Blogcritics Category: Music: Hard Rock

Interview: Rob Halford, Metal God And Judas Priest Vocalist

Charlie Doherty — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 20:13:01 EST

An exclusive, eye-opening interview with the greatest living metal singer, Judas Priest�s Rob Halford.
Legendary British rock icons Judas Priest are still hard at work, four decades on into its storied career. After releasing an ambitious, underrated double album, Nostradamus and touring behind it in 25 countries, the band’s gifted and self-proclaimed “Metal God,” singer Rob Halford found over 37 minutes of his time to talk to me...

Best of 2008: Counting Crows, Oasis, Black Keys, Dave Carter, B.B. King, The Bittersweets, Mudcrutch, R.E.M., Coldplay, Gutter Twins, Glen Phillips

Josh Hathaway — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 18:39:57 EST

2008 was a great year for music.
It's become an annual rite of passage in the music business. Every year, the trade papers are filled with stories about how this year was worse than last year. If the music execs were hoping we'd get so tired of reading that story that we'd start to ignore it -- you know, 'the boy who cried wolf' routine -- it hasn't...

Music Review: Fiftywatthead - Fogcutter

Jordan Richardson — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 11:55:32 EST

A monstrous obsession with the Art of Loud.
Out of the working-class chill of Windsor, Ontario, the last thing one might expect would be an extreme music outfit the likes of Fiftywatthead. Yet this unspeakably vicious metal quartet has emerged from the Canadian city, slugged on the peninsula near Detroit, to deliver a total assault on the eardrums.Heavy as shit, deafening as hell, and lethal...

Music Review: Apocalyptica, Scale the Summit, Uriah Heep, Rising Force, and Mortification

Marty Dodge — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 08:48:25 EST

Mortification, Rising Force, Scale the Summit, and Uriah Heep in an Apocalyptica release.
Thoughts turned to my re-issue pile this week and part of me quivered in anticipation. I shall be doing my best to cull a few from the pile each week as the new release scheduled quiets a bit before the big spring push.Apocalyptica: World CollideA bit late to the party on this one, as it was released in 2007, and it seemed to have passed me by. As...

Music Review: Saxon - Into The Labyrinth

Stuart A Hamilton — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 11:48:45 EST

Heavy metal gods, still heading for the stars, playing rock and roll guitars.
It's now over thirty years since Saxon launched themselves on the heavy metal scene, although they'd already been around for a few years under the name Son Of A Bitch. Despite their vintage, they were adopted wholesale by the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, having some incredible success in the very early eighties with...

Music Review: Gary Moore - Bad For You Baby

David Bowling — Thu, 1 Jan 2009 20:04:53 EST

Gary Moore returns with some electric blues for the mind and soul.
Gary Moore plays the blues with a little rock ‘n’ roll mixed in for good measure. His legacy now reaches back to the late 1960’s with his work in the Irish band, Skid Row. He also took a couple of turns as a member of Thin Lizzy plus spent time in Colosseum II, BBM with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, and played in Greg Lake’s...

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Thu, 1 Jan 2009 20:04:53 EST

Product Review: MusicSkins

Robert M. Barga — Thu, 1 Jan 2009 02:43:00 EST

The story of how a phone killer saved his iPhone
I kill phones; I eat them for breakfast. There is no phone that is safe in my hand as I drop them, scratch them up, and generally destroy them. I have gone through five different phones in two years, and only one of them was a choice upgrade (to my current iPhone). Some of them die from the dropping, some die from water, some die from teeth marks...

Brandon Daviet's Top Ten Albums of 2008

Brandon Daviet — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:48:02 EST

BC Writer Brandon Daviet makes his picks for the best albums of 2008.
I always like to wait until the absolute last minute to make my album of the year list. The list is a sacred and cherished tradition for most music journalists and you never know what might creep onto shelves on the last Tuesday of the year. That said my list is decidedly mainstream this year and I admit that I am musically stuck in the past and...

BC Music Editors Pick the Best Albums of 2008

Connie Phillips — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:05:49 EST

Our music editors name their personal favorites of 2008.
It's that time of year when we take stock in the year past and look forward to what's ahead. For those of us who love music, it can also mean grading the releases of the past 366 days and deciding for ourselves what's the best. Blogcritics' music editors are no exception to that rule, and what follows is our own little guide to...

Music Review: Blue Oyster Cult - Agents Of Fortune

David Bowling — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:20:36 EST

New vinyl for your holiday enjoyment.
Back in the days of my youth and vinyl domination, I remember hearing Blue Oyster Cult’s “Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll” for the first time. The hard crunching guitar riffs were memorable and classic. It was one of the songs that sustained me during my college years. I ended up purchasing each of their releases for next two...