Latest news with #Joakim
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Neckbreakker released one of 2024's most exciting metal debut albums. Now they're about to live their biggest dream
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. When Joakim Høholt Kaspersen co-founded Neckbreakker in 2020, aged 15, one of the Danes' dreams was to play Copenhell, his home country's premier metal festival. 'As a Danish band, that is the thing that you strive towards,' the guitarist says of the 35,000-capacity weekender. He was just 19 when that dream came true. 'We'd all been going to that festival for years before we played it,' he continues with a smile. 'It's a place where the entire metal scene unites every year, so, when we played, it was like playing a festival where half of the crowd are your friends.' Performing at one of Scandinavia's biggest festivals is just the first item on the list of colossal things these death metal upstarts have accomplished. Now aged between 18 and 22, they've already signed to Nuclear Blast and released propulsive debut album Within The Viscera in December 2024. In a 'full-circle' moment, they've also been announced as the opening act on Slayer's mega-gigs when they return to the UK in July, a fitting position considering the thrash legends were Joakim's gateway into extreme metal. 'I started listening to thrash and learned a bunch of Slayer [on guitar],' Joakim recalls. 'When I found Death's Scream Bloody Gore and to me that sounded just like Slayer but more aggressive. Before I knew it, I was listening to death metal and going to pretty much every metal show I could. I got exposed to a lot of different subgenres.' You can hear those influences on Within The Viscera, a tooth-gnashing, headbanging mix of the nastiest bits in death metal and beyond. Deathcore breakdowns and scathing lead guitar lines frequently join its melee of chainsaw-like riffs, while pummelling beatdowns are never too far away. 'I've gotten very, very much into hardcore,' Joakim says. 'But a lot of the drumming on the record was inspired by our old drummer Anton's [Bregendorf] love of rock music. His favourite drummer of all time is Dave Grohl.' Joakim formed Neckbreakker under the name 'Nakkeknaekker' in February 2020, . He admits it was hard work finding other members. 'I'm from Aarhus, which is a pretty big city,' Joakim says. 'But the other guys in the band are from smaller cities in Jutland. There just isn't a metal scene outside of the bigger cities in Denmark.' Making the search even harder was how young he was. 'When I went to shows and stuff, there weren't a lot of people my age,' he says with a shrug. 'Even the people that were, they probably didn't play any instruments themselves.' Nonetheless, Joakim did eventually gather a lineup…three weeks before COVID-19 forced shows to be cancelled for more than a year. Rather than impatiently split up, the band practiced incessantly for 18 months, holed away in their rooms perfecting their instruments. All that time writing and playing made their gigs as sharp as machetes once restrictions were lifted. 'I think it helped us because we didn't think about having to book shit or anything like that,' Joakim reflects. 'We just wrote songs and played them all day. I remember, we would have rehearsals that were 12 hours long, but we would just be playing the same four songs again and again.' Nakkeknaekker burst out of lockdown like a rabid pitbull, playing all over Denmark in 2022 before going international the following year. They dominated the New Blood stage at Bloodstock Open Air, where the crowd relentlessly moshed to their well-honed savagery. 'That was our second or third show out of Denmark and it was just incredible,' Joakim says. But while they'd enjoyed some serious momentum, the band soon realised they'd need to change things if they wanted to continue reaching international audiences. Their expansion abroad showed the band that the name Nakkeknaekker was no longer fit for purpose, with the members noticing how many people overseas struggled to pronounce it. So, they translated the moniker into English and added an extra K. The rebrand was unveiled in late 2024, when it was announced that the five-piece were the newest additions to Nuclear Blast's roster. 'There's no other label that I'd rather be on as a metal band, to be honest,' he enthuses. 'They're just amazing people. The whole team seems to really, really understand metal and understand music. You can throw any reference to anything at them and they'll know exactly what you're talking about.' Since then, exciting news from the band seems to come as frequently as the tide. Their set on the Sunday of Download will be followed one day later by a gig supporting deathcore mavens Fit For An Autopsy. Then, of course, will come the Slayer shows, taking place at Cardiff's 35,000-capacity Blackweir Fields and London's 45,000-capacity Finsbury Park – presenting possibly the biggest crowds the band have played to yet. 'Words can't describe how excited me and the guys are to get the chance to support Slayer,' he enthuses. 'It still doesn't feel quite real, but we are just honoured and grateful to be a part of such an insane lineup.' The guitarist struggles to think when asked what his band have left to achieve – granted, who could come up with an answer better than 'playing my dream festival as a teenager' or 'supporting fucking Slayer'? For now, he wants to stick the course, playing more places and climbing further up posters. 'We still want to tour the US and Australia at some point,' he says. 'We just hope everything is going to get bigger and bigger.' Within The Viscera is out now via Nuclear Blast. Neckbreakker will play Download on June 15 and London with Fit For An Autopsy on June 16. They'll support Slayer in the UK in July
Rudaw Net
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Turkey releases Swedish journalist after 51 days in jail
Also in Turkey Turkey to host pivotal Russia-Ukraine peace talks after three-year hiatus Discussions over the PKK's decision to disarm continue in Turkey Ocalan welcomes PKK decision to disband, disarm Analysts, officials weigh in on PKK dissolution, aftermath A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Swedish journalist Joakim Medin was released on Friday after spending 51 days in a Turkish prison following his arrest while covering protests over the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. 'It has been highly interesting as a journalist to gain insight into the Turkish prison complex. I had contact with Istanbul's imprisoned mayor and with the world-famous political prisoner Osman Kavala, who sent recipes and books to me. But it was difficult to understand that this absurd situation was happening to me,' he said at a press conference in Sweden following his release. Medin was detained in March. In April, he was given an 11-month suspended sentence for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He still faces a second trial on charges of alleged membership in a terrorist organization and disseminating terrorist propaganda, according to local media outlet SVT Nyheter. He had traveled to Turkey to report on widespread protests over the March arrest of Imamoglu, who is widely viewed as the main political challenger to Erdogan. Medin described his imprisonment as a surreal experience. He said he spent his time in isolation performing strength training using water jugs as improvised weights. He learned of his release only when a guard repeatedly said a word in Turkish that he did not understand. 'A guard came and repeated the same word over and over. But I don't speak Turkish and didn't understand what he was saying. I asked a neighbor to translate and he said the word was 'release,'' Medin recounted. He was eventually transferred to a police station in Istanbul. 'There I got to see my lawyers and Sweden's consul general and I understood that something positive was happening. Until that moment, I thought there could be a misunderstanding and that I wouldn't be freed at all,' he said. His wife, Sofie Axelsson, who is pregnant, said she learned of Medin's pending release in a text message from his lawyer on Thursday. 'This nightmare is over. Joakim will be by my side when our daughter is born. It's hopeful that so many people care about Joakim and freedom of speech,' she said. Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said broad support for Medin contributed to diplomatic efforts in the case. She added that Sweden's recent accession to NATO helped improve bilateral relations with Turkey and facilitated Medin's return - though no formal agreements were made. 'I want to be clear. There has been no exchange deal and no demands have been made,' Stenergard said. Swedish media reported that days before Medin's release, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) arrested two individuals, including an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stenergard stressed the investigation was not initiated at Turkey's request. 'Sometimes separate events may seem related, even when they are not,' she said. This isn't the first time Medin has been detained while reporting. In 2015, he was arrested in Syria and spent a week in the custody of the Assad regime. At the time, Medin was still relatively unknown, and fringe corners of the internet circulated false and hostile claims - questioning his credentials and portraying him as a thrill-seeker rather than a legitimate journalist.
