Halloween Rocks 2021 Day 1: Bewitcher - "Valley of the Ravens"

One of my favorite newer metal bands is Bewitcher, who take the old school black metal formula of bands like Venom and give it a bit of a polish and a tightening up. On "Valley of the Ravens" they tell the story of a witch burned at the stake who returns to visit vengeance on her persecutors and their descendants. Great riffs and lyrics, and a surprisingly bluesy guitar solo really make this one stand out.

It's Midnight's time with 'Rebirth By Blasphemy'

Review by Bob Ignizio

For Cleveland band Midnight’s main-man Athenor, heavy metal is a part of him. It flows in his veins. Long before people started throwing around terms like “New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal”, Athenor (aka Jamie Walters) was playing this kind of stuff in bands like Boulder, Destructor, and Abudullah. Only now, with the power of Metal Blade Records backing him up, he can finally bring his brand of filth-flavored thrash to a wider audience on his latest release, REBIRTH BY BLASPHEMY.

While Midnight’s sound most obviously recalls proto black metal bands like Venom and early Bathory, influences from classic metal artists like Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden ensure there’s a catchiness and accessibility here that can appeal to a somewhat wider audience. Not that you should expect to hear Midnight on mainstream radio anytime soon, especially given Athenor’s penchant for lyrical sleaze.

'Heavy Trip' Serves Up Brutal Laughs

[HEAVY TRIP is currently available for rent or purchase on DVD, Blu Ray, and digital formats. Note - dialogue is in Finnish, Norwegian, and some English with subtitles, so if that's an issue for you consider yourself warned.]

Despite their brutal music and intimidating appearance, the twenty-something metalheads who will eventually adopt the collective moniker Impaled Rektum are an affable, and to a large degree, nerdy, bunch. They’ve been playing together for 12 years as HEAVY TRIP opens, and after a particularly good practice the band’s devil-may-care drummer Jynkky (Antti Heikkinen) suggests they finally take the plunge and book a show.

But the band’s most serious member, bass player Pasi (Max Ovaska), quickly puts the kibosh on that idea. He says they can’t play out until they write some songs of their own. Lead vocalist Turo (Johannes Holopainen) is more than happy to back Pasi up, but the real reason he doesn’t want to go on stage has more to do with his shyness than a lack of original material. And since guitar player Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio) can’t come up with any riffs that haven’t already been used by other bands, it would seem the group won’t be leaving their basement rehearsal space anytime soon.

Lucifer Risible: The Satanic Panic in the Eighties

[This article was originally posted on Myspace back in 2007. It’s one of a few things I wrote back then that I still kind of like, and since it’s not there anymore, I figured I’d post it here in time for Halloween. I wish I could say people were less prone to believing in crazy conspiracy theories these days, but as anyone who follows the news can easily discern, that’s obviously not the case.]

A lot of ridiculous things went on in the eighties, but one of the most ridiculous was the “Satanic Panic” hysteria that gripped the nation for much of the decade.  Without any evidence whatsoever, a surprisingly large number of people came to believe that there was an underground conspiracy of Satanists operating all throughout the world.  To all appearances, these devil worshipers were ordinary average citizens.  They had infiltrated all aspects of society.  One of them might even be your next-door neighbor. 

The primary activity of this vast and powerful network of evil was sexually abusing and murdering people, usually children.    When they weren’t raping and murdering, they were making rock music.  Depending on whom you asked, the degree to which the Devil had infiltrated the music industry ranged from just the usual suspects (i.e. Ozzy and Judas Priest) to every rock musician in existence, including Christian rockers like Stryper and Amy Grant.  And if the rock music didn’t hook ‘em, the cultists could always lead kids down the path to darkness with role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. 

Old Men Making Metal Part 1: Ratt and Scorpions

Ratt - Infestation
 

Ratt was one of the better bands to come out of the LA commercial metal scene of the eighties.  Sure they wrote radio friendly songs, but they always had an edge to their sound.  And unlike so many of their contemporaries, Ratt never released a power ballad.  Still, the band hasn’t released an album of new material since 1999.  On top of that, they’ve had more than their share of “Behind the Music” style drama, including the death of original second guitarist Robin Crosby.  Now the band is finally back with a new album, and it's surprisingly good.  Infestation leaves behind the blues rock direction of the band's last few albums and returns to straight up hard rock of Out of the Cellar and Invasion of Your Privacy.  Guitarists Warren DeMartini and Carlos Cavazo (ex-Quiet Riot) shred, and vocalist Stephen Pearcy actually moves beyond his usual nasal monotone to show a little range.  The production is a little more modern sounding than the early Ratt stuff, but not to the point that it significantly alters the band's sound.  Sure this stuff sounds dated, but better that than the band trying to be something they’re not. 


Scorpions - Sting in the Tail
 

This is supposed to be the final album from Scorpions, a band that has been around since the early seventies.  I wish I could say they were going out on a high note, but I’d be lying.  Sting in the Tail is a bland, lifeless affair that aims straight down the middle of the road.  It would have been nice to see the Scorps cap off their career with another album of the caliber of Blackout or Lovedrive, but instead they’ve offered up a platter that barely measures up to the likes of Savage Amusement or Crazy World.  Even a guest appearance by ex-Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen on “The Good Die Young” can’t liven things up.  If the idea was to leave fans hungry for more, this is a colossal failure.  Hopefully the farewell tour will focus more on the classic hits than the mediocrity on display here.

'Mach II' Rocks You

Mach II is the latest project from Jamie Walters (Boulder, Destructor, Midnight, etc).  This time around he’s going for something in the vein of seventies/early eighties style hard rock like UFO, Deep Purple, KISS, and Thin Lizzy.  Joining Walters is fellow ex-Boulder guitarist The Chan, Soulless axeman Wayne Richards, Maiden Voyage drummer Blackie Pisarek, and vocalist Michael Sorg.  This is the first I've heard anything from vocalist Sorg.  He's by no means polished, but the guy can actually sing.  His voice is kind of like a cross between Ian Gillan and Molly Hatchet vocalist Danny Joe Brown. 

As for the songs, killer riffs and tasty leads abound  and the rhythm section is rock solid.  There’s a definite sense of humor to the lyrics of tracks like “Demon Queen” and “Whiskey Lady Love”, but the band  never crosses the line into parody or obnoxious hipster irony.  These guys all clearly love and respect this kind of music; they just don’t feel the need to take themselves too seriously.  Mach II is definitely not for those who get all snooty about rock music and talk about boring stuff like "relevance" or "breaking new ground".  Me, I just want good, catchy songs that rock my ass, and in that respect this album more than delivers.   

For ordering information and to hear a few tracks for yourself, visit the band's Myspace page.

1986'ed

I just caught an advance screening of Hot Tub Time Machine the other night (you can read my review on the Cleveland Scene film blog).  The important thing to know with regards to this blog is that in the film, the main characters travel back in time to 1986, a pivotal year in their lives.  The movie does a pretty good job in showing what was going on in mainstream culture that year:  glam metal, bad hair, Miami Vice, Alf, the Iran-Contra scandal, and so on.  I certainly remember all those things, but the movie also got me thinking about other interesting things that happened that year which, in the interest of moving the story along, couldn’t possibly have been included.  So I thought I’d share a few of my own memories of 1986 here on this blog.

Thrashing Like a Maniac

When I first started listening to bands like Metallica and Slayer in 1985, even most of the metalheads at my high school called thrash metal noise.  Then Metallica released Master of Puppets in March of 1986, and soon after landed the opening slot on Ozzy Osbourne’s Ultimate Sin tour.  Now that they had Ozzy’s blessing, Metallica were cool.  Sadly, Metallica bass player Cliff Burton didn’t get to enjoy his band’s success for long.  He died while the band was on tour in a bus accident on September 27, 1986.

Seeing Metallica’s success, major labels started looking for other thrash bands to sign.  By years end, two of the genre’s most definitive albums had been released:  Megadeth’s Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? and Slayer’s Reign in Blood.  Reign is considered by many to be the greatest thrash metal album of all time, and it’s hard to argue.  Metallica and Slayer both refused to make videos, but it wasn’t beneath Megadeth, who made a memorable clip for the song “Peace Sells”.  The break in the middle where the dad tells his headbanging son he wants to watch the news is one of the great cheesy moments in metal history.

 

 
Harmful Matter

1986 was also the year I started listening to punk rock and hardcore, and the first punk rock album I listened to was the Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist.  In what passed for file sharing at the time, I made a cassette copy of Master of Puppets for my friend Lee, and he copied his Kennedys album for me.  I hated it at first, mainly because of the unusual vocal style of lead singer Jello Biafra.  Eventually I came around, though, and the Kennedys became one of my favorite bands just in time for them to break up.  It seems the poster included with the Frankenchrist album, an H. R. Geiger painting called Penis Landscape, was deemed offensive by an overzealous prosecutor who charged Biafra and the band with “distributing harmful matter to minors”.  The band won their case, but by the time the trial was over, so were they.


Going Postal

Patrick Sherrill walked into the post office where he worked in Edmond, Oklahoma on August 20, 1986 and killed 14 of his fellow employees before turning the gun on himself.  It wasn’t the first time a postal employee had gone gun-crazy, but for some reason this time it had a wider cultural resonance.  Thus was born the phrase, “going postal”. 

Geraldo’s Got Nothing

On April 21, 1986, millions tuned in to watch Geraldo Rivera’s syndicated special The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault.  I was one of them.  We were promised bodies or at the very least a nice collection of stolen goods.  After a 2 hour build-up, what we got was dirt and some empty bottles.



Enter the Fox

Until 1986, there were only 3 networks, and about the only original programming on cable TV was Georgia Championship Wrestling (a fine program, by the way).  That changed on October 9, 1986 when the Fox network hit the airwaves with The Late Show starring Joan Rivers.  Fox didn’t start broadcasting in prime time until April of 1987, but this is where it all started.  Here’s Joan interviewing Pee Wee Herman from her very first episode.



Scream Real Loud

Since Pee Wee Herman was in that last clip, it seems like a good excuse to talk about the best show on TV in 1986.   On September 13, Pee Wee’s Playhouse premiered on the CBS Saturday morning lineup, and was hands down the strangest, smartest, funniest show on TV at the time.  Newhart was the only thing in prime time that was even close to being as good as the Playhouse.  Other than that, television comedy was awful sitcoms like Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Perfect Strangers, ALF, Who’s the Boss?, and of course The Cosby Show.  Don’t get me wrong, I watched all those shows and liked them just fine at the time.  What did I know, I was 16.  But I can put on an episode of Pee Wee today and I’ll still laugh.  Those others… not so much.  Hell, just watching these opening credits still makes me smile.



At the Movies

I hear this all the time:  movies aren’t as good as they used to be.  That may be true if we go back to the seventies or earlier, but don’t try to make your case with 1986.  Among the top 50 grossing films that year, we’ve got some very good ones like Platoon, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Blue Velvet, Little Shop of Horrors, The Fly, Aliens, Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home  and Stand By Me.  But most of the list is crap like Friday the 13^th Part VI:  Jason Lives, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Poltergeist II, Top Gun, The Golden Child, The Karate Kid Part 2, Cobra, Three Amigos, The Money Pit, Soul Man, Delta Force  and Iron Eagle.  And before you say, “but Top Gun was awesome,” or “what about Crocodile Dundee,” I suggest you watch them again first.  Speaking from experience, stuff you thought was great when you were 16 often doesn’t hold up so well.  And yes, I do enjoy some of the worst films 1986 had to offer, but I still recognize they’re bad.  Like this one, Stallone’s amazingly dumb Cobra.  Enjoy the trailer and the very eighties-sounding Jean Beauvoir song “Feel the Heat” that accompanies it.



2800 Baud of Blazing Speed

I got a Commodore 64 computer in 1984.  The 64 in the name was for the (at the time) impressive 64 kilobytes of RAM in the computer’s processor.  It cost $595 when introduced, and that was just for the computer itself.  You had to buy a floppy disc drive (that took 5 ¼” discs) and modem separately.  You could also buy a monitor if you wanted to, but why bother when you could hook it up directly to your TV?   By 1986, Commodore had introduced the even more impressive Amiga, but I never did get one of those.  Still, I was pretty far ahead of the technological curve for 1986.  I knew how to write programs in BASIC, I had tons of pirated video games, and I had an optional modem, allowing me to go online.  The modem’s speed was 2800 baud.  I don’t know what that means in today’s kbps terms, I just know it would be really, really slow compared even to a standard dial-up connection.

Getting online in 1986 was a very different experience than the modern internet, though.  There were a few large networks like Compuserve that you could get on if you paid a subscription fee, but I didn’t mess with those.  Instead, I would dial up local “Bulletin Board Systems” (BBS for short).  These were free services run from the homes of other computer geeks like myself.  Generally only one person could be logged in at a time, although if you were lucky you might get to chat live with the computer geek running the thing (know as the “Sysop”, short for system operator).  The only graphics were ASCII art, and the main activity was engaging in flame wars on various primitive message boards.  Just about everybody on these boards used a nickname, which added to the silliness of it all.  I was “Metal Warlord”.  You may feel free to laugh.  Then check out this classic Commodore 64 commercial and marvel at how much we once paid for so little computing power. 



Well, that’s enough meandering down memory lane for now.  Hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to comment with your own memories of 1986 if you’re old enough to have been there.    

Possibly The Greatest Thing I've Ever Seen

I don't know whether to be amazed or appalled.  I guess a little bit of both.  This is a video by the band Von Canto doing an accapella cover of Manowar's "Kings of Metal".  They have a drummer, but other than that it's all done with the human voice.  I can't think of anything else to say, this pretty much speaks for itself.

Get Well Soon, Ronnie

I just recently learned that legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with stomach cancer.  You can read more about it here.  Apparently the cancer was caught early, so here's hoping treatment goes well and Ronnie is back in action soon. 

Christ Almighty

Superchrist - Defenders of the Filth (Black Planet)


Defenders of the Filth marks the return of guitarist Hank Bitchlover to the Superchrist fold after a one album hiatus.  Nonetheless, it continues the band’s progress away from pure Motorhead worship towards a sound of their own that began on 2007’s Hank-less Headbanger.  The influence of Lemmy and company is still apparent, not to mention other classic NWOBHM bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Venom, and Saxon, but you can also bits of punk/garage bands like Turbonegro and The Hellacopters more prominently than in the past.  But it ain’t just about the sound, it’s about the songwriting.  Every song on here has a hook that will dig deep into your brain.  And while speed is king on Defenders, the band isn’t afraid to slow things down, like on the almost-ballad “Infernal City”. 

Vocalist/bassist Christ Black writes some damn fine lyrics, smart and witty but never jokey, all delivered with a voice that sounds like a smoother, more melodic Lemmy.  Hank Bitchlover’s leads are a lesson in tasteful lethality, and drummer Ian “The Pit Viper” Sugierski beats the skins like it’s personal.  You want stand out tracks?  How about all of them?  If I had to play favorites, I guess I’d say “Stay Black”, “Peace of Ass”, “Still Not Drunk Enough”, and “Black Skulls”, but this is a rare modern metal/hard rock album that’s truly all killer, no filler.  Do yourself a favor and pick this one up pronto from the band’s Myspace page:  http://www.myspace.com/godblesssuperchrist.

Slayerrrr!!!!!!!!

Slayer capped off their first ten years of existence, a period that saw them release one classic album after another, with the aptly titled live album Decade of Aggression.  So how do you follow a decade of aggression?  If you’re Slayer, apparently with nearly two decades of laziness and mediocrity.  Oh, and for good measure, fire your drummer even though he’s the best drummer in metal (that would be the amazing Dave Lombardo for those not in the know). 

Sorry folks, but it’s true.  Between 1991 and 2006, a 15 year span, Slayer released a mere 5 studio albums, and one of those was mostly cover tunes.  If it was a case of quality over quantity I wouldn’t mind, but except for a song or two per album, most of Slayer’s output in the nineties and early 21^st century has been less than stellar.  Even the return of Lombardo for 2006’s Christ Illusion didn’t help. 

Thankfully, Slayer seems to have finally gotten their shit together again on World Painted Blood.  It’s not like they made any drastic changes to the formula.  What we’ve got here are 11 songs about serial killers, war, and how much religion sucks.  The music sounds like classic Slayer, occasionally with a touch of modern influence.  For the most part this band isn’t interested in breaking any new ground, though, and that’s fine.  What matters is that this is the most consistently killer batch of songs Slayer has been able to put together in years.

World Painted Blood starts in strong fashion with its title track, a classic Slayer number with a particularly catchy guitar hook.  Lead single “Psycopathy Red” sounds like it would have been right at home on Reign In Blood, while the follow up single “Hate Worldwide” actually has a guitar hook that reminds me of Slayer’s “classic metal” sounding first album Show No Mercy.  “Playing With Dolls” is a creepy, atmospheric track in the vein of Seasons in the Abyss’ “Dead Skin Mask”, and almost as effective.  “Americon” finds Slayer at their most modern sounding, not to mention surprisingly political, but not to the point that they lose their identity.  “Unit 731” and “Human Strain” are kind of bland and typical, but those are the only songs on this album that feel like filler to me.  I don’t think anyone expects Slayer to be releasing the best album of their careers almost 3 decades in, and they haven’t.  But they have managed to put together a solid, respectable album that compares favorably with their classic material, and that’s all any fan can really ask for.

True Scotish Pirate Metal

Like it or not, pirates have infiltrated Halloween to a large degree.  I blame those horrible movies with Johnny Depp, but that's neither here nor there.  I only mention this as an excuse for including this next video in my series of increasingly infrequent Halloween blogs.

Scotland's Alestorm play a mix of heavy metal and sea shantys, complete with pirate-y vocals.  It's absolutely ridiculous, and I don't think I could stand to listen to a whole album's worth all at once, but this video for "Keelhauled" from their most recent album Black Sails at Midnight is a hoot, and the song is kind of catchy.

Hail to the King

The music of Danish born vocalist King Diamond (real name Kim Petersen) is something of an acquired taste.  For better or worse, I’m afraid I’ve acquired it.  King first came to the attention of music fans as the front man for metal band Mercyful Fate in the early eighties.  Mercyful Fate had a Satanic image, with King adopting face paint that included an upside down cross.  At the time Diamond claimed to be a practicing Satanist, although nowadays he says he doesn’t follow any religion.  Regardless of all this, Diamond’s lyrics were always more horror movie fun than anything, and once he went solo in 1986 that became even more the case.  

Aside form the makeup, the thing that stands out about King Diamond the most is his voice.  He frequently sings in a creepy falsetto, with occasional “normal” singing and deep guttural growls.  His solo albums tend to be horror rock operas accompanied by fast, melodic heavy metal, and his live performances usually feature a theatrical stage show with lots of props.  While never a huge mainstream success, there was a time in the late eighties when Diamond was very popular in the metal underground, and his music has influenced numerous other bands, including Metallica who did a medley of Mercyful Fate songs on their Garage Inc. album.  King continues to record and perform to this day, and occasionally reunites with his old band Mercyful Fate as well.

Here’s an appropriate song from King Diamond’s first solo album:  “Halloween”

This video for “The Family Ghost” from King’s second solo album actually got a fair amount of play on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball back in the day.

King joins Metallica onstage in August of 2008 to perform a medley of old Mercyful Fate songs.

A Boy Named Alice

They seem pretty tame by today’s standards, but when Alice Cooper first came out in the early seventies they were considered the kings of shock rock.  You may notice I’m saying “they” and not “he”.  That’s because from 1968 until 1974 Alice Cooper was not just the stage name of vocalist Vincent Furnier, it was the collective name for the band. 

It would be wrong to say that Alice Cooper was a horror rock band, but they certainly had their share of horror rock songs.  And the band’s stage show incorporated various grisly effects like Alice being electrocuted, hung, and decapitated by a guillotine. 

Why these guys haven’t  been nominated for the Rock Hall, let alone inducted, is beyond me.  KISS is actually in the running this year, but whatever their merits as a band, KISS wouldn’t even exist as we know them if it hadn’t been for Alice Cooper’s influence. 

And Alice Cooper wasn't just a cool image and a crazy stage show.  The band’s music still holds up.  Everyone knows the well known hits like “School’s Out” and “Eighteen”, but since this is part of my month long Halloween blog-a-thon, I’m going to share a few of Cooper’s more morbid numbers.  If you’re reading this on Facebook, be sure to click on the “view original post” link to see the clips.

“Ballad of Dwight Frye” This song was on Love it to Death, but I’m not sure what year this performance is from.  Judging by Alice (the singer)’s physical appearance and style of makeup, I’m guessing it’s circa 1973, though.  Alice sings this one wearing a strait jacket.

“Under My Wheels” from 1972.  One of the band’s hits, sort of a love song, but with a weird obsessive edge to it. 

“I Love the Dead” live in 1973.  This song features the decapitation gag, which was designed by magician/skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi.  It looks more convincing that a lot of what you’ll see in horror movies of the time.

And one last one from 1973, “Sick Things”.  Snakes and general weirdness.

Grave Robbing for Jesus

For the past 5 years I sang for Cleveland horror rock band Horror of '59, so this will be the first Halloween weekend in quite a while that I won't be spending in a club playing music.  On the one hand it's kind of nice to be able to relax and just enjoy the holiday, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of miss it.  One of the things I miss the most now that my band is broken up is getting to watch the other cool horror rock bands we shared bills with.

One of my favorite bands that we played with several times (although never on Halloween, strangely enough) is Fort Wayne, Indiana's Grave Robber.  Aside from their excellent songwriting and musicianship, the one thing that stands out about these guys is that they are a Christian band.  The message is there once you know to look for it, but it never comes across as in your face or preachy, which is good for a dyed in the wool heathen like myself.  Check 'em out in this Youtube clip performing the song "Altered States" from their most recent album Inner Sanctum.  If you're reading this on my Facebook page, be sure to click the "view original post" link to see the video.

There's Still Some Life In Megadeth

After helping to lay the foundations for thrash metal in the early eighties and eventually crossing over to mainstream success in the early nineties, Megadeth broke up in 2002.  Considering how bad their last few albums had been, it was more like a wounded animal being put out of its misery than an occasion for sadness.  Then in 2004, guitarist/vocalist/sole original member Dave Mustaine put together a new version of Megadeth and started repairing the damage to his band’s reputation.  Comeback album The System Has Failed wasn’t quite there yet, but its 2007 follow-up United Abominations was the best thing the band had done since 1990’s Rust In Peace. Now Mustaine and company are back with another album, and Endgame is every bit as good as its predecessor.

Would You Like Entrails With Your Beverage?

The revolution will not only be televised, it will be sponsored by stimulant laced sugar water (Rockstar), licorice flavored booze (Jagermeister), and a trendy mall "lifestyle" store (Hot Topic) that has pretty much done its best to reduce a once meaningful underground music scene to just another commodity. That's the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in a nutshell. I never thought the day would come when bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse would be seen as viable elements in a corporate marketing campaign, but that's the world we live in now. Okay, enough editorializing. On with my review of the show, which I caught at Pittsburgh's Post Gazette Pavillion this past Saturday, August 1st 2009.




The show started at 2:15, but my wife and I didn’t get there until about 4:30, so we missed the first 4 bands playing on the small side stages. We did get to see metalcore bands Black Dahlia Murder and Trivium. Both groups played with passion and ferocity and displayed considerable musicianship. Since these bands just aren’t my cup of tea stylistically, to review them any further wouldn’t be fair to the bands.



The last band to play on the side stages was death metal icon Cannibal Corpse. I’m not a huge fan of these guys, but they have a few songs I like and there’s no denying their brutality and musicianship. Corpse opened up with the title track from their latest album Evisceration Plague before dipping into their back catalog of family friendly numbers like “F@#$ed With a Knife” and “Make Them Suffer”. The band closed out their set with the crowd pleasers “Hammer Smashed Face” and “Stripped Raped and Strangled”. Wonder which song Rockstar will use for their next commercial?



Things moved over to the main stage after that for Cleveland’s Mushroomhead. These guys have been around since 1993, releasing three albums independently before finally gaining national attention in the early part of this decade. To my ears they’ve always sounded heavily influenced by Angel Dust era Faith No More, with a bit of metal, rap and industrial thrown in for good measure. They’ve got an excellent singer and front man in co-vocalist Jeffrey Nothing, who I used to see in the mid eighties when he was still singing for Cleveland metal band Purgatory under the name Jeff Hatrix. The guy’s still got the pipes, and while I’m not going to race out and buy any Mushroomhead albums tomorrow, the band put on a really good show.



Next up on the main stage were Massachusetts based Killswitch Engage, another metalcore band, or so their Wikipedia page describes them. Whatever, sounds like metal to me. Anyway, these guys were really good. I found their playing perhaps a little too precise for my tastes, but their songs were catchy and lead vocalist Howard Jones (no, not the eighties new wave guy) was excellent. They got a really good crowd response, and gave props to the metal gods with a fine rendition of Dio’s “Holy Diver”. Again, I probably wouldn’t buy one of their albums, but I liked these guys more than I expected to.



Finally, as night began to fall, Slayer hit the stage. Despite pushing fifty, these guys still play with all the fire and intensity of a young band with something to prove. The only downside to their show was they only had an hour long set, so what we got was essentially a “greatest hits” show, with the new song “Psychopathy Red” thrown in for good measure. Nothing from the first album, but the band did pull out “Chemical Warfare” and “Hell Awaits” from the early days. And of course they found room for classics like “Angel of Death”, “War Ensemble”, “Dead Skin Mask”, and “South of Heaven” in their 13 song set. Vocalist Tom Araya missed a few lines of “Angel”, but otherwise it was a flawless performance that really got the crowd pumped up.



Then Marilyn Manson came on and sucked all the energy out of the venue. Look, I actually like a lot of Manson’s stuff, especially from the first 3 or 4 albums. But even older songs like “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” and “Disposable Teens” were performed lethargically by the band, and Manson’s vocals were just awful. It was embarrassing, and after about 30 minutes of it I decided to cut my losses and leave. A good portion of the crowd had the same idea, and even those die-hards who stuck around didn’t seem that into it. The crowd that had been slamming and screaming during Killswitch Engage and Slayer were just standing or sitting there, trying in vain to find something to get excited about. I may not have liked all the other bands on the bill, but every one of them put on a tight and energetic show. Manson just looked like he was going through the motions. Time to hang it up, dude.

A Sabbath By Any Other Name…

Would still be as Black. Technically 'The Devil You Know' is the “debut” release from Heaven and Hell, but real fans know this is actually the 4th studio album from the Ronnie James Dio fronted incarnation of metal godfathers Black Sabbath. Picking up right where they left off on 1992's 'Dehumanizer', these rock veterans deliver one crushingly heavy slab of doom after another. To be sure there are a few so-so tracks like “Rock and Roll Angel”, but for the most part Tony Iommi’s riffs are as memorable as ever, Geezer Butler and Vinnie Appice provide a rock solid rhythm section, and Dio’s voice still sounds amazing.




Highlights include lead off single “The Bible Black”, the “war on terror” inspired “Double the Pain”, the cheesily titled but no less rocking “Eating the Cannibals”, and epic closer “Breaking Into Heaven”. Dio’s lyrics are metaphorical as always, but a little more down to earth and easier to decipher than in the past. A quietly atmospheric number in the vein of “Too Late” or “Sign of the Southern Cross” would have been nice, and I’m not super keen on the order of the songs (“Atom & Evil” is okay, but it’s no way to start an album), but overall 'The Devil You Know' is a surprisingly strong release from a band most critics wrote off a long time ago, proving that not all rock reunions have to suck. I’ve been listening to it constantly since I bought it a few weeks ago, and I like it more each time.

Blown Away by the Metal Masters

There are five bands that I personally consider to be the greatest pure, classic heavy metal bands of all time. 3 of those bands were on the bill when the aptly named “Metal Masters” tour made a stop at the Post Gazette Pavillion in Burgettstown, PA this past Saturday: Judas Priest, Black Sabbath (billing themselves as Heaven and Hell for legal reasons), and Motorhead.* But before that trio of titans, early arriving fans were treated to a thirty minute set from eighties thrashers Testament.

Testament may not be quite in the same league as the other three bands on this bill, but they’ve certainly earned themselves a respectable place in the history of metal. They gave a brief refresher course in that history with the first three songs of their set: “Over the Wall”, “The New Order”, and “Practice What You Preach”. The band then proved they’re still relevant and rocking with three tracks from their new album, The Formation of Damnation. The venue was only about a third full for Testament’s set, but near as I could tell everyone there greeted Testament’s set with enthusiasm, and every time vocalist Chuck Billy asked for the crowd to show their “metal hands” the air was filled with Devil’s horn salutes.

Here's Testament doing "The New Order" (or at least most of it):



A few more bodies had filtered into the arena by 7pm when Motorhead began their auditory assault. Bassist/vocalist Lemmy is a true living legend, 63 years old and still meaner, faster, and louder than anyone else. The band touched on all period’s of their 30 plus year career, opening with “Dr. Rock” from 1985’s Orgasmatron album. I was pleased to hear “Metropolis” and “Stay Clean”, two of my personal favorites from the band’s early days, but newer songs like “Killers” and “In the Name of Tragedy” were just as effective. And yes, the did “Ace of Spades”, but considering how many other great songs this band has it’s kind of sad that’s the only song most people know by them.

Here's Motorhead doing "Killed by Death":



It was finally getting dark when the stagehands began setting up a massive iron gate flanked by two stone gargoyles for Heaven and Hell’s set. Definitely cool, and a nice way to build the anticipation of the crowd, which by now was pretty close to capacity. Finally the lights guitarist Tony Iommi took the stage and played the last few notes, leading into “The Mob Rules”. The mix was a bit off at first, with Tony’s guitar and Geezer Butler’s bass buried and Ronnie James Dio’s vocals a bit too loud. But by the second song, “Children of the Sea”, the kinks were worked out. My only criticism of the band came during this second song, which I think Dio oversang just a bit. Other than that, Ronnie’s vocal performance was nothing short of amazing, especially for a guy who just turned 66.

The best thing about Heaven and Hell’s set to me was the interplay between the band members. Almost nothing was done in a rote “just like the album” manner, as all the band members really jammed out on the instrumental sections. Every once in a while a group of musicians gets together and there’s a certain magic that exists above and beyond musical talent. This group of musicians has that kind of vibe. If you’ve seen any of the recent Black Sabbath reunion shows where Iommi and Butler played with founding band members Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward, you can really see the difference in the energy level. The band played for an hour and fifteen minutes, with highlights for me being “Die Young”, “Sign of the Southern Cross”, “I”, and an epic extended version of “Heaven and Hell”. Just an amazing set.

Here's Heaven and Hell doing "Die Young":



I knew Heaven and Hell would be a tough act to follow, but I figured if anyone could do it, it would be Judas Priest. Priest opened with “Dawn of Creation/Prophecy” from their new concept album Nostradamus. I fully expected to hear at least a couple more tunes from that release, but nope. The rest of the set was pulled from past efforts, in particular the Painkiller and Screaming For Vengeance albums, from which the band pulled 3 songs a piece. I appreciated the fact that the set avoided a lot of obvious choices (no “Living After Midnight” this time around), and it was nice to hear rarities like “Eat Me Alive” and “Dissident Aggressor”.

Overall the band sounded extremely tight and polished, but something was missing. Maybe it was Halford’s stage presence, or lack thereof. In the past this guy was easily in the top 5 of front men. Tonight, however, he seemed rooted in place and frequently hunched over. I could swear I heard a news story about him having an Alzheimer’s like condition that made it difficult for him to remember lyrics, thus forcing him to rely more on a teleprompter. I couldn’t find anything to back up that memory, though, so I don’t know if that’s true or not. Regardless, Halford’s stage presence on this night was pretty weak, and it sapped a lot of energy from the show for me. Everything sounded good, but I just didn’t get any feeling of passion from the band. Priest live is still head and shoulders above most bands, but compared to past shows of theirs I’ve been to this was kind of lackluster.

Here's Priest doing "Breaking the Law":


*The other two bands are Iron Maiden, who did their own tour this summer, and Metallica (even though they've pretty much sucked since Load, I have hope their new album will be a return to form). And Slayer deserves at least an honorable mention.

Digging up 'The Dungeonmaster'

The Dungeonmaster is like a low budget cinematic jam session with Empire Pictures chief Charles Band assigning himself and 6 other filmmakers to each contribute a segment to the movie. The resulting film is held together by a framing story involving Richard Moll (Bull from TV’s Night Court) as evil wizard Mesterma challenging computer nerd Paul (Jeffrey Byron) to various challenges, each taking place in a different setting. But it’s not just Paul’s life on the line. Mesterma has Paul’s girlfriend Gwen (Leslie Wing) chained up, as well. Luckily Paul’s talking home computer Cal has somehow been transformed into a wrist band that shoots lasers, so that helps. Each director gets about ten minutes to do anything they want within this framework, provided they can pull it off on a budget that would make Roger Corman cry uncle.

Imagine taking Tron, War Games, Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and some generic eighties slasher movie and mixing them together in a blender. That's basically what’s in store for you with The Dungeonmaster. This movie has everything: stop motion killer statues, demonic puppets, homicidal midgets, aerobicising ladies in leg warmers, post apocalyptic car chases, a serial killer, and a performance by shock rockers W.A.S.P. And yet in a film full of weirdness, perhaps the oddest thing is the presence of Albert Einstein in hell alongside Jack the Ripper and other notable baddies. Your guess is as good as mine.

Despite trying to cram so many different elements into one movie and seven different writers and directors, The Dungeonmaster ain’t half bad. In fact I’d say it’s one of the more enjoyable low budget flicks of the eighties. Now I don’t want to oversell The Dungeonmaster. It has plenty of shortcomings due to its budget, not to mention a general aura of eighties cheesiness that has nothing to do with money. But the performances are decent, there’s some good dialog (including the line, “I reject your reality and substitute my own” made famous by the TV show Mythbusters), the effects are cheap but fun, and there’s just enough sex and violence to earn a PG-13. Sadly The Dungeonmaster isn’t available on DVD at present, but if you can find a copy on VHS it’s worth a watch for eighties nostalgia buffs and forgiving fantasy fans. 7 ½ out of 10.