80s Thrashers Aggravator stream full album "Populace Destructor"

Do you often browse through your record collection and find yourselves picking the old school thrash albums from back in the 80s? The production on these albums was often done in a much more dirty and rough way. The songs were harder and directer, this feeling of shred coming directly from the speakers was far more present then it is these days.

If you stick to albums like Overkills "Taking Over" then this album "Populace Destructor" from american old school thrashers Aggravator is for you. Listening to it this album took me way back to the time when I discovered this genre and started to liked it more and more. Besides the mentioned reference to Overkill the sound is also influenced by early Sepultura, Kreator and Slayer. Aggravator proudly shared the stage with such gods like King Diamond, Toxic Holocaust, Exodus, Incantation, Suffocation, Autopsy... among others!

(c) by Aggravator, used with kind permission

The cool thing is that we can let you all out there have a listen to the full album right here, so enjoy some classic thrash now.


The album was originally released already in 2014 but has been re-released on 10th October 2015 by Dead Center Productions to extend the distribution on the European side, and to reach all the fans who could miss this piece of thrash. You can buy the full album from the webshop of the band or have a look on the label's Facebook presence.

WDR to broadcast round-up of With Full Force 2015

The legendary TV show "Rockpalast" has visited the "With Full Force" Festival in 2015 for the first time to show people out there what was going on there.

The german TV station WDR has announced to broadcast the result, a big three hour broadcast of this years edition of The Full Force Festival. The show is running in the night from Sunday, 9th August to Monday, 10th August starting at 0:15h (CEST).

You'll be able to see stuff of the following bands:

Kreator, Heaven Shall Burn, Parkway Drive, Lamb Of God, Die Kassierer, Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Pro Pain, Fear Factory, Terror, Heaven Shall Burn, Knorkator, Diablo Blvd., Obituary and Arch Enemy.

Update 08/12/2015: The full package has been added to the on demand archive! Having seen it I can only give many thumbs up for this. They people behind the best of managed to put together a good round-up, it never get's boring and it keeps you on the screen through a good mixture of live and interview footage all along with impressions of visitors of the festival and their opion of what's going on. Enjoy. :-)

The TV station happily has a livestream up and running so I hope many people will be able to check this out.

Another Television station called MDR will show the package for a second time on 19th August 2015, starting at 23.35h (CEST).

Some preview stuff including some live-performances as well as a lot of interview footage is already online over at the website of Rockpalast as well as the newly opened up Youtube channel. 

Here's one example, the interview with Mille from Kreator filmed at the With Full Force Festival 2015.

Italian thrashers Kontra reveal new band line-up

After communicating in March the news of their reunion, Kontra officially present their new line-up.

Next to the only original member Marco Barraco, singer and rhythm guitarist of the thrashers, now there are: Luigi Di Meglio on lead guitar, Luca Buonanno on bass guitar and Francesco Verrazzo on drums (former drummer of Manach Seherath). A first picture of the new formation has been uploaded by the band, too.

The new band line-up 2015. (c) by Kontra, used with kind permission

Kontra is currently rearranging all the old songs and has for the next months a surprise for the fans in store. Stay tuned with them via their official Facebook profile so you won't miss out on that.

Rock Hard Festival 2015 Livestream announced for this weekend

Yes! I've had a eye upon this during the last days and nearly lost the hope but finally the announcement has been made that the german TV station WDR is going to broadcast shows of the Rock Hard Festival 2015 online during a livestream!

So far the schedule for tomorrow, Friday the 22th May 2015 has been confirmed.
You can find the startbutton to the stream itself at the homepage of the Rockpalast. Just hit the button labeled "Live Video". A new window on the PC will open up with the video.

Please not that I include the timetable for the other shows as well but can't say if they are going to be streamed, too. As soon as I've have information on that I'll update the article.

Update 2015/05/28: Some nice stuff has been released after the festival closed it's doors.
You can watch accoustic clips from the BLACK STAR RIDERS, REFUGE, SANCTUARY, AVATARIUM, PENTAGRAM and ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ that have been recorded in the backstage section right here.

HMTV has put together a nice round-up of the festival. They also included stuff of the bands that were not shown during the stream (SPACE CHASER, DESERTED FEAR, MOTORJESUS, VOIVOD and CHANNEL ZERO). Check it out below:


Update 2015/05/22: It's confirmed! All the bands that are listed here in the timetable will be shown during the livestream. Enjoy! :-)

The links underneath the bandnames will take you to interview video footage that can been seen at the homepage of the TV show that makes the stream possible (it's the legendary Rockpalast show).

Friday the 22th May 2015

21.30 - 23.00 (9.30 pm CEST) Venom
19.45 - 21.00 (7.45 pm CEST) Pentagram
18.15 - 19.15 (6.15 pm CEST) God Dethroned
17.05 - 17.50 (5.05 pm CEST) Flotsam And Jetsam
16.00 - 16.40 (4.00 pm CEST) Architects Of Chaoz

Saturday, 23th May 2015

21.30 - 23.00 Kreator
19.45 - 21.00 Doro (Early Days Metal Show)
18.15 - 19.15 Sanctuary
17.00 - 17.45 Kataklysm
15.50 - 16.35 Avatarium

Sunday, 24th May 2015

21.30 - 23.00 Black Star Riders (mit Thin-Lizzy-Classics)
19.40 - 21.00 Overkill
18.00 - 19.10 Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock
16.30 - 17.30 Refuge

Legendary thrash metal band Kontra from Italy reunites

I love Thrash! Yeah, legendary thrahsers Testament printed this saying once on one of their band T-Shirts. I'm very happy to be able to say there is a active underground scene alive these days that constantly provides us with fresh stuff from the heavier and straighter side of Heavy Metal.

Recently I've received a message that one of the legendary thrash underground acts from Naples, Italy did reunite.

They are called Kontra and did exist from 1999 to 2007. The band influenced both by Bay Area Thrash and by German Thrash Metal now has a new line-up of 3 members which the only original one is the singer/rhythm guitarist and founder of the band Marco Barraco.

(c) by Kontra, used with kind permission

Kontra played live on many stages in Naples and suburbs producing also 2 demos: “Strike Zero” in 2003 limited to only 100 copies,and ‘’Demo 2005’’ never published because the band splitted up. The band has been influeneced by acts like Metallica,Slayer,Kreator,Sodom,Destruction, Venom,Sepultura (the old ones), and Motörhead.

I'm looking forward to see what the band will do next and keep you guys out there updated on the further progress. In the meantime you can also hold an eye on Kontra's Facebook page by hitting the famous like button on their site.

St. Nicholas Day: Gentrification giving away full album for free

Today it's St. Nicholas Day. Have you all written up your wishlists and prepared some food for the Nichlaus and his hungry horse? :-)

Okay, then here's your present: Get the full "Deviance" album from the band Gentrification as a free download! It's music for the fans of Kreator, Carcass and the like (Death Metal, Thrash Metal and Metalcore).
The download comes with full digital booklet incl. lyrics, cover artwork and bonus track.

Listen to it right here and don't forget to head over to Bandcamp to pick your free download! Also visit the band's website as well as their account on Facebook to follow them.

You can order the album at the very same Bandcamp page also as CD completely manufactured without plastic. Includes a 12-page booklet printed with plant-based colors on recycled paper. Each CD is numbered by hand, limited to 500 copies and costs only 5,99 Euro. There's also a version bundled with a T-Shirt available for 12,99 Euro.

Wacken 2014 and beyond - streams online and boxset coming

Life can only be understood in reverse. But must be lived forwards… This quote from the Megadeth song "Losing my senses" is a good statement in my eyes. We should focus on the here and now rather than on the past.

Anyway, sometimes you may also like to look back as some memories can also be pretty sweet. This often comes into play when thinking about visiting a festival like the Wacken Open Air.

The german TV station zdf kultur has re-uploaded some of the broadcasts of the past Wacken Open Air from 2014. So here's one more chance to see this stuff if you haven't already.

Kreator

Schandmaul

Amon Amarth

Hammerfall

In addition to that a mediabook package with 3 DVDs / Blu-rays is coming our way which will reflect upon the Wacken Open Airs of all the past years called „25 Years of Wacken – Snapshots, Scraps, Thoughts And Sounds“ .

The german Rock Hard megazine has been given the honour to exclusively present a first insight into the book on their website showing stuff from the years 1990 - 1994. Unfortunately it's in german but the pictures inside should be of interest to many people.

For more infos from the boxset and some snippets from the DVDs watch the trailer below.

Wacken Open Air 2014 internet streams and TV shows announced

Yeah, I am pretty sure a lot of you guys outta there are preparing for the biggest event of the year in the world of Heavy Metal: the legendary Wacken Open Air!!!

For all those who cannot make it there I have good news at hand: also 2014 there will be the chance to see some of the shows! The organisers announced at the festival homepage that there will be a webstream available directly at wacken.com as well as on the sites of the media partners 3sat and arte. The streams will have no region-lock so everybody should be able to see the stuff that will be broadcasted. Read the full announcement right here.

Update 2014/08/07: Timetable for the TV broadcasts of the after-festival specials has been changed so I updated them. You can find them at the very end of this article. Think this is mostly interesting for the german visitors of my blog so I kept the german timestamps in there.

Update 2014/08/04: BIG UPDATE! Added all the links to the streaming on-demand service that the TV station ARTE offers for a limited time of 30 days. So if you missed out a show just click on the band name and a new window will open up with the stream. Added also the timetable for the TV broadcasts on german TV at the very end of the article. Have much fun!

Update 2014/08/01: Last night was great! Accept were my favorites, was a good show that simply put a smile on my face. If you missed the stuff out just click on the bandnames in the streaming schedule below. The shows have been added to the online streaming archive of the TV station!

Update 2014/07/31: These bands have been confirmed to be streamed today (Thursday 31th July 2014, all times german time). You can watch it right below in the embedded stream window of ARTE. Thanks to the people out there putting up such fine goodies as the webstream for us, you rock!

17:00h Skyline
18:00h Hammerfall
19:30h Steel Panther
21:00h Saxon
22:30h Accept

For the other days these bands are currently scheduled for streaming:

Friday 01.08.
16.45h - Heaven Shall Burn
18.00h - Children of Bodom
19.30h - Apocalyptica
21.25h - Carcass
22.30h - Santiano (Recording after Artist-Approval)
00.00h - Saltatio Mortis

Saturday 02.08.:
16.00h - Devin Townsend Project

17.30h - Emperor
19.00h - Amon Amarth
20.30h - J.B.O.
22.00h - Knorkator (Recording)
23.30h - Motörhead (Recording)
00.15h - Kreator
01.45h - Schandmaul

Sunday 2014/08/02:

Update 2014/08/02: In addition 3sat will also broadcast a big round up of the festival on 2th of August 2014. The broadcast will be shown on TV and also as a free webstream at this location.

The timetable for this extra stream goes like this:

20.15h – Slayer (Recording)
20.30h – Apocalyptica (Recording)
21.00h – Motörhead (Recording)
21.35h – Saxon (Recording)
22.00h – Avantasia

Update 2014/07/30: This year it seems to be okay and legal to put the stream also on your own page. I've found this embed code on the ARTE homepage so you'll be able to watch Wacken 2014 also here on my blog. Very cool, so everyone can watch right here. :-)
The exact time-tables are still to be confirmed so please check back at this article from time to time since I will update it with as many information as possible. Some more details (in german language) can be found at the websites of 3sat and ARTE.
You can also have a look at the running order on the festival homepage to see which band is on stage or will be soon.

Some shows have been confirmed to be streamed. Those are listed below:

Hammerfall on Thursday July 31 from 18:00 to 19:15 CET
Accept on Thursday July 31 from 22:30 to 24:00 CET
Children Of Bodom on Friday August 01 from 18:00 to 19:15 CET
Carcass on Friday August 01 from 21:15 to 22:15 CET
Kreator on Saturday August 02 from 00:15 to 01:30 CET

After the festival there will be the chance of watching selected shows through the media channels 3sat and ARTE. 10 shows have been set up for broadcasting through these german TV stations. Under the confirmed bands you can find names like Hammerfall, Accept, Children of Bodom, W.A.S.P., Kreator and Amon Amarth. These have announced to be aired on  9th of August at ARTE and the 11th of August at 3Sat. More info to come...

Update 2014/08/02: The first broadcast times (2 TV stations will sned them on different days and times) of the after-festival shows with recorded concert stuff have been released:

Samstag, 9. August in ZDFkultur
20.15 Uhr Accept
21.15 Uhr Apocalyptica
22.15 Uhr Heaven Shall Burn

Samstag, 9. August in ARTE
23.30 Uhr Slayer

Sonntag, 10. August in ZDF Kultur
20.15 Uhr Saxon
21.15 Uhr Children Of Bodom

Montag, 11. August in 3sat
02.00 Uhr Hammerfall
03.00 Uhr Accept
04.00 Uhr Apocalyptica
05.00 Uhr Heaven Shall Burn

Freitag, 15. August in 3sat
01.45 Uhr Amon Amarth
02.45 Uhr Steel Panther
03.45 Uhr Schandmaul
04.45 Uhr Kreator

Samstag, 16. August in ZDFkultur
20.15 Uhr Hammerfall
21.15 Uhr Amon Amarth
22.15 Uhr Steel Panther

Samstag, 16. August in 3sat
03.40 Uhr Saxon
04.40 Uhr Children Of Bodom

Sonntag, 17. August in ZDFkultur
20.15 Uhr Schandmaul
21.15 Uhr Kreator

Full Metal Cruise 2013 documentation still online

Besides the traditional metal festivals with stages and often a proper camping ground these days a new form of festival seems be more and more popular. I'm speaking about all of the cruises that put a bunch of bands, lots of lights and stages plus all the fans on one big ship and let them do a trip of their very own.

Besides other big festivals like the Sweden Rock the biggest one called Wacken Open Air has also done a cruise of their own entitled "Full Metal Cruise". It took place from  5th to 12th  Ma 2013 and did feature 20 Bands on three stage on stage and also at the boarding location. Among others the following bands were performing: KREATOR, SABATON, AVANTASIA, DORO, HEAVEN SHALL BURN und FIREWIND.

If you'd like to see how this turned out, hurry and head over here. The german TV station ZDF did broadcast a 77 min. long documentation about the event that still can be seen for some days in their media streaming service. Check it out!