Farewell to thou January!

Greetings readers! Andy here, with my final post of the month!

To start off, I'm going to point out something I missed last post, the fact that my February DOES in fact explode into action, as tomorrow (1st February) I am en voyaging with my School to see a theatre production of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls. Due to this event, there won't be a blog tomorrow at all, or a vlog. I am looking forward to the play, as I have rather enjoyed all previous theatre visits and believe that what I have read of the play has captivated my interest. Do you have anything interesting happening next month? Let me know in the comments section!

I want to talk a little about the current Metal Hammer issue also; I bought it a week or two back and am still hammering through it, it is such a great magazine - especially value wise. £4.75 gets you 188 pages of nothing else than the planet's greatest genre and the majority of its sub-genre branches. This month's issue featured a true metal hero and icon Phil Anselmo gracing the front cover as he is set to release some new material with his band Down. Down are a great band, not like Pantera (Phil's previous band) much, as they are far more relaxing and often called sludge/stoner music. I have their third record: Over The Under and truly do recognise the great efforts. One thing that significantly improves this album is the fact that the bassist is Rex Brown who was Phil's band mate in Pantera. If you haven't heard them, check out 'Stone The Crow' from their debut in '95.

Also, recently I have very much gotten into recently is a young, talented fellow called Sonny Moore who was a guitar player and singer in an alternative rock band, who has drastically changed his style and is kicking up a huge whirlwind of popularity and awareness with his musical change. These days, Skrillex - as he is now known - is a dubstep producer. A bit differentiating from my usual taste yes, but what he's doing is fresh, exciting and extremely catchy. If you haven't heard any of his stuff, I suggest taking a listen to 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' from the Scary Monsters EP.

That's all for today, thanks for reading and check my Youtube at www.youtube.com/user/HiToppzx and follow me on twitter @aandysmith.
Thanks,
Andy!

February approaches!

Guten tag! Today is the penultimate day of January 2012; so I feel it is time to look ahead to the second phase of the year.

February! Personally, I have a rather excitable month lined-up. 'Tis not too explosive in the sense that the events I am looking forward to begin precisely half-way through the month so a lot of patience and build up is necessary. First of all, there is a week off school from the 12th - 17th, a welcome break in the hectic schedule of a final year student.

Midway through this week, on the 15th (Wednesday), Alestorm (Scottish pirate metal band - pictured below) are playing in a close venue and I, along with a gang of pirate wannabee allies have tickets and are going to be attending, then two days later on 17th there is a Guns 'n' Roses tribute band playing in my town for a fiver, I will not be missing that! I believe there may be one or two free live acts gigging around my town sometime so hopefully I can attend those too.

Now, I have not posted since Tuesday due to the fact I have been ill, in bed every day of the week since Tuesday. This has meant missing four days of school in total, so I only had a one day week in the academic world. Not bad, if I had have felt okay, which was not the case. The big downside from missing school was the fact I have a science examination tomorrow (30th) and there were multiple revision sessions on after school which of course I could not have attended.

The only real plus from this week has been I feel a lot less tired and dependant on caffeine, and my Samsung D75 digital camera arrived! Also, this week has seen the video featured in my last blog (Lamb of God 'Resolution' Review (Part 1)) take off, it has reached 150+ views and I have uploaded its sequel; here ya go!  

I have set up a photobucket account recently, you can check that out here: http://s1267.photobucket.com/profile/aandysmith/index

My twitter username has been changed to: @aandysmith

My YouTube channel - there will be vlogs uploaded soon, I haven't put one up recently due to being ill -: www.youtube.com/user/HiToppzx

I've rambled on a bit, but had a lot to say so thanks for reading, wish me luck in my exam and I shall post again soon!

Andy

Stick to the 'Resolution'!

Hello everyone! Andy here, my first blog of the week :)



So, on Saturday when I looked at the post, I was excited already at the fact my tickets for Alestorm on the 15th February had come, then this little beauty bought my attentio swiftly. I got it two days before the official release (23rd Jan) and went completely mad with excitement; so much so that I even abondaned my usual traits of withstanding the cold outdoor temperatures to see my friends and stayed in to christen my ears. And I can truly say I am glad, for here, pictured below is a serious contender for any album of the year polls imaginable, it is without a doubt January's champion and the best way to kick start 2012.

If you do not yet own a copy, buy it now. Without hesitation. Without concern of financial thoughts. Just buy it. It is a record that NEEDS to be in your collection, and the iTunes version won't do, you have to have the real thing; the physical cd is and always will be 10 times better, more pleasing and a better investment than the digital album on iTunes. If you need a bit more info about it, below is part 1 of my video review! Part 2 will be linked within the video as soon as it is up.

In summary, this album guarantees headaches, threatens to blow out your speakers and will ruin your throat as you try to imitate Mr. Blythe's vocals. Also, if you are lucky enough to be attending this years Download Festival, you are graced with the oppurtunity of seeing Randy and co. melt your face for real! Accompanying them are Machine Head - who to me released 2011's finest material with the blistering 'Unto The Locust' -, DevilDriver - also put out a new album last year, I am yet to hear it but they also will destroy -, Black Sabbath's original line-up, I don't even need to go into any detail here, and Metallica performing the Black Album, so if you're eligible, don't miss it!

Thanks,

Andy

Weekend luxuries!

Hello readers! My third consecutive post is here, and eager for views!

Today is Friday. This to me, means only one thing; weekend. For me, the best part of a weekend is that I'm away from school for two whole days and I get to focus more on the social aspect of life after gathering my efforts towards achieving GCSE's all week! This weekend, I am hoping to get Resolution (new Lamb of God CD) in the post, the current issue of Metal Hammer magazine, and relax. One of the many weekend luxuries that I particularly enjoy is that it means After Eight chocolates! I have restricted myself from eating them during the working week, as they are just so great. If you've never had one, I suggest you get up, right now, run to the nearest food store and purchase a box of them instantly!!(Below is an image of the very treats I speak so highly of, captured in a picture with my horrific phone camera, I apologise for the very poor quality)

Also, to mark the arrival of the weekend I have decided to give Ozzy & Co a spin by listening to Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' album. True brilliance, heavy metal started here. I'm very excited that they're together again and recording a new album, also headlining Download festival. I would like to wish Tony Iommi a speedy recovery after being diagnosed with cancer not long ago, it is a terrible shame.

Here is a my latest YouTube video, entitled '5 Minutes Alone', if you picked up on that well done, but if not this is also the title of one of Pantera's many metal gems, and in the video I'm sporting my Pantera shirt, so I thought it did have some relevance. The contents of the video include many links to bands I think should be checked out, I talk briefly about the Stop Online Piracy Act which has been gaining quite a share of popularity recently so I thought I would inform my viewers. I talk about why you should not download illegally, as it is theft and that needs to be understood, too many people take band's long hard work for granted in this modern world. If you like this video, check out my channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/HiToppzx! Likewise, if you aren't yet, follow me on twitter @localmetalhead

That's all I have to say for now, and I doubt there will be a blog tomorrow, but we'll see. Thanks for reading, Andy!

Hello! Andy here, indulging in my second blog post!

The date is Thursday, 19th January 2012. We are now a mere 4 days away from the official UK release of the extremely anticipated new heavy metal band Lamb Of God's album: Resolution. I for one am very eager to open up the parcel that is soon to be arriving through my letterbox containing this brutal force of musical power in the form of compact disc (CD). I am also very envious of anyone who pre-ordered the album before December 20th, as if you did so you are rewarding with receiving a free live CD as well as the album! Be sure to keep a close eye on my youtube channel (www.youtube.com/user/HiToppzx) because when I have the album and have heard it a few times, I'm going to post a video review!

Now, changing the subject a lot and linking back to yesterday's blog, I watched the Hound of the Baskervilles episode of the BBC Sherlock Holmes series last night, and like the other two episodes in the series, I was far from disappointed. This episode, I felt, was more thrilling than episode one and three, as they make you think a lot more and the content of those episodes is not based on a savage beast that rips apart any living thing it can. The take on this story that the BBC took was a rather brave one, as it is rather differentiating to the usual storyline, but in my eyes it definitely worked and I had no idea what to expect. If you haven't seen this episode yet, or don't want to know what happens, I suggest you stop reading here.

There is an experimental army base (named Baskerville) situated in Dartmoor, and animals are experimented here, the beast is purely a myth in local areas but believers of this creature think that the scientists at Baskerville performed experiments on the hound and let it go. Sherlock solves the madness, and it turns out that a group of five people in the 1980's created the H.O.U.N.D. project. (Named this as the first letter of each participant's surname was ordered together) This project was to create a drug that plays a cruel trick on the mind and makes it fear the worst, for example if someone tells you the beast is green, when the drug is active and you think you see it, your mind will see a green creature. The drug is mixed in clouds of thick fog, no more than knee high, situated where all beast-hunters venture to. This means that when you visit here, any animal (rat, dog, cat etc.) could seem a million times more dangerous, so well done BBC for turning heads with a truly creative piece of pulse-stopping action.

One last thing I wanted to say was that yesterday marked me finishing my reading of The Fellowship of the Ring, a very proud achievement on my behalf, it took time and effort and I do feel relieved now it is over, but the book is most definitely worth a read, especially if you have only seen the Lord of the Ring films as there is a lot of content in the book that was missed in the film, Tom Bombadil being a prime example.

So, thanks for reading and I want to end with a question today;
What are your views on 'honour killings'? Comment, tweet me (@localmetalhead) or e-mail me (andy.smith10@yahoo.co.uk) with an answer.
Thanks,
Andy.

My arrival!

Hello, Andy Smith here and welcome to my blog!

I shall blog about whatever I feel necessary, most probably music. I don't have time to write a big blog right now, as I am about to watch BBC's Sherloch Holmes series episode 2 (Hound of The Baskervilles). The series is 3 episodes long, each episode is 90 minutes and they are purely stellar works. I have seen episodes 1 & 3, Martin Freeman plays the intellectual detective extremely well here, BBC did a good job of the casting.

Also literally seconds ago I finished reading JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, it has taken me quite a while as I have been reading it irregularly but it is truly a great writing and I'm sure I do not need to go into detail of praise for it.

The name of my blog - if you were wondering - is German for 'Defender of Truth'. That is all I have time for now as I am stripped of luxorious creative time, and have had to rush this.
I am linking my twitter and Youtube accounts, both are regularly updated and well worth a follow/subscribe!
Thanks,
Andy.

www.twitter.com/localmetalhead www.youtube.com/user/HiToppzx