Iron Maiden's World Slavery Tour was one of the longest and most extensive tours ever undertaken by a rock band. Lasting from August 9, 1984, to July 5, 1985, and visiting such countries as Poland, Austria, Hungry, Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Japan, and the U.S., the show included a mammoth setup that replicated the intricate ancient Egyptian scenery of the Powerslave album cover…
During the 1990's when heavy metal had lost some of it's popularity and was seen by many as a style of music that belonged to a decade past, Saxon stood tall as champions of the genre and continued to provide us metalheads with what we wanted to hear…
Preceding Beast Rest Forth Mouth is 2007’s Red Bloom of the Boom, a 7-track, 43-minute exploration that crosses the streams of psychedelia and prog. Pitchfork called it “a true cohesive work in an era when the album-as-art form appears to be slowly dying” (7.8), and The Onion found it “a powerful, functional mix of This Heat, ‘70s soft rock, early Genesis, and oddly, later Pink Floyd.” The album was further informed by a collection of remarkable music videos by the band and their collaborators, providing a mirror into both the creative scope of the Bear In Heaven consciousness, not to mention the day jobs they keep as editors, filmmakers, and designers. The packaging and visuals for Beast Rest Forth Mouth continue in this tradition, the band collaborating with artist Laura Brothers to create the tactile doorway into the sonic swirl of the album.
…Pyramaze could be seen as a 4th way in some respects, with regards to the power metal paradigm at this point, as they lay somewhere between the progressive tinged characteristics of the Pagan’s Mind crowd, and the orthodoxy of older USPM and traditional bands…
With tune titles like "Glasgow Mega-Snake," "Acid Food," and "I Chose Horses," it should be clear Mogwai hasn’t taken any easy, mellowing departures on Mr. Beast. Sure, the album opens with the calming guitar atmospherics of "Auto Rock," but then "Glasgow Mega-Snake" comes bounding out with a crushing jog of a beat and a trademark granite slab of guitars. The Scots also indulge incrementally more beautiful and terrifying dreamscapes, especially the down-turned piano topping that hovers above a guitar storm on "Emergency Trap" and the layers of clear-toned melody that chime over a swirl of choked, feedback-drenched power on "Folk Death 95." There has long been talk of Scottish miserablism, and this colors and grinds the idea blissfully.
“The time is drawing near. The newborn BEAST is back with a vengeance, rising from the abyss with fortitude to spew its unrivaled heavy metal fury all over the world!” »Berserker« kicks off with the rapid opener 'Beast In Black'. “As well as the band name, this track was inspired by a character from the »Berserk« manga. And though the lyrics are directly connected to that character they are also speaking in metaphors about something personal. It’s one of the most powerful songs on the album and Kasperi’s guitar solo in this one is probably the best one on the whole album!” With 'Blind And Frozen', a super catchy and massive song follows. “Yannis' interpretation and performance here is nothing short of pure perfection,” the guitar wizard fancies.
At over two hours long, Feast/Beast is a thorough reminder of how prolific a remixer Clark was during the 2000s and 2010s. It also reaffirms just how versatile a sound-shaper he is: while there's definitely an aesthetic holding even the wildest moments here together, he never takes exactly the same approach on any two songs. The names represented on Feast/Beast are almost as wide-ranging as the way he refashions tracks for them. Obviously, his remixes for some of the bigger artists are among the standouts, but he's just as creative in his work for lesser-known acts. Not surprisingly, some of the highlights come from his collaborations with fellow Warp artists, whether he's remixing them or vice versa; the Clark tracks remixed by his friends offer yet another perspective on his music…
…The Sea & The Beast is a record like no other I have ever encountered. It's energetic, it's slow, it's fun, it's sad, it's quirky, it's cohesive, and it all makes for a magnificent mix in emotions, sounds, and in the music as a whole. (…) This glows with originality and if anything, get this album just for the sake of encountering a musical experience previously unheard. Band Marino can be proud of this strong indie release.