Barbie1989

I thought I'd share this album even though it is an old one as it is possibly unknown to many. This is the debut album by Kiuas a power metal band from Finland, but don't let that put you off. They manage to incorporate elements from many other styles such as death, thrash and also a bit of folk. The first half of the album is the best starting with the title track and then going into "On winds of death we ride" which is the 'heaviest' song on the album courtesy of the blast beats and harsh vocals. After that the third song "No more sleep for me" which is a slower song is a little disappointing and rather mediocre but the album soon reaches it's crescendos with "Warrior soul". If you're only going to listen to one track off this album it should be this one! In some places it seems a little chaotic with drum solos, blast beats, excellent riffs, death growls and a catchy chorus but it really shows the band's ability as it all comes together as a true power metal anthem. Unfortunately the second half of the album fails to live up to the first, though there are some nice folk elements to "Across the snows" and none of the songs are particularly bad the album fails to regain the uncontrolled energy it had in the beginning. The hit/miss nature of this album means that it is far from the most cohesive ever made but despite this I really enjoy the enthusiasm of it and the fact that Kiuas aren't just another identi-kit power metal band and it has become one of my favourite albums at the moment. If you enjoy this album I suggest looking up their third album "The new dark age" which is rather more complete but retains more of the energy of the first album than their second effort "Waiting for the dawn". Their latest album "Lustdriven", while still heavier than most power metal bands is disappointing by the conspicuous lack of the heavier elements present in "The spirit of ukko".

Re: Rob VS Ronnie VS Bruce I have to say Dio, he managed to produce such a varied and high calibre catalogue, superior to the others I believe.

Re: Kerrang! vs. Metal Hammer Metal hammer every time, kerrang isn't worth the time it takes to read it imho!

Re: Rammstein Saw them in Nottingham - was a great gig, though it wasn't as hot as I expected! Even though I was right near the middle at the front under the pyros I didn't think it was as hot as other gigs I've been to...

Re: Rammstein Great live - loved the pyrotechnics!

Re: RAMMSTEIN! I'm going to see Rammstein on Friday in Nottingham - very excited! Different from most of the music I listen to now, but they were one of the first bands I got really into when I was about 11 and I still like them I'm certain that they're gonna be awesome live!

Re: How Metal Affects You When anyone who ever tries to tell me that all metal songs are depressing, I point them in the direction of Helloween - Future World or Gamma Ray - Heaven Can Wait. Then I try to explain that just because songs have a serious or dark subject matter doesn't mean you have to be depressed to like them. Would be silly if people applied the same philosophy to films; serious films and horror movies would be out - does anyone really want to watch upbeat rom-coms all the time? Or thinking about books, I can't recall a single classic which is happy happy happy all the way through (except maybe the very hungry caterpillar...)

Re: The Rant 8/10 - do taxi drivers ever know where they're going? the ones in Manchester never seem to... Ranting because there are far too many Christmas lights up already and it is still far too early to be making your house resemble an exploding star by covering it in cheap tat (actually, it's probably stupidly expensive tat, let alone the cost of the electricity) and confusing all the poor birds with the light pollution. Also, on the topic of pollution, I wonder how much CO2 is going into the atmosphere as a result of all the extra electricity used to power these eyesores?

Re: Ban the user above you! banned for not saying that the best sport is clearly ice hockey.

Re: Tattoos I have a severe phobia of needles, so it would have to be something very meaningful for me before I even entertained the idea of getting something done. I do my own henna tattoos though, which have the added bonus of allowing me to have a different design every week

Re: Ban the user above you! banned for thinking that cricket is worth being bitter about.

Re: CLOTHES Casual days I just wear black jeans and a lady fit band T-shirt or a tank top, if it's cold I'll wear my 80s style leather jacket. Also have my battle jacket with is probably worth more than the rest of my clothes put together with all the patches and enamel lapel pins on it! Shoes are usually heels, or heeled boots if I can get away with it or flat black leather boots if not. Steel toe caps for gigs. If I feel like being a bit more dressed up or feminine for whatever reason, it'll be a pin up style dress and court shoes. I also have brightly coloured hair (at the moment it's bright red, before that it was orange, before that it was pink and before that I lose track) and I have my ears and a labret piercing.

Re: Ban the user above you! banned for making assumptions about my level of intoxication.

Re: The best Power Metal bands I'm really loving Kiuas at the moment, still a fairly new discovery for me. Angra and Helloween are both fantastic bands! Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt.1 was actually one of the first power metal albums I listened to and got me hooked!

Re: Let's Write a Song! All of eternity will find the source of true Metal For the entire world lacks passion enough To be forever accepting of warriors Warriors to defend true Apple-juice When Another one comes

Re: Now...? Eating - Marzipan Drinking - Water Listening - Simpsons Doing - Watching Simpsons Thinking - I probably shouldn't eat so much marzipan...

Re: Covers!!! Cover by Angra (originally by Kate Bush) YBe5JIl4KR8

Re: Ban the user above you! banned for being drunk in charge of a keyboard

Re: Jazz I almost never listen to jazz at home, but there's a jazz bar in Manchester which I used to go to quite a lot when I lived up there, it was nice for just chilling out.

Re: Books? I've never really read much by Stephen King, I like James Herbert for my horror fix, not long since I re-read fog and I enjoyed it just as much the third time round!

Re: How Metal Affects You I haven't really had a problem with people saying things like that since I was in school, listening to Cradle of Filth when everyone else was listening to the latest pop-factor monstrosity was always likely to attract that kind of comment in school I guess. These days I find that people are generally of the opinion that anyone can listen to what they like as far as music is concerned, they might not like metal, but they don't criticize. I expect individual experiences have something to do with the country you're in, for example bible belt America is going to have a very different attitude towards your choices than the UK, and not just in terms of music choice.

Re: Classical. I really like Holst's Planet Suite, actually saw it performed life by the BBC philharmonic orchestra a few years ago, was excellent! I'm currently working on learning Tchaikovsky's piano concerto, but it's slow going!

Re: Ban the user above you! Banned because it's too late at night to play loud music!

Re: Now...? Eating - Nothing Drinking - Guinness (actually, I just finished it) Listening - Gamma Ray, Heavy Metal Universe Doing - Typing this Thinking - Wondering what it is I should be doing...

Re: I want to learn how to growl A friend (and chief growler in his band) tried to teach me how to growl some years ago, I improved but I never really got the hang of it, probably through lack of practice so much as anything else. To the best of my memory he explained it something like this: take a fairly deep breath and sigh, then do this again sighing more forcefully. Practice doing this until you get a short growling sound. Next you need to try to extend the length of your "growl"; by learning to control the air flow you should be able to reduce the force you need to make the noise which will help you extend it's duration. Once you have achieved this you should find it fairly simple to extend your growl to words. If you want to reduce the chance of doing damage to your vocal chords do a warm up first, drink plenty of water and if you feel your throat starting to get sore (which you probably will at some point) give it a break for a while to give things a chance to calm down, similarly it's a good idea to take at least a couple of days off each week to give your voice a chance to recover. I hope this helps, I'd be interested to know how you get on!