Angry Metal Guy

I am not a big festival fan. But I gotta say, the lineup for Metaltown 2010 looks pretty sweet, thus far. I think Angry Metal Guy might just try to get credentialed for this thing to do a shit ton of interviews, maybe a video or something…

Förra året slog Metaltown alla möjliga rekord när 22 000 besökare från hela Skandinavien invaderade Göteborg och vad som nu är en av Sveriges största festivaler. Efter utökat publikområde sålde biljetterna slut för andra året i rad och två fantastiska dagar på Frihamnspiren följde, med hela 32 band på tre scener.

Klara artister:

Rammstein (GER)
In Flames (S)
Bullet For My Valentine (UK)
Dark Tranquillity (S)
Kreator (GER)
Nile (US)
Sonic Syndicate (S)
Sabaton (S)
Finntroll (FIN)
Bleeding Through (US)
Cynic (US)
Dream Evil (S)
Raubtier (S)

That’s whose gonna be there so far… That might just be the highest percentage of bands I want to see on a festival ever except for Wacken, which is definitely not on the list this year, unfortunately.. Anyway, for those of you who get a chance to head to Sweden for festival season, that might be one worth checking out!

Dream Evil // In the Night
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Absolutely great (for what it is) – All Hail the new Kings of Metal!
Label: Century Media
Websites: dreamevil.se | myspace.com/dreamevil
Release Dates: EU: 25.01.2010 | US: 01.26.2010

Step over, Manowar, the new Kings of Metal are in town. Sure, they’ve been around for a while, and they’re a little more tongue in cheek than Manowar is, but Dream Evil, with the release of their new record In the Night, have risen from the ashes (of a DVD release?) to take the crown for themselves in their mighty, viking fists! These Swedes have put forth a strong offering filled with skull-crushing riffs, ball-grabbing vocals and unabashedly cheesy-as-hell lyrics—that would make Snowy Shaw blush—in order to try to re-gain the glory of their mighty album The Book of Heavy Metal.

It is certainly true that the departure of Snowy and Gus G. made a lot of people nervous about Dream Evil‘s demise, but they have come back with their second full-length release since then and don’t appear to be going anywhere. And, as vocalist Nick Night points out in wailing ridiculousness, Dream Evil is “immortal, [they] cannot die, you better run and hide.” And In the Night is everything that you would expect from this Swedish unit: catchy power metal with fantastic hooks, cheesy lyrics and a self-critical eye cast back at the 1980s—when men were men and tights were … totally tough. Every track on this record is fantastic, but, of course, I have my favorites. My personal favorite is probably “The Ballad,” which takes every single cliché and turns them into a moving song about crying children and swine. Other tracks that stand out are the mighty “Bang Your Head,” “Immortal,” and the delightful “Kill, Burn, Be Evil”—advice we can all really take to heart in order to improve our metal cred.

What I think is fascinating is that there are always bands that are trying to do this kind of stuff all the time and do it to varying degrees of success. Retro 80s metal is definitely building and getting stronger throughout the world and certain labels even still seriously sign bands that want to sound like 80s thrash or stadium rock—and yet here we have the most talented group of these guys and basically the whole thing is tongue-in-cheek. Dream Evil is convincing as hell, but you can tell that they’re definitely having a drunken laugh at the same time as they’re producing balls-to-the-wall metal that makes you want to break out your leopard tights. The band is really tight, the production is super and these boys can write good, pop smart heavy metal.

If you’re a fan of the genre and looking for something to get drunk to with your friends and scream at the top of your lungs: look no further than In the Night. And all hail the new Kings of  Metal!