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:

New Year of Metal Comin' On Up!

I still don't have my top albums of the year ready.... I'm in Philly right now for the New Year, so I am going to look through the ol' cd collection when I get back to NYC and try to come up with the albums I played the most.  Expect my list by the end of the week.  
In the meantime, we have a few interesting albums and tours coming up in 2010.  
-Christopher Lee (The guy who is DRACULA) will be releasing a symphonic metal album.  Usually symphonic metal makes me cringe (unless you're also black metal - ala Emperor), but this is worth checking out.  The album, Charlemagne,  is a concept album with original words and music from Lee himself.  Out on March 15, 2010.
-The Axl Rose version of GNR are beginning a month long tour in Canada on the 13th.  Will it last?  Will there be a US tour in the works for 2010?  My guess is no.  Travel to Asia in the summer if you want to see Axl and his hired Guns.
-Despite getting the boot from the current USA tour with Behemoth, Shining plan to make it here in 2010.  Also, Feb. 9th they play on releasing a new studio album - Blackjazz.
Check out Christopher Lee talking metal below: (RIDICULOUS)



Also check out a sample of each track from the SYMPHONIC METAL album:

Shining get the 'REJECTED' Stamp from the US of A

Shining were scheduled to open on the upcoming Behemoth tour (playing Jan. 30th @ Starland In NJ, and the 31st @ The Crazy Donkey in Long Island), but have released the following statement: 

LAST MINUTE US VISA PROBLEMS FORCE SHINING OFF NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

We are very sorry to have to announce that despite all the hard work and effort of everyone involved in the organisation of the North American tour in January, SHINING will not be able to travel to the US/Canada because of some last minute visa problems that have arisen. 

We are very disappointed by this, and we will do our best to get over as soon as we can.

This sucks.... There was a lot of speculation that this was going to happen.  It seems that the new openers are: Devildriver, Goatwhore, Suffocation and Thy Will Be Done.

New Music Alert!

Shining posted a few new songs from their forthcoming album VI / Klagopsalmer on there myspace page linked here. Love these guys. Singles are eerie as fuck.

Nik Kvarforth looks like he is putting on weight.

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.