Nightfall – ‘Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants’, Metal Blade; 2010

Save for death metal’s bloody infatuation with war, Metal’s affair with history is often read as a one-sided deal where past lessons are pushed aside for modern accounts of glory days gone by. 

Warriors of The World (of Metal)

Aside from Conan the Barbarian fare, it stands that Metal as a genre favours medieval Norsemen over most other legendary fighters. Even the Knight of yore doesn’t get as much lyric space as those plundering pirates of the Northern sea! Though if you look away from tales of the Vikings and their lives and escapades, who comes next but the Warrior from the Land of the Rising Sun – the Samurai.

Heathen Beast – ‘Ayodhya Burns’ EP, Self-released; 2010

Coinciding with the slow but steady awareness being given to Indian metal on the global radar, black metallers Heathen Beast have chosen a fine time to release their debut EP ‘Ayodhya Burns‘ for free download.

Seventh Void – ‘Heaven is Gone’, Napalm Records; 2010

Soon after the tragic end of New York gothic doom icons Type O Negative, it’s tempting to draw conclusions about the output on Seventh Void’s debut album.

Press “Pause”

Looks like an unexpected pause until next week, Ladies and Germs.

 

Never fear, Me(n)tal-Meltdown will be here.

 

–Ann

In the spirit of Revisiting the Classics™

It feels like the right time to give credit where it’s due on Me(n)tal-Meltdown; especially since this is the year where the metal world has celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of much-applauded record ‘British Steel’ .

So in honour of the legends whom this blog is indebted to, for its name alone; let us rejoice in denim and leather as we ride off into the sunset on our Harleys…

and share some extreme metal cover versions of classic Priest songs.

An interview with Lars Jensen (Myrkgrav)

It’s fascinating how things can relatively work out, in the end.

I first heard Myrkgrav during a random shuffle on Last.fm, when I wanted to see what other bands there were in extreme European folk metal aside from Finntroll at the time. It’s a far way off to even compare these two together, musically and lyrically; but you never know where you’ll go when it comes to exploring different bands. Who’d have thought that I and a few of my friends would find ourselves so immersed in the music from this one-man band project in Norway?

From the moment I listened to ‘Trollskau, Skrømt og Kølabrenning’, I wanted to find out more about the lyrics and brains behind Myrkgrav; which translates fittingly into ‘dark grave’ in Norwegian.

Fast forward to today, and now I have an interview with said brains himself, Lars Jensen.

His story, and that of Myrkgrav’s is an interesting one – intent on preserving the local history and stories of his region Ringerike, Lars gave himself the mission of making music that would not only fulfil this purpose but satisfy his own listening pleasures. Though affected by negative experiences in the music industry and problems with record labels, he still devotes some time in his life to his project; and unearthing the many tales there are left to be told.

We interrupt this broadcast to give the following teaser

Sorry, everyone. Due to private, unforeseen matters, there will be no update today.

However, I shall leave you all with a little taste of what to expect on Monday.

See you lot on Monday!

–Ann

Shadowgarden – ‘Ashen’, Napalm Records; 2010

Adding another musical project under his belt, Draconian and Doom:VS mastermind Johan Ericson has teamed up with a few of his fellow band members to release ‘Ashen‘; the debut album of Swedish gothic metal/rock outfit Shadowgarden. Fans of Draconian will be hard-pressed to find much similarities to the group’s previous back catalogue here, which is to be expected since the music falls closer towards the vein of modern gothic rock as shaped by well-known names like Lacuna Coil and Theatre of Tragedy. Nonetheless, the end result is much different in scope and output to either of these more commercialised bands.