!! Hell Yeah, METAL Freaks !!

I'm nhoJ, the webmaster, and together with Daniela (AKA Mrs Hydra, who continues to be of invaluable assistance on this site), we would like to welcome ye to

A brief history:

SITE OF THE HYDRA started life on the 9th of November 2001, as a fansite dedicated to our favourite band of all time, VENOM. We only bought a computer in the first place 'cos of our desire to have a fansite dedicated to our fav band. Taking inspiration from the terrific sites of those Legendary Legions LEFFE(web) and KOSTAS, we took our first steps into the unknown. The site, even though it was done by web-rookies like us, was an incredible success, and through it we have got to know a Hell of a lot of real cool people from around the world, indeed we have met many of these cool folk at various concerts, etc, since. Sadly though, "legal issues" (first surfacing in early 2006), finally resulted in our beloved fansite being destroyed during July 2007. It was (and is, and forever will be) a very painful experience, resulting in Mrs Hydra stepping down from webmaster duties (cos she was so disappointed by what had happened), and meaning the year of 2007 was the most horrible time of our Metal lifes...

Despite the heartbreaking and devastating loss of the true SOTH, the decision was made to continue with the website, and evolve it into a general METAL site. The site now features all-original artwork (mostly created from digital photos we took) apart from certain sections like album reviews, etc, where original band logos, etc, are used. We also have a live photo section, which feature photos we took at various concerts over the years. Several bands have already granted us full permission to use these photos and logos, etc, so expect the FOTOS section to grow over the coming months!

We have also re-launched all-new versions of our METAL Forum (visit our Forum here) and MySpace (here) sites (the originals were also wiped-out in July 2007...). If you are a pretty laid-back Metalhead, you can discuss various METAL mayhem on the Forum with us and some damned fine people, Join us!! And if any of you have a MySpace page, feel free to send us a friend invitation, Hell Yeah!

About us:

While we both agree that VENOM is the greatest band ever (been our fav band for a combined total of nearly half a century - we're getting old, dammit!), we are also pretty much agreed that AC/DC is our second favourite band (indeed, ANGUS YOUNG is probably our ultimate METAL hero, just ever so slightly ahead of VENOM Legends MANTAS and ABADDON).

We also agree the best concert we ever attended was the then re-united VENOM at Holland's Waldrock Festival in 1995. We have seen the BLACK METAL Gods live a combined total of 19 times (London 90 & 06, Waldock 95, Dynamo 96, Wacken 00, Gods Of Metal 06, Earthshaker 06, Manchester 06, and Copenhagen & Stockholm in 2007). We've lost count how many times we've seen AC/DC, but we do remember how brilliant they have been each time! Other highlights include CELTIC FROST (x5), SODOM and IMMORTAL (both too many times to list), and countless other brilliant concerts. Reviews for a small percentage of these concerts are either onsite now, or will be added sometime over the coming months, years, centuries, etc.

We have some wonderful METAL memories apart from those mentioned above. Highlights include:

Being named on the credits page of VENOM's awesome RESURRECTION album. I will never forget the feeling I had when I opened the booklet and saw our names. And the look on Mrs Hydra's face when I showed it to her - she almost fainted! And on a similar note, we also got a mention on the 2006 METAL BLACK album... plus, because of our help and involvement in putting together MAYHEM WITHOUT MERCY - A HARDCORE PUNKROCK TRIBUTE TO VENOM, we got named on there too. Terrific memories for us! And you'll understand why we have bought a lot of copies of these albums - need something to bore future grandchildren with :-)

Getting to meet your heroes can be a dodgy thing to do, but we've mostly been very lucky. Apart from meeting the various VENOM people on numerous occasions, we've also had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know terrific people like TOM ANGELRIPPER, MARTIN AIN, etc. Been real cool having a few beers with these guys and lots of other cool Dudes from bands, awesome people indeed! Oh yeah, I also met ANGUS YOUNG!

That was a real dream come true! I had just been to see AC/DC on consecutive nights at London's Wembley Arena in 1988, and after the second show, a guy approached a group of us and asked if we wanted to be in a AC/DC video the next morning. We thought it must be a joke, but turned up at the venue again the next day... just incase. Fuckin' lucky we did, as I can now proudly say that I've been in a AC/DC video!! The video in question is THAT'S THE WAY I WANNA ROCK'N'ROLL. After filming, ANGUS signed my cardboard guitar, and was real cool. A true Legend!!!

Also, anyone who knows me might be able to spot me on two video releases by my fav band. Even I have trouble finding me in the mayhem that was Dynamo 1996... but I do appear twice. I'm much easier to spot on one of the earlier releases, though..... ;-)

Anyway, there will be plenty of little METAL stories to share with you people in the future, so enough typing for now. Hope you enjoy your visit to our humble website!

nhoJ - December 2007

Site Information

Website URL: www.siteofthehydra.com

SITE OF THE HYDRA uses the following companies for:

B-PATH.com ~ Hits Counter

BRAVENET.com ~ Guestbook

FORUMER.com ~ Message Boards / Forums

TRIPOD.com ~ Website Hosting