Much to my dismay, it has just been confirmed that heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio passed away on this sad Sunday morning. His wife and manager Wendy officially released the following statement on his website about an hour ago:

The 67-year old frontman of iconic bands such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath and most recenty Heaven & Hell was diagnosed with stomach cancer in November last year. Rumors of Dio's demise surfaced on the internet earlier this year but were discredited when he appeared to be alive and his condition improved somewhat after undergoing chemo therapy. Sadly, Dio was forced to cancel all upcoming shows with Heaven & Hell scheduled this Summer due to his declining health and eventually lost his battle to cancer.

R.I.P. Dio, you will be missed by many.

Greetings fellow head-bangers! Welcome to the first edition of Metal Asylum –– your one stop source for all things metal. I felt that the underground metal scene wasn't being represented enough here on SG, so I will do my best to be that voice.

I started getting into metal when I was about 12-years old. At first it was the mainstream metal/rock bands you could find on MTV's Headbangers Ball (when they actually played videos –– ahhh those were the days). I got really into Tool (still one of my favorite bands), Pantera, Alice in Chains, Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Ozzy etc. I guess you could say I was a late metal bloomer since I really didn't start listening to underground metal until I was around 17-years old (I'm currently 25).

I remember the day so clearly; it was a defining moment in my life. A friend played a CD of a band I'd never heard of before. What I didn't realize is that band would change my life forever. The band was Sweden's Opeth, the album was Morningrise. I was speechless. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. It was what I'd been waiting for musically, but had just not realized it. The guitar riffs were so expeditious and melodic. The drums and double bass were fast and steady (in the heavy parts), and the vocals of singer Mikael Åkerfeldt, were powerful and haunting –– depending on what the music demanded of him. That was it for me; I was hooked! Metal was my drug of choice and I was a full-blown addict.


Above: Opeth performing "Advent" from the album Morningrise at the Inferno Festival in Norway.

After I first heard Opeth, I didn't start listening to the typical American death metal bands, I jumped straight into the whole Swedish melodic death metal scene -- bands like In Flames (old) and Dark Tranquility. Some of my other favorite bands at the time included Katatonia, Anathema, Agalloch, Arcturus, Borknagar, Amorphis, and Shape of Despair . Later on, I discovered the epicness that was Norwegian (and Swedish) black metal, with some of my favorite BM bands being: Emperor, Diabolical Masquerade, Old Man's Child, Dissection, Dimmu Borgir, (some) Immortal and Dark Funeral.

You'll notice that I didn't include Dark Throne (a band much lauded by black metal fans) in my list of personal faves. That's because I don't listen to them at all. Never have. I've heard a few songs off Transylvanian Hunger which is supposed to be their "masterpiece" but never understood what all the hype was about –– it's just noise in my honest opinion.

And that's what I intend to do with this monthly column; I intend to be completely honest. But please remember these are only my opinions –– please feel free to voice yours in the Comments section below or message me anytime. I'd be more than happy to hear your defense of Dark Throne and reasons why you think they're Satan's gift to man.

But first, a little more about where I'm coming from: When I first started getting into metal, I was living in California. I moved back to Chicago when I was 18 (where I was born and raised). With this new-found passion, and no one to share it with, all of my free time (and money) was spent at a small music store in the heart of the city solely dedicated to "underground" metal called Nightfall Records. The man that worked there, Tom, was nice enough to spend countless hours talking music with me, playing new bands and music for me to eagerly digest. This store and the music that was held in it helped me through a really rough and lonely time. About a year later, I had successfully rooted myself into the Chicago metal scene, which is actually pretty big and is very much death metal-based.

Eventually, one of my friends and his wife approached me to do the female vocals on their American folk metal project, Earthen, which was influenced by bands such as Agalloch and Woods of Ypres. It was the kind of project that never seemed to be complete, and the band always had a revolving-door membership. I experienced one of the best moments of my life with that band. We played our first live show at the Heathen Crusade II fest in St. Paul, Minnesota in January of 2007. I got to share the stage with some of my favorite bands, Manegarm, Skyforger, Bal-Sagoth, Máel Mórda, and many other amazing Viking/folk metal bands.

That brings me to the metal I am currently most into. About four years ago a friend turned me on to a folk black metal band called Moonsorrow from Finland. I got the same feeling that I did when I first had heard Opeth. Since then, Viking/Pagan/folk metal has been my alloy of choice, though I also love other forms of metal cut from a much wider sheet.


Above: Moonsorrow performing "Jumalten Kaupunki" from the album Kivenkantaja.

My point of this first article was to let you guys know where I came from and how I came into being a hardcore metalhead. I encourage you all to message me with topics and new bands you'd like me to include in my monthly metal round-up. I'd also like to hear all of your stories of how you got hooked on this crazy lifestyle (it's more than merely a genre of music) that we call "Heavy Metal."

Until next time,

Horns & Hails!!

Hollee
holly@suicidegirls.com

Over 30 years into an ear-shredding career, Motörhead are the unkillable stalwarts of punk-metal. They refuse to change, god bless 'em, and just keep on cranking out albums, year after year. Just last night -- if the early reports can be believed -- they decimated eardrums at the Royal Festival Hall in London as the opening act of the Meltdown Festival. Here's a shot with the crowd forced up and out of their seats:



With 19 studio albums, and four official live albums to their name, Motörhead is ready to serve up yet another platter of noise: a double live album titled Better Motörhead Than Dead. The recordings are taken from the band’s 30th-anniversary show on June 16, 2005 at the Hammersmith Apollo/Odeon, which returned them to the site where they recorded their first live record back in '81, No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith. The track listing is as follows:

The double-album will be available on July 16, 2007. Here’s a little taste of live Motörhead for you, filmed this past Halloween: