Long Live Heavy Music - 1st Steamin' Anniversary!

Before I move on to anything stupid, lemme thank Blogger. Thank You. You are so fucking awesome. One inebriated moment had me seriously contemplating I should've chosen Wordpress, but things here are done so dirt cheap, and I get to be paid!!

I know there aren't many of you regularly following this ambitious attempt of a webmag, but I am grateful. As hell. Some of you may be from the upper echelons of the biz, though I am pretty much sure most of you are my damned dearest, most loyal friends.

I sure owe you all lots of explaining big time, as with regard to why I have started doing this. By now, I would have replaced that Inaugural Post link in the Shortcuts widget with this one here. Originally I was to label that previous link as "Often Edited Inaugural Post", so I could, from time to time, add bits and pieces of excuses for changing themes as my archiving progressed. But I guess I'll just make a separate post here as it adds more content, more traffic, more hits, more ad clicks and more people pissed. At least I know by that one last bit, I have come.. victorious!

Death Angel, Arch Enemy, Avenged Sevenfold and Dio. These were the four major bands that had me writing like mad. They played a big part in revving the metal engine in me. I discovered these bands a tad too late in life and still I was forever changed. Because as old school as I am, I never thought that there can still be uncharted grounds, fore and aft, as far as my tastes go. Pardon my ignorance, but we didn't have mp3 downloading back in the day!

I would like to have that same mindset applied to the breed I belong to. The breed who's wary to give that old Appetite CD (or, heaven forbid, cassette tape) it's much needed retirement. It may be the seventh copy for all I care, making up for earlier ones which may have been destroyed, lost, or worse- unreturned. 

I am no Metal Messiah, but by God, I'm gonna herd some metalheads out of their comfort zones.

So now when I meet up with old friends and ask them what they have been playing lately and get 'still the ones we grew up listening to..' for an answer- Man I swear I could've been a tiger in my past life with the way I jump on an opportunity like this.

For starters, I move forward with recommendations. Like hearing A7X brings me back to the old days, fuck the nasal singing and their shitty fashion sense, City Of Evil is quite accessible if you give it a try. I remind them oldies too, that we didn't get to buy Death Angel tapes back in junior high but they were such a lifetime to miss. I stick up for Dio being not just a mere Ozzy replacement, and I show them how Arch Enemy's sound comes close to being a bit Thrash-y.. with a fine pretty blonde bombshell for a growler. 

With luck, I am able to haul some metal asses off to finally get their hands on those basics. And then it gets all the more exciting. I tether them now on to some Lamb of God singles, Dark Tranquillity live shit, Nikki Sixx new talents, 'supergroups' like Chickenfoot, Damnocracy, Roadrunner United.. and bring forth an awareness that both the then-opposing genres of Thrash and Glam are making a feisty comeback.

As my iPod song number counts close to ten thousand, I refuse to sit in solitude, experiencing such amazing records. As if I was in Sunset Strip circa '85, going out and 'handing flyers' became my mission. But the big blockade in this chosen path lies on the reluctance of the old guard to embrace the fact that Nü Metal is dead. You see, that's one big spike in the boot for me. Every time I go on vouching for new material to classic rockers, they always think that 'new' is Nü. 

Sheeet. Can't blame them, really. But I ain't callin' it a day.

So that is how I ended being curled up in this wormhole of a blog. Besides, I never run out of metal thoughts, though recently I have been running low on friends to whine and bitch and curse to.. And I'll be caught dead before doing this through famous social networking sites. Fuck Facebook, and all the political righteous waste of bandwidth!

Since it has been a year already, finally I had surrendered to the idea that I should let my readers in to my metal treasure chest. As a result, I had rolled out a link list of other blogs I read by the sidebar on the right. Shall I lose the few readers I have to them metal gurus, so be it. Pretty damn fine consolation knowing they will be in good hands. Funny thing is, I have my own selfish reasons, but to be included in their blog roll is certainly not one of those. I may be guilty enough to admit what I've been echoing from Blabbermouth, but I don't have the audacity to not acknowledge other sites that keep my metal juices up and running.


So give me this chance to thank as well, them angels (or rather devils) on my shoulders.

Metalsucks, for constantly reminding me that it truly sucks to enjoy Avenged Sevenfold! Vince and Axl, you are true metal geniuses. You guys'll never make it to heaven, that's a fact.  

Metal Odyssey, for the astounding archives of metal album reviews. Thank you, Stone, for such profound advice. I have been trying very hard lately in being 'my own music boss'. I haven't really done my homework by a long shot, but I'm feeling a little improvement!

Bring Back Glam, for your undying cause. You are such a badass, Allyson, for having taken potshots at not truly being able to 'live' the hairmetal salad days,  yet you proved them all that you know the scene better than anyone else who did.  

SkullsNBones Heavy Metal Social Network & Blog, thank you for the community. It's a long and dirty road ahead, but I'm wishing you all the heavy metal luck. Thank you also for this last video in which I'll be wrapping all these shit up.




Lastly, thank you, readers! Takers and haters alike! 


Because as what the mighty Slayer says, 'I deny, defy and spread a little hate wordwide!!"

The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off !

The Last Vegas - it's been forever trying to write about this band and their record Whatever Gets You Off. It has taken so long because I can't embed the fucking video of their single! Goddamn ElevenSevenMusic for that.

This is THE post, if you will. I'm finally admitting, not without a trickle of courage, that I SO dig  Glam Rock. Or Glam Metal, Hollywood Rock, 80's metal, Sleaze Rock, Spandex Rock. Choose how you label this genre of unforgivable looks, there's some good music involved, that's for damn sure.

I've always bantered on myself that I'm a half-thrash metal, half-hard rock type of person. That's because I really can't seem to slice up where the boundaries lie. Thrash represents the dark side in me- I hold on to this music in times of angst and dejection, headbangin' in my man-cave or swaying back and forth in such ominous cacophony as I manhandle my demons. 


Call it psycho but I ain't slashin' my wrists in such an emo-esque manner! 

Hard Rock, on the other hand, stands for the badass in me. The debauchery, the cowboy boots and my love for alcohol!


I'd say if it were to be based on personality and just that alone, I'm one notch more of a hard rock guy.

Notwithstanding the abovementioned split personality psycho babble, blastin my speakers with tracks from Whatever Gets You Off made me think how much of a Glam fan I am. And I figured that's because it's the one sub-genre of this very wonderful umbrella of heavy music that makes me such a teen forever. Whether I'm thrash or hard rock doesn't seem to matter anymore. I will always be this kid who will never outgrow, despite the silly looks and moves, my love for Poison, Ratt and Bang Tango. There's just so much fun to miss!

       

That's it, Whatever Gets You Off is a fun record in general. Though I can't say the 'fun' part is still stuck in the eighties. The Last Vegas, in spite of being a Nikki Sixx 'gem' has kind of re-modeled themselves into this one big dirty ball of sleaze rockers playing some serious abrasive type of rock n roll. Yes it's still rock n roll to my ears, and I believe to yours too, if you listen more seriously. The one thing that drags them to the metal category, in my opinion, is their use of heavy and modern distortion. But then if you briefly shove those effects aside, you'll be cleared to an underside of boogie-based rhythm chords and lots and lots of Rolling Stones type of swagger.

Get this album now whether you relate to all my sentiments or not. As for how I manage playing this record, I have given two stars for each and every song since I can play the album in its entirety. There's not one lifeless piece in here, and the first track of the same title sure gets me off I just might crown it my five stars. 

In Whatever Gets You Off, the way in which the end of the chorus jumps right back at (yes, at, not to..just like a cat) the next verse is so insane in its execution! It's like hitting someone with a baseball bat and just totally forgetting about it as you resume playing guitar! 

Now since there's just no embedding that official vid, and I can't even download the badmother and upload it back here in blogger's crappy player, do check out HELL!. Trust me, you will surely bookmark that one.