champagne opinions - a toast to music and life in general

Back from the dead...

2010-03-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

Sooo...
I had quite a break from writing anything here. Since then a lot has happened. Gonna post some musical reviews and news soon (hopefully), but will start off with a zine review.

MOUNTZA #4
What i recieved today in the mail was the 4th issue of the already famous Greek zine - Mountza. What can i say? If you don't know this zine - imagine hearing about some new hype band - and just when you think about it - you can read about them in the next issue of Mountza. Here and there i get an impression that this zine was written by some ego freak high on coke (hence some of the reviews, some of which i completely don't agree with), but then again when you read the interesting questions in the interviews you cool down and swallow what you read with pleasure. What one can also find is (i might be wrong, but...) the anti-vegetarian remarks make me slightly disappointed (and i'm most definately not a militant veggie warrior type), but then again the very nice looking photos by Mateus Mondini and cool cover art by Ella Tilemma leave me thinking that Mountza is still one of the best zines around nowadays. Maybe a little overhyped and focused on hype bands, but still a good lecture.

get your copy here:
www.mountza.com

beware of the Beast!

2009-09-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

During the last Euro tour with Knife In The Leg we played in Stockholm with a local band called Beast, who in my opinion were the best band we played with on this tour. The band started as a continuation of Social Pressure (one of the most underrated Swedish hardcore bands if you ask me - go get their "Bad Mentality" EP released by Communichaos Media - it kicks ass!), since 3/4 of SP play in Beast. The members are also known from other bands they participate in, such as Imperial Leather, Nitad and The Kind That Kills. Musically it's a mix of thrashy hardcore as they used to play as Social Pressure and a more punky version of 70's rock similiar to Annihilation Time, so if you ever get the chance to see Beast live expect high energy rockin' hardcore with great bass lines and crazy solos! As far as i know they want to record a demo soon... I'm looking forward to hearing it!

here's the flyer from the show.

here's a photo of Beast from that show. If you want more pics go here.

Japan Burns To Death

2009-09-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, enough poppy punk, let's talk hardcore!
World Burns To Death finally released new stuff after their last LP - "The Graveyard of Utopia" (which was a concept album about the horrors of Bolshevik Russia). HG Fact released two of their new EP's for their Japanese tour - one of which is a split with Blowback. For those who don't know - WBTD are a d-beat influenced metallic hardcore band hailing from Austin, Texas with Jack Control (also of Severed Head of State) on vocals. Musically the tracks sound like something in between of their two last LP's - "Totalitarian Sodomy" and "The Graveyard of Utopia". Complex songwriting with lots of tempo changes, stops and go's and guitar solos heavily infuenced by such Japanese hardcore guitar heroes such as Chelsea or Randy Uchida along with intelligent lyrics prove that these 3 new tracks are one of their finest work so far and that WBTD are one of the best punk bands of today. The only bad part of the records is their artwork. WBTD had a really strong and recognizable artwork on their first LP and EP's. Then something went wrong. I didn't like the cover for "Totalitarian Sodomy" although it was Sakevi (of G.I.S.M fame) responsible for the artwork. The artwork of the following "The Graveyard of Utopia" LP was the first with a different band logo and although it had good looking cover art - i missed the feeling of their 'old' artwork. But these records have the worst looking artwork so far. I'm sorry to say this, but looks like unfortunately someone responsible for the artwork was lacking any idea... But as i wrote before - that's the only let down i had with these records.
I must admit that although i heard the name - i never heard any Blowback records. So after hearing their part of the split EP i must admit that these songs of very good Japanese hardcore with screamed out vocals and some rocking "burning spirits' style leads and solos thrown in here and there leave me wanting to hear more.

debut band of 2009

2009-09-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

This one's for all you punks that like acoustic or semi-acoustic bands. A Birthday Party Band hail from Warsaw and include members of The Fight, Pogotowie Seksualne, Knife In The Leg, All Day Hell, Masskotki and... Vitamin X! They're gonna have a demo release party gig on the 8th of October in Warsaw's finest vegan cafe - Cykloza. I had the lucky opportunity to listen to the whole recording and i must say - this one's a must have if you're into poppy (semi) acoustic punk bands like The Revisions and their sort. And I must admit - A Birthday Party Band do it better than most bands of their type that I've heard. You can hear one of their songs from the upcomming demo tape here.

here's a video of their debut gig:

welcome to my world...

2009-09-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.
I started it because i love music and i want to share my taste in musing amongst other people...
But to keep things short.
i had a great weekend in Warsaw. Practiced a bit with one of my bands, went to a gig (video of Masshysteri below) and we finally mixed our latest recording with Knife In The Leg which we recorded in Studio As One - with Smok (of Post Regiment fame) doing all the magic behind the knobs.