The Metal Files

What a year.  I went through some of the greatest and worst experiences of my life in 2012.

The worst being the January loss of my older brother, Robert, who was so influential on me musically at a young age.  Rolling through these holidays and not being able to hear his voice or see him is tough and quite frankly it sucks.  But…I can’t change it.  Right in line with that was losing my dear friend, Sydni, a week before my brother’s passing.  That was a brutal few weeks dealing with the loss of friends and family, funeral arrangements, etc.  I still think about Robert daily.  So much of the music that I love was introduced to me by him.  I think about Sydni often, too.  She was a sweet soul and I am grateful for the post-high school friendship that we had.

This year also marked the highest amount of concerts I had seen in one year.  It was quite a diverse year musically.  I saw Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Lemonheads, Bob Mould, Styx, Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick (twice!) and a slew of others…But the best show that I saw and the one that may hail as the best show I have ever seen in my life was seeing Arch/Matheos in May with my friend Kelz.  Not sure anything could top that but I’m hoping that a USA show of the Warlord reunion in 2013 will come close.  We shall see.

Some really good albums have come out this year including releases by Venomous Maximus, Testament, Arsis, Karion (reissue), Graven Rite and Militia.  It’s rare that I like and/or buy stuff by newer bands, but there are still some out there that catch my fancy.  I need to still hear the latest by Sanctus Bellum!

Work has treated me well this year and I’m grateful for having a job that gives me the freedom to see shows that I want to see.  Maybe the biggest change that I made happened just within the last month or so.  I bought a house on the outskirts of town after having lived in downtown for 4 years.  It’s already weird not being able to just walk out of an apartment door and be in the middle of everything that that city has to offer, but it’s cool not hearing neighbors having parties at 3AM on a Wednesday.  I’m A-OK with that.

Here’s looking towards 2013 and another year already filling up with great concerts like YES, testament/Overkill/Flotsam & Jetsam, Chicago and more.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of the folks who continue to read this page.  There have been over 40,000 views to this page since January 2012.  Thanks!

Now some Christmas music that I have always loved.