Amon Amarth is a band that very much comes and goes with me. Obviously, over the years, the vikings of heavy metal have become among the most popular bands in the extreme metal scene. While the albums of the early to mid 2000’s piqued my interest — Death In Fire through With Odin On Our Side — the last three releases have just kinda… blended in. The same powerful, battle-ready music, but just done without enough advancement from the preceding work. Were they bad? Of course not. But they just weren’t anything I would get hyped up about. The same was true as the release date of Jomsviking began approaching. I figured I would inevitably listen to at some point, but I wasn’t exactly counting the hours until it dropped. Well, that ‘at some point’ turned out to be this past week and I am thrilled to report that this is the most impressive work Amon Amarth has put forward in some time. And I find myself once again on Amon Amarth’s longship, ready for battle. Continue reading
johan hegg
CANTO: Johan Hegg says things, Cynic gets dramatic, and Ex Deo is back!
Happy Friday! As always, I’m going to exert no effort in this post today.
- Johan Hegg is always an amusing dude. Maybe not the most opinionated in the world, but he definitely had some words to say on Kim Davis.
- Here’s your comedy for the day. Apparently Papa Emeritus III lost a dick-measuring contest to Pope Francis. Obviously this can’t actually be a thing. But what if? What is God telling us?
- So maybe this whole Cynic breakup isn’t as clear-cut as we thought? Looks like some of the wrong people were left in the dark.
- Ex Deo is back! And there are hints that things will be happening in 2018! …But we have no idea what.
- Finally, I guess we can close this off with Slayer’s new music video for “Repentless”, the title-track from the upcoming album.
Prisons and stuff. Why the Hell not?
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– Corey
CANTO: Album news from King Diamond, drinking horns from Johan Hegg, and adventures with Brent Hinds
Forget what I said yesterday. It feels like this week is starting to drag already.
- I am definitely not a Kanye West fan. So, a good way to earn points in my book is to call him out whenever possible. Corey Taylor did just that in a recent video clip for Music Choice.
- In other good news, it looks like we’re primed for some new King Diamond! The King announced work on the next album would commence after Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. I hate writing that.
- For better or worse, we all know what Babymetal is. Well, now we have something even weirder. Let me give you Japan’s Ladybaby. It’s VERY satirical and VERY creepy. It can go away now.
- I fully encourage the use of drinking horns when consuming alcohol. What I’m not so sure of, however, is this Johan Hegg horn that will run over almost a grand.
- Finally, in lieu of a new video today, I’ve decided to share another reason why Brent Hinds is one of my favorite humans. Apparently at 2005’s Ozzfest, he was kicked out for taking shrooms and running around naked. A+ good sir.
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– Corey
CANTO: Johan Hegg’s viking movie is coming to the States! And more
Another round of Canto from me. You’re all thrilled, I can tell. Anyway, let’s see what we’ve got today:
- Leading off, Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg’s viking movie, Northmen: A Viking Saga, is finally getting a U.S. release! It’ll be available July 31, and I couldn’t be more excited for this sure-to-be-cheesefest.
- Bassist / vocalist / exactly-one-half-of-Morbid-Angelist Steve Tucker has promised that the band’s next album will be “full-on death metal.” Which’ll be a nice change from the “full-on liquid shit” approach they took on Illud Divinum Insanus.
- Swedish post-metal crew Cult of Luna have rescheduled their North American tour! The band’ll be hitting the road in September with support from Minsk and Kylesa (NYC only). Get excited!
- Speaking of tour-related things: Revocation have announced a late-summer / early-fall run with Cannabis Corpse, Archspire and Black Fast. This should be fun.
- And finally, I couldn’t in good conscience NOT share a new Rob Scallon cover video. This time? “Cowboys From Hell” on ukelele. Watch it here:
Good stuff. I’m out for now. Check back tomorrow for the usual.
Keep it heavy,
Dan
Quickies: 2015 Tour Announcements, the Lineup for Rocklahoma, and Johan Hegg-less Amon Amarth
It’s a three day week for this guy… and I’m ready for it to be over after day one. Go fucking figure.
- 2015 tours. The Good: Mastodon and Clutch. The Mediocre: Hatebreed and Slipknot. The …Whatever.: Norma Jean. Count me in for that first one, but that’s about it.
- Fallujah saw a very quick rise after 2014’s The Flesh Prevails. So much so that they just got a deal with Nuclear Blast. Good for them. They’ve pumped out so awesome shit lately and I look forward to seeing them in a few weeks.
- Soilwork are set to release a live CD/DVD in the next couple of months. This should be cool… because ‘As We Speak’ will be on there. Release date is March 13th.
- The bands confirmed for Rocklahoma have been released. It features metal acts to the sound of In Flames, Slayer, Periphery, among others. I will not be attending. This is little event we call MDF is the same weekend. Sorry, Oklahoma. Still not interesting enough.
- Ever wonder what Amon Amarth sounded like with Jill Janus on vocals? Of course you didn’t! That is exceptionally specific. No matter, here it is:
I personally think it works really well.
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– Corey
Live. Love. Plow. Horns Up.