The UK's Most Dedicated Metal Blog
It’s another one of those beloved metal evenings in London when two or more mega groups combine to give us an epic line-up. Tonight it’s all about tanks, dragons, pirates and mead and Sabaton, Alestorm, and Bloodbound bring their heavily-armed war machine into town.
The international symphonic metal maestros have just released a new album entitled ‘Codex Atlanticus’. What we weren’t expecting that it is an absolute stunner! We interview bass-man Fabio D’Amore to find out the more intimate details of the album and just what shaped such a fine effort.
The rise of Avantasia can be argued as something no-one would have really expected back on the release of the ‘Metal Opera‘ 15 years ago. We certainly would not have imagined that the grandiose project would see a live stage. But a few massive albums later, and a string of highly successful all-star performances, Tobias Sammet’s flying circus strikes in the heart of London.
Technology can very much be a double edged sword in the world of Metal. Owing to its recent decline in sales almost making years of work redundant however it has also given birth to an entirely new movement. Progressive Metal strives to be unique, creative and truly experimental. Releasing their third album last year, Tesseract are pioneers of the genre. Despite having only released three albums in their life span, bar a couple of EP’s the band’s musicality is absolutely limitless. Creating a compromise between the more progressive arc whilst retaining a memorable sense of melody the band are easily one of the most exciting musical projects to come out of Metal in a long time. Shortly before their set at London’s Koko, guitarist and all round good bloke James Monteith kindly took time out to speak to me about Polaris, Tesseract and their ethos and Cube II : Hypercube…
In the ever expanding world of Metal tour packages are slowly becoming more and more eclectic. With the likes of many a band in the states opting for a variety in their performance tonight we are shown variety in a more European sense. Teaming up to head out together on a short co-headline tour British born Sylosis and Polish underdogs Decapitated should be polarising opposites but the pairing is a fantastic combination making for a variety in the very pedigree of Metal bands of the modern day.
The mighty Exodus return to London to destroy The Underworld once again. Make no mistake – complete carnage was well on the table!
Retention of a title is somewhat of an art form. Seeing the less established acts fall by the wayside, undisputed heavyweights Killswitch Engage have weathered the recent Metalcore storm. Having returned on Disarm The Descent with Jesse Leach for the first time since their break through, Alive or Just Breathing the band once more proved their worth. Now, having re established the foundations of a solidified line up, in a time where Metalcore is more of an afterthought, how have the band weaponised their iconic sound for their brand new release Incarnate.
Seasons very much govern the nature of our lives. Sheltering from the brisk cold, soaking in the heat or preparing for the death knell of summer as Amber takes precedence. The nature of Progressive music enables bands to retain as much freedom needed. Yet the difference between a balance of differing sounds is everything, without balance material can sound misplaced, not needed and often suffocate its source. Fronted by female singer Camille Gilbert, Oceans of Slumber bring sentiment home.