How can a certified metal guy explain to the reader how this album has gone from being the enemy to a close friend?Continue reading
Tag Archives: Classic Albums
CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Slipknot – “Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)” Turns 20
The album that would become Slipknot’s third album, and the crucial masterpiece in their history, almost didn’t happen at all. Between the hard-fought success of Iowa (Roadrunner Records), the well-documented interpersonal relationship issues between the nine band members, rising fame and pressure, side bands like Stone Sour, To My Surprise, and Murderdolls, and “off the field issues,” you couldn’t blame this band if they imploded totally around this time. However, overcoming themselves and all of these obstacles; Slipknot’s Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Versus) (a great pun on Salman Rushdie’s controversial book, The Satanic Verses, is one of their best albums, along with their debut might be their finest hour. It is certainly their biggest hit album on a lot of levels. It yielded six singles and as we like to say on the Glacially Musical podcast (where we reviewed this album), an album has a bunch of singles if it’s selling and the band is doing well on tour. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Mercyful Fate – Melissa (Remastered)
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mercyful Fate’s debut album, Metal Blade Records is re-releasing the re-mastered version of Melissa. Remastered albums often feel like a record label trying to sell you the same album twice. Continue reading
Jarboe Shares New Music Video for Her Classic Track “Red Rose”
Legendary Avant-Garde and multifaceted artist Jarboe will reissue her essential early album Skin Blood Women Roses for Dutch Record Store Day on April 23rd, 2022 via Consouling Sounds. The album package will be available as an LP Gatefold – limited edition, transparent red & black vinyl and as a CD – 6-panel digipack. She just a new music video for “Red Rose” which you can see below!
CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Ghost’s – “Opus Eponymous”
One of the great success stories of the last ten years or so, the inexorable rise of occult rockers Ghost has been nothing short of astonishing. From their inception in 2006 and the release of full length debut Opus Eponymous (Rise Above Records) four years later, the act from Linköping have gone on to become one of Sweden’s greatest ever exports.
ALBUM REVIEW: Nightwish – Once (Remastered)
Released an improbable seventeen years ago, Once (Nuclear Blast), the fifth album from symphonic metal pioneers Nightwish saw the band catapulted from relative obscurity and into the eyes and ears of a much wider audience. With lead single ‘Nemo’ being given regular airplay on radio and music television channels, everything seemed to be falling into place for the Finnish act.
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Sabotage Super Deluxe Edition
The last of a groundbreaking run of undisputed classics, Sabotage (Vertigo/BMG), often gets overlooked during debates about the studio legacy of legendary metal pioneers Black Sabbath. Considering the seismic impact of the band’s previous five releases, this isn’t entirely surprising but Sabotage has always deserved more time in those conversations.
Classic Albums Revisited: 40 Years of Iron Maiden – “Killers”
It was a drizzly, grey Saturday morning sometime in 1982 and I was being dragged around the shops by my parents. At some point, we ended up in a WH Smiths record shop. I wasn’t even into music then, of any description, but I flicked idly through the vinyl anyway just to pass the time. By chance, two tall, long-haired cavemen clad in denim and leather came and stood next to me. When one of them leaned over and picked up something called The Number of the Beast it grabbed my attention instantly, my ten-year-old face transfixed by the artwork on the front. As he lifted it out, I noticed more artwork, this time on the back of his jacket. Iron Maiden – Purgatory. It looked magnificent. I’d never even heard of Iron Maiden before then and I certainly didn’t know who or what a Purgatory was, but I knew I wanted to see more. Grabbing the next record in the section, my eyes didn’t leave the intricately painted sleeve until my parents came and literally pulled it out of my hands. Killers.
ALBUM REVIEW: Between the Buried and Me – Between the Buried and Me- Remixed and Remastered
The first time I saw Between the Buried and Me live was at The Gramercy Theatre in New York City, during a tour for their then-newly released Colors (Victory Records) album; it was a pivotal period for the group who had, at that time, seen a series of lineup changes in short order. Five drummers, four guitarists, and three bassists later, the band was shaping their sound to dull the edges from the ever-aggressive Silent Circus (Victory Records) and Alaska (Victory Records) albums to an arguably more technically complex, albeit at times mellower, Jazzy era that would set the tone for the rest of their musical trajectory as we know it today. Continue reading
CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Deftones Released “Diamond Eyes” Ten Years Ago
Deftones, even at their best, have been a band of dichotomies. That is what makes them a special band in the history of heavy music: opposing forces pulling and pushing them apart and back again. They may have been coming apart at the seams in the run-up to making Diamond Eyes (Reprise), and you couldn’t blame them. If you follow the band closely, you know the history. The band was nearly done tracking their highly anticipated album Eros in the fall of 2008, when founding bassist Chi Cheng was in a car wreck, on his way home from a funeral. Chi was left in a vegetative state, and the band was in shock. As Chi fought for his life (he passed in 2013, RIP), the band was left wondering what to do. They wanted to make music, but the experience with their best friend caused them to shelve Eros, never to be heard (almost never). When they came back together, the results were unexpected and wild. Continue reading