HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

[BurlyHeart]

Bad Religion

My bandmate was huge into Bad Religion, but I just couldn't get into them. I remember thinking their music felt a little bland, with little energy, and I definitely preferred the noisier side of punk. Just to note, that though West Coast punk wasn't really my thing, I did like some bands.

Seeing your post has inspired me to give them another shot. I'm sure I've mellowed a bit over the years

[Air Master Burst]

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

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.

This album is great! Shame their later stuff was so uninspired.

Bad Religion

My bandmate was huge into Bad Religion, but I just couldn't get into them. I remember thinking their music felt a little bland, with little energy, and I definitely preferred the noisier side of punk. Just to note, that though West Coast punk wasn't really my thing, I did like some bands.

Seeing your post has inspired me to give them another shot. I'm sure I've mellowed a bit over the years

If you thought they were low energy, definitely start with their first album. Much livelier than the better-known 90s stuff.

[null1024]

Was blasting some Cirith Ungol in the car as I game home from work, good shit.
Well, their first album, Frost and Fire, at least. I'm not quite as fond of their later, heavier stuff, but this album is crisp and clean and just brilliant.
I do wish the lyrics stayed as good as they did in the first three songs, but I still love this album so much. I'm Alive is basically perfect.
Something about the contrast of the harsh vocals with the cleaner melodies just sounds great. Like, King of the Dead has way better lyrics overall, but the moodier melodies on it just don't really sell me so much.

I'm giving One Foot in Hell another shot and I am liking it a fair bit, even if my earlier comments still apply.

[NYN]

May muh lard BIL forgive me, maybe I'm coming out of the rain and looking for a fight?

Asking, 0h manly men, what about the chicks, man?
Chicks that play. Chicks that sing with dudes. Chicks that don't need dicks.
Now, I somehow started in the middle of the '90s with this somewhere; never listening to Blondie or Pattie Smith except "the hits". Not counting Ziggy.

Here are some names, just DO NOT call it a list:

Garbage - Shirley Manson

The Destillers - Brody Dalle

Kittie - all fem

Starcrawler - Arrow de Wilde

Juliette and the Licks - Juliette Lewis

The Donnas - all fem

I expect fully to be ignored with this, before someone comes out "me too, dude".

[BIL]

Not at all bud, I put Yako-chan in the OP collage for a reason. Been digging this lately, post-Sopranos rewatch (one of those shows I always come away from with new recs to chase down): "Cry" by Thornetta Davis. Nails-hard wounded blues/rock. Could've easily come off Danzig III.

I wonder if you cry at midnight
And does your heart feel the pain?
Cry if you want, cry if you will
I wanted you to feel this way

[Air Master Burst]

I expect fully to be ignored with this, before someone comes out "me too, dude".

Kittie never clicked for me but Shirley Manson was my first true love.

There was also Lacuna Coil, Coal Chamber, and Hole. And I guess Evanescence? I don't really know much about them.

I don't know how you feel about cover bands, but the original Iron Maiden's never had the balls to attempt this one live.

[Rob]

Asking, 0h manly men, what about the chicks, man?

Thou + Emma Ruth Rundle. That'd be my favorite for metal.

[Blinge]

Does anyone else here despise the term butt rock?
I don't really know what it means.

seems like the kind of thing some dickless fuck who only likes Kpop would say, dismissively.

[BIL]

AFAIK it refers to "butts in seats," ie arena/stadium rawk. I don't use it much myself (or "hair metal") for that matter, but I do chuckle at it. ;3

I tend to default to "glam" for that stuff, even though really, metallic hard rock like Dokken and W.A.S.P. have little in common with the easier-going Bowie, Mott The Hoople, Sweet et al, besides big hair, sparkly digs, and makeup. Much like "punk" gets applied interchangeably to a whole swathe of DIY indie outfits who don't sound much alike, and in some cases fucking hated each other/each other's scenes (The Ramones, The Clash, The Saints... the former were aghast at "gobbing," can't say I blame them - fucking vile. Lemmy got gobbed at once, early on, and allegedly had the crowd stomp the culprit into a coma on the spot ).

For a good laugh, look up Encyclopedia Metallum's reasoning for allowing Purple but not Zep to bear the mighty banner of \M/ETALLL, I seem to recall some raging nerdfights over that BITD.

TLDR: Labels ain't shit but a bunch of dicks.

[Herr Schatten]

Satan - Earth Infernal

Originally, I just wanted to have a look what my old favorites Skyclad are up to these days. As it turns out - not much. But I found out that their guitar and bass players apparently have reactivated their old band Satan quite recently and put out a couple of albums since.

Color me pleasantly surprised. Earth Infernal is one of the best and most interesting NWOBHM albums I’ve heard ever. It reminds me a lot of very early Maiden, but still manages to sound fresh abd never like something I’ve heard before. The sound production is worth mentioning, as it really allows you to appreciate each instrument without losing the necessary punch . I wish more albums sounded like this.

@BIL: Do listen to this! If I’m not mistaken it should be right up your ally.

[Herr Schatten]

Xentrix -Kin

Speaking of bands that exist again after a looong hiatus, apparently Xentrix got back together in 2013 and have released two new albums since. These two are quite alright I guess, but they fail to really grab me. Granted, apart from their brilliant Ghostbusters cover, they’ve always been kind of a second-row thrash band, but there were definitely things on their late-eighties albums I enjoyed back in the day.

However, listening to the new releases reminded me how much I used to love their third album Kin from 1992, so I ordered me a copy of the re-release, as my original (!) tape of it has died long ago. Amusingly, the band doesn’t seem to like the album quite as much as I do, as in the liner notes, they basically shit all over it. I choose to disagree, though. I think it’s their best release by far.

Sorry for the double-post.

[BIL]

Thanks as always for the rec, Kage-san! Will blast it properly upon the morrow and report back, apologies for the late reply - haven't been able to kick out the jams in good conscience with elderly family visiting.

[vol.2]

Does anyone else here despise the term butt rock?
I don't really know what it means.

AFAIK it refers to "butts in seats," ie arena/stadium rawk. I don't use it much myself (or "hair metal") for that matter, but I do chuckle at it. ;3

I tend to default to "glam" for that stuff, even though really, metallic hard rock like Dokken and W.A.S.P. have little in common with the easier-going Bowie, Mott The Hoople, Sweet et al, besides big hair, sparkly digs, and makeup. Much like "punk" gets applied interchangeably to a whole swathe of DIY indie outfits who don't sound much alike, and in some cases fucking hated each other/each other's scenes (The Ramones, The Clash, The Saints... the former were aghast at "gobbing," can't say I blame them - fucking vile. Lemmy got gobbed at once, early on, and allegedly had the crowd stomp the culprit into a coma on the spot ).
TLDR: Labels ain't shit but a bunch of dicks.

There was cultural theorist (damn my memory is failing me here) who stated that once a movement is labeled in art, it ceases to exist contemporaneously. In other words, when somebody stopped and said "hey I think this music here what we're all doing and listening to is called "Punk," then it's defined and no longer flexible; there can never again be a true occurrence of "Punk" ever again without it being total mimicry. From then on, it's "Punk-Like." I guess the only real thread in "Glam Rock" is the showmanship aspect of it, which is a really interesting example of a label being brought up again like that for what (I agree) is a completely different kind of music. There *were* a few missing link bands that kept things bridged between the old and the new though; Hanoi Rocks and Japan are two that come to mind; Judas Priest certainly played a role, and even Sabbath went through a glam costume phase.

In any case, I do think it's worth looking at the value of labels, and who they benefit. In those days, it was mostly beneficial to the people selling the music and people buying the music so they could go into the record store and find something, but also so the A&R people could direct the product into different "bins" that artists had to fit in order to be signed.

In retrospect, it's a handy way to filter things in Discogs, but labels are never really completely divorced from their inauspicious capitalist beginnings.

As far as "butt rock" goes, I never heard that before either. I remember the first time I encountered a "butt" situation though. I went to see Cheap Trick in 1998 at a small local venue in Maryland which was a theater with normal seats in it. Me and about 30 other people were up at the front of the crowd, right next to Zander and Nielson banging our heads, but all the other people were just sitting there like they were watching a damn TV show and I thought it was eerie. About halfway through the show, Zander stops the action and tells us that the "seated" audience was complaining about us up at the front blocking their view, and the theater owners asked them to have us sit down. But Zander wasn't having that shit; he told us that we should rock out and fuck those whiners in their box seats for telling us how to enjoy ourselves at a rock concert. I felt like a huge win for headbanging kind that night, and forever in the Cheap Trick corner.

[Herr Schatten]

Just in case you haven’t heard: A new Anthem album is due to be released in April. It’s going to be called Crimson & Jet Black. The first teaser track Wheels of Fire sounds pretty good.

[Herr Schatten]

Yesterday, I went to see Kreator and Lamb of God. The tour was originally supposed to happen in 2020. After being rescheduled several times it now actually did. I specifically went to see them in Kreator's hometown of Essen, because that’s always a bit special, even though there would have been venues much closer to where I live.

The show was great. The sound was excellent for all bands and a thankful and enthusiastic crowd made it a very enjoyable evening. Kreator played a nice mix of new and (very) old tracks. They found time to fit in Pleasure to Kill as well as bringing along Sofia Portanet to perform the most experimental track from their latest album, Midnight Sun, together. To be honest, that song isn’t exactly one of my favorites on that album, but the live version worked brilliantly. There were a couple of special effects I could have lived without, but maybe I just feel that way because one not fully unrolled giant paper streamer hit me in the forehead.

I’m not completely sold on the concept of the double headliner tour. I'd happily have traded some Lamb of God songs for 1-2 encores from Kreator. Not that there’s something wrong with LoG, but as is the case with most metalcore bands, their shouter started to annoy me quite quickly. Unfortunately, the bands did not perform their collaborative theme song for the tour, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.

The support band, Municipal Waste, were fun I guess, but their songs sounded all quite same-y to me. Still, if you like some very old Tankard with a dash of Exodus, it can’t hurt to check them out.

[BIL]

Blimey, hope you came away without permanent damage!

*Finally* gave the new Satan album a listen, thanks again for the rec! Waited until I got my trusty old speakers shipped in - I hate to give a first listen on subpar gear. Damn fine stuff. As you say, early Maiden instantly comes to mind; anyone wanting more of ST/Killers should love the explosive energy and agility here. The hard-throttling guitar tone and aerodynamic, slashing riffs have a bit of Ace of Spades-era Motorhead to them, too, particularly on the awesomely relentless A Sorrow Unspent... favourite from my first couple run-throughs is TWELVE INFERNAL LORDS, a blistering line straight between the diabolical and divine, with its juddering riffs and exalted choruses.

The downtempo vocal harmony breaks on BURNING PORTRAIT and POISON ELEGY, along with the soaring refrains of LUCIFERIC are a superb twist, recalling first-class 70s metal ala Sab/Rainbow. Mercury's Shadow is a lovely midpoint interlude, before they plunge back into the fray for virtually the record's remainder. The lead singer is excellent throughout, rich and full of stately panache.

With heavy heart must I accept the throne as... MINE!

I see why these guys command the respect they do. I actually completely blanked on them, at first - went the first seven tracks thinking "Holy fuck, these guys do a damn good NWOBHM tribute..." only to realise they were the genuine article. I remember them now, Baton recommended them to me a few years back, IIRC along with Raven.

EDIT: Ah, from Newcastle! Venom's hometown, makes sense. Court In The Act is an LP I'm always hearing mentioned, but never quite get around to. I should remedy that. tbh I always thought the name was a bit shite but good peeps consstently like the record.

Just in case you haven’t heard: A new Anthem album is due to be released in April. It’s going to be called Crimson & Jet Black. The first teaser track Wheels of Fire sounds pretty good.

Man, these guys are true immortals. I never know when to jump in with their newer stuff, there's a ton of it and they seem to have only gotten more polished and intense with age. "Immortal Bind" and "Love of Hell" are two post-reunion tracks I keep coming back to; the former has a curiously plaintive fury, the latter is simply gorgeous.

While his persona won't be for everyone, Razorfist's Metal Mythos episode on Anthem is genuinely informative, passionate work; easily one of his most universally watchable videos. Even includes a Vampire Killer shout by way of Naoto Shibata's Dracula Battle ASTs, haha. I should give that a rewatch, he went into excellent depth on their post-reunion stuff.

About halfway through the show, Zander stops the action and tells us that the "seated" audience was complaining about us up at the front blocking their view, and the theater owners asked them to have us sit down. But Zander wasn't having that shit; he told us that we should rock out and fuck those whiners in their box seats for telling us how to enjoy ourselves at a rock concert. I felt like a huge win for headbanging kind that night, and forever in the Cheap Trick corner.

Great post bud, sorry I took so long to reply. You always have such rad live stories! Makes me wish I'd made more of an effort with the gigging in my younger days.

[NYN]

So, a new 'tallica album hit in Nov 22, and no one elected to inform me in my hermitage?
Where are we on the Lars's band? I like 'em heavy, not hard-rocky, so fat chance in the now, huh?

[Herr Schatten]

So, a new 'tallica album hit in Nov 22, and no one elected to inform me in my hermitage?
Where are we on the Lars's band? I like 'em heavy, not hard-rocky, so fat chance in the now, huh?

To me it feels like the last time their hearts were really into it was around Load/Reload. Sure, those came out at a time when a lot of bands felt the urge to fill all the space the CD format had to offer, padding out the albums with filler in the process, instead of distilling it down to the essential songs that would fit on 40 minutes vinyl. Additionally, the only case I can think of where releasing the two discs of a double album worked to the albums' favor is Helloween's Keeper albums. Still, similar to G'n'R's Illusion mess, you could have made a really good mid-length single album out of Load/Reload. It would have been a rock album, not a metal one, but I could have respected that.

With everything that came after I always get the impression they’re trying to do fan service without actually producing anything their fans want or understanding what those ever liked about their old stuff in the first place. I have absolutely no idea why they keep on recording and releasing stuff. They clearly don’t need to do it for the money, but they also don’t seem to be driven by any kind of desire for artistic expression.

tl;dr: I have zero hope that we’ll hear anything worthwhile from them in the future. But that’s okay in my book. Few bands manage to produce more than 2-3 good to great albums in a row before their well off creativity runs dry, and they have arguably given us 4+, which is an exceptionally good track record no misguided new release will ever erase.

[Air Master Burst]

I know everyone says Metallica went to shit as soon as Cliff Burton died, but honestly I think their bigger problem was when they ran out of Dave Mustaine songs and had to start writing their own.

I have absolutely no idea why they keep on recording and releasing stuff. They clearly don’t need to do it for the money, but they also don’t seem to be driven by any kind of desire for artistic expression.

They're americans, so they absolutely have to do it for money. If they aren't making more money, then how else are they supposed to keep score?

[Rob]

I agree with most of what Herr is saying, but a band can be motivated at least in part by artistic expression and still just suck, right? Unless there's a better explanation for Lulu. A lot of Metallica's artistic success can be chalked up to what they were listening to and appropriating at the time. I wonder what they are listening to these days, besides themselves struggling to play material they're probably numb to through 3-4 decades of repetition.

[Udderdude]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBRl3eujoPs I just discovered this, sorry if it's already been posted. Who doesn't like a good erotic cake?

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Ride the Lightning with the Mario 64 sound font

https://youtu.be/Qp-LdOrgCMQ

[BIL]

New fave + auld fave in the respective NWOBHM/thrash and doom schools.

A PUNISHMENT HAPPEN IN THIS FINAL HOUR (・｀W´・)



VANIK - III (2007)

Venom's thuggishly catchy low-fi NWOBHM, augmented with precision machinegunner violence ala Killing Is My Business. Door-kicking pop-thrasher CARMILLA, raucously sneering midtempo bludgeoner RUNNING WILD ("COS I'M RUNNING FUCKIN WIII-IIILD"), and mechanistically grooving THE CREATURE a bone-judderingly good opening barrage.

I'LL FEED ON YOU OUT OF SPITE

A sensibly trim 30minute blitzkrieg with just a couple well-timed interludes, in cultic torch-lit doomer WE APPROACH, and ghoulish floorboard-stomping party rocker CORPSE ROOM - these two bookending the pistoning fury of NIGHT DANGER/RAGING HIGH. As befits the gleefully macabre spook house aesthetic, these mad fuckers do a damn fine terrace chant ala Misfits, too; best is saved for the mournfully hooky howls of rocketing closer NEVER SAFE.

110% proof Newcastle-vintage rocket fuel; easy recommend for fans of Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon's unvarnishedly bludgeoning Welcome To Hell/Black Metal era; doubly so if you want a little Samuelson/Poland mechanix to go with that.

HOUR OF THIRTEEN (S/T) (2010)



Stately traditional doom ala Master of Reality and Vol.4's sludgiest passages. Likewise marshals its bone-juddering heft to august harmony, inescapable groove, and deceptively agile gallop. The lead singer is particularly excellent; a lonely, plaintive call atop the unhurriedly razing juggernaut. Opening furnace blast CALL TO SATAN is consummately representative, a standard of gloaming quality never slipped beneath; if you dig that track's sound, consider the rest of the LP bulletproof.

KING OF THE DARK IN EVERYTHING (｀w´メ)

Spellbinding odyssean closer MISSING GIRL takes a lyrical turn from the contemplative and lamentatious, into abject atrocity; not my cup of tea, personally, but from interviews, I respect what they were going for... paraphrased, "The kind of song you feel guilty listening to." The vantablack heart of a compellingly deep, dark, molar-grittingly heavy abyss. HEX OF HARM and ENDURANCE TO THE HEIRS OF SHAME demand mention on sheer brimstonic tonnage; floor-crackingly heavy hymnals to the dark, with Hex sporting a magnificently keening lead howl. GRIM REALITY and ALLOWANCE OF SIN give rare, well-judged respites into the just-about-midtempo; hallucinogenic marches in the gloom, like "Children of the Grave" and "After Forever" at 1% battery. SUBMISSIVE TO EVIL sports an especially bloodening rally, like a boulder heaved high and surrendered to freefall, splintering all in its dispassionate wake.

First-class dooming. I never caught up with these guys' later LPs... liked several scattered tracks I heard, though. "Lucky Bones" is a good one, in a slightly spritelier mode. "Return From The Grave" featuring a different singer is kinda prosaic, but by the same token, succeeds on sheer insistence.

[Herr Schatten]

In the last few weeks, my Metal diet had almost exclusively consisted of listening to Asylum Pyre's new album Call Me Inhuman over and over again. It's by far the best and most original stuff I’ve heard in the Power Metal genre since Power Paladin's debut.

Granted, the multi-faceted album needed some getting used to, as did the voice of the (otherwise excellent) singer, but once it all clicked, I couldn’t get enough of it.


Ever wondered how Metallica would sound today if they hadn’t lost all interest in music twenty years ago?
The Unknown by Evile has the answer.

Sounds exactly like I imagine an album released inbetween Justice and the black one would have sounded like. If that’s a good thing or not it’s up to you, if course.

[BIL]

Ever wondered how Metallica would sound today if they hadn’t lost all interest in music twenty years ago?
The Unknown by Evile has the answer.

Sounds exactly like I imagine an album released inbetween Justice and the black one would have sounded like. If that’s a good thing or not it’s up to you, if course.

That is a bang-on description! I think that video may have been delisted; this one works for me. Catchy stuff, I like it more than most of the Black Album tbh.

I realised the other day I'd become a "Metallica died with Cliff" sort. Not vengefully, though. I don't hate their subsequent stuff, actually I love a good 50% of Justice, and I could field a short LP's worth of 90s-current tracks. "The Outlaw Torn" and "Sweet Amber" are perennial favourites in downer sludge and dirty oldschool rock n ' roll, albeit I have to plead the remake album on the latter.

For years I thought "Put down the noose / I'll hang myself" was a keen snapshot of nihilistic fury, the despairing coda to AJFA's stinging "Been cheated of my youth" - only to learn I'd misheard it.

They just never returned to the explosive controlled violence that dominates their earlier-80s work, and they added a bunch of stuff I'm sure represented personal growth (and/or MAD $TACK$) for them, but I don't care about. I'm the same on Megadeth, only exception being Rust in Peace is more like 90%, and Endgame and Dystopia have some genuine vitriol here and there. Dave was always going to muster more bitterly hateful lunatic OLDMANFORCE than James, with or without his trusty crackpipe!

ON YOUR KNEES PRISONER, TAKE YOUR POSITION (■｀ω´■)
PLACE YOUR CHIN FORWARD, INTO THE RESTRAINT (■｀W´■)

Spoiler

Puppets is immortally refreshing nowadays, the same way Peace Sells is. Press play and blammo, four-piece machine comes alive and tears shit apart with precision. I'll take that existential moping to go, ta - ala "Peace's" voraciously burnt-out final statement "DIE!" - unless one of these rockin' young dudes is actually fucked enough to drop the mic and do the Dutch ala messrs Curtis or Cobain.

[vol.2]

That is a bang-on description! I think that video may have been delisted; this one works for me. Catchy stuff, I like it more than most of the Black Album tbh.

Definitely heavy and catchy. And yes, Black Album is pretty meh imho. I actually like all of And Justice, but it's not the easiest listen because of the atrocious production.

I've been listening to Kill 'Em All over and over recently and it's just so fucking difficult to pass that high water mark for me that it's hard to get behind anything from Black onwards. I know MOP is typically cited as a fan favorite, but gd if I don't keep coming back to the beginning.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Let it rip

Power Trip - Opening Fire 2008 - 2004
Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
Metal Church
Katalepsy - Gravenous Hour
Exhorder - Slaughter In The Vatican
Manowar - Kings Of Metal
Havok - Conformicide
Inhuman Condition - Fearsick/Rat God/Panic Prayer
Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
Cancer - Shadow Gripped
Smoulder - Violent Creed of Vengeance
Warbringer - Weapons of Tomorrow
Nuclear Assault- Something Wicked
Helmet - Betty
Moorhead - Inferno
Broken Hope - Mutilated and Assimilated
Cauldron - New Gods
Razor - Violent Restitution
Ambush - Infidel

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Cauldron is super underrated imo

[NYN]

Frequently listening and hearing In Times New Roman..., I wonder how many musical pretender will shrivel up and full stop upon hearing it. The antithesis of be inspired. Call me nuts, when by my own estimation, I wouldn't call it a product. Not someones ticket to cheap fame, the sex, the drugs, the monies, the clichè. Music as it gets. I don't see how this is possible, again, though the world is my idea anyway, and not an blue öyster cult.

[Herr Schatten]

Voyage by Tanith

You just have to admire the amount of surplus creativity some people apparently have. This is the other band of the other half of Satan, the one that doesn’t also play in Skyclad. Music-wise, it’s a quite original mix of 70s rock and some hints of NWOBHM. I like it. Would love to see the band live someday.

Speaking of live shows, I’ve just purchased tickets for Rodrigo y Gabriela, and I’m very much looking forward to the evening. Some of you may know them from the soundtrack of Breaking Bad, but in case you don’t, do seek out their stuff. It’s nothing short of stunning. Rodrigo plays the lead guitar, Gabriela plays …everything else including drums - on her guitar. To ease us metalheads in, they regularly play a fantastic cover version of Metallica's Orion.