Music

Guest of Sunday Metal – W – MetallicA

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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 starts now.

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!

Metallica is one of the top five most influential and important metal bands of all time.

Musically, they were instrumental in defining what thrash metal is. Their influence has been felt far and wide by the dozens if not hundreds of bands following in their sonic footsteps.

Also, MetallicA are almost single handedly responsible for bringing metal – real metal, not the pansy-ass LA poser glam crap – to the masses. Can anyone born since the 70s say they’ve never heard a MetallicA song? Until I was 16, I could.

I clearly remember the first time I ever heard one of their songs. I was 16, driving around Big-D in my aging ’77 Chevy Nova listening to “this cool new radio station” called Z-Rock, when this song came on. It’s not my favorite MetallicA song, but I can say it is the most influential on me, as I had never before entertained the idea that MetallicA would be something I would like. The crushingly powerful rhythm and the imaginative lyrics opened my mind to a new world of awesome, and I wasn’t the only one. It’s songs like this that earned them the oft-repeated moniker “Mandatory MetallicA.”

Sunday Metal – Satan

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Nothing like Satan on Sunday, eh?

I never got into Satan, but they of course were a seminal part of the NWOBHM movement. Via The Metal Files I saw they had reformed, a new album, and I gave it a listen. It’s pretty cool.

Sunday Metal – Testament

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In the spirit of the Testament/Overkill show back in February, here’s headliners Testament (again) with some old footage: Into the Pit, Raging Waters, and The New Order, from Germany’s 1988 Monsters of Rock show. It cuts off at the end, but still some cool old footage.

 

Sunday Metal – Testament

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In the spirit of the Testament/Overkill show back in February, here’s headliners Testament with the title track off the latest album, “Dark Roots of Earth” peformed live at Wacken 2012

 

Sunday Metal – Overkill

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In the spirit of the Testament/Overkill show back in February, “sub-headliners” Overkill, here’s one of my favorite tracks: “I Hate”…. because I still hate people that make you feel small, I hate having my back against the wall, and I hate being talked down to. 🙂

And here’s a pretty cool version of it from a 1992 bootleg:

 

13

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Black Sabbath’s new album “13” is released today.

They have a proper video for the first single, “God is Dead?”

Last week they streamed the core of the album (no bonus tracks) on iTunes. My buddy “W” and I listened to it and came to a basic conclusion:

This doesn’t sound like Black Sabbath. It sounds like Ozzy Osborne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and that drummer from RATM (no offense to Brad). Or maybe “Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osborne”. Something just didn’t feel right. Sure, the riffs are awesome, Tony and Geezer are legendary. But somehow the whole thing just didn’t feel together; like there was something missing. I think it’s vocals — it sounds like Ozzy singing, not John. I can’t totally fault that of course, but it’s the reality of how it feels. And while Brad Wilk is certainly a good drummer, he’s not Bill Ward. Brad is very technically sound, but Bill’s got this laid back “just behind the beat” groove and feel. They’re just different drummers and it’s not the same without Bill behind the kit.

I read that Rick Rubin had the guys listen to their first album again, an attempt to recapture that moment. Maybe that’s the problem? Trying to recapture magic from 40+ years ago — that’s difficult, because people change, life is different. I do think they did a fair job at it, because much of the album does sound “like old Sabbath” (i.e. first 3–5 albums, depending how you look at it). The song “Zeitgeist” instantly reminded me of “Planet Caravan”. But yet, the sound also comes across like a band with musicians that have been around for 40+ years, so technique and sound and interests and everything has changed. Or maybe because there’s an overt effort to make a particular sound, that it’s trying too hard? I don’t know.

Overall I do like the album, and I’m sure it’s going to go to #1 and be considered the best album of 2013… but I’m wondering how much of that is because truly it’s a good album, or because of the hype and legend around it? Sure, I pre-ordered my copy. Yes it’s freshly installed on my iDevice to listen to on endless loop while working today. But I’m just not sure it’s worthy of being hailed as their finest and best work. Maybe 3.5 out of 5 stars.

But I’m thankful for it, because it’s one more round of riffage from The Father… and that answers the question: no God (Iommi) isn’t dead.

Sunday Metal – Flotsam and Jetsam

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In the spirit of the Testament/Overkill show back in February, here’s second act, Flotsam and Jetsam with a classic bit of video goodness:

Also, the demo version of “I Live, You Die”. This was the first F&J track I heard and Eric AK’s opening scream of “You’re life passes you BY-AH-YYYYYY!” has stuck in my head ever since.