On June 23 Metallica performed the song “Escape” (from the 1984 album Ride The Lightning) live for the very first time at the Orion + more festival where the band played the complete Ride The Lightning album on the first night.
Below is a nice pro-shot clip from where they play the song, a song wich is one of my favourite Metallica tracks.
… yes, that’s the opening line from Eric Singer in the new video commercial for the KISS book Monster, a huge photobook (70 cm * 100 cm) that will be released soon. I was pretty interested in the book up until i saw the price of it, first i thought it was a bad joke, the book wich will be limited to only 1000 copies and will come with a variation of flags to choose from on the front cover (Usa, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, England, Brazil, Russia and also a blank cover with no flag on it) will go on sale for $4299 (thats about 30,000 SEK) for a photobook!
Sure the book will be released in a total of only 1000 copies in total and each copy will be handsigned by the members of the band (Gene, Paul, Eric, Tommy) and yes it’s huge as hell… but still! It can never be worth the money, never! But on the bright side, it’s free shipping! Atleast that’s something, right?
As much of a KISS fan i am, and as no matter how cool it would look in my “vinyl room” the price is beyond ridiculous i think, wich is a shame because the book would be really nice to have. Hopefully they will release a smaller and more price-friendly version of the book in the future, one can only hope. Until then i will spend my money on the upcoming Monster album and the European tour next year.
If you are interesed in ordering yourself a copy, you can go to Kissmonsterbook.com
Amazon.co.uk have posted a short mp3 preview clip off the upcoming KISS single “Hell or hallelujah”, the single will be released on July 2 as a mp3 and flac download and is the first taste from the coming album Monster, you can listen to the preview here.
Edit: The full version of the single is now released, you can listen to it below!
Kirk Hammett is well known for collecting old horror movie stuff and today he announced the release date of his book Too Much Horror Business (yeah, a little nod to The Misfits song there) a book in wich he will show off his huge collection of memorbilia. Looks like a book well worth picking up. Here is the pressrelease from Metallicas official website:
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett announced today that he will publish his first book, Too Much Horror Business – The Kirk Hammett Collection, this October via Abrams Image. Documenting Kirk’s love of all things horror, and the legendary collection of horror memorabilia he has amassed over the years, TMHB is a stunning 228 page, hardback, large format coffee table book featuring well over 300 full color images from Kirk’s private collection and exclusive set photography by Mark Leialoha and Joe Gibbs. There will be three extensive conversations with writer Steffan Chirazi covering the importance of collecting in Hammett’s life from childhood, plus written captions by Kirk for many of the items displayed in the book.
“This is my gift to all the other horror nerds out there who are just like me,” says Kirk, “it’s been made with great love for all the many characters and movies which guided me through childhood, into adulthood and which still keep me on track today.”
Mares Of Thrace is a duo from Calgary who play some sort of Noise/Sludge/Doom Metal, atleast that is what it says in their bio, i don’t really know what to call their music so i go with that.
Just found out about this band through an interview in a Swedish metal-magazine and had to check em out since they sounded good on paper! I have checked a few songs on YouTube and really like what i hear.
Mares Of Thrace have been active since 2009 and have released two albums, the first one was self-financed and the second one, The Pilgrimage, wich was just released, is released on the label Sonic Unyon Metal. and have gotten good reviews throughout the metal press.
Here is my final Black Uniforms post, here are some memorbilia with the band, the Faces Of Death promo poster to promote the album i think it was also used as tourposter. The other poster is a really fun one, it’s Cliff doing a commercial about returning used batteries, other than that there is the interview cut-out from Maximum Rock N Roll, a A4 pressrelease for the Faces Of Death Lp some Demo covers and photos and also a handwritten letter from vocalist Fjalle.
Gothenburg, Sweden retro rockers Spiders have entered the studio to begin recordings of their debut album to be released on Crusher Records. No planned releasedate have been set yet.
Artist: Black Uniforms Title: Splatter Punx On Acid Label: Hardcore Holocaust Records
Here is a compilation of more of less all Black Uniforms recordings except for the Faces Of Death Lp (well, on the CD version of Splatter Punx On Acid the Faces Of Death album is included) it’s tracks from both their demos and various compilations, the only track wich is not included is a track wich was recorded back in 1990 called “Invocation (Let’s raise the dead)” wich was the last studio recording by the band and was never officially released, i have that track on a compilation tape wich Fjalle made for me several years ago. Too bad it was never included on this compilation.
The album comes with a 2-sided inlay with some lyrics and a biography of the band and also alot of really cool photos of the band. The vinyl was also released in several different colours, i don’t remember them all by now, but it was out on clear, grey marbled, black and a few others. I picked up the black vinyl version wich was the most limited one, only 100 copies pressed of that one.
Tracklist:
Side A: Vi fulla…, Do u conform, F.O.A.D, Never surrender, Fred k, The smell of death, Teenage waste, Suck my cock
Side B: Computer world, Sacrifice, The right to survive, Cannibal carnage, G-town, Rokk rolls
Artist: Black Uniforms Title: Faces Of Death Label: Hardcore Horror Records
With a mixture of teenage angst and splatter movie lyrics and fast hardcore music it’s hard not to love this band. Black Uniforms was formed back in 1981 and first broke up in 1983, the band didn’t leave much of an impact on the musicscene at that time, a poorly recorded demo and a handfull of gigs and it would take until about 1986 when the band got back together again this time with a change in the line-up. They recorded a couple of demos, one in 1986 and one in 1987 and by the end of 1988 the band wen’t into the studio once more to start recordings of what would become the Faces Of Death Lp.
The album was recorded at AXL Studios in Malmö, Sweden in only two days and was released by Gothenburg, Sweden label called Hardcore Horror Records in about 1000 copies. I really like the production of this album, i like how Fjalle’s vocals are mixed high so it stands out of the music, it add’s a more raw sound to it. The album also comes with an 2-sided A4 inlay with lyrics.
As i said, the lyrics are most about teenage angst and horror movies, specially the splatter movies wich was either banned or heavily cut here in Sweden at that time, and the track “Uncut” is just about the fact that they wanted to see their splattermovies uncut. There are also a hidden track on the end of the A-side wich is a medley of Moderat Likvidation songs.
Tracklist:
Side A: Sacrifice, City of the dead, Do u conform?, Teenage waste, Acid punk, Trapped
Side B: City of the dead 2, Uncut, Over n out, A good cop is…, Into the funhouse, Computer world
There have now surfaced some video recording of King Diamond’s comeback gig at Sweden Rock Festival this past Saturday. Looks and sounds awesome! I already have a CD recording of the full show, and now i hold my fingers crossed that someone filmed the whole show. Below you can see a couple of clips from the show. And this was the full setlist: The Candle / Welcome Home / Matt Drum Solo / Voodoo / At The Graves / Up From The Grave / Let It Be Done / Dreams / Sleepless Nights / Andy + Mike Solo / Shapes Of Black / Come To The Sabbath(Sweden Rock Festival only Guests: Hank Shermann + Michael Poulsen) / Eye Of The Witch / The Family Ghost / Halloween (Sweden Rock Festival only Guests: Michael Denner + Mikkey Dee) / Black Horsemen