Review: DREAM TROLL – ‘The Knight of Rebellion’ [Album Stream]

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How to make what’s old sound new again? This is often the daunting question facing those brave metal bands within the metal sub-genre of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal (NWOTHM) whose sole desire is to sonically time warp the listener back to the good ole days of 70s and 80s era of heavy metal where wine glass shattering screams, blistering guitar solos, and ridiculously long hair were the norm all while distinguishing themselves as remarkable musicians in their own right.

Inspired and unintimidated by this tough challenge, Dream Troll is an independent band from Leeds, UK who desire to emulate old school metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Rainbow. Consisting of Rob Stringer on vocals, Paul Carter on lead guitar, Matt Baldwinson pulling double duty on rhythm guitar and bass, and Simon Blakelock on drums, Dream Troll has unleashed ‘The Knights of Rebellion’ an incredibly impressive debut album released on May 19th, 2017 that fuses the many disparate elements of classic heavy metal together in order to create a power metal album that is wholly unique in its sound and scope. Continue reading →

Kings Of Strings: Dan Crisafulli from Source!

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For my fourth King of Strings I will be spotlighting Dan Crisafulli of the band Source. They are a Progressive metal band based in Boulder, Colorado and within a short 2 ½ years have already landed some impressive tours – most notably with HellYeah and In Flames last year. This may actually become my favorite spotlight because he’s the kind of diamond in the rough every music fan hopes to discover at some point.

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Review: THY ART IS MURDER – ‘Dear Desolation’ [Official Videos]

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When you are talking deathcore you are talking about Thy Art Is Murder, they have been called the deathcore kings by many and with the latest release of ‘Dear Desolation’ they proved that they are worthy their throne in the deathcore scene.

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Louder Than Life Spotlight: GRETA VAN FLEET

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L-R: Sam Kiszka, Josh Kiszka, Danny Wagner, Jake Kiszka

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from now until Louder Than Life gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*

Today’s artist is Greta Van Fleet.

Greta Van Fleet – which took its name from one of the close-knit community’s town elders – is a hard rocking quartet whose creative ambitions and achievements reach far beyond the ages of the four band members, not all of them old enough to have voted in last November’s election. The band includes brothers Josh (vocals), Jake (guitar) and Sam Kiszka (bass, keyboards) and best friend drummer Danny Wagner – are dedicated to bringing real rock’n’roll back to the mainstream. The band delivers high-energy, sweaty, sexy rock’n’roll loaded with attitude and bravado that exemplifies each band member’s killer musical chops and Josh’s simply jaw-dropping voice. Greta Van Fleet bring back a throwback kind of sound that most old school metal heads thought was gone forever. Not only are they bringing it back in general but they are bringing this retro sound to the stage at Louder Than Life. Their four-song debut EP Black Smoke Rising was released on April 21, the group deftly straddles the line between timeless and future, sounding at once like many things you’ve heard before and also something you’ve never heard before. Some have even referred to the band as America’s next greatest rock band. The band doesn’t have an intense history or discography to tell you about as of right now. Greta Van Fleet is currently making their own history and you can be a part of the crowd when they take the stage in Louisville, Kentucky at Louder Than Life.  Continue reading →

DEAD CROSS Members Released From Police Custody! 

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Two Members of Dead Cross were temporarily placed in police custody while in Houston on August 15th. The band, who just released their debut album via Ipecac Recordings and are on tour in support of the album, had their gear searched and were restrained during the inspection. The band members have been advised by legal counsel not to provide further comment on the incident. More information is expected to be made available from authorities following arraignment. They have stated the tour will continue as planned with upcoming dates are listed below.

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The Bucketlist With Sahil ‘DEMONSTEALER’ Makhija Of DEMONIC RESURRECTION

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*In this series we pose the age old questions to a wide array of music lovers. As fans of music most of us keep a mental list of active bands we want to see live that we haven’t yet seen. The Bucketlist brings to you those lists of your favorite artists and why those bands mean so much to them*

A month back I caught up with Sahil Makhija at AntiSocial, New Delhi, India, also known better as DEMONSTEALER who is the front man of the blackened death metal band from the sea side city, Mumbai in India, DEMONIC RESURRECTION. If you have not heard DEMONIC RESURRECTION yet, you’re clearly blaspheming ! Just kidding, you’re missing out on a lot though to be honest. So the band has been around for a good number of years now, starting out as teenagers back in the day in the year 2000, and they have since then put up a decent catalog of five albums and two EPs all this while, which is incredible in itself. They have really pinned India on the global metal map and are rightly called the ‘flag bearers of Indian metal’. They have also done shows in reputed European festivals like Wacken Open Air in Germany, Bloodstock Festival in the U.K., and the beautiful MetalDays festival in Slovenia etc. They also have a Metal Hammer Golden God award under their belt. It all began with their debut album titled, ‘Demonstealer’ in 2000 and since then you can actually see they have not only been a dynamic outfit but also a reckoning force in the underground scene and also in the domestic scene in India.

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SEVENDUST Guitarist John Connolly Says Writing Has Begun For New Album, Names Producer [Audio Available]

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Last month SEVENDUST guitarist JOHN CONNOLLY‘S side project PROJECTED released their second album “Ignite My Insanity” through RatPak Records.  “Ignite My Insanity” is a double disc headbanger that links heavy riffs with melodic hooks and choruses.  PROJECTED is a super-group of sorts featuring members of SEVENDUST, ALTER BRIDGE, CREED, TRIMONTI and SUBMERSED.  We had the pleasure of spending some time with JOHN CONNOLLY.  In the conversation we spoke about the new PROJECTED record, writing, touring and the future of the mighty SEVENDUST.

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GWAR Announce New Album ‘The Blood of Gods’ Due 10/20/17!

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The youth of America have been infected!   As the stars of the 2017 Vans Warped Tour, your Lords and Masters, GWAR , have destroyed and pillaged the country all summer long, as only they could.  Warped Tour fans and fellow bands alike were molested, mutilated and left emotionally devastated by GWAR‘s performances from sea to shining sea.   Continue reading →

Review: ACE FREHLEY – ‘Anomaly’ Deluxe Edition! [Song Stream]

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The past few years have seen a renaissance and revitalization in the career of Ace Frehley. He’s become a fixture on the concert circuit, and his two most recent albums, ‘Space Invader’ (2014) and ‘Origins Vol. 1’ (2016), have brought the former KISS axeman some of the loudest critical plaudits and highest chart positions of his Hall of Fame career. With all the hype surrounding these two releases (deserved as it may be), it can be easy to overlook the album that kicked off this new Age of Ace, his 2009 comeback ‘Anomaly’. This deluxe reissue (which is being released September 8th via eOne Music – just in time for Frehley’s run opening for Alice Cooper in Australia and New Zealand later in the month; Nexusers Down Under, this is maybe my textbook definition of a must-see show) will hopefully remedy that; ‘Anomaly’ proved to be Ace’s strongest set of songs since ’78. If you’re an Ace fan and you’ve never heard it, you’ll love it; if you haven’t heard it in a while, it’s well worth exploring again. Continue reading →

Blaze Bayley Live In Baltimore! [Photo Gallery]

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Blaze Bayley

 

Last night I had my second consecutive fantastic Sunday night in Baltimore. I covered Blaze Bayley, a singer who was the former front man of the iconic metal legends Iron Maiden, one of the greatest metal bands the universe has ever seen. This is a tour many may not have paid the attention it well and truly deserves! Iron Maiden is my favorite heavy metal band, bar none. Well, I am one of those people who think his album ‘The X Factor’ with Iron Maiden is fantastic, albeit different from the Dickinson era Maiden. This is an album that had kept me company during my troubled and volatile years while riding down remote mountainous roads in India on my motorcycle. And not once during those days did I imagine Blaze Bayley shoving the microphone right in my face to sing “The Man on The Edge” with him, the way he did last night. Personally, the whole show was sort of a trip down memory lane. Fish Head Cantina, located in Baltimore, is the venue where I photographed my very first heavy metal show, the band on that occasion being the mighty influential NWOBHM band Diamond Head. And to cover another legend in Blaze Bayley was the fitting way to go back to where it all began as a concert photographer. Continue reading →