"Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other."
--H.P. Lovecraft, The Silver Key
In the pivotal scene of Growing Up Metal I confront my dragon. Not those described above, but a very personal struggle of my own making.
What is it? It’s in the book man.
Dio sang about this theme powerfully and beautifully (as if he’s capable of anything but) in 2002’s “Killing the Dragon” off the album of the same name.
This particular song concerns a dark dragon we’re all fighting today: Electronic serfdom. Dopamine leashes, AI slop. Digital overlords selling us paid subscriptions to the world humanity built—not they.
Kneel and behold your new king
Digital dreams
And wonderful things to tease you
Small gods with electrical hearts
Later “killing the dragon” became the rallying cry for Dio’s battle with cancer. As he and his wife Wendy said of their trips to MD Anderson for chemo treatments, “We’re Killing the Dragon.”
It’s also of course an absolutely kick-ass song. I love the haunting, spectral intro. I love the powerful chorus, the chugging guitars, and most of all I love the lyrics and the underlying theme for all the reasons mentioned above.
I love it most of all because it’s Dio. He lost his battle with the dragon of cancer but continues to inspire me today.
I’ve been telling stories all of my life. Lots of stories. More than you might think. For some perspective:
•I worked eight years as a full-time reporter for a daily newspaper, writing and publishing stories every day, Monday-Friday.
•I spent 18 years working in healthcare publishing, during which I interviewed hundreds of experts for industry newsletters. And hosted hundreds more on a podcast. I wrote and told all of their stories.
•I spent 25 years covering high school football. In that time I spoke to hundreds of players and coaches, likely thousands. I witnessed great victories, painful defeats, and stood in the pressbox and the stands capturing every detail, sometimes in the driving rain or shivering in brutal cold. And cataloged them all in the pages of a newspaper.
•I’ve told the stories of my grandfathers and their incredible service in two major world wars.
•I’ve told the story of a former colleague who passed away far too early, a keynote speech I delivered to a crowd of more than 1,200.
•I’ve written hundreds of essays, book reviews, and author profiles, here on The Silver Key and for websites like Goodman Games, Black Gate, SFFaudio.com, and The Cimmerian.
•I wrote a non-fiction book about the lives of sword-and-sorcery authors, telling the weird story of the creation of a niche subgenre of fantasy fiction. A long and interesting story, start to finish, as told in Flame and Crimson.
I learned something from every person I researched or interviewed. Even if it was someone I thought I knew well, my knowledge of them deepened. I’m incredibly grateful to have had this amazing career. No regrets, I loved it all. I would do it all over again.
But something was missing.
Where was my story in all of this?
Did I even have one worth telling?
For most of my life I’ve considered my story, if it all, as irrelevant, inconsequential. Who was I, next to a star football player, an influential selectman, the chief of police? Next to men and women who wrote influential works of fiction, or fought in wars? Or played in heavy metal bands?
But with the passage of time and (slow) accumulation of wisdom I came to realize a profound truth: That every life is a story. That anyone who has lived a life—even one marked heavily by disappointment and failure—has a story in them, if they are brave enough to speak about it, or set it to paper. That my life, which I formerly had not bothered to examine—and if you had asked me just a few years ago would have said was not worthy of examination—might have something of value. That it was a unique story, and therefore one worth telling.
For I too lived. Foolishly, tentatively, averagely. But also loudly, passionately, and colorfully, in my own way. In no small part because I grew up listening to the best damned music genre for pale teenage boys our planet has ever seen.
Heavy Metal.
I was part of a unique culture, during a unique period of time that shall never again exist. I was never on the stage, but I was, and remain, a fan, passionately devoted to an utterly unique and misunderstood genre of music.
I don’t look the part, and never have, but heavy metal resonates in my soul, with the same volume of an amplified arena concert.
The fans’ story is an unwritten chapter in the rich and colorful history of heavy metal. We’ve got Ozzy’s story, and Gene Simmons’, Rob Halford’s, Bruce Dickinson’s, and hundreds more…but what about those who bought their albums, attended their concerts, and followed their exploits on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball?
Eventually I came to realize this was a story worth telling. It was time to tell the story of a fan … who happened to be me.
I started with a difficult and subjective question for which I did not have an answer—how much of my story, vs. how much of metal’s? But as I began to draft, and redraft, the decision made itself: it would be my story, with metal as the backdrop. The soundtrack to my life, if you will.
My story needed to be told, finally, after a lifetime of telling everyone else’s.
Growing Up Metal is not a heavy metal history. If you’re looking for that, look elsewhere. There are many other worthy metal histories written by authors with far greater knowledge of the genre’s depth and breadth than my own. I’ll happily send you my recommendations.
I think in Growing Up Metal you will find something unprecedented, and unexpected.
Growing Up Metal is the story about how I grew from boy to adult with heavy metal as my constant companion. I tell the story of heavy metal, but heavily filtered through my experiences and perspective. Growing Up Metal is not a sordid tell-all, but it’s intensely personal. Revealing, and raw, and real, which was not easy for someone who spent most his life wearing masks of one sort or another. Who was I, underneath the Gene Simmons face paint? Writing it was incredibly therapeutic, and transformative. Difficult … but also a lot of fun. I did a lot of dumb things, over-the-top, ridiculous things, and lived to tell the tale.
If you’re going to write a memoir you can’t half-ass it, deflect the spotlight, paint over your faults, tell lies or comforting untruths. Books are a serious business that when told truthfully and at length put their subject under the microscope.
You can’t hide in a memoir, and if you do, it will suck. No one wants to read a pale copy, sharp edges shorn off and colors muted.
I didn’t hide writing Growing Up Metal. My life is in its pages.
***
In my younger days I lived a life of consumption. I voraciously consumed music, books, and experiences, at the expense of never looking inside. Today we’re constantly bombarded with external stimulus. The smart phone is if nothing else the greatest distraction machine ever invented. “Doom scrolling” has entered the vernacular.
Writing Growing Up Metal afforded me a space to stop and reflect.
The great mythographers Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell said that the real frontier we are called to explore is within. In Growing Up Metal I excavated the events of my past. I reflected on the life I’ve lived, who I was, and who I became, after many trials and false starts and failures.
In the end I was surprised to find it resembled something of The Hero’s Journey, though it did not set out as one.
Heavy metal has an interesting story. It rose, it fell, and was reborn from ruins … a story which strangely parallels my own. All of that is in there. Triumph, failure, crash, and coming to life again.
Each chapter ends with an “amplifier” sidebar in which I digress from my life and discuss the history of metal, or its themes and importance, in more detail. If you remember the 80s and 90s and life before the internet, how we bought and consumed music before Spotify and YouTube, you’ll get mainlined nostalgia for a brief point in time that no longer exists. If you grew up in the New England region, you’ll recognize a lot of the venues where the events unfold. Some of these venues have been bulldozed into the ground, which might be for the best.
I was further spurred to write this book with the advent of generative AI and large language models (LLMs). These are machines that “create” using machine algorithms and aggregated text others have written. LLMs are powerful tools which I believe have a useful purpose… but not in creative spaces. I draw a firm, unwavering line when it comes to using AI for the arts. After all, the life I lived was profoundly human, full of awkward romance and painful mistakes, occasional catastrophes and towering triumphs. Of a modest sort, but not to me. The writing needed to be mine. It’s 100% authentic meat space, and I was adamant my voice would be mine, not a machine.
I hope you enjoy Growing Up Metal, learn something from it, and perhaps recognize something of yourself in its pages. And if you’re at the right age, at a pivotal time in your life, it may even help you make different choices, ones I might have made to change the course of my life.
Growing Up Metal is complete. I hope it strikes a heavy power chord among metal fans, maybe something akin to the shock we feel when Judas Priest starts into The Hellion/Electric Eye.
I think it rocks.
If you’ve liked what I’ve had to say here over the many years, please consider picking up a copy. Consider it my personal mix tape to you.
Ritchie Blackmore, the talented but mercurial (i.e., notorious reputation as a douchebag) guitarist for Rainbow, Blackmore's Night, and Deep Purple, returned to the stage with his old Deep Purple bandmates this week for the first time in years. 33 long years... wow.
Growing up I was never a Purple fan... too much of keyboard 70s rock in them, not enough metal for my tastes, they seemed old fogies before my time. But, I have come to admire some of their work. And conclude that Blackmore is a very talented guitarist.
"Knocking At Your Back Door," a fine song about, well, back door sex and the thrill of the chase, features some fantastic guitar work by Blackmore. The exit solo taking us out of the studio version is so good I wouldn't mind another 10 minutes of it.
Good for Blackmore, now 81, for getting up on stage with Purple one last time. Today is a good day to bury whatever hatchet hovers above you and your old grudges and make peace.
Dimebag Darrell was one of those rare one-of-a-kind guitar players with a unique style instantly recognizable as soon as he sets pick to string. Swampy, staccato, sharp, with trademark squeals that arrest the ear.
Exhibit A.
The main riff in “Revolution Is My Name” might be his best, and he has many. You can make a case for “Cemetary Gates” or “Walk” ; right now I’m feeling this one.
“Revolution is My Name” appeared on 2000’s Reinventing the Steel, the band’s last album. It was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2001 Grammys.
Dimebag was a huge KISS and Ace Frehley fan and the feeling was mutual. After his 2004 murder KISS stepped up. Gene Simmons donated a KISS coffin (!) for his burial. Ace spoke for Dimebag during his posthumous induction into Hollywood’s RockWalk and later dedicated an album to him.
Numerous subsequent metal guitarists have cited him as an influence. The dude could shred.
Metal will always be the music of Generation-X. Even though it got underway in the early 70s with Black Sabbath and so was fostered by later Boomers, it exploded in popularity in the early 80s when high school aged Gen-Xers went all-in. In this song Phil Anselmo (an X-er, b. 1968) voices the cultural influences that made him, and our generation, who we are. The shadow of Vietnam and the turbulent 70s.
'68, into the world born
The '70s, a breath after the war
Life was confusing because of my age
Should my eyes open for tomorrow's gains?
I can't help the way I am
There's no trust and there's no end
What is my name?
The somewhat amusing video is a paean to the formative music of our youth, KISS and Led Zeppelin and their ilk. Anselmo's rage, rebellion, and love of metal, will never change.
Enjoy this crushing tune on Metal Friday, friends.
I've heard it referred to alternatively as hair metal, glam metal, sometimes by the less charitable, butt rock. Whatever.
I've come to love it.
It really all started with Quiet Riot's Metal Health, which made history by becoming the first metal album to reach no. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Then you had Pyromania and Shout at the Devil and it was on. Dudes with big hair and tight pants playing heavy but radio friendly-ish heavy metal, dominating the air waves circa 1983-91.
Dokken is one of the best examples of this sort of thing. Their first album, 1983's Breaking the Chains, was considered a commercial flop, and they needed a big sophomore effort. They got it with Tooth and Nail, released in September 1984. It had several strong tracks, "Alone Again" probably the most popular and recognizable, but I like this one best.
God I love these ridiculous videos... zero subtlety, near zero artistry, zero fucks given.
I've come to love George Lynch. He's an incredibly talented guitarist who writes killer licks and makes this band what it is. Guitar-forward, great hooks, great for blasting as you drive down the seaside in a convertible Iroc-Z or Camaro Z28.
You might be seeing a bit more of this type of music on Metal Fridays through September, for reasons that will soon become clear.
Metal Friday typically steers away from bands that are hard rock/borderline metal (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, etc.) with some exceptions. Or when Gordon Lightfoot died or I felt like talking about 80s KISS.
Not every Metal Friday is a song; sometimes I covered the metal news of the day, concert reviews, etc. With that in mind, here is your Metal Friday 100 post setlist; pretty good listening here IMO.
How has Megadeth not made a Metal Friday? Let’s fix that now with what is probably their best song.
1.Valkyries, Blind Guardian
2.Light Comes Out of Black, Rob Halford
3.Jerusalem, Bruce Dickinson
4.Falling off the Edge of the World, Black Sabbath
5.NM156, Queensryche
6.Hail and Kill, Manowar
7.Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Metallica
8.Beyond the Realms of Death, Judas Priest
9.Raining Blood, Slayer
10.Left Hand Black, Danzig
11.The Evil That Men Do, Iron Maiden
12.The Clairvoyant, Iron Maiden
13.Night Winds, Parasite
14.Queen of the Black Coast, Manilla Road
15.Man of Sorrows, Bruce Dickinson
16.Satsuma covers Ratt's "Lay it Down" and Judas Priest's "Hellion/Electric Eye"
17.Take Hold of the Flame, Live in Tokyo 1984, Queensryche
18.Armageddon Clan, Battle Beast
19.The Hunt, Sepultura
20.Darkest Hour, Iron Maiden
21.Heart of a Lion, Judas Priest
22.Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Eternal Champion
23.Between the Hammer and the Anvil, Judas Priest
24.I, Black Sabbath (with incredible Conan imagery)
25.Judas Priest! … and Gordon Lightfoot?
26.British Steel on the docket tomorrow night
27.Defending 80s KISS (A Million to One)
28.Orgasmatron, Motorhead
29.Nativity in Black (Black Sabbath tribute album)
30.Master of the Wind, Manowar
31.Wild Child, WASP
32.Master of Puppets, Metallica
33.Necropolis, Manilla Road
34.The Crue, Poison, Def Leppard, Joan Jett
35.Emerald, Thin Lizzy
36.Ace Frehley lead guitar! (Fractured Mirror)
37.Blood Tears, Blind Guardian
38.Rockin’ Again, Saxon
39.Headless Cross, Black Sabbath
40.A very metal week: Judas Priest/Queensryche, Iron Maiden (Halls of Valhalla)
41.The Clansman, Iron Maiden
42.Sea of Red, Judas Priest
43.Thunder Road, Judas Priest
44.Flaming Metal Systems, Manilla Road
45.Theater of Salvation, Edguy
46.Bible Black, Black Sabbath
47.Top 5 Manowar Songs
48.Show Don’t Tell, Rush
49.Kill Devil Hill, Bruce Dickinson
50.Let it Go, Def Leppard
51.Beginning of the End, Meliah Rage
52.Stranger in a Strange Land, Iron Maiden
53.En Force, Queensryche
54.Caught in the Middle, Ronnie James Dio
55.Traitor’s Gate, Judas Priest
56.RIP to Canada’s finest singer-songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot
57.Edge of Thorns, Savatage
58.If Heaven is Hell, Tokyo Blade
59.Curse My Name, Blind Guardian
60.As Heavy as I’ll go (Sepultura, Slayer)
61.Worms of the Earth, Eternal Champion
62.Force of a Storm, Sumerlands
63.Orion, Metallica
64.The Battle of Evermore and the timeless nature of fantasy
65.Resurrection, Rob Halford
66.Start the Fire, Metal Church
67.Season of the Witch, Grave Digger
68.Where Eagles Dare, Iron Maiden (for Nicko)
69.Cold Sweat, Thin Lizzy
70.Sign of the Southern Cross, Black Sabbath
71.The Rage, Judas Priest
72.Cauldron Born, Born of the Cauldron
73.Sixteenth Century Greensleeves, Rainbow (RIP Ronnie James Dio)
74.Gods of War, Def Leppard
75.Powerslave, Iron Maiden
76.War Pigs, Judas Priest
77.Goodbye to Romance: Reflections on Black Sabbath, Back to the Beginning, and the end of the road
78.Mystification, Manilla Road
79.Hell on Earth, Iron Maiden
80.Bruce Dickinson at the House of Blues, Boston MA Sept. 11, 2025
81.Atom and Evil, Black Sabbath
82.Strange Ways, Ace Frehley
83.Of Blind Guardian and the Quest for Tanelorn
84.The Sentinel, Judas Priest
85.Stonehenge, Spinal Tap
86.Computer God, Black Sabbath
87.Judas Be My Guide, Iron Maiden
88.Desert Plains, Judas Priest
89.Heavy metal, sword-and-sorcery, the Outsider ... and Iron Maiden's “Drifter”
90.Among the Living, Anthrax
91.Revelations, Judas Priest
92.The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune, Arkham Witch
93.Mountains, Manowar. RIP Ross the Boss
94.Defender, Manowar
95.Darkside of Aquarius, Bruce Dickinson
96.Don’t Break My Heart Again, Whitesnake
97.The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Iron Maiden
I was driving my John Deere around my lawn last weekend... cutting the grass of course, not just driving it around, though just driving around on a John Deere is a perfectly valid activity. I had queued up some old thrash song from the 80s and the Spotify app continued to play like songs from its omniscient algorithm. Which led me to this wonderful little rediscovery. "Medusa," off of 1985's Spreading the Disease. I hadn't heard it years, and had been missing it.
Spreading the Disease is Anthrax's sophomore effort but the first appearance by vocalist Joey Belladonna. He's kind of an odd fit for a thrash band with his traditional metal/high octave/operatic style of singing, but it works with the band--especially on this song. He sounds fantastic. And the main riff is absolutely killer.
Interestingly, executive producer Jon Zazula has songwriting credit for "Medusa," his only such contribution for Anthrax. The lyrics are fun if very much on the nose, not sure how Medusa would stare at you were it not with her eyes, but there you go:
Medusa, she's staring at you Medusa, with her eyes Medusa
In addition to the thrill of nostalgia from the song itself, my search for an accompanying visual led to this horrific, fantastically rendered scene from Clash of the Titans (1981).
This sequence genuinely creeped me out as a kid, and I still find it effective today. The unnatural jerkiness of Harryhausen's stop-motion animation only adds to the medusa's horrible otherness. Her eyes are particularly well-done, and I love the addition of the Naga-like tail.
This week's Metal Friday brings the hair... an awesome track from 1986's Night Songs. My favorite song and album from the mighty Cinderella.
I choose this track due to proximity. I just heard it live, about a week ago, at the Hampton Beach Ballroom Casino. Nowlet me tell you (to paraphrase a lyric), Tom Keifer still sounds awesome. He was playing solo, opening act Buckcherry, and he was great. Played all the Cinderella hits. My longtime buddy Wayne and I have seen Tom several times at this venue and were quite pleased. It's a beautiful 25 minute drive from my home, right to the ocean.
You can thank me in advance for this fan-cut video. Whoever made it deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for obvious reasons. Watch and enjoy over beer this Metal Friday.
Iron Maiden's Brave New World came out 26 years ago.
Twenty-six years. I remember it very well ... I feel like it was just yesterday. But of course it was not.
Only 20 years separate Brave New World (2000) from Iron Maiden (1980). It blows my mind that I've been listening to this album longer than Maiden had been in existence when it first appeared (!) WTF.
Brave New World is full of bangers and is integral to the heavy metal revival that put an overdue stake in grunge. Rock in Rio was recorded on the supporting tour and is up there with Live After Death as Maiden's finest live performance captured on film.
Anyway, enough old fogey-ness (fogginess?) and onto the song at hand.
I've been thinking a lot about thin lines, and the choices we make. Spinal Tap said there's a fine line between stupid and clever, which is fantastically funny. But there's also a world of grey that makes important choices difficult--yet we are free to make them, for good or ill. And these choices can make all the difference. Maiden weighs into that truth here:
There's a grey place between black and white
But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes
I never pass up an opportunity to talk about Bruce Dickinson and his voice soars in "Thin Line", especially this verse. I give huge credit to Blaze Bayley for stepping in manfully during Bruce's absence, and the two albums he participated on are quite good in hindsight, but this song is a reminder of what was missing. Bruce sings as though he's channeling a soul in flight to the other side:
I will hope
My soul will fly
So I will live forever
Heart will die
My soul will fly
And I will live
Forever
With the release of "Burning Ambition" and the creep of advancing age I feel like we're getting near the end of Iron Maiden as a recording and touring force. But they will live forever.
Let's get that out of the way first. If you only know Whitesnake from "Still of the Night" or "Here I Go Again," here's one to broaden your horizons. It's a deep-ish cut, very early 80s, with a bit of 70s keyboard hangover clinging on.
Which is great.
I am tired of conversations about genre. I shouldn't be I suppose, considering I wrote a book about one ... but I am. I just can't wade into anymore conversations about what is or isn't sword-and-sorcery.
This song is something of the reason why.
Is Whitesnake heavy metal? I mean, maybe? Maybe not?
It doesn't matter.
What matters is, is the song good. Does it rock? Does it get your head nodding?
Answer--yes. David Coverdale is killing it.
What matters about a story is, is the story good? Does it move you and keep the pages turning? Get that down first, let geeks like me sort out where it falls.
Genre is a vague signpost. If someone is a Bon Jovi fan or a Scorpions fan, Whitesnake is pretty dialed in to that. Very safe referral.
But even for Maiden and Priest fans like me, this is awesome. Which means, don't write to genre spec. Because you never know what genre fans will fall in love with. Throw in some science. Take out the bruising barbarian. Be an artist, not a paint-by-numbers follower.
CEOs of major tech companies with a very high IQ… and zero sense, and zero empathy. Sam Altman defending AI’s energy toll by saying it also takes a lot to ‘train a human.’ “It takes about 20 years of life – and all the food you consume during that time – before you become smart,” he says.
Chilling.
Being “smart” is the top of his hierarchy of values. And because of the theoretical unlimited computing power of a machine, we know where this leads.
Machine over man.
Intelligence ≠ wisdom.
Bruce Dickinson sang about this eloquently in “Darkside of Aquarius.” Powerfully too, but we expect that. It is Bruce, the human Air Raid Siren.
Peaceful existence and love of fellow man, as symbolized by the wheel of Dharma, is under assault from four apocalyptic hellriders. We've got 5 in the real world but close enough. I don’t put a lot of confidence in the soothsaying accuracy of astrological signs, but the Dark Side of Aquarius is a helpful heuristic here. It’s a psychological state characterized by extreme emotional detachment, stubbornness, and a tendency to be aloof or unpredictable. Intellect is prioritized over emotion. It celebrates "progress" over human flourishing.
When unbalanced, Aquarians can act coldly and ruthlessly, frequently using their intelligence to justify any action. A God complex.
The second hellrider came, from flaming seas and molten sands
Pipers playing Hell's commands
Poured out his poison, with his promises of promised lands
Blackened tongues of lying leaders
We need a silver surfer to save us from Galactus about now. This bit is in the song too.
I’ve also heard that it is a reference to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” but it’s too long since I’ve read that to comment. And I have to run to a brewery.
… ANYWAY, grim stuff but a great song. That transition at 4:38 … chills.
I have said before Bruce’s solo stuff is criminally underrated. Accident of Birth is an incredible album for which I need to do a deeper dive at some point. I've covered "Man of Sorrows" before and there is a lot more to mine from this album.
This morning while working out under heavy-ish iron I found myself able to recite every line of Orson Welles dramatic lead-in to “Defender.” Before he said it, in my best Wells impression.
I hadn’t heard this monologue in years. Yet I could speak it aloud without error. How? It was burned into my brain when I was 15 and ready to run through a brick wall for Manowar. I had to go to war against false metal, you see.
This has something to teach us about oral culture.
Imagine dudes hearing Njal’s Saga, or the Iliad, in some smoky Icelandic 14th century feasting hall on the eve of some great real battle, where on the morn they’d be standing in the shield-wall with spear and axe.
Imagine their emotional state, their focus, as they channeled the bard’s song. They’d remember every word. And pass it down to the next generation, without error.
Warrior stuff, that Welles channels here. Oral cultures remembered epic poetry through a system of formulaic phrasing, rhythmic structure, and thematic repetition rather than rote memorization. There is a rhythm to Welles’ phrasing that makes it stick, IMO.
Manowar isn’t known for subtlety, but it was a masterstroke to hire the legendary actor and filmmaker. Read more about how that unfolded here. I love this detail from Ross the Boss/Ross Friedman’s recounting of the story. Welles stepping out of his chariot and walking in the studio was like the coming of Odin:
“Let me tell you something, this man was a big man, Orson Welles, a huge guy in latter days,” Friedman recalled. “When he got out of the limousine … on 57th Street in Manhattan by the Carnegie – y’know, that neighborhood has some hot shit over there. When he stepped out into that neighborhood, women in mink coats were throwing themselves on him. It was just like ‘Oh, Orson, oh.’ It was like Frank Sinatra in the 40s. Seriously, I saw it with my own eyes. People were in awe of this man because he was so incredible.”
“He was a legendary guy, legendary maverick.”
“Defender” has likewise passed into metal legendry.
If you can’t get fired up for this song you might need to have your pulse checked by a professional. At the 1:50 mark I’m ready for battle. And ready to fight again at 4:12, after Ross’ ripping guitar solo, when Welles comes back in to echo Eric Adams’ powerhouse chorus.
If you haven’t heard it, fix that now.
Defender
Ride like the wind
Fight proud, my son
You’re the defender, God has sent
Manowar is still on my mind after the loss of Ross the Boss (how’s that for rhyme)? This picture of these two men, no longer with us at least on this material plane, moves me on this Metal Friday.
Raise a goblet to Ross and Welles and heavy metal and Manowar and oral poetry.
RIP Ross the Boss/Ross Friedman, co-founder and ex-guitarist of the mighty Manowar. Ross played on Manowar's classic first six albums, Battle Hymns through Kings of Metal.
The news hit today that he has passed into Valhalla, age 72. He was diagnosed with ALS last month.
In honor of his mighty legacy, "Mountains," from Sign of the Hammer.
The lyrics for this one are particularly on point.
Like a man is a mountainside
Greatness waits for those who try
None can teach you, it's all inside
Just climb
I am in the ground, I am in the air
I am all, I live in the hearts of men
I am the call to greatness, not all can hear
I awaken the creator in those who dare
And the day will come when we all must die
And enter the mountainside
Ross climbed the mountain and experienced life at its very peak.
He is where eagles fly, and will live on in the hearts of men.
There comes, even to kings, the time of great weariness. Then the gold of the throne is brass, the silk of the palace becomes drab. The gems in the diadem and upon the fingers of the women sparkle drearily like the ice of the white seas; the speech of men is as the empty rattle of a jester’s bell and the feel comes of things unreal; even the sun is copper in the sky and the breath of the green ocean is no longer fresh.
–Robert E. Howard, "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune”
I love that quote (who doesn't?) from Robert E. Howard's Kull ... and I really dig this obscure but fun metal take from Arkham Witch.
Not exactly an artistic marvel of a song as the main riff overindulges in repetition ... but damn if I don't love it anyway. Great groove, gets the head banging. A boozy, dreamy, loose vibe to the whole thing that pairs well with the original hallucinogenic tale and its examination of philosophical questions regarding reality, identity, and existence.
Am I Kull?
This awesome little band wears its Weird Tales influences proudly. With songs like "The Lord of R'lyeh," "Dagon's Bell," "Crom's Mountain," and "Kult of Kutulu" you know what you're getting here.
Are these guys still a band? Last album, Demos from the Deep, seems to be from 2014 but let's hope so.
I've got to give Nostradamus a proper go one of these days. Proper go as in, listening dozens of times to the album in full, locked in a room by myself with naught but beer, notepad and pen, and my thoughts.
Admittedly I was ... skeptical when Judas Priest announced it was putting out a concept album based on the life and works of the famous 16th century French astrologer and seer. It just didn't seem to align with the talents of a band that wrote "Living After Midnight" and "Painkiller."
And "Johnny B Goode" but we don't talk about that around here.
Lately though I've been paying closer attention to some of the songs from the album, and am discovering they're quite good. Check that... more than a few are epic, powerful, awesome.
In fact I'm starting to think they just might have pulled the damned thing off.
See for example "Revelations." This song kicks my ass. Crank it up this Metal Friday and it will kick yours, too.
I have the power
I have the choice
They'll hear my voice
For centuries
Yes, we will Rob.
In his biography Confess (highly recommended BTW, my review is here) Halford expressed a deep belief that the band knocked it out of the park with Nostradamus, though he acknowledges it's also the most divisive album in the band's oeuvre. Here's what he had to say:
I absolutely loved making it. It ended up as a double album and I am proud of every fucking word and note.... I think it contains some of the most accomplished lyrics I have ever written. I also believe it's one of the greatest suites of music in metal history. So there! I stand behind it 100 percent.
Not nearly enough Anthrax on the blog. Let's change that this Metal Friday.
I don't listen to a whole lot of this band these days, but back in the late 80s/early 90s they were very heavy in my rotation. "Among the Living" hit a sweet spot. Right in the midst of the thrash era Stephen King released the uncut The Stand. Which we all read, and discussed. And wondered if we'd survive the apocalypse. Not likely with the Walking Dude to contend with.
Pair The Stand with "Among the Living" and you've got a great time on your hands. This song gave Randall Flagg his due.
Anthrax had a knack for writing choruses with riffs that begged for a mosh pit to erupt. You get that here.
Anecdotally, readers of S&S listen to heavy metal in higher proportion than country or rap music. There are reasons for this.
The sound of S&S is heavy, and of battle. James Taylor cannot be the soundtrack of “Black Colossus.”
Another is the appropriation of sword-and-sorcery imagery by metal bands. Dangle Kings of Metal in front of a Robert E. Howard reader and you’ll get a grunt of recognition, if not appreciation, even though they might have never heard of Manowar. Some will go on to sample the music, discover that “Heart of Steel” is really fucking awesome song, and become a metalhead.
Ken Kelly and Manowar can be none more metal.
That’s partially what happened to me. Fantasy imagery—along with the influence of high school friends and what was going on in the broader popular culture circa 1987--led me to sample metal bands. The sound and fury hooked me. And the rest is history.
Metal and sword-and-sorcery also share some deeper DNA …. a thematic attraction to the Outsider. Some examples fired off over a beer:
Judas Priest with “The Sentinel”
Whitesnake and “Here I Go Again.” Like a drifter I was born to walk alone.
Helloween: I Want Out
Metallica: Escape (Life’s for my own, to live my own way)
Etc.
Metal does not have a patent on the outsider concept; rock has always contained its seeds. See Dion’s “Runaway” and Rolling Stones “Tumbling Dice.” But the combination of imagery+heaviness+outsider makes metal music a substantial overlap in the venn diagram of S&S.
Iron Maiden’s “Drifter” is another fine example. As Paul DiAnno sings:
Gotta keep on roaming, gotta sing my song… ‘cause I’m a drifter, drifting on.
I hope you drift into a fine weekend on this Metal Friday.
It's July, 7 o'clock in the evening. The New England night is warm. I'm sitting in my car, windows rolled down. The moon and stars are glittering above … and I’ve got an evening ahead of Judas Priest style heavy metal.
The Priest* is playing Uncle Eddie's Oceanside Tavern in Salisbury. A dive bar teetering on shithole, but one I happen to love.
I drive out of the garage, press play on my curated Judas Priest playlist, and hear this:
This song takes me to some desert plain, the stars wheeling overhead on a trip to nowhere and everywhere all at once. Nowhere to go and no responsibilities ... and everything ahead. I've got a life to live.
But tonight is the next best thing. Route 110, a straight line to the New England coast, toward the salt tang and deep roar of the Atlantic ocean. Sour black leather and cold beer and dude companionship, with good-looking chicks and a dumpy bar as the backdrop.
Heavy metal until midnight.
I've done this. Have you? I hope so. There's still time.
"Desert Plains" is the ultimate driving song. You heard this guitar tone in the mid-80s but you don't hear it anymore. This is it in its full glory. "Heading Out to the Highway" is comparable but it lacks the slow, stoned, ethereal vibe of "Desert Plains." Listening to it puts me on an Arizona highway, one of those flat, level, straight to the horizon stretches where you press down on the gas pedal and roar past 80 ... 90 ... and just keep going.
With Judas Priest as the soundtrack.
* The Priest is a New England based tribute band to Judas Priest.
I'm old enough to have bought Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark on tape, very close to the day of its release in May 1992. If I'm correct my buddy Pete and I bought a copy at a long defunct Strawberries (RIP). Popped it in the car stereo on the drive home and listened all the way to the end, even after arriving at our destination. Our ears were alert to every note. This was Maiden! They deserved our full attention.
We were blown away by "Fear of the Dark," the last song on side 2. Which has since become a classic and concert staple.
... and unfortunately underwhelmed by the rest, and the album as a whole. A rare miss by Maiden.
Except for one other track on side 2.
Take a listen and I think you'll agree about "Judas Be My Guide."
Nothing is sacred
Back then or now
Everyone's wasted
Is that all there is?
Is that it now?
Short, barely makes it past 3 minutes. Powerful, almost no foreplay save for a bit of atmospheric guitar work, then straight in. I love Dave Murray's guitar work after the bridge between the second and third chorus. Bruce is singing at a high level here.
It rips. A great little overlooked song that deserves more attention in Maiden's catalog.
In hindsight "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" is pretty good too.
“Computer God” opens up the vastly underrated Dehumanizer with a bang. Dio saw what was coming, back in 1992, when he penned these prophetic lyrics:
Computerized God, it's the new religion
Program the brain, not the heartbeat
Onward, all you crystal soldiers
Touch tomorrow energize
Digital dreams and you're the next correction
Man's a mistake, so we'll fix it, yeah
My inconsequential machine rebellion has begun. I picked up this rig on Tuesday. A Yamaha RX-595 receiver with a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers and a DVD/CD measure for good measure. The price was right (zero). It sounds fantastic. I can now play my old CDs again. Remember what it was like to hear an entire album without commercials, comments, and digital distraction?
Name the CD for bonus points...
No internet, no algorithms, no copyright strikes, just metal. Dio would have approved.
