might sound pretty familiar.  For starters, he worked at a record store he frequented often, the legendary Looney Tunes in West Babylon on Long Island.  Inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath , Iron Maiden , and Cliff Burton-era Metallica , he began playing...

Throughout his spectacular career, Gene Hoglan has been involved with some of the biggest names to ever play heavy metal.   From his earnest beginnings as a lighting tech with Slayer , that led him to be featured doing backing vocals on “Evil Knows No Boundaries” from Show No Mercy , to being bestowed the nickname “The Atomic Clock” during his time in Strapping Young Lad alongside Devin Townsend ,...

When Dan Briggs joined Between the Buried and Me in early 2005, the band was at a bit of a crossroads.  After releasing The Silent Circus in 2003, an album that showed flashes of their future progressive sound, the group went through a number of personnel changes that eventually brought Briggs into the fold, alongside drummer Blake Richardson and guitarist Dustie Waring.  Alongside founding member...

When founding members Tomi Koivusaari, Esa Holopainen , and Jan Rechberger named Amorphis in 1990, they must have had a view to the future of the band.  A play on the word amorphous, which means having no definite form and unclassifiable, no word can better explain the last thirty-five years of the band’s history in regards to their music and lineup.   The legendary Finnish band has become synonym...

When Children of Bodom played their final show on December 15, 2019, it quite possibly could have been the last time their brilliant keyboardist Janne Wirman ever played a single note of music he wrote.  The last show came as a culmination of a tumultuous year that saw the band split ways with lead guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho after a series of disagreements, exacerbated by his increasingly...

So the story goes, Tom Angelripper and his original bandmates started playing music as a means to escape a life of working in the coal mines in Germany.  Now nearly 40 years later, after influencing innumerable thrash, death, and black metal bands over their historic career, Sodom is preparing to release their 17th studio album The Arsonist through Steamhammer/SPV on June 27th.  Ahead of its relea...

Though he may not have known it at the time, Alexander Kuoppala’s eight-year tenure in Children of Bodom would prepare him for his future endeavors in music education.  When he joined the group in 1995 when they were still called IneartheD , he was five years older than most of the members of the band.   As the group progressed and advanced their career with each of their first four widely revered...