Ladies and gentlemen!

Once again, quite a few outstanding songs have been released throughout the month of April. My playlist of ten songs with a running time of forty-six minutes includes genres such as electronic rock, folk metal, heavy metal, jazz, melodic death metal, power metal, progressive rock and punk rock. Give this playlist a spin by clicking on the following link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ZP1ODtKUPwNC7ofvBV2BS

1. Bodom After Midnight - Paint the Sky with Blood

2. Phlebotomized - GPS

3. Blaze Bayley - Warrior

4. Hämatom - Die Welt ist high

5. The Offspring - We Never Have Sex Anymore

6. NanowaR of Steel - Der Fluch des Käpt'n Iglo

7. Helloween - Skyfall

8. Mercury Circle - You Open Up the Earth

9. Hanging Garden - Kuura

10. Greta van Fleet - Trip the Light Fantastic

Ladies and gentlemen!

Another week - another playlist! This week, I would like to introduce you to one of the most iconic metal bands ever. Black Sabbath has been active from 1968 until 2017. The band had first been known as Polka Tulk, later on as Earth and finally as Black Sabbath. The quartet has gone through numerous line-up changes, including charismatic vocalists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Walker, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Dave Donato, Ron Keel, Jeff Fenholt, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen and Tony Martin. The heartpiece of the band have however always been Tony Iommi's gloomy guitar riffs and Geezer Butler's playful bass guitar sounds. It's quite challenging to summarize such an outstanding career in only twenty songs but please check out my humble attempt at it below. Check out the following link and enjoy one hour and fifty-three minutes of excellent doom and heavy metal: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Tag0lRNutLSSjIimgrk34

1. Black Sabbath (1970)

2. N.I.B. (1970)

3. War Pigs (1970)

4. Paranoid (1970)

5. After Forever (1971)

6. Children of the Grave (1971)

7. Supernaut (1972)

8. Snowblind (1972)

9. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

10. A National Acrobat (1973)

11. Symptom of the Universe (1975)

12. It's Alright (1976)

13. Junior's Eyes (1978)

14. Heaven and Hell (1980)

15. The Mob Rules (1981)

16. Eternal Idol (1987)

17. Master of Insanity (1992)

18. Psycho Man (1998)

19. Ear in the Wall (2007)

20. God Is Dead? (2013)

Ladies and gentlemen!

I didn't expect to prepare another podcast so quickly but sometimes there are stunning events that prompt me to change my mind and elaborate upon my thoughts! Fritz Keller, the President of the German Football Association, has made dreadful remarks about Vice President Doctor Rainer Koch as he has compared the latter to infamous Nazi judge, jurist and politician Roland Freisler. Please listen to my podcast to understand why those remarks are unacceptable and why Fritz Keller should step down or get fired immediately in my humble opinion. Don't forget to download the file if you can't access it right away and share this podcast on social media if you like!

Kluseba's World of Sports - Fifth Episode

Promising new line-up but unfocused songwriting

San Akudouchuu Hizukurige which roughly translates to The Mare of Three Evil Journeys and is a reference to a picaresque comic novel by Jippensha Ikku is the twelfth studio album in fourteen years by Japanese trio Ningen-Isu. This album also marks the beginning of a new era since the band's fourth drummer Nakajima Nobu joined the group. This new line-up would turn out to be the group's best since Nakajima's energetic rock 'n' roll approach would perfectly complement Suzuki Kenichi's gloomy doom metal bass guitar play and Wajima Shinji's progressive and psychedelic guitar sounds. Furthermore, Nakajima would also perform occasional backing and lead vocals that would add more rock 'n' roll and hard rock dynamics to the band sound. At the time of writing, this trio has been together for seventeen years and counting.

However, the band history surrounding this album is much more interesting that the actual record that is one of the weaker outputs of the band. The songwriting is diverse but unfocused. The different songs shift from folk rock over rock 'n' roll and hard rock to psychedelic rock and even progressive rock to culminate in heavy metal and doom metal. The band has shown diverse songwriting approaches in the past but the tracks on this output are lacking a clear concept, guide line or strategy and are often too short to fully unfold their respective sounds. Even after multiple spins, very few songs would stay on my mind.  

The best song and only true highlight of the album is ''Doutei'' or ''Road''. This track lives and breathes a vibrant rock 'n' roll spirit. It features uplifting gallopping rhythms. The instrumental work is refreshingly simple for once. The joyful chorus is incredibly catchy. This song would have been a perfect single candidate and deserves more attention.

A few other tracks are decent to great. ''Akurei'' or ''Evil Spirit'' offers a perfect balance between doom and heavy metal. The song is bass-driven. This is supported by playful drumming when the new member can truly shine for the very first time. The guitar riffs are aggressive. The haunting story-telling vocals keep this gloomy tune together as it entertains from start to finish.

Immediately after that song, ''Shinsei'' or ''New Life'' offers a welcome break as it heads for more light-hearted territories. The song convinces with relaxed vocal harmonies, folk-driven guitar melodies, mid-paced rhythm section and minimal psychedelic undertones. The song has a strong retro vibe that should appeal to fans of rock music from the late sixties and early seventies.

Closing ''Chijin no Ai'' or ''Fool's Love'' is also worth to be pointed out. It's a rhythmic doom metal song with expressive melodic vocals, psychedelic guitar sounds, steady drumming and dominant bass guitar play. The song offers enough changes and ideas to remain relevant through five minutes without losing itself in exaggerated experimentation.

As you can read, even one of Ningen-Isu's weaker outputs with San Akudouchuu Hizukurige or The Mare of Three Evil Journeys should still please fans of the band. This album includes one hidden highlight and three great songs while the rest is rather average, exchangeable and forgettable. This was not the perfect start for the new line-up even though the group's chemistry manages to shine through in some parts of the aforementioned songs. The band would soon greatly improve from here. At the end of the day, I would recommend this album to avid collectors and faithful fans only. It certainly isn't bad but only good in a discography filled with astonishing greatness.

Final rating: 75%

Timeless melodic death metal with a significant legacy

Legendary melodic death metal guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho managed to record three songs with his new band Bodom After Midnight before passing away at the end of last year. The band decided to release this first and final extended play as a tribute to him. Paint the Sky with Blood does the outstanding artist's career justice and shows what could have become an absolutely astonishing band.

Even without the emotional connection associated to this release, this extended play offers three excellent songs for fifteen highly entertaining minutes. The opening title track is fast and gritty but also epic and melodic. The fast guitar riffs and powerful rhythm section collide with neoclassical guitar solos and playful keyboard passages. Alexi Laiho's charismatic vocals are supported by fierce backing vocals in the catchy chorus. This is easily the best song in many years written by Alexi Laiho and shows how hungry he still was so late in his career. The song would have deserved a spot on any early Children of Bodom record as well.

Second tune ''Payback's a Bitch'' starts with heavy breathing before energetic rhythm section, fierce guitar riffs and relentless vocals set in. The song is certainly less catchy than the opening tune but offers a grippingly oppressive atmosphere and more brutal musicianship that goes back to the middle years of Children of Bodom.

This extended play concludes with an excellent cover of Dissection's ''Where Dead Angels Lie''. The band kept the sinister atmosphere intertwined with melodic breaks from the original song and adapted it to its technically impressive melodic death metal style. The song is a little bit slower than the other two and this shift in pace successfully carries the track throughout six and a half minutes of almost cinematic entertainment. The original song is appreciated by many metal fans around the world but I believe that most of them would agree with me that this inspired cover song is on the same level.

Since this extended play offers only three songs, I would suggest collectors and fans to grab the splendid boxed set that includes an art print of Alexi Laiho, a flag, a pendant and a photocard of the band.

The band has played three concerts in Finland last October, performing seventeen vibrant Children of Bodom songs. These concerts have been professionally recorded. It would be amazing if one of those concerts could still be released under the Bodom After Midnight banner. The band was in excellent form and the setlist should appeal to any fan of Alexi Laiho's works.

At the end of the day, the purchase of Bodom After Midnight's excellent extended play Paint the Sky with Blood is highly recommended and already a solid candidate for extended play or even release of the year. The band's melodic death metal sound is timeless and will have a significant legacy under the special circumstances of its release. May Alexi Laiho rest in peace!

Final rating: 90%