Korn is back to basics and ready for some UK head banging

The group that introduced sounds as diverse as grunge and hip hop into the ageing metal and hardcore styles in their 1994 debut album have now matured, keeping an eye in the early days. Korn, the Californian godfathers of the nu metal genre, are back to basics with their 2010 album Korn III (Remember Who You Are). Having hired Ross Robinson, producer of their first two albums and regarded as the man who created their unique sound and influenced groups such as Limp Bizkit and even Metallica, the group seems to have regained its force. This is an explosive partnership; Robinson and Korn were once credited for turning the subgenre into a mainstream act.

After some overexposure and criticism, a refreshed Korn signed with Roadrunner Records earlier this year and the new album was recorded in a stripped down fashion, live, without overproduction or polishing, and received surprisingly positive reviews. Frontman Jonathan Davis said that the lyrics have the raw emotional purging from their first albums, for delight and agony of die hard fans. The head banging and K.O.R.N carved in school desks will definitely be back, too.

Korn UK dates: Southampton Guildhall (Oct 08), Wolverhampton Civic Hall (Oct 09), Manchester Apollo (Oct 10).

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Guns N’ Roses UK dates: not the same appetite for destruction but still legendary

With frontman Axl Rose now as the only remaining member of the band’s original line-up, and only one album, Chinese Democracy, since the turbulent years in mid 90s that saw members leave the band one by one, Guns N’ Roses has definitely seen better days. Even the tour to promote the group’s long-delayed album is well worn; it has featured legs in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

But Axl still have what it takes to be a legend. When the lights go on the demons join the stage and his performance is as exhilarating as ever and the hedonistic rebelliousness that once made the band infamous is still pretty much intact. More importantly, with a set list that invariably starts with Welcome To The Jungle and finishes with Paradise City, it’s hard to go wrong. It may be that Guns N’ Roses is trapped in the past, but isn’t the past glorious?

Chinese Democracy tour UK dates: London O2 Arena (Oct 13, 14), Birmingham LG Arena (Oct 17) and Manchester Arena (Oct 18).

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Bullet For My Valentine UK gigs & tickets

Not only Bullet For My Valentine sound as if they want to be Metallica 20 years too late, but they also fail to convince. The lyrics are as mature as a mango in winter time (if you really need further proof: Come here you naughty girl you’re such a tease / You look so beautiful down on your knees / Keep on those high heel shoes rip off all your clothes / You smell so fucking good it makes me lose control!), their hair is carefully done in order to look messy and the attitude just doesn’t click. In brief, it seems that everything is planned, as if there is no truth to the band. What’s more, Bullet For My Valentine’s new album, Fever, is so unchallenging and predictable it’s barely infectious.

But how wrong I must be, because despite the above Bullet For My Valentine is the biggest British metal band since Iron Maiden. Their 2008′s album, Scream Aim Fire, went top five in both the UK and US while Fever went number 3 in the USA, 2 across Europe and 5 in the UK album charts. The Welsh band has sold over two million albums worldwide and is considered by many as the saviours of British heavy metal. So I tuck my tail in between my legs and reach for the full stop.

Bullet for My Valentine will play the following: Birmingham NIA on December 06, Manchester MEN on Dec 08, Glasgow SECC on Dec 09, Cardiff CIA on Dec 11 and London Wembley Arena on Dec 12.

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Bring Me The Horizon new tour dates and same old manners

Once an underground phenomenon, in recent years metalcore bands have emerged as a commercial force and received mainstream attention in prominent festivals such as Ozzfest, Warped Tour and Download. Interestingly, in a traditionally American niche, it is British bands that have been hailed for redefining the sound of modern metal and taking it a step further, grabbing the limelight with live performances that are a carnival of sweat and teenage angst.

Noisy guitar riffs, grunting vocals, dark lyrics, tattoos, tiny jeans, troubled minds and emo hairstyles – Bring Me The Horizon has all it takes to be part of this select and celebrated group of UK metalcore bands. Their soon to be unleashed third album, There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret, promises to consolidate the talented Sheffield band as a thrash, messy and profane group. The album might also catapult Oliver Sykes and co to worldwide domination. Just don’t expect them to say thanks; lack of manners is just another of their charms.

BMTH new album, There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret, will be released on Oct 4. They are playing the following UK gigs: Oxford (Sep 21), Norwich (Sep 22), Birmingham (Sep 23), Glasgow (Sep 24), Leeds (Sep 25), Manchester (Sep 27), Colchester (Sep 28), Brighton (Sep 29), Exeter (Sep 30), London (Oct 01). They will also support Bullet For My Valentine in their upcoming December arena tour.

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Welcome to the fabulous (and sticky) world of Gogol Bordello

“What’s to like in shirtless, ugly, hairy and sweaty guys jumping up and down?” a woman complained to another during a Gogol Bordello gig last November in Rio de Janeiro. She was probably not alone in finding them ugly, but most of the audience seemed pretty delighted. In fact, it is quite refreshing to see musicians take up the stage without make up, specially designed frocks and well defined bodies.
The Rio gig wasn´t exactly fortuitous – the band has been out and about quite often since its frontman, Eugene Hütz, moved there 2 years ago. Hütz, a Soviet refugee from the Ukraine who lived in several countries until arriving in New York in 1988, is the heart and soul of a truly multicultural band of gypsies that includes a Russian violinist, a Israeli guitarist, Ethiopian bassist and so on. Their songs are a exotic mix of punk, ska, polka, samba, salsa and reggae that, together with Gogol Bordello’s captivating stage presence, has turned the band into a very hot global act. Sweaty they may be, but in their gigs chances are that you will be too sticky to notice it.

Gogol Bordello`s new album, Trans-Continental Hustle, will be released on April 27.

Pre-order the album on Play.com.

They will  play six UK gigs in May – London Hammersmith Apollo on May 7, Manchester on May 8, Glasgow on May 9, Norwich on May 10 and Birmingham on May 11.

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Green Day and the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

“Summer has come and passed/The innocent can never last/wake me up when September ends/like my father’s come to pass/twenty years has gone so fast/ wake me up when September ends.”
Yes, 20 years have indeed gone fast and the boys of Green Day are adults now, although you could be forgiven for not noticing it when they played drunk as a skunk a small gig last November in London under their alter ego band Foxboro Hot Tubs for an equally intoxicated audience of teenagers. It was a gig full of energy and immensely chaotic, just the type to make your inner punk pogo dance happily.
But Green Day is an altogether different story. Green Day is serious business and when playing this role Billie Joe Armstrong and co are pop punk professionals, never too loud, never too drunk but also never too behaved. They walk the safe line and that’s probably why, two decades on, they are still playing concerts to huge audiences, making records and turning themselves and their music into a game and a musical. More than a case of split personality, it is perhaps a story about survival of anarchy within the industry. Most people would agree that enjoying punkish music without someone pouring beer in your head is a bliss. To those, Green Day is playing two stadium shows at London and Manchester in Summer 2010.

Green Day will perform Manchester Lancashire County Cricket Ground on June 16 and Wembley Stadium on June 19.

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