Litmus – “Aurora” released August 18, 2009 on Rise Above Records It’s way out retro 1970s space jam rock vibrations, dude! Imagine when Pink Floyd still had ‘The’ in their name, and psychedelic freakers abounded through England, inventing the rave-up and taking far too many drugs. Litmus channels this same energy, with the feel of both the bands to which Lemmy Kilmister is most closely associated: Hawkwind and Motörhead. The keyboard is such an MVP in terms of continuity, its omnipresent undercurrent leading the listener past pulsars and planets. Repetition, especially with vocals, adds an entrancing layer across their [...read more]

Doro – “Fear No Evil” released February 3, 2009 on AFM Records Though the German siren has been proudly belting out power metal for over a quarter century now (as evidenced in the track “25 Years”), her voice has aged well. You can hear how she is adept at both gritty battle calls (the lead track, which brings to mind her original band, Warlock), and tender croons (5, which is also sung in her native tongue). The album fails to succeed as a whole because she is all you hear half the time, as her band is buried in [...read more]

Yep, that’s it up there. I love doing this so much, but there are costs involved.  Basically, this is a solo project that only recently started to grow outside of me, involving others in creating this metal portal. You’ve heard the spiel: it’s for time, energy, resources, travel, server costs, blah blah blah. So that’s not a spam thing, the money goes directly towards MIND OVER METAL … donate if you like. Hails!

Gotta love those living legends! We cover a lot of ground—from his new album “Punctuated Equilibrium” (his first solo effort) and stories behind his songs, to his attitude toward drugs and past experiences … this will be 15 minutes of your time well spent!

This is Matt Longo with Mind Over Metal interviewing Warrel Dane. Thank you for joining me today, Warrel … I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. You’ve got a long, storied career spanning well over two decades: from the early stuff with SERPENT’S KNIGHT, to SANCTUARY, and now NEVERMORE … why was this the right time for a solo project? Cuz I hooked up with the right people at the right time. I always wanted to do stuff that was more Rock or… whatever it is, and Pete [Wichers] was the right person to do it with. [...read more]

This is Matt Longo with Mind Over Metal and I’m happy to be talking today with Brian Patton, guitarist for SOILENT GREEN. Thanks for joining us today, Brian … I really appreciate it. Oh, no problem, man … the pleasure’s all mine. Alright, so I wanna start off by saying that I’ve been loving you guys ever since “Confrontation” and you’ve become known for genre-defying, gear-shifting music, but always with an organic flow that keeps it from sounding like “Metal cobbler” … what is your songwriting process like? That’s great: “Metal cobbler” [laughs] … we’ve got all very eclectic [...read more]