Archive for the ‘heavy metal’ Category
Flashback Yngwie Malmsteen Concert Review 5/7/06
So, the promoter called me Sunday afternoon to let me know that Yngwie was going to be brought in to our record store. Of course I dropped 
everything, grabbed all my Yngwie related CD covers and flew up there. I got there about 5 minutes before Yngwie and was just hanging out talking to the 4 NAVY guys who were there buying tickets. They had just gotten back from a tour in the Middle East that morning at 5AM and were excited to see Yngwie. As they were going on and on about how happy they were to see the show, Yngwie walks in and I said, “Hey guys, look who just walked in.” They fell silent and looked almost scared. They wouldn’t speak to Yngwie except to say, “Hey man, we’ll see you at the show tonight.” Yngwie shook their hands and went looking through our DVDs selecting a bunch of Deep Purple and DIO era Rainbow stuff.
It was Yngwie and the drummer and I started talking to drummer while helping Yngwie find a few things. The drummer, Patrick Johansson, played on the 2 recent Yngwie albums as well as toured with WASP in the last year. We were chatting and Yngwie was just having a good time talking to the owner about Rainbow and Blackmore. He was all smiles and his arrogance was at a minimum. The store owner, Steve, mentioned that he had a ’74 Strat in the store and Yngwie instantly said, “I’ll buy it. Right now. Give it to me. $4000. Where is it?” Steve said it wasn’t for sale as it was his very first guitar. Yngwie said, “Fair enough, I can respect that.”
So after buying the DVDs we snapped a few pics with Yngwie and he was in good spirits saying, “This is the first place on the tour where we have been treated so well. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Patrick was so very cool and gracious as well. I pull out all of my CD covers and Yngwie signs them all commenting on each album. “Steeler? Man, what a dreadful album!” He then looked at me and said, “Sean, are you coming to the soundcheck? You should really come by, it’ll be cool, yeah?” So of course I went. As I am walking in, the promoter gives me 3 all access passes. You can read about the soundcheck and stuff here.
As we arrived at the theatre I called Patrick to tell him that I have the WASP DVD that he wanted and we hung out for a little while backstage. He asked for my cell number to keep in touch and told me to program his number into my phone book. Very cool. He also gave me a copy of one of his other bands called Kinlin. “Call me and let me know what you think of it.” Of course I agree. He heads back to bus and I head back into the main area of the theatre as the opening band is about to start.
They were called Orange Sky. They are from Trinidad and were OK overall. They were very tight but I didn’t really care for their style. Very nice guys though. The whole crowd was sitting down during their performance. As soon as they finished, I just walked up front and stood on the edge of the stage in front og Yngwie’s pedals to secure my spot. My 2 cohorts were up there as well. I found it odd that until 5 minutes before showtime, everyone stayed in their seats. Maybe they thought you couldn’t stand in front of the stage. Who knows? Didn’t matter, I was up there and everyone followed suit.
Right before everyone came up out of their seats, my friend Shelly and her friend rolled in and we talked for a bit. They stayed next to us on the edge of the stage all night. It was very cool.
The lights start to dim and you can hear Yngwie soundchecking for a minute ripping some serious shred. I forgot my earplugs and knew I was in for a loud night.
Then the lights went all the way down and the keyboard intro to Rising Force came on. The show has now started. For the first few songs, Yngwie looked a little stiff in his playing but seemed to loosen up by the 3rd song. He was awesome, of course. He threw out a ton of picks, of course. He somehow cut open the pinky finger of his picking hand but it didn’t phase him int he least. He was just incredible. Derek Sherinian was on keyboards, Doogie White was on vocals and Mick Cervino was on bass. It was certainly Yngwie’s show. If Doogie wasn’t singing, he stood in the back with the rythm section. The only one seemingly having fun other than Yngwie was Patrick. Unlike the last time I saw Yngwie (2001), he really looked like he was having fun.
The show over all was really good. He played several tracks from the new album which is very good and threw in some oldies as well as a few covers. During one of his solos, he crouched down in front of me and asked me to hold my hands out. People kept trying to grab his Strat but he set it down on my hands and played his solo while I held it. That was pretty cool.
After the show ended, we all hung out in the lobby until it was time to go backstage. There were about 20 of us and the whole band came in except for Derek and the bassist. Yngwie sat and signed everything that everyone had with them but made it a point to come up to us and say how happy he was to have been treated so well and to have met such nice folks. I was still amazed at how humble he seemed. They said that the night before was a disaster in northern Virginia.
I basically hung out with Patrick and Doogie until it was time to go. We all had a great time and it was great to get a few new connections. Patrick asked me to come to Miami this summer after the tour. I told him, “We’ll see.”
Then we went home.
Setlist:
Rising Force
Demon Driver
Bandiniere
Cracking the Whip
Crown of Thorns
Exile
Adagio
Star Spangled Banner
Far Beyond the Sun
Paraphrase into Dreaming
Gates of Babylon(!!!)
Baroque and Roll
Revolution
Demon’s Eye (Deep Purple!!!)
Trilogy Suite
Red House
Fugue (from the Concerto album)
You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget
(Encore)
Black Star
I’ll See the Light Tonight
Never Die and Locked & Loaded were on the list but they skipped them.
Flashback Loudness Concert Review April 2, 2006
Flashback to July 1986. I’m 16 years old and decided to use some of the money that I made from bagging groceries during my Summer job to buy a cassette. So I go to Roses department store and am just flipping through their stuff and I see Loudness’ Lightning Strikes tape. I had read about them in Circus magazine a time or two and thought I’d try em out. So I pay $7.99+tax and I am on my way out the door.
Not so fast…A plain clothes police officer grabbed me by the arm and said, “Come with me.” So I called to my older brother who was a few steps ahead of me to come back. So as this police officer was walking me to the back, I am raising hell with her. “What the hell is this all about?! I’ve done nothing wrong!” etc etc. We get to the back room of the store and she starts questioning me about my shoes. “What about them?” She accused me of stealing them from the store. They were a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor high tops off white in color. Apparently someone stole a pair of the same size and color from the store earlier that morning. Oddly enough, I bought this pair that morning but from another store in the same shopping center. She wouldn’t let it go (no pun intended for the Loudness fans in the room). Kept asking me for a receipt. So I told her to call my house, ask my mom to look on my bed and the receipt will be there. So she called, the receipt was there, the Chief of Police got a call shortly thereafter from my mom. That day started my love affair for Loudness.
Fast forward to last night in Fayetteville, NC. This is a huge military town and many parts of it reminded me of Norfolk. The main drag leading 
into the base was nothing but titty bars and pawn shops. I get to my hotel around 2:30PM and my best friend who lives in Raleigh got there shortly thereafter. So we hang out and decide to go get some food and jibber jabber and catch up. Another friend of mine was supposed to go with me but he got sick the night before. I sold the spare ticket I had to another friend I ran into there.
The venue opened at 7 and the first band was to start at 8. We hung out with a few folks we both knew and I saw Danny Stanton walk in and walk to the merch table. So I go back up and shake hands with him as I have known him for a while. He has been the tour manager for Thin Lizzy, WASP and Twisted Sister and other over the last 5-6 years. He also used to be the singer for NYC metal band Takashi in the mid-80s.
So the first band comes on promptly at 8. HellRazor. I was told that they have only been together for a few months and it showed. Sloppy, horribly sloppy. All original pseudo-thrash. They did a cover of Ozzy’s Breaking All the Rules and it was an absolute train wreck. I was glad their set ended quickly. Frexon Zo was supposed to open but not sure what happened to them. I think they would have been a bit more interesting.
Anyway, Widow played next. I had seen their disc on a few websites and saw they were on the same label as Tim Aymar’s Pharoah. Here’s the CD cover:
Yes, female fronted. And yes, that is the actual album cover. The cover is horrible! Ugh. I’m not a fan of 99% of the female fronted metal acts. To my surprise, she was booted out of the band about a month ago and the 2 guitarists. So they start and I was thinking they would decent from what a few folks have said and judging by the label they are signed to. Needless to say I was not impressed. The one guitarist who sane the clean vocals sounded good voice-wise, but his guitar kept crapping out. The drummer was obviously a huge fan of Robert Sweet and Scott Rockenfield and it showed from his drum set up. He had great backing vocals. The bassist was good. Overall I wasn’t impressed. I mean
they weren’t terrible, but I would not go out of my way to ever see them again.
Up next…Loudness! What a shock it was to see them on stage. I never realized how tiny they were. Minoru and Akira may have been 5’1″ at the most. Masayoshi was about 5’5″ and Munetaka was the tallest at about 5’8″. I have a few DVDs of them playing in the 80s with the over-the-top hair and such and they came out last night just wearing track suits and such, short hair and Akira looked like he was raised in Compton. He bounced around the stage like he was in RUN DMC. They played 16 songs and played them well, but the stuff from the last 5 years is a lot different. They tuned down as most bands from that era have to do to allow for the singer to sing in key to the music. Minoru’s voice still sounded pretty good and he was pretty funny when speaking between songs. “Being from Japan, trying to pronounce some English words can be difficult. I’ve been working on this one all day: North Car-o-lina.” He then went on to say, “I don’t even know what I am saying in Japanese half of the time.” Funny stuff. Masayoshi’s bass playinog was top notch. We were on his side for the evening and he made it a point to give my friend and I a bass pick each when the show ended. Very cool. Munetaka did not look comfortable behind the kit and it appeared that he was in pain. He seemed to play very conservatively.
Now we get to Akira. He’s always been one of my favorite guitarists and last night definitely solidified his place in my rankings. I can’t say I have ever seen anyone who is so comfortable on a guitar and seemingly be able to make it do exactly what he wants. He can be so fast and precise and then switch gears and hit some notes that just ooze with feel. Absolutely incredible. He only used Killer Guitars, which I believe are owned by EPS now.
After the show, some of us just hung out in the club as it was still early, only 11:30 or so. The Loudness guys all came out for some drinks and met and signed stuff for folks. I got to have some good conversation with all of them and they were so very gracious.
The downside to the show was that only about 90 people showed up. Fayettevile is not the most central location and this club does no real promotion. It would hold about 400 on a full night. They sold out Jaxx the night before.
There were about a dozen Japanese folks there who were behind us singing all of the Japanese parts along with Minoru, which was pretty cool.
All in all, it was a great time and well worth the 20 year wait to see them.
Photos from the show can be viewed here.
Iced Earth…a retrospective
It was 1991 and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at Danile’s house hanging out for a few and I saw a cassette sitting on his bed. Iced Earth (self-titled debut)? Who? Century Media Records? What? Well, it had a cool cover. That was a good start. So I popped it in. Whoa. Cool opening riff. Singer was a bit odd but it worked well. As the tape went on I just sat there kind of quiet (rare I know). The riffs, the vocals, everything. This was refreshing. Remember, this was 1991. Metal was going back to the underground and MTV was pushing new cash cows. And hey, good for them. But Iced Earth brought something new/old back to the game. Galloping riffs, decent lyrics, and just well-played metal in general. The riffs were well-crafted.
Shortly thereafter I was buying a copy for myself and hoping that a follow-up was in the works. Much to my joy in 1992 they put out Night of the Stormrider. New singer, better album. This album is practically perfect from beginning to end. Just awesome really. It was really nice to have a newer metal band to dig on. They were getting few and far between in the 1990s, ya know? I absolutely adore this album and still listen to it regularly. You should too! Seriously, this is such an awesome album.
Icead Earth – 1991
Night of the Stormrider – 1992
Three years later they released Burnt Offerings. Another singer change. Some dude named Matt Barlow who ended up being their most popular singer and a favorite by most of their fans (not by me, mind you). This album is very good, though. A little darker than Stormrider, but the patented Jon Schaffer riffs are all there. Barlow’s vocal performance is strong but he has always reminded me of Hetfield and Paul Stanley wrapped up into one, but with a better range. Last December is the standout track for me for sure. This album is definitely worth owning if you liked the first 2.
Flashing back to 1991 again, I went up to JMU to see Kelz for a weekend. From my beer soaked memory of that weekend, I remember him letting me read a newer comic called Spawn. I read the first few issues and thought it was a cool story. When I had read that Iced Earth was doing a concept record based around the Spawn story, I was intrigued. I’m not a big comic book fan but this one kept me interested for a few years. As it was, Iced Earth released The Dark Saga in 1996 with an album cover by Spawn’s creator, Todd McFarland. While this album is more straightforward than the previous 3, it was well done. They fleshed the story out pretty well in my opinion and I still listen to this album quite often.
Burnt Offerings – 1995
The Dark Saga – 1996
It was right around mid-1997 time that I had started my own little online CD business and was starting to get promos from labels like Metal Blade and Century Media. I remember them sending me Iced Earth’s Days of Purgatory. Essentially it was rerecorded versions of some demos and songs from their first 2 albums with Barlow handling the vocals. In the words of Homer Simpson…”BORING!” Seriously, what a letdown. But it gets worse for me.
In 1998 they released Something Wicked This Way Comes. Iced Earth was at their height of popularity in the US and were HUGE overseas. This album was them jumping the shark for me. It got whimpy. Too many ballads, the riffs were lacking, and Barlow’s voice was really grating my nerves now. Do you really need that much emotion? I was done. Jon Schaffer, their mainman, was integrating too much comic book imagery and such and in my opinion their music started to suffer. Sure, it’s his band and he can do what he wants, but I always felt that he was selling out to a degree.
On this tour I was given the privilege to interview Schaffer and Barlow before the show. I don’t think Schaffer was too happy with the interview. I pulled no punches, I never do. Iced Earth is legendary for their numerous lineup changes and I questioned him about it. He gave the right response in saying that it’s his band and if someone isn’t toeing the line like he wants, they’re gone. Right on, I respect that. But he didn’t like the question. hen when I asked him about Keith Menser (Mystic Force) being pictured on the album but not actually playing on it, he got a little pissed and talked shit about Keith, but in a politically correct sort of way. Overall Jon was cool and he had some issues with the venue that I think had him worked up. They almost didn’t play at all because of the hip-hop that was playing on the jukebox when they were setting up for soundcheck. Barlow didn’t speak much, but he was super cool and very amicable. The show they put on was great and Barlow even mentioned my little cable access TV show between songs. Very cool! I never aired the interview. I should post it one day.
So in 2001, Iced Earth released Horror Show which had songs related to characters in horror films. Without saying anything else, I’ll just say this. “zzzzzzzzzz”. That was it. No more for me. I heard clips of subsequent albums that featured Ripper Owens (one of the most boring singers ever!) and the return of Barlow but I just couldn’t get into them. That early stuff just couldn’t be touched. It still can’t.
With the above being said, I do have a ton of respect for Jon Schaffer. While I may not like the changes he made in the band’s musical style, I love how he marketed his band. He obviously read the marketing handbooks written by KISS and Iron Maiden. Put out shirts, EPs, anything. Make the cash! I totally respect that. Make people know who you are! They have done a great job with that, even if it did come mid-way through their career.
If you’ve never heard them and want to start somewhere, this is the order that I’d recommend them to anyone:
- Night of the Stormrider
- Iced Earth
- The Dark Saga
- Burnt Offerings
- Everything else
Through much of the 90s, I used to work November-January at a mall record store for some extra cash and just out of boredom. When people would come in asking for metal recommendations, I’d quiz them a bit about the style of metal they were into and if they were of the Maiden/Priest/Accept/etc type metalhead, I always offered up Stormrider as my recommendation to them. I even offered a guarantee that if they didn’t like the album to bring it back and I would buy it off of them. I guess I probably sold about 10 or so of them and no one ever brought one back. A few people even came back and thanked me for it. That was pretty cool.
Video from the show I filmed in 1998. The rest of the show is up there as well. Enjoy!
Christian Mistress – Agony and Opium EP
I caught Christian Mistress (Olympia, WA) live last night at Red 7 in Austin. I saw someone mention that they had a 
NWOBHM feel about them so I went to YouTube to see if there were any clips and lo and behold, the whole new EP was up there. I liked it enough to go see ’em.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of most metal bands fronted by women, but there are always exceptions and Christian Mistress is one of them.
This band does have a bit of NWOBHM to them and the songs on the EP sounds pretty good and have some good hooks. Her voice is a bit raspy but it works well. You can download it from iTunes for $6! I did.
Their live show left me with a bit to be desired. I don’t know if it was because of the sound at Red 7 or what, but they were not very tight at all. They’ve been on the road for a few weeks as well and typically bands that are playing out a lot get tighter live. But this matched some of the live clips I watched on YouTube. That being said, I’d certainly go see them live again.
Check ’em out (click fotos to enlarge).
The Metal Files 
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