Exclusive Interview: Mikael Akerfeldt

This past Saturday, I had the extreme, lifelong dream come true pleasure of sitting down and talking with the one and only Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth.  Opeth has long been my favorite band, and they were in the Chicago area on tour with Katatonia, so it was a great opportunity to sit down with Mikael and chat about a myriad of topics, like the state of metal music, his thoughts on working with his musical heroes, and even what the new Opeth record (!) might sound like.  Check out the interview below; I'm pretty sure it's awesome and you'll enjoy it, although I may have blacked out from too much awesome while actually speaking with him.

The Vinyl Spin Debut

Howdy all,

For those who weren't aware, not only was this past Saturday 4/20 but it was also Record Store Day, a celebration of independent record stores where numerous unique vinyls and cds are released.  Wanting to get more into the spirit of things, Durf and I decided to try and launch a potential video series for Brutalitopia entitled "The Vinyl Spin."  

Check out what it's all about after the break (Spoiler Alert: it's about vinyls).

Some News About Some Changes

Now that we’re back and ready to get posting again, we here at Brutalitopia want to fill you in on some of the changes that we’ve made.  Obviously we’re still going to be writing about metal and don’t be alarmed, We'll Do It Live Fridays aren’t going anywhere.  We’re going to try and incorporate a bit more in the way of video and audio, but we’ll wait until some of that content is prepared and ready to post before telling you about it.  We're adapting the site to be more in line with who we are and what we believe about the music we love, and so like a yeti facing dehabitation due to global warming, we're making some changes to ensure the survival of our mythical species.  The most striking of these changes is to our music reviews.

Welcome Back

Hello friends!

We unfortunately don't have a return date for the league's best point guard either, but we hope the news we do have finds you well, enjoying the music and funtivities that make life worth living.  Over the past few months, you may have noticed a conspicuous lack of activity from Brutalitopia, as the three of us embarked on a multitude of adventures and endeavors ranging from incredibly fulfilling to exceedingly monotonous.  You know, like stuff.  However, over the past few weeks, discussions were had, ideas were floated, and finally a decision was made: like the Phoenix, Brutalitopia is rising from the desert of Arizona to oppress anyone who can't produce a driver's license.  Just kidding, we don't care about things like that.  But we are back, and cliched as it may sound, we believe we're stronger and better than ever.

We'll have a lot more information to share about the site in the coming days, including new features on the site, some different things we're going to try out, and (at some point) when new content will begin filtering in. Stay tuned to this page, our brand new owned by us domain, our Twitter (@Brutalitopia), and our newly created Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Brutalitopia) for the latest updates, and we look forward to bringing you fun, enjoyable content centered on the metal we all love so much.

Talk to you guys again real soon.

- Jack, Mick, and Durf

Listen To Our Best Of 2011 Show Here!

In case you missed the live airing of Brutalitopia's best of 2011 show, on Radio DePaul, be sure to listen to it below! My good friends, and fellow radio station metalheads, Nathan Brue and Mic Durfee guest co-hosted. Enjoy.




- Mick

Listen To The Show This Sunday!

Since the info for where Brutalitopia actually airs is always on the side of the site, I've tried to avoid doing too much shameless promotion of the show here but I've made an exception this time around.  This upcoming Sunday, 11/20/11, will be the last airing of Brutalitopia for 2011.  In order to do something special for this show, I'll be bringing on my fellow comrades in metal from our radio station onto the show as special guest co-hosts.  Of course, I speak of none other than my good friends Nathan Brue and Mic Durfee.  Being that this will be the last show of 2011, we've collectively decided to do a best of 2011 theme, a 2011 metal blow-out if you will.  So it should go without saying that if you don't have anything going on this Sunday from 5-8pm cst, Radio DePaul is where you will want to be tuned into to get your metal fix.

Hope to have a bunch of you tuned in.

- Mick