The Big Four live at Event Cinemas Chartwell

http://www.thebigfourlive.com/ 

Setelah aku tulis entry sebelum ni, aku baru nak beli tiket untuk show ni! Shoot first, ask questions later - atau dlm kes aku, tulis blog dulu, baru nak pergi beli tiket!! Aku pergi website cinema ni, tgk2 aku x bleh nak beli tiket. Aku cuba call cinema, terus masuk ke national call center depa. Cakap kat makcik tu aku nak beli tiket utk show ni malam ni. Dia tgk screen dia (aku rasalaaa) pehtu dia cakap, x bleh order, maybe dah fully booked. Apa kejadahnya fully booked! The big 4 ni ada 2 show, mlm khamis lepas dan malam ni (sabtu), takkan sold out, Shrek/Toy Story/New Moon maybe la, but the big 4???? Baru tadi aku tgk online local news yg show khamis mlm terpaksa cancel.

Last2 aku cakap kat wife, nak pergi cinema, nak carik tiket. Cinema x jauh mana dari umah aku, kurang 10 min drive. Sampai saja, aku tgk screen dia, ada show big 4 pukul 8 mlm. Terus ke kaunter, then dpt beli tiket! $33, mahal dari show 3d! Then blk umah, lepak2 jap.

Pukul 7.45 mlm aku gerak ke cinema. Ada la dekat 20 org pakai baju Metallica/Slayer etc etc kat luar cinema dok lepak2 dan sedang bergerak ke cinema atas. Not bad. Seperti biasa muka aku sorang saja yg aku rasa Asian, yg lain omputih & selit2 jugak Maori

Masuk saja, kat screen ada notice - beware strobe lights in use, maybe cause seizures dan strong language...

Then show pun start - nampak stage dan fans baru nak masuk stage. Lepas tu Abg Mus, Lars dan Scott dok cerita macamana show ni boleh terjadi. Tapi aku tertanya2 mana Slayer? Lepas tu Kerry muncul sorang2, jawab interview. Selang seli dgn fans nak masuk stadium lagi dan interveiew lagi dgn 4 org tadi.

Setelah 30min berlalu baru la Anthrax start main. Aku to be honest, x penah dgr sangat Anthrax selain tajuk album2 dan covernya. Joey Belladona kembali dgn Anthrax. Nampak dah tua dia ni, tapi rambut still panjang. Dgr more like hardcore than thrash pada mulanya, tapi yg lain2 thrash. Not my cuppa tbh. Good crowd interaction. Semua pakai baju Anthrax sama. Bermula dgn Caught in a Mosh dan apparently semua lagu era Joey - ni aku ceduk dari reviewer lain. Semasa lagu Indians Joey pakai topi bulu2 org red indian, mmg kelakar - reviewer lain ckp time ni depa buat tribute to RJ Dio... RIP Backdrop campuran cover Among the living

Giliran Megadeth pula. Time Abg Mus & co mula main, hujan mula turun. Abg Mus dgn baju kemeja putih & arm band. Mula2 nampak mcm dia x syok je kena main. Start dgn Holy Wars. Main terus tanpa bercakap dgn audience. Yang kelakarnya, suara Abg Mus susah nak dgr. Time mcm growl tu ok saja, tapi bila nak nyanyi high notes, macam budak2 tarik! Rock kangkang Malaysia lagi terbaik! Kelakar aku dgr!!! Lagu2 mmg technical - what do you expect. Mmg riffing abis. Tapi another band yg aku kurang dgr masa aku muda2. Dekat last2 baru la Abg Mus ada cakap dgn crowd dan introduce all the band members. Time nak introduce diri sendiri - You know who I am and I know who you are. Another kelakar moment. Closed the set with Peace sells -  lagu ni aku tau... heheheh boleh nyanyi chorus sket2. Backdrop cover Rust in Peace

Then the almighty Slayer! Seeing them in 2006, so aku dah boleh agak macamana depa akan main - straight ahead to the music, not much crowd interaction. Backdrop Slayer hanyalah amp Marshall susun tinggi2! No backdrop of covers! Bermula dgn World Painted Blood. X sangka akan bermain lagu baru trus! Angel of Death, War Ensemble, Mandatory Suicide, Seasons in the Abyss, South of Heaven dan finished with Reign in Blood. South of Heaven selalunya akan main sekali dgn Reign in Blood, after SOH, Kerry, Jeff, Tom semua pusing belakang, tgk amps dan ada long distort sound, then trus masuk RIB. Sebenarnya ada lagi lagu dlm setlist depa tapi aku x igt. Mmg aku byk sing along sbb byk Slayer songs aku tau! Sayangnya depa x main Dead skin mask - intronya dalam Decade of aggression mmg aku boleh hafal! hahahahah Jeff dgn guitar yg ada sticker ala2 Heineken tapi Hanemann dan Kerry mula2 dgn spikes 5 inch, lepas tu bukak, sebab panas kot. Tom mmg mcm besa. Showmanship mmg top notch from these veterans.

Lepas Slayer, ada mcm break sket, selit pasal RJD, H&H patut main skali malam ni, tapi RJD dah RIP, x main. Semua org kat atas tu cerita pengalam dgn RJD - aku sampai sekarang ingat sebut Dai-o, tapi org semua sebut Dee-o!! hahahahahah Scott cerita dia tanya RJD how do you maintain your voice, dia ckp, before a gig, I drink beer & smoke half a joint. Class!!!!

Then headliner start! Metallica!!! Opening dgn Creeping death, For whom etc etc. Lagu baru yg depa main Cyanide, yg lain ilek, semua lagu lama! Fuel pun tarak! What do you expect from Metallica? Top notch performance! Good crowd conversation. James mmg pandai amik hati audience. Fade to black, One (dgn intro helicopter dan fireworks nye), Master of Puppets, Harvester of Sorrow, Nothing else matters dan lain2. Nothing else matters too slow for this, tapi since lagu top, seems ok. Tapi aku rasa depa x utilise the stage to the maximum extent. Lars dok bawah, ada riser rendah saja, tingkat atas kosong, sekali sekala James/Rob naik main kejap atas tu. Kalau Maiden sure guna atas bawah! Time nak last2 tu, all of them gathered on stage but not Haneman/Araya/King to play Am I Evil? tapi aku rasa lagu ni mcm cut short saja? Lepas tu Haneman/Araya keluar utk amik gambar semua. Lagu penutup - Seek and destroy! Brilliant ending to an excellent night. Setlist yg aku tgk kat net mcm lain sket dari apa yg depa main mlm ni - setlist kat Poland aku tgk byk lagi esp setlist Slayer & Metallica, maybe this is edited??? 1 lagi berita dgn Christchurch & Metallica. Mamat yg organise petition tu x dpt beli tiket. Kesian dia.

What do you do when you watch a concert at the cinema? Ada la org dok headbang sket, devil horns sket etc. Org macam x tau nak buat apa, tapi byk org just buat mcm tgk movie biasa. Aku ada la sket2 angguk2 kepala, dan nyanyi bila tau lyrics, esp during Slayer & Metallica. Yang mcm haramnya, time Bells aku nyanyi la, lepas tu mamat sebelah aku dok usha, bg la horns kat dia, then dia sound aku, kalau nak nyanyi p dok jauh sket! WTF dude! Aku ckp la, ni Metallica dan ckp sori kat dia. Macam harem! Aku igt nak dok jauh sket, tapi seat aku dah ok dah, malas nak pindah. You come with your gf to see this and don't know the lyrics, not my fault, bitch. Go and listen to Shihad or Op Shop than see this! Call yourself a fan??? Sorry but this Asian knows more Metallica lyrics than you, so stfu!!

Start pukul 8.30 abis pukul 12 mlm. 1st experience seeing a concert at the cinema. Not bad esp with the big screen & excellent sound system. Will this catch on? Maybe, kena tgk genre aku rasa. Kalau concert dance ka apa x bleh jln sbb org kena dok atas seat x bleh dance dsb. Will I see it again if it comes along again? Might do. All in all, enjoyable night. Wish I was in the pit!

Oh En. Ijau concert ni kompem akan release dlm DVD as James said. So tunggu.......

For Whom The Bells Toll Pt 2

Seperti yang aku cakap dalam posting lepas, tiket utk show tambahan Metallica kat Christchurch went on sale khamis lepas. Sold out dalam masa 5 minit! Seland beberapa jam, siap kluar kat TradeMe (dah x byk dah tiket, byk backlash dari true fans dan mungkin kena ban dgn TradeMe). Byk dari scalper or ulat tiket. Siap masuk The Rock Radio Station - scalpers vs true fans. Mmg kelakar, tapi aku meluat dan benci dgn ulat tiket ni. Tapi apa yg scalper tu ckp, sapa lambat dia terlepas la!!

Anyway, another Metallica related news. Semua fan sure dah tau pasal The Big Four - Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer & Megadeath? Kat Sonisphere festival kat Bulgaria nun bln 6 lepas. Malam ni aku nak p tgk concert ni kat cinema! X sama mcm kat festival betul, tapi at least kat wayang, screen besar, sound system best!

Nanti aku buat review pasal ni

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Baru aku dapat tau tadi bila tgk news kat tv. Metallica akan buat 1 show tambahan kat Christchurch pada 22/9 nanti sebab ada petition kat facebook mintak depa main kat south island NZ. Petition tu menarik lebih 11000 orang. Not bad. Kalau peminat kat Malaysia buat macam ni adakah Metallica akam buat show kat Malaysia? Indon dah penah sampai, bila lagi nak mai Malaysia?

Sayangnya aku terlepas beli tiket untuk show kat Auckland. Sold out in 20mins! Kali ni aku mmg teringin sgt nak tgk Metallica, 1st and only time aku tgk depa dulu kat Dublin 2006, time 20th anniversary Master of Puppets bila depa main full set list MOP dan lagu2 lain lagi, termasuk Whiskey in the jar sbg 'penghormatan' kepada lagenda rock Irish - Thin Lizzy.

Read the statement in full:

Christchurch, New Zealand . . .Sometimes You Do Get What You Want!

Show added on September 22
You asked (okay, demanded!) and we heard ya. When we got wind of the massive petitions for us to come to Christchurch, New Zealand we just had to check it out . . . and wow, the number of requests were overwhelming! So, the moral of the story is to be careful what you wish for . . . because 'Tallica is coming to your town on September 22 at CBS Canterbury Arena! 

Now here's the catch - our production team scoped it out over the last couple of weeks and no matter how hard we tried to re-configure it, the bottom line is the CBS Canterbury Arena is just not equipped to handle the in the round "Death Magnetic" show that we've been carting around the world on this tour. That's not going to stop us, but we wanted to let you know that we will not be able to bring the full set up that you may have seen in photos on the site or will see if you happen to hit another show in New Zealand or Australia. It's gonna be us and YOU old-school "club style" in an arena making a whole lot of noise together, and that's what counts. 

Tickets go on sale July 15 at 9:00 AM with the MyTKT pre-sale starting July 13 at noon. Fan Club members should check www.metclub.com for information about a special pre-sale for them starting on July 9.
Thanks for all the love and support . . . see you in September!

from: http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=603283

Surrender of Divinity

Surrender of Divinity, who in the Underground scene have not heard of them before especially in Malaysia? Back in the late 90's I managed to get in touch with the band and got their now infamous demo. Don't know what happened to the demo now, maybe in my cupboard back in Malaysia rotting away? Read on.

Surrender of Divinity are a black fucking metal band from Thailand! To me they're demo is fucking awesome! I trully support this band, I couldn't imagine a band like this from Thailand? I got a chance to see them live in action in Ipoh on the 1st of July 2000 during their tour. They were superb but the crowd support was shit and the performance was marred by a broken guitar and shitty sound! Ekalux wore a fukking large inverted cross!!! Hail SOD!!!

Opening words & history of S.O.D. How are things going on in the S.O.D camp? Tell us about the demo are you satisfied with it ? 
* Well , looking back into our retrogressive stage at early '96 , we were at that time a stupid band band cover songs of other BM bands. Until mid-year of that year we were invited to play show in Metal concert here. But since that concert we had the feeling of no-fun and losing one's content of heart. Maybe we didn't have our own songs yet , so it wasn't having much fun playing cover songs Because of this feeling , we started to  write our own songs and introduce them in our 2nd show. There was a good response back from fans at thia time and also a lot of mad-expressions with our songs. Many of them kept asking for our demo but we didn't release immediately. The only cause was our short of money then for the studio-recording of our stuff. And in Thailand , we don't have crazy investors in record labels to dare play with music of BM. However , we still continued to have our shows consecutively but the fans were starting to be boring that they could listen our songs at concert festival only. In late'97 we decided to make a set of Rehearsal tape to sell it for those who really like our music. This was done in a premature test before we could redo it in the future with a better sound-recording. Now we're releasing out our Rehearsal demo of the first set into the market and it's quite well-responded from local audience , we have done this stuffs in a limited amount , just 400 copies and at this time it was sold out. we have reviews of great response from underground zines , in many volumes from many countries. which I guess that we might be satisfied with what happened after we has released this stuff since this is just our first step. What's happen about the band now. we have a new vocalist who name is Ekalux. And he's working with us for our new material. Hopefully it will be released not over 1999.


On the sleeve of the demo, it says In Coffin Recs. Could you tell me more about this label? 
* That's just our sub contract.  I still can't tell you more about it with now, Maybe it becoming a distro. soon!!!


The only u/g band from Thailand that I heard of is Donpheebin. Tell us more about the u/g scene in Thailand. 
* As a matter of fact , the Thai scene at present is much less appealing than Malaysia or Singapore scenes.  We have lesser Metal bands than others , we have Death and Thrash metal only 4-5 bands. I daresay we're the only Black metal band of Thailand now. Thai scene is just a small scene and with gradual progressive movement. Anyway , I guess it's better to have few good bands than having a lot of junk , trendy band with their desire for money only. Though we don't have many trendy bands but if they're in good quality it's better , right ?


What does S.O.D mean? On your logo there are inverted crosses and 666 on them. Thailand in my opinion is not 'a Christian country' but a Buddhist country. What do you think? 
* Oh , good question ! About the name of the band , I think it already have the meaning of itself. So I guess , I shouldn't going to tell you about it means again. Well , you have written most of the truth but not all of it. It's true Christainity is of no great importance to most Thai, but it's not there is no such crazy religion in Thailand. The truth is Christianity is sweeping more grounds in Thai society. Many of Thai are converting to Christ. Those fathers are smart enough to star brainwash local Thai in the provinces first. Those local couldn't read and understand their evil minds. Do you know why they converted religions, you can be baptized from all sins. But you can't do that in Buddhism. Lord Buddha teaches that whatever sin you do you're destined to receive it's outcome and it can't be changed. They're fear of paying back their evil deeds But don't misunderstand me that I'm a  Buddhist. I just give you an example. In the teachings of Buddhism , there're still many things I can't agree with. I personally hate all religions. There're always at its back with a lot of financial benefits with every religions. In addition , we wish to tell you that we're from Thailand it does not mean we'd confine our performance in Thailand only. So even though that Christian does not play many role in Thailand we still must resist it to be out of mankind.

Listening to your demo reminded me of Marduk era 'Those of the Unlight'. In fact I think 'To reach out for Eternity' sounds like the mentioned track. Is Marduk an inspiration to you?  What are your other Influences? 
*  Marduk is one influence to us , it's certainly. But To tell you the truth "Those of the unlight" that's not my favorite CD at all. I'm more into Opus Nocturne , Heaven shall burn... and their latest CD. So I don't think "Those of the unlight"  will be one influenced to our music. Well , I can't specify what band's influence I have received as I do listen a lot of band. I love in Slayer during classic period and I was once crazy with the time of Floridian deathmetal bands such as Death, Obituary, Deicide , Morbid Angel , Monstrosity etc. At present I become a real disciple of Scandinavian BM bands such as . Immortal , Darkthrone , Mayhem , Emperor , Satyricon , Marduk , Dark Fureral etc. So , it's certain that I have got their influences into my work as I mentioned before.


In my opinion, Thailand is famous for Buddhists, tourism and its prostitutes/brothels. Is this true? Is the song 'Paradise's brothel' about the sex industry/brothels in Thailand?? 
* Also a good question ! No, "Paradise's brothel" that's not what about the sex industry in Thailand , But it's something about a whore bitch who name is Maria.  Do you know her ? She's Jesus's mom!!!! Well , In Thailand we've our natural resources , we've our culture , we've
our ancient places and we've many places of interest but most lustful westerners including some eastern whenever they speck about Thailand they'd keep harping on words related to easiness of Thai woman. This is an inexcusable misunderstanding. Yes , when you have money in your pocket you can buy sleeping-service from Thai girls here. But I thought it was the same everywhere in this world. An those girls they're ready to sacrifice her body with your money. Somehow , I thought the most ugly ones are those who got to pay in order to buy this sexual happiness. I thought it's not fair and very narrow-minded to change all Thai girls are free sex. Better don't trust what you didn't see with your own eyes.


Metal has always been 'for westerners only' because the westerners make the trends, others just follow. How do you feel about this?  Do you think we (Asians) are just following trends set by these guys? When will we, the Eastern u/g scene be a trend setter instead of just trend followers, and western bands imitate Asian metal bands? 
* Just  following ? Maybe so , But who care about this word! I admit that our band has received influence from Norwegian and Swedish bands , on music topics or image.  But everyone must accept the truth that BM isn't a music originated in Asia. Is that means we Asian shouldn't play metal ? Maybe not.  When we're fond of playing this music style which isn't our identical we must try to create and try to bring their music into our identical pattern. Now we're trying to put the feeling of Thai traditional in mixture with BM music. And I hope everyone will find something new and it won't just following.


In your bio, you said you've done several gigs with other metal bands in Bangkok. How was the reaction? 
* You can find the answer about that in the first question


Promote your band and your closing words 
* Thanks for your interview and for your support to our band. Sorry for my horrible English ! Good luck to your webzine! Keep up the dark work ! Hails to all readers , if you think you have the spiritual understanding of underground you may contact us.  Bands and demo traders are welcome , Zines just ask for our promo package! THE GRACE OF OUR LORD SATAN BE WITH YOU ALL..... 

SURRENDER OF DIVINITY c/o: Whathayakorn
14   Pradiphat  6
Samsennai  Phayathai
Bangkok 10400 Thailand

E-mail: (surrender666@hotmail.com)

Weezer - Raditude

Weezer are by far my favourite band of all time. Starting with the 'Blue' album back in 1994 I was hooked on the band's form of 'Geek Rock', stemming from the glasses that Rivers, the singer wears and also the lyrical themes of their early records.I have all their cd's, the only band that I have an almost complete discography (albums only..) - I'm missing 'The Lion and the Witch' cd only. My other collection that comes close is Misery Index's discography which I have only started to collect.

Raditude are their 7th studio album which was released in October 2009 and it has taken me this long to review it. The album title was suggested by a friend of Rivers' who also happens to be an actor by the name of Rainn Wilson. The last album before this was released in 2008 and I haven't even had time to absorb that yet and out comes this new album. For one the album title seems a bit, I don't know, childish or immature.

The 1st track off this album "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" sounds a bit like songs from back in the 50-60's and is the 1st single from the album. A good opener to the album. The rest of the songs are catchy like most Weezer songs are but the lyrical themes are not what you expect from Weezer - "I'm your daddy", "The Girl Got Hot", "In the Mall" etc deal more with what teenagers would go through than what men in their 40s would do. If you hear the songs on their own and don't know it was Weezer, you will like them or if you're a 1st time listener, most likely you will like them. But for 'old' Weezer fans, it just doesn't feel right and some what creepy (I'm your daddy? In the mall?) to think that men in their 40s to sing about this. There is also a song co written with The All American Rejects vocalist called "Put Me Back Together" which I'm surprised about and a song which was done earlier by Sugar Ray called "Love is the Answer" with some sitar/indian parts to it.

"Can't stop partying" is my favourite song off this album. Not typical Weezer in that there is actual rapping and singing about jewels, bitches and the like - like all hip hop songs are as well as rapping by Lil Wayne none the less with expletives which were unheard of in the history of Weezer! Catchy as hell! You gotta hear it and just blank out the fact that it is a Weezer song - or am I secretly liking hip hop?? Fuck no! Fuck hip hop hehehehe

Weezer are kind of going on a tangent from when they 1st started out - newer material are more "fun" and "popular" - on "Pork and Beans" on the "red" album he talks about working with Timbaland can make them top of the charts. I guess they maybe want to be more popular now and target a younger/teenage audience with the new material, but I'm still a sucker for them as Rivers does make catchy songs which stick in your head.

3.5/5