A few decades there was fury and fire over the fact that a couple of thrash Metal Titans had cut their hair, fucked about with a bit of eye liner and used back beats… Fast forward to 2025 and in some ways little gas changed.

A band’s visual identity is important for a few reasons. Primarily it shows unity of intent, but it’s also the foundation for its marketing and merchandising.

So, it’s naturally understandable that certain looks can be expected for particular genres and sub genres. However if your not even in the band but have been brought in only to contribute sonically in terms of your contribution on a creative level, should you be expected to dress a certain way simply to complete a session and share your work with permission from the bands only to be “torn a new one” by the “Peanut gallery” in the comments?

Here follows the short tail of a session drummer getting a shalacking from an average Joe death metal fan…

I’ve been a fan of Dream Theater since roughly around Scenes From A Memory. Everything from the blinding musicianship, to the complex orchestration and indulgence in odd time signature shenanigans has been utterly captivating over the last couple of decades.

With some minor exceptions,and this is one of them.

This might sound odd, but I never really thought of DT as a metal band first, Prog band second. I mostly prefer the records up to and including Train Of Thought with the distinct exception of Octavarium. Which, along with Scenes From A Memory and Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, I consider to be something of a Masterpiece. As such I think of DT as a Prog band first and Prog Metal band second…. If that makes sense. It’s a subtle distinction.

Now given the circumstances and set of events leading up to Mike Portnoy’s return to the band, which included and commenced with Liquid Tension Experiment 3…. I was expecting something a little more… “off the beaten path” from this first teaser from their forthcoming album ” Parasomnia” scheduled for release in February of 2025.

I explain why in this video:

There’s been a lot of chit chat on social media of late about Forbes top 38 (why 38?) Metal Bands of All Time.

I’ve noticed a lot of this sort of thing these days. Top Gear writing about PlayStation. Or Cosmopolitan about Self Defence. SEO bread crumbs laid in bulk, scattered as far and wide as possible in an attempt to widen their potential audience.

Normally, I’d scoff at such a thing. After all, what does Forbes know about Metal?

See for yourself and let me know if they aced it or if they botched it in the comments.

In a recent article on Metal Hammer, the discussion of “Dynamic pricing” for concerts was raised. Iron Maiden have made their position known in the wake of the controversy following the Oasis “Reunion Tour” pricing debacle, which saw fans being charged over double face value by ticket companies as availability became more scarce.

This reminds me of 1994, when Pearl Jam took on Ticket Master under somewhat similar circumstances.

Well, it turns out not everyone in the “musician’s camp” is sympathetic to the plight of fans who would struggle to pay the over inflated prices being charged under dynamic pricing strategies.Ten guesses as to who might want to shaft their fans…

This video covers some comments and reaction to Galder leaving Dimmu Borgir after 25 years with the band.

Best wishes to him with his future endeavours and thanks for the amazing contribution to the band and it’s legacy.

I never thought for a moment that Opeth would return to a heavier sound again. Especially since I put out a video less than 90 days ago lamenting their “departure” from writing new out and out “Metal” music.

I’m happy to report I was wrong…

Let me know in the comments section what you make of the track and if you’re an old school Opeth fan or a new school Opeth fan.

Super ccurious to see how it goes down with the “post Heritage” clan. I suspect there’s enough there that feels like home to them to at least be palatable. Likewise the same goes for many of the pre-Heritage peeps.

Recently whilst browsing YouTube, I stumbled across a video by a Channel called “Heavi”. The topic was “The Victims of Lars Ulrich”. It got my attention having been a fan of the band for around three decades now. Despite them being somewhat abusive to my ears here and there over the years.

knowing that over their four decades plus career, Ulrich and Hetfield have been the collaborative backbone of the band. I found the video to be a little… Lopsided.

Here’s my video where I talk about some of the points they raised and whether Lars should take the blame entirely, or at all.

You can find the link to Heavi’s original video in the description.

Love him or or loath him, let me know how much of it you think lands squarely on Lars’ shoulders.

I quite like Static-X, To me, one of the best things to happen States Side in metal in the early 2000s. It’s a great shame to have lost the main man himself well before his time though.

In this video I revisit the six studio albums made during Wayne’s time with the project and rank them according to memorability and quality of execution. All opinion and completely subjective of course.

I’ve always found it interesting looking at some of Wayne’s earlier stuff, how he made the sharp turn towards what would become Static X’s sound. Moving from fairly technical metal staples on the guitar to stripped down simplistic Rythm arrangements and allowing samples to take a more central role.

Whatever the inspiration, Static X was a breath of fresh air in the early 2000s that stood apart from the crowd. Wayne probably boosted sales of hair gel ten fold single handedly as well. Inspiring a generation to see what would happen if they did their hair upside down or in some other convoluted body contorted position.

They also showed a surprising amount of depth and progression within the definitions of the band’s sound as time passed.

Project Regeneration continues that legacy today in fine form.

Let me know your tier list and your top 5 Static X tracks in the comments!

staticx #waynestatic #groovemetal

There are bands and artists within the Metal sphere that, due to their exceptional capabilities as musicians inevitably make their way to a fork in the road.

In one direction they have the uniquely identifiable, reliable brand and sound they’ve created and at the end of the other, the promise of total artistic freedom.

Some choose to stay within metal but go out on their own to increase the bandwidth of their pallet of expression such a Devin Townsend or Ihsahn for example. Others depart the originating genre almost entirely leaving a void that their band once occupied. Delivering a particular sound to a particular audience and thereby satisfying a demand.

Its a difficult thing to level criticism at a band or artist for following their heart rather than simply running the band as they always have simply to maintain a brand and a particular revenue level.

So, in the case of Opeth, I can’t have any hard feelings towards the band for effectively walking out on their Death Metal roots to pursue a more progressive rock direction. I can Lament though on the void they left behind…

It’s been five years more or less since Slayer retired and played their finally shows. Since then we’ve learned that Kerry King and Tom Araya haven’t really been on close speaking terms. As a result, few would have predicted that the thrash titans would ever reunite in any capacity.

They weren’t on bad terms exactly, but it seemed clear that Tom Araya had had enough of the touring lifestyle which took him away from family and so on. Kerry King even went on to complete a solo record and his band is set to hit the road soon for touring.

Now, in 2024, two festivals dates have been announced and Tom, Kerry, Paul and Gary are scheduled for a return to active duty.

This all begs the question : Why now?

Let me know your thoughts about this in the comments!

Is this just a case of financial motivations or, do you think Tom has perhaps missed playing live with the guys and simply needed more of a compromise in intensity of the touring schedule to be able to make it work for him and his family?