Holidays have already kicked our doors open and stepped in. Christmas starts tomorrow and I sure hope you have managed to buy tons of useless stuff for your loved ones, while nearly overdrafting your account. I know I did.
Although winter holidays are the time of joy, what usually precedes it is the time of horror and loathing. It’s when all the idiots and retards of your city gather exactly in the same mall where you go to do your holiday shopping and suck the life out of you for at least a couple of hours if not more. As if the crowds and your post-shopping-account-statement wasn’t enough, the last drop usually comes with Christmas pop hits. Year to year we are being slain by the likes of Wham! and Mariah Carey with more and more singers joining this torture fest. Whatever corner of the world you live in, if you celebrate Christmas there, I am sure that your local artists also have done their fair share to make your holidays nightmare complete.
A few days ago when I heard George Michael telling the world for what was probably the 82873674364th time how last Christmas he gave some dude his heart, I started to regret that I left my flame thrower at home. George, I hope that when you die, they will send you to Hell, where you will listen to Watain forever…
However, I digress. The ear-slaughter coming out of speakers in the mall got me thinking – what cool Christmas metal songs do we have out there? I know that waaay too many bands have done covers of Christmas carols in many different languages, so that doesn’t count. What I was looking for was the original stuff, specifically written for Christmas. Some songs came to my mind right away, some required a little research, some just sucked George Michael’s balls, so I skipped them. Anyways, ladies & metalheads, hereby I present you my findings.
1. Corey Taylor – X-M@$
The first song that I instantly thought of was a recent Christmas contribution from an all around Mr. Awesome in Metal – Corey Taylor. Maybe that’s not the kind of song you’d want your kids to sing in school, but it’s entertaining and by all means reflects the holiday spirit.
2. King Diamond – No Presents For Christmas
Of course we had to go down in history and pick up one of the most influential Christmas compositions in metal. It’s no Christmas without King Diamond. (Frankly, it’s no metal without King Diamond, too).
3. South Park – Christmas Time In Hell
I can very well see kids dancing around the xmas tree to this one. Surely most of them know it by now anyways.
4. Wednesday 13 – Buried By Christmas
Except being a kick-ass lyricist in general, Wednesday 13 writes the best songs about whatever holidays. He already holds #1 spot for my favourite Valentine’s Day song, which I will present you on the occasion. But he also wrote a smashing Christmas song!
5. Steel Panther – Sexy Santa
For the kinky in you ;)
6. Twisted Sister – Heavy Metal Christmas
Even though musically this is a cover, they changed the lyrics, so now it’s twisted!
7. Lemmy Kilmister – Run Rudolph Run
I know this list was meant to be made of original songs, but there are 2 covers done by the greatest of people which I simply cannot pass by. Here is the first one.
8. Alice Cooper – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
… and here is the second one. Alice would make the best Santa ever in the history of Santas!
This list could be quite long. There is, of course, Venom with their “Black Christmas”, there’s AC/DC and “Mistress For Christmas” and so on. Personally, I would love to hear Christmas songs done by Mike Patton or Turbonegro… maybe some day, when I’ll be good :)
The point of this is the following: if those songs were played in malls, idiots would all die in horror and Christmas shopping would become a genuinely pleasant experience.
Feel free to share your favourite Christmas songs with us!
And, most importantly… MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!
Proud to be loud.
-Tanja
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Dimebag Darrell: gone, but never forgotten
We all know what day it is today. Exactly 6 years ago one of the greatest musicians of all time was shot on stage. Of course, I am talking about Darrell Abbott, otherwise known as Dimebag - the legendary Pantera guitarist.
This year many of the great have fallen and even though I take my hat off for each and every one of them, none of these deaths have touched me as deep as Dime's. I have never known him in person, and it's not a secret that I am a Pantera fan (face it, there are very few who aren't and they most probably suck), yet I don't understand why it brings me to tears every year. It is hard for me to find the right words to write here now, but this post has to be written.
It's near impossible to comprehend his death as a fact, because he is immortal. Dimebag will live forever in his music, in the hearts of people his music has touched, in so many Pantera tattoos, in every kid who discovered Dime's bands and decided to pick up the guitar. He continues to live in those bands we like who have been inspired by him and who would've never been the way we know them without him. Dime is everywhere, if you know where to look.
I am going to spill the beans and tell you that soon we are going to post an interview we have conducted recently with Vinnie Paul and Chad Gray, where Vinnie said some heartfelt words about Dime. Being there and listening to him say that probably made this tragedy even closer to my heart.
Meanwhile you can check out something we have done the previous year: an interview with Ville Sorvali (Moonsorrow), Jules Näveri (Profane Omen) and Nico Hartonen (Godsplague) who take part in the annual DIMEBAG BEYOND FOREVER tour around Finland. Click here to read. Unfortunately this great tradition is coming to an end in 2010 with the closing show taking place in Nosturi, Helsinki on December 11. If you have the opportunity to be there - don't miss it.
I hope you will find your own way to commemorate the guitar god who was taken away from us in such an unfair and preposterous way. May he rest in peace.
Proud to be loud.
-Tanja
This year many of the great have fallen and even though I take my hat off for each and every one of them, none of these deaths have touched me as deep as Dime's. I have never known him in person, and it's not a secret that I am a Pantera fan (face it, there are very few who aren't and they most probably suck), yet I don't understand why it brings me to tears every year. It is hard for me to find the right words to write here now, but this post has to be written.
It's near impossible to comprehend his death as a fact, because he is immortal. Dimebag will live forever in his music, in the hearts of people his music has touched, in so many Pantera tattoos, in every kid who discovered Dime's bands and decided to pick up the guitar. He continues to live in those bands we like who have been inspired by him and who would've never been the way we know them without him. Dime is everywhere, if you know where to look.
I am going to spill the beans and tell you that soon we are going to post an interview we have conducted recently with Vinnie Paul and Chad Gray, where Vinnie said some heartfelt words about Dime. Being there and listening to him say that probably made this tragedy even closer to my heart.
Meanwhile you can check out something we have done the previous year: an interview with Ville Sorvali (Moonsorrow), Jules Näveri (Profane Omen) and Nico Hartonen (Godsplague) who take part in the annual DIMEBAG BEYOND FOREVER tour around Finland. Click here to read. Unfortunately this great tradition is coming to an end in 2010 with the closing show taking place in Nosturi, Helsinki on December 11. If you have the opportunity to be there - don't miss it.
I hope you will find your own way to commemorate the guitar god who was taken away from us in such an unfair and preposterous way. May he rest in peace.
Proud to be loud.
-Tanja
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The Wörld Is Mϊne
Greetings to whatever form of life hopefully still roams around this blog.
It has been a veeeery long time since I have written an actual post. I’ve been meaning to write it after the end of the summer festival season, then once we’ve got a new page design, then after we’ve got some additions to our team, then when I was about to leave for Oslo, then… well you get the point. It has been a while indeed and I am going to try to catch up on the things mentioned above. I do have more posts to write in the future about certain stomach-churning things in the music world, so it’s not gonna be that trivial all the time.
But yes, it’s -15̊ FC (fucking Celsius) in Helsinki, too much snow and Christmas decorations everywhere. All this indicates that summer festivals are long gone. In fact, new ones are in the making already. The summer of 2010 wasn’t so fruitful when it came to the festival line ups, so we have visited only Tuska and Sonisphere and made brief appearances at Sauna Open Air and Myötätuulirock. We were still extremely productive and managed to catch up with three bands out of the Big Four, who have thrashed through Europe during most of the Sonisphere Festivals. You have seen our interviews with David Ellefson of Megadeth and Dave Lombardo of SLAAAAYEEERRR. Another interview with Anthrax is in the works, so be sure to watch this space.
I remember when I wrote the first blog post at the end of 2009, I have made a wish to see Steel Panther and Alice In Chains the next year. Both bands came to Finland this summer, but I had to miss Steel Panther. However, we still might have a little surprise from them to post for you guys ;) I did get to see Alice In Chains at Sonisphere and it has absolutely been one of the highlights of 2010 for me. I hope the wishes you have made for this year also came true for you and if not, there’s still a month to go ;)
We do have an abso-fucking-lutely awesome new design as you have definitely noticed by now. It was made for us by Mr. Albert Buchatskyy who has also joined our German part of the team behind the Photocalypse lens. We’ve got wonderful Ms. Linda Nur Chbib who joined our Scandinavian part of the team behind the keyboard and who is going to supply us some amazing stuff in the future :)
I am absolutely loaded with interviews to work on and going underground pretty much till the New Year, but this only means that there will be quite some new articles coming up to read and like or hate. I, personally, do already hate at least one of them, but I also know that many people like the band in question.
2011 looks great when it comes to the concerts in Hell city: Black Label Society, Roger Waters, Rush, etc. Summer seems to be intriguing as Tuska festival has been moved to the end of July due to Live Nation Finland plotting something massive and undoubtedly awesome in the beginning of the month. And as you could’ve guessed, the title of this post comes from the upcoming Motörhead album called “The Wörld Is Yours”. It’s a yet another legendary celebration of rock’n’roll coming from these ‘geezers’, but that’s like saying that the sky is blue. It is Lemmy, for god’s sake, 'nuff said.
This makes the re-run of 2010 pretty much done. It’s time to throw guitar picks and drum sticks in the crowd, bow one last time and leave the stage.
- Proud to be loud.
Tanja
It has been a veeeery long time since I have written an actual post. I’ve been meaning to write it after the end of the summer festival season, then once we’ve got a new page design, then after we’ve got some additions to our team, then when I was about to leave for Oslo, then… well you get the point. It has been a while indeed and I am going to try to catch up on the things mentioned above. I do have more posts to write in the future about certain stomach-churning things in the music world, so it’s not gonna be that trivial all the time.
But yes, it’s -15̊ FC (fucking Celsius) in Helsinki, too much snow and Christmas decorations everywhere. All this indicates that summer festivals are long gone. In fact, new ones are in the making already. The summer of 2010 wasn’t so fruitful when it came to the festival line ups, so we have visited only Tuska and Sonisphere and made brief appearances at Sauna Open Air and Myötätuulirock. We were still extremely productive and managed to catch up with three bands out of the Big Four, who have thrashed through Europe during most of the Sonisphere Festivals. You have seen our interviews with David Ellefson of Megadeth and Dave Lombardo of SLAAAAYEEERRR. Another interview with Anthrax is in the works, so be sure to watch this space.
I remember when I wrote the first blog post at the end of 2009, I have made a wish to see Steel Panther and Alice In Chains the next year. Both bands came to Finland this summer, but I had to miss Steel Panther. However, we still might have a little surprise from them to post for you guys ;) I did get to see Alice In Chains at Sonisphere and it has absolutely been one of the highlights of 2010 for me. I hope the wishes you have made for this year also came true for you and if not, there’s still a month to go ;)
We do have an abso-fucking-lutely awesome new design as you have definitely noticed by now. It was made for us by Mr. Albert Buchatskyy who has also joined our German part of the team behind the Photocalypse lens. We’ve got wonderful Ms. Linda Nur Chbib who joined our Scandinavian part of the team behind the keyboard and who is going to supply us some amazing stuff in the future :)
I am absolutely loaded with interviews to work on and going underground pretty much till the New Year, but this only means that there will be quite some new articles coming up to read and like or hate. I, personally, do already hate at least one of them, but I also know that many people like the band in question.
2011 looks great when it comes to the concerts in Hell city: Black Label Society, Roger Waters, Rush, etc. Summer seems to be intriguing as Tuska festival has been moved to the end of July due to Live Nation Finland plotting something massive and undoubtedly awesome in the beginning of the month. And as you could’ve guessed, the title of this post comes from the upcoming Motörhead album called “The Wörld Is Yours”. It’s a yet another legendary celebration of rock’n’roll coming from these ‘geezers’, but that’s like saying that the sky is blue. It is Lemmy, for god’s sake, 'nuff said.
This makes the re-run of 2010 pretty much done. It’s time to throw guitar picks and drum sticks in the crowd, bow one last time and leave the stage.
- Proud to be loud.
Tanja
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Cowboys From Hell: 20 years strong!
Greetings to each of you, who know what this entry's title stand for. Greetings to all of you, who don't know this, because you are about to discover a metal masterpiece.
Twenty years ago, in July 1990 the Godzillas of metal - Pantera have released their 5th studio album, which turned out to be a landmark record in the history of modern metal. You have already heard about our collaboration with the US based webzine called Horns Up Rocks and here's what they had to say to commemorate this anniversary.
When Pantera released their legendary album Cowboys From Hell on July 3, 1990, everyone was caught by surprise to the fury the Pantera boys displayed. As we all know, Pantera started as a glam band and with Cowboys From Hell they left that part of their career behind, and single-handedly reinvented the steel! 20 years later, it is very hard to imagine the Heavy Metal scene being what it is today, without Pantera's Cowboys From Hell.
Cowboys From Hell contains Heavy Metal classics such as their anthem "Cowboys From Hell", "Domination", "Primal Concrete Sledge" and "Cemetery Gates". This album also gave Pantera the exposure they needed, and took them from playing small clubs to playing the "Monsters of Rock" festival in Russia in front of 1 million people. That night they outplayed Metallica, AC/DC and Aerosmith. It was evident that Pantera were ready for World Domination!
The legacy that Phil Anselmo, Dimebag Darrell (RIP), Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown created, is to this day untouched, unmatched, unscarred by trials! A New Level of confidence and power, that has influenced millions of musicians worldwide! We salute Pantera for their amazing album "Cowboys From Hell" and lets all have a couple of black tooth's this weekend, in memory of our brother in Metal Dimebag Darrell!
I want to dedicate this video segment to the Pantera boys (Phil Anselmo, Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown & Vinnie Paul)! And to all the Horns Up Rocks familia! ENJOY
By Jo Schüftan (Horns Up Rocks)
Twenty years ago, in July 1990 the Godzillas of metal - Pantera have released their 5th studio album, which turned out to be a landmark record in the history of modern metal. You have already heard about our collaboration with the US based webzine called Horns Up Rocks and here's what they had to say to commemorate this anniversary.
When Pantera released their legendary album Cowboys From Hell on July 3, 1990, everyone was caught by surprise to the fury the Pantera boys displayed. As we all know, Pantera started as a glam band and with Cowboys From Hell they left that part of their career behind, and single-handedly reinvented the steel! 20 years later, it is very hard to imagine the Heavy Metal scene being what it is today, without Pantera's Cowboys From Hell.
Cowboys From Hell contains Heavy Metal classics such as their anthem "Cowboys From Hell", "Domination", "Primal Concrete Sledge" and "Cemetery Gates". This album also gave Pantera the exposure they needed, and took them from playing small clubs to playing the "Monsters of Rock" festival in Russia in front of 1 million people. That night they outplayed Metallica, AC/DC and Aerosmith. It was evident that Pantera were ready for World Domination!
The legacy that Phil Anselmo, Dimebag Darrell (RIP), Vinnie Paul and Rex Brown created, is to this day untouched, unmatched, unscarred by trials! A New Level of confidence and power, that has influenced millions of musicians worldwide! We salute Pantera for their amazing album "Cowboys From Hell" and lets all have a couple of black tooth's this weekend, in memory of our brother in Metal Dimebag Darrell!
I want to dedicate this video segment to the Pantera boys (Phil Anselmo, Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown & Vinnie Paul)! And to all the Horns Up Rocks familia! ENJOY
By Jo Schüftan (Horns Up Rocks)
Monday, April 5, 2010
"Name your god and bleed the freak"
It might be a little too early for a new blog update, but as I was listening to Alice in Chains’ first album “Facelift” today, I realized I should pay honour to the two legendary musicians deceased on the 5th of April within 8 years difference. I am speaking about Kurt Cobain (1994) and Layne Staley (2002), may they rest in peace. Even though the cause of their deaths is said to be different, it is known to everyone that both of them were quite serious drug addicts.
The list of truly gifted musicians who died of drug abuse is so long, that I am not even going to start writing it. I’m sure you know at least a few. It is such a senseless and unthinkable way to waste your life when you were blessed with a huge talent, when you can influence people all over the world with your music. Naturally, each one of us is the owner of his life and it is our decision what to do with it. But when you’ve got something so great in your hands, how can you simply burn it down on a heroin spoon?
I’m not a genius musician… hell, I’m not a genius in anything. I can only imagine what it must be like for all these people whose minds are simply out of this world. The common historical pattern shows that apparently drugs made it easier for them to deal with reality, but did they really want to end up losing it? It makes me feel really weird watching old video interviews with Layne Staley where he was so proud and boasted how he managed to kick his drug addiction and how he conquered death. And then reading his last interviews, where he said that he knows he is about to die soon and he never wanted to end his life that way. I hope Mr. James Hetfield felt really bad for all the stupid shit jokes he made on stage during Metallica’s gigs about Layne’s addiction.
A lot of words have been said and written concerning drug abuse in music history. The lifetime motto “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” didn’t come out of nowhere and there is nothing new I could possibly say here. It’s just sad and really hard to understand. So I’ll simply finish this entry with my most favourite Alice in Chains song.
Don’t do drugs, people.
Proud to be loud.
- Tanja.
The list of truly gifted musicians who died of drug abuse is so long, that I am not even going to start writing it. I’m sure you know at least a few. It is such a senseless and unthinkable way to waste your life when you were blessed with a huge talent, when you can influence people all over the world with your music. Naturally, each one of us is the owner of his life and it is our decision what to do with it. But when you’ve got something so great in your hands, how can you simply burn it down on a heroin spoon?
I’m not a genius musician… hell, I’m not a genius in anything. I can only imagine what it must be like for all these people whose minds are simply out of this world. The common historical pattern shows that apparently drugs made it easier for them to deal with reality, but did they really want to end up losing it? It makes me feel really weird watching old video interviews with Layne Staley where he was so proud and boasted how he managed to kick his drug addiction and how he conquered death. And then reading his last interviews, where he said that he knows he is about to die soon and he never wanted to end his life that way. I hope Mr. James Hetfield felt really bad for all the stupid shit jokes he made on stage during Metallica’s gigs about Layne’s addiction.
A lot of words have been said and written concerning drug abuse in music history. The lifetime motto “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” didn’t come out of nowhere and there is nothing new I could possibly say here. It’s just sad and really hard to understand. So I’ll simply finish this entry with my most favourite Alice in Chains song.
Don’t do drugs, people.
Proud to be loud.
- Tanja.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)