In this article: Lordi's Rocktaurant, Something that'll make Plastic_Cup laugh, Manowar Party Crew Auditions, Gene Simmons and the Golden Tongue Award, A brief review of the Evanescence/Stone Sour tour, Opticollide and Blinded Colony on the Bands To Look Out For Block and releases for Jan 23 and Jan 30.

Okay, so I know I haven't been appearing on BGR as much as I usually am as of late, and no, I'm not going to make excuses, because truth of the matter is that half of you dont really care. Just know that, much to some of your dismay, I'm still around.  

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you realize that you haven’t seen anything yet. It seems that the recent success of Finish hard rock band, Lordi, has been spread towards other goals that the band members are looking to focus on as well. Frontman, Mr. Lordi and childhood friend, Arto Koivuharju have decided to open up the first Lordi inspired restaurant entitled “Lordi’s Rocktaurant”. Yes ladies and gentlemen, you saw that right, “Lordi’s Rocktaurant”. The rocktaurant will feature entrées which were created by the band and feature specific ideas and qualities about Lordi’s music. And what would “Lordi’s Rocktaurant” be without countless memorabilia from the band plastered in the building? You can watch a six minute clip from the grand opening of the rocktaurant here. And before anyone asks, yes there is a guy in the crowd dressed as Santa Claus.

I had to make mention of this band. This band and one of their cover releases is an ongoing reference in the BGR chat room. Blowsight, the band that brought us the decent cover of Brittany Spears’ song, “Toxic” has recently signed to Sony/BMG entertainment. For more information about the band and the recent signing deal, check out www.myspace.com/blowsight.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies. Manowar are looking for any females who may be interested in joining the band’s “Manowar Party Crew”. What do you have to do to enter to be a part of the party crew? Put on some Manowar music, dance to one of their tunes and send the video to em! That’s right people, the band is looking for some lovely female entrants who will be invited to their CD release parties in 10 different German cities. The entrants will be given a Manowar prize package, while the top three entrants will be given a backstage pass for one of their shows in the “Demons, Dragons and Warriors Tour”.

Kiss bassist and vocalist, Gene Simmons was presented with a relatively interesting award to accompany his vast array of awards already in his possession. Simmons attended the Adult Video News Awards ceremony in Las Vegas. He was presented the very first, “Golden Tongue Award” by adult film star, Tera Patrick. Simmons says the newest award will be able to be seen in an upcoming show that the rock legend is currently in the midst of taping.

Evanescence/Stone Sour Tour:

I was lucky enough to be able to get floor tickets at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario for this show. At first, I had to say that I thought I was going to genuinely dislike the show. I’m not a super big Evanescence fan at all, and I wasn’t terribly big on Stone Sour either.

All in all, I was surprised. The show opened up with a band by the name of “The Black Maria” they’re local to Toronto, and to be completely honest, I wasn’t entirely impressed when I heard what their music sounded like while they were offstage.

Stone Sour was up next, and I’d have to say that this is the band that stole the show. Corey Taylor opened the show up by frontally coming on stage, looking at the crowd with a cocked brow and then giving the crowd the finger in a relatively indiscreet way. They were definitely a band that could easily get the crowd ready and raring.

I think the only downfall of the show was the build up that lead to Evanescence’s performance. Don’t get me wrong, Amy Lee and the crew sounded great on stage, but I think the venue was a little mismatched. By the time the band came on stage, the audience was ready for more fast-paced, in-your-face music, but instead were toned back down again. The lighting show from Evanescence was amazing, and I’d have to say that in the lines of visual performance, Lithium was one of my favourite acts.

In general, it was a great show. If you like either Evanescence or Stone Sour, it’s a show that I’d advise you to check out if it’s in your area.

Bands to look out for:

Yes, ladies and gents, it’s back to torment you full-force!! With the arrival of my laptop, comes the continuation of the infamous “Bands to look out for” section of my news articles. Enjoy!

Opticollide  (Portland, Oregon) – This band is just one of many cool bands that I’ve been finding out of the Oregon music scene as of late. The band is fronted by a rather melodically based female vocalist by the name of Adara Blake. The music behind the vocals is very metal-inspired, with heavy riffs and solos. The two combined together make a really cool contrast to each other. At times there seems as if the band even has an old-school punk scene feel to it as well.

www.myspace.com/opticollide
www.opticollide.com

Blinded Colony (Karlshamn, Sweeden) – These guys remind me a lot of In Flames in a lot of senses, the vocals being one of them, the rhythm guitar being the other. However, the band has a lot of really cool qualities and features to them that definitely set them apart from In Flames. Their double vocals contrast each other and bat one another up against each other at times. The band just released a new CD by the name of “Bedtime Prayers”. If you have a chance to check it out, do.

www.myspace.com/blindedcolony
www.blindedcolony.com

Upcoming Releases:

January 23, 2007:
Architect - All Is Not Lost (Blackmarket Activities/Metal Blade)
Atreyu - The Best Of... (Victory)
Beneath The Sky - What Demons Do To Saints (Victory)
Cassius - I Am Jim Jones (Lifeforce)
Coldworker - The Contaminated Void (Relapse)
Converge/Agoraphobic Nosebleed - The Poacher Diaries (reissue) (Relapse)
The County Medical Examiners - Olidous Operettas (Relapse)
Crowbar - Live: With Full Force (DVD) (Candlelight)
Damiera - M(US)IC (Equal Vision)
Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home (Equal Vision)
Ektomorf - Outcast (Nuclear Blast)
Fear My Thoughts - Vulcanus (Century Media)
Fjord - Lives Lives (Eulogy)
Freya - Lift The Curse (Victory)
Impious - Bloodline (Metal Blade)
Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation (CD/DVD) (reissue) (Earache)
Nahemah - The Second Philosophy (Lifeforce)
The Network - This is Your Pig's Portrait (Blackmarket Activities/Metal Blade)
Since The Flood - No Compromise (Metal Blade)
This Ending - Inside The Machine (Metal Blade)
Year Of Desolation - Year Of Desolation (Prosthetic
January 30, 2007:
Hella - There's No 666 In Outer Space (Ipecac)
Various Artists - The Best Of Taste Of Chaos Two (Warcon)
Zozobra - Harmonic Tremors (Hydra Head)