Back from Watchett and new music

Hello people; just got back from staying with my aunty and uncle in Watchett, a small seaside town situated in the English county Somerset. I had a wonderful time walking along the pier, scoffing cream tea and shopping in Taunton.

Grumpy Jack

Me trying to pull out the sword in the stone haha


I also recieved Black Stone Cherry's brand new album Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea that arrived just before I went off to Somerset; I have to say it was some great road trip music. Kicking off with their cracking new single White Trash Millionaire got the album well under way; I loved the different variety of songs such as the country sounding All I'm Dreamin Of to the down and dirty Blame It On The Boom Boom. My personal favourite on the album is a song called Won't Let Go; it's so heart warming and touching, it always has me welling up inside every time I hear it. Overall an outstanding album from the Kentucky rockers; possibly their best album to date. Here is the brand new video for White Trash Millionaire.

Find Black Stone Cherry on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter

Also coming back to a couple of videos from two band I like a lot; Amorphis and Black Veil Brides. I love the concept behind the Amorphis video; I had seen pictures of the shoot and wasn't quite sure what to expect. The location and story are incredible; just bought the new album that I will listen to some point this week.

Find Amorphis on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter

Black Veil Brides new video is very energetic; I love the setting and I am impressed with the amount of rain in the video their extraordinary hairstyles stay in tact. Their brand new album Set The World On Fire is avaliable to pre-order now; it's official release is 14th June 2011.

Find Black Veil Brides on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter

See you lovelys soon
Tuomaslotte

Heaven's Basement - Unbreakable EP

I took the liberty of buying Heaven's Basement's brand new EP at a recent mindblowing show in Southampton; I loved their last EP so I was really looking forward to listening to this one and must say I was highly impressed. Opening with the groundbraking Unbreakable sent chills down my spine; some of the songs on the brand new EP I recognised from the gig and from their Facebook page. Heaven's Basement newly recruited singer Aaron Buchanan did a great job on the vocal pipes; after watching his outstanding performance on Thursday I am very confident about the future for these London hard rockers. My personal favourites on the EP are The Long Goodbye and Leeches; they are both really upbeat songs and always put a smile on my face when I listen to them. I also recognised Close Encounters from their setlist and remember stamping my feet to the rhythm of the slick intro; I love the guitar riff in that song. I also loved the heartfelt Let Me Out Of Here, I think I remember swaying along to it at the gig with my best friend.

Overall a great second EP and hope to hear more soon. This EP is proof that Heaven's Basement still go strong.

Stand out tracks:  The Long Goodbye, Let Me Out Of Here and Leeches

Find Heaven's Basement on their official website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter

Heaven's Basement and Jettblack @ The Talking Heads; Southampton 19/5/2011

Hello people; it has been a while since I have posted. I have two exams next week so revision has been keeping me busy, but I was glad to take a break from it all last night. In the form of a trip to The Talking Heads in Southampton with my best friend Becca to see two of my new favourite rock bands Heaven's Basement and Jettblack co-headline. I had been looking forward to this gig for quite some time and was so glad I was going to be watching it with the nicest bunch of people ever. 

First up to play were Bournemouth rockers Western Sand; I had written a post about them recently saying how I loved their bluesy rock sound and it was amazing how they bought that to life during their live performance. They impressed me highly; the incredibly catchy melodies were enough to put a smile on my face and get the energy flowing through the crowd to start off a fantastic night of rock. A lovely bunch of guys too; very down to earth, I could have spoken to them for hours.


Find Western Sand on Facebook and MySpace

Counterpoint were next to play that very evening, I had only heard a sample of their music. I have to say their set made me wish I had listened to them a bit more; they performed a fantastic show, their songs were awesome and I bought an EP at the end. So you may see a post about that soon; they had a grungy, bluesy sound that I liked very much. Oh I also want to say I really love the colour of this guitar in the picture to your left, Jay Bartlett has a great taste. 


Find Counterpoint on their official website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter


The first headliners Heaven's Basement were next to play; I was looking forward to seeing them last night as their music is incredible. My excitement built up as the roadies performed sound checks, then this weird sound was heard and the chants were heard from all over the venue 'BASEMENT BASEMENT BASEMENT'. A curtain was pulled back to reveal the members of Heaven's Basement as they opened with title track of their new EP Unbreakable that got the crowd absolutely pumping; from this I knew Heaven's Basement were well underway. 
Lead vocalist Aaron Buchanan's and guitarist Sid Glover's stage techniques were definitely crowd pleasers, my personal favourites being Sid putting the guitar behind his neck and playing and Aaron making a pathway across the crowd before breaking into my personal favourite Executioner's Day. Aaron recently joined the band and I think he did extremely well; giving a studio like performance of songs such as Tear Your Heart Out and Can't Let Go. I bought their brand new EP; which I did listen to a bit of whilst cooking dinner today, I shall listen to the whole thing and tell you what I think. They were very lovely guys when I chatted to them afterwards. Hope they come back to Southampton and blow me away like they did last night.


Find Heaven's Basement on their official website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter

Last but by no means least Jettblack; I have seen Jettblack before back in December at The Joiners and was highly impressed by how they bought a stadium like presence to such a small venue. I am extremely happy to say they did that last night at The Talking Heads; they had a different setlist to December starting with show-stopper Two Hot Girls, it was actually great opening song. This new setlist definitely kept me on my toes as it was quite exciting when you didn't what song would be next; they performed my favourites from their debut album Get Your Hands Dirty such as the title track, Sleep and Not Even Love. They also threw in some new songs from their upcoming album that I am looking forward to very muchly. Their encore was incredible; ending with the 80s anthem Dangerzone and the song Holding as requested by their fans.
Where the almighty mosh pyramid was created once again but unfortunately my camera was in my bag at the front away from where I was standing. Luckily pictures of that pyramid where taken; I shall get a picture of that one day. I can honestly say that Jettblack impressed me once again, I hope they stop by in Southampton again and I look forward to the new album.


Find Jettblack on Facebook and Twitter


Overall a fantastic evening with top quality sets from each band; their interaction with the crowds was fantastic. I also loved the atmosphere in the room; so much love in the room and that definitely makes all the difference. A good atmosphere equals a fantastic time.

Factory of Dreams

A link on Nightwish's Facebook page lead to a video by Lisbon prog metallers Factory of Dreams; the video for the song I found is very beautiful, very artistic. It matches the haunting tone of the song, Jessica Lehto's beautiful voice sounds very much like Simone Simmons from Epica. It's a different kind of metal; no heavy disstorted guitars or crashing drum solos, on their Facebook page cyber metal is the genre and I agree. They do have a debut album which I shall definately listen to; hope they come across to the UK sometime.

For fans of Amaranthe and Nightwish

Find Factory of Dreams on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LastFM

Blogger is back

Hi guys, sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Blogger had a few teething problems meaning I couldn't log in; but I'm glad it's up and running again. It's also been a while; university keeping me busy, one more exam though. I have found some artists in the past few days that you guys would love to hear about as well as a type of music that often doesn't get explored or talked about.

Anyways hope you guys are all well
Take care :) x

New Amorphis video photoshoot

One of my favourite Finnish metal bands Amorphis have posted a photoshoot for their brand new video You I Need; this song comes from their brand new album The Beginning of Time that is due for a release on 27th May in Europe and 7th June in North America.

I'm looking through the photo and I am intrigued by the use of broken car windows and abadoned buildings; also interested by front man Tomi Jousten is dressed as some sort of warrior and is carrying a lady dressed as a mermaid. I think that's the You I Need in the song, I can't wait to see the new video and I cannot wait for the new album.

To view the photos click here and I'll leave you with the new song that will soon be a video

Find Amorphis on their official website, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Metal From Finland

Trucker Diablo - The Devil Rhythm

I recieved a message from Irish rockers Trucker Diablo, Ricky Warick, The Answer's Cormac and Def Leppard legend Joe Elliot are fans, Ricky even provides some vocals on the song Juggernaut. There was a free MP3 file of their brand new album. I decided to give it a listen today;  have to say I was majorly impressed with the upbeat rock tunage that I was hearing and I love the fact a lot of the song titles had a very butch manly vibe. Nothing like a bit of man rock eh, haha. Their sound reminded me of Black Stone Cherry almost; I can imagine these would be great live, my personal favourite tracks were Voodoo and Big Truck since they were very catchy yet kept up the down and dirty rock vibe. Hope these guys consider coming to Southampton one day.


Stand out tracks:  Big Truck, Stand Up and Fight and Voodoo

Find Trucker Diablo on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Reverbnation

Dreams Divide - Puppet Love

Ever since watching them at The Talking Heads supporting Die So Fluid back in March, singer David Crout mentioned a debut album being released today; so I have been looking forward to this release. This morning I downloaded this album and realised it was definitely worth the wait.  It's different sound to what I have heard before and I really enjoy it; it adds another genre to my music discoveries as a journalist. I love this album a lot, the songs are incredibly catchy and the synthesisers sound incredible. It's Depeche Mode meeting The Dresden Dolls; it is amazing, some of the songs on the album I recognised from their live set so you can imagine that left me grinning like the Cheisure Cat. The song Leaving, I wrote a post about before, appeared on the album too that I was happy about.

Overall a fantastic debut album that explains what synth pop/ industrial duo Dreams Divide are all about; I would love to see them live again.

Stand out tracks:  Leaving, John and Faces

Find Dreams Divide on Facebook and Soundcloud

Video Showcase featuring Ancient Shamans @ The Railway; Winchester 30/4/2011

Last night I went to The Railway; a music venue in Winchester that I had never been to before. I stepped into the bar area and was immediately taken in by the cosy atmosphere, reasonably priced drinks and friendly staff. I was there to experience something completely new to do with the music industry. Next thing I knew we were heading into another room where the gigs take place and found there had been cameras setup, it was explained that this project had been planned for at least a year and the project was all about filming one song from each band which would then be put on some sort of showreel to be broadcast onto a website. I thought this was such a great idea; the music industry in the UK doesn't seem to want to take on young rock bands, even in the programme Orange and Unsigned it is always the rock and metal bands that kicked booted off in the first auditions. There should definitely be more support for local music in the UK and this is what the showreel is all about.


I was glad to be there last night; it was awesome rocking out to some of the best local sounds that Winchester and the south of England has to offer. It certainly makes me proud to be a southerner in the UK; Ancient Shamans were one of the bands that played last night, I saw them support Dear Superstar at The Joiners back in December and was impressed with the set. They also pulled off an amazing energy filled set; their sound is incredible, all fantastic musicians and I think their approach to music is very unique, there was a rocky vibe with a hint of native american type sounds. Hope to see them again soon.


Find Ancient Shamans on their official website, Facebook and MySpace


There was another band I was impressed with too; they were called Heinous Pianist. The singer had an amazing voice and the lead guitarist could play some slick solos. I would love to try and find the band's EP; their sound was so awesome, it seems to me old school metal sound is coming back and this band is proof along with many other bands I have seen and heard on the southern coast.


Find Heinous Pianist on Facebook, MySpace and Soundcloud 


I would have love to have stayed for the last two bands since I was having the time of my life rocking out to some of the greatest bands in one of the best atmospheres I have ever encountered at a gig.