Machine Head were very good in Cardiff last night. It was billed as "An Evening With Machine Head" and that is what it was!!

No support band and a 2.5 hour gig of 22 songs. Not bad for £30.

Machine Head Setlist

Just got back from seeing Mass Mental in Camden - a supergroup that features Robert Trujilio from Metallica, Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe, Benji Webbe from Skindred, world class bass player Armand Sabal-Lecco and Kyuss' Brant Bjorke.

Was an utterly fantastic gig, as a massive fan of Skindred it was a very surreal experience to watch Benji and Rob on the same stage at the same time, and because of the fact there were two bass players there was some amazing riffs going on.

Although have to say, the highlight of the night was when they launched into a Sabbath triple threat of "Fairies Wear Boots", "War Pigs" and "Symptoms of the Universe" (Whitfield Crane NAILED it so hard) and then instantly followed it up with a double hit of "We Are The Roadcrew" and "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead, with none other than Phil Campbell on lead guitar, the entire venue went absolutely nuts, I don't think I've ever seen a relatively small venue like the Electric Ballroom go so completely crazy before. Tremendous gig.

Opeth have just announced they are going to play a one-off gig @ Wembley Arena on 19th November.

Opeth announce Wembley date

I went to Leeds as well, thought Slipknot were brilliant. Sound wasn't as good as the MEN last year but the band looked a lot more relaxed around each other and the setlist was incredible

At first I wondered how they were playing Wembley as they're nowhere near that size, then I saw the seating plan that revealed over half of Wembley will be curtained off, and now I'm left wondering why they're playing Wembley over a venue they can actually sell out, unless it's just a cynical attempt to trick people into believing they're a bigger deal than they are

Unsure if this is real or not, so for now take this with a massive boatload of salt, but the Glastonbury line-up seems to be looking mighty fine in terms of Heavy Metal/Hard Rock this year:

http://i.imgur.com/pNacjbe.jpg

The Darkness, Tenacious D, ZZ Top, ELO, Eagles of Death Metal, Chris Cornell, Baroness, The Winery Dogs, The Cult, Babymetal and The Temperance Movement

The ONLY reason that I'm currently suspicious of it, is that Babymetal is written down on the poster as "Baby Metal"

Fake sadly

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/t...omment-4884902

He did well to predict Adele, Coldplay, Muse and ELO I suppose.

So here's hoping he's right on at least a handful of others he's got there.

I think the only way they will know if they are "that size" is to play it. Both Nightwish and Within Temptation both said they never thought they'd sell out Wembley Arena but they did.

I doubt they will sell it out, but if they get 8 - 9,000 that would justify playing there.

I can see them playing Glastonbury.

Interestingly the current Classic Rock rates the new album, Metal Resistance, as 10/10!

Wasn't overly impressed with "Karate" at first, but the more I listened to it, the more I realised it was Babymetal trying to hit up the more "metal" side of their name and it started to grow on me, really looking forward to the Wembley show now, although I'm not sure if I want them to do Metal Resistance in full (which I *think* is the plan), because I wanna hear some of the first album tracks again

New Keevils Killer Cuts up

https://youtu.be/jWdXAhfCsmA

Enjoy

I haven't heard of any support so I'm guessing they will do the full Metal Resistance album plus tracks from the first album either as the second part of the show or as the encore.

I think if they do play the new album in full, especially when it has only been released the day before in the UK, is a real gamble and it is one that doesn't always work. When Maiden played Dance of Death in full that didn't really work. You could see three or four songs in that a break with something more familiar would have worked better.

I'm not sure what surprised me more, that Classic Rock reviewed Metal Resistance at all or that they gave it such a glowing review. 10/10 is a very, very, rare occurrence in Classic Rock.

That would be my guess too (particularly the encore bit). It's kind of a pity in a way that although they have more material to work with, the length of the shows is always likely to be determined by the fact that there's a limit to the amount of time that the girls can perform for, given the amount of energy they expend in their routines. I suppose they could stretch it out a bit with more instrumental interludes from the Kami Band and more of the "Legend" tales, to give the girls more rest.

Still very much looking forward to it though.

Exactly, it's a huge gamble doing an album in full set, especially when said album has only just been released. Not to mention, if it backfires for Babymetal, this could well be their only Wembley Arena set they ever do.

Hoping it goes well though, looking forward to seeing what they're like with their full stage show.

Black Stone Cherry's got a new song out and it's arguably their best in a very, very long time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byOWPd6ZvKk

That sounds good. I quite like In our Dreams as well from the new album.

Edit - Also is that Lzzy Hale on the backing vocals

Yeah, In Our Dreams was absolutely top notch. I really do think this album - if it's as consistently good as Soul Machine, In Our Dreams and The Rambler all seem to be - will launch them into Download Festival headliner status.

As for the backing vocals, I think it's just some random gospel singers; you can briefly catch a glimpse of them in the video.

I genuinely think this new Babymetal song is going to be the one that skyrockets their popularity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRv...&feature=share

Sung in english, musicianship completely on point (with some of the best guitar work I've ever heard), plus a simplistic video that really tones down the more "out there" aspects of Babymetal and seems to hint at what kind of stage show Wembley is in store for next week.

I really do think Babymetal KNOW that they have the audience looking for something "new" and "weird" firmly in the palm of the hand with their first album, and this second album will be toning down the "out there" aspects of Babymetal and expanding upon the actual musicianship to try and appeal to the metal fans who aren't currently enamoured with them. And judging by the 3 songs that have already been released, as well as the 10/10 in Classic Rock Magazine, Babymetal might just pull it off, and if they get both of those types of audience behind them, then they have serious potential to become absolutely MASSIVE by their 3rd or 4th album.

Weirdly enough I was only just watching this earlier this morning and I love it. "Karate" is very good as well.

It's genuinely bizarre to think, when I first encountered them, they'd just put out their "Gimme Chocolate" music video, and Metal Hammer were running an article that more or less said "Watch this, it's a complete and utter joke"

Fast forward 2 and a half years and suddenly they're putting out some of the most creative and most musically-impressive metal tracks of the last 5 (or more) years. Very surreal

You only have to go back to the original Babymetal thread from DS back in 2014 to see what some people thought of them initially. It's quite an interesting read

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1949092

But I agree about the creativity though. The first album was well up there in that respect with elements of reggae, dubstep and even hip hop so it'll be fascinating to see what they can do next. Not long to wait for 'Fox Day' though

To be fair, I'm still shocked there are people on this site other than me that DO like them given the DS community likes to rag on more or less everything Have to echo what Glawster said in that thread though, they're one of those bands that you likely won't get 100% until you've seen them live.

Honestly can't wait for "Fox Day", Babymetal AND Black Stone Cherry dropping new albums on the same day?! It's like Christmas come early

The whole Babymetal phenomenon has pretty much passed me by but I did listen to this song and I have to say it is a very damn good prog metal ballad.

That's a stonking good song