The era of thrash metal one once knew has been reborn in a much more mature style and sound with such heavy aggression you'll fall face first after witnessing such a fiery pit. The pit straight out of hell thanks to these clone like figures bringing back the heat waves of the era we once knew to be claimed by thrash legends Sodom, Kreator, and Slayer but this time vengeance is upon the horizon and it brings to you Avenger Of Blood! With their sophomore release notched tightly under their bullet belt attire Avenger of Blood have taken a leap through the fiery hell hole into the center stage front of hell itself, with "Death Brigade," it alone being categorized as 100% chaotic thrash metal! These guys proudly wear their influences on their sleeve. "Death Brigade," artwork done by Joe Petagno depicts the band as conquering skeletons which have already consumed your soul since the very beginning. I conducted an interview with the thrash skeletors at their first official gig of the New Year this is how it turned out....
1. First I'd like to say Happy New Year to you guys. Did you guys have any New Year's resolutions?
Band: Thank you, Happy New Year to you, TAKE OVER THE WORLD and we all just want to play a lot and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!! Just create new material and head over to Europe and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!
2. Is this your first official gig of 2009?
Chris: Yes believe so well aside from the fact that there weren’t that many people out there tonight, it was fun I had a good time.
Sal: First time Chris and I switched vocals on and off throughout the set which was totally weird.
3. Any plans for a new record?
Band: Definitely a new album will be out and we have a few new songs in the works. We're getting there.
4. How was it like playing back in October with Appease the Beast 2?
Band: It was okay we got ripped off though, to be frank it was a BS gig, but the bands were cool. And the time slot was messed up on all the bands when they were suppose to go on so we had like 20 people and the other bands had like 4,000. (Laughs)
5. Have you guys had a chance to play the Los Angeles Murderfest?
Band: No heard about it , we’ll probably try for next year there’s things we got to take of before getting on any festivals out here. But we will be getting there soon enough.
6. Where did the name come about?
Shannon: The other guy I formed the band with, he had the name and he made a demo by himself and then when I joined and thought it was a cool name and it means "revenge" seriously does mean "revenge" so many other bands being named that. We just decided to keep the name and then he quit and we just stuck with the name.
7. How did the process for "Death Brigade," come about are you satisfied with it?
Shannon: Well when we did the two songs on "Speed Kills Again Combination," it just kinda lead to signing with Heavy Artillery Records and we already had half the songs written for it already and we had so much time to write 5 more so we like busted it out in less than a month and then went in and recorded the whole thing, it was a better experience than recording our first album. But it still kinda had problems, ya know we felt pretty rushed, and were very rushed and the guy who recorded us wasn't necessarily a producer and we kinda knew that so it was kinda us doing it ourselves and sometimes you do something and hope you can fix that but it don't get fixed and has those kind if problems but overall album is very cool and I'm still happy about it. The cover was done by the guy who’s done all the artwork for the Motorhead albums Joe Petagno.
8. How about any merch didn't see anything out there this time or last time.
Band: We have our new 7 inch "Speed n’ Spikes Vol. 5," released by Relapse and some babydoll t-shirts and some 3X-L t-shirts out there.
9. How did "Speed n’Spikes Vol. 5," come about?
Band: It’s pretty cool and It just came out it’s a split with Witchhaven and there a great band by the way. They’re pretty cool.
10. Any plans for Valentine’s Day or upcoming months?Chris: I'm going to buy some candy hearts and go send them to all my Ex-GF's and it’s Marcs Birthday so that’s about it really.
11. What was it like when you played with Warbringer back at the Whisky?
Chris: Oh I love Warbringer they kick ass but that show was terrible for us. Band: That show sucked for us and the Whisky sucks but Warbringer is kick-ass band. We will be playing with them again possibly doing 3- 4 dates with them in June but it’s just in the talking process right now. They’re doing some big shows right now. Their manager lives in Las Vegas and we're jealous of them but its good fun and proud of them. They opened for us at one time and then next thing you know there huge! Our time is coming!
12. Have you guys written or played any cover songs?
Band: We use too, one time we played with Metal Church, we played an hour of cover songs and covered Slayer, Judas Priest, S.O.D., Kreator, Venom.
Chris: Judas Priest really? (Laughs) I had no idea.
Shannon: We did 3 Judas Priest songs, 4 Venom songs, 4 Slayer songs 3 Kreator songs, 2 S.O.D songs and we’re talking about releasing possibly an EP or LP of just cover songs and one new Avenger of Blood song on there it’s kinda a tribute to all of our favorite bands ya know.
Is there one band that you would love to tribute too?
Sal: ABBA.
Chris: For me Death by far dude, Violator dude, Exodus I love those bands.
Surprised none of you picked Pantera since everyone loves them.
Sal: I love Pantera but none of these guys do, I’m a Metallica and Pantera freak these guys hate that crap.
Chris: I dig it it’s not my favorite band, but I like it.
Since you’re a Metallicahead whatca think of their new album?
Sal: Oh not good, I’m an old Metallica fan.
Chris: Best album they’ve released “Saints,” ”…And Justice for All,” to me, I thought it was better than “The Black Album,” I hated “The Black Album,” that album destroyed oh don’t even get me started.
Shannon: That crap should have never been released.
Sal: That’s the thing thought with Metallica but everything passed “The Black Album,” is not Metallica. It’s a good album but it’s not Metallica and “St. Anger,” that was a joke.
13. Have any funny tour stories?
Shannon: Well every time we go somewhere doesn't matter every time we get lost. We miss turns, we’ll be going like 40 miles down the road and have to turn around and go back because we forget our crap. Our manager Mike will fall asleep at the wheel and we'll all be passed out and Shannon will stay up just so we don’t die.
Manager Mike: Haven’t killed anybody yet.
Chris: came close to killing me a couple of times.
Manager Mike: Almost drove off a cliff, travel is an adventure. That’s what cruise control is is for. (Laughs)
Shannon: We did this West Coast tour with Godless Rising and this band from Texas, so we go from Phoenix, to L.A., Vegas, to San Francisco, and there was suppose to be a show in Oregon never even got booked and then we went to Seattle kicked ass in Seattle and we were like alright we’re on a high and then went to Portland, and the show that was supposed to be there wasn’t booked and they had no idea we were coming there and then they hooked up a show for us and then got us some beer and pizza and chicken wings! There was this dude in the bar and he called all his friend so there was like 30 people there and then by the time we got on the whole place was filled up. Also a lot of people had dreadlocks and Omaha didn’t have addresses and the people from Kansas City took complete care of us from hotel to food to everything. We would love to play Italy, Germany, France, Serbia, and WE WANT TO RULE THE WORLD AND GO EVERYWHERE!
14. Are you guys looking forward to the Superbowl?
Band: Not really into sports, we're all going to be doing our own thing that weekend.
Chris: I don’t give a crap about football but I don’t watch football too much if the Giants aren’t playing I don’t care.
Marc: I’ll be out hunting so I don’t really care for the Superbowl.
15. Any final thoughts or comments?
Band: Bring the funk, and go check Avenger of Blood on stupid MySpace and check out our website www.avengerofblood.com which will be redesigned next month and get the new vinyl and pick up "Death Brigade," buy it online or anywhere go online to buy our merchandise!
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