Black Sabbath live on Jim Marshall Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : A review in pictures

The title says it all. Possibly Black Sabbath‘s last performance of their career, and as expected drummer Bill Ward was replaced by Tommy Clufetos (drummer Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Alice Cooper).  They headlined Jim Marshall Stage on the final day of Download Festival 2012. Even after almost forty three years of the band’s formation, Black Sabbath showed more than a hundred thousand of us why they are still one of the greatest metal bands that’s ever walked the earth.

Black Sabbath’s set-list for Download Festival, 2012 -

Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Behind the Wall of Sleep
N.I.B.
Into the Void
Under the Sun
Snowblind
War Pigs
Sweet Leaf
Symptom of the Universe (instrumental)
Drum Solo
Iron Man
Fairies Wear Boots
Tomorrow’s Dream
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave

Encore:
Paranoid

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Metallica live on Jim Marshall Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : In pictures

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August Burns Red live on Zippo Encore Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : Pictures

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Killswitch Engage live at Download Festival, 2012 : In pictures

Pictures from American metalcore outfit Killswitch Engage‘s performance at 2012′s Download Festival.

Venue : Donington Park

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YOB in pictures : Live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Fans of stoner doom rock n’ roll music benefited the most out of this year’s I’ll Be Your Mirror in London. Out of the six bands on the line-up, four were very closely related to the genre. YOB‘s front-man Mike Scheidt could not contain his feelings about being able to deliver a performance alongside some big names, even though they themselves are able to attract a lot of crowd, and they sure did live up to expectations.

YOB’s set-list for the night -

Prepare the Ground
Burning the Altar
Adrift in the Ocean

This is how the band looked on-stage. Click to enlarge -

A Storm of Light’s set at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : In pictures

Day one of this year’s I’ll Be Your Mirror was opened by United States of America’s A Storm of Light. Meticulously planned with a video backdrop for every song, à la Roadburn, the first impression was already created by the festival as well as the band, and it was a very deluxe one. I had thought the video backdrop would in some way make up for me not being able to attend Roadburn earlier this year, but as the day passed by I realized the backdrop was only part of A Storm of Light‘s performance. A festival line-up as varied as this one at this one, any sort of complaint would fall on deaf ears. What with YOB, Wolves in the Throne Room, Melvins, Sleep and Slayer warming up back stage.

Animated members of the band ASOL slit open their bag of doom sounds, giving the festivites a gloomy start. A Storm of Light lapped up this opportunity by putting out a memorable performance.

A Storm of Light’s set-list for the night -

Silver
Missing
Wasteland
Wretched Valley
Collapse
Black Wolves

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album review : Orkan (2012) – Vintersorg

album : Orkan

artist : Vintersorg

genre : Viking/Folk Metal, Progressive Metal

year : 2012

Jamming even more seriously to their own proggy folk tunes, the Swedish-duo reproduce their jolly good music, and while you’re playing the album you’ll even forget to wipe your nasal mucus. Effective, eh?

Start a topic on folk metal and a detailed discussion would lead to the conclusion that Vintersorg are second to hardly any bands. These sons of Sweden could never make an intelligent critic frown at their tracks, simply because the mesmerizing output of their hard work is beyond the realms of musical pleasure. Managing to weave together viking topics with heaps of progression has made them a bullet proof metal act. With seven full-length albums that speak on behalf of this band’s talent, the journey that Vintersorg has had, looks straight out of a successful band’s biography that has multiple merits to it’s credit. Correction – A successful folk metal band’s biography. Folk is a step ahead, it is an elaboration of metal, and makes the genre proud.

Never simplistic in their approach, Vintersorg‘s eight full-length Orkan takes its time to unravel some of the untouched mysteries of a lovable metal category. Within an year of Jordpuls, the duo consisting of Vintersorg and Mattias Marklund have dropped an unsurprising package of eight tracks. Take for instance the speed-driven riffing on Istid, with a lot of clean vocals accompanied by many parts of chorus. The drumming pattern on the album is circuitous, and dials a different progressive number each time. Ur Stjärnstoft Är Vi Komna sets the surrounding on fire, helps vocalist Vintersorg growl his own words, and is mostly symphonic. Growls take the pole position on Havets Nåd, and Norrskenssyner.

The beauty of Vintersorg lies in the fact that even though they might be working too hard, their songs come across as seamless. Like how some things are meant to be, their songs too meant to be logical and musically meaningful. Third track Polarnatten has it all packed into one, be it the vocals, the keyboards, the boundless guitar playing. It is one song that has folk written all over it, along with Orkan and Havets Nåd. Vintersorg has been a town of melodies with every alley filled with melody in some or the other form. Even Orkan would receive all of my votes for carrying rhythmic tunes. Specially on Norrskenssyner and Urvädersfången, as they raise the groove bars too.

Nature, philosophy, culture can have bright as well as dark aspects to them, and when an epic band like this one decides to devote their songwriting to such subjects then the music branches out into several directions. Myren has a surprise in store with a very bluesy and pleasant guitaring. Orkan is entirely in Swedish, which won’t hit you in the first instance. The production is neither excellent, nor a let down. A fine balance is maintained, and is even raw at places.

The ever-lighting lamp post that goes by the name of Vintersorg has once again produced songs that pierce deeper into your skin, and make a visible place for themselves, even if it means to find the whole space already clogged with some good folk releases this year, which includes my favorite album Helvetios. Orkan will usher you into the strong viking kingdom, where the floating bubbles of progressive material will burst softly and you’ll cling on to the record for a long time to come.

Rating : 4.5/5

Rival Sons live on Zippo Encore Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : Pictures

American blues rock band Rival Sons took to the Zippo Encore Stage on day 3 of Download Festival, 2012. Those of you who haven’t heard their second album Pressure & Time already should catch hold of it before you miss out on an opportunity to watch them play in your neighborhood only because you thought the band’s name does not make sense. What matters is the name makes sense to the band, and they ooze out rock n’ roll while paying equal attention to the blues and classic rock. Rivals Sons have also announced the title of their third full-length due to release this year on 17th September. It has been named Head Down.

Rival Sons live at Download Festival, 2012. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

In pictures : Megadeth live at Download Festival, 2012

Back in 2008, when Dave and his thrash orchestra Megadeth had hit Palace Grounds (Bangalore, India) I had lived through one of the most painful days of my life since I couldn’t attend the concert for some reason. Little did I know that years later I would watch one of my favorite band from the early 80′s thrash explosion at the mother of all events – Download Festival, 2012. Since Megadeth was to enlighten the audiences on how to play good live music on the main Jim Marshall stage (obviously!), I snailed my way closer. No more than a fifteen minutes wait, Mustaine coolly walked onto the stage. No epic background music, no introductory theme, no suspense, no bullshit. That’s what Dave is loved for!

The rifftastic extravaganza, coupled with metal’s most unique voice, began with Never Dead and went on to captivate the audiences, who let their hair down as Megadeth belted out classics like Hangar 18, Sweating Bullets, Public Enemy No. 1, Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells, A Tout Le Monde and Holy Wars… The Punishment Due along with the rest of the tracks. They delivered one of the best set-lists of the festival, and I’m delighted to include Megadeth‘s performance as a part of my long term memory. Having already enjoyed all their albums and now that I’ve seen them live I’m a fan for life, and before I forget the wait for their fourteenth record just became slightly more difficult.

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album review : Th1rt3en (2012) by Megadeth

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Ghost (Swedish band) in pictures : live at Download Festival, 2012

Mysterious Swedish heavy metal outfit Ghost played this year’s Download Festival too, and they took to the Pepsi Max Stage on the last day (read Sunday, the tenth of June) of the fest. Particularly at 19:30 hours. With just one album out since their formation in 2008, and absolutely no piece of official information about who is behind all the chilling make-up, Ghost has already played almost every major metal festival in a short span, have impressed fans and critics alike, and are definitely the next big thing in metal. Considering Ghost hasn’t written a single new song since their first release, there had to be some way of differentiating their appearance at all the festivals (including last year’s Download) and Ghost decided to don white garbs for the very first time. The band has toured with Metallica, James Hetfield loves them, and when the whole of Anthrax had gathered in one corner of Pepsi Max Stage to partake in the breathtaking ritual that was to follow, I wasn’t surprised. As for their performance, Ghost proved to be the connoisseurs of their genre, which, on the whole, is satanic heavy metal and manages to take you through every age of metal. I think everyone should try and catch the band at these smaller platforms because Ghost is going to join the big league and hit the main stages soon, and then, there would be no turning back.

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