When I write up the Sunday Metal posts, frequently I choose themes or take inspiration from somewhere. For a while I’ve thought about having some guest postings, and that continues.

The next some posts will be from my close friend, W. He’s flown the flag of metal for many years, including being a metal radio DJ around the same time I was (tho we didn’t meet until after). We’ve been friends for many years, been to numerous shows together, and share a love of the music. So I figured he’d make a good first guest to Sunday Metal. So with that, onwards!

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As a young pup, delivering pizzas was the perfect job. I got to drive my car, in a hurry, bearing precious doughy cargo on a deadline. I discovered all of the short cuts. I learned where the good tippers were, and which apartment complexes I never, ever wanted to set foot near again.

The first place I ever experienced fear of physical harm whilst making a delivery was an upstairs apartment, the path to which was a concrete walkway sloping downward away from the building at a jaunty angle that clearly communicated “imminent collapse”. Steeling myself against certain doom with the knowledge of the importance of my pepperoni-laced duty, I ascended the rickety, not completely intact stairs, and stepped lightly down the treacherous path. Keeping as close to the building as possible, I completed my quest, collected my just rewards, and retraced my steps with care until I was once again on solid ground. I made it out alive, and the concrete deck remained tenuously (some would say impossibly) suspended as I drove away with Z-Rock blaring triumphantly from the speakers of my car stereo.

I don’t remember what song was playing at that moment, but if there is justice in the world, it was Manowar.

It was this job, and that radio station, that provided me the broadest expansion of my musical horizons I had yet experienced in my young life. Manowar was one of the bands that received a reasonable amount of airplay on Z-Rock, and this was the first song of theirs I ever heard. It has a brash, fiercely independent attitude, a powerful groove with a hook that just won’t let go, and Eric Adams’ vocals are simply inimitable. While it lacks the “Extra Cheese” typical of Manowar, this is still as good a gateway to the self-proclaimed “Kings Of Metal” as you could ask for.

Strap on your fur boots, grab your broadsword, “dec” your gear, and enjoy!

(The apartment complex of doom was condemned and demolished less than a year later.)