Metallica has made a deal with Stance for a line of themed socks promoting classic Metallica albums Kill Em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets! You can order them now from the links below. Stance has collaborated with many bands in the past, including Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Motörhead. According to the Los Angeles Times, Stance Socks typically cost $50 per pair, before shipping. Continue reading
Metallica is finishing their final leg of summer tour dates in Europe with Ghost and Bokassa opening. Watch the band perform their Kill Em All (Megaforce) classic ‘The Four Horseman’, live in Estonia!Continue reading
The history of thrash metal got another ring on the world-tree in 1984 with the release of Ride the Lightning (Megaforce/Elektra Records), the second album by Metallica. With better songwriting, tight production, and more originality than their debut Kill Em All (Megaforce), Ride moved the needle forward for the entire genre and cemented Metallica as the premiere band in the genre. Continue reading
Metallica has shared another video on their YouTube channel MetallicaTV. If you love the band, definitely subscribe to it. In another video from their 2018 WorldWired Tour, watch them perform their classic cut from Kill Em All (Megaforce),’The Four Horsemen’. Continue reading
Metallica has shared a pro-shot performance video for their classic track Motorbreath last year on tour. One of the key tracks from Kill Em All which just turned 35 last month. If you love Metallica, make sure you like and subscribe to their MetOnTour YouTube channel.Continue reading
We are capping off our week, sending a shout out to Metallica’s Ride The Lightning. Earlier this week we paid respect to the debut album, Kill Em All (Megaforce) which turned 35 the other day. RTL came out one year later and was their major label debut. Check out our content below, Turn the following playlists up to 11 and jam out all night long! Continue reading
Metallica will be releasing Hardwired…To Self-Destruct on November 18th via Blackened Records, and they’ve just announced a radio takeover, plus special sales on their web store to heighten the excitement for the new record. Continue reading
Jeff Waters is one of life’s perennial nearly-men. From threatening success with their (his – I think everyone accepts by this point Annihilator is Waters, and Waters is Annihilator) revered début Alice In Hell (Roadrunner) through a career that has risen and fallen but never quite reached the commercial or critical heights of his first three releases, nonetheless, Jeff is a trier.
Left flying solo following a split with Dave Padden, Waters has, as he did for three albums in the 90’s, taken on the role of vocalist on the fifteenth album to bear the Annihilator moniker, Suicide Society (UDR). Vocally, there are nods to contemporaries and inspirations, most notably Dave Mustaine, but all in, it has to be said, Waters turns in a vast improvement on his previous outings on the mic with a decent performance.
While Suicide Society is not without its flaws, it is an album which wears a strong Megadeth influence on its sleeve and, conversely, it’s hard not to be drawn in by its charm. Were it not Annihilator there may be more winces, but as it is you find yourself glossing over the clichéd lyrics, the dime-a-dozen staccato groove riffs, the obvious hooks and the more-confusion-than-fusion clunky segues and break outs and instead nodding along with the cousin of Cryptic Writings (Capitol) ‘Creepin’ Again’, the melodic snap of, um, ‘Snap’ and shaking your head forgivingly at what is, quite brazenly, ‘Damage Inc’ glued to bits of ‘Metal Militia’ repackaged under the title ‘My Revenge’. When Waters snarls “No Remorse!” in a track, ‘Break, Enter’ that looks once again to Kill ‘em All (Megaforce) you’re grinning with, rather than berating, him as you knowingly turn a blind eye because you know this is a guy who genuinely loves his craft and his metal. Interestingly though, it is the less thrashy, more melodic, tracks like ‘Snap’ and ‘The One You Serve’ that work best, and suit Waters’ better-voice-than-modern-day-Mustaine vocals, while balladic closer ‘Every Minute’ has some great sections.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying an album while acknowledging its several and obvious blemishes, and there’s nothing wrong with having a soft spot for Jeff Waters and Annihilator. Suicide Society indulges both.
6.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
Coming from the melodic end of thrash, and with eight high-topped feet planted in speed metal, Helsinki’s Ranger impress with their (rising) force, and don’t mistake the proliferation of melody for any indication that there is to be any let up in intensity or intent. With nods to pre-pirate Running Wild, and ploughing a similar furrow to Enforcer, albeit with a less rocky overtone and more of a heads-down-see-you-at-the-end vibe, Where Evil Dwells (Spinefarm) may be the band’s debut full-length, but this is an album forged in furnaces that have been burning for 35 years.
Using Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends (Combat) as a template (7 songs, sub 40 minutes, track 6 being a lengthy 8 minute plus thrashepic, track one being a lesson in extended thrash and the second longest track) is not the worst prototype any band could use, and musically the band pull from the melting pot some nice Di’anno era Maiden twin leads, especially in ‘Defcon1’, amongst the thrashing Sodom-y. Elsewhere there are enough variance of thrash and speed metal and melodic refrains to maintain the interest; ‘Phantom Soldier’ along with a nice Eastern-tinged solo and good movement between solid chugging, and riffing and all out thrashing, borrows very heavily from Kill ‘em All (Megaforce) and in particular ‘Seek & Destroy’ (as well as lifting more than a lyric from ‘Disposable Heroes’), while closer ‘Storm of Power’ is a relentless 3 minute thrash battery to bring things home. Dimi Pontiac provides yelps and squawks as if possessed at random intervals by John Connolly – a “thing” that bands do that personally grates a touch, but are a staple trope of the speed metal oeuvre – but otherwise delivers with confidence, reminiscent of So Far, So Good… So What (Capitol) era Dave Mustaine, sneer and all.
All in, though, a very solid first outing for Ranger that will do more than satisfy those whose tastes are this way inclined. It is nothing new, but here’s where I have to leave my retro-hang ups at the door and buckle my bullet belt on instead, cos it doesn’t just do what it says on the tin. Ranger, with their melodic breaks and mid-tempo deviations, do go some way to standing out and honing their own identity.
And who can argue with a hand-drawn logo and an album cover with big fucking skulls on it!
7.5/10
STEVE TOVEY
