Requiem

Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles launched in 1994 when you were 5, I believe? It published until 2009 and you can buy back issues here: http://bravewords.storenvy.com/. It now runs as a website: http://bravewords.com/home Anyway, we are well off topic at the moment. Black Sabbath with both Ozzy and Dio is great, but for me Ozzy takes the prize!

Only in America... I'm drinking cafe au lait. Straight from a tin, chuck in some boiling H2O, stir her about and down the hatch. Bloody beautiful mate.

So is this song about a piece of tin or something? Or a horseshoe?

Oh yeah, it's his first day. I should keep calling his phone to get him in trouble... "Yeah, hey, it's me again. Whattcha up to??"

The band were all latinos in the same way that Death Angel are all Filipinos? Got it. Regarding the Rainbow show, was it one of those parking lot gigs at the Rainbow, because I'm pretty sure they don't hold gigs in the actual venue. It's a tiny bar and restaurant! You're lucky to have seen some good old fashioned Sunset Strip music though. When I was in LA a couple of years ago I scanned all the venues to check if there was anything cool on. There wasn't really, although the Whisky show was free being a Tuesday or Wednesday night so it was good to go in and have a (very close!) look, listen to bands and drink beer. The spirit of Nikki Sixx was with me that day. I was a one man party machine. Just writing about all this makes me nostalgic and a little sad I can't go there now!

I've got an 'Antichrist Superstar' story. Back in 1997 when I was in my final year of high school my friends and I ended up at a girl from school's house, and one thing led to another and I ended up on the floor of her living room making out with this other girl who happened to be the hottest girl in school, with 'Antichrist Superstar' playing on the stereo. Man she was hot. She had a real thing for me too for which I was very grateful. I was with her quite a bit but this time stays in my memory a lot more due to context I guess. So while I don't love the album per se I still have fond memories of it to this day. Thanks Marilyn Manson.

Hey JudgeDread. Welcome to the forums. Plenty on offer here by way of discussion. Cheers.

So my wife and I have been watching Outlander and we just finished season 2 last night. It's the show based on the books by Diana Gabaldon about a woman in the 1940s who goes back in time to 1740s Scotland and has to adjust to life there. The first season was brilliant, the first half of the second season was bollocks, but the last half and in particular the last episode of season 2 was simply amazing. What an incredible last episode. Incredible as in one of the single greatest episodes of a TV show I've ever seen incredible. Anyone into history and willing to sit through a touch too much romance would do well to check it out.

I've nearly bought this book a few times now. Skull would love it! I own the 'Black Sabbath FAQ' and the Ozzy Osbourne day-by-day book by Popoff and they're great. The Sabbath book has heaps of info that I haven't read elsewhere.

In fairness my assessment is based on a decades long fantasy that may have little bearing on the truth. I'll have to give it a listen although I'm afraid of what I might hear haha.

Vintage magazines like Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles? How can you be so willing to criticise him when you don't even know that he was a creator of one of the world's best known magazines pre Internet? He met and interviewed countless bands as editor of this real life paper magazine! If for some reason this magazine escaped you in Italy then fine, but maybe there is more to Popoff's story than you realise. The guy has devoted his life to researching and writing about metal bands. He is a published author of dozens of books. I don't think this is the same as a random Amazon reviewer. At the end of the day, even guys like Mick Wall (who has tonnes of haters, although I'm a fan) are just stating opinions about music they are listening to. It's hardly a science for crying out loud. If Popoff talks about the drums too much (which by the way is a strange thing to claim because I've never noticed it), then what about Mick Wall's constant insistence that he partied with all the stars? Most of his books these days are based on his imagined rock stardom, and all he did was host crappy interviews on Sky and write crappy articles for Kerang of all things! Cut Popoff some slack bro and track down some old copies of Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles.

Requiem's Top 10 Albums of 2001 10. Emperor - 'Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise' The second worst Emperor album is still a classic, and there are some amazing moments here. In my opinion Ihsahn's last truly great work. 9. Moonsorrow - 'Voimasta ja Kunniasta' The second Moonsorrow album to be released in 2001 (those were the days), this is a pagan metal masterpiece. More melodic than recent Moonsorrow albums, it's a glorious homage to a time gone by. 8. Moonspell - 'Darkness and Hope' Their gothic metal return after the electronic bollocks of their previous album, this is downbeat, heavy and glorious. A beautiful album. 7. My Dying Bride - 'The Dreadful Hours' One of the last great MDB albums. It's not my favourite by any measure, but it's got some great songs. 6. Finntroll - 'Jaktens Tid' About as good as this type of troll partying gets. Anyone who doesn't like this album needs a cuddle and a mug of frothy ale. 5. Children of Bodom - 'Follow the Reaper' The best Bodom album and a masterpiece of musicianship, with amazing guitar and keyboard solos, a great production and an equal sense of fun and death. 4. Dimmu Borgir - 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia' The best Dimmu Borgir album by quite some way. The orchestral elements to this are just glorious, and Nick Barker's drumming is a force of nature. Great vocals by Shagrath and Vortex. Everything about this album is amazing. 3. Shape of Despair - 'Angels of Distress' An amazingly elegant and powerful album, this is by far my favourite Shape of Despair release. The title track and 'To Live For My Death' are masterpieces. 2. Novembre - 'Novembrine Waltz' An melodic and emotional journey, drift away on the Mediterranean breeze of melancholy and nostalgia. 1. Katatonia - 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' My equal favourite album of all time, any genre. The perfection production, the perfect vocalist, songs of great relevance and emptiness. Listen to 'Tonight's Music'. Listen to 'Sweet Nurse'. This is what music for me is all about.

No problem. It's a TESTAMENT to the DESTRUCTION of an old way of life. I hope it's not OVERKILL. Right, now I'm off for some SODOMy...

Two great songs there.

I think my favourite Shining album would be either II, III or V. That was sort of the era that I got into the band. I did see them live, at Hellfest in 2008. They were awesome. Shining and Watain played in the tent and the atmosphere was brilliant. I can't remember much in the way of specifics but I really enjoyed it. Have you seen them? Kvarforth, what a character.

Wow, this is a great account. I love hanging out on the Sunset Strip too. Where did you see those bands play? I saw some bands at the Whisky a Go Go which were cool but unfortunately I wouldn't say they were 80s throwbacks. The Rainbow is amazing and so much smaller than I expected. Good stuff. I love hearing old guys talk about times past. Once Duncan Patterson from Anathema was at a friend's place with whom he was doing a project and I drank booze with him for hours, asking him all about Anathema in the early years. Anyway, what did I buy yesterday you ask? I bought: Iron Maiden - Live After Death Cathedral - The Last Spire British metal forever.

I think so. Songs like 'Holy Smoke' and 'Hooks in You' are great songs. 'Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter' is completely daft but good fun. 'Tailgunner' is an 'Aces High' rip-off but not a terrible song. 'Run Silent Run Deep' is great too. I'm concluding that 'No Prayer for the Dying' is a good album. Regarding 'Piece of Mind' it's a very front loaded album. The first five songs are all great: 'Where Eagles Dare', 'Revelations', 'Flight of Icarus' (hell yeah!), 'Die With Your Boots On' and 'The Trooper'. Then the last four are pretty ordinary. Still, five out of nine means a very good album in my book. I bought 'Live After Death' yesterday too. I thought it was time I had that masterpiece. The booklet is really fascinating - the daily schedule on tour in particular is very insightful. Man, I wish I was involved in one of those large scale tours back in the 80s. I couldn't think of anything more fun.

Love Shining. By the way, good acoustics in Hoest's shed are there?

i don't know about Agents of Oblivion but I really like this one too.

Cool list. I remember when the Thorns and Zyklon albums came out and I snapped them up. Great stuff. You also list my favourite Dark Funeral album.

Here's my Paradise Lost collection. *Just realised that 'Shades of God' is missing. Must be in my car. The great British gothic metallers are an institution both in the world of metal and in my home. The collection here includes a tour shirt from the Paradise Lost/MDB/Anathema show in London celebrating Paradise Lost's 20th anniversary in 2008 which I still wear from time to time. Also includes the 'Over the Madness' biographical documentary and four live DVDs including the orchestral show in Romania and the 'Draconian Times' live show in 2015.

Cathedral - The Last Spire Finally getting back in to Cathedral.

Amorphis - 'Under the red cloud' I'm wearing a Noregs Vaapen (Norways Weapon) t-shirt right now. I look really cool. More accurately, however, is the excellence of your Acid Bath listening. I just love the 'Paegan Terrorism Tactics' album, even more than 'Kite String'. It's a great album which I don't own but need.

I think I had the best pizza of my life last night. It's at a fairly new restaurant called Augellos near my mansion. I had Roast Lamb pizza with mint sauce,cheese, onions, marinated eggplant, roast pumpkin, broccoli, feta and cucumber yoghurt and even now it's giving me chills. You just can't understand how good it was. I also had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon which was good but my god the pizza.

Septicflesh - Sumerian Daemons