Former Nevermore guitarist and current solo shredder Jeff Loomis will be joining us live in the studio this coming Saturday! Along with playing some jams off his new album "Plains Of Oblivion" (available now on Century Media), Jeff has handpicked an hours worth of music to share with all of us, just in case you've ever wondered what bands one of the best metal guitarists in the world listens to on his own time. Make sure to mark your calendars and listen up to Metal Shop this week, you don't want to miss Jeff bringing the brutality live on the air.
Travis The Virus' 20 Favorite Metal Songs Of All Time
Just so we're clear, this is not meant to be a list of the greatest metal songs of all time. That would take more data and insight than any one person is capable of. These are just 20 metal songs that I always love to hear. They're songs that I never get bored with and still sound as good to me as the first time I heard them. Some of you may agree, most of you won't, because that's just how ranking lists work. A list like this can never be complete, but as it stands now, here are my 20 favorite metal songs of all time.
20: "Fabulous Disaster" by Exodus From the album Fabulous Disaster, 1989 Relativity Records
After Metallica released their 5th album their spot on the "Big 4 of Thrash" should have been given to Exodus, complete with a trophy made of beer cans and a ceremony where Exodus got to trash Kirk Hammett's car. Very few bands can do basic, straight for the throat thrash metal as good as Exodus can, and this tune is a prime example of their furious power.
19: "The End Complete" by Obituary From the album The End Complete, 1992 Roadrunner Records
The first time I heard this song I was floored by how dense Trevor Peres' and Allen West's guitars sounded. Just when the grove starts to kick in John Tardy roars something that sounds like "You will succumb!",and with a voice like that who's gonna argue? Writing stuff this catchy and this crushing isn't easy, but "The End Complete" is one of the best examples you can find.
18: "Conquer All" by Behemoth From the album Demigod, 2004 Century Media
This song commands your attention from the very first cord. Dark and anthemic, this is the kind of death metal you can imagine hearing in some post apocalyptic arena while mutated beasts rip into masked combatants wearing discarded car parts. The double (triple?) tracking on the vocals make them sound huge, the drums are pummeling throughout the entire song, and the guitar solo adds a little atmosphere before the outro lumbers over to finish you off.
17: "Tornado of Souls" by Megadeth From the album Rust in Peace, 1990 Capital Records
The whole Rust in Peace album is near perfect technical thrash, but "Tornado of Souls" itself really captures the whole spirit of this album and this band. It's fast, angry, surgically precise, and a huge leap forward in quality from their previous efforts. They released a few more good albums since, but Megadeth's music never really got better this.
16: "Dominate" by Morbid Angel From the album Domination, Giant 1995
Yeah, I know, it's not from Alters of Madness, get over it. Being a metal kid in high school during the 90's "punk revival" wasn't easy, and songs like this one helped me deal with asshats who criticized my musical tastes for not including NOFX. From its defiant lyrics to the ready-for war assault of the riffs, "Dominate" reminded me that it's always important to stand your ground no matter what. Everyone has at least a few theme songs growing up. "Dominate" was one of mine, and it still gets me up pumped better than coffee and jolt combined.
15: "Orgasmatron" by Motorhead From the album Orgasmatron, 1986 GWR
Motorhead have a lot of kick ass tunes, but "Orgasmatron" has always stuck out for me. It may not be as popular as "Ace of Spades" or as fast as "Overkill", but it's heavier, darker and every bit as nasty. It only has a few cords, but sometimes that's all you need if they're the right ones. It also features some of Lemmy's best lyrics, a grandiose poem about war, liars, power and death.
14: "All Hail The New Flesh" by Strapping Young Lad From the album City, 1997 Century Media
Years before Devin Townsend was known as an accomplished musician/composer/producer whose style and talent spanned genres, he kicked metal fans in the face with the post modern industrialized thrash attack of City, one of the most intense albums of its era. While technically not the opening track "All Hail the New Flesh" is when the album, and SYL itself, really took off. Frantic yet precise riffing, relentless drum beats (courtesy of drum lord Gene Hoglan), and a wall of electronics big enough to make Fear Factory jealous provide the perfect backdrop for Townsends' rabid screams as well as his soaring clean vocals. Whether I'm driving, partying or blasting my way through a video game, the energy of "All Hail the New Flesh" neverfails to deliver.
13: "The Family Ghost" by King Diamond From the Album Abigail, 1987 Roadrunner Records
No matter what metal subgenre you find yourself favoring you gotta love King Diamond, the band and the man himself. The music tells a tale of macabre locations and supernatural horrors, and not just in the lyrics. Each riff, tempo change and guitar melody creates all the foreboding atmosphere of a classic Hammer film before Kings' vocals are even factored in, and once they are his operatic wails, ghoulish narration and evil cackling cement him as one of metal's greatest storytellers.
12: "Remain Nameless" by Napalm Death From the album Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994 Earache/Columbia
By album number 5 Napalm Death seemed bored with the simple "growling over 3 cords and a blast beat" sound that they themselves helped create, thus begun a series of albums that sought to expand upon the Napalm sound. The resulting album still grinded listeners to the core, but with added texture of discordant noise guitar and a wider variety of drum beats. "Remain Nameless" encapsulates this idea, from the sporadic arrangement to the layers of aforementioned guitar noise, all while keeping that classic Napalm Death feel intact.
11: "Flattening of Emotions" by Death From the album Human, 1991 Relativity
If you're at all into extreme metal I shouldn't have to tell you how great and important this band is. Human was the missing link between the grimy, primitive sound Death started with and the technical, progressive jazz metal they would pioneer later. With "Flattening of Emotions" we get the same level of brutality Death were known for with the tighter songwriting and emphasis on musicianship they had begun to explore on Spiritual Healing. It's the best of both worlds.
10. "All I Had (I Gave)" by Crowbar From the album Crowbar,1993 Pavement
Yeah, fuckin' Crowbar! For a band with such a deceptively simple sound, they were way ahead of their time. Intros, solos, progressive arrangements, they're all great musical devices that definitely have their place, but when your riffs are as massive and powerful as what Kirk Windstein unleashed they can become superfluous. When you're in the mood for straight forward meat and potatoes sludge metal it's hard to think of a better example than "All I
Had (I Gave)".
9. "Arbeit Macht Fleish" by Carcass From the Album Heartwork, 1993 Earache/Columba
While I do love the more grindcore sounding early work of Carcass, they really were better after they learned how to write coherent songs. The mix of their early energy combined with death metal and NWOBHM influences come together perfectly here. Galloping drums, driving riffs, not one but two rockin' guitar solos, "Arbiet Macht Fleish" was, and still is, melodic death metal at its best.
8."Regular People (Conceit)" by Pantera From the album Vulgar Display of Power, 1992 Atco Records
It may not be one of Pantera's "hits" but it should have been! This track contains pretty much everything kick ass about the power groove sound that Pantera carved out for themselves in the 90's. The main riff is heavy and instantly memorable. The rhythm section is locked into ferocious grooves throughout the whole song. Dime's solos show just how soulful a shredder he could be and Phil Anselmo's lyrics, like all his best, were a call to arms for every angry young metal head who listened.
7:"Nailed to Gold" by Immolation From the album Here in After, 1996 Metal Blade Records
Walking the line between chaos and technicality is a very difficult task, and a lot of bands struggle when they try for both. Immolation, however, had that shit down from damn near the start. The parts in "Nailed to Gold" are constantly expanding and contracting, one part overlapping the next, at times going in different directions entirely, yet it all stays together, even when it sounds like it shouldn't. And Robert Vigna's guitar solo, which sounds like angelic beings burning to death while getting curb stomped, is one of my favorite death metal leads ever.
6:"Pissing in the Mainstream" by Dying Fetus From the album Destroy the Opposition, 2000, Relapse Records
At the turn of the century Dying Fetus were one of the bands that came along and proved that death metal was far from used up. They had everything a modern death metal band needs: killer chops, heavy riffs, interesting arrangements and a seething anger that seeks to destroy all that oppose (pun intended). "Pissing in the Mainstream" delivers all of the above, flawlessly, in less than 2 minutes.
Still reading? Awesome, but if you want to know what songs made my top 5 you'll have to listen to the next edition of Metal Shop, where we'll be playing my 5 favorite metal songs of all time throughout the show!
This Saturday, Metal Shop is proud to present the first annual INTERN OLYMPICS! You might be asking, "What the hell are the intern olympics?" Well, my friends, it's pretty simple. Our current intern, Ryan The Beard, will be joined in studio by our 3 past interns, Callum, Jabroni John, and Chip. We will put these four through a series of grueling tasks to name the ultimate, undisputed Metal Shop intern. Here's a few of the tests of internliness – energy drink chug, headbanging contest and metal trivia.
Additionally, we will welcome local doom band Samothrace into the studio to hang out during the 2 o'clock hour. They will be opening the upcoming Behemoth/Watain show at El Corazon on 4/20, so they will be helping us give away tickets to that show. Check out their song, "Awkward Heights", posted above, to get a taste of what's to come.
If you're a nerd like me, you're already full aware that this coming weekend is the Northwest's annual epic festival of nerd-dom, the Emerald City Comic-Con. Among the dozens and dozens of talented artists, celebs, pseudo celebs and babes in costume, there are always a few metal heads walking around in crusty Six Feet Under longsleeves of Dying Fetus hoodies. I should know, I'm one of em.
For the handful of us out there, take note, notable death metal / horror artist Dusty Peterson will be signing prints of his awesomely gore-tastic artwork at a booth this year. Not only that, but Dusty will also be appearing on this weekend's episode of Metal Shop to help educate us on the inner workings of death metal art, or just to hang and draw gross stuff. Either way, it's gonna be awesome.
Here are a few of the album covers Dusty has designed in the past couple years. Quite the portfolio, if I do say so myself. Check out all of his work at dustypeterson.net
Prepare your challices of blood, for the almighty underlords of Northwest darkness will prance upon your skulls tomorrow evening in what will most certainly prove to be a blessed ceremony of unholy metal. The members of Black Breath will join Lord Ian and Lord Kevin in the murky cave of KISW to bring forth a beastly dose of horrific and vicious, ear torturing noise only tolerable to those with advanced wizard skills. Do you have what it takes? Find out! Unlock the inner forces of Northwest madness by tuning in and channeling your inner demons.
Black Breath guest host Metal Shop
Saturday March 24th, 2012
99.9 KISW
Kisw.com to stream online
11pm-3am
So apparently the rumors are true! This past weekend, we sat down with the man, the myth, the legend, the almighty LEMMY from Motorhead backstage at the Gigantour, and he confirmed that his band is the special unannounced band that will be joining this summer's Mayhem Festival alongside Slipknot, Slayer, Anthrax, As I Lay Dying and many more.
Attn all Northwest metal heads, have we got some news for you!?
In case you haven't heard, your weekends just got 33.3% more brutal! What does that mean???? Read on, friends.....
For the past 25 plus years, Metal Shop has been a driving force in the local music community. As the longest running metal specialty program on commercial radio in the United States, Metal Shop has established a reputation of setting the bar and creating a standard for what metal is. While specialty programming on KISW has come and gone, Metal Shop has remained the tastemaker in the Northwest extreme music scene, forever pushing the envelope of extreme. While the early years of Metal Shop may sound tame to us now, bands like Judas Priest, Metallica and Slayer were the heaviest and most extreme sounds of the time. The mainstream wouldn't touch these bands. If you were a metal head, this was your show. As time passed, the bar of intensity was raised tenfold. By the time Steve Rauch and Kevin Jacober took over 10 years ago, it was time for a change. By starting off their reign of brutality with a gut-busting, ear-bashing classic by Crytopsy, they ushered in a new era of Metal Shop.
For the past decade, the local, national and global metal scenes have multiplied in size, both by the mainstream success of many extreme artists, the continued support of its diehard following, the ever-shifting taste of the worldwide public, and most drastically, the advancement of file sharing, social networking and streaming websites. It is now easier than ever to have your music heard by anyone in any country in the world. With all of this at their fingertips, you might think metal heads would be satisfied, right? Wrong. Metal heads demand more!
For the past two years, we have pushed ourselves to take the Metal Shop brand and run with it, making it ours. Along with continuing the reign of brutality that Steve and Kevin ushered in, we have strived to create more unique content, segments and personalities for our listening audience to embrace. When you tune in to Metal Shop, you get a lot more than just a cluster of randomly selected metal tunes – you get oddball content, breaking news, interviews and you'll probably get to hear a couple bands you've never heard before. At any given time during the three hours we are on air, we are by far the most extreme on the air.
Continuing in the grand tradition of Metal Shop badassery, it is with great honor that we push forward and unleash another entire hour of brutally twisted metal this week, the 25th of February. Yes, you read that right. Metal Shop will continue to rage into the wee hours, ending the show at 3 a.m. as opposed to 2. You can expect more requests, more interviews, more focus on local music and a whole lot of anything else you might consider metal.
But enough about us, it's time to thank YOU. It is with your continued support and engagement that we were able to make this dream a reality. By demanding more metal and continuing to hold your horns high, you, the dedicated listeners have ushered in a new era of Metal Shop. We couldn't be happier to be along for the ride with y'all.
Kool And The Gang just as suprised to be opening for VH!!
KOOL & THE GANG Opening for VAN HALEN? Blame David Lee Roth
Posted on February 9, 2012 by Steve C
On February 18, KOOL & THE GANG hit the road opening for VAN HALEN.
The unlikely pairing was not only a surprise for fans, but for the RnB band themselves.
"I was kind of surprised," co-founder Robert "Kool" Bell tells Billboard.com, "because VAN HALEN is more on the rock side and we do what we do. I said, 'That's an interesting combination…' It really caught us by surprise. But the more people I mention it to, the more interesting they're saying it is."
Bell says having KOOL & THE GANG open for VAN HALEN's North American tour was frontman David Lee Roth's idea. Roth saw Kool and company perform at the 2011 Glastonbury festival and enjoyed it so much that he lobbied the band onto the bill.
"We're not that worried about it," said Bell. "We had big hits in the 80s, and so did they. They've been kind of like a party band on the rock side, with their audience, and their audience is 60 percent female and we have songs like 'Ladies' Night' and 'Celebration'… and our audience is at least 80 percent a pop audience. Most of the time we have a crowd that's 80 percent white. Plus we do a lot of international dates with Def Leppard, Meat Loaf, Uriah Heep, Chicago, Elton John…A lot of people don't know that 'cause they don't really see it."
"So I think we'll survive."
KOOL & THE GANG will play a 50-minute set before each VAN HALEN show, according to Bell, and in addition to the big hits the group plans to incorporate its handful of more rock-leaning songs such as "Misled," "Tonight" and "Emergency," which it also played at Glastonbury.
Congrats to local standouts 7 Horns 7 Eyes! Not only did these dudes recently announce they've signed with international metal heavyweight label Century Media, but their upcoming release, "Throes Of Absolution" was also named as one of MetalSucks.net's "Albums That Will F*** Your Face Off In 2012."
Alongside all this big-time attention, it was also announced that former Nevermore shredder Jeff Loomis will appear on the album with a guest solo. Damn! Now I'm stoked!
Throes Of Absolution will be available in the U.S. on April 24th via Century Media records. The Northwest is doing it big in 2012 baby! Yeeeeeeah!
It appears that we haven't made mention of the new Lamb Of God record on this here blog. That changes now. Just wanted to pop my head in real quick and let you know that if you have ANY doubts about "Resolution" being one of 2012's heaviest n most skull-smashingly rad records, go ahead and erase that poppycock from your mind right now. I have been lucky enough to hear the new album in it's entirety, and no, not just the crappy sounding, pre-release, internet-leaked version, but the real thing. Do yourself a favor and check out the new single "Ghost Walking" if you haven't already, and see just what I'm getting at.
"Resolution" is Lamb Of God's sixth LP and comes out Tuesday January 24th. That's next week. Sweeeeeeeet!
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Prepare your challices of blood, for the almighty underlords of Northwest darkness will prance upon your skulls tomorrow evening in what will most certainly prove to be a blessed ceremony of unholy metal. The members of Black Breath will join Lord Ian and Lord Kevin in the murky cave of KISW to bring forth a beastly dose of horrific and vicious, ear torturing noise only tolerable to those with advanced wizard skills. Do you have what it takes? Find out! Unlock the inner forces of Northwest madness by tuning in and channeling your inner demons.
