Long-time fans of Arch Enemy were alarmed when the band’s iconic vocalist Angela Gossow announced this past April that she would be leaving the band. Gossow released a statement saying that she would be staying on as the band’s business managerm but would be “passing the torch to the super talented Alissa White-Gluz, whom I’ve known as a dear friend and a superb vocalist for many years. I always thought she deserved a chance to shine – and now she’s getting it. Just like I got that chance back in 2001.”

White-Gluz had been the singer of Canadian metal band The Agonist for ten years prior where she applied her wide vocal range across a broad spectrum from raw gutturals to beautiful and pristine clean singing. Arch Enemy fans were concerned that the new singer’s presence would mark a shift towards the lighter fare.

Those concerns were eased only days after Gossow’s announcement when the band dropped the video for the bruising title track of their tenth studio album, War Eternal.

Watch the official video for “War Eternal” here below.

Nearly 30 years after their arrival on the world’s stage, Germany’s Kreator remain one of the most influential and innovative thrash bands in the world. Their recent headlining set at the world’s largest metal festival Wacken Open Air was one of the greatest performances the festival has ever seen.

Here from their 2001 masterpiece Violent Revolution are the mighty Kreator with the official video for the title track of the album.

On the night of August 2, 2014, the capacity crowd at Germany’s legendary metal festival Wacken Open Air were treated to a master class by Europe’s greatest thrash band Kreator. The German legends tore through 70 minutes of classics spanning their entire 30-year career with a few surprise tidbits thrown in for fun. This, kids, is how you put on a proper rock concert!

Watch the full video here below.

By Desmond Osorio

By 1986, everyone – at least those with a penchant for fast, loud, and pounding metal – knew that Thrash music was sweeping America. The major bands of this time, those that would be known to history as The Big Four – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, were taking over the world through touring and underground tape trading. It would be this underground tape trading movement that would bring to prominence one of Europe’s most prodigious and resilient bands of our time: Kreator.

In Europe, specifically Germany, there was a growing metal scene that was being fed by overseas tape trading of American thrash bands – bands like Overkill, Exodus, Testament, and “The Big Four,” along with European bands like Mercyful Fate (Denmark), Celtic Frost, and Coroner (the latter two from Switzerland). In this growing maelstrom, Germany gave birth to three bands: Destruction, Sodom, and Kreator. 1985 saw Kreator’s first foray into the scene with the surprisingly catchy Endless Pain (Noise Records, 1985). Black Metal bands of today cite Endless Pain as a heavy influence on their music when employing Thrash Metal qualities into their music.*

The year 1986, however, would prove to be a different year entirely with the release of Pleasure To Kill.

With 2011 coming to a close, a bunch of us here at Geeks of Doom, along with some Friends of Doom, decided to take a look back at some of our favorite albums that celebrated their 25th anniversary this year.

The year 1986 was a fantastic one for music, with pivotal albums from metal bands like Metallica and Slayer and rap artists like The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. There was also great music topping the charts from artists like Genesis, Janet Jackson, and Van Halen. Oh and let’s not forget the soundtracks!

Check out our picks below for Our Favorite Albums Of 1986.