Hell (8) unfortunately began right on time. Unfortunately as in typical Swedish fashion, the doors had opened late, so the queue was still large and I was still in it. Luckily, I only missed half of the first song and joined the rest of the faithful down the front for the remainder of the 30 minute set...and what a set it was. In true Hell style, this was as much a visual, theatrical performance as a live show and by the end of it the venue had filled nicely and the band left the stage to a commendable applause. Dave Bower must be the most under-rated vocalist / frontman in metal today. Just don't call them retro.
Next up, Carcass (8) made their presence known courtesy of some typical Jeff Walker wit as he addressed the (now near-capacity) crowd with "Good evening Gothenburg. So, I believe Melodic Death Metal was born here. Is that right?" This got a loud cheer from the crowd, most of whom I suspect failed to notice the sarcasm in his voice. The set was good, if not spectacular, and spanned their entire career with live staples "Corporeal Jigsaw Quandary", "Heartwork" and new track "Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System" being the highlights tonight. Jeff kept up the banter throughout, delivered in his own special, sneering way and the crowd were whipped into a near frenzy with hair windmilling in all directions and beer being spilled all over the floor as the English legends wrapped up their set.
Amon Amarth (9) hit the stage as the conquering heroes they are in Sweden. The sound was near-perfect and Johan seemed to be in a great mood, stomping around the stage with a huge smile across his hirsute face as he bellowed and roared through the band's trademark Viking-themed Death Metal classics. What followed was a pretty much flawless 90 plus minutes of live music from a band right at the top of it's game.
Set highlights were "Deceiver Of The Gods", "Guardians Of Asgard" and the superb "The Pursuit Of Vikings".
All in all, this was an evening of varied, but equally great, confident performances from 3 veteran bands. Definitely worth the trip and if you had the opportunity to be there and missed it, then more fool you.
Here I am again, making what is now an all too familiar 200 mile round-trip to Gothenburg to see some live music...and yet again, I'm doing it alone, which means another night desperately hanging around looking pathetic so somebody talks to me, another lonely night in a sparse hostel room and another early morning train to work in the morning. Tragic or dedicated (both, perhaps)? And all of this will come at a cost of around £100 (including the price of a couple of beverages). I occasionally wonder to myself if it's worth it? The answer, of course, being...yes! Tonight's bands are Hell, Carcass and Amon Amarth and this is one of those rare gigs where I want to see all 3 bands. In fact, all of them have released albums this year that will be in my 'best of the year' list, 2 of them (Carcass and Hell) at nos 2 and 1 respectively, so that makes tonight extra special. Well, thanks for reading this pointless excuse for a blog post, which I will make up for with a review (providing I remember enough) to come later in the week. Have a good evening, people. I know I will.
...No, not Christmas, but rather time for me to bang my head (against a wall, sadly) trying to decide which of the myriad of superb releases this year are deserving a place in my year end round-up. I thought I was at least on the way to compiling a decent little list, until Deicide and Hell dropped a couple of massive bombs - or spanners in my works as I would rather refer to them. Therefore, I'm not going to post the final list until the end of December. Let's face it - anything can happen in the next 4 weeks.
Now, do I make it a top 40, 30 or 20? What would you like to see? I'm gravitating towards a top 20, personally as this won't be too much to read / take in / listen to for you my dear reader(s). I reckon that I will also split them up for the same reason, but do I do so in groups of 5 or 10? See, even the simple things are causing me headaches and that is before I even start on the actual bands.
So far, I have a 'short-list' of around 47 albums - Hey, from over 400, that isn't bad! I will take my leave for now, but watch this space...not right this moment, obviously. Nothing will happen.
Yes, after 7 months or so of inactivity, I have decided that is high time that I got back into this blogging / writing lark. I realised that I still have so much to say, so much to share and too much inspiration and passion to let it go to waste. Even if only a few people read it, it's still a handful of people that are interested in what I have to say. I came to the realisation that Facebook probably isn't the right platform to share videos or to recommend new bands as only a small percentage of my 'friends' on there are even remotely interested in seeing such updates.
To be honest, I became disillusioned when even the ones I thought / knew would be interested, clearly weren't and it felt that I was sharing new music with the same 3 or 4 people. Therefore, from now on I will be using this blog as a platform / outlet for my ravings. I am constantly coming across music, from new bands and old, that excites me in the same way it did when I was a teenager. I still have those "jaw-dropping" and "smiling like an idiot" moments...and it's this that I live for. There is so much out there to listen to, so why limit yourself to the same old albums/bands/songs? You can still listen to them - nobody is taking that away from you - but there are literally thousands of bands out there striving to be heard, to get their music to an audience.
Now, I'm not claiming to be some kind of oracle. That would be arrogant - even for me. Rather, I am saying that I have the time and the interest in trawling through literally tens of new artists / albums each and every week. Some of it is great, some of it not so much, but music is my life and my passion and I just feel that there is too much out there that is not receiving the attention it deserves.
That, my friends, is where you come in. All you have to do is follow this here blog and to click on the links, read my reviews and then go off and decide for yourself if there is anything that is worth your time. Think about it - I'm doing all the foot work (mouse-clicking, frankly), so you don't have to. Don't just let Spotify, Metal Hammer or the radio tell you what is cool - give me a chance too. I won't let you down. I promise. I have a veritable batch of ideas for posts, so I will be updating every couple of days time and inspiration allowing. Everything from reviews, weekly round-ups, band of the week, album of the month, top 10's, YouTube videos. Anyway, enough of my aimless witterings. I hope to see a few of you following and commenting here in the future. Hell, I'd even appreciate a few of you sharing the love...recommend my blog to friends who might be interested, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc. See you in the pit. Or something.
Whilst browsing the old interweb last week, I came across a new EP by the once mighty Skid Row. As soon as I saw the name my heart sank. Even though I have been unfortunate enough to have heard the post-Bach material, I still decided to give it a listen. So, I pressed play and with a heavy heart, waited for another small part of my youth to die - awaited the inevitable disappointment.
But here's the thing. It never came. The opener "Kings Of Demolition" came and went, leaving me very pleasantly surprised. This wasn't just a decent track. No. It was a good track. More importantly, it was a good Skid Row track, which wouldn't have been out of place on "Slave To The Grind" (In fact the opening vocals reminded my quite a lot of "Livin' On A Chain Gang"). Everything, from the classic Sabo / Hill guitars to Johnny Solinger's powerful vocals are classic Skid Row. "Promising", I probably thought.
Surely this was a fluke, I hear you say?! Well, no. That's the thing. Forget any pre-comceptions and even misgivings you might rightly have - The next 4 tracks keep the momentum (and quality level) up. The last track "Stitches" stuck right in my head and has been there ever since.
When the EP had finished a few thoughts went through my mind. First and foremost was "Why is this an EP?" A few more tracks and this would have been the comeback album us Skid Row fans have been hoping for...our hopes fading with each passing year and album. This is Skid Row rebooted, rejuvinated, re-energised (and any other "re" words you fancy adding). A return to form if ever I've heard one.
There honestly isn't a weak track here - horrible lyrics/clichéd subject matter of "Let's Go" aside. Even the obligatory / typical / obvious Skid Row power ballad "This Is Killing Me" isn't anywhere near as bad as it probably should be in 2013. Everything is delivered with energy and the attitude that I used to associate with the band pre-'95. Why it has taken them this long to cut the crap and get to the point? To be frank, I really don't know. Better late, than never I suppose. Sadly though, despite the fact that this is a great release, it's probably a case of the old "too little, too late". The fan base the band once has has dwindled to a few die hards. Something they only have themselves to blame for to be fair. Maybe this release can turn the tide? I genuinely hope so.
The bottom line is that this is one step closer to redemption for the band and their long-suffering fans. If they can keep this up, they could pull off one of the greatest comebacks in rock history - Of course they will never shift millions of units again. Those days are gone for the genre that Skid Row play and for music in general in this era of illegal downloads, YouTube and Spotify, but they can certainly be proud of themselves again.
If you ever been a fan of the band, this is well worth your time...even if you just want a nostalgia kick If you haven't, well then this probably isn't for you. Either way, I have my copy on order and am now eagerly awaiting the follow up EP / full length release.
Welcome back, lads. The last 18 years are (almost) forgiven.
This was a tough one. Not so many standout releases in February when compared to January, but there were 2 that had AOTM potential and it was genuinely tough to choose between them. On one hand there was the intellectual, thinking man's Black Metal of the always amazing Vreid and on the other, the camp Horror Punk/Metal of Wednesday 13.
Well, when it came down to pure playability and repeat listens, it was Wednesday who won over this time. This album is pure, classic Wednesday. Everything you would want or expect from him is here - from the B-movie inspired lyrics, to the catchy sing-a-long choruses and huge, stomping, simple riffs that stick in your head. The most consistent album Mr Poole has put out since 2005's masterful "Transylvania 90210".
Simply put, this is another batch of Rob Zombie meets The Misfits anthems - and with not a weak track in earshot, this is not only my standout album for February, but a very real contender for 2013's top 10. Although, with some really exciting and highly anticipated albums still to come this year, only time will tell.
With an album so full of quality songs, choosing just a recommendation is tough, but "Curse The Living" and "Too Fast For Blood" are two of the highlights for me.
Of all of the albums released this month, I'd say that this one is not only the best, but also the most surprising. On hearing that Norwegian Post-Grunge rockers Audrey Horne were about to release album number 4, I was more that a little nonplussed. I mean, they have always had their moments, but none of the previous albums has exactly blown me away. Each has had its highlights, but none has been consistently good enough to stand out from the veritable hordes of bands playing that type of music.
That is until now. The more keen-eyed among you may have already noticed the genre in brackets above...yes, this is NOT a Post-Grunge album. This album is full of classic, 70's/80's style hard rocking goodness. That isn't to say that this is old hat or just another "retro" album from yet another Scandinavian band. No, AH have come up with something really special here.
This album sounds like it could have been recorded by a "supergroup" featuring members of Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Kiss and Thin Lizzy. Imagine that for a moment if you would indulge me. Right. Got it? OK, well now prepare to be blown away by the confidence and by the amazingly catchy songs here...from the Kiss swagger of "There Goes A Lady" through to the NWOBHM stylings of "Show And Tell", the Maiden-esque brilliance of "This Ends Here" and the epic "The King Is Dead", almost every song would probably be considered a Rock classic if this had been released a couple of decades ago. It really is that good.
This is the best Classic Rock album I heard in many years. Do yourselves a favour and pick up a copy.
If you still need convincing, check out the video for "Redemption Blues" for a taster of this stunning album.
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