METALLIAN - Gun Barrel

Power-Dive - 2001 - LMP
Battle-tested - 2003 - LMP
Bombard Your Soul - 2005 - LMP
Outlaw Invasion - 2008 - LMP
Brace For Impact - 2012 – Massacre
Damage Dancer – 2014 - Massacre

Members

Vocals

Guido Feldhausen - Capital Rose, STS 8 Mission, Pump!>>Xaver Drexler - Silver - CP24, Pantaleon>>Patrick Sühl>>Pantaleon

Guitar

Thunderstruck>>ROLF TANZIUS>>Thunderstruck

Bass

Holger Schulz - TOM KINTGEN

Drum

Florens Neuheuser>>Scopeland - Toni Pinciroli

History & Biography

Gun Barrel was given birth in Cologne by former Special Guests Tanzius and Feldhausen. Following a 1998 demo called Bomb Attack, the band released an independent four-song EP called Back To Suicide and began touring. Neuheuser left the fold and the band signed with Limb Music. The hard rockers released the Power-Dive album via LMP/SPV in 2001. The band shot a video for Straight Down To Hell.

Battle-tested appeared in the winter of 2003. Guitarist Rolf also took the time to play a rocker on a RTL TV show! Bassist Schulz immigrated to Australia in 2004 and was replaced by Kintgen. Feldhausen was booted from the band in the midst of the recording sessions for album number three. The sessions were partly postponed until a replacement was found. Bombard your Soul was released in October of 2005 and featured a new singer. Iron Savior's Piet Sielck had produced and mixed the album. Massacre Records released the 2012 album from Germany’s Gun Barrel, entitled Brace For Impact, in North America on May 22nd. Patrick Sühl was on vocals. The band had a live CD called Live In Kubana in 2011. Luke Zack x 2 replaced Pinciroli after Damage Dancer. Patrick was out in 2016. Heiwi was the new second guitarist. The band was booked for the Metal Gods Festival in 2020. The group was also working on a new album. Instead, singer Thomas "Thomale" Nathan and guitarist Heiwi left in 2022. Jan Niederstein (Fabulous Desaster) joined on guitar. The band was searching for a singer.

Reviews

GUN BARREL - BOMBARD YOUR SOUL - LMP
Gun Barrel’s fifty minutes of metal are action-packed and loud and proud music that deserves an airing in every metal club and audio system. The band’s rough ”˜n ready Teutonic heavy metal is tempered by the Germans’ tendency to make an anthem out of each song and give a chance to the listener to sing along.
The album’s strongest song is the opener Dear Mr. Devil (a reaction to Helloween’s Mrs. God perhaps) where new singer Drexler gets to give his pipes a good work out. His voice cuts a swath across early '90s Pantera to Chris Boltendahl and Udo. He is easy to comprehend and it does not take a lyric sheet to figure out the words. The music is quasi-thrashy with hints of Exhorder and Halford’s Resurrection. As the disc progresses the band drops any vestige of thrash and settles on a hard brand of metal with more basic influences. Think Running Wild and Motorhead. The Fallen One is catchy, but heavy with a great machine gun bass. The title track will probably end up becoming the band’s future anthem. Dive Into The Flame (In Flames?) kicks it up a notch with serious soloing and a tremendous bass guitar presence. On The Road again, in contrast, is more like AC/DC and rather weak and poppy. This is followed by I’m Alive which is not a Helloween cover. The album’s last song is called ”¦Is You and begins slowly and drifts into a Metallica-like riff. Clearly, the band’s better songs are earlier on the disc.
Gun Barrel is a fun band that delivers on the heaviness front. Let us hope that the band does not espouse its combat image. That is the last thing the world needs right now. - Ali “The Metallian”

Interviews

Having booked an interview with guitarist Rolf Tanzius of Germany's Gun Barrel gave Ali "The Metallian" a week to not only assemble appropriate questions for the chat, but also wonder what sort of a personality will stick his head into Metallian Towers the night of the appointment. So it was with a measure of surprise when on the predetermined afternoon not only Rolf reared his head, but also so did the rest of the band in order to be interviewed for these pages. The band's founder had singer Xaver Drexler, bassist Tom Kintgen and drummer Toni Pinciroli in tow and was ready for a boisterous chat during which the gang reportedly regularly interrupted each other, laughed out loud at inside jokes, hurled obscenities at each other in German and generally presented the members as a bunch of loud and fun loving irrepressible headbangers. No question was asked without massive laughter ensuing, something being thrown, someone being shouted down which meant a jumble of answers captured on tape. There was nothing left to do, but present the interview as it occurred allowing the reader to deduct who was answering which question. Here is the transcript. - 14.02.2006

METALLIAN: Welcome to Metallian Towers, guys”¦
GUN BARREL: How are you sir?

METALLIAN: I am fine, who wants to take my questions?
GUN BARREL: That would be Rolf he is the guitar player after all!

METALLIAN: The reason we are here today is your latest album, Bombard Your Soul. It is a fun heavy metal romp and I was hoping”
GUN BARREL: Great, do you like it? What is your favourite track on the album?

METALLIAN: My favourite song is Dear Mr. Devil.
GUN BARREL: Yessss, indeed. The album is as we are. It is not fake.

METALLIAN: The situation might be different in Germany, but is it fair to assume that the band does not have much of a profile elsewhere?
GUN BARREL: We cannot explain that. Our first two albums, Power-Dive and Battle-Tested, were released in Europe and North America. I don't know.

METALLIAN: The band has again changed its line-up for Bombard Your Soul. Why the changes and how has the new line-up affected the band's sound?
GUN BARREL: I cannot tell you this because I am the new singer. Rolf!
We stopped working with our old singer Guido because we experienced many problems with him. He stopped the work with us and created problems. We simply said 'bye bye' to him. We got Xaver three months later and we are very proud.
I am proud too because I sing in this band.

METALLIAN: How do the singers' styles differ from one another?
GUN BARREL: We are two different kinds of singers. He was a rough rock and roll singer and we are different types of persons. I don't know him personally so well, but Guido had a different style.
People would notice that there is a new singer right away, but why not? It is better for the band this way.

METALLIAN: Does the band promote a violent or militaristic message given the name and album titles? What would you say is the album's message?
GUN BARREL: No, there is no image. We are just a rock and roll band.
We make music and that is it. There are no messages, no secrets, no trends, it is only rock and roll (massive laughter).
There is no message behind it. We just do what we do.
We have never been in any wars. Has anyone been in the army?
No!
We have never even been in the army nobody!
(Sarcastically) no one has even been in the army and the band's name is Gun Barrel! No one in the band has seen a gun before (laughter)
Someone tell us what an army is.
Six years ago we only though Gun Barrel is a great name. That is all. The first album's title came about when we saw the cover. It has nothing to do with soldiers or something. That is why we picked Bombard Your Soul, it is a great title.
The only war we know is from Playstation. That is it!

METALLIAN: Which is your favourite Playstation game?
GUN BARREL: We don't have time to play.
Lara Croft.
Resident Evil.

METALLIAN: Anyone noticed how the cover of Bombard Your Soul bears some similarity to SOD's mascot?
GUN BARREL: Really?
Yeah, we know it.
The other guys know it. I did not know it.
From who? From Sodom?
No, SOD!
Stormtroopers of Death
Ah, thank you.
The covers are similar. That's right, but we like ours.

METALLIAN: What is the song Dear Mr. Devil about? Have you heard Helloween's Mrs. God when you wrote the song?
GUN BARREL: The devil does bad stuff. That's the rock and roll way. Not so much drugs, but alcohol and music”¦ That's the way of the devil. So we are sending him 'mail' before he comes to take us for our souls. He can take the band, the fans and us. We are telling him we are good for his hell. We are joking about the Devil.
We had no idea about the Helloween song. It wasn't planned by us.
We like Helloween's music, but we weren't taking ideas from them. We play our own songs.
We don't care about their song title.
Our music is much rougher than theirs. Theirs is (starts singing a happy melody), you know?
We are more (someone else starts growling like a beast)

METALLIAN: Fearing The Fear Of My Fears is an interesting title”¦
GUN BARREL: The song is about fear (laughter).
The title refers to a fear that everyone has deep inside. There is a fear about your fear. It is the worst thing you can have in your life.
We wrote the music about fear. It is very dark music, I think. The word 'fear' and the lyrics were right for the song. It fit the melody.
Are you afraid of the dark (begins singing to the tune of the Iron Maiden song)?
I as not talking about the band or myself only. I work in a hospital so I know what fearing for your life can mean. I have seen it around myself, my friends and different people.
Everybody has some fear. Even you, I think. It is normal. It is all around us. That is what I thought when I heard the song's melody for the first time. I thought 'this song has to do with fear.'

METALLIAN: Is the song Bloody Pretender about someone specific?
GUN BARREL: Everyone knows a bloody pretender.
You know the type, a big guy who comes in and begins throwing money around. He has girls with big tits on his arms. It is a party and everybody knows a bloody pretender. I described just such a person.
I have my own pictures about this song, but everyone has their own ideas of this picture.
It's about my first wife!
Then I thank you for the title, Rolf!
My first wife was a bloody pretender.

METALLIAN: Let's find out what the slow song ”¦ Is You talks about.
GUN BARREL: This song is a real song about my thoughts after both my parents died nearly four years ago. First my mom died and then my dad. It was a very hard time. This was a time when I started talking to God this way. It talks about my feelings. I asked God 'why do you do this?' It is a true story.
We don't have the lyrics on the web site, but we plan to do it soon.

METALLIAN: Given what I said earlier about your profile, do you feel restricted by LMP?
GUN BARREL: That's right. They are bigger in Germany. They were there when we took our first steps. They are doing a lot for us in Germany. At this time, they are the best thing for us.
We were signed to them for three album. The contract is completed.

METALLIAN: Let me ask about the couple of acting stints Rolf has had before stopping the tape recorder. How did these come about?
GUN BARREL: No, no, the whole thing was a small joke. My daughter”¦
”¦ is alive!
Stop joking. My daughter had a casting and asked me to go with her. I went with her and there they gave me an acting role as a rocker for a TV show. It is a daily show in Germany and I was cast as a bad rocker. I even went to jail in the episode. It was good promotion for the band. I was also the Devil in a video for another band. In it I sell someone a piece of an amulet. It was fun for me.

METALLIAN: Did your daughter get her role?
GUN BARREL: Oh, no! That was the joke. It was very sad. She got another role several months later.

METALLIAN: What is next for the band?
GUN BARREL: We are going to be performing at many festivals this summer in Germany and Denmark. We will announce a new contract in the summer or autumn.
If the fans like our music then we will have a good party and good shows. The future looks wide open right now.

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Gun Barrel