Heavy Metal Superfan Blog

It's an interesting week for new music, because, frankly, there isn't much. There are a few genuinely new titles out today, but for all intents and purposes, 2009 is already over and it's not even Thanksgiving. There are, however, a bunch of interesting reissues and boxed sets out this week. So let's take a look at those.

AC/DC's Backtracks box (the one that comes in a functioning, if not very loud, guitar amp) is available today, though you have to order the super-fancy version from their website. There's a disc of studio rarities (mostly tracks excised from the original Australian versions of their early albums before they were issued in America, though there are some soundtrack contributions and B-sides as well) and a couple of discs of live stuff, plus DVDs of live performances, videos, etc., etc. Solid, but strictly for diehards.

The kings of Viking metal, Sweden's Amon Amarth, have spent 2009 reissuing their first four albums - Once Sent From The Golden Hall, The Avenger, The Crusher and now Versus The World - in deluxe digipaks. Each album now comes with a second disc containing a live version, recorded in December 2008 in Bochum, Germany. In some cases (particularly with the first two albums), the live versions are actually better than the originals, even with the new remastering job. The reissues also contain track-by-track liner notes and memories of the sessions by the bandmembers. Collect all four (I sure as hell did)!

Anthrax's 1987 breakthrough album Among The Living has also been deluxe-ized, getting a sonic polish, the addition of alternate takes and B-sides, liner notes by comedian and metalhead Brian Posehn, and a DVD of a live performance from 1987. I don't think this is their best album - I'm a Persistence Of Time and Sound Of White Noise guy - but it's definitely the one that got people paying attention to them, and maybe this deluxe version will generate some good will while they figure out who's gonna be singing for them if and when Worship Music ever sees the light of day.

And moving out of the "A" section, there's one other archival release of note this week - Recordings 89-91 by the little-known Swedish death metal band Nirvana 2002. They never made an official album, but they recorded a couple of hotly traded demos, and all those tracks are here, some remastered and some in their original raw form. There's also a recording of one song from their only live gig, which came not while they were active but rather in 2007, to celebrate the release of the exhaustive and awesome book Swedish Death Metal, by Daniel Ekeroth. If you enjoy the crunching, distorted guitars and punk-metal grooves of better-known Swedish DM acts like Entombed, Grave and Unleashed, you'll like Nirvana 2002. Recommended to the historically minded.

And finally, there is one genuinely new release out this week that's worth your time.

Katatonia, Night Is The New Day (Peaceville): These Swedes have been at it since the mid '90s. They started out playing doomy death metal, growling vocals and all, but when their singer developed medical problems and couldn't do the whole guttural voice-of-hell thing anymore, they moved in a much more atmospheric and moody direction. Now they're roughly in the same neighborhood as Opeth's softer albums (like Damnation or portions of Blackwater Park), with the addition of keyboards and programmed rhythms that remind me a little of electronic acts like Massive Attack. They're not exactly metal anymore, but Katatonia's music is extraordinarily beautiful and perfect for autumn. So by all means check this one out.

AC/DC will release a limited-edition box set called Backtracks on November 10. The set, which comes in two versions, will be available on November 10 only through the ACDCBacktracks.com web site. The "deluxe" package, which sells for $199, is housed inside a fully operational amplifier and will come in a limited, autographed run of 50,000 copies. The set includes one CD of studio rarities (tracks from their original Australian albums, B-sides, soundtrack contributions, etc.), two CDs of live tracks, two DVDs - the third volume of their Family Jewels series and a filmed club gig from 2003 - a vinyl LP containing 12 of the 18 studio rarities offered on the first CD, a 164-page coffee table book, fine art lithographs of rare photos, a reproduction of an early concert flyer and other memorabilia, including a button, guitar pick, and more.

A standard edition will feature two CDs of live and studio material, a single DVD and bonus videos.

It's a pretty impressive pile of stuff, all things considered, but it's also easy to wonder whether fans will be willing to drop $200 for the thing. I have the early Australian albums in my iPod already, so I'm mostly hoping that second DVD, documenting a tiny club show, gets released separately.

You can't have metal without screaming, overdriven electric guitars. And while some of the best metal bands around have just one guitarist, a lot of the true greats have two axes up front, ripping through the speakers in tandem. So for this weekend's poll, you decide which band has the greatest dual-guitar team in all of metal. Voting closes at 10 AM Monday, so vote early and often!