AL.B.DAMNED - KATCH 'EM & KILL 'EM (Cd Review)

01.Katch 'Em And Kill 'Em

02.Hate 2 Love You

Recording Line Up:
Al.B.Damned (Vocals)

Doug Cartwright (Guitar)

Joe Crow (Guitar/Bass)

Leigh Costanza (Drums)

Current Line Up:
Al.B.Damned (Vocals)

Joe Crow (Guitar)

Kodi Kasper (Guitar)

Danny Toxic (Bass)

Pip Sickness (Drums)

This is a limited edition 2 track cd sampler for the upcoming debut album to be titled "The Darker Side Of Me".

Formerly known as the Texas Drag Queen Massacre Al's crew have been tearing up the uk for a few years now with numerous releases and amazing live shows, this essentially was set to be a solo project but has now evolved into a band in its own right.

First song opens with a mock live introduction before kicking into a full on horror/punk/metal/goth rocker with a catchy as hell chorus and great punchy guitar.Al's voice is like wednesday 13's but with a rawer edge and yes the music has that whole FDQFP13 feel but it has a metal feel to it and retains originality.

The second song is more of the same, until half way through when it slows down and Al does some great harmony singing,there is a touch of Motorhead in there as well.

Basically 2 songs just aint enough so lets hope we get the album soon.

Rating 10/10

For fans of : Wednesday 13, Misfits, Murderdolls, Amen, Graveyard Boulevard

STU

SPIDERBABY,LAURA LONDON'S MAGIC & BURLESQUE SHOW,AL.B.DAMNED Live At The Gaff 17.10.09 (Gig Review)

SPIDERBABY
LAURA LONDON
LITTLE BO FREAK
AMANDA MAE STEEL
LYDIA DARLING
AL.B.DAMNED
SLINKY SPARKLES

The Gaff, Holloway Road 17.10.09

Ladies and gentlemen roll up for the biggest night of rock n roll entertainment of
2009, to say that this show was amazing is an major understatement.

AL.B.DAMNED
After the show was opened by a traditional burlesque act from Slinky Sparkles, Laura
London took to the stage to introduce the Bournemouth gothic shock and roll band who
perform a superb set fuelled with humour and horror.We may be in Wednesday 13 territory but this has real edge and originality to it, the songs win over the audience almost straight away and vocalist Joey screams and sings his way through songs destined for future greatness, armed with a new drummer the band who used to be known as the Texas Drag Queen Massacre will make a big noise in 2010.

LAURA LONDON
After the rock n roll comes the burlesque & magic set introduced by Laura.
First to the stage is Lydia Darling who stubs a cigar out on her tongue and then
performs the most amazing flaming hula hoop routine, it was awesome!
Next is Amanda Mae Steel who performs a traditional strip but adds blood, all very dark
and gothic and a huge cheer at the end.
Little Bo Freak had already freaked out members of staff and the audience before she
gets to the stage due to the snake coiled around her body, her performance was
outstanding and quite breathtaking especially when she started fire breathing as well.

Then Laura takes the stage with a series of "How does she do it" tricks, e get it all
from turning flowers into a wand, a quick change of dresses in 2 seconds flat!
A guy comes on stage and gets a cake of fire and his legs sawn off (well not really they were still attached) and laura finds the easiest way to solve a rubiks cube by simply throwing it in the air!What was really good about watching her was the fact that this was on a rock stage with
everyone standing in front, no fancy tables and chairs, magic right in your face and
you still couldnt see how she did it!!!


STU

SLINKY SPARKLES

AL.B.DAMNED

LYDIA DARLING

AMANDA MAE STEEL

LITTLE BO FREAK

LAURA LONDON

SPIDERBABY

FROM GREAT HEIGHT - FGH EP (Free Cd download)

ADAM EVER (VOCALS/SYNTH)

PAUL LIESE (BASS)
GARY BOAST (DRUMS)

MICHAEL ALP (GUITAR)

01.The Messenger

02.From A Great Height

03.The Lie Of The Land

04.Initial

05.Split Seconds


From Great Height are a four-piece band hailing from Enfield, North London.

Formed In the summer of 2007 with the goal to create a distinctive, yet familiar style of rock music.
Drawing influence from the heavier, more progressive bands of the 70's, the epic synth sounds from the early 80s and contemporary songwriting styles.The results are a dynamic and melodic sound.

The band soon began to play live and their enthusiasm to share with an audience started to win them fans from both indie and heavy metal shows.

In 2008 they recorded their first single ‘Split Seconds/Initial’, upon its release it was the second track ‘initial’ that began to get them attention both here in the UK, one review stated “You really need to hear this to experience just how good this is”, and in the USA it was added to the playlist of 'Class X Radio' In Cincinnati, Ohio.

2009 has so far seen them increase their fanbase; gain higher profile gig’s including the support for American group ‘harptallica’ for their London show and the release of a five track ep titled ‘fgh’.

Currently, the aim for From Great Height is to continue to play as many gigs as possible to help push their music further.
They relish the opportunity to play live, in any venue, any shape or size and with any genre of other bands.

Website: www.fromgreatheight.com

Additional information please contact : fromgreatheight@hotmail.co.uk

Video website: http://www.youtube.com/user/fromgreatheight

DOWNLOAD THE EP HERE : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IMYVAP97

ELIMINATION - DESTROYED BY CREATION (Cd Review)

01.Straight To Hell
02.The Rage Within
03.Slaves To A Tyrant's Reign
04.Wargames
05.Nightmare Asylum
06.Nostromo
07.The End Of Days
08.The Eliminator
09.Rising From The Grave
10.Release The Anger
11.Hell's Battlefield
12.Destroyed By Creation


Daz Abbott (Guitar)
Neil Stevens (Vocals)
Dave Spicer (Guitar)
Justin Smith (Bass)
Will Roswell (Drums)


Formed 3 years ago, the Ipswich thrashers put it out that they were the new wave of traditional thrash metal, they released numerous demos and kept gigging, this last year however they have moved up a gear and have gained some major band supports to the likes of Evile, Cauldron, Wolf, Forbidden and Virus.

This is their first album and its released through Casket records.

The cd starts with a nice quiet intro before launching into a full on thrash assault with screaming vocals, breakneck speed drumming and solid riffs.'Straight To Hell' hits every button right down to the fist in the air title!

Track 2 continues the onslaught with a pounding riff that drives the song throughout, it has that kind of riff that frankly Anthrax would kill for these days.

'Wargames' has a great bass line and a a shredding solo in it,this just gets better as each song comes along.

'Nightmare Asylum' the song that has "Classic" written all over it!A superb riff throughout, great vocals, the song just moves with an almost power metal feel, it has that great sing a long quality with its catchy chorus and remains brutal throughout.

'The End Of Days' is yet another full on headbanger, but fortunatley a couple of minutes we get a quiet breakdown to catch our breath.

You gotta love 'The Eliminator' from the opening sound effect of walking and rain to its old school thrash feel, with rhythmic drums and "we are not worthey" riffage!

Turn up the next track to 11 because the production in the use of stereo mixing just has to be heard, in fact the production throughout is awesome, but on this track its just amazing.

Love that opening bass note to 'Release The Anger' it just pops the speaker a treat, its another great song and half way through speeds up and we get more great solos!

'Hell's Battlefield' has a nice guitar/keyboard intro into some blues heavy guitar, then those chords n riffs kick in once again, add the bass, drums and screaming vocals and Elimination prove they dont know the meaning of "calm down", this is thrash afterall.

Finally the title track coming in at almost 8 minutes, well its fucking awesome, full of great timing changes and the last couple of minutes has this maidenesque riff that is an absolute killer.

Shall we sum up?
The best british thrash album of 2009; No doubt in my mind at all, that for a band to produce an album of this quality as their debut, can go nowhere but forward.

Its not jumping on any bandwagon retro or otherwise, this is pure original talent.

Rating 10/10

For fans of : Municipal Waste, Anthrax, Megadeth, Onslaught, Virus, Gama Bomb, Evile

STU

SPEED THEORY - ORIGINS EP (Cd Review)

01.Cursed

02.Malevolence

03.Origins

Wesley Alexander Davies III (Vocals/Guitar)

Jay Dodkins (Guitar/Synthersizer)

Stu Beardshaw (Bass)

Alex Hannon (Drums/Samples)

Midlands based band who formed in 2005, soon gained huge amounts of press and in particular the undying support from metal hammer.Festival appearences, Major tour support slots and a couple of releases should have propelled them into the big time, yet after all these years that recognition has yet to come to fruition.

This latest 3 track demo shows that they have progressed musically to a very high standard and have produced three very good songs here, bridging both progressive and hardcore genres to create a unique and enjoyable sound.

A soundbite from a zombie movie introduces us to 'Cursed' a song which to begin with shows some straight forward hardcore tendencies, however there is some very technical guitarwork going on in the mix and as the song continues numerous elements come into play from synth, timing changes and Burton C Bell like vocal harmony.

'Malevolence' has a melodic beginning of guitar and synth before crashing into an almost symphonic black metal song before allowing that hardcore influence to shine through with some style.The structure of the song is such that one element flows into the other drawing the listener into their world.

'Origins' is a drum driven heavy as fuck out and out headbanging classic, sure there are melodic breakdowns with that great synth sound but the song just drives with power throughout for about six minutes, leaving the last 2 of this epic to flow once again in a Fear Factory style.

Yet another fine example of how British heavy metal is forever moving forward and producing outstanding bands with the ability to create lasting music.

Rating 9/10

For fans of : Fear Factory, Opeth, Chaosanct, Meshugga

STU

KOPPERHED - KOPPERHED EP (CD Review)

01.Chains
02.The Breaking
03.Die Alone


Low (Vocals)
Annie (Guitar)
Dave (Guitar)
Dany (Bass)
Lex (Drums)


Formed less than a year ago Kopperhed have already begun to make a name for themselves through gigging and appearing in the Surface Unsigned competition where they eventually won 3rd place at the finals at the o2 Arena.

The band draw on numerous influences from Nu-Metal, Heavy Metal,Goth and Rap to create an intresting and highly original sound, a sort of "New Nu-Metal".

First thing you notice is that this cd comes in a great little round package, so from the outset its obvious that some care and attention is being paid here.

'Chains' has this great Slipknot vibe mixed a bit of 'Roots Bloody Roots', the vocals are very much in the growl n scream vein, not unlike Anders (Original Slipknot vocalist), some great melodic moments break the agression up but it is pretty much a full on assault through the speakers!

'The Breaking' has a quite beautiful guitar intro and then it breaks into a heavy riff before driving into a moody rhythm.
Again you cannot fail to pay attention to the vocalist's attack, but at times there is a slight feeling that he could sing parts of this normally which would lift this song to a new height, the backing vocal has harmony that works wonders and some great guitar solos here as well.

Finally the heart warming 'Die Alone' another in your face onslaught layered with screams, huge riffs, awesome drumming and enough melodic moments to allow you catch your breath and even a little rap thrown in for good measure.

A very impressive ep from a band who will no doubt grow in stature in the coming months and without a doubt one to watch.

Rating 9/10

For fans of : Slipknot, Korn, Down The Sun, Soulfly, Mushroomhead

STU

T.O.O.T.H - ERIC THE FRUITBAT 1979 - 1982 (Free Cd Download)

01.Silver Machine (07.03.80)

02.DestroyAr (07.03.80)

03.Taking It all Away (April 1981)

04.Obscure Weirdness (August 1981)

05.All Along The Watchtower (September 1982)

06.Spirit Of The Age (September 1982)

07.Hanging Around (Septemeber 1982)

08.First Ever Recording (26.10.79)

09.Bedroom Band Fucking Around (December 1979)

Stu (Vocals/Guitars/Drums/Keyboards)

Kev (Bass/Drums/Vocals/Guitar)

With :

Jah Leroy (Drums)

Bobby Vincent (Bass)

Steve Sabbath Cook (Drums)

Peter Lawrence (Guitar)

A bunch of very old recordings from very poor cassette tapes.

From hearing these back its weird to think that we were part of the NWOBHM at all, we were just a rock band with strange influences like the Stranglers, Hawkwind, Crass and Motorhead.

But as with 'Obscure Weirdness' there was an avante garde element to what we did, which i guess came from me and Kev's love of bands like Faust and Can.

There is nothing outstanding here, so dont expect the wow factor, but looking back i think we had something unique.

STU

DOWNLOAD IT HERE : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QNKCZUD7

MOUTHFUL OF FLIES, GODS OF HELLFIRE, KOPPERHED, ARXIS Live At The Gaff 03.10.09 (Gig Review)

MOUTHFUL OF FLIES
GODS OF HELLFIRE
KOPPERHED
ARXIS

The Gaff, Holloway Road 03.10.09

ARXIS
Cant help but love this band, they are young and talented and have a healthy obsession with Iron Maiden!
What puts these guys above the rest is their great musicianship and entertaining stage presence.They have a huge set as well full of headbanging riffs and a fantastic version of 'Fear In The Dark'.

KOPPERHED
Stepped in at the last moment as Primitai had to cancel due to their guitarist becoming a dad!Kopperhed have only been around a short while but are picking up quite a following and getting a reputation as a great live band.
They certainly entertain and are clearly four very different people bringing in varied influences to create what one guy commented as sort of "New Nu-Metal".

Incredible growling vocals are delivered by a huge man in a kilt doing old "rave" type hand dances whilst metal and goth influences flow from the guitarist and bassist, the latter with some amazing vocal harmonies as well (Despite a michrophone malfunction), all this backed by wild drumming.

GODS OF HELLFIRE
With a huge vocalist looking like a cross between Danzig and Peter Steel and a band armed with flying V type guitars you know you are in for a set of high volume metal, and thats exactly what we get, and it fucking rocked!

A superb set of full on old school tinged heavy metal with screaming vocals and guitars and break-neck drumming held together by tight bass riffs, but hold on it gets better they pull out a cover of Rainbow's 'Hall Of The Mountain King' that was outstanding!

MOUTHFUL OF FLIES
Definatley one of the best live bands around at the moment, their take on metal has elements of Static X and Fear Factory but they are true originals in both music and performance.
A full set is recieved with headbanging and cheering throughout, they have some fantastic songs and its all delivered with style.

STU

ARXIS

KOPPERHED

GODS OF HELLFIRE

MOUTHFUL OF FLIES

BLOOD ISLAND RAIDERS, FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK, WITCHSORROW, SERPENT VENOM Live At The Gaff 02.10.09 (Gig Review)

BLOOD ISLAND RAIDERS
FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK
WITCHSORROW
SERPENT VENOM

The Gaff, Holloway Road 02.10.09

SERPENT VENOM
This is Paul from BIR other band and from the black sabbath vol 4 t-shirts he and the vocalist were wearing it was pretty obvious what we were going to get musically.But wow this was way beyond what i was expecting, sure the sabbath riffs were there and the vocalist was a remarkable mixture of early ozzy and paul rodgers, but it was a modern doom sound overall and very well executed, very powerful and it went down a storm!

WITCHSORROW
The Hampshire trio make such a big sound you'd think motorhead were on stage jamming with Cathedral!
It is an awesome set of precision doom laden heavy metal with pounding bass lines, agressive drumming and breathtaking riffage with some pretty cool vocals as well.We are still waiting for an album, but i am told that recordings are now being done!!!!It also turns out that the band played their first gig at this venue 3 years ago when it used to be a pub!

FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK
Edingburgh's finest thats for sure, possibley one of the countries finest as well, an absolutley stunning set of female fronted heavy metal reminiscent of early Warlock!The singer has a really strong voice and puts over the songs with style that blows away the gaff's audience each song greeted with cheers, if they are playing near you go see them you will not be dissapointed.

BLOOD ISLAND RAIDERS
So the big question was "is this their last gig?" , well if it was it was one of the best i have seen them play in a long time, sure the guitar was too loud, but you know what they say 'if its too loud, you're too old' but it was a masterclass in how heavy metal should be performed live.
I have to pick out their version of 'Rust', not only my favourite song (and thanks for the dedication guys)but it was a superb version complete with a great jazzy bass solo from TJ.
I hope this is not the end, never to witness Al, warren,TJ and paul again on stage would be a huge loss to music!

STU

SERPENT VENOM

WITCHSORROW

FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK

BLOOD ISLAND RAIDERS

ALTERCARNATED PHOTOGRAPHY

Allow me to introduce to you Jo Blackened a photographer with an amazing talent.As you can see from the samples below she can convey atmosphere in both the studio and on location, a sample of the latter featuring James Bonegrinder from "dark power metal" band Matron.

Jo started Altercarnated Photography in 2005 and has been building up a very impressive portfolio and is now branching out in live band photography also.

Perhaps one of her strengths lies with her ability to capture the moment with feeling, and the pictures have a rich colour with superb editing and care.The attention to detail and understanding of the subject matter is second to none.

One more remarkable detail to mention is that for both the location and studio work her rates are very reasonable!The locations she has are quite something as well.

Contact details and some samples are below.

STU

Some of the available locations

James Bonegrinder from Matron

FACEBOOK

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Altercarnated-Photography/91328842807?ref=ts

MYSPACE

http://www.myspace.com/481950134


Copyright to all of the photographs displayed in this article are owned by the photographer. You may not sell, publish, license or otherwise distribute any of these photographs without the written permission of the photographer.

OCTOBER FLYERS