I get the feeling that people don't take Faster Katt very seriously and unfortunately, hearing them cover Manowar will probably not change that. Truth be told, Faster Katt are a great band, far better than most folk's false impression of them as a goofy "sideproject" would indicate and, likewise, Manowar is/was also a great band. Yes, the self-proclaimed Kings of Metal are ridiculous and over-the-top, but their early records are a perfect blueprint of True Heavy Metal, especially "Hail to England", the release this song originally appeared on. Make fun of them all you want, it's easy to do, but us fans know the truth. My question however, will the members of Faster Katt be at one of Manowar's upcoming three (!!!) shows at Trädgårn in Göteborg? Will they hold the sign of hammer high? Or will they be wimps and leave the hall? My feeling: they've got the gubbestyrka, they will heed the call.
Check out the rest of the band's latest demo at Bandcamp: http://fasterkatt.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2011
Swedish death metal act Blood Mortized report that they will soon begin work on their new album "The key to a black heart" and will once again be recording at drummer Mattias Borgh's own studio Underworld Recording. The band has also added a new guitarist: Gustaf Myrin, an ex-member of Pathalog and Apes IQ.
Swedish industrial act Agent Side Grinder are teaming up with their genre forefathers Suicide for a split live cassette recorded at a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland last year and released on ASG's own label. The official release date is March 23 and it will be available from the band's website or on tour.
Remember this? Well, it appears that was just the beginning -- apparently David Sandström will be playing live drums for Adam Tensta throughout his upcoming tour and has also contributed songwriting material to Tensta's forthcoming album "Scared of the dark" which comes out on March 14.
A new episode of Klubbland is up today featuring Ebbot Lundberg of The Soundtrack of Our Lives performing with Trummor & Orgel. Highlights: a cover of "London dungeon" by The Misfits. Another bonus: a Union Carbide Productions cover. Check it: http://klubbland.se/2011/03/04/24-trummor-orgel-med-ebbot/
It's hard to cover this record since Mattias Alkberg already wrote the definitive review, but I'll do my best to sum up my thoughts without adding too much extraneous noise to the discussion. Though I wouldn't consider myself much of a Lykke Li fan, her debut album "Youth novels" had a cute, bright-eyed naivety that was undeniably charming and it wasn't hard to see why so many people made a big fuss over it. Now that she's an established artist, she's trying to position herself as a someone who's far more self-aware and serious and, frankly, I'm having a very hard time meeting her on that level. As much as she may feel authentically world-weary, it comes across as a bit of a put-on -- a different kind of youthful naivety that's far less appealing. My biggest problem with the record however, is that it has no sense of fun. A few solid tunes, sure, but more often than not it's a joyless trudge and, as much as that may reflect her mood while writing it, it doesn't compel repeated listens. - Avi Roig
The new Tape album "Revelationes" will be officially released on March 7 via with a vinyl edition co-released by US label . And I'm glad to be reminded of it because I've had a promo on my desk for a few days now and shamefully had forgotten all about it until now. D'oh!
Lykke Li