Hell yeah! Just few minutes ago I received my own copy of Headbanger’s Newsletter! As I have mentioned already few times, Metal-Music-Videos.Com has been preparing for a new service, a weekly newsletter. The very first newsletter has now been sent and I received my own copy of it. Those who have subscribed to our newsletter, check your inbox now. Those who don’t know what I am talking about, please read more in our Giveaways page and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. After that you will receive a quality newsletter from us, once a week.
In this first newsletter we provide a compilation of the best articles written recently in Metal-Music-Videos.Com. Later on we will provide more quality, but right now we need to learn more about our newsletter service, MyNewsletterBuilder.Com. Please, be patient with our first few newsletters. Notice that all newsletter subscribers automatically join our monthly free give-away contests, so as a subscriber you have the possibility to win valuable metal stuff. In this month we are sending out a Bullet For My Valentine value pack. Read more about the value pack in our giveaways page.
Setting up our newsletter has been a bit painful, but now it feels already better. I am glad that I can provide you our brand new newsletter. I hope you enjoy it and will enjoy also our future newsletters. After one week you will receive a new newsletter. In that newsletter we will tell who is the winner of our first giveaway contest!
Some time ago I reported that Norther was going to release a new album. The new album “N” is out now. Norther’s singer-guitarist Petri Lindroos was interviewed by Finnish music magazine Sue. This post is a short outline of that interview. The whole interview can be read in Sue in issue 115.
Norther band was formed back in 1996 and since 2002 Norther has released several albums. Norther has become better known, but it that not happened in one night. Year after year Norther has reached new fans and got more attention. Anyhow, Norther is still an underground band.
Petri Lindroos, the singer-guitarist of Norther sings in another band as well. Lindroos joined Ensiferum in 2004 and now tours with two bands at the same time. Singing in two metal bands is a full time job for Petri Lindroos, and therefore Lindroos has not had a “ordinary job” for long time.
In the early days of Norther people claimed that Norther copies Children of Bodom. Soon Norther discovered own sound, and nowadays Norther sounds quite much different from the early days. Years ago Norther used to play covers, such as Europe’s Final Countdown, but today the band plays only their own songs. “May be one day we’ll play covers again”, says Petri Lindroos in Sue’s interview.
When making their album “N”, Norther got help from Fredrik Nordstrom, the man who has worked with Arch Enemy and In Flames as well. Sounds in the new album are much stronger and in the old albums. Norther had lots of difficulties during the making of “N”, but after +20 additional days the new album was ready. The new album was released in Finnish Metal Expo a while ago.
I have been waiting for the new album of Norther. The band is one of my favorite melodic death metal bands and I have listened to Norther for few years now. I am really looking forward to buy their album “N”. On next week I’ll get it in my hands. Oh yeah!
Few days ago I posted a review of Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey. Today I watched a bit different DVD, a live concert of Deep Purple from 1974. This is a quick review of Deep Purple - Live in California 1974 DVD.
Oh boy, it was fantastic to watch Ritchie Blackmore and David Coverdale on stage in the same year I was born! Actually, I wasn’t even born yet because this concert was in summer and I was born in autumn. It is cool to think that these guys were already very famous before I was born. I just wonder if my father used to listen to Deep Purple on those days ?
Deep Purple: Live in California 1974 DVD provides an interesting view to the early days of one of the best known rock bands. Deep Purple: Live in California 1974 DVD opens the door to the world of 70’s rock music and culture. When compared to today’s death and black metal bands, Deep Purple and the life in 1970’s look so innocent and harmless. I wish I could travel back to 70’s and experience the feeling in those days.
Deep Purple: Live in California 1974 DVD contains 1.5 hours of live Deep Purple concert in California, as well as DVD history, bonus tracks, links, picture gallery, archive preview and a super 8mm film. Deep Purple: Live in California 1974 DVD is a great package of information for Deep Purple fans. Deep Purple: Live in California 1974 DVD contains many classic songs, such as Burn, Might Just Take Your Life, Mistreated, Smoke On the Water, You Fool No One and Space Truckin’. In this awesome DVD Deep Purple plays in front of 200,000 people.
If you are interested in Deep Purple, I strongly recommend checking this DVD.
Yeah, you know it. Sex sells always, at least when the product is aimed for men. Just think about it. How many times a week you see car, motorcycle, fragrance or sport equipment advertisements that include sexy women? Pretty often, eh? Now think about music. In metal music you see the ugliest men in the world. You really have to be interested in music if you listen to Manowar, Rhapsody of Fire or Amon Amarth, as examples. Unless you are not gay, you are more interested in music than the artists.
Now check the hard rock band Die So Fluid, and especially their singer Grog. Die So Fluid is a pretty good band, but not spectacular from my point of view. Without their sexy looking singer Grog Die So Fluid would probably stay as an underground band forever. Because of the sexy singer of Die So Fluid, they have all the possibilities of becoming one of the top bands.
Another example of a sexy singer is Simone Simons from Epica. I like Epica and their operatic music, but what makes them a bit more interesting compared to other bands in the genre, is their singer Simone Simons. A very beautiful singer gets more attention, and attention means more sold records.
Third example is Lullacry and their female singer. Lullacry makes pretty good music, but is still an underground band. By having an attractive female singer they have better possibilities selling more records than with by having a regular looking dude as a singer.
Why sex sells? For what all this is based on? We are living the times of “attention economy“, which means that by creating attention people can make money, and money is needed for bands and companies to survive. By creating attention companies can reach their customers and sell their products. By creating attention bands can reach new fans, become popular and sell more records. For some reason sex is a great tactic to create attention. Don’t ask me what makes sex so big weapon. I have no idea, but we all can easily see that by putting a sexy lady leading a band creates more attention.
Ok, if sex sells, why doesn’t every band have a sexy singer? In order to create attention, your band needs to have something unique or at least different from the market. If you have sexy singer wearing leather, you might get the market attention. If all the singers are sexy and wear leather, it would not work. Anyhow, if a number of bands have sexy singers who differ a little from each other; it works at least for some of the bands. Anyhow, there are other ways to make differences and gain attention. For example, My Chemical Romance was the first band in their genre wearing black. That was a simple tactic but worked well with their music. Twisted Sister used hard ore make-ups and definitely got the market attention.
If you have a band and you desperately want success, analyze your market, your music genre, and find out which tactics other bands are using in order to gain attention. Then figure out something unique for yourself and start promoting that unique thing. It is not that straightforward of course, but in principle it works like that. Music industry is much similar to other industries, and sex sells in other industries as well.
Many readers probably have already seen the DVD Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey, but for me this was the first time. I have seen clips of it in YouTube and I enjoyed it enough to buy it. I just watched it decided to write a review.
I have been a metalhead since I was about 10-11 years old. I was born in northern Finland, in the middle of nowhere. I was a troubled kid growing up in a troubled family. I had lots of bad experiences in my childhood, and for some reason I received much positive feelings from music. Back in the early 80’s I discovered metal music and I fell in love with it. I listened to Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath and few other bands more than 10 hours a day.
At the same time Sam Dunn grew up in Victoria in BC. Sam Dunn was a fellow metalhead kid, listening to the same bands as I did. We grew up far from each other, but we had one common thing, the strong passion to metal music.
Sam Dunn is an anthropologist and a true headbanger. He has filmed and produced probably the best metal music document ever, called Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey. As a researcher Sam Dunn wanted to study metal music and understand its history, roots, and its sociologic impacts. In his metal music document, Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey, Sam Dunn travels across the world to meet big names of various metal music genres, such as Ronnie James Dio, Dee Snider, Tony Iommi, Alice Cooper, Vince Neil, Bruce Dickinson and Lemmy Kilmister.
In his document Sam Dunn provides a very interesting view to metal music. The document is based on his studies and not just feelings. Sam Dunn provides findings with which metalhead can make their own conclusions. It is interesting to see the “big picture” of metal music by watching the Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey. It is also very interesting to hear the statements of the singers and guitar players I have admired since the early 80’s.
Sam Dunn’s document Metal starts by discussing about the history of metal music, and then continues by discussing about metal music and its relations to society, religions, fans, etc. The document provides interesting details of metal music and bands. For example, do you know what made the music of Black Sabbath so interesting for many people? It is the tritonic sound, which has also been called the “devil’s sound”. The tritonic sound was banned in the medieval times and it has a kind of a mysterious reputation. Anyhow, the tritonic sound is interesting and attractive.
Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey is a great document of metal music. It is genuine and real. It is from metalhead to metalhead. For metalheads it gives an interesting view to the big picture of metal music, and for non-metalheads it gives a perfect introduction to the world of metal music. Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey provides lots of interviews of fans and well-known metal bands, as well as lots of interesting details.
I give 4.5/5 stars for Metal - A Headbanger’s Journey. If you ask why I gave 4.5 and not 5, the reason is that this was not enough for me. I want more! I want to hear more! Sam Dunn, please film the second part or extension of this document!
I just received the latest issue of Soundi, a Finnish music magazine. This time Soundi was quite boring, but two articles got my attention. First one was an interview of Meshuggah, about which I will write later, and the second one was about Kiuas. I have heard about this band already a year ago, but I remember thinking like “it has to be one of those boring newcomers. Not interested..”.
I was WRONG. Kiuas rocks. I was amazed how great they sound and how awesome guitar riffs they have. I really got interested in Kiuas and I will buy their two albums on next week. It has been helluva busy week, so I need to wait few more days until I get these interesting albums in my hands. Before that, let’s talk about Kiuas, the great newcomer in Finnish metal music scene.
Kiuas, which means “stove”, is going to release their third album in the beginning of March. Finnish music magazine Soundi has interviewed Mikko Salovaara, the primus motor of Kiuas. Although it has been busy times with the band while preparing for the release of the new album, Kiuas decided to play in Bloodstock festival in England. After that Mr. Salovaara enjoyed his vacation in Syria and Arab Emirates. “I haven’t come across with heavy metal in Syria, but it seems that local play much music“, says Salovaara. “Anyhow, in Arab Emirates heavy metal is as popular as in other countries. They even have their own heavy rock festival, Dubai Desert Rock“, continues Salovaara.
If you travel in Arabian countries, you definitely notice how religious those cultures are. Kiuas takes inspirations from ancient religious thoughts. With their third album Kiuas is more goal-oriented than before. “The album must be heavy enough, melodic and straightforward“, says Salovaara. The music of Kiuas has been described with word “crossover”, which refers to the diverse nature of the music of Kiuas.
Kiuas has developed as a band. Today the structures of their songs have become simpler and they contain more basic riffs. With the new album Kiuas wants to get rid off the “power metal stamp” they sometimes have had, but they still want to keep their melodic side. The New Dark Age album has three themes, namely the deteriorating life in western countries, religions and the dark moments of people’s lives.
I am looking forward to The New Dark Age album from Kiuas. I believe it is going to be awesome!
Few days ago I received the Monsters of Metal vol. 4 double DVD package. Monsters of Metal vol 4 DVD is already from 2005, but it still rocks. As I got the DVD package, my first thought was “oh, yet another Iron Maiden DVD”. This was because of the DVD covers that looked like Iron Maiden album covers. Soon I realized this is not Iron Maiden DVD, but a compilation of the music from many good metal bands.
Monsters of Metal Vol 4 includes two DVD’s full of great metal videos. In the root menu of the DVD you can select individual metal videos, play the whole DVD or play the music without videos. Monsters of Metal Vol 4 DVD includes also a little booklet in which each band is shortly presented in German and in English.
Monsters of Metal Vol 4 double DVD package includes music of different metal genres, such as black metal, death metal and power metal. It starts with Hammerfall’s great track Blood Bound. Next the DVD provides Revolution from Judas Priest and Execration Text from Nile. The first DVD continues with Candlemass, In Flames, Meshuggah, Soilwork and other great metal bands. Personally I really enjoy Hammerfall, In Flames, Meshuggah, Soilwork, Anthrax and The Haunted.
The second DVD of Monsters of Metal Vol 4 starts with two boring bands, Gotthard and Subway To Sally. In the third track we can hear Apocalyptica, after which comes Within Temptation and Accept. I really get some kicks when watching Accept’s Balls to the Wall. Man, those guys looked funny in the 80’s! Ghost Love Score live by Nightwish was also pretty good. It reminds me how talented and unique Tarja Turunen was compared to the new singer of Nightwish. In this second DVD another great track is Annihilator’s All For You which wakes up one of the greatest trash metal pioneers.
Monsters of Metal Vol 4 DVD is a pretty good package of metal videos. It covers many genres and provides the top bands of those genres. I am quite satisfied with the bands in this DVD, even though dropping those nu-metal bands out of the DVD would have probably been a good idea. Bands like Agnostic Front, Bleed the Sky and M.O.D. are just waste of time for many death and black metal fans. Certainly some people enjoy those bands as well, but my personal opinion is that this DVD package would be better if it did focus only in heavy, black, death and power metal.
As said earlier, Monsters of Metal 4 is a pretty good package of metal music, but not perfect. The whole package contains 66 metal videos. I have a feeling that the producer of this DVD has tried to cover very many metal genres in order to reach higher number of customers. If I was the producer, I would have focused more in death, black, heavy and power metal.
One of my all-time favorite bands, Amorphis, has sold gold in Finland. Amorphis received the gold discs for their Eclipse and Silent Waters albums in Finnish Metal Expo in February 2008. Amorphis is one of the pioneers of Finnish metal music. The band was formed by guitarist Esa Holopainen and drummer Jan Rechberger in 1990. Amorphis became known in 1996 when they released their classic album Elegy. During the time Amorphis has moved from straightforward death metal to death metal and progressive metal. Amorphis are well known for their use of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, as a source for their lyrics.
As shown in the video below, Amorphis were awarded in the Finnish Metal Expo in last weekend. In the video they speak Finnish, so most of our readers it is hard to understand
Here’s a quick translation:
Annoying Dude on right side: “Esa, please say few words for this audience while I pick up the gold discs.”
Esa Holopainen: “Thanks dudes! This is not a big thing for music industry, but for us this is a significant accomplishment.”
Lady on left side: “Santeri, please tell us what’s coming up with Amorphis this year.”
Santeri Kallio: “Well, we have booked few gigs to Finland and we are waiting for the summer festivals.”
Lady on left side: “Can you open any secrects or are there any secrets?”
Santeri Kallio: “No, not much secrets. We are going to enjoy sauna at least.”
Annoying Dude comes back: “Let’s start giving these gold discs for selling Eclipse and Silent Waters 15.000 copies in Finland. Here’s for Niklas.. and here’s for Koivusaari.. and next Santeri.. and here’s for Holopainen and the drummer. Ladies and gentlemen, gold level has been reached!”
Those who understand Finnish notice that this is not a direct translation. Translating Finnish and especially Helsinki area slang into English is not that easy, so I rather translate it so that readers can really understand what happens in the video.
Oh, and the annoying dude is just one annoying dude in Finnish media and a groupie in metal music scene. You probably figured it out that I don’t give him much respect.
Children of Bodom has released a new music video, called Blooddrunk. Children of Bodom’s new music video was filmed few weeks ago in eastern Germany. In this new video Children of Bodom continues their traditional style as in In Your Face and Are You Dead Yet. In the video Children of Bodom plays in front of a camera. This same style is used by Amon Amarth and Arch Enemy as well.
Children of Bodom’s Blooddrunk sounds good old C.O.B. It starts with a very nice keyboard riff after which strong, traditional C.O.B. guitar riffs start. Alexi’s voice sounds like always, pretty good but not fabulous. In the video weird dudes hand around in the countryside of eastern Germany. Oh man, it looks like nobody has lived there since the World War II..
Children of Bodom’s Blooddrunk sounds pretty good. It is a nice trash metal piece with good guitars and an interesting keyboard riff. Anyhow, it doesn’t beat the earlier material of Children of Bodom. It looks like Children of Bodom guys have become older and cannot reach the level of Hatebreeder album. Where’s the anger, hate and furious attitude? Oh yes, it is all in this new album, but Blooddrunk just does not sounds as awesome as In Your Face, Trashed Lost and Strungout, or Silent Nights Bodom Nights. In the good old days I used to listen to Children of Bodom 3-4 hours a day. Blooddrunk is pretty good, but it does not impress me enough to really bang my head. For some reason I soon find myself listening to Trivium and Lamb of God.
Children of Bodom is one of my favorite trash metal bands and I wish I could promote their new album with greater passion. No, Blooddrunk just doesn’t set me into flames. Well, hopefully Children of Bodom has already created awesome music that I can listen to whenever I want. One of my all-time favorites is their track Childred of Bodom.
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It took me a while to figure out how to set up a weekly email newsletter. I almost lost my patience few times.. Anyhow, now it is done and we can proudly present our newest cool things, the weekly newsletter and monthly free give-aways! We are now going to send out weekly newsletters to all those who subscribe to our email newsletter. The newsletter will contain links to the latest posts in Metal-Music-Videos.Com, news from the world of metal music, a featured metal article and a various reviews.
Why our newsletter is so great? It provides you valuable information on metal music and articles you cannot read even in this blog. The weekly newsletter is a special service to our loyal readers. You receive the free newsletter to your inbox every Thursday or Friday, depending on your timezone. An additional great thing is that all those who subscribe to our weekly newsletter have a chance to receive our monthly free give-aways. We give out valuable metal music related stuff every month, and if you are a newsletter subscriber, you might be the lucky one and receive the package. The lottery is held in the end of each month and it is filmed and published in the blog The winner will receive the value-pack of the month directly to home.
In February 2008 we will give away a fabulous Bullet For My Valentine value package! One lucky email newsletter subscriber will receive Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire ($13.99), Bullet For My Valentine (Group) Music Poster Print 24″ X 36″ ($4.99), Bullet For My Valentine - Heart Skull - Black T-shirt ($16.99). Read more about the monthly give-aways in our Giveaways page. Notice that if you do not win this month, you might be the lucky one in the next month or later? Oh, and the great thing is that if you do win in this month, you will have all the same chances to win also in the next month and later months! There is only one rule: every email newsletter subscriber has equal chances to win the value package every month!
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Ok, I know. This blog is about metal music, but let’s call this post as an off-topic post. Bloggers tend to write off-topic posts every now and then, so I am doing it right now.
If you are one of us, the children of the 80’s, you probably remember bands like Helloween. Hard rock music was popular in those days, and now it looks like a new hard rock wave is coming. Finnish band Leverage is coming in that wave. They play 80’s hard rock music with today’s style, and their music really sounds like in the 80’s; positive and optimistic.
Leverage has released two albums, namely Tides (2006) and Blind Fire (2008). Tides is a very well made record wit high quality sounds. Songs are full of beautiful melodies and the quality of the sounds if just superb. Songs like Superstition and Fifteen Years are very good examples of what can be expected from Tides album. Even though there are good songs in the Tides album, some songs are a bit boring. Anyhow, Leverage provides mostly music you want to hear more than once.
The second album of Leverage, which has recently been released, is called Blind Fire. The new album is more heavy, but also more emotional. Music sounds stronger than in Tides, but can still be categorized as melodic hard rock. Leverage is an interesting band whose members are very skillful. Check the video below and tell us what you think about Leverage.
Leverage is located in Jyvaskyla in Finland. They sing in English and their current record company is Frontier Records. Leverage line-up is Pekka Heino - Vocals Tuomas Heikkinen - Guitar Torsti Spoof - Guitar Marko Niskala - Keyboards Pekka Lampinen - Bass Valtteri Revonkorpi - Drums
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