February 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment

If there’s one thing that usually gets on our tits, it’s rock bands doing ironic cover songs. It doesn’t ever end well. Actually, we’re not so sure it works that well when metal bands do it seriously, either. We saw a hardcore band try to cover ‘Search and Destroy’ last week and it made us so angry we nearly broke our hand from punching the nearest wall in impotent frustration.
But you know what? We’ll forgive Far for their cover of Ginuwine’s r’n'b ditty ‘Pony’. For three very good reasons.
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Tags: Video
February 8th, 2010 · 7 Comments

Inspired by a million super-serious promo photos of Scandinavian metal bands in Scandinavian forests, Thrash Hits went for a walk in the forest. Admittedly, the forest was London’s finest, Epping Forest and instead of stumbling upon another shit Home Counties hardcore band, we stumbled upon… A HEAVY METAL TREE!
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Tags: News
February 8th, 2010 · 6 Comments

From: Anglesey, Wales
Sounds like: that feeling you get punching your worst enemy in the face till he goes home bleeding and crying
Website: www.MySpace.com/BSTNS
Thrash Hits verdict: Our deputy editor went seven shades of shit-mad for this lot last week – their Kingdom of Dogs EP practically gave him an epileptic fit at its blood-raw, young-Dillinger take on hardcore. He’s not the only one though – Rocksound, Punktastic and our friends over at Rock Midgets have also picked up on these guys’ potential. Future Hits? It’s a no-brainer.
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Tags: Features · Future Hits
February 8th, 2010 · 2 Comments

Dark Tranquillity
We Are The Void
Century Media
1 March 2010
by Tom Dare
Of the Gothenburg pioneers of melodic death metal, Dark Tranquillity have arguably been the most faithful and consistent, remaining fairly true to the original style and releasing several fine albums this decade, Character being of particular note. Their latest release, We Are The Void, represents something of a departure however. While this may anger loyalists and alienate some fans, it has resulted in one of the best albums of their career.
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Tags: Reviews
February 7th, 2010 · 2 Comments

There are some things that have, are, and always will intrinsically embody the sheer bloody-minded awesomeness of heavy music. One of the most potent of these icons is that mighty manifestation of facial hair: the beard. If you think this is up for debate, then you are wrong.
And here at Thrash Hits, we plan on celebrating this fact every week by recognising an individual who has gone above and beyond standard beard requirements to further the cause of the Beard. So who’s our first winner?
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Tags: Features
February 6th, 2010 · 7 Comments

It’d be all too easy to make a joke that this year’s Kerrang! Relentless Energy Tour is headlined by All Time Low. But then we got thinking: maybe the band picked that name as a pre-emptive defence mechanism? That way, if anyone mouthing off on the internet made a joke about them being rubbish, they could just laugh it off as people taking a cheap and easy shot.
Well, fuck that. Writing the above paragraph has been an All Time Low for me here at Thrash Hits. Oh, ho, ho. Stop me, my sides are splitting.
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Tags: Photo Galleries
It’s been a bit of a belter this week, so for anyone who’d been a bit slack and missed anything, here’s what we’ve been getting up to:
- We signed on again as a media partner for the Hellfire Club, just in time to find out Viatrophy won’t be playing the event anymore. On account of being split up.
- With Rammstein currently burning down arenas up and down the length of the UK, Raz took on all the members at once for an interview. Please feel free to make up your own jokes about Raz taking on German members and email them to him here.
- We caught up with Matt Drake from Evile, to find out how the Yorkshire thrashers are coping in the new year – and with a new bassist – in the wake of the tragic death of Mike Alexander.
- Amit Sharma’s assessment of the new Diesel DH4 amp in his new, regular-ish column about equipment pleased an awful lot of you. There’ll be another installment soon.
- Following the announcement that the mighty Heaven & Hell would be headlining the final night of Bloodstock Open Air 2010, we gave you three damn solid reasons why this was awesome piece of news. As if you needed telling.
- Reviews-wise, we set our new writer, Tom Dare, loose on the new albums from Dark Fortress, Sworn Against and Aeternam. Our Deputy Editor had a bit of a man-gasm over Bastions’ Kingdom of Dogs EP, and Jon Kerr told you why you need the new Fear Factory album in your life.
- Speaking of which, we also crudely mocked Fear Factory’s comeback video for all the ludicrous shit Burton C Bell gets up to in it. Let’s face it, he gets to hide behind Dino Cazares most of the time – literally and figuratively – so we figured he we’d give him the attention for a change.
Next week: expect interviews with Baroness, as well as Adrian and Anders from the sadly no-longer-with-us At The Gates. Oh, and there’ll be some sweeeeet video action with the smokin’ hot Doris ‘Thunder Tears’ Yeh of Chthonic as well….
Tags: Features
February 5th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Aeternam
Disciples Of The Unseen
Metal Blade
16 February 2010
by Tom Dare
It is so very rare that a debut album completely shocks you with its utter brilliance. It is even rarer that a band essentially invent a new sub-genre in the process. Yet Canada’s Aeternam have delivered a first release that does both.
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Tags: Reviews
February 4th, 2010 · 5 Comments

Bastions
Kingdom of Dogs
Self-Released
November 2009
by Hugh Platt
Stop whatever the fuck it is you’re doing, shut your stupid face the fuck up, and go right the fuck now to Bastions webstore. Hand over your credit card details, your parents’ credit card details, your wife’s credit card details – fuck it, run out into the street, beat up the first person you see, steal their wallet, go back to your computer, and then hand over their credit card details – and buy yourself a copy of Kingdom of Dogs.
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Tags: Reviews
February 4th, 2010 · 1 Comment
It’d be something of an understatement to suggest that Yorkshire thrashers, Evile, have a had a shitty last couple of months. Hugh Platt caught up with the band to see how they’re coping.

The last time we spoke to Evile, we were slouched in the Cro Bar with guitarist Ol Drake, drinking whiskey and shooting the shit just prior to the release of the band’s second album, Infected Nations. Since then though, events have taken a turn for the worst for the young Yorkshire thrasher. While touring Sweden last October in support of Amon Amarth, the band’s bassist,Mike Alexander, the band’s bass player, died following a pulmonary embolism. The UK’s – nay, the world’s metal scene – promptly rallied around the band, who chose to celebrate Mike’s life and raised money for his grieving family with a pair of benefit events.
With a new four-stringer, Joel Graham, whom recruited late last year, the band returned to London last month for their first show in the capital since Mike Alexander’s death. We caught up with frontman, Matt Drake, backstage before the gig to find out how Evile are coping in 2010.
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Tags: Features