Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy has been out for some time now.  I’ve heard the single on HardRadio a number or times now and the song just doesn’t do it for me.  I don’t know exactly why that it is.  Maybe it’s the pontificating by Axl about how China runs with respect to political rights.  That in itself is somewhat strange for me as my bachelor’s degree is in Political Science.  I very much in enjoy discussing studying and discussing politics.  But somehow that just doesn’t seem right when coming from a hard rock / heavy metal band like GNR.  It’s probably the same reason I was never a fan of Rage Against the Machine.

But even when I separate my personal preference of not liking politics mixed with my metal, the music just isn’t as good as Appetite for Destruction.  One hopes that 21 years between albums would result in some improvement, but it just isn’t there.  At least, not for me.

Tags: Heavy Metal

It has been a few years since AC/DC has released an album; longer still since I’ve purchased one.  Their new album, Black Ice, is a solid effort.  Certainly it isn’t as good as the classics like Back in Black and For Those About to Rock.  It is hard to maintain the rebellious school boy image when you’re fifty-ish years old.

The Rock N Roll Train is probably the best song on the album.  Stormy May Day has some interesting guitar riffs; the title track Black Ice is also good.  It’s all typical AC/DC … something we criticize other bands for and, for some strange reason, let AC/DC get away with releasing the same style songs album after album.

The only disappointing facet of this album is the exclusive distribution arrangement with Wal-Mart.  I’m not a big fan of exclusive distribution agreements, much less Wal-Mart as the distributor granted that privilege.

ACDC - Black Ice Cover

[The scan of the CD cover really doesn't do the cover justice.]

Tags: AC/DC, Heavy Metal

Metallica’s new album, Death Magnetic, is finally out.  After 2003’s St. Anger disaster I was prepared for another, politely, poor showing.  I’m not a rabid Metallica fan, so I wasn’t ready to write them off on Death Magnetic.  But I’ve been pleasantly surprised.  I’ve already listened to the entire CD more time in the last couple of days than I have ever listened to St. Anger.

There’s definitely some interesting guitar work in lots of places … the later portion of “The Day that Never Comes” stands out.  I’d like to hear entire songs like that.  Lars finally got his drum kit fixed; it sounds like real drums again (though occasionally a little bit of the drum sound from the last album leaks through).  I also like “Broken, Beat, & Scarred”.

Metallica - Death Magnetic

Whether I like the album or not is immaterial.  If I don’t like it what I hear before the release, I won’t buy it.  The only people in the world that have to like it is Metallica … it’s their work.  I’ve said this for years and I stand by it.  Death Magnetic, though is a good album.  Definitely worth being considered in the same breath as their best works (which I think are Master of Puppets and the Black Album).

Tags: Heavy Metal, Metallica

The set covered all of the classic material like Breakin’ the Law, You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, Hell Bent for Leather, Painkiller, and The Green Manalishi as well as some more unusual choices like Dissident Aggressor and Hell Patrol.  You can get a complete set list here.  They chose a nice mix of songs.  The audience seemed to respond.

I’ve seen Judas Priest (and Fight/Halford) many times.  This was a very good show.  Halford was far more animated and interacted with the crowd much more than some recent shows I’ve seen.  The whole band, I think, was in top form.  It was clear that they were excited to be on the road in support of some very good material.

Halford

Judas Priest

We had third row seats on the left side of the stage as the crowd faces the stage.  KK was right in front of us the whole time.  The view doesn’t really get any better than that.  (You might have noticed that third row is a little different from second row that I mentioned earlier.  With the way WaMu Theater laid out the seats for this show it was effectively second row.)

One thing I think I will always remember from this show is Halford walking out on stage during the “encore” and upon reaching the Harley saying, “I’m such an idiot.  I forgot something.”  And then turning around and walking back off stage looking for his assistant.  He had forgotten the American flag.

Priest - Harley - US Flag

Testament opened the show.  I’ve seen Testament before (oddly enough opening for Judas Priest the last time I had second row seats).  Testament was, well, Testament.  You either like Testament or you don’t.  I don’t and their performance didn’t do anything to change that.

All in all, a very good show.  Money and time well spent.  Keep up the great work, guys!

P.S.  I’d still love to see Judas Priest perform Nostradamus – The Opera.

Tags: Heavy Metal, Judas Priest

To those who know me, it isn’t a secret that I’m a big Judas Priest.  I have every album.  The latest album, Nostradamus, is in my opion their best complete work to date.  There are arguably better single songs in their catalog, but no better complete album.

Nostradamus is a massive two disc set.  It comes in at nearly two hours running time, their longest studio work.  The songs flow seemlessly from one to the next.  It is as if the album was written with the thought of Judas Priest staging an opera based on this work.  I’m, obviously, not a fan of opera … but if Judas Priest were to do such a thing and Rob Halford was to play the leading role I would do everything in my power to see it.  (Bill Curbishley if you come across this … hint … hint … )

Priest has always been masterful at creating characters within their songs (The Ripper, Tyrant, Killing Machine, The Hellion/Electric Eye, and Painkiller to cite just a few).  Nostradamus creates the character on a scale they’ve never done before; a scale which few other groups have ever been willing to attempt.

In this effort Priest is mixing things that are new to them (strings, keyboards, …).  This includes some significantly slower, more ballady songs that bridge the major movements.  Some hard core fans won’t like this.  They’ll look at it as being “too soft” or “not Priest enough.”  But you really have to look at these elements as being essential to the complete story they are trying to tell.  And that story is of the man Nostradamus and the struggles, some say madness, that he went through to deliver prophetic visions that endure to this day.  A handful of rocking songs won’t cover that story in the detail Priest accomplishes in this epic work.

A little later this summer I’ll being seeing Judas Priest again and from the second row (again).  I’m looking forward to seeing how they incorporate material from this album into their live show.  Will they start with Dawn of Creation/Prophecy or will they go for the ear-breaking intro of Rob riding a Harley on stage to start Hell Bent for Leather?

Tags: Heavy Metal, Judas Priest, music