Dear Santa...

Current wishlist.

Total jävla mörker – Totalt jävla mörker and Refused – The shape of punk to come, no idea why I don’t own these classic records yet but I don’t and not doing so somehow feels like living a lie. Need to find a decent CD-store in Berlin a.s.a.p.
New album from Rise Against – Appeal to Reason should be worth a listen, having heard their latest singlerelease.
Another album which I have listened to a lot but don’t yet own is brilliant The Blackening by Machine Head. I need to get it, simply because my ex kept his copy when we broke up.
Last but not least I have been looking out for the boys in The Mirimar Disaster and their new very much anticipated release Volumes for a while now. They didn’t have it in Sound Pollution in Stockholm a few weeks back but looking online, they do now. Get it.

Dean, Slomo, Frank and Nicky in The Mirimar Disaster

Bands I want to see live. Now.

-Maylene and the sons of disaster. Probably as close to my favourite sound in a nutshell as you can get. Oh and you will struggle to find a hotter singer this side of the moon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4GI4xOkJ1o&feature=related
-Khoma. Cult of Luna are amazing but it’s time for Khoma to wake up from their… uhm, coma.
-Refused. Doh.
-The Hellacopters. Their last gig ever, which I have tickets to, can’t come soon, or late, enough. Anticlimax or what.

Clutch at Klubben, Stockholm 25/8/2008

Clutch have not sold out, but nearly, and this is when they only played Sweden a month ago: Klubben is packed when the four piece band from Maryland enter the stage to the sound of a voice rapping “son of a bad man”. After two excellent support-acts from Dover and Graveyard, the expectations are high.

Playing a set of sixteen songs they never try to win their crowds commitment with any cheap tricks. There are no cool looks, posing guitarists or “sing-with-me”-moments involved, in fact they hardly even say a word between their songs. With Clutch it is all about the message of the music, a message which they seem determined to spread. (Have a look at their touring rate and get my point.)

The blues and punk influenced rock band of a touring machine that is Clutch is fronted by singer Neil Fallon who night after night like a preacher proclaims his prophecy with great gestures and steady belief. Together with Tim Sult, Dan Maines and Jean-Paul Gaster he delivers song after song with full force and a hint of arrogance, these guys know they’re good.
They know this that well that in between songs all band members almost look bored and it’s not until almost 15 songs have been delivered that what can be interpreted as a joke and possibly a smile slips Fallon’s lips. Which is ok.

Unfortunately their self belief goes that far that they ten songs in think that they can pull off a three songs long jamming session without getting boring. In my opinion they can’t, however great Gaster on drums may be.

So I leave the venue together with a muttering crowd, feeling a bit disappointed. Great ideas need at least a bit of charm to go down well, don’t they?

The Faint at Debaser Slussen, Stockholm 8/9/2008

The Faint at Debaser Slussen 8/9/2008

Support: MFMB

Swedish five-peace MFMB start off three out of five songs with promising up-tempo electro dance intros but manage to fall far from the expectations very soon. To put it simply, in all but the last song they are nothing more than a bit dull. Their intentions are good, trying to create indie rock electro disco (I can see why someone suggested them as support to The Faint) but it just doesn’t reach out, it doesn’t go that extra mile that is needed to stir things up and make them interesting. Sorry.

The Faint however, THE FAINT!

I was probably the only person left on this planet not to have heard The Faint before and wasn’t feeling too excited about going to see some überhyped electro band.
What I managed to hear from them on Youtube whilst eating, getting dressed and generally stressing around at home between work and catching the train gave me no hint of what I was about to experience. The Faint is clearly one of those brilliant bands you just have to see live. Because once at Debaser Slussen it is clear after about 30 seconds of this Omaha-based five piece on stage that the band fronted by the very attractive midget in crazy goggles and a doctor’s coat who moves his hips like its 1999, is going to make me fall in love, deeply.

Their rock’n’roll kick ass electrifying dancy music hits me like lightning on speed and continues to do so throughout, making my body tingle with excitement. I find myself laughing out loud to their crazy moves and clever lyrics presented together with silly beats and thrilling guitar riffs, and even though I am in the middle of a generally hard to please Swedish crowd I can’t stand still for a second.

They deliver songs off their new album Fasciination such as Get Seduced mixed with (what I have now learnt are) classics such as Paranoiaattack with brilliant stage presence and audience contact. When they disappear off stage after a sweaty set of 14 songs they make the audience go crazy many times over before they return to serve us three more, among which “the one for the geeks” The Geeks were right shines the strongest.

On the train home I can’t help but wonder how I survived before, not having had the (excuse my wordchoice, I had to) faintest idea of what I was missing.

Two days later I find myself in a state of total The Faint-addiction, not being able to stop listening to their newest release which takes me back to that night at Debaser over and over again.

If you too want to experience THE gig of the year, check out The Faint on their mindblowing tour. Check www.myspace.com/thefaint for dates.

Coming up

It may look as if though Nordic Flames has frozen to death but do not despair, Bella has been busy! Here is a hint of what is to come:

Slipknot "All Hope Is Gone" album review
Cult of Luna "Eternal Kingdom" album review
Clutch live at Klubben, Stockholm gig review
The Hives live at Gröna Lund, Stockholm gig review
The Faint live at Debaser, Stockholm gig review
The Faint "Fasciination" album review
Metallica "Death Magnetic" album review
and much more...

Some brief news

Tickets for The Hellacopters' last ever gigs are available at www.luger.se/biljetter now. Get your ticket now or regret it forever.

Union Square play at Bandit Unsigned Party at Harry B James, Stockholm, tonight. Doors open at 9pm.

Watch this space for this and much more within a near future:

Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom album review
Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone album review
Clutch live at Klubben gig review
Union Square live at Harry B James gig review

Rock and Roll is Dead! All Hail Rock and Roll!

Being a girl from Sweden moving to Berlin in a month I obviously got tickets to see In Flames live in Berlin on the 25th of October. In Flames are amazing live and they are one of my favourite bands ever. After The Hellacopters that is. I have no doubt I would win any Biggest Hellacopter Fan Competition ever and am devastated at the fact that they are leaving us.

So I was thrilled to hear that the Kings of Rock n Roll are doing one last club tour here in Sweden, ending it with their final concert at Debaser Medis in Stockholm. I would so grab a flight home for that occasion alone.

But the thrill was soon exchanged for terror when I realised that that concert is on the 26th of October. The day after the In Flames gig in Berlin. WHAT DO I DO?! I am seriously contemplating getting the first damn flight from Berlin to Stockholm that leaves after the In Flames gig. In fact I will. There is no way I'm missing the heartbreaking event, the funeral, the end of an era, the thankyou-we-will-always-love-you that that gig will be.

Talk about a kick ass weekend, I can't wait for it but at the same time I don't want it o happen. I know it will end in tears.


(The Hellacopters also play Berlin on the 29th of September. Get in!)

Rachmanite demo review

Rachmanite manage to make a lot of noise, considering the band consists of only two people.

Tom (guitar) and Podge (drums) had both long been deeply involved in the Sheffield heavy music scene in various ways, when they decided to start playing together two and a half years ago. Many hours of practising and several amp problems later they played their second show ever at the Ninehertz Alldayer at the Underworld in London this summer.

Together with bands such as The Mirimar Disaster and Flatlands they are creating a Sheffield-sound, the way At the Gates and In Flames created the Gothenburg sound back in the day. A sound which all bands share without sounding anything like each other, a sound that is far from the Arctic Monkeys or Bring Me The Horizon.

Their debut demo consists of 4 powerful tracks, full of doom-heavy riffs, smoky melodies and repetitive bravery. For a newbie like me a first listen to the demo can make it seem dull, monotonous and grey but soon the different shades of grey shine through, and how they shine.

It is a brave debut, it is intelligent, different and moody but nowhere near the emo-moodiness you get a lot of these days. Going from black to white and back to another type of grey they remind me of my worst PMS mood swings, only darker. And they manage to pull it off in one flow, sweeping me off my feet as they do it.

It is a demo full of emotion, the drums manage to stir up a storm just to seconds later create an almost calming beat, sending me into a kind of trance, a dream world underwater bubble outside which a battle is being fought.

Starting off slow and heavy at times, like in beautiful Stockholm, and ending in a firework of rage and riffs, as they do throughout, they do have similarities to bands such as Cult of Luna but have somehow managed to create their own mysterious sound.

Happy Ending is a song with some of the heaviest riffs and a lot of potential, although personally I think that a vocalist could have helped this particular track. But it is hard to put Rachmanite’s music into words, and as Tom reveals, this is part of why so far they have no vocals.

A two and a half year long struggle has ended in a brilliant demo, now we can only wait and see what the next release from the newest addition to the Sheffield scene will bring.


Rachmanite’s demo is available for listening and downloading at www.myspace.com/rachmanite

If you like the Sheffield sound check out:
The Mirmarar Disaster
Flatlands
The humble hoax
Actioneer
65daysofstatic

Other duos currently doing well are Deathfromabove1979 and Swedish Johnossi.