Want giant manowar album cover art?

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=148203
Apparently Manowar think it's fans are gonna be cool to play upwards of $375US for large HD prints [i.e. reproductions] of the original full scale art.
Granted, if I were married [so that having giant art on my walls depicting topless muscled dudes wasn't TOTALLY homoerotic] and real rich, I'd love to order a piece or two. But until I win Lotto and can afford a trophy wife- My Manowar are gonna have to remain unpurchased..

What an odd line up

Ahead of the release of a new studio album, Cradle of Filth have announce they are touring [somewhere in the world that's not NZ] with Nachtmystium, someone/thing called Daniel Lioneye and strangely Turisas...
Sounds about as right a tour lineup as Dimmu Borgir supporting Korn [which actually happened] i.e. it's not entirely too far-fetched to believe, it's just a bit odd...

The Ocean, robbed, spain, how are they carrying so much cash

The Ocean, an experimental German 'collective' who have [or will] put out 2 albums this year (Heliocentric and Anthropocentric) were robbed on a highway near Madrid, as they tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan. Used to the invasions of customs officials etc the thieves had fake badges and stuff, but suprisingly managed to get away with over 6000 Euros, which is about $11,111NZ as of 26Oct.

Read more about it, here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=155007651207281

And if you're a fan of the band and wanna help out, on their store (?) you can donate 5 Euro where you ...will receive a copy of the police report and a Thank You card signed by all band members. 

free mp3s, i think

Go to http://www.theworldsloudest.com/ and follow the instructions, and I guesss you get to download the sampler listed below- I'm not on a computer where I can download it just yet, but if it works I will...

City of fire comments on Oz tour, nothing about leaving Nz out of it

I saw this posted on a metal news site, and I noticed a distinct lack of Kiwi flavour to their comments.
They were due to play a few shows in NZ, I was looking forward to their show at the Kings Arms in early september, while I haven't managed to get their album, I've youtubed a few songs and rather enjoy them, sometimes.
Their cancellation came quite quietly too, I remember hearing it from a mate who found out through his work, or workmates..
City of Fire has issued the following recap of the band's recent Australian tour dates:
"CoF would like to thank Soulfly, Incite and all of the tour crew for making their first Australian tour this September as successful and enjoyable as it was. And, of course, much love to the beautiful people of Australia that came out to support the shows.
"The band had such a great time with you all that they're already planning a trip back for April/May of next year. Lock up your daughters. Also, thanks to Mr. Jed Simon for joining us on guitar for this tour. Our ears are still ringing."

High tech A&R

Roadrunner records have launched their http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/ website, a band networking *slash* popularity contest. I guess the idea is to get regular punters and people in bands to make profiles and anyone else registered to the site can vote or like or something their favourite local bands.

It's yet to be proven what the outcome to all this will be, whether opening the doors to everyone to their website remind users that RR are a record company wishing to sell you music [I'm a lot more independent with my cd purchases: no amount of advertising will sway my wallet, infact it will often stop me from buying an album, or atleast stay well clear of any band that has a traditional advertising budget of any kind]

I might check it out for a laugh, and hope bands with the most friends don't win- if they, in actual fact, suck.

New Ziltoid artwork/comic

Ziltoid is coming to life via rockband and comic strips. News [as far as I can ascertain] is sketchy but Devin Townsend is apparently currently working on some Ziltoid material for the game [is it? I see plenty of news reports about it, but I don't own a games console of any modern description so I assume it's that extension of guitar hero...] The Ziltoid material, obviously, includes dialogue- which if a recent tweet from devin is anything to go by, you'll be in for a disparaging remarks until you've proven yourself, indeed.

No idea about the comic, but honestly I'd be happier if it were artwork for a new Ziltoid record..

In other Devin related news, I gather work on his upcoming album "Ghost" is winding up. Some art work's been done and recordings finished [I think] so expect news of a release date soon [if not already]

Free Irish Music, decent

http://www.myspace.com/themmartyrs
Them Martyrs: An ever evolving Irish metal act, sludgy in a way kinda broadest way to describe them is progressive, hardcore metal.

Anyways, don't take my word for it: in the blog on their myspace it tells you how to get to their bandcamp page to download some of their music for free. Incidentally, the link to said bandcamp page is: http://themmartyrs.bandcamp.com/album/french-extremity

They recorded in France, initially you may think it odd for an Irish band to bipass something like England, but I remember hearing years ago that the Irish have a cetain affinity or ally with the French. I don't know about that but they plan on releasing a physical copy of French Extremity- touring with it around Ireland then in December- tour Italy.

Gig poster

The Haunted to start on new record

The Swedis group is due to enter a Danish studio today- Monday 18th Oct, with producer Tue Madsen- to begin work on the bands 7th studio album. Watch Century Media records in early-mid 2011 for it. There was apparently some news a little while ago that they'd signed with C.M again for the release of this yet to be recorded album, which is not really news worthy news, since they released their previous three albums on the label..
Anyways, I enjoyed the "Revolver", "The Dead Eye" & "Versus" and their ealier work: "the Haunted made me do it" and "One kill wonder" has a reminiscent quality about them, for me. A lot of time spent listening to them on my walkman/cd player in the early 00's [although looking at the timelines; in my memory there was a larger [time] gap between One Kill Wonder and revolver than the 1 year that wikipeadia suggests. I sat on those 2 earlier records for a while]

This looks interesting: I say go to this.

ZERSTIREN ALBUM RELEASE TOUR TWENTY-ELEVEN
Saturday January 22nd, 2011.
The Kings Arms, Newton- Auckland

Zerstiren return to the concrete jungle for the second time on the back of their New Zealand Album Release tour. If you are planning a trip to the Big Day Out, make sure you stay an extra night and come along to this!...
In support of ZERSTIREN are Christchurch bands The Muderous Seth (Death/Black Metal) and Blindfolded and Led to the Woods (Technically...Metal). Local support takes the form of Anaybss and The Mark of Man!

This is night NOT TO BE MISSED!

$10 Door sales only.
Merch' available on the night.

SCHEDULE:
Doors Open: 08:30pm

08:45pm - 09:15pm: THE MUDEROUS SETHhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Murderous-Seth/144295622270333

09:30pm - 10:00pm: ANABYSShttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Anabyss/119453499934

10:15pm - 10:45pm: BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODShttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Blindfolded-And-Led-To-The-Woods/134030249943088

11:00pm - 11:45pm: ZERSTIRENhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Zerstiren/92305509184

12:00pm - 12:45pm: THE MARK OF MANhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mark-of-Man/243762712046

ZERSTIRENS DEBUT ALBUM OUT SOON!

Seriously, more metal covering pop songs, enough already!

http://www.arthemismusic.com/downloads/
Go to this link to download several metal versions of pop songs... I got nothing against a good cover song, or metal covering songs from non-metal genres: I loved it when I  first heard Children of Bodom's Opps, I did it again... but with all the covers of what seems to be relatively recent pop songs, just proves you ain't metal; you listen to that top-40, commercial radio station [being forced to listen to it at work is another story]
http://www.arthemismusic.com/downloads/

Luckily [after listening to the songs] it's not direct covers [I think, I'm not too familiar with the originals], as you see so often- lyrics are the same [which is the only telling factor as to what song is which..]

GWAR going to Harvard

There's something in the states called harvard Lampoon, or somew such thing- I'm assuming it's rich and fancy as...

The Lampoon put out an official statement on GWAR's induction:

"In honor of their prodigious achievements of slaughter, brutality, conquer, mayhem, and madness, The Harvard Lampoon is delighted to present GWAR with the award of "Most Terrible, Vile, Disgusting, Disturbed, yet Revoltingly Awesome Band Ever." On October 16th the band will travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts to visit the Castle and celebrate in a private induction ceremony, banquet, and live human sacrifice in their honor."

When reached for a comment on this prestigious honor Oderus briefly laid down his crack pipe and muttered:

"Me and the guys are as pleased as pig-shit to accept this near-meaningless accolade from a bunch of booze-sodden degenerates. To walk in the shoes that tread in the footsteps that tied the shoelaces that were Elijah Wood's big ass hairy hobbit feet fills me with a feeling not unlike lust but nothing like nausea. To mumble the words that were the drool that became the Jell-o that fell out of Bill Cosby's butt is the third most important thing to happen to me today. And finally, to lap at the glistening shores that is the toilet that Sarah Silverman left a dookie in is akin to having sex with Jesus's wife. We are honored, pleased, and gassy as hell as we accept this mantle-crushing award and the considerable attached cash prize...there is a cash prize, right?"

In other GWAR news...

The band has announced that they will be performing for the first time on network television on October 28^th, when they take to the stage on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon". The shows airs 12:35 Eastern and the band will be tearing through their new single "Zombies, March!"

GWAR is giving human scum across the globe with the chance to watch their Halloween show streaming live from The Rave/Eagle's Club in Milwaukee. The event will be a Pay Per View extravaganza and is scheduled to kick of at 11:00 PM Eastern Halloween night. Make sure to head over to GWARLive.com to sign up for the Pay Per View event of a lifetime today!

Tickets for this exclusive stream are $2.99 if you order before October 15, $3.99 if you order between October 16-30 and $4.99 the day of the broadcast.

Metalblade teams up with Cyclone Empire Records

Metal Blade Records is proud to announce a new partnership with underground German label, Cyclone Empire. Metal Blade will have the pleasure of bringing some of the most intense and cutting edge metal in Europe to North American shores. Cyclone Empire has been leading the underground in Europe with releases from the legendary Evocation, as well as underground acts such as Demonical, The Grotesquery, Black Sun Aeon, Funebrarum, Demiurg, Facebreakerand many more.

Metalblade has plenty of big bands, and I think i have a compilation from Cyclone Empire. I wonder if this extends beyond the US

Satyricon working on new album

The pair have had a year off, and apparently are going to start work- writing a new album, in a few months time. Next year they're gonna re-release their albums with new art and remastering where needed.

Hey, remember when they were coming to NZ, but then didn't 'cos one of them got smart to a Japanese Airport official... yeah.. I don't remember if they bothered to come back or not, weird..

Luckily we have a new phrase, cf steel panther

Apparently some band by the name of Weezer are planning on releasing an album of b-sides soon. The cover art work is apparently as shown below.

Luckily, as out dated as it is: the term is more known for it's roots amoungst the Manowar crowd, the term of course is used by many other groups, each proclaiming theirs is the true metal [usually genre purists- i.e. thrash, death etc], when in fact the beauty of metal and the reason why it has survived as long as it has is it's adapability, essentially, it's all inclusive nature [of the music, not the fans]

I foresee a few mainstream radio/tv people having fun with it, but like the Eagles of Death Metal [who, disappointingly hae nothing to do with death metal] the use of a reference to metal is ironic, or something. i'm hoping the album is actually called this- because it's ever so easy to photoshop pics these days, and if i've been had- i'll look the fool. aye? [I don't wanna fact check it, cos that'll mean looking up Weezer... *dry heaves*]

Al, Ministry's back

After releasing the final Ministry Album, and farewelling that band, I'd assumed Al Jorgenson would've taken a rest after his 30years of making music- but he's working on Buck Satan: which features Rick Nielsen (CHEAP TRICK), Tony Campos (STATIC-X), Mike Scaccia (RIGOR MORTIS) and Dave Lombardo (SLAYER).

Also something about an auction, where you can bid for bits and pieces from the mans career, almost everything is up for grabs- personally I wouldn't mind one of his leather jackets
For this and a general array of other music related auction things head to: http://www.backstageauctions.com/

Three free songs,

1) Fans of Killswitch Engage will apparently like this one: the original singer, Jesse Leech and Adam D have come togeather to form 'Times of Grace' Their album isn't due out til mid-Jan 2011, but their label is offering a free advanced download of the song 'Strength in Numbers' for a limited time [48hrs] starting at 4am this Saturday [Oct 16th] head over to http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/ during the weekend for the free song, an email will probably be required.

2) Vanisher, a band featuring members from Bloodjinn and Glass Casket, are offering a free song 'I am failure' Go to http://www.metalinjection.net/av/vanisher-free-mp3-download for a bit more of a run down and to download the song.

3) Traditional Heavy Metallers, White Wizzard, are offering their cover of Dio's  We Rock, for the price of an email address. Head over to http://earache.com/we_rock/ for the download and a bit more info on the band.

Metallica for a lazy Sunday

Go check out the link below for a slowed down version of Metallicas Ride the Lightening. It's been manually slowed, still sounds awesome but begs for a proper version done at this speed. As someone mentioned, it does sound a lot 'doomier' but i need to find someone who hasn't heard the normal speed version to get a proper take on it- when you know the source material so well any change is difficult to judge with an unbiased ear..
http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2010/10/slow-ride.html

BTW: this is essentially metallica songs up for a free download, they have been changed but get in quick before they get pulled.

New Sepultura songs

Remember Sepultura, the legendary Brazilians Death metal come thrashers who took the world by storm throughout the late 80's and early to mid 90's, before frontman, and lets face it: driving force, Max Cavalera, left- forcing the band to redefine themselves and forever dooming them to answer questions of a re-union.
Well, they've signed to Nuclear Blast Records to release a new album in 2011 and are apparently going to be showing off a new song in an upcoming gig in Sao Paulo.
It's a pity neither Sepultura or any Max Cavalera lead band has managed to find their way to NZ within living memory