Dear readers of my blog!

Montreal-based hard rock band Rusted published a moving tribute to all the victims of terrorism around the world yesterday. The band covered John Lennon's legendary ''Imagine'' and made a simple but beautiful video clip to support this unexpected release. It's great to see that artists care what's going on around the world and offer some mental support to help those who are going through hard times.

After the terrible news of the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shutdown near the Syria-Turkey border, it feels appropriate to listen to another song these days: a cover version of Sting's ''Russians'' by Italian gothic metal band The Foreshadowing. Let's simply hope that a diplomatic solution will be found instead of endless thoughts of revenge.

"Monument of Metal - The Very Best of Anvil'' has only one single purpose: introducing the band to those who haven't known them before and those who have only occasionally listened to them. This compilation is a good way to get introduced to the band and makes sense since it comes out exactly thirty years after the band's foundation and three years after the famous documentary ''Anvil! The Story of Anvil''. Usually, it's always better to chose a specific studio album over a compilation but this band had already released a whopping fourteen albums before this release saw the light of day which makes it rather difficult to simply chose one or two records. This release is definitely not called an extensive rarities compilation or a complete collection of re-recorded tunes and that's why actual die-hard fans of the band don't need to buy this output at all. Therefor, it would be quite inappropriate to criticize this release for fans since these critics would miss the point. One should simply take this best of for what it is. I must even praise the band for the decision not to include any new material or exclusive tunes on this release that would force regular fans to spend an exaggerated amount of money on an album just to get one or two new songs. As an introduction to the band, this compilation does a great job and features both most of the band's greatest tracks as well as a few forgotten cuts from overlooked records. 

This release represents everything Anvil stood for over the past thirty years. The cover artwork, the lyrics and the song material give you a very precise idea of what you are dealing with. Still, this album is quite diversified and has an unusually good flow for a compilation which is generously filled with seventy-eight minutes of music. Newcomers get to hear the charismatic instrumental tune ''March of the Crabs" which often opens Anvil's concerts. The live version of ''Jackhammer'' shows the playful side of the band and proves that Anvil's music works much better in concert than on a studio record. The compilation includes classic heavy metal stompers such as the energizing anthem ''Metal on Metal'' which might sound simplistic at first contact but turns out to be one of the greatest classic heavy metal tunes in history. On this release, we get a recently re-recorded version which has a better sound than the original track but exactly the same spirit or energy. That's why this version isn't worse than the original but probably even a slight improvement. The bass-driven ''Winged Assassins'' and the energizing mid-to up-tempo track ''School Love'' get the same refreshing treatment while all other songs are original versions. From fast tunes such as the enthusiastic ''666'' over powerful mid-tempo stompers such as ''Sins of the Flesh'' to more dragging and sinister tunes like ''Mad Dog'', this release shows you both the passionate strength and the genre-specific limits of the hard rock and heavy metal band. 

Anvil are an authentic, passionate and sympathetic band that wrote a few great heavy metal anthems but it's also clear that the band didn't have the courage, the vision and the will to try out new things as the biggest genre bands and that's why they didn't have a real breakthrough and might sound a little bit too repetitive at times. That's why it makes perfectly sense to own a compilation record of this band and maybe a few other selected studio or live releases with your favourite tunes on it but I wouldn't say that it's essential to own a lot or even all of their records. These down-to-earth, fan-friendly and honest musicians deserve to be supported and you can simply do that by buying such a compilation record and by going to their concerts. For me, this record was a fine introduction to the band and even though I have purchased more of their records by now, I consider this release a good starting point and summary for your discovery of one of Canada's most iconic rock and metal bands that still holds the heavy metal banner high after more than thirty years.

Final rating: 8/10

Dear readers of my blog!

I've just discovered this special concert by the Russian heavy metal veterans Aria. This is one of my favourite bands and listening to their music helped me during my Russian classes between 2004 and 2006 and later on in 2010. I purchased several of their records when I traveled to Saint Petersburg in April 2006 with my school and I have continued to follow the band since then. Recently, the most famous Russian rock band decided to craft its own beer with the help of Danish brewery Faxe. In order to support this unusual collaboration, the band played a concert consisting of its greatest hits in thirty years in a brewery in Moscow. The show was already available as stream on YouTube. Now, the band released an exclusive audio version of the concert on CD which is sold with a limited number of Faxe six packs in Russia. Since it's impossible to support this unusual business idea outside of Russia, I simply wanted to share the general idea and the stream of this cool concert with you. I hope you enjoy it.

Take care,

Sebastian Kluth

PS: My favourite song from the list is ''Игра С Огнем'' and starts at 30:24.

Set list:

1.       1. Интро

2.       2. Горящая Стрела

3.       3. Aнгелы Неба

4.       4. Hе Сходи С Ума

5.       5.Tочка Невозвратa 

1.       6. Aтака Мертвецов

7.       7. Игра С Огнем

8.       8. Паранойя

9.       9. Kороль Дороги

10.   10. Tам Высоко

11.   11. Последний Закат

12.   12. Hебо Тебя Найдет 

13.    13. Губит Людей Не Пиво (Версия Арии)

Dear readers of my blog!

Here is a short but impressive video about the misuse of private property and personal information and the kind of disinformation and propaganda it causes in the media and especially in social networks.