New KSE album streamed & a Devildriver track...

OK, it's happening! KSE's new album is available to stream on My Space right now now now now: ENJOY!

I also reviewed it a week or so ago for Metal Hammer so you should be able to find that in the next Hammer issue too (if you can't get to a PC for long enough to stream the whole beautiful creature yourself, that is.

Oh...and the new Devildriver track, Back With A Vengeance, is now on MySpace. The full album, Pray For Villains, will be out the 13th July :-)

VOD @ ULU - hell, the man can shout!!

Oh my good god. This is live hardcore at its most epic. Playing London for the first time in like forever, Vision Of Disorder pretty much set fire to our humble ULU mini-venue this Friday.
Intimate but huge, loud but precise, they're all you require of an oldschool hardcore pack leader. And mannnn is Tim's voice awesome! He's an unbeatable frontman; gloriously rough vocally but at the same time meticulous about making sure every word he spits is perfectly pronounced. The band message comes across clean and inspiring and fans look like lottery winners all night as they sing along and slam about in the pit. Wooooo hooooooo thanks guys - pls come again!!!!!

Metal Hammer Awards

Yes, they took place at the O2 Indigo on Monday and I am stillll recovering. Proof I am old or just proof that no normal human can cope with drinking Jager shots under the same roof as Iron Maiden and half of the Roadrunner roster?

I have a hazy memory of talking about pizzas with Anthrax's Scott Ian, getting rewarded with a hug from Phil from Machine Head for ordering him a JD(on another artist's tab) and brushing past Hatebreed's Jamie Jasta no less than four times and silently drooling. The man may be cute and pretty sweet-natured but I still worship the ground his band walks on, and even after DJing with him I cannot bring myself to ever have a conversation with him. So kill me, he was my one fail of the night.

Hey ho. The live shows were good (Malefice and Devildriver did slick shows making up for Trivium's slightly muddy set) but half as amusing as the chaos back-stage as bands were shunted about to be pushed on stage to accept the awards. I remember seeing girlfriends kept apart from groupies and seeing Bam Magara's mate being carried out with his trousers around his ankles and arse on show. Oh, and believe one chaperone has bite marks to show from minding Steel Panther - hee hee.

Looking back on it now I am finally sober again, I reckon trying not to spill mojitos at Steel Panther's mini-gig at the Regent St Embassy aftershow and being asked for my address by the late Dimebag's girlfriend Rita so she could send me a selection of sequin-stamped hold ups (???) are always good things to tick off on a Monday night. Pity I felt the need to stay on until 5am to drink beer, argue about the state of black metal and hardcore today and watch the on-bar strip show...

Bring on next year, baby ;-)

PTW: 26 days to The Tropic Rot

You may remember that Poison The Well gave a one song taster of new album A Tropic Rot at their Camden 36 Crazyfists gig a month or so ago...and, even despite the muddy sound, it sounded awesome. Well, now, with 26 days to go to the album release, they're streaming another new track called Cinema on their MySpace page. Have a listen, it's nicely angry and fast-paced with a slightly ambient clingy chorus. Very cool. Oh, and if you enter your details in the clever little box there you can get access to further downloads before the release too. Bring 'em on, I say.