Sonic Perspectives

Few artists are as busy as drummer Mike Portnoy in the music industry today. A proud “member of 83 bands” – a fictional number which might just as well be true eventually – this year he has toured with Metal Allegiance, The Neal Morse Band, The Winery Dogs and Flying Colors, and did a tour in Brazil as a guest of the band Noturnall. Two of his bands had releases which were prominently featured on our favorite progressive rock albums of 2019: The Neal Morse Band‘s “The Great Adventure” and Flying Colors‘ “Third Degree”.

The upcoming year is promising to be just as productive for Mike, with the new Sons of Apollo album, entitled “MMXX”, being released on January 17th – read our review of the album here. Other two studio efforts already in production are the new Transatlantic album, and a thrash metal tribute to the American bands of the 70’s such as Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, Cactus and Blue Öyster Cult, entitled “American Made”. On the live front, there are already shows booked with Metal Allegiance and a lengthy tour with Sons of Apollo, bringing Tony Macalpine as the opening act.

While the first Sons of Apollo album (2017’s “Psychotic Symphony”) laid the path for a successful tour, spanning three continents and 83 shows, expectations are much higher for “MMXX”, the band’s sophomore album. With two songs already revealed to the public – “Goodbye Divinity” and “Fall to Ascend” – this is a more focused effort than their debut, with the songs clearly reflecting how cohesive the band became after a lengthy period on the road. Sonic Perspectives’ collaborator and Portnoy lifelong follower Rodrigo Altaf caught up with Mike just before the end of 2019, and they discussed the writing process of the new album, and many other topics like his upcoming endeavors, tour plans and much more. Listen to this great chat below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

Slideshow photographs by Norrsken Photography and Design and Cox Creative Photography 

The post MIKE PORTNOY Talks New SONS OF APOLLO Album: “MMXX Is Us Taking the Band Into The Present and The Future” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Not many metal acts can look back at as comprehensive, multi-faceted and varied a career as Rage. Founded in spring 1983 in Germany, the band surrounding vocalist/bassist Peavy Wagner has integrated a wide range of stylistic nuances into its musical concept. There have been releases which focused primarily on hard thrash sounds, but also recordings featuring anthemic power metal as well as albums with a symphonic orientation. “Wings of Rage”, the latest offering by the trio, consists of all this and much more. Peavy and his colleagues Marcos Rodriguez (guitar) and Vassilios Maniatopoulos (drums) have succeeded in summarizing the diversity and experience of almost 37 years of band history in twelve topical songs, starting a new chapter at the same time.

Thanks to the aforementioned variety on “Wings of Rage”, Wagner, Rodriguez and Maniatopoulos can be one hundred per cent certain that every fan will find something to their very own, personal taste. Rage produced their new album themselves, Marcos Rodriguez taking care of mix and mastering at the Soundchaser Studio in Burscheid.

Rage have gone all out on “Wings of Rage” in musical and production terms, and the album presents the band as dynamic as ever. It’s surely an album worth discussing at length, and Sonic Perspectives tireless collaborator Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Wagner to address several aspects of its writing and recording , touring plans, Peavey’s influences and much more. Listen to their interesting conversation below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post RAGE Mastermind PEAVEY WAGNER Talks New Album Sound: “The Idea Was to Bring All RAGE Styles Together in A Homogeneous Way” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Hugh Syme is a graphic artist whose name has been indelibly linked to Rush since he did his first work for the band, the cover of “Caress of Steel”. He is responsible for ALL but the first 2 of Rush‘s album cover artwork. He also created Rush‘s famous StarMan logo, though he never imagined the band would use it, nor that it would gain such international recognizably as their main logo. He collaborated with Ian Thomas as both keyboardist and songwriter from 1973 to 1980, eventually leading to his alliance with Rush, as they were both then managed by SRO/Anthem. From that moment on his iconic designs have become the artistic trademark of one of the most seminal bands in musical history. Being a fellow musician, he has also contributed piano and keyboards on 4 Rush albums. Forty-five years later, Rush has retired, but Hugh is still very much involved with the band, overseeing the art side of the 40th-anniversary album series expanded editions.

In 2015, Hugh published a book entitled Art Of Rush, a collection of four decades’ worth of his artwork and illustrations for the group, with previously unseen images and a foreword by drummer Neil Peart. Since 2005’s “Octavarium”, Hugh also started a productive collaboration with prog-metal pioneers Dream Theater. Other musicians he has designed and created artwork for include Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Meatloaf, Megadeth, Styx, Queensrÿche, Asia, Dave Edmunds, Joe Walsh, Earth Wind and Fire and hundreds more.

Sonic Perspectives avid interviewer Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Hugh, and they discussed his method to put together such memorable artwork, his interaction with members of Rush and Dream Theater and some of his other clients, his forays into keyboard playing and much more. Listen to their interesting conversation below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

Slideshow photographs by Hugh Syme

The post World Renowned Graphic Designer / Art Director HUGH SYME Talks Working with RUSH, DREAM THEATER and Many Other Bands appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

It’s that time of year again, when I solidly insert my earbuds anytime I enter a retail space, avoid shopping centers like the plague, and the both the suburbs and the sorority girls next door begin to reek of pumpkin spice. You know what that means…

It means everyone who thinks they know more than you do about music presents their “Best of the Year” lists! W00 freaking H00!

Why is this a thing, and when did it originate? We don’t know and it doesn’t particularly matter. What does matter is that we recognize the expectations our readers and listeners have of us, and that we do our best to meet those expectations while still honoring our audience and recognizing their own expertise.

Because let’s face it: many of these year-end lists amount to little more than an alpha-status pissing match, where the compilers flaunt their kvlt and scene cred more than they highlight the music that really resonated with them over the year. It’s pretty tiresome.

With our own year-end lists, the Sonic Perspectives crew has aimed not to rank these records by rubric, nor to include stuff just to demonstrate how tightly our ears are kept to the ground. We simply wanted to include the artists and albums that really spoke to us this year. At least one of us even hesitated to rank their lists numerically. But hey, expectations are expectations.

On episode 32 of the Talking Perspectives podcast, regular contributors Scott Medina and Rodrigo Altaf, and wayward son Austin Kokel, join host Gonzalo Pozo (and a stopwatch) to discuss the 2019 progressive rock albums that really struck a nerve with them. We’d all like to think that we did so without being a bunch of elitist pricks about it, but we humbly leave that verdict in the hands of our listeners. Listen below!

The post TALKING PERSPECTIVES: A 90 Minutes Chat About Our Favorite Progressive Rock Albums of 2019 (Episode No. 32) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

On November 22, doom metal wizards AVATARIUM released their heavy and emotionally dense new album “The Fire I Long For”.

The new effort sees them return to their epic doom roots whilst paying their respects to rock legends like RAINBOW, LED ZEPPELIN and THE DOORS. Born from epic doom laden mastermind known as Leif Edling (of CANDLEMASS fame), the band has turned into an entity of its own, and their current nucleus consists of Marcus Jidell on guitars and Jennie-Ann on vocals, who are accompanied on this record by organist Rickard Nilsson and new drummer Andreas “Habo” Johansson (THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM). Together, this open-minded-yet-doom-laden collective draws elements of folk, jazz and psychedelic brilliance into a grandiose amalgamation that manages to maintain an almost pop-like elegance. If you wanna know more about the album you can check our review at this location.

With the great reception of the new release, and a Grammy Awards nomination for best metal song for CANDLEMASS’ “Astorolus – The Great Octopus”, which he produced, Marcus Jidell has a lot to talk about. He sat down with Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf, and they discussed what the title of the new album means to him, the composition process, working with Tony Iommi and much more. Listen to their interesting conversation below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post MARCUS JIDELL Discusses New AVATARIUM album: “We Wanted a Heavy, and Big Fat Production, a Little Bit Darker Than Our Previous One” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Molly Hatchet, the unstoppable ambassadors of Southern Rock, are back again with a new live offering, entitled “Battleground”. Their last album of original material might be too far back in the rear-view mirror now, but their relentless touring schedule proves that they’re still a force to be reckoned with. The musicians surrounding guitarist Bobby Ingram have reinforced their reputation as an awesome live act in brilliant live “battles”, so it comes as no surprise that requests by their international fan base for a new live recording have been growing increasingly insistent for a number of years.

As can be read on our review of “Battleground”, the band burns bright with the fire of enthusiasm that shines during live performances. The album was recorded in Pratteln, Switzerland, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and during Molly Hatchet’s 40th anniversary tour of the United States and features a fantastic cover artwork created by Paul Raymond Gregory (Saxon, Motörhead, Uriah Heep, among others). Bobby Ingram sat down with Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf to discuss the live album, the band’s legacy and the plans for 2020.

Listen to their interesting conversation below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post BOBBY INGRAM of MOLLY HATCHET Reflects On Band’s New Live Album: There’s A Unity You Can Hear On This Record: Between The Fans and The Band, And Musically” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

After four or five years of discussions about a possible collaboration with Frontiers Records, renowned German producer, guitarist, and songwriter Sascha Paeth agreed to join forces with the Italian label and launch his new band, Masters Of Ceremony.

The resulting and recently released album “Signs of Wings” (you can check our review of the album here) is much more than a solo album. Sascha put together a great group of musicians including Felix Bohnke (Avantasia) on drums, André Neygenfind (Avantasia) on bass, Corvin Bahn on keyboards, and the awesome American singer Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires). Offering a wide range of styles within the metal spectrum, from aggressive and straight-forward metal songs, to more melodic and symphonic track, this record has a bit of everything and is certainly going to strike fans of Sascha‘s as one of the most inventive, complete, and exciting releases in the metal genre in 2019.

To label Sascha Paeth a multi-talented producer, engineer, musician, and songwriter might not quite cover his full set of skills and achievements. The Wolfsburg-born German multi-musician has produced countless bands including Avantasia, Kamelot, Rhapsody, Epica, Angra, Heaven’s Gate and more. Having worked on, produced, and engineered over 200 albums since 1988, it’s fair to say he has a reputation for being at the forefront of shaping the European melodic power metal sound.

Sonic Perspectives “working man” Rodrigo Altaf had the chance to catch up with Sascha and they spoke about the album, the relevance of a producer in the current state of the music business, their common love for Andre Matos music and legacy and many other interesting topics.  Listen to their interesting conversation below and remember to stalk us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post Renowned Producer SASCHA PAETH Talks Recent “Signs of Wings” Album: “Heavy Metal Music Should be Raw and In-Your-Face, Not Overproduced like Most Music Today” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.