The Wildhearts: Sticking Around For The Punchline

Photo Credit: Andy Ford
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“There was only two ways it was going to go. I was going to end up in jail or in the ground.” When THE WILDHEARTS announced their hiatus in 2022, it appeared that the wheels may have well and truly come off the band. Although its members ploughed on with various solo projects, it also seemed like this disintegration of the group might take frontman Ginger Wildheart down with it.



“My life had spun out of control,” Wildheart candidly shares. “I ended up getting sectioned, which turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.” Known as one of rock’s most prolific artists, taking his foot off the pedal was exactly what Ginger needed to take stock. “It allowed me to just stop everything and refocus – and focus on myself.” However, the temporary cost was his lifelong passion for creating music.



“When I came out of the hospital, I had no interest in music. None at all. And obviously, I had no songs.” Considering Ginger’s near hundreds of song-writing credits over the years, it was an atypical position for the Geordie troubadour to find himself in. Dedicating time to his own recovery however led to inspiration eventually striking. And it struck hard. “The songs just started coming! It was like a dead direct line, a hotline to something bigger than me.” Wildheart chortles and adds, “The material was coming in so fast and furious, I was having to say, ‘look, can you fucking slow down?!’”

To say the recovering Wildheart was caught off-guard by the sudden inspiration would be an understatement. “I literally didn’t want to play the guitar. I hadn’t played for so long, I couldn’t play!” But that rustiness proved reinvigorating too. “It was like starting out again. And that’s where I found the magic was.”

Unexpectedly armed with a wealth of material after this particularly difficult patch in his life, Ginger found himself in the position of now trying to get an album off the ground. After recording demos, an offer was soon on the table from Spinefarm, though with a key condition, as Ginger explains. “We can do a deal, provided you don’t do this with the last lineup.”


For longtime fans of the band, particularly its “classic” line-up (debatably Ginger, CJ, Danny McCormack and Ritch Battersby), this may seem like a bit of a surprise, but not to Ginger. “I don’t blame them,” he admits. “As exciting as anyone might think a bunch of 50-odd year olds getting drunk, taking drugs and getting into trouble is, it’s not.”

Was it that easy to close the door on the old line-up however? “I’m fatally loyal sometimes,” Wildheart begins. “Which is probably something that people won’t believe about me because you know how many changes there’s been in the band,” he adds with a self-aware smile. Before recording began proper, Ginger reached out to both CJ and Battersby, sharing the material and asking if they’d do the record. They both turned it down, providing Wildheart with the closure he needed. “Great, you’ve both allowed me to move on,” Ginger adds gratefully.



That did however mean rebuilding the band ahead of recording this new album, for which Ginger tapped a few familiar faces from his pool of collaborators. Jon Poole, ex-CARDIACS member and often-times WILDHEART himself, was a no brainer for the bass. Ben Marsden, who Ginger describes as “the man most biologically predisposed to be in THE WILDHEARTS” slotted in to the other guitar slot naturally. Rounding out the lineup for recording was Cheb Nettles who had played on the demos. With the pieces in place, recording went uncharacteristically smoothly. “We did the album and it was one of those magic sessions where, from the first beat that went down, everything worked,” Ginger beams.

The resultant record, Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts, feels like a departure of sorts from the last few releases under THE WILDHEARTS banner. Ginger notes, “there was an innocence about this one where we weren’t questioning any part of the process – is that song too poppy, is that song too heavy?”

Rather than be hemmed in by what THE WILDHEARTS should sound like, Satanic Rites… sees the band stretch their musical focus beyond punk-thrash melodic aggression. Instead, it taps into the more experimental vein of releases like Fishing For Luckies and Ginger’s varied solo material. It’s a course correction for the band that Wildheart implies has been coming since their second album, 1995’s P.H.U.Q.
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“P.H.U.Q. was supposed to be a double album and I had this vision that we were going to be able to go anywhere. And then the record company said, ‘We’re going to cut all the long and interesting songs and we’re going to try and make a carbon copy of the first album.” While the excised tracks would soon resurface and become classics in their own right (first as part of the aforementioned Fishing For Luckies and eventually in 2022’s P.H.U.Q. Deluxe), Ginger took the pushback to heart. “It killed me. It killed my spirit.”

Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts is both the first step in this new chapter for the group and an opportunity for Ginger to let go of some of the band’s past. “You’re dragged down by the past,” he reflects. “The present is the only place you’ll ever be. So that’s how I’m approaching everything now. And that means putting things to bed!”



It’s certainly not the first rebirth of THE WILDHEARTS and who knows if it’ll be the last. But with a new record on the horizon and a tour kicking off just as the album drops, Ginger’s enthusiasm for this moment is infectious – though he’s well aware of the sceptics. “I’m really excited about where this is going. And everybody who’s going to accept change and wants to follow us on board, it’s going to be very exciting for them!”

After over thirty years in the game and weathering countless setbacks with THE WILDHEARTS, Ginger’s resilience and longevity is driven by one key lesson above all: “Don’t die. Stick around for the punchline.”

Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts is out now via Snakefarm Records.

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LIVE REVIEW: Unleash The Archers @ Slay Glasgow

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Power metal is an incredibly popular subgenre, yet in recent years, fans say that the genre has fallen into a rut. It’s hasn’t quite innovated or pushed the envelope, unlike, say, black or death metal. As a result, the list of bands that have broken into the upper ranks of popularity in the last twenty years is short. One of those bands is Canada’s UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, a four-piece that completed their mission of hybridising melodic death and power metal compellingly. As the years passed, they dropped the melo-death and kept smashing through the max popularity ceiling. Despite the rising number of power metal fans in the UK, it seems that fewer bands are including London, let alone anywhere else in the UK, on European treks that would have certainly touched down in the capital over ten years ago. So it’s perhaps no surprise that when UNLEASHED THE ARCHERS announced a London date for earlier this year, it sold out in four days and was upgraded to a roomier venue. Naturally, all the extra tickets vanished rapidly, prompting the band to actually listen to the fans for once and come back a few months later to travel elsewhere in the UK.

All For Metal live @ Slay, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall

The Glasgow show takes place on a Tuesday, and Slay is absolutely crammed with bodies. The room is so rammed that there’s a security person who’s sole job seems to be to get people to shuffle forward away from the exit to allow more attendees to squeeze in. The only support tonight is ALL FOR METAL, a power metal band of dubious origins. There’s an argument to be made that power metal is struggling in the light of bands that dress up and get popular on social media due to their wacky, cartoony looks over musicianship. This German/Italian collective was artificially assembled by the record label AFM (hence their initials), instantly given a huge marketing budget, popular tours and festival slots. Formed in 2022, they already have two albums and approximately 15 music videos.

You can imagine what they sound like: generic and uninspired power metal that takes cues from SABATON, HAMMERFALL, MANOWAR, DYNAZTY etc. There are two vocalists: Antonio Calanna with a traditional power metal higher range complete with a piercing falsetto, and Tim Schmidt who sounds similar to the gruff deeper tones of SABATON vocalist Joakim Broden. Their stage presence is very pantomime-y, which may appeal to those who prefer crowd interaction over music, like those dragged along to the show. The music itself is the typical kitsch heavy/power metal themes with the exact same metal, Viking, warrior and camaraderie themes that MANOWAR, DREAM EVIL, RHAPSODY and a thousand other bands have adopted since. Songs played are titled Raise Your Hammer, Born in Valhalla, Gods of Metal, and Goddess of War.
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All For Metal live @ Slay, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall

The venue’s sound makes the guitars scratchy, but the audience is up for this cliché performance, given the hearty responses given to the band on request. Perhaps the most surprising inclusion is a bass solo by

Rating: 4/10Unleash The Archers live @ Slay, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall

Just before Canadian power metallers UNLEASH THE ARCHERS take the stage, you can feel the lofty expectations in the air. The five-piece immediately ignites the performance to remember with the self-titled song from Abyss. This dynamite-laden anthem is hampered by singer Brittney Slayes‘ vocals being criminally too quiet. Fortunately, this is rectified very quickly, and just as well. Slayes‘ voice is fantastic on record but live, they’re jaw-droppingly incredible. Effortlessly, she smashes out sustained falsettos and belting vibratos, wielding her enviable vocal talent like a broadsword. Soulbound and Faster than Light from the same album continue the rampage, dazzling the audience, who eats up every note from the band.

Next, two selections from 2017’s Apex, the headliner’s breakthrough album, are presented – The Matriarch and Awakening. The metal is technical without being distractingly so, with nods towards SYMPHONY X. Guitar harmonies, sparingly used growled vocals and electrifying solos are the order of the night, all configured to make outstanding power metal that excels in the live environment. The following two songs are
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Unleash The Archers live @ Slay, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall

Last year, UNLEASH THE ARCHERS released Phantoma, so they play four prime cuts from this, including Ghosts in the Mist, Green and Glass and Gods in Decay. On stage, they don’t seem to stop headbanging, and it’s refreshing to see a band still having fun playing live. They’re constantly swapping smirks and private jokes with each other throughout. It seems they hold all the cards for being an all-around excellent metal band. They last played Scotland in 2017, and when Hayes asks how many were at that Edinburgh show, about five people put their hands up. Clearly, word of how outstanding they are has rightfully travelled. After Blood Countess, the cool Canadians leave the stage, only to return for their encore. This is a cover of the STAN ROGERS folk song Northwest Passage, their most played song on Spotify, almost double the number of listeners of their second one. Far from their best song, this example of patriotic Canada sees large swathes of the fans singing along to each lyric. It certainly rounds the rest of the set out sublimely, and the ovation UNLEASH THE ARCHERS receive is epic. They absolutely must return to Glasgow again.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Duncan McCall here:









































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Desaster release new song ‘Throne of Ecstasy’

Photo Credit: Omer Barzilai


German black thrash metal veterans DESASTER have released a brand new single!



The new single, titled Throne Of Ecstasy, is the latest track lifted from the band’s upcoming full-length studio album, Kill All Idols, which is scheduled to be released later this month, via Metal Blade Records.



Speaking about the new song, founding guitarist Infernal says, “The song is a traditional DESASTER black/thrash song, which immediately encourages headbanging and fist-raising in the middle part. The riffs were created spontaneously in the rehearsal room during one of the legendary sessions with lots of (of course legal) stimulants and only had to be arranged a little. It was an easy birth! The songs that emerged from jams are usually our best.”

Listen to Throne of Ecstasy here:


Kill All Idols is set for release on August 22nd via Metal Blade Records. Pre-orders are available now and can be purchased here.

For more information on DESASTER like their official page on Facebook.