The News Review:

- Straining to be Heard
- Draiman proud soldiers are feeling Disturbed
- SXSW: Blue Cheer stays true to heavy-metal roots

Straining to be Heard
NPR – Mar 16, 2008
) Between the jank speakers the awful tent acoustics the 15 metal bands that seemed to be playing overhead and the massive gaggle of conversationalists in the back it was horrible. Singer Matthew Caws is a notoriously upbeat guy but when he’s encouraging sing-alongs because no one in the band can hear himself through the monitors? That’s not a good sign. It’s enough to make me want to drive to the.

Draiman proud soldiers are feeling Disturbed
MSNBC – Mar 16, 2008
I like Serj (Tankian) I like Avenged Sevenfold?s new record. I think there?s going to be a resurgence toward the heavier side of things. Miller: Is Disturbed in danger of becoming a metal outcast because the music is ?too melodic??Draiman: I guess. And I appreciate all of that music. It?s amazing and rhythmic and it does what it?s supposed to do. It gets out your frustration. And there are those who are amazing at it.

SXSW: Blue Cheer stays true to heavy-metal roots
Dallas Morning News – Mar 16, 2008
If you’ve got loose fillings tenderness in the lymph nodes a touchy stomach nasal congestion dull tissue aches – most anything that the normal course of life could mask for a time – 40 minutes of this legendary trio’s megawatt groove-blues will expose it. Heck those at risk for pulmonary issues or osteoporosis may want to stay away since Blue Cheer’s oscillative power could theoretically trigger an anomaly or fracture. Forty years and two months after its debut Vincibus Eruptum predated the coming onslaught of heavy metal the then-cog of San Francisco’s psychedelic music machine can still provide sonic spinal taps that actually feel pleasurable. Under the Emo’s Annex tent at the stroke of midnight on Saturday morning several hundred patients most of whom appeared to have a pre-existing appreciation for Blue Cheer’s strain of aural virulence succumbed to the exam. The thousands of others who ambled by couldn’t avoid witnessing the blessed gratuity. Nor should they have. Appearances by historic musicians are part of the South by Southwest experience but only this year’s keynote figure Lou Reed means more to modern music than Blue Cheer (and frankly even that statement is dubious).