Check out the e-flyer for the Chalksounds xmass fest in Umeå on December 26: http://www.chalksounds.com/fest/index.htm
Frode Glesnes (aka Grimar, vocals/guitar), Aksel Herløe (guitar) and Gerhard Storesund (aka Vivar, drums), former members of renown Norwegian viking-metal act Einherjer, have joined together again in the new band Battered. Ole Moldesæther has been enlisted to play bass.
Entombed's new live album "Unreal estate" has been pushed back to a November 22 release date due to printing problems.
Reunited Swedish black-metal act Dissection has finally announced that their new EP "Maha Kali" will be released on November 16 via Escapi Music/Screaming Ferret Wreckords.
Hanoi Rocks on tour in Europe:
01/21 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
01/22 - tba, Gothenburg (SWE)
01/23 - tba, Stockholm (SWE)
01/24 - Amager Bio, Copenhagen (DK)
01/25 - John Dee, 2004 Oslo (NOR)
01/28 - Tavastia Club, Helsinki (FIN)
01/29 - Tavastia Club, Helsinki (FIN)
02/03 - tba
02/05 - Kade, Zaandam (Amsterdam) (NL)
02/06 - Lintfabriek, Antwerpen (BEL)
02/08 - Elysee-Montmartre, Paris (FRA)
02/10 - Casa Del Loco, Zaragoza (SPA)
02/11 - Arena, Madrid (SPA)
02/12 - Jam, Bergara (Bilbao) (SPA)
02/13 - Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona (SPA)
02/16 - Jailbreak Club, Rome (ITA)
02/17 - Thunder Road, Codevilla (Pavia) (ITA)
02/18 - New Age, Roncade (Treviso) (ITA)
02/19 - Tempo Rock, Gualtieri (Reggio Emilia) (ITA)
02/22 - SO36, Berlin (GER)
02/23 - tba, Bochum (GER)
02/24 - Röhre, Stuttgart (GER)
02/25 - Metropolis, Munich (GER)
02/28 - Planet Music, Vienna (AUS)
03/01 - Orpheum, Graz (AUS)
Check out this e-card for the Access All Areas festival: http://www.aestheti.com/ecards/AAA/index.html
Ford T
'04 rocks
self-released
For a self-proclaimed "cock-rock" band, these Danes are actually pretty darn tame. It doesn't help that the clichéd opening line of the first song goes "I wound up on Greyhound, going eastbound out of LA" and comes off sounding about as far from genuine as you can get. Luckily, that's about as bad as this four-song demo gets - it's all uphill once you make it through "Gypsy caress". They're quite a bit more AC/DC than Mötley Crüe, but whatever - I tend to like my rock n' roll more working class anyways. These guys ain't bad, but they've got a ways to go if they want to compete in the already overcrowded Scandinavian rock scene. If they're really, truly going for the "cock-rock" thing, they really need to up the ante quite a bit. It takes much more than a few hammer-on riffs and artificial harmonics, y'know.
- Avi Roig
Scraps of Tape
Broken note
self-released
The danger of doing songs longer than the standard 3-4 minutes rock songs is the possibility that no matter how individual parts being good the whole might go absolutely nowhere. Such is the problem from the same of Scraps of Tape's music I have here. Trying very hard to fit in the Constellation Records' sound, Scraps of Tape sounds about as much like Godspeed You! Black Emperor as Silver Mt Zion, with the difference that their songs just lack direction. If songs that wander forever is what you like, then this might be for you. Otherwise I would suggest you find better, because there is.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Martha Valle
Demo
self-released
Vocal-based pop is not something I usually reach for very often but when it is well done and intelligent, I have to notice. Martha Valle's music qualifies as both. The strings and piano arrangements are extremely well done and enhanced the melodic value that was already high because of Martha's vocals. While listening to this all I could think of was how great were Sarah McLachlan's first three album and how this fits right there. I was also hearing a less playful, darker and better Tegan and Sarah. Not something I'll listen to every week but could be useful in the next schmoozing operation. Not a bad thing to have in your arsenal.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Wild Evil Entertainment Dept.
s/t
CPH-Sound/Dead Frog Records
They might not have the best band name around, nor the best singer, or the most original song ideas, well, in fact Wild Evil Entertainment Dept. are so unoriginal that it took me quite a few days before I came to the conclusion that this is actually a pretty darn good debut album. For what it is (standard rock'n'roll) the songs are not all steeped in exactly the same mold, they seem influenced by everything from Turbonegro ("Deadbull City") to the Dead Kennedys ("Gotta get some love"), and some verses strongly evoke the arrogance of Caesars Palace (aka The Caesars), which is pretty impressive in my book. Oh, I just realized that Turbonegro are not really that far away musically from Dead Kennedys, but heck, you know what I mean, or if you don't, here you go (dumb ass): This is a fine album packed with melodic and dirty rock'n'roll.
- Simon Tagestam
Special offer! Buy more than one budget-priced comp from the IAT mailorder and they'll only cost you $5 apiece! Buy four and get the fifth one free! Don't miss out: [click here]
Jeez, thanks to Dick Clark, The Soundtrack of Our Lives have to change their name in the US: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6626876/thesoundtrackofourlives?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1
I'm so dumbfounded by how stupid this is, I can't even think of anything to say.
David Fridlund explains why he's taken time off from working with his band The Citizens to do a solo CD: http://www.thecitizens.nu/ (in Swedish)
The first single has been confirmed as the song "April & May" and should be out soon.
Snowy Shaw has announced that Notre Dame's special Halloween show on November 6 was the group's last. As mentioned here before, the event was filmed for inclusion on an eventual DVD and live CD release to be called "Creepshow Freakshow Peepshow".
Zweizz, the solo project of Svein Egil Hatlevik from DHG/Dødheimsgard and Fleurety, has just released the "Black Necrotic Obfuscation" 7" on Vendlus Records and to celebrate, the label is giving away a free CD from their catalogue for the first 100 orders. The music is said to mix "elements of old and new school black metal, left wing electronics and computer noise" and is available only as a handnumbered limited edition of 512 copies, 256 on red vinyl and 256 on blue. Go the the label's website for more info: http://www.vendlus.com/