Baptized in Blood

I came across these guys completely by accident watching Kerrang, in a rare moment that it actually played metal, a song by these guys came on and I could already tell they would fit well in my music library.

So I bought their album of the same name through iTunes and cannot stop listening to it. The first track Up Skirts Down Shirts is a beautifully crafted heavy intro to the album and the guys themselves. It kicks up a gear at Game On, which has an incredibly heavy chorus riff. Last Line Lady is like a prelude to the appcalypse, as from Go It Alone onwards there is not a single bum note, Will Of a Demon will have you screaming along, all the way through to Event Horizon. Of the special edition tracks, the second two are absolute stunners, Pray For Rain is a brilliant penultimate track, as Blue Oyster kicks through to your head with lyrics packed to the brim with meaning.

Baptized in Blood will definitely be taking a permanent high place in my library, their sheer brutality is a breath of fresh air in a metal music industry that, in my opinion, is flatlining.

Parkway and me

Parkway Drive have been a big influence on my life since i first heard them in 2006 through a good friend of mine. He gave me their album Killing With a Smile saying "you've gotta listen to this man, it's fucking brutal" so began my foray into the band that made me what I am today.

Right from the start, I couldn't stop listening to the album, the guitar was so heavy, so amazingly skilled I fell in love immediately. The drums took a while to sink in because they aren't my favorite instrument but the technical brutality that Ben Gordon could thrash out with those drum sticks. Then we get to their crowning glory, their cherry on the top, their piece de resistance. Winston McCall. The man is able to deal out a, savage, almost animalistic roar from his mouth throughout every track. He switches effortlessly between low and high screams, constantly leaving the listener amazed at his vocal range. There of course, would be no depth to anything they did with their guitars, especially their breakdowns, without Jia O'connor their bassist. He completes the Metalcore quintet.

Then we move into the album, it starts with an absolute belter by way of Gimmie a D. The song blasts into pure hate for everything and anything, it's like Winston had been through a bad break up when they were writing it. Every track is just a no holds barred, white knuckle smash in the face.

Moving swiftly onto their second album Horizons. It was a big change from their first album, they had a lyric-less intro track and their songs had more of a conventional structure, more so than their previous album. The final track, with the same name as the album, is a standout from them, being over 5 minutes it's longer than most other tracks by them. The album is however, unremarkable with small smatterings of brilliance.

Finally their most recent, and brilliant offering to the metal world. Deep Blue. Right from the off you know, this is gonna be a good time. The first track Unrest has given them a great quote in the form of "what the fuck, have, I become" Sleepwalker is a brutal awakening pushing you further into this orgy of sound and power. Deliver me has one of their classic and neck destroying breakdowns, which hits you like a kick to the gut. Right the way through to the insanely heavy minute and a half long finisher Set To Destroy, this album doesn't slow down, doesn't compromise and isn't just the same sound from this titan of the metalcore world. Parkway Drive haven't just done the same thing over and over, they evolved, their Ep was incredible, unbelievably harsh and pure sounding, now they've moved into an extremely downtuned and heavy style.

All in all I've never stopped enjoying Parkway, they are a band I just don't skip when a track comes on. Beautifully brutal, and technically sublime, I will never stop loving what these Australian monsters do.

Music and me

When I was younger I was much influenced by my fathers taste in music, so I got into classic rock at quite a young age. Guns and Roses where the first band that I really idolized, more specifically the lead guitarist Slash. The guitar was always my dream instrument, I'd have loved to have started learning at a young age, and be able to tell you I'm pretty good now, but I didn't get my first guitar until I was 16, and I have no money for lessons, so me self teaching myself isn't going well, but im soldiering on. Anyway way back when, I got into more, current rock music, so when American Idiot came out in 2004 I lapped it right up, for the next few months I lived and breathed Green Day, if you didnt find me listening to them it was cause my mp3 player was out of battery. I then moved to Lostprophets, back before they sold out and started making mainstream crap. I really got into it when their liberation transmission album came out, and it was at that time in my life I came to, what I call my musical crossroads. I could see myself moving towards the opposite end of the spectrum, Rap music, hip hop, all that stuff, or moving onto heavier things. After a few weeks of indecision I went heavy, and punched my way into Dragonforce.

Dragonforce changed my life, listening to 7 straight minutes of almost pure shred, insane drums and almost heavenly vocals, I felt I was finally happy with my musical taste, it was soon I was gonna hit the heavy though. Without much ado, I bid my farewells to clean vocals and un downtuned guitars, I said hello to Children Of Bodom. The sudden move from power metal straight to Death Metal was like a punch into my eardrums. My brain was in a state of shock, it couldn't process exactly what was happening in the music, but it knew it fucking loved it and wanted more and more.

Not long after this I really moved into my genre of choice, Metalcore. A good friend of mine put me in touch with a band that, I didn't know it at the time, would change how I thought about music like no other band has since. I am talking, of course, about Parkway Drive. The Aussie quintuplet smashed their way into my head and haven't left since. The drumming is sublime, the guitaring is deliciously brutal and the vocals display nothing but pure unbridled aggression. The entire package is nothing but raw power that is comparable to getting repeatedly punched in the face.

That moved me into deathcore, bands like Suicide Silence, Black Dahlia Murder and even Bring me the Horizon for a short while before I realized I hated them. I don't much listen to these bands but if it cones on an I don't feel like changing I'll enjoy it and just mosh. More recently I have moved into enjoying Dubstep and some house music, but my first love will always be the metal. So mosh on, keep it up at 11 and fuck the haters.

Shite metal choices

So I just ran into a couple of members of my mates band Militant Download, and to my dismay I found out their singer had chosen their cover song with basically no input from the others. He had chosen to do an Asking Alexandria track, who are what epitomize bad metal nowadays, faggish nasaly singing with barely any screaming and some really crappy guitaring. Me and my mate Tom basically had to convince them that they could NOT play it or we would lose all respect for them. Josh's reason for choosing this crap? He can do the vocals and he thought all women in the crowd would fall to their knees infront of them, what he didn't take into account is that because of the other bands playing, about 95% of the audience would now know who the crap they were, and the other 5 is the hardcore metalheads that fucking hate it. So instead we convinced them to play either something by Killswitch Engage or other proper metal bands, Thank the fucking lord the rest of the band hate Asking Alexandria

Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Hau Ruck

I love metal, found through a close friend i have enjoyed metal for a good 5 years now, and have never looked back. I have also always ahad a good affinity for Dance music, House music and have recently aquired a liking for Dubstep.

If you like those listed above then follow me, you might learn a thing or two about music, if not then bugger orf, you'll hate this blog :P