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Hosted by Brendan Biryla, Hollywood Metal Radio is a weekly show featuring the best of extreme metal from around the world. New episodes are available when I feel like it (check back Friday or Saturday nights) For airplay consideration reply on twitter: @BrendanBiryla
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Our good friend Patrik Carlsson from ANACHRONAEON tracking the solo for one of my favorite songs "The English Wizard" behold...
Show Log Saturday June 14th 2009: Episode 68 was a long overdue. Truth be told, the building that I used to do the show out of is no longer in the possession of the company I work for so I need to find a new venue. In the meantime I will be doing the show out of my small apartment in Venice Beach (Viking Beach). Lane Storli, the bassist for epic metal band PHLEGETHON was over for the show along with my guitar teacher Dave Trau. Over the course of the evening Lane and I would get very drunk (much of which was after we stopped recording the show) and may or may not have included hard drugs. The first song I played was by Finnish metallers ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW "Baptized by the Blood of Angels" aside from being and excellent melodic death metal band, one that has especially grown on me the past few weeks, these guys how and when to use my favorite guitar technique, sweeping. The ones 2/3rds of the way through this song simply own my soul. The rest of the song is brutal and melodic... perfect. DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY is a band that Lane introduced me to the first show he was on with us and they pretty much kick ass. I have a minor pet peeve with bands that are silly when it comes to the music. This band can sometimes be on the silly side but they take their music seriously as evidence by the precision and skill. Lane and I have a good discussion about this band. As for the song "Battle Cry" the drums and rhythm cadence are intense, and the lead singers voice is piercing. CRYSTAL EYES was up next with "Northern Rage". I find this band fascinating because the guitar player keeps the songs really interesting despite having just one primary guitar track on each song. How this one dude is able to fuel such great melodies is a mystery I hope to unlock in my playing someday. Following some questionable conversation topics, which I will not recap in this blog, I wanted to play some really dark black metal from the northlands. IRRBLOSS just released and album called 2009 Bloodline and features a song called "Irrbloss" that kicks ass. Most people who listen to the show I know dig heavy tremolo picking and sweeps so this satisfies the former which some great heavy melodic tremolo picking over some blasting drums. FEJD is a folk band from Sweden. No electric guitars need apply in "Offerok", this rhythmic folklore is heavy with just drums and bass and an excellent male chorus. FEJD means "fued" in Swedish. WIZARD is the name of the next band.. their latest is 2009 Thor which obviously is a power-viking masterpiece, (how could it not be?) "Stolen Hammer" is not your typical power metal though, this song has the heavy bite that you get from the the right arm of the best thrash metallers. It's a. refreshing departure from the epic-grandiose power that is common these days. After that one you heard Lane and I singing "The Bard's Song" by BLIND GUARDIAN.. yes we we're drunk and I admittedly didn't know the words as well as I thought. But I think we did a good job. HYBORIAN STEEL is a band I discovered this week. The song I picked was "Pirates of the Black Coast". I like this one, as did Lane, because it has a bit of a raw quality to it. It has a retro 80's thrash feel with it's sloppy productions and fast paced riffage. As Lane put it.. some SONATA ARCTICA songs put hair on your chest.. others make you question your sexuality... this one is unfortunately the latter but I don't care.. I love this song.. and just like the words say "Needed to sing the very notes I heard.." so do I need to sing this song when I hear it... its called "Gravenimage" The every instrument in this song is perfect including the vocals which hit some pretty hard notes indeed. The harpsichord is especially awesome too, something I don't get to say very often. EQUILIBRIUM is one of my top 10 bands, "Der Sturm" is the song Lane picked because its literally impossible to pick a bad song from these guys. Helge Stang has one of the best voices in metal and the whole band is leagues above anyone else in the epic pagan black metal scene... Although I think the show went on for 2 more songs.. the recording of the show ended with "Midnight Bird" by ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW once again showcasing their perfect melodic cadences and harsh vocals.
Sunday May 24th 2009: I was at a couple metal shows this week so I didn't have a lot of time to put together a lengthy show/ PAGANFEST II ruled, you can check out the videos on my youtube page. http://www.youtube.com/hollywoodmetalradio Also, STATIUS, PHLEGETHON and WHITE SILENCE kicked ass up in the valley at the Cobalt Cafe. A viking metal band called WINTER CHILDREN contacted me this week and gave me a heads up to their material. They sent 5 songs, all of which are really great. I plan to play most of them between this week and next so I led things off with my favorite "Mythical Blade of Evernight II" The main melodic riff now owns my soul... there's a longer more methodic version to start the song and it progresses into a quick sharp viking riff for the backbone of the song. The solo is great the vocals are strong as well. WOLFCHANT I played last week but because I was so indecisive about the song I wanted to play I decided to play the other song I was debating with "World In Ice". Blasting drums and a descending melodic guitar melody mark the opening of this track. As with most German pagan metal bands the tremolo picking is fantastic and the vocals are harsh and epic. They really do a great job creating icy cold imagery to match the songs title and theme. "Charioteer" by Crystal Eyes was the song I was singing all week specifically the "charioteer!!.. you're a warrior without fear!!!" lyrics. This is a great album through and through. The band isn't particularly heavy often there is only 1 guitar track but the double bass drums go a long way to help with the rhythm section. The guitarist is damn good though.. his riffs and solos are extremely noteworthy and I dig whatever effects he's got on that axe. Being memorial day weekend here in the states I thought it would be appropriate to play at least one pro-America themed song to honor our warriors who have died in battle over the years. I choose a Finnish band called WINTERBORN because from time to time enjoy hearing foreign bands speak highly of the US. Honestly though, I don't crave it or have a superiority complex about it as evidence by the respect I show all warriors of the world... but every now and then it's nice to hear. "The Land of the Free" is a good tune by these power metallers, the vocalist has a strong voice but not one of those over the top high pitched screamy power metal vocals. Instead it's a semi-clear, lower tone sound that would be what I imagine myself sounding like if I did power vocals. Hopefully I would sound this good. I closed the show with WINTER CHILDREN "Battlecries" which is another great one. The vocalist can really scream as you'll find out as we play more of these guys but you get a good taste of his range as he alternates between harsh, semi-clean and utter screaming. The part where he yells "..and kill for ODIN!!" pretty much made my day. The main melody rules and you'll hear the screams I'm referring to shortly after the phrase above... kick ass stuff, I hope they get to LA soon and release a full length.
Saturday May 16th 2009: One day to go before PAGANFEST II in Hollywood. All the guest from the past few shows will be there as well as 5 kickass bands. Naturally we had to play a few of them today and I've covered most of them in detail so I will just mention the band and song to save you some read time. The show led off with SWASHBUCKLE "Crewed by the Damned" and I hope they lead off tomorrow's show with it as well. WOLFCHANT was next due to some technical difficulties. "Until The End" is off their new album which is great and I will play them again next week too. PRIMORDIAL "The Song of the Tomb" is another great one from this band which has gained a lot of my respect in the weeks leading up to tomorrow. KORPIKLAANI is headlining tomorrow and it's pretty safe to say that "Happy Little Boozer" will be played since it's one of their classic crowd rocking songs. Also on the show I played a song from a new band I found called THORONDIR, a viking metal band from Germany. "Skaldenmet" is the name of the song and it achieves that rollicking viking sound that you and I have come to worship. It's always good to hear power metal in languages other than english because it forces you to concentrate on the 'sound' of the vocalists voice, the cadence in his verses and most importantly the music itself. IRA is a great band from Mexico and I really enjoy "Fin de Eras" whatever that means... STORMWARRIOR from Germany is a power metal band but not overly grandiose. I find this to be a real good mix of harsh viking and epic hero metal. A quality album all the way around and definitely a unique sounding band. Wrapped things up with the band that I am most excited to see next to MOONSORROW tomorrow, and that is BLACKGUARD. I think the crowd is in for a big surprise as I expect these guys to steal the show like STATIUS did at Pagan Knights Tour. Coincidentally, I will be seeing STATIUS along with PHLEGETHON up in Canoga Park on Thursday, I'll talk about it next show. Saturday May 9th 2009: Today was Hail to Sweden day because my Swedish friend Magnus Lervik joined us in the studio for episode 65 and I did a pre-recorded interview with Markus Kinnell of MINDFUEL, also from Sweden. Magnus is a great guitar player and is in a band called BLIND TENSION which is sort of a progressive / hard rock / prog / alternative / grunge / you get the point. I played 3 tracks from their forthcoming debut release that is yet untitled. "See Clear", "Florescent Skies" and "Above Me" were the 3 I picked for the show. Enjoy these and check out the video of Magnus shredding on the homepage. DISSECTION has been a major influence on my life. (The reaper from "Where Dead Angels Lie" is tattooed to my side) Sadly, I feel like the new melodic direction the band was going towards at the end was some of their best work and the metal world will forever miss Jon. "God of Forbidden Light" is one of the amazing melodic black metal songs from the 2006 Reinkaos album. This album rules... period. I particularly like the lead guitar which is often buried in black metal. In this it rings out clean and crisp into the night sky... It’s well known that I worship at the alter of BATHORY so I don't feel the need to explain how amazing his songs are, just listen to "Father to Son" because like it rules just like all of his others. The song that stole the show today was from another one of my favorite bands ANACHRONAEON. This particular song "Anachronaeon (Where People Live in Dream) has the most amazing melody throughout. (I'm going to learn it this week because its stuck in my head). The melody morphs as the song goes one but the main theme is still there always. Patrik is one of my favorite guitarists because his solos are absolutely mesmerizing. They are long and very different from most heavy metal solos. Lastly, the drumming in this song is perfect as well. Look out for the blazingly fast bass hits near the end of the song.. friggin amazing! MINDFUEL are also good friends of mine from Sweden. I had been wanting to do an interview with Markus about their new album because I have been watching them progress as a band now for about a year. Their debut was released on April 4th and it's a good mix of heavy metal / power and thrash. We've played many of the songs from the album on the show already but there was still room for "Damage", "Mindfuel" and "Dead Comes Alive" on episode 65. Battle on brothers!
Saturday May 2nd 2009: PHLEGETHON was back on the show today to
premier "Norloxious THE BLOODSMOKER" and to play my new favorite drinking game,
wizard staff. The theme of the show was Totally Awesome Super Epic Hero Metal
and we stuck pretty close to it with some great epic tracks. MANOWAR "Power of
Thy Sword" led things off. As with all MANOWAR songs, the vocal hooks are
incredibly catchy. I've been singing it all weekend. Especially the final vocal
loop at the end. And then it was time for "NORLOXIOUS THE BLOODSMOKER" from
PHLEGETHON. A highly anticipated track in the tight-knit Hollywood metal scene.
The track is great, all parts rule.. the vocals from Lane and Tyler provided a
depth to the song... Tyler shreds the guitar with tremolo picking and Lane's
base provides a super thick heavy base line and thunderous vocals for the song.
Confirmation the kick-assness of this song came the following night as the guys
played live at the Key Club in Hollywood. The crowd was nuts, videos from the
show can be seen on my youtube page
www.youtube.com/hollywoodmetalradio . RHAPSODY OF FIRE "Rain of a Thousand
Flames" is a great song. The namesake Hollywood Metal can partially be
attributed to this band as they were probably the first to coin the term in
reference to their "movie score" metal sound. Their songs are larger than life
and worthy of that title. In much the same way, songs played on my show have
that epic, larger than life, quality across many metal genres. Moving on...
DRAGONLAND is in my top 10 band list, "Holy War" is an excellent display of
musicianship and song construction. The guitars are smooth as always and the
vocals are perfect. IRON FIRE from Denmark is another band that really can't be
faulted on their technical ability to rock faces. You either like power metal or
you don't the song "Kill for Metal" is a MANOWAR type song about the glory of
metal (usually I shy away from songs about metal but for the Totally Awesome
Super Epic Power Metal Show I will make an exception). Catchy guitar riffs,
strong vocals and good drum cadences make this one easy to rock to. Norloxious
was my favorite song of the day but on par with that was "Surreality" from
HIGHLAND GLORY. I have to headbang the hell out of this one because it is like a
hammer of epic power pounding away at your eardrums. I've very upset that the
lead singer Jan has since left the band but Tracey just found his new band so I
will check that out and report back. MERCYFUL FATE is a classic foundation band
for any metalhead. While I didn't build my metal prowess off them from the
beginning like many others, they have solidified a place in my collection as a
go to band for haunting screams and heavy riffs. PHLEGETHON covered "Come to the
Sabbath" at Pagan Knights tour and it ruled! FALCONER is another favorite
Swedish band of mine. I recently played their latest album heavily on the show
and did an article for them in my Buzzbin Magazine column. "Quest for the Crown"
is off their debut self titled album and it is no less impressive. Props to
Tyler for picking this one out. It's always a good time to play more MANOWAR..
enjoy "Battle Hymm" and remember to KILL! KILL! The aforementioned MERCYFUL FATE
is fronted by KING DIAMOND. His side project, which bears the same name, has
also become a mainstay for metaldom. Nocrolord did a few album cover art pieces
for him and that is was introduced me to this band a few years ago. "At the
Graves" is off the Conspiracy album from way back in 1989 and it is as awesome
today as is way back then. The final track of the show was from BAL-SAGOTH the
track that picked was "The Splendour Of A Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath The
Blazon Of The Hyperborean Empire (Part: III)" and I'll let Tracey explain why
this song rules....Tracey: "As with all Bal-Sagoth songs, each song tells a
story, this song is basically about the battle between the Angsaar and the
Hyperborean king. This is a top song by Bal-Sagoth for me because it's what
they're all about, epic battle metal! The majority of the song is dialogue
between the two, and then the king rallies his men and has them prepare for the
final battle, where the king then slays Angsaar. Key parts to listen to in this
song 0:43 that epic laughter! as well as 3:38 - 3:53 completely heroic. Beyond
amazing job with keys in this song I might also add." Saturday April 18th 2009: Tyler and Lane of PHLEGETHON were here in the studio with us drinking beer and talking about their journey though metaldom.First up was of course PHLEGETHON with "Feeding the Phlegethon" a brutal number that starts off with an epic intro but wastes no time bringing the thunder! The band used 2 vocal style perfectly alternating between guttural harsh and raspy harsh. Great tremolo picking, pounding drums and multiple changes of pace and melody.. epic! Speaking of epic the next band wrote the book on epic. MOONSORROW "Kylan Paassa" which translates to "A Village Away" is yet another 7 minute epic from these Finnish masters. The tortured screams of these vikings bellow out against the atmospheric keyboards... a warning to all that only the warriors of Odin are worthy of such entertainment. Known for their catchy riffs and sustainable originality despite the extreme length of most of their songs, MOONSORROW demonstrates why they are among my top 10 band list. And then it was time for more PHLEGETHON! "Creature of the North" blazes along with the tremolo guitar and drums for the first part but then turns into a crushing headbanger around 1:18 into the song as the drum cadence switches to rollicking thunder! The song alternates tempo throughout... excellent work .. great musicianship. SKETELTONWICH was a late entry to the show. We had an agreement on how awesome this band is so we decided to play "Within My Blood." BLACKGUARD is rapidly moving up my list of top bands (maybe even cracking the top 10 soon). "Scarlet to Snow" is a brilliant way to start your album. This song is heavy, fast and epic. The use of keys is masterful and once again, I'm always a fan of lead guitar floating above the song.. almost independent of the other instruments. The intro is positively awesome too. INGRIMM is a folk metal band I discovered while checking up on my friends TARABAS who are playing at Black Troll Fest in Germany soon. We'll play them next week on the show, but this week I was to play INGRIMM who is also playing BTF. This band featured a good mix of metal styles within their songs. Firmly rooted in folk, there is also are melodic death-like guitars and some speedy power metal solos. "Ingrimm" is the name of this track and most of the tracks on their latest album 2008 Todgeweiht are great as well. KALMAH is one of my all time favorites. This band is incredibly melodic and talented on all instruments. "Heritance of Berija" features both searing and heavy guitars. There is even an nice piano interlude that morphs into a kick ass guitar solo.. Everyone in the LA area needs to check out PHLEGETHON. They will be opening for NAPALM DEATH and KATAKLYSM at the Key Club in Hollywood on May 3rd, playing at the Cobalt Cafe in Canoga Park May 21st as well as Heathen Fire Fest Sept 12th somewhere in Los Angeles. Saturday April 11th 2009: Packed house for episode 61 of Hollywood Metal Radio. The previous night I was out in Hollywood and wad introduced to Magnus Lervik and Tom Aswald from Sweden who attend Musicians Institute here in LA. Magnus is a guitarist and Tom is a drummer so they came down to Venice beach for the show and we had a good time recording the show. Damon, Dave and Damon's girlfriend April were also in attendance. I always say that bands should put the best songs first on the albums they produce because they are what is going to compel people to listen to the whole album. Similarly, here on Hollywood Metal we like to play the best song up front. Today, that was provided by the recently renamed band BLACKGUARD from Canada. I spoke with the band to get clearance to play the songs ahead of their US release and they were nice enough to give me the green light. The entire album is of the highest quality of epic folk metal and it was difficult to pick just one song for the show. Luckily, we have a few weeks before they come to Hollywood for the PaganFest II concert so we have time to play other songs. "This Rounds on Me" is a kick ass song that hits on many of my favorite elements in epic metal. First, the use of keyboards to bring is various folk instruments and an epic atmosphere is always a preferred move in my book. The guitars gallup along playing extremely melodic yet heavy riffs above the thundering drums... perfect. Last but not least, prominent sweep guitar picking scattered throughout the song is perhaps the best thing you can do in my book. There a few great sweep sections that bridge this song together and showcase the talent of these warriors. The main reason I am attending PaganFest II is because of MOONSORROW, a top 10 band of mine (along with the recently added BLACKGUARD). MOONSORROW is renouned for their extremely epic and lengthy viking war ballads. They are going to rule the night May 17th. "Jumalten Kaupunki incl. Tuhatvuotinen Perintö" or "City of the Gods" is a masterpiece worthy of Odin. As I mentioned on the show, I was quite ashamed that I only recently discovered the excellent band ADORNED BROOD from Germany. These guys have a handful of great albums under their sword belts already and I have only just discovered them. "Am Grunde Des Meeres" is a pagan black metal piece that is a bit heavier and harsher, vocally, then some of their other songs and all previous albums. It's a good headbanger though and I just translated the name which mean "At the Bottom of the Sea." I've talked a lot about PRIMORDIAL the past few weeks as they too will be at PaganFest in May so I'm not going to write a lot about them today but enjoy the "Empire Falls" and perfectly created atmosphere of impending doom. Italian black metallers MYSTICAL FULLMOON sent me their latest cd this week called 2008 Scoring a Liminal Phase: Ten Strategies for Postmodern Mysticism. This is some extremely heavy and dark stuff... definitely not recommended for small children. The vocals are highly tortured but passionate at the same time. I Picked "As I Walk Along the Dark Paths of My Soul" for the show today. The song's temp changes frequently throughout the song but the guys are good enough to pull this off and still keep your attention. Hailing from Finland, WYRD is a pagan black metal band I found recently. I like the main melodic scale-down riff (for lack of a technical description), it was stuck in my head all week... enjoy! Finally, OBSCURITY from Germany is a melodic death metal band. I mistakenly referred to them as a pagan black metal band on the show but this was incorrect as you can plainly hear by the deep harsh vocals and heavy guitar crunch. "Schult und Asche" is the name of the song, it's off their new release called 2009 Varar. Saturday April 4th 2009: I felt like we weren't playing enough Finnish metal on the show lately so I decided to step things up today with a few great bands from the land of the midnight sun. BLACK SUN AEON is the brainchild of Tuomas Koivusaari of the band BEFORE THE DAWN which have played on the show in the past. This side project of his is unbelievably heavy and dark. "A Song for My Demise" features kick ass dark melancholic riffs and emotion-filled vocals from Mynni Luukkainen of SOTAJUMALA which we play later in this episode. PRIMORDIAL is one of the bands I am looking forward to seeing at Pagan Fest in Hollywood May 17th. "As Rome Burns" is a 9 minute epic about the burning of Rome by Emperor Nero. The vocals are perfectly fitting as they convey the despair and fear of the subject matter. DOOMSWORD is also excellent at that. MINDFUEL from Sweden are good friends of mine. I built their website www.Mindfuel.se where you guys can find out more about this up and coming band. Today they released their debut album 2009 In Your Mind and it kicks ass. "It's a Shame" is the track I picked for the show today because it showcases the muddy, unrefined, in your face rock and roll that is MINDFUEL! The rest of the show was dedicated to Finland, the breeding grounds for a large portion of the world's best metal. NORTHER is a melodic death metal band founded by Petri Lindroos, one of my favorite axeman/frontman. He is currently serving time in my beloved ENSIFERUM and doing a heck of a job as I have seen them twice now. Apparently he has since left NORTHER to concentrate full time in his new gig but the albums will live on as a testament to the icey cold brutal nature of life in the northlands. As promised SOTAJUMALA was up next. The name means "wargod" and the song chosen was "Riistetty Viattomuus" which mean "Deprived of Innocence" and you are in for one of the heaviest songs ever played on my show. Some of the guitar sections are so low that they must be tuned below D. Honestly, if you are still living after hearing this song then you can enjoy the rest of the show. MIDNIGHT BULLET is a new thrash metal band from Finland. The band contacted me with praises of the show and asked me to check out their stuff. I obliged and was very impressed with the guitar sounds and clean but tortured vocals. "Betrayed" is the song I picked and as far as I know this is unreleased stuff so enjoy this preview of the next great metal band from Finland. The final song of the show was "Beer Beer" by KORPIKLAANI, the masters of light hearted folk metal. These guys will be headlining PaganFest II so I am looking forward to having a lot of beer beers with all you heathens... hail to FINLAND! Saturday March 28th 2009:
The theme of this weeks show was basically bands that have formed from
bands that split up or bands that recently reunited. Things got started
with VREID "Discipline" a band that formed after Valfar of WINDIR passed
onto Valhalla in 2004. Fittingly I noticed that I was wearing my WINDIR
t-shit during the show which was totally unplanned. This song is an
excellent song (and album) is about the Norwegian resistance during WWII.
The song itself has a very soldier-like march melody running through it...
its definitely time for battle!!! Keeping with the general theme of the
show... AGATHODAIMON recently reformed and is releasing 2009 Phoenix this
year. The first song on the album is my favorite, its called "Heliopolis"
and this is just an incredibly melodic black metal song. Several vocal
styles are featured in the song as well as a solo that fits perfectly with
the song. I am one happy warrior to learn of this reunion... The band "I"
was formed when IMMORTAL took a break around 2005 or so. The band includes
Abbath of IMMORTAL as well as members of GORGOROTH, DEMONAZ and ENSLAVED
so its pretty much an all-star line up of Norwegian black metal. Not
surprising then that this album kicks ass. "The Storm I Ride" is a
galavanting journey though the icey landscape of the land of the midnight
sun! CONCUBIA NOCTE from Slovakia just absolutely kills with their ultra
fast tremolo picking during the last minute or so of the song "Zomriet pre
Zivot." An excellent band that I will keep on the radar for sure. TEMUJIN
is a gothic metal band that sent in their latest album called 2007 1000
Tears. I was extremely impressed with how heavy and groovy this song was.
The sound was so muddy and bassy it is impossible not to headbang or play
air guitar too like I was... ANA KEFR is the second submission of the week
that I liked. Their theme is anti-establishment I guess but to be honest,
lyrical content is not something I really care for unless its epic... I do
however appreciate just straightforward kickass heavy melodic metals...
and this one is particularly headbangable (note: the song title was
emailed to me as "T.ruthless" not sure if that was meant to be just
"Truthless")... getting back to our epic
roots, FOLKSTONE closed the show with "Con Passo Pesante" and this IS how
you do bagpipes in metal!!
February 22nd 2009: My new friend Dave Trau joined the show officially
today. Dave is a studio sound engineer and a masterful guitar player. He
attends the prestigious Musicians Institute in Hollywood and we're lucky
to have him because the show sound quality needs dramatic improvement.
Dave also has some great views on metal and music and general and we'll be
exploring more of what's in his head in the coming weeks. To honor the new
guild member I played some of the best songs in our library yet to be
played. These bands have been documented well so I will briefly mention a
few then talk about the others. CHILDREN OF BODOM "Children of Decadence",
EQUILIBRIUM "Mana" and INSOMNIUM "Dying Chant." SUIDAKRA is coming
to town on the 12th of next month and I am really excited about it because
the new album kicks ass! "Gilded Oars" is my favorite track on the cd
because of the catchy guitar riff they use 3 times during the song
starting at :46 seconds, check it out... We'll play more from them next
week. CRYSTALMOORS from Spain is a great pagan black metal band. Listen to
"Wrath of Centvries" and you will hear the excellence. (not a misspelling
"v" was a "u" in Latin). FFERYLLT (no idea how to pronounce that) is a
great band from Russia. "Warriors of Ireland" has a great main melody that
integrates with some nice folk elements. WOLFMARE, also from Russia, and
also a folk metal band was up next with "The Ballad of Jolly Hangman."
This band is on the lighter side of folk metal as they sound like they are
playing in a tavern around the 7th century AD. It sounds a bit comedic but
the musicianship is quality and I dig their vibe. Song of the day comes
from SUMMONING though with "Land of the Dead." This song is intoxicating.
Something about the buzzing guitars creates almost "warm" feeling for me
despite the cold despairing nature of the lyrics. I've had this song on
repeat for a few days now and I'm not sure if I'll ever slake my lust for
the guitar and keyboard melodies of this song. www.myspace.com/blackmetalmovie
Friday July 4th 2008: Hail to India was the theme of today's show. I featured some extremely surprising melodic death metal bands today. India is not regarded as a metal powerhouse but great metal knows no boundaries. The musicianship and melodic sense of the following bands will prove that India deserves more recognition in the metal nation. ACRID SEMBLANCE "A Perfect Pseudocrity" led things off for us today. The main melody of the lead guitar is my favorite part of this song. Expertly grooving in and out of the rhythm sequence this song is very catchy and awesome! The vocals are mixed well and the keys and drums are prominently displayed as well. A nice little solo is included to complete the package... perfect! DEMONIC RESURRECTION "Celestial Disharmony" was next in the queue. I guess the way I would describe this band is "tight." By this I mean the band is technically sound in every facet. The musicianship is perfect, the tempos changes and transitions expertly synced among all instruments an the song offers a few different metal elements. In this case there are bits of melodic death, power and progressive metal all on display at some point. The fast arpeggios of the lead guitar give this song a bit of a tech metal feel too. (al la PSYOPUS) The next band was DEMONSTEALER "Seething Pain that Leaves No Scars." This song might be the premier song on the day. It was a late entry to the show line-up but it proved its place the first time I played it. This song has something to offer for every genre. Starting with the vocals, this song gives a nice range of black and death metal style. The keyboards provide a grandiose atmosphere along with haunting background accompaniment. The guitar range is also on display... the fast picked black metal melodies are on display in the beginning then move towards a series of melodic death melodies that own only to return to the black metal riffage for the refrain. A perfectly timed tapping sequence in the middle breaks the song up a little to keep things interesting. If you're not rocking by the end of this piece you might be dead, which would be pretty metal too.. but for entirely different reasons. No messing around with this next song, just some straight forward brutal death metal by a band called IIIRD SOVEREIGN "Pathetic Ignorance." Headbang-able catchy rhythms and powerful death vocals define this short but heavy piece. DUSK "Dreaming Gotishya" is a band that offers us a couple different styles rolled into one. I had the option of selecting a pure doom metal song or a song like this one that mixes elements of death, thrash and doom to create a more uptempo doomish sound. The droning, evil beast-sounding vocals contrast the mid paced drumming while a shredding guitar can be faintly heard from time to time. In interesting sound, one that deserved to be included on this Hail to India show. BRAHMA "Or Not At All " I am told that this is probably India's most popular metal band, they often sell out large shows. The thrash metal influences can clearly be heard in this band. I think METALLICA is the most prevalent given that the lead singer sounds similar to lord James Hetfield. A nice little acoustic intro leads into this crunchy mid-tempo headbanger. The lead guitar wails over the top of the rhythm section and the vocals alternate between clean and scruffy but discernable... (also similar to James). There is a kick-ass sweeping section a little after 5 minutes in the song too... just what I needed to hear. To close the show I did something I usually don't do and that is to play the same bands twice in an episode but I think it is really important that people get another taste of ACRID SEMBLANCE and DEMONIC RESURRECTION because these bands are of the utmost quality and should be the pride of India's metal scene. So enjoy "From the Oblivion" and "Journey to Solaris" from these bands respectively.
Friday June 27th 2008:
Car trouble has forced us to reschedule the Buzzbin Magazine interview so
I will keep you posted on that status of that. I came prepared however,
with a full slate of metals ready to go. I'm not sure how well known
SYNESTESIA is in Finland but I don't think it will be long before these
guys rise to the top of the Finnish melodic death scene. Right up there
with KALMAH, INSOMNIUM and CHILDREN OF BODOM just to name a few. "Vieraan
Suulla" was the name of the song we played and its a great example of the
clean, sharp and super heavy sound of this band. To me, one of the things
that separates melodic death from is various predecessors (death/thrash)
is crisp musicianship coupled with excellent production. Each note, like
each instrument, is distiguishable yet melded perfectly together. TUATHA
DE DENANN "The Dance of the Little Ones" was the next band and song played
today. There are a couple ways to integrate folk instruments into a metal
song. The first is having these instruments play accompanying melodies to
the rhythm guitars. Another way, and the demonstrative way with this
particular song, is to have them play the same melody as the rhythm
guitars. This gives the song a rhythmic depth instead of an atmospheric
depth, neither one being better or worse... its depends on your mood but I
find it a little bit easier to physically rock out when the folk
instruments play the same melody. One of my favorite bands (even though
they are quite popular for metal) is CHILDREN OF BODOM. I played "Everytime
I Die" after much deliberation all week. "Downfall" is my favorite song by
them, which I played early in the Hollywood Metal timeline. After that
however there is 14 songs (all of which are on the most perfect COB mix I
made a few years ago) that I like almost equally. After a few days of
indecision and rocking out in my car I resolved to play the song that was
last played in my car before I entered the studio. The winner was a gem,
just like the other options, featuring shredding guitar and keyboards by
Alexi Laiho and Janni Warman, the best lead guitar/keyboard duo in metal.
CHILDREN OF BODOM is a tough band to classify musically. They incorporate
elements from many different styles to create a sound that is uniquly
their own. Agressive power metal, blackened death and melodic black are a
few examples of the attempts to classify them. Melodic death has become
the most common but they sound very different from Finnish counterparts of
the same genre like KALMAH, INSOMNIUM, NOUMENA or AMORPHIS (circa Tales
From the Thousand Lakes). Bands that cross genres or push the boundries of
their main genre tend to do well for themselves as new sounds draw
attention. BLACK MESSIAH is an up and coming viking / black metal band
from Germany. "Die Sühne Des Feuerbringers" was the name of the track. I'm
not sure what it means but it's a great example of viking metal. The band
makes good use of a violin for folk flavor and the keys add a nice epic
atmsphere throughout the song. The main thing I want to point out about
this song though is the concept of vocal cadence. I'm not an expert in
this arena by any means so my terminology may seem a bit amateurish.
Anyway, during the main rhythm of this song you will notice that the
vocals follow a rythmic pattern. The syllables seem to fit each line
perfectly and the cadence of the stanzas holds a rhythm of its own, which
as we pointed out during the show, serves to reinforce the main rhythm.
EQUILIBRIUM's "Unter Der Eiche" is another good example of lyrical cadence
so check out the previous episode of Hollywood Metal where we featured
them. KAMELOT is a great american power metal band that I had been wanting
to play for a while now. The first song I ever heard by this band "The
Shadow of Uther" is still my favorite so that's what I played. This song
is good all around but what I like the best is the excellent drum work on
display here. In my world, a thundering double bass is always, always a
great move by any band. As I said on the show, BATHORY album Nordland I is
an absolute perfect album. I don't care what anyone else says that album
is unbelievable. I'm not going to go over all the details, I don't have
that kind of time, just know that every song on this cd rules. "Forever
Dark Woods" is the song I played its my second favorite song on the album
behind "Nordland". The song opens with some great mandolin work to give it
an old world flavor. Then the heavy buzzing guitars come in after the
sound of horse footsteps. The song is thick and heavy viking masterpiece
all the way through the song. Quorthon's excellent clean vocal style (as
opposed to his famous icey-cold black metal style of previous albums) are
on display here as well. At 6:20 in the song the lead guitar comes in
again with heavily distorted, soul piercing, long sustained notes that
just wail at the end of this song. This song, especially the last part
needs to be listened to at high volume. Staying in Sweden, LORD BELIAL "Fleshbound" is
a wonderful black metal band. This is a melodic black metal style that is
guitar driven and features a few great solos. I recently came across and
excellent review for the Nocturnal Beast album that I want everyone to
read because it is extremely creative. I don't usually read a lot of
reviews when researching metal but the title of this one grabbed my
attention so I read on, here is the link... http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=95552
Friday June 20th 2008:
Hail to Russia! I've been wanting to do a Russian themed show for a few
weeks now so I was really excited about this episode. I led todays show
off with NOMANS LAND "Torir Scald", a very good viking metal band. This
song features the classic rollicking viking-style guitar riffs,
traditional instrumentation and chilling harsh vocals. NOMANS LAND is
definitely one of the best viking metal acts from Russia right now. Up
next was DOMINIA "Exodus". This band is a total package. They have a
cross-genre style that features top notch musicianship in each particular
style. Progressive Black/Gothic is probably how they can be described.
This particular song is the new single from their forthcoming sophomore
release. The main riff which starts around :58 seconds rocks so hard. The
vocals are super cold as well, a harsh Norwegian style that is just barely
discernible. The song has a few different parts alternating between harsh
blast beats, the main riff and softer melodic parts. If this is any
indication of what the new album will sound like it's going to be a great
album. The next song on our tour of Russian metal was a little known band
called REQUIEM. I first heard this band randomly when I was checking out
Metalism Records' myspace page a few months ago. The lead singer of this
band has a voice you just don't forget. Yuriy Kirillov has an extremely
clear, strong singing style that fits their mid-paced power metal style
perfectly. The songs are not all that heavy but the guitars are sharp and
loud. There are not a lot of bands that can pull this style off and still
keep it metal as hell but there is just an epic quality to the way they do
it. I expect this band to continue to rise. I just wish they would come up
with an original name for themselves. It seems like every country has a
band called REQUIEM. Forth on the list was ARKONA "Zov Bitvy". These guys
are a pretty well known band in the viking scene, I discovered them about
3 years ago and they have consistently put out high quality viking albums.
Their style isn't the most unique, pretty straightforward folkish viking
metal but they do it very well. They make good use of the accordian sound
in this song which gives it a Finnish "humpaa" sound which is always great
to hear. ALKONOST "Gody Predskazaniy" was the next song on our tribute to
the Russian metal scene. This is a black/folk/dooom metal band and this
song has a great melodic main riff. I'm not exactly sure if the song is "doomy"
but the down tempo guitar riffing gives the song doom-like qualities. As I
pointed out in the show, this is an example of a band that found a great
main melody for their song and they stuck with it throughout the length of
the song. It is very often the case in folk and viking black metal that
bands will have several part to their lengthy tracks, none of which sound
alike. If you catch a listen at different parts of the song you would not
know it was the same track. This is great aspect of viking metal but
occasionally I will hear a particular segment of a song that I absolutely
love. I will want the band to go back to that melody and rock it out again
but they just don't come back to it leaving me to rewind the track to my
favorite part over and over again. This the case of this song, ALKONOST
has found a powerful, catchy main rhythm and melody and they stay with it
for 6 minutes with only minor variations of the riff. I don't prefer my
folk metal to be any one way or another but this band does represent the
other end of the spectrum in terms of changing up the melodies. Sixth on
the setlist today was a BUTTERFLY TEMPLE "Dreams of the Northern Sea". I
know it's a hard name to get over and everyone seems to be in agreement on
the lack of metalness in the name. Fortunately, they are also in agreement
on the fact that this band absolutely rocks! To hell with the name.. their
brand of epic black metal is ultra heavy. Once I was able to put aside my
reservations based on the name I along with everyone else who check them
out realized that these guys are here to stay in the Russian pagan black
metal arena. They have endured a number of line-up changes over the past
few years but the music hasn't suffered at all. Heavy bass contribution to
epic guitar riffs makes these songs super easy to headbang too! Lastly, a
band with a name I really like for some reason. SHADEWEAVER "In Frozen
Haze" is the name and title of the song. The name sounds really dark and
epic.. like the sinister character in an epic fantasy novel. The music is
excellently produced melodic death metal. The reason I say excellently
produced is because I have never been a fan of forward or dominant vocals
in metal, especially extreme metal genres. I like the sound of the harsh
vocals (i don't care what they are talking about as long as its not
spiritual nonsense) but I like the harsh vocal sound when they are less
prominent then the rhythm guitar. If the vocals were meant to be forward
then it would probably be the case that there would be many more clean
vocal style bands. So here's an example of a band with great powerful
vocals mixed in accompaniment with excellent guitar and drumwork for a
complete package. For me this band draws some comparisons to CHILDREN OF
BODOM. These guys are heavier but the lead guitar has a very crisp clear
distortion effect going and he plays some sharp scales in the background
of the main melody which reminded me of Alexi Laiho's style when he
transitions between melodies. Anyway I'm very pleased with this show.
Russia has a healthy metal scene going and their bands need to be featured
more across Europe and especially the United States where we have slim to
no access to Russian bands.
Friday June 13th 2008:
Any radio show that starts off with MOONSORROW is going to rule all other
known shows. Therefore we led things off with "Aurinko ja Kuu" (The Sun
and the Moon) a viking metal masterpiece. MOONSORROW performs all the best
aspects of viking metal when very few bands can manage one. Rollicking
guitar riffs, atmospheric keys, powerful vocals, epic male chorus's and
the songs continue to stay interesting even though they are often very
long due the constant changing of melodies and tempo. To top it off these
guys have excellent stage presence. I spoke with the next band via myspace
and they were very cool. So cool in fact that they helped me put together
another installment of the Hollywood Metal History Connection. A segment
that we do to highlight the link between a historical person, place or
event and a great metal song. SLARTIBARTFASS is the name of this great
band from Germany. The name was taken from "The Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy" novel, and later a tv show. The song we played was "St. Cuthbert"
and it was from this song that we developed the History Connection because
the lyrics of this song deal with the events that took place in
Lindisfarne (Scotland) in the year 793 AD. In this year and on the
hallowed date of January 8th vikings from the northlands storm the shores
and siezed the monestary on this small island just offshore. Several monks
recorded accounts of the event and I read two excepts on today's show:
The events that transpired in Lindisfarne are considered the beginning of the Viking Age, for the next 200 years the vikings were some of the fiercest warriors on earth. The song itself is a celtic/viking masterpiece featuring piercing bagpipes. Keeping with the viking theme the next band in the lineup was SVARTAHRID from Norway. These guys are a viking/black metal band that uses the organ sound to intro the song we played "Atter Et Rike." I've always thought the organ is under-utilized in metal, it has the most haunting and creepy sound. This one also has a nice piano melody that is prominent throughout the song. From the depths of Norway to the lights of Hollywood, we pride ourselves on featuring music from all over the world. The next band up was RATTLEHEAD, from Hollywood. My favorite part about listening to this bands latest release was how it made me feel like I was in one of Hollywood's famous rock 'n roll clubs. This is due to the albums production which was done with a slightly "muddy" recording of the songs. The song we played was "Red October'" and it features 4 melodic solos that are great. Typically in thrash, especially thrash from LA, the solos feature fast picking and tapping sequences, so I was a little surprised to hear tempo-controlled melodic solos and sweep picking! Awesome stuff here, looking forward to seeing them live around here. Up next was a band from Greece called KINETIC. These guys have a brand new line-up with a non-operatic female vocalist. It creates an interesting sound when the female vocalist harmonizes with the lead vocalists' harsh death style vocals. At 3:39 in the song "Venturing High and Low" there is an excellent little solo that has an absolutely excellent lead in when Stavros holds the first two notes for like 2 seconds each and then does some small melodic scale work before launching into a fast picking sequence. I wish the first 10 seconds of this solo could be expanded because I keep rewinding the opening part. Check our youtube channel to see me mimic the solo in the studio.. sometimes you just gotta rock an air guitar solo! MANEGARM from Sweden was next with "Vargstenen" the title track off their 2007 release which means "The Wolf Stone." There's not a lot to say about MANEGARM that hasn't been said already. These guys bring the total package and are truly a premier viking metal band. After this song a quick quote from the movie "Troy" played from our production cd unexpectedly but that's alright because that quote is so epic, just like the movie. We closed the show with ANCIENT RITES from Belgium and their song "Templar". I like this band a lot because they have catchy guitar parts, atmospheric keyboard melodies and they utilize an almost "Bal-Sagoth style" voice over technique with the vocals. Monk-like chants can also be heard in this middle eastern / crusade themed piece. Friday June 6th 2008: I was really unprepared for todays show, I was stuck on the 10 freeway traveling from Santa Monica before the show. As a result I didn't have our normal production cd for the show intro and background music. I streamed a BURZUM song off youtube so it sounded a little rough and I used the intro from ENSIFERUM's Victory Songs album as the intro. For the second half hour I inserted the normal intro when I got home. Anyway, started things off with SLAYER "Dead Skin Mask". I like this song because the main riff is really catchy. Its simple but it sticks in your head for days. Sometimes its the simplest riffs that are the most potent in metal. The second song was from BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME. "Selkies: The Endless Obsession" is one of my all time favorite songs. I'm not going to go to much into detail in this blog, but listen to the show as I describe, or attempt to describe, how awesome this song is. I will say this... Paul Waggoner's sweeps at the end of the Selkies song are mesmerizing. look them up on youtube.. thankfully, tons of people have come to learn the awesomness of this song. We demostrated a lot of range on the show today going from some groovy prog metal to some icy cold pagan black metal. TARABAS was next with "Hero" Side note: I really like the "TARABAS" logo. It looks as icy and cold as the songs sound. Heavy, heavy mid paced riffing with a smooth melodic lead guitar are really showcased in this song. Also, I think the vocals in this song are mixed perfectly. Sometimes in black metal the vocals overpower the song melodies which is a grievous error in my opinion because first and foremost, metal is about the music. The highlight should never be the vocals, especially in extreme metal forms. If it was then the vocals would be discernable. Instead they are meant to compliment the song melodies in "sound" rather then lyrical or vocal content. The vocals in this song are powerful yet not overbearing, it is very pleasant to listen to. The next band featured was RUNIC, a viking metal outfit from Spain. Their 2006 release Liar Flags surprised a lot of people I think. Spain has great metal but its not regarded as a Viking metal stronghold. Yet this album is one of the best. "Ambush" was the song we played and it shows a form of viking metal that is closer to a melodic death metal form then a black metal form, like most viking metal bands. Its got melodic guitar parts and excellent keyboard accompaniment. They show some vocal range too at the end of the song with a really deep, powerful death metal vocal section. Really great stuff on display here. To end the show I choose to play a demo track from a new band I'm interested in. INFERNAL SCOURGE is the band and the track was "The Wrath of God and the Grace of Babylon". The track is in its early stages so it sounds a bit rough but this one man band project of Malek Arthas Hijazi has got a lot of potential. The songs are epic in length so we couldn't play the whole track but we played enough of it to showcase the black, gothic and eerily haunting sound that is created in this piece. I will keep you posted when a release is ready. Lastly, I mentioned today that Hollywood Metal has a new sponsor. The company is SaysMe Inc. and I've been working at this new startup for a few weeks. This company provides an incredible service that would be extremely helpful for bands trying to get their name out. www.saysme.tv is the web address. Basically, they allow people to upload 25 second commercials and run them on tv in the market and network of their choice for an extremely low price. We've all seen commercial for crappy pop artists on MTV from time to time. Now with SaysMe, metal bands have a chance at getting some exposure. I shot a series of funny promo videos for my radio show that will be airing soon to demonstrate the services. I want metalheads around the country, and world for that matter to spearhead this revolutionary opportunity. LET METAL RULE THE WORLD! Friday May 30th 2008: A show for the metal history books occurred today. Got to play 2 of my favorite bands from Finland, the next great melodic black metal band from Germany, a band with the absolute best band name in metal, a prog metal powerhouse and a n epic Norwegian viking metal band! Oh and did I mention that the infamous METAL SANAZ was on the show today?!!! Yup, we're one step closer to crushing all other music shows and world domination in the name of metal! Things got started a few minutes late due to brutal LA traffic. To buy some time I played an 8 minute epic masterpiece by DOOMSWORD. It's ok... go ahead... you know you want to say DOOMSWORD! out loud in a death metal voice... it's a perfectly normal reaction upon hearing the name of this band... Sometimes I find myself saying it to myself randomly thoughout the day... so metal! Anyway, the song was "Deathbringer" from their 2003 release Let Battle Commence. It features epic clean vocals, extremely catching, marching guitar riffs and an excellent melodic section starting at 5:17. A true masterpiece! When the song ended METAL SANAZ was in the studio with us.. time to rock!.. I first met her outside the Whiskey a few weeks ago and she said she had just moved to West Hollywood so we talked a living in Hollywood and being so close to the metal scene in LA. We also talked about her recent trip to Kuwait with Myspace to visit the troops overseas. It was an excellent story and a great thing that Myspace did for the soldiers, I bet that concert was crazy. The second song played was from my absolute favorite melodic death metal band INSOMNIUM. From Finland, these guys have a supreme sense of melody and pacing. The simple words in this account cannot possibly do this song the justice it deserves.. just listen to it at high volume and let the guitars own your soul... all internal pain will dissipate. Next we spoke about www.MetalSanaz.com and the various features that will be included on the site when it launches. It's going to be a cool metal site with a lot of resources for bands and metalheads. Be sure to check that out when it launches in the next few weeks. The 3rd song was from my second favorite melodic death metal band KALMAH, also from Finland. The song is called "My Nation" and it alternates between soft melodic keyboard melodies and just the heaviest of heavy death metal! KALMAH rules they just released a new album too which is excellent, definitely check it out! After that we talked about the kinds of things that Sanaz looks for in a metal band. Obviously the music is the most important element but things like imagery and packaging are pivotal in getting your music in front of people who can appreciate the "music." Since there is so much metal to choose from around the world I often will have to make a decision on which cd to get or which myspace band page to listen to based on things like band names, images and content themes. I'm sure I haven't heard a ton of great metal music because the bands failed to catch my attention visually which is unfortunate but a definite fact. We also talked about how important it is for bands to put their best material first on the album. I can usually tell within the first minute or two of the opening song whether or not the whole album is going to rock and worth the end to end listen. With so many albums presented to me daily I can't waste time hoping that a mediocre album will recover at the end of the cd and rock my face off. The next band played was DYRATHOR from Germany. I played these guys two weeks ago because they met the great metal requirements just mentioned... I'm really excited for a full length from these guys and definitely can't wait to see them in concert someday. I choose a song that I couldn't pronounce but I gave it my best shot... it's called "Schicksalsschlacht" and it features great black/viking melodies with excellent violin accompaniment for a epic folk sound. Later, Sanaz and I talked a little bit about how metal Hollywood is, contrary to what many would believe based on the pop music of the day. This town is full of metalheads working hard towards the goal of getting to rock faces nightly in the name metal! I've been living here for less then a year but I can't see myself leaving this metal haven anytime soon. We also talked a little bit about how to often metal heads express dislike for other metallers and bands. I can't stand when I get drawn into negative conversations about metal. Save the angst for non-metal forms of music. If a band is out their rocking and doing their thing, it doesn't have to be the best metal or even your favorite kind of metal to appreciate it. I'm not saying I like all the metal I hear but I'd never write something off based on pre-disposition. Nor would I waste my time to try to express dislike for a band for any reason. Close-mindedness is for non-metallers who make decisions before they have truly listened. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is be open to all metal and all forms of instrument driven music. It's the ultimate thing you can do to promote metal because it's the exact opposite mindset of non-metallers. Plus it shows people that we've considered everything and come to know that metal is the best form of music... metal musicians have to be highly skilled and technically sound, the best play metal. I wanted to show some range on the show today because I don't want people to think that I'm locked into the forms that we play most often on Hollywood Metal (viking, black, folk, and melodic death). PAGAN'S MIND is one of my favorite progressive metal bands. "Entrance: Stargate" was the song we played and this is a hard band to forget once you've heard the vocals of Nils K. Rue. It's really hard to write what you hear when listening to this band but even if prog metal isn't your thing, and cosmic, overly fantastical, futuristic space themes don't strike a chord with you, this band still rules and the musicianship is amazing. Following this inter-galactic gem we wrapped up the show with Sanaz talking about where you can find her on the net. I pressume that our shows audience is probably already fully aware but just in case, check her out, she's doing great things to promote metal around the world. I closed the show with a viking metal band from Norway called GALAR. This band came out of nowhere with a great album in 2006. The song we played was "Ragnarok", classic viking metal with and excellent main riff and good usage of folk instruments.
Friday May 23rd 2008: Jasmin St. Claire was supposed to be on the show today but she called yesterday an in a raspy, black metal voice told me she would be unable to join us because she had rocked too hard at Gigantour and lost her voice. We will reschedule her appearance next month sometime, I'll keep everyone posted on that. The show must go on! The first band was DRAGONFORCE from england with "Black Fire" from their 2003 release Valley of the Damned. This is just a great power metal piece featuring excellent guitarwork by the legendary duo of Sam Totman and Herman Li. My favorite part of this song occurs at 3:50 with a small power chord segment that launches into a sweep/tapping solo with wailing guitars.. great stuff. Earlier this week I received a demo from DAVID J GIBBS, a one man band from England. At 18 years old this guy has a really bright future in metal. His demo is of excellent quality and has been highly praised by such names as Riku, from CATAMENIA. We played "Pray" on the show today. It's and excellent black metal piece featuring mid-paced riffing and extremely cold, raspy vocals. I'm looking forward to a full length release from him. Up next we played another one man band project called SORGSVART from Norway. The song was the albums title track called "Vikingtid Og Anarki." This song is extremely epic and has many different parts to it. It's a great song but you've got to listen to the entire album! Its one of the most interesting listens I've heard in a while... At first the album starts of like an ice cold Norwegian black metal band.. but as the album progresses its mixture of black and folk sounds with folk being the biggest influence.. just when I thought the album was getting predictable (but still great) the heavy synthesizers kick in, sort of a german industrial metal sound... at first I thought it sounded kinda like a circus, which I didn't like, but it mellowed out with the viking sounds again. It was a weird/wild ride, I had to listen to it a few times because at first I thought my stereo switched bands on me.. that's how different the sounds are from this one... I'm dying to get a second opinion on this one because it's just so different. The second half of the show featured CRADLE OF FILTH with "Absinthe with Faust". It seems to me that metalhead turn against bands that become semi-popular or mainstream which is what has seemed to have happened with CRADLE OF FILTH. I don't care though, this band still rules even if everyone does like them... haha... This song features a great interlacing of piano, guitars and the chilling vocals of Dani Filth, one of the most recognizable voices in metal. Up next we played a band from Germany called FIMBULTHIER. This is yet another band on the Trollzorn Label that is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I do not research bands based on their record label, but I have discovered ex post facto that a few of the newer German Pagan/Black/Viking metal bands in my library are on this label. So horns up to Trollzorn.de! The song was "Battlesong" and it's just an great viking metal piece by and up and coming band. The show closed with the grandiose sounds of SABATON and "Masters of the World". Typically I do not like songs about "metal" ... basically for me.. "songs about metal are not metal." MANOWAR makes these kinds of songs a lot... they are good musically but I can't et over the comical aspect of them.. I make an exception of a few songs here and there though.. especially when I'm getting ready to drink! This song by SABATON is one such exception, I dig the heavy synths that create a larger than life sound for the song. As you can see by the youtube video on my myspace page, I clearly like to rock during this song! (www.myspace.com/brendanbiryla) Friday May 16th 2008: Today's show featured a wide range of bands. From metal god's IRON MAIDEN to upstart DYRATHOR, we don't discriminate on Hollywood Metal. If it's good, it will get airtime regardless of popularity. ELIVAGAR from Germany was the first band today. ("Childrens Crusade") is an excellent folk metal piece featuring flutes and traditional folk instruments. The band also features a range of vocal variations during their songs. Harsh black/death metal growls are blended with clean chorus verses to create an epic folk sound. DYRATHOR was next with ("Kampf Auf Samsey") from their 2007 Demo called "Memories in Frost." These guys have a heavy pagan black metal sound with folk instruments featured throughout the songs. The keyboards are mixed perfectly throughout the song to create. They also do a great job of breaking up the melodies within the song giving the song distinct sections and added dimensions. Sometimes black metal bands get locked into the main riffs and the songs become monotonous. Not DYRATHOR, these guys mix it up perfectly. The vocals are also mixed perfectly, I don't like the vocals to overpower the music in black metal and this is the optimum level of vocal prominence for me. Up next was EKZISTENCIA from the Ukraine with ("Wizard's Retribution"). The first band from the Ukraine to be featured on our show but definitely not the last! Top to bottom this is just a great power metal song. Excellent keyboard melodies flutter over the top of this gem. Good guitar work, catch riffs... just an all around great piece. My favorite band ELVENKING was next with ("Devil's Carriage"). The albums "Heathenreel" (2001) and "The Winter Wake" (2006) are absolutely perfect. If you are unfamiliar with this band, get these two albums, and send me an email once you have seen the light! Their latest album "The Scythe" (2007) is also excellent even thought it's not in the same folk vein as the previous releases. Next in the line up was the first Estonian representative on Hollywood Metal Radio. THARAPHITA ("Lidsetel Sunkjatel Radadel") is the name of the band and song. This is a quality black metal band in the pagan tradition. The guitar riffs in this song are slow and heavy making it easy to fall into a headbang trance during this one. I was very excited to play the next band called FALCHION because they utilize my favorite guitar technique, sweep picking. If you are unfamiliar with sweep picking then search for it on youtube and you will understand how ridiculously awesome they sound. For the record... anytime a metal song starts off with a bad ass guitar solo the song is automatically awesome regardless of the rest of the content! ("The Ancient Tale") immediately grabbed my attention with a great solo from the start featuring sweep guitar and arpeggio scale work. It was so good in fact that I played another FALCHION song immediately afterward! ("The Darkest Valleys of Mist") was the song I choose because at 2 minutes 30 seconds into the song there is just the most amazingly epic solo with insanely fast sweep picking! METAL!!!! Moving on... I can't believe we're 21 weeks into Hollywood Metal and we haven't played something from IRON MAIDEN. Well that had to change immediately! It would be virtually impossible to find a metal band that hasn't cited IRON MAIDEN as an influence. These guys owned many a metal head souls in their long career.. I was tempted to go with an old favorite, something like "The Trooper" but I wanted to play something different. I choose "Pachendale" because its a little heavier and I like to play the guitar part around the 3 minute mark, it's a real simple but catchy riff. The show wrapped with EDGUY ("Rocket Ride") from Germany. These guys are at the top of the German power metal scene right now. They feature clean guitar work and the epic voice of Tobias Sammet. Rocket Ride (2006) and Hellfire Club (2004) are two excellent power metal albums. Highly recommended for singing in the shower!... Friday May 9th 2008: PAGAN FEST was the most EPIC event EVER! My neck hurts from headbanging and my arms hurt throwing up the horns! Everyone was rocking so hard at the show, the mosh pit was violent, crowd suffers we're carried to the front at regular intervals, all 5 bands sounded great!.. the show was perfect! Check out the pictures:
SUIDAKRA opened the show and I think they surprised a lot of people in the audience. The fast riffing and high energy stage presence of the band had the mosh pit rocking early on. People who were hanging out at the bar ran to the floor to join the madness. ELUVEITIE was next with what can only be described as a "wall of sound." As you can see by the pictures there we're six musicians across the House of Blues Stage supplying the crowd their fix of epic folk metal! I knew what to expect from ENSIFERUM and TURISAS going into the show. What I did not expect was the incredible performance by ELUVEITIE. The songs are heavy and fast but their are even heavier and faster live! The traditional folk kilts, pipes, flutes and dancing was reminiscent of a viking raid party on the shores of a conquered settlement... EPIC! By the time TYR took the stage the crowd was ripe for battle! The TYR songs are in a lot of ways more epic and powerful then most viking metal bands. The songs are slower folk ballads about the days of yore and the wrath of gods! A perfect fit for this heathen congregation called pagan fest. I've seen lots of footage of TURISAS in concert so I knew what to expect from the viking warriors from Hameenlinna, Finland. It's one thing to see video... it is quite another thing to witness the theatrics and energy live! Dressed in northern battle gear, animal furs and leather armor the band assembled on the stage and began rocking. Warlord, the vocalist was the last to arrive on the stage and he was a sight to behold... blood face paint and huge shoulder armor.. TURISAS RULES! Warlord was a true pro at working a metal crowd... the heathen audience, including myself, rocked so hard throughout their performance. Everyone knew the words, especially on "To Holmgard and Beyond" and the closing song "Battle Metal." After setting up the stage with image banners and unveiling the sword and shield fronted keyboard, it was time for ENSIFERUM to take the stage and bring the house down! Dressed in Finnish embroidered kilts the vikings did not disappoint. A great mix of new and old songs were played and the crowd was tuned into every note and every word. Obviously the guitars and drums rocked, Petri was a brilliant pickup for the band after Jari left so I knew the band would be great. I was curious to hear the keyboards because they were the only element I couldn't reference from released material or videos. Emmi Silvennoinen, (former Exsecratus) who has taken over for Meiju Enho was excellent on the keys! She fit right in, didn't miss a note and had excellent stage presence with her relentless head banging and hair swirling! Bottom line... ENSIFERUM is the best band EVER! On the next episode of Hollywood Metal we will have some people in the studio with us who were also at the show and we'll discuss the night further. Also, we'll have some short video clips on our youtube channel soon. As for this past week's show the following was the setlist.. i'm tired of writing so just listen to the show!
DRUEIDA - "Natural Disaster" BLASPHEMOUS CREATION - "They Come at Night" WINTERSUN - "Beyond the Dark Sun" REBIRTH - "Anthem of the Black Hearted" CORPORATION 187 - "Question the Light" SATYRICON - "K.I.N.G." DRAGONLORD - "The Curse of Woe"
We have some great guests joining us on the show in the coming weeks.. Jasmin St Clair aka METAL'S DARKSIDE will be on May 23rd and METAL SANAZ will be with us May 30th!
Friday May 2nd 2008: Hollywood traffic was insane today. It took me an hour to go about 15 blocks down Sunset Blvd. My car was so far past the empty line that I didn't think we'd start the show on time... Fortunately, I made it on time and Hollywood Metal could be broadcast to the masses. Today was the final show before PAGAN FEST on Thursday. Once again we featured the 5 bands coming to that show. The set list is as follows: ENSIFERUM - "Lei Lei Hei" SUIDAKRA - "Trails of Gore" TURISAS - "Cursed be Iron" TYR - "Lord of Lies" ELUVEITIE - "The Song of Life" ENSIFERUM - "Deathbringer From The Sky" SUIDAKRA - "The Arcane Spell" TURISAS - "Miklagard Overture"
All you heathens better be at PAGAN FEST this Thursday!.. I'm looking forward to seeing you crazy Vikings there and rocking out afterwards!
Friday April 25th 2008: Hollywood Metal moves to Friday in the 5-6pm PST (GMT-8) time slot on KCLA FM! We continued on with part 3 of our PAGAN FEST Hollywood series featuring the bands playing on May 8th at the House of Blues on Sunset. I've gone into depth in the previous show long entries about the bands coming so I'm simply going to list this weeks set list because I'm tired and hungry.
TYR - "The Rage of the Skullgaffer" TYR - "Ormurin Langi" TURISAS - "Five Hundred and One" SUIDAKRA - "Revenant" ENSIFERUM - "Iron"
ELUVEITIE - "Spirit" SUIDAKRA - "Wartunes" ENSIFERUM - "Iron"
As I mentioned on the show, our friend Melissa runs a kick ass clothing line called ROCKIN COUTURE. Please check out here site/myspace page:
Everything is custom made to order to all you have to do is send her an email and she'll let you know what she needs from you. Next week will be the final part of out pagan fest series an then Damon and I will attend the concert on May 8th. In the weeks to come we will have some awesome guests join us in the studio including METAL SANAZ and METAL'S DARKSIDE (Jasmin St. Claire)... Metal on!
Sunday April 20th 2008:
Pagan Fest Special part 2.... with 3 weeks to go until PAGAN FEST
HOLLYWOOD we continued on our 4 part series featuring only the bands
playing at Pagan Fest Hollywood on May 8th at the House of Blues.
ELUVEITIE was up first with ("Tarvos"). There was a few background people
in the studio with Damon and I today and as soon as this song played they
immediately began asking questions about the artist and the music. They
found the flutes and woodwinds incredibly intriguing, the soft melodies
floating over the top of heavy guitars always catches people off guard.
It's great to see non metallers take an interest in music they don't
necessarily understand. ("Ahti") by ENSIFERUM was next. As I mentioned on
the show I come from a 80's thrash metal background, I grew up on bands
like METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER.. etc.. for years I thought that only
guitars, bass and drums had a place in metal. Towards the late 90's when I
discovered extreme I have come to crave the added dimensions that come
with the inclusion of keyboards and folk instruments in epic metal. This
has evolved to the point where, in the case of "Ahti", my favorite part
about the song is the keyboard contribution to the song. Meiju Enho was
the keyboardist when the tracks were laid and it's masterful work.
Unfortunately, Meiju has since parted ways with ENSIFERUM which sucks
because it would have been awesome to see her rock at Pagan Fest. The 3rd
song of the show was SUIDAKRA ("The IXth Legion") and it was the subject
of a segment we call "History Connection." In this segment we like to
feature a song and explain how the lyrics relate to a particular event or
time in history. I sent a letter to Arkadius of SUIDAKRA and asked him to
assist us with this because many of SUIDAKRA's songs are written about
historical events. He got back to me write away with a perfect bit of
information about "The IXth Legion." he writes:
Horns up to Arkadius for providing this gem of information about this great song and epic story. We closed the show with TURISAS ("Fields of Gold"). Some of my non-metalhead friends have been tuning into the show lately and they've been telling me how much they love TURISAS and TYR. Hearing things like this is awesome because a main reason I wanted to start Hollywood Metal is to educate people about the music and why it deserves praise even if you're not into the music. Horns up to my good friend John Davidson in Charlotte N.C. for the kind words this week about TURISAS and TYR. Sunday April 13th 2008: HOLLYWOOD METAL GOES LIVE! Today the show was live on KLAS FM at 5pm (89.7FM). From this point on the show will be in live broadcast format. The time slot is still not certain at this point. In about two weeks Hollywood Metal will have a regular time slot. Today's show was the first in a 4 part series we are doing leading up to PAGAN FEST HOLLYWOOD on May 8th. We're only going to play bands coming to that show. We led off with Finland's ENSIFERUM ("Old Man"). This song is so heavy! It simply has to be listened to at high volume to truly appreciate it. SUIDAKRA was next with ("Lays from Afar") off their 1999 release. The song is one of their faster pieces and the main vocals are firmly in the black metal camp with clean vocal interludes. Keyboard symphonics and accompanying violin segments give this song a lot of depth to go along with a killer rhythm cadence. After a minor studio issue we played ELUVEITIE ("Calling the Rain") from Switzerland. This band is one of the premier folk metal bands in the world. Those who don't believe that woodwind instruments have a place in heavy metal really need to hear this band which is pronounced, "el-way-tea." This song has excellent folk melodies combined with sharp guitars and powerful vocals. It's a tough band to follow. Luckily, TURISAS was up next with ("Battle Metal"). Battle Metal are quite possibly the best two words to describe this band as this song and every other one make you just want to charge with swords drawn into battle! The male chorus's and grandiose sounds from the keyboards create one of the most EPIC sounds ever. The final song played was TYR ("The Hunt"). I announced it on the show as "The Rage of the Skullgaffer" because initially I wanted to play them both but we'll play this one next week. There is some great lead guitar work taking place in "The Hunt." I'm really looking forward to watching them shred at PAGAN FEST. Saturday April 5th 2008: Episode 15 was a feast of black metal. Out of the gate was a thrash/black metal band called SKELETONWITCH ("Baptized in Flames"). Once you get over the name and realize that this is not an 80's hair metal cover band you'll realize that this one of the best thrash metal bands in the USA. Blending thrash riffing with black metal elements this band has the fresh sound that I think thrash metal needs, especially here in the states. Sweden's NAGLFAR was up next with ("The Way of the Rope"). This band has been around for a long time and is considered one of the best known black metal outfits from sweden. The music doesn't stray too far from the traditional black metal mold but if your looking for a solid, go to, black metal band NAGLFAR has stood the test of time. Staying in Sweden, MITHOTYN ("King of the Distant Forest") was next. Unfortunately, these guys disbanded after 3 excellent albums in the late 90's but the legacy they left has been a big influence for today's new viking metal bands. Another band that disbanded of their own accord was EINHERJER which we played next. The song was "Naar Hammeren Heves" from the 1997 EP Far Far North. As I mentioned on the show, I have never never seen such variance among metal fans as I see in the opinions on EINHERJER albums. Some people claim that one of the albums is mediocre and yet to others it's a viking metal masterpiece. Regardless, everyone agrees that this was an important and influential band for the genre. This weeks show ended with KAMPFAR ("Ravenheart") from Norway. The word KAMPFAR is an old norse war cry to Odin and this band is a testament to Norwegian black metal. Saturday March 29th 2008: Episode 14 rocked so hard! Things got started with a staple of everyone's viking metal collection... WINDIR ("Arntor, Ein Windir) which translates to "Antor, the Warrior." Valfar played all but the drums on this epic masterpiece which features excellent guitar riffs, atmospheric keyboards and softer melancholy interludes. R.I.P. Valfar. Next was a new band from Finland called DEAD OF NIGHT ("Follow the Misery"). This was off their debut full length release and it has some excellent guitar work and vocals that just pour out misery. The production quality could be a little better but still a stellar release and I am expect big things from these guys. Up next was my favorite song of the episode. ("Der Zeiten Wende") from NEBELHORN, a one man band project from Germany. Start to finish this song thunders along with a catchy main riff and ultrasonic drumming. Impossible not to rock to! We closed the show with a prominent black metal band from Norway called RAGNAROK ("A Nights Kingdom"). This band has had a lot of members coming and going over the years but their albums have remained at a high quality. Currently the band is fronted by Horst who is the main man in TAAKE, which we played a few weeks ago. Shagrath from DIMMU BORGIR was also a member a few years ago. Their albums received great reviews from the sources I trust and today's song pretty much demonstrates that. Saturday March 22nd 2008: Episode 13 premiered the new epic intro taken from BATHORY "Prelude" off the Nordland I album. This is my favorite album intro, it really sets an epic tone for the show. Russian band SVARTBY was the first played today. These guys hail from St. Petersburg but the name of the band is Swedish for "The Black Village" and they sing in Swedish as well. ("Skogens Ursinne') was the name of the track played and I really enjoy this one because its upbeat and the folk instruments mirror the rhythm guitars which gives the song a richer sound while keeping the song light and upbeat. Germany's RIGER was next with ("Brandschiff"). This one is great because the melodic melody that hovers over the rhythm guitars is so clean and powerful. One can't help but to rock during this one! Up next was Finland's MORS PRINCIPIUM EST with ("The Unborn") . As I mentioned on the show, I really dig how they used the keyboards in this song. It was the perfect amount and to the perfect effect of creating the uptempo atmosphere. That combined with the angelic voice of the female background singer produced a great track. England's mighty BAL-SAGOTH were next with ("Shackled to the Trilithon of Kutulu"). This band produces some great keyboard driven symphonic black metal but the real gem is the band's mastermind Byron Roberts. Byron's signature voice over narrative vocal style created one of the most epic sounds in metal today. After a brief venting session, where I called out the loser who wrote the worst review ever about our last band on metal-archives.com, we played that very band... XIV DARK CENTURIES. That guy did not know what the hell he was talking about when he rated their 2006 album a 45% and to prove it we played ("Thing") from that album and it totally rocked! If anyone out there writes reviews for metal archives, do the metal world a favor and write a new review for XIV DARK CENTURIES' (2006 Skithingi). Saturday March 15th 2008: Episode 12 opened with ABUSED MAJESTY from Poland ("A Burning Army"). These guys are currently without a label which surprises me because the high quality of their music is very high. Next we played GWYDION from Portugal ("Turning of the Wheel"). This band has a very interesting vocal style. To me the guy sounds like an evil court jester from medieval ages. Nonetheless this is excellent Viking / Folk metal from yet another great band on Trollzorn Records out of Germany. This is the third band we have played from that label and there will be several more coming up. The next band needed no introduction if you have seen Metalocalypse on the cartoon network. DETHKLOK rules! We played ("Thunderhorse") which is on The DethAlbum but this version was taken from one of the early episodes because it is slightly different from the album version and I think a little better. Finnish powerhouse CATAMENIA was next with ("The Day The Sun Faded Away"). These guys are know as a Melodic Black Metal band and the main melody for this song was stuck in my head all week, I could not wait to play this. Closing out the show was a melodic death metal band from Australia, our first Australian representation on Hollywood Metal. Be'lakor ("Tre'aste") is just a great example of well performed and well produced melodic death metal. Saturday March 8th 2008: Episode 11 opened with a band from Sweden called TME ("The Worlds Collide"). TME features some members from various Swedish metal bands like Vintersorg, Otyg and Fission. Finnish rockers AMORAL ("Mute") were next up with a melodic death metal song that sounds completely different from most Scandinavian MDM bands. The guitars have an upbeat quality to them that totally makes me want to party and rock out! "Buffalo's metal saviors" were next, a band called DRAGONWIND, hailing from my hometown of Buffalo, NY. The song was ("Above the Storm") and it's just a quality piece of melodic death metal that features some excellent guitar work throughout the song. Sweden's ANACHRONAEON were next with ("The English Wizard") This is a truly great piece because it combines a number of different song elements similar to a multi-movement symphony. A smooth melody pierced with groovy almost bluesy interludes lead up to one of the best solo's I've heard in a long time. Let it be known that any song that features a 2 minute solo is automatically awesome! Right now this is a studio only project by the two guys in the band but they should definitely get a full band together at some point and tour because they rock! Saturday March 1st 2008: Damon was in the studio again and we played a wide range of metals today. We opened the show with Norway's OLD MAN'S CHILD ("Felonies of the Christian Art"). I love this song because it has great usage of keyboards and yet the guitars still kick ass. Typically, what I've found in black metal, is that you usually get one of those elements featured prominently at the expense of the other. Not in this case, great guitar work and haunting keyboard ambiance. After this we played some NIGHTWISH ("She Is My Sin") from Finland. This is Finland's most well known and liked metal bands and for good reason. The songs are crisp and sharp and the gothic style female vocals are angelical. It took me a few years to get into this type of metal but I truly appreciate the epic nature of the songs and stories behind them. On this particular song the guitars are searingly sharp and if you play this song at high volumn it could cut your hear off! Canada's VERBAL DECEPTION ("Voyage") was next. A true pirate metal band, these guys use traditional instruments like accordion's to create a "pirate raid party" sound. It sounds like they recorded this album from the deck of "Queen Ann's Revenge" just before a raid on Tortuga. Up next was the history connection segment of Hollywood Metal. Today's feature subject coincided with the latest TURISAS release called "The Varangian Way" for more information on the histoical context of this album please visit God (aka wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian. The song we played from this Finnish viking metal staple was ("To Holmgard and Beyond") the keyboard and according mix give the song an epic adventure quality. Up next was Portland, Oregon's OAKHELM ("Of Wood and Blood"). Just an excellent Black/Folk/Viking metal band playing epic songs about the days of yore. These guys will open for Pagan Fest at the Hawthorne Theatre on May 6th so go check them out. Saturday February 23rd 2008: Damon Wang (aka JG) was in the studio today and Delia, host of "Delia's Tales From the Darkside" stoppd by as well. This week I led the show off with VINTERSORG ("Till Fjalls"). It's an interesting song because the vocals are so unique that it takes some getting used to. As I mentioned on the program if Vikings were around today, I believe they would sing like VINTERSORG. Following this I played THE DUSKFALL ("None"). This was off their 2001 Demo called Deliverence. One of the best demo songs I've ever heard but it's not surprising since this band was formed when the GATES OF ISHTAR split up. It's hard to believe that I waited 9 shows before playing METALLICA because I grew up on this band. Even though they haven't been a prominent part of my playlist for a few years I still love everything they put out even if it's below the quality of their first 5 albums. The song was ("My Friend of Misery") from the Black Album and it's a song that isn't usually on anyones METALLICA playlist, but the song rules and I love the baseline. The fourth song played was WOLFCHANT ("A Pagan Storm") followed by the final song by SUIDAKRA ("Highland Hills") which we had to cut a little short due to time. These last two are just good quality black/folk metal songs from Germany, a country that has a never ending supply of good black/folk metal. Saturday February 16th 2008: Metal Jake was guest hosting this week. It was good to have someone else in the studio to help me pronounce some of the material I play. It's something we have to deal with here in the states because most metal never gets any airplay so we never really get a chance to hear the bands and songs pronounced correctly. Thus, we are forced to sound it out phonetically and that doesn't always produce the correct result. Occasionally a band will release a live album and they can be heard saying the name of their band but those are generally well known bands anyway. The first song played was the song we had to cut short last week, IMPERANON ("Blade"). This song has some of the best sweep picking i've ever heard. True there are a lot of good guitar players who use sweeps as a soloing technique buts its rare to find a band that is capable of expanding those melodic sweeping riff throughout the whole song (exception: a few neoclassical guitarists). BATHORY ("Nordland") was next. This is one of my favorite bands because he (Quorthon) hits on two fronts for me with his music, namely, Viking and Black Metal. Considered the father of both of these metal styles, it was truly unfortunate to learn of his death due to heart failure in 2004. GERNOTSHAGEN ("Gernotshagen") was the next song we played. This is just a quality, quality black metal band from Germany. There is a perfect mix of guitars and keyboards with the latter providing some great haunting tones throughout the song. On top of that the vocals are incredibly strong and clean. Up next was ARTHEMESIA ("Celebration of the Heaven Lost") from Finland. This song is a great guitar driven melodic black metal song. However, towards the end of the song it picks up its cadence and goes to the next level in my book. I'm fairly certain that this is Jari Maenpaa's contribution to the song because it totally sounds like his riffing style, a style that is impossible not to headbang too. Saturday February 9th 2008: I expanded the show to a half hour. This marks the official beginning of the show, no more 15 pilots. Next week I will be bringing in a co-host to discuss the music and all things metal. I led off with MOONSORROW ("Ukkosenjumalan Poika") (Translation: Son of the God of Thunder) from Finland. This band is one of the foremost in the genre, and for good reason because their songs are unbelievable an they have a great on-stage image. NOUMENA ("Misanthropolis") was next. These guys are just a superb melodic death metal band from Finland, pretty much a staple of the genre. The next band was HORDAK, a viking metal band from Spain that I recently discovered. The song played was ("Fog on the Battlefield") and it's a quality track with many parts and great production. THIASOS DIONYSOS ("Thyrsos, The Stick of Mainades") was the next song. This is a one-man viking /folk band from Germany. I'm really impressed with the quality of sounds from all instruments. Usually one man acts have one instrument that is great and the others are so so. This one hits on all parts. The production quality could be better but its still amazing. TAAKE ("Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik Pt I") was played next. This is a controversial black metal band from Norway (no surprise there). I particularly like the guitar driven aspects of this band which are different from the symphonic nature of most black metal bands. With only a few minutes left in the show I played a portion of a song by IMPERANON ("Blade"). Since I had to cut this short this song will be leading off the show next week because it is simply too good to cut short. The sweep guitar picking throughout the songs is amazing. Saturday February 2nd 2008: Recorded episode #6, a 15 minute pilot episode. The first song played was DOOMSWORD ("Heathen Assault"), I love this band because the vocal style fits the music so perfectly. You can hear the desperate pleading in Gabriele Grilli's voice as he speaks of the impending doom from the infamous "Great Heathen Army" of Danish Vikings that overran Jorvik, England (York) in 866 ad. Keeping with the theme I played AMON AMARTH "In Pursuit of Vikings". The thing people have to realize about this band is that yes, they are a bunch of vikings, but no this is not viking metal. This is Melodic Death Metal but I understand the confusion since they look like a group of vikings on stage and their songs are viking in theme and content. Saturday January 26th 2008: Recorded episode #5, a 15 minute pilot episode. This should be the last 15 minute episode until we expand the show. The first song played was DREAM EVIL ("The Chosen Ones"), a power metal band from Sweden. Followed by that I played some EQUILIBRIUM ("Unter Der Eiche"). EQUILIBRIUM is an absolutely great Viking Metal band from Germany that came out of seemingly nowhere with their 2005 release Turis Fratyr. The show closed with IMMORTAL ("Damned in Black") from their 2000 release of the same name. Recently reformed, we should hear plenty of great stuff from them in the coming months. Saturday January 12th 2008: Recorded episode #4, a 15 minute pilot episode. The first song played was DISSECTION ("Black Dragon") because it skipped during last weeks show. Side note: all DISSECTION album covers rule but "The Somberlain", "Storm of the Lights Bane" and "Where Dead Angels Lie" are my absolute favorites. Next I played a band I recently discovered. A viking metal band from Germany called VARG ("Wolfszeit"). This was off the bands first full length release and this albums is really a great new addition to my viking metal collection. The song goes into an amazing cadence at 4:25 after an awesome opening movement, it then returns to the previous melody for the last minute or so, truly a masterpiece. Lastly, I played UNANIMATED ("Life Demise") which is one of my favorite melodic death metal songs because of the opening scream. This song was used on the "Haggard: the Movie" soundtrack by Bam Margera. Ryan Dunn's character mimes this particular scream in the early part of the movie. Saturday January 5th 2008: Recorded episode #3, a 15 minute pilot episode. Hopefully next week will be the final 15 minute episode before the show gets expanded to at least a half hour. The first song was from DISSECTION ("Black Dragon"). Unfortunately the song skipped in the recording studio so I had to cut it out from the show afterwards. I am going to play it again at the top of next week's show. WINTERSUN ("Winter Madness") was the next song. Combining elements of Black, Folk, and Power Metal to create an extremely EPIC Viking Metal sound, Finland's WINTERSUN is one of the top metal bands in the world. The long awaited second release "Time" should be released later this year. Once the show is expanded we will discuss the genius of Jari Maenpaa in more detail, for now, just enjoy the insanity of the guitar solo at 3:06. The last song was by AMORPHIS ("Drowned Maid") off "Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994)." Amorphis was a pioneer of the Melodic Death Metal Genre back in the early 90's. Around the turn of the millenium they had evolved into a progressive/psychedelic band but after a few lineup changes an the release of "Silent Waters (2007)" they are slowly getting back to their melodic death metal roots. Saturday December 29th 2007: Pre-recorded pilot episode #2. My timing is getting a little better as I have become more familiar with the control boards. The goal is to do 2 more 15 minute episodes and then expand the show to 30 minutes and eventually an hour or more. The first song played was from Swedish power metal band DRAGONLAND ("Contact") followed by some Finnish melodic death metal from INSOMNIUM ("The Elder"). The last song was from CHILDREN OF BODOM ("Downfall"), COB is hard to place into a particular metal genre because their style is very unique. Probably the closest match is melodic death metal but I have often chosen aggressive power metal or power/black metal to describe them. Anyway, they rock and we'll be hearing more from them in later shows. Saturday December 22nd 2007: Just pre-recorded the pilot episode of "Hollywood Metal" hosted by Brendan Biryla. It was a 15 minute session so it was hard to fit 3 epic songs and still do the required PSA and run 3-30 second commercial spots. However, I don't have a choice in the matter, yet, so we had to cut the last song, KALMAH ("The Black Waltz"), a little short. I wanted listeners to hear the solo in this song (at 3:20) because it is particularly heavy and it fucking rules. I led the show off with my two favorite bands, ELVENKING ("White Willow") and ENSIFERUM ("Hero in a Dream"). Since Jari left ENSIFERUM, ELVENKING is in the top spot, although there are several bands not far behind. |
BLACKGUARD
