Not seen it mentioned on here, but Metal Hammer are reporting that Bill Ward is not going to be part of the Black Sabbath reunion due to, as Ward states, being offered an "unsignable contract". Going forward, I imagine they'll bring in Vinnie Appice to fill in on the drums for the tour and whatever is left of the new album. If that's the case, it would be a mix of the two prominent Sabbath line-ups

There's a really good blog/article by Thrash Hits on the whole Bill Ward/Sabbath situation -

HERE

Doesn't really tell you anything you wouldn't know already though. Just paints Iommi (and to a less extent, Ozzy) as a cash-grabber.
And anyone who doesn't see the whole reunion as nothing more than a business deal is kidding themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Sabbath will be playing in some form, but there as much a business as they are a band and have been for decades

Hello there,

On Sky Arts, there is a show on called Metal Evolution. Part two of eleven is on at the moment (Wayne Kramer is being interviewed as I type). I'm sure it will be on the Sky player or repeated but thought I'd let you all know.

Channel 243 on Sky didge.

New Municipal Waste cover artwork. I think it's pretty fucking badass. Let's just hope the music is better than the last album which I was hugely dissapointed by and we get the standard of songs they were putting out on Hazardouse Mutation.

Nice!

I love Municipal Waste & I thought their last album was ok on the first couple of listens but I never go back to it, I hope the new one is killer.

Hazardous Mutation is one of my favourite albums of the 2000s

Is anyone going to see Brand New on their current tour? I'm really looking forward to it. I just wish I had gone to see them before now though. Not a fan of "Daisy" at all and they're still playing a good few songs from that.

Jesse Leach rejoins Killswitch Engage. (Fuck yes.)

Even better than that, if you click through to the article where Howard Jones explains why he left, he says "I wish myself the best in all my future endeavours". What a fucking man.

I only got into Killswitch around when they released The End of Heartache, seen them a few times at Download and always enjoyed them. I'll be interested to hear the new stuff.

Yeah I'm going to the Sunday London show with a friend. My third time seeing them. And I saw that from the Nottingham show, I thought Daisy was fine, but wouldn't mind more from TDAGARIM or Deja if they do change it up slightly from night to night. Last time I saw them, I think the only song they didn't play that I wish they had, was Boy Who Blocked. Still, can't wait. Their NYE show in Atlantic City looked fantastic, and they played Flying From Tree Level too.

Fantastic. AOJB is still my favourite album by them and even tho I really did like Howard and enjoyed KSE live with him, I'd always wished I'd been able to see them with Jesse seen as I first got into them as he was leaving.

Yeah, it was just dissapointing compared to the other 2 before it. Saw them live by accident when Hazardous Mutation came out because Mistress were supporting who I've always loved .Waste were still reasonably unknown but the gig was mental- it was chocker, the place was full of weed smoke, beer bongs on stage, tit flashing stage diving women, somebody on a surfboard, Tony throwing crisps in to the crowd. I dont think I've ever felt love at first sight with a band before then

had that little beauty through my door this morning, any Therapy? fans here?

I haven't got a problem with Jesse coming back into the fold, but what was the point in holding the "open auditions" via YouTube and everything else if your just going to ask the previous vocalist back?
And with him coming back, I assume that Times Of Grace is done and dusted after just one album

Apparently Jesse did audition. The new album should be interesting as it's already written (including lyrics), so not sure how different to the last album it will be.

Just seen on the Download forums apparently Sonisphere is -

Queen w/ Adam Lambert, Kiss & Faith No More

Despite what people may think about Queen w/ Adam Lambert not being "metal" enough this is a MASSIVE coup for Sonisphere. I'm seriously tempted to go to this now.

From Kerbdog's Facebook page



GRRRR. Need spondoolicks and travel and a transporter

I'm going to see them in Cardiff on Friday.

I doubt they'll manage to top the last time I saw them tour where they played three separate sets for each of the three albums with significantly different stage lighting for each. Just the absolute best thing they could have done given they had three very distinct albums at the time.

Daisy just feels like more of the same from The Devil And God... but there's still some excellent songs. I'm looking forward to seeing Vices live and that and Gasoline appear to be the only tracks they're playing from that album anyway.

Testament confirmed for Bloodstock in what is being billed as their only UK show this year.
I was hoping they would do Download myself, but great for the peeps going to Bloodstock

Another small Download announcement coming at the end of the week. Probably only a couple of bands but they're doing a really good job this keeping the interest up IMO.

This years Bloodstock lineup is outstanding.

Just announced for Download. Killswitch Engage, NoFX, Nightwish, Shinedown, Opeth and Black Veil Brides

I know they are not to everyone liking, but persoanlly I love them

Dragonforce - Fallen World

First track featuring the new vocalist, Marc Hudson.
Taken from thre new album, 'The Power Within', available April 15th

Not really heavy enough to qualify for this thread, but it doesn't fit in anywhere else - Mike Vennart and Richard Ingram, formerly of Manchester proggers Oceansize, have put up a 3-track EP for their new project, British Theatre (free to listen, 50p to download). First two tracks sound, basically, like Oceansize but more electronic and ambient. Last one's an instrumental that would probably work better as the closer of a longer release, but is still rather pleasant. People who enjoy Sev's top 50 will probably quite like this stuff, so check it out if you're so inclined.

Looks alright, wouldn't say there's anything special with the current line-up.

Bloodstock doesn't look to appealing to me but i'm tempted to go for a day just to see Alcest and Iced Earth, hopefully Alcest play the same time as Watain so i can totally miss their god awful selves.

Anybody still into traditional metal with that 70's-early80's vibe? If so, Christian Mistress are back with a great second release that is just wonderful (unlike the debut album which wasn't highly impressive):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYWqJsAd4SQ

I'm still considering going to Bloodstock but this is the exact clash I don't want to happen. I love Watain and their brilliant stage set up combined with their phenomenal tunes on a main stage will be fantastic to behold as long as it's not done in the sunlight. Alcest are also fantastic and after seeing them last monday in Glasgow, I cannot wait to see them again. I'm just hoping that there's no more power metal to come and more black and death metal. If Bloodstock get Bolt Thrower then I think I'm sold. Otherwise the overall line up is a complete meh compared to Hellfest for me.

Will have to give that a bash. After reviewing the Grim Reaper reissues at the end of last year I'm loving that era metal once more

Watain pretty much stick out as the most generic of generic when it comes to black metal to me but i guess i have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to thier imagery and ideology as much as anything else.

If you haven't already i'd say have a look at Roadburn festivals line-up this year, an awesome mix of the more extreme/doom/post metal and experimental scenes.

I see this is around for download now, gonna give it a listen in a bit, have high hopes for it, hope the boys are back to their best.

i'll get on the new Municipal Waste record now, i never really gave the last one a chance.

Was having a conversation about this last night...obviously we natter away with mates or like-minded people on forums about aggressive forms of music without a second thought, but how do you describe what you like to people who aren't in the know? Or do you bother at all? Sometimes I find it easier to just completely dismiss it, like 'oh you wouldn't have heard of them'.

On the other hand, my girlfriend is into Rnb and Hip Hop and has little knowledge of heavy music but she's still pretty cool about it. If im listening to something completely daft like Grindcore, she tends to just smile and say 'mental'. Which really, it is! Luckily shes not one of these 'it's just noise/shit' types

yeh, i see what your saying. If i find someone i can have a proper chat with it's great but the majority of the time it's easier just to say 'i like rock music' and leave it like that. I've been present when a metal fan will try and shove some aggressive form of music down a pop fan's throat and it's just an embarrasing situation.

I also find it very hard to have a conversation with metal fans that only have a mainstream love of the genre, not so much because i don't like the bands they like but more because they are so f'n dismissive of anything which isn't popular and that really grips my shit.

I keep it to myself more often than not though.

I'm the same with my partner. We like what we like and don't try to force it on eachother. She likes some of the softer songs (she loves 'Angel' by Judas Priest and is fond of Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters) but its safe to say checking Carcass or Morbid Angel anytime soon. Regarding the heavier death metal side of things, she does respect the players ability when it comes to performing but its not something she would chose to listen to

being a metal fan is a lot similar to being a pro wrestling fan the two go hand in hand.

If anything, the opposite of this is far worse. I really hate how elitist extreme metal fans can be at times.

Metal fans often get a hard time for being elitist/close minded but in my experience they're no worse than fans of any other genre. Go to Reading or Leeds festival & the hipster indie types will lap up anything that's current & dismiss anything that not's deemed trendy, regardless of quality (Faith No More playing to a half empty tent after headlining Download the same year). Pendulum, Prodigy & this year Chase and Status will get great responses & huge crowds at Download. When Machine Head get a brilliant response on the mainstage at Creamfields/Global Gathering I'll accept that fans of other genres are less elitist.

Elitest metallers are hilarious, they like to rattle off a list of bands they assume you'll not have heard off. It's fun showing the cocky bastards up.

yeh, i agree. I think i kinda sit somewhere in the middle. I'm just a metal/rock fan, i definitly don't show off that i know stuff, and i certainly don't think my taste in music is better than anyone else's. But if someone wants to talk metal with me i will.

I remember a year back we were having a bit of all nighter in my mates garden when a friends girlfriend showed up after a night out. Another mate who happens to be a bit of a punk fanatic tried to give this girl a lecture on why punk is great and pop music is shit (girl likes everyday chart music), it was f'n grim, the girl clearly didn't care and the boy just came off as an arrogant twat. In them situation's i think it's best to say 'each to their own' and let everyone enjoy what they wanna enjoy.

I always laugh off the 'it's just noise' fuckers though, and the classic 'rah rah music' line which just sounds ridiculous. I've been encountering that sort of stuff since i was a young teen, i probably got more defensive when i was 16 but now i don't care.

I'm proud of being a metal fan but I'm a closet wrestling fan, I wear metal tshirts but not wrestling ones.
If someone asks me what music I like I usually say 80s thrash metal but then give a bit of a speech about how I love music and have extremely eclectic tastes but don't really listen to much modern mainstream stuff

This tune makes me want to cum blood all over my own grave stone

Edit -

Also, this song makes me want to have fresh soil force fed into my lungs until I expire.

Black metal for bastards till I die.

Essential track, the atmosphere contained in something so minimal is unbelievable. A Blaze In The Northern Sky is still the ultimate Darkthrone album though.

Amazing tune isn’t it. I’ve even shown this to mates who are of the opinion of “its all just shouting and you can’t tell what they’re saying”, and they’ve loved it to the point of voluntarily playing it on drinking sessions without me pressuring them into doing so.

Edit -

Bonus sick tune just because I love you Satan worshipping gore monkeys. My eyes are the mirrors that reflect your death. You disgust me.

Fair shout about how metal fans seem to be divided into mainstream and elitist, I consider myself a general rock fan who favours the traditional style of heavy metal and hard rock. However, I am open to death metal, grindcore etc but there is a lot of snobby fans of those genres which I find off putting at gigs and festivals. Rock is a broad church and all are welcome but dont hate someone because they dont know a black metal band from a village in Norway the size of a postage stamp and a name you need to cut your tongue out to pronounce, if the music is good, people will find it.

I have a t-shirt that says “True Norwegian Black Metal” on the back. Does that put me in this little twattery bracket?

Nope, because if I remember rightly, its a Mayhem tshirt you have there, pretty well known band there. Its the people that are almost like metal hipsters that annoy me, as far as black and death go, its the more well known stuff I like (Mayhem, Morbid Angel, Watain, Enslaved, Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir if you like to stretch the definition of the genres) but you get the 'oh I have demos of Exorchrist from Fjordyarningham' types, which is verging on anorak status. Music is entertainment to me, I do get a buzz from finding new bands but I dont like to rub it in peoples faces like the elitists do.

Yeah, I fully understand your point. I’m not like that at all. Infact, other than the black metal CD’s I have and bits and pieces read off Wikipedia on the notorious Norway scene of the 90’s, I know very little about the bands.



Close, it’s Darkthrone. I do have a Mayhem shirt that mainly gets worn at work though. On the back of that one, it has a circular symbol with inverted crosses in. I always get accused of it actually being a Take That shirt, as its somewhat similar to the symbol they had on their merch’ back in their heyday.

Nice, it was quite a notorious era in metal with all the controversy surrounding the church burnings and obviously Varg going down for murder. I tend to tag along to gigs and find out if I like what I hear, theres a pretty decent deathcore scene in Scotland at the moment and a lot of bands from all over get good responses. Recently, the delightfully named Cancerous Womb played in Finland, first Scottish deathcore band ever to play there. But other than that, I tend to dabble in trad metal, power metal if it isnt too wanky and more often than not, thrash and speed metal.