The Gathering - Disclosure

Have you checked out Terra Relicta, a web page dedicated to gothic metal, goth rock, darkwave and many more genres, that are sometimes set aside by the big music webzines? If you haven't do it now, it has reviews, interviews, some prize winning contest, news and as far as I'm hearing, there will also be a contest for the best dark album of 2012. So come on and put a vote and check it out!

I also contributed a review of The Gathering's amazing album Disclosure, so instead of pasting it straight here, you can read it here.

Enjoy and check out the Terra Relicta Facebook page as well. The site is still in it's baby-phase, so be patient!

Muse & The 2nd Law

You know what's mind blowing? MUSE! Their 6th studio album entitled The 2nd Law was released this September and I can't imagine anyone being left cold when listening to it. Some Muse fans expected more, I expected less since The Resistance wasn't really my cup of tea (compared to the masterpieces Origin of Symmetry and Absolution).

When Survival first hit the radio stations I was all like ''whoa, that's so Queenish, but interesting''. Empowering and majestic, just as Olympics hymn should sound like.  Then there was Madness, o sweet and trippy Madness, a dub step driven, dense in electronics and hard beat. I really needed some time to embrace this song fully, but when it got under my skin, there was no way I could get that song out of my mind. So, what's up with The 2^nd Law? It's different, it's experimental, it's versatile, a new step in Muse's evolution. I myself am the greatest fan of Origin of Symmetry (alone I guess, since Absolution seems to be their most praised album) and what got me into Muse at the first place is their experimental, alternative sound. Just listen to Hypermusic and say it doesn't take you to the higher level. It's like being on really, really cool drugs. So okay, The 2^nd Law, a bit more electronic, less piano and very Queen-like in guitar riffs. We have straight rock hymns, such as (the James Bond sounding) Supremacy, 80s ‘’I feel Duran Duran/Frankie Goes to Hollywood/Prince driven, party song Panic Station, the ‘’Foo Fighters are kickass’’ sounding Liquid State , the ‘’WTF I could be an intro song for a mega awesome sci-fi movie Unsustainable, the heartbreaking ballad Explorers, funky Big Freeze, the introspective Animals…. And so on. Every song on this album is a chapter to itself, o story for itself. How it works as a whole? Quite well I may say. There is no pure concept on this album and you know what, it's about time. I'm quite sick and tired of band either going into new direction or doing it badly or constantly standing on solid grounds of their representative sound. Give me rock and dub step and 80s new romantics, hard guitars and high pitched vocals and do it good! That's what The 2^nd Law is all about.

Going on, having the privilege of seeing Muse live was one of rare moments I had tears in my eyes. I love going to cheap, metal concerts, but no underground band can even compare to the professionalism of such artists as Muse. Being the tour promoting the new album it was of course expected the majority of songs will be the newer, but we got our share of epic songs such as Bliss, Time Is Running Out, Starlight, Stockholm Syndrome, anyway, those good, old songs that made us fall in love with this band in the first place. They went on for 2 solid hours, with 2 encores and I admit I was dehydrated, my arms hurt, I could barely even speak and I could last for at least 2 hours more. I missed Hysteria and Hypermusic though, Hysteria being the perfect ‘’get crazy’’ song and Hypermusic being one of my top 3 Muse songs. The ending with Knights of Cydonia was simply breath taking.

So all in all, I have spent the last month listening to solely Muse and after seeing them live I love this band even more. Alternative rock is not one of my favourite genres and I try out different bands from time to time, but none of them seems to amaze me as much as Muse did. So I’m really hoping I will have a chance to see them again near in the future, because it's such an amazing adventure, I can't miss it. 

Slash & Apocalyptic Love!

I don't think there is any need in introducing Slash - world wide known rock legend, a guitar hero that is definitely going to leave his seal in the history of rock music. Since Slash quit Guns N Roses he started many projects, first being Slash's Snakepit, which I admit, I don't even like at all, second being Velvet Revolver, which I admit had *some* good songs and his latest effort, the solo career simply entitled ''Slash''. His 2010 eponymous album was for me the best thing he has come upon since GnR and just a few days back his new album, entitled Apocalyptic Love saw the light of a day.

To be short: I'm ecstatic about this album! There was so much talking going on about this album being mellow and what the hell is this ''with Myles Kennedy'' thing going on and let me tell you something: if you put Slash and Myles Kennedy together you get one hell of an album! I very much enjoyed Kennedy's vocals on ''Slash'' album (remember the wonderful ''Starlight''?) so for me it was a plus that he was about to do the vocals on this brand new album. So with Apocalyptic Love we again got some of that great old hard rock with a mixture of blues Slash really knows how to incorporate in his riffs, that is also radio friendly, never boring and very versatile. If you don't believe me, check out this brilliant unplugged version of ''Not For Me'' (which is, so to speak, my favourite track from the album), and then go get yourself the album to hear it for yourself and make sure you don't miss the songs ''Anastasia'' and ''No More Heroes''.


Slash with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators: Not For Me Unplugged


... and Slash with GnR in good old days, playing the best song ever made in the history of music!

The Avengers are coming to town!

The most awaited film for me for 2012 has hit the theatres and hit them hard! So, what do you do when the bad guys from beyond are coming to town, lead by a malice, vicious, vengeful demigod? Well, you pick up your phone and give a call to the closest superheroes, I mean we all have Iron Man on speed dial as it seems.

The Avengers is a classical pop-corn superhero film, filled with superheroes but it’s just that awesome! Loki, the malice, vicious and vengeful demigod is coming to Earth, pissed off and very mad that he did not get the throne and rule Asgard with iron fist, as he wished in Thor (2011), trying to get his hands on Tessaract, that he really really needs, so he can give it to the Other, who really badly wants it and is willing to help out Loki by lending him his army of nasty creatures in return. Now, the problem is that the Tessaract is in hands of Nick Fury, so when Loki succeeds and gets his hands on Tessaract (and the scene when he does that is so rad, Loki has some serious action moves), Fury picks up his phone and just assembles the superheroes. Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds as they are all great personalities and well, their ideas and characters may differ…. Quite a lot. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Mr. all American guy Captain America are assembled and joined later on with Loki’s brother, Thor. There are some quarrels and comic scenes between them, a little bit of bromance between Tony Stark and Banner, both being such geeks, Thor makes a stupid face because he doesn’t know what a philanthropist means and some secrets are revealed because Stark hacks the system and so on. Needless to say, the great action battle comes in the end when bad guys finally arrive and try to take over our planet, but the Avengers pull themselves together and step together and show that by combining all their powers they can protect us.

When I say it like that, it sounds a bit boring. But that’s the story led by all great comic superheroes. What’s this movie really about is the totally smashing CGI effects, incredible characters that are all great individuals but are balanced just perfectly, comic scenes that are not expected at all but will make you laugh for hours, great action scenes and incredible script. Seriously, sometimes these superheroes can talk to each other like they’re a bunch of freaking morons, but not this one.  Tony Stark is a good fella and we all know him, he’s sarcastic and narcissistic and maybe sometimes even obnoxious for some people, but he’s a good guy and we all know that. After I first saw Iron Man I said Robert Downey Jr. was born to be Iron Man and he proves that every time I see him in this role. Hulk is another story for me; I was never a big fan of the hero or the films, but I got to say Mark Ruffalo did a wonderful portray of Bruce Banner, you could just see and feel in his movement and his mime that he is on the verge of explosion and that he is in constant battle with himself not to let his anger out. Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America is my least favourite of them, but the film wouldn’t be the same without him, because he’s the good guy in the group. Being the all American dream and star, he has the morals and the compassion. And then Thor is just out of this league, being the all Asgardian dream and star; good at heart, but can strike really hard, when he wants to. On the other hand, Loki is just vengeful and evil. Tom Hiddleston did a great work portraying him, his laughter and face expressions were just perfect. Too bad Loki had the talking villain problem, because he could have 50% less lines and still be a badass as he was. Oh, almost forget, Black widow and Hawkeye were also the part of the team. Well, they were…. They were there. Nothing special to add, the movie could’ve worked without them, but they were also not completely redundant.

When thinking about that, the four superheroes could represent the four temperaments; Stark being the phlegmatic type as he just doesn’t care what’s going on, as long as he’s happy; Banner being the choleric, fighting with his deep and difficult feelings that tend to get the best of him; Captain America being the melancholic type, as he just can’t get over the fact of what happened to him and you can see him mope around all the time and Thor being the sanguine type; a nice, helpful person who can get really pissed off , when his limits are pushed.

Well, Joss Whedon, if I had 70 thumbs I would give you 70 thumbs ups for The Avengers. A film that was meant to be mind-blowing, astonishing and bombastic, filled with action, self struggle, mysteries and some comic relief is just that. That’s how you make a superhero movie. No, scratch the superhero part, that’s how you make a movie.

And to add: Soundgarden’s Live To Rise is such a perfect hymn to end the epic odyssey of The Avengers. And don’t forget to wait till the film ends, so you can see who else is still alive…. 

Laibach - Narodni Dom, Maribor; 21.4.2012

When Laibach, one of Slovenia's best and worldwide most famous musical and artistic act comes to town, it’s like…. a holiday to me. This time Laibach featured an event with a premiere of sci-fi film entitled Iron Sky, for which Laibach contributed music, but I unfortunately could not make it on time to see the film. But what the hell, Iron Sky comes to our cinemas and will be available for some time and the film will be the same every time. On the other hand, every Laibach concert is unique and when once missed, you never get the chance to see and hear it again.

It was my third time seeing Laibach this time and I got to admit, their show surpassed my expectations in so my ways. When I first saw Laibach live I was mind blown by their transcendental show, the second time not so much. So you can imagine I just held my expectations a bit low, which was, a good idea I suppose, because this time their show was again absolutely astonishing.

The beginning is, I suppose, a standard for their show for the past few years, as they start with their old(er) songs in a new shape, adding raw electronic elements to them, such as ‘’Brat Moj’’, ‘’Država’’, ‘’Die Liebe’’, ‘’Ti ki izzivaš’’ and they hold the same slow tempo throughout all of the songs, and when you at least expect it, they just cut the slow tempo with the electronic distortion that wakes you up from the transcendental sleep that the music embraces you in.

A very lovely surprise for me this time was that they played ‘’B Maschina’’, a song that was featured in the trailer for Iron Sky, and one of Laibach’s songs I really love, especially the ending when the choir hits the chorus. Another great addition to the playlist was ‘’Across The World’’ (originally performed by The Beatles), a song they covered in ‘’Let It Be’’ Album. Their current tour vocalist Mina Špiler did and excellent job singing that delicate song and creating such a warm ambient with it and there’s no need to say the crowd was very pleased when they heard the first notes of the song, as it is usually not in the band’s repertoire.

Songs like ‘’Tanz Mit Laibach’’, ‘’America’’ and ‘’Alle Gegen Alle’’ are of course obligatory for the show to be complete and to get the crowd moving with that ferocious energy, and for encore we got ‘’Leben Heißt Leben’’, the german version of world famous ''Life is Life'' by Opus and another germanised song, ‘’Geburt Einer Nation’’, which is a remake of Queen’s famous rock anthem One Vision.

  

All in all, Laibach is per excellence everytime, everywhere. The iconic frontman of the band, Milan Fras, holds such obscure and wildly energetic charisma, the show just would not be the same without him. Laibach would not be the same without him. So once again, a great great show of a great great band giving us great, really great music.