Hanging in the Balance

Argh!!! But I guess I have myself to blame as I started a little too soon after the cold and fever broke out. But it's hard to be still when I feel good. On the other hand I don't feel very good now. Everything I eat and drink have a touch of snot and just walking to the car is exhausting. I planned this to be a working week, a lot of things done, long days and so. Instead I've been trying to hide as much as I can to avoid talking to anyone unless absolutely necessary. So I've basically been sulking in a corner of the office all week.
It feels good that it's Friday tomorrow though and I can drive back home. I will take the usual stop at Gunnaröds Gård to buy some nice meat and veggies, presumably also some bread. Everything Ecologic of course. The meat is really fantastic, better quality can't be found in any shop and it's not more expensive either.

But to comfort myself this week I've been shopping a bit... First thing that entered the basket was the Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock - Live in Madrid. It should be a goodie, it's 4-CD's and one Blueray... 

And judging how much I enjoyed the shows I saw earlier this year, this is bound to be fantastic. Note to self, I need to buy tickets for Sweden Rock Festival too, at least Saturday. I have to see that one, will be a first occasion for both Robin McCauley and Graham Bonnet. 

Then what? Some pre-orders... The new Cloven Hoof vinyl, Sacral Rage, Blood Ceremony. And some to fill up the collection, Symphony X, Empire, Royal Hunt, Hammeron. And then... Yep, it was quite some batches. That's fun with Discogs on occasion, it's possible to get music cheap. 

I've also started the summer planning a little more in detail. Ok, May is still spring but as it seems right now we're going to see Metal Church. The record is fantastic I think so to see them live ASAP is a must.

We haven't decided on which date to go yet but it's leaning towards Hamburg or Hannover. I would have wanted to go to Switzerland as Riot V is featured on the bill there too but it's not possible to get that one into the schedule.

When seeing the poster for this year's Metal Magic Festival I got really excited. There are some damn cool bands on the bill. It always is but it's more this year. Uli Jon Roth, Manilla Road, Exumer, Iron Angel, Deathriders and perhaps most Denner / Sherman. It's gonna be awesome!!!!

One more thing that I'm really excited about is to see The Skull. I've seen Eric Wagner with Trouble earlier and he's always been fantastic. And The Skull album is awesome so it should be damn good. If we will manage both Copenhagen and Gothenburg we'll see. I'll go to Gothenburg at least... Perhaps I run into Gabbe again also. That has been fun!

The coming weekend Peter will be rehearsing with Goatess again so me and the cats will rule the house. I don't have any problem to keep myself busy. Still have some catching up to do and there's ALWAYS things to clean nowadays. Those fur-monsters sure know how to make a mess... One thing that feels really good is that I start to feel the urge to play again. It hasn't been fun at all lately... So perhaps I'll lock the cats out and myself in with a beer or two in the rehearseroom and try to come up with some cool Heavy riffs.

I know for sure I have some nice records waiting for me when I come home! Peter got the mission to pick up what TPL sent and apparently it was 2 rather Heavy boxes! :O) Also I should have received a few more packs, as if the TPL box wasn't enough... Perhaps that, and to get home will make me feel a little better.

Cheers
E

NP: MOB RULES - Tales from Beyond

 
 
 

Then there was none...

And that goes for the megabit on our fiber broadband connection today... ARGH! Everything has been so slow today it's very frustrating to do anything. Ok, editing pictures of course doesn't require internet access but when I'm sending them in I need it. 
Still feel the buzz from the Symphony X show, damn that was good. I must admit I was a bit disappointed though that there was no photo pit at Pumpehuset. It all turned out ok in the end but it was impossible to get to some of the guys up on stage so the series of pictures isn't as varied as they normally are. Got the report and pics sent in after a lot of curse-words and a some freak-outs.

Next up is one more Exodus / Lost Society show. That will be fun since it was really good in Gothenburg. Of course I need to go to both when I have the opportunity. And there sure are a lot of things coming that I want to go to. 

This one for example, Ragnarökkr Metal Apocalypse

Winterhawk I missed in Greece, Satan's Host and Leather Leone I've only seen ones. And Leather was with the special show at KIT for Sledge/Leather so it really is a first. It's not that expensive to fly to Chicago either... Just the days off work that's the issue.
I also would like to see Metal Church and Riot V. They both play in Switzerland but that clashes with the above event. Metal Church plays in Hamburg which is very convenient and close... We'll see about that!

Then Muskelrock of course. And I REALLY hope it will be warmer than last year. It wasn't really fun to hang out and wait for Anvil to play the Headline slot on Saturday then...

Diamond Head, KAT, Neon Rose, Rock Goddess, Vardis (since they rocked hard at UTH), Tysondog and maybe most Salem. So it's a quite good year now also... Need to book the hotel though because there's no chance in hell I'll be camping ever again at that Festival.

And when Sweden Rock Festival announced that Michael Schenker will do a special show including 3 vocalist and one of them being Robin McCauley I have to go, or go somewhere else that thing happens. 
But for the big major Festivals it is Copenhell that's the deal. Takes about an hour to drive one way which it's worth instead of tryint to get on one of the busses back to city. Just have to see Black Sabbath once at least and the rest isn't bad either.

Metal Magic is tradition and it's damn much fun to hang out there. Also, the line-up is very good. There're some really good artists. Uli Jon Roth, Manilla Road...

In the same way Headbangers Open Air is tradition but I hope we won't end up neighbors with the Modern Talking fans again this year. Why go to a Metal Festival and play 80's pop hits all night???

Alcatraz Metal festival is always fun then... And, and, and.. Helloween is playing in Knislinge this year so I guess it will be another visit to that festival, at least on the day they're playing. 
And for the fall...

One I would really like to go to is the Frost & Fire Festival. It's a damn good line-up.

Malta Doom, Old Grave Fest... We'll see what happens with those based on all other things happening. I love going to both but it's the line-up that matters.

And the line-up of this one is purely fantastic... Sure need to get that one into the schedule also;

So I guess the last one is a must! And it shouldn't collide with any other Festival at least... But I'm sure there are other concerts and shows that will mess up the schedule. Vicious Rumors should get their new album out soon and that I have to go and see if they come for some gigs...

So many bands and so little time! What to do, what to do?

Cheers
E

NP: Symphony X - Paradise Lost

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vacation's over

Even if it has been a few hectic weeks it sure has been fun ones also. I actually get tired just by thinking about the schedule. Starting off with visiting my mom in Sandviken for a few days. Got home for a quick repack and off to Metal Magic. Sunday after the Festival we visited Peter's grandma and after that Peter dropped me off at the Malmö station so I could go home and do some laundry while he drove to Uddevalla and Gothenburg to pick up the Exciter shirts and the originals for the cover for the upcoming Void Moon album.
Monday we had a quite calm day, tuesday was rehearsal with both Void Moon and Cult Of The Fox which lasted for about 6 hours in total. Wednesday we left very early for Bang Your Head. After Destruction on the last day of the Festival we drove straight to the Airport to catch the flight to Stockholm and Ac/Dc. Home monday and off for Markus BBQ party. Got home after midnight and started to prepare the food for HOA. I've realized that Pulled Pork is great Festival food. Tuesday morning we picked up Nina at the station, went out to the cat-shelter to meet Lillof and Maddox. Then the final festival shopping, home and pack before the rest of the guys arrived and the Headbangers team was complete. Then the Festival and now straight back to work...  Sure need vacation from my vacation!
But yes, it has been good weeks with many really good gigs. I like that! And Tomorrow Death Angel and Flotsam & Jetsam plays at Sticky Fingers! Gonna be awesome! Both has been great at BYH & HOA!

So it actually feels good to be on a more regular schedule again now. Took the opportunity to start reading a new book. Finished The Dirt before the vacation started and according to the notes on the cover the Kee Marcello book should be even more crazy, hard to believe that though... We'll see!

Cheers
E

Capture the Magic

So, back home again after an amazing weekend in Fredericia and Metal Magic Festival. Peter though took the car and went to Uddevalla to pick up the Exciter Merch (yes, official T-shirts is on the way) and the cover artwork for the coming Void Moon album. I feel a little egoistic for going home instead of going with him but it has been great to stay in the house all alone this afternoon. Have had some time to dig into the vaults of photos as well as checking the ones from MMF...

The Festival started with Maltese Falcon for us, first band we saw. They were great, sounded awesome really but the set... Mainly Black Sabbath and Deep Purple covers. Why? They have enough material of their own, so why play covers? A bit disappointing I think even if I couldn't complain about the music... Still not what I wanted to hear. 
Candlemass kicked ass as always. I do miss Leif of course but they're still great to see and Pär is doing an awesome job with the bass.
Outrage was also very good, they're fun to watch and it was funny to see people walking around with a red dot on their foreheads after the show. The front row got the blessing (or the curse) with the red blood or whatever it was.
Grim Reaper followed and of course, they rocked too. They got a really nice crowd also which hasn't been the case for all Classic Heavy Metal bands at MMF. 
Sigh was the last band we saw of the Friday billing, damn cool and I regret a bit that I didn't listen to them prior to the festival, then it would have been even better.
Saturday was a tough day as we realized it would start early and end late. But it was defenitely worth it to drag out of bed and go and see Wasted who opened the last day. So much fun to watch, so great energy. 
Terminus sounded amazing as always! The best thing this time was that they rocked harder than last time I saw them. 
Atlantean Kodex is always good but it's strange to see them with a rather sparse crowd since the response they got at KIT and UTH was really crazy. But it was good anyway.
The festival ended with Girldschool. The atmosphere was great, people were charged to see them and for sure that helped. But these ladies know how to rock and they still perform with a lot of energy and dedication. So a really fantastic ending of a great weekend...

 

MALTESE FALCON

 

 

CANDLEMASS

 

GRIM REAPER

 

WASTED

 

TERMINUS

GIRLSCHOOL 

Then I've started to go through some of my B&W negatives, I can scan them but it don't turn out very good. Some pics look ok but in most cases they come out rather milky after the scan. Had some troubles finding software that could handle it since the regular windows scan didn't manage it at all. But I think I need more practice and learn the program a bit before I give up... I would like to set up a dark-room somewhere but I doubt I would use it very much. We'll see, perhaps a project for the future. 

Anyway, the first try was with the Vicious Rumors film from Dynamo Warm-up 1994... Never seen pictures since they only got to the negative album... Quality is not so good but at least it's a bit fun!

So I guess I have an hour or tow more to kill before Peter comes home after his extra roadtrip today! What to do, what to do?

Cheers
E

NP: WASTED - Halloween...The Night of

 

 

Re-load and charge

Damn I'm longing for vacation now! The inspiration level at work has been rather low lately, it's just on a few occasions I've felt the same drive as I did during the winter or spring. Of course, the lay-off's take the edge of most things but now this is over. We had tell-day last week and the last ones had today. I haven't heard much how it went in Stockholm but apparently all my connections still have their jobs still. I'm having a meeting with my new manager this Friday. That will be interesting! 

And then it's only next week to work and then I'm off for a while. Not that it will be much rest though since we have 3 big Festivals lined up and a visit to Sandviken and say hi to Mom. 

So, the plan now is Metal Magic Festival and maybe also one Anvil show in UK, we'll see about that! Then there will be a long weekend in German with 3 days of Bang Your Head plus the Warm-Up show.

What a line-up it is at Bang Your Head... There's just like 3-4 bands I don't care all that much about (nothing I don't like at all), the rest is just AWESOME so it will be a hard one... Accept is always good but then I'm looking forward to Queensryche, Y&T & Morgana Lefay the most. And then of course Anvil, Exciter, Hirax, Death Angel, Flotsam & Jetsam and, and, and... You get the point, no use listing the whole line-up! *S*

But it shows it's holiday high-season during this time. The flights was rather ok in price and could have been VERY decent if I'd remembered to book the tickets... But Hotel and perhaps most so, the rental Car. €260 something for a Ford Ka (soap-cup on wheels) for Wed-Sun. Around KIT we paid €70 for a massive Diesel Renault SUV for Thu-Sun... But it will be worth it, it always is!!!

This morning, driving to work I listened to Y&T all the way (have 3,5h drive so I have some time to listen) and that sure is a nostalgia trip. I bought Black Tiger when I was on vacation with my parents -87 or -88 and of course listened to it countless of times. Then I filled up the collection rather quickly so it sure is a band that's been with me for many years. They've also done some of the best and craziest shows I've ever experienced. Just take the Rockland, Sala event where they played over 3 hours the first day and close to 3 hours the second day. Long sets but not boring for a second even.
I was rather disappointed when I realized I was going to miss Y&T playing in Sweden later this fall. We're at the Old Grave Fest in Bucharest then, which of course also is super and will be awesome. So it was extra fun realizing they're playing BYH!

We'll... Since I got up at 5am this morning it's bedtime!

Cheers
E

NP: Y&T - Black Tiger

 
 
 

The Sadist

That's how it has felt from the management at work the last couple of weeks since Tell-Day for the lay-off's has been pending and pending. Just to know almost every 5th person at work have to leave is hard, not knowing if being one of them is really stressful. Ok, I was never really worried for myself. I have a lot of years in Ericsson and good skills for my work but the ones I'm working with. The team is really good and it was definite some changes would come. Especially since it was communicated (although taken back for a while) that my position would belong to Stockholm instead of Borås, which mean a new manager for me but not the rest of my team...

Anyway, I still have my job and the rest would be sorted out later.

Then I'm not sure how I missed that Saint Vitus is playing at Truckstop Alaska tomorrow. Maybe since they're playing Copenhell and the assumption was that we were going to see them there. And then, deciding not to go to Copenhell it kind of slipped our minds. But at least we found out in time so now it's concert time tomorrow.

And then we're having a few weeks of Concert vacation before the real Festival Season starts. Metal Magic, Bang Your Head and then Headbangers Open Air...

The last for sure is one of the highlights of the year. Awesome people and awesome bands. Not the major Headliners but a lot of good bands anyway, and frankly, compared to the bigger Festivals there are always more bands I haven't seen before at Headbangers, which always is fun. Ok, I still think it's fun to see Motörhead and Saxon even if I've seen those bands well over 30 times each.

I'm really looking forward to see Treshold, Satan, Rock Goddess, Iron Angel, Hurlement, Stormwitch, Hexx, Hirax... Ok, it's useless to list all bands, gonna be a tough one again.

And of course, it's not really a Festival but a Warm-Up for a coming one... 2 Heavy 4 You reemerge after 15 years and the line-up is a killer. Of course, it include Void Moon so that makes it more fun.
The warm-up is damn good too, Hungarian Omen, Ram and Stonegriff.

But first it is midsummer, nothing planned but it will be really nice with an extra day off and to stay at home and do nothing. Ok, I have tons of things to do so it will be a busy weekend but you get the point. No travel, no concerts... Should gather some energy and sort out the vinyl shelf. I should have done that around Easter but then I was busy recording.
Speaking of the bands. We had the first Cult Of The Fox rehearsal in 3 years. I know the band was put to rest but hey, getting on offer to play live can change such a decision. So yes, we're playing the Malta Doom warm-up show with Iron Void and Hooded Priest and some more. We're kind of the odd sods in the bunch but it sure will be fun. The rehearsal went really well also and it feels good to have the privilege after just one rehearsal to be able to pick the songs we want to play rather than taking the ones we've had time to nail... We nailed more than needed so that's good!!!!

I should have some record packages coming in for the weekend too which will be good company to the cleaning activities planned for the weekend also. And, in the freezer right now I have a batch of Wolf Pale Moon Ale's which will be a nice addition to the midsummer herring (Sill is a must at midsummer) or BBQ!  

CHEERS
E

NP: HELLOWEEN - My God Given Right

 

Heavy Metal

I really feel like going to a concert now! Feels like it ages ago since I last saw a band live. Anvil played in Trollhättan just over a month ago so it's not so bad...

It looks like it will be a good year fot Metal though. Good line-up's at most Festivals and a hell lot of them! KEEP IT TRUE, HEADBANGERS OPEN AIR, METAL MAGIC, BANG YOUR HEAD, UP THE HAMMERS... Have to see Vicious Rumors also when they come to Europe next time. I'm really looking forward to see SANCTUARY also!
Last but not least, the next Void Moon album should see them light of day during the year too...

Cheers
E

Home again and it's raining

Metal Magic Festival was awesome as expected.  No doubt about that!  Great bands and cool people. Dark Quarterer did an amazing gig,  pure magic!  Then Desolation Angels,  Ear Danger, Paragon, Portrait and som more was really good too! And it's sooo good to hang out in the sun, with nice people, drinking cheap beer and just enjoy a weekend of Metal.

The good thing about Festivals like Metal Magic is that band merch is cheap!  So we sure did some shopping.   One supercool vinyl edition of Danish cult band Metal Cross,  booklet,  7" and more... Also, Desolation Angels had an 80's 7" with them,  Valhalla for a bargain price!

Another really cool buy was the first Dark Quarterer album on original vinyl. The even cooler thing was that Gianno and Paulo signed it, even got kind of an artwork together with the signature also. 

One more week of work now before VACATION!!!!

Cheers 

E 

Festival time

Yes,  vacation is coming closer but I still have another week to work and it will be a tough one. So many things dragning, especially dokumentation,  but it's hard to do anything good with only one hour here and there which isn't booked for meetings.

Anyway, these last few weeks I've been catching up with METAL KAOZ things. Picture edition, reviewing records (THRASHBACK, TEMTRIS, VADER...) goodies. At the same time sweating my ass off in the shoebox flat but I'm glad raining has stopped at least!

Tomorrow we're off to METAL MAGIC! Gonna be awesome!!!

Cheers
E

Festival Season 2014 starts...

Yep... Keep It True which is the first one is just two weeks something away now. I'm really looking forward to this Festival. As always, a lot of great bands and I'm sure I will meet up with old friends and get some new ones too! Again, as it always is! Another thing that really equals KIT is a Schnitzel in our Hotel Restaurant, Goldener Stern in Lauda. Gerhard and his staff serves great food with homegrown vegetables. Last year, I think it was, Gerhard and his regular visitors tried to sing a song for me, "A little flower called Erika". Hysteric! Fun and a bit embarrassing!!! It's going to be really cool to see HEXX, found them back in 1988 and the records still kicks ass. LETHAL too of course. TOXIC, JAG PANZER and METAL CHURCH... And, and, and...

We'll miss Heavy Days in Doomtown this year unfortunately. Nice event even if the line-up doesn't always fit my taste. But I've also seen some really cool bands on that Festival, bands I never expected to like prior to the show. Like PROFETUS. Maybe next year.

Muskelrock has become a tradition. Especially since I realized it's possible to stay at Hotel Rådmannen and skip camping, else I doubt I would gone back year after year. Even if it is a very nice Festival, similar atmosphere to KIT and always a great line-up, but if I have to be camping in the end of May in Sweden the line-up needs to be a killer. Not necessary now though! I'm really looking forward to see Uli Jon Roth, SATAN, PROTECTOR, ANGEL WITCH and a few more...

 
Then the big ones starts, Copenhell Festival. Even though it is big it's a very nice Festival. Nice atmosphere and killer bands. What's so cool with Copenhell is everything around that's arranged as well. Normally they have a Film Festival showing independent as well as classic films, last year they had a burning (smoking at least) church and open coffins in the center field!!!!

Metal Magic is the next one up! Even if the temperature allows camping I really enjoy the Festival where I can stay in a Hotel. So it is with Metal Magic, always great line-up, great people and very well arranged! And always a lot of cool bands, DARK QUARTERER, PORTRAIT, HÜRLEMENT, PARAGON and a few more will be great fun.

I'm not sure exactly how many Festivals it will be during the summer, not more than the ones already mentioned... But one of the highlights is absolutely Headbangers Open Air. The only Festival I don't mind camping for. Normally warm and nice and possible to build a camp, set up BBQ etc. That I like. This together with great people and awesome bands sure makes it a good vacation. WARLORD, DEATH ANGEL, RIOT, WHIPLASH, GRAND MAGUS, TYGERS OF PAN TANG, CAGE will be awesome and I assume the rest will be great as always!

Then what? Sure, I can't be out traveling all summer, need to spend some time at home too, to rest a bit. But when bands come to town it's hard to resist. I really want to see VICIOUS RUMORS too, they're coming over to Europe for a few gigs and I think I need to catch at least one. KING DIAMOND is playing in Berlin a few days after HOA, that could make a great end to the vacation!!! Busy busy!!!

And then the plan for fall!!! I'm not sure how I will have time to work anymore, and it sure will be a hell lot of travel with work as well!!! Exiting days.

Cheers
E

NP: MSG - Michael Schenker Group

 

Hazy Dayz

It was a really nice morning today! I really like this time of the year when it still fairly warm outside but not as hot as it was down in Holland/Belgium or at Headbangers Open Air. +10 suites me really good but I don't approve of the rain very much. I want to go by bike to work when I can since I hate to take the bus and the adjusting of time etc that comes with it...

But since it was raining when I was going home from work yesterday I had to catch the bus anyway but took the chance to take a walk to the city center and skip one of the buses. Arriving at the South Square the image was really cool, foggy mornings are very nice and photographs really nice. Mobile camera isn't the best though of course but it still is ok at least.

Back to yesterday though, since I had to take the bus home... This evening there was a woman standing in the back door, trying to keep it open and screaming out on the Square. The driver started the bus and tried to close the doors. The woman started screaming at him instead. The rest of her group showed up eventually but before stepping on-board the bus they sure HAD to finish their cigarettes as well. The screaming continued on the bus and there seemed to be a problem with paying for the ticket also. Why scream? Ask instead. And perhaps, don't leave a full bus waiting just because you need to smoke...

This morning I woke up to this;

The landlord will be cleaning the building and change out the windows so I guess this week will be the last days until December (yey!!!!) with actual outside visual from my window, then it will be a covered working platform outside my window. Seems they will close off the bike cellar as well so I guess I need to squeeze the bike into the flat again. That's for my shoebox flat of course, but luckily I might not have to spend too much time here during the fall.

Last weekend there were a fair in Höör, with a Tivoli as well... We took a stroll down to check it out but there wasn't much. A guy selling 2:nd hand records and films but most everything was in rather poor shape it wasn't very interesting. Still bought two Treat LP's and one Gillan... Cheap and at least the record itself was in good shape even if the cover had some wear and tear. There also was a booth for some cat support or cat shelter and of course I had to support a bit. 

The Blue little fish with Cat Nip won't survive long, the black hooligan will eat it whole when he's back from Summer Camp. But it was a good cause at least!

Today was the only day when I don't had any late meetings so I decided to go home quite early and since, as a Swedish tradition, half Saturday, or Half week or so I took the opportunity to try out Trooper Ale which I got from a colleague just because he could buy my Iron Maiden tickets for Stockholm. Only sold them since we were playing with Void Moon at Metal Magic Festival!

 
The beer is really nice actually. A lot of character and taste! But that it is super is no surprise when it comes from Iron Maiden, right?

As always I've been shopping for records, I got a package from eBay the other day with some rather expensive versions of Sirens & Dungeons are Calling and one not so special Power of the Night. Got it for a bargain also, that's nice!!! Also, the Banzai version of Dungeons was out on eBay a while but that was too expensive for now... Still, what bugs me about it is that I found it once but then, regardless what I was searching for it never showed up. Can't figure out what the limitations are and why it wasn't possible to find it, it's not THAT many Savatage items listen at eBay.
But getting the package the urge to listen to Savatage came back and the records spun throughout the weekend. Also read the storyline for Streets which feels like a bit of a funny co-incident since this was posted on the web early this week.

 
earMUSIC has announced the long-awaited final chapter of the successful SAVATAGE reissues series. Previously unreleased and originally only intended for the Broadway rendition, "Streets: A Rock Opera" — the groundbreaking album by SAVATAGE — is now available including its original narration parts.
To complete this extraordinary release and to award the many fans who have shown dedication and love for SAVATAGE's legacy, the final chapter of this reissue series will feature the band's favorite videos. Released for the first time on DVD and restored from the original tapes, the video collection spans from SAVATAGE's 1987's video "Hall Of The Mountain King" until 1996's "One Child".
As on all previous chapters of the SAVATAGE reissues series, the album includes newly written liner notes by Jon Oliva, who is sharing his memories about all SAVATAGE videos.
Fans looking for unreleased and rare bonus tracks will be happy to discover a lot of extra audio content on the DVD: "Shotgun Innocence", "Forever After", one instrumental acoustic version of "Voyage", live versions of "Stare Into The Sun" and "Conversation Piece" recorded in Japan (but NOT included on the official live CD) and the piano version of "Sleep". The bonus track "Larry Elbows" deserves a special mention: this previously unreleased song didn't make it on the original "Streets: A Rock Opera" album due to time limits and is finally available to all the fans that never forgot the creativity and the energy of this extraordinary band.
"I'm really excited for this version of 'Streets' to finally be released," says Jon Oliva. "It was something different, an idea that Paul O'Neill had to take the progressive rock opera format to a bigger and better place than anything we had done, and anything I had heard anyone else doing before. This version of the album has only been floating around on bootlegs."
CD "Streets: A Rock Opera: Narrated Version"
01. Streets
02. Narration To "Jesus"
03. Jesus Saves (Original Version)
04. Narration To "Tonight He Grins Again"
05. Tonight He Grins Again
06. Narration To "Strange Reality"
07. Strange Reality
08. Narration To "A Little Too Far"
09. A Little Too Far
10. Narration To "You're Alive"
11. You're Alive
12. Narration To "Sammy And Tex"
13. Sammy And Tex
14. Narration To "St. Patrick's"
15. St. Patrick's
16. Narration To "Can You Hear Me Now"
17. Can You Hear Me Now
18. Narration To "New York City Don't Mean Nothing"
19. New York City Don't Mean Nothing
20. Narration To "Ghost In The Ruins"
21. Ghost In The Ruins
22. Narration To "If I Go Away"
23. If I Go Away
24. Narration To "Agony And Ecstasy"
25. Agony And Ecstasy
26. Narration To "Heal My Soul"
27. Heal My Soul
28. Narration To "Somewhere In Time
29. Somewhere In Time
30. Believe
Bonus Track
31. Larry Elbows (previously unreleased)
DVD The Video Collection
01. Hall Of The Mountain King
02. 24 Hrs. Ago
03. Gutter Ballet
04. When The Crowds Are Gone
05. Jesus Saves
06. Edge Of Thorns
07. Sleep
08. Handful Of Rain
09. One Child
Bonus Audio Tracks
01. Sleep (piano version)
02. Stare Into The Sun (Live In Japan)
03. Conversation Piece (Live In Japan)
04. Voyage (Al Pitrelli acoustic instrumental)
05. Shotgun Innocence
06. Forever After

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/savatage-streets-a-rock-opera-narrated-version-reissue-detailed/#OAFdu737r8aRmMUf.99
A must have of course!!!! With the listening sessions the urge to go and see the Jon Oliva's Storytellers tour in US during December sure became strong! NC, NJ isn't that far and expensive... We'll see! Still have a lot of vacation to take out... (if not to get away from the flat)

Now what then? Perhaps try to get to bed early? 
Cheers
E


NP: SAVATAGE - "Handful of Rain"

 
 

Some kind of Magic

Damn, time flies... That's for sure. It has been some crazy weeks trying to fit everything into the schedule. Some concerts (and I'm actually catching up quite good on the writing at the moment), a few Festivals, Business trips, rehearsals and more...

Of course it was hard but some of it paid off last weekend when it finally was time to hit the stage with Void Moon at Metal Magic Festival in Frederica, Denmark. We managed to squeeze into the Kia without too much hassle and off we went. Me and Peter stayed for the whole Festival while Thomas and Jonas caught the train back to Sweden after Hobbs Angel Of Death, who did an amazing gig. 

 It sure was a lot of fun to play and it's great to be greeted like we did when we arrived. Lisa showed us around explaining where we should be an when, what we could and couldn't do, introduced us to the sound guy who also did a great job fixing the sound on and off stage. 
The downside was that everything before the gig took more time than expected so it all was a bit stressed before we got everything together and could start playing.
Afterwards it felt really good and it was great to have the rest of the weekend off just to enjoy it.

Best bands? Apart from Hobbs Angel of Death I'd say that Emerald, Death Rides a Horse, Procession, Altar of Oblivion and The Black were the ones that did the biggest impression on me. And it sure is a shame that Martyr had to cancel, I was really looking forward to see them again.

 So now it's a years waiting until it's time to visit Metal Magic Festival again... One of the best and nicest smaller Festivals in Northern Europe I'd say.

 
It wasn't all fun to go back to work directly after the Festival though. I guess the biggest reason for this is just knowing vacation is only a few days away. This really kills the inspiration to work but I have so many things to fix it's crazy. I guess most of them will have to wait until later occasions though.

Anyway, I gathered some strength and did some cleaning in the shoe-box apartment before I leave it for a few weeks. Always better to come back if it looks nice and smells like a flat, not like something died here. (not that it does but it had potential to do so if forgetting to take out the garbage). I also took the opportunity to build a mini-guitar-park...

I've had the gear here since day one but no inspiration to put it up or get more cables to connect it all. But Musik Verkstan was nice enough and had a summer-sale so take 3 and pay for 2 was a good deal. Even if neither the Vamp-2 nor the 20W Marshall are the most fun to play on it still is better than nothing and counting in how much (or little) volume I can use it works quite ok! It sure beats playing without the amp at all at least. 

Just two more days to work now, then vacation!!!

Cheers
E

NP: BLITZKRIEG - Theater of the Damned