The Big 4: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax on the Big Screen!

I was a teenager again.

In 2002, I was an oddity in my high school. I, unlike 99% of the other students, listened to metal. Not only that, but I was still just getting into the genre. By the time I graduated, I had gone from listing to Winger’s Seventeen, to listening to Slayer’s Reign in Blood. Those were truly a magical time, and I had one simple vision of all these guys just getting together and playing at each other shows. That was true to some regard; Anthrax let Metallica share its space, Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth after getting kicked out of Metallica, and Kerry King formed Slayer after playing in Megadeth. The dream of everyone in the metal world was to finally, after 25 years, see all of them play the same concert. To see the Big Four in the single greatest concert ever!
Last night, we all got to be kids again.

At movie theaters around the world, The Big Four: Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica were unleashed upon the world, causing not devastation, but the rarest joy you could ever see at a metal concert. It was, in and of itself a different experience than any concert anyone had been to. You’re in an air-condition movie theater with a ton of people. Do you mosh? Do you sing along? Do you act like you do at a show?

To read the rest of my FIRST ARTICLE EVER on Blow The Scene.com, click here!

Metal Song of the Day: Metallica "Hollier Than Thou"

You know, sometimes its easy to walk around with a Mohawk, and some days its irritating as hell. If you've ever dared to be different, you know what I mean. It may not be your hair; it may be how you dress, you look, act, whatever. You're out of step with the world around you and you know it, and so does everyone else.

To that extent, today was one of those "teachable moments" you hear so much about. Getting off the train without my headphones on, I lose my little armor to the world of those around me. As I passed by the Jehovah Witnesses that litter (as in spread around) Market East Station, I heard one of them let loose a loud laugh at me. To wit, all I could think of that simple line, "Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself!"

Enter Metallica.

I've had the "black album" for nearly 10 years now, but it wasn't until today that I REALLY listened to this song. Amazing that I haven't considering my past.

Well, enjoy!

Guitar Hero: Metallica is Out Now

I so want to get this with a microphone so I can be like James. That would be awesome.

If Kip Winger Insults Metallica... Is It Even Valid?

Kip Winger, seen here in his cover for Playgirl Magazine, has recently had this to say about drummer Lars Ulrich:

C.C. Banana: Have you ever thrown darts at a photo of Lars Ulrich?

Kip Winger: I've never done that. I really never had anything against the guy. In fact, when I first heard METALLICA's "black" album, I thought it was a really cool record... and then they just started taking shots at me, for whatever reason. But it's okay, Lars is not really that talented. He's got a lot of fucking money, though, so I'm sure he's happy. I actually felt sorry for him when I saw that "Some Kind of Monster" documentary. He was sitting there next to his dad, just seething with unmoved emotion over things that were still unresolved. It was really kind of sad to watch. But I do like METALLICA, they're a good band.

...OK, so it's not really an insult to Metallica, not even Lars; "Lars Isn't that Talented" is the headline, albeit a desperate one.

But hey, this story is going to get some decent play in the metal world, and don't be shocked if Megadeth fans start pointing to this as a "You see? YOU SEE!" moment. For us die-hard Megadeth fans who don't really care but get to sit back and enjoy the mayhem, we get to revel in the irony of the laughing stock of metal insulting someone who many consider to be the best/over-rated metal drummer ever.

The Best and Worst Metal and Punk Albums of 2008

The Best Metal and Punk Albums of 2008!

1. Amon Amarth - Twilight of The Thundergod
Album of the year. Period. Back in 2006, I bought "With Oden At Our Side" after hearing a lot of hype and I wasn't very impressed. Nevertheless, I decided to give them another go. and I'm glad I did! Twilight of the Thundergod is a viking/melodic death metal epic. The album is melodic and heavy, and becomes an epitome of what extreme and heavy music should be.







2. Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted
I didn't get a chance to buy this album until recently, but it was well worth the wait! The album sees, for the first time in 12 years, the Cavalera brothers are together again to give you an album that rocks where Chaos AD left off. Gone is the failed experimentation with an overt use of Brazilian tribal music and instead we get a return of a great combination of thrash, extreme metal, and the same Brazilian tribal music sound is there, this time is great moderation. A brilliant album by two incredible musicians.





3.Wednesday 12 - Skeletons
This album was sold only at Hot Topic and on his tour, as well as available for download only. This may discredit it in the eyes of many a cynical metal head, but they are missing out on something brilliant. Consider Wednesday 13 this generations Alice Cooper and, to a degree, Marilyn Manson. He uses horror-punk to create a more rock-and-roll combination that adds incredible hooks to an album that mixes personal skeletons with real ones. "Great American Massacre", "Not Another Teenage Anthem", "Scream Baby Scream", and "With Friends Like These" are the highlights on an incredible album that will make you think twice about the man and the band.



4. Metallica - Death Magnetic
There is one, and only one, reason why this album isn't #1 and didn't score higher: The production. The production on this album killed it. the fact that they decided to try in vain to make it "louder" instead of sound "good" shows a lack of quality control on the part of the band. But the writing on this album still shines through, showing a level of toughness and refreshed sense of purpose that make it worthy of being a great album in the Metallica canon.






5. Meshuggah - Obzen
Meshuggah? Accessible? Could those two words be put into the same sentence and still make sense? Could they be combined and yet still make it a Top 10 album? YES! Meshuggah's latest album, Obzen, may be their most accessible piece yet, but the heaviness and brilliance is still there in leaps and spades. Tracks such as "Combustion" and "Bleed" are heavy yet catchy, even in a disjointed sort of way. The math-metallers strike again!







6. In Flames - A Sense of Purpose
This one is high on my list because the cover booklet for this album helped A LOT. The album is basically what it's called, "A Sense of Purpose". From the first note to the last, your put in a mysterious ride that takes you all over the mind of Anders, lead singer of In Flames, and shows you the nightmarish world it is. The album is a journey, and to listen to it is pure bliss.








7. Motorhead - Motorizer
I'm convinced that if Lemmy wrote an album that was better than The Beatles "White Album", it would still be rubber-stamped "Another classic Motorhead release that doesn't vary much from Lemmy's formula!" Oye. "Kiss of Death" was Lemmy's best album since Bastards, something I've said about all his albums since 2002's "Hammered", and this was the first time I actually stopped that. "Motorizer" doesn't try to be a metal release; instead, it's a hard rocker of an album with tracks such as "Runaround Man" and "Teach You How To Play the Blues". "Rock Out" is the lone single on here and, really, it's a damn good solid album that kicks ass. Better than 99% of the crap out there and if your put next to a Coldplay album, it'll melt it!



8. Hanzle Und Gretyl - 2012: Zwanzig Zwolf
If there was ever a band that I would consider "The greatest band you never heard of that's still around", Hanzle Und Gretyl is IT! Their combination of industrial and thrash metal is incredible, and Gretyl is none-other than a former member of The Cycle sluts From Hell, a little-known-group famous for "I Wish You Were a Beer". After releasing "Oktonfest" late last year, my hopes were high for this album; sadly, the two best songs on here are on that EP. Or are they? After some time, and as an album itself, thsi disc holds up pretty damn well! "Fukken Uber Death Party" will bring down the house, "Number 1 In Deutcschland" will say "Heil!" to the homeland, and "Heil Hizzle Mein Nizzle" is enough to make you laugh your lederhosen off!


9. Deicide - Till Death Do Us Part
This is a bit of a departure for Glen Benton; Instead of writing a blackened death metal album or a death black metal album or whatever, he instead.... did both? Well, what can I say, getting divorced can do things to a guys mind, and in response, Glen has released a fairly straight-forward death metal album that simply destroys and demolishes everything in it's way.








10. Zimmers Hole - While You Were Shouting At The Devil... We Were in League With Satan
When Strapping Young Lad dissolved last year, there was a collective sense of both anger and understanding as to why. Devin Townsend decided that that period of his life was over and decided to end the band on a high note. At the same time, the rest of the band weren't. Enter a band created in 1991, Zimmers Hole. The band was, and is, a sort of "joke-band"; in a sense, Dethklok from Metalocalypse before they existed. This self-awareness works; The title track rips and tears at the posers, "Devils Mouth", and "The Vowel Song" all help to seal the deal. Now, this was a last-minute addition to my list because I forgot it came out this year and it was a OK disc. At the same time, this is an album made, really, for metal heads. It's a sort of "in-joke", as it were, and it's worthy on being on a Top 10, if not Top 20.

WORST:

Slipknot - All Hope is Gone
All hope is gone? Yes, for you. After releasing Volume 3 in 2006, showing that they could do more than their nu-metal shtick with the help of Rick Rubin, they went back to their roots to release a disappointing album.

Judas Preist - Nostradomous
Rob Halford: OK, we've got 2-discs worth of material here! What do you suppose we do with it? Release it all?
K.K. Downing: No, Rob, I say we only release the best stuff! Give the people the best Priest album ever!
Rob Halford: ....no, let's release all of it. We can charge more for it.


Disappointment:

Venom - Hell
Yes, I was disappointed by a Venom release. After "Metal Black" came out in 2006, I wanted to see what the bad boys from the UK could come up with as a follow-up. Sadly, we got a few good songs and a lot of "Meh".

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown
After kicking so much ass with "Inhumane Rampage" and taking the world by storm, can you blame me for expecting them to step up to the plate and dominating their next album? Can you? You can? Damn... I owe you a coke.

Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire
These guys are incredibly talented and good. Being able to write death metal vocals for the masses while still writing catchy melodies isn't easy, and after hearing "Hand of Doom" and "The Poison", I wanted them to go far. While it's still a good album (The title track ia amazing, so is "Eye of the Storm") and borrows from the modern extrme metal movement, it fails when it does a song like "Forever and Always".

Not Reviewed:
Opeth - Watershed
Gojia - The Way of the Flesh
Testament - The Formation of Damnation
Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy

8-Album Mind: I've Already Died

System of a Down - Toxicity ♠♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Steal This Album! ♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Mesmerize ♠♠♠♠♠
System of a Down - Hypnotize ♠♠♠♠♠
Tenacious D - Tenacious D ♠♠♠
Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny ♠♠♠♠
Terror - Always the Hard Way ♠♠♠♠
Metallica - Death Magnetic ♠♠♠♠

Let me get this out of the way first: I was so god-damn psyched about the new Metallica album, it's nothing short of amazing that I didn't crap my pants while waiting for 10AM to come and I could buy the album. Despite that, I'm not doing a review tonight and I'm just going to say this: BUY IT.

System of a Down is a band I greatly admire and love, but it hasn't been easy; in 2005, Casey Chaos, the man behind AMEN, announced that he was angry that he didn't get a writing credit on the album for writing the Grammy-Winning song "B.Y.O.B." Being a major fan of Casey, as well as wanting to make sure he received the royalties he was due (which, at the time, he wasn't)... well, it was hard. I found out late 2005, after I had seen them live and right after "Hypnotize" came out. I decided to do what I could to not support SOAD... at least until they did the right thing. They did, and it's history, but Scars of Broadway... no, I can't listen to it. That was Casey's project, and I wouldn't feel right.

But that aside, Mesmerize/Hypnotize is THE GREATEST Double-album in this decade! PERIOD! Normally the second disc kills an album, but it worked well here! Meanwhile, Toxicity is a classic, period, and I'm glad to see it still holds up great. Same with "Steal This Album!"

It's Official: METALLICA KICKS ASS AGAIN!

10-Track Mind- 10 Tracks at Random on my Radio Station

OK, I'm directly ripping of The Clog's "Ten Track Mind" right now, but it's mainly to get me to promote my radio station.. and do something interesting.

In case you haven't listened to it yet, Mark Skull Pirate Radio is my heavy metal and punk radio station, and a great thing to listen to at work, home, office, whatever! Check it out!

• 1. Gojia - To Mars ("From Mars to Sirius") - Really mellow track that acts more as an intro to it's companion "To Sirius". Gojia is a French metal band that has always, to me, been a bit more of what would happen if hippies made kick-ass metal. Really Earth-conscious and spiritually connected band, but without getting so preachy that you hate it.
  
• 2. Dethklok - Go Forth and Die ("The Dethalbum") - Brendan Small kicks ass. He's a great guitarist, albeit in the same vein as Malmsteen (really flashy). But when joined with such great artists like Gene Hologan, he soars! This track kicks a lot of ass, with a nice haunting chorus (Go... forth and die! Go forth and die!) and sweet solos.
  
  
• 3. Marilyn Manson - Rock is Dead ("Mechanical Animals") - When this track first came out in 1998, I was more pissed that he was saying "Rock is DEAD!" than anything else. "How can you say what you do is dead? Isn't that an oxymoron?!" Eh, I was 13. Pounding guitars and drum into a militaristic beat to an otherwise upbeat melody and really insightful lyrics, another Manson Classic!
  
  
• 4. BulletBoys - When Pigs Fly ("Za-Za") - THE most under-rated band of the glam era, the BulletBoys burst onto the scene in 1988 with their self-titled effort and in 1993, after 2 albums of non-stop hard rock and glam, they released "Za-Za", a record that successfully combined their old style with the growing alternative rock movement resulting in an otherwise great album. "When Pigs Fly" is one of my favorites because of just how damn hard it rocks!
  
  
• 5. MD. 45 - Hell's Motel ("The Craving" [Original]) - I also have the remastered, but to degrees prefer the original. "Hell's Motel" by this Dave Mustaine side-project from 1995, kicks off an album that features FEAR singer Lee Ving delivering vocals over Dave's incredibly tight blues-tinged hard rock riffs. The metal undertones are there, adding a nice level of density to the affair.
  
  
• 6. Metallica - Frayed Ends of Sanity ("..And Justice for All") - One of my favorite "hidden riffs" is in this song. I had this album for years and one night I was in my mom's car while she was in the store and I was listening to a cassette of the album I had bought not too long ago (nostalgia at age 19, who knew!) and out of nowhere, I heard Krik do this little riff I never heard before... it's right after the first main solo, after the galloping 16's riff... Kirk just goes into this insanely sweet note-heavy solo! Never heard it before, and when I did, it became one of my favorites.
  
  
• 7. Rob Zombie - Meet the Creeper ("Hellbilly Delux") - I got this album in 2000 and it basically triggered this change in how I saw music. It was one of the first albums I ever bought that combined metal with horror, and it was really cool. "Meet the Creeper" is just a very haunting and creeps along like your watching a zombie flick!
  
  
• 8. Marilyn Manson - Irresponsible Hate Anthem ("Antichrist Superstar) - We hate love/ we love hate! What better way to introduce America to the superstar-turned-antichrist (Or was it the other way around) in 1996? The track is heavy, industrial, and is a call to arms to those who wish to rebel against the Radical Right, the Christian Conservatives hell-bent on destroying America!
  
  
• 9. The Casualties - Without Warning ("Under Attack") - Great hardcore punk track! Hearing the bellowing chant "Without Warning" at end is a highlight and a great exclamation point to a track about the realities of life and war.
  
  
• 10. Iron Maiden - Different World ("A Matter of Life and Death") - Man, this.. this song just rocks! Maiden continuing their more progressive metal leanings from the previous two albums while keeping it fairly simple and raw... this track just has a great flow to it. The only thing that annoys me is how Bruce's voice cracks here and there, but then again, it happens when your singing your ass off for over 30 years, right?

Well, that's 10 tracks. Have a good day and look for more posts!

Unforgiven III? Why, god, Why?!

Today, Metallica officially released the track listing of they're new album, "Death Magnetic". I'm still am psyched about this album, and now... man, that.... UNFORGIVEN III?! WHY?! NO! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, METALLICA, NO! DON'T! Honestly, after the mediocre attempt that was "Unforgiven II", why?