Black Friday

Black Friday: Maiden heaven

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | musiX | 2 Comments

Yesterday I stumbled on to the Billboard 200 chart. The top five caught my eye, and were as follows:

1. Eminem - Recovery
2. Kem - Intimacy
3. Ray LaMontagne - God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise
4. Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
5. Trace Adkins - Cowboy’s Back in Town

Now, that is a motley crue. Upon seeing this, I realize a few things: a) I’m shocked that I am actually familiar with three of the five names, b) I don’t even know who Trace Adkins is, but I’d like to punch him in the face, and c) Wait … is that Iron Maiden?

My relationship with Iron Maiden is a long, bittersweet one. It all goes back to that fateful day I won a Piece of Mind poster at the Sun Country Fair in Red Bluff by popping balloons with some darts … or was it when I shoplifted that Powerslave cassette from Kmart? Either way, I think I was in eighth grade. The poster hung on my wall next to a poster of Van Halen with Diamond Dave sporting those assless chaps, and the tape spent time in my $9.99 Dynatone personal cassette player. Maiden was much heavier than most of the music I listened to. They didn’t sing about chicks. Or partying. They sang about Pharaohs. And flying. I liked it, but not nearly as much as my Out of the Cellar tape.

Iron Maiden continued to be one of those bands I enjoyed, but never fully invested in. My friends in high school raved about Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. I raved about Dancing Undercover and Crazy Nights. I wouldn’t actually ‘t steal buy another Iron Maiden album until 17 years later (fortunately bypassing the horrible non-Bruce Dickinson albums). I was living in Spain, and Maiden was scheduled to perform at Plaza de Toros de Illumbe on June 13, 2003—I was going to this show. To prepare for this event my roommates and I purchased Live After Death, Iron Maiden’s 1985 double live album (and a must-own for any metal fan) on CD and played it non-stop for a month. Then we didn’t go to the show. By the time the 13th came around the semester had ended, we were broke, and we decided that cañas and bocadillos at Juantxo were much more important than Iron Maiden tickets (because they were). I think my roommate Matt Davidson ended up with that Live After Death CD.

My next encounter with Maiden came a year later in the form of a used vinyl copy of The Number of the Beast given to me for my birthday. The cover scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid … I mean, look at it for chrissakes! Released in 1982, Beast is the first Maiden album to feature the operatic pipes of Bruce Dickinson … yes, the Bruce Dickinson. And it has a great version of “Run to the Hills”!

I’ve since repurchased Live After Death (”Scream for me, Long Beach!”). And I finally saw Iron Maiden in 2005 at Ozzfest. I don’t even remember who else played—but Maiden was fucking great, and Dickinson’s vocals belied his years. It might as well have been 1985. You would think I’d have actually listened to the copy of 2006’s A Matter of Life and Death, given to me by a friend who insisted on its greatness. Yet, I’m looking at the disc as I type this, still wrapped in cellophane. That all changes today. That said, I’ll let you know what I think of the new record The Final Frontier when I get around to listening to it in 2014.

“Run to the Hills” - Iron Maiden (Live After Death)

“El Dorado” - Iron Maiden (The Final Frontier)

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Black Friday? Mary Shelley says yes

Friday, August 6th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

It’s been many a black Friday since the last Black Friday on TDoL—things were getting a little too wholesome around here.

Portland’s Mary Shelley has jerked me from my no-metal funk (hmm … a little nervous placing the words “funk” and “metal” so close to one another). Named after the creator of Dr. Victor Frankenstein the five-piece has been shelling out black metal evil under Portland’s gray skies for years. They have a four-song demo out filled with slice-and-dice riffs, double-kick, and more changes than a costumer at a Britney Spears concert. Above all else, Mary Shelley has a cellist and an incredibly killer, incredibly unreadable logo. Pretty and horrifically frightening at the same time.

The band’s MySpace says their influences are “Nature, horror, literature and music.” I can get behind that.

“Beneath” - Mary Shelley

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Black Friday: The Days of Thorr

Friday, November 27th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

Today’s the day. It was one year ago that Black Friday kicked off at The Days of Lore. Of course, the name was taken from that day people treat Best Buys and Wal-Marts like the front row of a Who concert just so they can snag a copy of Rock Band: The Beatles for three bucks.

But this Black Friday is devoid of corporate greed. There are no people. No lines. And I promise you won’t get trampled. What you do get is a look at the seedy underbelly of heavy metal. Take Valient Thorr. A friend of mine was recently raving about the celestial, stoneriffic rock outfit from Chapel Hill, North Carolina (or Venus, if you believe the band’s bio). Valient Thorr borrows from NWOBHM bands like Blitzkrieg and Iron Maiden and sullies it with the pure rock grime of MC5 and AC/DC, then buries plenty of political and social barbs underneath those mighty riffs.

Valient Thorr is fronted by Valient Himself … no, his name is actually Valient Himself. The band tours relentlessly (they played 272 shows in 2006, not even taking a day off for Thanksgiving), and has performed with the likes of Joan Jett, Gogol Bordello and Motörhead. They released their latest Immortalizer in 2008, which was produced by Jack Endino. Cred all around.

The new video for “Tomorrow Police” is just as silly as Black Friday … the shopping event and the metal feature. But I hear live is where you want to experience Valient Thorr. I just purchased my ticket to see the band in the NGC 2770 galaxy in 2079, and it only cost me 3,000 peggats. Take that, Ticketmaster.

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Black Friday (the 13th): Slayer still slays

Friday, November 13th, 2009 | musiX | 2 Comments

How can the members of Slayer—now in their mid-40s—still manage to scare the shit out of me? I don’t know, but let’s look at the rest of the Big Four, shall we? Metallica: Harmless. Megadeth: Whiny. Anthrax: Bush-less.

Yes, Slayer still brings it—and in the almost 30 (!) years they’ve been around, have not so much as twitched as new trends and new bands and new serial killers and new wars and new presidents have come and gone. The latest World Painted Blood sounds like it could have been released during the Reagan administration … except, thankfully, it’s the Obama administration … and Oliver North is reporting for Fox News instead of, ya know, lying to Congress.

So. Slayer. I guess the only time critics have complained about the band veering from its direct path to Hell was ironically during Divine Intervention and Diabolus In Musica. But, I say to hell with the critics. Those are great records. You can actually hear Tom Araya’s bass. And the drums sound like your head is inside the double-kick. And I actually liked Paul Bostaph, who replaced original drummer Dave Lombardo in 1992.

But I like Lombardo more. No one’s faster. At 44, he still pummels the skins like he did decades ago on “Angel of Death” and “War Ensemble” (Lombardo returned in 2006). The riffs still gallop at blinding speeds (see “Psychopathy Red”). Solos squeal like slaughtered pigs (the intro to “Snuff” … wow). And there’s still plenty of dark and creepy imagery courtesy of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, who I think these days are just trying to out-gross one another. Which is what fans want. I mean, metal is the only category of music where exploration and experimentation are not welcome … see where it got Metallica.

Above all, Slayer still pulls it off convincingly—probably because they/we don’t know any differently. Put them next to Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth and it’s like sicking a pit bull on a chihuahua … which, if I’m not mistaken, was the inspiration behind the song “Silent Scream.”

“Psychopathy Red” - Slayer

“Hate Worldwide” - Slayer

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Black Friday: The silly and the sad

Friday, July 17th, 2009 | musiX | 2 Comments

It’s bad enough when bands reunite—only to return as a former shadow of themselves—but when they do so minus key members (especially the singer) it’s just kinda silly and sad … “sillysad,” which is now the official term for when a band makes an ill-advised and desperate decision to get back together. Of course, nothing should ever surprise me—people’s insatiable appetite for nostalgia always trumps dignity.

Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan and no one else): Sillysad. The Doors: Extremely silly. Horribly sad. Alice In Chains—the darkest and most metallic of the grungies—is also back together sans vocalist Layne Staley because, well, he’s dead. Yet the band trudges on with vocalist William DuVall and will release an album of new material in September called Black Gives Way to Blue. Again, a little sillysad. The new song/video for “A Looking in View” sounds like Dirt-era AIC, but the whole thing feels icky. Besides, was the world really holding out for an Alice In Chains reunion?

Mind you, I was never a huge fan of the band, but I still think their 1995 self-titled album (and last with Staley) is great … much weirder and darker than the others. As these songs will attest.

“Nothin’ Song” - Alice In Chains

“Frogs” - Alice In Chains

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Black Friday Read Between the Lines Contest winner

Friday, June 26th, 2009 | musiX | 1 Comment

Congratulations to Mike Sargent—aka DJ Ratrace—of Arcata, Calif. He’s the winner of the Black Friday Read Between the Lines Contest. For those of you playing at home, click the band name below to see the logo it belongs to. Enjoy … umm … or be disgusted.

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 1: Korgonthurus

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 2: Explosive Diarrhea

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 3: Utarm

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 4: Nokturnal Mortum

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 5: Biological Monstrosity

Oh yeah, you can listen to DJ Ratrace and Jakob Sweden spin rare, obscure, bizarro, weirdo music on their radio show Los Ensemble Economique every other Tuesday from 10 p.m. to midnight at www.khsu.org. If you ask nicely maybe they’ll play some Explosive Diarrhea.

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Black Friday Read Between the Lines Contest: Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 5

Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

Here ’tis—the final band logo in the Black Friday Read Between the Lines Contest.

Again, here’s how it works: Decipher the five gnarly, nasty metal band logos. The person who gets the most correct out of five will receive a classic metal album from the Black Friday Vault. You can view No.’s 1 through 4 by scrolling down.

Shoot your answers to mark@thedaysoflore.com. Deadline is midnight (PDT), Thursday, June 25, and the winner will be announced this coming Black Friday.

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 5: This four-piece growls in French … so it sounds kinda sexy.

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