I Show You My Stubs

…from my concert tickets. A lot of metalheads save up their gig tix for trophy value. Especially in the days before cellphone cameras, they were a great way to say “I was there!” Back then, bands and venues would confiscate pocket cameras and recording devices; now of course everybody wants you to tweet their names far and wide.

I’ve never been very organized, so I’ve lost a lot of my stubs over the years. Recently I was cleaning house and found a stack of them which were very faded, so I decided to throw them on the scanner before consigning them to the circular file. Check it out:

A fun walk down memory lane. What do you do with your old stubs?

Wrap-Up: Heavy MTL 2011

Heavy MTL 2011 - They apparently added a hint of FLQ, but I couldn't taste it.

With the next Heavy MTL now scheduled for August of 2012, I feel as though a collective sigh of relief has gone through the metal community, and it’s about damn time I posted some pics and memories from the summer. Here are some highlights:

Big Hit: My name is Slim, and I am now a big believer in the KISS experience. What can I say? The boys are a finely tuned entertainment machine. Everyone gets their money’s worth, paid back in pure spectacle and goofy, irony-free singalongs.

There's something I've been wanting to do all night. Possibly every day. Shit, what was it?

 On a smaller scale, Devildriver is definitely coming into their own – they rocked a hard set for an appreciative group of fans, many of whom were obviously there specifically to see them.

Big Miss: The Sword. Blame it on Canada Customs, blame it on bad border crossing paperwork, use the blamethrower all you like. You weren’t there, and it hurts the fans far more than it hurts you. What’s that? Touring with Kyuss a month later? Any special love for me with my MTL ticket? Guys?

Great as Expected: Motorhead (duh). Amazing as always for a cross-generational audience. There was also a buzz in the air as a re-Belladonna’d Anthrax took to the stage, and they did not disappoint with either old or new material.

Pleasant Surprises: Oldies but Goodies! Girlschool was cheerful, witty and a lot of fun, and Diamond Head was an absolute time-machine revelation. Very nice gents to meet, as well. Younger fishes-out-of-water Billy Talent made the most of a chillaxed and generous Montreal crowd to win a few hearts and minds by keeping a sense of humour about their deeply inappropriate presence amongst much harder acts.

Mo’ Canada: Quebec’s Blackguard seemed glad to bring  the speedy pain on the same bill as their heroes Children of Bodom, and Annihilator pulled Alexi Laiho himself out onstage to join them for a song or two. Good on you, Annihilator fans, for mounting the Facebook campaign to get them to the show in the first place.

Note the Habs logo on Laiho. Clever man!

Organization Bad: If you’re listening, Evenko: WE NEED AN AWNING FOR THE GRANDSTAND. I love things blacker than the darkest black times infinity, except if we’re talking about my sun-charred flesh. Some shade for us hallpass kids would be the cherry on the top of your already well-regarded VIP package.

Tasty, but ultimately ill-advised remedy for the giant hot thing in the sky.

Organization Good: Although the three-stage arrangement still led to a lot of running back and forth and missed moments, the sequestering of the third stage in a separate area (in a cool forest, no less!) meant at least the bands did not have to deal with sound bleeding between acts. Cooler, more diverse merch this time around as well, including giant belt buckles (a personal weakness).

The Vibe: Awesome as usual. Friendly people, a culturally rich city and tons of metal. The press were on hand, as well as some bloggers and amateur filmmakers. The feeling in the air was that if we can keep the momentum going it could really become a reliable summer festival.

A very refreshed young gentleman having his picture taken with who he thinks are Rob Zombie and Kerry King.

That’s it for 2011! Now the speculation games begin. Who will headline 2012? Will it have anything to do with a certain group of geezers and their announcement on Nigel Tufnel Day? I know I can’t wait to dissect and examine all the possibilities.  \m/ \m/! 

What metal hath joined, let no man put asunder.

 

Album Review – Anthrax “Worship Music” 2011

  Were you all as worried as I was that this was never going to happen? Were you equally worried that it would be a spectacular mess, or, even worse, simply forgettable? Fear not, for although John Bush fans will grumble (and I am one) and the record took several years to finally drop, Worship Music is here and Planet Anthrax keeps on turning.

The band needs a solid performance from Joey Belladonna to make Worship Music work, lest it become the album remembered for swallowing three different singers and possibly bringing an end to the whole Anthrax enterprise in a whimper-not-a-bang way. He proves himself up to the task and then some, delivering speed, power and exuberance on double-tap singles “Devil You Know” and new crowd favourite “Fight ‘em ‘till You Can’t”. However, it’s on power dirge “In the End” that Belladonna and his long-estranged band mates really outdo themselves, pouring heart and soul into a monolithic eulogy for Dimebag Darrell and Ronnie James Dio. The tributes continue on “Judas Priest”, a paean to the still-living Gods of Metal that would seem a bit silly if not for Rob Caggiano’s appropriately blistering salutary fretwork.

“Appropriate” might be the right word for this whole project. Worship Music doesn’t break the mould, and there’s a bit of wobbly genre-hopping on some of the deeper cuts, but it’s miles ahead of the shit-the-bed territory we feared. It seems as though all the “Big 4” attention has reminded Anthrax of their place in metal history, which has proved both humbling and empowering. 8 out of 10

Classic Album Review – Anthrax “Sound of White Noise” 1993

  1993 was the year Anthrax really grew up. Oh, I know Persistence of Time was their “serious” album, but that seriousness was predicated on a long and gloomy conceptual morass. SOWN is different yet again in that it’s a full but punchy record with singular purpose. No jokey covers, no synopses of comics and novels the band  liked as teens, but still immediate and in the moment, this is a mature metal release delivered at the height of grunge without missing a step.

Long songs have never sounded so short; the pioneers of thrash have here created a mid-tempo groove. Expert song selection by the band and producer Dave Jerden engross the listener in the self-declared mission: a “journey into sound”. Unless you’re drunk off your ass and in the mood for Fistful of Metal, there’s no other Anthrax record that can stand up to repeated spins on its own merit. The band had always cultivated a streak of pretentiousness which is out-muscled on this release by the simpler, state-of-the-world concerns of a band making nothing but heavy music. While “I Am the Law” and various other songs take up a lot of nostalgia space, I’d say at least four of the band’s top ten can be found within this hour. 

At the end of the day this is really John Bush’s party, capturing that new blood lightning-in-a-bottle that albums like Number of the Beast and Heaven and Hell have, and like them, perhaps never to be repeated. If anything, SOWN is too good, too soon, and makes the rest of the Bushthrax years look paler by comparison. 9 out of 10

Deals & Steals: Wild Abandon!

So I might have lost my shit a bit when I had a 30% off coupon at Second Spin the other day and ended up purchasing 16 new discs. Minor shipping damages this time, discussed below. All prices $US – without further ado here is this month’s glory and shame:

White Zombie – La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume 1 $3.77. How did I not have this before? Sure, it’s a classic but it’s overhyped, so I was biding my time…until now. Nightcrawlers: The KMFDM Remixes $2.09. Same thing, really.

The Kovenant – In Times Before the Light $2.64. Kovenant’s lost album. Should it stay lost? I figured it was worth finding out.

Spahn Ranch – Retrofit $1.10, Beat Noir $1.24, and Anthology 1992-1994 $3.27. I know I said I’d filled in my Spahn Ranch collection last time, but look at those prices! Cheap at twice the price for Constantine Maroulis’ gothier (and more musically adventurous) older brother. One’s a remix EP, the second a cabaret record and the third a catch-up compilation. The last one, a double set, was obliterated by the US postal service. I’m hoping that my bros at Beat Goes On can help me buff them back to life, but I think I can see light through the second disc. Ah, well.

Skrew – Dusted $1.66. I know it’s their best record, but it took me 15 years and a red tag less than a Starbuck’s Venti to get me over the stupidest album cover of ever.

Danzig – II: Lucifuge $5.59 and III: How the Gods Kill $4.89. This time the big money’s on the little guy.

Powerman 5000 – Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere $5.59. After this review, I’d be a hypocrite not to get this one. Still loving it!

Arch Enemy – Rise of the Tyrant $4.89. No-brainer.

Nailbomb – Point Blank $6.29. Record sounds exactly like the band’s name. This is a remaster with extra tracks, which is nice as the orignal was both noisy and short, if brilliant.

Music from the TV Series Angel – Live Fast, Die Never $6.29. Uhh, it’s for the missus. Really.

Laibach – WAT $5.59. In which Slovenia’s angriest anarchist art-robots show those youngsters in Rammstein that they Can. Not. Hang.

Anthrax – Anthrology: No Hit Wonders 1985-1991. $9.09. What a shelf filler! Two discs crammed with at least 75% of their Island tracks.

And today’s winner for value:

In Flames: The Jester Race/Black Ash Inheritance $5.59. Digipak with both releases together remastered. My interest in early In Flames was rekindled by the inclusion of “Goliaths Disarm their Davids” on a certain heavy metal video game.

Twenty bucks shipping – still puts me close to under $100 after the Canadian conversion. Not bad! — Slim