TWO SIDES OF THE SHRED COIN: JEFF LOOMIS AND DANIEL BERGSTRÖM (VILDHJARTA)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 072012
 

Your humble editor’s fucking day job has stripped away almost all free time over the last 24 hours, and will continue to strip, strip, strip throughout today, and it’s not sexy. What that means is that my own poor contributions to NCS today will be skimpy. In fact, this is probably the only post I can contribute.

This will be greeted with applause in some quarters. But I’m sure that in many more quarters — many, many more — it will be greeted with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes. Also, please send quarters so I can quit my fucking day job.

Yesterday, I saw two new videos featuring the music of two very different guitarists — from two different generations and two very different styles of shredding. The first is an “album sampler” of music from the new album by ex-Nevermore member and all-around widely worshipped guitar wizard, Jeff Loomis. The second is a guitar play-through by Vildhjarta’s Daniel Bergström, who is himself a Grand High Wizard in the Exalted Order of Thall.

JEFF LOOMIS

On April 10, Century Media will release the new solo album by Jeff Loomis, titled Plains of Oblivion. To enhance the Seattle connection (and another reason why we’re paying so much attention to this album), it was produced by Aaron Smith of 7 Horns 7 Eyes, who themselves have a new album on the way. The album includes an array of tantalizing guest appearances.

Ex-Megadeth members Marty Friedman and Chris Poland make appearances with guest solo’s. Christine Rhoades, who provided guest vocals on the Nevermore track “Dreaming Neon Black”, does a vocal turn on  song called “Tragedy and Harmony”. Hungarian guitarist Attila Voros is in the mix, too, as is guitarist Tony MacAlpine. And last, but most certainly not least, Ihsahn contributes to a song called “Surrender”. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DANIEL BERGSTRÖM (VILDHJARTA)

 Interviews  9 Responses »
Dec 212011
 

(In what must have been one of the high points of his year, NCS writer TheMadIsraeli got the chance to do an e-mail interview of Daniel Bergström, the guitarist and principal song-writer for Sweden’s Vildhjarta and the producer of the band’s massively popular debut album, Måsstaden (reviewed here). In what follows, a discussion about chick-slaying and chainsaws, personal shittiness, gear, and the meaning of That Word. Here you go.)

TMI:  So, here we are: I and you guys, the mighty Vildhjarta, the gods of thallism, the magicians of massive, gravity-intensifying groove. How does it feel to release your first album?

DB:  feels pretty sweet, wasnt sure if anyone was gonna understand it but the reception’s been sehr gut.

TMI:  Is thall truly indeed thall?

DB:  thall

TMI:  Obscure word aside, if we go back and look at your catalogue of songs it’s obvious that your sound underwent a major overhaul for Måsstaden, so much so that it seems intentional. Was this the case or was it truly a natural progression? If intentional, why did you set out to undergo such a change? If natural, do you feel you’ve found your sound, or that this is merely a stepping stone in achieving sonic enlightenment of your identity as one cohesive thall?

DB:  i always want to try new things and see where it goes. i often get bored pretty quickly with the stuff i write so it’s pretty unintentional in that sense i think, everything has to sound new and crazy to my ears. Continue reading »