Tag: metal

Metallica – Ride The Lightning (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

This week it’s time to dust off an all-time metal classic. One of heavy metal’s most important bands and one of their most significant albums. I haven’t had the occasion yet to discuss Metallica besides in passing mention, now it’s time for my first exploration into a band who will certainly be discussed here more in the future.

Metallica – Ride The Lightning

Released July 27, 1984 via Megaforce Records

My Favorite Tracks – For Whom The Bell Tolls, Creeping Death, Fade To Black

The album had an immediate impact on the market, selling out of its original pressing in a few months and forcing the band’s move to a major label as they outgrew underground infrastructure. As Metallica entered a supernova period of growth, they gave rise to a heaver version of metal than what was being favored by radio and MTV.

But even as Metallica brought forth the ferocity that would be a hallmark of heavy metal to come, they also displayed a refined songwriting approach that would serve them in the future as they went from being one of metal’s biggest bands to the biggest band in the world. Their musical evolution would being on Ride The Lightning.

Books could, and likely have, been written about this record. I’ll not bother with too much exposition, instead I’ll go in to the 8 songs on Ride The Lightning track-by-track and get under the hood of one of metal’s greatest albums.

Fight Fire With Fire

The album opens with a short, melodic intro that belies the sheer force to come. Fight Fire With Fire is the song that connects this record to Metallica’s savage debut Kill ‘Em All. It is pummeling and unrelenting throughout its 4:44 runtime. This misanthropic plea for nuclear annihilation sets an image and tone that would be ever-present in the oft-pessimistic world of metal.

Ride The Lightning

The title track marks one of two writing contributions from former guitarist Dave Mustaine, he of subsequent Megadeth fame. The song chugs along to the lament of a convicted killer being executed by electrocution. (Shocking, I know). The track flies along in a precise, militant manner while James Hetfield executes some of his best early vocal work in the higher register, his screaming sounding like the pleading of a condemned man.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

It’s time now for one of Metallica’s most iconic and beloved songs. For Whom The Bell Tolls is a long-celebrated staple of the band’s live set and is always in the conversation when discussing the band’s best songs. The song was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novel of the same name and depicts a particularly brutal sequence where a group of 5 soldiers die in an airstrike after capturing a hill.

Everything about this song is pure magic – Cliff Burton’s effect-drenched bass intro, the lyrics, the frenetic music. It all just works on a level few bands ever achieve.

I did read Hemingway’s book after hearing Metallica’s song. Hey, at least I like the song.

Fade To Black

Perhaps the most unique track on the album, Metallica have a go at a power ballad. For a band that had so heavily thrown the gauntlet into thrash metal, a subgenre they were helping invent, Fade To Black marks the first sign that more than savage heavy metal was to come from the group.

This song, like the preceding track, fires on all cylinders. The guitar work is gorgeous and perfectly suited to the morose subject matter. James Hetfield delivers haunting vocals that portray someone giving up on life. While such is common lyrical fare in metal music, very few acts execute it on this level.

Trapped Under Ice

Now for the first of two songs that are, at best, considered less than their fellows on Ride The Lightning. Trapped Under Ice is a perfectly fine thrasher that doesn’t break new ground or anything, but also isn’t a total stinker. It fits fine on the record, it’s sufficiently thrashy and I don’t feel it should be as maligned as it sometimes is. It might stick out a bit on an album with at least 3 of the band’s best-ever works, but in the end only a few songs can be the greatest. Not everything has to be best ever or worst ever, there’s plenty of room in the middle, and Trapped Under Ice fits just fine there.

Escape

The second, and the truest version of, what the hell were they thinking? Escape was apparently an attempt at a radio single that was apparently forced on them by the record label. James Hetfield supposedly hates the song, an opinion shared by a lot of Metallica fans. This song is the runt of the litter on the album, whereas the records before and after this tend to lack for a lesser track.

I honestly have no real problem with Escape. It’s still heavy enough, it has some attitude, and I never feel the need to skip it when I play the album. I’m used to it and I’m not that offended by it. No, it’s not great and it does ding the record, but it’s not that big of a deal in the end. It didn’t become a single and the 3 songs that needed to be singles did, so no harm no foul.

Creeping Death

It’s back to business in full for Metallica on the last vocal track of the record. Creeping Death is an epic headbanger about the biblical story of plagues in Egypt. This is thrash at its finest as the band shreds through verse and chorus in true Old Testament style (not to be confused with Testament the band).

The song’s mid section offers a breakdown that translates to one of music’s iconic live moments, with thousands of people screaming “Die!” along with the band. Sunday school at church was never as badass as Metallica.

The Call Of Ktulu

The record closes with a great instrumental piece that fits with the album musically and provides an interesting listen, something that some instrumentals find hard to do. The song would mark the end of leftover Dave Mustaine riffs for Metallica, something I’m sure they were happy to move on from just as Mustaine was about to start his own legacy.

Ride The Lightning is one of heavy metal’s all-time classic albums. It bridged a few gaps between their raw beginning and the polished sound to come, but also offered its own weight in thrash metal gold. Metallica would go on to become a massive band in the 80’s without the benefit of radio play, an effort owing to the force of their music.

It’s long been argued that some old-school die hards have a problem with recognizing anything beyond Metallica’s first four albums. Plenty of those arguments can be had another time but, for the sake of the albums themselves, just listen to them and then ask yourself why people wouldn’t be hung up on them. They are high points of heavy metal and lie on the summit of the genre.

Spotify Wrapped 2021

On By bigbadburchIn Favorites1 Comment

I was shuffling around my next few posts a bit and had a bit of a hang-up as I tried to figure out what to do for today. As luck would have it, Spotify would drop some quick and easy content in my lap in the form of their Wrapped end of year data dump.

For those unaware, Spotify provides a rundown of a user’s most-played songs, genres and artists for the year every December. It’s a neat little thing that provides a bit of info and can also be fun and silly. For me and the purposes of this blog, it’s a great way to get some content with just some screenshots and a few words. Let’s have at it.

This is the total minutes I spent listening on Spotify this year. This is by far the most I’ve used the service in a year. For the biggest part of 2021 I had a job where I could play music all day and I’d alternate between Spotify and the digital music collection on my phone. It’s over 450 hours, which is a fair bit of time when considering I didn’t use it all the time.

This tidbit did shock me a little. I don’t really know how Spotify does genres, I haven’t looked at the least how deep they get. I don’t feel like I listened to 35 different genres of music but I’ll take their word for it. If symphonic blackened britpop deathcore counts as 4 separate genres then I can see it. Not sure if I heard any whale sounds in the past year…

Here are the top 5 genres. Shoegaze sticks out a bit on the list but it’s not surprising since I just got into it this year. I did way more exploring of it than I did of anything else. Nothing else is a real shock. I did listen to what I guess is a lot of hard rock this year though I figure some of that might actually be indie rock or some offshoot of that. Again, who knows how Spotify genrefies things.

My most-played song of the year is no surprise at all. I played the ever living shit of this right after I heard it. In truth I’ve played it way more than that because I eventually got a digital copy on my phone and I’ve also played the YouTube video countless times. I’ve probably doubled the Spotify play count. I’ve literally been bitched at for how much I’ve played this song.

One bit of a shocker here. I didn’t realize I’d played Muse that much. I honestly only started listening to them in earnest this year. I wouldn’t have thought they’d rank that high or that Hysteria would be the song that did. The rest are all reasonable – I played LoG a lot because I didn’t own Ashes Of The Wake on any format until a few weeks back. I played the Iron Maiden lead single multiple times a day until Senjutsu released and then I played the CDs or vinyl.

This is absolutely no surprise at all. Emma Ruth Rundle was easily my most-played artist of the year, and I only truly began listening to her about halfway through the year. According to Spotify I spent a total of 3,682 minutes playing her songs in the span of about 5 months. That’s over 61 hours playing the same artist. Yeah, I dig her stuff that much. And this also doesn’t account for when I eventually got her albums on vinyl, which provided digital download copies as well.

Being in the top 0.1% of listeners is really cool, I have never seen that before. I’ll put that on my resume.

Again, Muse is throwing me a bit. I mean, I’m not one to argue with statistics, but still. I would’ve thought Lorna Shore had the number 2 spot in the bag, but I guess I really, really liked Muse earlier in the year. None of the others are huge shocks. I got Rage’s stuff on vinyl about halfway through the year but I was blasting them a lot in the first part of 2021.

I don’t know what the hell this is but I guess I’m bold and wistful, based on my musical tastes of sad indie rock and deathcore. I don’t know, whatever. I’m not really all that bold I don’t think. Wistful is probably right. I don’t how much of my personality I’m going to analyze from a damn music streaming app.

That’s a wrap for the Spotify Wrap 2021. I didn’t listen to Taylor Swift for over 200,000 hours like some people but hey, I did listen to something. We’ll see what the next year brings as Spotify remains more a vehicle for discovery for me instead of what I use to listen to my favorite stuff.

Upcoming Releases – Turkey Day and Beyond

On By bigbadburchIn Upcoming Music2 Comments

It’s time to look at a new batch of preview singles. Most of this stuff is releasing next year but a few are still going to hit in 2021. A few will land in a few days and one is already out. It goes to show how much attention I pay to things.

Scorpions – Peacemaker

The Scorpions are almost eternal at this point – these guys refuse to quit. Not only are they still at it but they’ve offered up a very nice lead track from a new album called Rock Believer due early next year. I’m very impressed with how great this song sounds and I’m very happy to have yet more new music from a band I got into before I could reach the kitchen counter.

Exodus – The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)

This is one I overlooked awhile back as the song has been around a few months now. This comes from the band’s newest record Persona Non Grata which hits this Friday. The song is a nice, short thrasher that fits right in with Exodus’ now extensive catalog. The video is really damn violent, like I’m kinda surprised it’s being shown on YouTube. It plays like a CIA field guide in how to, uh, get information. (it is age restricted, apparently)

Jack White – Taking Me Back

This song hit a few weeks ago as part of the campaign to launch whatever the hell the new Call Of Duty game is this time. Now Jack has filmed an official video for the song and it is part of two new albums from him due next spring.

I didn’t get all that into the song when I saw the COD preview but now I’m liking it more. I think maybe this one is a different version, I’m not entirely sure about that. It’ll be interesting to hear what Jack has on offer with two new albums coming out. I haven’t followed his post-White Stripes career too closely but he’s one of the more interesting musicians around today.

Slipknot – The Chapeltown Rag

This song is Slipknot’s first preview of new music from an as-yet unannounced album that will presumably see the light of day in 2022. The song was premiered live at the band’s own Knotfest concert a bit over a week ago.

I am not the biggest Slipknot fan in the world. I never was moved to like their stuff that much, though they’ve had songs I liked over the years. This song is fine but it doesn’t compel me to explore them further or anticipate the new album. They have their place and plenty of people are into them, and all that is fine, but it’s not really my cup of tea. It is frenetic and heavy, not something I’d frown upon. But honestly not my cup of tea.

Oasis – Wonderwall Live At Knebworth

Ok so I’m totally cheating here. Obviously Wonderwall isn’t new and Oasis sure as hell isn’t recording new music. This is from the official live release of the historic Knebworth concerts from 1996, which hits record store shelves and streaming platforms this Friday. I like Oasis, in case you haven’t noticed. Here’s just one example from the other day.

As for the Knebworth performances – absolutely the height of their fame, historically important, but also not their best. All of their tracks are on coke here, probably just like the band. Everything from these shows was done at a frentic pace, which I think belies the importance of their more significant work. I do hope they go back and catch Earl’s Court and Maine Road as future official live releases, as those better capture the band when they were firing on all cylinders. But hey, nothing to bitch about with the historic Knebworth gigs being available.

Brand Of Sacrifice – Lifeblood

I’ll be upfront – I know nothing about Brand Of Sacrifice. They are a newer band in the deathcore realm, that is totally all I know.

But if you notice from the video title, this has a bit something different about it – much like Carlos Santana featured the talents of one Rob Thomas in 1999 for the hit smash “Smooth,” Brand Of Sacrifice also brings a guest vocalist in for a turn on their song. Instead of Rob Thomas, BoS thought to ask someone else to guest on their reworked track – new Lorna Shore vocalist Will Ramos, who has made waves this year as the dying Dark Souls boss in To The Hellfire.

Here is the original version of the song, released at the beginning of this fun year. It is a wonderfully serviceable deathcore song, but there is no denying the extra atmosphere added by having Will Ramos drop vocals on your shit.

I have already stated how I feel about Will Ramos and Lorna Shore. I’ll certainly be paying attention to Brand Of Sacrifice going forward – this “symphonic blackened deathcore” movement is gaining steam fast.

Korn – Start The Healing

Here’s one from a band with a long lineage that I’m not particularly into. I went over them a bit when I started this blog, here’s that info drop.

But, I’m not totally against Korn. I might have gotten into their little brother/bastard cousin a bit more, but I can respect what Korn brought to the mid-90’s scene. I don’t keep up with them though so there’s a lot of lost time and music between then and now. This song is from a new album Requiem, which hits early February 2022.

This song is fine. It doesn’t move me to pre-order the album but I’m not mad that I listened to it. At this point in my life, where I’m fighting being middle-aged, I can appreciate that Korn is still going.

Emma Ruth Rundle – The Company

I am totally cheating here because this isn’t an upcoming album. Emma released her new album Engine Of Hell last week on the 5th. I’m kind of not cheating though, because she just released this self-directed video the other day, so it’s like a new release of a new release. It’s also worth note that I might be a bit into her past work…

Not to give away what’s going to be my pick for an album of the week in the extremely near future or anything, but this is in the early running for my favorite song off the stunning new album.

I’ll save the very specific talk about this song and the rest of the album for later, because I’m going to bring it up twice in the next month.

But this song hits home like few others. I’ll never claim to know what she’s talking about, but I know how and where exactly this hits me. And I’ll say this – it isn’t some foregone memory. This song hits right here and now. I don’t really know what else to say, other than all hail the new queen, king and god of music.

That’s all I have for this installment. I’m going to forego this feature next month because acts don’t usually announce shit in the holiday month. If they do I’ll catch up to it next month. Let me know anything I might have missed in the comments below.

A Soundtrack To Geology

On By bigbadburchIn Playlists3 Comments

A few weeks ago I offered up my first playlist. I chose the theme of geography because I’ve got a friend in classes right now and I thought that’s what he was taking. As it turns out he is taking geology. So I guess I’ll take a shot at making a geology-themed playlist.

I myself took geology just a year ago in the fall of 2020. It was honestly one of the most boring classes I ever took. It sounds interesting on the surface – rocks, tectonic plates, volcanoes and stuff. But nah, I was burned out on school and more as it was and I just did not connect with the subject.

But geology offers up an easy way to make a playlist. At its core, geology is about rocks. So, let’s rock.

Usually when I do these I won’t talk about every song on the playlist. But since this list is simple and, let’s face it, pretty dumb, I can go ahead and rip out a line or two about each one.

Kiss – Rock N Roll All Nite

Pretty easy choice for the opener here. It’s Kiss, it’s their signature song, it’s automatic.

I won’t say it’s my favorite Kiss tune – the heavier tunes like War Machine, God Of Thunder and Unholy really get me going. But it’s an all-time classic for a reason, no denying that.

Sammy Hagar – There’s Only One Way To Rock

Sammy posits that there is only one way to rock. Far be it from me to argue with one of rock’s most successful artists, but I’m not sure about that Sammy. I think there might be a few ways to rock.

Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock

I’m going with the live extended jam of this signature tune from Twisted Sister. They were a band known for their live prowess and the live version of this song is a lot of fun.

Joe Walsh – Rocky Mountain Way

Yeah, this song was on the last playlist and now it’s on this one. I doubt it makes the cut next time but maybe I can shoehorn it in somehow, I don’t know.

Spinal Tap – Rock N Roll Creation

It’s a bit amazing how many kick ass songs a “fake” band put out. This one is certainly about rock, or rocks. I’m sure it’ll help someone pass a geology class.

Motorhead – Doctor Rock

I’ve been at this blog for a bit now and I haven’t had a chance to even mention Motorhead yet. No time like the present. I also need to get to some writing about them, just a massive band.

Night Ranger – (You Can Still) Rock In America

As far as I know, you can, in fact, still rock in America. One of Night Ranger’s signature anthems stands the test of time here. Now, you might want to check your local laws before you do go on still rocking, but if you get busted you should tell the cops that Night Ranger said it was ok.

John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A.

Now we have a dilemma on our hands. We have confirmed you can still Rock in America, and now we have updated guidance that you may also R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A. But, can you R.O.C.K. In America, or perhaps Rock in the U.S.A.? This is the kind of stuff that keeps me and geology teachers up at night.

Neil Young – Rockin’ In The Free World

If you’ve still got a list of your freedoms out, here’s another to add to your list. And this isn’t just for America – it’s for the whole free world. Wherever that is…

AC/DC – Rock N Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

Let’s scale down from country-wide freedoms to municipal ordinances for a moment. Let the masters of rock have their say here. The next time you get upset because your neighbor in the suburb or the trailer park is jamming out, you should cut them some slack. Crack open a cold Busch Light and rock out with them. That’s what it’s all about.

Dio – We Rock

Perhaps the most important lesson in geology is this – we do, in fact, rock. It’s confirmed by the master of rock and tectonics himself, our lord Ronnie James Dio.

Boston – Rock N Roll Band

What a debut record, one of the best ever done as far as my memory serves. And of course, Boston are indeed a rock and roll band. Just perfect for this dumb little exercise here.

Van Halen – And The Cradle Will Rock

We can’t talk about rock without bringing up one of the most important bands to the genre, even if David Crosby disagrees. And this is one of their sneakier good songs, sometimes left out of the overall conversation.

Corrosion Of Conformity – Stonebreaker

So stones and rocks maybe aren’t the same thing but I don’t know because I didn’t pay attention in geology class so here we are. COC are a great band.

Oasis – Rock N Roll Star

I gotta shoehorn an Oasis song onto as many playlists as possible. Easy pick here. This is one I like to play for people who say they don’t like Oasis. They still don’t after I play it but hey, I got to jam out for a bit.

Montrose – Rock Candy

I don’t guess candy is very geologically themed but there is no discussion of rock music without including this Montrose classic. Also I’ll keep cramming Sammy Hagar stuff on here as much as I can. Van Hagar didn’t have a rock-titled song, but Sammy solo had more than one.

Sammy Hagar – Rock Is In My Blood

In the “I’m too lazy to sequence this dumb playlist with any thought to listening quality” department, I’ll just cram the other Hagar song here. It’s two-for-Tuesday with one of rock’s most enduring artists, and a Hagar hat trick.

Huey Lewis And The News – The Heart Of Rock N Roll

I almost didn’t put this on here but I always liked Huey’s stuff so here we go. The song is fine, maybe not his best, but Huey is a cool dude so I’ll jam out for a bit.

Scorpions – Rock You Like A Hurricane

There is no discussion of rock music without Germany’s greatest export. Hell, if you’re taking a geology class and they don’t talk about the Scorpions, you should ask for a refund. I didn’t get through my own geology class without a healthy dose of Love At First Sting.

Ok, so our favorite Teutonic rockers are probably more owing to biology than geology. But if you’re gifted enough in the physical arts, maybe they’ll do your geology homework for you. I don’t know.

Great White – Rock Me

An absolutely fantastic track from a band that maybe doesn’t get their due. They had an awful tragedy and later some lineup drama but they still put out some bona fide classics. I need to get around to picking up their stuff on wax. And we all need to get around to rocking out to this classic cut.

The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock N Roll (But I Like It)

I figured I’d let the Stones bring this playlist home. I’m not like a super massive fan of theirs but I do very much like and respect their place in rock and their body of work. This is a really cool song and a nice way to wind things down before we go take our geology finals. Or crack open another cold one and rock out.

Here’s the list. I’ll try to do something with a grain of thought to it next time but hey, this was fun.

Cool Music Videos

On By bigbadburchIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Today I wanted to chill out for a bit and have a look back at a handful of cool music videos. The music video used to define the landscape, MTV was as important in getting people to buy records as radio was. Nowadays more acts than ever can make really good videos, but it takes a lot to get eyeballs on them. They aren’t the way to reel in listeners like they were in the past.

There is no connecting theme here or anything – I’m just pulling up a few videos I remember from way back, or whenever on the timeline they fall.

Dire Straits – Money For Nothing

This video made use of early computer animation in an unlikely and groundbreaking way to put forth a video that took on a life of its own and stood out even beyond Dire Straits’ massively successful Brothers In Arms album. It was the talk of everywhere when it hit.

What’s funny is that I don’t think I’ve seen this video in full since it originally aired on MTV. I never have looked it up on YouTube, until now. The video might seem dated by today’s standards, sure, but I still remember how unreal it was at the time. It probably won’t land with younger audiences much, though I see some love for it in the video’s comment section.

Tool – Prison Sex

This was crazy stuff in the early ’90’s – another kind of animation technique not widely used at the time and in part put together by Tool’s guitarist Adam Jones. The video itself got played fairly regularly on MTV for a bit – until people found it too uncomfortable and yanked it from the airwaves. It got a second life on Beavis and Butthead a bit on down the road.

I’m not entirely sure what the song is about, though plenty of other Tool fans will be happy to slug it out in arguments over the meaning. It’s certainly not a pleasant topic, some form of abuse. The video disturbingly yet also amazingly portrays that theme in its animation.

Journey – Separate Ways

If you would have told me decades ago that I would unironically consider a video of Journey playing air instruments in front a pier-side warehouse one of the best videos of all time, I would have looked at you really funny. Yet here we are and I am offering just that opinion – this video is fantastic.

This is just so unreal and so 1980’s. Journey crafts a wonderful pop rock song and gets zero budget for their video apparently, so this is what we get. And after I reached adulthood and looked back on the video I couldn’t help but smile fondly. It is as goofy as it gets, but damn if it isn’t awesome.

Guns N Roses – Estranged

I went over this song pretty extensively in September when I did my in-depth analysis of the Use Your Illusion albums. I didn’t get too much occasion to discuss the video specifically though.

The song is an absolute masterpiece and the video matches the music blow-for-blow. Video-wise it’s the end of a trilogy that also includes Don’t Cry and November Rain, though I don’t know if the songs themselves play into that (they kinda seem like they do, at least loosely).

The video was clearly big-budget, I would assume more money went into it than many theatrical release movies of the time. It does spell the end of Guns N Roses’ time in the sun, as the band would splinter apart in a few years after this final single from their double album was released.

The video showcases Axl’s eccentricy and self-centerness, sure, but it’s still an honest take of the band at the time and probably goes a long way to painting the picture of this song. The way the song goes into its final movement, one of the most powerful in music, right when Axl jumps off the ship around the 7 minute mark is just perfect timing.

Kiss – Lick It Up

Kiss missed out on the music video format with a lot of their early material. It’s a shame that such a visual, theatrical band didn’t get to shoot music videos for their top-flight 70’s output. Just imagine what we could have gotten out of that.

Instead, we get ’80’s no-makeup Kiss wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland but with hot women who want to party. It’s like Mad Maxine Beyond Thunderdome, I don’t know. I do know that I really like this video, even if it is honestly kinda cringe.

The song is one of Kiss’ stronger ones from their ’80’s catalog and this video is – well, certainly a video. I can’t help but like it though, this is what I grew up on. It does appear that ¾ of the band is all about the video, while Gene Simmons might have benefited from keeping his demon makeup on.

Muse – Knights Of Cydonia

Let’s wind up with something from this side of the millennium line. This goofy western/sci-fi/kung fu mash up to a sillier than shit song about who knows what somehow winds up being one of the best music videos ever committed to film.

The video is just splendid. It’s a mini feature film, replete with plot and characters. The band only appears as brief hologram projections, I guess that’s fine since they looked like the Gallagher brothers playing alongside James Hetfield anyway. The good kung fu cowboy guy and the girl ride off into the sunset after bad cowboy kung fu guy is digitally vaporized, so I guess everyone goes home happy in the end.

There isn’t a lot more for me to say about it. The video is widely celebrated as one of the best music videos ever made and the song is towards the top of any list of Muse tracks. A pretty good marriage of song and film here.

Lamb Of God – Ashes Of The Wake (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week3 Comments

This week’s AOTW pick is a classic from 2004 that saw one of metal’s rising stars reach new heights and start to secure their place as the genre’s premier act. The album is largely based thematically on the second U.S.-Iraq War and features one of the best 3-song (if not 5-song) opening album sequences ever put to record. The new gods of groove metal arrived in 2004 to headbang through the new millennium.

Lamb Of God – Ashes Of The Wake

Released August 31, 2004 via Epic Records

My Favorite Tracks – Laid To Rest, Hourglass, Now You’ve Got Something To Die For

The album leads off with Laid To Rest – a track that is one of LoG’s most popular songs to this day. The song is one of a few that doesn’t betray its meaning right away – it could be about a victim haunting their killer, as is often surmised. That same concept could play out with the album’s overall theme of looking at the U.S. Wars in the Middle East. Perhaps a “collateral damage” victim is looking for their killers.

Or, the song could simply be a damn break-up tune. That’s what it sounds like to me. There’s definitely something under there to pull that conclusion out, even if the result is quite screwed up. I don’t necessarily recommend screaming “Destroy yourself – see who gives a fuck” over and over again if you’re trying to get over somebody, but hey, it’s there if you need it.

The next few songs jump more overtly into the issue of the wars in the Middle East. Hourglass is a sharp warning of the dangers of nation-building, warnings that have largely come to pass. Now You’ve Got Something To Die For gets into the true cost of war, that being the piles of bodies wrapped in flags and dollars.

The Faded Line continues the harrowing exploration of the cost of war, this time looking at the loss of faith and connection to one’s country, vision and values. It’s a definite standout and one I can truly connect with, it’s kind of shit living in a place where I can’t connect with the ideals that so many among me are rabidly shouting in defense of.

Ashes Of The Wake goes on to explore a handful of other themes. Omerta is a clear visitation of the Mafia’s “code of silence” and the brutal consequences of violating it. There’s more political musing on One Gun, and Break You is about some specifically unidentified heavy stuff.

The album’s title track takes a different approach to outlining the horrors of war. An interview with a Marine who saw combat in Iraq presents the harsh realities of the orders the combatants were given. The song offers a handful of guitar solos, including guest shots from Testament’s Alex Skolnick and Chris Poland, formerly of Megadeth.

Lamb Of God were one of the many bands lumped into the “New Wave Of American Heavy Metal” tag in the early 00’s. That tag got a bit confusing over time and grouped many dissimilar acts together. Either way, Lamb Of God separated themselves from the pack with Ashes Of The Wake. The road ahead would see even more success and exposure for the group through the rest of the 00’s.

Mötley Crüe – Wild Side

On By bigbadburchIn S-Tier Songs2 Comments

This post was part of a series that I called S-Tier Songs. I later decided to abandon the series in favor of a simpler Song of the Week format. I am keeping these posts as I wrote them but removing the old page that linked to the list of S-Tier Songs, so that is why these posts might look a bit odd. Enjoy.

In 1987 rock was king and it had hair. Everyone was on board the hair train – every new band, no matter their actual sound, made sure their luscious locks were on prominent display in press photos and videos. Many old guard rockers, such as Heart, joined in on the hair party. Rock some tunes, get some huge hair, and cash the royalty checks.

And in 1987, the four people most chiefly responsible for starting the whole hair mess arrived with a new album. Motley Crue returned with Girls, Girls, Girls as a way to reclaim a bit of glory after their prior effort Theatre Of Pain was commercially successful yet critically panned. The album was a success and the band continued their hot streak through the end of the decade they helped define.

For everything on that record, one song stands out as among the very best tunes Crue recorded. The album’s opener Wild Side did not see an official release as a single, but a crazy MTV video put the song in the spotlight and the song became a sensation.

Motley Crue – Wild Side

In the late 80’s where the formula for success was hard rockers about sex and ballads about sex, Motley Crue showed back up to add a grittier edge to the sound of their own doing. The band started heavier and nastier than the scene they helped forge, and on Wild Side they returned to explore the sleazier side of life.

The song is a hard hitter, going straight for the throat with a great riff and some pounding drums. Motley Crue were never technical masters of their instruments but when they wrote a great song it was unmistakable. Wild Side is signature Crue and it stands with the other staples of their set, and towards the top of it.

The song lyrically explores the seedier side of life. It’s something often left out of the polish and shine of 80’s rock – everyone was so busy glizting up the Sunset Strip that people forgot how screwed up Los Angeles really was. But this band, one who was billed as the most dangerous in the world, reminded everyone what life on the streets could really be like.

And yeah, they really were dangerous – sadly they were a danger to themselves and others.

The heralded video showcased a live performance replete with Tommy Lee going upside-down on a crazy drum rig. The stunt was a huge talking point that helped spread word about the song and also cemented the band’s reputation as over the top and crazy.

Why is this an S-Tier song?

Wild Side is a kick ass banger that is widely considered one of the band’s best songs. It stood apart from the muddled rock scene of the later 1980’s and re-established some of the grittier edge to Motley Crue. It might not be hard to stand out from the hair rock pack when you drew the blueprints for it, but the band’s return to a harder sound was timely as the Sunset Strip was about to give birth to a dangerous new band who would directly challenge the Crue for the top spot as the king of the rock hill.

I’m not at a point yet where I would take the time to rank individual Motley Crue songs but Wild Side is an easy top 3 for me. It’s one of the real gems in their catalog and it stood out from the crowd as 80’s hair metal excess began to swamp the scene.

Body Count – Bloodlust (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week2 Comments

This week I’m grabbing one of my favorite albums from recent memory. It’s now 4 years old and it’s a record that shifted the band’s profile and also highlighted significant political issues within modern America. One song in particular from this album would get re-released as a single after massive racial tensions engulfed the country in 2020.

And yes, this post will discuss politics. It’s not always my bag and not where I want to go with my blog but it’s unavoidable when discussing this album. Deal with it, I guess.

Body Count – Bloodlust

Released March 31, 2017 via Century Media Records

My Favorite Tracks – No Lives Matter, Civil War, Here I Go Again

Body Count arrived on the scene in the early ’90’s in mega controversial fashion, as Ice T’s metal band found themselves with a banned song in the form of Cop Killer. The band would go on for years to earn a legit reputation for banging music and consistent gigging. The group went on a long hiatus before returning in the mid 2010’s with a refined focus on Manslaughter.

Bloodlust arrived in early 2017, just after a bitter political battle in 2016’s U.S. Presidential elections. Tensions were at an all-time high after the most vile and cancerous arguments presented in public forums I’ve ever seen, and this Body Count record would explore many of the issues in a manner fitting of the savage climate of the time.

I’m going track-by-track this week, as this record deserves the specific attention.

Civil War

The album begins with a mock emergency announcement, one real-sounding enough to scare people who might be within earshot. (It’s happened to me more than once). Dave Mustaine narrates an official government announcement of martial law before the song starts.

Civil War is just like it sounds – a brutal exploration of things breaking bad in America. When this album came out things were looking pretty grim here. It might seem calmer in 2021 than then but there’s still a lot of contempt and resentment for any different perspective today, so I don’t know if the threat has really dissipated.

Mustaine lends an excellent guitar solo to the track and the band slams through dystopian violence gone horribly wrong. It’s a great song but also extra unsettling due to the very real possibility that something could kick off.

The Ski Mask Way

This song sees Ice T and company explore the topic of high-profile robbery. Today’s influencer culture has people flashing their goods more than ever before and this leads to a dark subculture of those people being targeted by thieves. These aren’t the two-bit thieves who make off with your rusted Huffy bicycle at 2:00 AM, these are the pros who will do anything to get what they want.

This Is Why We Ride

One of Bloodlust‘s feature tracks discusses the real issues behind ghetto violence in America. People might complain that Ice T is rich and doesn’t have a voice in the matter, but I’d wager he knows more about the issue than some white guy filming a YouTube video in the huge truck he’s balls deep in debt on.

The song is excellent, a real standout on the record. It pairs a great guitar hook with an actual depiction of the issues truly behind street violence, stuff far deeper than most average people would ever care to explore or discuss. It’s essential listening on a record packed with great tracks and on a topic lighting fires across the country.

All Love Is Lost

This dark, heavy song of betrayal and mistrust features legendary Sepultura and Soulfly mainman Max Cavalera. Max screams along in his distinct growl to a brutal, militant pummeling as Ice T laments the loss of bonds between someone once trusted.

The accompanying music video stands out for this song. Ice T’s Law And Order SVU co-star Kelli Giddish has a go at revenge against her philandering husband. In Body Count world, revenge has an ugly finish.

Raining Blood/Postmortem

A pair of covers come next. Ice T gives a brief spoken intro where he discusses the reasons for forming Body Count and the main influences behind the music. One of those is obviously Slayer, and Body Count covers two songs from the seminal Reign In Blood. It’s an interesting take on the songs, fits the record well, and also goes to showcase Slayer’s influence on the rest of the album.

God, Please Believe Me

A brief interlude offers a lament/prayer. It’s a fitting piece that helps pause the action a bit.

Walk With Me

This song kicks straight in with guest vocals from Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe. There always seems to be a lot of walking involved with Lamb Of God, I guess this is a muthafuckin’ invitation to hike. I don’t know.

Anyway this is another nice cut. Randy and Ice T collaborate well to another savage metal offering. This is another exploration of murder and psychosis, something Ice T has done quite a bit over the years.

Here I Go Again

This track continues the murder “ballad” exploration. This song was apparently a leftover track from Ice T’s 1996 solo album Return Of The Real. I don’t have an official citation for that but it sounds nice so let’s roll with it.

This is one sick, twisted tale of a killer on the prowl. It’s a fantastic cut and builds to a great climax where the killer attacks himself without realizing it. It’s not just a hollow, gory tale – this is some excellent storytelling set to a nice, groovy pace. It’s easily one of my favorites from the record.

No Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement entered discourse in the latter part of the last decade. It started an extremely heated and divisive argument with counter-protest shouts of All Lives Matter. And on the edges, disaffected and nihilistic edgelords made memes proclaiming the inevitable No Lives Matter. Won’t lie, I shared a few of those myself.

Body Count takes the “No Lives Matter” phrase and re-purposes it for real discussion of the issues. After a spoken intro shredding apart the “All Lives Matter” response, Body Count delivers one of the most important and light-of-truth shining songs in recent memory.

No Lives Matter breaks the issues down to what it really is – divisions and hatred that distract from the true center of power and control, and the actual bottom line of it all – money. People look around and look down to find targets for their rage instead of looking up at the true source of society’s misery.

This song would find renewed prominence in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd sparked a renewed wave of protests in the midst of the pandemic and a bitter presidential election. The truth is the truth, and sadly it will probably rear its ugly head again.

Bloodlust

The album’s title track is pretty simply stated – humans like to kill. It’s a vicious, hellbent track that pounds home the twisted desire to maim and slaughter. It’s kind of hard to tell how much of it is Ice T’s fantasy musings about murder and how much is a very real examination of the ills of humankind.

Black Hoodie

The album’s closer goes again into the issues of race in America, this time shining light on police killings of black people. As Ice T says in the intro – he’s been talking about this shit for over 20 years. It isn’t a new issue, but in today’s information-saturated climate, it’s an issue that gets a lot more play than it did way back when.

Honestly, I’ll just let the song speak for itself. The issues discussed are so raw and so viciously debated that I really can’t add much to it. All I’ll say is that it feels like I live in a sick, brutal society that places no real value on human life.

Clearly Bloodlust is loaded with red hot social/political discourse and also its namesake bloodlust. The two tend to go hand-in-hand, after all. The record struck a nerve with me right away, elevating Body Count from “curiosity side project” status to one of metal’s most interesting and hard-hitting bands. I would go so far as to call Bloodlust my favorite album of the 2010’s, but there is some competition in that regard I wouldn’t hear until the decade was over.

Either way Bloodlust remains a seminal moment in music from recent memory. Everything the album discusses is still sadly in play, it’s not anything I see changing anytime soon. It’s impossible to remove the social commentary from the record, but outside of it exists a fantastic, slamming metal album. The album’s musical guests, metal legends all, add true weight to their songs and are far beyond just cursory appearances. It’s a record that is a total pleasure to listen to, even in the face of some very harsh issues facing civilization today.

Guilty Pleasures

On By bigbadburchIn Controversy6 Comments

The “guilty pleasure” is one of music listening’s most odd and sometimes interesting terms. People like something, but people don’t want anyone else to know. It’s embarassing for a 35 year old, burly man to like Britney Spears or whatever, or for some mild-mannered soccer mom to headbang to Suffocation.

Of course the concept of a guilty pleasure is pretty dumb. People should, in an ideal world, just like what they like and not have any expectations or judgments from society attached to it. And in the modern age a lot of people spend so much time ripping dissenting opinions apart that it’s almost a strength to just express one’s own tastes without giving a damn what anyone else thinks of it. Being affected by any negative thoughts others might have of my music taste is not a thing I can really afford to carry around.

I do have a handful of things that could be thought of as guilty pleasures. They aren’t all that deep or shocking, and only one gives me some hesitantcy to admit. And even that I’m past the point of caring about. Here’s a handful of my “guilty” pleasures, which being real, I don’t feel guilty about at all.

Bon Jovi

I’ve mentioned before that Slippery When Wet was the first album I really ever owned. I still very much enjoy Bon Jovi, especially the 80’s output and some of the stuff from the 2000’s. (No, I’m really not into what they did in the 90’s.)

The conflict of interest comes from metalheads who can’t fathom enjoying something as, well, not metal and as popular and mainstream as Bon Jovi. I’ve caught a fair bit of shit for expressing my interest in the band. I don’t know how I’m supposed to care – I did not disavow rock music when I got into heavy metal. I didn’t take a dark oath to only listen to self-released demos from black metal bands recorded on a Fischer-Price tape deck in the lead singer’s bathroom. I will listen to that, but I’ll also listen to You Give Love A Bad Name.

Hall and Oates

This one seems to throw people off a lot. I love Hall and Oates, I always have. Their big hits in the 80’s were in constant rotation as I was exploring music as a youth. They aren’t an act that I chase down every release or anything (there’s a lot and they’ve covered a lot of musical ground) but I still very much enjoy H&O and I feel very not guilty about it.

For some reason I don’t catch much shit from metalheads about this one. It’s because many of them also like Hall and Oates. It’s other people who do like them who wonder what this crusty dude in an Iron Maiden t-shirt is doing browsing through their records in the store. Sorry, I just wanted to see if there were any South American test pressings of Big Bam Boom.

Oasis

I’ve already written extensively about Oasis and I will be again next month when the Knebworth live set is released. And I probably will beyond that too.

I got into them in the mid 90’s when they were one of the biggest bands on the planet and I was just listening to whatever sounded cool to me at the time. I sort of set them aside in the 2000’s when their songwriting magic had worn off and the band eventually imploded. I, like many, found that wave of nostalgia a few years ago and have been back hard on the Oasis train since.

Now who gives me shit for liking Oasis? EVERYBODY. It’s literally anyone who doesn’t like Oasis is like “You like that crap?” Yes, I do. And if I need to have a defiant, snarky attitude towards anyone hating on my tastes, I can’t think of two better role models for that than the brothers Gallagher. Perhaps calling them role models says something about my lack of well-being but hey, it’s 2021, we’re past that sort of thing now.

Black Metal

This is an entire subgenre rather than one band, and for good reason. I personally don’t feel guilty about listening to it at all, but black metal is some absurd music with a ridiculous history and a lot of unsavory characters who happened to record some of the music’s most revered works.

I have a post coming in the near future that gets far more into how I came into black metal so I won’t bloviate about it much here. But I first heard of it when the crazy ass story of Varg Vikernes and Euronymous made the rounds in the 90’s. The music wound up really clicking with me a few years later.

I don’t feel guilty about listening to harsh, misanthropic, anti-religious music. Those themes are likely why I took to it in the first place. I do, like many, try to make sure I’m not accidentally supporting outright Nazis, something that is an unfortunate part of several black metal bands. That’s its own culture war playing out on the battlefields of social media right now. The signals and messages often get mixed up and crossed, which is why I largely stay the hell out of the arguments. There’s nothing to gain and far too much ire and spite to wind up with in all of that shit. But the style as a whole is being called into question, that’s an unavoidable part of being into this shit in 2021.

I personally will keep on listening to who I like, hoping that they aren’t trying to ressurect the Third Reich. Outside of that I don’t really care what these people get up to, and by and large most of them aren’t into any sick stuff like that. The murder and arson and whatever is fine, I guess.

Insane Clown Possee

Here we are – my one true guilty pleasure, the one thing I have long hesitated to admit liking. It’s the one that I’m like “dude, you have an old picture of me in an ICP shirt, please destroy that kthanksbye.” It’s the one group I had every studio album of at one time but later made a beeline to the CD store to trade in for something inoffensive and unembarassing, like black metal.

In 1998 I was exposed to ICP and I thought they had some funny and entertaining stuff. I really got into them in 1999 and the turn of the millenium. I never went so far as to paint my face, drink Faygo or even go see them live, but I was pretty into their stuff.

My thoughts on them started shifting around 2001. Honestly, their music is pretty dumb. I listen to some pretty stupid stuff anyway but man, these guys take the cake. And also them getting obliterated in song by Eminem didn’t help matters. I quietly packed up my juggalo stuff and pretended that my brief era of being down with the clowns didn’t exist.

Today my thoughts have shifted some again. I can look back at what ICP have done and respect their place in things. They built their own subculture and the infrastructure around it and they turned their own passions into a living and a way of life. They’ve also shown they can roll with the punches, like when they got clowned on SNL for the absurdity of their song Miracles. And the community of juggalos seem to be some pretty cool people, despite how maligned they are in popular culture.

I’ll also admit this – I can’t really get back into them. I think they have a few songs that stand out and are pretty good but by and large this isn’t something I want to play again or have in my collection again.

The Number Of The Beast – Satanic Panic in 2021

On By bigbadburchIn Controversy4 Comments

Note – I originally intended to post this last Friday, the 15th. I started coming into updated information about this incident so I held off until the final news of the matter came through. I had to rewrite most of what I had. This is why I don’t mess with current event stuff much. I’m a hobby blogger, not a damn reporter and I don’t have time for breaking news. I’ll still post this but it’s kind of a damn mess.

A strange case that seemed ripped out of headlines from 1986 came to the attention of heavy metal social media a few weeks ago. A group of parents with children in a high school in Ontario, Canada started an online petition to have the school’s principal removed from her job.

The original petition, since deleted, had a bit over 500 signatures to it. A counter petition filed by students of the school in support of the principal and obviously noticed by Iron Maiden fans, was over 23,000 signatures when I last looked Sunday afternoon. I will briefly mention that I think online petitions are totally useless, and then move on.

After some back and forth over the issue, someone who filed the original petition doubled down on their efforts. The filer suggested that they were uninterested in the principal’s music taste, but was concerned about the use of the number 666 on a sign the school official made in support of the band. Also, the principal dared flash the dreaded “devil horns” gesture in photos involving her obvious love of Iron Maiden. It is worth noting that the photos were posted to the principal’s official Instagram account as agent of the school, not a personal account.

Metal and rock sites offered details of the story and metal Twitter and Facebook lit aflame with criticism of the original petition filers. The filer continued to double down on the criticism of the Satanic imagery, even suggesting that the “battle” wasn’t over after the principal removed the photos from the school’s IG account. A campaign to “get to know” the “real” issue came from the first petition, even as the counter petition swallowed the original in signatures.

Someone file a petition to get me to stop using quotation marks in a sardonic manner, please.

This issue would dissolve for good on Saturday, October 16, when the school announced the principal would remain in her potion with no sanctions or action taken. The original petition was disabled and everyone went their merry way, I suppose. Here is a link to a Blabbermouth.net article outlining the likely final resolution in this case.

This case did remind me of something and also easily caught my attention since Iron Maiden is my favorite band. The following text is the second part of what I wrote originally about this whole thing and I’ve decided to post it unedited. It might make for an incoherent narrative so I wanted to make a note of it for context.

There is no escaping the number 666 with Iron Maiden – it is woven into one of their most famous songs. The Number Of The Beast is usually an auto-include in any tour setlist and is one of the band’s most celebrated works. I would imagine that shirts, posters, tapestries and other merchandise of the album are among the band’s highest-selling merch offerings, and the album itself is a classic that is often ranked at least top 5 in the band’s catalog, if not at the very top.

And the devil horns? A common sign from heavy metal and also often rock fans. Hell, it’s used in other applications outside of music, such as fans of the University of Texas Longhorns sports teams. Sure, they’re popularly known as “devil horns,” but the gesture likely not invented by Gene Simmons does not truly bear any Satanic connotations. It’s just a thing, that’s all it really is.

I won’t get into some huge theological argument here. I’m not a religious person but this site isn’t a space where I intend to really discuss that outside of any relevant context to music. I know plenty of very awesome religious people who are into heavy metal, and I know plenty of very awesome religious people who aren’t into heavy metal who probably think this whole thing is a joke and would not want someone removed from her job because she likes a band.

The overriding point I get out of all this is flashbacks to that absurd battle of the 1980’s – the Satanic Panic. It was quite the chore to grow up and get into rock and metal while everyone was flipping out about real and perceived Satanism in music, movies, behind bushes and in shadows everywhere. That panic informed a great deal of my music-listening childhood and adolescence. I will get much deeper into these themes another time, but I and many others had some memories surface when hearing about this kind of crap going on toward the end of 2021, and about 27 years after the harrowing conclusion of the Satanic Panic.

In the end, all I can really do is hope the principal gets to keep her job (she will). She seems loved by her students and hopefully reason will prevail in a world where it often doesn’t. I don’t expect the group of parents calling for her head to grasp the folly of their argument or to open their perspectives to any different views. That’s not how we do business in the world in 2021.

If nothing else, I’m sure this woman will not have to pay for any beverage of her choice the next time she sees Iron Maiden in concert. If I know anything, it’s that this community does rally around its own. Down with panic, and as always, Up The Irons.