Source: Bravewords.com
VARG, HALLOWS DIE, LEAVE THE LIVING are the featured guests on episode 20 of Extreme Metal Television.
Extreme Metal Television creators commented: “This is the final episode of 2012. Thanks for a great year everybody, we have had a blast and we hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Make sure to watch the outtakes at the end of the show, as you will see extreme metal is serious business.”
Watch the episode below:
Source: Bravewords.com
According to Media Matters For America, following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, the cable network Discovery told Fox News that it has canceled its reality series American Guns. In October, Discovery aired a one-hour special called Ted Nugent‘s Gun Country starring NRA board member and Washington Times columnist Ted Nugent, despite his history of inflammatory rhetoric.
While Discovery has described Ted Nugent’s Gun Country as a “one-hour special,” Nugent claimed that Discovery “want[s] to do it as a regular feature.” Nugent has also said the show would help him advance his view in the “culture war.”
The episode of Ted Nugent’s Gun Country that aired in October showed Nugent shooting a scimitar-horned oryx, an animal extinct in the wild, and using a .50-caliber Browning armor-piercing machine gun to blow holes in a steel door used by a team of “preppers” to protect their armory.
Raw Story reported that Ted Nugent won’t return to Discovery “in any form or fashion.” A Discovery spokesperson told the outlet that while Ted Nugent’s Gun Country didn’t draw high ratings when it aired in October, the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, also played a role.
Season Of Mist has issued as follows:
Greek legend ROTTING CHRIST’s forthcoming album is entitled ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ (“Do What Thou Wilt”) and has been scheduled for a March 1st (March 5th in North America) release next year. Time to unveil the cover artwork, tracklisting and limited edition of this much-anticipated masterpiece!
Tracklisting:
The album will be available as jewel case CD, double gatefold LP and limited edition Digibox including a Digipak CD with bonus track “Welcome to Hel”, a pendant in velvet bag and a flag.
Pre-orders will start soon so keep an eye on our e-shop!
Source: Bravewords.com
Norwegian singer JORN LANDE (MASTERPLAN, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ARK, THE SNAKES) will release his new album, Symphonic, on January 22nd in North America and January 25th in Europe.
Symphonic is not a proper new album, but rather a selection of tracks taken from Jorn’s previous studio releases, which have been carefully selected by the Norwegian singer himself and painstakingly remixed in order to add a grandiose classical orchestra arrangement to the existing hard rock structure.”
Jorn commented: “I didn’t want to choose the most obvious Jorn songs, as I didn’t want this album to come out as a typical ‘best of’ release. Some songs that are not too typical in a Jorn context were chosen simply because some great songs often tend to be forgotten and therefore deserve a second chance.”
Symphonic also includes the unreleased cover version of DIO’s ‘Rock n’ Roll Children.
Jorn further commented: “I hope you will enjoy the album and maybe you will even rediscover some songs you had forgotten…”
Tracklisting is as follows:
‘I Came To Rock’
‘Rock And Roll Children’
‘The World I See’
‘Burn Your Flame’
‘Man Of The Dark’
‘My Road’
‘Time To Be King’
‘Black Morning’
‘Like Stone In Water’
‘Vision Eyes’
‘War Of The World’
‘Behind The Clown’
‘A Thousand Cuts’
‘The Mob Rules’
The first single off the album, ‘I Came To Rock’, is streaming now at this location.
As legendary Teutonic metallers ACCEPT have recently finished their worldwide tour with success. To celebrate this success, Metal Shock Finland‘s Chief Editor, Mohsen Fayyazi wrote the following message:
36 years ago, in the age of pure rock & roll, the metal god heard the human races plea and ordered a star to shine its light on the earth. From the heart of metal, the legendary band ACCEPT was born. As the god promised, they brought mankind pure Heavy Metal to bless them, empower them and remind them what they are really looking for. Today, that star is still shining upon us and ACCEPT are rocking the earth with their mighty awesomeness.
Recently the band finished a tour which rose from the west, Washington D.C, USA and set in the east, Osaka, Japan. Fifty and one metalized shows, everywhere ACCEPT walked, the ground was shaking. ACCEPT and their mighty fans around the world, again made history. Many shows were sold out. This success has been made by the great work of ACCEPT themselves and the band manager who worked tirelessly for them and the Nuclear Blast team too. And last but not least, the mighty ACCEPT fans who are keeping the metal flames alive.
But I know there are still many people from South America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia who are hungry to rock with their legendary German band ACCEPT. But those fans should not worry, the shining star that is ACCEPT will reach those places in the future, and ACCEPT will continue to keep metal surviving for eternity. I wish the band and their fans all the best.
Reviewed by Mike Paradine
Artist: CRIMSON STORM
Album: 5 Song EP
Release year: 2009
Label: Self-produced, indie
Tracklist:
1) Brigade
2) Out of time
3) Darkest of rain
4) Sleep in the Dark
5) Exodus
A review request came in the other day from the front office concerning a fellow American band by the name of CRIMSON STORM. This band out of Phoenix Arizona consists of 4 capable musicians who are influenced from Judas Priest, Stryper to Pink Floyd and Daughty (WTF?). A very interesting combination of bands to say the least. The band is unsigned but their songs are listed at www.reverbnation.com/crimsonstorm.
The intro to the first song, “Brigade” is one of the most bizarre intros that I have ever come across. It starts off with something that sounds like a tea kettle that has reached its boiling point and is whistling at the top of its lungs. Soon after, we have an explosion with some glass and wood breaking. This now says to me that someone left the gas jets on the stove and the flames from the tea kettle ignited the gas and blew the cabin apart. But it doesn’t end there. Next we have what sounds like someone shaking a bag of frozen french fries. Given that the name of the song is “Brigade”, I automatically assumed that these effects were to represent a missile launch and strike along with soldiers marching. A much better and distinctive sound effects are need here. Next we hear the footsteps of the soldier’s march, in which drummer Chris Herman, keeps in time with his drum beats. A very forceful rhythm guitar begins the music that has the traditional metal sound going for it. Vocalist, Paul Ames has a good high range sound with an added grit to it that shows he can do much more with his voice than he shows here. His melodies are repetitive and boring. Each verse is sung the exact same was as the one before it. It needs to have some hills and valleys or some dramatic expression which is totally missing here.
Drums start off the next song, “Out of Time”, once again. The music comes in strong and I’m immediately taken back to the sounds of the 80’s band Ratt but with a bit of a darker side. A good up beat rhythm gets the listener going but once the vocal line comes in, it brings the whole song down. The melody and music clash with each other to see who should be the dominate one. What should be a good song that sticks in your head, has become, like the first one, boring and repetitious. The outstanding part of this song is the guitar playing of Vance Winston.
Completely forgetting the metal sound of the first two songs, “Sleep in the Dark” turns the band completely around. This song shows where the band can shine. A more modern day approach to song writing has the band on all four cylinders. The vocal melody line compliments the music in way that is reminiscent of Pearl Jam. The vocals here slide into a low to higher range with easy and smoothness. This style brings out the strengths of the band and after listening to the previous numbers, is a path the band should stay on. Avery well crafted and performed song.
Oh, no!! More sound effects of the generic kind begin the song. “Darkest of Rain”. I know it is suppose to bring one in to get the feeling of the song but this has been done to death. A very melodic guitar piece which quickly brings to mind the beginning of Ozzy Osborne’s “Diary of a Madman” as the vocals conjures up early Metal Church. Enter the heavy guitar part which still has the Ozzy/Randy Rhodes influence to it. The music to this song is constructed very well. The swells of the melodic and harder rhythm parts come together fluidly. Once again, good guitar work as well as some very dramatic drumming and bass playing by bassist Lonnie Ray Duncan. The vocal melody line isn’t bad but I still think they could have come up with something much more appealing and inventive which would have brought the song up to another level.
“Exodus” just brings us more of the listless and lackluster melody that has plagued the band. The vocals, just as in “Brigade” are drawn out and have no variation from verse to verse. Yes, the singer can hold a note but he has to learn to inject emotion into the rest of the melody.
There are two remaining songs on the site where I have to say, “Why”. “Pictures on the Wall” and “Two Days from Nashville” are nothing but, you guessed, it…country music. It states that it was a side project but why even post these style of songs if you’re in a different genre and which has absolutely nothing to do with the direction of the current band. I just don’t get it.
The production and sound are powerful, punchy and done very well. The drums, at times sound as if they were sampled from the “EZ Drummer” program especially the high hat sound. Guitars and bass are well balanced and vocals cut through it all, making it stand out but not over the top.
Overall
This band has talent. They are all good at their handling their instruments and they do it well. The main problem is in the song writing, more specifically, the vocal lines. The singer has to go back and listen to the masters and he’ll soon learn that melodies have to have the emotion and the dramatic variations that will make a song interesting in every verse. As is, the verses and chorus are sung the same way every time, making for repetitive and dull set of songs. Not a bad band but just one that needs some work.
Crimson Storm:
Paul Ames – Vocals
Vance Winston – Guitar
Lonnie Ray Duncan – Bass
Chris Herman – Drums
http://www.youtube.com/thecrimsonstorm1
http://www.reverbnation.com/crimsonstorm
http://www.myspace.com/crimsonstormmusic
twitter @thecrimsonstorm
http://www.facebook.com/taxigrl#!/pages/Crimson-Storm/209175982447376
In a recent interview with the Austin American-Statesman, POISON singer Bret Michaels was asked why Slash wasn’t chosen to be the guitarist in POISON when he auditioned for the band prior to forming GUNS N’ ROSES in 1985.
“Slash is one of my all-time favorite guitar players and I believe he would have steered our sound a little more in the AEROSMITH direction,” Bret said. “He was basically the same guy he is today. What you see is what you get. It never really had a chance to work out or not. The band decided C.C. [DeVille] was the best choice for us.”
In a 2010 interview with Classic Rock Revisited, Slash explained how his POISON audition came about, stating, “I was living in L.A. and I had just gotten done working in a band with Axl [Rose], actually, called HOLLYWOOD ROSE. Steven Adler was in that band as well. I just quit. I told Axl I couldn’t handle it anymore and I walked. That was right after the first time Axl and I ever worked together. Matt, the original guitar player for POISON, who was actually a pretty cool guy, had gotten his wife pregnant or they were getting married or something like that. He was moving back to Pennsylvania. He goes, ‘You should try out for POISON.’ I hated POISON but in those days you did whatever you had to do to keep moving. Being very ambitious, as I was, I went and auditioned for POISON. I ended up being one of two guitar players left that they were going to pick from. I remember kicking the shit out of the songs they had. There was no denying that I could play them but there was an issue about makeup and stuff. Bobby Dall [POISON bassist] asked me what kind of shoes I was going to wear. I was like, ‘What?’ It was kind of obvious that this was going to go nowhere. As I was walking out of the audition, C.C. DeVille was walking in. He had on pancake makeup and a ton of hairspray. I actually remember thinking right then, ‘That should be the guy.’ The next day I got a call from Bobby and he said, ‘You know, you are great and all but I think we are going to pass on you and go with this other guy.’ It was C.C. and it really did make all the sense in the world. I was in a couple of bands after that and then we started GUNS N’ ROSES.”
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Drummer Kerim “Krimh” Lechner has left Polish extreme metallers DECAPITATED. He explained in a statement, “Too many personal differences and other difficulties made me decide like this.” He added, “I appreciate the good times we had together and what we could achieve in more than two and a half years. Even if our ways are dividing, I wish the band to keep going. However, it’s time for me to move on.”
He continued, “I don’t know what will be next, but I would like to stay in this business. I love to write and play music for you guys. This is my life and this is what I want to continue.”
DECAPITATED has reportedly recruited former VADER drummer Pawel Jaroszewicz as Lechner‘s replacement.
DECAPITATED‘s latest album, “Carnival Is Forever”, sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 11 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
“Carnival Is Forever” was released in North America on July 12, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD’s cover art was created by Lukasz Jaszak and can be seen below. The follow-up to 2006′s “Organic Hallucinosis” was recorded at Radio Gdansk Studio in Poland with producer Wacek Kieltyka and engineer Arkadiusz “Malta” Malczewski. Drums were tracked with Daniel Bergstrand (BEHEMOTH, MESHUGGAH, DIMMU BORGIR, KEEP OF KALESSIN, DEFLESHED), who also handled mixing duties.
DECAPITATED‘s latest video, “Homo Sum”, can be seen below.
Source: Blabbermouth.net
The first four albums from TALISMAN — the now-defunct Swedish-American melodic hard rock band featuring singer Jeff Scott Soto (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JOURNEY) and bassist Marcel Jacob (ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) — will be re-released on September 12 in new digipak artwork design with exclusive booklets and previously unrelesed pictures and audio.
Former TALISMAN members Fredrik Åkesson (now in OPETH), Pontus Norgren (HAMMERFALL) and Jamie Borger (TREAT), have contributed old demo recordings, featuring Marcel on bass and guitar.
The first four reissues:
* “Talisman” (1990)
* “Genesis” (1993)
* “Five Out Of Five – Live In Japan” (1994)
* “Humanimal” (1994)
“Live In Japan” was remixed during the summer of 2012 by Pontus Norgren.
More TALISMAN albums will be re-released later in the fall and a DVD/Blu-ray is also in the works.
Marcel Jacob was a Swedish musician, best known as the bassist in the hard rock bands TALISMAN and LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM.
In 1978, he formed the band RISING FORCE together with guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Four years later, Jacob joined the band FORCE, which later changed its name to EUROPE, replacing John Levén, who took Jacob‘s place in RISING FORCE. During his time in FORCE, Jacob wrote the song “Black Journey for My Soul” together with vocalist Joey Tempest. The song was eventually included on EUROPE‘s second album, “Wings of Tomorrow”, re-titled “Scream of Anger”. After spending three months in FORCE, Jacob traded places with John Levén again, who apparently had issues with Malmsteen.
In 1987, Jacob played on the album “Total Control”, the first solo LP released by EUROPE guitarist John Norum. Jacob also co-wrote several of the songs included on that album.
Two years later he formed the band TALISMAN together with vocalist Jeff Scott Soto. Throughout the years TALISMAN was Jacob‘s major project and the band released several studio and live albums until 2007.
Jacob died on July 21, 2009. He was 45 years old. TALISMAN vocalist Jeff Scott Soto stated about Marcel‘s passing: “It is with deep regret and remorse I, along with fellow members of TALISMAN, am announcing our brother, longtime colleague and overall greatest musician we’ve ever played with, Marcel Jacob, is no longer with us as of today, Tuesday July 21, 2009. Marcel took his own life after many years of personal and health issues he was battling.”
For more information, visit www.talismanmusic.se.
Marcel Jacob
Source: Blabbermouth
Italian Post-hardcore / Screamo band AARON’S AGONY shooted their second official video “Freedom”, on May 2012, directed, edited and produced by Ludovico Galletti & Sami Schinaia. The video, can be viewed below, was released on July 23rd on the youtube channel BlankTV.
Aaron’s Agony are currently working on several new songs, in order to release on early 2013 a new EP.
For more information, please visit:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AaronsAgony
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Aaronsagony
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Aaronsagonychannel
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aaronsagony
LastFM: http://www.lastfm.it/music/Aaron%27s+Agony
ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/5917982#!/aaronsagony
