Skull_Kollektor

No it wasn't in the parking lot! It was upstairs and it was really tiny indeed! On sunday I did go to the Whisky and saw Michael Graves (the ex Misfits dude) play an acoustic set. It bored the hell outta me except when he did "dig up her bones" and "saturday night". He even played a Nirvana tune... how lame is that? I'd post pics but they're too heavy and I'm too lazy

As for the bands I saw in Hollywood. I went to the Rainbow first, but there I only saw a female cover band that did justice to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", yet I don't remember their name... It was SomethingVixen and they were all sorta latinas... Pretty much in the same way that Death Angel are all filipinos. Then there was another band that did a few uninspired originals and also covered Van Halen and Quiet Riot (which made perfect sense in the context, although they had a pitiful singer). Then we moved to that afterhours party and the first band had a female singer that did the covers I mentioned in my earlier post. After that one I saw the best band. They are called ELECTRIC HOUND and they seem to be three brothers (blood brothers if I got that correctly). The singer/bass player moves on stage just like Blackie Lawless, but has an entirely different vocal tone. The playing was top notch. I fancied their originals but they also did outstanding covers of "Stranglehold" by The Nuge and "Let There Be Rock" by AC/DC. They covered Billy Idol's Rebel Yell too, and they did well, but I can't stand that song anymore.... It's too overplayed... I can understand that emerging bands might want to play that to become more accessible and to crossover and appeal to the casual listener, but I can't give a fuck...

I don't mind any of the tracks mentioned above. I can stand them all. I actually fancy "The Assassin" and I could sing along to the chorus of any of them, so yes, it's a pretty decent album if you ask me... it's just that what came before was better and what came immediately after had higher highs (but lower lows too)!

Good album. I bought my third copy of it in Hollywood at Amoeba. Previously I only had the censored first press Capitol CD and the uncensored Capitol Vynil. Now I also bought an uncensored Capitol CD first press copy. Pretty cool.

Yeah I guess I have to, I've never come across the mag you mentioned! It must be due to the fact that the other "major" journos skipped him... or maybe to the fact the mag you talk about probably came out later on. And yes, I was also close to buying that... Here in Italy they have translated his bios of the Scorps and Whitesnake. I dunno... I had this bad feeling about him.

"Holy Smoke" is my fave off No Prayer. It shall be put in a playlist next to Ozzy's "Miracle Man", for obvious reasons.

I went to the US for 10 days (California) and bought about 45 cd's at stores like Amoeba in San Francisco and Hollywood, Rasputin in San Francisco, a coupla in San Diego and one more shop in Hollywood too. I also bought some Vynil: Armored Saint - ST (ep), Alice Cooper Killer, Y&T In Rock we Trust, Franke & The Knockouts Makin Point (the band of Bon Jovi's drummer Tico Torres) and MSG Perfect Timing. The coolest thing about the trip was my pilgrimage to the sunset strip. Saw some decent emerging bands that sounded and looked like living fossils of the 80's. A band did a cover of "Sonic Reducer" by the Deadboys, "Search & Destroy" by Stooges and "Heartbreak BLVD" by Shotgun Messiah. Pretty cool. Went to the Rainbow with my gf and the somehow sneaked into an illegal afterhours party on Santa Monica Blvd. THE MAN was a dude named Vinnie running a record shop in Melrose. He was around then and said to be friends with everyone. From Axl and Izzy to Kevin Dubrow. He had stories to share about everyone from the Starwood days, the original Cathouse days and shit. When I entered the shop I felt like home cause he was blasting "Coup d'Etat" by Wendy & the Plasmatics. The track was their cover of Motorhead's "No Class", so I karaoked the whole of it while looking at records. I totally connected with this guy. He told me about the first west coast show by Kiss in 75 or 76 and how he went there entirely skeptical being a devoted Alice Cooper fan and then got blasted by Kiss. He made an intelligent remark. He said that he was used to the Coop's shows that were at times extreme, but had a certain flow and plot to them... With Kiss it was BANG from the get go! The whole show was full throttle with explosion every minute or so. Definitely less artistic than Cooper, but very original and HUNGRY (in a positive way). He told me about going to that gig in which Guns opened for Alice and having access to Alice's dressing room having become friends with his manager Shep Gordon in the 70's while Guns had no access to his room because Alice was clean then and they obviously were not (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-wildest-guns-n-roses-moments-20151124/october-23rd-1986-g-n-r-lose-an-axl-for-alice-cooper-gig-20151119). He told me that once at the Cathouse Kevin Dubrow - "coked outta his mind" - mistook him for Frankie Banali. He also told me how great and fresh it felt the first time that WASP played in Los Angeles and threw raw meat in the audience. I shoulda recorded his anecdotes. That's my kind of shit.

Cool! That rocks! My fave is "ATL" without a doubt! Next fave is probably "Metal Thrashing Mad". I fucking love "Deathrider" and "Panic"! I also love "Spreading", but it is hampered by its production. "AIR" and "Lone Justice" being my fave tracks.

It kicks ass! I hope their next one has a green cover. And I hope the next Overkill does not have a green cover.

True. It gets twice a bad rap as it deserves. But it still deserves a bad rap.

This is THE SHIT! Love stuff like this. And kudos to the KREATOR of the thread!

ahahah nice jokes! Never heard of brave words and bloody knuckles! Tell you what... It's very simple. That Popoff dude is kind of alright, BUT what he misses is real time journalism. That's why I consider him on par with an average Joe reviewing on Amazon, except that this fella self promotes himself on wikipedia! Popoff was never the guy that followed bands on tour and shit like that. So I don't need Popoffs, I need people that can report. People that made a difference. People whose coverage back in the day could make or break a career. Of course I don't make my opinion on records based on reviews, but I do love trivia and I wanna hear/read it about from first hand sources! If Popoff was doing some sort of academically soundproof stuff (like referencing everything), then I would appreciate it. He is not. He is writing bio's of people he never met. I am pretty sure that a Mick Wall in person could be an unbearable smartass with an oversized ego for nothing (writing about music will never be like PLAYING music), but to very least he would have stories to share. Like interview anecdotes and the like. C'mon' Popoff always goes around saying he played drums in a band... Who the fuck would point that out every single time in his resume if his main claim to "fame" is having reviewed shitloads of records? It's as if every time you interview Steve Harris he starts off by saying that as a kid he fancied football. Does he do that? Nope. Do we all know that? Yes. Why is it? Because he's fucking Steve Harris, we ARE meant to know useless shit about him. Lemme tell ya once and for all: Popoff is a scam. Casual readers take note. Don't waste money on useless rehashed books. Invest money on actual records OR VINTAGE MAGAZINES from back in the day. Even the gossipy stuff like Hit Parader, Circus and Creem!

Cool! Glad you appreciated. French heavy metal rocked hard and fast! For me, when it comes to continental Europe, their 80's scene is only second to Deutschland (uber alles)! Warning, Satan Jokers, H-Bomb, Sortilege, ADX, Vulcain... these are my faves! Trust is actually the one I like the least, although they are the only "famous" one.

Eheh see? Black Sabbath links everything! And it's all contiguous. There are no separation degrees. It's all linked somehow! Gamma Ray? Shared the same label as Celtic Frost (NOISE)... ...and most of all Helloween appeared on the "DEATH METAL" Noise Compilation alongside HELLHAMMER and Running Wild. So....... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Metal_(split_album)

As a matter of fact that riff has been dropped effortlessly into this song by Gamma Gay pardon Gamma Ray (minute 2.20): Apparently Gamma Ray cleared Youtube of unofficial copyright violating videos, so I had to rely on this sped-up remix... Never mind, the riff is there.

Le Roux - "So Fired Up" It's AOR, but, believe it or not, up until the early 90's AOR was considered part of Hard n Heavy and was featured predominantly in magazines like Aardshock and Kerrang! In Italy there was this book (published in 1991) and based on a Dutch book that featured all these minor AOR bands as well as all the proper metal bands. http://www.sbaratto.it/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2184

I had no idea Vektor were in such trouble! They are/were a very impressive band. Definitely among the best out there.

Cool track too! It marches along like early ManOwaR... It's as if "Blood of My Enemies" by ManOwaR met "Massacre" by Thin Lizzy... shoulda been titled "Massacre of My Enemies" ahah I see your point about feel in solos. I actually agree with that, I just wished they closed that track above with some fast licks instead of trying to go for the intertwined arrangement. "Black Rose (Roisin Dubh)" is not something that can be easily achieved eheh But I respect them for trying to do something like that (with the recurring theme and everything). I just saw on Discogs and Amazon that their CD's became quite rare and expensive

I actually love all of "Painkiller", I just wish "Touch of Evil" wasn't the other single I like what you said about "Thundersteel" being a "Painkiller" prophecy of sorts... ...but there is ONE record that is the absolute clairvoyant of that kind of heavy metal (as in shitloads of double bass and fast riffing) and tha record is... "REIGN OF TERROR" by the Wild Dogs, featuring one Dean Castronovo on drums. Oh and I cannot refrain myself from saying that the "Thundersteel" riff was firstly featured in this track (seriously, this is CRAZY... it's the one...):

The thin sound is really a pity then... But I have a hard time deciphering brutal death metal, so maybe I would not be able to fully understand it. It's not my first language, let's put it this way. It's a code I understand, but with some guidance eheh My mind and ears are much more suited to other forms of music. I should probably train a bit more.

What you are saying is true but only because SIDE B of "Defenders" is not as good as SIDE A. The first four tracks of "Defenders" are heavy metal heaven. Now that you mentioned "Sin After Sin"... would you agree that the main riff of "Sinner" is a twist on "Born to Be Wild"? I don't know about you, but for years I listened to Judas Priest via the 2002 remasters... only to find out years later that the guy who remastered those butchered away in a mess of compression and loudness a lot of the cool nuances of those records! For instance, the drier original "Sin After Sin" is naturally thinner than the remaster but gives the opportunity to taste every kick of the double bass drum performed by then teenager Simon Philips! His drum parts are awesome! The whole platter is... especially "Dissident Aggressor" and "Call for the Priest"!

Ahahah well I think Angelripper would not deny that! Nice one! As for "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"... it might be the second... the first death metal riff is "Death Walks Behind You" by Atomic Rooster. For two reasons: 1) it is; 2) the song title contains the word "Death". Actually three reasons.. 3) the keyboard player on the track was the keyboard player in the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which means that the guy played in both the first 0 wave black metal band and the first 0 wave death metal band. Makes perfect sense.

Okay, but seriously, that is "Am I Evil" with a twist which is, by own admission of Brian Tatler, "Symptom of the Universe" with a twist... It's not as deliberate as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U58x3FtAEeI But it's still a variation of that theme... But I would be the first to say that "Am I Evil" is not a black metal track, while I would throw both Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost in the lot... So what is it that makes the difference? To me is the combination of lyrical subject, guitar tone and obsession with satanic themes (mock or not). Oh and I also want to stress out that before the First Wave of Black Metal there was the Zero Wave of Black Metal which consisted of "Second Time Around" by Blue Cheer (which sounds exactly like "In League with Satan" by Venom) and the coda of "Cygnus I" by Rush, which sounds like Immortal and considering that Rush are from Canada, it qualifies as proper (or shall I say TRVE) grim!

It's all gold, but "Stained Class" is gold-er. "Defenders of The Faith" si gold-er too.

I don't know... If you want to call that Black Metal just because of the riff... then "Am I Evil" is black metal too... and so is "Symptom of the Universe"... and so is "Black Sabbath"... and so is "Returned to Sanity" by Andomeda... and so is "Mars" by Hoslt... and so is ANYTHING with that tritone or chromatic descending thing or whatever is the name of that sequence in which you play three consecutive semi-tones (never mind what you play in between those three).