Power Metal is undergoing a resurgence in the UK, mainly due to the success of Dragonforce. Kids can’t get enough of the supersonic riffs and lyrics exploring the world of warriors, dragons, elves and valour. Dragonforce represent everything that is great about the genre. A total escape from reality. It’s over-the-top showmanship to the power of totally-fucking-ridiculous.
Archive for January, 2007
NEW YORK - FLAMING FIRE
Hellfire sermonizing and extended riffing on the Bible might be a hard sell outside of snake-handlin’ country, but Flaming Fire have been giving it a pretty good run for its money. Their sound basically consists of loud guitars, rhythm changes, occasional demonic growling, droning electronics, and harmonized vocals that make it seem like their songs were heisted from the mom in Carrie’s hymnal collection.
NEW YORK - YIPPIE RESENTMENT
So, not sure if you already caught this, but that guy who made The Kid Stays in the Picture is putting the final touches on an animated movie commemorating the Chicago 8’s brave stand against due process and featured Yippie Paul Krassner is all bummed out because the sponsors (read: Man) made them cut some of the acid stories.
MAKE IT MENTAL - PANICO GO TO SWEDEN
I never saw GG Allin live. I was still getting grounded and eating my boogers when he was shoving broken beer bottles up his ass. Losing it on stage was his special thing. Panico (despite looking and sounding like a million other hipster bands right now) are one of the few bands around these days who also flip out on stage. We talked to them about having fun, losing it and getting a flying foot in the face.
NEW YORK - VICE MAIL
We get a lot of fun stuff in the mail. That said, we get A LOT of boring garbage in the mail from galleries and student loan collectors and labels and places, but the tiny fraction of the daily mound that was obviously labored over for multiple hours by someone teetering on the cusp of full-blown mental illness makes it all worthwhile.
LONDON - OBSERVER PAYS TRIBUTE TO VICE
Thanks to The Observer for paying tribute to our Poverty Issue.
LONDON - RABBIT
Rabbit uses images from a 1940s children’s book to weave a macabre story about greed and guilt that will make you have wake-up-sweating-and-screaming nightmares.
CORPORATE SHILLING - UFO DEBATE
Few things get the blood pumping like a good old-fashioned drunken argument. With this in mind, several of our staffers under the employ of Dewar’s Scotch have put together a series of debates moderated by Vice DVD correspondent Trace Crutchfield.
RIO - SPETO SPEAKS
Graffiti got boring. Even typing the word is tedious. The scene (sneaker geeks breakdancing to Beastie Boys and worshipping Banksy) spawns yawns in London and New York. But what about paint sprayed on the streets of different countries with different influences? We wanted to find out if graffiti was less boring in Brazil so while we were in Rio with the Brahma beer guys, we met Speto, a local aerosol artist. We talked as he sprayed over a work he’d sprayed the previous night.
SAN DIEGO - VICE PARTY TONIGHT
We know this is sort of short-notice, but if you’re in lowermost California tonight we’d like to invite you to this little shindig we’re throwing in San Diego with WESC and Von Zipper. Big Business and Earthless are playing, Barry Weaver and Justin from the Locust will be manning the "wheels of steel" (we were dared to type that), and there will be free booze and energy drinks and a little thing we like to call "fun aplenty."
TOWERS OF LONDON VS ROLL DEEP CREW
You may have seen this before, but who actually watches Bravo? Anyway, this is the deal: The UK’s biggest grime crew hailing from a tower block in Bow, east London, playing football against a bunch of middle-class hair metal guys brought up in the serene setting of the English countryside. The outcome isn’t as unexpected as you’d think - Donny and Dirk were both with pretty big professional football clubs as teenagers. What is kind of unexpected is just how crazy Riko goes at the end. It’s only a shitty football match, dude. Chill.
SPAIN - STREET FIGHTS
NEW YORK - TIGERS AND MONKEYS
While most of us try to act like jotting off a couple emails before lunch constitutes “getting something done,” real done-getters like Shonali Bhowmik are making us look like the lazy sloths we are. She fronts NYC-based garagey soul rockers Tigers and Monkeys, is a member of the all-female sketch comedy group Variety Shac, and in her spare time works as a full-time lawyer. Anyways, we’re beat just from typing all this, so we decided to ask her how in the hell she pulls it off.
