First on the agenda today, we’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to the friends of Frankie Sparcello, bassist of “deserve more cred than they get” death metal band Exhorder. There’s been no statement on the cause of death. Here’s some classic Exhorder to remind us all of Sparcello and Exhorders talent.
My good friend DiGi over at Movie Buzzers.com has shared the hilarious new poster for soon to be cult classic “Rubber”. As I’m sure you can tell deduce from the not exactly subtle poster, “Rubber” is about a serial killing tyre. I shit you not. Awesomeness awaits!
Devin Townsend as released the album art for his upcoming release “Ghost”. Very nice.
And its pretty damn cool if i do say so myself. Featuring more flames and fiery colors like older album covers such as “Fate of Norns” and “Once Sent From The Golden Halls”, the “Surtur Rising” artwork, done by long time favored artist of Amon Amarth Tom Thiel, is exactly the kind of album cover you’d expect from the Viking metallers. Take a peek at it below.
The less than friendly looking, flaming sword wearing giant is, according to the Metal Blade press release “Surtur”, the leader of the flaming giants of Muspelheim and the Surtur of the album title. He’s also the oldest character in Norse mythology. Pretty metal, huh?
Here’s the official press release from Metal Blade regarding the album and it’s track listing:
“Sweden’s AMON AMARTH are currently gearing up to unleash, Surtur Rising, the eighth studio offering in their critically revered pantheon of Viking-inspired death metal. Named in tribute to Surtur, leader of the fire giants of Muspelheim (“flame land”) and the oldest being in the nine worlds of Norse mythology, the record, which was listed among Decibel Magazine’s most anticipated albums of 2011, features 10 tracks of sword-wielding, fist-pumping, hyper climactic battle anthems. The follow up to 2008’s monolithic Twilight Of The Thunder God full-length, was recorded again at Fascination Street Studios Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren and features strikingly brutal cover art by Tom Thiel. ”
Surtur Rising Track Listing:
01. War of the Gods
02. Töck’s Taunt – Loke’s Treachery Part II
03. Destroyer of the Universe
04. Slaves of Fear
05. Live Without Regrets
06. The Last Stand of Frej
07. For Victory or Death
08. Wrath of the Norsemen
09. A Beast Am I
10. Doom Over Dead Man
The album will be released in Europe on March 25th and in the USA on March 29th, so mark grav your viking helmets and drinking horns and get ready for a killer slab of viking metal
Dear readers. We are at a crucial stage in our blogger/reader relationship. We are learning about each others interests and getting a sense of each others personalities and humor.
But now we are at a point where of our flaws start to pop up. This is the stage where our relationship blooms into a wondrous journey that will yield years of fond memories or else die a quick, painless death. So, instead of letting this awkwardness hang above i’m just gonna spit it out and reveal my biggest flaw: I can’t grow a beard.
For those of you who have not dropped your head in disgust and stormed away from this site, I thank you. Those of you who have departed; I understand your reasons for leaving 100%.
Now, don’t get me wrong,I can grow a few patches of facial hair here and there and have actually made some valiant, yet ultimately vein, attempts at growing a beard I could call my own and be proud of. Personally I feel I can grow a pretty mean moustache; only problem being that it is Santa Claus white so it is only visible if a room is lit in a certain way or your standing so close to me that our noses are touching (and you gotta work to earn that privlege, brother!)
However, after weeks and weeks of effort, the end result is always the same; patchy and ginger face pubes. In a word: disgusting.
My brother can grow amazing face fuzz and has quite the magnificent beard at the moment. Eventhough I’m certain he just grows it to make me feel worse about my ‘inadequacy’, I can’t help but admire his craftywork; well played little bro.
I think it is my inability to grow any sort of impressive facial hair that has led me to develop a bit of an obsession with them. Whenever I see a dude rocking any sort of impressive beard, II point it out to friends and comment on its majesty. I usually use thickness,bushiness and length as judging criteria for beards, so the more caveman like they are, the better! I’m not a fan of elaborate beards (the ones that are styled or designed in some way), just the simple ones. The real, lumberjack style if you will!
So today, while browsing one of my favorite sites, Metal Sucks, I was over the moon to see this interview based solely on beards between two beard heavyweights in the metal community;Liam Wilson of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Andy Williams of Every Time I Die. It’s a great read with some hilarious beardtales from both guys. it also introduced me to the term “beard beef”, which is now going to become a staple in my phrase book!
Check out the interviewhere for some facial fuzz folklore!
This interview got me in the mood to check out other great metal beards and while wasting time at work, I came across this pretty comprehensive list of the 21 best beards in metal from Metal Hammer. Check out the list here and let me know your thoughts on it. While I think it’s a good list, I think that the order of a few of them needs to be arranged drastically.
If anyone feels like sharing there best beard lists (be it in metal or any other other of life), please be sure to share it in the comments or drop us an email at tomboftheopinionated@gmail.com
By the way, the pic at the top of the article is of my favorite beard in metal, that of Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth. Well done, Mr. Hegg…its a true beauty!
Here’s a clip of “Twilight of The Thunder God” where you can see the beard in action! Enjoy
Tomb Of The Opinionated 