A lot of people say that keyboards don’t belong in metal. I used to believe this as well. That is until I started listening to more metal from across the giant pond. A lot of bands have keyboards but very few of them do it right. I remember seeing a band this past summer that had a keyboard and I just thought to myself, why? In that particular band it didn’t seem necessary or fitting. In bands like Opeth and Children Of Bodom it just wouldn’t be the same without them. Firewind on the other hand could probably sound just …read more

If you’ve never been to see Firewind live, then you’ve been missing out. I’m beating a dead horse here when I say that Apollo is a great vocalist and Gus G. tears it up on stage. I didn’t know what to expect from this band after only hearing and seeing the video for “Mercenary Man“. But man, upon seeing them perform live it gave me a new respect and I was an instant fan! Check out this video from their recently released DVD Firewind: Live Premonition.
 

 
 
You can check out an update from Gus G. over at BW&BK.

Metal Martyr Best Live Shows Of 2008. I’m going to break this down by single bands and not so much the tour or show name. I saw a good amount of shows this year. In fact I went to more shows just this year than I ever have in my whole life before before this year. This year has had some great shows come my way and a few I have had to travel a few hours for. Through some of these shows I’ve learned of bands and learned became a bigger fan of other bands. I’d say one …read more

2008 has been a great year for metal. Here is my Top 10 Favorite Metal Albums of 2008 (that I own). I know that there are probably a lot of other amazing metal albums that came out this year but I can only go off of what I own and what I’ve heard. So more or less these are my favorites and not some definitive collection of what I think is the best. How many people can honestly say that they have heard and thoroughly listened to every new metal album that came out this year? Anyway, let’s get …read more

Greek power metalers, Firewind are set to release their first Live DVD entitled Live Premonition. Should be a pretty cool DVD considering they put on a great live performance. If you ever have a chance to go watch them live, do yourself a favor and go. Amazon.com has it set for a release date of November 11th. The DVD will contain 100 minutes of live footage and extra footage as well as a 2 cd set. Video trailer and DVD Details after the fold…

Century Media celebrates 20 Years Of Extremes (music) by releasing a 2 cd compilation today (Oct. 14th). The 2 cd compilation is actually Century Media label bands covering…well, other Century Media label bands, past and present. You can check out the track-list below. Look for a review in the near future. You may have heard Firewind’s cover of Nevermore’s Believe In Nothing a few weeks ago at the Century Media Myspace. Now you can listen to Aborted covering Termoil’s "Playing Dead" on the Century Media Europe Myspace. I saw Aborted live during the Carcass Reunion show and they put …read more

With summer in the U.S. drawing to an end The b5Media music channels are putting together their summer play lists. A lot of great music has come out this spring and summer and there is much more to come this year in terms of metal. I’ve got into so many bands this year, it’s hard to pick just a few so I’ll pick an album and my favorite song off of it. I was trying to put together one of those cool play list widgets so you could actually listen to my picks, but some of the songs were …read more

I got a promo copy of F5’s new release The Reckoning in the mail the other day. I was pretty excited to listen to it seeing I’m a long time Megadeth fan and I’ve always liked Dave Ellefson as a Bass man. First off, if you’re not familiar with F5 I’ll give you a quick break down. Honestly I wasn’t familiar with them until I started reading about them on Blabbermouth. So here goes.
You have Dave Ellefson on Bass (ex-Megadeth) Jimmy DeGrasso on Drums (ex-Megadeth, Suicidal Tendancies), Steve Conley and John Davis on guitars and Dale Steele on vocals. …read more

I know what your thinking. Here goes this guy hating another band that is really good. Well I have good reason. I hate Firewind’s Premonition because I can’t stop listening to it! From beginning to end, I love this record. Even the bonus track cover of Michael Sembello’s Maniac. Somewhere Punky Brewster is rocking out to this song right now.
When I saw them perform on the Tyranny and Bloodshred tour earlier this month I wasn’t sure what to expect because I had only heard Mercenary Man when they played it on Headbangers Ball. If you dig good clean …read more

Century Media’s Tyranny and Bloodshred tour was in town yesterday. Minus Arch Enemy, they finished up a few days before. Dark Tranquility was headlining with Divine Heresy, Firewind and Soldiers Of Scrape before them. I took some pictures with my phone because I didn’t feel like carrying my camera around with me so the pics are kind of crappy. Next time they’ll be much better (new camera).
Soldiers of Scrape were awesome, I’ll say more about them more in a bit.
Firewind were phenomenal performers. The guitars solos were shredding, the keyboards sounded cool and Apollo obviously can sing his ass …read more