Skull_Kollektor

Leather jacket, band shirt (possibly tight and NOT Metallica... the more obscure the band on the shirt, the better it is), coupla pins on your jacket, denim vest if you will, mandatory skin tight jeans (buy a pair of woman skinny jeans, they always do the trick) and worn out sneakers (either Chuck Taylors or Vans or Reebok Pump or Converse Weapon or Chelsea boots if you're more of a rocker kind of guy).

Chicks are gonna love it and if you go to a cool concert, like minded metal heads or rockers will befriend you based on your look alone. Kindred spirits always get along fine.

These fellas from Atlanta got it right: 

Biters (the Atlanta band in the pic above) get a lot of pussy.

These guys (Italian heavy metal band Axevyper) do not, actually pussies run away from them (save for the one on the left, he looks like the ultimate 70's rocker), BUT they rule nonetheless eheh.

I regularly buy a UK mag called Classic Rock which is done by the same editor who publishes Metal Hammer. Some of the fellas on Classic Rock are familiar names... like Geoff Barton and Malcolm Dome...

Also I read an Italian magazine called Classix. They also have a spinoff called Classix Metal which is brilliant. They only cover "oldies" metal but they dig deep into both the underground and the mainstream of old. They have a penchant for the "should have been's". Like you know all those second tier hair metal or thrash metal bands from back in the day that made it to the major labels, but sold relatively few records... It's cool stuff.

Axel Rudi Pell - "Magic"

It's his last album with Jeff Scott Soto... For this occasion Jeff cut his once leonine hair short... The best track is the opener, "Nightmare", but that is almost always the case with Axel Rudi Pell.

This is a super easy question. I think nobody can outdo Venom's Abbadon at being the worst drummer ever in metal...

Some drummers play simple patterns that never stray from the basics, but at least they are good at keeping pace.

Some other drummers suck big time because they can't keep the pace steady no matter how easy the pattern and the rhythm are!

Sometimes drummers who are able to pull some decent and fairly articulate fills have a hard time with the steady 4/4 of AC/DC kind of hard rock and roll...

...but Abbadon is the worst of them all... he can't do ANYTHING. He skips beats, he changes pace, he does not come up with interesting fills... And he does all that in the studio too! I love Venom and I would not want their songs to be played ON TIME, but certainly Abaddon's legacy is an insult to drummers!  

Lars is certainly not a "natural", but he was/is ingenious, creative and full of energy. I think he deserves credit for that.

I love Dave Holland's steady beats and I think he is criminally underrated. I think his drumming fitted the Priest's 80's records just nice. Beware because if you are only familiar with the remastered editions of the Priest catalogue then you are missing out on many of his bass drum and cymbals fills. Of course those who came before him (specifically Simon Philips and Les Binks) and after him (Scott Travis) are monsters, so it's kinda easy to downplay his contribution, but in his prime he was definitely a solid powerhouse drummer.

I think Simon Wright is a shitty drummer. Not so much when he was with AC/DC, but try to listen carefully to his drumming on the Dio LP "Lock Up The Wolves". That's some downright unoriginal, dumb drumming. The comparison to his predecessor, Sir Vinny Appice, KILLS him. I like "Lock up the Wolves", but his drumming is a real let down... especially considering how great Vinny's style is.

12 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

It must be said technically Ozzy isn't much of a singer. His vocal delivery being so tortured is a significant contributor to the overall sound of those early albums. Adding another dimenion and furthering the atmosphere produced by excellent composition. Honestly I'm not overly fond of Sabbath post-Ozzy and consider Dehumanized the best album after he left. That period represents a shift in the sound of Sabbath away from the menacing doom towards a more orthodox heavy metal approach which is still ok but lacks some of the magic they once had.

 

That's just my opinion though. Something we can all agree on though is their deserved place amongst the pantheon of metal gods.

Perfectly understandable opinion.

Me, I think if I had to pick just ONE album of theirs, it would be... "HEAVEN AND HELL"!

From an historical and pseudo objective point of view I would say that their single most relevant record is their self titled debut, nonetheless "HAH" to me is a perfect album and one whose songs move me so much. The performance is stellar, the songwriting is otherworldly and diverse, the lyrics are intriguing, meaningful and yet foggy and prone to misunderstanding (which I love)... besides I love the fact that it is a "prove 'em wrong" kind of record. What does this Dio guy think he's gonna do? He's done without Rainbow, nobody will hear from him again. Where do Black Sabbath think they can go without Ozzy? They'll be gone for good... WRONG!

I also love the fact that Ozzy too somehow inexplicably managed to put out an equally outstanding album.

I deeply love the original Black Sabbath, but thank God they split from Ozzy after "Never Say Die"! I couldn't be more grateful for that.

Looks AWESOME! Congratulations

I am waiting for the new Alice Cooper record.

16 hours ago, True Belief said:

Axel Rudi Pell...... there's a name we don't see often round here. I've a massive soft spot for him and Johnny Gioeli

 

 

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I think Axel wrote a lot of AMAZING songs (he's particularly good at writing openers and 8+ minutes "Stargazer" wannabes), but unfortunately he is a fairly bad soloist

And his tone actually got worse over the years. The great thing about him is that he has always been able to gather great talent around him... Apparently ever since he left the European Steeler (no connection with Yngwie's), he's been willing to pay top notch sidemen for his own pet project. The list of singers he's had is impressive... Charlie Huhn, Rob Rock, Jeff Scott Soto and Johnny Gioeli... wow... And now he even has Bobby Rondinelli in the band! That's downright crazy...

There are legends about him... They say that he is just an eccentric very rich German dude who happens to like Rainbow and Deep Purple so much that he keeps putting his own money into his records... There is also a legend about him being the owner of a very successful sex shop somewhere in Germany... You know, Germans are quite kinky when they want to

I have about a dozen of his CD's. Personally I prefer the first 4. There are some unbelievable hits spread over those four records... My favorite being "COLD AS ICE". Infectious to say the least...

Damn... A partial letdown... The booklet attributed "Whishing Well" to Iommi, Butler, Dio... but now I am listening to the CD and it is not the Black Sabbath tune... it's the overplayed "Wishing Well" by Free!!!

Partial letdown because that also happens to be one of my favorite tracks ever! It also used to be the fave track of a very important managing director at Atlantic Records, which is why so many up and coming bands covered it over the years. Both Blackfoot and Savatage covered it on one of their albums published by Atlantic Records.

Of course Gary Moore and Axel Rudi Pell also covered the track.

It's an amazing song, but I would have been happier with a cover of the Black Sabbath tune...

Went out looking for vinyl but came home with two CD's instead.

I got me Bruce Dickinson / Judas Priest - "Live in Los Angeles 1990"

It's a bootleg, obviously, but not too bad. I've heard worse. Dickinson covers AC DC, Mott The Hoople, Black Sabbath ("Wishing Well") and Deep Purple.

Then I went to another used CD shop and got me a copy of the first Honeymoon Suite record. 

I saw the last installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. I liked it. There's Paul McCartney doing a cameo.

Of course there isn't. My post was a joke, as usual. Can't speak for the other guys, but I assume nobody took this thread too seriously.

Cool! Thanks, one more book I need to get my hands on!

So basically they did what Dee wrote in these verses from their song "The Price":

Oh it´s the price we gotta pay

And all the games we gotta play

Makes me wonder if it´s worth it to carry on

'Cause it´s a game we gotta lose

Though it´s a life we gotta choose

And the price is our own life until it´s done

"Love is for Suckers" has some good tracks. The title track (which is a cover) and "Wake Up the Sleeping Giant" are very cool, if you ask me.. "Hot Love" is not that bad either, but it's just plain ridiculous to have Dee Snider sing stuff like that while wearing pink Chuck Taylors!

They could never be a proper commercial hard rock band, though. They needed a hot shot guitarist for that and neither JJ nor Eddie were. They had to bring in Reb Beach to add some whammy wanking to the equation in "Love is for Suckers".

The first wave of the first wave is just Motorhead and punk... which means that the first wave of the first wave of the first wave is Chuck Berry and Little Richard. How more black can you get? None! NONE MORE BLACK!

It all makes sense, as long as you're not that idiot whose initials are V and V and who now spends time making videos of himself and his kid in the woods and puts them on youtube. What a sad dude.

6 hours ago, True Belief said:

Can't believe I left Stay Hungry off the Top 10 list....

 

 

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Tuneful record, but so and so production... I think they sounded best on "You Can't Stop Rock and Roll", but the songwriting prowess and diversity exhibited on "Stay Hungry" is unmatched (by them or any other band). Choke-full of hits!

The follow up, "Come Out and Play", is actually a great record too, save for the two meaningless singles... I mean, I do fancy the cover of "The Leader of the Pack" and I don't mind their collaboration with Alice Cooper on "Be Chrool to your Scuel", but come on, they're the least metal tracks on that record! Even "I Believe in You" and "King of the Fools", the ballads of the record, had more metal credibility than those! Besides, their school based video gimmick had run its course and the zombie thing had been done (to death, pun intended) by Michael Jackson on his "Thriller" video! That was a 13 fucking minutes long video, who would want any more zombies after that? With the benefit of hindsight, Twisted Sister really killed their own career with bad marketing moves...

Speaking of Twisted Sister made me think of the glamorous heavy metal polarization of the United States and how New York and Los Angeles, while being so dramatically different, were the two cities responsible for the whole movement. It's like New York started it all with the New York Dolls and KISS and even Twisted Sister (who started out in 1973 but simply didn't release an LP until the early 80's) and then Los Angeles embraced it and replicated it countless times adding many different colors and flairs in the process. New York might have had the intuition, but Los Angeles became the epicenter of the epidemic disease.

Cirice sure sounds good to my ears, but not as fresh as "Square Hammer". It reminds me of some Metallica tunes, especially some of the plodding tracks of "Hardwired...". Funny because this Cirice came out before

I like better "Year Zero". 

I clearly remember that some weeks ago I binge listened to Ghost on youtube only to find myself ultimately spinning Blue Oyster Cult's "Fire of Unknown Origin". What an excellent album that is!

Emeritus really picks up on BOC's Buck Dharma sung tracks! Like "Don't Fear the Reaper", "Nosferatu", "Burning for You", "Then Came the Last Days of May" and the black side of "Tyranny and Mutation"! He totally emulates his way of multilayered whispering. The manic attention to vocals naturally also brings King Diamond to mind.

14 minutes ago, True Belief said:

Yes yes of course "Breaking the Chains" was Dokken's debut! I think I forgot it because it's so average! I do own it though...

 

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Totally makes sense. Only the first and the last song are very good. "Breaking the Chains" and "Paris is Burning". Everything else is half assed. 

The two Lizzy Borden albums you mentioned are plain awesome! Yesterday I gave a spin to "Deal with the Devil", something I had not done in quite a while. Save for the awkward occasional industrial influence (which is so sparse that it doesn't even bother in the end), it has some amazing moments! Like "Hell is for Heroes". One of the best heavy metal records ever recorded with Pro Tools!

20 minutes ago, True Belief said:

 

Black n Blue " Hold in to 18" is glorious. What a song. A true anthem. Their first 2-3albums are all great actually.

 

 

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I'd rank the Black n Blue albums like this:

1 same (by a mile)

2 In Heat

3 Without Love

4 Nasty Nasty

"Without Love" is historically relevant, yet I prefer their fourth record (and second in a row with the Gene Simmons production tag on), "In Heat".

"Without Love" apparently is responsible for Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet". The Majestic Records reissue booklet (NOT written by Popoff) states tha Bon Jovi wanted Bruce Fairbairn as producer because he was impressed with his work on Black n Blue's record.

I think Fairbairn also did Krokus around this time and they were enjoying a fair amount of success, so it might also be that it was Krokus' album that Jon wanted to emulate!

I was curious so I tried one song from this new album. Not being familiar with the originals, I couldn't make the comparison... So I gotta say that if you have never heard the original, it sounds very good! Obviously perspective can (and maybe should) kill initiatives like these...

I have been aware of them since their first. Just like everyone else, I was under the impression that blending Blue Oyster Cult and Mercyful Fate felt great and the cover design was decent enough to make me wanna buy the CD... yet I never did.

Some friends of mine were immediately sold on them, especially those who are older than me. That is because they are less fascinated with the past than I am.

I somehow ignored the subsequent output by Ghost up until Classic Rock included "SQUARE HAMMER" in the CD companion of one of its issues. That song is wonderful! Poppish and very BOC like, I just love it. I'm glad to have it in a compilation. I tried other tunes on the Internet, but none caught my attention like this one, so I still haven't bought any of their albums. I think I might check them live the next time they visit Italy. I should say the next time HE visits Italy, cuz apparently all Ghouls have been dismissed by Emeritus.

I don't even need to listen, just by looking at these covers I feel like my death metal hunger is fed! Cool, thanks for sharing!

On 18/5/2016 at 3:17 PM, dennis1077 said:

Wino is a great frontman. I saw Saint Vitus play a few years ago. After the set, he just walked into the crowd and started shaking hands with everyone. The whole band soon joined him. They stayed until they met everyone. One of my most memorable concert experiences.

 

 

The same happened here in Milan! I have a picture with him somewhere!

"Dystopia" is amazing, but this is a no brainer. I wouldn't even stop at "Risk", I'd stop at "Countdown" EXCLUDED.

Well said, I totally agree! Being out of control doesn't prevent you from being liable of your misconducts and negligences.

I don't even know if this sentence makes sense in English, but I assume the message gets through anyway.

Thanks it's a pleasure exchanging opinions! It feels real good to have an outlet for this!

Lists that come from the heart and an individual's personal experience/attachment to songs, artists and albums are THE BEST! I shall do mine too, but I'm always afraid to be disrespectful! You see, my records are very jealous and envious of one another. I have such a hard time ranking... I love them all! I'm a Kollektor, see?

That's why I tried to narrow the scope. When it comes to early 80's LA glamorous heavy metal on major label there really aren't many other bands... Night Ranger and Y&T could have been contenders, but they were both from San Francisco. The bay area had a quite different vibe... Keel could have been featured, but I think the Steeler debut is more relevant than any of their better produced albums on major label (they transitioned from Shrapnel to A&M to Vertigo to MCA to Atlantic!).

LA also had the plain vanilla heavy metal bands. Like Armored Saint, who got signed by Chrysalis and were produced by the dude who did Kiss's "Creatures of the Night" and "Lick It Up" (Michael "James" Jackson). OC had Leatherwolf (who ended up on Island records in the mid to late 80's) and... Slayer and Megadeth also were hanging around...

Lately I've been listening mostly to Sadus, Enuff Znuff, Destruction ("Cracked Brain" only) and, most of all, THE CULT.

I fucking adore the CULT. Ripping off Ac Dc and Rolling Stones riffs while ripping off Jim Morrison's vocal style and shaman antics? HELL YEAH, I'm sold!

It's also interesting how Rick Rubin was responsible for pushing them from being a fairly individual new wave/goth/hardish rockish band ("Love") to becoming a run of the mill three chord rifferama arena act ("Electric")! Well done Rubin!

It's even more interesting to note that Rubin went one step further when he conceived the DANZIG product. Basically he upped the low register Morrison factor of the Cult's singer and replaced shamanic mysticism with comics inspired occultism! He also increased the bluesy factor and the guitar distortion.

Rubin certainly had (and has) VISION (or shall I say AUDION? maybe HEAR, he has good HEAR)!