Requiem

Requiem's Top 10 Metal Songs about Alcohol As I nurse a hangover I cannot but reflect on metal's long association with the demon drink. Here are my favourite metal songs about drinking. 10a. My Dying Bride - 'My Wine in Silence' from Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (2004) An odd start because there is nothing about alcohol in the lyrics at all, but the title and sentiment make this a great song about sitting, drinking and reflecting on not having a girlfriend. 10b. Ozzy Osbourne - 'Demon Alcohol' from No Rest for the Wicked (1988) There's a better Osbourne classic coming up in this list, but this is a killer song from Zakk's first album. Obviously Ozzy knows a thing or two about alcohol, and this is a good warning to steer clear. Well, it's Bob Daisley's warning as lyricist, but sounds good coming from Ozzy. 9. Alestorm - 'Nancy the Tavern Wench' from Captain Morgan's Revenge (2008) Alestorm receive a lot of contempt from the straight-faced minions of metal's macho militia, but this is such a catchy and fun song. I won't lie, I definitely like the idea of pretending to be a pirate. 8. Korpiklaani - 'Let's Drink' from Tervaskanto (2007) One of the better pro-drink anthems, the Finns know a thing or two about alcohol abuse, and it doesn't seem so bad in a historical context - or in folk metal. Goddamn catchy. I know if I was living in the middle ages I'd be drunk pretty much all the time if I could manage it. 7. Alestorm - 'Drink' from Sunset on the Golden Age (2014) This makes number six on the list in part due to the fantastic video. Straight laced high-born women turned into table dancing party wenches. I guess it's not quite as much fun without the video, but this is still a rollicking ode to pirate partying. 6. Sentenced - 'Guilt and Regret' from The Cold White Light (2003) Another anti-drink song, this is about waking up the next day and not remembering what you did - and the negative consequences attached to that. I've been there, that's for sure... As a track this is just fantastic and from one of my favourite albums. Famously, the lead guitar player would die from alcohol related ill-health six years later, and the singer would abstain entirely. This song came from the heart. 5. Ozzy Osbourne - 'Suicide Solution' from The Blizzard of Ozz (1980) If I'm in my Ozzy zone this could easily be number one, but objectively it sits about here for me. Stunning song, Bob Daisley's lyrics always got to the heart of who Ozzy is/was. He knew Ozzy better than Ozzy knew himself. 4. Moonsorrow - 'Tulkaapa Aijat' (Come Along, Fellows) from Suden Uni (2001) A bonus track on the re-release of 'Suden Uni', this could easily pass many metal fans by, but that would be as unfortunate as running out of mead at the Althing. An amazing party anthem with rousing viking chorus at the end. Check it out. Moonsorrow were so far ahead of the viking metal pack in the early 2000s it was ridiculous. 3. Korpiklaani - 'Vodka' from Karkelo (2009) This takes the number 1 place for best pro-alcohol song in metal. It's almost the perfect folk metal song. It's repetitive, it's dance-worthy, it has a great chorus "Drinking is good for you..." and just makes me feel that worrying about the little things in life is just futile. Live, love and lose, it's all good. 2. Katatonia - 'Serein' from The Fall of Hearts (2016) I forgot this track in my initial assessment. Another amazing anti-drink song, this is about being resigned to the routine and emptiness of alcohol dependence, and it's just driven by this amazing drive and melody. I had to look up the meaning of the title: a rain that falls from a cloudless sky. 1. Devilment - 'The Seductive Poison' from II The Mephisto Waltzes (2016) I bet none of you saw this coming. This is a bonus track on the new Devilment album, and if you need any convincing of how great Dani Filth can be without the musical limitations of Paul Allender, then look no further. The Devilment team are so goddamn pro. This is an anti-alcohol song with luscious lyrical lectures about ludicrous libations, yet it has a subtlety about alcoholism that just nails it. The Iron Maiden style beginning is cool and everything, but as of 3:30 when the metal drops away and that piano starts, then the rest of the music builds up and Dani sings the "Sekhmet save me..." it's fucking glorious. Goddamn. Best metal song about alcohol for me. "Raised glasses praise spirits, a lyrical toast / To the Djinn in my veins and the unholy ghost"

Interesting choices. I like the Iron Maiden live choice. I think a long live album is mandatory. I deliberately avoided too much black and doom because I wasn't certain it would leave me in a positive frame of mind to contend with the challenges of island life. Plus how many times could I really listen to 'The Angel and the Dark River' before I hated every note? Long and varied albums are essential.

Pints of beer!

I noticed the pun only after I'd written it. I wonder if my unconscious mind was at work there. Il check it out for sure as I really haven't heard much of the band at all. A+ 10/10 Michelin Star.

Cats v Tigers right now. Come on Geelong let's do it lads! I'm watching the game at the metal pub, which as bad luck would have it is hosting another punk show over in the band room. What's with all the punk bands in Melbourne? Can't believe they have anything to complain about in the World's Most Liveable City seven times running.

I remember uni. Isn't that where young people sit around drinking coffee and occasionally go to a lecture a few times a week? It's amazing you can find the time to get on here at all! Will, are you going to Kreator, or do you have a Uni assignment? lol. Alright joking aside, I was vaguely thinking about going but it's sold out. I've saved $80 so that's good.

What do you make of their two latest 'Infernus' albums? I really really love 'Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt' (I wish they'd go back to using titles I didn't have to google to remember...), but found 'Instinctus Bestialis' to be a bit flat and a cheap copy of 'Quantos'. I'm going to wager that you're not that into these albums, but for me, damn I love 'Quantos'. The riffs are so emotional after the norsecore of the Gaahl/King era.

I see you post this every now and then - that's more what I was getting at. You really like it. That's cool.

Requiem's Top 5 Metal Albums for a Desert Island: 1. Type O Negative - 'October Rust' Lengthy, atmospheric, romantic. Will remind me of girls I'll never see again. 2. Satyricon - 'The Shadowthrone' The black metal inclusion. Songs about woods and hills to complement my time on the island and really commune with the island's spirits. 3. Black Sabbath - 'Renunion' Double CD live album of Sabbath classics. Also so I can hear Ozzy to keep me company and crowd sounds to make me feel less lonely. 4. Nightwish - 'Dark Passion Play' Not really a favourite, but I want a woman's voice to break up the sausage-fest. This is also long and spiritual, fitting the island vibe (there's even a song called 'The Islander'). 5. Katatonia - 'The Fall of Hearts' Lengthy, progressive in parts to keep me interested, with a stunning emotional journey that I'm going to need. Also songs about leaving things behind. So two of these five would also be in my Top 5 of All Time (Type O and Satyricon), but the others wouldn't. I think I've got a great set of 5 here though. I'd take these to the island quite happily.

It's amazing. Their best in years. They're playing with Kreator in Melbourne this weekend. A large venue and they sold it out at $80 a ticket. Goddamn this city.... Dusting off an old favourite there FA?

World ov Worms - Zyklon

I'm the same. I bought 'Reign in Blood' years ago because I really wanted to get to know it properly. But I just don't get how much of the metal 'press' think it's one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Like everyone I enjoy the first and last songs, but everything in between sort of bores me.

Is that a euphemism? Why do I feel like the quotation marks around 'garden' are the equivalent of a wink...? Anyway, I can't. I've got my own "hoe" to dig with, if you get my drift.

Me too. I love York. Anyone from York is a friend of mine.

Good, because I want you to pin it. I was using reverse psychology. Or am I using it now?

I'll give you an excellent example for why Cannibal Corpse became the marquee band for death metal. Let me take you back to 1994. At 14 years old, we were all moving from gateway bands into 'real' metal, yet much of it was cloaked by mystique in this pre-internet world. I was a naive yet attractive young man, full of vim and vigour, sitting in a high school class somewhere in South-Eastern Australia. Naturally, I was sitting next to a fellow metal fan - a kid called Hackers. Hackers wasn't exactly part of the inner-circle, but he was a guy we liked well enough, and I even formed a black metal band with him for a few months, with me on the drums if you can believe it. Hackers was probably pound for pound the best guitarist in school but a bit of a dork. Anyway, I remember being in class with Hackers (he was on my right) and he leans over and says something like, "There's this song by Cannibal Corpse that starts with a guy saying this: 'recites verbal intro to Addicted to Vaginal skin'". I go, "What the hell did I just hear??" A vagina was exotic and topical enough without the added imagery of consuming one as foodstuffs. So at recess everyone's talking about this band that we had previously only vaguely heard of called Cannibal Corpse and the intro to 'Addicted to Vaginal Skin'. I think Hackers had it on a Sony Walkman or something because we all listened to it. We stared at each other, amazed that the world could produce something so disgusting, so bewildering. It was a brave new world for us all. So while Morbid Angel may have offered great songwriting and kvlt kredibility, it was Cannibal Corpse and their over-the-top approach that made the teenagers of the world, and probably Jim Carrey, pay attention back in 1994. This post is dedicated to Hackers who, I found out a few years ago, died of a brain tumour. RIP Hackers. We'll be playing black metal in hell soon enough brother.

This is one of those lame threads that actually deserves to be locked...

Now I know what your top four is - only I don't know the order. I wonder if I can guess. The surprise here for me is the high placing of 'The Butterfly Effect'! Number 6(66)! I agree with the way you describe it as a companion to 'Sin/Pecado', but for me where 'Sin' is cool and classy, 'Butterfly' ain't. It's a really fun album though. Come on then, Alfred, let's see the rest.

The Blood Divine's albums passed me by a little bit, but I did purchase their best of 'Rise Pantheon Dreams' back when that came out. Gosh it's been years since I've heard it! 'Rise Pantheon Dreams' I'm sure you know, is the title that Darren White was intending to call what later became Anathema's 'The Silent Enigma'. I think it's really cool that the name actually found the light of day. I'm really hoping that there is a lost tape out there with Darren singing to the material from 'The Silent Enigma' before he got booted out and Vincent took the mic. As much as I admire Darren and his voice, I think they probably made the right decision getting rid of him, as devastating as that would have been for him. Anyway, as for The Blood Divine, I really like the best of and I sort of wish I had the albums. I can't say I love it, but I find the vibe really cool, and it ticks the boxes as far as era, style and label (I'm in love with Peaceville). They're very much an in-between band and I don't think they really knew what they wanted to be. In fact, it's pretty much like what you'd expect from the 'Principle of Evil Made Flesh' line-up trying to write a rock record with the Anathema vocalist! Funny that. And as for 'The Original Sin', yeah, it would be interesting to find out how much messing around the sound got for this release. They made a huge jump in the quality of the performance and the sound quality from that to the real 'Dusk and Her Embrace', that's for sure!

That's because you're calling it 'yard work'. It sounds like you're being let out of your cell for an hour in the exercise yard or some such. Maybe if you called it 'gardening' or something you might feel better about it. Wish I got to do some gardening. That'd be sweet!

Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy - Rotting Christ

No way, I'm not listening to it on youtube. I want to experience it with the booklet, lyrics, artwork etc. I'm definitely going to order it - I love this band with a passion. I just keep forgetting to and I've already blown what I can reasonably get away with this month. Come September 12th, it's ordered!

'Like Gods' and '34%' feel fresh, motivated and adventurous in their own ways - products of a band still glowing from its glorious birth. 'Feel the Misery' and 'Map' feel kind of tired and a little lost. I guess aurally I can understand why you feel this way, though, because, without putting words in your mouth, you're a man who likes his doom/death and that older school sound. I like 'love metal' for crying out loud. When I listen to 'Map' and 'Misery' I can't escape the image of Andy sitting on his bed with his Jackson coming up with fairly weak variations on the single string and harmony riffs he's been writing for 27 years and just struggling with it. Then he brings riffs to the band who must - they simply must - think "oh well, it's good enough". Then they go ahead and put the song together. Seriously, some of those riffs on both of those albums are plain Jane in the extreme. Having said all this, I do still really like this band. The actual music (riffs/songwriting) on the title track of 'Feel the Misery' is brilliant - it's just Aaron that ruins it with his uncomfortable caterwauling. I actually quite enjoy each song, but the sum of its parts sort of doesn't work. It's just weird. Who are these goddamn band members? Bring back Rick Miah and Martin Powell!

This concerns me somewhat and reminds me that, alarmingly, I still haven't ordered this album and I sort of forget about its existence until someone mentions it. Also, I don't own a single Arch Enemy album. Which is strange because I've got quite a lot of melodeath material. The two grand anomalies of my fairly epic CD collection are that there is not a single Death or Arch Enemy album. Weird. I won't be buying an Arch Enemy album now either, as nothing I've heard over the past 20 years has come close to being entertaining, whether in the current era or back when they had blokes a-singing. Fixed it for you.

'Pentagram' is cool, but it's not even in my top two Gorgoroth albums. I prefer (the original) 'Under the Sign of Hell' and 'Antichrist'. 'Pentagram' is awesome though.