earthtone9 take the stage to a heroes welcome. Their set is made up of the finest moments of their back catalogue and a few choice cuts from their new EP. the band seem to really enjoy playing together again, and the fans seem to really enjoy watching them play. The crowd greets everything said and played by the band to a standing ovation. A welcome return from a fantastic band.

Amon Amarth are main support on this tour and, personally, they deserve to be headlining.

Their set is mostly made up of tracks from their new album Surtur Rising and previous release Twilight of The Thunder God, with a few older tracks thrown in for good measure. The band is flawless, storming through each track with precision and heaviness. the new tracks sound much better live than on record and the crowd go crazy for every song the band play.

The highlight of their set was a fantastic rendition of  Twilight of the Thunder God, with hundreds of drunken Scots shouting every word at the top of their lungs.

For a short while, the Vikings had invaded Scotland once again.

In complete comparison to this, Children of Bodom appear on stage and half heartedly play through some tracks from their new album. Instantly I was worried that this was going to be one of those Bodom gigs I had read about: A band putting in no effort and being totally uninterested in what they are doing.

But when they played Needled 24/7 I realised I was wrong. the band played like their lives depended on it, the crowd went insane and I realised this was going to be a fun night after all.

If I have one complaint about CoB’s set, it would be the choice of songs. They seemed to focus too much on their latter (and, less awesome) material, but when they played a classic track, the place erupted.

In all, I think Amon Amarth won the night. Their material is just more enjoyable live, but if Bodom had played a few more oldies, then it would have been an entirely different story.

DistortedNews: Are you happy with the reaction Surtur Rising has been getting?

Johan Söderberg : Yes I’ve only heard good things about it.

DN: Is the new material going down well live?

JS: Yeah its a good response,and its always cool to play new songs live in the beginning of the touring cycle for the album.

DN: What’s it like touring with Children Of Bodom?

JS: This is the third time we tour with them and its good times as always.

DN: Both bands have a reputation for being fond of alcohol, has there been any drunken chaos on the tour?

JS: Now we need to concentrate on playing the new songs so we need to take it a little easy on the alcohol. We don’t wanna have the shows suffer from hangover. But there is of course some partying going on.

DN: There are a few cover songs on special editions of the album, what were the reasons behind recording these? 

JS: We needed some extra material for the special editions so we chosed some songs we thought was fun to cover.

This sounds awesome! Can’t wait to hear the full album!

Screaming Bloody Murder

10 years on from their breakthrough album All Killer No Filler, do the Canadians still have it in them?

So, by now, you’ll have read about how this album is more “mature” than the bands earlier work, and yes it is a more grown up album that All Killer No Filler and Does This Look Infected?, but people seem to be neglecting the fact that this band released an album called Chuck in 2004, which was just as “mature” as this release, in fact, Screaming Bloody Murder basically picks up where Chuck left off. The lyrics still mostly focus on relationship drama (well, Deryck did just break up with Avril, didn’t he?) but the song structures are much more intricate, compare to the 3 chord, pop-punk style of their early albums. Yes, it’s not the same band that wrote Fat Lip, but it’s been 10 years, if you’re looking for music like that, go listen to All Time Low.

The album starts with Reason To Believe, which builds up perfectly into a perfect Sum 41 song, the kind of song that let’s you know that the band are enjoying making music again. Their last release Underclass Hero was very under par, it saw the band reverting to the AKNF style, as if the band just wanted to cash in on their past glory after the departure of Dave Baksh. Screaming Bloody Murder, on the other hand. sounds like a band on the top of their game, tracks like Skumfuk and Blood In My Eyes will most definitely go down as “classic” Sum 41 songs.

I’m struggling to come up with any bad points about this album, there are one or two tracks that aren’t just as good as the rest, but overall this is the essential Sum 41 album. Amalgamating the maturity of Chuck with the huge choruses of All Killer No Filler.

If there’s any justice in the world, in 10 years time this album will be held in the same vein as American Idiot, The Sufferer And The Witness, From Here To Infirmary, The Art Of Drowning, the list goes on. This is more than just a return to form, it’s a band setting the bar higher than they’ve ever reached before, it’s a career defining album. Screaming Bloody Murder deserves to be huge.

9/10

Highlights: Reason To Believe, Skumfuk, Blood In My Eyes

World Record

Less than twelve months after the fantastic Far Q, Lower Than Atlantis are back with their new album, World Record.

The Hertfordshire quartet’s last release, Far Q was a stunning record, so much so that it topped this sites list of the best albums of 2010, so, the question on everyone’s mind is: Is World Record as good it’s predecessor?

I’m going to go with the short answer here, no. But that doesn’t mean World Record isn’t a fantastic album, far from it.

The first thing you’ll notice when listening to this album is the vocals, it features almost entirely clean vocals, and Mike’s singing has improved tenfold since Far Q. At some points, however, the shoutier vocals from the bands early days are missed, but World Record is the sound of a band maturing and becoming who they want to be.

Mike Duce has took a lot of criticism for his lyrics, and while they may not be the best in the world, they are genuine and from the heart. I challenge you to listen to this album and not empathise or relate to what he is singing about at least once. There’s a very melancholic feel to the album and it’s easy to tell that Mike has been through some tough times in his life. Another Sad Song is a perfect example of this, the heartfelt lyrics mixed with the quiet guitars and the emotion in Mike’s voice make a beautiful song.

Far Q was a hardcore record, World Record is not. As I said earlier, this is a band finally becoming who they want to be. There are some elements of their old sound on songs like Marilyn’s Mansion, but on the whole this is definitely a bit of a departure from the sound of Bretton and Far Q.

As a whole, World Record is brilliant, it may not have the instant punch that Far Q did, but it’s 37 minutes of great songs. So stick with it, let the songs grow on you, this may well be your new favourite album.

9/10

Highlights: (Motor)way of Life, Marilyn’s Mansion, Working For The Man By Day, Sticking It To The Man By Night

For their upcoming shows in 2011, Slipknot has asked Donnie Steele to fill in for Paul Gray on bass. Donnie, as some may recall, was the original guitar player in Slipknot and had actually reconnected with Paul in recent years. Said the band on their decision, “Donnie was in the band at the very beginning, and rather than get an outsider, we thought it would be a fitting tribute to Paul to play with someone from within the family. Donnie was great friends with Paul and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate his memory than with someone who was there with us at the very beginning. The eight of us are looking forward to being onstage again and honoring Paul’s legacy with our families in Europe and Brazil this summer.”

I think this is a very fitting tribute to Paul from the rest of the band. RIP Paul Gray.

TRC have announced that their new album will be called Bright Lights, It will be available summer 2011.

Their new single, H.A.T.E.R.S. will be released for free downlaod on the 1st of April!

Sun 01 LEEDS Cockpit
Mon 02 NEWCASTLE Trillions
Tue 03 GLASGOW Ivory Blacks
Wed 04 SHEFFIELD Corporation
Thu 05 WOLVES Slade Rooms
Fri 06 MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms
Sat 07 SWANSEA Sin City
Sun 08 BRISTOL The Croft
Mon 09 BOURNEMOUTH Ibar
Tue 10 NORWICH Arts Centre
Wed 11 LONDON Barfly
Thu 12 SOUTHAMPTON Talking Heads
Fri 13 GUILDFORD The Boileroom

Support comes from Romeo Must Die.

Catch Less Than Jake, Anti-Flag, Goldfinger and Set Your Goals on the 27th of May at the ABC in Glasgow. Tickets are onsale now.