The Devil Wears Prada

They’ve never read the book or seen the movie, but THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA will show you what it means to stick to your guns and play heavy music. Still touring on their third release, “With Roots Above and Branches Below,” this sextet will be rolling through Wisconsin later in February, and they plan to bring their abrasive sound with them. As Mike Hranica (vocals) explains, “we are metalcore, but not in the traditional sense. That just happens to be the closest to what we sound like. We are not screamo, but rather a post hardcore mix.” There is a development over their three albums that progressively gets angrier. “Simply, it’s maturity,” over three albums, explains Hranica, “it was easy to get better cause we started out so bad.” As they come into their own with their music they are learning about their sound, “doing what we do there really isn’t much of a change. We are just getting stronger with what we do.”

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Diamond Head

As the Seventies snorted on, the hard rock genre started bloating into the drug-fueled excesses of classic rock. Punk rock came in with its simple chords and snotty attitude to threaten metal into an early oblivion. Rockers that were into guitar solos and liked listening to men that scream like women needed a louder and faster reponse in order to save metal. Riding in like knights in leather armor, The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was that response. Bands like Iron Maiden, Mötorhead, and Judas Priest were at the forefront of the genre, eventually even gaining acceptance from the mainstream which had previously shunned the biker and fetish gear(for God’s sakes, you can buy Maiden t-shirts at Kohl’s!)

One of the most influential and important bands of the NWOBHM (as it is usually abbreviated as) was Diamond Head. Even casual metal fans have heard Metallica’s version of “Am I Evil?” (and if you haven’t, get thee to iTunes now!) and that’s probably their most famous song.

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Ronnie James Dio

Six decades. That is the span through which Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona) was a rock‘n’ roll professional. With his death last month on May 16, an incredible music career ended. Dio was best known for his work in heavy metal, and in fact he became a cultural icon – one often steeped in humor – for the exaggerated posturing and fantastical lyrics that are a rich part of the genre. His introduction of the “metal horns” hand sign cemented it. To be sure, Dio immersed himself in such things, but it’s interesting to note that his musical career actually took him through several rock‘n’roll genres.

In 1958, a band from upstate New York called Ronnie And The Red Caps released their first 7-inch single on a small label called Reb Records. They could be described as a doo-wop group. Ronnie James Dio was the singer of that band, and the vinyl single began his professional recording career. Dio went on to form a group called Elf that also garnered a recording deal. That band, which had their first release in the late sixties, could be best described as boogie rock. But Dio’s strong voice set the group apart from many of the hippie bands of the time, lending a power to the band that was unusual.

Elf got a big break by landing opening slots for Deep Purple

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Dirty Sweet

A spaghetti rock and roll western shoot ‘em up is in store for anyone who wanders to the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage opening night of Milwaukee’s Summerfest. Just as they created high energy and tension in the western shootout themed music video for their tune “Marionette,” California rockers DIRTY SWEET come guitars blazing with their take on rock and roll.

“Expect to be blown away with our show,” says Ryan Koontz, who handles lead vocals.

And just like old western shoot out there’s the intense parts and the calm, collective parts. In music, that’s translates to hard rock and bittersweet acoustic songs. Hence the band’s name.

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The Dirty Three

I had no idea what to expect when I got to the door of the East End, the short-lived club on Madison’s east side in the mid-nineties. I was there for the Man… or Astro-Man show as they were on the cover that month. What I didn’t know was that the opening act, The Dirty Three, would be a band I would love for years to come. That was October of 1996.

Prior to the show, I hadn’t heard much about this Australian band, except that they traveled around the country, in an old, black Cadillac, going show to show without breaking. I’d heard stories about the band’s leader and violinist Warren Ellis, and his love for whiskey.

When I ran into him at the show, bottle in hand and wearing black, he was just as mysterious and foreboding a figure as I’d heard about. In fact, they were all very quiet.

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Disturbed

It takes all musical shapes and styles to fill out an OZZfest lineup, and this summer’s run is no exception—The hip-hop stylings of Tommy Lee’s post Mötley Crüe/Methods of Mayhem bounce into the industrial-metal synchopations of Static-X, which clamor into the hard rocking depths of Godsmack . And then there’s the full-on metal bombast of Pantera.

If you have the stamina, that offers a hell of a day at the mainstage, but this is America in the year 2000. In an age of instant gratification, why settle for four bands when there’s a band on the sidestage that offers everything each of those bands has to offer, and more. That’s big talk about a band that’s not even halfway to a gold record (selling 500,000 copies) with their Giant Records debut The Sickness, especially when comparing them to four bands that have sold more than 10.0 million albums between them. But Disturbed are that good. Quite honestly, they’re even better.

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Divyded

Making successful hard rock or metal music today is basically about three things:
1) Music with a hook
2) Lyrics fans can feel and relate to
3) Kick your ass guitar play.

Maximum Ink was lucky enough to come across a local band that literally matched up to all of the aforementioned, even though they tell us they’ve only been together since early 2010. If you haven’t heard of them, plan on hearing their name many times in the near future. Chuck Diesel (Vocals, Guitar), Jason “Das” Radosevich (Drums) and Ryan Trainor (Bass) have formed a force to be reckoned with as Divyded.

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