Evening Rec

Found a few classicks on youtube. Perfect way to kill a couple of hours while you're baking, knitting, what have you.

W.C. Fields - Temperance Lectures

I've been in a major W.C. Field's mode lately, which jogged my memory to the fact that I had this fun little album squirreled away on my HD. Enjoy ol'Bill's libidinous rants and raves....what's your stalling er I mean calling?

Temperance Lectures

Arthur Brown - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown

The ineffable Arthur Brown --- Evil pyromaniacal occult hippy musick

...and certainly a bigtime influence on the Norwegian corpsepaint aesthetic

cool poster from catesatomicgarden 

The Crazeee Woild

Absurd - Facta Loquuntur

For anyone who read that Lords Of Chaos book, the band Absurd should ring a bell...they are the ones who wouldn't let a fellow classmate join their ranks, and then murdered him for good measure! Talk about adding insult to injury!! Nowadays, they would probably just leave a bunch of hate on his facebook page till he did himself in, ah the glories of the internet...but anyways, on to the music...Absurd's sound is sort of a love or hate type of deal; crudely recorded, out of tune (intentionally?), simple beyond belief, and often times more punk/folk/RAC than straight up metal. Honestly this sounds like a retarded Pogues cover band with a really grim production. But y'know what? That's exactly why I love it! These songs just have that "x" factor that elevates them from horrible to sublime (if not quite sublime, then at least enjoyable). Be it an epic vocal hook that will stay in your head for days (Eternal Winter) or a catchy riff that is pounded into oblivion. Listening to this again, I'm very much reminded of last year's excellent Misantropical Painforest album. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure these bastards wouldn't have it any other way.

Facta Loquuntur

Red Foxx - Sly Sex

Oh Mr. Foxx you raunchy old devil...I wiiiish I coulda been in the crowd for this recording. It sounds like so much fun!! All the hootin' and hollerin' and cat-calls. Old Red barely has time to get to the punchline before people start laughing their asses off and falling out of their chairs...and I for sure would be doing the exact same thing cuz this is fucking hilarious material that holds up to todays standards. Let's just say it's my type of humor...working blue.

Sly Sexx

Taake - Noregs Vaapen

A new Taake out boys and girls, and I for one couldn't be more thrilled! I've been a fan of all the Taake albums, but their last one left me a little bit cold...it had some great moments (Motpol is just an outrageously good song), but overall it wasn't as captivating compared to earlier work. Well, that is fixed in spades on this new one! Mainman Hoest must've went back under that Bodhi tree cuz there are some delicious riffs flying about; Myr even features a good old fashioned hootenanny hoedown!! The whole album is filled with a kind of "down on the farm" atmosphere...I don't know quite how else to put it. Noregs Vaapen has certainly redeemed Taake in my eyes, even if Herr Hoest is responsible for one of the most shameful moments in heavy metal history.

Of course I speak of his very literal interpretation of "to rock out with your cock out". I for one do not wish to propogate this nasty stereotype of the pencil-dicked black metal musician, but one cannot whitewash over such events. We can only hope that Hoest spends his Taake "f-you" money on a sturdier set of denims.

Noregs Vaapen

Iron Fist - Metal Ages

Hard to believe it's been one year since I started this blog. It has been a blast so far and I plan to continue it as long as heavy metal flows through my veins. In celebration, I'm revisiting my inaugural post...the almighty Iron Fist!!
I still maintain that this is the prettiest feather in Barbarud and Blasphemer's cap...and I definitely agree with Barbarud's lyrics..."keyboards were good for disco only, female voices for choirs holy, so what should do real Metal chick? To drink beer and suck some Metal dick"...
He and I share the ideal woman apparently..."Long blonde hair, and long long legs, thin as string, with melon tits, leather jacket, torn blue jeans, spiky waist and bracelets"...
And finally, I can only concur with Mr. Barbarud on the sad states of metal (and the world in general)..."I stayed the same for many many years, but the world is running like runaway horse, Metal music changed a lot, new trend hippie bands stir up my wrath, no today's band plays music that was called Metal in glorious past and what they call Metal now, I call it shit, I call it fuckin' shit"...can I get an AMEN over here!!!

Little Babygarten Queen

Root - The Temple In The Underworld

I can think of no better album to cap off Czech Madness Month than Root's magnificent 3rd full-length from '92. This is where the band really started branching out of black metal into more classical metal territory. Big Boss crooned as never before...Blackosh slowed things down, sometimes into doom (I don't think a song like Aposiopesis happens without the influence of a band like Citron)...and perhaps most significant was the addition of a crackerjack young drummer name of Rene "Evil" Kostelnak, the drummer from Blackosh's incredibly powerful death/black/atmospheric side project Crux. Evil added such creativity to this squad of visionaries that he just pushed them over the edge into sublime waters. This may not be as complete an album as The Book or Black Seal...but the band were perfecting their craft by that point...here they are still young and hungry, biting at the chain. Hell, Big Boss still had hair!!
P.S. I've included the bonus song Prohibition in this link...one of the most kick-ass Root songs ever!!

The Temple In The Underworld

Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden

Jon Schaffer, Ripper Owens and Dick Christy go all America on everybody's ass...Happy 4th Everyone!!!

Rule This Road

Dark Tranquillity - Damage Done

I think it's rare when a well-respected band puts out their best album mid career, but that's exactly what DT did with Damage Done; one of the most streamlined, sophisticated death metal albums I've ever heard. The phrase "tight as a virgin's hoo-ha" comes to mind. I'd be interested in knowing if Stanne, Sundin and krew spent months painstakingly crafting these tunes or if they were written quickly as a flash of brilliance, perhaps after meditating b'neath that elusive Bodhi tree... cuz that's exactly how I feel after listening to this monster.

Damage Done

Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

Already posted this one quite a while ago, but the mood strikes again. You can listen to this album and it'll make you feeeel real goooood, no matter what ailz ya. Just listen to Mr. Richards now...

Tattoo You

Root - Live In Brno '93

Morbid ritual of Root band ano 1993. Vid not from this concert, but give's good insight into early Root in concert, back when Big Boss was still rockin' the Jerry Garcia look.

Live In Brno

Head East - Flat As A Pancake

Sausage biscuits...Harleys...Flapjacks...Schlitz...strawberry wine...funk organ

If any or all of these things appeal to ya, you're going to love this album right here.

Flat As A Pancake

Shroud - Chamber of Suicide

Grim Spanish black metal. For the longest time I thought this album was called Thamber of Suicide which intrigued me very much.

Shroud's sound reminds me of very early Darkthrone, like Snowfall era Darkthrone...Very cool (cold) riffs that inhabit an emotional depth lacking in nowadays black metal. If the cover art and band pictures don't hook ya, the music certainly will.

Thamber of Suicide

Death Axe - Demo '85

What happens when a bunch of 12 year old Danish kids get together buy a 4 track and press record?
The answer, of course, is absolute maniacal mayhem and brilliance!!
I must admit that I have listened to this primitive little curiosity waaaayyy too many times, enough so that these songs have sunk into my consciousness.... I will catch myself humming "Night of the Slayers" on the subway and singing "Dark Eyes" in the shower. You better be careful, or this might happen to you too. Where the fuck were these kidz' parents anyway?

Dark Eyes

Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness

Time to get your green on folks. Once a year we celebrate the Emerald Isle, and Primordial are about as Irish as a sauced leprechaun, and play some pretty good epic style naturalist pagan metal to boot.

Word of advice...if you're gonna kiss something green today, make sure you've had a few Irish carbombs beforehand...

Get "Jig"-gy with it

Atrocity - Hallucinations

Atrocity are an oddity of a band; starting life as an unorthodox technical death metal beast, they morphed into a, well...atrocious goth metal band - complete with whinnying chick vocals. So suffice to say I don't care much for nowadays Atrocity albums, but Hallucinations is a horse of a very different color.

Released in that halcyon of death metal years 1990, Hallucinations tells the story of a drug addict's descent into hell, and the schizophrenic nature of the music certainly paints a vivd portrait. Leads come out of nowhere, bass breaks put you in the mood of jazz...the kind played in a jazzhole that is dank and degenerate, full of junkies looking to score that next fix. The songs are so inexorably fucked that I have to believe someone in the band was listening to Zappa or Beefheart. Many of the riffs are so bizarrely phrased as to be completely out of the death metal lexicon, especially for 1990!  

The amazing thing about Hallucinations is despite it's bizarreness, it carries some serious catchy hooks. Take the main introductory riff to the title track. That'll stick to ya like peanut butter.  There are only a few other death metal albums of that time that possess these unique characteristics of other-worldy eerieness and charming memorability (Nespithe, Soulside Journey, In Pains if you must know). A definitive classick of the weird-ass branch of old school death metal.

Hallucinations

Weather Report - Sweetnighter

You have to be good to play jazz, especially hot jazz.  And with jazz (in fact with anything) the hotter the better. Now if you aren't in the know as to the origins of hot jazz, this album is one of the best primers in da world. Uptempo licks coming at you from all angles, Shorter horn blasts and Vitous bass grooves ringing in ya ears. Some may call this fusion, which it is, but it's also red hot music to get that ass shakin' and fingers snappin'.
If you listen to just one song, make it Boogie Woogie Waltz. That is a piece of sublime transcendence beauty.

Sweetnighter

Dana Dane - Dana Dane With Fame

Brooklyn born/bred Dana Dane dropped this bomb way back in '87.  Nightmares is the choice cut, man I've known chicks like that Donutita, she sounded like a real piece of work.  I hear she's really what blinded Slick Rick in that one eye.

Nightmares of the Night

Pröhibition - Rehearsal 7/27/07

3 Cute Japanese... oh snap that was the last post.  Almost applies here, cuz we sure were adorable in our capes and light sabres.  I still have my pain train gloves, wish the same could be said for that snappy Limahl 'do.  One of our most fun rehearsals during the old Prohibition daze.

The Lady Wore White