Sometimes it’s an album that made them go sober, helped them exorcize some inner demons or simply helped them through a tough time in their life. Sometimes we find something in music that we can relate to wether it be the lyrics in a song that are inspirational or just a certain riff or melody that just makes us feel good inside.

I can’t sit here and say that a certain album changed my life in a way that it made me a happier or better person or got me through tough times because my life has always been fairly easy. Although my family didn’t have the nicest house or car we always still had a warm roof over our heads, hot food on the table and clothes on our backs…even if they were terrible hand-me-downs. My parents were stern, but fair and I was probably an ungrateful child.

The first album that I think I listened to that started to veer me off of the road of classic rock on to metal was Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti. Yes, that is also a classic rock album, but I started to listen to more Zeppelin after hearing that album. Things progressed in to a heavy direction and next thing you know I was spending any money I had in my mid teens on Iron Maiden, Pantera, Megadeth and Metallica, just to name a few.

My brother wasn’t much of an influence on my musical tastes. He listened to a few hard rock bands like The Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Ratt and Whitesnake but he never really progressed much beyond Ozzy’s Bark At The Moon. I can’t really count him as an influence. He still leans towards the modern rock stuff and digs a few metal songs but generally won’t listen to any Metallica before …And Justice For All.

I think what metal music did for me was made me thicker skinned and even more open to other music. In my early years of high school there were very few people that liked and understood metal. Growing up in a small town school most of the kids were in to what was cool and popular at the time. When grunge was getting big I liked a few bands and a few songs, but I wasn’t walking around with dirty hair and a flannel shirt tied around my waist.

Most of my friends I went to school with and worked with like grunge and rock bands as well as hippy/stoner bands like Phish and The Grateful Dead. I would often get teased with the usual mocking of metal with lyrics changed to “Kill your mother, Kill you father!” in the deep growling voice. I’d also get accused of being a “devil worshipper“, you know, the usual crap metal fans in high school get. It didn’t matter to me because I wasn’t going to change my mind about the way I loved metal just because a bunch of out of touch shit-heads made fun.

It wasn’t until my senior year that I went to a bigger high school with a much more diverse crowd. I had to get away from the small town fools and convincing my parents to let me go to the bigger school took some time. This was the high school I wanted to go to in the first place. I probably would have done much better in school if that was the case from the get-go. However there was rumors that this was one of those “bad” schools so I wasn’t allowed to go where I wanted to at the time. I had to stick it out in a school where middle class prep’s thought that their shit didn’t stink because they wore Bugle Boy jeans and Z-Cavaricci while people like myself had to settle for off-brand jeans and whatever else me or my parents could afford. These kids thought that their parents had money…what they had was debt!

In the bigger school there was more people like me and even though there were still social seculars, there wasn’t as much idiocy as there was in the smaller high school. There were jocks that wore raggedy Master Of Puppet T-shirts and even a pretty girl who’s locker was next to mine that was nice enough to smile and say hi everyday, even though I wasn’t the best looking kid and probably smelled of cigarettes every morning. Most others wouldn’t give you the time of day.

I was friends with foster kids that would get bounced around from home to home because they had much worse problems than other kids picking on them. I even became best friends with a dude that was the boyfriend of a girl I hung out with in the other school. He always thought I was trying to make a move on her when I went to the other school, but that wasn’t the case. We both had a love for metal and we fed each other with new metal every chance we would get. He didn’t have many friends and neither did I. We wanted to be in a metal band but neither of us could play or sing for shit at the time so after high school we both moved on with our lives. He started a family (Not entirely on purpose) and I went off to the Marines…but the metal was still there and we would introduce each other to new stuff whenever we would get together to drink some beers and make an attempt to play guitar again. It always will be. It’s a healthy addiction…mostly.

Ok, I’ve gone way off course here, but my point is that metal and some music in general can kind of steer your life in the direction it was meant to go. I imagine if it wasn’t Zeppelin that got me in to heavy bands then it would have been another band. I have always been a kind of social outsider as most metal fans are. I always wanted to be part of some crowd but never the “In” crowd because there was just something so fake about them. Most of them didn’t make much of themselves after high school. I guess you can make it or fake it, but you can only fake it for so long. I was always ok with being in the smaller crowd with the misfits and misunderstood. We always new where we stood and if we were to fall, it wasn’t very far down if you know what I mean.

Be true to yourself and the people around you, no matter what type of music you listen to and things will work out for you in the end. If things haven’t worked out then chances are it’s not the end. Metal music has been a part of my life that I would never be the same without. As Napalm Death says “Silence Is Deafening.”.

So now that I’ve told you my pathetically mediocre life story, what band or album “Changed Your Life”?

Image: Amazon.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

Post from: Metal Martyr

Is creative Lyric writing getting stale or is it me? With bands going for concept albums it kind of make you think something is wrong in the mind of the lyricists or something.

I love Judas Priest but this whole new concept album about Nostradamus has me wondering. You kind of saw this type of song writing with Lochness on their last release Angel Of Retribution, which I thought was a pretty god come back album. But it depicted the Lochness Monster as some blood thirsty beast preying on man in Scotland. Does anyone else kind of find that a bit hokey? So this next album is going to be 23 songs about the predictions of Nostradamus. We’ll see how it turns out and you can hear the first track from it on Monday here: www.livenation.com/judaspriest

Next on the concept list is Sepultura, or Andreas Kisser, Paulo Jr and two other guys. Their next record is going to be a concept album about the cult classic Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Max did a concept song on Cavalera Conspiracy called Ultra-violent. I don’t know exactly what this will bring to the record either. If you’re an uncultured bastard and haven’t seen A Clockwork Orange, go rent it, keep an open mind and enjoy the brilliance of Stanley Kubrick.

Concept albums have been done here and there by various bands. Mastodon did one with Leviathan and that actually went over quite well, The Misfits did two of them as they usually do with American Psycho and Famous Monsters. Back when they were doing it with Glenn Danzig it was done much better in a songwriter sense. It wasn’t so obviously cheesy. While American Psycho was not a bad record, Famous Monsters was absolute garbage. A lot of Led Zeppelin songs were based around J.R. Token’s The Lord Of The Rings. It just brings me back to my original question. Are concept albums a sign that the lyricist has writers block and is turning to singing stories written by someone else?

Post from: Metal Martyr

“You’re cool. Your wedding should be too. The Rock ’n’ Roll Wedding Collection features 15 amazing string quartet renditions of romantic rock classics suitable for the procession, the reception, or the first dance. Now there’s no reason you can’t walk down the aisle to instrumental versions of Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, or AC/DC. For those about to rock, say I do!” Below is a sample.

Stairway to Heaven (String Quartet Tribute to Led Zeppelin)

Go To Vitamin Records and Check out Rock And Roll Wedding Collection and the other String Quartet Tributes to some of your favorite bands

Post from: Metal Martyr

If you just scanned the line up I posted from The Sword announcement at Bannaroo you probably said to yourself “Holy Sh*t, Led Zeppelin is going to be at Bannaroo!” Check it again. That’s LEZ Zeppelin. An All female Led Zeppelin cover band. Don’t feel bad. There was actually internet sites and associated press that reported this as Led Zeppelin Headlining Bannaroo. Someone is feeling pretty stupid right about now.

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Post from: Metal Martyr

Pearl Jam
Metallica
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Phil Lesh & Friends
My Morning Jacket
The Allman Brothers Band
The Raconteurs
Willie Nelson
Death Cab for Cutie
B.B. King
Sigur Ros
Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road
Ben Folds
O.A.R.
The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton
M.I.A.
Umphrey’s McGee
Iron & Wine
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Swell Season
Talib Kweli
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival
Gogol Bordello
Broken Social Scene
Robert Randolph’s Revival
Rilo Kiley
Mastodon
Lupe Fiasco
Against Me!
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
Pat Green
Ozomatli
Tegan & Sara
Solomon Burke
Drive-By Truckers
!!!
The Avett Brothers
Israel Vibration
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck
A Very Special Acoustic Performance by Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Phil Lesh & Teresa Williams
Aimee Mann
Ladytron
The Fiery Furnaces
Orchestra Baobab
Ghostland Observatory
Jose Gonzalez
Dark Star Orchestra
Minus the Bear
Donavon Frankenreiter
Lez Zeppelin
State Radio
Battles
Jakob Dylan
Two Gallants
The Sword
Vampire Weekend
Little Feat
Nicole AtkinsThe Felice Brothers
Mason Jennings
MGMT
The Lee Boys
Black Kids
Serena Ryder
Steel Train
Grupo Fantasma
Back Door Slam
Bonnaroo Comedy:
Bonnaroo Late Night Chat About with David Cross
Janeane Garofalo
Zach Galifianakis
Jim Norton
Brian Posehn
Mike Birbiglia
John Mulaney
Michelle Buteau
More artists to be announced!
Information and tickets available at bonnaroo.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

Post from: Metal Martyr

I have dumped a bunch of money into CDs this past year, probably more than I have in a long time. I have discovered and re-discovered bands that I’ve been missing out on and was even introduced to new music by record labels that sent me CDs to review (Thanks Bob at Prosthetic and Taylor at Dwell). While most of these albums didn’t come out in 2007, 2007 was the year I bought them and therefore; the first list will be my Favorite Buys Of 2007. The second list is a short one. It’s my favorite Debut records of 2007. Lastly is my Biggest Disappointments of 2007. Records I bought and was throughly disappointed with.

MetalMarty.com 10 Favorite Buys Of 2007
1. Lamb Of God- Every Record. After hearing Ashes Of The Wake I fell in love with this band and bought every LOG record this year. I really like everyone with perhaps the exception of New American Gospel. I can’t wait to see whats next from this band and try to see them next time they come around here.
2. Killswitch Engage- Once again, every record. I got into Killswitch when I bought As Daylight Dies and quickly became a fan.
3. Hatebreed- Supremacy. In my opinion this is Hatebreed’s best work to date. Every song on this record is great. If you haven’t been impressed with Hatebreed in the past I say give them a second chance with Supremacy.
4. As I lay Dying- An Ocean Between Us. I bought this album after only hearing the first song and I’m still impressed.
5. All That Remains- Fall Of Ideals. Diverse in every way. From beginning to end it has your attention. The guitar work, solos, vocals and drums all mix well. This is in my opinion the best Christian metal you will hear.
6. Led Zeppelin- Mothership. If your looking for an inexpensive, GOOD Zeppelin Compilation then look no further. For a two disk set it has the essentials.
7. Megadeth- United Abominations. Megadeth’s Best work in a long time. It’s good to see Dave back on track.
8. Yakuza- Transmutations. You have to truly like all sorts of music styles to enjoy this record. It’s not for everyone, but it does kick ass!
9. Mastodon- Blood Mountain. These guys have a style all their own and Blood Mountain shows it.
10. Danzig- The Lost Tracks. This 2 disk set brings out some b-sides and stuff that has been left out on older records. These days Glenn is more into the industrial stylish sound but the older stuff on this set is great!

Honorable mentions: A life Once Lost:Iron Gag, Haste The Day: Pressure The Hinges, Shadows Fall: Threads OF Life

Best Debuts Of 2007

Divine Heresy- Bleed The Fifth. Dino Cazarez did well with this line-up and vocal choice. Sure it kinda sounds a bit Fear Factory-ish, but hell, FF isn’t putting anything out good these days so why not.
Hail!Hornet- Southern Sludge Metal at it’s best. Even coining their own genre as Grime Metal, Hail!hornet keeps it heavy and dirty. With members from Weedeater, Alabama Thunderpussy, and Sourvein, this record will ruin your life as they say.

Biggest Disappointments of 2007
Dragonforce- Inhuman Rampage. I don’t like the singer’s voice, the overuse of synthesizers, and overdone, drawn out songs. It felt like I was stuck in a Japanimation soundtrack or an old Nintendo game.
Ozzy- Black Rain. Sorry Ozzy. Sounds to pop-ish. With over- repetative choruses, Zakks pinch harmonics every other note and the sound as if someone wrote the lyrics for you it just made for an undesirable record. Good effort…bad outcome.

Well thats it. I’m sure I have missed a lot of great metal out there that I haven’t got to check out but I’m kinda picky when it comes to new music and a lot of stuff I sampled just didn’t fit my likings or was substandard to me. I hope 2008 has even more to offer!

—————-
Now playing: Jackyl – I Stand Alone
via FoxyTunes

Post from: Metal Martyr

It looks as if some people’s wishes are coming true and this money train rolls on. I mean that in a good way. I love the band and every video I’ve seen from the reunion perfomance has been phenominal, not just some crappy reunion. Anyway People’s Monster And Critics has posted more about this in the link below. Here is a short excerpt:

“Led Zeppelin are to headline next year’s Glastonbury Festival.

The legendary rock group – who played a sensational comeback concert at London’s O2 arena earlier this month – will take to the stage for the world-famous musical extravaganza, in Somerset, England, before embarking on an 18-month world tour.”

Led Zeppelin to rock Glastonbury

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Post from: Metal Martyr

Post from: Metal Martyr