Desmond's Daily Offering - "Hearts on Fire' by Hammerfall

This tasy track was released on the Crimson Thunder album and is the fourth studio release by Swedish metal band HammerFall (formed in 1993). the lineup that wrote and recorded this gem was:
Joacim Cans - Lead & Backing Vocals
Oscar Dronjak - Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Backing Vocals
Stefan Elmgren - Lead, Rhythm & Acoustic Guitars, Backing Vocals
Magnus Rosén - Bass guitar
Anders Johansson - Drums & Percussion

This offering brings everything you need from a killer Power Metal song; Epic and soaring vocals, masterful riffage and some absolutely ludicrous guitar solo action. Enjoy \m/\m/\m/\m/

Amon Amarth - "The Pursuit of Vikings"

This just might be the greatest song af all time. Rifftastic gloriosity for the soul....a most triumphant effort indeed! Please, go on, my brethren, click away and let the pursuit of vikings commence \m/\m/\m/\m/

Paul Gilbert may have laid down some chedda with Mr. Big back in the day but dude is straight up nasty......

Yes, Paul Gilbert is the dude from Mr. Big. In the 1980's he rocked some horribly putird "Cheese Metal" but the fact is that the man can totally shred and writes some killer tunes. Check out this dandy right here....\m/

Desmond's Daily Offering - "Lack of Comprehension" by Death

Death was an American death metal band founded in 1983. The band's founder, Chuck Schuldiner, is considered a "pioneering death metal vocalist/guitarist." Tragically, The band ceased to exist after Schuldiner died of brain cancer in 2001, though Death remains an enduring heavy metal brand.

Death is considered one of the most influential groups in death metal. The band's debut, Scream Bloody Gore, has been described as "death metal's first archetypal document". One music biographer has referred to Schuldiner as the "Father of Death Metal" \m/ while another has claimed that Schuldiner is "readily acknowledged as the true founder of the U.S. death metal scene". Music biographer Garry Sharpe-Young considered Death "a genre breaking band...centred upon frontman Chuck Schuldiner" and that the band "would become one of the prime instigators of the death metal movement".

However, Schuldiner dismissed such attributions by stating, in an interview with Metal-Rules.com, "I don’t think I should take the credits for this death metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band".

As of 2008, Death have sold over 2 million albums worldwide, with over 500,000 copies sold by December 2009 in the US alone (excluding the numerous sales before the SoundScan era) making them the top-selling death metal band worldwide, and only topped in the US by Cannibal Corpse.

After Death disbanded, Chuck went on to form the amazing band, Control Denied. Schuldiner continued to work on his music, continuing his work with Control Denied. About two years after his original diagnosis, in May 2001, the cancer returned and Schuldiner fell ill again. He was originally denied surgery (which he needed immediately) due to lack of funds. A press release called for support from everyone, including fellow artists. Jane Schuldiner urged all who read the statements about Schuldiner and his illness to go out and get insurance, stating her frustration in the American system. Schuldiner had gotten medical insurance after his first surgery, but the insurer had refused to pay because the tumor existed before he had gotten the insurance. Many artists, including Kid Rock, Korn and Red Hot Chili Peppers, got together in Summer 2001 to auction off personal items with the funds assisting Schuldiner's medical expenses. This was covered by MTV. Matt Heafy, vocalist and guitarist for Trivium has also stated that the band had played a benefit show for Schuldiner while he was in the hospital in their days as a local band. Schuldiner received a chemotherapy drug called vincristine to help with his therapy. Like most drugs used in the treatment of cancer, the side effects were harsh and weakened Chuck greatly. In late October/early November, Schuldiner became ill with pneumonia.

Chuck Schuldiner died on December 13, 2001, at approximately 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. He was buried in Tampa, Florida on December 18, 2001 and MTV reported that famed musicians including Mike Patton, Dimebag Darrell, Glen Benton, Ville Valo, Trey Azagthoth and Max Cavalera, along with all of the former and active members of Death, attended his funeral.

Desmond's Daily Offering - "Entrance of the Conflagration" by Trivium

When I first heard Trivium, I was instantly brought back to the day when I first discovered Thrash in the 8th Grade. Their earlier efforts rocked out, no doubt but they were still maturinig as a band and Matt was finding his voice. The music on their first two albums was killer but the lame "screamo" vocal garbage was just plain silly. They really came into their own on "The Crusade" album while at the same time, paying tribute to the glorious Masters of Thrash that came Years before.(Metallica, Testamanet, Exodus, etc). "Entrance of the Conflagration" is a song has it all....absolutely majestic riffery, Hetfieldesque vocal stylings and double bass madness.
\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/ A bit of back story on this amazing album......
In April 2006, after a headlining tour featuring Mendeed and God Forbid as openers, Trivium entered the studio with Suecof and Heafy producing again.The band played the Download Festival again, this time on the main stage with Korn and Metallica. Trivium released The Crusade in October 2006. Debuting at number 25 on the Billboard 200, the album sold over 32,000 copies in its first week of sales.The album was a critical success, with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone claiming "Nothing mars a good metal record like so-called harsh vocals" and Don Kaye of Blabbermouth.net stating The Crusade "is one of the best metal releases of 2006 and quite possibly the heavy music album of the year." On The Crusade, Heafy's vocals changed from a metalcore scream that was heard on Ascendancy, to more singing on this album. This new singing style, along with the band's thrash metal music were criticised of sounding too much like Metallica, who was a major influence on the band. Heafy commented on the change:

If anyone is wondering why the screaming is gone it's because the four of us were never into bands that scream and we don't like any of the current bands that scream, so we asked ourselves why we're doing it. This time around I wanted to be a better singer because that's what we wanted to hear, so we dropped the screaming and did a lot of vocal training and vocal work.
—Matt Heafy

The band supported the album by touring with Iron Maiden and Metallica, appearing on the Black Crusade tour with Machine Head, Arch Enemy, DragonForce and Shadows Fall, as well as headlining a European tour with supporting acts Annihilator and Sanctity and acquiring an opening slot on the Family Values Tour with Korn. Trivium was named the best live band of 2006 at the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards.

Desmond's Daily Offerning - "Future Tense" by Sanctuary

Sanctuary was a radically awesome heavy metal band founded in Seattle, Washington in 1985. The band consisted of Warrel Dane (vocals), Lenny Rutledge (guitar), Sean Blosl (guitar), Jim Sheppard (bass), Dave Budbill (drums), and in the end Jeff Loomis.

They released a demo in 1986, which was well received, and that lead them to sign with Epic Records in 1987. They released their debut album, Refuge Denied, in the same year. It was produced by Dave Mustaine, the frontman of Megadeth. Thus followed a tour alongside Megadeth and the German band Warlock. \m/

After the tour, they entered the studio to record their second and final studio album, Into The Mirror Black, in 1990. A video clip for the song Future Tense was made and it received some air play on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. During the tour (with the bands Forbidden and Death Angel), the guitarist Sean Blosl left the band and was replaced by Jeff Loomis.

Shortly after, pressure from Epic Records to fit in with the flourishing Seattle grunge scene caused disagreements between band members (regarding the band's musical direction). So it followed that in 1991, Sanctuary officially disbanded. As killer as they were, this is probably a good thing. Can you picture Warrel singing "Heart Shaped Box?"

Epic Records was to release a full length live recording from this final tour but only a limited number of copies of a promotional live EP ever saw the light of day. It was named Into the Mirror Live.

Refuge Denied and Into The Mirror Black were re-released as a double CD set by IronBird Records on February 22, 2010.

After disbanding, Warrel Dane, Jim Sheppard and Jeff Loomis formed the band Nevermore in 1991. NEVERMORE RULES \M/\M/\M/\M/\M/