We’ve got to admit something. We slept on Power Trip. We didn’t cover them with their debut album ‘Manifest Decimation’ back in 2013. We thought they were a hardcore band. They are a hardcore band, in ethics, culture and history, but they’re a hardcore band that plays furious thrash a la Sacrilege, Nuclear Assault and early Megadeth. We can feel Dan Lilker tutting at us from afar.

Frontman Riley Gale says he doesn’t mind. He understands. “You look at classic albums like ‘Behind The Realms Of Madness’ by Sacrilege or ‘Best Wishes’ or ‘Age Of Quarrel’ by Cro-Mags, that’s the apex of what I like about aggressive music and the band feels that way too, but we’re very much trying to be ourselves,” he says trying to make us feel good about ourselves, but still making us still feel like idiots for sleeping on such a vital new voice in thrash metal. “Any band wants to have their own identity but our band is almost based on not having an identity so to speak. It’s an interesting place for us to be in ‘cos as we’ve got bigger, people have asked, ‘Well, what are you about? What’s your image?’ and well … Read More

We’ve been enjoying our recent C90 series. Okay, fair enough, it’s hardly original. What music magazine has not, in one form or another, asked musicians to create a playlist of bands rarely off their turntables? It’s a classic and we have no shame. But this one is especially exciting as it’s actually happening. This is not a fictitious mixtape of songs and bands that inspired the artist, this is a list of songs and bands that the artist – none only than King Fowley of the mighty Deceased – has covered and gathered together on the aptly-titled ‘Metal Massacre 31’ with his equally mighty band October 31. Out on November 25 via Hells Headbangers King kindly explained his reasons behind each cover and offered us the first full stream of the album to get your teeth into. If you’re a sucker for those early Metal Blade compilations and love early American heavy metal from Hallows Eve to Omen then this will get your engines revving. All hail King Fowley. All hail ‘Metal Massacre’ compilations. All hail propa ‘eavy metal.

STREAM ‘METAL MASSACRE 31‘

Metal Massacre 31 by OCTOBER 31

1. ‘Cross My Way’ by DEATH DEALER “This is track 2 from ‘Metal Massacre 4’. A killer French Canadian … Read More

New York thrash icons Anthrax release their latest album ‘For All Kings’ today via Nuclear Blast and for the band who formed in 1981 and have pushed out 12 of these bad boys, not to mention countless EPs, live albums and singles, they’re well aware of the changing tides when it comes to picking up your favourite band’s new record.

But reflecting their ol’ pals Metallica’s support for Record Store Day, founding axeman Scott Ian has some words to say about people’s attitude towards buying new music. He says in a video shot this week in London, that “Shouldn’t ten or eleven new songs by your favourite band be enough?” He also says that he “stills loves going to record stores” and that he’s worried it’s “an experience that [future] generations will never understand”.

“It’s like pushing your little bird, your little baby, out of your nest,” bassist Frank Bello tells Iron Fist’s Martin Popoff, on making new albums. “You nurture it to this point and then you start doing interviews, people hear it, and hopefully everybody likes it as much as we do. We’re just psyched, honestly, to be at this level in our 30-something year career. People have a real nice buzz … Read More

Metallica have just announced that they will reissue ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’ on April 15. Both albums have been remastered and will be available in three formats – CD, vinyl, and Deluxe Box set. Both Deluxe Box sets include original source material from the band’s personal collection with many never before heard or seen recordings, along with a book including rare photos and essays from those who were there.

The deluxe numbered box set of ‘Kill ‘Em All’ includes four vinyl records, five CDs, one DVD, a deluxe book including rare photos and a patch, while the deluxe numbered box set of ‘Ride the Lightning’ includes four vinyl records, six CDs, one DVD, a deluxe book including more of those unseen photos, a mini-book of lyrics handwritten by James Hetfield and a set of three posters.  The Deluxe Box sets are limited edition collectors’ items. Check out metallica.com for the full package details and track listing.

Fans can pre-order both Deluxe Box sets at the Met Store now and all six new items will be available on Friday April 15, just in time for Record Store Day.

 

In 1984, as the nascent thrash scene was bursting out of its Bay Area base, north of the border a young guitar virtuoso by the name of JEFF WATERS was discovering heavy metal via KISS, Sweet and… disco. Two years later he would record a demo called ‘Phantasmagoria’ that would launch his band from Vancouver bedroom to Roadrunner Record’s world stage. But Jeff himself would pass the microphone to Randy Rampage and from thereon seven vocalists would shuffle through the ranks. Thirty years later Waters has not only returned to the mic but right back to that life-changing demo for inspiration. It’s been a career of highs and lows but could ‘SUICIDE SOCIETY’ see ANNIHILATOR back on top?

“I have chosen you my friend, you’re mine Locked inside this frightening dream Nowhere to hide Every night my demons you will see An apparition festival, through hell you’ll ride”  ‘Phantasmagoria’ 1986 demo

…On how disco rocked his world “When I was a teenager, even before that, ten-years-old, it was disco and that’s my earliest memory of music. Then out of that there was ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ by KISS and this Rod Stewart song ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy’. I remember these two bands from when I … Read More

The demise of the local record shop is saddening on many levels, but the pinboards consigned to the skip out back is maybe the most heart-breaking. For where else can you find notices about crates of NWOBHM 7”s for sale, weed-smoking/doom-loving room-mates needed and most importantly little tabs of scrawled phone numbers asking if anyone wants to start a band. For that is exactly how the ’80s obsessed metal nerds of Alpha Tiger met. “I saw a notice on a board in our local music store. Someone was searching for another guitar player so I called him and we met,” explains guitarist Peter Langforth. “It was Alex [Backasch, guitars] and fortunately we had a similar taste in music.” That similar taste is music encompasses everything from “Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Riot,” which is alright in our book! The band formed as Satin Black in 2007 and were quickly snapped up by Karl Walterbach, he of Noise Records fame, for his new imprint Sonic Attack, but a line-up change and name change later and the band found themselves on the stages of Keep It True and Hellfest festivals and on Century Media Records for their new … Read More