Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton unveiled two artworks and tracklist of their new album "Heroes".
The new album will be out on 16th of May.
The album is described by the reviewers as "really well produced, arranged, energetic and melodic. Each song is different, begins with an unusual, catchy motive and gives the impression of participation on something bigger, than only another good heavy metal experience."
Tracklist:
1. Night Witches
2. No Bullets Fly
3. Smoking Snakes
4. Inmate 4859
5. To Hell And Back
6. The Ballad of Bull
7. Resist And Bite
8. Soldier of 3 Armies
9. Far From the Fame
10. Hearts of Iron
Today is a sad day in the heavy metal world. Legendary heavy metal drummer Clive Burr died in his sleep yesterday at age 56. He has played and performed in a number of bands, but is most well known for his work in Iron Maiden. He recorded drums for Maiden's first three albums since he joined them in 1979. His style and work with the band has helped Iron Maiden become heavy metal icons and his drumming style is unmatched and timeless.
Lacuna Coil announced the release dates, track listing and cover artwork for its 6th studio album "Dark Adrenaline".
The album will be out on January 23th in Europe, January 24th in North America and January 27th in Australia & NZ. You can listen to the first single "Trip the Darkness" below.
Track listing:
1. Trip The Darkness
2. Against You
3. Kill the Light
4. Give Me Something More
5. Upsidedown
6. End of Time
7. I Don't Believe in Tomorrow
8. Intoxicated
9. The Army Inside
10. Losing My Religion
11. Fire
12. My Spirit
Few words by Cristina Scabbia regarding new album can be found here.
1. Nightwish’s "Imaginaerum"
film will be done with mostly Canadian actors/actresses. Post-production will
take place in Canada and Finland. The names of the actors who have two of the
main roles in the film are Marianne Farley and Quinn Lord. Behind the scene photo gallery.
2. Sonata Arctica changed release date of the
new DVD "Live in Finland". The DVD will
be released November 11th, Europe and November 15, North America. Teaser
can be found here.
3. Delain completed the songwriting
process for its third studio album, which will be released in the spring 2012. Videos
from the studio can be seen here.
4. Opeth released
the official music video of their first single "The Devil Orchard" from the new
album "Heritage".
5. Evanescence's new song "Made of Stone" with lyrics is now avaible for streaming on their official site.
Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward have begun rehearsing for a tour and new studio album confirmed Tony Iommi today for birminghammail.net. The reunion has been kept under wraps for some time. In June this year vocalist Ozzy and Tony wrote new material for a record that will be released next year.
Update: In response to online reports claiming the original lineup is getting back together, guitarist Tony Iommi has issued the following official statement:
"I'm saddened that a Birmingham journalist whom I trusted has chosen
this point in time to take a conversation we had back in June and make
it sound like we spoke yesterday about a Black Sabbath reunion.
At the time I was supporting the Home Of Metal exhibition and was
merely speculating, shooting the breeze, on something all of us get
asked constantly, 'Are you getting back together?'.
Thanks to the internet it's gone round the world as some sort of
"official" statement on my part, absolute nonsense. I hope he's enjoyed
his moment of glory, he won't have another at my expense.
To my old pals, Ozzy, Greezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better.
Food is so metal - obviously. Previously, I have posted about the Vegan Black Metal chef, who sings and performs his recipes in black metal style. And now in another melding of food and heavy metal, I,a self-professed foodie, present you with an eatery just profiled on Food Network's Eat St., Grill 'Em All - a food truck owned by heavy metal lovers serving burgers named for heavy metal bands & personalities.
The band I would love to see live one day but that won't happen*.
The Myötähäpeä'a guitarist Tuomas Holopainen said, the band's playlist consists of two songs - Sukset by Popeda and For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica. Still they want to add a ballad to make the gig a bit longer.
The Myötähäpeä gang: lead vocals - Tony Virtanen backing vocals - Jamppa Lautamäki drums - Heikki Kovalainen guitar - Tuomas Holopainen bass - Emppu Vuorinen keys - Jukka Nevalainen
* This band was created just for fun during the NW's Summer Camp 2010. That's why, they won't ever perform live. (maybe)
Thanks to this album review on Angry Metal Guy's blog, I discovered a new band! Hailing out of Belfast, Northern Ireland is a heavy metal band called Stormzone. Formed in 2004, the concept for this band was simple: keep a traditional 80's heavy/power metal sound while writing catchy, fun metal tunes.
One of the big things that caught me about this band was vocalist John “Harv” Harbinson and his great vocal range. His voice is very reminiscent of 80's NWOBHM vocalists like Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). Their musical style is very similar to those bands from that era as well and never goes past that. They sound like they belong in the 80's, especially with their flashy guitar solos, soaring power chord riffs, and high powered vocals. It's great to see a band keep a traditional 80's metal sound like this. Very few bands can pull this off nowadays since metal has evolved so much into what it is today with all of the diversity there is. This group has released two albums so far. Their latest album is Death Dealer, which is highly recommended for those who want to hear some classic sounding heavy metal. The Angry Metal Guy did a great review on that album. Make sure you check out his blog as well. He has great reviews and insight on metal!
Granted Stormzone's sound is extremely retro and very dated, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea. But this band intentionally did it that way for a reason and it works so well with how they sound! If you are into old school heavy metal, this is a band you need to hear! A very good find and I wish them the best of success!
One more thing, these guys are going to be at Wacken this year, so make sure that you can go see them and many other metal acts there as well! I am sure it will be one hell of a concert series there! ROCK ON! \m/
Couple of days ago Dream Theater announced their new drummer. It is Mike Mangini. He has played for Annihilator, Extreme, James Labrie and Steve Vai. Mike has written two books about his drumming techniques and also he is notorious for his technical prowess and holds three World's Fastest Drummer titles. For more info check out dreamtheater.net
This article really speaks to me, especially about metal being a stress reliever, the catharsis of listening to metal, and the feelings of alienation being represented in the music. Definitely worth a read!
Just some quick news for you. Tarot's "Gravity of Light", which has been released in Finland back in March, and in Europe in April, is now released in North America today June 8, 2010. I have been waiting for this one for a while to be released here. I just got my copy off of iTunes and it even came with the album digital booklet free! This is a first for me! Really good stuff! So if you have been wondering when this album was coming out in America, well now it is here! Rock on! \m/
This is a sad day to hear for me and for millions of metalheads and fans around the world. Ronnie James Dio died yesterday on May 16, 2010 as a result of stomach cancer that he was diagnosed with last year.
Ronnie played perhaps the biggest part of influence for heavy metal singers for many years to come, including my favorite current vocalist Marco Hietala of Tarot and Nightwish. He was best known for his work in his band Dio as well as in Elf, Black Sabbath, Hear 'n Aid, Heaven And Hell, Munetaka Higuchi, The Vegas Kings, Ronnie & The Rumblers, Ronnie and The Red Caps, The Elves, Ronnie Dio & The Prophets, and last but not least Rainbow, who I did a post of a week ago.
Here was what Dio's wife Wendy had to say about his death on his official website:
"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."
R.I.P. Ronnie! You will always be one of my favorite vocalists. Your fans will never forget your amazing voice and the passion that you had for music! Even though you are not with us on earth right now, because of you metal will live on forever! \m/ And so will you.
Okay, some of you might be thinking, "How is this band underrated?", because a lot of people have heard of this band before. Well for one, Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P) needs no introduction at all, being one of metal's greatest singers of all time and also being one of my personal favorites as well. After all, he is the man that influenced Marco Hietala! Too bad he did not last too long with these guys before he was in Black Sabbath and his more famous solo project. His predecessors as vocalist (Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner, and Doogie White) could not even hold a candle to Dio, but they all have their own talents nonetheless. And of course the guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore, who was most notably known in the legendary rock band Deep Purple, who left them to form this band, and also his folk female-fronted rock project, Blackmore's Night. His influence on metal is beyond words as he really set the tone for future shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen, Timo Tolkki (ex-Stratovarius), Jari Maenpaa (ex-Ensiferum, Wintersun), and many more. Rainbow consists of one of the most underrated drummers of all time in Cozy Powell, a solid bass player in Jimmy Bain(who also played for Dio in the years to come), and numerous keyboard players over the years as well (Tony Carey being the most influential of them all).
Some of you may also be thinking, "No way, these guys are hard rock, not metal!". If you do not think they are metal, look here! Well in my personal opinion, Rainbow was one of the big major pioneers of heavy metal in the mid-70s and into today as well. Listen to the song "Stargazer" which is the featured video below, and you will see what I mean. Their style was a hybrid of progressive rock like Deep Purple, hard rock like Led Zeppelin, and metal like Black Sabbath at that time. They can fall into the rock category too, but they have that edge that seperates them from many other bands in that era. Rainbow's sound was very revolutionary, fresh, and melodic for their time and contributed to the start of the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" in the following years with legends like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Def Leppard, Motorhead, and so on. One of my favorite finnish metal bands,Tarot, also credits Rainbow as being an inspiration for their band as well.
The reason I posted this is because I feel that Rainbow, though still moderately well known, has become shoved aside over the years and doesn't get the credit they deserve. This is one of Britain's greatest rock/metal acts along with Iron Maiden and Sabbath and is also perhaps one of the most underrated legendary classic bands of rock and metal. My personal recommendation is the album Rising. It features heavy metal masterpieces like "Stargazer", "A Light In The Black", and "Tarot Woman". For their time, they were a breakthrough band and gave Dio his claim to fame and rise to being a legend. But today, they are vaguely mentioned, which is a shame because they really did some amazing work in the 70's. Recommended for anyone into 70's hard rock/heavy metal, or just good music in general. Rock on! \m/
Thanks to Sorcha's post on MFF forum, I discovered a very unique metal band from Finland named Hevisaurus. What makes these guys unique? For one thing, they dress up as dinosaurs. Second, they sing children songs in Finnish while playing kick ass heavy metal. Now THAT is awesome!
The band members of Hevisaurus are from people all over the Finnish metal scene, including Kiuas' guitarist Mikko Salovaara, Sonata Arctica's keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg, Stratovarius' keyboardist Jens Johansson, and Thunderstone's drummer Mirka Rantanen. That is a great lineup for a metal band as it is, and this project is just beyond epic win. Seriously, kids need to have this music in their school. Forget the traditional "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "Bingo was his Namemo" kind of songs. Kids should learn metal and GOOD music at a young age. It makes me sad that I never had this growing up. All I had was Barney!!! Damn!! :(
Not only are these songs for kids, adults can enjoy them too unlike most children songs where the songs are grating and hardly tolerable. These songs are actually kick ass and sound better than a lot of metal bands do even. These guys are fairly new, but I feel that I need to spread the word about this. These guys are on a mission, and that is to teach kids good music. The only thing I wish is that they make English songs because I know that if I ever have kids, this will be the music they will hear (along with most of the bands I like too ;) ). So move over Barney, you have been dethroned! ROCK ON! \m/
Anyone remember this band? Or how about this: does anyone know of the “Christmas metal” band Trans-Siberian Orchestra? Well believe it or not, Savatage actually features most of the members from TSO. But before TSO came Savatage and it is astonishing how this band got so under the radar over the years!
The origin of this band goes back to when the Olivia brothers, Criss (guitar) and Jon (vocals), founded the band Avatar in 1978. This newly formed band, along with Steve Wacholz (drums) and Keith Collins (bass), played in various bars in and around the Tampa, Florida area. In 1983, due to copyright issues, the name “Avatar” was no longer allowed to be used for the band. Thus the new and current name of the band, Savatage, was born mixing the names “Avatar” and “Savage” together.
Savatage’s early music was influenced by early heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath and NWOBHM acts like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. They played a very aggressive, fast paced heavy metal style (speed/power metal) and eventually formed their own signature sound with the Olivia brothers doing what they do best. Jon Olivia’s voice is unlike anything in metal as he just uses every moment he takes to create one of metal’s most menacing voices. He was very underrated and never got the credit he deserved. Same with his brother Criss, who in my opinion was one of metal’s finest guitar players, but never got the kind of respect he deserved either.
In 1987, four years after their stellar debut “Sirens”, the group released their zenith album “Hall of the Mountain King”. It remains their most commercially successful album and in my opinion is a classic American heavy metal album. The self titled track “Hall of the Mountain King” is the band’s best and most popular song to date. The song and music video would be played on MTV’s Headbangers Ball on a consistent basis. This was the turning point for the band and would ultimately make them go in a different direction musically.
With the release of “Gutter Ballet” in 1989, the band went from the straight forward heavy/power metal sound to being more progressive. Fans of the band had mixed reactions of the change in style at that time, but in the end, the band proved this to be a successful move and their new sound was just getting underway. In 1991, the group released “Streets: A Rock Opera”. Again, it was another experiment by the band to be even more progressive and less heavy metal. The fans had mixed reactions again, but it proved to be another move that would later influence their new group, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which plays and performs a style similar to what Savatage played at that time.
The release of their 1993 album “Edge of Thorns” brought new and different changes to Savatage. For the first time in the band’s history, Jon Olivia stepped down as the lead vocalist and was replaced by Zachary Stevens, who in my opinion is no where near as good as Jon at vocals. This change was not well accepted by the fans and many thought that the group was beginning the lose some of it’s steam. But nothing would be as devastating to Savatage as to what happened later in that year. On October 17, 1993, Criss Olivia (left picture) was killed as a drunk driver took his life on impact around 3:30 in the morning near Tampa, Florida on Highway 301. This tragedy left the band and his brother Jon in shock. Many thought that Savatage’s future was in jeopardy, but Jon kept the band going and released another album entitled “Handful of Rain” a year later. This album brought back some of the heavy/power metal elements the band had abandoned with their new progressive sound. The album was mainly a tribute to Criss, especially with the song “Alone You Breathe”.
Since 2002, the group has been primarily inactive and put on hiatus, but at the same time most of the members are focusing on their more popular project of TSO. So if you have not heard this band before, I recommend them to anyone who likes old school progressive/power metal, or just anyone who likes good metal music. Savatage is indeed one of the most underrated as well as one of the greatest American metal bands of all time. Rock on! \m/
I initially wanted to start a Metal from Canada site, similar to Metal from Finland, but once I started looking into it I saw that A) it would be extremely time consuming, and B) it wouldn't be a very busy site. While there are quite a good number of metal bands in Canada, heavy metal is still a sub-culture here; it's nowhere near mainstream at all. Also, the hub of metal in Canada is in the province of Quebec, with a few pockets here and there in other parts of the east, and a smattering of bands, very few and far between, in the west. The more well-known names hailing from Canada, like The Agonist and UnExpect, for instance, I am not super fond of.
But I have found some gems, and lo and behold, even here in The Boondocks, there is decent metal! Let me introduce you to Savage Blade!
I first came across this band in Metal Archives, and when I mentioned them to my brother, a local businessman, he said he knew them because his company had done some work for them. However, I got distracted with little things like life, and it wasn't until a recent trip to the lovely city of Nelson, the hometown of Savage Blade, that I realized I should take some time to look into this band further. As I window shopped along the main street, there were all kinds of posters advertising Savage Blade's new album, We Are the Hammer.
Let me say that Nelson, and The Boondocks in general, is not a heavy metal mecca whatsoever. Nelson itself is known as being the local mecca for "alternative lifestyles," meaning it is a haven for hippies, draft dodgers, artists, pot activists, organic farmers, vegans, Buddhists, yogis, poets & writers - you name it. While Nelson might be the cultural epicentre of The Boondocks, the rest of the area is kind of redneck central. And rednecks are known for their shitty country/pop/rap music, amongst other things.
Given all this, Savage Blade has been an excellent discovery for me. Their vocalist is very skilled, and someone told me he's actually a jazz singer of some note, as well. And their music, classified as power metal with NWOBHM and classic Glam Metal influence, is astoundingly good.
They are streaming their entire album on their web site, so you can take a listen here.
Here are a couple of teasers for you from YouTube.
The bummer is, now that I know about these guys, they don't seem to be putting on any local shows I can attend! This is so typical of living in the boonies!
In all seriousness, Savage Blade has signed a record deal with a German label and, from what I have been told by my source, they are going to be touring Europe. If you are over there and get a chance to check these guys out, please do, and let me know how it goes!
EDIT: SHIT! They are playing in Nelson on April 24 but I have to work!!!!!!! Just my luck!!!!!!!
Okay, this marks my first entry in a series in which I discuss metal bands that do not get the recognition they deserve and bands that need to be known. And no other band deserves this than the Finnish heavy metal band Tarot.
Tarot has been around for quite some time dating back to the early 80s, then being called "Purgatory". They were formed by Zachary (guitars) and Marco Hietala (vocals and bass), who are still currently in the band. Eventually, the band changed their name to Tarot because the record label wanted them to change their name for some unknown reason.
Tarot plays traditional heavy metal music following to the likes of Iron Maiden, Dio, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and so forth. Since their beginnings, they have always stuck to this style despite the changing of musical trends in the early 90's and have never seriously altered their style over the years. Eventually, they would pick up on some of the modern power metal elements of today. Even so, you know it's Tarot as soon as you hear their explosive riffing and Marco's excellent voice.
Speaking of Marco, he is perhaps the most underrated vocalist metal has to offer! How this man NEVER gets talked about is beyond me! He takes the influence of metal legends like Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio and from that is able to create his own unique and distinctive metal voice. He also has great bass sound and his skills are good in that respect too! Marco also sings and performs in many other bands/projects as well such as Nightwish, ex-Sinergy, Northern Kings, and so on. The man not only has a set of godly pipes, but is able to perform in multiple bands too. A very talented person indeed!
His brother, Zachery, is another person worth mentioning. His guitar skills are very underrated and undermined too. While not the most technical guitarist ever, he still is able to pull off some creative sounds on his guitar and some very excellent sounding leads! He also plays guitar in the Finnish symphonic metal band, Marenne.
JanneTolsa is the keyboardist for Tarot who first appeared on their third album, "To Live Forever". While replacing their other guitarist, Mako, Janne brought a new sound to Tarot and with this gave them more distinctiveness as a group. He also plays keyboard for the Finnish symphonic death metal band Eternal Tears of Sorrow and for symphonic metal band Marenne with fellow band mate Zachary Hietala.
Their sampler/vocalist Tommi Salmela also has an important role in Tarot. Since his arrival in 1996, he has been important for their sound and has even taken over the role for vocals when needed for Marco. On their albums, he sounds great in unison with Marco. He sounds amazing live as well if you watch Tarot's live DVD "Live Undead".
PecuCinnari, who has been with the band since their first album, "Spell of Iron", is their drummer and even he can compete with the best of them too in metal. His influences go back to the old days of metal to drummers like Cozy Powell (Rainbow), Randy Castillo (Ozzy Osbourne), and Alex Van Halen (Van Halen).
If you have not heard Tarot yet, you need to listen for yourself their own brand of heavy metal music! They are seriously one of the most underrated bands of all time and if it weren't for Nightwish, I would have had no idea who they were! Tarot is one the biggest pioneers of Finnish metal for many years to come and deserve more recognition for what they do. Their eighth studio album, "Gravity of Light", is going to be released this year and we Tarot fans are very excited! For anyone who is into traditional heavy metal done with style, then Tarot is for you!
Okay, well this is officially my first post on this blog! I think it will be fitting to start out by saying that I am excited to start blogging about something I deeply enjoy, which is heavy metal music! And this blog is created for anyone who loves and cherishes the most deep genre in the world today. And I would like to share my experience with heavy metal and how it has changed my life.
To start off, I would like to say that in the beginning, I started listening to bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, and so forth. Those were the bands that I listened to when I was introduced to metal sometime when I was in high school. It changed my life forever and to think that I was never exposed to this music before just blew my mind. Most of the kids I went to school with did not listen to heavy metal at all, but rather mainstream music that people heard on the radio. After that, people were worried that I was being "evil" because of the cliche that metal is "Satan's music" or whatever the hell it means.
But that did not stop me at all. Later into my twenties, I have stumbled upon some more modern heavy metal music from the Scandinavian countries which gave me a whole new perspective on metal and my musical experience. Many of these bands would never see the light of day in the mainstream market here in America and sometimes finding their albums in locals stores are very rare too. But this is where, in my opinion, the best metal is coming from in the world today. And of course as we build this blog up more, we will be discussing more about these bands and what you can find for music over in Europe.
Despite getting some mixed reactions from my peers, I have finally found my true passion and my favorite music genre that I have been searching for my whole life! With this also brought a desire to take up guitar and learn it so I can play my favorite songs. With that, I started creating music myself and also a new passion and hobby which I find very enjoyable. So yes, heavy metal has had a huge impact in my life. That is all from me. I look forward to hearing more!
Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton unveiled two artworks and tracklist of their new album "Heroes". 
His brother, Zachery, is another person worth mentioning. His guitar skills are very underrated and undermined too. While not the most technical guitarist ever, he still is able to pull off some creative sounds on his guitar and some very excellent sounding leads! He also plays guitar in the Finnish symphonic metal band, 
Their sampler/vocalist Tommi 
