Interviews
The Everlasting Sins: An Interview with Varathron
They have been there at the dawn of Hellenic black metal in the early 90s. They are here now. Varathron seem to have no intention to let this flame die.
Features
The Voice of American Power Metal: An Interview and Career Retrospective with Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin
The world has changed a lot in the past 40 years. Empires rose and fell, cultural icons appeared and disappeared, music trends come and gone. The same is true for personal musical tastes. I’ve known people 20 years ago who grew out of metal as they say, or “evolved” musically.
There is a person who evolved as well this last 40 years without succumbing to trends, without looking for the ephemeral and forgettable success. The man who stayed true to the music and the people who are following him. That man is the Tyrant, and this is his story through his music.
Into the Coven
Initiation to Obscure Mysteries: A Quick Guide to Upcoming Black/Heavy Metal Acts
Here at Ride into Glory we provide strong support to upcoming underground bands and artists. We try to highlight high quality new releases and promising debuting artists as often as we can.
The land of extreme metal is vast and without a guiding path it is easy to get lost in the endless sea of new releases and bands. Especially if you are only interested in the sounds that could be Into the Coven (meaning, extreme metal with a prevalent traditional metal structure underneath), finding upcoming artists might look like a daunting task. We thought that highlighting some contemporary bands who have yet to release their debut full-length albums might help readers find a new artist to follow, revisit a band whose first demo they heard a while ago, or just collect the young and new bands they are familiar with in one place.
Interviews
The Great Kaiser: An Interview with Derek DiBella of Demon Bitch and White Magician
The esoteric side of heavy metal has been around since the very start. The strange, the magical, and the fantastical have driven songwriters to great heights for the genre’s history, and one of the current masters of the weird is here right now to do an interview. The Great Kaiser, aka Derek DiBella, is perhaps best known for his years with Demon Bitch, but is also the driving force behind White Magician, Isenblåst, and more.
Classics Appreciation
Classics Appreciation: Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break the Oath Review
Mercyful Fate are great. The End, ~fin~.
Into the Coven
Into the Coven: Vigilance – Enter the Endless Abyss Review
At some point between their debut full-length and today, Slovenian heavy metal band Vigilance had two ideas for their future career: get a new logo and add black metal into their sound. As much as I like their NWOBHM-worshipping, cleaner traditional metal debut; looking back now I can say that both those decisions are proven to be steps in the right direction.
Guides and Primers
Thy Mighty Contract: A Guide to the Hellenic Black Metal Scene
In the 90s, only Sweden and possibly Finland competed in overall popularity to the Norsk scene. In the midst of the Norwegian popularity, another country in Southern Europe was forging its own take of Black Metal. This country was Greece.
New Releases
New Release Highlight: Lunar Shadow – The Smokeless Fires Review
What happens when a man takes off his Bathory crop top and wear Pink Turns Blue shirts for promo-shoots of his new album? Not necessarily bad things.
Features
Chronicle of the Black Sword: Rock and Metal Inspired by Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse
Heroic fantasy has always been a popular lyrical subject for heavy metal bands, and it’s not hard to see why. Heavy metal simply isn’t normal. You just can’t write powerful, dynamic compositions and have the vocalist sing about mundane things such as walking the dog or taking out the trash (unless by “trash” you mean “posers”). There are many different approaches a band can take to penning lyrics of the fantastic. Some are inspired by mythology or films, while others create their own stories. Some look to literature for inspiration. Those that do usually find it in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian, or Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné.
Features
The Hell’s Heroes 2019 Survival Guide
Following the success of the last year, Hell’s Heroes is back and ready to raise some hell! Texas’s biggest traditional metal festival features the cream of crop of The Lone Star State’s bands along with some of the most prominent names of the North American metal scene.