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I chatted with Seeb Levermann of ORDEN OGAN about many things, his recording studio and the workload involved, cancelled tours, killer cows, 'super fans' from South America, and of course the upcoming album, 'The Order Of Fear'. Check it out.
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THE ETERNAL's latest album is 'Skinwalker'. It's an hour long soundscape into a dark metal world. Sure, watch the music videos, but do yourself a favour and sit yourself down and listen to the whole album. You WILL be rewarded.
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I sat down with Mark Kelson from THE ETERNAL for a casual and quite lengthy chat about the new album, 'Skinwalker', new record deals, guest musos from all over, cold Finnish winters and what happens next.
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Canadian Power Metal Legends, UNLEASH THE ARCHERS blazed through Adelaide on Sunday night, as part of their extensive AUS / NZ tour. A top night with support from FIRESTORM and DIRTY PAGANS.
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Sweden's WORMWOOD, purveyors of fine Melodic Black Metal have done it again. Their latest release, 'The Star' is 47 minutes of melancholic metal that'll take you places. All killer, no filler.
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I had another cool chat with Tobias Rydsheim from WORMWOOD about the awesome new album, 'The Star'. You need to hear this album.
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UNLEASH THE ARCHERS don't muck around. The new album is 'Phantoma'. They have upped the game from the previous album , 'Abyss' and decided to smash us and also present a few new cards in the deck.
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ROTTING CHRIST, laid waste to Lion Arts Factory in spectacular fashion, with the best in-your-face set of Black Metal I've seen. Adelaide's FREEDOM OF FEAR and DIABOLIC RITES provided perfect support.
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The latest RIOT V album, 'Mean Streets', is an absolute belter. Rhythm section is rock-solid, guitar work is top notch and the vocals are crazy, with the effortless power of Todd Michael Hall. Check this puppy out.
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ACCEPT are back with 'Humanoid', an album full of songs that flow along nicely with the sing-along-while-punching-the-air choruses we've come to know and love. Guitar work is excellent and tastefully executed, with a bit of wah-wah, as you would expect. There's something here for all fans of Traditional Metal.
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I had a cool chat with Rehn Stillnight from Italy's NOCTURNA about the formation of the band, her singing, art studies, the process of recording with 2 female singers in the band with quite different voices, Australian spiders, the new album, 'Of Sorcery And Darkness'. It's all covered here.
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Some photos from METAL UNITED DOWN UNDER at the London Tavern in Adelaide.
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Australia's own WITCHGRINDER played here last weekend on the album launch tour for this album. The sheer quality of the show led me to check this album out and here we are. It's heavy, it's brutal, but there's more to it than that. I haven't heard something like this from an Australian band before.
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Okay, so Tuesday the 9th I was there at The Gov to witness FILTER on their first headline tour since 2000. Contained within are photos of FILTER and BLACK SMOKE TRIGGER through the smoke and bingo wings. Enjoy.
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This list has taken me a ridiculously long time to do, but hey, here it is at last. SORCERER for the win.
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I had a cool chat with Dave Lupton from FLAMING WREKAGE about the band's history, local festivals, performing in tin sheds, rural shows, 'different' video clips and the soon to be released album, 'Terra Inferna'. Cool stuff. Check it out.
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I chatted with Sami Perttula and Jarkko Aaltonen from KORPIKLAANI about many things, their respective instrument choices, touring, festival timeslots, and the soon to be released album, 'Rankarumpu'. Check it out.
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I had another awesome chat with Tony Kakko from Finland's SONATA ARCTICA about many things, voice issues, acoustic shows and the pension plan opportunities, favourite seasons and of course the excellent new album, 'Clear Cold Beyond', which is out now.
Check it out.
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SONATA ARCTICA‘s new album, ‘Cold Clear Beyond’ is a ripper. From the first notes of the album’s opener, ‘First In Line’, (the lead single) you know that the band are charging right ahead, and you are coming along, whether you want to or not. Great songs just keep coming. This album just wants to be listened to again and again.
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Adelaide's own EMERGENCY RULE have just released an album, 'The King Of Ithaca'. Check it out. You will realise you have missed this sort of sound. All the band's great original songs that they've been playing for a while have been captured in the studio . The tracks are 'bottled lightning' as it were. They sound so good, they come across on the album so well.
STRIKER's new album 'Ultrapower' seems to have taken up where the previous album left off. I think the band raised it a notch, a bit faster in places, a bit heavier, a bit of a nod to their thrashier roots while still maintaining that over-the-top fun edge.
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CHURCHES OF STEEL had the 7th instalment on Saturday the 17th of February. For the 3rd year running it was held at the Adelaide UniBar, and once again it was a fantastic day. 12 hours of Metal and great friends. CHURCHES OF STEEL is probably one of the more relaxed festivals but that's not to say it wasn't frantic with Metal. 14 bands entertained the crowd from start to finish.
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Okay, let's talk about how good IN FLAMES and KREATOR were last night at Hindley Street Music Hall In Adelaide. KREATOR and they were better than I remember, better than i expected them to be.
IN FLAMES looked good, they sounded good, the best I've heard them in fact.
Photos through the smoke within.
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A packed house at Lion Arts on a school night to see BLIND GUARDIAN for the first time in Adelaide. The crowd arrived early and was in fine voice for an entertaining night. BLIND GUARDIAN were in fine form to leave us all breathless. I don't think I've ever heard an Adelaide crowd sing like that. Can't wait for next time.
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TYKETTO are heading to Australia as part of GLAMFEST 2024. I had an awesome chat with frontman Danny Vaughn about the band, what they've been doing lately, the upcoming Australian shows, setlists, long haul flights and the serious issue of the effect music has on people. We also touched on his time with WAYSTED, and his other projects.
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HEAVY SA was held January 27th, featuring 24 bands from South Australia (plus a bonus 'jam' band with assorted members). It was another huge event, well organised and well run, held at Lion Arts Factory over 2 stages.
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The NU METAL FEST, Saturday night at the UniBar was a cool night featuring music from the era. FALLEN (tribute to EVANESCENCE) opened the show, SYSTEM OF A DON'T followed with the best of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, and METEORA closed out the night with the best of LINKIN PARK.
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I chatted with John Steel, original drummer of THE ANIMALS, for the first time in 5 years. We spoke about gardening, long haul flights, bridging generations, and the upcoming tour of Australia (billed as a farewell tour). Audio only, check it out below.
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A healthy crowd rocked up at the Crown & Anchor for LEMMY FOREVER.
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The legendary METAL CHURCH returned to Australia for their second visit, and played their first gig ever in Adelaide at the Crown & Anchor Hotel last Sunday night. To say it was a freaking crazy experience is a massive understatement. The roof was blown off.
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December 9th saw the 2023 edition of Dimefest, featuring a number of bands, culminating in the Pantera tribute of 'BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN'.
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The recent Froth & Fury 3 will go down in history as the pinnacle in locally organised Heavy Music events, held again at Pirate Life Brewing at Port Adelaide. The lineup was fully stacked with local, interstate and overseas bands. 4,000 people packed in for plenty of bands, plenty of drink, plenty of food, plenty of good times. Can't wait for next year.
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Sweden's SORCERER return with 'Reign Of The Reaper', a worthy successor to 2020's 'Lamenting Of The Innocent'.
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WAYFARER are a band from Denver, Colorado, that play a unique brand of Metal. The new album is 'American Gothic'. It's full of cool, 'moody' riffing, with a 'Western American' ring to it, aggressive vocals, and great songs. Great music for the highway. It's on heavy rotation here.
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Peter Iwers from THE HALO EFFECT took time out of his busy between tour schedule to have a great chat with me about how the band came together and the upcoming Lagerfest / Froth and Fury Fest tour. We also had a chat about brewing beer and driving golf carts around Ozzfest whilst naked. Check it out.
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KK Downing's band, KK's PRIEST have released a second album, 'The Sinner Rides Again', and the band has stepped it up from the last album in my opinion. The riffs keep coming, songwriting is better, 'multi layered' Ripper is in top form, and the album chugs along nicely.
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I had quite the in-depth chat with Richard Patrick from FILTER about a great many things, the latest album, 'The Algorithm' , album budgets 'now' compared to 'then', streaming music (if you're not Taylor Swift), the state of the industry now, losing yourself in a performance, leaving your mark as an artist, and the upcoming Australian tour. Check it out.
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Denmark's finest, MERCENARY, are back with a new album, 'Soundtrack For The End Times'. All the trademarks are there, crushing riffs, melodic clean vocals, occasional brutal unclean vocals and the sublime guitar work of Martin Buus, reason enough to check it out right there.
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I had quite the chat with Roger Öjersson from KATATONIA about the upcoming Australia tour and the recording of their most recent album, 'Sky Void Of Stars'. We also had a good chat about his choice of guitars and amplifiers.
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Broken Hill's FIRESTORM blasted into Adelaide over the weekend and sold out Brewboys. DIRTY PAGANS, SHADOW MONARCHY and DENAZEN were on the bill also and made for an interesting night. I managed to sleaze side-stage access (all half metre square of it) for FIRESTORM and SHADOW MONARCHY and you can see the results below.
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I had a cool chat with the guys from Adelaide's NAKATOMI PLAZA about the formation of the band and the debut single, 'Bloodlines', and what is in store for the band.
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ELEINE are a ‘Dark Symphonic Metal’ band from Sweden. The last album, ‘Dancing In Hell’ was excellent and the follow-up, ‘We Shall Remain’, has cleared the high bar set and raised it a few notches. Songwriting is top class, the song groove along nicely. The vocal melodies are beautiful, there’s even a melody reminiscent of the late 60s on the title track. Not repeating anything, just something to take you back. See if you can pick it. This band stands out from the rest of the Symphonic Metal crowd. If you’re after something a bit different in that regard, check this album out.
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Located on the western side of Chandlers Hill Road at Happy Valley, opposite the southern end of the Happy Valley Reservoir.Lest we forget. [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19x”]
Date – 1/07/2019Venue – Enigma Bar, Hindley Street All photos are copyright. No downloading or screenshots without express permission. It’s not too hard to ask is it? [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19v”]
Date – 1/07/2019Venue – Enigma Bar All photos are copyright. No downloading or screenshots without express permission. It’s not too hard to ask is it? [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19u”]
Date – 2/08/2019Venue – Clovercrest Hotel, Modbury All photos are copyright. No downloading or screenshots without express permission. It’s not too hard to ask is it? [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19t”]
Date – 2/08/2019Venue – Clovercrest Hotel, Modbury All photos are copyright. No downloading or screenshots without express permission. It’s not too hard to ask is it? [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19s”]
I had an awesome chat with Jake E and Jesper Strömblad from CYHRA about many things, the origins of the band's name, pandemics, the woes of not being able to hire a tour bus, being stopped from selling your own band's T-shirts while bootleggers get a free pass, long haul flights, demons in the night, weird coincidences with TV shows, and of course the new album, 'The Vertigo Trigger', to be released August 18th.
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Date – 30/07/2023Venue – South Australian Aviation Museum, Lipson Street, Port Adelaide All photos are copyright. No downloading or screenshots without express permission. It’s not too hard to ask is it? [wpcloudgallery id=”G-19n”]
STRAY GODS are the band featuring Bob Katsionis, who you may recognise from seeing him in FIREWIND for many years. An amazingly talented man, putting his talents to good use here. A talented band surrounds him and they ROCK.
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