Accept - Balls to the Wall

Balls to the Wall is Accepts follow up to 1982s Restless and Wild. It keeps the Priest meets AC/DC influence. Not as much speed metal on this album and a lot more slow, heavy melodic tunes on this album.

Band - Accept

Album - Balls to the Wall

Genre - Heavy Metal

Year - 1983(4?)

Country - Germany

Well that’s certainly an eye catching album cover isn’t it…? Anyway, the album kicks off with the title track. It’s that song that everyone thought was AC/DC for some reason as well as the only Accept song most people recognize. It’s a great, moody midpaced tune and far better then most of what AC/DC ever did… It’s catchy and heavy. The bridge section after the solo is a great sing along part. I love the guitars harmonizing with the group singing. Bass is great in this song as well. Next up is London Leatherboys, yes, LONDON LEATHERBOYS. Anyway, this tune has a pretty catchy verse and the chorus is nothing to scoff at either. Udo sounds pretty crazed in this one. A bunch of good solos in this tune as well. Fight it Back is a speed metal tune. The verse is very vocal driven with single power chords played to back Udo up. The riffing really picks up during the chorus’. By the way, Udo waits like a madman in this tune! Sounds amazing! Soloing is, as usual top notch. Head Over Heels starts off with some bass plucking, the goes into a midpaced riff. It’s a pretty melodic tune, not very heavy for the most part though. Soloing makes up for that though. I swear these Accept guitarists are so underrated! Next up is Losing More Then You’ve Ever Had. Long ass song title but a pretty good song! As with most of the songs on this album it goes more of a melodic route over the pounding heavy riffs of the previous album. It sort of sounds “ballady,” It’s a pretty slow tune and very melodic. Love Child is a great, up tempo tune. Great melodic pre-chorus thingy! I love that part, the guitar and vocals are totally in tune then it breaks into the chorus! It’s a really catchy song as well as some great riffing and soloing. Turn Me On is next. it starts off with a good, heavy riff. It’s also worth noting the riff is a very typical “metal” riff. Lots of people have imitated it and I’m sure Accept weren’t the first to use it either. The chorus is very melodic (and just a little cheesy sounding), then it goes back into the slow, heavy riffing and then more brilliant classical soloing. The bass line really stands out in this tune. It’s nothing special but it’s very driving and heavy so it fills out the sound nicely. Next is the ripping speed metal track Losers and Winners. Ok maybe not THAT ripping but it’s pretty awesome anyway for 1983 and today! In 1983 the only real competition was Metallica, Slayer and Venom when it came to the high speed shit. Nice fast riffing and like the other tunes on this one, really catchy melodies to go with the furious riffing. Guardian of the Night is slow and heavy. It once again shows the importance of Bass in Heavy Metal. Winter Dreams starts of with some acoustic guitar and bass. It’s not long before some electric guitar comes in but it’s still mostly acoustic. This tunes a ballad. It’s a nice, sort of relaxing tune. You can hear a bit of influence from some of Priest’s Ballads.

This album is rather different from the previous. It’s more focused on melody then speed and heaviness. Not to say this isn’t a heavy album, it is, but its heavy in a different way. The riffing is great and the songs are composed brilliantly. The soloing is off the charts amazing! These guitarists should get way more credit for the skills shown on these last two albums. I love the guitar playing on this record. The drumming is good, nothing special though hjust drumming as drumming should be. There are a few cool fills throughout the album though. The bass playing stands out at times more then it did on the previous record, lots of cool basslines on this album. Udo sounds as good as ever. He isn’t quite as maniacal on this record, but he has him moments. Especially in Fight it Back. There are two very badass screams delivered in that tune. Udo really deserves a place with the other great vocalists of metal. Once again, a great album from a very underrated band. Pick it up along with the previous if you dig old school metal. Oh and don't let the album cover turn you off, its a great album.

Here are four tunes to wet your whistle.

Accept - Restless and Wild

Accept is an underrated Heavy Metal band from Germany. The best way to describe their sound is Judas Priest with a gruffer singer and a little bit of AC/DC thrown in for good measure. They have the twin guitar attack down to a tee and the riffs vary from simplistic AC/DC type riffs to speed metal assaults! Their 1982 album “Restless and Wild” is definitely one of their greatest albums and one of the first speed metal albums. NOTE: There are two diffrent covers to this album one a European version another the American version I'm using this one because it looks cooler =)

Band - Accept

Album - Restless and Wild

Year - 1982(3?)

Genre - Heavy/Speed Metal

Country - Germany

The album starts off with some weird German music but quickly comes to an end and you hear quite the scream! Then the speed metal assault Fast as a Shark kicks in! Great, fast riff and an awesome, melodic chorus. The solo is very classically styled as are most of the solos from Accept. Another thing that stands out in this tune are the backing vocals. They’re just really cool… After that relentless tune we’re treated to the title track. Great mid paced, heavy riffing in this tune. The vocals are great, very restless and wild indeed and more well done backing vocals in this tune as well. Ahead of the Pack is another fast tune. More great riffs and catchy chorus section in this one. I really love the riffs in this song and how much they compliment the vocals and fill out every bit of the sound. The bridge section is awesome, lots of great soloing and the complimentary twin guitar attack! Shake your heads is a midpaced rocker with some atypical riffs throughout. Not a very interesting song in my opinion. Perhaps I would “shake my head” more if the song was better… Though, the chorus section and the drumming are quite heavy. It gets better during the solos of course, but that’s to be expected from Accept. Next up is Neon Nights, not to be confused with Neon Knights… that’s a different song entirely. This tune starts of with come clean classical guitar playing, then goes into a cool phaser/warp effect thingy that sounds quite awesome! This is another midpaced tune, it’s a bit of a balled (though the guitars are very heavily distorted still) with some emotional singing which is a change from Udo’s more maniacal singing from the first three tracks. Great solo section, more classical styled soloing as a matter of fact parts of the solo are actually classical pieces.  Afterwards it speeds up to a proper fast head banging speed! Just to end… Oh well. Next up is Get ready, the tune starts of with the Living After Midnight drumbeat… yeah you know the one. Anyway, it’s a bit of a commercial sounding song; the main riff is very “party metal” feel to it as does the rest of the song. Not a bad song per say, but I doesn’t really sound like the same band. Next Demon’s Night kicks in! Now we’re back to some proper Accept! Great song, mostly midpaced throughout the verse but speeds up during the pre-chorus and chorus sections. More great riffs and aggressive yet catchy singing! Next up is Flash Rocking Man. It’s another relentless, fast tune. The main riff is actually one of the most common speed metal riffs out there; the bridge has some very thrashy sounding riffs. At the end is a very badass scream that’s could put Helford to shame, sometimes… maybe. Don’t Go Stealing My Soul Away is a very hard rockish AC/DC sounding tune. The chorus is catchier then the plague! Not much to say about it, good solo catchy chorus. Finally we get to the epic tune of the album, Princess of the Dawn! It’s a midpaced, moody tune with lots of great soloing throughout. Its definitely one of the best songs on the album. The song and album end very abruptly though, like right in the middle of the very last “princess of the princess of the princess of the dawn.” It’s weird.

Overall, a great album from a rather unknown band. The guitar work is simply amazing! Both riffs and solos are top notch and pretty unique and new for their time. The songs are composed brilliantly and very varied throughout the album. We get a good mix of fast, Speed Metal tunes, more midpaced Heavy Metal songs, some epic numbers as well as two songs that are more on the hard rock side. The tunes also have a great mix between aggression and catchiness. Some of the vocal lines and riffs are just catchy as shit! Udo is a very underrated singer. In my opinion he is one of the best in metal simply for this album alone! He sounds crazed and vicious at times but emotional at others. The drumming is very good but the bass is a bit buried. The bass playing is never anything particularly interesting just the same riffs as are being played on guitar Overall an awesome album from an awesome and underrated band, I implore you to track this album down as well as their next release, Balls to the Wall. Speaking of Balls to the Wall, that album will be coming up soon so stay tuned!

Here are three tunes for you to check out.

Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer

Black Sabbath’s 1992 album Dehumanizer is the third studio album to feature Ronnie James Dio on Vocals. It will also be the last until the band reformed as Heaven and Hell in the mid 2000’s. Dio first joined Sabbath in 1980 (after the Departure of Ozzy Osborne due to being a drug addicted child who can’t write music for shit) and with them Recorded two studio albums and a live album before leaving around 1983 and forming his solo band, Dio. During the rest of the 80s Sabbath became a revolving door of musicians and master guitarist Tony Iomi. They had a bit of success, though most people are still very much ignorant that there was even a Black Sabbath besides the Ozzy and Dio eras. Hell most people tend to think that there’s no Sabbath other then the Ozzy era! Those are the people I like to call idiots... Anyway Dehumanizer is a VERY underrated album that doesn’t get enough praise in my opinion. It’s a great album all the way through and it has top class musicians on it. It has the4 Mob Rules line up of Dio, Iomi, Butler and Appice

Band - Black Sabbath

Album - Dehumanizer

Year - 1992

Genre - Heavy/Doom Metal

Country - (technically) UK

The first thing that jumps out as you is that awesome fucking album cover! Seriously, how can you dislike an album that has a cover like that? Any way…

The record kicks off with Computer God. A good example of where this record is going. It’s a very doomy song with great bass, guitar and of course great vocals from one Mr. Ronnie James Dio. After All (The Dead) is another Slow and doomy song with more emotional singing from Dio. TV Crimes is a fast, somewhat silly tune with simply orgasmic bass work! Geezer shows off like a mad man! If there’s any reason to listen to this song is the amazing bass work. Letters from earth is another dark, gloomy slow tune. More heavy riffs for our pleasure! It picks up speed half way through and we get to hear some more solos from master Iomi. Master of Insanity is one of the best here; it starts off with a great bass line and goes into a great, heavy tune. Great riffs all around this song as well as more great singing from the master himself and once again, great soloing from Iomi, not that its any surprise. Time Machine is an upbeat heavy tune with some sweet riffing and soloing. Sins of the Father starts off with some very Ozzyesque singing from Dio which is quite interesting in itself. The first part of this song wouldn’t sound very out of place on one off the early Sabbath albums. The song is another slow doomy one after about a minute or so in. But then it changes again! The song gets a bit faster and a bit more technical with lots of cools riffs. Very heavy tune that one! Too Late starts off with a very cool balled intro and, as usual very emotional singing from Dio. The song proper kicks in around 3 minutes, its still basically a balled tune. But you won’t care one the soloing starts. After the soloing it goes back to being all balledy. It's an alright song. I is another super heavy ass kicker, with some truly angry vocals from Dio. The riffs and drumming are immense, very epic tune. Finally, we get too buried alive, a song far too heavy for words! Very evil sounding vocals from Dio and an even more evil sounding main riff along with lots of little guitar fills from Iomi. The pre-chorus riff is pretty sweet as well, sort of sounding like a much slowed down thrash or speed metal riff. Nice bridge part with some top notch soloing!

Overall, this album kicks ass! If you love Dio era Sabbath, Doom Metal or even Dios solo band this is highly recommended! Iomi’s guitar work is masterful with plenty of shredding along with some very bluesy melodic parts he’s best known for. The riffs are heavy as hell most of the time and very well composed. Butlers Bass work is orgasmic at times. Bass really stands out on this record, it rarely simply follows the guitar and Geezer is almost always all over the place filling out the already heavy as all hell sound. Drums are good, nothing special though. Ronnie James Dio (RIP) is of course, top notch here. His vocals are very emotional and at times, very evil. Dio is simply the greatest vocalist in Metal. Bow down to the master! Great, great album, if you haven’t heard it, seek it out, along with the rest of the Dio era Sabbath albums. Any Sabbath era other then Ozzy’s is criminally underrated as far as most mainstream Metal interests go. Yes even the amazing Dio era is somewhat obscure to most non Metal heads.

Here are four stand outs from this album

Early Helloween (part one)

Helloween is an extremely influential band for the genre of Power Metal as well as Speed Metal. Helloween sort of created the genre of Power Metal and defined its sound, every Power Metal or Speed Metal band out today owes a little bit to the first two Helloween releases. Today I’ll be focusing on Helloween’s extremely influential self titled EP and their First proper album. A bit odd, both came out in the same year the EP in March and the album in October. 

Band - Helloween

Album - Helloween EP

Genre - Speed/Power Metal

Year - (Early) 1985

Country - Germany

A little intro referencing Halloween III then we’re thrusted into Starlight. As soon as the vocals come in, you notice that Kai Hansen isn’t… really… the best singer… But it’s ok, because the EP has a very raw, underdeveloped sound to it that the sorta kinda crappy vocals complement. It actually seems like the bands getting better as the EP goes on. Anyway, Starlight is a great opener, lots of energy to it. Murderer and Warrior are both short fast songs. Murderer is a little bland to my ears; Warrior however is a great song! Great riffs and a very catchy chorus as well as other great vocal melodies make this song great. Victim of Fate is one of the best songs on this EP. The first part is a speed metal assault and then it goes into a mellow part with some creepy, hissing vocals. Love this part! Then it goes back to speed metal assault mode with lots of soloing, great song. Could be a bit faster though >_> Cry for Freedom starts with a cool ballad type intro, but proceeds to kick into a wild Speed Metal massacre! Awesome riffs and amazing lead work make this song leap out in front of the pack, it’s amazing!

Lots of great Speed Metal riffs and even a few that sound almost thrashy. The lead work here is great, plenty of great leads here. The bass playing really stands out here which is unusual for power metal, then again this EP was kind of the first thing out of the gate when it comes to Power Metal. It’s a shame more Power Metal bands don’t make such good use of their bassists. He doesn’t just follow the guitars, instead going all over the place to fill out the sound. Drums are pretty basic, but get the job done. As I stated earlier the Vocals are a bit crappy at times, but it adds to the raw, unpolished sound of the EP. This is a great release from a very important band I highly recommend it. This is an insanely important release in metal history! It’s pretty hard to find on its own, but it’s usually sold combined with…

Band - Helloween

Album - Walls of Jericho

Genre - Speed/Power Metal

Year - (late) 1985

Country - Germany

Another great release from these wacky German’s! After an intro reminiscent of the one for starlight your ass is immediately kicked by Ride the (fucking) Sky! Such a great speed Metal song. Right off the bat you can tell Kai has gotten better at vocals. The riffs are sweet, the vocal melodies are perfect and there are even some good backing keyboards during some parts of the song. Lead work is great. A perfect song to kick off a great album! Reptile is a bit of a let down after the Immense first track. It’s an alright song but not particularly memorable, it kind of sounds like a song German speed/thrash metalers RISK would do. Guardian’s is a great, fast, melodic tune with great guitar work and very prominent bass. Great bridge bit in the middle too! Phantoms of Death is a bit of an epic tune, with a very similar sounding main riff to Maiden’s Two minutes to Midnight. A fair bit of Keyboards in this tune but they’re never distracting and used tastefully. It’s a pretty long song (hence the epicness), but it holds your interest. All the longer songs on this album tend to hold your interest because it never starts to get old due lots of riff changes and plenty of soloing. The bridge is fast n wild with plenty of soloing. Metal Invaders is another pretty melodic speed metal tune. Actually a very melodic tune, especially when the bridge comes in. The guitars in the middle of this song are a bit overwhelming. Its short and sweet but till has a lot of sweet riffs. Gorgar is a mid-paced, heavy tune, which is a good contrast to the rest of the album which in pretty much a speed metal paradise. Very Cheesy chorus, but its alright, metal should never take itself TOO seriously. I mean the song is about a killer arcade machine anyway so… There’s also a little lead break in the middle referencing the classical score “Hall of the Mountain King” which is a great touch. Heavy Metal (is the Law) is one of my personal favorite Helloween songs. I can’t tell you how much I love this song. I once pulled a muscle in my back I was head banging so hard to this song! It’s just like, a perfect metal song. It’s a mock live song, as in played live in studio with crowd noise added in later. The guitar work is amazing and the bass is even better! Definitely my favorite Helloween song bar none! The album probably should have ended on that note. How Many Tears is kind of weak. Not a bad song really, great lead work as usual and there’s a balladesque part about halfway through. It kind of starts out with nothing special you know? It makes up for it in the later half of the song though! It’s very reminiscent of Victim of Fate. Oh, there’s also a bonus track on some releases called Judas. Great song! Vocals and riffs are very much in tune with each other and lots of sweet riffs and leads. Definitely should have been on the album proper! The album could have used Judas instead of Reptile.

Great album these are pretty much essential if you like Speed, Heavy or Power Metal. These guys did pretty much invent Power Metal as we know it today. If you’re a Power Metal fan and you don’t have these two releases you kind of owe it to yourself to check out your roots. Its way better then any shitty modern “Flower Metal” band out of Europe anyway ;)

Here are some stand out tracks from the EP

Here are a few from Walls of Jericho





Enjoy! Part two will be about the Kiske fronted Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. Expect that next week sometime.

Demons (1986)

I figure Dario Argento's classic horror film Demons is as good as any to start with here on Heavy Metal horror. It’s really what blog is all about! It’s a great horror film, with lots of gore and a predominantly Metal soundtrack! Read on... IF YOU DARE! Muwahahahahaha

Film - Demons

Year - 1986

Director - Lamberto Bava

Producer - Dario Argento

Country - Italy

The movie starts out with the female lead on a train full of 80s clichés. The Demons theme song is the definition of cheesy awesomeness, but more about the soundtrack later. After getting off the train, our female lead is stalked by some weird cyborg looking dude. He catches up to her and it turns out he was just trying to sell her a movie ticket. She meets up with her friend, they decide to skip class ad go see the movie instead. At the theatre we meet our cast of assholes. A pimp and his two hos, a dickhead husband with his wife, two teenage lovebirds, a blind dude and his horny niece, two typical 80s preppy dudes(who are the love interests of the two female leads) and a creepy usher chick. In the lobby there's a motorcycle and a silver mask. One of the pimps ho, being predictably stupid, decides to horse around and put the mask on. This earns her a dirty look from creepy usher chick and a cut on the face. The movie within a movie starts, the acting in this little movie within a movie feature is pretty horrendous not that the main feature is the most brilliantly acted piece of cinema but still... The characters in the MWM are looking for the Tomb of Nostradamus or some shit. They find it and with it the same Demon mask hanging up in the Lobby. Hmm wonder what that could mean... A character in the MWM puts the mask on gets a cut on the face just like the one hooker did! She obviously, gets a bit concerned about this after another character in the MWM says that whoever wears the mask will become a demon. Our friend, the ho-bag runs to the bathroom to check on her cut, it turns into a lovely festering boil! It bursts in a tasty display of special effects goodness. The other ho goes to the bathroom to check on her friend, only to find the bathroom empty. She checks a stall and her friend, now a DEMON, pops out and attacks her, sending her running. Oddly, the Movie within a movie is more of a slasher flick but the film itself isn't it has more in common with a zombie movie. All it takes is a scratch to transform into a Demon. Next we're treated to a transformation scene of the second hooker chick turning into a demon. Then the rest of the movie is basically characters getting killed off and trying to avoid getting their asses killed. Later on four more characters are introduced. They're some cokehead punks, whose only purpose seems to be taking up screen time, snorting coke and playing crappy, generic 80s music. Oh and Billy Idol.  

AMAZING special effects, the demon transformation scenes are amazingly well done. The demon make up looks fucking awesome! Lots of nice gore effects, this one chick get’s scalped and it is SWEET. There’s some blood vomit, regular vomit, gouged out eyes, crushed skulls, fingers getting ripped off' decapitations, little demons bursting out of peoples backs and lots of bloody, demon inflicted gashes! They even manage to throw in some nudity. Just one nipple though... what a gyp! This is an Italian film with English dubbing so the acting is predictably affected by this. However the dubbing is far better then some other dubbed films. The soundtrack of this film is noteworthy; it’s almost all from Metal bands. It features songs from Accept, Motley Crue, Pretty Maids and Saxon as well as some pretty awesome original synth music from Claudio Simonetti. The Demons theme song in particular is a strong point from the sound track. The plot is simple, but still good and engaging. That doesn’t stop the big rather large plot hole of the cyborg dude (who appears again at the end of the movie) It’s like... what the fuck? What’s up with that dude? Where does he figure into the plot? Despite that, the plot is very good. It may SOUND stupid, but it really isn't once you actually sit down and watch it. Oddly there’s very little in the way of character development or back stories or really, anything that makes the characters much more then vague personifications of personalities to get killed by demons. Not that it’s a bad thing, as this movie probably wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining if they had wasted time doing such things. There’s a hero and there’s a female lead. All the other characters are just cannon fodder. Besides the female lead being the first character we see, we never know who the hero is going to be till the very end of the film. The only reason he’s the hero, is because he’s all we have left! This is interesting, because a lot of movies have a designated hero. Even slasher flicks tend to have someone designated to be the last living character. They’re usually developed to be the least douchbaggy characters from the start. But Demons barely develops any character; this isn’t a character driven story.

I highly recommend this film. If you like Gore, Metal, Horror or any combination of the three you'll probably love this movie. It’s not that hard to find on DVD, your best bet is online. The film also appears to be uploaded to YouTube as well if you would like to watch it there. I suggest purchasing a DVD copy though.

Pantera: Power Metal

When you think Pantera what’s the first thing that pops in your mind? Cowboys from Hell? Walk? Cemetery Gates? Obnoxious tough guy lyrics and sub par riffs with awesome solos to make it a tad bit better? Well all those things are true, but you may have also heard that Pantera were a “Glam” band in the 80s and that’s true, to an extent. I’ve never really put much time and effort into listening to their other 80s output. However, I will tell you that their 1988 album Power Metal is NOT a Glam album. Come to think of it, it’s not a power metal album either… Maybe they should of called it something else =/

Band - Pantera

Album - Power Metal

Genre - Heavy/Speed/Thrash Metal

Year - 1988

Country - USA (Arlington,Texas)

This album sounds like a lovechild of Metallica and Judas Priest! A very good sound in my book! Phil Anselmo is sounding very unlike himself. He stays in a screechy high range throughout most of the album. This is Phil’s first album with the band and in my opinion one of his best performances. This album defiantly stands out among the other Glam bands of the era and would stand up very well against speed metal bands of the era as well. Though they still have too many commercial and glam tunes to make it among thrash bands of the time.Hell, I mean look at the album cover. They look pretty damn metal to me!  You can also hear some grove riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on some of the later albums. Lots of shredy solos and thrashy riffs, this album is probably the closest they came to being pure Thrash but they don't quite make it. The lead guitar work is amazing on this record. Dimebag is shredding it up like no ones business. His riffs are awesome as well. Far better then a lot of his awful "Famous" Riffs like Walk. Seriously, fuck that song.

The album starts off with Rock the World, a typical commercial rocker. It's, notably, a little heavier then the standard for commercial rockers. Great vocal melodies! Nothing special though. Solos are great, but it’s Dimebag so you should expect as much. The speed metal assault really kicks in once power metal gets going. The title track is the best example of what this album is. A great mix of fast, heavy riffs and plenty of melodic elements. The title Track is blazing, unapologetic, speed metal. Phil sounds awesome here, shame he doesn’t sound like that now a days. We’ll meet again is a power Balled. One again, standing out from the rest of the glam pack it’s a very good song. It’s a tad bit cheesy but it’s not a stinker like so many other ballads from the late 80s. Unlike their peers, this song still has the balls to make it scream METAL! Over and out is a thrash tune with a heavy riff. Proud to be loud is another one of the more Commercial tunes very catchy so it does its job well and as always great guitar work. Death Trap is another Thrashy tune, mid paced for the most part but a real headbanger. When Hard Ride came on I had to do a double take, I thought someone put Priest's Turbo on when I wasn’t paying attention. It’s another Commercial tune. But it’s still heavy and driving, as opposed to most of the Shitty glam bands of the era who put out fifty thousand Ballads an album. Though hard ride sounds a tad bit more commercial then the rest so hat makes it a weak point for this record. Burn eh sorry… Burnnn is another fast one; it has more of the Priest sound as opposed to the thrashy sound of a few of the other songs. As usual great shredding from Dimebag. P.S.T 88 is one of the best songs here, it’s sung by Dimebag and he sounds damn good! I hate to keep comparing this to Metallica but he sounds a bit like Hetfield and it’s basically, a Thrash song. I love the little lightning fast lead thing he’s doing around 1:30 sounds AMAZING! I know he’s just showing off, but DAMN! Oh and these Lyrics are great too, its one of those "I wanna get laid/I get more pussy then you" songs.

Overall a very good album. Very under-rated. When Pantera buried all their pre Cowboys from Hell material they really should have kept this one out in the light. This album has aged well and stands up just fine among the Heavy/Speed Metal acts of the time. Since they buried this awesome album that makes it a bit hard to find. If you dig it the whole album is up on YouTube and it shouldn’t be difficult to find a place to download it online. Some personal favorites are Power Metal, We’ll Meet Again, Death Trap and P.S.T 88

Here are four songs to check out.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Cowboys from Hell, just Most of Vulgar Display of Power and pretty much everything hat came after that. I dig Cowboys just a little less as I do this album

Metal Church: Metal Church & The Dark

Metal Church was an amazing band that, sadly, were far less know then they should of been. Their first album is pretty much an essential album for anyone who digs classic Heavy/Speed Metal.

Band - Metal Church

Album - Metal Church

Year - 1985

Country - USA (Seattle, Washington)

Genre - Heavy/Speed Metal

Metal Church's 1984 debut album is, rightfully, a classic. Vocalist David Wayne(R.I.P) soars on this album with his unique, badass vocal style. Its aggressive and melodic. His style is difficult for me to describe you'll just have to hear it for yourself. The riffing is also superb. Lots and lots of juicy Speed Metal riffs and plenty of slower, heavier yet melodic riffs. The drumming is excellent, its never boring but never distracting either. Lots of juicy fills after equally juicy riffs and vocal lines. I simply love the drumming on this album, especially in the title track. So many amazing fills in that tune. The lead work is, unsurprisingly, brilliant. Lots of dual guitar attacks on this one, once again the Title Track is a good example of the amazing leads you'll find on this album. The bass, well the bass does its job. There are some moments that the bass shines though. Like in Gods of Wrath during the main verses and several other places throughout the album. Speaking of Gods of Wrath, its a good example of the variety of this album. Gods of Wrath is, for all intents and purposes, a power balled. Not the really lame late 80s glam power balled though. Its the really awesome, well played clean parts building up to heavy parts and a sweet bridge section solo thing, kind of power balled ;) You also get to hear some totally clean singing from Wayne. Hes really good at that as well.

On this album, you'll find a good mix of the heavy, intense tunes like Beyond the Black and Metal Church, blazing speed metal tunes like Hitman as well as the proto power metal song Battalions. A power balled in the form of Gods of Wrath and the instrumental Merciless onslaught. The rest of the songs on the album are somewhere in between. Oh, and there's even a cover of Deep Purples highway star to boot!

Here are my four favorite songs from the album

In closing, an amazing album from an amazing band. Nearly flawless, the only tunes on this album that are particurly forgetable (and even then they're still pretty good) are Merciless Onslaught and In the Blood. The guitar work, vocals nd drumming are amazing. The bass work kicks ass too! Can't recomend this album any higher to fans of Classic Heavy/Speed metal

BUY THIS ALBUM! Its pretty easy to find online and its even not that hard to get in stores. I got my CD versions in retail stores.

Band - Metal Church

Album - The Dark

Year - 1986

Country - USA (Seattle, Washington)

Genre - Heavy/Thrash Metal

Metal Church's second album is another great release. Its starts off strong with the thrashy yet melodic Ton of Bricks. Next it goes into the mid paced Start the Fire. Wayne makes use of dual vocal tracks on a lot of the songs on this album, there are plenty of places here where he would be singing in more of a mid range and hes tracked himself singing in a high screech in the background. These songs are actually a lot more melodic then many of the songs on the first album. The riffs here are a lot more Thrash Metal oriented then the blazing speed metal sound of the first record. Not to say there aren't any fast songs of this album, there are plenty. I meant that they're more typical Thrash riffs as opposed to the sound of sped metal. As usual the guitar work and riffs are great. The vocals are amazing as ever. David Wayne wails and sings his heart out just as he did on the debut. Sadly, he left the band shortly after this album. The drums and bass take a bit of a hit from the previous album. They don't really stand out as much as they did on the previous album. The drums are a lot simpler and the bass is pretty much limited to following the guitar and getting rather buried in the mix.

Its a good release, however its not quite up to the level to the debut, however its a solid listen. Stand out tracks include Ton of Bricks, The Dark, Psycho, Start the Fire, line of Death, Burial at sea and Watch the Children Pray. I recommend picking this one if you liked the debut, its definitely different from the first but its not a bad kind of different.

Here are four of my favorites off this album

After the departure of David Wayne he was replaced my Mike Howe. I'll feature the Mike Howe era of the band another time. Damn this was a long ass post.

Happy Listening!

Introduction

Hello all, welcome to the Heavy Metal Horror blog. The purpose of this blog is mainly to educate budding Metal Heads about the old school and promote bands that may of slipped through the cracks of time or I feel are vastly underrated. Whether you're a life long metal fan or just starting out I'm sure you can appreciate some of my musings.

The other purpose is to feature horror films (primarily from the 80, just like most of the featured music) that I think way more people should be made aware of. Most of my movie features will probably take the form of reviews.

I may also use his blog to promote my band at times, But I won't go overboard on that, those posts will be few and far between my features on Classic metal bands and horror films.

So that's the premise of the blog. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to either comment this post or send me a message. Expect a feature on the first two Metal Church albums either tonight or tomorrow. There's also a Heavy Metal Horror logo in the works, its looking cheesy but I like it!