Hollywood Metal Episode 33 (audio)

Aug 8th 2008: Hollywood Metal Radio was really interesting today because I was still ultra hungover from Wednesdays debauchery involving booze and bowling. The show must go on…. I opened with a friend of mine’s band called INFERNAL SCOURGE “The Heretic Queen of Autumn’s Fall from Grace”. I played this band in a previous episode and it’s quality epic black metal with many different featured components throughout the song. Guitars, keyboards and vocals are all prominently displayed at one point or another. The next band featured was TEUFEL and I was especially keen on playing this band because they are from Cuba, a place I definitely don’t associate with metal. Proving that great metal comes from all over the world, this gothic metal band kicks ass. The main melodic riff in “The Beauty” is only a handful of notes and some hammer-ons yet it manages to stick in your head long after the song is over. DAYS OF LAMENT is a band that caught my attention because of the story of their band. Two metalhead friend who had gone their separate ways got back together to form a band nearly 20 years after going to metal shows as teenagers. “Destruction Demise” is an excellent progressive death metal song featuring clean and harsh vocals, sharp shredding guitars, and a great solo comprised of pinch harmonics and some awesome guitar effects. (not exactly sure which) UNLEASHED is a death metal band with a prominent viking influence. “Midvinterblot” is a brutal hail to Odin as only this Swedish metal juggernaut can produce. EYECULT, also from the hallowed lands of metaldom that is Sweden, is a band comprised of Patrik and Andreas, who also form the band ANACHRONAEON. This is a side project they started in 2004 and the song I played, “An Inner Landscape,” and an excellent melodic death metal piece from their demo release that year. The project is still ongoing and Patrik tells me they have recorded tracks for a future full length release that they will probable resume working on after the new ANACHRONAEON album comes out. Check back here for updates. ENSLAVED, a metal band that’s been in the epicenter of the Norwegian black metal scene since the early 90s so it was about time I played them on Hollywood Metal. These guys consistently put out excellent albums and songs so the choice was especially hard here. Enjoy “Ormgard!” courtesy of my indecision, and love of a thundering double bass. Hang in there for the first minute as it opens with a filtered guitar effect. One of my favorite bands is DOOMSWORD from Italy, an epic viking/doom metal band. GJALLERHORN, also from Italy, has similar aspects in their epic viking songs about the coming events of Ragnarok. They are able to achieve that epic feeling of battle desperation or impending doom not dissimilar from DOOMSWORD. I played “Ragnarok I: Blood Over Asgard” the first in a 3 part epic series of songs from their 2005 release. TRACEDAWN is the band I think everyone needs to appreciate from this weeks show. These young guys incorporate every great element that I have come to admire from this genre and especially the bands of this genre of Finland who, like this one, seems to know best.