Skull_Kollektor

When it comes to Suffocation I only have their first two. I suppose I should get at least the "Pierced from WIthin" CD... Of those two I have, I prefer the first one, just like everybody else Those are without question the most brutal CD's I have.

Julian Valin - "Until we Meet Again"

You are really fed up with hypocrites, ain't you? I checked out "Hypocrite" and "Thorn in My Side" and both tracks at some point contained that word (hypocrite) eheh Interesting and occasionally in tune too! I think the songwriting is better than the performance, though.

Mine as well! And I also own both the CD and the Italian Carrere Vinyl. Saxon are still a force to be reckoned with! I quite liked their latest album too! If you name an album after a line in "Rapid Fire" by Judas Priest, how could you possibly do wrong??? POUNDING THE WORLD LIKE A BATTERING RAM!

Nice! Thanks for sharing. The Thin Lizzy connection is pretty evident... I liked the track up until 3:00... that is when I started wishing there was a Gary Moore, a Scott Gorham, a Brian Robertson or even a Snowy White or that dude from Ultravox that toured with Lizzy... The idea and the intentions are very good, but they should get a proper lead guitarist, IMHO. BTW, both Overkill and Ace Frehley (with Slash) recently put out covers of "Emerald" and they are both very nice! If even Ace Frehley aged 66 can pull off a decent solo over a Thin Lizzy track, there is no excuse for these guys...

Great record! Especially "HEAVY METAL THUNDER". Saw 'em twice last year and both times that track made it to the setlist. I was so glad.

It's a great heavy metal band. Definitely the only band that in 1977 had tracks on par with the likes of Judas Priest and Rainbow (which were heavy metal's top of the game, IMHO). If I may suggest a few tracks: "Warrior" from the debut 1977. Along with "Kill the King" by Rainbow, "Exciter" by Judas Priest, "Set Me Free" by the Sweet, "Fireball" by Deep Purple and "Take me with You" by Whitesnake it shall be ranked among the 70's proto speed/power melodic metal tracks. My absolute favorite of theirs. "Outlaw" from "Fire down Under" 1981. Everybody is in love with the opening track from their International Capitol/EMI debut, but I like this one better. A track about a mexican dude being reckless and not giving an F. "Heavy Metal Machine" from "Born in America" 1984. The heaviest track with Rhett Forrester on vocals (RIP). "Thundersteel" from "Thundersteel" 1988. This is their "Painkiller" equivalent, though it came out earlier. Mark Reale had split the band after the above mentioned "Born in America", then relocated (to Texas, if I remember correctly) and regrouped with some outstanding musicians, including drummer extraordinaire Bobby Jazorbek (talk about fast feet, this guy has 'em!) and impossibly high pitched vocalist Tony Moore. Reale himself really upped his game as a guitarist. Still in the Blackmore and Tipton tradition, but on steroids! There are some solo sections here that you can only dream about.

That's cool, which albums?

Sure, but it can't be denied that in those days the "black metal" label was applied to Mercyful Fate too. It wasn't so much about a particular sound, it was more about atmosphere and attitude. If it was darker and more satanic than your average Saxon wannabe, then it was labelled black metal. You could call Mercyful Fate blackened heavy metal, if you will. I find it so hilarious when I think about the albums that Shermann made with Fate

I agree with that, but only with regards to "Fight for the Rock". "Power of the Night" is very heavy! Excellent production, but still heavy! "Fight for the Rock" is the typical sell-out. Of course, "Power of the Night" has a bigger sound than what came before it (actually both "Sirens" and "Dungeons" stem from the same session), but I would not call that a sell-out. I know some people who say that the best Priest album is "Turbo", the best Saxon is "Innocence is No Excuse" and so on and so forth... I'm not like that. I like major productions from the 80's (when bands were being sent to the Bahamas just to mix their record) and I like some swagger thrown in for good measure. I am not the biggest fan of full sell-outs, though. You know what I mean, the ones that leave you scratching your head. Like when a 35 year old Rob Halford sings "we don't need no parental guidance here" or when Jon Oliva is "Crying for Love". That is why I love "Point of Entry" (though I don't want to know what entrance was in Rob's mind) with majestic tracks like "Desert Plains" and I partly despise stuff like the above mentioned track excerpt from the "Turbo" record. One thing is to be "Hard for Love" ("Power of the Night"), another one is to be "Crying for Love" In Saxon's case, well I actually really enjoy most of "Innocence", most of "Rockin' the Nations" and pretty much all of "Destiny". The only two tracks I have a hard time standing are the sappy singles like "Waiting for the Night" and "I can't Wait Anymore". I know the story of Grave Digger trying to sell-out by dropping the word Grave and having Chris Boltendahl (not exactly the most handsome fella on Earth, even by German standards) doing his best Diamond Dave impression on stage... but I never actually heard the Digger record, so I am not able to properly comment on that... ManOwaR supposedly sold out too when they recorded the video for "Blow Your Speakers"... It's like Atlantic records had this concept of taking two US heavy metal champions like Savatage and ManOwaR and having them record two mellower records whose title contained the word "FIGHT"... ...btw, the best FIGHTING albums of that era are Warrior's and White Lion's... "Fight to Survive" is so damn good! "El Salvador" totally kicks ass.

Yeah! That guy! The American muscled up dude in Celtic Frost.

Today I went for a walk with a fellow rocker and made some purchases along the way. The Obsessed - "The Church Within" (1994 Sony/Columbia CD promo) MindFunk - ST (got it because it features the drummer from the mighty Celtic Frost) MindFunk - Touch You (cd single with exclusive b-sides) MindFunk - Dropped (got it because it was there, although it does not feature that Mark Saint Something dude from CF) Tigertailz - Banzai (this is one UK extremely glam metal band that deserves credit for sticking to glam when it was so damn passé, beyond the point of ridiculous... this one features covers of "Peace Sells" - renamed "Peace Sellz" - and "Creeping Death") The Who - "Live at Leeds" (at last... I should have bought it earlier on in my life) Triumph - "Just a Game" (MCA first press CD) And I also got a copy of the book called Kiss The Early Years, the monographic issue of Uncut about Genesis and the latest issue of Classic Rock (UK). The coolest thing is that last night - I swear to God, well Satan does it for me - I dreamt about that album by The Obsessed! Crazy! It has to do with the fact that I am trying to create something stoner-y/doom-y and I remember thinking in my dreams "damn, I have every Saint Vitus records and the first Spiritual Caravan CD, but I ain't got that major label album Wino made with The Obsessed". I am listening to "The Church Within" now and I'm loving it.

Well I used the word commercialism, but what I really meant is that hard rock and heavy metal are very testosterone driven, so I don't see anything wrong with naming a track "Hard For Love" eheh I consider it "traditional", it belongs to the Robert Johnson tradition of "squeeze my lemon 'til the juice runs down my leg" (Robert Plant should pay royalties for that). All through the 70's, most if not every band sung about doing chicks, with or without room for emotion, so I'm not put off when 80's bands follow that route the way Savatage tried to do. Of course, when your singer is Jon "none uglier" Oliva you have a tough time being sexist, let alone sexy. And maybe you guys were too harsh on "Power of the Night", it's still a pretty badass album! You don't get tracks named "Necrophilia" on a Bon Jovi record! I like it loud and I like it cheesy!

Damn right! Ahahah

Eheh you guys know that I have a soft spot for commercialism in metal... besides, what drives me to enjoy "Power of the Night" more than other records by Savatage is... MAX NORMAN'S PRODUCTION! I fucking love the guitar tone on that album... You know, when the riff of the title track kicks in after that sort of "Holy Diver" void intro... "Sirens" and "Dungeons are Calling" are great, awesome if you will... but I am the kind of guy that likes 80's major productions! Unfortunately Metal Blade couldn't hold a candle against Atlantic Records! As for "Gutter Ballet"... well, I like it, but not as much as "Hall" and "Power". The one record that I consider a fuck-up is "Streets". Even more so than "Fight for the Rock" (which does feature at least 3 solid songs: the title track, "Red Light Paradise" and the cover of "Wishing Well"). What I hate the most about later days Savatage are... the goddamns keyboards! Someone should hammer away all keyboard instruments from the fat hands of Jon Oliva and the skinny hands of David de Feis. Those are two American singers that believe their own hype when it comes to playing the piano. Oh and we have to add Bruce Dickinson to that list too, because of "Empire of the Clouds". I should have put Lizzy Borden "Visual Lies" instead of Grave Digger "Heavy Metal Breakdown" and Y&T "Black Tiger" instead of Running Wild. Again, I expect you guys to nail me on the cross for choosing Lizzy's most accessible record... but, again, it's got the MAX NORMAN PRODUCED sticker on it eheh And so does that Y&T beast of an album. Recently I bought a vinyl by a swedish band called Trash because it was produced by Max Norman... unfortunately that one sucked. "Countdown to Extinction" also sucked.

Each and everyone of those bands came in the aftermath of Metallica... all except one... THE MIGHTY RAZOR! Those Canadians drank from the same source Metallica drank from... that is... mostly Venom, Exciter and Motorhead! At some point Razor started sounding closer to Slayer. When Slayer slowed down a bit by putting out "South of Heaven" (awesome record BTW), Razor put the pedal to the metal and gave us "Violent Restitution".

You might want to check out Morby's previous band, Sabotage (you probably already have). They put out 3 records in the 80's early 90's. The first one is in italian and does not feature Morby. The second one has awful production, but great tracks ("Behind Enemy Lines"). The third one has a cleaner production impaired by very thin guitars and comes across closer to Anthrax melodic thrash ("Hoka Hey").

Cirith Ungol: LOVE them, got all their albums. Brocas Helm: got the reissues of their 2 albums from the 80's... I like them, but I rarely ever listen to them because of the non-existent production values... Everyone tells me that their comeback album rocks too. Heavy Load: got the reissues of their 2nd and 3rd album on CD and the original swedish LP pressing of the 3rd (with poster and other inserts)... they ROCK! Especially the track "HEAVY METAL ANGELS"... I need to get ahold of their first LP "Full Speed at High Level". I only got the mp3's. Cloven Hoof: got reissues of their 3 STUDIO albums (I miss their live album though) and I have the ep by french band H-Bomb that features the original Cloven Hoof lead singer... what can I say? Their third is awesome. Russ North has a wonderful voice. I actually saw them play live in Italy in 2008. Pretty decent show. Slough Feg: like what I heard, but left them on the shelf because I am too fascinated with vintage stuff to really care about "newerish" bands Eternal Champion: never heard a single note.

I love to read books about music too and every month I get my copy of Classic Rock Magazine from the UK, but somehow I can't be sold on Popoff. It's like "where was he before the internet?". Precisely, nowhere (in Canada, that is). I can't be bothered by his writing because his sources for everything are exactly those of any metalhead (old magazines, CD booklets, internet). It's not like he was out there in the first place writing for actual magazines and following bands on the road. I like books, articles, reviews, interviews by the Malcolm Dome's, the Eddie Trunk's, the Dave Thompson's, the Geoff Barton's the Mick Wall's, the Xavier Russell's and so on. I am also fine with new journo's, but let them be journo's! Reading Popoff, to me, is like reading users' reviews on Amazon and band bio's on wikipedia. Also, it's ridiculous how he brags about quantity all the time.

I do not rate Popoff AT ALL. I find it very appalling whenever I read his name. Just check the wikipedia page... it's so obvious he did it himself! How can someone possibly take him seriously? He gave "Hysteria" a 0! I am fine with other people opinions, naturally, what I do not like is someone whose credentials are exactly those of any other music fan (like me or you) pretending to be a music critic or historian or whatever. I actually have one of his books. It's called "Fade to Black", it's a book about heavy rock LP sleeves. I liked the layout and it was real cheap, so I got it, but that's it. Back to "Sabotage"... side B bores me... "Symptom of the Universe" alone is a fundamental achievement in heavy metal, though.

This is super hard... Off the top of my head... in no particular order... Judas Priest - "Stained Class" Iron Maiden - "Number of the Beast" ManOwaR - "Battle Hymns" Dio - "Holy Diver" Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell" Ozzy Osbourne - "Blizzard of Ozz" Riot - "Fire Down Under" Saxon - "Strong Arm of the Law" Mercyful Fate - "Melissa" Motorhead - "Ace of Spades" The thing is... 10 is not enough... Here is a top 10 list of "MINOR" pure heavy metal classics (with the occasional EPIC overtone): Sword - "Metalized" Armored Saint - "March of the Saint" Quartz - "Stand Up and Fight" Omen - "Battle Cry" Manilla Road - "Crystal Logic" Warlord - "Deliver Us" Running Wild - "Gates to Purgatory" Grave Digger - "Heavy Metal Breakdown" Savatage - "Power of the Night" (a close tie with "Hall of the Mountain King") Warrior - "Fighting for the Earth"

Bigger than Tommy Lee? I will let Ozzy do the talking: https://books.google.it/books?id=myFYnoJTTNgC&pg=PT196&lpg=PT196&dq=ozzy+tommy+lee+dick&source=bl&ots=2EmWAQJsis&sig=K_qYiuzYkSvuQgY3pTFQbuwDU8k&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbubf1t97SAhWDyRQKHbw9DTUQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=ozzy tommy lee dick&f=false

Ever (probably): 1. Kiss 2. Judas Priest 3. Dio 4. Motorhead 5. Manowar As of late (presumably): 1. Judas Priest (ALWAYS) 2. Foghat 3. Small Jackets 4. Emerson, Lake & Palmer 5. Danzig

Hell yeah! And "When Death Calls" even features Brian May! Could you believe I'd rather sit through "Headless Cross" than "Sabotage"? There are some impossibly good tracks on "Sabotage" (side A: "Hoke in the Sky", "Symptom of the Universe" and "Megalomania"), but I was never a huge fan of side B! Also, I prefer the guitar tone Iommi had up until "Vol. 4"... You know, that feeling of looseness... "Headless Cross" is so drenched in reverb and everything 80's that I cannot but love it!

So very true.