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. More info: www.facebook.com/slayer
R.I.P. Jeff! Festivals cancelled: ROCK AM SEE (GER) takes a break in 2013 "lacking attractive headliners"; BURNING SEA in Croatia had to succumb to a new tax regulation; yet purchased BS-tickets can also be used to visit METALDAYS in Slowenia.
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
When Accept reappeared in the metal scene with a new album in 2010, you could hardly believe that they could still pull it off as well as in the 80s. There were many reasons for doubts: their last album was 14 years ago, all members have been absent from the metal scene for years and they had hired a totally new, yet unknown front man. But “Blood of the Nations” dispelled all doubts and the album became nro 1 in many magazines around the globe.
Now, two years later, it is time for “Stalingrad”, their new output. The opening “Hung Drawn and Quartered” and the title track with its nice lead guitars are a really great entry. But right after those songs the sonic hurricane calms down and becomes a light wind. The following “Hellfire” and “Flash to Bang Time” are only boring and redundant, as well as the later following “Revolution” and “The Quick and the Dead”. “Against the World” and “Twist of Fate” are two more highlights before the album ends with the unorthodox, but not completely convincing “The Galley”.
“Stalingrad” is actually not a bad album, and if you got such an impression due to my explanations above, it might be because of my frustration about the fact that Accept did not manage to deliver another album as good as “Blood of the Nations”. Therefore “Stalingrad” is a good album, but nothing more - which makes it ironically the first disappointment of this year.
