Limp Bizkit – Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water This is the record, which introduced me to heavy guitar music. I was like nine years old, when the movie Mission Impossible 2 came out and I heard the song Take A Look Around for the first time. I was so into that song that my sister got me Chocolate Starfish for Christmas. By that age, I hardly started to listen to this kind of bands, so that Record from Limp Bizkit was a total game changer. It was heavy and had dirty and it showed me an energy I did not know before.

Iron Maiden – Brave New World Brave New World, in my opinion, is not the best Iron Maiden album, but it is the most important for me. It was the first Iron Maiden Record I had ever heard and it really changed the way I listened to music. Because of maidens catchy guitar melodies I started paying more and more attention on the guitar and I fell in love with that instrument. Therefore, it is safe to say, that Brave New World is the reason I started playing guitar in the first place.

Killswitch Engage – Alive Or Just Breathing I’ve got introduced to Killswitch Engage by our other guitar player Peter who showed me the song The Element of One on his shitty MP3 player when we were on a school trip by the age of 10 or 11. At first, it was too heavy and too aggressive for me especially because of Jesse Leach’s screaming. Somehow, that song did not let me go, so I listened to Alive or Just Breathing repeatedly, and in time I got accustomed to the singing. Killswitch Engage even became my all-time favorite band. I love their music so much that even if they would bring out an album that is total shit, I would still like it.

Gorgoroth – Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam & Wolves In The Throneroom – Black Cascade By the time I was 18, I was really in to Black Metal. In this time, Gorgoroth’s Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam and Wolves In The Throne Room’s Black Cascade stood above all others. Gorgoroth’s Ad Majorem is still my number one Black Metal album because I love all of the records with Gaahl on vocals and this one is just the best of them. After I saw them perform live at Wacken in 2008 I was so hooked.  Black Cascade was then the logical step in Black Metal for me. With its hypnotic blast beats and never ending guitar riffs, it totally cast a spell on me and it has never let me go.

Nasum – Shift There was I time where I was always searching for music that was harder and faster. In the end I ended up with Grindcore. In this genre the most interesting for me was the Swedish Grindocre from Bands like Splitter, The Arson Project, Gadget and of course. Nasum. Their sound was so so fast wild and in the same time very melodic. From all Nasum Records, Shift was the one that was my absolute number one and still is. When I hear the song The Smallest Man I cannot sit still and I need to bang my head.

Defeater – Empty Days & Sleepless Nights After I discovered Grindcore and found my personal peak in angry music, I was somewhat over saturated. I felt like I was in need of music that shared the same attitude as Grindcore but with less aggressiveness. I discovered a genre that, like Grindcore, had its roots in Punk music: Hardcore. David our singer who was into Hardcore years before I was always showed me some great bands but it never clicked. Until he showed me Defeater. Their record Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is so great, I still fall in love with it every time I listen to it.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F# A# Infinity I really do not have any words for that record. This is, in my opinion the greatest record ever made. The intensity, the songwriting everything is just in place. The only record I own that I would give a 10 out of 10.

Cataract – With Triumph Comes Loss I do not think there are a lot bands that I have seen more on stage than Cataract. As the big player in Swiss Hardcore they were a total stage smasher and every live show of them was insane. When they played songs of their album With Triumph Comes Loss the crowd got insane every single time. A pity, they never played the title track when I saw them. The end of that song is so evil!

Brand New – The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Of Me I discovered The Devil And God… about a year ago and it has become one of my absolute favorite records since then. This record is a perfect example of a nearly perfect album and it is on my music player at least once every two weeks. It is so good!

Invoker’s debut album Four Wall Nightmare is out now.