Support Susperia

One band I forgot to mention in my last Rogues Gallery is a band out of Norway called Susperia. They were formed in 1998 by former Dimmu drummer Kenneth Akelson and Cyrus. Now some sites including Wikipedia are dubbing them black/thrash metal band. The black part might have been true early though their sound wasn't a whole lot like traditional black. I've heard the last 4 albums and it's just solid thrash metal in the vein of Testament to me.

Anyways, these guys have been around for over 10 years and put out some kick ass music.Yet nobody seems to have heard of them. Recently Athera the lead vocalist had to go in for emergency heart bypass surgery. I guess he's made a full recovery and they're back out on tour. Check out some vids and see for yourself if they're worthy to get some more exposure.

This off the 2002 album Vindication. Creepy stuff in between band shots.



This is off the 2004 album Unlimited. Heavy Chuck Billy influence on vocals.



Apparently they didn't have any money to make videos for recent albums since I can't find any. Well here is the single for the latest album Attitude.



So yeah a pretty solid band in my opinion. Funny how if you're a band from Norway and not a true black metal band it's difficult to get any marketing. Communic goes through the same thing. Both of these bands would be right at home here in the States and probably have a decent following. Oh well, I'm trying to do my part to get the word out.

Ozzy understands his audience

I'm trying really hard to not make this a Ozzy site but there are times the man makes it difficult to do.

Saw this on Blabbermouth today and I feel I need to respond.

So Ozzy had the show at Blizzcon the other day and I posted about the 9 year old kid that got the honor of joining him up onstage.Now for those people that don't know what Blizzcon is, it's a convention Blizzard Entertainment put together a few years back celebrating their list of games they created or are creating. Anybody that's ever played Warcraft,Starcraft,or Diablo knows Blizzard and mostly World of Warcraft gamers flock to this event every year.

Last year Ozzy did a commercial spot for World of Warcraft and therefore it made sense from a marketing perspective to have him play at the convention. Here's the t.v. spot.



Fast Forward to this year and he had this to say of the performance:

"Coming here (unintelligible) to the show tonight, I thought, 'They're all gonna be like scientists and fucking brain brain (unintelligible) fucking audience,'" he said. "Glasses-wearing spectacles and coke bottles. I didn't know what the fuck to expect. I kept saying to my wife Sharon, 'Sharon, do you think you'll like me? Do you think they'll understand what I'm about?' And it was even better than some [regular] gigs I've done. It's a gift that I've had a good life through music."

As a former World of Warcraft player of over 4 years let me say with great gusto...Fuck you Ozzy.

If you thought that it was going to be a bunch of fucking gaming nerds(which I'm not denying there were)with no concept of who you were appearing at the show then why sign up for the commercial last year? Oh that's right, a paycheck. Let me fill you in on a little secret Ozmodeus,many WoW players not only have heard of you but also listen to music more brutal, heavier, and technical then all of your back catalog combined. 7 or 8 million subscribers WORLDWIDE say that the odds are good that some of them have heard of you. Hell your own kid looks like what you've got perceived in your head appearing at that gig and he's got his own record label. Probably games too.

For years we've had to put up with songs of how he's so misunderstood and no ones going to push him around and everything said about him is lies. Funny how that doesn't apply to anyone else. Glasses and coke bottles and scientists in the audience? What the fuck Ozzy...what kind of people do you honestly expect to be at your shows? Bikers,felons,drug addicts and functional retards? Come to think of it those descriptions seem to apply to you from the audience you're playing for these days.

Wasn't there a crappy show about you and your family that proved to be popular for a couple of years.....on MTV? By now who the fuck doesn't know who you are? You've bridged 3 generations with your music and other bullshit.To have this preconceived notion that you'd be facing a crowd of absolute genius dorks straight out of Revenge of the Nerds with no concept of who you are is so godamn ignorant and insulting on so many levels.

Oh well I'm done. You've probably forgotten all about the gig by now, or is that a stereotypical comment I just made about you, Ozzy?

A clarification on Doro please

I've been a Doro Pesch fan for years. Ever since I saw her shake her tight little ass in the video for "Fight for Rock" on Headbanger's Ball. I'll do a post more about her and her music later. But right now here's my problem. Can someone answer this question for me? This could be the most important question ever.In the history of metal,dare I say...the history of mankind.Ready for it?

WHAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS DORO PESCH?!?!.

Nowhere in any interviews or magazines or bios have I ever seen any mention of a boyfriend, girlfriend, or mechanical vibrating device. How can a woman, who is now in her 40's, be surrounded by guys for so many years both onstage and backstage and never be a mention of a relationship or engagement or anything? She did some theme song for her best friend that's a MMA fighter and female. That could possibly suggest lesbian but who knows.

To top it off whenever someone does try and sort of ask like here you get the no comment type of answer.
Or here She tells a story about some dude that was in her changing room. Godamn right he was. And was probably the closest to finding out the truth of anyone but then passed out.Dammit!
This interview came the closest that I could find. And it suggests that she had thought about marriage and kids and had relationships. But are we to believe that as a woman she's perfectly fine not being a mother at some point?
That somehow the grind of touring and the studio sessions are more fulfilling then intimate human contact? What the fuck?

Yes...in todays PC liberal world I'm being small minded and that her personal life and preferences shouldn't matter. But this is a question that has hung over my head for over 20 years. Back when I didn't give a rats ass about other peoples thoughts and feelings and neither did my pecker. I saw a hot chick in leather that kicked ass onstage and fantasized about her. If we have to put up with the constant reminders that Rob Halford and Gaahl are gay then I demand to know what side of the fence Doro is on. It's only fair.

Forget everything you've heard.

Zakk Wylde is being replaced not by the cheesy Firewind guy at Blizzcon tomorrow but this little dude.



No, not really but he is supposed to be jamming to Crazy Train and maybe something else at the event. All I know is, Japan has a guitar god in the making on the way.

*Biting the head off of bats update*

Here is a vid of the rehearsal for 9 year old Yuto Miyazawa's appearance with Ozzy at Blizzcon. This is just so awesome for him there's no words. Ozzy's camp sucks ass but this is probably the coolest thing for anyone let alone a very talented little kid.



And here's the big moment. Ozzy sounds like tired and shit but the kid is having a blast. Thankfully he can't understand alot of English because apparently Ozzy can't keep his mouth clean in front of young ones. Still awesome for Yuto.

Rogues Gallery 3

Damn it's been months since I've done a new one of these. So let's get started. As usual click on the band name to go to their myspace page and listen in.

Skeletonwitch : Blackened thrash metal from Ohio is what I can best describe these guys. The vocalist alternates between throaty death metal to screeching Gollum like vocals. Musically these guys rip it up with killer thrash riffs that hearken to the old days of Megadeth with the speed and change ups. Check out their new album "Breathing the Fire when it drops around October 13th.



Dimmu Borgir :I'm normally not a fan of black metal. It's usually muddy,boring,and repetitive. Dimmu Borgir takes the usual black metal and brings it to a whole new level. They're labeled symphonic black metal and I can see why. Big orchestration in the background behind the double bass and blast beats.Add a dash of clean vocals and evil voice overs and it makes for some interesting headbanging.I have yet to find another band like them and don't say Cradle of Filth because it's not even close.



Devildriver : Dez formerly from Coal Chamber fronts this band and I've just recently started listening to them. Damn good thrash though the one criticism I would have is that Dez's vocals get to be repetitive at times. His range is harsh screaming and that's about it these days. It seems most people hated the first album because it sounded to much like Coal Chamber but I found it very interesting and close to my favorite so far.

Five Finger Death Punch : Yeah yeah, these guys would be lumped into the mall core crowd. But I like them for the same reason I liked Scar Symmetry. The vocalist could be heavy as hell on vocals but then when switching to clean be very melodic with excellent phrasing. The lyrics are kind of uninspiring and a bit emo but the songs manage to be interesting and that's all I ask for. If you like Disturbed you might like these guys.

Lazarus A.D. :I've gone over these guys before a bit when I saw them open for Testament. Just straight up no frills thrash. If the vocalist can tighten up his vocals as time goes by and not sound as if he's trying too hard to be brutal these dudes will be a force to reckon with.

So funny how things change in a year. Last year it was all about mostly the Scandinavian bands and this year I'm listening to mostly American bands. And most of these guys are pretty new in terms of album releases. It does make me feel better about the future of metal once the old farts start retiring.

So there ya go, there is some of what I've been listening to over the past few months. \m/

The Jonas Brothers balls drop?

You know this what we they really wanna do without Disney or big corporation looking over the shoulder.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Metal goes science-like

Here's a cool little interactive site. Aparently the folks at Jacksonville.com compiled a periodic table associated with metal bands and their genres. Just click something and you have another page pop open with a quiz or a mini biography and video clips.

Click here and check it out.

Metallica is lumped in with arena rock bands. Refreshing honesty from one of these sites for once.

R.I.P Les Paul

Pretty heavy news. It appears that legendary guitar and recording pioneer Les Paul has passed away at the age of 94. Anybody with a love of rock music should be familiar with Les and many of his creations. Les Paul basically invented the electric guitar. Most famously this bad boy named after him.



Go here to get the details of his passing.

Here is a collage of some famous hard rock and metal artists that have regularly used the Gibson Les Paul.

Ace Frehley



Alex Lifeson



Zakk Wylde



Jimmy Page



Slash



Much of the innovations that artist take for granted these days when creating music are possible because of Les Paul.Multi track recording, overdubbing,and tape delay can be attributed to him. Plus he was no slouch with the old six string himself.



Goodbye Les, you will be obviously be missed.

Priest bashing time again

Blabbermouth has some sort of love affair with Judas Priest. At least daily there is some sort of post with some band member gushing over current tour happenings or some such nonsense.
Currently they're on the road celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of British Steel. That's cool. I have no problems with that as British Steel is one of my favorite albums by them. What I have a problem with is the quotes being made by Tipton or Halford or Downing.
Case in point. In a interview with something called Noisecreep, Halford had this to say "In today's economy, all artists have to think of something to do differently. We decided that this would be a great opportunity to do something that PRIEST has never done before, which is to play an album in its entirety. The band and the name 'JUDAS PRIEST' have both been around since 1969, so it is our fortieth anniversary, too. We seem to be in a constant celebration mode!"

Again like I stated a long time ago, this is Judas Priest following a trend and not starting a new one. Testament has already played a couple of their album in their entirety. Dream Theater has played other band's albums in their entirety. W.A.S.P. did Crimson Idol in it's entirety. Priest are not trailblazers. Stop making it always sound like they are Mr. Halford and the media.

Secondly, if Judas Priest is in such celebration mode why does every recent concert vid I've seen lately have Rob Halford either hunched over like he's going to puke or wandering around like it's still a sound check. Interact with the crowd for fuck's sake. And this isn't recent by him either. I saw him solo open for Queensryche and Maiden in 2000 and his stage presence was the same then too. Here, check this one out.



What the hell. That song is a godamn anthem meant for stadium crowds to sing along with the frontman as ring leader. What is the shuffling around looking down shit that Rob's doing? Turn around,open your eyes, and sing to your audience. The only one playing this song the way it was meant to be played in front of an audience is Scott Travis who was probably in high school when this album came out.

And this is the kind of shit I see with every concert vid. And they're talking about bringing Nostradamus to life on stage down the road. That cd is boring as shit as it is now you want to bring your special brand of stage presence to that album? Pyro and costumes and orchestra and a frontman who acts like someone with stagefright, too afraid to look at the crowd. Yeah that's a recipe for fail.

Let's go back in time when Priest was actually worth a damn, shall we?



Also check out the comments sections for these vids. It's baffling to me how blind and sheeplike people can be. Baaa motherfuckers baaaa.

Modern day posers

Found a pretty funny article today about posers or what passes for them today. Though I don't agree with some of the views mentioned in here it's still a funny read.

http://www.thegauntlet.com/article/1225/16540/Boost-Your-Metal-Ego:-Poser-Bashing.html



I've seen a few youtube videos where people were crafting what their definition of a poser is and starting a shitstorm of bashing along the way. Posers are people trying to fit in. Sure it's annoying, but they'll either grow out of it eventually or come to like the music and be a lifelong fan. It's really that simple.

Shuffled Playlist Random Thoughts

Time for another edition of this. The first one wasn't too bad. Pretty wimpy but it wasn't one of my embarassing guilty pleasures so it's a win.I'm also going to try and find the song on Youtube and post it so people that haven't heard it or the band can get an idea of what they're like.

I'd also like to point out for people that this is something I do on my computer. There is no reader participation involved in this. No one else has to hit the next button on your player so I write about it.I can't see your computer and honestly don't care what your playlist is. Also the picture above is not an actual player. It's just a picture. So don't try and click any buttons on it. K? Good.

Now onto the event. Let's see what we have. Crossing devil horns, here we go.

Yes! We have rolled onto Charlie Get your Gun By Overkill. This is off their last cd "Immortalis" that came out in 2007. Typical Overkill song, bludgeoning drums and chug chug riffs.Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth voice by now after 30 years or so of punishment still sounds pretty good. Not quite as nasally as albums from 20 years ago. It's rough but his phrasing is perfect with the music in the background. I wish they'd come out with a new cd already and a tour. I'd love to go see them live.



Cool, so a much better selection this time then last. Check back in next week to see what pops up.