"Nothing but the rain"
This is the last of the “k” albums. I got this album after getting Pandemonium by Killing Joke which is an awesome amazing album. This one though excites me less so. I don’t often listen to it but there are some highlights.
Requiem, Wardance and The Wait are all excellent songs and The Wait has been covered by Metallica so that gives you an idea of the influence of this band and their music.
This is a Megadeth album which I came to late. My start with Megadeth was watching a BBC2 documentary called “Heavy Metal”. In the film there was a clip of Megadeth playing Peace Sells at an outdoor venue in Northern Ireland. Quite a while after watching the show I kept playing the riffs over and over in my head and I thought I ought to get the album. I wasn’t quite a full on thrash metal fan and I remember being disappointing at the opening song Wake Up Dead. “just another thrash band” I thought. The song “Wake Up Dead” is listed on this site as one of my favourites, THREE classic riffs in one song.
When I got hold of this album a good few years later I was surprised and shocked. It has a very much less-polished feel that the other albums, I guess as you would expect for a band’s first album. It’s faster and more melodic than Metallica, which, given the history, you would expect. MegaDave play hard and fast melodies and it’s their signature sound.
Last Rites / Loved to Deth – piano opening getting you to think you’ve got the wrong album and a little wiggly guitar work and BLAM – Megadeth riff hits you. A fast, heavy, bruising song.
Killing Is My Business – that opening riff is ace. The bounce and feel of it is enough to get anyone jumping around. The songs ends in a speed fueled repeating chorus, lovely.
The Skull Beneath The Skin – the title sounds gross but is really probably just a line from a biology text book. Cantering opening and then a Dave scream with a climbing riff followed by ring chord strokes and then – Kaboom! A galloping ride of guitars and drums over the fields. It’s always amazed me how some riffs are so amazing and then bands only use them for tiny sections of their songs.
Rattlehead – Here I Come. A bass line I can’t comprehend, smash cymbals pushing you to jump either way and this is a dose of metal you need.
Chosen Ones – Oddly this is not a song that sticks in my head. It’s not that it’s bad, it just doesn’t quite do it for me.
Looking Down The Cross – very wiggly at the start. A good song with a blisteringly paced kick drum through. Excellent.
Mechanix – If you want a proper version of Four Horsemen by Metallica then this is where to come. I remember seeing Megadeth play this live at Cambridge and it blew me away. Amazeballs.
These Boots – you can guarantee that there’s always one shit song on a Megadeth album and this is the one on this album. They are like The Crue, chuck in one song that’ll annoy everyone. I do not like this one.
There’s something about the raw power and sound in this album that has stayed in my core. Along with Iron Maiden, Killers has that kick in the teeth, it pushes you around and beats you up with its riffs and lyrics. I bloody love this album. My feelings for the first two albums often goes against the grain of general fandom. In my view Iron Maiden were good until the end of Seventh Son. After that they went shit. Or maybe I just grew out of them?
The Ides Of March – Borrowed from Samson and written by Bruce before he was part of Maiden. This opener gets you ready for the onslaught.
Wrathchild – rolling bass line with bouncy riffs. A great song.
Murders In The Rue Morgue – such a melody that I get shivers down the spine.
Another Life – You can imagine jumping around to this song in an East End pub in the early 80s. The riff change halfway through is ace.
Genghis Khan – This song pops with the main riff. What out for the speed change that doesn’t accelerate it just knocks you flat.
Innocent Exile – Another bouncy tune that keeps me jumping around the room.
Killers – Entirely about stalking someone and killing them. What do you expect from a band named after a medieval torture device?
Prodigal Son – Devil’s got hold of my soul. But with a ballad feel. Although it’s not a ballad.
Purgatory – high speed danger in this song. It races along daring you to join in.
Drifters – The symbol crashes on the off beat excite me in this song. Just one of those things. This song canters along with room for a breather at the end of each verse.
This whole album encapsulates a teenage yearning for power and respect. You can feel the angst in the writing and the production. It still excites me after over thirty years of listening. I bloody love it.
“Sanctuary” isn’t on this album and so probably wont’ get mentioned until “Live After Death”. That’s an “L” album and so won’t be too far away. As a clue I’ll let you know that “Live” is simply the best Maiden album.
I’ll keep posting album reviews here while I suffer from such anxiety and anger about the current state of politics in this country and the world. The entire Brexit bullshit needs to be mostly ignored else I’ll get too worked up and angry about it all. An electorate who were lied to with illegal spending and Russian money voted to leave an organisation it knew mostly nothing about because of a systematic campaign over thirty years by right wing newspapers to remove cooperation and friendliness between countries. If you aren’t sure about that last bit then have a look at this website. It’s a list of all the lying claims by the UK press.
Now it’s time to be happy about reviewing this album. This album starts a small series of “Kill” albums that are bloody amazing and ground-breaking. Kill ‘Em All is the fist studio album by a tiny band called Metallica and while they are shit now this collection of songs is bloody amazing. The sheer raw power and energy in the songs is more than in anything else they have produced. It is probably something to do with Dave Mustaine having helped write a lot of it. Once you get to the Black Album it’s all gone wrong. I’ll review that one in about a year I guess.
I was asked recently what is the last decent Metallica song. I took some time and went with “Harvester Of Sorrow”. The question asker plumped for “Shortest Straw”. Fair play. Blackened is also a choice for that but the rest of “Justice” aren’t that good.
Back to “Metal Up Your Ass”. This album, in my view, helped create thrash metal as a genre and introduced chugging as a “note” to be used below lyrics rather than the swinging bouncy guitars used by Iron Maiden.
Hit The Lights – starts with a crash ending of a song and I’ve always loved that. It’s hard and busy.
The Four Horsemen – smashes you in the face with it’s blistering pace and makes you want to rush into the pit.
Jump In The Fire – would be great to sing out loud. It’s got a good moshing pace and plenty of Hetfield trademark “yah!”.
Pulling Teeth – blows my mind. The noise and cacophony that Burton pulls from the basss guitar makes me smile and wonder at the talent. When Ulrich enters the drums create a rhythm perfectly matched that gives a good swing to this bass solo.
Whiplash – I can remember playing this at top volume in school. We were in the sixth form and there was a music box in the common room, which was opposite the staff room. We would open the windows, put Whiplash on full volume and leave the common room leaving the music playing as loud and obnoxiously as possible to the staff trying to enjoy their break time away from those pesky kids. Fast, heavy and a standard song in thrash. Seeing Newstead play this at Download in 2013 was brilliant.
No Remorse – chugs away with a canter. Brilliant. No regrets.
Seek and Destroy – I don’t think you can get better on this album than this song. It’s my favourite and I love it. I once saw Metallica at Milton Keynes bowl and I think the concert was broadcast live on Radio 1. I got a friend to record it from the radio for me and the version they played there crunched away in my head for years. Brilliant.
Metal Militia -we all are aren’t we? Why don’t normal people “get” this music? Why is it that when you play metal to someone who doesn’t understand you can hear their brains pop? You can see the disconnect in their minds as they struggle with the noise. I’ve tried to persuade people to metal over the years and now I don’t bother. I’ve tried playing aggrotech to people but they don’t get that either. It’s all fine by me. Being at a music festival with eighty thousand people all enjoying the same music gives a kinship.
I do think that this album was another of my early buys on CD in the days when CDs were the latest technology. I don’t recall where I bought the album but it released in 1994 so that puts me at college. I don’t know a great deal about this band, I do know that when I got another of their albums I was slightly disappointed with it.
This album has some excellent riffs and can only be described as having “wavy” guitars. I used to have quite a bit of resistance to that term but over time I have decided it does represent a style of riffage.
I’m not sure I know any of the songs by title but I do know that I quite often hum the main riff from End Of The Green. It starts with a rolling riff that then hits hard when the rest of the band enter. The vocals are quite haunting also.
Dry Riser hits home as well. A good riff with a sudden pace change towards the end.
Dead Anyway crunches the squawker with its guitar work.
After that the songs fade from my riff-memory-centre. I’d definitely recommend giving the first few songs a blast over Spotify – whoops – just checked and this album isn’t on Spotify.
This album carries on the story from where Helloween left off. I don’t know what the story is though. Lyrics kinda aren’t my thing. I don’t think this is as good as Part One but it does contain more humour within the writing. I wrote about the speed-opera metal in the last communication. This album is just as epic.
Rise and Fall, Dr Stein, and I Want Out are my highlights from this album.
The titular track is over thirteen minutes long. I reckon if I had to go through that live I would fall asleep!
Gosh. I can’t remember when I got this album but it was probably in the late 80s. This was my introduction to German speed metal with an epic operatic over-arching theme. It was utterly different to anything else I had listened to. It has such a story telling power with blistering guitars and drums all the way through along with excellently written and arranged songs giving such a sense of completeness once the album is finished. I really like it.
Highlights from this album include “I’m Alive”, “A Little Time”, “Haloween” and the most excellent “Future World”.
I want to say that this album is listenable by all. But I expect I’m wrong on that. When I haven’t listened to metal for a while I get all misty-eyed and think that almost all songs are excellent and everyone would appreciate it. That feeling when you play some metal to your family after they’ve been listening to Heart FM and you promise they’ll love it but as soon as the first bar ends you know you’ve made a massive mistake. They don’t get it. They look at you ever more weirdly. Oops.
I really liked “Slippery When Wet” it started my descent into metal. “New Jersey” rocked as far as I was concerned. It has a good collection of excellent songs.
Keep The Faith stutters it’s way through the genre and marked a turn in sound for the Jovi in my opinion. I don’t know what the sales figures are, I’ll come back in a moment, but this album pretty much left me cold. I didn’t like the indie-U2 feel of the song “Keep The Faith”. There’s a tranche of ballads which I guess the Jovi do very well. But it all just leaves me meh.
It sold 12 million compared to 18 million for New Jersey.
If you Google Katmandu band you get a list of results that aren’t anything to do with this band. Many years ago in the days of music cassettes and long playing records I use to browse the music sections in the Our Price shop close to Harlow bus station. I was earning money in a job on my “year off” before university. I don’t really count that year as a “year off” but technically it was. I’m not sure if I’ve explained that within these communications.
I’d always be looking for new bands and music to listen to. I’d always browse the section called Rock/Metal but even then you can’t really be sure what type of music you are going to get. So I would often base my purchases on the cover or what I had heard about that band. Another album bought in these circumstances would be Blue Murder by Blue Murder.
With my pennies in hand I went and bought following music cassette to then listen on my “walkman”.
http://melodic-hardrock.com/katmandu-katmandu-1991/
What do I think about this album? I love it. It’s a rare case of an album I bought without previous knowledge but I found myself really enjoying to vocals and guitar work. Is this “metal”? Nope. Not by a long way. I reckon it’s an album that closes off the excesses of 80s hair rock.
I do like bands with a decent plodding bass sound and this band manage that very well. There’s a certain slimy/creepy quality to the sound. The guitars are heavy and well produced. The songs are perfectly structured.
I remember liking God Part II and then I found out it was a cover version of a U2 song and I felt bad as I’d always slammed U2. I still don’t like U2 but am willing to appreciate their contribution to music, just.
The Way You Make Me Feel – the album opener and it’s a lovely heavy track with excellent mix of steady riffs and start-stop types of stuff. You’ll know what I mean if you listen to it.
Love Hurts – Oh yeah, it does. Also, in the chorus it has a lovely wacka-wacka guitar sound which is perfect.
Sometime Again – could make me cry on a bad day.
When The Rain Comes – A slower paced but still heavy track with vocals matching the guitars and a great middle section with rolling drums and steady-beat-bass.
Heart & Soul – A summer song for playing American Football on the beach, drinking beer and watching the sun set.
Ready For The Common Man – opens with a WTF moment with vocals suggesting the “sometimes I feel like a motherless child” and I have no idea what this is about. Then it smashes into awesome 80s riffing and halfway there are gang vocals. It’s a great mix of everything. This YouTube version misses the vocals at the beginning and so I think some of the effect is lost. Ah. I’ve just googled “motherless child” and now I’m not sure about this song. Is it cultural appropriation or a valid part of this album. Quick, turn that part of my brain off.
Only The Good Die Young – this we know. I’m pretty sure there’s a Maiden song called this too. This is well worth it. A lovely chorus and it would have been great to sing along to this live.
Let The Heartache Begin – opens quietly and then blasts you with a wall of classic ballad heavy rockin’.
Medicine Man – Whatever happened to the Medicine Man?
Pull Together – opening with a bass line and then heading to a wavy-riff of lovely erk sounding guitars.
Warzone – fast and war like. The vocals are perfectly matched to the subject matter here. Would be a good song to be in the pit while playing live. It’s the perfect pace and then the crowd would stop and scream out the chorus together. It’d be great. I do love a decent bass-drum bit with the guitars shutting up.
Look. This album was a lucky find. The songs still play through my head nearly thirty years after buying it. That’s the sign of a good mix of writing and production.
The band split up after this, their only, album.
I spent a lovely amount of time with Smith at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on Sunday. The event was the Black Celebration music festival of all types of dark music. Of most interest was the band Suicide Commando. The event was promoted by the Flag Promotions company who run so very many of the gigs and concerts I go to. Obviously my music tastes are aligned with some of theirs.
Here are my reviews of each band in order of viewing. As is my usual behaviour I write notes on my phone during or after each act to help me remember what I’ve seen. That is why the comments may be pithy or short.
Machine Rox – were first up. We arrived towards the end of their set as Smith and I were having make-up issues. But they were ok. My notes indicate the following: female singer, there was a guitarist but I couldn’t hear him.
Machine RoxI liked the dancers who came on for the last song wearing outfits similar to the lead singer. It was a nice touch.
Next up were DKAG who are quickly becoming my most-seen band. They are supporting many bands over the next year. While the music is good there are no vocals and so unless I am wasted on alcohol I’m not that interested. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but I like crowd interaction from the band, I want to know that they are enjoying it. Two guys with their keyboards doesn’t quite hit the mark.
There was now a short dinner break for me. The local cafe was very welcoming and the food was nice. Recommended. It was Mem’s Cafe on Kentish Town Road.
The return to the Forum meant the last few songs from Sulpher. This band sounded good and heavy with a decent industrial feel.
SulpherMy notes are: guitars and heavy stuff. A little bit of samples mixed in. We saw about 4 songs and it was alright.
Let me explain the “alright” comment. This means I enjoyed it more than a lot of others. While “alright” might not seem a glowing review it means that the music was OK, suitable etc. [I’m trying to renormalise the term AVERAGE and OK to mean what they really mean].
Empathy Test came up next. I have seen this band before although I couldn’t remember exactly where or when. Smith and I had a discussion about who the lead singer was. Once they were on stage I figured out that they had played Infest last year and I saw them there. Here’s what I noted at the time: only 20 seconds in and I was done. Remember them from Infest. Boring vocals and drone-like. Slow. Female drummer who looks like she’s concentrating too much. Well constructed songs but boring.
Suicide Commando rocked the venue. I don’t mind the graphic visuals of people with holes in their bodies where holes shouldn’t be. This band was really good. A real uplift from the previous band.
Suicide CommandoI still maintain that a live drummer rather than a machine or dead person makes such a difference to a gig. I really enjoyed Mr Commando!
My notes say only the following:
heavy, fast and dirty. Great.
More Suicide CommandoAnd then we get to Mesh. This might be the third time I’ve seen Mesh and they seem almost bored to be on stage. There’s not a lot of interaction. My only notes were:
Kinda boring
The Young Gods came on stage next. I knew nothing about them but I could see three white lights thinly blazing over the positions of the band on stage and I liked that set up. It worked really well. The first song was very Pink Floyd with a slow build up to not-a-lot and then a slow wind down. It felt like the crowd didn’t really know when the song finished. But, this band were older and clearly excellent musicians with that easy style of people who have worked together for so long.
The Young GodsMy scrawled notes say:
Interesting but not really my stuff. turning into experimental upbeat music. Still quite psychedelic. Good beat to some songs. Enjoyable.
Finally we had DAF. A band I had seen at M’era Luna and a band that didn’t impress hugely. I get it that without DAF and other older bands that my style of preferred music wouldn’t exist but I’m also allowed to find their stuff a little boring. I think I would be the same with Nitzer Ebb and other bands from the 80s and 90s. Smith and I stayed for a while but in reality we both had work the next day and long-ish journeys home. Maybe I’ll see a complete Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft set one day.
