Historically, it's rare that Blind Guardian goes on tour in the United States, so whenever they come to the States we scramble to get tickets because they put on a hell of a show. Around the house we jokingly call them elven thrash metal because their lyrics are steeped in the works of Moorcock and Tolkien, with influences from many different myth cycles, such as Arthurian legend. To be blunt, their show was face-meltingly good. They played some classic crowd singalongs like The Bard's Song and Valhalla during the show and brought the house down in so doing.

Unfortunately, when …

While cleaning out Windbringer's hard drive, I stumbled across a set of photographs that I took but forgot up upload last year. I had gone to see the bands Chant, Legion Within, and KMFDM at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. It was easily one of the best shows I'd seen all through 2013, and it was well worth getting there early so that I could get right up next to the stage.

Without further ado (because it's been over a year since the concert and I don't remember very many specifics about it), here are the pictures I …

If you've been following my website for a while you've no doubt read me yammer on again and again about 3D printers that can only use low-melting point plastics as feedstock for manufacture. Usually ABS or PLA plastic, because they're cheap and relatively easy to acquire. Joshua Pearce and his research team at Michigan Tech announced late last year that they've developed an open source metal deposition printer for fabricating tools and components for which plastic isn't appropriate. Their printer lays down thin layers of metal instead of plastic to build up much stronger objects. The total cost to construct …

Last week word about the album Ultrawired from a band called Dope Stars Inc. exploded onto Twitter. DSI, as they are called (because 140 characters enforces a certain amount of textual economy) are based in Italy and have a decidedly retro sound and image as bands go these days. They are heavily inspired by the sound and appearance of some of the synthpop, industrial, and techno acts of the early to mid 1990's as well as some influential metal bands of the 1980's (they specifically cite Guns 'n' Roses and Motley Crue as some sources of their inspiration). If you …

Every once in a while, rumors that Peter Steele, frontman and bassist of the band Type O Negative had died would circulate through the Net; time and again, those rumors would be disproven and shown to be either a practical joke (in poor taste) or just that: rumors.

Not this time, unfortunately.

This morning at 0610 EST5EDT members of the band announced publically (note: no direct link to these posts so they'll probably rot over time) that Steele had died after a brief illness the evening of 14 April 2010. The cause of death is unknown, though heart failure is …