Review Fix Exclusive: Johnny Hagel Talks Sorcerer’s ‘In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross’

March 20, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Sorcerer’s Johnny Hagel, who discusses the band’s new album, “In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross.” Consisting of former members of bands the likes of Lithium, Therion and Opeth, among others, they’re a metal powerhouse with plenty of skill. Discussing the creative process behind the album, as well as their future, Hagel lets us know what the band hopes to accomplish over the next few months.

Review Fix: What makes “In The Shadow of the Inverted Cross” a special album?

Johnny Hagel: Oh hard question for someone that has been involved in the writing and recording of the album. I would say that it is an album that you don´t hear coming from other bands today. From the writing to the order of the songs it is an album and I think we succeeded with what we planned to do.

Review Fix: Was the creative process different than other projects you’ve worked on?

Hagel: Yes it was. This time me and Kristian Niemann (guitar) wrote the music together which was great. Then Anders (vocals) worked with the lyrics and the melodies in his studio.

Review Fix: Considering how many bands all of you guys have been in, does it make it easier or more difficult to collaborate together?

Hagel: Easier in the way that we all know what we want and how to get that. I also think that there is no prestige in this band and that makes is really smooth to write and record.

Review Fix: What song on the album do you think has the best story behind it? Can you share?

Hagel: One of the first songs that I wrote for this album is the title track, ”In The Shadow of the Inverted Cross.” It was actually written before the we got together again. I didn´t write it for a special band or project so I am really glad that it made it to this album as I liked it from the beginning.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to affect people?

Hagel: This is something that I hadn’t thought about. If I can dream a little I hope this album can be a classic album in its genre one day and that people can like it as much today as in 25 years from now.

Review Fix: Music genres go through their ups and downs, some even die, but Metal always survives. Why do you think that is?

Hagel: I think it is because of that there have always been new good bands that play hard rock and metal.

Review Fix: What’s next for you guys?

Hagel: We are playing a gig here in Stockholm in May and hopefully we can play some more after the summer and then we will look for 2016 summer festivals. We will also start to write new songs as that is a process that takes time.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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