Hear why Michel loves “War and Pain” and he even sets Wikipedia straight on some facts. Willie also inquires about the Montréal metal scene, thoughts on Pink Floyd, fond memories of Iron Maiden, the ‘family’ feel of Voivod and their near three-decade evolution, with insight into the future of this incomparable band. And for the first time, Away gets asked to pick a favorite song to close out the talk!

This music is lethal, infectious as myeloma, and already has a reserved slot on my Best of 2011 list. If your knowledge was spotty like mine, listen to their origins with previous band Usurper, and details on their recording style with producer Sanford Parker. Hear complete sneak previews of “March of the Dead” from their eponymous debut (which continues behind our conversation) and “Lonely Death” to conclude.

Wolves in the Throne Room are first-rate third-wave black metal. Just as Scandinavia was itself intrinsic to the genre’s original sounds, the Pacific Northwest U.S. gives spirit to these American luminaries.

We open with a greeting and a teaser, as “Dødedansen” erupts into your ears. After a minute or two of fierce folk metal, MetalMattLongo and Cris cross paths (see what I did theeeeeehhh… nevermind). Hear about the incredible departure of all band members, their triumphant reformation, and their heaviest, best-crafted album to date, ‘Maledictus Eris’. Also, Cris might be a supervillain (but denies it… like a supervillain totally would).

It had been well over a year since I spoke with a band birthed from the ’90s New England metal scene. It was a pleasure to welcome Trevor Phipps, the vocalist of Unearth, who some—like me, for example—argue is the heaviest among the “Big 4 of Massachusetts Metalcore”.

I am proud to introduce the first woman interviewed for Mind over Metal: the inimitable Veronica Freeman of Benedictum! The latest monster from the trad metal upstarts is “Dominion”—their third full-length overall and first for Frontiers Records. We talk about the label switch, females in heavy music, and uprooting from San Diego to Phoenix with her husband and bandmate for their other love: motorcycles.

The second interview conducted on 2011May20 (USX’s Nate Hall was first)—T-Roy from SOURVEIN. He is the last original member of the long-running North Carolina sludge merchants, who unleash “Black Fang”—their third full-length—in June 2011.

Some seven months after we spoke about “Run Thick in the Night” (and alluded to this album I’m about to speak of), Nate Hall and I catch up on “The Valley Path”—the 39-minute, single track opus by USX.

Who—or what—is Gigan? Turns out they have less to do with kaiju (though they’re still fans) and more to do with transcendental existence. Go figure.

The included list of bands are an alphabetical order by band name rather than order of appearance, either on the live show or on my list posted here on MindOverMetal.org… guess you’ll need to listen and/or read up to find out!