Current Playlist

I have not been able to write any lately, hoping to jump back into it soon and help Andy out.
I'm hoping to listen to the new Priest once it comes out. I'm also listening to  these-
Lots of Sepultura
Tons of Priest
Skullhammer-Resisting Time
Warbringer-Woe to the vanquished
Obscene-Sermon to the snake
Whipstriker-Merciless Artillery
Litltle Caesar-Eight

What are you listening to?

Current playlist-end of 2017 edition

To be honest I missed a lot of releases the first half of the year and have been trying to play catch-up the second half of the year. I am still way behind in getting around to hearing all the albums I wanted to this year. Over all it's been a good year for the styles of music I like. Here is what I am checking out recently.

Listening to-
Kreator-Gods of violence
Blood Feast-The future state of wicked
Horrified-Allure of the fallen
Primitive Man-Caustic
Morbid Angel-Kingdoms disdained
Bell Witch-Mirror Reaper

Reading-
Nine lessons I learned from my father

Watching-
Twilight Zone the complete series
The Broncos trying to not get a high draft pick.
The Capitals getting it together and getting hot.

Feel free to add what you are listening to, reading or watching in the comments.

Current playlist

 

Currently listening to-
Misfits-boxed set
The Casualties-several titles
Alice Cooper-Paranormal
Gorilla Biscuits-Start today
Blood Feast-The future state of wicked
Saxon- several titles
The Xiles-No comply
Acid King-Middle of nowhere, Center of everywhere
 
Reading-A bunch of stuff for work.

Watching- 
Spider-man-Homecoming
Castle season three
The legend of the werewolf
The Fog (slap yourself if you have to ask which one)

What are you listening to, reading or watching?

Weekly Playlist

With Metal Mark tied up with work and outdoor activities I decided to simply post my own lists.


Listening to:
Rogue Male-First Visit
Leather Nunn - Take the Night
The Best Of Indie Metal-Various Artists
Desolation Angel-Same + While The Flame Still Burns Demo Sessions
Impulse-Gladiator
Riggs-Riggs
Hardware-Heavy Nights
Angel Witch-As Above So Below
Breathless-Breathless
Stallion-Various Demos
ATC-Cut In Ice
Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance

Watching:
The Wolf Man-The Legacy Collection
Escape From L.A.
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
MS3TK (various episodes)
Night Of The Creeps
Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)
Forbidden World
Alien 3

Reading:
The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes

What are you listening to?

Best hair metal albums 5-1

Here they are.


5-Twisted Sister-Stay hungry-1984
Any of their first three albums would fit here but I think this one had the greatest influence on the genre.


4-Def Leppard-Pyromania-1983
These guys started out doing NWOBHM and eventually became an AOR band. In between they knocked out this really catchy album.

 
3-Motley Crue-Shout at the devil-1983
Wow, what a great album. A shame they never came close to this level after this album.


2-Motley Crue-Too fast for love-1981/1982
To me this was a an 80's hair metal album that had a slight nod to 70's glam.


1-Guns and Roses-Appetite for destruction-1987
If people try to turn up their nose at all hair metal this is the first I point out as the one showed how good this style could be. Unfortunately for every band like GnR or early Motley Crue you got five bands like London, Trixter or Warrant.

Best hair metal albums 10-6

The countdown rolls on.


10-Tigertailz-Bezerk-1990
Heaven is a horrible ballad, but the rest of the album  is impressive.


9-Cinderella-Long cold winter-1988
Their debut "Night songs" was run of the mill, but the three albums after that were very good.


8-Dokken-Tooth and nail-1984
They never came close to where they were for this album. Very solid effort.


7-WASP-s/t- 1984
Fantastic debut. I liked their later albums when they became more serious, but they were far more fun on the early albums.


6-Ratt-Out of the cellar-1984
All of Ratt's albums from 1983 to 1990 were good, but this is best one.

***The top five will be coming up soon.

Best hair metal albums of all time 15-11

Here you go.



15-Quiet Riot-Metal Health (1983)
Really helped push hard rock into the mainstream. Whether or not that was a good thing or not is debatable.



14-Gypsy Pistoleros- Wild, beautiful, damned (2007)
Easily the best hair metal band of the last 10 years.



13-Tesla-Mechanical resonance (1986)
One of the more talented bands of the genre. Also one of the more consistent as well.



12-Lizzy Borden-Give 'em the axe (1984)
They always kind of rode the line between hard rock and metal.



11-Faster Pussycat-s/t (1987)
One of the few times a hair band had a real sense of humor and it worked.

Best Hair Metal albums of all time-25-21

Before I begin the countdown I just have a few more rules. Live albums and anthologies are not eligible for the list, just studio LPs and EPs. A band can have more than one album on the list. So here we go.


25-Poison-Look what the cat dragged in (1986)
This may be at the top of some people's lists. The playing is very basic, but this is an influential album in this style.


24-Smash Alley-Too late to say no (2007)
Chicago's Smash Alley were active back in the hair metal hey day, but this wasn't released until just a few years ago. Very solid hair metal with strong riffs. If they have left the two ballads off then I may have had the album even higher on the list.


23-Witch-The hex is on (1984)
This EP was very rough and raw. These guys had a sound somewhere between early Motley Crue and WASP.


22-LA Guns-s/t (1988)
This is short and to the point. Nothing fancy, but just slick hair metal.


21-TKO-In your face (1984)
Such an underrated band. I liked all their albums, but this was the best one.

Numbers 20-16 coming Friday.

Best Hair Metal albums of all time-Honorable mentions

As I announced the other day I will be tackling a top 25 hair metal albums of time list. Over the last few days I listened to albums and made the list. However I decided to put out some honorable mentions first and then tomorrow and I'll begin the countdown with numbers 25-21.Here in no order are the honorable mentions.

Spread Eagle-s/t (1990)
Generally I think hair metal was getting weaker in the 90's, but these guys were one of the exceptions.

Black-n-Blue-s/t (1984)
Now they may have made the top 25 list had their debut album been more like their demo. Still a very good effort even if some of the lyrics are really bad.

Wrathchild-Stakk Attack- Do you want my love- twelve inch (1983) and s/t (1984)
Both the single and their debut LP were rough and simple. However these guys don't always get the credit they deserve for being very influential on this style.

Kix-s/t (1981)
Usually this band gets far more credit than they deserve, but their debut was fun. Also because I grew up in Maryland the local radio stations played songs off this album like every hour or so in the 80's.

Dangerous Toys-s/t (1989)
As much just straight out ass kicking rock and roll as it is hair metal.

Pretty Boy Floyd-Leather boys with electric toys (1989)
Totally unoriginal album. However it's catchy and slick, which is why it still holds well today.

Alleycat Scratch-Dead Boys in trash city (1993)
Kind of like Poison done by guys that could play their instruments.

Bastardz-Jungle Outlawz(2008)
Wait, a hair band with a decent rhythm section? How'd that happen? Oh, I see, it wasn't done in the 1980's.

Cowboy Prostitutes-Swingin' at the gates (2008)
So much attention has been given to the Swedish glam explosion in recent years. Yet some fine glam bands have come out of Italy too. This is the best one I have heard. This album came so close to making my top 25. Any young band wanting to play glam should really hear this album.

Crashdiet-Rest in sleaze (2005)
The best of the bands from the Swedish glam explosion.

***I'll begin the countdown of the top 25 hair metal albums of all time tomorrow.

Top 25 hard rock/metal bands

I love to make lists and I have not done my favorite hard rock/metal band list in a while so here is my current top 25 in order.

1-Iron Maiden
2-Black Sabbath
3-Led Zeppelin
4-Hanoi Rocks
5-Motorhead
6-Van Halen
7-Judas Priest
8-Deep Purple
9-Hendrix
10-Pentagram
11-WASP
12-Acid King
13-Ted Nugent
14-AC/DC
15-Rush
16-Budgie
17-Slayer
18-Medieval
19-Cirith Ungol
20-Electric Wizard
21-Lizzy Borden
22-Slough Feg
23-Saint Vitus
24-Guns-n-Roses
25-Armored Saint

Feel free to add your own top bands list.

Anytime, anywhere

I may have done this topic before, but my answers change so I'll tackle it again. I like a lot of albums, but there are ones I only listen to every once in awhile. On the other end of the spectrum are those albums I could listen to at any given time. So here's the challenge list ten hard rock or metal albums that you could listen to at any time without getting bored of them and you can only use an artist once. Here goes.


1-Iron Maiden-The number of the beast
2-Van Halen-Fair Warning
3-Black Sabbath-Sabbath bloody sabbath
4-Hanoi Rocks-Back to mystery city
5-Led Zeppelin-Houses of the holy
6-Medieval-Medieval Kills
7-WASP-The last command
8-Budgie-Never turn your back on a friend
9-Overkill-Feel the fire
10-Prong-Cleansing

***Feel free to add your own list.

Best and worst album covers of 2010

Ah, album covers I still love to look at them. That's not to say they are all good, but I still spend time looking at album covers and it's good to know there are still some fine covers coming out. Let's look at the not so good or bad if you will.

Here are a couple for the could have been better category.


Yeah, it's Eddie, but if a Maiden cover doesn't strike you as being cool right away then something is wrong.



The Helloween logog looks good, but the main image is like a steampunk version of a blender blade. It's okay, but not really front cover worthy.


Davie Rock Feinstein's cover is just totally bland. How much thought really went into this cover?

And...

Lethal Saint's cover is going for a DIY/early thrash cover kind of look, but it comes across as more of a "sketch on a book cover by a bored 8th grader" kind of look.



And finally...

Yngwie in his normal "I am wanker see me pose" stance. There are worse Yngwie covers, but once again this is no good.


Let's look at some of the covers that I really liked.

First some typical ideas done in likable ways.


Yeah, it's a skull and like 30% of all metal albums seem to have them slapped on their covers. I like the cover of Earthride's latest. The backgrounds colors and the blending of the object work for me.


Okay, it's a tough warrior with a weapon and we see plenty of those all over metal covers every year, but I really took to Immaculate's album cover. I only wish the music had been as good as the cover...it wasn't though.

Some different ones...


Intronaut's latest is an odd, but catchy cover.


Dawnbringer's latest uses only a few colors, but I love the depth and the mood they create.

And finally...



The Rocketchief cover plays on a definite nostalgia angle, but I loved it the first time I saw it.


***There you go. Feel free to add what covers from 2010 you liked or didn't like.

Top albums of 2010 coming soon

Some time this week Andy and I will both be posting out our lists for the best albums of 2010. So come by and check them out and here are links to other music blogs that will be posting their lists in the next week or so. So check them out too.

All Metal Resource — http://allmetalresource.com/


Bring Back Glam — http://bringbackglam.squarespace.com/


Hair Metal Mansion — http://hairbangersradio.ning.com/


Hard Rock Hideout — http://hardrockhideout.com/


Heavy Metal Addiction — http://heavymetaladdiction.com


Heavy Metal Time Machine — http://metalmark.blogspot.com/


Imagine Echoes — http://www.imagineechoes.com/


Metal Excess — http://metalexcess.com/


Metal Odyssey — http://metalodyssey.wordpress.com/


The Ripple Effect — http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com/


Hard Rock Nights — http://hardrocknights.wordpress.com/


Layla’s Classic Rock — http://laylasclassicrock.blogspot.com/


The Metal Minute — http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/

Five things in metal that I am thankful for

This is the fifth year I have done this feature and it's always fun to think about the top bands, labels, services or whatever that I am most thankful for from this past year. So here you go in no particular order.

Metal Mind Productions- This record label has been so consistent that they have made this list every year I have done it. They always manage to put out some great re-issues and this year was no exception as we were treated to re-issues from Mad Max, Blind Illusion, Quartz, Fist and others. Many included lyric booklets, some with band biographies and several contained bonus tracks as well.

Ratt-Certainly not a band I thought would end up on this list. Their last album the 1999 s/t reunion album was wretched so my hopes for "Infestation" were not high. I was wrong and Ratt came back with not just a good album, but one of the best hard rock albums of the year and one of the best of their career. I am thankful to them for proving that a veteran act can still make a fine record.

Canvas Solaris-Progressive metal is not exactly my favorite sub-genre of metal. Many bands is this field tend to be self-indulgent and frequently turn into giant wank fests as they to squeeze as many notes and beats possible into their music with complete disregard for emotion or spirit. However Georgia based instrumental prog-rock/metal act Canvas Solaris no better and they have been proving it for several years. Only they have also gotten even better with each release. This is a skilled prog band that hasn't forgotten how to rock plus be able to inject feeling and grooves into their music.

Self-produced metal acts-This is a broad choice, but an important one. Twenty or twenty-five years ago getting signed by a label was perhaps more important for bands. If they couldn't get signed by a major or an indie major label then they had to go the self-produced route which frequently didn't lead anywhere because they could make the album, but distribution for a self-produced release often meant they could only hit a small area. Years ago is seemed that only major label metal bands could get greater production values on their albums. Nowadays if bands can't get signed they produce their own product. It's easier to get great production nowadays thanks to technology so self-produced albums can sound great too. Also outlets like Myspace and Facebook allow bands to promote their product to a broader range of people and MP3s and downloads can allow fans to hear their music right aways. So their are many factors that go into helping bands that produce their own music, but I still applaud these bands for going this route and showing that the music business is always all about the big record labels.

Downloadable music-Another broad choice, but an important one and it ties in with the above choice. There are benefits to the physical product like artwork, but on the other hand downloading music can be done right, it doesn't take up space on your shelf unless you choose to put it on disc. Also it allows bands to get their music out to people in a manner that doesn't require as much money. An up and coming band can record and put their songs on Myspace and not have to go through the process of packaging and distributing a demo. Also labels and PR people can save some money on postage and packaging by sending downloads rather than mailing out physical copies. In tight times like these saving money where you can helps a lot. So if that's what it takes to keep music alive and available then I am all for it.

The year so far

So now here we are now into the second half of 2010. Speaking of music in the year thus far I would say it has been a good year. Not great, but good although with over five months left it could still turn out to be great. If I had to make up my list of the top 25 albums of the year so far it might take a while to sort it all out. Ufomammut's Eve is definitely my favorite album so far. Stone Axe 2 would be my second favorite. After that it gets more complicated and I'll likely pass on judgement for now. Around Halloween I'll start pulling out all the possible albums and giving them all a play or two to figure out who ranks where. Last year was definitely a strong year for stoner rock. This year I have not seen as much of a trend for a certain genre being stronger than another. The only trend I have seen so far is that a number of veteran bands have put out surprisingly good albums including Ratt, Treat, Heathen, Krokus and Danzig. Another good sign for 2010 is the lack of bad albums. Slash's album bored me to death. For actual bad albums the only ones that come to mind are Ozzy's new one which is awful as expected and the album from Suicidal Angels. The latter are a horribly generic thrash band with a lousy singer and some of the worst, least imaginative lyrics that I have heard in some time. I have not yet heard the new ones from Vince Neil or Bret Michaels although I would expect both to be quite bad. I have also heard a number of solid albums from little known or new bands and a good year for re-issues. There are also some already released albums that I have not got around to hearing. Due to lack of funds and time I may not get around to hearing all of them. Still I hope to get around to hearing the latest from from High on fire, Exodus, Overkill, Raven, Brainstorm Crashdiet and Sister Sin. With releases from Maiden, the Sword and others yet to go I am hopeful that the rest of the year will be solid too.

***What albums from 2010 have you enjoyed most so far and what upcoming 2010 releases are you most looking forward to?

5

My five year blogiversary was actually two days ago, but I just now remembered. I have somehow kept this thing going for five years and two days now. Thanks for reading. In honor of this I'll give you five lists of fives.


Five albums that I could listen to at any given time without getting bored.

1-Iron Maiden-The number of the beast

2-Van Halen-Fair Warning

3-Led Zepplein-Houses of the holy

4-Motorhead-Orgasmatron

5-Alice Cooper-Love it to death



Five 80's metal bands that never got their due

1-Medieval

2-Cirith Ungol

3-Executioner

4-At War

5-Zoetrope


Five CDs that I own that aren't really even good enough to be used as coasters

1-Trixter-s/t

2-Warrant-Cherry Pie

3-Judas Priest-Nostrodamus

4-Asia-Phoenix

5-Lita Ford-Wicked Wonderland


Five releases I surprisingly don't own on CD, but really need to get at some point

1-Judas Priest-Point of entry

2-Helloween-Walls of Jericho

3-Grim Reaper-Seee you in hell/Fear no evil disc

4-Van Halen-2

5-KISS-Dressed to kill


Five cool things I own on vinyl

1-Iron Maiden-Maiden Japan-Not as much rare as it is cool that I found it in a dumpster in good shape.

2-Venom-Manitou twelve inch. One of my favorite Venom songs with a cool cover

3-Black Sabbath-Paranoid seven inch with the Vertigo logo on one side of the label so you be in trance as you watch it sping on the turntable.

4-Judas Priest-Sad wings of destiny picture disc.

5-Rush-Archives-Not rare or anything, but it's a three album set that I got in great shape for $2.

Underrated and overrated 70's albums

I think I did one of these lists for 80's album so now maybe I'll tackle the 70's. Here are five albums that I overrated at one time and five that I underrated.




Underrated

1-Led Zeppelin-3
This one didn't click with me for years just because it was way more mellow than I was used to. It has grown on me and I glad that it is an album with it's own personality.

2-Rush-Caress of steel
Not everyone's favorite Rush album for sure. Odd around the edges and perhaps that's why it stands out for me.

3-Aerosmith-Get your wings
This one often gets left in the shadows of album like Rocks and Toys in the attic. It's more subtle, but the grooves are solid.

4-TKO-Let it roll
Known more for their 80's output, but this 1979 release was a solid Boston inspired album that didn't work for me in the mid-80's. In recent years I came around.

5-KISS-Hotter than hell
I used to skip past this one for most of their other mid-70's albums. Now I think it's one of their 4-5 best of their long career.

Overrated
1-Deep Purple-Who do we think we are
I always put this in with their fine string of early 70's albums, but really it's a mixed bag.

2-AC/DC-High Voltage (US version)
All their other 70's efforts rock and this one has some fine songs, but some snoozers too.

3-KISS-S/T
I used to like this one just as much as the five albums after it. There is some potential there, but it's clunky too.

4-Alice Cooper-From the inside
I got really into this one for a while mainly just because I liked the concept. Then I realized the songs were not quite as good as the ideas behind them.

5-Judas Priest-Rocka Rolla
Once I saw this one a small step away from Sad wings of destiny and sin after sin. Time and repeated plays has made me realize that the distance is wider than I thought it once was. Their are some sparks here, but it's a long ways from where they would go with their other 1970's efforts.

The mood

I listen to a lot of albums and a lot of different bands, but in the last say ten or fifteen years I have noticed that there are bands that I can listen to at any time and other bands where i have to be in the mood to listen to them. It's not just a matter of liking one more than the other because there are some bands who fall in the second category who are some of my favorite bands of all time.

Here are five that come to mind that I can listen to at any time.


Iron Maiden-Excluding the crappy 90's stuff I could listen to most of the other ones at any given time. I take to the m automaticly and always have.

Van Halen (Roth-era of course)-One of the first I ever got still holds well to my ears. It's largely upbeat and the grooves still sound strong.

Motorhead-Other than a few albums, most of theirs are albums I can turn on, crank up and get my blood going.

Hanoi Rocks-About twnty years ago I would have add them in the other category due to the odd paces and mixed sounds. Now I listen to them frequently for the same reasons.

WASP-I have my favorite albums, but since 1984 I have been listening to them fairly regularly without a break.

Five bands I like, but have to be in a certain mood to want to hear them.

Rush-Used to listen to them all the time, but now I really have to be in the mood to want to hear them even their best material.

Pentagram-I love doom and old 70's sludge, but I have to be in a patient, kind of low -key mood for this band.

Megadeth-I used to listen to them all the time from about 86-90. I still like them, but have to be in a rare mood to listen to them particularly a whole album.

Helloween-Another band I listened to a lot for a long time. The best power metal band around and like all power metal I can only take it in small doses these days.

Ozzy-I don't know if it's his overexposure in recent years as an idiot or the almost twenty years of worthless albums. Whatever the reason I have to really be in the mood to listen to even his best stuff yet I definitely admit he did a few very good albums.

Top 5 albums of 1970

Here you go

1-Black Sabbath-s/t
2-Deep Purple-In Rock
3-Led Zeppelin-III
4-Sir Lord Baltimore-Kingdom Come
5-Budgie-s/t


Some of these years had tough battles for the one spot, but in 1970 it was clearly Sabbath's year. However the spots 2-4 were really tough to determine, but I finally settled on this order.


That's it for best album lists now that I have done the 70's and the 80's. I won't be doing 1990 until next year as I like to do it when it's at least twenty years old. However I will be doing a new list countdown. I recently realized that since I have been writing this blog I have done a top vocalist list, top bass player list, top drummer list and a most underrated guitarist list. Yet I never done just a top guitarist list. So it's high time I did that. I will be doing a top 25 list and counting down at a rate of one per week which means if I start soon it will still go into early fall before I reveal number one. First I need to write up a list to work from before starting the countdown. So I get my list done then number 25 will come some time next weekend. If not then I will definitely have it ready to go the following weekend.

Top 5 albums of 1971

Here they are.



1-Alice Cooper-Love it to death
2-Black Sabbath-Master of reality
3-Led Zeppelin-IV
4-Alice Cooper-Killer
5-Tie-Black Sabbath-Paranoid and Deep Purple-Fireball

The fact that Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath each released two albums made this list hard to choose. Budgie and Bang both put out fine albums, but there just wasn't room as I feel bad enough having to give one tie.

My list for 1970 will be out next week.