The first Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem of 2016 will be a Tribute To Lemmy Special Show on Tuesday 5th January, starting at 6PM GMT on http://www.totalrock.com. As well as many MOTÖRHEAD classic tracks to be played in memory of Ian Lemmy Kilmister, the show will also feature a chat with I.C.O.N drummer and huge MOTÖRHEAD fan Larry Paterson.
The META(L)SCOPE showcases three new tracks from the forthcoming album “Rulebreaker” by German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR. Also coming up on the show are new singles from FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE and WITCHCRAFT plus much more, see you there!
To find out more about Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem, check out the official Facebook page here and the official website here. Previous shows can be found on Mixcloud at this location.
Metalbox Recordings have announced the release of I.C.O.N’s new album, which will be entitled “The Blacklist”.
“The Blacklist” is the long-awaited second album by British metal band I.C.O.N and sees the band deliver a more aggressive, comprehensive representation of what they are about. Years of travelling the length and breadth of the UK have finally culminated in a stable line-up that shares a common vision, as this new album will testify. Metal Shock Finland‘s Larry Paterson is on drums.
UK’s heavy metallers ASOMVEL, featuring Metal Shock Finland‘s Larry Paterson on drums, will be heading on a 7-date UK tour this March. Check out the shows below:
23.03.15 – Bannermans, Edinburgh
24.03.15 – Bootleggers, Kendal
25.03.15 – Bad Apples, Leeds
26.03.15 – Rebellion, Manchester
27.03.15 – Scruffy’s, Birmingham
28.03.15 – The Firehouse, Southampton
29.03.15 – The Unicorn, London
ASOMVEL have toured with Grand Magus, and supported Carcass, Anvil, and Orange Goblin. A recent line-up change has powered the band forward, and armed with vocalist Ralph, and drummer Larry Paterson, ASOMVEL swiftly released Railroaded, a brand new track and video to showcase this new line-up. View the video here:
The band are currently writing their third album, which will be released on Bad Omen Records in 2015.
“A band louder than Motӧrhead, you say? Step right this way…” (Kerrang!)
“Late nights, loud amps, red eyes, sore ears, and a sea of empty bottles in the morning” (Metal Hammer)
“…pulls off the neat trick of being both utterly authentic and thrillingly relevant. The best heavy metal has plenty of dirt under its fingernails: this lot must never be allowed to work in a food preparation area” (Dom Lawson – The Guardian)
Formed in 1993 by guitarist Lenny Robinson and bassist/vocalist Jay-Jay Winter, ASOMVEL’s first drummer was ex-Cathedral/Acid Reign man Mark Wharton, but “about ten” more came and went before the band recorded their first demo in 2001. After 2007’s Full Moon Dog 10″ the power trio managed to thrash out their raucous debut LP Kamikaze in 2009 to much acclaim, ASOMVEL firmly establishing themselves as underdog cult heroes of the UK HM underground. Barely a year later, however, the band was shaken to its core when Jay-Jay Winter was killed in a road accident.
Although a devastating tragedy, Lenny knew that the band had to continue in tribute to the determined spirit of their founding frontman: “ASOMVEL could’ve died with him, but I was never gonna let that happen,” affirms the axeman. ASOMVEL headlined their own inaugural Full Moon Dog Festival in Bradford in 2011 in honour of their fallen comrade, and have shared the stage with the likes of Carcass, Anvil, Grand Magus, and Orange Goblin. Asked how the band has changed, Lenny is unequivocal: “The band hasn’t changed from the day we started it,” he asserts. “It’s something me and Jay believed in strongly; never change…ever! It’s the downfall of a lotta bands, they think they have to grow musically for some reason, but they just end up out-clevering themselves.”
When Will Palmer started up Bad Omen Records in 2013, his formative ambition was to coax a new album out of ASOMVEL, sending them into the studio with producer James ‘Atko’ Atkinson (Gentlemans Pistols) to record their second album, Knuckle Duster. “We wrote all the stuff really quick, off the cuff,” says Lenny. “All the songs came together very easy, we didn’t have to force anything. I would say it took no longer than 10 minutes to get the basic songs. We didn’t try to jazz ’em up, we purposely kept them very basic, cos we like simplicity and we like it in the groove.” Consequently, Knuckle Duster is a focused and fat-free expression of pissed off, Tanked-up, Venomous Motörized fury, but Atko wraps it up in a first class ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ production job
The band are featured on the DVD Madder Than A Full Moon Dog (a souvenir of their 2012 Full Moon Dog Festival), and have been approached to write the music for a horror film starring Dee Snider, The Calicoon, but right now writing a new album is their priority. “We got a new line-up with Ralph, who was a natural choice given that he is Jay-Jay’s nephew, and Larry Paterson formerly with Blaze Bayley, and we’re coming out ugly”
Metal Shock Finland‘s team member and IRON KNIGHTS and ex-BLAZE BAYLEY drummer, Larry Paterson has teamed up with film-maker KrisMcManus for the documentary project “Scars – The Third Reich In Ruins”.
As well as being a musician, Paterson has another career as a military historian, having written 10 books on the Second World War U-Boat service. He first collaborated with Director Kris McManus on music videos for Chokehold, Blaze Bayley, and Rogue Male. McManus has two feature films to his credit.
“Scars – The Third Reich In Ruins” is being financed via the crowd-funding website Kickstarter, and full details of this fascinating project can be found here.
Artist: DEF CON ONE Album: “II” Label: Scarlet Records Release Date: 19 February 2014
Tracklist:
1. H8 Ball 2. Broke 3. Soul Possessed 4. Scarred For Life 5. Debt To Society 6. Skinhead Shaped Dent 7. Need A Reason 8. Die Again 9. Damned Disgrace 10. Drag Me To Hell
I like DEF CON ONE. After hearing “Warface”, hearing and reviewing “Brute Force and Ignorance” and seeing the band live several times I was pretty confident that I was going to like this new full length album too. But, then again, I’ve been wrong before as a fan of bands who were once on a winning streak before heading in a direction that left me behind. Fortunately, this is not the case with the Newcastle crunchers. The aptly named “II” (yes, it’s their second album) opens with ‘H8 Ball’ playing to DEF CON ONE’s strengths right from the word go. With a riff from Johnny Hunter that plays across the ‘alternating accent’ drum line laid down by Antton Lant, it heads straight into the kind of über heavy groove metal that DEF CON ONE have made their own. Davey Meikle’s vocals shine as always and Steve Miller’s bass line nails the whole thing together into one mighty wall of punchy metal.
Suffice to say, the entire album is rock solid with a stylistic thread running through all of it that never crosses the line into repetition but keeps each song tanking along at the right pace and feel. Third track – and the one that the band released as a sampler for the album – is ‘Soul Possessed’ which opens with some tasty clean guitar and vocals before crashing back into full-on driving Defcon-ness. It’s got a particularly interesting structure and Davey’s voice showcases some more of the diversity that he really started to use to greater effect than ever before on the “Brute Force And Ignorance” EP. Here it leaves an annoyingly catchy chorus line stuck in my head for hours. Job well done. ‘Die Again’ is another track that starts quietly, running for half its length at a perfect atmospheric pace – complete with a hint of keyboard – before Johnny comes in with some inspiringly emotive guitar work. In fact, this track may well be my current stand out favourite (though that’ll probably alternate with another one in about half an hour!)
Simply said, this is a great album that once again shows the way that the band are constantly evolving and pushing themselves forward. There are many bands in the UK currently that are – to my ears at least – receiving plaudits for recycling riffs and ideas that made the 80’s a great decade for metal: DEFCON ONE are not one of these and have carved their own identity and sound. If the metal scene has any justice in it then they should be forging ahead professionally to match their artistic progress. They have excelled themselves with a bloody great album that show the band moving along an ever inclining upward trajectory they began with the excellent “Warface”. I cannot wait to see this new stuff live on stage because, ironically perhaps considering the strength of the band on album, they are a live animal: you may see bands on stage as good as DEF CON ONE, but you won’t see better. Onwards and upwards!
Rating 9/10
Band Members: Davey Meikle – Vocals Johnny Hunter – Guitars Steve Miller – Bass Antton Lant – Drums
English metallers IRON KNIGHTS have announced some UK tour dates for 2014, check them out below:
The band, with Metal Shock Finland‘s Larry Paterson on drums, are currently recording their new album, which will be released early 2014 and to promote the forthcoming album Iron Knights will be out on the road in February.
Artist: DEF CON ONE
