It’s the final countdown

Hardly.

So I’ve been doing the Coachella warm-up countdown over at Examiner. Gratuatous self-promotion in 3….2….1….

CLICK ME FOR FREE MONEY. Just kidding. No, but click for my articles.

Also, I’ve become a full-time writer for MetalRiot.com,which I will also pimp:

All of my articles and reviews

Both avenues are quite fulfilling and MetalRiot is growing at a fine rate. I hope to one day take down Blabbermouth.net, but not for any moral reason. The site is the gold standard and to top it would be monumental. I work with a good team of people and being a part of a successful project may open up doors I never thought possible.

As for concerts, this month and the next are totally packed just so long as promoters and bands hold up their end of the bargain and let me in.

This Friday is the first time I will be seeing Sleeptytime Gorilla Museum and the last time they will ever perform again (not true, they play one more show the next night but I wanted to sound cool).

Then Coachella is NEXT WEEK OH MY GOD and that should be most exciting. No interviews scheduled this year, so it may be a bit less hectic and disappointing than last year. I need more energy for the lasers, anyway.

Saturday, the biggest metal show of all time is coming to Indio and I get to see Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and the mighty Slayer. Also, I may get to do an interview, which would I think cause me to stammer and freak out a bit.

Dredg’s new album comes out May 3rd and a show at the Roxy is due to accompany it. I’m close to being confirmed, but may have to go the night before, which isn’t too bad but I’ve never been a CD release show that didn’t involve a hometown friend being in the band.

May is sort of insane, with that Dredg show being in the same eight day period as Between the Buried and Me, Portugal The Man, Ghostland Observatory, Mogwai, and Coheed & Cambria. I’m only confirmed for the first and the last show of that list, with Coheed’s being a double set (acoustic included) and the entireity of their debut album being played with more promised content. If I do go to each and every show, it will be the best and worst week of my professional life. The pennies in clicks I get pale in comparison to how much gas I have to buy as well as time lost sitting in LA traffic as all six shows are in the City of Angels.

Dr. Lemmy (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love 2011)

Oh, Lemmy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You grizzled Adonis. You Saint of Beer. You destroyer of ear drums.

The last time I saw Motorhead was nine years ago and it was amazing. The moled man you see before you opened the Concord Pavillion with a question:

“Con-cord, eh? Never been here before.”

Then they proceeded to whoop everyone’s ass for an hour. It was the best opening act I could have seen as a 16-year old, especially seeing as how Dio and Iron Maiden were next.. The power trio finally made sense and witnessing those same three men playing just as fast at a higher volume nearly a decade later was most excellent. In my review, I mention how the band is very cross-generational, something that grabs attention from all shapes and sizes, but I think they are in an echelon only shared with the great AC/DC. Maybe greater!

Enough hyperlinking…let’s get onto the longwinded portion of today’s topic: 2011 album releases!

History is happening right now, all right?

Slayer. Metallica. Megadeth. Anthrax. Playing Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil.” Holy metal balls.

First off, the song might not be familiar to some non-metal heads, but know this: it’s awesome. The first words are “My mother was a witch, she was burned alive. Thankless little bitch, for the tears I cried.” Calling your mom a witch at the beginning of a song is legendary.

The mass amount of hairspray on stage rivals Somalia’s dirt export potential. The video does bump to 1080, for people that can handle such bandwidth. Also, this took place in Bulgaria. For real.

My mind is somewhat blown.

More Bonnaroo to come, but I had to share such badassery.

I like the way that you stand in line And beg salvation from the empty skies

Welcome back to the “Jesse has a lot of metal CD’s” show!  Next on the list is Youthanasia by Megadeth, recorded waaaaay back in 1994. The Clinton Era had just started, NAFTA had come together, and a figure skater put a hit out on another. Those were the days….

The nice thing about selling all of this heavy metal is getting to see all of the awesome  art displayed on any respectable metal album. From the obscene to the hilarious, any band worth their weight in Vodka has to have an iconic image atop any plastic case they sell unless they wish that case never to be opened.

It’s been a standard for heavier music to be more provocative visually just as with anything else in society that’s a bit off the social norm. Why else do you think my local strip club is shaped like a castle?

Sabbath had some great ones, Zeppelin did as well, and Judas Priest brought a new standard to the art in the 80’s. But the modern bands have taken it and been able to really push to extremes that would have never been tolerated if we didn’t have the pioneers nudge back the idea of “decency.”

Back to the album at hand, anything  that features babies hanging off a clothesline by their toes is a winner.

See? In case you missed it, here it is again…

Alright, enough of that.

Musically, this album gets a lot of flack from metal heads for a few reasons. First off, most fans find it hard to stick with a band if that band doesn’t continue being as brutal and raw and fresh as they were when they got hooked. Since Dave Mustaine and company decide to throw in a parody song, a quiet song, and an almost country song, some see this as the start of the decline of the band.

The true test of a quality Megadeth album is a simple three part ordeal.

Crazy lyrics about death, war, politics, and superhero-type fantasy?

Check.

Insane, blinding speed with dueling guitar solos?

Double check.

Memorable tunes that need to played everytime you see them live?

Check indeed, and that’s why this one goes into the “Good” pile of ‘Deth albums. A lot of them have the style and the substance, but the songs are forgettable or sound too much like other ones.

It’s only for those that have checked out their other great albums, but still want a little more. There is a rumor that Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax will be touring together next year….if this happens, I will be stoked. I wish I could hyperbolize more than that, but I can’t. It’s so awesome, it drains my creativity.

I’ve seen them live twice, and the first time was the loudest show I’ve ever seen. While Travis and I were driving away, during their encore (we like to beat traffic, so shut up) we could hear Mustaine tearing it up while we were driving down the freeway, leaving the city. Just insane. Also the first show I ever saw a “This concert might be too loud. Please wear hearing protection” sign at a show.

The eternal “Metallica vs Megadeth” debate will never end, but I will throw my vote into that pile…

Megadeth.

When I sell another of their albums, maybe I’ll explain myself…