BLACK SABBATH In the Recording Studio

Almost a year after announcing their reunion, Black Sabbath are hard at work in the studio working on their first new album with Ozzy in 33+ years at Shangri La Studios in Malibu and we have some exclusive info on the progress.

My buddy (and fellow SiriusXM Liquid Metal DJ) Jose Mangin went down to the studio to record audio snippets for Ozzy's SiriusXM channel, Ozzy's Boneyard, and was accompanied by RockMyWalls.com photographer, Sonny Guillen. Sonny was nice enough to give us a few tidbits of information about the status of the new album.

The band is currently in the studio recording vocals with Rick Rubin. There are 15 songs that have been written, and according to Geezer Butler, 12 of them will make the record, most likely with the additional three serving as bonus tracks for different special editions.

Apparently, guitarist Tony Iommi completed all 15 guitar tracks during the band's sessions in England earlier this year, and judging by the way most bands record, that would mean drums are done as well. Ozzy and Geezer are working to complete the tracks in five song increments, with the first five being worked on currently.

Ozzy is tracking vocals, with bassist Geezer Butler writing all the lyrics. One song title has been confirmed and it's "God Is Dead."

As for guitarist Tony Iommi, Ozzy mentioned that he spoke to Iommi recently and he is in good sprits and recovery is coming along very well from his cancer scare earlier this year.


Source: http://www.metalinjection.net

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Valkyre

Valkyre is a symphonic gothic metal band from Belgium and France. They are still unsigned, with only 2 demos out: "Consolamentum" and "On Both Sides We Pray." Unfortunately, it is hard to find most their music, as there are only three recordings available on their Myspace.

I was really struck by their song, "A Good Day to Die," which combines celtic folk elements with symphonic keyboard patches and violin-guitar harmonies.

The violin parts are very melodic, provide great harmonies and a folky magical feel to their music. Their music is very energetic and enchanting, with a powerful female singer and intriguing synth sounds.

 The violinist is Cid Jimenez, who joined the band in 2007 and worked on "Consolamentum" with them. Before him, the violinist was Joris Derder. They have both used an acoustic live at one point, but Cid also has an electric S-shaped violin (Shar?). They have consistent violins, they are on all three of the songs on their myspace. Give them a listen!
Great sound, and great potential!

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Chthonic

The first time I heard of Chthonic was when I saw them at Ozzfest in 2007. After seeing that they had an erhu (a Chinese 2-string violin), that they were from Taipei, Taiwan, and that they fought for human rights and Taiwanese independence from China, I have never forgotten them. 

They are a driven and impressive group - they were the first asian metal band ever to play at Ozzfest, they have been banned in parts of China for their political views, and they have also met with the Dalai Lama as a part of their human rights endeavors. Even though their music is more brutal than stuff I normally listen to, I am a sucker for bands with political motives, girl musicians, and ethnic instruments. It didn't hurt, too, that I am half-Taiwanese. They have very interesting corpse paint, which they call "ghost paint," (not pictured above) which actually corresponds to symbols and curses in Chinese mythology. They are a band which has a deep concept behind their musics, which is something I really appreciate.
 

They consider themselves an extreme metal band because their lyrics don't really fit into the black metal scene, but musically they have a very black metal sound. They utilize high screams, low grunts, fast tempos, eerie keyboard sounds and sometimes haunting choirs and female vocals. They even incorporate some thrash influences on their newest album, Mirror of Retribution. As far as lyrics go, they sing about oriental mythology of the underworld, ghost stories, tragedies, and the oppression and colonialism of Taiwan. (A word of warning, their lyrics can be very brutal)
 

Now, I don't know much about the erhu except that it's awesome. Chthonic used to have an erhu player named Su-Nung (pictured), but he left in 2009 and now the erhu is played by singer Freddy Lim. In their music, the erhu plays mournful melodies behind the heavy guitars and screaming, and sometimes plays traditional folk tunes.
While this is not a violin, I feel like the erhu melodies could be easily adapted on the violin. It's also a unique style of playing, and a good reference for metal violinists who are looking to add an asian feel to their music.

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Crimfall

Crimfall is folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. Their music is very epic - can I emphasize that again? Very. Epic. Finland doesn't disappoint when it comes to folk metal, and Crimfall is no exception. 

Their music generally features melodies reminiscent of Finnish folk music and lyrics about vikings, but sometimes their music can even have an ethnic middle-eastern feel to it. Their dense keyboard orchestration and heavy guitars provide for a powerful sound, and the male and female vocalists provide for a nice contrast. Although the male/female singer lineup occurs quite frequently in metal, I feel like their male grunter/female operatic singer offset is exceptionally well done and stands out from the rest.

The official band consists of the two singers, a guitarist/keyboardist, drums and bass, while their session musicians on the album include violin, cello, and accordion. The guitarist also plays "other weird instruments," and I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but I do know it includes the jaw harp!
Crimfall is still a fairly new band - they only have one album out right now, As the Path Unfolds..., which was released in 2009. 


Official Site: www.crimfall.com

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Benefits of Metal Music

Though not everyone likes the music flowing hard.  From now on, even if you do not like it, there's no harm if you make the existence of stress muting. Do not believe? A recent study by ScienceDaily dilansir even mentions that heavy metal music fans are more intelligent muting turns negative emotions, more expressive and more can wreak his anger. Research involving 1,057 pupils from the age between 11 and 18 years of the American Academy National School.

All respondents are scrutinized their relationships with family, behavior in school, how they spend time relaxing, favorite music, and the type of media they consume. "The study results show that that presepsi which has left one. For students, the public sees the intelligent and have high intelijensi likely dominated those who love classical music and spend a lot of time to read, "said Stuart Cadwallader, head study from Warwick University. But, according to Stuart tudi those who enjoy heavy metal music tends to have difficulty to establish contact with the family and their friends. And they make music as an 'open'.

Most of the students say they do not consider to be a true believer Metal heavy metal music but understand specific aspects of youth culture today. By using the hard and aggressive music, they can go out and drop from a sense of frustration and anger. Here the results proved that heavy metal music or cadas can also meredekan situation is heart or bad mood. According to Stuart, "a lot of heavy metal musicians flows also have a very high intelijensi like Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a well as a musician, as well as a novelist berprofesi and airline pilot."

Some benefits of listening to metal music:

1. Listen to metal music can improve mood.

Listening to this heavy metal music can stabilize mood. Prior to adolescents suffering from depression. To listen, feeling sad or angry can diluapkan. The teenagers can be more relaxed or calm to lead his life. However, monitoring of elderly people here need. when the child's mood down, should forbid children hear this music.

2. IQ increase.

From the research results, this metal flowing music listeners, students generally get higher scores than other students, even above average. Several field studies have also found high intelligence among this hard music connoisseur.

3. Down potential suicides.

Metal music can reduce the emotional or anxiety level. After listening to metal music. The listener can feel more comfortable or better than before. This music can treat their repressed feelings.

Metal music the young people enjoy doing today. This is evidenced by the popularity of this genre in the community and has become a lifestyle trend as a young child.

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Research on Metal Music

Music is the sound received by the individual and vary based on history, location, culture and tastes of a person. True definition of music is also diverse:

• Beep / impression of something that was captured by the listener senses
• A work of art with all our constituents and supporters.
• Any sound produced intentionally by a person or a collection and presented as music Some people think music is not tangible at all.

According to Aristotle, music has the ability to reconcile a troubled heart, has a recreational therapy and foster patriotism spirit.

Metrotvnews.com: A study by Université de Montpellier, France, revealed enjoys metal music it can reduce the potential for mental disorders. This also denied stigma, that rock music is just cause destructive behavior.

The study involved 321 metalhead (metal music enthusiast), consisting of 282 men and 39 women, aged 13 to 44 years. Their levels of anxiety and depression measured by the Hospital Anxiety then and Depression Scale (HADS).

As a result, less than 5% metal music fans surveyed showed symptoms of pathological psychosis. This figure is even much lower than average levels of anxiety that the global community can reach 15.58%, and 3.43% for depression.

According to them, the low rate of mental disorders because metal fans are familiar with symbols of death, good lyrics, the type of tone, and the band's logo. With the familiar and routine to remember the dead, they are driven more relaxed and even do good.

Metal music is one genre that is very global. Metal music has attracted the attention of the younger generation for over 50 years. Even today, Metal music has branched into different sub genres.

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