Live Wish List

I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to see a lot of bands over the years. I’ve managed to see a lot of bands that I would like to, but there are always those few elusive ones that either don’t tour often, or never tour anywhere that it is feasible to travel to. 

I chose not to list any ‘local’ bands, as I know there are upcoming opportunities to catch them live. I have also chosen not to include international bands that I am planning on seeing shortly. I attempted to list only bands that are considered active. There are a few bands no longer active that I would have loved to see (like Vomitory, Dissection, Bathory...). Anyhow, this is my somewhat impossible wish list for 2015:

Bands I have yet to see:

Unleashed

Entrails

Månegarm

Kalmah

Thyrfing

Vampire

Vallenfyre

Bloodbath

Varg

Wolfchant

Waylander

Hypocrisy

Hammer Horde

Põhjast

Frosttide

W.A.S.P.

Bands I would like to see again:

Moonsorrow

Belphegor

Heidevolk

Finntroll

The 69 Eyes

Ex Deo

Poisonblack

Grave

Of course it is tempting to make it out to a show any time that one of my favorite bands comes through town, but these are the short-listed artists I would like to see this year that I have already seen. Granted, neither The 69 Eyes or Poisonblack are as “metal” as the other artists on this list, but I would like to see them again nonetheless. 

Entrails - New Merchandise, Upcoming Album

One of my favourite bands, Entrails, will be releasing a new shirt design at the end of this month. This one is just as sick as the 'Cemetery Horrors' shirt design. With the promise of a new album release in the next several months, this feels like a teaser of what's to come. While the title hasn't been released yet, I can't wait to get my hands on some new music, and hopefully to add this shirt to my collection as well. If this band brings forth any more awesome merchandise, my entire spending money budget might go right out the window. 

 A larger image of this particular shirt can be found through Entrails' Facebook page, or from TPE-Merch's Facebook page.





The next few images comprise my current Entrails merchandise/music collection. Beyond having music that I love, I'm also a big fan of the artwork associated with the albums. Like most death-metal art, it's morbidly fascinating.

Front & back of my hoodie, plus the Cemetery Horrors shirt.

CD releases, plus a patch that will migrate to a vest.

Vinyl, still in the plastic. (Where it will likely stay).

Thoughts and Previews

I thought I'd throw up a quick post regarding a few of the items I am hoping to work on or talk about in the next while. I have not had much time to write lately due to an overwhelming amount of other commitments; namely my continuing post-secondary education.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be picking up a copy of this:

A review should follow sometime shortly thereafter.

Speaking of reviews, there are several albums that I have enjoyed this previous year for which I have not completed a review, and for which I would like to review. Hopefully at least a few of these see completion.

I have a few other ideas of articles I would like to write, but they require some more careful thought and a bit of preparation. Perhaps one or two of them will see the light of day.

Ensiferum has announced that they have completed work on a new album, scheduled for a February 2015 release. With this, new tracks should be released online, which I will be checking out. The first three Ensiferum albums are, by far, my favourites. 'From Afar' was pretty decent, but 'Unsung Heroes' began to venture into territory I was not personally a fan of. We shall see what this new album, titled 'One Man Army', holds in store. I do like the new look that the band has posted on their Facebook page though:

On The Radar

This is one of those festivals that can be added to the category of "wishful thinking".
The line-up this year already looks pretty decent and sometimes those smaller festivals are quite enjoyable. As a bonus, the location for this one looks beautiful. It may be added to that list of festivals that I'd like to see if I ever find the funds to do a festival tour of Europe during the summer. (Again, this is probably more wishful thinking as the cost would be astronomical and any job I might find probably wouldn't be willing to grant a two or three month leave).

On an interesting note: Wolfszeit Festival actually has a list of banned music on their website.
Banned From the Festival
This is an interesting concept, and the reasoning behind it is understandable. While I'm not familiar with various laws in Germany, this seems quite different to the law here, as I'm sure someone would complain that their freedom is being infringed upon. But again, I would consider a festival as somewhat of a private event in which the organizers can implement a few rules to make the atmosphere safer. This is the first festival website where I have noticed this, and I have no issues with the concept. I just find it very intriguing and perhaps a good point for discussion.