Friday, February 25, 2022

REVIEW ATRIUM NOCTIS "ATRIUM NOCTIS"

The Cologne dark / black symphonic metallers Atrium Noctis released a new self-titled album a few days ago, on which they have recorded nine new songs from the band's twenty-year history. Even though I am only familiar with the last studio album "Aeterni", sound samples of the older works prove that this is the most mature and professional work of the band to date. The whole thing was produced by Martin Buchwalter at Gernhart Studios in Troisdorf, where Destruction, Tankard and Accuser have already been refined. For the first time, the songs were recorded by three guitarists, and a special circumstance with the recordings was that no drummer was available shortly before the already booked studio date and the band had to record everything on click track. The drummer's recordings were then made afterwards over the otherwise already completely finished recordings.

REZENSION "MORGOTH UNCURSED-THE MORGOTH CHRONICLES"

Gut Ding will Weile haben - fast sieben Jahre nach Erscheinen dieser Morgoth -Bandbiographie habe ich mir diese nun auch zu Gemüte geführt. Der Autor Christian Krumm dürfte dem einen oder anderen schon aufgrund der Werke "Kumpels in Kutten -Heavy Metal im Ruhrgebiet" und "Century Media-Do it yourself: Die Geschichte eine Labels" bekannt sein.

Das knapp 270-seitige Werk ist flüssig geschrieben, ich habe es an einem Nachmittag durchgelesen. Der etwas außergewöhnliche Ausgangspunkt besteht darin, dass der Autor die damaligen aktuellen als auch ehemaligen Bandmitglieder und Personen aus dem Umfeld im Rahmen einer Grillparty im Hause eines Bandmitglieds in Dortmund trifft und letztendlich wohl fast alle relevanten Informationen, außer vorheriger Recherche natürlich, im Rahmen dieses Treffens erhält.

Sunday, February 13, 2022

REVIEW "CONFESS"-AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY ROB HALFORD

Now, about one and a half years after its publication, I have read the autobiography of Rob Halford, singer of Judas Priest. I have to say, it's a great autobiography, I read the more than 500 pages almost in one day, Halford really knows how to write both exciting and funny. He begins with his childhood and youth on the council estate in Walsall, a town near Birmingham, and the description of the sobriety and down-to-earthness of the people living there, most of whose working part is in the steelworks. Halford describes how he discovered theatre for himself and then came to his great passion, music. The first steps with Judas Priest, infinitely small recording budgets, journalists who ask the same stupid questions and even think they are interviewing a singer/songwriter called Judith Priest.