Clutch's Blast Tyrant Blasts Big Time!

Here's one band I dig so much but one that's been left unnoticed for decades.

They are, for me, kind of like the Dave Matthews Band of hard rock. They are a no-frills type of band, no bullshit, never gave a dirty rat's ass about image but are real geniuses musically and lyrically. They have gone on relentless touring and have constantly put out one record after another since the early 90's. Sometimes they have even served as opening act for bands with lesser talent and flair. Yet they haven't really left the scene despite the sand dunes of music trends.

Maybe that's why they have forged such an ultimately loyal fan base. And its one that encompasses a wide array of genres, from Classic Rock fanatics to extreme metal practicioners.

Without having to resort to visual imagery or commercial packaging, they have painted a picture of a badass hard rock act through words and music only. By turning a blind eye to bigotry and imperialism, they proved it's alright to be a redneck at this day and age. They even made it cool to wear plain white t-shirts in rock again.



I can waste a year's worth of blog space here if I were to describe their brand of hard rock. And I'm sure as hell I won't even get close to defining their music. I do think though, that they shift along the lines of rock but the 'hues' change from one album to the next in their entire discography, which is one hell of a list by the way.

Blast Tyrant will probably be their most accessible record to date. It is chock-full of hard-hitting rhythms and intelligently woven lyrics, broad-ranging from life beyond the Ol' Mason-Dixon line to political jabs in comedic delivery. I have never been so lyrically amused for a long time.

This is also the record you get out when you throw in slabs of meat on the grill, smash bottles to the wall or just get plain stoned to. Almost every reviewer out there says this is a mix of stoner rock, blues and funk, and I must say to an extent it really is. What amazes me though is how homogeneous that mixture is to my ears. The mood it sets for being stoner music catches up real tight but in no way close to being Monster Magnet, it is funky without bending that much to Chili Peppers yet you can groove (but I won't) pretty fine with it. AND, get this: it is full-on Blues Rock without almost any blues soloing! There's really not much complex blues guitar licks you'd find in here but the songwriting is topnotch. Not even the real 'masters' of blues guitar have thought of taking the music to a level the way Clutch did in this record, riff-wise.

One thing I must add before you get this one is for you to clear a space, not just on your list of greatest rock records ever, but also one from your list of most gifted singers. Neil Fallon's voice may not have that much of  range, but hell, with that kind of power, who needs one in this sort of heavy rock?

Metallica: Français Pour Une Nuit

I seldom talk about Metallica. I reckon they really don't need that much of an attention considering how LARGE an act they are. If I had any urge in the past, it was to write about Death Magnetic. But it came at a very low point in my life. Needless to say, I missed my chance. Also if I were to say anything Metallica-related, chances are it would be bitchin' about how they had failed me in this or that aspect. 

What the hell, I need not do that really, for that would be a total waste of time. Off Metal Hammer TV: Guilty Pleasures - Just Don't Get It, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed already said it: "anything you say about Metallica bad, it's like pissing in the ocean, it doesn't fucking matter!". 

So clear yourself of any inhibitions, I'm not here to take potshots at them!

An overload of Metallica live videos clearly can't get me stoked enough to have a few more. Cunning Stunts, in hindsight is something to remember with fondness. Even if it has been ridiculed to the max, it was a huge affirmation of a big turning point in the band's history. I have it in my rack, along with their set in the Monsters of Rock in Moscow, Woodstock '99 and some other live clips from the hillbilly-where's-the-handlebar-moustache James Hetfield era. I have none from the present line-up, and I dig Robert Trujillo. Problem is, I already got Ozzy's Live in Budokan, and he's already more than amazing there.

But it's just too hard to ignore the fact that Metallica: Français Pour Une Nuit (French For One Night, is that it?) is one badass almost-medieval metal live dvd. I found it impossible not to get my hands on this one, evidently everything about it tells me it falls into great halls of awesomeness. True enough as it actually took place in the literally awesome halls of a Roman amphitheater! 

Aaah, Metallica. It's no question you disappoint at times but you sure know how to win your fans back!

Shot in the Arena of Nîmes in France with a completely French crew, it's remarkable seeing this almost 2,000 year-old Roman structure ooze with so much electricity as if recreating what took place eons ago. Take note that it's impossible to deliver Creeping Death live, without the 'DIE! DIE! DIE! chant. Come to think of it, centuries ago it must have been that same feel with Gladiators and a huge crowd raising fists and yelling DIE! in whatever Romance language form used at the time. And have I said these Four Horsemen actually entered the arena via the coliseum's gladiator tunnel?

I can cite a hundred reasons but I'm not sure really, as to why I was completely blown away by this live disc. Maybe I was expectin' less, and they came out 'round prepared for this one. Multiple cams, combined with good mixing, well that's a given. Maybe a decent audio set-up got me surprised how tight they played as a four-piece. Close scrutiny tells me how perfect their parts were, how well-executed the thrashing of both guitars was done. Especially in the song Dyer's Eve, which I must say, stands above the rest of their other performances for that night.  Hell, maybe it was the old Roman coliseum and my insatiable thirst for anything and everything bloody in European History that got me into this dvd! 

But the location shot can only get one so far. If I were to single out one factor why I was so snagged by this that it finally got me writing, it would have to be that they played so much from ..And Justice. Which by the way, is my favorite Metallica record. And merits more space and time for me to brag about. But I'm just too damn glad the ..And Justice songs were played in full length, not like the fuckin' medleys they used to do!! The tracklist below shows it, they launched forth with Blackened, and they even played Harvester Of Sorrow! I'm sure there's just four tracks from it, but better that than any other post Black Album stuff. But then I realize there's no better theme for such a location other than what the cover of ..And Justice speaks of. 

You all know the drill. You must have seen a lot of Metallica's live performances, and quite tellingly, you might place them as predictable in a way. Well set this one aside, for it's an entirely different ride. There's just no better way to appreciate the Arena of Nîmes in a rockin' show, unless maybe, you dig Rammstein or Dire Straits.

TRACKLIST

01. Blackened
02. Creeping Death
03. Fuel
04. Harvester of Sorrow
05. Fade to Black
06. Broken, Beat and Scarred
07. Cyanide
08. Sad But True
09. One
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master of Puppets
13. Dyers Eve
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman

--Encore--
16. Stone Cold Crazy
17. Motorbreath
18. Seek and Destroy

Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater

Seems like it truly is Mi Ultimo Adios to his band of 25 years.. Just a reposting of what has been stirring up every heavy metal news site since this morning. The initial source, his actual goodbye letter, is in his Facebook Page. Again, here it is to save you the hassle. Apologies to hangovered Dream Theater fanboys..

Wednesday September 8th 2010

I am about to write something I never imagined I'd ever write: 

After 25 years, I have decided to leave Dream Theater....

After having had such amazing experiences playing with Hail, Transatlantic and Avenged Sevenfold this past year, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I have recently had more fun and better personal relations with these other projects than I have for a while now in Dream Theater...it's just that I think we are in serious need of a little break..Sadly, in discussing this with the guys, they determined they do not share my feelings...I even offered to do some occasional work...but it was not to be...I wish the guys the best and hope the music and legacy we created together is enjoyed by fans for decades to come...I am proud of every album we made, every song we wrote and every show we played....

I'm sorry to all the disappointed DT fans around the world...I really tried to salvage the situation and make it work...I honestly just wanted a break (not a split)...but happiness cannot be forced, it needs to come from within....

Sadly...

Your fearless ex-leader and drummer,

MP

The best Aerosmith Tribute Record - Not The Same Old Song and Dance.

Before I got to finishing this piece here, my good guitarist friend TJ had me stirred up with some Aerosmith news. From reliable sources, he said the band might be considering to pay us a visit here in Manila. And while I've been recently seeing nothing more than news of internal strife from Blabbermouth, I can't help but hope that there isn't going to be any resurrection of The Joe Perry Project!

Never really cared for tribute albums that much, but I knew I had to score this one the moment I saw the outside back sleeve- an all-star ensemble of my heroes paying homage to one of the greatest hard rock acts ever! 

01 Back In The Saddle (Mark Slaughter, Albert Lee, Rudy Sarzo, Frankie Banali)

02 Rag Doll (Ted Nugent, Tony Frankin, Vinnie Colaiuta, Derek Sherinian)

03 Chip Away At The Stone (Vince Neil, Blues Saraceno, Ricky Philips, Pat Torpey, Paul Taylor)

04 Last Child (Mickey Thomas, Earl Slick, Nathan East, Stephen Ferrone)

05 Sweet Emotion (Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw, Mike Inez, Randy Castillo)

06 Dream On (Ronnie James Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stu Hamm, Greg Bisonette, Paul Taylor)

07 Walk This Way (Fee Waybill, Steve Lukather, Tim Bogert, Tommy Aldridge)

08 Draw The Line (Jeff Keith, Tommy Skeoch, Tony Levin, Eric Singer)

09 Same Old Song and Dance (Jack Russel, Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, Jeff Pilson, Bobby Blotzer, Edgar Winter)

10 No Surprize (Jani Lane, Chris Holmes, Adrian Perry, Stephen Riley)

11 Toys In The Attic (Stephen Pearcy, Tracii Guns, Phil Soussan, Aynsley Dunbar)

Besides, it was '99, and everything else in the cd rack at the time represented the über nonsensical nü metal that was at its pinnacle. Conservative heavy music was in really low supply back then and I couldn't put to words  how much I wanted to wolf down anything seriously rock n' roll.

Bitchin' aside, my prior grasp of tribute albums entailed different bands doing their versions of songs assigned to each of them, and then later having the tracks compiled to make the record. The formula remains virtually the same up to the present, with some veering in the way of having a single house band type of session musicians all throughout the entire record with only the guest singers varying. This record though will be the first in my collection to host a multiple collaboration-type of cover tunes.

I'll be hard-pressed to find out who pulled the strings to make this happen, no matter how much I despise the business side of music. That's because the contributing artists here are such big names in rock that I failed to resist to do a little background check on Bob Kulick, the man who defied the corporate odds.

Fact 1, he's related to Bruce, and  Fact 2, he had his share of KISStory. 

An outstanding resume of some of the greatest productions in rock and metal doesn't solely define the man who nearly made it to becoming THE Kiss guitarist. With Ace Frehley beating him to the punch in the audition, Bob would later redeem his glory by befriending Paul Stanley and later contributing uncredited guitar tracks in many KISS records. Subsequently, he would also usher in his younger brother Bruce to the Kiss fold. 'Nuff Said.

Going back to the record.. It was a great find for such a dark phase in rock history. Not The Same Old Song & Dance remains to be one of my most played cd's, and its scratched to the innards from frequent playing. It was so great that it inspired me and my erstwhile bandmates and childhood buddies to pick up our cobwebbed instruments and get back to playing in spite of the trends. Not that the trends really mattered to us, it's just that there was no new music to fuel the inspiration.


It must be that we truly did not live the early days of Aerosmith to have that nostalgic fit and not accept any new take on their classics. No disrespect to the band but I can no longer get back to hearing the originals after being used to these new versions of heavier guitars and more complex licks. Kind of like playing Mama Kin after quite some time of imbibing the Gn'R cover. Most of the tracks covered here are from the early days, which means both Joe Perry and Brad Whitford weren't using that much of delicious, crunchy distortion effects. And it's really a break to hear those songs again with a much 'thicker' take.


Only the singing is another matter.. A bit of rearrangement gives a different flavor, but the voice from the second most famous rubber lips in rock can never be duplicated. 

Back in The Saddle remains to be my favorite here. Contrary to what I said above with regard to more distortion, Albert Lee delivered right on spot with only simply overdriven guitars. In fact, you'd mistake it for just being plain clean tone. And to be honest I really don't find Mark Slaughter's singing to be that good either. But this version, I will never trade for any other out there, most especially that one from Bas Bach and Axl Rose! 

Rag Doll kicks ass too, you'll notice Ted Nugent doing both the vocals and guitar parts. For such a hardass I think it's pretty fucking cool of him to pay tribute to the band coz as you may well know, he's not some junior fan. The Old Nuge actually thrived in hard rock glory in the same era that early Aerosmith did. And his playing seems to just get heavy as he grows old, maybe that's why many regard him as a great guitarist despite sticking to basic I-IV-V blues. Other players in his same age bracket are getting the stiff finger syndrome, but he still shoots those licks like a twenty-year old! 

And Ronnie James Dio and Yngwie Malmsteen on Dream On? Such fantastic soul-searing voice and majestic licks to add up to an already regal tune. Outstanding. Chip Away at The Stone introduced me to Blues Saraceno and I've been a fan ever since. We used to break this song apart to find out what's so special about his playing though in the end, his 'expressionism' was what we could only make different. I've got more to say about him but that again, is a tale for another day. 


Steve Lukather doing Walk This Way, Tommy Skeoch, before being kicked out of Tesla is with Jeff Keith on Draw The Line..an almost Damn Yankees take on the song Sweet Emotion with the late, great Randy Castillo.. 


Damn, better grab yourself a copy of this one and get ultimately hard rock on yourself! There's just so much cold beer waiting for me outside to be blogging, so I'll be spinning this instead!


Cheers!

Pantera's 'The Will To Survive' and the 20th Anniversary 'Cowboys Deluxe'.

Yours truly and the very best of my friends are all big, big Pantera fans. How can we afford to be not? Heck, we rode hell and high water during our four years of secondary education with almost all records from those Lone Star thrashers! Anything Pantera, myth or fact, was enough to get us through Piss High.

But damn if my peers ain't hangin around Facebook too much. This must have caught their attention already but just in case they missed this one, here it goes: 

From the Official Pantera Facebook Page: 


We will be premiering the track "The Will To Survive right here on our FB page at Noon EST on 8/30/10. Stay tuned for more details. And check out the packaging for the 3cd Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition of Cowboys From Hell:

I was practically not stoked when Nirvana put out the then-unreleased track 'You Know You're Right' back in '02. That was supposed to be the treasure from the compilation record they had at the time. Cobain wasn't great, we all know that. He just happened to have executed his disappearance at a perfect time. Needless to say, 'previously unreleased tracks' aren't always cool. Besides, did we really need a new Nirvana song?

But Dime? Dead or not, he will always be celebrated as a metal genius. And we're missin him like hell, ain't we? Now let the wings of gratitude flutter for we can add another song to that fine collection of his works. And if that's not enough, at least with it, they've re-mastered Cowboys From Hell and added some pretty electric live shit with it.

So I'll stream this on the 30th and i'll be literally holding on to my Crescent double barrel, 12 gauge and sparks will fly everywhere in sight I promise you that! 

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 Slash incident in Milan and The Ultimate Rock N Roll Badass.

I got into revisiting Clint Eastwood movies as of late, all because Gran Torino was on Star Movies again. And yeah I'm a big fan of Western films you know that. I'm sure I can't go wrong on a marathon of big bore rifles and bad guys being sent to hell before I tuck myself in. With that I wondered, who is the ultimate Hollywood badass??

You then translate that from your mind down to Google and you get loads of garbage. For damn sure Javier Bardem's name is going to make the list, no doubt about that. But other than the funniest line from No Country For Old Men, you get other links too. Man I can't remember if it was Yahoo Answers (again) that dug that crap up but seriously, Vin Diesel? As far as my metal ass knows he ain't one bit of a BA for one second of his fame! 
Well I shouldn't be askin that in the first place. It's Clint Eastwood, no shit. 


You must have seen this coming. Who's the ultimate Rock N Roll badass?? One thing's for certain, it's not Glenn Danzig.

Talk about bad reflexes! On a serious note though, fuck that rap metal dude. Just the name of his band makes me flinch thinking of the thug music they bring. I wish I had more space here to bitch about that. 

Going back to bad reflexes, a few years ago I was browsin on some news of a then-rising Velvet Revolver, I remember reading all of the members enlisting and training for some Kung Fu shit or some other martial arts training. To 'relieve stress', apparently. But with all those lessons and after all that happened before (Dimebag, Lennon), Slash is still kind of slow in his reactions during his Sweet Child solo in Milan. Click here for the full Blabbermouth update. It didn't make that much of a noise, being buried in all the Big Four blow-by-blows at the height of the Sonisphere mayhem. Jump to 1:15 for the rush.

It was cool of Slash to just make fun of it, to just 'air guitar' his way out of awkwardness. I won't take him for a BA really, but I dig his guts confronting Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. at the Rainbow. That part of his book is just insane.


Now I can't help but share my favorite video, which, well I got from a martial arts mind-conditioning talk, how 'bout that. As a classic example, obviously. I would say that from the way Keith handled and maneuvered his guitar, either he might be King Arthur's descendant or he's really into some serious broadsword training! Look at how he got back to shaking his A, it's like he never missed a single fucking note! Now, that is badass..

If you still can't accede to the fact that Keith has to be in this article, go to the Facebook group 20 Reasons Why Keith Richards is a Fuckin Badass! and know why. Maybe you're too much of a sloth to do that, lemme lay down the list:

A group stating the top twenty reasons why Keith Richards is one of the original bad boys of rock and roll
He:
1. sleeps upside down to prolong his life
2. has snorted his own father's ashes
3. survived falling out of a coconut tree only to get up, board a jet ski, and knock himself out again
4. has told Mick Jagger to fuck off privately and publicly
5. gets his blood changed like the oil in a fucking chevy
6. has been punched out by chuck berry and lived
7. has tried every drug known to man and is living proof that the D.A.R.E. program is a crock of shit
8. cannot be killed by conventional weapons
9. has been rocking for 40+ years
10. has been known to drink, smoke, sing, and play the guitar at the same time
11. once threatened an interviewer by sodomy by bananna
12. casually flicks cigarette butts at his screaming audiences
13. has called Frank Sinatra a motherfucker
14. has had orgies with a mars bar
15. claims drugs aren't his problem, cops are
16. has been arrested 10 times
17. could use his face as a baseball mit
18. kicked Ronnie Wood in the ass for being sober and constantly makes fun of his newfound sobriety
19. was awake for nine days straight( drugged of course). When he finally fell asleep he fell face first onto a amp and broke his nose
20. When the end of the world comes all that will be left is dirt, cher, roaches, and Keith.

Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare hits Billboard Top and Eminem gets to step down!

The Deathbat has finally snagged it!

Whew, it's been a nail-biting week for every A7X fan. I've been trying to get this one confirmed but apparently Billboard has not come up yet with a clear fuckin chart that says so! But Blabbermouth came out guns blazin' with the news, with no official link whatsoever. And as expected, Metal Hammer had echoed everything from there out. As of the time of this writing, the Billboard charts have not changed but the news section HELL! already has declared that Eminem has stepped aside for the new kings of the charts.

Again I'm giving you the Billboard News link, but here are other cool sites that were first to be shoutin' in the streets of hell!


Revolver Magazine, by far, the coolest article. And get the copy! It was this magazine that got me into A7X in the first place via their M Shadows/Metallca cover edition. 


BLABBERMOUTH was the first, as expected.
and then there's Metal Hammer - 're-tweeting' of course.


Some say it was the death of The Rev that had propped up the curiosity and therefore the sales. I'd say there was some hardwork too! And the sweat off the previous records has paid off as well.


Truly we no longer care if Metal gets to be on the charts again, we'd listen to it and love it no matter what. 


But ain't it cool to have the flag waived again? Especially if it's Eminem that's being crushed, and with a band of an Old School touch on the helm doing just that! 

Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare - the initial album review and the Metallica resemblance.

I'm aware I'm not ahead by a damn sight in doing this review even if I got this record on it's first day of release. And as seasoned readers most of you may well be, you know for a fact there's really nothing proverbial to say if you have only been listening to tracks you just got a few days ago. Not even if you had looped the songs non-stop. So at this point, it's only initial impressions. And I bet those are what you may be wanting for if you're reading this right now. Unless you enjoy that 'song-opens-with-a-thunderous-explosive-stick-count-ends-in-an-apocalyptic-bassdrum' kind of bullcrap, I'm not doing that. It's a waste of time, that kind of literal horseshit account. Hear the tracks in Amazon preview for fuck's sake rather than have somebody describe them to you in words.

Believed to be the heaviest record to date from these Huntington Beach rockers, Nightmare for me stands in a laterally different category with their past releases. Heavy is relative. Arguably I can't label this effort as such. If it's one thing, Nightmare is their saddest record so far. Even If I had not known the passing of The Rev, I could and probably would have stated that there's the sad signature in this record. Still not convinced? Give me one song, just one song from Nightmare where we can unanimously concur that they just went out there and played for the fun of it. Something like they did with Bat Country from City Of Evil or Scream from the self-titled one. Quite noticeably, there is not one 'fun' song in this record. Predictable to an extent, of course, losing Jimmy just recently. And let me just add, having been a huge follower of their behind-the-scenes videos, that I'm pretty much sure The Rev was the happiest camper in the pack. So abandon all hopes of fresh radio-friendly hooks and stripper tunes, there are just none in this new output.

Yet in the same light, there's no mistaking that this is unashamedly and unabashedly an Afuckin7X record.

It's no big task backtracking some to shed light on how they came up with the sound in Nightmare. With Mike Portnoy filling in on The Rev's shoes, a kind gesture I must say, there's really no reason for Dream Theater fans to be checking this one out for his drumming. There's almost no difference- even The Rev's trademark 'double ride' was effortlessly executed by his icon, as heard in 'Natural Born Killer'. As you may have noticed, everything was on 'template' already, with Mike suggesting a few tweaks here and there. Thus that leaves us no basis as well to gauge how much creative output expired with the Rev as he was a part of the laying of the groundwork as everyone was. But the recording is another matter, and his screaming is sure missed. At least he had graced us with his 'let it burn..' part in the song 'Fiction'.

The loudest buzz going on with respect to initial reviews is how much of a resemblance this record is to the early Metallica sound. And that is what I want to objectively tackle. Too many haters seem to disagree but cannot prove that there's nothing Metallica-esque here. True, it may be, that it all sums up to one's perception. But I'll give it a try. 

No painstaking scrutiny needed here, but it should be made clear whether we refer to the 'rig' or the 'riff'. Some tracks do, on occasion, sound like it used the same rig or set-up with the ones used in Master of Puppets, though I doubt there were any ESP's but there's no mistaking in the depth of distortions. The amps, the environment, lots of other factors may be the same. Even the clean guitar employed on the song 'Victim' is evidently Hetfield-reminiscent. 


As with regard to the 'riff', well that's a different subject. As much as I hate to stride on these grounds, I will have to name a few. The song 'Buried Alive' embarked on to its heavy part with something that sounded like the 'Orion' main riff, and by the outro I seriously thought they were flagrantly quoting 'Ride The Lightning'. I hear also, 'My Apocalypse' via the same Death Magnetic style palm-muted chugs in the rhythm filler of the solo to 'Welcome To The Family'. One thing that is not Metallica thrash here is the song 'God Hates Us'. Albeit with a familiar title, conversely it doesn't translate to that Slayer song. The main riff rings to me like another thrash song that has even got something synonymously resonant of the title -Death Angel's 'Lord Of Hate'. If you have noticed anything even remotely Pantera about this song, or any other track for that matter, name it. Otherwise you're just another Wiki junkie who happens to have taken M.Shadows' word for it.

Moving on, I'm on the high road to being a dog with two dicks, thanks to this new record. I honestly do not care one bit if it sounds like something else. Before being the legends they are, Metallica took several strikes for sounding like Diamond Head, or whatever the critics thought close to them at the time. Yet the records they made are our anchors to everything that is great in this whole metal lineage.  Initial impressions are far easily transcended the more you play this record, as there are more than just the sound to consider. On top of everything else, Synyster Gates is as unfailing as ever in writing his guitar parts. Nothing too flashy, technique wise, but hell those licks sure make their mark. Had he lived through the eighties he would have blasted away many other pop metal axemen. Double that up with Zacky's guitar and you got a pyro of a duo that's sure to light up the sky. And we do not have that much of a tandem recently. 


With their efforts altogether, they have given us once again a full-on barrage of dark, fuck-this-world, furious songs and sad ballads that conjure up images of a funeral pyre, slow processions and a stormy weather farewell rites to a friend. Not wishing tragedy to befall anyone, but this sure is a great record to carry anyone through his darkest days.


That's how this record falls into the great halls of awesomeness. Its an album that's not a repetition of past ones yet it still maintains that hallmark sound. 2007's Avenged Sevenfold may have been well-received by the big-ass critics in the industry, in the same way that City Of Evil was taken back in '05, but evidently those two albums never sounded thematically the same. And here we got a new one that is no way inferior to the previous two. And one that just might knock-off Eminem at the Billboard top spot.


In summary, Nightmare had all the workings of a classic. It may be disparaged by your usual A7X hater, possibly not in the same degree that hair metal was criticized back then, but surely this will be one revered album now, and even 20 years after.