Um, hello???

So I got an email from everyone's favourite label, Roadrunner, advising me of a special one-off gig Staind were playing for charity at the Hard Rock Cafe in London. As a super special Roadrunner subscriber, I got £3 off each ticket. £30 for me and Hot Chick, only 200 tickets, intimate gig, why the hell not?
I've got about four Staind albums but I've not given them much of a listen apart from Break The Cycle, the one that really brought them into the limelight. It's got the acoustic version of Outside, where Fred "Nuwwano wayawunna hate me" Durst adds his, um, vocal, plus It's Been A While.
So in we went, all on the guest list, got our wrist bands, queued for the bar. It was at this point I felt that we had accidentally gone to a frat party. We were surrounded my massive shaven headed Americans with arms the size of melons. Now don't get me wrong, my bald self tips the scales at 14-stone but I spent so much time flexing that I left the gig with cramp in 95% of my body.

So 2 beers, a double voddy lemonade and £15 later, there we are a mere 10-feet or so from the stage. We'd been there for a good 90 minutes and then they arrived. The band we'd all been waiting for. The band that are used to playing venues ten times the size of the Hard Rock. The music kicked in and my God, they were tight. Aaron Lewis's vocal were note perfect, the guitars were entwined in harmony, the bass levels and acoustics were ideal. But they fucking sucked.

When you go to see a band you want to feel like they want to be there. Staind didn't. Lewis must have said about 4 words to the crowd in between off-mic complaints to the poor sound man about his guitar levels. He had about as must energy as a arthritic donkey on a hot day, and the fact that the sound tech behind him was looking bored the whole night kinda summed up my feelings. Now don't get me wrong, the singalongs were amazing and it was great to see Outside live - the crowd were as one, it was truly moving. However, when the same thing happened during Stone Sour's Bother, Corey Taylor was moved, thanked the crowd, and had a wee chat with us. Aaron Lewis just looked grumpy and in need of a cheeseburger.

To summarise, the band were amazing. The performance was a stimulating as a morning-after-a-few-beers dump.

Oh well - DragonForce, Turisas and Disturbed in a couple of weeks. Bring it on...

Thank you; all 9 of you

I've been slack. Updating this blog has been, well, low on the ol' priority scale for me over the past few weeks. However, since my last monologue on the great "Folklore and Superstition" from Black Stone Cherry, I have made a number of purchases, all of which are pretty feckin' awesome.
August 25th came. I woke up, took a dump, had a cup of tea (not sure if that order is right) and headed the fuck on up to HMV to finally purchase the album I have been waiting for for months; Slipknot's "All Hope Is Gone" (obviously the special edition with the DVD and stuff). I've decided I'm not going to go into as much detail as I did with Black Stone Cherry, as this takes a long time - I'm the only one who reads this, is it worth it?!
The album is carnage. Imagine meeting a girl (or a boy, I suppose) and the very next moment being involved in some kind of Caligula-style orgy. There's no foreplay on this album, it's straight fucking in with "Gemetria". Corey slows it down in a Stone Sour way with "Dead Memories" and "Vendetta", giving the album more depth than the previous likes of "Iowa". AHIG takes key elements from their s/t first album, "Iowa" and "Volume 3" and combines them in what has to be The 'Knot's most accomplished album to date.
I also got DragonForce's "Ultra Beatdown" (again, special edition) on the same day. No need to deconstruct this - they're followed straight on from "Inhuman Rampage" with ferocious shredding, 8,000 bpm drumming and the vocals from a bastard child of Joey Tempest and Steve Perry. It's nothing complex, it's just good fun.
Essential purchase this month though has been Slipknot's "9.0 Live" album. A 2-disc annihilation of the ear drums. Thank you Slipknot, for playing "[sic]" followed by "Disasterpiece". Thank you for including the best drum solo on history. Thank you so very, very much.

And I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate myself on getting tickets for the best gig in the history of the world: Slipknot, supported by Machine Head and Children of Bodom. Just to confirm: Slipknot. Machine Fucking Head. Bodom.

SLIPKNOT.
MACHINE HEAD
CHILDREN OF BODOM.

Not that I'm excited.


Watch this space kids, I promise I'll update Metal Harmony more regularly....

Not just folklore

As I type this I'm taking a pleasurable meander through Black Stone Cherry's new album, "Folklore and Superstition" and frankly, they've done it again. Already I'm hooked.

It opens with "Blind Man", a song that got the crowd going at Download despite no-one knowing the words. In the same way that "Rain Wizard" punched you in the face on the first album, "Blind Man" gives you a good slap and demands that you listen. It's impossible not to tap along for the first four songs and it really does start to feel like these guys have given us another future classic.

The inclusion of piano ballad "Things My Father Said" may seem a little odd for those expecting the pure Southern rawk strummings of their s/t first album but it fits, and it has a genuine emotional tone. Still, if it's too soft, wait until "The Bitter End" appears and the balance is quickly restored. The good ol' reverb trick employed at the beginning of "Shooting Star" on the first album makes a welcome resurgence on "Long Sleeves" and "The Key" but the sound is altogether more mature.

John Fred's drumming has also improved ten-fold, although there's always the chance that this is down to more expensive production (everyone's a critic, eh?) - their forthcoming live dates will tell all. There are already some identifiable crowd-pleasers - "Peace If Free" sounds as though it's written almost specifically for a mid-gig break, where the distortion is turned off and the lighters are held aloft. I'm always a bit sceptical of songs that include huge crowd sing-a-longs on the album as it feels a bit contrived. Still, it's good to hear a good old fashioned protest song on a "modern" rock 'n' roll album. It's not just the BSC guys' hair that's keeping the 1960's alive.

The references to swamps, 'gators and general truck drivin' ol' boys gives this album a truly authentic Skynrd-esque vibe, especially with the excitable organ-into-guitar solo in "Devil's Queen". It's clear to see the relevance of the oft used Soundgarden parallels in "The Key" but the bluegrass banjo keeps it Southern all the way.

"Sunrise" has a bit of a bizarre reggae feel but again, it fits. Black Stone Cherry have dipped their toe into a number of different genres across "Folklore and Superstition", 90% of the time with great success. It's great to hear a band genuinely mature with album number two but not change so much as to leave us fans confused. These guys are still a good ol' Southern rawk band - listen to the yokel intro of "Ghost of Floyd Collins and try not to smile. They're versatile, young, passionate, and fucking good at what they do. Roll on December 14th.

You just ask the lonely

Thumbing through a recent issue of Classic Rock magazine I stumbled across an article on the new Journey album. Time for a confession: I love Journey. There's something about "Don't Stop Believin'" that makes me want to put my arms around my wife, sit her on the back of my hog and drive off into the sunset. I don't actually have a hog but if I did, I would do this. Often.
Anyway, I was scanning the review and accompanying photo an lo, no Steve Perry! I'm sure there's a huge percentage of you who already know this but I couldn't believe he's not there! Apparently the new chap sounds just as good - will have to consult with YouTube to verify this, to be honest.

I'm glad I didn't buy tickets to see them play in London - I would have been the one retard in the crowd screaming "YOU'RE NOT STEVE! IMPOSTER!".

Nearly saw Meatloaf play at the London Motor Show last week but Bro Dude reminded me that, no matter how frankly obliterated we were, there really was no need to go and see Meatloaf. In fact, there really never is any need to see Meatloaf. My Hot Chick is not going to be happy with this post as she's a 'Loaf fan. And I suppose with this ode to Journey, I can't really talk about terrible music tastes.

All Hope Is Still There...

Despite the lack of gigs in the next few weeks, there are a number of new album releases coming up that are pretty damn exciting. Number one on this list has to be Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone, as I've said before. However, I've got a feeling the backlash is going to really kick off with Iowa's finest.

Point A - Reading Festival, not Download
Point B - new single Psychosocial debuted on Radio 1
Point C - a huge amount of Kerrang! Coverage, which means a large portion of the metal contingent will see them as going more and more mainstream

"Psychosocial" aint, to be honest, the best track I've ever heard from them. This being said, it's pretty par for the course for them to release a radio-friendly unit shifter in the vein of "Wait and Bleed" and "Vermillion". Let's hope the album is as heavy and raw as they're promising.

Black Stone Cherry's follow up to their first s/t album is coming in a few days too - "Folklore and Superstition" is going to be fuckin' huge - can't wait for the tour later this year. They're one of those bands who never fail to deliver, both live and on CD (not that there's a huge amount to judge them on yet!)

DragonForce's new widdly-widdly outing is coming too, but I know bugger all about it yet. Let me make a prediction though - 10 songs, 7-8 minutes each, at least 5 minutes of guitar wankery. Good lads - don't change that formula!

I downloaded Trivium's new single "Kirisute Gomen" off of their forthcoming "Shogun" album. It was, to be honest, well, poop. Just plain boring. Their first album was pure hardcore, then "Ascendancy" proved to be an exceptional follow up. However, number three "The Crusade" was a little less impressive and they seem to have really lost their edge in this new tune. It's a sad but oft seen example of a band that peeks to early. I always stood up for them against the "fake metal" accusations but to be honest, I don't know how they are going to survive supporting Slayer on the forthcoming Unholy Alliance tour. Seeing as the only band who don't get caned by the Slayer crowd are Machine Head, I think the Triv boys might struggle...

All quiet on the metal front

Download came and went, Iron Maiden at Twickenham seems like a distant memory. Still, the tickets for DragonForce and Turisas, and Black Stone Cherry have arrived so there's something to look forward too. Not until the "...ber" months though, so I'm having to rely on Dr. MP4 to help me through the long lonely working days. However, my focal point now is August 25th, when Slipknot release studio album number 4 in the shape of All Hope Is Gone.

Totally stuck on Rise Against now though. The Sufferer and The Witness has to be the most consistent album I've listened to in the last year, no exception. The combination of screamo and melodic vocals to a hardcore/SoCal punk riff selection is awesome. If you've not checked Rise Against out yet, do so now. Or I will come round your house and shit on your couch.

Reading 2008 continues to have a terrible line up, which is great. Without the mighty 'Knot, it'd be nothing as far as I'm concerned. I mean, you've got your Bullets, Metallica and A7X but to be honest, seen two of them this year and Metallica are always on tour for the devoted fans anyway. I do love the little tents that, a decade ago, used to play host to the likes of Lagwagon, Dance Hall Crashers, Mad Caddies, MxPx, etc etc etc. This year they've got H2O and Pennywise - a strong performance. But over the three days, there's probably 10 bands to see which, by my reckoning, is about as worthwhile as me writing this blog and expecting people to read it.....

Still, I've learnt the main chords for Europe's Rock The Night. That officially makes me a fucking hero of our time.

Maiden Heaven

I would like to congratulate Iron Maiden for causing me more pain and suffering than any other band in my gigging history.
The day started well with a beer on Shithouse's balcony, and when our lift was starting to run a bit too late, we headed down to the train station. As we walked up to the ticket counter, the dude behind the counter looked at our band regalia and metal pin badges and simply said "Twickenham?". So on to the train we jumped, Stella in hand. With me in my Machine Fucking Head t-shirt and Shithouse in his signed Maiden denim vest (legend), we looked a treat.
Got me Maiden tour t-shirt outside Twicknham, met the other boys and in we went. Beers were chugged, horns were thrown, "MAIDEN!" was chanted.
Up first, Lauren Harris, Steve Harris's daughter. His wife must be hot as there is no was she gets her looks from him. She wouldn't have been on the tour without dad being in the band - pretty girl, pretty pants music.

And so cometh Within Temptation. I cannot get enough of these guys and as with Download, Sharon Den Adel owned Twickenham with her awesome vocals. It started to fill up a bit when these guys were on, and continued to do so as the much over-hyped Avenged Sevenfold took the stage. Bottles started flying - not into the band, but in the crowd. It was truly a spectacle, until one poor sod got a full pint of piss in the chops...
I'm not suggesting A7X aren't a good band but that's it. They're good. The guitarists are exceptional, the drummer is fantastic and to be honest, M Shadows is a versatile vocalist but for some reason, they aren't anything more than, well, good. I nodded my head to The Beast and The Harlot, I taped my feet to Bat Country, I applauded politely as they left the stage with a somewhat sheepish expression on their faces when someone went down in the pit and the medics were called. They were, um, okay.

As we were right down the front, there was no way I was moving, despite my bladder being as resilient as that of a 17-year-old Labrador's. So, empty pint glass in hand, I unleashed a couple of "pit pisses", which were then poured onto the hallowed rugby turf. No chucking it from me; that's unpleasant.

Maiden came on to the traditional Churchill's Speech, and me and Shithouse were within touching distance of Bruce's spit. 2 Minutes To Midnight and Run To The Hills saw the pit going insane - I lost my hat and got one of my surface piercings ripped out - but a highlight for me has to have been Fear Of The Dark. I turned round and saw 55,000 metallers going "woo-oh-oh oh-oh-oh, woo-oh-oh oh-oh-oh" - it was a truly emotional time. One teenage lad started having some kind of panic attack as he couldn't breathe - not entirely sure what he expected in the centre of the pit at a heavy metal gig attended by 55,000, but what do I know about yoof nowadays??

2 hours later, we stumbled out exhausted, bruised, bleeding and inexplicably topless. £10-worth of cheeseburgers later, we hit the road.

Maiden completely blew my mind. I've always liked the band, they have some amazing tunes but I am a complete convert. Never in my experience has a band had such a draw and such an impact on so many people of so many ages. 90% of people were in their Maiden colours, everyone knew the words and the pit was a thing of beauty. It was hardcore, aggressive, mayhem, and full of love. The whole day was a celebration of all things metal, from Within Temptation's Gothic operatics to the emo-screamo wailings of the Avenged Sevenfold heartthrobs. Iron Maiden put together a perfect lineup to cater to a whole stadium of music fans and for that, they should be exalted and applauded.

Iron Maiden, we salute you.

Who needs friends? Me, actually.

I must apologise for the lacklustre Download summary. It is virtually impossible to sum up with mere words the vibe you get from tens of thousands of rockers drinking, eating and circle of deathing for three days. My advice to you online cartel would be the following; check out the Throwdown pit on YouTube - if you don't want to be there in 2009, shame on you.
To explain the title of this entry, one of my dear friends, a car salesman who we shall call Shithouse (a name based on his size before his recent beer amnesty, street smarts and surname) owed me a very small sum of cash. Shithouse is one of the world's biggest Maiden fans and not only has he an extensive back catalogue of classic metal (oh fuck, I still have a Megadeth CD of his...) but he's also seen Heart live. Bow down, fools.
So anyway, Shithouse calls me and says "MADman, I've a spare ticket to Maiden. Coming?" To which one replies "I'm in squire, and thank you for your kind offer."
To summarise, free ticket to see Maiden supported by A7X and Within Temptation. You see, his lass wanted seats, he wants to be at the front "giving it plenty (sic)" so who better to call than everyone's favourite freshly-pierced metal head? That's me, by the way.

I bought my limited edition Eddie slip-ons today..........

It came, we saw, they conquered

After months of hype, grief, excitement, anticipation, tears, beers, Cyril Sneers, and potatoes, Download 2008 is no more. What a flucking weekend.

Stopping at the service station en route we were greeted by a number of sleeved-up metalers and one fat topless chap eating a civilised cooked breakfast - they were obviously headed the same way. A breakfast bap and Big One Brekkie later and we hit the road again.

Day 1 - Hostile impressed from the Gibson stage, and the gruelling death metal of Black Dahlia Murder certainly proved that we were at Download. For all those forum geeks (myself kinda included) that thought the festival was losing it's metal heritage, hush thy mouths. A personal highlight for me was seeing Rise Against perform classics Ready To Fall and Prayer For The Refugee - they ripped the crowd a new one with a perfect mix of hardcore and pop punking keeping us all confused as to whether to dance like a bell or throw the horns. Fuckin' A.

Disturbed continue to be one of my favourite bands; ever since I first saw Mad Davey come onstage in his Hannibal Lecter clobber 8 or so years ago when they supported Marilyn Manson, I've been a fan. THere is nothing as rousing as 10,000 fists in the air when they sing, um, 10,000 Fists. Particularly in the chorus, when the aforementioned fists go in the air...

But it was all about KISS on day 1. You can't beat slightly flabby, topless, middle-aged men in facepaint shooting fire out of their guitars for two hours for entertainment. Not playing Crazy Nights was a bit odd but throw Detroit Rock City and I Wanna Rock And Roll All Night in there and it was virtually a perfect gig. Pure theatre, these boys.

Day two was more beer-fuelled mayhem. Bullet, 36 Crazyfists, A Day To Remember - all sweet as. Biffy Clyro were sub par but what can you do?

I must apologise for this blog post. It's one of those ones where there's too much to write and I've lost my mojo with it. Plus, writing about Download reminds me I'm not there any more, which sucks huge hairy balls.

I can't help but feel this could go on and on and get a bit boring. So my summary is as follows:

Beers - 37
Best bands - HIM, Alter Bridge, BFMV, KISS, Disturbed, Municipal Waste, Black Stone Cherry
Worst bands - Biffy, Madina Lake, Job For A Cowboy
Food of choice - cheseburgers, some weird potato dish
Oddest image - men dresed as monkeys sodomising each other whilst the Elephant Man watched
Best hat - a chicken

Come rain or shine...

...we'll be there in a matter of hours now. Well, days. Not many. One, in fact.

Download 2008 has arrived so this will be my last entry before standing in a wet/muddy/hot/sweaty (tbc) field listening to popular beat combos such as Judas Priest and Alter Bridge.
Me and Hot Chick have pretty much planned who we're seeing already so as to avoid an embarrassing domestic situation outside the Throwdown slam pit. We've agreed on most things but the Cavalera Conspiracy vs. Lostprophets war still rages. The way I see it, Lostprophets are going to play their best stuff last so we only need to catch 15-20 minutes. Speculative at best.

Most excited about:
Alter Bridge
H.I.M (again)
Disturbed (again)
BFMV
Judas Priest
Cavalera Conspiracy
Black Stone Cherry
36 Crazyfists
Apocalyptica feat. Christina Scabbia
Potential sunshine
Phantom meat burgers
Beer

Least excited about:
£15-a-pint beer
Getting the shits (will happen with aforementioned phantom meat burger consumption)
Simple Plan
Simple Plan's hair
Simple Plan's fans' hair

So, beers and cheers up North, maggots. See you there. I'll be the stocky bloke with no hair in a black t-shirt.........

Seems like doomsday's come early this year...

I finally managed to find Atreyu's "A Deathgrip On Yesterday" album after months of looking. Turns out it was in a CD case. Imagine. Seen them twice now and both times have been mightily impressed. Not to sure about the bit where I got my teeth chipped in the pit last time but it's all par for the course. I'm still surprised that the fellow got his foot up to head height. Kids nowadays.
I wasn't sure about their new album "Lead Sails Paper Anchor" when I first heard it - my whole thang for Atreyu was the archetypal screamo/metalcore vibe, so was a bit taken aback by some of the glam rock clap-a-long tunes on "Lead Sails...". Couple of listens though, it's a bloody masterpiece. Bought "Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses" today as I'm in an angsty frame of mind and to be honest, only Atreyu, 36 Crazyfists or Caliban will really do.
That's me done for tonight as I need to work out "Ex's and Oh's" on guitar. Oh, it's going fine, thanks for asking.

Skins to strings

As you can probably guess from my previous posts, I'm a skinsman, and have been ever since good ol' mum and dad entertained my teenage wishes and bought me a kit aged about 14. After many months of playing virtually all of Green Day's "Dookie" album with my mate Perrett, throwing in the occasional Nirvana and the opening few bars of "Girl From Mars" by Ash (it gets boring after it kicks in at the start, so we just stopped), I had to leave for uni and so leave the kit. 'Twas a sad day. But in the years that followed I've become a professional desktop tapper, much to the annoyance of, well, everyone I've ever met.
My hot ass wife recently bought me a small electric set, complete with foot pedals, so I've been nailing some Cradle of Filth and NOFX on that for the last few months but the time has come for me to make the plunge. Down with the sticks and up with the strings.
Bro dude is a shit hot self taught bassist with an arsenal of axes, so he was my first port of call. Obviously he nailed rhythm guitar too so had a six-string laying about which is now sitting in casa del MADman. So far I've mastered a C.
Next stop, Free Bird.

Iron Priest

Get my rant published in this months' Metal Hammer - so far I'm a published author in Metal Hammer, Kerrang and Sega Power magazines. I think I should be respected and admired in the writer community for my contribution to mankind. I mean, I fail to see how Anne Frank's Diary can be any more insightful than my request for cheats for Mortal Kombat back in the early 90s.
I was also glad to discover that my metal mistress has now discovered Iron Maiden ("WTF?!" I hear you cry). Despite being more than aware of their work she'd never really, well, "absorbed" their beauty. The times have changed though; she's a convert. I'm still working on getting some of the toilet Radio friendly guitar guff off her iPod but apparently variety is the spice of life...
Listening to the old Devildriver joint a lot recently too, purely because the song "Grinfucked" has given me a new expression to describe what my boss does to me weekly - no, this music blog is not about to turn into a gripe about how I hate my job, things are tough, and so on and so forth. For if I go down that route, I may as well hang up my horns right now - FIGHT THE POWER KIDS!
Cannot wait to see Priest play "Breaking The Law" at Download - 80,000 metal/emo/grunge/screamo/punk/goth/spatula/porridge kids chanting along is going to be pretty huge.
See you there. Unless you're watching Simple Plan on the second stage...

Thank you Coal Chamber

Saturday's Defenders Of The Faith tour (3 Inches Of Blood, DevilDriver, Arch Enemy, Opeth)marked a momentous occasion in my gigging career. Not only did I get to revel in the brutality of Arch Enemy for the second time in less than 6 months but I got to see, in the flesh, the man who penned such modern day classics as "Loco", "Big Truck" and "Sway". Ladles and Genitalmen, Mr. Dez Fafara (alright, he presented an award at the 2007 Golden Gods so I've "seen" him before but you get my point. I hope. No? Are you stupid?)
Dez is potentially one of the hardest men in metal, with his relentless martial art training and frankly odd chin tattoos. This is reflected in DevilDriver, the brutal band that clinched the deal for me when I was deciding whether to buy DOTF tickets. However, it is key for us to remember that this man originally fronted the oddest metal band for many moons in the shape of Coal Chamber. My long-standing bezzie mate BigJM and I used to listen to "Big Truck" as teenage SoCal punk-lovin' scumbags and wonder what the underlying theme was. What does it all mean? Is it an elegant critique on capitalist oppression? Is it a damning riposte on the commercialism of the music industry? Is it really a song about a lorry? The decision is yours.
We got to the gig late so missed 3 Inches Of Blood - disappointing but not critical. I did miss the first couple of DevilDriver tunes which was a pisser but my beautiful wife let me sweat my way down to the front whilst she got the beers in. No, really. She is that perfect.
Dez's vocals ripped me a new arse/ear hole and John Boecklin's double pedal was frankly awesome. A fucking epic live bad; go and see them or I will kill you all.
Arch Enemy did the business yet again. Daniel Erlandson's drum solo was a personal highlight of mine (seeing the theme? The kit's in my mum and dad's loft, alright?).
I am still in non-sexual awe of Angela Gossow and have been since they played alongside Machine Head, DragonForce and Trivium at the Black Crusade (I missed Shadows Fall that time - must organise my travel better). How something so small can make a noise so imposing is beyond me. I did enjoy the teenage scene kid standing behind me attempting to growl along, before experiencing a perfectly timed coughing fit, although this may have been caused by him choking on a perfectly straightened fringe. Hopefully his blue WKD eased the pain.
We left before Opeth. "Oh my God, why?!" I hear you cry. Because, lazys and Germoline, I felt like it. For MADman is unpredictable like that, so keep reading this thing and see what I do....mwah ha ha ha.

He's so Angry!

The Download line-up is coming along nicely, with stages and days seemingly getting confirmed as the dates draw ever closer. During my usual moment of YouTube research, I thought I recognised the lead singer of Rose Tattoo. Upon further inspection, I saw that lo, 'twas none other than Angry Anderson.
Now kids, grap a cushion, sit on the floor and stop listening to Bring Me The Horizon a moment. Angry Anderson penned and voiced one of the greatest songs ever to grace televisual weddings - Scott and Charlene's wedding song from Neighbours.
Am I the only one who finds this amazing? Am I the only one who is completely starstruck by the prospect of seeing a man who's song defined a whole generation of soft-focus TV mullet marriages perform in the flesh?
And will I be the only one screaming for them to play this song in a tent full of metallers??

AWOL

It's been a few days since I last updated this bad boy - unfortunately my schizophrenia has meant corporate whore MADman has been in charge of my body. This guy insists on working on PowerPoint presentations and attending IT-related conferences. It's a dry existence.
But on to the fun stuff. More bands have been announced for Download, which is muchos exciting for all. There's not a lot of big names which has terrified the "where are AC/DC and Machine Head" brigade. It seems that, once you've started listening to the classic rock and metal bands, anything post-1995 is automatically emo/gay/pop. Interesting.
Also interesting is the people that insist on leaking the Download line up. However, my favourite forum-based bantery is those who complain about the leaks, yet read and reply to the threads. It seems to be that age-old everso English need to bitch about everything and everyone. I would imagine these people also watched Robocop in slow motion and posted on the Internet Movie Database that when Robocop throws Clarence Boddicker through the big fuck off window, the glass actually smashed before he hits it. So amazing I could, no, just have climaxed.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank one Download forum contributant for posting the best comment in interactive web-based shenanigan history:
"Reading may have RATM, Metallica and Slipknot but remember, you're never more than three people away from a c*nt"

Well played, sir.

Fantastic Max...worst pun ever

So I'm working my way through the Download 2008 line-up, still waiting for some of the big guns to sign up (come on Slipknot for the love of God!) to see if there's any little beauties yet to be discovered. Alter Bridge have done a f**king good job of making me want to go more and more so I thought I'd give the new Cavalera Conspiracy joint a crack.

From the really quite terrible "Fantastic Max" title, you can probably tell I'm pretty impressed. Max's vocal screams of the old Sepultura days - his style hasn't changed through way back then, through Soulfly, and up to now, and it's great that the Cavalera bro's are buddies again.

I can see the pit at Download now - angry, angry people. I just hope Madina Lake aren't on directly before them....

Fingers crossed.......

It's official - Reading 2008 has Slipknot. Whilst maintaining my positive outlook and villification of all those griping about Download 2008, this does make me nervous.

Rage Against The Machine and Metallica are strong headliners (I'll take or leave The Killers), definitely more "metal" than The Offspring and Lost Prophets, but let's make a list:

Reading 2008
For:
Good solid headliners
Slipknot
Might get some of the SoCal punk/ska cartel along in the smaller tents

Against:
So many bands beginning with "The" that it makes me want to the cut the my the balls the off.
Will be full of people who think heavy metal = Guns & Roses
The Feeling are there

Download 2008
For:
Alter Bridge, BFMV, Within Temptation - nice
Tattoo/piercers
Loads of beer and possibly more manly phantom meat stalls than Reading

Against:
None of my big guns are there yet....apart from H.I.M, that is.

The big question is, wll the mighty 'Knot make my summer and get to Donnington? And will Fear Factory surprise us all and bring some industrial aural damge to the month of June?

Fingers crossed............

Why can't we all get along?

So I've finally succumbed to the temptation to become that guy with the opinions online. I've started this blog to ask a simple question - why can't we all get along? Clearly I don't mean this is in a tree-hugging, nuclear weapon-disarming, Bernard Matthews turkey-releasing way but more in a sense of, why do people decide to complain constantly about music and bands?

Every gig I've been to recently, of which there are many, has included the two dudes who bitch for the duration of the set about how shitty the band are, how conventional the music is, and various other tired tirades which, let's be honest, are of no real value to man, woman or ferret.

I've recently bought tickets to Download 2008 as a present for my lurvly wife. This alternative music festival has been causing more controversy in the music world since them four scousers said something about Jesus. Why? The line up may not be amazing but there's enough metal and good old fashioned rock on there for everyone - and they're only about a third done. Not all the bands will be playing guitar with the severed head of a virgin dove whilst defeacating into the hair of their dead grandmother but surely the likes of Throwdown and Job For A Cowboy can't be seen as anything other than metal?

We are a nation of complainers but is not the whole point of the metal scene to embrace the different and be proud of our acceptance of diversity? Or do we really just want to feel hard because we like tough bands?