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In honor of my little guy turning 8, I'm making my 1,000 post in Now Playing my favorite album that was given to me on Christmas when I was 8. And paved the way for a lifelong love affair with the Thin White Duke, to boot.
Aside - how cool did I think I was, to have an album where there were boobies on the cover and no adult seemed to care?
1. Taake – Fra Vadested Til Vaandesmed This is off the latest Taake album. They are Norwegian. All their albums are gold but they really knocked it out of the park on this last one. We saw them at Party San Festival in Germany a few years back. My understanding is that one guy named Hoest writes and records everything on their albums.
2. Spite Extreme Wing – II Well, this is kind of a weird one. Off an album called Vltra. They are an Italian “Black Metal” band. Im using that term loosely. Its kinda like Surf Rock meets Black Metal. This band is broken up but they were doing some really unique stuff on this last release.
3. Scorpions – Pictured Life This should speak for itself. I think a lot of people hear Scorpions and think “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “The Zoo”. The truth is these guys had some awesome records out before they became an arena rock band. This is off Virgin Killer. Also check out In Trance, Lovedrive and Taken by Force.
4. Sargeist – A Spell to Awaken the Temple These fellas are from Finland. The best Black Metal release in the past few years in my opinion. The album it is from is called Let the Devil In. It’s awesome the whole way through. Just big melodic chords. The atmosphere of this is amazing. We met the guitar player in Helsinki . I don’t think he liked us. Whatever.
5. Roky Erickson – Two Headed Dog One of the most underrated rock musicians in my opinion. He was singing about the occult before it was cool. I get chills listening to this song. He also was the front man in 13th Floor Elevators.
6. Ravencult – Possession on a Burial Ground I think these guys are from Greece although they sound Scandinavian. This is off the last record they put out called Morbid Blood. I don’t know a lot about the band but the album is great. Kinda sounds like Watain but even more grimy. Maybe they smell worse too.
7. Pentagram – Be Forewarned Here’s another hidden gem. In my opinion Pentagram should have been as big as Black Sabbath. In the past few years they have been getting their due a little bit more and people are starting to recognize them as an iconic proto-metal band. All these Pentagram songs are just chilling. They also wrote a ton of them in the 70?s. Evil stuff.
8. Craft – I Want to Commit Murder Well…. this is super hateful black metal from Sweden. I love hateful and disgusting Black Metal. It might be the most hateful Black Metal song I’ve ever heard. If someone told me they were going to name a song this I’d tell them they were an idiot but for some reason Craft can get away with it. This is off an album called Void.
9. Rammer – This Caustic Fog This is a Canadian Metallic-Punk band from Toronto. This is off an album called Incinerator/Krusher which is a compilation of Rammer material. They kind of flew under the radar for a lot of people outside of Canada. It’s unfortunate. I’m a huge fan and never got to see them play. Check them out. Better late than never.
10. Murder City Devils – I Drink The Wine I’ve always dug this band. I’m a huge rock fan and although probably considered a Punk album this is just dripping with all the sleaze of a good rock song. The organ really knocks it out of the park. It has that element of danger that all Rock should.
11. Midnight – You Can’t Stop Steel Midnight are from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. We’ve played with them a bunch. They are one of the few good bands that have ever come out of Cleveland in my opinion. This is off the last record they put out called Satanic Royalty. I always liked the fact that they have always remained underground but still have a rabid fan base worldwide. They play by their own rules. It makes me wanna drink cheap beer and rip around on a motorcycle at unsafe speeds.
12. Mi Amore – Despampanante I love this record called The Lamb but know little about the band. They are French Canadian I think. It’s kinda from a Hardcore subgenera of Metallic-Punk I don’t know much about. I got this record on a whim and have loved it for years. This album was recorded with Kurt Ballou who did our newest record, so it sounds great. It’s really violent and angst-y. I dig it.
13. Kiss – 100000 Years If you don’t like this first Kiss album you don’t like Rock n Roll. It’s a quacking classic album and it has the “I dont give a Quack” attitude the whole way through. I appreciate a band that, although not musical virtuosos, wrote better songs that most of their contemporaries.
14. Kampfar – Dodens Vee A Norwegian Black Metal band that I love. They kind of have this primitivism in the riffs that really makes it stand out all while keeping melodic and catchy. Very unique take on Black Metal. It has a Pagan sort of vibe with out being some dumb dress up in kilts and wear viking helmet malarky gimmick. Their drummer tech’ed for us and Aura Noir on a tour. Awesome dude; awesome band.
15. Hellacopters – Hopeless Case of a kid in Denial I love everything this band ever put out so it was hard to choose one song. It’s interesting that the metal and also the rock from Scandinavia is so quacking top notch. They are like the ultimate American rock band but they are from Sweden. I think Nicke Andersson (of Entombed fame, mind you) just sat in a room and studied Cheap Trick and Kiss records his entire youth or something. Never got to see them. He fronts a new band called Imperial State Electric that is worth a listen if you are a Hellacopters fan.
16. Gorgoroth – Carving a Giant In my opinion this is the the best song off the best Gorgoroth record. It was the last one they did with Ghaal. Its called Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam. While the new Gorgoroth without Ghall is good, it is not THIS good. This is filthy black metal at its best. These guys looked the part, acted the part and put out the albums to back it up. I love all of it.
17. Nifelheim – Open the Gates to Damnation Once again with the filthy black metal. This style of Black Metal is my bread and butter. The entire package you get with Nifelheim is amazing. This is also awesome because it so anti the current world of metal. They might not play as cleanly or “shred” as hard as a “modern metal” band but they are 1000 percent cooler by far. This is off a record called Envoy of Lucifer.
18. Inepsy – Who’s Next When all my buddies were listening to Metallica and Pantera I was listening to bands like this. I just grew up on Punk so I have a soft spot for shiz like this. I got into Metal later trough Punk. Inepsy is a Canadian band that unfortunately broke up recently. They have three full lengths. It’s got a Motorhead vibe for sure. Put on your leather and hang out by a brick wall or something while you listen to this track.
19. Dissection- Beyond the Horizon So Dissection put out some killer albums then the front man turned out to actually be a killer and went to prison. When he got out he released the album this track is off of, Reinkaos. I think this album is often over looked as a legit Dissection release maybe because it’s so glossy in comparison. I happen to think its great. It has a cool rhythmic Black Metal-Rock vibe. I would have loved to see what else these guys put out had the frontman not killed himself.
20. Mutilation Rites – Blood Will Tell These guys are a newer American Black Metal band from NYC. They are doing some killer and legit stuff. I am a big fan. They also smell kinda bad in person.
Edit: , if you've never looked at CVLT's mixtapes, you really should. Just looking at the first 5 or so pages of this series, Windhand, Tombs and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats make appearances.
Edit: , if you've never looked at CVLT's mixtapes, you really should. Just looking at the first 5 or so pages of this series, Windhand, Tombs and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats make appearances.
CVLT is so bad ass. I need to spend more time listening to those. I've been itching for a Primal Scream day though. I'll start tonight.
Even though I love the hard-hitting cuts like “Am I Demon”, my favorites are when Danzig is crooning. Put this one on at 3 am when it’s too hot to sleep.
2. Roy Orbison – In Dreams
I first heard Roy Orbison when I was a kid, but it wasn’t until I saw David Lynch’s Blue Velvet that intensity of this song really set in.
3. Gun Club – Eternally is Here
I bought “Las Vegas Story” because I thought the name Gun Club sounded cool. This song reminds me of the summer after I graduated high school.
4. Alice in Chains – Would
I’m a latecomer to the Alice in Chains camp, but this is a really cool jam by a band that I never took seriously. If you’re a hater like I was, give it a chance and pay attention to the lyrics.
5. Cocteau Twins –Blind Dumb Deaf
This song reminds me of watching a girl get dressed in her bedroom
6. Circle of Ouroborus – A Root Casket
I can thank my brother Ralph Schmidt from Planks for turning me on to this band. This is one of my favorite tracks.
7. Godflesh – Dead Head
When I first heard “Streetcleaner” I didn’t know if I liked it or not. I didn’t have the proper wiring in my brain to decipher the vibrations that were erupting from my speakers. The record was both intensely brutal and frightening at the same time. This song pretty much covers it.
8. Gods and Queens – Untitled 5
I played in a band called Versoma with Jamie a few years back. Gods and Queens is what the band would have sounded like if I haven’t gotten in the way.
9. Buzzoven – Sore
This is the sound track for robbing a 7-11
10. Eyehategod – Jack Ass in the Will of God
This is the song that would be playing in the getaway car after John F Kennedy was assassinated by the Illuminati.
11. Outlaw Order – Double Barrel Solves Everything
What ever happened to this band? I wish that the Eyehategod dudes would focus on this band and let the past be the past.
12. Green River – Forever Means
Before Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney, there was Green River, in my opinion the best band to come out of that scene.
13. La Gritona – Carrion
Back in the mid-90’s there was a band called La Gritona that were maybe a few years ahead of their time. Tortuga Records put out a discography of their material a few years ago, if you can find it, I highly recommend picking it up. Think Black Flag and Rapeman genetically spliced with Unsane
14. Hammerhead – Double Negative
I would listen to this record late at night in my room and imagine that 100 years from now people would be analyzing the work of Hammerhead along side the work of Charles Mingus. If you dig this, I recommend checking out the band Vaz, which features the rhythm section of this band.
15. Green Magnet School – Package
GMS were one of the few east coast bands that Sub Pop put records out by. They were also on a shortlist of really cool Boston-based bands of early 90’s. It’s sort of a noise, industrial type of trip, but not really. You could tell that these guys listened to Swans, Throbbing Gristle and Cop Shoot Cop.
16. Coil – Things Happen
My favorite post-Throbbing Gristle band; in some ways, they are an evil Tangerine Dream: dark, vast, cinematic and creepy.
17. Nico – These Days
I went through a big Nico phase a few years ago. This is a song that I often play on Friday nights after training Jiu Jitsu.