First though, Sabbath. Cancellation was only to be expected once Tony Iommi was diagnosed with Lymphoma, we were distracted by Bill Ward choosing to leave the reunion. He felt that he hadn’t been given a fair deal, which is probably true. Immediately the internet leapt to his defence and blamed who? The rest of the band for getting a better deal? Management? Well almost; they blamed Sharon, the apparent wicked witch of the world. Now I am no fan, but even so it was interesting that as soon as something went wrong with the reunion that was out of someone’s control, Sharon was blamed. Frankly if someone could find a shred of evidence that cancer could be implanted she’d probably have been blamed for that too- cutting her nose off to spite her face or some such thing. Of course, I take this to the extreme merely to point the stupidity of blaming her for everything. Granted, she probably did play a part, at the very least justifiying whatever inequalities there were in the agreements Bill felt he could not sign, but we don’t know this, so the raging against the Sharon thing has become some kind of Metal Meme. Sigh. I wonder who came up with the idea of an Ozzy and Friends tour, where Geezer’s just along for the ride…….

In other news, Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver, a man not known for keeping his views to himself came out and lambasted the media over the handling of Whitney Houston’s death. Now, as has been obvious from the news feed on my Facebook page of late, there are people who don’t care about her death, or are angry that she gets many column inches while a soldier who dies in Afghanistan gets none. They are right but that’s celebrity so deal with it. Stop flooding my page with your pithy, (read annoying and bitchy), comments and insights. Matt is spot on with what he says; there is indeed a pressure to being someone like Whitney that we cannot fully understand, and there are many people with drug or other issues, but they don’t have to see them played out on a grand stage. Being famous can be the loneliest place in the world.

Something that will perhaps be most interesting to people is that we now have confirmation from Dizzy Reed, (keyboardist in Guns N’ Roses), that all the original band will indeed be at the Hall of Fame in March. Honestly I’m not surprised at that, I think even Slash and Axl can be in the same room together for something like this. That said, for them to get on stage and accept an award together, that’s on shakier ground. That said, if they will all be there then it can only mean that they will be on stage accepting the award together. Now, all this does not mean that the original line-up or the Illusions line-up will play together at the Hall. There is precedent, (Van Halen), not to mention the great tensions between Axl and Slash to negate this possibility. It is not certain that they wont play, but I think we must simply all be grateful they can all be in the same place at the same time.

Thanks for reading, take Appetite for Destruction, and any of the first four Sabbath Albums and I’ll see you next time in The Sanitarium.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but when KK Downing left Judas Priest, or Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden, those remaining announced that fact, cited whatever reasons they chose and wished them well. What a sad (yet unsurprising) state of affairs when this is not so, when those who have left must announce not only their leaving, but must consider what to say for the future of the band they have just left. Why? Because radio-silence is in effect from one side. Lines of communication are first ignored, then blocked. When those no longer in the loop have to announce ‘on behalf of’ those they have left, and cannot do it on the official page so that everyone knows, they can only reach a limited audience, almost certainly leaving some people in the dark.

Earlier today I received a message from a someone who had not known about Olie, Martin and I leaving The Reckoning. He had found out because Olie’s post of a link to an advert we had put out had (I assume), appeared on his news feed. This is not how a fan of a band, who has spent many a time supporting your efforts, and offering his help should discover such things. All I can do is apologise, since within reason we had done all we could to get the word out, short of writing to a thousand plus people individually. Can you imagine a situation where a member of a band leaves, the remainder of the band don’t mention it, in fact they even take down their website, leaving the now non-bandmember to inform the many fans of the band of both his, and their, future? It is absurd, unprofessional and makes everyone look bad.

Every time I seek to move forward, to leave things behind, something comes up.

Some might call it karma; that I deserve this for being the cause of the problems, for being the cause of The Reckoning going from being a full band to one member in a matter of months, (I know there is at least one person with this view). It isn’t true, but since when did truth really mean anything; well, the truth anyway, someone’s truth has always meant too much.

I want to make it clear once again that I wish Ben and the Reckoning the best. I really do. Being blocked from his page I can’t tell him personally, and I doubt he’ll ever read this. There are always trains headed out the station into the great unknown, this was one I could not be on.

And now for Weather…

Olie, Martin and I are seeking 2 lead guitarists from the Bournemouth/Poole/Dorchester/Swange area to complete the lineup of our new band. Here is a link to one of our adverts with all the information you’ll need: http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/2-lead-guitars-needed-for-metal-band-t303407.html

Tell your friends!

And now I return you to your regularly scheduled programming…

What has been in the news this week hasn’t really been able to dampen my spirits. Besides the usual selection of interviews where bands justify creative decisions and older musicians complain about modern music (Nob, er, I mean Noel Gallagher is the grumpy old rocker this week), some truly awful news came out. The great Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath, one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, (in terms of riff writing and reputation), has been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and friends at this time. It will be a truly sad day if within a year or two we find him no longer with us.

In lighter news, Metallica say their new album will be more like the Black Album (shorter songs) than …And Justice for All. There is also an implication that Death Magnetic is somehow on a par with Justice and that whatever comes next will be as good as much of the Black Album. Frankly they’re putting so much spin on this I’m surprised the façade hasn’t broken into millions of pieces under the strain of holding so much bullshit together. I’m sure my readers, clever as you all are, can see what I mean; perhaps the biggest example, since album quality is, I’ll grant you, subjective so they may genuinely believe most of what they say, is that Ulrich seems to think that most people think of …And Justice For All and its songs when they think of ‘Old Metallica’ rather than Master Of Puppets or Ride The Lightning. Frankly I think when people talk about Old Metallica they mean the period ending with Justice, and I think most wouldn’t point to that album as being the creative peak of that period, which is really what he’s suggesting.

In local news, three members of the Reckoning have left the group for personal and musical differences, just six months after another left for much the same reasons. It was only days ago that Sanctuary, another local band parted ways with a guitarist and bassist. Olie, Martin and I (drummer, singer and bassist) felt that we could no longer continue in The Reckoning and have moved on to an as yet unnamed project. Hopefully there will be more news to announce soon enough. As we said on Facebook, we wish Ben well and hope he is successful with The Reckoning.

I had considered making a New Years resolution not to rant, but it’s fun and immensely cathartic. So here goes…

Over my, admittedly short musical career, certain events have reinforced to me the view that there are certain things that have to happen and things that should never be, and when things aren’t happening the way they should then a change needs to happen. If that change isn’t likely, then you have to get out and fast. Two of the main guiding principles for me are ‘professionalism’ and ‘Democracy-ish’. The first was instilled in me by the attitude of my family, and my music/drama teachers. I was taught things like always going on time because the people out there have come to see you, or at least to be entertained. They have made the effort to be there for the publicised start time, you should also be ready by then. In any play I performed in at school, great pains were taken to organise everything so that the show could start on time, and this fact was something that I absorbed even at a young age. I was also taught about how to react on stage if you or someone else forgot their lines. To stop, or give any indication that there had been a fuck-up was just about the worst thing you could do; you took the audience out of the moment, you made it painfully obvious there was a problem and you looked like a cock for dropping your colleague in it. Again, performances from the ages of 13-18 made this clear. Not that it happened, but that we just knew that only we knew how things should go (the audience didn’t) and we were a team so we had to get through it together. I once played the Jailer in the play ‘Paul’. It was a slightly comedic role, and the scenes I was in whilst having some seriousness, were meant to be ‘lighter’ passages compared to the rest of the piece. The man playing Paul (a very good actor incidentally) had almost a book to memorise in terms of lines for this play, it really was obscene. Not only was he on stage for basically the whole thing, he was speaking for most of it. My job was to know our scene back to front, so I could remind him which of the 6 (approx.) speeches he had to make. I had to be able to fill a gap in a way that made sense if he missed a cue, or went to the wrong line making sure that all the points were hit in the scene. This is not to make me sound big, or to make him sound like he just couldn’t be bothered to learn his lines (there really were a lot of them), it is to show that when you are up on stage in front of people expecting to be entertained, you do whatever it takes to do that, and you don’t break character and you don’t point out errors to the audience.

I learnt professionalism from a young age and in my teenage years I came to understand that in a band that  is even ostensibly not a dictatorship but a democracy, the buck still needs to stop with someone, because otherwise you end up going round and round in circles never getting anything down. What I concluded is that you need a “primus inter pares”, someone who while technically having no more say that anyone else, appears to. By this I mean someone who appears as a band’s spokesman, or leader in public, who facilitates discussion so everyone’s views are heard, but makes the decisions, guides the overall process in the studio, on the road or in meetings and so on (it’s a long list of traits). If this is done right, then that person is not so much a leader as an administrator and people are happy because they have a fair say. The leader simply takes these opinions and crafts an idea to move forward with, and the band mates trust him to do this. However once it seems to those band mates that outside influences have more sway than they do, or that decisions seem to be made and merely put to the group for approval, then a rather different and more difficult situation occurs, one that is likely to end badly. You cannot have a band without ‘democracy-ish’, only the leader and his or her backing band. True democracy doesn’t work because then no-one is able to move things forward, everything is still in the ‘discussion phase’. That said, this is almost better than being in a situation where you are told your opinion matters but in practice it is ignored. This is something I have taken into my daily life and I am always aware of whether I am genuinely taking on board someone’s view, or just waiting for them to finish so I can do what I decided before they had opened their mouths. I hope this latter part of the article has been worthwhile reading; it is the sort of topic that needs discussing I feel.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.

The rumour mill is currently in full flow, suggesting that since Black Sabbath have reunited but haven’t announced any dates in North America; as Metallica have an announcement coming up and because Corey Taylor has said Slipknot will be making festival appearances next summer, that they will tour together next year. It’s actually not all that unlikely- I doubt they’d have a problem getting together, and combined there’s quite a large paying audience so it makes money sense too (as long as fans of one band are not put off by the presence of one of the others that is). Though personally I have no interest in such a tour, I know people who will be, and can reasonably assume that they are not the only ones- even if they are residents of our long-term wing for disappointed and disillusioned fans. All in all, whether I want it or not, it’s a possibility, one that is reasonably likely and, though it wont match the Big 4 for status, it will still be pretty big.

2012 will see many albums drop, and for fans of all kinds of Rock/Metal there’s several potentially great albums coming. It is believed that Rush will finally complete their latest effort Clockwork Angels and release it in the Spring- most likely the recording process is now complete, if not the rest. This will be the first album since Hemispheres to include a multi-part epic (though arguably it’s since Permanent Waves that this is the case). After Hemispheres they had taken a conscious decision to not go down that route again for a time. Also in the spring the new Marilyn Manson album is set to appear. From the look of the Born Villain video this is certainly going to be interesting, if nothing else. There will, most likely be a review of this album when it’s released.

Tenacious D will release ‘Rise of the Phoenix’ in the first quarter, which includes not one, but three songs by that name. This is borne out of the failure of the Pick of Destiny, with the lyrics being about that whole situation. While each passing album or tour makes me less inclined to follow the D, there are always a few good songs on any of their albums.

As is often the case, there are many bands that have stated that an album will appear in 2012, but have not said when. Apart from the new Sabbath album, and Metallica album, Linkin Park, Green Day, U2, Pearl Jam and others indeed to release new material at some point. Though you could not mistake me for a fan of bands like Green Day and Linkin Park say, I enjoy some of what they do. Next year is looking particularly interesting and exciting when it comes to new releases.

Well that’s it for now, enjoy the left-overs from Christmas Day, and prepare to nurse that New Years hangover.

Welcome back to the Sanitarium. Well it’s that time of year again, people beginning (or even finishing) their Christmas shopping and confirming their plans for New Years Eve. For the children among us it is time to write out those wish lists and lovingly written letters to Father Christmas. It is in that spirit that this article comes. There are always things we regret not seeing or doing, but infinitely greater in number are those things we could never have done or seen. It was not so long ago that I saw Ozzy Osbourne at the Apollo (it’s not actually called that now, but fuck it, that’s it’s real name), and saw the Big 4 at Sonisphere. They were both hugely enjoyable times, yet in the back of my mind there was always an “if only”, “if only I could have seen them in their prime, or on the … tour”. I know I am not alone in this, in fact sometimes it’s not a tour from way back you wish you’d been able to see, but perhaps the previous one or the one before that for whatever reason. I would have loved to have seen Iron Maiden on their Brave New World tour, both because it was a fantastic album to be touring in support of and that it was the first album tour with the reunited line-up. That said, for a fan of older music as I am, it is more likely that I would wish I had been around to see many of the earlier tours of bands like Led Zeppelin and Metallica. So, in the form of a wish-list, since it is Christmas time (or almost at any rate), and in no particular order here are some shows or tours I’d love to have seen in the flesh.

Led Zeppelin Earls Court 1975; Somewhere on the ill-fated N.America Tour 77/the Knebworth shows of 79 

Yes I know I’m already taking liberties with the system I set up previously, but the fact is that as a fan who came along over 20 years after the last Zeppelin album, and one who knows a bit of their history, this is my selection and I’m sticking with it. To have seen Led Zeppelin at the height of their powers would have been truly extraordinary. They are remembered as pretty much the greatest ever rock band, and one of the forerunners of every Rock and Metal genre. The Physical Graffiti tour was the last great Zeppelin tour (later tours would be marred by drugs, violence and sadness), and the band was at its a greatest, at the zenith of years of phenomenal work. By 1977/79 however, Plant was forever changed by sadness and drama in his personal life, and Page was knee deep in heroin addiction. Some of the shows were good, many were poor, so why would I want to see Zeppelin at this time? Because this tour, and the later Knebworth concerts show Zeppelin at their worst; it is also most poignant, to see the difference in their faces and way of being: Plant’s world weariness, Page’s off his face grin, and the rhythm section still almost flawless despite Bonham being very much alcohol fuelled. To see the best and worst of something allows you to truly understand it, and to understand Led Zeppelin even in part, would be an amazing thing indeed.

Iron Maiden before 1980

As a member of a young band on the long hard road we hope leads to success, it strikes me that a wish-list such as this should not simply be a way of having fun, but of creating opportunities to learn. Since I was not born until Maiden had produced multiple albums with Bruce Dickinson as their front man, it would be easy to wish to go back to the Number of the Beast through Powerslave era. However, for the above reasons, I would want to go way back beyond even Di’Anno’s tenure in the band, to see what Maiden were like at such an early stage, how they did things both on and off the stage. To sit under that learning tree would be most enlightening. Plus I’d get to hear songs that I will never hear them play, like Strange World or Purgatory; I never said it should be all work and no play did I…?

Metallica First half of 86

While it is true that I do not hold Cliff Burton in quite the godly regard as many Metallica fan boys do, I will happily say that he was a phenomenal bassist, did many interesting things, and wrote great songs. He also has a certain reputation about the way he did things, his attitude to life and so on. To see all this in the flesh, and preferably up close would be a life changing experience. Cliff Burton’s life, playing and death affect so many musicians, so many people, that it would be arrogant, stupid or both to imagine that I would not be affected in that way. I have seen Steve Harris playing up close and personal, and boy did that change the way I thought, and Cliff would be no different. That he is often held in the same regard as bassists with careers spanning as many decades as his did, years is proof of the profound effect the man had. For even that one reason, I would wish to have seen Metallica live in those early days. Besides, by 86 Lars was a pretty good drummer, so I wouldn’t have had my enjoyment spoilt by his playing. Death truly takes the best and most talented before we’re ready to let them go.

Thanks for reading, take Physical Graffiti, Killers and Ride the Lightning and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.

In my review of the Loutallica creation, Lulu, I felt that I had made it clear that while the vocals were an abomination and the lyrics generally not much better, the music itself ranged from awful to really very good (for what it is). The first half of the album is hugely repetitive and not an easy listen, but songs like Iced Honey and Junior Dad are very good. Granted they are not up there with say Achilles Last Stand, 2 Minutes to Midnight or Turn Loose the Mermaids but they are still good. To me almost any song can be good, very few are great. I must also point out how many people, by the parameters set out in by article, are stupid. And I mean this with the greatest respect but it bears repeating; Lulu is neither a Metallica album or a metal album. It is Lou Reed with the members of Metallica providing backing. It has far more in common with Berlin than the Black Album, so to look at it as though it should be the latter is delusional at best. Anyway, I shall move on before I alienate even more of my audience.

Led Zeppelin, a band that over it’s career made many of the rules future bands would adhere to, in business and lifestyle (and in music too), are mainly remembered today for songs like Stairway to Heaven and Kashmir. However, there was a lot more to them than this (isn’t there always in these cases), and if I had to explain to someone who didn’t know who Led Zeppelin was (there must be someone out there), and tell him which songs to ‘check out’ I would use these; in no particular order:

1. Immigrant Song

2. Stairway to heaven

3. The Rain Song

4. No Quarter

5. Heartbreaker

6. Ramble On

7. Dazed and Confused

8. Good Times, Bad Times

9. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You

10. The Battle of Evermore

11. Moby Dick

12. Kashmir

13. Achilles Last Stand

14. Nobody’s Fault But Mine

15. You Shook Me

16. All My Love

17. In The Light

18. Out On The Tiles

19. When The Levee Breaks

20. The Rover

While I would have thought almost everyone has at least heard of 1, 2, 7 and 12 that is just as much a reason for leaving them off as putting them on this list; that most people know them attests to their quality and the need for them to be on any list to be given to a newbie. That said, if someone already knows them, why not use those spaces for other songs?

People may ask why Bring it on Home isn’t there. To me it’s a similar sort of song to When the Levee Breaks in terms of how it fits into the Zeppelin pantheon, and I prefer Levee so it’s on the list. Alongside those tunes that even a non-fan has heard of there are songs like Heartbreaker, No Quarter, The Rain Song and Achilles Last Stand that your average fan will have heard, but 16-18 say, are some of the less or even least known great Zeppelin songs.

Most of this list could easily make up much of a Greatest Hits compilation, but some like In the Light definitely would not make it. So why is it here? Because to me, songs like In the Light, All My Love and Out On The Tiles are great songs and along with the others offer a clear idea of what Led Zeppelin was. And that’s the point here; this is not my list of Zeppelin’s greatest songs, though many from this list would make that one. This is a very abridged encyclopedia entry. If you were to listen to these songs, I think you would get a very good picture of Led Zeppelin was, and hear just what a range of material they produced. This list would also enable you to find out which aspects of Zeppelin you wished to further look into and which parts you were not interested in. To me you can look at the list and go “That’s Zeppelin”. That’s the aim anyway.

Thanks for reading, try that list on shuffle, tell me what you think of it below, and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.

It is hard to explain the new album. While it hangs together as a record there is a sense that much will be explained when the movie arrives next year. The songs feel connected like a concept album, but what ties them together is not clear. There is great courage in the album and for me it pays off, though for the more partisan fan this may not be the case. In terms of describing the album, again one wishes they could either simply write ‘brilliant’ and be done with it or put down adjective after adjective in order to explain. I have attempted to limit myself to six words to summarise the album, you’ll see how I chose them they are often the most apt descriptors of the album.. Here goes:

Atmospheric, Evocative, Emotive, Beautiful, Intriguing and Many-layered.

Yes I know the last one’s technically two words but there’s a hyphen so if this was my review (and hey it is my review) it would be allowed.

In an interview with a magazine which shall remain nameless, Tuomas (one of the founding members, and the main writer of music for Nightwish) noted that they had gone back and forth on opening the album with a song in Finnish, worrying about how such a move would be received. I for one am glad they took the chance. Taikatalvi shows Marco’s full range, which is far greater than I had previously thought. His voice is good enough to be a lead singer in a band (see his project, Tarot) and yet here he is doing backing vocals in Nightwish. That said, over time his vocals have taken more of a lead role in places. The song initially feels like lyrics put to the melody of an old musical box (this was most likely the aim). It’s almost a lullaby at times and welcomes the listener to the world of the album- it pulls you in, creating an atmosphere, anticipation, excitement and even a little tension. Track 2, Storytime fades in, and the anticipation, tension and excitement filled feeling created by Taikatalvi is not lost. For a Nightwish song, Storytime is only average, though I do love the arrangements of the song. It’s worth remembering though that like any great band, Nightwish’s average is still very good. The orchestral and choral elements give an epic feel to the song, Annette’s vocal is different to how it was on the previous album, but not far removed- it is later songs like Slow, Love, Slow that make me see just how much there is to her voice, and how little was seen of this on Dark Passion Play. In fact by the end of the album I had decided that there was more to her voice than Tarja’s since she in a sense was just an operatic singer. There is surprisingly little variance in the vocals of other Nightwish stuff in terms of what Tarja is doing. Anyway, I do not wish to go on and on, since we have only had a taste of all that is to come and I must save space for that.

Musically, Ghost river is clearly of the Nightwish Oeuvre, though it is a weird song too. The vocal line is varied and evocative, indeed this will not be the last time I felt that the band and particularly Annette were surpassing themselves. Some of the material is such a step up from Dark Passion Play that you have to wonder where on earth it comes from. An eerie feel is crystallised by the use of circus themes in the way they might be used in a scary or tense film scene. A phenomenal atmosphere is created; sadness, tension, conflict, intrigue are all here, created by great song writing. There is so much going on here, the swelling strings, choral melodies and so on that what seems like a straight forward song is in fact a very rich tapestry. Now we come to probably my favourite song on the album, Slow, Love, Slow. It brings to mind a smoky nightclub. A Gothic, dark and moody one but a nightclub all the same. It’s a Nightwish Club (ugh, I already feel shame for typing that). Undoubtedly this song will polarise people; I think those with a wider musical taste will react better, since they will appreciate all the genres that are involved at turns in the song. Your average metal heads I fear will simply not ‘get this’, which is sad since it is a truly beautiful and emotive, atmospheric song with many layers. The feelings this song creates are hard to describe, but it hits you in the very core of your being. I Want My Tears Back supplies one of the few self-referential moments in the album, with it’s main riff sounding rather similar to Last of the Wilds… in a good way. Again, this song gives both Annette and Marco the chance to really show their talents. The song builds to a great crescendo before entering the final chorus.

Inspired by childhood nightmares, Scaretale succeeds in evoking a fantasy world, similar to the darker parts of the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. There is a feeling of lost control, of twirling camera movement, fear and confusion, as seen in film nightmares. There is an air of unease throughout the song, the The Young Musicians London Choir is used to good effect here. The orchestral sections of the song did have me wondering whether they had knicked the music from the climaxes of episodes of Doctor Who though. Once again the vocals go somewhere unexpected but really suits the feel of the song. The middle part is unexpected but fits; these are not ordinary songs, and so do not follow expected conventions at times. They go to places musically that most would fear to tread, but always they go where they should. Sometimes it’s unexpected, and you feel a stab of fear that they have gone too far, but then you realise that it’s exactly where they had to be. Arabesque, the first of 2 instrumentals, feels similar thematically, but still out of place and lacking in context. Toumas has suggested that it will make sense when the film is released since it was written for a particular sequence. It is a many-layered piece, and is once again atmospheric, combining what can be seen as Arab or eastern musical stereotypes with the sound and feel of the album. 

Here we come to the true ballad of the album, Turn Loose the Mermaids, a Celtic flavour infused ballad with shades of the Islander. An emotive and beautiful song, it gets deep within the soul. A smile is raised when suddenly a spaghetti western feel arrives in the instrumental break. It is another wonderful and emotive song. Lyrically there is a certain lucidity to Rest Calm, a doom metal infused track. The heavier parts feel similar to Dark Passion Play, but the softer sections are far beyond that record. Again, this is almost a two hander vocally, and it is an interesting shift for the band. The Crow, the Owl and the Dove is one of only two songs the Holopainen did not solely write. It is the most commercial song on the album, but is still a multi-layered and evocative piece. I like it but it’s not a highlight of the album- Turn Loose the Mermaids is a more evocative song for example. But as I said earlier, just because it’s not Nightwish’s best doesn’t make it bad- it’s still better than most and if this is pop, then I love pop. Last Ride of The Day is said to evoke a roller-coaster. If the crescendos and diminuendos of the song were a roller-coaster it would not be the biggest in the world, but there definitely is that feel to the song, with the symphonic elements supplying the rise before the big drop and the “ooooooohhhhhhhh sssshhhiiiitttt!” moment before falling into the final chorus.

Here the album moves into it’s final stages, the multi-part suite Song of Myself and Imaginaerum, envisioned as a song to play over closing credits. Imaginaerum draws on many of the riffs and themes heard throughout the album, much as the Overture does for 2112 or the Shattered Fortress does for Mike Portnoy’s 12 Step Suite. Holopainen gave Pip Williams free reign to make of it what he would, making this the other song with someone other than Holopainen credited.

People will liken Song of Myself to The Poet and the Pendulum because of it’s length, but in reality it is very different. To me the song is in 2 parts, the first which is another good Nightwish style track, evoking atmosphere, and has an at times, densely layered arrangement. But it is the second half, the homage to Walt Whitman that is truly all those six adjectives. Indeed the whole song combines most of the album’s facets into one. In places it sounds very much like Dark Passion Play and even old Nightwish. For me though it is the second half of the song that makes this very good. Some of the poetry is jarring in its content, and it’s not something you expect on a metal album. In it’s use of poetry it is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Iron Maiden) writ large. The music fits perfectly underneath having different voices as opposed to the single I, all combined to create a wonderful entity. For me the first half of the song is so so, but the second part is goooood. The final spoken words, with the music having faded away, yet again cut deep. It leads so perfectly into Imaginaerum that I at first thought it were still the same song. This instrumental album closer brings together the strands of the album and combines them into something akin to a medley- the themes of the pieces returning and intertwining. It is very much like a piece of classical music with modern elements as opposed to metal with symphonic elements- here Symphonic Metal is turned spectacularly into Metal Symphony. It is a fantastic song to close a truly courageous and breathtaking album.

It was a risk no doubt, but risks are necessary for a band that refuses to rest on its laurels. If there was any justice in this world, Nightwish would truly be up there with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and the like. But the world is different, technology irrevocably changed things. Imaginaerum is a truly great album and deserves be remembered as one of those albums you have to listen to before you die. Normally I would want to say that such and such a song is particularly breathtaking or amazing here, but I would have to list nearly the whole album. I shall leave you with those six descriptors, since even with these words I’ve written and the detail I’ve used, it doesn’t quite convey as much as the quiet simplicity of these words:

                                                                                                                                            Atmospheric, Evocative, Emotive, Beautiful, Intriguing and Many-layered

Thanks for reading.

In this month’s issue of Metal Hammer (you may have heard of it), the life of Cliff Burton, (Metallica bassist on their first 3 albums) and his untimely death are remembered. Many fans have wondered, and so must the band, how things might have been different had he lived. Although the fans often forget this means Kirk would have died- since it was he who swapped bunks with Cliff, the fact that much time and effort has been spent on this question proves the significance of the event. This week, I shall consider 3 turning points in metal or even modern music’s history and wonder ‘what if…’.

What if…. John Bonham hadn’t died in 1980 at the age of 32? While not entirely surprising that a day that began with 4 quadruple vodkas for breakfast and continued with drinking throughout the day ended in tragedy, one cannot help but wonder what the future held for Led Zeppelin. Already seen as dinosaurs by the time they played their Knebworth shows in 79, and a weakened musical force with In Through the Out Door failing to impress, it would seem that Led Zeppelin’s time was drawing inexorably to its end. Punk was here, as was the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Page’s drug addiction, so embarrassingly clear on the fateful US tour in 77 would continue into the 80′s. A further result of his drug abuse meant a weaker presence in the studio which led to a poorer musical output. In fact it seems likely that the end really was nigh, if pessimism is your bag. There were hints in their later output, louder than those before, of many things which punk and metal would make their own; it was perfectly possible that Led Zeppelin were in the process of change and given the chance could have survived or even thrived. Since it was they that made rock ‘hard’ instead of ‘and roll’, what’s to say that this couldn’t have been taken further. If any band could have done it, one with a drummer like Bonham and a guitarist like Page could have.

What if… Bruce hadn’t joined Iron Maiden? By the end of 1981, Paul Di’Anno’s lifestyle was seriously hampering his ability to perform on stage and in Maiden the show is all and if you can’t deliver then out you go. Bruce’s was certainly a more commercial voice, and his vast range gave Maiden the chance to really expand their musical horizons, but what had brought them to the dance were the rough, almost punk-like in places, vocals of Di’Anno. It is probable that Maiden would still have had success, but in all likelihood would not have reached the same heights they did. Just as Nicko’s arrival gave Steve Harris inspiration to really push things instrumentally (see Where Eagles dare, Caught Somewhere in Time), Bruce’s arrival created a cosmic shift in the winds. Songs like Seventh Son of A Seventh Son, or 2 Minutes to Midnight or Aces High (to name a few) could not have existed in a world where Di’Anno was still Maiden’s singer. Maiden are here today for only 3 reasons; they’re that damn good, Bruce’s arrival and return, and Blaze. But that’s another story for another time. When you see the quality of output Maiden achieved from Number of the Beast onwards, it’s no surprise that this was their most successful time, and Bruce is known as THE voice of Iron Maiden.

What if… Leo Fender had not created the Precision bass? The arrival of the electric bass guitar revolutionised music forever. The bass no longer had to stay in the background, drowned out surprisingly easily. It was no longer an instrument where portability was an issue. In fact it made every aspect of the bass easier (except playing it of course- it was a totally different animal to the upright bass in that regard, and not easy to master). Granted the Precision wasn’t the first electric bass but it was the first to find success, and started the revolution. Now anything was possible and soon more and more Double Bassists threw caution to the wind and switched to the electric bass. Music today would not be as it is without this revolution.

Music evolved with the arrival and success of the electric bass, just as it evolved again through the arrival of electric technology, keyboards and so on. Imagine rock without electric bass- imagine 80′s pop without it, imagine almost any genre of music that isn’t predominately acoustic or traditional without them, and you’ll see that electric basses are almost ubiquitous. Whether you think bassists are vital or not, or what their musical role should be, and how ‘easy’ it is to play bass, the electric bass is one of the key factors in music being the way it is.

Thank-you for reading, take Led Zeppelin IV and Number of the Beast and I’ll see you next time in The Sanitarium.

On Monday, Black Sabbath announced their return (which had been speculated on before). Now I don’t know about you but I really don’t care very much about the return of a band with just about the most inconsistent career of any top band. But coming back for a show or shows isn’t so bad, most will know what they will get from people that age; not much of a show but they will at least get to hear the classics played by all of them again. What worries me is that there is to be another album which they think is going to be really good, but every band says that and once they’re over about 40 or reunited, that being true is the exception rather than the rule. I am also concerned with the news that Rick ‘Fuck the cowbell, we need more compression’ Rubin is to produce; this will most likely turn whatever quality of songs Sabbath write into the painfully compressed mess that was Death Magnetic (which I’ve still not managed to listen to all the way through in one sitting, the compression is painful and gives me a headache).  Despite all this, I will watch events unfurl with a certain amount of curiosity because after all, it is Sabbath.

After quietly putting Lulu behind them and returning to ‘Official Metallica Business’, Metallica announced that they would headline Download for the first time in 6 years; they have played Sonisphere twice and played several legs of an arena tour here in between. Having seen them at Sonisphere this year I will say that they still put on a good show. Hetfield is one of the best rhythm guitarists of all time, and his voice is still improving after the late 90’s to mid 00’s mire. It has always been amazing to me that a band with 3 constant members, 2 of whom are merely average players, or at least players who have done literally the same thing their entire career after a promising start, can write such good songs.  That said, their career post Justice has been one of half good albums (some great songs, a lot of filler), so the news that they would be playing the whole of the Black Album at Download got to me in 2 respects. First that they already play all the good songs off that record in almost every live show; people will pay to see Metallica and stuff like Sandman but not My Friend of Misery or The Struggle Within.  Second, it is strange that they will be playing it on its 21^st anniversary which is hardly a special one and makes the obvious money grabbing intentions even clearer. And that is what angers/depresses me; this a band with so much wealth between them that to do this, which makes it seem like they have to have the money now, not when the tour makes sense (the 25^th Anniversary say), but now, because they can. The money isn’t going to disappear if they wait, (they still command a high fee without a ‘we’re playing a full album’ gimmick) so why not show the sense, pride and integrity which you insist you always had/shown in your career?

The release of the video for the Storytime single caught me by surprise, I was expecting the single at the end of the week/beginning of the next. When I got back to my computer it was with much anticipation and trepidation that I went to view the video. Since I had become a fan of Nightwish in between Tarja leaving and Annette joining I did not have the connection others felt to ‘Old Nightwish’ and so didn’t have that baggage when listening to Dark Passion Play. It was a very good album and I liked Annette’s voice on it though much of the material had been written with Tarja’s voice in mind so I wanted to wait for the next album to really see what the band could do without Tarja. I was disappointed by Annette’s versions of Tarja songs when the tour in support of Dark Passion Play started, but within a year or so everything had begun to click. Footage of the band on this tour as opposed to previous ones seemed to show a more relaxed band that were enjoying themselves and Annette was improving all the time (not that she was a bad singer, she just needed time to get used to the songs since they were not really her style).  All this made me feel justified in looking forward to the next album and imagining it would be really quite good. The sheer greatness of Storytime suggests that I will be proved right come December and the release of the album.

This will be the album I have looked forward to most (apart from The Reckoning’s Defining Armageddon) with every titbit of info increasing my anticipation. Storytime shows that this could (should?) be the start of something for Nightwish, it is with Annette that they seem to be much more their own entity, rather than just another female fronted band. They have a style which puts all others in the shade, a rare thing it this copycat, same old same old world.

Thanks for reading, take Dark Passion play, Master of Puppets and Paranoid and I’ll see you next time In the Sanitarium.

    As soon as Kirk Hammett let slip in February that Metallica were entering the studio so soon after the completion of their tour in support of the painfully compressed Death Magnetic, many a fan’s appetite was whetted, mine included. This, in spite of the revelation that it wasn’t exactly a ‘Metallica’ record. Once Lou Reed’s involvement was revealed, along with the rest of the details in June however, fans became disheartened as though they had expected a Metallica record. This struck me as a little stupid to be perfectly honest; at no point had it been suggested that that was what it was. In fact they had taken great pains to be clear about its nature. As the release date neared, there seemed to be two camps emerging; those who were going to hate it whatever, because it wasn’t what they thought Metallica should be doing, and those who wanted to listen to the record before making a judgement. In a strange way the negative people had set themselves up as following the religion of Metallica, and believing that a Lou Reed collaboration was against some sacred law or other. The ‘atheists and agnostics’, ‘sane people’, those waiting on the results or for evidence or whatever you want to call them, instead of ranting on message boards, simply stated that they thought it probably wouldn’t work, but wanted to see the results before judging. After the release of The View as a single, the followers of the Church of Metallica took it as evidence of the album breaking divine mandate on what Metallica should be, and criticised the band for not doing what they wanted… err I mean thought was right. The others merely admitted that they were worried, but would hold their peace until they could hear the album, and judge it in the intended manner, not as a Metallica album or straight music album, but a sort of spoken word over music thingy. Definitions are not always the strong suit of this camp since the agnostics among them wanted to keep uncertainty in there…. Anyway, I’m getting off track (and having too much fun) with the metaphor here.

When viewed in the great pantheon of music, Lulu will not simply be remembered as folly. I think it should be remembered as a lost opportunity; the music is usually good to great, but the vocals and lyrics range from good to god-awful (mainly god-awful). The second half is really good, great in places, the first half however is really too much of a challenge. I think Metallica, despite getting a hammering from many areas- though much of the press seems evenly split- should get a lot of praise for their musical contributions; even as a glorified backing band, it is they that took even the worst of the vocals/lyrics and put them to (by and large) interesting, engaging and emotive music.

When the first lyrics of Brandenburg Gate came through my headphones I knew that I was not in for the best ride: “I would cut my legs and tits off, when I think of Boris Karloff and Kinski”. Now I am not one for shying away from controversial or difficult or violent lyrics when they serve a purpose. However these lines do not seem to bear much of a connection to the rest of the ‘poem’. This theme of both poor or unconnected lyrics, and unnecessarily coarse lyrics would recur in quite a few places throughout the album. Equally this song laid the template for the vocals; ‘wailing’ or ‘sung speech’. That combined with a reading style that suggested someone who didn’t understand poetry was trying to read some aloud did not help matters. All that said, as a whole the lyrics for Brandenburg gate do seem fit for purpose- combining the small town girl in the big city idea with the gothic and murderous world of the album; and indeed the plays on which these songs are loosely based. The View is perhaps one of the weakest points of the album (“I am the table”- what kind of a lyric is that?). Though it is overly repetitive, the riff is not in itself awful, the drumming is what it is and lacking in feel at times. The lyrics are largely interesting, if a little unclear at times; a little understanding of the plays does help here if you are willing to take a stab at which act is inspiration here.

Beginning with two riffs reminiscent of For Whom the Bell Tolls and King Nothing (their intros anyway), Pumping Blood as a whole is weak and for part of it Lars seems to think he is a Progressive Metal drummer but fails spectacularly- it is here that his lack of feel is most apparent. The uptempo outro however is the high point of this album thus far. The music evokes an atmosphere which the lyrics and vocals destroy- at times I would cringe or laugh at them. If this were an instrumental I would be saying it was a good song. Mistress Dread could be the album’s nadir vocally; Lou sounds like a drunken tramp wailing at times. Here again, strings are used in an effort to raise the tension and though in some places in the album these serve their purpose, the rest of the time they are merely annoying. There are some interesting ideas here musically that could have made, with work, a Metallica song. The outro is very very much like the closing moments of Disposable heroes (check if you don’t believe me… I know you won’t).

In arriving at Iced Honey we begin to reach the higher quality climes of this musical mountain; musically a happy song, but lyrically more melancholy (an interesting juxtaposition). If the singing were better this would be more than just above good.  It is another reminder that musically this is a good album, one let down lyrically and vocally however.  Here the lyrics seem unfocused, even unfinished. Unfortunately Lars can always bring a good track down and his drumming is maddening at times here- musician hat on- if you have a rising military snare fill in an outro, don’t cut it off with flams, it fucks up the effect and makes you look like an amateur…(deep breaths and count to ten)… And now I return you to your regularly scheduled programming…

Cheat on me is another song which I really liked until the vocals; the intro has an epic, emotive and oriental feel. Here, aside from one or two rough lines, Hetfield’s backing vocals suggest a really strong voice, capable of conveying much feeling. I find myself wishing there was more of his singing on this album, and what there is bodes well for the new Metallica album; his voice is more Load/Reload than St Anger, it is improving all the time. Here, rather typically, or disappointingly, Lars seems to be playing  as he does at a gig, playing mistimed fills with little feel as if he’s forgotten the one he was made to play on the album that actually fit the song. Frustration’s intro seems entirely superfluous but the actual riff when it starts could have been made into a good Metallica song- a running theme with this album. And enough of the damn ‘tension strings’, they only work when the right atmosphere is created and if you don’t do them all the bloody time. Lars is better here.

Little dog is at times interesting with good vocals. Lyrically the metaphor is only a little opaque (which is good) and generally works and is consistently extant in the song. Sometimes it is a little laboured though, but lyrically this is one of the stronger songs on the album. That said the music is still infinitely better than the vocals. Despite all that, this is a good song and continues the trend of the album’s second half being far better than the first. Finally we come to the penultimate song- it’s been a long ride, as the songs seem to get longer and longer for less and less reason. The lyrical meaning in Dragon seems to shift and change but it does so consistently for once.  This is really just another example of what seems to be poetry with verses with half a meaning followed by another with a different meaning’s half. And that these are all linked only by a modicum of thematic element. Here this serves to make the music seem like it’s being held back. Junior Dad is both the endpoint for the album, its crowning achievement and final hour. Although it seems to bear no connection with the rest since it is about a male child not Lulu as a girl, thematically there is a parallel. This is a very emotive song, and Lars (well over an hour in) gets the hint and the drums are very underplayed here, which is great. Breathtaking lyrically this is far and away the best song on the album, but I think it would have carried more weight and been better if Hetfield had been involved vocally. The song’s only weakness (other than the average vocals) is the supremely overlong string outro, effectively doubling the length of the song. Had they cut it off when the strings came in or used them to create a short outro then this would be one of the best and most emotive songs I have ever heard.

Lulu is certainly a challenge; Metallica could certainly have saved their energies and used some of the riffs on their own material. However half the album is good, and part of that goodness is great. To me this album is a lost opportunity, the shades of greatness show that this could have been much, much better. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.

This will therefore be a shorter article than usual, but (most likely) there will be compensation next week with the Lulu article (I imagine that the prospect of a longer article is pleasing, I imagine it that way because I can). As I write, The Reckoning are in the process of recording their first album ‘Defining Armageddon’, which is very much anticipated by those in the know. Don’t be out of the loop on that. In fact it was informing a friend of this fact that I was offered a what if scenario; would I be annoyed if I found out that an album I had recorded had appeared on torrent sites and was being downloaded for free? My first thought was that I would be because every penny makes the difference to a young band’s survival, but then I realised that by making the distinction that it’s only ok if a band is successful that I was merely seeking to justify the fact that I, (may), have considered using torrent sites to download music. It really got me thinking about the rights and wrongs of the thing, and the role of intention within in it, and a few things came to mind. 

I have always viewed downloaded music with the opinion that if it was liked you would pay for a legal copy and will, most likely, go to a show. Equally that if  you did not have to budget, if you could drop tenners on things you might like, or only kinda liked when you first heard them, then you would never download music from torrent sites. That is what it comes down to; money. Now if you don’t like what you downloaded, then to my mind it’s no harm no foul- granted the band has lost a tenner, but you would say that the amount of times that happens is offset by those who download an album, love it and buy a ticket to a concert, or paid in the first place, and so on. We must also not forget that the percentage of people that use torrent sites is tiny- way smaller than those affected would like you to believe. Here’s the rub; most probably if they could pay for all the music they get, I’m guessing they would. As it is if someone becomes a fan of a band through downloading an album or two, then they’ll always pay for CDs that come out once they’re a fans, will go to the shows and buy the merchandise. They will however, have caught up as it were, by downloading a discography.

Put simply- in these times, where the prices of CDs are higher than ever, and our pockets ever emptier, the idea of trying before buying has never seemed fairer. To try with no intention of ever buying to me just seems mean. But if someone were to download Ride the Lightning or even the entire discography, which leads to them paying £50 plus to see Metallica live has more than covered the cost. If you want a ‘fair-trade’ or more ethical belief than that, download Metallica for free, but pay for great young bands like The Reckoning, or Eureka Machines, so that one day it won’t be a matter of life and death to them if they don’t get your money. I simply do not believe that what seems to be the modern version of borrowing a mate’s cassette and making a copy, or making a mix tape should be treated as it is.

Take Eureka Machines and Wolfsbane and I’ll see you next time. Thanks for reading.

Christmas is fast approaching as shops seem to insist on telling me while simultaneously trying to get me to fork out for some god-awful Halloween get-up. It seems ‘that’ time of year is now upon us, and it’s time for us to remember all those ‘I’d quite like that for Christmas’ moments so we can tell our loved ones what to get us because no-one seems to know what those close to them want any more. I am as guilty of this as anyone but in my defence I am a man and can’t remember loved one’s birthdays let alone imagine what they might like for Christmas. During my trawling of wondrous sites like Amazon and Ebay for possible gifts, and not entirely coincidently, ideas for part of this article I found that most things that make you go ‘ooo that’s quite nice’ you don’t actually want and you would be displeased if someone thought you would like it and gave it to you as a present. We are very selfish beings, even if we try to hide it behind a false smile and a ‘that’s just what I wanted’. This is much like the discovery of new music (bear with me…); a whole lot of ‘ooo that’s nice’ but only the stuff that really gets to you or that you understand in your own mind sticks.

Many people, when they talk about how they discovered their favourite band or genre of music will often talk about how they first heard it and that they immediately knew it was great and they ‘got’ it. I have never been like that- perhaps because I rarely heard anything heavier than Shania twain until I heard Guns N’ Roses at twelve. When someone shows me a band or genre, the first listen is crucial. Often that will be the only time I hear a band, unless that friend is later in control of the in-car music again, but if a melody or groove or the general atmosphere grabs me, I will be drawn to listen to it again and again despite not necessarily ‘getting’ it. Of course, if I am say a Maiden fan and someone shows me Judas Priest, I have no trouble understanding it, and whether I like it or not simply becomes a matter of taste, because both bands are in a genre I already listen to.

As a result of this process I will suddenly ‘get’ the music and understand what is going on, what the instruments are doing and so on. I doubt I am the only one, and I think those that talk like they immediately ‘got’ it are somewhat shortening the tale. In fact it was this precise process that led me to Iron Maiden, the only band that I keep coming back to whatever genre roads I follow. Whether I’m listening to classical music or even Dimmu Borgir (which means my mate’s in charge of the in-car music), Maiden is never far away; even after spending the better part of a year listening to anything but Maiden, I still came back to it. Many years ago now I stayed in a caravan for a week- yes I know, hardly rock and roll but whatever this is my story- and like most of them, an old TV and some VHS tapes were supplied, as though we wanted to spend our whole time in the dark ages. One of them was the lesser known Maiden DVD (Live After Death gets all the glory, though I think this was the better set), Maiden England. I spent almost every moment I was in that caravan watching the video, and yet it was like listening to TV static: I could not understand any of it but I just knew it was great, that the visuals were as good as the music. Even by the end of the week I could only just about make out the drums and guitar. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard. But after that week, I left the video behind, and proceeded to forget about Iron Maiden. About a year later I was in the local library (when they had enough funding to be useful) and I found the Death on the Road CD. I thought ‘Iron Maiden? I know these guys from somewhere’, rented it and headed back to the same caravan (for some reason my parents insisted on staying there rather than a hundred yards up the road in a chalet thing). I spent that week only able to hear the chorus to Brave New World, but I knew I liked it, even if I hadn’t ‘got’ it. Again, over time I forgot about Maiden. Then months even a year or two later, I found the Dance of Death Album in the school library, and over repeated listens, I ‘got’ it. I understood. 

Nowadays it doesn’t take nearly as long, but there is still that feeling-out process when I hear new genres or niches of metal. Pop, Indie, Emo, Alternate and all that are easy to work out, simple to understand and they swiftly become boring. But great Metal, great Classical music- these things take time, but the appreciation (for me) at the end of it is far greater. That’s why if you asked me for my 5 favourite pieces of music at this moment they would be-in no particular order: The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Moonlight Sonata, Countdown to Extinction, Metropolis Part 1, No Quarter. But ask me again now, and Rainmaker makes that list, or Welcome Home (Sanitarium) from which this article takes its name (-ish), or Rhapsody in Blue. It might not seem that hard to get on such a subjective and spontaneous list, but to even have a chance to rise above being music that I ‘quite like’ or love for a month or two, it has to get into my very soul. And however pretentious that may sound (and it sounds shamefully so) it’s true. You don’t decide that you like a song or album, you feel it. That’s why it’s so subjective, and a unique journey for everyone. That said, those who write these kind of articles like to think they know better than the hearts and minds of individuals when they say some thing’s good or bad. I am often guilty of this, but they wouldn’t be very interesting articles if they were filled with ‘this might be quite good’ or ‘I asked so and so what they thought’ type sentences. That, I think, is not what anyone wants to read.

Thanks for reading, take some of your favourite medicine… err I mean music and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.

Welcome back to the Sanitarium. Our doors are open again after a period of relocation and refurbishment. In other words me headed back to Reading and being too busy/lazy and unimaginative to bring together enough strands of thought for a complete article. Call it what you will, from here on out there will be no slipping. There will be an article every week although some will be album reviews rather than news and rants.

Way back when- well, the first of October- four bands descended on the O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham for a tightly scheduled evening’s entertainment. No band disappointed, and all gained new fans that night. Diamond Lil opened with their Brum brand of Guns N’ Roses style blues-rock and went down well in front of the rather partisan crowd. Suffice to say the Reckoning rocked the place (despite some tuning discrepancies- some guitars just refuse to behave). Arcane Rage did what they do best before Fury went on in front of a surprisingly ‘home’ style crowd. As always they proved that there are great young metal bands in England. In related news, Fury have released their EP (review to follow) and all being well The Reckoning will release ‘Defining Armageddon’ their first full album, before the end of the year.

Pop music rarely does something unique, interesting or different. I’m not going to rant about that because it’s not meant to do or be those things. Part of it being called popular is that it appeals to the widest possible audience. However, the fact that there is not enough 80′s Michael Jackson and far too much modern Bieber/Cyrus shit is that those who listen to pop music are having their standards subtly lowered so that even the new Ndubz album charts high. Arguably a similar phenomenon is happening in cinema, where ‘dumbing down’ seems to be considered the only way to make money- films like Inception proving the opposite. What is becoming depressingly clear is that, just as modern so called RnB has very little to do it seems with actual rhythm and blues, ‘good’ doesn’t or at least rarely sells. We can all think of albums that were great but didn’t sell, or even artists like Metallica, who’s best albums (Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning) have not sold nearly as well as the so-called Black Album, which contains so much filler that they could have stopped halfway through. Before I go on I should explain that when I say an album didn’t sell, I mean that it did not reach outside its prior fan-base to the mainstream, or didn’t sell as many copies as it merited, even within its genre. Unfortunately we live in a world where (haha, film cliché in a music article- love it!) Justin Bieber and his/her ilk can be ‘found’ on the internet and soon thereafter can become millionaires, yet any young band in almost any genre in the UK has very little chance of getting to the same end in years. This whole problem, of a weak music infrastructure in the UK, and apathetic, or gimme content now on my PC society (and it better be free) was made as clear as day recently. I had earlier in the day listened to A Matter of Life and Death, Iron Maiden’s 2006 album and was reminded of its awesome quality. I know listening to it that I was able to because 30 years ago the set-up had been there for a band like that to come through. Later I listened to Dream Theater’s Images and Words and thought the same. That evening (and don’t worry this story ends soon), I listened to an album that could very well be better than those, better than most anything out now and better even than what was out in the 80′s. I am not bullshitting, it really was that damn good. The problem is that just because it is so good there is no guarantee that thousands, let alone millions will ever hear it. 30 years ago, it could have been Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sabbath, Purple, Rush, Megadeth- any one of these great bands. And that is the most depressing thing. To vaguely paraphrase Dave Mustaine- Shit sells….but who’s buying. The answer is not stupid people, or people that don’t know music, though it would be easy to say that, the answer is people who have been taught to accept music of a below par standard and to see it on the level of Michael Jackson et al. When something as good as that appears- rare though that may be- it is not always recognised as such, or it is popular for a phase and then back to the dreck. The saddest thing of all is that there are many people who should only have to make music for a living, and unless you were 20 in the early 80′s there’s not much chance of that happening.

Lulu:

As you will have gathered, Lulu, the Metallica (it’s not the new album) Lou Reed collaboration will be released at the end of the month. While I would like to say that anticipation is growing, the opposite is occurring as more little tidbits are released, including a visual trailer and a track listing. Whilst I am not dripping with anticipation, I will say that it seems to be typical of many metal fans, particularly the very tribal thrash fans, that they seem intent on hating this either because it’s Metallica (but not really Metallica), or because Metallica are doing something different. Equally, they pan it while seemingly ignoring the fact that it is not meant to be a straight music album. Seriously some of the ‘fansite’ or ‘forum’ posts show far too many people to be the very stereotype that those who see metal fans as ignorant Satan worshippers and so on shout about.

This week I want to canvass the opinions of my wonderful readers, who like battered housewives keep returning for more of my polemicist ramblings. Some metal fans can only listen to metal and its many niches at certain times of the day or when they feel a certain way. I on the other hand can be both woken and rendered sonorous by metal, happy or sad, even angry or depressed or ambivalent. So my question is: When and Why is metal (in all it’s genres and sub genres) playing in your house/car/bathroom, wherever?

Diamond Lil

After forming back in 2005 and hitting the Midlands circuit for 3 years, their debut EP ‘Halfway Home’ was released in 2008. However before they could truly capitalise on this the band went on hiatus until 2010. The new line up did not last the year and it was the arrivals of Ellis Wilde (formerly of Blu Lightning and Red Sky) and drummer Dan Holyhead that have provided the kick-start they needed.
You can find Diamond Lil at their Facebook page here. They have 3 songs that will whet your appetite on their page. Bottom of the glass has elements of the blues groove of early Guns N’ Roses combined with a modern sound and Zeppelin edge. The interestingly titled Sex Injuries has a lighter tone and a Classic Rock, Aerosmith kind of vibe, with surprising heaviness and funk. Finally, Barrymore (I want more), feels like a rock version of a Metallica song, combined with some Deep Purple lyrics and groove. These 3 tracks are certainly interesting and full of hooks; I would absolutely spend my hard earned cash on a band like this, assuming there’s more to come of course.

The Reckoning

By now my much loved readers you will know that I am the bassist in the Reckoning. So; how to produce a write-up without sounding as though I’m writing a personal fluff piece? Well… I joined the band in April/May this year, and only accepted the chance to audition when I had heard the music and knew it was damn good and that it was something I simply had to be a part of. You can find us at http://www.facebook.com/TheReckoningOfficial. Originally formed in 2004, the original line-up lasted a year before splitting up due to musical differences. Since then band founder Ben Higgins has ruthlessly sought to bring The Reckoning to the masses. You either held on for dear life, or fell like so much chaff in the wind. Fast forward through difficult times and lineup changes caused by anything from inadequate playing, to needing to find themselves and here you are; an almost definitive lineup. A lineup that has played awesome shows and converted new fans in every building it has entered. It is unfortunately a lineup with a sell by date: the truly phenomenal 2nd guitarist Chris Evans with whom we’ve clicked like no other, has time and distance against him. Living in Kent and with his own covers band, and as much as we wish it were not so, this relationship cannot go on forever. So, all you budding guitarists out there, this is the place to be, if you can fill some truly massive shoes that is. A few years back, The Reckoning produced the Kent Tapes, a truly rough and ready example of the songs, if not the band (of which only 2 remain from that era). Personal highlights include The Havoc Unleashed, a song with a twin guitar attack to rival Powerslave era Maiden. If you ask most fans which song first grabbed them, it’s Wall of Eyes, with a riff straight out of the 1980′s and a face melting solo section. A personal highlight is Rusted Fist, a song with a slight (ever so slight) Western Desert feel containing the immortal line “one fist, one fist to rule them all”. Hour of Lament is truly an epic song and while it takes a few listens to really get into, for me it is possibly the most rewarding song of the album. The Reckoning hope to release a full album including new song Vigilante by the end of the year.

Arcane Rage 

Little is known at the time of writing about Arcane Rage… perhaps this is designed to bring an air of mystique… who knows. A 4-piece band based in Birmingham, Arcane Rage take their influences from both Classic Metal/Thrash icons like Metallica and modern future legends like Avenged Sevenfold. They were Live and Unsigned Area finalists this year, and an EP is forthcoming. They can be found at http://www.facebook.com/ArcaneRage. There are two songs to prepare you for next week; Sin City and Million Laughs. Both clearly display their influences and would definitely merit a place on my iPod, rubbing shoulders with Rush, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica and many others. It is particularly pleasing that fret wankery is not particularly indulged in; each lick and solo feels as though they were written with the song in mind rather than just what looks/sounds cool, as Dragonforce are so keen on doing. With a Million Laughs you have a jaw dropping opening riff, giving way to a metal song that you will be moshing to…

And finally (as I know this has been a rather long article) the headline act: Fury

Fury have taken the instrumental side of Bay Area thrash and spliced it with NWOBHM vocals, and done it rather well. With over 10,000 fans on facebook (and counting): http://www.facebook.com/furyofficial, Fury not only eye world domination but are intent on making it happen, NOW.
There’s only one song on the Facebook page (Eyes of the Dead), but their youtube page is a storming advertisement to their capabilities. I could go on about just how good Kill the Light is, and that all these bands are even better live. Suffice to say that if you can make it you owe it to yourself to get to Brum on the 1st and be one one of the lucky 250.

Here is a link to the event page, please mention that it was me or The Reckoning when you buy your tickets (we don’t get anything for it, but we want to know who people bought their tickets from and why).

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=199692100080447

Thanks for reading, there wont be article next week, but I hope to see as many of my lovely readers as possible next Saturday (I’ll be the one in the trilby).

Anyway…

Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland (coming 8th November) While a new album has been on the distant horizon for some time, Rush fans have surely been placated by the recent Time Machine Tour. Starting in America last year and ending with a brief stint through Europe before returning to the states, this tour was not simply your typical Evening With Rush scenario. The first, shorter set does contain some staples like Spirit of Radio and Subdivisions, plus probably less known material such as ‘Stick it Out’ and ‘Workin’ Them Angels’ but it is the second set that most will have looked forward to. In honour of the album Moving Pictures, on which more than a few of their greatest and oft requested hits appear, they played the whole thing start to finish, before playing a plethora of their classics; La Villa Strangiato, (Closer to the Heart included), plus the obligatory drum solo from a man who can only be described as a god-like machine on drums. While the set itself should be enough to fans queuing up to buy the dvd despite some repeat appearances; for those who remain unconvinced, or for whom a different bait is required, the fact that it is recorded in Cleveland should tip the balance. Cleveland was in fact one of, if not the first place to give Rush radio play in the United States. Personally, I am looking forward to this not because I saw them when they came round Europe (I didn’t). It is precisely because I was unable to attend any UK shows (cry for me) that I will buy this, so that I can see what I missed, as well as having a little bit of history occur in front of my eyes. It also helps that the tasters from the new album (Caravan/BU2B) are strong enough to make me wonder what gems the new album might bring. I also hope someone yells “Hello Cleveland” at some point.

Lulu (coming 31st October)

When Kirk Hammett let slip earlier this year that Metallica were headed back into the studio, many fans were excited; a new album this soon after the World Tour? Bring it on. Sadly, the fervour largely died down as more information appeared. When it was announced in June that rather than being a Metallica album, it would be a collaboration with the great Lou Reed, many were to say the least, perplexed. Most were unsure as to how such a coming together might turn out; even I have no idea, (which must surprise you all). When you consider the David Fricke of Rolling has had positive things to say about what he’s heard so far, that at least reminds me that we don’t know it’s not going to work yet! This is something I am very much looking forward to, simply because I really don’t know what to expect, and the possibility of being surprised is alluring, because lets face it, most bands who have been around as long as Metallica don’t have many surprises left in them.

TH1RT3EN (yes that is how it’s spelt) (Coming 1st November) Normally, when a band talks about how ‘diverse’ an album is and how it would fit in in with their best albums, or that it’s one of the best things they’ve ever written, I can’t help but worry that it will be a bad album. Why is this? Because all this talk about diversity and so on makes me think that is a propaganda offensive designed to hide the fact that it’s an average album produced towards the end of a once great band’s career. That opinion was reinforced and broken down in equal measure when I heard ‘Public Enemy No.1′ at Sonisphere. It’s a song with clear links to songs from the Rust in Peace era, and in fact Hanger 18 was brought to mind more than once. Sudden Death (which was included on the latest guitar hero game), recovers from a poor start to be a perfectly acceptable song. This makes me believe that this could be a good album. I don’t however believe the hype, but I love to be wrong about these things. It seems I am looking forward to this precisely because I’m not sure how it’ll turn out. That this is the first album in years with Dave Ellefson on bass does no harm either. What is it this year with everything having additional hooks?

Imaginaerum (coming 30th November)

I first became a Nightwish listener around the time Tarja (the original singer) left the band. I cannot yet call myself a fan, as I have still after all this time need to really get to grips with some of the older material. What this meant was that I excitedly looked forward to the release of Dark Passion Play to hear the new singer. The result was that in many ways I prefer this singer, although sometimes live things are not as I would hope. This is mainly from the fact that the two singers have very different voices however. It also made me want to hear an album that had been written for Anette’s voice (Dark Passion Play had largely been written before her arrival). Fast forward a few years and Imginaerum (called Imaginarium originally) is announced. Appetite automatically whetted. When it’s announced there will be film tie-in I am sceptical. While you might think that your favourite mediums joining together can only be a good thing, too often their joining in this manner will cripple the results, with the quality of one sacrificed for the other, or material crowbarred into place. The penultimate piece of this puzzle will be the release of the single ‘Storytime’ on the 11th of November. This will either allay my fears, even cast them out as ungrounded, or depress me. I hope for a positive outcome, as Nightwish have often been far more original than similar bands like Within Temptation. I can only hope that this is the case again.

Thanks for reading! Take Countdown to Extinction, and a youtube walk through Soul Music, and I’ll see you next time in the Sanitarium.