Sun 24 Jul – Judas Priest, Queensrÿche, Rival Sons

Haven't written one of these for a while. Mostly because I've been pretty inactive on the old going to gigs front. Although that said, I did see The Sword but couldn't be bothered to review it. However they are definitely worth checking out.

Rival Sons were up first for some classic style 70s rock. I knew nothing about this band, although I had read a review of their new release on Angrymetalguy. What impressed me most was the guitarist. If you imagine what Wolfmother sound like with some slide guitar plus…

Thu 17 Mar – Turisas, Crimfall

Just setting the tone of this review by saying how awesome a night this was! This was only my second gig at the Islington O2 and I have to mention what an awesome venue it is. Just the right size for an intimate gig without feeling cramped, but still feel like you're at a big show.

I'd never heard of the support band, Crimfall, before but how amazing! A band with two lead vocalists providing a great blend of melodic black metal with a kind of pagan folk metal with operatic vocals. Great…

Sat 19 Feb – Black Label Society, Godsized

Forenote: it's 5.40am and i'm fairly shit faced whilst writing this. So this will probably be quite a short, shitty review :)

So what a fucking shit hot gig! Black Label Society may have been the headliner but Godsized were there to prove a point. Great band! Awesome bluesy rock band with some deathcore-influenced breakdowns and some epic solos. No idea what songs they played but this band were awesome so check them out. However they had the crowd going from the first song!

Black Label Society came on stage at 9pm…

Tue 18 Jan – Thin Lizzy

The evening started off pretty slowly as Supersuckers took to the stage. The self proclaimed "Greatest Rock 'n Roll band in the world" played a fun but unsurprising and unchallenging collection of midlle-of-the-road garage punk for about 45 minutes to a luke warm reception.

At 9pm, the mighty Thin Lizzy took to the stage, opening with Are You Ready. This was followed by some epic classics such as Don't Believe A Word, Jailbreak and Waiting For An Alibi. The boys put on a great performance and it was the first time…

Stolen from this guy: InsomniacAttack

Thin Lizzy
Their very old stuff really sucks, and so do some of the album fillers. Buy a greatest hits album instead.

Amon Amarth
Difficult to say. Their newer stuff isn't as good.

Dimmu Borgir
They have totally changed their sound. Not necessarily a bad thing, but listening to In Sorte Diaboli and For All Tid next to each other make them sound like albums from different bands. But you could say that about most artists I guess.

King Diamond
Difficult again. If they were more conventional in their song structures then more people would…

STEP ONE: List your top 20 artists and find the number of listeners for each of them.
1) Thin Lizzy (364,812 listeners)
2) Iron Maiden (857,206 listeners)
3) Children of Bodom (458,536 listeners)
4) Amon Amarth (230,549 listeners)
5) Turisas (104,645 listeners)
6) Megadeth (537,649 listeners)
7) Metallica (1,362,364 listeners)
8) Ensiferum (184,743 listeners)
9) Dimmu Borgir (275,316 listeners)
10) Gorgoroth (79,474 listeners)
11) Guns N' Roses (1,300,207 listeners)
11) Ozzy Osbourne (630,821 listeners)
13) Arch Enemy (313,492 listeners)
14) AC/DC (1,115,592 listeners)
15) Cradle of Filth (335,145 listeners)
16) Black Label Society (246,573 listeners)
16) Manowar (293,755 listeners)
18)…