Metal Monday
#DemonHead @MetalMagicDK @svartrecords
Posts tagged AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR DX lens
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
The name of the church in today’s photo is Церковь Спаса на Крови (Church of the Savior on Blood). Well known as one of the visual highlights of Saint Petersburg, Russia, the church began a many years renovation project just days before I arrived so the overall view was not what I was hoping for. If you want to avoid the scaffolding you’ll want to wait to visit until at least 2025.
Heilung sells out San Francisco and Portland within hours of tickets going on sale
@LiveAtTheArmory @COPENHELL #copenhell @SeasonofMist #heilung
Apparently Heilung is popular in the USA. Months prior to their first shows in the USA, and just a couple hours after going on sale, both the Portland and San Francisco shows sold out. Now the question is, what will Heilung do? Add more shows? Come back soon and play larger venues?
I’m hoping they add a show in my hometown (they have an open date, will be here anyway, and the venue is not yet booked) so I can see them for the third time this year. Actually, it will be next year, but whatever.
Happy birthday, Ihsahn!
#brutalAssault2019 #brutalassault @Ihsahn_official @CandlelightREC #Emperorband #BlackMetal
I didn’t follow the music scene very closely in the 1990s. I went to few shows and didn’t like much of the new music I was hearing on the radio. Also, I was busy with a new career and family. However, I do remember that one night, while searching for something different in the 90s music world, I stumbled upon an internet radio station out of the UK that was playing Emperor. That may have been the first time I heard true, black metal. “I Am the Black Wizards” became one of the few black metal songs that I listened to regularly before becoming much more devoted to the genre in the past 10-15 years.
Finally seeing Emperor live this past summer at Brutal Assault was very special. There was one moment, a few hours before they hit the stage, where I was sitting on a leather couch, in the fortress where Brutal Assault is held, and the members of Destruction were conducting an interview 10 feet in front of me, Ihsahn was signing autographs 20 feet in the other direction, and Au-Dessus was playing the Octagon stage just 100 feet away. Also, the creator of the Emperor logo, Christophe Szpajdel, was giving tours of his art nearby. I thought I was dreaming.
Museum-Estate of G. R. Derzhavin
@MuseumPushkin
Today’s photo comes from a boat tour I did a couple months ago in St. Petersburg, Russia. I hadn’t heard any English in many days when I decided to book the tour, and I thought it would be nice to hear something other than Estonian or Russian for the first time in a while. Although the Russian guide spoke decent-enough English, there was not a single other person on the boat (which could probably hold over 100 people). The guide was out of sight so it wasn’t a very social event.
Anyway, one of the things that struck me about Russia (and maybe this was in part due to poor, dreary weather most of the time I was there) was nearly all of the buildings could use some fresh paint. The vast majority of buildings seemed to have not been cared for in decades. This is probably why I took a photo of this building from the boat; it was a rare, somewhat-recently-painted specimen.
Brutal Assault band announcement for 2020
#brutalAssault2019 #brutalassault @Spinefarm #ElectricWizard
The 2020 festival acts are beginning to take shape. Download Festival, for instance, has announced Kiss, Iron Maiden, and System of a Down as headliners. I hope Iron Maiden is a headliner at some festival I’m at in 2020 as it’s been too long since I’ve seen them (2012). I have no interest in seeing Kiss (again). Typically, 50-75% of the headliners at Download Festival end up as headliners at Copenhell. I doubt Copenhell will have System of a Down again so soon and without a new album.
Gefle Metal Festival has made several announcements, but I won’t be going in 2020 as it’s the same weekend as Metal Magic. I’m really looking forward to Denial of God at Metal Magic 2020.
Brutal Assault is making a big announcement on October 1. I’m guessing it could be as many as 30 bands.
I’m thinking about doing one or two new festivals in 2020. The short list of possibilities include Bang Your Head (Tankard, Heathen, Riot V, Unleashed, etc.) or Dynamo MetalFest and MetalDays.
