Stooge September 1990. The decade was only nine months old, but Megadeth had already produced one of the greatest metal albums of the 90s.

There is a definite punk rock vibe scattered through the tracks of Rust In Peace. The verse of the catchy “Tornado of Souls”, and the up-tempo track “Poison Was The Cure” are but a few examples. Mustaine’s vocals are delivered with the attitude and tone of an angered, spiky-haired teenager as opposed to a grown man with hair past his shoulders. Don’t worry, I mean that in a good way!

More evident to the listener should be that this album showcases a metal band that has their chops down. It took Megadeth years before they attempted to play “Five Magics” live because Mustaine wasn’t sure they could even pull it off! “Lucretia” and “Take No Prisoners” should also impress those into albums seemingly made by musicians for musicians. “Holy Wars…. The Punishment Due” is legendary for it’s riffing. It’s truly a great way for Megadeth to introduce the fans to their newest incarnation. As technical and jagged as the song is, it was actually released as a single and is fairly catchy.

However, there is no doubt that “Hangar 18” is the catchier of the album’s singles. It’s extremely melodic from beginning to end, and filled with top-notch soloing by both Mustaine and Marty Friedman.

I can’t forget to mention “Dawn Patrol”. This is most certainly the track that will impress the least amount of people, but it’s built around a rather nice David Ellefson bassline, is rather brief, and I think it fits in well within the album’s structure.

“Rust In Peace …. Polaris” is actually one of the earliest Megadeth compositions, with parts of the song pre-dating the band. It’s kind of obvious from the old school sounding drum intro, but the song surprisingly holds up well. It was most certainly tailored to fit in with the current Megadeth sound, and works well as an album closer.

Rust In Peace is a career-defining album from a band at the top of their game, and comes highly recommended.

Stooge With the world well familiar with the new look (and sound) of Metallica, the band regrouped to tie together the unused material from the Load album to create an album that, surprisingly, doesn’t just sound like leftovers.

I’ll actually say that the performance on Reload sounds like a band with a bit more confidence in their new identity. While some of the material may have been recorded at the same time as Load, this album sounds meatier in the production department. It’s a bit louder, and the vocals and guitar in particular have more bite to them.

The listener is treated to their best album opener of the decade in “Fuel”, which is easily the song with the most energy on the album, with “Attitude” being a close second.

While there are quite a few songs that are pretty heavy, there are also several interesting tracks on Reload that are more on the lighter side of rock. “Low Man’s Lyric” is the “Mama Said” of Reload as they continue to explore other genres with a strong folk music sound, and introduces Metallica fans to the sounds of the hurdy gurdy, a stringed instrument that produces a similar sound to the bagpipes. “Where The Wild Things Are”, a rare Newsted-penned track, blends occasionally heavy riffing with some haunting melodies to great effect. “Fixxxer” closes the album with a somewhat relaxing and hypnotic rhythm. It’s a heavy song at times, but not in the sense you’d expect from Metallica.

“The Unforgiven II” is easily one of the highlights on Reload. The song takes the opposite approach of its predecessor “The Unforgiven”, switching from the less conventional heavy verse / soft chorus structure to the lighter verse / heavy chorus that many songs with the loose-fitting “power ballad” label utilize. The verse has hints of country rock in the guitar playing, and Kirk Hammett’s solo soars in a much similar fashion to his work on “The Unforgiven”.

Much like I did with Load, a slight trimming of tracks could have made for an interesting double album with these two albums combined. From Reload, I’d point towards “Prince Charming”, “Better Than You” (which they somehow got a Grammy for), and perhaps “Bad Seed” as potential cutting room floor material. Not the worst songs in the world, but I wouldn’t confuse them for classic Metallica tracks.

I often flip back and forth between which of the Load-era albums I prefer, so it’s only natural for me to give them both the same rating. Reload is well worth checking out!

Charcaroth Tiamat's debut, Sumerian Cry, is a solid album of primitive and arcane Swedish death metal with a subtle early black metal feel at times, and a subtle sense of experimentation.

The production is fairly standard of the metal coming from Sweden at the time, thick and crushing, but not oppressive, with that patented, grinding guitar sound popularized by bands like Entombed. Here though, there's a little more emphasis on atmosphere, giving Sumerian Cry a foggy, 'arcane' quality that works well with what the band is doing.

Although the main focus is squarely on primitive death metal brutality, there are a few interesting, subtle touches that lend Sumerian Cry a lot of character, and hint at the direction Tiamat would go in successive releases. Passages of whispered vocals, acoustic guitar melodies, then there's the odd bit in Evilized where the band breaks into some bluesy 'death n' roll' with a tinkling, tonky tonk piano-sounding melody and some vocal sampling for a moment. Even from the beginning, Tiamat seems to be a band that isn't afraid of experimenting a little, and allowing some quirkiness into the music. During the slower moments of the album, one can hear the beginnings of the doomy direction the band would soon take.

Time Signature The suburban tribe...

Genre: avant-garde gothic metal

"The Urban Tribe" was released as a single to promote Dakrya's (or Dåkryå's) forthcoming full length album "Crime Scenes". Stylistically, this track falls under the genre of blackened avant-garde gothic metal, much like Canadian metallers Unexpect. The difference is that Unexpect's music is much more technical and emphasizes musical prowess much more than Dakrya who focus more on on creating a mood of dark weirdness.

This particular track starts out with a black metal-esque riff, but then changes into a weird sort of Moulin Rouge-like piano driven verse which strikes me as being sort of humoristic (I do not know if this is intended though). The verses are separated by some more brutal sounding guitar sections that make use of dissonant chords. After the second verse, there is a section in which a quite cool semi-melodic guitar riff is repeated several times before a weird avant-garde section kicks in which makes me think of absinth-drinking clowns juggling with black roses while balancing on monocycles (don't even ask!). After a heavier version of the same section the verse kicks in again.

As of now, I think this track is okay. It is weird without being too weird, which I am sure a lot of people who are not ready for Unexpect might appreciate. But at the same time it's not weird or brutal enough for me - then again this is a single promoting their forthcoming album, and they probably do not want to scare potential new fans away (some of their other stuff is a bit more brutal and black metal inspired).

If you like the same sort of gothic atmosphere of movies like Moulin Rouge or Tim Burton films, then I think you might appreciate this music as it evokes the same kind of offbeat darkness. Fans of traditional types of metal probably will not like this asingle though.

Stephen If there's a band that's quickly shot to the stardom and then fell hard on the ground in no time, then perhaps Quiet Riot is the right name. Imagine how they woke up from the ashes in 1983, spawned a 6-million sales breakthrough album, "Metal Health", and then were forgotten in the blink of an eye. Thanks to the huge hit of Slade's cover, "Cum On Feel The Noize", Quiet Riot etched their name as the first American heavy metal debut to ever reach Billboard #1 chart in 1983.

Aside from that big hit, there are quite a lot of great tracks to listen inside. From the catchy riffage of the title track, the invitation to bang your head raucously shouted on the great chorus, and this track secured them a prestigious opening slot for Scorpions. "Slick Black Cadillac" which was recycled from their second album is a fun party tune that will blow your roof away. "Run For Cover" has a nice solo performed by Carlos Cavazo, and the instrumental track, "Battle Axe", is also worth checking out. The ballad "Don't Wanna Let You Go" and "Thunderbird" are both good though I think they're better with the uptempo tracks.

"Metal Health" is an inventive release and considered as one of the most important releases that influenced the early growth of glam metal. This album is full of flaming riffs, bodyshaking groove, brilliant vocal performance by the late Kevin DuBrow, and highly recommended for fans of glam and traditional heavy metal.

Phonebook Eater One of the most attended albums of 2010 in the mind of a progressive fan was Pain Of Salvation's new album, since the bit disappointing "Scarsick". Boy, this was hard to digest. I really was bummed when I heard this album for the first time: they completely changed sound, sounding more like a blues/country rock band, with some original moments here and there. Now, I realize that the band never felt like they needed to label themselves, so they felt free to go another way, to experiment, using less experimentation than ever. Despite this, and despite not being really prog (or metal), this is a good album, seen badly by most of this site.

Twelve songs: the same as The Perfect Element, Pain Of Salvation's magnum opus and one of the best prog metal albums of all time. But "Road Salt One" is everything but "TPE": all the songs are quite simple, like a normal rock song, almost all of them short. Also the structure of the album, unlike TPE, obviously doesn't make you wanna listen to the whole thing, since it looks like just a really normal album.

Certainly, the good songs are present: "She Likes To Hide" is a great blues/ ballad song, with some psychedelic tones, "Sisters" ,very gloomy and melancholic, but very beautiful, "Of Dust", a mournful song played only with organ and vocals, "Darkness Of Mine" has a great catchy chorus, "Linoleum" a very rockish mood, with a chorus that quite reminds me of their previous album, "Scarsick", the melancholic, calm "Road Salt", a beautiful piece of music. However, some songs are forgettable and frankly quite annoying, like the opening track "No Way", or the joyous "Sleeping Under The Stars".

In conclusion, I've heard better PoS albums, but I respect this choice they made, which was to try to change their style a (huge) bit. It could have been better, but still not bad. 4 stars.

Stephen I still remember clearly I bought this tape when it came out in 1994 because of the track “Black Hole Sun" and grunge wave had reached its top before a new and fresh alternative rock began swelling in. "Superunknown" apparently is the band's breakthrough album, spawning five singles, and certified five platinums in the US, but behind their commercial success and after all these years, I never been able to digest their music nicely. Perhaps because their musical style isn't really my type of interest, but on the other hand, probably the majority of the songs here are plain dull and this album was overly exaggerated by MTV and label.

From my subjective point of views, there are several of really great songs here. I'll start with the single "My Wave", I found an interesting groovy arrangement inside. The next one, is the other single, "Black Hole Sun", which is very nostalgic and introduced Cornell's clear voice, a radio friendly track and a lovable piece, even to non-rock listeners. The third one is the uptempo punchy track, "Kickstand", but a shame that this is only a 1.3 minutes track. The other listenable tracks are "Let Me Drown", "Fell On Black Days", the title track, and "The Day I Tried To Live", but the rest are pointless, terribly average, and some of them are even worst. Tracks like "Spoonman", "Limo Wreck", or "Half" are good examples of utilizing the player's skip button.

The nuance on this album is dark and depressive, accompanied by doom-laden arrangement, slow and dynamic tempo, and alternative tunings which is typical in grunge-style music. To me, "Superunknown" isn't a horrible album, but ain't great either. There are just too many fillers and decent tracks. I buy this disc just for the sake of couple of great tracks I mentioned above, and to bring a good memory of how hard I save my pennies for days just to buy the tape, more than 15 years ago.

AtomicCrimsonRush This is the first Anthrax album for me and one of the first thrash albums with some of the most incredible riffs I have heard. It is a raw sound the band generates and a little under produced but it doesn’t matter such is the power of the metal. The riffs are killer on A.I.R. with its anarchic lyrics belted out by Belladonna, telling us “you’re no good, misunderstood, …. So high and mighty though much too blind to see”. At the time I could relate to this myself and I soaked it all in though I still don’t know what AIR stands for (Anthrax Is Rock?)

1984-1988 were the years when metal was king and every young male teen was heavily into it. Anthrax certainly made an indelible mark with this 1985 classic. Madhouse and the drilling riff heavy Armed and dangerous were essential listening for thrash addicts but I was really taken with the moderate tempo and scratch riffing of Medusa in particular. The lyrics are unforgettable “Seize, appease, deceive, die… Medusa, she's staring at you… with her eyes…Evil witch, cast her spell, seducing you, She'll take you to the very depths of hell, cannot move, no eyes to see, a statue now, For all eternity Medusa laughs at you And you're her slave.”

Not everything on this album rocks as awesome as these tracks specifically the messy speedy Gung Ho, but it is the raucous crunching power metal of the guitars of Spitz and Ian and those pounding drums that draws you in.

A great album and one of Anthrax’s best, before they inundated us with that awful rap crap. Anthrax hit the nail on the head with this early look at the thrash craze.

Stephen Treat is back in business with the classic line-up in 2006 when they released the compilation "Weapons of Choice" followed by an invitation to held up a triumphant concert in front of 4.000 cheering crowd at the Sweden Rock Festival. After another couple years of writing, "Coup de Grace" was finished and released in 2010, commemorating the band's 25 years anniversary and the first studio album in 18 years. Their musical direction is still classic AOR roots, but this time, they empowered their music with a hard rock and melodic metal edge, sitting on top of a modernized-sounding riffage platform. The sound production which was handled by guitarist Anders Wikstrom himself is excellent and ultimately satisfying.

The hard thing to do when you listen to this album is to pick which track is weak because each song has its own strength and sounded different. "The War Is Over" sets up the mood very well with its bombastic chorus, "All In" and "Paper Tiger" kick in with a furious riffs and glorious chorus, "Roar" is an uptempo rockers in the veins of modern Bon Jovi, "A Life To Die For" is such an emotional ballad that could shed tears to thousands of women. "Skies of Mongolia" is another example of melodic rock perfection, "No Way Without You" possessed a huge sing-along chorus, and the best track of the album, "We Own The Night", is an absolute winner with a soaring harmonic vocals and heavenly chorus that's inspired by Def Leppard's hit, "Hysteria". Just when you think the greatness of this album was over, they still give you the enchanting "All For Love" and the upbeat crunchy rocker "Breathless".

If you like modern AOR/melodic rock bands such as H.E.A.T, Brother Firetribe, or The Poodles, "Coup de Grace" can be easily digested, but for those who favor the real classic 80s style might find this a bit patchy or too modern. However, with killer compositions like these, after multiple listens, I can guarantee that "Coup de Grace" will be a huge grower. To me, this is a mighty comeback and could be their masterpiece to date as well as one of the greatest releases of 2010.

UMUR Horse Drawn Hearse is an EP release by Dutch experimental/ drone black metal act Gnaw Their Tongues. The EP was released in February 2006 on CD-R in handmade cardboard sleeve and in a download version. The 27:58 minute long EP contains 3 long tracks ranging from 7 to almost 11 minutes in length.

The music on Horse Drawn Hearse is unmistakably the sound of Gnaw Their Tongues. It´s eerie experimental/ drone black metal, with unpleasant samples of screams and mad talking to accompany the dark music. The music is slow and heavy and almost cinematic at times. The vocals ( Tortured raspy screams) are low in the mix and work more as an extra instrument than regular vocals. The EP starts with the extremely heavy and repetitive The Behemoth Crawls Ashore. Repetitive in this case should not be interpreted as anything bad though. The repetitive nature of the music only enhance the eerie claustrophobic and unpleasant atmosphere in the song. The repetitive drone is overdone a bit in the first half of Horse Drawn Hearse, but the second half of that song is great material. Another Study in Bleakness and Despair is another great track. Quite chaotic to the ear, but after a few spins the details begin to unfold.

The production is filthy, noisy and raw yet detailed and greatly enjoyable.

Mories one-man army has yet again proven that he is without a doubt one of the most creative forces on the more experimental part of the extreme metal scene at the moment. All his releases hold a very high quality level and to top it off he makes unique music, that stands out from the rest of the pack. Horse Drawn Hearse deserves a 3.5 star rating. Maybe a 4 star rating is more deserved but I´m hesitant because of the occasinal monotone part, so for now it´s a 3.5 star rating.

SouthSideoftheSky Live flow

This impressive live DVD captures Threshold performing a career-spanning set of songs in front of an appreciative Dutch audience. Every studio album up to and including Critical Mass is represented here and they have very wisely chosen not to let any particular album dominate the set list. Two songs are taken from the classic debut, Wounded Land; two from Psychedelicatessen; three from Extinct Instinct; three from Clone; four from Hypothetical and four from Critical Mass. My favourite Threshold albums are the early ones, especially those two with Damian Wilson on lead vocals, but Andrew McDermott, or "Mac" as he is called, handles the songs originally sung by Wilson and also those by originally sung Glynn Morgan very well.

All the selections here are very good but one of several highlights for me is the short acoustic section in the middle of the set that makes the show varied and lets the viewer catch his breath before another Prog Metal onslaught. The acoustic songs played are Clear and Life Flow, both originally from the Extinct Instinct album. Another highlight is Paradox from the debut on which both the audience and the band are on fire.

The band is in top form throughout with the drummer in particular ponding the drums like a madman! And he never seems to get tired either. Karl Groom may not be much of a show man, but he is a fantastic guitarist and he seems to enjoy himself a lot on stage. Mac is, on the other hand, a show man who moves around a lot on stage and interacts with the audience. He has a strange sense of humour though, telling the audience to shut up and go home and similar rude things! But that's the way he is, I guess.

Overall, I think that the set list is very well balanced and that the band performs their songs with impeccable skill and enthusiasm. There might be some overdubs in the vocals, but not very noticeable. The sound is great. The DVD includes a few extras such as a tour documentary which is interesting to watch once or twice perhaps.

A great live document by a great band!

progshine I'm a Rush fan, no doubt, no wonders, no nothing, I love them, period. Just said that:

First: A very funny movie!

Second: Sam Dunn really knows how to make documentaries, once I liked Metal: A Headbanger's Journey I was pretty sure he was a right choice to show Rush like they deserved in this Beyond the Lighted Stage.

Third: Affirm and shows to the world that Rush is one of the greater, interesting and full of integrity bands that showed its face on this Planet.

A perfect movie for this July 13, the 'Rock Day'.

I think this few words can't shown exactly how I loved to see this doc and I'm pretty sure I'll see it at least dozen times again, but I hope my 5 stars show how I love it!!

AtomicCrimsonRush A great DVD from the legends of rock, perhaps the best if you do not count 'The Song Remains the same'. The menus are interesting and you can jump straight into timeless classics such as a 15 minute version of Dazed and Confused with magnificent guitar lead break par excellence from Page. The lighting is always subdued and straightforward, they were never a spectacular showman band, their spectacle lay strictly with the music and what a sound they created! There are shots of the crowd occasionally but the focus is always on Page and Plant.

How Many More Times rocks out for 20 minutes and is a classic. Also drums are showcased on Moby Dick, a 15 minute treasure. Whole Lotta Love makes an appearance and is well sung by Plant. Immigrant Song was always my favourite and theres an awesome version here along with the quintessential Black Dog with that mesmirising riff. The driving blues of Since I've Been Loving You is worth mentioning with Page looking completely absorbed with his guitar. There is a chilling version of In My Time of Dying and of course the indelible Stairway to Heaven is added to the mix. A very strong blue light shines and makes a heavenly glow throughout the performance, similar to TSRTS film.

Rock and Roll is a favourite and also Nobody's Fault but Mine with its killer riff. Whole Lotta Love caps things off at the end of the DVD. I highly reccommend this as a perfect example of why Led Zeppelin are masters of proto metal and an influence to countless musicians worldwide.