Far from the stereotypes you might associate with a nickname like, well, Old Nick, our latest vocalist-interviewee was candid, mirthful and excited in our midnight chat (very goth-coded, I know) ahead of Paradise Lost's 17th (!) studio opus Ascension.

Due for release on September 19th via Nuclear Blast Records, we caught up with Nick to discuss said album, but also branch out into directions ranging from the practical (touring, songwriting, etc) all the way through to the existential.

For the video version of this interview + more info on the fantastic upcoming LP, single/music videos, artist info/links and more, check out the show-notes over at:

www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog

Once again, massive thanks to Mr. Holmes for a wonderful chat, and to Nuclear Blast Australia for facilitating an opportunity to speak with a metal-groundbreaker!

Peace, Love and Happiness via Doom - Brady.

Heading towards burning the midnight oil alongside myself on Friday night, I was joined on the podcast by Paula Damzal (vocals/guitar) and Nik (aka Nikronomikon Satanik - lead guitar) of incessantly guttural, HM2-soaked purveyors KÜNTSQUAD.

With a renowned live show and the release of perennially family-friendly-titled LP Satan's Cock dropping on a scene increasingly interested in the old-school, we discussed both the above plus navigating challenging life circumstances to celebrate successes, reception to the latest LP (both live/on disc), the finer points of Melburnian/Aussie death metal and more.

Be sure to check out the blog link for Ep. 56 at the link below for additional show notes, including artist/album links, additional media and other 'Squad info:

www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog

Big shoutout to Dan Catania of fast-rising heavy-music media entity Headbangers Australia (whom we've interviewed as well, on Episode 50 of ISC Podcast) for facilitating this laid-back, sincere and fun conversation!

Peace, Love and Occultic Appendages Wrapped In Distortion - Brady.

#interview #kuntsquad #kuntsquadinterview #melbournebands #melbourmemusicscene #newalbum #musicpodcast #deathmetal #australiandeathmetal

A massive privilege and honour to have frontman Simon Calabrese of influential Australian melodic death metal legends Daysend, ahead of their upcoming national tour revisiting the massively-acclaimed album Severance.

We discuss Simon's thoughts on said tour, stepping back into the band for the first time in 19 years and more! Check out the link below for tour info and links/RSVP for each of the tour dates across Australia.

Massive thanks to Anthony from YourMateBookings for facilitating such a phenomenal opportunity - this is a rare Aussie metal treat you won't cop again, don't be slow on scoring a ticket!

LINK:

www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog/podcast-ep-55-interview-w-simon-calabrese-of-daysend-ahead-of-the-revisiting-severance-tour/

Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.

Link to Video Version (via our Youtube Channel).

Yesterday, for Music Monday at ISC I caught up with Ian Ahles (Vocals, Guitar/Lute) & Will Towne (Guitars) from up-and-coming Brisbane-based progressive metal outfit Ahles.

We had a fantastic, fun and insightful chat about the project, merging the worlds of classical music/academia, the songwriting process behind recently released LP Between Dreams And The Waking World and more!

Great chat with two skilled yet humble musicians.

You can check out full details on the artist, additional bio details to those below, music video and album/order links and more, over at:

www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog.

Peace, Love and Classic Shred-n-Riff Behaviour - Brady.

About Ahles:

This quartet is the brainchild of Ian, who has had a prolific music career in the Australian heavy metal scene over the past twenty years (Praetorian, Dragonsmead, Born From the Ashes) coupled with an academic background in classical guitar. AHLES’ lineup is completed by drummer Alix Bandiera (Born From the Ashes, Puncture Wound), and classically-trained musicians Monash Lal and Will Towne (Riverside Guitar Ensemble).

Bandcamp - LP Link:

https://ahles.bandcamp.com/album/between-dreams-and-the-waking-world

With thanks to fellow Musolegion community member and up-and-coming media entrepeneur Dan Catania of Headbangers Australia for facilitating this opportunity!

Check the link above and/or the Podcast tab/ ISC Podcast playlists right on the channel for a great chat about all things music industry. Also available via our various podcast platforms in audio-only version.

In our third podcast interview for this week, your host was recently joined by two great dudes in Tomi Kouvisaari (Guitars) & Jan Rechberger of influential metallers Amorphis! We discuss latest album Borderland, touring and much more.

See link for video/audio-only versions plus album preorder/info, artist bio/links, latest music videos ‘Bones’/’Light & Shadow’ and more, over at:

www.innerstrengthcheck.com/blog

Many thanks to Tomi, Jan, Amorphis and Reigning Phoenix Media for facilitating another fantastic interview opportunity on the podcast!

Borderland will be unveiled to the world on Sept 26th, 2025 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

As Always,

Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.

Another splendid interview with a chill heavy musician! I was joined this morning by Isaiah Mitchell, guitarist of influential psych/space-rock heavyweight whilst he was on a summer's eve walk to discuss the upcoming tour of Australia/Europe/USA, thoughts on playing an iconic show at Uluru, the Australian music scene, live improvisation, his respect for First Nations peoples and more.

You can find the full press release with details of the upcoming Aussie tour plus additional media, artist links and more info at:

www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog.

See here for link to the video interview on the ISC Youtube Channel!

Peace, Love and Heavy-Psych Rockin' - Brady.

With an illustrious return to form with the highly acclaimed and record-selling self-titled release only a few years prior, the triumphant march of Helloween's progress shows no signs of slowing over the fourth decade! Especially not with one of their most bombastic and ambitious studio efforts slated for release within just a few weeks' time.

I was fortunate enough to be joined by one of the bands' three (yes, three!) vocalists, Andi Deris, on our podcast.

Don't let the sunny setting or the man's equally cheery demeanour fool you - Andi has some great thoughts around upcoming LP 'Giants & Monsters', the recording process, music industry, performing and more. Having been fortunate enough to peek an advance copy of Giants & Monsters, I can guarantee this is one that won't disappoint. The album drops on us all Aug 29th, 2025.

Very shortly, we'll have the full press release included in show notes for this episode on our website at: www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com.

There, you'll be able to get even more scoop on the upcoming album, bop along to new singles and more!

Peace, Love and Coring Pumpkins With Metal Power - Brady.

Note: For those just joining in on RSS.com, we have just migrated over to this site as our new podcast hosting platform!

Link to original blog post, which contains video version of our interview with Dan Catania:

https://www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog/50th-ep-interview-wdan-catania-headbangers-australia

50 episodes!

Most statistics show that the vast majority of podcasters (usually 60-80%) never make it past the 3rd to 5th episodes. And what better representation of our slogan 'Hobbies, Riffs, Mental Health' than this extensive chat with an up-and-coming rising star in the Australian heavy metal media landscape, Dan Catania of Headbangers Australia.

This is quite an in-depth chat! We explore Dan's beginnings as a Youtuber, Dan discusses some recent challenges with mental health and other life challenges (which is apples/orange comparison-wise but also not unlike my own mental health trajectory over 2024/2025), culminating in a recent diagnosis and adjusting to this whilst simultaneously scaling up from content-creation to now, implementing a full suite of Australian artist services using a hybridised subscription model.

We cover a heck of a lot more, too - musicianship, video production, social media, the Australian music scene/metal journalism industry, realities of entering into this space as an entrepeneurship/career choice, and so much more.

Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.

(For those of you viewing this link via our new podcast-host profile page on RSS.com - note that existing episodes are still in the process of being automatically imported from Spotify, and may take some time to populate. Apologies for any confusion!)

Recently, as your host for ISC Podcast, I uploaded a vlog to our Youtube channel + website blog and socials, advising we are leaving Spotify for Podcasters as our host for the past four years.

See here for link to relevant video.

Today's mini-sode is more for existing Spotify listeners, and some news about additional podcast platforms which ISC will be entering for the first time!

Stay tuned for several new episodes which will also be uploaded via the new host directory.

Please note that we are keeping episodes 1-49 intact on Spotify for Creators, ergo Spotify listeners will be able to access existing content.

Episode 50, our interview with Dan Catania of Headbangers Australia, is accessible via the following link & will be up in podcast form very shortly:

https://www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog/50th-ep-interview-wdan-catania-headbangers-australia

Link to our new podcast profile page on RSS.com:

Other Links:

• Website: www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@innerstrengthcheck
• FB: www.facebook.com/innerstrengthcheck
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/innerstrengthcheck_/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/innerstrengthcheck.bsky.social
• Twitch: www.twitch.tv/innerstrengthcheck

Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.

What a year it's been for these Sydneysiders! Representing my State of Origin in NSW in a manner that'd make interstate bands nervous, these guys have been rapidly ascending to S-tier within the Australian extreme metal scene.

Not hard to see why, either - from the absolute firestorm of technical, old-school and groove alike that is latest LP 'Revel In Sin', successful recent album launch shows and, most recently, having the opportunity to open up for none other than Floridian death metal legends ATHEIST, Joey (Scott, Vocals) and James (Taylor) have plenty of recent successes to comment on!

We don't just stop at their recent national sojourn with our nation's firste Taste-theist, though. It's a broad interview covering all sorts - touring, musicianship, the Sydney + broader scene, observations and thoughts about the current state of the metal/music scene writ large, some encouraging words for current/would-be death metal musicians, and more.

Interview is also up on our blog @ www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com - there you can also check out more Anoxia links, stream some tunes and get the latest around their next success - a tour supporting none other than Brazil's KRISIUN later this year.

Peace, Love and Revelling In Wholesome Death-Metal Sin - Brady.