Sad news: The music world mourns the loss of Ray Manzarek (74), founding Member and keyboarder of The Doors, White Zombie drummer Phil Buerstatte (44) and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder (63). R.I.P.!
German Hardrockers BERSERKER will donate 18.000€ to the Berlin cancer charity for children on May 25. November 2011 BERSERKER front man Schröder was diagnosed with cancer, now he is cancer-free. In 2012 the band collected money for this charity at their concerts and will also continue to do so in the future. Slayer´s Jeff Hanneman is dead: he passed away at about 11AM on May 2nd near his Southern California home because of liver failure due to an infection after a spider bite. R.I.P. Jeff!
The Siberian Jay music video "I´m Holding" featuring Mikko Sirén from Apocalyptica on drums - we reported about the videoshoot in our "1h with" Special - can be watched here: http://youtu.be/C-hSNurZVcs
Admittedly, Bloodred Hourglass from Mikkeli, Finland, haven´t quite re-invented Metal - but the way they use different elements has a very original air about it. The spicy introduction (instrumentaltrack "We Lived Like Kings") promises a lot with those powerful guitars, catchy tunes and a melancholic touch - and yes, also the following 10 tracks can keep this promise. Although the Speed-Trash attitude at "Above All", "Scapegoat" or "Leverage" refers to their fellow countrymen Children Of Bodom, it´s clear that Bloodred Hourglass rather claim musical relationships with the Swedish variation of Melodic Death Metal. There´s tender tunes ("Ghost Wounds") as well as a touch of melancholy ("Of Regret, Fear and Forgive"), still the focus lies on cool grooves ("Speed Superstar") and catchy choruses with immediate-sing-along quality ("Castle Ashtray"). One of my highlights is the epic finale "We Die like Heroes", which features such a lot of variation it could claim to be the summary of the whole album... rocks like hell, no weak song, not boring at all. In other words, those Finns sound like In Flames and Soilwork at their best - a remarkable debut album. Who is into high quality Melodic Death Metal should put this album into the CD collection.
Tracklist:
1. We Lived Like Kings
2. Above All
3. Speed Superstar
4. Arcadia
5. Castle Ashtray
6. Ghost Wounds
7. Scapegoat
8. Leverage
9. The Conquerer
10. Of Regret, Fear and Forgive
11. We Die Like Heroes
