For The Metal Voice Kenny Kessel interviewed Mike LePond (Silent Assassins, Symphony X, Ross The Boss) on June 20 2020 who will be releasing a new MIKE LEPOND’S SILENT ASSASSINS album called, Whore Of Babylon, via Silver Lining Music on June 26th.
In the interviewed Lepond's talks about his new album with Silent Assassins, performing with Ross the Boss, Symphony X plans and his opinion of Live Nations new way of doing things.
Watch the complete interview here
In the interview Mike LePond was asked what he thought of Live Nations plan to reduce payments and add more risk for cancellations to the artist. LePond responded," Live Nation are a bunch of scumbags. When you buy a ticket from Live Nation they throw all these charges in and you are paying a fortune and they are putting it all in their pocket. And as far as the bands go the bands are getting killed by Spotify and others as it is. So our album sales are down and Live Nation wants to give us another punch in the face. So Live Nation can drop dead as far as I am concerned and I hope another company comes along, undercuts them and we can all get behind them. "
Forging a union between the mighty worlds of heavy metal and ancient history, MIKE LEPOND’S SILENT ASSASSINS are on a mission. Whore Of Babylon, their third studio album, is a no-holds barred, gauntlet-thrown, true heavy metal mission lead by LEPOND, known worldwide as one of the foremost bass virtuosos in heavy metal music and a member of progressive metal band Symphony X. If you never knew what it was like to experience the might of metal from the old school, Whore Of Babylon will riotously teach you.
LEPOND recorded the album between various tours with Symphony X, working in Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo’s home studio. LEPOND also plays all rhythm guitars, while the core of Silent Assassins remains the same. “Alan Tecchio (vocals) has been with me from the beginning, and possesses such an incredible amount of range and power that we’re always gonna work together, and just like Lance Barnewold (guitars), he will definitely be in a touring situation,” states LEPOND. “Jamming with these guys is a no stress situation. There are no egos, there’s no bullshit, it’s just love of this metal music that drives us all, and I think you can clearly hear that on Whore Of Babylon.”
From the scintillating fury of “Dracul Son” to the baroque mystery of the title track, with Whore Of Babylon LEPOND has written and produced the sort of album that traditional metalheads have been dreaming of. Amidst the furious aural assault, LEPOND also marches through the tales of some of history’s most fascinating and brutal characters.
“Years ago, I started to watch a lot of the History Channel, and something flipped in my head,” LEPOND explains. “I never wanted to write about hot chicks and stuff like that, so when I started to learn more about history, I knew that the marriage of history with old school crushing metal riffs would be great, epic, and powerful. I wrote the first two solo albums on that premise, and this new album is another step up on that model. Vlad The Impaler and Countess Bathory? These are epic historical tales! Take the story of ‘The Whore Of Babylon,’ which in my interpretation was this demonic woman who seduces you, takes you to hell and takes your soul. Come on! That is some story, and it just matches up with this glorious music perfectly. All these stories do, and I hope that people will be stimulated into seeking more information and learning even more about these amazing figures. Epic tales go with epic metal!”
As the world spins on an axis weirder and crazier than any of us could’ve predicted even a month ago, there is more purpose and value in knowing your history than ever before. When that learning is wrapped in the sort of molten metal that is Whore Of Babylon, education becomes so much better. Listening to MIKE LEPOND’S SILENT ASSASSINS is a gateway to halting the cycle of human ignorance: A sentence you might’ve thought you’d never read, but one which can most certainly bear the finest of fruit…that and it will push your speakers to the brink of metal-motivated madness.
MIKE LEPOND'S SILENT ASSASSINS’ Whore Of Babylon will be released on CD, digital, and vinyl formats. For preorders, go to THIS LOCATION. Fans of Symphony X, Hades, Dio, Helloween, and Savatage pay heed.
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