What are you currently listening to?

[BIL]

Cozy, gone way too soon Fast cars and phones, not a great combo (reputed last word: "Shit!" ) Crazy resume, the highlight I think being Rainbow's Rising, especially "Stargazer."

[FinalBaton]

Yeah was just looking at his wiki under ''discography'' and it's insane

[BIL]

Fuck me, this song never fails to enthrall. Eight minutes gone in half the time, a characteristic of Rising in general. Thing's packed to the rafters, all killer no filler. I generally prefer hard cuts to fadeouts, but I gotta make an exception for Dio and the band's ad-libbing here. Thing blazes like a pyre until the last decibel has flickered away.

"Gimme back my WILL!"



Dio/Blackmore/Cozy, what a fuckin lineup! It was never gonna last (there's at least two thermonuclear egos in Dio and Blackmore, and at least one confirmed Hellraising Smackhead Scotchman in Jimmy Bain) but holy fuck, it was good while it did! I consider peaks like Rising defined as much by obliterated aftermath as content... it's like a crate of dynamite levelling an office block in a glorious cascade of destruction, full-on until it's gone, who could complain? Cunts, that's who!

I love/like the bookending records, respectively, but Rising's the towering cock amongst the hefty balls, you could say. That's pretty fuckin gay! But I'll say it, even if no-one else will!

(MAOAM's slogan is one of the best and most shmupping as fuck+\m/etal as fuck ever, truly - regardless of your thoughts on anthropomorphic fruits fucking like sex-crazed beasts!)

FULL ON TIL IT'S GONE MOTHERFUCKER



The Theme Of MAOAM
"MAOAM - Fruit That Nails Your Ass To The Sheets"

[vol.2]

Fuck me, this song never fails to enthrall.

yea man, love rainbow. i've been listening to Heaven and Hell a bunch recently. on a real Dio-Sabbath kick

The Theme Of MAOAM

holy crap in a handbasket. what the hell kind of fruit is that green thing supposed to be?

[BIL]

Wow, even Headless Cross's Japanese bonus track "Cloak And Dagger" is pretty good. Always a bit Russian Roulette, I've found with bonus tracks, but I'd swap my weak link "Call Of The Wild" (just a bit too glam with that absolute whale of a chorus - I think "Kill In The Spirit World" gets the same stadium-massive feel across more artfully). Would make a good bluesy complement to the album's relatively earthy outlier "Black Moon." (Whoa! Forgot how fuckin' buff that opening riff is - can feel the RAW POWWA! This is Iommi/Butler/Cozy, one killer configuration!)

Martin's smoothly soulful, radio-catchy "Angel of Hell is rising!" is one of my favourite melodic contrasts... see also Halford's disco-strutting atrocity exhibition "Lethal, deadly, hung, drawn and quartered / He slaughtered and faltered and altered the world... whipping, stripping, peeling the flesh off, relentless and senseless / His lust snapped like vipers whose fangs sank in deep to infest and decay from the core" in the bridge of Stained Class. (and right on cue, yet another skull-crushing riff slams down, as yet another spiralling solo blasts off )

The Theme Of MAOAM

holy crap in a handbasket. what the hell kind of fruit is that green thing supposed to be?

I don't know, but he's already compromised at least one marriage with his mad shagging ways

"I demanded to see the shop manager and, during a heated exchange, my wife became quite distressed and had to sit down in the car park."

Blimey! His real name is Simon Simpkins ORU BURIGHTY still got the best jokes



^^^ went to middle school with that bloke, a wrongun from the start. Called Jugulator Priest's best album, the deviant little tosser.

[FinalBaton]

Are these fruits fucking? wait... they're totes fucking!

--------------------------------------------------


Yeah cloak and dagger is a good track! it's on the Youtube rip I listened to all week HARD, so heard it a bunch.

Ah yes, Blackmoon, another solid track. This is why Headless Cross rips, kiddos. Lots and lots of monster riffs. pretty consistent album. With Vallahlla-high peaks! (TYR also has such peaks for me, but it's not quite as consistent as HC).

Man, Tony Martin's voice... what a fucking thing of beauty. Truly elite at his craft. AND superb melodies in his lines too. that is special kind of awesome.

And Tony is pretty kvlt too! Suposedly after HC, Iommi told him to stop being so in-your-face about satanic imagery don't know if true, I'll dig more. But pretty funy either way. To have fucking Tony Iommi tell you that your craft is too evil

I am ashamed to say that I'm not that familiar with Rainbow (outside a couple tracks) Despite many of my fave players going through the band. I'll give Rising some serious listens. What are the other top Rainbow reccos?

[BIL]

From my limited experience with FRUITSEX, I think MAOAM Man is enjoying a range of healthy activities both giving and receiving - but I hope to Christ he and his partners have rubbered up, or he's gonna be the Ray "Killer Cock" Gillen of the chewy sweets industry - and that would be a fucking disgrace! LITERALLY

TBH, Rainbow is one of those bands that's kind of a glorified solo project. The Dio era's bookending LPs, Richie Blackmore's Rainbow and Long Live Rock n' Roll, aren't quite as titanic-yet-airtight, but they're both studded with classic material.

ST's a bit easier-going overall, IIRC, with a couple tunes ("Black Sheep," a cover, and "If You Don't Like Rock n' Roll," that could've come a decade earlier - likeably so).

Man On The Silver Mountain - Signature DIO midtempo workhorse... one of those justifiable ubiquities.
Catch The Rainbow - Poofy 70s acoustic ballad done right, that is, WITHOUT REMORSE
Sixteenth-Century Greensleeves - "Hang 'im HIGHER!" Archetypal Dio rock n' roll theatre
Still I'm Sad Yardbirds cover - super slick Blackmore. I've never actually heard the original, but this one's instrumental.

LLRnR always felt a bit Rising Lite to me. Which is to say it's still great stuff, significantly more metallic than the ST, but it's less of a concentrated blast of muscular prog-informed bluesy metal.

Long Live Rock n' Roll - Bangin' opener with a quality shout-along chorus
Lady of the Lake - Getting very near Heaven And Hell, easy rec if you like that LP
KILL THE KING - Standout track #1, speedy metal with massive hooks and bloodening lyrics ala Priest/Maiden, actually fuck that, Sabbath's Die Young
Rainbow Eyes - another honourably weenie ballad. While I tend to blanch at Priest's, this outfit could do 'em (though magnum opus RAIZING lacks any).
GATES OF BABYLON - Standout track #2, Winds of Thunder (PCE-CD) stole the fuck outta this for good reason Radiates menacing cool.

I've only dabbled with later stuff. Here's another old standard that's earned its ubiquity. I'm interested in Graham Bonnett... he seems like a killer vocalist, and most interestingly for me, he recorded with my JP metal favourites Anthem, redoing an album's worth of songs in English. Not sure how it turned out, but most seem to love it. Man I'm bad at putting off new (2 ME ) music.

[FinalBaton]

Ahhhh... Ray Gillen's heat-seeking missile cock

I don't think we're gonna see Badlands records on storeshelves anytime soon...

Checking your Rainbow reccos right nao



(Was this close to mentionning Graham Bonnet in my last post, in the Tony Martin voice bit. supposedly Graham is elite as well. Haven't heard much ALcatrazz though, but I'm interested, same with his time in Rainbow. Really he sang with Anthem? didn't know that. Way cool)

[BIL]

Apologies if any links are fucked, I'm typing one-eyed drunk currently

[FinalBaton]

No problem bud, haha. opening a brew here as well

Yeah must be late on cuck island! For the record, eastern time zone (EST / ‎UTC−05:00) is the ONLY TIME ZONE THAT MATTERS

[BIL]

(Was this close to mentionning Graham Bonnet in my last post, in the Tony Martin voice bit. supposedly Graham is elite as well. Haven't heard much ALcatrazz though, but I'm interested, same with his time in Rainbow. Really he sang with Anthem? didn't know that. Way cool)

Anthem seem to have some nice connections with the Western rock/metal scene, they were favourites of the late Chris Tsangarides (Sad Wings engineer, mahfuckin PAINKILLER producer... Venom Strike has his unmistakable chromium-plated oomph), and Don Airey (keyboardist with a legendary CV to rival Cozy's) pops up frequently too.

Dig the fuckin arena-sledgehammer riff on this thing, reminds me of Sabbath's Into The Void repurposed for an industrial-strength power lament. For best results, start at its twelve-string prologue. DOMESTIC BOOTY is a good LP with a great name, and BOUND 2 BREAK and LAST LIVE are good times too! Bassist and lynchpin Naoto Shibata is my hero regardless, for spearheading Konami's "Battle: Perfect Selection" ASTs, those things blew my goddamn mind circa 2000 on ye olde Napster.

[FinalBaton]

peak arena-thrash right there! love what I'm hearing right now

''silent cross''. That reminds me of Dio-era Sabbath track title ''southern cross'', which I always wondered wheter it was a Hokotu no Ken reference or other way around. probably not, but I like to think it is, haha. SAOTEURNEU CLOSS

[BIL]

It could TOTALLY work in a Hokuto no Ken AMV for that particular arc, with Ken's situation post-Shin. I've always been a suppressed AMV nerd screaming to bust out the Hellsing. Bruising lyric, Silent Cross = standing at a loved one's headstone, the EN lyrics are some heavy shit

The cross of your silence, Let me dream
I’m livin’ in the darkness, There’s no words, no sight
The cross of your silence, Let me wish
I’m livin’ in the darkness
‘Cause cold wind led her to the sky

One of the most unironically hard-hitting power ballads (power lament, really) I know of. POWWA OF ENGRISH >;3

[FinalBaton]

Bruising lyric, Silent Cross = standing at a loved one's headstone, the EN lyrics are some heavy shit

The cross of your silence, Let me dream
I’m livin’ in the darkness, There’s no words, no sight
The cross of your silence, Let me wish
I’m livin’ in the darkness
‘Cause cold wind led her to the sky

One of the most unironically hard-hitting power ballads (power lament, really) I know of. POWWA OF ENGRISH >;3

Heavy

Great record, I reary enjoyed. nice percussive, crunchy production too.

off to listen to some Rainbow now. or maybe some more Anthem... or ALcatrazz

[vol.2]

Dig the fuckin arena-sledgehammer riff on this thing

I have a hard spot for that loudness-esque japanese metal. It was so weird how the got to just keep on doing the metal over there while we got rap-rock crammed down the gullet over here in the 90's. Yuck.


If you feel like drifting back to the 70's again, check out some of this heaviness:
An East Coast outfit from ~71-74 with some later comeback tours and such. Very very early on the proto-heavy meter. Called they are BANG.



https://youtu.be/bBGWzSJarXU

[BIL]

Nice, thanks! Will blast it tomorrow, at an appropriately godly hour

Dig the fuckin arena-sledgehammer riff on this thing

I have a hard spot for that loudness-esque japanese metal. It was so weird how the got to just keep on doing the metal over there while we got rap-rock crammed down the gullet over here in the 90's. Yuck.

Hand in glove with all the rad games staying in Japan around then. Getting into imports = THATS WHAT YOU CALL MY SWEET REVENGE

Hm, gonna stick with JP Anthem for now. Gave my favourite tracks from the Bonnet collab a quick listen - they have immense force, singer and band alike, with style to spare, as to be expected of veteran heavy metal icons. But at first impression, I find them a little overpowering compared to the slightly subtler OGs. Bonnet has some goddamn pipes, that much is sure.

>GYPSY WAYS - Original
>HUNTING TIME - Original
>EVIL TOUCH - Original

Their 1992 hiatus sendoff Last Anthem remains my favourite of their 80s/90s canon, rowdy live album with a killer tracklist, the twin furies of Akio Shimizu's guitar and Takamasa Ōuchi's drums, and some gorgeous vocal harmonies from singer Yukio Morikawa and bassist/founder/Castlevania AST demigod Naoto Shibata. For studio albums, Bound To Break is super solid from start to finish (title track ripped off by Metal Yuhki for arcade Ninja Gaiden's st1 BGM, haha )

>GYPSY WAYS
>HUNTING TIME
>WARNING ACTION

[FinalBaton]

Been aware of Anthem for a little while now but never gave em a listen before.

Really digging it so far, listening to the one with burning insence thingie on the cover? 1988 yet it already has this sheen (this big glassy/crunchy production. with percussive bassdrum) and this melodic(anthemic?) speed metal thing going on. that's a very tasteful style that I really dig.

EDIT : I'm now on the previous one (1987, with BOUND TO BREAK and FIRE'N THE SWORD), and same compliments apply. amazing

EDIT 2 : I'm now on the 1986 one, production a bit different(less percusive) but still rips. absolutely killer record. fuck I dig this band

[BIL]

BOUND 2 BREAK was my commuter record for a good six months ROCK N ROLL SURVIVOR, SHOW MUST GO ON (aka Theme of DEVILMAN ), MACHINE-MADE DOG Whole thing's pounding, catchy and steeped in Tsangarides thunder.

I've never actually tried Gypsy Ways and Hunting Time (my usual hesitance with music... the fuck is wrong with me?! COMFY 2 THA BONE ), but they're apparently their most successful records in Japan IIRC.

Not that this means much (fucking Hysteria? GTFO put on some HIGH N DRY bitch! ), but their title tracks are killer. I particularly like the absolute cri de coeur from Yukio Morikawa towards the end of Hunting Time in Last Anthem - never looked up the EN lyrics but some things are universal! "WHOAAA YEAHHH!"

Bonnett's Gypsy Ways is growing on me a bit. I was kinda taken aback by how 11/10 he belts it, kinda steamrolls the verse melodies. Works in context with the similarly dialled-up band, though. Heavy Metal Anthem is a good title for this record, thing's out to knock 'em flat with collateral be damned.

Nails the shmuppin as fuck chorus lyric. Win, lose or draw / Throw the dice and score Predictably, he knocks the granite-crunching monster that is now Show Must Go On out of the park, out of the fucking city limits.

"You'll never make it?"
My life's in my hands and I don't care
The show carries on



Welcome to the rice fields, motherfucker!

[FinalBaton]

Dude, Gypsy Ways absolutely CRUSHES. What are ya doing, *smh*
The stompin' cool of LEGAL KILLING? The heart-wrenching speed metal of CRYIN' HEART? The menacing chug of NIGHT STALKER? Get outta here! overall super strong album

The lyric you highlighted reminds me of the ultimate (or close to top, but for me it's ultimate) do-or-die lyric : Maiden's The Mercenary chorus, off of Brave New World.
NOWHERE TO GO/NOWHERE TO HIDE/YOU GOT TO KILL TO STAY ALIVE
ffffffffffuck

But yeah back to Anthem :
I also listened to the first one and dig it. so I find that the first four (debut up to Gypsy Ways) are superb and I really like all of 'em.

I'll try the Bonnet versions but first I think I want to complete the earlier OG stuff. haven't listened to Hunting Time and No Smoke Without Fire yet

[null1024]

bloody hell
Picked up listening to Anthem after all of this and I'm losing it. This is goooooood shit.

last time I was this floored at finding a new band, I'd started listening to Loudness

[BIL]

Glad you guys are liking 'em. I should give Loudness a go, always seen them mentioned right alongside Anthem in discussions of JP metal heroes. The other name I always recall is Ezo, whose namesake member I think (really stretching here) might be vocalist on Bound To Break. EDIT: nope, remembered wrong - though their singer and drummer worked with Loudness and Anthem, respectively.

Getting quite addicted to Heavy Metal Anthem now, I think I was just stunned at how goddamn balls-out they went. My first reference points Gypsy Ways and Hunting Time both have a melancholy, in their Yukio Morikawa incarnations; Bonnet belts like he's out to bring down the heavens. Mr. Genius, Juggler and Show Must Go On are much cockier tunes to start with, the latter in full English even, so it's no surprise Bonnet tears into them with veteran rockstar gusto.

I'd never heard MIDNIGHT SUN and EVIL TOUCH, so HMA's respective 200 Kiloton ("FINAL BLOW!") and 9000BPH beasts are pretty much my defaults. Painkiller-esque bulldogging relentlessness. Shibata (producer) must've learned well from Chris Tsangarides, who was on the mixing desk. These guys polish rugged metal to a mirror sheen.

[FinalBaton]

Midnight Sun is a GREAT song on the catchier side.

[null1024]

Youtube is recommending me a lot of good shit now that I've went through three Anthem albums start to finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInNBvuMuyE
Listening to Dead End's album, Shámbara right now.

It's pretty good. It's not hitting me as absolutely amazing, but it certainly worth a listen.
It's got a fair bit lighter sound coming off of Anthem, but it's still satisfyingly heavy.

I CAN HEAR THE RAIN! JUST LIKE HER SCREAM!
fairly cool ending track that I kinda wish didn't have that slightly awkward key change a little before it ends

[BIL]

Rad album art Looks like somewhere you'd fly over in Tatsujin or Vimana. EMBRYO BURNING (!)'s combo of toe-tapping beat and menacing accents is pretty shmuppin too! The darkly longing acoustic-sounding chords behind "No time, no space" are so good.

The album's best stuff similarly involves acoustic and/or synth tones in moderately metal context, imo. Serpent Silver's another I like, nice gallantly melancholic New Romantic chorus - could see Duran Duran nailing this (I realise this might seem a dig in metal context, but it's assuredly not, those guys rock and have a considerable inventive side too!)

u dare
2 b
so
brave~

Psychomania totally nicks the riff from GNR's Rocket Queen, or at least recalls it so strongly, I had the urge to blast RQ - then when I came back to Psychomania and hit "play," I did a double-take thinking I'd accidentally restarted GNR. As Mr. Wilde always maintained: genius steals! (hardly the most unique riff, tbf... I wonder if it's coincidence and/or Guns nicked it from somewhere, themselves, ala Civil War/Knockin' On Heaven's Door)

The quietly intense, rising palm-muted lick behind the first chorus is dead cool. Seems a recurring thing with this record, agreeable but not outright blazing songs with odd, cool accoutrements that make me want to keep listening for more.

Blind Boy kinda lost me... BUT holy fuuuck, I Can Hear The Rain brings back that gorgeous 12-string sound glimpsed in EMBRYO BURNING full-force, with another sterling chorus. I love this one, exactly the gloomy, catchy New Order/Cure gallop I enjoy. This LP's highlights remind me a lot of those guys...

The body’s twisting around
In the heavy grey sky, oh

>EMBRYO BURNING (one of those tracknames I could type all day, shades of GENOCYBER)
>Serpent Silver
>I Can Hear The Rain

All prime goth-rock mixtape material.

[null1024]

Psychomania totally nicks the riff from GNR's Rocket Queen, or at least recalls it so strongly, I had the urge to blast RQ - then when I came back to Psychomania and hit "play," I did a double-take thinking I'd accidentally restarted GNR. As Mr. Wilde always maintained: genius steals! (hardly the most unique riff, tbf... I wonder if it's coincidence and/or Guns nicked it from somewhere, themselves, ala Civil War/Knockin' On Heaven's Door)

The quietly intense, rising palm-muted lick behind the first chorus is dead cool. Seems a recurring thing with this record, agreeable but not outright blazing songs with odd, cool accoutrements that make me want to keep listening for more.

Blind Boy kinda lost me... BUT holy fuuuck, I Can Hear The Rain brings back that gorgeous 12-string sound glimpsed in EMBRYO BURNING full-force, with another sterling chorus. I love this one, exactly the gloomy, catchy New Order/Cure gallop I enjoy. This LP's highlights remind me a lot of those guys...

Nice catch there with RQ and Psychomania, hah.
That crispy 12-string sound is one of the things that really hooked me. Doesn't show up quiiite enough overall, but it's very appreciated when it comes in.

It's a pretty neat, fairly moody album that goes in hard when it needs to, but only when it needs to.
and yeah, the titles are rad, and the cover art is shmuppin' as hell

[eckart]

Lambchop - Interrupted

https://youtu.be/YN4rlCOf2rE

[Obiwanshinobi]

Listen to The Who with a subwoofer. Just do. I knew John Entwhistle was considered one hell of a rock bass guitar player, but this is this is some proto-Primus.

[BIL]

Fuck me, Cozy & Bonnet's resumes are one banger after another. Much spinning of MSG '83, ASSAULT ATTACK and Down To Earth this weekend. All Night Long bangs its vintage riffing dick on the floor and brings the roof down, Victim of Illusion exemplifies its LPs seamless murderface chug and smoove croon, however, to take the thread title OVERLY literally I am currently bopping along to DARK ANGEL by Barney and Johnny's side gig ELECTRONIC, the former's goofy lyrics as endearing as they ever were over 90s CLUB SOUND

"What can I do, I'll never be the same, another day without you will drive me insane" BAAAHAHAHAAA ITS A HEP TUNE >;3

John Entwhistle

Reminds me, I need to get around to yet another of Cozy's discography, Edge of the World by Tipton, Entwhistle & Powell (with Don Airey on keys, another stalwart figure). Unknown Soldier / Friendly Fire is a good'un, I know that much.

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

Reminds me of Lemmy's deftly Spinal Tap-dodging 1916, and come to think of it, Barney & co's Love Vigilantes. Now that there be a requiemful tune!

---

I've had a longtime love/meh relationship with KISS. The brand name is infamously over-marketed to hell and back - I've no interest in any of that stuff. More importantly, quite a bit of their 70s catalogue fuckin rips, in its mildly metallized sleazy rock n' roll way.

>I Stole Your Love (fuckin Commando rock, gets in, does the damage, then GsTFO! )
>Parasite (aggressive, eccentric head-stomper, though see below...)
>Tomorrow And Tonight (shameless fun - Stonesy Motown-informed feelgood pop)

...and I think they had some solid performances in the 80s and early 90s, too. Creatures of the Night (album ver's heavier take is great too) and Black Diamond off Animalize Live are scintillating glam metal blasts - the same concert's UNDER THE GUN and Young And Wasted would do Motorhead mk1 proud, full-throttle stripped-down punky sleaze.

Whole concert's got a killer vibe to it - 80s US glam metal given an almighty kick up the ass. Also, I'm gayer than a motherfucker for Paul Stanley's Cher x STALLONE look here. Fight me IRL. RIP Eric Carr, a ferocious live presence and one of rock music's truly tragic losses.

Anyhoo, been trying out Ace Frehley's solo stuff. I know he's always had a diehard following, got exactly the sloppy yet punishingly hard-hitting rock I was hoping for. Mostly been dabbling in late 80s live footage, but his 2016 Origins album's got some good stuff too, including an absolute fire-breathing skull-shattering Parasite redux. As brutal as rock n' roll gets before smelting into outright bludgeoning metal, I love it.

Late 80s live Rocket Ride (what an infernally catchy yet balls-hard riff! recalls Motorhead's slamming Black Heart), a speed-freaked Parasite from '92, and this more recent Rip It Out remind me of Heartbreakers-era Johnny Thunders - addled yet animalistically agile and relentless sleaze-rock. Fan favourite the daft yet unashamedly chest-beating Rock Soldiers worth a listen for its atmospheric, smouldering verse lick.

I like this guy's style, he's a living burnout that's still somehow mostly functional, I imagine his medically remarked tolerance for the 'ludes helping with that. Good to see he's still in fine form after one of the more hellacious 70s rocker crash/burns I've read of lately.

[vol.2]

Anyhoo, been trying out Ace Frehley's solo stuff.

His one of the solo albums is the only really good one. It's clear he had something to say outside of Kiss as a performance troop.
80's KISS is okay, but I can't really bother when there are better things to listen to. I will *always* be a die-hard fan of Hotter Than Hell. I think it's one of the best "HARD ROCK" albums of the 70's and is criminally underrated in general.



Been listening to Love Drive. The return of Michael Shenker no less. Back from the UFO fold to the other big league. Love-ly cover by Hipgnosis who was to disband shortly.

[FinalBaton]

^^^^^^^^^^
Scorpions artwork are so sick, and truly legendary.
I need to give 'em another go.

I remember not liking 'em as much as their compatriots and contemporaries : NWOBHM's sole honorary member and speed metal/power metal pioneers + hook masters twin guitar fury that is ACCEPT. But they're not really the same kind and fill different needs so I guess there's room for both of 'em.


-----------------------------

So I listened to Heavy Anthem. Looks like Graham singing, eh? I had misunderstood his stint, I thought he had re-recorded several full albums with them, sort of a parralel Anthem band timeline. So I was quite confused when I heard this album.

That guy can really sing up a storm, eh? holy fuck... no head voice, no falsetto even, just full voice all the way up his register in it's glass shatering, mountain flatenning power. damn impressive...

It was a good listen. production wasn't terribly dissimilar to the OG recordings, and I thought Graham provided good english versions of those songs. As far as ''best of'' type albums go, this is one of the more interesting ones out there, to be sure, due to this twist. and inspired rendition.