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.