Lords Of The Trident
by Chris FoxApril 2010
Can you define heavy metal? Does metal mean screaming vocals and deadly distortion? Or is metal wailing guitar solos and an iron lunged singer?
To Fang VonKillenstein of Lords Of The Trident, heavy metal is “that distorted sound that makes you roll down your windows in the summer and makes you put your fist in the air, out the window. It just gives you that feeling in the pit of your stomach that just drives that ‘yeah.’” One can only assume that “yeah” would make King Diamond proud.
Mr. Killenstein, also known as Ty, defines their sound as “80’s metal mixed with modern influences.”
“Our structure is more towards classics 80’s, but we down tune and are fans of modern death and black metal. Those tonalities show up a lot as well.”
Using their local flavor, they have turned bits and pieces of the UW Campus and Madison into epic metal. Fang explains:
“The Madison music scene is really a lot of indie rock, around campus especially. When you say metal, the average Joe thinks of death and turns the other cheek to our music. Half the people come to our shows for cool music, but the other half just come to see what the hell we are up to. “
“When we are dressed in armor, and lighting shit on fire it turns the heads of the average Joe and metal heads alike.”
If you haven’t seen Lords Of The Trident, you are assured that Mr. Killenstein isn’t joking you. The Lords are showmen at heart. They strive to bring people into the genre of heavy metal who would typically dismiss it without a second thought.
“It’s hard to draw people out,” he says, “when you are jamming in a t-shirt and jeans.”
Lords Of The Trident are looking to define their version of heavy metal and they love the attention that they get from the metal community, both positive and negative. Flyers for concerts have been scrawled with the words DEATH TO FALSE METAL. Many people, however, hail them as “Gods Of Metal”. But Fang sees it as a blessing either way:
“If they take the time to give us these reactions, they are at least paying attention . . . People hate us or they love us, but that is what metal is all about. And what we want is an extreme reaction.”
Through the ups and downs of the local scene these guys have really stuck by their guns, and branded their own little piece of the Madison scene and the metal genre.
LORDS OF THE TRIDENT will be playing the Blacktooth Metal Family show at The Annex on April 10 and the Mifflin Street Block Party on May 1st, both in Madison. Come out and see the chaos as these guys show off their version of what it means to “be metal”. Epic fire and explosions await weary travelers.
This rocks! Lords of the Trident are the reason I have started going to shows again. They put on a REAL show. Here’s the thing: you’ve got your bands who rock and don’t use props; you’ve got your bands that suck so they use props for attention - and then you’ve got Lords of the Trident - a band that rocks so hard your pants fall off, but they still use props because they bloody CAN. And they use them well, I might add. I swear when VonKillenstein sings, fire comes out of his mouth and if you pay attention to the rest of the band - they aren’t standing. they’re FLOATING. On what, you ask? On pure awesomeness, that’s what. Lords of the Trident cannot let you down. They don’t just play metal, they play the kind that I listened to back in the day that made my head practically fly off my shoulders. None of this ever so slightly nodding to the music crap. This is hardcore head banging, bleeding out your eyes metal. They deserve this cover and the fact one of my fav bands is on the cover of one of my fav magazines is too much for me right now. I gotta go before my head explodes into a fine paste.
There is Only 1 King Diamond this being said by an Iron Lunged Singer from A TORTURED SOUL!