Riff-maestro Abbath Doom Occulta returns with total metal mayhem in the form of his third full-length opus, cementing his place among the Black Metal hierarchy.
After the successful releases of his 2016 debut self-titled album and the 2019 opus Outstrider, Bergen, Norway-based Black Metal riff-maestro Abbath Doom Occulta is ready to cement his place among the metal hierarchy with Dread Reaver, his third album with his eponymous project Abbath. Recorded at Dub Studio with additional recordings at Bergen Lydstudio, produced by Endre Kirkesola and Dag Erik Nygaard, mixed by Abbath himself and Endre Kirkesola, and mastered by Maor Appelbaum at Maor Appelbaum Mastering, Dread Reaver might not represent a revolution in Black Metal, but it’s indeed a vibrant and visceral album of extreme music by the aforementioned Abbath on vocals, guitars and bass together with Ole André Farstad on lead and acoustic guitars, Mia Wallace on bass, and Ukri Suvilehto on drums, offering the listener his signature blend of blistering Speed Metal, traditional metal influences, and of course a touch of ice cold Black Metal, the perfect recipe for total metal mayhem.
Let’s cut to the chase and join Abbath in pitch black darkness to the opening tune Acid Haze, a demolishing Black Metal extravaganza led by the scorching riffs by Abbath and Ole supported by the bestial bass by Mia and the infernal beats by Ukri, and continuing their path of devastation the band brings forward Scarred Core, showcasing more of Mia’s crushing bass jabs while Abbath roars the song’s austere words like a demonic entity and Ole delivers an ass-kicking guitar solo made in hell. Then a sinister acoustic intro sets the stage for Abbath to kill again in Dream Cull, sounding less violent but absolutely obscure and evil from start to finish with Ukri dictating the song’s galloping pace; whereas Ukri keeps hammering his drums in Myrmidon accompanied by the razor-edged riffs by Abbath and Ole. In other words, it’s Abbath’s trademark Black Metal infused with hints of classic Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, and the final result is obviously awesome.
Mia’s rumbling bass returns in The Deep Unbound, a bestial composition that will smash you like an insect to the venomous growling by Abbath; and more of the band’s raw Black Metal is offered in Septentrion, with the pounding drums by Ukri walk hand in hand with the incendiary riffage by Abbath and Ole. Their rendition to Metallica’s Trapped Under Ice (check out an original live version of it HERE) is indeed a fun ride, with Abbath’s raspy vocals adding a touch of malignancy to the overall result; and our Norwegian black metaller still has a lot of fuel to burn together with his horde in The Book Of Breath, another straightforward Black Metal tune where Ukri fires violent, melodic beats nonstop, while the title-track Dread Reaver closes the regular version of the album with a dense and heavy atmosphere spearheaded by Abbath’s demonic gnarls and Mia’s smashing bass lines. However, if you go for the physical edition of the album you’ll be treated to an amazing bonus track, the band’s fun cover version for Motörhead’s Make My Day (check the original version HERE), where Abbath sounds like Lemmy incarnate on vocals for our total delight.
Abbath’s brand new effort can be appreciated in its entirety on YouTube and on Spotify, and of course if you consider yourself a true servant of Norwegian Black Metal you can purchase your favorite version of the album by clicking HERE, and also support Abbath and his horde by following the band on Facebook and on Instagram to stay up to date with their news, tour dates and so on. With Dread Reaver it feels like Abbath is reaching the desired shape and form of his music and style, and hopefully he’ll keep delivering high-quality Black Metal for admirers of the genre for many years to come now that he seems to be free from drugs and alcohol, focusing only on what really matters, which is crafting devilish music just the way we like it in the name of darkness.
Best moments of the album: Acid Haze, Myrmidon and The Deep Unbound.
Worst moments of the album:Septentrion.
Released in 2022 Season of Mist
Track listing 1. Acid Haze 4:51
2. Scarred Core 3:29
3. Dream Cull 4:15
4. Myrmidon 4:33
5. The Deep Unbound 4:07
6. Septentrion 4:28
7. Trapped Under Ice (Metallica cover) 3:59
8. The Book Of Breath 4:35
9. Dread Reaver 4:43
CD bonus track 10. Make My Day (Motörhead cover) 4:16
Band members
Abbath – vocals, guitars, bass
Ole André Farstad – lead and acoustic guitars
Mia Wallace – bass on “Acid Haze”, “Scarred Core”, “The Deep Unbound” and “Dread Reaver”
Ukri Suvilehto – drums
After such a difficult year for all of us, let’s start 2021 off with a bang to the sound of the rumbling, menacing bass by a woman that has been nothing but amazing to the metal community with her refined skills, her passion for heavy music and her immensurable contribution to the Heavy Metal, Hard Rock and Metalcore scene. Not only that, she’s also a very talented singer and pianist, showcasing all her versatility and allowing her to take part in any type of band from an array of styles. Born on January 11, 1979 in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States, Jeanne Sagan (also known as Jeanne Wawrzyniak) is the ass-kicking bassist and backing vocalist for American Heavy Metal band Crossing Rubicon, and also known as the former bassist and backing vocalist for American Heavy Metal/Metalcore band All That Remains from 2006 to 2015, having been embellishing the airwaves with her bass since 2001 and, more important than that, being ready to make this new year that has just been born a lot more fun with her music.
Having also played for a band called The Acacia Strain in 2003, Jeanne originally worked merchandise tables for Prosthetic Records before being called to join All That Remains in 2006 to replace their former bassist Matt Deis, which was by the way a funny story according to Jeanne herself as she had moved out to Arizona thinking she was done with Massachusetts, but after meeting someone at the record label and started helping out she ended up getting back to her birth state. In addition, if you think she comes from a family of musicians let me tell you that you’re absolutely wrong. When asked if she grew up in a musical household, Jeanne said that she only started in the world of music when she was in sixth grade, picking up the trumpet as her first instrument during high school, also mentioning her younger brother is also into music, DJ’ing and touring with bands, despite the fact their parents are not musicians. It was only when she was in college that she started playing bass and jamming with bands, and from that moment on the world of heavy music gained a new badass bass player.
Jeanne Sagan is also known as Jeanne Wawrzyniak due to the fact she’s married to American vocalist Scott Wawrzyniak, better known by his stage name of Scotty Anarchy, the frontman for metal bands Crossing Rubicon and Piercing Immortality. In one of their interviews together, Scott and Jeanne said they met through two mutual friends, Ian Jones and Rusty Kupier, sometime in 2011, with Scott saying he was instantly attracted to Jeanne’s passion and kindness, but as he was married at that time it wasn’t the right thing to do (and Jeanne said she used to run away from him because of that connection she felt with him). A few years later Scott was single and playing a Buckcherry show, and Jeanne approached her after the show to talk, asking for his number, and they have not stopped talking since, saying it’s easy to play in a band with his wife as he gets to look to his right every night and see his best friend, his soul mate and the love of his life sharing his passion with him. Jeanne complemented by saying their bond is greater and stronger than they could have ever dreamed, mentioning important milestones like their mutual fight for sobriety as one of the things that strengthen their relationship every single day.
Regarding her 10-year stint with American Metalcore band All That Remains, from 2006 to 2015, as aforementioned she joined the band while working on the merch table for Prosthetics Records, having recorded her first single with the band that same year, the excellent The Air That I Breathe, proving she was the perfect choice for handling the band’s bass duties. After that first single, Jeanne recorded an array of first-class albums with the band, those being The Fall of Ideals (2006), Overcome (2008), …for We Are Many (2010), A War You Cannot Win (2012) and The Order of Things (2015), as well as a live album and DVD in 2007 simply titled Live, and you can enjoy her rumbling bass smashing your senses in songs such as What If I Was Nothing, This Probably Won’t End Well, Two Weeks, The Last Time, Chiron and This Calling, or simply go to the band’s Spotify profile to stream each one of those albums in full.
However, in 2015 Jeanne announced her amicable departure from All That Remains in order to pursue personal interests (and by that I mean playing bass and backing vocals in Crossing Rubicon alongside her husband), being replaced by Aaron “Bubble” Patrick, formerly of the band Bury Your Dead. At the time of her departure form the band, Jeanne commented, “It is with heavy heart that I depart from All That Remains. I’ve decided to follow my heart and pursue other opportunities in life. I truly appreciate the amazing experiences and the great fans over the last decade. I wish ATR all the best going forward.” She said that just like in every band there are ups and downs to everything, and in that particular case the negatives started to outweigh the good, which drove her away eventually. She does take away growing as a person and as a musician, though, becoming more outgoing and overcoming insecurities, standing up for herself and getting the courage to follow her own path.
Now as the bass player and backing vocalist for American Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band Crossing Rubicon, Jeanne seems to be enjoying a lot more freedom in her bass playing style and in contributing to the band’s writing process, having already recorded with the band their two full-length albums so far, those being No Less than Everything, in 2016, and more recently Seeing Red, in 2019. Formed in 2009 in Bristol, Connecticut, in the United States, and having their name inspired by the expression “Crossing (the) Rubicon”, which means to pass a point of no return after Julius Caesar’s crossing of the river Rubicon in Italy in 49 BC, the band offers a molten blend of 80’s hooks and musicianship with modern rock power and relevance, having already opened for renowned acts including Mötley Crüe, Queensrÿche, Pop Evil and many more. Hence, if you want to enjoy some of the creations by Crossing Rubicon, simply search for them on Spotify or watch their official videos on YouTube for songs like The Fallen, Who’s Gonna Save You, I Will Remain and Seeing Red.
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Apart from her career with All That Remains and Crossing Rubicon, Jeanne is also featured in several other bands and projects, all hailing form the United States. For instance, she has been the bass player for a Mathcore band called Blood Has Been Shed, known for having two members of Killswitch Engage (Howard Jones and Justin Foley) in the band, since 2012, but nothing official has been released with Jeanne on the band so far (and no one knows if that will ever happen). She’s also a member of a Heavy Metal band called Piercing Immortality under the moniker Jeanne Anarchy, also with her husband Scotty Anarchy on vocals as mentioned before, playing bass and backing vocals on their 2018 EP Systematic Global Poisoning and on their 2019 EP Risen from the Ashes, and in her years before All That Remains she was the bassist for Metalcore band Ligeia, for Technical Metalcore band Light Is the Language (having recorded with them the EP The Void Falls Silent, in 2001), and for Metalcore band The Acacia Strain in 2003. In addition, you can also find Jeanne as the guest bassist for Stoner/Sludge Metal band Oxen in their 2015 album The Vanishing.
As any true rock and metal fan, Jeanne has a lot of different influences and idols regarding not only her playing style but also her looks. She said that apart from her past in the Hardcore scene, which has obviously had an impact on her style, she also considers both of Tool bass players (Paul D’Amour and Justin Chancellor) and Jason Newsted-era Metallica as her biggest influences in music. Furthermore, although she has always looked up to rock stars with larger than life personas like David Bowie, being a little envious of all his bright and vibrant hair colors, she said she’s never done anything too extreme with her appearance, considering herself more of a Janis Joplin than a Lady Gaga, and when asked about which bands or artists she enjoys listening to, she mentioned amazing options from the rock and metal scene including Hatebreed, Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths and so on. Her equipment is also a very important part of her career, and you can see her in different stages of her life using several ass-kicking pieces such as a black cherry Spector Legend 4 Classic four-string bass with EMG 35DC active pickups and Ampeg SVT bass amplifiers, a Soundgear 4-strings and an ARTB100 four-string (the latter of which can be seen in the music video for the song Hold On), Orange amplifiers and Omega speaker cabinets, Tiny Terror 1000 watt, Boss tuner, Darkglass B7K, and Shure wireless system.
Touring is obviously a crucial piece in the career of any rock and metal musician, and it couldn’t be any different than that with Jeanne. In one of her interviews, she talked about how important it is not only to put on a great show on stage, but also to hang out with the other bands, to meet new people, to do great interviews and to convince people who are seeing the band for the first time how great their music is. Apart from festivals like Graspop and Ozzfest, where not only she said she had an amazing time and was able to watch performances by bands she enjoys a lot like Dragonforce, Jeanne mentioned that she would like to return to festivals such as Download and Rock Am Ring, and to explore a little more countries like Japan. She also said that playing a lot of shows in a short span of time plus all the traveling can be a little exhausting, but that in the end she feels great after seeing so many happy fans attending the concerts. Moreover, in order to stay fit and put on a kick-ass show on stage, Jeanne and her bandmates said that they try to stay in shape by running a lot (around the parking lots), going to the gym and cooking on the bus (instead of eating junk food), usually having much healthier eating habits than if they were all at home.
Our dauntless bassist also has some interesting thoughts about the current state of metal in the digital age we’re all living in, saying that although metal is alive and kicking, a lot of people refused to change and got stuck in their old mentalities, fighting and ignoring downloading music instead of finding a way to use it as an advantage. However, if there’s one thing that annoys Jeanne is the fact that people keep taking pictures, recording everything and posting that online when her band is playing live instead of enjoying the show. “What does get annoying is people just staring at their phones when we’re playing and I wonder, are we doing our jobs right? What can we do to get their attention? We’re there to put on a show and that’s our focus,” complained our skillful bass player, and we must all agree with her that such behavior is indeed quite disturbing. Jeanne also talked about the fact she’s been doing a lot more vocals both in the studio and on stage, both clean and harsh ones, something that she used to be insecure about and learned how to overcome by practicing and preparing until making herself more confident.
Both Jeanne and her husband Scott have mentioned in several interviews about their fight against alcoholism, their struggles and how they managed to get clean and sober, something both are really proud of. Jeanne said that she used to drink to numb herself from things that were bothering her, and that after some time she talked to Scott about sobriety and they inspired each other to get sober and stay sober, having a reason to want to wake up every single day, open their eyes and live life together to the fullest. In addition, she mentioned their involvement with Road Recovery, an organization founded in 1998 that helps addiction through music, which is very inspiring and humbling from a sobriety standpoint, and we must all celebrate everything the couple has accomplished in their lives and career by getting clean and, therefore, having more energy, creativity and focus to apply to their music. Hence, if you want to know more about Jeanne, her career, her relationship with Scott, her adventures on the road and so on, go check some of her interviews on YouTube such as this one at Carolina Rebellion in 2013, this one at Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in 2008, and this one at Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in 2009, among several others, where you can see why Jeanne is not only a badass bass player, but also an awesome human being and a fantastic metalhead.
“I think that Metal is alive. It seems that people are stuck in mentalities and refuse to change. The industry fought and ignored downloading rather than finding a way to make it work for them. Also because of the Internet, people think they are going to be overnight stars—that goes for TV also. No one wants to put their nose to grind, but we will. We believe in ourselves and we believe in the scene.” – Jeanne Sagan
Thirteen years ago Exodus returned with another incredible lesson in Thrash Metal.
Sometimes excellent bands go on a huge musical hiatus due to unforeseen reasons, making their fans at the same time really sad and anxious for a possible return someday. However, some of those bands return with very low-quality material and the damage to their careers is almost incurable, as for example what happened with the disappointing comebacks of Running Wild, with the weak album Shadowmaker, and Guns N’Roses, with the controversial Chinese Democracy.
Fortunately, that’s not what happened to Thrash Metal masters Exodus. Quite the contrary, when they got back to life with their first new album since the interesting Force of Habit, from 1992, they kicked some serious fuckin’ass. Tempo of the Damned might not be the best Thrash Metal album in the history of music, but it’s probably the best of the past two decades in terms of creativity, riffs, and of course, violence. With the return of Steve “Zetro” Souza on vocals, Tom Hunting smashing his drums, and especially an inspired Gary Holt absolutely on fire, Tempo of the Damned is the epitome of what’s best in modern Thrash Metal.
Are you ready for a sonic massacre? Well, the first track, Scar Spangled Banner, is even more than that. For over 6 minutes, we have a perfect representation of the “new” Exodus: extremely politicized and intelligent lyrics (“We the people, for no people / Secure the blessings of tragedy / Do ordain we have established / The scar spangled banner”), awesome riffs and solos, creative variations, and a lot of speed. The second track of this brilliant album, War Is My Shepherd, is another fuckin’ carnage, perfect for an intense mosh pit with Zetro doing a pretty good job on vocals.
Then we have the incomparable hit Blacklist, my favorite track of the album and certainly on my top 5 songs in the history of Exodus, with the best vengeful lyrics in Heavy Metal (“You’d better start runnin’ / Cause you know that I’m comin’ / Cocked and loaded and I never miss / I’m onto your game / And I’m layin’ the blame / And I’m addin’ your name to my blacklist”) and a riff that is beyond perfect for banging our fuckin’ heads until we drop. Shroud of Urine keeps the album at a high note, followed by another pure Thrash Metal song called Forward March, where Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt deliver us some truly amazing solos.
Culling the Herd is slower than the previous tracks (maybe for us to take some air), but it is also a great Thrash Metal song. The shortest song of the album, Sealed with a Fist, focus on all the “beauty” of marriage and it’s highly recommended for a friend’s wedding if you like to play pranks on people. The next track, Throwing Down, shows us why Gary Holt is one of the most underrated riff masters in the world, with outstanding riffs and solos. Seriously, when are people going to recognize Gary’s unparalleled contribution to the world of music?
The album ends with the good song Impaler (written by Metallica’s own Kirk Hammett, and it should have been feature in Bonded By Blood if Kirk Hammett hadn’t taken its main riff with him to be used on “Trapped Under Ice”), and the title-track Tempo of the Damned, which can be called a “musical beast” due to its boisterous rhythm, crazy riffs, fast percussion, and of course its very controversial lyrics paying a “tribute” to all types of religions and churches. And if your neck is still attached to your body when this brutal song is over and you have the special digipack version of the album, you can relax and enjoy a very nice cover for AC/DC’s classic Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, where Zetro simply nailed it with his visceral voice.
Finally, did you notice the length of the songs in Tempo of the Damned? Most of them surpass the 5-minute barrier, something unimaginable for almost all Thrash Metal bands in the world, with some songs having even over 7 minutes. That’s why after this album was released many people started calling Exodus as the “Pink Floyd of Thrash Metal”, and also fans started demanding that Exodus were included in the “Big 4”, making it more like a Big 5 (or even a Big 6 with Testament included too), due to the undeniable quality of their music. I honestly don’t care if they make it a Big 5 or Big 6; what really matters to me is that Exodus keep on delivering us many more “lessons in violence” such as Tempo of the Damned in their career.
Best moments of the album:Scar Spangled Banner, Blacklist and Tempo of the Damned.
Worst moments of the album: It’s hard to choose a bad song in the album, because there are none. I would select Impaler as the “least amazing” tune, though.
Released in 2004 Nuclear Blast
Track listing 1. Scar Spangled Banner 6:41
2. War Is My Shepherd 4:27
3. Blacklist 6:17
4. Shroud of Urine 4:52
5. Forward March 7:32
6. Culling the Herd 6:07
7. Sealed with a Fist 3:36
8. Throwing Down 5:01
9. Impaler 5:25
10. Tempo of the Damned 4:22
Band members Steve “Zetro” Souza – vocals
Gary Holt – lead and rhythm guitars
Rick Hunolt – lead and rhythm guitars
Jack Gibson – bass
Tom Hunting – drums
So follow me now, you’re falling behind… Have the will to set free…
It’s time to get really heavy at The Headbanging Moose with a woman that not only kicks some serious ass on guitar, but she manages to channel all her passion for Heavy Metal into her music flawlessly, creating some sick tunes that will definitely put you to bang your head and raise your horns like crazy. Of Chilean descent, here comes the incredible metal shredder Elizabeth Schall, an American singer, songwriter and guitarist mainly known for her work with Winterthrall, Dreaming Dead and The Iron Maidens, among several other bands and projects. If you want to know how badass Elizabeth is, let me tell you that some of her biggest influences in music are Iron Maiden, Slayer and Megadeth. Do I need to say more?
Daughter of Federico and Amanda Renee Schall, Elizabeth had to relocate to Chile after living in California, which despite not being easy for her and her family in the beginning it helped them learn to appreciate what they left behind in the United States, not to mention the enormous benefit for Elizabeth as she became fully bilingual then. In regards to music, our kick-ass guitarist started taking accordion lessons at an early stage of her life, switching to guitar later, saying that if it wasn’t for the accordion lessons maybe she wouldn’t be playing guitar today. Due to her exceptional skills as a guitar player, her commitment to learning the instrument and her passion for Heavy Metal, Elizabeth has become a role model for many young women who want to play guitar and play extreme music.
In regards to her career in metal music, she first came into the scene when she was recruited to join Death Metal band Winterthrall in 2003 as their guitarist and also doing backing vocals, leaving the band two years later. It was in September 2005 that she finally joined The Iron Maidens, right after the departure of guitarist and co-founder Josephine Draven, becoming the female version of Adrian Smith named “Adrianne Smith”. Despite leaving the band one year later, in October 2006, Elizabeth rejoined them in June 2010 in a guest appearance as “Deena Murray”. There’s a full concert of The Iron Maidens with Elizabeth on the guitar on YouTube, recorded on August 25, 2006 at Vinnie’s Bar & Grill in Concord, California, which might not be a high-quality footage but at least you can have a pretty good idea of how awesome she sounds playing all the mighty classics from Iron Maiden.
It was in 2006 when Elizabeth formed the band Manslaughter together with drummer Mike Caffell, recording that same year the EP Through the Eyes of Insanity. Following a brief tour, our raven-haired bombshell and Mike renamed the band to Dreaming Dead, recording the albums Within One in 2009, Midnightmares in 2012, and Funeral Twilight (which will soon be reviewed here at The Headbanging Moose) now in 2017. In all three records she was responsible for vocals and guitar, but in Within One our daredevil musician also recorded bass guitar and wrote all lyrics, proving how talented she is and how destined she was to heavy music. If you want to have a good taste of the havoc Elizabeth and Dreaming Dead are capable of generating, you should take a good listen at potent compositions like Midnightmares (you can check the official video for it at the end of this essay), Overlordand Buried.
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There are several other bands and projects where we can find Elizabeth shredding her axe, most of them related to Death Metal with hints of other extreme (and even not-so-extreme) subgenres of heavy music. Since 2013 she has been part of American Death Metal/Grindcore band Cretin, blasting her vicious riffs and solos in songs such as It from their 2014 album Stranger, and since 2014 she’s also been the guitarist for American Death/Thrash/Groove Metal project Dia de los Muertos. In addition, you can also enjoy Elizabeth on lead guitar on the song My Secret Things, from the 2012 album Horny Beast by American Heavy Metal/Deathrock band Lover of Sin; her backing vocals on the Cacophony cover Burn the Ground, from the 2008 album Future Addict, by the Progressive Rock/Metal solo project led by renowned guitarist Marty Friedman; and on piano on the 2012 album Results, by American Death Metal/Grindcore band Murder Construct (a side-project of members from Exhumed and Cattle Decapitation). If playing the guitar, the piano and singing is not enough for you, how about her work as a photographer in the 2013 album The Dead Still Dead Remain (a completely re-recorded version of the 2000 full-length The Dead Shall Dead Remain featuring the return of Leon del Muerte), by American Death Metal band Impaled? That’s how skillful our badass Elizabeth is.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this short but humble tribute to the amazing Elizabeth is the list of her favorite guitar riffs published on Decibel Magazine in July 2012, where she commented on the most impactful and meaningful riffs in her life, the ones that helped shape up her style and enhanced her relationship with her instrument. In the article you’ll be able to see exactly which riffs from specific songs she loves the most, blending metal and non-metal acts on her list. Obviously, as this is a Heavy Metal webzine, we need to highlight the presence of unmatched classics like Megadeth’s Tornado of Souls (by the way, she said she’s crazy about all the riffs in this masterpiece), Emperor’s The Tongue Of Fire, Type O Negative’s Love You To Death, and my favorite of all by far, Iron Maiden’s all-time classic Aces High. However, you’ll also find other interesting riffs from non-metal acts on her list, such as Los Prisioneros’ Estrechez de Corazon (80’s Chilean alternative pop) and Soundgarden’s Jesus Christ Pose. Well, there’s of course one of her own riffs on the list, the one from the chorus of the song Overlord by Dreaming Dead, but that’s more than expected when the musician in question is extremely talented and her music kicks some serious ass.
“I like to think I live in a world where my gender has nothing to do with what I am capable of doing. You go onto YouTube and see 13-year old girls shredding out on metal songs.” – Elizabeth Schall
A lot better than anything this iconic band has released in the past 25 years, but still way below what they can truly offer to the world of Heavy and Thrash Metal.
Reviewing an album by American Thrash Metal icons Metallica is never an easy job. This is a band that has an enormous potential to deliver the most amazing metal you can think of, but due to several external and internal factors they keep launching below average albums since their highly acclaimed (but not as good as people say) Black Album back in 1991, and because of that the reviewer is always confused trying to find a good reason for not criticizing the album too much and for not comparing it to classics like Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning. Well, here we go again with Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, their tenth studio album (I can’t believe I’m counting the abominable St. Anger as an album) and another perfect example of how the band doesn’t seem to care anymore about crafting truly remarkable music.
Hardwired… to Self-Destruct is their first studio album in eight years following their 2008 release Death Magnetic (an album I personally cannot distinguish one song from another, but that at least can be considered Heavy Metal), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in the band’s career. Let me be very honest with you, I had some good expectations with this album even not being a huge fan of the band, and after they released the first single, the excellent “Hardwired”, I really thought they would be back to their amazing Thrash Metal mode from the 80’s. However, after listening to the entire album, I felt a little tricked by the band, with a frustrating feeling of “so you guys released your most aggressive song as a single, but the rest of the album is quite slow and boring, uh?” In other words, it might be by far their best and most cohesive album since 1991, but that doesn’t say much taking into account their most recent releases are all pretty tedious.
As already mentioned, in the heavy and fun Hardwired a nice, thrashy start flows into classic Metallica, not as visceral as their metal hymns from Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lightning but still pretty good and violent. Mr. James Hetfield sounds in pretty good shape with his trademark angry vocals, while Kirk Hammett fires some amazing riffs and solos inspired by old school Thrash Metal. This is the best song of the album by far, and unfortunately after that the album is just a sea of uninspired and generic metal, starting with the tasteless Atlas, Rise!, where a promising intro fades into an annoyingly repetitive rhythm. Despite some good moments and another decent performance by James on vocals, it’s way too lengthy for the lack of tempo changes and variations, in special the extremely basic and uninspired drums by Mr. Lars Ulrich. After two minutes, it sadly becomes that type of ambient or background music that you don’t really pay attention to, it’s just there. Not sure if it was on purpose or not, but the main riff in the following tune, Now That We’re Dead, sounds like an exact copy of the all-time classic “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” by Judas Priest, but obviously this is not going to become a classic like that, not in a million years. Once again, it’s extremely repetitive and unexciting, going on for grueling seven minutes.
We finally get the “old school Metallica” promised by the band for this album in Moth into Flame, which together with the opening track is the best thing they’ve done since the fast and furious song “Fuel”. I love the sound of both guitars and the thunderous bass by Rob Trujillo during the whole song, not to mention that even Lars has a pretty solid performance in this high-octane tune. In Dream No More, they tried to copy their own classic “Sad But True”, but what we get instead is just a boring imitation of it as if Avenged Sevenfold decided to go full Metallica like they almost did in Hail to the King. Furthermore, Lars makes me cringe with his amateur and disconnected drumming in this horrible song, which is also the case in Halo on Fire, undoubtedly one of the most wearisome of all songs. Why this atrocity has excruciating eight minutes is beyond my knowledge, with just a few good guitar lines being enjoyable while everything else seems to be leftovers from Load and Reload. Although James tried hard to add some electricity to it on vocals, there wasn’t actually much he could do about it.
Confusion brings forward a marching intro that had an enormous potential for becoming an amazingly heavy and dark hymn, and despite not reaching that level of awesomeness it’s still a pretty decent composition which would have been a lot more effective if slightly shorter. Then Metallica offer us the unstable ManUNkind (which official video is supposed to be a “tribute” to Norwegian Black Metal masters Mayhem), with an Iron Maiden-ish vibe in the beginning that suddenly turns into another average composition that doesn’t do good or bad for the album showcasing the same basic performance by Lars, sounding like a lazy jam session instead of a real song. Rob fires some powerful bass lines in the above average Here Comes Revenge, with the guitars by James and Kirk also providing some extra energy to it. Elements from Black Album mixed with Load and Reload are found everywhere in this song, and albeit this is not the best Metallica are capable of doing, at this point of their career I’m more than fine with it.
Am I Savage? might be another generic tune, but at least it’s fuckin’ heavy thanks again to the job done by Kirk and Rob with their strings, and despite never really taking off it’s still enjoyable if you’re a fan of darker compositions like I am; whereas their tribute to the one and only Lemmy Kilmister, entitled Murder One, might have “One” in its name and even hints of one of the band’s biggest classics here and there, but it falls flat with nothing really outstanding to offer the listener except for some potent punches by Rob with his bass. Last but not least, we’re treated to one final blast of real Metallica in Spit Out the Bone, a bit sloppy at times and again too lengthy, but at least it has the fury that helped put this band on the map of heavy music decades ago. James sounds so much better when he’s angry, and perhaps this is what the band needs to do to cover all the issues with Lars’ drumming by sticking to the most primeval form of Thrash Metal.
I’m pretty sure there will be many diehard fans of Metallica thanking the gods of heavy music for Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (you can watch the official videos for every song on their YouTube channel), but for me, after listening to the whole album a few good times with an open heart, nothing ever truly clicked; it’s still way below their potential to generate stunning heavy music. Of course it has its good moments, in special when they cut the crap, speed things up and play straightforward heavy music the way we all expect, but the absurdly inflated length of most songs and the complete inability of Lars to provide any hint of intricacy on drums (Metallica definitely need a REAL drummer; even German a capella metallers Van Canto have one) ended up dragging the overall quality of the album down considerably. In other words, you can have some fun listening to Hardwired… to Self-Destruct a few times, but just like everything else released by Metallica in the past 25 years, it will soon become just another lost item in your dusty collection of albums.
Best moments of the album: Hardwired, Moth into Flame and Spit Out the Bone.
Worst moments of the album:Atlas, Rise!, Dream No More, Halo on Fire and Murder One.
Released in 2016 Blackened Recordings
Track listing Disc 1 1. Hardwired 3:09
2. Atlas, Rise! 6:28
3. Now That We’re Dead 6:59
4. Moth into Flame 5:50
5. Dream No More 6:55
6. Halo on Fire 8:15
Disc 2 1. Confusion 6:43
2. ManUNkind 7:17
3. Here Comes Revenge 6:30
4. Am I Savage? 6:29
5. Murder One 5:45
6. Spit Out the Bone 7:09
Band members James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitars
Kirk Hammett – lead guitars
Robert Trujillo – bass
Lars Ulrich – drums
Mexican headbangers are famous worldwide for their deep and true passion for all things Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, being undeniably among the craziest and wildest ones when responding to their metal idols performing live in their beautiful country. So why not paying a tribute to those loyal metalheads from the land of the Aztecs and the Mayas with our Metal Chick of the Month? Obviously, the chosen one couldn’t be any random musician but a girl that truly knows how to make some good noise and intensify the beat of our hearts, the lovable Mexican drummer Yolanda Moreno Quintos, or as she prefers to be called in the world of heavy music, Yoli Moreno.
Hailing from Mexico City, or México, D.F. in her native language, the power behind the drums of Mexican all-female Heavy Metal band Mystica Girls is a woman of very few words who strongly believes in teamwork above all things. Not only that, we’re talking about another example of a metal musician who trespasses the boundaries of music, having a bachelor’s degree in Economy from ITAM – Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and who is also passionate about Orthography and Ecology. In other words, if you’re into girls who are far more than just a beautiful face, who are the whole package, the charming Yoli might be exactly what you are looking for.
Before joining Mystica Girls, Yoli was the drummer for a Mexican Death/Thrash Metal band called Inharmonious, with whom she recorded a demo consisting of four tracks in 2007 entitled Echoes of Rage. You can check a rare footage of Yoli with Inharmonious playing one of their demo tracks, Your Death, at the old school venue La Bodega del Metal, in Mexico City, as well as a pretty interesting cover for Sepultura’s all-time classic Refuse/Resist during the Festival Cultural Zacatecas in 2009. The quality of the videos is not perfect, but it’s enough to show you how Yoli and the other girls in the band can kick some serious ass together.
It was only in February 2012 when Yoli joined Mystica Girls, together with Chilean vocalist Mon Laferte, recording right after that in April 2012 the single The Conquest, including a promotional video for it, generating more than 30,000 plays in just one month and therefore increasing the band’s popularity in Mexico and in other parts of the world. That ended up leading to the re-recording of their 2011 album entitled MetalRose, now featuring Mon Laferte on vocals, in July 2012, and the release of a brand new EP named The Conquest one year later.
Then, in the beginning of 2014, Mystica Girls released a brand new full-length album entitled Gates of Hell, their first original full-length album with Yoli on drums. Gates of Hell had a very good reception from fans and critics, opening up lots of opportunities for the band in terms of tours and new projects, with the special event called SINFÓNICO.METALLICA., where the girls shared the stage with the OFIA – Orquesta Filarmónica de las Artes on June 6, 2015, being one of the highlights of their already reputable career. Check this nice video of Mystica Girls and the orchestra playing the classic Fuel on that night, paying attention to the performance by our beloved drummer, and you’ll see how good she is when holding her drumsticks.
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Getting back to when Yoli joined Mystica Girls, she mentioned during one of her interviews she was very nervous the day of her audition, even having already shared the stage with them during her years with Inharmonious in the underground scene. However, all that nervousness was not sufficient to outshine her skills, as a week after the audition she received a notification that she became then part of the group. In addition to that, although the music styles were considerably different between the two bands, with Mystica Girls playing a more straightforward Hard Rock/Heavy Metal while Inharmonious was a fast and furious Thrash/Death Metal band, she got truly happy and excited with this new challenge in her life as a musician. If you want to see Yoli live in action with Mystica Girls, my suggestions are some YouTube videos from a series called “Resistencia Modulada presenta”, especially the ones for the songs No More! and Tiny Blue Dot, and of course you can always check their official YouTube channel and their ReverbNation page, or Cinthya BlackCat’s YouTube channel.
Furthermore, despite being “una mujer de pocas palabras”, there’s a short but newsworthy interview with Yoli on YouTube done by Mexican news channel Siete24, where among other things she talks about Mystica Girls’ participation in the 2014 edition of the famous Mexican festival Hell & Heaven. The entire interview is in Spanish, as you can see, and if you do not understand it really well I can help you by summarizing the most relevant issues discussed. In regards to the festival, Yoli talks about the band’s excitement for playing in front of so many people, sharing the True Metal stage with renowned bands such as one of her favorite groups, American Death Metal icons Obituary, before linking that topic with the release at that time of their new album Gates of Hell, explaining that although it is not a concept album, there’s a special theme in it related to self-awareness and how you face your fears in life. And finally, she talks about her experience with Mystica Girls since joining the band in 2012, including the aforementioned immediate recording of the single The Conquest, how working with the band inspired her to grow musically speaking, and the recent boom of Mexican metal groups, many motivated by the music by Mystica Girls.
She might not be as skilled on drums as Quico from the brilliant TV show “El Chavo Del Ocho” (just kidding, of course), but in case you just fell in love for our talented Mexican drummer Yoli and want to take her home, let me tell you that’s something perfectly possible even if you do not believe so. All you have to do is visit the band’s official webstore, purchase their peculiar keychain Yoli Moreno model for 50 Mexican Pesos (around 4 Canadian Dollars) and voilà! There you have Yoli Moreno and her drums with you day and night 24/7 forever, isn’t that great?
If you’re crazy for Heavy Metal and the almighty Corinthians, come join the “bando de loucos” together with Mr. Jorge Diaz and his weekly metal show.
We have to admit we metalheads go completely crazy while listening to the thunderous sound of heavy music. Although each one of us has a different taste and style, there’s no way we can live a single day of our lives without the electricity emanating from either an old classic by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, or from the modern headbanging riffs from Disturbed and Slipknot, and it’s this strong passion for Heavy Metal that unites us all and keep us moving forward no matter what. Thus, if there’s one type of person that truly understands what I’m talking about, it has to be a real soccer fan. However, I’m not talking about fans of specific players, like many “supporters” of Barcelona or Real Madrid nowadays, but people that love their clubs or national squads more than anything, and if those people root for the Brazilian team Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, from the city of São Paulo, Brazil, or if you prefer Corinthians, Timão or Coringão, the first FIFA Club World Cup winner, it’s when things get even better.
With over 30 million passionate fans all over the world (known as the “bando de loucos”) and a beautiful history of over 100 years of glorious triumphs and a distinct connection to each one of their supporters, which translates into over 10 million fans on Facebook and 4 million followers on Twitter, it was time for Corinthians to provide their metalhead fans a special show where soccer and Heavy Metal are combined in a compelling way. That’s the awesome fusion you’re going to get every week while listening to TIMÃO METAL, broadcasted by the official Corinthians web radio station Rádio Coringão.
Rádio Coringão has been active in the promotion and coverage of several sports events organized in different corners of the world since 2009, focusing obviously on all professional soccer matches played by Corinthians throughout the year in different championships, with approximately 500,000 likes on Facebook and about 140,000 followers on Twitter, also providing their listeners a solid mix of Rock N’ Roll, Heavy Metal, Samba and several other rhythms during their weekly schedule. As this is a webzine dedicated to Heavy Metal, I’ll “ignore” the other programs that do not play metal music, but if you also like listening to different stuff I can assure you Rádio Coringão is an excellent choice for your daily playlist. For instance, their show called Noite Corinthiana, where only the best of Rock N’ Roll is played, is indeed fantastic.
Rádio Coringão – The Official Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Web Radio Station
The high-octane Timão Metal, presented live from “Fiel Chile” in Santiago, Chile every Tuesday at 10pm BRT – Brasília Time (which would be at this time of the year 8pm EST – Eastern Standard Time and 1am of the following day GMT – Greenwich Mean Time, but it always depends if the daylight saving times are on or off) by Jorge Patricio Diaz Guzman, or just Jorge Diaz, will offer you the cream of the headbanging elite from Hard Rock to Black Metal, while at the same time providing news and comments on what’s happening in the world of Corinthians. The show started back on October 10, 2012, and since last year it became live instead of pre-recorded, adding an extra layer of fun to it as you can now request a song in real time through the Twitter account from Rádio Coringão.
How about keeping up with the world of the almighty Corinthians and, at the same time, bang your head to powerful tunes such as Black Sabbath’s Children of the Sea, Unleash the Archers’ Test Your Metal, Satyricon’s Dark Medieval Times and Metallica’s One? And let me tell you the program grew to a point that there’s another show following the same format every Saturday at 5pm BRT – Brasília Time called Gavião Metal, broadcasted also live by Jorge Diaz from Santiago, Chile through Rádio Livre Gaviões. The only suggestion I would make to the show host would be to record both Timão Metal and Gavião Metal as podcasts (through online services like Spreaker, for example) and make them available online for fans who cannot connect when the shows are being broadcasted live, but as I said, this is just a minor detail.
Of course, as huge supporters of Corinthians, we at The Headbanging Moose could not miss the opportunity to build a promising partnership with Timão Metal, providing all fans of Heavy Metal that enjoy the show what’s new in the world of heavy music. In other words, while Jorge will keep taking care of firing some classic tunes to you, we will send him the best of the underground. For instance, this week’s show already featured three amazing compositions by indie bands from different parts of the world: Children of the Stars, by Canadian Heavy Metal act Phantom; Heart of Darkness, by Ukrainian Black Metal horde Morkesagn; and Degrees of Solitude, by the up-and-coming Belgian Ritualistic Black Metal band Cult of Erinyes. I’m sure everyone who was listening to Timão Metal got thrilled to the flaming sound of those bands, and I don’t need to say you can find all details about them on our reviews here at The Headbanging Moose. And guess what? This is going to happen every week, which means tons of excellent independent bands for you, impassioned supporters of our magnificent Coringão!
There are several different places where you can listen to Timão Metal as well as to the rest of the programming by Rádio Coringão, as for example:
3. And on smartphones with iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Bada, Blackberry and some Nokia models, you can download the TuneIn app and search for Rádio Coringão
After all is said and done, I believe you all know the steps you need to take every Tuesday at 10pm BRT – Brasília Time, right? Tune into Timão Metal at Rádio Coringão, enjoy the best of classic heavy music, discover the most promising new metal acts from all over the world, bang your head nonstop, raise your horns, and obviously… VAI CORINTHIANS!
A Saturday full of sun, Thrash Metal and Punk Rock at the biggest heavy music festival in Canada.
INTRODUCTION: The Island of Heavy Metal
Since its first edition in 2008, Heavy Montréal (formerly known as Heavy MTL), has become one of the largest heavy music festivals in the world, being compared to some huge traditional European summer festivals, with around 70,000 people attending every year. Not only that, after only two editions of Heavy T.O. in Toronto in 2011 and 2012, Heavy Montréal became the only mega Heavy Metal/Hard Rock festival in the entire country, elevating its importance even more for all Canadian headbangers.
In my opinion, one of the most outstanding characteristics of Heavy Montréal is the fact that the festival is held annually at the beautiful Parc Jean-Drapeau, which is located on Saint Helen’s Island in the middle of the romantic Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec. In other words, heavy music festivals happen all over the world in different sites, but only Heavy Montréal offers us the uniqueness of spending two days of our summer every year at a true “island of Heavy Metal”.
HEAVY MONTRÉAL: Where to Stay, How to Get There and Overall Organization
Booking a hotel in Montreal during the summer is not only painful, but also as pricey as hell: even the most disgusting pigsty downtown will cost you at least 100 Canadian dollars a night or more, if you’re lucky enough to find a room available. In case you’re not driving, there’s not much you can do but surrender to that “mafia”. However, if you go to Montreal by car there are many excellent hotels near the airport, which is just a 20-minute drive from the heart of the city. You can park your car at Complexe Desjardins for around 10 Canadian dollars a day, and then take the subway to Jean-Drapeau (yellow line) metro station starting either at Place-des-Arts (green line) or Place-d’Armes (orange line) metro stations, arriving at the festival main entrance in less than 15 minutes.
Another highlight of Heavy Montréal was its overall organization: the food trucks were amazing and the beer was ice cold (a bit costly, though), the Wi-Fi zone was relaxing and the internet service worked fine, the toilets were clean, there was plenty of water, good merchandise and some freebies, among many other cool stuff happening all over the island. Of course, the main “attractions” were the stages where lots of awesome heavy bands from different styles delivered unforgettable moments to their fans. We had Scène Heavy (Heavy Stage) and Scène Molson Canadian (Molson Canadian Stage) for the main bands, Scène De L’apocalypse (Apocalypse Stage) for midcarders, Scène De La Forêt (Forest Stage) for indie bands, and Scène Heavy Mania (Heavy Mania Stage) for some awesome wrestling action.
Unfortunately I had to miss some of the afternoon bands on Saturday such as Overkill, Apocalyptica and Babymetal as the drive from Toronto to Montreal is lengthy and boring, but I got there just in time for American Thrash Metal masters Anthrax. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say about Joey Belladonna, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello and Jonathan Donais: they kick fuckin’ ass no matter where they are and how much time they have to play. Their SETLIST was pretty much the same from the previous time I saw them, but you know what? It’s always a pleasure to listen to Thrash Metal classics like Madhouse and Antisocial mixed with some newer badass songs such as Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t. I just thought the crowd was not as excited as I was expecting, maybe because Saturday was a day for “softer” bands, but that didn’t stop Anthrax from delivering an awesome concert to everyone attending the festival that day. As Scott Ian said at the end of their performance, always remember to worship music!
Band members Joey Belladonna – lead vocals
Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Benante – drums, percussion
Frank Bello – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jonathan Donais – lead guitar
Right after Anthrax were done at the Molson Canadian Stage, it was time for American Punk Rock veterans The Offspring to hit the Heavy Stage at 7:15pm performing one of the most influential Punk Rock albums of all time in its entirety, the excellent Smash, plus some other classic songs to complete their SETLIST, to the delight of their old and new fans. They might not be a true metal band, but it’s impossible for any living person not to enjoy the hits Come Out and Play, What Happened to You?, Why Don’t You Get a Job? and The Kids Aren’t Alright. Moreover, the quality of their live performance is superb, just as if you were listening to the studio versions of all songs with an extra dose of energy added to them, especially in regards to frontman Dexter Holland, who doesn’t seem to get old with time. Quite the contrary, he seems to be in great shape and ready to rock for many years to come.
Band members Dexter Holland – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Noodles – lead guitar, backing vocals
Greg K. – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Parada – drums, percussion
It was 8:15pm when the lights went off at the Molson Canadian Stage and, after the intro The Ecstasy of Gold, the main attraction of the night, American Thrash Metal giants Metallica, delivered to their fans their “Metallica by Request” concert. Let me start by saying that I’m not the most recommended person to talk about Metallica. Although I like some of their old songs, I consider them an extremely overrated band, and pretty much 99.9% of everything they recorded in the past 20 years or so is pure garbage, especially the abominable album St. Anger. Well, as I was already there I decided to enjoy their performance as much as I could, which really happened with kick-ass songs such as Blackened, Battery and The Four Horsemen, by far the best moments of all, but besides those songs there was nothing else truly memorable from their SETLIST chosen by their “fans”. Not even Master of Puppets, One, Seek & Destroy or Fade to Black turned me on, mainly because their setlist is always that same old annoying “radio hit collection”.
They give the fans the unique chance to select some old school Thrash Metal anthems such as Whiplash, Metal Militia, Damage, Inc., Trapped Under Ice, Motorbreath, and many other songs they haven’t played in ages, and what do those so-called fans do? They vote for the repetitive sleep aids The Unforgiven, Sad But True, Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters (do they know anything besides the Black Album?), which sounded even worse when blended with their new dreadful song Lords of Summer, the unnecessary instrumental Orion (not a bad song, but an awful choice for live performances), and two absolutely disgusting guitar solos (if those “things” can be called solos) by Kirk Hammett. Even when people could choose The Four Horsemen, Fuel or Fight Fire with Fire for the “Vote of the Day” things went partially wrong, as we ended up without listening to the amazing Fight Fire with Fire.
I don’t know if the fans who voted actually attended the concert, because I saw lots of people yawning during the never-ending slow songs, especially during The Unforgiven, which was a true torture. You have to agree with me here: how can you consider a song boring if you voted for it to be part of the setlist, right? At least for me and for the real Metallica fans, this “Metallica by Request” thing was a huge failure, and that could be easily seen by the extremely low level of energy and excitement after the show was over, as people were just like “yep, let’s go home now”, no one was screaming the name of the band nor anything fun happened after that. Leastwise, let’s all remember some beautiful words from Monty Python and “always look on the bright side of life”: although some people mysteriously voted for some songs from St. Anger, none of that tuneless rubbish made it to the setlist. That made me really proud of living in Canada.
Band members James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Kirk Hammett – lead guitar, backing vocals
Robert Trujillo – bass guitar, backing vocals
Lars Ulrich – drums
This “Rock N’ Roll version” of Madame Tussauds is an excellent option for all headbangers visiting the Canadian side of the falls.
So you decided to visit Niagara Falls, either because you’re a tourist or to spend a weekend or a holiday there with your family. Not only that, you’re also a true metalhead. How about instead of the boring routine of seeing the falls/playing at the casino/eating at Boston Pizza/etc. you do something different and unique, something dedicated to your passion for Rock N’ Roll and Heavy Metal? If you like the idea, you’ll enjoy visiting the ROCK LEGENDS WAX MUSEUM at Niagara Falls, Ontario. Of course nothing there is going to be as perfect as the attractions you can see at the renowned Madame Tussauds, but this is the only place where you can see Angus Young, Geddy Lee, Slipknot or Metallica, which are way better options than garbage such as the cast from Twilight or Katy Perry.
Located at the top of Clifton Hill and Victoria Ave, the access to the museum is extremely easy, and just by passing in front of it you can already see some of their attractions: when I was there they had one of the guys from Slipknot on display, as well as Gene Simmons, Slash and Ozzy right at the entrance. However, you can only take pictures of those if you actually buy a ticket to the museum. If you choose to visit the museum, you’ll be able to see not only some Heavy Metal icons (located at the entertaining Heavy Metal Chamber), but also many important musicians from the early days of Rock N’ Roll like Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Freddie Mercury; more contemporary musicians like Kurt Cobain and Bono Vox; and even some Pop artists such as Madonna and Snoop Dogg (or however he’s called nowadays). All these attractions were sculpted by local Niagara Falls artist Pasquale Ramunno, who did a pretty good job in almost all cases in my opinion. One of my favorites, of course, is a giant Eddie based on the Killers album, but with some chains like the Eddie from the World Slavery Tour.
As soon as your tour through the museum is over, you’ll find yourself inside their store, called Rockworld. I was quite impressed with their huge selection of shirts, hats, belts, action figures and even some baby clothes for the future headbangers of Canada. The prices are not bad, and everything seemed to be made of good quality material. You can buy a new AC/DC or Pantera T-shirt to give you good luck for your time at the casino right after the visit to the museum, how about that? And as I’m talking about money now, don’t forget to print their online coupon to get a $1 discount per person for the museum admission. If you’re a group of 5 friends, for example, you’re saving the money of a beer.
There are some legends missing from the museum, of course: Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford are two examples (at least as far as I know), but their current collection of over 60 figures is pretty decent and, as I mentioned before, totally different from any other wax museum in the world. I doubt you’ll find an Eddie in any of the Madame Tussauds unless of course it’s Eddie Murphy, but that’s not what we’re looking for, right?
Opening hours Their website doesn’t say anything about the opening hours of the museum or the store, but I know it stays open until late on weekends and holidays, just as any other attraction in the city. You can give them a call anytime, just in case you’re planning to visit the museum.
After the successful releases of his 2016 debut self-titled album and the 2019 opus Outstrider, Bergen, Norway-based Black Metal riff-maestro Abbath Doom Occulta is ready to cement his place among the metal hierarchy with Dread Reaver, his third album with his eponymous project Abbath. Recorded at Dub Studio with additional recordings at Bergen Lydstudio, produced by Endre Kirkesola and Dag Erik Nygaard, mixed by Abbath himself and Endre Kirkesola, and mastered by Maor Appelbaum at Maor Appelbaum Mastering, Dread Reaver might not represent a revolution in Black Metal, but it’s indeed a vibrant and visceral album of extreme music by the aforementioned Abbath on vocals, guitars and bass together with Ole André Farstad on lead and acoustic guitars, Mia Wallace on bass, and Ukri Suvilehto on drums, offering the listener his signature blend of blistering Speed Metal, traditional metal influences, and of course a touch of ice cold Black Metal, the perfect recipe for total metal mayhem.
Abbath’s brand new effort can be appreciated in its entirety on YouTube and on Spotify, and of course if you consider yourself a true servant of Norwegian Black Metal you can purchase your favorite version of the album by clicking HERE, and also support Abbath and his horde by following the band on Facebook and on Instagram to stay up to date with their news, tour dates and so on. With Dread Reaver it feels like Abbath is reaching the desired shape and form of his music and style, and hopefully he’ll keep delivering high-quality Black Metal for admirers of the genre for many years to come now that he seems to be free from drugs and alcohol, focusing only on what really matters, which is crafting devilish music just the way we like it in the name of darkness.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 