About me

Name: Sebastian Kluth

Online Alias (if applicable): kluseba

Position At Black Wind: interviewer, reporter & reviewer

Age: 24

Hometown: Leverkusen, North ­Rhine­-Westphalia, Federal Republic of Germany

What You Do In Real Life: I’m a high school teacher in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

Preferred Style Of Metal: Progressive, symphonic, power

Least Favorite Styles Of Metal: Brutal death metal, grindcore, drone

Favorite Non­-metal Music: Neue Deutsche Härte, Neue Deutsche Todeskunst, medieval and folk rock, progressive rock, world music, new age, soundtracks.

How You Got Into Metal: I first got in contact with heavier music through mainstream acts like Puddle Of Mudd, Linkin Park, Drowning Pool, and so on in 2002. In 2003 and 2004, I discovered the German medieval rock and metal scene around bands like In Extremo, Subway To Sally and Saltatio Mortis. I then started to listen to heavy and power metal like Iron Maiden, Edguy, HammerFall, and so on in early 2005. My tastes have continued to evolve since then. My first real metal album (if you don’t take into consideration nu metal and medieval rock) was Iron Maiden’s Fear Of The Dark.

Favorite Metal Albums (My current 20 favorites):

1. The Old Dead Tree ­ The Perpetual Motion (2005, progressive gothic metal from France)
2. The Vision Bleak ­ Carpathia: A Dramatic Poem (2005, gothic metal from Germany)
3. Amorphis ­ Circle (2013, progressive metal from Finland)
4. Stratovarius ­ Dreamspace (1994, power metal from Finland)
5. Heaven’s Cry ­ Primal Power Addiction (2002, progressive metal from Canada)
6. Amorphis ­ Tales From The Thousand Lakes (1994, progressive death metal from Finland)
7. Orphaned Land ­ All Is One (2013, Middle Eastern folk metal from Israel)
8. Amorphis ­ Am Universum (2001, progressive rock/metal from Finland)
9. The Last Successor ­ The Last Successor (2010, progressive metal from China)
10. Voivod ­ Angel Rat (1991, progressive metal from Canada)
11. Savatage ­ Gutter Ballet (1989, symphonic heavy metal from the USA)
12. Rush ­ Clockwork Angels (2012, progressive rock/metal from Canada)
13. Tang Dynasty ­ A Dream Return To Dang Dynasty (1992, heavy metal from China)
14. Therion ­ Sirius B / Lemuria (2004, symphonic metal from Sweden)
15. Iron Maiden ­ Powerslave (1984, heavy metal from the UK)
16. Moonspeel ­ Wolfheart (1995, gothic black metal from Portugal)
17. Pantommind ­ Shade Of Fate (2005, progressive metal from Bulgaria)
18. In Extremo ­ Mein rasend Herz (2005, medieval folk metal from Germany)
19. Seraphim ­ The Equal Spirit (2002, symphonic power metal from Taiwan)
20. Blaze Bayley ­ The King Of Metal (2012, heavy metal from the UK)

Favorite Metal Artists (In Alphabetical Order): Amorphis, Anthrax, Aria, Dream Theater, Edguy, In Extremo, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Loudness, Moonspell, Ningen­Isu, Orphaned Land, Savatage, Stratovarius, Tang Dynasty, The Old Dead Tree, Therion, The Vision Bleak, Voivod, X Japan

Most Overrated Metal Artists: Iced Earth, Megadeth, Saxon

What Metal Means To You: Metal is my favorite music genre because it is so diverse and emotional. It has united many different social and cultural aspects throughout the decades and centuries, and from all over the world.

Why You Enjoy Reviewing: I’m a creative person and have loved reading and even writing my own books since a very young age. I have worked as a journalist for several years now, where I have learned many new things, met a lot of interesting people, and enjoyed exposing my writings to a larger audience and getting all kinds of feedback. I always feel the need to create and write new things.

Today, I most enjoy supporting young and obscure artists. I also like to help people to discover all kinds of arts and to discover the same things from artists, colleagues, and readers of my works.

Best Personal Encounter With A Metal Musician: I consider musicians to be human beings who don’t like to get stalked after concerts and deserve some free space, and that’s part of why I’m somewhat shy to approach some of the musicians I adore. I have met and talked numerous times with the bass player and singer Vincent Peake, who is involved in alternative rock bands such as Groovy, Aardvark, and GrimSkunk. Since I have done an interview with Seraphim’s singer Quinn Weng via internet, I have stayed in contact with her and consider her to be a very kind person. I also enjoyed meeting the members of the band Krypteria at a festival and they were all very kind and generous. One of my favorite interviews (which led to meeting him in person) was with Blaze Bayley, who is an extremely friendly person.

Favorite Literature: I enjoy reading: Enid Blyton, Ray Bradbury, Jason Dark, Annette von Droste­Hülshoff, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Ralf Isau, Michel Jobin, Karl May, Hans­Georg Noack, Edgar Allan Poe, Erich Maria Remarque, J.K. Rowling, John Saul, Friedrich von Schiller, Dan Simmons, Yves Thériault, Thomas Thiemeyer, Jules Verne, Edgar Wallace and many more

Favorite Films (Top 20):

1. The Good, The Band And The Ugly (1966)
2. Twin Peaks ­ Fire Walk With Me (1992)
3. Gojira (1954)
4. Sympathy For Mister Vengeance (2002)
5. Lost Highway (1997)
6. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
7. Vidocq (2001)
8. A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)
9. Shining (1980)
10. Metropolis (1927)
11. I Saw The Devil (2010)
12. Sin City (2005)
13. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
14. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
15. The Naked Gun (1988)
16. Mongol: The Rise Of Genghis Khan (2007)
17. Good Cop Bad Cop (2006)
18. Marebito (2004)
19. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood Of War (2004)
20. Gozu (2003)

Favorite Television Show: Twin Peaks

Favorite Cuisine: I’m pretty open­ minded to discover any kind of cuisine. I especially enjoy eating Chinese, Croatian, German, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Mongolian food.

Favorite Beverage: My favourite non­alcoholic drinks are Almdudler, Arizona Ice Tea, blueberry or liquorice tea, Evian and Gerolsteiner water, Granini’s banana juice, Fruitopia orange juice, kvass, Sinalco Cola, vanilla soy milk, and Vita Malt. My favourite beer breweries are Baltika Breweries, Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan, Grimbergen, Les Brasseurs du Nord, Les Brasseurs du Temps, Les Brasseurs RJ, McAuslan Brewing, Mill Street Brewery, Unibroue and Velkopopovický Kozel. I rarely drink hard alcool but if I do so, I drink some Cuarenta Y Tres (Licor 43), some Ouzo 12 Gold and moderately different kinds of absinthe.

Song That You Would Have Played At Your Funeral: Iron Maiden’s “Fear Of The Dark”

Message To Black Wind Readers: Thanks for reading our contributions and keep on commenting, discussing, and enriching our writing and your listening. Please support the artists and purchase your music legally. Have some fun at concerts and festivals. Carpe diem!