Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

Everybody has “oh shit” moments. My most recent was when I opened the cover art file for “Surtur Rising.” It popped up on my 21-inch monitor and my gut reacted, “Wow, those little dudes are effed.” I have to imagine the huge warrior is Surtur (the leader of the fire giants of Muspelheim, according to the promo metrials); he’s about five times the size of the fleeing Norsemen, his flaming sword was clearly dipped in the giant volcano behind him, and he doesn’t look too pleased. To finish this drawn out metaphor, Amon Amarth is Surtur, “Surtur Rising” is the band’s flaming sword, and the fleeing Norsemen are all the other metal bands that are getting dominated by Amon Amarth’s wrath.

“Surtur Rising” is a phenomenal slab of Amon Amarth’s melodic death metal meat. Early albums like “The Avenger” and “The Crusher,” while great, tended to be one-track melo-viking-death romps, but “Surtur Rising” is a textured, varied, and acutely composed set of ten songs. The story of Surtur, as told in these songs, is obviously a very complex and winding journey, and the music complies, taking us for a ride that is intense and wholly enveloping.

Album opener “War of the Gods” runs from speedy and straight forward tremolo riffs to melodic soundscapes that are more pensive than aggressive. “Tock’s Taunt – Loke’s Trachery Part II” – which is a follow up to “Hermod's Ride To Hel - Lokes Treachery, Part 1” off of 2006’s “With Oden On Our Side” – is the more comfortable Amon Amarth mid-tempo stomp-and-triumphant-chorus, but set off against “War of the Gods” it is the monolith that supports the earth. The members of Amon Amarth needed music to fit an album-long theme on “Surtur Rising,” thus pushing themselves to write music, and an entire album, that goes beyond their normal arc.

The album winds from triumphant royal halls to quiet country villages; raging wars among the gods to the peace of a weapons master practicing his craft in breeze brushed meadows. While in the past Amon Amarth charged past us, weapons drawn and grins grim, now the band has risen to be the bards of the northern Norsemen. The solos from Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg carry weight and power as they strain against their wordlessness - not just anthemic melody this time for the axemen. Johan Hegg sings with an insistence rarely heard in his burly growl. It is clear we must know this story, and heed its message.

So we sit, and we listen, and awe slowly conquers our brows as Amon Amarth imparts fantastic tales of Surtur lighting his sword in the eternal flame, his battle with Frej, and of Surtur’s pursuit of the power to raze the nine worlds. “Doom Over Dead Man” slowly exhausts its introspective thunder at the end of this tale, and as it does we could swear it was Surtur himself singing us to sleep.

Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever

Your humble reviewer believes that 2003’s long-player “Hate Crew Deathroll” is Children of Bodom’s seminal moment, combining lumbering heaviness and wild abandon in equal parts, thusly exploding melodic extreme metal into a gaggle of imitators (some of whom are actually really good, so let’s not sell them short). In the eight years between “Hate Crew Deathroll” and “Relentless Reckless Forever,” Laiho and Co. have released two significantly-above-average-but-not-spectacular albums, “Are You Dead Yet” and “Blooddrunk.” So can everyone’s favorite wild child summon his inner muse (psychopath?) for Children of Bodom’s major label debut, or will “Relentless Reckless Forever” not quite reach the mountaintop?

To answer that question we have to (briefly) explore why “Hate Crew Deathroll” was so phenomenal and why the subsequent two albums weren’t quite as good – and it comes down to one simple thing: hooks. Every hook on every song on “Hate Crew Deathroll” is fired deep into our collective brains as if from a sniper rifle, lodged so deep only the devil’s surgeon could remove them, and never trading pop for heavy. “Are You Dead Yet” and “Blooddrunk” had their share of great hooks (the title tracks on both are deep sea fishing worthy), but there weren’t enough meaty hooks for the entire nine songs. “Relentless Reckless Forever” certainly has hooks, but like its two predecessors, they aren’t enough to snare the biggest fish.

The title track is a pounding, lumbering beast, but the layered guitar riff and keyboard line don’t quite mesh and we can’t get all fist pumpy and sing alongy excited like we did on “Bodom Beach Terror,” for example. “Ugly” shifts tempos and time signatures more smoothly than a rejected playboy, but even that makes it tough for us to bang along. All the elements are here for another strong Children of Bodom record, but they don’t quite work together to reach the majestic peaks that they once did.

And that’s the key point – everything is here for another strong Children of Bodom record, and “Relentless Reckless Forever” certainly is that. Laiho’s guitar easily sears the hair off our bums while Janne Warman’s keys range from casually elegant soundscapes to casually hot-like-the-sun flights of fancy. The playing from the entire group of five is tight, technical, and intense, and the nine songs range from mid-tempo sing-alongs (“Cry of the Nihilist,” “Not My Funeral”) to stop-start speed freakouts (“Ugly,” “Shovel Knockout”) and heavy crushers (the title track, “Was It Worth It?”). And as always, tongue is planted firmly in cheek.

So after breaking through heavy metal’s glass ceiling and getting signed to a major label, it is obvious that Children of Bodom has some extra financial backing for “Relentless Reckless Forever.” There’s lots of advertising, fancy digipaks, CD/DVD sets for the standard album price, and the band certainly has earned its standing as one of modern metal’s big names with consistent quality. “Relentless Reckless Forever” may not be the best Children of Bodom album ever, but while watching one of the live videos on the included DVD it becomes very clear that Laiho still sports a semi whenever he pulls on his whammy bar. And that’s totally cool, because we do too.

Highs: The interplay of Laiho’s guitar leads and Warman’s keyboard is often exhilarating.

Lows: The drumming seems to be a little less creative than on previous albums.

Bottom line: Children of Bodom delivers another excellent album in the band's major label debut.

Tracklist: 

1. Not My Funeral (4:55)
2. Shovel Knockout (4:03)
3. Roundtrip to Hell and Back (3:48)
4. Pussyfoot Miss Suicide (4:10)
5. Relentless Reckless Forever (4:42)
6. Ugly (4:13)
7. Cry of the Nihilist (3:31)
8. Was It Worth It? (4:06)
9. Northpole Throwdown (2:55)

Donnie Steele Rejoins Slipknot

Slipknot have announced that original member Donnie Steele will take the stage with the band this summer in place of the late Paul Gray. The move was announced in a statement on their official website:

“For their upcoming shows in 2011, Slipknot has asked Donnie Steele to fill in for Paul Gray on bass.

“Donnie, as some may recall, was the original guitar player in Slipknot and had actually reconnected with Paul in recent years. Said the band on their decision,

“Donnie was in the band at the very beginning, and rather than get an outsider, we thought it would be a fitting tribute to Paul to play with someone from within the family. Donnie was great friends with Paul and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate his memory than with someone who was there with us at the very beginning.

“The eight of us are looking forward to being onstage again and honouring Paul’s legacy with our families in Europe and Brazil this summer.”

Steele played guitar on Slipknot’s Mate Kill Eat Repeat, but left the band in 1996. He played in Body Pit with other Slipknot members including Paul Gray and death metal outfit Killpact.

Slipknot also added Sonisphere Bulgaria in Sofia on June21 to their touring schedule in Europe this summer, their eighth on the Sonisphere circuit.

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

See first the new Radiohead Video Clip (Lotus Flower)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8&feature=player_embedded

Foo Fighters - Secret Shows (Listen The New Album First)

Here you can watch and listen all the Foo Fighters New album  performed live from the 3 secret shows that the band is giving in USA :

http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/02/08/watch-foo-fighters-perform-their-new-album-in-its-entirety/

Deicide - To Hell With God

Deicide, a band whose story is rife with controversy and surprise, is back. Am I the only one who had heard 2008’s Till Death Do Us Part was their farewell release? Whatever…

It’s difficult to make any predictions before reviewing Deicide record. The band is one of the founding pillars of death metal and has some undeniably seminal releases, but has also made it known that other parts of its catalog were purposeful rush jobs to satisfy label obligations. 2006’s The Stench Of Redemption was a breath of fresh air (!) with newcomers to the lineup Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla adding amazingly well written solos and lead melodies to the old formula. Then came Till Death Do Us Part, which if liner notes can be believed, had drummer Steve Asheim handling all rhythm guitar duties and bringing Owen and Santolla in only for choice solos. The result was that the album sounded like the Deicide of the 90s, which was a big disappointment after what Stench had introduced.

So here we are, 2011, a new decade, a new Deicide record. With no particular expectations, I hit play on this thing, and am immediately hit with crisp, clear, and brutal 21st century production. Is this Deicide? Yes it is. Not only is it Deicide, it’s the band that put out The Stench Of Redemption, on steroids (again?), and with a clear vision of what they need to get back to the top of the pack.

Although the production is really what stands out the most at first, (clear guitars, not-so-overbearing vocals), the songwriting is also a cut above standard Deicide. Sometimes in death metal, especially with the older bands who come from the “play it faster even if you can’t play it” generation, things get muddled. On To Hell With God, the riffs complement each other instead of becoming a string of the same old, and Benton’s vocal patterns are catchy rather than monotonous.

The more I listen to it, the more I realize that this album could be used as a mixing case study for beginning metal sound engineers. The instruments are all perfectly audible and nestled within their own frequencies so that the kick is not hidden under the guitars, the bass is not hidden under the kick, and so on. At any point you can isolate any one element, which makes for new discoveries with repeated listens.

The old guard of death metal is alive and well. If you’re up for a hearty serving of brutality with a side of hilarious “Satanic” lyrics, check this one out.

01. To Hell with God

02. Save Your

03. Witness of Death

04. Conviction

05. Empowered by Blasphemy

06. Angels in Hell

07. Hang in Agony Until You're Dead

08. Servant of the Enemy

09. Into the Darkness You Go

10. How Can You Call Yourself a God

Rebirth Of Triumph - Dread Breath & Forgiveness

this is our bands history ..


Rebirth of Triumph is a band formed from a small tourist town called bukittinggi \ WEST SUMATRA.

Rebirth of Triumph (ROT) itself can be interpreted with "Resurrection victory. "
Rebirth of Triumph was originally formed in the year consisted of four personil.Bandit 2010.yang, uchup, bajai and beni (four members began to pursue music on behalf of Escape from a destination ((year 2009)). but by the end of 2010 Rebirth Of Triumph set aldy as new members.
and in 2011 Rebirth of Triumph 5 personnel wear the Bandit as vocals, Uchup as guitar, Beni as bassist, Aldy as guitar, and Bajai as Drummer.

Rebirth of Triumph has a music theme song and its music-themed Metalcore.with fear (fear Full), sin, disappointment, hopelessness and etc..

Support The Artist :

http://www.sixteenhole.com/profile/RebirthOfTriumph

Download Their Songs :

http://www.mediafire.com/?5m0agsy7negg6rg

http://www.mediafire.com/?nd329iac7ydcgpv