Update: December

So I was pretty blown away by Death Magnetic, and have been drawn away from the computer and will continue to be till around mid-January. But I will post a few articles here and there. We've had some technical problems at BlackRock, though no data or music has been lost thanks to our back up system it's caused us to have to work with a hand tied behind our backs for a while.

Metallica - Death Magnetic

Death Magnetic is a damn good effort by Metal's biggest act, there are two ways to review this album, one is by thinking who's made it and what they've done before (good and bad) and the other is to review it as a stand alone album, the latter is definitely the fairer way to review it, but also it's nigh on impossible, at least for me. so i'm going to try both!

On a first listen it's apparent that Metallica have REALLY REALLY REALLY tried hard to make an album that not only rocks, but makes everybody happy revisiting alot of styles from their back catalogue.

The first thing that stands out is that this band have made an incredible effort in recording this album and writing the songs, taking a multitude of influences and blending them into a nice concuction that usually falls somewhere between Pantera and Megadeth.

Robert Truillio is The best thing to happen to Metallica since Cliff Burton, he's breathed some fresh air into them and helped them get back on their feet and start running again.

The band feels very comfortable with sharp turns and twists, and the sound is not only a nice refreshing change, but also each member has a nice commanding prescence, with impressive performances by the Vocalist and Basist.

ok enough of that, it's too hard

Overall this album makes me feel 10 again discovering the Titan Metallica for the first time, left open mouthed by their power and being slammed into a wall at a million miles an hour. I've read countless comparisons to previous Metallica albums, and although there are tastes or rather influences from said albums, Death Magnetic sounds mostly like Death Magnetic. It's just like hearing Ride the Lightning or ...And Justice For All for the first time, it's a new chapter in Metallica, and for 12 or so years the first one that's not been dissapointing. Sorry Dave but this album tears United Abominations apart, chews it up, swallows it, digests it and then excrets it all over every Megadeth album released after Countdown to Extinction. Can this album reach the highs of the first four?

After Metallica have let so many people down before I doubt it, but HAD this album been released instead of load, and HAD the whole napster kerfuffle never happened, i'd say definately, but that hurt and resentmant Metallica caused can't be burried or forgotten by most people, and that's understandable. What i will say is every song on this album will sound fitting played live with Seek and Destroy and Creeping Death.

That was just your Life
Ripping the album open in true Metallica style, That was just your life is the kind of song you want to have blairing out your speakers in your 70s muscle car as you mow down innocent bystanders and pedestrians. A true neck jerking onslaught of powerful and sharp riffing with a catchy chorus, this song is everything good about Metallica wrapped up in a nice package. I've heard comparisons to Blackend, but those are false, I'd put it more along the lines of Holier than Thou meets Lepper Messiah.

The End of the Line
This song starts off with the intro of 'Death is not the end' you know that song they played live a while back and someone did a cover version on youtube, that was half decent song, but this is much better, the main verse shares a vocal likeness to the 'time has taken it's toll on you..' bit of The Four Horsemen, it's probably intentional and the mixture along with the groovy bouncing of Rob's bass works wonders, the slowdown and build up around 6:00 is pure musical genius, kind of showing a load influence, but in a good way.

Broken, Beat and Scarred
This is one of those songs that that you just can't help singing along to 'Show your Scars' for some reason it reminds me of no remorse even though it doesn't really sound like it at all. The sound visits ground where Metallica have never really been before, but it sounds like Metallica.

The Day that never Comes
The tried and tested formula of a slowbit, heavy bit, slow bit, heavybit, really heavy bit works wonders in the first single off of Death Magnetic. with the slow bit being one of the slowest softest metallica have done, think Nothing else matters/mamma said,exploding into an onslaught of intense manic riffage and pounding bass guitar, think Damage inc. You see the two extremes of Metallica and the song really grows on you and as part of the album sounds much better than on it's own. I'd give it an over all vibe of Load 1st half, Sanitarium 2nd half.

All Nightmare Long
Luck Runs out! Another real taste of Metallica's 'new sound' like Broken Beat and Scared, and one of my favorite tracks on the Album, another real neck jerker here. A couple of riffs from 'Vulturus' grace the mid section and accompany a most delicious solo nicely.

Cyanide
OK We've all heard this one before, and it's in some ways one of the better songs on the album, in others it's one of the worst, i think it really takes some getting used to, it's very jigsawed and doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as all the others, but at the same time it's a really identifiable song that sticks out from the crowd.

The Unforgiven III
I was very scepticle when the Titles were released and to see Unforgiven III on the list, i wasn't to suprised that it's my least favorite track on the album, it starts of with piano, and moves on to a very eeerie clean riff which is probably the best bit of the song, it proceeds into a very 'bleeding me' sounding verse followed by a megadethy sounding bridge. Better than the Unforgiven II but not as good as the original.

The Judas Kiss
Yes it starts with that riff from the Album name anouncement video, a bit start stop at first but soon progresses in to a damn fine neck jerker. BOW DOWN SELL YOUR SOUL TO ME!

Suicide and redemption
This is never gonna be another Ktulu or Orion, but i don't think it's too far behind To Live is to Die. though the style isn't really Metallica.

My Apocalypse
Damn fine Thrasher, sounds like it could be on Kill Em All, and keeps up the Metallica tradition of ending an album with a blast.

Overall it's a nice concoction of songs, though i can't give it more than 9/10 as a couple of things let it down.

Well worth ordering the coffin box off mission: metallica if there are any left, they have them on play.com too.

9/10

My Apocalypse \m/

So right now all the buffs in the Music industry are reviewing the new Metallica single, 'The day that never comes', However I am going to review the five minute long piece of Mayhem at the end of Death Magneic, all i can say about it is, 'This is the 11th song on Kill 'em All, nuff said!

10/10

Cyanide live at Ozzfest

Metallica played one of the new songs off Death Magnetic at Ozzfest according to James they are pretty damn proud of it. Audio clarity sucks quite badly but we're familiar with a lot of the riffs from Mission Metallica. Parts of it remind me of Ride the Lightning where others go along the Justice Route.

James Hetfield's Epiphone V Lives on!

A while ago (around 1986) James stopped using his Epiphone flying V. I always assumed it's cuz he got his first Gibson Explorer and preferred it. I always had an affection for it, after all Kill Em All and Ride the Lightning were recorded with it! Later on he went on to comment that it was broken and that the neck had broken a few times on the road. But then I saw him at Rock Am Ring with this!


Looks quite like it, OK Picture quality sucks, but it really looks like it, i was thinking, maybe he got another one like it, but then yesterday this appeared on Mission Metallica.


You can clearly see all the scratches and nicks are there. It's the same guitar and it lives, and Death Magnetic is being recorded with it! Maybe I'm getting too excited by this but this guitar is legendary and it made me go and buy 2 Epiphones myself all be it they are black like Kirk's Gibson.

James I'm proud of you today!

Metal Chicks - Fret 3

Let's now take a look at some of the chicks who were around before Sean.

Doro Pesch - Warlock/Doro

A female vocalist, formerly of the German band Warlock and one of the few female singers of the 1980s heavy metal scene, which was primarily a male-dominated genre of music. She is also the first woman to perform at Donnington Monsters of Rock.

Warlock underwent many personnel changes and eventually Pesch was the only remaining original member of the band. The Band then changed their name to Doro, after changing record labels as the former label owned the trademark on the Warlock name.

Pesch now pursues a solo career and lives in New York City. 2004 album Classic Diamonds was a collaboration with The Classic Night Orchestra which reworked some of her earlier songs. Her latest album is Warrior Soul from 2006.

The Great Kat - Kat

Katherine Thomas is an English-born musician best known for her thrash metal interpretations of well-known pieces of classical music. Most feature her using the electric guitar, but some have her on violin. Kat is a classically-trained violinist, graduating from the Juilliard School and touring for a time playing conventional classical music before seeing the light and crossing over to metal.

According to her website, Guitar One magazine listed her as one of the "Ten Fastest Shredders of All Time", and many media reviews of her work have praised the speed and clarity of her playing. Her classical background, technical skills and self-promotion are sometimes compared to Yngwie Malmsteen.

Kat's public persona, as portrayed in her publicity photos and videos, is mainly that of a dominatrix, albeit in a somewhat over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek manner.

Anne Boylen - Hellion

Fronted by charismatic singer Anne Boylen, Hellion first hit the L.A. music scene around the same time Motley Crue, Quiet Riot and the like were gaining national prominence. Hellion achieved an avid following in Europe in the 1980s, though in the US their success was minimal.

Sebastian Bach - Angel Down

Sebastian is your typical rock star, he loves his girls he loves his booze and can't handle either and that got him kicked out of Skid Row, what he does have is incredible stage presence and he is a naturally charismatic front man. This album isn't Metal, it's Hard Rock, but that's OK, it's better as an album than anything Skid Row have put out since he was fired, and just as good if not better as anything they did with him still in the band. It's clear he's trying VERY hard on this album, and his effort is noted. what i didn't like is the inclusion of Axel Pose on a couple of tracks, that really spoils the album for me. Over all it's an enjoyable listen.
As a metal album 0/10 (as it's not metal)
As an album 7/10 (mostly for Sebastian's performance)

Prong - Power of the Damager

I've never really been a fan of Prong, their early stuff never really tickled my fancy, though Snap My Fingers Snap my neck stood out from the rest and is clearly my favorite of their songs. Prong as a band have had multiple lineup changes and are also off and on again too often to really be considered an influencial band. That said Power of the Damager is clearly one of their better efforts which came as a suprise. I was thinking i'd have to struggle to get through it without the temptation of skipping, but i enjoyed it so much i heard it a second, third, fourth time and plan on hearing it regularly. Maybe not quite good enough for putting in the car, but a couple tracks could make it onto a mix tape.
6/10

Death Magnetic release date: 12th September

Well it seems i was wrong about the 27th September, whether that date was originally aimed for before scheduling the live shows in London and Berlin remains a mystery.

on the other hand it's good news, it means we have to wait less time to hear Death Magnetic, though the first single and music video from the album, 'The Day That Never Comes' is expected to be released later this month, I'll do my best to keep my ear to the ground for this one.

BlackRock Recording Studios - progress report 2

Not much progress on the studios themselves however we can now list services we can provide.

Logo Creation
Album/Demo Cd Artwork and design
Digital recording (All bar Drums)
Mixing
Promoting through various media

Please note we offer our services mainly to new bands to help them get the exposure they need and hopefully a major label coup. We also offer services to bands who have spent some years in the industry without much success and feel they need a breath of fresh air.

Death Magnetic Track Listing

Ok, I'm a bit late on posting this one!

Here are the "Death Magnetic" song titles in the running order:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Broken, Beat & Scarred
The Day That Never Comes
All Nightmare Long
Cyanide
The Unforgiven III
The Judas Kiss
Suicide & Redemption
My Apocalypse

From what I can gather someone inadvertently let them slip out (That's what SHE said) and quickly removed them but the damage was done so Metallica released them anyway. Whether it was really a mistake I guess we'll never know!

Some info I can provide that doesn't seem to be released is that my sources have informed me that the release date for Death Magnetic is September 22nd. Whether it's worldwide I don't know. My guess is that at 12:00am Metallicatime September 22nd the downloads will be available. Though in my opinion for the sake of a few days a September 27th release would be more suitable.

Now the hot topic on the net seems to be The Unforgiven III. Personally I was all out against Unforgiven II and III just seems insane. I think it is the single that will come out that has until now been referred to as Flamingo. Hopefully the words Unforgiven and three won't be uttered together.

Metal Chicks - Fret 2

Now that we've seen who the first was. It's time to look into why? why did it take such a long time for a band to make it big with a woman in it. We've seen that there's been girls in bands since the mid seventies, possibly earlier though, but really i think it really comes down to open mindedness. Us blokes tend to be a bit sceptical of women's abilites in things we excell at, probably cuz we can't really do things that Women are good at very well ourselves. Jealousy? Probably.

So really unless girls decided to join up and make a band together like Girlschool or L7 there weren't really the same opportunities for Women to join bands as men had. Then factor in the amount of bands that start out to the amount of bands that make it, then add a handicap that record labels would be afraid to invest in, promote and explore new territory and you have the reason it took so long, the maths were always against women plain and simple.

So Sean's success with White Zombie not only influenced more Women to pick up an instrument, but opened up mens minds to the fact that chicks that rock and appreciate others who had been in the business for years!

Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted

It's Great to see (or rather hear) the Cavalera brothers back together.

When I first put on the CD i thought wow! and I haven't really thought that since I first put on Testament's The gathering. A pleasant surprise indeed. This album really seems to feel like the natural successor to Sepultura's Chaos AD. Combining all the tribal elements of Sepultura's post Chaos AD work but all the thrashiness of their Pre-Chaos AD work. Hearing Roots after Inflikted would be majorly disappointing.

Must Kill reminds me of The Hunt, a slower more melodic Sepultura song. But tipping the other end of the scale is the bonus Track The Exorcist which sounds like something of Morbid Visions, yes! Morbid Visions!

If like me you love the Thrashy almost Death Metal early Sepultura stuff you won't be disappointing by Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted in the slightest. Though it may be a tad to extreme for the casual Metal fan.
9/10

Annihilator - Metal

Another Annihilator album that doesn't really explore any new territory and doesn't really rekindle the Alice in Hell flame either. I have great respect for Jeff Waters, he's one of the most outstanding Riffers out there, but he really should have taken Dave Mustaine up on his offer to join Megadeth as it's clear Annihilator are running on empty, and have been doing so for a while.

The Canadian Thrash band have put out numerous albums with numerous different lineups, yet Alice in Hell, Never Neverland and Criteria for a Black Widow remain the only worthwhile efforts, OK and the title Track off King of the Kill too.

This new album titled Metal (great name for an album) contains what seems to be re-hashes of previous material and probably throwaway stuff which Jeff wouldn't really put out unless he was forced to.

Dave Padden's Vocals are really substandard, Jeff does much better on the albums he performs vocals on.

Jeff if Mustaine asks again, accept!
4/10

Rob has written more on Death Magnetic than Newstead did in 14 years

In a recent interview in Norway James Hetfield spoke about his admiration of Metallica's bassist Rob Trujillo.

you can see the full interview here:

Death Angel - Killing Season

When i found out about a new Death Angel album I was pretty shocked, shocked in a good way! Death Angel has always been a favorite of mine but somehow always manage to slip under the Radar.

Killing Season is a very different album from the Art of Dying, it's closer in roots to Death Angel's stuff before they broke up in 1991, but with better production. I always wondered how different Death Angel's history would have been had The Ultra Violence sounded a bit clearer. This album is proof that Death Angel can sound great and could maybe take advantage of the current resurgence in old school Metal.

As with previous Death Angel albums each song stands on its own with some great rifs and powerful changes. The opening track Lord of Hate is one of the best openers on an album in a long time and sets you up for a very enjoyable experience. Death Angel clearly aren't afraid to express themselves and don't care what people think and there are some powerful lyrics throughout the album that prove this point, In Carnal Justice Mark Osegueda screams with brutal conviction, "Obsessed erotic with a mind possessed, Hug the blade one last caress, Cut the hand gouge the eye, Hung and whipped and burnt alive".

If you like old school Thrash Metal Killing Season is definately for you!
9/10

Nomad Son

Nomad Son are a Doom band from Mellieha Malta, it's really good to see a Maltese band making waves. They remind me of an early Black Sabbath but with Overkill's Bobby Blitz on Vocals. Jordan Cutajar sounds exactly like Bobby and had I not known who was playing and walked in half way through i would have easily mistaken Jordan for Blitz, before seeing him.

Their stage presence is enormous, even in a little venue they put on a big show and it's easy to see how they've gone so far so fast. Their Debut album First Light has just been released by Metal on Metal Records and it seems pretty good, but I'll give it a proper review on it's own.

Metal Chicks - Fret 1

Metal on the hole is a very testosterone driven form of music, but slowly and surely more and more chicks are joining bands, and kicking arse!

Before going into the who's who and paying homage to our Metal Goddesses, I'd like to look into why it's taken till now for women to really come to the forefront of Metal.

I think we first have to think, who was the first girl in a massive Metal band? The pioneer, well we know that the all girl band Girlschool was around in the mid 70s, but were they really that massive to count. Though they are probably idols for most girls looking to get into Metal, I think Sean Yseult was the first girl in a Metal band to become Massive on a global scale.

Sean, who holds a degree in graphic design joined her then boyfriend Rob Straker (later Rob Zombie)'s band 'White Zombie' in 1985. White Zombie went on to become the biggest pseudo-Satanic Metal band of the 90's before disbanding in 1998. Sean is currently heavily involved in fasion and art, having her own line of scarves and has also been a member of The Rawk Show - Fine Art by Musicians, in Texas.

Stay tuned for the 2nd Fret!

Judas Priest - Nostradamus

I've just been hearing the 23 tracks of Judas Priest's Nostradamus, pen in hand and paper ready to take notes, i note down "what an incredible buildup" Then I hear Prophecy and think to myself cool riff, Judas Priest rule! then the chorus hits and I'm like hang on are they gonna keep on saying Nostradamus throughout!? I remember around a month ago Notradamus (the song) became available as a single on Reverb Nation cool song but didn't they say Nostradamus a few too many times there too!

Then I hear Revelations, and it starts to take a quite awkward turn for the worse from then on track by track i just don't know what to think. Cool riffs here and there but on the whole I'm thinking, what are these guys on? Has something gone wrong with their heads, there's about 7 or so intro tracks to weird songs. I get the feeling this would be better as a soundtrack.

The orchestration is quite outstanding and most of the songs don't contain easy riffs or arrangments at all. But we all knew Judas could play, well at least us who've tried to play covers live.

This respect for them is why I am going to give this album a few more listens and if it deserves it i will give it another review. But as it stands i'd rather just listen to Angel of Retribution again

Weirdness factor 10/10
overall 6/10

Metallica - Death Magnetic, is it gonna be all it's hyped up to be?

The 12 year old in me always gets drawn to Metallica, constantly checking out what's going on. Do they deserve this attention? On recent efforts, no not really, but the pre 90's Metallica was so immense, that I somehow can never accept that Metallica are through. I know there's 1 good album left in them, St Anger seemed from early reviews to be just that, but we all know how that turned out.

Then they announced a new album, with working song titles like Flamingo, they say it's the norm for them to have tounge in cheek titles, somehow i don't see Seek and Destroy ever being called Penguin. Then there's mission Metallica, there's some good sounding stuff mostly when Kirk's involved but there's also some weird stuff, there's also the two vids on youtube, Death is not the end and Vulturus. I think DINTE will be on the album and from the vids it seems to be pretty close to the live version from 2 years ago. I hope for Metallica's sake that it will be the worst song on the album. Unfortunately it probably won't.

Metallica have track record of dissapointments and somehow they always get another chance (it's those damn 12 year olds I mentioned earlier) but all the dissapointments have been produced by Bob Rock. Bob Rock's been replaced by Rick Rubin (the Slayer guy) Some of that Kirk stuff i mentioned earlier has Slayer feel to it.

As Death Magnetic approches we can only speculate, but i think it will be a step in the right direction. With the hope remaining that one day there will be another Kill em All!

Testament - The Formation of Damnation

I must admit Testament wasn't really on my play list until 1999's The Gathering, but since then I've collected all the albums and they have some pretty good stuff that i kind of missed out on earlier on.

Now on to the review of their latest effort "The Formation of Damnation" I've read some really impressive reviews about this album, I've had it for a while and I've given it a pretty good listening. Musically it is a fantastic album, great for putting on full blast in your muscle car while you tear around the neighbourhood chasing lepers! It's non relenting Thrash, heavy, fast, cool riffs, great drumming, it's everything I personally would wish for in an album... but... Just listening to it, sitting down listening, concentrating on it. There's something wrong, I can always enjoy the first half of the album but after that it tends to drop away a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid effort and Testament have stuck with a formula that works which is good and it's well worth the money, but I read those reviews and maybe i expected better, there's no 'Alone in the dark' or 'DNR' type songs that will stand out.

7/10

Archaic Descent

Melodic Progressive Death Black Metal band Archaic Descent commissioned us to create a logo recently, above all else they wanted something readable as most Death Metal bands' logos are pretty much illegible.

We're really happy with the result and they are too!

you can check them out at their site here: http://www.archaicdescent.com/

Also if you're interested and are in the vicinity they are playing at Poxx Bar, Paceville on Saturday 19th July 2008.

Venom - Hell

Venom's latest album Hell hit the shelves in June and I've given it quite some listening. The first thing that stood out was that the mixing of the album is rather strange, the mixes don't have that continuity you usually expect from an album, it sounds more like a compilation but don't let that put you off, each song goes from strength to strength in true to Satan Venom style!

Cronos' vocals are a little less distorted than in their previous effort Metal Black, but he's strayed very little from the Cronos we love, unlike a certain Mr H who seems to have undergone intensive training of late and still isn't anywhere near his best. But that's a different story.

Overall I'd say the poor production and weird mixing taint an album of some very strong songs that can become Heavy Metal classics. From the Venomous opener Straight to Hell, to the Chugging Hand of God, Venom provide more than decent serving for anyone with a Metal appetite.
8/10

BlackRock Recording Studios - progress report

Hi All, Work on BlackRock is coming along nicely, our recording equipment is currently working and we are recording everything except for drums as work on our basement level sound proof room is still pending (right now its our junk store).

Our Graphics team have recently started working on things too, creating a couple of logos, and are currently full blast on a project which will be announced later.