Power Metal

This is an area of metal that I have spent many years obsessing over. As a classically trained violinist I naturally have a love for intricate melodies and well thought-out chord progressions, so it only makes sense that I would love these elements even more when combined with the heaviness of metal!

 One of the bands that I play bass guitar for (Thunderwolf) falls into this sub-genre, so I have a few years first-hand experience playing this style of music. Unfortunately we haven't recorded anything in a while, but to give you an idea of what we sound like here's two of our songs that we recorded a couple of years ago -

Firewind


This Greek band are a power-house of musical talent. I had the pleasure of seeing them live at a small London venue last year, which was a great experience. Their performance was flawless and, thanks to the intimate venue, was very engaging with the crowd. Their singer, Apollo, has an impressive vocal range as well as having an amazingly powerful voice. The drummer and bass player I found to be adequate, but not as impressive as the other members. That said, they did their job of providing an extremely tight rhythm section for the band. One of the two guitarists, Bob Katsionis, displayed some incredible fret-work, but that's just half of his talent. He also plays synth in the band, and sometimes even plays both at once harmonizing with himself - impressive stuff.
 There is one important member left that I have yet to mention... Gus G. This guitar wizard is one of my favourite guitarists of all time, and it's not surprising that his talent recently landed him with the job of playing guitar for none other than Ozzy Osbourne.
 Enough typing from me - listen to some music from this awesome band!











Galneryus


 Now to another part of the world - Japan. Home to some of the most talented people in the world, not just exclusively musicians. You know what they say - no matter how good you are at something, there's a little Asian kid somewhere who is 100x better than you. Fact.
 This Japanese supergroup are no exception. I don't want to bore you with paragraphs of words analyzing each member - just watch this.


 


Pretty impressive huh? Needless to say, that bass solo @ 2:30 is BEAST!


This following clip is the intro track to their 2010 album 'Resurrection'. It's an instrumental track, and i personally find it to be very powerful - I love the key modulation at around 0:59. The album artwork fits perfectly - I can just imagine soaring through the skies of a fantasy world, mounted on the back of a dragon; sword in one hand, tankard of mead in the other!









Edguy


One of my favourite power metal bands. The clip below is a song that I used to cover with my power band - bringing back lots of good memories!








Gamma Ray


 Now we come to one of my all time favourite bands - Gamma Ray. Cheesy as hell, but that ain't a bad thing! In true traditional power metal fashion, their lyrics paint pictures of fantasy worlds and talk of fictional creatures. Here's a good example - Heart Of The Unicorn.






This next song explores the idea of a 'new world order', brought upon the world by the Illuminati - a secret society that have been discussed by conspiracy theorists for many years, and I'm sure this will remain for years to come. This is a really uplifting song, much like the majority of their back-catalogue! Enjoy.





Kamelot

 I'm going to round of this post with yet another epic power metal band. The song below is easily one of my favourite of theirs, and certainly one of their most successful. I love the arpeggiated synth part during the chorus, and the subtle guitar harmonies are perfectly placed. The time signature changes work incredibly well (5/4 verse, 6/4 pre-chorus i believe), and doesn't confuse the listener so much as to interrupt their headbanging rhythm!





I may revisit this post to update date it with some more examples of this epic sub-genre of metal. Hope you enjoyed my selection of music!

Must-See Films of 2011

 Decided to put together a collection of recent films that I really enjoy, and also give a little description of them (without giving too much away, of course!). I'm going to try to choose films from a variety of genres, but we'll see how it goes...


Trollhunter


 This Norwegian film explores the idea of trolls living under government secrecy in uninhabited parts of Norway. Filmed in a documentary style following a group of student film-makers, you witness their discovery as they follow a suspicious character believed to be an illegal bear hunter. It becomes clear very early on in the film that this is not his occupation.
 The acting in this film is disturbingly convincing, and it is very easy to forget at times that you are not watching a documentary but in fact a fictional story. That is, of course, until you are confronted with a troll.
 I don't want to give away too much, but there is a scene in this film which has a direct reference to the Norwegian fairy tale 'De Tre Bukkene Bruse' (Three Billy Goats Gruff), in which the main troll-hunter character lures a bridge-dwelling troll using three goats as bait!
Filmed in Norwegian with English subtitles.






Hobo With A Shotgun


 This film started out as a fictitious trailer for the double-feature Grindhouse movies (Planet Terror/Death Proof), which also had another feature-length film made from one of its other trailers, Machete.
 The story follows a homeless man who hitches a ride on a cargo train to a town ruled by a ruthless family of torturous and inhumane people. The civilians live in fear, and after experiencing his own confrontation with the two violent brothers, he becomes a vigilante and tries to help the people of this town. Not to be taken 100% seriously, but highly enjoyable nonetheless. Jam-packed with mindless violence and brutality, this is my kind of flick.
 Also, there is an interesting choice of song for the closing credits, which seems to fit surprisingly well... or Is that just me?




Limitless


 Probably my favourite film that I saw in the cinema last year, Limitless was one of those films that made you walk out of the cinema asking yourself "what if?".
 The main character, played by Bradley Cooper (whom most of you would probably know from his role in The Hangover), is a failed writer who seems to lack in any achievements. It looks to him like nothing could be done to change his life, until he is approached by the brother of his ex-girlfriend who claims to have a miracle drug that can unleash the full potential of the human brain. Using this new substance, his life is tranformed and all seems to good to be true. So, naturally, there is a catch to this wonder-drug... Watch the film to find out more.
 With a great cast and, as usual, a brilliant performance from Robert De Niro (one of my all time favourite actors), this is one film from 2011 that should not be missed. I particularly liked the way in which certain scenes of this were filmed. For example, when our main character is under the influence of the fictional drug NZT, the camera adopts a first person view which both travels forward and zooms into the screen. Hards to describe, but take it from me, it's trippy shit.






Machete


 Danny Trejo, everyones favourite badass Mexican, stars in this film which was the first of two fictitious Grindhouse trailers to be made into a full feature-length production (the other being the previously mentioned Hobo With A Shotgun).
 The character he portrays is an ex-police officer who is a fugitive from a corrupt higher power in Mexico. He decides to continue his life as an illegal citizen in the United States, but it's not long before his past catches up with him.
 Using his combat skills and experience from his past life he hacks and slashes his way through any foe that stands between him and justice, using his signature weapon that gives the name to his character, and indeed the whole film - Machete.
 This is another film to feature the brilliant Robert De Niro (who convincingly plays a left wing state senator), among other huge Hollywood names including Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, and even an appearance from Cheech Marin whom we all know all love from the cult stoner movies Cheech & Chong. Lindsay Lohan also features in this film as a meth-abusing daddys girl - a part that I'm sure came naturally to her without having to do too much research into how to portray the role...
 Definitely a film worth checking out. I personally found it extremely enjoyable.







I will do another similar post in the future - no doubt I will soon come across another bunch of films that I have to share with the world! Any feedback is welcome, and feel free to make any suggestions for my next post.

Doom/Stoner/Sludge

 Although I have been listening to metal for a large portion of my life, there are still areas of this massive and fascinating genre that I have overlooked; not due to ignorance, but mainly because the sub-genres that appealed to me when i first started listening to heavy music have kept me entertained for so many years.

An area of heavy metal that I have been developing a growing appreciation for is doom, sludge, and stoner. Ok... so that's three different sub-genres if you want to start nit-picking, but you know what I mean. Slow shit. Real slow.

Orange Goblin was one of the first stoner rock bands that i encountered, which was several years ago. I loved the riffs, and hearing a new style of production instantly grabbed my attention. It contrasted with the modern music production techniques that I had become so used to hearing on my Pantera, Children Of Bodom, and Machine Head CD's. I think that my naive mind told me that unless it was fast, it wasn't heavy. So i dismissed the band as something that wasn't to my liking. Oh how wrong I was...

Here I am, several years later, eager to expand my knowledge of stoner metal, while simultaneously hating myself for not developing this intrigue when i first discovered OG. It is safe to say that I am still only scratching the surface (with help from friends who's music taste is more or less strictly doom & sludge).

Healing Through Fire was the Orange Goblin album that I first came across. Having recently revisited this album, i can only repeat what I said before about my self-hate for not completely falling in love with this band from day 1. The opening of Hounds Ditch is reminiscent of Downs' Temptations Wings (a band that I have been crazy about for many moons), and hearing it again triggered a memory of the thoughts that went through my mind when i first listened to this song years ago; "these guys are ripping off Down!". Upon revisiting the album, my thoughts were much less dismissive, and i thoroughly enjoyed every track. Ben Wards vocals are both melodic and powerful, and complement every aspect of the bands sound. Below are a couple of songs from this album that were instantly recognizable to me, even after years of not listening to them.




 Now, for those of you reading this that have a deeper understanding for all things sludgey, which is probably most of you (shit, I feel like my nan probably knows more about it than me right now), you're probably thinking "Orange Goblin ain't slow! You don't know shit!". It may not be the slowest of bands but it's served well as bridging the gap between my speed metal/thrash tendencies, to the slower-than-slow bands that I recently seem to have been continuously discovering.

 Electric Wizard is a band that I have been aware of for quite some time now, but similarly to my relationship with OG, I hadn't given myself a chance to listen to their music properly. I recently purchased their album "Dopethrone" and stuck it on my MP3 player for a long commute that I had to take on Londons glorious public transport system (*sigh*). Train arrived, found myself seat, headphones on, pressed play. Next thing I know, I've arrived at my destination with little to no memory of how the hell I got there. I'd completely zoned out, and it was only when I realised I had arrived at the place I was traveling to that I'd had the album on repeat. The bass tone on the Dopethrone is incredible, and as a bassist myself, I made a mental note to do some research into how to achieve this sound. Fortunately, there is a wealth of bass forums discussing how to get the sound I desire. I found this thread on TalkBass.com particularly helpful -
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/ultimate-stoner-doom-sludge-psychedelic-effects-thread-547972/





One of my more recent discoveries has been a band called Pilgrim, who are signed to Metal Blade Records. I came across them while searching the internet for some recommended recent metal releases, eager to update my iTunes music library (including my personal brain music library). Their album entitled Misery Wizard which came out at the end of last month sounded appealing, so I checked out some of the recordings on youtube before deciding that I wanted to contribute to this band by purchasing some of their songs. Their riffs are catchy, the production is tight, and i love the vocals. Although not as bass guitar heavy as some of the other bands i have come across in this genre, I found myself really enjoying every note. I highly recommend this album! Here is one of my favourite tracks from Misery Wizard -






Now, onto a band that I was introduced to by a friend, and how grateful I am to that person!

BONGRIPPER.

 Satan Worshipping Doom is one hell of a doom metal EP. The four tracks (respectively titled Hail, Satan, Worship, and Doom) showcase a real heavy side to slow music. THIS is the sort of shit I wish I stumbled across years ago when I was so set in my ways about heavy music having to be fast!

 My favourite track on the EP (Satan) starts off sounding brilliantly black metal. It starts with atmospheric tension-building chords, which are eventually accompanied by a natural sounding blast beat (not the over-triggered type of blast we are all used to hearing on modern death metal recordings). Then, the groove. Then, another fist-pounding groove. Then a perfectly placed tempo change. Seriously, this track is full of progression, movement, and riff evolution. Just listen to it, you won't regret it.
 Oh and i fucking love the artwork for this masterpiece as well!

 

I'm going to leave it there for now, and I plan on doing another post similar to this at some point. Hopefully by then I will have done more than just scratched the surface!

Zombies + Star Wars = Nerdgasm

 It is no secret that i am a big fan of zombie horror flicks. The same can be said for my obsession with George Lucas' space opera, "Star Wars". Thanks to the magic of google image search, I have found countless pieces of artwork which mash-up these two interests of mine. Here are just a few of my favourites, although I'm certain there are plenty more to be found lurking online.