anniversaries

by Cosmo Lee Tomorrow’s a big day for metal anniversaries. Overkill’s Under the Influence and Slayer’s South of Heaven both turn 20, and Suicidal Tendencies’ self-titled debut turns 25. Now, Suicidal Tendencies isn’t a metal record. Other than a few metal-ish leads, it’s hardcore punk. It’s also Suicidal Tendencies at their most vicious – and […]

by Cosmo Lee Last weekend marked the 20th anniversary of Voivod’s Dimension Hatröss. The core of Voivod’s golden era trilogy, it bridged Killing Technology‘s departure from prior Motörhead worship and Nothingface‘s prog polish. The record remains revelatory today. That’s because it’s elusive; it hits you and runs away at the same time. So much metal […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og] Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Dio’s first solo record, Holy Diver. The title track has made inroads into popular culture (South Park, the Judgment Night soundtrack, Killswitch Engage’s cover and its ridiculous video), but “Rainbow in the Dark” inspires more love, even though no one really knows what it’s about. People have tried […]

Speaking of black metal, Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of Living Colour’s Stain. I’m admittedly not a huge fan of the band, as their records are wildly disjointed. They have a soul singer for a vocalist (Corey Glover), Ornette Coleman-meets-Eddie Van Halen for a guitarist (Vernon Reid), and an avant-funk rhythm section (Will Calhoun and […]

This month marks the 20th year of Immolation’s existence. I saw them play last night alongside Averse Sefira, Belphegor, and Rotting Christ. My expectations were high, and the band far exceeded them. Like many, I’ve burned out on death metal in the last few years – or maybe it’s burned out. But recent strong shows […]

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of Van Halen’s debut. I’m reading Everybody Wants Some, Ian Christe’s fine biography of the band, and I’ve had fun revisiting the old records (that is, until the Sammy Hagar era; 5150 is fucking repulsive). They’re fascinatingly varied (Fair Warning and 1984 are almost polar opposites), but I keep coming […]

Invisible Oranges turns 1 today. It’s come a (somewhat) long way since its start as a dumping ground for reviews that didn’t fit into publications for which I write. The first entry wasn’t that bad, actually. I’m pleased that the featured band, The Sceptic, now has a human drummer and a killing new demo track […]

James Murphy (not the LCD Soundsystem dude) is like the Pharrell Williams of metal (bear with me on this one). You want him behind the boards, and he can give you a hot 16 bars. But let him loose on his own, and shit gets unpredictable (my simile pretty much breaks down at this point). […]

The sticker on From the Grave says, “Classic Underground Death Metal as Covered by Napalm Death on ‘Leaders Not Followers II’!” This may not seem like much to hang a hat on, but Napalm Death does a fierce, downtuned version of “Fire Death Fate,” which it heard on an ’85 demo via the tape-trading circuit. […]

Suicide Solution (with guitar solo)Dee (Randy Rhoads studio out-takes) Epic1987 Today marks the 25th anniversary of Randy Rhoads’ passing. Five years afterwards, Ozzy Osbourne released Tribute, featuring live cuts recorded while on tour for Blizzard of Ozz. They’re good, not great. The band isn’t tight, and Tommy Aldridge turns in an amazingly boring drum solo. […]