FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Tomorrow’s big game is against the Alouettes once again, an opportunity for the ultimate revenge, and surely, the metal gods will lead the Riders to victory tomorrow. Real men listen to metal, and real men eat wheat. Go Riders!!!
After battling the cancer that he was diagnosed with late last year, Ronald James Padavona (better known to his passionate fans as Ronnie James Dio) succumbed to his illness earlier today. He was 67 years old.
His self-deprecating nature, dark sarcastic/satirical humor, and brilliant wit lent to his lyrical genius and powerful onstage persona. He was fearlessly politically incorrect, and brutally honest. His bass playing and songwriting meshed the class of The Beatles with the bottom-heavy bombast of Black Sabbath. And of course his bass/baritone vocals were distinct, powerful and memorable. No one sounds like Type O Negative, and no one sounded like Peter Steele. And yet their influence upon heavy music is simply immeasurable.
Jay H. Gorania didn’t actually get into NAMM, one of the world’s largest music product trade shows in LA; however he did manage to soak up the event’s pretentious atmosphere, as well as some killer performances by The Devin Townsend Experience, Cynic, Scale The Summit, Suicide Silence and The Iron Maidens.
Starkly contrasting the straight-to-business, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach of the rest of the evening’s acts, with their short, quick and violent sets, headliners Hirax took the stage as though they were Judas Priest or Iron Maiden playing Madison Square Gardens. – by Jay H. Gorania
Goatwhore is one of those bands that lights a fire under my ass. Though generally regarded as a black metal band, they’re actually so much more. There’s a rugged punk attitude, the dirge ’n sludge inherent to Louisiana metal bands is certainly present—offering some definite doom sensibilities—and never before has their thrash influence emerged as prominently as it has now with the release of Carving Out The Eyes of God, easily their career’s highlight thus far.