Wednesday 13 (aka, Joseph Poole) and his band of the same name might be one of the most high-energy, “get out of your seats and move, motherfuckers,” fun, heavy rock ‘n’ roll horror-themed bands out there at the moment. We had the chance to catch their show last week, and we also scored an interview with the man himself.

Check out our interview with Wednesday 13 in the player on this page.

On the table for discussion were such topics as the latest album, Condolences, where things stand with the next album, which horror movies actually scared Wednesday 13, Murderdolls, and a few other things before we closed with a quick discussion about KISS.

As for the show, if there has ever been a band too big for a stage, it was Wednesday 13 at the venue we saw them at, Foufounes Electrique. Five guys, equipment, and a larger-than-life stage presence, it’s surprising the stage could contain it all. The sound was huge and crystal clear despite the tiny venue. If the excellent use of lights set the macabre mood, then the use of props to accent the lyrical content rounded everything out very nicely.

Support came from Graveyard Strippers and Screaming Demons.

If Wednesday 13 is coming to a venue near you, I suggest you go check them out. They offer big value for your dollar. If you like fun, horror-themed macabre rock, and a big arena sound in an intimate setting, you can’t go wrong. You can find upcoming tour dates here.

Rock Hard \m/

On September 28, 2018, Finnish heavy metal band, Wolfheart released its latest album, Constellation of the Black Light. Two days later, we caught up with frontman Tuomas Saukkonen at the band’s gig in Montreal, Canada.

Check out our interview with Wolfheart’s Tuomas Saukkonen in the player on this page or head on over to our YouTube page to see it there — and while you’re there, check out what else we have.

Yes, the “genre” of the band came up, which in my opinion falls between melodic death metal, black metal, and a bit of symphonic metal. But, as Tuomas discussed, Wolfheart might be forging its own genre, one that is called Winter Metal. You’ll have to listen as Tuomas explains, and there might also be a link to the meaning behind the album’s title.

Of course, Tuomas also discussed the influence of nature in his writing, but we also talked about how traditional Finnish elements might find their way into his songwriting. Making sure to distinguish Finnish culture from other Nordic cultures, Tuomas explained the warrior theme on the album and how the warrior might find the last vestiges of courage and bravery in the midst of battle.

Sadly, with less than an hour to work with, Wolfheart only had time to perform six songs (see the setlist below), and just two from Constellation of the Black Light: “Everlasting Fall” and “Breakwater.” Nonetheless, Wolfheart commanded the stage and the audience’s attention as fans started to pile into the small venue. While standing at the back might have limited our view, the sound was great and well mixed. And when Tuomas announced that the next song was going to be the fast one, well, the band lived up to it and the crowd absolutely responded to it.

The only thing I wish that Wolfheart had done, and I completely understand that it is a logistics thing, but I wish the acoustic parts were actually played instead of being piped in via a backing track. For me, that would have put the show on the next level. Other than that, we can’t complain about a solid performance through and through.

October 25th is Wolfheart’s last date in North America before heading off to Europe. Go here for details on the Richmond, VA, show and future dates.

Wolfheart 2018 Setlist:

“Everlasting Fall” (Intro)
“Aeon of Cold”
“Zero Gravity”
“The Hunt”
“Breakwater”
“Routa Pt. 2”

Rock Hard \m/

Countless couples can recount their tales of falling in love – and, many times, this happens during a concert on an early date. What could be behind this phenomenon? Could it be the fact that they are sharing a monumental moment that has become a shared passion? Or could it be something as scientific as the sweat pheromones released? Or just the bonding of a couple of people screaming their hearts out?

According to Eventbrite, 19% of couples surveyed in the UK and Ireland found love at a gig – whether this was an initial meeting or when they solidified their dalliance into something more real. Music tastes transcend the songs and artists and actually translate more to a way of life. Sharing similar tastes in music is more likely to lead to sharing similar views and perspectives, which is conducive to finding and falling in love.

If you happen to connect with someone at a gig, you can always try to share a deeper connection by giving a taste of your own personal beats. It could potentially open the door even further in this love journey.

Music allows you to release endorphins, which opens your heart and your eyes to the possibility of falling in love. In Darwinian terms, music is a catalyst for courtship – so, listening to music can prime you for the possibility of a romantic entanglement. Like peacocks, musical tastes and matching merchandise t-shirts and hairstyles act as a way to tell a potential mate a lot about you. By being pleasing and matching your suitors’ own tastes and styles, you are more likely to meet someone worthy of falling in love with.

There are plenty of ways to meet someone, with the potential of falling in love at a heavy metal gig. Social media allows people to find one another and, if you don’t find love, you might at least find a potential new friend to enjoy the music with. Alternatively, to take advantage of the musical moment and how conducive it is to blossoming romance, you could pre-arrange to meet a potential suitor there on a dating site, such as Badoo. This will help further the romantic inklings that could find themselves creeping into the gig.

Finding love at a heavy metal gig is also more likely to make it last. Music acts as a stimulant so, by conditioning thoughts and feelings of your lover with the music you already know and love, you are more likely to feel positive feelings towards them in conjunction with those attached to the music.

Heavy metal music can do a lot for society. It can help address real socio-political issues in a way that engages a core demographic. It can provide an outlet for passion and creativity. But, most strangely, it can be one of the catalysts involved in finding love.

Having sold over 100 million albums worldwide, there’s no questioning their success. Their third album, 1983’s Pyromania, is often cited as Def Leppard’s breakout album. It’s also cited by many as their first sellout album, many blaming producer Mutt Lange (his second album with the band) and his use of synthesizers. But Pyromania sold 6 million copies in the U.S. on its original run, holding second on the Billboard charts only to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In fact, the album moved 100,000 units a week in the U.S. for most of 1983, and actually 100,000 a day for a period in August. As of 2004, Pyromania had sold 10 million copies.

MTV had a lot to do with the success of Pyromania, making Def Leppard one of the network’s earliest metal darlings by putting such videos as “Photograph,” “Foolin’,” and “Rock of Ages” in heavy rotation.

The Lep then released the even more successful Hysteria four years later in 1987. Also produced by Lange, this was the first album after drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in an auto accident and it’s also the last album with Steve Clark on guitar before his death. Although Hysteria has sold 25 million copies worldwide (12 million in the U.S.), it was a huge sonic departure from any of the band’s previous albums. Despite disappointing core fans who were expecting a solid follow-up to Pyromania, the album was ubiquitous and impossible to escape.

The only song on Hysteria that I always thought could have had a home on Pyromania was “Gods of War.”

Then, in 1992, Def Leppard released Adrenalized and thought that everyone wanted to “get rocked.” Well, “Let’s Get Rocked” is precisely when I lost interest. Others, like music journalist/writer Chuck Klosterman, had the line drawn in the sand when girls during the Hysteria-era tours were rocking out with their “Esprit” shirts on.

Def Leppard has gone on to release six more albums after Adrenalized, and although I cited some of the band’s benchmarks for success, records sold and awards won does not make a heavy metal band. And, as you may have already inferred from what I’ve said, there was a definite shift in the band’s sound that occurred on Hysteria and it never went away. It was more polished, produced, and definitely more pop rock oriented.

If you go back and listen to the first three officially released Def Leppard albums, you will definitely notice a different sounding band. But it’s more than just having a rawer, hungrier, rougher, and more aggressive sound. Of course it was less refined, they were really, really young; the oldest member was 20 and the youngest was 16 when On Through the Night was released. However, it was assuredly heavy metal. Their music on the first three albums had the riffs, the solos, the vocal wails, etc. Even going back to listen to “Sorrow Is a Woman,” a listener could draw comparisons to Judas Priest’s “Victim of Changes.”

But in addition to the heavy metal hallmarks in their music, Def Leppard had the stylistic logo, modeled after Led Zeppelin, and the excessive party reputation that would make the mighty Motley Crue and Pantera blush. Sadly, as glorified as it is, this party mentality led to guitarist Pete Willis’ eventual departure from the band and tragically to Steve Clark’s death.

Keep reading and get our verdict after the jump…

If you’ve spent any amount of time on YouTube, then, depending on your viewing habits, you’ve no doubt come across a few reaction videos. These videos range in subject from movies to the kids react to series from FBE (they react to everything) to trailers to reaction videos (yes, it’s like a reaction to a reaction) to technology to just about anything you can think of. While all sorts of music genres get reacted to, I gravitate toward people reacting to heavy metal.

From what can be observed in the comments section to these videos, most people already familiar with the genre are the ones watching the heavy metal reactions. One could propose any number of reasons for this, but it’s likely that seeing someone else get blown away by the music you’ve known and loved for many years reignites a sense of discovery, of youthful exploration, of nostalgia, and of vindication for a genre that is largely overlooked or misunderstood.

If an individual wants to go this way, one perspective might be that these YouTubers are doing easy work (although being engaging in front of a camera, editing the video, and responding to viewers, among other things, is anything but easy) on the backs of bands and musicians. I’ll be honest, while enjoying these videos, my first gut reaction was this, but upon further thought, I came to the conclusion that the benefits of what they’re doing could outweigh any potential negatives that might be conjured up on Aleister Crowley’s sacrificial altar. First off, these guys who are doing reaction videos are discovering a new music genre not just for themselves, but also for anyone who follows them for their other content or those who stumble across their channel, which is to say that a new audience is being introduced to the genre. Secondly, heavy metal is typically grossly misunderstood by the masses — it is not Satanic (not all of it) and it is not just noise (again, not all of it) — and these guys are helping to draw the curtain back. And last, but not least, they just might spark enough interest to help popularize the genre and usher in a new era of rock and metal.

To help you filter through the crap, here are a few channels that we tune into on a regular basis. In no particular order:

Lost in Vegas:

Here are a couple of dudes in Las Vegas, if their channel’s name is any indication, who are truly “free thinkers” as they self-proclaim. In addition to providing regular hip-hop and rap reactions, about once a week Ryan and George offer an in depth heavy metal review. What’s really enjoyable is the dynamic between these guys and how deep they get into the lyrics as the attempt to analyse them during their pauses. As well, they actually appreciate the musicianship, especially if there’s a groove. At the same time, if something doesn’t turn them on, they will say so.

Nate Alyn (Hip Hop Head Reacts:

This kid is pretty cool. Like his peers, he reacts to other things besides heavy metal, but he seems to really get into our favorite genre. Of course he plugs his other channels, such as his gaming channel, but he does offer some hilarious video effects and “cutscenes” to help emphasize his reactions. Nate also tries to get into lyrical analysis and it is beyond funny when he starts headbanging and loses his hat (it’s a thing).

Rap Rat Trapped:

Rap Rat Trapped features an old-school hip-hop dude who is really making an effort to expose himself to a variety of new music genres. His explorations have taken him to country music, ‘70s funk, crooners, pop, and of course, heavy metal. The great thing about this guy is he wears his heart on his sleeve and completely owns the fact that he doesn’t know much about heavy metal. He’s really making the effort and he’s learning as he goes. What he does know is rap and hip-hop, so he brings that knowledge to his metal reactions and draws parallels between the genres, which is incredible. He also offers a ticker at the bottom of his screen that he fills with post-video research-based trivia.

KTF Reactions:

I’m guessing this guy, Preston, is from Seattle since he wears a Seahawks winter hat in most of his videos. But that’s neither here nor there, he reacts to heavy metal on a regular rotation in addition to his hip-hop and rap reviews. He doesn’t offer much in the way of analysis of the lyrics or the music, but his appreciation for what’s good, the parts of the songs that hooked us all, is genuine. If you want to feel like you’re checking out music with a buddy, then you might want to hang out with KTF Reactions. The only problem is with the sound quality of his videos.

Alex Hefner:

From what can be told from Alex’ YouTube channel, besides the fact that he looks like a younger version of Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, he’s just getting into the heavy metal reaction videos. He’s got quite a bit of energy and is very engaging for being a solo act. While it’s very clear that he’s having fun and enjoying what he’s doing, he watches intently as he internalizes what he’s seeing and hearing. He definitely dives into some of the lyrics and comments on the visuals if present. But it’s how much fun he has that’s really the draw, and it would be amazing to go to his first heavy metal festival.

PinkMetalHead:

Clearly from the channel’s name, we have a woman reacting to heavy metal. She mostly reacts to heavy metal, but she will touch on other topics and/or genres. She will sometimes offer song interpretation, but her strength really is in her facial reactions and her exasperations of awe. She also really digs a song breakdown, so stay frosty for that. And she’s prone to emotionally letting it go, often shedding tears as part of her reaction. Although she’s been a little inebriated for at least one of her reaction videos, she’s usually on an even keel.

There’s a solid six channels to get you started, but be warned that this is a dangerous rabbit hole that could keep you up for hours on end. If that’s not enough, you can also check out NearlySeniorCitizen Yetagamer, Everything Music Rick Beato, and RealDeadOne (two metalheads reacting to hip-hop).

Rock Hard \m/

It’s a little later than expected, and in rougher form than what we’d normally like, but we wanted to get this out there to you without further delay. So, here’s our interview with Jinjer’s Tatiana Shmailyuk and Eugene Abdiukhanov, which took place on April 10, 2018, in Montreal, at Jinjer’s very first Canadian show.

Having waited a few years for the Ukrainian metallers to come to North America, we couldn’t have been more stoked for the show. Both Tatiana and Eugene couldn’t have been more welcoming or friendly. We covered some basic questions, but tried to go a bit deeper with them, and we even stumbled into a discovery about Eugene’s favorite Metallica album. We also threw in a question about aliens.

As stated in our review of the show, Jinjer puts on one hell of a performance, and we are really hoping to catch them again at 2018’s Heavy Montreal. Hopefully we’ll have another opportunity to interview the band once again. And we’ll see what they thought about seeing Gojira live for the first time.

Enjoy the interview.

Rock Hard \m/

It was 16 years ago today, on April 19, 2002, when Alice in Chains’ lead vocalist Layne Staley was found dead in his home with a needle in his arm and surrounded by an assortment of drugs and related paraphernalia. At the time, the coroner placed the day of Staley’s death as the same as Kurt Cobain’s (April 5th) eight years prior. And with Staley’s death, the final nail was put in the grunge coffin after the death of Cobain and the 1997 disbanding of Soundgarden. Only Pearl Jam remained of the giants. (If the Big 4 are Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, does that make Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam the Slacker 4?)

Yuppies or Baby Boomers or whatever the hell you want to call them can have their precious Lennon, Joplin, Hendrix, Morrison (yes, I know those last two are fundamental to grunge), Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens — Staley, Cobain, Scott Weiland, and Chris Cornell were the first rock icons to affect an entire generation with their passings to come along in decades, and they were ours. Immortalized. Forever. We remember them in their primes.

Alice in Chains – “Love, Hate, Love”

Seriously, these deaths were tragic losses for anyone who came of age during the ‘90s and Layne Staley is sadly under recognized. I’m not going to sit here and say that Nirvana sucked, because they didn’t and I loved them back in the day, but their songs were relatively simple (and I defend straight-forward, simple music all the time; you don’t have to write a fucking progressive rock/metal opus to write a great song) while Alice in Chains offered a bit more to chew on. And as tormented as Cobain might have been, he had a sense of humor (recall his Morrissey version of “Smells like Teen Spirit”) that Staley didn’t reveal in his music, making Alice in Chains an infinitely darker band (take a listen to the sludgy gloom presented on their third album Alice in Chains). Plus Staley had a far superior vocal range.

In addition to seeing Jinjer earlier this week, we also saw England’s enduring extreme metal legend, Cradle of Filth. We’ve previously seen the band at an outdoor festival and were left feeling a little unimpressed, perhaps because the band’s name carries quite a bit of weight and the sound wasn’t entirely on point at the time. This time around, the sound was much better in a smaller indoor venue. However, the guitars and keys could have been a bit louder and clearer.

Technicalities aside, the performance was solid, and if the energized crowd was well warmed up by Jinjer and ready to go as members of Cradle of Filth took the stage, a jolt of lighting ran through the fans when a hooded Dani Filth hit the stage, posing and posturing with the intro music. If the pit was lacking during the previous sets, it found its way through the darkness and emerged with frenzy.

Cradle of Filth, while touring in support of their 2017 release, Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay, resorted to playing tracks mostly from their back catalog. It makes sense; play the hits. This band has been around for years, has put out 12 albums, and has plenty of fan favorites to draw upon.

The Cradle of Filth setlist was as follows:
-Ave Satani (Intro)
-Gilded Cunt
-Beneath The Howling Stars
-Blackest Magick In Practice
-Heartbreak And Seance
-Bathory Aria
-Dusk And Her Embrace
-The Death Of Love
-You Will Know The Lion By His Claw
-Recall
-A Bruise Upon The Silent Moon (Intro)
-The Promise Of Fever
-Nymphetamine (Fix)
-Her Ghost In The Fog
-Born In A Burial Gown
-From The Cradle To Enslave
-Blooding The Hounds Of Hell (Outro)

Rock Hard \m/

We had the privilege of seeing Jinjer play their first show in Canada on April 10th, during their first North American tour, and we also had the chance interview them. If there is only one thing to be said, it is “Holy Fuck!”

But, of course there’s more to say, so we won’t leave it at that.

Look for the interview to be posted at a later date.

Formed in 2009, Jinjer hails from the Ukraine, and have released one EP (Inhale, Don’t Breathe – 2013), and two LPs (Cloud Factory – 2014 and King of Everything – 2016). In these past nine years, the band has worked endlessly touring extensively throughout Europe, making top-shelf music videos, recording music/albums that is/are beyond what they should be doing, and, last but not least, forging a brand of heavy metal that is next level shit. The game is changing and Jinjer is among the few leading the charge.

I’ve already told you what I like about the band musically in my review of King of Everything, and I’ve seen the live videos online, but I wasn’t prepared for just how thunderous the delivery was going to be during Jinjer’s live performance. There isn’t a lot of movement from the band on stage (which bassist Eugene Abdiukhanov has said is because of the style of music), except for vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk, who kicks and punches and engages the crowd like a warrior. The band knows their craft and they absolutely shred live, from the riffs to the intricate bass to the percussions and the dive-bombing bass drops, the band was on point. And Tatiana holds nothing back on vocals. I expected her cleans to be great, but I was taken by surprise by just how low she can go with her intense growls; it’s like hell unleashed coming through her vocal delivery.

And whomever is behind the soundboard also deserves a nod, because there wasn’t a single fault to be heard.

I will venture to say that a live performance from Jinjer might actually be better than a studio recording — they’re that good.

Although Jinjer only held the stage for 50 minutes or so, they dominated the night, serving something new to many in attendance, and something much longed for to those who’ve been waiting to see Jinjer come to this continent. Naturally, the majority of the material comes from their latest album, King of Everything, but they opened up with the righteous crowd-pleaser, “Who Is Gonna Be the One,” from Cloud Factory.

At this point in the spring/summer touring season, I can’t recommend seeing Jinjer enough. Get out there and support what might very well be the next great heavy metal band.

Rock Hard \m/

It’s official — Greta Van Fleet are a hit. With a couple of Number 1 singles in the U.S. and a retro rock revival sound, they are all anyone seems to talk about these days. Too bad they are completely unoriginal and totally uninspired.

Fine, they sound good enough, and it’s great that they are helping to revitalize a bygone rock era, it’s great that they’re bringing some much needed attention to the rock genre, and nobody is questioning their musical talent, but why, why oh fucking why is everyone stroking their cocks about how great they are?

As a blatant Led Zeppelin clone, not once has any member of Greta Van Fleet named the legendary band as an influence. Why? Is it because it’s too obvious? To that end, anyone who has heard Greta Van Fleet comes to the Zeppelin conclusion. So, if Zeppelin comes immediately to mind when listening to Greta, why would anyone even buy a Greta album or single? Won’t that just lead to a desire to listen to the real thing, and ultimately to playing something from Zeppelin?

Yes, Greta Van Fleet is fresh and new, so it’s understandable for people to be drawn to them right now, like a car crash we want to see what’s going on. But how can people even entertain the notion that these youngsters are “better” than Zeppelin? To say that Josh Kiszka is a better singer than Plant fringes on blasphemy, and we won’t comment further on any comparisons made between Jake Kiszka and Page or Danny Wagner and Bonham. It’s new, that’s all, and it’s preposterous to suggest that it’s better or otherwise.

Led Zeppelin released their first album in 1969, that’s 50 years of love and praise that has been bestowed upon them. For decades people have been citing Zeppelin as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Now, all of a sudden there’s a band that sounds reminiscent of Zep and some people are flapping that useless skin around that big hole in their faces to say that Greta might be better! Are you kidding me? Are you all a bunch of turncoats?

It’s true that Led Zeppelin’s early work might not have been wholly original, but it was founded in blues standards. And Zeppelin with their unique blend of innovative playing and original style brought those standards to new heights as well as to the masses. What it wasn’t was a carbon copy of another band.

There have been better bands to hit the scene between Zeppelin and Greta, such as The Tea Party, who’ve used Zeppelin and others as sources of inspiration to create something new and original. As it stands, Greta Van Fleet have great potential and they might be worthy of the high praise they’re currently enjoying if they were performing at a high school talent show.

But if this is all they’ve got, they won’t last any longer than the sense of nostalgia that they bring.

Rock Hard \m/