When it launched I was a little sceptic towards Spotify, I've been using various websites that offered almost the same thing (or so I thought) so I wasn't really impressed. But after trying it out I have changed my mind, and for the last few weeks it has been my source of music (even playing tunes I have on disk).

Having Spotify's radio set to only play Heavy Metal from the 00's I have found a bunch of new bands and arranged them in a playlist. As of now the list consist of only one song from each band. (So far it's basically just a way to keep track of the bands; the songs may be picked somewhat randomly).

At the moment the list is called "band som är lite småbra" which roughly translates into "alright bands", meaning if I find a song/band that doesn't suck, it may very well end up on the playlist.

Enjoy! :)

Metallica is back, and it's been a while since they released anything remotely close to the quality of "old Metallica" that people speak of. (Not only in my opinion, but shared widely). Their previous release, St. Anger, was their low-water mark and many thought for sure Metallica was a band of the past. (Wow, that sounds so professional).

Listening through Death Magnetic for the first time, I believe they have released some pretty good shit, bringing them back up along bands that "play good music" once again.

The first thing that strikes me is that solos are back. I'm not a huge fan of solos, I think they've overrated and I can do well without them, but they have been a part of 'tallicas career since before they started, so when they were left out of St. Anger, that alone made them sound funky (in a bad way).

Musically, lyrically, technically, enjoyally (if that's a word) -- Death Magnetic kick St. Anger around so bad it wish Death Magnetic didn't kick it around so bad. Death Magnetic is what Metallica should have released back in 2005 to keep their faces, but I suppose St. Anger was their outlet of emotions towards each other and themselves and they had to get it out of their system before they could produce anything worth listenting to.

I'm really enjoying this album. Not one song is shorter than 5 minutes; most are over 7 minutes long and one is close to ten minutes. It's pretty sick, but, it does however add some "dead time" to the songs. Stiff bridge-riffs, sometimes just pounding the drum playing along on one note on the guitars, to divide the verses. It's nothing major, but stuff like that kind of get in my face and is hard to shake off.

Spite that, it's a great album. If you liked what Metallica released 15-20 years ago, but have frowned upon their releases since the Black Album (much like me), then Death Magnetic will redeem itself worthy.

(I just now realise what a poor scan I made of the cover, but I can't be arsed fixing it).

To start of in a good mood, here's a short little story*:

A while back a mate and I discussed Myspace. He loves it (somewhat - he probably wouldn't use that word, but then again, he just might), and I didn't give much for it. Thinking (knowing) it was just another spawn of the devil-type community I never cared to join up. (Actually I tried once, but it kept sending me in circles so I gave up - it just didn't want to make friends).

Anywho, he argued that being friends with all kinds of bands made it easier for him to keep track of new releases and other fun info from the various bands he had befriended. And recently I have come to agree. Well, sort of..

Moving on, this story really has little to do with Myspace, other than the "follow bands I like" part. Actually, this has to do with Youtube, thus ending the story-bit, somewhat..

* If it didn't leave you in a good mood, write me a comment about it!

I'm subscribed to Nuclear Blast Europe's channel and every so often they serve me with delicious (and sometimes not so delicious) bands to explore. A while back they slapped Die Apokalyptischen Reiter playing Es Wird Schlimmer on the front page, demanding my attention. It happened to be the first track on their album Licht which were due for release a few weeks later. And now, a few weeks later, I sit and listen to the album, and I like what I'm hearing...

Licht is a mixture of rock and folk-metal with some rather nice melodies. I'm not usually much for the German language, and I usually want to know what bands are singing, but Die Apokalyptischen Reiter has something special about them making them a fine exception. And the girl playing guitar is pretty hot! (As most girls playing guitar are. Most..)

Slipknot return with their fourth studio album, and it's safe to say, the hope is nowhere near gone.

Taking their experimenting one step further, Slipknot are keeping their heavy and scary approach but mixing in softer elements, acoustic guitars and cleaner singing that could be taken straight from Stone Sour (singer Corey Talor sing in both bands, after all). It's a bold move, and frowned upon by many, but I like it; it's not the constant pounding, your ears won't bleed as much as before giving you more time to enjoy the music. You'll still feel the need to jump around, however.

The special edition comes packed with three bonus tracks and a DVD. One of the new tracks is a remix of Vermillion pt.2 that appeared on Volume 3: (The Subliminal Verses). While not bringing any new material to the Vermillion "saga", it brings new depth to it; it's a great remix.

The DVD features a 35 minute long documentary called "Nine: The making of All Hope IS Gone". It contains shots of the band members playing their instruments or singing mixed with some behind the scenes-clips of the video to the title track. There's however no interviews and hardly no spoken words, which I would have found more interrresting. I felt like I could have done well without this extra disk, but being a sucker for digipacks I couldn't pass it up. ;-]

A mixture of soft and hard, dark and light; Opeth returns with their ninth studio album, Watershed. Well, so far only a leaked version of it..

So, is it any good? Well, yes, simply put, although I find a few passages I'm having hard to take to heart. It feels as if the keyboardist isn't really needed; what he adds to the mash could be taken away and the result would be just as good. Spite that, the album is enjoyable and having listened through it only once or twice, I have found a few favourites already.

Opeth delivers, not 100% but close.

I love pre-orders; I find myself listening to albums the days before they're set to be released. (And no, I don't count leaked copies of the album. ;) )

A Sense of Purpose dropped in my mail today and I've given it a good listen. In Flames takes a step away from the keyboards with this their ninth studio album. Instead the focus is set back on the guitars and in my opinion it's a step in the right direction. Concidering the last few albums (and even though they reached out to a wider audience), the sound has been a bit "meh" with the keyboards taking (again, in my opinion) too much space (listen to Reroute to Remain and onward). What's left to complain about is the drums, but that's another story; too much energy isn't as bad at a second glance. ;)

A Sense of Purpose is darker than previous albums, the lyrics and artworks are really twisted. And really good. In Flames delivers!

Gothic-Doom metal band Draconian and I don't go a long ways back, I found out about them just a few weeks ago when I was browsing for growls on Youtube and found a nice little compilation of "beauty and the beast"-vocals styled bands.

Sad but beautiful poetry about lost love in a bundle of soothing melodies; Draconian delivers.