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Admit it, if you're a metalhead, you love letting people know your eclectic taste. We're all individuals, just like the other herds of black-clothed people, so let's make a racket and piss off some "normal" people.
Here are five songs that will blast through your speakers and rip you a new set of ear holes.
In My Kingdom Cold by Immortal
The Sons of Northern Darkness album was a little gem for this camp black metal band. It's easily the most accessible and popular album this band has to date. I love this song because it's hypnotic and headbang worthy. In My Kingdom Cold was meant to be screamed from a wound down car window.
Suicide Nation by At The Gates
Did you know the gun loading at the start of this song was sampled from Resevoir Dogs? That's just how At The Gates roll. Taken from their revised Slaughter of the Soul album, this is a work of ATG genius. Yummy riffs halfway, as always required for a catchy song.
Hate Song by the Haunted
This sends a shiver down my back. First song on their first album, listening to the Haunted
giving their middle finger to the world was life changing. This will send a clear message to your fellow drivers in peak traffic. Lyrics include:
"Hate song!
I live to bury you
There's no need to explain
you know who you are.
I deliver the pain
I'm the baddest by far...
Die one hundred thousand times,
One million ways to...Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! etc."
Live for this by Hatebreed
Ok, so this is really pop by metal standards, but I don't care. Whether most metal people care to admit it, they all like a poppy band, whether it be Slipknot or Hatebreed.
This is a quick pick-me-up when you're surrounded by annoying cars placing trance/Britney Spears/hip hop at the traffic lights.
Sends a clear message: My music is louder than yours, and I'm a hard ass. Now turn that shit down.
Fucking hostile by Pantera
This song oozes arrogance, and that's why we love it. Dimebag's guitar solo towards the end will make you cry tears of joy. Vulgar Display of Power was possibly Pantera's best album, it's like drinking concentrated cordial - instant energy rush followed by slight headache. These guys shred guitar so hardcore your face will be grated onto the windshield by the end.
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Bands have been using the internet to their advantage for quite some time when it comes to releases, merch and gig declarations but this is the first time I've seen a band use a widget in such a unique way.
Moonspell, a Portuguese goth metal band, have made a widget to promote the release of their
new album Night Eternal. It's bloody genius. You can listen to the full album, view a "Making of" and read stuff that the band has updated. It's ever so Gothy. MySpace users, eat your heart out.
Visit here to get the embedded code or have a look at it.
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In a genre often dubbed as a "sausage-fest", female singers are busting balls with their vocal skills.
“YOU wanna see carnage? Come to a show. I deliver.” Michele Madden, the singer of Tourettes, is the epitome of hard-ass. Before she learnt to take her frustrations to the gym, Madden broke fellow band mate Ashley Manning’s arm when words flew about Ozzy Osbourne.
Most people mistake Madden for a man when she’s performing and that’s the way she wants it. “I like the fact that I am raw up there, people listen to the music first. The shape I am in makes them think.” Madden describes her lyric writing as her “brain vomiting onto paper”. She clearly takes pride in her anger, controlling and crystallising it for “that one perfect moment on stage”.
Madden’s arrogant, self-assured and wants world domination. And she’s not alone. Women have always had an edgy side in music but it’s only recently their heavy metal screams are gaining in popularity.
“I’ve been singing my own soundtrack forever but I’ve had no formal training. I’ve developed my sound over the seven years I’ve been doing this” she said. When asked to impart wisdom on technique she replied “Give it a go if you feel it falls within your range, work on it and take it from there.”
Going against the grain of the metal world is Alison Cunningham, a clean vocalist for Sydney-based band Anjeliina. Cunningham didn’t listen to any female-fronted bands before she joined her latest venture. “If the music is heavy, I want the fucking voice to be heavy as well. They all sing operatic and a lot of people like it, but I think you’re ruining it.
“I really don’t like this pretty face singing “la la”, this little angelic thing they add to the band as a fixed thing. I prefer Angela from Arch Enemy. Give me fucking power and aggression any day.”
Cunningham has had a formal vocal background. Like her idol, Tori Amos, she drifted from the traditional way of singing to a road less travelled. “It’s kind of ironic that there isn’t a band with all clean vocals that I like, so I’m making one.
“When I say we’re a female fronted metal band, people say ‘Oh, you’re like Evanescence’ and I reply ‘Except they’re not metal at all’. We have no one to compare ourselves to.”
But if Cunningham wants to be heavy, why only clean vocals? Every professional she has asked for advice said long-term screaming would permanently damage vocal chords and she doesn’t want to prove them right.
“There’s definitely safer ways to growl, but whoever says it’s not doing damage is lying.”
This is where Melissa Cross begs to differ. Cross is a voice teacher specialising in heavy metal. During her 19 years experience she’s trained Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy and oddly enough, the demure Ben Lee.
Melissa Cross and Randy Blythe from Lamb of God
According to Cross, every day voice work can wear and tear your vocal chords to the point where a doctor would consider as damage. She uses the analogy of Tiger Wood’s wrists: they wouldn’t be 100 per cent healthy to a doctor specialising in muscle wear but in his profession, slight physical setbacks are expected.
The petite red-head claims you can only do damage to your vocal chords if your technique is wrong.
“However, it’s never too late to learn. Even if you’ve messed yourself up, you can make what you have work very well with help.
“If you say you can’t do a certain style, you can’t. The voice is very personal.”
Based in New York City, Cross emphasises that women can scream as good as, if not better, than men. If you have an alto or lower vocal range, screaming and growling is your piece of cake, regardless of sans Adam’s apple. “It’s all about learning the proper coordination. Using proper breath pressure avoids the over-slamming of the cords in
your larynx.”
However, she admits that some singers can’t swing both ways, “There are certain kinds of wear that are not appropriate for classical performance. You need to maintain traditional vocal practice to preserve the purity of your range.”
Alison Cunningham is adamant that if she has to choose between doing the “growling” and eventually loosing high notes, there is no compromise.
Madden doesn’t care if her voice becomes hoarse. It would add character.
Emotions embodied in metal music are not typically considered feminine, stated Cross, but because of the spotlight on metal, more women are getting involved and aren’t afraid of showing aggression.
Like anything, more awareness means more acceptance.
Gender is a moot point to Madden, “I wouldn’t bleat on about wanting equality as I have seen so many do before me, only to hold up the chick card when shit was not to their liking or got to hard. Boo hoo honey, go to the bar and order a whine-e-kin. D.H. Lawrence once said ‘Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts’. Mine tell me to do what I am doing. You like what we do? Good. You don’t? I don’t care. I like what I do.”
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It’s a packed train carriage and I squeeze myself next to this heavy-set Goth guy.
This guy has gone all out today and it’s only 10 a.m. He’s wearing a black pin strip suit, leather wristbands and chunky silver bracelets. Goth guy has his hair bleached orange (It’s in between peroxide white and sunburnt Lohan colour) and it’s gelled into the best Mohawk I’ve seen in a while
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Woot! You're probably so excited you missed the innuendo in the title. I don't blame you, I'm pretty stoked as well.
I think seeing DEP live would be like having brain surgery while still conscious, in a dirty good way. And two days after my birthday, what more could one ask for? A pogo stick
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I'm only 21-years-old. Metal is one of the genres I listen to, I also dance to Clare Bowditch and Bjork. I thought that would offset the ringing in my ears after a good Slayer blasting. Apparently not.
I've met tens of people more passionate about metal, making it their lives, gigging, eating and shitting the genre, and I get landed with the wrecked ear drums. It's something to brag about only amongst other metal fans, often it's a point of sadness. Could be worse. I could be one Lindsay Lohan
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This might be a bit old, but it's so bizarre it's worth a post. Former 3 Inches of Blood drummer, Alexei Rodriguez, was fired from the band because he got into a pub brawl with Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler.
Rodriguez broke his elbow. Gone are the days of a quick bashing over a beer
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Death metal band, Cradle of Filth, has merchandise that are proving to be more popular than their music.
The images used on their shirts are voluptuous half naked, bloodied women writhing in ecstasy with demonic eyes and protruding horns. Slogans such as “Dead Girls Don’t Say No” gives the band free media spotlight. Controversy sells
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Everyone I know have been models at one stage. Either I’m Derek Zoolander, surrounded by beautiful people, or we’re all being duped into thinking we’re more special than we really are.
My neighbour, Pam, in her sixties, recently got a “free photo shoot” with her husband, Richard. All they had to pay was $300 for printing purposes. She assured me that it was half price and worth every cent
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September 26th 2007 03:35
Tori Amos is a self-proclaimed M.I.L.F (Mother I'd Like to Fuck) and when she came out in a brown wig and straddled the piano chair, there was an uproar in the Opera House. The claim proved legit.
This was the lady who famously said the only thing she has in common with Bjork and P.J. Harvey is they all have three holes. You never knew if you were gonna get easily dismissed or spat in the eye by Tori Amos. It's why her fans love her so immensely
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In My Kingdom Cold by Immortal
Did you know the gun loading at the start of this song was sampled from Resevoir Dogs? That's just how At The Gates roll. Taken from their revised Slaughter of the Soul album, this is a work of ATG genius. Yummy riffs halfway, as always required for a catchy song.
giving their middle finger to the world was life changing. This will send a clear message to your fellow drivers in peak traffic. Lyrics include:
Ok, so this is really pop by metal standards, but I don't care. Whether most metal people care to admit it, they all like a poppy band, whether it be Slipknot or Hatebreed.
This song oozes arrogance, and that's why we love it. Dimebag's guitar solo towards the end will make you cry tears of joy. Vulgar Display of Power was possibly Pantera's best album, it's like drinking concentrated cordial - instant energy rush followed by slight headache. These guys shred guitar so hardcore your face will be grated onto the windshield by the end.
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Comment by Tash Jayasinghe
on Lars Ulrich condones smoking
Death To Your Speakers
The point of the post, and the accompanying relatively easy to find pictures, was that Madonna and Britney Spears wasn't really being contriversal. Same sex kissing had already been done - by metal blokes.
This is more sensational than two pin-up girls making out because you don't see it as often. Two straight guys kissing are thoroughly frowned upon, whereas a couple of straight girls kissing is cheered and encouraged. The post is a celebration of Metallica breaking the boundarys before anyone else. Did I mention that they're butch metal blokes?