Festivities ahoy! The 13th Tuska Open Air festival was to be held, for the last time, right in the middle of Finland’s capital Helsinki. Three days of metal with a strong line-up meant that the metal gathering held in Kaisaniemi park was going to be sold out: The 33,000 (and then some) visitors made sure the area was crowded. Cramped like sardines in a can. Compared to Sauna Open Air in June, the weather too was also different – pretty much the complete opposite as the temperature was lingering between 77 and 84 Fahrenheit. So, what happened?

Running a heavy metal site isn’t hard. Running a good heavy metal site is. Being a Finn, I’ve got a hard time admitting the facts, but Teeth of the Divine is, in my opinion, a pretty good heavy metal site. But I’m not content. It could be better.

TeethoftheDivine.com and Dark Descent Records are teaming up to give 4 brutal CDs to one lucky TOTD reader.

First off, I don’t have anything against double-kick drumming in and of itself. If I did, I don’t think I could be a metal fan in general. But I digress… is it me, or do a lot of metal bands seem to be relying on intense, near-constant double-kick drumming over the last few years to somehow seem heavier or more intense? Everyone from modern power metal bands to deathcore bands to newer so-called traditional heavy metal bands. The drumming is just so over the top.

Sauna Open Air―held just a few minute walk away from the central of Tampere-city, Finland―had the pleasure to start off my music summer this year, even though the weather was anything but summer-y. The line-up has often relied on heavy metal and hard rock, with a strong sense of 80s in the mix. It’s like Sweden Rock Festival, but quarter of the size. There’s also a huge local component to the festival, with small, medium and big Finnish bands getting a ton of airtime. As a cherry on top, the festival also seems to cater to a theme; offering something different and/or something ‘new’. This year the ingredient was metalcore. Without further a due, let’s reminisce!

Teeth of the Divine and The Sequence of Prime are teaming up to give you the chance to be devoured by the project’s newest album, VIRION! Read the review and take part in the contest: We’re giving out three copies of the album for free, so Christmas might come early for you… if you survive.

After going through 2006 and 2004, we’ve arrived back in time to the year 2005. Chronology has no place in time travel… and we need to fix our De Lorean. Anyway, not only did 2005 saw Youtube come alive, certain bands achieved massive and well deserved breakthroughs as well. Primordial finally saw limelight with The Gathering Wilderness and Nevermore was up on everyone’s lips with This Godless Endeavor. Most importantly. what were YOUR favorites from 2005?

Continuing our series of ‘old shit’ here at Teeth of the Divine, we present you with the best heavy metal albums of 2004. Boo-yah! From what we can remember, as it’s been five or six years already, is that the list was conducted on our forum and all the posters, staff members and other mental patients were invited to voice their favorites. The albums were then given points based on how many times, and how soon they were mentioned. Or something like that. None the less, the result represents a collective mind. Thus, we call it official. But, most importantly, how does your Top 2004 list compare to ours today?

There comes a time when one has to dig through old stuff. While trying to preserve history by adding old Digital Metal reviews to our current archives, we stumbled upon a long since forgotten Top of the Year list, compiled by our staff, and it’s all the way from the year 2000 and 6. Oh my, oh my! Now, today, with hindsight by your side: what are your favorites from 2006?

Bindrune Recordings and Teethofthedivine.com are teaming up to give one lucky winner a copy of Celestiial’s “Where Life Springs Eternal”. Blood of the Black Owl’s – “A Banishing Ritual”, Nechochwen’s “Azimuths to the Otherworld” and Wodensthrone’s “Loss”.

You know its a stellar year for metal when all the the staff asked if they could submit more than ten favorite albums this year, and then snuck in numerous other top albums by way of honorable mentions, new discoveries and such. Still, you cant argue with 2009s wide array of quality albums. The year was dominated by technical death metal, and littered with unsigned gems and unexpected surprises. I mean, when was the last time a year see releases by the likes of Mastodon, Isis, Behemoth, Napalm Death, Nile and Suffocation and they only get cursory mentions?

Thanks to everyone who all who made the site what it is and thanks to all the readers who make it what it will be. Here is to another great year of metal in 2010.

Where available, reviews have been linked so you can read our highly specialized, professional, humble and opinionated reviews of these albums.

As usual feel free to ridicule, mock our picks, add your owns lists and ensure that the old fashioned saying about opinions holds true…

So I decided I needed a forum to discuss and generally blather on about the weekly, typically music-related (but not exclusively) activities of my life. And I have a weird obsession with play lists, particularly since my tastes run the gamut from hard rock to extreme grindcore, though extremity and violence generally wins out over [...]

While doing your own thing is the way to go when running a site like TeethoftheDivine.com, it’s always better to also keep your head up and know what’s happening around you. In order to serve our readers better, we realized we need to go out more. Thus, we dressed up in our fancy work clothes (casual and friendly but with a hint of authority) and took a step outside from our dark, murky cave and signed ourselves up to the biggest social entities in the World Wide Web. Just to be closer to you.

Death metal is full of brilliant, legendary songs. Songs that helped shape the genre, define a band or create a classic album. These are songs that every death metal fan knows by heart or can name at the mere hearing of a single note or chord; “Left Hand Path”, “Override of the Overture”, “Black Winter Day”, “Unas, Slayer of Gods”, “You’ll Never See”, “Infecting the Crypts”, “Hammer Smashed Face”, “Chopped In Half”, “Leprosy”, “Corporeal Jigsaw Quandary”, “Chapel of Ghouls” – “Victory March”- the list goes on and on. But what about those other songs that fleshed out albums both classic and overlooked? Songs by bands revered and unheard of that simply never caught the ear of the public, the fans or the critics?

We all have those special songs, those riffs or a solo from a certain song that changed us, that effected us personally and emotionally, ingrained into our very being and dare I say? Changed our life.

Everyone loves lists right? Well, rather than the usual blog where some internet hack, wanna be journalist tries to come up with a list of 10 metal related things or rants about retarded people and tries to make it funny, we here at Teethofthedivine.com thought we would try something different.

Why not put together a list complied from the people actually responsible for bringing the music to us? We scoured our email address books, Myspace pages and little black books for various Metal luminaries including band members, record label staff, media and PR staff, producers and the guy that mops the stage after concerts to get their 5 favorite albums of all time.

Here is the highly collaborative, incredibly comprehensive, exhaustive and informative end result (as usual, feel free to comment, add your own list or simply sell us viagra):

(Thanks to those folks that supplied their lists and the teethofthedivine staff that harassed them)

Remember when making music in an original band was a way to actually make a living if you were good, and not just lucky? Well, those days are over, my friend.

Listen -I love metal. I grew up on metal and have listened to metal for the better part of 25 years. I live, breath, eat, shit and ejaculate (much to my wife’s chagrin) metal. It’s part of my being, part of my personality and part of my soul and never in a million years could I see myself listening to any other music as I grow even older. Nope – I’m going to be in the old person’s home, drooling and shitting all over myself, listening to Deicide on headphones while on my death bed. When I do croak, my hands will be stuck in the shape of the ol’ horns.

That being said, there are some things about metal and all of its many sub genres that annoy the ever loving shit out of me. Things that grate my nerves, mildly irritate me, some things I just flat out hate and few I’m even embarrassed to be associated with. So I thought I would share a few of them in no real order. And as always feel free to add your own or comment on mine.

Of course, please remember this is for mild entertainment and very weak humor purposes only….. Don’t get all butt hurt.

Friday, April 17th @ House of Blues, Chicago, IL It took us nearly 8 hours to get to Chicago with a couple stops, and a couple more stops to take pics of some really ridiculous things you see in the rural midwest areas. Epicurean was already playing as we walked in, and we managed to [...]

March 18, 2009, The Riot Room, Kansas City, MO It was a night of firsts at the tiny Riot Room; my first pagan/Viking/folk metal show, my wife’s first metal show after 12 years of marriage and my first ever in person meeting with another member of the metal media-Blabbermouth and Outburn’s (and now our own [...]

While the very concept of melodic death metal is somewhat of a paradox, and one could argue what exactly it entails, I think most readers of this site at least have some general idea of what melodic death metal is, so rather than try to dissect the genre and possible entries, I’ve listed 10 melodic death metal albums that A) fit the genre in my eyes, and B) would be the 10 must have examples of the genre I would choose to take on this forsaken sand dump. Now, I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch, especially from the 1997-2004 range, so feel free to chip in and tell me how wrong my personal opinion is…

In a year that saw vast amounts of turmoil for many of us here at teethofthedivine as we made a transition from the previous site, one thing kept us going-the huge amount of great metal that was released. So here it is-the first annual teethofthedivine year end list! Feel free to comment and post your own year end picks, hurl insults at us or sell us Viagra!

Until recently the metal singer was simply the the ugly, male dominated voice of metal. With female singers being almost common place nowadays, I thought I’d take a lot of some of my favorite female vocalists in metal, both old and new and the bands they play or played. Once considered merely eye candy for Goth metal bands, female singers are now growling screaming and rocking as hard as thier male conterparts, and far easier on the eye. The ones listed below deserve more than “hottest chicks in metal” spread in Decibel Magazine as they bring the vocal thunder and have helped bring women further into previously un-thought of territory.

Whats next? Allowing them to vote?

Do palm tree leaves turn and fall?

Who cares. The leaves have turned, trees stand barren and wasted, the shadows lengthen and the chill of cold breath fills the air. Autumn, the most metal of seasons is upon us and while I’m sure there’s hordes of obscure black metal albums I’ve never heard that fit the bill, here are some albums (in no real order) I think signal the dawn of winter and bring in the grimmest of seasons as good as any:

I have to admit, I’m starting to get a little cranky on this island. My balls are chaffed raw from the sand, I’m sick of eating fish and my mind is playing tricks on me: For example, yesterday I hallucinated that Anna Nicole Smith gave me a Cleveland Steamer.

Still, I’m allowed these CDs though, and this time it’s death metal albums that were simply overlooked, under-rated or under appreciated for whatever reasons. Sure everyone knows of the seminal Entombed, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Dismember, Pestilence, Carcass, Nile and other band’s albums that are widely known and considered certified classics within the death metal pantheons. But here are some albums that while nor genre defining or legendary, are certainly kickass albums in their own right, but for a plethora of circumstances, just seemed to slip under the radar when they were originally released. Some got renewed interest via re-issues, but for the most part, these albums simply did not get the audience they deserved.

Yeah, I knows there’s 11 albums here, but fuck you!-my island, my rules, Wilson!