Bootlegs Revisited

 Another return to an older topic, in that case the blog was written in 2009.   Since then I’ve collected most of the King Crimson Collector Series. 

 I also picked up a few TOOL bootlegs:  one from the Fear Inoculum Tour and three from the 10,000 Days Tour (thanks, Diane!).   The band only has two official live recordings: a 1993 Lollapalooza recording, and Salival, combined with either a VHS or DVD, which dates from Undertow, the first album, and includes “You Lied”, a great non-TOOL song.  According to drummer Danny Carey, the band has a huge stash of live recordings, but has yet to release any of it, a la King Crimson Collectors Club, which is odd considering they went 13 years from 10,000 Days to Fear Inoculum AND they are not only fans of King Crimson, but toured with them.  I picture a huge warehouse full of live recordings no one has had the time or patience to wade through to determine how decent the sound quality is or whether the performances embarrass the band.  Who knows.  I dare say we’ll find out. 

 AC/DC.  I picked up a ten pack, for $50 – meaning each CD of a show was $5.  Six of them are Bon Scott shows and four from Brian Johnson.  The latter gave me a recording of Brian Johnson singing “Bad Boy Boogie”, a Bon Scott song, to complete my ersatz playlist of Paris ’84, our first concert.  Keep in mind that Bon Scott era AC/DC has only ONE official live album, If You Want Blood (You Got It), recorded on the Powerage tour.  That set was “Riff Raff”, “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be”, “Bad Boy Boogie”, “The Jack”, “Problem Child”, “Whole Lotta Rosie”, “Rock’n’Roll Damnation”, “High Voltage”, “Let There Be Rock”, and “Rocker”.  The bootleg package has some intriguing song choices, including “Sin City”, “Gone Shootin’” and “Up To My Neck In You”.  One show was from September 1977, yet Powerage wasn’t released until May 1978, meaning those lucky audience members heard those songs before others did the following year.  The Bon Scott bootlegs are two from Dirty Deeds, three from Powerage, and one from Highway to Hell tours. 

 I also picked up a bootleg of their Madison Square Garden show on the Rock Or Bust tour in 2017 with Axl Rose singing.  We saw the following show, Verizon Center in DC, with an identical setlist.  Why the band didn’t see fit to record the show and release it themselves, I don’t know.  As a practical matter, Axl sounds a lot more like Brian Johnson than Bon Scott.  I found his inter-song banter to be unintelligible.  However, the song choice alone was well worth the purchase.

 Black Sabbath.  I also picked up a few Sabbath bootlegs, one (Lausanne, Switzerland in April 1970) includes “Sleeping Village >> Warning”.  Many older Sabbath shows have extended jams, “Sometimes I’m Happy”, and alternate lyrics.  I don’t think of Black Sabbath as a jam band, but some of the improvs put them in that category.  The other commonly known Sabbath bootleg, which I picked up recently and will be officially released with the Sabotage boxed set, is the Asbury Park show, known as Killing Yourself to Live.  It has “Megalomania”, “Sabbra Cadabra”, and “Spiral Architect”.  I awhile ago I picked up the Paranoid boxed set, mainly for the quadraphonic mix from 1974.  But it included the Brussels and Montreux shows from the Paranoid tour, which had been bootlegs for years.   

  Coverdale/Page.  After Deep Purple broke up, singer David Coverdale formed Whitesnake.  From 1978 to 1984 (David Coverdale’s Whitesnake through Slide It In) they were more of bluesy band (WS Mark I), and from 1987 (self-titled) to the present they’ve been more of a commercial metal band (WS Mark II).   Many accused the Mark I version of being a bit too reminiscent of Led Zeppelin.  So it was odd, or possibly appropriate, that Jimmy Page and David Coverdale collaborated on a single album, simply called Coverdale/Page, in 1993.  I bought it when it came out and listened to it a few times since then.  It sounds like Jimmy Page and David Coverdale made an album together.  What I didn’t realize was that the band actually toured – in Japan.  A bootleg of their Japanese tour (Live in Osaka) features “Slide It In”, “Here I Go Again” and “Still of the Night”, by Whitesnake – with Jimmy Page playing – and “Rock And Roll”, “Kashmir”, “In My Time of Dying”, “White Summer/Black Mountain Side”, and “Black Dog”, with David Coverdale singing (except on WS/BMS).  The remainder of the set – 50% - are C/P songs.   Overall an interesting addition.

Grateful Dead.  This band is famous for allowing audience members to tape their shows and trade them, much to their record company’s anger and frustration.  Eventually many of these wound up being officially released: no less than 38 Dick’s Picks, 38 Dave’s Picks, and 17 Road Trips, plus Cornell ’77 (probably THE most famous show), Egypt ’78, and a quadruple set of Closing of Winterland 12/31/78, a four disc set covering a bizarre show which began at midnight and ran to the morning of January 1, 1979.  I’ll repeat again:  Cousin Jimmy was a student at Cornell in ’77 and saw the concert, then my uncle Buddy took the family to Egypt and he saw the following year’s show there. (Count our blessings….!)  I suppose “official bootleg” might be a contradiction in terms, but others on this list are truly non-official.

The Dead even have a database, DeadBase, which will tell you which songs were played, and when. 

Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl.  Note that, from 1963-70, the years the band was in existence and releasing material, no live album was released.  Part of this was because those shows from 1963-66 (last concert at San Francisco) the crowd noise far exceeded the band’s tiny ampage.  Imagine if Pete Townshend had spoken to them and recommended a few Marshall stacks to even the odds.   With the screaming girls drowning out the band’s performance, it’s more novelty and morbid curiosity than an enjoyable experience.

Other General Principles

Sound Quality.  This often varies considerably, but I’ve found that even for shows which are relatively worse, after you listen for awhile your brain seems to screen out the noise and you start hearing the music.

 Song Selection.  Hearing rarely-heard songs live is one major benefit.  Again, AC/DC only have ONE official live album from Bon Scott’s era, so six bootlegs give you many songs you weren’t going to hear on If You Want Blood. 

 I Was There!!  In the unlikely event someone recorded a show I was actually at, I’m happy to get the bootleg.  As it is, the Dead shows at RFK in 1992 and 1995 seem to be the only ones I can think of off the top of my head which qualify.  

Confess, Maynard

 I put two books on my Amazon Wish List last Christmas, and my Santa-esque brother (my only one, Matt) thankfully got both for me.  The first is Confess, the autobiography of Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, and the other is A Perfect Union of Contrary Things, by Sarah Jensen with Maynard James Keenan, the enigmatic singer for TOOL, plus his side projects A Perfect Circle (APC) and Puscifer.  Confess is told in the first person by Halford himself, and covers the period all the way up to Andy Sneap’s replacement of Glenn Tipton for Firepower, the band’s latest album.  APUCT is in the third person with some direct quotes from MJK himself.

 Confess.  With the exception of original singer Alan Atkins – who left the band long before its first album, Rocka Rolla, was released in September 1974 – and brief replacement singer Ripper Owens, who only sang on Jugulator and Demolition (1995 and 1998), the singer for heavy metal band Judas Priest has been Rob Halford, from Walsall, a suburb of Birmingham, England. 

 Defenders of the Faith.  We received this album, on cassette, for free, in spring 1984 (i.e. their newest album at the time) and immediately got hooked on the band. That summer we picked up Sad Wings of Destiny on vinyl and discovered Early Priest.  When the issue of Halford’s social life came up, we took at face value his denial of homosexuality, but my friend Sean said – back in 1984 – “if he isn’t gay, why is he dressing that way?”  When Halford finally did “come out” in the early 90s, it was hardly a surprise.  Well, whatever.  We still bought Angel of Retribution, Nostradamus, Redeemer of Souls and Firepower, and still went to the concerts. 

 Having said all that, his autobiography is a bit heavy on the gay-ness, roughly 50%.  I wasn’t concerned about his “keeping in the closet”, of cruising and hooking up, of winding up with straights who have sex with men (“then you ain’t that straight!!!! Tiger Guy).  Talk about a heavy dose of TMI.  He could cut it down by half and still tell us all the stuff we care about:  how he joined Judas Priest (long before Rocka Rolla came out), the circumstances of each lineup change (particularly drummers), the background on each album and tour, and the band’s interaction with other metal bands.  Oh, and he loves “Spinal Tap”.  That’s the part I care about, and fortunately it’s here. 

 Gay Stuff.  I don’t want to devote an entire blog to this topic so I might as well address it here.   I am straight and always have been.  I have very few friends these days, and none of them are gay.  I’ve had gay acquaintances but not close relationships.   But what other people do among themselves, as consenting adults, is their business.  I have enough to worry about in my own life without getting bent out of shape about others.  Moreover, most people who bark and bray the loudest against gays usually turn out to be deep in the closet.  Again, I don’t care.

 If there is one part which does bug me, it’s this business of gays being pretentious.   I love watching “Modern Family” (though Sofia Vergara, Ariel Winter, and Sarah Hyland receive most of my attention) and the gay couple, Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) seem to click all the boxes on gay stereotypes, even to the point of their friends, e.g. Pepper (Nathan Lane).  Of course, the show makes fun of Colombian drug lord culture (Gloria Pritchett, played by Sofia Vergara), goofy magic nerd realtors (Phil Dunphy, played by Ty Burrell), and stupid hot chicks (Haley Dunphy, played by Sarah Hyland), so the ridicule is evenly spread throughout. 

 In any case, Halford’s orientation was already common knowledge when he formally “came out” in the early 90s after leaving Priest, and certainly is now.  So “Confess” is somewhat of a meaningless title.  Anyhow. 

 A Perfect Union of Contrary Things.   Apparently MJK grew up in the Midwest, Ohio & Grand Rapids.  He joined the Army, but though picked to go to West Point itself from West Point Prep, actually decided to go to art school (????) in Michigan, then work in a pet store in Boston, and eventually relocated to L.A., where he worked at another pet store and met guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carey.  They formed TOOL with bassist Paul D’Amour in 1992.  After only 6 live shows, all as opening acts at microscopic clubs in L.A., somehow they got a record deal almost instantaneously. 

 After Aenima, their second album, TOOL had legal issues regarding their record contract, so MJK wound up with free, idle time, which he spent getting A Perfect Circle off the ground.  At some later point he started his second side project, Puscifer.  He also discovered jiu jitsu and set up a vineyard in Arizona.   ZZZ.

 Awhile back I read the autobiography of Brian Johnson, the singer for AC/DC (Rockers and Rollers), and blogged about it (back in 2012).   I also blogged when Axl Rose took over on the recent tour.  Brian Johnson’s voice has been accurately described as “Marge Simpson”, and of all the band members, he’s clearly the band’s weakest link.  Whether it was 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, or 2020, Angus could find any number of singers, either professional or undiscovered in a club somewhere, who could do better than Brian Johnson. 

But to get back on topic:  Johnson’s autobiography actually made me like him LESS.  And same deal with Maynard’s.   Goes to art school instead of West Point?   Jiu jitsu and wine?  The utter pretentiousness of the book is off the chart, yet this is not a critique or expose, it’s supposed to be HIS story. 

 In fact, it does such a spectacular job at making him appear pretentious that I begin to wonder if that wasn’t the whole point all along.  Of course he’s pretentious.  He’s Maynard.  Listen to TOOL lyrics and you’ll figure that out.  The book just adds into the whole equation, a Fibonacci spiral….

 Will I stop listening to TOOL or going to their shows?  Of course not.  Same deal with seeing AC/DC live even if Marge Simpson is still their singer.  And Halford’s private life is not my concern, his music is.  These people are imperfect humans just like I am and their music is still top quality.   Sometimes, though, you find your heroes have clay feet.  And life goes on. 

Four Bands in Two Weeks

This was a rare occasion when I had four concerts to attend in two weeks.

Black Mountain.  Wednesday, November 13 at the Black Cat in Washington, DC.  This club is on Fourteenth Street just south of U Street, thus southeast of Adams Morgan.  It has a very small back room on the ground floor (I think I saw Nebula there a few eons ago) but also a large ballroom up on the second floor, where I saw this band several years earlier, plus Blue Cheer in one of Dickie Peterson’s last performances. 

Black Mountain are another one of these stoner rock bands which doesn’t take Black Sabbath as its starting point, but rather goes hard, soft, and somewhere in between with a refreshing change of pace from song to song which avoids getting boring or repetitive.  They’re from Vancouver, Canada.     

Lineup:  Stephen McBean (guitar & vocals), Rachel Fannan (keyboards), Adam Bulgasm (drums), Arjan Miranda (bass), and Jeremy Schmidt (keyboards).

Albums: Black Mountain (S/T), In the Future, Wilderness Heart, IV, and Destroyer.  I had seen the tour for IV a few years back, also at the Black Cat – the night before seeing Sleep at the new 9:30 Club. 

Setlist:  Mothers of the Sun; Future Shade; Wucan; Rollercoaster; Tyrants; Florian Saucer Attack; Stormy High; Fd'72; Horns Arising; High Rise; Old Fangs; Space to Bakersfield; Druganaut

Loot.  I picked up an olive drab shirt with the band name (no tour dates on the back) and some nice socks.

Monolord.  Friday, November 15, at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore.  This is a small club up in the Wire district (run-down area) with just a main room with a stage, oddly positioned near the exit.  I actually saw King Buffalo here the year before.  My GPS directions generally say take 295 North up from DC, get off on Martin Luther King Blvd, then follow that to Howard Street and go up about 10 blocks.

This is a three piece from Sweden, of all places.  Thomas Jager (guitar/vocals), Mika Hakki (bass), and Esben Willems (drums).  Esben is taking pictures of the audience and posting these.  I generally stand on TJ’s side of the stage.  He plays a Greco (Gibson copy) Flying V through an Orange stack.  I had actually seen them open for Red Fang in DC at the RNR Hotel, then on the bill in Brooklyn for the Desert Fest in April of this year.  Here was my first chance to see them as a headlining band. 

Empress Rising, Vaenir, Lord of Suffering (EP), Rust, and No Comfort.  It’s slow, doomy stuff all tuned down to C#, to the point where TJ has to retune his guitar between songs.   The opening acts were ALMS (OK), and Blackwater Holylight, an all female stoner rock band from Portland, Oregon.  While they’re all pretty cute, the drummer was especially cute and came down to headbang with us for “Empress Rising”, the last song of Monolord’s set.  I also met up with Facebook buddy Bob Maze and his friend.  Good times for all.

Setlist: Where Death Meets the Sea; Lord of Suffering; Audhumbla; The Bastard Son; Rust; Larvae; The Last Leaf; Empress Rising

Loot:  I picked up a t-shirt (seen on my Facebook page with the Black Cherry Wishniak 20 oz bottle).  I already have a black shirt with the gothic logo and cat, and a patch of the same.

    

Electric Wizard.  Monday, November 18, at the Fillmore Silver Spring in Maryland.  This is a large ballroom with a big stage.  I’ve seen Opeth and Ghost here in the recent past. 

Lineup.  Jus Osborn (only consistent member) (Gibson SG and vocals), Liz Buckingham (Gibson SG), Haz Wheaton (bass), and Simon Poole (drums).  I have to confess somewhat of a crush on LB, who stands there impressive with her SG and long, blonde hair, occasionally hitting a solo but otherwise complimenting the screen footage to make what would otherwise be somewhat tedious into an enjoyable experience.  Both Osborn and Buckingham play through standard Marshall JCM800s with 1960A/B stacks.   The band is from England, of all places. 

Electric Wizard, Come My Fanatics, Dopethrone, Let Us Prey, We Live, Witchcult Today, Black Masses, Time to Die, Wizard Bloody Wizard.  I’d seen them back in 2000 at Zaxx in VA, part of a noxious black metal festival.  Here they were headlining with a huge screen up behind them, mainly showing horror movies about Satanic masses.  As I suspected, Anton LaVey got some brief screen time. 

Like Monolord, they play Sabbath type material very slow, doomy and tuned down, to the point where all the songs sound exactly the same.  Was this on Dopethrone or Wizard Bloody Wizard?  Could only tell you if I listened to the album recently.  Oh, Jus did make a callout to LSD!  Thank you.

Setlist: Witchcult Today; Black Mass; Return Trip; See You In Hell; Hear the Sirens Scream; Incense for the Damned; Satanic Rites of Drugula; The Chosen Few; Funeralopolis

Loot.  Although some of the t-shirts had their provocative slogan LEGALIZE DRUGS & MURDER, I wasn’t impressed with the design and stuck with a large patch.  By now I’ve accumulated a few of these from various bands but haven’t yet set up a jacket or battle vest.  I suppose I could teach myself to sew.

King Buffalo.   Thursday, November 21, at DC9 in Washington, DC.  This is a small club on Ninth Street just off of Florida Ave., just a few blocks away from the new 9:30 Club – so I park on the street where I’d normally park for a 9:30 Club show and just walk two more blocks.  It’s very small, but that gave me the option of going up close and talking to McVay.

Lineup.  Sean McVay (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Dan Reynolds (bass), Scott Donaldson (drums).  Dan was wearing an All Them Witches long sleeved t-shirt.  They’re from Rochester, New York.

Albums.  Repeater (EP), Orion, and Longing to Be the Mountain. 

Like Black Mountain, they do this soft >> hard deal which changes up consistently but keeps fresh, although I will say their songs tend to sound the same.  Even so, the impact and heaviness are awesome.  McVay plays a Hagstrom through a Fender Twin Reverb amp and really knows how to get those wailing, reverb-y solos. 

Setlist: Sun Shivers; Longing to Be the Mountain; Drinking From the River Rising; Quickening; Repeater; Centurion; Goliath; Eye of the Storm

Loot.  I already had the only shirt I really like, and a wooden dugout/one-hitter.  They have stickers set up like Genesee Beer, sadly nothing on a t-shirt or patch.   Note, they’ve been recording some of their shows live and making them available for free as a downloaded MP3 of the whole show.  McVay said there might be some technical issues with releasing the DC show, and none of the 2019 shows are yet available.  I downloaded the Indianapolis show from 2018 because the setlist was identical to the Baltimore show I saw.

TOOL.   Tool is coming up on Monday, 11/25 at the Capital One Arena in DC.   This band is obviously different and playing to a larger venue, probably sold out.   Having addressed them fairly recently (along with the Grateful Dead) I can pare off the discussion and hand in my assignment on time this Friday.

Bottom line:  if you still love Sabbath and think “Into the Void” is their best song, by all means check out Monolord and Electric Wizard – especially if you have high tolerance for slow, doomy, detuned music.  By now I can take it in limited doses.   If you prefer your stoner rock a bit more mixed up and difficult to describe, delve into Black Mountain and King Buffalo – and add All Them Witches and Dead Meadow into the mix as well.  I’m happy to see the scene veer off into different tangents, though Black Sabbath will always be our home.

King Crimson 2019

At loss for inspiration these days, and ill-inclined to simply blog about whatever band I happened to see on Thursday night, but here it’s a nice coincidence.   I’ve blogged on King Crimson before so I’ll try to keep my comments brief.

I’m also a fan of Frank Zappa.   I saw  him give a speech on censorship back at College Park, back when Tipper Gore was talking about putting warning labels on records about the foul language which frequently occurred.  It occurred to me Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa were similar eccentric geniuses.   Sadly, Zappa passed away in 1994, but fortunately Fripp is still with us and still actively touring.   The common link is Adrian Belew, who played with Zappa briefly in the late 70s and then joined King Crimson for the Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair trio.   I managed to contact him on Facebook and solicit his feedback on Zappa vs. Fripp, in particular their opinions of each other.   According to Belew, Zappa was oblivious to Fripp’s existence and not aware of King Crimson.    For his part, Fripp did not approve of the heavy dose of sauciness in Zappa’s lyrics and music.   So sadly they were not kindred souls.

Studio discography:  In the Court of the Crimson King, In the Wake of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Starless (And Bible Black), Red (original slew of lineups to the mid-70s); Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair (early 80s w/Adrian Belew); THRAK, The ConstruKcTion of Light, The Power to Believe (mid-90s). 

Current lineup.  

This lineup has three drummers, placed in the front of the stage:  Pat Mastelotto (left), Jeremy Stacey (center) (plus keyboards), and Gavin Harrison (right).  The rear of the stage gives us, from left to right, Mel Collins (sax and other woodwinds), Tony Levin (bass & stick-type things), Jakko Jakszyk (guitar and vocals) and finally on the far right, sitting with his Les Paul and a Mellotron, Robert Fripp himself.

The band plays two full sets with a 30 minute intermission, no opening act, and a one-song encore of “21^st Century Schizoid Man”.  The material covers the first album all the way through current era Crimson. While I prefer the 70s material, I enjoyed all of it – and could even identify some of the newer songs.  This was the September 12, 2019 show at the Warner Theatre in D.C. - right on Fourteenth Street.  We saw Twisted Sister there back in college (late 80s), this was the first show I'd seen here in decades.

Set:  First: Drumsons, Cirkus, Neurotika, Suitable Grounds for the Blues, Red, Moonchild, EleKtrik, Cat Food, Frame By Frame, Drumzilla, Epitaph

Second: Drumsons, Lizard, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part IV), Islands, The ConstruKction of Light, Easy Money, Starless, Indiscipline, The Court of the Crimson King

Encore:  21^st Century Schizoid Man. 

TOOL.  Recently TOOL finally released their newest album, spurring much of us to purchase and enjoy it.  What’s interesting is that years back, King Crimson actually opened for TOOL.   My understanding is that Maynard and Fripp have met and – Zappa notwithstanding – are actually friends.  I think of King Crimson as the prog source material for TOOL.  

The GRATEFUL TOOL

My topic for today had been aesthetics, but it looks like the release of Fear Inoculum, the fifth and latest TOOL album, and my receipt thereof as normally scheduled for 8/30 (thank God!), has provided me with a compelling topic.   In particular, the behavior of TOOL fans in the days leading up to the release brought to mind another fan base, that of the Grateful Dead.

Both bands have a fairly rabid base of fans who often behave irrationally, sometimes to the point of fanaticism.   With Jerry Garcia’s passing in 1995 the fervor over the older band has subsided.  With the exception of bassist Phil Lesh, the oldest surviving member, who is apparently too old to tour these days, the remaining members Bobby Weir (guitar and vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (drums) and Mickey Hart (percussion) accompanied by John Mayer, continue to tour without releasing new material.   I’ve seen a few shows and the fan base appears to be 70% old enough to have seen the band back with Jerry Garcia in 1995 or earlier.   Myself, I managed to see the band in 1992 and 1995, catching the very tail end of the original era, then a few more times more recently after the band reunited after Garcia’s death to play again. 

TOOL don’t have cursed keyboardists (Ron “Pigpen” McKiernan, Keith Godchaux, or Brent Mydland) and only one personnel change, original bassist Paul D’Amour replaced by current bassist Justin Chancellor around the time of the second album, Aenima.   The remainder of the band is charismatic frontman Maynard James Keenan (aka “MJK”), guitarist Adam Jones, and drummer Danny Carey.  Albums #1, 3 and 4 are Undertow, Lateralus, and 10,000 Days, plus EPs Salival and Opiate, partially live.  As my meme notes, TOOL do not have a proper live album as such.  By way of comparison, Clutch, who have been around the same length of time as TOOL, have put out 12 studio albums between Transnational Speedway League (1993) and Book of Bad Decisions (2018). 

Both bands give a unique live experience.  The Dead play two full 90 minute sets with a 30 minute intermission, and its famous “Drums/Space” jam with Kreutzmann and Hart is in the second set.  Every set is completely different, and you might even hear covers.  The light show is nice but not as impressive as TOOL’s.

TOOL sets are 80% the same night by night with 2-3 slots changing up.  With only 4 albums to choose from, and a principled objection to playing covers, the repertoire is limited.  The Dead had 13 studio albums from 1967 (self-titled) to 1990 (Without a Net), some of them effectively live albums, and a fair amount of covers thrown in. 

Maynard affects weird stage costumes which are mostly wasted as he sings in back of the stage, next to Carey, in darkness.  The band are overshadowed by their elaborate Alex Grey imagery behind them, which melts sound and vision together into an organic whole.   Both bands are strongly associated with not merely cannabis but also Hofmann/Sandoz inspired psychedelics, but such substances are helpful but not necessary to enjoy the experience of the live spectacle or the music itself.

Musically I’d describe the Grateful Dead as country music made by hippies with an infinite supply of LSD.  Oddly, country music fans don’t seem to like the Dead and vice versa.  Thanks to lyricist Robert Hunter, the words are more along the lines of Blue Oyster Cult than Blake Shelton.  TOOL are more like Pink Floyd morphed into as heavy as they could possibly be – David Gilmour pumped with steroids.  But unlike many of their peers, TOOL have a singer, Maynard, who ACTUALLY SINGS.  Yes, Cookie Monster is not in this band. 

Sadly, the fans of each can, as noted above, be somewhat obtuse.  With TOOL currently touring and putting out new material – as glacial as that now seems to be, with 13 years separating 10k Days and Fear Inoculum – the TOOL crowd is far more front and center than the Dead fans are. 

Maynard vs. Jerry.   Garcia was really non-objectionable.  Both had side projects:   MJK has A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, both of which go in one ear and out the other.  Garcia had the Jerry Garcia Band, who I saw in 1991 before even seeing the Dead themselves.  Maynard can be somewhat arrogant at times.  He runs a vineyard, produces a wine – Caduceus, which I haven’t bothered to overpay for as I’m not a wine fanatic – and loves guns, which doesn’t bother me.  To hear TOOL fans talk, though, Jones, Chancellor and Carey are session musicians who guest on TOOL albums to help out Maynard.  

I’d say the #1 fault of Deadheads is only listening to the Dead.   I was at a Dark Star Orchestra (DSO – one of the top Dead tribute bands) show at the 9:30 Club in DC wearing a Pink Floyd shirt and got a dirty look.  At the very least, Dead fans should listen to Pink Floyd.  Beyond that I can’t say that Deadheads are annoying enough to draw too much negative attention to the band itself.  Actually, Garcia himself said in a Playboy interview that the band is apolitical by nature and Republicans can listen and come to the shows.   Can’t imagine Trump at a Dead & Company show.  Or at a TOOL show, for that matter. 

I’m a member of the TOOL Army, but only joined recently and only got into the band when 10,000 Days came out and the band voiced its support for King Crimson.  All four shows I saw were 10K Days tour shows.   The fans can be a little pretentious, to say the least, like latter day Beatles fans.  The biggest issue I have is the fans who didn’t wait for 8/30, didn’t order the expensive, fancy Fear Inoculum package, illegally downloaded the album and were bursting forth with their reviews of it.   Yes, those of us who waited felt a little superior – rightfully so.

Revision 9/1/19.  As of now I’ve been able to listen to Fear Inoculum in its entirety three times, though as yet not the video itself; prior to that I heard “Descending” at the Fairfax concert (5/24/17) and “Descending”, “Invincible” and “Chocolate Chip Trip” at the Hampton show (5/10/19).   My assessment?  Excellent quality, comparable in quality to the prior four albums.  Six major songs ranging from 10:05 to 15:44 in length: “Fear Inoculum”, “Pneuma”, “Invincible”, “Descending”, “Culling Voices”, and “7empest”.  It’s TOOL people.

The Facebook Reaction from the TOOL CULT appears to vary as follows:

1.   Best album ever, naming my next child “Fear”

2.   Good, but not better than [prior album] – instigating massive debate on relative merits of the 5 albums

3.   Good, but breaking up the Fibonacci spiral of quality improvement and year intervals of 1/3/5/5/13 from Opiate to the current album.   Sorry.

4.  Good, but not worth the 13 year wait.

5.   Good, but not worth $40 for that damn CD packaging

6.   Sounds too much like TOOL

7.   Sounds too much like A Perfect Circle

8.   Not enough Maynard

The rest of you are welcome to join the cult or slam us as idiots for worshipping these four mortals whose music is inexplicably given such reverence.   You know, like us who worship Neil, Tim, Dan and Jean-Paul in Clutch.   Sadly, much of the contempt thrown as us TOOL fanatics is coming from the Maryland cult, as if these two bands, of admittedly much different styles and certainly far different productivity and stage shows, are necessarily mutually exclusive.   I say we can worship both Maynard AND Neil.   AMEN, brothers.  

Concerts Again

Recently I had four concerts very crammed in together:  Metallica on 5/10 at M&T Bank Stadium, The Obsessed at the Ottobar in Baltimore (5/20), TOOL at the EagleBank Arena (5/24), and Iron Maiden (with Ghost BC opening) at Jiffy Lube Live on June 3.  My brother Matt went with me to Metallica and Iron Maiden, and paid for my ticket too – thank you!   I commented on Metallica earlier, I’ll comment on concerts in general now.

By now I’ve seen over 200 shows since the first in 1984.  Here are my general thoughts and impressions.

Alone?  My ideal companion is my brother.  We see as many shows together as we can.  Occasionally he’ll see Marillion, Transiberian Orchestra, or Jethro Tull by himself (or with his family), but generally we go together.  Now his kids are getting older, they can appreciate shows, so sometimes they come along.  Our parents did not like our type of music and didn’t go to concerts at all.  They were in San Francisco for their honeymoon in 1967 and did not visit Haight Ashbury.  So Matt is conscientious about including his kids – IF they are interested. 

On the other hand, if I’m the only one I know who wants to see a show, I’ll go alone.  All three Tool shows I went to by myself.   If I depended on everyone else, I’d miss a lot of fantastic shows.  It just requires more logistics in getting to and from the show.  But I don’t mind. 

Ages ago, December 2000, I was on the fence about seeing Wishbone Ash.   Andy Powell was the only remaining original member of the band, whose peak years were the early 1970s, including at least one headlining show at Merriweather Post Pavilion on the Wishbone IV tour.   A Namorada Brasileira did not want to go, so it was just me.  Finally I decided, “f**k it, I’ll go.”  Brilliant decision, because not only was Powell on top form, his #2 guitarist, Mark Birch, was also excellent, and the set featured many of their best songs.  To this date I’ve seen the band several times and they’re always fun to watch.    

The Asshole.   Every concert audience has at least one – hopefully the crowd is so large you don’t notice him.  At ‘Maiden it was a guy pushing his way up to the front.  At the UFO show it was a clown yelling for “Rock Bottom” between literally every song, yet “Rock Bottom” is a song the band is guaranteed to play, probably in the encore.  Basically it’s someone who isn’t truly enjoying himself unless he’s ruining it for everyone else.  Alcohol is almost always a factor. 

Generally weed makes the audience more docile and mellow, so the Asshole is almost never present at a Dead show.  In 1992 we had to fight the entire audience on the field for Metallica & Guns N’Roses, yet the audience on the field for Grateful Dead, the same venue, RFK, was cool and mellow.  The sad thing is that musically, I much prefer Metallica and GNR over the Dead; but the Dead audience is far more enjoyable to watch the show with. 

[As an aside:  the nastiest thing about mean drunks is that they KNOW they are mean drunks and they STILL drink anyway.  I say let out all the nonviolent drug offenders – which they should do anyway – and lock up the serial DUIs and drunk abusers.  Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol itself is waste of time, but we should do something about the worst abusers.]

Moshers.  A subset of this.  I don’t think all moshers are drunk assholes, however, too many of them are.  Occasionally the crowd is packed too tight to allow this to happen; also, you can’t do this up in the seated areas.  Other times, the mosh pit is thankfully further back from the stage, allowing those of us who paid to see the BAND PLAY can do so instead of fending off moshers crashing into them. 

At the Black Sabbath concert at Richie Coliseum in 1994, the moshers were out in force for Morbid Angel, somewhat subdued for Motorhead, but when Black Sabbath came on, they were downright obedient, everyone intent and focused on worshipping Tony Iommi.  As it should be.

It was only at a Danzig show in 1994 that I “accepted” the moshing – but still moved away from it. 

“Spinners” are the Dead show equivalent of moshers.  They’re generally SUPER HIGH or dosing and spin away, but generally on the arena concourse, and they don’t bang into each other.  Or it’s the guy on LSD who thinks he’s an amoeba.   Dude at the ELP show in ’86!   WOOHOO!

SHAQ.   If there’s an NBA player in the audience, chances are he’ll make his way to the very front of the audience, right up to the stage, and block everyone else’s view.  To be fair, Shaq is not expressly intent on doing so.  He wants to see the band like everyone else.   He can see over everyone else, but no one else can see over him.  “You make a better door than a window.”

T-shirts Revisited.  The ideal concert t-shirt has the tour dates on the back, and some variant of the latest album cover, NOT a slavish replication thereof, on the front.  I’m conflicted – as I was at the TOOL show – when the optimal front design did NOT have tour dates on the back, whereas the tour-dates-on-back shirt had a dull and boring front design, in this case identical to a shirt I already had.  Ultimately I have to decide:  which shirt looks the best?  And feel free to abstain altogether if none of the shirts are worthwhile. 

Personally, I don’t like highly complex designs.  At the AC/DC show (Rock or Bust), I chose a Back in Black variant.  The others were a confusing mess.  Many of Maiden’s recent designs were a bit too busy.  The same was true of last year’s Black Sabbath shirts.

The other issue is lines.  I missed several songs of the Sabbath set just waiting in line for shirts, although I was fortunately able to hear them.   Then when you get to the front of the line, the shirt you want is out of stock.  And yes, this still happens at a show that’s the first on a tour. 

Kids.    Some people bring their kids to the show.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Very small children are unlikely to enjoy themselves.  Probably 8 or 9 is the youngest.  Moreover, you can’t expect the audience to behave itself simply because you brought your kids, so rampant foul language and possible drug use (usually just marijuana, and LSD and shrooms are orally consumed anyway) may compromise the experience.  I saw a couple bring their 8 year old boy, who did NOT appear to be really enjoying himself.  We’ll see if he changes his tune when he talks to his peers: (“you saw Iron Maiden on their last tour?? Cool!” “Yeah, whatever”). 

What’s That Smell?  You know what I mean:  either sativa or indica.   Sometimes you smell it and can’t identify who is responsible.  Though at Dead and Phish shows, the smell is almost ubiquitous.  

What’s He Doing Here?   I saw one guy at the Maiden show who appeared to be alone and none too excited about the show.  Maybe he was extremely stoned.   For the most part, the audience appears to be very much excited.  Hopefully not expressing that excitement by moshing.

Basic Format & Variations.   Generally the show is at night, with an opening act playing for 30-45 minutes, a brief break, and the headliner playing one 90 minute set, including the encore.  Checking Setlist Wiki, I see that Metallica has played many shows with multiple encores.  The encore is usually 1-3 songs, often the most popular, but sometimes a wildcard.  The Dead play two sets, both 90 minutes, with or without an opening act.  Clash of the Titans, 1991, had three headliners, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, each playing 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes.

Setlist.  I’ve noted this before:  most bands play the same set (list of songs) every night of the tour.  TOOL and Blue Oyster Cult vary this with one wildcard slot per set.  The Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic and other jam bands play a different set each night.  In the Rush documentary some fan bragged at seeing Rush 40 times.  That means multiple shows on the same tour:  when each night’s set is exactly the same.  Moreover, Rush make it a point to play their songs verbatim as they are on the albums.  Clutch and Pearl Jam are the only non-jam bands I’m aware of which play different sets each night.   Neil Fallon said, “sometimes even I don’t know what we’ll be playing…but it would be too boring playing the same songs each night.” 

“The Whole Album”.  That’s been a recent thing.  Judas Priest played all of British Steel; Rush played all of Moving Pictures; Jethro Tull played all of Aqualung.  Iron Maiden played a set of material from the first four albums (Iron Maiden, Killers, Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind) exclusively.  With the exception of Tull, which played the songs out of sequence and alternating with non-album tracks, these bands played the entire album from start to finish in the same sequence as the original album, which really takes the drama out of the equation.  (Yes, I’m the guy who doesn’t consult Setlist Wiki before the show.  I want to be surprised.) 

With regard to Maiden’s 4 album deal, the problem with that is that when it comes to those songs, it’s always the same songs, e.g. the only song from Killers is “Wrathchild”.  As a practical matter that meant they put “Phantom of the Opera” back in the set – though they’ve played it before with Bruce Dickinson.   In Rush’ case, since side A of MP gets heavy play anyway, it was adding side B (“Camera Eye”, “Witch Hunt”, and “Vital Signs”) to the set. 

Ideally the band should add in songs which have never been played live: “The Necromancer” (Rush), “Thrill of it All” (Black Sabbath), “Strange World” (Iron Maiden), etc.  Rob Halford joked about playing “Run of the Mill” again, but they did add “Never Satisfied” back in recently.  Priest’s early albums have a much different feel which I – and many Priest fans – love. 

Having said all that, the bands I’m referring to are mostly older, and Facebook shows us older rock stars seemingly dropping like flies.  Sabbath had to tour with Tommy Clufetos on drums because Bill Ward was unfit to tour (and has been for decades).  I appreciate that they tour at all, so I can’t give them too much grief for unimaginative setlists.   Keep up the good work, as long as you can, and we’ll keep seeing you, as long as we can.    

State of Thrash 2008

It’s late 2008 and Metallica has released Death Magnetic, their attempt to remain relevant in today’s world of thrash metal. What does it look like now?


Basics. Heavy metal, as a musical genre, has been around for awhile. Depending on your definitions, it could have begun as early as the late 60s with Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Butterfly and Blue Cheer, but certainly the big three of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin, with their peaks in the early 70s, can claim to be the musical bedrock upon which later bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest made their careers in the 80s. In the early 80s, thrash metal emerged at what could be considered the extreme edge of metal, the fastest, loudest, most obnoxious and least aural-friendly bands, the ones that Beavis & Butt-head would claim “scare chicks”.
Approaching the “hairy edge”, the challenge in this genre is to remain “music” of some sort recognizable as such to human ears and not drop off the precipice of mere white noise. As singers’ voices drifted from Rob Halford’s near opera quality skill, to James Hetfield’s growl, then to Tom Araya’s “singing”, the standard got lower and lower, until it reached the point where guttural growls, aka “Cookie Monster” vocals, became acceptable among many bands, despite the fact that we can no longer understand what’s being sung (lyric sheets, please!), and the “singing” sounds more like the grotesque garble of a person – man? woman? – whose lower jaw has been brutally smashed away or tongue ripped out. The same holds true for the music: as the tempo increased faster, the guitars got so fast that the band sounds less like “music” in any meaningful sense and more like a recording of a German WWII MG-42 being fired. Each of these descriptions tend to fit an extreme form of thrash, “death metal”, “grind core” or whatever, which I never liked and will not even address herein. When even the band’s logo is as indecipherable as its lyrics, surely you’ve reached a point of being noise for the sake of being noise. Leaving aside that branch of the thrash family, here is the more mainstream portion of the genre.


Top 4
Metallica. Formerly the top band, until the Napster bullshit and an atrocious sellout. They blended Black Sabbath and Diamond Head and managed to almost single-handedly establish and dominate the genre, progressively improving their sound over several albums: Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, the Garage Days EP, …And Justice For All, and Metallica (aka the Black Album). They succeeded on their own terms, and eclipsed even Ozzy, Sabbath, AC/DC, and most other metal bands during the late 80s and early 90s, with the exception of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. If anyone could take on grunge, it was Metallica. Even replacing Cliff Burton (RIP) with Jason Newsted had no impact, as …And Justice For All managed to achieve the impossible: attracting a vast group of new fans to the band without alienating the hardcore faithful. I got Ride The Lightning in January 1985 for my 16^th birthday, and we saw them that summer at the Donington Monsters of Rock festival.
Then suddenly we were hit with Load. WTF? Metal fans, including Metallica fans such as ourselves, are notoriously sensitive to a band’s inclination – even perceived – to “sell out”, and many argued that after …And Justice For All, the much shorter songs on Metallica (particularly “Nothing Else Matters” and “The Unforgiven”) were Exhibits A-L in the “Metallica sold out” case. To me, …And Justice For All was simply too self-indulgent, and Metallica was nothing more than a distillation of the true essence into a more concentrated format, not a dramatic or fundamental change in perspective. With Load we had, without a doubt, such a change, and not for the better. The songs have a clipped, staccato feel more in tune with grunge than with their previous work. It’s as if Metallica decided to co-opt grunge by joining it, forsaking pioneering their own type of music and simply trying to re-align themselves to what they perceived was a more commercially acceptable format. Re-Load was at least an honest title, as it gave us more of the same shit. St Anger was a definite improvement, but not a return to the earlier sound. This album sounds like the anger was directed at the fans. But hey: you cut your hair, you added guyliner & piercings (what were you thinking, Kirk??), dressed up as cowboys, etc. If the music didn’t scream sellout, the haircuts certainly did. “Queer Eye For Metallica”. And “Some Kind of Monster” didn’t help either. Mustaine accurately called it “Some Kind of Bullshit.”
So what do you we have with Death Magnetic? Too early to tell for me. Kirk grew his hair back, we have Trujillo on bass instead of Jason Newsted (who really looked like a major league asshole in “Some Kind of Monster” – where is Echobrain now, huh?), and we’ve even got the old logo back. None of the songs suck outright, and a few of them are pretty good: “The Day That Never Comes”, “Cyanide”, and the extended instrumental “Suicide & Redemption”. The weakest track, I find, is the last one: “My Apocalypse”, the last track and probably overly aggressive solely to prove a point and close out the album on such a note (like “Damage Inc” on Master of Puppets). I can’t say this album picks up where Metallica left off, but even after hearing it twice I still come away from it liking it more than St Anger. Maybe I’m tired of hating them and finally willing to give the material a fair listen.
The problem is, James, Kirk and Lars are all 25 years older than they were in 1983. They have wives (or girlfriends) and kids. Even if they wanted to replicate the first few albums, they’re no longer the angry, arrogant young guys we saw in “Cliff ‘Em All”, as “Some Kind of Monster” so graphically showed us. Can thrash metal only be effectively written and performed by drunk, horny, guys in their early 20s? Is there an age limit? I don’t hear anyone claiming that Ozzy or Lemmy are “too old”, and Tony and Geezer seem to get more distinguished, but no less credible musicians, as they age. The younger bands still bow, “we’re not worthy”, before them, so Metallica can redeem themselves from the shame of Load, Re-Load, and “Some Kind of Monster” and give us some decent thrash we can appreciate in perspective. Hell, those of us old enough to have seen Cliff Burton play with Metallica, aren’t exactly kids ourselves anymore.
Actually, after years of having to endure “cookie monster” vocals from various thrash bands (“Who’s gonna sing?” “I dunno, pick the guy who sings the worst”), I now appreciate James Hetfield’s voice. He clearly enunciates the lyrics but gives it just enough rasp and venom to give it the nasty edge it needs to work.


Megadeth. Dave Mustaine’s band. I’ll give him this: he never gave us anything close to Load or Re-Load. But no matter who the band members are, Megadeth always strikes me as second-rate Metallica. Mustaine takes Hetfield’s rasp and warps it into a perpetual, arrogant sneer. “Hey, I’m the asshole who sings.”


Anthrax. Not bad, just too clever. Even Scott Ian admits that this whole “NOT” thing obscured the band’s talent. I think they tried to take too much credit and attention for the “I’m The Man” and “Bring the Noize” deal of mixing rap and metal (no, I will NOT suck your dicks). Highlight? “I Am the Law”, the Judge Dredd song. Joey Belladonna was their best singer, clearly some good lungs. Anthrax’s image was, “we have no image”, but that, in itself, is an image if you try too hard to cram it down everyone’s throats. Enough.


Slayer. The official “serial killer concept album” band. I could never get into their earlier material, South of Heaven or Reign in Blood. Well, if you really hate Slayer, at least the longest you’ll have to endure any album is what, 20 minutes? To me, Seasons in the Abyss was their peak. I have to blame Tom Araya for starting this damn “cookie monster” vocal crap, although he is barely understandable. Now Kerry King has the “bald head, goatee, and arm covered in tattoos” deal. Whatever happened to “long hair, t-shirt” and just play a Strat or an Explorer? Everyone (except maybe Trouble) seems to have hired image consultants - not just Metallica.

We saw Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax together in June 1991 on the Clash of the Titans show, with Alice in Chains opening, but the nature of the format meant that each “headliner” could only play a 45 minute set. Value or not? On the Black Album tour, Metallica was playing, without an opening act, for 3 hours. Do the math and think about it.


Second Tier
Corrosion of Conformity/Down. CoC started out as a hardcore punk band and switched formats, putting Pepper Keenan on vocals. Damn good shit. With Down, Keenan teamed up with Phil Anselmo (Pantera) for what turns out to be New Orleans style thrash, some slow, smokey shit like a ratmeat barbecue dosed with brown acid. Awesome.


Trouble. From Chicago. They take Black Sabbath, add some Beatles and psychedelic stuff to the mix, and come out with a damn good result. The twin guitarists Rick Wartell (KK Downing double – even down to the Flying V) and Bruce Franklin (Uli Roth double, though playing an SG Junior instead of a Strat) trade off solos and harmonies to make Dave Murray and Adrian Smith jealous. Eric Wagner was cool as the singer from ’85 until this summer, but now he’s replaced by Kory Clarke – maybe not the same quality voice, but he has the energy and attitude.


White Zombie/Rob Zombie. Aside from no J. Yuenger or Sean Yseult (I share Beavis’ reaction: “What’s the deal with all these chick bass players?), I can’t tell the difference between the two. The music is acceptable – even catchy sometimes (“Living Dead Girl”, “More Human Than Human”) - but the sound effects and imagery is really over the top. Zombie seems to want to channel Alice Cooper (Cooper’s take on Marilyn Manson: “He wears makeup and has a woman’s name. How original.”).


Pantera. I was never too impressed with them. They started out as a glam metal band from Texas, added Anselmo and turned to thrash, and melted down for reasons I never understood (or cared to learn). I have Far Beyond Driven but never felt compelled to collect any other albums. I hated Dimebag Darrell’s goatee and Anselmo’s voice, but at least in Down he’s learned how to sing.


Voivod. From Montreal. Well played and written thrash metal. They deserve the distinction of being one of the first thrash bands to tip their hats to Gilmour, Waters, Mason & Wright (RIP). They covered “Astronomy Domine” long before Atomic Bitchwax, and I have their terrific 3D album, The Outer Limits, with their cover of “The Nile Song”. They also have a credible claim at being one of the first artsy – if perhaps pretentious – thrash bands around, long before Opeth.


Tool. Are they thrash? Industrial? Progressive? The same with Mars Volta and Thrak-era King Crimson. These are bands who are so far out, they truly defy any meaningful labels aside from “metal” – just as King Crimson has always done. I suppose you truly qualify as “original” when no one can figure out what to call you, even if they don’t necessarily like you. By this point I’ve tuned out on Mars Volta; I wasn’t impressed with Bedlam in Goliath, their latest album, and live they stink. But I still love Tool, especially since 10,000 Days, their latest album, is their best, and unlike Mars Volta, they’re damn good in concert. In fact, I remember thinking as I started getting into Tool last year, that until they came around, Metallica were the heaviest band who could still be called “music” in some way. Tool have since stolen the mantle, and even comparing 10,000 Days with Death Magnetic, have yet to relinquish it back to its erstwhile owners. There’s something inherently metallic about the music, as if it were designed or engineered, and built, rather than written – some industrial science rather than art; Maynard Keenan’s side project, A Perfect Circle, seems to have an organic, fleshy feel to it compared to Tool. And live, the band disappears among the lights and magic, the screens behind them at the back of the stage, as if they were creating something far larger than themselves. A Tool live show is certainly an experience, in fact very similar to Pink Floyd – just 100 times heavier.


Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Flotsam & Jetsam, Suicidal Tendencies. I know of these bands but never paid attention to them. They’re more famous because of their former members than as bands themselves. Each of them has supplied a different member of Metallica: Kirk Hammett from Exodus, Jason Newsted from Flotsam & Jetsam, and most recently, Robert Trujillo from Suicidal Tendencies – replacing Newsted.


The Next Generation
Turisas. From Finland. I have their album The Varangian Way, a concept album about a band of Vikings who end up in Mikligard, aka Constantinople (Istanbul). Fairly well done (especially compared to Tyr)! Closest in sound to Opeth (see below). They covered Boney M’s single “Rasputin” and managed to make it work – both versions inspire a classic Cossack dance! However, they also play in full Viking regalia, which includes furs and war paint; and they have a violinist and an accordionist, so they have a huge novelty factor which may damage their credibility.
As with KISS, there is always a tendency to write off any band which overtly indulges in some obvious gimmick. AC/DC has Angus Young, Alice Cooper had his theatrics, and GWAR clearly have their elaborate stage show. More recently there’s Slipknot with their matching jumpsuits and different masks, Wayne Static’s bizarre hair & beard, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, etc. – clearly there is no shortage of bands who may or may not be trying to crutch substandard talent and music by a bizarre innovation. Being enthralled by the smoke & mirrors may trick you into buying into a genius that doesn’t exist – or blind detractors from talent hidden underneath all that. To call KISS talentless strikes me as both easy and unfair; they’re not geniuses or artists, but they do have real talent. I put Turisas in the same category, especially since I was impressed by their music before I even watched the bonus DVD revealing their stage presence. But the DVD shows them playing during broad daylight at various festivals, well below the top of the bill, to an audience which mostly paid to see the headliners and had these Viking weirdos inflicted upon them. Those people may be less inclined to give Turisas a fair hearing. We’ll see. They’re supporting Dragonforce AND headlining other clubs this fall, giving two groups of audiences exposure to this “battle metal”.


Opeth. From Sweden – finally a band the country can be proud to claim their own aside from ABBA. I have Watershed (newest album), The Roundhouse Tapes (live) and Damnation. Although they have their share of “cookie monster” vocals, the singer often makes a mistake and sings normally. They also slow down periodically and end up sounding like Pink Floyd on steroids (very reminiscent of Voivod). Probably one of the most talented of the new crew of thrash bands, and that appears to be the well-deserved reputation they’re developing. Even the heavy parts have almost a classical feel to them, similar to Metallica’s instrumentals “The Call of Ktulu” and “Orion”, even if Opeth don’t sound anything like Metallica.
Damnation is remarkable – and a judgment call. Technically it’s not really even a thrash album, more like remarkably executed progressive rock. But the fact that this band can pull it off at all is a major factor in their credit. Watershed is a thrash album, and a damn good one. The live album shows that not only can they play, Mikael Akerfeldt, the singer/lead guitarist is fairly witty and irreverent, almost a thrash version of Ian Anderson. His humor is a welcome foil to the music, which is all too often serious. What you’re left with is a refreshingly well-rounded band which covers the bases, slamming you in the head at one point, yet caressing you at others, similar to 70s era King Crimson. The truly great bands know how to build upon their influences yet still expanding and developing a new, unique sound of their own. This is what separates Opeth from Dragonforce, as noted below.


Dragonforce. Giving Opeth some stiff competition for role of top new band. I’ll have to go with Opeth, though. While Opeth are doing something unique and original, charting new territory, Dragonforce are basically ripping off Kill ‘Em All – from 1983!! – and pretending to give us something brand new. Do they really think that Metallica have so alienated every metal fan out there, that NO ONE has heard the first 3 Metallica albums? Give me a break. The one thing they change is having a singer who sounds like Steve Perry of Journey instead of James Hetfield or Dave Mustaine. I have their most recent album, Ultra Beatdown, which probably should be called Ultra Beatoff. I could barely endure it.
In addition to the almost note-for-note ripoff of the early Metallica sound, the lyrics are inane. Check them out for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. The best you could say for them is that they complement the music, but Metallica and Megadeth, and thrash bands in general, tend to at least attempt to write lyrics which are listenable and appreciable in and of themselves, not merely window dressing for the music just so it won’t be just an album of instrumentals. Thrash metal has established a fairly high standard for politically and socially relevant lyrics – even if 70% of them are about nuclear war, or if you can’t understand half of them because the singer can’t sing for shit – so Dragonforce fall well below the minimum threshold. Which is a shame, because their singer actually CAN sing for shit. But even if they fixed the lyrics, they’re still ripping off “Motorbreath”. Been there, done that.


Clutch. Not bad. I have one album, but I’ll have to hear more of them. They throttle it down a gear, but only one gear. In a way, this sounds like the sound Metallica is trying for on Load and Re-Load, except that for Clutch it’s 
their own sound, instead of an established band trying to latch on to an existing genre. Too bad.


High On Fire. The one song I heard sounded like this obscure band no one has ever heard of: METALLICA. Is the rest any different?


Mudvayne, Slipknot, Static X, Disturbed, Powerman 5000. ZZZZZZZZ. Please, spare me this Ozzfest garbage – I’ve had to endure each of these bands open for Black Sabbath over the years and have never been impressed by any of them. More bands with gimmicks galore and at best average talent. Can they play their instruments competently at 100 mph? Sure. Can they sing? Rarely. Are they doing anything that hasn’t been done over and over again? Not really. What was really laughable is that often the singer would bark out something about “down with all those boy bands or Britney who all sound exactly the same” and then give us second rate thrash metal which all sounds exactly the same. The music is hardly original or remarkable and they probably wouldn’t have as much of an audience if they dropped whatever gimmick they’re using (see Turisas above).

So who wins, circa 2008? I can’t decide between Tool or Opeth. Trouble deserve a solid silver metal simply by virtue of sheer persistence. I’d like to believe Metallica have redeemed themselves, but the jury is still out on Death Magnetic, and I still don’t like it as much as 10,000 Days or Watershed.