Metal Brainiac

Vicky Psarakis said she had prepared her whole life for what proved a career opportunity. Vicky has made three albums with The Agonist and a new EP, titled "Days Before the World Wept," since replacing original vocalist Alissa White-Gluz. She has more than proven herself with a broad dynamic range and five distinct voices in her sonic pallet—a power clean, a falsetto, growls at two octave levels and a scream. On this episode, Vicky talks about her evolution as a vocalist and songwriter, her creative process within The Agonist and branching out to a second band called Sicksense.

There's a deep history of Christian metal, and one of the leading torchbearers over the past 15 years is the metalcore band Phinehas. While the band's early lyrics were loaded with clear Christian themes, vocalist Sean McCulloch has evolved into a much more complex songwriter. Throughout the band's new album, titled “The Fire Itself,” McCulloch wrestles with depression, isolation and other personal battles that mask any overt nods to the Christian bible.  McCulloch talks here about his introduction to metal outside the bounds of his faith, his creative path behind the new album and his distaste for how Christianity plays out in modern politics.

Saudi Arabia is on the other side of the world from the United States, but even a repressive monarchy hasn't kept heavy metal out of its borders. Wasted Land is from the coastal city of Jeddah and it's one of the few metal bands that have managed to record and distribute music and attract fans and supporters beyond Saudi borders. In this conversation, guitarist Ayman Al Ghamdi and vocalist Emad Mujallid speak about finding their way to metal, building a band against oppressive governmental pressure and keeping their metallic dreams alive after more than 15 years of promise and struggle. 

Zosia West grew up in Pittsburgh's musical theater community, and you can hear that foundation in the power she brings to her metal band, Reign of Z. Her lyrics come straight from personal experience—often of trauma and also of resilience.In advance of her band's upcoming tour opening for Combichrist and King 810,  Zosia talks about migrating from musical theater to metal and the catharsis of her lyrics, along with some candid, behind-the-industry financial realities for any emerging band striving for bigger things.

At the beginning of 2020, technical death veterans Lorna Shore had a new vocalist, a new album and a new outlook. But beyond the damage brought by the pandemic, Lorna Shore parted with the replacement vocalist amid sexual abuse allegations against him. Founding guitarist Adam DiMicco went back to teaching guitar and battled depression. Behind yet another vocalist, Will Ramos, Lorna Shore recorded a new EP, “And I Return to Nothingness," helping to lift DiMicco out of his despair. In this episode, DiMicco talks about the classical influences on his playing and compositions, the challenges of the past year and plans for making a new full Lorna Shore record.

Concept albums are commonplace in metal, but what about concept bands? Drummer and songwriter Frankie Mish of the up-and-coming Michigan band Sleep Waker is today's guest on the rebirth of Metal Brainiac.Frankie was just 16 when he co-founded Sleep Waker with vocalist Hunter Courtright on the concept of music about sleep—or lack thereof—and all the psychological and fantastical roads where that leads.

Jesse Zuretti suffered such a deep and suffocating depression that it threatened his livelihood and his life. He channeled much of what he experienced into his guitar, and the music he created became “Moonsblood,” the new technical, melodic death album from the New Jersey outfit Binary Code. Hear Jesse talk in detail about pouring his pain into his music.

In 2001, the band Ill Nino released its debut album “Revolution”—and at the time, a revolution is exactly what it seemed like, an American band of Hispanics performing a melodic, Latin-inflected metal. Ill Nino bassist Lazaro Pina talks about reviving that album on the band's current US tour, along with the band's artistic evolution and current cultural relevance.

Kristof Bathory recently became an Ambassador with the Greater Church of Lucifer, so it would be easy to cast the music he creates as evangelistic evil. But in this conversation, Bathory describes his personal and creative turns as positive maturity and, today, he views his band, Dawn of Ashes, as working to lead listeners to self-empowerment.

Otep Shamaya is perhaps the only true protest artist in metal. On the heels of her seventh studio album, “Generation Doom,” Otep talks about her politics, her bouts with the music industry, the deep personal impact she’s had on her fans and the biases against women she sees and experiences within the metal.

Mallika Sundaramurthy, vocalist of Massachusetts technical death band Abnormality, talks art, politics and working like an athlete to develop her sub-guttural growl. The band has just released its second full-length album, "Mechanisms of Omniscience."

Nate Garnette and his bandmates in Skeletonwitch fired Nate's brother, vocalist Chance Garnette, after 11 years together. That was in April 2015, prompting a deep gut check within the band. In this interview, Nate and fellow guitarist Scott Hedrick talk about the emotional, psychological and artistic impacts of the split and where Skeletonwitch is today.

Chaney Crabb’s audition video for Veil of Maya didn’t land her the microphone in that band, but it did catch the attention of a lot of other musicians—including her bandmates in the new outfit Entheos. Chaney’s deep vocal growl and register have crushed any doubters who might believe her gender keeps her from anyone’s definition of heavy.

Over three decades of near misses and missed trends, New York band Prong has found new life with stellar back-to-back albums. Prong mastermind Tommy Victor talks about the band's past and present and how Glenn Danzig and Al Jourgensen rescued him at his darkest hour.

Marc Görtz, the guitarist, songwriter and mastermind of Caliban, orbits the creative process behind the German band's 10th album, "Gravity." The album hits stores March 25.

Robin Staps, guitarist and songwriter for the German band The Ocean, bristles at the description of his music as progressive. But there’s no denying the thoughtful, technical and conceptually rich music Staps creates. We talk with Robin about life and art in Berlin and how his academic background in geography plays into the oceanic themes of his music.

Holy Grail guitarist Eli Santana has a background in classical music and reggae and he’s even performed on a country music album. Still, as you'll hear in this interview, there’s no confusing where his heart resides. The progressive, melodic thrash band is touring to support its new album, "Times of Pride and Peril."

Singer Michael Ciccia initially wanted nothing to do with Canadian progressive outfit Mandroid Echostar. Now their chemistry has given birth to a rising metal upstart. Also, in this episode, learn about L.A. metal band Toothgrinder. Both bands have just turned out their first full-length albums.

Astrophysics, philosophy and religion aren’t everyday explorations in death metal. But as we find out in this fascinating conversation, German guitarist, vocalist and composer Steffen Kummerer is no ordinary death metal musician. We dive deep with Steffen about his band Obscura and their fourth and brand new album of heady death metal, called “Akroasis.”

Karl Sanders, founding guitarist/songwriter/vocal growl of Nile, talks about his continued lyrical explorations of Ancient Egypt, his draw to violence and why he spends so much time crafting complex stories when most of the lyrics are impossible to understand beneath the churn of death metal.

West German thrash mirrored what came out of America in the 1980s. The band Exumer was at the forefront, mimicking Slayer, Metallica and others. In this interview, vocalist Mem V. Stein talks about exhuming Exumer after its supposed death 25 years earlier and the worldview that colors the band's new slab of classic thrash, “The Raging Tides.”

Warbringer vocalist John Kevill expounds on the economic challenges in keeping his band together, makes a case for global awareness, gets critical of Axl Rose, Lars Ulrich and metalcore and calls out promoters and headlining bands who fleece newer bands and their fans.

At one time a progressive metal band, Intervals is now the solo operation of Toronto musician Aaron Marshall. In this exclusive conversation with Metal Brainiac host Matt Peiken, Marshall details why Intervals canned its vocalist and evolved into a solo identity during the creation of Intervals' new album, "The Shape of Colour."

We rewind cuts from our best interviews of 2015, including conversations with Marty Friedman, Alex Skolnick, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins and members of Queensryche, Armored Saint, Between the Buried and Me, Veil of Maya, The Agonist, Act of Defiance and Rivers of Nihil.

In our first shared episode, Bo Louther of Canadian metallers Odium talks about the impact of moving guitarist Andrew Fullerton behind the microphone. Myles Yang and Robert Edens of Native Construct talk about their path from small-town North Carolina to an opening slot on tour with Between the Buried and Me.

“Every Trick in the Book” is a concept album unlike anything else in metal—every song was inspired by a classic piece of literature. Ice Nine Kills vocalist Spencer Charnas dissects the album song by song.

Relatively unknown in the U.S., Fuck the Facts rank among Canada's most enduring and intriguing extreme metal artists. After many producing music through Relapse Records, Fuck the Facts were recently dropped by the label. Undaunted, the band from Ottawa, Ontario, has turned out its 10th studio album on its own, the brutal "Desire Will Rot." Melanie Mongeon and Marc Bourgon, the vocalists of Fuck the Facts, talk with Metal Brainiac about the band's do-it-yourself path since their exit from Relapse and the lyrical dance of French and English within their music. Fuck the Facts are beginning a 25-date U.S. tour on Nov. 19.

Hiran Deraniyagala, guitarist for the suburban Detroit thrash metallers Battlecross, talks about his band’s beginnings and brutal new album, "Rise to Power," and the cultural disconnects between metal and people of color.

First impressions don’t tell the whole story behind Chicago metalcore band Born of Osiris. In this interview, Ronnie Canizaro and Joe Buras reveal the varied influences and personal struggles feeding “Soul Sphere,” the band’s fourth, and navigating pressures from the band’s record label, Sumerian Records, to maintain their artistic vision.

Few progressive metal bands of the past decade have crushed it as consistently as Intronaut, and the larger metal world is taking notice. Their fifth disc, "The Direction of Last Things" (in stores Nov. 13), offers up technical precision, layered guitars, polyrhythms, dynamic sweeps and a foundation of heaviness. On the eve of upcoming tours supporting Mastodon and Between the Buried and Me, vocalist-guitarist Sacha Dunable talks about the band's history, the creative process behind Intronaut's new album and the quick growth of his own company, Dunable Guitars.

While bands such as Queensryche and Dream Theater have enjoyed more popular success, the New Jersey band Symphony X has been right behind them, helping to define progressive metal for more than 20 years. Guitarist Michael Romeo has been the heart of the band, both as the key songwriter and as a jaw-dropping soloist. In this interview, from the band's tour bus during a September 2015 stop in Cleveland, Romeo details the creative process behind the band's newest disc, "Underworld," and talks about the challenges of earning a living in the era of Spotify and pirated music.

The Seattle band Queensryche defined smart, progressive metal for a generation of fans during the 1980s and 90s. But after the band's main creative force left the band and music altogether, Queensryche foundered through a series of tepid albums, culminating in a long, contentious split with vocalist Geoff Tate. Behind new singer Todd LaTorre, Queensryche has found a creative and energetic rebirth. In this interview, recorded backstage during the band's Sept. 23 appearance in Cleveland, founding guitarist Michael Wilton reflects on the band's past, discusses the transition to making music and performing with LaTorre and the creative process behind Queensryche's inspired new album, "Condition Human."

All-instrumental prog-metal quartet Scale the Summit are releasing the least metal album of their career ("V" is due Sept. 18 on Prosthetic Records). Co-founding guitarist Travis Levrier talks about this, the band’s creative process and his musical relationship with the band’s co-founding guitarist, Chris Letchford.

Despite being widely hailed as one of the guitar gods of thrash metal, Alex Skolnick of Testament has never had an easy relationship to the culture of metal. In this exclusive interview, Skolnick talks about his love/hate relationship with performance, the life and limitations as a member of Testament and the creative process behind Metal Allegiance, his new supergroup side project with drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist Dave Ellefson.

Jake Dieffenbach was born with a hearing disability, and his hearing is only worsening with time. In this podcast, for the first time anywhere, the Rivers of Nihil vocalist reveals and details his disability and its impact on both his work at the microphone and in his life, at large.

After four albums and many world tours as the drummer of Megadeth, Shawn Drover left the band and, soon after, guitarist Chris Broderick followed him. The two have formed a new thrash outfit called Act of Defiance, bringing on bassist Matt Bachand (Shadows Fall/Times Of Grace) and vocalist Henry Derek (Scar The Martyr). With the release of the band's aggressive debut, "Birth and the Burial," Drover spoke at length with Metal Brainiac about leaving one of the world's most established metal bands to build something from scratch, give himself a consistent outlet for his songwriting and the challenges for new acts in selling albums in the digital era.

Kobra Paige talks about her classical vocal training, growing up metal in Calgary, Canada; the importance of KISS' Gene Simmons to her ascending star and the story behind her adopted name of Kobra. Kobra and the Lotus are releasing "Words of the Prophets," a new EP of songs made famous by other Canadian rockers.

Three years after breaking the concept album barrier with “The Parallax,” the North Carolina prog-metal band Between the Buried and Me are back with another concept album, “Coma Ecliptic.” Tommy Rogers, the band's founding vocalist and keyboardist, unpacks everything about creating the new record and the simple approaches the band takes to its complex compositions.

When the singer of Staind decided to take a turn at country music, the band's guitarist, Mike Mushok, kept his creativity and career alive by pairing with former Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier to form the heart of a new supergroup, Saint Asonia. Mushok talks about the leap on the heels of the band's self-titled debut album.

Marty Friedman talks about his exit from Megadeth at the turn of the 21st Century, what it would take for him to reunite with the band and his surprising path to a life, career and stardom in Japan.

We talk with John Bush, one of the great voices of metal, about his early years and eventual return to Armored Saint, his artistic life in between Anthrax and about the later-life balance of a music career with responsibilities at home. Armored Saint, contemporaries of Metallica and Slayer in the early 1980s, recently released its first album in five years, "Win Hands Down."

Electronicore is among scores of heavy metal subgenres, and the New Jersey outfit Palisades is one of that styles rising stars. Vocalist Louis Miceli talks about the band's latest record, "Mind Games," the blending of disparate musical influences and the importance of family support in his quest to make a life in music.

Veil of Maya's new vocalist, Lukas Magyar, talks in depth about his audition and jumping right into the thick of the creative process for the band's fresh platter of heaviness, "Matriarch."

Five years ago, at the apex of their career, Christian metalcore band Haste the Day called it quits so members could stay close to home and focus on their family lives. But now they’re back with a new album, "Coward." Here, founding bassist Mike Murphy talks about what led to stopping and then restarting Haste the Day and how band members live their Christianity through the crunch of metal.

Every metal fan knows the name Mike Portnoy—legendary founding drummer of Dream Theater and Modern Drummer Magazine Hall of Famer. Following in his double-kick steps is his 16-year-old son, Max Portnoy, who, along with three other teen friends from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley are the progressive metal band Next to None. Mike produced the band's debut album, "A Light in the Dark," and we talk with father and son about the disc and the musicianship behind it.

Ryan Wenzel of Tempel discusses the circumstances of evolving from a five-piece band with a vocalist into an all-instrumental duo. Tempel, from Phoenix, is about to release its second album of heavy, moody minimalism, "The Moon Lit Our Path" (Prosthetic Records).

More than 30 years ago, Metal Blade Records was among the best known independent labels focusing on metal. Label founder Brian Slagel built an early roster that included Slayer and King Diamond, and an under-the-radar San Jose, Calif., band called Warlord. Cast from the mold of Iron Maiden, Warlord won a hungry fanbase in Europe, but never found mainstream attention in the United States. In this episode, Warlord two co-founders, guitarist Bill Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder, discuss their divergent life paths and shared musical vision that has led them to continue producing and performing Warlord music long after metallic trends have passed them by.

The New Hampshire quartet Vattnet Viskar symbolizes a new generation of black metal artists—as apt to create music referencing emo and art rock as they are the traditional trappings of black metal. On the eve of releasing the band's second album, "Settler," founding vocalist/guitarist Nick Thornbury talks with Metal Brainiac host Matt Peiken about embracing and breaking beyond the standards of black metal.

While other musicians from northwest Washington have achieved far more fame, few, if any, can match the stamina and consistency of Buzz Osborne. His band, The Melvins, has recorded and toured for more than 30 years. In this interview, Osborne both embraces and eschews the constructs of metal, discusses his relationship with grunge and delivers his keys for a lasting career.

Guitarist Misha Mansoor and vocalist Spencer Sotelo of the prog/industrial metal band Periphery talk with Metal Brainiac host Matt Peiken about the making of the conceptual double-album "Juggernaut."

The "Metal Brainiac" podcast debuts with an interview featuring guitarist Danny Marino of the Montreal prog metal band The Agonist. Here, he discusses losing the band's founding vocalist to Arch Enemy, finding her replacement through YouTube and the creative heights of the band's new album, "Eye of Providence."