How did you feel when the river dragon known as NEVERMORE, almost came to India but split up before they could? How will you feel when you learn that their legendary shred master JEFF LOOMIS is doing a 4-city India tour in December? Well, believe it! From 9th to 12th December, the ARCH ENEMY/CONQUERING DYSTOPIA virtuoso will play guitar clinics at shows in Guwahati, Bangalore, New Delhi and one more city that is yet to be announced. Make sure you save the date depending on your city.
Also, save the date between 9th and 11th December for the return of teutonic thrash titans DESTRUCTION! They return to India on their tour supporting their new album ‘Under Attack’ and they will be playing 3 cities that are yet to be announced. The butcher has struck back!
Together, these 2 artistes shall be bringing the rain of metal in winter to India! Don’t miss either! More details to be announced soon.
Every year metalheads from all over the world travel to the Holy Land of Wacken. This year was the 27th edition of the world’s biggest heavy metal festival and like its slogan said, RAIN OR SHINE. Wacken and rain simply go hand in hand these days but that doesn’t make it any less fun.
Day 0 (Tuesday)
We started our journey from Hoorn (The Netherlands) at around 11.00 and after a five hour drive, we finally arrived at the Holy Land of Wacken. At this time, it was still sunny outside and we quickly pitched our tents. As part of the Wacken experience, we decided to pitch our tents at the “regular” camp grounds (instead of the Press camping but where’s the fun in that)
After some food, we decided to walk around the camp sites and share a drink with a few of the other early birds. So far, it was a good night with music coming from every tent/car/truck you can imagine. Some people even brought drum kits and amps with them and performed on the camping site. We even found a Lemmy memorial! All and all, a good day and we went to bed satisfied, waiting for the first day of live music from the festival.
Day 1 (Wednesday)
Waking up to the sound of rain is a familiar sight at Wacken but it couldn’t get in the way of our fun (at least that is what we thought.) After walking about 2.5 km through the pouring rain to get our Press passes, we were soaked and not happy at all. After we got our passes, we took a taxi back to the festival and started to feel better. It was a foolish mistake on our part as we had ponchos and raincoats but left them at the tent. After we changed, we made our way to the Wackinger Village for a specific piece of food that I had been craving for over a year (Zyklopenspiess) and watch Pampatut while we were there. We tried to watch Indian represents Elemental at the Headbangers Stage but to our surprise, they didn’t get on stage at that time (we later found out that due to unforeseen circumstances, they were not able to attend the festival.) After the food, we made our way to the beer-garden where we watched tuXedoo with their brand of “Alpencore.”
After tuXedoo were done, we made our way to the Press Section to see which bands would do a press conference and maybe find some wandering band members. We found out that Phil Campbell’s All Star Band was doing a press conference so we stuck around to watch the legend and his band take the stage. When Phil Campbell and his band came on, he informed us that the band’s name had been changed to Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons, which was pretty funny because three-fourth of the band members are his sons. We tried to watch the band later on at the Headbangers’ Stage but we were out of luck as the stage was packed and we were not allowed inside. We then made our way back to our tent through the already piling and slippery mud waiting for the second day of music madness!
Day 2 (Thursday)
After being woken up by the rain again, we decided we would go to the festival grounds earlier and see the Ireland’s representatives at the Metal Battle, progressive sludge band zhOra. We were quite interested in this band as we had seen them play in Dublin once and the energy at Wacken was amazing. After zhOra were done, we headed back to the press area to watch legendary NWOBHM act Saxon, who spoke about their new live DVD (which was recorded while they were the support act for Motorhead,) working with Lemmy and about a new album, at which point Biff jokingly said that he was writing a song about Wacken called Mud and Alcohol. The press conference ended with someone asking if they would play 747, to which they replied we will ask the audience what they want.
Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com
We went back to the festival ground to see the band Skyline open the Black Stage (as is tradition) and with that, the festival. Skyline, as always, played a few covers of popular metal songs but what was different this year was they didn’t have any guest vocalists (like the years before when they had Udo and Doro sing for them.) After Skyline, it was time for Saxon at the True Metal stage. Saxon were absolutely amazing and the only thing I can say about this gig is that you need to watch it yourself.
Thursday turned out to be a hell of a night for the classic fans as Foreigner, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden took over the main stages. Foreigner kicked off with Double Vision and rocketed to the sky from there on out and of course, they played their classics Cold as Ice, Juke Box Hero and I Want To Know What Love Is. It always makes me laugh when a band like Foreigner or Whitesnake plays a metal festival because you see the big metal guys screaming along with the ballads.
After Foreigner, Whitesnake hit the stage, fronted by the amazing voice of David Coverdale. This would be the 15th time I’ve seen this band live and they never seem to disappoint me. Starting off with Bad Boys, they took everyone to the magic ride that is called Whitesnake. This tour is called the greatest hits tour for a reason, and again the crowd reacted amazingly to Is This Love and Here I Go Again. But Wacken being Wacken, it started to rain like crazy just before Whitesnake playing, so we rushed over to the press area to find some shelter. When the rain finally stopped we went back to the main stage for Iron Maiden.
Frank had never seen Iron Maiden before, so he was in for a treat. Iron Maiden finished their ‘Book of Souls’ world tour at Wacken this year after a massive world tour on Ed Force One. Unfortunately, I wasn’t happy with the sound coming from the stage and PAs. The sound faded and Bruce’s voice was sometimes buried in the mix; luckily for the people at home, they had a livestream of the concert and when I look at this, I realised that the sound was better than in the field. Personally, this wasn’t my favourite Iron Maiden show, so I made the choice to go back to the tent just before the encore. totally forgot about the Lemmy tribute after the Iron Maiden gig (stupid mistake), but I was too tired and upset to stay around.
Day 3 (Friday)
The first thing I did on Friday was finally watching Henry Rollins as I really wanted to see him perform his spoken word act. The thing about Henry is that he always tells exactly what you need to hear, if it’s political or just stories about him travelling to Antarctica and listening to Raw Power by Iggy Pop while sleeping on the ice.
After Henry Rollins, we decided to go to the Betontod listening session where we were served Betontod beer which was all kinds of awesome. The album sounded good and you could see that the guys were really excited about this one.
After Betontod, the Metal Battle winners were announced, with Zombies Ate My Girlfriend from South Africa taking the grand prize in the country’s very first win. I rushed back to the Black Stage for Entombed AD and I’m really glad I didn’t miss them; the energy from the Swedish death metal outfit was coming right at you from the beginning of the show. It’s always a pleasure to see this band live and when I looked at the audience from where I was standing, I could see that I wasn’t alone. Axel Rudi Pell took the True Metal Stage next but he couldn’t keep me there for long. His guitar playing was great as always but for me, the rest of the show was too far out of reach and I made my way to do some record shopping. We caught a bit of the folkish sounds of Eluveitie from the Black Stage, which was still a feast for the eyes and ears with guest frontwoman Liv Kristine. We walked around the festival site, drinking a few beers and counting the minutes to Blind Guardian; one of Wacken’s favourite bands. They remain one of Germany’s biggest names in power metal and they always gives me goose bumps when they play The Bard’s Song.
Al Jourgensen and his band of misfits in Ministry took the Black Stage after Blind Guardian and owned it from the first minute. The band was truly amazing and blew me away at 00.15 in at night. The energy and raw power was intense and seeing Al Jourgensen tearing it up on stage was just a treat for the eyes. These industrial metal legends surprised me with their show and remains one of the best shows from Wacken Open Air 2016.
Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com
But the night wasn’t over with Ministry, as American thrash metal legends Testament stampeded all over the diehard fans who were still waiting to see them at 01:45 in the morning – when most fans were already drunk and/or in bed. Testament blew the top off Wacken and having missed the band in Holland a few weeks, earlier, I was glad not to miss it. Absolutely worth staying up so late.
Day 4 (Saturday)
It’s always hard waking up to the last day of the festival because of the partying we did the day before but we pulled ourselves together and walked back to the festival ground. We missed Dragonforce but we could hear them play as we walked over (they played Through The Fire And Flames which always makes me smile and think about Guitar Hero 3 – what a bastard of a song that was). We arrived just in time to see Symphony X take the stage. I personally didn’t like it very much that early in the afternoon but they went on and did their thing, which meant Borknagar was up next. They had a few troubles earlier that day at the airport but finally everyone and everything got on stage just in time. The progressive death metal band from Norway set their mark at Wacken with an awesome performance and I’ll be looking forward to watching them again!
Metal Church followed up the True Stage but since I saw them two weeks earlier, I walked back to the Wendy Dio press conference. She spoke about the new Dio boxset and told us to make sure we caught the Dio Disciples show later that night because there would be something very special about that show. When the press conference was over, I walked over to Wendy and she said what everyone now knows, that there would be a hologram of Dio!
I made sure I found my way to watch the ultra-violent, wrestling themed band Eat The Turnbuckle. The stage setup was a wrestling ring with a referee on stage, and the first thing they did was cut each other up with a pizza cutter! It’s not surprising that this band has been banned in some places because of the violence and the blood, but it made for a good show. After four songs and two band members hurting each other, it was time to go over to the True Metal Stage for Steel Panther. It’s hard to describe – going from people hurting each other to four guys dressed like girls but goddamn, I sure loved it. Steel Panther’s music is a mix of sleaze and hard rock/80s metal. If you have seen them live, you know you’re in for a party and half naked women on stage and in the audience.
It wasn’t the best show I’d seen from the band but they were a nice warm up for the last German show of Twisted Sister later that night. We caught the last half-hour of Tripytikon which was okay but we were excited to see Twisted Sister on the “40 And Fuck It” tour. Earlier this year, they announced their retirement as a band with Mike Portnoy filling in for the late AJ Pero. I’ve seen Twisted Sister on many occasions and like every time, from start to finish, you got what you would expect from a Twisted Sister show. The raw power the band has and the electrifying energy that is Dee Snider made the stage look small. I had some tears in my eyes when they did their final song because this felt like the end – no more Twisted Sister at Wacken and last tour in Europe. Luckily I had tickets to see their final show ever in Belgium at the Alcatraz Festival but it did feel like a final goodbye at Wacken. We missed Arch Enemy to say our goodbyes to our friends and journalists at the Press Section but came back for Dio Disciples with Tim “Ripper” Owens and Oni Logan on vocals. It was an amazing experience to see them perform the classics but the best surprise was when the stage went black with a video on the screen. When the video ended, standing there in the middle of the stage was a hologram of Ronnie James Dio singing “We Rock.” I never thought I would see this but it was an amazing thing to see. With a tear in my eye it was time to go back to the tent for some much needed rest and say my goodbyes to Wacken for this year.
Headbangers India will be back at Wacken Open Air 2017, RAIN OR SHINE!!
Papa Emeritus II and his masked nameless ghouls are back with a brand new track called “Square Hammer” from their new EP ‘Popestar’. The song is an “infectious little beast”, as a reviewer had rightly termed it, and is the only original in the new release, the tracklist of which is given below:
Square Hammer (new)
Nocturnal Me (Cover: Echo and the Bunnymen)
I Believe (Cover: Simian Mobile Disco)
Missionary Man (Cover: Eurhythmics)
Bible (Cover: Imperiet)
“Square Hammer” is a radio-friendly heavy metal song with a strong rock and roll influence. In an interview, the band had said this about the song- “We’re very proud of it. We’re obviously thrilled to be able to play something new. This is a short, to-the-point little gem [aimed] right at the jugular”.
Watch the new video and tell us what you think of it!
Last year on the 14th of September, the death metal world unexpectedly lost one of the greatest drummers it has ever seen, at the young age of 38. Martin “Kiddie” Kearns, drummer extraordinaire at Bolt Thrower, lost his life exactly a year ago and left everyone saddened. Our thoughts go out to the family of Martin Kearns once again and also to everyone involved at Bolt Thrower. We hope they continue to be strong and hope that the memory of Kiddie remains embedded in all of us.
Questions were asked about Bolt Thrower‘s future. What would happen now? Would Andy Whale return? Would we ever get to watch Bolt Thrower again? Well, on the anniversary of Kiddie’s passing, all those questions have been answered.
On behalf of ourselves and Kiddie’s family, we would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and support over the last 12 months. Together with Kiddie’s family we made the conscious decision to keep his unexpected death a private matter, and to take time out to deal with it all. When Kiddie joined us back in 1994, although he was only 17, he instantly improved Bolt Thrower as a live band, and no one was more loyal to, and prouder to be in Bolt Thrower than him. We spent over 20 years together, touring the world, with 3 different vocalists, but he was so much more than just a drummer to us. So when we carried his coffin to his final resting place, the Bolt Thrower drummer position was buried with him. He was, and will now forever remain THE Bolt Thrower drummer, our Powerhouse and friend Martin “Kiddie” Kearns.As for the rest of us, Bolt Thrower has been our way of life for 30 years, never driven by money, fame or ego, but by our own personal principles and values that have guided us through life, and which bonded us as friends long before Bolt Thrower was even formed…
This is the latest post on boltthrower.com, the official website of the band. How do I feel about this? Well, I am devastated. As someone who got into the band relatively late, I had the honour of watching them live in Bremen two years ago exasctly in a week’s time, and was blown away by how magnificent a live act they were. At this point, I must say, I only had been listening to them for over a couple of years, still dwelling in my prog/modern metal shell. But that one gig changed my mind about old school, slower tempo death metal. Knowing how rare BT merch is, I bought everything they had on offer. After that, I travelled to Berlin to catch them again and that was the last time I’d see them. Last year, when I heard that Kiddie had passed, I couldn’t believe it. It was there, on the website, but I did not want to believe it. It wasn’t fair that the world lost yet another person who strived to play music that wasn’t about “hoes” or “butts” or “swimming in money”. Someone who played music that was deep and actually meant something. I had just bought Those Once Loyal, the last BT album and was into it from the first note on. Whenever asked what my favourite BT track is, I say The Killchain without a moment taken to think about it. Ganesh and Nolan from Kryptos will attest to that fact. This album was not far from being the ultimate Bolt Thrower album and I am glad that they have called it a day with it as the last thing they released.
From hearing stories on how they threw away an entire album because it did not live up to the BT standards, to not selling their merchandise online because they weren’t in it for the money, I slowly but surely fell in love with this band. Which is why it does not surprise me that on the anniversary of Kiddie’s death, they have decided to end the Bolt Thrower era. For 30 years, they kept it filthy and stayed true to themselves. Band members came, band members went, but the spirit remained. One was part of the Bolt Thrower family, from the beginning to the end. As I type this, I’ve got the entire catalog on loop and I’m screaming on the inside that it isn’t fair that it has to come to an end. However, the decision is understandable. Gut-wrenching, but it had to be made. If the band didn’t think it could’ve moved onwards without Kiddie, there is no way anyone or anything could convince it otherwise. Actions define an entity and the conviction with which Bolt Thrower have gone about their business over the last three decades, commands respect that is most definitely unparalleled.
There is hope however, in the form of Memoriam, a band comprising of former Bolt Thrower drummer Andy Whale and Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willets. With Memoriam, the war rages on!!!
So, I raise my glass to one of the best, if not THE best, truest and kvltest death metal band in the world. We shall always remember the fallen.
Thank you, but not good bye, Bolt Thrower.
Brutal Death metal band from Mumbai – Gutslit, has just announced that Kaushal L.S. (Orchid; Godless; Ironic Reversal) will be taking over vocal duties from Aditya Barve. The band had been auditioning vocalists for more than six months, by asking them to cover a Gutslit original – “Scaphism”.
Watch Kaushal’s version of “Scaphism” here:
The band is in the process of recording their new album titled ‘Brodequin’ which has been slated for a late-2016 or early-2017 release through Transcending Obscurity (India). More updates as we have them.
Here are a few other audition videos that we HAD to share!
“Scaphism” cover by the Demonstealer:
“Scaphism” cover by Death Metal Casey:
Singaporean pioneers of Vedic Metal Rudra have released a new single and unleashed the artwork for their eighth studio album – Enemy of Duality.
Post the success of the ‘Brahmavidya’ trilogy, the band has taken their time in releasing the new single ‘Slay The Demons Of Duality.’ Frontman Kathir says, “The single ‘Slay The Demons Of Duality’ was inspired by a verse from the Mandukya Karika. The verse in Sanskrit was chanted in the beginning and towards the end of the song. It is about how we are afraid of evil, demons, satan etc., In fact, many belief systems create a duality between good and evil. In this song, we present the very duality to be demons. Upon inquiry, these demons of duality are found to be purely notional”.
The new album features traditional classical South-Asian instruments such as the sitar, tabla, didgeridoo (ancient wind instrument) among others while transcending deeper into the realm of ancient Indian mythology.
‘Enemy of Duality’ will be released on Transcending Obscurity Records. Pre-orders have already begun.
Literally, a metal fist in the air as the album cover. That’s how little of a doubt Bangalore‘s KRYPTOS want to leave regarding what their 4th full-length albumBurn up the Night is going to be all about. This announcement was made today by their German label AFM Records who have finalized the release date to be September 23rd. The artwork is very clearly a throwback to the 80s style of traditionally painted album covers representing metal’s ‘glory’ in more literal ways. The artist Mattias Frisk is best known for his artwork for the occult rock band Ghost.
The album is up for ‘pre’-grabs from both iTunes and the AFM Records website. The band has also decided to make this announcement sweeter by debuting the music video for the first single from the album, titled ‘Full Throttle’:
Kryptos are currently touring Europe and the tourdates are as follows:
2016-07-15 DE Neukirchen Vluyn, Dong Open Air 2016-07-16 DE Hamburg, Apes Enraged Festival 2016-07-28 DE Brandenhörner Kirchen, Headbanger’s Open Air 2016-07-31 DE Hamburg, Wacken Open Air Warm Up Party 2016-08-03 DE Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal 2016-08-04 DE München, Free and Easy Festival 2016-08-05 DE Marburg, Marburg Kulturshock 2016-08-07 DE Köln, RheinRiot Festival 2016-08-08 CH Pratteln, Z7 2016-08-10 DE Cham, LA 2016-08-13 DE Leidersbach, Sam’s Hard ‘n Heavy Open Air
After a forgettable debacle involving the cancellation of the Indian Music Conference (2nd time in a row), Polish black mass meisters Behemoth have decided to give a second shot at playing on Indian shores. Come September 24th, you will get to see them play at the 4th Edition of the Deccan Rockfestival. They will be headliners at the festival, which will feature rising stars of the Indian music scene in its line-up:
–Meta-stasis
–Inner Sanctum
–Primitiv
–Godless
–Dark Helm
–Elemental (India)
So save the date, book your tickets and make sure you aren’t foolish enough to miss this because there’s No Sympathy For Fools.
Headbangers India will be back at Wacken Open Air 2017, RAIN OR SHINE!!
This is the latest post on boltthrower.com, the official website of the band. How do I feel about this? Well, I am devastated. As someone who got into the band relatively late, I had the honour of watching them live in Bremen two years ago exasctly in a week’s time, and was blown away by how magnificent a live act they were. At this point, I must say, I only had been listening to them for over a couple of years, still dwelling in my prog/modern metal shell. But that one gig changed my mind about old school, slower tempo death metal. Knowing how rare BT merch is, I bought everything they had on offer. After that, I travelled to Berlin to catch them again and that was the last time I’d see them. Last year, when I heard that Kiddie had passed, I couldn’t believe it. It was there, on the website, but I did not want to believe it. It wasn’t fair that the world lost yet another person who strived to play music that wasn’t about “hoes” or “butts” or “swimming in money”. Someone who played music that was deep and actually meant something. I had just bought Those Once Loyal, the last BT album and was into it from the first note on. Whenever asked what my favourite BT track is, I say The Killchain without a moment taken to think about it. Ganesh and Nolan from Kryptos will attest to that fact. This album was not far from being the ultimate Bolt Thrower album and I am glad that they have called it a day with it as the last thing they released.
From hearing stories on how they threw away an entire album because it did not live up to the BT standards, to not selling their merchandise online because they weren’t in it for the money, I slowly but surely fell in love with this band. Which is why it does not surprise me that on the anniversary of Kiddie’s death, they have decided to end the Bolt Thrower era. For 30 years, they kept it filthy and stayed true to themselves. Band members came, band members went, but the spirit remained. One was part of the Bolt Thrower family, from the beginning to the end. As I type this, I’ve got the entire catalog on loop and I’m screaming on the inside that it isn’t fair that it has to come to an end. However, the decision is understandable. Gut-wrenching, but it had to be made. If the band didn’t think it could’ve moved onwards without Kiddie, there is no way anyone or anything could convince it otherwise. Actions define an entity and the conviction with which Bolt Thrower have gone about their business over the last three decades, commands respect that is most definitely unparalleled.
There is hope however, in the form of Memoriam, a band comprising of former Bolt Thrower drummer Andy Whale and Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willets. With Memoriam, the war rages on!!!
So, I raise my glass to one of the best, if not THE best, truest and kvltest death metal band in the world. We shall always remember the fallen.
Thank you, but not good bye, Bolt Thrower.
The album is up for ‘pre’-grabs from both