Tag: “Metal Mike”

Megadeth – Megadeth

Posted on by Mike

https://metalheadconfessions.com/?p=3428

This won’t be fun. I will not enjoy making this review. It’s sad that I came out of retirement for this.

It was announced a few months back that Megadeth’s next album would be their last. I didn’t buy that and I somewhat still don’t, even after listening to the final track, with its strongly worded message. Dave Mustaine has been diagnosed an arthritic condition in his left hand known as Dupuytren’s Contracture, in which his hand stiffen up, as if he’s holding an axe. That apparently is why it’s also known as Viking Disease. Imagine writing some of THE most insanely technical riffs in ALL of Heavy Metal, and then your hand is essentially crippled. That’d kill me if I were in his shoes.

We also have yet another new lineup. Back in the fold for his second jaunt with Megadeth is none other than legendary Brooklyn bassist James LoMenzo. James joined Megadeth in time for 2007’s United Abominations and left shortly after 2009’s Endgame as original Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was being brought back in. When David was fired a few years ago for what I at least describe as religious hypocrisy, his bass parts in the yet to be released The Sick, The Dying, And The Dead were erased and replaced by fretless bass GOD Steve DiGiorgio. But Steve didn’t tour with the band for that album, and that’s when James was brought back. Finnish guitarist Teemu Mantysaari was previously in Symphonic Metal band Wintersun. He joined in time to replace Kiko Loureiro, who left after The Sick, The Dying and The Dead to be home in Brazil with his family.

Symphonic Metal: GAY.

So, with some younger blood in Megadeth, it would be interesting to hear how this supposed sendoff would sound. For those who don’t know, Dave Mustaine left his own band in 2002 after an arm injury. But he came back a little over a year later and his hand was working just fine. And when he initially said that the inaugural 2005 Gigantour would be the last Megadeth tour, he chose to continue on. That’s why I’m pessimistic. Even David Ellefson knows to be pessimistic!

Let’s look at the artwork first. We see band mascot Vic Rattlehead in a three piece suit. As he’s adjusting his tie, we see that he’s slowly being engulfed in flames. It may be symbolic of one going out bravely, going out on his own terms. To me it’s reminiscent of Gus Fring adjusting his tie after barely making it out of the nursing home room that was just blown up by Hector Salamanca by way of Walter White in Season 4 of Breaking Bad. Half his face is blown off, but maybe he knows he’s about to die because once that shock kicks in he immediately drops to the floor.

This supposed final album begins with “Tipping Point”, which was also the first single off the album. It starts off with a pretty good mid-tempo, Iron Maiden-esque harmony riff, featuring quite an impressive solo from Dave. It then picks up speed. Then comes Dave’s vocals and rather shitty lyrics. “Today I may bleed, but tonight you will die”? Yeah, ok bud. Thank fuck for Teemu, who really does sound like a modern-day Marty Friedman at times. And man, it’s only one track in and I can hear how shot Dave’s voice is. A lot of this has to do with his 2010 neck fusion. That fucked up a lot of things for him.

Unfortunately, his voice is going to sound pretty raspy and frail for most, if not all of this album.

The lyrics to “I Don’t Care” are absolutely childish and retarded in plain English. RETARDED. Is this supposed to be Dave’s attempt at writing a Punk Rock song at 64 years old?? Once again, thank you Teemu for saving the day, and for not being a Temu Marty Friedman. See what I did there? Otherwise, “You gotta know gotta know gotta know” that this song is absolute ass!

“Hey, God?!” is more mid-tempo. The sound of Dirk Verbeuren’s drums, and the punchiness of his snare, make this sound like it maybe could’ve fit on Countdown to Extinction. I’m trying to figure out what Dave’s talking about. Is he trying to speak from someone else’s point of view since he himself is a Born Again? Is he channeling his younger self who attempted suicide more than a few times (see “Skin ‘O My Teeth”)? What I do know is that I love Dirk’s drum breaks immediately preceding the solo section.

“Let There Be Shred” contains the album’s most technical riffing so far. And, true to the title, solos galore between both Dave and Teemu. But goddamn, these lyrics – especially the chorus! And how about the line, “the guitars are screaming , they scream with delight”?

GAY.

Before I continue, I need to make this abundantly clear: I get that Dave Mustaine is now 64. Fuck, this September he officially becomes a fucking senior citizen – a milestone he NEVER thought he’d reach! So, I get that at this point not everything he writes will necessarily hit the mark. But I do expect that if this album is to be his final curtain call, that he puts just a little bit more effort into his lyrics. Just a little. It shouldn’t be that hard.

Left to Right: James LoMenzo (bass), Dirk Verbeuren (drums), Dave Mustaine (vocals and guitar), Teemu Mantysaari (guitar)

Is Dave even trying to sing on “Puppet Parade”. In the chorus alone it sounds like his just trying to get through it, and not even because he’s straining his voice. It sounds like that amateur musician that’s so anxious that he’s just trying to get the take over with and doesn’t care if it’s QUALITY or not. I’ve dealt with that a few times when I was stupid enough to play in bands. The music here reminds me of something that could’ve been on United Abominations. Go figure; that’s Megadeth’s last really good album for me and that was released nearly nineteen years ago now.

In fact, I’d say that this final album as whole musically is a combination of both Countdown and United. It’s technical to a point, yet melodic, and there are more mid-tempo tracks than fast tracks, most likely as a result of Dave’s unfortunate diagnosis. I sense that it was the only way he could feasibly record at least one more album without being in too much pain and I cannot hold that against him.

Damn if “Another Bad Day” doesn’t sound like “This Was My Life” at points. It’s actually one of the better arrangements on the record, that’s for sure. But the lyrics sound like a real bad attempt at Springsteen minus the part where he worked that 50 hour shift over at the factory in (insert the edge of random New Jersey town here) and didn’t get paid for it the next week.

I think it’s odd that I don’t really hear much of James LoMenzo’s bass in the mix. I wish I knew why, because he’s an INCREDIBLE bassist. We’re talking so good that I actually forgive him for being in White Lion in the 80’s!

Why do the opening tom fills for “Made to Kill” remind me slightly of “13 Steps to Nowehere” by Pantera? The shuffle otherwise is a classic signature of Megadeth and I actually can’t help but bop my head. The speed picks up and I appear to FINALLY hear James’ bass. Thank fuck! It’s not up there in the mix the way David Ellefson’s bass used to be, but that could also be because Ellefson uses a pick and James uses his fingers. Those vocals again. I almost feel sorry for him. The arrangement seems a bit anti-climactic. It picks up speed, hits a Dave solo, a few more lyrics and it just stops abruptly.

“Obey the Call” is giving me mixed feelings. The mid-tempo groove allows the guitars to breathe a bit more. Teemu’s solos kill it. Thank fuck he helped Dave with some of these arrangements because you can tell he needed the help more than ever. It picks up momentum, a few trade off solos between Teemu and Dave, and then it ends abruptly. Again.

“I know me, I know myself. I do not fear countless battles ahead. I will win when I go to war. Swifter than the wind, I attack fire.” Between this music and your shaky voice, I’m not convinced, Dave. Maybe this’ll work in the nearest nursing home.

And by the way this is killing me to write this.

“One more spotlight start to fade to black. One more winding road, and I won’t come. The roar I lived for, it starts to die. And now it’s time for me to say the long goodbye”. That’s what kicks off “The Last Note”. This is actually moving to me as someone whose own guitar playing was influenced by Dave Mustaine. The deepness in his gravely, shaky voice, appears to be legitimately genuine, as if he knows it’s truly over for him.

The arrangement is very different from the rest of the album, as the lyrical message is far more important than the music. And the music is just fitting. It’s not as dramatic a musical number as I was hoping for with crescendos and drops. But the emotion is there, I was just hoping for a little more to match the lyrics.

“They gave me gold. They gave me a name. But every deal was signed in blood and flames. So here’s my last will and testament, my sneer. I came, I ruled, and now, I disappear…” That’s the way he said goodbye to a calming, gentle twelve string guitar.

If that isn’t an emotional way to go, then I don’t know what is. It did hit me. His riffs, despite what his previous band said about him, ran circles around those guys. His songs were amazingly intelligent, his riffs made you dizzy, his arrangements otherworldly – and most of those happened while under the influence! He made his own path and has his own legacy.

Well, that’s the way he SHOULD HAVE said goodbye.

Now For The Problem!

A Metallica cover, huh?

Let’s discuss something else first. It’s a bit peculiar that he chose to record “Ride the Lightning”. Yes, girls, he does in fact have a songwriting credit for that track before you scream at me for no reason. But of all SIX songs he has credit for, I’m very surprised he didn’t record anything from Kill ‘Em All, the album where he sees the most songwriting credits. I’m even more surprised that he didn’t choose “Jump In The Fire”, as he wrote that before he even joined Metallica. Megadeth already performed “Phantom Lord” live during their 2013 Gigantour shows with Jason Newsted joining the band on stage for that number.

But what I’m not surprised at is that he chose to do this at all. According to David Ellefson, when Megadeth were getting ready to record The Sick, The Dying, and The Dead (in which David’s bass tracks were later erased), Dave wanted Megadeth to record the tracks he wrote for Kill ‘Em All as retaliation for Metallica releasing a special edition, 40th anniversary cassette replica of the No Life ‘Til Leather demo for Record Store Day in 2022, and that’s when David FINALLY put his foot down said no. He also thinks that was the beginning of the end of his relationship with Dave leading to the incident that justified Dave firing him in the end.

Now to discuss “Ride The Lightning”: The Megadeth Edition.

Ask Dave Mustaine and he’ll tell you this is his “full circle” moment where he pays tribute to his previous band as they were his roots. That’d make sense if he ever actually GOT OVER THE FACT THAT THEY FIRED HIM. I think this was more to show off the fact that from a musical standpoint he’s the one who invented the spider chord technique you here in the middle section, and he also most likely wrote the main riff. That sliding power chord is unquestionably a main staple of Dave Mustaine’s guitar/songwriting technique. That groaning sound that you hear in so many Megadeth songs.

But listening to this track over and over again I can’t help but ask myself “what the fuck are we doing here???”. I’m just going to get straight to the point here, it’s a modern-day produced, note-for-note rendition. And Dave’s vocals? Remember that Beavis and Butthead episode where Butthead told Beavis that he sounded like Mustaine? Well, here, Mustaine sounds like Beavis talking about trying to score. That’s not a compliment and Beavis and Butthead was my childhood!

I feel like he just did one take struggling to just get through this. It’s really bad karaoke. It’s as if he got smashed, stumbled into the nearest Karaoke bar in St. Marks Place in Manhattan and yelled badly into the worn out microphone, trying to emulate the vocals of a then-twenty one year old kid. To boot, his vocals in the mix are louder than the music. And let’s talk about the solo section. It’s clear that Dave arranged it where he and Teemu trade off solos. Teemu absolutely starts if off, followed by Dave. But that harmonized section near the end, I don’t know if it’s Dave, Teemu or the two of them harmonizing together. But it almost sounds like a harmonizer effect. Very clinical, much like Dirk’s drums.

And then there’s James’ bass, which I complained about once already. I’m not listening to this expecting Dave to mix James to sound remotely like the late Cliff Burton. I definitely didn’t expect Dave to fly Flemming Rasmussen in from Denmark to mix the tracks the way he did for Metallica in 1984. But on a track like “Ride The Lightning” where the bass was absolutely as important as the other instruments, James fucking LoMenzo needed to be a little more prominent in the mix.

Worse than all of what I just said is the idea that nearly 43 years and an entire legacy later, he chose to end his career by pointing to THEM. It’s not a full circle moment at all. It’s him still mourning the fact that he got kicked out of what became the biggest band on Earth even though it was HIS OWN FUCKING FAULT. I’m not as big a Metallica fan like I was a Megadeth fan; but you NEVER heard James or Lar$ bitch about Dave they way Dave still bitches about them.

It’s time to face the facts: Dave’s time in Metallica was a fucking blip. He, once again, has songwriting credit for only SIX SONGS. He never even made it to record Kill ‘Em All because he was unceremoniously fired just DAYS after the band arrived in Queens, NY. I can easily join the echo chamber in saying he needs to let it go. But if I’m pragmatic, I know that at this point it’s hopeless, so hopeless it’s pathetic. I swear his dying words are going to be “James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich”. And why not? The first two words in his autobiography actually are “James Hetfield” after all. I shit you not.

Abandonment issues my big, hairy ass!

THIS is how he chose to ride off into the sunset, by pretending he was still with them and seemingly forgetting about his own INCREDIBLE legacy. It also acts as a reminder that a LOT of his career was based on trying to one-up Metallica. That’s why he tried to go mainstream in 1992. That’s why he made an album as shitty as Risk in 1999 – because of something he heard Lar$ say!

I didn’t have high hopes for Megadeth’s self-titled farewell. The band’s take on “Ride the Lightning” solidified my fears. I hearby give Megadeth’s swan song two middle fingers.

My Own Final Will and Testament

I’m closing this by officially announcing my retirement from Confessions of An Angry Metalhead. I haven’t been inspired or motivated for over a year. That’s why I’ve done NOTHING since 2024, that’s why I’ve done NOTHING to celebrate the blog’s 10th anniversary last year. I just don’t care and you probably don’t either. The only way I’ll let anyone keep in touch with me if it’s a hot chick, or at least one with great big titties, who wants to send me nudes. Otherwise, I hope I pissed you off and triggered your asses to no end.

Good riddance and kill yourselves you fucking cunts!

Megadeth – Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good! (2002 Remix and Remaster)

Posted on by Mike

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/SUZJL0rEd0b

Why?

Why the fuck am I writing another article after having not done so in well over a year? I was unofficially retired, having zero desire to write anything else. I was done. Then Dave Mustaine announced that the next Megadeth album would be the band’s last, and that he was going to retire. Then I started hearing some songs and I was absolutely mortified by the lyrics to some of these songs alone. And I feared that this final album, released just yesterday as of my writing this, is going to be absolute shit.

I’m very tempted to write an article just shitting all over this final album. But before I do, I figured I should talk about my reaction to listening to Mustaine’s 2002 remix of Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!, Megadeth’s 1985 debut.

It was my teenage years when I began to absolutely WORSHIP Megadeth far more than I ever could Metallica, the band Dave was kicked out of right before that band recorded their 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. My first Megadeth experience, unfortunately was 1997’s Crypitc Writings, which is where the band truly took a stab at mainstream success. It was…ok. Two years later they released Risk, which was even WORSE, and I questioned my my spending choices greatly.

But over time I’d hear classic songs such as “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?”, and “Sweating Bullets” on WSOU and wonder where THIS band had been! When the band started to go back to its thrashier roots in 2001, I was inspired and bought the remainder of their 90’s-era output starting with Countdown to Extinction, followed by Youthanasia, and then finally, the motherload itself, Rust in Peace.

I was fucking FLOORED. This was so intricate, so intense. “How the fuck does he sing AND play those guitar parts??”. Then in early 2002, it was announced that Dave remixed and remastered Megadeth’s debut album to be released in February to be released on Loud Records. When they approached him about merely remastering the record, Dave offered to remix it to bring out things that you couldn’t hear in the original recording. He wanted to give it the treatment that all the other albums would get. Also…

See this shit?

Yeah, he definitely wanted the opportunity to finally do justice to this shit show that Combat Records did, making Dave think to himself “Boy did we get cheated!”.

So, upon meeting up with a friend at the Staten Island Mall the Sunday after the remixed album was released, I picked it up at Sam Goody. While taking cab service home, the driver was starting at some of the girls, and beginning to tell me about some of his conquests, before an elderly woman came into the car, forcing him to switch personalities, so to speak.

The biggest mistake I recall making that afternoon was trying to do homework while this was blasting out of my then-new Phillips 5-disc CD player. The piano and ESPECIALLY the guitar was nice and clear for the intro to “Last Rites/Loved to Death”. Once the drums kicked in you could hear that the sounds was far more crisp, the flatulent snare drum sound replaced with something infinitely sharper. And all of this was going to make for Gar Samuelson’s drums to be easier to hear, and far more brutal than what’s heard on the original mix. Then was the way Dave just fucking RIPPED that solo using his Bill Lawrence pickup as an extra fret!

Next up was the badass title track, which according to Dave’s liner notes, was based on The Punisher. I was flabbergasted, thinking that at one point, he was actually trying to sing while playing that chaotically technical riff live in concert. And it was the fucking verse riff!! It was all too clear as the speed picked up: this truly was the brainchild of a guy who lost the opportunity of a lifetime and was now out for blood. He told that band when they fired him to not use his shit. They did anyway and it challenged him to do something he knew they couldn’t pull off.

After that was “Skull Beneath The Skin”, which I’m 99.5% positive is the story of Vic Rattlehead, Megadeth’s mascot. It’s an absolute beast of an exercise in dynamics and changes. There’s a reason Scott Ian of Anthrax once described Dave’s guitar style as being “sideways”, and that’s probably because it truly never was straightforward. Maybe it was because in Gar and guitarist Chris Poland, Dave had employed two jazz musicians who probably helped him in arranging the chaos.

The speedballs might’ve helped too.

This style continued for the next two tracks, “Rattlehead”, the albums Thrash anthem featuring some INCREDIBLE leads by Chris Poland, and “Chosen Ones”. Following these was “Looking Down the Cross”, the ultimate beneficiary of Dave Mustaine’s remix job as far as I’m concerned. You can hear the difference INSTANTLY which Dave’s tapping harmonics in the beginning of the song. In the original mix, the riff is very reverberated, sounding as if it was played in a cave. Within the confines of the remix, the harmonics have more feedback to them and sound far more in your face. And that was the whole point of him remixing this whole album anyway.

This to me is the centerpiece of Killing… It’s technical, it changes tempos at the drop of a fucking dime, the lyrics are insanely intelligent for a guy that had a MAJOR drug problem long before Chris and Gar ever introduced him and bassist David Ellefson to speedballs. Considering that James and Lar$ initially didn’t have the most flattering things to say about Dave’s guitar abilities, especially in the lead department, this was the track that should have shut them both up. The second solo on “Looking…” is the most intense solo Dave ever played. It’s chaotic, it’s panic stricken courtesy of the multiple diminished trills he hits, AND it actually tells a story within the confines of the chaos!

“Mechanix” hits and here we go. Metallica fans know this one w]as “The Four Horsemen”. The primary differences are “Mechanix” lacks the mid-tempo section and the apocalyptic lyrics. In its stead are a slightly faster tempo that doesn’t relent and lyrics about a horny gas station attendant. Hearing James sing “Mechanix” on the No Life ‘Til Leather demo is hilarious when you realize those are Dave’s lyrics, and James’ vocal style still wasn’t fully developed yet.

Closing the album is a cover of “These Boots”, the Nancy Sinatra song. I hate this song with all my heart and soul. I’ll NEVER understand what possessed the band to cover this song. But I do know that it’s quite funny. Lee Hazelwood, the writer of the song, waited ten years before he decided to complain about the band’s cover version, prompting Dave to bleep out random lyrics for the sake of comedic effect more than anything else.

In the next two months leading to the news that Megadeth would have broken up (albeit temporarily), this album kicked my ass so hard. I listened to it RELIGIOUSLY for the next little while as I traveled to school and work every day. It wasn’t perfect, it was nothing like the succeeding album, which found Megadeth on a major label. But the songs were fucking RAW and the new remix job accentuated that rawness. It was very much needed. Not bad for guys who needed an extra $4,000 to finish the album because they blew half of their $8,000 budget on drugs! I give the remix of Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good four middle fingers!

Track List

Last Rites/Loved to Deth

Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!

The Skull Beneath the Skin

Rattlehead

Chosen Ones

Looking Down the Cross

Mechanix

These Boots (Nancy Sinatra)

Bonus Tracks from the Last Rites demo (1984):

Last Rites/Loved to Deth

Mechanix

The Skull Beneath the Skin

The Official Demise Of A Musical Dynasty: In Memory Of Vinnie Paul

Posted on by Mike

It was early this past Saturday morning, around 2am, when I got up to take a quick piss.  I looked on my phone for shits and giggles and saw that I friend of mine posted something, captioning “holy shit!” above it.  It was a the Billboard article announcing that former Pantera/Hell Yeah drummer Vinnie Paul was dead at 54.  I thought I was just tired; but after a few minutes I realized that this was in fact reality.  There were no facts at the times, all that mattered was that one of the greatest of all time was gone.

The facts, since then, have slowly started to become known.  We now know that he died in his sleep in his Las Vegas home (booze and strippers, duh!), and of a heart attack.  According to the Las Vegas police, there were no signs of foul play.  Then today came the news that, just like his late brother, he’ll be buried beside him and their mother…in a KISS coffin.  Of course it’ll take some time for the toxicology report to come out.  I don’t want this to focus too much on his well publicized lifestyle here.  But let’s face it: despite his machine like intensity on the drums, he never seemed to burn too many calories.  That’s most likely because he never slowed down the drinking.  I mean fuck me did this guy and his brother, the late Dimebag Darrell, know how to party or what??

As I said before, I’m not here to discuss what everyone else is bound to write about.  I’m going to talk about why this son of a bitch from Arlington, TX will forever have a spot as one of the greatest drummers of all time.

So what the fuck makes a musician one of the best?  That person is able to make himself recognizable in songwriting style, technique, skill and sound.  That guy has to be able to make himself stand out.  From non metal guys like Stewart Copeland and Phil Collins (yeah, Phil Collins was a drum god at one point!) to hard rock drummers such as John Bonham to Vinnie’s own idol, Alex Van Halen, each of the guys I mentioned had the ability to make themselves easily distinguishable because they possessed all the qualities I just mentioned.  Vinnie, along with his brother, clearly knew this early on.  And while it would take three independently recorded albums before they were signed to their first deal, the wait would be worth it, because they, along with Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo, created a new sub genre of Metal, making them the single most important Heavy Metal band of the nineties.  Pantera were to be the band that single handed SAVED Metal during the rise of the Grunge scene, and later Alternative music.

Starting with their fourth album, 1990’s Cowboys From Hell, Pantera burst out like a goddamn raging bull with tracks such as the title track, “Psycho Holiday”, “Heresy” and everyone’s excuse to mosh, “Domination”.  There are other classics on there that I could’ve named just now but I chose the ones I just mentioned because those tracks are filled with an extraordinarily seamless combination of interlocking with…groove??  Oh yeah, Vinnie never lost the groove no matter how mechanical or technical those tracks were.  He’d explain years later that, while he respected drummers with fast left hands (think blast beats), he was more concerned about making people move.

1992’s Vulgar Display Of Power saw Pantera develop a much edgier sound all around.  I mean they were already edgy, but starting here the band were starting to sound more like the soundtrack to a fist fight!  Between Phil’s rougher vocal delivery to Diamond Darrell…as he was unfortunately still calling himself at the time…downtuning his guitar and those drums.   Unlike most Thrash bands, Pantera were not JUST about precision and speed.  Vinnie Paul as a drummer was more than JUST an anchor.  He knew when to keep it tight and he also knew when to let loose and just go with the shuffle:

With tracks such as this one above, and “No Good (Attack The Radical)”, you started to hear Vinnie’s creativity.  There are syncopated rhythms in “No Good” that sounded so new.  They’d also be the basis for shitty nu metal bands later on but I’ll get to that soon.

1994’s Far Beyond Driven.  Without question it’s THE most important album in Pantera’s history.  Why?  Because it debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.  No Metal band before Pantera had EVER pulled that off before and now no one could EVER take that away from them.  It is also the HEAVIEST album to EVER debut at No. 1.  With the opening track, “Strength Beyond Strength”, your ass is kicked immediately.  It’s one big explosion and Vinnie’s much louder, much more POWERFUL drums are taking full charge.  Sounded like Vinnie had done some tinkering in the studio, both with his drum kit, as well as with the mixing board.   I mean goddamn – just listen to this fucking track!!!

I said earlier that to be the best you had to find your own sound among other things and Vinnie’s drums sounded so much deeper than on any other album up to this point.  Turns out he in fact was tuning his heads real low…like almost to the point of being loose.  And those bass drums!  They sound so triggered.  But as the story goes, while in the studio, Vinnie used wooden beaters in the studio and also taped quarters on his bass heads, right at the spot where the beaters would make contact.  The result was a clicky, yet stronger, clearer, more powerlful bass drum.  It’d also set the tone for the way many other, far more extreme Metal bands would record in the years to come.

If his brother, who was finally going by Dimebag at this point, was to be my generation’s Eddie Van Halen, then Vinnie was to be my generation’s Alex.  Both were brothers, both played together for so long that they could read each other’s minds with ease.  They both understood each other.  But on the downside, Alex, amazing as he was, was clearly destined to be overshadowed by his game changing brother.  Vinnie would be no different.  Dime’s playing and his SOUND were a MASSIVE game changer at this time, and rightfully so.  But every guitarist, bassist, or even singer are only as good as their drummer.  Eddie would’ve been just some asshole who taps had it not been for Alex.  Dime would’ve probably just been a guy with a scooped sound and a whammy bar had it not been for Vinnie.

Take for example “13 Steps To Nowhere” off 1996’s The Great Southern Trendkill.  This unmistakably is THE darkest, most intense album in Pantera’s entire discography – and my personal favorite!  It’s a headbanger for sure, very Sabbath inspired with just enough technicality to justify it as old school to the core.  It sounds like Vinnie here perfected the trigger sound on his bass drums, and found just the right EQ setting for his low tuned toms, as they cascade from high to low before Phil’s fucked up verses.  Right in the middle, the Sabbath moment takes over as the song breaks down beautifully, allowing Vinnie’s drums to breathe.  You hear every nuance, every reverberation, every BOOM.  It’s pure destruction.  It’s so sexy.

Then a problem arose in the music world.  In the four years between the release of ‘Trendkill and their final album, 2000’s Reinventing The Steel.  Starting with KoRn, actually going back to ’94, several “Nu” bands came along and tried to focus strictly on groove.  The guitarists all had a scooped sound, they all tuned down lower than even Dime thanks to the revival of seven string guitars; the drummers were playing nothing but snycopations, especially shit bands like Disturbed; and the singers all wore green shorts like Phil and were all just angry without a cause (well to be fair Jonathan Davis was apparently molested as a kid).  Unfortunately, Pantera were to get the blame for this, as most of these fuckers freely cited Vulgar as a major influence.

But the biggest problem with all those fuckfaces – and the biggest reason music SUCKED in the early 2000’s – was that they completely missed the point.  Pantera as a band, and as individual musicians, took close to a decade to perfect their sound.  Did any of them understand that Dime and Vinnie were insanely talented musicians since they were kids?  Did any of those retards know that Pantera started out in 1983 as a GLAM band??  Oh it’s true.  It took years for them to develop into a harder sounding band.  It also took the drive to always want every album to be better and better.  Thanks to their refusal to truly do their homework – and actually learn to play their instruments – these Nu/Rap Metal pieces of shit chose to just be followers…and ultimately forgettable.  Thankfully.

After the break up of Pantera in 2003, Vinnie and Dime went on to form Damageplan.  Their sole album, 2004’s New Found Power, was a major change in their sound.  The brothers wanted to try something new and while I surely wasn’t a fan of all the track on the record, I understood that this was an experiment and perhaps things would change.  I was however a fan of a the beyond sludgy “Moment Of Truth”.  It’s so slow, so heavy and it allowed Vinnie to sound like nothing short of a fucking jackhammer.

Unfortunately, as we all know, that second album would never happen, as Dime was gruesomely murdered before years end while on stage.

Vinnie stayed away from the public for a few years afterward.  His final band would be Hell Yeah.  I’ll be honestly.  I don’t mean to disrespect Vinnie, but he could’ve done so much better than joining a “supergroup” with the assholes from Nothing Face and Madvayne.  If he enjoyed himself, then hey good for him.  But I personally found Hell Yeah to be so beneath what he was capable of.

His unexpected death last Friday marked the end of en era, and a musical dynasty.  If you’re new to this blog you’re expecting me to say some shit like “he’s with Dime now”.  Not here.  I’m athiest.  I don’t believe that shit.  But with his death, gone are the one family that were as successful and ultimately as influential as they were playing this kind of music.  No one before the Abbott brothers could pull it off and no two brothers have repeated it just yet.  Vinnie Paul alone changed the game with his signature sound, and many drummers will say that they started playing because of Vinnie Paul.  In fact, while in the middle of writing this I stopped to write a new Spotify playlist, featuring my favorite Vinnie Paul moments in Pantera and even Damageplan.

To end this I’m going to leave you with the very first Pantera video I ever watched back in 1996 on an episode of Beavis and Butthead.

Rest In Peace Vincent Paul Abbott 1964 – 2018

Album Of The Year

Posted on by Mike

C’mon…if you’ve been reading my blog for the past several months then my first ever pick for Album Of The Year should’ve been PAINFULLY obvious.  I was a fan of Nails for months before it was even released, but it was upon the June 17th 2016 release of their grindcore masterpiece, You Will Never Be One Of Us, that they – especially guitarist/vocalist Todd Jones – became absolute GODS.  And if you’ve never heard anything off this beautiful shitstorm of an album here’s a quick taste.  No really, it’s only a minute and a half long!

Yeah, exactly.

So, for those of you new to this blog, why did I pick You Will Never Be One Of Us?  Surely, I could’ve picked any number of albums; Crowbar and Meshuggah – two of the heaviest bands on the fucking planet – both released two really badass albums.  Gatecreeper released a new album around the same time and one of my YouTube subscribers just declared the new Blood Incantation album is his own pick of the year.

nailsterrorizer

There’s reason number one right there.  Not sure how many grindcore bands make it to the cover of a magazine like Terrorizer.  We can also discuss the fact that You Will Never Be One Of Us was somehow able to reach #129 on the Billboard Charts among it’s release.  I don’t know about you but I personally don’t know of any of grindcore or powerviolence style bands that can hit that kind of a milestone.  Fuck, before they went on hiatus without warning over the summer their tour schedule was to be significantly bigger than it had ever been, including a spot on the Ozzfest 20th anniversary card.  That’s HUGE for a band like Nails!  They’re about to make a comeback in just a few days at The Power Of The Riff Festival, they just released a 12″ split with Full Of Hell eight days ago and now have more dates planned for next year with Gatecreeper, including stops in Philly and at Williamsburg Music Hall in Brooklyn, NY.  Needless to say 2016 was Nails’ year.

It’s easy to assume that You Will Never Be One Of Us is on ANY album of the year list due to hype…but why was there so much hype?  Easy.  Because throughout the record you can feel Todd Jones’ anger, his hatred against those trying to make a living off something his kind have worked so hard to put together only to be working a full time job (although he seems to prefer that), against society…against the fucking world.  His vocal delivery alone here was a major change from 2013’s Abandon All Life.  Gone was the high pitched scream and in it’s place Todd found his true voice, one of slobbering anger, growling and screaming like a lunatic in a straitjacket, wanting to get out and just murder you.  There’s no way you can listen to it and tell me that it isn’t genuine either.  And that’s why this is my first album of the year pick…it’s real.

This will be my last post for the year, the next few weeks will be busy.  But be sure to follow me on facebook and Instagram.  My IG handle is @confessionsofanangrymetalhead

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Random Thoughts

Posted on by Mike

Gym Rants

If it wasn’t for the fact that I want to become a personal trainer and wasn’t contracted to New York Sports Club I’d most likely try to find another gym.  I don’t hate my gym but I’d really like to train somewhere that’s more geared toward my goals because let’s face it, a commercial gym doesn’t cater to Powerlifters or anyone strength training related.  Hell, there’s only one power rack for squatting and just one deadlift platform – I do admit it’s a miracle they even have on.  But sometimes it’s being used just as you’re about to use it and sometimes it’s for some real stupid shit.

On the night I was to Deadlift 315 for the first time ever back in February I found someone was occupying the platform doing a stupid Crossfit routine.  What was it?  Ten sets of twenty Clean-And-Jerks followed by “jump rope”.  Noticed the word jump rope was quoted?  That’s because there was no jump rope; instead this guy was jumping up and down looking like he was jerking off two dicks!

My most recent favorite, which I ranted about on my facebook page, was the guy doing Front Squats with a fucking BOSU ball.  First off, if he’s going to be wearing the wrong shoes – by which I mean sneakers – he better hope I’m not there when he tips over because I’m going to laugh so hard.  Also, if you’re front squatting with a BOSU ball you should return your man card and go make that appointment for your sex change now.  Hell, yesterday.

I finally ordered a 10mm Inzer Forever Belt in black on Saturday.  I hope to get it before my next deadlift day.

New Nails (??????)

So Nails cancels all their shows over the summer without any explanation and we hear nothing for two months…and then I was told a few days ago by one of my YouTube subscribers that it was announced the Nails and Full Of Hell are releasing a 7″ split???Don’t get me wrong, I’m fucking stoked about this – that’s going to be some nasty fucking shit!  But dude, what the fuck?  I wrote about how confused I am on facebook because we had no idea if the band were back or what and when I reposted it on my new Instagram account I received this funny little response from Closed Casket Activities, the label releasing the spilt:

funny

Funny guys.  Then I saw this today on Metal Injection:

NAILS To Play THE POWER OF THE RIFF Festival In December

If one thing’s for sure, they’re right about one thing: You Will Never Know What’s Going On.

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The Case For Abbreviated Training

Posted on by Mike

The following is my first ever article for Bodybuilding.com, written today.  It was approved by the moderators not too long ago, hopefully it’s good enough to be published.  But you can read it here and judge for yourself:

I was first introduced to the idea of abbreviated training in 2009, when a trainer at my former gym told me about a book entitled Brawn. Originally released in 1991, it’s author, Stuart McRobert wrote in extensive detail about the important of shorter training in comparison to the routines found in magazines during the time of the book’s release. McRobert stressed that the average Joe couldn’t possibly get big or strong on a pro bodybuilder’s routine, but they could totally benefit by going back to the basics.

Let me clarify something first, the average Joe is not just a non-competitive bodybuilder. It’s someone like you and me, who works a day job five days out of the week and goes to home to multiple responsibilities. Some of you work more than one job, some of you have young children at home, and then there are other responsibilities that naturally hinder us from being able to just go to the gym and do multiple exercises in the course of four, five or even six days a week.

I can actually relate to this now more than ever as someone who recently competed in his first Powerlifting meet. I live in New Jersey but I work in Brooklyn, NY so it takes me a good hour an a half to get to and get home from work. Once I’m home I still have to prepare dinner, get ready for the next day, do things around the house, etc.

My current program, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, calls for three or four day a week training; so what I decided to do was take the four day a week template and alternate it into a three day per week schedule in order to fit my daily needs as well as give myself time to recover from the previous workouts. That was a very important first step for me. The next thing I did for sake of shortening my training was reducing the amount of exercises I needed to do per training day.

This can especially benefit powerlifters. Are we training for looks come competition time or are we training to improve on the big three moves, Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift? If you chose the latter then keep reading! There are plenty of great powerlifting routines out there but if you’re like me and your trying to save time are you really going to waste your time training your secondary muscles? Sure, having thick lats can be beneficial, but are they what you’re using when you Deadlift? Fat chance! You need the power of those hamstrings and your glutes to help you bring that bar up. Same thing applies for Bench Presses. Once again referring to the lats, do they help you push the bar off your chest to the ceiling or do you need a thick chest along with strong triceps and shoulders to help you do the work?

So what’s the point of all of this? Because I’m strapped for time ten months out of the year I need to train in a way that’s practical and in order to do that I stripped my training of anything I found was unnecessary in helping to improve my functionality in the main lifts. In doing this I shortened my training dramatically and I still get results. Here’s an example of the way I currently train using just my working sets:

Day 1:
Overhead Press – 3 x 5/3/1
Barbell Curl – 3 x 10
Tricep Dips – 3 x 10

Day 2:
Deadlift – 3 x 5/3/1
Leg Curls – 3 x 10

Day 3:
Bench Press – 3 x 5/3/1
Dumbbell Bench Press – 3 x 10
Chest Dips – 3 x 10

Day 4:
Squats – 3 x 5/3/1
Leg Press – 3 x 10

Upon reading this you might notice that I split the assistance leg work to two different days. I chose to do that purposely based on which assistance work helps with certain lifts. If I’m squatting then I’d rather just stick with Leg Presses to help me build muscle in my quads, just as I’d rather do Leg Curls on Deadlift days to strengthen my hamstrings. Therefore I have two strictly upper body days and two strictly lower body days, all even arranged as to save time and give me more bang for my buck.

But this is just how I train, for the most part. It might be different for all of you. All I did was take a preset template and removed what I felt was wasting time, because time is money, of which I usually have none. So here’s something to think about in the future if you happen to fall in this category, because it’s amazing to see that the saying “less is more” actually fits here. So if you’re strapped for time and still want to train, get rid of the excuses and make a plan of action today!

Mike is an amateur powerlifter hoping to enter his second competition in the near future.

You can also check out the original article here if you want:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=172409253

Operation Domination – live at The Studio At Webster Hall August 31st, 2016

Posted on by Mike

Funny isn’t it?  Just one night after I published a scathing piece on why I basically would like to see New York City burn to the ground…I’m back in New York City.  But at least it was for something awesome; I was there to see Angel Vivaldi and Firewind/Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G on their Operation Domination Tour at The Studio At Webster Hall.  Angel is on the heels of re-releasing his 2010, EP The Speed Of Dark, with it’s tracks being completely re-recorded with his current band, and Gus recently released his latest solo album, I Am The Fire, a more straight forward album compared to what he does with Firewind.  Also, I guess he needs to keep himself busy until Ozzy comes calling to do his next excuse of an album.  Hey, just maybe Ozzy will actually let Gus write material for it this time.  That’s a maybe.  If you follow me on facebook then you already know how I feel about Ozzy’s plans to record after Black Sabbath’s last show.  But if you don’t…I’d rather Ozzy just call it a day, he hasn’t made anything meaningful in decades and the ONLY reason I even bought Black Rain in 2007 was because Zakk Wylde wrote eight of the album’s ten tracks.  So Ozzy…if you ever see this…you were great when I saw you with Sabbath at the Garden.  Do yourself a big favor and just go on a high note like Tony Iommi is doing.

Webster Hall is right around the corner from the 111 year old art store that’s being forced to close so the Marriot can make it into a hotel aimed at millennials.  So yeah I did go check it out before I went inside.  Someone was talking to the owner, who clearly looked distressed.  Then again his family ran the place for three generations.

There are two rooms in Webster Hall: The Marlin Room, which is the main room for popular acts, stupid raves and 80’s prom bullshit and, once upon a time, WWF Shotgun Saturday Night.  Let’s see who remembers that one!  And then there’s The Studio, which is essentially a small bar with a good size stage.  Gus and Angel were to play The Studio…I guess the guys running Webster Hall decided that some shitty rave was more important that a fucking YouTube sensation and Ozzy’s guitarist, right?

Angel went on stage and just blew everybody the fuck away.IMG_20160831_203439988

IMG_20160831_203356832

IMG_20160831_205011947.jpg

Showoff!

IMG_20160831_203409008

Alex fuckin’ Bent!

I actually met Alex when he was opening up for Crowbar with Battlecross last year at Saint Vitus In Brooklyn.  Really cool kid…incredible drummer.  On this tour he’s actually doing double duty, playing with both Angel and Gus.  Here’s a picture I took of us outside Saint Vitus last year.

IMG_20150629_195345_870

I wanted to talk to him and praise the hell out of him but before the show ended I found myself bailing out early because my knees were in excruciating pain – having flat feet is a real bitch.

Angel’s Setlist

An Angel’s Poem On A Grave

An Erisian Autumn

._ _ _ _

A Mercurian Summer

. . . . _

Acid Reign

Guitar Solo

Sea Of Heartbreak

Crystal Planet (Joe Satriani Cover)

A Martian Winter

Gus G?  Loud as fuck!  So loud that a few songs into his set I had no choice but to go to the back, where my girlfriend was…because she already knew better.  Oh yeah, the guy’s an incredible player, real easy to see why he got the gig with Ozzy.  His whole band – which included Alex and Jake, Angel’s bassist, sounded fan-fucking-tastic.  But I had one complaint:

IMG_20160831_212703030

Dude…you don’t have to play “Crazy Train” just because you’re in Ozzy’s band bro.  Hell, most people there for you were actually Firewind fans.

In fact the band did play two Firewind songs d I have to say I was kind of impressed.  I hate Power Metal with a passion but Gus’s playing was so muscular – very similar to Zakk – that it gave the songs some BALLS.

As I said before…I left after the “Crazy Train” cover because my knee were in pain.  But I know for a fact that I missed Angel join Gus on stage for what was probably a really sick jam out.

Gus’s Setlist

Burn

Brand New Revolution

Vengeance (instrumental)

Eyes Wide Open

Come Hell Or High Water

World On Fire (Firewind)

The Quest

Terrified

Redemption

I Am The Fire

Crazy Train (Ozzy)

Fire And The Fury (Firewind)

G.O.T

 

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R.I.P. New York City…or Why I’m Glad I Got Out!

Posted on by Mike

This is actually going to be full article based on a random thought I wrote about just last year, regarding the decline of New York City’s diversity and character because let’s face it…it’s just gotten worse and will continue to do so.

So it all started just two nights ago, when I came across this article:

http://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/12/12452636/target-east-village-opening-date

Wait…what the fuck?  A new, two floor Target in the East Village?  With a 30-year lease on the building?!  First off, I’m a bit biased here because I used to work at Target but…ew!  Also…why?  Why Target and why in the East Fucking Village??  Then, I reminded myself of exactly why: money talk$.

I wrote a year ago that many of the places I used to know were going away at a pretty steady pace, especially at my old haunts, specifically St. Mark’s Place, which I had said was at least hanging on a thread so long as Sounds was still around, even if it was open just three days a week by that point, if anything for the sake of posture.  Whoops!  Not too long after I wrote that piece Sounds finally did close down for good, signaling THE end of the more culturally diverse St. Mark’s Place I used to know once and for all.  Why?  Because who the fuck can afford these fucking rent hikes?  Oh wait…chain stores can!

Oh, I can go on and on about when I first noticed this change, and how it changed the entire landscape of Manhattan alone – don’t even get me started with Brooklyn!  But instead I’m going to rant about who we can all blame for this and if you live or used to live anywhere in New York City (like me) you already know why: yuppies and especially hipsters.  The hipsters started fucking everything up when they came to Williamsburg, Brooklyn from whatever bumfuck towns/states they grew up in during the late 90’s/early 2000’s with their daddys’ checkbooks in search of somewhere cheap as hell.  In just a few years time a once extremely dangerous part of Brooklyn now had hipster themed bars and vintage record shops on almost every street corner.  And not only that, rent was now fucking sky high.  I was an intern for a music marketing firm in Manhattan in 2007 and a considerable portion of the hipster fuckheads I worked with lived in “Billyburg”.  The only way they could be living there was if their parents were paying the rent because I can tell you right now they sure as fuck weren’t making even remotely decent salaries at this particular firm.  I’d look for apartments in Brooklyn on craigslist and some of these prices were retarded.  $2000 for a studio off of Bedford Ave?  Really?  But if you want to know how I truly feel about hipsters just watch this amazing clip from The Gentlemen’s Rant.  Skip to the 1:50 mark for my favorite part!

This was just the beginning, of course.  Soon, the resulting trickle down effect happened: Manhattan followed suit.  The hipsters lived in Williamsburg in order to be as close to Manhattan as possible so before anyone knew it any area near the Williamsburg Bridge, especially the Lower East Side, started changing at that steady paced I mentioned before to cater to these motherfuckers.  The trickle down effect here?  Long standing Mom and Pop stores began to close shop to be replaced by some really strange fucking things.

This also spread, of course, throughout most of Manhattan, not just the Lower East Side.  Old buildings were being knocked down to make room for high rise condos that I know I sure can’t afford.  Here’s a quick story.  My dad’s been in real estate since 2005, having gotten his real estate license from NYU in 1988, and he was responsible for one of these buildings in the Lower East Side being knocked down in 2007.  He told me that while on site a girl came up to him asking him to please sign her petition to stop these developers from knocking the building down, obviously having no idea she was talking to the very person behind the whole thing.  Oops!

To some of you reading this I risk coming off as yelling at yuppies and hipsters to get off my lawn like a bitter old man.  You’d be wrong.  Yeah, I hate yuppies and REALLY hate hipsters.  But my big problem is that because of them, and more specifically about their lack of history, having not grown up in the city like I did, they appear to truly lack any appreciation for the charm New York City once had.  It was once such a diverse city.  I don’t just mean for the reputation of it’s many areas – not just the parts I mentioned – but because you could go into any street corner and find something completely random and enjoyable.  Hell, twelve years ago I could just turn to W 48th St in the tourist trap that is Times Square and I’d just happen to find the once infamous Music Row.  You’re reading correctly, there was once an entire block of just music instrument stores.  Several Sam Ash buildings, each one dedicated to specific instruments, Rudy’s, the world famous Manny’s Music, just to name a few.

Oh, here’s my favorite.  A 111 year old art supply store right around the corner from Webster Hall is being forced out of business because the building was sold to some jerkoff who plans to make the building into a hotel geared toward…millennials??  What the fuck does that require exactly that a piece of HISTORY is being forced to close down for this?  Someone please tell me.  What exactly makes millennials so fucking special?  Is it the computer thing??  Since the age range for millennials is between 1982 and 2002 I guess I’d be considered a millennial on paper, being that I was born in 1984.  But I’m no millennial because just about anyone born in the 80’s knew how to survive without cellphones and computers.  Ask the kids today when they last experienced a fleeting, random moment.  You’d probably hear crickets for a long time because that’s how often their heads are down at their smartphones they honestly have NO BUSINESS carrying around at twelve years old.

So here’s my main point to all of this.  Gentrification my ass!  If I wanted to go to an outdoor strip mall I’d go to probably any other city…or an outdoor strip mall.  I used to live in a city that had a very special charm to it, one that was different, one with so much diversity and excitement, one with character.  These were the things that made it The Greatest City In The World, because it’s not that anymore, not when I see Subway restaurants on nearly every street corner and increasingly more homeless people on the streets because they were evicted for their inability to pay their rents.  If you’re reading this and are as disgusted with what’s become of it all like I was, do yourself a favor and get out while you still can…like I did, because it’s no longer just the East Village that’s dead – all of New York City is!

There are times now where I drive on Route 3 E and if I catch it around sunset I get a gorgeous view of the city from afar.  But every time come across this brilliant view I sadly can’t help but always think to myself the same thing over and over again: “New York City…beautiful to look at…ugly to live in…”

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Giving The Devil His Good Name Back – The Metal Mike Show, September 9th 2004

Posted on by Mike

In my very first post here I briefly mentioned that I used to DJ for my college radio station.  Hell, that show, without question is the precursor to this blog because it gradually became my first platform to just talk shit AND not get in trouble for it.  But that’s a story for another time because how I got this fucking show so easily requires a bit of a back story anyway.  Oh, by the way, I won’t be mentioning which station it is because I don’t feel like giving anyone any undeserved attention.

So, I decided to give my station a shot in April, 2004, thinking I wanted to be a DJ.  I liked the idea of being able to play music and not be seen.  To this day it’s amazing how UGLY some of the top DJ’s in the country really are.  But since they sound great who the fuck cares?  I went through two meetings, one with the personnel director and the second with the station’s chief engineer…part super genius…part angry, bitter, and an all around asshole.  If Gregory House was a real person he’d be this guy! What made me laugh inside was in despite only being in his mid-30’s, the combination of his skullet and his awful 70’s looking moustache made this fucker look like an ex-member of the Doobie Brothers.

If I’m not mistaken I took the test a good week later and passed with just two wrong answers.  I originally chose to join the Music Department because that meant I could review records for play as well as maybe even dictate what got played at all, the first CD I ever reviewed being Black Label Society’s low key masterpiece, Hangover Music, Vol.6, which I was also able to burn and leave at the station while I took the original copy home.   But long story short the director at the time let no one do anything with her, frustrating me, so I joined the Engineering Department.  I had wanted to join Production but, at the time, it was mandated that you couldn’t do shit in production unless you knew how to run the board properly.

Some time goes by, the middle of summer arrives, and I was approached by the newly appointed engineering director about being his assistant.  Why?  Neither he or anyone else wanted the only other person around to be involved because that’s how lowly they all thought of him.  We’re talking a really nice guy too.  And there you have it, proof that even college radio isn’t clean of slimy politics!  So, from then on until I left for good in early 2007 I was the Assistant Engineering Director of my station.  But of course there was something else I wanted, and part of the process I didn’t even have to go through.

While I had applied for a show to start in the fall semester, I didn’t have to make an audition tape, and all because I was an engineer.  In other words, I already knew how to operate the board.  Before I was told that was even getting my first show I was approached by another DJ from the Production Department about covering him because he wasn’t able to get out of work.  It was easy enough, his show had a specific format which he wrote down for me – all I had to do was follow the bullet points.  So there I was, fresh from sitting in with the two BEST DJs in the whole station at that time – both actually being alumni volunteers at that point – and DJing my first show.

It was a little nerve wracking, I was already engineering and cohosting someone else’s public service show on Mondays for a month at this point, but this was the first time I was on my own.  After reading off the most important bullet point of this guy’s show he surprised me by calling me up.  I didn’t think he was listening but here this guy was telling me that I “rock”, and even complimenting my voice.  And after I finished up, that angry chief engineer – who can still go suck a dick and die – even told me he liked my voice.

Thursday, September 9th, 2004.  This day would see the launch of the Metal Mike Show at 4pm.  My then guitarist, Chad, jokingly suggested I call myself Metal Mike.  A manager of mine at work suggested Iron Mike, but some at the station just didn’t like it.  For a few weeks prior to this I had hand drawn ads and plastered them all over the walls of every single building on campus, as well as on the walls of music stores where I lived and even in places in Manhattan, especially the now defunct Manny’s Music on w 47th St.  The guy whose show I covered for read the script for my station promo and immediately asked if he could read it on mic.  It was hysterical hearing him read “It’s time to give the devil his good name back…Hell never sounded so good!”, with as much bass as he could get out of his voice.

With two hours to go I began writing down my playlist for the next three hours, trying to find a balance between the music I wanted to play and the music I’d be required to play.  There were two other metal DJ’s who happily pigeonholed themselves to two extremes, one to Black Metal so underground the bands themselves don’t even know if their demo tape is even circulating, and another guy that loved to cater to his drunk following in England, playing nothing but Swedish Melodic Metal and Power Metal.  Power Metal…GAY.  I wanted to be the balance between those two guys, being a fan of almost all types of Metal…expect Power Metal or anything related to it.  I’d like to think I did a good job with that over the next two plus years.

Ten minutes to go.  I walked in to the On-Air room where another DJ was getting ready to wrap things up, this was on of the two people I sat in with.  Now this woman had an incredible radio voice.  She’ll be oh so shy talking to you but when she’s on air she gets so sensual to the point that you’d think it was a different person.  Looking on the instant messenger on the computer screen I already had to messages.  One was from my dad, who had tuned in on his office computer to hear me, the other being some jackass in the station busting my balls “I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ACTUALLY GAVE YOU A SHOW!”  I think I know who it was.   She left, I played a few PSA’s to get settled in, my show’s promo, followed by my favorite station ID track…and off we go!

I had Ozzy open up my show with “Miracle Man” off his classic 1988 album, No Rest For The Wicked.  This was Zakk Wylde’s recording debut with him and I was such a Zakk fanboy at the time.  Also, that opening riff is just huge!  Nerves hitting me so hard, I couldn’t help but practically scream right into the mic once the song ended.  I knew I needed to calm down but I was so nervous I just couldn’t stop myself!  After screaming out the station’s phone number for requests I immediately but on Death’s “Bite The Pain”, a request for one of those two metal DJ’s I mentioned before.  I tried to do everything I could to calm myself down.  It took awhile but as time went on I got a bit more comfortable…until someone came to check on me.

It was 6pm, two hours down, one to go.  Someone asked me how I was doing and as soon as I said ok it went downhill.  I put on Black Sabbath’s “Fairies Wear Boots”, only for it to start skipping.  So I quickly put “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” on the second CD player…and THAT started skipping.  So I pulled out Metallica’s …And Justice For All CD, put on “To Live Is To Die”…and THAT began skipping.  FUCK!  I had no choice but I go back on air and try to save myself.  Luckily for me, the rest of the show went off without a hitch before the next DJ came to relieve me.  All in all I had fun; I clearly had a lot of work to do as far as calming my nerves so I don’t scream into the mic, but this was the beginning of a time that would consume the next two years of my life.

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