Defenders Of The Faith II and Download

Well since i last wrote here there's been quite a bit announced, with 2 of the biggest rock festivals of the summer announcing there first acts.

Firstly the hugely successful Download Festival has announced 2 out of there 3 headliners with Slipknot and Def Leppard headlining. There have also been another announcements such as Motley Crue, Trivium, Prodigy and Korn announced for the festival with more bands expected to be announced so.

Also a completely new festival has been announced, Sonisphere is the official festival for Knebworth and has announced its first batch of bands with its 2 headliners already announced in the form of metal legends Metallica and rock titans Linkin Park. Joining these 2 will be Mastodon and Lamb of God.

Now for Defenders Of The Faith II (2).

Defenders of the Faith has just completed its 5 day trek around the UK with US metallers Lamb of God and Norwegian black metallers Dimmu Borgir co-headlining the tour. And for the Glasgow gig, i have an exclusive review by myself.

Having been at the venue from about 2.30 in the afternoon it was a relief when doors finally opened at around 6.15 with the first support band, Five Finger Death Punch taking the stage not long after.

Five Finger Death Punch
Hampered by a bad sound from the guitars as they were first on stage and as any band will know getting the sound right if your first up is nearly impossible, somehow these guys still managed to work the crowd into a frenzy with there mix of heavy guitars and melodic lyrics. May not have been there best start but these boys will go far.

Unearth
Tonights special guests were slightly better equipped for the night. They tore the o2 Academy apart with there metal stylings. Creating some of the most brutal mosh pits of the night with there 40 minute set. This is another band who could go on to make it big in the UK.

Dimmu Borgir
The odd ones out, the black metallers really are all out on there own in their division tonight. With every other band being thrash Dimmu didn't have much to work against in terms of the supports. But still, tonights performance was out of this world, well until technical faults caused the set to be cut short. But before they left the stage Dimmu played there 3 biggest songs to date, The Serpentine Offering, The Chosen Legacy and Puritania to a largely unsure crowd who just didn't know how to anticipate the band whose most recent album literally translates to: "In Direct Contact With Satan".

Lamb of God
And now to the main headliners of the night. There's no other way to describe it, Lamb of God stole the show from everyone. With the energy they put into the show tonight from heavy opener to Hourglass to the bone breaking wall of death to Black Label Lamb of God held together the most perfect set. And with such a good tour behind them, there's nothing to stop Randy and the boys going on to being the biggest thing of 2009 and beyond in metal with new album Wrath also being a work of art which will be acclaimed for centuries!

Some announcements

Well for this week I actually have some announcements for gigs and festival rumours continue to mount.

American metal legends Lamb of God are about to embark on there Defenders of the Faith II tour, with co-headliners Dimmu Borgir, but they have also announced that the first 100,000 copies having a special promo code which the listener then goes onto a special website to redeem with the website choosing 100 winners for special prizes, which include a yet to be disclosed UK Festival appearance by the legends.



In addition to the announcement i made last week about Deathstars announcing a handfull of shows, they have now announced they will be embarking on a full UK tour, which will include a date at the Glasgow Cathouse.

For more information visit this site.

Onto albums,

Many different bands have announced new albums for the coming year and are announcing details as they get them.

Shock Metal Icon Marilyn Manson has announced he will be releasing a new album before he embarks on the Rockstar Mayhem Energy Tour across America.

Also there's a new album due for release by American Death Metal legends, Cannibal Corpse, set for release just before they go on a mammoth UK tour with Finnish legends Children of Bodom who are back after there pretty bad support slot to Slipknot.