The mastermind of C.O.B. Alexi Laiho

Interview by Luxi Lahtinen
Interview pictures by Sanna Sivén

Children of Bodom´s previous album, ARE YOU DEAD YET?, came out in 2005 - and since then the band has nearly hectically been touring around the globe, not only to promote the album, but also making the fans pleased by the band´s wild live performances that indeed have offered many unforgettable moments for all of those who have come to see the band. Children of Bodom´s participation to the "Unholy Alliance" tour both in North America and in Europe, was one of the highlights for the band itself, and undoubtedly brought lots of new fans to them, too.

After all this touring, comes a time when one needs to sit down and start to concentrate on writing new stuff for a band so that the fans could come to see their favorite bands to gigs during next tours, when their favorite bands hit on the road once again. This is what the C.O.B.H.C. -camp have been doing since the fall of 2007 - putting their new songs together, simply rehearsing their asses off and recording new songs for the band´s 6th full-lenght album, titled BLOODDRUNK (what a cool title, buy the way!).

BLOODDRUNK will be released worldwide during April 2008, both in Finland and Japan on 9th of April - first in the whole world. Alexi Laiho, tells politely more about the band´s new album, the making of the songs and overall about everything what will be ahead of the band regarding their touring plans for BLOODDRUNK and so forth. Read on...

Municipal Waste guitarist Ryan Waste

Interview and pics by Luxi Lahtinen and Arto Lehtinen

Transcripted by Fucking Hostile

The crossover thrashers from Richmond (VA), USA, have achieved a reputation of an outstandingly tight live band. In their concerts, surfboards tend to flip around, tremendous circle pits burn floors up, insane stage diving is seen, etc. All those kinds of things can be witnessed at the gig of Municipal Waste. The band´s latest album THE ART OF PARTYING is undoubtedly one hell of a package of raging crossover thrash - bringing several old school classic crossover/thrash names to the lips of anyone who dig bands from Crumbsuckers to Slayer.

Before this hot 4-piece crossover act ripped headbangers´ faces off at the Finnish Metal Expo, we had a small chat with the band's guitarist Ryan Waste. Oh yeah, gotta admit Municipal Waste did indeed rule heavily that night for sure...

Apocalyptica

The Forum, London

7th March 2008

All live pics and review by HannTu

Metal played on cello? How would that work? Apocalyptica made waves when they first started as the crazy Finnish quartet who played Metallica covers on cellos. That was back in 1996/7, and they have come a long way since. They were regarded as little more than a novelty then, but they have rebranded themselves, losing the tag of a Metallica cover band. They did this by establishing themselves as songwriters capable of making their own music; they added a drummer to give some drive and power to the songs. At the same time, they wrote powerful riffs for the unique tone of the cello, which on the lower registers sounds like a distorted buzzy guitar, but at higher registers is capable of the most beautiful and moving melodies.

Also, as time went on, they started getting guest singers in to add some vocals to their songs. This was a smart career move, and produced some truly amazing songs like the haunting and powerful “Seemann” (a Rammstein cover) with singer Nina Hagen, “Bittersweet” with the HIM and The Rasmus singers, and “Faraway (Vol. 2)” with Lambretta’s Linda Sundblad. Dave Lombardo from Slayer contributed drum tracks to a few songs on their REFLECTIONS album, and surprisingly, the collaboration with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor on “I’m Not Jesus” was pretty good. On the other hand, it produced some stinkers such as “Repressed” (with Max Cavalera and some emo singer), and “SOS” (the music was average, and Cristina Scabbia’s vocals are impossibly annoying).

Apocalyptica are touring in support of their latest album WORLDS COLLIDE. They came last December, and they’re back to give us more of their unique Finnish madness.

Children of Bodom

with Moonsorrow and Kiuas

The Astoria, London

8th March 2008

All live pics and review by HannTu 

Phew, three nights of metal in a row, and my head is pounding, even as I write this review. But I certainly was not going to pass up the chance to see Children of Bodom up close and personal. I saw them at Brixton Academy on the Unholy Alliance tour with Slayer and In Flames a couple of years back, but they only played a short set – five songs or something. This would be my first time seeing them as headliner. It’s an all-Finnish line-up tonight* with little-known band Kiuas and epic metal heathens Moonsorrow.

*It’s Bring-a-Finnish-band-to-London Month I think – Apocalyptica last night, Children of Bodom, Moonsorrow and Kiuas tonight, Turisas and Norther this coming Thursday, and Nightwish later on in the month!

Symphony X

with Epica

London Astoria

6th March 2008

All live pics and review by HannTu

I missed Symphony X the last time they came around to London, where they opened for Dream Theater in Wembley. I’ve always considered Symphony X the far superior band, as one of my friends rather kindly put it, Dream Theater are “a collection of music teachers trying to fit together their music lessons to make a song”. Not to mention Dream Theater’s live performance which contains about as much charisma as a par-boiled potato. Anyway, Michael Romeo was one of my idols when I first started playing guitar, and their particular brand of neo-classical metal appealed to me at a time when I was into Jason Becker and Yngwie Malmsteen. Tonight promised much, especially when they were touring in support of their latest album, the superlative PARADISE LOST.