Stay hidden, it's better that way

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) was a heavy metal movement in the 70’s in Britain with a sharp rise of many brutal metal bands. The bands from this movement were/are significant and had a key part in moulding heavy metal and defining it to what it is today; in other words they’re responsible for today’s giants. However, like all good (metal) bands, you appreciate them solely for the music (and in some cases, also their dress style) and not for being important for another band back in the day. Appreciating a band only for their influence on another band is straight up retarded and not metal, yet it happens. Diamond Head, 30 years after [Metallica’s] Kill ‘em All, still receive endless love and appreciation for being the band that influenced Metallica. Sure, that’s what their career initially was about, right? ONLY to make sure thrash metal steps out of hell and sets loose in this virgin world? Tosser.

"We love you 'cause James told us to"

Now I know what you’re thinking – “They’re not heard of by the majority of Metalheads whatsoever; what’s better for them than having Metallica shouting out to all their fans that they were their spark?” What’s better? The members of Diamond Head died as virgins. I disagree with the band’s name in modern metal culture. Hell, I’d rather they remain an underground pride, be it they become flat broke losers who can’t make ends meet without a part time job in McDonalds, ‘cause they dropped out of school and their band never landed a decent record deal. At least everyone who’d ever listen to them would be a fan of what they wrote, be it as little as 100 listeners in their local tiny village. Their killer guitar riffs and Harris’ high pitched heavy metal voice would remain as their boldest slogan and biggest pride, as little as it may be. I care not that they breast-fed the new-born babies from the mid-80’s L.A. thrash scene.

Diamond Head can stand on their own feet; they don’t need Hetfield to give them a shout every now and then and spread his poseur infection in our (un)holy genre even more.

Cheers

Ricky

(Disclaimer: This article has no relevance to the Sonisphere Big 4 performances of “Am I Evil”.)

Blood of Heroes

We Metalheads know exactly what to look forward to when we buy tickets for gigs. There is always that constant, exhilarating thought about it, the excitement in your stomach, and that “time’s going fucking slow” feeling as that one night approaches.

You wake up on the day of the gig, and your excitement evolves into a deadly thirst, as the sun slowly rolls over above you, finally, settling west, blackening the sky in its trail. It is time. Tonight, all hell breaks loose; Metal Gods will take the stage and unleash a wave of aggression and fury through the crowd.

"40,000 of them!"

When attending a Metal concert, there are several “options” to how you can appreciate the concert. Basically, it is as follows: In the pit, or out of the pit. Both options are good in different ways. Being out of the pit, you WATCH the music – you experience it. You can focus and set your eyes on that long-haired scruffy dirtbag walk to the front of the stage and rip out a 100 notes a second solo that makes the average human’s ears bleed. Who doesn’t love that? You feel the music’s purity flow through you, from head to toe – you feel Metal.

The other way to appreciate the concert of course is to let the music get the best of you – fire up and start moshing. What better than a furious, deadly, endless pit while bursting your ears to your favourite heavy metal tune? Should you hit the floor, before you know it a hundred arms will grab and pull you up. Then, once you’re wrecked, wash all the pain and fatigue away with shitty cheap beer and join the ball again. It’s a cycle, it’s a metal concert - you never stop loving it!

Though we may go to hundreds of gigs, one might think that they become homogenous and boring. However, Metal is like an unholy fountain we drink from throughout our lives; it fills, fulfils, and completes us. Due to the vast number of gigs we attend, music progresses in us through them, making our love for Metal grow more and more. With the exception of a Sonata Arctica gig I attended in late 2009, shortly after the release of Days of Greys, I can safely say that after metal concerts, I never felt mediocre contentment of attending. It’s always the opposite; I feel pure, I feel powerful - I feel Metal.

Ricky

The Formation of Damnation

Hail, Metal brothers!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Dave Mustaine shredding!"][/caption]

All of us know what it is to tread everyday within the land of Metal. Every waking hour is characterized by a blastbeat and a shredding guitar; in the hours of sleep we soar high with the energy of our sacred music, for it is nothing short of sacred. We drink, we party, we mosh and we can be spotted from a mile away. Heathens think of us no less than what we think of them: a bunch of brain-dead dumbshits, who, for one reason or the other, have an absolute reverence for cacophonic boredom.

Like Sam Dunn pointed out in Global Metal, we form a global tribe. We're kindred in our love for the power of Metal, and for our hate of everyone else. We know there is no purpose, no cause, in our lives but the advancement of Metal. All your dreams of power and glory are delusions. Why then, you may ask, do I even bother starting a blog, one out of hundreds, and even think I can achieve anything? Because I am fucking Metal, and I am superior to all of you skeptics.

When idiots see devastation, what do they do? They cower under the fake umbrella of philanthropy, they pat themselves while thinking they've made a difference. They are blind with their own egotism. They pray God to give them strength and drown in their empty faith.

On the other hand, the true Metalhead heeds the calls of devastation; he looks at reality in the eye and fears not. Rather, he is empowered by his knowledge, for he sees what it really is.

Because we Metalheads are a people united under a common banner, and because we reject the blind idiocy of the world, we are bound to generate common idiosyncrasies. It is no surprise that we throw the horns at each other when we meet.

Inspired by magnificent bloggers such as Steff Metal and TNM, I decided to start Metal Jötunn, a place to document my Metal musings and revere the music that we love. However, I will admit I have tried this before, and failed miserably. The only reason this blog is different is a Metal brother that will be writing with me. For several years, he and I have often discussed many aspects of the Metal world. It was therefore easy to channel those discussions into a blog.

The bulk of these discussions are fairly specific: we have discourse on different Metal cultures and traditions, as well as Metalheads themselves.  That is why the very essence of Metal Jötunn will be to observe, with a subjective eye, the Metal world and how it's changing.

Stay Metal!  \m/

Vlades.