LIVE REVIEW: Employed To Serve @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

Ahead of the release of their fifth album, Fallen Star, EMPLOYED TO SERVE have embarked on a small UK tour, and brought along some of the loudest names in underground metal today.

Burner live @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. Photo Credit: Stu Rowles

“You’re going to be hearing more from me tonight as Harry as been told he needs to be on vocal rest.” Tells guitarist Nathan Harlow before delivering a fiery set. Returning to the Welsh capital for the first time for almost a full year, BURNER have been on a hot streak since the release of their debut album It All Returns To Nothing. And with two newly released songs behind them, they take the stage as the band burst into The Night Does Not End. While Clwb Ifor Bach is a perfect sound for BURNER as they sound phenomenal, vocalist Harry Nott is on doctors’ orders to be on vocal rest, but you couldn’t tell as he’s up there thrashing around the stage with his barbed wire coated vocals cutting through the blaring drums of Jack Bryant. There’s almost zero crowd participation apart from a few heads nodding which is a shame for BURNER as they’re up there giving their all for the half empty room and people staggering in towards the end of their set. Still, it’s proven that even with a vocalist whose voice isn’t 100%, they make a statement about what they can do on stage.

Rating: 8/10Celestial Sanctuary live @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. Photo Credit: Stu Rowles

Going from the chaotic metal styling of BURNER, Celestial Sanctuary take the stage with their 90’s death metal edge. The slower pace on set opener Puddles Of You Reflect The Filth Within feels like the brakes are being slammed on in terms of song progression, as it’s a juxtaposition with the neck breaking pace of Glutted With Chunder, which wakes the crowd up a bit for a small circle pit, it does soon die down as they go back to their slower chugs, but the crowd seem uninterested for the most part, which is a shame as CELESTIAL SANCTUARY are up there shredding their souls out.

CELESTIAL SANCTUARY are great on record, but tonight it seems to be against them. The mix is muddy, which is not a fault of the band, but it makes it hard to pinpoint where one song ends and another starts as the buzz sawed guitars take charge over everything else. Unless vocalist/guitarist Thomas Cronin took time to talk to the crowd between violently shredding his throat, then it would feel like one long song. Don’t let it dilute your opinion of the band as they have some killer songs. It just seems that both the sound and crowd tonight are uninterested in playing ball.

Rating: 6/10 Employed To Serve live @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. Photo Credit: Stu Rowles

Since their debut album back in 2015, EMPLOYED TO SERVE have gained more and more traction in the metal landscape with each passing album leading to some high-profile support slots for the band. But for now, they’re enjoying their time in the smaller venues. And this tour was no different.

Emerging onto the stage whilst DIO’s Heaven & Hell plays, the band burst into lead single from Fallen Star, Atonement. And immediately the room erupts into chaos. The only safe space is toward the back as bodies are flailing in the pit as vocalist Justine Jones commands the crowd with her cheeky grin. “There’s the rowdy Welsh!” She chuckles before the band burst into Force Fed. And at the three song point they’ve got the crowd in their palms. Drummer Nathan Pryor however, has his hands full keeping the band in time whilst delivering a stellar performance behind the kit, never letting up for even a second. Guitarists Sammy Urwin & David Porter stand at each side of the stage as they both shred betwixt the booming bass from Casey McHale, who due to a cramped stage, is pushed toward the back but whose presence isn’t forgotten.Employed To Serve live @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. Photo Credit: Stu Rowles

As the band move forward in their set the get tighter and more vicious, feeding off the crowd and giving it back with more bite. The newer material, which isn’t even released at the time of the concert, as the record was released the following day goes down as though it was released alongside anything else they’ve done in the past ten years. As we get toward the climax of the set, Party’s Over has made one thing abundantly clear. EMPLOYED TO SERVE aren’t showing signs of slowing down. In fact, it may be the turbo charged boost they’ve been slowly gaining to launch them into bigger stages not just across the UK, but the world.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Cardiff from Stu Rowles here:














































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PHOTO GALLERY: Lauran Hibberd @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

LIVE REVIEW: Crows @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

LIVE REVIEW: As Everything Unfolds @ Clwb Ifor Bach, CardiffThe Night Eternal sign with Metal Blade Records
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Arch Enemy: Still Reigning In Blood

Blood Dynasty, the new album from melodic death metal heroes ARCH ENEMY is here and it sees the band on fine form with a brilliant collection of songs that captures all that the band have perfected over the years but that is combined with a fresh outlook as well. We caught up with drummer Daniel Erlandsson to hear all about how the new album came together, what the near future holds, and their thirty year anniversary.



With the first song from Blood Dynasty, Dream Stealer, being released last summer, we start proceedings with Daniel telling of the anticipation for the new album building and building. “The way I feel, it definitely is building. At the end of last year, we did a pretty big European tour with IN FLAMES and SOILWORK, and we were able to play Dream Stealer, and we premiered Liars & Thieves on that tour as well. There’s’ a pretty big excitement among the ARCH ENEMY fans for the new album, and I honestly can’t wait to get it out myself as well.”



Daniel is also happy with how the new material has been received so far as he tells us enthusiastically about that, as well as how the band’s sound has evolved with Blood Dynasty. “I feel like people are pretty happy with it, some people are even saying that it sounds like old ARCH ENEMY in some cases. I can see some similarities, but I feel like we’re always trying to evolve with each album, and try to, grow as much as we can within the sound of the band.”

Daniel then expands about the sound of the new album and how that balance of a mixture of classic ARCH ENEMY, while sounding current at the same time has come to fruition. “I don’t think that we consciously say, let’s try to write something that sounds like the past, but we definitely stay open minded within the whole process. I feel like this time around, we experimented a little bit more. We wanted to feel a little bit more free and a little bit adventurous within the arrangement of the songs.”

Daniel then spoke about the actual recording process and the changes the band made with the albums creation as he divulged. “We did it a little bit differently this time around, we actually spent the whole recording time within one studio in Sweden, together with Jens Bogren. As soon as the recording started, I think it was a very smooth process.”


Blood Dynasty features a cover song on an ARCH ENEMY full-length album for the first time in Vivre Libre by French metal band BLASPHEME and Daniel told us about how this came together feature on the record. “The selection of the song was due to Michael, he is a bit of an aficionado when it comes to collecting old vinyl. He knew about this band called BLASPHEME from France. Sharlee is also very knowledgeable, so they both knew about that. We were just jamming some tunes on the bus, and one night, somebody said, why don’t we do a cover of that singing in French, which Alissa does so it made sense that way and it was really the vocals that took that song to the next level!”

Talk then turns back to ARCH ENEMY live and Daniel told us about the challenging task of choosing a setlist this far into the band’s career. “It’s becoming increasingly more difficult with each album but we’re aware of the fact that we can’t really just go completely deeply into the new album. We have to include songs from the past as well. So it’s a bit of a process to come up with a set list for a tour, but at the end of the day, it has to flow as well. It’s got to showcase our journey, where we are today and where but also where we were.”



Daniel then enthused about getting back to America to tour with FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY, BAEST and THROWN INTO EXILE when Blood Dynasty is released. He reveals what ARCH ENEMY have coming up on the road after that. “We’re super excited. We haven’t been to the US since 2022, when we did a tour with BEHEMOTH, so we can’t wait to reconnect with the fans, and then we have a European tour at the end of the year again with AMORPHIS, ELUVEITIE and GATECREEPER.”

As 2025 marks 30 years since ARCH ENEMY formed, we finish things off with Daniel telling us what they may have in store to celebrate that anniversary, but how Blood Dynasty is the number one priority for now. “We have been talking about doing something big, but that’s going to be next year I believe, because we’re releasing the new album this year, and the focus is going to have to be on that.”

We conclude things with Daniel happily telling us about a few select highlights from the past three decades of ARCH ENEMY. “We’ve done so much over years but those first tours, like when we first went to Japan was huge. Playing on the Ozzfest in 2005 was very cool for me because that year BLACK SABBATH were playing with the original lineup so that was amazing!”

Blood Dynasty is out now via Century Media Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS119 here:
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Arch Enemy announce new album ‘Blood Dynasty’

Arch Enemy release new music video for ‘Blood Dynasty’

Arch Enemy release new music video for ‘Liars & Thieves’

HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Ascendancy – Trivium

Twenty years ago, heavy metal and the wider alternative scene was in rude health. Album releases for 2005 included releases from genre titans such as JUDAS PRIEST and BOLT THROWER. SYSTEM OF A DOWN went for the double album and wherever heavy fans looked labels like Roadrunner and Nuclear Blast were dominating the releases and independents like Earache Records were enjoying a hefty return. Download Festival merged with Ozzfest to deliver a mammoth three-day event. Download having never looked back from this and has continued with the same format ever since. What many of those attending this bumper weekend of riff worship did not realise was that they were going to be witnessing a music festival moment akin to those at Woodstock (the proper one, not the 1999 trauma inducing chaos) or even the 1970 Isle of Wight. Hyperbole aside, Saturday June 11 saw a young, hopeful band take the stage as the opening act. It was hot, it was dusty and it was utterly mesmerising for all those in attendance. Footage shows how a group of Florida based metal musicians barely out of their teens and still in boardshorts held the entire festival in the palm of their hand. This was to be the start of a monumental ride for TRIVIUM and the songs that sparked a meteoric rise all came from their second album Ascendancy



2003 saw the burgeoning sound of what TRIVIUM was to become with the release of their debut, Ember To Inferno. This initial release was the one and only to come via German label Lifeforce. The resulting buzz and critical acclaim led to the band quickly being signed by major label Roadrunner. It was to be a lifelong partnership with TRIVIUM continuing with them for the next 20 years. Work had begun on new material and it was clear that the quartet were working on something special.



As already mentioned, 2005 was not a destitute year for heavy releases. There were a host of albums that have since gone onto to be classics for both the artists that released them as well as landmarks in their own right. Ascendancy however, seems to shine like a beacon from this time. Looking back now it is as if the young band not only managed to tap into the zeitgeist of the time, but also harnessed the foundational elements of heavy metal and were not afraid to inject their own youthful exuberance. With a combination of NWOBHM elements, frantic thrash sensibilities, throat searing gutturals and contemporary techniques and stylistics, TRIVIUM assembled an arsenal of powerful songs from start to finish to deliver an album that has both outlasted many of its peers and stands as a blueprint for how it should be done.

With tracks such as Rain, with its brutal staccato introduction which gives way into a thrash led bruiser, through to melodic heavyweight Like Light To The Flies, TRIVIUM show a level of compositional skill and musicianship that belies their years. Similarly, the anthemic Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr and the soaring A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation highlight precisely why the band were heralded as the beacon for modern metal. They had a formula and with high octane riffs, exceptionally tight rhythm section crowd friendly choruses and virtuoso skill they had all the elements at their fingertips to execute their vision. Their youth, rather than being something to dismiss was welcomed as a breath of fresh air. While not quite the impact of the denim and leather glad teenagers of the NWOBHM era offering a counterpoint to their predecessors, TRIVIUM were all too happy to receive the accolades and wore the comparisons to their heroes as a badge of honour. The honesty of youth played heavily in their favour with both audiences and critics alike.


Hindsight has often shown that when band members themselves get into the production of their own music, it doesn’t always work. There is something to be said for having an external producer who can offer a non-biased opinion towards sound and compositions. The musicians themselves can be considered ‘to close’ to the creative process and unable to see the big picture. This can be especially true with younger musicians. They have not yet had time to develop an ear for what will work. With that in mind it is impressive that Matt Heafy had the confidence to step up and join established producer Jason Suecof. Suecof was already familiar with the band having been on hand for Ember To Inferno. However, the conviction of the band is such, that they need to have a say in the direction of their music across all creative elements. However one chooses to view it, it is not up for debate that the partnership of Heafy and Suecof saw to it that Ascendancy sounded the best that it possibly could.

Despite the common theory of artists having a creative struggle for their second album. Ascendancy is a clear example that this is not always the case. Eclipsing the debut, Ascendancy has since gone onto sell half a million units and at the time catapulted TRIVIUM to the dizzying heights that they would continue to enjoy for years to come. It’s a mark of the calibre of the album, that not only do several of the tracks still feature predominantly in latter day setlists to rapturous reception. TRIVIUM have recently embarked upon a co-headline tour with BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE playing Ascendancy in full. Old and new fans alike have flocked to the venues. Selling out the tour dates to catch a glimpse of the band execute these songs in the flesh. It’s safe to say that anyone who has caught these shows so far has not been disappointed. Twenty years has not dulled the likes of The Deceived or Drowned And Torn Asunder with audiences throwing themselves bodily into the sound conjured from these tracks. It is impossible to not get swept up in the vocal cord stretching chorus of Dying In Your Arms.



Any band one would care to name would give their last plectrum to write an album like Ascendancy. An album that so early in their career can turn a band into a household name. An album that contains tracks so powerful that despite their young age will enrapture a battle-hardened crowd at the hallowed Donington site on a hot, dusty June morning. More than that, an album that can still pull in an arena sell out crowd two decades after it’s original release. While those that saw it in its inception, knew that there was something special brewing. No one, not even the band themselves could have predicted quite the heights Ascendancy would achieve.



Ascendancy was originally released on March 15th, 2005 via Roadrunner Records.

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Destruction: Stick To Your Guns

German thrashers DESTRUCTION have been a corner stone of thrash metal for a staggering 40+ years. They’ve toured all across the world, amassed 16 full-length studio albums including the recently released Birth Of Malice and paved the way for multiple waves of musicians hoping to follow in their footsteps. Whilst they’ve not necessarily deviated from their core sound, why break what isn’t broken?



“I get inspired by the world,” declares frontman Marcel ‘Schmier’ Schirmer. “We travel a lot and we’re in a lucky position and musicians to go all over the place. If the world was a happy place I’d maybe write happy lyrics! I channel a lot of the stuff that bothers me, like injustice and corruption. The way the world is heading right now is very scary. I wish I could write nice lyrics but for us it’s always been a political thing, we’ve been addressing the government and discussing religion since the 80’s and it’s never really changed. DESTRUCTION has always been a band where we just do our thing. I read a review recently where someone said ‘where is the innovation? There is nothing new?’ blah blah blah. We invented this shit! Why would we need to do something else? We’re not going to suddenly start singing about rainbows and unicorns. Birth Of Malice represents the evil of humanity. You can see it on the cover, bursting out of our logo. It’s not the devil though, it’s us. We are the root of all evil.”



The key to any successful band is consistency. Throughout their extensive tenure DESTRUCTION has developed methods which enable them to get the best output possible, irrespective of it potentially being a more costly route. “We pretty much compose in the studio. I prepare my ideas at home then we work on everything and get some rough demos nailed down so I can go home and listen back to it,” explains Schmier.

“When you get a little distance you are able to criticise yourself. In a studio it’s so loud and you feel the vibe but sometimes you don’t hear the finer details. It’s expensive to do it this way as sometimes we record songs and then throw them away but I can hear right away whether I like it or not and this does save some time and it can be very productive. I know a lot of bands have gone into a studio excited about an idea, you record it, you go home and then a few weeks later you listen back and you don’t like it as much and want to make changes but by then it’s too late.”


Some bands are not a fan of lengthy bouts of touring as they involve a significant financial commitment as well as time away from their loved ones. Schmier thrives on the opportunities he has been presented and has little intention of slowing down.

“As long as you love it, it motivates you and gives you energy. It gives you positive vibes. Why is Mick Jagger still on stage? He’s a multi-millionaire. He could be home gardening! Music is the key, it keeps you young. I love travelling and when COVID happened it broke me. It was so hard as I love visiting different countries and their different cultures and meeting fans. We’re looking to hit the road, go on tour in Europe, hopefully go to Japan and Asia. We’re planning to do a lot of touring in the next couple of years, hopefully a lot of festivals. Sadly the UK hasn’t got any easier with immigration and everything. I remember when we toured for Diabolical we had to wait at the border for about 12 hours and about the same time to leave as well so that added additional days onto our journeys to factor that in. It’s definitely more complicated these days.”



Thrash metal has experienced a rocky journey throughout the decades. It rose to prominence with the likes of METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX as well as the iconic Bay Area movement back in the 80’s before falling into an abrupt decline with the rising popularity of the grunge scene in the 90’s. It did however, experience a considerable revival in the 2000’s with the arrival of what was coined the ‘New Wave’ which included bands such as EVILE, WARBRINGER and GAMA BOMB to name but a few.

Schmier is very proud of the contributions he has made to the continued legacy of the genre. “Thrash has never been the big thing but it has always had a very stable underground scene and a lot of younger people are beginning to discover thrash metal because of the rebellious and non-conformist mentality and the rough edges. We’re not in the mainstream so sometimes that’s appealing. It can be difficult for bands to get signed though because labels are looking for the flavour of the month. We like to consider them as our offspring and we keep a close eye on the underground. It’s nice to see new life being breathed into the genre. We never had the goal to be rockstars. We just wanted to break away from the conservative German lifestyle. It was a bad time in the 80’s with nothing but pop bands on the radio so we wanted to go against the grain.



We were one of the first wave of German thrashers so when people heard us they were like ‘what the fuck is this?!’. Even people in the metal scene weren’t taking us seriously at first. Sometimes I wake up in a hotel room in Japan or New York and it’s crazy to think I’m still doing this 40 years later. It was amazing to see DESTRUCTION, KREATOR, SODOM and TANKARD all rise in popularity but they all have their own unique sound. A great achievement.”

Bloodywood: It’s The Return Of The Singh-ers

Metal has never been more diverse and inclusive as in 2025, and at the forefront of those ushering in a new era are BLOODYWOOD, an Indian heavy metal band comprised of three friends from New Delhi (Karan Katiyar, Jayant Bhadula and Raoul Kerr). Since 2017, the threesome have slowly evolved and honed their craft as musicians, evolving from releasing metal covers of artists like NIRVANA and ARIANA GRANDE to debuting original Indian folk-metal focused singles alongside the likes of BONDE DO METALEIRO and BABYMETAL. BLOODYWOOD‘s unique style has caught the eye and attention of many, landing them a slot at Download Festival in 2023 which kicked off an intense two years of non-stop touring. Now halfway through their Return Of The Singh tour, we sat down with vocalist Jayant to discuss the state of the scene and their upcoming new album.



The tour so far has been a resounding success, with sold-out shows across the UK and Europe. Jayant couldn’t hide his excitement. “One thing I really want to put out there is, UK showed the fuck up! I mean, the shows have been sold out for more than a month now in the UK specifically.” He recalls, “back in 2023, our biggest show was London, that was the biggest show we have ever did like, a headline one, that was The Electric Ballroom and now we get to do Kentish Town, which is, again, sold out already. So, I mean, UK has showed the fuck up!”



The energy from the crowds across Europe has been electric, with fans even singing along to songs written in Hindi, a language foreign to the vast majority of the audience. “… during [the] performance, I keep taking my IM off so I can hear what’s happening with the crowd and it’s VERY loud. Cologne stands out a little bit because the people, they were CRAZY from the start to the end, the energy was 100 throughout,” Jayant reminisces. When comparing the differences between audiences in India and abroad, he emphasised the universality of metalheads. “I understand there’s a curiosity about, what’s the scene like that over there in India, but apart from the metalheads in India being very less in comparison to the other places that we go, generally, be it Europe or US, apart from that, the energy remains the same. No matter what size room we’re playing, either be it a festival or whatever, the energy remains the same, which is very unique to see on its own, because, again, you’re on different sides of the world, and you get to compare how the audience is, how the supporters are responding, and it’s same, and the energy remains the same so that that’s very interesting to see.”

BLOODYWOOD’s live performances are designed to be a rollercoaster of emotions and to take you on a wild journey when you’re in the room with them, both the highs and the lows. “The songs and the topics that we talk about in our songs, either we’ve gone through it or we have people around us who’ve gone through it.” Some of the heavier topics addressed in their lyrics include mental health, empowerment, and topical social issues, but the guys focus on bringing fun and flair to their shows. “The BLOODYWOOD experience, on its own, is very wholesome because of the topics that we go through with the songs and with the live performances and we try to keep things lively, in general, a little funny, or, you know, you can go back home [and] basically have a complete experience of emotions with us,” Jayant explains.


Not ones to shy away from heavy sounds or heavy topics, BLOODYWOOD have demonstrated their principles from day one. Their first original single, Jee Veerey, was inspired by the loss of a fellow Delhi musician to depression. “We had a conversation about it, me and Karan, at that time that, we can’t just sing about it. I don’t think there is something that we can do and that felt like a position of weakness to me, but then Karan came up with an idea” – with only 60,000 Indian rupees in their band’s bank account, the guys drained their funds and sponsored 60 counselling sessions that they gave out to the people.

Jayant stops for a moment and recalls thinking “Oh, wow, that’s scary!” but by taking that one step further beyond honouring their friend in music, it inspired something beautiful in the community. “People who are actually using these to get that anonymous one free counselling session would actually bankroll the thing from their end, so that people could, you know, just keep going on.” The band’s commitment to giving back even extends beyond mental health, whether that was using earnings from their 2019 tour to buy a van for a fellow Delhi band, whose bus was falling apart, or caring for the strays that roam Delhi’s streets. “Honestly, I have made so many friends – and I am talking about street dogs at this point – at different places”, admitting that he now keeps two packs of dog biscuits with him, just in case!



BLOODYWOOD’s influences are of course not limited to their origins in India, citing RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, MESHUGGAH, LAMB OF GOD, SUICIDE SILENCE and SLIPKNOT as overarching sources of inspiration. More recently, Jayant has been listening to the new releases from BRING ME THE HORIZON, ARCHITECTS, SPIRITBOX: “and actually, I just discovered like, two days back properly CALVA LOUISE‘s music!”, praising front woman Jess’ commitment to her craft, bringing her PC on tour to edit music videos during the day and rock out on stage at night.

At the time of interview, the guys were gearing up to release their latest album, the ever-punny Nu Delhi. One of BLOODYWOOD’s most notable collaborations is with BABYMETAL on the single Bekhauf. “The instrumentals for the song were already done. Me and Rahul and Karan, we were just throwing ideas back and forth in terms of vocals. And again, it’s manifestation of what -I don’t know- but, the producer for BABYMETAL, he actually reached out to Karan on Instagram around the same time saying, like ‘hey, we should do something together’ and we were like ‘hey, you know what? We’ve got the perfect song for you’. And after that, it was a smooth sailing ship, like everything just went into place very quickly,” Jayant exclaims.

BABYMETAL and BLOODYWOOD are arguably some of the biggest names in Asian metal at the minute, and that spotlight on representing their culture is not lost on them. “Our side of the world does not really have that much of the metal influences, so when your market is already a niche within a niche your challenge is just making it on yourself in your own countries. We just had a dream that we want to make a metal band and just, you know, be the best in the world, be the next METALLICA, like every other third person who’s doing music in general. But when the scale of things started increasing for us, that’s when the sense of responsibility also hits because we’re not just a band anymore, we’re representing an entire nation of 1.4 billion people, a country that does have metal bands, but people do not know,” Jayant elaborates.

As BLOODYWOOD continues to rise, their mission remains clear: to create music that both represents their own culture and flair but that also unites metalheads across the globe and gives them a release. With the release of Nu Delhi, the Delhi-born boys aim to further cement their place as pioneers of Indian folk-metal and ambassadors of South Asian culture in the global metal scene. “We’re just getting started,” Jayant concluded with a smile – and if their current trajectory is anything to go by, the world better be ready for what’s next.



Nu Delhi is out now via Fearless Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS119 here:
£3.00 – Buy DS119!

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