SONS OF THUNDER
The swedish metal scene has plenty of talented bands that are on the way up. One of them is Sons of Thunder. To find out more about them I chatted with their singer/guitarplayer Michael Hjelte just before the release of their new cd Load, Aim, Fire.
(This interview can also be found in Noizegate)
First, can you introduce Sons of Thunder.... Sons of Thunder is a 3 piece group, we play praise metal and have been around for soon 2 years now. What do you sound like? Actually we sound like thunder, hehehe! :-) I cant really compare it with some other so I guess you have to decide yourself. Buy the record and listen. |
|
I would like to describe it as heavy metal with a very heavy guitarsound. Tell me about your releases so far... We released our first CD-EP in December 98. Its called "Metal Praise" and it includes 4 songs. And we are about to release a NEW fullength album in June 2000. Its called "LOAD AIM FIRE" and will be released on C.L MUSIC & PUBLISHING. How does your fulllength differs from the EP? The fullength has more songs, hehehehe!! Now its better production and the tunes are heavier and faster. We also had more time creating it. That sounds very promising, I really like your heaviness. Thank you man!! Another thing that comes to mind when I hear your tunes is your focus on the Lord. As the title of your first album saids, it's Metal Praise! |
|
Yeah, I think we need to be focused 100% for the Lord, cause he really is the meaning of life and I can't do this on my own.
Yeah it is metal praise, it is praise lyrics to exalt the Lord Jesus Crist. Many people think this is only for christians.
But what we've seen is the opposite. I believe that Praise in itself is very evangelistic to reach the unsaved and give them a new life in christ.
Yeah, and it seems to work too, tell me how the unsaved people have responsed to your tunes when you have played live... |
|
It has always been more party when we have played for unsaved people!! I think people today want to hear about Jesus straight on, not in a hidden message that no one understand anyway. I believe that when we stand up for Christ (not foolish) but in joy and with truth then it will make an impact on people. I couldn't agree more. I think people need to hear the message loud'n'clear so they can understand it and not miss it. Yeah, people today don't know a thing about christianity so you have to be really clear about it. Back to the basics. We as a band need to go out and do the church stuff on the outside of the church in the streets, on the clubs and on and on.... That's great, we need to get the message out to those who need it most, so many people are heeding for destruction everyday and if we christians not tell them that they can be saved because of Jesus victory on the cross no one else will do. Can you tell me about some of the tunes on the new cd.... There are lots of different tunes on this album but every song is on the same red line, Heavy!!! "Exalt him" is dedicated to a friend of mine who died in an overdose. He gave me the music for this tune. And we have Meshuggah and Pantera like parts on it too. It is also very melodic. It is different!!! I have heard that you got some special instruments in it too. Yeah, I played banjo and we have in the last song a guitar solo fight with Jazzy Mike and Metal Mike. Watch metal mike beat up the jazzy one! Hehehehehe!!!!!! |
|
I hope so...... Do you have any plans to tour internationally, like taking a trip to the US and the rest of the world in the near future? We will first of all release the album in Sweden this Summer and do some gigs and hopefully we will release it in US, Europe, Japan and South America later this year. We'll see. OK, do you have any final words to say to our readers, both christians and nonchristians. We love you both, see you on tour!! Thanx for the interview and God Bless. Keep on making a loudful noise to our great Lord! Website: http://home9.swipnet.se/~w-91764/Thunder/thunder.html
The swedish metal band Sons of Thunder has just put out some more thundering metal with their new release Load, Aim, Fire. Apart from their previous EP this is a fullength CD. What I like most with this band is their combination of heavy Heavy Metal and Praise lyrics. Yeah man, this is Heavy Metal Praise folks, a combination that we christian metalheads have missed so long. It's so great to be able to worship the Lord with the music I like most! The music on the cd has lots of shredding guitars and crunchy rhythmes that makes us starving metalheads satisfied. :-) On this release the band have also used some cool unusual instruments and effects that makes the sound more variable. At times though the music has too long slow parts before they kick of, they could be more direct. The last tune has a cool ending but it's way too long. Michael's vocals also sounds a bit thin in the tune S.O.S. But all in all this is a kickin´solid release that I gladly can recommend. I really feel uplifted and glad when I listen to it. If you are into their EP you will love this one as well.
SONS OF THUNDER - Metal Praise
Sons of Thunder strikes down like thundering flashes from the sky. They play 100% Metal and the lyrics are 100% praise so the title saids it all, this is Metal Praise. And it works very well! Finally we got a Praise album that we metalheads can sing along with! The guitarsound is very heavy and it's full on for Jesus. The cd have 4 tunes. The first two lacks something but the other two shreds. Their last one called Psalm 151 really sticks out with it's shredding guitars and crunchy rhythm. All in all this is great stuff and I'm really looking forward to hear a fullength with this promising band.
Back To Featured Band Main Page© Johannes Jonsson 1997-2000 e-mail: johannes@metalforjesus.org |