Author: Crossfire

While Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth may have cemented their place in thrash metal’s legendary ‘Big Four’, Testament were (and indeed still are) considered by many to be the category’s honourary member.

Bursting onto the Bay Area scene in the early 80’s under the name of Legacy (a name the band would later lend to their debut album), Testament quickly gained recognition as one of the most intense and immensely talented bands on the then thriving circuit. With the release of ‘The Legacy‘ in 1987, however, the band began to make serious waves across not only the rest of America but the metal world as a whole.

At a pace rarely seen in the modern day word, they followed-up with 2 more albums in as many years: 1988’s ‘The New Order‘ and the 1989 classic ‘Practice What You Preach‘. However, the 90’s would not be kind to the quintet as they struggled to live up to the standards of their early material, suffered multiple line-up changes and found themselves on the verge of splitting.

Following years of near obscurity, it was the reformation of the band’s ‘classic’ line-up in early 2005 that saw the legend of Testament reborn. A twin CD/DVD release entitled ‘Live In London‘ followed some months later, with their subsequent UK tour receiving a stellar 5K rating from Kerrang! Magazine. With a new album in the pipeline and a headline slot at this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival in Derbyshire confirmed, the giant once again seems alive and thrashing.

Ryan Bird

It’s one thing to sign to a label with such a rich and well respected history as Roadrunner Records, but when Judas Priest frontman and all round metal god Rob Halford is singing your praises, you know you’re truly on the right path.

Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, 3 Inches Of Blood are indeed on their way to becoming modern day metal legends. Having created a stir in metal’s underground with 2002’s ‘Battlecry Under A Winter Sun‘, their subsequent follow-up ‘Advance & Vanquish‘ – the band’s first for Roadrunner – put them firmly on the map as one of the genre’s brightest prospects. Throwing an unapologetic nod to the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest the sextet have successfully carved out their own distinctive niche, combining collossal high-end vocals with death metal roars and screams in a way that has never before been heard.

Produced by Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, ‘Fire Up The Blades‘ represents the band’s best and most diverse work to date. Jammed full of blistering solos, furious drumming and some superb vocal moments, the band’s third album to date is a sure fire contender for ‘Metal Album of the Year’. With a summer of touring ahead of them as part of this year’s Ozzfest, as well as the aforementioned Halford lending his support to the cause, expect to see – and most mportantly hear – plenty more from these chaps in the not too distant future.

Ryan Bird

I was pretty excited when this landed in the office this week. I’ve had the piss ripped out of me for ages because every band I’ve mentioned I like recently has had an animal in their name. At least Caribou aren’t named after a type of horse or cat, which seems to have been my favoured taste for a while.

I remember when I first heard Caribou. It was on a really crackly radio in my uni halls bedroom at like 1am, and I knew I’d forget who this amazing jingle-jangle psychedelic noise coming out through the static was if I didn’t write it down. I scrawled ‘Caribou- Yeti’ on my hand in what turned out to be permanent pen, and fell asleep. The next day I went and bought The Milk of Human Kindness and couldn’t get enough.

Melody Day is the first single from Caribou’s latest offering Andorra due out on August 20th, and genuinely shocked me at how good it was. When you get really hyped on a band, you pray to god that the next thing you hear by them fulfils your expectations. This certainly has, very much so. I absolutely love this. Continuing Dan Snaith’s beautiful electronic dreams of creating music to space-out and imagine your flying with unicorns in a purple sky full of heady incense smells, ‘Melody Day’ is, I feel, way better than anything on Milk of Human Kindness. Reminiscent and harking back to bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, with a very strong connection to Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, with that 60’s dreamy haze feel. I can’t express how much I love this single, and how much I can’t wait for the album to come out.

By adding a remix from Four Tet featuring Adem, two more artists that I have been listening to nothing but for weeks, there is not a chance I’m not going to like this.

10/10

Tim Mogridge