Happy midweek for me...

And yes, I've earned a good dinner today. Had done half the weeks hours yesterday already. Long day today as well and after this it's straight back to work again. Ok, not the office but work from hotell it will be. At least I will be home on friday and if everything flows, hopefully I can take a few hours off and work on VOID MOON and METAL KAOZ stuff!

I've been stuck in the AC/DC biography written by Mick Wall the last few weeks. I sure love the way he writes and his language... It really inspires me to put more effort in what I do, to get better. Energy is lacking sometimes though. But I can really recommend his books, the AC/DC one was translated to Swedish so some of the grace was lost. Still very good. Now I'm on to Symptom of the Universe but since I've been reading lots of Sabbath books lately I really should have taken the Metallica book Instead...

Well, food time now!
Cheers
E

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

 

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

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

The Black Books

Well, I'm normally not a book math but on occasion, when I start to read I sort of get stuck and read a few books straight through. Ok, it has taken a few months (eum... some of the books I read years ago and should probably read again) to complete the mission and I'm still not done but it has been a very amuzing time at least. It's no secret that Black Sabbath has been one of my guiding stars and Tony Iommi my ultimate guitar hero. Hell, I've learned how to play by ripping off Sabbath and moved on from there.
This last session really started with the "I Am Ozzy" book. I was bored on a trainride and tried to buy some magazies, nothing interesting available though so I turned to the pocket shop and decided for the Ozzy book.
Then I got Tony Iommi "Iron Man" (but why the hell did they add the Iron Maiden M in Man on the pocket edition???) for Christmas.

But the books of Iommi and Ozzy are both released quite recently and basically address the same subjects, at least party - first halves of the books. The funny thing though, even if it is the same story it doesn't match 100%, some parts are the same of course, the real milestones but the stories around are quite different. I'm not saying any of the two is more right than the other. It's two people telling their versions of the story. And that alone is interesting enough I think.  

Looking at the books from a more critical perspective, "I Am Ozzy" is very well written, the storyline is great and it has a smooth flow. "Iron Man" is more like Biographies are in genereal, a little messy, sharp cuts and doesn't really get deep into most of the subjects. There are many fragments in the Iommi book I would have loved for him to elaborate about a bit more... The stories are very interesting, how musicians has come into Black Sabbath and moved on with hardly making a mark in history. And I can not but admire his dedicatio to the music, through the up's and down's for if not 50 at least well over 40 years now.

Steven Rosen's "Wheels Of Confusion - The Story Of Black Sabbath" was the first book i bought. It took forever to get through it, mainly because my skills in English was far from good at the time. But also because it is as many other biographies, messy. Also, I doubt it helps that it is Bill Ward that tells the story. Even if it is common in all the books, the phrase "I'm not sure, don't remember it very well, we were doing a lot of dope at the time"... So this one I probably should read again, to get Bill's version of the history as well. 

There are tons of books available and this one, "How Black Was Our Sabbath" was promoted as more dramatic as it really is. For me they could have left out the parts when they (David, Graham and a few more in the Sabbath crew in the 70's) wasn't working with the band. The timeline in this book mismatches with "Iron Man". Well, "I Am Ozzy" doesn't really match with "Iron Man" either for that sake. But when this book gets real it really is fantastic. David worked as a personal assistant to Ozzy, driving him around, sorting out most everything and being his left hand. My impression before reading it was that this should be some evening paper journalism, success and sell out. But it's not, there are really heartfelt stories, good, bad, fun & sad... This book sure was a lot better than I expected. A little difficult language perhaps, but great story line, great way of telling. 

Mick Wall's biography is of course not a Black Sabbath book alone, apart from how Mick got the status he has got there are great stories about many of the musicians he has met as a journalist or working with/for. Ozzy and Sabbath being a major part in the book. The funny thing though, neither "I Am Ozzy" nor "Iron Man" even mention Mick Wall, not even once. Of course, this can have something to do with the hostility between both Sabbath and Ozzy towards Don Arden who was Mick's boss. According to the Ozzy and Iommi books, Mr Arden wasn't a very sympathetic person. His biography, "Mr Big", also written by Mick Wall I started to read but never got passed his childhood which I didn't think was particularly interesting. Still great writing, I really love how Mick writes so "Paranoid" is worth rading just because of that.

Then I finally got my hands on Mick's first book, another Ozzy biography "Diary Of A Madman". Since I got it a few days ago I haven't read it yet. I haven't really decided yet if it is too much with another Ozzy/Sabbath book now. The good thing with books is that they last forever.  

Then, while I'm at it... I decided to shop for more books and made a great bargain, gotta love eBay... The Rockdetector books I've been thinking of buying for a really long time but never really gotten to it. I guess the book about Ozzy is just a start. I really want the A-Z's about different styles in Metal as well. Then I found another Ozzy book "His Own Words" which held a lot of very cool pictures at least. And another Black Sabbath biography titled "Rat Salad", gonna be interesting to see what that is.

Also listen a bit here and there is another Rockdetector book "Never Say Die". This one, Sabbath Story from 1979 to 1997 would be very interesting. Of course, this is handled in the "Iron Man" book but as I said, that book could have been double to do all stories justice. So a real book of this era would be amazing. I haven't found it for sale anywhere though, anyone knows if it is out?

Have I missed anything? Is there more books about Sabbath to read?

So now I really hope that Iommi recovers from cancer so he can show the world again that he's the Master of Heavy Riffs...

Cheers E

NP: Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy