Archive for Nightrage

Favorite Films: Nightrage Frontman Marios Iliopoulos Is Enthralled by King Kong, ‘Dark Knight,’ ‘Wild at Heart’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“It’s a difficult thing to be an artist, man. You use your brain and a lot of energy. It’s the same with us musicians. We are working a lot with our mind. Some people think we are lazy or that actors do nothing, but it’s a lot of mental work.”

-Nightrage’s Marios Iliopoulos

One of The Bad Penny‘s favorite people in the whole wide world is Marios Iliopoulos, a rare human being who has a heart so big that it’s perplexing how his body can contain it, who has zero ego even though he fronts the best Greek metal band of all time, and who has generously donated hours of his time to speak with us about everything under the sun.

Previously, we brought you our conversations with Marios about his band Nightrage, the scourge of authoritarianism and fascism spreading across the world and his heartwarming friendship with sorely missed At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg.

Now we present you with what might our most entertaining chat with Señor Iliopoulos, as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Favorite Films series. In case it’s not already obvious, the feature revolves around us speaking with musicians about movies that have won them over.

Without further ado, here’s our exchange with Nightrage innovator Iliopoulos about his flicks of choice.

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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 , , 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 , , , , , , , , , 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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Bad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025

Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 01/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Dark Tranquillity (with chief Mikael Stanne in the center)

The title of this post tells it all. But some of the bands on “The Bad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025” might surprise you.

1. The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time

2. On Tyranny: An Epic Conversation With Anarchist Art Collective and Cursive Collaborators INDECLINE About Fascism And How You Can Fight It

3. Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums

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

5. Pet Sounds #76: Cat Lovers Psychic Pigs Named Their Band as a Derogatory Slur Jabbing the Police

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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 , , , , , , 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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