SLAYER - "World Painted Blood"

SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLAAAAAAYYYYYYEEEEEEEERRRRRRR

The release of a new Slayer is one of those moments when grown up men turn into a bunch of complaining kids. One guy says it is not fast enough, another one finds it a disgrace to the band that delivered “Reign in Blood”, someone else finds the guitar sound to be too thin, and there is always the dude who digs up the names of bands that “play thrash metal that is way more adequate of the times” whatever this might mean…

BARONESS – “Blue Record”

Two years after “Red Record”, the band become PFC Levski fans

The cover looks familiar? Yes. This is because Baroness’ frontman and guitarist is John Baizley, creator some quite characteristic artwork for bands like Darkest Hour and Pig Destroyer, for example. Artsy, huh?

New A-MORAL and CROWFISH coming next year

I have the impression that bands from Varna play Sofia shows less often than before so I use this chance to catch up to events by asking the man/scene of Bulgaria’s seaside capital Joro (Crowfish/A-Moral) what I can think of. And he answers!

CUT OFF – “Demo 2009”

Band releases demo for free download, saves stores from long lines

I wasn’t truly enthusiastic to write a review of a demo recording in the beginning, but Cut Off convinced me by saying that the release of the actual album is put off far enough in the future so this article wouldn’t seem stupid. And the demo itself is put for free download by the band themselves so – help yourself.

RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS - “Underneath the Owl”

A somewhat old but still awesome album by the Texas punk rockers

Yes, this album isn’t really that new. But on the other hand the Bulgarian internet is not overflowing with reviews or any kind of articles about Riverboat Gamblers, so why not? No one reads this blog anyway, he-he…

NINE ELEVEN: We could be killed if we play in the USA

Sadly we did this interview over e-mail so I didn’t have the opportunity to at least ask in a direct conversation about the few statements in it that I don’t really agree with (which would have been fair). Now it would be lame to put sarcastic remarks in brackets after every other word. But here is what Richard from Nine Eleven wrote me, probably from his job’s computer during work hours:

SYBREED – “The Pulse of Awakening”

European industrial metal with all its faults

The big Larry King gives a piece of advice in his book that we should try to be honest and not pretend to be more knowing than we are. So I will admit that what led me to this album wasn’t my total knowledge of the metal scene, but rather its cool artwork combined with absolute boredom.

KNUCKLEDUST: Our scene is very underground. And we like it that way!

Hate City Fest 2009 is probably the best hardcore show to take place in Bulgaria in quite a while. A packed club, cool bands, awesome atmosphere… Obviously things can work out great with the right kind of organization and the right bands. The cherry on top of course were England’s Knuckledust who wiped the floor with the audience last. Before that their frontman Pierre finds time to talk with me as well.

EVERGREEN TERRACE – “Almost Home”

Metalcore hardly could sound fresher than that

It takes some extra skill to stand out in any way from the millions of metalcore bands nowadays. But a band in that style with enough balls to cover un-orthodox bands like The Offspring and Operation Ivy stands out at least with that.

FYELD – “Not Blond Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”

A good result of the long time spent searching for a way out of the desert

To be a survivor of the nu-metal wave long after its quiet death isn’t the best starting position for a band. Back in 2003 when the first Fyeld album came out we still cared what Korn and Limp Bizkit do, nowadays – we hardly do.

REDOUND: 6 years ago there weren’t any big-mouthed know-it-alls in the scene

The first official video by Envy… oops… Redound is about to come out any moment now. The shooting at a playground in Sofia’s zh.k Belite Brezi went smoothly despite one of the first Autumn rains that fell on the city that day. For this interview though, only drummer Alex appears and is good enough to give quick and straight to the point answers to my (thankfully more than usual) questions.

AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE – “Double Brutal”

Arnold unites heavy music and stupid laughter in one

Metal music is brutal, serious, heavy with messages that it unloads on the listener, black metallers never smile and so on. Only that there are bands like Austrian Death Machine that prove total comedy sure can coexist with brutal riffs.

VENDETTA: We want to put out another album before retiring

Vendetta’s reunion is definitely one of the coolest things to happen in the Bulgarian hardcore scene for quite some time now. And as I find out from my conversation with Dido and Shuta right before a rehearsal of the band, this reunion is going to last for quite a while.

NEWS MODEL ARMY – “Today is a Good Day”

“Carnival III”, “High II” or just another album by these Englishmen

The euphoria that such a cult band is back together can last only for a limited amount of time. Two albums and a few tours later you are just another active band that plays shows and releases albums like everyone else.

STRIKE ANYWHERE – “Iron Front”

A successful lean towards a more melodic side for the American punkers

I guess it is kind of an adventure to be a band with an pro-anarchy attitude in a place like Richmond, Virginia where redneck sons and daughters of former KKK members wielding guns aren’t that uncommon. So, a few of the extremes in Strike Anywhere’s views seem logical.

O.H.: In this country justice is the missing thing

It is Friday night. The promotional show for O.H.’s debut album titled “Justice” is about to begin. I, vocalist Joro and drummer Bambi go in front of the mandatory place for interviews with bands that play in The Box – the MRF headquarters. The dudes explain what they can about the band. And what I get around to asking…

HATEBREED – “Hatebreed”

Hardcore leaders show first signs of variation since 2002

The label “the AC/DC of hardcore” wasn’t put on Jamey Jasta and co for no reason. There are quite a few people who joke that the band has been re-recording one song for years (and it isn’t far from the truth either). So what? Isn’t the music good anyway?

FYELD’s tractor has gained momentum and cannot be stopped

The waitress, probably born in a small, quiet and peaceful Bulgarian town, brins us the beers waaaay after we ordered them and in the meantime Levski are getting their asses handed to them by SS Lazio. For the dudes in Fyeld, however, the Bulgarian reality isn’t a reason to complain. According to them Bulgarian’s have been closing their eyes to their own qualities due to complexes and exactly this is one of the topics touched by their brand new album “Not Blonde Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”. Bobz (guitars, vocals), Emo (guitars) and to a lesser extent Timo (programming and… guitars) tell me about their new creation.

RAISED FIST – “Veil of Ignorance”

Scandinavian band shows a different face of fast hardcore

We all know where the cradle and the Mecca of hardcore music are and this has definitely left its mark on the sound of most bands. Well, Raised Fist also inevitably reveal where their father land is with their sound only that in this case we’re talking about… Sweden.

Welcome

Everyone and their dog has a blog nowadays. I was trying to help myself until now…

It is just that a few months ago Slayer released a new song and there I was – in the middle of the office where I work, realizing there isn’t a single person around I can talk to about this. And Slayer excite me far more than all the kinds of political, criminal and what not total bullshit news that everyone around is so invested in (I work a t a big daily newspaper in Bulgaria).

So, here you will find exclusive interviews with bands and album reviews (the latter sadly being the more frequent posts at least for now). I will update this once every working day of the week. I do not have the goal of posting news here – you can find the copied and pasted press releases on thousands of other sites.

The blog’s name is Stefan Topuzov’s Music Vault because its idea is basically to be the place for things I personally find interesting and bands that I like. The other key word is “music” that is there instead of metal, hardcore, punk or whatever for a reason.

Have fun reading now!

DETHKLOK – “Dethalbum II”

The cartoon band delivers an even more serious album than before

Ever since seeing Metalocalypse’s first episode some two years ago I have been left with my jaw dropped in amazement by the awesome music that was written only for the soundtrack of a cartoon show. And the following issue of an album and assembly of a real band that tours performing these songs was completely logical.