'For Your Own Good'

My potential for anticipation of the new Turisas album, slated to drop later this summer, may have just waned to a barely flickering flame. 

Listening to a new track, 'For Your Own Good', I fall into the category of disappointed fan. I suppose some people are excited about the band stepping in a new direction, but I'm not. I loved Turisas because of Battle Metal and The Varangian Way. Stand Up And Fight was a footstep in the wrong direction and if this song is any indication, this album will be a complete stumble in that non-desirable category. The ending to the song isn't too bad, but the rest makes me wonder. 

 I typically like a band because they sound a certain way. Especially a band like Turisas who worked so diligently to create personas and a brand to incorporate with that sound. I understand feeling constrained as a creative person, but that's what side-projects and other bands are for. I know a lot of people tend to disagree with me, and that's fine. 

Either way, give the track a listen and see what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRym6gz4bVA

Children Of Bodom - Halo Of Blood Review

Halo Of Blood opens with ‘Waste Of Skin’, a track definitely reminiscent of earlier material by the Finnish band. The lyrical content of the album leaves an impression of devouring darkness; something one can almost come to expect from a Finnish band.   A return to the older Bodom sound that holds appeal for many long-time fans is evident. 

Influence from Hatebreeder era Bodom is strong in several of the songs. With a modern twist thrown into the old sound, previous promises regarding the feel of this album have been fulfilled. ‘Bodom Blue Moon (The Second Coming)’ seems to be a bit of a throw-back to ‘Bodom Beach Terror’ (From the Hate Crew Deathroll album).  ‘Dead Man’s Hand On You’ is far removed from any other original Bodom material, creating an interesting addition to the album that will either be loved or maligned. It’s a risky move for a band used to delivering hard and heavy melodies. While it works for what it is, it almost feels like a cover song just because of how atypical it sounds amidst the faster paced songs on the album. ‘Damaged Beyond Repair’ feels somewhat abrasive, and is probably my least favorite track. That being said, the rest of the material is quite solid. 

 Having not been a huge fan of either Relentless, Reckless Forever or Blooddrunk, I am impressed with Halo Of Blood. Having only had the opportunity to listen to it a few times from start to finish so far, I’m finding that I enjoy the entire album. It’s certainly no Hatebreeder, Follow The Reaper  or Hate Crew Deathroll, but it’s a step in the right direction. Some of that striving too hard to appeal to a mass Americanized metal market has disappeared. Staying true to the roots that many long-time fans love proves to be a game plan that can’t go wrong. 

Feast (On More Metal)

This year looks as though it will continue to be a fantastic year of new albums being released.

Annihilator, legendary Canadian thrashers, will be releasing their fourteenth studio album. I have not been an Annihilator fan for too long, but only because I had never discovered them. Their first two studio releases, Alice In Hell and Never, Neverland are two of my favorite thrash albums. With the promise of more good riffs and 3D cover art (at least on some versions), this might prove to be the release of the year for thrash fans. August 27th is the date for North America.


Turisas, Finnish battle-metallers, have also announced that they will be releasing another album in August. Battle Metal and The Varangian Way are both great albums, full of catchy anthems. I was looking forward to more of the same with their last release, Stand Up and Fight, but was left slightly disappointed. The new album, titled TURISAS2013, (creative, I know) is described by vocalist Mathias Nygård:

"When it comes to the production it's just the opposite of the polished and massive ‘Stand Up And Fight’. It's raw and dry and in your face, but still maintaining that TURISAS-largeness."

I'm crossing my fingers that it's more like the first two Turisas than the last one. Considering all of the line-up changes that the band has gone through recently, I'd like to see a return to Turisas' roots (and possibly get a chance to see them live again).

Speaking of seeing bands live, I'm excited that I now hold tickets to a Wintersun tour, and will soon be acquiring Finntroll tickets as well. The only bad things about all of the awesome-ness surrounding releases and live shows this year? It's difficult to find time to write reviews of new albums and it's a little tough on the wallet as well.

Over and out, for now.


(Images borrowed from the respective band's Facebook pages, as well as Blabbermouth)

Metal As Motivation To Learn a Language

‘To Really Understand Hevibändi, It Helps to Know the Language’

Heavy-Metal Fans Inspired to Study Finnish, Norwegian; ‘Poetic and Obscure’

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323855804578511381869336080.html

This article, along with the accompanying video, appeared on the Wall Street Journal’s website about a week ago. It proves to be a bit of an enlightening read to those who have not spent countless hours already researching and perusing the subject area. For someone such as myself, it’s old news, but still interesting that the Wall Street Journal would be posting such an article. That in itself says something. And by ‘something’, I mean that the metal fan, or even the casual reader uninitiated into metal music, should ultimately draw their own conclusions regarding the piece and what it speaks to in the wider picture. 

The article outlines how students are now studying languages, specifically Finnish and Norwegian, because heavy metal has drawn them to study these languages. As pointed out by the author, these languages are not particularly useful in the traditional sense. They’re not spoken on a widescale basis outside of the countries that they originate in, and are not integral in the business world (such as learning a language of a major foreign trade partner might be). 

Why are people bothering to study these languages then? According the article, a passion for nordic/Finnish metal has drawn students in. Several of the students mentioned in the article are writing dissertations and theses based on northern metal. 

While I can’t speak to how new this phenomenon is, I’d hazard a guess that it’s growing in popularity. When I first began listening to some of the bands mentioned in the article, as well as several not mentioned, it was somewhat difficult to find another metal head that was listening to, or had heard of, some of these bands. Now everyone in the metal scene seems to know about them. Social media, YouTube and similar mediums have probably played a large part in this, as it’s becoming more and more simple to be hooked into electronic devices and have information instantly at your fingertips. When pre-teens have smartphones and constant connectivity, I suppose it should not be surprising. I find it somewhat disheartening, as I never felt left out as a youngster without videogames, instant video streaming or the need to be connected twenty-four hours a day. But again, that’s my opinion, which I am sure has become obvious to those whom I choose to surround myself with. 

Children of Bodom set at Rockperry
Festival in Vaasa, Finland. (My own photo).

This article makes me wonder what I’ve managed to accomplish in the last several years. At one point, I was very motivated to learn Finnish as I’d travelled to that country and had taken in a few different metal festivals while there. I studied Swedish for a year and a half, as I had to take classes in another language as a part of educational requirements. I could have chosen a different language, but I  was drawn to Swedish because I listen to several bands that write the majority of their lyrics in that language. Unless you can fully immerse yourself in a language, I’ve found that it’s incredibly difficult to learn or to maintain. While it is possible with online access to newspapers, interviews and other media sources in these languages, unless you have the time to seek them out and the time to dedicate to studying, the task of learning or maintaining a level of fluency and understanding becomes significantly more difficult.

I am left wondering just how these students have managed to incorporate heavy metal into post-secondary studies. In my own personal experience, this was next to impossible as most of the instructors were not open minded enough to even consider the possibility that a ‘headbanger’ could compose an intelligent thesis or topic of study outside the ‘normal’ realm of study. If I could have delved into and incorporated metal music more than I did in my own studies, I probably would have been much more motivated. When you are not overly interested in most common-place, “safe” subjects, being taken seriously and finding any kind of dedication to the subject matter is not easy. Classrooms tend to be an exercise in obedience and a place to impose societal norms rather than the open-minded, atmosphere of critical thinking that they are touted to be by institutions. 

Festival atmosphere. Rockperry Festival, Vaasa, Finland.
(My own photo)

The fact that others are obviously finding ways around this makes me reflect on my own education with more disdain than what I normally hold for it. Are these people motivated by doing something they are passionate about? It seems likely. There was a time when I used to be incredibly passionate about metal. Spending hours researching, listening to music, checking festival line-ups, reading books and watching interviews was not something that was unusual for me several years ago. Now I feel lucky if I can find the time to dedicate to sit down and properly absorb a new album after I’ve picked it up. Gone are the days when I can dedicate that much time to something that does not directly lead towards accomplishing the mundane tasks  integral to following the routine of ‘normal’ existence. When it becomes a struggle even to find the extra money to buy a new album, considering going to a festival in Europe becomes next to impossible. Planning a theoretical trip used to be fun, now it’s disappointing before it even makes it to the planning stage as I realize it will probably never happen. 

Beer gardens at Rockperry Festival, Vaasa, Finland.
(My own photo)

The reality that I spent several years of my life studying topics that I become increasingly disinterested in in the pursuit of attempting to find a career is harsh. I should have stepped outside the boundaries of ‘normal’ and forged forward by integrating something I was passionate about into my studies. My main motivation for pursuing a post-secondary education was the hope that it would lead to a comfortable career in which I would have time and money to enjoy other activities. That plan failed miserably, so I would not have lost anything by doing what several of the people in this article have done. Am I jealous that they were able to do this? I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. Am I resentful that I was not able to do? Sure. It would be nice to be able to find the time to engross myself in things that I enjoy, heavy metal included, once again. Whether or not it will happen is something that will have to be seen. 

GRAVE Courts Facebook Controversy

This was posted on May 29th on Grave’s Facebook page:

“Ok I will remind you once again and believe me this is going to be the last time. This page is obviously not meant to be a billboard for you to promote your band, homemade crap, stupid groups of any kind or yourself. I'm sick of cleaning this wall every week from crap that doesn't belong here and from now on users who post stuff without relevance will be deleted. And no it's not relevant to promote your band here just because you play deathmetal. Try the old fashioned way by writing great songs and get recognition that way before trying to build a false Facebook empire.

Over and out..

/Ola”

Part of a response from Grave/Ola posted in reply to ‘fan’ comments:

“And to answer your question no I would no have spammed other bands walls with my crap if FB had existed 25 years ago. There is a certain respect if you're a serious band. If you are not well then buhuuu for you. Now piss off!”

Personally, I think this kind of thing is needed, appropriate and quite frankly, awesome. I do not want to go to a band’s Facebook page and see spam from whatever other random band or internet troll that exists. Actually, if a band is inconsiderate enough to shamelessly self-promote their material on someone else’s page, I am automatically turned away from clicking on that link. If you really feel the need to do so, there are other outlets just as likely to be full of the same kind of idiots that you have proven yourself to be.


The ease of promotion available to up and coming bands, whether they can write a decent song or not, is astronomical compared to what it was before the internet was widely used. Find somewhere else to promote yourself. “False Facebook empire” is a perfect description. Although it could be amended to something like “False Social Media Empire” or perhaps “Useless Internet Celebrity Empire”. There are certainly enough of those around. Rampant attention-seeking is irritating enough in any aspect of life. Doing it whilst using someone else (and their fanbase) is verging on disgusting. What happened to self respect, some modesty and a lot of hard work? Wait, I forgot. Those things are hard to find on the internet.


Reading some of the comments posted on Facebook, it seems that a few people think that this post from Grave is just whiny and bitchy. Most seem to think the opposite, and I tend to agree with them. In a world where political correctness is causing more problems than it solves, I enjoy the fact that a band may risk losing fans by speaking out in this manner. The reasonable ones will keep listening to the music, and probably agree with the sentiments expressed. The ones complaining that an established band should know difficult it is to get recognition, should be helping out other bands (by apparently letting them spam Facebook pages) and generally should not be posting this variety of comment are the fans I would not want to associate myself with to begin with. Selfishness is not a trait to be valued.


To Ola and Grave:




Skål!