Hollywood Metal Episode 91 (audio)

Alas, the US release date for KALMAH’s new album had arrived so it was time to add “Sacramentum” to the playlist as co-host Tracey Hays and I both marked that as a must-play. All in all, I think its a very strong release from these veterans but I think the album of the year title is still very much up in the air. (Jari, are you listening?) A pair of Austrian bands were next. HEATHEN FORAY and BIFROST are two quality viking/pagan metal bands. I had a hard time choosing which songs from each but settled upon “Winterking” from HEATHEN FORAY and “Ragnarok” from BIFROST. Both have memorable riffs and epic subject matter. Tracey introduced me to IMMANIFEST today. These guys are a symphonic black metal band from Florida who just released their first EP called Qliphotic. I had no idea what that meant during the show but doing some research afterwards reveals that Qliphotic is a derivative of Qliphoth which refers to “the  representation of evil forces in the mystical teachings of Judaism (such as in the Kabbalah)” according to wikipedia. In other words, evil and demonic stuff…. awesome. “Thaumiel” is the song we picked from the EP and it too is dark and epic all around: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamiel. WINTER RAGE is an upstart band from Croatia that released an EP in ‘08 called The First Raging Snow. “Northern Legacy” is off that EP and I am now definitely on board for a full length from these winter warriors. Congratulations goes out to our friends in STATIUS, who won battle of the bands last weekend for a spot on California Metalfest this summer. Drummer Wyatt Bentley brought WODENSTHRONE to my attention during the bonfire after-party. “Leodum On Lande” is pretty much an atmospheric black metal clinic.