Are these your balls sir?
Inter Arma are the best band you’ve never heard. Debut Sundown snuck up on me and wrapped a tire iron around my head to snaffle third spot in my 2010 end of year list with its amalgam of black metal, sludge and NWOBHM.
Typically when I fall in love a record, any follow-up will struggle fill its shoes.
On their Relapse Records debut EP, Inter Arma do more than buck that trend, they torpedo that motherfucker out of the water.
All my pics were rubbish, so I "borrowed" this one from an earlier show on the tour.
Confession time: it had been 20 years since I last went to a metal show.
Metallica 1992 to Kylesa 2012. That’s one helluva wait between drinks. In fact there were no drinks in ’92 as I was barely a teenager and my laughable attempts to buy cider were in vain.
So I was a little apprehensive as the sun set on the day of the gig at the Academy in Islington, London.
Was I too old? Too normal-looking? Could I handle it? Would it be depressing going to a gig on my own? (Answers at the bottom of the post).
Inside I feel a little like a a teenage girl hyperventilating OMG OMG OMG and wetting my pants with excitement at the sight of a topless Justin Bieber.
Fortunately for my dignity, I am not acting out this impulse upon discovering that Baroness are taking the first steps towards following up on Blue Record, of which I am more than a little fond.
The band has just launched a new website featuring photos and short videos containing some musical teasers.
And when I say “teasers”, I really mean it. Just very short snippets that tell us little about what is to come.
I’m still excited rather more than is seemly though. I’m such a fanboy.
The cover to the next Justin Bieber album
Spacey, punky, freaky, stoner/psych/metal with highly original Motown-on-acid female vocals about wizards.
That probably either makes you want to vomit (in which case, the back button is that way) or really gets your antenna twitching.
I am certain Master Alchemist, the debut from London trio Invasion will one day be hailed as an overlooked classic. The 2009 release flew under the radar, which is a great shame as it appears as if there may be no follow-up.
This is a bit of a suspense killer but hey, I needed a pic
Over on Sawtooth Wave, hhbrady poses the following excellent question: what albums are you still listening to at least once month from the past few years?
Nothing from 2011 is allowed onto the list. Essentially, it’s a challenge to name your top 10 emerging classic albums. Which recent records will be hailed in the same breath as Reign in Blood, Master of Puppets or Number of the Beast in another decade?
Monkey Defies Gravity 