After six years at the Fredriksten Fortress in at Halden Norway, it was clear Tons of Rock needed more space. So here we are in the biggest city in Norway, Oslo, at the new home for the festival. From my American point of view, this was wonderful to see so many bands I have enjoyed but haven’t made it across the sea. With three stages and forty bands, two of the said stages named in honor of famous Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch. The Scream and Vampire had an electric mix of hard and most styles of metal. In addition to the campgrounds, there was plenty of rides, painted art and music for sale to browse on these bright and sunny Oslo days.Continue reading
Hailing from South Africa, Son of Hawk’s self-titled, self-released debut is a visceral blast of hard rock, with the riffs of Rage Against the Machine, the energy of Clutch and the raucousness of the Dropkick Murphys. Here are twelve songs whose charms are obvious from the get-go.