tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4156474455371190322024-03-13T05:49:57.452-07:00Tempe CarnivoreTempe Phoenix Arizona Heavy Metal Music Arts Culture NewsMike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-72576880541576518732017-02-02T12:51:00.000-07:002017-02-02T12:51:04.876-07:00Top 10 albums of 2016<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The real AOTY?</td></tr>
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Another year of music is in the books, and frankly, I feel less enthusiastic than ever about the state of modern music. That's not to say that there wasn't some great new music released in 2016. I just find myself becoming less dedicated to weeding out the good from the bad with each passing year. It was all I could do to avoid putting the above album on my top 10 list this year. When a live album recorded 15 years ago and comprised exclusively of songs that were originally released 26 years ago threatens to crack your annual list of top 10 "new" albums, it's probably a sign you've lost your passion for discovering new music (even if said live album is by the greatest band in the history of recorded music).<br />
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So yeah, while it was great to see Ween make their triumphant return in 2016, I had a difficult time mustering much enthusiasm for this year's top 10 list. Still, duty calls in the form of my annual <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/index/2016" target="_blank"><i>Village Voice</i> Pazz + Jop</a> ballot. I put in my due diligence -- giving at least a cursory listen to the vast majority of promos sent my way and checking out a bunch of recommendations from trusted friends -- and managed to come up with one more list for one more year. As in years past, I've included the points I awarded each album on <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2016/mike-r-meyer-6596388" target="_blank">my ballot</a> (100 points to distribute amongst the 10 albums, with none receiving more than 30 points or less than five).<br />
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<b>10. Skeleton Wolf - <i>Skeleton Wolf</i> [5 points]</b><br />
This is one of those albums I probably wouldn't have heard of had a promo not landed in my inbox. Skeleton Wolf's debut album is an amalgam of myriad metal styles, including black metal, death metal, thrash, NWOBH and hardcore punk. It isn't perfect, but the band strikes a nice balance between serious musicianship and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. These guys clearly love the music that has influenced them, but they're not above acknowledging metal's goofier trappings as well.<br />
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<b>9. Band of Horses - <i>Why are You OK</i> [5 points]</b><br />
"Casual Party," the lead single from BoH's latest, is the weakest song on the album and probably caused me to sleep on this one a little. It's still not as good as their first two albums, but is better on the whole than their last two.<br />
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<b>8. De La Soul - <i>and the Anonymous Nobody...</i> [7 points]</b><br />
For as much as everyone wanted to talk about how amazing A Tribe Called Quest's new album was last year (and it <i>was</i> a really good album), as many people seemed to overlook another comeback effort by their Native Tongues brethren De La Soul. The live instrumentation and genre pushing make this the most forward-thinking hip-hop release of the year, while still maintaining enough of an old-school vibe to please this admitted classic rap snob.<br />
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<b>7. Nails - <i>You Will Never Be One of Us</i> [7 points]</b><br />
This is pretty straightforward early '90s Earache-era grindcore: extra crispy distortion, growly vocals, blastbeats and a bunch of one- and two-minute songs. If you liked this stuff back then, Nails will be a welcome throwback to a (mostly) bygone era. If you've always thought grindcore is just too loud, angry and nihilistic, Nails isn't gonna change your mind.<br />
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<b>6. If These Trees Could Talk - <i>The Bones of a Dying World</i> [7 points]</b><br />
I've always had a soft spot for heavy instrumental post-rock, but too often instrumental bands tend to overcompensate for the lack of vocals with pretentious technical virtuosity. If These Trees Could Talk create songs that resonate for their memorable melodies and structure, much like traditional lyrics-driven music.<br />
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<b>5. Trap Them - <i>Crown Feral</i> - [9 points]</b><br />
Maybe not quite as enthralling as their 2014 masterpiece, <i>Blissfucker</i>, but still a great release from the hardcore veterans. Punk and metal have been combined in countless different ways over the past 35 years or so to varying degrees of success, but few bands have highlighted the best aspects of both genres as effortlessly and seamlessly as Trap Them.<br />
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<b>4. Spirit Adrift - <i>Chained to Oblivion</i> [10 points]</b><br />
This is damn-near perfect doom metal. Nothing particularly fancy. Just slow, heavy riffs complemented by powerful, melodic vocals. Few do it better that Spirit Adrift.<br />
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<b>3. Frank Ocean - <i>Blonde</i> [12 points]</b><br />
In my top 10 a couple years ago, I made a snarky comment about this not being the place to find yet another music writer waxing poetic about the brilliance of Frank Ocean. This is me officially eating crow. I'm not much of an R&B fan, but Ocean transcends any genre confines. Sparse, introspective and soulful.<br />
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<b>2. 40 Watt Sun - <i>Wider Than the Sky</i> [19 points]</b><br />
Part of the reason I felt comfortable stating above that few bands do doom metal better than Spirit Adrift is because one of the best doom metal bands in the genre's storied history no longer plays doom metal. Normally, that would be cause for disappointment, but in the case of 40 Watt Sun, it's a revelation. Listener's familiar with the band's 2011 debut, <i>The Inside Room</i>, or singer Patrick Walker's previous work with seminal British doom purveyors Warning might be taken aback by the subdued nature of <i>Wider Than the Sky</i>. But once you get past the initial shock of not hearing a single distorted guitar riff, this actually seems like a natural progression for the band. It's difficult music to categorize. It's melodic, melancholy and deliberately paced. It might not be heavy in the metallic sense, but it still packs plenty of emotional heft. Doom pop, maybe? Doomgaze? Whatever you call it, its beauty is undeniable.<br />
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<b>1. Suns of Thyme - <i>Cascades</i> [19 points]</b><br />
Yet another album I probably wouldn't have heard if not for the promo that was emailed to me, and yet another band that's difficult to categorize. The music is reminiscent of '60s psychedelic rock, but the vocals have a distinctly '80s New Wave vibe. It sounds like an odd combination, to be certain, but goddamn does Suns of Thyme make it work. The album is incredible throughout, but even among a plethora of great songs, "Aphelion" stands out as one of the best songs of the decade. I look forward to hearing where Suns of Thyme go from here.<br />
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Well there you have it: another top 10 list in the books. I don't know if this year's list will be my swan song as a music writer, but if it is, it's been a fun ride. Thanks for reading, and please leave me a comment below if you loved or hated my top 10 this year.Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-86780937742738887222016-02-11T23:26:00.001-07:002016-02-11T23:29:55.352-07:00Top 10 albums of 2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ween is back for 2016, fuckers!</td></tr>
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Well shit. It's already February, huh? Seems like this annual top 10 list goes up later and later every year. At the rate I'm going, my top 10 albums of 2025 might not see the light of day until 2027. Honestly, I'm really just a music journalist in name only at this point. This is only the 12th post I've made on this blog since 2011, and four of those (including this one) are just my annual top 10 albums lists. Two of them didn't even have anything to do with music and one was just a rehash of all my old <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-questions-as-kip-3ak-complete.html" target="_blank">3?aK</a> posts, so yeah, suffice it to say that writing about music has kind of taken a backseat to damn near everything else in my life lately. That said, a bunch of labels still send me promos to check out, and <i>Village Voice</i> still sends me a <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/index/2015" target="_blank">Pazz + Jop</a> ballot every year, so I feel obligated to at least post a top 10 list for all of you loyal Tempe Carnivore readers out there.<br />
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Like last year, I've included the points I awarded each album on my <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2015/mike-r-meyer-6596388" target="_blank">2015 ballot</a>. Each voter gets 100 points to distribute amongst their top 10, with no album receiving more than 30 points or less than five. Also like last year (and every single year I've published a top 10), this list is predominantly metal. Deal with it.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>As far as I'm concerned, the biggest music story of 2015 had nothing to do with any album released last year. In November, the greatest band in the history of recorded music, Ween, announced that they will be reuniting for a handful of shows this year, beginning with a three-night stint in Broomfield, Colo. over President's Day weekend, Feb. 12-14. I'm proud to say I have tickets for the first two nights, and if anything could light a fire under my ass and inspire a new, non-top 10 blog post, it'd probably be Ween's first live shows in four years. If all goes well, we might even have a new Ween album on this list next year. Until then, here are some really good albums by bands that aren't Ween that came out last year. As an added bonus, I'm also including a brief write-up on my favorite song of the year that I submitted to <i>Village Voice</i> along with my ballot. They apparently didn't publish any voter commentary this year, so consider it a Tempe Carnivore exclusive.<br />
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<b>10. Clutch - <i>Psychic Warfare</i> [5 points]</b><br />
Clutch is easily my second-favorite band behind Ween, so pretty much anything they put out is going to have a slot in my top 10 reserved for it. Twenty-five years and 11 albums in, they're still putting out some of the catchiest, grooviest hard rock this side of Led Zeppelin. This album might eventually occupy a higher spot on this list, but as much as I love 'em, the fellas in Clutch made this one kinda difficult to listen to. I stopped buying new music on CD a few years ago. Anymore, I just stream everything on Spotify and buy the albums I really love on vinyl. Unfortunately, Clutch chose not to make <i>Psychic Warfare</i> available on Spotify upon its Oct. 2 release, and the vinyl version didn't hit stores until Dec. 22, six days before my ballot was due. Due to the glaring omission of a digital download with the vinyl release, I've only managed listen to this album twice. It's still classic Clutch, but I really hope these guys decide to either get on the Spotify train or start including a digital download with their vinyl releases.<br />
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<b>9. Elder - <i>Lore</i> [5 points]</b><br />
Boston's stoner rock luminaries Elder returned with their third full-length, <i>Lore</i>, early in 2015. While this release doesn't quite reach the heights of <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/elder-dead-roots-stirring-album-review.html" target="_blank">their 2011 masterpiece <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i></a>, it sees the band expand their sound in more melodic and psychedelic directions. Unfortunately, one of the band's greatest strengths -- their unwavering dedication to lengthy, 10-15 minute jams -- might also be their biggest obstacle to achieving any sort of mainstream/crossover success. Part of me wants to see them try to condense their sound into some more easily digestible, four- or five-minute traditional rock songs, just to see if the non-metal world might be more inclined to take notice of this incredibly talented band. But the purist in me wants them to just say "fuck the mainstream" and keep cranking out the blissful, fuzzed-out, riff-worshipping epics that they already do way better than any of their contemporaries.<br />
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<b>8. Joey Bada$$ - <i>B4.DA.$$</i> [5 points]</b><br />
I briefly considered leaving Joey Badas$$'s official debut album off of my top 10 list, just because it felt like nothing more than a token nod to hip-hop in a list otherwise dominated by hard rock and metal. And honestly, the older I get, the more out of touch I feel with modern hip-hop. Kendrick Lamar's <i>To Pimp a Butterfly</i> was pretty much universally hailed as the best hip-hop album of 2015, if not the best album, period, but it really didn't do much for me. Like Joey himself, I might just be hopelessly stuck in the '90s, but I'll take the throwback beats and old-school rhymes of <i>B4.DA.$$</i> over any of the modern rap I heard this year.<br />
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<b>7. Torche - <i>Restarter</i> [5 points]</b><br />
Another slab of heavy, sludgy, yet somehow ridiculously catchy pop metal from Steve Brooks and his co-conspirators in Torche. <i>Restarter</i> is a little more aggressive than its 2012 predecessor, <i>Harmonicraft</i>, but still retains the inimitable balance of melodic hooks and thunderous riffs that few other bands are capable of combining to such an effective degree.<br />
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<b>6. Baroness - <i>Purple</i> [7 points]</b><br />
<b>5. Valkyrie - <i>Shadows</i> [7 points]</b><br />
Guitarist Pete Adams had a busy 2015. May saw the release of <i>Shadows</i>, the third release from Virginia's Valkyrie, the proto-metal band Adams has co-fronted alongside his brother Jake since 2004. Then in December, Baroness (whom Adams joined in 2008) released <i>Purple</i>, the highly anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking, genre-defying 2012 double album <i>Yellow & Green</i>. While both albums are among the best releases of 2015, the surprise is that the relatively unheralded <i>Shadows</i> is arguably the stronger of the two albums. Valkyrie's first release in seven years picks up right where 2008's <i>Man of Two Visions</i> left off, showcasing the Adams brothers' vocal and guitar harmonies while advancing their songwriting chops. Baroness, meanwhile, is undeniably the more high profile of Pete Adams' two gigs, but <i>Purple</i>, although a remarkable album in its own right, just doesn't quite live up to the (perhaps impossibly) high standards set by its predecessor. Of course, like most Baroness fans, I'm mainly just happy that <i>Purple</i> exists at all, in light of the horrific 2012 bus accident that put the band's future in jeopardy and ultimately led to the early retirement of their rhythm section. In that regard, <i>Purple</i> is a welcome treasure. But compared to <i>Yellow & Green</i>, or even to Valkyrie's excellent release this year, it just doesn't quite deliver as much as I'd hoped.<br />
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<b>4. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - <i>The Night Creeper</i> [12 points]</b><br />
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats' sound might be stuck firmly in the psychedelia of the late '60s and early '70s, but if you're going to be derivative, you could certainly do a lot worse than the legendary bands from whom this English foursome borrows heavily. Combine Black Sabbath's heavy blues riffing and dark lyrical subject matter with the Beatles' quirky, melodic pop sensibilities and you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Uncle Acid. Sabbath and the Beatles might be two of the most influential acts in the history of rock music, but rarely have their bloodlines converged as seamlessly and naturally as this.<br />
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<b>3. Year of the Goat - <i>The Unspeakable</i> [16 points]</b><br />
This album, more than any other on this list, is why I still find the process of making a top 10 list every year to be a rewarding and worthwhile endeavor. I had never heard of Year of the Goat when the digital promo for their second album, <i>The Unspeakable</i>, landed in my inbox back in June, and to be honest, I wasn't really expecting much. The band's label, Napalm Records, is home to a lot of gothic, symphonic and power metal bands that tend to be a little too cheesy and melodramatic for my taste. It's also home to nü metal retreads Coal Chamber, so you can see why I didn't have high hopes. Shockingly, <i>The Unspeakable</i> not only surpassed my low (and admittedly biased) expectations but actually turned out to be one of the best albums I heard all year. This Swedish six-piece's sound is an amalgamation of '70s bluesy hard rock and '80s prog, but what sets the band apart is the incredible performance of singer Thomas Sabbathi. Sabbathi's voice is so reminiscent of Thom Yorke's melancholy falsetto that you'd be forgiven if you thought that Radiohead suddenly decided to do away with the pretension that has marred their later work and put out a fairly straightforward, occult-themed hard rock record.<br />
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<b>2. Failure - <i>The Heart is a Monster</i> [17 points]</b><br />
Reunions can be hard to pull off. At worst, it can forever tarnish an otherwise great band's legacy. The best you can typically hope for is an overpriced, nostalgia-laden tour that affords you a chance to see a classic band that you missed the first time around. Hell, we're even willing to cut Ozzy/Dave/Perry some slack for not being able to hit those high notes anymore just to be able to say we saw the classic lineup of Sabbath/Van Halen/Jane's Addiction. But even when the reunion tour is a resounding success, subsequent new music is frequently underwhelming (see Pixies, the). Despite these improbable odds, Failure managed to not only pull off a successful reunion tour after a 17-year hiatus, but also release an album that stands up to their seminal '90s work. <i>The Heart is a Monster</i> picks up right where 1997's <i>Fantastic Planet</i> left off and sounds like it could've come out in '98 or '99 (and I mean that in a good way). It's not only one of the year's best albums, but one of the best comeback albums of all time. Let's hope there's still more to come.<br />
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<b>1. Deafheaven - <i>New Bermuda</i> [21 points]</b><br />
I was a little late to the party on Deafheaven's 2013 masterpiece, <i>Sunbather</i>. I even mentioned in my top 10 that year that I felt some "ranker's remorse" in only slotting it at number 4. That's not to imply that putting their follow-up, <i>New Bermuda</i>, atop my list this year is some sort of "make-up call" (to borrow a term from the sports world). On <i>New Bermuda</i>, Deafheaven actually manages to exceed the almost impossibly high standard they set in 2013. This album retains many of the lush, majestic qualities that made <i>Sunbather</i> such a crossover success in non-metal circles, while pushing the bar even further in experimenting with new sounds and genres. It's also quite a bit more metal than <i>Sunbather</i>. If this album doesn't convince you of this band's prowess, you're probably just a hopeless hater.<br />
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So there you have it. Another top 10 in the books. See you back here in another 13 months, give or take. I'm off to see Ween, but before I go, here's that blurb I promised on the best song of 2015 (which, coincidentally enough, is also ween-related):<br />
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Forget "Hello" and "Can't Feel my Face." If you're among the several million people who still listen to the Howard Stern Show on a regular basis, the song of the year is unquestionably "I'll Suck Your Ween," the juvenile, homoerotic and undeniably infectious send-up of Justin Bieber's chart-topping hit "What Do You Mean?" Song parodies are a long-running staple of Stern's show, but this song in particular has managed to transcend mere mockery and take on a life of its own, inspiring subsequent opera, mariachi and a cappella versions, as well as a Christmas remix complete with sleigh bells. Part of the song's appeal lies in its mysterious origins. It is most likely a product of the show's writing team, but Stern has yet to reveal who actually wrote and performed the song, spurring numerous online discussions about its possible creators. Like any great song, it worms its way into your subconscious and stays there, playing on repeat in your head throughout the day. However, the vast majority of other ridiculously catchy pop songs aren't typically about dude-on-dude fellatio. When a coworker walks around the corner and catches you singing "I'll suck your ween, whoa-oh-oh-oh, pull out your penis, and I'll start to blow," there's not much you can do but shrug your shoulders sheepishly and pray that they don't decide to contact HR. <br />
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<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/182034616&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-40555021069761362342015-01-23T15:58:00.000-07:002015-06-17T09:16:00.151-07:00Top 10 albums of 2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ALESFNhzyF8/VKDVjZYiGvI/AAAAAAAAAho/WkEAK_-pLWE/s1600/st_vincent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ALESFNhzyF8/VKDVjZYiGvI/AAAAAAAAAho/WkEAK_-pLWE/s1600/st_vincent.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spoiler alert: St. Vincent is not in my Top 10. Sorry hipsters. Maybe next year.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Well, here we are. Another year in the books and another Top 10 list of albums you've probably never heard of. There are only so many directions you can go in an introduction to one of these lists, and I feel like I've already exhausted them all, so I'll try to keep it brief. If you know me at all, then you know my list is usually dominated by heavy metal, and this list is no exception.<br />
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This year, I decided to included the points I allotted each album on <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2014/2280816/" target="_blank">my ballot</a> for this year's <i>Village Voice</i> <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/" target="_blank">Pazz + Jop</a> poll. Voters get 100 points to distribute amongst their top 10, with no album receiving more than 30 points or less than five. The Pazz + Jop poll is a stat geek's wet dream. You can peruse voters' <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/" target="_blank">individual ballots</a> or sort albums, singles and voters by a <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2015/01/2014-pazz-tabulation-notes.php" target="_blank">wide array of criteria</a>. Here are a few (debatably) interesting facts about my top 10 list:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Eight of my top 10 albums are metal albums. Shocking, I know.</li>
<li>Only half of the albums on my list received votes from any of the 611 other voters. Two of those five received exactly one other mention.</li>
<li>None of my top 10 made the cumulative top 10. Only two made the top 100.</li>
<li>Six of my top 10 albums came from the dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of digital promos sent to me by various band and label publicists throughout the year. I'm not sure if that indicates a bias on my part, but I admit to feeling a certain obligation to give at least a cursory listen to any album that was emailed to me in advance of its release. It's entirely possible that I might have never even heard of those bands otherwise. I guess the moral of the story is, even in an era when virtually every album ever recorded is just a few keystrokes away and every schmuck with a blog and a Spotify account qualifies as a "music critic," there's still value in the traditional journalist/publicist relationship.</li>
</ul>
I also created a Spotify playlist for my entire Top 10. Here it is if you want to listen while you read:<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:1261005189:playlist:58RP24wh55z4aNFSut2J3J" width="300"></iframe><br />
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And now, on with the countdown.<br />
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<b><br />
</b> <b>10. Skull Fist - <i>Chasing the Dream </i>[5 points]</b><br />
If you sense a trend developing already, you're not wrong. Like Enforcer, <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2014/01/top-10-albums-of-2013.html" target="_blank">my No. 10 pick last year</a>, Skull Fist is part of the <a href="https://thegreatnorthernblogkill.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/a-beginners-guide-to-the-new-wave-of-traditional-heavy-metal/" target="_blank">NWOTHM</a> that hearkens back to a time in the late '70s and early '80s when heavy metal was just that: heavy metal. It was a time of relative innocence, before every metal band had to be pigeonholed into one specific style on a continuously expanding spectrum of increasingly restrictive metal subgenres. It's hard to imagine any metal fan disliking Skull Fist. There's not a hint of irony in their straightforward approach to classic metal.<br />
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</b> <b>9. Job for a Cowboy - <i>Sun Eater</i> [5 points]</b><br />
If I handed out an award for most improved band of the year, Job for a Cowboy would win in a landslide. Six or seven years ago, this group of then-teenage West Valley "scene kids" were cranking out some of the more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YkSki1qbLA" target="_blank">obnoxious deathcore</a> in an annoyingly burgeoning genre. Since they were local kids, I always kind of rooted for them, but I never expected much out of them after such an inauspicious debut. If you had told me back then that they'd eventually be capable of something as mature, intelligent and out-and-out progressive as <i>Sun Eater</i>, I'd have laughed in your face. Yet here they sit in my year-end top 10, and I have to say, I've never been happier to have been proven wrong. Well played, sirs. It's also worth noting, if for no other reason than I'm a bassist myself, that this album has some of the best metal bass work since <i>Master of Puppets</i>.<br />
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</b> <b>8. Saturn - <i>Ascending (Live in Space)</i> [5 points]</b><br />
On its surface, a question like "What's the best album Judas Priest ever recorded?" might seem pretty subjective. Priest is an iconic band, and they've released enough classic albums to at least fuel a hearty debate. But for my money, there is absolutely a right answer, and that album is <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu0z1csRnKQ" target="_blank">Sad Wings of Destiny</a></i>. You don't need to hear much more than a minute or two of Saturn's debut album, <i>Ascending (Live in Space)</i> to figure out that they're in firm agreement with me. That's not to say they're a mere clone of early Priest. Tracks like the blues-drenched "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzg7KA4woeA" target="_blank">Over the Influence</a>" and the acoustic, Zeppelin-esque closer "Moonstone" prove that Saturn is more than just a one-trick pony.<br />
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<b>7. Lo-Pan - <i>Colossus</i> [5 points]</b><br />
Let's be honest. Sometimes you don't necessarily want to be intellectually challenged by the music you're listening to. Sometimes you just want to get on the freeway, drive fast and rock the fuck out. That, my friends, is where the fine gentlemen in Lo-Pan come in. On <i>Colossus</i>, Lo-Pan aren't trying to reinvent the wheel. They seem content to simply make whatever (previously-invented) wheels you have underneath you move quite a bit faster. Whenever a band begins a song with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoQUiQzu3fA" target="_blank">the sound of an engine firing up</a>, their motives seem pretty obvious. This is stoner rock at its finest: fuzzy blues riffs, powerful vocals and catchy-as-all-hell hooks.<br />
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<b>6. Pallbearer - <i>Foundations of Burden</i> [10 points]</b><br />
Yay! It's the metal band all the non-metalheads are allowed to like! No, not Deafheaven, silly. That was last year. This year's most popular metal album among Pitchfork-worshipping hipsters arrives via our old doom metal friends from Little Rock, Ark., Pallbearer. Their sophomore release, <i>Foundations of Burden</i>, mines a similar vein as their heralded 2012 debut, <i>Sorrow and Extinction</i>, but ups the ante on nearly every level. The riffs are catchier, the vocal harmonies are prettier and the songs are more memorable, yet the enveloping sense of gloominess remains steadfastly intact. Pallbearer seem to have finally figured out a way to bring doom metal to the masses without compromising the genre's integrity or their own.<br />
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<b>5. Sharon Van Etten - <i>Are We There</i> [10 points]</b><br />
Okay, so even metalheads have their soft spots. Me? I have a thing for chicks who sing sad songs about dudes who have dicked them over or otherwise done them wrong. I own every Portishead album. I had a crush on Fiona Apple way before the "Criminal" video. I named my cat Tori, ferchrissakes. So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that I love Sharon Van Etten's latest album. It makes me want to hug her and assure her that everything will be alright. But I wouldn't want her to believe it, or else we might not get any more albums as poignant and heart-wrenching as <i>Are We There</i>.<br />
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<b>4. Eyehategod - <i>Eyehategod</i> [10 points]</b><br />
There were a few worthy contenders for comeback of the year, with bands like At The Gates, Obituary, Exodus (once again featuring Steve "Zetro" Souza on vocals) and even the legendary Godflesh releasing quality albums this year. The most welcome return, however, was that of New Orleans sludge masters Eyehategod. The bands seemingly hasn't lost a step in the 14 years since 2000's <i>Confederacy of Ruined Lives</i>, and it's wonderful to have them back in all their misanthropic glory.<br />
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<b>3. The Flight of Sleipnir - <i>V.</i> [13 points]</b><br />
The Flight of Sleipnir is one of those bands I was referring to in the intro that I might have never had the pleasure of listening to if not for their fifth album, <i>V.</i>, landing in my inbox a couple months ago. This relatively unheralded duo from Arvada, Colo. incorporate a variety of styles into their unique sound, including folk metal, black metal, stoner/doom and post-rock. Their sound is sufficiently epic, without ever veering into pretension. The entire album is a fantastic listen, but the closing track, "Beacon in Black Horizon," encapsulates everything they do so well and is easily the best song released this year.<br />
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<b>2. Moodie Black - <i>Nausea</i> [13 points]</b><br />
<i>Nausea</i>, Moodie Black's first full-length album for Fake Four Inc., was the only album I could be bothered to write <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2014/04/moodie-black-nausea-album-review.html" target="_blank">a proper review</a> for last year, so it's probably no surprise to see them high on my list. Chris Martinez and company continue to push the boundaries of hip-hop in strange new directions, and it's a joy to experience.<br />
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<b>1. Trap Them - <i>Blissfucker</i> [24 points]</b><br />
As I mentioned in the intro, I get a lot of promos sent to me via email. The majority of said promos are hosted on a streaming platform called Haulix, which serves as a sort of middleman between publicists and music journalists and has all but eliminated the cost and hassle of sending physical promo CDs through the mail. The only reason I'm boring you with this behind-the-scenes minutiae is because before I received the digital promo for Trap Them's mind-blowing album <i>Blissfucker</i>, I had no idea there was a limit to the amount of times you could stream a promo on Haulix. I was so enamored with this album from the first time that I listened to it that I actually used up all my streams before it was even officially released. Ever since, I've been telling literally anyone who'll listen how great this album is. It's the perfect combination of hardcore and metal, an impeccably paced and sequenced record that transitions seamlessly from raw punk rock aggression to primal metal sludge. <i>Blissfucker</i> is not for everyone, and it's certainly not for the faint of heart, but for serious metalheads who like their music loud, angry and nihilistic as all hell, 2014 didn't produce a better release.<br />
<br />Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-11680854159605381792014-08-24T01:27:00.000-07:002014-08-24T01:29:14.523-07:00Forty-one and living it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy birthday to me. Whoop-dee-fuckin'-do.<br />
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Sorry for the self-indulgent blog post, but the older I get, my birthday becomes less a celebration of all things me and more a time to reflect on where I've been and where I'm heading. I guess that's probably what grown-ups would refer to as "maturity," although <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10111993/Men-grow-up-at-43-11-years-later-than-women.html" target="_blank">according to the experts</a>, I've still got a couple years to go before I have to start worrying about any of that nonsense.<br />
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The last few years of my life have been pretty eventful, at least for someone as married to routine as I am. This post could've had a very different tone if I'd written it on any of my last three birthdays. To wit:<br />
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Three years ago, I was absolutely fucking miserable. I was fresh out of a long-term relationship with a girl I cared deeply about (and still do, if I'm being totally honest), and I had recently been passed over for one of the two or three full-time music writing jobs in the metro Phoenix area. I was overweight and working as a delivery driver for a soulless, multinational pizza chain. I was pretty much at an all-time low, physically, emotionally and professionally. It was around this time that I decided to make some serious changes in my life, and even though things didn't quite follow the script I originally plotted out, [SPOILER ALERT] I'm still in a much better place now than I was back then.<br />
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Two years ago, I was as overwhelmed as I've ever been in my life. I was three weeks into what would turn out to be an eight-week teaching "career," and I was freaking the fuck out. The full version of the Teaching Story™ will have to wait for a future post, but suffice it to say, it was one of the most stressful and harrowing times of my life. I had just lost more than 40 pounds in the previous four months, but the stress and long hours of the new job pretty much obliterated my appetite and I wound up dropping seven pounds <i>below</i> the goal weight I'd established at the start of my diet. I felt better about my body image and general health, but mentally, I was a wreck. It's not as if I had any illusions about teachers being underworked and overpaid coming into the job, but I had no idea how woefully unprepared I was to deal with the 24/7 nature of teaching. Three weeks later, I was in the principal's office, shamefully conceding defeat and turning in my letter of resignation. It was a huge blow to my confidence and pride, but I felt at the time -- and still do -- that it was the only way to preserve the remaining tatters of my sanity.<br />
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A year ago today, I was about as happy and content as I've been in my adult life. I had put the teaching fiasco behind me, chalking it up as my official mid-life crisis. After a brief stint as a catering coordinator for a different soulless, multinational restaurant chain, I landed a gig delivering pizzas for a local, family-owned pizzeria that happens to make some of the best pies in town. My coworkers were cool, the managers were awesome and the owner of the company, the guy whose face is on every box, knew me by name. On top of that, my old band had reformed with a slightly modified lineup, and I was able to book a "dream gig" at the Yucca Tap Room on my 40th birthday featuring three of my favorite bands in the local music scene. It was probably the most enjoyable show I've ever been a part of. My mom flew in from Colorado, and she and my sister baked me a Slayer birthday cake. A fun time was had by all, and as corny as it sounds, I was literally 40 and loving it.<br />
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Now, a full year into my 40s, I'm the proverbial old dog trying to learn a new trick. I still work for the same great pizza place, but now, thanks to a momentary lapse of common sense by yours truly and the draconian, profit-driven DUI enforcement racket here in Arizona, I'm waiting tables instead of delivering. My coworkers and bosses are still great, and it's nowhere near as stressful as trying to manage a classroom full of 14- and 15-year-olds, but undertaking a career change this late in life has not been without bumps in the road. I liked a lot of things about pizza delivery. It's good money for relatively easy work, assuming you're capable of reading a map. There's a lot of independence. You spend most of your time out on the road by yourself, listening to music and smoking cigarettes. It's not without the occasional hectic moment, but for the most part, it's a pretty low-stress job.<br />
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But the one thing I never realized I loved about delivery until I stopped doing it is how linear and sequential a job it is. I'm the type of person who likes to start a task, complete it and then move on to the next task. That's pretty much delivering pizzas in a nutshell. As a server, I might be a rung or two higher on the arbitrary food service caste system, but it's proving to be a tougher job to master. I've never been a great multitasker, and -- surprise, surprise -- that's a pretty integral aspect of juggling five or six tables at once. I also have a fair amount of pride, and I struggle with asking for help or even recognizing when I need help. As a driver, the most help you're going to ask for is to ask management to bump up delivery times if you get hit with a rush, or perhaps you'll request a hand carrying a particularly large order out to your car. Unfortunately, my reluctance to ask for help while serving has gotten me "in the weeds" on a few occasions. Sometimes shit can snowball so fast when you're serving that you don't even know you're in the weeds until you're <i>really fucking deep</i> in the weeds.<br />
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It's also a lot more physically demanding. Delivering is one of the few jobs where the busier you are, the more time you spend sitting on your ass. As a server, you're constantly on your feet. After working a double, my legs feel like rubber. I should really download one of those pedometer apps to see how many miles I actually walk in a day or week of serving, but it'd probably just be depressing, since I still haven't lost any of the 20-odd pounds I've put back on since quitting my diet two years ago.<br />
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But hey, I don't want to come off like a whiner. I still work for a great company that serves amazing food and treats its employees with respect and dignity, which is a helluva lot better than I had it two or three years ago. I get to interact with a wide range of people from all walks of life. And as much as I still miss delivering, at least I'm not beating the hell out of my poor car on a daily basis. The pay is pretty much a wash, so I've just swapped wear and tear on my car for wear and tear on my body and mind. I can certainly use the exercise, and while the mental stress can be occasionally taxing, it's not insurmountable (like, say, jumping right into teaching without so much as a day of practical classroom experience). I'm not a great server yet, and the learning curve is a little steeper than I expected, but I'm getting there.<br />
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So yeah, I guess I'm not as happy as I was a year ago, but I'm not as miserable as I was two or three years ago either. I'm content with where I'm at and I can see the potential for things to get better. I might not be 40 and loving it anymore, but at least I'm 41 and living it. And sometimes, living it is enough. Damn, that actually sounded kind of mature. Now who's up to smoke a bowl and play some <i>Call of Duty</i>?Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-83430887065972585792014-04-23T09:15:00.001-07:002014-04-23T09:15:24.992-07:00Moodie Black - Nausea (Album Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Moodie Black - <i>Nausea</i><br />
Release date: May 6, 2014 (Fake Four Inc.)<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I interviewed Moodie Black MC/producer/mastermind Chris Martinez more than five years ago for a <a href="http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-02-26/music/kongeror-dreams-of-post-rap-glory-in-the-frigid-north-woods/" target="_blank"><i>Phoenix New Times</i> music feature</a>, he had just started referring to his noisy, distorted and occasionally chaotic brand of hip-hop as "post-rap." He soon backed away from the label, however, opting for the less grandiose but more descriptive term "noise rap." </span><br />
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</span>"It sounded like I was a pretentious prick mostly," Martinez expained when I asked him recently why he stopped using the term. "But also because the music is what it is. I'll let the masses label it."<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After listening to his latest batch of songs, I'm starting to think he was right all along. <i>Nausea</i> is Moodie Black's first full-length release for indie hip-hop label Fake Four Inc., and the follow-up to last year's self-titled EP that initially caught the label's attention. While <i>Nausea</i> is still plenty noisy, it also features the kind of epic, post-rock soundscapes favored by bands like Jesu, Explosions in the Sky and Deafheaven.</span><br />
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The latter feels like a particularly apt comparison. Deafheaven became a critical darling last year by melding soaring, anthemic post-rock with harsh, virtually indistinguishable black metal vocals on their widely praised sophomore album <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfbLWHT7vUU" target="_blank">Sunbather</a></i>. It was a jarring combination, but its effect was undeniable. All of a sudden, people who didn't know Varg Vikernes from Vinnie Vincent were singing Deafheaven's praises, and metalheads -- at least the ones who hadn't already dismissed the band as hipster posers -- were basking in the fleeting glow of mainstream acceptance.<br />
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While Moodie Black might not sound much like Deafheaven, their journeys are similar. With Moodie Black, Martinez is taking rap music down a path many hip-hop fans might feel uncomfortable traveling, and he doesn't appear to care a whit about it. For the brave souls who choose to venture along, the trip turns out to be pretty damn rewarding.<br />
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The songs on <i>Nausea</i> are almost uniformly dark and brooding, but without the obvious anger that seemed to dominate the EP that preceded it. Perhaps signing with a well known label after years of grinding independently has softened Martinez's demeanor, but that not necessarily a bad thing. He's an incredible talent, both as a producer and a rapper, and in some of his harsher work, the vocals would sometimes get buried in the mix. On <i>Nausea</i>, he has struck a near-perfect balance between mainstream accessibility and his personal artistic vision.<br />
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That's not to say that <i>Nausea</i> is mainstream or accessible in the traditional sense of those words. You're definitely not going to hear tracks like "Hawk vs. Vulture" or "Christ" the next time you have the misfortune of finding yourself in an Old Town Scottsdale dance club. You're probably not going to hear "The Mass" blasting from the tricked-out Civic sitting next to you at a stoplight. But this is the kind of album that the tastemakers at Pitchfork could (and should) latch onto. It has the kind of crossover appeal that could draw in indie music fans who might not listen to a lot of traditional hip-hop.<br />
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The bigger question is probably whether or not fans of traditional hip-hop will be on board with Moodie Black's progressive, experimental take on the genre. I hope they are, because they'd be missing out on a record that, despite pushing hip-hop into uncharted -- and sometimes flat-out weird -- territory, is still, at its essence, a really fucking good rap album.<br />
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<i>Nausea</i> is one of those rare albums that showcases an artist doing exactly what he wants to do at the peak of his creativity. It's still early in the year, but this is not just the best hip-hop release I've heard in 2014, but the best album, period. In the overstimulated, multitasking world we live in, music is often reduced to background noise. Even as a (part-time) music critic, I typically listen to new releases while I'm checking e-mail, browsing Facebook or watching a game on mute. <i>Nausea</i> made me stop everything else I was doing and just <i>listen</i>. It will probably do the same for you, if you give it a chance.<br />
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<a href="http://fakefour.bandcamp.com/album/nausea" target="_blank">Listen to the track "WOLVES" and pre-order the album here.</a>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-28516772830286969802014-03-02T03:47:00.000-07:002014-03-02T03:47:59.449-07:00Post No. 100: On freedom and equality, and what happens when they clash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This started off as a Facebook status. I usually try to refrain from getting too political on Facebook, and after typing a few paragraphs, I realized I had a lot more to say on this subject than I originally thought. So I figured why not post it over here on my music blog? Makes perfect sense, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, the whole brouhaha over the recently-vetoed SB 1062 has sparked somewhat of an internal conflict between my rational, libertarian side and my compassionate, egalitarian side. I suppose you could sum up my general philosophy -- both in politics and everyday life -- as "live and let live," so these two sides of me are rarely in conflict. But this bill is unique in the uncomfortable questions it forces us to confront. Most everyone agrees that, at the very least, SB 1062 was an unnecessary law. It was a solution in search of a problem. Even the bill's most ardent supporters grudgingly admitted that there were no cases here in Arizona of business owners being sued (or otherwise chastised or harassed) for turning away business on religious grounds. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The case most frequently cited in support of SB 1062 was that of a New Mexico photographer being sued for refusing to shoot the commitment ceremony of a gay couple. Now this is where the libertarian side of me starts to get perturbed. As disappointing as it is that homophobia is still very much alive and well in New Mexico, Arizona and every other state in this wacky-ass country, I'm also not too keen on someone getting sued for a having a "sincerely held" religious belief and sticking to it, despite how backwards and behind-the-times said belief might seem to most of the civilized world.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've all seen those "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" signs in small businesses of every stripe. However, it's generally taken for granted that business owners will only invoke said "right" if a customer becomes unruly, unreasonable or otherwise interferes with the owners' ability to do business with other customers. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have worked in the restaurant industry for more years than I care to admit, and I know from first-hand experience that some customers just aren't worth the hassle. Some might be verbally abusive to the staff. Others might be serial scammers who repeatedly claim some problem with their order in hopes of getting a free meal. There are many reasons to refuse service to a customer, but should simply being homosexual be counted among them?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As loathsome as I personally find homophobia (or racism, for that matter), it's not illegal, nor should it be. It's an undisputed fact that racists and homophobes exist, and the law of averages dictates that some of them are going to own businesses. So what, if anything, should be done about it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess what I'm wondering is, would it really be so bad to allow businesses the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason? Aren't we evolved enough as a society that the free market will weed out the small number of idiots who try to start a business that openly refuses to serve gays, blacks, Muslims, Jews or whomever? And wouldn't it be more satisfying to watch them fail spectacularly on their own terms, rather than railroad them into serving people they detest (or perhaps just <i>disapprove of</i>, as sickeningly condescending as that sounds)? The former might actually teach them a hard lesson in the realities of the modern age. The latter just makes them a martyr.</span><br />
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Here's an idea. If a business owner refuses to serve a gay person, we could boycott their business. We could get on Twitter and Facebook and encourage other people to do the same. Hell, we could picket on the sidewalk, old-school style. But do we have to sue them?<br />
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Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that literally <i>everyone</i> has the right to refuse service to whomever they choose, just private businesses. Cops, firefighters and emergency personnel can't just pick and choose who they decide to help. But if you're in the market for a baker, photographer or wedding officiant, wouldn't you want to know if they are fundamentally opposed to who you are as a human being? Wouldn't you rather hire someone who shares your belief in equal rights for all, especially for an event you'll remember and cherish for the rest of your life? You might even say that the bigots are doing you a favor by refusing you service. Option B, of course, is to force them to grit their teeth and half-ass their way to an unsavory payday. Is that the kind of person you want baking your wedding cake or shooting the reception?<br />
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Perhaps as a straight white male, I simply haven't felt the sting of discrimination enough in my life to even suggest how any minority should respond to such an unfortunate situation. All I can say is that any company that discriminated against gays wouldn't receive my business, and I strongly suspect that there are a lot of other straight people who feel the same way. Enough, I'd wager, to put the vast majority of discriminatory companies out of business. Hell, I refuse to eat at Chick-fil-A, and they never actually refused service to anyone. But whenever I drive by one, I think "There's the company with the jackass owner who publicly shot his mouth off about his opposition to gay marriage. Screw them. Chicken sounds good, though. Where's the nearest KFC, anyway?"<br />
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Ultimately, I'm glad that Jan Brewer vetoed SB 1062. I love Arizona, and it seriously bums me out to see this state continually portrayed as the laughingstock of the nation. It was a poorly written law that was redundant at best, and at worst, a blatant endorsement of discrimination. But I do support the underlying reasoning behind it, albeit for different reasons that the bill's sponsors. The more freedom we give businesses to operate however they see fit, the more information we have available when deciding whether or not we want to frequent those businesses. Knowledge is power. And freedom is still a beautiful thing, even if a few assclowns exercise it in ugly ways.<br /><br />So what do you think? Leave me a comment below if you want to chime in on this discussion. And as always thanks for supporting independent journalism by reading this post (and hopefully a few of the 99 that preceded it).Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-80429693991454578402014-01-01T15:58:00.001-07:002014-01-01T16:00:45.438-07:00Top 10 albums of 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, here we are. We made it through the first full calendar year in the wake of <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/aaron-freeman-closes-the-book-on-ween-20120529" target="_blank">Ween's untimely demise</a>, and somehow, against all odds, the music industry managed to not only survive the year 1 A.W., but actually spew out 10 albums worth ranking in a listicle-type thingy. Putting together a year-end top 10 list almost seems quaint by today's standards. In its relatively brief existence, BuzzFeed has already ranked the relative worthiness of just about every item, person or event since the dawn of civilization, up to and including <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/joeveix/the-top-10-dumbest-buzzfeed-lists-youre-embarrass-c3sp" target="_blank">BuzzFeed lists themselves</a>. (At least they have a sense of humor about their utter disregard for journalistic standards, I guess.)<br />
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So what's the point of adding yet another list to the shit heap? Well, this happens to be <i>my</i> list, containing <i>my</i> opinions. And my opinions are important. So much so that I usually present them as unassailable fact. Ween was the greatest musical act of all time. Slayer's <i>Reign in Blood</i> is the best 29 consecutive minutes in the history of recorded music. See? Those are most certainly opinions, shared by relatively few others, but I know them in my heart to be true.<br />
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It's no coincidence that the people who claim that all music has equal merit and individual taste in music is subjective tend to have the shittiest taste in music. Ultimately, that's why I became a music journalist. Some music is simply superior to other music, and the world needs me (and others like me) to sort it all out for them. Therefore, it is with great pride that I perform my civic duty and unveil my list of the 10 best albums of 2013. Consider this list your definitive, one-stop shop for the best music of 2013, and feel free to leave me a note of thanks in the comments below.<br />
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<b>10. Enforcer - <i>Death by Fire</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tezMN9d9oes" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
I really agonized about the number 10 spot this year. I could've easily gone with a veteran metal act like Trouble or Fates Warning, or given a nod to one of the more well known (read: non-metal) candidates like The National or Arctic Monkeys. But what it ultimately came down to is that every time I listen to this album, it puts a big, dopey grin on my face. Enforcer plays heavy metal the way it sounded in the early '80s, before it was compartmentalized into dozens of restrictively specific sub-genres. With songs that bring to mind early Mötley Crüe or Judas Priest, this is simply a really fun album.<br />
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<b>9. Ancient VVisdom - <i>Deathlike</i></b><br />
<a href="http://ancient-vvisdom.bandcamp.com/album/deathlike" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
Austin occult rockers Ancient VVisdom might not have put out the best album of 2013, but <i>Deathlike</i> is certainly one of the most interesting. The band's image is pure black metal, yet their sound is surprisingly accessible. Lush, orchestral and mostly acoustic arrangements are complemented by Nathan Opposition's soaring, melodic vocals. It's an odd contrast, but when it works, such as on songs like the title track and "I Am Rebirth," Ancient VVisdom come off like a satanic Band of Horses.<br />
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</b> <b>8. Clutch - <i>Earth Rocker</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYSOT_YgHjA" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
I very nearly relegated this album to the honorable mentions category. Not that it's a bad album by any stretch. Since the untimely demise of Ween, Clutch has been my favorite active band, and I rarely pass on an opportunity to sing their praises. But I felt like including it in my Top 10 would maybe come off as an obvious homer pick. Then it occurred to me that this is the only album on the list that I actually purchased a physical copy of. That's gotta say something, right? Several critics have hailed this as a return to form for the veteran Maryland act. I suppose there's some validity to that, as <i>Earth Rocker</i> is a little heavier and more up-tempo than their last few blues-heavy records, but it's still classic Clutch. They're one of the few bands that can simultaneously inspire you to bang your head and shake your booty. And "Gone Cold" makes it pretty clear that they haven't totally abandoned their recent affinity for the blues.<br />
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<b>7. Moodie Black - <i>Moodie Black</i></b><br />
<a href="http://noiserap.com/" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
Chris Martinez's years of toiling in obscurity -- all in the name of reinventing hip-hop -- seem to finally be paying off. I first met him <a href="http://www.ecollegetimes.com/student-life/paying-dues-1.491019#.UsOjEGRDv6l" target="_blank">in 2007 when I was writing for <i>College Times</i></a> here in Tempe. He was going by KonGeror back then and dropped off a copy of his self-produced debut, <i>KonGeneration</i>, that gave me new hope for the local hip-hop scene. Stylistically, it was pretty standard backpack rap in the vein of Atmosphere, but it showcased his tremendous ability as a producer and MC. In the six years since, he's changed his own name (he just goes by K. now), the name of his group (Gahed Records morphed into Gahed Indie, which ultimately turned into Moodie Black), his location (he moved from Arizona to Minnesota and back, and is eyeing a move to LA in the near future) and his sound (backpack rap gave way to "post-rap," until he eventually settled on the "noise rap" moniker). During that span, he has pushed the boundaries of hip-hop to it's most distorted, abstract extreme and then reined things back in to the more palatable but still experimental sound on display in this seven-song EP. Kanye West might be credited for bringing noise rap to the mainstream, but Moodie Black has been doing it longer and better.<br />
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<b>6. The Ocean - <i>Pelagial</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZMTDcqKnQ" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
I'm a big fan of prog metal. I know it's not for everyone, and if it's not your cup of tea, I doubt that a concept album about (you guessed it) the ocean -- featuring song titles corresponding to the descending order of oceanic depth zones -- is going to change your mind. But if you do happen to be a fan of prog metal, you're not going to find a band that does it better than Germany's The Ocean. Originally conceived as an instrumental work, <i>Pelagial</i> gradually descends from beauty to brutality, much like the mysterious body of water it is based on. The band released two versions of the album, one with vocals and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx7u6ZSxeI8" target="_blank">one without</a>, but the contributions of v<span style="font-family: inherit;">ocalist Loïc Rossetti add tremendous gravity to an already heady affair. </span><br />
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<b>5. Carcass - <i>Surgical Steel</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrvOIeMTSwM" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
They said it couldn't be done. They were wrong. Seventeen years after the aptly titled <i>Swansong</i>, and exactly 20 years after essentially inventing melodic death metal on <i>Heartwork</i>, British legends Carcass returned in 2013 with an album that doesn't just pick up where they left off, but puts 99 percent of their younger peers to shame. With all due respect to those <i>other</i> old British dudes who created this entire wonderful world of heavy metal and also put out a reunion album this year, Carcass is easily the comeback story of 2013.<br />
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<b>4. Deafheaven - <i>Sunbather</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfbLWHT7vUU" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
This is where things get really difficult. I'm presenting this list in the order that I submitted it on my official <i>Village Voice</i> Pazz & Jop ballot, but I have to admit, I'm already feeling twinges of "ranker's remorse." I was a little late to the party on Deafheaven, having only recently discovered <i>Sunbather </i>after seeing it pop up on <a href="http://www.metalsucks.net/2013/12/13/worst-year-ever-2013-year-end-stuff-one-place/" target="_blank">a bunch of the individual lists from the awesome folks over at MetalSucks</a>. With every successive listen, I become more and more convinced that <i>Sunbather</i> is, if not the flat-out best album of the year, then certainly the most important (from a metalhead's standpoint, at least). It's not unusual for a great metal album to pop up on a lot of metal critics' lists. What makes Deafheaven so special is that they've somehow managed to attain <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-albums-of-2013" target="_blank">a level of mainstream critical appeal</a> thus far unheard of for a metal band.<br />
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And make no mistake, Deafheaven is most certainly a metal band. The only clean vocals on <i>Sunbather</i> come during brief spoken-word interludes, but otherwise, the record is rife with vocalist George Clarke's black metal screeches. The lyrics are mostly indecipherable (although they're actually pretty poignant if you look them up), and the vocals are somewhat buried in the mix. But that's not where Deafheaven's crossover appeal stems from. The music -- sweeping, majestic, blissful post-rock punctuated by periodic double-bass blastbeats -- is so undeniably gorgeous that you either a) gradually grow to appreciate the harsh vocals as a challenging, experimental method of emotional expression, or b) immediately throw the horns and say "Fuck yeah! Why hasn't anybody else done this yet??" <i>Sunbather</i> is pretty much flawless throughout, but the last seven minutes of this album are so transcendentally beautiful that you might need a few moments to collect yourself when it ends. Then you'll probably start the album over again. Yes, it's that fucking good.<br />
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<b>3. Black Cowgirl - <i>Black Cowgirl</i></b><br />
<a href="https://play.spotify.com/album/68t9K7zRNi6oqWPQUUZk22" target="_blank">Listen (assuming you have a Spotify account)</a><br />
And then there's Black Cowgirl. This album mysteriously landed in my inbox back in March via a publicist I hadn't heard from since October 2011 and haven't heard from since. I was initially intrigued by the John Baizley-esque album cover, so I listened to a few songs, liked what I heard, downloaded it and then promptly forgot about it for a few months. But then a funny thing happened. Whenever I added a new album to my "Best of '13" playlist and hit play, this album would eventually pop up and snap me out of my Facebook-induced stupor. As it turns out, Black Cowgirl share more in common with Baroness than cover art. (For the record, Baizley didn't actually paint this cover, but it's a testament to his talent that his style is already being aped.) <i>Black Cowgirl</i> isn't particularly inventive, but it's chock-full of my favorite kind of music ever - bluesy, hook-laden stoner rock. Of all the albums on this list, this is probably the one I'll be most likely to revisit as the years roll on. I even had it penciled in as No. 1 at one point, and I'd have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids...<br />
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<b>2. Lost Society - <i>Fast Loud Death</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1DXgOT2xs" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
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<b>1. Joey Bada$$ - <i>Summer Knights</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNsj6ZycbMM" target="_blank">Listen</a><br />
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I have already <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2013/03/joey-badass-pro-era-samy-elbanna-lost-society.html" target="_blank">gone on at great length</a> about how much I love these two artists and how important I think they are to the continued survival of their respective genres. At the time of that writing, I had already heard <i>Fast Loud Death</i>, but Joey Bada$$ had yet to drop a 2013 release. In July, he graced us with another free mixtape, <i>Summer Knights</i>, that further cemented his status as the best damn rapper on the planet. On "Sweet Dreams," Joey makes no apologies for being "stuck in the '90s," and the rest of the mixtape is a testament to his obvious love of golden era hip-hop. <i>Summer Knights</i> has a surprisingly cohesive flow despite the laundry list of producer credits, but it's Joey's confident rapping that turns what could have easily become an exercise in nostalgia into a thoroughly modern hip-hop masterpiece.<br />
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And last but not least, if I haven't already worn you out, here are some honorable mentions and miscellaneous commentaries on other notable releases of 2013:<br />
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<b>Death Angel - <i>The Dream Calls For Blood</i></b><br />
<b>Trouble - <i>The Distortion Field</i></b><br />
<b>Fates Warning - <i>Darkness in a Different Light</i></b><br />
These three veteran metal acts -- whose combined careers span nearly a century -- all managed to produce vital albums despite being in what should be the twilight of their careers. Death Angel's fourth album since their 2001 reunion (and seventh overall) is a ferocious testament to both their legacy as one of thrash metal's old guard and their status as one of its current leaders.<br />
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Trouble seems to be reinvigorated by the addition of former Exhorder vocalist Kyle Thomas. As weird as it was on the first couple listens to not hear Eric Wagner's voice, Thomas brings a style that is similar enough to appease longtime Trouble fans without overtly aping Wagner's style. The music, of course, is pure, blissful stoner rock as good as any the band produced in their late '80s/early '90s heyday.<br />
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Fates Warning didn't need a lineup change to sound fresh and relevant again. They just needed the music world to catch up to them. Prog metal is as popular now as it's ever been, but don't fret. Fate's Warning isn't employing the harsh growls of modern proggers like Opeth, Meshuggah and Between the Buried and Me. This is still classic, old-school prog, and it's still a shame that Dream Theater makes way more money playing it.<br />
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<b>Church of Misery - <i>Thy Kingdom Scum</i></b><br />
Another slab of crushing doom metal from Japan's foremost serial-killer-obsessed masters of brutality. This album doesn't break any new ground for the band, which is exactly what fans hoped for. Their intimate show at the Yucca Tap Room last month was one of my favorite concerts of the year.<br />
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<b>Queens of the Stone Age - <i>...Like Clockwork</i></b><br />
Even if you set aside his legendary work with Kyuss, Josh Homme still set the bar impossibly high with QOTSA's 1998 self-titled debut and its 2000 follow-up, <i>Rated R</i>. Homme and his constantly revolving stable of bandmates have pretty much been treading water on subsequent releases. The six-year layoff since <i>Era Vulgaris</i> seems to have helped. <i>Clockwork</i> isn't exactly a return to form, but it's a consistent, mature outing that provides a glimmer of hope that there might be life after the Stone Age for Homme.<br />
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<b>The National - <i>Trouble Will Find Me</i></b><br />
Two or three years ago, this album would've been in my Top 10 for sure. As much as I love heavy metal and hip-hop, I have a nearly equal zest for melancholy indie rock, and few do it as well as Matt Berninger and his bandmates in The National. But 2013 was actually a pretty happy year for me, and this album's downtrodden vibe just wasn't working for me. I'm sure I'll revisit it in the future and better appreciate its sullen charms. I just need to find a girlfriend and get dumped first.<br />
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<b>Daft Punk - <i>Random Access Memories</i></b><br />
I have to admit, although I had heard of Daft Punk prior to this year, I had never really bothered to check out any of their work. The French EDM duo was impossible to avoid this year, what with the boatloads of critical praise heaped upon <i>RAM</i> and its ubiquitous hit single "Get Lucky." I don't really have anything negative to say about this record. It's well made. I just don't have a lot of use for it. I don't dance, nor do I have a woman I'm aiming to seduce. But hey, if you've ever wondered what it would sound like if Roger Troutman and Sade Adu had a pair of secret love babies who went on to form a band, this album provides the definitive answer.<br />
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<b>Arctic Monkeys - <i>AM</i></b><br />
Another really solid album that I don't have anything bad to say about. I just feel like it's nothing Portugal. The Man and/or The Black Keys haven't already covered. I certainly wouldn't complain if someone threw this on at a party or on a road trip. I do find it somewhat humorous that when you type "arc" into the search bar on Spotify, these guys pop up ahead of Arcade Fire. How the mighty have fallen.<br />
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<b>Kanye West - <i>Yeezus</i></b><br />
Kanye's tepid foray into noise rap is just another exercise in borderline-sociopathic egomania disguised as genre-challenging creativity. If this album causes people to check out real noise rap like Moodie Black, that would be great, but Kanye's repulsive public persona trumps any unintentional good his music might bring about. West is so mind-bogglingly repugnant, he actually makes rational people sympathetic towards normally indefensible folks like Taylor Swift and George W. Bush. When your jackassery reaches such a level that the leader of the free world comments on it, it's time to just go away. Please.<br />
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<b>Vampire Weekend - <i>Modern Vampires of the City</i></b><br />
I'm really tempted to <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9464-shine-on/" target="_blank">just post a video of a monkey drinking his own pee and leave it at that</a>, but this is a classy blog. Seriously though? <i>This</i> is the album that has <i>Rolling Stone</i> and Pitchfork in agreement on AOTY? (Incidentally, this has happened only once before, in 2010, when both were bending over backwards to fellate the aforementioned Mr. West.) The first time I tried to listen to this tripe, I only lasted a song and a half. Ever the open-minded critic, I put it on Spotify while writing some of these comments and actually made it through the whole thing. What an utterly boring, unmemorable affair. If this is your idea of some of the best music of 2013, you're reading the wrong blog. Then again, you probably should've figured that out at least halfway through my Top 10.<br />
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Well, thanks for reading. Here's to a fantastic (and hopefully Kanye- and VW-free) 2014.Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-58659423430120296322013-03-27T19:33:00.000-07:002013-03-27T19:33:11.011-07:00Joey Bada$$ and Samy Elbanna - two teenagers who will restore your faith in music<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lost Society's Samy Elbanna and Pro Era's Joey Bada$$</td></tr>
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I was sitting at a poker table the other day when the conversation turned to music. The guy in the 7-seat was talking about a recent debate he'd had regarding the best 10-year stretch in music history. He was pretty convinced that it was 1965-1974, and nobody was putting up much of an argument. After all, it's hard to argue with an era that includes the prime output of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, CCR and Janis Joplin, just to name a few.<br />
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After mulling it over for a bit, I acknowledged that his decade was damn near impossible to top, but that for me, it would probably be 1986-1995. It's a span that saw thrash metal -- and, for better or worse, hair metal -- reach its creative zenith. It also includes the rise and abrupt fall of grunge and the entire "golden era" of hip-hop. Maybe names like Nirvana, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Slayer, the Pixies, Jane's Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, Public Enemy, N.W.A and the Beastie Boys don't quite stack up to the names above, but they're pretty goddamn close.<br />
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Not coincidentally, that also happens to be the era when music mattered the most to me. In my teens and early 20s, discovering great new music was pretty much my number one priority, and at the time, there seemed to be an abundance of it. Unfortunately, by acknowledging as much, I'm basically outing myself as one of those annoying old people who always complain about how much better music was "back in the day." I never wanted to become that guy, but what can I say? Everyone gets old eventually, and full-time jobs, mortgage payments, credit card debt and student loans -- and, if I'm being completely honest, poker and video games -- tend to take priority over seeking out cool new bands.<br />
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That said, I do still try to make a concerted effort to find awesome new music as time and life allow (and even write about it on occasion). It's probably no surprise, then, that two of my favorite new artists sound like bookends of that glorious '86-'95 era. What <i>is</i> surprising is that neither of them is even old enough to buy a drink.<br />
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Samy Elbanna, 17, is the guitarist and vocalist of Finnish retro-thrash act Lost Society, whose debut album, <i>Fast Loud Death</i>, is set for an April 2 release on Nuclear Blast. Joey Bada$$, 18, is the de facto leader of Brooklyn-based hip-hop collective Pro Era. He self-released his highly regarded <i>1999</i> mixtape last July and is expected to release a proper debut album later this year.<br />
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At first blush, they might not seem to have much in common. It's doubtful they'd share the same lunch table in the high school cafeteria. Yet both artists are currently the buzz of their respective genres, despite the fact that thrash metal and golden-era hip-hop both fell out of favor before Elbanna and Bada$$ were even born.<br />
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It's no secret that thrash metal has been experiencing another boom cycle recently. It's probably one of the more unlikely comeback stories in the history of rock 'n' roll, but thrash is nearly as popular today as it was in its late-'80s heyday. The "Big Four" managed to draw more than 90,000 fans to a pair of festival shows at Empire Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, and even "second-tier" veteran thrash bands like Testament, Death Angel, Overkill and Exodus are consistent draws at mid-sized venues.<br />
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Newer bands such as Municipal Waste, Fueled by Fire and Bonded by Blood have also taken up the cause, but of all the post-revival thrash bands spawned in the past decade or so, none has captured the genre's ferocious-yet-fun-loving nature as flawlessly as Lost Society. At the risk of using one of the more tired clichés in music criticism, <i>Fast Loud Death</i> can legitimately be described as an "instant classic." These Finnish youngsters might be the best thing going in thrash metal today, the venerable "old guard" included. Not since Death Angel unleashed <i>The Ultra-Violence</i> on an unsuspecting public more than a quarter-century ago has a group of teenagers had such a tremendous impact on the world of metal. <i>Fast Loud Death</i> is no mere homage. It's an altogether modern thrash masterpiece. Fucking Metallica <i>wish</i> they could write an album this good in the 21st century.<br />
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Joey Bada$$, meanwhile, is heading up a similar revival of golden-era hip-hop. <i>1999</i> is not only a brilliant modern hip-hop release -- which, admittedly, is about as backhanded as compliments come -- but could easily hold its own alongside such mid-'90s East Coast classics as <i>Enter the Wu-Tang</i> and <i>Illmatic</i>. Seriously, this kid is <i>that</i> good.<br />
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One of my biggest gripes about hip-hop over the years is that both the fans and the artists themselves tend not to embrace the genre's creators and innovators as wholeheartedly as, say, metalheads embrace Sabbath and Priest. In the world of hip-hop, music from two or three years ago -- let alone 20 -- is regarded as hopelessly dated and wack. (Hell, the word "wack" has been wack for about 15 years, but I don't care, because I'm old.) Fortunately, Joey Bada$$ seems to be devoid of this disdain for the past. <i>1999</i> features an abundance of smooth, old-school beats and conscious rhymes. The title is even a little misleading. The music is more '93 than '99, right down to the 11-minute closing posse cut, "Suspect," which gives his Pro Era cronies a chance to shine.<br />
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Bada$$'s latest single, "Unorthodox," features a beat by legendary Gang Starr producer DJ Premier and sees Joey eschew the almighty hook in favor of strong storytelling and wordplay that belie his tender age. The as-yet-untitled debut album is justifiably one of the most anticipated hip-hop releases of the year, and "Unorthodox" does nothing to dissuade that sentiment.<br />
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Ultimately, what makes Joey Bada$$ and Samy Elbanna so important is that they are capable of bringing classic musical styles to a new generation and inspiring other kids to explore metal and hip-hop's storied pasts. Let's face it, guys like Tom Araya and Chuck D aren't going to be around forever, and they really don't hold much sway with Millennials anyway. They're both in their 50s, as are most of their peers, and even the folks who grew up listening to them are in their 30s and 40s by now. If music like thrash metal and golden-era hip-hop is to survive, it needs kids like those in Lost Society and Pro Era to carry the torch. The fact that their music brings a smile to this cynical old geezer's face is just an ancillary bonus.<br />
<br />Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-90668728152044284902013-01-13T03:49:00.000-07:002013-01-14T14:55:07.360-07:00Top 10 albums of 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, I've run out of excuses for the absence of my "best albums of 2012" list. It's been 2013 for damn-near two weeks now, so I can't exactly say that I'm waiting for a last-second release to blow my mind. In truth, I've just been lazy in 2012: lazy about writing and lazy about seeking out new music. That's what happens when you're your own editor and you don't give yourself any deadlines or pay yourself jack shit. Suddenly, there are a lot of things more appealing than cranking out another blog post that <i>might</i> get read by 100 people (10 who came here willingly and 90 more who inadvertently stumbled their way here Googling cover art for metal bands).<br />
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So yeah, I admit it. I've been a lazy journalist this year, to the point that when I got an email from the <i>Village Voice</i> asking for my annual contribution to their Pazz & Jop poll, I worried that I'd even be able to come up with 10 albums worth ranking. Thanks to some 11th-hour cramming on iTunes and Spotify, that turned out not to be the case. After all was said and done, I still had to make some tough choices. Quality albums by the likes of Meshuggah, Brother Ali, The Sword, Fen, Testament, Goatwhore and Japandroids all narrowly missed the cut.<br />
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My list is pretty heavy on the heavy again this year. What can I say? I'm a metalhead, damnit. If you were expecting a paean to the brilliant artistry of Frank Ocean, you've stumbled onto the wrong blog. So for better or worse, here are my 10 favorite albums of 2012. If you love my picks or hate them, please leave a comment below. We journalists (professional or otherwise) thrive on internet comments, even those of the "ur writing is teh suck, plz die soon" variety.<br />
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</b> <b>10. Municipal Waste - <i>The Fatal Feast</i></b><br />
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This album broke no new ground whatsoever, which is what makes it so goddamn great. Municipal Waste play vintage crossover thrash circa 1986, and seem to have a helluva lot of fun doing so. In addition to being a perfect homage to/continuation of the genre pioneered by D.R.I., Nuclear Assault, et al., <i>The Fatal Feast</i> also spawned the year's best video with the animated mayhem of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOyqrNPzsY" target="_blank">"You're Cut Off."</a><br />
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<b>9. Between the Buried and Me - <i>The Parallax II: Future Sequence</i></b><br />
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On the opposite end of the metal spectrum from Municipal Waste reside Raleigh, North Carolina's Between the Buried and Me. On the full-length sequel to last year's excellent EP, <i>The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues</i>, BTBAM take their prog rock/death metal hybrid to new heights. The band refuses to be confined by neat categorization. Comparisons can be drawn as easily to Pink Floyd as to Dillinger Escape Plan, often within the confines of one epic song. <i>The Parallax II</i> is a lot to digest, but that's what makes it so rewarding.<br />
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<b>8. Pig Destroyer - <i>Book Burner</i></b><br />
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<i>Book Burner</i> has been hailed as somewhat of a triumphant return to form for Richmond, Virginia's Pig Destroyer. That's not to imply that 2007's <i>Phantom Limb</i> was the band's "Black Album" by any stretch, but for a lot of grindcore purists, any song that crosses the two-minute threshold is an exercise in pure wankery, and <i>Phantom Limb</i> had quite a few of those. <i>Book Burner </i>recaptures the raw ferocity of PxDx's early releases while still managing to advance the band's caustic vision of modern grindcore.<br />
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<b>7. Pallbearer - <i>Sorrow and Extinction</i></b><br />
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Pallbearer's <i>Sorrow and Extinction</i> is arguably the trendiest pick for metal album of the year. It topped a lot of metal critics' lists and was the only metal album to crack Pitchfork's hallowed Top 50 Albums of 2012 list. The Little Rock, Arkansas foursome are certainly worthy of the praise they've received. Pallbearer play old-school doom metal with mournful, melodic vocals, and their hipster crossover appeal is undeniable. Still, it's hard to forget that 40 Watt Sun mined a similar vein last year with <i>The Inside Room</i> and produced a record that felt much more personal and sincere. This is a promising debut, but I'll wait to see what Pallbearer comes up with for their next trick before I put them at the top of my list.<br />
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<b>6. Graveyard - <i>Lights Out</i></b><br />
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<b>5. Witchcraft - <i>Legend</i></b><br />
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Coming in 6th and 5th, respectively, are Sweden's Graveyard and Witchcraft. If these two bands are any indication, there's a legitimate classic metal revival going on in the land of Ikea, Absolut vodka and tall, hot blondes. While the two bands share the same homeland and obvious affinity for early '70s proto-metal, they're hardly interchangeable doppelgängers. On <i>Lights Out</i>, Graveyard offers up a sleazy, rough-and-tumble interpretation of vintage fuzz rock. Witchcraft takes a more layered, nuanced approach on <i>Legend</i>. Both albums are worthy additions to your record collection, but I prefer <i>Legend</i> by a slim margin.<br />
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<b>4. Band of Horses - <i>Mirage Rock</i></b><br />
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Many Band of Horses fans considered <i>Mirage Rock</i> a letdown from the band's prior output. I can't really argue that this album never quite reaches the heights of their earlier work, but c'mon. <i>Cease to Begin</i> is probably among the 10 best albums released this century. It's not really fair to expect BoH to release a bona fide masterpiece every time out. If anything, it speaks to their greatness as a band that they can release a subpar album (by BoH standards, at least) and it's still better than 99.9 percent of the other music released last year. And <i>Mirage Rock</i> is hardly a throwaway. There's some genuinely good stuff here, from the yacht rock-tinged folk of "Slow Cruel Hands of Time" to the peppy, poppy "A Little Biblical." Hell, I'll even go so far as to say that "Dumpster World," in all its schizophrenic, CSNY-meets-Coheed glory, is one of the best songs Ben Bridwell & Co. have ever recorded. The album lags a little bit during the second half, but the boys right the ship again with the lazy country shuffle of "Long Vows." In short, <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17042-mirage-rock/" target="_blank">Pitchfork can eat a dick</a>. BoH have earned a pass at this point. Even if there was a little more filler than we've come to expect, it still gave them an excuse to go out on tour again. For that alone, <i>Mirage Rock</i> deserves high praise.<br />
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<b>3. Random - <i>Mega Ran in Language Arts Vols. 1-3</i></b><br />
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If you'd told me at this time last year that I'd have a sprawling, three-part, two-hour concept album at number three on my list, I wouldn't have been terribly surprised. I probably would've just asked which European prog metal band had the audacity to release a three-part, two-hour concept album. As it turns out, Random (aka Mega Ran) isn't European, nor does he play prog metal, but the Phoenix schoolteacher-turned-rapper's vision is no less epic in scope. Random's ambitious multimedia <i>Language Arts</i> project also includes a <a href="http://language-arts-game.com/" target="_blank">video game</a> and a <a href="http://www.j1studios.com/comics/mega-ran-random-lyricism/mega-ran-random-lyricism-graphic-novel" target="_blank">graphic novel</a>, but it's the <a href="http://megaranmusic.com/album/mega-ran-in-language-arts-vols-1-2-3" target="_blank">series of three EPs</a> that carries the most weight. The three volumes of <i>Language Arts</i> comprise a semi-autobiographical superhero fantasy that also serves as the pinnacle of Random's absurdly productive career thus far. Whether he's dropping old-school conscious rhymes, geeking it up with nerdcore cronies MC Frontalot, mc chris and MC Lars or taking on the persona of a video game superhero, Random bring equal passion and skill to the microphone. In fact, it's the melding of those three main facets of his career that makes <i>Language Arts</i> so remarkable. Previous releases have been mostly either/or propositions, whereas <i>Language Arts</i> combines all of Random's diverse interests into a compelling whole that -- like the old saying goes -- is much greater than the sum of its parts.<br />
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<b>2. Torche - <i>Harmonicraft</i></b><br />
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Clearly, Steve Brooks has a sense of humor about being a gay dude fronting a (sort of) metal band. How else to explain the rainbow-spewing cartoon monsters adorning the cover of <i>Harmonicraft</i> or a song title like "Kiss Me Dudely"? He also has an uncanny knack for writing hook-laden heavy music, and <i>Harmonicraft</i> is yet another glittery example of his pop metal genius. From his influential work with Floor to his current output with Torche, Brooks is proving to be a worthy successor to Corgan, Cuomo, Grohl, et al. Also, did I mention that <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16533-harmonicraft/" target="_blank">Pitchfork can eat a dick</a>?<br />
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<b>1. Baroness - <i>Yellow & Green</i></b><br />
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As I mentioned back in the intro, I was a bit of a slacker in 2012 (at least in terms of music blogging), but I did find the time to write a proper review for one album. That album was <i>Yellow & Green</i> by Baroness, and I was already pretty convinced <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2012/07/baroness-yellow-green-album-review.html" target="_blank">back in July</a> that this was the album of the year. I wasn't wrong. After a horrific August bus accident left multiple band members with serious injuries, there was speculation that this might be Baroness's unwitting swan song. <a href="http://baronessmusic.com/update-from-baroness/#more-501" target="_blank">From the sound of it</a>, the rumors of Baroness's demise have been greatly exaggerated, but we might have to wait a while before we see any new music or live performances from the band. Fortunately, they couldn't have left us with a better album to tide us over. Get well soon, guys. Music needs you.Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-28660253801660467182012-10-17T14:18:00.001-07:002012-10-17T14:19:43.728-07:00Fruit Roll-Ups, rice crackers and whiskey: How I lost 50 pounds without exercise<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5zD_twAZsY/UH2-vNco9FI/AAAAAAAAARA/qF3aaGeEsf0/s1600/cizmar+before+after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5zD_twAZsY/UH2-vNco9FI/AAAAAAAAARA/qF3aaGeEsf0/s400/cizmar+before+after.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">Chubster author Martin Cizmar, before and after losing 100 lbs.</span></td></tr>
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Sorry for the non-music post, but it looks as if <a href="http://fatkidvsfitkid.com/" target="_blank">Fat Kid vs. Fit Kid</a> isn't much longer for this world, so I figured I'd compile all my dieting posts over here so they're all in one place. For those of you who don't know, I started a diet on April 2 of this year and, over the course of four months, lost about 50 pounds. I owe a great deal of my success to Martin Cizmar, my former editor at <i>Phoenix New Times</i> and the author of <i>Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool</i>. While I'm not a hipster and I never really fancied myself as particularly "cool" to begin with, Cizmar's book and his own remarkable weight loss were an inspiration to me, and I'm happy to report that the Chubster plan flat-out works. I managed to lose all that weight without so much as a regular exercise routine.<br />
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If you're interested in discovering how you can lose a significant amount of weight via simple calorie counting, I strongly urge you to pick up a copy of Martin's book. To find out how I did it, read on. I've added an epilogue at the end, since I never really wrote a proper ending to this tale. Enjoy and happy counting!<br />
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<b><u>Part 1 - Dieting: It's not just for chicks anymore (04/18/2012)</u></b><br />
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My name is Mike Meyer, and I'm a Fat Kid. I've spent the vast majority of my 38 years on this mortal coil eating pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want. I've always been tall, which helped perpetuate an illusion of skinniness, but over the past 15-20 years, that illusion has pretty much evaporated. Even XXL T-shirts are no longer capable of concealing my bulbous belly anymore.<br />
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Being fat was never a huge concern for me. Sure, all things being equal, I'd love to have a set of washboard abs, but not so much that I was willing to give up footlong cheesesteaks, all-meat pizzas, chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzels, Funyuns, 44 oz. Mountain Dews, India Pale Ales and all the other wonderful things you can ingest when you don't give two shits about your physique.<br />
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But there's something else that I really like that forced me to reevaluate my eating habits: women. Pretty ones, in particular. Now it's not as if out-of-shape dudes are completely incapable of landing an attractive ladyfriend. Personality and persistence can still win the day, and I have a handful of very attractive exes to prove it. But to be brutally honest, they seem to be fewer and farther between lately, and at my age, I can't really afford to see an already shallow pool of prospects shrink much more. And to be even more brutally honest, the sight of my own naked body in the mirror before my morning shower was getting a little tough to stomach (pun intended), so I could only imagine how traumatic it must be for those members of the fairer sex unfortunate enough to behold that same pasty, bloated physique that I had become somewhat immune to over the years.<br />
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Coincidentally, my friend Martin Cizmar had just released a diet book earlier this year called <em><a href="http://www.chubbbster.com/" target="_blank">Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool</a></em>. I bought a copy of the book almost a month ago, although I wasn't really sure if I was ready to commit to any sort of regimented diet yet. Hell, the only reason I was even at Changing Hands was because I was heading to Trader Joe's to buy a bunch of scrumptious cheese and salami for a party I was throwing that weekend. But I was certain that, at the very least, it would be an entertaining read, and it felt good buying a book by an author I personally know (and from a locally-owned bookstore to boot).<br />
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As it turned out, I really connected with the whole philosophy behind <em>Chubster.</em> (Well, except for the whole fixed-gear bike thing. Those are just lame.) In it, Cizmar -- the former <em>Phoenix New Times</em> music editor and current Arts & Culture Editor at <em>Willamette Week</em> in Portland -- chronicles his eight-month plummet from a roly-poly 290 pounds down to a svelte 190 and wryly doles out dieting advice rooted in the oldest and simplest method of weight loss ever conceived: calorie counting. It's hardly a new idea, which Cizmar freely admits, but it's backed by hard science, and the tips, tricks, hints and "cheats" in the book are invaluable.<br />
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Throughout the book, Cizmar manages to be simultaneously snarky (he takes Morgan Spurlock and Weight Watchers down a peg or two) and non-judgmental (frozen dinners and fast food chains get the same treatment as trendy ethnic fare and high-end eateries). But the biggest selling point -- for me, at least -- was how ridiculously easy it sounded. Anyone armed with a semi-firm grasp of grade school math and either a notebook or smartphone app can count calories. And so I vowed that on Monday, April 2, the day after my annual Wine, Cheese and Wrestlemania bacchanal, I would dive head-first into the Chubster diet.<br />
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The results so far have been phenomenal. As of this morning's weigh-in, I've managed to shed exactly eight pounds in just 16 days. I don't expect that rapid pace to keep up for too long, but it's an encouraging start, especially considering I've enjoyed chicken-fried steak, pizza, pasta, Swedish meatballs, a hamburger, a footlong Subway sub, Cheetos (albeit the baked variety), Chex Muddy Buddies, more than two bags of Brach's Chicks & Rabbits Easter candy, two cans of Pepsi Throwback (made with real sugar!) and more beers than I can count along the way. Am I eating healthy now? Obviously not, based on that list. But I wasn't eating healthy before, either. The difference is, I'm eating much smaller quantities of unhealthy food than I was three weeks ago and I'm finding new and inventive ways to cut calories from my diet without resorting to a bunch of boring, flavorless swill that would send most people running to Corleone's after a day or two.<br />
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I'm so psyched on the progress I've made that I asked another good friend, Megan Dobransky, if she'd let me chronicle my dieting misadventures here on her blog, Fat Kid vs. Fit Kid. Thankfully, she agreed. Sure, I have my own blog that I could use for the same purpose, but Tempe Carnivore has always focused more on music and culture over the past couple years, and I'd like to keep it that way. Plus, I admired the hard work Megan had put into this blog, so when <a href="http://fatkidvsfitkid.com/archives/1394" target="_blank">she announced she was taking a hiatus</a> from writing about her own fitness and dieting regimen, I thought this blog might benefit from a new voice. So after hours of tense negotiations between our respective teams of lawyers, agents, managers and publicists, Megan and I hammered out an agreement whereby I'd write about food and dieting here, and she'd write about music, art and culture on Tempe Carnivore.<br />
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In future posts, I'll keep you updated on my progress and share some of my own tips and tricks (and maybe even a recipe or two) that I've picked up along the way. I hope you'll follow along on my path to becoming a Fit Kid. It's a long ways off, to be sure, but I feel like I'm off to a good start. Maybe I'll even mix in some exercise at some point...<br />
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<b><u>Part 2 - Calorie counting and OCD: Why two scales are better than one (04/21/2012)</u></b><br />
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OCD isn't always a bad thing. When it comes to calorie counting, having an obsessive-compulsive streak can actually be quite beneficial. I don't mean to make light of a very real disorder that plagues roughly 2 percent of the U.S. population. Obviously, if you have to turn every light in your house on and off seven times before going to bed or carry hand sanitizer with you wherever you go, you're probably not leading a very happy or productive life. But if, like me, you just tend to be very... <em>meticulous</em> about certain things, then there's a good chance you're cut out for calorie counting. With that in mind, I recommend that you have two scales at your disposal if you're going to commit to counting calories.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ounce of baked Cheetos (130 calories)</td></tr>
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Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight, you're going to need a basic bathroom scale to monitor your progress. But I would also recommend picking up a small digital scale for weighing your food, especially if you're an avid snacker like me. You can find one at a head shop for around $20, and it will be an invaluable tool for portion control. Of course, over the past decade or so, there's been a big rise in pre-portioned "snack size" servings of all manner of foods, but you're going to pay a premium if you let someone else do your weighing for you. Plus, a scale offers you more flexibility. Maybe you don't want a full serving of candy corn, or maybe you're feeling particularly gluttonous and want to treat yourself to a serving and a half of almonds. When you have a scale that measures to a tenth of a gram, you can portion out pretty much whatever size serving you want. You'll probably find yourself using it on a daily basis.<br />
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As an ancillary bonus, if you ever decide to enter the lucrative world of dealing drugs, you'll already have a head start on your competition.<br />
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<b><u>Part 3 - Beware of good days... (04/24/2012)</u></b><br />
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I just seem to have a knack for making fantastic health choices. In addition to being a confirmed Fat Kid, I've also smoked cigarettes since my teens. I've tried to quit several times, all unsuccessfully. I'm not in any particular hurry to quit right now, but I would like to eventually. In fact, part of the reason I started my diet was based on the hope that losing weight might lead to an increase in physical activity which, in turn, might lead to a decrease or, ideally, a complete cessation of my smoking habit. But for now, I'm just focusing on the weight loss aspect.<br />
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The reason I bring up smoking is because, on the surface, it might seem like dieting and quitting smoking are similar endeavors. Indeed, both take a tremendous amount of willpower, and both require you to deprive yourself of something you enjoy for the betterment of your overall health. But there also seems to be at least one distinct difference, which I found out the hard way on Sunday.<br />
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My day started off great. I got out of the shower and stepped on the scale to find that I was down to 222.8 pounds. I was 233.2 when I started this diet on April 2, which means that I had officially lost more than 10 pounds in just under three weeks! I was pretty stoked.<br />
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I then proceeded to have a good day at work (or at least as good a day as you can have while still working). We were busy throughout the day and I went home with about $140 in my pocket. Feeling pretty good about life, I headed down to Wild Horse Pass casino, sat down at a poker table and, over the course of two hours, proceeded to turn my $100 buy-in into a $300+ stack of chips. I cashed out and headed home feeling downright giddy about my day. That's when things took a turn for the worse.<br />
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I had already been thinking about "rewarding" myself once I cracked the 10-pounds-lost threshold. I'd had three pints of Bud Light during my poker session, so my inhibitions were slightly down, but I still resisted the urge to drive through Carl's Jr. on the way home. "If I'm going to reward myself," I thought, "I'm not going to blow it on fast food." I had a cheesesteak in mind, actually, but that would have to wait until the next day, at least.<br />
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Even after the Bud Lights (438 calories total) I still had about 650 calories left on my daily budget, so when I got home, I decided to treat myself just a little. I poured myself a one-ounce shot of tequila (69 calories) and chased it with a can of regular Budweiser (145 calories). Then I started in on the snacks. I weighed out the remainder of a box of Baby Swiss-flavored Cheese-Its that came to about an ounce and a half (225 calories). Then I weighed out some Chex Muddy Buddies (130 calories). I was getting close to my daily limit of 2,000 calories, but I wasn't particularly concerned. I had gone over by around 300 a couple times in the past without seeing any significant change in my weight loss.<br />
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I decided to say "fuck it" and just go over one more time. I weighed out some candy corn (140 calories). Then I grabbed a bag of fruit snacks (100 calories) and an ounce of mixed nuts (170 calories). That put me about 310 calories over my daily limit, but still, those damn Chicks & Rabbits beckoned. I decided that, just this once, I'd allow myself to go 500 calories over, and I munched down six of those bad boys (180 calories) and finished the day at 2,490.<br />
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I got on the scale Monday morning for my three-week weigh-in, and I was at 223.4. The thrill of losing 10 pounds had lasted all of one day. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, losing 9.8 pounds in three weeks is still pretty good, but that's just rationalizing, and you and I both know it. I was an idiot, and I paid the price for it.<br />
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So the reason for this particular blog entry is to warn against the danger of having a good day. When you're trying to quit smoking, it's usually an especially bad day that's gonna make you cave in and light one up. But with dieting, I feel the opposite is true, at least for me. I tend to associate food with celebrating, and that's exactly what I did on Sunday night. But just as I don't truly <i>need</i> cigarettes to cope with the numerous stresses in my everyday life, I also don't need to overindulge on empty calories to properly celebrate a happy occasion.<br />
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I'm chalking it up as a lesson learned. Unfortunately, it looks like I might have to reconsider that cheesesteak as well. Maybe after 20 pounds?<br />
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<b><u>Part 4 - Dealing with naysayers (04/30/2012)</u></b><br />
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One of the most frustrating parts about calorie counting is dealing with all the naysayers who will try to convince you that it's simply not that easy. The day before I started my diet, I was proudly showing my sister the bag of rice crackers I'd picked up at Trader Joe's. "Look," I boasted, "there's only 110 calories and zero grams of fat per serving!" She took a quick glance at the nutrition info and replied, "Yeah, but look at all that sodium."<br />
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I don't mean to pick on my little sister here. God knows I did enough of that during the first 16 or so years of her life. (She might argue that I still do.) But I use this anecdote as an illustration of how far the Organized Dieting Industry has infiltrated popular opinion. The majority of people assume that in order to lose weight, you not only need to cut calories, but also drastically reduce your intake of fat, carbohydrates, sodium and whatever the new foodstuff is that the ODI arbitrarily chooses to demonize. People think that if you're not paying monthly fees to Weight Watchers and a personal trainer, you're destined to fail.<br />
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In fact, you can probably place part of the blame for this country's obesity epidemic squarely on the shoulders of the ODI itself. If your only two options are to exercise an hour a day and subsist on steamed veggies, fat-free yogurt and tofurkey or just concede to being a fatass your whole life, you'll probably opt for the latter. I know I would.<br />
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But the simple truth is, calorie counting works. Martin Cizmar proved it by losing 100 pounds in eight months, and I'm in the process of proving it right now. Today was my four-week weigh-in, and I finally broke the 220-pound threshold, coming in at 219.8. That's 13.4 pounds lost in just four weeks, doing nothing but counting calories.<br />
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Still, the naysayers persist. Another good friend of mine was also very down on calorie counting when I told him about my plan. After losing three pounds in my first week, he tried to convince me that it was just "water weight." After I kept that pace up for another two weeks, he started rambling about "body fat index" or some such nonsense. I don't think my friend or my sister were intentionally trying to sabotage my diet. They've just just bought into the ODI's propaganda that losing weight needs to be really complicated.<br />
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Naysayers aren't limited to close friends and family, either. They're all over the interwebs as well. Just do a Google search for the term "a calorie is a calorie," and the overwhelming majority of the results will link you to websites and articles trying to convince you otherwise. So it's not surprising that my friend also believes in "good calories" and "bad calories." It seems like almost everyone does. Never mind that a calorie is simply a unit of measurement and is incapable of being inherently good or bad. If I tried to convince you that there were good and bad inches, ounces, pints or cubits, you'd look at me like I was crazy. Yet most people still believe in the myth of good and bad calories.<br />
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That's not to say there aren't good and bad foods. You'll get a lot more vitamins, nutrients and whatnot from 200 calories of broccoli than you will from 200 calories of Peanut M&Ms or 200 calories of bacon grease. A 200-calorie portion of broccoli is also going to be a lot more substantial and filling. But ultimately, all three 200-calorie portions will make you equally fat. You can argue all you want, even call me a liar, but I've got science (and my bathroom scale) on my side.<br />
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And just because calorie counting doesn't require you to set a finite limit on the amount of fat, sodium, carbs, etc. in your diet, you're going to wind up eating less of them anyway. Why? Because you're eating less of <em>everything</em>. Kinda funny how that works, huh?<br />
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So what, then, is the best way to deal with Negative Nellies? I have to admit, my initial response was basically my go-to weapon against anything that annoys me: biting sarcasm. After a week on my diet, I texted my sister to let her know I'd lost three pounds on my "I don't give a shit how much sodium is in my rice crackers" diet. After three weeks, I texted my friend to brag about how I'd lost more than 10 pounds of "water weight." But in retrospect, I kind of regret those texts. I know my friends are just concerned about me and my health. They're just not quite ready yet to believe that dieting can be this easy.<br />
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So from this point forward, I'm going to make a concerted effort to be a little more humble about my dieting success. Nobody likes a braggart or a know-it-all, and I have admittedly been both at times over the past four weeks. Not to mention, there's always the possibility that this whole thing blows up in my face and all that sarcasm gets returned in spades. So from now on, if people want to go on believing in good and bad calories, so be it. If that's what helps them lose weight, more power to 'em. Eat and let eat, as it were.<br />
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<b><u>Part 5 - A major milestone surpassed... (05/21/2012)</u></b><br />
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I got on the scale this morning for my Week Seven weigh-in and I'm down to 209.2 pounds. That means I've lost exactly 24 pounds since April 2. Even more significantly, this may very well be the first time in my life that I actually weigh less than the weight listed on my driver's license. That's pretty cool, right? Here are a few random dieting thoughts and tips to celebrate this momentous occasion:<br />
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<strong>Roast beef is an under-appreciated breakfast meat.</strong> Counting calories can be tricky for us carnivores, especially at breakfast. Pork sausage and bacon are pretty much out, and their turkey-based equivalents are pale imitations of the real deal. That leaves you with ham and, well, more ham. But don't discount roast beef. It's a lean, low-cal way to get your steak & eggs fix. Deli-sliced roast beef has just a few more calories than ham or turkey and makes a nice change of pace for your breakfast sandwich/wrap...<br />
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<strong>Dieting is a great excuse to sleep in.</strong> Getting a good night's sleep isn't always on the top of my priority list, but I find that when I do, I tend to eat less the following day. Part of the reason is obvious: if you're sleeping, you're not eating. But I also think that getting a decent night's sleep also gives you more energy during the day. It could even be more important than breakfast in that regard. Now if only I could just force myself to go to sleep earlier when I have to work the next day...<br />
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<strong>When shopping for frozen entrees, don't rule out the non-diet options.</strong> Brands like Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine are nice because you know every entree is going to be low-cal, but it's definitely worth looking at some of the "full-flavored" brands as well. Banquet makes a chicken-fried steak meal with corn and mashed potatoes that comes in at only 360 calories, and the chicken-fried chicken version is only 340. Their cheesy smothered charbroiled patty meal is only 280, and Salisbury Steak comes in at a mere 230. Plus, they're typically less than half the price of the diet meals just a few feet down the aisle. Michelina also has a few relatively low-cal options outside of their Lean Gourmet line. Basically, if something grabs your eye, it never hurts to check the back of the box. Sometimes you might be surprised...<br />
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<strong>Ultra-thin sliced cheese is your friend.</strong> I've recently noticed that a couple of the popular cheese brands, Sargento and Kraft, have begun selling ultra-thin sliced cheese. This is a calorie counter's godsend because you not only get lower-calorie portions, but you get more slices per package as well. The only downside is that the selection appears to be limited to Swiss, cheddar and maybe Monterey Jack. Your options expand exponentially, however, when you consider that you can buy cheese from the deli and ask them to slice it as thin as you want. When you get home, just weigh a slice on your digital scale and then look up the nutritional info for that particular brand of cheese online. I picked up some 2% milk white American that came in at only 30 calories per slice, even less than the pre-packaged stuff...<br />
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<strong>Sugar is not evil.</strong> Just enjoy it in moderation. There are plenty of people in this world who can stomach the chemical-y taste of artificial sweeteners, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them. I'm proud to say I've lost all the weight I have without ingesting any artificial sweeteners. If you can handle the foul aftertaste of diet soda or sugar-free candy, more power to you. You'll probably have a much easier path to weight loss than I will, but I just can't stand the stuff. But really, how hard is it to budget for the occasional soda, especially when they make them in 7.5 oz. cans now? A baby can of Mountain Dew (aka the Nectar of the Gods) is only 110 calories, and a baby Coke is under 100. Even full-size 12 oz. cans aren't that hard to sneak into your budget on occasion. Just avoid the 44 oz. fountain cups at Circle K or Quik Trip and you'll be fine. When it comes to candy and other sweets, again, moderation is the key. Generally speaking, fruity candy like Starburst, Skittles, SweeTarts, AirHeads and gummy bears are going to have fewer calories by weight than chocolate candy like Snickers, Reese's, Twix or M&Ms. Proceed with caution and restraint whenever real chocolate is involved, but you can get lower-calorie chocolate fixes from Tootsie Rolls, chocolate graham crackers and even Three Musketeers. Chocolate-flavoered cereals like Cocoa Puffs and Reese's Puffs also make good low-cal (and even somewhat nutritious) chocolatey snacks right out of the box, no milk required...<br />
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<b><u>Part 6 - On cheat days and (possibly) hitting the wall... (05/30/2012)</u></b><br />
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I think I might've hit the wall. I got on the scale this past Monday morning for my eight-week weigh-in, and I had actually <em>gained</em> weight. I was only up 0.4 pounds over the previous week, but still, it's not a particularly encouraging sign. It's possible that my gluttony this past Saturday had something to do with it, but I fear I might have gone as far as I can go by simply counting calories.<br />
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Saturday turned out to be the "cheat day" to end all cheat days. I didn't plan it that way. It just sort of happened. The following story is a prime example of why I would recommend against scheduling cheat days into your diet plan. I'm not saying you should never just say "fuck it" and spend one day eating whatever the hell you want every now and then. God knows I did just that on Saturday. I'm just saying don't schedule or plan them, because they seem to have a way of just happening on their own.<br />
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My sister texted me Saturday morning asking if I wanted to get some breakfast. I'm a sucker for a big, hearty, calorie-laden breakfast, and I had deprived myself of them for nearly two months, so I figured I could afford to splurge. I told her I was down as long as she agreed to go rock climbing with me afterwards. She agreed, and I felt better about splurging if I knew I'd work some of it off right afterwards.<br />
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We went to my favorite breakfast spot in Tempe, <a href="http://www.markscafeaz.com/#!" target="_blank">Mark's Café</a>, and I proceeded to order the special of the day: surf & turf Eggs Benedict, featuring two flank steak pinwheels stuffed with seafood crab stuffing atop English muffin halves, topped with the obligatory poached eggs and smothered in Mark's mouth-watering, made-from-scratch-daily Hollandaise sauce. Oh yeah, and home fries too. Needless to say, it was fucking amazing. (To her credit, my sister ordered a Spanish omelette that likely came in a few hundred calories below my absurd breakfast, but after trying a bite of my Eggs Benedict, she agreed that it was unbelievably awesome.)<br />
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Even after calculating that ungodly breakfast at just less than 1,100 calories, I felt confident that I could eat light for the rest of the day and come in under, or, at worst, a little over my 2,000-calorie limit. Plus, there was the rock climbing. We went to Phoenix Rock Gym and climbed for a couple hours, so by midday, I was still feeling pretty confident. Then my friend texted me and asked if I wanted to come over and watch the UFC fights that night. Uh oh.<br />
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I showed up at my friend's house with cheese and crackers, but another friend at our little get-together had other plans that involved three gigantic NY Strip steaks and potatoes. There was also Hop Knot on tap. After all was said and done, I had nearly doubled my calorie limit for the day. I'd love to tell you how horrible I felt afterwards, but honestly, the whole day was pretty awesome and totally worth it.<br />
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But the moral of the story, as I touched on earlier, is that it's probably a bad idea to plan out cheat days, because you never know when one is just going to sneak up on you. That's probably why I didn't feel too bad about it when it happened. I made it almost eight weeks before I just said "to hell with it" and gorged myself in a manner that I wouldn't have thought twice about just two months ago. If I can manage to limit myself to one of those days every couple months, I think I'll be OK.<br />
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The bigger concern for me, though, is the Week 8 weight gain. As bad as that Saturday was (at least in terms of my diet), I highly doubt that it alone was bad enough to completely halt my weight loss pace of more than three pounds a week. My big fear is that I may have hit the wall, or "plateaued," to use the more politically correct term for when your diet suddenly stops working. It's possible that I'm at (or at least close to) the weight at which eating 2,000 calories a day is no longer enough. Since I'm still about 19 pounds shy of my goal weight, that would mean changes are in order: either a calorie reduction, an increase in my exercise regimen or some combination of both. Since my current exercise regimen is essentially nonexistent, that'd probably be a good place to start, right?<br />
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For now, I'm going to give it another week or two. If the weight loss picks back up, cool beans. If not, it's time to move on to Plan B. Hey, at least I have a Plan B. Two months ago, I didn't even have a Plan A. Either way, I'm pretty stoked to have already lost about 25 pounds doing nothing more than calorie counting. I'm hoping that number increases, but if not, I'm ready to take the next step. All I need to do is find some form of exercise that doesn't completely suck. Rock climbing fits that description, but it's a little pricey and requires a partner. Tennis is pretty fun, but it's also dependent on someone else showing up. Anybody have any suggestions for me? Fair warning: if you say "running," I will find you and slap you...<br />
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<b><u>Part 7 - Closing in on the goal (06/16/2012)</u></b><br />
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I got on the scale this morning and reached another milestone. I weight 199.8, which puts me under 200 lbs. for the first time since probably high school. I've now lost more than 33 pounds since April 2 and I'm less than 10 pounds away from my goal weight of 190. I think I'm actually gonna be able to pull this off.<br />
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As much as I'd like to spend a whole blog post just patting myself on the back, I figure I should probably try to add something a little more substantive, so here are three of my favorite low-cal recipes I've concocted over the past few months - one for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner. Try them out and let me know what you think. I even included a vegetarian recipe for all you weirdos out there...<br />
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<strong>Ham & Swiss Frittata with Tater Tots</strong><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
3 large eggs (1 yolk removed)<br />
2 oz. thin sliced deli ham, shredded<br />
3/4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded<br />
8 tater tots<br />
salt & pepper to taste<br />
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Directions:<br />
Start baking tater tots in a toaster over or conventional oven according to directions on package. Crack eggs into mixing cup, remove one yolk and scramble thoroughly. Lightly coat a skillet with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat. Tear up the ham by hand or finely chop it and add it to eggs along with shredded cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well and pour into pan. Cook until bottom is set, then flip and cook until done. Serve with tater tots and season with hot sauce, if desired.<br />
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Total calories: 420<br />
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<strong>Dark Chocolate Raspberry Salad</strong><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
2 cups spring mix (about 3 oz. or half a bag)<br />
2 tbsp. (1 oz.) Kraft light raspberry vinaigrette<br />
1 oz. crumbled goat cheese<br />
3 oz. fresh raspberries (half of a standard 6 oz. container)<br />
1 oz. Emerald Cocoa Roast almonds<br />
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Directions: Toss spring mix with dressing. Top with remaining ingredients. Enjoy.<br />
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Total calories: 345<br />
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<strong>Quarter-Pound Pesto Cheeseburger</strong><br />
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Ingredients:<br />
4 oz. ground beef (93% lean)<br />
1 slice Sargento ultra thin sliced Swiss or Provolone cheese<br />
1 multigrain sandwich thin<br />
2 tsp. basil pesto sauce<br />
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Directions: Toast sandwich thin. Shape ground beef into patty (or just buy the frozen pre-made patties). Cook patty to desired doneness in cast iron skillet or on grill. Spread 1 tsp. pesto on each half of sandwich thin. Add burger. Top with cheese. Enjoy.<br />
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Total calories: 355<br />
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<b><u>Epilogue (10/17/2012)</u></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FW2qB6LUxhA/UH8agtdlRAI/AAAAAAAAASc/PTw06A9WCwI/s1600/before+and+after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FW2qB6LUxhA/UH8agtdlRAI/AAAAAAAAASc/PTw06A9WCwI/s400/before+and+after.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, before and after losing 40+ pounds</td></tr>
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Well, it's been more than six months since I started my diet and more than two months since I hit my goal weight of 190. I never had a chance to write a proper conclusion to this tale, since I started teaching in early August and my life was pretty much consumed by that for the past two months.<br />
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I hit my goal weight on Aug. 2, four months to the day after I'd started the diet. I actually wound up losing more weight than I'd planned to, as dropping below 190 coincided with the start of my teaching career. Between getting up at 4:30 a.m. five days a week, the stress of starting a new job and the sheer magnitude of the workload I faced, my apetite was almost nonexistent for my first week on the job. I wound up dropping below 183 at one point, to bring my total weight loss to more than 50 pounds.<br />
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As of this morning, I'm at 190.6, which is right where I want to be. I haven't been counting calories at all lately, just because dropping down below 185 actually scared me a little. I'm hoping that just eating sensibly will help me maintain my current weight, but if start to inch my way north of 195, I can always start counting again.<br />
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While it's kind of cool that I lost so much weight without any sort of exercise regimen, I feel compelled to add a caveat. At the risk of stating the obvious, simply losing a lot of weight doesn't automatically make you fit. I'm significantly skinnier than I was six months ago and I feel much better about the way I look, but make no mistake; I'm still flabby. That's where exercise comes in. Sure, it's possible to lose weight without exercise. Easy, even. But if you want to actually get in shape, you're going to need to exercise. That's the challenge I'm still working on now. I suspect a decent exercise routine would also help with management/maintenance once you actually hit your goal weight.<br />
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The simple truth is, if you're serious about losing weight, you don't have to exercise or even stop eating the foods you love to do so. You'll need to scale back on many of those foods, of course, but the beauty of calorie counting lies in its simplicity. Nothing is off limits. Just use moderation and common sense. I hope you found my story entertaining and maybe even a little inspiring. If you have a success story of your own, please feel free to share it in the comments below. Thanks for reading.Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-90269168064372094062012-07-25T23:55:00.001-07:002012-07-25T23:55:57.543-07:00Baroness - Yellow & Green (Album Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Baroness - <i>Yellow & Green</i><br />
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Release date: July 17, 2012 (Relapse Records)</div>
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It's been a while since I've heard an album that I felt <i>compelled</i> to write about. In fact, I haven't posted a new album review since <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/elder-dead-roots-stirring-album-review.html">October of last year</a>, when I boldly declared that Elder's <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i> was the best hard rock/metal album I'd heard in half a decade. Well, either my standards are rapidly diminishing, or we may be on the cusp of the next great era of heavy music, because as much as I loved Elder's album last year, I love the new Baroness double album, <i>Yellow & Green</i>, even more.<br />
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Funny thing is, I can still stand behind my Elder proclamation, because <i>Yellow & Green</i> is decidedly and unrepentantly not metal, and it only sporadically qualifies as hard rock. With the amount of buzz this album has already generated, I'm hardly the first person to make that distinction, but if it seems as if every critic and blogger is preoccupied with what this album <i>isn't</i>, it's probably because it's so hard to put into words what, precisely, it is.<br />
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In discussing the album with friends, the bands that have come up as reference points include the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and Weezer. Those four bands don't sound much alike, (and none of them are metal, it's worth noting), but all of them were trailblazers in their respective genres. Perhaps that's why it's so difficult to describe Baroness these days. With their metal days firmly behind them, they might just be at the forefront of a genre so new that we haven't even coined a clever name for it yet.<br />
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There are certainly elements of established genres -- indie rock, post-rock, prog, stoner rock, even power pop -- on display throughout <i>Yellow & Green</i>, but Baroness refuse to settle neatly into any one of those specific categories for very long. Despite a 75-minute running time that could be accommodated by a single CD, <i>Yellow & Green</i> is presented as a double album. It's a move that could come off as pretentious in the hands of a lesser band, but Baroness have deftly avoided the common pitfalls of the typical double album: monotony, vanity and overkill. There's not a single song on <i>Yellow & Green</i> that feels superfluous or tacked-on. Every song is a necessary and logical step on what almost assuredly will remain this year's best musical journey.<br />
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The first/<i>Yellow</i> half is the more uptempo of the two albums. After an understated, instrumental intro, Baroness comes out of the gate swinging with "Take My Bones Away" and "March to the Sea," arguably the two most straightforward rock songs on the entire album. It's not until "Little Things" -- where a driving disco beat alternates with a melancholy, indie-pop chorus before culminating in a Brian May-inspired guitar freakout -- that it becomes clear that this is far and above we've come to expect from Baroness. "Twinkler" is pure indie folk; bump the harmonies up an octave and it could pass for a Band of Horses song. The relatively mellow vibe continues into "Cocainium," which builds to an epic, prog rock ending. "Back Where I Belong" continues down the prog vein before culminating in a gorgeous coda that stands out as one of the high points in an album chock full of them. "Sea Lungs" could easily pass for latter-day Mastodon, but the closing track, "Eula," is proof positive that Baroness have surpassed their Georgia brethren as the thinking man's metal band of the moment. I'm not even sure what, exactly, singer/guitarist John Baizley means when he belts out the closing refrain of "I can't forget the taste of my own tongue." I just know that I feel compelled to sing along every time I hear it, which is genrally a pretty good indicator of an awesome song.<br />
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The second/<i>Green</i> half kicks off with another instrumental, "Green Theme," which mines the classic soft/loud template of '90s alt rock to perfection. It's followed by "Board Up the House," a gem of stoner pop perfection that ought to make guys like Steve Brooks and Josh Homme kick themselves for not writing it first. After a rollicking start, Baroness reins things back in with a succession of mellow songs: the Radiohead-ish "Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor)," the waltz-y "Foolsong," the synth-driven "Collapse," the artsy "Psalms Alive" and the instrumental country-blues of "Stretchmarker." Just when you're about to nod off, the boys pick up the pace again with the anthemic "The Line Between," which features another ridiculously catchy hook that practically requires you to shout along. The album closes with a fourth instrumental, "If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry," which, while perhaps a bit anticlimactic, brings the entire album full circle.<br />
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I'm sure there will be small minority of die-hard metalheads out there who will insist that <i>Yellow & Green</i> is just the latest in a long line of cash-in attempts by quality metal bands with dollar signs in their eyes. I'm certainly not above making such accusations myself. I took Metallica's self-titled "black album" as a slap in the face when it came out, and 21 years later, it still stings. But it's not impossible for a metal act to mellow their sound, incorporate a little melody and actually come out a better band on the other side. Clutch's gradual transformation from hardcore-tinged alt-metal to blues-drenched boogie rock is a prime example. More recently, Mastodon showed their softer side on 2009's <i>Crack the Skye</i> and travelled a similar path last year on <i>The Hunter</i>.<br />
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When I listen to <i>Yellow & Green</i> and the aforementioned Elder album, I can only wonder how well they would've been received in the early '90s, back when radio stations played rock music and people actually bought albums. The days of making a tidy profit from recorded music may be in the past for all but a privileged few, but I still hold out hope that this great country will eventually fall back in love with the electric guitar. If any album can rekindle that romance, it's <i>Yellow & Green</i>.</div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-31792935658796757972012-01-25T02:28:00.000-07:002012-01-25T02:35:09.321-07:00Concert Review: Anthrax, Testament & Death Angel at the Marquee Theatre on 1/24/12<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VbaOroU1KRQ/Tx_HiSWmNBI/AAAAAAAAAQk/f-Pj4fjconE/s1600/DSC00034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VbaOroU1KRQ/Tx_HiSWmNBI/AAAAAAAAAQk/f-Pj4fjconE/s400/DSC00034.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthrax's Scott Ian performing at last year's Big 4 Festival in Indio, Calif.</td></tr>
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If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably already know that I'm a huge mark for classic '80s thrash metal, so it will probably come as no surprise that, in this writer's opinion, last night's show at the Marquee Theatre was a resounding success. Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel -- three of thrash metal's longest-tenured acts, with more than 80 combined years of experience amongst them -- put on a helluva show in front of a capacity crowd that seemed to have no qualms with moshing the night away at a midweek show.<br />
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San Francisco's Death Angel took the stage first and ripped through a brief-but-furious set that spanned their 25-year career. From "Mistress of Pain" off of their 1987 debut, <i>The Ultra-Violence</i>, to the set-closing "Thrown to the Wolves" from their 2004 comeback album <i>The Art of Dying</i>, the band whipped the crowd into a frenzy that would last throughout the night.<br />
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Co-headliners Testament took the stage next, and they almost made me wonder if they read <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2010/08/slayer_megadeth_and_testament.php" target="***">my review of their 2010 show in Phoenix</a>, considering that they honored my requests for "Practice What You Preach" and "Over the Wall" within the first five songs of their set. The band's setlist was decidedly more old-school than their last visit to the Valley, thanks presumably in part to their longer time slot. Testament catered to longtime fans with such classics as "Into the Pit" and the even more unlikely "Electric Crown" from 1992's <i>The Ritual</i>.<br />
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Thrash legends Anthrax closed out the night with a rousing 90-minute set that served to further solidify their status as one of thrash metal's founding fathers. While they might play "fourth fiddle" in popularity to their Big Four brethren in Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth, Anthrax more than held their own as a headlining act. The band reached into the vault for rarities like "Medusa" and "Metal Thrashing Mad," as well as a heaping helping of songs from their 1987 classic <i>Among the Living</i>. Considering Arizona's sizable Native American population and their consistent support of the local and national metal scenes, it probably goes without saying that "Indians" went over extremely well with last night's crowd. The band even teased the audience with the first minute or so of their rap-rock goof "I'm the Man" before breaking into the set-closing "I am the Law."<br />
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All in all, it was another great moment in the ongoing thrash metal revival. I think I've seen enough of these shows now to say with some authority that this resurgence of classic thrash is more than just an exercise in nostalgia. There's a bona fide New Wave of American Thrash Metal taking place, and ironically, the guys leading the charge are the same guys who should've been selling out these same venues 25 years ago.<br />
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Better late than never, I guess. We should probably enjoy it while it lasts, before the New Wave of American Grunge comes along and sends us all back underground again...<br />
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<b><u>Testament setlist</u></b><br />
The Preacher<br />
The New Order<br />
The Persecuted Won't Forget<br />
Practice What You Preach<br />
Over the Wall<br />
Souls of Black<br />
Into the Pit<br />
Electric Crown<br />
Henchmen Ride<br />
More Than Meets the Eye<br />
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)<br />
3 Days in Darkness<br />
Disciples of the Watch<br />
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<b><u>Anthrax setlist</u></b><br />
Earth on Hell<br />
Fight 'em 'til You Can't<br />
Caught in a Mosh<br />
Antisocial<br />
I'm Alive<br />
The Devil You Know<br />
Indians<br />
In the End<br />
Got the Time<br />
Medusa<br />
Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)<br />
Among the Living<br />
Metal Thrashing Mad<br />
I'm the Man (one-verse teaser)<br />
I am the LawMike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-5613143313791142092012-01-17T08:50:00.000-07:002012-01-25T02:29:08.388-07:00Three Questions as Kip (3?aK) - The Complete Series<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTFS59SAd6A/S8JshkuoPsI/AAAAAAAAADQ/ZKwklw6FFJw/s1600/KipWinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTFS59SAd6A/S8JshkuoPsI/AAAAAAAAADQ/ZKwklw6FFJw/s320/KipWinger.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
Well, I guess I can scratch one New Year's resolution off my list. It might not be as significant an accomplishment as quitting smoking or losing 30 pounds, but I finally got around to doing something I've been meaning to do for quite some time now -- nearly as long as I've been writing this blog, actually.<br />
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What is this remarkable achievement, you ask?<br />
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I went back through all the "3?aK" posts and added links to tie them all together and make the entire series more navigable. This should make it quite a bit easier to revisit the infamous yearlong experiment I undertook during my tenure as music writer at <a href="http://www.ecollegetimes.com/" target="***"><i>College Times</i></a>, in which I asked numerous musicians and celebrities to spontaneously get into character and answer three questions as 1980s hair metal icon Kip Winger.<br />
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If you have some time to kill and could use a good chuckle, start off with <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2010/05/3ak-three-questions-as-kip-origin.html" target="***">the 3?aK origin story</a> and then click the link at the bottom of the post to move on to Episode 1 of the series. Each episode now has a link at the bottom that takes you to the subsequent episode in the series.<br />
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There are 48 episodes in all. Not every one is a home run, but the majority fall somewhere between mildly amusing and laugh-out-loud hilarious. You'll see a few famous faces along the way, like "Weird Al" Yankovic, Tori Amos, Slash and Lisa Lampanelli, as well as members of the Shins, Slayer, Coheed and Cambria, Lamb of God, Gym Class Heroes, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Gwar. Then again, some of the funniest answers come from artists you might not be as familiar with (Shane Clark of 3 Inches of Blood and Tony Poer of local act Emperors of Japan spring immediately to mind). If you make it all the way to the grand finale, there's even a requisite plot twist/surprise ending.<br />
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I'd love to hear which episodes you liked the most (or the least, for that matter). Feel free to leave a comment below and/or share this with your friends if you were entertained. Thanks for supporting independent journalism and have a fantastic 2012.<br />
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<br />Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-42326320317786303412011-12-28T17:01:00.001-07:002011-12-29T15:38:51.512-07:00Kreator - Pleasure to Kill & Flag of Hate: Part 10 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tSwZc0mEtnk/TvvcSodvyjI/AAAAAAAAAQE/aFk0x30bZSo/s1600/Kreator-Pleasure-To-Kill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tSwZc0mEtnk/TvvcSodvyjI/AAAAAAAAAQE/aFk0x30bZSo/s400/Kreator-Pleasure-To-Kill.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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For the final installment in this series, I'll be looking back at a pair of releases by the seminal German thrash band Kreator. The band's sophomore full-length, <i>Pleasure to Kill</i>, was released in November 1986 and the three-song EP, <i>Flag of Hate</i>, followed in December. I was unable to nail down an interview with a band member, but I didn't want to post the last part of this series without an interview, so I reached out to author/publisher/radio host/metal expert Ian Christe, who was kind enough to agree to a Q&A about Kreator and the 1986 thrash explosion in general.<br />
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At the time of its release, <i>Pleasure to Kill</i> represented a monumental step forward for Kreator as a band and the German thrash scene as a whole. The band's 1985 debut, <i>Endless Pain</i>, was a comparatively forgettable effort and did little to foreshadow Kreator's eventual rise to the top of the German thrash scene. <i>Pleasure to Kill </i>immediately established Kreator as a force to be reckoned with. Songs like "Riot of Violence" and the title track created a template for Kreator's run of excellence over the next few years and remain staples in the band's live set to this day.<br />
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As if one great album wasn't enough, Kreator furthered their legacy just a month later with the <i>Flag of Hate</i> EP, which features, for my money, one of the best songs they've ever written in "Take Their Lives." The one-two punch of <i>Pleasure</i> and <i>Flag</i> was just the beginning for Kreator, though. Their 1987 follow-up, <i>Terrible Certainty</i>, honed the band's sound to an even sharper edge and earned them a major label deal. Their two Epic Records releases -- 1989's <i>Extreme Aggression</i> and 1990's <i>Coma of Souls</i> -- cemented Kreator's status among the thrash metal elite. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Kreator's four-album run from <i>Pleasure</i> through <i>Coma</i> is arguably the best four-album series in thrash metal history. You could probably make a case for the first four Metallica or Slayer albums, but nobody else has come close to Kreator's late-'80s run of near-perfection. Hell, even the 1988 <i>Out of the Dark... Into the Light</i> EP is a winner, especially if you can round up the rare version that has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t879GHvHaME" target="***">the cover of Tygers of Pan Tang's "Gangland"</a> on it.<br />
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Things took a turn for the worse for Kreator with 1992's <i>Renewal</i>, which saw the band incorporate gothic and industrial elements into their sound. Most disconcerting, however, was the change in vocal style by singer Mille Petrozza, who eschewed the raspy sceeches that had become a signature of the band's formative work for a shout-y monotone. The band continued to flounder throughout the '90s before finally returning to form with 2001's <i>Violent Revolution</i>. Since then, the band has released two more studio albums -- 2005's <i>Enemy of God</i> and 2009's <i>Hordes of Chaos</i> -- that have helped reestablish their image as one of thrash metal's all-time greatest bands.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6e1kO5fxQ-g/TvvrHth_PwI/AAAAAAAAAQc/DnGFQLB2ZB4/s1600/ian+christe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6e1kO5fxQ-g/TvvrHth_PwI/AAAAAAAAAQc/DnGFQLB2ZB4/s320/ian+christe.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian Christe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To help bring this series to a close, I asked Ian Christe to share his thoughts on Kreator, the early days of thrash metal and my picks for the best thrash albums of 1986. In addition to being an unrepentant thrash geek like myself, Christe is the author of <i><a href="http://www.soundofthebeast.com/splash.html" target="***">Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal</a></i>, one of the most comprehensive and entertaining books ever written about the greatest music genre of all time. Additionally, Christe hosts the weekly "Bloody Roots of Metal" show on SiriusXM's Liquid Metal station and is the founder of <a href="http://www.bazillionpoints.com/" target="***">Bazillion Points Books</a>, which has published numerous books about metal, punk and hard rock.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Q&A with Ian Christe</u></b></div>
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</b></div>
<div>
<b>Tempe Carnivore: Since this post is about Kreator, can you share your thoughts on <i>Pleasure to Kill</i>, <i>Flag of Hate</i> and, more generally, the band's influence on the thrash genre?</b><br />
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<b>Christe:</b> Kreator was a band that started out with more frantic energy than technique, so they progressed quickly and very visibly over that first hectic run of albums. In a lot of ways, they sounded like a European Slayer, but sometimes they had more intricate songwriting. I honestly think they were more of an influence on early black metal and death metal than on thrash metal. They are a great thrash band, but the crude and early side of Norwegian black metal owes a big debt to Kreator's <i>Endless Pain</i> and <i>Pleasure to Kill</i>. The evidence of that is all over <i>Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries</i>.</div>
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<b>I've long held the belief that 1986 was a banner year not just for thrash metal, but metal as a whole. As you noted in your recent <a href="http://www.noisecreep.com/2011/06/01/1986-the-year-that-thrash-broke/" target="***">article for Noisecreep</a>, 1986 saw some great non-thrash releases from the likes of King Diamond, Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche and Metal Church, among others. Would you agree that 1986 was the best year ever for metal? Can you think of another year that came close?</b></div>
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Well, 1980 was pretty awesome for its time, with classic releases by Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Judas Priest, and the Black Sabbath <i>Paranoid</i> reissue charting. But 1986 was definitely the peak of that original thrash metal wave, and not just because of <i>Reign in Blood</i>, <i>Peace Sells</i> and <i>Master of Puppets</i>. Almost every '80s thrash band released something significant and juicy that year.</div>
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</b></div>
<div>
<b>What are your thoughts on the albums I chose to feature for this series? It was difficult rounding it down to 10, with Voivod, Hallows Eve and Onslaught narrowly missing the cut. Do you see any glaring omissions? </b></div>
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Hallows Eve would have been nice to see. They're totally forgotten but made some great heavy and catchy records for the time. Voivod over Flotsam and Jetsam any day, anytime, though -- Voivod are totally unique and mindbending and yet just as aggressive or more so than anybody but Slayer at the time.</div>
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</b></div>
<div>
<b>Music tends to be cyclical, but thrash never fully clawed it's way out of the underground back in the '80s. Are you surprised by the genre's resurgence in popularity? It almost seems like thrash is more popular now than ever.</b></div>
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<div>
The thrash metal era was cut short by death metal. So about five years ago some younger headbangers wandered into all this great thrash metal frozen in time, and thawed out the speedy riffs and gonzo attitude. Death metal and black metal had become totally monotonous after 20 years. Meanwhile, this great and fun era of metal was waiting to be reincorporated and enjoyed after a long, premature burial.</div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
<div>
<b>What do you think the future holds for metal, heading into 2012 and beyond? Can thrash remain viable? Are there any other sub-genres that are poised for a breakthrough or comeback?</b></div>
<div>
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I think more new hybrids of things that oldtimers and traditionalists do not like are on the horizon. For 14-year-olds in 2012, even Municipal Waste are an oldies act. Check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSZI6UJEUQ" target="***">Design the Skyline</a> if you want to be totally terrified about what the future holds. </div>
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<i>[Note: For anyone who remembers my <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2010/11/album-review-brokencyde-will-never-die.html" target="***">brief</a> <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2010/11/brokencyde_interview_seven_sou.php" target="***">BrokeNCYDE</a> <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2010/12/concert-review-brokencyde-at-nile.html" target="***">fixation</a> last year, I think Ian might've found a band that's even worse. Click that link at your own risk...]</i></div>
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</b></div>
<div>
<b>Finally, what does the future hold for Ian Christe? Do you have any books or other cool projects in the works?</b></div>
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<div>
In the last few weeks, Bazillion Points has just received big shipments of <i>Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside AC/DC</i> by Mark Evans, the band's 1970s bass player, plus the awesome and epic thrash metal time machine, <i>Murder in the Front Row: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter</i>, by Harald Oimoen and Brian Lew. I'm working on a summer 2012 photo book called <i>We Got Power</i>, by Jordan Schwartz and Dave Markey, which pretty much does for early 1980s LA hardcore what <i>Murder in the Front Row</i> does for SF thrash metal. Plus, I'm starting to interview ex-members of Death for a biography of the late Chuck Schuldiner.</div>
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<b>Thanks for taking the time to do this Q&A. Is there anything you'd like to add that we didn't hit on?</b></div>
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Thanks, and no matter what, remember: The book is always better than the movie!<br />
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-assault-game-over-part-5-in-10.html" target="***">Part 5: Nuclear Assault - <i>Game Over</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/possessed-beyond-gates-part-6-in-10.html" target="***">Part 6: Possessed - <i>Beyond the Gates</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/11/dark-angel-darkness-descends-part-7-in.html" target="***">Part 7: Dark Angel - <i>Darkness Descends</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/11/megadeth-peace-sells-but-whos-buying.html" target="***">Part 8: Megadeth - <i>Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/12/sepultura-morbid-visions-part-9-in-10.html" target="***">Part 9: Sepultura - <i>Morbid Visions</i></a></div>
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</div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-56432487849699815742011-12-22T00:00:00.000-07:002011-12-22T07:49:01.826-07:00Top 10 albums of 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6o9YZGPGoeQ/TvKPtltwLMI/AAAAAAAAAP4/0_V79FbVVYY/s1600/2011_into_2012_800_clr.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6o9YZGPGoeQ/TvKPtltwLMI/AAAAAAAAAP4/0_V79FbVVYY/s400/2011_into_2012_800_clr.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Well, it's that time of year again. Music critics around the world are revealing their Top 10 (or for the really ambitious, Top 25) albums of the past year, while angry, anonymous internet commenters are ripping them to shreds for being too mainstream, too obscure, too hipster, too hip-hop, too trendy, too nerdy, too old-school, too new-school or some other petty grievance. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people take it as a personal affront every time you pick 10 things and rank them, but hey, that's what we're here for. Some people make lists, and some people bitch about them. I'm happy to be in the former camp.<br />
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In my case, you could justifiably label my Top 10 as "too metal." It's no secret that I'm a metalhead first and foremost, but it's hardly the only style of music I listen to. Over the years, I've shown plenty of love to non-metal releases in my year-end Top 10 lists, but this year just seemed to be a really good year for metal (or maybe just a down year for hip-hop, indie rock, etc.). Outside of a pair of country albums, this list is all metal. Hell, even the two country acts on my list have metal albums to their credit.<br />
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But you know what? So be it. Maybe I'm just getting old and set in my ways, but these are the 10 albums that moved me the most this year. Throwing in a token nod to Fleet Foxes, White Denim or the Black Keys just didn't seem right in a year that featured so many great heavy releases. So feel free to leave a comment below lambasting my picks. I've developed some thivk skin over the past few years, and it just wouldn't feel like a proper Top 10 list without disgruntled commentary.<br />
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<b>10. Hemoptysis - <i>Misanthropic Slaughter </i></b><br />
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Call this a homer pick if you want, but if anything, I think I sometimes have a tendency to underrate local albums. At the very least, I'm frequently guilty of judging a local band by how they compare to other local acts in their genre, as opposed to sizing them up against the national music scene. That said, Hemoptysis is a different animal. There's something special about this band, and it's baffling that they have yet to land a North American record deal. With <i>Misanthropic Slaughter</i>, Hemoptysis have set the bar for Arizona metal about as high as it's been since Flotsam and Jetsam and Sacred Reich were playing local dives in the mid '80s. But there I go localizing them again. In truth, Hemoptysis are every bit as talented as the majority of bands on the roster of any given indie metal label. The have the right sound -- a seamless hybrid of retro Teutonic thrash and modern melodic death metal -- at the right time, and it's only a matter of time before the rest of the metal world catches on.<br />
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<b>9. Gentlemens Pistols - <i>At Her Majesty's Pleasure</i></b><br />
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As much as I love bands that push the envelope and defy easy classification, I'm also a sucker for a band that takes an existing, well-worn sound and hones it to near-perfection. And when that sound happens to be fuzz-drenched, salacious '70s hard rock, well, consider me firmly on board. This UK foursome combines the bluesy riffing of Deep Purple and Blue Cheer with the glam rock swagger of Slade and T Rex. The result is an infinitely catchy (if not particularly groundbreaking) collection of songs that practically demand to be blasted at full volume, preferably in the cassette deck of a classic muscle car.<br />
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<b>8. Ryan Adams - <i>Ashes & Fire</i></b><br />
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After the release of 2008's <i>Cardinology</i>, the normally prolific Ryan Adams took a respite from writing and recording new music, going so far as to announce his retirement in early 2009. In the interim, he married former teen pop sensation Mandy Moore and released a pair of poetry books and three albums' worth of previously recorded material, including a Voivod-inspired, sci-fi metal concept album titled <i>Orion</i>. But Adams' strong suit has always been melancholy alt-country, and <i>Ashes & Fire</i> represents an excellent return to form for the eclectic singer-songwriter. It's an understated, heartfelt album that reaffirms his status as alt-country's standard bearer.<br />
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<b>7. Fair to Midland - <i>Arrows & Anchors</i></b><br />
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Fair to Midland's long-awaited follow-up to their fantastic 2007 debut, <i>Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True</i>, proved to be worth the wait. The Texas quintet tempers their prog metal leanings with a healthy dose of pop sensibility. This sounds like what Tool would be doing if they weren't so in love with themselves. Read my full review <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/fair-to-midland-arrows-anchors-album.html" target="***">here</a>.<br />
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<b>6. The Atomic Bitchwax - <i>The Local Fuzz</i></b><br />
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A single, 42-minute instrumental track that somehow never loses steam. Chock full of riffs, solos and psychedelia, <i>The Local Fuzz</i> is stoner metal's answer to Girl Talk, except the Atomic Bitchwax actually wrote the whole thing. Read my full review <span id="goog_140948273" target="***"></span><a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/06/atomic-bitchwax-local-fuzz-album-review.html" target="***">here</a><span id="goog_140948274"></span>.<br />
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<b>5. Hank3 - <i>Ghost to a Ghost / Guttertown</i></b><br />
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Back in September, Hank3 flooded the market with a doom metal record, a speed metal album featuring samples of cattle auctioneers and this two-disc set of classic country, folk, zydeco and hillbilly weirdness. While the two metal albums left a bit to be desired, <i>Ghost to a Ghost / Guttertown</i> proved to be an ambitious, sprawling work that pushes country music to its limits and beyond. Read my full review <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/08/hank3-attention-deficit-domination.html" target="***">here</a>.<br />
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<b>4. Mastodon - <i>The Hunter</i></b><br />
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Mastodon topped <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2009/12/top_10_albums_of_2009_mike_r_m.php" target="***">my 2009 Top 10 list</a> with their epic concept album <i>Crack the Skye</i>. The follow-up, <i>The Hunter</i>, is the band's first non-concept album since their 2002 debut, <i>Remission</i>, and their first album not based on one of the four classical elements (Fire, Water, Earth and Air). That's not to say that it's lacking in scope or ambition. The songs might be shorter and the hooks might be, well, hookier, but Mastodon still retain their title as the Thinking Man's Metal Band.<br />
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<b>3. 40 Watt Sun - <i>The Inside Room</i></b><br />
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Moody, atmospheric post-rock from former Warning frontman Patrick Walker. Few bands are capable of making heavy music so transcendently beautiful. Read my full review <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/40-watt-sun-inside-room-album-review.html" target="***">here</a>.<br />
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<b>2. Anthrax - <i>Worship Music</i></b><br />
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After spending most of the past year reminiscing about <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/search/label/Top%2010%20thrash%20albums%20of%201986" target="***">25-year-old thrash metal albums</a>, it's hard not to get a little nostalgic. But what makes <i>Worship Music</i> -- Anthrax's first album with vocalist Joey Belladonna in more than 20 years -- so wonderful is that it's completely devoid of nostalgia. This is not a "throwback" record, but a thoroughly modern metal album featuring some of the best music that any of thrash metal's "old guard" have released in decades. Read my full review <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/anthrax-worship-music-album-review.html" target="***">here</a>.<br />
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<b>1. Elder - <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i></b><br />
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I don't think I could gush about how great this album is any more than I did in my <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/elder-dead-roots-stirring-album-review.html" target="***">original review</a> a couple months ago, but suffice it to say, this album still blows me away. <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i> is not only the best album of 2011, but one of the best hard rock/metal albums I've had the pleasure of reviewing in my five-plus years of writing about music.<br />
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<br />Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-70896736409089673282011-12-17T13:28:00.001-07:002011-12-17T20:21:06.088-07:00Sepultura - Morbid Visions: Part 9 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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Sorry I'm a little late with this installment. I had hoped to land an interview with former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera for this post, but with the end of the year fast approaching, I couldn't afford to wait any longer if I plan to finish this series this year.<br />
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Ironically, the significance of <i>Morbid Visions</i> lies not in the music contained within, but more in what it represents. The music itself is raw and unrefined, the lyrics are unsophisticated and the production is muddy. But the fact that it was spawned by a group of Brazilian teenagers who would ultimately go on to become one of the most innovative and influential metal bands of the late '80s and early '90s lends it credibility.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Sepultura was formed in 1984 by Max Cavalera and his brother Igor, a drummer. The brothers eventually hooked up with bassist Paulo Jr. and guitarist Jairo Guedes to form the lineup that appears on <i>Morbid Visions</i>. The cheesy, Satanic lyrics were the result of the band's limited English and infatuation with early Venom and Celtic Frost. In the liner notes to a later re-release of the album, Max Cavalera even admitted that the band didn't bother tuning their instruments for the <i>Morbid Visions</i> recording sessions.<br />
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Despite such an inauspicious start, Sepultura would go on to become one of the most popular metal bands of their era. After <i>Morbid Visions</i>, the band parted ways with Guedes and hired Andreas Kisser, forming the "classic" Sepultura lineup responsible for such classic albums as <i>Beneath the Remains</i>, <i>Arise</i>, <i>Chaos A.D.</i> and <i>Roots</i> (the latter two of which went Gold). Sepultura's lyrics grew more spiritual and political and their music incorporated elements of traditional Brazilian music.<br />
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Max Cavalera left the band in 1996 and formed Soulfly. Igor Cavalera left in 2007 and formed the Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother. Kisser and Paulo Jr. continue to record and perform as Sepultura, alongside guitarist/vocalist Derrick Green and new drummer Eloy Casagrande.<br />
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When I <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2010/08/soulflys_max_cavalera_discusse.php">interviewed Max Cavalera last year</a> for <i>Phoenix New Times</i>, I asked him about the possibility of a reunion of the classic Sepultura lineup.<br />
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"A lot of people ask me that, and sometimes I feel optimistic," Cavalera said at the time. "I convinced Igor to do it, 'cause he didn't want to have anything to do with those guys [bassist Paulo Jr. and guitarist Andreas Kisser] ever again. I convinced him to do it for me, and he said he'd do it for me if that was the case, but the other two guys, it's kinda hard. They're still trapped in an old mindset, so it's just something that's gonna have to wait. I mean, it would have been cool to do it [in 2011]."<br />
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Indeed it would have. Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=156290">Kisser doesn't seem too keen on the idea</a>. Maybe in another five years...<br />
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-assault-game-over-part-5-in-10.html" target="***">Part 5: Nuclear Assault - <i>Game Over</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/possessed-beyond-gates-part-6-in-10.html" target="***">Part 6: Possessed - <i>Beyond the Gates</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/11/dark-angel-darkness-descends-part-7-in.html" target="***">Part 7: Dark Angel - <i>Darkness Descends</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/11/megadeth-peace-sells-but-whos-buying.html">Part 8: Megadeth - <i>Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?</i></a>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-82026125221352162552011-12-10T21:43:00.001-07:002012-08-02T22:23:09.229-07:00Hate Tim Tebow? Here are 10 sports figures more deserving of your contempt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past several weeks, you probably already know that Tim Tebow has become one of the most divisive and controversial athletes since Muhammed Ali. Is it because Tebow is a draft dodger? A radical Muslim? An unrepentant trash-talker? Nope. It's just because he loves Jesus. A lot. Like, <i>a whole lot</i>.<br />
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I'll admit, until recently, I was one of those haters. And trust me, if you think this post is going to end with some miraculous conversion where I begin singing the kid's praises, you might as well stop reading now. He still bugs the hell out of me. I've just come to the realization that there are a lot of people in the world of sports who deserve my vitriol more than Tim Tebow.</div>
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But before I start naming names, let's examine why Tebow is so hated in the first place. Now some people might try to beat around the bush by saying they just think he's overrated, overexposed, a terrible thrower, etc. All valid criticisms, to be sure, but let's face it: the main reason Tebow's haters -- and they are legion -- harbor such rancor is because he's an outspoken, evangelical Christian. Okay, so that might be a bit of an understatement. He's probably <i>the most</i> outspoken, evangelical Christian athlete ever. </div>
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So there, I said it. The reason Tim Tebow is so annoying is because he won't shut up about Jesus. I'm not trying to offend any Christians who might be reading this. I don't have anything against Christianity or the free expression thereof, even in a public forum. Over the years, countless athletes have thanked God and/or Jesus Christ after a big win, or knelt down in prayer after a score or big play. Such actions might elicit some eye rolling, but have never generated the degree of malevolence aimed at Tebow. </div>
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So no, it's not simply Tebow's faith that's annoying, nor his public expression of it. It's just that he's so over-the-top about it. Seriously, when <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/2011/11/26/20111126nfl-kurt-warner-tim-tebow-advice.html" target="***">Kurt Warner is suggesting you dial it down a notch or two</a>, it might be a sign that you've crossed a line.</div>
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Just for the sake of argument, let's remove fame from the equation for a moment. If Tim Tebow was just a regular guy at your job who started every meeting by thanking his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and ended every conference call with "God bless," you'd still find it annoying. You'd want to pull him aside and say "Look, Tim, I appreciate your faith and all, but I just don't think Jesus actually had a vested interest in us landing the Kwik-E-Lube account."</div>
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Now let's take Christianity out of the equation too. There are lots of people who are just <i>way too into</i> something or other, to the point of being annoying about it. Maybe you know someone who won't shut up about Bruce Springsteen, or Howard Stern, or Harry Potter, or <i>Star Trek,</i> or Ron Paul, or that fucking new <i>Skyrim</i> game. Hell, there are probably people out there who are incredibly annoying simply because they won't shut up about Tim Tebow. How's that for meta?</div>
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All that being said, there's a difference between annoyance and hatred. My best friend is the Tim Tebow of Dylan fans, and sometimes his incessant Bob-selytizing can get tedious, but I sure as hell don't hate him for it. He's still my friend. I just zone out and wait for him to finish. Which brings us to the whole point of this post: while Tim Tebow might be annoying, there are plenty other sports figures more deserving of your hatred. So the next time Tebow goes off on one of his postgame sermons, just zone out and focus your hatred on one or more of the following people. Trust me, they've done much more to earn it.</div>
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<b>10. Thom Brennaman</b></div>
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If you currently hate Tim Tebow, odds are good that Brennaman is a big part of the reason why. By the time the BCS National Championship Game rolled around on Jan. 8, 2009, Tebowmania was already at an all-time high. As the quarterback for the Florida Gators, Tebow had become the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy following the 2007 season. In 2008, Tebow led the Gators to a 12-1 mark and a spot in the aforementioned championship game. Tim was already a media darling at that point, but FOX play-by-play announcer Brennaman's unabashed Tebow worship took the absurdity to new heights. Just listen to a few highlight's of Brennaman's three-hour, on-air praise-a-thon and try to hold down your lunch:<br />
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<b>9. Tiger Woods</b><br />
Look, if I was one of the most famous people in the world, I'd take advantage of the, ahem, perks of that fame too. What I wouldn't do is get married and have kids first. (I also hope that I'd have a little better taste in women.)<br />
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<b>8. Barry Bonds</b><br />
I'm not a huge baseball fan by any stretch, but even as a casual observer, I'm appalled that two of the game's most hallowed records -- the single-season and all-time home run marks -- are held by a known cheater. I can't imagine how livid true fans of the game must be.<br />
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<b>7. Lawrence Phillips</b><br />
An incredible talent on the football field, Phillips proved to be an even more incredible asshole off it. During his time at the University of Nebraska, Phillips was arrested on assault charges after dragging his then-girlfriend down a flight of stairs by her hair. His problems continued through a brief and mostly ineffective NFL career, as arrests piled up much faster than touchdowns. Phillips is currently serving 30-plus years in California State Prison for multiple felony assault convictions. Plus, he played for Nebraska.<br />
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<b>6. Roy Kramer</b><br />
Who the hell is Roy Kramer, you ask? He's the guy who's widely credited as being the inventor of college football's BCS. Anybody who screws up such a fantastic sport to such an unbelievable degree is certainly deserving of hatred. Plus, I had to put someone in between the two former Huskers.<br />
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<b>5. Thunder Collins</b><br />
And now we get to the real scumbags. This former Husker running back is currently serving a life sentence for murdering one man and seriously injuring another in what prosecutors described as a "drug deal gone bad." Plus, he played for Nebraska.<br />
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<b>4. Rae Carruth</b><br />
As the old Jim Rome axiom goes, "you must smack your own." So while I take a certain joy in rehashing the wrongs of former Nebraska Cornhuskers, I have to add a former Colorado Buffalo to this list as well. Carruth is currently serving time for conspiracy to commit 1st degree murder, after paying a friend to murder his then-girlfriend, who also happened to be eight months pregnant with his child. Miraculously, his son was delivered via C-section, but the mother died of her injuries a month later. At least he waited until after he left CU to show his true colors, but he's still a scumbag.<br />
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<b>3. Michael Vick</b><br />
Is killing dogs really worse than killing the mother of your unborn child? No, but Carruth got nearly 20 years for his crime. Vick was out of prison in less than two years and is now making millions again as the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's enough to make you wish that Lawrence Taylor would come out of retirement for one more coke-fueled game just to snap Vick's leg in half, a la Joe Theisman.<br />
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<b>2. Orenthal James Simpson</b><br />
As appalling as it is that Vick only got 21 months for killing dogs, it pales in comparison to Simpson getting off scot-free after killing his ex-wife and a waiter. He's currently serving time on convictions of kidnapping and armed robbery, but let's face it, he should've already gone to the gas chamber by now.<br />
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<b>1. Jerry Sandusky</b><br />
Granted, Sandusky has yet to be convicted of any crimes, but if the multiple allegation of child rape levied against him hold up, he has more than earned his spot at the top of this list. Now you might be wondering if child rape is really worse than premeditated murder. After all, at least the kids are still alive, right? Well, I just keep going back to Chris Rock's take on OJ Simpson: "So you gotta look at OJ's situation. He's paying $25,000 a month in alimony, got another man driving around in <i>his </i>car and fucking <i>his </i>wife in a house he's still paying the mortgage on. Now I'm not saying he should have killed her... but I understand." And therein lies the difference. While what OJ did was reprehensible, it is understandable, at least on some level. The crimes Sandusky has been accused of are so unfathomably sick and wrong that nobody can relate.<br />
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<i>[Caveat and full disclosure: I was born in Denver and have been a Broncos fan my whole life. Just as I still love my Dylan-worshipping best friend, I also still want the Broncos -- and, by extension, Tebow -- to do well, despite their respective Dyan and Jesus obsessions. If you happen to be a Raiders, Chiefs or Chargers fan, or already hated the Broncos before Tebow got there, then you have a perfectly valid reason for hating Tebow. By all means, hate on.]</i><br />
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</div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-83620454063945719142011-11-22T10:08:00.001-07:002011-11-22T10:31:45.237-07:00Metal label exec launches cat rescue<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TmAoiPkHtU0/Tsva-VNUFiI/AAAAAAAAAN8/l8WTiF_gDtE/s1600/clover+cats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TmAoiPkHtU0/Tsva-VNUFiI/AAAAAAAAAN8/l8WTiF_gDtE/s400/clover+cats.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover and Stevie at the Clover Cat Rescue in Patrick County, Virginia</td></tr>
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I don't normally just copy & paste press releases. I know it's an easy way to provide content and generate traffic, but it just feels cheap to me. I'm going to make an exception for this though. I recently received a press release about an accountant at an indie metal label who recently opened a cat rescue in Virginia. It's a pretty touching story that combines two of my favorite things in life: heavy metal and cats.<br />
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Here's the press release, courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records:<br />
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Back in their December 2009 issue, <i>Decibel</i>'s “Cutest Kitties In Metal” article featured some well-known metal musicians & their beloved cats. Long-time animal lover, metalhead, and current Century Media CFO and Nuclear Blast USA accountant Tanja Schoor took her love one step further: she just launched <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clover-Cat-Rescue/317252738288094" target="***">Clover Cat Rescue</a> in Patrick County, Virginia - a no-kill cat rescue and adoption operation.<br />
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“It seems like this is something I was supposed to do,” Schoor shares. “It was something we had room for and there was such a need for it. My dad had sent me a generous amount of money for my last birthday and I used that money to build the shelter. We brought in a building that originally functioned as one of those annexed rooms for schools that need more classroom space. My good friend Mas [bassist] from Samael flew over and converted the interior into an amazing cat play area, with mother/kitten compartments, shelves, climbing ramps, etc. He’s a fantastic carpenter and just a super person. I have never seen anybody work with such passion! Jeff Wagner [<i>Mean Deviation</i> author/former <i>Metal Maniacs</i> editor] along with another volunteer David S. built a beautiful outdoor enclosure for the cats that is accessible through a cat door. Trevor [Peres, guitarist] from Obituary is going to build a proper website for the rescue once he’s back from their east-coast tour. So, yes, it’s been a great experience to see how people pull together for a good cause.”<br />
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About four years ago, Schoor joined a local animal rescue organization in Stuart, Virginia. They were looking for volunteers and she became heavily involved, going to adoption events, driving a spay-neuter transport every 3 weeks, donating her experience in accounting to keep their books, and fostering cats. The rescue didn’t have a shelter and all animals were staying in foster homes. At the time there was only one cat foster home with limited space and the local kill-pound filled up with cats on a weekly basis. It didn’t take long for Schoor to realize that cat rescue was something she wanted to do. It became a very important part of her life in addition to her work as a metal-accountant. A few months ago a more dog-oriented shift took place in the organization and she decided to start her own cat rescue that includes an outdoor play area. Of the effort, you can hear the happiness in Schoor’s voice as she says, “It’s been already incredibly rewarding and the support has been great.”<br />
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Asked when her love of animals began, Schoor responds:<br />
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“I’ve always had a love for animals. It goes back to when I was 6 or 7 years old. My parents let me have any animal as long as I took care of it, so I had hamsters, guinea pigs, parakeets, canaries, finches, mice, rats, a turtle, rabbits, fish, and a dog. My very first pet however was a cat named Felix. I was maybe 5 years old and Felix would sleep in my bed with me. One day he disappeared along with other pets in the neighborhood, and we found out that a strange vehicle was sighted in the area that day. No doubt Felix ended up in a laboratory, and so I had early exposure to the mistreatment of animals, which shaped the rest of my life. Strangely, it was not until almost 25 years later that the next cat came into my life. We found him on the side of a highway with severe upper-respiratory infection, his eyes glued shut with pus, flea-infested and helpless. He was only about 6 weeks old. At the time we had 4 dogs and we didn’t think we could keep the little guy, but he stole our hearts immediately and we decided to make it work, no matter what. We named him ‘Mika,’ after Mika [Luttinen, vocalist] from Impaled Nazarene. Mika had said in an interview once that he cared for animals more than people and so ‘Mika’ seemed to fit as a name for a kitten that was left to die on the side of the road.”<br />
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Here, Tanja tells the story of the personality that inspired the naming of Clover Cat Rescue:<br />
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“I found Clover at a 4H-camp. She was in such bad shape that the vet didn’t give her much of a chance. She was very shy because people at the camp had constantly chased her off instead of feeding her. I read the book The Kite Runner with her, always pulling her out from under the couch and putting her on my lap as I read. Eventually she turned into the beautiful kitty that she is today. It seemed fitting to name the cat rescue after her since she had undergone this amazing transformation that has always inspired me to not give up.” <br />
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How long has this been a dream for Tanja? Jeff Wagner responds:<br />
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“I'm not sure it was a dream she went after, necessarily, but more something that evolved over time. Neither one of us thought of ourselves as ‘cat people’ until we found Mika in 2001. We just totally fell in love with that guy. In the next couple years we brought two more cats into the household, and once Tanja made the first step in fostering, it grew into a pursuit that she got more and more involved with. She's responsible for saving the lives of and finding homes for hundreds and hundreds of cats. The logical next step for her was the Clover Cat Rescue.”<br />
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For cat lovers outside of Virginia who wish to adopt a Clover Rescue cat, there’s good news:<br />
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“We’ve had adoptions as far as Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania and New York,” states Schoor. “When someone from further away contacts me to adopt I try to find someone who is going in that direction and try to make a transport happen. A lot of times it works out, other times it doesn’t. It would be good to get a network of frequent travelers together that I can call on when I need an animal to go long distance.”<br />
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There are several ways animal lovers who don’t wish to adopt can help with Clover Cat Rescue’s efforts: <br />
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“By local law I am limited to 30 cats at a time, so it is essential to get them adopted in order to be able to save more. Since I am limited in capacity, I am heavily focusing on the spay/neuter of owned and feral cats in this county. I am located in a rural area where many people either don’t have the money for basic vet care or aren’t aware of animal overpopulation problems. Every spay of a female cat will prevent an unwanted litter I have to take in or turn away if I am full. A spay costs between $50 - $60, and I am calling on everybody with a heart for cats to sponsor the spay of a cat and therefore save numerous lives. The PayPal account for donations and spay sponsorships is <a href="mailto:clovercatrescue@yahoo.com">clovercatrescue@yahoo.com</a>. If a donation is dedicated to the spay of a cat, that’s where the money will go. Otherwise, it will help to cover the cost of food, litter, medical expenses and upkeep of the cats in foster care.” <br />
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Holding down a full-time job, volunteering her time to worthy causes, and running a no-kill cat rescue & adoption operation can be demanding, but inspiration is never lacking. States Schoor:<br />
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“The local state-run kill-pound here is so overcrowded on a regular basis that it sometimes feels like a drop in the bucket what I am doing. It can be very discouraging. But I am making a difference for that one animal I am saving and that’s what matters.” <br />
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To meet the cats currently up for adoption and to take a virtual visit of the cat compound & outdoor play area, visit the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clover-Cat-Rescue/317252738288094" target="***">Clover Cat Rescue Facebook page</a>.</div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-16069077818983820322011-11-17T00:01:00.000-07:002011-11-17T00:01:00.786-07:00Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?: Part 8 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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This installment commemorates Megadeth's sophomore release, <i>Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?</i>. Depending on the source, the album came out in either July (according to Encyclopædia Metallum), October (Megadeth.com) or November (Wikipedia). Being the lazy bastard that I am, I decided to go with the latest of the three. </div>
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<i>Peace Sells</i> was a landmark release for Megadeth and thrash metal in general. Along with <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Metallica's <i>Master of Puppets</i></a> and <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Slayer's <i>Reign in Blood</i></a>, it's part of an "unholy trinity" of seminal thrash albums released in 1986. While all of the albums I've covered in this series have devoted followings to one degree or another, there's little doubt that those three stand above the pack. I spoke with Megadeth bassist and founding member Dave "Junior" Ellefson back in July about the impact of <i>Peace Sells</i> and his memories of the early days of the thrash scene. Check out the interview after the break.</div>
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<u><b>Interview with Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson<o:p></o:p></b></u></div>
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<b>Tempe Carnivore: It's been difficult coming up with an accurate release date for <i>Peace Sells</i>. Was it originally released by Combat alone and then re-released by Capitol?</b></div>
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<b>Ellefson: </b>We originally recorded it for Combat. We actually wrote the record [and then] we did a three-week club tour on the East Coast through January of ’86… and it might’ve even been on that tour when the A&R guy for Capitol came to the Irving Plaza show in New York City and saw the band and wanted to sign us. We went home and we recorded the record for Combat during, I believe, March and April, and mixed it and were ready to turn it in, and that’s when the bidding war started between several labels to sign Megadeth. Capitol won out on that, and they basically bought our contract from Combat Records, who was the little indie label that we were signed to. So that’s the transition that happened. Then they hired Paul Lani to remix the record. It was funny, because Dave [Mustaine] and I went to New York to have a discussion with the manager and to meet with some label people. Another label was wooing us at the time and wining and dining us. Dave and I and our booking agent at the time actually ate dinner at Wylie’s Ribs, which is a rib restaurant right across the street from the UN building, and that’s when Dave came up with the idea for the cover, with the UN building being all shot-out during war, and [band mascot] Vic [Rattlehead] out front with a “For Sale” sign for the UN building.</div>
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<b>How seriously did Mustaine take the rivalry with Metallica back then? When you went into the studio to record <i>Peace Sells</i></b><b>, was there any kind of stated goal or mission to outdo them? <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I can’t really speak for Dave on that. For me, Megadeth was my band, and I didn’t have the Metallica history that Dave did. I think to a large degree the press -- and even the fans – the press certainly fueled that fire big-time because, you know, the media loves a good fight, ‘cause it makes for a good story. But I think the fans weren’t so much into the fight, they actually were just really excited that Dave had his own band. They loved Dave when he was in Metallica, so they were excited to hear what he would come up with next, which, you know, was our first record, <i>Killing is My Business</i>. It’s interesting because I think that, to me, <i>Peace Sells</i> was the first record where we really got out from under the shadow of Metallica, from Dave’s past. I think that was a record where we really had our own sound and our own identity, and that’s when we really stood on our own two feet as a band.</div>
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<b>Guitarists and singers usually get all the attention, while bassists and drummers are usually relegated to “second fiddle” status. That said, the opening riff for “Peace Sells” is one of the most recognizable bass lines of all time. I know Mustaine wrote most of the music, but did you write that riff?</b></div>
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No, Dave wrote the song, and in fact, that riff, as best I can remember, actually started out… I don’t know if it originally started out as a bass riff or as a guitar riff. But Dave was really big, when we first met, on getting me involved at the forefront of the sound of the band, which was great. As a kid I grew up and studied obviously a ton of metal and hard rock, but I also got into progressive bands and even studied some jazz at one point. The funny thing is, I really don’t even like jazz. It’s not a style of music that I listen to. To me, it was always about the riff and the hook, you know. But I took all that development as a bass player, so by the time I met Dave and we were starting to play progressive riff music, all of a sudden, Dave really championed my abilities and put me up in the front of the band with him as the main “holder of the riff,” so to speak. It was cool that a song like “Peace Sells” all of a sudden gets to open with this bass riff, rather than it being just a guitar riff, ‘cause later on in the song, that’s what the rest of the tune is. You only hear it as a bass riff once in the beginning and then the rest of the time it’s a guitar riff.</div>
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<b>There was a time when you couldn’t watch MTV for more than an hour without hearing that riff in the MTV News theme. Did you have any idea how iconic it would become, just those few notes?</b></div>
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It’s interesting because when we did… I guess no, to answer your question, no. That’s the thing. We didn’t set out to prove anything with <i>Peace Sells</i>, other than we were just this young, hungry and homeless thrash metal band. We had no options, we had no backup plan. We weren’t gonna go do something else if this didn’t work. This was what we did, period. I think because of that, you can hear all of the fire and the piss and vinegar and the venomous bite of the record. That comes as a result of basically complete starvation and homelessness.</div>
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<b>Can you share your memories of former Megadeth drummer Gar Samuelson? I think he died in ’99, right?</b></div>
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I don’t know exactly the cause of death. I know he was ill for a while. I don’t know if it was liver failure, ultimately, that he died from. I hadn’t been in touch with him in a while. The last time I saw him was at the end of the <i>Rust in Peace</i> tour. We played in Jacksonville, Florida and when we went through he came down to see us. He hadn’t been in the band since about mid- to late ’87, so it had been a few years since I’d seen him, and then I never saw him again after that.</div>
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<b>Is it true that he and Chris Poland were kicked out of the band for selling equipment to fund their drug habits?</b></div>
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Yeah, I mean, one of the things about when you’re basically homeless and starving, you also pick up some other bad habits along the way. That was certainly a common thread through Megadeth for a lot of years, and it just got to certain a point… It’s interesting, ‘cause Dave and I were the rock/metal guys, and then Gar and Chris were these rock/fusion guys, and that really gave us a unique sound. That was something really different from what, say, the other members of the Big Four were doing at that time, and any other thrash band, really. I think it allowed us to play really fast and furious, but do it in a much more musical way with Gar and Chris.</div>
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<b>It’s no secret that you guys were all partying pretty hard back then. Can you share a crazy story or two from the making of <i>Peace Sells</i>,<i> </i>or is that something you'd rather leave in the past?</b></div>
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Dave and I were definitely the homeless ones. Gar had a job – he worked at BC Rich Guitars. Chris had a wealthy girlfriend, so he didn’t have to work as hard at it. Chris is a phenomenal musician. Gar was a great drummer. But Dave and I were basically full-time Megadeth, all the time. We had dedicated our entire life to this, so I think for us, that began the changeover, once Gar and Chris changed out, throughout all the years, Dave and I were the two constants with two other rotating band members. It wasn’t done that way by design. It just kinda happened that way. But as far as that goes, I mean, when you’re living in Los Angeles, which is a city that’s not a lot of fun if you don’t have any money, it’s a very hard, cold city anyway. So when you’re hangin’ with the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles as a way of survival, you get hooked in with a pretty colorful cast of characters. Quite honestly, at one point, I was living in a rehearsal studio down in Vernon, which is south of downtown, and I remember joining the Holiday Health Spa for 100 bucks a month just so I’d have a place to take a shower.</div>
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<b>I’ve read that Mustaine is uncomfortable playing a couple of the songs from <i>Peace Sells</i> that deal with Satanism and the occult. What are your thoughts on those songs? Now that you guys are both practicing Christians, is there any chance we’ll see the album played in its entirety, similar to last year’s <i>Rust in Peace</i> tour? </b></div>
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Well, Dave wrote the lyrics to those couple songs, so for me, I’m not attached to them from the lyrical inception, maybe, in the way that Dave is, but I certainly understand and respect his wish to not play them if he feels uncomfortable with it. We’ve talked about it. Obviously, a lot of people are asking us now if we’re going to play, like, “an evening with the <i>Peace Sells</i> album” kind of thing. We’re open to it, and we’re considering it, but there’s a lot of other things to think about. Plus, it’s a little different right now too, because we’re ramping up a brand new album to come out, and that’s a different trajectory than what we did recently with the <i>Rust in Peace</i> tour, where the last album had already been out for about six months, and then we went and did the 20th anniversary tour. But at the same time, I think at the very least, we’ll continue to play various songs off the <i>Peace Sells</i> album and, depending on the different settings that we may find ourselves in, we may start breaking out a few of the tunes that we haven’t played in a long time just because of the 25th anniversary this year. </div>
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<b>From a fan’s point of view, <i>Peace Sells</i> is probably running neck-and-neck with <i>Rust in Peace</i> as Megadeth’s greatest album. Where do you think it ranks in the band’s catalog? How do you feel it stacks up against some of the other great 1986 releases from Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Possessed, Flotsam and Jetsam and others?</b></div>
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I think it’s definitely one of the forerunners. I think because of the connection between Megadeth and Metallica and both of us being on major labels, I don’t know what the sales stats are, but I know <i>Peace Sells</i> sold very, very well. Those sales are just a result of the gravity that we got off of that, that so many people gravitated toward the record after all these years. Even Metallica didn’t do a video until several years later on their following record, but for us, “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” was our first video that we did and it was the first single. I remember when “Headbangers Ball” was only 30 minutes at 12 noon during the day. It was this little test show that they were putting on, and then it took off to the point where, a couple years later, it was a two-hour show on Saturday night. It was cool that, in those days, there was only a Twisted Sister, a Quiet Riot and maybe an Iron Maiden and a Van Halen video. That was “Headbangers Ball.” There wasn’t a lot of videos. “Peace Sells” was one of the very first videos that got on there very early on.</div>
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<b>I just remember watching “Headbangers Ball” back in the day and wishing they’d put all the thrash metal in one block, like a half-hour block. It would’ve been great to have a DVR back then so you could fast-forward through all the White Lion and shit.</b></div>
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Well, it’s interesting, ‘cause you mentioned all those other records. Certainly our contemporaries in Kreator, Overkill, obviously Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, we were all out working, but we were definitely the underbelly of metal, which was thrash metal. It was a moment in time where thrash… there were a few of us -- namely Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax – who actually had songs that could kinda break into the mainstream a little bit, especially with MTV. That was kinda the first time that thrash metal ever really reared its head into the mainstream, was, for us, with “Peace Sells.” It was cool for us because we realized that we had all this ferocious musical ability within the band. There was this really intriguing songwriting ability within the band, and these very tongue-in-cheek, captivating lyrics and concepts that we had, but we also realized that we could write a really simple, heavy hook, like the song “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” We realized that we’ve got an ability to take our music into the mainstream by being able to write songs like that. It wasn’t like we had to try to do it. It was something that was inherently natural in how we were as a band.</div>
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<b>So where do you think <i>Peace Sells</i> stacks up in your own catalog? Or are they like your children, where you can’t rank them or play favorites?</b></div>
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It’s kinda like that. They are like our children, and it is hard, because every one of them was a different moment in time. There was a different set of band members in certain cases. There were different things going on musically, politically, even just personally in our own lives. Every album kind of hinged on a transition point personally for us, so they all, to me, hold significance. It’s funny with Megadeth, ‘cause we kind of went every other album. Killing is My Business was rough and raw, and then by Peace Sells, that was one where we got to go ring the bell. So Far, So Good… So What was another transition album with a different lineup, but by the time we did Rust in Peace, it was solid again. I think that’s why Peace Sells and Rust in Peace are heralded as these two classic Megadeth albums and two of the staples in the, say, Top 20 or Top 50 thrash records. Those were records that were really stable for Megadeth too.</div>
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<b>You’ve lived here in the Valley for several years now and even started a church here, MegaLife Ministries. The website looks like it hasn’t been updated in couple years. Are you still involved with that?</b></div>
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Yeah, in fact there’s a different website for it now. It’s just <a href="http://megalifeaz.org/" target="***">MegaLifeAZ.org</a>. I helped get that started four, almost five years ago. Obviously, I attend it. I’m still there, but I’m not active with it week-to-week now that I’m back out on tour all the time again. That’s just something that became a passion for me, especially as a parent with little kids and everything. That’s something that’s kind of a different transition of my life, which I guess is kind of funny when you look back at songs like “The Conjuring” and “Bad Omen,” and now I end up being active in ministry work. [laughs]</div>
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<b>That’s pretty much all I’ve got for you. Thanks for taking the time to talk. Is there anything else you wanted to add?</b></div>
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Nope. That’s it, man. I appreciate you giving the album the attention. It’s definitely a dark, ominous and scary sounding record, and that’s part of its charm.</div>
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-assault-game-over-part-5-in-10.html" target="***">Part 5: Nuclear Assault - <i>Game Over</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/possessed-beyond-gates-part-6-in-10.html" target="***">Part 6: Possessed - <i>Beyond the Gates</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/11/dark-angel-darkness-descends-part-7-in.html" target="***">Part 7: Dark Angel - <i>Darkness Descends</i></a></div>
</div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-34912229790383484722011-11-10T00:01:00.000-07:002011-11-10T00:01:00.974-07:00Dark Angel - Darkness Descends: Part 7 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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Fortunately for me, Gene Hoglan has an outstanding memory. Not only did the former Dark Angel drummer remember the release date (Nov. 10, 1986) for the band's seminal album, <i>Darkness Descends</i>, but he even remembered the exact date they entered the studio to record it.<br />
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Hoglan joined Dark Angel in 1984 and his impact on the band was immediate -- not only as a drummer, but as a songwriter and lyricist as well. <i>Darkness Descends</i> has long been considered the band's masterpiece for its ridiculously fast tempos and sheer brutality. Hoglan remained in Dark Angel until the band's demise in 1992. Since then, he has attained legendary status among metal drummers, playing with such bands as Death, Testament, Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad and Dethklok. I recently spoke with Hoglan about the 25th anniversary of <i>Darkness Descends</i>, his memories of thrash metal's early days, Dark Angel's reputation as one of the fastest bands alive and his new instructional DVD, <i><a href="http://hoglanindustries.com/merch.html" target="***">The Atomic Clock</a></i>.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b><u>Interview with former Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan</u></b><br />
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<b>Tempe Carnivore: <i>Darkness Descends</i> is considered one of the fastest thrash metal albums of all time. Was that a goal you guys were consciously aiming for?</b></div>
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<b>Hoglan:</b> No, we actually slowed down in the studio big-time – like huge-time – to record it, because we were so fast, and it wasn’t intentional. The speed was never intentional, it was just always like, pushing ourselves to play as fast as we can. When you’re playing songs at a blistering pace, you sometimes don’t know that you’re playing at that blistering pace. You know you’re pushing yourself, but you have no idea, until you watch the videotape or you listen to the board tape the next day, how fast you’re actually going. We did know to slow down a bit when we recorded <i>Darkness</i>, ‘cause we were <i>so</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> fast, like twice as fast as the album. If you ever see any kind of video – usually video from back in those days is pretty bad – but around ’86 is when I started playing super-fast. We recorded the album in April of ’86. April 14, as a matter of fact, was the first day of our recording. I remember that date because that was the day that we invaded Libya, and I was thinking “Oh my god, here we are about ready to record the soundtrack to the apocalypse, but the apocalypse is gonna be here before we get the album done. Damnit!” </span><br />
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But yeah, it was actually a decided effort to play slower when we recorded that. Speed was never our intent, just heaviness was, like “Let’s make everything as heavy as possible.” That’s why, if you notice, there weren’t many rock beats in Dark Angel. There was a little bit of a breakdown in “Merciless Death,” but that had double-bass chugging through it. There weren’t a lot of straight rock beats, because we were kind of leaving that to bands like Anthrax and Metallica. Those guys played the rock beats, so let’s play the backwards, flipped, double-bass [mimics the sound of a fast double-bass drum] shit like that, rather than “Hey, let’s just play a happy rock beat there.” We always tried to make the drums as heavy as possible, the beats as heavy as possible and the riffs as heavy as possible. The speed was always like “Hey, the songs are fast. OK. If they’re heavy, perfect.”</div>
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<b>Musically, it seems to have more in common with German thrash like Kreator and Destruction than the Bay Area thrash scene or even the LA scene that you were a part of. What were you guys listening to when you made it? Was the German thrash scene an influence?</b></div>
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No, because Dark Angel was around before any of those bands. I started seeing Dark Angel live after they had been around for a couple years, and I started seeing them in 1983. There was no thrash scene at the time. There was a time when there was Metallica, Slayer and Dark Angel. I think Dark Angel even predated Slayer, before I was in the band. I remember [Dark Angel guitarist] Jim Durkin explaining to me that Dark Angel and Metallica were formed at Downey [Calif.] High School in ’81. The Metallica guys, James Hetfield and [original Metallica bassist] Ron McGovney, were seniors, and Dark Angel were 10th-graders, and they both formed their bands at the same time in the same place. They both had a similar intent. Both bands were highly influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Dark Angel took a larger influence from Tank than any sort of German thrash. I think probably our largest influence would’ve been Possessed. We were all big Possessed fans in ’84, when I joined, and a lot of the songs that were written in ’84 ended up being on <i>Darkness</i>. I joined in ’84 and I started writing for them immediately, so I guess that’s where my writing came in, but we were all fans of heavy stuff. We loved Exodus, [although] we didn’t sound like Exodus. A lot of people would call us Slayer clones, but hey man, I remember Jim Durkin telling me, “Man, I got a call from Kerry King saying ‘Hey, Jeff [Hanneman] really likes that song “Perish in Flames” by you guys and we’ve got this new song called “Angel of Death” that he based on “Perish in Flames” by you guys.’” At the time, we were like “What? Fuck! Write your own songs! Come on, dudes.” I was on the road with Slayer before I was in Dark Angel and I remember having a conversation with Hanneman where he was yelling at the rest of the Slayer guys like “Dude, we’ve gotta get faster. We’ve gotta get heavier. Dark Angel’s back at home. They’re faster than us. They’re heavier than us. We’ve gotta get heavier than that!” I’m like “Dude, you’re in Slayer! Come on. What are you worried about this band from LA for? They’re cool, but they’re not Slayer.” I remember telling him that, and then I ended up joining Dark Angel a few months later. </div>
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<b>It’s kind of rare for a drummer to be as involved in the lyrics and songwriting process as you were. Can you talk about your songwriting process as a drummer? Do you play a little guitar as well?</b></div>
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Well, I’d been playing guitar for only a couple years when I joined Dark Angel. I started playing guitar in about 1983, I would say, and I had been playing drums since 1981. I got my first kit for Christmas of 1980, so I guess you could count the last week of 1980 as I started playing in 1980. I picked up the guitar afterwards, really just because all my friends who were guitarists would say “Hey, come over to the house and watch me play guitar.” I’d be like “Yeah, great. Awesome.” I’d be asking them “Hey, can you play, like, an Egyptian-type scale or something?” They would just keep noodling and doing their thing, and then 10 minutes later, they’d be like “Hey, what was that you were asking me to do?” I was like “Aw, fuck. Maybe I’ll just pick it up myself and play it myself.” That’s how I started playing guitar.<br />
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When I joined Dark Angel, I was already writing for my band at the time – a band called Wargod – and I had even written lyric for <i>We Have Arrived</i> before I was in Dark Angel. Six months before I ever joined Dark Angel, I wrote some lyrics for them because I was in the studio with them, just being a buddy, hanging out at the studio while they recorded. They didn’t have the last verse for the song “No Tomorrow.” [Former vocalist] Don Doty was like “Dude, I’m capped. I can’t think of anything” and Jim Durkin was kinda the same way. So I was like “Hey, give me 10 minutes and I’ll get you four lines. It sounds like you need four lines right here. I can write something for you in five minutes.” So that was that. I think I ended up writing the lyrics for Dark Angel because nobody else wanted to. I guess I was in the band for about three months or so, and I asked Don “Hey man, what are the lyrics for ‘The Burning of Sodom’? I can tell the chorus, but I can’t tell what else you’re singing.” He’s like “Uhhh, there are no lyrics. I’m not singing anything. I’m singing a vocal line as fast as I can, but there are no lyrics.” I’m like, “OK, well, I guess we need lyrics for the song.” Doing the whole Obituary thing was completely unheard of at the time. It’s like “Well, we’ve gotta have lyrics for this” so I pretty much got elected. Since I played guitar and I had a very similar approach to Jim Durkin -- I mean, Jim Durkin was a major influence on my guitar playing -- so I watched what Jim was doing and I just tried to emulate what he was doing. So we had Jim, and then you had a Jim-attempting clone. We had kind of a like mind as towards what we wanted the riffs to sound like. I had riffs, so I just kinda tossed them out, and they would get used. So there you go.<br />
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My lyrics, I was still in high school when I joined Dark Angel, so in my creative writing class, we had a poetry assignment once every couple weeks, so whatever my poetry assignment would be, I would then turn in to Dark Angel saying “Hey, do you want these lyrics for the latest song?” </div>
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<b>How do you think <i>Darkness Descends</i> holds up 25 years later? Where would you rank it among the other albums you’ve played on and the other great thrash albums of 1986?</b></div>
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I think <i>Darkness</i> holds up a little better for a lot of people because it was so focused and so visceral. I’ll tell you that, for the longest time, I don’t think I ever got a better drum sound than on <i>Darkness</i>. I tried for a lot of years to get a better drum sound. We recorded Darkness for, like, $7,500. I think we went a little over budget, and we ended up – after artwork and everything – we recorded <i>Darkness</i> for $11,000, which, at that time, was still not a lot of money. So our guitar tones might not have been as pristine and awesome as Metallica or Anthrax. Both those guys had really cool guitar tones at the time. But I think the weaker the guitar tone, the better the drum sound. I’ve worked with a lot of guitarists since those days that had a really strong tone, therefore my drums weren’t as loud. There was just something about the tone on <i>Darkness</i>, like listening to “Black Prophecies,” you crank that up on a big stereo and those drums still sound massive. They’re very organic, very natural. There was no triggering. There was no Pro Tools back in those days. In that regard, I’m pretty fortunate that I do come from that era of “Hey, you got people to play these songs, man.” You can’t just play half of them and let the computer take over for the fast double-bass parts. I’d like to think they hold up pretty well, but I’m not gonna fool myself and say “Yes, this is still the all-time heaviest record.” I thought at the time “Hey, this ranks with everybody else putting out albums.” Slayer had <i>Reign in Blood</i> coming out, Megadeth had <i>Peace Sells</i> and Metallica had just released <i>Master of Puppets</i> just a few months before. I knew Kreator had a new one coming out, and Possessed had <i>Beyond the Gates</i> that was coming out right around the same time. I listened to everybody’s records as well as ours, and I thought ours kicked ass. But I was 18 years old. What did I know?</div>
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<b>Are there any plans to commemorate the album’s 25th anniversary? Is there any chance of a reunion of the <i>Darkness Descends</i>-era lineup?</b></div>
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You can never say never, but I can’t see us getting something together. Wow, this has been 25 years. It’s just gone by so quick. Hey, that means we’re eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! [laughs] No, I would say probably not. It’s just kind of logistically impossible, because Don Doty has pretty much disappeared off the face of the Earth. Through some mutual friends over the years, I’ve heard that Don has pretty much completely turned his back on being the guy that he was back then. He did some time in the joint, and I think he came out of that a changed man. I understand he’s quite Christian now. Ron Rinehart [Doty’s successor on vocals] is a Christian as well, but Ron was cool. He’s like “Dude, I would do some more Dark Angel stuff.” However, since Ron said that, Ron has been kind of forced to retire from the music industry, so we couldn’t even do it with Ron. In about 1999 or 2000, somewhere around then, he broke his neck. He survived it, obviously, but he’s had some issues since then. His doctor told him “Dude, you basically have to give up singing.” He was onstage with his other band – his Christian band called Oil – and he went for a high note. He popped something in his neck and he passed out onstage. They got him to the emergency room and the next morning, his doctor came in and said “Dude, I hate to tell you this, but you have retired. You’re lucky that you can walk now. We don’t know what you did, but it’s not good.” He was bummed. So trying to do something with the <i>Darkness Descends</i> lineup is kind of logistically impossible. I know a couple of the ex-members aren’t on super-friendly terms. We’re all on friendly terms, at least I am with everybody, but I haven’t spoken to Don Doty since 1987. I haven’t seen him since 1987. All the other members, I’m still tight with. We all give shouts to each other every once in a while, give a call to see how everybody’s doing. I have to admit, I don’t mind it that much, not being able to do a Dark Angel reunion, because if it’s attained any sort of legendary status or whatever, I don’t know that we would be able to be that legendary band onstage. I don’t know that people wouldn’t come to the show and just not be disappointed for whatever reason. I figure if it takes people back to an awesome time in their lives, maybe it’s just best that we leave it at that, rather than be the wizard coming out from behind the screen, showing all the shortcomings. I just don’t know how badass it would be.</div>
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<b>You recently released an instructional DVD, <i>The Atomic Clock</i>. What’s the one piece of advice you'd give new drummers just getting started behind the skins?</b></div>
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Buy the DVD. [laughs] Buy <i>The Atomic Clock</i>. That’s what I would tell ya. Well, drumming to me was something that I was born with the desire. I’ve been good at two things: one was playing drums and the other was playing baseball, of all things. I was a really good baseball player when I was growing up. I hit that crossroads of “Do you wanna play drums for a living, or do wanna play baseball for a living? ‘Cause you can do either, but you can’t do both.” So I chose drums. I chose metal. I chose being in a band. I knew that it wasn’t gonna be… we were playing underground thrash metal. We knew that it wasn’t Quiet Riot or Mötley Crüe or Ratt or Poison or one of those bands. We knew it was underground, so we kept it underground. Money was always tight. We never made a whole ton of money doing Dark Angel, and that’s OK, but it instilled the desire in me to just keep at it.<br />
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I always give young musicians this same advice. I’ve said it a million times: find guys that you get along with to play with. Say with Dark Angel, it ended up becoming my band, because when Jim Durkin left, somebody had to write all the stuff. I was the other songwriter in the band, and Jim left, and there wasn’t a lot of ideas – nobody’s at fault – but there wasn’t a lot of ideas coming from any of the other guys, ideas that were usable anyway. It then became myself and Bret Eriksen, and we did the <i>Time Does Not Heal</i> record together. Then after Bret left, our next guitarist was named Cris McCarthy, and the album that we put together was going to eventually be called <i>Atrocity Exhibition</i>, just like the Exodus album of a couple years ago. We were going to release that in about 1992, but we just couldn’t keep it together as a band. But that’s one piece of advice I would give any young musician -- whether they’re a drummer, a guitarist, a singer, a bassist, whatever – is just find other guys that you get along with, that you enjoy their company, rather than finding the hottest guitarist in town or the baddest vocalist in town who is a nutcase. Find dudes that you get along with. Everybody talks about [how] a band is a family, a band is a marriage, but a band is also a team. So if you’ve got guys that are puling for the same team, then chances are you’re gonna get along pretty good, and you’re all for the team, as opposed to “No, I’m the guitarist, I’m the focal point” or “I’m the singer, I’m the focal point.” You know, singers with their LSD – Lead Singer’s Disease – those guys can get on your nerves. So for any young musician, find guys that you get along with, that you enjoy each other’s company, because you’re gonna be spending a lot of time together as a band. Maybe your bassist isn’t the best bassist, but he’s a great guy and he’s always there and he’s a solid dude, so cool.</div>
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-assault-game-over-part-5-in-10.html" target="***">Part 5: Nuclear Assault - <i>Game Over</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/possessed-beyond-gates-part-6-in-10.html" target="***">Part 6: Possessed - <i>Beyond the Gates</i></a>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-62658804238315461632011-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:002011-11-16T18:15:02.950-07:00Possessed - Beyond the Gates: Part 6 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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This installment commemorates <i>Beyond the Gates</i>, the second and final full-length album by Bay Area thrash legends Possessed. Possessed's 1985 debut, <i>Seven Churches</i>, is frequently hailed as a metal milestone and was arguably <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2010/02/death-metal-turns-25-why-do-i-suddenly.html" target="***">the first death metal album ever released</a>, but <i>Beyond the Gates</i> has always been overlooked (if not outright dismissed) by critics and fans alike.<br />
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Why all the hate for <i>Gates</i>? The production was -- to be kind -- a little on the muddy side, and the album didn't display the same raw aggression that <i>Seven Churches</i> did, but c'mon, nobody shits on Slayer for slowing things down on <i>South of Heaven</i>. When you release an album as fast and heavy as <i>Reign in Blood</i> or <i>Seven Churches</i>, what's the point in trying to replicate that? You're pretty much doomed to fail. Slayer recognized that, and so did Possessed.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Maybe it's because it's the first Possessed album I ever heard/owned, but I've always preferred the slightly more diverse and refined sound of <i>Beyond the Gates</i> to the front-to-back, pedal-to-the-metal aural assault of <i>Seven Churches</i>. It could use a good remaster, but you could say that of a lot of albums from that era. When it comes down to it, I'll take "Tribulation," "March to Die" and "No Will to Live" over anything on <i>Seven Churches</i>.<br />
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One thing I never would've expected when I concocted the idea for this project about a year ago was to land an interview with former Possessed and current Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde. If you had asked me back then, I'd have said that there's a better chance of getting one of the guys from Metallica on the phone than getting LaLonde to talk about Possessed. The general perception over the years has been that LaLonde has turned his back on metal and would rather forget that Possessed ever happened. It's a perception that I admit to buying into -- and perpetuating -- myself.<br />
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But after a series of solid interviews with numerous members of the early thrash scene, I was feeling confident. [It's also worth noting that I had tried and failed to track down Possessed vocalist Jeff Becerra for an interview back when I started this blog, so I wasn't particularly thrilled about making another run at that.] I looked up Primus's publicist online and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was someone I'd worked with in the past. I shot him an e-mail to see if he could arrange an interview with LaLonde and, much to my amazement, he came through.<br />
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Still, I was a little nervous in the days and hours leading up to the phoner. What if they hadn't told him the interview was about Possessed? Primus has <a href="http://clubbastardo.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=297_49951" target="***">a new album out</a>, and there was a chance Larry might think he was doing another interview about Primus, only to be blindsided by some metal nerd with a blog and some stupid Possessed questions.<br />
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Then, when I finally got him on the phone, my worst fears were realized. I finished asking the first question and there was dead silence on the other end. He'd hung up on me! The publicist got back on the line and asked if I'd lost Larry. He said he'd get him back on the phone. I was thinking "Yeah, right," but sure enough, my phone rang a couple minutes later. Turns out it really was just a bad connection and the interview went off without a hitch.<br />
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So without further ado, I present the most unlikely interview in this entire series. I came away from it with an entirely different perception of LaLonde, and I hope any jaded Possessed fans reading this do the same.<br />
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<b><u>Interview with former Possessed guitarist Larry LaLonde<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b>Tempe Carnivore: According to Wikipedia, <i>Beyond the Gates</i> came out on Halloween, which would be an incredibly appropriate release date, but I’m a little skeptical, since Halloween fell on a Friday in 1986. Can you remember if the album did, in fact, come out on Halloween?</b></div>
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<b>LaLonde:</b> I don’t remember it being anything like that. It sounds like something we probably would’ve tried to do, but like you said, it was a Friday, so you know, probably not. Maybe it came out that week or something.</div>
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<b>I seem to be in a pretty small minority of people who actually like <i>Beyond the Gates</i> better than <i>Seven Churches</i>. Why do you think so many critics and fans were disappointed in the album? </b></div>
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The fans – especially back then – metal fans were so critical of everything. It was like everything was under a microscope. I don’t really remember too much of what people thought of it then, but obviously <i>Seven Churches</i> was kinda like any band, [where] the songs had been kicked around and played for a while, so that was the super-crazy one. Then the second album is the one that’s written in, like, a year.</div>
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<b>What was your mindset heading into the studio to record the album? Were there any particular albums or bands at the time that inspired you or made you feel like you had to step up your game?</b></div>
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Well, around that time, all that stuff was so new that it was like, I think all the bands around that time were trying to invent that music. I think Motörhead was kind of the heaviest thing most people had heard, and then it was Venom, and then Slayer. I don’t know what album Slayer was on, but it was still pretty new then. So I know that with <i>Seven Churches</i>, it was like, “OK, let’s try to one-up Slayer.” Then I’m sure on <i>Beyond the Gates</i> it was, once again... every metal band was trying to one-up the last metal band, which probably led to where the music kind of just became this, like, roar of noise. But I definitely remember at that time everyone was trying to be heavier, faster, more Satanic, which is the funny thing, ‘cause back then, who was really into Satan? Maybe some of the fans, but the bands were just like “What kind of crazy shit can we say today that will freak people out?”</div>
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<b>I think a lot of people didn’t realize that it was kinda tongue-in-cheek. It was shock value, but I think there were some preachers and other people who thought these bands really were sacrificing goats and babies and stuff.</b></div>
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Yeah, that was the funny thing. It was just kinda shock value, especially then. Now it’s kind of hard to imagine it being that shocking, but back then, yeah, it was crazy. You had the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMRC" target="***">PMRC</a>. You had different talk show hosts saying “This is music about the devil, blah blah blah.” I think I was 16 when we made [<i>Seven Churches</i>], and I was like “What?” These crazy preachers on TV that are trying to get you to send money in, they’re getting freaked out by this? It’s like “Awesome!” </div>
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<b>Any publicity’s good publicity, right?</b></div>
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Yeah. Well, we didn’t even know about publicity. We just liked the idea that people were scared of it.</div>
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<b>The album artwork was pretty elaborate, with a gatefold cover for the vinyl version. Whose idea was that?</b></div>
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I can’t really remember exactly whose idea it was. I remember coming together and this whole thing of “Oh, it’s gonna be this thing that looks totally different from any other album cover and it’s gonna cost a fortune to make, but it’s gonna be cool” and I was like “Alright.” I remember at the time, I was kinda like “Well, I hope that’s cool.” We didn’t really care about much more beyond the music, so the idea of the whole fold-out thing, we were hoping that there was some reason to it. But looking back, it was kind of an interesting idea.</div>
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<b>You’re in a pretty elite fraternity along with Kirk Hammett [Metallica], Alex Skolnick [Testament] and Rick Hunolt [Exodus] -- all former Joe Satriani students who went on to make a big impact in the Bay Area thrash scene. Satriani also produced your <i>Eyes of Horror</i> EP. Why do you think he had such a huge impact on the scene despite the fact that his solo work bears very little resemblance to thrash metal?</b></div>
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Well I think back then, I remember as far as all the guitar players around the Bay Area in my age group, we all had our sort of local guitar teachers. But then all of our guitar teachers took lessons from Joe, so he was just like this mythical guitar player guy that we all just heard about, but none of us were old enough to go to a club to see him play. He was in a band called the Squares. So he was kinda known around as this amazing teacher. I had finally saved enough to buy this amp, and I went in to buy the amp, and it turned out to be the store where he taught, so I signed up for lessons. But I think the thing is just that he already had that name as this amazing teacher. Everyone that wanted to progress more just kinda gravitated more towards him. I mean, besides being an amazing guitar player, he’s an amazing teacher too, so I think those guys that you mentioned got a lot out of it and used a lot of that to get where they are now.</div>
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<b>Yeah, I’m sure it’s one thing to be able to play all that amazing stuff, but another thing entirely to be able to teach someone else how to do it.</b></div>
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I think for him it was awesome, ‘cause he was going over all this stuff all day long and getting better himself. Another amazing aspect of it was just actually to be sitting in an 8-by-8 room and seeing someone physically play like that. It was just “Whoa!” Otherwise, the only place you’d see something like that was maybe going to see Yngwie [Malmsteen] or Van Halen. To see it right in front of you was like, “Whoa, this can actually be done.”</div>
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<b>There’s a perception among some die-hard Possessed fans that you’re embarrassed by your past with the band, or at least try to downplay it. Is there any truth to that at all? Was it just a situation where you wanted to distance yourself from that scene when Primus was first starting out?</b></div>
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Not really. I hear that all the time too, and it’s definitely not the case. I got a call the other day from my friend Harald O. -- who’s a big photographer and <a href="http://www.bazillionpoints.com/murder-in-the-front-row-by-brian-umlaut-lew-harald-o-oimoen/" target="***">he’s putting out a book</a> -- and he was like “Oh yeah, I know you’re not really that into that time.” But honestly, I think that time was awesome. Especially just for me looking back, it was really part of a music movement and trying to invent a new kind of music and pushing the stuff. Back then, trying to get something like that out to people was not easy at all. There was no internet. There was really nothing to go on besides fanzines and word-of-mouth and actually getting out there and playing. I look at that time as an awesome time for me and for music. I thought there was a lot of really cool stuff going on then.</div>
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<b>We’ve all done some embarrassing shit in our teenage years, but you could do a lot worse than inventing death metal.</b></div>
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The giant spikes and stuff, it’s not something you necessarily wanna show your wife – “Hey, check me out when I was a kid!” She’s like “Holy shit, who’s that guy?” That was funny stuff. If it was up to me, definitely the whole spikes and things probably wouldn’t have been a part of it, but I wasn’t the leader of that band, so I kinda had to go along with it.</div>
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<b>Do you still keep in touch with any of the former members of Possessed? How do you feel about Jeff Becerra continuing to use the Possessed name with a completely different lineup?</b></div>
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I guess it’s cool. It’s cool that he’s out doing it. I wanted to go see it. They were coming through LA and I didn’t get a chance. I hadn’t really heard much from any of those guys lately, then just the other day in Toronto, an old friend of mine who still kinda keeps in touch with everybody in that scene was telling me about running into some of the guys and what they’re up to. I haven’t really talked to any of them. I’d love to go see Possessed with Jeff playing in it. He was a friend of mine since I was 12 years old, so I think it’s cool that he’s doing it. It’d be cool if all the other guys were doing it too, but I don’t really know what they’re doing or how much they’re into it.</div>
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<b>Is there any circumstance that’d make you consider doing a Possessed reunion, even if it was just a one-off show? Let’s say Metallica scheduled a Bay Area thrash “supershow” at Candlestick Park and everyone else was on board – Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, even Lääz Rockit. Would you be game?</b></div>
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[Laughs] You’re reachin’ deep. You know, I’ve never thought about it, but yeah, that’d probably be something I’d consider. It’d probably be a bummer to find out how hard the music was to play. I remember the music being very difficult to play.</div>
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<b>Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. Do you have any final thoughts on <i>Beyond the Gates</i> or the 1986 thrash explosion in general?</b></div>
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Not really too much. It’s one of those eras that it’s funny that you don’t hear a lot about, as far as just what it was and what it took to sort of get it out there to the world. It’s cool that you’re writing about it and it’s interesting to see, like, Testament out there touring and stuff. Hopefully, that era will kinda get its due as far as what it influenced in metal.</div>
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<b>Well I think it means a lot to a lot of people. Maybe not<i> millions</i> of people, but the people that it means a lot to are certainly passionate about it.</b></div>
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Yeah, it’s funny, after all these years. We had the song “Death Metal” and we never really thought much about it. Years and years went by, and just in the last few years, people keep telling me “Oh yeah, Possessed invented death metal.” I’m like “What do you mean we invented death metal?” They’re like “Well, no one ever used the term before you guys had the song ‘Death Metal.’” I was like “God, well I hope that’s true, ‘cause that’s pretty cool then.”</div>
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a></div>
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-assault-game-over-part-5-in-10.html" target="***">Part 5: Nuclear Assault - <i>Game Over</i></a>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-61633725003978723942011-10-17T14:28:00.000-07:002011-10-17T14:29:27.950-07:00Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (Album Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Elder - <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i><br />
Release date: October 25, 2011 (Meteor City Records)<br />
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Every once in a great while, an album comes along that almost leaves you lost for words. I say "almost," of course, because here I am, sitting down to write a review of one such album, and sure enough, I've managed to produce a few dozen words already, but I'm still trying to figure out how to effectively communicate how much I fucking <i>love</i> the new Elder record.<br />
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It'd be easy to write this Boston-based trio off as just another in a long line of Sabbath worshipping stoner metal bands, and admittedly, that alone is usually enough to impress me. Indeed, Elder's 2008 self-titled debut landed them squarely in that category, earning the band comparisons to stoner rock luminaries Sleep and Kyuss. But on <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i>, Elder not only avoid the dreaded "sophomore slump" that befalls so many bands that put out such a promising debut, they make stoner rock seem as fresh and viable a genre as it's been in decades.<br />
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It's been 20 years since bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and the Smashing Pumpkins brought smart, heavy rock to the mainstream. If the world is ready for another wave of intelligent hard rock, I can't think of a better band to lead the charge than Elder. That's not to say that Elder is a particularly radio-friendly band. The shortest of the five tracks on <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i> clocks in at just under nine minutes, which probably wouldn't fly in today's ADD society. But the strange thing is, none of the songs feel that long. Even at a total running time of 51 minutes, the album seems to fly by. Chalk it up to the band's incredible musicianship and ability to write great riffs, catchy hooks and mesmerizing, psychedelic guitar solos. If nothing else, this release should push Elder firmly into that small cadre of metal bands that hipsters and indie kids are allowed to like (Mastodon, Baroness, Isis, Torche, et al.).<br />
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The opening track, "Gemini," is stoner rock in its most basic form: fuzzy, blues-based riffs and gritty-yet-melodic vocals, highlighted by guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo ridiculous guitar work. The title track follows, with riffs that are at once epic, thunderous and beautifully melodic. The instrumental "III" and the fourth track "The End" keep the momentum going, but Elder saves the best for last. The closing track, "Knot," is probably the band's most accessible song, with gorgeously textured guitars that build to a climactic finish.<br />
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It's extremely rare to find a band that weaves heaviness and beauty so flawlessly. The Smashing Pumpkins and Jesu come to mind, but Elder is more than worthy of a spot on that short list. As a lifelong music fan whose preferences have only rarely aligned with mainstream tastes, I'm hardly qualified to declare any band "the next big thing," but if there's any justice in this world, Elder will earn themselves some admirers outside the narrow scope of stoner rock and metal fans. <i>Dead Roots Stirring</i> is not only the best album to come out this year, but might be the best hard rock/metal album I've reviewed in my five-plus years as a music journalist. Highly recommended.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/newu71NDHMg" width="480"></iframe>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-87050673061168317162011-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:002011-10-25T23:42:33.645-07:00Nuclear Assault - Game Over: Part 5 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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This installment commemorates Nuclear Assault's debut album, <i>Game Over</i>. I was unable to find a specific release date for the album, but multiple sources list it as October 1986, so today seems like as good a day as any. Along with Anthrax and Overkill, Nuclear Assault were one of the leaders of the East Coast thrash scene. They also helped popularize the "crossover" thrash sound, which combined thrash metal's more intricate songwriting and structure with the pure speed and aggression of hardcore punk.<br />
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I recently spoke with Nuclear Assault bassist and founding member Dan Lilker about <i>Game Over</i> and his memories of the early thrash and crossover scenes in mid '80s New York. Lilker has built an impressive metal résumé over the past three decades. In addition to Nuclear Assault, Lilker was also a founding member of the aforementioned Anthrax, crossover pioneers S.O.D. and grindcore trailblazers Brutal Truth.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b><u>Interview with Nuclear Assault bassist Dan Lilker</u></b></div>
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<b>Tempe Carnivore: <i>Game Over</i> is considered one of the earliest and best crossover thrash albums. Considering the general disdain that punk fans and metal fans had for each other at the time, what made you think it would work?</b></div>
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<b>Lilker: </b>Well, the thing is, there had been bands from the punk side that had been crossing over before that, but they didn’t get as much press as metal bands did, ‘cause they didn’t have some dude at a label or something like that. I was pretty sure it would be taken well, because bands like C.O.C., Suicidal, Dr. Know, D.R.I., a lot of bands were crossing over to the metal side from that, and those are bands that we had enjoyed. Quite honestly, my favorite D.R.I. album is the first one. It’s just raw as fuck. The point being, there was certainly a precedent for that, it’s just that it had mostly been coming from the hardcore side, where, like I said, it wasn’t going to get as much attention as, like, the dude who was in S.O.D. and used to be in Anthrax putting out a record. That shit was already out there. It’s just that we might’ve had a higher profile.</div>
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<b>Would you consider yourself a punk fan who got into metal or a metalhead who got into punk?</b></div>
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I was actually into the Ramones in junior high school before I was into Judas Priest, but I didn’t continue with punk then. From rock I went into metal, and from metal I went into thrash metal and intense metal. Then I got into hardcore, so kind of back into punk, but a more intense version of it. So I’m pretty much a metalhead who got into hardcore, but ironically enough, I was listening to <i>Rocket to Russia</i> before I even heard Motörhead. Who the fuck knows?</div>
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<b>What were your audiences like when you first started? Did they skew more punk or metal?</b></div>
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It was a mix. It also depended on where you played. We would play at L’amour with metal bands and it would be mostly metal and then some of the punks that knew us would come down and see us. Or if we played CBGB, then it’s gonna be the polar opposite. It’s gonna be 90 percent hardcore kids who are also coming to see the other bands that are playing, and then some metalheads. Once we got established, it didn’t really matter where we played. We got a pretty even mix. We could play a place like the Ritz in the city, which was like neutral ground. They had metal shows and they had hardcore shows. When I say “neutral ground” I don’t mean there were wars whenever people played in other territories, I just meant that it wasn’t known as a place primarily for metal or punk, so you’d get everybody.</div>
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<b>When you were recording <i>Game Over</i>, did you have any idea that thrash was going to hit as hard as it did? Had you heard <i>Master of Puppets</i> or any other albums from 1986 yet? Did they motivate or inspire you in any way?</b></div>
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Well, we were inspired by the whole genre, and a lot of hardcore and stuff, so yeah. Thrash was pretty well going by then. [Anthrax's debut album] <i>Fistful of Metal</i> had come out in January ’84, so this was a whole two years and a few months later. And the whole Bay Area stuff, it was going pretty good by then. I don’t know when we recorded the album what expectations we had either way, but we were pretty sure we weren’t just doing something where people would go “What the fuck is this?” Compared to other metal bands, we had a lot more of a hardcore influence, and yeah, there was S.O.D., but that was more contrived. With Nuclear Assault, it was more evolved that way, so besides the fact that we did have a lot more hardcore shit than a lot of other thrash metal bands, we were pretty sure we’d go down good.</div>
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<b>How do you think <i>Game Over</i> stacks up to the rest of the Nuclear Assault catalog?</b></div>
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When I get asked in interviews “What’s your favorite Nuclear Assault album?” I can’t give them just one. I tell them <i>Game Over</i> and <i>Handle With Care</i>, for different reasons. Since we’re talking about <i>Game Over</i>, I’ll tell you why it’s not my absolute favorite record. I really like that record, because you always like your first record. It’s really exciting to finally get that fuckin’ record out, because you’ve had shit that you’ve written for years. As any musician will tell you, you’ve got your whole life to write your first record and then about a year and a half to write the next one. In general, I think we sound really raw and hungry. The only thing I’m not really crazy about on that record is I think the guitar sound is a little bit tinny-sounding. It’s not really overdriven enough. That’s the only drawback from it. Just to give you the other half of the answer, even though it’s not about this record, but with <i>Handle With Care</i>, I like that record a lot ‘cause it’s got really big production and it shows a band that had a good chemistry after touring together for years. But I guess that’s neither here nor there, since we’re talking about <i>Game Over</i>.</div>
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<b>Like your old band Anthrax, Nuclear Assault seemed to have a goofy, humorous side. What's the story behind songs like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79_xwxrjoCw" target="***">"Hang the Pope"</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os0CUCCFjLo" target="***">"Lesbians"</a>? </b></div>
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We never bought the whole thing where metal bands had to have a serious image and were tough guys or anything like that. We were who we were as people, and we didn’t feel any need to mask that, whether we were doing anything else, doing interviews or playing music or anything like that. When it came to doing stuff – especially those songs that you mentioned – that was also an excuse to play really fast. I mean, we were influenced by hardcore and so were a lot of other bands, like Slayer, but they weren’t doing blasts and everything, so we figured that would be interesting, to throw in some really high-speed shit. As far as the non-seriousness of that compared to other songs, well, “Hang the Pope” is presented in a very humorous context, but it’s still a stance on anti-Catholicism, just presented humorously. “Lesbians,” on the other hand, is just completely stupid. Just nonsense. I probably wouldn’t write that song today, but that’s 25 years later, you know.</div>
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<b>What happened with your early split with Anthrax? Obviously, you stayed friends with the guys and formed S.O.D. with Scott Ian and Charlie Benante shortly thereafter, but was there a rivalry there as well? Was Nuclear Assault an attempt to prove yourself to your former band, sort of like your own personal Megadeth?</b></div>
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Well, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder like Dave Mustaine has. I was asked to leave Anthrax, but that was mostly because I wasn’t getting along with the original singer. Even though I’d written like 75 percent of the first album and formed the band with Scott, when Neil [Turbin] said “I can’t deal with Danny anymore. It’s him or me,” they decided to hold onto him since the album was about to come out and they thought it made more sense to have a frontman. They didn’t want to have a big change in the front of the band, so I was asked to leave. But 10 months later, they threw Neil out. So sure, I was bummed for a while, but I could sit around and feel sorry for myself or I could form another band. I was getting a lot into hardcore then and I wanted to play something that was a little more intense. Anthrax is a great band, but there’s pretty much two dudes in that band who control the music and the lyrics, and the other people really just play it. If I’d stayed in that band, I probably wouldn’t have felt as satisfied creatively. I didn’t really feel the need to prove myself with Nuclear Assault. It was just making the most out of a situation, saying “OK, well now I can go back to square one and start a band and have a little more creative control."</div>
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<b>Does the band have any plans to commemorate the 25th anniversary of <i>Game Over</i> this year, like playing it in its entirety at a few shows or something?</b></div>
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The thing with Nuclear Assault is, we do most of the stuff we can do in the summer, except for shit on weekends, due to peoples’ jobs. We just did a whole bunch of crap. We just went to Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Holland, Germany, all since the last week of July, and that’s because we can do a lot more stuff in the summer. It would’ve been cool. Twenty-five years is a nice fuckin’ milestone, for sure. I suppose the cool thing would’ve been to re-release it somehow with some kind of special packaging, but then we would’ve had to find some other shit to put on it. That would’ve been something that would’ve had to have been planned out a while back, as opposed to now. Unfortunately, there’s nothing really to commemorate it, except possibly what you’re doing. I suppose that counts, since you’re talking with me, but nothing that the band’s had planned or anything.</div>
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<b>What is the current status of the band? Any news on a new album or tour?</b></div>
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Well, we have one more show this year – San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 12. That’s the kind of thing where [vocalist] John [Connelly] -- who has a strict Monday through Friday job, except for the summer – he’s gonna get down there Saturday morning, play the show Saturday night and go back Sunday and not miss any shit at work. As far as creating new material, I personally ain’t feelin’ it. I mean, we did a comeback record in 2005, and to be perfectly honest, I thought it was a bit of a dud. I don’t think it stood up to the Nuclear Assault stuff, you know, the kinda shit people expected from us. It taught me a lesson that, you know, don’t do a record unless you’re really sure you’re feeling it creatively and everything. I suppose we could try. Me and [Erik] Burke were talking – he plays in Brutal Truth too – and we’re like, maybe we should do a few bong hits, put on <i>Bonded by Blood</i>, have a few beers, then try to write some shit... So it’s one of those things, dude. I mean, it’s almost like we could just be lazy and play the old shit people wanna hear anyway. It’s schizophrenic with me, ‘cause me and Burke also play in Brutal Truth, and we have a new album coming out in, like, four fuckin’ days or something like that [note: Brutal Truth's <i>End Time</i> was released on Sept. 27 on Relapse Records, shortly after this interview], but we’ve also been a band that’s always been about exploring the next envelope of grindcore insanity, you know, where Nuclear Assault’s a band that was more just good, consistent thrash metal with some hardcore thrown in, but once we reached our kind of comfortable point, around <i>The Plague</i> and <i>Survive</i>, we just had our style, where with BT, we just do whatever the fuck we want and just change it up. So it’s kinda cool that I get to do one thing in one band with Nuclear, where you kinda just play stuff you know people wanna hear, but I’m not really feelin’ it right now to write a thrash record. But with Brutal Truth, we just keep on flying ahead and fucking with people.</div>
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/10/slayer-reign-in-blood-part-4-in-10-part.html" target="***">Part 4: Slayer - <i>Reign in Blood</i></a></div>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-33906618620395219332011-10-07T15:37:00.001-07:002011-10-07T15:37:47.118-07:00Concert Review: Kyuss Lives!, the Sword and MonstrO at Marquee Theatre 10/6/2011<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kPZk-tsDdVc/To98vnxH25I/AAAAAAAAAMs/GlMXJsloFFU/s1600/kyuss+lives+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kPZk-tsDdVc/To98vnxH25I/AAAAAAAAAMs/GlMXJsloFFU/s400/kyuss+lives+1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Garcia of Kyuss Lives! performing at the Marquee Theatre on 10/6/2011</td></tr>
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Last night's Kyuss Lives! show in Tempe might not have been a sellout, but those who showed up were treated to a smorgasbord of stoner rock that showcased the resilient genre's past, present and future. The Marquee Theatre was only about half-full, but the relatively sparse crowd was enthusiastic and receptive. These folks were stoner rock die-hards. Case in point: about halfway through Kyuss's set, I leaned over to a chick standing near me and asked her what she thought so far. "My son's middle name is 'Kyuss,'" she shouted back, which simultaneously relayed both her enthusiasm for the show and her desire to not get hit on in the middle of it. Touché.<br />
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After a forgettable performance by some local band whose name escapes me, Atlanta's MonstrO kicked off the evening with a 30-minute set of Southern rock-tinged metal. I hadn't heard the band prior to their set last night, but they certainly fit in well on this bill. It might be a stretch to call them the future of stoner rock, but they showed great potential last night and seem like a band with a bright future.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8eZsFqMJDA/To99auWUozI/AAAAAAAAAM0/KDkuSA4jLao/s1600/the+sword+live+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8eZsFqMJDA/To99auWUozI/AAAAAAAAAM0/KDkuSA4jLao/s320/the+sword+live+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.D. Cronise of the Sword</td></tr>
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The present was well represented by the Sword. It seems like only yesterday that the stoner rock community was divided over this Austin quartet's 2006 debut album, <i>Age of Winters</i>. Purists denounced them as hipsters cashing in on a trendy sound (because we all know how lucrative a genre like stoner metal is, right?), while others simply appreciated their retro riffs and Sabbath-y grooves at face value. Five years and two more albums later, the Sword could arguably be called the reigning kings of stoner rock. Not too many folks are questioning their legitimacy these days, and their performance last night should've erased any lingering doubt. The band's 45-minute set included early songs ("Freya") and tracks from their latest sci-fi opus <i>Warp Riders</i> ("Night City").<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uf8pVCXrlB0/To997HmzFmI/AAAAAAAAAM4/OOJ2N9vzx3g/s1600/kyuss+lives+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uf8pVCXrlB0/To997HmzFmI/AAAAAAAAAM4/OOJ2N9vzx3g/s320/kyuss+lives+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kyuss Lives!</td></tr>
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As good as the Sword was, last night ultimately belonged to Kyuss, who took the stage shortly after 10 p.m. and reminded everyone who started this whole stoner rock movement in the first place. OK, well technically, Black Sabbath started it, but Kyuss brought it back to life in the early '90s. Vocalist John Garcia's voice sounds as good as it did nearly 20 years ago on <i>Blues for the Red Sun</i>, and the rhythm section of bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Brant Bjork is still as formidable as ever. The only original member missing on this reunion tour is guitarist Josh Homme (presumably too busy writing the next mediocre Queens of the Stone Age album), but Bruno Fevery has stepped in and the band sounds no worse for it.<br />
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Kyuss's 90-minute set featured tracks from throughout their career, including "Gardenia," "Hurricane," "One Inch Man," "Thumb," Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop," "100°" and "Green Machine," among others. It's a shame so many people missed the opportunity to see such an influential band make their triumphant return, but the ones who did were rewarded for it. If rumors of a new album ultimately prove to be true, last night's show was a good indicator that it should be badass. Of course, it'd be fantastic if they could get Homme back on board as well, but the current lineup is already more than capable. Welcome back, fellas. You've been missed.Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-415647445537119032.post-47276285147832525912011-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:002011-10-25T23:42:52.368-07:00Slayer - Reign in Blood: Part 4 in a 10-part series looking back at the best thrash metal albums of 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wu86MNbWqgE/ToFKJYYgQFI/AAAAAAAAAMo/CaCHkXowH-k/s1600/Slayer+Reign+in+Blood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wu86MNbWqgE/ToFKJYYgQFI/AAAAAAAAAMo/CaCHkXowH-k/s400/Slayer+Reign+in+Blood.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Throughout the year, I've been looking back at some of the best thrash metal albums of 1986 -- the year thrash hit its zenith in popularity and creativity. When possible, I've tried to interview band members, producers and others associated with the original albums. I've also tried to time the blog posts to coincide with the 25th anniversary of each album's release, although accurate release dates from 25 years ago can be hard to come by.<br />
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This installment commemorates Slayer's landmark third album, <i>Reign in Blood</i>, which was originally released on Oct. 7, 1986. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I honestly believe that <i>Reign in Blood</i> is the greatest 28 minutes and 56 seconds in the history of recorded music. It's an album that undeniably changed the face of metal. I had really hoped to interview one of the guys in Slayer for this post, and I was fairly certain I could make it happen. I'm on good terms with the band's publicist and <a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2010/07/3ak-episode-21-kerry-king-slayer.html" target="***">I've interviewed Kerry King in the past</a>. Unfortunately, the band isn't doing any press until their next album cycle, so I figured the next best thing would be to ask a bunch of other bands about their memories of <i>Reign in Blood</i> and how it has influenced them as artists.<br />
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Turns out a whole lot of folks like Slayer. Twenty musicians representing 28 different bands took the time to weigh in on this classic album. Read their responses below, as well as my own <i>Reign in Blood</i> memories...<br />
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"<i>Reign in Blood</i> completely undermines the church and smears the world with Satanic upheaval. Pounding drums, big hair, grinding bass, high-pitched vocals, thrash or die. <i>Reign in Blood</i> makes me want to crush beer cans off my head. When I first heard <i>Reign in Blood</i>, it made me want to throw a midget down a wishing well... and wish for hell on earth. I don't think there is an extreme metal band in existence that hasn't drawn some influence from this truly classic record. 1986 'til death, Hanneman lives!"<br />
-- T. (Dragged Into Sunlight) </blockquote>
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"I was just a kid when that record came out, and I didn't discover it until I was in my early teens. <i>Seasons in the Abyss</i> was my gateway release into the world of Slayer, and thrash metal as a genre. I remember that I thought that the <i>Reign in Blood</i> record was too extreme for me, or too hard to get into in the beginning, but I loved the songs 'Angel of Death,' 'Postmortem' and 'Raining Blood.' It didn't take long for me to get into the full record, and today it's up there with the most classic releases in the history of metal. Everything is damn-near perfect: the bombastic and thunderous drumwork by Dave Lombardo, Hanneman and King's guitar shreddery and Araya's rapid-fire vocals. It might very well be the <i>perfect</i> thrash record. Had it been a tad longer, it might not have been the classic that it is today. There is not <i>one</i> minute of filler on it - each track is fantastic and they blend together extremely well. Hail Slayer for giving us this crown jewel!"<br />
-- Björn Larsson (Mordbrand) </blockquote>
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"I grew up listening to punk, not metal. When I was in high school I was listening to stuff like Discharge, Conflict and Nausea. Being into punk, it was rather 'uncool' to like metal. I didn't listen to Metallica or Pantera, however it was OK for punks to like Slayer. I remember a friend of mine who was into metal letting me borrow <i>Reign</i> and I was hooked. It was my first look into the metal world that I had previously scoffed at. That record made me a metalhead. Slayer was a turning point for me and I've never looked back."<br />
-- Evan Linger (Skeletonwitch) </blockquote>
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"<i>Reign in Blood</i> was a great record. It was very inspiring too, because it came out in ’86, so S.O.D. had already done our thing, but with Nuclear Assault, that was the year we went in to record <i>Game Over</i>, and when that record came out, it just gave us a little kick in the ass. We were like ‘Oh shit, man. We’d better up our game. Listen to these motherfuckers.’ Besides just enjoying the record as a great metal record, it served a purpose. I don’t know if we did that consciously, like sat down and had a meeting like ‘Do you hear this record? We’ve gotta play fast.’ You had different types of thrash metal, even back then. By then, Anthrax had Joey [Belladonna], you had stuff like Overkill, and then you had the harder stuff that was more influenced by hardcore… Anyway, I really liked <i>Reign in Blood</i> and I want to thank them for putting it out and giving us a kick in the ass."<br />
-- Dan Lilker (Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., Brutal Truth)</blockquote>
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“It changed my fucking stupid life. All poser thrash bands need not make music anymore. Hail Slayer.”<br />
-- John Strachan (Early Graves, The Funeral Pyre) </blockquote>
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"I was ten years old when this record came out and had only yet to discover three of the Big Four. It was mostly Priest, Dio, Maiden, Metallica and the more mainstream stuff for me before this point. I'd heard Slayer, but it was hard to get into -- much less even hear -- anything back then unless you could save up your $1 a week allowance and buy the tape, and then you had to ride your BMX bike all the way to the mall to get it. It wasn't 'til about '88, around when <i>South of Heaven</i> came out, that I started to delve even deeper into the depths of darker, scarier metal and hardcore. But needless to say, I was at Tower Records or the Wherehouse on release day right after school for every Slayer album from then on. I can honestly say that getting <i>South of Heaven</i>, <i>Reign in Blood</i>, <i>Show No Mercy</i>, <i>Hell Awaits</i> etc. scared me almost as much as it excited me. Growing up being forced to go to church, I often felt as if I was committing a crime listening to this, the most Satanic thing I'd ever come across. This was no <i>Shout At The Devil</i>. This was pure evil, and I loved it."<br />
-- Ryan Butler (Landmine Marathon) </blockquote>
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"<i>Show No Mercy</i> is the only album that could ever live up to the hype of <i>Reign in Blood</i>."<br />
-- Chris Black (Superchrist) </blockquote>
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"You know an album is good when it gives you chills down your spine and takes you to another place. Slayer's 1986 album, <i>Reign in Blood</i>, goes beyond that. It doesn't just give you these feelings, it consumes you. Listening to <i>Reign in Blood</i> is the closest thing to possession that I can imagine. There should be a warning [or] disclaimer on the front of the CD that says "Don't listen to this album while driving" because you might get arrested for multiple counts of speeding, road rage, assault with a deadly weapon, and/or second degree murder. I remember being at a stop light while listening to this album for the thousandth time. At that moment in time, I was a different person, just like everyone is every time they listen to that album. A woman and her two kids were crossing the street right in front of me. All of a sudden, running those people down with my vehicle seemed good and right. That is how I feel while I listen to that album and it's a good feeling. <i>Reign In Blood</i> is the greatest metal album of all time!!!"<br />
-- Travis Thune (Hemoptysis) </blockquote>
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"It's always hard for me to pick my favorite Slayer release. Some times it's <i>Hell Awaits</i> with that evil as fuck sound. Sometimes it's <i>Show No Mercy</i> with that old school attack. And yet, sometimes it's <i>Reign In Blood</i> with the sheer relentless intensity that the album brings to the table. When those opening punches of 'Angel Of Death' come, you <i>know</i> you are in trouble. It might just be the most recognizable thrash/death beginning to a song in the history of heavy metal. And the album never lets the fuck up. It slams you down with total violence and steps on your throat. It pummels you into submission and doesn't let up until the end of 'Raining Blood,' when the break ends and the really fast part comes with the wailing solos, that is the sound of your death. The blood storm that comes at the end of the album is the sound of your soul going to hell. You can call it 'the trendy pick' as far as a favorite Slayer album. And some have said that it is 'overrated.' But look and listen deep. Will there ever be anything like it? In 29 minutes, Slayer kick more ass and shred more metal than most bands do in their whole careers. This is the album that we listen to in traffic. This is the album that we listen to as we plot revenge. This is the album that <i>no one</i> will ever forget. <i>All</i> albums are judged to this standard in extreme metal, and <i>no one</i> will ever come close!"<br />
-- Mike Abominator (Gravehill) </blockquote>
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"I first heard <i>Reign in Blood</i> pretty soon after discovering Slayer for the first time, and thrash metal in general, in about 1990 when <i>Seasons in the Abyss</i> came out. Slayer stood apart from the crowd because they are probably the first band I ever heard that managed to capture a truly menacing nature in musical form. <i>Reign in Blood</i> embodies everything about Slayer and is the perfect thrash capsule: 29 minutes of compact, heavy, unimprovable metal with fantastic production. There is no doubt that the attitude of fast, short, riff-laden songs has influenced me on a personal level, and Monsterworks even performed the intro section of 'Angel of Death' at our first ever gig (the one and only cover we have ever played). It all fell apart after the scream but it was worth it."<br />
-- Jon Higgs (Monsterworks, The Living Fields) </blockquote>
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"I can actually remember when this album came out. This was before the death metal era and, at the time, was the heaviest, fastest and most evil album in the world. My friends all thought it was pure noise and crazy sounding. For me, it just pushed the envelope for more extreme things to come. We incorporated a bunch of Slayer-type riffs in Oppressor and even when we went for the heavy rock style that was SOiL, we always closed the show for much of the "Scars" era tour by playing part of 'Raining Blood.' The crowd always went nuts! Slayer is truly a universal language for metal fans."<br />
-- Tim King (SOiL, Oppressor) </blockquote>
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"<i>Reign in Blood</i> was one of the first fast records I ever owned. <i>Kill 'Em All</i> has it's fast parts and so does <i>Peace Sells</i>, but <i>Reign in Blood</i> set a new bar to me as far as breakneck speed. The riffing on top of that is absurd. The fact that this album was written and recorded while I was stuck on Def Leppard's <i>Hysteria</i> but became a way more drastic influence on me is always funny and awesome in retrospect. The fact that the album still sounds fresh musically, vocally and sonically is a testament to not just Slayer, but thrash overall. I think the lyrics on this album are the most underrated part. I absolutely love themes being hidden under metaphor, especially in metal where the laymen may only see death and blood. 1986 was a completely ridiculous year in thrash and metal overall, but <i>Reign in Blood</i> STILL holds a top spot in not just that year (notably against <i>Master of</i> fucking<i> Puppets</i>) but in metal history.<br />
-- Rick Jimenez (This Is Hell)<br />
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"My introduction to Slayer was <i>Hell Awaits</i>, which I had to get after seeing the live version of the title track from Sky Channel's 'Monsters Of Rock' show, hosted by Mick Wall. After the raw and violent <i>Hell Awaits</i>, which scared the shit out of me and my pals, <i>Reign In Blood</i> sounded rather "commercial," but yet intense and tight. <i>RIB</i> has one of the most memorable band photos of all time: scary looking lads conventionally carrying beer cans while grinning to the camera. Is that a considerable role model for a 13-year-old kid from a broken family? Anyway, Dave Lombardo's drowsy smile made the shot even more wicked.<br />
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"Where Slayer lost its rawness by choosing Rick Rubin to produce the album, they certainly paved their way to the more cultivated style, which they perfected on their next efforts, <i>South of Heaven</i> and <i>Seasons in the Abyss</i>.<br />
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"To most people, <i>Reign in Blood</i> seems to be 'the album' in Slayer's discography. Even though I think it's an awesome record, I see it just as a necessary link between 'the creepy Slayer,' and more mature Slayer, which was a huge musical influence to myself with the heavier and more melodic style."<br />
-- Olli-Pekka Laine (Barren Earth)</blockquote>
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"'86 was the year that I really discovered metal. A pretty good fucking year for it! I got caught up as quickly as I could. <i>Reign in Blood</i> was not only terrifying, but so much more violent than anything else I had ever heard. Lyrically it was obvious: "benefit the Aryan race," "flesh starts to burn, twist and deform" and the classic "on my wall your head!" snippets would slip past on the first few listens. What the fuck?!? Araya's delivery was so brilliant too. Super pissed, quick, and deadly serious. No 'thrash is fun' vibe back in those days, kids. But the music was what really fucked everything up for everybody. So fucking powerful. Like they were all whacked on angel dust, possessed by Satan or, more likely, both. Those drums and guitars set the bar at a level so high that I don't think anyone has come close to achieving yet. It sounds like it was recorded in an abandoned chapel. They somehow found the perfect combination of musicality and tempo that it still makes the heart pound a little harder than before you started listening. Even all these years later it's still the album that everything else is compared to. Other bands have taken the Slayer influence and gone on to do great things, but there is only one <i>Reign in Blood</i>." <br />
-- Jon Necromancer (Bones)</blockquote>
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"There's no doubt that <i>Reign in Blood</i> is a momentous album for me. That's the album that got me into extreme metal and I still think that it is one of the best albums ever made. Beginning with the mighty 'Angel of Death' and ending with the sinister 'Raining Blood,' every single track on the album is pure genious." <br />
-- Johan Gustafsson (Volturyon) </blockquote>
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"Slayer is awesome. Mike is also awesome."<br />
-- Marshall "Fucking" Beck (Reign of Vengeance, Rebirth) </blockquote>
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[Thanks, Marshall. Your check's in the mail.] </blockquote>
<blockquote>
"I'm not sure exactly where I was when I first heard <i>Reign in Blood</i> -- probably in high school, like everybody else. What I do recall was my reaction as my virgin ears were sodomized by 'Angel Of Death' for the first time: 'Christ on a penis, what the fuck is <i>wrong</i> with these guys?' Many years later, I still wonder. And then there's that scream. You know the one. Years ago, I always thought of it as 'Well, it's a metal song, so yeah, he does a scream.' As time went on, I realized there's more to it than that. That particular scream is the sound of somebody who actually takes pleasure in offending your senses, and your dignity. It's the sound of someone who's excited because he <i>knows</i> that he's about to sing something that will fuck with you severely. It comes from a mindset of pure subversion. And that is what makes Slayer great."<br />
-- Mark Sugar (Trials) </blockquote>
<blockquote>
“I had heard Slayer's <i>Hell Awaits</i>, but it didn't really affect me at the time. But when I heard <i>Reign in Blood</i> when it was released, I was totally blown away! I mean, I wanted to blow things up, and burn things down! I had heard a lot of speed metal acts and early thrash acts, but this was extreme in a way that captured my soul and mind on a whole other level. I remember thinking that the only flaw the album had was that it was too short.”<br />
-- Bjørn "Tiger" Mathisen (Fester, Sincera) </blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Slayer is the ultimate thrash band and <i>Reign in Blood</i> is the greatest thrash record of all time! I was 15 when that record came out and it blew my fucking mind! I still emulate Jeff Hanneman's evil riffing to this day in almost every song I write. No thrash, death or black metal band since has come close to topping the intensity of that album (Slayer included)! It's Slayer's masterpiece and one of the greatest metal albums ever made! You can't fuck with <i>Reign In Blood</i>!!!"<br />
--Matt Sorg (Ringworm, Charred Walls of the Damned)</blockquote>
<blockquote>
"I remember the day I bought the record (the day it came out) and took it home to listen to it. As soon as 'Angel of Death' came on, I went 'WTF!?!' The motherfucker skipped! You'd expect that from a New Renaissance record but not a major label like Columbia!?! I still have the record and to this day 'Postmortem' is still the baddest fuckin' Slayer song out there..."<br />
-- Tim Matthews (The Horde)</blockquote>
As for myself, I was 13 when <i>Reign in Blood</i> came out. I was living in Beatrice, Nebraska (pop. ~12,000) at the time, which wasn't exactly a hotbed for metal. A good friend used to visit family in Kansas City fairly frequently, and one time in 1986 he came back with <i>Reign in Blood </i>on cassette. I had already begun to make the leap from cheesy hair metal to harder stuff like Metallica and Megadeth, but <i>Reign in Blood</i> sounded like nothing I'd heard before. I wasn't even sure if I liked it at first, but it was so ridiculously loud, fast, heavy, angry and Satanic that I was fascinated by it. I used to listen to it on my Walkman (actually, it was probably a knockoff) while doing my paper route every day after school. The entire album was on both sides of the cassette, so as soon as "Raining Blood" ended, it would switch to the other side and start all over again with "Angel of Death."</div>
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<br />
Twenty-five years later, the album is permanently burned onto my brain. Plenty of albums have been released in the meantime that are louder, faster, heavier, angrier and/or more Satanic, but none of them have had the lasting impact of <i>Reign in Blood</i>. The album represented an unprecedented leap forward for heavy metal. The genre was barely 16 years old at the time, but the evolution from <i>Black Sabbath</i> in 1970 to <i>Reign in Blood</i> in 1986 was monumental. The difference between today's most extreme metal albums and <i>Reign in Blood</i> doesn't seem nearly as pronounced, despite the passage of 25 more years. Nowadays, you can turn on the local "active rock" station and occasionally catch "Master of Puppets" or "Peace Sells," but the next time I hear "Altar of Sacrifice" or "Criminally Insane" on commercial radio will be the first. Even at the ripe old age of 25, <i>Reign in Blood</i> is still way too heavy for mass consumption, and Slayer fans wouldn't have it any other way.<br />
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<i>Read about the other great thrash albums of 1986:</i><br />
<a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/03/metallica_-_master_of_puppets.php" target="***">Part 1: Metallica - <i>Master of Puppets</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/07/destruction-eternal-devastation-part-2.html" target="***">Part 2: Destruction - <i>Eternal Devastation</i></a><br />
<a href="http://tempecarnivore.blogspot.com/2011/09/flotsam-and-jetsam-doomsday-for.html" target="***">Part 3: Flotsam and Jetsam - <i>Doomsday for the Deceiver</i></a>Mike R. Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05259614639821194658noreply@blogger.com0