Another year has passed

And it sure has been a lot of things happening lately...
Biggest event is of course that we, me and Peter became Mr and Mrs Wallberg at the end of the summer... 

How it feels to be married? Well, not much different from how it was before, just that I get surprised when Peter calls himself Mr Wallberg... *s*

Then of course, I missed both the 1 month and 2 month anniversary. For the first one I was in Shanghai and for the second I was in Dubai. Peter spent the second one in Malta drinking with Pim and the rest from Officium Triste and Wilburg from Semlah/Count Raven so I assume he had a good time, I myself was trying to squeeze everything in to my bag and get a beer which isn't easy or cheap in Dubai I tell you! 

Even if work has taken a lot of time this year I've managed to go to a few shows and buy a lot of records. I realized though that I haven't kept up AT ALL with what's going on in the music world, it's been more what I've stumbled upon that I've been listening to rather than trying to check out what's new. So in the end of the year I had a list with 30-40 records I should have checked out for my Top 10... But to do that in a week, nope, that won't be good. So it is a rather sparse selection (at least compared to other years) I've picked my Top 10 from, then 10 to list the ones I should have listened more to, the ones who also could have made it is rather long instead. 

Anyway, here goes;

TOP 10 of 2013

1. Oliva - Raise the Curtain

Again, the mountainking has managed to create an amazing piece of music. It's a bit like the first Jon Oliva's Pain record, an odd bunch of songs that doesn't really fit in anywhere. It's a bit of Savatage, it's a bit of Jon himself and a bit of others. This album feels so honest and pure, there's so much passion and absolutely no boundaries on what can be done. Still it's not far away from either Jon Oliva's Pain or Savatage. But as long as Jon Oliva released albums like this one, he can call it what he wants for my sake. And as long as they hold this quality, just take the suite from "Soul Chaser" over "Ten Years", "Father Time", "I know", "Big Brother" and "Armageddon". For the last one, there's no one who can scream line Jon in the chorus... Dramatic, fateful... It's the end of the world...
Favorite track: Armageddon

2. Vicious Rumors - Electric Punishment

Vicious Rumors showed with "Razorback Killers" that they still got it and "Electric Punishment" continues on the same track. Brian Allen shows a real progress and even if it still is a lot rawer than the classic albums the melodies are stronger than before. Riff maestro Geoff Thorpe still got it and delivers smart riffs behind a hitty facade. The mix of Geoff's and Brian's vocals for different part of the songs strikes hard. It is a raw record! And then there's a track like "Together we Unite" which is late 80's MTV generation hit-type. Still awesome but rather far off from the rest, however it still fits perfectly in the bunch.

Favorite track: I am the Gun

3. Queensryche - Queensryche

This might actually come as a surprise to some who knows me. I've never been a fan of this band, for two reasons mainly. First that I got "Operation Mindcrime" squeezed down my throat when it was released, I mean, the album is good but it could have been ok to listen to SOMETHING other on ONE party at least... Also, I really can't stand watching Geoff Tate... But with Todd La Torre in the band all's well, he's a joy to watch and listen to. I still didn't think the album would strike as hard as it did though. But it sure is an inspired album, full with interesting songs. Perhaps it takes a few spins for it to set but when it does it's great and it just keeps getting better. 

Favorite track: A World Without

4. Hell - Curse & Chapter

Andy Sneap is the master of good sound when it comes to Heavy music. And of course that applies to Hell as well. I can't say I've been with Hell since the dawn of time. I've just heard some, or actually just heard of, before they released "Human Remains". But the style suites my style in music perfectly, I love the artistic side as well. Old School songs or not, most everything put on the two albums released by Hell is just awesome.

Favorite track: Something Wicked This way Comes 

5. Anvil - Hope in Hell

Sure, Peter has influenced me a bit here... There's no doubt about that! Still I've been a fan since before we met. And I sure didn't mind having this album spinning constantly for a few weeks when it was released. It is a kick ass Anvil record and holds most of the elements significant for Anvil. It has fast songs and it has mid-tempo tracks and it feels more varied than its predecessor. 

Favorite track: The Fight is Never Won

6. Saxon - Sacrifice

It's mentioned here and there that the classic band loses their skills or passion. None of these goes for Saxon. Biff sounds better and better for each year. Sure, he doesn't sound like he did on the early albums but his voice has grown in depth these recent years which allows much more varied vocal lines and different style of songs. Still he can pull off the classics live as well. 

Favorite track: Night of the Wolf

7. Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock - Bridge the Gap

What the hell happened here??? Sure, Mr Schenker is a peculiar bugger but he has never done anything as heavy as this one. The songs are oozing with Rainbow influences, the odd thing with it is that on top of the Heavy riffs you have Michael's unmistakable style of melodies. Sure, Dougie White has a lot to do with the Rainbow/Dio feeling in the music but there's no understatement saying this is easily my Michael Schenker favorite since 1987's "Perfect Timing". This was actually one of the ones picked up just a few days before my list was due deadline and getting the thumb out earlier it sure would have ended up higher on the list.

Favorite track: The Land of Thunder

8. Tad Morose - Revenant

Bollnäs-Metal always hold high standard. I'm not really surprised that Tad Morose ended up on the list even if this record was released rather late in the year. They normally writes just in my taste. This though being the first in a while without Urban Breed on vocals. And with that spot empty there are a rather bi pair of boots to fill. For me, I've known Ronny Hemlin since decades back and he sure is a good vocalist, always impressive. But it seems like he's taken one more step up here. His voice is better than ever, more depth and more control than before. Awesome really.

Favorite track: Spirit World

9. Trouble - The Distortion Field

I for once was positive about bringing Kory Clarke in when Eric Wagner decided to leave. Unfortunately Kory has done a lot better performances than he did with Trouble, he's so much better than he showed. So perhaps it wasn't right. Then, if Eric never wants to come back, the line-up now with Kyle Thomas in the line-up is just as good as it ever was. It feels like the band really is inspired to play again, even if this don't fully matches "Manic Frustration" it's absolutely a good step in the right direction.

Favorite track: The Broken has Spoken

10. Carcass - Surgical Steel  

Who could have thought this? I still hold "Heartwork" as one of the greatest albums ever. I think the mix of brutality and melody is genial. I don't think Arch Enemy (you know, Mike Amott...) has captured the same mix and neither does Carcass on "Surgical Steel", frankly, Bill Steer and the rest can't write as strong melodies as Mike can. But Carcass still win over Arch Enemy with their brutality and ability to keep the Death Metal, no compromise and still have a catchy record.

Favorite track: Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System

I realized writing this that there's really nothing new in here... I have been listening to new bands as well though. Even if it hasn't been to the same extent as it usually is. So with this, I like to mention one more even if it's not listed in the Top 10, but it probably should have been, at least keeping in mind how much I've listened to it...

Extra for top 10:

Surpuissance - Affamé de Metal

French bastards, with Metal sung in French... So it's hard to keep up with them. And I assume I've made up my own lyrics for this album since it's hard to not sing along. It has that naive feeling as "Show No Mercy" or "Kill 'em All" has. It's raw, not all that precise all the time (I didn't say not tight though...). 

Favorite track: Agression Métallique Positive

And the ones that ended up just outside, alphabetically;
Avatarium - Avatarium
Black Sabbath - 13
Helloween - Straight out of Hell
Legend - The Dark Place
Metal Church - Generation Nothing
Motörhead - Afterschock
Procession - To Reap the Heavens Apart
Satan - Life Sentence
UDO - Steelhammer
Warlord - The Holy Empire

And 10 more that could have made it if I'd gotten the thumb out and listened a bit more;
Argus - Beyond the Martyrs
Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess
Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark
Chastain - Surrender to None
Deep Purple - Now What?!
Midnight Messiah - The Root of all Evil
Muro - El cuarto jinete
Running Wild - Resilient
Spiritual Beggars - Earth Blues
Witch Cross - Axe to Grind

Peter's List;
1. Anvil - Hope in Hell
2. Saxon - Sacrifice
3. Oliva - Raise the Curtain
4. UDO - Steelhammer 
5. Midnight Messiah - The Root of all Evil
6. Hell - Curse & Chapter
7. Satan - Life Sentence 
8. Avatarium - Avatarium
9. Procession - To Reap the Heavens Apart
10. Muro - El cuarto jinete


What's your favorite albums of 2013?
What did I miss completely?

Another list over concerts will come in a few days...

Cheers
E

NP: 220 Volt - Power Games

 

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"

 
 

Forged in Fire

Well, maybe not but it was a damn hot week down in Holland and Belgium. Absolutely worth the effort though since the two Anvil concerts were fantastic and how can Kind Diamond fail???

At least we had a few days at home sorting out everything from Headbangers Open Air, chill down a bit since that one was extremely hot as well. Also do some gardenwork and clean up the Void Mansion a bit. We also managed to get my birthday present out from the garage and on to the selected location in the garden. I know you shouldn't talk about weight around females (because it is a she) but she was damn heavy. Me, Peter and David worked hard to get it around the house. The few people passing by on the street looked at us like they'd seen a ghost or so...

There's still a few more things to sort out in the corner around the gargoyle, put a few things back in place and so but it sure looks cool!!! No comments from the neighbors yet though! 

Anyway, we went to Holland and Belgium for a few concerts after Headbangers Open Air. Since all shows were in the cities and rather close to the stations we decided to skip the car and travel by train this time. It's always a bit nervous beforehand, the uncertainty if we were going to make it to the location and so. But everything went fine and it was really good to relax on a train rather than sitting in a car. 

The route stretched from Schiphol to Haarlem to Sint-Niklaas to Lokeren, back to Sint-Niklaas, off to Tilburg before returning to Schiphol. It felt even better when Anvil told us they'd been stuck in traffic for over 3 hours driving from Wacken to Haarlem because they pained the lines on the road by hand in Germany closing three of four lanes in the freeway....

 
The Anvil show in Haarlem was really much fun. It was a very long time ago I last saw Anvil play in a club. Don't think I've ever seen them headline in a club either so 90 minutes worth of music sure was a treat! More about that on Metal Kaoz later though!

Then off to Lokeren and the Lokerse Fest. That was more of a town party than a Festival but since they had the good taste in booking Anvil together with Fear Factory, Danzig and Sabaton and a few more it was worth a visit. It was extremely hot to stand on the asphalt infront of the stage though. But again, a good day with good concerts.

Then we actually had a day off in Sint-Niklaas... What you do in Sint-Niklaas you ask? No clue, we couldn't find anything interesting (Free Recordstore had 10 Heavy Metal records in total) so we took the chance and catch up on some sleep and have the AC in the Hotelroom work hard.

But it is a quite cute town and we found a very nice place for dinner... Ironically it was called Copenhagen Tavern or something like that. Danish we can eat almost any time we like. But ok, it's not that much difference and I was certainly NOT up for more fried stuff with mayo at this point. The food was great and we took the opportunity to try some Belgian Beers... Peter stuck with his new favorite though... Mc Chouffe, the dark brother of sinister La Chouffe (who got Peter good on their first meet *s*).

So we had some time to relax as well. We actually took some more time to check out the church in Haarlem, simply because it was so massive. It kind of looked like they'd put one giant church on top of another giant church. Of course the city of Haarlem had realized the greatness of it too and charged an entrance fee to let us in... On particular impressive thing was the organ. The info-sheet said it had over 5000 (YES!!!) pipes and was about 30m high. It would be so awesome to get the chance to play something like that... Just imagine how cool a really doomy song would sound on a machine like that!

After Sint-Niklaas we took the train to Tilburg for the King Diamond show. Luckily the temperature had eased up a bit by this time. Still not enough to make the venue a place to breathe in though so it was a bit painful on occasion to look at the show... But more on that later as well!

First day back in the office after vacation today. Of course I could have taken a few more days of vacation but it's still rather calm which is a good start... That gives me a few days to regroup, start up and set a plan for the coming weeks. I think the pace will be the same as before the summer so it was really good to get a few extra days of vacation to relax now..

Cheers
E

NP: DRAGONSCLAW - Judgement Day

 
 

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

 
 

Armageddon

Gaah, busy days lately. After KIT I repacked my bags and went to China for a bit over a week, for work of course and came back home with a 50 points action list. Then one week at home to catch up with what I've missed while being away, prepare for the Void Moon rehearsal and arranging for shipping off my Peavey 6505+ and Peter's Marshall 3510 Bass Amp to the Amp doctor... Then back home again to repack and off to UK, for work again. 

Back home after a few days and another re-pack but this time for a well deserved break. Me and Peter went to Holland to see Vicious Rumors, on gig at Rocktemple in Kerkrade and then Baroeg in Rotterdam. Two awesome concerts with three fantastic bands. Apart from Vicious Rumors, The Order of Chaos and Iron Knights played as well. 

Vicious Rumors never stops to amaze me, always great to see them and they always kicks ass. James Rivera did a great job and it is great to see Thaen Rasmussen back in the pack, he sure sounds great together with Geoff! The report will be posted at Metal Kaoz in a few weeks.

Visiting Baroeg we found a very cool poster on the wall too...

Then, as one of many promos coming in for review to Metal Kaoz. One of the records I've been looking forward to the most this year (together with Vicious Rumors "Electric Punishment" and Black Sabbath's "13"). Jon Oliva's Solo album "Behind the Curtain"

I had no clue what to expect from this album. Of course Chris Kinder have been giving some hints during the recording but still... Without saying too much to spoil the impression... I think it kicks ass!!!!

01. Raise The Curtain
02. Soul Chaser
03. Ten Years
04. Father Time
05. I Know
06. Big Brother
07. Armageddon
08. Soldier
09. Stalker
10. The Witch
11. Can't Get Away
12. The Truth (bonus track) 

The suite with "Ten Years", "Father Time", "I Know", "Big Brother" and "Armageddon" is absolutely fantastic!!! The rest is really good too but those songs are damn good. Yep, it kind of sounds like JOP/SAVATAGE (and why shouldn't it???) but there are some differences... A candidate for album of the year, absolutely!!! So I'm waiting impatiently for the package with the real records which should show up around June 20th.

Next up is Muskelrock, it will be interesting to see what bands they have booked. Of course, rumors says a few names and Aria is officially announced. Eventime mailed today and said they should make it official at 8pm tonight. Still I can't find anything on internet though. Not that I want to know, but it would be good to know the first few bands for tomorrow to know in how much a hurry we'll be arriving in Alvesta. Anyone has a clue?

NP: IRON KNIGHTS - New sound of War

Recorshoppers Anonymos #16

Well, things got very crazy when it got to shop for Records these last few weeks. But of course, when the opportunities comes, why not take them. For example, one Swedish online shop, Ginza actually started their sale at the same time as the sale for books started, which is at the end of February. I don't shop from them very much anymore since their webpage got quite bad after their upgrade, also the result when searching is really off. But, they are the best ones for Plastic covers for LP's and while I was getting that I thought I'd check out the sale as well... Ooouups! BIG BOX of CD's all for me! Also, Peter almost the same thought and bought a bunch for himself as well. For me it was a few MSG remasters, Grave, Thy Majestie, Holy Grail, Dr Livingdeath, Zombified, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Evil Masquerade, Vixen (yes, the US hair ones...), Seven Witches and a few more.
A package from TPL (Attacker, Blaze, Matlese Falcon...), some off of eBay (Access Denied, Lethal Saint...) and of course the visit at Keep It True (Legend, Toranaga, Artizan...). The collection of new ones then looked like something like this;

Sure, these are both for me and Peter but they're going into the same shelf no matter what.

And when starting checking eBay it tends to be rather expensive in the end... Perhaps not per record but in total it can run away a bit, but it's very rare that I actually regret buying any records.
When searching for Savatage or Vicious Rumors stuff on eBay, there are a few compilation album that always shows up. I don't know why I never checked them out before, should have been interesting enough at least. At least now, I took the opportunity to get them.
First the "US Metal Vol I-III". The first two are really cool, featuring songs (some unreleased) from Exciter, Vicious Rumors, Manilla Road, Vixen, The Rods and a lot more. The fun thing is that it isn't the bands that are listed for some songs, just the guitarplayers.
"Welcome to the Metalzone" is more standard but still a lot of good stuff. And since Savatage is featured, of course it is needed for the collection.

Speaking of collections, Peter started to do a homepage for his Anvil collection. Taking photos (multiple) for each unique record. And we are talking about a serious collection so it sure was a lot of pictures... A very cool thing to do and I got a bit inspired and started off with my Savatage stuff as well, but it won't be as many pictures. Not to start with anyway...

And while ordering, since the postage for one LP from US can be rather expensive and that most sellers combine shipping for multiple items it feels better to get a few extra so the postage per LP won't be as high!!!!
One of the choices was Tyton "Mind over Metal". Took it one more of a chance and damn, it was a surprise. The things I've heard earlier sounded great but that was from an earlier release. But apparently I've heard stuff from "Mind over Metal" as well. At the old Swedish Radio show "Rockbox" back in 1987 or perhaps 1988 Tyton's "Legacy" was played. I was completely sold on that song and I'm so sure Per Fontander annouced it as the new and upcoming Testament album. Of course I've never ever heard anything like Tyton's "Legacy" from Testament for obvious reasons so it was good to solve that mystery now 25 years later!

And yes, that package from TPL was massive. It felt a bit bad though, because all of it (Ginza, eBay stuff) showed up while I was in England for work so when I got home around midnight I just opened it up and check that all was in there, not more than that! The next day it was an early morning and away for Keep It True. And of course, a visit on that Festival ended up in another bunch of records. The TPL package got to me a bit late though, I would have liked to listen a bit to Air Raid prior to the Festival since it's always more fun to see bands after listeing a bit.

The pack on display above shows a selection of the latest arrivals, mainly from TPL but also from KIT (High Spirits and Eliminator 7"). The real stacks are much bigger, both me and Peter got one similar...

But back to the TPL package, the crown jewel is still to come... Damn, I would love all my favorite bands to do something like this. I mean the book, a lot of pictures on old (sometimes very odd) releases and old pictures. I'm of course talking about the Jag Panzer box set "Historical Battles". Hard to get stuff in a very nice package, that's great!

 

Since the plastic covers I got from Ginza was far from enough I dug into the sale ones more but couldn't find anything really interesting. Checking out some product it was either just a recomendation to check out something or something someone else had bought while getting something I was getting. Started to click around and found the Blue Öyster Cult Columbia albums, which is everything up until fantastic "Imaginos" plus a few collection and live albums, all in a nice package, 17 CD's plus a few free liveconcerts downloads. Really cool!

And then last but absolutely not least, the new Vicious Rumors stuff. Took the opportunity to get the CD and LP from Ginza. The japanese version of the CD arrived the other day as well...

So I know what I have to do the coming weeks!!! Need to go through all of it before the next TPL package arrives. I think the deal will be to pick it up at Muskelrock.
But before that we'll have a releaseparty for the Cult of the Fox album and Void Moon rehearsals. Gonna be nice but busy (since I need to practice quite a lot for the VM rehearsal), business trip again and we are going to catch a few Vicious Rumors shows down in Europe before Muskelrock!!!

Cheers
E

NP: COMMUNIC - Waves of Visual Decay

 

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Just middle of the week still but I feel like I've been working two weeks straight now. But that's of course not the case but the weekend passed way to fast and I didn't find time to do even half of what I thought of doing. But at least I've finished off a few things at least. 

During the Easter weekend I started off with a bit of a Health mission, make good food and boost up with some extra vitamins, i.e. fruit smoothies for breakfast. Those were really nice and very simple to prepare. And they actually work. Need to find the same for the cat... For Easter Friday he was passed out on the couch most all day. 

But since the sun showed up a little at least we decided to take the cat for a walk outside. He really liked it and walked around on the patio and law sniffing most everything. He also tried to crawl into the hedge, when I poked him he hissed at me that little yellow-belly. After an hour outside he slept like a log the rest of the afternoon. 

And of course, no Metal Head in Sweden can have missed that Black Sabbath is coming to play in the winter (huh, don't want to think about that now when it finally starts to feel like spring here). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be Black Sabbath this time and not Ozzy with Friends even if that was a very nice event too. Tickets are released on Friday, will be interesting to see if Ticnet will survive this one...

In the Live Nation news mail I got it mentioned pre-pre-purchase for some Mobile Operators event manager. Go Live I think it was called for Tele2... Tickets available now already so I shopped until I dropped... Or at least one for me and one for Peter. MUAHAHAHAH!!!! So I'm not bothered if Ticnet crashes on Friday now!

The Easter Weekend started off with a concert, Saint Vitus and Mos Generator played at Loppen in Copenhagen. Awesome gig really! But the lights at Loppen is almost non-existent so I decided to go for (almost) Black & White's for this report since that looks better if the pictures becomes grainy. The flash was still needed though. And since the place doesn't have a Photopit and the place was rather packed so it was hard to move. Which means the pictures are all from the same angle so I'm not all happy about the result. But I got a few cool ones.

But what was even worse was the light at the Helloween and Gamma Ray concert. There were absolutely no lack of lights but these modern spots are really evil and the colors messes up the digital camera. Normally it is just in red light the camera gets blind but now it was for almost everything. Or, when it was Green the pictures got Super-green, same with Blue as well. Really annoying. So again, (almost) B&W to get anything at all out of it. The report will be up on Metal Kaoz in a few days.
  

Is there anyone who has any tips on how to behave in situations like these ones. Let me know. I really would appreciate some tips... 

During Easter I also amused myself with sorting out the vinyl shelf. The big Expedit ones hold 25 pockets each and 2 of those is almost filled with LP's... To sort alphabetically I had to take down all apart from the first two pockets and put them up again. Worse than a long pass at the gym I tell you, damn my legs and arms were hurting after that! BUT IT LOOKED COOL, very massive. 
Of course, for the last few weeks both me and Peter has gone on shopping sprees when it comes to records. I got 15 or so from the Ginza sale (good one and there's still a few I really want), Peter got another package and then we went to Skivesset i Malmö and picked up some 2:nd Hand vinyls. And hopefully I will receive a really FAT package from TPL before the weekend... So I guess it is time to start all over again...

And now Keep It True is just a bit over a week away! Everything's sorted out and for the weekend we'll have our own Warm-Up party! 
But before I can relax in Germany it is a few more days of hard work!!! (but at least I got a raise last week, quite good one too)

Cheers
E

NP: Liege Lord - Master Control