Archive for the Features Category

On Tyranny: Nightrage Guitarist Scolds Complicit Public for ‘Looking the Other Way’ as Democracy Dies

Posted in Interviews, Lists, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , on 12/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Little did The Bad Penny expect that a feature called “The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time” that we published five days ago would become the most popular post in the history of this 15-year-old website in its entire existence. But that’s exactly what the headbangers ordered, and it’s spurring us to run some spinoff articles about bands made the cut on the list but that we’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing.

Reaching out to the bands on the list that aren’t as popular as your In Flames, Amon Amarth and Dark Tranquillity, we were reminded that Gothenburg is the historic city that birthed more than just three MDM bands. Nightrage guitarist Marios Iliopoulos said he was both flattered to be recognized and that their artistic output is just as strong as many of the other bands included on the rundown.

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On Tyranny: POWAMOV’s Son Brave, Shango $upreme Urge End to Authoritarians’ Favorite Weapon: Violence

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 12/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck


Son Brave and Shango $upreme, one-half of Baltimore anti-violence collective POWAMOV, speak with The Bad Penny about how America will never be truly “great” until we face and eradicate social unrest, discrimination and easy access to guns — all of which are forms of violence — that corrode our country. We’ve dug one hell of a deep hole for ourselves, but Son Brave and Shango $upreme explain that, by acting as positive role models for kids and treating each other as neighbors worthy of respect and basic human freedoms, all is not lost.

The message isn’t just one that Son Brave and Shango $upreme elaborate on during this installment of On Tyranny; it’s the beating heart of their POWAMOV EP, due January 17. A precursor to their TBA full-length, the collective present a fresh take on Boom Bap/Phonk-influenced hip hop — proving POWAMOV want us to see and hear the world with fresh eyes and ears.

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Pet Sounds #75: Brokedowns’ Drum Kit Player Can’t Get Enough of His Kitty Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 12/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If you’re unfamiliar with the Brokedowns, a punk band out of Chicago, than shame on you. Less than three weeks ago, the band’s irrepressibly good-natured and good-humored guitarist/vocalist, Kris Megyery, bravely participated in our On Tyranny series, informing us how he had personally witnessed despicable ICE raids at his workplace. He also agreed to speak with The Bad Penny because the Brokedowns’ new record, Let’s Tip the Landlord, which just came out a few weeks ago through Red Scare Industries.

During the same interview, Megyery informed us that the Brokedowns’ drummer, Mustafa Daka, has limitless love for his pets, making him an ideal candidate for the Bad Penny’s other popular series, Pet Sounds. Megyery’s claims proved to be very well-founded, as Daka got back to us speedy, ready to gush over his cats.

“My precious angels, sisters Ava and Olive … are my favorite topics to talk about!” he gushed during an email exchange.

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The Visionaries: Sadness Finds His ‘Purpose’ in Music, Readies for Breakout Year in 2026

Posted in Features, Interviews, The Visionaries with tags , , on 12/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“If I have a purpose in life, it’s to make music.” That’s a powerful statement from a young man named Damián Antón Ojeda, whose solo blackgaze project Sadness exudes the sincerity, intensity and deep emotion of an artist proving his credo through his art. All those factors combined make him an ideal entrant in The Bad Penny‘s new series “The Visionaries,” in which we interview introverted musical savants who typically don’t do many interviews. Following Aaron Turner and Jute Gyte, Ojeda is in very good company.

While Sadness has crafted dozens upon dozens of releases over the past decade or so – most recent the exquisite EP Shimmer – 2024 marked the first live performance for the project. But now, having really broken out of his shell, Ojeda is ready to tour next year and – while he’s too humble to say so himself – is well-positioned for global domination.

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On Tyranny: Finland’s Rotten Sound Don’t Fear Crackdown on Dissent Because ‘We Live in a Democratic Country’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , on 12/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

When The Bad Penny embarked on its On Tyranny project more than a year ago, we initially interviewed artists residing in countries controlled by authoritarian regimes in order to learn how they are still able to pursue their vocation despite fears of retaliation including censorship, imprisonment and even death. We conversed with musicians in Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hungary.

About six months later, the Trump regime began deploying military forces into U.S. cities, deported U.S. citizens without due process to countries they had never resided nor visited, and ordered masked “authorities” with no visible identification to kidnap and disappear people with no criminal records off the street. Thus, we turned our focus to how U.S.-based musicians are coping with previously unimaginable atrocities and how Authoritarian America is damaging the careers and personal lives of artists and dissenters.

Today we bring you a different perspective on the growing power of autocracy as the governing force across the world via a short-and-sweet interview with grindcore band Rotten Sound from Finland. While the vast majority of artists we’ve interviewed for On Tyranny have expressed fear, disgust and despair over the direction that the U.S. – and, by extension, the world – is headed, The Bad Penny was surprised to learn that some artists are not worried about being persecuted for their stances, whether they be creative or “political” (whatever that term actually means anymore).

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On Tyranny: ‘The American Experiment Is Over,’ Singer for LA Punks Jacob the Horse Declares

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , on 12/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight,” Aviv Rubinstien, singer for Los Angeles indie-punk band Jacob the Horse, tells The Bad Penny in a video conversation held earlier today.

“Show me your fangs or show me your teeth,” he continues. “People need to stop waiting around for others to do it for them and show the people that mean to step on you that you still have teeth and you won’t go down without a fight.”

The interview took place on December 14, 2025, less than two weeks before Jacob the Horse dropped their new single and video for “666 Chicks” – and ahead of the March 20 release of their new album, At Least It’s Almost Over.

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The Visionaries: ‘Dungeon Synth’ Master Jute Gyte Exudes Empathy in Rare Interview

Posted in Features, Interviews, The Visionaries with tags , , , , , on 12/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“If I’m focusing on sources of human suffering, then maybe it would be nice to put [part of the proceeds I earn from selling that] material to try to alleviate some of that suffering.”
-Jute Gyte

This year, The Bad Penny has had the incredibly unexpected, transformational, good fortune of interviewing more than 200 musicians across the globe. But as 2025 (mercifully) comes to a close, we’ve reflected on many of those conversations and come to realize that we connected with some truly exceptional human beings who just happen to make music.

These are individuals who often but don’t always work in isolation, truly treat making music as a cherished endeavor, take their work seriously, have a very strong work ethic and regiment – and, as a result, transcend the simple act of songcraft, recording and performing live.

To these remarkable individuals, music is not a diversion, and certainly not a means to striking it rich or becoming famous. They devote themselves to their craft because it is their vocation, their calling – not their calling card to getting signed to an oily record contract.

Last week, The Bad Penny unofficially launched a new series, which we’re calling “The Visionaries” – a term each humble subject of the series will surely reject, but sorry guys, them’s the breaks – with an uncharacteristically intimate look into the creative process and soul of underground legend Aaron Turner that Treble generously published.

For the first “official” edition of the series “The Visionaries” published on The Bad Penny, we are thrilled to present you a conversation with perhaps the most unsung drone-metal musician of the century, Jute Gyte (Adam Kalmbach). If his name doesn’t sound familiar, don’t be embarrassed; hell, this guy flies so low under the radar, he would probably rather you don’t know who is, so long as his music is getting out there and assuaging some music listeners (particularly those who gravitate toward challenging listens).

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On Tyranny: Tortoise Wasn’t ‘Sure Any Business Would Survive Donald Trump’s Ineptitude and Destruction’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 12/13/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The newest print edition of The Big Takeover – for which its publisher, editor, and perhaps the best person on earth, Jack Rabid, has graciously allowed me to contribute for 23 years – is now available for purchase. If you believe in punk rock and for which it stands, buy it. Among my 10 contributions is a challenging interview with Tortoise. I’ll note my other submissions in the coming days but won’t be reproducing them here. Buy the damn mag; it’s 170 pages long, a work of art in its own right and only costs seven bucks.

Go to the On Tyranny archive for more installments in the series.

Favorite Films: Napalm Death’s Shane Embury Picks ‘2001,’ ‘Inception,’ ‘Forbidden Planet’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 12/13/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury isn’t one to sit on his laurels – even if they’re extreme-metal laurels. Even though he’s played bass and backing vocals for the grindcore legends since 1987 (man, is that hard to believe), he’s also dallying with his side project Dark Sky Burial, whose new album, The Secred Neurotic, which dropped yesterday via Consouling Sounds.

We’ll have plenty to discuss about that project in the near future, but since it’s Saturday, we found it fitting to roll out a new edition of Favorite Films, in which musicians talk about the best movies they’ve ever seen and recommend some cult classics unfamiliar to most of us.

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On Tyranny: Italian Psych Band Malota Reflect on Mussolini’s Legacy as US Faces Fascism

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , on 12/11/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Every day could be one’s last, whether because of repression sparked by even a single misplaced word of dissent, or because of the indiscriminate bombings.”
-Malota’s Max D’Ospina

With its canals and bistros and overall sense of tranquillity, Venice, Italy, is arguably one of the most picturesque, luxurious places on Earth – which makes it no wonder that it’s also one of the most popular tourist destinations anywhere. Dig a little deeper under the surface, and you’ll find that it also has to offer – perhaps conflictingly to some, but not necessarily musically erudite readers of The Bad Penny – a heavy psych-rock band very much worth its (Italian sea) salt.

Said group is Malota, a quartet whose new album, Scapegoat, dropped in mid-October via Go Down Records. While their mesmerizing record is worth not just perusing but purchasing, when we had the opportunity to interview the immensely talented troupe, we forewent conducting a typical banal back and forth about Scapegoat. Instead, we picked the brain of Max D’Ospina (bass, piano, didjeridoo, vocals) about fascism, a toxic political ideology that Italy defeated less than a century ago and that is currently corroding what little remains of democracy in America.

It used to be said that “history repeats itself.” Wisely, and fortunately, historians have amended that aphorism to say “history does not repeat itself exactly, but it rhymes.” Perhaps we can learn something from what D’Ospina had to share about the horrors that happened in his homeland, which he bravely shared with us.

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