Monthly Archives november 2011

Posted in Cd Reviews

Napalm/Sound Pollution

Germany´s NACHTBLUT mix dark with gothic, techno and a slash of RAMMSTEIN. Starting up as a solo band of vocalist Askeroth the band soon evolved into a real band completed by guitarist Greif, bassist Sacerdos, drummer Skoll and keyboardist Lymantia. Love us or hate us seems to be the band motto, but they soon opened up for bands like EISREGEN and SODOM. In 2009 this album was first released, with a concept enough to be trendy. This is of cause a remastered
edition with four bonus tracks. So…impress me!

The initial softness of the title track transforms into soft troll metal sung in German. The feeling is a black metal band going poppy. They seem to move between troll metal, death and black...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Valkyrja från Stockholm kliver på med en energi som kontrasterar skarpt till den stela skara som står framför den. Det verkar inte störa musikerna som klockrent levererar ”Oceans to Dust”, ”Frostland” och ”Catharsis” med fart och frenesi och det är svängigt och lätt att följa dem i vändningar och krumelurer samtidigt som det är visuellt tilltalande med corpse paint och röjiga moves. De jobbar hårt och så småningom frågar sångaren A.L. på klingande uppländska om vi vill höra någonting snabbare men det här är Danmark och jag tror att jag är enda svensk så ingen fattar någonting och jag blir lite full i fniss med tanke på att till och med danska band pratar engelska till den inhemska publiken...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Franky Lee gör lättillgänglig punkrock med snygga melodier. Mathias Färms influenser från Millencollin lyser igenom starkt.

Ibland är sången lite svag (Färm låter ibland väldigt lik Tim McIlrath i Rise Against), musiken är skickligt framörd. Ljudbilden är grym, skivan låter riktigt bra.

Tyvärr får jag ingen särskild känsla av plattan. Ibland öser man på med feta riff och ibland blir det lite känsligare. De där känsligare delarna lyckas aldrig särskilt bra, det känns bara platt och tråkigt.

”No Motion”, ”Genius And Imagination” och ”Death To Myself” är några av guldkornen på en annars slätstruken skiva.

Det är är en platta som kan få en bred publik. För mig är det dock en skiva med 13 ganska lika låtar som inte berör mig särskilt mycket...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

När jag tittar mig runt i ett ganska så tomt KB så lägger jag märke till att medelåldern härinne är väldigt ungt. Ikväll är det 13 års gräns och uppåt som gäller. Självklart är KB fyllt till bredden när det är dags för Hardcore Superstar att äntra scenen! Men hade det varit det om de hade haft en 18 års gräns? Jag tror faktiskt inte det! All ära åt Hardcore Superstar men deras musik tilltalar en viss yngre publik, bestånde av tjejer. Här finns även en del äldre människor!
Det finns en anledning till allt ungt folk, och det är en man som har fått en slags legendstatus inom svensk metalscen, och det är ingen mindre än Jocke Berg! Så fort han äntrar scenen så skriker alla tjejer, vissa gråter medan andra blir inpressade i kravallstaketen...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Tonight is one of the UK dates on The Mission’s 25th anniversary tour, and as their hometown show then expectations are high that tonight is going to be a great night.
Far too often these days the opening band on a bill plays to almost empty venues as fans stay in pubs nearby till nearer the time the main act is due on stage, but tonight the openers Salvation play to a large crowd – its good to see the venue two thirds full before the first band hits the stage.
I must admit I hadnt listened to anything by Salvation before tonight despite them sharing a similar fanbase to The Mission, but I was impressed by what I heard tonight. I say heard as the lighting was some of the worst gig lighting I’ve ever seen at a venue of this size, and it didn’t improve for the other bands either...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

A few hours before the show I found out that Black Spiders are the support band, which doesnt really come as a shock as I’ve lost count of how many support slots and festival appearances they’ve racked up in the last couple of years. They put on their usual energetic performance complete with the obligatory part where they get the crowd to chant ”Fuck you Black spiders”. Despite their performance being great I just cant get excited by it tonight – I’m frankly bored of seeing them as they’ve become overexposed recently. I’ll look forwards to seeing them once they’ve taken a break and released a second album, but for now I’m just bored of them – a shame as they are a very good band.

Tonight’s headliners are Volbeat, the Danish band that has somehow managed to fuse Johnny Cash, Elvis Pres...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Bitches Sin/Metal Nation Records

NWOBHM band BITCHES SIN was formed in circa 1980 and were quite prolific with the albums “Predator” and “Invaders”. By the mid eighties the band disbanded, transforming into FLASHPOINT who lasted for an album. As many of their peers the internet signaled a new dawn, with people expressing their interest and an ease to reach out with your music compared to the days of old. Today the band consists of the ubiquitous Ian Toomey on guitars, Steve Turton on drums, Chris Tsangarides, yes the famous producer, on guitars, Macca on bass and Dave Mills on vocals. Today´s band is a mix of ages and backgrounds, maybe that is the secret to a lasting lineup and final glory?

The opening guitar riff echoes of big 80´s productions, no wonder since Chris was responsi...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Angel Air/Border

The second album of 1971/72 success HARD STUFF ”Bolex dementia” was another example of an album that was delayed in the wrong time. But after a serious accident traveling from a gig in Frankfurt´s Zoom Club the band had no choice since their guitarist/vocalist and drummer were hooked up in a Belgian hospital, lucky to be alive. Almost a year after the iron was hot this cramped release was first heard, sporting a legendary awful cover, which did them no favors. The band broke up shortly afterwards, with DuCann and Hammond reforming ATOMIC ROOSTER, and Gustafson joining ROXY MUSIC. Is the album as bad as the cover?

The subject of the title is madness, and the title track, hushed away at the very last spot of the B-side, is not short of that description...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Angel Air/Border

HARD STUFF was first known as BULLET, but changed to avoid confusion with an American band. Behind the words stood three experienced musicians with careers both behind an in the future; John DuCann, guitars/vocals, (ex ATTACK, ex. ANDROMEDA, ex. ATOMIC ROOSTER), Paul Hammond, drums (ex. ATOMIC ROOSTER), and JOHN GUSTAFSON, bass (ex THE MERSEYBEATS, ex. QUATERMASS). A heavily touring band, often as support to DEEP PURPLE or URIAH HEEP, they almost ended up dead on the road in a car crash in Germany. The band´s story was seriously hampered when DuCann and Hammond were seriously injured, and bedridden for long rendering them far too late with the follow-up to this 70´s success...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

First up tonight are the support band. Earlier dates on the tour had The Treatment as support, but tonight the support came from veteran rockers New York Dolls. They took to the stage considerably earlier than advertised, but the venue was already pretty busy when they came on. A backdrop limited them to using the front portion of the stage, but this seemed to suit their style anyway. They got a fairly good response from the crowd but their performance did feel a bit lacking to me, and the sight of David Johansen regularly checking a folder of lyrics didnt inspire much confidence.

There were plenty of fans dresed up in costumes and horror makeup and before Alice Cooper’s set then some of these were picked out to come on stage and be judged for the best costumes – the winners getting ca...