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a heavy trip

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" Heavy   Trip ," a Finnish ensemble comedy about a wannabe black metal band, is probably the only film you'll see this year with a crowd-surfing corpse. Don't let the last part of that sentence dissuade you from seeing " Heavy   Trip :" it's a real crowdpleaser. 

Granted, many of the film's jokes are at the expense of the small-town residents of Taivalkoski, a little Finnish burg where reindeer meat is sold and the slur "homo" is regrettably used to put down outcasts. Painfully shy metalhead Turo ( Johannes Holopainen ) is one such misfit: he and his band—later named "Impaled Rektum"—have been practicing for 12 years, but have never performed live once. That all changes when the Rektum bump into the director of a Norwegian metal festival. Their ensuing hero's journey-style story is a heart-felt and surprisingly well-timed comedy with just enough self-deprecating humor to make even the most shop-worn cliches work. " Heavy   Trip " is a feel-good comedy about the members of a subculture that simultaneously embraces and pokes fun of its subjects. 

You don't even have to enjoy  heavy  metal music to like " Heavy   Trip ," though it definitely helps. Turo and his band are good at what they do: Turo's singing voice sounds like a possessed diesel engine; drummer Jynnky ( Antti Heikkinen ) keeps time even when he's choking on his food; guitarist Lotvonen ( Samuli Jaskio ) shreds his instrument as quickly and as gracefully as a free-falling rollercoaster cart; and bassist Pasi ( Max Ovaska ) gives such a solid, low-thrumming foundation to the group's glass-shattering music that he makes even goofy KISS-style ghost paint and nail-studded bracelets seem like reasonable fashion choices. 

You can tell that these guys are serious about what they do just from the way that they solemnly talk about metal. Thankfully, their passion is never really the butt of the film's jokes. Sure, Pasi, a part-time librarian, recommends Uruguayan grindcore metal to two unsuspecting patrons who only want to hear Justin Bieber's latest record. And yes, Pasi's fellow band-mates are the kind of guys who have starry-eyed conversations about what their band should be called--"Fetal Death." "Let's not get small children involved in this"—while they push Jynnky's broken down van. Pasi also quotes former Black Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio with grave earnest-ness and can recall the opening chords to all his favorite songs by Pantera, Children of Bodom, and Mors Subita. Turo means it when he says "This music is our thing. Other guys can play hockey and drive around chasing pussy. We play metal." And Holopainen's apparent sincerity and conviction makes you want to overlook the wounded macho pride inherent in his second sentence. He convinces you that Turo's crass declaration makes sense in his world, a place where he and his friends are credible under-dogs.

Co-directors Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren and their three co-writers' rare sensitivity and knack for comic timing makes Turo and his group's generally familiar story arc—Impaled Rektum's Norway gig gives them an immediate ego boost, but they become so overwhelmed with their imminent success that they cause an international incident involving a stolen van and an illegally exhumed corpse—that much more convincing. You can see some plot twists coming, just as you can tell that Turo will inevitably overcome his timidity and show local florist Miia ( Minka Kuustonen ) how he feels about her. 

But Laatio, Vidgren, and the gang deserve major credit for nailing their scenario's most predictable elements. They spin things out until eventually, you start to wonder why you're watching the Swedish border patrol attack a "Jesus and the disciples"-themedbachelor party. Thankfully, even this shaggy dog-style scenario pays off. Twice. Laatio and Vidgren are so good at establishing their film's internal logic that it's even hard to find fault with their most seemingly chauvinistic, bro-y jokes, like when Jynnky's reindeer-slaying dad tells Impaled Rektum's members that "The meaning of life is like a clitoris: you move around it, but you can never be sure you've found it." That joke may seem icky, but it's not finished until Jynnky's mom adds "You haven't." 

Likewise, a fratguy-worthy paraphrase of " The Blues Brothers "—"We're on a mission from Satan"—isn't over until a Swedish border patrolwoman says "Listen, I love Satan as much as any woman in their 40s. But you're coming up for interrogation right this moment." The rest of the film's jokes are similarly raunchy, but never in a mean-spirited way (Just wait 'til you see how Turo ultimately deals with being called a "Homo"). That spirit of inclusivity makes " Heavy Trip " a cult hit waiting in the wings. Come for the brutal music, stay for the charming DIY optimism.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Film credits.

Heavy Trip movie poster

Heavy Trip (2018)

Johannes Holopainen as Turo Moilanen

Max Ovaska as Pasi / Xytrax

Minka Kuustonen as Miia

Ville Tiihonen as Jouni Tulkku

Samuli Jaskio as Lotvonen

Antti Heikkinen as Jynkky

Chike Ohanwe as Oula

  • Jukka Vidgren
  • Juuso Laatio
  • Aleksi Puranen

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Max Ovaska, Minka Kuustonen, Samuli Jaskio, Johannes Holopainen, Chike Ohanwe, and Antti Tuomas Heikkinen in Heavy Trip (2018)

After years of playing songs by other artists, the opportunity of a concert in Norway encourages a metal band to compose their own material, but not before overcoming some unexpected difficu... Read all After years of playing songs by other artists, the opportunity of a concert in Norway encourages a metal band to compose their own material, but not before overcoming some unexpected difficulties. After years of playing songs by other artists, the opportunity of a concert in Norway encourages a metal band to compose their own material, but not before overcoming some unexpected difficulties.

  • Juuso Laatio
  • Jukka Vidgren
  • Aleksi Puranen
  • Jari Olavi Rantala
  • Johannes Holopainen
  • Samuli Jaskio
  • Antti Tuomas Heikkinen
  • 62 User reviews
  • 114 Critic reviews
  • 72 Metascore
  • 5 wins & 3 nominations

Heavy Trip

  • Turo Moilanen
  • Jyrki Kalevi 'Jynkky' Pätsi
  • (as Antti Heikkinen)

Minka Kuustonen

  • Jouni Tulkku

Kai Lehtinen

  • Lotvosen isä
  • Lotvosen äiti, Merja
  • Kunnanjohtaja

Rune Temte

  • Frank Massegrav

Anssi Niemi

  • Christensen
  • Anette Dokken
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Did you know

  • Trivia The film was originally titled "Impaled Rektum", then "A band called Impaled Rektum" and eventually "Heavy Trip".
  • Goofs Pasi wears simple black t-shirt during recording of demo tape, but when the band walks out of the barn to see Norwegian visitor, he is wearing a t-shirt of famous Polish metal band - Behemoth.

[repeated line]

Pasi : Symphonic post-apocalyptic reindeer-grinding Christ-abusing extreme war pagan Fennoscandian metal.

  • Soundtracks Kuusamo (Africa) Written by Toto Cutugno and Vito Pallavicini Lyrics by Juha Vainio Arranged by Mika Lammassaari Performed by Eemeli Bodde

User reviews 62

  • mewalsh-27309
  • Apr 22, 2018
  • How long is Heavy Trip? Powered by Alexa
  • October 12, 2018 (United States)
  • Official site (Japan)
  • A Band Called Impaled Rektum
  • Making Movies
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro
  • €3,000,000 (estimated)
  • Oct 7, 2018

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  • Runtime 1 hour 32 minutes

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Max Ovaska, Minka Kuustonen, Samuli Jaskio, Johannes Holopainen, Chike Ohanwe, and Antti Tuomas Heikkinen in Heavy Trip (2018)

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A Band Called Impaled Rektum

2018, Comedy/Music, 1h 32m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Heavy Trip 's heartfelt humor and fully realized characters make this a journey well worth taking - and one of the best rock comedies in recent memory. Read critic reviews

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Turo is stuck in a small village and the best thing in his life is being the lead vocalist for the amateur metal band Impaled Rektum. He and his bandmates have practiced for 12 years without playing a single gig. The guys get a surprise visitor from Norway -- the promoter for a huge heavy metal music festival -- and decide it's now or never. They steal a van, a corpse, and even a new drummer to make their dreams a reality.

Genre: Comedy, Music

Original Language: Finnish

Director: Juuso Laatio , Jukka Vidgren

Producer: Kaarle Aho , Kai Nordberg

Writer: Juuso Laatio , Jukka Vidgren , Aleksi Puranen , Jari Olavi Rantala

Release Date (Theaters): Oct 5, 2018  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2018

Box Office (Gross USA): $9.7K

Runtime: 1h 32m

Distributor: Doppelgänger Releasing, Music Box Films

Production Co: Making Movies Oy

Cast & Crew

Johannes Holopainen

Turo Moilanen

Pasi, Xytrax

Minka Kuustonen

Ville Tiihonen

Jouni Tulkku

Antti Heikkinen

Chike Ohanwe

Kai Lehtinen

Martti Syrjä

Lotvosen isä

Juuso Laatio

Jukka Vidgren

Screenwriter

Aleksi Puranen

Jari Olavi Rantala

Kai Nordberg

Pilvi Kuusrainen

Line Producer

Cinematographer

News & Interviews for A Band Called Impaled Rektum

Hardy Rises, but Venom Sinks Like a Brock

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Why Heavy Trip is the funniest metal movie since This Is Spinal Tap

Director Juuso Laatio reveals the challenges of making a film featuring grave robbers and a band called Impaled Rektum

A scene from the movie Heavy Trip

“The scene where they’re all digging up the corpse in the middle of the night was actually shot on the longest day of the year – Midsummer’s Eve. Poor choice of scheduling that day!” 

We’re speaking with Juuso Laatio who, along with Jukka Vidgren, co-wrote and directed 2018’s Heavy Trip — the most unerringly-authentic metal comedy since This is Spinal Tap . Juuso is discussing the challenges of filming night scenes in his native Finland during the summer, when the sun simply doesn’t set. 

“For variety, it’s good to have night and day scenes, so the night stuff is all done in post,” he explains.

But grave-robbing is actually one of the film’s more minor plot points. Drawing inspiration from The Blues Brothers and other vintage American comedies, Heavy Trip tells the story of a lovable extreme metal band from a small town in Finland, whose simple quest for a gig catapults them into a sprawling and disastrous odyssey involving local bullies, wild animals, grave robbing, terrorists, Vikings, a crucifixion, a love story, an international standoff, buckets of vomit and a steady onslaught of brutal, neck-snapping metal. Their goal: make it to the Northern Damnation festival in Norway so they can play their bludgeoning new song in the parking lot.

Describing the film’s origins, Juuso explains, “Jukka and I were both raised on Hollywood cinema and Hollywood comedies. We wanted to make a feel-good film about a subject that isn’t typically seen as a feel-good subject.” 

The subject, of course, is heavy metal, which tends to get a very short shrift in most movies, with metalheads coming across as thuggish or dim-witted scenery for the main characters to avoid or to overcome (although, of course, there are some movies that get metal absolutely right ). The band in Heavy Trip — who adopt the suitably-appalling name of 'Impaled Rektum' — are the movie’s sweet but hapless protagonists. Portraying them in a realistic and positive way was one of Juuso’s primary objectives. 

“There’s something about metal guys,” he says. “Metal people know that they’re generally really nice and gentle and funny; or sometimes quiet, nerdy people and in contrast they do the most sonically violent stuff you can imagine. There’s a great contrast between the people and the music that they play. Also, usually metal people are the butt of the joke and we wanted to tell the side of the metal people.” 

One of Heavy Trip ’s many refreshing qualities is the clever ways in which it acknowledges the many cliches that it taps into — road trip movies, bands looking for their big break, romantic comedies, small towns, etc. — while turning them on their heads. For example, the film’s principal antagonist is the town’s slimy, womanising lounge singer. 

“I don’t know how well his jokes translate into English,” Juuso says, “but the lines that I wrote for him are so dirty in Finnish that I was embarrassed for my parents to see the film. It was really great to write such an asshole character.” 

The lead singer’s crush is not a leathery metal vixen but the girl in the flower shop who likes coffee and sticky buns. It’s very easy to relate to the characters because they seem like real friends in a real band dealing with the kind of stuff that most people — metalheads or otherwise — have experienced. And the way that the band’s vocalist (played by Johannes Holopainen), ultimately deals with the town’s homophobic bullies is deeply-satisfying.

From a metal perspective, the authenticity is off the charts. The actors sport t-shirts from the likes of Death , Kreator, Slayer , and Cannibal Corpse and their rehearsal room is decked out in painstakingly-curated extreme metal regalia. Also, the band’s first hit, Flooding Secrations (sic), is an absolute firestorm of pummeling blastbeats and grinding riffs, composed by Mika Lammassaari (Mors Subita). A longtime metaller himself, Juuso knew that the metal references had to pass muster with the scene’s most committed disciples — a caricature in and of themselves — who appear in the composite form of the band’s bassist, Pasi (masterfully played by Max Ovaska). 

“I think that if you’re in the metal scene,” Juuso says, “you know somebody who’s like that. An absolutist or a purist. I don’t want to admit this, but have you seen the show Community? There’s a lot of Abed in Pasi.” 

In one of the film’s recurring jokes, Pasi describes their subgenre as, “symphonic, post-apocalyptic, reindeer-grinding, Christ-abusing, extreme, war, pagan, Fennoscandic metal.”

One finds more than a few similarities between Dave Mustaine and Impaled Rektum’s guitarist Lotvonen (played by Samuli Jaskio). 

Juuso explains, “Pretty much the whole appearance of the guitar player is the old school Mustaine look. I tried to pack as many Megadeth references as I could into the film. He works in the slaughterhouse and he has the Killing Is My Business shirt and his guitar is the Mustaine guitar from the early 90s. Also, one inside joke is where the drummer (played by Antti Heikkinen), is sneaking into the police station, the chords playing in the background are another Megadeth reference — Hangar 18 .”

The film begs for multiple viewings. With a coveted 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Heavy Trip has found a wide and enthusiastic global audience that continues to grow exponentially now that it’s available on streaming platforms. Weirdly, although Finland is acknowledged as the metal capital of the world, Heavy Trip initially bombed there. 

“Nobody went to see it in the Finnish cinemas,” Juuso says. “It was marketed very poorly and to the wrong audience; it was marketed to 15 year-olds but it’s not a film for them. They don’t know the metal references and they don’t listen to metal anyway. After the failed opening, it was pretty much, ‘Well, there goes our career. Nobody’s going to work with us again.’” 

But the sense of failure was short-lived. At its South By Southwest premiere, the audience got it immediately, responding with thundering laughter and standing ovations. 

“We were really surprised, wondering if people would like a Finnish film with subtitles, but they loved it. Since then we’ve been to a lot of festivals and I’ve actually seen mosh pits at the theatre! We have the craziest fans in Japan. They have cosplay over there and one guy cosplayed as the speed camera! And they had special screenings where the music is turned up extra loud. There’s a crazy Heavy Trip scene over there.”

Which leads us to the inevitable question — will there be a Heavy Trip 2? 

“It's in the works," he says. "We’ve written a really good script and we were supposed to film it this summer. We’re aiming to film it next year. You never know. The last film took six years so I hope this one doesn’t take so long!”. 

There’s no need to worry — in the immortal words of Pasi: “We’re on a mission from Satan.”

Buy Heavy Trip on Amazon

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Joe Daly

Hailing from San Diego, California, Joe Daly is an award-winning music journalist with over thirty years experience. Since 2010, Joe has been a regular contributor for Metal Hammer , penning cover features, news stories, album reviews and other content. Joe also writes for Classic Rock, Bass Player, Men’s Health and Outburn magazines. He has served as Music Editor for several online outlets and he has been a contributor for SPIN, the BBC and a frequent guest on several podcasts. When he’s not serenading his neighbours with black metal, Joe enjoys playing hockey, beating on his bass and fawning over his dogs.

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Turo is stuck in a small village and the best thing in his life is being the lead vocalist for the amateur metal band Impaled Rektum. He and his bandmates have practiced for 12 years without playing a single gig. The guys get a surprise visitor from Norway -- the promoter for a huge heavy metal music festival -- and decide it's now or never. They steal a van, a corpse, and even a new drummer to make their dreams a reality.

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a heavy trip

a heavy trip

Cult Heavy Metal Comedy 'Heavy Trip' Is Getting A Sequel

"Heavy Trip" , the 2018 Finnish ensemble comedy about an aspiring metal band, is getting a sequel.

Juuso Laatio , who, along with Jukka Vidgren , co-wrote and directed the original film, has told Metal Hammer magazine that "Heavy Trip 2" is in the works. "We've written a really good script and we were supposed to film it this summer," he said. "We're aiming to film it next year. You never know. The last film took six years, so I hope this one doesn't take so long."

"Heavy Trip" debuted in 2018 at SXSW and was shown in select theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin and more, in conjunction with VOD platforms. Helmed by first-time feature filmmakers, "Heavy Trip" is a satire about the aforementioned metal band's efforts to land its first legitimate gig. In the film, Turo ( Johannes Holopainen ) is stuck in a small village in the Finnish countryside where his greatest passion is being the lead vocalist for the group IMPALED REKTUM . The only problem is that he and his fellow headbangers have practiced for 12 years without playing a single gig. But that's all about to change when the guys meet the promoter of a huge heavy metal music festival in Norway and decide it's now or never. Hitting the road in a stolen van with a corpse, a coffin, and a new drummer from a local mental hospital in tow, IMPALED REKTUM travels across Scandinavia to make its dreams a reality. This road trip comedy includes a musical brotherhood, grave robbing, Viking heaven, and an armed conflict between Finland and Norway.

According to Juuso , who is a longtime metal fan, "Heavy Trip" initially bombed in Finland, which is widely considered to be the most heavy metal country in the world.

"Nobody went to see it in the Finnish cinemas," Juuso said, "It was marketed very poorly and to the wrong audience; it was marketed to 15-year-olds but it's not a film for them. They don't know the metal references and they don't listen to metal anyway. After the failed opening, it was pretty much, 'Well, there goes our career. Nobody's going to work with us again.'"

"Heavy Trip" currently has a 94% critic score from 32 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes , the online review aggregation service that allows both critics and the public to rate movies. The same site has an 83% audience score for "Heavy Trip" from more than 250 reviews.

"We have the craziest fans in Japan," Juuso said. "They have cosplay over there and one guy cosplayed as the speed camera! And they had special screenings where the music is turned up extra loud. There's a crazy 'Heavy Trip' scene over there."

a heavy trip

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Bloody Disgusting!

‘Heavier Trip’ – Impaled Rektum Return in First Look at Upcoming ‘Heavy Trip’ Sequel!

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Bloody Disgusting and Doppelgänger Releasing joined forces back in 2018 to release  Heavy Trip , a Finnish black metal comedy about a small-town heavy metal band that blasts its way out of the quiet countryside for a big debut gig in Norway. The film is an absolute blast and ended up being a hit in Norway, leading first-time feature filmmakers  Juuso Laatio  and  Jukka Vidgren  back behind the camera for a sequel, titled Heavier Trip !

Filming on Heavier Trip has wrapped and with the project headed to the upcoming European Film Market, we’ve got some first-look images as well as plot details for ya this week.

The upcoming sequel promises to be “Harder. Faster. Louder.”

Here’s the official plot synopsis…

“The most ferocious death metal band in the world, Impaled Rektum, is incarcerated in a Norwegian prison when they discover that the guitarist’s family is facing significant financial trouble. In an effort to assist them, the band breaks out of prison and embarks on a journey through northern Europe to perform at the largest and wildest metal festival in the world: Wacken.

“Deceived by an dishonest record label legend and pursued by a murderous prison guard, numerous adventures await them; but their ultimate challenge becomes maintaining the band together amidst this chaos.”

Johannes Holopainen, Chike Ohanwe, Samuli Jaskio , and Max Ovaska star.

Stay tuned for more on Heavier Trip as we learn it!

a heavy trip

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

a heavy trip

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Takashi Miike Quietly Releases “Midnight” Short Film Based on Manga and Shot on an iPhone

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Prolific genre filmmaker  Takashi Miike  ( Audition ,  Ichi the Killer ) quietly released short film “ Midnight ,” based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka , on Apple’s YouTube channel yesterday. And that’s not even the most impressive part: per THR , the filmmaker shot the thrilling short on an Apple iPhone 15 Pro.

Watch “Midnight” below.

The short film “centers on a late-night taxi driver named Midnight, played by popular Japanese actor Kento Kaku , who roams the streets of Tokyo offering help to those in need. The film follows Midnight as he comes to the aid of a young woman, played by Konatsu Kato , who is struggling to take over her recently deceased father’s truck-driving business while fighting off a nefarious local gang, led by an evil boss played by the acclaimed character actor Yukiyoshi Ozawa .”

The 19-minute comedic action short looks incredible for being shot on an iPhone, and mixes live-action with manga illustrations.

Takashi Miike said in a statement about the promotional project highlighting iPhone 15 Pro’s capabilities, “Mr. Tezuka is something of a god among manga artists so it was an honor to take on the challenge of expressing his work using only iPhone. As we were shooting, I naturally began to challenge myself to think about how we could make a work unique to iPhone, beyond the usual approach to a film. I truly felt that the iPhone has the power to do things that a conventional movie camera can’t.

“Action mode accurately captures the facial expressions of subjects in a scene in a dynamic way, while reflecting their emotions and thoughts. For example, in the scene where Kaede hears news of her father passing away, furiously rushing out to show her sadness. Thanks to iPhone 15 Pro and Action mode, I was able capture such a scene. It is beyond what a conventional stabilizer can do without compromising the high-quality of the film. It is truly a magical feature.

“While Cinematic mode gives the film a more cinematic look, I was even more impressed by the ability to adjust the focus after shooting. You can focus on whatever you want, whenever you want. I hope that game-changing features like this that are impossible with regular photography equipment will be added more and more, and that it will break the conventional thinking of filmmakers.”

Miike is one of Japan’s most prolific filmmakers, with over 100 feature film credits to his name. Miike’s most recent film, Lumberjack the Monster , is still awaiting US distribution.

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The Heavy Trip movie sequel has been announced for 2024

Heavier Trip – the aptly-named sequel to 2018 cult favourite metal film Heavy Trip – is arriving next year…

The Heavy Trip movie sequel has been announced for 2024

The sequel to Finnish satire film Heavy Trip has been confirmed.

A social media post has announced that the new movie – which will be called Heavier Trip – is “coming up”, with a poster teasing the release date in 2024.

The first movie, which has an impressive 94 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes , debuted at SXSW in March 2018, and has since become a cult favourite amongst metalheads.

Speaking with Vague Visages in 2019, Jukka Vidgren – who directed the film alongside Juuso Laatio – said of the wider reception to Heavy Trip: “We were really surprised that the first film festival that we got into was something as huge as SXSW. After that, we got a lot of festival invitations. The film has always felt very Finnish to me, but the humour seems to translate very well, which is something I didn’t [consider] while making the film. I then thought, ‘This is something so Finnish, these small villages, the metal music, etc., and it will not be relatable for other people outside of it.’ But I was wrong, and that’s great. People do like the film, and the film has been sold to distributors to like 20, 30-something countries.”

Explaining the core themes of Heavy Trip, meanwhile, Jukka explained, “Most of the ideas came pretty easy. There’s a good soil for a comedy in a heavy metal scene. The core of the film was that these very nice, almost innocent kind of guys are playing this music that sounds very scary. That’s actually pretty much true. A lot of metalheads that we know are generally lovely dudes.”

Read this: Why The Batman is the most metal superhero movie

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‘Heavy Trip’ Soundtrack Released

Here’s the track list of the album:

1. Died and Gone to Valhalla – Lauri Porra (0:55) 2. Where Are You Taking Me? (Dialogue Excerpt from “Heavy Trip”) (0:11) 3. Raked to a Pulp – Mika Lammassaari (1:17) 4. Corium Black – Diablo (5:20) 5. Death Van – Lauri Porra (0:34) 6. Kuollut, Kuolleempi, Kuollein – Mokoma (4:23) 7. Sounds Like Blast Beat (Dialogue Excerpt from “Heavy Trip”) (0:21) 8. Flooding Secrations (feat. Eemeli Bodde) – Mika Lammassaari (2:19) 9. Wolverine – Lauri Porra (0:36) 10. The Call – Diablo (4:40) 11. Jynkky’s Burial – Lauri Porra (1:06) 12. Better S**t Than Sorry! (Dialogue Excerpt from “Heavy Trip”) (0:05) 13. Determined Moilanen – Lauri Porra (1:58) 14. Illuminati – Diablo (5:11) 15. IR on the Road – Lauri Porra (1:45) 16. Vikings on the High Seas – Lauri Porra (0:42)

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This is a treasure of heavy metal folklore. Heavy Trip encapsulates the struggle of heavy metal as a music form, as it has always been. It is Spinal Tap for real heavy metal. If you love heavy metal, I would imagine this is religiously required material. Just sayin…

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  • AV Club Katie Rife While the film's attempts at slapstick can be painful-in a cringing way, not in a brutal way-Heavy Trip does succeed in creating perhaps the most charming ensemble of morbid dorks since What We Do In The Shadows.
  • The Lamplight Review Brent Hankins For anyone that's ever played in a garage band and remembers things like pre-show jitters, schlepping equipment to and from the venue, and the importance of a good promotional photo, Heavy Trip should resonate particularly well.
  • Film Threat Filipe Freitas Heavy Trip is an absurdist, powerhouse folly, which feels spunky enough to honor the musical genre and comes filled with deadpan hilarity to please comedy addicts.
  • Nightmare on Film Street Kimberley Elizabeth Tune in, Turn off, and just go with it - Heavy Trip is a hilarious home for outcasts and misfits. A laugh riot for the rebellious, and call-to-arms for the underdog.
  • Smash Cut Reviews Karl Delossantos Not everyone will be able to find the rhythm that Heavy Trip is drumming, but once you do it's futile not to drum along.
  • RogerEbert.com Simon Abrams A cult hit waiting in the wings. Come for the brutal music, stay for the charming DIY optimism.
  • Slant Magazine Pat Brown Its story distances heavy metal from any whiff of toxic masculinity by setting Turo and company against homophobes and rakes.
  • Austin Chronicle Richard Whittaker It's no Metalocalypse (pretty much the only metal comedy to completely break the rules), and there are no new classic anthems here, but if you want to bang your head to a very familiar beat, Heavy Trip is a solid cover version.
  • 812filmreviews Robert Daniels The band at the center of Heavy Trip, Impaled Rectum, provide the best comedy of the year and one of the best music films in decades
  • Chicago Reader Jamie Ludwig One of the funniest buddy films of the year.
  • Los Angeles Times Michael Rechtshaffen Remains knowingly true to its quirky quartet and milieu even as the plotting runs off the rails a tad in the third act.
  • RogerEbert.com Nick Allen Achieves the status of bonafide crowd-pleaser, for a crowd that isn't normally acknowledged with such detail and warmth.
  • Hollywood Reporter Deborah Young Part let's-get-it-together band saga and part road movie, the story arc is awfully familiar, but that doesn't stop it being a rollicking romp.
  • Austin Chronicle Josh Kupecki This Finnish black metal comedy has its heart in the right place (severed from the body, of course, and served on a stake), but never quite transcends its quirky humor to become the epic it sets out to be.
  • Third Coast Review Lisa Trifone If you can, see this one with an audience where the laughs from your fellow film-goers will surely elevate this slapstick rock comedy to an eleven.
  • Birth.Movies.Death. Andrew Todd Heavy Trip ought to appeal to a wider audience than Lords of Chaos, as the bar for entry in terms of prior knowledge (and stomach fortitude) is much lower. It's also just a likeable story.
  • Consequence Dominick Suzanne-Mayer There's always been a from-the-basement feel to the genre, and everything about the modest dark comedy of Heavy Trip feels entirely faithful to that anarchic spirit.
  • Blu-ray.com Brian Orndorf The production manages to maintain control of outrageousness, keeping extremes sly and silliness within reach, skillfully finding moments of pure joy.
  • Cinema Crazed Felix Vasquez Jr. A genuinely entertaining, heartfelt, laugh out loud film...
  • Eye for Film Jennie Kermode Heavy Trip has universal appeal, but you will need resilient eardrums to get you through - and if you know your metal well, the in-jokes may well have you in stitches within the first 20 minutes.

a heavy trip

Take Plex everywhere

Anna Von Hausswolff

Watching the eclipse in Erie? Expect heavy traffic, and likely a slow return trip home

Extra police presence to handle accidents, other issues expected before, during and after the april 8 event.

a heavy trip

Erie County is expected to be flooded with sky watchers on the afternoon of April 8 when the sky darkens during a total solar eclipse.

Handling the inflow, and more importantly the exit, of those visitors is the focus of local transportation and emergency service agencies as the big day draws nearer.

It's unknown how many people will travel here to view the eclipse from outside of Erie County, which sits along the eclipse's path of totality, and when they will arrive before the big event. But what is known, based on information gathered from other areas of the country that have experienced a total eclipse, is that one big traffic headache is likely to occur once the event is over.

"We were told that in other areas, there was total gridlock for up to 12 hours, and the interstates were clogged for a good six hours," Millcreek Township Police Chief Carter Mook said.

State and local officials have been meeting for months to assess what Erie County might expect in terms of outside visitors and to discuss how to best handle the comings and goings of all those people and vehicles. Those meetings are still taking place, and plans are still being formulated.

Traffic issues

It's important to note that the eclipse will be the single largest event of our lifetime in Erie County, said Ed Orzehowski of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Traffic Unit in District 1. The event is unique in that no one is in charge of it, and it's unknown where everyone will be going to watch it other than they will be going into the path of totality, which includes Erie County, he said.

Officials also don't know when visitors will be arriving, but do know from speaking with others from areas of previous eclipses that everyone tends to leave at the same time when the eclipse is over, Ozehowski said. The eclipse is expected to begin at about 2 p.m. on April 8, with totality at about 3:15 p.m., according to information on VisitErie.com .

"So obviously we are preparing for basically a mass volume onto Interstate 79 and Interstate 90," he said.

Because the eclipse is unlike other large events, such as a concert or a festival, and officials don't know where everyone will be going to watch it, PennDOT can't set up detours or temporary traffic pattern changes like they can for other things, PennDOT spokeswoman Jill Harry said. Officials are still coming up with plans on how to communicate messages to both local residents and those traveling from out of state, she said.

PennDOT will utilize its 511PA real-time traffic information site to alert residents and visitors to where traffic might be backing up prior to and on the day of the event, Harry said.

"It's fair to say that our goal isn't to eliminate congestion. It's to minimize it. The goal is how to minimize the impact as much as possible, how to keep traffic flowing," she said. "A lot of focus has been on Erie, but for us this is a regional event so it encompasses a lot of our District 1 area. We are taking the approach of how to minimize the impact on the entire region."

The agency's number one priority is safety, so officials want those who come to view the eclipse to exit the highways to do so and to not stop on the shoulders or exit and entry ramps, Orzehowski said. It's also important that motorists turn on their headlights during the event, he said.

PennDOT already has emergency detour plans in place in the region for use during weather events or accidents, and will utilize those plans if an accident or other issue forces the rerouting of traffic before, during or after the eclipse.

"The issue is there is probably going to be heavy traffic volume on the detour routes as well," Orzehowski said.

Local residents are advised to limit their travel during the eclipse to help cut down on the anticipated volume of traffic, Harry said.

Local preparations

Erie County will activate its emergency operations center and will staff it with county emergency management officials and representatives from agencies including PennDOT, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency before, during and after the eclipse, county emergency management coordinator Brian Mesaros said.

The county will rely on state and local police to handle traffic issues, Mesaros said.

The biggest message county officials are stressing to those coming to witness the eclipse is to find a safe place to watch and to not park on the side of roadways, he said.

The state police, like other agencies, are still developing their action plans for the eclipse. But officials in Troop E, which covers Erie and surrounding counties, plan to have increased staffing on hand and right now are planning to station troopers at all of I-79 and I-90's onramps to try to respond quickly to any incidents that might happen on the interstates, Troop E commander Capt. Kirk Reese said.

State police are also reaching out to towing services in the Erie region to be at their shops and be ready to respond to any accidents that might occur on April 8, Reese said.

The Erie Bureau of Police plans to have every available officer in uniform and ready to respond to anything that may arise during the eclipse, Police Chief Dan Spizarny said.

"We've been in touch with cities that have experienced it in the past. They say to expect a large amount of people," Spizarny said. "Crime isn't necessarily one of the top 10 problems, just the volume of people and traffic, people not from around here looking for the best place to park."

Erie police expect the bayfront to be extremely busy during the eclipse, Spizarny said. City police have partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard to develop plans for getting someone to the hospital should an emergency occur on the water during the event, he said.

Millcreek police will also increase the department's uniform presence by having non-uniformed personnel assisting the township's patrol complement to handle the expected increased call volume, Mook said.

"We would expect lots of complaints of traffic congestion," he said. "Since there will be so much more traffic, I would expect more accidents, and we will have people prepared to handle those."

Contact Tim Hahn at  [email protected] . Follow him on X  @ETNhahn.

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Music Features

Power trip returns, reshaped by loss, the thrash metal band finds catharsis in a familiar place.

Evan Minsker

a heavy trip

Four years after the death of frontman Riley Gale, Power Trip surprised fans onstage at Mohawk in Austin, featuring a new vocalist. Samantha Tellez/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Four years after the death of frontman Riley Gale, Power Trip surprised fans onstage at Mohawk in Austin, featuring a new vocalist.

The open-air venue Mohawk in Austin, Texas, has an upper deck perch that's perfect for observing the churning cyclone of bodies below. Emotions were high on Dec. 1, 2023: Texas band Fugitive was the headliner, but many in the crowd had a hunch about the promised "special guests." When Power Trip , the crossover thrash metal giants who had been missing in action for four years, finally appeared, there were tears in the pit. Bodies flew from the stage into the torrent of thrashing heads screaming every word of "Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe)" in blunt, ecstatic unison. It was a moment of catharsis for a scene that had been in mourning since the shocking 2020 death of the band's lead singer, Riley Gale .

Blake Ibanez, guitarist in both Fugitive and Power Trip, called the decision to bring the band back that night "testing the waters" to see how fans would react. "It was a safe way to do it, because on one hand it's, like, 'Hey, it's just a Fugitive show, and I'm having the guys come up here. We're gonna just celebrate and play the songs,' " he tells NPR on a video call. "I mean, at some point it's gotta happen." This year, Power Trip will play full-length sets at the Pomona, Calif., festival No Values (June 8), in its hometown of Dallas (July 6) and in New York City (Aug. 24).

It's an opportunity for a passionate fan base of hardcore kids and metalheads to celebrate — people who loved the band's boundless energy, how it could wield scream-along pop hooks using the heaviest, scuzziest, most abrasive metal soundscapes. Some at the Mohawk show spoke of it with near-religious reverence. "This is so cliché, but it was the most electric feeling I've felt at a show," said Erica Hotchkiss, a fan from Irving, Texas. She and some friends drove three hours south to Austin to catch the show based on a clue in the flyer: an illustration of an executioner, which is a key piece of iconography from arguably Power Trip's most beloved song . "We didn't know if they were just going to come out and make an announcement. But we knew that we had to be there."

It was fans like this who compelled Power Trip to come back. "They can see we're in it for the right reasons," Ibanez says. "We didn't make any money off Power Trip at that show. We didn't do it for that. We did it for ourselves because we miss playing these songs together, and we did it to celebrate Riley." The full shape of what's next isn't yet defined beyond this handful of shows. Here's what's certain: The band wants to perform the music they put out, across two albums and scattered singles. Gale's family wants them to play. It took years for everyone to get to this point.

The loss of a lyricist and a leader

"It was one of the worst things that happened to me in my life, because Riley was my best friend," says Brandon Gale, Riley's father.

Riley Gale died in his sleep on Aug. 24, 2020, from the toxic effects of fentanyl. He was 34. The band lost its voice and lyricist; the scene lost a leader. Power Trip built its reputation on gleefully chaotic live shows, and those shows wouldn't have been half as powerful without the longhaired figure in a camo hat barking out front about systemic injustice, corporate greed and oppression. Every word was shouted with an authoritative grizzle; he could galvanize a crowd with a single-syllable grunt. "He had very strong messages in there," Brandon Gale emphasizes. "It wasn't just yelling for the sake of yelling on stage. He wanted people to genuinely get engaged in the message."

"Riley, dude, he was just such a force on stage," says Gray Muncy, a photographer from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who estimates he captured over 40 of the band's shows (and somehow never broke a camera in the process). "I've shot so many photos of him, and it was so easy because of his emotion." Whenever Muncy gets a compliment on photos of Power Trip, he credits the chemistry between the band and its audience. "If you go to a really good hardcore show, the crowd is in the band," he said. "There's that symbiotic relationship where they feed off of each other."

a heavy trip

Riley Gale, pictured here in 2018 at the Saturn in Birmingham, Ala., could galvanize a crowd with a single-syllable grunt. David A. Smith/Getty Images hide caption

Riley Gale, pictured here in 2018 at the Saturn in Birmingham, Ala., could galvanize a crowd with a single-syllable grunt.

In the wake of his passing, the Gales set up a 501(c)(3) charity called the Riley Gale Foundation in an effort to honor Riley's strong convictions. Brandon Gale says his son was the small guy in school who would stand up to bullies, and that he volunteered in soup kitchens as a young man. The foundation aims to be a continuation of his passions in life: It puts funds toward helping unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in the Dallas area (Riley was a committed supporter of the queer-focused outreach group Dallas Hope Charities), has named a library in his honor (he was a voracious reader) and also donates to a local dog rescue (loved animals).

Gale's friends affirm that on and off the stage, he led with empathy: He was the guy who let touring bands crash at his place, who made himself available to anyone who needed an ear. "With the fans, he wanted to be someone anybody could reach out to and talk to if they were dealing with something in their lives," says Power Trip guitarist Nick Stewart. "He was just such a comforting person when people didn't know where they stood. He felt like he could try to help everybody."

Before Power Trip began, Ibanez described Riley's previous band Balls Out as "the kings of Dallas hardcore." Gale was without a band when Ibanez, Stewart and bassist Chris Whetzel's band Reality Check was beginning to fizzle in the late 2000s. Mutual friends suggested they talk, and soon enough, Gale and Ibanez — then 21 and 16 — started bonding over hardcore bands like Cro-Mags, Breakdown and Leeway over messages on MySpace.

Power Trip's sound was a meeting point between hardcore punk and thrash metal, and in the process of creating it, the band connected with a wide swath of listeners interested in the greater sphere of heavy music. "We know we play a very subversive style of music, but we also want this to be for everyone," says drummer Chris Ulsh. "We want people to feel comfortable at our shows and have a good time. We're the type of band that can play with anyone regardless of if we're playing with indie bands, death metal bands, punk bands, whatever."

Steadily, a community of passionate fans formed around the band. Hotchkiss, who has an executioner tattoo with the caption "swing of the axe," saw the band around 10 times before attending the surprise show in Austin last year. "I'm married to my husband because we ran into each other at a Power Trip show," she said. Hotchkiss was a fan from the Dallas hardcore scene; her husband Kris was a metalhead. Previously acquaintances, they bonded instantly after she saw him in the pit: "Power Trip was our common ground." The date of that show appears on a decorative pillow in their home.

Who could step into Riley's role?

In the months after Gale passed, Ulsh said the band didn't consider or discuss the prospect of keeping the band going "for a really long time." It was 2020, and playing shows wasn't an option due to COVID-19, anyway. But as live music started to return, the band's members were talking on one of their regular FaceTime calls, and Ulsh broached the subject. "I'd never really mentioned it to anyone else and it kind of seemed like no one else had talked about it, but everyone was just like, yeah, we should," he says. "I like being a band with these guys, and we all seemed to feel the same way."

Some of the band's members had been busy with different projects, Ibanez with Fugitive and Ulsh with Quarantine. Still, the idea of these four starting a different band together didn't feel right — like it wouldn't be honest or respectful to their past together. "We put so much into this band and it just kind of seemed like it would be compounding tragedies: losing a close friend and then losing this thing that we dedicated our adult lives to," Ulsh says.

a heavy trip

Power Trip in 2024 now includes vocalist Seth Gilmore (far left). He plans to give it his all "to honor the spirit of Riley's memory." Adam Cedillo/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Power Trip in 2024 now includes vocalist Seth Gilmore (far left). He plans to give it his all "to honor the spirit of Riley's memory."

"If anybody's going to step into this role and sing these songs, it'd be someone from our world who has history with us and gets this whole thing and knew Riley," Ibanez says. "The pool for that? I mean, I think it's [not] overstating it to say it's incredibly small. Beyond that, who's actually willing and is capable of doing it?"

Seth Gilmore was the guy, a friend embedded in the Texas hardcore scene for as long as Power Trip existed. As the frontman of Fugitive, he had established chemistry with Ibanez. Initially, he was hesitant. "A year or so after Riley passed, before we even started Fugitive, I may have thrown it his way: 'Hey, would you want to mess around with some of these songs I've been working on, that were actually songs for the Power Trip album that never happened?' " Ibanez recalls. The implication that he'd be standing in for Gale gave him pause, so he dropped it until well after Fugitive had earned the respect of fans. "By the time I brought it up to him again in the past year, at that point he didn't really think twice about it." Gilmore confirmed Ibanez's assessment in a statement, saying he plans to give it his all "to honor the spirit of Riley's memory."

So it was Gilmore barking "Manifest Decimation" and "Hornet's Nest" to the crowd at Mohawk. Gale could never be replaced, but for fans who had just watched a Fugitive set, the consensus was that it was an organic fit. "I personally don't think there's any other person better to fit the bill than Seth," Hotchkiss said. Of course, fans had a hunch he would be the guy. "Even before everybody knew Power Trip was playing that night in Austin, I said, 'Seth, your life's about to change,' and he just smiled," Muncy says.

There was some fallout from that night, too. Brandon Gale issued a statement saying the family was not told in advance about the show and was caught by surprise. He later issued an apology, saying that while he wishes he'd gotten a heads-up from the band, he still regrets the statement. "While it came as a surprise, it was a very visceral reaction and I would certainly undo it," he says.

That one show wasn't the extent of the issues between the band and Brandon Gale, as the statements brought to light a civil lawsuit he'd filed on behalf of Riley's estate on Feb. 10, 2021, against the members of Power Trip. The suit alleged breach of fiduciary duty and claimed the band owed the Gale estate money from merchandise sales, tour revenue and royalties. On Dec. 8, one week after the surprise set in Austin, the case was settled.

"There was an unfortunate need for the litigation," Brandon Gale says. "It was critically important that the foundation received all of the money that Riley was entitled to because that's the primary source, with contributions, of how we build and grow the foundation. It's settled, and what I want to do is focus on the good stuff going forward."

"We probably don't want to comment on that," Ulsh says of the lawsuit. "That was a very difficult and s****y thing that happened that we had to go through. It's behind us now, and we just want to leave it behind us." Ibanez adds: "When something really tragic happens like that, there's a lot of emotions involved. It happens this way with a lot of similar situations, when you have the family of someone who wasn't really involved and is trying to figure everything out and get things together. Yeah, it's behind us. And as everything stands, everything's all right."

Asked about the future of the band, Brandon Gale offered his blessing: "If Power Trip goes out and they start touring again, people are going to buy their music and Riley's going to get his royalties and the foundation's going to grow. So how could we not be in favor of that?"

'We're just taking it one step at a time'

Power Trip is currently resuming rehearsals in Dallas. Ulsh says he's excited to get back to playing for wild crowds instead of repeating the same songs over and over to each other in a practice space. Ibanez is excited to feel the rush again, too: "We were gone from it for so long, and then you get up there and it's like, wow, I forgot we're part of something really special."

Though Ibanez let it slip that Power Trip had been working on a new album before Gale's death, he refused to engage further on the possibility of new music in the future. "The main focus is to play the catalog — that's what people want to hear. I don't think we're really particularly interested in moving on from where we were," Ibanez says. "We really want to honor Riley and want to honor what we've done before just moving forward. That's the main thing, to treat the whole situation with as much respect as possible. ... We're just taking it one step at a time."

While Ulsh, Ibanez and Whetzel all stayed busy in recent years with other bands, Nick Stewart hadn't been back on a stage since Power Trip's last show with Gale. "I'm a civilian — I just book shows and don't have a side project right now. So it's even more reason why I'm excited to do this," Stewart says. "It's been our lives since I graduated high school, so to be able to do it again is really special. I love performing, man; I love getting up there and giving everything I got." As he spoke, his dog began barking in the background. "Sorry, my dog's going crazy. But yeah, excited as my dog right now to get up there and play some shows."

That December night in Austin, Muncy looked around in the pit and saw how many people around him were crying. "When I first thought about them playing, I was, like, 'My friends need this; Texas needs this show, our scene needs this,' " he says. "But then once it happened, I was like, 'You know what? My friends in the band needed that show more than anybody.' Those four dudes, they sacrificed a lot to get where they are. They can't just quit."

More From Forbes

Judas priest’s rob halford on the band’s new record ‘invincible shield’: it’s ‘in its own lane’.

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Lead vocalist Rob Halford of British heavy metal band Judas Priest performs on stage during their ... [+] "50 Heavy Metal Years tour, at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas, on November 23, 2022. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP) (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Judas Priest singer Rob Halford can still recall when the legendary band recorded their debut album, Rocka Rolla , in 1974—a record rooted more in blues-and-folk-influenced progressive hard rock than the blistering heavy metal that has been Priest’s signature sound. At the time, the conditions that led to the first record were not quite ideal for the then-newcomers.

“We had to record on the cheapest rates available for the studio, which was from 9:00 or 10:00 in the evening till 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning,” Halford, known as the ‘Metal God,’ says. “So we slept in the van during the day, and then went to work at night. I can remember that like it was yesterday. But if you'd have told me that 50 years later I'd be talking about a new album, I'd have said, ‘What are you smoking? Give me one of those pills.’ It's insane.”

Indeed, much has changed since those hard-knock early days for Judas Priest, whose current lineup consists of Halford, bassist Ian Hill, guitarist Glenn Tipton, drummer Scott Travis and guitarist Richie Faulkner. Over the next five decades, the band amassed legions of fans, recorded hit albums, and influenced generations of metal acts. But rather than resting on their laurels, the band is still making music via Invincible Shield , their 19th studio album (due out Friday) and first new record in six years. The reasons for the long hiatus could be traced to the pandemic lockdown and the band's previous tour marking their 50th anniversary.

The cover of Judas Priest's 'Invincible Shield.'

“I think that you should take the necessary time it takes to create your art,” Halford says. “And there are no rules because rock and roll is all about no rules. It's disorganized chaos as it should be. So you take all of those parameters into the idea, and here it is. Priest has always been about quality over quantity. Having said that, back in the '80s, we were making an album a year and then touring. But that was then. The industry now, in the business sense, is completely different to where we were in the '80s.”

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First announced last October during the band's appearance at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California , Invincible Shield carries all the hallmarks of classic Priest: from the blazing razor-sharp guitar attack to Halford's dramatic vocals. In the tradition of such classic Priest albums as British Steel , Defenders of the Faith , Screaming for Vengeance and most recently Firepower , Invincible Shield is a showcase of a veteran band still feeling inspired. Halford says that the band has always been aware of trying to hit a different mark with each new record, and Invincible Shield is no different.

“We've said for as long as I can remember that we make these records to truly represent who we are and what we're about at this specific moment in time. Invincible Shield is in its own lane on the heavy metal highway. And much like a lot of us, we avoid replication. We're not a formula band. With Priest, we blew the doors off the rules of heavy metal.”

The first single released off the record was “Panic Attack,” which joins the canon of classic Priest bangers and has a timely message. “I always feel that you really have to leave the launch pad with your first three tracks,” explains Halford. ““Panic Attack” seems to generate the correct amount of energy and spotlight, and the first firework is launched. And so here we have this song that's quite a dark view of the ability of the internet to do. When I say, ‘ The clamor and the clatter of incensed keys can bring a nation to its knees,’ we see that all the time. The primaries are going on, and the internet is full of conspiracy theories, hate, bullying – all of that kind of stuff.

“Priest has a reputation of being a very positive band,” he continues. “When we take you to extraordinary, dramatic, powerful places, we always push through the darkness. The light always breaks through. But this particular song, it stays in a very moody kind of perspective lyrically because that's my job. You wrap that up into the instrumentation and I think we made something very special and unique. And it certainly caused a lot of discussion more so than I anticipated.”

Another track unveiled from the new album, “Crown of Horns,” may be the most accessible song that the band has released. “You look back at your creativity and you go, "Oh, that's where my mind was at. I had no idea." For me, a lot of lyrics are therapy. They're just my way of infusing what's in my head onto these songs, with the band's approval. It's a spiritual definition for me when I'm talking about rapture. It's the searching that everybody has to find the love of their life, which I have with Thomas [my partner]. It also has a little bit of reference to what's happening in Ukraine and probably the other conflicts that are going on in the world. Again, it talks about finding an angel in the dark and eventually lifting off and touching the stars. So it's hope. It's a heavy metal love song full of hope and spirit and possibilities.”

Among the other standout cuts from Invincible Shield is the defiant and empowering “As God Is My Witness,” which Halford describes as “full-on Oprah,” adding: “It's just all these great uplifting feelings of self-empowerment, self-determination, taking on everything that the world throws at you and standing your ground and believing in yourself. And I think that's as important now as it ever was.”

Halford credits Invincible Shield ’s dynamic and invigorating sound to producer/guitarist Andy Sneap. “He's such a craftsman in the production sense,” the singer says. “It's not easy to produce a band. We're like these really difficult animals full of tantrums and stamping your feet and holding your breath, all that kind of stuff that you go through the drama of making a record. And he, like most producers, he's a bit like a psychiatrist. He'll lead you through the emotions to get the best possible performance. Andy did a wonderful job...he's got it all.”

Judas Priest will commence their North American tour on April 18 in Wallingford, Connecticut, playing cuts from the new record and their catalog accompanied by a new stage presentation that projects the concept of an invincible shield.

INDIO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 07: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Richie Faulkner, Scott Travis, Rob ... [+] Halford, Ian Hill, and Andy Sneap of Judas Priest perform onstage during the Power Trip music festival at Empire Polo Club on October 07, 2023 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Power Trip)

“From day one, I've always felt that you should work really hard to leave your fans with a visual memory of the show,” says Halford. “It can be something simple as riding a motorcycle out on the stage, which isn't easy [and] the way the light sets look, the way the stage set is created, the video screens that you use to reinforce certain songs in the visual texture. All of these are part of the world that Priest has been making since as long as I can remember. So we have a new stage set that defines all the mantra of what an invincible shield is about. I micromanage everything because I love this band so much and I want to give our fans the absolute best show.

“Don't get me started on the setlist,” he continues. “Every album has something strong to say. We did kind of like the heavy metal hits tour with the 50th anniversary. So we're trying to, again, project Invincible Shield , but balance it with some deep cuts that we've never done before. You have to stay focused to try and give in the time that you're on stage the broadest set of entertaining, exciting, memorable songs that you can do.”

From 1974's Rocka Rolla to now 2024's Invincible Shield , it has come full circle for Judas Priest’s discography. Even Halford himself is amazed the band is still making new music 50 years later, albeit probably without having to record during unusual hours and sleeping in a van from the old days.

“It's such a motivation,” he says. “It's such an inspiration. It's all of those beautiful things that creative people get to when a project is completed because the next step is obviously to share it with your fans. So what an amazing place. I never lose the perspective on that. I never lose the perspective of how it all began.

“The journey that we've been through together for 50-odd years and the place that we're at now, it's just wonderful. Sometimes you're at a loss for words to describe the emotions of it all.”

David Chiu

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Surfer

Video: Here's the 10 Best Frigid Surf Spots in the World

Planning a surf trip makes most people think of warm water, palm trees, and freedom from wetsuits. 

But there's a lot of epic surf spots all over the world for those willing to brave below-zero temps and haul a heavy wetsuit around. 

In the video below, YouTuber Dan Harmon shares a list of the world's best cold-weather surf spots, so you can go freeze your ass off in your finest 6MM. 

Related: Clip: Huge Whale Almost Tail-Whips Surfer as it Cruises Through the Lineup

Harmon shared his latest video above and captioned it:

"Hey guys! Here are some top cold-water surf destinations to add to your bucket list.

"If you don’t mind single-digit temps, pulling on a wet 6mm, and some bone-numbing duck dives, these are some places to score epic waves!!"

Opening the vlog, Harmon says:

"What we don't tend to think about when it comes to our next surf trip is getting changed in cold, wind-swept car parks, pulling on five millimeters of rubber. 

"But if you want to make the most of fewer crowds and tap into unexplored coastline, heading to some of the colder fringes of the world is what you gotta do to get that."

Harmon breaks down what you need to visit the surf spots below:

  • Southern Chile:  "Far from the colest on the list." Winter water temp: 14.8C.
  • Norway:  "Wicked" cold water surf destination. Winter water temp: 4.7C.
  • South Island, New Zealand: "Gets a lot of swell." Winter water temp: 10.1C.
  • Ireland: "Something for everyone" wave-wise. Winter water temp: 8C.
  • Scotland: "Freezing, freezing cold." Winter water temp: 7.5C.
  • Canada: "East coast colder than west. Winter water temp: 8.7C.
  • Tasmania: "Really cold." Winter water temp: 12C.
  • Iceland: "One of best cold surfing spots on earth". Winter water temp: 4.C.
  • Alaska: "World-class waves that are hard to find." Winter water temp: 2C.

Don't miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter , follow us on Instagram , and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels.

Whether you're a professional surfer or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos.

screenshot-2024-03-06-at-31346-pm

I went on an 8-month solo road trip after a breakup. I'm engaged now, but I still travel alone.

  • A few years ago, I lost myself in a relationship. After we broke up, I went on a solo road trip.
  • As I traveled across the country, I learned a lot about myself. 
  • Now, it's three years later, and I still love traveling alone even though I'm engaged.

Insider Today

In my late 20s, I left my beloved Philadelphia apartment near friends and favorite restaurants and moved to the suburbs closer to my boyfriend and work. Then my boyfriend moved to Texas for a job. After five months of long distance, the pandemic hit, and I started working remotely from his home in Houston.

These choices seemed inevitable. Following cues from media and society for most of my life, I thought being in love meant adapting to my partner's needs. Though our relationship had been unsteady , I hoped bending to the demands of his life would help repair our bond. The opposite happened: I felt like I was losing myself.

Three months into lockdown, we broke up . I returned to the apartment I had left behind in the Pennsylvania suburbs and immediately felt lost. I passed my ex's old house on morning commutes to work, and our date-night restaurant was the only Thai place in the neighborhood.

I needed time away to heal, and the time I used to spend browsing for engagement rings online was now spent scanning travel blogs on top US destinations . Over the next few weeks, I loaded necessities into my orange Toyota Corolla hatchback.

With a plan that included a few national parks and states I'd never visited, I started driving west.

A solo road trip helped me focus on my own wants and needs

During my eight-month trip, I never quite knew where I would end up and spent most nights at campgrounds or self-check-in rentals reserved only a few days in advance. A month into the trip, I also booked the only remaining spot on a guided, three-night backpacking trip to summit Grand Teton three weeks in advance.

Though incoming storms made a summit attempt unviable, we made it to base camp. I spent three days admiring the peaks above and the valley below covered in stunning white snow.

I realized that traveling without an itinerary and only a few vague ideas of where I wanted to go allowed me to focus every moment on myself.

I found myself in the small decisions as much as the large

While I still felt heartbroken and lonely at times, I discovered small ways to return to myself. During a stay at Lake Huron, I made white lemon ginger tea with water from my camping stove after an early morning bout of insomnia — a small, nurturing act of self-care. Later that day, I bought five more flavors and continued a daily tea ritual throughout the trip.

Because I was only responsible for myself on the road, I was more attuned to what I needed, and I felt myself beginning to heal. I realized it wasn't selfish to pay attention to my own needs, it was self-care. Committing to my needs and wants was critical to building confidence and independence .

I'm now engaged, but solo trips are still integral to my life

It's been nearly three years since my solo trip , and when I got home, I felt ready to date authentically. Rather than mold myself to be more desirable, I listened to my wants and needs and looked for compatibility. Within a few months, I met someone special, and a year into our relationship, I felt he was the one.

Still, I craved the feeling the road inspired. So, one weekend, I kissed my partner goodbye and went car camping alone. On the way to Upstate New York, I stopped at a pizza parlor for a personal pie with mushrooms, a topping my fiancé dislikes. Later, I spent hours climbing a rocky trail toward panoramic views of fall colors painting the Catskills.

For me, traveling alone isn't only justified when our lives feel unmanageable. Such trips are how I remember who I am. On a weekend trip to DC last month, I took myself out to a fancy Sichuan restaurant after thrifting at a trendy shop. I watched the bartender make me a custom cocktail from a secret menu, ultimately finishing my dinner and novel at the end of the bar with a sense of contentment.

While I often prefer traveling with my fiancé, we both understand these experiences allow me to show up better for myself and our relationship, and I can't wait to see where these solo journeys take us both.

a heavy trip

Watch: Here’s how people in happy relationships can wind up cheating

a heavy trip

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U.S. & World

a heavy trip

NASA / Futurism

Scientists Struggle to Explain Why Their Tall, Top-Heavy Moon Lander Fell Over

"if we would have had the laser range-finders, we would have nailed the landing.", moon tipper.

Over the last two months, two separate Moon landers have successfully survived the harrowing journey down to the lunar surface — but neither stuck the landing, each embarrassingly falling over  as a result.

Last month, NASA's Odysseus lander, built and operated by Houston-based space company Intuitive Machines, kept moving sideways after making it down to the surface, scraping along the surface and eventually  toppling over .

As the New York Times reports , that may have something to do with its considerable height of 14 feet, including solar arrays; something so tall and top-heavy is bound to struggle to stay upright.

Unfortunately, the lander was also missing some crucial data. During its descent, its laser instruments meant for measuring altitude stopped working, leading to the lander's continued sideways movement, which sealed its fate.

"If we would have had the laser range-finders, we would have nailed the landing," Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus told reporters last week.

Trip and Tumble

Former NASA engineer Philip Metzger tweeted his own explanation for why the "lunar environment makes everything tippier."

"The side motion that can tip a lander of that size is only a few meters per second in lunar gravity," he concluded.

As a result, Metzger argued that landing legs would have to be two and half times as wide on the bottom on the Moon compared to the Earth.

"I'm sure the [NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services] contractors know this and designed for it," he argued. "My point is that the Moon does this to your hardware, so when things go wrong (as they do) then tipping happens more often than on Earth."

Intuitive Machines was well aware of the considerable height of its lander, of course. Engineers had to take a whole host of factors into consideration when designing it, including the overall weight and surface area of insulation.

Altemus told the NYT last year that the height was largely due to the configuration of its liquid methane and oxygen propellant tanks, which were stacked on top of each other for balance.

Per the report, spreading out the load over a number of tanks likely would've added a considerable amount of complexity and potential points of failure.

However, Odysseus' height also came with a potential advantage: if it were to have stayed upright, the solar arrays at the very top would've been able to stay out of the Moon's long shadows longer when the Sun was setting.

But given its disastrous tumble, it never got the chance to stand tall and proud.

More on the lander: New Photos Show Catastrophic Damage to NASA's Moon Lander

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    Heavy Trip: Directed by Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren. With Johannes Holopainen, Samuli Jaskio, Antti Tuomas Heikkinen, Max Ovaska. After years of playing songs by other artists, the opportunity of a concert in Norway encourages a metal band to compose their own material, but not before overcoming some unexpected difficulties.

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    Heavy Trip - Official U.S. HD TrailerIn this offbeat comedy from Finland, Turo is stuck in a small village where the best thing in his life is being the lead...

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    Heavy Trip (Finnish: Hevi reissu, Swedish: En heavy resa) is a Finnish comedy film released in 2018, directed by first-time directors Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio.The comedy tells the story of a small-town heavy metal band's journey to their dream gig in Norway. The movie satirizes heavy metal tropes (a la Metalocalypse and This Is Spinal Tap), with a focus on those relevant to the Finnish ...

  5. A Band Called Impaled Rektum

    Heavy Trip's heartfelt humor and fully realized characters make this a journey well worth taking - and one of the best rock comedies in recent memory. Read critic reviews.

  6. Heavy Trip Trailer #1 (2018)

    Check out the official Heavy Trip trailer starring Johannes Holopainen! Let us know what you think in the comments below. Buy Tickets to Heavy Trip: https:/...

  7. Why Heavy Trip is the funniest metal movie since This Is ...

    One of Heavy Trip's many refreshing qualities is the clever ways in which it acknowledges the many cliches that it taps into — road trip movies, bands looking for their big break, romantic comedies, small towns, etc. — while turning them on their heads. For example, the film's principal antagonist is the town's slimy, womanising ...

  8. HEAVY TRIP Trailer #1 (2018) Heavy Metal Comedy Movie

    HEAVY TRIP Trailer #1 (2018) Heavy Metal Comedy MoviePLOT: Turo (25) is trying to overcome his fears by leading the most unknown heavy metal band in Finland,...

  9. Heavy Trip streaming: where to watch movie online?

    It is also possible to rent "Heavy Trip" on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV online. Synopsis. Turo is stuck in a small village and the best thing in his life is being the lead vocalist for the amateur metal band Impaled Rektum. He and his bandmates have practiced for 12 years without playing a single gig.

  10. Reviews

    "Heavy Trip" has slowly built its following since its initial limited release in fall 2018, but the doors to a larger audience blew open the following year with its wider release on Amazon Prime.

  11. Watch Heavy Trip

    Heavy Trip. In this offbeat comedy from Finland, amateur metal band Impaled Rektum are stuck in a small town, working day jobs and dreaming of making it big. After a surprise visit from a heavy metal music promoter, the band decide it's time to play a real gig.

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    Heavy Trip. In this offbeat comedy from Finland, amateur metal band Impaled Rektum are stuck in a small town, working day jobs and dreaming of making it big. After a surprise visit from a heavy metal music promoter, the band decide it's time to play a real gig.

  13. Watch Heavy Trip (2018)

    Heavy Trip. 2018 · 1 hr 31 min. TV-MA. Comedy · Music · Foreign/International. When an amateur metal band finally gets a chance at a big gig, they steal a van, a corpse, and even a new drummer to make their dreams a reality. Starring Johannes Holopainen Minka Muustonen Samuli Jaskio Antti Tuomas Heikkinen.

  14. Cult Heavy Metal Comedy 'Heavy Trip' Is Getting A Sequel

    "Heavy Trip", the 2018 Finnish ensemble comedy about an aspiring metal band, is getting a sequel. Juuso Laatio, who, along with Jukka Vidgren, co-wrote and directed the original film, has told ...

  15. 'Heavier Trip'

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    Heavy Trip. 2018 | Maturity Rating: 16+ | Comedy. In a twist of fate, an amateur Finnish heavy metal band seizes a shot at fame and embarks on a wildly surreal road trip to a Norwegian music festival. Starring: Johannes Holopainen, Max Ovaska, Samuli Jaskio.

  17. 'Heavier Trip'

    Bloody Disgusting and Doppelgänger Releasing joined forces back in 2018 to release Heavy Trip, a Finnish black metal comedy about a small-town heavy metal band that blasts its way out of the ...

  18. The Heavy Trip movie sequel has been announced for 2024

    August 30, 2023. Words: Emily Carter. The sequel to Finnish satire film Heavy Trip has been confirmed. A social media post has announced that the new movie - which will be called Heavier Trip ...

  19. 'Heavy Trip' Soundtrack Released

    Heavy Trip is directed by Jukka Vidgren & Juuso Laatio and stars Johannes Holopainen, Minka Kuustonen, Ville Tiihonen, Max Ovaska, Samuli Jaskio, Antti Heikkinen and Chike Ohanwe. The movie follows a musician from a small village in Northern Finland who takes his undiscovered heavy metal band on an eventful road trip to play at Norway's ...

  20. Watch Heavy Trip (2018) Full Movie Free Online

    Turo (25) is trying to overcome his fears by leading the most unknown heavy metal band in Finland, Impaled Rektum, to the hottest metal festival of Norway. The journey includes heavy metal, grave robbing, Viking heaven and an armed conflict between Finland and Norway.

  21. Heavy Trip

    Booking, Management, Trippin' Anna Von Hausswolff. Annie-Claude Deschênes

  22. April 8 eclipse: Officials plan for heavy traffic into Erie PA region

    Expect heavy traffic, and likely a slow return trip home Extra police presence to handle accidents, other issues expected before, during and after the April 8 event. Tim Hahn. Erie Times-News.

  23. Power Trip, a metal band rocked by tragedy, makes an emotional return

    Power Trip's sound was a meeting point between hardcore punk and thrash metal, and in the process of creating it, the band connected with a wide swath of listeners interested in the greater sphere ...

  24. Heavy Trip (official trailer with eng subtitles)

    About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright ...

  25. Judas Priest's Rob Halford On The Band's New Record ...

    Lead vocalist Rob Halford of British heavy metal band Judas Priest performs on stage during their ...[+] "50 Heavy Metal Years tour, at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas, on November 23 ...

  26. Video: Here's the 10 Best Frigid Surf Spots in the World

    Planning a surf trip makes most people think of warm water, palm trees, and freedom from wetsuits. But there's a lot of epic surf spots all over the world for those willing to brave below-zero ...

  27. A Solo Road Trip Healed Me After a Breakup. I Still Travel Alone

    A month into the trip, I also booked the only remaining spot on a guided, three-night backpacking trip to summit Grand Teton three weeks in advance. Though incoming storms made a summit attempt ...

  28. Travis Kelce calls Taylor Swift 'best thing possible' after ...

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