Metalblog

Dark Angel, Death Angel, Morbid Angel, Snow Angel

Which one doesn’t fit?

Let’s see: Both Dark Angel and Death Angel were/are thrash metal bands. Morbid Angel is a death metal band. Snow Angel is what you do in your backyard when it snowed all day and you just came home from the pub.

Let’s start with the odd one out: Snow Angel

Here is Mrs Metalblog making a Snow Angel in the backyard after an evening at the pub. Mrs Metalblog walked to work this afternoon because of the snow. Since I ‘m currently between jobs, I met her at the pub before she had a chance to walk past it on her way home. A couple of hours later and this was the result:

After Mrs Metalblog got the Snow Angel started, it was my turn to reinforce the angel into the snow.

For those of you here for your metal, I’ll leave you with videos of the other three angels.

First up is thrash metal band Dark Angel performing “Merciless Death” at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1989.

Next is the video for “Thicker Than Blood” by thrash metal band Death Angel from their 2004 Nuclear Blast release The Art of Dying.

And last is death metal band Morbid Angel performing “Chapel of Ghouls” live at Nottingham Rock City in 1989.

The Metalblog would like to finally bring some GOOD news to any metal heads from  south of the border.Thrash metal band Overkill have rescheduled their previously canceled Mexican tour.

Rumors of pressure being put on the band by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after officials read the Metalblog post about immigration being set to rise after Overkill cancelled their tour have yet to be proven.

Whatever the reasons, Mexican thrashers can now catch Overkill on the following dates:

May 15 - Arena Chihuahua, Chihuahua
May 16 - Café Iguana, Monterrey
May 17 - Circo Volador, Mexico City

And if that’s not enough to put a smiles on the faces of Mexican headbangers, Iron Maiden have announced the support acts for their Mexico City stop on their Somewhere Back In Time tour.

Along with the ever present opener of Iron Maiden shows and daughter of Maiden bassist Steve Harris - Lauren Harris, the Mexico City crowd gets not uno, but dos death metal legends with Morbid Angel and Carcass also scheduled to appear on the bill.

What the hell is up with that? Here in the UK Maiden usually gives us Lauren Harris and whatever trend band made the front cover of the latest issue of Kerrang. Maybe it’s time to consider moving to Mexico. Si?

It may be dark, cold, and dreary in England as I write this post, but through the wonders of modern technology I will be in 70 to 80 degree sunshine in Phoenix, Arizona (For anybody doing the EntreCard competition, there’s your answer) by the time this post is published.

Phoenix might be hot, but it is usually not considered a hot-bed for heavy metal. But there are exceptions to every rule and a couple of good thrash metal bands came out of the Phoenix area.

One of those bands is Flotsam and Jetsam.  Flotsam and Jetsam are destined to be remembered as the band that Jason Newsted was in before he joined Metallica.

This is a shame because the band only recorded one album with Newsted, 1986’s Doomsday For The Deceiver. Singer Eric A.K. and guitarist Ed Carlson have kept Flotsam and Jetsam going and the band has released a further eight albums, the latest being Dreams of Death in 2005.

The other notable thrash metal band from Phoenix is Sacred Reich. Sacred Reich played politically-themed thrash metal with a social conscious. They broke up in 2000, but reformed in 2007 to play some European shows. Sacred Reich are scheduled to tour Euope again this coming summer.

Here is the video for the title track to Sacred Reich’s 1987 album Ignorance.

The Metalblog is predicting an increase in illegal immigrants crossing over the US border from Mexico. Will these new illegal immigrants be coming to America for jobs and security? No way, Jose.

They’ll be coming looking for thrash metal.

A posting on Blabbermouth states:

“Veteran New Jersey thrashers OVERKILL have cancelled their previously announced shows in Mexico “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

“The affected dates are as follows:

Jan. 23 - Monterrey, MEX - Rock Amerika
Jan. 24 - Mexico City, MEX - Circo Volador”

It was two months ago when the Metalblog reported Bay Area thrashers Exodus cancelled their planned Mexican tour. That’s two thrash metal pioneers cancelling Mexican tours in two months.

I know if I was in Mexico right now I’d be blowing up my arm bands like the kid pictured on the left and heading for the border. Screw the border patrol, give me THRASH!

But I can understand their predictament being an immigrant myself. Though I prefer the word “pilgrim” to immigrant, having left my American heritage behind to be closer to the heavy metal holy sites of Donnington and Hammersmith.

And how am I repaid for my emmigrating?  By getting not just one Mexican tour cancelling thrash metal legend, but two Mexican tour cancelling thrash metal legends playing on the same night when Overkill and Exodus come to London next month as part of the European Killfest tour. Sometimes you have to go where the metal is instead of sitting around waiting for the metal to come to you.

Bay Area thrash metal legends Testament will perform their first two albums, The Legacy and The New Order, at the Islington Academy in London on March 25th.

According to Metal Hammer magazine’s website:

“This unique “Metal Hammer Presents…” event will showcase the face-melting albums that kick-started the TESTAMENT story and helped create a monumental legacy that now stretches over 25 years. The set is also set to include a neck-cracking encore that will be drawn from the very best of the rest of the band’s back catalog, possibly including cuts from the group’s 2008 Metal Hammer Golden Gods “Album Of The Year”, “The Formation Of Damnation”.

“Founding guitarist Eric Peterson spoke exclusively to Metal Hammer about this one-off event: “If anybody’s gonna get a special show it’s London! They don’t say the term ‘London Rocks’ around the world for nothing!”

“Oi! We will expect all the legions to be present at this show! Heavy futten met-all!”"

This is the fourth Testament headline show announced for the UK in 2009. Testament will also be playing Priest Feast tour dates with Judas Priest and Megadeth, and one date opening for fellow thrashers Megadeth in Newcastle.

Other Testament UK headlining tour dates are:

TESTAMENT O2 Academy Liverpool THU 12/02/2009 19:30
TESTAMENT O2 Academy 2 Oxford THU 19/02/2009 19:30
TESTAMENT Rescue Rooms Nottingham SUN 22/02/2009 19:30

The Metalblog will be at the London show at the Islington Academy on March 25th. Last time I saw Testament was at Koko in Camden in 2005 when the band recorded their Live in London DVD and CD. Buy the DVD if you ever wondered what the back of my head looks like - it makes a number of appearances on the DVD.

It was an OK year for the Metalblog and gigs. Family problems over the summer meant I wasn’t able to get to as many as hoped for, but the Metalblog still was able to catch some good concerts in 2008 (including Metallica’s Death Magnetic release party at the O2 Arena for only £5) and these were my favorites.

The runners up for Metalblog 2008 Concert of the Year…

Obituary/Holy Moses -  ULU, London 03/02/08

The all too rare UK appearance of Holy Moses as opening act for Obituary is what brings this gig into my top 3 for 2008. Sure, Obituary are legends of Florida death metal, but Holy Moses are also legends - of German thrash metal.I was on the barrier for the whole of Holy Moses’ set and it was one of the best sets I saw from any band in 2008. Obituary weren’t too shabby either.

Helloween/Gamma Ray - Shepherds Bush Empire, London 08/01/08

More German metal legends, but this time in the power metal genre. Gamma Ray started after guitarist, and original singer, Kai Hansen left Helloween. Nearly twenty years later he was sharing a stage with them once again. At the end of Helloween’s set Hansen and Gamma Ray joined Helloween for some classic Helloween numbers that sent everybody home in power metal heaven.

And the winner of Metalblog’s Best Concert for 2008 is….

Municipal Waste/Toxic Holocaust/Mutant/Seregon - Islington Academy, London 06/02/08

While no single band from this show could have made this list on their own, this was the most solid lineup of any show I saw in 2008. Four good young thrash metal bands taking no prisoners.

Things kicked off with two of the Metalblog’s favorite unsigned bands, Seregon and Mutant getting the crowd warmed up in style and getting the mosh pit readied for the American acts to follow.

Mutant was followed by Toxic Holocaust, who played a great set of blackened thrash and then Municipal Waste playing their party crossover thrash. Municipal Waste’s set was short for a headlining act, but with the allround great thrash show just witnesedthere were few complaints - not to mention most of the audience was probablly too drunk to notice or care.

It’s now time for the Metalblog to reveal its favorite heavy metal album of 2008. The criteria is simple enough. The album has to have been released in 2008 and has to be metal. Albums are judged on one thing - how often I listened to the album in 2008 and how often I’m likely to listen to it in 2009 and beyond. Originality, artistic merit, or level of brutality count for nothing if I don’t want to listen to the album over and over.

First the runners up for the Metalblog 2008 Album of the Year…

Testament - The Formation of Damnation

It was a long wait between albums from Testament, who reformed with its classic 80s lineup in 2005. This past year they finally released an album with returned guitarist Alex Skolnick and bassist Greg Christian joining ever presents Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson, with former Forbidden, Slayer, and Exodus drummer Paul Bostaph  rounding out the current Testament lineup. It may not be the best Testament album ever, but it sure beats some of the latest releases from other classic bay area thrash bands.

Gama Bomb - Citizen Brain

Part of the so-called new breed of thrash metal, Gama Bomb thrash like the 90s never happened. Citizen Brain is a fun, catchy thrash metal album filled with songs about zombies, drinking, zombies drinking, thrashing, and all other sorts of general mayhem. Gama Bomb will be touring Europe with fellow thrashers Overkill and Exodus in early 2009 and the Metalblog can’t wait.

And the winner of Best Album for 2008 is…

Ross the Boss - New Metal Leader

I have to admit, I loved Ross the Boss when he was in Manowar and I love him even more in the Dictators. Now I can say I love him in his own band.

New Metal Leader has been called “The best ‘Manowar’ album since Kings of Metal“. I’d have to disagree with that statement.

Sure, there are some Manowar leanings on the album, but you don’t have to be a Manowar fan to like this record.Anybody who remembers heavy metal in the days before every release had to be one dimensional to make sure it fit comfortably into some sub- or sub-sub-genre of metal should enjoy New Metal Leader.

“God of Dying” sounds like it could have come straight from the Manowar song book, but the very next song on the album, “May the Gods Be With You”, sounds like it owes just as much to Ross’ days in the Dictators as it does to Manowar. There’s even a song with a flamenco guitar section (”Matador”).

Even with these stylistic excursions, New Metal Leader never forgets what it is - a well rounded kick ass heavy metal album and the Metalblog’s favorite of 2008.

It’s time to start the Metalblog’s 2008 end of year awards. The first award goes to the Metalblog’s favorite unsigned band of 2008. The unsigned band award is open to any bands that are unsigned, but due to geography, this will most likely always go to a metal band from the UK since these are the unsigned bands I get a chance to see live.

First, the runners up for Best Unsigned Band 2008:

Seregon

I caught this Bristal based band a couple of times in 2008 and they never failed to deliver the goods with their Sepultera-styled thrash metal. If I see that Seregon is opening a show, it’s worth the effort to make sure I get there early enough to catch their set. Check out Seregon at www.myspace.com/seregonuk.

Mutant

Mutant started the year by appearing on Earache record’s Thrashing Like A Maniac compilation.  Mutant write great thrash metal songs and if they played more gigs or ever got around to recording their much delayed EP could have walked away with this award. Mutant can be heard at www.myspace.com/mutantmetal.

And the Winner of the Metalblog 2008 Unsigned Band of the Year is…

H.O.D. (Hospital of Death)

H.O.D. (Hospital of Death) formed in 1994 and played one gig. In 2006 they got back together and the heavy metal world is a better place for it.

H.O.D. released Beer, Bitches, Blood in January 2008 as a zip file to pass around to friends. Since then they’ve “play(ed) festivals, play(ed) with a ton of UK and international thrash and true metal bands, distributed hundreds of T-shirts around the globe and as we stand for this year, Beer Bitches Blood has currenlty totted up as a distribution of 30,000!”

Beer, Bitches, Blood is available as a free download or for a miniscule sum, that probably doesn’t even cover the cost of a blank CD and postage, the band will send you a real physical CD copy.

And unlike most everything else available for free, H.O.D.’s Beer, Bitches, Blood doesn’t suck. Full of great riffs and great humor, the £1 I spent for a CD copy of Beer, Bitches, Blood is the best quid I spent in all of 2008.

Recording of the follow up album starts on January 19th and the Metalblog looks forward to hearing more from H.O.D. in 2009. Stay up to date with H.O.D. and find out how to get a copy of Beer, Bitches, Blood at www.myspace.com/hospitalofdeath.

The Metalblog has been quiet for the last few days. I wish I could say it’s because I’ve been too busy partying to post, but the truth is I’ve caught some kind of killer virus. Well, maybe not a killer, but it has knocked me on my ass for the last few days.

I went to see thrash metal band Destruction on Tuesday night at the Underworld in London. The band were great, but I wasn’t. I left the show early and nearly crashed the car on the way home because I was feeling so rough. I’ll post more about what I did catch of the gig in the next couple of days.

Until then I’ll let my favorite crossover thrash metal band Suicidal Tendencies let you know how I feel with “I Feel Like Shit…Deja Vu”

The Oxford Academy has listed a headlining concert by the thrash metal band Testament on February 19th, 2009.

There has yet to be confirmation of the gig on Testament’s official website, but tickets are already being sold and the show is on the Oxford Academy’s website. Testament will be in the UK at the time as part of the Priest Feast tour with headliners Judas Priest and fellow thrashers Megadeth.

The originally scheduled Priest Feast tour date in Nottingham on February 18th was cancelled last week. The cancellation has left a two day gap in the Priest Feast touring schedule between the Manchester show on the 17th and the Cardiff gig on the 20th. The revised UK dates can be seen in this Metalblog post.

Will Testament take advantage of the extra day off to play their own headlining show for the UK thrash metal fans? The Metalblog sure hopes so. Fingers crossed this gig goes ahead.

Priest Feast tour dates featuring Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Testament, for the rest of Europe can still be found in this Metalblog post.