Loved, forgotten and rediscovered #1

Leverage! A Finnish band I found trough the singer, that also sings in Brother Firetribe. I found Brother Firetribe through the guitarist, that also plays in Nightwish. I was a person who adored Finland and Finnish music, and I went through lots of trouble to not miss anything good! In 06 I listened to this band very much, I pre-ordered their CD from Finland, and from the day I got it and out the year my heart kinda belonged to this band. Then, for some reason, I almost forgot everything about them, until the day before yesterday. And the love is back. I can`t believe I forgot about these!

Now, since I only know their first album, Tides, it`s hard for me to talk about their two other albums. I can tell you though that what I heard from the other ones are great too. Tides, however, is world-class!. And the cover-art is superb as well, no?

So I`m gonna give you some songs to listen to, just know that it`s not easy for me to not give every single song, cause it`s truly a superb album. Their genre is (according to last.fm, I suck with genres) heavy metal/hard rock/melodic metal, and I guess it`s defining it good.

Oh, and by the way, for those of you who have Spotify, here`s the link to the album! For the others, I`ll give you some lovely lil` youtube-links ;)

Aand first off, my favourite (probably, this is of course very rude to all the other good songs, since they kinda all deserves to be called that. Anyway, to the song now!). Stranger, it`s a slow and beautiful and powerful song. I like the lyrics, and I love the guitar-solo. Enjoy!




Superstition. Catchy, catchy, catchy.








Dreamworld, almost the definition of catchy. WOW!





Follow Down that River, and I am afraid, my friends, that catchy won`t do anymore. It's too weak. And I mean the term "catchy", not the song. This was meant to you with a bit less than average between your ears. Now enjoy.



Maybe this will do? Not that I'm tired of this or anything, I could recommend music the whole day, but either you like the band by now, or you hate it. If you like it a small visit to youtube will do its trick, if you hate it (which you should not), I am releasing you from your pain. Oh yes, I'm a giver.

Now, hope some of you at least liked it! :) Cause the band ain't getting as much attention as they should, really. So support, support!



BTW: When I was done I really realized that I should have shown Twilight Symphony as well, it rawks. Search it up on youtube if you are interested!

Top five live

So, figured I`d tell you all which bands you should almost kill to get to see, cause they are so incredibly awesome live that you go around in dreamlands for weeks (months? years) after the concert. When possible I`ll also add a little video next to, so, here it goes, five bands you should kill to see live. This will go in the rock/metal genre for now, so if you only listen to Lady Gaga and Jay Z you will not find much of interest here!

1) Primordial

I saw these 3 times, and every time it was like I died and went to heaven, it`s so damn intense you almost drop your jaw. The clip I show is probably my favourite song (hard to choose, thus the "probably") from my all time favourite concert. When Primordial played at the Hove festival here in Norway in 08. Enjoy Gallows Hymn!



2) Dornenreich

The difference between this band and Primordial, is that I adored Primordial with all my heart before the concerts. This band played together with another damn good band (Fjoergyn) and I was there indeed mostly for Fjoergyns sake, however, the second Dornenreich got on stage I got dragged in to another world, and didn`t come out again before weeks after, it was so intense, and so goddamn good! What made it even better was that the concert was very intimate, if I`d want to I could bend foward and touch every single member of the band. Not that I would want to, but.. Shows how intimate it was, and it just made the experience better. Oh, how I wish that there would be decent live-clips on youtube, so I could show everyone how great they are live, but unfortunately there is not. Check out the DVD, though, if you get the opportunity ;) Here you go tho, a half-crappy clip of Jagd!




3) Volbeat

Yet another band that I barely knew when attending the concert, but they did their thing, and damn did they do it good! They had me from the first tone, til the last, and then even a bit longer. They rock your damn pants off! Here, Sad Man`s Tongue live at Wacken 09 :)



4) Audrey Horne

This Norwegian hard rock/post-grunge band, probably unknown for many, really, really rocks live. Saw them four times, and I was never disappointed. So, really, if you get the chance to see them do me a small favour (and it`s really mostly for yourself, kinda, go, go!). Unfortunately I`ll have to give you a kinda crappy video, but it`s better than nuthin. Sweet Taste of Revenge, ladies and gentlemen!



5) Fjoergyn

I love this band very much, and there is nothing bad to say about their live-shows. Also among the greatest shows I attended is their concert at Ragnarök 6, the one in 09. They were actually totally awesome both times I saw them. Gotta love 'em! This is not their best song, in my ears, but it`s pretty damn good anyway. Ich sah den Himmel weinen, enjoy! :)




Now, I really hope this blog-post made sense, and that you`ll drag your lil` butt to a concert if any of these bands plays anywhere near you. Cause you won`t regret it, not even a second. Unless you are a person who of course hates this kind of music, in that case I do not even understand why you kept reading :D And please note, that a small video cannot even compare to how good the bands really are live. Keep that in mind ;)

So.. tudelu ^^

Pleasure meets guilty pleasure

But obviously Marco in one of my all time favourite bands, Nightwish, was in the Finnish version of a choir-program-thingie.

I found this out through the apriljoke of Nightwish, and to be quite honest it`s awesome. And one time, he, and what seems to be two other choirs presented Lady GaGa´s Bad Romance. This is cool cause I actually like Lady GaGa. And that one of my all-time favourite singers sings it. It`s cool, really.. But still.. somehow very wrong. Hanyway, enjoy!



Some other team actually did Amaranth.. It`s not too bad really:



Marco`s team again, doing Dsjengis Khan? How awesome is that? Ps: Look at the hat.


Ok, to prevent this blogpost from getting 1 km long, I made a choise to not embed more videos, so if you find this interesting simply clich here for We Are the Champions, and here for Like a Virgin. This whole Marco-in-Finnish-tv-as-a-choir-leader thing might be totally old news, but I still find it awesome. So.. Enjoy :)

I went AWWWW

These kindof babies drags out the babylover in the darkest, most brutal metalheads. I'm sure.


(action from 2.00 and out)

Omg, aww!

Who said babies weren't metal? :P

Metalhead justifying listening to Lady GaGa

Lately I've been feeling this very embarrasing need to listen to Lady GaGa. Since I have a rumour and a life, and an image, and some dignity this isn't really something I say out aloud. Until I found God, and got a reason to listen to this kinda music. Now I can of course lie and say that I just listen to these metalized versions. And then perhaps I do sit left with some dignity. Perhaps.











Dignity left? Pretty please?

If I promise to put on Mayhem laters and scream with the lyrics and headbang so hard that all the braincells that makes me listen to Lady GaGa dies?

You're an angel, really.

Music Box: Dornenreich

Dornenreich rocks, that's as simple as it is. I'm not gonna lie and pretend that I know everything about this band - to be quite honest I noticed it "for real" not long ago. Before seing them live I knew some songs from "In Luft Geritzt", and they were nice, but my knowledge about Dornenreich ended there. I didn't know their earlier and blacker stuff at that point. At the concert attended in September I was totally captured by the magic of Dornenreich. I loved (correct, "liked" isn't strong enough) every single song they played, and it was straight home to listen to Dornenreich, and I made my lovely boyfriend fill my iPod with all Dornenreich he had.

Dornenreich is a two-man-band from Austria that was founded in 1996 by Thomas "Valñes" Stock,  Jochen "Evíga" Stock joined the band the same year, and they started to make songs. They were also joined by a drummer in 1997, but he later quit. In 2006 Thomas Stock quit the band, and was replaced with another Thomas - Thomas "Inve" Riesner joined the band as a violinist. The lineup is today as it was then.

What's so lovely with Dornenreich is that they have stuff in different genres. The first album, Nicht um zu sterben (1996) is black metal, on their second album Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen (1997) they are still within the black metal genre, but more towards Symphonic Black Metal. The next album comes in 2001, and is called Hier von welken Nächten, and it's very hard for me to just put a genre on that. All I can tell you is that this album is awesome, and listen, listen, LISTEN. You should especially give the songs Wer hat Angst vor Einsamkeit? and Grell und dunkel strömt das Leben a listen. Listen to Schwarz schaut tiefsten Lichterglanz too, while you're at it. It's in the player to your right.. ;)


In 2005 does Dornenreich release the cd Hexenwind, few songs, but good songs. This album was supposed to go to a blacker sound again, but.. it didn't. During the writing period the band's progression took a "new direction towards a more calm and mature approach" (stolen from last.fm). From this album, please listen to Der Hexe flammend' Blick.

2006 brings Durch Den Traum, and since I don't know this album that much I don't even have recommendations, sorry for that. I can't put a genre on it either. Avant-Garde? I'm sure it's a great cd, but I haven't had time to get into it, unfortunatly.. But I will ;)

Their newest album came in 2008, and it's called In Luft Geritzt. If you'd listen to a song from this album, and to a song from Nicht um zu sterben, you wouldn't know it's the same band! This is completely acoustic, they use a fiddle and an acoustic guitar. It's so atmospheric, so intense! My personal favourite from this album is Jagd, but do also listen to Drang, Meer and Unruhe. Listen to all, actually - superb album!

One small tips you'll thank me for later: If you have the oportunity of seing them live, then DO so! I've seen many bands live. Many. And Dornenreich is on the top 5, maybe even top 3, do I even put them on the top 2 with Primordial? Might be.. The intensity of the singer is sick, it's magic. He captures you and holds you there throughout the concert, and even longer. After the concert you sit there with an awesome feeling of participating in something great. I will do everything to see this band again! I will even go as far as to eat tuna, if that's what it takes. (for those of you who doesn't know me - this means I'm VERY desperate. Tuna tastes worse than words can describe, ugh).

Dornenreich on last.fm, on wikipedia, and their homepage.

I hope someone got something out of this blog, and starts listening to this band :D


This is my 4th  post in my series Music Box where I reccomend and write about good music. I previously wrote about Fjoergyn, Arcturus, and Primordial

Yesterdays metalevents...

So yesterday I attended a "South of Heaven" event in Oslo. The bands playing were Vreid, Iskald, Emancer, Violated, The Batallion & In Vain. Gonna give a small review :) .. review might be the wrong word.. I'll just tell abit about it.. Ye.. :P

First ouuuut.. Violated. We didn't find the concertplace that easily, so we arrived a bit too late to get the whole concert, but we got 3 songs or so, and it was CATCHYYY. I had no knowledge of this band before this concert, but I'm very tempted to check it out. It was nice ;)

Emancer next, and it was cool. Not awesome, but it was not bad ;) I'm extremely happy that they played Cunning Vital Guardian! Awesome song.

I listened to In Vain for the first time two days before the concert, and I liked it. It actually sounded damn good to me, so I was a bit exited. But for me the concert wasn't that exiting...

The Batallion was really present, and really good as a live band! Too bad their music is boring. At the first song you thought "Hmm, this is catchy! Nice song!".. at the next song you thought ".. ye.. cool.", at the rest of the songs you had the feeling you heard everything in the two first songs - unfortunatley. If their music'd be great, then the band would come far. Awesome live-show!

The next band up was Iskald, and they were rockin. I really, really, really would love it if they had played "Shades of Misery", but they did not. They played Daa Gjallarhorn Song, though, and that was the highlight of the concert ;)

Vreid. Ahh. What a gig, great variety of songs, they played from every album. They are a superb liveband, period.

There was this one lil' thing though, that kinda ruined the concert for me, and this is.. An asshole. A huge asshole. A lil story about a big asshole:

The introsong of Vreid is starting, I have a good place, everyone chills, no pressing. It's nice. Right before the band starts playing an asshole runs fast into the fence, to be able to push himself into an already filled front row. He gets space. I get squeezed. He holds a beer in his left hand, I'm on his left side. He thinks it's a good idea to headbang and show metalhorns holding a beer. Sure. 0,5 liter beer all over me. And every fucking time he raises his hands (= all the time) he mashes me hard when he puts them down again (I have bluemarks..). He also found it nice to hit me in the face sometimes with his uncontrolled drunk-arms. He was so darned drunk he couldn't control bodyparts. Other than hitting and stuff he wanted to take his hands around my shoulders and "headbang with me" sometimes. Fear enough, can be cosy and nice (when it's not assholes...), but that friggin bastard took a firm grip on the back of my NECK and held hard. This is the part where I hit him. Nice that he almost strangles me, the bastard. Every single time the bastard stepped on me, hit me, spilled beer on me etc I wanted SO bad to kick him in his mandarines. I was never so close to hitting someone.

And I know, I know. "What do you expect when you're in the first row on a metalconcert?"

Believe me, I know what I can expect. I've been to over 100 metalconcerts, and of course they are drunk, of course they are brutal. But not once did a dude do this, most people have a decent behaviour. Most people have brains? This dude was just stupid. You should have seen him with the photographers, every single one he hit on the shoulders probably 10 times cause he wanted them to take photos of him. Comeon, you're a soking drunk, annoying, unattractive metalhead, who wants photos of that anyway? I'm glad I could enjoy the concert even with this &%¤¤%""%/ there.

If you read this, asshole. Drink less next time, you act like a prick.
If you read this, Vreid. Great concert!! Go on like this.
If you read this, random person: I'm sorry for sounding like a whiny bitch.

Tudeliu, and watch Vreid if you get the chance ;) 

Lazy-Trolldis' other side

I admit it, I was very lazy. I had high intentions. I wanted to write reviews after Summer Breeze, cool reviews, big reviews... funny stories. Etc, etc. But as I said I was lazy.

Then there was Fjoergyn and Dornenreich (and Ahab), a concert that I also attended some weeks ago, the intentions was the same, reviews, pictures, yeh know. But do you see any? Me neither, I was lazy.

Then.. yesterday, I attended yet another concert. Dream Theater, Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect. Is there any reviews? .. neh.. Not even a word about going there... which might be cause I decided just yesterday and jumped straight on the train to Oslo.. but ok, I was lazy also. BUT... I decided to do something with this just now. I'm gonna give a short (very short, and unprofessional) review of the different concerts. Cause lazy-Trolldis decided to show herself from another side!

Here goes!

SUMMER BREEZE OPEN AIR, DINKELSBÜHL

So. No Wacken this year, but why cry when the lineup at this festival is a better one? It was amazingly funny there. Whether it was at the camp drinking, in front of stage headbanging, or embracing some random person in a free-hug. Singlereviews comes.... HERE:

DAY I

Equilibrium:
I saw this band once before, and remember them as an awesome live band, full of energy. So of course my expectations were high.. As I expected, they did not let me down. They were energetic, fun, and just as I remember them from before. They played my two favourite songs as well, Wurzelbert and Unbesiegt. Awesome.

JBO:
They spread good mood, noone can argue about that. I am not that familiar with the band from before, but they made me happy. I did not watch the whole concet, however. Guess I was hungry or something... But they were good.

Anaal Nathrakh:
I like this band, and getting the oportunity of seting them live was cool. But I dunno, watched some songs, and it really didn't catch me that much. The sound was a complete mess where I stood, and I really didn't hear any melodies or anything that good. So we left after not many songs.

That's it, that's what I saw that day. There's some bands I'm really pissed I didn't get to see this day, they are Hackneyed and Katatonia. The last band played at 00.00. Too friggin late, wanted to go, but couldn't make myself. Wreh.

DAY II

Battlelore:
Ehrm.. Battlelore fans, please stop reading here, I might piss you off. This concert was really bad, at most songs I just wrinkled my nose and tried to bear the sound of the incredibly "sour" tones of the singer. Rumour says they aren't usually that bad live. But jesus, learn to sing before entering the stage, please. Rating is unecassary, says itself what this concert gets from me.

Schandmaul:
Seemed ok, left too early. Hunger was stronger than urge to stay at the concert.

Amorphis:
I saw this band before, and I got really impressed. It's an awesome band, both on cd and live. Unfortunatly, someone made the running-order hopeless at this point of the day, and I had to run to the next band after just few songs...

Vreid:
Has previously impressed me on stage, and didn't do it in any other way this time. What an exellent live-band! This is among the best concerts on the whole festival. Pitch Black was a highlight.

Amon Amarth:
Did a good show. I did not see whole, what I saw was good. Too bad they played my favourite songs when I was back at camp.

DAY III


Black Sun Aeon:
Did a good concert, songs sounded good, sound was good. Weird thing was that they did not say a single word throughout the concert. I guess they wanted it to be that way, maybe it's their style - but talking is usually not bad, makes you feel more apreciated. But good, good.

The Storm:
Ugh, please don't force me to write anything about this band.

Before the Dawn:
This isn't really my taste of music, but I admit that they have some pretty catchy songs. Faithless, for example. The concert was completely ok, but a bit boring for me, given the fact that it's not really my cup of tea. When they played Faithless, though... ah.. great.

Legion of the Damned:
I did not hear a single song before coming to the concert, I almost didn't know what to expect. It was actally just meant as pause-music before Volbeat. But man did they rock! Incredibly catchy riffs, awesomely cool. Great that I finally discovered this cool band.

Volbeat:
Wow. WOW. I came to this concert with high expectations. Everyone, and with that I mean EVERYONE says what a great live-band Volbeat is. So I attend the concert, knowing very few songs. At the first tone I know how great it will be. The front-man has me in his hand during the whole concert. This is without doubt one of the best concerts I ever attended. Clear SummerBreeze highlight!

Voivod:
Simply not my taste of music, but since I waited for Opeth I had to be there. Not convinced.

Opeth:
A band I've got high expectations to, since they delivered great shows to me two times before. And I was not disappointed. There was technical problems, Michael was pissed. But for me, every song sounded good. The setlist was good. Heir Apperent, Ghost of Perdition, The Leper Affinity, The Lotus Eater and so on. It's maybe even the best Opeth-concert I was at.. And that's not saying nothing when every was damn good!

This day had plenty of bands I wished to see, but didn't. Partly because it was so darn warm, that moving just a cm away from the shadow was torture. Krypteria, Epica, Moonspell and Ghost Brigade are all bands I'd love to see. Especially Moonspell since I know what quality they deliver live...


NACHTREISEN TOUR, TORGAU
Dornenreich, Fjoergyn, Ahab


This is the smallest concert I ever attended. Really cool, when we arrive 10 minutes before the concert there's more bandpeople around then audience. There's two people in the line. But man, is there something lovely about these concerts. I don't think you could get a bad place in the concert-area if you tried.

Fjoergyn:
Since this band already gave me the one of the best concerts this year (at Ragnarök), the hopes are of course high. But they do not disappoint. The setlist was good, with a mix of very new and old. The songs from their upcoming album Jahreszeiten (that I own already, HAH) sounds exellent. They also played my all-time favourite from them, Sade. I missed Katharsis, but not more than I can bear.

Ahab:
Doom Metal, sure. Bring it! Funeral Doom? Jesus. Is there even a rythm there? This was so boring I almost fell asleep standing. I prefer my music like music - with more than one beat per minute. Not my taste, simply.

Dornenreich:
I was impressed. Very impressed. You have to look long for a singer as intense as this one. I did not know much of the songs getting played, simply cause I don't know Dornenreich that much. But every single song was awesome. I've been listening to Dornenreich almost non-stop since the concert, of course when I'm not listening to the new Fjoergyn album. Great concert, worth every single cent! :)

PROGRESSIVE NATION 09, OSLO
Dream Theater, Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect

Yesterday I woke up recieving an SMS from a friend, where he asked me whether I wanted to come to the Opeth concert or not. I said yes, I tried to decide for ages whether to go or not. Got my ass from bed, jumped in the shower, ate, and stright on the train. Impulsive? .. well, kinda. After walking around in the city, and taking some beers in my friends hotelroom we got in line, ready for action!

Unexpect:
Bad sound, messy. Nothing sounds like it belongs together. On CD they are ok, live (at least from my standingpossision) I cannot say the same.

Bigelf:
I never in my life heard a song with this band, before the concert. And it's not bad, it's actually quite catchy, but unless they are an absolutely divine band (like Dornenreich) I cannot help it but to become a litle bored during concerts where I don't know a single song.

Opeth:
My fourth concert with the band, and as always, they do not disappoint. The setlist, however, was abit surprising. At all three previous Opeth-concerts they usually have almost the same songs, but on this one they played for example Hessian Peel and Harlequin Forest. Both good songs, so it wasn't disappointing. Just surprising :) Opeth was the clear highlight of this evening.

Dream Theater:
I should have learnt last time I saw them live. They are deadly boring, sorry to say it, but really. The stage looks great, they do great on stage. But the songs are so long, and so... unexiting. In a 20 minute song that's not exiting you get bored, thats just how it is. I wanted to go home already in the first song, but I managed to stick there to the second last or last song. After all I paid for this.

END.

After a small visit on blogcounter....

..I've learnt that writing about the possible Arcturus-reunion really pays off when it comes to my visitnumbers...

I guess 90% of the hits to my blog now came from different versions of Arcturus-reunion googles. Cool. I should continue in this path.

I hope it comes information about the possible reunion soon, I've dreamt that they come back together ever since they split. Please, please, please. I'll sell my soul.

Possible Arcturus-reunion?!

Lookie!

... I mean it, seriously. IF that happens, you can hear me scream from my current location, to the moon*

... of course this all comes now cause Vortex (and Mustis) is out of Dimmu.. which sucks MUCH. But if Arcturus is a consequence of that, I'm not crying, I'm not whining, I'm not being a whiny crybaby. I LOVE ARCTURUS! Aajja <3

Cross yer fingers and toesies, I do.

* this is not a fact if I am in a spaceship near the moon.. if that is the fact, then of course you can hear me back to the earth again. In your houses. And NOT on the radio, without technical shit. Arcturus reunion = LOUD screams. LOUD.

Summer Breeze!

Wacken 07 - Photographer me

In exactly two weeks I will stand on the festivalgrounds of Summer Breeze in Germany enjoying the music, the beer, the music, the Jack Daniels & Cola, the music, the beer, and the precence of thousands and thousands of metalfans all there for the same reason as I - .. drinking and enjoying music?

I will experience bands like Amorphis, Amon Amarth, Anaal Nathrakh, Battlelore, Black Sun Aeon, Epica, Equilibrium, Ghost Brigade, Haggard, Katatonia, Kreator, Krypteria, Moonspell, Opeth, Sabaton, Schandmaul, Vader, Voivoid, Volbeat and Vreid. That's neither too few good bands, or too many. The balance between partying and going to concert will be juust fine! (except for some stupid-ass times where three of the bands I wanna see overlap/crash? What's that about?)

My oh my how I'm looking forward to a festival again! I feel it's been ages... Let's just hope that things won't rain away, it kinda kills the mood a bit.. but it'll still rock.

It's gonna be hell of a party! See you all there? ;D

Music Box: Primordial

Primordial is an absolutely awesome band. If you're looking for intense and atmospheric metal, then your searching can end about here.

Primordial started out as black metal, with their demo 'Dark Romanticism'. In 1995 they gave out their debut, 'Imrama'. They recieved criticism for having a sound with melodic black metal influences - especially with the use of mandolin and flute. In the albums after that they have played music that is some kind of mix between black metal, celtic metal and folk metal - a sound that suits them perfectly.

I suck at putting genres at thing, actually, so sorry if I'm wrong. What I do know that intensity reaches the top with this band. I get chills down my back, I get goosebumps, and my tummy fills up with butterflies. Gallows Hymn gives this to me everytime I listen to it, every single time! It's so damn great.



The song I just showed is from the album 'To The Nameless Dead', their newest one from 2007. This cd is a true, true masterpiece. From start to end, I can sit there just listening to it, enjoying it, when doing absolutely nothing else - it is not many albums I can say that about.

Every single album Primordial gave out is good. Every album has something I love, and something that is worth listening to. Maybe 'The Gathering Wilderness' album is my second favourite, with great songs like The Coffin Ships and The Gathering Wilderness. 'Spirit the Earth Aflame' have got the awesome song Gods to the Godless. (many of the songs I've mentioned now will be shown later in this blog)

Primordial doesn't only make the best music you can find, they also hold the best damn concerts. Personally I saw them 3 times now, and everytime I saw them it was so intense I could not think about other things than them for weeks. The first concert with them I remember very good, it was at the Hove festival last year. And it is the best concert I attended ever (and when I attended around 100 concerts, that does mean something!). Luckily this concert was filmed, so I had lots and lots of pleasure with it in later times also. I'm gonna link you to a playlist on youtube having the full concert of that. It's really worth seing! Empire Falls, Gallows Hymn, As Rome Burns, The Coffin Ships, Gods to the Godless and Heathen Tribes - enjoy!



I can't describe Primordial in a small shit blog. You're really missing out if you don't know them, and if you are of the type that likes this kind of music. (actually you're missing out anyway! : D I hope I got someone to like it.

Now I argued so much with blogspot during this blog, that I'm gonna go ahead and just post this even though I could write much, much more :P Buy their cds! See their concerts!


This is my third post in my series Music Box where I reccomend and write about good music. I previously wrote about Fjoergyn and Arcturus.

Guitarexams, 24 hours before

Yes. I am a music student, so I went three years to a music school mostly just preparing for the exams that are to come tomorrow. Am I nervous? Hell yes, just hearing the word exams fills me up with so much nervousness that I start shaking.

Figured I'd write one blog before, one after. Before I say what I think will happen, how will it go, where will I fuck up, what will go ok. Afterwords (= tomorrow) I'll say if it went that way, might be funny. (Note: If the guitarexams fucks so massively up that I got totally depressed after, I miiight not want to blog about it.)

So, here's the songs that I'm playing

1) A Map of the World (Pat Metheny)
2) Over the Rainbow (Eva Cassidys version)
3) Blue Bossa (some standard-thingie. dunno)
4) Filadelfia (Kåre and the Cavemen/Euroboys)
5) Bed of Razors (Children of Bodom)

Do I have control? Well. Blue Bossa will go fine, that's the only one I'm pretty sure of. I know A Map of the World damn well, and I can play it damn well, problem is that the minute someone watch I fuck it up massively and badly. I've somehow gotta prevent that, I still don't know how. But maybe it's my day. I'm not most nervous about that song : ) When it comes to Over the Rainbow it ain't hard, but I didn't get the time I actually needed to practise it with a singer, so I've still not got it together.. That makes me abit nervous, hope I get hellofalot time to reherse that today.

Filadelfia will go fine, I have a couple of riffs that aint the easiest to take, but we're two guitarplayers on that one, and I'm not the lead. I'm not too nervous about that eiter. When it comes to Bodom, on the other hand.. My, my, what did I think of? That since I played that song good a year ago (and then fucked up my hands so badly I couldn't play it til now) I could get it nice now? Well, that's optimistic. The solo - blasphemy, the sweeps - so bad I feel embarrased everytime I try. The rest of the song might go good though, I don't know. I hope : ) At least the rest of the band plays very good, so I'm lucky there : )

So shortened down, this is what I think. Eva Cassidy and Bodom will go worst, I will not get happy with what I preform on A Map of the World, but it will not be bad. Blue Bossa will turn out just fine, Filadelfia too.

And when it comes to the talking in between - that's almost the worst. That, and if I get untuned and have to sit there and tune with an x amount of eyes staring at me waiting to get done with it already, WEH. And it would always be totally shit if some string got broken or what, then I'm kindof fucked.

Weeeh, well, of course nothing of this is relevant if I die of nervousness before even being able to enter the stage tomorrow. Shit how nervous I am.

Wish me luck?

Anette vs Tarja - it has got to END!

Nightwish - hated by many, loved by me.

As people probably know there was Tarja, she got fired, along came Anette. And there are still WAY to many idiots, with no perspective, no knowledge, no nothing, that still comes along, starting debate, after debate, after debate with the very same questions, and the very same allegations. It's been 4 years, and you're still not over it? I'm sorry, but get a life.

I'm gonna take some of the questi0ns and allegations I've seen, and.. You know, criticise and stuff.

"Who is best of Anette and Tarja?"

- It's an ok question to a certain point, of course you wanna discuss different singers in bands. Who doesn't? What is NOT ok though, is to start whining about them kicking Tarja out. It's 4 years ago, and on a good time to get over it? It's also pathetic to come there and come with lots of ignorant and stupid claims that your later arguments just wont support.


"Why did they kick Tarja out of the band?"

- When this question comes I mostly see red. Where were you since 05? A trip into space? Under the surface of the earth? In Big Brother 4 years in a row? If you are a Nightwish fan, which you obviously are NOT then, you should know it. Really. You embarass yourself by asking, please don't.


"Nightwish really did a mistake when kicking out Tarja".

- Read the biography, please? Or just read SOMETHING. You're just making a huge fool out of yourself with pretending you know so damn much when in reality, you don't know a shit. Do you think they kicked Tarja out for funsies? Do you think they had no reason or motive at all to do so? They would have done the biggest mitake ever with not kicking her out...

I'm not saying that you cannot have own opinions! OF COURSE you need to have, of course many people means that Tarjas voice was more special, Anette isn't unique in the same way, Tarja was what made Nightwish the band they were. But it's still 4 years ago, and you can always follow Tarjas solo project if you really miss her that much. I've heard that, and that is indeed some embarrasing shit imo.

Why make it so darned complicated? If you don't like Nightwish with Anette, then shut up about it and just leave it without listening to it, noones forcing you. Tarja was in many records with Nightwish, listen to them, enjoy them, and leave it with that.

Now, please, please, PLEASE. If I see another debate about the subject, I'm gonna throw up, really. Leave it dead, get a life!

Music Box: Arcturus

Reason: Arcturus was an absolutely amazing band, with some of the best music I know of. I say "was" cause they split in 2007, unfortunatley. The music lives on, and will always remain great to me! :)

Garm from Ulver sang on their first records, and on the last record Vortex from Dimmu Borgir was the singer. I will give you examples on both old and new stuff! Everything is great, Arcturus is a band that I never ever get tired of. It's the kindof band that I never skip when I have on random on my player - and I can't say that about many bands!

They split in 2007, to my big sorrow, but I won't give up the hope for a reunion, at least a reunionconcert, just yet. If it comes, and whether it's in Saudi-Arabia or in France, I would almost kill to get there! And I'd walk there by foot if I couldn't afford flight tickets. That's far - I'm lazy. That is how much I love this band!

If we don't count with EPs and singles and compilations and stuff they have these cds out: Aspera Hiems Symfonia, La Masquerade Infernale, The Sham Mirrors and Sideshow Symphonies. They also have an awesome dvd out called Shipwrecked in Oslo (clip later in the blog-post). I'm just gonna give you a song from every (studio)record they released. So you get a small idea over what they gave out, and how they developed, how much ass they kick, etc, etc.


Aspera Hiems Symfonia

This is the bands debut, and it came out in 1995. This is their only black metal album, but it includes many experimental parts also - this points forward to their Avant-Garde style that gets alot stronger later on.

It is a good album, but not my personal favourite. The song I like best on this album is not the "blackest song". I dig Naar Kulden Tar, so here it comes! (this is, btw, the first song I heard with Arcturus, and the song that made me interested!)



La Masquerade Infernale

In 1997 this great band gave out another great cd. La Masquerade Infernale. This is avant-garde to the bone, and it might be my favourite album from them. (I say "might" because it's so damn hard to choose - you try!). But at least, this is a cd with great songs from start to end. Every song, and with that I mean EVERY SINGLE song on this album is awesomely great - that makes it shithard to just choose one to call "the favourite".

I'm gonna show Alone, simply because it is maybe the best of the best, it's awesome. (Ps: Later in this blog post I will show a video from The Chaos Path, an other kickass song on this album)




The Sham Mirrors

Their third studioalbum came out in 2002, and with that awesome music. It's a damn good album, maybe also my personal favourite. (Maybe because it's... well, you know the drill :P) I show you Ad Absurdum simply because it is a kickass song!

You should also check out For to End Yet Again. It rocks massively.

Enjoy!




Sideshow Symphonies

Garm is out, Vortex is in. So yep, it's a certain difference. But (in my opinion) it's still good. It miiight be that the cds with Garm is better, but that doesn't make this a bad album, cause it's damn good, as all the other stuff Arcturus did!

Here comes my personal favourite from this album, White Noise Monster!




I have to show a vid too, from their dvd Shipwrecked in Oslo, and because The Chaos Path is an absolutely amazing song, and cause the clip is cool, this is what I'm showin'.



I hope you sit there with a feeling of "woah, this is nice, I should go get some cds", or "well, everyone knows Arcturus rawks, but I can stay here and listen to the awesome songs nevertheless". Or.. something like that. Well, actually I don't care what you think, but I hope I managed to spread good music out to people! : ) If it's not your taste, that's a shame, mostly cause you then miss out on some very good shit! But stay tuned for other good music, cause I will give other kinds also. Ofc everything rocks, but everything aint avant-garde metal, so.

Til next time! Tudelu ^_^


Ps: I am sorry for lacking vocabulary, and for repeating the words "awesome", "great" and "good" so much it gets annoying. (Maybe I should find a synonym-wordlist for the next band I wanna share :P)

This is the second post in my "series" Music Box, where I write about and recommend good music, the first I wrote is about Fjoergyn and can be found here.

Music Box: Fjoergyn

Fjoergyn is great pagan metal from Germany, that I advice people to check out, simply because the music is very intense and beautiful! The clean mixed with the brutal, the lovely melody lines mixed with the growling. It's simply stunning! They make me in a very special mood, and just listening to it as I drive through the beautiful landscapes that Norway has, really can make the trip as good as magical!

Fjoergyn released 2 albums so far. Ernte im Herbst from 2005 and Sade et Masoch from 2007. Ernte im Herbst has lyrical themes about the autumn and the nature, nature itself is a theme in the cd. Sade et Masoch is about people, misanthropy and humanship - so much about the nature of the human. Both cds are, in my ears, two masterpieces that shouldn't be let unheard, especially not by metalfans who apreciate epic, pagan metal.

Today I have listened to their song 'Sade' about 100 times (at least very many times). And I like it more and more everytime I hear it. It's not like I didn't know it before today, but today I really discovered the beauty in this song.

I would prefer to just have a small player here with the song, but since Fjoergyn cannot be found at pages that enables music-embedding I just show a youtube vid instead. Note: Nothing is happening in the vid, but 9 minutes to enjoy the look of Stephan and the other dude , why not? If not you can aalways read my other blogs while just enjoying this lovely music you're about to hear!



If you like this (which you should do if your taste rocks) I can advice you to check out their other songs too, maybe especially 'Katharsis', 'Das Leid des Einhorn' and 'Die Hierarchie der Engel'.. Actually, why not the whole Sade et Masoch album?

You should also check out 'Fjoergyn', 'Monolog der Natur', and.. you know what, check out the whole Ernte im Herbst album also! And when you checked out all their stuff you'll be warmed up and ready for the autumn and a new release!

For all who are already Fjoergyn-fans, you can look much forward to September when their new album Jahreszeiten comes out. I was at Ragnarök-Festival seeing them live in the end of April, and what they played from this forthcoming album is very promising! : D I know I am looking very much forward to the day it can be found in the stores. MAYBE I even manage to make more people looking forwards to this day with blogging about it! :D Optimistic? Maybe a bit!

Look also, how nice coverarts they have!







Actually, if I'd get my will these pictures would be all fancy next to the text I wrote about what's smart to check out or not, but since blogspot won't cooperate just there this will do. And yes, the apple is abit weird. But I love the other covers. Beautiful : )

I hope Fjoergyn turned out to be your taste, and that you can find as much pleasure in this music as I do!

http://www.fjoergyn.de

Black metal meets Benny Hill!

Translated from Norwegian

Just this blogpost is about Immortal, their stupid videos, and just how much fun you can have with them.

These fantastic stupid videos gives youtubeslaves some sparetimehobbies, and at times it can result in pretty interesting results. When watching a video with dudes with corpsepaint going around with wizardhats in the forest, I can understand that the creativity is blooming. It's just this flower I'm showing now.

The original of Cry of the Wintermoon can be found here. Under here you see the parody. Everytime I see this you can find me lying on the floor shaking of laughter, at least almost...



After having seen this you can ask yourself: Is it a good black metal video when it almost fits more to Benny Hill than to the song it's actually made to? Nja, nja, nja.. One thing is for sure, though - it is indeed humoristic!

PS: I listen to Immortal myself, do not count this blogpost as an evil spotting of this band.

Teh summer music

Det blir grønare og grønare, varmare og varmare, og etterkvart syns eg at musikken ska matche veiret. Derfor har eg bestemt meg for å skrive ein blogg med musikk som på ein eller annan måte set meg i sumarstemning (utan å nødvendigvis ha noko som helst med sumar å gjer) Here goes:

Flogging Molly: Må uansett og alltid kome først når ein snakkar om sommarstemningmusikk. Noko anna er kriminellt og synd. Det går ikkje an å ikkje bli i humør av den musikken her, det går ikkje an å ikkje kome i sommarstemning heller. DERMED syns eg det er vitalt å ha dei her, og linke til ein knællsong av dei. NYT:


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Tarot: Finsk band der Marco frå Nightwish spelar bass og syng. Pyre of Gods, som eg har vald å poste av ditta bandet, er ei ganske feit heavy metal låt, og sumarstemninga kravlar i alle fall opp blusen min, om eg hadde brukt bluse, that is.


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Brother Firetribe: Også eit finsk band der Emppu frå Nightwish spelar gitar. (surprise, surprise - eg lova at neste band ikkje skal ha noko med Nightwish å gjere). Sånn musikk sette meg berre rett og slett i sommarstemning :)


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Amorphis: Nok ein gong, frå Finland. Men no er det jo berre sånn at Finnane produserar mykje bra musikk! Ingen lang utgreiing nødvendig: Eg får sommarstemning av den, dermed posta eg den på min blogg - simple as that :)


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Deep Purple: Som alle nok kjenner frå før av. Go' musikk! Fireball som eksempel fordi den er min favoritt, og fordi den er knall. OG fordi at den får meg til å ville bade, om eg hadde likt å bade, that is.. Og det er sommar!


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Toto: Africa. Fordi ein aldri blir lei, og fordi den er feit.


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Ensiferum: Fordi vikingmetal alltid får meg i humør, og humør ikkje er det ein forbinda med regn, heller med sol, og nettopp då SOMMAR.





Og det er berre ein brøkdel av det eg kunne tenke meg og linke til og reklamere for og spre ut i verden til dei kanskje 2 blogglesarane mine! Ville aller helst ha vist Audrey Horne og Equilibrium også, men grunna mangel på god musikk på grooveshark skjedde då ikkje det.. Og grunna latskap og det faktum at eg faktisk eigentlig har ting eg må gjer, så leitte eg ikkje opp fleire godbitar og dele. MEN ditta er rikelig..

ENJOY! :D