I confess I have no idea why the aforementioned band are currently recieving considerable press attention. According to 'Metal Hammer', the album 'Damage Done' is "heavier than has ever been" before, and sets them up to "make the move to major status."
I feel there are a number of flaws with this line of arguement: firstly, I have seen heavier pantomine dames, secondly, it is hardly their best work, and more pedanticly there are infinately better bands in Century Media's stable. The Gathering are nice, I even found a poster in some random French metal magazine than Beavis brought back from holiday. The magazine was amusing, it had Canable Corpse and Morbid Angel on the free CD.
Why is it that other countries music magazines seem so much more fun? My French and German are not great but from the bulk that I comprehend it would appear that the interviewers not only have suficient brain (not a common occcurance in the British press) but may even have some knowledge about their subject matter. Having said this, I suggest that 'Hard 'n' Heavy' does sound more like a porn magazine than music...
It is refreshing to see an interview where the interviewer does not start by giving the wrong title of the band's latest offering or labeling the band... with the wrong label. For example, Rachel Stamp are apparently emo, a fact which had escaped me and honestly I can not see even after this enlightenment. Glam: ok, punk: if you really want to stretch it, as 'Kerrang!' seem to every time they realise who they are interviewing (frequently they are totally oblivious, then on subsequent occasions they swear their undying loyalty to them). Flock of Seagulls maybe, but not emo.
Having touched on this subject, it is with great difficulty that I resist commenting at length on the current fad for labelling bands 'art rock'. 30 Seconds to Mars can only barely be called 'art rock'. I thought they were pretty catchy noises with a mildly fun video - definitly better than Disturbed's offering of 'Prayer' with it's pseudo-religeous overtones and cash-in apocalyptic imagery. Tool wish they were 'art rock', and one cannot like Deadsy without liking Orgy. To be honest I can not tell some of the songs apart. (The one from the 'Zoolander' soundtrack is fun!) Otep are crap, not art, and if for some reason you do include Mushroomhead as an example of 'art rock', you can hardly deride Mudvayne and Gwar. Well, maybe Gwar.
I wonder how good the current crop of metal (be it death or hardcore or whatever other name you care to give it) can be looking at what the labels are reissueing: a Damned album from 1977, five Danzig CDs (from 'Danzig' to 'Danzig 4', which I am sure cannot have been as far back as 1994, I mean I would have been 12!)
Rollins Band: 'Weight' (another from 1994), and even two of the The Gathering's offerings, 'Superheat' and 'Nightime birds', which were only released in 2000 and 1997 for goodness sakes!
Being stuck in Wales for another 9 months is a scary concept, the single record store is dire and run by the most pretentious and yet downright stupid people ever, if I wanted Skindred as oppose to Deadsy then that is what I would order. I will not comment on the so-called 'alternative' clubnight as it would involve too much swearing and general animosity. Sufice to say it sucks more than Eric Cartman did on that "hose".
