Heavy Metal Music In My Blood!

If you live in New Zealand or are a Kiwi abroad, and are into any forms of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal/Doom/Dark/Extreme music, feel free to subscribe to the MetalNewZealand mailing list. So far it's been great, we've picked up a diverse selection of people, many of whom are involved in bands, organising gigs, distribution, or DJ'ing. Both local and international bands & news are discussed. To join up, just send a blank email to MetalNewZealand-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or click here to go to the MetalNewZealand page at the Yahoo!Groups site and sign up from there.

On the subject of New Zealand metal/dark/etc bands, there hasn't been a lot who have caught my interest over the years. However there are six of note: Shakhan, Altitude, Shihad, Datura, Disjecta Membra, & Muckhole.

Shakhan are (were?) the the current greatest metal band in New Zealand. Until their In The Zone EP release I only knew one track called "Clearlite" from a local compilation CD. But the EP blew me away, 5 totally great songs, both in the songwriting and the recording. Sounds so much better than most recordings by unknown bands. I don't know how to describe what they play - melodic but not in a power metal way... there is an edge to it, in part provided by the vocals which are also hard to describe. Kinda shouted/barked but not in an aggressive or over the top way, and quite easy to understand. Don't be put off because this is really excellent stuff from an up and coming band. Update Dec 2004: I went to one of their gigs and they played a lot of new stuff, and I'm here to tell you it KICKS ASS and when their album comes out (hopefully mid 2005) it's going to ABSOLUTELY SLAY! Update mid 2005: Damn! The band has basically disappeared; vocalist was fired (so I understand) and nothing has been seen or heard of them since, and webpage hasn't been updated with any news/status at all. Fuck.

Why didn't I remember to put Monsterworks here before now? These guys along with Altitude (see below) would have to be my favourite currently active NZ bands, albeit both bands are quite different. I suppose Monsterworks could be roughly compared to Swedish Melodic Death metal, without being quite as intense as classic At The Gates nor as light and catchy as latter day Soilwork and In Flames - somewhere in the middle. Vocals are a kind of higher pitched growl-becomes-screech kind of thing, but not like black metal. The songs are reasonably up tempo and no more than about 3:30 long on average. They've had various releases, and it was Dimensional Urgency and Rogue that got me into them. Check out their website!

Altitude hail from the lower reaches of Northland and are influenced by and play hard rock/melodic metal rooted in bands and artists that were around in 70's and still are today (e.g. Deep Purple, Glenn Hughes). So they play a modern take on classic hard rock/melodic metal with occassional symphonic leanings. I first heard a track of theirs on The Axe Attack radio show some time ago, and was blown away that a NZ band was going this style of melodic hard rock. Only recently have I gotten a hold of their album Light Before The Dawn and it's awesome stuff considering it's a debut album from a band living in a fairly small town in New Zealand. Buy it from http://www.karmarecordsgroup.com/ ! Apparently there is a second album not too far away as well... bring it on as I'm sure it will be even better!!

Click for the site of Shihad (now known as Pacifier)

Shihad started out as a 80's influenced (but not at all cheesy) melodic heavy metal band and released a great EP Devolve which had 3 great originals and a cover of Sabbath's "The Wizard". By the time they released their first album Churn, they were playing a darker, bleaker, powerful style of metal that relied on riffs and intensity and had no room for guitar solos. However it was an excellent album and remains my favourite ever New Zealand album to this day. The next album Killjoy was another very good one, starting to steer away from pure metal, but still dark and heavy for most of it. During the Churn/Killjoy era they gathered fans here and abroad, including the likes of Faith No More and Ministry. After that they changed further and released basically a rock album which was self titled. They have since released two more albums that have done well commercially, during which time they changed their name to Pacifier (although late 2004 they changed back to Shihad). I recommend people check out the early stuff: Devolve, Churn, and Killjoy. The Pacifier Live double CD is very good, including material from Churn onwards.

Datura released one EP, Allisone, and one album, Visions For The Celestial, both on Cranium Records before breaking up around the year 2000. The EP isn't overly special, but holy shit, the album is a friggin world class effort along the stoner rock/metal lines. US Record Label Brainticket (founded by Solitude Aeturnus main man John Perez) who sign and distribute bands in the doom, stoner, and just plain heavy categories, has licensed this album to produce and sell in the USA. Do yourself a favour and check it out! Latest news from Datura is that they are back together but with a new drummer. Excellent!

Disjecta Membra admittedly aren't particularly metal other than one track (their most well known one) called "Cauldron Of Cerridwen", which the band founder refers to as "The Iron Maiden one" although the similarity must be more apparent to musos rather than non-musos. However they do play dark gothic rock which connects with me as I'm into all sorts of doom & gothic metal (see further down this page). There has only been one album released with the title Achromaticia. Due to numerous circumstances the follow up album Sibylline Leaves may not see the light of day, although the band now seems active again having put together a new lineup now based in Auckland. Check out the link above to their official homepage, and check out their page at mp3.com where there are several tracks from the Achromaticia album there to download. Another favourite song of mine is "Danse Macabre", but the whole album is great anyway :-)

My liking of Muckhole was a bit of a surprise as my tastes don't usually extend to punky stuff. I didn't discover Muckhole's music until after the band themselves had broken up. Anyway, they play an infectously catchy type of melodic punk, usually with great lyrics. Not commercial aimed-at-the-radio type of stuff either. It's definitely worth tracking down all their releases; Where's The Corndogs? (EP), Kooza album (there was a 3 track single for Cool Guy but all those tracks are on Kooza as well), and the Fresh Muck mini-album which seems to have been their last release. These guys really were a great surprise to me and I would recommend them to anyone.

Other classic NZ rock/alt/metal albums:
Head Like A Hole - 13
Jakob - Cale:Drew

Yes indeed, Iron Maiden are my favourite band! They are the band that were primarily responsible for getting me into metal music in general... The combination of melody, heavyness, finely crafted songs and lyrics, plus a great singer, had me hooked quick, for life. In the early to mid 1980's I had heard bits and pieces of Maiden, but it wasn't until 1986 when I borrowed the Live After Death double LP from a friend, that I really understood how awesome these guys are.

Their first album was released in 1980 and they are still active, releasing their latest studio album Dance Of Death in 2003 and touring to support it as usual.

Iron Maiden finally made it to New Zealand to play a concert on October 20th 1992, during their Fear Of The Dark Tour. Bruce had a bad cold, Dave had a bandaged knee, and there were a couple of technical hitches, but the show was still great and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

I'm a member of the Iron Maiden fanclub, and when I joined I received the promised autographed band picture, which was the first thing I scanned with my new (at the time) scanner... If you want to see it, click here. It was from the period where Blaze Bayley (ex-Wolfsbane) was vocalist.

I've started a mailing list for Kiwi (ie. anyone in New Zealand, as well as NZ'ers abroad) Maiden fans to exchange any Maiden related information and views. Click here to go to the MaidenNewZealand web page, which as well as info about signing up to the mailing list contains a few bits of info including: Iron Maiden's New Zealand connections, latest release info, my review of Brave New World, and MP3's of two Iron Maiden classics recorded by New Zealand bands. Those of you outside of New Zealand may never get to hear them any other way!

There are now well over 10 Maiden tribute albums out that I know of; see info/comments on the major oneselow. Some time ago when there was only the first one or two released, there was talk of Century Media records wanting to do one. Century would only do it with full support from Maiden, and Maiden feel that a tribute albums aren't appropriate while they are still an active recording and touring band, so they haven't endorsed that, and therefore not any of the others that did get done and released. Anyway, I've included this information because I don't think there are many places where all this is collected in one place:

Made In Tribute (1997) released in Japan only by Toy's Factory. 10 Tracks, spanning material from Killers through to Seventh Son. Bands include Therion, Nocturnal Rites, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, and Sadist. Most of it tends toward the death or black metal side of things but a few tracks aren't.

A Call To Irons (1998) released in the USA by Dwell Records. 11 Tracks, 2 of them instrumentals, spanning material from the debut album through to Powerslave. Bands include Solitude Aeturnus, Opeth, Absu, New Eden, and Evoken. Some tracks are quite good, but a few are weaker.

A Call To Irons 2 (1999) released in the USA by Dwell Records. 13 Tracks, spanning material from the debut album through to No Prayer For The Dying. Bands include Prototype, Steel Prophet, Deceased, October 31, and Acheron. While there is some good moments (eg. the cover of Where Eagles Dare is great) it's one of the weaker tributes.

Maiden America (1999) was released in the USA by Twilight Records. A 2CD set featuring 11 American bands, with Maiden covers on disc 1, and original tracks by the bands on disc 2. The Maiden tracks span material from the debut album through to Somewhere In Time. Bands include Sadus, Pharaoh, Omen, Edenrot, and Dawnbringer. It took me ages to track this down, I ended up getting it from Century Media.

666 - The Number One Beast [also titled The Maiden Years depending on what part of the world you are in] (1999) released by Cleopatra. Various musos share the playing duties throughout the CD, with a total of 5 lead vocalists contributing: Paul Dianno (4 tracks from his era, didn't have the guts to do some later material it seems), Steve Overland, Steve Grimmett, Doogie White, and Gary Barden (collectively covering 7 tracks from Number Of The Beast to Seventh Son). Reviews I'd read indicated that it's not an overly inspiring album, and I didn't buy it until early 2001. The reviews were correct, overall it just seems to lack something, and I also have to say that it's a fairly boring kind of tracklist, every track was a Maiden single and/or has been played extensively in concert. This would rank alongside Call To Irons 2 (see above) compared to other tributes.

Children Of The Damned (1999) released by Adrenaline Records of Italy. A double CD featuring bands from Australia, Cyprus, India, USA, Sweden, Italy, and Germany. Disc 1 contains the Maiden covers, which span almost all the albums up to and including Virtual XI. To quote a guy in one of the bands appearing, "This time no death metal". The first three tributes include some bands who use death or rough vocals (and a couple with black metal vox in the case of "Made In Tribute"). However they also all have tracks which are done by bands with 'clean' vocalists. Disc 2 will have original songs by the bands, although one band is a Maiden tribute band, so their 2nd song is a Maiden song as well.

Transilvania 666 (1999) released by someone from Spain I think, not totally sure. To my knowledge, this is a 2CD set, both CD's containing Maiden covers, but only 8 tracks per disc. Since none of the epics get covered, they could have almost put the whole lot on one CD. I don't know any of the bands who appear on it, but apparently it's reasonably good. There is at least one song covered from every Maiden album up to and including Fear Of The Dark, with 10 of the 16 tracks coming from the first four albums.

Slave To The Power (2000) released by USA's MeteorCity. Another 2CD set except this time both discs have Maiden covers! The songs cover every album from Iron Maiden to Seventh Son. The bands range from big names like Iron Savior (Running Free), Sebastian Bach (Children Of The Damned), Crowbar (Remember Tommorrow), Ray Alder (Murders In The Rue Morgue), and Solstice (The Prophecy), to up and coming bands like Las Cruces (The Prisoner), Solace (Another Life), and Eternal Elysium (Innocent Exile). A very interesting set of covers, some closer to the originals, and some done in all new ways - you'll hardly recognise "The Trooper" by Finland's Höyry-Kone! Definitely one of the more recommended tributes.

Maiden Scandinavia (2000). Like the Transilvania 666 album, I don't know any of the bands that contribute to this album, but the tracklisting is 10 or 11 songs long and contains some good selections including ones that haven't tended to be covered on the previous tributes, such as No Prayer For The Dying, Seventh Son, Purgatory, Charlotte The Harlot, Stranger In A Strange Land, and The Fugitive. It was sounding pretty interesting to me but then I read a fairly unflattering review, so the jury is out until I can get some more opinions.

666 - The Number One Beast Vol 2 (2000) released by Cleopatra. This seems much along the same lines as the first one but I bought this one as the track list is more interesting. It includes some tracks that haven't yet been covered & seldom covered tracks like: Bring Your Daughter, Flight Of Icarus, The Clairvoyant, Fear Of The Dark, Remember Tommorrow, and The Prisoner. This disc is significantly better overall than the first volume reviewed above.It's largely the same set of vocalists as Vol 1, except there is 1 track with Bernie Shaw, and Gary Barden is not present. My only real problem with this is that again Paul Dianno only sticks to the tracks from his era (4 more of them).

Tribute To The Beast (2002) released by Nuclear Blast, total of 16 tracks. The bad news is that most of the tracks have been previously released on the bands own releases, or on other tribute CD's such as Made In Tribute and A Call To Irons. The good news is that some are unreleased or hard to find, the covers are generally quite good, and most bands are well known e.g. Rage, Grave Digger, Children Of Bodom, Sonata Arctica, Iced, Earth, Cradle Of Filth, Therion, Steel Prophet, Dark Tranquility, Sinergy, Opeth, and Six Feet Under. The material is mostly Iron Maiden to Piece Of Mind, with a couple of Powerslave tracks and also Stranger In A Strange Land. If you don't have other Maiden tribute albums, may be well be one of the best tributes, along with Slave To The Power.

Tribute To The Beast Vol 2 (2003) from Nuclear Blast and much the same approach as the original volume, although some of the bands aren't quite as well known this time around and perhaps more tracks aren't so common elsewhere. Speaking personally the main attraction here is Therion's live version of Revelations - the recording is kind of 'bootleg' in style but still cool. Again also most tracks are from the debut through to Piece Of Mind (incl. well known covers by Sentenced, Anthrax, Iced Earth, and Stuck Mojo), plus representation also of Powerslave (Primal Fear's 2MtM), Somewhere In Time (Wolf's Deja Vu and Thunderstone's Wasted Years), Seventh Son (Necrophobic's Moonchild), and Fear Of The Dark (title track by Graveworm). 15 tracks in total and the euro edition comes with a 8 track bonus disc which is basically a sampler of the Slave To The Power tribute.

I've decided to add this information because it seems to be a question that comes up on a semi-regular basis.

There is an official CD release of Maiden England, albiet quite rare and very much unavailable. There is a bootleg digipack version which I'd heard about out and then found listed for sale on a Canadian music store site. The official release was only available as part of a special Video+CD release, so not as a seperate item. It was part of a series of Video+CD packs covering various artists, and also included Black Sabbath's Cross Purposes Live (which I don't think even had a video only release) and Marillion's Live At Loreley.

Recommended Iron Maiden albums: Piece Of Mind (1983), Live After Death (1985), The Number Of The Beast (1982), Iron Maiden (1980), Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988), Brave New World (2000), Rock In Rio (2002).

Recommended Bruce Dickinson albums: Skunkworks (1996), The Chemical Wedding (1998), Accident Of Birth (1997), Balls To Picasso (1994).

Swedish band Candlemass was my introduction to Doom Metal - it was the morning after a party at Mike's parents house, and I was awakening after crashing out in the lounge with a few other people, when Mike put on the "Tales Of Creation" CD. It had an immediate effect on me, and I soon borrowed it from him, and before long I was a major fan.

To this day, Candlemass are my favourite Doom Metal band, and I worship the pseudo-operatic vocals of Messiah Marcolin who was with Candlemass from 1987-1990, after which he became the vocalist for Memento Mori on 3 of their 4 albums. Candlemass broke up in 1993, and the founder member Leif Edling put together a band called Abstrakt Algebra who released a cool self titled album in 1995.

In 1998 an album named Dactylis Glomerata came out under the name of Candlemass, but it hasn't got anything much to do with the original Candlemass despite the presence of founder member Leif Edling. It's less doomy and less epic and only average overall. In 1999 another new album called From The 13th Sun was released, still not like the old stuff although this one was better received than Dactylis but I think it's only marginally better. Then came an odd release - a 7" with the tracks Nimis and Rock n Roll. In 2001 the three classic Messiah-era Candlemass discs were remastered and re-released with bonus discs including live/demo/video/interview tracks. That turned out to be a pre-cursor to a reformed 'classic era' lineup doing some shows and releasing a new double live CD Doomed For Live and the Documents Of Doom double DVD.

Also around this time another double CD has been released under Leif Edling's name called Black Heart Of Candlemass. The first disc has many old demo versions from the very early days of what was to become Candlemass, while the second disc has more recent demos and unreleased material from the latter days (e.g. Abstrakt Algebra and the Dactylis/13th Sun era). Must have for the Candlemass/Edling fan!

The reformed classic lineup disbanded again and Edling formed a new band Krux including vocalist Mats Leven who was on the Abstrakt Algebra album. They have a self titled CD and a live DVD and I'd say it's the best stuff since the Abstrakt Algebra album. At that point there was one new track "Witches" that survived from the aborted reunion sessions and was included on a Candlemass compilation called Essential Doom that came with a 5 track live DVD.

Finally the classic lineup got themselves together and recorded the long hoped for album, simply titled Candlemass. And a great album it is too! The latest release is a new live DVD called The Curse Of Candlemass... The bad news is that it was recorded before their toured for the latest album so the only new song it contains is Witches, however the good news is that it contains other tracks that are not always featured in Candlemass concerts and live albums like Black Stone Wielder, A Cry From The Crypt, Ancient Dreams, The Bells Of Acheron, and Into The Unfathomed Tower.

Recommended Candlemass albums: Nightfall (1987), Tales Of Creation (1990), Candlemass (2005), Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986), As It Is As It Was - Best Of (1994)

Recommended Memento Mori albums: Rhymes Of Lunacy (1993), Songs For The Apocolypse Vol IV (1998), Life Death and Other Morbid Tales (1994)

Metal Bands & Styles of Metal that I like

Too many to list! So I will give a bit of an overview of what I like, list some of my favourite bands, some interesting bands, and some lesser known bands, along with links to websites where you can find out more about them (most of the band logos are linked to a site).

I like bands that encompass a number of attributes from the following list: Melody, harmony, emotion, speed, power, heaviness, atmosphere, intensity, great lyrics, great vocals (or vocals that suit the music), technical ability, epic and/or long compositions, catchy/sing-a-long parts, and some use of influences and styles from other genres of music.

Nevermore hail from America (Seattle but not grunge!). A band who has put out some incredible albums and were long overdue for me to add to this site. They have 4 albums and 1 EP, and I strongly recommend all but one of them! Formed by 2 ex-members of Sanctuary (check out the album Into The Mirror Black), Nevermore produce intense, heavy, melodic, sometimes twisted, sometimes beautiful, but always powerful and skillful heavy metal music. Probably the top USA Heavy Metal band!
Recommended albums: Dead Heart In A Dead World, Dreaming Neon Black, In Memory EP, This Godless Endeavour, self-titled debut.

Iced Earth are an American band who I think have successfully brought modernised traditional metal into the mid 90's, and they have been getting more popular with each album. My favourite album of theirs, The Dark Saga, is based on the Spawn comic series. It is probably their most accessible album showcasing both their more aggressive and powerful aspects as well as their melodic hooks, with a great vocalist and an epic suite of three continuous songs to close the album. Their epic live album Alive In Athens comes as a 2CD or 3CD set. I recommend the 3CD set to not miss out on songs like Desert Rain, When The Night Falls, Blessed Are You, and Violate. Their latest albums are the most excellent Horrow Show (buy it!), a great covers CD titled Tribute To The Gods, and brand new is The Glorious Burden which sports their 4th singer Tim Owens, a very good vocalist who sung with Judas Priest for two albums prior to the Priest reformation with Halford.
Recommended albums: The Dark Saga, Horror Show, Night Of The Stormrider, Iced Earth, Days Of Purgatory, Alive In Athens, The Glorious Burden.

Falconer currently have four albums. Their first two in particular are folk influenced metal. Stefan is the main man on the music and lyrics, and Mathias (who sung on the first two albums) has an excellent and unique voice that totally suits the music. I originally read good reviews and then heard one song from each album, both excellent. The track Enter The Glade made me think very much of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, playing modern heavy metal! Lyrically some of it is fantasy/medieval type, some is folk type stuff, and some is just general stuff. This mix is apparent by songs like Lament Of A Minstrel, We Sold Our Homesteads, and Busted To The Floor can all be on the same album. Unfortunately Stefan had to leave the band as he didn't have the time to tour, and their latest albums Sceptre Of Deception and Grime vs Grandeur have a new vocalist. While Sceptre was OK we were hoping for more from the next album,but Grime turned out to be more of a disappointment. Not bad but just not anything special like the first two unique albums. They are now going back to their old singer and more of their old folky style, excellent !
Recommended albums: Chapters From A Vale Forlorn, Falconer (self titled).

These guys are from Germany and I call them "Heavy Metal Minstrels" or "Speed Metal Bards"! Amazing combinations of speed, melody, fantasy type themes in the lyrics, which also show through in the music especially the acoustic instrumentation, and big singalong choruses. They keep getting more and more popular, and deservedly so. Majestic stuff and highly recommended. Of recent material, Nightfall In Middle Earth saw them losing some of the speed while still doing the big choruses and always a lot of melody, then came A Night At The Opera which is a part return to faster/heavier stuff but not one of their best. Both of those albums are popular with many others though, especially Nightfall. Latest releases are the double live CD simply called Live that naturally focuses on more recent material (Imaginations/Nightfall/Opera), and a live DVD called Imaginations Through The Looking Glass that has a good range of old and new material especially centered on the Imaginations From... album. New album A Twist In The Myth soon.
Recommended albums: Imaginations From The Other Side, Somewhere Far Beyond, Tales From The Twilight World, Live CD, Imaginations DVD.

Well how could one leave out Black Sabbath from a list of great metal bands. I shouldn't have to educate anyone about the early years with Ozzy on vocals, but I can say that Black Sabbath have continued on in one form or another ever since. The original lineup finally reunited for tours and and released a double live CD Reunion, which has 16 live tracks and 2 new studio tracks. Of the post-Ozzy albums, Dehumanizer with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, is my favourite. It's modern, it's heavy, it's doomy, it's intense musically and lyrically, and of course Dio is a great vocalist.
Recommended albums: Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Black Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Dehumanizer, Reunion [live 2CD], Past Lives [live 2CD]

Queensryche evolved fast over their 23 year, 9 studio album, career. Their latest releases are more of a modern rock feel, and have no resemblance to the intense metal band with the powerful high pitched vocals that put out their debut EP and album. Definitely look to their early to mid period stuff. The first two recommended albums that I have listed below are what many fans see as the best - intelligent & challenging lyrics, classy musicianship, great vocals, intensity, overall quality progressive metal. Promised Land is not as intense musically, but some great songs and an atmosphere that I love. One of my favourite Queensryche songs is called 'NM 156', from their first album The Warning. Ever since I got a full internet access, my email address has always started with "nm156". More recent releases are the DVD and double live CD Live Evolution covering all stages of their career, and a re-release of the classic live album Operation: Livecrime (which is a fantastic live recording of the entire Operation: Mindcrime album) with a bonus live versions of "Lady Wore Black" and "Roads To Madness". Since then there has been another studio album called Tribe which is better than the two preceding studio albums, but still not up to their classic stuff, and most recently the long awaited part 2 release to Operation: Mindcrime which is creditable but nothing will ever capture the style and magic of the original O:M.
Recommended albums: Rage For Order, Operation: Mindcrime, Promised Land, The Warning, Greatest Hits (only for the casual fan)

Warrior Soul evolved over the course of 5 albums, moving from a reasonably traditional metal band, to a punkish metal combination, before disbanding. Kory Clarke has a unique and strong voice, the music is intense, lyrics are powerful and often politically/socially fueled. The following albums show the best of their metal side before they changed direction. There was later a CD released called Odds And Ends (also called Fucker) which is a great collection of demos and unreleased tracks covering their whole career. There has been a reformation of the band, with the original/classic lineup. They re-recorded 16 tracks from their catalogue and released it on a CD Classics, so it's a kind of re-recorded 'best of'. Other Warrior Soul related websites can be found here and here.
Recommended albums: Salutations To The Ghetto Nation, Drugs God and the New Republic, Last Decade Dead Century, Classics, Space Age Playboys.

Savatage is a band that I slowly got into, as I often felt that their earlier material is a bit overrated. They have done some quite diverse albums so not all of them will appeal to all fans. However they really impressed me with Dead Winter Dead. This concept album tells the story of war-torn Sarajevo set to amazing songs which are so diverse in nature, using two vocalists, classical & symphonic influences, and the kind of overall feeling that just gets into you and sweeps you along with the music. Their latest album Poets & Madman is a cross between their more recent symphonic sound and the older more straight ahead metal approach. A couple of average tracks on it but overall very good, with a specific storyline (as they often have).
Recommended albums: Dead Winter Dead, A Ghost In The Ruins [Live], From The Gutter To The Stage [Best Of], Hall Of The Mountain King

And now a few new lesser known bands...
Mezarkabul hail from Turkey and have been around a good number of years, but only in more recent years have they managed to get albums made and distributed internationally. They were previously known as Pentagram but of course there's an old American doom metal band by that name. Under the Pentagram name they released Anatolia which is a great mix of catchy melodic metal but with a heavy and dark twist, as well as using musical influences of their homeland (two tracks are even sung in Turkish and sound great). Then after changing to Mezarkabul they released Unspoken, which leads off with an intro and the fantastic track "In Esir Like An Eagle". The rest of the album is generally less catchy with longer songs than the first album. It's still very good indeed, and includes two very enjoyable instrumentals and another track "This Too Will Pass" which is another classic Mezarkabul song.

Cryptic Fate are a metal band from Bangladesh! I have a cassette of their debut album, Ends are Forever, and I think it's rather good music with good vocals, although the recording itself can really only rate as a polished demo. They also have a second album sung in their native tongue. I was very keen to hear more by this band but they seem to have been inactive for years now and their old site went down, so you'd be lucky to find any of their stuff now .

Greyhaven are a progressive rock band, and on the basis of their demo CD, I thought they were extremely promising. The demo was instrumental only as they weren't able to find a vocalist, but I am thinking that they don't need a vocalist if they are doing stuff like this! Having said that, they got one, and their self titled album is now out. Very much in the view of the demo musically, albiet it's more song-orientated now with the vocalist, but some of the tracks are quite long with plenty of cool instrumental parts as well!

The Lord Weird Slough Feg (now just known as Slough Feg) are from the USA and are an interesting bunch. Melodic yet original despite a few nods toward the likes of Iron Maiden on occassion, but with their own distinct style and, often with celtic influences to the music and lyrics. They've got 5 albums out now, the third one Down Among The Dead Men probably being the best one to start with. They seem to stick to a similar style from album to album, so if you like Down... then check out the two previous (Self titled and Twilight Of The Idols) as well. The self titled is being re-released with bonus tracks via The Miskatonic Foundation. Of their latest releases I found Traveller to be a bit of a disappointment, and have only heard one track from Avatism which I've read both good and not so good comments about.

October 31 also have their style and pretty much stick to it, which is good news for those into some good old fashioned not-many-frills metal. This is the sort of band that will never be world conquerors, but fill a useful place in anyone's metal collection. Listen to once in a while when you don't want to have to get particularly deep and meaningful about your music! Nevertheless, their latest studio album Meet Thy Maker quite impressed me and they seem to be improving to become a serious proposition in the metal world. Notable band members are King Fowley (of Deceased fame) and Jim Hunter (ex-Revelation). In more recent times there has been Stagefright, a rough'n'ready live album - hardly essential but a bit of fun and that is what they are about - and a very good new album called No Survivors.

Timescape are a progressively styled rock/metal band from Sweden. I really liked their debut 3 track CD EP, which can be simply described as 2 parts Fates Warning (circa Parallels/Inside Out) and 1 part Queensryche (circa Rage For Order), and I like it a lot. However the first album Two Worlds was a bit of a letdown in comparison, but it is still good! Their 2nd album Strange was finally released which I also got a copy of. It doesn't do that much for me, that's not to say it's bad, but lighter progressive metal just isn't much my style thesedays. Others would enjoy it more for sure.

Doom, Gloom, Emotion, Mysticism, Introspection, Gothic, Spiritualism, Darkness, Realisation, Supernatural....

For several years now, my taste in music has leaned towards what is usually termed Doom Metal. I love the sound and feeling of what can be created from a combination of heaviness, melody, atmosphere, slow passages of music, emotional and bleak lyrics, and vocal styles which fit the mood of the lyrics and music. The overall darkness of it appeals, which means that I like an array of bands who may not actually be metal bands, or who aren't considered as classic styled Doom metal. Goth metal is a label that gets applied to a number of bands these days, and I tend to like a lot of this stuff too.

My Dying Bride are from the UK, and are a fairly unique band who have built a large following. The Angel And The Dark River is my favourite album of all time, full of wonderful long sorrowful songs, usually accompanied by violin or keyboards, and vocals that often sound on the verge of tears. This album calls to me... takes me... I can lose myself in it... A couple of their other albums are pretty damn good too, each differing from the others in some ways but similar in some ways. These guys rule. In the leadup to their latest studio album The Dreadful Hours, two compilation albums were released, Meisterwerk I and 2. Good for rarities & videos as well as many classic tracks! Most recently they have released a live album called Voice Of The Wretched that has tracks from all of their albums, it's very good. The latest album is Songs Of Darkness Words Of Light and by golly it could be their best since The Angel !
Recommended albums: The Angel And The Dark River, Songs Of Darkness...., Turn Loose The Swans, Like Gods Of The Sun, Voice Of The Wretched.

Fields Of The Nephilim were more of a Goth Rock outfit, and were a cult phenomenon in the late 80's to about 1991. They only ever did 3 studio albums, but there were various EP's, live releases, videos, and a Best Of. The band evolved quickly, which is obvious when one compares the 3 studio albums, and someone it doesn't seem surprising that they broke up. Lyrically there was a lot of ye olde folklore stuff. Check them out if you like the sound of well crafted dark atmospheric goth rock, with overtones of spirituality, folklore, and the supernatural. In teams of more recent comebacks there was a release Fallen under the name of Fields Of The Nephilim but it's not a proper album as such - there's a long story behind it which I won't go into here. Most recently there has been an official album called which is pretty good but just has the original singer/lyricist/artist and none of the other old crew.
Recommended albums: The Nephilim, Earth Inferno [Live], Revelations [Best Of]

Solitude Aeturnus are probably America's finest Doom Metal band, who really struck form with their 3rd album Through The Darkest Hour, and followed that up with Downfall which was a bit different but almost as good! The vocals are so good and the band shows great skills and diversity. Their latest album Adagio is another great powerful doom album, again not sounding like previous efforts. This band is strongly recommended! Sixth album is in the works but not likely to be out before late 2004. In the meantime TTDH has been re-released with CDRom extras, and the first two albums are due to be re-released w/bonus tracks.
Recommended albums: Through The Darkest Hour, Downfall, Adagio.

click here for the official Novembers Doom site

It is long since time that I include Novembers Doom on this web page, especially now that they have released what is probably their best album yet, The Pale Haunt Departure. They come from the USA and they play reasonably melodic and atmospheric doom/death, although Paul (band leader and vocalist) doesnt like them classified like that any more. But realistically it's the best way to sum them up, although each album is different: The Pale... is faster than previous albums; the earlier album Of Sculptured... is musically heavier and has more growling than later albums; the first few songs on To Welcome... are particularly emotionally crushing; The Knowing is probably the most mellow and atmospheric. Paul's growls are very good because he makes them as understandable as possible and there is a reasonable amount of clean vocals.
Recommended releases: The Pale Haunt Departure, To Welcome The Fade (double CD re-release), Of Sculptured Ivy And Stone Flowers, The Knowing.

Every now and then I take a liking to a doom/death band, and Saturnus could be described as such on their first album, Paradise Belongs To You, which was when I discovered them. The vocals were largely growled but not in an aggressive or angry manner, and the music was so smooth and melodic. The growl aspect has been phased out to some extent since then though. Their latest album, Martyre, strikes me quite heavily as a cross between Anathema's Silent Enigma and Judgement albums. Latest album is called Veronika Decides To Die.
Recommended releases: Paradise Belongs To You, For The Loveless Lonely Nights EP, Martyre.

Solstice hail from the UK and thus far have released two albums & an EP. They play classic doom metal, with twin guitars and clean vocals, just how I love it best! The debut album Lamentations was very good, but the latest one New Dark Age is absolutely classic! 'The Sleeping Tyrant' was the song of 1999 as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately the debut album is pretty hard to find nowadays, but the latest one is a lot easier to find and a must have. Recommended releases: New Dark Age, Lamentations, Halcyon EP

Anathema hail from the UK, playing their own brand of Doom metal. I particularly enjoy their album Eternity which dropped the rougher vocal approach of previous efforts, and has a nice combination of melody, heaviness, doomy atmospheres and music. One of their earlier releases with the original vocalist, Pentecost III, has grown on me a lot and is a good slab of slow Doom with rougher vocals and some dramatic moments. One of their latter albums, Alternative 4 is more along the lines of simplish doom hard rock/metal, but still enjoyable especially to those who like a clean singer and their metal not too heavy. Latest studio albums have steered right away from metal - Judgement didn't do much for me except a heartwrenching track called "One Last Goodbye". Latest material has basically totally abandoned any metal elements so I wouldn't recommend them as doom metal, more like melancholic slow rock.
Recommended releases: Eternity, Pentecost III, Alternative 4

Electric Wizard are from the UK and are actually pretty well known thesedays, with an increasing catalogue of material. My favourite are their self titled debut, which is very enjoyable stripped back doomy stoner metal, and their latest album We Live which is a massive return to form. Come My Fanatics is a great album as well. Those three albums are seriously recommended for fuzzed out stoner doom good times. Of their latter works, Dopethrone is more heavy fuzzed out music but with more fucked up vocals, and Let Us Prey is even wierder - dirty lo fi sounding music (no problem there) but the vocals are distorted and buried too deep behind the music. Fit for listening to under the influence of drugs, but then again that was always their plan!
Recommended releases: Electric Wizard, Come My Fanatics, We Live, also the EP's Chrononaut and Supercoven.

Memory Garden from Sweden have released one of my favourite ever Doom metal albums, called Tides, on Heathendoom records. I have an earlier EP of theirs called Forever, which I thought was fairly average, but the album blew me away!! Buy it if you can find it!! Unfortunately the next album Verdict Of Posterity seemed to steer away from the Doom elements which is a big shame... I've heard one entire song and it didn't work for me at all. However after reading a bit about their latest release Mirage and how it was apparently somewhat a combination of Verdict & Tides in style (thus more melody and guitar harmony in the classic doom tradition, it was said), I got it. I was not disappointed at all, so check Mirage out for sure! Recommended albums: Tides, Mirage.

The latest addition to my list of featured doom metal bands is Reverend Bizarre from Finland. As of now they have three albums, all recommended! In The Rectory and Harbinger Of Metal are both largely long slow somewhat melodic doom metal albums - fairly straight ahead musically, clean vocals, but certainly with the doom x-factor. Latest album Crush The Insects is about a half and half mix of more up tempo groovier numbers, and good old long slow doom metal numbers!

Revelation from the USA released 3 albums, the last one ...Yet So Far is great modern Doom Metal (yet influenced by "classic" doom) and is a must own CD. It's predecessor Never Comes Silence is pretty damn good too! Unfortunately they eventually disbanded :-( The recent good news is that one of the members has gone onto make a new doom metal album in a new band called Oversoul. It's called Seven Days In November and while not being up to Revelation at their best, it's still a worthwhile addition to the collection of anyone into classic/melodic styled doomy metal. News! Apparently there is a Revelation reformation with the same lineup as the Yet So Far album. Their Frozen Masque EP was re-released with a couple of bonus tracks but nothing else has surfaced yet.

Yearning hail from Finland and had an *awesome* debut called For Tragedies Adorned, although their 2nd album Plantive Scenes turned out to be not quite what I had expected. Not bad, but I'd go with the debut album every time. Third album Frore Meadow is also a bit experimental and was my least favourite to that point. The great news is their latest album Evershade is a great return to epic sounding doom metal with touches of the best moments from the other albums!

Last Chapter are from the USA and their debut album The Living Waters is good doomy metal with an almost technical feel, vocals courtesy of Solitude Aeturnus' most excellent Robert Lowe. The 2nd album Paths To Always was delayed again and again and yet again, but is finally out, and it's a great one! I imagine most people would prefer the 2nd album. Both albums are on on Brainticket records. Last Chapter also do a kick-ass cover of "Children Of The Sea" on the Dehumanized Witch tribute to Dio-era Black Sabbath! However they have gone their separate ways.

Penance are also from then USA. I had their Parallel Corners album for some time and have always liked it. Kinda old style doom metal, no frills stuff, with a vocalist who is a little bit different but quite likeable at the same time. I later got the Bridges To Burn demo and was not really into it. But later I got the Proving Ground CD and I am totally into it! Again it's fairly no frills doom metal so fairly slow paced but managing to have some catchy bits and again the vocals are part of the appeal. I don't know what it is about Penance but they are quite a favourite amongst the doom metal underground (the whole of doom metal is underground really!) and I think I'll have to track down more of their stuff in future.

Also from the USA and on the Brainticket label is Las Cruces, who according to their label play "Blower heavy doom that beats your ass!". And that is pretty accurate too, as their two albums S.O.L. and Ringmaster are very good slabs of heavy groove/stroner doomrock, sometimes hinting at Sabbath. Check them out if you can but I think both albums are no longer officially available! They also do an Iron Maiden cover on the "Slave To The Power" tribute as well as contributing a non-album track to the I Am Vengeance soundtrack on Meteor City Records. They have now broken up as well although the vocalist appears on another cool Brainticket band/album called Blood Of The Sun.

From Austria comes Estatic Fear with their debut album Somnium Obmutum - try and imagine what you get when you combine doom metal & ocassional black-metallish type parts, with acoustic guitar, lute, keyboards, flute, rough male vocals, some female vocals... Wow! The good thing is that they space it all out, and don't try and have everything going at once. Recommended! And now a second album, A Sombre Dance, which is not as heavy overall as the more intense parts have mostly gone, and it incorporates more female vocals. Good for those not into the rougher male vocal styles.

A very honourable mention to Ruination from Lithuania. I really liked their cassette mini-album Rests Of Beauty which is melodic reasonably epic doomy metal with mostly rough vocals. Then they released their first CD called Visionary Breed which shows them moving to shorter gothrock/doomrock/deathrock songs, mixing in just the right amount of melody and catchiness. Get these ones too! Their next CD Xura isn't quite as good to my ears, but still grew on me. Most recently there has been an EP called Drive To Survive released, featuring a new vocalist. I haven't heard it yet to be able to comment.

Lastly, a mention for Brazil's Serpent Rise and their debut album Gathered By... a few years ago. I felt I took a risk ordering this CD, not being sure if I would be into their style of doom. But it turned out to be one of my favourite underground doom purchases. The vocals get a little rough but not with much aggression and sometimes are almost spoken. The music on the face of it seems unremarkable, not a lot of melody in the classic doom sense nor crunching doomdeath guitars either, yet it is still most enjoyable as they subtley create a very good musical soundscape and atmosphere. The production isn't great but it's an album that was made on next to nothing, and the songs are good enough to make this album well worth it for fans of slow doomy music

There are some, although not heaps, in the way of web sites that are dedicated to Doom metal in general (i.e. not just to specific bands). Check out www.doom-metal.com which is a great starting point. And also be sure to read through Endless Grief. It was formerly called Lady Evil's Womb Of Doom and is a well known personal fan site with comments on lots of bands. Resurrected from a long period of inactivity is the Doom Metal List which is a list of many doom metal related bands, their releases, and other brief info. It is now updated and hosted by Metal Mike - here is his personal Doom Bands page too.

Here is a link to an interesting and wide ranging look at doom & goth metal of past, present, and up-and-comers for the future. I don't know how long this will remain on line, so read it now! Of the bands listed in that article you'll notice that some are mentioned above, and I know and like many of the other bands too.

Where to buy this cool music!

With musical tastes like mine, I don't get many CD's from the local music chain stores, that is for sure. Over the years I have ordered music from a number of places internationally, and thesedays I usually order via the internet, from companies or people that I have learned about from the 'net.

Brainticket is a USA based label who sell a lot of Doom related titles, along with other Metal and some Psychedelic stuff too. The guy that runs it is the main man behind Solitude Aeturnus you couldn't ask for someone better to deal with. Some bands who have released albums via Brainticket's label are Last Chapter, Las Cruces, Sorcerer, and Datura. Check their distribution catalogue for lots more.

The End Records have a mailorder department known as The Omega and many people now swear by it. Their prices are so cheap and service is so fast. They charge so little on postage outside the USA that they must lose all their profit margin on my orders!

Century Media is a great independant company who have released albums by a diverse collection of bands (as well as distro lots of other titles). I have ordered a lot of their CD's by bands such as The Gathering, Iced Earth, Katatonia, Moonspell, Nevermore, Opeth, Rotting Christ, Samael, Sentenced, Theatre Of Tragedy, and Tiamat. Alas they don't take credit card orders outside of USA/Canada anymore :-(

For a long time I was unable to find a reasonably priced European online music retailer, ao one day I searched and searched on the web and eureka, I finally found what I was looking for. Check out CD Zone, based in the UK. Their downside is that they usually don't have tracklistings, and you can wait a long time for the import stuff. On the other hand I have found so much stuff that I wanted, that I have learned to be patient and put up with the fact that they can't always get what they list. And if you are outside Europe, they deduct the UK sales tax, which more or less offsets the cost of postage. Great!

My Sell / Trade / Want Lists

Contact me by email if you would either like to purchase or trade for something on my list. In some cases I'd do two of mine for one of yours.

I have to sell/trade...
Cage - Unveiled CD
     American mid paced melodic metal.
Def Leppard - Armageddon It CD single
     4 tracks including Ring Of Fire.
Monster Magnet - God Says No CD
     My least favourite MM album... not bad but given my huge collection it probably won't get listened to again.
Sopor Aeturnus - Todeswunch CD-R
     Note: This is a CDR only, but in a normal case with black and white copied front and back covers. Great album; I bought it after hearing this!
The Black League - Ichor CD
     First album to feature Taneli Jarva since he parted ways with Sentenced. Dark heavy metal with Taneli's raspy vocals.
Ulver - Silence Teaches You How To Single CD EP
     Rare Ulver EP of electronic ambience.
Winters Bane - Heart Of A Killer double CD
     Band fronted by Tim Owens before he was in Priest and Iced Earth. Century Media version with Travis Smith artwork & bonus disc of live tracks/demos.

I am looking for (more or less in order of desire)...
Dark Passages - the original one, on CD (I have the vinyl already)
Caul - The Sounds Of Faith
Pentagram (the original 70's one from the USA) - Day Of Reckoning
Saxon - Unleash The Beast
Saxon - Metalhead
Lion's Share - Fall From Grace
Hagalaz Runedance - Winds That Sang Of Midgard's Fate
Lacrimas Profundere - Burning: A Wish
Lacrimas Profundere - Memorandum

Concerts that I have seen

My very first concert experience was Sepultura on their Arise tour, 1 July 1992. I can remember how blown away I was by the sheer power and intensity. I only had "Arise" at that time, and I went and bought "Beneath The Remains" the next day!
Here is a full list of concerts by international metal bands, that I have been to in New Zealand:

Deep Purple - once - Rapture Of The Deep tour, and they were totally killer and heavy! I was supposed to see them on their Battle Rages On tour but the NZ show was cancelled, and when they came to NZ for the Bananas tour they didn't come to Wellington :-(

Faith No More - three times - Angel Dust, King For A Day, and Album Of The Year tours

Fear Factory - once - Can't Take Me Apart [Digimortal] tour (click here for a scan of the ticket)

Joe Jackson - once - 25th Anniversary Reunion tour. Not metal, but this it the guy who wrote "Got The Time" that Anthrax covered 10 years later.

Megadeth - once - World Needs A Hero tour (click here for a scan of the ticket). I was going to see them on ther Countdown To Extinction tour but they cancelled the NZ show :-(

Metallica - twice - Black Album tour, and on "Poor Re-touring Me" (click here for a scan of the ticket)

Nevermore - once - This Godless Endeavour tour, October 2006, Melbourne. Supported by Black Majesty and Transcending Mortality.

Nightwish - once - On the world tour for "Once" Melbourne, March 2005. Great concert although a couple of songs short I thought. Support was from Aussie melodic/prog metallers Vanishing Point.

Opeth - three times - Deliverance tour in April 2003 & Damnation tour in March 2004 (both in Melbourne), and Ghost Reveries tour April 2006 in Auckland. Some notable bands as support at the Aussie gigs: Chalice, Alchemist, and Virgin Black.

Ozzy Osbourne - once - Ozzman Cometh tour (click here for a scan of the ticket)

Pantera - twice - Far Beyond Driven tour (dissapointing), and Reinventing The Steel tour (w/ Corrosion Of Conformity)

Queensryche - once - In Brisbane for the Operation Mindcrime II tour. Support from Lord (Tim, ex? Dungeon).

Joe Satriani - once - Auckland on March 12th 2005, touring for the Is There Love In Space? album.

Sepultura - three times - The Arise tour, "Chaos Worldwide" tour (w/ Sacred Reich), and Against tour

Slayer - twice - Divine Intervention tour (w/ Biohazard), and the Diabolus In Musica tour

Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet
Alice In Chains - Dirt
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Arcana - Dark Age Of Reason and Cantar De Procella
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale (quoting The End Records: "One of the most astonishing albums ever [...] Dark, evocative and symphonic, this album created a new level of metal and music altogether")
Ark - Burn The Sun
Canaan - Blue Fire and Walk Into My Open Womb
Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within (amazing live CD & also on DVD now)
Death - Symbolic and The Sound Of Perseverance
Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free
Helloween - The Time Of The Oath
Iommi - Iommi
Joe Jackson - Body and Soul
Katatonia - Viva Emptyness
Marillion - Script For A Jester's Tear
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Ministry - Psalm 69
Paradise Lost - Icon
Rush - Permanent Waves
Sepultura - Arise and Chaos AD
Shape Of Despair - Angels Of Distress
Shakhan - In The Zone EP
Slayer - Reign In Blood and Seasons In The Abyss
Sopor Aeturnus - Todeswunch and Dead Lovers Sarabande (Face One) and Es Reiten Die Toten So Schnell
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
Vaudeville - To Dimension Logic (best Australian album ever)

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"I've got heavy metal music in my blood,
and I'd like to get it to ya if I could!"

(from Heavy Metal Mania written by Holocaust, later covered by Gamma Ray)

My favourite New Zealand Bands and the "Metal New Zealand" email list

Metal Bands & Styles of Metal that I like

Where to buy this cool music!

My Sell / Trade / Want Lists

Concerts that I have seen

"I've got heavy metal music in my blood, and I'd like to get it to ya if I could!"

(from Heavy Metal Mania written by Holocaust, later covered by Gamma Ray)

My favourite New Zealand Bands and the "Metal New Zealand" email list

Metal Bands & Styles of Metal that I like

Where to buy this cool music!

My Sell / Trade / Want Lists

Concerts that I have seen

"I've got heavy metal music in my blood,
and I'd like to get it to ya if I could!"