Record Shoppers Anonymous #15

The meetings last Friday really became extended so it took a while before I could hit the road towards Höör. It was a nice drive most of the time but turning into Road 13 towards Höör the sunny weather changed and it started to snow heavily. Lucky enough it was just a little here and there and it had stopped when I reached Höör. Still I think it is way to cold and snowy for this time of the year.

My cold almost given up and I was starting to feel quite normal during the end of last week. Now it was Peter's turn instead. He was a bit low when I got home so we turned in early Friday. Saturday I woke up, feeling rested and decided to take care of the laundry. I can say like this, it won't be as nice to hang out in the basement anymore. I found Hubert lurking in the laundry room and something as big as that need a name. I think it is a normal house spider so it's not dangerous but just really creepy and scary. 
 

Hubert is about 7-8cm's from front to end including all 8 legs... I sure hope he's all grown up now! 

To something a little more fun instead, Peter's first batch of home made beer got ready just before the weekend. First edition got the name "Mourning Brew", and is a dark ale. Really easy to drink with a slight bit of a fruity taste. Really nice actually! So it will absolutely be another batch, Peter mentioned something about a Stout for the next try, all well by me. The brand name "Isle of the Black Cat" came from this summer when we visited Peter's parents in their summer cabin at Hasslö and I was picking black and red currants and the cat kept me company around the bushes.

So the brand makes red currant jelly and black currant jam apart from the beer. Perhaps production of apple pure if the tree in the backyard allows it!  We'll see what happens during the summer.

It's very nice that the Festival season (and concert season) starts now. Keep It True is just a few weeks away. But first it is Saint Vitus and Helloween, Edward from Triffid productions was nice and gave me a photopass for Helloween. According to the promoters at Loppen I don't need a pass for Saint Vitus, as long as I check with the bands it's ok. So now I need to figure out how to do that! :O)

But KIT looks nice as always! Saturday will be really tough even if I like the line-up for Friday also. But Warlord, Angel Witch, Steel Prophet, Jack Starr and Legend, that really is a killer line-up!

Then it seems like April will continue it a furious speed. Perhaps a few trips with work and at the end of the month, Overkill and perhaps also Doro. We'll see what I manage to squeeze in to the schedule. 

I was complaining about not having any incoming packages last weekend. Of course I realized I had a few records to look for and hitting Underground Powers eBay store I realized just HOW much I had on my want-list! A very fast delivery from Underground Power and I could pick up my package when I got back home. 

So the weekend was spent listening to music. I can't remember the last time I listened to music as many hours as I did this weekend. Of course, since Peter stayed in bed most weekend I amused myself with writing MK stuff so apart from the nice package (Lord, Obsession, Taunted, Overlorde SR, Midite Hellion and Axxion) it was also a lot of stuff that I need to review, like Colossus (Swe), Kingcrow, Hürlement, Omission and of course the new Vicious Rumors "Electric Punishment" plus a whole lot more. 

And from TPL, two weeks back I got the new Saxon album, really nice Picture Disc in a Gatefold sleeve, really nice. Also Witchgrave. So it was a very small package this time. Actually, the new Circle II Circle was in there also, wonder why I forgot that one... I didn't like it very much when I first started to listen to it, but it actually is getting better for each spin.

Peter got two albums as well, Alice Cooper and Black Hole. 
And last but not least, I finally got my Eleminator tape. Daniele was really nice and sent a bonus tape, Nekrofilth which was quite cool as well. Perhaps not REALLY my favorite style of music but not bad at all.

So the weekend was really nice even if I felt sorry for Peter (apparently my cold wasn't a real man-cold because Peter was much worse than I ever was). I needed a calm weekend and it was really nice to just explore a bit and dig up new nice bands.

The drive back to Borås Monday morning was rough. I didn't want to leave Peter in his misery, also it would have been very nice to have another day just like Sunday (Hubert was gone from the basement then too) and just listen to more music and perhaps play a bit of Guitar as well.

At least it was a nice, but cold day Monday morning. It's good that it is daylight out and that the roads are getting dry. Still there's so much salt our Blue car is completely grey even if I washed it about two weeks ago. 

It feels like I'm shopping a lot now... (found a cool bookshelf at Blocket as well but it might be a bit too big for the house) But I'm living my dream and I really want a BBQ Grill and they actually had 2 very cool ones at ICA... So the aim is to spend some of the bonus money that arrives in April on one of them!

So I really hope the summer will be as long as winter so I can threw a lot of candlelight BBQ suppers out on the deck, but sure, with a grill like these it just need to be above 0 (ok, a little warmer perhaps) until I can start with it all. Half the deck is under roof so that should be fine...

Cheers
E

NP: OBSESSION - Order of Chaos

 

Metal on Metal

I don't get it... I really shouldn't be restless now. I have tons of things to do at work, I've been working hard to catch up with the Metal Kaoz stuff and I've kept myself (and Peter) busy trying to figure out how to take care of the Void Mansion. It was great to get out too, the weekend when we went to Stockholm and Sandviken and got to go to a few concerts. It's actually very strange for me, Blaze/Dianno and Manowar were the first concerts since Malta Doom Metal Festival. Peter also got to see British Lion with Steve Harris (and said it was good) but for me I was in Stockholm when they played in Gothenburg and in Höör when they played in Stockholm. Of course there's been a lot of other things happening but still, I normally go to 1-3 concerts/week else. But either, I've been in Stockholm when the bands playing in Gothenburg or the other way around. The Gothenburg concerts happening in the weekends, and the ones in Malmö in the weeks.. Nothing has really gone my way!
But now it looks a bit better. I'm really looking forward to see Saint Vitus @ Loppen in Copenhagen on Easter Thursday. 

And then Helloween and Gamma Ray @ Arenan in Stockholm. 

My plans actually worked for me this time and I'll be working from Stockholm so I can see this one there. 
Then Keep It True is just a few days away. That will be amazing. I realized though I haven't really told my boss or my colleagues  I'll be out of office for a few days, or really, work from home half Thursday and off Friday... But it normally isn't any problems with that! We are rather busy though. 

One more thing I really would have wanted to join this time is the Sweden Rock Cruise. Would be very cool to get to see Queensryche with Todd LaTorre since he was awesome with Crimson Glory (Still a huge shame he quit CG though) and 220 Volts. Only seen them once and that was my first real concerts at "Folkan" in Hofors at the Swedish Monsters Of Rock tour in 1988!!! But not this time so I sure hope there will be more opportunities to see both bands in the future. 

But first a calm weekend to cure this damn cold so I can start to go to the gym again. I was really good at the beginning of this year as well as the last one, but then it has been up and down. I need to get back on track. Need it for my back and also to burn off the stress from work. So I sure hope I will be well enough next week.

Cheers
E

NP: ARIA - Blood for Blood

 

Cat on cat

During the night we heard a noise from the kitchen, of course the house makes a lot of noises all the time but this was something falling. Neither me nor Peter wanted to get out of bed to check it, we just assumed it was the cat making a mess.
And right it was! My thought was of course that he was on the flower I got for my birthday from Peter's parents (apparently it worked well as cat grass, yummy) but when I got down in the morning it was the egg clock looking like a fat and grumpy cat that was on the floor, in pieces... That cat BASTARD!! :O) He sure is good at making a mess. 

The weekend was spent curing my man-cold. It got a bit better during Saturday so I took the opportunity to write some reviews and reports for Metal Kaoz. Not the best idea since I felt worse for Sunday again. I decided to work from home Monday. So the driving from Höör to Borås happened yesterday instead. I took the car despite the warnings regarding snow chaos. I'm not sure if it was because it was Tuesday instead of Monday or if people had listened to the warnings and stayed home. The road was empty at least. Both from cars and snow... The roads was really dry and nice. 

But of course, it took the opportunity to watch a few movies during the weekend. I bought "Last Days Here" and "Så Jävla Metal" when we were in Stockholm. Both were actually very good. It was horrible to see Bobby Liebling when he was at his worst. Fascinating film though and it was a good deal at Bengans as well, so check it out!!! 

"Så Jävla Metal" was a bit the same as that "Metal History", by the guy from "A Headbangers Journey" only that "Så Jävla Metal" was a bout Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal history. Cool interviews with bands from all time and genres but the nerd in me felt it was like most other documentary's, not deep enough. Well worth seeing at least, since it was both interesting and fun. The title sucks though I think (So fucking Metal).

And then a bit lighter entertainment too. I actually fell a sleep when we were watching Kenny Starfighter but that doesn't say anything about the movie in general. I normally do that. The other one Superhero Movie was actually very funny, same kind of humor as Naked Gun or Airplane. Exceeded our expectations a lot I have to say. I thought it would have been more like Scary Movie which of course is fun too but not close to Naked Gun and Airplane. But it was some really nice jokes in it, and it can't fail with Leslie Nielsen in a movie. Well spent 19SEK at ICA a couple of weeks back!

 
Of course I felt a bit sorry for myself since I was ill and I complained a bit that I didn't have any incoming packages to look forward to. Actually I didn't even have a clue what to look for at eBay. Patrik has become our personal shopper when it comes to new records and I get a package about every 6th week from TPL... But this time it was only two for me, Saxon "Sacrifice" on Picture disc and then the new Witchgrave. Nice of course but still... Both Peter and David got more than I did! So I started checking a bit and found a WHOLE batch on the Underground Power eBay page (had to leave a few ones I wanted because it got a bit expensive in total, damn good store that one). What I really like about it is that they have a whole lot of self released records, underground bands and an almost unlimited selection of US Power Metal, that I like. So when I get back to Höör again I'm sure I'll have a BIG package waiting to be picked up! 

But still some intense days at the office to go before it's weekend!

Cheers
E

NP: SAINT VITUS - "Lillie: F-65"

 

  

The demon god

ARGH, this damn cold just refuses to give up! I thought I was getting better by the end of last week but after a few hours walking downtown Stockholm Saturday changed that. Both me and Peter was frozen straight through both of us and afterwards our colds came back, mine in the worst way though. It must have been one of those man-colds!!! 
At least to cheer me up we got some good news for both Void Moon and Cult of the Fox. It seems like the Void Moon album "On the Blackest of Nights" will be available on vinyl in April, should be a good one.
Also, we got a releasedate for Cult of the Fox's second album "Angelsbane", that one will be out on CD on April 19th. AWESOME!!!

  
And also, title track "Angelsbane" is available as a sneak preview...

 
 
 But the weekend was really nice despite the cold!
The real reason for doing something special was because of my birthday, and Peter's a few weeks back too of course. The real plan was to see Blaze/Dianno in Stockholm Thursday, visit my parents Friday and celebrate a bit, see Candlemass, Wolf and Storyteller in Gävle Saturday and then go back to Sthlm for Manowar. Unfortunately the concert in Gävle was cancelled due to poor ticket sales they said. Really boring because I was really looking forward to see both Candlemass and Wolf. 

Still, we started off in Stockholm and warmed up for the show with some food. I couldn't really decide on a place since I was really hungry (missed lunch at work) so we sort of settled for the first place available. BBQ Place close to Hötorget, really nice food but it's not the coziest place. Peter took a Chili Burger but I had my mind set on Spare Ribs. The thing though, the dish was for 900g grilled BBQ ribs... Need I say I got stuffed?

 
The Blaze/Dianno concert was very nice too but Harry B James, as nice as it is to hang out at, really sucks as a concert venue. Hard to see anything if there's more than 20 people present. We were a bit lucky and got a table at a nice angle from stage and could stand on the chairs to see. The downside was that it was next to the door to the smoking area so it was very cold. But it was a nice evening, Nina joined me and Peter but unfortunately she had to leave just as Dianno started playing.

In Sandviken it still was winter and lots of snow. No new one though so no extra shoveling this time. We took the chance and went out for a walk in the sun too while up north, very cold but still nice because there was some warmth in the sun. These few moments just fed the irritation over winter, I'm SO SICK of the cold, sick of dry skin and electric hair... Still weeks of cold it seems like though.

Then we headed back to Stockholm, we had no real plan but since Peter haven't been there very much we thought we'd check it out a bit. Again we were way too hungry when heading out to find something to eat. Decided for the Pub Molly Malone around Odenplan. Nice food but both the Guiness and Kilkenny tasted sour, so only food and one drink there. Decided to go to Anchor afterwards instead. And it is just nice to sit there and hang and drink beer and watch people... Still an early night to be fit for the Manowar concert the day after. 

 
As mentioned, we went for a walk down town. The day looked very nice but damn it was cold! In Old Town a woman walked up to me saying "Hi Erika" and when I looked like a question mark she continued "now you need to think, don't you?". I couldn't for my life figure it out and search my brain for a reference, she was familiar but not more. It appeared to be an old schoolmate of mine which I don't think I've seen since the 9th grade or so... Strange and funny!'

But the Manowar concert was great!!! More on that on Metal Kaoz soon....

The only thing to complain about is that they don't allow any photographers at all. The light was great so it would have been a lot of fun to shoot it. The good thing though with absolutely no photos, no mobiles in the air either... No complains about anything when the band had left the stage though!

And also, in the misery of the cold, I got the new Vicious Rumors "Electric Punishment" for review! YEY!!! I know it will be better in a few weeks/months but it sure is kick ass already!!! So of course, this is the one that's been spinning ever since!

Well, back to coughing up alines...
Cheers
E

NP: VICIOUS RUMORS - Electric Punishment

 




 

 

Recordshoppers Anonymous #14

Hey, they promised some sun and heat for next week... Looking at the weather forecast for next week the temperature will just barely reach over 0 and THAT is not spring weather. I need some sun and heat now! Sure, it was sunny today but still a few degrees below 0.
My cold has been bugging me since I got back from Dallas, waking up in the mornings with a soar throat and now when that finally has given up an endelss flood of snot harasses me. Very annoying, I don't want to be ill. Or really, if I could get ill for real, then it might go away at least.

Going home Friday I met up with Peter in Hässleholm, he'd been to the postoffice to collect the new Void Moon shirts. They turne out really nice. They're also uploaded in the Void Moon web-shop if someone wants to spend their money!!! Or a mail can also be sent to contact@void-moon.com We still have some CD's for sale as well. Peter talked a little about bundling the Shirt with the CD in some way but we'll see how that turns out. The shirts are €10, the CD's €12 plus postage...

Then Saturday we started off with a Void Moon rehearsal in the Void Mansion Rehearseroom/Studio. The aim was to play a little and start go through some new material. The session turned out really nice and the rehearseroom is great! Still need some small fixes to numb the sound a bit since the walls are concrete but it still is better than any rehearseroom I've ever had. Also, it's great to know that noone touches my stuff. Even if you share with bands you trust there's always something borrowed and not put back. Still need to have the Peavey fixed though, it didn't survive Dock's Rock's this spring... Perhaps when the travel allowance arrives I can hand it in for repair. Meanwhile the Valvestate Combo works but the sound is always better with a Amp Head and Speaker Cabinet.

My Transplanted Marshall (check out Tommy Folkesson, website only in Swedish though it seems like) sounds AWESOME though. I was a bit hesitant at first since it was a lot of Money to spend to get it fixed. But what good is a non-working Marshall doing in the rehearseroom? 4-channel Mark V it is now!

Then, when arriving from USA, I had a package waiting for me with some really nice music in it. Sure, it was nice to come back to Peter, the Cat and the Void Mansion but not the Swedish winter. But at least this package made everything a little brighter.

I think this was my second order from Underground Power. A quite small dealer but the service is awesome. Fast and smooth transactions and very reasonable prices, even for postage to Sweden. So apart from the vinyls I got Briar Rose, Icarus Witch and Gothing Knights. All of them really good but I think Icarus Witch has lost a bit of their uniqueness with the change of singer. It still sounds very good of course but it isn't anything really special anymore.

 

Of course, a few packages from other places had arrived as well so I sure have a lot of new things to listen to now.

But it didn't stop there, Peter picked up the package in the beginning of last week so I had a pile of records waiting for me at the kitchen table when I got home. Manilla Road, Helloween, Screamer, Persian Risk, Tyranex, Savage and Sentinel Beast. The Quartz CD was for Peter and the Attic CD... Well, still mine but I'm actually disappointed with it.  

In the same package the Blind Guardian box "A Travellers Guide to Space and Time" was stuffed in between the vinyls. Massive piece of work I must say. 15 CD's, Art Print, massive booklet and a guitar pick. Perhaps not all that necessary since I have most of it already but there are some really cool demos and such included as well. And it will look great together with the rest on the shelf.



 

So this weekend it has been a bit of war over the stereo! Peter is still in his Styx period but also has he been reading the Dee Snider biography so it has been a lot of Twisted Sister, Desperado, Widowmaker and such as well. And then me trying to get one of the new ones on in between the Dee Snider and Styx stuff! So it sure has been a weekend in the sign of music. Both playing, writing and listening a whole lot to new and old stuff. And all this to go with a few beers and great company, it really is awesome. Saturday was also Peter's birthday so after the rehearsal it all turned into a party. Or, some birthday dinner with Chicken Fajitas and Salsa from Hell. Habanero's are VERY spicy!!! But it tasted ok anyway and it was a very nice evening. Just unfortunate the weekend ended way to fast (as always).

 

Cheers

E

 

NP: GILLAN - Magic

Axe to Grind

Sure, it is a nice today. The sun even manages to show itself on occasion but of course, that mean it is freezing outside. They promised though it should be up until +10 C next week. I just hope this is true. My hair can't take this... Oh, well, I can't stand my hair this time of the year since it get so damn static, I get electric shocks as soon as I touch anything, especially the cat. Poor guy!

But spring is coming and there are a lot of things to look forward to. The Festivals of course but also a lot of good records, have Saxon, Circle II Circle, Attacker, Persian Risk, Savage, Air Raid, Screamer, Witchgrave coming in during the next few weeks. And the list seem endless from time to time.

One I especially look forward to though is this one;

Vicious Rumors "Electric Punishment" is released through SPV at the end of April. That will be really cool.
In the same link there were an extensive list of tourdates as well so I guess I need to start planning.

Then of course, this tour is also very tempting;

Savatage's "Edge of Thorns" is an amazing album and Zak Stevens is a fantastic singer so this would be awesome to see. On the other hand, I really want them to play a lot of Circle II Circle material too so I really hope this will be an extensive show.
Then of course, both Nightmare and Eternal Flight are really cool so the line-up is a killer for sure.

Looking at the list of dates, both tours seem to hit Budapest on May 20 which if course is a little annoying, 2 days in a row and that would have been a given trip! So I really hope these days are not 100% confirmed yet and it could work out with a weekend in Hungary at the end of May. I've never been there, not Peter either so it would be cool to go there for a long weekend and combine that with some cool gigs also.

This weekend we've planned a songwriting session with Void Moon. There are a lot of new ideas and it will be really cool to hang out in the Void Mansion Rehearseroom/Studio and just jam on new ideas and riffs!
Also, we will pick up the brand new Void Moon T-shirts today! They looked very cool when the design was checked at least so I think these ones will turn out great! Stay tuned, I suppose there will be pictures posted during the weekend. 

And then of course, it's Peter's birthday also so we'll have an after rehearsal birthday party/dinner. So now I get another chance to arrange a candlelight supper with the fine China! *s* Naah, I think we settled on Chicken/Veg Fajitas actually... Convenient and easy to make and a lot can be prepared in advance.

Cheers
E

NP: VICIOUS RUMORS - Razorback Killers

 

 
 

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