Where's the sun?

I'm so sick and tired of winter now!! So sick of the dark and cold and not being able to walk properly without slipping. I want to be able to enjoy a walk outside without spending aeons getting dressed to not freeze. It was so nice last Friday when I was off work and could be out during the day, even if it was just +1C outside it felt like spring at least for a little while. And I'm looking forward to the BBQ season so much. Not only because of all cool spices I bought in USA, more in general to be able to be outside and prepare the food. 

But when I was Grocery Shopping last Friday (have put it as a habit to plan the food for the whole weekend and some to go as lunchboxes the week after and shop everything in one go) I overheard a communication when picking out vegetables for the food. 
One lady around 60 asks one of the store clerks (of course in the really Lazy Höör accent) "Are these the cocktail peppers?" while the clerk replies "No those are Habanero Fruits". I guess it would have been rather amusing watching the lady and her family eat that night if she hadn't gotten a reply on her question... 

But in these dark times I start to think about the upcoming Festival season... Of course, I'm not going to Up The Hammers this year, looking at the bill I would have loved to be there. Would have been really nice to see Raven, Widow, Damien Thorne, Hürlement and a few more. And of course to enjoy some nice Greek food and wine.

But Keep It True is approaching rather fast as well so I guess I need to start boosting for that one too! Also, what's really cool is that Dimitris and Maria from Metal Kaoz will join in this year, will be great to hang out.
As always the line up is killer and this year is really strong as well, Warlord, Medieval Steel, Jack Starr's Burning Starr, Legend, High Spirits I'm really looking forward too, and Steel Prophet of course, perhaps them the most. But I must say all bands on the bill are really good.

 

A few weeks into the summer it is time for Copenhell. Of course, they have a lot of Modern bands which isn't all that much for me. But King Diamond, Amon Amarth, Accept & Testament will make the visit worth while. Also, I'm actually looking forward to see In Flames again, it was ages ago since I last saw them. And even if I prefer their older records they've always been a good liveact.  

And then the Horror!!! Metal Magic clashes with Iron Maiden in Stockholm. Very tough choice. We have tickets for Maiden, both for Stockholm and Malmö. And we are playing Metal Magic with Void Moon so of course we have to be there at least that day... But there are so many cool bands on this Festival, like Hobbs Angel Of Death, Martyr, The Black, Nocturnal, Mortuary Drape, Black Oath... Awesome line-up and I think this strikes harder than Maiden in Stockholm. This since we can see them in Malmö anyway. 

And then Headbangers Open Air. I'm still waiting for the line-up on the Aftershow and I really hope I'll make it to the Warm-up this year as well. Last year we arrived a bit too late and couldn't really fit it into our schedule. But these events are so nice, it really is a party, everyone's hanging out outside Lauchbar drinking beer and talking before, after and inbetween the bands. Of course it's absolutely amazing to see bands in such a small place as this is too.  

The Festival is, just as KIT, amazing as always. Overkill, Metal Church, Vicious Rumors, Blood Feast, Demon, Stormwitch, Sleepy Hollow, Praying Mantis... Ah, it will be a tough one again. The only thing now that could beat this is if they add Sanctuary and get Mike Howe to sing a few tunes with Metal Church... (not that it's needed since the line-up is killer as it is). And I can't wait to hang out in the garden, drink the nice German beer and just enjoy life!

Then I really need to fit Swordbrothers into my schedule! Me and Berg visited the Festival a few years back and I've said I should go back each year since then but it never really fitted into my schedule. But this also is a very nice Festival, small and cozy and the line-up is killer (again) this year. I'm really happy to see that Morgana Lefay is back. Bollnäs Metal Trend it is then since Tad Morose played last year. JW, Shadowkeep, Lord Volture, Holy Martyr and Rebellion will be great to see as well.

 

But it still is winter and KIT, which is the first in line is still 2 months away, which means I have to live with the winter for about the same time (as everyone else in Sweden of course). Those few days of sun in Dallas sure made me long for warmer days like crazy.

Now it's all just work a few weeks, hopefully we will be able to confirm release-dates for the Cult Of The Fox album soon as well as the Vinyl release of the Void Moon album. That would be something really nice to look forward to.

At least I'll have a package from TPL waiting for me when I come home to the Void Mansion on Friday. And for now, lets say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to guitar icon and Godfather of Heavy Metal TONY IOMMI!!!

Cheers

E

NP: IOMMI - Fused

 

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

Satan Claus was nice this year...

So, Christmas came and went. I drove up to Sandviken a few days before Christmas eve, even if I was working it was nice to get out of the office. Also, the last couple of miles of driving it was real winter. A few degrees below 0 and snow on the road and on the trees. Very pretty. It almost stayed over Christmas too. But I must admit, I don't like green christmases, I want snow. Didn't have time for many activities up there. Perhaps I should have planned better and arranged meetings with my friends, but I'll take that next time. At least I had relaxing days, no stress at all

Now I'll have a few days more working from home. I have a few things to finish but hopfully I will have the chance to use some of my vacation days, still have quite a few left. So now I'll have time to dig in to the lists of the year and finish my own list. The one for Metal Kaoz has been online for about a week now. Rather diverse list I say...

To add it up, just by sum up the places it looks like this;

1. THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - “Deconstruction”
2. MACHINE HEAD - “Unto The Locust”
3. VENOM - “Fallen Angels”
4. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR - “Land Of The Dead”
5. PRIMORDIAL - “Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand”

Then of course, we've been preparing ourselves for the upcoming gigs with Cult Of The Fox. One bad thing is that Pelle decided to leave the band due to his new family situaton took too much time. The good thing is that Fredric was in almost right away, at least for these gigs so we could start to rehearse right away. And it has been going really good. But it will be a challange to play for almost an hour... Was LONG since I last played a gig that long.  



So the gigs confirmed now are;

13 Jan @ The Rambler, Eindhoven, NL (w/ Surpuissance and Ear Danger)

14 Jan @ La Chimere, Lille, FR (w/ Surpuissance and Aywarn)

Then it was time for Christmas!!! So I started to get some for myself... Band guitarpicks... Both of them turned out really cool. Now all I need is to learn how to throw them out in the crowd while playing.

Then I've must have been really nice this year! Got a lot of really nice gifts... 

 A Void Moon tea cup to heat me up during these dark ages!!! All with a "rockstar" picture of myself on it as well!

Wine glasses, for white wine... Even if these perhaps are a little too big for that. But atleast they're smaller than the ones we already have (it's hard to doze when you just get one glass each out of a bottle)! The Tony Iommi "Iron Man" (but why the hell did they add the Iron Maiden M in the title?) Biography will be some really interesting reading, it will be fun to hear his version of the story since I've just finished "I am Ozzy". And then another guitarhero of mine, Michael Schenker Live DVD... Very nice!

Waiting for dinner at my parents place I started to check the books a little. I found one big in the bottom shelf that looked rather anonymous with a brown leather binder and small gold letters on the back, John Bunyan "The Holy War". Just looking briefly at it it seemed to be some religious propaganda. Looking it up later it should be a novel. But the pictures, or engravings were amazing. The first one cathing my eye was one of Diabolus and Infidelity at the gates of hell. Then Infidelity the Great escaping prison... And it kept going like that. Of course, good won in the end though, Diabolus had to see himself conquered.  

To find this book at my parents house was a bit of a surprise. I thought I rescued most of them from my grandma's after she died. My parents isn't religious what so ever but of course, this book was rather special. Still most everythig was given to charity organizations. Of course, my parents had no clue where this book came from, mom thought at first she'd gotten it as a bonus from one of the book clubs she used to be a memeber of. But printed in 1893, this was too old for that. It makes sense if it comes from my grandma. But my dad don't remember taking any of her books. So I guess it will be a mystery for a while. But it was a cool book at least.

Cheers

E 

NP: Chariot - Burning Ambition