• 3Sep 08

  Remember that first time you saw the Hamster Dance?

  Well, I've just experienced something similar.

  Seriously, WTF?

  (Watch with sound)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIls2e2eU7c

  • Posted Sep 3, 2008 11:45 am PT
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• 26Aug 08

  Bloodstock '08

  Bloodstock Heavy Metal festival: it's like Wacken's little brother with less crappy bands. This is my look back on the best weekend of my life.

  Friday: Arrived late to the festival site so I missed 4 bands I was wanting to see namely: Saint Deamon, Evile, TYR and Praying Mantis. Damn. so the first band I saw was...

  Akercoke: They're not really the sort of thing I normally like, so they weren't looking good from the outset. And they didn't really impress me. Just bog standard Death Metal. 5/10

  Destruction: German Thrash Kings!!! I was really excited about seeing Destruction as they're one of the best Teutonic Thrash bands in err... Germany. They played a very good set with classics like "Mad Butcher", "Curse the Gods", "Nailed to the Cross" and others. Very good, I'd go see them again. 8/10

  Primal Fear: I hadn't heard much from Primal Fear prior to seeing them live. It turns out they're Bloodstock regulars. Primal Fear sound just like Judas Priest. So much so, their vocalist actually auditioned to be Rob Halford's replacement. Primal Fear played brilliantly, pulling a huge crowd which showed their appreciation by throwing horns in the air and giving Primal Fear the biggest cheer I'd heard that day. 9/10

  Soulfly: Soulfly are crappy recorded and I hoped that they played some Sepultura stuff instead of it being an all Soulfly set. Unfortunately, they hardly played any Sepultura, the only one I could recognise being Refuse/Resist which was the best song of the set. 6/10

  Helloween: The band I was waiting for. German Power Metal legends and one of my favourite bands, I had huge expectations for them and fortunately they didn't disappoint. Their set was mostly orientated around the first two Keeper of the Seven Keys albums, which are undoubtedly Helloween's best albums. the rest of the set was two songs from Gambling with the Devil, one from Time of the Oath and one song from an album I don't have. Classics like "Eagle Fly Free", "Dr. Stein" and "Helloween" were pulled off magnificently by the new line-up. Andi Deris sings amazingly live. Best band of Friday. 10/10

  Saturday: It rained. Boo! I arrived late to the site again, having went for lunch first, so I missed Evil Scarecrow, Cloudscape and Rise to Remain.

  Eluveitie: I honestly have no idea how to pronounce that. Eluveitie play Folk Metal, which is OK, so long as it doesn't have harsh vocals. Eluveitie performed OK, just too much **** and not enough melody for a Folk Metal band. 6/10

  Swallow the Sun: Melodic Doom Metallers Swallow the Sun were impressive. It was very unique with the best bass sound the whole weekend. 7/10

  Communic: If you could stay awake for the whole set Communic were actually quite good. They play a decent style of Progressive/Power/Heavy Metal but it was just boring. 6/10

  Moonsorrow: I don't like the style of Folk Metal Moonsorrow play, but they impressed me. Delivering heavy Death Metal style rhythms with folk melodies over the top. Very good, I'll be checking out more of them. 7/10

  Napalm Death: Napalm Death were less than I expected. I do like some of Napalm Death's stuff, but none of which they played. The singer acted like a retard and they sound crap live. 5/10

  Soilwork: I like some of Soilwork's older stuff, but the newer stuff passes by me. Fortunately, the set was made up of lots of the older stuff. It was bucketing down and Soilwork still managed to sound good despite that. Someone Rickroll'd them. 8/10

  Iced Earth: THE band I was going for. Iced Earth have reunited with their old singer and he performed excellently. The set list was (fortunately) made up of older Iced Earth songs and included classics like "Melancholy", "Violate", "My Own Saviour", "The Dark Saga and others which the new (and now old) singer Ripper Owens could never have sang. Matt Barlow managed to pull off "Ten Thousand Strong" brilliantly, which I thought he could never do. I was disappointed at the lack of songs from Burnt Offerings, but meh. The highlight of Saturday 10/10

  Sunday: To ensure I saw all the bands I arrived very early to the site. So early, there was still people queuing to get water and some people still hadn't got up yet. First band on Sunday was:

  Heaven's Basement: I had never heard of these guys beforehand and there was a good reason why. They suck. They didn't even belong at the festival. They were just another Led Zep copy band in the vain of the Answer, Blackstone Cherry, etc... very poor. 3/10

  Crowning Glory: Crowning Glory aren't well known. They play a Judas Priest style Heavy/Speed Metal which is, to be honest, rather smashing. Brilliant set with loads of Priest style pounding riffs. Can't wait for their new album. 8/10

  Alestorm: The Perthshire Pirates were a bit of a surprise to me, firstly that they are playing this festival and secondly that they were so low down the bill. Even their soundcheck was hilarious, with Chris screaming typical pirate chants of "yaar" "arrr" and the not so traditional "bumsex". They came on stage and Bel-Air'd us. That's some kind of achievement. Bel-Airing 5,000 people at one time. The set was fantastic, with every song off of "Captain Morgan's Revenge" being played, except from Of Treasure and Flower of Scotland. The crowd were excellent, with several members dressed as pirates and everyone singing along giving Alestorm the fists in the air they deserve from their feel-good sing along Metal. The in between song banter was hilarious, but you'd probably have to be there to find it funny though. They were just smashin'. Can't wait to see them in November. 10/10

  Grand Magus: Grand Magus play a Black Sabbath style Heavy/Doom Metal that to be quite frank, is boring. Some good riffs and songs, but not too impressive. For old men, this band. 6/10

  Mob Rules: I'm not the biggest fan of Mob Rules: I've only got 3 albums, but I was looking forward to see them nonetheless. Mob Rules sound so heavy live, which is quite a contrast to their recorded works. A brilliant performance, but I can't help but think there was only about 10 people there who actually had heard of them. I went to get stuff singed by them in the signing tent later. The signatures of Mob Rules now decorate the back of my jacket and my wall. I hope they play Britain again soon. Preferably Scotland next time too. 10/10

  Kataklysm: Despite not being able to spell, these Canadians aren't half bad, so I wanted to see them live. Evident from the soundcheck, these guys were going to play loud. So loud, it actually made my ears hurt and I was right at the back. Great set, but the only song I could recognise was "Taking the World by Storm" all the rest of it was too loud to identify. 8/10

  As I Lay Dying: The band no one wanted to be here and they nearly weren't. When they were due to come on, I was already queuing to see Mob Rules in the signing tent, so I could only just see the show. They arrived late and that didn't really help them at all. They didn't have many fans and surprised that no emos showed up. They played about half an hour, which was incredibly short, but that's not a bad thing. 4/10

  Overkill: Old School Thrash!! This is how thrash should sound, full of energy and attitude. Classics such as "F**k You!!!" and others sound amazing live. Big mosh pit, too. I would see these guys again. 8/10

  At the Gates: Swedish Melodeath kings were quite a surprise. I wasn't going to miss this gig as it's bound to be the last one ever on British soil. Decent set list, but not enough from The Red in the Sky is Ours. A great band, they will be sadly missed. Your contribution to Metal was much appreciated. 8/10

  Nightwish: Nightwish had some cheek. They blamed other bands for pushing the time schedule up, when they took AN HOUR to get ready. Good performance though, sounding 100x better live than they do recorded. Also Annette is a hell of a lot better than Tarja. Great set, but an obvious lack of songs from Wishmaster, apart from Wishmaster. Every song was great, but then again, they only played half a set and it was riddled with technical problems. Great pyro, though. 10/10

  See you all at '09!

  • Posted Aug 26, 2008 11:56 am PT
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• 10Aug 08

  Russia and Georgia

  So, they've been at each other's throats for some time, but it's finally escalted into war.

  Putin's ordered tanks into the region to "protect" those who live there. Surely, that's what the UN is for.

  Now, fair enough, they've sent some tanks into Georgia, but what I'm finding scary is the fact that Georgia has ordered full mobilization of her armies, some 28,000 men including reserves.

  Now, Georgia must be really serious about this if they're calling up reserves. Hell, even Britain didn't do that in the immediate outbreak of WWII.

  War is bad kiddies. I don't endorse it. That's why I wargame/collect (with) 1:72 scale soldiers and tanks, but honestly, I take my hat off to Georgia for fighting back against the might of the Russian Federation. They've got no chance and the war'll be over by the end of the month, if that, but well done Georgia.

  If anyone here has Counter Strike on Xbox, then here's a fun scenario you can do to recreate this crisis.

  Map: Militia

  Specific Settings:

  Give the Counter Terrorists 8 bots and the Terrorists 3 or 4

  Seeing as how the CTs are Russians anyway, these guys represent the Rusians.

  the Terrorists represent the Georgian army.

  If going CT use guns like the Famas or the M16 to represent generic battlefield rifles. Pistiols should be that CT only one, I forget its name.

  If going Terrorists then use guns like AK47 and Defender and for pistols use the Glock.

  There you have it folks, a modern day scenario that's as accurate as possible.

  • Posted Aug 10, 2008 1:28 pm PT
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