Electric Wizard should be bringing out a new one this year, wonder if it'll be any good.

I don't know, but I think Electric Wizard have made some of the finest heavy stuff I've heard in the last 10 years of so. Great live as well.
Orange Goblin are fun to see live, but not all that original.

Well said and very true.

I bring this up to people every now and then when it seems relevant to the situation: When I was in school, and this isn't even going back 10 years, to be a musician was somewhat of an outcast thing to be apart of. People were always so shocked to find out you played an instrument and there were only a handful, if that, more like 2 at the most, bands. Nowadays, it's the complete opposite. It's like teens are expected by their peers and just about everyone to be in a band or play an instrument - it's like it's a given. I'm speaking purely about Australia, of course. After I finished school I basically went straight into a sound engineering course where we were struggeling to get a class - where as I know people who do the course now, and there's too many people doing the course, there's numerous classes. I used to get asked if there wasn't any better way I should be spending my time other than music, now kids are being told music is a viable way of making a living. It's all quite ironic and crazy. It's good and it's bad. It's good because music is being taken serously and there is more venues to play at, but thisd also means every kid who plays, which is a word you could use loosely, thinks they're a musician. There's a big difference betweena musician and someone who just fools around on an instrument.

I partly blame the internet, and more importantly Myspace, for this.

I've thought about this quite a bit. As someone who played in a band in the '80s-90s that have since been described as part of a 'noise' scene, I do wonder what happened to it.

I suppose Britain is as trend-driven as ever and that 'noise' simply hasn't been 'trendy' for a good while now. Also, when I was playing, the 'noise' scene was still pretty much tied to the indie/punk thing but, by the early 90s had drifted largely into the regions of Free Jazz, Electronica and Metal, which largely alienated those like myself who remain at heart 'rock n roll' types.

By moving on, Noise in Britain gained a lot but (IMO) in doing so also entered something of its own cultural cul-de-sac.

tomahawk siren

Yes. I went to a gig last night and the queue was being flyer-ed by three guys promoting their band's myspace site. Pre-myspace they'd have been three mates playing for kicks in a local pub and they'd have considered that enough, now they see themselves as worthy of the attention of people who are going to see an internationally-touring band.

good god! the presumption! hang em I say. :)

young english music has been in the doldrums for longer than myspace has been popular.

electric wizard are too established to count

IMHO, and I've had many conversations about this over the last few months, it's all about the money these days.
Britain is caught up in a kind of celebrity wannabe hysteria. Everyone under the age of 25 seems to think that they have the right to be rich and famous, and they don't care how they do it. ( yeah I know it's a generalisation, but I'm a 'grumpy old man' - get over it!)
The record companies seem to have gained back all the ground they had to give up after the Punk phenomenon of the mid 70's, when artistic control was wrested back by the artists.
The record companies set the formula for success nowadays, hence the proliferation of 'clone' bands, and no talent girl groups who dress like porn stars and aim their music at the teenage audience. It reeks.

The record companies need another kick up the arse, a la 1976. Bands need to base their success on original ideas and talent, not how much they sound like the 'last big thing'.
Creativity needs to be nurtured and encouraged and at the moment it's being stifled by bling and the cult of celebrity.

Rant over - now go out and make some noise!!

I couldn't have put it better myself

I'm pretty sure Anaal Nathrakh is from Britain. They are a metal act, which doesn't necessarily count, but they are also the heaviest most rip-you-a-new-one thing I've ever heard in the genre.

http://myspace.com/anaalnathrakh

I like what Myspace has done for music. I don't like a lot of the "music" on it, but meh. It does a better job than a listening station in a shitty chain cd store.

yeah, when i was started this thread i was thinking about anaal nathrakh, there's also benighted leams and emit, but a mere three bands do not a bright future for the nation make

The Doom scene is about about the only place you'll find much good 'heavy' music in Britain these days. And even then you have to wade through acres of sub-Sabbath/Kyuss/Monster Magnet wannabes.