Metalheads unite

[MentallyAfflict]

Originally Posted by Cid Highwind

Time to kick some life into this thread again, unfortunately the reason to do so is to announce the death of two bands, two legendary bands for powermetal fans.

The first piece of news is that Timo Tolkki announced that Stratovarius has come to an end. He pulled the plug out of this legendary band that has inspired countless other Scandinavian metalbands.

Second piece of news is that Stefan Elmgren decided to leave Hammerfall and become a full time pilot. Personally a piece of Hammerfall has died for me now that he left, he really made the show with his brilliant guitar solos and endless enthusiasm while playing. A Hammerfall gig won't be the same anymore

WTF man, I was waiting for another Album! Eagleheart and Hunting High and Low are among my top Power Metal songs...Damn shame no more 4000 Rainy Nights?

[Mako Eyes]

Originally Posted by Cid Highwind

Time to kick some life into this thread again, unfortunately the reason to do so is to announce the death of two bands, two legendary bands for powermetal fans.

The first piece of news is that Timo Tolkki announced that Stratovarius has come to an end. He pulled the plug out of this legendary band that has inspired countless other Scandinavian metalbands.

Second piece of news is that Stefan Elmgren decided to leave Hammerfall and become a full time pilot. Personally a piece of Hammerfall has died for me now that he left, he really made the show with his brilliant guitar solos and endless enthusiasm while playing. A Hammerfall gig won't be the same anymore

...Holy ****. That blows. I used to be a big HammerFall fan (I still listen to them in moderation) and I really admired Elmgren's guitaring. I was never really an avid Stratovarius listener though, but the stuff I have heard was really quite good. That's very unfortunate.

In lighter news: Guess who's seeing Alice Cooper in October? That's right. Mako is.

[MiretanK]

WTF... will they call someone else to replace Elmgren?

I had more contact with Strato than Hammerfall, tho I prefer Hammerfall. Strato ending is so... damn. Know you when want to believe that nothing has an end? No more Holy Solos? :/

[Cid Highwind]

No more holy solos, no more Stratofortress, but worst of all: No more Forever played live

Last time, no matter how much the audience sucked, having seen Forever live, and having sung along is something I'll cherish forever. Hunting High and Low is also one of my fav Strato songs, and you can't go wrong with Eagleheart either. How about Black Diamond

Nice going there btw Mako! I'll let you know if he's still up for it, because Industrian and I will see him in July when Alice Cooper will play at Magic Circle Festival: Manowar, Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, WASP, Doro, and more to be announced

I wonder if we'll bump into an old familiar person somewhere in the vestibule or something

[Cid Highwind]

As for other festivals: Yesterday new names for Sziget Festival (Budapest - Hungary) have been announced:

Apart from Iron Maiden, who will headline the first day, more bands have been confirmed: Iced Earth, Exodus and Avantasia!!!

Now I definitely want to go there! Iron Maiden alone was reason enough to take the girls up on their offer, but with Iced Earth and Avantasia on the roster this may turn out the highlight of the year, even more so than Magic Circle Festival. (Okay, Industrian will have my balls for that one )

Now I just want to know who will be there with Tobias to perform the Avantasia songs. If they'll play The Seven Angels I won't stand in for the consequences.

[Hard core Rikki]

Metalheads still exist?

[Mr.Evox]

ehh. True metal heads dont. People that are into overseas and nu-metal arnt metal heads.

[Cid Highwind]

Well to us Nu-Metal is mainly an overseas blasphemy, but that comes from a person who appreciates German metal mostly, with the occassional Scandinavian one. But let's not get into that debate, this thread is here for the people who like metal in general, or even old school hard rock, and who just want to say something good about it. We've left the flamefest behind pages ago.

Btw, yesterday a nice addition to my collection of CDs has arrived as well: Iced Earth - Dark Genesis. This package is everything I had hoped for and more. Of course it comes with the early 4 CDs and a album full of Iced Earth covers of the bands that has inspired Schaffer, there's a really nice large booklet with it as well. I have always admired this boxset at a friend's place, you know I have a soft spot for collector's editions So right now it's finally mine, I think I'm the third amongst my friends to have this one, screw CDr copies.

It's nice to hear where the band has started out, it sounds much less refined than their latest album, Something Wicked Part 1, which was my first Iced Earth experience, and a blind purchase at that as well. I do have to note that I did know what to expect since I already have the two Demons and Wizards albums. My friend wasn't wrong when she said Iced Earth has an evil sound to it, these guys know how to write their stuff. A great purchase at €40,- Blame the German dude for selling it in USD, dumbass

[Cheesus]

Forgot to post here...

2 days ago I bought me the whole discography of Manowar for like 10Euros from a friend. How awesome is that??! I'm not going to say I'm disappointed by their music, but it didn't exactly impress me much. Right now I'm hooked to Chevelle . I wouldn't call them metal perse... more along the lines of heavy rock.

[Cid Highwind]

Now that's a steal!! And a great way to start, I wonder if he'll regret it, you certainly won't. Enjoy them, start with Kings of Metal and then work up to the rest

[Chrono Archangel]

Me and some friends of mine will probably go see Meshuggah! (Too bad they're only the opening act... Ministry is headlining)

so
April 28th : Kalmah
May 1st : Apocalyptica (maybe... still not sure)
May 3rd : Meshuggah

Havent been to a show in a long time now so I'm eagerly awaiting these Gonna be one hell of a week

[Cid Highwind]

Careful for a whiplash Chrono

My brother will be seeing Rage and Edenbridge with some friends of his on the 26th of April, I didn't feel like driving to Belgium all by myself, and also I have some other plans for that weekend which already cost me enough.

Instead I'll be seeing Royal Hunt and Godiva (?) on the 16th of May, and Axxis, Silent Force, Freedom Call and The Claymore on the 24th of May. Of course I'll be going to see Freedom Call again, those guys rock and it's been 2 years since I've last seen them. They played with Rage back then and it's definitely a gig I still have fond memories of.

[MentallyAfflict]

Originally Posted by Cid Highwind

Well to us Nu-Metal is mainly an overseas blasphemy, but that comes from a person who appreciates German metal mostly, with the occassional Scandinavian one. But let's not get into that debate, this thread is here for the people who like metal in general, or even old school hard rock, and who just want to say something good about it. We've left the flamefest behind pages ago.

Btw, yesterday a nice addition to my collection of CDs has arrived as well: Iced Earth - Dark Genesis. This package is everything I had hoped for and more. Of course it comes with the early 4 CDs and a album full of Iced Earth covers of the bands that has inspired Schaffer, there's a really nice large booklet with it as well. I have always admired this boxset at a friend's place, you know I have a soft spot for collector's editions So right now it's finally mine, I think I'm the third amongst my friends to have this one, screw CDr copies.

It's nice to hear where the band has started out, it sounds much less refined than their latest album, Something Wicked Part 1, which was my first Iced Earth experience, and a blind purchase at that as well. I do have to note that I did know what to expect since I already have the two Demons and Wizards albums. My friend wasn't wrong when she said Iced Earth has an evil sound to it, these guys know how to write their stuff. A great purchase at €40,- Blame the German dude for selling it in USD, dumbass

True, it is nothing compared to Night of the Stormrider, Burnt offerings, Dark saga, or gasp HORROR SHOW! Dark genesis sounds to "redone" however the original still cds' still hold for me, but then again you can't go wrong with the remasters...Note that in The Night of the Stormrider the original singer really did it best on that album, "Travel in Stygian" is a good example.

[Cid Highwind]

Well I just have to get used to their old sound a bit since I'm now used to their much more refined Framing Armageddon sound, on which the powermetal influences are much stronger than the thrash ones, as opposed to the first albums. It's pretty cool to hear how the band has evolved though, and that they still have Schaffer's trademark riffs.

I'm usually not a big fan of remastered versions either, mainly because it has messed up a lot of 80s albums in terms of dynamics. I do think that these albums sound relatively good. Although it's kinda hard getting into them, I'm really glad I have them. Angels Holocaust and Travel in Stygian are good songs that grabbed me when I heard them for the first time, the rest needs more time. The song Burnt Offerings is great as well, so those are the three that pretty much stuck.

I wonder what their new album will sound like, seeing how Barlow returned and I really appreciated Owen's vocals. I suppose it will be good, Barlow has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard, and live he is just amazing. Owens was a bit of a letdown when I saw videos of A Charge to Keep, which happens to be one of the most epic songs I've heard lately.

[Cheesus]

Finally managed to find me a copy of Alter Bridge's first album 'One Day Remains'. Its not as heavy as Blackbird, but nonetheless a really good album. Right now I'm hooked So far the songs Metalingus and One Day Remains have struck me the most.

[Aided Onslaught]

Cid let me know how silent force is. Their worlds apart cd stayed in my car a long time.

Anyhow, I've been really trying to get into new stuff lately and also getting into older albums that I've missed. Axel Rudi Pell, and even older checking out some bad company (since I love the song shooting star because of Iced Earth).

New side of things. The new symphony X is great. I recommend it to everyone. It's much more edgy but still just as melodic as before. Symphony X is becoming one of my favorite bands very fast. When looking up symphony x on youtube, it sent me to a band I should have been listening to for a while now. Gamma ray. Land of the free part 2 is pretty good, not amazing, but good easy to get into music.

Also thanks to Avantaisa, I've been looking into the the other people's bands. This song by Jorn Lande is just amazing, and uplifting. I can't wait till I get more of this music
YouTube - Allen Lande - Reach a little longer

YouTube - SPV-TV Ep.05 GAMMA RAY-Talking about the Land of the Free If you watch the full thing of this and you know me, you'll know what I posted this.

[Cid Highwind]

Jorn Lande is one of the most amazing singers of his generation, he is one of the main reasons why The Scarecrow is such a great album. Anyway, the Allen/Lande album you got that song from Aided, is highly recommended. I've been listening to it a freaking lot and the lyrics of songs really grabbed me. As for another must have Lande album: Get Masterplan's self titled album, it's one of the best powermetal albums ever made.

A funny story perhaps is that I've been listening to it while having a shower during my Hungarian holiday, and I sang a long with it. I got compliments from the family for my voice actually. Later on I burned the stuff to play it in the car, and got no negative comments at all, just positive replies for the parts I sang along.

As for the best Lande performance I've seen, with one of my fav metal songs from the Masterplan album, here you go:
YouTube - Masterplan - Spirit Never Die (Live)

[Aided Onslaught]

Sweet, I'm really going to start listening to them a lot. I remember hearing masterplan once (when they first came out) and not catching my ear. I'll give it another shot, I may not have gotten it at first. We've talked about that with Iced Earth and how they have to grow on me.

Anyhow, man record yourself singing and send it to me. I know we are so far away, but it would be cool to work on some music together.

[Cid Highwind]

Hmm, singing in a mic isn't really my strongest point since usually I just sing along to stuff and I'm probably a bit too shy to give it all the power I have. Such situations only occur when there's enough noise to cover up for any terrible mistakes I make

I'm about to head off to a concert of Danish prog metal band Royal Hunt. It's something I just remembered this morning when I woke up and it really gave me a great start of the day. Next week, on Saturday, I'll have a gig of Axxis, Freedom Call, Silent Force and The Claymore. I don't really know the last two, but Axxis and Freedom Call both put up great shows. Time for some German Happy Metal

[Cid Highwind]

Hey guys, it's me again, back from a concert, well, it was Friday night anyway. If you still have a chance to see Royal Hunt (Official Royal Hunt Website) I suggest you do. Their show was nothing short from stunning, an example of a band that can play its studio material live even better than in a studio. Their new singer Mark Boals gave such an awesome performance, it really blew me away, he sang every high note on the album, and better by keeping them up longer, rather than being faded out like on Paradox Part 2: Collision Course.

I haven't listened to lot of keyboard-driven metal in quite some time, usually it tires me out rather easily, like stuff from the latest Dragonforce album, Sonata's solo, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, but this is definitely a notch above their quality. Well, I'll let you guys judge yourself anyway, since here's a video from their new album.

Also, there's some pics from after the show, these guys went