Real Time Review: The Obsidian Conspiracy

Alriiight. I have in my player a copy of the new Nevermore cd "The Obsidian Conspiracy" and I'd be lying if I said this was not going to be on my list of most anticipated releases this year. I've seen the mixed reviews in the comments section of other sites but fuck those guys. If you can't analyze and enjoy each Nevermore release on it's own merits then move along. Anyways it's been a long time since I've done a real time review so what better candidate to dust it off with then this eh? Let's do it.

1. The Termination Proclamation: Oh yeah....thick rapid fire riffs with tons of double bass. This is the Nevermore I know.Warrel Dane sounds great here. He has awesome range but when he gets the aggressive tone in his vocals this is where the band shines. The chorus is a bit on the cheesy side but overall a great way to open a new cd.

2. Your Poison Throne: Interesting opening. Warrell wants us to Rise! Rise!Rise! Probably one of the more dare I say mainstream songs I've ever heard? It'll definately be memorable in their catalog. Actually bluesy solo by Loomis. See? He's not just a noodler.

3. Moonrise: Back to the Nevermore style of double bass and solo filled intros. So far this song could easily be on any of their previous work.Creepy spoken lyrics makes for a nice change of tempo and then picks right back up where we left off. Solid tune but I feel like overall I've heard this before.

4. And the Maiden Spoke: Slow heavy atmospheric opening and then kicks into overdrive. And I thought this was going to be a ballad type of song. Silly me. Second track in a row with some malevelant spoken words. The chorus is a bit lighter but then back to the main riff.This is what Queensryche would have written if they were a much heavier band I think. Oooo brief happy interlude before the solo. Damn Loomis can shred. Clean and such precision. Very progressive tune overall.

5. Emptiness Obstructed: Warrel Dane starts this out from the gates with no intro and possibly the chorus. Oh so this is the more ballady type song. Such great lyrics. Both the shredding and songwriting is becoming a lost art as these guys constantly remind me. Awesome track.

6. The Blue Marble and the New Soul: Some of these song titles makes me think I'm reading Grimm's fairy tales. Sorry, random thought. Very mild intro with whispering. Even slower song then the previous. Why do I get the feeling my ass is about to get kicked? Very slow build up as Warrel gets more aggressive with his vocals. Kind of like an Shakespearean play. More whispering and blues based guitar work. Sheesh the dread of incoming facemelting is starting to get palpable. Minute left so yeah not going to happen, I can relax. Another outside of the norm track. I'll have to listen again to get a good idea if I like it or not.

7. Without Morals: Groove riffage and back to being heavy. Song seems to be about somebody Warrel hates using the most intelligent words to insult. Like if Godsmack had any sort of songwriting ability. Probably the least impressive track so far though.

8. The Day You Built the Wall: Mid tempo opening. " I am the Black Lord, I am a slave" in a very evil tone. Song has a heavy Judas Priest influence from probably Defenders of the Faith. Just updated with heavier vocals.

9. She Comes in Colors: What a naughty sounding name. Very mild opener. Very soulful solo. Seems Jeff is trying to expand his range on the guitar. Whoa dead air for a few seconds and now some harmonics. Oh...it's not a ballad. Killer groove riff. So now the song is being repeated but with a much heavier background.Black Sabbath used to do this kind of thing with Dio as singer. Start out really soft then kick in with a heavy groove riff. And now we go out soft again. And back to the heavy chorus again. I love songs with drastic tempo changes.

10. The Obsidian Conspiracy: Title track and it's fast as shit. Time to just rip a tune out eh? Much like the first track this no doubt a Nevermore track. Not catchy just fast and brutal with heavy bass and double bass drums.

11. Temptation : This is the special edition so the next songs are covers. Hold on a sec...let me listen to the originals on Youtube so I can make a fair assessment of these. Apparently this is by some group called the Tea Party. Oh I remember this tune. Pretty recent actually. Very electronic. Ok let's see what th Nevermore version sounds like. Loomis starts out acoustic and almost spanish guitar like. Oh fuck yeah....I like the intro by Nevermore much better. Very heavy. Much like on Warrel's solo album he's taken a song that was kind of heavy in it's own right and enhanced it with some ballsy music. Yeah I like this much better then the original.

12.Crystal Ship: Doors cover. Just listened to the original. Very meh song. Let's see what Nevermore does with it. Warrel can truly sing it's evident. I don't like the song though. Very soft and slow. This would have served to be on a solo project I think.

Well that's it. Wow, such a great band. I have so many impressions to go over. It stands on it's own from previous releases, no doubt. The songs are much shorter then I expected which could be a good or bad thing depending on your attention span. Anybody that says this isn't a progression for them is an idiot. It's not as techical as previous releases but other genres of music are present here and that's progression in my book. It's without a doubt the most accessible album to date.

The actually sales will tell how well this album reaches people and I really hope it does breakthrough but after a 5 year layoff will it have enough to bring in new fans and still keep the old? We shall see but in the meantime I do recommend that people buy this album and support intelligent metal.

Here is a sample of what I'm blabbering about.


And here is more information about Nevermore.

Mark your Calendars

Iron Maiden's countdown on their website was revealed to be a package of cool news. The artwork for the album is shown above and it's probably the most brutal cover they've ever done. A release date for The Final Frontier is set for August 16th. Annnnnd....a free download of one of the tracks called El Dorado is up. Go the the Iron Maiden website to see all of the goodys yourself including track listings and such but good luck, I think all of South America has the site crippled at the moment trying to get on. Here is the Youtube track if you don't want to wait after the jump.



Not a particularly awesome song but still better then half of the crap being released by much younger dudes.

Devil Music A-Z: Amorphis

I'm a sucker of late for the Scandinavian metal scene. The compositions and lyrics are usually far superior then most of their counterparts in other countries. Especially in the area of melodeath. Amorphis is from Finland and have been around for quite a long time actually with their first release dating back to 1993. Now with all of the praise I've given to the Scandinavian scene I've got to be kind of a downer here. Amorphis falls in the category of I really wanted to like them. They're not horrible and put together some really good music but it just doesn't quite click with me. I think it's the vocalist which this band has had quite a few of though Tomi has the longest tenure of any of them.

I do enjoy the shit out of their second release Tales from the Thousand Lakes. It blends a great mix of death metal vocals with folk inspired compositions.I'll go back and check out more of the recent releases later and apparently June 16th will be the release of the new cd Skyforger. I seem to be pretty fickle so who knows maybe it will click with me as these guys deserve more attention.

*Prophetic update*
Yeah I'm a dumbass. First by saying that Tomi has the longest tenure. Pasi still has him beat. But that's about all he's got him beat by. I did in fact go back and listen to this band with Tomi on vocals and all I can say is wow. This band has found it's vocalist and it's sound. It's not so much melodeath as progressive death with a sprinkle of rock music. The last cd Skyforger is their best yet and you guys should really check them out. Here's a few vids from recent years.


Silver Bride from Skyforger


Silent Waters title track from same album

International Day of SLAYER!!!!

It's that time of the year again. Go here if you don't know what this is all about. After the jump is my favorite Slayer track. Crank it! And now joining us on this very special day is none other then Tom Araya. Take it away Tom.

Still on a Steel Panther kick

Ok, so in my boredom of being on call for work and not allowing myself to have the ability to go out and enjoy anything because I think the bat-signal is going to go off any minute I've decided to (as usual) surf the 'Net for music I don't know exists from bands I like. Apparently, I'm not as big of a Steel Panther fan as I thought. Searching YouTube, I've discovered a BUNCH of new songs that I wasn't sure was them or not: until I saw them on iTunes.

Yes, Steel Panther has a bunch of new songs:



"I Want Your Tits"

"Big Boobs"

"I Want Pussy"

...you can see a theme here, right???...

Christmas song "Sexy Santa"

and two covers: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" and Aldo Nova's "Fantasy". (Aldo who?????)

The original songs are great SP hits blending the usual ingredients of crudeness, pornography, and great riffs. But I want to concentrate on the covers. I've always been a fan of covers, preferring many of them over the original (Metallica's "Turn the Page" is an obvious one) and I expect that the artist in question does it their own way or adds a unique spin on it. The Aldo Nova cover is as bout as close as you get to being slightly different, but the Journey one sounds like Michael Starr is just singing Karaoke. Let me know what you think.

Aldo:



Steel Panther:



Journey:



Steel Panther:



Me, I'd take Steve Perry anyday over Starr....

I, also, want it that way

According to Blabbermouth, Rock Gods STEEL PANTHER is going to release a cover of Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way".

I'm super excited and I'll tell you why-ee. Steel Panther is a bunch of really talented musicians AND dirty bastards. I can already tell that they're going to spooge all over that song and let it dry til it's crusted with awesomeness.

As I think about how great this song is going to be, I can hear Randy Jackson in the back of my mind; "Yo Dogs. You took a song and made it your own. Mad props, yo". Why? Because I already know that this is going to be signature Steel Panther kick-assnessed music.

As a reminder of what some they're doing:





Again, that song is going to be done by THIS band:




Brilliant!

Devil Music A-Z: Alice in Chains

Then


Now


Grunge. I hate that word. It means nothing other then to somehow be relateable to the heroin fueled scene that was Seattle in the late 80's to early 90's. Alice in Chains were not a grunge band by the media's definition but a metal band with depressive overtones. Early on I had a hard time getting into these guys because as I've stated before I wasn't as open to things as I am now. They didn't fall into any real genre and every song was different so it was hard for me to really "get it". Not to mention the tracks where Layne Staley sung in this droning monotone was a bit aggravating.

I loved the album Dirt though. It was probably the catchiest of all of AIC's albums. I did pick up the self titled 3rd album though but didn't give it to many spins because it was too depressive and I was in a upturn in life at the time. Unbeknownst to me this was going to be the end of AIC for a long time due to Layne Staley's increased drug use and eventual death. I went back and checked out the cd's I had missed out on after his death and is frequently the case I realized what I missed out on. What a great original band.

Fast forward to last year and Jerry Cantrell decides to make a comeback with a new singer and what a pleasant surprise Black Gives Way to Blue is. It's an AIC album but updated.So many times bands try and make a comeback with a new lineup in hopes that they will receive some sort of success and it fails but not this time.It probably helps that this time around they're not lumped in with the likes of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.You know....that whole grunge scene.

Memorial Day Metal Videos.

While you're enjoying your beer and steaks take a minute to actually honor the troops past and present who have died in order to allow the rest of us to live the kind of lives we want to live. Even if you hate the concept of war these men and women are where most of us would never have the courage to be. Have a safe holiday and a hearty /salute to all of soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Happenin' Harry happens to be a dick

Here is a little life lesson to anybody who is in a band or other form of musical career. Don't piss off the people that give you free advertising. Awhile back I did a little piece on a guy in L.A. called Happenin' Harry and the Haptones. You can check it here if you want to. So this guy is a good friend of a co-worker of mine who grew up on the Sunset Strip. She never listened to any of the bands but knew the guys from the scene and suggested I connect with Harry to maybe get something going for the blogsite. So I did and got some dialogue going and posted on the blog and got his approval. Let's fast forward in time after the jump to see how this all played out.

So as everyone knows Ronnie James Dio passed away and Harry was posting tribute videos on his Facebook page. One of those videos was an old live clip of Ronnie with Rainbow. I posted a comment and things went south from there. Here is how the conversation went down.
Me: Are you going to the memorial Harry?
Harry: Why would you ask me that? lol and why here??
Me: Because I just got the info and I knew it was in your neck of the woods and was just wondering if you were going. Sorry.
Harry: And that's a private message????

So that little exchange kind of pissed me off because I didn't see anything wrong with me asking that. But I didn't want to create any waves so I deleted my comments and defriended him. Apparently he deleted his part of that exchange as well. Well the memorial came and went and out of boredom and curiousity I went to his page to see if he went. And there is a whole shit load of stuff on there, from some benefit concert his band was doing, to mentioning the Baptist people and how he was going to confront them. So I couldn't ask if you were going to the memorial but your page is filled with the stuff and people are commenting left and right with no issues? Well guess what? Here is some free friendly advice MARK.
1. Change the name of your band. Happenin' Harry and the Haptones sounds like some fucking surf band that's opening for Paul Revere and the Raiders not something from the Sunset Strip.

2. See these pics?




That's the same face you make in every picture, you fucking poser. Mix it up some and stop looking like you want jizz in your mouth.

3. You're in your mid 40's and it's not 1990 anymore. Hanging with porn stars and drug addicted former famous musicians is a soulless existance. You should have realized that by now.Grow up.

4. The Cat Club's reviews portray it as a shithole dive catering to over the hill musicians trying to hold onto some sort of legacy. I know you want to think you're hot shit for all of the people you know but you're promoting a piece of crap. Polish a piece of turd and it's still a turd.

5. The next time you get an offer for free advertising the least you could do is follow through with a couple of favors in return like interview contacts. I know it's a selfish business but I'm not getting payed for this and you'd be helping your "friends" out a little too.

So in closing, this accomplished nothing but it makes me feel better.I should have known this was going to be a waste of time when the first thing he typed back to me on my friend request was "Nice to meet you, any friend of anonymous is well...a friend of anonymous lol". I've removed the link from the Devilish friends section.If anyone happens to be in the area down there and wants to hit the Cat Club. Do NOT tell them That Devil Music sent you.

Devil Music A-Z: AC/DC

See that picture? That was the first image I ever saw of AC/DC back when I was probably 8 or 9. I had a friend whose much older brother used to listen to bands like Kiss and AC/DC. So here we are in the late 70's and this is the first impression I get. Pretty scary stuff.I actually started listening to them on a regular basis when Fly on the Wall came out. Sure I had Back in Black but I didn't really start paying much attention until about the mid 80's. I'm not going to gush over the boys from down Under(and Ireland) but the one debate that has always raged is who was the better band, Bon Scott's or Brian Johnson?Which do I prefer?

Bon Scott wins and it's not even close. AC/DC could do hard rock, blues, and even a bit of jazz in the 70's. No two songs ever sounded the same to me. I can't say the same for Brian Johnson's reign. In my book they got boring as the years rolled on.Here is the perfect video for my stance...you'd never see Brian do this.

Devil Music A-Z :Accept

Oh ya. Das Accept ist wunderbar nein?

I did an article on these guys awhile back when they announced their new singer. I've stopped caring that Wolf Hoffman and Joe Satriani have the same barber, or that Mark Tornillo looks like he parks his shopping cart full of aluminum cans outside before every gig. Between 1983 and 1986 these guys were one of my favorite bands. At the time I wasn't huge into thrash or or other forms of extreme metal, I was more of a traditional kind of guy I guess you could say and these German dudes were like the Scorpions ballsier brothers(pun might be intended). Udo's snarling vocals and the ass kicking riffs from songs like Too High to Get it Right or Fast As a Shark were about as heavy as I wanted to get and that was ok. Sure the synchronized guitar waving and the fact that Udo looked like a short U.S.O. soldier on leave were cheesy but it was ignored, the music was cool.

After the mediocre crap that was Russian Roulette I lost track until a few years ago and checked out the reunion stuff with UDO and it was ok...some good riffs...but you could tell their heart wasn't into it. So now they've reformed with this Tornillo guy from some band with a completely stupid name and it's still early to tell what kind of reception they'll get.But I've heard a few tracks and it's not bad but it sure as hell doesn't want me to revisit them like those three years we had in the 80's.

Devil Music A-Z Introduction

The time has come to finally at least get this thing started. This feature is going to be a large undertaking that I hope people will enjoy. What I'll be doing over time is by alphabetical order I'm going to post the bands that are on my playlist and say some things about them. This isn't a history lesson because I'm not qualified to post biographies on various bands. This is just something to give the audience an idea of what my tastes are like, it allows me to promote bands I may have neglected in here before, and mainly just because I feel like it.

Make no mistake, there will be no fanboy gushings over anybody on this list(well maybe a few). I'll most likely find something that sucks about each and everyone. Now here's the deal, if a band you like is not on this list then it's possible that:
1. I've never heard of them.
2. I've heard of them but never listened to them.
3. I don't like them enough to own anything of theirs.
4. I think they flat out suck.

So by all means I would like this to be interactive. I'd like to see feedback on my ramblings on each band or even some suggestions of who I should be listening to on the way. Comment, Comment,Comment. So enough talk, let's get this show on the road starting with the A's obviously.

Jesus loves you.......to mosh!!!

In an effort to lighten things up around here enjoy this mashup someone did involving Slayer. In fact, let's play a little game. Point out as much irony as you can in the comments.

Honoring Ronnie James Dio the only way I know how.

I guess you can say I grew up with Ronnie Hames Dio's music. Holy Diver was one of the first cassettes I ever bought at the age of 13. After finding out that it was him with Black Sabbath doing Mob Rules on the movie Heavy Metal I picked up the Mob Rules cassette as well.By the late 80's I had drifted off to other things and hadn't really followed him too closely until the first reunion for Dehumanizer. I was ready for some tracks in the vein of Falling off the Edge of the World or the Sign of the Southern Cross. There really wasn't anything quite as epic on that album but it was still pretty good. I then lost touch with his music for the remainder of the 90's.

It wasn't until recent years that I had started following what I missed in terms of Ronnie's solo career. Then the formation of Heaven and Hell happened and I knew seeing as those guys were as was old as my Dad that I needed to go to that show and capture something I had missed 2 decades prior before it was too late. Now more then ever I'm glad I did. His stage presence was something you will never, ever see again. Polite, well spoken. No cursing or calling the crowd names. Every song was introduced as if you were at a opera and not a metal show with a bow after each song to the crowd.

Recently, shortly after the news of Ronnie's cancer, I had decided to go and pick up the Rainbow albums. There were songs I remembered such as Stargazers that had what I loved best about his songs, the mix of heavy riffs and magic without the cheese of power metal bands. And of course there is Man on the Silver Mountain that still gets radio play.But for some reason I had never owned any of these album. Better late then never I guess.

In closing, I haven't felt this sad about the passing of someone in the music world in a long time. This year in particular has not been kind to members of the hard rock and heavy metal world. What is truly sad about this is it's just the beginning of the end for an era. Over the next 10 years its probably not going to be uncommon for news like this to hit with the advanced ages of quite a few living legends. Thank you Ronnie for the music you created and for being such a big part of my music listening life. You will truly be missed and I hope where ever you are from this mortal world that you have the horns up and the vocals soaring. That Devil Music sends out heartfelt condolences to Wendy and all of Ronnie's family in this time of loss.\m/

Rainbow "Stargazer"


Rainbow "Man on the Silver Mountain"


Black Sabbath "Neon Nights"


Dio "Holy Diver"


Dio "Rainbow in the Dark"


Tenacious D "Kickapoo"


Heaven &Hell/Sabbath "Sign of the Southern Cross


Heaven & Hell "Bible Black"

Sadly it's true now.

Here is the press release from Dio's website.

Going to collect myself and do a tribute page a little later. R.I.P Ronnie \m/

Ronnie James Dio is NOT dead

According to Blabbermouth, there's been a hoax going around that Ronnie James Dio has passed away from his bout with stomach cancer.

A message to Ronnie's "widow" was sent offering condolences and she replied to them: "I am at the hospital and Ronnie has NOT passed away!!!! He is not doing good, but he is not dead.

We here at TDM, and metal-heads everywhere offer their thoughts and prayers (to whatever deity they worship) to Ronnie and his family in hopes he makes a swift and full recovery.

(throws up Devil Horns)

Shuffled Playlist,Random Thought 5-15-10

As promised it's time to make this a regular thing again.Watch me be punished for not playing this game in so long that something unmanly is going to pop out. Alright here we go.

HA HA! It's Richard Cheese's cover of Ben Caught Stealin' by Jane's Addiction. I love how most of the track is Richard being attacked by a dog. For those not aware of who Richard Cheese is, he's a comedian that fronts a lounge singer band and does covers of alot of pop songs in the lounge mode. To keep in the vein of the site he does do a cover of War Ensemble by Slayer that's hilarious. Stupid Youtube has neither of those tracks.
I do know that everytime I hear humourous lounge acts the first thing that always comes to mind is Bill Murray and the Star Wars theme.

You mean that's NOT Evanescence?!?!?!

I'm going to start out this post with getting this out of the way; this CD sounds just like Evanescence. I told Rob today, if you would have played me this CD, I would have hit the internet immediately looking for Evanescence's latest release.

There. I said it. Can we move on now?



I agree completely with Rob that Carly Smithson has no right to complain about the comparison. You take 3 former members of Evanescence, Ben Moody's songwriting/style, a woman who sounds dead on like Amy Lee and almost looks like her (though Amy is WAY hotter) and throw it all together and you have Evanescence carbon-copy We Are The Fallen. I get Ben Moody, I really do. I think he's brilliant. I've said before and I'll say til I die "All For This" is one of my all time favourite cd's (in my top 3). It's my opinion, not everyone is going to feel this way. I just understand his need to be melancholy inside the visage of a clown, because I've gone most of my life that way. Which is why I love Evanescence so much.

On that note, let's get back to the task at hand; here's a play by play of the cd, which I *DID* buy (Best Buy has it on sale for $7.99 and you should get yourself a copy: seriously).

1. Bury Me Alive.
We've all heard it and seen the video. It's amazing. It's been out for quite a while, stirring the buzz and doing an incredible job about it. I think, though, that in this song and a few others, Carly hits some stronger notes that I don't think Amy would touch. I don't recall Amy being a yeller. I think it's in those notes that she's pushing out with all her might is what separates the two singers and helps Carly to fall short (as far as I'm concerned). It's a solid track though, jumpy in some parts, soft and smooth in others. Me likey.
8.5 out of 10

2. Burn
Really strong riff that starts it off, signature Ben Moody. I think I like the music of this song more than the vocals. Nothing wrong with Carly's singing, I just think I like the mechanical and crunchy riffs. The orchestrations are a night touch, but I'm sure I've heard that before somewhere.. hmmm... I wonder. Good song, not spectacular.
7 out of 10

3. Paradigm
More signature Ben Moody rock riffs. I like the softer tone in Carly's voice here and the harmonizing on the vocals here and there. Sounds a LOT like Evanescence's stuff off of their second CD "The Open Door" more than "Fallen". It's a great song. I like this one more than the last one. All good stuff around.
9 out of 10

4. Don't Leave Me Behind
When I first heard this song, I flipped out. It's fucking beautiful. I can't be 100% positive but I think this is my favourite track on the disc. Like I said, I love music making me feel melancholy. The vocals on this song is fantastic, I can even get into Carly's power showing through here and there because it's not overwhelming. I love, love, love this song. I can't say that enough.
10 out of 10

5. Sleep Well, My Angel
Here's another one. Simply beautiful. I was really glad to have a piano-only song on this album and my wish is apparently their command. The songwriting it amazing, vocals pure and simple. Not overly sappy. I can't gush enough about how great this song is.
10 out of 10

6. Through Hell
Here's another solid track. I love the drumming on this song. Great crunchy guitars. Great vocals. Just great.
9 out of 10

7. I Will Stay
Decent intro. Kinda sounds like 80's rock a bit to me. It's still a good song. Nothing to complain about here at all. The more I hear it though, it reminds me of a song from back in the day, I just can't put my finger on it. I'll have to think about that one... It also kinda reminds me of "The Story" by Brandi Carlile a bit too.. Nothing wrong with that though.. :)
8 out of 10

8. Without You
Color me crazy but the piano during the verses sounds JUST like "Lithium" by Evanescence (if not a touch faster). It's a good song. Not great. It doesn't pop to my like most of the others here, but it's not bad enough to skip past every time you hear it. I like it, I just don't love it.
6 out of 10

9. St. John
Nice haunting piano echoes in the beginning. Nice crunchy riffs again. I'm going under.... drowning in you. Sorry. Where was I? We Are the Fallen. Oh yeah. The song's good. Catchy. The choruses remind me a bit of Korn. I like this song a lot.
8 out of 10

10. I Am The Only One
Ok, the intro is dead ripped from Green Day's "21 Guns". Then when the piano kicks in, do the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah. It's a BEAUTIFUL song, just feels like it's been done before. Like by Green Day. :)
Kick ass tune, though - I can't deny that.
9 out of 10

11. Tear the World Down
Title track to the cd. I think out of all of them, this is the only one I've heard before but don't remember listening to. Here's another good song. Not great. I like it, but don't love it. It's almost there, but is missing something special to make it, well, uhh... special? Good song, can't deny that.
5 out of 10

All in all, this CD rocks the kasbah.. It's definetly an album to get for your collection, if you like Evanescence or not. It's really, really good. Borderline great. If some of the tracks were a little more improved, if they had whatever was missing on making it great, this would be in my top 10. Either way, go get it.

We've got mail! Yay!

You know the one glaring thing I've neglected all this time on doing, speaking of directions to take the blogsite? E-mail! That's right kiddies, even if you wanted to contact us without leaving a comment you couldn't have because I'm a dumbass.

Well here you go, if you want to contact us for whatever reason just e-mail us at thatdevilmusic@yahoo.com.
Thanks Guillermo from Loud Reviews for making me realize that...duh....I didn't have an e-mail contact yet:)

The State of my mind and Enlightened view of this blog

First of all I'm trying to spend less time on the computer when I get home. I work on them for a living and I have this propensity to come home and sit in front of it for a few hours more and other things are starting to be affected by it.

Secondly until recently there hasn't been anything out there that just screamed at me "Get on TDM and write about it!". I'll be posting a bit more here in the near future though as some things I've been reading need addressing.

Thirdly I've come to realize that I had a brief delusion of grandeur of how big I wanted this site to be. I read an interview awhile back with the Metalsucks writers and after seeing what they did to make their site one of the biggest in the metal industry there was just no way I was going to come even close to putting that much effort into this. At least not intentionally. We're talking quitting of jobs and forking out money I just don't have. I love the music and like writing ok but not that much to destroy my livelihood over.Plus I just don't have a network of resources or inside tracks to do some of the things that would be cool to do like interviews,podcasts, and partnerships with labels for contests.

Fourthly(Is that even a word?) I've been mining other sites for leads on bands I might have overlooked to listen to or just might be on par with some truly unique and awesome bands like Opeth and Draconian.I think I've found a couple here and there I'll be writing about.

Lastly I've come to evaluate where I stand as a metal fan compared to others that are writing blog sites. Not only am I approaching middle age in real life but I'm a virtual dinosaur compared to the writers on other blogs. It's like being in a sort of menopausal thing. I'm old enough to remember and appreciate the old stuff from the early 80's but I'm also digging new stuff from the the last decade or so. Some of these bands are the type I would never have listened to back in the day but my tastes have radically changed over the last few years or so. There were trends back in the day I hated just like there are trends now that I do.

I do appreciate everyone that does come to visit even if there are no comments though. I get e-mail notifications of the traffic that comes in and people are logging on which is cool. Continue to spread the word if you know anybody that wants to kill time and read opinions and reviews of the metal scene.

So where am I going to from here? Well I think I'm going to start and make some features I started be more of a consistent thing. Shuffled Playlist,Random thoughts for example. I'm also going to be starting a project that spawned from something I started doing early on (Devil's spotlight) that's going to be called Devil Music A-Z. It's going to be a platform for me to discuss every band I 've listened to and at least marginally enjoyed over the last 25 + years. I'm also going to look into including polls just to have some more interaction from the readers and then the results can then be discussed.I also need to light a fire under Draeden's ass to post more. His tastes are really starting to become drastically differant then mine and we need to spark up some debates.Plus even if I'm not posting someone is to keep the interest up.

So in closing That Devil Music will still plug along as always but I'm going to keep a more realistic approach to what I'm doing here and not be so caught up on things outside of my control. Thanks for tuning in.

Wake up Call for Carly Smithson

Apparently Carly Smithson is fed up with the comparisons of We Are the Fallen with Evanescence. And I for one agree with her. Check out this article from Blabbermouth and listen to the second audio link to see how frustrated she is with the whole thing.

Sure there are coincidences. Like the fact the band was going to originally be named Fallen just like the name of the original Evanescence album. Ben Moody played in both and was one of the primary songwriters, but come on guitarist and songwriters move on to DIFFERENT things all the time right?
Amy Lee is from Arkansas and Carly Smithson is from Ireland. Carly has a huge tattoo on her right arm , Amy Lee doesn't.

The banner pic has 5 members. This one only has 4.


Carly Smithson was on American Idol and Amy Lee wasn't. See? These two couldn't be more different right?

Scar Symmetry vs. Solution .45. Who Ya Got?

Awhile back I did a review of Scar Symmetry's new album "Dark Matter Dimensions" and gave it a "meh' rating. I've come to enjoy it more as time has gone by but guess what? Christian Alvestam finally got past his ADD and released an album with his new band Solution .45. This was the first project announced back in 2008 and with his 5 billion other side projects it was thought that .45 would be the one to get released. And verily it came to pass. So I listened to this thing and figured instead of just doing a bland old review or even a real time review of it, why not stack these two albums together and see who made the better career move. Christian for leaving or Scar Symmetry for having to hire two vocalist to replace him. So without further ado I bring you Track by track,Head to Head.

Track 1 The Iconoclast vs. The Close Beyond:The Iconoclast is a uneven mix of melodic death and power metal. I can see it being a hit with the FFDP set since it even has a breakdown in the middle. The Close Beyond starts out like a Disturbed song on speed. Alot of groove in this first track.I'm not seeing any difference from Alvestam Symmetry. The Close Beyond is less poppy but not by much. The growls are more brutal in The Close Beyond.
Point goes to Solution .45.

Track 2 The Consciousness Eaters vs.Gravitational Lensing: Eaters has a more brutal rhythm section this track. The vocals are hitting more traditional metal elements. Lensing is a straight split between brutal and clean voxs. This track is the least memorable of any of them so far. I feel like I've heard this before.
Point goes to Scar Symmetry.

Track 3 Noumenon and Phenomenon vs. Through the Night Kingdomed Gates. Goddammit with the long song titles. I'm a blogger but that doesn't mean I want to type that much. Phenom's turn to be an unmemorable track. The effort to be melodic on the vocals is pretty average. Gates starts pretty soft but hits this riff at the start that's pretty bad ass reminiscent of latter day Testament. The clean vocals sort of take the steam out of it though.
Point goes to Solution .45.

Track 4 Ascension chamber vs. For Aeon's Past:Chamber is a pretty damn good track. Probably the best one on the album so far.Almost epic in nature. Aeon's is going for 80 percent brutal and 20 percent clean. It's got a heavy groove but overall not really outstanding.
Point goes to Scar Symmetry

Track 5 Mechanical Soul Cybernetics vs. Lethean Tears: Ok...Mechanical starts with a psychotic mind fuck. Defiantly the most original track from either albums.This track is frenetic on every level including the vocals. Tears on the other hand brings it all down quite a bit with a ballad. Almost butt rock level but this band has more talent then Winger or Firehouse ever did. Both tracks bring a change of pace but for enjoyment factor
Point goes to Solution .45

Track 6 Non Human Era vs. Bladed Vaults: After that last track from .45 Era does a wake the fuck up call with a brutal vocal barrage. I'm pretty sure I've heard the clean vocal phrasing on this track on a Symmetry song in the past. Vaults is more brutal between the two tracks. Neither of them are really wowing me but finally the pattern is broken.
Point for Solution .45

Track 7 Dark Matter Dimensions vs. Wirethrone: Dimensions is hitting the speedy brutal factor here. Nothing fantastic here. Wirethrone is more memorable of the two with an even mix of soft and brutal passages. It's actually one of the better tracks on .45's album.
Point for Solution .45

Track 8 Sculptor Void vs. On Embred Fields Adjust: Void I think is my favorite track on this album. I think. By now these cd's are starting to blend together. Unremarkable track from .45.
Point goes to Scar Symmetry

Track 9 A Parenthesis in Eternity vs. Into Shadow: Eternity starts with a good ballady intro then goes all formulaic with speed riffs and unremarkable clean vox over the top.Shadow starts off with a slower heavy groove riff with orchestration.I think for the music alone I like Shadow better.
Point goes to Solution .45

Track 10 Frequency shifter vs. Clandestiny Now: A 3 minute song against a 16 minute song. Christ. The epic length better be worth it. Frequency is a solid little track.The first 3 minutes of clandestiny is pretty standard fare thus far. I'll be looking for tempo changes and shifts and how interesting this monster is going to be as it progresses. 6 minutes in and I can already tell this is longer then it needs to be. By about 10 minutes.
Point goes to Scar Symmetry

Track 11 Radiant Stain vs. Spirit Side Dreaming: Kick ass intro for Radiant Stain.Pretty solid track by Symmetry.Little bit of effects before the chorus. Spirit starts off out the gate with brutal. Delves into standard Symmetry/.45 style of song.
Point goes to Scar Symmetry

Holy crap that was tiring. Well it was close but it looks like the edge goes to Solution .45 at 6-5. What I find funny is that if SS and Alvestam had just taken 5 or 6 of their best songs respectively and slapped them on one cd this would have been a pretty kick ass album. Neither side really did anything different from previous works except for a 16 minute snoozefest and a trippy hardcore song. Alvestam's vocals seem to have deteriorated a bit on this release but it's still on par with what two guys are doing at the other camp. Word of caution, there is a version of this album floating around with trance remixes of some of the tracks. It's fucking horrible. Oh and I still hate the name Solution .45. I'm going to leave this now with the new Symmetry video for Iconoclast and the trailer for Aeons Past.

Rob Zombie's Halloween is a bloody bore

I hate it when something that should be a good idea on paper turns out to be shit. Rob Zombie making a remake of a horror classic should be a no brainer right? Wrong.I finally got around to watching this thing and figured it's been a long time since I posted on here so why not? Why indeed..

The original film was awesome because it was basically the first of it's kind with the inhuman psychopath killing machine. Sure, it was light on plot but since it was one of the first it had a ton of suspense behind it and actually made you nervous opening the door for kids on Halloween.It didn't need a ton of plot. You knew as a kid he killed almost his whole family and was locked away in a asylum for 15 years and escaped. Apparently Rob Zombie disagrees.

What Rob Zombie has basically done in this movie is give you a ton of unnecessary backstory leading up to the rampage.Seriously, for 45 minutes we are treated to redneck trailer trash vulgarity leading to death leading to a ton of attempted rehab of Michael Myers leading to more death. Basically Rob tries for the sympathetic angle towards Michael almost throughout this thing that left me bored.

And then to top it off later when you think the movie is about to end surprise! There is another 20 minutes of Michael's shenanigans.Is it a bad film? No....not really. It's just a long drawn out slasher flick.Lots of boobs and blood but way more characterization then is necessary.
I had part 2 queued up in Netflix but I'll probably pass up on it. This was one of those times I find myself sort of agreeing with the masses on a movie and I think that's what really pisses me off.

A Lady Gaga song I can get into

Rob's posted a few songs before that were reimagined into Metal, like Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl". I found this gem this morning and had to share it..





While posting, I was listening to some of his other reimaginations, and here's a great Lady Antebellum song "Need You Now".



Needless to say, I'm a fan.

Death takes Peter Steele and again leaves the talentless behind.

Why is it that the talented and unique individuals are the ones taken away too soon? I don't want to get all existential or anything but my crappy day is just getting worse with the news that Peter Steele of Type O Negative apparently passed away of suspected heart failure at the age of 48. Waaay too soon to pass in my book.This is also why as a devout follower of Murphy's Law I probably would have avoided naming albums "Life is Killing Me" and "Dead Again".

And yes I'm aware that in the past there was a prank pulled where reports were made of his demise but I don't think that's the case here. It would be a giant dick move(No Playgirl pun intended)for this to be a hoax when everyone in the industry is coming out of their holes with condolences.

I had first heard of Type O Negative back when Bloody Kisses was released but didn't pay too much attention to it due to my fickleness. I thought the slow music, and Peter's breathy baritone way of vocalizing was annoying. It was like some cliched type of vampire was speaking and trying to woo women into his lair. It wasn't until toward the end of the decade that a co worker of mine(who was a huge Type O fan) made me really listen to them that I realized how differant and special the band was.



Type O Negative had so many layers to their music. Slow,long,epic,doomy tracks to short, fast,thrashy,songs. And most of them were some sort of tongue in cheek or scathing commentaries on religion,record labels, or Peter's own life. There was a depth there that few bands could even touch in the past or present. And Peter Steele was the core of this. This is one of those times that a frontman is irreplaceable.

Here are some more videos(fuck you record label for making me have to go to Daily Motion to get some of these instead of Youtube)as a tribute to Type O Negative and especially Peter Steele. R.I.P.






Type O Negative - I don't wanna be me
Uploaded by lukassette. - See the latest featured music videos.


Type O Negative - My Girlfriends Girlfriend
Uploaded by bunny2006. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.


Type O Negative - Everything dies
Uploaded by Maynardziak. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Nevermore is teasing me and I think I like it

Nevermore released a 4 minute medley of all the tracks on the new Obsidian Conspiracy cd due out June 8th and I'm kind of giddy. Check it out for yourself.



It's got the Nevermore sound to it. Time will tell though when the full release comes out or the preview stream is released if there is as much mellow passages as in this medley. It's going to be good regardless and I think a much needed shot in the arm for the metal scene.

Jon Oliva's Pain is now my pain

So I finally got around to listening to JOP's latest album "Festival". I came into this hoping it was better then "Global Warming". Not that Global was a bad album it's just that an album preaching to me about the world's woes on every track was aggravating. And the first two JOP albums were fantastic extensions of the Savatage days so I was hoping this would be a return to form.

I guess it is but after reading that Jon is going back over old tapes to mine old riffs from his late brother Criss for each release,listening to this made me think he's starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Not to mention his vocals are starting to really sound ragged. It could also be my current malaise with the whole metal scene at the moment too. I might go back and thoroughly enjoy this release.

Basically a mediocre album from Jon Oliva is light years better then some of the garbage I've been hearing lately it's just after listening to most of his projects since "Sirens" I have a certain level of expectation and when it's not met I feel disappointed. If you're new to Jon Oliva definately check out their material, you might enjoy it more then I did. Stand out track for me on this album is "I Fear you". Go to their Myspace page and see what you think.

This wouldn't have surprised me if had been real

I used to make jokes that Metallica was going to team up with the three tenors on an album. Seeing this video made me say to myself, yeah this could be an inevitable situation. If this was Slayer it would have been hilarious.

My son has been more metal then me

I haven't really been able to think of anything really to write about. But I ran across this pic my wife took of my son at the dentist office. Now I'm really ashamed for posting nothing for the last week.Enjoy.

Happy St. Patrick's Reason to get Drunk Day

In honor of corn beef, cabbage,clovers, and leprechauns here is Norway's Leaves Eyes playing "Irish Rain" live from the Njord album.The sound quality kind of ruins the song a bit but you should be drunk off your ass by now anyways.

Steel Panther? Seriously? Yes!

When you think of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal what usually comes to mind; Bruce Dickenson standing tall on stage belting out line after line with his powerful voice? Kirk Hammett shredding through his massive solos from Master of Puppets? Bands on stage, rocking out and twirling around their hair in Olympic-synchronized perfection? How about men in ripped spandex and studded leather, head-banging with wigs on while they play tunes reminiscent of the good old days of rock and roll? What's this, you ask? That's Steel Panther!



Are you serious? Yes I am.


I've been a fan of Steel Panther ever since I downloaded a free video from iTunes: Death to All but Metal. This video eyegasm had it all; hot, scantily clad teenagers, an oppressive educational system with nothing better to do than keep metal away from the hands of the everyday teenage rocker, a lonely boy; calling out for his heroes to school that dumb bitch and, of course, Steel Panther - clad in clothes they must have raided from Vince Neil's garage sale, faces caked with makeup.

They're out to stick it to the man, and they do, in Steel Panther fashion; even brining down the wrath of Principal Hardazz (Sarah Silverman). By the end of the video we all learn through the power of metal that slutty chicks are awesome and the Goo Goo Dolls can suck our balls.

Throughout the entire album, there's throwbacks to the days where Metal was king of the airwaves and MTV and you couldn't go a minute without hearing something from Warrant, Dokken, Slaughter and their ilk. This CD, Feel The Steel, takes you back in time, pays homage to those amazing songs and sexually assaults them at the same time.

Here's a breakdown of their entire album, Feel the Steel, with my thoughts on each track:

01. Death to All But Metal.

You have to hand it to Steel Panther, they have a LOT of celebrity friends. Proof of that is even apparent on their CD. Corey Taylor (of Slipnot, Stone Sour) adds his guest vocals, though admittedly I didn't know he was on there until I read about it. Either way, this anthem to all that's awesome in life (Metal Music) calls for their fans to rise up and take a stand against "butt Metal" and takes jabs at the music industry at the same time. It's one of my favourite songs on the album, though their opinions that being gay is a bad thing is very apparent as they call out, by name, a lot of popular musicians today and blast them with gay jokes.
8 out of 10

02. Asian Hooker

I should have warned you all earlier, that if you're easily offended or have impressionable kids in the house; this album is not for you. As you can guess by the title, Asian Hooker is just 4 minutes of accentuating the stereotypes of the Asian community and glorifying sex. That being said, this song kicks ass. It's got a great riff in it, the lyrics are clever and if the little (japanese sounding ditty) doesn't make you laugh the first time you hear it, there's something wrong with you. Corey Taylor (see above) & Scott Ian of Anthrax fame) join in and help to make this one of the better songs on Feel the Steel.
8 out of 10

03. Community Property

I have to say, without a doubt, this is the best song on the CD and my personal fav. It's teeming with the musical styles of Warrant/Whitesnake/Poison and the like. If you weren't paying attention to the lyrics, you could easily slip this onto Monster Ballads, and no one would know. The music is spectacular, and the guitar riffs, though standard 80'sesque metal, takes you back to the good old days when cock rock ruled MTV. If you WERE paying attention to the lyrics, you'd hear gems like "I'd kiss your mouth, even after you swallowed my load" and "if suddenly you were a guy, I'd be suddenly gay". It's laughable content mixed in with solid metal ballad music.
10 out of 10


04. Eyes Of A Panther

I guess it goes without saying, that if there's a definite fav for me, there's a definite un-fav too. This one is it. I really dislike this song and always skip past it to much better songs when I listen to the cd. It's basically one of those songs you'd find on any other rock/metal cd in the 80's. It's just a filler as far as I'm concerned and I think the lack of funny content really hurts it for me as well. Some people will like this and I'm not saying you're wrong for liking it; it's just not for me.
3 out of 10

05. Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)

You can definitely say that the funny is back in full force with this little ditty. It evokes a sense of 80's metal, much like Community Property did. This is another solid song with a great riff, great harmonizing (on the woah-woah's) and the harmonizing on the guitar solo. One of the better songs on the cd, and the video is hilarious too).
9 out of 10

06. Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'

Here's another track that definitely pulls from the essence of metal in the good old days. This one, like Community Property, deals with the lure of groupie tang that's available to the metal gods on the road, but it's not as clever as the previous. Instead it takes the low road and just tries to be vulgar for the sake of being vulgar. Still, really good music and no real complaints to be had. It's just not as stellar as some of the previous tracks.
6 out of 10

07. Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

You hear the first minute and you'd swear it was a Bon Jovi song you've never heard before, but when does Jon talk about getting VD??? Justin Hawkins (of The Darkness) lends a hand here and does a great job with a little bit of solo singing and harmonizing with Michael Starr). Fuck all night and party all day? Indeed.
7 out of 10

08. Turn Out the Lights

Speaking of vulgar, this one takes the cake. You'd never know it, but M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold) joins in on this crude song about doing things most of us have done at one time or another in our lives, especially when alcohol is involved. I guess this song serves no real purpose other than to bring to light that even rock stars have bumped uglies with Sasquatch at least once in their lives. It's a decent song, but again, nothing spectacular, and I don't hear as many 80's influences as I have in other songs. This one's much like Eatin' in that it's not a great song, but more modern that the others.
6 out of 10

09. Stripper Girl

If Mötley Crüe and Warrant had drunken sex, 9 months later you'd have this song. There's some really funny lines in this song, and the guitar riffs are really great campfire-style chords. Even though most of their songs are about doing drugs and banging chicks, it doesn't get old; especially with this one. One of the better ones.
8 out of 10

10. The Shocker

Some bands tried to start dance crazes with songs like "The Locomotion" and the "Macarena". This song is trying to start a sexual revolution. Apparently, if you've had a lot of sex and you're having trouble getting a boner, don't take Viagra - try "The Shocker". I'm not going to ruin the surprise for you, but I'm sure you can guess what the Shocker is, if you've heard the reference before. Again, if you're easily offended or would rather NOT have a birds and bees talk with your kids trying to explain this, then give it a pass. It's a great song with a catchy tune, though I wouldn't suggest singing this at work while you walk down the halls - unless you want a sexual harassment complaint. :)
9 out of 10


11. Girl From Oklahoma
This is another favourite song of mine. Any time there's ball sucking mentioned, I'm an instant fan. When you hear this song, you'll hear a great bluesy riff on this acoustic classic and it's another catchy tune; finger snapping is mandatory. They DO mention VD again, I'm kinda starting to wonder if it's a cry for help or not... Either way, Extreme and Mr. Big comes to mind when I hear this song and this is one of Satchel's better guitar solos, where his talent really shines through.
10 out of 10

Here's track 1; Death to all But Meal (featuring Sarah Silverman as Principal Hardazz)



And here's all the perfection that is Community Property. Get out your lighters!

Allow myself to introduce myself...

Here is my first attempt at blogging. I'm sure, down the road, as I get more and more involved with this blog-site, the posting's will look better and better. I wish I could say the same thing about the content, but that's something I can't promise..

Heavy Metal is one of the most amazing and creative genres of music out there, and I'm honoured that Mr. Liz has asked me to share my thoughts about it and the people and bands that make that music. I've been a fan of TDM (That Devil Music) for a long time, and it's going to sound kinda cheesy, but I really do get a lot of great info from here, so it's great to have the ability to share with you all anything that happens to come to my ears.

Just to give you guys an idea of what I'm into, even though I'm a fan of SO many bands and musicians, I've decided to post a couple of my fav's for you.

Rock on!

Wake up call for Acrassicauda

A while back I posted
about Acrassicauda releasing their first EP. You may recall this is the band that immigrated from war torn Iraq in the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad.Well according to Newsweek they're realizing even in a Utopia they have to struggle to make it.

These guys are coming to realize what millions of immigrants in this country find out. All they've left behind is war and the possibility of being murdered. Now they have a fresh start like every other up and coming metal band except they have recognition already that many bands don't have. Metal music is not a money maker and hasn't been for years. Combine that with an economy in the toilet compared to years back and yes they do have to struggle. But now they can struggle without being repressed and scared for their lives. Most metal artists play for the love of it and for the love they get back from the fans these days. Don't expect fame AND fortune. Just be fortunate you have fame and can do what you want.

Now all of that aside these guys have the chops many new bands don't have. This EP is really good in my opinion. There are alot of influences mixed in but overall this is really good thrash and not of the ret thrash variety. They have the ability to take themselves to the next level but it's going to take time and more patience. They might want to move to a region where the cost of living is alot better for one thing.Going back to school would help too.

Just like everyone else.

Check out their tunes here.

This is what boy bands should be.

Pretty cool cover by these music students from Kentucky.Dimebag would probably have wanted to jam with these kids. Check out the vid after the jump and let me know what you think.

You can thank writer's block for my new contributor

First I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to check in and read my nonsense. My hit counts have increased quite a bit over the past couple of months and I appreciate everybody tuning in.
With that being said there are some lapses in days when I post things due to situations like real life,writer's block,video games,really great porn...etc. Therefore I've asked my best friend Draeden to be a contributing writer to TDM.

Draeden and I go back over 15 years and while we do share an interest in metal music and some bands in the genre most of the time our tastes are completely differant as you'll soon see. But he's been my biggest supporter in this endeavor in fact the banner is his creation, he's been a frequent commenter,supplied live pics from recent shows, and provided us with the Epica concert review.

So in an effort to provide more consistent content please welcome Draeden to the TDM writing team. And show him no mercy if he posts something a bit off the wall. Ooops, I'm speaking out loud again.

Time to up the support for Nevermore.

Blabbermouth is reporting a release date for the new Nevermore cd "The Obsidian Conspiracy" to be June 8th. Finally after 5 years a new album is coming out and not a moment to soon.More on this after the jump.

This band above most others really needs to be supported.Most of their career has been slogging through tepid metal sales through the 90's and it wasn't until the millenium did they finally start developing a following.The last 5 years has been filled with solo albums and rotating rythmn guitar players but hopefully all of that time away will produce a great album even by Nevermore's standards.

For those not familiar with them they are a hard band to peg down if you care about genre labels. They mix thrash with progressive and sometimes a touch of power metal of the dark kind all with clean vocals. I'm not talking Blind Guardian stuff with wizards and Middle Earth but of a socio political nature and some metaphysical and supernatural elements. Basically one of the most interesting and truly "heavy" metal bands I've ever run across. I can't really describe them so here is some vids of my favorite tracks to give an idea.







I swear if this new album does not sell at least 10k in it's opening week there is no hope for the U.S. market for metal bands. They're heavy, they're technical,follow no trends,and they're intelligent. If these elements are not enough to finally get them to the next level it's time to move to Sweden I guess.

Go to Nevermore's Myspace page to hear more tunes.

And Dragonforce's Demise continues

Blabbermouth reported that Dragonforce was parting ways with vocalist ZP Theart. Within a half an hour the source had been yanked down. Which means the official word is inevitable. Here's my view on the demise of Dragonforce after the jump.

First of all, if there is a split I'm willing to bet that one camp wanted to do something different on the next album and the other camp didn't. The most likely scenario is going to be ZP will take his water bottles and go home to start a new band, probably more traditional power metal. Dragonforce will get a new singer with hardly the look or the vocals they're looking for.

Ultimately what this means is that Dragonforce's ship already came and went two years ago and this is going to make people care even less. I wouldn't be surprised if there is the dismantling of Dragonforce and three power metal bands spawned from this.All three failing by the way.

If ZP is leaving this won't really surprise me. There was a weird vibe onstage like the fun was forced anyway. DF is going to have to find a vocalist who doesn't mind the amount of downtime as they incessantly noodle on the guitar and take a backseat to said guitars unlike most bands where the vocals are the focal point. I'm not to sure there is someone willing to do that unless they're desperate to get noticed. Vocalist and narcissism is not something I think blends well in this camp.

Theatre of Tragedy Closes Their Curtains

It seems it's the year of the farewells so far. First the Scorpions and now Theatre of Tragedy according to their website. This news isn't really surprising to me though.

For those that don't know Theatre of Tragedy formed in Norway in the mid 90's as one of if not the first gothic doom metal bands. They were probably the first band to incorporate "Beauty and Beast" vocals and featured Liv Kristine(Leaves Eyes)for the female parts.If you like gothic metal of any type you should check out their first three releases.

Something happened around the millennium though and their music approach drastically changed to a more rave electronica type sound. Liv Kristine was released and a new singer was brought in. I think this was disastrous for the band as they've only released one album in the last four years and are getting ready to release their last.Not to mention Liv's band Leaves Eyes is far away a better direction then when she left ToT.

They're claiming the demands of real life are becoming too much to balance band life and regular life. I think it's more due to the choices they made over the last 10 years or so alienated alot of fans who had other choices for listening to then them.So in my book it's probably best that they do fold as in these days if you do serious damage to your record sales in a small market to begin with it's almost ridiculous to try and start over.

Again though check out the self titled debut,Velvet Darkness They Fear,and Aegis to see what kind of legacy they left behind.

Here is what they started out as.


Here is what they became.


Here is what they ended as.