Where Did Mary Go?

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...

When interviewed about Mario Lalli for a documentary about the emerging desert rock scene he grew up in, Josh Homme of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age fame described him this way: “ Mario is the one guy who I always thought deserved the most credit for everything.  He was always a few years ahead of his time… He’s always had this way about him – he’s very giving, he’s always done everything for...

Porcupine Tree band leader Steven Wilson started his 2022 autobiography, Limited Edition of One , with a story about the band’s last show before the start of their well-known hiatus that began in 2010.   He wrote that subconsciously, while playing before a sold out crowd at the famous Royal Albert Hall , he knew that it would be the last thing Porcupine Tree did for a while.  There was one problem...

Since their inception in 1997, Elvenking have never fit squarelyinto one genre or category in the world of metal.  On a surface level, the casual listener might blindly generalize them into power metal genre based on Davide “Damna” Moras’ soaring vocals and Federico “Aydan” Baston’s fast-paced riffing and lead guitar play.  But when you span the band’s entire catalog, the breadth of their influenc...

When Swedish melodic death metal legends Arch Enemy were about to enter to studio to record  Burning Bridges in 1999 , which would become one of their most iconic releases, they were facing a bit of an issue: they needed a bassist.  The group had just returned from playing tour dates in Japan and, according to lead guitarist and band leader Michael Amott , things were not working out with their cu...

In early 1991, Dream Theater were dangerously close to calling it quits.  The promising young group, which formed at Berklee College of Music in Boston in the mid-1980s under the original name Majesty, had let go original lead singer Charlie Dominici shortly after their 1989 debut record When Dream and Day Unite.   For nearly a year and a half, they had auditioned countless frontmen, with none of...

Failure has never really been an option for Jamey Jasta.   He started out in the music business in his early teens during the mid-1990s and he has yet to look back.  When interviewed about his initial impressions of meeting Jamey as a teenager, Brian Fair of Shadows Fall had this to say: "Jamey was the hardest working man in hardcore.   He saw a possibility of making a career out of this long...

Justin Foley joined Killswitch Engage in the fall of 2003 after the departure of their original drummer.  His former bandmate, Howard Jones, had just joined the band as their lead singer and recommended Foley for the vacancy.   A year later, Killswitch Engage would be nominated for a Grammy for their gold 2004 record The End of Heartache and be opening for Slayer as part of the Jagermeister Music...

Reflecting on when Fredrik Åkesson joined Opeth in 2007 after the departure of founding member Peter Lindgren , band frontman and general mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt said: “Finally, we had a really, really good lead guitar player, so I could step back a little bit…I always wanted a good lead guitarist, but neither me or Peter were able to advance too much in that department.” Now some seventeen ye...

Frank Hetzel has been a giant in the Seattle metal community for many years – so much so that it’s been said that any metal band who played in the city was booked through him.  After securing national and international band to grace the stages of Seattle, he started to create his own music through Beltfed Weapon , using the connections he had made to secure guest and session musicians to appear on...

I started writing about music two years ago, mostly as a joke, and have now found myself producing material for an actual website called ⁠ThisDayInMetal.com⁠ . Given access to different musicians for interview, I thought I would share the audio here for those who may be interested. For my first episode, I was joined by Derrick Brumley of the metal band Conquest to promote their new album Paradox,...

I've been a King's X fan for over two decades now. The fact that I was able to interview bassist and vocalist Doug (dUg) Pinnick for ⁠ThisDayInMetal.com⁠ was a surreal experience.  dUg spoke with us for nearly 50 minutes about: his upcoming new solo record in October 2024. the bizarre experience of opening for AC/DC in Germany. how King's X picks their setlist. playing Woodstock &ap...