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Metalheads Podcast is a metal-themed podcast featuring George, Jay, Will, John, Matt and Markisan. The guys discuss metal news and new releases, perform in-depth interviews with great metal bands, and just generally have a blast arguing about that greatest of musical styles: Metal!
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Now, here is the podcast, Metal Heads Podcast.
Hello, and welcome to Metal Heads Podcast.
My name is George.
This is Jake.
This is the situational paradox.
And this is Markisan.
And welcome to our good friend, Nick.
It is about damn time we have you on.
A few years ago, when we were going to Decibel, we mentioned that any listeners going should look us up. Nick had the sack to get a hold of us, and the rest is sweaty bromance history. Nick hails from Iowa, of all places, and told me I'm not real Midwest because I only came from Michigan. Nick, why don't you go ahead and introduce your true Midwest self? Well, I'm Nick from Iowa, smack dab in the center of the state like a true Midwesterner is. Matt does get the honor as well.
He's way more Midwest than you, George. I grew up in a small town in Iowa and been a big fan of your show for quite a while now. I would say you're probably a year and a half in when I started listening. And it took me a while to figure out who was who, you know, figure out voices, the names and everything. And ever since then, I've just been in love with your guys' friendship and very jealous of it and been
I'm a big fan and have listened to what you guys suggest and ever since then I've been a much better metalhead right on for the record Nick off the air we can't stand each other so yeah Nick is also a world-class hugger yes he is oh definitely especially if you're in your underwear and I really embrace well and he's pretty ripped so yeah well I get I
I guess next time you see me I'll try to be short shirtless for you George thank you I remember you glistening at MDF I had a dream about George being ripped one time I told him about it oh yeah yeah it was the weirdest dream and I kept asking him how did you get so ripped man and he would like he wouldn't tell me or something they finally did it was like a thousand workouts a day or something it was the weirdest fucking dream but what's the name of the town in Iowa or did you say it it was originally Eldora it's
right in the center of the state pretty much okay you look like you're casting from prison
what's with those prison walls it's funny that you say that we we call this the bondage room
when we first bought the house we went down to the basement and the doors are very non-traditional
and you're thinking you're opening a closet and you go into a room and then all of a sudden you open
another closet and it's another room it's it's kind of like uh i don't know the place where children used to go to die before we bought the place that's what i was going to say the previous owner mr gacy used to use this room a lot wow yeah i had to try to find a nook and cranny where uh i wasn't impeding upon my family and uh where i i thought that it would be relatively cell doc cell block d did to the train so like yeah if you look over in the corner
I'm not going to point the camera, but you'll see the sex swing and all the bondage gear and all that stuff.
And Nick's going to fit right in.
Will who?
Yeah.
Will Jr.
So how did you come across the podcast in the first place?
Well, I kind of went through a dark period, I guess, with new music.
Growing up, my family was big into music.
You know, the days where the speakers stood up to your nipples.
And, you know, Bob Seger, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, all that kind of stuff. And I would say once I started listening to Stone Temple Pilots, my tastes started going heavier and heavier. And, you know, living in Iowa, Slipknot was huge. I was right at the time period of Nu Metal. So I was definitely into all that stuff. But once I went to college, I kind of, I got one of the earliest editions of streaming.
It was back when you had to plug your MP3 player into the website every 15 days or the music would be wiped off of the MP3 player. Once I got that, my mind was blown how much I'd missed out on in the last five years, in the last 25 years. I started reading blogs and downloading the top 10 death metal playlists and whatever the bloggers would have done.
the post, you know, just like going through all that stuff. And I just wanted more, more, more. It's like a kid in the candy store. So I think I started listening to the Jamie Josta podcast. And I thought, well, this is badass. There has to be more things like this out there. So I just Google searched it. And I started listening to a handful of different podcasts. And you guys were one of them. And I think I was listening to so many different ones right away. I was having a hard time differentiating them and telling,
you know the hosts and the cast of each one but uh the other one started falling by the wayside pretty quick and you guys just kept trooping through and i don't know i i just have really enjoyed listening to you guys talk about metal and i've learned a ton in general uh and along the way you know you guys talk about cool shit books movies video games whatever it is uh i think you guys are the arbiters of cool stuff in general
Do you know what? It's nice to know that you listen and honestly got to because sometimes we feel like we're just spinning our wheels. So it's nice to know that there's somebody out there that relates to the way we're doing this. I was the same way before I was on the podcast. That's true. Yeah, that's true. I basically had the same journey Nick did. It's like I need to listen to metal because I don't have anybody to talk to and found you guys and I felt the same way. Just the camaraderie and just the diversity of topics.
It just felt like I was in the room. Climb into the same meal snaggy. So if I may say then real quick, and I won't be long-winded here, but we did a cool top five list. Who suggested the top five list this week? It was on the thread sheet that I'm supposed to look at, so I don't know who put it there. Okay. Oh, okay. I feel like it was me, and I feel like it was a mistake because I have these tomes. And you're crying. Yeah. But I was going to say that one of the things that
this show has done for me was as we were doing this list um and it's about i guess you would say music from our past or whatever we'll get to it but and i thought one of the things that really went uh bothered me about music as a kid was i didn't have i had friends who liked music but i didn't have friends that wanted to just sit down and talk about it that i was i was like let's just do that on friday night dude let's just bring all our new records over yeah and nobody to do that with so this show fills that for me too and i think so it's nice to know that some people
out there.
Yeah.
And it's not just the show.
It's the community that you guys have built around the show.
The people on New Music Fridays, I've chatted with a handful of them.
You know, Justin is my favorite.
Yeah.
He's a good dude.
Planet of Prime.
I consider him a good friend at this point.
And just dropping lines to other people throughout.
You know, it's kind of cool when you start getting a vibe for people's tastes.
and you check out an album and you give them a suggestion. You guys have built something cool here. I personally feel that way. And when I share this on Facebook, I plan on saying I was invited to be a guest on the most important of all metal podcasts. And since I couldn't make it, I was on the Metalhead podcast.
So Nick, when did you first start listening? Was it the early days or was it? I don't remember when you actually started. Was everybody on the podcast that's on it now or was it before then? When I first started listening, my memory is spotty. I'm pretty sure I remember the barbecue when it originally happened. Okay. So what was that? Like two years in? A year and a half in? 15, maybe 20. That was in 2014, maybe. I remember Parahelion Ship.
Oh, sure. Okay. Yes. I remember me in 16. I listened to the jerking of the penis when it was original. When it happened, man. But then after a while, I went back and listened to all the episodes from beginning up to current again. And I think that I lost some of my framework of the timeline once I did that. Yeah. Yeah.
episode while I was driving a dump truck after working an all-night main break.
Appropriate.
Just hauling mud back and forth all day long, and Markisan was on that day.
You know, we talked about the topic of the albums for the list this month is kind of topical because I kind of do have snapshots of listening to guys' shows throughout the years, you know, where I was at the time.
I vividly remember before I even realized that you guys posted the lists after you had the episode mowing my yard and stopping the lawn mower multiple times so I would download the album right then and there just struggling to try to spell the names of Matt's bands fucking mow metal is now a genre yeah I wasn't listening to metal at the time I was listening to the cast trying to get it but uh I do like listening to podcasts
better when I mow than listening to music just because my headphone my hearing
protection headphones suck so bad it's like the sound quality it's not fair to the bands
trying to jam out to that yeah yeah I was gonna ask you wearing like cans on top of earpods or
they're they're the like the m3 hearing protection yeah uh you know it's very bad audio so podcasts are fine but uh
Like it has to be like a band like Mantar, you know, where it's going to sound good on no matter what you listen to it for me to want to listen to it while I'm out. Right. Yeah. So given that you have such a long history with the podcast, do you have any favorite podcast moments? The pressure, the first one that pops up is the one that I mentioned on your guys's anniversary. You know, when everyone was so excited about chemists, like the brotherhood behind everyone.
having that listed so high and i don't know if will actually dropped his pants or not but uh i know i
believe that that he had just listening to it um pretty sure he did i i'm pretty sure that too his pants
oh he did it i can visualize because he was on one side of the table george you were on the other
yeah uh and the chicken squawk in oh the chicken there he is it doesn't it doesn't pick up anymore
There's no explanation for it.
Wait.
You guys talking about the first decibel that you went to?
I instantly just thought, I have to go to this regardless of, you know, I had no intentions of meeting anyone.
I just wanted to go to it, listening to guys like sell it so hard.
And my wife got that ticket for me for Christmas.
And yeah,
I I'd never assumed that this would end up being like,
what a six year,
five year long friendship at this point with,
with most of you guys.
But that episode definitely stood out listening to you guys,
doctoring up Will's bloody elbow and talking about being on the boat.
The metalhead butler's first,
first appearance.
I believe that was then.
That's when he got named.
Yeah.
Why?
I don't even remember why was he serving his beers or something he was serving beers and I just threw out the name and so and he became metalheads butler and and so and I mean do you agree that decibel on the whole is a pretty damn good time I think it's a fantastic yeah experience for a concert goer I think I was telling Markisan this there's something cool about how fluid the crowd is you know they they come into watch and they
They leave to go up, get beers and do whatever. But usually you go to a festival and there's the first quarter at the very least is just locked in place. You can't, if you leave, you can't get back up there without being a giant dickhead or decibel. They're just coming and going. You know, I got all the way up to the fence multiple times. I left the fence and got, went up and got a beer and got right back down to it.
You know, that's an insight that we haven't really shared, you know, because there's also like not lines for anything. You never really have to stand in line unless like there's a signing. No, for a concert goer, I think it's a perfect experience, especially if you like the beer like I do. You know, you run upstairs, slam a couple short liners and get back down there and keep watching the show. I was one time we went and it very well could have been. Well, whenever. I don't know when the fuck it was. But, you know, we would go.
hit 8, 10, 12 tables really fast. And I remember when we were doing that, and it's not that much beer, but I got this text from John BT, and he was like, what the fuck? Because he didn't know they were sample sizes. He literally was worried for our health because we were all logging them on whatever. So, I mean, that's a good segue because we just went to the Decibel Medal and Beer Festival. So, how was it for you, Nick? What were your highlights?
As far as the show goes, Mother of Graves, as far as not buffooning around, I think that they were the most glued in I was just watching start to finish the whole performance. Eternal Champion and Sonja, Sonja, or however you want to pronounce it, I just had fun watching them.
You know, and I think I was in just a great mindset for that type of music, you know, just happy, just a true metal kind of stuff. Yeah, Maul was badass. I think during Funeral Leach and Vastum, I think I was so busy just being a dipshit that the amounts of
memories that I have of watching them is very minimal. But I was just out there having a good time clowning around and frolicking on the circle pit for, I would say, a substantial part of the bands that I should have been watching. Now, you always have fun. You always let loose. That's what I really love about you. When you go there, you want the full experience. So it's fun to watch you enjoy that. You always know where to find him. Well, it's because I'm everywhere at once.
Yeah.
Especially like when you're around a bunch of people that you feel comfortable with.
You know, if I go to a show by myself, I'm probably not selling out quite to the extent.
But just knowing that you're always 15 feet from somebody that you know is pretty comforting.
But I think that I have that exuberance when I'm partying, no matter where I'm at. So I guess we'll have to get together sometime that it's not a music festival. And you'll realize that I pretty much run true across the board. Always bring it. Nice. So since Justin's not here, who's your favorite?
This is a decibel thing, guys. So, you know, you weren't there. Can Mike Hill be my answer? Sure. Sure. I have no favorites. I just have love across the board. Yeah. So. Except for Justin. Yes. And I guess everyone's probably just a couple steps above George. But, uh. Yes. Well, you can also feel free to choose your least favorite since Will's not here. You can shout that out. He can't defend him.
Oh, but that would be like the obvious choice. Hello. No, once some of the topics come up, I'm pretty sure I've become Will's least favorite with the albums that I'll talk about. Nice. How's the music scene in bumfuck Iowa? I think I can answer this one, George. Wait, I think I can too. I assume it isn't, but I mean, yeah.
It comes in spurts and it's frustrating. It would be nice if they would just sprinkle them out throughout the year to where bands that I don't necessarily like I'm not dying to see I would still go to the shows because I went to everything for quite a while and I feel like I've been a bit more selective but like it'll be a three-month span where there's six shows and then there'll be nothing for three months and it kind of goes in these spurts.
But in general, I would say I'm pretty happy with it. I don't know if I, at this point in my life, would be willing to go to more shows than I go to. It'd be cooler to go to better shows, I guess. Are there like clubs that the smaller bands come to? Yeah. I'm not good with remembering capacities, but yeah, like bar size to mid-bar size to pretty good concert.
I would say the amount of extreme metal is hit or miss it seems like it's more of a like the hardcore um oh what's the genre where it's it's like a slam but hardcore beatdown seems like beatdown is kind of caught on around here where there's a lot of that style of shows and I haven't been really been going to any of those but that's a popular thing around here it seems
All the farm boys like that.
Yeah, they haven't been in the big cities to realize that there's way bigger people out there than them.
You know, everyone has to get put in place a few times before they realize.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the thing.
I think, you know, I hate to even ask you this question, but what the hell? I'm going to do it.
So, and I'm not particularly a fan, and you might be, so I don't want to put them down, but Slipknot's from Iowa, which is weird that they're from Iowa, right? That is where they're from? Yes. Is there any sense of what is, how are they viewed in the Iowa metal community? Or are they? I mean, maybe they're just... I mean, they had an album called Iowa. That's true, yeah. I would say that the metal community,
The little bit that I actually have conversations with people, the handful of people that I see regularly, they don't come up in discussion at all. They're still huge. I think that they're more of a legacy new metal band in the grand scheme of things instead of like a current thing that the kids are catching on to. I would put them more on par with Korn than anything else.
There definitely was a time for them when they were kind of underground and extreme. And now I feel like they're just, they're so much more mainstream. They really are actually now you mentioned. I mean, gosh, I saw them on OzFest when they were like breaking through. And, and, and I, that was the year of Sabbath played OzFest, whatever. That was fucked. That was like a long time ago. So they kept been around for a long time. I remember. So yeah.
I'll shamelessly say that I'm still a fan. Their last album, not so much, but as far as radio music goes, it does not get heavier or more extreme than that. And I think that's honorable. And man, they can write a good chorus and they can make hits and they outlasted all of the new metal bands in those regards.
and they're as big as they've ever been. They are. They've transferred to, I think you kind of called them a legacy band and that, but that's true. I mean, they survived to have this kind of like, I wouldn't call it legendary, but yeah, they're like one of the legit bands that's going to just be around until they choose not to be. They headline big festivals and the world needs more of those. It's funny. They're one of those bands where they maybe fall off my radar.
But it's not because they disappeared. It's because they just blew up. And so they don't show up. Like you, Nick, I know for sure I really like the first two albums. And then I think the third was the Rick Rubin one, which I really dug that one too. But it was kind of different. And then after that, I kind of fell off. But I try and come back and just check it out. But I think their sound has kind of evolved a little bit over time.
Yeah. But they definitely got their crowd and it's a big crowd. Yeah. You know, unlike somebody like, let's see, and I bring this band up for the weirdest reason, but Cradle of Filth, like they kind of were like huge for a minute. Now they're, now they have a very select audience. Yeah. They're playing here next weekend. I bring them up for a weird reason. I decided to listen to their new record and I was like, this isn't, this isn't bad. It's not. It's pretty good. Yeah. There's some cool thrashy stuff on there. He's kind of like, he's kind of like Dave Mustaine, you know, he's got a new band.
that I don't know if it's a new band to every album, but I stopped paying attention to the people in the band so long ago because they'd all changed out at some point.
They constantly wrote things.
I mean, I'm not a Slipknot fan, but you need bands like that who get big and popular because they're gateways into other forms of metal.
So I'm all for it.
I'm pro that.
I don't have to like every single band that comes out.
But it is nice to see a heavy band make some waves in the mainstream because it helps to keep the rest of metal that I do really like alive, I think, in some way. So I know you're in the middle of nowhere, but not, you know, nowhere is really the middle of nowhere anymore. Well, I currently live. I'm a suburb of the capital of Iowa. So I live in a, I guess, a reasonable sized city. Des Moines isn't huge, but it's
It's big enough to have. No, it's big enough. You know, shows come through. Yeah, I've been through there. I was going to ask you for two guesses in the capital and I was going to say Iowa City or Dubuque, so I was way off. But do you have a record store there that you like to go to? Or maybe you don't shop for records so much as digital stuff. I'm not really a material person at all. I buy shirts at shows and that is about the extent of things that I collect. How about that? There are some cool records
I don't have a record player I yeah I'm pretty much exclusively a streamer fair enough the do you have a group of buddies that are metalheads and stuff around there that you would go to shows with or over 10 years of going to shows there is you know 15 16 familiar faces you see them at shows and you fist bump or whatever yeah you go out in between the set
and stand in the smoking section where the band's hanging out and you just end up having
conversations but that's the extent of it i you know i've never exchanged phone numbers or
anything like that with any of them how do you know dan is he from iowa he's from my hometown
originally okay sergey calls you might explain who dan was my friend sergey we we had a couple in
particular and we always called him that guy because they would be like that guy's here
Yeah, I'm guessing people that have gone to Decibel for years in a row now, I'm that guy. Yeah. How is he standing next to me? He was just, I just saw him over there. You know, I'm that guy. Yeah, that guy. And for anyone who decides to go to Decibel that listened to this show, I'm a pretty recognizable guy. By all means, introduce yourself. And two songs later,
we'll be hugging for the rest of our lives.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I think you named the episode that guy.
That guy.
Yeah.
I prefer, I prefer hugging for the rest of our lives.
Two songs.
I'm not hugging that guy for the rest of our lives.
Yes.
Two songs later, we go to the bar or two songs later, we're hugging.
I don't know.
At the bar.
Is it paradise lost or is it paradise found?
I don't know.
is always an option. Paradise City. That's on the roll. Should know that Midwest, Matt. Paradise City. I'm surprised Brutal Poodle hasn't come up yet. Okay, I'm interested. Now it has. I don't know if Jay knows about that actually. No, that's a new term for me. You want to explain, Nick? I'm interested. Well, the backstory runs so long and deep, I don't even know if I can fully explain it other than
and just read some folklore stories and put brutal poodle instead of whatever the folklore story is about and that's pretty much the the origin of the story and how did it get started was it started amongst you guys oh we were talking about pet names or something and i said my wife calls me poodle yeah and uh justin instantly says brutal poodle
and not poodle because it was more appropriate and that's how it came about.
Well, regardless, if you see me circle pitting, poodle is a very fitting term for poodle.
So if you see his let go up, get out of the way.
Brutal poodle is also a good name for the episode.
Yeah, absolutely.
So do you have any favorite albums so far this year?
Me?
Or let's hear some of your favorite albums in general. Well, maybe we're going to do that later, but go ahead. Sorry. I kind of, I came up with a, what are you listening to now albums more so than, uh, than my favorites. I was going to list some of my favorites, I guess, in that topic. So, well, if you, if you don't want to cover it now, that's fine. We'll wait and do it later. It was just sort of a, you know, we're, uh, coming up on mid-year. So, uh, thought it might be.
Are we coming up on mid-year? Yeah, it's episode after next. The fuck? Damn! Do we have to say it out loud? We do it in June, right, George? Yeah, end of June, yeah. Damn. What the hell? Are we doing the three albums that describe you? Oh yeah, we're doing that. We're doing that. In fact, that's where we are now, Matt. No, let's not go there yet. That was a nice segue.
the same question. I mean, did we talk about? Yeah, okay. I guess that covers more or less what I was going to ask, which was just like what metal records got you into metal, but this might be the same thing. The metal records that got me into metal, you'd have to go back to, I was listening to everything my dad had, and he listened to good shit. So, you know, there's, I wasn't lacking for good
music for my whole youth. And my brother got the Stone Temple Pilots core album. And for whatever reason, that really struck a chord with me. And then Flesh came out and I was obsessed with that. And around that, or shortly after the Seven Dust self-titled album came out. And I was absolutely obsessed with that. And that kind of sent me down the new metal route.
Very little of that has had a whole lot of staying power other than, you know, I'm still a huge tool fan, still a huge Deftones fan. I still like Chevelle a lot. And then it wasn't really till I got back in the metal that I started really exploring the history of it. And once again, you guys have been great in those regards, because
You know, like when you released that Dio article, I made a playlist out of all the songs that you listed in there. And then there's this big, long discussion thread. God bless you for reading it, dude. That's nice of you. No, it's fantastic. And then the Facebook thread, you know, people just kept throwing songs out there. So the playlist is reasonably long. You know, so my trail back to a lot of bands is very,
but uh it is is really based off of people who i respect
opinions of certain bands or certain albums or whatever i'll i'll prioritize those things when i
go back through history but for the most part like if you talk about a long running band i'll be able to
talk about them somewhat intelligently but probably not the albums in full you know i i'm i i'm
I'm listening to snapshots over 40 years, 50 years of metal. It's kind of hard to fill that in. Yeah. And you don't have the benefit of what we went through, which was most of us are pretty fucking old. So, and I mean, and it wasn't like it is now. So you were buying somewhere between 10 and 30 records a year there for a while. You know what I mean? Whatever it was, it's depending what, I mean, as the eighties went on, it was more and more and more, but so there's that, but also I'm, you know, God, I'm so spotty on so much.
stuff. You know what I mean? There's plenty of things. Nobody can be, you know, knowledgeable about everybody's back catalog. Except the pop father. Except the pop father. But it always gives you something to do. That's the coolest part, is that there's always some weird exploration to be done. Yeah, even I'm still digging in things like, oh, you know, I mean, granted they're probably like fairly obscure, like little nooks and crannies, but I'm still digging and trying to find things and
check things out so but there's not obscure stuff even too you know like um i mean i i it's
obviously i like personally a lot of metal adjacent stuff but yeah and i think everybody does here but
but like and i just watched this documentary on t-rex again and like i'm slowly realizing how much i
fucking love t-rex like so good i mean you're never done exploring you're never done yeah you're a fan of
music and metal in particular there's so many gems out there even just year to year and then there's all the stuff like i don't know 50 years ago that maybe you missed uh i i can't believe it because i listen to so many metal albums every year i listened like 900 metal albums last year and i still miss things i still miss stuff i have one on my list uh this time what we're listening to that i missed from last year
So I have to share a brief anecdote really quick and it was I had a dream about a week. It was a week or two ago. It wasn't long ago. Again. The truth is I don't remember everybody who was in it, but some of my metal friends were there, but that's not the point. The point was that we're at this record store. I swear to God, this is a dream I had. And we were paging through
and I came across this record that was that my imagination so thoroughly built that it was like this amazing kind of Black Sabbath cover that I'd never seen in my life and I don't remember the name of the band but it was a perfect name of a band I've never heard of and I was like what the and it was like from 1973 and I was just like and somebody nearby was like dude if you don't have that you're an idiot you know what I mean and I was just like and that was it that would the dream ended shortly thereafter but I had created this
and it was a perfect looking metal record in my head that didn't exist any one of you would have been like how did i not know this was a thing and it looked like it was from 73 or 74 and i just it was the coolest dream that's why and then for a little while afterwards i would kind of think in the afternoon like what was that record somebody was telling me about i was like oh no i fucking dropped that the cover was a burrito riding a pegasus completely engulfed in flames i want to say it was a it was a gatefold and it was a mix between say sabbath bloody sabbath and something a little more color
And it was perfect. I mean, it was just like this. I know I'm going to love this.
What's great, Jake, is that just tells you how much you love metal when you're trying to dream the perfect record.
Yeah, well, I guess I'll never hear it, but maybe the dream will come back.
I will say I have definitely prioritized just trying to stay current.
Yeah.
I would say if you guys talk about the legacy bands, I'm much more knowledgeable about their last couple than, you know, 20 years ago. And that that'll come up later in the episode, too, because I have a great example of that. But yeah, I like New Music Friday a lot. And I think that that essentially to me is you guys going to a record store.
and fishing through the albums, you know, just checking out everything that came out. I'm not as much of a slut as I used to be. I don't listen to everything like I had a few years ago. But I still look forward to it every Friday and going through the blogs and just kind of figuring my trigger words that are hard nose just based off of what they write. But that's
my music, I guess,
experiences pretty much from the point that I started streaming to now is just trying my best to stay current,
to be able to talk about current albums the best I can and just spot fill in the background as I go.
And staying current is hard enough in and of itself.
Yeah. Well, that's why I love New Music Friday, which I'm glad you mentioned it too,
because for people who don't know, like Metalhead's podcast on Facebook, we do every Friday, we talk about new releases and we post it and a lot of people post what they've been listening to. So you get a great snapshot of what's come out that day. And, you know, it's a lot of great records and we talk about them and I love that. That's grown so much over the years as well. It's a great vetting process too. You know, what stirs up conversation?
You can tell when it's a dud of a new release week when there's not very many posts. But you get excited to check out the bands that people are chatting about. And you come to trust the people and their opinions that are on that thread. So yeah, by all means, anyone who's listening, follow Metalhead's podcast on Facebook and follow that thread because it's the best resource for me.
on what I should be listening to each Friday. Thanks, Nick. I'll be right back later. One of my favorite phenomenon, too, is, and this can easily happen on New Metal Friday, but it also happens with Angry Metal Guy and different places where you read reviews, which is reading a reviewer or somebody, maybe on one of the threads, who hates a record, and you're like, oh, I'm going to fucking love this. You know what we need you to do, Nick?
is start some shit in the new music Friday feed. So like next time, you know, somebody posts one of their albums, just come in and start shit talking it and just start a fucking rumble in the thing and get that circle pick going. You're wrong. This album sucks. Exactly. Make it one of Will's albums. He doesn't usually post on Metal Fridays though. No. Yeah, that's good.
I just read them.
Let's do the three albums that define.
Well,
what is,
what is the exact definition of that question?
George,
what three albums would help people understand you better as a person?
Is that good?
Okay.
I'm a sexy George.
Really good.
The first one I'm going to say is a super important album to me personally.
And if Will was here,
he would be shitting all over me for listening it,
But I'm going to say Baroness, Yellow and Green. Really? Does Will have a hate tail for that? I think anything after the Red album he hates. Okay, all right. I think you're right. Well, you're getting in trouble as soon as you start naming albums named after Colors with Will, so no matter what. But anyway, I digress, Nick. Please continue. Baroness gets a black album. This album came to me at the perfect time. You know, it was kind of, I don't know, maybe in a mildly,
rough spot in life kind of had a little bit of a dead-end job you know my son was younger than one year old and my grandma had passed away and i had to drive a couple hours to go or she hadn't passed away yet i was going to drive there to see her before they unhooked her essentially and that was the first time that i listened to this album and i ended up listening to it back to back on the way there and i listened to it back to back on the way home
And just ever since then, it's just had this huge impact in my life. And the album just covers a gambit of emotions. And the vibe of it kind of feels small town-y in a way. I don't know how to describe that. It's, you know, Appalachian at its core, but I don't know, a small town Midwestern person, I feel like can catch those vibes in the right way.
It's not corny like country music, but I don't know. It's an amazing album and it means a ton to me. They're from Savannah, Georgia too, which is interesting that you kind of gave it a southern small town. Did you know that's where they're from? I didn't know it was Georgia. I just think of it as like the Red and Blue album. I think Appalachian Mountains. That's what I think of when I listen to them. Interesting. I'll buy that.
And that's interesting, though, that you can pick up on that. Because we talk about Primordial a lot. And he seems so Irish to me. His lyrics seem so Irish. So it's nice that you listen at that level where you feel that. It's interesting you brought this up because I listened to this album, Driving Home from Decibel, a few weeks ago. Because, you know, I mean, this was one of the bands we were talking about in the room with Justin because this was on Justin's playlist.
And there's some other ones that I'll be bringing up later that relate to that as well. But yeah, that's awesome. Then the next one, I'm going to cheat a little bit. I'm going to combine the two 2020 EPs that Tombs released, Under Soul and Skies and Monarchy of Shadows. I'm a huge Tombs fan. If I got a battle vest, I think I would probably have them be my center patch.
just because necro dudes would probably think that was cooler than having a baroness.
How come you don't have a vest?
That would look really awesome, like over your glistening six-pack, you know, just the vest.
It would be so metal.
Oh, you're definitely overstating my in-shapeness, George.
But the Tombs album, it's black metal, but just so manly.
I don't know. They have this full sound. There is low end. It sounds so full. When they go hard, it goes super hard. You know when you should headbang. It's multifaceted. Just a lot of nuance in each song, but every single part always seems like it makes sense in the song to me. That's absolutely crucial.
The Vocals, those are multifaceted too, which Black Metal sometimes loses me on the vocals. It's just so one note the whole time where, I don't know, I like the new gothy crooning that he does. And The Hunger, I think that should be considered one of the best songs ever made. So I think it's a good representative of me because it's a, I don't know, introspective.
They're talking about Cthulhu and all sorts of metaphysical stuff, but at the same time, it's super dude. It's super manly. Awesome. You know, you said I you recognize that I look a little you look a little like Mike Hill. Also, I put the picture of Matt Mike Hill in the chat. I saw that. I totally see. He really looks like Matthew. Mike Hill, I guess, apparently looks like all of us is what it comes down to. Once Mike's really old and fat, then he'll look like me.
Not me. Well, no. It could be the stages of Mike Hill. I mean, maybe we ran to something here. Yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely the young, good-looking Mike Hill. There you go. Yeah. Hold on to that. The early days. Put that in your heart and keep it there. Then for my last album, I definitely needed something dumb and ignorant. Just, I like working out. I like running in circles.
I've been a jock most of my life so I needed something that catered to that a bit so I'm going with Corpse Grinders self-titled album Corpse Grinders that came out in 2022. Good thing Will's not here. That was my album of the year that year and I don't know there's just something perfect about it it mixes the hardcore with the death metal
And with George singing over top of it, it's everything that I want all of these other hardcore infused death metal bands to sound like. You have these amazing vocalists. Let them sound like themselves. Don't put all this garbage into the vocal recordings. Either you can't hear them at all or it has so much reverb that there's no personality to it. George just crushes it on this.
and it has so many awesome choruses. It's an album that I could listen to in the weight room multiple days in a row and not feel like I've slighted myself any. Have you ever lifted weights to Fight School? I was wanting to bring Fight School up on this podcast, George. It's Crush Weights, George, by the way. Crush the Weights, excuse me. No, the last time I looked, it was pulled from Spotify.
I talked to in the gym. I passed fight school on to them and they love it. You know, like they'll, they'll quote terms from those songs to me. That's awesome. And I didn't, I haven't checked in the last month or so to see if he's added it again or not, but Keith needs to do that because I'll look it up and see if it's there right now. That those songs are going to catch on with somebody and he's going to be tick tock famous. Nice. You know, they're perfect.
He needs to hear that. He needs to have them added. And I think if anyone has a chance to just, if you have a douchebag friend along the same lines as me, pass it on to them. If they're a meathead, you know, I'm well aware that I'm the person that he's making fun of with that album, but I still love it. And push it on.
The new album should be called Douchebags Welcome.
And it is indeed not there. Oh, well, I got to ask him what's up with about that. Yeah, ask him what's up with it. Come on. Just keep it available. The right person's going to hear it. They're going to add it to some lifting montage or some fight compilation video. And all of a sudden, it's going to be on every single one that you watch for the next two years. I'm going to go back one on YouTube, just back to the Corpse Banger thing, which I like that record too.
But also, I just, he'd be a great guy to hang out with. I mean, have you seen videos of him and stuff, you know, with his family and shopping at Target and all this stuff? I just love that stuff. And I just think George would be, and he also, like, he loves old school country and stuff. I bet you he's a cool son of a gun to hang out with. Oh, yeah, he seems very cool. And anybody named George is awesome, so. He wrote, I think, all the lyrics, and I think he had a hand in writing most of the music.
And did you listen to the Dee Snider album, the solo album that he produced? Yeah. I thought that was super badass. I think he has a good track record as a producer. You know, he's not breaking any new ground. But if you just want bangers, I think he's doing his job. Yeah. You know, it was funny because I don't know where this came up, but I was reminded of the, oh, well, I got Will finally to watch the Tristan
And then I was reminded of the band Widowmaker that he did with Clive Burr. Yeah. I did. And I did get canned or something before it came out, George. Do you remember? Or did it come out like officially? The album? Yeah, it came out. I've got it on cassette somewhere. I went and listened to it. And you know what? It's just not as good as I hoped it was going to be. No, no. Yeah. I mean, it really wasn't. And I thought him going to get Clive Burr like that. And there were other
Jameson it. That was too bad. And Clive Burr came up recently too because
Bruce compared playing with the replacement drummer and Maiden is playing with Clive Burr again.
Wow. I saw that Bruce was surprised after the practice.
Yeah, but I didn't read the article.
And I don't know to what angle he meant that compliment, but you know.
Interesting. All right. Well, any more questions for Nick personally before we move on?
I'm willing to tell the dirt.
That's so Iowa, man.
Are you, and I'm not being stereotypical here, because I used to live in Missouri,
and we used to drive to Iowa to get to Wisconsin every year for Christmas.
But are you surrounded by cornfields pretty much?
I live in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Iowa.
Not as much corn as the rest of the state.
The second you leave the suburb, you're surrounded by corn. But, you know, I live in suburbs, essentially. And the rest of the state is still covered in corn and soybeans, if that's what you're asking. Yeah, no, it kind of is. Because it's been, you know, many, many, many years since I've lived in the Midwest. And I do know things are changing. And so I'm curious about, you know, if some of those places still have.
have their old personality like that were you particularly scared by the movie children of the corn as a child
was that filmed in iowa church i don't know they might go without question but
no i just thought that was corny
okay all right you're an official member of the podcast now because you have a terrible sense of humor like the rest of us
I'll just say this. It's all dad jokes and dungeons here. Yeah, we're, yeah, it's terrible. I, um, I'll just say this as we go on though, Nick, just fight your way into these threads, man. We want you to talk as much as you feel like talking, you know, by all means, especially as the beers go down, I probably will be a little more blunt, but, uh, George, just signal me if I'm over talking. You're not going to over talk. He knows how it works, Jack. I'll be like, good.
That means over talking. Exactly. No, hey, it'd be nice to have a break. Yeah. All right. Well, speaking of beer, let's do T-shirt and beer check. T-shirt, beer check. T-shirt, beer check. Nick, what are you wearing? What are you drinking? I got to say, it's shocking to not hear the song. That gets put in. T-shirt, beer check. T-shirt, beer check.
Yeah, you won't unfortunately hear any of those songs today, but they will be there in post.
You know, we used to joke with people and I apologize. I'll let you get to that. But we used to joke with people would come on early on that. Now we have to sit here and be quiet for the next two minutes or whatever, because like, because like George is bad at editing or something. So we have to put the song in. So we would pretend on the odd occasion, especially when we had musical guests, when we still played music, we'd say, okay, we'll have to do it.
to be quiet from three minutes to 56 seconds. But you know, the joke never lasted longer than four seconds. And as it turns out, George is amazing at editing. Of course. What are you drinking? What are you wearing? Well, in John and Matt's honor, they've pushed me down this road of barley wines. And I've totally fallen in love. And this is the best barley wine that I've come across yet. I bought two bottles. I drank the first one right away.
and shot it in my pants. And then I was saving the next one for something special. And today is the day. It's from Lua Brewing, which is a local brewery around here. It's fantastic. And it's Lua's birthday blend. And I was watching this beer be made in the barrels in the tap room. You know, I just like looking at all these barrels, getting excited. But it's a thoughtful blend of some of our most prized complex barrels.
four threads of different barley wine and old ale recipes aged 18 to 35 months in a variety of spirit barrels and uh it's fantastic
they sound serious and then my shirt is my wife has deemed it the nipple shirt the nipple shirt
worm played here in des moines not too long ago and i bought a bunch of merch at that
But I was so proud of this stuff, showing it off. I bought my son a bunch of shirts, which he wears all the time. He loves them. But she looks at it for two seconds and sees something that I didn't see when I've been looking at this thing for like 15 minutes, like how much I love it. There's a nipple amongst the ladies' falling hair. So now whenever I wear it, she instantly looks at me and says, great, you're wearing the nipple shirt.
Nip, nip, nip, nip, nip, nip.
No, I've been guilty of not noticing that before, too.
So I've been called on it.
I mean, I always notice every nipple.
Well, there you go.
Yes.
Fair enough.
Mark, it's not.
Yeah, I'm wearing my funeral leech t-shirt that I got at Decibel.
And that was my favorite performance there because I had never seen them and they were really good. Actually, Nick was right there with me, I think, when Funeralitch was on. And so I am drinking, well, I just finished a Triple Abbey-style golden from, what's this place called? River North. I was going to say I recognize that label from here. And that was good. And now I'm drinking the Einstok Olger.
We Heavy and it's a Viking beer that was made in Scotland. Nice. So it's a Scottish ale brewed with angelica root and smoked barley. Let's see the... Einstock is the name of the company? What's that Einstock? They're Icelandic. That's from Iceland. Yeah. Okay.
I don't know where it's from. Iceland, Scotland. It's a Viking beer, but they made a Scottish ale. It's all good. I don't know. There's like a whole story about it on here. I don't know. I can't read it because my eyes, oh, I can read it. Hold on. Viking history in Scotland goes back more than a thousand years. We've crafted our We Heavy in the spirit of that colorful folklore and brewed it with smoked barley,
and spiced with angelica root, a fabled herb ancient Vikings used as currency. Surrender your taste buds. They have no choice but to be conquered. Good PR people there. So I got it at a butcher. Actually, there's this great sausage place called Gene's Sausage, and they have all of these kind of like old school
beers there and I'd never heard of it and it's quite tasty yeah I've done a few like
overnights in Iceland just passing through on the way to other countries and that is what they have there as and
tried to drink local and then I started going even liquor stores around here I'm like holy shit
there's there it is that's pretty cool yeah I stuck is out there I mean it's it's not hard to find I'm stuck I had never seen it never never seen it before well maybe not that one but you'd know the label we're talking about I mean it's like
Yeah, they had other beers. They had like two other beers as well, but I was like, the wee heavy sounds like something I would like. Yeah. Can I do? Absolutely. Okay, me. So somewhere under this, my base layer is a cattle decapitation shirt. It was the one I got for when I did the last time they were in town here that I did the VIP and it was the one they just gave everybody. And then on top of that is my Temple of Wood Snuggie. And I am imbibing in an old fashioned. I'm beerless, but still good.
Oh, Matt go with the spirits.
Fearless.
I'm communing with the spirits.
Oh, sweet. I am happily just drinking water right now.
And I'm wearing this. But Matt would recognize this.
This is a new thing.
Speaking of things that make me feel nostalgic.
This is from the merciful fate headline show.
The old cycle, Las Vegas, Vegas.
Jay, when I meet you in Tucson, are you going to drink beers than me?
Yeah. Yes.
Yeah, well, we'll have some Modellos and stuff. Yeah, of course. Yeah, man, I felt nostalgic putting this shirt on and I was looking at it and it's 2022. Yeah. I usually, like if I put one of those shirts on, I'll take a photo of myself and send it to Jay, like the, usually the high on fire one where we had this, we were there, we had this conversation and I'm like, because I kept going, I
how you spent what felt like about $500 on t-shirts over separate times.
Because it was basically this massive ballroom that was all shirts.
And we were there and Jay's like, you know what?
I have a high on fire shirt.
I'm going to mail it to you.
Don't buy the shirt.
And then Jay went to get some food.
And of course, the man on the other shoulder said, you should buy that shirt.
And I did.
And then I keep walking into the food court with this shirt.
I had like three things on him.
And then I put the high on fire shirt over all of that.
And he was like, Jay, I had to buy it.
You know it's fucked up when Jay is the angel over your shoulder. Hey, I'm trying to save him in some money. Remember that time we found Jay asleep by the dumpster at MDF? I think that's the last time I saw him in person. Well, yeah, I mean, not that moment. Not that moment, but that festival. Oh, that moment is burned in my brain, Jay. Oh, it was super fun.
I miss Looch too. Yeah, whatever became of him, he disappeared. Looch doesn't drink. He's a lot of a bunch of weight. He's skinny little dude. He doesn't drink. He doesn't party anymore. He's got long hippie hair. Wow. Yeah, gross hair out. He's all skinny. Absolutely. What are you wearing? What are you drinking? He's an awesome dude. I am wearing the latest in podcast t-shirtery from Stairway to 11. It's very nice. It's very pretty. Very nice. Very nice.
I smell a Christmas present with that shirt. Oh, that's nice. This is a one and only. Is it really? Yes. Well, only because it's the only one I've made. You don't make them for the other hosts, George? That's terrible. Not unless they ask for them. Or the fans. They got to ask for them. You just make them and send them. Well, you know, I do a lot of prototyping, you know, to see what works, what doesn't. You know, I got a couple, like three, four other ones. That looks good. It looks good, George. Yeah, it does. I like it.
It's very bold. Big letters. Stairway to 11. And I started with Pulp Zombie in the Dead Space by Evergreen. You know, this much color, it's going to catch my eye. I'm going to bust it. So much going on right there. Yeah. That was a double IPA. And I'm about to move on to Idiom Brewing's Stone Cold Stunner Triple West Coast IPA. I've had this before.
While we're still on the topic of beers, I would love to hear your guys' technique to remove the wax off of bottles. Yeah, okay. A knife. Well, at home, I have a waiter's tool, and you know, it's got the serrated little knife that comes on, and I always go straight down on the bottle first, and then if you have to peel back, you could use it to peel it back, but I always,
Make a line straight from the top down. Vertical. That's how I start it. Usually if I have a bottle that has wax on it, Will is in the room, and I just hand it off to the Marine and go, fix this. And he fixed it. I've never removed it without feeling like a total dumbass. Well, it can be difficult, for sure. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's harder than others. You know, it just depends.
I'm not a big fan of wax. It looks cool, but it's a pain in the ass, to be honest with you. Do you think it actually preserves it anymore? No, I think it's all for show. It just looks cool. I gotta be honest, I think it's all for show. Yeah. You know who's really good at it? When we were at Decibel, our new friend Rochelle. You remember when I brought that beer and it had wax on it? Yeah. She took it off with like a pin in like seconds. It was insane.
All right. I think I'm a pretty handy guy, but removing that wax, I always feel like a dipshit.
Well, don't feel like a dipshit. All right, let's move on to the news.
Good thing Jay is here because we're talking about Alice Cooper.
He's getting ready to release a new album, The Revenge of Alice Cooper. The first album with the original remaining members in 51 years, I believe it was. All but one of them. He's dead. Well, without a Ouija board and an amplifier, they're not going to get much out of him. I can't say enough that Alice Cooper, that is Alice Cooper.
That's the real Alice Cooper stuff. And this, I went and grabbed this from my record shelf in the meantime. And this was a record store they released a few years back. And it was their first little reunion thing they ever did. And they played this weird little record store in Texas called the AstroTurf. And this is great. It's live. It's them doing this stuff. I heard the advanced track. I don't blame anybody who wasn't excited by the advanced track, but I was. It sounded something that goes right in the middle of the
the middle of one of those cool 70s Alice Cooper records. I have high hopes for this, to say the least. And the guy's dad is Buxton. I can't remember his first name right now, but Dennis. Glenn Buxton. Dennis Dunaway is the other guitar player, and he's the other real most important member. So the two kind of minds are there. And when I had the good fortune to do that meet and greet thing with him, I bugged the shit out of him with a bunch of questions. And one of them was on that his one of
one of his more recent records in the last few years he had a song called the sound of a on it and i said what the fuck is that about like i think i got everything i've got the gist on every other one of these songs but what is the sound of a about and it was and it was something a science fiction movie that him and dennis dunaway the other guitar player wrote and on went into production and then stopped and it was about that there was this various sounds and tones that would change people's behavior it was like a horror movie
That's the kind of weird, screwy, vaudevillian shit you get out of this group of guys. So I'm hoping for good fun from this record. And Alice still sounds great. The guy never stops. 70-something years old still sounds like he used to sound. I, for one, expect this to be one of the highlights of my year. Absolutely. And I expect Will to hate that. Yes, it will be. It will be. You know, I always bite my
But Will always says, I can put clutch on if I can't put this, this, and this. And he always names things I say. And I always tell him, leave me out of this, man. Yeah. Go ahead, Marcus. I mean, I'm not a huge Alice Cooper fan, but I can imagine that fans are really stoked for this record. And I read that Cooper, he said, it feels as though this album would have been the natural progression from Muscle of Love in 1973.
really know that record but maybe i'm sure you do jay you don't need to know it honestly it's not that good but that's what he said though yeah no no i saw the same quote um but they were on fire there for a while and um yeah i have i just even the song titles look great to me i think it's going to be cool and the cover i assume that's the cover that's in the news story and i like that so yeah i watched the video i mean it definitely has classic vibes to it for sure yeah it's not like you do much for me but again
I'm not a huge fan, but you've got to be excited if you are a fan to have this lineup come back after 50 years. That's crazy. After 50 years. Yeah, it's cool. It's probably the next coolest, I mean, aside from bands like Deep Purple and stuff, like the next coolest reunion that I can think of since like the Stooges kind of got back together. Or, you know, Sabbath with Ozzy and Throne. Well, I call the Stooges out because they were actually another Detroit band and they had that same kind of weird punk
that Alice Cooper had in the early days. And that went off great. They did great. So we'll see. But yeah. George, I don't know if you remember what the release date was or anything like that. I couldn't figure out what it was. It is. It's, I wrote it down. It's July 25th. Cool. Excellent. Do you think, Jay, that this will, if they tour with this lineup on this album, that it would do anything more than just be the 13th
Rob Zombie co-headline? No, I honestly don't. I think, I think, because what's all my records that came out in 70, like 71, 72, 73. And I think all of his diehard fans stayed with him anyway. So, and he draws at a probably 10 to 15,000 seat, you know, thing as it is. And I think they could fill those places still, but I don't think, um, I think most of the people who,
loved him them, love him now, and appreciate
what's special about this,
but would probably go see
the next tour. It's not going to move
the needle for... It's not, but
he's maintained a certain level of success
in any case.
Yeah. And which, by the way, he's doing a real
cool tour with Priest.
John BT just got
tickets for that, and he's
excited to see both of those bands
for the first time. Nice. Which goes right
into the next news item.
It does. But before we get there, I just want to point out that I just heard back from Keith D. And he was not aware that Fight School was no longer on Spotify. Oh. He said that he recently switched his digital distro company and that maybe this somehow fell through the cracks. So he's going to look into that for you. He needs more jocks in his life. Let's crush some weeds, bros.
Heads Podcast. Instant. Keith D is awesome. Keith D is the best. All right. Now we can talk about Judas Priest. So Scott Travis, the new guy, says Judas Priest hopes to work on their next album in 2026. Also, I did not put this in the script, but we should mention that Les Binks died recently at the age of 73. He was on Stained Clad.
and Killing Machine, aka Hellbent for Leather, also Unleashed in the East. Right. Though, as mentioned, and I love this little piece of trivia, he left after Unleashed in the East, before Unleashed in the East was released. And he's not on that cover anywhere. Because they asked him to wave his feet. It's sort of obscured. Like, there's a drum set there, but there's nobody either behind it or there's just, like, the top of his head. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
That's a shame. You know, he was definitely like a huge influence for what then moved on to become the new wave of British heavy metal and thrash, really. I mean, he was... Those were some of the heavier albums, or at least the beginning of some heavier albums. They were, and you could say, I mean, people, I think Overkill is, was a lot of people's introduction to double bass, but I think Exciter came out before that. You know what I mean? So,
Yeah.
As in the song exciter and staying class, I think staying class came out before overkill motorheads
overkill. And I saw I, but in any case, yeah, it was a shame.
Yeah.
It was kind of just becoming a little visible again, too. He done some things with KK Downing and I'd seen him get interviewed here and there and he was kind of like embracing his past. So I don't know what came up and got him, but yeah.
I mean, he didn't look great. He sort of looked like Bobby Liebling.
Yeah.
meets like Bob Ross.
Yeah.
Oof.
So, but that is the offshoot from the other news, the part of the news story, which is the 2026 Priest.
Yeah.
Well, we won't see it before 2027, then I don't guess.
Yeah.
Seems unlikely, yeah.
Yeah.
No, I'm looking forward to giving it a big, fat, chubby J in 2027.
You hate Party Metal.
Just say no to Party Metal.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well.
But I never you never know you never I'm gonna listen to it I could be blown away by it I could like it I you know fantastic sure it's firepower didn't you and Microsoft I like them fine I just don't feel like they're their list where the album is just because they're old guys who are doing good albums I just you know I thought for some reason like this one in
I think in particular didn't hit home with you but no I probably like it equally the last record and firepower I probably like equally I would think the one before that was pretty good too oh Redeemer of Souls yeah yeah um well it all goes back to one of the things we've mentioned before which is Richie has really kind of revitalized that band in my mind and um you know um John BT did tell me he got tickets to go see Priest and I was like dude you're gonna love it I mean no
No offense to Maiden, but Bruce has lost way more steps than Rob has vocally. You know, Rob still brings it. So yeah, I'd rather see Maiden any day. But I will say this, though. I am glad to hear that they're doing a new record because obviously Priest, they're pretty old now. So you don't know how many you're going to get. Same thing with Iron Maiden. You don't know how many you're going to get. So the fact that they are planning to record this record next year is pretty encouraging for the
because I want them to keep putting out music for as long as they can, as long as they can enjoy it. Well, Rob is 73, so we don't have that much time to screw around. I think I'm going to give Rob a call tomorrow and be like, Rob, can you name the next album? Can you name the next album Redeemer of Markisan? Thanks. Listen, I saw Priest Live. It's not like I don't like Priest. I'm just, I don't, I'm not as enamored by the new records as you guys are.
It's just the way it goes, I guess. It's cool. It's understandable. You're not as metal. I get it. I mean, I'm super metal. All right, next up. Dark Angel releases their first new song in 34 years called Extinction Level Event. Thoughts? I'll be brief.
I've never been a dark big dark angel fan I've done a couple things I thought were okay but I always saw them as a sort of like second tier Bay Area situation maybe even third a poor man's possessed a poor man's what possessed would you call them like Bay Area suburban maybe more like a poor man's exodus I mean yeah but but I think and I think what they what really started that whole
Phenom, if there was one, was they were all like 12 when I started that band, or at least really young. I mean, they were playing those early shows, and they were like in bars they weren't supposed to be here. Yeah, what was the first album? Dark Angel? I'll look it up. But Mark is on, I think you're getting ready to dive in, so I'll look up the title. I know Leaf Scars was the second one. I forget what the name of the first one is, but I know when it came out. Well, Leaf Scars in Time does not heal where the last two, and that's when the singer was on those.
We have arrived. Really? Okay. Fair enough. I remember when it came out because, you know, it was new and I was young. Because everything was coming out and if it was going to be on Metal Blade, you were going to look at it. Yeah, and I just know that like the claim to fame at the time was that it was really fast. And, you know, they had Gene Hoagland, so of course it was really fast. Was this the dude from Cary King's solo album? Yes. I like that one.
Are you thinking of Death Angel though? Oh, yeah. Because I'm confused too. Because there's Dark Angel, Death Angel. There's another Dark. And I was just on a whole other tangent there. You're right. I was totally thinking of Death Angel. Yeah, I was like, what are you talking about? Oh, Dark Angel is awesome. I'm just joking. So it's not Carrie King's guy. Yeah, Death Angel is Mark Asigueda who's Carrie King's guy. And am I thinking of Dark Funeral? You might be.
What's the dark one? The guy's bald. They just did the tour for Decibel. I'm thinking of Dark Funeral. Okay. All right. Wow. They're cool. Well, now I feel really bad about cutting Markisan off because he was probably going to say something insightful about the band we're actually talking about. Yeah. I mean, I always do. I mean, my first thought when George asked thoughts on this is that news should really be named to old Metal Dick updates.
because these first three news items are just like ancient dudes. But I thought this single is competent, right? I've never been a huge fan of Dark Angel. I'm not a fan of the gang vocals on this track, but it's solid. It's been a minute since I listened to Dark Angel, but it sounds like a faithful continuation of the technical thrash that they were playing on their last couple records that had the
the same vocalist leaves scars and time does not heal I don't really notice much difference from that so I guess that's good if you were a fan of the band and it's been this long and they come back and it you know it's picking up where they left off that that's good news but I agree I feel like they've always been kind of a second tier I think the reviews for their records you know backs that up from previous
stuff so you know it's one song though i've heard i don't know
i'd have to hear the whole thing because sometimes you hear one song it's not
you never might have the gist yeah but yeah i was never a big dark angel fan um and i listened to this
trying i was like all right let's give it a give it a fair shake and it was okay it did sound i i was
kind of like this is your first song in 34 years maybe it ought to be a little better but
But it was okay.
You know what I say, George?
The old record industry joke is you have your whole life to write
your first record, but you only have 34 years to write your second record.
It is weird, though, George, because it's like they haven't
done it in 34 years, right?
So to just do it competently
is actually an accomplishment.
They haven't done this in a really fucking long time.
I give them that, but they've got Gene Hoagland on drums.
Gene's got to be going,
really? Really, guys?
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I guess we'll have to see what the whole album has in store for us, but I'm going to guess that it's going to be similar to what we just heard in that single. Yeah, probably not going to be a game changer. No, it was all right, but no, not a game changer. Old Metal Dick updates concludes. Yes, now we get into the new metal. And I don't mean any you. Damn it. I sorry. Matt's off the cast.
Don't tease me like that. Black Braid has announced Black Braid 3. That does love the Black Braid. For August 8th. And I am looking forward to this one. I'm sure we all are, but here's a good chance to get Nick's opinion because I saw him give a pretty emphatic nod there. They have built nothing but goodwill with me and I have nothing but confidence and I'm going to love the next album. And the one time that I saw them, I happened to be in the presence of
That's right. The guy adjacent to me on the screen here, Matt. We did that here. Well, that was the Dark Funeral show, wasn't it? Oh, shit. Yes. Yeah, okay. Sure it wasn't Dark Angel. Or Death Angel. It was Dark Death. It's Funeral Angel. It's Funeral Angel. Or Angel's Funeral. It'll be badass. I'm very confident. Me too. Yeah, I expect so. No disappointment so far.
This is so wrong of me, but I keep Black Braid in the same box that I keep Wayfarer in. Because at the very least, it's kind of got an old west. You got to take that out of that box. No, I'm keeping them. Nope, that's the way I'm writing it out. I really want them to tour together. I mean, Cowboys and Indians? Yeah. I think they'd be bitchin'. I mean, I like me some Black Braid. I think the last record made my list at the very end of the list. And I just feel like the band keeps getting better.
with each release. So I'm definitely excited to see what they do on this new record and hear these songs. So. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right. Now this last news item. I wasn't expecting much from this. Eson's 17 year old son, Angel. Dark Angel or regular Angel? Fallen Angel. Actually, I don't even know if it's pronounced Angel. It's got two L's. On the head. It could be on hell.
or something from, you know, Norwegian, whatever. But he released a four song demo called Veiled by Woe. That sounds better than just about everything I've heard this year. It's pretty fucking phenomenal for a four song demo. Oh, really? Okay. Oh, yeah. I was like, I thought it was ass. No, I thought it was it was good. I thought it was pretty good. It was multi layered, which I thought was cool. Really solid riffs on there. And it's especially good for a 17 year old. Yeah.
If I didn't know Angel was a teenager, I never would have guessed that after spinning this record. There's no way. But I mean, of course, Isan is his papa. Yeah, he's probably working in his dad's million dollar studio. Yeah, I thought it was good. I wouldn't go as far as you, George, but I thought it was quite good. I mean, I'm being enthusiastic. It may not be the best thing I've heard this year, but it really surprised me and excited me. Let's put it that way. Yeah. And I mean, he wrote and performed all the
music for it. Yeah. And now he's preparing for live shows with a full band. So, you know, this is, this is a thing. And I always like when the sons or daughters follow in the footsteps, you know, because they have this legacy that hangs over them, but they also have to try to forge their own identity. And you, you wonder how that's going to work out. And a lot of times it doesn't work out real well. It doesn't, but it could. Sometimes it does. Right, George. Yeah. And this is a really good start.
I think I believe so I'm curious to see where this goes next and it's not even like straight up black metal it's definitely more of a black death mix but yeah but like I said it's layered there's a lot going on and all of these tracks so I was very impressed because you know I definitely wasn't doing that when I was 17 it does not sound like a demo you know this I have to air grievance really quick just because you brought up the apple doesn't you never know what you're going to get from
kids, you know, famous musicians. I'm not a, these aren't a huge part of my musical circle at all, but Billy Corgan has this new podcast or live interview show he's doing. Oh yeah, I've listened to it, Jay. Yeah, and I've enjoyed the show with one exception. He had Wolfgang Van Halen on there. Kind of starts the show by saying he's, you know, it's not fair that he always has to answer questions about his dad and stuff and then proceeded to talk about his dad for most of the rest of the episode.
and did not let the poor kid get a word in edgewise he would he would
was like listening to terry gross on npr he just went on and on and on like i imagine it must be hard for
you because you this and psychologically you know he's not a great interviewer he doesn't ask
great questions and he interrupts a lot but i like the guests as he gets on there and then there are
nuggets like great nuggets on there so he's getting interesting people
And like a wide variety of people. He knows a lot of people like he had the members of the Stone Temple Pilots when Nick's mentioned that too and like I'm a huge Stone Temple Pilots fan and the Leo brothers were on there and you know that was cool for me to listen to that one but I don't listen to every single one just like it's been a wide array like he had Gene Simmons and then like Diane Warren. Gene Simmons kicked the whole thing off.
That was a really fun interview actually with Gene Simmons. And then he had Pat Banatar and her husband. Yeah. No, you had me at Diane Warren. Diane Warren's amazing. Yeah, honestly, it's a really good interview too. You should listen to that one too. Yeah, I should. Or watch it. You don't watch it. It is good. The thing I like too is that, especially with the Stone Temple Pilots guys, is that he admits that he was a dick in the past, Billy Corgan. You know, he takes responsibility for the things that he said and he has a different perspective.
that about it. And it's almost like he brings people on where he can apologize and change the way people perceive him. Is this a 12-step podcast? But in a good way. Like he hated Stone Temple Pilots. He thought they were awful. And then there was a point where it changed and he became friends with those guys. And he admits that. And I appreciate that part that he grows as a person over time. So it is a cool podcast. It's called like the Magnificent.
and others or something like that right jay exactly jump at nick yeah nick well just in regards to the veiled by woe album or ep or demo demo it's funny you guys talked about how it doesn't sound like a demo because my first thought was i'm excited to hear the actual recording because i thought it sounded like my kids were fucking around with the stereo dials you know it just it just seemed like things
and weird spots and just all over the place. But I thought the songs were badass. I'm optimistic about this. Wow. Excellent. Can't wait. Nice. Where are we? Oh, we're done with the news. What? Done with the news. So now we will move on to new releases.
First up, Ancient Death, and their first album, Ego Dissolution. They're a Massachusetts death metal band, and fuck yeah. That's what I gotta say. I was worried there for a second, George. Nah, I mean, granted, I would like a little more in the production department, but that aside, that's a given. The music still rips.
So, dude, every song, every track on that record is a banger. You don't always get that with records, but it's hard to pick a favorite just because every single one is good. I've been spinning this one since we got the promo, and I love it. It's just killer death metal from start to finish, but it has that little something extra in it, you know? Every track just drips with that desolate atmosphere. You can hear all the individual parts. I really like the production, actually.
The Solos Are Fire. I love the tone of the solos, or at least some of them, where it's not even wanky, just way distorted. It's kind of almost clean-ish and hanging out in the mix. You can hear it, and I'm like, oh, that's nice. You can hear everything. You can hear the bass lines so clearly in it, just the way they do the arrangements of the songs. You can hear it in that. I love the bassist also sings on it.
and just female vocals it's only a couple tracks so they don't overdo it and it's only she only does maybe like one verse or two verses and those are really cool i did not expect to hear that part because you don't hear like a female vocal and death metal much but it works perfectly so i really like this record um it's probably gonna be my album of the month i'd never say it's gonna be until the very end when i've heard everything but i really like this record
It's fucking awesome. Can't disagree. Yeah, but based on the first track that came out, it made my list. And don't you dare cut that out, George. And even if the album was just that one song, it would still make my list. Also, do not cut that out. That's how I feel about it. And the crazy thing is that one song that you heard, like every single other song is equal to that. And that's hard, too. You don't get that much. So good.
I found it funny that George referenced the production where I'm a production snob and I love this production. It just seems so warm. There's just like something, I don't know, like it wraps its arm around you, like embraces you at the same time that it's extreme. I don't know. I'm glad that you have this on the list. It's like a Nick hug when you're in your underwear. Oh, a nice warm underwear embrace. Oh, that's more like an Eric hug in the underwear.
Listen to this if you hadn't had it on this list. And I'm glad that you did because this was badass. Right on. Nice. Well, I'm not going to disagree with anybody. I dig the shit out of it. But looking at the cover reminded me of something which we haven't talked about yet, which is because this cover reminds me of, you know, the cause of death cover slightly. Yeah, I get that. The colors are similar. Yeah, different cover, but yeah, similar.
But I only mentioned that because that reminds me that I was just wondering what was going on with these guys. And suddenly I can't think of their name. The death band. The band is doing death stuff. Death to wall? No, no, no. The gruesome. Oh, yeah. And I just saw they. You just dropped something. Yeah. And it's got a, you know. Like it's hot. Yeah. And it's cover.
is reminiscent of not individual thought patterns, but what was that one? Anyway, it's clearly that they've moved on to that. Has anybody listened to it yet? Symbolic? I haven't, no. Okay, hold on. Yeah, it, I literally, I thought I was listening to death. I didn't realize that's what I was listening to or something. You really did listen to it? Just the, I think one song. I want to say. Oh, God, this sounds like death. I think the cover's supposed to be symbolic.
That's what I see. Yeah, I think you're right. I can't picture it off the top of my head. Yeah. In any case, I just I hadn't realized that was about to come out. And there it is. So pardon me. Was it an album or what? A song? I think an album is coming. The album is coming. Okay. I didn't. It's imminent. This is news to me. This might be a hot lead. So right this day. Yeah. Well, I mean, clearly.
I heard it here first. Clearly as the pawn father, I knew it first, but. All right. Well, let's move on to the next album then. Cadaver from Norway and their seventh album, Hymns of Misanthropy. Yeah. Well, I mean, I kind of like it, but I feel like I really liked them a lot more.
two albums ago.
But I think I like this one better than the last one, at least.
I think the last one did not land for me.
But this one was all right.
It was a little wonky and weird, but that's what I like about Cadaver.
Oh, yeah, I totally agree with that because they're just a hard band to pin down their sound because they have this kind of breezy style of death metal.
but with these odd progressive flourishes that make them stand out. And I don't always know if I like it or not. But the drumming on this record is particularly memorable, I think. I feel like I need to spend more time with it. I don't know where it's going to land, but that's how I always kind of feel with this band. I'm not really sure how I feel about them. Yeah, I need to give this a little bit more listen before the mid-year because it's got potential. I think so, too.
was in my car. And you guys ever see those videos where the dude plays like covers of songs on kids, like toy instruments? Yeah. That's what it sounded like to me. Ouch. Yeah, it drove me nuts. I got home and I listened again on my headphones and it sounded better. But my takeaway is I'd like to see these songs live because I think I might actually like really
like them. But yeah, that's the extent of my takeaway. So far, not so much. I don't know. There's something weird about it. I think they're just a grower kind of a band. You have to listen to it multiple times to absorb it. It's hard to get a read out of them like one time. It's a little avant-garde-ish. It definitely is, George, yeah. It's toy-ish. Not like Imperial Triumphant or anything, but a little bit. Like you said, a little wonky,
But that's what's cool about them because it makes them stand out. But I just don't know if I enjoy that or not. That's the thing. That's the key. Fair. All right. Next we have Conan. What is best in life? Is it their sixth album, Violence Dimension? I don't know. They're a UK sludge doom band. What do we think? I actually have not always been a huge fan of this band. I've never disliked them. But I kind of dug this one.
I mean, I wasn't like, woohoo, I'm going to get a, it's not going to be a list or anything, but I did enjoy it.
That's kind of where they're at. You know what I mean? Like, they are, you always know what you're going to get. So there's a, but they are just kind of like one of those mid-level sludgy, blah, blah, blah. And they're good. I mean, I agree with you. I want to say I love them to death. You know what I mean? They just seem like they'd be right in my wheelhouse.
But I don't know. Sometimes things are missing the X factor. Yeah. To not be too hard on anybody who might be about to say they love this. I don't I mean, I disagree with that. I think they have it. I think that they put too much into the album. So it's I like a lot of this, but this album suffers from the same issue as every other Conan release for me. When this band buckles down and they deliver that boiling hot.
of Sumerian Doom and the short songs, I love it. When they start to simmer the fucking serpent head stew in a pot and it goes on for nine or ten minutes, they completely lose me. They're not good at doing the long songs. They're better at doing short, to the point, doom metal. But they never just focus on that part. If they did that, I think they would make bangers of albums.
but they don't. Three nine minute songs in a row. Yes. My God. And they don't hold your attention. Yeah on paper I should love this band but this is exactly what I wrote. Let's make something cool and make it tedious. All the weed in the world wouldn't make nine minutes of this better. Yeah. It just it's such a slog. Yeah. There's bands that can do long songs and they're just very dynamic.
Even do metal bands can do that like a Vulcan like they always hold my attention even they have long songs but I don't feel like this band can do it when they do those short songs they're fucking fire yeah I wish they would just do that I wish they would do that are quick and easy and accessible they're they're a band where you take like your favorite songs from each album yeah make a mix you know what I mean good record yeah yeah I feel that way
every single time. In fact, the last record had a lot of that on there. And I bought the record because I was a fan and I disliked that record. So I just sent it to Will because he is a big fan of Conan. Yeah. So I just sent it to him. But yeah, so I won't be buying the record anymore. I think they have the path to like metal glory if they would just condense all that shit, man. I don't know. You need more than weed. You need like Quaaludes or... There you go.
Some sort of sedative or something. Whether you're joking or not, that's a relevant point. Which brings us to the next release, which is always a hot topic and a point of contention within this podcast. But not really. Because next we have Ordos and their fourth album of Swedish Doom. This is, of course, the band that I heard first. Before anybody else.
By way of Spain, by way of Colombia, I think is how it goes. Now, all you have to do is go back and listen to the episodes. And I will bring it up. And then like two episodes later, John will bring it up. This is the way. Do we have the screenshots? We have the screenshots of DMs. Oh, don't say this is the way. I can't. I don't want to think about Pedro Pascal right now. Why not? Oh, that's so depressing.
Oh, because of The Last of Us, yeah. I knew that was coming. I was like, are all these... I haven't watched that. Well, have you played the game? No. Is season two based on part two? I don't want to know anything. Don't tell me anything. Well, we won't. Yeah, well, I won't. But yeah, if you've played the game, you know exactly what's going to happen. I have played the game, but I found it boring. It was like listening to Conan. Wow. So, yeah, I prefer to just watch the show. So, yeah.
Yeah, no, when they announced season two, I was like, do all these fuckboys know what they're getting? Because it's coming. And I'm a fuckboy. Don't spoil me. I'm not gonna say, but I haven't watched it, but I know what happened. Oh, me and my wife looked at each other shocked. No. Well, I was surprised when I played the game. So I was like, wow. But anyway, we won't go there. But yeah, no, I actually just finally finished season three of the
I'll jump in on Ordos first. First of all, they've never quite reached House of the Dead level again in my mind, but they've moved forward. They've progressed. So it's not that... I really like this one. I like a tube. I prefer that first thing. I will say one of the things they've injected into it this time is like a Panopticon era Isis.
There's some grooves in it. Oh, I agree with that for sure. Grooves? Yeah. No, listen, it's super heavy, doomy, stoner sludge. I think sometimes the songs get a little too stoner simple and repetitive for my tastes, but the band understands rhythm and groove. Like Jay just mentioned groove. And those grooves get fucking stuck in my head. So I think they do it really well on this particular record.
more so than the stuff I've heard before. I just wish they wouldn't just kind of get caught up in that same thing over and over. And I wish they would do a little bit more, but it's still a really good record. Yeah, I agree. This is the best thing since the first album that I heard before everybody else. And it was a surprise drop, like all of a sudden just there. So didn't expect it at all. I absolutely love this. Oh, nice.
25 has been pretty weak so far. So take this with a grain of salt, but I would say this is my album of the year so far. Wow. Whoa. Bold statement from Nick. I love Doom of this style when the vocalist is like top notch. And I like it how the cleans to the extremes are just a natural progression. You know, it's not hot.
It's just a magnification of I'm slightly crazy and now I'm really crazy. You know, instead of operatic to demon, it's unhinged escalating. Sorry. I adore this album. I think it's great. And I don't know if it'll still be
in my top 10 by the end of the year, because I really hope more good albums come out. But as of now, I don't have a ton to be excited about, so I'm way excited about this. Awesome. I think that everyone's comments are very relevant and they're accurate, but I don't know. I talked about this album on the last episode. I don't know if you remember. That's not possible. I thought you saved it for later, man. I already heard it. It's not possible. You're usually two months behind.
I also I also think we are we are in the midst of like a lot of really good sleeper albums right now I think there's more good good music out there right now than we think and I think come late May we're gonna be stressed as shit trying to pull together a list I agree with you I could easily make a top 25 I think there's great records I think yeah I don't agree with that concept I could easily make a top 25 right now I could easily make a top five right now
Five, yeah. I mean, I'm a little more metal. I listen to more stuff. So you might have to up your game there, George. Oh, my game is beyond game. Your game is in hard rock right now. You need to get to the metal again. Come on, Podfather. Find your center. Oh, believe me. I'm there. I can't help that people put out crap. No, I somewhat agree with you, George. I'm usually pretty active on New Music Friday.
And I'm still checking out stuff. It just, I don't want to post limp-wristedly. I want to, you know, I want to be excited about it, you know? Yeah. I just want it to be, I don't know, if I'm putting my name on it, I want it to be something that I'm, like, stoked on. And there just hasn't been a ton that I've been fired up about. Now, there's a lot of music out there that's samey. It's like, oh, here's another death metal album that sounds
like every other death metal album I've ever heard. Oh, here's another black metal album that sounds like every other black metal album I've heard. And, you know, that doesn't mean it's not good, but I've already heard this a hundred times. Why do I care? But also, you know what it is? I agree with these comments. And I think we haven't had like a blood incantation or something like that bust onto the scene this year that just blew us all away. Yeah. And, you know, maybe ancient death is the one.
I'm excited to listen to that more. Ancient death is definitely a lister. Yeah, I think so. All right. Well, we have one more new release. And this is Tribunal and their second album of Vancouver Doom in Penitence and Ruin. I know John is a fan of this band, but he is not here. So I thought it was okay.
I almost mentioned this earlier when we were talking about Ancient Death and the production, because I was listening to this going, man, I wish the production was better. But then I was like, no, wait, no, I don't. Because this album's mood would not translate with a nice, crisp production. Okay. And so I was like, all right, maybe sometimes Dirty is good.
Wow, that was that. I think that's what's called a breakthrough, George. I think so. Letting it go, George. So it depends on the album. So the production is reasonable for this album. I mean, this album's been getting a lot of praise. It took me several spins to get into it because I'm just not really into this kind of gothic doom as much these days. I prefer darker.
Evil Doom. But my fondness for it's grown a little bit. I think it's well done for that style. It has a strong My Dying Bride vibe to me, but with cello instead of violin. The vocals are excellent. I really like the growls in it, but it just doesn't move me in the way that I like music too. But it is well done.
And if you like that style, I think you're going to love this record. That's a pretty good little summation there. I thought it was fine. I listened to it and I thought it was fine. It's fine. And then I listened to it again after Stacy praised it on the new music thread. I was like, well, if she loves it, I should give it another chance. And once again, I thought it was fine. It's still fine.
What are you talking about, Stacy? You can't love everything, you know? There's so much metal out there. But I do know John likes it a lot because I think he bought it on Bandcamp for sure. I strictly listen to Uplifting Doom, and so this will not be spun by me. What exactly is Uplifting Doom? It's basically like pop doom. Also like Sleep Token.
Easy Listening Doom. I did not know. I had a friend who doesn't really know about metal, but so every once in a while he'll be like, hey, did you hear the new, and I'm like, no, I didn't hear that, dude. Matt's like, I'd like a sadder men at work is what I'm really looking for. I think you're right. But this friend of mine is all psyched up about the Scuse Lee Token record. I had no idea this band was like, first of all, I don't even know the band fucking existed, but they are gangbusters. Absolutely.
The production. Always and forever. And I heard the new song because I saw the headline that even the fans of Sleep Token were saying this song was awful. Oh, really? And I was like, wow, this is really bad. But damn. I just didn't understand. I mean, I literally, they just came into my view because of this new record. Yeah, they're big. I did not know. There's nothing remotely metal about Sleep Token. Are they new doom? Like N-U-M-L-O-M-L-O-M? Yeah, I think they are. They've got like R and
B and they got everything in there. Now I like their earlier records actually are quite good. Except it's not remotely metal. I'm not saying it's. The newer stuff's more metal for sure. I'm sorry the older stuff is more metal for sure. It has less of these other genres that they they throw into the mix and now it's kind of just this hodgepodge which is why I think people have responded to it because there's a familiarity to the songs that people from all different
genres, people who love all different genres of music can glom onto.
But yeah, it's not for me.
The new stuff is quite...
I'm not going to say it's bad.
I just don't like it.
To me, Sleep Token said, wait, people are calling ghost metal?
Hold my beer.
Ghost is another one.
I'm going to make this even less metal.
Yeah.
To me, there's nothing metal about it.
You're right, George.
They might have like one or two metal riffs throughout the album, but you can't call that metal if you only have that. No. I mean, and you know, I listened to the first album. I don't know how many there are, if this is the second one or third one or what. I did listen to the first one and I was like, I respect some of the musicianship, but this is not metal. This is a pop album. And you know. Which I'm surprised you don't love it.
Yeah. I was surprised, too. I was like, hey, I can get down with this. But it wasn't good to me. I liked some of the earlier stuff, for sure. I don't like the guy's voice at all. You can cherry-pick a few songs if you want sexy time playlist with your wife. Yeah. It'll fit right into that. I think that's right. I think that's probably another band where you could pick songs that you like from them, but you're never going to really like the entire record. And just sort of feel deeply
separated from the loyal fan base they have. I mean, it's like we were talking about Coheed and Cambria last episode, and it's this one, too, that I've kind of put my foot in every once in a while. I'm like, no, I don't see why this crosses and why metal people talk about this band. Yeah. It's very proggy, Coheed. Yeah. I mean, maybe their presentation visually is a little metal. I don't know. It was heavier when they started,
And they have a lot of stories that they tell in their music. So I think people like that part of it as well. But it is very Prague, that's for sure. How long have they been? Prague emo with traces of metal and heavy rock. At least 10, 15 years. And where are they from? Are they American band? They have heavy revs and heavy songs, I think. The early, like second stage Turbine Blade is a lot heavier than the new stuff. It's all over the place. Their whole albums, every album is all over the place.
all over the place and they'll they'll have heavy songs they're from new york and actually around
yeah a long time okay wow so funny like that can be so far off my radar and then yeah i'm hoping they're more of
like an emo band though you know definitely so they kind of grew from like the hardcore emo scene and you have to some of these bands hit it at the perfect time where
you know there's a certain sound and then this band comes around and then they kind of change the game add something a little bit new that's that band and people were like oh my god this is something different that i could really get into and then they tell the friends and then other people who may not have been into like hardcore or real emo stuff could also get into it and so it creates this kind of like perfect bubble yeah people become fans for a long time you know the band afi they're just like that yeah and i kind of like
I liked AFI.
I liked AFI.
Yeah, I liked the early records, especially up to the, um,
whatever one that had silver and cold on it, like that, that,
up to that record was pretty, pretty good stuff, but they're,
they're exactly what you're talking about, Marcus.
And then they kind of.
Yeah.
Sometimes you just hit it in the right spot.
What were you going to say, Matt?
What band were you talking about?
Coheed and Cambria.
Okay.
Interesting.
I just played the first sleep token song on Spotify.
Mm-hmm.
That sounds like modern, like top 40. Yeah. And that band's exactly like a Coheed and Cambria where they started with a little bit heavier roots, but they've kind of incorporated all these sounds that are very modern or pop. And then they also have this live experience where they're all mysterious and the mass. And people have kind of really gotten into that. And so I think it's just all of these different elements coming together, like the perfect storm where people are like,
I'm intrigued by this. They're playing music that I sort of like, and I'm trying something new at the same time.
I saw them live at a festival and it was a weird experience because the show I thought was dull as hell, but the crowd were so into it. And I was surrounded by this group of like, probably less than 16 year old girls. And they were there with this adult. And I was just standing.
I don't know like two feet away from him and the mom all of a sudden like grabbed me and started freaking out it's like you're dancing up on her you're dancing up on her and I'm looking around I'm like two feet away from her and it was a weird experience but just like watching the crowd in general it's like it it seems somewhat cultish I think it's cool that young girls are into a band like this instead of whatever
top 40 bands that they would like otherwise so i i'm in for it i embrace it it's a signal that
you're old too and take that with a great self no it is because i i mentioned slipknot early in this and
i had seen them at um oz fest and it was the black south tour and blah blah blah and it was like their
first year where they were busting out and it was all these kids there before you and i didn't really
know about slipknot before they even came out i know there's all these kids wearing orange jumpsuits in
crowd. And A, it made me feel old because it was this whole phenomenon about which I knew nothing. B, they played and I didn't much care for it in any particular way. And I felt like every parent who must have seen me as a kid going, why is he freaking out over this? You know what I mean? And none of that is meant to be criticism, by the way. It's interesting to sort of watch it from a distance. Circle of life. It's the circle of life, George.
If it's guitar driven and it's popular, embrace it. Oh, for sure. Honestly, and that's the thing is I want sometimes to understand some of these phenomenons a little better than I do. It's why I'll check out Coheed and Cambria every once in a while just to see like maybe it'll make sense to me now. I bet there's something I could love here. The one band that reminds me of Coheed and Cambria and like if there was a band that was like them, it's the Mars Volta. I love that.
I love them for about three or four records and then go ahead I was just like Coheed I feel like stays on track a little bit more whereas Mars Volta to me is everywhere everywhere they have kind of a sound right here but I feel like they're doing a lot of this I feel like Coheed kind of has more of an arc but I think you're right they do have that that sound is definitely similar yeah Coheed has an appeal to like the Star Trek crowd too they have a storyline it's overarching they have
I think that Coheed fans are and I'm not at that level I just kind of enjoy their their albums but uh the the there's diehards you know in this kind of like in the the progier side of them is embraced uh they have they have a fandom that's different from just a normal mainstream band and they're not even that mainstream but they are
Huge non mainstream there. I mean, yeah, I'm sure those guys are making a great living feeling big places. But you know, they just don't they'll never be in any kind of weird popular space, you know, of. Yeah, yeah, it's because they've cut themselves out this, you know, niche, but. But with like Russian circles and between me and they were the headliner. I'm going to see this summer with Mastodon. Oh, oh, yeah.
I don't know if they're swapping or if it's just co-heed as the
headlighters but co-headlining sure I'm not sure how that's gonna work but uh they're gonna play in Des Moines here in a few months
they're about the same size I'd say I both they probably have a similar draw
okay when you said sleep token you saw them at a festival was that that sonic temple
Yes.
How was that festival?
To me, that looked like it was all over the map.
I think there were a lot of people complaining about getting the shits at food vendors and like lineups at the toilet stalls.
Yeah.
I personally did not experience that.
So I and I didn't witness it.
So I don't really have anything to say about that.
But in general, for a mainstream festival, I thought it was fine. I thought it was going to die at the end of it.
Why?
I don't limp home like that too often. I have a pretty hard...
Stamina.
Yeah, stamina. But that was a lot for me.
And it maybe made me retire from wanting to do that kind of thing again. Wow. Because it was four days, if I remember right. That's a lot. Yeah, it was. Where was it? It was in Columbus, Ohio. And I only went there because my buddy wanted me to. He paid for an Airbnb. And I thought, what the fuck? You know, I'll be hanging out with my buddy. Why not do it?
And there was a lot of cool bands playing. I saw Anthrax for the first time. I saw Machine Head. I, uh, Kerry King played, but I did not watch that. I don't know. Oh, I saw Judas Priest. That was badass. That sounds great. Yeah. That's a good lineup. There, there was enough there for a metal head to feel justified in going. Yeah. But it was a mainstream metal, you know, uh,
Octane Fest for the most part. Bands I didn't give a shit about. Pretty much across the board except for the cherry-picked things. But there was enough cherry-picked things to just keep my interest. It's interesting to me that that would break Nick because just this past month at Decibel, the part of Eric was played by Nick.
where we would all like,
hey,
we're going to decibel and we'd go to decibel and we'd hang out and we'd watch bands and we'd do stuff.
And then we'd come back to the hotel and most of us would like hang out for a little bit and then go to bed.
Meanwhile,
Nick leads a second life.
Nick's like,
I'm going out to the freaking pinball video game place all by myself.
And I'm doing all this stuff. And I'm not even going to go into that story. Cause that's all you buddy. Well, I don't even know how much of the story is worth to tell, but the, the night I really sold out, I ended up going to try to meet a buddy of mine. And he, he was somewhere in Philadelphia. My phone was about to die. I got an Uber ride.
to supposedly their destination. While the rest of us are sleeping. While the rest of them are sleeping. Yeah, this is post-Decibel Night One. And he drops me off just somewhere. I have no, I had no clue. My phone's about to die, so I didn't want to use it the absolute bare minimum. So I'm asking people directions. End up walking like eight blocks past where I needed to turn.
Keep asking directions. I finally get there. Meet up with them. And, you know, I'm a relatively small town guy in a big city. So all of this is probably way out of my wheelhouse. But I'm also the type of drunk who just doesn't give two fucks. It's a nice blend of leading me into excitement. And so end up drinking more, doing whatever.
And we go back to this Airbnb. And it happens to be the exact same Airbnb that I stayed at a couple years earlier going to Decibel in Chinatown, where there was this rat that lived in our apartment that would crawl out of where the gas tube goes into the wall. You know, the sheetrock was cut overly wide. And it came in and decimated a bunch of our food. So it was there.
And we go up and my friend, he goes up, tries punching the combo. Doesn't work. Tries punching again. Doesn't work. Calls the landlord. They give him a different combo. Doesn't work. She gives him another combo. Doesn't work. Then the maintenance guy, he ends up coming. He goes up, you know, he's all pissed off. He walks up to it.
He's thinking he's gonna show these drunk fools what's up doesn't work tries another combo doesn't work he goes to his car and gets this hand grinder and comes up because there's a lockbox direct no I skipped that part of the story so he goes down to the lockbox that the key that the physical key is he goes doesn't work tries it again doesn't work to get the key to plop out
He goes to his car, gets this hand grinder, cuts into this lockbox, cuts in so far that the whole thing just plops open and there's no fucking key in it. And we had gotten a case of beer and we're just standing outside drinking it this whole time. We killed the whole case watching the endeavors of trying to get into this building.
get into the building. Then duct tapes, the plunger closed. So any homeless person whatsoever can get into this Airbnb depot. And no, we go up to the room and we had no beer left. We hung out for a bit and I Ubered home. But yeah, that's the extent of that story, I suppose. I think it was day one. Yeah, I think Matt has some Eric stories like that.
Maybe all Eric's stories are like that. Yeah. We love you, Eric, wherever you are. We do. The thing is, I was supposed to get in at 11 the day before, and I got to the airport before I realized that my flight had been canceled. Then I had to jump through a bunch of hoops and stuff to end up getting there at midnight the night before the first day, where I was excited to hang out with all
these guys, you know, just a day of hanging out and everything. So I was, uh, I definitely felt like I missed out the first day, but, uh, I don't know. In hindsight, it, this last trip, I think was my favorite decibel trip. It was perfect. It was like everything I could have wanted it to be, you know, there was like the perfect amount of bro time. I felt like I fully enjoyed the shows. It was, it was spectacular.
Yeah. And there was a lot of... Sorry. I was just going to say, I'll make a point of being at the next one. Yeah. There was a lot of air travel problems with this fest. Yeah. Markasson had trouble too. Markasson got canceled twice, I think. And Jeff and Steph got on their plane and then had to get off the plane because... Was there weather or something? No, there was a technical problem. And so they had to take another flight too.
So just about everybody that was flying had trouble coming in for this one. So it was a miracle that we all met up. Just in general, with how cool knowing all of you has become. I feel like if I went more than two years without seeing Jeff and Steph, I would have to make some sort of excursion because I absolutely adore them. Yeah, they are. They are very good people. And yeah, you know, up to the point where I was shopping for a truck.
about six months ago or something and i almost bought a gmc just because jeff builds them i'm not joking i was like it was way at the top of my list but i couldn't find one for the right price and i was going to even like reach out to him and just say like hey man stir me in a direction here blah blah blah because they were just as good as all the other trucks i was looking at and i know jeff built them so i thought it'd be fun to be able to tell him i bought one of his trucks next time i saw him but yeah well and be able to do a sweet
Yeah, that's right. Something done to it. He's your man. Yeah. Well, it turned out to be a Dodge Ram, so don't tell him. But that's how much I like those two is he factored into my car shopping. Yeah. And Jeff and Steph brought some friends this year, Rochelle and Robert, who were also very cool. And it was nice to meet them as well. So yeah, they're badass. Yeah, they are. Good people. Good people. Just.
Expanding the family.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
Well, we are now ready to move on to what we are listening to.
What?
I want to know what Marcus is eating because it looked really interesting when he carried it in.
It took him like half an hour to get it.
Sorry, I made lasagna last night. 16-layer lasagna. 16-layer? Yeah. Was it homemade or was it like a frozen thing? Homemade. I make homemade, yeah. I cook my sauce all day in a wine sauce. Good for you, dude. I did a lasagna not too long ago. You know what I just made? Borscht. Yeah. Nice. How Russian are you? I loved it. Yeah, I had some friends over yesterday.
Patrick who runs the comic shop here I become friends with him and Gina who works for him and so I usually go and have beers with them maybe twice a month on Fridays I pick up comics we have beers so I'm like you guys should come over to the house and you've been over here I'll make you dinner so I was gonna smoke meats I've been smoking everything but it rained at thunderstorm yesterday so the backup was lasagna which I don't make very often it's fun though I mean I did homemade lasagna
16 layers. That's got to be like as thick as your head. Yeah. When I did it last, maybe eight layers. Well, they were telling me, I go by the noodles and then the thing, and they were like, oh, each layer is a layer. When you put noodles, ricotta, sauce, cheese, I'm like, really? So I bought a lasagna tray, so it is deep. So I've got like four layers of noodles, but if you count all that stuff, it's like 16 layers, I guess. They count it. Wow.
Yes. Yeah, it came out pretty awesome. So this is the last. I sent a lot of it home with my friends, but I had some leftover and I was fucking starving. These casts are always a weird time because they start at six for me. We usually eat around seven. So it's like I usually have to eat on cast because I'm not hungry before cast. Anyways. Little nuggets of information there for our listeners. You know, I got to go one.
I want to step more just hold it up so I can see it I want to see what your lasagna looks like I mean it's covered in sauce you can't see it too much there oh look he's gonna make a piece of bread and everything so it's got you know meat sauce it has six different cheeses on it beautiful and uh but yeah we make two different sauces could you would you send me that recipe yeah welcome to the lasagna I don't have I can try to do it I'll I'll try to make it for you I don't usually do recipes I just kind of make it up my head
I'm trying to write it out for you though. No, don't worry about it. That's all right. Cool. I'll get it for you. Okay. I should write it out anyways in case I get old and then I start forgetting shit. 12 layers. I have a friend. Percocons never age. 14 layers. Well, this is funny. I'll tell you this quick story. So Dan, you know, he used to do the end tags for us at the end of the episodes. Yup. He went to the grocery store to buy some like chicken nuggets and beer to have dinner. And the lady in line,
The checkout lady said to him, he's like, oh, can I see your ID card? He's like, oh, sure. Yeah, it's nice to be carded. He's like, oh, I wasn't doing it because I thought you were young. I just wanted to make sure that you qualified for the discount for senior citizens. And he doesn't look that old, but he was tired that day, I guess. He's a couple years older than me, but that was his first brush for that. They gave it to me at Walgreens.
A while ago, before I was even tired.
Oh my gosh.
No, and they didn't ask any questions or anything.
I still think maybe she was just trying to be nice to me, but she was like, well, let's just get to that senior citizen discount, save some money they got.
Yeah.
I was like 51 when she did that.
I was like, oh, come on.
Hey, that's AARP.
Yeah.
Well, but this lady doubled down on it, too, because he's like, oh, I'm not quite there yet.
She's like, you should be.
Like, what the fuck? What's the AARP cutoff? Well, it starts at 50. Starts at 50. That's fucked up. Which I turn in August. Hey, I've got it. Oh, in August? You're okay. I mean, 65 is considered, you know, senior citizen status. However, companies start giving you discounts at like 55 normally now. 50. So they prepare you.
50 apparently. Which is insane. That's so much earlier than 65. Well, hey, I'm just glad to get in that because I ain't never going to see 65. Oh, fuck off. I believe in you, George. Thanks, Mike. I do too. Even if you don't see 65, we'll still be propping you up in that chair. I believe that Georgie is our future. Weekend at George's. Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's new too. Each year you live, you'll incrementally
Get closer to my favorite.
Just a hair though, right?
Yeah, a percentage point, but you'll get closer.
Fine.
Well, while you're busy fucking off, why don't you tell us about what you're listening to?
Okay.
Well, I said earlier how I was, I've been mildly underwhelmed with the year so far.
Mm hmm.
The New Mantar, Post-Apocalyptic Depression. I'm a huge Mantar fan. I would say them embracing their punkier roots is okay. Their last album just seems so inspired. Pain is Forever and This is the End. I really love that album. I listened to this one and I like it. It's not something that they'll be playing.
any tracks from in the next two years in their set list. And their last album, they had Odysseus, which I particularly loved. It just, that song really connected with me. And it was a mood changer for them. And they had none of that, this album. There were no mood changers. It's just poppy banger, which I'm down for. It just, I like the album.
I think if it was a stronger year it wouldn't be on my mid-year list but
as of now it will be the same can kind of be said with the clan of the eye I think Matt had
Johannes on his I don't know if it's your year-end list mid-year list one of the two but uh I absolutely
loved that album to me it was like meph rash like the church of meph rash if they had this weird offshoot cult move out into the backwaters you know and be isolated for 100 years just it kind of had that same splendor but dirtier i i really liked that album and this the wilhelm album was
It didn't capture that for me. The last couple tracks, I think, kind of rebound a little bit. So I listened to Johannes a couple of times just because I wanted to know exactly why Wilhelm fell flat for me. And then to move into In the Woods, their Atra album. And there's something about this that
It's like classy.
It's for fans of maybe Borknagor.
Yeah, yeah.
But it just like almost has like this stately tone to it.
The choruses are great.
And I don't know.
I dig it.
I listened to it once and I'm like, yeah, I don't know if I would normally come back to this.
but I don't have anything really to come back to. So I've come back to it multiple times and I've liked it more with each listen. That's cool. The 16 album guides for the misguided. I've listened to 16 off and on throughout the last few releases, but this one seems like it connected to me more. The first couple of tracks are kind of like really high level crowbar worship. But then after that, they just go all over the place.
It's just different styles, different sounds, and all of it, I think, is high quality. I dig it across the board. It feels like it's an album that was recorded at different times and places, but all of it, I think, is high quality. The Sayor Amidst the Ruins. I think this is badass.
I'm sore. Yeah. Sore. Sorry. I'm kind of a whore for Irish sounding things. You're a whore for sore. I'm a whore for sore. Just like I'm a brutal poodle. But I feel like they do it all so tastefully. A lot of times when it's folk black, it'll just be folk. And then.
you feel like it's building to a crescendo and then the crescendo is just totally polar opposite of the buildup where this when the black metal parts hit it's like in the back third of the sound so it's just like a
a build-up instead of just a domineering bang you in the face kind of thing
I don't know they do it very tastefully I like it a lot and black braid and wayfarer I think that all of them just know how to write a song well instead of yeah we do this and then we also do that it's we incorporate it into our total sound instead of hot and cold you know build up that feels like it's not natural
Dormant Ordeal. I can't believe this wasn't in the new albums. I'm not familiar with it. I had it on my list for Bandcamp Friday. I mean, I've heard everything is the Podfather, but do tell. Sure. I would have figured this would have been a shoe-in for albums that we talked to for the new release section. But, man, it's badass.
And it only gets better. The second half of the album, like you might start off thinking that it is just, uh, God, save me, Markisan. What are the first few tracks? It sounds like ulcerate in the beginning, uh, for sure. Um, but it has, it has an ulcerate vibe where it's kind of, um, a savage vibe where it just kind of pounds you. And it has that kind of like off kilter, um, guitar.
sound to it but then they add these other layers into it as well so it's it's it's kind of that sounds great yeah it's it's from big boned black and death but it has these post metal melodies and atmosphere mixed into it so it's um it reminds me of ulcerate but it's different than that okay and so the whole thing is super listenable you know it's easy it's not it's not ulcerate difficult you know it seems like it's songs
and it seems like it's it's also this is their fourth record and it this one blows away the
previous three so i i like them fine but this is a level up for the band so um yeah i think it uh i think matt was
talking about sleepers this could be a sleeper to me um i believe angry metal guy actually reviewed it
and gave it a good review i don't often look there but um i think i saw that the other day
just because i got a lot of buzz on new music friday but do say the name of it again please
storm and ordeal tooth and nail storm oh dormant dormant yeah okay i got a lot of like behemoth vibes off of this yes
that's the band i was trying to think of behemoth god sounds more like ulcerate to me but yeah the first couple
tracks were behemoth worship at the highest level and then the last half of the album it just seems like it it spreads its wings and does all sorts of different things and i thought it was very strong across the board but the second half i loved it especially then uh yeah it's really good ordos got me in a mood for that style of doom so i i've been jamming king
"Conduit." Oh, nice. Yeah. Oh, just one of my favorite vocalists across the board. You know, just like King Lee, Evil Wizard, just a, I don't know, like this dude standing on his pulpit preaching down to his people. He's a glorious singer. I honestly, I don't understand why that band is not more visible than they are. Well, they haven't put out an album in a while. They're due. They're due for a new record.
I mean, Conduit came out at least five years ago.
Conduit, was that the last one?
I feel like they're...
Yeah, it was their most recent one.
That was?
It's been at least five years.
Yeah, that was in one of the early days of my Metalhead podcast listening.
Well, we were all pretty hyped on the first one.
I think everybody was pretty hyped on the second one, too.
I think they both did well.
Yeah, I think so, too.
on the cast, but. Oh yeah. It's nice to hear their name again. Gosh, hopefully they're working on something. And then my last album along those same Ordos lines is Hail the Void, Memento. I can't believe that this band is not talked about more. Oh, to talk about a singer who you feel like doesn't need a microphone in front of them. They're just like, I talked about the buildup from cleans to
and to have like the dancing vibes to his vocals and and to actually know what he's singing about that matters so much to me to just connect on a personal level their last two albums and i guess the one before it even you know they've been super high on my year-end lists and uh i think this would be a j album definitely
Kill the Void, Momento, Maury, sorry. I'm happy to dip my toes in it. But you also just reminded me of something else, which is, I don't know, we were talking about it on this show, and that's that Candlemas is doing a reunion show with Messiah. One single show. Speaking of vocalists such as you are, yeah, I'll check it out, dude, for sure. Candlemas has a new EP coming out soon.
Dark Star.
Well, there's something else that was good. This also reminded me of something else that's getting ready.
The fuck was it? Okay, so we're talking about King Goat, Candlemas.
I can't remember. Oh, that, um, well, this isn't what I was trying to think of, but also that Johan, the singer, has a solo album coming out.
The reunited lead singer that came back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then there was some other piece of news. Hopefully it'll come back to me.
How about a record? Oh, fucking Witchcraft has got a record coming. Yeah. I'm excited for that. Witchcraft have done some really fun things throughout their duration. This is supposed to be a return to form, though. Which form, though, you wonder? The doomy, like the more metal. I mean, metal. If it's like Nucleus, I'm sold. You know what I mean? More Sabbath-y, you know, heavier stuff.
Not the. Yeah. Like. Uplifting. Motivational. Well, he did a couple acoustic things, but. Uplifting, do. I, uh. God. Oh, man. I'm so. That's. And I think it's in the can. I think that's coming down the pike soon. I thought I heard a song off of it, but I could be wrong. I'll look it up. Also, they were going to play MDF. Yeah, right. Well, that was kind of my reaction too, but I. Okay.
Who knows?
I'm done.
You're done.
All right.
So we are on to Markisan.
What are you listening to?
Yeah.
So the first one I have on my list is Commodus,
a fetal wolf in stained glass.
It's an independent release.
This was a surprise drop last Wednesday.
I really loved the previous Commodus record,
which is called wreath of bleeding snowfall.
It was on decibels list.
I heard it late so it's possible it could have made my list but I didn't hear it till later but I really liked it and this one continues the bands they have a riffy black metal style with this folklore feel to it a lot of the songs are about nature and then wolves so that's pretty cool not not poodles at all
Convulsing Perdurance on Total Dissonance Worship Records. This is an album that's super intense, dissonant, death, fucking splodobomb of metal. It came out in 2024, but I think Total Dissonance got the record and now they're putting it out this year. So I almost had it on my list and then realized that it came out last year and I had missed it. So that's one of those things that, you know, slipped.
But I really like this record a lot. And then Dorman Ordeal was on my list, Tooth and Nail, on Willow Tip Records. So we already talked about that one. It's really good. It's definitely on my list right now. We'll see what happens in the next couple months. But it's a really good record. The next one is Cave Sermon, Fragile Wings. That's an independent release. This was another surprise drop. I don't know why everybody's doing surprise drops.
And it comes out just a year after their last record, which was called Divine Laughter. And that one flirted with my list in 2024. But this is a better album because it delivers more nuance. It has more of a mesmerizing tenderness to it. It's progressive post-metal. It's excellent. Those records are really good.
This is a pretty solid, melodic black metal from here in Chicago. And this is their second album. They released it independently. My friend, Mikael, who co-owns the metal record store here called Meteor Gem, he told me about this band a couple years ago when they dropped their debut. And I've been into them. I think they're good. I'd like to see a little bit more progression, but I still really like this record.
Asshara, Ashen Skies on Days Records. This is a new band that plays ripping old-school metalcore. So as you guys know, I've been getting more into that because now there's all these bands that are coming up. They're playing the 90s version of metalcore is what I liked. Really great riffs and breakdowns on this one. And they're from my hometown of Syracuse. And it's been a long time since I enjoyed music from Miora.
"World Birth City." But yeah, it's really good. The only criticism I have about some of these new metalcore bands, they're only putting out like EP length things. And a lot of these bands will put out one EP and then they just disappear. Apparently this is a thing. Where they do that, they form a band, they put on a record, people buy it, then it becomes this collector's item and they never do more. So I hope that's not a trend, because I really dislike that idea.
And then the last actually I got two more the next one is seven sisters shadow of a fallen star part two This is really excellent twin lead heavy metal With epic space adventure songs And they have this really great 20 minutes stunner of a final track on this record So I got in on the band camp listening party for this record
it dropped and I've attended a couple of those this year I never really did it before but they popped up and I was like you know what I'm just home I'm doing dishes I might as well listen to this record and so it's actually been pretty fun to be in the chat because the bands on there they're playing the record and then you can talk about the songs with them before you know the public is to hear them and so I've kind of been enjoying that feature of band camp and I feel like more and more of these listening parties have been popping up in my feed so
So if we don't get the promo and then they're doing that, kind of a nice thing to do. And then my last record on this list is Collapse from These Hands Melt Records. This is a post-metal thunder sludge from Sweden. And they have these gigantic riffs that they're like walls toppling over on you. And I really like this record.
The band spells their name K-L-P-S. So for anyone who wants to check them out, it's not the normal spelling of Collapse. But I'm really, really digging this record. And yes, been spitting it a lot. And that's what I got. Which is funny because I'm dumb and I very much like K-L-P-S. And I thought, fuck, this reminds me of a different band that was on my list. WVRP in Cincinnati?
Yes. And they're like, collapse, KLPS. Like, hey, you're done. You were just calling them KLPS? Yeah. I mean, I'm not laughing at you because I was doing that too until I heard it, you know, a while back. But still, I was like, oh, it makes so much sense now. Well, I do a lot of like, like every week, you know, for New Music Friday. I don't know if everybody's like this, but I just do a lot of like, I grab a lot of stuff, throw it to the side and I skim it.
and then kind of weed things out. And I usually, I don't get back to it sometimes for a couple months. And so once I did get back and started digging into KLPS, I realized like, oh, I know you. And it is really good. I would second your feelings on it. As I segue into my crap here, Ancient Death, Ego Dissolution. I've just been fanboying this album for months and it feels like years. And I think this might be my, it's going to be on my 2020s.
list. Again, please. I want to carry it over. Spoiler alert. No. Future death as well. Yeah, exactly. More recently, I've been digging Changeling, a band I am not familiar with. It has a subtitle album that came out yesterday. Just spent some time yard working. Even though I'm like you, Nick, I kind of would prefer to listen to something like a podcast, but I didn't have the sound restrictions that you do at times.
I was just freaking. So, uh, and that was pretty cool. I wanted to listen to that. I, it was, it's on my list. I meant to listen to that before today. And I only heard a little bit, but I was like intrigued. Yeah. It's definitely very progressive. Yep. Yeah. Um, new album from cancer. Uh, I've listened to almost all of it. I kind of dig it. You know, it has the old school death pot vibe, which is always cool. Um, Wormrot has a live album coming out, which I don't really gravitate to live albums, but I've heard
the two tracks and they sound so good. I'm excited for that to come out. I'm going to butcher the pronunciation. It's Amkara. And this is, I would call them like an atmospherical folk or atmospheric black metal. It's kind of some folk parts to it. Showed up on my radar. I believe it's in the new issue of Decibel. I think it's pronounced M-K-A.
As in drugs are bad.
Doing my best mad impression.
You're doing really well.
The album is called The Hero of the Lost, but it has Austin from Panopticon.
He plays drums.
I was going in thinking, please don't sound like Panopticon, and they don't.
And I never would think that would have been the case anyways.
But what else have I been listening to?
With Ancient Death, one of the main guitar player is also in Atheist. And I've been listening to another band called Desiderium, I think is what it is. It's the other guitarist from Atheist. Kind of, I would call it like Proggy Tech Death, which I am really gravitating towards this year. Not sure what's up with that. It falls a little bit into kind of my renaissance of Rivers of Nile as a new album is coming out, as well as Fallujah, who also has a
a new album coming out and I've been listening to each of those albums.
It has a few tracks out of and listening to.
And then unrelated to everything, I finally took the time to finish or just sit and watch
All Gates Open, which is a multi-chapter documentary on the making of Absolute Elsewhere that
Blood Incantation put out, which completely created like a whole nother resurgence of me wanting to listen to that album, which I did probably two or three times a day for the last couple of weeks,
as well as going all the way back to their EP, Star Spawned in History of the Human Race. And that is it for me. Thank you, Matt. Mine is mostly this. I like to spend the week before the podcast getting ready for the podcast. So once we had the list, I was making sure I was listening to everything there. And also kind of did some digs and dives to try to do our top five, which is kind of a kick in the balls. And then George just changed my life.
four minutes ago because i didn't know there was a lead track out on witchcraft and i just spent the last five minutes listening to it and it is about as fucking cool as you could hope it would be so you're right and it is it's it it returned to form is exactly the right thing it sounds pre-nucleus with nucleus production and um but also it's like a record that well it would even be pre whatever the record before nucleus was which the
I'm lost of you right now. But in any case... Wait, is this the one I mentioned on the last podcast? The preview track? You're two months behind that. Anyway, wow, I'm excited about the new Wichcraft record. And the track sounds great. He's one of my favorite singers, too. Speaking of favorite singers, it's everything I hoped it would be. So now I am screwed. Do not attempt to distract me from the new Wichcraft.
Hey, Jay, look over here. Look over here. Yeah. Sorry. What about over here? Over here? Over here? No? Yeah, buddy. Hey, Jay, there's a new Hollywood Vampires album coming out. Hey, that's my will joke. You know, I just wish that we could just call those an Alice Cooper record. That's going to be on my fucking gravestone. Yeah. Okay, so I listened to that track from the new Alice Cooper thing coming up. It sounds really good. I'm kind of excited for that. He's a weird dude, and it's a weird track, and I expected
I should have included that in my listening
too by the way you know yeah advanced
track of the Alice Cooper
all right I've got a few more than
usual but not as many as in days
past
first up the new benediction album
rave of empires the ninth album from
this UK death band with Dave Ingram
who was briefly in bolt thrower but
But also in benediction. The first Corpus awful album, self-titled From the Ashes of Cerebral Rot. Also good stuff. I've been listening to a little bit of Emperor in show prep for a little over a week, week and a half. John and I will be going to back-to-back shows, Devin Townsend, and then the next day, Emperor.
For Nick, the new Ghost album, Skeleta, their sixth album. You know, Ghost is what it is, but I still like it. And I liked this one. Guiltless, Teeth to the Sky. It's the first album from a Seattle post-metal band with people from both Intranaut and my boys, A Storm of Light. Pretty cool.
Hemorrhage from Spain. Grindcore Masters put out an EP called Opera Medica. Mark Morton, the guitar player from Lamb of God, released an album called Without the Pain. It's his second solo album. It's very country rock bluesy oriented stuff, which I dig. And then heading back to Decibel,
and Justin and his portable music player in the room. I listened to all three of the Moontooth albums because, hey, they're pretty fucking cool. I'd listened to them a little bit before. Wasn't really into the vocals, but I don't know. I'm there now. So Moontooth, fuck yeah. In the right mood for Moontooth. Exactly. Next up, Slow Mosa and their second album, Tundra.
The Norwegian Stoner Rock Band. This was recommended to me by a friend of mine who I cannot name. And then next, Spirit World, Hel Dorado, their third album, this Las Vegas Western hardcore music. You're shaking your head, Marcus, on because you're like, this song is bad. Well, you know, I thought that last album, but
I was also kind of intrigued with the last album and then this one I was like alright I'm in I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go all in on this and I mean it's not like my album of the year or anything but it was fun I mean it's different and fun but I didn't like it very much two more those damn crows and their fourth album God Shaped Hole a Welsh hard rock band I will give you that but it's still pretty cool and then last but not least a band called
And it's sort of a
dark, wavy, gothic album
that just happens to have Dave Lombardo on drums because it's his wife.
Him and his wife put this album out.
And so I was like, all right, I'll listen to it. Is it metal? Nah.
But it's still pretty cool.
It's metal adjacent.
It's metal adjacent.
Sexy time music.
Sexy Time Music, for sure. Well, Dave Lombardo could put out a country record and you would not be allowed to 100% say it was not metal. Absolutely. Just because he's fucking Dave Lombardo. He's Dave Lombardo. You can do whatever he wants. And no, it was, I mean, for this style of music, it was good. I liked it. It was cool. All right, then. Shoot, I had one more, George, I forgot to do. The band is Metal Adjacent and it is self-titled.
Really good. I would check it out. I'm into the Matt edge. Just so naughty. So naughty. It's the band's name. I didn't pick it. I didn't make it up. All right. We are now ready to enter our top five.
to get to know you all very better. Well, you know, I'm just doing some research here on mine real quick. And I think four out of my five came out in 1982. So you're nostalgic for 1982. Yeah, I was talking to John about this earlier today. And yeah, my list is not anything surprising because it's all old stuff because it's nostalgic.
And I have not mentioned this yet, but our top five is albums that make us feel nostalgic. So. I can, I can change that. I have two from 81, two from 82 and one from like 78 or something. So. I mean, I did it where I was nostalgic for certain things that happened in my life. And these records bring that back. Yeah. We're going to tell some dumb fucking stories. Yeah. Time for some dumb fucking stories. Yes. Let's get dumb. And all right.
Nick, start us off with the dumb number five.
Oh, I can definitely get dumb.
Uh, my first pick is tattoo the earth.
The first crusade.
It is, uh, an album that's culminated out of that tour tattoo the earth.
And it was the first concert that I ever went to.
So it was badass that they ended up releasing this album. And really, what can I say? I listened to it a bunch after it came out, but it just brought me back to my first concert experience. I think I was going into my sophomore year, you know, built like a man, but definitely not a man.
Nervous, had no idea what I was getting into, but I got there and instantly Hatebreed came on and I had no idea who they were at the time. All I knew is I had to get into what was going on. You know, so I moshed for the first time. I had my picture for some band. I have no idea what the band was in the Des Moines Register, which is the biggest publication.
and shirtless, raising my hands up. You know, it just, it's a cool memory. And listening to this album, live tracks from Slipknot, Slayer, Seven Dust, Sepultura, Hatebreed, Mudvayne. You know, it's just this time capsule for me. And, you know, I was stone sober the whole time. I thought I was too cool.
for Slayer at the time, but it was still badass to be able to have seen them. Slipknot was at their highest peak. And on the way back to the cars afterwards, my buddy stepped in human shit. And there was no way to effectively clean it off of his shoes. So we had to put it in the trunk for the drive back home. His whole shoe? For him?
It's fond memories and the fact that it's encapsulated in an album that I listened to a bunch after the fact is pretty badass. So of course, I'm going to get sentimental about that. I like that there was human shit. Why was there just human shit there? Go to a festival, Markisan. How many dogs are around? What shit is it? Good point. Wow.
All right, so number five for me is Earth Crisis Firestorm on Victory Records. This EP really brings me back to the 90s when I was first getting into hardcore. And it came out in 1993, but the band was performing the songs around Syracuse a year or so before that. So watching them live was revelatory for me because that's when I really started going out and see bands play.
So similar to Nick, the energy and the passion that Earth Crisis put into every performance is pretty legendary in the central New York area. And being a part of that scene, that community of hardcore and metal kids was just a vital part of me. It really solidified my identity when I was a teenager.
on a bands that played with Earth Crisis or were part of the Victory Records family. And that in turn started me down the never-ending road to discovering so many different kinds of heavy music. So it was a pretty important record. And every time I play it, I just think of that time period. I'm instantly back to high school. Nice.
Matt. All right. My number five. Um, I wish I had a cool story to go with this other than, I mean, I think I would have been just getting into high school and, um, I was, you know, playing in bands and stuff. And we ended up at one point we did a song by this fan, but it wasn't from this album. Um, and to be perfectly honest, I probably am more into the other album, the album that follows this. Uh, I'm talking about the album meantime by the band helmet. Um, it was kind of, I don't want to say it was like my introduction to kind
of that post-hardcore sound, because I feel like at this time I was already listening to things like Fugazi and such, but Helmet was just such a, I don't know, it was kind of different than anything else. You know, it wasn't quite metal. We were kind of getting out of grunge at that time. According to Rolling Stone, this was death metal. Yikes. Well, I mean, it was pretty hardcore. At the time, they were like, death metal, man, Helmet. Yeah, but it was like, it was like Dudes and Dickies was short.
hair you know playing some what is you know the pants not actual like dickies suit and i went a different direction with that too yeah so i'm glad you clarified so yeah um my i didn't restrict myself 100 to metal but always metal adjacent but so my my number five is based on um a friend i used to have i um in
And he was out of his fucking mind, this guy. He was in jail so many times. He was the nicest guy, but he just couldn't handle drugs and stuff, and so he was always getting picked up and stuff. I was living in Tucson at the time. I loved going to his house. He had a little daughter and a wife, and my high school friends, he was older than me, I would be like, you gotta meet my friend Rich, and we'd go over to Rich's house. Rich was so crazy that on my 18th birthday, he was like, let's get you arrested for your birthday. And I was like, no, dude.
And we went out and just got drunk all night, drove around in his truck. And he would like, we'd stop at like busy intersections and he would get out and just take a leak on the street and then get back in the car. Somehow I didn't know. But my high school friends justifiably loved Rich. And so we would go to Rich's house on Friday nights in this school year and most nights in the summer. And I don't know why we did this, but we bought, I mean, I know why we did this, but we'd always have like a case of beer and pot and, you know,
And then we would always listen to three fucking records for some fucking reason. I don't know why. Just three, dude. In my life, going to Rich's house, I only ever remember listening to these three records. On his Fisher stereo. It was like Primo, and that was a gift from his wife. So it was great fun, and they were all vinyl. What we listened to was, How Can I Laugh Tomorrow If I Can't Even Smile Today. That's not the one I'm naming now. Deep Purple, Made in Japan.
Unrelated Completely
And then third and finally the one
Which is my number five
Which is ZZ Top Van Dango
I must have listened to those three records
In this guy's house 400 times
And we had the best times
And I cannot put that record on
Without thinking of him
And those nights at his house
Suicidal does not fit that
What's that?
Suicidal does not fit with the other two
None of them fits with each other at all
I have no idea why
I mean, we,
maybe they're the only three records he had or something.
I don't fucking know,
but that's awesome.
Sure enough.
I would leave there having heard highway star,
you know,
jailhouse rock and how will I,
how will I go?
Yeah.
So it was easy.
Top and Dingo.
All right.
John's number five is Judas priest point of entry.
Far from his favorite priest album point of entry.
took him back to when MTV started in 1981. Okay. Heading out to the highway, Don't Go, and Hot Rockin' were in heavy rotation and helped prepare him for Screaming for Vengeance the following year. Cool. My number five is a compilation album from 1986. And this is The Best of Metal Blade Volume 1. I bought this on vinyl, double vinyl.
from like Kmart or some shit in 1986 ish around there. Um, and this was my introduction to a number of classic bands. Okay. Um, this was, it had to be pre rain and blood because this was the first time I heard Slayer and had chemical warfare and necrophilies.
and evil has no boundaries live on there all three live or just no just just evil has no boundaries live yeah um trouble uh was on there twice with uh the tempter and fear no evil hallows eve plunging to mega death spelled as one would expect mega death to be spelled prior to dave mustaine bitch be my slave a little band called celtic frost
Circle of the Tyrants. A couple of Fates Warning tracks, The Apparition and Damnation. Omens, Ruby Eyes, also Death Rider. Nasty Savage, Fear Beyond the Vision. Such a good tune. Lizzy Borden's Give Him the Axe and Red Rum. Attacker's Disciple. Warlord's Child of the Damned. Metal Church, Early Metal Church, The Brave. Early Voivod.
Godblower, Hyrex, Cry Out to the Gods, and then a couple other songs. Pandemonium, Look of Death, Tyrants, Listen to the Preacher, another good one, and a song that really stuck with me, but that band never went anywhere, called Thrust and Poses Will Die. Wow. And yeah, now this, I mean, aside from being a hugely influential album for me, I mean, most of these bands,
I had never heard before this album. And, uh, you know, it's just, I mean, I still have the vinyl sitting around here somewhere. And, uh, it was just, you know, I mean, this was like my introduction to metal blade. And I, after this, I was like, anything metal blade, I want to hear metal blade, metal blade, metal blade. And, uh, so this was a highly influential album for me. Did you see Kate and DePena is part of this new. Yeah, I saw that.
because it's like Rick Honnold.
Guys from a bunch of different bands.
Yeah, I haven't listened to it, but I saw like a band phone.
I don't think they've released anything in it.
Yeah, okay.
But yeah, no, that'll be interesting.
That was awesome, George, because yeah, I didn't even think about compilations,
but there were a lot of them growing up, and that's how you would discover new bands,
just because you'd hear that song.
It was such an 80s thing.
There was tape trading, but the other early internet was compilation records. Yeah, there was another one that I was going to list, but I decided not to, and it was called Give Him the Axe, an all-out metal assault, and that had Dio, I think Mystery, had Rush, Just an Early Warning, it had Zebra, it had Scorpions. They always had... There must have been 10 compilations that had Zebras to tell me what you want on it. Yeah. It always showed up, and then it would be like,
and then it would be like something super heavy. The early ones were mishmash because they didn't quite have it down yet. The producers didn't understand what metal was. It's so especially cool because we didn't have the internet. It's like that's how you would hear new stuff. Oh yeah totally. It was more important to do compilations back then. I discovered tons of bands that way. And you know and I'm sure Jay knows this as well but back then like you know as you said no internet. I mean you
You could get magazines and stuff, but you would send away for catalogs. And there was the metal disc. I don't know if you know them, Jay. Metal disc mail order. And you sent for their catalog. And it's like this photocopied, like 20-page thing, like folded over and stapled. Was it records or t-shirts? It was records, t-shirts. It was where I got my first metal t-shirt, which was a white Peace Sells, but it was a buying shirt. Wow.
But it, you know, and that was where all like the old, like Satan, Court in the Act, in the 80s, that was where you could get this album, you know? Stuff like that. I mean, and they had like a bunch of like punk stuff in there too, like Joy Division, Suzy and the Banshees, stuff like that. But, God, I miss that place. I've talked about this before, but like this would be probably 82 through 86 or something. There was a video shop.
video rental place. And because this guy, and it was just this little hole in the wall, I lived in no place, Missouri, but this guy, because of the way his distribution work, could order me records. And so I'd read about haunting the chapel and I'd go down and say, I want haunting the chapel. I want destruction, sentence to death and blah, blah, blah. And then like two weeks later, this guy would call me and be like, your records are in. And he didn't even sell records. He just sold them to me.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah. It's.
There's something to be said for the old days and the weird and strange ways that we had to find music and get music. And now it's just all there for everybody to find. Which is nice and convenient and all, but I miss the good old days too. It cheapens it all a little bit. Yeah. All right, back to Nick for number four. Well, so before you talk, Nick, I apologize very quickly, but Nick's was also,
Yes, that's true. Also live. Also live. My fourth pick is one of the most important albums in my whole life. I think that this band has a bit of a, I don't know, a taint to them at this point. You mean the place between the balls and the ass? Definitely.
But Machine Head, The Blackening. Oh, yeah. My God, this album is so important to me. Well, you chose the right one in any case. Yeah. Just branching from where I was to where I am now, there could not have been a better bridge than this album. I was addicted to it. It spells to me this whole time period of my life from being
no longer a college student post-grad school to where I am now. They are what brought me here. This album means so much to me. I never, ever listened to it. I should. It's almost like I want to keep it sacred.
It's very meaningful to me and absolutely top-notch album. And from my late 20s to 30s, this is what made me who I am now, I would say, as a metalhead. Nice. The formation of Nick. Yes. God, I mean, that makes me want to go back and listen to that again. I haven't listened to that in forever.
It's spectacular. Oh, and just you can go to see them live and they're still ungodly amazing. Last time I saw them was on the something with the locust thing. I think that was the album after Blackening, maybe? Yeah, the album after, yeah. I want to say Enter the Locust. I forget what it was called. You just made it more epic, George.
We talked about the Sonic Temple earlier, and they headlined the second stage, one of the nights. Unto the Locust. They owned it so much. They played like, this is where we belong. It was natural to them, and their songs deserve to be at that level. It was a great viewing experience. I'm a diehard Machine Head fan.
You know, don't hold your breath for the new record, but we'll see your hopes. But I will say this. I liked that record so much that I was in a band in California and we recorded it where that was recorded in the same studio. Largely because of that, because I thought, hey, you know, I was just looking around for studios and I was like, you guys recorded the black mean here fucking we'll record here. And also I saw them a couple times in that tour in the Bay Area, which is the perfect fucking place to see them.
And also, if you want one of the best cover songs of all time, in my opinion, listen to them do Hallow Be Thy Name. Oh my God. I think that was the original selling point because I saw them do it on a video somehow. And then I bought the album after seeing that. I had no idea it was a cover song at the time.
To this day, I feel like that's my favorite cover song of all time. To Rob Flynn's credit, and he's been up and down a lot over the years, when Dio died, he did the prettiest acoustic version of Die Young from Heaven and Hell that he just put out on YouTube or something. So it was really nice. Gosh, I just looked this up and like, yeah, Unto the Locust came out in 2011.
So the last time I cared about Machine Head was prior to the beginning of this podcast.
Yeah, a long time ago.
Yeah, but I remember seeing them at Rams Head in Baltimore on that show, and it was freaking amazing.
Oh, yeah. They had just kept it together somehow.
Yeah, and then it was like Diamonds and Bloodstones, and I think that—was that the one? No.
No, maybe it was. Or Catharsis, one of those where they went—
Listen to the song Game Over on Diamond and Bloodstones. That song is freaking amazing. Which is the one where they went back to being rap rock? No. Catharsis. Yeah, Catharsis. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's like, anyway. Well, this is neither here nor there because they are so spotty now, but their new record is ready to come out. So we'll see. It came out on Friday. I haven't listened to it in full yet. I tried doing the first couple tracks and his voice seems so shot. I don't know.
if it's a production thing, but it has no pop whatsoever. I'm kind of scared to listen to the rest of it. Okay, good to hear. I'm not surprised. All right, Markisan number four. Yes, my number four is Jezu Conqueror on Hydra Head Records. So this album brings me back to 2007 when it dropped, which was a major
I had a big breakup with a girl I had been with for nine years. And I had moved to Chicago with her from Syracuse. So it was the first time I was alone and single in Chicago. I had no money. I was living in this big townhouse in the suburbs that I could no longer afford. And my credit was garbage. And I was just completely heartbroken. Nine years.
So I even remember my car broke down and I couldn't pay to get it fixed so I had to ride my bike three miles to the train every day to get to work and the townhouse I lived in and didn't have a real lease to it. I never signed anything after a couple years and they were converting it to condos with no timeline given to me to leave so I just decided I had to get out of there and I ended up moving to Oak Park.
in the city because that's where my ex wanted to go so it was kind of a revenge
relocation i guess and i remember when i applied for an apartment i wrote the landlord a letter to ensure him
that i would pay on time and be a good tenant because i was so scared that i'd be rejected for terrible
credit so this album is what i took comfort in during a time when everything was a complete
for me. It's the perfect album for wallowing and reflecting, but also finding a way back to a good place in the world. It's gorgeous, dream pop, ambient shoegaze, electronica, doom metal. And it has lyrics that really spoke to me in the chaos of that time. And I always remember the lyrics of one song in particular called Old Year, which
It encapsulated my feelings for most of 2007. And it goes, spend your time wasting all the wasteful hating. Now who are you blaming? Are we worth saving? Is this how it's always going to be? Now you're stuck in our old year, but I believe in the new year. Now who are you blaming? Are you worth saving? Is this how it's always going to be? And it's interesting because you read those lyrics and you,
you could be talking to the person that you're no longer with but you could be talking to yourself as well and so all the lyrics are kind of like that in the album and it just happened to come out that same year when I was going through all that and so I listen to it now and I think of it more as you know I got through that and this album helped me do that but in the time of course it was completely different but that's why it's always going to be kind of an important album to me and also
It's just a great record in general. It's my favorite Jesu record for sure. What was the name of it? It's called Jesu, J-E-S-U, and the name of the record's called Conqueror. Yeah, when you start talking about lyrics, I'm sold. Yeah, I mean, the lyrics, it's like the lyrics were written just for my situation. That was just the one I read.
But all of them are kind of like that. And, you know, it doesn't happen that often where it aligns perfectly like that in the same year. But that's what's cool about the world. Sometimes you have those kind of crazy coincidences. Yeah. Universe is telling you something. All right, Matt. All right, my number four. It was, it brings me back to a certain period of time.
I want to say I was in ninth grade maybe tenth grade it would have been the fall what's interesting about this album is that I'm nostalgic about it like five or six years no wait after it actually came out no wait actually quite a bit so maybe like double digits after it came out but I'm talking about Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails I think it was because something I can never have was in Natural Born
Killers. Between that and then, gosh, I just listened to this song the other night, Mazzy Star. I love Mazzy Star. Yeah. Yes. That song was on there. And then there's a few other ones. And I just kind of got into Mazzy Star for the first time ever. It's one of my all time favorite bands. Oh, man. That was the song we played at our wedding. It was like our first dance song. Yeah. That's a great song. But it was a crazy time. It was fall. Fall was always crazy. Yes, there was a girl involved.
Things did not work out, but it really opened my eyes to what that album was, because I knew what that album was when it came out. I just didn't really focus on it. But then, you know, once that kind of eerie piano melody kind of came out and you kind of see it placed in a film like Natural Born Killers, it really changed my mind and opened me up. And the funny thing is, is that I knew that the EP broke in like front to back and not even realizing like, oh, I should focus on what was, what was,
What came before? Broken was easier for metal fans to get into, though. So that was a logical entry. Yeah. I think I had Broken before I went back and got Pretty Hate Machine. Yeah. You mentioned Mozzie Star, and this is not at all related to that, except that that's a band I don't really know. And I heard a song recently, and this isn't on my list, but you just reminded me of it. And it's on a not very good movie on Apple right now called The Gorge.
Oh, I watched that movie. Anna Taylor Joy in it and stuff. But there was a song in there that I'd never heard before that made me instantly nostalgic for I don't even know what because it was but it was just one and it's by the Yeah, Yeah, Yes, and it's called spitting off the edge of the world. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Holy fuck. That's a good song. That's I had no I was me I rewound the movie so I could listen to the song. No, and they put it perfectly because that was the the romance scene that they had. It was a yeah, sometimes the song hits perfectly.
in a movie and that was a heavy tune man i love this what's interesting about that movie is when i was watching it i started to think like god this sounds like what what trent resner would do for a soundtrack like oh bummer people are copying him and then i went and looked and it's him and atticus yeah so there you go um to that end by the way briefly um for those of us who are a series watch this watchers dope thief on apple tv is fucking great don't know oh yeah these guys pretend to be the age
and go and rob other people but it's so good it's so good it's like the wire on hbo good fuck i love it
that's high praise dude i jammed through it it was so good um okay my next point is um i used to this i was 11
years old when this record came out but we started working early in my family because we lived in a resort area but they were just like these mom and pop resorts they had like 10 cabins i lived on a lake in missouri and so i would ride
We had a moped and I would ride this moped on country roads with cars on them at 11 years old to my job. Are you talking about Ozark? Yeah, I am. I am. This doesn't look like the Ozarks. There are scenes in there of places I used to go. Wow. And Bagnell Dam and all that. But anyway, I used to ride my moped and mow lawns and clean cabins and all this shit. And I remember, and it was like my first real job. I'd mowed lawns before, but I remember getting a paycheck and they were like,
It was a guy named George Cuse who I kind of looked up to and he gave me my first paycheck. It was 160 bucks. I was like, what the fuck? And all I cared about was buying records. And, um, but I remember riding that mope at home. And the first thing I do is take shower and then I listen to music. And I, if I put on screaming for vengeance, I am in my bedroom again, freshly showered with the window open and the breeze coming through the door.
my money for the next record so I'm going to buy it. For some reason, Screaming for Vengeance still sounds like 1982 to me and I can be right where I was when I would listen to that record. That's awesome. John's number four, Amorphous, Eclipse from 2006. This was an album that surprised him with the return of harsh vocals from new singer Tomi Utsin? I don't know how to say those Finnish names.
Eclipse is his favorite Amorphous album. So he always thinks back to this period when he became a much bigger fan of the band. All right. Well, I'm going to take us up a couple years, notch, notch, to 1984 and the self-titled Metal Church album.
I kind of stumbled on this like I traded somebody something for it like you know like we it
wasn't like a like a like a keepsies trade but just sort of a hey let's I'll give you this and you give me that and we'll listen to it and we'll trade back in a couple of days and I remember listening to this album on the school bus and more specifically with my headphones and walk man walking home from the
to my house and the song gods of wrath coming on and that is like i don't know if anybody on here i mean i'm sure jay probably knows it um uh it was such a massive power ballad kind of thing it blew my freaking mind because it was like d d d d you know like arpeggiated clean guitars and like some singing and then he just david
would just be like wow and like you know and kick into the heavy stuff and it was just like i was like this is not all you know and i absolutely loved that song so much and that album so much and whenever i hear anything from this album i'm walking home from the school bus with my walkman on listening that's that nice you know so you know what's problematic about this
is that I have intense memories of hearing like master puppets for the first time, which by I was on a school bus, but it was like a three hour trip on a school bus. So I listened to it over and over and over and over. And I was like, what the fuck is this? But that record has so come forward with me that it's nostalgic qualities aren't as ingrained as some of my other ones. You know what I mean? I can't explain that except to say that I remember where I first heard it, but master puppets. Then I went on to listen probably for the next 15 years.
Well, it's because you don't have a personal connection because you just heard it on a bus. You know, the other stories, it's like your friends and like, I'm just chilling on the bus and I heard it. It's not a good story. You're probably right. Yeah, that's why, Jay. That's not as memorable because you don't have that connection to another person or something eventful in your life. True enough. All right.
All right. For most of my fatherhood with my son, we had game nights on Fridays. And the last few years, that has diminished. And I really, really miss it.
It filled the void of the hangouts that you would have with your friends. It just would be me and him bro-ing down, jamming to tunes. But one of the biggest albums and the best songs that incorporated that period of time, because that would always be playing music, came from Judas Priest,
This album, I don't think I would be a fan of Judas Priest if they wouldn't have released an album of such high quality this late in their career. They were passe for most of my existence. I'm sure it was you guys raving about it that made me check it out. It's like, oh my god, I fucking love this.
doing whatever I was doing, checking it out based solely on your guys's opinions. But yeah, with tracks like No Surrender, Never the Hero, The Scepter, my son loves them. And based off of all of this, I took him to Peoria, Illinois to see his first live band, which was Judas Priest.
in the hockey arena.
You know, I paid extra.
So we were front rows.
Right on, not in the general admission, but just like right on the boards.
But it was special to me.
And this album is special to me.
Well, it's hard to compete with those father son things that make all mine seem like dumb shit.
Well, and my history runs so less deep than your guys'. So pretty much all of my stuff is going to be more recent than yours. Oh, no, for sure. By the way, that cover art calls to mind screaming for vengeance, too, quite on purpose. Yeah. Yeah, they came out with a giant bowl, and Brody was asking me, why is that a bowl? I don't know.
I don't know. It was a special moment for me. And it was all based on that album because I wouldn't be the Judas Priest fan that I am if they hadn't released a current album so goddamn good. And I honestly wouldn't say that I would have even given it two thoughts if you guys hadn't been raving about it.
about it. So I think it's a trifecta of sentimentality with this one. Cause. Oh yeah. That's awesome. You, you, you, you. Favorite podcast. Yeah. Podcast. To favorite album, Diflex to my son loving the songs and therefore me being a lifelong or not lifelong, but a diehard Judas Priest fan. And my son just thinking those songs are.
"Normal." You know, those songs are what... That's a good way to put it. What do you mean? You don't know "Never the Hero"? What are you talking about when he talks to his friends? You know, they're jams that should be known across the board and they're not, but he knows them and they're just... they're one in the chorus with Led Zeppelin in his mind.
I almost put a Zeppelin one on my list, but I didn't. Yeah. So my number three is a Sub Rosa, No Help for the Mighty Ones, on profound lore records. So this album came out exactly one month before I got married. It dropped on February 11th, 2011, and Tracy and I got married on March 11th. So this album was the constant soundtrack.
for me leading up to the big day and then a month or two beyond that so i think it was the perfect record to prepare me for this major moment in my life because it's just a unique um and emotional maelstrom of of instruments and vocals it's just rich melodic doom trance of an album filled with these sludge buzz guitars somber violin passages there's a bit of
and a gallon of punk-infused blood to it. And it just feels grand and timeless and reflective. And when I listened to it back then, it was very much a conduit for that swirl of feelings I had. But it also inspired me to embrace the moments that were going to come after we got married. And when I listen to it now, I remember what it was like when I was a
about to take that plunge with Tracy into this life together. And it's just a beautiful, singular album, which is a lot like the relationship that carried us into married life. And so I love listening to it because it makes me think of that time period yet again. And it's also just a great album. But yeah.
You know, to that end, actually, I wanted to tell you, and I'm quite sincere about this, because you always have the nicest photos when you put stuff up on Facebook, that I was very sorry, as excited as I am that you're coming, that I'm not going to get to meet your wife. Yeah, I wish. The three of us could sit down and chat and stuff, so that's too bad, but someday. Someday. Yeah, if you didn't have the show to go to, then we probably would have been able to do it, but. Yeah, oh, no, no, no, I mean. You know, if we got more time, you could always come to Chicago, too.
I got a sister that lives not far from there. So I, and I do need to visit family sooner or later. So, but I'm sincere in that. She just looks like such a nice lady. So I thought I'd meet her eventually. She's fiery, but she's super nice. Redhead. Exactly. Maddie. Okay. My number three. This takes me back to junior high. In some ways, you know, there isn't, I mean,
Thrash metal is unique in its own. But, you know, there's a lot of thrash that sounds like itself. But there's something unique about thrash when you remove a silly bass guitar. And you have an album that you call Land Justice for All. Okay. By a band Metallica. Really wanted a chance to guess that one. This is definitely my first foray into thrash, into what would be like, you know, not hair metal.
I was in love of the moment I heard Blackened.
And I never turned back.
Yeah.
I just remember being in middle school and my friend joined Columbia House,
which there was no way that was happening to me,
but he would bring his little tape thing in and he had all his tapes.
And we,
I mean,
it's just funny how much time you could just stare at them and look at them
without actually hearing anything.
Cause we didn't have a tape player at school,
but I mean,
they were just,
I mean,
it would,
it was like I was opening a chest of gold every time I saw it.
So that was.
That was a meme not too long ago, Matt, and it said something like, a lot of you out there think you're good people, but you still owe Columbia House like $46. Nobody ever went past the 12 for a penny. That was it. You did that? Oh, no. And I had multiple. I had a Columbia House and BMG at my house, at my grandparents' house. I was like, I've got a shit ton of albums. Yeah, we were terrible at that company. Oh, yeah. And then you would do the deal, and then I would buy my one.
for $20. And then I would do nothing. And then they would just send it again. Like, hey, do you want to do it again? Yeah. Hurry up, man. All right. My next one has to do with the move to extreme metal. And this one is extreme in a lot of ways, or at least at the time it was. And I think George and I talked about this once. And it was a record that I brought home. I'd seen it in the record shop in a town far from our
So I had to, it was in Springfield, Missouri. We'd go and I'd save up my $40 and buy as many records as I could. And I kept seeing this one and then I kept reading about it. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna fucking buy it. And I got home and I put it on and I was like, looking over my shoulder, like maybe this is too much. I don't want my mom to hear this or whatever. And it was Venom black metal. I mean, I can still remember hearing that intense level of sound, that intense level of satanic lyrics. And I don't know if you can picture the back of that record, but Chromium
is in like this weird basement under this house and red lights and and i thought this is probably who these guys are i don't know you know but it was a kind of a unnerving uh transition because it was right around the time i was starting to find king diamond and or merciful fate rather and you know slay and stuff but at that time in that moment previous to melissa nobody had was darker than welcome to hell and black metal and i got black well first
And that record just, I can easily go back to like how nervous it made me, you know, for the first few lessons. And then it was the coolest thing I've ever heard in my fucking life. But, you know, it was like seeing a horror movie when you're a kid, you know, the first time you saw The Exorcist. Scared into metal. Because you had this loyalty to this music and you thought, does this mean that I love Satan? Or whatever it meant in 1981, you know, because that record came out in 82. So anyway, but I can easily
be nostalgic about their record plus it's produced in its time it sounds like 1982 without a budget so that feeling will come up again well let's i don't know if it's this time but i'm passing the one to you john's number three isis oceanic from 2002 oceanic reminds him of the early mid-2000s when the atmospheric sludge post-metal scene took off he fell down the rabbit hole for bands like isis
Cult of Luna, Pelican, Russian Circles, and Red Sparrows, etc. And no record exemplifies that period better than that one, as far as I'm concerned. So that was a great choice. Yeah, it's such a good record, too. It really is, dude. I mean, and I kind of say that every time it comes up, but fuck, it's just, that one's imprinted in my fucking... Well, it's also interesting, too, because John, it sounds like he's doing milestones in his metal listening, as opposed to, you know, milestones.
in his personal life.
Yeah.
All right.
My number three is from 1989, Voivod, Nothing Face.
Now, while this is, of course, one of my all-time favorite albums, there's also a reason for that, which is that when, well, it came out in 89, but I really got into it in more like 90, 91.
And during that period of time, it was very, it was post high school, very chaotic periods of time for me. And specifically, I had in my past lives, a number of poor roommate choices. Let's just leave it at that. And this was my second room poor roommate choice.
Second Eviction.
And not my last, by the way.
I think you're mispronouncing erection there, by the way, George.
So anyway, it was a really dark time in my existence.
And this album was so weird and different.
And I loved it so much.
And this is the album that got me through a lot of really dark stuff. You know? Yeah. Without this album, who knows if I'd even be here, you know? I mean, it was really, really bad shit. And, uh, but I'm here and this album is amazing and it means the world to me. I mean, it would probably be in like a top five all time. Oh, wow.
So nice. I love that record. Yeah. Got that in vinyl for record store day a couple years ago. Excellent. Yes. Nice. All right. Back to Nick for number two. Well, the light and the mood. That's good. I was a stepdad. For the.
Yeah, the first time in my life. And I drove Ella to school every single day. And I just have these super fond moments of listening to this album. It's Holy Grail, Crisis on Utopia. During the song, The Last Attack, the singer holds out this note. He goes,
Like you would expect.
But we would have so much fun trying to hold that note as long as the singer holds that note.
So, yeah, in regards to sentimentality with music and being like, at this point, I'm just her dad.
But at that point, you know, it was new to me. I was trying to impress myself upon her at the same time feeling out what it would take to be a stepdad. And I don't know. It's very important to me in my history, this album, and in particular, just me and me.
And her singing this song together. Bonding. On our way to work. So, Holy Grail, Crisis, and Utopia. Nice. That's sweet. Yeah, you've got some really good nostalgia, dude. All of mine are recent, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's 20 years. How recent is that? I don't, it's all personal.
It's subjective to each one of us. And, you know, what means
something to you, that's what's important.
And you also have to remember
the times where you guys had like your
formative metal moments.
I had new metal.
That's okay.
That is hurtful. You know, it's funny to say that because I used to be back when this was kind of more what the internet was about. I used to be on this like old school metal message board or some bullshit thing years and years ago. And I remember there'd be kids on there and they'd get on and be like, they couldn't believe this record was this good or they would talk about me and they, and I felt so bad for someone to not know what it was like, like to be there when like number of the bees came out, then, then peace of mind, then, you know,
Power Slave. It was like, it's too bad. Missed that. It was fun to wait for those new records to come out. Just apropos of nothing, I just happened to look over. I've got this pile of cassettes on the other side of the room. And I have this cassette that I bought off a guy that I knew, that I worked with in high school. And this is a handwritten,
Metallica the bus has no brakes
I was at the same bus Jay was on
no it's the it's the tribute to
Cliff Burton
oh that bus
yeah that bus
and
it's got I think it's like live
stuff with Cliff
like leading up to when he died
and the dude like hand wrote
the Metallica logo on there
and you know
And it's just a frickin' Sony. Oh, yeah. Standard. Cassette tape, 90-minute tape with all the stuff. I've got, like, a few of these that I got. It's all old, like, bootleg Metallica stuff. And this is actual old bootleg Metallica stuff. Anyway. It's great. Treasures, George. Treasures you've unearthed. Yes. All right. So my number two is
Pelican, the self-titled EP from 2001 on Hydrahead Records. I just received the new issue of Decibel in the mail today with Pelican on the cover, so that's some good timing. Ironic. Yeah, but this debut recording is an important album to me because I moved to Chicago in the fall of 2000, and they released this record independently shortly after that, and then Hydrahead re-released it a couple years later.
But Pelican is the first Chicago band I got into when I became a resident. I mean, I knew of other Chicago bands. The first one I really listened to when I was here. So I got into them from the ground floor and I consider them like my Chicago team. So a lot of people root for Chicago baseball or football or whatever, but I root for Pelican. And I believe Pelican is also the first band I saw live in Chicago as well.
And I saw them in a fucking bowling alley called Fireside Bowl in 2001. And Fireside Bowl used to put on these punk, metal, and hardcore shows a lot in the 90s and the very early 2000s. And the place is still around, but back in probably 2002 or 2003, I think the city forced them to drop live music and just stick to bowling, unfortunately.
And Pelican was not the first instrumental band I listened to. I think Gordian Knot debuted a couple years earlier and I was into that. John would definitely know that band. But Pelican definitely made me fall in love with instrumental metal. So now whenever I listen to this record, I think about moving here and how it was one of the best decisions I've made.
first person in my group of friends to make such a major move to another city like that. And I just can't imagine what my life would have been like if I didn't make that decision to come here. So I wouldn't have met Tracy, for one, which is, you know, one big reason why this album edges out Sub Rosa, which is also connected to her. But this record also reminds me of how great the metal scene is in Chicago, and how that is because of the
in my life and a lot of other people's lives who live here for the last 25 years. So, man, it's just a great EP. It's heavy. And, man, it just really set the stage for Pelican, who I've loved all these years. And they call it an EP, but it's longer than Slayer's Rain and Blood. So I declare it to be a full album on this podcast. Yeah, well, that's the standard. This is the way.
Maddie.
All right.
My number two.
Think back to my number three.
And this is kind of building on it as it is my number two.
And it was same time period,
junior high,
same genre.
But when I heard the opening notes of war ensemble and I heard how fast drums could be.
And I just remember thinking like, this is what I want. You know, Metallica was cool. Metallica was thrash, but this kind of added that center shell element. It added, I mean, just pure thrash. And the occult. And honestly, I loved, you know, my friend, again, same friend with the tape case. He had, you know, we'd open it up and see the drawing and I was like, this is so evil. I love this. And, you know, obviously, you know, it wasn't like Venom level.
devil worship or anything like that but it was just the right amount of it was the right amount of sinister i needed at that age to be you know so to sell my soul nice you know it's funny because slayer was a fan that really struggled without putting on here which they didn't make my list but but i i'm literally my brother went to illinois when shona mercy came out and we didn't have a lot of record stores or else and i said look for this record because i wanted it and
And I had written about them, believe it or not, in Cream Magazine. It wasn't even an article, as I mentioned. And I still remember that record coming home. That was a game changer. My number two, I had mentioned black metal in the last round here, and that was 1982. But in 1981, between those two years, things were moving fast. And so even though black metal was like this weird explosion of
Let's just go as far as we can. There was stuff a year before that that would seem tame a year later. But Diary of a Madman at the time, there was no Osbournes. There was none of that. And I got a hold of that record. And there's a lot of somewhat eerie stuff on there, at least for 1981. But more importantly, I felt so isolated as a heavy metal kid in 1981 in a rural area. I didn't know anybody except for my closest friends. And they didn't care that much. You know,
I would be like, "You can't kill rock and roll." That still makes me feel like this weird little isolated kid in his bedroom. You know, just going, "You can't kill my music, man." And that record is date stamped for me. And it's similar to Screaming for Vengeance in that way as I can picture my bedroom and feeling all like it was me against the world or whatever the fuck I thought when I was 10 years old. But, you know, that record,
It had a powerful effect on a 10-year-old mind. And it's still one of my favorite metal records of all time. So, you know. For me, and I bumped this one for the Voivod, but Ozzy's Bark at the Moon was my seminal Ozzy record. You know, I'd listened to some Sabbath, but that was the, Bark at the Moon was the first Ozzy record that I picked up. And it was like, you know, I mean, the album cover, he's all like, ah, he's dressed up like a werewolf.
And, you know, I'd been reading all these articles in, you know, Hip Parader and stuff about him being, you know, protested and, you know, devil worshiper, blah, blah, blah. And Bark at the Moon was very seminal for me in that it was like I was breaking taboo by buying this album and then subsequently loving that album.
That meant a lot, but it got bumped because of the Voivod and the story behind that. But my number two is a Slayer album, and that's Rain and Blood. And because Rain and Blood, while I had those couple songs on that Metal Blade compilation, Rain and Blood was the first album that I could actually find a copy of. And so when I got that, I also had this
Venom, black metal, whatever experience where I was like, oh, this is evil. Not that I was ever particularly religious or anything. I didn't grow up with that. But at the same time, I'm listening to like necrophobic and altar of sacrifice and going, is this okay that I'm listening to this? You know, this is pretty evil stuff.
You know? And it was also like the end of innocence for me because it was like after
Rain of Blood, everything was kosher.
So it is evil, but I like it.
Well, it's sort of like the guys in World War II in Vietnam.
They're like, well, I killed a guy. I might as well keep going.
Exactly.
But there was like this, like the only time in my life
I was like, is this okay? That I'm listening to this? That I'm liking this? Is this okay? And then I was like, yes, yes it is. Satan. Satan. It's funny because it's fun to hear these ones too because I like both Bark at the Moon and Rain and Blood. Like I remember exactly where and when I bought those, you know. Yeah. Without question. I remember the story.
It's no longer there
I bought Bark at the Moon
and Saxon
Power and the Glory
at the same trip to the record store
That's funny how those like
you get two things together
and they
it sort of
sticks in your mind
forever
Oh for sure
Yeah
Same thing with
Ride the Lightning
and Into Glory Ride
Both of those
and the things
come to the record store
Nice
Alright
Nick
Let's bring it on home
You wanna do John's?
Oh yeah
Thank you.
John's number two.
Dream Theater, Awake from 1994.
Okay.
This was his entry point to Dream Theater and the 1990s prog metal explosion.
This is one of his favorite albums of all time.
And he always thinks back to this period in amazement that he discovered a subgenre where 1970s, early 1970s and 1980s rush meets metal.
Insert boner emoji.
Was that John or did you insert that for John?
No, it was John.
Okay.
You know, it's funny because, and I think I might have told this story to John one time,
but my friends in high school, when I lived in Tucson, his cousin was Joe Tobias, the bass player for Fate's Morning.
So when they would come through town, we'd get to hang out with him.
And we went and saw him in Phoenix.
We had to drive up to Phoenix for one tour. And this would have been 88, 89. And the drummer, whose name I forget, was wearing a Dream Theater shirt. And we were like, who is that? And he was like, you need to check them out. So that was how I learned about Dream Theater was the drummer from Face Money. And I never much cared about them. I was like, okay, yeah, Dream Theater, they're okay. I remember their second album when it came out. This would be the first one, the one I'm talking about. Images and Words.
The First One With What's-His-Name-On-Vocals and Pull Me Under was the song and I remember hearing that. Pull Me Under was the hit, yeah. And I was like, ooh, and I bought that and I was like, yeah, I like that song. That kind of set their whole career up, to be fair, because it got them visible enough. Yeah, and then the rest of it was not as much what I liked, but I am revisiting them again these days, so. Fair enough. All right, Nick, let's put this beast to bed.
All right, my last album is definitely sentimental to me because I have visions of my sophomore year in high school football where unbeknownst to me, all of a sudden I'm starting varsity and just feeling like I'm starting varsity.
I feel so far out of my element. I went from not even starting JV to the next year being a pivotal role on a state qualifying team. And Tool Anima was this
It was everything to me at that point. It settled me. It pumped me up. It did everything I needed at that moment. I remember coming home on Fridays because high school football are on Friday nights. And I just would play it. And I would walk back and forth in my living room. The slow buildups, the tension, the
It just was everything that I needed at that moment. And I'll never think of anything other than my sophomore year of football. Other than tool on my. Did you feel like a hooker with a penis? Oh, if you want a karaoke, I can do that.
I mean, yes, we do now. Did you learn to swim? I just need to know. Did you learn to swim? I did it all in my brain multiple times, just walking back and forth in my living room. Nervous tension, just like needing to get built up, but not too built up. You know, you don't need Pantera two hours before you get to the stadium. But Tool, Anima,
That's what you want. You just like want this contemplative, like slow build. Intensity. Elbow deep past the borderline. I get it. I just picture Nick just speaking German. All those German tracks, which I think it's like a recipe or something that they're doing. I think it's a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
It's so great. I am. You know, it's funny because I bet I'm willing to bet most of us have some nacelles around that record. I certainly do. Yeah. But also that was the same year Antichrist Superstar came out. And man, that was such those were those two records were so important to me that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I loved them both. That was a good year. I wasn't born with enough. In general, Tool sent me down this path of reflection, contemplation.
and heaviness that I don't think I would have, it would not have been a thing if Tool had not have been there at that time. They were my favorite band of all time, even though I don't go back and listen to them that much until Baroness came into my life. I think Matt had mentioned Injustice for All, and I think Anima brought just as many souls to the business.
for a different generation.
I'm sure of it.
That record really converted a lot of people.
Yeah.
And they didn't all necessarily go the Metallica route,
but it brought them to heavy music.
That record was very influential at its time.
Oh, yeah.
And probably mentioned on lots of other podcasts
that are a little bit more post-metal than metal than ours is.
No, it's metal.
It's metal.
I'll call it metal, yeah, for sure.
Is it adjacent?
Yeah, adjacent.
I believe the term in Spanish is a lot of if Jay gives you a penny it's adjacent so well this is funny because I'm also going to go with a two-op but it's not that one it is a undertow from 1993
I'll suck your dick on that one. Oh. Oh my God. No, thank you. But okay. So this is a kind of an emotional longer story. But before you tell it, I have to share a joke and I'm so sorry, but it's because what just happened. And it was one of my favorite scenes in Blazing Saddles where Gene, the sheriff says to Gene Wilder, Gene Wilder's in jail. And he says, well, what do you like to do to pass the time?
And Gene Welder says, I don't know. Play chess. Screw. And the sheriff goes, well, let's play chess. So anyway, perfect. Yeah. So yeah. You're doubting my skills is what you're saying. No, no, no. He was avoiding the uncomfortable offer.
He just really likes chess. And blazing saddles to be fair. So yeah, Tool Undertow from 1993. So when I was 17, I was selected to go to Belize with a handful of other students and a couple teachers as part of this Save the Rainforest program where we went and learned ways to conserve the jungle and get the word out about that. And it happened in the summer after I graduated from high school. And it was
one of the most wonderful experiences I've ever had and the most horrible experience I've ever had it was the first time I had ever gone on a trip like that without my parents and seeing the rainforest was absolutely incredible we lived in these thatch roof huts filled with scorpions we snorkeled the second largest barrier reef in the world and swam with sharks and stingrays and these barracudas that would zip by me at lightning speed
So it was a heart-pounding adventure of a lifetime for me, especially as a teenager. And I also made a bunch of new friends because I went on this trip. I didn't really know any of the other kids that were going there except for one. But while we were in the rainforest, we were supervised by this local guide named Chris, who first came across as this really affable, joyous character. Everybody loved this guy.
But one night he got one of the girls really drunk on rum and he took her to his hut to take advantage of her. And I remember her friend coming up to me panicked because he couldn't find her and telling me that he thought maybe she was with Chris because he had seen her with him. And he was really scared for her and he didn't know what to do. So when I heard that, I didn't hesitate. I grabbed my machete.
And I kicked down his hut door and there she was on his bed with him on top of her. And so I asked her if she wanted to leave and she ran to me in tears. So I took her back to the other huts and she fell asleep. And I remember that night listening to Undertow on my Walkman in my bed, surrounded by this netting as the scorpions dropped down. And in that moment,
I think I just really understood why metal bands like Tool make such dark music in a way I just couldn't really get before because I didn't know how sinister people could be, how horrendous the world could be until I was forced to confront it directly, you know. You have a sense of what it's like, but it's different when it's right there in front of you.
I would ever encounter something like this. So the next day we told the teachers who were completely oblivious to what was happening and they didn't believe us. And mostly it was because one of them had it out for me just because I was a brown metal kid with really long hair. I had super long hair at that time. And he thought I was like a drug addict, which I'd never taken drugs in my life. So it was just a terrible, terrible time.
And when we got back home, this girl, she started sending me at least half a dozen letters when I was at college, just thanking me and then sharing what she went through afterward. That incident, it just, it scarred her for a really long time and she needed extensive therapy to get to a better place. And I never really talked about it because I didn't think it was my,
story to tell. But a few years back, she posted about what happened on Facebook. And she thanked me publicly for coming to get her, which was surprising to me. But I think she just really needed to do that as part of the healing process. And I've never really known what to say to her about all that, except just listen. But I'm just really thankful that she managed to live through what happened to her out there.
So now, whenever I listen to Undertow, I'm reminded of my experience in Baileys, which started with such joy and then turned to sadness and showed me the depths of human darkness. But it also reminds me that we don't have to succumb to that darkness. We can listen to it. We can experience it. We can be trapped in it for a while, but we can also come out of it stronger, just like she did.
And so that's all connected to this album now, which I love, you know, even before I went out there. And it became a place of solace for me because I didn't know how to process that being so young either. And for a long time, I didn't know, like I said, even what to say. But yeah, so the dark side of metal.
But I think there's light in it as well at the end. I don't even know how to follow up commenting on that. No, we could just stop talking now for the rest of the episode. It's been a great episode. Thanks, everyone. Later. But I will say this. Ironic that thematically, Tool in general talks about a lot of the themes you just talked about. Yes. Yeah, like prison. Like embracing the darker part of the world, finding out about it, but seeking.
No, and it's one of those things, like I was talking about the other album, and I brought it out there because I really love that record, and then this situation happens, and these tunes are all about that kind of a thing, and that's the record that I brought for my Walkman to listen to the most. So, yeah, I mean, I would say I kind of needed it, and, you know, whenever I get into kind of situations, I mean, I don't get in a lot of situations like that,
now, but I think about reaching for that particular record.
And so it's just weird how music kind of connects to these life events.
And it's not just mine.
It's, you know, it's this girl that I'm talking about.
So, yeah.
Sorry to be heavy, but that's what I was saying.
Well, no, I mean.
And to switch it from heaviness, the Henry Rollins part,
where he goes,
I've gone to great lengths to expand my threshold for pain.
For some reason,
that's something that goes through my mind.
I don't know,
like once every other week.
I'm sure that sounds douchey,
but no,
not at all.
The spoken word part in all of that,
that Henry Rollins does.
It's been incredibly impactful for me. Like life moving forward. It's just something that I do. I just, I think of those words and I move forward. So don't worry, Marcus, son, I'm not going to leave you alone out in the dark because mine's a little fucked up too. So when we get to mine, it'll alleviate some of that pressure. All right. All right. Well, maybe, maybe the heaviest podcast.
Yeah, but it's fun. Thank you for sharing that. This was a topic. Yeah. It is, but also, I mean, hey, you know, music is not just this weird academic exercise, you know? Oh, it's intertwined with our soul. Yeah. Right. And like in this one too, you know, I love the album, but I didn't think of all the concepts that were in the record until after something like this happens. And then you realize that, you know, they wrote these songs for real
and they're saying something in it and it's life that they're talking about and i just went through something and a friend of mine went through something that that they were you know i guess getting out through music anyways all right no amen brother now i want to listen to the album again i always want to listen to that you have the option maddie yeah matt all right um
Yeah, so my number one. Match that, motherfucker. Are you familiar with the band Party Cannon? I was going to... How do you feel about Steel Panther? Good thing John's not here. I was going into, you know, I was going to tell the story of, like, my origin story for, like, my band of bands these days.
which is Carcass. And when Surgical Steel came out, I just remember really loving that album. I'm thinking like, oh yeah, I do remember this band. And so I started listening to some older stuff. And the moment that Improvigation came on off of Necroticism, Descanting the Insalubrious, which has taken me most of my life to be able to pronounce that, I realized like, I've been in love with you the whole time. And that time started when I was 15 in high school. I remember someone gave me that CD and I was going into the
I was like this is so grotesque I don't think I should be I don't think I should have this seeing like some of their other albums have just had you know a lot of medical photos which is something that makes me super queasy but but I still love it because it's carcass and so my number one is necroticism by carcass because it takes me back but it also brings me forward it's like it's kind of that paradoxical nostalgia then and now.
I'm just making all this shit up.
To try and follow Markisan.
Yeah.
You know, like legit, legit, like powerful story.
Well, unfortunately, I'm going to make it harder for George because mine is a similar.
Oh boy.
Here we go.
Well, mine's shit.
So, well, is it human shit though?
No, it's not even tattooed the earth.
So that's my memory.
And I have to admit that this, we're also in metal adjacent period here.
But so there's this whole complicated history with my dad and who died not over long ago.
And so to just give you a brief story without being at all deeply emotional about it, he, my dad was kind of in and out of jail a lot when I was a kid.
And he was in jail before I was ever born.
And my mom told me, that ever fucking happens again, that's it, buddy. And then they went on and had the rest of us, the kids, so there's four of us. And what he would do was, like, be a manager at a company and then, like, embezzle a bunch of money and then disappear. Like, habitually. Like, this was a fucking thing he did. And this is a true story. So the last time he told my mom he was going to Las Vegas for a conference,
and took off blah blah blah. She got us all up
that morning. He left at like 4 in the morning
or something. We all got in a
Volkswagen van
that we had in 1970
whatever the fuck it was. Turned on the radio
and they announced that they were arresting
my dad for this
Don Bernhardt with blah blah blah
in the city of Madison today so he was going to turn
himself in.
The long story short, that was the end of that
relationship but then he would get out every few years
and we would see him at Christmas.
He would come pick us up, take us to the mall, buy us a couple toys, and then eventually my mom would say, your dad's back in jail. And that's exactly how it went for years. So in 1980, we went to, or 1981, we went to, we moved to Missouri and we went to Wisconsin for Christmas. He had a stepfather, everything was fine. And my dad had gotten remarried, was out of jail. And that was the trip, by the way, where I bought Bark at the Moon and,
and yeah and saxon on the same trip but anyway we went see my dad he kind of re-established his life and blah blah blah blah blah took us to the national history museum in chicago did all this stuff that we really didn't kind of do when i was a little kid plus he was gone so early and and i apologize for this because you know just like with marcus sounds i mean this is i know this is like a real story so and we had this great time you know what i mean it was like the best time
It was the best time I ever had with my dad. It was me and my two brothers and my sister. And he lived in Racine, Wisconsin, where my grandparents were. So what had happened was we went there for Christmas. Dad came and got us for two, three nights. And then we went back with my mom and everything and blah, blah, blah. And then we got out of the car and he dropped us off at my grandma's house, my mom's mom. I just fell apart. And I went inside and everybody was like, why are you crying? Like they thought my dad had done something mean to me or something like that. And I said, we're never going to see him again.
And I don't know why I knew that, but I knew we were never going to sim again. And I never did. And that summer, and this was the joke in my family, was my mom would say, they found your dad's car at the airport. That was the way we used to find out on multiple occasions. He would get into these trouble, steal all this money, they found your dad's car at the airport. And literally the day that I bought the album Journey Escape, which is not a very terribly metal record, but
We get home from wherever the fuck we were. My mom says, we've got to talk to you. Go in the bedroom. They found your dad's car at the airport. That was it. And I cannot hear Escape now without, I mean, it's like probably the most heavily imprinted record I own, you know, and it's fine, by the way. I'm not a broken man or anything like that, whatever the fuck. And, and then, but I knew, I knew it was gonna be the last time I saw him. And then when I, and then of course that's got like, don't stop believing on it and all this fucked up shit. You know what I mean?
It's kind of candy, you know, I totally admit it's candy, but this was before Don't Stop Believin' was like ubiquitous. It was a hit, but it wasn't like it is now, where it's sort of like everybody knows it. And so anyway, there are fewer and more nostalgic records I have than that that take me to a moment. And I'm not even that nostalgic a guy. So the truth is, is that to put that on, though, it can immediately make the hair on my arm stand up. And not because I'm sad or upset or anything. It's just like it was such a
Powerful Time, you know? Yeah. So there you go. Journey Escape. Wow. I'm sorry to tell you, like, my dad's whole history. It's not a story I'm dying to tell, but it's also not one I'm embarrassed about. I'm not proud of it. I don't give a shit one way or another. It's fine, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But for a kid, it was a weird experience. Oh, yeah. Had to be. Had to listen to that. And that was, like, my record of the summer. You know, I listened to it so much that summer. Well, I love that record. And at least it's a feel
It's got like mother father on it. It's got stone in love, which is about the remembrance of like a lost love. It's got don't stop believing, which is like a message of don't give up. And none of them that I equate to this situation, by the way, in any way, shape or form. It's just that I was full of weird youthful. And it's called escape. It's called escape. Which means a lot on so many different levels in that story. So it does. But
Bear in mind too that a mournful kid as we all probably were in our way who loves music can always find an excuse to feel sorry for themselves and sit there and think you're the only one and blah blah blah so that's all out of my dna at this point but at the time boy that was that it was that record was powerful for me you know absolutely I mean it might as well been a fucking gospel record you know what I mean or something something about something deeper than it was about yeah
So my apologies too for being so personal. Well, it's, I mean, I think you bring up a good point. I mean, I'll give a brief example. The song dancing on the ceiling by Lionel Richie. I will forever remember that song because that is the night my grandma had a heart attack and I was, I was a young kid and sleeping in my tree fort outside of my mom coming to get me in the middle of the night and going to, I mean, just being so confused. And I'm talking like five or six years old, being so confused, but it's crazy. Like 41 years have passed.
And so with albums, we're talking about a little bit larger scale, but still those moments in your life that it becomes a soundtrack. And I do think it's music lovers who do that. I mean, when I walk into a grocery store, the first thing I tune into is the music plane. And it's just habitual. And so what I mean is your whole life is imprinted that way. My poor brother, when my other brother died, he had told him jokingly,
If it's not bullshit, when you die, find a way to tell me. You know what I mean? And meaning like, what happens if there's a way you can get me a message? And this is my brother who is not an emotional guy or anything like that. And he was driving around. He got in his car a couple months later and he said, hey, it's been a couple months. I guess you're just gone. And he turned on the car and imagined by John Lennon was on.
Can you imagine that dude? Wow. Music will fuck you up, man. It will. It will. Gosh. It's powerful, man. It'll fuck you up. It'll heal you. It can sway your emotions all different directions, but I mean, that's why you love it. Because it has that power. Yeah. Well, I did not expect all of this when I picked this topic. Sorry about that. No, no sorry. God damn it, George. Thank you. Honestly, thank you for
Thank you for sharing it. I mean, you know, it's good to share this stuff. And while it's deep and like heavy, it's good to get it off your chest. So thank you for sharing that. To avoid mine, I'm going to go into John's number one. Which is Black Sabbath, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath from 1973.
While he didn't pick this one up when it dropped, he's old but not that old, it was highly influential with his exploration into heavy 1970s rock and metal. It is also one of the first albums where artwork captured his imagination with the Heaven and Hell front back covers on the final release. Vinyl release, excuse me, not final. And I agree with John on that. We've talked about it before. That record is the whole package.
Yeah. Including the package. I mean, that thing has a deep effect in 76 or 77 or whenever it was came out. All right. Actually, it's probably earlier than that. And my bullshit number one pick that has no. Make me cry, George. I can't. It's Metallica's Master of Puppets from 1986. It's just that album that. I mean, it's.
It's the youthful summer album. When that came out, I mean, I remember everything about that day. I went to the mall. I saw the display of cassettes because there weren't CDs yet, or maybe they were, but I don't know. Maybe it was another year or so before there were CDs. And, you know, the crosses on the album cover and the puppet strings. And I was just like, oh,
But I was on a mission. I knew it was coming out. You know, this was the first album that had been readily available in the store. I had a dub of Ride the Lightning. But this was the first one that I was buying. And I bought it. I got in the car with my mom. She was driving the old family truckster. I threw it in the headphones on my Walkman. I listened to it on the way home from the mall. I was absolutely blown away.
And that was the only thing I could listen to for the entire summer. Because there was nothing that could compare to it. Until Rain and Blood came out in the ball. I remember just turning it over and over and over the cassette. And just finish it up and start it again. I remember repeatedly mowing the lawn. Being a grumpy teenager. And listening to this just over and over and over and over. You know, I'd listen to it like three or four times before I'd.
finished mowing the lawn. And, uh,
that moment is amazing. Cause it's like, we like a lot of records,
but it's not like when you're a child, you know, you're a kid and you hear that for the first time and you're just,
your mind is blown in a way that your adult mind doesn't really process things that way.
So yeah.
Right though, Marcus, and this is something that I have said to people,
I've heard it come out of my own mouth, which is I would give anything to hear that for the first time again.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Like those ones that really fucked you up.
And that's the thing we've been chasing for 40 years.
It really is.
I mean, you go to the store and you look for something and, you know, you don't know what you're looking for.
And you're looking for that thing that you don't know what it is.
And you're hoping that you're going to pick up something that changes your life like that.
And there've been a few over the years.
you know but but there's never enough of them to fill
the void not that there's a void but to satisfy that desire to find something new like that
but i mean that you also oh go ahead church i'm just saying that's why we're here
is because i've been chasing that dragon you know well you also don't like just talking about
everything tonight you also don't have those first experiences again now that we're older you know
Even as a small child, but even as a teenager, like I was talking about, I never really been exposed to that level of sinister evil of somebody trying to take advantage of somebody else. But now I know about that. I've seen that multiple times, but I was more innocent at the time. I think that's the thing. You're innocent, not just to the ways of the world, but in music as well. And so when you get a piece of music and you hear that and you don't even know,
how you're feeling or where to put that and that is like i love that chaos of the moment where you're just trying to process what this is and what it means to you and that's hard to recapture when you do have experience you know years like decades of experience um so yeah but that's why we get to do episodes like this where we can talk i capture a little bit of that tonight by remembering what it was like yeah when i heard those records absolutely
Well, and it ends up making something like this a support group. And what I mean is, you know, you go to when somebody loses a spouse or something like that, or you suffer from anxiety, like if you go to one of these like mental health support groups with other people who are having the same experience as you is so fucking helpful. And it's and I'm not saying we need support each other in this because just music and all that. But it's just nice to know that there are other people out there that are being struck by lightning. And
If I lose my spouse, Jay, you better have me on the episode so you can listen to me weep for hours. Yeah, but no, but I'm quite sincere about that. That you, it's such a, it's like, honestly, it's like LSD. If you, if you meet another person who's taken LSD, you, you can't tell somebody who's never taken it what it feels like. It's not possible. It has to be somebody else who's taken it to have the conversation. And music is a much more
and more weirder and abstract and hard to put your hand on thing and so it's so nice to i sometimes wonder how come everybody doesn't have that i never i never can quite understand that of course people are different but yeah it's so odd to me a music thing is weird because i know people who just don't care for music like they don't have favorite bands they don't really actively seek out music yeah they'll listen to it here and there but that's hard for me to understand no of course it's okay everybody's different you can do what you want it but
For me, it's so important. That's why we have this episode where we can talk about this. That's hard for me to get. But, you know, they have other things in our lives, hopefully, that fill that void that music fills for me. There is a reason why I'm willing to fly to the East Coast at least once a year. More than happy to do it multiple times, by the way.
Because, yeah, I fucking need this shit. You know, I need underwear hugs, you know?
You know what's fabulous about music? And this is why I don't understand the people who don't like it or who aren't obsessed with it. But, you know, whatever, again. I mean, space as a concept outside of the earth, I mean, like space is mind-boggling. And not all of us sit there and just go, oh, my God, all the time. You know what I mean?
about space. Like, I'm sure astronomers are like, why doesn't everybody think this is the biggest fucking deal? Well, one of the wonderful things about music that I like, and this goes with what all the things we're saying, which is, there's like, if you play something in a sad key, like D minor or something, and it's one of those things that just evokes human sadness. When you hear it, you think that's a sad piece of music.
There's no scientific explanation or understanding of why that should be. Why does it affect almost everybody exactly the same way? You can't find your way into explaining why that's a thing. I mean, like literally, there's no explanation, a rational explanation or scientific explanation as to why this sad sound sans lyrics should make you feel mournful. And it just makes it one of the great mysteries of the universe.
We don't understand it. That's why music theory is music theory. It's only a theory. We don't have any musical facts. That's wild. Jay, that spoken word, what you just did, needs to be the beginning of some Tech Death album. It was perfect. It was spot on. Well, so this is the perfect time to transition to our Picked from the Crypt. All right. Well, Nick,
What is your pick from the crypt? Oh, mine is definitely metal adjacent. Oh, no, no, no. It has to be from the crypt. Therefore, I would smile if Markisan and maybe Matt would have any calling to this, but it is fair to Midland fables from a mayfly.
My God, I love this album. Just look at the album art and it expresses everything, what the album is. It's like a fairy tale. I've heard of them. No, I know. It's a fairy tale expressed in this glossy sheen of semi-metalish
It makes me feel so many emotions. I listened to this album. This was like in the last dregs of CDs in your car. And I just listened to it nonstop. And I'll never not be in love with this album. And it will never not be meaningful to me.
And I have a sad feeling that it's just going to be lost away in time. But it's not shitty nu metal. It's not, I don't know. It deserves to be remembered. That's why I wanted it to be landmarked. I'll take a crack at it. So that's one less chance it'll be forgotten. And it's pegged as Prague. Okay.
He can judge it for being prog or not. I just think of it as giant choruses, amazing vocalists, whimsy, fantasy, just, I don't know, my mind is in the clouds more often than not. And this just connects with me. You remind me of one of my favorite jokes from a Marx Brothers movie.
And Groucho is being Groucho, which is completely crazy and out of control or weird. And he's in this robot with this woman and he's playing Professor somebody. And she says, oh, Professor, you're so full of whimsy. And he says, can you tell from over there? I'm always that way when I have radishes at lunch. So, Mark is on. No, I don't know. Think Hawass. Think of Misty Mountain Hop from Zeppelin.
Okay, that's a good sales pitch. Yeah. Like, it's that kind of whimsy, just with like a modern metal sheen. Okay. I'm going to take a crack at it. I just got to say, I don't know where Jay gets all these jokes from. He's got so many of them. He's got one for every single situation. It's pretty impressive. It's a curse, dude. I have to remember that because someday I can use it. I'm the same way with music quotes.
Like, anything that happens in my day, and it drives Barb crazy, anything that happens in my day, I can respond with a lyric or a song. And unfortunately, I do. I'm right there with you, George. Yeah, unfortunately for her, you do. Yes. And it's just like, shut up. Not again! I'm like, oh, well, you just said this, and I will respond with this obscure lyric from this song.
It's a scale, George. Yeah. All right. So my pick from the Crypt is, I guess, somewhat of a cheat because I'm going to go with three albums from one band. I've been listening to all three LPs by the atmospheric post-metal band Archivist that came out from 2015 to 2019 via Alerta Antifascista Records.
And the albums are Archivist, Construct, and Triumvirate. And the reason I needed to include all three is because they comprise a complete dystopian concept trilogy. So I had not really listened to these LPs until a couple months ago, which surprised me because the vocalist is Alex C.F., who is in Fall of Afrofa and Lightbearer, two concept bands I've talked about a lot in this cast.
So just a quick recap, Fall of Ephrapha was a concept ban based on the novel Watership Down. Lightbearer was a concept ban that chronicled Lucifer's fall from heaven and subsequent rise against God. So the story told over these three archivist records is about the last two survivors of Earth after a cataclysmic ecological disaster that destroys the planet.
There's one human called the Archivist who stows away on the only Ark that was jettisoned from the dying Earth. And she records her memories of the world left in turmoil by humanity's greed, short-sightedness, what have you. And she shares the ship with an AI called Construct who is searching for the source of its creator.
of destruction, of existential crisis, of belief, and how these two survivors find purpose in one another. And the music's phenomenal in it. It's got this really heavy, ethereal, driving sound with these massive operatic style melodies. And I've been listening to it a lot lately because when we were in Philly for the Decibel Metal and Beer Fest, because I got to bring it around to the very beginning of the
I picked up their second album construct on vinyl at sit and spin records which was a nice find for me because the archivist records are not that easy to come by and I had just been getting into the band when I happened to come across that vinyl so I really like Alex CF's lyrics I just like that he keeps coming up with these different concepts and having these bands that are able to deliver that musically
is really special and the fact that he's done three of them actually he's done more because he's in a band called moro that's also doing it it's just i mean i don't i haven't really heard of it happening uh from one other person like that uh in music so i was sad that i missed it but i'm also happy because if i listened to it 10 years ago i wouldn't have the excitement of getting it right now that's why it's important to miss a few things yes
So there you go. All right. Matty. I know that the album was not mentioned, but my contract with an unnamed source does state that if the album is mentioned in a DM from a member of the podcast during a podcast, it becomes my pick from the crypt. That album is Leviathan.
The Band of Mastodon. A close second would be the album Starspawned by the band in a blood incantation. I almost called them Mastodon as well. Blood Mastodon. Kind of like Blood Meridian. Kind of like Carmen McCarthy. Here we go. Definitely check them both out when you're in the crypt. And what was that again? Levitation by Mastodonian.
gotcha or star spawn is great um mine is one i have probably mentioned not in a long time but it comes up from time to time and i heard it again recently and i sure liked it um the rhythm section and i'm not a huge fan of the melvins but the rhythm section from the melvins comprise a two-man band called big uh big business who is really great real heavy call it post-metal if you want this record in particular i think it's just straight up metal but i suppose it fits
or post-metal, but it's called Battlefield Forever. The guy's a great singer, really unique voice, just bass and drums, but layered and thick and heavy and catchy tunes. Such good stuff. Just stands alone as its own weird thing to me, this band, Big Business. And Battlefield Forever is my favorite of their records. And I don't think there's anybody who listens to this show who wouldn't like it if they put it on and be very pleasantly surprised.
That's a good pull, man. I haven't listened to Big Business in a long time. I'm going to have to throw that on. They still pop up here and there. I think they've had at least two records since this one in particular. I know one of the guys had a little health scare a while back and some other stuff, but they still flood around into some of them. They fill pretty good halls in the major metropolitan areas. They're still around doing stuff. Right on. Nicely done. All right. John's pick from the Crypt.
from 1999, the self-titled album By Zero Hour. It's their debut release from a second-wave progressive metal band out of the Bay Area. It is heavy, technical, dark, and proggy as all hell. Not unlike John himself. Yeah, I feel like he's talked about that one somewhere. Maybe we were talking about it offline. I can't remember. It does sound familiar. Right? Well, the descriptions,
It certainly sounds familiar. He may have had it in a top five. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. I like it. Cause I'd never heard of it. I don't think. And I think he mentioned it. And then I spun it. I was like, Oh yeah, it's definitely a John album, but I dig it. Dig it. For myself. I am going with the 1987 album. Life's a bitch by Raven. Interesting. On Atlantic records. This was their last album on a major label.
If you happen to see an album from these guys in the store, it's probably this one in a bargain bin. It's got great tracks like The Savage and the Hungry, Pick Your Window, You're Leaving, the title track Life's a Bitch, Never Forgive, Never Forget, Iron League, and On the Wings of an Eagle. John's vocals were kind of an acquired taste, and so they never really caught on.
But Metallica opened for these guys back in the day. And I got the name of the tour. It was the kill them all for one tour. Exactly. And I got to see them once at Jack's. And that was kind of a bucket list show because I always wanted to see them. It was. You know, well past their prime and there was like nobody there, but it was still cool to see him. I. Hey, for some reason, they ended up in California. They're British, but they ended up living out in the Bay Area. So I saw him a few times.
They would open for various bands of various levels. And they were, and I'm not even a fan, but they were so good live. Yeah. They were one of those bands that just came out and just tore it up. And like when they were like in their late fifties, sixties, I mean, I was like, Oh my God, I didn't really understand until I saw them live. Yeah. This was, I mean, this was probably their biggest album and ultimately probably my favorite album, but the couple before this are pretty good too.
So they toured with Metallica because they were on Megaforce and they
so the joke there is they had a what their album at the time was called All for One. Metallica had kill them all so they did the kill them all for one tour. Yep. Yep. But maybe they're not British maybe they're Canadian. No they're British. They're British. They're British. Okay. Oh Christ we can we can all go lay our heads down. Thank you for joining us. Yeah I'm freaking tired. So Nick
Thanks for joining us. Yeah, Nick. Great to have you. It's about damn time. It's nothing but an honor to me. This is a big deal to me, and I appreciate the invite. We'll put you on the short list for a little short this week. Let's get somebody. Yeah, absolutely. Well, my big question is, am I your favorite guest of all time? I think you pretty much know that to be true, Nick. If it's the latest episode, yeah, baby.
Clearly he listens to the show. I don't know though. Given how he picks his favorite people. I don't know if I can sanction that. Jay is the arbiter of this shit. So if I clear his top level then I'm good. Fine. Well you know the problem is that I have an attitude like a dog and I think of dogs as having this daily affirmation.
when they get up and it's this is gonna be the best day ever yeah so it's hard to disappoint me baby yeah i like to tell people that you know a lot of people are cats i'm a dog because i'm like every time i meet somebody i'm like oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy you're gonna be my best friend ever oh boy oh boy oh boy i love you and yo you're so great i love you whereas cat people are like me you know fuck you i don't care if you die exactly no but thank you again nick
They got super,
you were super fun to have on.
You were great guests and you're part of the family.
So you are.
Yes.
So don't,
so don't talk about us like we're separate individuals anymore.
You're part of us.
Put it this way.
We're a fan of yours as well.
You're the last cog in the human centipede.
That is the mental heads.
All right.
Unfortunately,
that means you eat all the shit,
but a horrible way to end.
Yeah, I'm the human centipede. Okay, I really cannot possibly look at any of your faces any longer. So man, can you stick around and everybody else leave? Yep. Likewise. See you guys. Bye, everybody. Bye. Peace out.
I should not fall off and drink me to be too weak.