2010
If you had said to me last year “In a years time you will have set up your own music blog written your own reviews of CD’s/DVD’s/Gigs and been featured on well known music sites” I would have simply laughed. When I thought of becoming a music journalist I had no idea where to start and how I would get there but, with the help of family, friends and musicians I started this blog.
So 2010 in music has had its ups and its downs. We started the year pretty badly after loosing Jimmy Sullivan in December 2009, many thought that that would be the end of one of the best hard rock bands but Avenged Sevenfold came back with Mike Portnoy and released the chart topping album Nightmare. We have seen Megadeth win back David Ellefson and toured their Rust In Peace album on its 20th Anniversary. Whilst on the topic of Megadeth we have also seen the greatest musical achievement of the past 20 years with the Big Four going out and touring together for the first time. It is a pure miracle that Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax have settled their differences and let the music do the talking by bringing such a spectacle to the European stage. This is set to continue in 2011 with the Big four playing for the first time together in the UK at Sonisphere Knebworth.
At Sonisphere this year we saw the triumphant return of Iron Maiden with their first show on British soil in two years. After a spectacular show the band released their 15th studio album The Final Frontier which debuted at number one in the UK and many other countries. However with all these great things that have happened sadly worse things have also happened. In May we lost two great musicians Ronnie James Dio and Paul Gray. Firstly Ronnie was seen by many as one of the fathers of heavy metal and his works have influenced many people to become musicians and whose life has touched many others. Secondly Paul who was a part of one of the largest nu-metal bands of the past decade (Slipknot). Both Ronnie and Paul will be sorely missed but their legacies will never be forgotten.
In 2010 we have also enjoyed new releases from Stone Sour, Daath, Murderdolls, Dimmu Borgir, Disturbed as well as the others mentioned above. Apart from the studio we have seen live releases from Slipknot, Megadeth, Heaven and Hell and the Big Four.
2010 has seen lineup changes for Megadeth (as previously mentioned), Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium and Dream Theater. At the end of 2009 we heard that Travis Smith drummer of Trivium would be sitting out their upcoming US tour. As we got into 2010 we began to wonder if Travis would be back in time for the band to go into the studio to record their song for the game God Of War III. A statement was issued saying that Trivium would no longer be performing with Travis and that Nick Augusto would be taking his place. Trivium then went into the studio to record Shattering the Skies above with Nick for the God of War game. The song shows how much energy Nick has brought to the band and how they have developed since 2008’s Shogun.
Dream Theater have also changed drummer with Mike Portnoy leaving the band. Mike asked the band if they could take some time off from touring/ recording and come back to the table fresh for the next album. The rest of the band were not willing to do so, and so Mike saw no other way than to leave. It was recently revealed by Mike that he tried to reconcile with the band after his time was up with Avenged Sevenfold but they would not have him back. This was a very sad end to the year but, we have lots to look forward to next year!
Things to look forward to in 2011:
The return of Slipknot
The Big Four coming to the UK
Iron Maiden’s Final Frontier world tour
New albums from Trivium, Children of Bodom, DevilDriver, Amon Amarth, Megadeth, Anthrax and many more!
Top 5 releases of 2010
- Nightmare – Avenged Sevenfold CD
- The Final Frontier – Iron Maiden CD
- (sic)nesses – Slipknot DVD
- Audio Secrecy – Stone Sour CD
- Big Four Live from Sofia – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax DVD
Finally I would like to thank you all for your support, encouragement and help throughout 2010. All that is left to say is Happy Christmas and bring on 2011!
Charlie Day \m/(>_<)\m/
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