Monday 31 January 2011

Week 5: Scorpions - The Sails of Charon



The artist: Ending off early metal month, we have Scorpions. Scorpions are one of the most well known hard rock/heavy metal bands in Germany. Despite owning only three albums so far, if you consider the whole career of this band, you can easily tell they've taken a few directions over the years. They formed in 1965 which predates even Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin but didn't release an album until 7 years later with Lonesome Crow which was rather experimental but had some metal elements present. This is the same band that would release hits such as Rock You Like a Hurricane and Winds of Change. These songs overshadow a lot of great stuff Scorpions must have to offer, especially the great stuff from Taken By Force. After spawning 17 albums for 45 years, Scorpions have declared retirement once they finish off their current tour.

The album: Taken By Force is the last Scorpions album to feature Ulrich Roth and this man did quite a lot for Scorpions in the earlier days. He certainly went out with a bang for his time with Scorpions to play with Steamrock Fever, We'll Burn the Sky, Born to Touch Your Feelings and the song of the week The Sails of Charon. Any Scorpions fan who may have missed out on this album should give this one a try.

The song: The Sails of Charon is a true highlight in Taken By Force. The moment you hear it, your attention is attacted to a riff that you'd never hear before in any other song. The sheer awesomeness of the song doesn't stop right there as the song is then focused on Ulrich Roth's fantastic solo. They manage to squeeze all of that great material within a minute and a half. Once the intro is over, Klaus Meine comes in and shouts out some very dark and mean lyrics obviously based on the Charon mythology alongside with another fantastic riff for the song. The ending is also a highlight for its mysterious feel. All of this together makes this song a great definition for metal. Too bad it's heavily overshadowed by other songs Scorpions have.

Monday 24 January 2011

Week 4: Motörhead - When the Eagle Screams


The artist: Motörhead are yet another band that should be easily recognised to anyone. The majority of metalheads will know Lemmy right away and if they're real fans of Motörhead, they'll know the names of other band members both past and present. Lemmy may be the centre of Motörhead but that doesn't mean his bandmates Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee can't be acknowledged. Lemmy and his band have been going on since 1975 and nothing seems to be stopping them.

The album: Motörizer is one of the most recent Motörhead albums and follows the louder and heavier style of Motörhead they went with since Inferno. For the new direction Motörhead took with Inferno and the success for that album, the band has stuck to the same sound production since and rightly so. Kiss of Death and Motörizer also sound great and as crazy as this sounds, I find myself to enjoy the last few Motörhead albums more than the classics (i.e. Overkill, Bomber and Ace of Spades).

The song: Starting with a strange voice clip but shortly followed by a killer intro. Infact, killer is the word that describes the song all around both musically and lyrically. Phil Campbell slays the listeners with the intro, riffs and solos. All of it is a facemelter and to contribute to the greatness, Lemmy puts in 100% to make this song very aggressive with his powerful voice and bass guitar and Mikkey Dee does his job to give the song a really good rhythm. The song is about war and how soldiers are ordered to fight, kill their enemies and earn rewards mindlessly to show how war isn't easy and the cost of killing others. Definitely a great song from the later Motörhead works and there's plenty more to check out from the recent era.

Monday 17 January 2011

Week 3: Judas Priest - Run of the Mill


The artist: Every fan of metal should know these guys and like Black Sabbath, they shouldn't need an introduction. Just like Black Sabbath, however, there are many underrated songs in Priest's library. They have sixteen albums released and you can expect there's a dozen or two songs that need some good recognition. Recently, Judas Priest have announced retirement and are having a farewell tour before they call it a day for the band. To those that have never seen Priest live, your chances are very limited!

The album: Rocka Rolla is the debut album of Judas Priest released in 1974. Unfortunately, it's not a strong metal debut effort like Iron Maiden's self-titled or Holy Diver and the one thing that may be most remembered about this album is the album cover. This is because of the similarity of the Coca-Cola logo. There was an alternative album artwork which was either due to Coca-Coca passing legal charges or the band wasn't really happy with the original album cover. As for the songs themselves, the band's style wasn't fully developed so don't expect anything along the lines of Breaking the Law, The Hellion/Electric Eye or Painkiller. This is a time well before they even stormed the radio with such classics.

The song: Run of the Mill stands as the longest and most certainly a highlight in Rocka Rolla. One of the slowest songs Judas Priest have to offer but with the time they took to play this song, the outcome was worth it for an emotional and adventurous number. The main riff for Run of the Mill certainly has a spice of metal which is where Judas Priest must have gone from to work on heavier tunes for the following album Sad Wings of Destiny. The more adventurous part of the song is the mid-section when a slow solo is played and Ian Hill on bass is heard clear as day. To contribute to the depressing feel of the song, the lyrics question about one's failure and how as an old person you've failed all your life. Quite harsh but damn, they take those lengths just to make an outstanding song from the very beginning.

Monday 10 January 2011

Week 2: Budgie - You're the Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk


The artist: Although Budgie have some recognition in heavy metal, at times it seems they don't get the praise they actually deserve. For a band that played metal well before the term heavy metal was known as well as predating other big acts like Iron Maiden and even Judas Priest, it's injustice that most of their recognition these days comes from Metallica's cover of Breadfan. Putting that aside, Budgie do have an awesome name for their band. Maybe that's because you're listening to someone who has a pet budgie but it's good to know these guys acknowledge the awesomeness of that particular bird species.

The album: Never Turn Your Back on a Friend was released in 1973 and this was a time when metal wasn't fully developed. While Black Sabbath were storming the world with their heavy sound which no-one ever heard of before, Budgie sat down and recorded a masterpeice of their own. Although this is the only album of theirs I have so far, there's no doubting the awesomeness of this album as well as the metal elements. Sure, it may sound more hard rock than heavy metal but considering Breadfan, their cover of Baby Please Don't Go and this week's pick, Budgie should qualify as a metal band.

The song: Budgie provide a very interesting structure of the song. It starts off with a great drum solo by Ray Phillips going on for a minute and a half. Right afterwards you are given great riffage and bassline with the works of Tony Bourge and Burke Shelley respectively. The bass is crystal clear thanks to great sound production. More about the bass, Shelley doesn't cease his awesomeness on the bass guitar as he provides another great bassline at 5 minutes in which will easily remind any Maiden fan of Phantom of the Opera. That's not all, though as Tony Bourge plays another excellent riff for the song and makes a great part for the last section of the song. Overall, it's a fantastic song and with the twists and turns Budgie take, it proves to be just as good as Breadfan and Parents, the most well known tracks on the album.

Monday 3 January 2011

Week 1: Black Sabbath - Master of Insanity



The artist: Anyone with the slightest knowledge of metal should know who Black Sabbath are right off the bat. Even a genuine rock fan will have a clue as to who Black Sabbath are. We may be more focused on lesser known songs but even the biggest bands have underrated songs. In addition to that, what better way to start things off than to begin with the band who are often considered the pioneers of heavy metal.

The album: Dehumanizer is the 1992 album that Black Sabbath recorded when Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice rejoined the band for a reunion. This was the first Black Sabbath studio album with Ronnie James Dio on vocals since Mob Rules. While Black Sabbath's post-Mob Rules albums don't shine as well as the classics, there are still some gems from their later works and this is where Dehumanizer comes in despite being the most recognisable out of the later Sabbath albums.

The song: As stated before, Black Sabbath do have some gems from the later albums and Master of Insanity easily applies to that. The track name sounds similar to the album title Master of Reality and could be seen as a nod to that masterpiece. The very beginning is rather strange but the song picks up shortly once Geezer takes off with his bass. Of course, you have to give credit to the riff considering it's Tony Iommi, the man who played Children of the Grave, Symptoms of the Universe, Hole in the Sky and many other fantastic riffs that have inspired hundreds of thousands of musicians. You can also rely on Dio to offer a great voice for the song, especially the catchy chorus. Overall, it's a great song and definitely one of the highlights from Dehumanizer.

Sunday 2 January 2011

Introduction

Hello all and welcome to my Monday Metal Treasures marathon. My aim with this project is to make a post every week talking about any metal songs, giving some background information on the band and album as well as explaining why the song is good. This won't be mentioning all the obvious metal songs such as Run to the Hills, Master of Puppets, Iron Man, etc. Instead, I'll be focusing on lesser known songs or those that may be overlooked on a regular basis due to other songs overshadowing them. Some metal songs may have some recognition but others may have slipped through the crack for genuine metal fans.

Why I'm doing this is not only because I want to show others what great stuff there is out there in heavy metal and show its endless amount of potential, this year happens to mark myself as a metal fan for 5 years. On the first week of 2006, I bought Metallica's black album and that was my true gateway to heavy metal. Sure, there's loads of better albums out there but we all start small and if you compare my interests then and now, a lot has changed. I've listened to over 400 metal albums over the last 5 years and the number of albums will only expand. Considering all the songs I've listened to, there has to be a lot to talk about and making 52 posts showing 52 different heavy metal artists (yes, I do mean 52 different artists) will show how much there is to check out from one music genre.

Keep in tune as every Monday from the 3rd January up until 26th December I post the metal song of the week. Some months will have a theme to them but which ones they are will be revealed when the time comes. However, enjoy the kick off as we start with early metal month.