4/2/11 - Unoffical Sing Along Night!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you enjoyed our sing along night! The reason it's unofficial is because it came about mostly by accident. I just happened to have picked songs that were very sing-alongable, and once it became official I only changed a little bit. I only really just switched songs by a band to a more fitting song by the same band. It was great.

There was a lot of news tonight. Sharon from Within Temptation just gave birth to a boy, Logan, and much more. The metal news we use from our show comes from Blabbermouth.net.

The playlist:
"Planet Hell" - Nightwish
"White Pearl Black Oceans..." - Sonata Arctica
"The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" - Blind Guardian
"The Queen of the Damned" - Theatres des Vampires
"Sangreal" - Septic Flesh
"Under Huntress Moon" - Cradle of Filth
"Libre" - Tristania
"Fate of Norns" -Amon Amarth
"Cry Havoc" - Ex Deo
"My Sun" - Amorphis
"Slavsya Rus" - Arkona
"Battle Metal 2008" - Turisas
"Dragonheads" - Ensiferum
 "Sons of Riddermark" - Battlelore
"Slania's Song" - Eluveitie
"Blut im Auge" - Equilibrium
"Keep on Galloping" - Korpiklaani 
"Wings of Time" - Tyr
"Flower of Scotland" - Alestorm 

See you next week!
-TJ

March 27th Show

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the show this week, we had a blast doing it. Old host Rita stopped by, and we played a request for and got news from TJ #1, aka Noob. It was a good time. Like last week, there was a lot of folk metal, and that's always fun. We had a couple requests, and a couple shout-outs, like to Rita's mom and to friend of the show, Cate, who is still in the Marines and doing great. We also played the title track off of local metal band Shield of Wings' EP, Solarium. And, to top an already great show off, we closed with Amon Amarth covering System of a Down's "Aerials." It was a great show.

However, news wasn't that good, length wise. As far as the actual story goes, it was great. There is a baby suffering from extreme colic and had cried 24 hours a day for 14 weeks-except of course for when her parents play Satyricon for her. Rammstein didn't work, neither did other, less-heavy bands that they tried. It's pretty epic. For a video of the baby's woes being cured by Norwegian Black Metal, go here. And don't forget to visit Blabbermouth.net for all your metal news needs.

This week's playlist:
"Wanderlust" - Nightwish
"Go Forth and Die" - Dethklok
"Flag in the Ground" - Sonata Arctica
"Across the Rainbow Bridge" - Amon Amarth
"Sunlight Moonlight" - Septic Flesh
"Crimson Thunder" - Hammerfall
"Straight Through the Mirror" - Blind Guardian
"The Final War (Battle of Actium)" - Ex Deo
"The Gathering" - Delain
"Silver Bride" - Amorphis
"The Rage of the Skullgaffer" - Tyr
"Solarium" - Shield of Wings
"The Great Escape" - Turisas
"Over the Seas" - Alestorm
"Vodka" - Korpiklaani
"Third Immortal" - Battlelore
"Oy, Pechal-Toska" - Arkona
"Raised by the Sword" - Ensiferum
"Verbrannte Erde" - Equilibrium
"The Edge" - Tyr
"Aerials" - Amon Amarth

See you next week,
-TJ

3/20/11 Show - MO Debut of local band, Shield of Wings

Hello Everyone!

I had a lot of fun with the show this week, for no special reason. There was no theme, but there was a lot of Folk Metal (it began 10-15 minutes before news) and that is always a good thing. There were a few requests, and some that I couldn't get to this week, but I'll make sure I play them next week.

As far as news this week, there really wasn't anything. The only I said on air was that details about Alestorm's upcoming album were released on Blabermouth.net. The album is called "Back Through Time" and it should be another great one we can add to Pirate metal.

Although there wasn't news this week, the beginning of the 1 o'clock hour was fun because I got to playasong from the local band, Shield of Wings! They are a great band from Bolingbrook, IL that sounds kind of like Nightwish or Epica. They're great and we are working on getting them on the show, so you can look forward to an interview with them sometime. Check them out on Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation, Cdbaby.com, Youtube, and iTunes.

This week's Playlist:
"Wish I had an Angel" - Nightwish
"Ride into Obsession" - Blind Guardian
"Shamadalie" - Sonata Arctica
"An Ancient Sign of Coming Storm" - Amon Amarth
"Quietus" - Epica
"Communion" - Septic Flesh
"Cemetery and Sundown" - Cradle of Filth
"Blood, Courage And The Gods That Walk The Earth" - Ex Deo
"Sacrilege" - Tristania
"In Death's Embrace" - Dimmu Borgir
"Sampo" - Amorphis
"Krijgsvolk" - Heidevolk
"Essence and the Moon" - Shield of Wings
"Trollhammaren" - Finntroll
"Pirate Song" - Alestorm
"Slavsya Rus" - Arkona
"Venetoi! - Prasinoi!" - Turisas
"Dammerung" - Equilibrium
"Smoking Ruins" - Ensiferum
"Primordial Breath" - Eluveitie
"Regin Smidur" - Tyr
"I Want Out" - Hammerfall

See you next week!
-TJ

St. Patrick's Night!

Hello and happy St. Patrick's everyone!

Yes, I know it's not St. Patrick's day yet, but it is as far as Metal Oxide is concerned. Tonight I brought you the best of metal drinking songs. Of course, there was a lot of Korpiklaani, a few Alestorm, Tyr and Ensiferum, along with much more. There was only one request, which was for Primordial. I hope you enjoyed the playlist as much as I did!

There was almost no news in the metal world this week. Tyr will be releasing their new CD, The Lay of Thrym, on May 27 (yay!). But there was a sad comment from Cradle of Filth. They said that, due to the recession, it is becoming harder and harder for European bands to tour in the US, so there might be fewer of such bands touring in the future. This makes me very sad and I hope that it does not come true.

This weeks playlist of Irish and drinking songs:
"Wanderlust" - Nightwish
"Let's Drink" - Korpiklaani
"Wenches and Mead" - Alestorm
"The Wild Rover" - Tyr
"In the Court of Jarisleif" - Turisas
"One More Magic Potion" - Ensiferum
"Tequila" - Korpiklaani
"That Famous Ol' Spiced" - Alestorm
"Those Were the Days" - Turisas
"Olavur Riddaros" - Tyr
"Beer Beer" - Korpiklaani
"The Cruel Sea" - Primordial
"Vodka" - Korpiklaani
"Nancy the Tavern Wench" - Alestorm
"Champagne Bath" - Sonata Arctica
"The Very Wild Rover" - Cruachan
"Bring Us Pints of  Beer" - Korpiklaani
"Brennivin" - Tyr
"Det Iskalla Trollblodet" - Finntroll
"Twilight Tavern" - Ensiferum
"Happy Little Boozer" - Korpiklaani
"Green Dragon" - Battlelore
"Pakanajuhla" - Moonsorrow
"One More" - Turisas
"Some Say the Devil is Dead" - Cruachan

See you all next week,
-TJ

Album Review: Turisas - Stand Up and Fight

Tuesday, March 9^th has come and passed and that means that Turisas' new album, Stand Up and Fight, was released in North America!!

Stand up and Fight

"The March of the Varangian Guard"

"Take the Day!"

"Hunting Pirates"

"βένετοι! - πράσινοι!" (“Venetoi!-Prasinoi!”)

"Stand Up and Fight"

"The Great Escape"

"Fear the Fear"

"End of an Empire"

"The Bosphorus Freezes Over"

"Broadsword" (Jethro Tull cover, bonus track)

"Supernaut" (Black Sabbath cover, bonus track)

A couple of the songs were available before hand (fan videos, band releases, etc.) so I've been listening to some of the songs for a while now, and it's great to finally hear the rest of the album. I love this album; I think they did a great job in adding new elements while keeping the feel of battle metal that we have all come to know and love. The whole album has a very serious and meaningful. Some of the songs ("The March of the Varangian Guard" among them) seem to be a continuation of the theme of they previous full length album, The Varangian Way, but the album itself is not a concept album like the previous one. The songs that are not a continuation of The Varangian Way are songs about overcoming conflict and one's fears. I believe that the album itself is kind of an ending to the story that Turisas was telling with The Varangian Way because, although it is not a concept album, there are songs, I think, that are about the Varangian Guard, serving the Emperor, and returning home. Whether or not that is the case, it is a great album with many meaningful songs. Something I noticed, in addition to the great orchestrations, is Mathias' clean vocals. There seems to be a lot more of it in this album than in their previous two. This is something that I love to see (or hear, really) because although I love his growling voice, I love his clean singing even more. So that is another part I love about this album. Also, they made a lot of great use of orchestras and chorus' that really added to the epic feel of the whole thing.

"The March of the Varangian Guard" - An epic song about the glory of the Varangian Guard, telling about their worth above the other soldiers and mercenaries in the Byzantine Empire. It's a very epic sounding song with a lot of great orchestration.

"Take the Day!" - An uplifting, almost brutal song about....taking the day! This is mostly, I believe, about a battle in which the Varangian Guard were sent in when the Emperor's lesser troops failed. A very epic song.

"Hunting Pirates" - This is a great one; I believe this is about the Varangian Guard hunting for pirates, but this may be from the point of view of the pirates-but either way it's a great song, this album's "In the Court of Jarisleif"

"βένετοι! - πράσινοι!" - A grand, epic song that is about chariot racing in Miklagard (Constantinople) itself, and was a large part of life, and most likely something fascinating to Scandinavians. It's a grand, trumpetty, fast-paced song that really gives the feeling of watching a race in the Hypodrome of ancient Constantinople.

"Stand Up and Fight" - This title track is a great one, one of my personal favorites. This one is about victory when defeat seems imminent, over coming odds, and suppressing feelings of being defeated. To me, some of the lines are particularly strong: " But would I run today just to die another day" for example is a really powerful that always catches my ear. Like the name says, it's about just standing up and fighting, just getting it over with, which will help anyone inspire anyone in any kind of situation where they feel like giving up. This songs also has a very epic sound, incorporating very well elements of orchestration.

"The Great Escape" – This is a very brilliant song about leaving Constantinople against the Emperor's will to claim a throne in Scandinavia. They have to escape under the cover of night. The main character is so intent on heading home that he says “for no emperor nor chain will stand in my way.” This is a great song that uses orchestral elements very well, and there is a lot of great background singing (in response to things Mathias is singing) and chorus'.

"Fear the Fear" – This one isn't set in dark ages Europe, but rather a song for today's world. It basically says that although many of play games, in which we are the “hero of the day” if we go outside of that world, “our head's in the sand.” It's basically saying that just because we watch brave people on TV or play brave people in games, we are not (or a least it's singing to people who are). It's a very good song, with a lot of great clean vocals from Mathias.

"End of an Empire" – Another song with a lot of Mathias' great clean vocals; I love it. Also, it has awesome piano parts from Iiro Rantala. It has a very epic sound, with, again, awesome singing from Mathias. I believe this is just about empires ending in general, not one specific one. The song mentions Rome, Waterloo, Bastille, so it has a wide range. This is this albums “Miklagard Overture,” in my opinion.

"The Bosphorus Freezes Over" – This is the outro of the album, like “Katuman Kaiku” off of Battle Metal. A great, peaceful instrumental song, also with some chorus lines in Finnish. This is a meaningful ending to the song and the adventure begun with The Varangian Way.

“Broadsword”/“Supernaut” - Two great covers, Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath respectively, that will be making regular appearances at the ending of the show.

For lyrics from this album, visit darklyrics.com

Turisas has definitely not disappointed with this album, not at all. This is a very epic, lively, and exciting album, that still has a lot of powerful, meaningful lyrics that a lot of people can relate to. History nerds like myself will enjoy mentions of “The Greens! The Blues!” in "βένετοι! - πράσινοι!”, which were real chariot racing factions (it' great), and battle metal fans can appreciate...all the songs. Turisas, once again, has done a great job and I cannot wait to see what they do in the future.

-TJ 

Folk Metal Night! 3/6/11

Hello everyone!

This week was a spontaneous folk metal night! I hope you enjoyed it! We had one great request, for "My Selene", which I know isn't folk metal, but I let it slide because it was used to ask someone out in a great way, and she said yes! It was great. Besides that, we just played great folk metal!

As far as news, there wasn't much. The lead singer of Cruachan got beaten by hooligans, but  he's okay now, Amon Amarth has a behind the scenes video from 70000tons of metal, and Leave's Eyes is releasing a new album soon, and will be filming a music video for it.

The playlist from this week:
"Over the Hills and Far Away" - Nightwish
"Goi, Rode, Goi!" - Arkona
"From the Heaven of My Heart" - Amorphis
"Wings of Time" - Tyr
"My Selene" - Sonata Arctica
"Cuchulainn" - Cruachan
"Uniaika" - Korpiklaani
"Hunting Pirates" - Turisas
"The Somber Lay" - Eluveitie
"Wingthors Hammer" - Equilibrium
"The Coffin Ships" - Pimordial
"Conloach" - Suidakra
"Captain Morgan's Revenge" - Alestorm
"Banquet of Bards" - Elvenking
"En Maktig Har" - Finntroll
"New Found Land" - Leave's Eyes
"Tale of Revenge" - Ensiferum
"Dreams" - Tyr
"Broadsword" - Turisas

Next week we will be playing a St Patrick's Day show, listen to it!
-TJ

Review: Daniel Lioneye/Turisas/Nachtmystium/Cradle of Filth show, 2/20/11

Hello Everyone!

I first want to start off by apologizing for the tardiness of this post, college work got in it's way.

Anyways, the show was great, in every way. The line-up was Daniel Lioneye, Turisas, Nachtmystium, Cradle of Filth (in that order).

We missed the very beginning of Daniel Lioneye's set, but were there for most of it. They played a god show; the lead singer had a lot of energy and interacted with the crowd very well. Melanie loved seeing most of H.I.M. and wasn't at all disappointed when they didn't play the theme song for Viva la Bam. They just did a good job.

Turisas....well they didn't disappoint; in fact, they exceeded all of my expectations and played an amazing set. It was much shorter than I would have wanted (I wanted to see them headlining, but Cradle still played a great show) but it was still amazing. They only played one song, "Take the Day!", off of their new CD Stand Up and Fight. They played the classics like "To Holmgard and Beyond" (opener) and "Battle Metal" (closer); "In the Court of Jarisleif" (during which Mathias and Jussi were dancing and spinning around--it was great) and "One More" were also played. Mathias was very talkative with the crowd and promised to back in about a year. After their set, Ollie and Hannes were hanging out by their merch stand and Melanie and I were able to get pictures and talk to them a bit. I can't wait for them to come back!!

Nachtmystium also played a great set. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the "psychedelic" metal band, but they were really good. Also, the fact that they are from Wheaton, IL is awesome. They got a great reaction from the crowd and played a great set. Don't be surprised if you hear some of their stuff on the show sometime soon!

And Finally, Cradle of Filth, the headlining band. They played a great show too, and were a very good end to the evening. Dani was just as bouncy and energetic as always, and just a screechy. They played the great songs like "Nymphetamine" and "Under Huntress Moon", plus some of their older, classic stuff. They only played one song off of Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder and only one or two off of their new CD, Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa. And, of course, they ended with "From the Cradle to Enslave." Having suffered through a few line-up changes, they had two new members (compared to last time I saw them a couple years ago); Ashley 'Ellyllon' Jurgemeyer on keyboards/female vocals, and (Melanie absolute favorite member, back from obtaining his master's degree) James McIlroy on guitars. They both did a great job, and Melanie still can't get over how awesome he was.

Really, the only bad thing about the show was the 'scene-kiddy' crowd and an idiot who got WAY too into cradle who was trying to do some kind of moshy-headbangy-flaily-hitting-people-around-him thing near us.......yeah, he was an idiot. And, as always, there was the guy in the front against the railing who hated being pushed up against......always one of those.

All in all, it was a great show. All of the bands were great, we finally got see Turisas and chat with two of their members, and Melanie finally got to see her favorite member of Cradle of Filth. I'd go see any of these bands again!

Turisas: Ollie and Mathias

Turisas: Mathias, Tude, and Netta

Tuisas: Ollie, Tude, Mathias, and Netta

TJ with Ollie and Hannes from Turisas

Melanie with Ollie and Hannes from Turisas

Cradle of Filth: James

Hope you enjoyed this review,

TJ

2/27/11 Show!

Hello everyone!

I loved the show this week. There was no theme, and we just put together a playlist of what we wanted to hear, but we got a few requests. There were some requests from a couple weeks ago that I got to play this week, like Heljareyga and Luca Turilli, and I got one for Sonata Arctica as well. My brother stopped by for folk metal and shared his opinions and nonsense on-air with us, and that was fun. Overall, in fact, I think the whole show was great this week.

There wasn't really any news. Aside from Primordial's new CD anounced and Turisas' new CD being released pretty much everywhere but the US, there wasn't much. Although we did add a brief discussion about last week's Turisas and Cradle of Filth show. That was great and you can look forward to a review of the show in another post which will hopefully be written shortly. Also, upon Stand Up and Fight's North America release, I will post a review of the CD.

This week's Playlist:
"Planet Hell" - Nightwish
"The Ancient Forest of Elves" - Luca Truilli
"Her Ghost in the Fog" - Cradle of Filth
"My Selene" - Sonata Arctica
"Star-crossed" - Sirenia
"Quietus" - Epica
"Sangreal" - Septic Flesh
"Dreaming Neon Black" - Nevermore
"Blood and Death" - Act of Destruction
"The Black Halo" - Kamelot
"Would You Love a Monsterman" - Lordi
"The Darkest Flame" - Primordial
"Feigdin" - Heljareyga
"Tuoppi Oltta" - Korpiklaani
"Take the Day!" - Turisas
"Beyond the Dark Sun" - Wintersun
"Forsvinn du Som Lyser" - Finntroll
"Inis Mona" - Eluveitie
"Ahti" - Ensiferum
"Olavur Riddaros" - Tyr
"Supernaut" - Turisas

Hope you enjoyed this week's show,
TJ

Finnish Night! 2/20

Hello Everyone!

In honor of Ensiferum and Finntroll headlining "Finnish Metal Fest part II" this week, we decided to make this week a Finnish metal themed show. We played only Finnish bands, and mostly folk metal ones, even though many Finnish bands excel in other genres as well. So there were multiple songs from many bands, like Ensiferum, Finntroll, Turisas, and so on. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you did to.

There really wasn't any news this week. The only thing, besides concerts and such, is that Nevermore's bassist, Jim Sheppard, recently underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumor and is now recovering. We wish him a speedy recovery, so he is all ready for their upcoming tour this May. 

The Finnish playllist this week:
"Koulema Tekee Taiteilijan" - Nightwish
"Welcome to Helsinki" - Lordi
"Sleeping Stars" - Wintersun
"My Kantele" - Amorphis
"Happy Little Boozer" - Korpiklaani
"Rupu-Rupu Morko" - Hevisaurus
"Trollhammaren" - Finntroll
"The Boy Who Wanted to be a Real Puppet" - Sonata Arctica
"Frozen Angel" - Norther
"Blacksmith" - Kivimetsan Druidi
"Twilight Tavern" - Ensiferum
"The Great Escape" - Turisas
"Tequila" - Korpiklaani
"Kylan Paassa" - Moonsorrow
"Jaktens Tid" - Finntroll
"Time Takes Us All" - Kalmah
"Downfall" - Children of  Bodom
"LAI LAI HEI" - Ensiferum
"Beyond the Dark Sun" - Wintersun
"Third Immortal" - Battlelore
"Rex Regi Rebellis" - Turisas
"Vandraren" - Ensiferum

Hope to see some of you at the Turisas show this weekend,
TJ

February 13th show

Hello all,

I hope you enjoyed the show this week, because we enjoyed playing it for you. Nothing special and not too many requests. We got an awesome request for Blind Guardian's "The Bard's Song - In the Forest" and someone called the station before we even went on to request "Cry of the Blackbird" by Amon Amarth; now that's taking initiative. We had a couple requests for next week too, which we will do our best to fulfill.

The only news really was just tour and album updates. We discussed upcoming tours for the Chicago Land area. Some of the notable ones are Ensiferum and Finntroll, playing on the 19th at Reggie's Rock Club, Turisas opening for Cradle of Filth at the House of Blues on Sunday, the 20th, and Amon Amarth playing a double set on April 14th at the Bottom Lounge. For more information about tours and albums updates, visit Blabbermouth.net

This week's playlist:
"Romanticide" - Nightwish
"Sunlight Moonlight" - Septic Flesh
"Victoria's Secret" - Sonata Arcitca
"The Bard's Song - In the Forest" - Blind Guardian
"The River Dragon Has Come" - Nevermore
"Cemetery and Sundown" - Cradle of Filth
"Trigger" - In Flames
"War of the Universe" - Luca Truilli
"Warrior of Life" - Sentenced
"Norra el Norra" - Orphaned Land
"Cry of the Blackbirds" - Amon Amarth
"Blood Red Sandman" - Lordi
"Scathach" - Suidakra
"Verbrannte Erde" - Equilibrium
"Trollhammaren" - Finntroll
"Battle Metal 2008" - Turisas
"Omnos" - Eluveitie
"Vodka" - Korpiklaani
"One More Magic Potion" - Ensiferum
"Weiber und Wein" - Alestorm
"Into the Storm" - Tyr
"Replica" - Epica

See you next week,
TJ