BA is an industrial/alternative/metal band that combines live guitars, vocals and growling with electronic beats and synths.
Tracklist:

1. KAM
2. Daddy
3. Anthem
4. Primal
5. Digital Soup

• Photography by OfirAbe & Deadline

Check out this promo vid, and visit the band’s website to get a free digital copy of the new ep.

Metal Israel: Lets kick off with the new album, „War Is The Answer”. Can we say that the title/concept of the LP is that as the world goes even crazier literally/not literally we have to go to war every day to defend our integrity? Please describe this a little bit…

Zoltan Bathory: Yes absolutely. It’s the way of nature, one way or another we are all at war. Fighting for survival, a social position, a job, a better life, a belief, our immune system is at war. Or even a seemingly peaceful monk sitting up in the Himalayas is at war with his own mine trying to subdue his thoughts.  It’s perfectly ok though.. we didn’t make the rules. These are the rules we were given, and you have to embrace it. You have to be strong. Only the strong survives.

MI: „Bulletproof” is probably my favourite one. Its very powerful and on point. Could you describe the mindstate when you created it and the message of the song?

ZB: It’s in the same mindset as the whole record. No one can take you down. If you believe in your own power, you will fight till the end… and when the end comes it no longer matters because you dead anyway. Those who understand the cycles and aren’t afraid of dying are bulletproof. They can’t be beaten.

MI: On the new record, you’ve got Jason Hook as the lead guitarist. What are the main points where his style changed the sound of the band?

ZB: The core sound of the band is the same – however he added some more depth, he is an extraordinary guitarist and very easy to work with. Also the band got tighter – because his picking style is very similar to mine so we are like a twin machine-gun firing away.

MI: In the ’90s you came from Budapest, Hungary to the States. I’m Hungarian as well, so when I read this story was really surprised in a positive way. Do you get a lot of feedback from the mother country?

ZB: I get hit up here and there by musicians for advice… but I can’t really tell them anything else than what I already said in numerous interviews. You have to help yourself, that’s the point. It’s like going to the gym – you can only lift what you are prepared for… and nobody else can lift it for you. You have to work yourself up to the level to be able to take on the world. If you don’t speak English and only have a 3 song demo that’s not really good quality – then what do you expect? Bruce Dickinson quit Iron Maiden to work with you? Oh wait and, send you a plane ticket, pay your bills. There are realistic expectations and there are expectations that are completely idiotic. In fact because your disadvantages of being a foreigner – you have to have something that’s above and beyond… and it’s all your responsibility to get that extra ’something’. Remember, Yngwie Malmsteen came to America as a foreigner but the guy could play guitar like no one else, Lars Ulrich came to America and he had the drive and the imagination. Still to this day he is the driving force of Metallica. It’s not impossible but you have to be realistic about it. Prepare… prepare… prepare. Plan it out – and execute the plan.

MI: What I like in Five Finger Death Punch is that you can be heavy as hell but able to write SONGS at the same time, mixing the brutality and melodies in a good balance. For you, as the main songwriter it was the main concept from day one?

ZB: Yes. Definitely. I like Heavy music that’s melodic and memorable. To me the ’song’ is the most important – everything else – technical bravados, solos, all that stuff is just nice additives. But first and foremost the song has to have something special, something that triggers your emotions.

MI: After establishing yourself in the last two years in the States, you started to focus more to Europe as well. So far hows the main reactions of the Euro people at the shows?

ZB: We’re doing really good in the UK. Selling out all venues. We are headlining both Hammer Fest and Defender’s Of The Faith Festival this year. Also we managed to get a huge reaction at Download last year so they invited us again. But we still have a lot of work ahead on the rest of the continent. We simply didn’t play enough there yet, and 5FDP is a live band – our fan base grew really fast mainly because people were impressed by our lives shows.

MI: If I know well, you are a black belt master in Judo and doin some other martial arts as well. While touring do you try to keep the trainings and condition or its kind of impossible to do those periods?

ZB: It’d difficult to train because I barely have time – on the summer tours I carry my Judo mats with me…and roll when I can. I have a lot of friends in the MMA and Jiu-Jitsu world. It will be always something that’s exciting to me. But music comes first.

MI: How much you think fighting sports helped you to being more focused in the music carreer?

ZB: Essentially all things are the same. You can be a musician, a martial artist, a snowboarder, the basics are the same. You need focus and discipline. And then you can do just about anything. A lot of people have this backwards… it’s not that martial arts enables you to be focused and disciplined. Your focus and discipline enables you to do martial arts, or anything you chose in life.

MI: In the USA UFC is more popular, who are your favourite fighters? And do you like K1 as well? Any favourites?

ZB: I like Anderson Silva, Cro-Cop, Machida, George St Pierre… and one of my absolute faves is the “Prodigy” – BJ Penn. I like to watch Karo Parisyan too because he is a Judo guy.

MI: Did you play before in Israel? If so, please tell some of your experiences about the show(s), the scene etc.

ZB: No, we didn’t get to go to the Middle East Yet.

MI: This level of success you already earned, it was a conscious, focused road for you startin with takin the step to go to the States or how would you describe it?

ZB: Well, success can not be calculated. The only thing you can do is to become the best version of yourself. Leave no stone unturned – train, prepare, stay sharp… and just keep fighting. So when the opportunity comes you will be ready to take on it. But you have to truly love what you’re doing, otherwise it won’t work. You can’t guess what people will like, and if you just copy a formula people will see through that. You have to do what you like, and just hope other people will like it too. And if they don’t.. well, you are still having fun because you’re doing what you love to do. But – you do have to be impeccable. Set your standards as high as possible and live up to them. Challenge yourself.

MI: Who are the songwriters and guitar players that influenced you the most?

ZB: I grew up on old school metal. Accept, Iron Maiden. Listened to a lot of German metal bands and a lot of Bay area stuff. Guitarists? A lot of Malmsteen, Rocky George, Vinnie Moore … and I can appreciate a lot of songwriters – from the Beatles to Ennio Morricone.

MI: For you personally what is the ultimate goal/mission in this music thing and with Five Finger Death Punch?

ZB: To have fun. To create music we love… and it’s a lot of fun to see other people liking our music as much as we do. We are traveling the world, and do what we like to do. So we just want to keep doing it. Of course the bigger our audience gets, the more fun it is… and it enables us to put on even bigger and better shows.

MI: What are your next future plans?

ZB: We are pretty much booked up for the rest of this year. We are working on some crazy stage shows, if we can pull it off it’s going to be insane. We want to do something that will absolutely amazes or shock people. We want our shows become more than just a concert, we want to create something that’s an event you can’t afford to miss…

We all want the chance to see Metallica in the first row or at least have an equal chance to get there as any other person who can afford to buy a ticket to the golden ring. That is the essence of a metal show and the producer doesn’t understand it.

That is why other fans who believe  that the first boycott hadn’t reached the goals and as the producer said that the prices might change after couple of weeks, had decided to establish a new group in Facebook.

They hope to get more reasonable price that first boycott organizers hadn’t gotten and to recruit the same amount of people as the first boycott or even more.

As they are declaring we want to bring back the prices that every simple metal fan from young age can afford.

Israeli metal fans are livid at the insult and have already banded together on Facebook to initiate a boycott of the show. Over 540 fans have already committed to boycotting the show.

The initiators of the boycott state that Metallica tickets do not cost nearly as much as this in the rest of the world and assert that the promoter is trying to take advantage of loyal Metallica fans. They propose that tickets should cost from 300 – 600 shekel depending on the quality of seat – prices that are still high for the Israeli metal scene – international bands come to Israel all the time and tickets generally run from the 175-250 range.

Join the Facebook group – click here!

Each month, I submit an mp3 to the Musical Pact Alliance which will then be posted as the Israeli representative on that month’s MAP post including dozens of other countries posted on all of the participating blogs – like this: CLICK HERE

That means three things.

1. Each ISRAELI band who wants to be considered for this – please, in the comments below, post a link to the mp3 you want to submit. The link to your mp3 must be a hotlink (i.e. instantly downloadable by right-clicking and saving). Do not send me anything on Shabbat or I will automatically not consider it and don’t even mess w/ me – Shabbat means Friday night after shkiya to when three stars are up on Motzash.

2. there will be a vote on Metal Israel!!!! The three songs that I like the best will have the links posted on Metal Israel in order to be voted upon by friends and fans. I will get some sort of polling software plugin and of course, one can always leave comments on the post.

3. for March, I’m already submitting Orphaned Land’s “Sapari” so you have time for April. Each month, the contest will be held. And if you submit a track next month and don’t win, it is still in the running for months ahead.

This is a huge chance for international exposure. There is even an upcoming article on the Musical Pact Alliance in Britain’s The Guardian – link will be posted when I see it.

Does everyone understand? Please comment below with any questions.

Add the Metal Israel Fan Page on Facebook here.
Join the Metal Israel Facebook group for exclusive updates – you only get them here – by clicking here.

You don’t know what you can find until you travel with Orphaned Land on the “Neverending Way of ORWarriOR,” a sonic tapestry that flies a completely different path than the usual Western metal fare of Europe and the States, though for sure, there are common threads.  The influences of acts like Paradise Lost, Iron Maiden and the Beatles are evident.  But this latest effort, released on premier metal label Century Media, weaves elements together that run the gamut from blacker-than-black demonic intensity to let-the-sunshine-in hippie flamboyance.  Israeli bands tend to be perfectionist in their creations and the Neverending Way of ORWarriOR took seven years to release for a reason, proven in the disc’s polish, quality and virtuoso artistry.  Orphaned Land’s signature sound successfully blends the wealth of the Arabic musical genre’s unique melodies and odd-time styles into a solid metal and progressive rock basis that’s already won critical acclaim worldwide – but wait ’til they get a load of this one, which they will due to OL’s heavy touring schedule in Europe and the States this year.

The impressive classical guitar and string instrument skills of Yossi “Sasson” Sa’aron can set any burgeoning guitarist’s creativity ablaze. Vocalist Kobi Farhi spins tales with his style range, and the rhythm section of bassist Uri Zilha and Matti Svatizky wield the impeccably matched backbone of this Israeli band, who categorizes itself as “Middle Eastern metal” with dreams of instilling peace through their music.

Check them out here:  http://orphaned-land.com.

Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler of Daath and Sean Reinert of Cynic (ex-Death) have created a metal-based instrumental project swathed in classical sensibilities flirting with almost every musical genre known to mankind – well, the ones that don’t suck.  It’s like Black Sabbath meets Beethoven meets B.B. King in a majestic aural tale-spinning onslaught.

The way the Levi/Werstler track Dura Mater is crafted together with a contrast of subtlety and all out in-your-face musical impact for some reason brings to my mind the demonic visual mastery of  the car crash scene in Final Destination II – a tail-spinning onslaught.

It’s freaking awesome.  Go listen.  Check it out here.  Interview with Eyal Levi forthcoming in the near future bezrat Hashem.

…and I just found out my friend, the prolific Maor Appelbaum, is the one who mastered this new album and I’m very, very impressed. .

חברי הלהקה הם יונתן השילוני – גיטרה חשמלית ושירה שאול לוריא – בס חשמלית ושירה איתמר לוי – תופים ושירה

ניתן למצוא מידע נוסף עליהם במייספייס:

http://www.myspace.com/cainandable90210

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvoAVXmhSPA