Malta Doom Festival Day 2 - Picture Galore

MALTA DOOM METAL FESTIVAL 2010, Day 2

Deluge Of Sorrow

Victims Of Creation

Lothus

Sorrows Path

Forsaken

NP: Doomsword - The Eternal Battle

Tonight he grins again

This weekend I've been home all alone, or I've been a grass widow as it is called for real. No man, no cat... It has been SOOOO quiet and empty here. Peter had to take the cat to Malmö when he left for work last Monday since I was in Tallinn for a few days. Yesterday Peter was at Tomas place recording drums for the next Void Moon demo. Today he and the rest of Cult Of The Fox is recording drums for the first three tracks for the Cult Of The Fox record. Of course I could have joined in at both sessions as well but travel again on Saturday and Sunday wasn't anything I was up for.

Nope, I've spent the weekend in the couch it feels! Nooo, I haven't been that lazy, I've actually been writing a lot. Record reviews, concert reports and a lot of picture editing. So, not so much relaxing infront of the TV as I've planned. Almost no cleaning done either for that sake. I did plan for it but not as a top priority task. I've also realized my new computer has it's own life, closing down the blog while I'm writing. Not only that one, pictures, documents... You name it!

And I also took the opportunity to spend some hours in the rehearse room, practicing the stuff first on my list of things to record. But since the car is in Malmö with Peter and it still is too slippry for the bike I took a nice stroll in the sun with my Black Beauty. Of course I waited too long so I was really hungry when getting to the rehearseroom on Saturday. Not a very good session but it's nice to hear how good the Marshall and the guitar sounds.

Sunday's session was better. My fingers started to hurt and I realized I've been playing for over two hours. Ok, not THAT much but I'm a little out of shape you know... One thing's for sure, I can't WAIT until I get to play live again!

Then what... I was actually quite chocked to learn that Greg resigned from Metal Temple, then the road turned tim after time and the result became a little confusing for me. Since I don't know what's behind it all I'm not going to comment or speculate. But the result is that a whole bunch of Metal Templars quit and created Metal Kaoz instead. For now I'm assigned to both... What will happen in the future we'll see. But I've split everything equal between the two zines for now.

Metal Kaoz went online in the beginning of February. I think it looks really cool. Of course there's things to fix still and it will be a tough deal to build up the archive for credibility but fun too on the same time. I really like the section with unsigned bands and the monumentum, reviews of old records and more...

The main deal is really that I don't want to let anyone down, not the zines, not the bands I'm writing about or the promoters that has been helping me out with photopasses, press tickets etc. Hopefully it will not be a problem... The good part is that there's two really good zines now!

The spring will be very busy. I found the new Vicious Rumors tourdates on the web too! I know they're playing at Keep It True as well but then it will be a special event and I HAVE to see at least one ordinary show too. My first plan was Berlin, we'll see what can be done about that. I don't think it will be too popular to ask for more days off from work.
"Razorback Killers", the soon to be released VICIOUS RUMORS album sure is the thing I'm most excited about for now. It's been a dry season for releases but no matter what, I know this one will be on the top of my list for best albums of 2011.

Just listen to this;

Metal masters VICIOUS RUMORS have just signed with german label SPV/Steamhammer for the world except Japan. The new CD "Razorback Killers" will be released world wide March 2011. The new Album is VICIOUS RUMORS at their very best!

VICIOUS RUMORS mastermind Geoff Thorpe has put together 10 power tracks full of killer guitars and melody's. Larry Howe is the thunder hammer on drums, new vocalist Brian Allen has a wicked high range and power while Kiyoshi Morgan shredding on guitar and Stephen Goodwin pounding on bass. Songs like "Razorback Blade" is a speed metal anthem, "Deal with the Devil" and "All I Want Is You" are classic VICIOUS RUMORS!! The thrashing "Axe to Grind" and "Murderball" is pure power. Produced by Geoff Thorpe for GTM World Wide and Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios (Machine Head, Ted Nugent, Nightranger) "Razorback Killers" is a real metal classic !

So right now March feels too far away! I really can't wait to hear this album!

Cheers

E

NP: Vicious Rumors - Welcome To The Ball

Lazy bastard

It felt a little strange after my last blog entry wich I called Friday On My Mind... One of my favorite tracks from Gary Moore's "Wild Frontier" albums, then just a day or so later it was announced he had passed away. Really sad! Even if he wasn't one of my biggest inspirations he was an amazing guitarplayer with a sense for melodies very few comes close to.

REST IN PEACE GARY 1952-2011

I've spent most of the week on a business trip in Tallinn, Estonia. Ericsson has a sister factory there and we needed to sort a few things out. Also, it's good to meet the people you work with. Knowing how people are makes everything easier over the phone or in mail conversations later on.
We arrived Tuesday evening at the really nice Swiss Hotel quite close to the city center of Tallinn. Since we arrived almost at bed time we didn't have time for much more than go out and grab something to eat. We were directed by the hotel staff to a place called Goodwin BBQ or something like that.
The place bragged with a 500g XXL Burger wich quickly became the challenge for the guys. I ordered myself a plate of Buffalo wings with carrots, celery and blue cheese dip. I got a whole mountain of wings while the guys looked disappointed. I don't know how they measured that burger but the 500g must have been including salad, sause and bread because it didn't look very spectacular.
Of course we had to try out the local beer as well, Saku Original. Really nice, quite rich beer. Absolutely approved.

Tallinn by night

Since I got a room in the top of the hotel (floor 29 out of 30) the view from my room was quite spectacular. Also the mirror glass of facade of the flank of the building created a really cool effect of the City by Night. Of course I couldn't resist putting some effort into getting a picture as I wanted it. Got really hard without the camera support though. The tbple just inside the window didn't give that many choises of angles...

Yle

Then it's always fun to check out the local TV channels... Most shows get more hysteric and fun on the local language too! Childrens shows in Finish sounds everything BUT cheerful! :O)

St Nicolas Church

Since we didn't have much time outside of work (and because the time of the year) we only got to see Tallinn in the dark. But that can be pretty spectacular too. We were recommended to go to the old town for dinner, the restuarants would be cheaper than the ones around the hotel and they all should be really good! Apparently the one we choose on the arrival night was really expensive (I don't know... €12 for a HUGE plate of wings and 2 beers don't seem expensive to me) and not at all of the same quality as the ones in Old Town.

The alley beside the chuch on the Old Hansa Square

The streets of the old town looked pretty much like any old town in any City. Narrow streets and skew buildings. A lot of cozy places, some fancy shops and churches. Pretty much like in Stockholm or Malmö... One thing though that differed a bit. I've been complaining about the city here not getting rid of the snow or make sure the streets aren't too slippry. In Tallinn you needed skates on some streets.

Hard work in the cold

There's a massive brawl behid us walking up the street to the biggest church in the Old Town. Two dudes, only dressed as Robin Hood with the jester shoes and everything is trying to drag a loaded horse carriage by hand up the cobblestone streets. We had issues standing on our feet just walking.... Was quite hilarous to watch them trying.

Olde Hansa Square

We got a tip to go to the Beer House Resturant, it should be something spectacular... I didn't check the menu but the others gave up saying it was too expensive. So we went to another place, some Italian one... I ordered BBQ Ribs and got some really bad bards wich was most fat and strings and bones, not so much meat. The potatoes wasn't included. Then above that they added 10% service and 20% tax... Perhaps it was the same at the Beer House too but my tab was almost double from the night before and not at all as tasty. Karin ordered some clam & Cuttle fish pasta, all black a gooey... Not the best choise even if she said it tasted nice. She didn't join in the next day, she had to stay in the hotel to worship the porslin god...

Nice Estonian beer, but I liked the Saku more

The hotel was really nice and had all the facilities you need. Bars, Restaurants, Spa, Pool and a fitness center. Believe it or not, I went to the gym TWICE on the days spent in Tallinn. That was really needed beacuse it felt like my body kind of woke up. Now I feel the inspiration to do some exercise again. Perhaps it's time to try and find a Gym here in Borås too?

Sunrise over Tallinn

We also tried out both the bars of course. The one on the 30th floor was quite spectacular. First with the panorama view of the city and then that it was hyper modern. Both in decoration and facility. You almost needed a manual to go to the bathroom, everthing with sensors and automatic. Very cool!

My boss kept nagging about the Vana Tallinn booze on the way there and almost throughout the whole stay too. I never got to try it while in Tallinn though but I bought myself a bottle in the Tax Free so we'll see when I find the courage to try it. I also looked for the Koskenkorva Vanilla Vodka. Ilari and Mia introduced that ine on the last Metal merchants Festival. Chilled it tasted like Milk Shake, even if it was pure vodka. Really crazy.

Party-time

At the small airport in Tallinn, all they had was the Green Apple version (or the straight 60% vodka) so that had to do.
My plan was to check in Helsinki while changing flights too but since our outbound jurney from Tallinn was delayed we had to make a run for it to catch our connection in Helsinki. We made it but I never thought the bags would too. They did. Oh, well, most of ours did, Helena's didn't show in Gothenburg. Guess I'll find out on Monday how things went with it...

But in general I really liked Tallinn. The city seemed friendly and cozy. The staff at Ericsson dedicated and determined to solve all issues and tasks we came up with. It felt really inspiring to talk to tham. That was the boost I needed in my work now. The grey weeks really started to be felt so this was a pleasant break from the jog trot.

Now it's time to go to the rehearse room to abuse my Black Beauty and Folkesson Marshall!

Cheers

E

NP: Pagan Altar - Volume 1

Friday on my mind

FRIDAY! Finally weekend! It has been a tough week but still a quite good one! I managed to find inspiration to change string on the Black Beauty Mockingbird and damn, now we're talking! It got a 100 times better with the strings I normally use. The tone, the feeling, everything!

Tomorrow it's time for Bullet's release party for "Highway Pirates". I think that will be a very fun event. Bullet is always fun to see live at least.


But first we're going to Falkenberg to rehearse with Void Moon. The new songs really start to take shape. The next demo will sound quite different from the first one I think, it will sound really good though, it already does and for now it's only cut and paste and repeat in cubase. Drums will be recorded next weekend and then we'll be working hard. A planned release is for Hammer Of Doom Festival in mid April.

Sunday will be spent playing with my new amp and get charged to record the support guitar for two songs for the Cult Of The Fox record. everything at the same time of course... But it's damn much fun ot play for real again. I just wish I had more time and more energy. I've been dead tired coming home from work so it takes a lot of effort to get started. Have solos and harmonies to write for both Void Moon and Cult Of The Fox you know...

the I started to check the possibility to go to the British Steel V Festival. The line-up sure is a killer and London in April is always nice. The flight would be like €40 with Ryanair for a Return the only downside is that we'll leave early Saturday morning and go back even earlier Sunday morning... I guess it will be worth it!

Well, back to dinner plans... Baked potatoes is the dish for tonight!

Cheers

E

NP: Graveyard Dirt - For Grace Or Damnation

LOUDER please!

Yesterday was just one of those days that have the ultimate ups and a lot of small but extremely annoying downs. In the morning I had a mail waiting for me from Tommy Folkesson saying my amp was done and he was going to send it on Monday morning, available for me to pick up on Monday afternoon! SUPER!!! I’ve been looking forward to play my Marshall again. The few minutes it sounded ok before the fix was so cool. Ok, I would have loved to try it out with my new Mockingbird but one can’t get it all, right?

My good mood stayed almost the entire day. Some annoying work discussion bummed me out a bit but all that was gone as soon as I started to think about my amp again. Then packing everything to leave the office the zipper on my backpack broke. I managed to close it as much as nothing would fall out at least and headed for the bus. It was really chilly and humid out so I tried to zip my jacket. It felt a little strange going up and I can see how it opens again when looking down. Then the whole mechanism falls off. I admit I start to get really annoyed here. Today I dug out another one from the closet, my dad’s old suede blazer. It’s warm and cozy and zips with buttons but it looks very Hippie… Oh well… Guess I need to go for a shopping spree soon.

My amp has got a new heart

Then I had to take the decision of if it’s ok to walk for 25-35 minutes from the rehearse room to home with an open jacket, take the bus downtown and wait for the next one for about 20-25 minutes to go home. Take the bus directly from the pick-up and carry the amp the last 500-700m… It weighs about 20kg + the new (4-channel) footswitch… I decided none of these were a good idea and picked up my amp from the jolly guy at the bus gods service and headed for the cab station right across from the pickup.

There’s a new Taxi company here… They yelled at me last time when I didn’t want to go with them, at that time I’d already booked with the company I have to use for work-travel. No matter what, not a very good first impression! Now there was only that new company available. I decided to try them and got into the cab. The driver was a nice elderly guy with an Arabic-Finnish accent who probably won his license at the lottery. He was driving very slow and fitfully stopping for Green light almost. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to take as long as possible to get me home. Ok, the cab ride wasn’t more expensive than the other companies and I got home alright so I shouldn’t complain I guess.

I still really wanted to play and started up my computer to amuse myself a little with Cubase. Then the trial version of Amplitube had expired and some white noise was floating around in the speakers… Really annoying so no dist for me. Ok, it worked quite fine anyway but a heavy riff without dist sounds a little bit funny… Peter helped me when he got home and now the Amplitube is working again and I got some stuff recorded. That’s good. Now I need to take action with the new Mockingbird changing to thicker strings (Ernie Ball 9-46 is the thing), balance the Floyd and tune it. Then it should be ready to rock.

But I think I've spoilt the cat really bad! He's just meowing in the kitchen all the time I'm at home scratching on the fridge or the door to the cupboard the cat food is kept in!

Nice-pose

The weekend was amazing though. Friday morning we hit the road heading for Oslo and Metal Merchants Festival. We were fortunate enough to find a good deal at the Radisson Blue hotel including the breakfast buffet. But you never know with these luxury hotels, how they will react when you arrive. No problems this time, the clerk was really nice and checked us in. You never really know, sometimes the staff is nice but they give you the look as if you’re not worthy of staying at the hotel. Luckily not this time, and there were other Metal Heads on the Hotel as well.

The Festival was a killer, all bands did really good, over my expectations all of them but I think Procession won it all. Elixir and Nuclear Assault wasn’t far behind though so it might change later on when I’m going through everything for the report.

Cheers
E

NP: Elixir - All Hallows Eve

The art of being freaky

Sometimes I get so disappointed with myself when I see something cool, think of documenting it with the camera but still just walk passed it an spend a week after regretting it. I've been better, I went out to document the foggy morning and then the very white morning in Sandviken. But there are SO MANY MORE OCCASIONS I should have done the same.

Last Saturday for example. There was this Gipsy Jazz Swing Orchestra playing some hysteric Django Reiherdt alike music. No guitars though but accordian, some stringinstrument I don't know the name on and a contrabass. Three tiny unwashed boggers but damn they could play...

The reason we were down town was to get some input to a future demo/record cover, checking out the cenmetary here to find some cool statues or figures. Nothing really cool though more than a really scary statue of a praying kid. We'll see what we can do about that one.

Then it was time for a Cult Of The Fox rehearsal in Malmö. We drove down and Peter stayed. I took the train back home and arrived just before midnight. Jumping off the bus I met an amazing sight, it was a little misty but the moon was almost full and with the mist, street lights and everything it was a really fascinating act in the sky. Of course I should have used a camera support but I brought that to Malmö adn wasn't really up for carrying it on the train... So the focus could have been better but I think they turned out pretty cool anyway... I don't think the rest of the people getting of at the same bus stop saw the beauty in it all though. All went straight over to the other side of the road walking significantly faster than before I decided I jsut HAD to take some pictures of the moon.

Cheers

E

NP: While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose