On the fifth of November every year here in old Blighty. We celebrate the fact that Guy Fawkes did in fact fail in the bombing of parliament in 1605 probably due to the fact that Fawkes wasn’t listening to any metal! But in all seriousness, Guy Fawkes’ plan was foiled as he was arrested underneath the House of Lords as a member of the Gunpowder Plot. In celebration of this fantastic news and the salvation of King James I the British people decided to light bonfires, some burning an effigy of Fawkes this later became a tradition with the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act. It is now a world wide event but none are more spectacular than Lewes in East Sussex. So we thought that it would be apt to give you some metal tunes that would be fitting for your soundtrack to Bonfire night tonight!
Behemoth – Ov Fire And The Void
First up in our list of fiery tunes is the monolithic “Ov Fire And The Void” the video itself is NSFW and Behemoth have as always gotten a little bit of flack for it, what with its blatant blasphemic overtones. Its a fantastic song that not only shows how competent a drummer the aptly names Inferno is but also now an essential part of any Behemoth fan’s collection, click play and head bang.
Black Label Society – Fire It Up
After our first tune its over to the human wah pedal that is Zakk Wylde and his excellent band Black Label Society. Present in any middle aged rockers CD collection one of their all time best’s will always be Mafia. Along with many other songs on the album one of the most well known is “Fire It Up“. With a chorus that seemed to be designed with drunken festival goers in mind, amyone can sing along to and would be a shame to pass up such a fantastic opportunity to crank it up tonight, in front of a huge burning fire. Can it get any more metal than that? It’s also, as with most BLS tunes, got a killer guitar solo.
Meshuggah – Combustion
Meshuggah are always a band to be taken seriously and on this their introduction to the obelisk that was ObZen “Combustion” is a fitting introduction to the band for any metal head. After the now infamous first riff the band explode into one of the heaviest songs they’ve recorded. Featuring break neck speeds and as ever an out of this world solo by none other than Fredrik Thordendal its a real rager and echoes exactly the song title. Sure to cause some spontaneous combustion if there isn’t enough already this evening!
3 Inches Of Blood – 4,000 Torches
Time to get a little silly with this one, Bonfire night is about lighting the fires and what would be more metal than lighting a gigantic bonfire with 4,000 torches? Cam Pipes leading the way in the wailing of the Judas Priest worshippers that are 3 Inches Of Blood this awesome tune is exactly what you would expect from the band. Fast paced, metal and most importantly fun. It simply demands that you burn things to it!
Bolt Thrower – Embers
Once all the fun is over then looms Bolt Thrower. The day after dancing around a huge fire and the hangover that will persist, or maybe not. Either way its a fantastic tune off their 1992 release The IVth Crusade and after their excellent one off appearance at last weekend’s Damnation Festival then its high time that everyone listened to so much more Bolt Thrower what with all these bands coming back together who knows we might even get that fabled next album!
Whatever you do tonight, keep it metal and jam some of these awesome tracks!
