Where have I heard this before?

Harm’s Way, a hardcore band from Chicago led by monstrous front man Lou Ferrigno, released one of the most punishing albums of 2011. Isolation is a beast from front to back. But fear not, metal nerds for whom “hardcore” is a dirty word, Harm’s Way has more in common musically with 90’s metal juggernauts such as Machine Head, Sepultura, and Entombed than they do with hardcore vets Madball or SOIA. Their inclusion on the “God Damn” tour with The Acacia Strain and Terror solidifies their position as rising stars of the hardcore/metal scene.

This is one of my favorite albums of the year, and well worth checking out regardless of your feelings about hardcore. I could easily write a full review extolling the virtues of Isolation, but what fun is that? Let’s instead talk about what pissed me off about it.

Balance is everything

Again, I found a band that wasn’t featured, to the extent of my knowledge, on this extremely knowledgeable metal site.

The name is Equilibrium, the country is Germany, the genre… some extreme traditional folk black metal or something along those lines. I find these distinctions between metal genres to be at least fallacious, but that’s just me.

Anyway, the video above is not new, but I hope you enjoy it as I do.

Hammerfest UK just got better

Who knew things actually happen in North Wales, ‘ey? Well, next year’s Hammerfest IV in Prestatyn, Wales, is already shaping up to be a storm.

Viking legends Amon Amarth are the latest Metal band to be added to the already pretty damn good lineup.

The band will be joined by other “fantastic”* acts, including Anthrax, Paradise Lost, Exodus, Chimaira, Wizard, The Painted Smiles and many more bands. Hammerfest IV takes place from March 16-17, and you can find out more, including how to buy tickets, over at the official site.

*May not be the opinion of every individual.

Rob Trujillo talks about new Metallica record (not Lulu)

I didn’t know Rob had been promoted to ‘talking about the new album’ privileges within the band, but I guess he was.

In a recent interview with GulfNews, he mentioned a few new songs the band has been working on for their new, post-Lulu album.

“We’ve been busy writing and recording. We’ve got a couple of new songs we have been working on the past couple of weeks. The writing process for the new Metallica album has begun. We’ve been in the studio with Rick Rubin, working on a couple of things, and we’re going to be recording during the most of next year. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. But the great thing is that we have sort of already jumped off the launch pad and we’re swimming. It’s happening. It’s reality. It’s a lot of fun, there are a lot of ideas, and we’re really excited about the new record.“

Read full interview here.

New ideas? Uhm, that doesn’t sound too good. Are they getting a new grandpa to mumble stuff over their riffs?

Seriously, whenever Metallica got a new idea, we got Load, ReLoad, St. Anger, S&M, and Lulu, so you can see why words like ‘ideas’ might spell trouble for me.

Anyway, read the whole interview, they talk about feeling like teenagers again. I’ll say, Lou Reed is probably around 300 years old, not hard feeling young around him.

Iron Maiden fans are fucking rich

Some rich sonnofa bitch spent $3,350 on the item above. It is a Japanese ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’ promotional EP, and it’s apparently very rare (only five in existence, apparently).

You can read the full article here.

Who the hell spends that much money on some Japanese EP? I do understand collectors, but 3 grand? In this economy? Jeez. I’d rather use that money to fly to a couple of Maiden gigs, but that’s just me.

Congrats to whoever got it, I guess. Also, go fuck yourself for having more money than me.