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Exclusive: Nightrage Founder and Frontman Marios Iliopoulos, Greek’s Undisputed King of Melodeth, Gives His Most Epic Interview Ever

Posted in Interviews, Videos with tags Marios Iliopoulos, melodeth, Nightrage on 07/16/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

The Bad Penny revels in one of our favorite interviews to date: An all-encompassing conversation with Marios Iliopoulos, who founded Greek melodic death metal squad Nightrage in 2000 and has held the throne ever since. The reigning king leaves no stone unturned in providing the ultimate historical account of how heavy metal sowed its roots in Greece and developed there in the decades since.

From revealing previously unshared stories about the growth of extreme heavy metal in Greece to reflecting on past troubles and tribulations that he later vanquished to his staggering prolific output in Nightrage and beyond, Iliopoulos delivers what perhaps could be the greatest interview of his lifetime.

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Exclusive: Nightrage Chief Reflects on Deceased Friend Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates: ‘I Still Have Him in My Heart’

Posted in Exclusives, In Memorium, Interviews with tags Anders Friden, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Exhumation, In Flames, Marios Iliopoulos, melodic death metal, Mikael Stanne, Nightrage, Tomas Lindberg on 06/01/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Nine months after his shockingly sudden death, tears are still being shed for Tomas Lindberg, frontman of massively influential Swedish metal band At the Gates. One of the most well-read, warmhearted and respected musicians in melodic death metal – regardless of country – his skills remain unparalleled and might not be bested for quite some time. In the months subsequent to his passing, metal icons who – like Lindberg – were instrumental in giving birth to MDM in Scandinavian have publicly professed their sadness over his loss.

The latest member of MDM royalty to join the chorus and sing the praises of Lindberg is Greece’s greatest contribution to melodic death metal: Marios Iliopoulos. He helped develop the subgenre during his nine years playing lead guitar for Exhumation, then developed even more acclaim for his subsequent band Nightrage, which he co-founded with Gus G of Firewind in the same year that Exhumation split: 2000.

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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 authoritarianism, fascism, Marios Iliopoulos, Nightrage, On Tyranny, trump, tyranny 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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