Dylan Du Toit

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Reporter / Live Reviewer

Soft, cute and cuddly - but enough about my pet hamsters, let's talk about me for a moment. I am an engineer by profession and a metalhead by passion. I enjoy two things above everything else: consuming fine imported or microbrewed beers, and HEAVY. FUCKING. METAL...

It was Rob Zombie's solo debut album Hellbilly Deluxe that first introduced me to heavier music around 1998. I began searching for all the heavy music I could find and shortly afterwards I started listening to the likes of Manowar, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian and Iron Maiden. Today I listen to most of the subgenres of metal, with traditional doom and heavy metal being my favourites. I don't care too much for black metal or brutal death metal, with Immortal and Bloodbath being notable exceptions in their respective genres.

In October 2007 I attended Nightfall Festival in Pretoria to see my first international metal band performing live. The band in question was none other than Germany's Blind Guardian and the exhilaration of seeing them play to a crowd of frenzied metalheads proved to be addictive. In July 2010 I traveled to the United Kingdom to attend Sonisphere at Knebworth, my first international festival, where I saw many of my favourite bands including Alice Cooper, Rammstein and the mighty IRON MAIDEN. I am completely hooked and plan to attend an international metal festival every year that I am able to afford it.

I hope that my involvement at Voice of Rock will allow me to contribute something back to the heavy metal community. UP THE IRONS!