Good Times Bad Times!

Yeah I used a Led Zeppelin song as the title! Awesome huh? Oh yeah.

You know those days when you just feel like punching a wall or throwing something expensive into the wall? Yeah sure you do, we all do, we've all had those days, some of us more often then others, I am one of those who has quite a few of these days, though not punched a wall since I was 18 nor have I thrown anything at a wall for as long as I can remember.

However there is a cheaper and less painful way to calm yourself down or just just get your rage out in some more mature "socially accepted" manner. It's called metal! It's awesome for getting that anger sorted, it's even amazing for making you feel better on those generally bad days where you just dont feel like yourself, fuck balads or soft music, metal works wonders.

Anyways here is a short list of songs that always helps me out on those shitty days.

• Pantera - 5 Minutes Alone
• Pantera - Becoming
• Pantera - Fucking Hostile
• Pantera - Slaughtered
• Pantera - I'm Broken
• Deftones - My Own Summer
• Soulfly - Bumbklaatt
• Soulfly - Fire!
• Eyehategod - Sisterfucker
• Bloodbath - Mock The Cross
• Bloodbath - Eaten
• Devildriver - Back With a Vengeance
• Devildriver - The Fury of Our Maker's Hand
• Dimension Zero - He Who Shall Not Bleed
• Down - Bury me in Smoke
• Lamb of God - Black Label
• Lamb of God - Redneck
• Lamb of God - Set to Fail
• Lamb of God - Broken Hands
• Sepultura - Roots
• Sepultura - Straighthate
• Tool - The Pot
• Tool - Stinkfist
• Tool - Hooker With a Penis
• Superjoint Ritual - Fuck your Enemy
• Mastadon - Iron Tusk

This is not a best of metal list, this is simply the songs that makes those shitty days just that much better, they are all heavy hitting, fast paced and generally angry songs that makes your own anger or bad day feel just a little better without the pain of punching a wall or the cost of replacing that expensive thing you chucked at the wall.

That said when I think about it that does make for a pretty good everyday playlist as well. Fuck it, I'll actually put those on my phone today and listen to it when I go out!

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Opeth, Opeth, OPETH!

So it's here, it's out, it will divide us all and eventually conquer us!

So after a couple of months of copious amounts of both personal and other various incidents of bullshit and disappointments I was really looking forward to this release just to get my chin back up where it belongs. Does it deliver?

YES

This album is so many things it's hard to even begin to describe it, it's not Opeth, but at the same time it is Opeth, it has amazing songwriting, just as you've come to expect from Mikael Åkerfeldt, it has the usual prog rock element that made Opeth what Opeth is, however it is missing the death metal aspect, there is still a subtle hint of metal lurking beneath the sounds of this album but they never emerges beyond subtle hints. Loads of people will hate this album for that reason alone, me however love this album for exactly that reason, dont get me wrong I absolutely love Opeth and have done so for a while, Ghost Reveries and Blackwater Park is 2 of my all time favourite albums. It's just so refreshing to see a band able to take such a drastic step beyond what the fans have become used to and actually even expect, I love a band that actually dares to make an album for their own sake.

This album is very prog, it's incredibly prog, it's one of those albums you simply have to listen to properly, it's not a background album, it's a "turn of everything else, lock the doors, I do not want to be disturbed" kind of album, it also demands of you that you start from the beginning and listen through the whole album, it's like a story, if you skip something you wont understand whats currently going on. It's such a strong album in so many ways, not just musically, but it shows that Opeth still have the balls to do exactly what they want.

Musically it's as I said what you've come to expect from Opeth, it's quality from beginning to end, it has lots of groove, it has lots of spaced out moments, really it's just propper 70's prog, it really sounds like they are actually truly enjoying themselves and loving what they are doing, the end result is just one great album that will probably be Opeth's most controversial album yet, this will split the fan base, there is no doubt about it, if you are one of those Opeth fans who hates this album please just shut out everything else for an hour or so and listen to this album and I can almost guarantee you you'll come to love it just as much as I do.

Did this album get my chin up? Yes absolutely, everytime I put it on I just shut my eyes and space out and think about nothing but the music. It's an AMAZING album, it's an important album for Opeth.

Recomended songs: Hard to recomend a song when you kinda have to listen to the whole album.

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Worship the music!

Or just Worship Music. 

So one of the pioneers within the Trash Metal scene just came out with a new album, yes I'm talking about one of the "Big Four" here, namely Anthrax.








So does these "old" metalheads still manage or are they over the top?


Easy answer to an easy question, they still manage and then some, with Joey Belladonna back on vocals and the majority of the "Among the Living" lineup they deliver what I consider one of the best releases of this year.

It's not a reinvention of anything here, which is good, it's pure old school trash metal, it has the riffs, it has the guitar solos it has good vocal performances that makes your hair fall off at times. It might not be an instant classic album, but it's a damn good album nonetheless, it doesn't hold back, with the exception of the intro and the two "intermissions" it keeps the pace and intensity all through the entire album.

Not much else to be said about this album really, except: GET IT, BECAUSE IT'S WORTH IT!

Exceptional songs: Fight 'Em Til you Can't and The Constant(best riff of the year?)

PS: If you have the chance go check 'em out live they're currently on tour!

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Lazy lazy!

Yes I've been incredibly lazy lately, as in beyond whats good for you!

Anywhos, I'll be writing alot within in the next few hours, because a lot of cool things has happened lately, like the new Anthrax album and the new Opeth album, I'll be going into details about both of these tonight I just need to get through them both a few more times, but all I can say it's a good time to be a metal head!

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It's almost time!

So the day is almost here! 12 short days, only 12 short days!

I only wish everyone knew what I was talking about, but yeah for those that dont, it's only 12 more days til "Opeth" releases their 10th studio album "Heritage", this is probably the one album along with "Down's" new album (which I hope is this year) I am looking forward to the most this year. We all know Opeth always delivers freakin' amazing albums, even the weaker albums are good. It's just one of those bands that doesn't seem to know how to make a bad album. And I'm getting to see them live for the first time in December! This is really turning out to be a good year for music.

On the album itself there ain't much to say yet, I know it's been leaked already but this is one of those albums I wont listen to until I can put the CD in my player and crank up the volume, except for the one song they have already put out themselves as a teaser. That song though is simply put deadly, it doesn't sound like Opeth at all but at the same time it sounds exactly like Opeth, it has an amazing 70's prog rock feel to it, kinda King Crimson(ish) with the Opeth touch. I't quite clear they always chose to go their own ways and make music they want to make. Some fans might be put off by the song and sound, some fans might even be put off by the fact Mikael wont be growling at all on this record. I'm as you can see one of those that doesn't care, the song made me look forward to this album even more, and Mikael has a really good clean voice as well, we have heard him sing clean several times before.

On that note, be at your local dealer September 20th and pick up your copy, this album is going to kick ass and you really dont want to miss out!

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Eyehategod @ Hellfest 2011!

So yeah, this is something I'd really like to talk about because it's a fuckin' kick ass band that put on a kick as show this summer at Hellfest.

Due to economical reason I could'nt actually be there myself, you have no idea how much I actually wanted to, it still makes me want to rip out all my hair because I missed Hellfest 2011, so many awesome band attended that festival this year. Lucky for me Hellfest is actually providing streams from one of their stages so I actually at least get to see some of the shows I wanted to see.

So tonight I'll talk about the New Orleans based sludge band Eyehategod's show.

Eyehategod, at least in my opinion, always puts on great shows, they are solid and fucking amazing and always stick to what they do best, Southern slow as hell dirty sludge, oh how I love sludge!

The shows starts of like any other Eyehategod show, somewhat spacy and lots of noise before they go into the first song, first song in this case being "Blank", which is what you expect from anything by Eyehategod, it's slow, it's sludge, it's like some metal moster being dragged through the swamps of new Orleans.

They immediatly go into the next song "Story of The Eye" which is even better then the first one, you just want to go absolutely mental (well I do) and headbang like you've never done before. They keep the show going with "White N****r" (no it's not a racist song) it's just as good as the album version, actually better, Eyehategod is meant to be played and enjoyed live, the generic heavilly distorted blues riffs Bower and Patton manages to produce is just ripping. They go from the classic song to their new song "New Orleans is the New Vietnam" and I must say they havent lost their touch, they still manage to produce their trademark music, these guys really dont even try to make something for the masses, I love it, they stay true to their style and their incredibly loyal fans.

They end the show with a near perfect version of "Sisterfucker" and "30$ Bag", the only downside to this show was the fact that I wasnt there, and I hate myself for that.

Mike IX, Jimmy Bower, Brian Patton, Gary Mader and Joe LaCaze definatly know how to put out some amazing sludge metal. It might not be technically awesome, but to be perfectly honest technically complicated music does not = good music, we all know good music is what makes YOU feel good and thats all there is to it. Dont get me wrong I love bands like Tool, Dream Theater(at least some of it) you know the really technical bands.

Anyways this was an amazing show and I wish I could have been there, instead I had to watch a recording of it(good quality mind you).

Check it out for yourself!

EYEHATEGOD live at Hellfest 2011 from Hellfest on Vimeo.

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Torch!

So the Trondheim based metal band "Torch" released their new album "Pt.IV: The new Beginning" the 26th of august, and since my head doesn't quite work like it should (I actually dont think it's there most of the time) this release went way over my head and I totally missed it. But guess what? It's not black metal, no really I'm not joking it's totally not black metal!

Anyways enough of this bullshit and beating around the bush, lets get back to whats important, talking about music, namely metal!

So since I'm pretty much flat broke most of the time I could unfortunatly not go out and buy this record and put it into my CD player like you should, so I'm stuck using my Wimp account (which I actually pay for). So I hit play on the first song of this album, I can say without a doubt they aren't holding back, it's straight on to the good stuff here, the sound is nice it packs a punch, maybe not a five finger death punch (see what I did there? har har), no seriously it's right in your face from the very first second. I like it immediatly, it's not like amazing, but it's really catchy and good (you'd understand why I dont think it's amazing if you knew what I normally listen to).

The vocals ain't exactly one of a kind, you've heard the same kind of vocals a few times since the birth of "nu-metal" in the mid/late 90's, but they work and do the job well enough. Then something wierd happens halfway through the first song, the vocals goes really soft like, DO NOT LIKE (normally), however it works very well for this band, it's fitting and catchy, maybe I get to listen to metal at one our parties now? Please?

This is very much the same all through the album, mix between clean and screamy vocals, the riffs and sound remains in your face all through the album as well(well they could have spared me the balad but hey), it might not be the album I'll put on when I'm just going to sit down and listen to music, but it's a good album to have one while doing stuff.

The album itself is kinda acessible metal I'd say, not in the bad way, for this band they have managed to do their own thing and still not be to far out there that people will look at you weird when you ask for a song at the poker party you're having (yes people look at you crooked when you want to hear Eyehategod's Sisterfucker). Overall a very good and solid album that I'd recomend to anyone who likes metal.

Songs to check out: Hard to say, if you like one you like them all, but if I was to chose just one it'll be Phase Reverse.

On that note, I'm going to see these guys live at Blæst in Trondheim the 7th of October, and I suggest you check out their homepage to see if they are coming to a town near you and go listen.

Cant find you a shiny youtube link to put here so tough luck!

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The Hate Colony!

I suppose as a first "review" for my oh so not amazing blog it is quite fitting to talk about a local band that goes under the name "The Hate Colony" who released their debut album "Dead or Victorious" on Friday September 2nd.

My first thoughts about this band is that it's refreshing to hear some more metal come out from Norway thats not actually black metal. So needless to say I was actually fairly exited to sit down and listen to this album, yeah I'm no fan of black metal AT ALL, but I am a huge fan of various other types of metal like everyone should be!

So after I hit play on the first song "Cornered" it's clear to me they dont intend to hold back, the riff is tight and fast and actually quite good. However it doesn't take long before I realize that their sound is really thin, I was expecting the song to explode into a heavier more in your face guitar sound, but it never happened, it's just a really "wimpy" sound on everything. It's not bad, not at all, musically it's good, it has a good groove, it has melody, it has good vocals it just doesn't have that powerful sound that makes me want to go crazy.

Going through the rest of the album it's the same for every song, it's just not heavy, it's not that they aren't trying, and with a slightly deeper sound this would have been a kick ass metal album, they have the riffs, they have the passion, they have the knowhow it's just missing that little extra. They are however AMAZING live, like really kick ass!

In short "The Hate Colony" ain't inventing the wheel all over again here, it's not something thats not been done before, it's been done worse and it's been done better. Not a bad album just missing that little extra I look for(yes I'm fucking nit picking here, but thats what picky people do). If you're into like American metal core with a touch of Swedish melodic death metal you'd definatly want to go and BUY this record. 

Songs to definatly check out: Your Murder Scene and Diggin' Deeper

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And yes I write like a spazz, give me a few months and I'll get better mkay?

First!

Yes I have made a blog, and yes it'll probably be pretty bad and highly biased.

It's where I'll write about the music I like, write my own personal "reviews" of album releases within the genres I enjoy. I will leave the first post short and sweet as it's almost 7 am here and I need some sleep.

Take care for now!