The Metal Project: T Is For Thunder

  We're almost at the end of 2016 and thank The Seven Deities for that because this year has been bollocks.

But I still have time to squeeze in some more metallic tunes for you all so let's have at it.

Today's selection is brought to you by the letter T.  I think I have put together a wide variety of sounds and scenes for your perusal. Enjoy.

Thunderfist - Screamin' Heavy Metal (USA 2012)

(Heavy Metal thundering along at a rate of knots. I approve)

Honour to: Thunderfist666's channel

Bandcamp here: https://thunderfist.bandcamp.com/

TarthariA - Metal Salvation  (Russia 2014)

(It's interesting how many bands - and fans - treat Metal as a religion.)

Honour to: Igor Anokhin

T.N.T - Heavy Metal Noise (Germany 1984)

(No Frills German HM - but still got some nice touches. I rather like the bass. )

Honour to: Rare & Obscure Metal Archives

Tchort- Love Metal (Canada 2000)

(Groovy 70s-flavoured Stoner Metal)

Honour to: Kosta5

 By way of complete contrast, here's another Canadian band who sound nothing like the above.  

Tribunal - Pop Métal (Canada 2013)

(Beyond my powers of description. Just listen to it.)

Honour to: Tribunal officiel

Tyrant - Warrior of Metal (USA 1985)

(US Metal from the 80s Underground scene)

Honour to: Sebastian Loredo

Torment Of Abyss - Anti-Human Black Metal (Colombia 2015)

(Harsh and about as un-Christmassy as you can get.)


Honour to: Andres eslava

Titanic - Metalový Svátek (Czech Republic 1989)

(Speedy HM from behind the Iron Curtain.)

Honour to: Novaciny666

Terror Strike - Executioner Thrash Metal (Chile 2009 -I think)

(Typically frantic South American Thrash)

Honour to: Corpse Drinker


Please remember to visit and support the channels I've linked here.
I could not do this project without their hard work.

This has been another episode of The Metal Project: Compiling the Ultimate Metal Playlist 

That's all folks. 

Book Review: Pat Kelleher - Black Hand Gang (2010)

Book Review:  Genre: WW1 meets SciFi

  On November 1st 1916, 900 men of the 13th  Battalion Pennine Fusiliers vanished without trace from the battlefield.   Their fate has been one of the enduring mysteries of the First World War. 

 The official story is that they were all lost when a massive German mine was detonated, causing the half-mile wide Harcourt Crater. 

 The real story is far, far stranger. 

     I was poking about my local library when I spotted a trio of black-covered paperbacks on the shelf.  A brief look at the striking cover art and intriguing backcover blurb and I was immediately sold. 

  The idea of a group of fighting men being transported to an alien world is not a new one - Pournelle/Niven's Janissaries  and Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen immediately coming to mind - but as far as I know the protagonists are usually either from the remote past or plucky Americans.  Black Hand Gang  is unusual in that the stranded squaddies are British Tommies from the Somme trenches. A Pals Battalion from the North of England, to be precise. That makes this book a little easier for me to relate to. 

  The book starts with the 13th Bn preparing for an attack, introducing us to a variety of characters  that would be instantly familiar to anybody else who grew up reading "Charley's War" before the mists of battle clear to reveal an Alien planet. 

 Not, sadly, the Elysium the Tommies initially think it is.  More of a Hellworld full of vicious predators and man-eating plants. 

 While the Fusiliers are still trying to get used to that, the other intelligent life on the planet makes itself known and the book moves up a gear to an action-packed climax. 

  I was very impressed with Black Hand Gang.  Pat Kelleher takes an idea that's been used before and puts enough of a spin on it to make it interesting. The story takes a while to hit it stride but the necessary scene-setting doesn't drag and the dazed reaction of  the Pennines to their new surroundings was, I thought, really well done. Liked the punchup at the end too. 

   There's two more in the series. I have them sat on my shelf back home and I'm looking forward to reading them.  

 The author has a webpage here: http://nomansworldblog.blogspot.co.uk/

I wonder how many people stumbled across it and thought they'd found a genuine WW1 mystery?