My top 5 albums in 2018

It's again that time of year when you look back and review what was good and better. So I again wrote down some of the albums I liked in 2018 the most. Of course, there were plenty of other albums and probably better in a music way than those I chose. But I'm not a professional music reviewer so I can judge only from bands I listen to. I have to say that this year it was really hard to order the first 3 albums...

H.E.A.T. + One Desire + Shiraz Lane in Prague 24/11/2018

Last Saturday was again a concert day. But this time it was something special. Swedish band H.E.A.T. came to Czech for the first time. And they took another great bands with them. SHIRAZ LANE is well known band for me becuase they supported Lordi on their previous tour. ONE DESIRE was the new one for me. But it was a pleasure to get to know this band. Only thing I was afraid, it was a venue. It's probably the smallest venue for serious concert in Prague. We all were like WTF? when we saw this place written. There is place for like 80 (??) people. Noone was surprised when the concert was sold out very soon. Well, but at the end it didn't end that bad. Let's say it was really "punk" gig :D

Lordi + Silver Dust + Follow the Cipher in Prague (8/11) and Pardubice (11/11)

LORDI finally came to the Czech Republic with their Sexorcism tour. It started in Prague, then continued to Zlin and Ostrava and ended in Pardubice. At first I planned to be also in Ostrava but later they announced they are gonna play in Helsinki in December so I decided to go rather to Helsinki. The gigs in Prague and Parubice were nr. 23 and 24 for me. So I can say Lordi can't surprise me a lot anymore. I only wait to hear some songs I have never heard before. Like Mr. Killjoy on this tour.

Powerwolf + Amaranthe + Kissin' Dynamite in Prague 3/11/2018

Saturday 3rd November was the day when the pack of wolves came back to Czech Republic. Long time before the concert was sold out so I decided to come early to the venue. I did my POWERWOLF make-up so I wanted to stand in the front :D Long time I didn't come to concert so early, it was around 1pm and there were already some people waiting. Everything was even more great with support bands like KISSIN' DYNAMITE and also AMARANTHE.

Three Days Grace + Bad Wolves in Prague 19/10/2018

The Canadian band Three Days Grace doesn't have any big promo here in Czech. That's why I'm always so surprised how many people visit their concerts. I found this band like 12 year ago. So for me the reason is more nostalgic. I'm not into the new songs that much. They also changed the singer few years ago. I can't say the new one-Matt- is bad or something. He's actually very good and it's fun to watch him on the stage. So no bad words against him. Only my regret is I have never seen the band with Adam behind the mike. Well, Three Days Grace returned to Prague again and we were there.

My music evolution

This might be a bit longer article but I think it can be interesting for some. I was brosing my old blog and found the post about my music evolution. So this is basically translation of it. So I have Linkin Park in my ears to get into the right mood and let's start....

My tattoo story

Were they all worth it? Hell yeah! I started with tattoing when I was 18 years old. My first tattoo was a butterfly from the CD cover of the finnish band The Rasmus. Well, I don't have this tattoo anymore. It's covered with another tattoo. It's not that I wouldn't like The Rasmus anymore. But the tattoo didn't look well after some time so I had to cover it. 

Ghost is coming to town

I can't believe. I just can't fcking believe my own eyes! Ghost is going to play in Prague. Well, only as a support of Metallica but still... It's a bit unfair that the prize is higher because of  Metallica when I wanna see mostly only Ghost. Of course, I will watch Metallica, too. I think this is one of those "must see" bands and I have never seen them live before. Honestly, I a bit hoped that Ghost could tour with KISS on their final tour. That would be really cool, don't you think? I only hope that Ghost will get enough time for playing and not only 30 mins or so... So now let's just wait till August next year 😂 And yeah, that venue is 10 mins by bus from my home and it's big plus too.

Festivals & (czech) fans

It's again that time of year when the festivals announce the first bands/artists. And it's also the time when the fans start to complain about it. Like "still the same bands? don't you know anything new?" etc. etc., you know that. Okay, I understand they can be a bit upset when they visit festivals very often and saw those bands many times. Me too. I saw many bands but do I complain? No! When there is a band I don't wanna see I just go and do something else, like have a food, watch the merch... 

I write this because Metalfest just announced the bands for 2019. I'm very happy with the bands. I will finally see Beast in Black live (it's also their first solo gig in Czech and not as a support!). And also Dee Snider. Last time I saw him with Twisted Sister at Masters of Rock some years ago. And Amon Amarth is simply love.

Concerts plans fall/winter

As ussually, the fall and winter are always the months with lots of concerts. Also this time I plan to visit some cool gigs :)

September: The Poodles 16/9- Well, still not 100% sure about this one. I think I will decide right before the concert. But it's more yes than no :D

October: Three Days Grace 19/10- That was big yes when they announced this concert.

Die Happy 27/10- Not sure about this one neither. But I haven't seen this band for a long time. So maybe...

November: Powerwolf/Amaranthe/Kissin' Dynamite 3/11- Again this one is something I really look forward. Not only because Powerwolf but I also love Kissin' Dynamite. And I used to listen to Amaranthe a lot in the past. This will be one big party.

Lordi 8,11/11- Do I need to comment this? :D It was hard to choose which concerts I will attend. At the end I will be in Prague and Pardubice.

H.E.A.T./Shiraz Lane/One Desire 24/11- Still I didn't buy the ticket but I will be there for sure.

December: Lordi 28/12- Again. But this time in Helsinki, Finland. We plan little trip to the north with my friends around this time. So why not to connect it?

January: Behemoth 12/1- I always wanted to see Behemoth live. So this time I finally bought the ticket :)

Stephen King: books collection

Today we will talk about the books again. How I wrote in one previous post, my favourite writer is Stephen King. If you missed it you can read it here. You can also watch my S. King challenge on the left side of this page. It means I wanna read all S.K. books and how it goes. But I don't only read them. It's also my collector's goal- to have all of his books. And since I updated my collection a lot during the summer there is also the list of books I own:

With Gene on the stage...

I still can't believe this really happened. But it did. I was on the stage of Masters of Rock together with Gene Simmons from KISS. But the way there was quite comlicated...

Masters of Rock 12/7-15/7/2018

Masters of Rock, one of the biggest metal festival in Czech, was here. I don't visit here every year. I'm not into the festivals that much as some years ago. I go there only when there are some interesting bands to see. So I missed the last year. But this year there were many amazing bands. Lordi, of course, then my long music love Turisas, Powerwolf and Avatar and also Gene Simmons with his band. Many reasons to go. 

Prague Rocks 13/6/2018

When they confirmed HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES are coming to Czech, I coudn't be happier. And of course, they will support OZZY OSBOURNE on his last (?) tour. Well, I have never been fan of Ozzy but he is this kind of musician you wanna see live at least once. So visiting this concert was sure thing. Later we got know it will be kind of small festival also with JONATHAN DAVIS from Korn and spanish band LORDS OF BLACK. So okay, why not? 

Metalfest 1/6-3/6/2018 (Pilsen, Czechia)

Alestorm

It's again time of the year when the summer festivals start. Metalfest was always more about spending time with my friends than seeing all the bands. Even there are always some bands I want to see. Well, this year it was really few bands so I just took it easy. But there was a problem with finding accommodation. I'm not really tent person. Not that I coudn't sleep in. But for some experiences when I was freezing during summer I just decided not to sleep in the tent and book some normal accommodation instead. Because Metalfest is more and more popular (will write about it later) it was impossible to find any hotel/pension/what ever in Pilsen. So we had to book pension in a small village near Pilsen. But we had a car so who cares?

Review: Lordi- Sexorcism (2018)

The ninth Lordi album "Sexorcism" is out. Since the name and cover were revealed we were a bit afraid about the album topic. We love horror topics in Lordi songs. But what if the album will be only about sex? Will it be the same Lordi we love? Well, at the end the sex topic isn't so hot in the album. Along with typical horror songs we got classic melodic hard rock with catchy choruses. So everything we expect from Lordi.

Friday the 13th

You simply can't choose better date for releasing new song. And even more if your band is horror band. On the 13th of April we got two new very awaited songs. GHOST band and LORDI are going to release new albums very soon and they both released their first singles almost at the same time. Do you know that feeling when your favourite bands do this and you don't know what song to listen to first? :D 

New era = new Lordi

Releasing new costumes is always big event for Lordi fans . New album SEXORCISM will be out on 25th May and new costumes are here. Do you like them? :)

AVATAR+Hellzapoppin+Old Kerry McKee in Prague 2/4/2018

Monday 2nd April was were special day. And not because it was Easter Monday. But swedish circus AVATAR came to the town. Long time I wasn't so much interested into this band. I don't understand why. Even I remember I saw them before, at Metalfest or Masters of Rock, idk. But you know, I like saying that I can't have fave band when they don't wear at least a bit of make up on their faces. So I found my way to this band and it was amazing to join Avatar country on Monday when they arrived to Prague...

Ektomorf+Dead Horse Trauma+others in Prague, 15/3/2018

EKTOMORF is groove/thrash metal band from Hungary. Since this isn't my favourite metal genre there is something I like on this band. I remember how I found them. It was at Masters of Rock festival 2011. Me and my best friend were waiting for Twisted Sister concert and we were waiting already for a long time in the front row. And all the bands were so boring that day. And suddedly Ektomorf came on the stage and it was killer set, full of energy. They got me that day. Since that time I saw them live once. They played many times in Czech in the past but it was always on working day and off Prague so I coudn't go. But finally they returned to Prague and I coudn't miss them...

Eurovision 2018... worth to watch?

Eurovision isn't so much popular here in Czech Republic. I think most of people don't even know what it is. Honestly, I'm not big fan neither. I mostly watch it because of the trolls and most of the songs are only shitty pop music craps, without no souls and singing with horrible singers. 

But Czech Republic will participate this year again. I have to say that Mikolas Josef's song will be probably our best entry. So I watched other countries' entries and well, I found some songs that are quite cool. So here is my TOP 5...

The Norse Mythology aka fairy tales from the Norse

I'm not only only horror lover but also norse lover. And I don't talk about the hot norse men :D I love all the stories from vikings time. Of course, I love Vikings TV show. But I'm also interested in norse mythology. I mean the real one, not what Marvel shows us in his comics/movies. So I was very happy when I found out the book Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is released in czech now. It was a bit hard to get it because it was sold out almost everywhere in the bookstores around. But I got my copy and I fell in love with this book...

Stephen King is my king

I decided to start another topic on this blog. Because I love reading books I just need to share some thoughts with you. So I will write here something about my fave books, some reviews and maybe something about the writers. And I will start with my most favourite writer of all.... STEPHEN KING. 

CRAZY TOWN+Confessions Of A Traitor+Exit Empire 28/1/2018

Nu-metal is not dead! Someone shouted this during the concert and I have to say it's fucking true. All the 90' kids remember Crazy Town's hit Butterfly and some of you think they are only one hit makers. They are not! And I will say you something, you should see them live. It's heavy and crazy and amazing at the same time. I only miss Epic. He stopped to performing with guys like a year ago. But Crazy Town returned to Prague and we coudn't miss them :)

Septicflesh+Inquisition+Odious in Prague 6/1/2018

When I found out that Septicflesh gonna play in Prague again I was so happy. There are not so many death metal bands I listen to. But Septiflesh is something special. I don't know if it's becuase of the orchestra music, the lyrics or the singer Seth but I simply love them. Saturday 6.1. was that day. I met with my friends and we were ready to rock with all the bands that night.

The first band was Odious from Egypt. Yeah, it's an interesting combination. On their Facebook you can read they play symphonic/oriental/black/death metal. I think the word oriental is the main thing. Can you imagine black/death metal with the oriental sound? No? Well, I coudn't neither. But you can check them on YouTube. The music is really interesting. Pity the sound in the club was really bad during their performance.