Not sure what to think of it yet. It’s hard to beat tracks such as “Are you there?” and “Release” among others.

Holy shit, this guy can play some serious guitar!

Eric Calderone, remember that name. “Y U NO famous already?”, that’s the question. Here’s one of my favorites:

He’s made three gals from The Netherlands serious fans. I showed this at my friends house yesterday, I think all three of us are following him on twitter now. ^^; What’s more, he is easy on the eyes xD. No matter how much some guys whine about the little wink that’s beginning to be his trademark, leave it in, svp!

Also: have you seen the shirts he wears? My friends and I were like: “Ghostbusters”, “Batman!”, “The green lantern”, “Transformers”, “ZOMG Ninja Turtles”… (and so on). /totalgeekout.

He’s made 65 videos so far, go check it out on his Youtube channel.

I hope they’ll still make music that somewhat resembles the first two albums, even though there’s been changes in the band. So what makes me like this band from what they’ve shown so far? It’s creativity: not the endless grunting and screaming in an everlasting repetition of the same. It has the ability to surprise the listener around every corner without getting ‘lost’, so it’s still cohesive metal. Don’t believe me? Check out one of their older songs: World Domination. 1 minute to 1.45 minutes may sound average, but trust me and hang in there for the ride.

Edit: just found out they’re actually coming out with another album! <3 I thought they would quit after Mechanize for real. Looks like it's coming out in May. Can say what you will, they're still awesome.

I so want to see them live. “Der Graf” (aka… The Count) is of course what defines Unheilig with his warm voice. It’s funny how this band can appeal to people all ages. Older people from this region have a knack for german schlager music whether people my age and younger like it or not, but the style of Unheilig is surpassing the generation boundary. If you have a preference for “to the bone”, with a little gothic/metal mixed in, this is a band for you.

Be quick before the copyright hunters will remove it (intro):

Currently being played constantly on the German radio (single):

The only reason I got to know the title is because 3FM has this ‘what was played’ on their website. I LUFFS THIS SONG. IET IES OF TEH AWESOME WHEN YOU’RE DRIVING IN THE NOWHERE DARKLAND WHERE I LIVE ON FULL VOLUME. WOOOOOOOOOO. I used to be a club queen before I switched to metal so don’t underestimate me in that respect. I think the entire reason I got into metal is because them ‘normal boring folk’ always had this notion I should be metal when – at that time – I was not. Some guys would even shun me because I just had the ‘metal face’. I can’t help that I look like a raven, xD. I’m one of those unintended gothics minna-san thinks should be auto-mutilating themselves. So sorry to disappoint, but if you would queue, I’ll put that raizor to good use. So that’s when I thought… ‘People suck’. Et voila, I found metal. They “sing”, “bark”, “squeel” about nothing else, xD.

Here’s another surprising fact: even though I knew ‘Nederrap’ (Rap from the Netherlands) existed, no song actually was entertaining except this one:

And I wuz like… I hate rap and hipsnot, and the first song I like is Nederrap. It’s by ‘Spookrijders’, which means …err… ‘A ghost driver’.

I thought I’d like Dark Mirror ov Tragedy the best since it’s the closest genre in there which I listen to. Guy turns out to be a screamer con-stant-ly. It’s somewhere between Behemoth and Borgir indeed. Even the band name reminded me of Behemoth (Zos Kia is the only album I like).

The biggest surprise was actually the power metal band, Rabihem. This is an At Vance cover. I’ve seen At Vance live in an opening program once. Think my friend has a cd and a shirt. Compliments, now that’s a voice. I think in certain areas he does even better than the original (a bit more over the top). ANO, it’s strange to see an Asian face produce that sound!

Here’s how I actually approve or disapprove of new metal bands:

1. I play each track 2-5 seconds. If everything starts the same, it’s out the door.
2. I listen to the track with the coolest intro, and see if the vocalist only screams or only grunts. Either of these two without actually singing in between then there is but one thing your savior: guitars that kickass it doesn’t need a vocalist.
3. Too much pitch to screams or a voice not heavy enough for grunting is ultimately going on my ‘bad list’ too.
4. If I see live on Youtube I usually give them some slack. lol. Recording is usually aweful, and the sound that heavy streaming video can’t ‘handle it’.

So which bands have good vocalist(s)? Soilwork, early Scar Symmetry, Fear Factory, Dagoba (though I have yet to listen to any other song than ‘The things within’), old Mercenary (Mikkel Sandager), and Evergrey. It’s easier to find good vocalists in Power Metal though: “men in tights”.

What I do not miss is the drummer telling me “I want to fuck you in your face”, by the way. XDD. I think he mixes up groupies with nerds.

Here’s a semi-ok live video. The bagpipes sound shriller on video than it was yesterday though.

There were about 40-50 people present at that concert and about halfway in we all got hold of someone elses shoulders and did like a train xD. At some point we were brawling and dancing and two girls whom I’ve never met in my life before I just simply grabbed and they tagged along. There’s just something about small metal concerts that shows a unity, equality and a ‘no (wo)man left behind’ type of thing that I really like. Besides that, you see a lot of interesting people of all ages. lol. There’s always that 50+ couple enjoying the show in the back of the room, the even and odd freak, people of all races, some tattoo’d up to their necks, some neatly dressed people, etc. I think the word I’m looking for is ‘acceptance’. You don’t even need to dress the uniform to join in. Hell, I once saw a guy in khaki pants and a bright pink, extremely gay looking sweater with the college frat boy vest tied around his neck mosh like there was no tomorrow. lol.

It was fun!

^^ enjoy your search.

I don’t know, let’s see by the end of the year. I just never for one moment thought I could make that many connections myself, let alone connect other people to other people that like the same thing. Truly, I’ve been humbled by the concept. At some point I seem to have noticed I sort of ended up on “whatever page of Ken” reaching a dead-end on google analytics. Whatever. lol. /Ignores. One thing about L’Arc is, it’ll stay with you forever since it’s for one forging stronger bonds in Europe among fans, and still, they’re a great band no matter how many breaks they take! Moreover, and foremost, they should (and by now will) realize how strong the fanbase is in Europe. Just never had any idea what kind of visibilty I created.

Before your heart stands still…

“Tell me how much you love me”
“Tell me how much you want to fuck me”
“Brothers”
“Sisters”
“YFC, YFC”

I think 40% of the time of the concert was audience interaction like this.

There were a couple of songs I hadn’t heard before since I’m old-school which I quite enjoyed. I should look them up :)