Monthly Archives januari 2012

Posted in Press Releases

CRAIG FINN LIVE ROUGH TRADE EAST INSTORE + debut solo LP ’CLEAR HEART FULL EYES’ out 23rd January on Full Time Hobby

CRAIG FINN, will play an intimate instore gig at Rough Trade East, London on Wed 25th January at 7pm in support of his debut solo album.

http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=346597

And fans can pre-order the album, with a bevy of extra goodies from Full Time Hobby here:

http://fulltimehobby.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DII-3519-1-craig+finn++clear+heart+full+eyes+preorder.html

Craig Finn, frontman of the critically acclaimed group The Hold Steady, has confirmed the January 23 release of his debut solo album, ’Clear Heart Full Eyes,’ on Full Time Hobby Records.

Earlier this year, Finn challenged himself to write a new song every day in his Brooklyn apa...

Posted in Interviews

Quality thrash metal is not something that many people would expect to emerge from the Norwegian realm, yet, the guys playing under the name of Imbalance have delivered an outstanding full album until today, with a fresh pressed one to be released in few days. For an interesting fact, the new release will only be physically available on vinyl, else digitally shared. In order to find out the story behind their brutal and very technical sound, I had a chat with the band’s vocalist, bass player and text writer, Harald Eilertsen who delivered a brief history of the band, an insight in their song writing process and their skills, plus some personal thoughts on various aspects of today’s music industry...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massacre/Sound Pollution

KAMBRIUM hails from Helmstedt in Germany, and debuts with this melodic death metal album. They go for everything from almost pop death metal, as in “Dewfall” to the melancholic “Hollow Heart”. Inbetwixt there is a lot of death and IRON MAIDEN-like guitar riffs. The majority of the songs are written by keyboardist Jan Hein, which you can tell quite soon. Grooves, headbanging, melancholy, how could they go wrong?

The opening intro shows who´s done most of the material. It´s a grand piece of almost orchestrated grandeur, in spite of being short. The polka meets IRON MAIDEN rifferama of “Among the Lost” opens for a great heavy metal song, only the flat and dry growl of bassist Martin Simon puts the band in another direction...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Bastardized/Sound Pollution

Germany´s DYING HUMANITY arose in 2006, and soon released their first outing, a demo called “The Origins of DyH”. They did well enough to debut with Restrain Records in 2007, and their first opus was called “Fallen Paradise”. In 2009 their second official album, “Fragments of an Incomplete Puzzle” followed. For the all-important third album the band opted for a concept album on the topic of how we humans destroy our existence on a daily basis. DYING HUMANITY promises to be refreshing, in difference to “tons of superficial, mediocre and forgettable releases”. That was no small words… You have a lot to prove guys…

Opener “Clarity of Mind” may have the grooves, but reveals nothing else of grandeur...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massacre/Sound Pollution

Greek modern thrash outfit DESCENDING is produced by Fredrik Nordström at Fredman Studios. I´m a bit surprised when I see excellent guitarist Constantine involves, the rest are guitarist Theo, bass player/vocalist Noir, vocalist/shouter Jon Simvonis and drummer/percussionist Nick Vell. They debuted in 2008, not long after forming, with “Enter Annihilation”, which brought them good reviews and a good deal of gigs and festivals. They have opted for a psychoacoustic result, which is…

They open in fine fashion with “No Other Gods before Me”, a fine riff moves into a melodic part, which is followed by massive death/thrash. The ensuing “Suicide Promise” has groovy vocals, and an ultra-heavy start...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Det är stillsamt och inte så mycket folk på John Dee den här onsdagskvällen strax innan svenska Gadget från Gävle ska gå på men så fort de kör igång förändras stämningen att bättre matcha deras medryckande och skickligt framförda dödsgrind. Inledningsvis hör jag knappt några nyanser men det är konsekvent väl framfört likt en bulldozer i formel 1-tempo. Till ”Feed on Lies” har mina öron ställt in sig och jag uppfattar lite tempovariation och med synnerligen snygga ”Illusions of Peace” från 2006 års fullängdare ”The Funeral March” är jag helt med på noterna. Den tuffar på i gammal Napalm Death-stil och då blir jag förstås ytterligt förtjust...

Posted in Cd Reviews

The Serpents Curse is the second album from Pythia.

Pythia are a British band formed in 2007. The band members come from a range of musical backgrounds – vocalist Emily Alice Ovenden is a member of the classical groups The Mediaeval Baebes, and Celtic Legend, as well as being a published Novelist. Lead Guitarist Tim Neale was a founder member of London rock/metal band, Faith of the Few. Guitarist Ross White and drummer Marc Dyos were members of death/thrash metal band Descent. New bassist Mark Harrington is also a member of To-Mera, Keyboard player Richard Holland is a classical pianist. These different backgrounds are key as they feed in to making the music stand out as the different musical influences blend to create the final music.

Since their formation, Pythia have played plent...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”Quecksilber” (Quicksilver/Mercury) is the second album from German band Stahlmann (Steel man). There is something that anyone listening to this album will think, so let’s get straight to the point – there is a very strong resemblance to Rammstein. You’ve got a German band singing in German with a similar vocal style to Rammstein, with heavy industrial music that bears an amazing likeness to Rammstein’s music. Having said that, you’d be missing out on a good album if you were to write them off as Rammstein clones and ignore them...

Posted in Cd Reviews

”The lost children is a new release from Disturbed and is a collection of B-sides and rarities. The album includes a previously unreleased track, “Mine,” and “3,” which was as a benefit track for the West Memphis Three. Other tracks on this B-side collection include “God of the Mind” and “A Welcome Burden,” which appeared on the 2010 reissue of the band’s 2000 debut album The Sickness; “Monster,” “Two Worlds,” and “Sickened,” which were included as bonus tracks on the UK tour edition of Ten Thousand Fists; “Run,” which was featured on a limited-edition version of 2008’s Indestructible; and “Parasite,” which appeared on the Japanese edition of Indestructible.

There are two cover versions on the album...

Posted in Cd Reviews

The Mariana Hollow are a female fronted alternative metal band from the London area. They released their debut album, ”Coma heart” in 2009 and this, their new album, ”Velvet black sky” is due for release in February 2012.

The first track on the album, ”Before the dive” opens with some beautifully haunting wailing guitar . The song is almost an instrumental – there are some whispered vocals in the background as the track draws to a close so its not strictly totally instrumental, but I think most people would call it an instrumental track. As an intro its very effective, giving an idea of the sort of melody and power you can expect from the rest of the album, and unlike some bands albums, this intro doesnt feel like something that doesnt belong on the album.

”Dead reckoning” is the first rea...