Track-By-Track: Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know

Metal Hammer has heard the forthcoming Heaven And Hell album - The Devil You Know and has a track-by-track review here. Overall, it sounds like a good old, doom laden, riffo-rama of an album, with plenty of solos from Mr Iommi:

And the main solo AGAIN is a fucking stormer! It’s like Tony Iommi is being wanked off on MDMA. A proper headbanger!

Tredegar DVD on the way

According to the TREDEGAR Official MySpace page:

There is to be a new Tredegar DVD launched. As well as early concert footage, the DVD will also feature rare never before seen interview footage, and an all new documentary and one to one with Ray Phillips. Stay tuned!

Ray Phillips' website has more info:

In addition to the unreleased film of Tredegar playing live at the Chislehurst Caves in London on 31st October 1983, other footage to be considered for release includes the promo film for ‘Duma’ which was filmed on the 27th June 1986, various film clips shot for TV from the same year, and also a very rare film of Tredegar performing Sabre Dance with a youth choir.

I went to see Tredegar about this time at The Red Lion in Northfleet near Gravesend, now called Leos. I took some photos - not sure where they are now, but will try and dig them out and if they are any good, I might put them on Flickr.

Ray Phillips is recording a solo album, due for release later this year.

Heaven and Hell - new single

The new single from Heaven and Hell (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice), Bible Black can be heard on Noisecreep (there is a little media player in the middle of the page).

…Noisecreep has gotten its hands on "Bible Black," the first single from 'Heaven and Hell.' The molasses-thick riffs, slow-burning tempo, and Dio's instantly engaging vocal melodies hit hard and will surely silence the naysayers who doubted the band still had the fury to pull off such a heavy statement. If this song is any indication of what lies ahead for us, 'The Devil You Know' is going to be one ugly bastard of an album!

The album The Devil You Know is released on 28 April.

And you specialist subject is…

METALLICA!
This was contestant Ian Volante's specialist subject when he appeared on the BBC quiz show Mastermind recently:



I'm please to say that I knew quite a few of the answers, but not as many as Ian. Reading Joel McIver's book - Justice for All: The Truth About "Metallica" - might have helped.

Cadbury to save the world!

Cadbury is to encourage its cows to burp less to reduce the carbon footprint of its milk chocolate.

Article from Environment | guardian.co.uk last week.

Studies show that the production of one litre of milk produces the equivalent of 900g of CO2. More than half of this is down to methane. The average cow emits between 80kg and 120kg of methane a year, equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from an average family car.

Maybe we should all switch to dark chocolate instead.

Better 'The Devil You Know'

…is the title of the forthcoming Heaven and Hell album, according to BLABBERMOUTH.NET. The new CD which is due to be released on 28 April features Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi (guitar), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Geezer Butler (bass) and Vinny Appice (drums).

Metallica to headline Knebworth

There were rumours a few months back that Metallica would headline a festival at Knebworth this summer. On Monday this week Blabbermouth carried details of Sonicsphere festivals taking place throughout Europe, with Metallica headlining each one.

The band will headline the Knebworth Sonicsphere on Sunday 2 August, while Linkin Park headline on Saturday 1 August. Mastodon and Lamb Of God have also been confirmed as playing, others to follow.

Ever wondered what your MP gets up to?

I came across TheyWorkForYou.com while reading a post on Nik Rawlinson's blog last week. He was disappointed that his MP responds to email by sending a reply by post, and decided to find out a bit more about him:

That’s disappointing. So what does the man who represents me in Parliament do and believe? I looked him up on TheyWorkForYou to check his voting record and it seems we disagree on at a lot of the most important political points of the day. It says that he:

Voted strongly against a transparent Parliament.
Voted moderately against introducing a smoking ban.
Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
Voted very strongly against the hunting ban.
Voted moderately against equal gay rights.

So we don’t agree on any of those points.

Just tap in your postcode and you will find a wealth of information about your MP. Give it a go!

Winter Wonderland

All Saints, Staplehurst
Originally uploaded by Maff Knight

I've been working from home this week. Not through choice particularly, but through a lack of trains into London.

Yesterday there were no trains at all into or out of London and today the service was patchy. A friend phoned me this morning to say that her train had not moved for ages and that I shouldn't bother trying. So, I didn't. Come on, would you need telling twice?

I am glad that I didn't attempt the journey though. Another friend had to stand for the entire journey of two hours (twice the time it would usually take) and yet another friend had a three hour journey this morning.

Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow, as I am booked to go on a course. Besides, I don't think I can stand another day of trying to use our webmail.

Happy Birthday dear 'nuh-wobbum'

The Guardian's Roy Wilkinson has written an article on the 30th anniversary of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. NWOBHM, or 'nuh-wbbum', which saw the likes of Saxon, Iron Maiden and Diamond Head as leading lights of the genre, was heavily influenced by the punk scene and went on to influence many of today's leading metal bands, such as Metallica.

Metallica have often payed homage to Diamond Head, recording a version of Am I Evil as a B-side to the Creeping Death single in 1984, and playing the song live for many years. They also recorded Helpless (Garage days EP, 1987) and It's Electric (Garage Inc CD, 1998).

Wilkinson spoke to Brian Tatler, singer with Diamond Head, about the royalties he received from Metallica covering Diamond Head's songs:

I lived with my parents until I was 33. Then the money from Metallica let me put a deposit on a house. It was the only way I would have been able to do that. God bless Metallica - and God bless the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, I suppose.

Some of the bands from NOWBHM days are still playing today, including Girlschool and Saxon, who are about to release their 27th album (Into the Labyrinth, Universal Records ). Diamond are to release a 3 CD box set later this year.

Welcome back to Hell

What a find! In a moment of NWOBHM nostalgia, I tried a search for "Venom Seven Dates of Hell" on YouTube yesterday and there it was - all ten songs from the 1 June 1984 Hammersmith Odeon gig. It was orginally released on VHS and I think that is where xyz8472 got it from.

I was there. No, really, I was. I remember it being one of the loudest gigs I have ever been too, with plenty of pyro and the odd guitar being smashed up. My old mate Steve the Postman, was a huge Venom fan and had a copy of this video.

For those who may not be familiar with the band, this is the intro from the biography on their website:

Venom, the original inventers and founders of Black Metal, the creators of Thrash, Speed, Death and Power Metal, the deadliest force ever to hit the music scene, the original sinners playing the Devil's music at its highest intensity, the ultimate Rock n' Roll band, Venom.