Photos by Brian Schroeter

Though hard rock has arrived at retirement age, its senior classmen are flourishing on tour. Really, these years are the first in which old metal musicians exist, and 2011′s foundation will be built on someday by geriatric Gojira, decrepit Devin Townsend, crotchety Cave In, et al. Right around 2025, those bands might look to Ronnie James Dio, who played all aces til his final days; to Metallica, who in middle age flagged fast; to Judass Priest’s withdrawal from major touring (or whatever) and to the renaissance of Whitesnake, whose recent face-blasting gig with L.A. Guns and Skid Row was like a survival guide for bands seeking to enjoy fruitful third and fourth decades! I was there and learned a lot! Check it out:  Click to read more…

So as I was perusing a downtown HMV last week, I rolled to the end of the aisle labeled “metal” with my nose held high in complete conviction of my superior taste over all this mainstream piss. While asking a bored wage-jockey for an impossible request (“Oh you don’t have any Ecstatic Flagocephalation? Figures, this place is a dump.”) my snobbery was brought to a sudden halt as my slack jaw knocked over a whole pile of records under the label XASTHUR (black/ambient – USA). Wide distribution is totally not tr00.

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