Metalheads Podcast Episode #170: Vested Interest

We've passed the halfway mark for 2026, so we had to start this episode with a discussion on the year in metal so far. We give our overall thoughts on heavy music at the midpoint, then share a few albums that have moved us, surprised us or staked a claim on our lists. We also break down new albums by Dead Kosmonaut, Einherjer and Warning, drop some gems in What We’re Listening To and dig up some rusty metal trinkets for Picks From the Crypt. Plus, Matt leads the Wheel of Pain segment, Battle Vest Builder. We talk about our processes for building vests, improving existing ones and sharing how we might bedazzle our drip in the future.

What is Metalheads Podcast?

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 Code.

Hello, and welcome to the Metal Heads Podcast.

My name is George.

This is Jay.

This is John.

This is the Matt Situation.

This is Markison.

How's everybody doing today?

That was the most unenthusiastic introduction. All of us. We were like, I'm trying to bring it up. Everybody sounded like they were sorry they're here. I'm tired, man. It's been a day, as you know. I feel good. I'm doing good, George. Doing good. Hey, that's what I want to hear. I'm three in right now. Three in. Ooh. John's feeling good. Casual plate, my friends. Right.

I just cracked the mead so let's go nice a lot I just for shits and giggles Matt I want to show you this I know you get them little saints and sinners from nice parish brewing that's a pretty cool looking can too yeah it's oh yeah it's a total like it's they're totally stealing off the ghost guy but this is cooler this is cooler because it's beer and not like fake rock ghost yeah it's not ghost it's not

I thought it's all you have to say John. All right thanks Marcus. I'm just trying to be nice about it. Just shorten the step down. Yeah. All right well I know some people have been asking me this question and they've been disappointed with the answer but no there is no mid-year episode this year. We've just been too busy and I haven't done enough episodes and you know we'll catch you.

year end, but we are going to do what I like to call the mid-year cock block.

I don't know why we're blocking ourselves.

I know, right?

But while we're not doing an official episode, we are going to just sort of informally throw out some of the stuff that we are liking so far.

Bye.

You know, I have to say, and I'll mention when we get to it, but one of mine I thought,

Did we even talk about this record? And it's so weird to me that I don't remember us talking about it because it's a big kind of visible record. So is it from this year? When we get to it, but literally I was putting my little list together. I thought what? I'll be honest. Just from my perspective, it hasn't exactly been a super year to start. There's good albums out. Don't get me wrong. I could have never even gotten to 20 where I would feel like I liked all 20 albums. Oh, yeah. I just unfortunately now.

Get Back to Me in December after the second half. Might have a few then. Yeah. Yeah, but I agree with you, John. My stocks have not been knocked off. I mean, I've got plenty of albums, but just nothing that's... Yeah. A few. I have a few that I like a lot. No real game changers, though. That I agree with. Or I don't know if game changers were, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah. I think we're on the same page, so never mind. I'll just stop correcting myself. At least in metal. If it comes to all music,

I've got actually a lot more non-metal albums that I like a lot. I know my Marcus on me, maybe we'll talk offline. I'll have to find out if there's any non-metal stuff. Because I know you listen to a lot of ambient stuff like I do too. Yeah, well I listen to a lot of rock stuff too. There are quite a few rock albums and ambient albums. But again, nothing that's like blasted. Well, there's one album that's blasting me out the stratosphere, but that's for another reason.

I mean, I think the first half has been good. I mean, I always listen to a ridiculous amount of metal. So I think it's been a pretty good mix of newish bands and established or legendary bands who conjured up the fire like Neurosis or Immolation, Warning, you know. So it's nice to see those. And then, you know, I always find newer bands. So I actually did a top 30 countdown on my other podcast, which I have to finish editing.

So I had about 50 albums. But I wouldn't say that they're all my favorite. You know, it's always better at the end of the year. But I got to say, there's not a lot on the horizon. Really? I think there's a lot coming for me. That's what it is. Maybe it's more, you're more front end, I'm more back end. It could be. I don't know. Save that for later, George. I was not going to touch that one. Oh, yeah, man. Put that on the website.

Yeah, I think that's basically what you're saying. Oh, I'm reaching around. Well, how are we going to do this? I honor the week. First of all, just to sort of inform people, we said five-ish. Yeah, that's what I did. I did five-ish. Yeah. I mean, since we're not doing anything official, I say we just go person by person and they just kind of give what you got and then we'll move on to the next person and go from there. That sounds good.

Which means,

which means,

Moccasan,

you're up.

Yeah,

so the albums I'm going to talk about are on my mid-year list,

like I just mentioned,

but I'm not going to just do my top five.

Instead,

I'm going to talk about five albums on my list that surprised me the most so far.

I did a little theme here.

All right.

I like a theme.

I'm going to see where they are on my list.

Surprise us with your surprises.

Well,

maybe.

We'll see.

All right.

So the first one for me is Panopticon, the Haunted Heart on Bind Rune recordings. I think this is an absolute masterpiece of atmospheric black metal. So I've told you guys I've liked Panopticon, but I've just never felt fully immersed by Austin's music until this record. And I did not like the last couple Panopticon albums. So I thought I would quickly preview this thing, hate it, and then just be done. But instead...

That's called the George. Right. But to my complete surprise, it's easily one of my favorite albums this year because I think it just has the perfect balance of song craft, heaviness, atmosphere, emotion. And those are things I've longed for in the band's music. And then the cherry on top of that, for me, is that it expertly integrates guest support vocalists on there.

You got Aaron Charles from Falls of Roros, Alex CF from Fall of Ephrapha and Lightbearer. So I've been spinning a lot. I bought it on vinyl, which I don't think I have any other Panopticon on vinyl. So that's the first surprise for me. Second surprise for me is Temple Void, The Crawl on Relapse Records. The surprise? Yeah. Well, let me get into it, Jay. Fair enough. These guys are great, right? Love Temple Void.

Void guys. I love talking to them. I've been a fan of their music. But their last record, Summoning the Slayer, did not hit for me. It was not on my list. Did not summon the boner. No. I wasn't sure what we'd get after that. But I think with The Crawl, they surprised me by expanding their Death Doom sound beyond anything they've done. It's this dark fantasy dungeon of brutality. Inspired by Bush. Right?

Bush on there, as I said in the interview, which is great. Everybody should listen to the interview with Temple of Void because that was a lot of fun. But it's got groove, just really well-crafted songs. And I think it actually makes Summoning the Slayer better because you can go back to that and hear some of the stuff they were trying on that album. And they didn't quite get there for me. But if they didn't make that attempt, they would not have gotten to the crawl. So I was a little bit surprised by the direction and how much I really like this record.

So what you're saying is now you can appreciate every slight change they've made since Lords of Death. Yes. Because they're all starting to come into play now because of the Crawl. Yes. And that is – it doesn't mean I love, love Summoning the Slayer that it would be on my list now, but I can see what they were doing. And sometimes there's these steps to get to where you're going. And I definitely appreciate that in bands. Nice. All right. So the third one on my list is Spirit Adrift.

Infinite Illumination, 20 bucks spin. So this album really surprised me in a few ways. So first, it dropped out of nowhere. Second, Nate Garrett announced that this would be the band's sixth and final record because of all the horrible things that have happened in his life since he's led the band, including his wife getting diagnosed with stomach cancer. It's almost felt like a curse to him. And then third, I was just completely surprised by how much I love the record.

I really liked the first Spirit of Drift record, but then they moved away from Doom and into more traditional metal, and I just didn't care for that direction for the band. But Infinite Illumination brings back the Doom, it darkens their sound, it's more aggressive and intense, it's vengeful, it's more passionate, which makes sense given everything that's happened to Nate Garrett. So I think it's Spirit of Drift's best album, and just a really one hell of a way to go out as a

So I did not expect this to be something on my list. Because maybe the first one was, but none of the other ones have ever made my list. Then the next one I have on my list is Lone Shore. Nothing left to deconstruct on Willowtip Records. So this was a huge surprise for me because I had never heard of this band. And the only reason it hit my radar is because we got the promo from Willowtip. And I get a lot of promos, but there aren't a lot of

that immediately grabbed my attention like this one did. They play a dark, progressive post-metal with elements of atmospheric death and melodic doom. And there's this coil of cavernous growls and gorgeous towering cleans. And to me, it's a really immersive, elegant record. And every time I spin it, I feel like the music reveals more and more to me and it just gets better. And I've spun this thing a lot.

And it was also my album a month for June by a very large measure for me, which doesn't always happen. Usually things are very close. Cool. And then the last one on my list, number five, I guess, is The Silver, Looking Glass, Hymnal Blue. And this was an album I was eagerly anticipating because the first LP, Ward of Roses, was number 13 on my top 25 of 2021.

But I really expected the second record to just be on par with the first one. I didn't foresee such a massive jump to this tuneful, just really savagely brilliant meld of black metal, goth, death, progressive post-metal. And it's filled with beautiful storytelling in the lyrics, memorable hooks, grand emotional resonance, and a mystery. So with the second round of songs on Looking Glass,

to me just sounds more like a band that's meshed. They've really come together as a band and come into their own. And now they're quickly becoming one of my top metal bands. And I did not think that was going to happen. But it's one of my most listened to records. So. Cool. Yeah. That's what I got. Nice. Five surprises. What are you making up today, Matt? So, I mean, per usual, I will not be as eloquent.

as Marcus on. Nor do I have a theme, which I really, I like what you, I like what you did there, Marcus on. That was cool. Thanks, Matt. Because I was actually kind of thinking that myself and I don't actually have, like, it's kind of like I have, let's say a top 25. It's probably a little bit more, but it's in about six different drawers. And so I have yet to actually compile it all into one list, if that makes sense. And I feel like I actually need to do that for like my own sanity. But I just kind of grabbed five that I've been liking.

The first one is a band called Growth. They are an Australian tech death band. Just really aggressive, lovable tech death. The album is called Under the Under. It came out, ooh, I want to say in March, on Wild Thing Records. Next up for me would be a gimme, an undying love for a burning world, Neurosis. Probably the best slap in the face we all got this year on a Friday.

I'm still listening to it. In some ways, I still feel like I'm processing it. And honestly, I just enjoyed the hell out of your endless podcast episode about neurosis. I mean, I love all your episodes, but it is just enjoyable to, I mean, when you're listening to three people count down, you know, rank neurosis albums, it's like, well, there's no bad answers. So I'm going to just enjoy this. And they were all different, which is, for neurosis, it makes sense because every album is different. Yeah.

But it's just, you know, this is just another piece of that, you know, enjoyable puzzle. And I mean, I expect that to, you know, be something we see a lot of mid-year and year. Next up, at Microsoft, as you talk, The Crawl, Temple of Void. Just another really great release. My fourth, Overspace and Supertime, Cryptic Shift. I haven't heard a whole lot about this album this year, but I really, like... Did you just finish it?

Yeah, you're right. I haven't, I've gone through it a few times. I love it. I mean, I just, I need that time because it's one of those ones where, you know, I don't want to, you know, I talked about putting music on shuffle and, you know, evaluating in that fashion, how it gives you a little bit of a different perspective. But with Cryptic Shift, especially, I think it is really, you have to go from front to back, you know, start to finish, I should say, and take it all in. But I'm enjoying it. I really love it. Yes, it is a little bit long. And then lastly,

I think I mentioned him on a prior episode in Markson. I think you're familiar with him. Muerto, Eclipse Realms, just super sinister black metal out of Mexico. This is their third full length on transcending obscurity records. I don't know. There's just something in it that, you know, from a devious evil standpoint that just pulled me in. And yeah.

It is very evil. I do like that about the record. And very different from Cryptic Shift, which is what I love about your taste. It's a big variety because Cryptic Shift is, I love the last record. This one was so hard for me to get into because it just goes all over the place and it is really long and I wish they would just sit down on parts longer. But I keep trying because they're so talented, so good.

All right. Nice. Yeah. All right. Jay's muted. It's a continuation of the ongoing, what do you call it, you know, forward-thinking, highly technical space death. You know, like this is a new genre basically at this point. I thought of mentioning that one. It didn't, it'll be, that's going to be a year-ending for me for sure. It's just, it takes so much work. You have to choose how to listen to it because it's so long. Yeah. I'm tired.

just talking about it.

It's not that it's 80 minutes of an album, like 12 songs.

It's like five songs.

Yeah.

So you have to really, and it's good.

I like it a lot.

And I like some of the stuff they added.

Oh, wait, I did put it on mine.

Oh, there you go.

That's actually one of my five.

Okay, I take it back.

Okay.

I did not put it on my five.

Only because I just haven't listened to it enough to know where it sits.

But for me, my five, I'll go through them quickly.

You've heard me talk about all these a lot already. So there's only one surprise. I have an ish album. So I have five and an ish, which means I have a sixth album. So I've gone on and on about this album. This is probably my favorite album so far this year, Draconian and the Somalent Rune. I love this album. I like them no matter what they put out, but this one's just hitting me a certain way. It's just working. If you don't know them, they're a Swedish gothic kind of death doom band. They've been around.

for a zillion years, it seems like. And I just think every album is great. They're all in the same vein, but they're all just slightly a little different. My next one, it wouldn't be a list without a Prague album. That's Green Carnation, The Dark Poem, Part 2, Sanguis. And I was like, oh, great. I got a Green Carnation album for my list this year. Oh, wait, that's right. They're dropping Part 3 in a couple months. Damn it.

I love Green Tarnation. I've been so fortunate to see them a few times in the States. I know George and I saw them one time where they played one song for 60 minutes and it was awesome. Yeah. So what do you do for a list on that one? If do you put like all three? I can't remember if the first one came out this year. No. First one was last year. Okay. So that doesn't count. But two and three are coming out this year. Are they, do you consider them separate or would you put it as like one? Oh yeah. Different states, man. Okay. Yeah.

So, yeah, and I'm looking forward to getting the third one. All right, so now it's to the void part of the list. All right, they've been mentioned twice. Let's mention them again, Temple of Void, The Crawl. Anyhow. And I'm the same way. Since Lords of Death, I've liked each one not as much of Lords of Death, and maybe that's not fair to those albums because I like Lords of Death so much, and that's where I came in, and that's usually what we do. When you come in with a band that you like a lot, you stick with that first album.

or first couple albums.

And that's what I did.

But The Crawl is, I like the influences that they've injected on this album that are non-metal,

which you don't necessarily notice until you really dig into it.

And then it makes me appreciate everything else they've been doing.

So it's another great release for them, I think.

We're big fans on the podcast.

We have been for a long time, so it works.

We're not done with the voids, though.

Let's Got a Gut Void, Liminal Shrines. Love this album. This is just... I don't even call it nasty because it's really well done death metal mixed with death doom and they throw this kind of progressive metal element to it now and it seems like listening to everything they've... They only have one other full length but they've got a couple other EPs. You can hear this slow progression of proggy or side of them. Still death-y, still death-doomy but they're just... They're kind of like Temple of Void. They're expanding

their sound. Maybe not as much, but for their style of Death Doom, they are. Love it. I've spun that album a lot. Like you, Marcus on, Spirit Adrift. Oh, nice. Infinite Illumination. I actually like their heavy metal side. That's when I really started to get them. I've gone back and I appreciate everything now, but there's something about the mix of bringing the Doomier side back with the heavy metal side.

They get both. And I agree with you. It is more aggressive. There's more emotion to the album. It's more immediate, too. I mean, right off the bat, you're like, oh, fuck yeah. Let's do this. And all the other ancillary stuff of what's going on in his life, it being the last album, and I will just say that's what he says right now, and we'll honor that. But I don't think anyone's going to complain X number of years down the line if they come back and release another album. It's his prerogative. He can do whatever.

He Wants. But for now, we know that this is the last one. Now, that was five. Now, here's my ish album. Marcus on should appreciate this. Black Sights for Eternity. That album just came out. Hills. Yeah. I love it. And I've tried to get them because I keep hearing, oh, they're heavy metal with this proggy sound. I'm like, eh, they're cool. But I'm just, you know, it's not grabbed me. This one grabbed me big time. By the Cajones? That was a reach around. Both hands. All right.

Yeah. It just seems like, and I've read a lot about how this one is more metal driven as opposed to the metal slash proggy side. So I read a review. I mentioned Wonderbox reviews sometimes, which it's a weird name for metal reviews, but it works. And they said, you know, if you're a fan of that Iron Maiden sabotage, you know, and Queensryche sound of the eighties, I was like, Oh, stop. I'm in, you know? So, and it has a lot of that, those elements to it.

And I want to explore more now. I know you've talked about them in the past, and I've always

like, okay, I'll check them out. And I'm like, this is cool, but we all have bands that we want to keep liking, and they just don't get time for them. And I will say, this guy is a cross between Paul Stanley and Matt Barlow, his vocals. Matt Barlow is a cross between Paul Stanley and Matt Barlow.

It is. I don't think, and I know, Jay, you probably agree with this. Maybe you too, George. I'm not sure. But Paul Stanley was a really good singer, at one point a great singer. And so many metal guys emulate him, and you don't realize it. You really don't. Some will own up to it. But I swear, at times, Matt Barlow has a little bit of Paul Stanley in him. Oh, no, I hear.

Right. Totally. Also, and he probably would acknowledge it. And then secondarily, I'm sure you guys remember Yesterday's Saints. Oh, yeah. They had a Facebook page. I remember their lead singer used to wear a shirt that said, Who Died and Made You Paul Stanley. You can say what you want about them as a band, but he had some pipes, dude. Incredible singer. He really was. So anyway, that's my five and ish.

probably do well on my list.

That's cool.

Yeah, we've had the promo for that for a while too, which is neat because I've been listening to it a bunch.

And again, I was like, oh, we got the promo.

I'll get to it at some point.

And then I was like, oh, that's – I was just complaining to George about this two days ago.

I was like, I got nothing for July.

Zero.

He's like, well, maybe you'll find something.

You still got two weeks.

I literally – after he sent that message, I was like, oh, I might as well just fucking listen to it.

And I was like, son of a bitch.

Good surprise, see? Yeah. I like that. That's what I got for my five-ish. I'm going through mine pretty quick. I am embarrassed because Cryptic Shift was totally the fifth item on my list. I kind of went through all my stuff again today, and I guess I looked away from my Word file here. But the fifth one I had on here was, I guess these aren't really in any order, but Cryptic Shift over space and time.

I don't really have to talk about it much. The record I mentioned that I don't remember us talking about, we might have talked about it pre-release. We might have talked about the lead track that came out, but I don't remember us talking about the record is Exodus Goliath, which is interesting to me because Exodus got into this place with me where I was like, kind of into Rob Dukes, like I really dug him and I was like, oh man, I don't want this guy to leave. And then, and then they brought

Zetro back. And then after like those two great records, I was like, I don't want this guy to leave. And so I was already sort of like, oh, come on, man. You know, but it's fine. It's sort of like it has the oral and or writing quality of the Zetro stuff on the return. And but now with Rob Dukes, it's cool. So it's good. And I feel like Exodus can't go wrong. Immolation, Descent, agree with that. I've really, really liked where they've been at in the last few albums.

Elder Through Zero. John, I know you were into that one. Yes, I like it a lot. Yeah, Elder's a cool band. I'm not going to over-describe that. I love that record. It's a rock album, but that's a great record. Yeah, it might still sneak for me at the end, because it's hard to keep off, but I agree it's more proggy rock, hard rock. Yeah, that's my number one rock album right now. Heavy Psych. But it's also sort of like Mastodon without the massive distortion, you know what I mean? Yeah.

My last one, which was a surprise to me, and I'm sure we talked about it, but I kind of have been listening to it and really enjoying it, and it's just nice to have clean vocals on a doom band every once in a while. Would it kill you? Would it kill you? That we all love, but Warning, Rituals of Shame is a full record, and I really like the way that guy sings. It's not, and as you guys know, this is a band that existed some 20 years ago.

years ago or something and then here they are back again. It's not as good

as King Goat but it kind of fills that void for me.

There's a void void on your list.

Just a coincidence. But I was just so thrilled to hear a good

Doom record with clean vocals on it.

Quality clean vocals. And Doomy clean vocals.

Not just...

Nobody sings like them.

We're going to talk about this a little bit.

With everything that's come to pass over the past many years, I just didn't realize how much I kind of missed that. So. Hey, check out a band called Ill Wind. It just dropped. And that is doomed with clean vocals and it's very good. Okay. Yep. Which, by the way, I want a new King Goat record. Yeah, I know. Me too. It says they're. It's been like 2018 or some shit. It says they're not broken up, but I don't know. Long time. And that's the entirety of my five choices. Just, I'll just.

Well, actually, I'll tell a joke since I have maybe a few seconds. Just brace yourselves. Trust me, this isn't as bad as you think it's going to be. But what do you call a black guy flying an airplane? Pilot. Yeah, okay. The answer is a pilot, you racist bastard. But there you go. Thank you, George. What? Did I not understand that joke? What's that? Did I not understand that joke? Wait. Well, no, the answer is...

Isn't that answer, Lando Calrissian? Like the answer is like, say, John would say, what? What do you call him? And the answer is a pilot, you racist bastard. I see. But you actually won because you actually said a pilot. Okay. I was like, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to say that or not. Jay, are you referring to Lando Calrissian? In which case you call him a scoundrel. Yes.

The original owner of the Millennium Falcon. With that, I'll pass the wand. All righty. So I am going a little bit beyond more of an ish-ish. But that's okay because, first of all, I'm not going to say much about them because, second of all, these have all come up in the last few episodes. So I wasn't being lazy. I did go back through January.

It just happens to be that the ones that are more recent are the ones I liked the best. So, first off, Marcuson will not be surprised when I say Ashen Horde, The Harvest. If you listen to... Please gush about it more, George. No, I will not. If you want to hear more on that one, just go to the previous episode we did, the interview with those guys. This next one I've only mentioned on Stairway. This is Dead Cosmonaut.

their third album Retrospector.

And we'll get into that more a little later.

Next up, Fires in the Distance, Circadian Promise.

I think we talked about that one plenty last episode.

As well as these next two, God Thrim Projections.

Oh, wow. Nice.

And the self-titled chemist.

Also mentioned the Neurosis album and then Die in Love for a Burning World. And to complete the Everybody But Jay trifecta Temple of Void to Crawl. So, you know, maybe you're a little sad that you didn't get a mid-year episode, but you still got a Jay. He jaded.

Jay only gave us five albums, so we don't know yet. We won't know until the year end.

Jordan gives us like ten records.

But it was his album of the month, though. Good point. It was. Yeah, so he didn't jade at all. See, Jay's got this whole shitstorm thing going on that he's like, I'm going to make these guys think I'm jading this album. If it was my album of the month, then I'm going to reverse that shit on them. Will he? Won't he? Who knows? It's probably going to be his number one for all we know. There's a little bit of the comment to my parlor said the spider to the fly there. Yeah, exactly.

Keep coming as the Venus Blight Trap opens a little further. He's thinking it's off my list now. Yeah, keep coming. What is the line from Team America? A little closer. Closer. Closer. I always love the signal. I'll give on that movie the signal. When I want you to come in, I'll give you the signal. This is the signal. I might just shake the puppet. It's so funny, dude. It's funny. Fuck you, Hansburgs.

Hans Briggs.

All right.

So now we're going to move on to new releases where there's only one album that hasn't been mentioned yet.

First one is Dead Cosmonaut Retrospector.

Third album Swedish Metal with the singer and guitar player from Hell Butcher.

Who, let me look.

Nope.

Just me saw at MDF this year.

And they were pretty awesome at MDF.

And they did a couple of covers.

They did an Iron Maiden cover, as I mentioned previously, but it was lost for words. Who does that? Cool people, that's who. Cool people. Exactly. Yeah. And Dead Cosmonaut is very much in the vein of Iron Maiden, I would say. Oh, yeah. It's got that kind of Swedish gallop to their sound. It's definitely Swedish heavy metal. Indeed it is. They're from Sweden, right?

They are from Sweden. I just make sure I didn't fuck that up. Yeah. Hell Butcher is a little more black and roll, I suppose. But this is straight up heavy metal. Yeah, it is. It's cool. Yeah. I listened to it today. I don't remember ever listening to this band. And when I saw the name and the cover on the itinerary, I assumed it was going to be a progressive metal album because that cover looks very progressive metal. And there's a little bit of progressiveness, but it's more of that.

It's the 80s style.

70s style.

80s style.

Trad metal.

Yeah.

Good musicianship.

Production's crisp.

But I mean, it really sounds old and borrowed to me from the singing to the riffs,

the lyrics.

I mean, if that's what you like, they do a really good job of that.

If you want rock metal from the time of electric colors and motorcycle jackets, this is your jam.

Speaking of which, I forgot to listen to this one.

I meant to.

I was wondering if anybody else did.

Lex Legion? Oh, not yet. All the ex-King Diamond people? Yeah. It's funny, George, because I checked it out to make sure there wasn't something I was missing for R5. It's... It's not bad. I mean, I haven't heard the whole thing. I've only heard a couple songs, but I liked them. Yeah, it's... I mean, and it's also kind of indicative of, like... I mean, it's not a King Diamond record, obviously, but it's kind of indicative of what late-era King Diamond is like. It's not Super Pirate or anything like that.

Well, you don't need me to describe it to you, but I was surprised by what it was. I don't know what I was expecting. I read the article about it, you know, which was what led me to listen to it. And I was like, oh, this is sad and pathetic. This is going to be terrible. And then I listened to a couple songs and I was like, huh, this bears more inspection. It's different than what you expect, I think, if nothing else. Is it all X King Diamond? I thought there was other.

Well, the singer's not, but... No. I feel like I know the singer, and I can't place it right now. Let me see. I've got it here. Somebody inform me on this podcast. Members. Okay, Andy LaRock. Might have heard of that guy. I'm not even going to go there. What? Yeah. And Mickey D. So, two right there. What? Niles K. Rood. Oh, the singer from Pagan's Mind. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, okay. He's got pipes. He could get up there.

Black. I don't know him. He is currently

in, I think, King Diamond. If not, he

has been. He was kind of a long time.

This is an all-star man. Shit.

And Hal Pitino, who

played with King Diamond.

Okay, so they got Niles from

Pagan's Mind to sing.

So basically, everybody but the singer.

Yeah.

Oh, you know what? I completely

overlooked the fact and forgot that

it's Mickey D.

Yeah.

He's still pounding away, man. Motor diamond. He is, yeah. I mean, he's... I'm so glad he had... I was glad that the Scorpions picked him up because I don't know how deep these guys' pockets are, you know? Especially, like, if you were in Motorhead for 20 years, you know what I mean? That doesn't necessarily mean, you know? And so I'd love to see when guys... And he seems like a really nice guy to me, too. So I'm glad he's got work. Yeah. Yeah, when I went and saw them, I don't know if it was the first or second time, he wasn't there. It was at...

Actually, Matt Sorum from Guns N' Roses, which was cool because he was great, but I was like, damn, something I could eat. Which band? Was he like Scorpions? Motorhead. When he played Motorhead. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I didn't say that. Yeah. I don't know. I saw him three or four times. He was committed to something. I don't know what it was, but he wasn't on the tour, and I was like, damn. It was at the 930 Club, too, on top of that. So George would know what that means. I was like, oh, I'm going to see Motorhead at the 930 Club. This is awesome. Yeah, I've only ever seen Motorhead in Big

Yeah.

So I saw him in a sort of small place.

You know what?

I think I only ever saw him in big places too.

A mid place.

Only like 1,200 people.

So.

Yeah.

I've never seen him in a situation that small.

It was so good.

All right.

Sorry.

Wait.

So were you saying that was on your list after all?

Were you saying you are not on your list?

No.

I meant.

Yeah.

I meant to check it out and consider it for, you know, my list and or at least what I was listening to. And it just, you know, circumstances got away from me. Well, let's call it on your what you will be listening to list. Then apparently. Yeah. If my, if my sump pump hadn't gone out today, I might've heard it. I would have bought it and it would be my number one. Yeah. You never know. So, all right. Next.

Einherjier and Lifeblood, their 10th album of Norwegian Viking metal. I don't expect there's probably a lot of love going around for this, but maybe there is. That'd be nice. These guys have been around for a long time, and they've sort of changed a few times over the years, but I've always kind of liked them. And I was listening to this one today before the Sunpump died, and I was thinking how,

It sort of reminds me of Latter-day Satiricon in a way. The heavier parts anyway, not the cleaner and lighter bits. That's not Satiricon at all. But when he's actually doing harsh vocals and rocking out, it does remind me of Latter-day Satiricon. And I like Latter-day Satiricon, so I like all areas of Satiricon. I thought it was kind of cool. I had never listened to this band before, and when it said folk metal, I was like, oh boy, here we go. And I listened, I was like, oh, it's got

It's got some punch to it though and it was cool and that's the kind of folk that I like. I was like, I might have to check this band out a little more. Yeah, yeah. Trevor's a big fan. Yeah, it was. Oh, yeah. He posted like all the albums. Yeah. Yeah, he did. Yeah, we've talked about them before. Yeah. Yeah, I mean the band is pronounced Ein Herjar. So. If you want. That's not necessarily true. I thought it was Ein Herjar. No, it's Ein Herjar.

I actually really like this. And I don't often listen to Viking folk metal these days, but maybe I should spin it a bit more. That's how I felt too, yeah. I really enjoyed the musical variation on this. I felt like the folk and the symphonic elements blended really well with the heaviness on it. And Lifeblood, it actually, it felt a little doomier to me than what I remember from the past A&H VR records. And, you know, doom always pleases me.

And I would say the biggest compliment I could give this is that it made me want to spin the whole back catalog. So like I said, it changes throughout the years, but I like most of it, if not all of it. So I like folk like this. I think Marcus on here spot on. I've never considered them folk. Oh, well, because they're, that's how it's listed. And I looked online for description of the band. Metal Archive just says Viking metal.

But I mean, I hear it in the music. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely has a folkier element now than it used to. But that's what I was getting to. And I think Marcus and I touched on it too, is that any kind of symphonics or folky stuff wasn't overblown to the point where you're like, oh, geez. It was there, but it wasn't the prime element of the band. I mean. It's the integration of all the elements that works. Because sometimes it's so separate and you're like, I can't get into this. It was the element touches that I like.

about it. It was enough for me. Oh, I get that. Then I got the whole other aspect of their sound, which was their main sound. I got that. So. Yeah. No, that was kind of a surprise because I'm like, oh, I don't know if I want to listen to some Viking folk metal. But I did. I did really like listening to that one. So, George, are they then a traditional like pagan black metal band then, which would then kind of pull that symphonic? Well, that was.

I don't recall them being that way granted it's been a long time since I've listened to the old stuff okay um because if that would explain the Viking pagan sound then if you're coming from that side of it which everyone every time some people hear that they think it's going to be like this raw black man I was like no that's not necessarily the case always yeah I got I picked up on them in 1998 what with Odin owns ye all their second album

Well, they like that Odin dude, don't they? Yeah. I'm just kidding. No offense, Chase. But it's been a long time since I've listened to that. But I thought it was blacker. I don't think it was straight up black metal because I remember it being a little tamer than that. It's got a little more black to it than the previous albums. Yeah. I like the singer, too. The singer has a pretty unique voice. I don't know if he's been with the band the entire time or not. Yeah, it's his thing.

He's also in Twilight of the Gods. Oh boy, there we go. I saw them both at MDF on the same day. Or maybe it wasn't the same day. There it is. Might have been the same day. Might have been different days. I don't know. All right. Cool. No, it was good. I think Marcus and I were probably in the same boat when we listened to it on that one. All right. And I think I'll probably listen to it again. Probably. Because I enjoyed it. Excellent. Last up? Yes.

Burns Fingers. Lastly, we have Warning and Ritual of Shame, UK Doom Band previously mentioned. Their third album that was, their second album was 20 years ago, so it's been a minute since the last one. So people have been making a lot of big deal about it. Clearly Jay making a big deal about it. It's on some lists. I think I learned about it at Rate Your Music or something, and I was, did we talk about it once before?

I don't think so. We may have, but it's, I, they don't come out. I mean, I've talked about them when we've done like top fives and stuff for sure. Cause this is like one of my favorite doom bands. It's just, they don't come up enough because they only have two other albums. Yeah. Cause yeah. Yeah. Well, technically. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, two full length albums. Well, I say technically it's been 20 years since watching from a distance.

Right. No, that's what I'm saying. They don't have much of a history is the point I'm making. Yes. But what I'm saying, John, is that this album, they also did 40 Watt Sun. No, I know that. And the first album that came out, The Inside Room, is basically Warning. Sure. I know. I get that. I'm just under the moniker of Warning. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's Patrick Walker, but that Inside Room was a metal record. It had a small tone shift in it. I think it had a little hope.

to the despair to it. But I feel like this new Warning LP kind of picks up right where that one left off. So that's why I say technically, even though it doesn't have the Warning label, it is a Warning album. Because it certainly changed after that. After that, right. Yeah. Gotcha. Fair enough. Cool. But yeah, this was one of my most anticipated albums. And I just think Patrick Walker is one of the most emotionally stirring singers.

not just in metal but in music. So, you know, he really brought a mournful side to Doom, a new depth of sadness to Doom when he came out with Warning years and years ago because that heartbreaking voice is just killer. And he hasn't missed a beat with his singing. You know, I like all the 40 Watt Sun albums. The Inside Room is my favorite because it's heavy. But I still like the other ones, which is mostly him and a guitar. He's added more elements, more band.

elements to it. I just saw him, actually, because he's been touring solo and playing his stuff. So I just saw him. Well, I'm still not familiar with anything about his history. Oh, that's interesting. Okay. Yeah. You might dig all his stuff, Jay. I'm starting one. You might. You will. Yeah. Is it me or is 2026 the year of the return of bands? There's about six or seven, maybe eight different bands that are, I mean, like Neurosis now,

Now, big deal. It's only been seven years or six years. Who cares? No, they were dead in the water, dude. No, no. But the point I'm making is like, now you got warning 20 years ago. All these other non-metal bands, like you hear me talking about Bords of Canada, that was 13 years ago. It's like all these bands are returning after X number of years. And it's kind of cool because they have such huge followings, it seems. And it's kind of nice to hear some of this stuff. I think there was a, I feel like there was a death metal band that came back after quite some time.

Well, also, let's don't forget Triumph and Rush. Yeah, I mean, that's just on the touring. Hey, Mastodon put guitars back on their albums. Yeah, they did. I'm not knocking their previous stuff, but they, those two songs got some total ass kicking in them. Was it Monstrosity? Yes, thank you. Yeah. How's everybody feeling about that? What that record's going to be like? Hopeful? I hope so, yeah. Are we talking about Mastodon? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, everybody should watch what you sent out, Markson. It was really good. I did too, and I loved it. It started tongue-in-cheek but also kind of sweet, but they called that video the master down in the room, and I thought that was such a good thing for that video. Yeah. Because I wanted to know, I mean, in my weird, curious way, it was kind of what I expected. Yeah. But don't you think they felt they had to do it with all the shit they took from all the keyboard warriors saying, oh, you didn't care about it?

him. Like, you don't know what was going on behind the scenes. None of us do. So I'm glad. I haven't watched yet, but from what you guys have said, I'm like, damn, I gotta watch this at some point. Yeah. I mean, just think about like what a horrible place to be in life when you maybe aren't in the best terms with somebody and then they just disappear. I mean, you don't get that chance. Yeah. That's heavy. And I'm not going to lie to you. I need to watch it because there is a very good chance TR or I will run into Brandon Taylor in Atlanta.

because I've run into them one separate time and TR just ran into them last time we were down there. So just not that I'm going to discuss it with them, but you know. I mean, okay, so I think it's worth explaining then to people that what we're talking about is this video of just, Mass. and I kind of put out a sort of, it's not Cliff them all, but it's kind of like, let's, let us talk about this past member. And, and, and there's some, what, what it comes down to is that they had kicked Brent Hines out,

because his drinking had become such a problem. And I don't think they could ever count on him in the first place. He was always sort of like late and in a weird mood and all this different stuff. The dude was struggling with his life on top of that. Yeah. So that was, it was just, that's when I'm feeling like, look, we know we picked the guy out right before he died, which that's just happenstance. But let us tell you why we had to let him go. And it was good. It was well done. Yeah.

It was respectful and they clearly loved him. And they even were talking about how they thought maybe they would get back together too, but they just never had the chance. So I think it was good. And not in his defense, he came out firing. He said such vile things about them when they... He did. What were you going to say, Matt? I think just the way they walked through the albums was very telling. I think there was a lot to take from the things they said.

I think it was stuff that maybe we had been thinking, but kind of shadowed, you know, just kind of shed some light onto like actual details. Yeah. That's why I sent you guys right away when I watched, he's like, this is actually meaningful. You know, they did a good job with this and it tells a story that we really didn't know all the details to, but we were kind of guessing at what happened. So. Isn't that always the case though? Most people never know the details. Yeah. And there's always three sides to every story, right?

Not two, but there's three. But then, you know, they don't always put out like a documentary talking about it. Of course. Much, much later, which is. And not everyone's always going to tell you the truth because maybe it's not worth telling. Yeah. Yeah. I will say this. That's more or less what I figure. I mean, everybody knew him to be a super difficult guy. Also, I had a friend who met him years and years and years ago and our acquaintance really. And he just said, and this was right. This was probably around. Crack, this guy.

I was a ways back.

He mentioned that he met him a few times.

He said, I never met him when he wasn't completely wasted.

Every time I ran into him, he was just like a wreck.

Wow.

So I hung out with him one time after when they were touring with Opeth.

And he couldn't have been any nicer to me.

Oh, I'm sure he was nice, yeah.

So it just, every situation was different, I'm sure.

And I'm sure the guys in Macedon would tell you that.

Every Day was probably different. I'm sure they miss his playing when he wanted to play metal. So. Who was the, what's the name of the new guy, by the way? And how did they find him? I don't remember. I can't remember. I know they've got two new guys. They've got a keyboardist now. Yeah, yeah. And he, yeah, he'd been touring with them for a little bit. Is he the one, Matt, still that was with them? Yeah, I recognize it. I saw him before the last. First guy or second, is he the, there's two that have toured with him, right?

Yeah, this was probably the most recent. Is he the YouTube guy? That was the first guy, wasn't it? I'm sorry. I was talking keyboards. Guitar Player, I think, is the YouTube guy. Okay, gotcha. Yeah. That reminded me of something. Oh, John, I was going to ask you if you saw, speaking of YouTube guys, there's this guy that can basically do a pretty passable Eddie. Did you see him?

This guy do 5150 with Sammy Hagar in Las Vegas. It's pretty cool, dude. You might want to watch it just because the guy's out of his mind. And he's like, and this guy who's kind of an Eddie Van Halen expert is like, this is the hardest Eddie Van Halen song. And then, and, um, you know, and it was one of those things where Sammy saw his video. It was like, you want to come down and play with us? So it's like, it's like when Marky Mark pulled that guy out of the crowd and rock star and had him play or sing. Wow. Okay. I'll check it out.

I mean, it's just the one song and he, you know, but it's kind of neat. This guy's moment of fame. Nice. All right. Well, we kind of deviated from the warning. The warning album is awesome, though. Yeah. Yeah. I got to spend more time with it. All right. Let's move on to what we are listening to. Plus, pick from the crypt. Mark is on. All right.

The List is Sojourner, Gateways, an avant-garde music. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this album because Sojourner went through another vocal change and added a new clean vocalist, Heike Longans, formerly of Draconian, which John just mentioned not too long ago. But the gothic atmospheric black metal on this is gorgeous and ferocious and Heike's just soaring ethereal voice, I think, complements the band.

incredibly well.

And it's interesting to me because I like the new Draconian album,

which came out just a short while ago,

but I like the Sojourner album more than that one.

Just because I like her vocals have more of like a celestial,

delicate air to them.

And I like the harsh vocals a lot more because they're just more vicious.

But,

and I just like the riffs on this one too.

But they're both really good records.

And I like the last Sojourner record,

But I think I like this one a little bit more. And then the next record on my list is Junius Soterra on Prosthetic Records. This ended up actually being a last-minute add to my top 30 mid-year list that I did on the Endless Metal podcast. Because when Ben and I recorded that ep, the record wasn't even out yet. But I heard the whole thing in a band camp listening party a couple hours before we recorded. And that was enough for me to give it a spot.

immersive progressive dark metal album that fuses post-metal and shoegaze with atmospheric synth textures and this 1980s moody post-punk goth rock vibe like something from the cure or joy division there's a real driving melancholy on this heavy riffs and the choruses just really transport me back to the head on the doors days george did you listen to this one yeah because i

I put it in the box for you. Sorry, which one was it? Junius. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like it. Okay, cool. You know, despite my story. But yeah, I thought it was good. Yeah, I think it's really good. All right, the next one on my list is, I guess it's metal adjacent, although Decibel reviewed it in the latest issue. So I have been thinking about whether or not it qualifies for my list.

Quicksand bring on the Psychics on Equal Vision Records. I was a massive

Quicksand fan in the 90s when they released Slip and Manic Compression. So I was overjoyed when they started making music again about nine years ago. And since they've reformed, they've put out some very good albums with interiors and distant populations. But Psychics is a rung better than those LPs. It has a heaviness and an urgency that

that harkens back to the early days, but also pulses with a modern shimmer. It makes it fresh and just livelier to me. Decel actually gave the record a nine, and I think that is a well-deserved score because they're a legendary post-hardcore band that could easily just coast on every release because they have that reputation. But I think this LP shows that they still have a pretty deep bag of sonic tricks and they can still fucking bring it.

So I've been listening to this one a lot lately. You know, a funny story, probably not funny. Back in the 90s, 1995 when they put out Manic Compression, a lot of people were like, oh my God, quicksand. And I was like, this is fucking garbage. And I still stand by that. I still stand by that because I haven't listened to it again, but I've been meaning to. Okay. To see if I like it any better. I just remember it was

and made no sense. I did listen to like 30 seconds from the new album and I said, all right, I'll listen to this, but I haven't yet. So we'll see. You should listen to it and go back to the old stuff because it sounds like you were a pretty dumb kid and, you know, maybe. Oh, I wasn't a dumb kid. I was, I was, I was pre-Podfather. All right. I was very much, I was very much into music, but I had a roommate who really loved it and I was just like, I don't get it. It's like funk and shit. I don't know.

That's what I remember. It was kind of funky. If you kind of delve into that whole genre area time, get some Orange 9mm in there. Yeah, the same problem there. Yeah, weird, funky, stupid crap is what I call it. But I'm not trying to... I have not listened to that band in like at least 20 years, so... I mean, it's not offensive to me. You're just missing out. Yeah, it's just... A man could just be wrong. That's happened sometimes. Hey, I freely admit that.

To the point that just the last few days, I am, I literally was talking to Google AI going, help me understand Lou Reed. Because. You probably didn't get the answer you wanted. Well, actually, I got an answer that made me. Thank you for understanding that, Jay. Sorry, George. I've just, I've always absolutely loathed Lou Reed because I just don't get it.

talks. You know? Well, use AI right in there. Why was I a dipshit about Quicksand and see what happens? Oh, it's going to be like, oh, because it's a piece of crap. But no, I'm joking. I will go check it out again. Does the Lou Reed stuff extend to the Metallica collaboration? So I hated that. Okay. That's like, other than saying anger, it's the only thing that I truly despise. Okay.

But, you know, the Google was like, well, it's not so much that he can't sing. It's what he covered. It's like he was talking about trans issues in 1973. And the social things that he covered was what made him popular, not the fact that he was a good singer. That may be true. But he also was one of those people that he really comes out of the Andy Warhol thing.

than anything. And that's, you know, that lights a fire under a career without question. And Rolling Stone loved how he wasn't hard rock blues. He was different. And musicians loved him. Like Bowie loved him. Yeah, that's the thing is, Iggy Pop loved him. Everybody loved the dude. And so, and I just watched the Gimme Danger documentary with Iggy Pop and had no idea that Iggy and the Stooges,

were from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I thought they were from Detroit. That's where they're always listed. You know what? But they're all from Ann Arbor. I've watched that documentary and I thought they were from Detroit, but I haven't watched it in a while. Yeah, no. They all went to Pioneer High School in downtown Ann Arbor. I'm like, this is my hood. How did I, you know, I knew that Bob Seger was from Ann Arbor. I knew he went to Pioneer, but I had no idea that Iggy Pop worked at the Discount Records where I bought Rain and Blood.

No, no, no, he was gone by then. And I believe it's a Starbucks now. Is that right? Yeah. Did you like that? That was a pretty good doc, right? It was good. And Iggy's another one that I'm really trying to wrap my brain around because I just, he's not a good singer. No, the first two albums are kind of cool because they've got the Bowie influence on them. And I like those records. And I think it matters when they came out. I mean, it was 69.

Especially the first one. It was kind of groundbreaking for 69 and it laid the groundwork for a lot of other stuff. But I won't depend on his singing for a second. That's why I only like the first two solo albums for the most part. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then he kind of was all over the place. I mean, I would argue this. It's funny, George, because we've all got those and I never understood how anybody can like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That guy cannot sing. I cannot stand that band.

I can tell you two people he sings better than. He actually got better as a singer. Huh? He actually got better as a singer. He didn't really sing in the beginning, but then he got better. He did that kind of fake rock rap thing early on. Early on, but like California Cation is a really good record. Have you seen that video on like Instagram or something where some guy sees him with his daughter and he's going to get in his car and he's like, and Anthony Kiedis was with his daughter.

And he says, hey, Anthony, why did the chicken cross the road? And Anthony Kiedis is like this fucking guy. And then the guy goes to get to the other side. And to be fair, Anthony Kiedis just busts up laughing. He's like, okay, that's pretty good, buddy. I always thought they were overrated. I'll be honest with it. I mean, I think Flea's cool. He is. He's a pretty good bassist.

But he's not like a top 10 basis of all time. But that's cool. I mean, they were popular. I like the early stuff better than the later stuff personally. But overrated was probably what I was looking for. I mean, I like the middle period stuff the best, I think. Yeah. They hit at the right time to pull in a group of people that had no idea they liked that music. That's the thing. It's like they're all – I don't know how we got in this tangent.

But they're a weird band that somehow was able to grab mainstream attention. And so, you know, I don't think they designed the music to do that. And that is hard to do. You can thank Stevie Wonder for that. Yeah, Mother's Milk came out right before the whole alternative grunge thing happened. And yes, and they did the Stevie Wonder song. Stevie Wonder. And it got on the radio. And that's a really good part.

It's actually a really good cover

What's the song?

Higher Ground

Higher Ground

Yeah

That is totally why

100%

Yeah

But it's a good cover though

You know what

Even though I was just crapping on the guy

I agree

That's a good song

Yeah

So

Because it's Stevie Wonder

You don't have to wonder about Stevie

He's good

I was thinking about the other day

And I'm sorry

I know we're off on a tangent

I'll stop

Yeah I think we're back to Markazon again

Oh

Unless he's done and it's Matt's turn

Well, Jay is trying to make a point. No, I'm not done yet. I would just simply this. I heard that song the other day, Night Shift, the one that's about Marvin Gaye and Marvin. That's a great song, man. That's it. That's all I got. I hadn't heard it in 20 years, and I heard it, and I was just blown away. It's about Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, and it's such a pretty song. That's it. Back to you, Marcuson. Yeah, that was a special Stairway to 11 diversion. And now, back to the Millet podcast.

He jaded the episode. Actually, George. Hold on. Let me talk about what Arnie did. Oops. All right. Do we do a drinking game about tangents? I don't think about it. I don't have enough beer. I love the tangents. The tangents are the best, right? All right. So getting back to my list, I got a couple more. The other thing that I've been listening to, and John mentioned this earlier about bands reforming a lot lately.

Es ist, die sind, die sind.

the band reformed and they're going to be playing fire in the mountains which happens very soon nice george and i saw them yeah we saw them at mdf they were awesome oh nice i've never seen them i would like to but i've been revisiting the catalog i purchased their live at roadburn record on violin recently that's good and you know needless to say i'm excited that they're back i don't think any band really sounds like sub rosa when they split we got the keening we got the otolith

They were good, but they don't have that same doom magic charm of Subrosa. They only got one violinist? Yeah. Only one. Yeah. I mean, now they've like rounded out the band and I read in an interview that they want to just really put out some heavy, heavy music. Well, they were always heavy, but it sounds like now they could go to that next one. I think they want to go to another. They want to go to 11.

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah.

Doesn't everyone?

Yeah.

So I'm looking forward to that.

And I love all the records.

Awesome.

That's cool.

Yeah.

And then the last one on my list, the Transformers 40th Anniversary Reformatted Edition

from Hasbro Music and Raining Phoenix Records.

So this album officially drops on July 24th, which we're recording Saturday.

It'll be Friday coming after this.

The Latest Decibel Issue featured it on the cover, so you guys may have gotten the issue or just seen it around. I was very confused. I was like, what does this have to do with heavy metal music? Allow me to enlighten you, George. Yeah. So I received the album promo for this a couple days ago. They didn't send a download, which is why I haven't put in the box, just a page where I could listen to the record. Yeah, they do that a lot. And it's a tribute to the iconic movie soundtrack with the music rebuilt with a heavy edge.

by a band called the knights of unicron which features gus rios of left to die which they just put out a record and gruesome matt harvey also gruesome and exhumed and rust sewage of exhumed and ghoul and then they brought in some new vocalists to perform the reformatted songs including sebastian bach of skid row fame death angels mark asaguato and britney slays from unleashed

The Archers. There's a couple others I can't remember. Stan Bush does return to perform the track Dare and the iconic song The Touch. You've got the touch. You've got the power. So it was fun to revisit these songs. Dude, I just watched that movie again like two days ago. Oh, the movie's so good. Well, they're actually going to release it in theaters in 4K. I have it on 4K like Blu-ray, but they're going to put it in theaters pretty soon, I think. But it was fun to revisit these

These songs, because Transformers was the biggest geek thing that I had when I was a kid. I had all the Transformers, and I loved the show. I mean, that's what really got me into comics and all that. So it was fun to revisit these songs, and I loved the film, and I think the music was an essential component of the film, clearly, because we're putting this anniversary record out. But it's not quite as loud as I hoped it would be when they said they're going to meddle it up.

But the songs are a bit more metal. They're a bit more upbeat. The touch definitely has some heavier guitars in it. You can hear some of the singles now that are updated. But it still sounds a lot like the original. I didn't even realize anything had changed until I compared the two tracks together. But other than that song, which still gets stuck in my head, I love that track. The highlight for me is the Transformers theme featuring Brittany Slays from Unleash the Archer.

She always sounds good, but she's perfect for that. And it just sounds a little bit different than the original one. Just to be clear, it was Boogie Nights that I was referring to as a good movie, not Transformers. No offense to it. That's a good... Wow, that's... Similar, but... That's a big misstep there. No, you just did... You got the touch. You know that song. Oh, yeah. You got the power. Yeah. I thought you were... That you were sort of...

Look, we can't pay the studio back until we get the demos to sell them. Okay, I got it. I got it. That's not a YP. That's not an MP. For those who watch the extras of Boogie Nights, you get that joke. So I was thinking about getting a vinyl, but then I listened to the promo. I was like, I don't need this vinyl, but it is fun to revisit. I bet the vinyl have a really cool title. Well, that's what the Decibel Magazine article, I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it's all about creating that.

and the band.

Yeah, I missed out on all the Transformers stuff.

Never saw the movie.

Don't know any of these songs.

I was just too old.

I did watch the cartoon after school.

Did you watch the cartoon after school?

No, I was too old for Transformers.

Yeah, I was old.

No, I mean, I was, wait, okay.

I was in high school, man.

That shit was different.

Well, it was the 80s.

I still lived in Missouri, so it had to be.

When was that on, Markerson?

In the 80s.

Like, 80...

I don't know, 85, 86? Man, I was in college, man. Yeah, I was in high school. You should have been getting stoned and watching it, man. Hell no. My brother was into it, but I was not, so. I'll never understand why they went. I have kind of a problem with this. Where they went and took all these old, like, dumb cartoons that really were dumb and made movies on them for a while. Like, they did the Transformers and they did, like, some other ones like that.

I was like why are they doing it? Scooby-Doo? Scooby-Doo was another one. I think G.I. Joe was another one. G.I. Jane was cool though. I didn't I didn't I didn't understand why and I know these people who went crazy for it and this is not me picking on you Marcus because I like some really weird stuff. Oh I know. But there was like no there was no fundamental underlying like quality thing to take from to make these. Yeah man. Because. Getting ready to come out. Right. Yeah. Masters of the Universe.

There was one back in the day too. The Masters of the Universe was real bad. I loved He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but they would use the same frames from previous episodes on every single one. There are some amazing Skeletor memes out there. Oh, there are. Yes. So are you going to watch this new movie? Me? No, Marcus Thon, who likes He-Man. Oh, you know what? I watched the trailer and I had no interest in it.

It looks so bad. I'll watch it when it comes on streaming. I wasn't going to go to the theater for it. No, I didn't pay for that. No, I don't want to pay for it. Actually, I mean, I would like to rewatch the one that came out way back when. The Dolph Lundgren one? Yeah, Dolph Lundgren. Just because it probably is. This movie will be the equivalent of that, but not as cool because it didn't happen back then. Let's hope it does for Judge Dredd what Dredd did for Judge Dredd. I'm going to watch it for one reason and one reason only.

Now that I know that Dolph Lundgren's in Mensa, I'm definitely going to watch now because I think that's actually funny. I think Dolph Lundgren makes an appearance in the new He-Man movie. I wouldn't be surprised. People don't realize about him. Dude's really smart. He's in Mensa? I don't know if he actually officially joined, but he would qualify to make Mensa. Wow. Yeah. He doesn't like talking about it that much. He's like, yeah, I'm kind of smart. Yeah.

Well, I also have to do pick from the crypt, I just realized. Sure. Before you do that, I just have to point out that I'm sitting here staring at beautiful Matt because Matt's beautiful. He looks like a psychiatrist right now. I think he's evolving into Gaul. He's going to be like, Satan. Cold. No, well, Eson would work too. Well, that was my first thought was Eson. But then I was like, no, he's Gaul.

Like we have our AC on and I of course am freezing. And I'm on the main level of our house. I'm not even like sub-zero or sub-ground. But yeah, I've noticed in myself like if it gets darker in here, I'll start to look like the floating head. At what point, Matt? He looks like a ship's captain or something. At what point are we going to see you like ice fishing the next episode? Maybe. Think about it. Yeah, I think that would be. That's when everything freezes September, right? No, I want to see it in the summertime.

All right. So my pick from the crypt is Nepenthes, Scent from 2015. It's from Daymare Recordings. So I thought of this album because Christopher Nolan's film, The Odyssey, just released. And Nepenthes is a legendary magic potion mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. Makes you forget. Which induces forgetfulness.

You're right. And provides relief from suffering or sorrow. And actually Matt looks like he should be in. It's also a brewery in Maryland. Yeah. And going to Odyssey tomorrow morning. And so I'm just getting into character. Oh, perfect. Nepenthe is also a sentence song. So that's why. It's also an open song too. Yeah. So Nepenthe is a Japanese band. They play a stoner sludge doom in the vein of High on Fire. They started in 2012.

And this is their debut record. So I found it in vinyl randomly at a record store here in Chicago. And I was drawn to the cover, which features these two topless flower sirens surrounded by a bloom of spilling fruit seeds painted in this muted, earthy style. And so because I'm a comic guy, the artwork reminded me of the character Poison Ivy, you know, if she was warped by central Japanese mythology. So I decided I needed that in my life. And then I just ended up really,

Lepentheses, they've toured with Vector and Paul Bearer in Japan.

They've put out two more records since this one.

And I also like those a lot.

Unfortunately, the albums are kind of hard to find.

They aren't on Bandcamp, and only their latest one, Grand Guggenau, is on Spotify.

So it would be nice if their label made their stuff a little bit more accessible.

But if you like mega heavy stoner sludge with deep shredded throat vocals and blistering solos, it's worth digging for Nepenthes albums on the internet. Really cool. That's what I got. Cool. All righty. Moving on to Gaul. I mean, Matt. I will get my digital shovel and start digging. So first up for me is a band called Blood Mother and the album,

It is the main songwriter for, from, excuse me, The Lion's Daughter. And it is definitely reminiscent of The Lion's Daughter. I would say it's maybe not as synth heavy and not as aggressive, but still good. I would also like to talk about the album The Silent Obsession from a band called Inherits the Void. I believe, let me check this, it's a one-man project out of France.

It is basically, you know, atmospherical black metal. It's intense. It's good. I like it. After that. Okay, so this album came out in January and I've kind of been teetering back and forth with it, but I actually really do like it. It is called Dream Crush. It is by the band Mole, I think is how you pronounce it. Yeah, it's a good album. I know we've talked about them right here before, George. I believe you talked about it on the last episode of Stairway. Really digging it.

I mean, to me, I immediately go to Death Heaven, but for whatever reason, I, you know, kind of, I don't know, there's something about this that is a little bit more appealing to me. It's less screechy. Well, it's very upbeat and positive, which is not Death Heaven. So, there is no band that plays what Ma plays right now that I can think of. It sounds like really pretty at times, but then it gets like super heavy and aggressive. And, you know, I really love that contrast. This band has also been mentioned, and I will say,

I did not know of this band years ago until

Enslaved did a tour and they were bringing Ghosts with them

for the, I believe it was Ghosts' first

US tour, but it wasn't

because their visas didn't work and so

a band called Junius replaced them on the bill

and I fell in love with them

so cool to see this

Sotera album come out. I feel like it's been a few years

since we've heard from them

Has been

Lastly

I believe this is pronounced

It's Misere Luminis. The album is called Sedera. Oh, that's a good one. What's it called? So M-I-S-E-R-E-R-E. So I'm thinking it's like Misere and not Luminis. To me, I feel like every year I fall in love with like a French post-black metal or post-metal band. I was like, oh, this has to be it. Well, they're from Canada. That's still at least kind of French. Close enough. Hey, I got you. Camacois.

works. I would definitely check it out in that vein. Like I say, post-black metal, post-metal. Like super intense, emotional, good stuff. My pick from The Crypt, this is a little bit foreshadowing for what we talk about later. And that's all I'll say about that, but it is a band called Helmet. And the first Helmet album I ever knew of was In the Meantime.

Yeah. And, um, you know, uh, unsung was big. And, um, like I said, I really fell in love with it. And then Betty came out and totally punched me in the face. And to this day, it's, you know, my favorite Helmet album. I think it's, it's a masterpiece. But when I went back to some of the earlier stuff, I was just like, uh, I don't know. This just doesn't sound like Helmet, you know what I mean? I'm this high school kid. I might've even been in junior high and probably, you know, I just, I didn't know what I was talking about. I wasn't,

I was still green. And so as the years went by and I went back to revisit, I just fell in love with Strap It On. It is helmet, but it's a much more raw helmet with songs like Sinatra and FBLA Part 1. I would encourage everybody to go out. I mean, Born Annoying is good too, but I feel like Born Annoying still kind of really gets into some of that clean, polished helmet. This is a much more raw helmet. So that is it.

What are we talking about here?

We're talking about helmets. I actually have lyrics from Unsung written by Paige Hamilton and signed. Nice. I've seen them. They come. They play a lot, actually. So I've seen them multiple times here in Chicago. Always a good show. I saw them back in the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. Late 90s. I did a cover of Unsung. It's bad. I did a cover of, well, no, I performed the song Speechless Live. And that's the thing. Like, helmet, like, heavily influenced my musical style, but it also heavily influenced

like my guitar playing. I've always been a rhythm guitarist and Helmet is nothing but rhythm. Yeah. I definitely latched onto it. Awesome. Now I want to listen to Helmet. You should. Were they on the Judgment Night soundtrack? Yeah, with House of Pain. That's what I thought. That's the only song I know about them. I just remember when In the Meantime came out and Rolling Stone called them death metal. I was like, what?

Yeah. Oops. Got that one wrong. They would. They would. Yeah. I was like, you don't know what death metal is. I still liked it, but I was just like, what are you talking about? Yeah. All right. John. All right. I don't have much because I've hardly listened to any metal the past month. That's the honest God truth. So I got three albums and one just came out yesterday. So I really don't have much to say here. So it'd be quick.

The Vision, their progressive metal band out of Denver. It's their debut album that came out at the end of June. The reason this album caught my attention is because they described their key influences as Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist, Meshuggah, Carnival, and Opeth. And so I was like, well, I guess I got to check that out. And I like it. It's cool. And you can hear some of that in there. The fact that a band mentioned The Contortionist, which I really like that band a lot,

Maybe think, hey, I should check this out. It worked out. Sometimes it doesn't. This time it did. Next one is an album that just came out. I wouldn't necessarily maybe call this metal, but it's got some metal aspects. That is If These Trees Could Talk, The Hidden Hand. Instrumental, kind of post-rock metal band from Ohio. It's their first album in 10 years. Here's another one of those bands that hasn't been around for a while and they released a new album.

And I'm sure TR will be talking about this soon. Yeah. No vocals. I'm on it. I'll predict this is going to come up again on Tuesday. So he and I have talked about this band a lot. I'm a big fan of this band. I kind of like what they do. They don't break any instrumental post-rock metal ground at all. But they do it really well and they haven't put out a ton of albums, which kind of then makes it a little more enjoyable.

when you only got like four or five albums to sift through over the course of X number of years. You always want more, but sometimes you appreciate what you have even more when it's not that much. I guess it's why Tool fans go so crazy for them. Yeah. You know, when you think about it. And that's not a dig. I'm just saying they don't release a lot, but fans seem to go crazy. The next album, Black Sights for Eternity, like I said earlier, this one caught me by surprise. And I just kept not ignoring them, but just like, I'll get to it, I'll get to it.

I got to him. I was like, oh man. Anytime I can listen to a band, it harkens back to that kind of 80s maiden slash sabotage, you know, Queensryche sound. I'm in. So I dug it. But the honest to God truth is the bulk of my listening for the past month, and this is not even remotely close, it's all non-metal. I've been listening to the whole Joe Jackson discography. George and I just went and saw him.

And I've always been a big fan, but at some point, I kind of stopped picking up new music in the mid-early 2000s. And I have been filling in the blanks of stuff that I didn't have. And we saw him in D.C. about, what, 11 days ago, roughly? It's a little under two weeks, and it was so good. It was unreal. Yeah, it was amazing.

Yeah. And if you're not a fan of his, I get it. And if you only think of like, oh, Steppin' Out, that's adult contemporary jazz shit. It's so much more to his musical discography. He's just so good. And sadly ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But anyway. He is a freaking genius. And he's went to the Royal, I don't know what they call it. It's their version in England of like Berkeley or,

or Juilliard. He was from there. And yeah, you're spot on, George. He just... And anyone who's got the guts to come out, I've seen him twice. In 1989 or 91 and in 2026. Both shows, he opened both shows solo with his two biggest songs. That's guts. I mean, that's like saying, well, I'm getting it out of the way so I can do whatever I want their next hour and a half, hour and 40 minutes. Which he did.

So anyway,

that's all I got.

John,

not to interrupt you and to step back,

but really digging that.

If These Walls Could Talk album.

Oh,

awesome.

Quick exchange about it.

Awesome.

I'm glad.

Yeah.

And like I said,

there's not much to dig into in their catalog and that's what kind of makes it special.

So my pick from the crypt,

it,

it's because of decibel,

but it's not the transformers,

uh,

influence like Marcus on hat.

Mine is actually the issue that hasn't been released yet. That's coming up. They did post the cover for the upcoming issue. And I always like look at the cover to see what they put as their Hall of Fame. Am I going to be completely disappointed by a band I don't know or don't like? Or will it be that one rare time when Awaken in the Guardian from Fate's Warning was on there? You know, it's like, oh my god, yeah. Well, that's my band. And they do have one. Jay, I think you will appreciate this. And I assume everyone else would too.

But I know Jay and I have talked about this band a lot in the past. Their next issue coming up that has been released, that Hall of Fame album, is Isis Celestial. Oh, nice. And I was like, well, I'm going to have to go back and listen to this again, which I did. Oh, man, I miss these days so much. Yeah, me too. My God, they were just so different than everybody. That whole period of 2000, like 2007,

I guess roughly of all those bands just a whole different world for a short period it's continued for a number of them but man such a good album and so different from all the stuff that followed yeah it I feel like it was leading into Oceanic though I mean it was it's definitely raw heavier more riff driven not as atmospheric yeah and yet it is all those things it's just slightly different

You know, it's the first full. If you listen to the other ones, you're right though, John. If you listen to Wavering Radiant, to that, completely different. Yeah. If you watch the old DVD they had when they played Celestial, there's that guy, that bald guy standing in front of the stage, just headbanging. I swear I thought his head was going to come off. It was just, he was going crazy. Yeah. Just as a reminder of post-metal, I think, we all talk about neurosis, and rightfully so, but man, we sure do forget.

about ISIS. Not current. Early Pelican. Early Russian circles. Those bands were just, yeah. Pelican. I'm wearing a Pelican shirt. Well, and also you'd be happy to know John. Old Man Gloom, which was another thing. Yes. At that time, he was involved with Old Man Gloom and they had like three or four records that I liked so much. And it was just a different lane to be in at that time. And a smaller role. Like Red Sparrows came out.

right after that. Yeah. Just some great stuff. No, that was a pivotal moment because it was also, by the way, that's like right around when like Below the Lights came out. I know that was a great thing. It's just there were the couple things that were taking a sharp left turn right that time. It was a really cool musical time. And you could still, you just were in a slightly different world. The shows were small. Yeah. I mean, that was the start of a new genre in metal. I saw Isis after, when I discovered Oceanic,

and went back and got everything else and then was following them in some way shape or form and at the last minute they signed on literally at the last minute to do a um to fill in as opener for um mogwai the band mogwai oh yeah at the film war and so i went dude i was just like i'm going man you know and not bad george not bad i mean think about that jay and that and and the film war holds by about 1200 maybe

Well, and nobody who knew, I'm the only guy in the room who knew who they were, dude. The biggest show I saw for ISIS was at 930 Club. I walked right to the front stage and they were headlining. I was like, this is insane. I'm seeing these guys in a place that, you know, the max is like 1,200, 1,300 max. This is one of my favorite bands ever. And you'll be happy to know. So on Endless Metal, we did the ranking of Neurosis, but we're going to do ISIS too. Nice. And they only had the five records.

But still,

they've got what?

I think three,

three EPs that you go to.

I think there's a fourth,

but there's three that are considered canon,

I guess.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nice.

You get to do the EPs also?

Probably just because there's only five records with Neurosis.

We did the 12,

but we didn't really rank the EP or the,

the collaboration of Jarbo,

you know,

hard not to include the Red Sea,

man.

You know?

You know?

It's so good.

It's hard not to.

So we'll probably do it because we didn't do it for Neurosis.

But it was like a natural progression that we got to do Isis 2.

Especially since they've basically merged into one.

Yeah.

I mean, they didn't put out a bad release.

No, they were great.

They're all great.

So.

Nice.

Jay.

I've obviously been listening to this stuff that we talked about today already.

as far as metal goes. And I don't really have anything else to mention other than that. But other than that, I'm kind of in some weird obsessive holes that I'm having trouble with getting out of the, I mentioned the ZZ Top one last time, still stuck on ZZ Top. But I'm also preparing for our next Stairway to 11. And I'm going to give one spoiler because I can't stop listening to this record. And I'll kind of explain how I got to it via ZZ Top,

I just hadn't listened to it in a while, but it's one of my favorite guitar records ever. Anyway, Jeff Beck Wired. I'm just so stuck on this record right now. But we're going to talk about it, John. Not today, but we're going to talk about it because I've put that and Blow by Blow and Serious Rotation back, literally back. I mean, I'll do this. I'll literally go like, I'll listen to it every day, you know, for like a month. I just get stuck on stuff. And so we're going to do some comparing and contrasting and Blow by Blow and Wired.

on Stairway.

Because it's going to be one of the things I bring up.

And I'm going to do a bunch of guitar-themed albums like that.

So I've also been listening to all the guitar-themed stuff.

I'm so repetitive.

But I've been listening to Hendrix.

Actually, I got to – I was pushed back to Wired also because I was listening to Band of Gypsies.

And he makes a sound on there on Machine Gun.

So good.

Yeah, and I'm telling you, Jeff Beck makes the same sound. I'll point it out to you, John, at some point. I don't know how either of them makes this sound, but let's see what else. Penn and Gypsy's is so good. You know what? I think it was the next step towards where he was ultimately going. You know what I mean? It's a shame, too, because gosh, I really want to hit what he wants. Now, did you listen, just quick, did you listen to the original or the expanded full shows? Because there's like, they released all that expanded.

stuff at some point. It was, hold on, I can even tell you. Don't take too much time because I know you want to talk about stuff for this. You could save it for the next podcast. No, no, no, it's just, it's, okay. Yeah, I'll save it for the next podcast. Yeah, just do that. Yeah. Okay. Well, in any case, so really I mentioned a few different things there, but I get stuck on these Jeff Beck things and it just kills me. What? That sucks. Yeah.

Jeez.

Why not?

I never did that.

Comparison of those two, of Blow by Blow and that one.

And again, like I said, we'll talk about it in more detail in a more appropriate venue.

But he's probably one of the biggest guitar heroes that I've never been able to wrap my brain around.

You know, try Wired.

I have.

It's all those like big albums are like fusion and it's like weird funky bass and stuff.

And I'm like, I'm out.

There's no funk in it at all, though.

That's just it.

Yeah, I agree with John. So I have, we'll talk about it on a Starwood 11, George, and I'll tell you something that makes that record more accessible. Yeah, cool. Because it's relation sonically in my head to a whole other very mainstream rock record. And then I'm also, at least, watch the Ronnie Scott's DVD, dude. Just watch that and you'll come away going, okay, I kind of get this guy now. I try. Every once in a while I try and I'm like, I just don't get it. But, you know, like,

Like I said to Lou Reed, you know, I come back around and I keep trying. And I keep trying. Well, there's a difference here, though, George, at least. Jeff Beck is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists ever. I know. Maybe not the best singer in the world. Yeah, no. Just saying. But well regarded nonetheless. No, this is good. I'm glad I brought it up then because, again, we'll chew that fat in the other one. Jay, please listen to Theron Back before Tuesday. But also, I got to do an intervention here, Jay. You got to listen to more metal.

The Metal X Podcast, you're always talking about rock. You know, you got a metal rock, buddy. It's cool to be a rock, but come on. I'm going to end this conversation right now. All the metal guitarists you love, their favorite guitarist is Jeff Beck. I don't care about that. You should because the only reason your guitarists exist is because of Jeff Beck. I mean, I don't know if I agree with that.

You don't have to agree it's the fact

I'm glad I got to sneak it in though John

because I'm going to ask you in particular

to listen to those two records once before

I know you've heard them before

but I mean you've probably heard them plenty of times

but just listen to both of them before

Well if you're going to force me to do it

then I will

You know I was

and you know

what's his name

George what's his name

Produceable

Yeah.

Beatles producer.

George Martin.

George Martin produced both of those, yeah.

Okay.

Anyway.

Well, but the metal I didn't talk about much, Marcus, but it constitutes everything that went on my slide list.

Oh, no.

Dude, I love when you talk about rock because it has a place like John mentioned, of course, has roots and all this stuff with rock.

But I'm just saying, whenever you do this part, you're always talking about rock.

You've got to get a little bit more out of that.

Yeah, but you got metal in there, too. I'm a little stuck in a hole. I feel like since Will's not here, I have to be like, Alice Cooper and the Hollywood Vampires. You know what? Okay, so I should call him out on this because whenever Will decides to give somebody crap on this about something being metal or not, like he'll get in an argument with John and he'll say, oh, it's not metal.

and they say, well, what about this and this? And then he names three records that I've put on my list. And I always want to tell, well, leave me out of it, dude. If you're arguing with John, argue with John. He's like using me to get to you. One word for you, Will. Clutch. Okay, well, here's my pick from the Crypto, and it's funny because I'm doing a little post-medal. It's Jeff Beck. My God, it better not be. No, it's not. It's not. In fact, I hope it is.

This came out 10 years ago, so I'm going to call it not that we really have a rule on Pitch from the Crypt, or do we? Not officially. No. But I will say this. How can this have come out 10 years ago? And it's something that is sort of post-metal. So this is post-ISIS and all that stuff. But man, I sure like this record an awful lot. Paradise Gallows. Oh, Interamora.

Yeah, Inter-Arma Paradise Gales. Is that really 10 years? Shit. Holy smokes. I don't think they've kind of reached that one again. No, that's the only album I like from them. It's so good. And just like that, Jay just smacked Markison's Rockcom manual. But it's funny, too, because I chose that before John mentioned Celestial, and so I'm glad because I think they kind of fit into a weird. Yeah.

It's just a little bit of a post-metal place. But if you haven't heard that record, by all means, you should try out Paradise Gallows. One of the things that impresses me about that record is it's, first of all, super heavy in a lot of different ways. And then the vast amount of vocal approaches that the singer takes on that record is so cool. It kind of approaches each song a little different, and it's just kind of heartbreaking, too. There's something about that one that just kind of gets...

where I love them live, but their studio stuff just does not compare to what they do live. Yeah, but honestly, George, this was one of the big, the vocals aren't loud enough arguments. Oh, the production's terrible on Inner Armor albums, but it doesn't matter because live they will rip your face off. Well, yeah. I think Will really would not forgive you at that time for this. Oh, no, everybody was really big into that album.

What's that? So everybody's really big into that album and I was like, yeah, whatever. I like the one with the burning bush on it or whatever. It's the next one. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Well, Inner Armor is a podcast favorite because that's where Jay performs surgery at the hotel. Yep. That's right. After James Lewis viciously brutalized Will in the pit. It was a simple. The hotel was also a yacht. Let's be clear. Oh, that's right.

No, this was later on at the other hotel, not the yacht. The blood, the bloodbath was at the yacht. Yeah, that's right. Because that was where vinyl, white vinyl leather seats. Yeah. Put his arm up. And bled on it. Do you guys remember, like we were doing an episode for 30 minutes, he goes, wait a minute, we're recording an episode right now? Yeah. How long ago was that? God, that was eight years ago. That was the first one, wasn't it?

I think it was the second one. Yeah, I didn't go to the first one. I think it was the second one. The first one was the carcass here. We don't want to talk about that. Oh, that's right. No, that could have been the first one. I'd been to one with George. So it was the third one. Yeah, it had to be. John BT was there. Was that my first one? No, John BT wasn't at the carcass one. No, he was at the one where

You repaired Will's elbow. Yeah. Um, actually, were there two carcass ones? Did they play Twinks? No. No, because they did. They played at MDF is what you're thinking of. Ah, that's right. That's when Matt got, like, shit stolen from him and the albino, like, rescued all the shit. You know, my phone threw up one of those little memory kind of things that does to you with pictures and that it was pictures from that night. Um, not long ago. And Matt's got a yingling sticker on his forehead and so on.

I remember that well. He had all the yellow shirts. Yeah, that's how we found Jay in the parking lot. After he, you know, woke up from behind the dumpster. Yeah. Under the bridge? Well, no, that was a different shirt. That's for chili peppers. Yeah. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. We don't talk about that story. Behind the dumpster, under the bridge. Snuck in. I miss seeing Jay it.

festivals.

And that was also MDF where we could

park the cars trunk to trunk

and we, you know, drink beers.

That was the best.

That was also, by the way,

like probably the first major thing

any of us did post-COVID.

That was super fun.

Yeah.

So much shit happened at that one.

I tackled Will,

which is also where I got COVID.

Oh, Jesus.

Is that right?

You went on with COVID?

Mm-hmm.

I mean, it showed up a few days later.

You had it rough there, Matt. It was a rough weekend. Not the first one. The first one was pre-COVID that we all went to. Yeah, yeah. So, George. 2018, I think. Yeah, 2018. George, we didn't get your listing. We're about to. Yeah, I don't want to deviate because I know we got two more things still to do. Yeah, yeah, sure. I've got a short list and two of those have been mentioned. This first one, though, I'm sure you've never heard of before and that's Ash and Horde.

Harvest. I have no idea who that is. George sort of likes that record. Sort of like it. A little bit. And then Junius, their fourth album. All right, George. First in nine years. And I was like, all right, you know, I'm just going to be paying that one back for the rest of my life. So I can only say good things about them from here on out. And lastly, for what I'm listening to,

I chose to, for the first time in a long time, listen to the new Moonspell album, which is Far From God. Their 14th album, Portuguese, Gothic, metal band. You know, the first two albums, Wolf's Heart and Irreligious, they're classic. Irreligious started heading down the typo negative path. And then they just kind of did stuff that I never really cared for. Although, granted, it's been 25,

or more years. I probably should revisit some of those as well. And so this album's not terrible. I've heard people say, oh, it's a return to the Wolfhardi religious era. Not really. It's more of a goth metal rock album. Yeah. It's not terrible, but it's not blowing my skirt up either. So, eh, maybe next time. So I do like,

Some of the mid-period, like The Antidote and Memorial. I think there's another one, Night Eternal. I like those albums a lot. And then I kind of lost Like You. But that's the mid-2000s stuff. So, stuff you like is the mid-90s. And then for my pick from the Crypt, I'm like, let's just stay with this whole Viking thing. And I chose a band that most people don't know in an album.

They've probably never heard. From 2012,

the band's final, eighth and final album,

this is Adorned Brood and Kuningaz.

Don't know.

Crickets.

Yeah, yeah.

Eighth album, you said, George?

Yeah.

In 2012, it was their eighth album.

I actually knew a couple of the guys.

I did a review of the album, I think,

and I don't know, maybe they got a hold of me,

But Frost, the singer, and Misha, the drummer. I think I'm still friends on Facebook with Misha. But yeah, good dudes, good album. If you like Viking stuff, you know, it's fun. Are they from your area or are you just... No, no, they're... I forgot. I think they're Swedish. Oh. I meant to write that down and I didn't know. It's like an Aman Amarth style or... Sort of.

Yeah, I mean, that's not a terrible reference. I think it's maybe a little heavier than that. Oh, they're German. Duh. I knew that. Oh. German. So, yeah, apparently they split up. But yeah, this album came out and I loved it. This would have been, you know, just like two years before the podcast started. And I was big on them for a long time and I kept going, when's the new Adorned Brood album coming out? Well, for whatever reason, they split up after this one.

If you want to check it out, there's a song on there called Men. That's my jam. Men. We are men. It's like we're Viking men and women don't get it and we will be Vikings. I mean, it's a little tongue-in-cheek. Where's that Charlie Sheen show where they had the men, men, men, two and a half men? Oh, two and a half men, yeah. Men, men, men, men. But I mean, eight albums, that's pretty good. Even though they called it quits, that's a lot of records. It is. Cool. Yeah, check it out. All right.

Now, it is time to pass the microphone to Matt. Let's do it. Let's put it on. So, as you heard last episode, strangely enough, I spun the wheel and I got one of my own topics. That is not a fluke. As I stated, I am from the future. I control it. And so, what I chose was, or what I had thrown out there initially,

was the concept of a battle vest. And I think what I love most about a battle vest is it's enjoyable to go to a show and just see what people are doing. I guess, let me step back. What I love most about it is, like, ideally you make it and you can make it however you want. And I'm a graphic designer. I have been for half my life. And really what that means is I'm super into creative things. I'm into making stuff. And so,

George, you were actually the first person I physically knew and met who had a battle vest. I met you all those years ago. And strangely enough, as a minimalist, I have no interest in making one. But after doing this, I was kind of like, oh, maybe I'm going to do. I mean, I did a little bit of quick research kind of talking about the history. What I found is it kind of started in World War II with pilots decorating their kind of their flight jackets with patches.

And in the 70s, you started to see it with punk. And then by the 80s, it kind of made it into the metalhead subculture. The other interesting piece is there's a ton of rules associated with the Battlefest, which I found interesting because as metalheads, the one thing we're not interested in is rules. Unless we make them for ourselves.

And so, you know, there's the interesting concept of if you, your Battlevis should only be bands that you've seen live. And that's a patch. And if you can't ever see the band live again, that's like a pin or a button. I did not follow those roles. Okay. And that's okay. I mean, these roles are interesting. And I think if you really want to get in that lane and follow them, good for you. That was not a route I chose to, for my kind of, you know, my, what we'll call it,

of a battle vest. Or things of like, it should only be metal. Granted, I mean, if you want to put something that's not metal on there, I mean, you're going to be the person walking around that has to answer the question. So whatever you have on it is you. I feel like, you know, I saw the word poser used a lot. You know, in our culture, we do see people who wear things associated with heavy metal that we probably assume aren't interested in heavy metal. It's more of a stylistic choice. But again, if you want to wear that and, you know, speak to it, go for it.

I love the one about you should never wash it, which I saw a lot of other people contradict that. I have never washed mine. I haven't washed mine either. It does feel like something that would be difficult to do. Smells like battle. Yeah. I called mine the battle pillow because it was my pillow at Vaken. Yes. And it is probably drenched in the urine of Vaken. Okay. And has never been washed, but. I love that. Sorry.

So what I want to do is I want to kind of so I approached it and interestingly enough this to me actually became a much deeper subject for myself than I anticipated because I treated the back of my you know they say like your the back patch should be something very significant in your life and I kind of made mine an origin story although it's it's a blend of an origin story into how I got here. Let's see if I can actually figure out how to show it. Backgrounds backgrounds.

I can choose a background, add image. It shares screen, too. Actually, that is probably going to be an easier thing to do. If I can do it. Send request. Hopefully, George will not. I will allow it. Give it to me, please. Give it to me, baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh, no, George. Why was it in Chipmunk's voice? That was offspring.

I don't know what that was. It was Offspring. Pretty fly for a white guy. I'm still really glad I don't know what that was. I prefer Black Pilots. Nice. Okay, so this is, you guys can see this? Yes. Okay, so the main patch for me was going to be my Ride or Die. In present day, it is Carcass, but I kind of stepped back and was like, I mean, the band that really changed my life was Slayer, and it was a very specific time in the Slayer patch.

that is part of my origin story. I mean, when I heard War Ensemble, my life changed forever.

But above that I have a longer bigger carcass patch. And then next to it I have a Metallica patch. It's smaller square but it is I am very much attached to Justice era Metallica. That is where I came into Metallica. Everybody had those t-shirts. I can't think of the art.

The Pusset stuff.

Yes. I recognize it immediately and I love it. It's just such a huge piece of my life at that time. And so I guess I'll kind of describe it below that as it's a Cannibal Corpse logo horizontal that has just basically their

script. Strangely enough, below that to the right is a Soulfly patch. I do not have a Sepulter on here, and because Soulfly was a much bigger part of my life than Sepulter was, and I think I'm okay with that because it is very max-driven. On the other side of that is Napalm Death. Below is Mastodon. Opposite that is Panopticon. These are all logo patches, and then as I go down, I've got three on each side. They're squared. It's a cover of Wayfarer's album. God, I can't think of the name of the album.

The one with the blurry silhouette of someone on a horse. But it is, it's basically meant to be represented. It's the world's blood. Yeah, thank you. Below that, Atlas Moth. Below that, Lutau, or no. Oh, crap. I can't think of their name. Hang on, I'll come back to it. Can we go to the other side? I don't know what that is. It's, gosh. They're instrumental. They're from France. It's post-metal.

Let me think about it. Opposite that, Prowliss. Below it, Tombs. Below that, Yellow Eyes. And then kind of the very base is just really stuff that was heavily influenced that I need to be there. Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Death, Black Sabbath, Agaloc, and of course, Skid Row. These are all logo patches. And then so we go around to the front. This one was interesting because it really is kind of, I mean, the arrangement,

is very interesting. I don't know that this would actually work because I've sized these logos myself.

There's a good chance it would probably get very crowded, which I'm okay with.

So if we go, if we're looking at it on the right side, highest is Judas Priest.

Next to that is Dio, or sorry, below that is Dio.

Next to Dio is Ozzy.

I thought that was a good grouping.

I liked having Ozzy and Dio together.

So we go down to the pocket.

It's horrendous.

Opposite pocket is Blood Incantation.

I did that because death metal is just so prevalent in my life,

and I wanted it to be represented. If we go below horrendous, it's Cult of Luna. And then kind of sprinkled down, you see Rivers of Nile, Immolation, Catholic Decapitation, Crip Sermon, Table of Void, and Isis. There's actually, this vest is actually a creature, the brand creature. It's a cannibal corpse vest. So there's this little, I don't know, it's like a cannibal corpse patch. You can make a tag. Yeah, yeah, tag. Thank you. Opposite pocket, it's the wolf from Neurosis.

It is a trypticon logo. And then I have the Valkan patch with the bull horns from 2010. That was the first year I went. It's been a huge part of my metal journey. Below the blood incantation logo helmet. That was kind of my foreshadowing. They were just such a huge part of my life. I felt like they should be in here. Chemist, Tomb, Old Merciful Fate, Enslaved, Ulcerate. I probably could have gone on at length, but I did try and cap myself after I found all these.

And that's kind of where I landed. It's an intense exercise. And looking at it, it's like, I really actually would like to make this. I was going to say, you're going to make this thing? I feel like maybe someday I will. I don't know. I'll tell you this. The Neurosis Times of Grace wolf patch is out of stock because I tried to buy it the other day. Dang it. At least at their website. You might be able to get it from a second party. Nice.

Oh, yeah, that's cool, man. So the band I forgot, Year of No Light is the band. I was going to say, Jay, we saw them at Cycle Vegas, but you guys, I think, were at breakfast. I skipped breakfast so I could go see them. But it was a heavily influential post-metal band in my life. So this is my approach. This is what I have. Yeah. Wow. Nice. Awesome. Very well done, sir. Hey, thank you. Very cool. It is a nice-looking vest, too. I could totally see that on you.

Yeah. No shirt, of course. More pants. Yeah. Who needs pants when you have a vest like that? Yeah. All right. On to Marcuson. Oh, on to me. Okay. Well, I didn't do like a builder because I'm wearing my vest right now. That's what I thought. If you have one. So I only have one complete battle vest right now. I'm wearing it. It features death metal.

bands. And it has all white embroidered patches. Because I wanted to have a specific

streamlined look instead of it being a mash of different bands, styles, and colors like Matt just showed.

And a lot of people do that and it looks cool. But I just wanted to do something a little bit different.

So I also added some embroidered patches that weren't specifically related to bands because I just thought it gave the vest some mystery to it.

a little bit more of a design than I otherwise wouldn't get if I just had patches from bands. So across the upper back, I have a skull with wings. You guys have seen my vest many times. And down the left and right sides, I have a snake patch and I have a coffin with bones on it. There's like a Grim Reaper patch and I just thought that was cool and it fit right there on the side. So I like the idea of focusing on the back of the back of the back of the back of the back of the back of the back of the back of the back of the back

Focusing on one genre of metal. And that's what I'm going to be doing for my other vests. I also like trying to do artsy concepts with it just to give them a different look. So I have this death metal vest with only the embroidered white band patches mixed with non-band stuff. But I'm working on a block metal vest and a doom vest right now. And I also started thinking about doing a post-metal vest as well.

So the black metal one that I'm doing, I only do black because Matt's vest was a blue denim. I'm only doing black because that's all I ever really wear. Every once in a while I wear a red shirt, but I don't think I have anything else. Yeah, just don't beam down to the planet, Matt. Yeah, I had thought about it and I thought, you know, just for this first pass, but I can, I mean, black denim is so cool. So the black metal one that I'm going to do, it has,

It actually has a beaked hood on it too

Which is pretty cool

I should have brought it down actually

And I love that

And I thought that was perfect for black metal

Because again it adds like this extra bit of mystery

And I can put the hood

Especially because I still go in the pit

So I can throw the hood on

And I can be in the pit with this vest

But I'm trying to decide how I want to do it

Because usually when you do these battle vests

You just put patches all over it, right?

But I'm thinking for the black metal one

I just want to have a back patch and then a few strategically placed patches on it. So it will mostly be black and bare instead of being covered. And I like that idea of it being intentionally spare because that's kind of what I think about when I think about black metal. But then I would get like these embroidered branch patches that were like down the side of it because I wanted to have this kind of cool winter forest effect to it as well. So I try to think of it a little bit differently.

Yes, I want to try to have my favorite bands on vests, but in the case of the death metal vest, not every band I love had embroidered white patches, right? So I had to get what was available. And the way it looks now, I think it looks good. I have a lot of death metal on here, but there's room for more patches, and I'm not opposed to switching patches out should I ever find what I'm looking for.

So yeah, that's how I'm trying to approach it, but I'm trying to do the black metal one next. And I'm kind of torn because it would be nice to have a bunch of patches. And I have a box of patches. So when I go to shows, and I go to a lot of shows, I think I've been in the last month, I think maybe last two months, I've been to like 10 shows, maybe. And that's why I have a box of just patches. So I'll just buy them and just have them. And eventually I'll go through them and I go,

this is going to fit here or here. But yeah, I think the black metal one's next. And I should have already completed it. But I actually try to do it based on when we get together. So, you know, when we go to a festival, I would like to have a new vest the next time we do it. I didn't go to one this year, but maybe next year. If we do a festival together, then I'd like to bring a new vest.

But that's how I approach it. In my Doom Metal vest, I have an Asunder patch. That's my favorite Doom Metal band of all time for the back. And I haven't really decided much beyond that. But yeah, I go by genre of metal. That's how I've been approaching it, which is different than most people. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. And as far as like construction of it, you, I know, I believe most of the time people are sewing. I know there was talk of ironing things.

I assume you take that route. I sew. I mean, I don't do it myself. It's not metal to sew yourself. I mean, I have done a couple patches, but I don't want to do this. My mom's done some. I have a friend who performs burlesque, and so she makes a lot of costumes, and she's like, hey, if you ever have any patches that you want to put on your vest, send them to me because I want to practice with the sewing machine that I have. I was like, okay.

Yeah, so under-sheet definitely helps. Oh, it's great. I've definitely taken it to, you know, the laundromat where they also do, you know, sewing and stuff like that for some patches. But yeah, I prefer the sewing to the gluing. I think you can glue it on there. I think, George, did we talk about this, George? I glued mine on and then sewed. Yeah, I glued them on just so that they would be in the right spots. Yeah. You know, and then.

sew them to permanent it. I don't know what the freaking word is. Make it permanent. Permanize. Sounds like it's like a metal band. It's a thrash band from. Yeah. What I do though is I'll place the patches and then I take a photo of it and then I just give it to my friend and like this is what I want it to look at like and so you can see because sometimes if they don't know metal they'll put them upside down. I can't read it. You can't tell what it is. Especially when it's the black metal stuff.

So I've done that before. I do that too if I'm going to go to, why can't I think of the word seamstress? That's what I was trying to think of before. If I go to a seamstress, then I would do the same thing and just print out a picture of what it should look like so they don't fuck it up. But yeah. So I do have some stuff planned out that I need to take and I just haven't done it yet. But I have several blank black metal vests for,

these endeavors.

But really, it's just this one that's, I would say it's complete.

But like I said, there's more room on it for other, if I really wanted to.

But I spaced it out so it'd look good.

Nice.

Yeah.

There you go.

All right.

John, what would you do?

I know.

I hope you're going where I think you're going.

You don't know where I'm going.

Oh, damn it.

Maybe you do.

I don't know.

Look, I've never had a battle vest.

I've never made a battle vest and I don't know any of the rules. Although, Matt, I did look at my creation just now and I've seen every band on my back and front except for two. There you go. All right. But I'm older than most people. Not as old as TR. He's two weeks older than me. So my battle vest is going to be, the front side's going to be all favorite bands or cool logos or cool images.

And in the back is going to harken back to my early days when I cut my teeth on hard rock and metal. And yeah, these are supposed to be metal. It's more metal to not be metal. So let's get into it. I'm going to share my screen. Wait for that to come up. It's all Jeff back. No, it's going to be a big 2112 thing right in the middle. Just one big naked guy. It's got to be Rush in the middle. Come on. One big naked guy. All right.

Here's the front of my battle vest. Nice. So I used this site called the Black Thread to make this, and they've got like thousands of patches. So on my front side, on the upper right lapel area, I guess, that's how old I am, I've got Rush. It doesn't matter. I don't care what vest it is. There has to be a Rush. I would love to have a Rash one, but I couldn't find one, so just Rush. And that's on the right side. And the left is obviously going to be Opeth. I did not fill mine up.

with like a bazillion different patches because I wanted them all stand out. And of course, you know, the front side is going to be all prog. So I've got Dream Theater's Majesty logo. I've got Symphony X. I've got one that you can't read, which is Blood Incantation. And I've got Cynic. That's all down the right side, right from the right pocket down to the front. On the right side, yes, I put a gathering patch. It's from their first album, Always, which is their Death Doom album. Damn right I did.

And of course, I threw Bowie on there because Aladdin Sane just looks cool. I don't care what anyone says. He looks cool. On the left side, starting with the pocket, I have the Alice in Chains dirt son, which I thought was cool. How do you have a vest without death? I'm going to skip the next one because I'll come back to that. Then I have the old original Queensryche from the EP. And then I decided Darth Vader is about as evil as it gets. Yeah, that's totally metal. I mean, so why wouldn't you?

And why wouldn't you have Celtic Frost? Yeah. Okay. Now, I put Paradise Lost, the logo on there, because I don't want Matt or Jay to wear my vest. So that's why that's there. Wear it for two songs. Wear it for a couple songs. Yeah, straight to the bar. All right. So now I got to figure out how to switch it to the next one here. And you guys are on. There we go. All right. So here's the back. Jay, you'll appreciate this. This is my hard rock metal one.

is going to be Judas Priest, Van Halen, and Deep Purple. I know he's going to like Deep Purple. George, I know you like Deep Purple too. Yeah. Of course, I've got the Motorhead mascot. Everybody knows who that is. Does anyone want to say who it is? Snangletooth. Thank you. Do you know the other name? Warpik. Thank you. Warpik, yeah. See if everyone's paying attention. And along with that, I've got Led Zeppelin's swan song. I'm sorry. It's still one of the coolest logos ever. Pretty good.

You know, and then I'm going to skip the bottom. I'm going to go to the left side. Then I've got a Your Next Grim Reaper, where the grimmer is point and saying, you're next. And then, I'm sorry, I love the first two Def Leppard albums. I don't care what everyone says. They're just cool new wave of British heavy metal. Then they're no longer new wave of British heavy metal. And my back patch is going to be Eddie from the first album. I always thought that that was the kind of most emaciated looking Eddie.

You know, look like he was living on the streets, which I think was the original intent. Then he became a killer and started murdering people. Oh, right. Because of his circumstances. Right. He's a junkie. He doesn't have a job. You know. Makes perfect sense. It shows. Yeah, we blame him. It's a product of his environment. It's systemic. He's living on the streets. He needs a job. So what does he do? Kills people. Then all of a sudden his head gets lopped off and he's in space at some point, you know, and he's basically the Jason before Jason.

Jason existed on the movies. My bottom, along the back, the tramp stamps, in the middle is going to be Black Sabbath. To the right is Ozzy Osbourne. To the left is Dio. That is the Holy Trinity right there. And then, Jay, just for you, at the very bottom, I put a little old Saxon one. Why? Because those first Saxon albums are awesome. But that's also a really great logo with the silver wings. I mean, how does that go?

Good-looking patch, dude. Yeah, that's, isn't that, uh, it's Wheels of Steel, isn't it? I can't remember. I think so, yeah. So anyway, so my back is an homage to all my early bands that I cut my teeth on, and these are all bands I just, Motorhead was probably the least of all these, but I played all these bands to death, you know, so. I like how the saxon is just above the butt, the butt sax. Yeah, there you go, you know? It's just right there saying, come on down, baby. Yeah. So, and then, again,

I feel confident that I won't have to worry about J.R. Matt lifting this off of me when I'm not paying attention because I got the Paradise Luster. I like the black stonewashed look to the vest. I'm actually surprised by this one, John. I thought it would be like all Prague stuff and it's not. Well, you know, I do listen to other music. I know you do. Absolutely. I know. Of course, if you look at this first page, you've got Rush, Opeth, Dream Theater, Symphony, Expo, Incantation, Cynic.

Queen's Ride, Death, to some point, you know, they're all kind of proggy. That's true. Darth Vader, so proggy. Well, Darth Vader is about as proggy you're going to get. I mean, come on, look, he's got the best. He's emo. He's emo at the same time. It's funny, too, though, because there is a band named Vader. Yeah. So I wonder if somebody would come up and be like, oh, is that for Vader? No, dude, it's Darth Vader. What the hell? Anyway, I'll stop sharing. But that's my best.

I just went with bands that I loved. And I also wanted a couple cool images. I had Vic Rattlehead from Peace Cells. Oh, yeah. And I just couldn't fit it on anywhere. I really wanted to get that on there. And I think I had Injustice for All, and I just couldn't get it on there. And I was like, well, yeah. Those patches actually look kind of big to me on that vest. So I wonder if you could actually do it if you get the real patches. Because I don't know how to scale this program is. But you can scale it any way you want.

Okay. It gives you the option to twist. So if you remember the Judas Priest, I actually twisted that down a little. Okay. And I expand like the back patch I made. It was just a small iron made one. And I said, no, you're going to be big. Get your bitch ass on the back of my vest and make yourself big. And I just rearrange them based on how I wanted them. See, I've never made one before. So these are my rules. I missed when you posted this. I did not see this at all, John. Oh, I said it.

I felt like I said it in the chat. So if you ever get a chance to head out there and you guys can go crazy on that site and you can adjust them any size you want and you could do a vest or a jacket. They didn't have fun douches which would have been awesome. Does anyone remember the dude in the fun douchie the one year we went to MDF? All he wore was that little tiny like man of war thing and he had like a patch.

Oh, yeah. He had like nothing underneath it. Dude, seriously? What could I forget? It's kind of hot out here. Nobody wants to see that. Sweaty balls. Exactly. Sweaty balls. Sweaty, sweaty balls. I don't have a video or a visual representation of mine. I love that you did that. But it's funny because you really hit on the hot, my concept, John, or what my intended concept would be.

And it would always, I've never made one and I probably won't, but always my, were I to do that and follow through, the back would be a full patch of Number of the Beast. Because that's just really, to me, always, I come back to that as the center of the metal world to me was the, probably my most true introduction to real European heavy metal at that time. And, and so there was just no question that that would be the center.

And then my thought was to just do the front much the way you did yours, which was a left side of like, because I used to love watching like, like crowd scenes from the 80s. So like, I'm thinking, John of Beast over Hammersmith, which does have some scenes out in the, you know, waiting, people waiting to come in and stuff. And I loved this era when it would be, they'd have a maiden pack,

and an angel witch patch and a ufo patch and i've mentioned this before as we've talked about these things because i love that weird transitional period and so i there's no doubt in my mind that i would go number of the beast big on the back probably a couple of little ones like celtic frost or something like that but then i would dedicate the front left side or right side to like ufo you know saxon all those kinds of things that were kind of borderline well new wave of british british and then the other side would definitely be slayer you know just like

what happened after. Like I said, I don't have a visual representation, but I've always known that were I to do that, number of the beasts would be the center, and I would want to somehow represent the totality of what I understand to be heavy. Jay, I feel like with your Slayer, you probably possessed Exodus. Probably not Exodus. I would definitely want a possessed one. I would definitely want a Slayer one, but it would have to be something old school.

I would definitely have to have a Celtic Frost. On the UFO side, there would definitely be a UFO. I might even be super cheeky and put a Thin Lizzy over there just to really annoy people. I wouldn't do Def Leppard, but I like that you included that, John. It would definitely be a Judas Priest logo. Let's see what else.

I'd look for a rainbow one. I thought that would be cool to have that. That would be cool, yeah. Oh, and I like that deep purple one you did. That would go on the UFO side. Yeah, that'd be really cool. And then, yeah, most of them will probably be these, probably not anything that modern in it at all. I'd probably go for old metal blade bands, you know, like Slayer, Possessed, you mentioned. See what else? Celtic Frost. Oh, Venom. I'd have a Venom thing on there for sure.

Beasts would be my first choice. Second choice for a full back patch would be the cover of Black Metal. Which is like the greatest record cover ever and a record that I loved and something that represents something that I love. So that's it. You know, I didn't do a visual representation. Kind of wish I had now because it was fun to look at yours. But maybe George got his with him. All right. Do you want me to share it? I mean, you've seen it. I can just talk about it.

You can just talk about it, George, I think. Yeah. All right. You got a lot of patches on there. Yeah. So this is the reason I don't have tattoos is because I must fill every inch. If I did, I would never stop. So I guess I'll start on the front and work my way to the back. After the have to have seen them roll, I started looking at it. And I have seen most of these. But some of them,

It's just not possible. Like, so starting in the upper, well, if you're looking at it, the upper left front side, Dissection Storm of the Lights Bane. And a lot of these are covers. And when they are, I will say that. But this is a Dissection Storm of the Lights Bane. Ten years ago when I made this, I might not do it now. Next to that is the E logo for Emperor, like in a shield.

And just below that is the Bathory logo, which of course I would never saw Bathory, but would have liked to. Over on the other upper section, I have a Cannibal Corpse skeletal domain patch. And I have seen them. Hellhammer, the apocalyptic raids cover. And underneath that, the Candlemas logo with the skull and the drumsticks. Love it from the debut. That's a good one. Yeah. All right.

Going back over to the other side and working our way down, the classic Arcturus logo. I have seen them. Next to that is the Motorhead Orgasmatron cover. Then we've got the Rigor Mortis logo. Never did see them. I don't think. Below that is the Death logo. Did not get a chance to see Death. I had a chance. I skipped it. I should have known better. Next to that is the King Diamond logo. Below that is a

The Behemoth one. It's not an album cover, but it is square. Below that is the Dark Funeral pentagram logo with the upside-down crosses. Underneath that, a square Napalm Death red logo. Underneath that, the intricate Hooded Menace logo. You totally reminded me, George, I would absolutely have a Melissa cover on mine. We'll get there. Yeah. Nice.

I sent you a patch with the fire logo. It was a button, I think. I think I sent Jay the patch there. Oh, I thought you were talking about me. Somebody gave me a merciful fate pin. But anyway, I also have next to the Hood and Menace is an Abeth angry cat brown.

He said the Abbey Road one. It was his band basically crossing Abbey Road like the kind of thing. Oh yeah, yeah. This is Abbey Road. This is going to be Sergei's favorite t-shirt. He wore it to every show. All right. Other side of the front. Iron Maiden Power Slave, album cover patch, Borknogger logo, Godflesh logo, Anonymous Rock logo, Impaled Nazarene logo.

I've seen Borg Nogger, have not seen Godflesh. I feel like I did see Impaled Nazarene at MDF one year, but I'm not positive. Grand Magus and Triumph and Power album cover, great album. The Venom black metal one that Jay just mentioned, the album cover for that. And then underneath that, Tripticon logo. Underneath that, the old school Doddheim,

like from the first album or so, that logo. And then a band most people don't know, Cemetery. I know. And there's some other ones along the side that aren't listed here because they've been added and also they're on the side so you can't see them. But I wrote some down that I remembered. There's a chemist patch, an unearthed elf patch, which is probably.

Very choice. Tombs, there's Running Wild, and some other ones that I don't remember. Flipping it over to the back. In this representation, the top just underneath the neck is Woods of E-Prey, but I believe in reality I had room to throw a Throssenblot logo in there as well. And underneath that, across the very top of the back, like across the Shoulder Blades, Metal Heads podcast. Oh, nice.

This was a not the logo that you know from the podcast. This is another Kristoff logo that he did that's more pointy and 80s thrash looking. Is it the one you labeled like sci-fi? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Nice. That's a pretty good podcast. Yeah, it's decent. And then underneath that, I have the Satyricon logo, the Celtic Frost logo, and the Emperor logo. Let's go ahead and hit the middle.

The Backpatch is Trypticon, because when I made this Trypticon, it was the be-all-end-all for me. I'm a little grumpy that there's no new Trypticon, but, you know. Continuing down the bottom, another Dodd-Heim's Guard. This one is the big DHG logo with Dodd-Heim's Guard underneath it. And below that, my tramp stamp is sentenced, as it should be. As expected. Along the sides, we've got the

Classic Mayhem logo, the Voivod Nothing Face album cover, a green Creator logo, Bluedouse Nord logo, the Old School Rotting Christ logo, for Jay, the Merciful Fate Melissa album cover patch. And finally, along the other side, the Nile logo, Migwa, whatever became of those guys. Underneath that, an Obituary logo.

It's sort of slowly we rot. It's green instead of silver, but it has the blood dripping off it. Beneath that, Sepultura beneath the remains cover. Below that, the skepticism logo, which I think actually moved up after I did this. I think it's up towards the top now. And then the coroner punishment for decadence. Oh, nice. I meant to mention on the front, I also have a few

Pins, like the, what are those, pewter or whatever pins, the metal pins. I've got a Chemist one and a Danzig one, like the Skull Danzig logo thing on one side. On the other side, I've got the Slayer, like Eagle logo and an Inferro Bruro pin. Remember those guys? And on my,

My collars, like little, I don't know, maybe there isn't a word for that, but they're like a lapel pin. I have Ramones logos on both. Nice. And, you know, anywhere I couldn't fit a patch, I put the metal studs. So all across the tops of the shoulders and down the sides and stuff, like the pockets and stuff. I forgot to mention that too.

I'm going to put more on them too but I started doing it. That was the worst. It takes forever. Yeah, it just messes up your fingers because you got to like push it through. It's got like spiky things on you got to push it through the denim. Mine's black denim by the way. I forgot to mention that. And then you have to like use something to push them over so that they stay. And I have many cuts from that. I mean I use like a threading hook.

or something to make a hole and then I put it through. But it still takes forever. Yeah. I don't think I have anything more to say about mine. Oh, I was going to say, though, that a couple of things, actually. I am I bought a replacement back patch. Tom G is just like pissing me off. No new new Tripticon album. Well, fine, then I'm going to replace that.

Last year I ordered a Woods of Epre patch. Which I happen to have with me, so I will show you. It is the... Oh, wow. It's from the home... Yeah, the home single cover. A rare release towards the end of the band. It's got like a house and some... an old, like a band

and a tree and some grass and at the bottom it says Woods of Epre home. Yeah, that's like a fucking Blair Witch house right there. It's very stunning artwork, I think, to put on a vest and it probably is going to look weird because it doesn't look very metal until you get to the logo. It's kind of cool you have a band name in the tree. Yeah, yeah. Two band names. One indecipherable.

I had also after... What is Jay doing? Oh my. He's King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizarding. Animal faces. I had ideas for other vests and taking a page from Marcus on his book. One of those, because I've seen both of these at shows that I really like, one would be patches that are all white so that it's a theme of just all white patches. But I would also do one that was all red.

because I've seen one of those and it was pretty awesome. It's cool, yeah. Yeah. And then I don't know if I did another one. It would just be completely different stuff. You know, maybe something a little more classic like with some Ozzy and some Priest and stuff like that. Madonna, Lady Gaga. How did you decide to do the vest that you have, though, George? Did you just, all these bands I like, I gotta put the patch on there? Yeah, this was like, hey, let's throw everything I know and the kitchen sink on there. It was, but not necessarily because it was also like,

What can you get? Yeah. You know, some of this stuff came from shows, but a lot of it didn't. I had to order it. And it was more about what, you know, it started off as what means the most to me. And then expanded from that, you know, outward. But like, there's not a band on here that I don't think that I don't like immensely care about, except for maybe Migwa. At the time, I was very much into them. But since they haven't put anything out,

I don't really listen to them anymore. So. Right. And you are replacing the back batch. So. Yeah. And that's less about, I joke about Tom and the Tripticon thing. It's less about that and just more about, I would have gotten this patch in the first place if it had been available. Sure. But back when I made this. I mean, Woods of DeepRay is your favorite. Exactly. It should be there. It just wasn't available when I did this. And now that it was, I was like, oh, I'm getting this. Yeah. That's what I was saying too, because.

this vest, because I'm doing all white embroidered. It has to be embroidered, too. It's hard to find every single band with a patch like that. So, I mean, I've gotten a lot of them, but there's certain bands that I would love to have on this vest that I don't, you know, like Phrenolith or Bowthrower. I haven't found those patches yet, you know. I could have also done a sentence back patch if such a thing existed, but... Try and sample. Kato!

Nice. The Green Hoard. Yeah, for sure, man. So I didn't say this. The two bands I hadn't seen on mine were Death and Led Zeppelin. So I did all right. Oh, that was a good one. I did okay for seeing all those. Yeah. Have any of us seen Death? No, I didn't. I mean, I've seen half of Death in a different band. They played Jax once on, I think it was The Sound of Perseverance, and I was just like, ah, I'll catch him next time.

Oh, man. I have, however, seen Celtic Frost, so that one I can keep. And me and Matt Summer is full of faith, so I've got my big one. But yeah, it's funny, dude. There was a time there, and we've all had this, where you were just sort of like, I'll catch it next time, or whoever it was, you know what I mean? Or like, I'm tired, or I don't know what it is. Oh, yeah, back then for sure, Jay. Now I don't do that. Yeah. I made that mistake. Anytime a band comes, I go.

If I haven't seen that band, and I love that band, I go see them. Don't screw around, yeah. I don't fuck with that anymore. No, I hear you, dude. I mean, I'm sure we've all got at least a few of those where it's just like, damn. Oh, yeah. And not just metal. That's a future episode. Where did we screw up? Yeah. Absolutely, man. Oh, boy, do I got a lot. Or where did COVID screw us? And the crazy thing is we've seen, you know, collectively, we've seen a shit ton of shows. Oh, sure.

I had tickets to see the Rolling Stones, COVID got it canceled, and then Charlie Watts died. Oh. Well, that one wasn't your fault. No. Stupid COVID. I've been seeing the most interesting interviews. Somebody did a really, the New York Times, they did a really thoughtful interview with Mick Jagger, a video interview. It's the best interview, and they asked him about what does fame, like, how does that affect you?

your life. You saw that? And he gave the most thoughtful answer about how somewhat useless it is to be famous. And that was great. It was great. Yeah. If you guys are on New York Times, check it out. Yeah. Because I guess they got records coming out or something, John. Yeah, it just came out like a week or so ago. Yeah. Did you listen to it? Not yet. It's called like Native Tongues or something. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I intend to but I just haven't gotten to it yet. Yeah, me either. I haven't gotten a chance. Probably should before Tuesday. Yeah, that is for a future episode where we screwed up stuff we skipped. Yeah. Circumstances just weren't favorable. Circumstances, yeah. All right. Cool. Yeah. Matt, I expect you to make that battle this. Yes, sir. I'm on it. I'm on it. Give me about 10 years.

Okay.

I like it.

All right.

We have one.

I think it would be a good, I don't know, just like a good project.

It's a therapeutic thing to do for sure.

Thank you.

Yeah.

That is definitely kind of the word I have.

Yeah.

I love making mine.

Yeah.

But I think the thing with the first one, you make it and it is therapeutic and you do it.

Now the second one, I feel like I'm putting too much thought into it almost.

Sure.

You know what I mean?

I probably should just do it.

What John didn't say that I was hoping he was going to say, because we've talked about it several times before, is he's talked about doing a Hawaiian shirt with patches. Oh, yes. That's my prog one. Yeah. That's good, yeah. Yeah. I wanted to show up at like prog power with that, like a Hawaiian shirt, because Glenn, the promoter, this is the last year, by the way, after 25 years, he wears Hawaiian shirts all the time. That's a good idea. Yeah. I've done work shirts and I put patches on those.

It's just in the back. They're just playing. Oh, no, that's a good one. The work shirt's perfect for that. Like the burr shirts and stuff like that. Yeah. I have several of those. Yeah. I mean, those work things just lean into it, man. I used to have the back. I think I got it in a secondhand store. I got a UPS jacket. That one was so good. That'd be great. It was comfortable, too. And it fit like a Captain Kirk shirt. You know what I mean? It was exactly the right size kind of thing. Did you find yourself like,

always pausing while you talk like but i want a beer

so good

after early um so i think what we have to do is spin the wheel we do but i have one more thing to say

about it one other thing i after mdf this year uh i decided that i needed a uh a full-on poncho with patches

And I feel like I might have seen some people with that. So that may not be an original idea. I think some people there may have had that. You better get a breathable poncho. Otherwise, you're going to sweat like 40 pounds off of the show. Well, yeah. That's the thing is you can't just do one of the cheap plastic ones. You got to get a vinyl thing. Substantial. That's like a $150 poncho, man. I know, right? Oh, my gosh. But it would be something. Yeah. Well, so is my vest. Jeez.

On that note, I would totally do like a snuggie with patches. Oh my God, Matt. Why have you not done that? I know. Matt, if you walk around the child's people think you're one of the models on Scream Bloody Gore. And I would love that. That'd be great. I would absolutely love it. I love it. Yeah. Snuggle metal is real. All right. Now we are ready for the wheel. All right. Let me share my screen again. Da wheel. Da wheel. All right.

Can we see the wheel? No. There it is. John, you're in the middle. You put your face in it. I love it, John. All right. Let me get the audio for you guys. I just share computer sound. Stereo hi-fi. All right. So what I did is I changed. I'm changing the colors each time one of us does it just to mix it up. Anything in red. Red is what we've done. Okay. It is what we've done.

And I've added my picture to the middle. That's beautiful. Seeing your goatee upside down is life-changing. Yeah. I'm glad to hear that. All right. So hopefully you guys can hear because I also changed the audio. So are we ready? Yep. And this is your spin. Yeah. Now, hopefully you guys can hear it. If it doesn't work, I will spin again so you can hear it. Okay.

I just want to make sure you guys can hear it so okay all right let me make sure I got that sound all taken care of again just real quick yeah we're stereo high fidelity are we ready we are ready spin it John oh oh court of chaos I don't remember what that is

Court of Chaos. Would somebody like to read what Court of Chaos is? Yeah, let me see. I didn't bring it up yet. Let me see here. Madeline's podcast. Segments. Court of Chaos. Okay. Spinner chooses one band, album, song, or genre to be put on trial. Charges are presented, defenses argued, and a verdict is rendered. Okay.

This is originated by George. It's a tag team segment. But of course the spinner gets to decide how it is done. Okay. Well, I can tell you for the pre-selection, it will not be the Black Album because I really don't want to hear Will talk about it. All right. So I will think about this and I'll have to get back to you guys. It could be a band, album, song, genre, whatever you want though, John.

It doesn't have to be a specific album. I have to contemplate this one. You got to think about it a little bit. Could be Steel Panther. This will be interesting. I have no idea how this is going to go, but looking forward to it. This could be hard, so I have to think about this. I think this might be the hardest one on the wheel, to be honest with you. Yeah. Good luck, John. Actually, good luck to you guys. Yeah. All right. All right. Let's stop sharing that screen. All right.

That is something to look forward to. Yes. Very cool. And now I guess we're done. I love the wheel. Does anybody have anything else they want to add? What's that? It's nice to see your handsome faces. Yep. Good times, man. See you next time. All right. See you boys. Bye.

,