Review of Leaves’ Eyes Spectacular “Sign of the Dragonhead”

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Leaves’ Eyes is:

Elina Siirala – Vocals

Alexander Krull – Vocals

Thorsten Bauer – Guitar/Bass

Pete Streit – Guitar

Joris Nijenhuis – Drums

Sign of the Dragonhead

Any fan of Symphonic, female-fronted Metal is intimately familiar with, now legendary, Leaves’ Eyes. Over the course of the last fourteen years, the band has released a total of six albums including Lovelorn (2004), Vinland Saga (2005), Njord (2009), Meredead (2011), Symphonies of the Night (2013) and King of Kings in late 2015. Based on a myriad of Nordic themes such as the mystical, underwater world of the mermaid, adventures of the ancient mariner, Celtic folk songs, tales of heroic women over the course of mankind’s existence and, most recently a concept album revolving around the first king of Norway, Leaves’ Eyes has carved their epic status in stone and set a firm foundation for the entire Symphonic sub-genre of Metal. By April 2016, Finnish vocalist Elina Siirala replaced long-standing front-woman Liv Kristine amid much drama and controversy. Fans from all over the world held their collective breaths as the first act of the band played out to its close. Once Elina proved herself at Hammersonic in Jakarta, Indonesia, Metal Female Voices, Wave Gotik, Treffen, Masters of Symphonic Metal, Full Metal Cruise and many other, fans breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Elina had what it takes to carry the standard. This should come as no surprise since Liv had a hand in choosing her replacement. Last year, Leaves’ Eyes ventured on their most bold world tour yet, hitting Europe, Asia, North America and South America; even being joined by one of my favorite bands, Sabaton, among many others and selling out shows throughout. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of seeing Leaves’ Eyes live but are said to have “shows [that are] are spectacular events featuring breathtaking stage sets like a Viking ship or the unforgettable ‘Swords in the Stone’ monument.”

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Guitar God Joe Satriani Shows Us “What Happens Next”

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What Happens Next musicians:

Joe Satriani – Guitar

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple and Black Country Communion) – Bass

Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers ) – Drums

Mike Fraser (AC/DC, The Razor’s Edge and long time Satriani collaborator since Crystal Planet) – Producer/Engineer/Mixer

Joe Satriani certainly needs no introduction and remains one of my favorite guitarists of all time. What will be sixteen albums over the course of thirty one years, teacher of many other great guitarists (Kirk Hammet, Andy Timmons, Steve Vai, Alex Skolnick, Charlie Hunter, Larry LaLonde, Kevin Cadogan, Rick Hunolt, David Bryson, Geoff Tyson, Phil Kettner, to name a few), member of supergroup Chickenfoot, undeniably one of the most influential guitarists of all time, multiple Grammy Award nominations, headliner of G3 since 1995 featuring a veritable who’s who of the greatest the guitar world has to offer and a man that just exudes passion and fun on every stage he has ever landed on are just a few meager mentions of this man’s incredible talents. I have had the pleasure of seeing Joe quite a few times over the course of his long career and he so obviously loves what he is doing now more than he ever has. He just keeps getting better and enjoying it more and more as the years wear on. Where a jaded view of the music business has tainted the passion of so many other bands I have seen lately, Satriani hits the stage with continued wide-eyed wonder. Honestly, I think Satch enjoys playing more than his fans like watching him slay his beloved Ibanez.

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Watch LETHAL INJEKTION Cover LIL UZI VERT’s “XO Tour Llif3”

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LETHAL INJEKTION exploded on the scene in January of 2016 and have quickly become one of the strongest up-and-coming alternative metal acts on the West Coast. The band has been labeled nu metal, rap metal, and have even become known for creating their own sound and movement, a genre known as “West Coast Metal”. LETHAL INJEKTION takes heavy influences from artists like LINKIN PARK, PAPA ROACH, TECH N9NE, STAIND, KORN, DISTURBED.

The band released their highly anticipated sophomore release “Judgement Night” on September 15, 2017 via RuffLife Recordz, and have entered into a mutual partnership agreement with Zombie Shark Records, home to bands such as KEYCHAIN, DIRTY MACHINE, NoSelf, and RIKSHA.

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State of the Art: Nebraska – Fallen Reign

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State* 

This month’s State is Nebraska!

On this week’s State of the Art spotlight of Metal from Nebraska, I would like to introduce a Progressive/Power Metal band that call Omaha home. Members include guitarist/vocalist Jody Kermoade, bass player Leigh Jamieson, drummer Andrew Pace and Rocky Pulley covering keyboards during live shows and will be featured on their forthcoming album. The band is Fallen Reign.

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Review: Nebula – ‘Let it Burn’ 20th Anniversary Reissue

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For fans of Nineties psych-fused heavy rock, a group that commonly springs to mind is Los Angeles based power-trio Nebula, a group whose initial incarnation was formed out of the ashes of Fu Manchu and their decaying line-up at the time. Celebrating their 20th Anniversary, the group are planning to reissue their first three recordings under the newly-established, slightly esoteric label under the name of Heavy Psych Sounds. Each individual release features two bonus tracks as well as the original track-listing and is certainly marked by a deep feeling of sentiment and accomplishment. Today we’ll be focusing on the first of their upcoming releases which is also evidently the first plunge into oblivion the group embarked upon as a recording unit; – why yes, of course I’m talking about the EP ‘Let it Burn’ which was in its heyday originally released via Relapse Records. Continue reading →

Allegaeon’s Release of Their Second Rush Cover, “Animate”

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Little did we know that Allegaeon, whose album Proponent for Sentience hit our lists for best of 2016 (check out our extensive review here), recorded not one, but two spectacular Rush covers! Those of us that heard “Subdivisions” immediately fell in love with their rendition of it and made it their most streamed song off of the aforementioned album. Celebrating today’s date, January 6, 2018, the date version of the band’s song “1.618”, Allegaeon have just cut loose with “Animate” worldwide on all of the digital music services. It can be sampled and bought at your favorite source here.

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JACKYL Rocks And Rolls In Lexington, Kentucky [Photo Gallery]

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On this December evening I find myself heading north to Lexington, Kentucky to see what Jesse James Dupree and Jackyl have in store for the Manchester Music Hall. Along the way north I picked up a friend who was looking forward to seeing Roman Glick (Jackyl’s Bass player) he’s been a fan since Roman’s days in Brother Cane several years ago. The plan was to listen to some very loud music during the two hour drive to Lexington but this being basketball season in Kentucky it was a basketball game instead. The rocking and rolling had to wait for the trip home. Continue reading →

Review: HARM’S WAY – ‘Posthuman’ [Song Stream]

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Harm’s Way is a band that some may find difficult to categorize. Originally formed in Chicago, Illinois in 2006 as a casual side project playing fast-paced powerviolence and hardcore punk; the band has since gone through several metamorphoses, and over the years, have slowed down their pace and leaned more toward a down-tuned “metal” sound. We can throw around labels all day such as hardcore, metalcore, death metal, nu-metal, industrial, thrash metal, groove metal, sludge, and the list goes on and on. Certainly, influences of all these genres can be heard in their music. At the end of the day, from what I can tell though, these guys are just simply evolving their style to become the heaviest, most brutal, powerful, in-your-face sounding music they can come up with. There’s no frills or gimmicks; no wank-off guitar solos or whiney ballads; It’s – Just. Plain. Heavy. Whatever you decide to classify them as, Harm’s Way’s latest full-length studio album, ‘Posthuman,’ is the sonic equivalent of a brutally violent ass-beating by a ten-ton sledgehammer. Continue reading →

Review: NORTHWIND WOLVES – ‘Dark Cold Grim’ [Album Stream]

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NorthWind Wolves is a black metal band originating from sunny Los Angeles, California with a sound that feels deceivingly like something conjured from the iciest, deepest regions of Scandinavia. Their aptly-titled, second full-length studio album ‘Dark… Cold… Grim…,’ released on Sweden-based, Black Lion Records in 2017, is precisely as advertised – dark, cold, and grim. What first draws you in to the record is the excellent cover artwork consisting of a mist-engulfed, moonlit, gothic castle which effectively serves to immerse you, as the listener, into this world. The musical style is symphonic or folkish at times, gritty and nasty others, but overall is firmly rooted in an old-school, melodic black metal sound. Continue reading →

Review of “Dark Matter” By Auditory Armory

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Auditory Armory is:

April Rose – Vocals and Guitar
Oscar Garcia – Drums
Dennis Burns – Guitar
Justice Maynard – Bass

Dark Matter

Auditory Armory is a female fronted Alternative Metal band that manages to take the best of Hard Rock, Metal, Progressive Rock and even some Jazz and cleanly distills them into a sound that can only be identified as theirs. This is the advantage of taking on music with wide, curious and wandering eyes instead of within the confines of what is and what should be for any certain genre/sub-genre of music and the die-hard fans that constantly in-fight these categorizations to death. This has always been a pet peeve. Categories should be used simply as a way of describing a sound to someone that has not heard of the band, not as some confining boundary of what music should sound like. Imagine, if you will, a musical landscape where Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Gershwin, Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, The Beatles, Elvis, Hendrix, Yes, Rush, Michael Hedges, Pink Floyd, Eddie Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judus Priest, The Big 4, Chuck Schuldiner, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse and Venom chose not to think outside of the box. Got it worked out? Not a pretty picture, huh? This is precisely the reason I actively search out and share bands that throw the whole “writing within a box” thing to the wind. Auditory Armory is, obviously, one such band that fits the mold of not fitting in one.

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