Death Metal inspired photo session

My homeboy Big D(ee) and I were out yesterday and took some photos around the city. In 2007 we had a massive year of death metal wankery, and this year it's come back. For how long, I don't know, however. But we decided to do something about it while it's "in action", so to speak, so here are a couple of photos I think turned out quite nice.

Also to state is that we pretty much "exclusively" listen to our kinsmen's brand of death metal, particularly the Stockholm death metal sound. We are also in the works for a tribute video to our favorite band of the genre - Dismember.

Here are the results, some melancholic, with varying weather of both snow and rain.

This one is just us doing a classic and cheesy death metal pose with our hair covering our faces.

 This is I at place where we took "death metal photos" in 2007.

Daniel outside of one of our two main / biggest churches.

Me outside the same.

 The graffiti says "Döden föder", which is Swedish for "the Death gives birth".

Me with the same graffiti.

Daniel at the other church of our two main ones.

And of course I, outside the same one.

Another cheesy and classic death metal pose, here with Mr. Slaughter Lord Rabbit.

 

And finally Mr. Slaughter Lord Rabbit and I rolling together.

Review: CRASHDÏET - The Savage Playground (2013)

Background story: Having been a fan since my early teens when they first appeard on the Swedish TV-channel ZTV, with their "Riot In Everyone" video that rotated real good for quite some time. I believe the year was 2004 and I loved their sound and just wanted them to do an album. In 2005 things started to happen and their infamous debut "Rest In Sleaze" was released in September, I believe. I remember buying the album the day after it came out and I pretty much loved it. Then in early 2006 I was saddened to hear of Dave Lepard's death, as CRASHDÏET was a band I was looking forward to follow over the years. They split-up, got back together and the rest is history. I never liked that muscle Mary guy they replaced Dave with, he pretty much sucked big, mean horse balls. In 2009 they announced that Simon Cruz and I got excited again, CRASHDÏET was reborn for real now. The guy sounded a lot like Sebastian Bach but I always loved Skid Row, so I didn't have any problem with that. He's pretty much everything the muscle Mary wasn't for CRASHDÏET. 2010 saw the release of my personal favorite CRASHDÏET album, "Generation Wild". Now it's 2013, I've waited almost three years for a new album and now it's arrived, "The Savage Playground" ...

Before I start listening, my thoughts and expectations are something like "it's their forth album over an eight year spun, their second album with the same singer as the last album. Things will probably sound more mature and maybe somewhat different than their old stuff." Well, this album actually did live up to all those thoughts of mine, but after listening to it, I honestly don't really know to think about it. My first impression is confused. Very confused. The album starts off promising with a track called "Change The World", which also reminds me that some of the song titles on this album feel different in some way, for being CRASHDÏET songs I mean. They don't sound like the "typical" titles the band would go for, but they did it and however, the first song is a solid one, if maybe not the best. I like it a lot at least and it did its purpose: it made me excited.

The second track is the album's lead single, "Cocaine Cowboys". Not an original title and not very cool anymore neither, but the song rather is, though. As much as I usually hate it, I think I have to admit that this is as good as it gets on this album. The songs starts off with a cool cowboy, steel guitar kind of intro, which just makes me (yet again) connect them to Skid Row. If "Generation Wild" was CRASHDÏET's "Skid Row", then this album is starting to sound like their "Slave To The Grind". Now that is not a bad thing as it's my favorite Skid Row album, but everything's about to change, and that quickly. The next three tracks are rather a dull and bland collection of what can be classically called "fillers", but when "Circus" and "Sin City" kick in I'm enjoying the music again.

With my hope up somewhat again, the album unfortunately enters a new and longer stretch of bland tunes, and this time I'm losing it. When the chorus in "Damaged Kid" kicks in I react like "what the fuck?!". It sounds nu metal-ish and sounds like something any emo, Korn, or whatever band could've come up with. I'm not generally a close-minded music listener, I listen to all kinds of metal and music outside of metal, but I never, ever liked nu metal. This song just blows.

At this point I actually took a break from the album to listen to something good, but as I got back I saw the title of the next track - "Excited". How ironic, huh? This song does however make me satisfied, it's pretty okey. Up last we have "Garden Of Babylon" which is a pretty good one as well. Now this is probably the most interesting song on the whole album, as it sound very different from the typical CRASHDÏET we know. It also doens't sound pretty much like anything else on this album. It's not an awesome or very fun track, but it's solid and probably does the best closer this album can get. But then there's a bonus track called "Liquid Jesus" as well, and rightfully so, because it sounds like gospel glam and I'm not very fond of it.

Now this was the album and its songs. A kinda strange bunch if you ask me, but it is what it is. Beside some frustation during the tracks, I also noted that the album's production is somewhat raw and muddled, maybe? I don't think it really gives much detail to the different instruments and sounds. I feel like the riffs sometimes are hard to really hear fully out, and at times the vocals sound like rough mixes. Now I do fancy raw productions with little polished effects - if it's done right. This just feels poorly done, it's easily the worst sounding CRASHDÏET album so far.

Musically the guys are as good as ever. They do their thing like nothing's changed and I still really like Simon Cruz, he's a great singer and very charismatic for this band. There are not too many memorable riffs, drum fills or whatever to be found on this album, though. I don't know if the riffs ever where CRASHDÏET's strong side, I think it rather was the vocal melodies and harmonies that was "that special thing" about 'em.

At the end of this album I stand confused and ... disappointed, to be honest. I'm not a conservative person who wants to stay in the same way forever unchanged, but if for instance Simon Cruz made the band evolve this way, I'd rather see the band let him go and find yet another singer for the next album. But I simply just hope they did their little failure and will get back on track again, before it's too late. All I can say about my personal feelings about this album is that it feels like an unfocused mashmix and is experimenting into new sounds, which I approve of very much, but it does it in the wrong territories. While it has a lot of pretty shitty moments, it also has some mediocrity and some great ones. Maybe the album will grow on me in due time, I can only see about that.

Final rating: 4.5/10

Jim Morrison alive?!

So what if Jim Morrison, lead singer of the amazing 60's band The Doors, was still alive? Who knows, maybe he is. Jim was a true rockstar persona, even if he wanted to be one or not. Of what I've read and understood he was not very fond of it at all, and it's said that the rockstar lifestyle ain't no pretty thing, so I have no hard times believing that. Personally, Jim is one of few people whose words I've paid any attention to at all. Most bands always were music first, words last, with lots of things in between. Vocals have always more or less just been an essential extra melodic instrument in music to me. I pretty much never cared for the topics of lyrics, except for the power ballad love ones. I mean c'mon, everybody pretty much goes through heartache, I've done it too, lots of times. I don't need to hear a hundred bands on the radio, at the same time, singing about the same fucking thing - how their girlfriends is done screwing them and wants to screw someone else. That topic is just so tiresome, especially in the 80's with all the bands I love.

Jim's lyrics are different, however. I remember as a kid when my dad had a poster of Jim and there were commercials on TV of different The Doors compilations. My dad laughed at me because I tried to sing "Light My Fire" in a fictional English (I was like 8-9, couldn't speak a word of English). I started listening to The Doors by myself (of course my dad also played them at home, so I grew up with them) in 2009. It was like a bomb dropped, it was so good. At first I pretty much fell for the obvious hits, classics or whatever, but I soon found out how great all of their albums are. Today I guess I mostly prefer medium-known or "filler" songs by them, but I listen to them very often and it doesn't really matter what comes on.

One thing that is very tragic, but also very interesting, is the death of Jim Morrison. It's said that he died in Paris after he went there. Well I guess that it's true that he moved there, as the surviving Doors are saying that themselves. But no one really knows how he died, there are just theories. I've read quite a lot and the most likely one would be some kind of drug-related thing, I'm sure. While I certainly hope that Jim died a graceful death, I find that very unlikely. One theory is that he was found in a bathtub by his girlfriend Pamela Courson. That doesn't feel like any justice at all, to me. But then I've also read all sorts of comments about him being alive, which is just people fucking around, of course, but what if he was still alive, what could he possibly be up to today?

As it was pretty obvious, Jim was not a fan of his stardom and would most likely have gone into obscurity. Maybe he staged his own death to get away from everything, but I don't like that theory as I think it's disrespectful to Jim and his family and friends. But if he's alive, or at least was alive for more years to come after his official death, I really hope he had a good time after The Doors. His words have given me a lot of thoughts and many hours of recognition when times were hard on me.

I just want to thank Jim Morrison and The Doors for making amazing, poetic lyrics and music.

Pantera Reunion?!

First off, the photo to the right was scanned by me in 2008 from a Sweden Rock Magazine (I don't recall what issue), and if you don't believe me, then go to http://www.lastfm.se/music/Pantera/+images/7559869 and look at the uploader, which is Idiots-Rule = my account. I love this photo of Pantera btw, it's a great, early shot from 1989 or 1990. I really love how Dimebag (R.I.P.) really is looking thrash here, while Phil look hardcore as usual.

But anyway, the topic I wanted to discuss about Pantera today is a potential reunion with them. I've read lots of opinions from fans all over the net for one or two years now, and the most common sollution for a "reunion" looks like Pantera feat. Zakk Wylde. Now I love Zakk, he's a great guitarist, a cool dude, he played with Ozzy whom is my favorite of all time, and he's got Black Label Society which is another band that I love. But as much as I love Zakk and his music through the years, I also do love Pantera and their legacy - a legacy I belive should be left alone and to age with pride. While I certainly still would find it cool to hear and maybe even see a reunion (or as close to one as it can be, without Dimebag that is), I still believe that it would ultimately be a rotten, dirty, and bad thing to do. Now from what I understand, the surviving guys seem to agree that a reunion is out of the question, which is a relief to me. I mean Phil's got Down, which I totally love, and he should stick with that, focus on that as well as his side-projects. Rex is doing fine with Kill Devil Hill which is one of my favorite bands of this year, and Vinnie Paul also seems to have a solid place in Hellyeah (though I don't listen to them, never have been, I dunno why, haven't got the slightest idea).

With this said, I'm sure that there would be lots of great names, big as small, to pay tribute to Dimebag if a reunion ever would take place, but really everyone. Show Dime some respect, don't destroy the great legacy of Pantera, no matter how much money the capitalist, bastard suits can caugh up to see it.

Over and out.

The Best AND Most Disappointing Albums Of The Year 2012

I remember back during the first half of my teen years, maybe like 2003-2007, there were very few new(er) bands that I liked. I was a very closed-minded, old school-only listener and listened to almost 80's music exclusively, apart from the 70's Gods like Sabbath, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Purple, and so on, you get the picture. In 2007, however, all that changed and I started to expand my musical mind with a big step into the 90's music (still dissin' the modern metal of that time, which still is pretty much the same metal today, unfortunately). The music was Death Metal, particularly the Swedish, classic old school-era and the East coast (Stockholm) sound. Entombed was the first band to break me into it with their legendary debut "Left Hand Path", but was soon followed by Dismember, which from that point to this day remain my favorite death metal band ever.

Anyway, in late 2007 I needed to cool off from all the ultra-pissed off extreme metal with something more mellow, but I wasn't really in the mood to return to my old NWoBHM / heavy and thrash metal, as well as AOR. To add is that I totally abandoned AOR in mid-06 when my band got a re-charge and we started to crank thrash metal 24/7 for some innovative influence and cleansing (the others were into Sum 41-punk, which is faggot punk, as well as nu metal, very much to my distaste as I've never liked those music styles). After that, whenever I hear AOR, I can't listen to it. It's just too much "midlife crisis music" to me, and I'm still young, hungry, and in need of going crazy to music, not in need of some cozy fucking and tender words during it after some wine and a luxious dish.

But as I was trying to explain, in late 2007 I took a pause from death metal and got addicted to early 90's alternative music and metal. With the great Jane's Addiction cracking me into this wave, it all soon followed with bands like Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mr. Bungle, and particularly Faith No More, which today is my favorite band. Danzig was another band I really cranked a lot every day, but I actually started to get into them in 2005 already (they had one 80's album ... they passed my then-rule #1: only 80's) and in 2006 they pretty much were the only non-thrash band that I listened to. I even had a T-shirt with their classic Devil's skull and logo (it became to small later on and I gave it to a skinny friend in 2009 or early 2010). So Danzig was pretty much the first 90's band I ever listened to and they are to this day a top-5 favorite band o'mine. Then I also got into old school hip-hop, electronic music and so on. My musical has expanded all the time and still does.

BUT NOW I'M DONE WITH THE HISTORY LESSON. I'm sorry, I just have so many fond memories and too much love for the music to not wander off like that. The point with all that is that today, I listen to all kinds of music, or at least I give it a shot, and it doesn't matter what time it was made in either.

So 2008 was a pretty bad year musically, I wanna recall? However, it WAS a year when things started to get better, and it has gotten better with each year since then. I thought 2011 was a pretty great as well as surprisingly good year musically, but I think I dare to say that 2012 has topped it!

Here's my list of this year's best albums:

1. Overkill : The Electric Age
- Intense, high-energy, "electrified" thrash (see what I did there! *ba-dum-tsch*). After the phenomenal Ironbound in 2010, Overkill went for a less proggy approach this time, but still kept the total-ass-kicking intact. The album of the year for me, congrats guys!

2. Steelwing : Zone Of Alienation
- As a fan of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal retro style, particularly the Swedish bands, this was a real solid ball of metal. I love everything about this album. I'm actually even going back and forth whether this is even better than Enforcer's Diamonds (2010) or not.

3. Unleashed : Odalheim
- And this one goes for the Death Metal album of the year. While they actually are a band whose latter material I prefer before their old, classic stuff, this album only made it more obvious: it fucking kicks ass! Their best album yet!

4. Rage Against The Machine : S/T remastered "XX 20th Anniversary"
- I know, not nearly a "new" album by any means, but a nice remaster, if not too different from the original, and it's got their first demo as well as some live tracks as bonus material, and that is what makes this release so great for any RATM fan.

5. Kill Devil Hill : S/T
- Maybe there are a few releases that would deserve this spot more, but I chose this because, 1. I for one really like this album, 2. I really looked forward to it for quite many months. I can confess that I wasn't reaaally satisfied with my expectations upon hearing it, but still it's a great album. I really like the voice.

6. Down : Part IV: The Purple EP
- I love Down, especially their third and latest full-length album. This was not a let-down apart from the one little fact: this is an EP. If it only would've been a full-length release and pretty much as good or better than Over The Under, it would've landed on fourth place.

..................................................................................................

Here's my list the most disappointing albums of 2012:

1. Testament : Dark Roots Of Earth
- Well. I love them, they're one of my absolute favorite bands, but no, something went wrong here. I was sooo anticipated about this one, and it finally showed to have been way too much. I was totally disappointed. It's not a bad album and Alex Skolnick is amazing, one of my favorite leads ever. The music's just too mediocre and Native Blood was a bad choice for a single. Also disappointing that my favorite drummer Gene Hoglan didn't get to do what he does best - beating the shit outta the drums, making tsunamis all over the world from the blastwaves.

2. Fear Factory - The Industrialist
- I had a moment of a few months in 2009 where I was addicted to their classic album Demanufacture, but just like then, the rest of their stuff still just sound recycled in a shittier form. Boooring.

3. The Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud
- I love Dev, I love his music, I have followed his music since 2007 I think, when I discovered Strapping Young Lad. Never has any of his albums really disappointed me. Some were not master-masterpieces, but they were great. This one was not a funny listening experience. After hearing preview samples from it, I didn't feel like anything really stuck out to me, and upon hearing the album I got it confirmed. It was kinda boring. But I don't judge Devin. The man is constantly trying out new approaches with his music, even if his trademark wall-of-sound is present everywhere, and one cannot simply make awesome albums without failing at least once. To me, this was Dev's first failure, and not a big one at that.

Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 is over!

The season 4 cast: Tara, Jax, Piney, Clay, Gemma, Juice, Chibs, Tig, Opie, and Bobby.

*Contains spoilers*

So now season five of Sons of Anarchy is over. What can I say? It's what it is - a show that a love, but that made me somewhat tired of the constant shit that happens in it (I'm usually not really a big fan of drama, but I love bikes and the biker culture). I loved the first two seasons of the show and in the third one I thought things were becoming kinda annoying, the whole thing with Abel being kidnapped and all. Season four didn't really get me going again as I sorta felt too much shit was still happening to the gang. After I watched the season 5-premiere though, I felt the "fire" in me that is the love for this show. It really showed something I didn't feel I had seen for a while, and it stayed at that pretty much the whole season through. There were some moments in the middle of the season, especially with the nomads and the home-invasion attacks, that dragged out a little much, but otherwise I think it was the best season since season two.

While season five did not end as bad as I thought it would - I thought Tig and Juice both were gonna die, and Clay would go to Belfast. Lucky me it didn't end that way, but the shit with Tara going to jail and Bobby leaving his VP-seat are still bad. Now I can only wait for season six to see what happens next. After Opie's tragic but strong death scene, I don't wanna see more of the main cast go, apart from Clay that is. I'd also like to see new faces as I feel the club is getting so small without Opie, Piney, Kozik, Miles and the others who've died.

Grand Theft Auto V !!!