Tuesday's Metal Releases

Annotations of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness (Nuclear Blast)
Arsis - Starve For The Devil (Nuclear Blast)
Dark Fortress - Yiem (Century Media)
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable (Deepsend)
Dismal Lapse - Eon Fragmentation (Deepsend)
Fear Factory - Mechanized (Candlelight)
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered (Napalm)
Killing Time - Three Steps Back (Dead City)
Lethal Saint - Lethal Saint (Pitch Black)
Marionette - Enemies (Listenable)
Meshuggah - Alive DVD (Nuclear Blast)
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR (Century Media)
Overkill - Ironbound (E1)
Shining - VI Klagopsalmer (Season Of Mist)
Stygian - Fury Rising (Mortal)
Troll - Neo Satanic Supremacy (Napalm)
Various Artists - Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache)

THOUGHTS: Wow, who knew Fear Factory was still a band?  Their blend of death metal and industrial was cool back in '93, but the music is starting to sound a little dated.  Still, Mechanized is actually a pretty fun listen.  There is something very likable about it.

Overkill's Ironbound will make any Overkill fan pleased.  There is nothing new here, but it's one of their best releases in a while.  Totally traditional, basic American thrash.  Really solid album.

My pick of the week goes to Sweden's very own Shining.  They describe their music as suicidal black metal, but they arent as cheesey as that suggests.  Shining are actually excellent musicians, who I feel have put out the best and most progressive black metal in a long time.  Even though I liked the previous album V Halmsted better, VI Klagopsalmer still pushed the band further and takes some risks.  Vocally,  Niklas Kvarforth is all over the place- singing, grunting, moaning, and almost wimpering at times.  He seems a little cleaner on this new album, but the emotion is the same.  Awesome album.  (On a sidenote, this album was released a fuck of a long time ago in Europe and the UK.  We can actually expect a new 7th album from Shining out in early April)

Here's a sampler from the album:

One last chance to meet Ozzy & update on the Hail show tonight

Ozzy will be doing one more book signing for I am Ozzy tonight at the Barnes And Nobles in Columbus Circle at 7:00 tonight.  I recommend you go to this and then head straight over to BB Kings in Times Square for the Hail show.    Update on that show: I can now say pretty much as a fact that yes, Chris Caffery will guest on a few songs, and also Bobby Blitz from Overkill will step on stage.   This is going to be killer!  Those two I can say for sure, but I wonder who else will be in attendance.  I cant help but think Alex Skolnick or Frankie Bello might make an appearance, but that one is just a hunch.   You never know who you will see at a metal show.  I recently saw Claudio from Coheed & Cambria at the Arch Enemy/Exodus show, and also Dora Pesch was seen mingling in the crowd there as well.  Funny enough, Dora chose the same diner as me to eat at afterwards. 

"Killfest" is announced

Today a tour was announced.  Overkill will headline with Vader and a slew of young thrashers- Evile (love them), Warbringer (pretty solid) and God Dethroned (good enough), and Woe Of Tyrants (who dat?)  So, the big thrashers Testament, Slayer and Megadeth have a tour, and now Overkill is leading one with the new kids......  Maybe an Anthrax tour will be announced next?


Here are the dates so far: 
Apr. 01 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
Apr. 02 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
Apr. 03 - Hartford, CT @ Webster Hall
Apr. 04 - Quebec City, QC @ Imperial de Quebec
Apr. 05 - Montreal, QC @ FouFounes
Apr. 06 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theater
Apr. 07 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts
Apr. 08 - Detroit, MI @ Blondies
Apr. 09 - Chicago, IL @ The Metro
Apr. 10 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
Apr. 11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Station 4
Apr. 13 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
Apr. 15 - Vancouver, BC @ Red Room
Apr. 16 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Apr. 17 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
Apr. 18 - San Francisco, CA @ The Grand Ballroom
Apr. 19 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
Apr. 20 - Los Angeles CA @ House of Blues
Apr. 21 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
Apr. 22 - Phoenix, AZ @ O.K.'s
Apr. 23 - Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
Apr. 24 - Farmington, NM @ Gators
Apr. 25 - Tulsa, OK @ Marquee
Apr. 26 - Austin, TX @ Emu's
Apr. 27 - Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
Apr. 28 - Dallas, TX @ Trees
Apr. 29 - Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
Apr. 30 - Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
May 01 - New York City, NY @ Nokia Theater

The tour is also called Killfest which is a great name.

Inferno Festival - Oslo, Norway

First, some Inferno ’08 slang to know…

• Inferno Festival: Oslo’s annual metal festival featuring three days of primarily Scandinavian Black Metal bands, with a few Death, Thrash and Doom foreigners scattered in. This year, there is an added Club day- featuring acts at numerous venues throughout the city.
• BM: For the sake of my review, BM will stand for Black Metal (not bowel movements).
  
• Niklas Kvarforth: BM’s new ‘it’ boy, and member of half the bands at Inferno, most notably the extreme Shining.
  
• Gaahl: The singer of one of Inferno’s headlining acts this year, Gorgoroth, as well as key member in Trelldom, and Gaahlskagg. He’s intimidating, and kind of a big deal. (sidenote: I almost crapped myself when I first met him.)
  

The festival began within hours of stepping off of my plane to Oslo. Half the shops were closed for Easter (which is apparently a weeklong event in Norway), it’s cold as hell, and a cheap beer costs 10 bucks. I hurried over to one of the metal pubs, where I met up with some friends and bought expensive drinks. I noticed Gaahl and King of Gorgoroth, sipping drinks at the other end of the bar. This was the moment when I realized Inferno Festival was about to begin.

Wednesday, March 19:

The Club day is the festival's kickoff and included 14 bands, at 6 different venues, essentially all playing at the same time. Basically, Oslo was sprinkled with crazies dressed in all black, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to see different bands all playing at the same time. Because of this, I had to choose carefully. The first band up was Cor Scorpii, who, like Vreid, formed from the remains of seminal folk BM band, Windir. Having only released a demo (that kicked ass), Cor Scorpiiis was highly anticipated, and the crowd didn’t seem to know exactly what to expect. The show was packed, and although frontman Thomas S. Øvstedal seemed to have some stumbling moments, the band was tight, and seemed highly reminiscent of Windir.