The one place for FILM, MUSIC and LITERATURE
Metal Pilgrim is essentially a YouTube channel that I have followed for a long time. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. I can tell you that it’s so much more. If it’s just this guy – Vlad Stadnyk, running the whole show is uncertain. I don’t know, but I think he’s at least the main part of the channel’s success. I want to include a disclaimer here since I don’t want to...
Virus of Violence is, as I understand it, the only full-length studio album by the Dutch band Desensitised. Of course, I never heard about them before. That makes the best kind of listening experience don’t you think? While doing a fast search there also seems to be an American band with the same name. This band allegedly changed its name to på Murder Syndicate in 2008. I haven’t heard anything about them either and I...
Melissa is the first album by Danish Heavy Metal band Mercyful Fate. They were in the foreground of the movement which would later be Black Metal—at least lyric-wise. If you compare this to the Norwegian Black Metal scene, Mercyful Fate seems pretty “un-extreme”. On the other hand, there’s no sound philosophy the same as that of Norwegian bands. Bot that Melissa sounds good, it’s not a well-produced album when you listen to it today. But...
Avenge the Fallen is the gazillionth album from Swedish Power Metal Band Hammerfall. Not really, of course, I think it’s their thirteenth album actually. You recognize yourself right away which is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, you know what you get, but on the other hand, knowing what you get is a little bit boring. And with a bond like Hammerfall, who I place somewhere between mockery of the Power...
Metal Heart is the sixth studio album by German Heavy Metal Band Accept. I first got it around when it came out (yes, I’m that old) and I still have the Vinyl version somewhere. Back in the day, I loved it. I loved how classical music was incorporated into the songs and I had never heard that before. These days, I’m rather disappointed if there isn’t any kind of that classical touch on an Accept...
Firehouse is the self-titled debut album of the American Hair Metal band with the same name (duh!). Looking at various pictures of the band today, there might not be so much hair though. I guess Pop Metal is a better word. It’s somewhat catchier melodies and more radio-friendly rock than classic Hardrock. But there’s not so much difference. But why am I telling you this? If you’re here reading about this band you already know...
Master of Reality is the third studio album by British pioneers Black Sabbath. It’s probably the “hardest” so far. There are still blues scales and stuff as it is most Hardrock acts even today. But I feel like there’s also a step toward what would become Heavy Metal on this album. Of course, we all perceive music differently depending on our experiences. Nowadays, Master of Reality isn’t particularly “hard”. But when it was released in...
Automaton is the sixth studio album by Swedish rockers Crashdiet. I have heard them before but only the occasional album. Generation Wild from 2010 I think. Lots of things has happened since then. Or maybe not so much, but that have at lest swapped vocalist since then. I like what I hear, it’s just as I want this kind of Glam Metal to sound. There are catchy melodies and some arrogant attitude (with tongue-in-cheek). It...
Battle of the Ancients’ biggest enemy is the production. If the band had just found a better producer who could make it sound less tinny, it would surely have been much better. For my part, there’s far too much bass and overall a dull, rumbling sound that I don’t enjoy at all. I never thought I would say this, but it needs a bit of air and separation between the instruments to work better. Musically,...
Humanoid is the seventeenth studio album by German Heavy Metal band Accept. It’s the band’s sixth album featuring vocalist Mark Tornillo. The familiar sound is there, the male choir background vocals and the classical touch in the compositions. It’s hard to top their previous album though. I thought Too Mean to Die was their best album ever so I guess I was bound to be disappointed. But it’s a good production featuring three guitars. I...
Under the Sign of the Black Mark is the third album from the legendary Bathory. It starts to slowly incorporate symphonic elements. For example, Woman of Dark Desires apparently is about the woman whom Bathory took its name from – Erzsébet Báthory. There are also considerably more melodies hidden within the brutal arrangements than on the previous record. It’s not quite as wild all the time as last time around. It’s a delight when the...
When I first encountered Beatalica, I thought it was a silly joke. However, it turned out after closer investigation that there are actually some albums, and substantively, it manages to avoid becoming silly. It probably helps if you’re a fan of both the Beatles and Metallica, of course, since the whole idea of the band is to make Beatles songs as if Metallica had done them! I’ll readily admit that at first, I didn’t quite...
