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Wednesday, February 22
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Wed 22 Feb 2012 00:18 GMT
Milan-based Atmospheric/Gothic Metalers Lacuna Coil have managed to capture the attention of fans and music media through a string of highly successful commercial-sounding releases and through a really clever marketing strategy – one that takes full advantage of the fact that the band has in its ranks Cristina Scabbia who is one of the most beautiful looking women in the music industry. These very reasons, which brought many people closer to the band’s music these last eighteen years, were also the ones that steered me as far away from them as possible – I am not a great fan of the superficial. So, how did I end up preparing a review for the band’s sixth full length release “Dark Adrenaline”, one might rightfully ask? Believe it or not, something possessed me to actually ask the band’s label Century Media to grant me access to this release and I am truly happy to have done that as this has proven to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience! more »
Monday, February 20
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Mon 20 Feb 2012 20:18 GMT
Ever since Amorphis first graced us with their presence back in 1990, Finland witnessed a slow but steady growth in its number of Heavy Metal bands, to the point that our beloved music is now in terms of popularity to the Finns what Lady Gaga is to the rest of the world! Throughout this process, the ‘land of the thousand lakes’ has enjoyed its own quite distinctive sound and scene so it is very strange to witness a new band such as Re-Armed looking towards neighbouring Sweden for inspiration. Anyhow, the fact remains that Re-Armed are about to release their debut album “Worldwide Hypnotize” through Massacre Records and what remains to be established is what this nine track album has to offer to Metalheads like you and me. more »
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Mon 20 Feb 2012 19:53 GMT
Germany has for many years been the “breeding ground” for some of the most impressive Metal bands around and even though naming the most important Teutonic Extreme Metal band of all time may well be a matter of personal choice, only a fool would doubt the fact that Rage, the Power/Thrash trio with Herr Peter “Peavy” Wagner at the helm for the last twenty years, may well be the most prolific of them all! Why? Simply because there are not many bands that I know from this part of the world who are about to release the 20th studio album of their career! Riding on the success of last year’s truly impressive “Strings To A Web”, the power trio prepared yet another album full of passion and raw energy – an eleven track opus entitled “21”. more »
Thursday, February 16
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Thu 16 Feb 2012 20:26 GMT
1987 was a very important year for me. Having been introduced to the likes of Metallica and Slayer through older acquaintances friends and the invaluable guidance of the Greek Metal Hammer, it did not take long before I realised that Thrash Metal was my genre of choice. That is when the epic task of obtaining every single Thrash Metal album available began – an almost impossible task, due to the fact that the distribution of the most obscure albums of the genre was almost non-existent in my beautiful country at the time. I cannot remember how and when it happened but at some point in the early to mid-90s a copy of “Go And Live…Stay and Die”, Vendetta’s 1987 debut album, finally landed in my hands and, even though the material on offer could hardly be described as innovative, these German thrashers made enough of an impression on me so as to be genuinely pleased when I found out that twenty five years later they are about to release their fourth studio album entitled “Feed The Extermination” – an album whose review you are now about to read. more »
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Thu 16 Feb 2012 17:41 GMT
I am sure that everybody is aware of the state of the world economy right now, so the fact that venues like the London Underworld which organise Metal shows are still reaching full capacity is both surprising and encouraging. Part of this success story is the understanding on the part of the music industry that for a normal working person to part with his/her hard earned cash, the spectacle on offer would have to be pretty irresistible. On the night of the 15th of February, North London experienced what can only be described as a Death Metal fan’s dream – a five band festival, entitled “Sounds Of Extreme Tour” which brought under the same roof three very influential bands – Vital Remains, Malevolent Creation and Krisiun. more »
Tuesday, February 14
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Tue 14 Feb 2012 18:57 GMT
To say that changes on a grand scale have taken place in the Pain Of Salvation camp since they last visited London back in November 2011 as an opening act for fellow Swedes Opeth would be the understatement of the century. Having suffered the loss of guitarist extraordinaire and much loved member Johan Hallgren back in October, less than a month later it was keyboardist Fredrik Hermansson who announced his decision to leave the fold, leading many fans of the Eskilstuna-based outfit wondering over the band’s future. Whereas most bands would have opted for dissolution at this point, founding member and main man Daniel Gildenlow managed to employ the services of two musicians and, in a very short period of time, prepare them for a twenty nine day European tour – a tour that, luckily for us, made a stop at the Highbury and Islington’s Relentless Garage on the night of the 13th of February 2012. more »
Sunday, February 12
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Sun 12 Feb 2012 21:44 GMT
It really is no exaggeration to say that London-based NWOBHM combo Angel Witch is one truly unique band. Having formed back in 1977 (under the moniker “Lucifer”) by guitarist/vocalist Kevin Heybourne, Angel Witch went through quite a decent number of line up changes prior to releasing their 1980 classic opus “Angel Witch” – an album whose power and influence was such that it granted the band legendary status but also an album which, according to many fans and media reps, has not been surpassed to date by Heybourne and his numerous collaborators. The band’s story becomes ever so comlplicated as the years go by and even though quite a few releases managed to see the light of day along the way, the last studio offering was back in 1986 – a nine track album entitled “Frontal Assault”. Twenty five years later (!) and featuring yet another new line up, Angel Witch are about to finally release their fourth full length album “As Above, So Below” and the one thing that I am sure most of you are wondering, as I certainly did, is whether this is still a band whose work is worthy of attention from fans and media alike. more »
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Sun 12 Feb 2012 21:42 GMT
One of the things that music journalists love to do, especially the ones involved in the ever expanding Metal scene, is to create new sub-genres and then christen them with all sorts of complicated names. While this tends to become an overty complicated and ever so confusing process, there are times when one could say that it is totally justified as there are numerous bands out there whose musical orientation can no longer be confined by the strict boundaries first set more than three decades ago. One such band that defies categorisation is the French duet Alcest – an outfit that has been under the spotlight for quite a few years now and whose third studio album “Les Voyages De L’ Ame” will soon occupy a prominent position on the shelves of record stores – real or virtual - around the world. more »
Tuesday, January 31
by
Jason
on Tue 31 Jan 2012 13:23 GMT
I've had my hands on the pre-release of Final Curse's upcoming CD release entitled Way of the Accursed for a bit now. It's one of the luxuries of being friends with the members of the band. Hailing from Charlotte, NC, they have been tearing up the local North Carolina metal ... more » Thursday, January 26
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Thu 26 Jan 2012 18:22 GMT
Writing about music is an activity I have undertaken with much passion and devotion over the last decade and, as it happens with every occupation outside work, it does tend to occupy much of my free time. So to answer the question, “Why bother?”, I can point to the excitement at discovering ‘new’ and interesting bands, such as that of the Finnish atmospheric metallers “Tenhi”, for example, whose fifth studio album “Saivo” is to be released by the German specialised label Prophecy Productions. more »
by
Yiannis Stefanis
on Thu 26 Jan 2012 18:18 GMT
The story of Varg Vikernes has been very well documented and is well known by all fans of Metal music through the years. In 2009, fifteen whole years after being first incarcerated for the murder of Mayhem’s leading man Oystein “Euronymous” Arseth, the quite recluse Norwegian decided to begin working on new material, culminating in the release of two highly acclaimed albums - “Belus” (2009-10) and “Fallen” (2010). more »
Thursday, January 19
by
Jason
on Thu 19 Jan 2012 09:44 GMT
Irish trio, Dead Label, formed in 2008, won a nationwide battle of the bands the following year and released an EP in 2010. This album release then is the natural progression for the band and one they hope will move the band up to the next rung on the ladder ... more »
by
Jason
on Thu 19 Jan 2012 09:38 GMT
Antipodean thrashers 4 Arm have been peddling their wares for the past 8 years and have gathered a good fan base and a number of equipment endorsements along the way. This is the band’s 3rd album, the others being 2005‘s ‘13 Scars’ and ‘The Empires Of Death’ from 2009 ... more »
by
Jason
on Thu 19 Jan 2012 09:17 GMT
Fourth Autumn are clearly a band with a with a sense of humour, all be it of the black variety. This is the Welsh death metaller’s debut album and the band describe their sound as a mix of Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murders and Cradle Of Filth with, and I ... more »
Friday, January 13
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 11:00 GMT
VADER – “WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH”
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 10:52 GMT
Orphaned Land is a band that is famous for its unique blend of Oriental sounding Metal and the high energy performances that they have been giving ever since they first came together as a band twenty years ago. In view of the recent release of their quite impressive DVD “The ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 10:42 GMT
2011 has been quite a fulfilling year in terms of impressive album releases and good quality live shows and as someone who grew up supporting the extreme Metal scene I could not think of a better way to end it other than attending a Napalm Death gig at the legendary ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:57 GMT
DIABOLOS DUST – “RUINS OF MANKIND”
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:54 GMT
ORPHANED LAND Gig Review
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:45 GMT
THE DEVIL’S BLOOD – “THE THOUSANDFOLD EPICENTRE”
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:31 GMT
Anton Reisenegger is one of the most pleasant people you can ever wish to meet in the music industry. When not recording albums with either Criminal or Pentagram (Chile), his ‘own’ musical projects, Anton handles guitar duties for the Grind legends Lock Up who earlier in 2011 released their latest ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:30 GMT
Yorkshire-based Doomsters My Dying Bride have never been the kind of band which shies away from experimentation. Clear evidence can be found in any of the band’s recordings including “Evinta” - a collection of fourteen compositions which was released earlier this year and which saw the band presenting riffs and ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:26 GMT
It is very rare for me to find myself in the situation that I have to do an interview with a band for an album that I have not yet listened to but in the case of Gorgoroth the circumstances were pretty special, as the album in question is a ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jan 2012 09:25 GMT
There are only a handful of albums that managed to create such a massive impression on me as “The Thousandfold Epicentre”, the second studio album of the Dutch Occult Rockers The Devil’s Blood, so grabbing the opportunity of doing an interview with the band was a no brainer. When I ... more »
Tuesday, January 10
Friday, December 30
by
Jason
on Fri 30 Dec 2011 22:09 GMT
When the American Progressive/Heavy Metal quintet Symphony X first released the amazing “Paradise Lost” back in 2007 I was one of those people who felt that the New Jersey outfit had pretty much reached the pinnacle of their creativity. Three years later the band decided to prove us all wrong ... more »
by
Jason
on Fri 30 Dec 2011 21:53 GMT
Mikael Stanne has a reputation of being not only one of the best frontment in Death Metal but also one of the kindest and most accommodating people in the music business – something that I eventually had to find out for myself, especially seeing as I have been supporting Dark ... more »
Monday, December 26
by
Jason
on Mon 26 Dec 2011 20:48 GMT
The ability to embrace change is an important quality for any
Prog-orientated band to have, especially so if that band happens to be
as brave and musically diverse as the Swedish powerhouse Pain Of
Salvation. When I arranged to do an interview with founding member and
mastermind Daniel Gildenlow, I ... more »
Monday, December 5
by
Jason
on Mon 05 Dec 2011 20:56 GMT
SECC, Glasgow
Machine Head must have more Air Miles than any other band on the planet. After their seemingly endless three year tour in support of ‘The Blackening’ album you could have forgiven the band if they had disappeared on an 18 month hiatus to recover and record, but ... more » |