HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by BIL »

Blinge wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxqlb1--uKc

just gonna go ahead and post this up cuz i got the no pussy blues

i must laugh or i'll cry
Hang in there Burinju. 3; Could always be worse ;3

Christ, I'm COMING DAY AND NIGHT over Anthem's 80s oeuvre, lately. These guys are pure quality, always a joy to revisit.

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Ironically enough, the JP metal legends (and Falcom+Konami AST heroes) second LP TIGHTROPE (1986) has a balancing issue. It's never less than "very good," but conspicuously front-loaded. VICTIM IN YOUR EYES fucking detonates, fusing furiously mutating Megadeth-calibre thrash with Queen-rich vocal harmonies; a bloodening combo, and an unforgettable opening salvo. Before the dust can begin to settle, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT suavely slams into mid-tempo, delivering movingly immaculate pop-metal bop - and while the relentless pummel-and-gallop of DEATH AFTER DEATH doesn't quite match either's craft, it measures up on sheer bludgeoning conviction and a explosive choral release, before titular TIGHTROPE DANCER lands another shot of enviably pitch-perfect pop metal, all sizzling lead-ups and irresistible choruses.

Much of Side B feels distinctly like a holding pattern in the wake of a head-swimmingly hard-blasted load. It's thoroughly competent stuff, on sheer metallic tonnage if nothing else, but conspicuously lacking the flawless bob-and-weave punch of the preceding slab. DRIVING WIRE repeats DaD's unbridled bludgeon, to inevitably diminishing returns despite its bullseye shout-out chorus ("GO TO HELL!") - a near-identical tag-in by FINGER'S ON THE TRIGGER not quite a match for either of Side A's bops. Penultimate track LIGHT IT UP sounds like the agreeable demo of a would-be great song, nothing more. The album's closer, awesomely-titled BLACK-EYED TOUGH, brings the roof down in the Motorheadesque slugfest of their preceding LP's fan-favourite "WARNING ACTION;" a parting blast that feels slightly less celebratory than it might've on a more consistent LP.

A fine record overall, but you'll feel the dip. Some of life's best experiences are like this. :cool: They'd truly catch fire with their next LP, the indispensable, Chris Tsangarides-produced masterpiece that cemented their "Japanese Judas Priest" stature, BOUND TO BREAK.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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All I really know about Anthem is that they're the band Falcom got to do those Xanadu songs.

ETA: I assume this was like the Japanese version of that Warhammer album Bolt Thrower did.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Yep! Very decent stuff, they put their backs into the manful title track. I faintly recall this being the first metal/VGM crossover of its kind, though I could be wrong there. Tecmo and later Konami legend METAL_YUHKI ripped off "Bound To Break" for Ninja Gaiden (AC)'s first stage; it's still in the ACA release even though his Iron Man rip got shitcanned way back in NG Black. :lol:

GET POWWA! Xanaduuu~

I technically got into Anthem forever and ever ago, in the twilight of Napster, when I discovered the Konami Perfect Selection series of ASTs. Naoto Shibata (founder, bassist, pretty much the Steve Harris of the group) was the mainman there, with Anthem MKIII guitarist Akio Shimizu featuring on Dracula Battle Perfect Selection 1.

Regardless, if you like one, you should check out the rest. Balls-out hard rock and heavy metal! I remember thinking at the time "God damn, Konami didn't fuck around!" Not knowing it was the equivalent of signing Maiden or Judas Priest to do your ASTs. Japan will always be awesome. Image Image

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The other half of my interest in them came from Chris Tsangarides, who worked on the landmark Sad Wings of Destiny with Priest, a whole bunch of other cool stuff in the 80s, then reunited with Priest for mahfuckin PAINKILLER. He also produced Anthem's Bound To Break and the preposterously-titled but unimpeachably brilliant DOMESTIC BOOTY. The best starting points for Anthem are probably BTB, the followup with second (and current) vocalist Yukio Morikawa Gypsy Ways, (will be writing that up soon), and their swan song the aforementioned BOOTEH. (Engrish aside, "Silent Cross" is fuckin legit one of the most devastating power-laments on record) ;-;

Cross of your silence, let me dream
Living in the darkness, there’s no words, no sight
Cross of your silence, let me wish
Livin’ in the darkness
‘Cause cold wind led her to the sky


OH HELL NO, SHE DEAD Image (that fuckin riff though - first class Into The Void rip lads, holy fuck what a behemoth tune Image)

They reunited in the 2000s with MKI vocalist Eizo Sakamoto, who put in a solid decade before handing off to MKII singer Yukio Morikawa - pretty rad, I have to say; imagine Maiden doing a decade with Paul before switching to Bruce. They kept a steringly high standard throughout and since, even with Shibata battling and overcoming cancer. Very fond of their heartbreaking latter-day power ballad Love Of Hell.

I don't care...
Destination: Love of Hell
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And dig this fuckin beast, "Eternal Bind" :shock: Ferocious!

He's probably not to your taste - bit of a rightwing edgyboi :oops: - but politics aside, purely for the love of metal, Razorfist's career overview is genuinely worth a look, as they tend to be. (I'll stand by his Sabbath, Priest, Motorhead and Ramones ones too... Maiden not so much, who the fuck hates Seventh Son?! :lol: But for stuff he likes, he's a good'un imo)
Air Master Burst wrote:ETA: I assume this was like the Japanese version of that Warhammer album Bolt Thrower did.
I love you AMB you know that? ;-; And yeah pretty much :mrgreen:
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by Air Master Burst »

HOLY SHIT everything about that Dracula Battle II album cover is amazing and I wanna inject it straight into my veins!

Digging this Anthem shit so far, a bit older and less mathy/thrashy than my usual fare but really good!

I also share your enthusiasm for the almighty PAINKILLER!
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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AI is coming to take over music world like the Terminator

https://youtu.be/JZC9-3yEcSw
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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And for a return to good ol' fashioned human ingenuity :cool: Hoooly fuck, Bill McClintock is unstoppable.

Image

ELECTRIC SEX MACHINE

Image

KILLED BY EXODUS

Purveyor of legit bilateral bangers, absolute crossover killers. His Dio/Rick James and Slayer creations are amazing, too. Heavy music's black roots ain't news - consult our front page :cool: - but it's rare to see disparate strands fused so deftly and with such ferocious life-affirming vigour. Uncommonly fine work, blast it loud.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Tomorrow is Halloween. Naturally, there couldn’t be a better date to revisit the back catalogue of Helloween. So tomorrow, I’m going to listen to nothing but that, starting with the debut and Walls of Jericho, then moving on to the classic Keeper albums. I’m not sure how far I’ll get over the course of just one day, but I hope to at least reach 1998's Better Than Raw. That would be 7 albums in total, spanning the first 10 years of their career.

I’m really looking forward to it. Not sure if my wife is quite as thrilled at the prospect.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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That's a really cool Halloween project, you're in for some good times! Better Than Raw is a good place to end it; I think Time of the Oath was the last of their albums I really liked, although I admit I haven't heard anything newer than that crappy Rabbit album.

Also, Better Than Raw is actually their 8th album, but I totally understand if you're skipping Pink Bubbles Go Ape.

People like to talk shit about Hanson, but it's pretty dope that they used to use the opening track from Better Than Raw as their concert intro.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Air Master Burst wrote:Also, Better Than Raw is actually their 8th album, but I totally understand if you're skipping Pink Bubbles Go Ape.
Oh I don’t intend to skip it. I happen to actually really like Pink Bubbles. I think it has a much worse reputation than it deserves, but that’s 10% due to weak sound production and 90% due to just not having been what everyone expected from the band after the two genre-defining Keeper albums. If looked at separately, it’s a solid record.

If anything, I would skip the more confused half of the overly long Chameleon album, but that would be cheating. I fully intend to listen to all of them from start to finish.

While I like both, I always thought that Better Than Raw was a step up from Time of the Oath, but I agree that little of interest came after it until the latest reunion album came along.

Regarding the number of albums, you’re absolutely right, of course. I miscounted. Eight it is.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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I fucking love Anthem's Tightrope, and think it fucking hits from start to stop. I kinda feel like the only issue with the second half is that it comes after the first half, and if the order was reversed, the former first half would sound similarly a bit lesser. :P

Also, today on Halloween, I was playing... well, Helloween's Halloween. So good.
I love Keeper of the Seven Keys, both parts, so much... but honestly, I've been increasingly convinced that Part 1 is better by quite a bit, especially lyrically. Far too much of Part 2 makes me feel like I'm listening to a song that was run through Google Translate, while Part 1 doesn't have any particularly odd turns of phrase. Melodically, Part 1 seems to make more sense too.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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The two Keeper albums have a convoluted history. Originally planned as a double album, the label forced the band to split it into two seperate records. Then, when it came to start recording, Michael Weikath got sick and couldn't contribute much to the first record. The result is that part I is almost 100% Hansen, while his contributions to part II are only two songs (March of Time and I want Out) and the rest is split between Weikath (a lot) and Kiske (a little). The first part is also quite short, so it's more dense (for lack of a better word), although there's nothing on part II I'd classify as filler. I'm pretty sure, though, that if both parts had been released as originally planned, the double album would form a much more coherent whole. Personally, I actually prefer part II slightly, but that may be a fair bit due to nostalgia, because a tape of that, given to me by a classmate, was literally my gateway into metal.

I do agree on the goofy lyrics thing, but I think writing lyrics with the help of a dictionary was pretty much par for the course for non-native-speaking bands back in the eighties. Maybe Hansen just had a better dictionary than Weikath?

To report back on my Halloween project: I haven't quite made it as far as I wanted, as I had to stop after Time of the Oath. I'll put on Better Than Raw today, and I think I'll follow it up with Gamma Ray's Land of the Free, which is Keeper III in all but name.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Herr Schatten wrote:I'll put on Better Than Raw today, and I think I'll follow it up with Gamma Ray's Land of the Free, which is Keeper III in all but name
Is the actual Keeper 3 album any good? It seems like a cheapass cash in, and it came out well after my interest in Helloween waned, but I keep hearing good things about it.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Air Master Burst wrote:Is the actual Keeper 3 album any good?
Not really. Theme aside, it’s not really much different from their other post-2000 albums. If those do nothing for you, you can safely ignore it without missing out on anything.

If you want to give their newer material another chance, I suggest trying the self-titled reunion album instead. That one's actually surprisingly decent, and with Kiske and Hansen back on board, it even manages to hint at past greatness sometimes.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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So, listening to Rob Halford's solo album Made of Metal again, it's largely a miss with a few high points here and there -- he sings well enough, but the songwriting is... weird. I want to like it a lot more than I actually do. Fire and Ice is a nice enough song, for example, easily one of the better ones.

HOWEVER

The Mower is like a 11/10 hard and heavy song out of just absolutely nowhere and I absolutely love it to death.

NO AIR, NO LIGHT, NO EXIT!
NO AIR, NO LIGHT, NO EXIIIIIIIIT!


It's just way too cool and it comes clean out of left field. I cannot get over how much I like this song.


Speaking of Halford, I was jamming to Judas Priest's Turbo in the car and even though every single song seems designed to ensure maximum radio airplay above all else, I think it is literally perfect. I 100% understand the idea that people were worried after this album that Priest would become absurdly hyper-commercial with their sound, but I think it is an absolutely shining synthetic gem of an album.
kinda reminded that I was a tad disappointed that Reckless didn't find its way into Top Gun: Maverick, too :P
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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The biggest issue with Halford's solo stuff is that, for some reason, he didn't make it anywhere near as gloriously gay as Judas Priest.

Turbo isn't really my thing (synth never did anything for me) but it's a pretty good album. No Painkiller, obviously, but it smacks the shit out of most of their 70s catalogue, which mostly kinda sucks. Hell Bent For Leather did bring us the rough trade leather daddy look, but also had a fucking Fleetwood Mac cover, so like two steps forward one step back.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Air Master Burst wrote:but it smacks the shit out of most of their 70s catalogue, which mostly kinda sucks. Hell Bent For Leather did bring us the rough trade leather daddy look, but also had a fucking Fleetwood Mac cover, so like two steps forward one step back.
these are fighting words :twisted: 70s Priest is fucking great.
High notes for me include Sad Wings of Destiny, which is an actual 10/10 for almost the entirety of its runtime [with Epitaph probably being the weakest song by far on it -- I kinda like it, but it is genuinely quite out of place, at least Dreamer Deceiver transitions straight into Deceiver and makes sense there]. Victim of Changes is the song that got me into being a Priest fan. That harmonized opening is so fucking cooooool.
Stained Class also has Beyond the Realms of Death on it, which is unreasonably standout. Exciter is a great song too, but I like this live version way more than the album version, just absolutely kicks its ass.

that fleetwood mac cover is also pretty good, damnit; I like damn near all of Hell Bent for Leather/Killing Machine :lol:
Yeah, their 70s output isn't remotely as hard and heavy as Ram it Down or Painkiller, but very literally nothing was back then. Priest was up there as some of the heaviest music you could get at the time, and they fucking slammed hard.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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null1024 wrote:Yeah, their 70s output isn't remotely as hard and heavy as Ram it Down or Painkiller, but very literally nothing was back then. Priest was up there as some of the heaviest music you could get at the time, and they fucking slammed hard.
Desperate times and all that, I'd probably look more fondly on them if I was that old too. 70s metal never did much for me, though, outside of Jethro Tull and a few Rainbow tunes. I guess Maiden's first album was technically made in the 70s. Killing Joke was pretty good I guess?
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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BIL wrote: A fine record overall, but you'll feel the dip. Some of life's best experiences are like this. :cool: They'd truly catch fire with their next LP, the indispensable, Chris Tsangarides-produced masterpiece that cemented their "Japanese Judas Priest" stature, BOUND TO BREAK.
Tightrope is the only one I've listened to, and I could swear it was one of your recs from some time ago. Now listening to Bound to Break, and it's certainly got more guts to it. I'm getting very strong early Crüe vibes which is more than a compliment from me, but vocals more along the lines of Halford. Second song on the album, Empty Eyes, absolutely shreds; it's full-on British Steel energy. Thanks for the heads up.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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I am eternally thinking about Anthem's Domestic Booty, which I'm 90% is called that just because they took a thesaurus to the phrase "national treasure" lol.
Venom Strike is such a good opening song. Something about that opening riff just feels unreasonably nostalgic too, and I can't put my finger on why. The rest of the album is great too, and I have yelled my throat hoarse singing along with RENEGAAAAAADE in the car while blasting down the highway.
I honestly have nearly nothing particularly bad to say about Anthem from what I've listened to of them, with the worst being that Gypsy Ways' second half of the album, starting with Silent Child is a definite drop -- maybe a deliberate reduction in intensity, but it definitely ends up being what gets me to change albums when I'm driving.
Still, Anthem is just a stellar band.

Also, I was listening to Conquest's Endless Power in the car on the way home from work. Good stuff, if not stunning stuff. Cool guitar work, cool harmonizing, cool drums, but loads of off-tune sounding vocals, an extreme lack of any kind of volume dynamics, and in general, sounding a bit samey.
It's still fun to listen to, sometimes you just want something that's fookin metal and damn everything else, but the entire time, I was thinking, "this really could just be better".


On a less metal note, I've been going through Bad Religion's discography again. Always liked them a fair bit.
Not always 100% on board with their messages, but like, if your opinions are entirely aligned with a punk band with zero deviation, you probably should re-evaluate them. :P

No Control or Generator are easily their best, with very few flaws. It does feel very weird having Generator be the opening song on the album due to how different it is vs the rest, but damn, I love that song.
I kind of like No Control more as a punk album, but Generator is just an overall better album in the grand scheme of music.

They kind of fall off a bit starting with Recipe for Hate for me [The Grey Race in particular isn't terribly good, and I constantly wish they picked a different album to pull songs for in Crazy Taxi lol], picking back up a bit with The Process of Belief [this might just be nostalgia speaking, I blasted this album like mad in like 2005/6/7, I'm not so sure how much I like it] onward, but they're very definitely getting old, to the point where I showed a friend of mine a video of them recently playing live and his response was, "ah, Dad Religion" :lol:
I like True North quite a bit and although I haven't spent much time listening to Age of Unreason, it seems okay too.

Their first two albums are extremely different from all of their later work. How Could Hell Be Any Worse is pretty straight hardcore punk and much less melodic than everything later they've done. Not quite my jam -- never was a big hardcore punk guy because I like people who can sing [zingo! -- okay, that's unfair to paint the entire genre like that, but it really isn't my jam and I do prefer more melodic stuff].
Into the Unknown is utterly bizarre in every single way. The longer I listen to it, the more confused I get. It's also stunning how much the synth dates it. I am listening to it again typing this and I am baffled in ways that I find hard to put to words. I'm not someone that needs to be blaring guitars crazy rock yeaaaahhhhhh all the time, but the more I listen to it, the less I like it. There is a comment on that video that I made 7 years ago, and I was a lot more favorable to the album then than I am now.
On a positive note, Into the Unknown is what got the band into doing more melodic stuff and the vocal harmonizing and all that, so it wasn't all bad.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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Ah, Bad Religion. It’s funny how everyone seems to have very different favorites among their albums. Personally, while I would agree on Generator as one of their best, I actually wouldn’t put Recipe for Hate far behind, and the latter has one of the single best BR songs in American Jesus. For me, Against the Grain and Stranger than Fiction (love that title track) are easily on the same level as the aforementioned two albums.

While I generally do like their later stuff, it doesn’t do a whole lot for me, and the same is true for their earlier, more punk-y, works, with the exception of Along the Way. What a song.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

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How Could Hell Be Any Worse is one of my favorite albums, but I like most of the later stuff too. The Bad Religion Christmas album gets a couple spins every year for sure!

That first album was just about perfect, though. Last time I saw them live was around 05ish and they played Fuck Armageddon for us after we drunkenly screamed for it through half the show. Even that goofy Sublime cover of We're Only Gonna Die totally works somehow. It's up there with Millions of Dead Cops, Damaged, and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables as a true american punk classic.

Bad Religion also played Ten in 2010 after we screamed "CRAZY TAXI!" at them a bunch because none of us remembered the name of the song, those guys are great.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by null1024 »

Air Master Burst wrote:How Could Hell Be Any Worse is one of my favorite albums, but I like most of the later stuff too. The Bad Religion Christmas album gets a couple spins every year for sure!

That first album was just about perfect, though. Last time I saw them live was around 05ish and they played Fuck Armageddon for us after we drunkenly screamed for it through half the show. Even that goofy Sublime cover of We're Only Gonna Die totally works somehow. It's up there with Millions of Dead Cops, Damaged, and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables as a true american punk classic.
Honestly, I can see why people like it, How Could Hell Be Any Worse has a ton of energy to it, energy that honestly does seem to have been lost afterward, but it still just doesn't click with me.
but I will still blast Fuck Armageddon loud regardless, shit's fucking good
Bad Religion also played Ten in 2010 after we screamed "CRAZY TAXI!" at them a bunch because none of us remembered the name of the song, those guys are great.
Hell yeah, that's great.
Herr Schatten wrote:Ah, Bad Religion. It’s funny how everyone seems to have very different favorites among their albums. Personally, while I would agree on Generator as one of their best, I actually wouldn’t put Recipe for Hate far behind, and the latter has one of the single best BR songs in American Jesus. For me, Against the Grain and Stranger than Fiction (love that title track) are easily on the same level as the aforementioned two albums.

While I generally do like their later stuff, it doesn’t do a whole lot for me, and the same is true for their earlier, more punk-y, works, with the exception of Along the Way. What a song.
You know, I was dithering on whether to say "starting with" or "after" Recipe for Hate -- a lot of the album doesn't do that much for me, but when it hits, it really hits.
And honestly, they've put out so much cool shit that I'd totally agree that it'd be hard to get people to agree on what's really the top.
but I still say Generator is :P

Against the Grain is a great album, and I'm surprised I didn't mention it in my post. It's top three, right behind Generator and No Control.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by BIL »

null1024 wrote:So, listening to Rob Halford's solo album Made of Metal again, it's largely a miss with a few high points here and there -- he sings well enough, but the songwriting is... weird. I want to like it a lot more than I actually do. Fire and Ice is a nice enough song, for example, easily one of the better ones.

HOWEVER

The Mower is like a 11/10 hard and heavy song out of just absolutely nowhere and I absolutely love it to death.

NO AIR, NO LIGHT, NO EXIT!
NO AIR, NO LIGHT, NO EXIIIIIIIIT!


It's just way too cool and it comes clean out of left field. I cannot get over how much I like this song.
Gotta check that out, cheers for the heads-up! :o Deep Cut Recon is a sacred practice. :cool: TBH I'm happy just knowing he's got a song called "The Mower," now that's an authentic vision of metal power. :lol: Smell of gasoline and fresh-cut grass, risk of missing digits! :shock:
Air Master Burst wrote:Hell Bent For Leather did bring us the rough trade leather daddy look, but also had a fucking Fleetwood Mac cover, so like two steps forward one step back.
To be fair, Green Manalishi is a Peter Green tune and pretty fuckin hardcore, rather like the troubled soul himself. Bleak stuff. Priest's cover is flamingly flamboyant and basically a different song altogether.

I love both, but then I consider Disco Rob the man's gayest incarnation ever (yes, even moreso than Lenny From The Village People Rob, Elder Leather Daddy Rob, and fruity Hippy Longhair Rob!). No surprise he knocked it out of the park with Joan Baez's "Diamonds And Rust!" :cool:
null1024 wrote:I am eternally thinking about Anthem's Domestic Booty, which I'm 90% is called that just because they took a thesaurus to the phrase "national treasure" lol.
That makes way too much sense. :shock: :lol:
Venom Strike is such a good opening song. Something about that opening riff just feels unreasonably nostalgic too, and I can't put my finger on why. The rest of the album is great too, and I have yelled my throat hoarse singing along with RENEGAAAAAADE in the car while blasting down the highway.
The inescapable SNK/KOF name association helps too :cool: One of metal's finest engineerings, that riff... simultaneously catchy and savage, efficient above all else - like call/response chainsaws over hammering pistons.

Chris Tsangarides was a treasure ;-;7 Man was a crossover hard rock/metal alchemist, with that unmistakable balance of mirror sheen and monster heft. The cheekily "Into The Void"-swiping opening riff on "Silent Cross" (Booty closer) is staggeringly heavy, even moreso in this contrapuntal power ballad context. Or really, more of a power elegy - genuinely heavy lyrics and imagery, the titular headstone most of all. Works especially well with its enchanting prelude "Willesden High Road" - whose title reminds me that Don Airey played on DB, too. Guy's CV is like a Cozy Powell (RIP) for keys. Image

Yo, and George Martin worked with blokey outta X-Japan too. :o Yoshi something-or-other? Only a distant admirer of a few X tracks, particularly the splendidly Motorheadesque STANDINGU SEX - GB/JP metal connection produced some decent slabs! Anger your WW2 generation relatives while blowing their windows out. :cool: (not Hide, I always remember his name - poor bugger died fappin! :shock:)
I honestly have nearly nothing particularly bad to say about Anthem from what I've listened to of them, with the worst being that Gypsy Ways' second half of the album, starting with Silent Child is a definite drop -- maybe a deliberate reduction in intensity, but it definitely ends up being what gets me to change albums when I'm driving.
Still, Anthem is just a stellar band.
"Silent Child" occupies the same unfortunate space as Motorhead's "Live To Win" off Ace of Spades, imo - on a lesser album it'd be mere filler, but here it's like a boxcutter through the Mona Lisa. :lol: Other than some memorable Engrish (RIVE BY THE SWORD/DIE BY THE BRADE), it's a trudge. Needed a catchier chorus to offset those verses, ala "Midnight Sun."

Got massive metal boner for the rest of the LP though. Admittedly, Side B could consist entirely of "Silent Child" and "Night Stalker" and I'd be fine with it, the latter being another preposterously massive closer beast. Fucking hell, opening riff sounds like an industrial car shredder. And come to think of it, also pretty sharp lyrically too, with its Taxi Driver-esque portrait of simmering concrete-bound menace. Exceedingly fond of Morikawa and Shibata's EN/JP interplays, pristine syllables alongside bellowing hooks. I KNOW / I'VE BEEN WASTED / HAI-RO no KA-BE STAND IN MY WAY..." The "wall of grey" is a particularly keen image.
vol.2 wrote:
BIL wrote:A fine record overall, but you'll feel the dip. Some of life's best experiences are like this. :cool: They'd truly catch fire with their next LP, the indispensable, Chris Tsangarides-produced masterpiece that cemented their "Japanese Judas Priest" stature, BOUND TO BREAK.
Tightrope is the only one I've listened to, and I could swear it was one of your recs from some time ago. Now listening to Bound to Break, and it's certainly got more guts to it. I'm getting very strong early Crüe vibes which is more than a compliment from me, but vocals more along the lines of Halford. Second song on the album, Empty Eyes, absolutely shreds; it's full-on British Steel energy. Thanks for the heads up.
"Empty Eyes" is killer, indeed! Right from the start ("WARNING ACTION!"), they've had a Priestly knack for the blisteringly aerodynamic right alongside the heftier stuff. As null says, they're an exceptionally high-quality outfit - easy rec for any fan of high-performance balls/wall heavy metal ala Vengeance/Defenders/Painkiller Priest.

EDIT: Oh, hey. Speaking of Priest, seems they finally made the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. IDGAF about any of that stuff, but I know they've always been hot about it, so good for 'em. It's like when Lemmy finally got his Grammy, y'know. Although he was pissed off about it, understandably. For a fuckin Metallica cover? The cheeky cunts! Still, the heart wants what it wants.

Image

However, I was mostly interested in who was present... they got KK and Glenn back together, despite politics and Parkinsons bringing an end to their ongoing partnership - but most surprisingly, Les Binks was there too. Not taking anything away from Scott Travis, a big part of Painkiller's immaculate sound, but Binks' jazz-inflected drumming on Stained Class is such a treat. Lends the title track a raucously strutting disco verve I can't get enough of, particularly opposite those dispassonately brutal lyrics. He also contributed the acoustic riff on Beyond The Realms Of Death, a handsome bit of songwriting. Made me happy to see him pop around again.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by null1024 »

Absolutely floored that Priest finally got in, but isn't Iron Maiden still not in the RRHOF?
That fact has eternally kept me from treating it as a respectable organization. There are other obvious omissions, but you simply cannot leave Maiden out.
However, I was mostly interested in who was present... they got KK and Glenn back together, despite politics and Parkinsons bringing an end to their ongoing partnership - but most surprisingly, Les Binks was there too. Not taking anything away from Scott Travis, a big part of Painkiller's immaculate sound, but Binks' jazz-inflected drumming on Stained Class is such a treat.
I keep thinking about the whole bit with KK and I just remembered that he had his own "Priest" band. :P
...and oh shit, he got Owens in it, nice. I probably should check in on what they're doing to see if it's good.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by MOSQUITO FIGHTER »

Somehow managed to miss a new release from one of my favorite metal bands. Torture Killer. I mean how can you not love these guys? This is great. https://youtu.be/ygKknZLja6Q
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by null1024 »

Jamming to some Manilla Road in the car. Well, Crystal Logic.

The first half is decent, but I can say it's worse than the second.
Necropolis and Flaming Metal System are both catchy enough, if not quite spectacular the entire way. They have moments of being very good, but for the most part, they're just decent. The title track, Crystal Logic, is similar, although it has some really odd turns melodically.
Feeling Free Again feels like it's only on the album to try and get some airplay from stations that aren't metalll as fuccccckkkk. It is genuinely like a knife cutting through the album.
Things pick up with The Riddle Master, and it feels very heavy metal -- not exactly the best song on the album, but the entire album shifts into gear here. The Ram is a pretty good continuation. I like The Veils of Negative Existence quite a bit -- "I WILL NEVER PUT MY SWORD DOWN, I WILL NEVER RUN AWAYYYYYY", even if it has similarly odd melodic turns like the title track does.

Then, Dreams of Eschaton hits, and it's so good. The opening bit gives me chills every time.
I laid myself down into bed
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
and then it fuckin' kicks into drive. The chorus is great:
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to diiiiiie,
Remember well my friend, a warlord neveeeer cries!
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all... run out of time!
It's so good. Vocals, drumming, guitars, it's great.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by BIL »

Speaking of Priestly solo efforts (and Cozy Powell), felt compelled to revisit a longtime isolated favourite off Tipton, Entwhistle & Powell's Edge of the World. Sad story, this record - was cut in 1996, then shelved in favour of the harder-edged Baptizm of Fire, several tracks of which feature the latter two greats alongside a raft of other notables, but was marketed as a Tipton solo. I'm quite fond of Baptizm on the whole - actually, it's sometimes outright excellent. Must write more later. Suffice to say it's no usurper; just a shame to see any record by these guys shelved. Happly, Rhino gave Edge a proper release in 2006.

That said - I never seem to sit down with it, beyond its barraging opening duo. Part ADD, part procrastination, part irrational fear any time I try a new record by dear favourites. :lol: Track in question is "Friendly Fire." a romping, stomping, ass-whomping gallop. The lyrics are especially poignant, as some of Baptizm's are (that record's fatalistic metaphorical paean to RAWK "Fuel Me Up" featuring one of my favourite passages ever...

GIVE IT TO ME
I WON'T O.D.
YOU TALK TOO MUCH
SHUT THE FUCK UP
Image opening track "HARD CORE," otoh, going with under-the counter porno mags for its jump-off point into the world of TRVE & HONEST METAL - "BETTER GIVE ME HARD CORE! SPEAK TO ME OF THINGS I LIKE!" :lol:)

..."Fuel Me Up" including a short liner note on just how many dear friends and colleagues did, in fact, O.D. over the years 3;

As for "Friendly Fire," it's a scintillating anti-war piece that contrasts interestingly with "Hell Patrol" off Painkiller, that one being inspired by Desert Storm, a campaign with noted British casualties to trigger-happy coalition gunners. I wonder if he knew someone.

Even if they'll never take the blame
At least put me to rest
Give me back my name


Cozy, a man who was famously attested by Tipton, Blackmore, Iommi and other legends to be capable of playing anything you threw at him standing on his head, thrashes it out of the park here; his sledgehammering fills opposite Tipton's artfully incendiary leads and juddering riffs sounding for all the world like a lost Painkiller session.

Fucking hell. As much as it sucks biblical tonnages of ass that he went so young, Cozy did have a real rocker's end, crashing his Porsche to the immortally apropos parting words: "Ah shit!" Image Rest well, drummer of legend.
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by null1024 »

I have been enjoying Grey Wolf's album Beast Master quite a lot.
https://grey-wolf.bandcamp.com/album/beast-master

I'm not usually too fond of that heavy, growly type of vocals [seriously, it is usually a major downside for me, probably because I've been hyper-spoiled by the likes of Priest and Maiden who can shatter a wine glass :lol: ], but it absolutely 100% works here
It's maybe a little basic sounding in a few ways with the song structure, but I'm really digging overall. The guitar playing, the vocals, the lyrics, it all comes together really well.

WE ARE LIVING [IN] HELL ON EARTH!
THE CRIES OF PAIN, BE HEARD!
HELL ON EARTH, YEAH!
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Re: HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

Post by Lander »

An old favourite from my distant trenchcoat-and-boot days, resplendent with STEEL that is STRONG, NOT FEEBLE and poised to WREAK HAVOC ON THE LAND :twisted:

More cheddar than a halfling's cheese wheel, enjoyment of the vocals will depend on your capacity for hair metal yowling, but it's a fun high-energy sound with plenty of mighty fantasy battle imagery and obvious Iron Maiden overtones in some of the guitar work.

Image

Looking back at it with wiser eyes, I fancy there's a touch of Frazetta's Conan the Destroyer in that album art :mrgreen:
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