Warbringer Live in Manila!

Unfuckingbelievable. But click HELL and wake up to reality baby!!

By now you may have marked me for an old timer, but grant me absolution when i shed a tear for bygone years 'cause the eighties ain't seen the last of this genre! At least not yet.

The Ray-Ban aviator has definitely become a timeless piece. Levi's jeans too. Gibson Les Paul? Timeless. Hard Rock. Timeless. Thrash Metal? Well, Classic maybe, but to suggest its timelessness needs more perspective, maybe ten more years down the line for some clear judgment. 

Coming from a big fan of this genre, that, i must say, is saying something. 

The very FIRST band from the New Wave of Thrash 'revivalists' to visit this country has chosen Manila as the LAST stop of their tour before returning to the U.S..

Now join me as i rip the sleeves off my acid washed denim jacket in preparation for this genocidal gathering. Hand me some Exodus pins, some Death Angel patches, worn-out hi top white sneakers and I'll be ready with my bullet belt of literally live ammunition. 

It's Warbringer, and I'll be thrashin' like a maniaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

AC/DC's 'Iron Man 2' Powers To U.K. No. 1 | Billboard.com

This 8 footer of a door poster I scored from Tower Records way way back is still sittin' unopened in some canister in the depths of my man cave..its plastic wrapper collectin' dust  and mites as I wait in vain for funds to finally place it in some majestic glass frame.

It's about time I give justice to it!

Check out this killer news:

AC/DC's 'Iron Man 2' Powers To U.K. No. 1 | Billboard.com

I can't be going on circles, bringing up same bands here and there. But I have to push this further a bit and bring you updates. After all, this author can never be outdone in getting his hands first on anything related with the Thunder From Down Under. 

Third No.1 album in the UK! They are not just living legends, they're Gods!

EDIT 27 April:

Now that's why they got those skull bandanas!

"HOLY FUCKIN SHIT!"


That 'final curtain' at the slam was killer, man!
Randy Blythe was fuckin awesome.
I sure as hell hope they do come back.






If you happen to literally bump into that big feller in this video on your next moshpit hurrah, better move your ass over coz it'll be like one fight to the death with The Blob. This two hundred pounder's name is Raniel and is my brother's childhood buddy. He was the lumberjack who shielded everybody through to the front rows, and whose mass half-saved us from all those dust.



Leads me to where I give Zacky Vengeance due credit.

Dust..

More dust..

Now I'm pretty damn sure I have to get me one of these.

For all its heavy metal/biker/badass splendor, I will actually be needing one for its basic utility in the moshpit. And if indeed it's Megadeth they will be bringing in on Summerslam 11 (rumors spreading as early as three hours after the show), it's not just gonna be some fine dining on a spoonful of dust. I've got to say though, it wasn't just a scoop I ate last night, if you take into account what has crawled through my nostrils.

The Apocalypse with Lamb of God and Testament was biblical in every sense of the word.

Annihilation comes to those who ask for it. 

Fuck it. Let's get on with it. Lest again I gather perspective and lose the insanity after taking too much time playing with words, I might as well do it downright dirty.

I rolled up at the gates around 8pm and it was, from then on,  pure adrenaline shootin' in all directions. Why are Caucasian men scattered on the stage? It's about time! The hulk figure that was Chuck Billy is stridin' on the top boards and he looked as mean as a bad villain in some psycho film.

For some sick reason, seeing Testament at that moment gave me the same spine-tinglin' fear I felt when I first heard the band back in second year high school. It was one stormy night with no electricity and the third track from the album Low was playing in my portable radio. Pardon me for not naming that track, I may use cuss words, swear every now and then, but blasphemy ain't my game.

Anyhow, it wasn't that much of a drawn-out trip down memory lane. After that one split-second of a glimpse I was literally swept off my feet when I was caught in this powerful wave by the charging mob. Faster than a rip tide I did not notice I moved fifteen feet from where I was in just a snap. It was like I'm once again in tumultuous waters waiting for my next ride while the surface surged. Except this was a sea of throngs of metal hungry  fans. This stuff, I only saw  on TV. Much like the Black Nazarene parade with an ocean of undulating heads with black hair. I never thought I will be caught in such a ripple in this lifetime.

Lamb of God. Proves to me further why I need to keep on collecting them live albums. It is probably the only way a true metalhead is able to know whether a band is worth his time. And man did they deliver last night. No matter how hard you try to absorb every single moment of this grand occasion, with all the flying bottles and mists of piss in the air, you just can't. But I guess that's how you truly enjoy one metal show. Battered black and blue, I wouldn't trade the spot I had for one that's in VIP.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm familiar with the rush but I just hate being stared down by some stiff fan when I'm about to get it on.

Whew, that wasn't even a tenth of what I had intended to say. Nonetheless the fans are all pourin' on their own thoughts about last night. From how the barricade came close to collapsing...Randy pumped his fist for the crowd like he just gave the go on the Second Amendment,..to how Mark Morton (or was it Willie?) finally donned his gas mask bandana at the height of the dust storm they caused..all of these now scattered on various networking sites

I can't close on however without mentioning that the Wall of Death came unannounced. I knew for a fact that LOG has stopped making that particular demand from all the injuries it caused. 

But kill me if it ain't Moses who was there last night! The crowd parted fucking wide like the fucking red sea upon the Black Label intro!

I had predicted this event would be 'biblical', and indeed it was. In every fucking sense of the goddamn word.

Now for my YouTube debut.. I'm hoping to hell there's a better shot of this momentous hellbending gesture of honor. I couldn't do it any better from where I was at.





It should have been us saying 'we're not worthy' instead!

I will be back for my account of the colossal Wrath that was last night..

It's not gonna take long 'fore I put up that hair-raising video from my cam last night. It will be my first YouTube upload, and damn if there can ever be a better one for such a debut.

Meanwhile, chew on some appetizer :)

The End is Here!!! Lamb of God and Testament Tonight!!!

Here's a pic I stole from PULP Magazine's fan page. If this can't get the metalhead in you stoked enough, I don't know what else can.

LOG arrives in Manila.

Also, if you have not signed up for anything PULP-related in Facebook, go ahead and join up right the fuck now. It has been an insane week gettin' all the blow-by-blow status updates of this mayhem, and we're gettin' close to reality here. Every fuckin day i take in Mr Vernon Go's updates and make them my caffeine to get me through the day. But it was this one single pic that led me to finally write something. And lots of thoughts are now swarming like hornets. The most important of all, i must make mention. 

(And no, it's not Dodoy Dizon's comment on this pic. Although that gave me one hell of a laughing fit.)

Did they 'organize' a mob to welcome them harbingers of destruction at the airport?? 

Hell, we made Shadows Fall feel like Iron Maiden Gods with a kick-ass monster backdrop, Dante's Inferno became the stage that was supposed to be Arch Enemy's with all those pyros and a hissing giant bat, balloons enveloped all our moshing for Trivium.. I imagine a bunch of crazy hooligans acting like end-of-the-world freaks ready to embrace rapture wouldn't hurt to be outside of the airport during LOG's arrival. 

Correct me if I'm wrong and if there was indeed a mob, but forgive me if I ain't, I know this is asking too damn much.

I'll see you brothers in the Wall of Death tonight. Lamb of God has truly brought the wrath upon us. And with Testament in tow, tonight will indeed be 'biblical', pun intended.

The Twin Axe Attack..in pure Maiden fashion!

It could have been brevity that had drawn up the boundaries of my recent Iron Maiden post. You see, I was not supposed to cut it short and move this new piece here. But I did.  Either way, this here is an entirely different  matter and merits more space. 

I'm in no writing fury. I'm not a writer as well. It's just that I have spent more than half of my life listening to and contemplating on anything musically 'heavy'. And thinking about Iron Maiden always, always gets me treading to the twin axe attack they popularized.

There is not one shadow of doubt that they popularized the twin lead guitar attack. This piece of information is never disregarded when there's some Maiden talk goin' on. I even surmise that Metallica, after being years of the legend they are, tried this approach on the solo of The Day That Never Comes off their Death Magnetic album. It could be their mecca in a way, trying to revisit stuff they liked and how things were done during their time. 


This ain't no breaking news, this twin lead guitar approach. Well at least not to metal fans. But for me personally, its not what gets me off in an Iron Maiden song. It's the feel of the attack itself when they're ripping leads. Case in point, the solo on Holy Smoke. That second one by Dave Murray, that's exactly what i'm talkin' about. You can hear 'technically-gifted' guitarists these days sweep scales not from this planet and just leave you baffled in a way, like nothing important just took place. But listen to that simple blues box from Holy Smoke and it just melts your face right off the bat. 


Grab your air guitar and smash everything in your room!

Nothing to Say (ft M Shadows from A7X) by Slash

That 'M Shadows' song just got out today, and only via MySpace at that. Damn am I glad to have repossessed my account and build some rockin' playlist. No shit MySpace has kept its ass alive by stickin' to its guns in its effort to support musicians. I honestly thought it would be busted a long time ago, just like Friendster. But I found out it has been thriving well as several times I have been channeled to it while looking for new music from my favorite artists. 

It could have been perfect news from Slash's social networking sites had there been some flash player ready to choke on, but yeah, you guessed right. You will have to click on that link. 

Nothing to Say (ft M Shadows from A7X) by Slash

I cannot help but think that this is but a teaser of the whole freakin' pie. But then again expectations are goin' to be too high and the whole rock n roll community has had major, really major setbacks recently. I had been playing this song for maybe four times now and I must say that that intro is so Metallica-esque. Just that intro.. I bet that from the recent status posts Slash had been putting out mentioning Metallica, he must have revisited the Master of Puppets riffs and played them for quite some time, and then eventually had it affecting the intro. But the rest of the song is vintage A7X. It rings to me a bit like "this shining city built of gold..far cry from innocence.." 

That's just my take after a few times of playing the song. Hell, it might be different tomorrow. 

Munch on this tracklist I just stole! I honestly do not know Myles from Eve or Adam Levine from Adam of Genesis but Ian Astbury?? Hell Yeah! Click here for that first track, it's not available til next week but I'm rockin' my soundblasters out to 11 with just this decent preview from Amazon! 

01. Ghost (Ian Astbury)
02. Crucify The Dead (Ozzy)
03. Beautiful Dangerous (Fergie) 
04. Promise (Chris Cornell)
05. By The Sword (Andrew Stockdale)
06. Gotten (Adam Levine)
07. Doctor Alibi (Lemmy Kilmeister)
08. Watch This (Dave Grohl/Duff McKagan)
09. I Hold On (Kid Rock) 
10. Nothing To Say (M Shadows)
11. Starlight (Myles Kennedy) 
12. Saint Is A Sinner Too (Rocco De Luca) 
13. We're All Gonna Die (Iggy Pop)

On board Iron Maiden Flight 666

You'll never know your metal till you know Iron Fucking Maiden.

I'll be damned if I don't cringe in disgust  remembering those new breed of metal wannabes  circa '99-'02. Back then there was a brewing battle between old school and nü metal fans. I had saved that one edition of Pulp during those days and it featured that long standing debate of what camp you're in, whether classic or modern, old or new. It did not come as a surprise that the general position among those who stood for the turntable modern garbage was the lack of knowledge of the old guard. Total fucking idiots they are, those nü metal acts. They threw in those rap bullshit, made the crowd pogo stick and 'harlem two-step'- is that what they fucking call it? and groove.. but fact of the matter is they don't know jackshit. They don't know vintage. They don't know Ed. They don't know Maiden. And they fucking call themselves metal bands.

Bring em anytime any place and i'll rip the goddang daylight out of those idiots. Mighty fucking posers, they all are.

These are just a few of my sentiments after seeing Flight 666. Sue me, illegal copy it may be, i need to have my fix.

Am i the biggest maiden fan? Hell no. One can never be the biggest maiden fan, in my opinion. Some kid comes along who knows all their lyrics, another one does maiden riffs with all his heart, and then another with all the trivia in his arsenal, memorabilia and what-not. The following day just breeds another die-hard.

But i try to keep pace. And in this must-have Ed-treasure I feel like I've just replenished my Maiden chest. This is one of the most phenomenal rockumentaries ever created, and damn if we ever go wrong with Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen.

On board Ed Force One, flown by none other than Bruce Dickinson himself, the band and the crew wrap the entire globe in metal in just 45 days. Highlights still ringin' in my head are the shows in Mexico City, the 'Crying Fan' and Father Iron Maiden. Go check it out now if you don't have this yet, it's a shame to be seeing this a year late but it'll be metal capital crime to totally miss this. Up the Irons!!!

Iron Man 2: not the first 'all AC/DC' Motion Picture Soundtrack.

This has been out now for quite some time already. I bet as well some AC/DC thunderheads must have seen this coming since the movie's first installment. Damn was I so fired up when Back in Black blasted out of that humvee stereo from the opening scene..

..you could feel spot on it was going to be rock n roll all the way. It's that same rush that I get every time Thunderstruck is played right before every Pacquiao entrance.

Why shouldn't the music be so heavy? Hell, for one, you got the superhero wrapped entirely in metal suit, so what do you expect? Now there you go, fans asked for it and now it's given, a full-on AC/DC motion picture soundtrack.

Quite nothing new here...

..certainly nothing new. Back in '86 the album Who Made Who served as the motion picture soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive, the first and only directorial effort of Stephen King.  It featured three new tracks created for the film, combined with  some of their greatest works from past recordings. Apparently, Stephen King muscled his way in through production to make this happen, and happened it did. Not only did he steer it to be an exclusive artist soundtrack, but managed that his favorite rock n roll band also do new tracks for the film. AC/DC fans are now caught in a whirlwind of debate as to which is better of the two soundtrack albums. It doesn't matter to me, anything AC/DC I will wolf down like a hungry, rabid one.  


Do I ever get jaded? Not a single moment. It's one of those rare blessings you get in this life. It's like that one classic movie you never tire of seeing. AC/DC has been, in many ways for me, like The Godfather. 

So for the love of The Almighty, quit yakkin' about how ridiculous an old balding man like Angus is still writhing on the floor with his guitar. It's still so undeniably cool as it was 30 years ago and shall never ever be traded for any of those new stuff coming out that is tagged 'rock'. Just because there's a dang guitar doesn't make something 'rock'. Fuckin' Euro 'rock' is not rock. It's new wave. Without the balls of its forebears.

Anyhow, Shoot To Thrill has been one of my all-time faves but allow me to say I hadn't checked on this official Iron Man 2 preview lately. I found the time and had a blast with the superhero footage, the chicks in the mock armor, and the feel of the Black Ice world tour arena.

Am I Evil?

I had this vid initially posted on my Facebook wall, but I'm sharing it here again for those who aren't in my network. It may seem a bit depthless, showing this as a simple link in a social networking site and attracting each and everyone of my bloodthirsty friends, but for me it defines everything in me that is conservative. Everything in me that is METAL.

Please check the comments on You Tube for this link. Those are by far, the most reasonable I had ever staggered upon relative to defining what is considered a 'nigger'. I felt a stout heart knowing that there are a lot of decent black folks out there who condemn this thug/gangster attitude and that the white folks who commented were polite enough to recognize the sentiments. The thread is fantastic. It's not everyday you stumble upon intelligent discussions on a video like this. All the time you get kids lashing out at each other without even the capacity to spell english words properly!


Let me quote a few:


"...anymore that nigger has no correlation with skin color. look up nigger in websters. says nothing about color. just " an ignorant person" at one time nigger was at black skinned people but anymore now it is any color because it is not the color of the skin it is the attitude/ personality of thugster gangster and people of all races have that mentality making them niggers so when i say nigger i could be talking about a white person (and i know a few) or any other" -moneytoh


"I am a black man and I think that the black guy was wrong in this situation. There was no reason for him to put his hands on the older guy. He got what he deserved. Also, I really hate being lumped into the same category as so many of these ignorant black folks. We're not all like that, the same way that white people aren't all racist." -madison456


"I really appreciate you saying that madisson456. As a white person it's unbelievable the double standards that were subjected to . This isn't really about race if you look between the lines. It's always going to be a touchy issue when it comes to race. " -x11115

Moving on..

How does it translate to my music, you ask me. Call this redneck shit, white power musing, white trash sentiment- but hey, I’m Asian. So the joke must be on me, right? Fuck you. I can go on til morning defending that the Iron Cross on Hetfield’s ESP ain’t a racist thing at all. But of course, Tom Morello wouldn’t take ‘that shit’. In fact he even founded an anti-racial slur organization housed in some booths outside of Ozzfest concerts with members of System of a Down. Apparently, this commie fucker Tom Morello ain’t comfy with all those Nazi symbols boldly brandished in tattoos and shirts. Well, who would be who is not white?

Damn did he miss the whole fucking point.

pure fucking UNADULTERATED metal.

Don’t get any of that rap/crap music near anything that is metal! Never mix, never compromise! That is how you keep it musically conservative. And that is why I hate fuckin Incubus.

Don’t get me started on a barrage of anti-turntable mantra. We’re all on the same page here. And if not, I can sleep in peace knowing I pissed a lot of folks today.

Gauge my personality via my earlier posts and you’ll get the feel that I’m, well, fairly nice. But hurl at me a subject like this and it really gets me offended on a personal level. Call my music noisy, call it loud (THE FUCK IT IS!), but never stop a cassette tape, an iPod or even a vinyl that I'm playing for some gangster rap shit!

This is why Diamond Head's Am I Evil is so fucking memorable for me. I will not forget that night I had first streamed this song a couple of years back. All the time I was being decent and nice in that spit-filled internet cafe by not turning the knob way up high. Unfortunately, some Fil-am fag in ridiculous baggy jeans and REALLY large shirt (all the more it made him look like a midget) took the spot next to me and started playing Usher, or whatever that gay shit is, very loud. But then I saw I had bigger speakers, and my mind went Spinal Tap-ish by thinking '..this one goes to eleven!'

Tri-tone, Devil's Third..call it what you will. That heavy metal assembly of notes may be best exemplified by the song Black Sabbath. But Am I Evil? sure comes in close next.

There I was, finishing my day in that cafe, cross-legged in my mean cowboy boots,  puffing on Marlboro Reds, savoring the moment.

PULP Summerslam 10: The Apocalypse.. with Lamb of God and Testament!

April 17 is going to be biblical.

 

PULP Magazine will once again rev its metal machines and relentlessly assault whatever is left of our eardrums from its recent offering, My Heavy Metal Valentine: Trivium Live in Manila! And I have yet to detail how that drumstick got into my brother's hands that night. Problem is, I'm still a bit disoriented as my ears have been making these weird static noises since Arch Enemy brought the eclipse upon us last October.


Man that was a heck of an effort bringin' the best of metal to the masses in just less than seven months. Four big fucking bands from the other side of the globe! Just a few months back Arch Enemy was just too good to be true, but it happened!
And now they've got Lamb of God towed in from Virginia! 
And Testament!


Call it clutches, I call it staccato fire..

                                               

What gets me fired up most about this mayhem is that these bands aren't past their prime yet. And passé acts are what we have been gettin' in this country lately (Backstreet Boys? Toto? even Sheena Easton? Hahaha!) . Fortunately for us, those aren't metal. But the way I see it (or how I DO NOT), is the inconceivable schedule of these bands Pulp has been bringin in. Yet they have managed to grace us with their ominous presence. Trivium for one had just replaced their drummer, released a Sepultura cover and completed recording almost all tracks off of their new album just before they got here. Testament is out getting ready for the Rust in Peace tour with Megadeth and Exodus. And LOG? hell, they're booked in every major metal act raging in both sides of the Atlantic.

How can my blood not get excited? Even Blabbermouth.com cannot fathom the thought that we'll be catchin the heaviest bands live for as cheap as $6.50.

In their February 16 post:

"The largest metal festival in the Philippines, the Pulp Summerslam is known for its unbelievably low ticket price of only 300 Philippines pesos (approximately $6.50). Included ib the price of admission are sodas, beer, pizza and free cell load.”

I have never read funnier comments. Click here to view.

666th Hit and a new Template.

 

What a way to finally get my juices back up and running.  To the few select who gave a flying  fuck, this moment marked the 666th hit of this magazine/blog, whatever you want to call it, and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate heavy music and make this my  first post for the year. Evil lurks within us and we just have to manage our own little demons in our own little ways! Haha.

Tons of things have happened in my life personally, as well as in the whole hard rock and heavy metal community. I got engaged, finally, and as much as un-metal it can get, I knew it has to happen. Hell, even the members of Steel Panther,  grand glorifying and all of 80's debauchery and groupie shagging, have got wedding bands on them ring fingers! Among other issues  I had as well was busting my iPod's hardisk, only to fix it out and have it functioning (after 50 unimaginable days!) in such a bizarre manner, a tale that deserves another sheet of storytelling. Which I am not going to do. But I'm willing enough to hand some tips to whomever has one that won't load songs any more than a few hundred. Just shoot me an email. 

The Rev is dead. And we haven't heard a straight enough story from the A7X camp. At least one that does not reek of OD. The man who is the subject of ridicule to A7X critics (largely due to his emo-esque fashion statement) is for me, the brains behind all the hooks in their songs. This guy has indeed packed more punch than all other bandleaders of their genre combined. We'll see how this band go forward if it's Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater in the skins.

Moving on, the most badass of all news I have recently browsed upon my daily perusal of Blabbermouth has got to be the reunification of the two Daves of my all-time favorite thrash band. Double horns to Megadeth! 

From the official Mega website: 

Robert Gray of Ultimate-Guitar.com conducted an interview with returning bassist David Ellefson on February 16, 2010.  

"In the world of rock 'n' roll, over the course of time friendships may strengthen, weaken, and possibly even come apart. Life on the road, away from the family and inside the tour bus in the constant presence of fellow band members, can certainly challenge friendships. One such friendship that has had its share of ups and downs is that of Megadeth co-founders Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson, whose triumphs and tribulations have been well documented by the press. In recent weeks however, that friendship has returned to a position of strength."

Click here for the full interview.

It may be sad perennial reality to bands reunifying with old members when the one who is in place of the instrument at the moment has to move over and give way to the old horse. Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer respected the turn of things back in '96, and Motley Crue has got John Corabi filing suits since. But i'm sure James Lomenzo will find great success in whichever band he will be playing next. Who knows, White Lion may even get their chops back for all we care.

Just in time for the Rest in Peace 20th Anniversary Tour!!  

For tour date and venues, click here.

The big question is, how do we fly Marty Friedman in from Japan even for just a guest appearance?

 

Merry Christmas Metalheads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Past Christmas i remember with  what music i had been playing at the time. I remember getting up  in the morning back in '92 with the Black Album, '98 with the first G3 album, '02 with Alice in Chains LIVE..

It's going to be a hilarious one this time with Feel the Steel!! This is Tenacious D meets Spinal Tap squirtin' like madmen!!!

Keep on Rockin and Merry Christmas!

The 5th Anniversary of The Assassination of Dimebag Darrell

I am first and foremost an artist.

Less than a notch down the alley comes my next passion which is music. Less than a notch I say because both can’t come to be in perfect symmetry with each other, but I always felt each has owned a side of my filthy black heart. It’s just that I would have to place art to be in the left ventricle where the artery pumps out the blood. Having said that, I must say I have quite managed a marriage of both by way of hobby.

Hobby. Goddamn it hurts like hell to even say the word. 

You can check out that profile picture of mine and you’ll see as to how I make a release of my ‘manageable’ demons. Not an original I must admit, but it’s how I find inspiration for art. Through music. And vice versa. I’m sure there are more than a million folks out there like me. The incendiary genius Chuck Klosterman already unyieldingly stated it about us metalheads- ‘you think you’re weird but you’re not, there’s more than a million people out there like you’.

Now there’s one artist out there who’s gone out to set fire sending sparks of debate throughout the entire heavy metal and art community. I ain’t one to be guru in the philosophy of both, though I have my opinion. First time I heard there was an auction of a painting of this supposedly ‘assassination scene’ of one of my heroes, Dimebag (now that’s why it was a Dean in my pic), I was stoked! I had but a thousand ideas swirling over my head as to how that dark day, which is on it’s Fifth year by tomorrow (or today depending on which side of the globe you’re at), is to be represented. I thought of Neo-classical paintings, of Caravaggio, of The School of Athens by Raphael. Lo and behold it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turned up all in the wrong direction. I felt some guilty twitchin’ in my guts the moment I saw it.

The Assassination of Dimebag Darrell by Tom Sanford

It was art, okay. Depending on how you define it. And art is perception. It is opinion. Others may celebrate the life of someone who did an orange line in a canvass, but I’ll be better off spittin’ on his grave. This, for me, is not art. It’s desecration. And whether it gets mainstream propping I’m not one to give credit for its artistry, if there's any. It had evidently used controversy to turn it to one big bandwagon. Much worse, there are hungry vultures out there that are made for such carrion.

Somewhere in some longitude, it is the fifth year anniversary of one of the darkest days in metal. In a few hours, Metal Hammer will be shipping out its 200^th issue with the Tribute to Dimebag cd.  And the troops of doom are out for it. The tracklisting has been out for quite some time now (check this link > tracklist), and I have my own choices I’m too eager to catch. Now I just pray it’ll be sending so much of a ripple to thrash that painting to the bin, and never again make claim as a tribute of some sort.

 Rest In Peace, Cowboy. May you have all the Black Tooth Grin heaven can offer.