Pizza Pie Do or Die with Huelga's Michael Fonseca

Huelga and Fonseca

So, the Devil went down to Texas right?

Oh wait, that was Georgia and it was country music written by someone who politicizes tragedy. But for all the heat we in the world of metal take, you don't hear songs about the Devil went up to Scandinavia do you?

Today once again, we hear from Texas based single manned, multi insturmentalist, Michael Fonseca. 

As near as I can tell, he plays all of the instruments in the Texas based instrumental, progressive metal band Huelga.

And I'm not sure if we're supposed to pronounce that H or not...so if anyone could help me here.  There's something deliciously pretentious about having a solo act, but then giving it a band name.

While we're on the topic, check out their latest album and buy it on BANDCAMP. You'll be glad you did.

So let's talk pizza.

Vinyloscopy With Pastrami of KOSM

KOSM

Once more into the breach we'll go with KOSM.

What more can I tell you that you don't already know?

Well, let's keep it simple.  Our friends are from Canadian Florida. That's right, pals, they're from the greatest city in the world to have not won a Stanley Cup in the NHL: Vancouver, British Columbia.

Now that YOUR St. Louis Blues have joined the club, we can poke fun...so LOOK OUT WINNIPEG!

Oh, I should've warned you in the first round, huh? It's uncertain if KOSM themselves are hockey fans and stereotyping is now appropriate at Glacially Musical, but Canadians LOVE hockey like Germans LOVE David Hasselhoff...so I'm going to assume.

Anyway, this hasn't been about KOSM really, but if you haven't yet, head over to their BANDCAMP page and check out their latest album, Cosmonaut. You can get that for $10 Canadian which is only $7.50 USD.

Now let's talk about records.

Classic Spins with Runescarred's Tim Driscoll

Runescarred

Not long ago there was a band called Dead Earth Politics.

Remember them? Well, they have gone up in flames, or is it down in flames? But rising from the ashes of that band is Runescarred.

So, all the progressive metal and politics you can handle is back in business. Right now, it's only logical that you're hoping you could be hearing some of their amazing tracks where the groove on the progressive tip.

Check out their BANDCAMP page to hear the two singles they've launched thus far. For now though, let's get in with Tim Driscoll's classic spins.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. 

What's your favorite one and why?

Oh man! Being an unapologetic prog rock and metal geek, I have quite a few concept records that rank highly for me, although I would have to hand the championship belt to "Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory" by Dream Theater. 

Beer Thirty With Erik Leonhard of KOSM

KOSM

Again, because I'm cold it's time to check out another warmer weather band. 

So allow me to introduce you to Vancouver's own: KOSM.

Here's a band that loves HP Lovecraft. They just released a concept record based on Lovecraft's stories.

Personally, I haven't read any of the man's work, but his influence in pop culture and metal cannot be denied.

If you're into metal, beer, and Chutulu, READ ON! But, check out COSMONAUT while you're doing that.

1. My personal favorite beer style is the might Double India Pale Ale. The best DIPA in the world is STLIPA by Urban Chestnut. 

Tell me about your favorite style.

I like IPAs quite a bit. I think I lot of people dismiss them immediately because of the bitter taste, but there’s nothing quite as refreshing as an ice cold IPA on a hot day. 

Really though, my favourite style of beer is probably German Wheat Beer. I specify German mostly just because of their purity laws. 

I find that a lot of producers of wheat beer get really carried away with adding a ton of fruit flavours. There’s nothing really wrong with this, but in my opinion you can’t beat a plain wheat beer. 

My favourite is Franziskaner, which is tragically not available in B.C., Canada, where I live. 

LP Review: "Album IV: A Brave New World" by Ivan Tsanov

Album IV: A Brave New World

There's no other Bulgarian musicians that immediately spring to my mind.

Ivan Tsanov, for me, is now the face of all Bulgarian Music. There's no other way to think of that if you're a Bulgarian musician, is that this is horribly unfair.

This is probably like Steve Vai being the face of all American musicians. How many other people can live up to that?

Tsanov is a classically trained, instrumental guitarist, or he plays on one records anway.

This album here...it's a bit unique to my ears. The style isn't like Satch or Vai, but even though it's classically inspired, it doesn't strike me of Yngwie Malmsteen either.

There's probably a spot between two worlds where there's a bit of a collision between Malmsteen and Vai. If so, that's where Ivan Tsanov is plying his trade.

RELEASE 1/18/19 ORDER 

Beer Thirty with Greyhawk's Darin Wall

Greyhawk

Greyhawk is a band that's got a peculiar genesis.

There is this neo-classical shredder by the name of Jesse Berlin form New York. He apparently made contact with a man from the far northern reaches of Canada by  the name of Darin Wall.

Speculation is probably a bad thing, but as Wall's city and province of origin seem to be left off of the historical record, the only logical assumption is that he lived north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

I cannot be convinced otherwise.

In order for this musical union to be considered legal, and again, this is all assumption on my part, the pair fled to the Pacific Northwest. Seattle apparently has found this to be well and good. The pair then started setting the world aflame with the release of their debut EP, Ride Out.

Fans of Power Metal, seriously get in on this one. Imagine a if Accept had King Diamond as their lead singer...and you're on the right track.

Naturally, it's time to talk about beer.

Bookin' It with KOSM's Erik Leonhard

KOSM

In light of recent metal happenings, you know which ones...the ones...in Florida...that if you read the song titles...you'd know they were going to happen...

It's high time we point out once again that most metal folks are just normal people who really love heavy fucking metal.

We're well adjusted and we bang our heads and sometimes run into the walls because we were dodging the cat.

So, let's check out Progressive Metal band, KOSM. Erik Leonhard was good enough to take time away from publicizing their latest record, Cosmonaut, to talk to us about the printed word.

Just in case you've all forgotten, the pen is super metal, because it's mightier than the sword. Take that, Amon Amarth!

1. I try to read at least two books per month, and mostly fail, what's your goal and reality?

I wouldn’t say I have a monthly goal, although I try to read as much as possible. Some months I end up flying through a couple books easy. 

LP Review: "Bones In The Fire" by Thought Eater

Bones In The Fire

Do you ever have the problem of not knowing where to start?

It's kind of like that feeling I have now. In my early 40's, I'm trying to get more active.

After living the life I have, now it's about finding a way to improve the quality of my life without causing serious harm to my already harmed knees.

So, that's kind of where I'm at with my review of Thought Eater's full length debut. (They did a split with Iron Jawed Guru a couple of years go as well.)

Nothing of what I've said up there, to me, is a statement on Thought Eater's record, but it's harder to take my standard approach with this album than with others. Listening to Bones In The Fire is different than most other instrumental albums out there.

LP Review: "Scale and Probability" by Monsterworks

Scale and Probability

When you're a younger person, four and five band concerts are amazing, but not as amazing as the festival.

In my salad days, I must have seen about fifteen touring festivals in all, Lollapalooza, Ozzfest, all of them when they came through town.

Those shows give you some great value for your money, at least they did back when tickets were $30...and then there's all these different bands with different sounds and their own unique perspectives.

There are still all sorts of these touring festivals, radio station festivals and the like.

Right now, Slayer is doing their final victory lap with Testament, Lamb of God, Anthrax, and Napalm Death. Now how is that for a lineup with different views and the like?

LP Review: "Cosmic Progression: An Agonizing Journey Through Oddities of Space" by Deconstructing Sequence

Cosmic Progression: An Agonizing Journey Through Oddities of Space

To be perfectly honest, this particular review was a little hard to get started.

Well, perhaps by now, you've picked on the style of my reviews?

An album transports me somewhere in my personal history, a Sam Beckett styled Quantum Leap, if you will.

Then nerdy references are made, and we move forward from there.

So, this album, takes me back to this article I read (seriously a legitimate article without pictures) about pornography. Now, we're assuming no one reading this has any experience, so there were two folks interviewed, neither of which were performers....

LP Review: "Fragments of a Ruined Mind" by TERRA INCΩGNITA

Fragments of a Ruined Mind

Last night, after leaving the big beer store, I sent off a picture of what I'd purchased.

It was a 12 pack of Schlafly Pale Ale which happens to be one of my best friend's favorite beers.

A little picture was snapped and sent off with the text, when you just want to see your best friend....

Now, it's not like it's been weeks, but that's a funny text...right? There are times when you just haven't somebody for a time and then when you do....it's time to relish everything there was in the past and there will be in the future.

With that being said, let's give a big, warm hug to TERRA INCΩGNITA. It's been only about a minute since they wowed us with Sign With Blood and it's awesome to see them again!

LP Review: "Zaul Mos" by Syn Ze Sase Tri

Zaul Mos

These days, my life is a primarily urban existence. My home is in the City of St. Louis. My job is in the suburbs, but not in the country.

That's my personal preference as an aging human in the United States. Having a better train system would certainly enhance the experience, but let's not get too greedy right?

My youngest days were spent very differently though. The family is now scouting out Missouri's State Parks and the little short girl who lives in my house is shocked to find out how much of my time was spent in the woods or on lakes.

When I was coming up, my house in Ballwin was surrounded by dense forests that stretched for miles. My cousins and I could actually walk to each others houses via the trails in the woods. The creek, the paths, the snakes...they all left indelible marks on me.

EP Review: "Cerebra" by Project Renegade

Cerebra

The world is very skewed again.

When this happens it's best to attempt to find something to distract oneself from the turmoil surrounding us.

There's a constant onslaught of absolute insanity happening in the United States.

It's important that we not bury our heads, but find time in order to stick our heads in the sand, at least for a short while.

As the charismatic, iconic, and beautiful man, Randal Graves put it, down time is very important to me.

Without that downtime, we know what Graves was going to do with the deep fryer. It's best that he and Dante Hickes re-opened the Quick Stop if you think about it.

LP Review: Laser Flames On The Great Big News's Self Titled

Laser Flames On The Great Big News

One of the things a band can do in order to improve their durability is adding more than one vocalist.

Granted if you're Led Zeppelin, don't bother Robert Plant has that all sewn up. Other bands....like Kiss though.... their music isn't as intricate as that of say a Led Zeppelin or Metallica.

So, by starting off with three vocalists and then adding another, it kept their sound fresh and interesting.

Kiss stole borrowed that idea from The Beatles. At the time they started, it was a similar thing. The music wasn't much more than three chord rock.

In the end, there have been eight different people to sing on Kiss tunes. Only Mark St. John and Vinnie Vincent have not sung on a Kiss song. Crazy.

What if though, a band had two vocalists and didn't need them in order to freshen up each song?

Vinyl Review: "Locust Lunatic Asylum" by Sober Truth

There was an interview with Kim Thayil about 20 years ago when Soundgarden was riding the wave of their critically acclaimed albums in the late 90's.

He talked about how much he hated heavy metal because he thought it was silly. Those acts weren't writing songs about real life, but Dungeons & Dragons.

Well, no disrespect to the fine work of Gary Gygax, TSR, and Ronnie James Dio, that was such a ridiculous statement that had me screaming in my head about how wrong he was.

The stereotype that metal is dumb and, again no disrespect to Gygax and Co, cannot cope with the real world or see anything more than childish fantasies is something that has long since grated on most of us in the metal community.

DLP Review: "Erosion" by Cydemind

Erosion

There are times when your buddy here feels like Abraham Simpson yelling at the world and demanding that the United States removes three states.

He also says he'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before he recognizes Missour-AH, but as we're in Missouri, it's probably something different right?

My personal windmill is the hyper factioning of all the metal sub-genres. Certainly there are different kinds of metal and a factioning isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It's the overuse of these ideas that gets on my nerves. In the now (seemingly) distant past, friends spoke of this new thing called Folk Metal. There was no way it would ever make it into my music library. My mind was closed at the time. What made that particular type of metal so interesting was the inclusion of new instruments into the fold.

LP Review: "Alternatum" by Monsterworks

Alternatum

Whenever you feel sad, just go to the record store and visit with your friends.

Whatever you may feel about Cameron Crowe, that man can really write a line when he's ready.

Well, I wouldn't say that Monsterworks are my friends per se, but this is their seventh time being written about in this little website here.

They are a band that 25 years ago would have been touring with Metallica and possibly ruling the world by now.

None of that changes the fact that even after THIRTEEN studio albums, they have the gall, the stones, and the inspiration to release number FOURTEEN.

EP Review: "Chapter 1: Hysterics" by Gus McArthur

Chapter 1: Hysterics

Recently we traveled to Joliet, IL from our home in St. Louis, MO.

Sadly, my attempt to ride the train was thwarted. There was a possibility of not being able to arrive on time, but it all basically worked out.

Which left us with the tried and true: ROAD TRIP!

Before leaving, combos and sodas were acquired, because those are the essential foods for such a journey.

As we moved along Interstate 55, a road coma began to take over me, thankfully, as I sat in the passenger seat.

Then all of a sudden, a semi truck started to merge into our lane and we were then nearly rear ended by an SUV behind us who didn't see the semi. The coma was gone.

Interview: Sascha Latman of Winterhorde

On May 3, 2016, Glacially Musical reviewed the new Winterhorde album "Maestro", which is an absolute masterpiece of symphonic black metal.  It was a privelege to be able to follow up the review with an interview of Winterhorde's bassist, composer and lyricist Sascha Latman.

Danny Nichols of Glacially Musical: I think the Israeli metal scene is much more extensive and has produced so many more great metal bands than many American metal fans realize.

How has forming in Israel contributed to the sound of Winterhorde?

Sasha Latman of Winterhorde:  Hello Danny! Actually forming in Israel didn’t contribute that much to our sound, because most of us are immigrants from post-Soviet republics. 

We carry our culture and musical influences from the areas of our origins. Be it Ukraine or Belarus, the Soviet musical roots are still deep within us. 

We had always a different sounding from the other  Israeli metal bands. Moreover, we were inspired mostly by European metal scene, which is recognized with its melodic approach.  

LP Review: "Biolith" by Third Ion

Biolith

In the history of music there have been about one quintillion super groups, and most of them kind of suck.

Even Velvet Revolver kind of sucked, apart from some beautiful tracks here and there.

When bands are peopled with members of other bands, what makes this transition so hard?

Well, personally speaking, it could be attributed to stars of bands going into other bands and not being able to make their mark. Again, Velvet Revolver comes to mind. Slash didn't make his mark as Slash on those records.

Well certainly there  has to be a panacea for this poison. Groups like Cream have shown us the way. When several members of bands get together, each player has to be able to make their statement in the songs.