Death's Death Metal Distribution Center

Sorry guys I don't have time to post this week so I will continue The Crown "Saga" next week.

Priest's Power Metal Church

This week we're going to focus on a band everyone should know in Power Metal circles, German Heavy/Power Metal band Primal Fear! After lead vocalist Ralf Scheepers auditioned to be frontman for Judas Priest in the '90s and lost out to Tim Owens he decided to form a kickass band. Primal Fear are raw metal, chunky riffs, booming bass, soaring vocals and a brilliant heavy metal feel to them. Sounding similar to bands like Iron Savior, Judas Priest and Iced Earth I strongly recommend them to any new power metal comer. Any of their albums are worth getting bar perhaps New Religion which is their only shitter in my opinion. Jaws of Death is a great place to start as is Black Sun. I've given you some sample songs below to make you understand why these guys fucking rule! Give them a listen.

Lost Metal Gems...

So for the past few weeks I've been completely addicted to Manilla Road's album the Deluge. The addiction culminated last week when I listened to the album 7 consecutive times, never even thinking that I had any desire to listen to anything else at the time (because there was none). I've never encounter a situation like this. This got me to thinking of when I first heard Manilla Road after getting a copy of Crystal Logic and recalled that in that case as well, they were  all I could listen to for weeks straight. I may just be crazy but I really think that this band has been heinously overlook in the annals of metal and just want to make this post to celebrate a band that is just as obscure as the tales Mark Shelton and his band mates have weaved throughout the years:  Enjoy these gems and check them out their albums if you get a chance

The Road Of Kings (Open the Gates)

Astronomica (Open the Gates)

The Veils Of Negative Existence (Crystal Logic)

Shadow in the Black (The Deluge)

Children Of the Night (Mystification)

Mystification (Mystification)

Flaming Metal System (Crystal Logic)*

*: Flaming Metal System was previously unreleased and appears on the Crystal Logic reissue; it was not an original track on that album.

For the love of metal

Man I watched this video on you tube and I felt that this needed to be posted. Just a few guys hanging out for a jam and deciding to play Metallica's classic Fade to Black. I think it's obvious how much fun they're having and how damn good it sounds to, check them out:

The Crown Reform!!!

So Dobermann formally known as the almighty The Crown have changed their name back to The Crown (anything else just didn't seem just right did it?)  The have a new singer by the name of Jonas Stallhammer and from the samples he sounds fucking ferocious (he sounds just like Johan as well).

You can check out the samples at the new official site :http://www.thecrownofficial.com/

So this is some pretty good news to end a shitty week.  So to celebrate here is a vid, headbang till your head hurts :)

DIMEBAG DARRELL Tribute Album: Complete Tracklisting

From Metal-Rules.com:

On December 16th, UK's Metal Hammer magazine will celebrate their 200th issue with the inclusion of a Dimebag Darrell Abbott (PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN) tribute album. The CD and the magazine also coincides with the five-year anniversary of Dimebag's passing.

The Dimebag Darrell Abbott tribute album will feature the following artists/cuts:

ZAKK WYLDE - 'Suicide Note Pt. 1'
MACHINE HEAD - 'Fucking Hostile'
MALEFICE - 'I'm Broken'
AVENGED SEVENFOLD - 'Walk'
EVILE - 'Cemetery Gates'
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH - 'A New Level'
BIOHAZARD - 'Mouth For War'
SYLOSIS - 'Strength Beyond Strength'
CHIMAIRA - 'Slaughtered'
UNEARTH - 'Sandblasted Skin'
THROWDOWN - 'Becoming'
KIUAS - 'This Love'
THIS IS HELL - 'Rise'

Metal Hammer spoke to Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn about their decision to cover the Vulgar Display Of Power classic, ‘Fucking Hostile’.

“It was either that or ‘Strength Beyond Strength’ from ‘Far Beyond Driven’,” said Flynn. “In the end, we decided that we wanted to do a classic. We chose ‘Fucking Hostile’ because it’s two and a half minutes of pure, raging metal. It’s short, fast and brutal.”

“There’s some real intricate riffing parts in there,” continues Flynn. “We’d jammed it before but we’d never sat down and analysed it properly. I think we did a great job on it.”

Priest's Power Metal Church

Evening to my followers in America where uh hopefully it's still Wednesday!

My recommendation for you this week is a band called Agonizer. They are Finnish and play melodic power metal which is pretty heavy. Their debut album Birth/The End is their only one available. I like this band for their low end riffing, chugging rhythms and powerful style. The introduction song to their album is below, check it out see what you think:



Until next week my friends!

Death's Death Metal Distribution Center

Hey everyone, it's Thursday and tonight I would like to present The Crown.  If you don't know who they are then you need to get out from under your rock and get researching.  The Crown, formally known as The Crown of Thorns until some religious version of that name objected to the use of the same name for the title of a band who produced some of the most unrelenting Death Metal (or Death 'n' Roll if you will) to ever grace my ears.

Nearly everyone who listens to The Crown or has heard them cites Deathrace King as their best and I am tending to agree with them, fast, brutal, technical Death Metal with some great solos and an appearance by the vocal god known as Tompa.  From the moment the first note leaves the speakers you are overtaken by this brilliantly amazing music, Johan the singer has got to be up there with Tompa as one of Swedish Death Metals best or most ferocious vocalists ever.

Johan left not long after Deathrace King was released and guess who filled in for him?  You guessed Tompa and he was in the band long enough to release and album called Crowned In Terror (this was when I first heard about the band, being an avid fan of At The Gates I wanted to know about all that involved the members) which I think was sort of luke warmly received and was duly re-recorded after Possessed 13 which saw the return of Johan back on vocals, I don't think Tompa fitted in too well with the Crown boys.

I actually prefer Tompa's version over Johans as it sounds more raw and a bit more aggressive.  There are some nice finishing touches to Johans version, which by the way is entitled Crowned Unholy, in the way of re-recorded Bass and Vocals (of course) and the intro House of Hades is longer.  I urge you to check both the albums out to decide for yourselves.

The Crown broke up not long after the release of Possessed 13 and Crowned Unholy and formed other bands most notably Johan's band One Man Army and the Undead Quartet, which is pretty fucking groovy if you ask me.

Obviously The Crown have other albums but the three I have mentioned tonight are the ones I recommend, I will talk about Eternal Death, the rest of their disco and history next week.

Let our thoughts be with the Master of Metal

I'm sure most of you will be aware that the metal world was shaken with some very sad news that legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio was diagnosed with stomach cancer last week and is undergoing treatment. To remember how great this man is I've posted some videos below, Dio \m/

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Sworn……criminally unknown

Sworn, from Bergen, Norway (where else??) play some of the most melodic, brutal, crushing Black Metal to ever grace my ears…aside from that they have one of the coolest logo known to mankind:

Now, Sworn have two albums and one ep, I haven’t heard the ep so I can’t comment on that but I have heard numerous times their two albums The Alleviation and Bastards and Conquerors.
The Alleviation absolutely stunned me when I first heard it and to be honest I was not expecting anything great at all.  Was I glad I gave them a listen, the opening song “Alleviation” just floored me, I had to play it again just to believe what I was hearing, so Melodic yet a nice atmosphere coming out as well.  Sworn aren’t like your normal Black Metal band, rather than creating this frosty, grim atmosphere it is quite the opposite, very warm and relaxing.  Saying that though the brutality is just below the surface.

Here is a couple of videos of my favourite song from The Alleviation “The Beauty of My Funeral” the live video is a bit crap as far as quality goes but what can you expect from a camera phone video?



The second one is just of the artwork playing the studio version




Sworn’s second album “Conquerors and Bastards” continues the Melodic Black Metal Goodness but has upped the brutality and the band have added a few spoken word or should I say yelled word passages.
I need a few more listens to the new one and I will post more on it later, undoubtedly. I suggest everyone who reads this to purchase at least one Sworn album, you won’t be disappointed.

Phantasm's Black Metal Nightmares: Countess

The purpose of this series of posts is to make black metal bands that aren't as readily known as some of the more legendary counterparts within the genre, made more prevalent in your own personal realms of black metal. So, why not start with a band that has remained one of my favorites throughout the years: the Dutch legends, Countess.  Orlok has been spawning his own unique style of black metal, dubbed Orthodox Black Metal, since the early '90s.  The band quickly became the project of Orlok as he was the only consistent member throughout the years, and now remains the sole member of Countess. Reasons for Countess being overlooked could be due to many different factors; the relative obscurity of their albums due to their ultimate lack of distribution, the fact that a drum machine is used on all albums beyond the debut (with the exception of the Hell's Rock n Roll EP), or maybe just the fact that Orlok's music is just downright goofy sometimes. Regardless of the bands undeniable obscurity, the music remains strong and speaks for itself.  Do yourself a favor and check out some of the mp3s that can be found at the bands site by clicking on the link below and let your ears fall victim to the Return of the Horned One ! I think you'll be pleased. 

http://www.barbarianwrath.org/Countess/

Could there be a better DVD release than this next year???

At The Gates....do I really need to explain who they are?  No? I didn't think so, are releasing a 3 dvd strong box set next year.  "The Flames of the End" as it will be called will involve the following:

Disc 1:
Under a Serpent Sun: The Story of At The Gates, a two hour doco on, obviously, the beginings and demise of ATG.

Disc 2:
Purgatory Unleashed: Live At Wacken , 75 mins of ATG awesomeness from W.O.A 2008.

Disc 3:
Only the Dead are Smiling: A number of rare and unreleased live shows and videos.

I only have one complaint, they do have other albums other than Slaughter of the Soul, could they have not used lines from songs and song titles from them somewhere as well???

All in all I would like to think that this will rule my DVD player for the majority of next year, as it is released on Feb 22nd 2010.  I must say I am incredibly excited for this and I will be buying it as soon as I possibly can.

Death's Death Metal Distribution Center

I go by the name of Icipher here but at my forum I am known as Death so hence the name.  Every Thursday (New Zealand Time) I will be posting about something that precludes to Death Metal or the like (or whatever takes my fancy at the time).

Today, Desultory are a little known Swedish Death Metal band from Stockholm.  They are from the same period as the classic Dismember and Entombed and released their debut Into Eternity at the same time.  Even though it made nowhere near as much impact as Left Hand Path and Like An Ever Flowing Stream I still consider it a classic, a lost classic if you will.

Desultory were a bit more American Death Metal than their counterparts but in no way is that a bad thing.  If you are interested check out Into Eternity.  Even though theses guys are still around and together they haven't put out an album since 1996.  They are worthy of praise so here is a vid and the album cover:

Priest's Power Metal Church

Alright metalheads, Priest reporting in here from chilly ol' England. It's been a while since the blog had some activity that was due to the main posters here working on a forum which means a great deal to us. A

Anyway, plan from now is each Wednesday evening I will be posting a weekly dose of power metal/melodic metal for you guys to check out and headbang to \m/

This week I thought I'd start with a power metal gem not everyone knows about but should... SAVAGE CIRCUS!!!
This band were formed by Thomen Stauch after he left Blind Guardian because he didn't like the direction their music was going in. He grouped together with Piet Sielck (Iron Savior, ex-Gamma Ray), Jens Carlsson (Persuader) and Emil Norberg (Persuader) to form a band on par with early Blind Guardian. Fast, furious and melodic as hell. Savage Circus is a MUST for anyone digging the old Blind Guardian material such as Imaginations, Battalions of Fear, Nightfall etc.

Recently just released their new album Of Doom and Death, their second after debut album Dreamland Manor was released 4 years ago. Both are equally brilliant and worth checking out.

Here is a sample of what Savage Circus are like:



This is my tip for this week. Await next week's recommendation!

Mandatory Metallica Saturday....uhhh Sunday

Easy Listening Sunday

When I'm not in the mood for some Metal, Pink Floyd fills the gap perfectly. Animals is something special, a very dark rather angry album (well as angry as four long time stoners can get). I never tire of Animals ever.

This is the closest I could find to Floyd playing Dogs, so enjoy.

Insomnium

To Celebrate the leakof the new upcoming album: Insomnium Live :) I love the in unison headbanging.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Some Naglfar Goodness

Equirhodont:Grandiose Magus Review

Here's a recent review of mine of the Equirhodont album "Equirhodont: Grandiose Magus."

For those not familiar Equirhodont is a side project of the members of the Czech. legends Root, namely Big Boss. This album is an extension of Big Boss’s concept first presented on Root’s Kargeras album from 1996 that follows this character, the Equirhodont, through his travels and experiences.

Unfortunately, as grand as the idea and concept for this album is, it’s actual execution pales greatly when compared.  The album consists of 8 tracks, three of which are interlude/introduction tracks; While these tracks do set the stage for their counterparts, it leaves about forty percent of the album to these short interlude pieces which can not stand on their own musically. So what about the remaining sixty percent of the album? Vocally there really are no surprises or disappointments; Each individual track is opening by a narrator who sets the stage for each part of the story before Big Boss comes in. For those familiar with Big Boss and his vocal style, everything here stays true to what he’s done within Root though the focus of the vocals on this album seems to be on a more serene, low-key style rather than what he sometimes does within Root. The music is a different story. Most of the songs presented here sound exactly the same musically. Tracks such as “Meeting,” “Song” and “The Monolith of Demons” opus trudge along at the exact same pace with little to no variation between them. The guitar work mainly consists of chords played in the background while there is consistent soloing over the top. While this remains interesting for the first three or four minutes, it does not hold up well throughout the entire album. The drums are electronic and really don’t hinder the album but at the same time do not offer anything viable.

The element that is most different here that usually is not present in Root is the use of snyths and keyboards. The use of them on this album helps create sort of an otherwordly or exotic feel that is consistent throughout the duration of the disc. Though it is different, the keys are presented in a sort of uninspired fashion; just playing in the background, holding these already thin songs together; The most complete piece of music on this outing is the Monolith Of Demons I/Bridge To…/the Monolith Of Demons II portion of the album. In a sense, one could say the album builds up to this point. The last three tracks are inherently dark pieces of music in which the keyboards move away from their background role and dominate the scene creating the most complete songs on the album. This notion is especially evident during the final track “Monolith Of Demons II” which easily captures the spot of top track on this album.

While the concept here is interesting, it seems like the purpose of this album was to tell a story more so than to present something musically. The music here just seems to “go along” with the lyrics/concept, which is the centerpiece of this album. I think it’s worth noting that the music to the most interesting tracks, the Monolith opus, is credited to being written by Big Boss while the rest of the album was composed by the guitarist Ashok; That really does lead me to believe that this was more or less Big Boss’s vision and something that he knew how to inherently express and did so with his musical contributions; It is a shame that Ashok’s musical contributions were not on the same level as Big Boss’s because if so, this album truly could have been grandiose.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Mannfall - Demo II - Join der kvlt - 2009

Mannfall - Join der kvlt (Demo II) - 2009

Genre: Black Metal
Release date: 2009
Members: Count Corona

Track List:

1 - Join der kvlt
2 - Into the magnificent darkness
3 - Our frosted hearts
4 - Solidtude (Awake I)
5 - Fur die Ravengott
6 - Blood storm funeral
7 - Wandern im Wald in der Dämmerung

-

Doomload!

Mandatory Metallica Saturday (slightly late)

Well Death doesn't do these anymore so guess you're stuck with me! I was at this show, awesome!



Enjoy

Deceased...

So in my recent purchases and listenings, I finally obtained a Deceased album. I've know about the band for awhile now since  first hearing their cover of Mercyful Fate's "Doomed By the Living Dead" on a MF tribute cd. The cover impressed me immediately but for whatever reason I never thought to get anything from the band: until now. A few weeks ago I obtained a copy of As the Weird Travel On and upon listening to the album, I instantly became a Deceased fanatic and ordered most of their catalog. Hopefully, their scheduled upcoming album will continue the horror and  heavy metal inspired godliness that King Fowley and the band are known for. Take some time to check them out if your not familiar with them: 

Elly's Dementia

The Silent Creature

Dark Chilling Heartbeat

For All those Vinyl/Occult Black Metal Fanatics

Iron Tyrant is about to unleash this weekend a reissue of one of the most legendary black metal albums of all time; This is a reissue of the Italian Mortuary Drape's long out of print album "Secret Sudaria" on double lp format. A few versions of this will exist including an extremely limited version on gold and silver vinyl. This release looks amazing and though money is tight, this is an essential release to have. Even if your not into the band, this is probably a good investment because it's value will not deteriorate. For more information check out:

irontyrant.net/ITnews.html or the NWN message board. 

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

On the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings I think it is fitting that we also honour a fallen metal soldier, Cliff Burton may he rest in peace. Today's dose of Metallica is the rare To Live is To Die being played live. Please take a moment to reflect.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

A slight change in the presentation of Mandatory Metallica today.



This is to celebrate the release of Guitar Hero Metallica.

Text book stuff from Sweden!

Now Morifade are another one of those many underground power metal bands that you’ll usually only come across completely by accident or in mentioned in a list on Youtube or something. Funnily enough, I came across this band in another way, that is; I typed ‘Sci-fi’ and ‘power metal’ into the Metal Archives search engine and picked a band name at random and then My-spaced them. How lucky I was because I really liked what I heard.

Morifade of Sweden are nothing special, but I have to say, they’re bloody good for what they are, which is: light-hearted, sci-fi sounding power metal with elements reminiscent of bands like Stratovarius and Labyrinth.

They have plenty of speed, but not an overdose. They have interesting riffery with a lot nice rhythmic work as well as a lot of great modern power metal leads and melodies. The drumming is great too, a lot of alternating patterns and ‘speed up and downs’ (think Wuthering Heights (but not that much lol)). The overall arrangement has some good variation, you won’t get bored with this after the first few tracks and you’ll easily loose you self in a two or three back-to-back listens of the album. Vocals are what you would expect from Stefan Peterson, mid-ranged, full, melodic and straight forward. Keyboards are well placed, subtle and get very quick in the pre-chorus areas, as in most great power metal.

This is just another of the great, hard working power metal bands out there that just know what they’re doing and do it well. There’s’ a lot of catchy soul-raising tunes on this release the will have you coming back again for more. My only criticism is of the lyrics which are very bland and is nothing you haven’t heard before but other than that, the music is top notch power metal.

7/10

Highlights: Escape, In Martyria and Revive for a while.

Megadeth

To prove that we're not 100% biased against Megadeth only 95% here at DoD, here's a clip of Burnt Ice being played in 2008 in San Diego:



Enjoy!

Mandatory Metallica Saturday (again)

Sorry I couldn't resist posting this one:

Entombed

I didn't realise this but 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the birth of Entombed and that legendary Swedish Death Metal sound. So everyone play your favourite Entombed album and open a bottle of beer and celebrate.
This is what I will be playing:

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Holy shit, its been a week already and I haven't posted once, sorry about that people. Its a bit hard to post when your internet speed is down to 56k for a few days.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

I'll step in once more and deliver your weekly dosage of Metallica:

Avantasia

I read this curious article this morning which made me think a bit more of Tobias Sammett but I also kind of question his way of thinking a bit. Here is what he had to say regarding the release date of the next Avantasia album:

"This is not a rock-&-Roll-homestudio-project, we'll work with a choir, with a symphony orchestra and - no matter if the music-industry goes down the toilet - I'll spend a fortune on creating the whole thing. So I'll take all the time I need, and it won't see the light of day until I am completely satisfied. Some who know my plans said, that it's unreasonable to spend one's savings on creating a piece of music these days, as the music industry is going through hard times. Absolutely right! But do you consider it extremely reasonable to shoot a man into space? It's unreasonable to spend money for whatever, life itself is unreasonable, because - believe it or not - in the end it's quite often pretty lethal. I am rather unreasonable and therefore unsad."

Interesting.




Priest

Project Strato

Not sure how many of you are fans of Stratovarius but as one of the early power metal bands they have been around for a very long time and gone through numerous changes. I was reading on metal-rules.com earlier today that Timo Tolkki (who recently departed the band) is forming his own project called Project Strato which is utilising the Dreamscape line-up and tentatively called their album Return to Dreamscape. The hope is this will revisit the type of music they played on this album 15 years ago and give Timo Tolkki the opportunity (in his mind) to close the book on Stratovarius. The remaining band members still continue to play with the band's name and the issues they have had to deal with Tolkki and his mental illness came to culminate in late 2007 with his departure. This year they have a new album, new guitarist and hopefully a new fresh outlook.

I will get a chance to see this on Monday when I go to see them play along with Firewind.

Priest

Walknut

Since I accidentally discovered these guys from Russia, they have been on constant play. Here is the second song off the album Graveforests and Their Shadows, Motherland Ostenvegr.


Enjoy



by the way its not a video its just the full length song

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

I think Death may have missed this, but I am here to continue your dose of Metallica as it is still Saturday for me. Mandatory Metallica Saturday people:

Update from the Asylum

Hey everyone,
Just letting you know our resident Black Metal genius AE, has uploaded a new song to his myspace, go there now and listen.

Asylum Escapes Myspace

Aersosmith have started a nasty trend

So! According to blabbermouth.net (the "heavy metal" news site that updates every 6 seconds) has reported that late this year Guitar Hero Van Halen will be arriving on shop shelves. It was cool with Metallica, because, well.....it's Metallica. I can see this turning in to one big cash cow and every band in existence will be on the gravy train.

This is what cracks me up the most, band politics:

The biggest questions center around which band personnel will appear in the game. There's no word on whether original bassist Michael Anthony will be excluded from the game play in favor of current bass player Wolfgang Van Halen, and it's also unknown whether the game avatar of singer David Lee Roth will be joined by Sammy Hagar or even Gary Cherone.

I will have to go on a shooting spree if I see a Guitar Hero Linkin Park come out.

This is why you dont drink.....

......when you are at a signing session, especially when that signing session involves your idols.



Cheers to metalsucks.net for the vid.

New Slayer Album! Tell all your friends

7th July, mark it on the calender, thats when the new Slayer album, which seems to be still untitled, will land. To hold you over here is the song Psychopathy Red

Evergrey...sadness and depression to make you feel fortunate

Not for everybody but by far one of the most depressing prog/power bands around. A lot of their lyrics have to deal with child abuse, violence, abduction, religious abuse and depression. Tom Englund has a very emotive voice with full conviction and Evergrey create the perfect atmosphere for feeling trapped, empty and left with no hope. So sad...

Evergrey - For Every Tear That Falls



I forgot how much I do enjoy their music.

Check these out

I stumbled across these two gems of bands, Walknut from Mother Russia and Skagos from Canada, the home of Philip and Terrance. Each of them play their own brand of Atmospheric Black Metal and they are both epic as epic can be...

Check 'em out

Walknut

Skagos

Escape from the Asylum

Another one man project and a friend of all of us contributers here at DoD is Asylum Escape, from Canada. Wraith, as he likes to be known, has written some great songs, unfortunately he has removed them from his myspace and only has his latest up, check it out:

Asylum Escape's myspace

Just crank up the volume, its a little on the quiet side.

Take Note People

I would like to direct your attention to our very own Gigaslave and his one man Black Metal project, Mannfall. Take a listen to his myspace, he has great potential so listen and tell us what you think.

Mannfall Myspace

Our Forum

Hey guys, all of you who read here are welcome to post at our forum; Metal You, we are slowly rebuliding our list of members and the more the merrier, so click the link and begin posting.

if you join please leave a comment here because I will need to approve your account


Metal You Forum - A Forum For All MetalHeads

The Decision has been made

Being May and with me being a bit of an Enslaved fan I have decided that May is now International Day of Enslaved. So dress up in your favourite Viking outfit, put on your favourite Enslaved album and terrorise the neighbourhood.

Blood Red Throne!!!!!!!

Priest and I were discussing the upcoming BRT album, "Souls of Damnation", due out 1st June and it got me all excited, so here is the trailer to the new album:

Testament let fans choose songs they want to hear played..

Check this out:

TESTAMENT is offering fans the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to choose what songs they would like to hear during the band’s upcoming North American headlining tour! The poll is being conducted on the band’s official MySpace page.

There are three set lists fans can vote on:

* Set A – The Legacy full album + ‘Best Of’
* Set B – The New Order full album + ‘Best Of’
* Set C - The Persecuted Won’t Forget, Practice What You Preach, Into the Pit, Dog Faced Gods, Raging Waters, More Than Meets The Eye, Demonic, True Believer, The Legacy, Over the Wall, The New Order, Souls of Black, First Strike Is Deadly, Disciples of the Watch, D.N.R., Three Days in Darkness, The Formation of Damnation

Each city’s set list will be open for voting, so make sure to visit www.myspace.com/testamentlegions and make your voice heard!

Singer Chuck Billy commented on the MySpace/set list poll: “Dudes, we have something SICK planned for you…we know times are tough, and it is hard to get out there and spend the money on a ticket, so we are making this tour YOURS. It is your choice what we play. Check out the BRAND NEW contest live on our MySpace and VOTE on 3 set lists to determine our musical fate for the evening. We promise which ever set wins, we will get out on stage every night and kick your motha-f*@king ass...Also, for the first time EVER we have VIP packages for sale. Not only does the VIP package include a ticket to the show but... hey, go ahead have a drink ON US...and with us. You will hang with us and check out our sound check, PLUS receive an autographed poster, collectible laminate, Testament Music Skins, a Very Special Limited Edition Merch Item and you will be entered into a raffle to win one of our NOT EVEN OUT YET Darkstar Testament Skateboard as well as Eric Peterson’s signature Dean guitar ‘Old Skull’ V, and more! So don’t waste time, take a look at our dates, see when we are coming to your city, buy a ticket to the show & GET INTO THE PIT! Heavy Metal Forever!”

testament-beer

TESTAMENT is about to kick off their first North American headlining tour in support of 2008’s critically-acclaimed The Formation of Damnation. The tour also features Unearth and Lazarus A.D. For the tour, TESTAMENT is offering special VIP packages that include meet-and-greet opportunities, access to soundcheck, collectible laminate, an autographed poster, TESTAMENT music skins, a limited edition TESTAMENT messenger bag, and a chance to win a DEAN Guitars Eric Peterson signature ‘Old Skull V’ and TESTAMENT Darkstar skateboard.

Testament US headlining tour:

(with Unearth and Lazarus AD)

5/2 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
5/3 - Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
5/4 - Vancouver, BC – Commodore
5/6 - Calgary, AB – MacEwan Ballroom
5/7 - Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Events Centre
5/9 - Winnipeg, MB – The Garrick Centre
5/10 - Maplewood, MN – The Rock
5/12 – Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Theater
5/13 – Sauget, IL – Pop’s
5/15 - Chicago, IL – House of Blues
5/16 - Detroit, MI – Harpos
5/17 - Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
5/18 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
5/20 - Toronto, ON – Sound Academy
5/21 - Montreal, QC – Metropolis
5/22 - Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
5/23 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theater
5/24 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
5/26 – Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head Live
5/27 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
5/28 – Norfolk, VA – Norva
5/29 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theater
5/30 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
5/31 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
6/2 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar
6/3 – San Antonio – Scout Bar
6/4 – Ft. Worth, TX – Ridglea Theater
6/6 – Kansas City, MO – The Beaumont
6/7 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
6/9 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
6/10 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
6/11 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues
6/12 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore

Slayer and Megadeth on Canadian Tour

Talk about a mind-blowing line-up. Slayer and Megadeth - two of the bands that defined the thrash/metal genre - will perform together for the first time in more than 15 years when they co-headline four shows in Canada in late June. The tour, dubbed "Canadian Carnage," will also feature Machine Head and Suicide Silence, and will see Megadeth and Slayer each closing two of the four shows. Tickets will go on sale Saturday, May 2, and will be available at all Ticketmaster outlets and at Ticketmaster online.

Few bands come close to matching the intensity that Slayer brings to its live shows, having been named "Best Live Band" by numerous media outlets including Revolver, SPIN, and Metal Hammer. Slayer - guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, vocalist/bassist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo - is currently in Los Angeles recording its as yet untitled tenth studio album with Greg Fidelman producing and Rick Rubin executive producing. Fans were given an early taste of the brutal new Slayer material when "Psychopathy Red," a song inspired by the heinous Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who confessed to savagely murdering 56 children, was recorded last October and then leaked online. Attendees of "Canadian Carnage" will be treated to Slayer performing "Psychopathy Red" live on stage. Plans are to release the new album in July, in tandem with the Mayhem Festival tour Slayer is co-headlining with Marilyn Manson.

With over 20 million albums sold worldwide, the icon that is Megadeth culminated earlier this month, with Dave Mustaine’s acceptance of the highly coveted “Golden God” accolade and the band's headline performance at the inaugural Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles. Megadeth – lead guitarist/lead vocalist Dave Mustaine, lead and rhythm guitarist Chris Broderick, bassist James Lomenzo and drummer Shawn Drover – is currently recording their 12th studio album in Los Angeles with Andy Sneap. The disc is scheduled for release later this summer to coincide with a full scale world tour. Known for their ferocious live show, Megadeth will once again bring this intensity to their loyal throng of Canadian followers.

Bay Area titans Machine Head add to the carnage as main support. Machine Head - vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn, guitarist Phil Demmel, bassist/backing vocalist Adam Duce and drummer Dave McClain - are currently touring in support of their critically-acclaimed and Grammy nominated The Blackening. Since its release, the band has been awarded both Best Album at the Metal Hammer Awards and Album of the Year at Kerrang's annual ceremony that same year. And with a fan base so rabid, they've actually been banned from certain U.S. venues, Machine Head will bring with them the relentless stage show they are renowned for.

There is little doubt in anyone's mind that Suicide Silence is one of the frontrunners of the new wave of American metal, a statement further validated as the group won the "Best New Talent" award at the inaugural Revolver Golden Gods Awards, held at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on April 7. The group was also hailed as the event's breakthrough artist by the L.A. Times, but make no mistake that this extreme juggernaut is not resting on its laurels and is about to take things up a notch with their highly-anticipated sophomore release, No Time to Bleed, which was produced by acclaimed producer Machine (Lamb of God) and set for a June 30 release.

Dates for the Megadeth/Slayer co-bill are:
June
24 GM Place, Vancouver, BC
26 Rexall, Edmonton, AB
27 Saddledome, Calgary, AB
29 MTS Centre, Winnipeg, MB

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Finnish Black Metal Awesomeness

Ajattara are a Finnish Black\Dark Metal band who sing in nothing but Finnish (understandably!).

Pasi Koskinen (known as Ruoja in Ajattara) is the ex singer from another amazing Finnish band, Amorphis.

You could call Ajattara a Black Metal band but their music is hard to pinpoint, you need to listen for yourself. Their latest album, Noitumaa which came out 22nd April is an acousitc Bm album, it still has this amazing atmosphere. I'd post a video to it but I cant find anything, so this one here will have to do.



Check out the acoustic album Noitumaa, its brilliant.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

Fucking Finally

Immortal are finally recording a new album, read on:

We’ve just found out that Norway’s mighty Immortal have begun recording their new album, their first since 2002’s Sons of Northern Darkness. Here’s the (brief) word from their management:
“The band has started to record the upcoming album! They will be working in both Grieghallen and Abyss studios this time.”



Cheers to metalkult.com for the pic and news.

Time Off

For all of those of you who read this, I am just lettng you know I won't be posting for a wee while. I have had a death in the family and I need to be with my family, So I will be back in maybe a weeks time or so. Thank You.

Demigod

The gods of Polish Blackened Death, Behemoth are recording for a new album at the moment, so here is a live video of Demigod to remind us why we all love Behemoth:

1349

1349, Norwegian Black Metallers have a new album out on June 2nd called Revelations of the Black Flame, I know I am looking forward to this. Pretty sweet artwork as well:



2009 is turning out to be a bloody good year for metal, yet again.

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

This should get you all excited

The new album from Death Metal Gods, Suffocation, (please bow before them), is due out July 7th and is entitled Blood Oath. This will rule so mark the day on your calendar.

Super Duper

Finally a God Dethroned album that doesn't put me to sleep. Passiondale is a great return, nice solid aggressive Melo Death. Check it out.

Voivod to release new album

Canadian metal legends VOIVOD have set set "Infini" as the title of their final album, due in North America on June 16 via The End Records and Germany on June 12 through Nuclear Blast (the rest of Europe is expected to receive the CD on June 15).

Regarding the album title, VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin said, "There were many titles thrown around, but I thought of 'Infini' and everybody liked it. Also, it looks great in sci-fi fonts."

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. God Phones
02. From The Cave
03. Earthache
04. Global Warning
05. A Room With A View
06. Destroy After Reading
07. Treasure Chase
08. Krap Radio
09. In Orbit
10. Deathproof
11. Pyramidome
12. Morpheus
13. Volcano

Total running time: 57:57

The follow-up to 2006's "Katorz" will mark the second album in the band's 20-plus-year career that did not feature founding guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour working alongside his bandmembers in the studio. "Infini" will also mark the first VOIVOD album to feature Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault on bass since 1991's "Angel Rat" and their first release with D'Amour's replacement Dan Mongrain on guitar.

VOIVOD made its trimphant return to the stage on June 22, 2008 in front of 22,500 fans as part of the Heavy MTL festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The group was joined by original bass player Jean-Yves Theriault ("Blacky") for the first time in 17 years. Dan Mongrain from the Quebec band MARTYR, a good friend of the band, played guitar. Songs from the early catalogue were the focus for the Heavy MTL set, including VOIVOD's cover of the PINK FLOYD classic "Astronomy Domine", which closed the show before the band took a bow center stage and shared a group hug.

Some albums to start the week....

If you are like me and need a boost to start the working week here are some wicked Death Doom albums for you to check out:

Saturnus - Veronkia Decides To Die



A simply amazing album, this album just makes everything go away, it has some beautiful moments, an album for all Doom fans.

Katatonia - Brave Murder Day



Easiest the best Katatonia album by a long shot, Mikeal Åkerfeldt sings all the harsh vocals on this album. There is nothing overtly technical or astounding with regards to the musicianship but I think that's what makes Brave Murder Day so special, the simplicity.

Anathema - The Silent Enigma



Epic Death Doom by long running Pommie Doomers Anathema.

Daylight Dies - Lost To The Living



Latest album from American band Daylight Dies, these guys are quickly moving up the Doom Metal ranks, keep an eye on these guys. On each album Daylight Dies seem to get stronger and better.

Valfar of Windir

I'm a bit late for his anniversary which is the 15th of January but since I was listening to Windir I thought I would post a bit about him.

Terje "Valfar" Bakken was the lead singer of the Folk\Black Metal band Windir, he started the band as a one man project but it eventually grew in to a proper band. Most of his lyrics were based on his home region of Sogndal and sung in the local language Sognamål.

Windir released five albums in their career, the last being Likferd, before Valfar was tragically killed in a sudden snow storm from hypothermia. I was thinking while listening to Likferd what must have been going through his head when the storm struck and being so far from home, I wonder if he knew it was the end??

R.I.P Valfar

And....

The Ecstasy of Gold

Since We are talking about Metallica instrumentals

The Call of Ktulu

I had to post this

Metallica playing Orion in it's entirety live for the first time ever.

Paul Gilbert = fucking amazing

Man this is the first track off his last album. Fuck I'd give my left nut to be able to play that fast.



What did you think of that first technique

Some Vader news

Polish death metallers VADER have inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented the band: "We are very glad that after so many years VADER finally joined one of the biggest metal labels in the world. We really believe in their potential, experience and famous German reliability. We are pretty confident that the cooperation will be successful both for the band and the record label. Now VADER is ready to explode! We have been waiting for such a solid record deal for sooo long so it's safe to say that the new era in VADER's career has just begun!"

Added guitarist/vocalist Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek: "This is absolutely amazing, that VADER is now a part of Nuclear Blast family!!! Can't find words how proud we are!!! Only great things may happen when traditions meet together... I so much believe, that VADER will give one more Blast to this Nuclear history of metal!!! Let start the fire — TOGETHER!!!"

Jaap Wagemaker, A&R Nuclear Blast, stated: "VADER have a history of almost 25 years of releasing death metal highlights and have built up a reputation of being one of the hardest touring bands in the scene! After many attempts both parties have finally come together and VADER have found a new home at Nuclear Blast! This summer VADER will release their new album Necropolis, which will not only be their debut for Nuclear Blast, but also another chapter in the history of the band with a totally renewed line up! Watch out for the new VADER as they will only return stronger than ever! VADER is still improving after all these years, so it is safe to say that the best of these death metal kings is still to come, so we, at Nuclear Blast are looking forward to start the propaganda machine!"

VADER recently entered Hertz studios in Bialystok, Poland with the Wieslawski Bros. to begin recording their next studio album, Necropolis, tentatively due in late August. Tue Madsen, who previously worked with such bands as MOONSPELL, CATARACT, HEAVEN SHALL BURN and many more, will mix the CD at his Antfarm Studios in Denmark.

The first in a series of video reports documenting the making of Necropolis can be viewed here. http://www.youtube.com/user/panzervader

Songtitles set to appear on the new CD include:

Anger
Dark Heart
When We Arrive
Devilized
We Are Horde
Rise Of The Undead
Impure

Check out photos from the studio at this location. http://www.vader.pl/foto-e.html

Necropolis will mark the recording debut of VADER's new lineup:

Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek (guitar, vocals)
Reyash (bass)
Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka (DECAPITATED) (guitar)
Pawel Jaroszewicz (SOUL SNATCHER) (drums)

Famous Polish artist Jacek Wisniewski (who created the art for previous VADER albums Black To The Blind, Revelations and The Beast) will take care of the album artwork and design.

Commented Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek: "The title of the album — which is the very first VADER song ever — is chosen not by chance. It will be connected with recordings like 'De Profundis' or 'Litany' with themes of forgotten worlds, mythos or ancient powers still living in humans subconsciousness."

In early September, VADER will kick off a tour of their home country in support of Necropolis. The Polish leg of the tour will consist of approximately 12-13 shows in some of the country's biggest cities. Every concert will be preceded by a fan meet-and-greet at the EMPik chain of stores. The trek will be a continuation of VADER's Blitzkrieg tour formula from the previous years. At the end of September, VADER will invade the rest of the European continent as part of a two-month tour with Swedish black metallers MARDUK.

Voivod Covers Pink Floyd???? Hell Yeah!!

A supercalafridgalistic awesome band covering another supercalafridgalistic awesome band, this is what wet dreams are made of....



I don't think I spelt supercalafridgalistic properly but you get the idea :)

Kill 'Em All

While listening to the epic classic Kill 'Em All by none other than Metallica, a thought struck me; would Kill 'Em All have had the same impact if the album was called Metal Up Your Ass, as Metallica intended it to be called?



OR:


I don't think so, what about you guys?

Mandatory Metallica Saturday

On the topic of classic Death Metal vids

Here are some more (well vids from classic Death metal bands)











I'm a bit light on topics at the moment, so you will have to put up with metal videos until I do.

To celebrate the long weekend.....

Classic Immolation vids!!

Well Doesn't This Just Suck Arse?

From apeshit.org (great metal site by the way)

"American death metal band, ANGELCORPSE, have officially announced their disbandment. In a short statement on the band’s official MySpace page, they simply stated, “due to musical differences amongst its members, it has been decided with much consideration to end ANGELCORPSE.”

That just down right ruined my day.

Dan Seagrave

"Who?" I hear you ask, well Mr Seagrave created literally every awesome classic album cover from nearly every classic Death Metal band from the 90's, I wish I could show them all here but a just a few and a link shall have to suffice:











And the link:
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/The_Trickster/dan_seagrave_album_covers__chronological_/

See every single one is a classic and instantly recognisable.

Since I am babbling about NZ metal

I thought I may post the awesome video to Believer by 8 Foot Sativa, the other premeire NZ Metal band, enjoy.

Ulcerate

Kings of the NZ Death Metal scene Ulcerate have a new album, Everything Is Fire, due out sometime very soon and it is going to be a killer album. Ulcerate have really stepped their game up after their last one Of Fracture and Failure, I'm not saying that was a bad album because it was actually quite the opposite. Anyway, hopefully the rest of the Kiwi Metal scene will sit up and realise you don't need to mimic the American Metalcore\Deathcore scene to make a killer album.

Of Fracture and Failure (2006):



Everything Is Fire (2009):



I'd post a youtube vid but Ulcerate don't seem to be on there, good excuse to catch them next time Ulcerate are in your town.

Bands That......

Refuse to change their name or ride on the shirt tails of former, more prolific members.....who am I talking about? Sepultura.

This sort of carry on really rubs me the wrong way. Max Cavalera, the voice and driving force behind Sepultura left way back in 1996. Sepultura replaced him, I can handle that, which metal band hasn't been through new members? Against, the first alum with Derrick Greene, Max's replacement, was sort of similar to ROOTS, but you could hear the hardcore influence of Derrick creeping in. The in 2006 Igor Cavalera leaves, the second Cavalera brother and other founding member, so the foundation of what made Sepultura, Sepultura has gone, they now sound like some filthy hardcore band trying to play Thrash metal.

So instead of a name change or anything, they still use the same logo that they have used since Beneath The Remains, even though they sound nothing like they did even on ROOTS, they are essentially a thrashy sounding hardcore band, I know the logo sounds like a minor issue but once again that logo is connected with Sepultura's golden days, once again the band seems to be riding on that wave, they even still use the classic Sepultura 'S'.



I suppose what I am trying to get at is that it seems to me that they current version of Sepultura seems to be riding on the legacy of Max era Sepultura, I could be wrong I could be right, its just an opinion. What I would have done if I was Andreas Kisser, (he seems to be the bands leader) would have been to change the bands name. Their music isn't what you would expect, sure progression is a key word I use a lot but this isn't progression, they have completely changed their spots. Anyway I am ranting. Max era Sepultura can do no wrong, Max-less era Sepultura can go fuck themselves.

Angry rant over.