So yah, I know Draeden said that the previous post was as romantic as we get here but he didn't take into account there's a girl writing here too. Being as it is Valentine's Day, I figured I'd throw out a quick top 5 of my favorite hard rock/metal love songs to keep in the festive mood.
#5 Nazareth - Love Hurts
How many of us didn't sit there at some point in our lives and sing with all our hearts "I'm young, I know, but even so" Yah, it's not romantic, but I don't believe I said I was going to be romantic with all my selections, just that they would be about love.
More after the jump
#4 Nine Inch Nails - The Only Time
"I'm drunk, but right now I'm so in love with you" Nuff Said. There was never a video made for this one, so I leave you with the live version. NSFW
#3 Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine
So much better than one of their later love songs which mentions something about french kissing the morning, which I still don't know how exactly you do. "Ain't no paramedic gonna save this heart attack" now that's some lyrics.
#2 Def Leppard - Hysteria
Had to go with the more love song off this album. Love Bites is also an excellent song but with similar themes to Love Hurts which I've already mentioned in this list. So rather than go that direction again. Does he really mean what I think he means when he says "Out of me, into you?" Maybe I need to get my head out of the gutter. Wait.. Did he just say "Open wide, drink in me"?? Okay maybe that is what he meant.
#1 Motley Crue - Without You
Gotta love the power ballad. "But with you in my life, you're the reason I'm alive". *insert wistful sigh here* Now mind you, this album also had the awesome love song "Don't go away mad, just go away". It was a bit of a toss up which one to include here.
So there's my quick top 5. I'll probably hit the post button and come up with a million more songs I could've used. I'll save them for later. Just 364 more days til Valentines.
Thanks to Metal Injection for posting this. So yeah, tired of the Lonely Island version? Then peep this as you mosh and headbang and puke your way through News Years tonight.
Be safe out there, don't drink and drive. We want you all here next year checking out the craziness that going to be happening on That Devil Music. Happy New Years!
To say 2010 was eventful would be an understatement. There was death,disease,crime, and retirements. But there was also great music too. It's still debatable whether any of the things I wished for are coming true from last year but here are some things that I hope for for the coming year and also some goals for the blog in the coming year as well after the jump.
Let's start with the wishes:
1. A continuation of bands that are influenced by their contemporaries in Europe. The Absence and Agalloch are examples of bands that could easily be mistaken for Swedish or just plain Scandinavian. And it is good.
2. Hold off on the retirements at least for this year. I think metal is taking on a bigger face and if some of the older bands can just hang on to see this resurgence continue it would be a good thing. Plus I'm not sure if there is anybody worth carrying the mantle just yet.
3. If the promoters are going to be lowering ticket prices like they're suggesting then get some real festivals here Stateside for once. Something closer to Bloodstock or the Swedish rock festival. And no it's not because I want to see Therion. Fuck that guy still. Just use the same sites that have been used for Mayhem and Ozzfest. Or pick a centralized location and I'll fly my ass out there for one.
4.Labels actually pulling in enough revenue to promote and not solely relying on blogsites and the internet to do it for them. Most of us don't get paid for this or make just enough to maintain the sites. We love the music and still want to get it out there but we can't do it alone. Bands have a contract with you. We're just helping out.
5. No deaths this year.Mortality is inevitable and we get the message after last year but let's hope guys take care of themselves, keep off the drugs, and the old guys bodies hang on.
And now for some announcements or goals for the blogsite:
1. I'll be pushing in the next month to move to Wordpress and actually be hosted.Blogger has been good to me but the readership has grown and a couple of labels have suggested to me to get my own domain to increase traffic and be taken more seriously. Not to mention I've started finding some big limitations to the format as it is now. When this all happens I will give you the full 411 on new e-mails and web addresses.
2. I'm in the market for some new writers. Draeden has done a great job and helped boost traffic here but we still can't do it alone. In order to provide more content that will appeal to a broader audience I need writers that are invested in the music, are aware of the latest happenings and have tastes that vary to some degree from ours. I have a couple of people I know that will be posting things soon but it may be very sporadic. So keep your eyes out for new contributors this year.
3. There will be more interviews. As we grow look for some interviews from some people that you may or may not know. We have some people in mind its just a matter of getting coordinated but I think people will be excited or intrigued by some of the groups we have in mind. Some of them might be in person, by e-mail, or even audio interviews.
4. There will be more reviews with a scoring system in place. I'll keep doing Real Time Reviews for bands that I think can be entertaining but standard reviews need to be improved upon and we want to be a better presence on that front.
5. As our relationship with labels grow I'd like to be able to provide more contests and give you the readers the ability to win some cool stuff directly from labels or bands.
6. And as always I have a goal for more viewers. The last three or 4 months have seen a dramatic increase in traffic and I want that to continue into next year and also thank you for your patronage. If you the readers know of people that want to be kept informed on what's happening in heavy music by all means send them our way. Facebook has been a great tool to get the news out there and Last.Fm is another avenue to get interaction between us and you.We care about the music and we want to share it with as many people as possible.
Plus there are some other things I want to get going over here but I'll save that for later. For now these are things I'm hoping for this year in both music and the blog. So let us know what you think of the pending change ideas and share your wishes for the coming New Year.
So, as we come to an end to the holidays, with only a couple more hours to go til Christmas (at time of posting), I'd like to share one of my traditions with you. As a kid I grew up with Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Grinch. As an adult, I've gone back to my roots, back to my families history and made The Snowman a yearly tradition. I've had my copy loaned out to one of my mates for years, and it wasn't until this year that I finally got another copy of The Snowman in a stocking stuffer. So, without further ado, here's the famous song from The Snowman, performed by Nightwish. Merry Christmas.
If you're curious, here's the original. I suggest seeing the whole cartoon for yourselves, its rather good.
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Our friend Tre Watson shared this with me last week and I promised I would post it up on Christmas. However seeing as people will probably be staring at new Christmas presents and not our page I figured I'd go ahead and post it today. Enjoy Tre and Drewsif Stalin's punny rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.
*Here is the definition of djent so you all can get the joke in the song title.
I would so see a movie with that title. In the meantime here is a video from Victory Records of Santa karate moshing his way around the world because you know, sleighs and reindeer cost too much overhead in these rough economic times. And Santa needs to stay hip and relevant.
Look how fit he is in this video. Even though hardcore windmilling looks stupid it's keeping the old guy in shape.
Blabbermouth has been reporting UDO of Accept fame recording a song with distribution company EMP called Jingle Balls. It was supposed to combine Jingle Bells and Balls to the Wall. So I was intrigued. Whoever is doing the press release for this needs to be fired. This song is all kinds of fail. Here is the video.
Ok, not only is the song complete crap and a sham but all proceeds for the album it appears on goes to PETA. Keep in mind the video has alot of graphic cartoon violence against human beings in an attempt to be humorous. If this wasn't for PETA and you substituted humans for reindeers how up in arms would PETA be over it? Fuck PETA and fuck this song. And fuck UDO for signing on to this. Merry Christmas!
10 days until christmas and I was wondering what I could post that would be in the holiday spirit. And no, I'm not going to post about Corey Taylor's douche song that he apparently wrote with the band Rehab.Gwar saves the day with this brilliant footage of what Gwar Christmas Caroling is like. Dudes, come to my door, You couldn't possibly make this dump of a house look any worse.
Good old Christmas. When I have nothing to write about, I can always fall back on posting holiday favorites done by metal guys and hear da lamentation of da women.In this case is Austrian Death Machine's version of Jingle Bells. Schwarzenegger,Jingle All the Way(Still have not seen it), and a holiday standard=epic. Enjoy.
There hasn't been anything released this year in the holiday or Christmas vein other then Corey Taylor's stupid song. But I realized in all this time I never fully listened to We Wish You a Merry Xmas and a Headbanging New Year that was released a couple of years ago. Sure I'd heard snippets but never listened to the whole thing. Probably because I had it stuck in my head that it was going to be crap.For those unfamiliar this was a collection of traditional and not so traditional favorites reinterpreted by people in the hard rock and metal scene. So this will be my first thorough listen and what a better way to close out the year for real time reviews then this. So after the jump let's check it out.
We Wish You a Merry Xmas: Apparently the Kulick Brothers have alot to do with this album as they're credited on most of the tracks. What we have is Jeff Scott Soto of Yngwie and the movie Rock Star fame.There is a nice balance of traditional and then just balls out all over the place riffing. It's funny to hear a metal singer sing the line 'Oh bring us a figgy pudding'.
Run Rudolph Run: Lemmy from Motorhead, Billy Gibbons of ZZtop,and Dave Grohl of Foo fighters/Nirvana fame. This should be interesting due to the eclectic nature of the musicians involved. If I remember right this song was a Chuck Berry tune back in the 50's. Not that I would know because I wasn't born then.This is a great rockin tune and Lemmy's whiskey gargling voice is perfect for this tune. This is a fun track.
Santa Claws is Coming to Town: Who would change the spelling on Claus to make it more evil? Oh, it's Alice Cooper with help from John 5,Billy Sheehan,and Vinnie Appice. Track starts like a typical Alice Cooper song with a creepy spoken intro.Can you imagine Alice being your Dad and freaking you the hell out about Santa Claus? Another fun track. Wait for the ending.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Oh Ronnie James Dio. How you will be missed.This particular track has Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo, and Simon Wright providing the music. It begins with great Iommi doomish riffs. Now I'm going to get some shit for this but I do not like Ronnie's rendition of this song. It could be age but much like his later solo efforts he seems to be oversinging this song. So therefore I will not be purchasing the tacky Christmas card with this song on it. Musically this song is heavy as hell. I just don't care for much of RJD's interpretation.Which is a shame because if he'd take it down a notch this could be an awesome song.
Silver Bells: Geoff Tate, Carlos Cavazo, James Lomenzo, and Ray Luzier on tap for this song. Let's see what Geoff does with this. Pretty uptempo heavy intro. Wow, Geoff sounds like crap. He almost sounds tone deaf in parts. His vocals are all over the place. Next.
Little Drummer Boy: Doug Pinnick of Kings X joined by George Lynch, Billy Sheehan,and Simon Wright. I haven't heard Doug since Gretchen goes to Nebraska so this should be interesting. Fittingly the song starts with Doug singing and Simon laying down a cool mid tempo beat. Now George and Billy kick in. I like this rendition. The song is typically one of the most annoying songs because really? You're going to bang drums around a baby like that? Anyways these guys rocked it up yet kept the familiarity to.
Santa Claus is Back in town: Tim "Ripper" Owens does vocals on this tune. And he's joined by Steve Morse of all people and a few others.This song opens with a groove metal riff. I like Tim Owens. Especially when he wasn't with Priest. His vocals for this are great. Almost a bluesy feel to this song in general.
Silent Night: Chuck Billy of Testament, Scott Ian of Anthrax and John Tempesta already tells me that this is not going to be a traditional version. I've heard it before and remembered laughing at it so let's see what two years later brings. Yeah this is hilarious. Death metal version. I love Chuck in a non gay way. He is such a bad ass vocalist but this version is funny as hell.Especially when the tempo ramps up to 11.
Deck the Halls:Oni Logan does vocal duties on this track. He was from Lynch Mob which means I know nothing about him.Song kicks in with a cool riff.I don't know what to make of his vocals. They're not bad. He has almost a warble to his singing.I think I like the music better then the singing especially the ripping solo in the middle courtesy of Craig Goldy who I always liked with Dio. Oni is apparently the weak link in this song.
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer: One of the goofiest Christmas songs done by one of my least favorite singers. This should be interesting. Oh and one of my least favorite guitarist in Tracii Guns. Hmmm....Stephen doesn't sound like himself. He almost sounds like Alice Cooper in this. I might actually like this better then the original. Funny how things like this work out.
Rock Around the Xmas Tree: Joe Lynn Turner of Yngwie and Rainbow fame doing this song. I can't picture it. By the way Joe. It's not the 80's anymore so you can change up your hairstyle now. Sorry, that's always bugged me. I've never liked this song to begin with and this rendition is not changing my mind. Next.
Happy Xmas(War is Over): Tommy Shaw doing a John Lennon cover to close this album out. My personal feeling on songs like this is that while it's a nice sentiment, there are too many cultures and people on this planet to ever have peace on earth. This is a nice cover to the original though but kind of a downer to close out a metal Christmas cd.
So there you have it. Overall I enjoyed the cd. Any album where I like 75 percent of it is a success. And if you're sick of traditional music then you can't go wrong with most of these renditions. So go out and pick it up. And have a great holiday.
So way back in 1998 during the Siege Perilous sessions Kamelot recorded an instrumental cover of We Three Kings. But it didn't see the light of day except as a bonus track until their first live cd 'Expedition' was released. Why a Christmas tune is on there I have no clue. Since I don't own either albums it's no wonder this went under my radar until I was looking up metal related Christmas tunes.If anybody else knew this congratulations you're a nerd. So enjoy this cover of We Three Kings by Kamelot in the ongoing attempt to be festive here.
So I'm going back in the archives and for some reason I posted this video on a Metal Xmas cd blurb two years ago.After changing the graphic on that to what it should be, I figured I'd repost this on it's own. It's very festive isn't it?
Yes I'm jumping ahead in the letters but Thanksgiving is a special day. Since the two themes of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for whatever you have and eating, what better band to celebrate the eating part then Psychostick?Why? Because their last album 'Sandwich' was almost totally dedicated to food.Observe after the jump.
Now not all of their songs are so angry such as this one. Here is a behind the scenes track on the album.
And of course you can't wash your meal down with just egg nog and cider. Psychostick's most famous song extols the virtues of beer.
What's that? You say the music is not very festive or holiday-ish in nature? Well the guys also put put out a holiday EP entitled the 'Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride'.Here is a song to kick your holidays off with.Enjoy.
So there ya have it. Run out and get Psychostick's Cd's. There's something I think for everyone. Comedy,metal,and food. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!
Enjoy the Powerglove cover to This is Halloween. And for a palate cleanser to Draeden's Ozzy video here is Bark at the Moon. Have a safe and tooth rotting Halloween.
It's getting close. One more day until the grubby kids in their princess and Twilight costumes come to the door begging for treats that they'll eat too much of and rot their developing teeth out.So what music should you play through your stereo or loudspeakers. Should you play the Monster Mash from the 1960's or should you really freak out the kids or better even the parents? Here are some suggestions from That Devil Music after the jump.
Of course you can't leave this off.
This song always had a creepy vibe, especially the intro.
This is a happier song. Maybe even have the video playing on a screen.
Vortex's vocals have a creepy element.
This album is melting my face off. Your kids should enjoy it too.
Too br00tal? Try this then.
Hell yes. Your kids should fear the dark by now.
So there you have it. Some good old fashioned spooky songs to scare kids with. So what songs would you put on your playlist? Let us know in the comments.
Oh Gwar. How could a band that hates the human race and wants to do the most horrible things to it be so beloved? I don't know. I've never been a fan of the pseudo punk/metal band much myself. Therefore if the zombie apocalypse whould ever occur, Gwar will probably survive and I won't. And what a coincidence, Gwar's latest video is just about that very thing. And in time for Halloween too. Here is Zombie March,the first single from the new album Gwar's Bloody Pit of Horror.Enjoy.
Occasionally I like to listen to soft acoustic based music. I mean it can't be all power chords and growls and shrieks all the time, right? So with that being said,here is one of my favorite Halloween songs performed by Stephen Lynch. It's melodic and the lyrics are a bit scary but that's what Halloween's about. So get your lighters out and enjoy this little ditty about this month's holiday.
Continuing on with All Hallows Eve month is a video sure to make the goosebumps on your flesh arise and the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Not because it's scary but because of Michael Kiske's falsetto screams and the yards of tassles hanging from jackets sleeves.
Just for the record I thought this video was stupid even in 1987, but it's got a Jack O' Lantern in a tux so there is that. Enjoy.
