I had a listen to Caninus, who have 2 dogs as their singer. As you suggest though, they're not pedigree. Out of THIRTY I'd probably give them caNINE.

My shock discovery of the day is Japan has a really healthy metal scene.

Six Japanese metal bands (though the URL says five, guess they added one).

And another half dozen. Although the URL again specifies five, so, er yeah.

I may have to make August "Japanese Metal Month" on my show.

Got back from Wacken yesterday...what a brilliant experience!

The whole festival is really well organised and the music is nearly constant thanks to having two main stages next to each other. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes between bands!

Special mentions to Hammerfall, Steel Panther, Saxon, Accept, Skid Row, 5 Finger Death Punch, Hell, Excrementory Grindfuckers, Apocalyptica, Motorhead, Emperor, Megadeth, Van Canto and Avantasia!!!!

Blue Swirl wrote:

Aaroncupboard wrote:

Excrementory Grindfuckers

I'm going to look these guys up based on the name alone.

That was the only reason we went to see them! They drew quite a large crowd, I would imagine of people going who the hell are they!

They are...interesting.

It's fascinating how your tastes change with age. A decade ago I couldn't stand Decapitated and Nile, now I freaking love them.

I've borrowed two so called Townes Van Zandt metal albums from a mate at work.  They didn't sound particularly metal during a brief listen whilst ripping, but apparently these guys mean something to him:


Will post thoughts soon.  I know nothing about it thus far.

This is probably a good place to mention Fall of Efrafa too (I may have done so a while back, apologies if I'm repeating myself).  Anyone heard of them?  They were a 'British atmospheric post hardcore band' according to Wikipedia, and they based a lot of their work around Watership Down.  Due to my obsession with the source material I've put many hours into them, and I've even started collecting the albums on vinyl because the artwork is so good, but FFS, why couldn't a band called Fall of Efrafa have been a wispy folk outfit?  It's reached the point where I do really like some of their stuff, but it's very much not for me barring the rabbits.

My recent round of cd exchanges also includes the albums To Be Kind (Swans), Draw back a Stump (Primate) and Today is the Day (In the Eyes of God - or perhaps vice versa, not sure which is the band name) coming my way.  As usual, I'll give them a go, but I wasn't keen on what I heard of the last one just now.

Got new Godflesh EP 'Decline & Fall', which is brilliant - the return of Avalanche and their earlier sound mixed with the heavier end of their more 'recent' stuff (from Hymns). Looking forward to the new album and seeing them live in December.

Anyone else excited for the new Slipknot album? In a teenager kinda way, I'm also super keen to see what the new masks look like for the new guys.

In other news, this university marching band in the US does a mean version of Killing in the Name. Gotta love the flute player in the red shirt who's clearly loving it.

I can never get YT vids to work here.

Outlaw wrote:

Just saw the/a new Slipknot video. Has Taylor fucked his voice or something? Why is he singing everything?

There's two new videos, aye. 'The Devil in I' and 'The Negative One'. Both are stonking, IMHO. Though I think you have to sign in to see the latter on YouTube, due to maturity warning. Weirdly enough, I reckon it's because the latter features boobs. The former just has each band member commiting suicide, no biggy.

Can't say I noticed him singing everything, but that's been a general trend with the 'knot, more singing and some softer numbers to break up the relentless blasting.

afgavinstan wrote:

Did anyone else catch the SkyArts series "Metal Evolution"?

Nope, but I'll keep an eye out for a DVD.

Outlaw wrote:

It's alright, but lacks the aggression of the earlier stuff I think. Sounding more and more like Stone Sour. Suppose they're getting old now though.

I concur.

Shawn Crahan (Clown) is 45 now, iirc. He'll be drawing his pension soon.

Not seen them live, mildly jealous now. I really liked the first Stone Sour album, but the second left me cold. However, House of Gold and Bones is pretty good, so I should probably give the rest of the discography another chance.

I'd argue that there's still a big enough difference in the sound of the two bands, but Slipknot have definitely got more mellow with age. If you've got a Google account, try logging into YouTube and watch 'The Negative One', that's more classic Slipknot sound. (Warning, the visuals are creepy.)

Outlaw wrote:

Seen them both live, sadly not with Paul Gray though. Slipknot have the bigger and more intense crowd, definitely.

I'd agree there, I got my tooth chipped at a Slipknot gig after I received an elbow to the gob. I was lucky enough to see them with Gray twice, once at Ozzfest 2001 and again in 2002 on the Disasterpieces tour. If you're willing to go through the DVD frame by frame, you might spot me!

Outlaw wrote:

Saw them play at Download after Gray died, where they asked for a minutes silence. The creepiest thing in the world is standing in a crowd of around 80,000 silent people while Gray's jumpsuit hung limply from a hook on stage, billowing in the wind.

That's amazing. I heard they played with his suit and bass onstage. It must be hard enough being the new drummer, but the new bassist... crumbs.

I can't believe it's been four years since he died. Him and Fieldy were the reasons I learned to play bass guitar.

'Tis indeed, and welcome back JJ!