“We are already on a suicidal path to destruction. How can a species survive when we are destroying our environment and our livelihood base? We became too complex and simply cannot organize ourselves to stop this madness. Sometimes I try to have a more optimistic view when I think about our achievements which is remarkable but then comes that dark cloud… we are not using technology to serve us, we serve technology and we are their product. It should be exactly the opposite! Remember that song from Vicious Rumours «Digital Dictator»? There is no sense of community when you run a giant corporation that exists to make money out of that same community. We are dehumanizing ourselves already and when artificial intelligence comes we will become completely irrelevant”. How about this for an opening statement? This is not a prophecy. It is merely the only logical conclusion to a thorough observance of the world around us and society in general. Meet Zellpike, guitar-player and mentor of Hellspike – also featuring Rick Thor (Filii Nigrantium Infernalium, Perpetratör, Els Focs Negres – you name it) on vocals and bass and the aptly named Skullthrasher (that used to play in Decayed a long time ago) bashing the drums – the new rising stars of Speed/Heavy Metal (coming from Portugal – of all places), whose juicy debut «Lords of War» hammers its rusty nails right into mankind’s rotten heart.
It’s important to remember that in a time of pre-hibernation, Zellpike was known as Zé Rockhard and was busy with the Speedsters Inquisitor, the Epic Metallers Ravensire and the Heavy Metal executioners Leather Synn. This new band was born after a far too early (but fortunately not too long) retirement and marks a reunion of sorts of Rick and Zellpike after they’ve worked together in Ravensire for a couple of years. Hellspike has been brewing in the Steel cauldron for some time already. “In 2017 I started working hard again approximately one year after my social distancing from Heavy Metal. The sound of Hellspike is something me and Rick always dreamt to play since our early days. Rick was one of the very few to say great things about Running Wild’s «Branded and Exiled». That was something… for me it was quite impressive to know someone who admired a record so important to me. It’s a mixed feeling of comradery and mutual identification that praises allegiance to a band that in a certain way is our band! It’s a feeling that only Heavy Metal can bring. The idea of having such a project only materialized in 2016 after a phone call with him I realized that it was the right time to start a band like this with Rick”.
From being involved in 3 different bands, Zellpike suddenly was left with none and, incidentally, it was early in that same year of 2016 that he was (in)formally announcing his premature retirement plans from music altogether – at least as a performer. I always assumed that was a joke, especially because he always came forward as a very motivated individual, fully devoted to the Heavy Metal cause. But I guess it is inevitable that life somehow ends up getting in the way and the solid scene that was formed a couple of years ago was starting to show some significant cracks. “When I left Ravensire I didn't play guitar for 6 months. I was slightly saturated with the whole scene. All those years playing in bands and being deeply involved in music were very intense and in 2016 I decided that I needed to distance myself a little bit from the big city nights, enjoy more time alone and remember the good times. It's like music, it needs to breathe and evolve [laughs]. In 2016 life got also a bit in the way and I spent a lot of my time in the south enjoying the warmth of the desert plains with some close friends (Fred from Inquisitor included)”.
For those of you unfamiliar with the (un)official story of the portuguese underground, there was a period that started about 12 years ago that marked a firm resurgence of Heavy Metal in Portugal with a group of likeminded individuals, spearheaded by the one and only Francisco from «A Forja» (both the forum, the label and his totally amateur booking agency) that led to the appearance of a lot of new bands and legendary Heavy Metal shows like we have never seen before. If we peel out all that shallow national pride that tells us every single day how portuguese bands are just as good – if not better – than the foreign ones (something that is valid for any other country in the world – there is nothing exceptional about portuguese exceptionalism), we realize there is not much reasons for smugly flag-waving in terms of real Heavy Metal. I am curious as to what our guest thinks about that fertile phase, what came afterwards and now, specifically, in terms of how Heavy Metal is regarded and what scene is left, if any at all. “Francisco from «A Forja» played a tremendous role in the resurgence of Heavy Metal with his label, forum and booking agency. I remember that his amateur non-profit approach and devotion was being criticized by people who could not compete in sales because of his low prices. They shouldn’t be too concerned because guys like Francisco move in a completely different underground world. It’s such deep underground realm where money is supposed to only cover for the costs (sometimes you can store some for the next adventure) and the concerts are always full because it’s always a big event and the bands/fans are more committed to Heavy Metal. All in the family”.
From being involved in 3 different bands, Zellpike suddenly was left with none and, incidentally, it was early in that same year of 2016 that he was (in)formally announcing his premature retirement plans from music altogether – at least as a performer. I always assumed that was a joke, especially because he always came forward as a very motivated individual, fully devoted to the Heavy Metal cause. But I guess it is inevitable that life somehow ends up getting in the way and the solid scene that was formed a couple of years ago was starting to show some significant cracks. “When I left Ravensire I didn't play guitar for 6 months. I was slightly saturated with the whole scene. All those years playing in bands and being deeply involved in music were very intense and in 2016 I decided that I needed to distance myself a little bit from the big city nights, enjoy more time alone and remember the good times. It's like music, it needs to breathe and evolve [laughs]. In 2016 life got also a bit in the way and I spent a lot of my time in the south enjoying the warmth of the desert plains with some close friends (Fred from Inquisitor included)”.
For those of you unfamiliar with the (un)official story of the portuguese underground, there was a period that started about 12 years ago that marked a firm resurgence of Heavy Metal in Portugal with a group of likeminded individuals, spearheaded by the one and only Francisco from «A Forja» (both the forum, the label and his totally amateur booking agency) that led to the appearance of a lot of new bands and legendary Heavy Metal shows like we have never seen before. If we peel out all that shallow national pride that tells us every single day how portuguese bands are just as good – if not better – than the foreign ones (something that is valid for any other country in the world – there is nothing exceptional about portuguese exceptionalism), we realize there is not much reasons for smugly flag-waving in terms of real Heavy Metal. I am curious as to what our guest thinks about that fertile phase, what came afterwards and now, specifically, in terms of how Heavy Metal is regarded and what scene is left, if any at all. “Francisco from «A Forja» played a tremendous role in the resurgence of Heavy Metal with his label, forum and booking agency. I remember that his amateur non-profit approach and devotion was being criticized by people who could not compete in sales because of his low prices. They shouldn’t be too concerned because guys like Francisco move in a completely different underground world. It’s such deep underground realm where money is supposed to only cover for the costs (sometimes you can store some for the next adventure) and the concerts are always full because it’s always a big event and the bands/fans are more committed to Heavy Metal. All in the family”.
Commitment is a key word along this article and it should definitely be a constant facet in life in general and Heavy Metal, in particular. More than just doing something because it sounds cool, this is the only way to accomplish something meaningful. “I believe the 2008/2009 traditional Metal resurgence wave started to fade out in 2014 with some saturation of bands being brought almost every month from more professional agencies, many bands sounding the same like the swedish ones playing in RCA and República da Música [the two most popular venues in Lisbon] and also this social media thing and streaming who brought some trivialization of the Metal movement to the people. Now this pandemic crisis which might turn to an economic one (hope not), leaves more room to the digitalization of albums, livelihoods and new approaches to concerts which for me all sound very odd and unreal. Also less money for everyone involved, unfortunately”.
Tearing down the walls and eviscerating all borders let’s move on into the world. In the last decades there is been some sort of revival in what people like to call the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, mostly on the backs of bands like Enforcer and the like. “I follow some new bands that still carry the traditional Heavy Metal spirit. I love Ranger from Finland! I was particularly impressed with Metalhead from Germany (a mix of Kind Diamond and Priest) and also from Germany Nocturnal and Cruel Force. Skull Fist (Can) have been very consistent and Ram are getting better and better for me. Sign of The Jackal, Iron Kobra and the first record from Stallion. Enforcer was good but last album they’ve changed a lot. Most of these bands had tremendous first releases but there is a huge proliferation of new bands now and only the best will endure the times. There are some new bands that play very good but after hearing them I cannot remember almost anything and this lack of memorability is getting very common these days, unfortunately. I think the reason for that is because sometimes new bands think they can throw some clichés and popular 80s features and tics to the cauldron, mix it all together and voila, it’s done. That’s not the way to go”.
The way to go is to work on the songs for as long as it is needed. The old adage that teaches that anything creative is only done when it’s done and it goes completely against this new age method that tries to convince us to believe the only thing that matters is how fast we get there, regardless of nitpick irrelevant things like quality and character. Zellpike lifts the veil on his songwriting routine. “I’ve been working on these songs since the end of 2016. First I begin with a riff or an idea that evolves into more riffs or sometimes I add to that sequence isolated riffs composed previously that go well with that idea. The solos come in the end and that’s what takes more time to compose. I feel that the solos in Heavy Metal for me are a key element to the song because it was probably what brought me to this music genre. Like Glenn Tipton once said “a solo gives the song personality”. I’m always learning new solos from my favorite bands and usually I get inspired and translate some melodies, phrases or licks to the new solo I’m creating. I have to revisit them all the time and try to play them every day, occasionally a new idea comes to mind. The songs take many weeks before they are ready to go. First there’s a skeleton structure, then it has to be “Hellspike-ized” with more passages, arrangements and eventually new rhythms that fit the song well. After all this is completed, I think about a lyrical concept for the song and discuss it with Rick. Some songs are really asking for some kind of content, it all makes Rick more motivated to sing what the riff song is suggesting. This is not always like that but in general that’s how it works. I sometimes write lyrics for some of the choruses and their respective melodies”.
A method that has proved to be successful as it is pretty clear on the «Lords of War» album. An album that introduces Zellpike as a full on songwriter for the first time. Though he has written some stuff, he was not the main songwriter both in Ravensire and Inquisitor, so it is no surprise Hellspike is the band he always wanted to create. “Hellspike is the culmination of my experience in the Heavy Metal scene this last decade. This kind of sound is a reflection of the bands that inspired me to play and the triumvirate I had played with. It is also undeniably tied with the experience I had in the national scene, people, concerts I attended, etc… I never thought that after the tremendous Desaster concert (love saying it this way) at Extreme Metal Attack in 2010 I would become a great fan of Tann era Decayed. Inquisitor played a major role obviously. The solos are what you get after years of british Judas, Leppard Steel and good learning from Nuno in Ravensire. Hellspike is also linked to the whole international saturated scene that made me feel also that 2016 was the right time for me to bring something more authentic and original. Hellspike reveals in many ways what my life in Heavy Metal has been all about”.
It is said we are the result of our former experiences, our present state is shaped by our past adventures and Hellspike is no different. The lessons learnt from this trinity of bands (Inquisitor, Ravensire & Leather Synn), in terms of being in a band with different people and dealing with labels, promoters and other bands is something that can never be denied. “I learned immensely. Hellspike is like the result of this decade of learning. Inquisitor – the more you adapt to the others, the better it goes. When the game is over you collect what you’ve got. The perfect band at the right time. Ravensire – learn and improve. Working class Heavy Metal always prevails. Leather Synn – Rock n’ Roll is a way of life, however music should always come first”.
Let us delve deeper into this and figure out what exactly led to Hellspike as a Heavy Speed powerhouse. Knowing his inclination towards Hard Rock (Zellpike always proudly proclaimed his love for Def Leppard), I have always wondered why he decided to choose a thrashy Speed Metal band like Inquisitor in 2009 to fulfill his Heavy Metal dreams. “Inquisitor was an immense upgrade in my guitar skills. I learned from Tiago how to play Metal for the first time with an electric guitar. Going from Hard ‘n Heavy to Speed Metal was easy. Look at what both Accept, Running Wild and Warlock were doing in the 80s. They mixed Heavy Metal with a Hard Rockin’ edge adding double bass drums, gruffy voices, palm mutes and Speed/Power many times. I think Britain was the holy grail for Heavy Metal from 1978 until 1982, then the germans came and made Heavy Metal take off like no other country did. The scene they had in the 80s and still have, shows that Heavy Metal speaks for their culture and lifestyle, it’s raw, honest and very working class. Also worth mentioning that it’s an anglo-saxon phenomenon therefore it fits the germans very well who descend from the Saxons and they certainly know how to make it heavier just like Priest did when continuing the legacy of Black Sabbath. In 2009, when I joined inquisitor I was already listening to a lot of Destruction, Sodom, Kreator (the thrashmanias concerts in 2006 onwards were a gift from Hell [iconic bands such as Destruction, Sodom, Onslaught, Witchburner, Desaster and Nocturnal]) and I had already realized that this was the band where I could play real Metal with like minded people. Let’s also not forget that Speed Metal is Heavy Metal but played fast”.
Of course looking at the history of Hard Rock in Portugal it’s not hard to understand that it must be a nightmare to find out kindred minds to embark in that kind of adventure. That cannot be taken out of the whole picture as well. “I was also aware that almost no one in the Metal scene liked 80s Hard Rock. I was fine with that, just wanted to play traditional Metal. However there’s a distinction here worth telling between Glam Metal like Poison, Tesla, Mötley Crüe that puts girls ahead of music in my opinion and Dokken, Ratt, Def Leppard (first 3 albums) or Michael Schenker Group that are much more guitar driven with lots of Heavy Metal elements and NWOBHM stuff in there. The same mistake people in Portugal usually commit is putting all these bands in the same basket just because they had lots of hair and dressed cheesy. It simply reveals ignorance and as a result, all these bands are branded as posers. Things are not that simple and if people in Portugal listened more attentively to traditional Heavy Metal, they would be able to have a more accurate view about these bands”.
Tearing down the walls and eviscerating all borders let’s move on into the world. In the last decades there is been some sort of revival in what people like to call the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, mostly on the backs of bands like Enforcer and the like. “I follow some new bands that still carry the traditional Heavy Metal spirit. I love Ranger from Finland! I was particularly impressed with Metalhead from Germany (a mix of Kind Diamond and Priest) and also from Germany Nocturnal and Cruel Force. Skull Fist (Can) have been very consistent and Ram are getting better and better for me. Sign of The Jackal, Iron Kobra and the first record from Stallion. Enforcer was good but last album they’ve changed a lot. Most of these bands had tremendous first releases but there is a huge proliferation of new bands now and only the best will endure the times. There are some new bands that play very good but after hearing them I cannot remember almost anything and this lack of memorability is getting very common these days, unfortunately. I think the reason for that is because sometimes new bands think they can throw some clichés and popular 80s features and tics to the cauldron, mix it all together and voila, it’s done. That’s not the way to go”.
The way to go is to work on the songs for as long as it is needed. The old adage that teaches that anything creative is only done when it’s done and it goes completely against this new age method that tries to convince us to believe the only thing that matters is how fast we get there, regardless of nitpick irrelevant things like quality and character. Zellpike lifts the veil on his songwriting routine. “I’ve been working on these songs since the end of 2016. First I begin with a riff or an idea that evolves into more riffs or sometimes I add to that sequence isolated riffs composed previously that go well with that idea. The solos come in the end and that’s what takes more time to compose. I feel that the solos in Heavy Metal for me are a key element to the song because it was probably what brought me to this music genre. Like Glenn Tipton once said “a solo gives the song personality”. I’m always learning new solos from my favorite bands and usually I get inspired and translate some melodies, phrases or licks to the new solo I’m creating. I have to revisit them all the time and try to play them every day, occasionally a new idea comes to mind. The songs take many weeks before they are ready to go. First there’s a skeleton structure, then it has to be “Hellspike-ized” with more passages, arrangements and eventually new rhythms that fit the song well. After all this is completed, I think about a lyrical concept for the song and discuss it with Rick. Some songs are really asking for some kind of content, it all makes Rick more motivated to sing what the riff song is suggesting. This is not always like that but in general that’s how it works. I sometimes write lyrics for some of the choruses and their respective melodies”.
A method that has proved to be successful as it is pretty clear on the «Lords of War» album. An album that introduces Zellpike as a full on songwriter for the first time. Though he has written some stuff, he was not the main songwriter both in Ravensire and Inquisitor, so it is no surprise Hellspike is the band he always wanted to create. “Hellspike is the culmination of my experience in the Heavy Metal scene this last decade. This kind of sound is a reflection of the bands that inspired me to play and the triumvirate I had played with. It is also undeniably tied with the experience I had in the national scene, people, concerts I attended, etc… I never thought that after the tremendous Desaster concert (love saying it this way) at Extreme Metal Attack in 2010 I would become a great fan of Tann era Decayed. Inquisitor played a major role obviously. The solos are what you get after years of british Judas, Leppard Steel and good learning from Nuno in Ravensire. Hellspike is also linked to the whole international saturated scene that made me feel also that 2016 was the right time for me to bring something more authentic and original. Hellspike reveals in many ways what my life in Heavy Metal has been all about”.
It is said we are the result of our former experiences, our present state is shaped by our past adventures and Hellspike is no different. The lessons learnt from this trinity of bands (Inquisitor, Ravensire & Leather Synn), in terms of being in a band with different people and dealing with labels, promoters and other bands is something that can never be denied. “I learned immensely. Hellspike is like the result of this decade of learning. Inquisitor – the more you adapt to the others, the better it goes. When the game is over you collect what you’ve got. The perfect band at the right time. Ravensire – learn and improve. Working class Heavy Metal always prevails. Leather Synn – Rock n’ Roll is a way of life, however music should always come first”.
Let us delve deeper into this and figure out what exactly led to Hellspike as a Heavy Speed powerhouse. Knowing his inclination towards Hard Rock (Zellpike always proudly proclaimed his love for Def Leppard), I have always wondered why he decided to choose a thrashy Speed Metal band like Inquisitor in 2009 to fulfill his Heavy Metal dreams. “Inquisitor was an immense upgrade in my guitar skills. I learned from Tiago how to play Metal for the first time with an electric guitar. Going from Hard ‘n Heavy to Speed Metal was easy. Look at what both Accept, Running Wild and Warlock were doing in the 80s. They mixed Heavy Metal with a Hard Rockin’ edge adding double bass drums, gruffy voices, palm mutes and Speed/Power many times. I think Britain was the holy grail for Heavy Metal from 1978 until 1982, then the germans came and made Heavy Metal take off like no other country did. The scene they had in the 80s and still have, shows that Heavy Metal speaks for their culture and lifestyle, it’s raw, honest and very working class. Also worth mentioning that it’s an anglo-saxon phenomenon therefore it fits the germans very well who descend from the Saxons and they certainly know how to make it heavier just like Priest did when continuing the legacy of Black Sabbath. In 2009, when I joined inquisitor I was already listening to a lot of Destruction, Sodom, Kreator (the thrashmanias concerts in 2006 onwards were a gift from Hell [iconic bands such as Destruction, Sodom, Onslaught, Witchburner, Desaster and Nocturnal]) and I had already realized that this was the band where I could play real Metal with like minded people. Let’s also not forget that Speed Metal is Heavy Metal but played fast”.
Of course looking at the history of Hard Rock in Portugal it’s not hard to understand that it must be a nightmare to find out kindred minds to embark in that kind of adventure. That cannot be taken out of the whole picture as well. “I was also aware that almost no one in the Metal scene liked 80s Hard Rock. I was fine with that, just wanted to play traditional Metal. However there’s a distinction here worth telling between Glam Metal like Poison, Tesla, Mötley Crüe that puts girls ahead of music in my opinion and Dokken, Ratt, Def Leppard (first 3 albums) or Michael Schenker Group that are much more guitar driven with lots of Heavy Metal elements and NWOBHM stuff in there. The same mistake people in Portugal usually commit is putting all these bands in the same basket just because they had lots of hair and dressed cheesy. It simply reveals ignorance and as a result, all these bands are branded as posers. Things are not that simple and if people in Portugal listened more attentively to traditional Heavy Metal, they would be able to have a more accurate view about these bands”.
Nonetheless, Inquisitor was really active in the scene, playing a lot of shows and coming up with a nice demo and a pretty good single. «Speed Metal Legions» is a Speed Metal classic in portuguese underground, «Iron Preacher» (known as «Iron Picha» amongst Heavy Metal sommeliers) was always a riot onstage and the single «Dark Ages of Witchery» still sounds pretty good almost 10 years down the road. The fond memories are still fresh. “Tiago is such a great performer being able to sing and play at the same time. I could never do something like that, he is really talented. Great friendship between all the members that lasts to this day. They are all almost 10 years younger than me but we all had the same will to play as much as possible and eager to develop a sound that in 2010 was quite original in our country. I met amazing people and we were all surfing this new wave of new Metal acts like Midnight Priest, Alcoholocaust, Witchcurse from Greece, this 80s nostalgia of exploring music, booze and go to as many places as possible and bring as many flourishing underground bands as possible to play along. Our first concert in 2010 with Desaster played at the Extreme Metal Attack in Covilhã was probably my greatest achievement with the band and it was my first time performing live ever. Great concert, great sound and nice reception from the public. Strong memories from that night. Another great feeling was playing abroad with Inquisitor for the first time in my life, mission accomplished”.
The band eventually quit. As far as I remember, drummer Fred went to live in the south, Tiago joined Midnight Priest and Zellpike was also busy with Ravensire and Leather Synn. Maybe it was a question of losing interest in the band and everyone trying to pursue another kind of Heavy Metal dreams. “I think things started to change when Tiago went on to play with Midnight Priest. He was playing really well at the time and I think he started to become more demanding especially when it comes to recording. For a raw band like Inquisitor that sometimes became a problem that started to affect our recordings. Also Tiago in the early days was busy producing our stuff or we would meet with someone he knew to record our material but then, me and him were not as focused as in the early days as I also began playing with other bands and did not know anything about producing or recording demos/EP’s. To record with more proficient producers required money and investment from all of us and I think we simply started to lose that kind of commitment. I believe that the normal cycle for a band is to record first and then promote the released material but in 2013 onwards we were stuck in a live performance loop that no one was willing to leave. I don’t find it healthy for a band to play so frequently in short periods of time in places where we had performed previously (months before) without new songs. I don’t think you can value the band under these circumstances. Of course, you play live, have lots of fun, booze and enjoy the Metal family – that’s great! Therefore no one was buying my argument at the time [laughs]. I also disliked how some promoters took advantage of us which was happening a lot those times and slowing things down in Inquisitor. Rehearsing became an occasional event and whenever we did it was to play the same old songs for the gigs with almost no time dedicated to compose anything new. It crossed my mind (in several occasions) that I also needed to invest my time (which was scarce) in other projects that were moving faster. I couldn’t help myself but to think like that sometimes… blame me but I believe it was legitimate to try to march forward to other levels. In the meantime the drummer went to live in the south and eventually left the band”.
There is another Inquisitor tape released in 2016 entitled «Dungeons of Fear». I always wondered what was that all about because I think the band was already over by then. “Those were recordings we had while the drummer was still with the band. I also recorded all my guitar parts for the upcoming album that was to be released around that time but instead of the full length you got «Dungeons of Fear». Those were the songs I composed for Inquisitor with the help of Tiago, the same goes to «Face The Witch». It’s a pity we didn’t make it to the full length but that’s life and life treated me good when I entered this great band”.
Around 2011 Ravensire got in the picture. Something that was – to me – a very surprising step. To see someone, whose allegiance to the teutonic school of straightforward Heavy Metal, get himself immersed in a true Epic Metal band. But, in hindsight, I suppose the fact that all the members had substantially different tastes and preferences is what gave Ravensire its individuality. “Despite all our differences in taste when it comes to traditional Metal, I think all this diversity brought Ravensire great identity. Rick, for example,is obsessed with Venom. Me and Nuno spent hours discussing who was better, Priest or Maiden? Of course this was Nuno’s band and you can hear his heroes being praised every song but I see Ravensire as a good seasoned mix of bands like Omen, Manilla Road, Holy Terror and early Iron Maiden. We all loved these bands!! Of course Nuno had his own approach to Epic Metal and also incorporated elements heard in 90s bands like Slough Feg or Doomsword which for me, despite not being a fan, I see it as an opportunity to learn and practice more. I remember Steve Clark once said “to improve your playing, listen to as much different music as you can”. Well… I don’t listen to other genres apart from Metal, so this is my way of changing and improving things as good as it gets”.
A band that has carved its name in the annals of Portuguese Epic Metal and beyond with a rather sturdy discography. «The Cycle Never Ends» is undoubtedly one of the all time milestones in portuguese Heavy Metal and that guitar solo in «Temple At The End of The World» is forever etched in my personal Steel Encyclopedia. How the hell did that come about ? “The one at «Temple At The End of The World» yeah… that was epic stuff [laughs]. I was listening to a lot of Accept at the time and rediscovering the portuguese band Sarcastic Angel (they had an outstandingly talented guitar player at the time despite the production being awful and the vocalist very limited) and I think the sad melodies came from these two bands but also from the song itself. I wanted to create the feeling of something abandoned and forgotten. The song «Trapped In Dreams» is probably my proudest moment. There are others like recording that first Ravensire album and also to play in the great Up The Hammers festival as well. That night we played with Liege Lord. Great concerts both! Also the solos in «Drawing The Sword» and «Warriors To The Slaughter»”.
That festival in Up The Hammers is definitely the top of the mountain for this specific genre. The recollections from that glorious journey are endless and silly stories of drunken debauchery and ouzo/tsipouro shenanigans abound. “Athens was fucking awesome! Their food and their drinks are terrific. Nuno was inciting me to drink that amazing ouzo brandy which looks like water while he managed to make me drink way more than him, I should have drunk more water like he did! [laughs] The whole night I was imagining I was the infamous Kim Bendix Petersen singing loud and proud the whole night King Diamond songs wanting to go to bars we were already in. The greeks can speak louder than the spanish. Game over was the morning after when I fell in the bath tub, was kind of rusty to get out of there with the water running until someone removed me from there. I think it was Nuno. Thanks, man! Another great story was when we were on stage doing the line check when I was asked which music I wanted to hear (he meant from where do you want to hear your guitar the best?). I thought he meant which sound I was looking for. I answered “put Heavy Metal Breakdown playing”. The guy just left without saying anything… With Ravensire I also played Ireland and that was it.
The band eventually quit. As far as I remember, drummer Fred went to live in the south, Tiago joined Midnight Priest and Zellpike was also busy with Ravensire and Leather Synn. Maybe it was a question of losing interest in the band and everyone trying to pursue another kind of Heavy Metal dreams. “I think things started to change when Tiago went on to play with Midnight Priest. He was playing really well at the time and I think he started to become more demanding especially when it comes to recording. For a raw band like Inquisitor that sometimes became a problem that started to affect our recordings. Also Tiago in the early days was busy producing our stuff or we would meet with someone he knew to record our material but then, me and him were not as focused as in the early days as I also began playing with other bands and did not know anything about producing or recording demos/EP’s. To record with more proficient producers required money and investment from all of us and I think we simply started to lose that kind of commitment. I believe that the normal cycle for a band is to record first and then promote the released material but in 2013 onwards we were stuck in a live performance loop that no one was willing to leave. I don’t find it healthy for a band to play so frequently in short periods of time in places where we had performed previously (months before) without new songs. I don’t think you can value the band under these circumstances. Of course, you play live, have lots of fun, booze and enjoy the Metal family – that’s great! Therefore no one was buying my argument at the time [laughs]. I also disliked how some promoters took advantage of us which was happening a lot those times and slowing things down in Inquisitor. Rehearsing became an occasional event and whenever we did it was to play the same old songs for the gigs with almost no time dedicated to compose anything new. It crossed my mind (in several occasions) that I also needed to invest my time (which was scarce) in other projects that were moving faster. I couldn’t help myself but to think like that sometimes… blame me but I believe it was legitimate to try to march forward to other levels. In the meantime the drummer went to live in the south and eventually left the band”.
There is another Inquisitor tape released in 2016 entitled «Dungeons of Fear». I always wondered what was that all about because I think the band was already over by then. “Those were recordings we had while the drummer was still with the band. I also recorded all my guitar parts for the upcoming album that was to be released around that time but instead of the full length you got «Dungeons of Fear». Those were the songs I composed for Inquisitor with the help of Tiago, the same goes to «Face The Witch». It’s a pity we didn’t make it to the full length but that’s life and life treated me good when I entered this great band”.
Around 2011 Ravensire got in the picture. Something that was – to me – a very surprising step. To see someone, whose allegiance to the teutonic school of straightforward Heavy Metal, get himself immersed in a true Epic Metal band. But, in hindsight, I suppose the fact that all the members had substantially different tastes and preferences is what gave Ravensire its individuality. “Despite all our differences in taste when it comes to traditional Metal, I think all this diversity brought Ravensire great identity. Rick, for example,is obsessed with Venom. Me and Nuno spent hours discussing who was better, Priest or Maiden? Of course this was Nuno’s band and you can hear his heroes being praised every song but I see Ravensire as a good seasoned mix of bands like Omen, Manilla Road, Holy Terror and early Iron Maiden. We all loved these bands!! Of course Nuno had his own approach to Epic Metal and also incorporated elements heard in 90s bands like Slough Feg or Doomsword which for me, despite not being a fan, I see it as an opportunity to learn and practice more. I remember Steve Clark once said “to improve your playing, listen to as much different music as you can”. Well… I don’t listen to other genres apart from Metal, so this is my way of changing and improving things as good as it gets”.
A band that has carved its name in the annals of Portuguese Epic Metal and beyond with a rather sturdy discography. «The Cycle Never Ends» is undoubtedly one of the all time milestones in portuguese Heavy Metal and that guitar solo in «Temple At The End of The World» is forever etched in my personal Steel Encyclopedia. How the hell did that come about ? “The one at «Temple At The End of The World» yeah… that was epic stuff [laughs]. I was listening to a lot of Accept at the time and rediscovering the portuguese band Sarcastic Angel (they had an outstandingly talented guitar player at the time despite the production being awful and the vocalist very limited) and I think the sad melodies came from these two bands but also from the song itself. I wanted to create the feeling of something abandoned and forgotten. The song «Trapped In Dreams» is probably my proudest moment. There are others like recording that first Ravensire album and also to play in the great Up The Hammers festival as well. That night we played with Liege Lord. Great concerts both! Also the solos in «Drawing The Sword» and «Warriors To The Slaughter»”.
That festival in Up The Hammers is definitely the top of the mountain for this specific genre. The recollections from that glorious journey are endless and silly stories of drunken debauchery and ouzo/tsipouro shenanigans abound. “Athens was fucking awesome! Their food and their drinks are terrific. Nuno was inciting me to drink that amazing ouzo brandy which looks like water while he managed to make me drink way more than him, I should have drunk more water like he did! [laughs] The whole night I was imagining I was the infamous Kim Bendix Petersen singing loud and proud the whole night King Diamond songs wanting to go to bars we were already in. The greeks can speak louder than the spanish. Game over was the morning after when I fell in the bath tub, was kind of rusty to get out of there with the water running until someone removed me from there. I think it was Nuno. Thanks, man! Another great story was when we were on stage doing the line check when I was asked which music I wanted to hear (he meant from where do you want to hear your guitar the best?). I thought he meant which sound I was looking for. I answered “put Heavy Metal Breakdown playing”. The guy just left without saying anything… With Ravensire I also played Ireland and that was it.
The final piece of this three piece puzzle was Leather Synn. Zellpike was part of the first line-up of the band, alongside some other veterans of the portuguese scene, like Conim & Xico (mostly known from the Doomsters Dawnrider). The band only got to record an EP and play a couple of shows. I remember catching them onstage opening for Enforcer, I believe. “Leather Synn and my close friendship with Xico Steele marked the beginning of an era of deep dives into underground Heavy Metal. When I first met him in 2004 in his store (in the middle of my discovery journey) I was really stunned I found someone with whom I could speak about Grim Reaper and Angel Witch. Internet was still scarce and finding like minded people was always a motif to cheer. We were constantly listening to new bands, he showed me a lot of great underground gems and later he presented me to Conim and inevitably we formed our project once they knew I was playing guitar with inquisitor at the time”.
There was this whole show aspect with Xico bringing the rope on stage as a fierce testimonial against false Metal. Leather Synn had this whole philosophy of Heavy Metal devotion with songs like «Committed To Metal» and «(Heavy Metal) A Nossa Bandeira» but it didn’t last that long. “Unfortunately I began to notice that Conim was very busy with several projects and the time we had available to rehearse together and to compose was minimal. Sometimes with other bands waiting in line for us to finish rehearsing and sometimes it was me waiting to get inside the garage after they were done rehearsing with Dawnrider. The magic was there but not enough commitment and time to invest in this project and I speak for me as well (I was joining Ravensire at those times in 2011). Despite me always showing on time for rehearsing with Leather Synn, I began to realize that sometimes due to constant drinking, late night parties and frequent hangovers, this project was not cohesive enough. Leather Synn was a great lesson for me, it gave me insight and it helped me to reconsider what the correct approach to new projects should be, also had a huge impact on how I could improve my composing skills and not to repeat the same mistakes of the past. After the only concert I played with them, opening for Enforcer, I decided to leave the band. I believe that concert was probably my best live moment ever and luckily a friend of mine recorded the whole show. So glad I have that night recorded in high quality. That rope number on stage is part of Xico Steele’s eccentricity. He is one hell of a front man and he also demanded fireworks that night. My fuel for life tour moment had been achieved”.
This achievement of climbing to the utmost heights of lavish metallic glory (in the tiniest of scales, for sure) was built upon a stairway, block by block of glittering stone. “I entered the world of Heavy Metal the best possible way I could. Through Hard Rock”, the guitar-player starts. This is something people forget. Though there is a myriad of different paths to reach the victory of Black Steel, eventually one will have to take a few steps back to move forward, for without getting a good understanding of the primal foundations the final picture will become blurred and distorted. “I loved that mix of intensity and 80s melodic approach that I first heard in a cassette I recorded from music radios. Those recordings were from bands I didn’t know at the time, like Whitesnake, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Europe and AC/DC. They all sounded inspired to me and very straightforward. Also I noticed they all had solo sections. At the time (early 2000) it was so easy to remember their riffs and specially their solos that when a couple of years later, I stumbled upon a site called allmusic.com, where you could first choose the music genre you preferred and listen for 30 seconds of each song from albums of bands related to each other in that specific music category. I could finally identify those new bands that I had been listening to for a while just by clicking on their albums”.
An individual trek to boldly search where no one as searched before with a newfound sense of awe lurking in every corner. “All this path to discovery was made by myself and alone as I grew up in a slightly conservative environment where none of my friends listened to Heavy Metal. I discovered the US Glam Metal outfit Kix through allmusic.com as well and I found remarkable similarities between Kix Steve Whiteman’s voice and Joe Elliot from Def Leppard (who said that in their second album they were like a mix between Queen, AC/DC and 70’s Glam). That raspy edged tone that suggested filth and rawness was like entering a brand new world I desperately needed to live in. In my Heavy Metal discovery journey I would later find out that I preferred, way more, raspy gruffed vocalists like Schmier, Rock n’ Rolf, Chris Boltendhal, Udo Dirkschneider or David Wayne from Metal Church because of this. They all sang like Ronnie James Dio with that witch-esque tone, an 80s trademark that vanished from our music waves until the underground resistance brought it back a decade later. This all happened in a period of my life when I wasn’t particularly happy with a lesser of two evil choice and a very dull social life. The band (from those times of discovery) I find myself listening often to this day, is still Def leppard (first three records when they were still NWOBHM). I had found the best band at the time and among all the others, it was the heaviest one by far. The NWOBHM element present in Def Leppard was crucial. I remember buying a DVD back in 2004 with live 1988 footage from a concert in Denver Colorado and that (in the Round In Your Face Tour with the stage centered in the middle of the arenas) was amazing to watch every time I could. I discovered how Steve Clark handled that Gibson Firebird guitar hanging down almost on his knees, it blew me away. I mean… 2 minutes solo in songs like «Die Hard The Hunter»? That solo trading with Phil Collen and the typical NWOBHM twin guitar attack, with those amazing delays and effects on stage… I can’t remember hearing any other band having such monumental live production. I could have never imagined anything like that even in my wildest dreams”.
I feel this is what is missing from Heavy Metal today. This overwhelming obsession that captures our every waking moment – school and work be damned! The instant when we are utterly certain there is no hope, no more. “I think this might have been the bridge I needed to enter the Heavy Metal world and they certainly paved the way for my first encounter with the Metal Gods, Judas Priest. They are a Metal continuation of the NWOBHM sound I found in Def Leppard but heavier, way more intense with explosive and creative solos. I was stunned when I first heard the Glenn Tipton solos in «Ram It Down» («I’m a Rocker», «Hard As Iron»), it was like taking the guitar to another completely melodic level like Eddie Van Halen did in 1978 when he literally reinvented the electric guitar with all those new licks, tappings and other new techniques. The DVD I bought somewhere in 2005 containing the Fuel For Live Tour footage from 1986 completely changed my life”.
This is not an overstatement! It is to be taken literally. Heavy Metal completely changes our lives. “I realized that the glory of 80s Heavy Metal was something colossal that no other music genre could ever be able to deliver. Everything was taken to the extreme. The screaming vocals, laser effects, the packed stadiums, the adventure… A concert like that might have been for those thousands of people, many of them crossing states and traveling thousands of km to see the Priest, the flamboyant guitar models they had (it was still an instrument with so much more to offer), all that loud, distinguishably clear and organic sound… that world was so real. I still travel to that 80s wonderland when I feel like I need to disconnect from my daily life. It’s so addicting at the same time, it makes me feel better, the songs did breathe a lot and were tremendously meaningful. The road was open wide and the next logical step was starting to listen to bands that would carry that NWOBHM feeling like Running Wild or Accept. If you pay attention, the huge majority of the 80s Heavy and Speed Metal bands from Germany have that Priest/Accept approach rather than carrying the Maiden legacy or any influential US Metal band. King Diamond was discovered in a misty afternoon when I was living in Germany. Once again the Michael Denner Priest like approach (in «Dressed In White») was completely out of this world and I loved the dark ambience that was in tune with longer nights and colder climate I was experiencing in central Europe”.
From an avid compulsive listener of Heavy Metal into getting more involved in the scene (by learning to play an instrument, trying to write the first reviews/interviews or helping out with shows) is always a small but fundamental step. In the case of Zellpike it was the guitar. “I first started with a semi acoustic guitar because my teacher knew (almost) nothing about Heavy Metal. She asked me to bring a couple of Metal records for her to realize what I was looking for. I brought «Battalions of Fear», «Heavy Metal Breakdown» and «Branded and Exiled». She told me she was not used to those voices but at the same time she noticed the base was simple and decided to teach me some chords and progressions for a year or so until I had enough of that and skipped further lessons. At the time I was completely obsessed with Steve Clark and Glenn Tipton’s guitar playing and they are the main reason I started to play electric guitar”.
Now that we have understood what kind of seeds was planted, let us taste of the juicy fruit that is ready to be plucked in the form of the «Lords of War» album. The promotional photos of the band were taken in the old train station of Barreiro. An aspect that I can’t help but link to the expression of Heavy Metal as the soundtrack of the working class, like Zellpike invariably has been proclaiming for the last 15 years or so. In this confusing new world where the powers at hand try to convince us all this talk of class and struggle is a relic from a distant time, one would expect the speech pattern would be updated to be in line with the smart phone militia where every aspiration comes with a price tag. Turns out, the idea still resonates strong enough. “I think Heavy Metal is a cultural expression that began in Birmingham with Black Sabbath and the Priest. Birmingham used to be Britain’s industrial powerhouse. Def Leppard came from Sheffield, another highly working class neighborhood. Germany brought us Kreator from Alten Essen Ruhr mining industries… look at Sodom’s logo. Well, you got the picture, right? It’s so obvious these people couldn’t sing about joy or happiness. They felt oppressed and in some ways depressed (I think the weather also helped). Just look at their previous jobs before becoming musicians. The title for the album «British Steel» came from the factory where Glenn Tipton had once worked. Barreiro is the only city I know in the world where the industrial zone is the center of the city itself. Want to go to the center? Follow the railroads!! Beautiful! Beer and Metal combine perfectly. I think the best thing you can do after working in a steel mill is get out and drink more beer (laughs). This is hard work I admire and I sometimes compare it to playing Metal, takes a lot of effort and pain to take something further”.
It’s kind of disheartening to compare this accurate vision (we all know where most of our favorite bands have come from) with today’s scene where Heavy Metal is just another product on the shelf to be consumed and thrown away. Could be just some sort of generation gap or maybe there is more to it than that? The sad thing is Heavy Metal has turned from an obsession into a commodity. “Some 40, 30 years ago reality was way different. People were eager to listen to new music where boundaries were still evolving. The 80s were a time of discovery and exploring your limits when many people were experiencing new drugs, new music genres, playing instruments and living a life full of great expectations. That happens when things are brand new and people are willing to explore them. The other day I was watching Uriah Heep performing «Easy Living» in 1972 and people were like dancing to the sound of Heavy Rock at the time. People just did not know how to react to that and the 70’s disco sound was something new as well. These last 50 years of Heavy Metal have been a truly epic journey with colossal achievements and also some downturns, especially music industry, greed, fallen heroes but also herculean vocalists, guitar Gods and monumental concerts. People nowadays have all this mythological saga to… download… I remember Nuno telling me that despite the great reception Ravensire had in Up The Hammers, he remembers the apotheosis and Metal madness he witnessed in that festival years before. The truth is… those greek maniacs had for some 10 years the privilege to watch all the Epic Metal legends and eventually became kind of… too familiarized with that. If you eat your favorite dish every day, it becomes a different experience with time. Still good but not as good as the first time. Plus the economic crisis they had… so yeah… habituation brings routine but then money counts, limited resources count and people have to make their choices”.
And there is another essential shift with the advent of the so called global village. “Globalization also brought Europe and the United States deindustrialization. You can get cheaper stuff and work in a more comfortable place. However, that changed our lifestyle, especially with the internet. We are no longer a manufacturing country, our economy is consumer based. Inevitably you tend to consume more, import more, fewer goods are produced in your country, our jobs are more undifferentiated and people became more uncharacterized. This means that Heavy Metal is becoming more and more of a commodity for the most part. However, the ones who have personality and know what real Metal is all about, continue the Steel heritage, form new projects, support and keep real Metal alive. The privilege to have access to rare footage from our favorite legends is something we have to learn to appreciate!”.
Since our visitor is clearly more moved to true Heavy Metal (there is really no better way to put it), I ponder on how much of a bother it is for him to be labeled as someone who is living in the past, attached to a sound that is supposedly dated, by self-proclaimed experts and anonymous fans alike. “In the past it bothered me at times. That narrative that we live in the past and listen to bands that bring nothing new to music… as if good music is measured by the degree of innovation. Good music is timeless. Some new bands succeed when emulating glories from the past without sounding like copycats. The problem is, few of them succeed and that’s why we keep hearing this narrative that new Heavy Metal bands have no identity and sound empty… in those cases you have to blame the bands. I no longer feel upset when I hear those critics because I realized that most of those people lived in a time where they had to swallow all the new trends from the 90s labels. They just bought the albums from the bands they loved that were disappointing them all the time but hey! There was no internet and you had to listen to that shitty album over and over again until you started to feel like you were enjoying it and become open minded to innovations. There was nothing else to hear! This greedy label garbage phenomenon is also evident in some portuguese bands that were influenced by the old masters but now they can’t help it but to add some modernization to their sound and in many cases their inspirational bands had to endure the demands from these shitty labels otherwise you’re fired! Those critics have no understanding about what the true underground spirit is all about. They criticize production of the bands we love or the technical ability of our favorite musicians. They feel like they know more about production and Metal styles. It all sounds so pseudo intellectual. When I hear this kind of speech I usually ignore and feel sorry for them. They are losing the best part of the show!”.
There was this whole show aspect with Xico bringing the rope on stage as a fierce testimonial against false Metal. Leather Synn had this whole philosophy of Heavy Metal devotion with songs like «Committed To Metal» and «(Heavy Metal) A Nossa Bandeira» but it didn’t last that long. “Unfortunately I began to notice that Conim was very busy with several projects and the time we had available to rehearse together and to compose was minimal. Sometimes with other bands waiting in line for us to finish rehearsing and sometimes it was me waiting to get inside the garage after they were done rehearsing with Dawnrider. The magic was there but not enough commitment and time to invest in this project and I speak for me as well (I was joining Ravensire at those times in 2011). Despite me always showing on time for rehearsing with Leather Synn, I began to realize that sometimes due to constant drinking, late night parties and frequent hangovers, this project was not cohesive enough. Leather Synn was a great lesson for me, it gave me insight and it helped me to reconsider what the correct approach to new projects should be, also had a huge impact on how I could improve my composing skills and not to repeat the same mistakes of the past. After the only concert I played with them, opening for Enforcer, I decided to leave the band. I believe that concert was probably my best live moment ever and luckily a friend of mine recorded the whole show. So glad I have that night recorded in high quality. That rope number on stage is part of Xico Steele’s eccentricity. He is one hell of a front man and he also demanded fireworks that night. My fuel for life tour moment had been achieved”.
This achievement of climbing to the utmost heights of lavish metallic glory (in the tiniest of scales, for sure) was built upon a stairway, block by block of glittering stone. “I entered the world of Heavy Metal the best possible way I could. Through Hard Rock”, the guitar-player starts. This is something people forget. Though there is a myriad of different paths to reach the victory of Black Steel, eventually one will have to take a few steps back to move forward, for without getting a good understanding of the primal foundations the final picture will become blurred and distorted. “I loved that mix of intensity and 80s melodic approach that I first heard in a cassette I recorded from music radios. Those recordings were from bands I didn’t know at the time, like Whitesnake, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Europe and AC/DC. They all sounded inspired to me and very straightforward. Also I noticed they all had solo sections. At the time (early 2000) it was so easy to remember their riffs and specially their solos that when a couple of years later, I stumbled upon a site called allmusic.com, where you could first choose the music genre you preferred and listen for 30 seconds of each song from albums of bands related to each other in that specific music category. I could finally identify those new bands that I had been listening to for a while just by clicking on their albums”.
An individual trek to boldly search where no one as searched before with a newfound sense of awe lurking in every corner. “All this path to discovery was made by myself and alone as I grew up in a slightly conservative environment where none of my friends listened to Heavy Metal. I discovered the US Glam Metal outfit Kix through allmusic.com as well and I found remarkable similarities between Kix Steve Whiteman’s voice and Joe Elliot from Def Leppard (who said that in their second album they were like a mix between Queen, AC/DC and 70’s Glam). That raspy edged tone that suggested filth and rawness was like entering a brand new world I desperately needed to live in. In my Heavy Metal discovery journey I would later find out that I preferred, way more, raspy gruffed vocalists like Schmier, Rock n’ Rolf, Chris Boltendhal, Udo Dirkschneider or David Wayne from Metal Church because of this. They all sang like Ronnie James Dio with that witch-esque tone, an 80s trademark that vanished from our music waves until the underground resistance brought it back a decade later. This all happened in a period of my life when I wasn’t particularly happy with a lesser of two evil choice and a very dull social life. The band (from those times of discovery) I find myself listening often to this day, is still Def leppard (first three records when they were still NWOBHM). I had found the best band at the time and among all the others, it was the heaviest one by far. The NWOBHM element present in Def Leppard was crucial. I remember buying a DVD back in 2004 with live 1988 footage from a concert in Denver Colorado and that (in the Round In Your Face Tour with the stage centered in the middle of the arenas) was amazing to watch every time I could. I discovered how Steve Clark handled that Gibson Firebird guitar hanging down almost on his knees, it blew me away. I mean… 2 minutes solo in songs like «Die Hard The Hunter»? That solo trading with Phil Collen and the typical NWOBHM twin guitar attack, with those amazing delays and effects on stage… I can’t remember hearing any other band having such monumental live production. I could have never imagined anything like that even in my wildest dreams”.
I feel this is what is missing from Heavy Metal today. This overwhelming obsession that captures our every waking moment – school and work be damned! The instant when we are utterly certain there is no hope, no more. “I think this might have been the bridge I needed to enter the Heavy Metal world and they certainly paved the way for my first encounter with the Metal Gods, Judas Priest. They are a Metal continuation of the NWOBHM sound I found in Def Leppard but heavier, way more intense with explosive and creative solos. I was stunned when I first heard the Glenn Tipton solos in «Ram It Down» («I’m a Rocker», «Hard As Iron»), it was like taking the guitar to another completely melodic level like Eddie Van Halen did in 1978 when he literally reinvented the electric guitar with all those new licks, tappings and other new techniques. The DVD I bought somewhere in 2005 containing the Fuel For Live Tour footage from 1986 completely changed my life”.
This is not an overstatement! It is to be taken literally. Heavy Metal completely changes our lives. “I realized that the glory of 80s Heavy Metal was something colossal that no other music genre could ever be able to deliver. Everything was taken to the extreme. The screaming vocals, laser effects, the packed stadiums, the adventure… A concert like that might have been for those thousands of people, many of them crossing states and traveling thousands of km to see the Priest, the flamboyant guitar models they had (it was still an instrument with so much more to offer), all that loud, distinguishably clear and organic sound… that world was so real. I still travel to that 80s wonderland when I feel like I need to disconnect from my daily life. It’s so addicting at the same time, it makes me feel better, the songs did breathe a lot and were tremendously meaningful. The road was open wide and the next logical step was starting to listen to bands that would carry that NWOBHM feeling like Running Wild or Accept. If you pay attention, the huge majority of the 80s Heavy and Speed Metal bands from Germany have that Priest/Accept approach rather than carrying the Maiden legacy or any influential US Metal band. King Diamond was discovered in a misty afternoon when I was living in Germany. Once again the Michael Denner Priest like approach (in «Dressed In White») was completely out of this world and I loved the dark ambience that was in tune with longer nights and colder climate I was experiencing in central Europe”.
From an avid compulsive listener of Heavy Metal into getting more involved in the scene (by learning to play an instrument, trying to write the first reviews/interviews or helping out with shows) is always a small but fundamental step. In the case of Zellpike it was the guitar. “I first started with a semi acoustic guitar because my teacher knew (almost) nothing about Heavy Metal. She asked me to bring a couple of Metal records for her to realize what I was looking for. I brought «Battalions of Fear», «Heavy Metal Breakdown» and «Branded and Exiled». She told me she was not used to those voices but at the same time she noticed the base was simple and decided to teach me some chords and progressions for a year or so until I had enough of that and skipped further lessons. At the time I was completely obsessed with Steve Clark and Glenn Tipton’s guitar playing and they are the main reason I started to play electric guitar”.
Now that we have understood what kind of seeds was planted, let us taste of the juicy fruit that is ready to be plucked in the form of the «Lords of War» album. The promotional photos of the band were taken in the old train station of Barreiro. An aspect that I can’t help but link to the expression of Heavy Metal as the soundtrack of the working class, like Zellpike invariably has been proclaiming for the last 15 years or so. In this confusing new world where the powers at hand try to convince us all this talk of class and struggle is a relic from a distant time, one would expect the speech pattern would be updated to be in line with the smart phone militia where every aspiration comes with a price tag. Turns out, the idea still resonates strong enough. “I think Heavy Metal is a cultural expression that began in Birmingham with Black Sabbath and the Priest. Birmingham used to be Britain’s industrial powerhouse. Def Leppard came from Sheffield, another highly working class neighborhood. Germany brought us Kreator from Alten Essen Ruhr mining industries… look at Sodom’s logo. Well, you got the picture, right? It’s so obvious these people couldn’t sing about joy or happiness. They felt oppressed and in some ways depressed (I think the weather also helped). Just look at their previous jobs before becoming musicians. The title for the album «British Steel» came from the factory where Glenn Tipton had once worked. Barreiro is the only city I know in the world where the industrial zone is the center of the city itself. Want to go to the center? Follow the railroads!! Beautiful! Beer and Metal combine perfectly. I think the best thing you can do after working in a steel mill is get out and drink more beer (laughs). This is hard work I admire and I sometimes compare it to playing Metal, takes a lot of effort and pain to take something further”.
It’s kind of disheartening to compare this accurate vision (we all know where most of our favorite bands have come from) with today’s scene where Heavy Metal is just another product on the shelf to be consumed and thrown away. Could be just some sort of generation gap or maybe there is more to it than that? The sad thing is Heavy Metal has turned from an obsession into a commodity. “Some 40, 30 years ago reality was way different. People were eager to listen to new music where boundaries were still evolving. The 80s were a time of discovery and exploring your limits when many people were experiencing new drugs, new music genres, playing instruments and living a life full of great expectations. That happens when things are brand new and people are willing to explore them. The other day I was watching Uriah Heep performing «Easy Living» in 1972 and people were like dancing to the sound of Heavy Rock at the time. People just did not know how to react to that and the 70’s disco sound was something new as well. These last 50 years of Heavy Metal have been a truly epic journey with colossal achievements and also some downturns, especially music industry, greed, fallen heroes but also herculean vocalists, guitar Gods and monumental concerts. People nowadays have all this mythological saga to… download… I remember Nuno telling me that despite the great reception Ravensire had in Up The Hammers, he remembers the apotheosis and Metal madness he witnessed in that festival years before. The truth is… those greek maniacs had for some 10 years the privilege to watch all the Epic Metal legends and eventually became kind of… too familiarized with that. If you eat your favorite dish every day, it becomes a different experience with time. Still good but not as good as the first time. Plus the economic crisis they had… so yeah… habituation brings routine but then money counts, limited resources count and people have to make their choices”.
And there is another essential shift with the advent of the so called global village. “Globalization also brought Europe and the United States deindustrialization. You can get cheaper stuff and work in a more comfortable place. However, that changed our lifestyle, especially with the internet. We are no longer a manufacturing country, our economy is consumer based. Inevitably you tend to consume more, import more, fewer goods are produced in your country, our jobs are more undifferentiated and people became more uncharacterized. This means that Heavy Metal is becoming more and more of a commodity for the most part. However, the ones who have personality and know what real Metal is all about, continue the Steel heritage, form new projects, support and keep real Metal alive. The privilege to have access to rare footage from our favorite legends is something we have to learn to appreciate!”.
Since our visitor is clearly more moved to true Heavy Metal (there is really no better way to put it), I ponder on how much of a bother it is for him to be labeled as someone who is living in the past, attached to a sound that is supposedly dated, by self-proclaimed experts and anonymous fans alike. “In the past it bothered me at times. That narrative that we live in the past and listen to bands that bring nothing new to music… as if good music is measured by the degree of innovation. Good music is timeless. Some new bands succeed when emulating glories from the past without sounding like copycats. The problem is, few of them succeed and that’s why we keep hearing this narrative that new Heavy Metal bands have no identity and sound empty… in those cases you have to blame the bands. I no longer feel upset when I hear those critics because I realized that most of those people lived in a time where they had to swallow all the new trends from the 90s labels. They just bought the albums from the bands they loved that were disappointing them all the time but hey! There was no internet and you had to listen to that shitty album over and over again until you started to feel like you were enjoying it and become open minded to innovations. There was nothing else to hear! This greedy label garbage phenomenon is also evident in some portuguese bands that were influenced by the old masters but now they can’t help it but to add some modernization to their sound and in many cases their inspirational bands had to endure the demands from these shitty labels otherwise you’re fired! Those critics have no understanding about what the true underground spirit is all about. They criticize production of the bands we love or the technical ability of our favorite musicians. They feel like they know more about production and Metal styles. It all sounds so pseudo intellectual. When I hear this kind of speech I usually ignore and feel sorry for them. They are losing the best part of the show!”.
Indeed they are. And it’s mind-blowing to realize how Heavy Metal, that has been around for 50 years, can still be so much misunderstood. The situation gets even more distressing when this attitude is encouraged by the people allegedly responsible to help educate the metallic masses. “I also find it absurd when people used to tell me that we are too closed as a community, locked in a specific timeframe and glued to 80s Metal clichés. I’m neither open nor closed to anything. I just listen to music I find sincere and that makes me feel good. Usually the dinosaur classics know how to do it better but it also applies to new bands. Then I hear the pathetic statement “we need to unite as a Metal community”. What?!! Unite against what? Mainstream crap? Maybe those big labels that started splitting the Metal scene in the second half of the 80s and throughout the 90s with their new trends and manias brought division in the name of profit. In the name of innovation and greed they made Heavy Metal an object to be chopped to pieces and sold in different designation packages with tags, tickets, different movements and publics. Fuck that!”
One of the main points of conflict comes on the wings of the actual definition of what Heavy Metal really is. Although no one can deny the immense scope of the style (from the Hard Rock gems of White Lion to the black whirlwind of Absu) there is this tendency in the press of considering Heavy Metal as an all-encompassing genre that is open to everything AND the kitchen sink. Surely there must be some dividing line somewhere… “The main reason is pure avarice and rapacity. By enlarging the Metal spectrum, the more labels and product segmentation they have to offer to their customers. There has to be some coherence in the band, that’s how we can create a pattern for borders. I remember Rick telling me that after reading an interview made to the band Trivium he said “I cannot consider these guys a Metal band”. And let’s be reasonable… how can you be a full Thrash band and write such mellow choruses then tune your guitar to drop D and A creating an indistinguishable sound where the essence of the Thrash riff gets smashed in all that ultra thick, dense wall of sound? You can’t!. The same goes for the Nu Metal [No Metal as I like to call it] bands that just by having distortion makes them feel they play Metal. It doesn’t make any sense! Dream Theater gets labeled Metal but for me it’s some sort of Progressive Rock. Too many musical landscapes that rarely have anything to do with each other, they play very well but it all sounds too disconnected for me. It’s all a matter of logic and common sense”.
The wall of sound! That dreadful expression that still gives me nightmares. We better move on from this cultural appropriation in terms of Heavy Metal and try to understand what’s so special about Heavy Metal in its golden decade. Or maybe it’s not so golden after all, since the historical revisionism solemnly declares that Heavy Metal is now stronger than ever because there are much better (gasp) studios and (an even deeper gasp) musicians. “I think back in the 80s people had better conditions to focus more on music. There were less distractions. Today people work too many hours, have more stuff to pay that they don’t need, spend too much time on social media, in traffic jams, more movies to watch (Netflix), streaming, tons of albums to digest, smartphones, entertainment, football to watch and much more than they can ever chew! When we are bombarded with stuff, we lose focus. The abundance of studios doesn’t bring the mood we need to play and create music. Many bands from the 80s complained that they had lack of material and conditions to improve but that’s not an excuse. My friend from Thündress, Nuno Nightmare, used to play with his guitar without distortion in many occasions. Just do it! If you have the will and the right mood”. One word shall always be by my side. Ever moving Onward!
Sheer force of will and determination are adamant to overcome the ordeals of the world we have created. «Lords of War» is noticeably not a concept album but there is a very clear thread about society in general and the way we deal with the world and those around us. Lyrically it takes us back to the 80s and the frightening cold war days. However, this is not a tribute to the past, it is sadly a portrait of the present and – even worse – a grim prediction of the future. In fact, we are still dealing with the same issues like militarism, the powerful bullying on the weak and our arrogance as a species. That says a lot about us, mankind. “As we say in the song «Storm of Fear», history keeps repeating on and on. Mankind does not learn from its mistakes. We see that the cold war narrative has returned stronger than ever before. The greed from the military industrial complex is all behind these stupid wars in the Middle East while we are gas lighted that it’s all to protect us from terrorism, that people from these miserable countries (full of natural resources) envy our lifestyle and that they need to be bombed to restore humanity and democracy. This concept of preventive war to avoid war all in the name of our wellbeing happened in the second world war and is happening now once again. It’s sociopathic paranoia to say the least. This creates social unrest, poverty, death, divisions and immigration crisis that are being poorly and arrogantly dealt with. The message with this album is also to open your eyes, think for yourself, reach common grounds and hope will come”.
There is a couple of very powerful lines in the songs, such as “Ignorance is not bliss”. We are all aware education could be, in most cases, the solution to many of the word’s problems. Education not in the sense of preparing brainless hordes of human cattle to merely be anonymous cogs in the perfect capitalist machine, of course. “Education without brainwashing could help a lot. Every day I see human potential being lost all around me with people not achieving any level of accomplishment with their jobs but as people have to make a living and are too busy with tribulation in their lives, there is simply no insight to stop, think and question more of what is the real purpose of all this. It seems to me that the commoditization of our lives steamrolls our ability to think for ourselves. It’s curious that we live in a liberal democracy being indoctrinated to pursue our dreams using our free will to achieve our happiness and civil rights. The truth is, we are just a grey mass of consumers without any real means to reach freedom to express our individuality and stand out among all this very busy human cattle. Also if we question the system, either we are ignored or asked to move along. It’s sad and a total contradiction of what we are told at school. Happiness comes when you create expectations and then those same expectations are fulfilled at some point. For many people, their only expectations are to pay the bills at the end of the month”.
Though we try to sweep it under the carpet, there is a considerable difference between barely surviving and truly living. But it’s a titanic task in a world that is held hostage by the cruelty of numbers, the monster of debt and the merciless financial markets. The song «House of Asterion» sheds some light on the subject. “It’s about the Minoutaur of greek mythology (the classic civilization that I feel closer to). The original tale tells how the minotaur was defeated by Theseus (son of Aegean) who managed to find his way back from the labyrinth through the trail of a string and who, in turn, forgot to hoist the white sail (the sign of victory) when he left Crete. Thinking that his son had been defeated, Aegean committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea (now called Aegean Sea). Here Rick changed the original story, granting the victory to the Minotaur. This was magnificent because it fits like a glove in a book I’ve read about political economy by Yanis Varoufakis – «The Global Minotaur» – where he describes how the United States has been suckling all the money out of countries’ surpluses (especially the powers defeated in World War II), channeling everything to the ravenous Wall Street casino and since they went out of the gold standard, brutally increasing the debt (pure greed) as if it were the minotaur of minoan Crete that fed on the offered virgins. Varoufakis claims the american colossus has been in extreme agony since the 2008 crisis, when capitalism collapsed. Bearing in mind that this album is a critique of the last great empire and the human decay that comes from it, I found it very appropriate to portray the Minotaur as something monstrous, unbeatable and colossal that Rick so well portrays in this track”.
This whole talk about gluttony leads me to the next question. How can we make sense of a world where lies are now called alternative facts, we bomb the shit out of the people we are liberating and we overexploit the supposedly poor underdeveloped countries (and we still wonder how come people are so destitute over there)? “Yeah, the hypocrisy… Humanitarian missiles… it can never make any sense. I will make a comparison with Heavy Metal music as we need to have some common ground. That’s where we find some pillars and foundations of this music genre that need to be shared and be present in our collective memory. That’s why some non Metal bands fail miserably when trying to associate themselves with Heavy Metal. They lack coherence, they just don’t meet those common principles shared in our collective Heavy Metal culture and therefore they don’t make sense in Heavy Metal. In society there is also some logic and common values that we need to share in order to think that everything is all right, makes sense and goes orderly. Now with social media, these shared values and common ideas like rule of law, human rights, civil duties, democratic institutions are being distorted and erased when we create our own world according to our beliefs in these social networks. We try to interpret reality that fits our narrative and all these shared values suddenly are no longer exactly the ones that other people in my community idealize. We become more intolerant especially with those who disagree with us. This unprecedented state of affairs will bring chaos and the need to enforce harder measures that will control and oppress our lives”.
After all this gloom, the album ends in a very bright note with «Steelar Victory», a raging cry of defiance to authority in general that – to me – is a very apt definition of what Heavy Metal truly is. Was this a conscious decision, to finish this off with the proverbial light at the end of a bleak tunnel? “Exactly” is the immediate answer. “As well as the song «Iron Forces United» that comes before that final song. A glimpse of hope that goes very well with what Heavy Metal is all about and our quest to fight the good fight. Our mission to believe what is right. True Metal will prevail!! Saxon!!”.
It’s interesting to notice how this insubordinate aspect of Heavy Metal has been reshaped (or should I say rebranded?) into something completely different. Heavy Metal has now been stripped of this concept of rebellion, if not totally twisted the other way around. Instead of being against authority in general, it looks like the Metal scene is slowly turning away from its roots (like it has been talked earlier) and embracing all forms of conservative thoughts and ideals. Probably it is still the ever lasting effect of the ripples created by the wave of the trve kvlt scandinavian Black Metal scene where middle-class teenagers were flirting (I am being soft here) with nazism/fascism to show how rebellious and edgy they were. “As I said before we no longer live in times of discovery. We try to stay alive basically. We have no time to focus on any real hobbies, interests or to discuss real issues at all. Technology is taking over (which is great) but also brings challenges and we are still not prepared enough to deal with them. People became more wary and a bit distrustful with the future. We might feel like rebelling but as we become more vulnerable, irrelevant and scared, that tendency fades away. Look what the mainstream media is doing with this Corona Virus hysteria… they are not informing anyone, instead, they prefer to scare the hell out of people. Like the portuguese band Undersave used to say: after the domestication comes the manipulation. There is a deliberate attempt to control, study us more and what happened in Norway from 1992 can also be a reflection of what domestication mixed with a dull life, madness, depression and an attempt to grab attention can do. Beware how pissed off people can be, when in 30 years almost half of the world population got their jobs stolen by technology. For sure nothing good will ever come out of this!”.
Paranoia, confusion, madness are all traits of the world today. And yesterday too. Inexorably tomorrow as well. Turmoil is the only constant in an existence that makes us jump from crisis to crisis. Still, like it is brilliantly stated in «Stellar Victory», life is an amazing journey and all the trials and tribulations have led us this far. In these uncertain times, there are still new paths to tread, apparently insurmountable defeats and lustrous victories on the horizon. Life isn’t easy. It never was. Who knows what the future has in store… maybe we will finally see that Def Leppard-inspired Hard Rock project coming to life? “I really don’t think that will happen. However, life has been full of perils and challenges, we never know [laughs]. I feel completely at home with the Metal family that gave me everything I could ever have asked for. I also think that I achieved the level I wanted in Heavy Metal. All the things that might follow next, will be like a bonus for me and added value to this great journey for sure”.
Get more info about the band on Hellspike
All pictures by João Moura. Check more of his work at MetalPictures
One of the main points of conflict comes on the wings of the actual definition of what Heavy Metal really is. Although no one can deny the immense scope of the style (from the Hard Rock gems of White Lion to the black whirlwind of Absu) there is this tendency in the press of considering Heavy Metal as an all-encompassing genre that is open to everything AND the kitchen sink. Surely there must be some dividing line somewhere… “The main reason is pure avarice and rapacity. By enlarging the Metal spectrum, the more labels and product segmentation they have to offer to their customers. There has to be some coherence in the band, that’s how we can create a pattern for borders. I remember Rick telling me that after reading an interview made to the band Trivium he said “I cannot consider these guys a Metal band”. And let’s be reasonable… how can you be a full Thrash band and write such mellow choruses then tune your guitar to drop D and A creating an indistinguishable sound where the essence of the Thrash riff gets smashed in all that ultra thick, dense wall of sound? You can’t!. The same goes for the Nu Metal [No Metal as I like to call it] bands that just by having distortion makes them feel they play Metal. It doesn’t make any sense! Dream Theater gets labeled Metal but for me it’s some sort of Progressive Rock. Too many musical landscapes that rarely have anything to do with each other, they play very well but it all sounds too disconnected for me. It’s all a matter of logic and common sense”.
The wall of sound! That dreadful expression that still gives me nightmares. We better move on from this cultural appropriation in terms of Heavy Metal and try to understand what’s so special about Heavy Metal in its golden decade. Or maybe it’s not so golden after all, since the historical revisionism solemnly declares that Heavy Metal is now stronger than ever because there are much better (gasp) studios and (an even deeper gasp) musicians. “I think back in the 80s people had better conditions to focus more on music. There were less distractions. Today people work too many hours, have more stuff to pay that they don’t need, spend too much time on social media, in traffic jams, more movies to watch (Netflix), streaming, tons of albums to digest, smartphones, entertainment, football to watch and much more than they can ever chew! When we are bombarded with stuff, we lose focus. The abundance of studios doesn’t bring the mood we need to play and create music. Many bands from the 80s complained that they had lack of material and conditions to improve but that’s not an excuse. My friend from Thündress, Nuno Nightmare, used to play with his guitar without distortion in many occasions. Just do it! If you have the will and the right mood”. One word shall always be by my side. Ever moving Onward!
Sheer force of will and determination are adamant to overcome the ordeals of the world we have created. «Lords of War» is noticeably not a concept album but there is a very clear thread about society in general and the way we deal with the world and those around us. Lyrically it takes us back to the 80s and the frightening cold war days. However, this is not a tribute to the past, it is sadly a portrait of the present and – even worse – a grim prediction of the future. In fact, we are still dealing with the same issues like militarism, the powerful bullying on the weak and our arrogance as a species. That says a lot about us, mankind. “As we say in the song «Storm of Fear», history keeps repeating on and on. Mankind does not learn from its mistakes. We see that the cold war narrative has returned stronger than ever before. The greed from the military industrial complex is all behind these stupid wars in the Middle East while we are gas lighted that it’s all to protect us from terrorism, that people from these miserable countries (full of natural resources) envy our lifestyle and that they need to be bombed to restore humanity and democracy. This concept of preventive war to avoid war all in the name of our wellbeing happened in the second world war and is happening now once again. It’s sociopathic paranoia to say the least. This creates social unrest, poverty, death, divisions and immigration crisis that are being poorly and arrogantly dealt with. The message with this album is also to open your eyes, think for yourself, reach common grounds and hope will come”.
There is a couple of very powerful lines in the songs, such as “Ignorance is not bliss”. We are all aware education could be, in most cases, the solution to many of the word’s problems. Education not in the sense of preparing brainless hordes of human cattle to merely be anonymous cogs in the perfect capitalist machine, of course. “Education without brainwashing could help a lot. Every day I see human potential being lost all around me with people not achieving any level of accomplishment with their jobs but as people have to make a living and are too busy with tribulation in their lives, there is simply no insight to stop, think and question more of what is the real purpose of all this. It seems to me that the commoditization of our lives steamrolls our ability to think for ourselves. It’s curious that we live in a liberal democracy being indoctrinated to pursue our dreams using our free will to achieve our happiness and civil rights. The truth is, we are just a grey mass of consumers without any real means to reach freedom to express our individuality and stand out among all this very busy human cattle. Also if we question the system, either we are ignored or asked to move along. It’s sad and a total contradiction of what we are told at school. Happiness comes when you create expectations and then those same expectations are fulfilled at some point. For many people, their only expectations are to pay the bills at the end of the month”.
Though we try to sweep it under the carpet, there is a considerable difference between barely surviving and truly living. But it’s a titanic task in a world that is held hostage by the cruelty of numbers, the monster of debt and the merciless financial markets. The song «House of Asterion» sheds some light on the subject. “It’s about the Minoutaur of greek mythology (the classic civilization that I feel closer to). The original tale tells how the minotaur was defeated by Theseus (son of Aegean) who managed to find his way back from the labyrinth through the trail of a string and who, in turn, forgot to hoist the white sail (the sign of victory) when he left Crete. Thinking that his son had been defeated, Aegean committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea (now called Aegean Sea). Here Rick changed the original story, granting the victory to the Minotaur. This was magnificent because it fits like a glove in a book I’ve read about political economy by Yanis Varoufakis – «The Global Minotaur» – where he describes how the United States has been suckling all the money out of countries’ surpluses (especially the powers defeated in World War II), channeling everything to the ravenous Wall Street casino and since they went out of the gold standard, brutally increasing the debt (pure greed) as if it were the minotaur of minoan Crete that fed on the offered virgins. Varoufakis claims the american colossus has been in extreme agony since the 2008 crisis, when capitalism collapsed. Bearing in mind that this album is a critique of the last great empire and the human decay that comes from it, I found it very appropriate to portray the Minotaur as something monstrous, unbeatable and colossal that Rick so well portrays in this track”.
This whole talk about gluttony leads me to the next question. How can we make sense of a world where lies are now called alternative facts, we bomb the shit out of the people we are liberating and we overexploit the supposedly poor underdeveloped countries (and we still wonder how come people are so destitute over there)? “Yeah, the hypocrisy… Humanitarian missiles… it can never make any sense. I will make a comparison with Heavy Metal music as we need to have some common ground. That’s where we find some pillars and foundations of this music genre that need to be shared and be present in our collective memory. That’s why some non Metal bands fail miserably when trying to associate themselves with Heavy Metal. They lack coherence, they just don’t meet those common principles shared in our collective Heavy Metal culture and therefore they don’t make sense in Heavy Metal. In society there is also some logic and common values that we need to share in order to think that everything is all right, makes sense and goes orderly. Now with social media, these shared values and common ideas like rule of law, human rights, civil duties, democratic institutions are being distorted and erased when we create our own world according to our beliefs in these social networks. We try to interpret reality that fits our narrative and all these shared values suddenly are no longer exactly the ones that other people in my community idealize. We become more intolerant especially with those who disagree with us. This unprecedented state of affairs will bring chaos and the need to enforce harder measures that will control and oppress our lives”.
After all this gloom, the album ends in a very bright note with «Steelar Victory», a raging cry of defiance to authority in general that – to me – is a very apt definition of what Heavy Metal truly is. Was this a conscious decision, to finish this off with the proverbial light at the end of a bleak tunnel? “Exactly” is the immediate answer. “As well as the song «Iron Forces United» that comes before that final song. A glimpse of hope that goes very well with what Heavy Metal is all about and our quest to fight the good fight. Our mission to believe what is right. True Metal will prevail!! Saxon!!”.
It’s interesting to notice how this insubordinate aspect of Heavy Metal has been reshaped (or should I say rebranded?) into something completely different. Heavy Metal has now been stripped of this concept of rebellion, if not totally twisted the other way around. Instead of being against authority in general, it looks like the Metal scene is slowly turning away from its roots (like it has been talked earlier) and embracing all forms of conservative thoughts and ideals. Probably it is still the ever lasting effect of the ripples created by the wave of the trve kvlt scandinavian Black Metal scene where middle-class teenagers were flirting (I am being soft here) with nazism/fascism to show how rebellious and edgy they were. “As I said before we no longer live in times of discovery. We try to stay alive basically. We have no time to focus on any real hobbies, interests or to discuss real issues at all. Technology is taking over (which is great) but also brings challenges and we are still not prepared enough to deal with them. People became more wary and a bit distrustful with the future. We might feel like rebelling but as we become more vulnerable, irrelevant and scared, that tendency fades away. Look what the mainstream media is doing with this Corona Virus hysteria… they are not informing anyone, instead, they prefer to scare the hell out of people. Like the portuguese band Undersave used to say: after the domestication comes the manipulation. There is a deliberate attempt to control, study us more and what happened in Norway from 1992 can also be a reflection of what domestication mixed with a dull life, madness, depression and an attempt to grab attention can do. Beware how pissed off people can be, when in 30 years almost half of the world population got their jobs stolen by technology. For sure nothing good will ever come out of this!”.
Paranoia, confusion, madness are all traits of the world today. And yesterday too. Inexorably tomorrow as well. Turmoil is the only constant in an existence that makes us jump from crisis to crisis. Still, like it is brilliantly stated in «Stellar Victory», life is an amazing journey and all the trials and tribulations have led us this far. In these uncertain times, there are still new paths to tread, apparently insurmountable defeats and lustrous victories on the horizon. Life isn’t easy. It never was. Who knows what the future has in store… maybe we will finally see that Def Leppard-inspired Hard Rock project coming to life? “I really don’t think that will happen. However, life has been full of perils and challenges, we never know [laughs]. I feel completely at home with the Metal family that gave me everything I could ever have asked for. I also think that I achieved the level I wanted in Heavy Metal. All the things that might follow next, will be like a bonus for me and added value to this great journey for sure”.
Get more info about the band on Hellspike
All pictures by João Moura. Check more of his work at MetalPictures
MIXTAPE – You Stupid Mankind
SIDE ZELLPIKE
SIDE DEFIANCE
SIDE ZELLPIKE
- METAL CHURCH – Gods of Wrath (Metal Church, 1984). Even when people are well intended and try to find mutual understanding, we see the arrival of the Gods of Wrath that are willing to create divisions, disorientation for people not to realize who our true enemies are. This very old technique has been used for ages and only causes social unrest, death and more violence.
- GRAVE DIGGER – Legion of The lost (Part II) (The Reaper, 1993). The same as «Gods of Wrath» but from the perspective of those who march for freedom and march for life.
- U.D.O. – They Want War (Animal House, 1988). No way to run, nowhere to hide…
- S.D.I. – Comin’ Again (Sign of The Wicked, 1988). About history repeating itself on and on with the more powerful preying on the more vulnerable. In this case the return of the armed and militant fanatics that try to blame the others for their sins.
- MERCILESS – Pure Hate (The Awakening, 1990). We sometimes hear about those people that could eradicate world hunger or mass poverty (in a blink of an eye without any effects on their well being) and prefer to call themselves philanthropists. They prefer to donate billions to media outlets for everyone to speak good things about them (why on earth should they need that? Weren’t they the good guys?) and rather maintain everything as it is. They hate the world and everybody included.
SIDE DEFIANCE
- TOXIK – Door To Hell (World Circus, 1987). Anonymous soldiers are used as cannon fodder to spread the good word of the Lord and our brilliant superior civilization. Defiance is the ultimate sin – don’t ask your task, do as you’re told.
- XENOPHILE – Wings of Death (Wings of Death Single, 2017). Death from above, silent and vicious. A song reflecting on the major drone war that has been going on for some years already. Real god-like figures deciding on the fates of families, purportedly guilty and innocent alike. Judge, jury and executioner.
- HEATHEN – Pray For Death (Breaking The Silence, 1987). The obscene amount of money spent on militarism to protect us from a pre-fabricated threat masks the rabid inequality that forces so many of us to live as indigents. Time to see through their lies: they feed us the future through subliminal blinds.
- DEATHROW – Watching The World (Deception Ignored, 1989). Humanity is seen as clever but not intelligent, arrogant but not supportive. All our intelligence is unable to create something new that is not destined to destroy ourselves. But who is watching the world?
- NEW EDEN – Land of Filth & Money (Obscure Master Plan, 1999). We work like slaves, obey our masters like an obedient slave. In the name of the mighty dollar/euro, we are measured for our material possessions. While filth and money grow, nature slowly dies away.