Advertise on podcast: Metal Brainiac

Vicky Psarakis said she had prepared her whole life for what proved a career opportunity. Vicky has made three albums with The Agonist and a new EP, titled "Days Before the World Wept," since replacing original vocalist Alissa White-Gluz. She has more than proven herself with a broad dynamic range and five distinct voices in her sonic pallet—a power clean, a falsetto, growls at two octave levels and a scream. On this episode, Vicky talks about her evolution as a vocalist and songwriter, her creative process within The Agonist and branching out to a second band called Sicksense.

There’s a deep history of Christian metal, and one of the leading torchbearers over the past 15 years is the metalcore band Phinehas. While the band’s early lyrics were loaded with clear Christian themes, vocalist Sean McCulloch has evolved into a much more complex songwriter. Throughout the band’s new album, titled “The Fire Itself,” McCulloch wrestles with depression, isolation and other personal battles that mask any overt nods to the Christian bible.  McCulloch talks here about his introduction to metal outside the bounds of his faith, his creative path behind the new album and his distaste for how Christianity plays out in modern politics.

Saudi Arabia is on the other side of the world from the United States, but even a repressive monarchy hasn’t kept heavy metal out of its borders. Wasted Land is from the coastal city of Jeddah and it’s one of the few metal bands that have managed to record and distribute music and attract fans and supporters beyond Saudi borders. In this conversation, guitarist Ayman Al Ghamdi and vocalist Emad Mujallid speak about finding their way to metal, building a band against oppressive governmental pressure and keeping their metallic dreams alive after more than 15 years of promise and struggle. 

Zosia West grew up in Pittsburgh’s musical theater community, and you can hear that foundation in the power she brings to her metal band, Reign of Z. Her lyrics come straight from personal experience—often of trauma and also of resilience. In advance of her band's upcoming tour opening for Combichrist and King 810,  Zosia talks about migrating from musical theater to metal and the catharsis of her lyrics, along with some candid, behind-the-industry financial realities for any emerging band striving for bigger things.

At the beginning of 2020, technical death veterans Lorna Shore had a new vocalist, a new album and a new outlook. But beyond the damage brought by the pandemic, Lorna Shore parted with the replacement vocalist amid sexual abuse allegations against him. Founding guitarist Adam DiMicco went back to teaching guitar and battled depression.  Behind yet another vocalist, Will Ramos, Lorna Shore recorded a new EP, “And I Return to Nothingness," helping to lift DiMicco out of his despair. In this episode, DiMicco talks about the classical influences on his playing and compositions, the challenges of the past year and plans for making a new full Lorna Shore record.

Concept albums are commonplace in metal, but what about concept bands? Drummer and songwriter Frankie Mish of the up-and-coming Michigan band Sleep Waker is today’s guest on the rebirth of Metal Brainiac. Frankie was just 16 when he co-founded Sleep Waker with vocalist Hunter Courtright on the concept of music about sleep—or lack thereof—and all the psychological and fantastical roads where that leads.

Jesse Zuretti suffered such a deep and suffocating depression that it threatened his livelihood and his life. He channeled much of what he experienced into his guitar, and the music he created became “Moonsblood,” the new technical, melodic death album from the New Jersey outfit Binary Code. Hear Jesse talk in detail about pouring his pain into his music.

In 2001, the band Ill Nino released its debut album “Revolution”—and at the time, a revolution is exactly what it seemed like, an American band of Hispanics performing a melodic, Latin-inflected metal. Ill Nino bassist Lazaro Pina talks about reviving that album on the band's current US tour, along with the band's artistic evolution and current cultural relevance.

Kristof Bathory recently became an Ambassador with the Greater Church of Lucifer, so it would be easy to cast the music he creates as evangelistic evil. But in this conversation, Bathory describes his personal and creative turns as positive maturity and, today, he views his band, Dawn of Ashes, as working to lead listeners to self-empowerment.

Otep Shamaya is perhaps the only true protest artist in metal. On the heels of her seventh studio album, “Generation Doom,” Otep talks about her politics, her bouts with the music industry, the deep personal impact she’s had on her fans and the biases against women she sees and experiences within the metal.

Mallika Sundaramurthy, vocalist of Massachusetts technical death band Abnormality, talks art, politics and working like an athlete to develop her sub-guttural growl. The band has just released its second full-length album, "Mechanisms of Omniscience."

Nate Garnette and his bandmates in Skeletonwitch fired Nate's brother, vocalist Chance Garnette, after 11 years together. That was in April 2015, prompting a deep gut check within the band. In this interview, Nate and fellow guitarist Scott Hedrick talk about the emotional, psychological and artistic impacts of the split and where Skeletonwitch is today.