I mentioned somewhere, probably here, that the second Metal Month would be a lot more structured than the original, in which I basically just grabbed albums at random, trying to cover all genres and be all things to all men (and perhaps, one lucky woman!) so I thought you may be interested to see how it's going to line up. Here's then what you can expect to see in --- wow! Less than two weeks already! Better get cracking!
Featured Artiste
This will be a recurring section each year, in which I will choose a Metal band or singer and do my best to review their entire studio discography. You'll be interested to see who I picked for the inaugural one!
The International Language of Metal
In this section I'll be looking at a different country each week of Metal Month. To kick off I'll be sampling music from Brazil, Spain, Germany and, um, Ireland. Hey, gotta do the mother country, y'know?
The Metal that Made Me
Last year I looked at albums that were instrumental or influential in my appreciation of the genre. I'll be reviewing a few more albums this year.
What Metal means to Me
Inviting members to write essays, pieces, a few lines, whatever you like about why you love metal, or even why you don't. So far, I only have one submitted piece, but there's still time, so those of you who are interested please think about it.
The Meat Grinder
Same as last year, and indeed as it takes place sporadically throughout the year in my journal, the Meat Grinder is where I select a band at random and tell you what I think of them. It seems to have developed/degenerated into something of a comic relief section, but sure that's ok. I'll again be doing one of these each week throughout Metal Month II.
Freshly Forged in '14
New Metal albums will be reviewed.
Members' Top Ten Lists
As already discussed at length, out of the top ten lists received I will be choosing three at random and running (very) briefly through the albums they have picked.
Don't listen to that --- listen to this!
Any albums suggested in this thread, or as many as I can manage, will be reviewed.
More Than Words: Metal Edition
I did this with "Black Sabbath" (from "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath) last year, and will be picking another metal tune this year, looking deeply into the lyrics. No, I will not be doing Slayer.
The Albatross: Metal Edition
Again, last year I looked into how Motorhead's "Ace of spades" has kind of defined them outside the genre, how popular it is and how that popularity has almost worked against Lemmy and the boys. I'll be doing something similar this year.
Triple Box Set
Last year it was Virgin Steele. (EDIT: No it wasn't, sorry. It was Helloween...) This year it'll be three albums from ....?
Plus some surprises and maybe guest slots, who knows?
You know. If you want to do a guest review, you know what to do. Get in touch.
All that to come in ... exactly ... fifteen days! Man! I need to get reviewing!
Oh yeah, I said that already didn't I? Well, why aren't I doing that instead of sitting here talking about ....