..:: Written .:. Off ::..

The first time I heard of the german thrash band Sodom, was in some American metal magazine. They referred to Sodom as the most disgusting metal band in existence in their review of Sodom’s live album “Mortal Way Of Live”. With a review like that, I had to go out and buy one of their albums. I did what any self-respecting metal head would do and hunted down a copy of this album. If you know your metal history, you will remember that the cartoon orgy that made up the original cover was banned. I listened to this album several times and liked it. Sodom never became one of my favorite bands, but I still respected what they did and how extreme they were for the time.

Sodom kind of fell of the face of the United States after the release of the excellent Agent Orange. I don’t know if they just didn’t get good distribution or record company backing, but I can’t remember hearing much about this band until the release of the equally excellent Code Red a few years ago. When I picked up this album, I did some research on Sodom and found out that they never stopped recording or releasing CDs.

I just picked up Sodom’s new DVD Lord’s of Depravity Part 1. This double DVD contains a mammoth 3 hour documentary about the band and a shit load of live performances. The documentary was very well done. Even if you are not a huge Sodom fan, you will most likely still enjoy it if you are into the thrash scene. You really get an appreciation of how hard it is to be in a band with a revolving door. It was also cool to see how big metal is in Europe. A band like Sodom would rarely be able to attain that sort of following in the US of A. My only complaint with this DVD is that the subtitles were off sometimes. They should have gotten someone to proofread the subs.

Overall, I give this DVD a 5 out of 5.

and remember…THE SAW IS THE LAW!

There has been a lot of talk of reunions lately. The prospect of your favorite band reuniting with whatever their classic line-up may be is usually very a appealing. Many fans have never seen the so-called classic line-ups of a particular band which makes these reunions even more successful.

The problem with most reunions is the payoff. Most times, these reunions end up being pale imitations of a bands former glory. Some bands will reunite without a new album and just tour relentlessly on old material. Sometimes this works better for a band who realize that they can no longer write material equal to their old material.

Some bands will brave a new album. Most of these CDs are usually disappointment since fan expectation is usually high.

Lets take a look at a few recent reunions and evaluate them. Please feel free to comment on the reunions listed or add your own.

Rating Scale: 1(Bad) to 5 (Great). Bands will be rated on CD (if applicable) and live show.

Judas Priest: One of the most highly anticipated reunions in metal next to the Iron Maiden reunion a few years back. I thought that the CD was a disappointment while reports of the live show have been stellar.
CD: 2.5
Live: 5

Candlemass: I still maintain that the Candlemass reunion is probably one of the best in recent years. The new CD is fantastic and the live shows have been brilliant.
CD: 5
Live: 5

Iron Maiden: When Iron Maiden reunited with Bruce Dickenson, expectations were high. Maiden had been releasing sub-par albums for the better part of the 90s while Bruce’s solo project was on the upswing. The reunion CD, Brave New World, in my opinion was good but still did not reach the heights of early Maiden or even Bruce’s solo work. Not that I don’t like Brave New World, but it was hardly the fiery release that should have been unleashed by the classic line up. The funny thing about this reunion is that Maiden, as a live entity, are better than they have ever been. Maiden kill live. Just ask Sharon Osborne.

CD: 3.5
Live: 5

Anthrax: Oh Anthrax, just as I was starting to love this band again, they go and boot the excellent John Bush out of their band to embark on a nostalgia tour. What bothers me about this reunion was the years of Joey bashing that went on prior to the reformation. I always admired their dedication to John Bush and was shocked when the booted him out in favor of Joey. Ian tried to smooth it over, but Bush’s silence on the matter was even more disturbing. Anyway, I have not seen the new Anthrax live but I did watch their DVD Alive 2. I personally thought it was dreadful. The band was tight but Joey seemed to be struggling to keep up with the band. I understand that they are much better now that they have been touring for awhile but why release a crappy live album when you can get a few shows under your belt and release something quality? The whole thing reeks of a cash in. I understand that Anthrax will be releasing a new CD with Joey which Scott Ian promises will be, “our heaviest album yet.”

CD: 1 (Live CD) Studio CD Pending.
Live: 2.5

Nuclear Assault: Nuclear assault were one of my favorite thrash bands back in the 80s. They had were a cool mix of mosh-friendly thrash and topical lyrics with a dash of humor thrown in. When I heard that the band was reuniting, I was really excited. I assumed that they would take no prisoners and release a massive thrash CD and show all of the these new comers how to do it. The result of the reunion was the barely noticed release of Third World Genocide. The CD barely made a blip on most metal heads radars due to a lack of publicity and advertising. I have listened to this CD a few times and am sad to report that it’s a disappointment. The production is so thin that the songs lack any punch. There has not been much talk about this band since the CDs release. I wonder if they are still together.

CD: 2

Two reunions that I’m really interested in are Celtic Frost and Morbid Angel. I have listened to the new Celtic Frost CD a few times and it is very promising. Since I am without my iPod, I have not given in it the attention that it deserves. As far as Morbid Angel are concerned, reports are that they are tearing the roof off of every venue that they are playing. I can’t wait to check them out the next time they come to Philly.

Here is a list of new music that I have to listen to:

Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Cannibal Corpse - Kill
Dragon Force - Inhuman Condition
Sodom - S/T
Venom - Metal Black
Dio - Holy Diver Live
Sepultura - Dante XXI

So what does my iPod decide to do? It died on me. It’s currently sitting up in Apple’s offices on the operating table. It started acting a bit odd early last week. After reloading the thing over 3 times, I sent it off to Apple.

If you have an iPod, I can not stress how important it is to drop the $50 extra dollars for the Apple Care support. I have had to leverage this support twice in the last three months. I take very good care of my iPod, but the thing is just way too delicate.

I spent most of this weekend digging.

Digging, digging, digging.

I’m digging a big hole in my back yard. The hole will eventually be lined with rubber, covered in rocks, filled with water, adorned with plants and lived in by fishies.

Right now…it’s a big ugly hole.

One day after digging my hole for two hours, I sat down and read the first five chapters of the new book that I’m writing. It’s not half bad but it needs lots of work. I am thinking of posting a chapter up here to see what you think.

I wanted to combine my blogs this weekend but I was too tired from digging.

I did get to see some animals at the zoo. I tried to hide Jenna’s eyes when these three ducks were trying to do the nasty to this one poor duck. This woman next to me felt obligated to yell to her friend, “They’re pulling a train,” over and over.

Welcome to the Philadelphia Zoo.

I was lucky enough to get a promo copy of the new Celtic Frost CD, Monotheist. While I have only listened to it once, I am almost taken aback by how dark and bleak this CD is. The album sounds like a mix of all era’s of Frost (minus Cold Lake) but also very modern. This is not a retread of past glories.

What strikes me the most about what I have heard so far is the oppressive atmosphere. Gabriel was not kidding when he said how dark and heavy this album is.

It would be unfair to do a full review at this time since the songs are so dense that further spins would be necessary to give a fair assesment. With that said, I have to say that I’m really impressed so far…and crushed by this dark epic.

Ooooo! Heyyyyyyyy!

I’ve been busy this week editing. I managed to get through a few more chapters. I think that I have around 15 chapters left and then I will be finished. The next step will be to get it into an editors hands.

It will be interesting to get feedback from another person on my story. I think that I’m so close to the source material that I don’t really realize how non-traditional it is. I love traditional fantasy, but I just can’t write it. The first novel that I tried to write was chock full of stock elves and dwarves and dark lords but it just plain sucked. The book store shelves are full of traditional fantasy that is much better than anything that I could write. When I realized that my traditional fantasy was sort of weak, I set about writing the stories that I would want to read. Before I set into writing the novel, I wrote a few short stories based on an alternate version of earth. One drunken night while on vacation, I shot off one of my stories to a webzine that I really liked. The story was picked up the next day. After I wrote my second story, I shot it off to the same webzine and they picked it up. I figured that maybe someone over there liked me so I decided to send the same story to another Webzine, one that figured would be really hard to get into. I received an acceptance within 3 hours of sending the story off.

I am not telling you this to toot my own horn. I know that I’m not a great writer. I think that the reason my stories were getting accepted was because they are totally different than most stuff on the market. My fear is that this will hurt me when it comes to mass publication. Most publishers do not want to take a risk on a new fantasy author who is doing something different. Just pick up a few books in the fantasy section of the book store. Most of the back covers read exactly the same. “A Dark Force has risen, threatening the peaceful blah blah blah.” It all sounds the same to me. I guess only time will tell.

It’s Easter weekend and I’m taking a few days off. We are doing something different this year and taking our daughter to the Zoo on Easter (much to the horror of my mom). Easter is just another day to me so I don’t see what the big deal is in having a fun day outside, since it’s supposed to be 75 and sunny!

I am trying to get my new blog online. I hope to have it up by Monday.

Have a great weekend…okay, it’s not the weekend yet but it is for me!

It was an interesting weekend here in Phily, weather-wise. It rained most of Saturday and then cleared up into a beautiful day on Sunday. My wife and I went to our first play together. Wicked The Musical was playing. There were scores of people all ages, wearing Wicked T-shirts and sweatshirts gathered outside on the sidewalk smoking cigarettes and waiting anxiously to see this play based on the book Wicked.

We did not see Wicked.

We went to see a play at the theater next door, which was based on another woman; a child actually.

We were seeing Dora The Explorer’ Pirate Adventure Live.

You could easily figure out who was going to see which show. The Dora fans were easy to spot. Little girls wearing their “backpacks” and carrying their “maps” were everywhere. Then there were the tired parents, lugging strollers and diaper bags into the Merriam Theater.

Let me tell you, these theaters are not meant to put on kids shows. The bathrooms had no changing tables, the seats were cramped and there was no alcohol for sale. Now, I’m not the kind of person to drink at 11:00am but, believe me, as soon as the 30 year old guy in the Boots the Monkey costume rolled out onstage, you would be reaching for a drink too.

Our daughter, Jenna, loved it. To her, it was Shakespeare. The writer in me, was dissecting the play, thinking:

“Hey, that wasn’t in the book or the cartoon!”

And

“Wait a minute, the singing bridge is supposed to sing Row, Row Row, Your Boat not Old Macdonald!”

Even childrens plays are subject to directorial knife! At one point, a woman dressed up as “The Map” came out. She was really hamming it up. I leaned over to my wife and said, “If I was the director, I would pull her aside and tell her to stick to the script or you’re out.” My wife is a pro at both rolling her eyes and ignoring me when I say things like this.

We paid over $100 to see this play. Jenna loves Dora so we figured that we could spoil her a bit. The play totaled 55 minutes! It was that short! The worst part was when, a half hour into it, the curtain came down and the map informed us that “Dora and her friends would be back after the intermission!

An intermission at a kids show? After a half hour? What did Dora have to take a pee?

Every kid in the theater started crying when the curtain came down! You could hear each parent within earshot telling their child, “Dora will be back, honey!”

The intermission lasted 15 agonizing minutes. Remember, that the play would only be on for another 25 minutes. As soon as the lights went down and the curtain came up, the little girl sitting next to us starts crying that she wants to go home. Her dad picks her up and we have to move. I pick Jenna up, and she thinks that we are leaving so she starts crying. When the guy finally got his daughter out (leaving his pregnant wife in her seat), we finally settled back into our cramped seats. I never saw the guy again. Maybe he cut his losses and got a cab.

The show finally ended and we left the theater without much incident. We had to squeeze our way past all of the artsy hipsters who were waiting to see Wicked and acting a bit snobbish. Hello! You’re seeing a play about the Wicked Witch. It’s not Death of a Salesman!

Jenna passed out in the car and we went off to have a nice day playing outside. Last night Jenna woke up crying. We fixed her blankets and tucked her back into bed. The last thing she said was “Swiper!”. Was she dreaming that the sneaky fox was trying to swipe her blanket?

I didn’t write anything this weekend but I did think about it a lot. Does that count?

I find that I write and edit in spurts. Before this week, I wrote 5 chapters of my new fiction novel and editing around 5 chapters of the fantasy novel. This week, nothing. I find that the weekends kill me when it comes to writing. I think that it has something to do with the break in routine. During the week, I have time on the train and in work to write as much as I want. There are days when I spend at least 3 hours a day on writing. When I get close to Friday, I usually promise myself that I will work through the weekend, but I can never manage it. By the time Monday rolls around, I’m completely out of my writing routine. Some Mondays, I can jump right back in, but on others, like this week that has just passed, I just couldn’t get back into the routine.

Most books on writing tell you to keep a routine and I have found that this does work. I try to be consistent but life just intrudes way too much. I would like to hear about your writing habits. What do you do to keep focused and working? This question can pertain to any creative outlet that you have, either writing, blogging, music or whatever it is that you do.

My last post concerned concerts that I wish I would have been able to see. The next is a list of the best shows that I have actually seen:

1. Voivod/Soundgarden/Faith No More: This show was hands down the best concert that I have ever attended. The bill was so diverse and I was really into all of these bands at the time. Faith No More were touring as the opening act on The Real Thing album. Mike Patton climbed up the amp stack onto the balcony and dove off into the crowd. Soundgarden were next up. They were touring on Loud Love. The show was fantastic. They closed with a cover of Spinal Tap’s Big Bottom! The pulled some hippy chicks out of the crowd and had the dancing on stage during the song. Voivod were the headliner and were touring on Nothingface. They were mind blowing and in top form.

2. Iron Maiden/Dio/Motorhead: This was the closet to the stage that I ever was at an Iron Maiden concert. They were doing a best of tour in between Brave New World and Dance of Death. They played all of their hits. The opening songs were: The Trooper, Die with Your Boots On and Revelations in that order!

3. Fantomas: This band is an extreme music super group consisting of Mike Patton (Faith No More), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), King Buzzo (The Melvins) and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle). The show was friggin insane. Dave Lombardo really showed off his drumming talents. If you have ever heard any of Fantomas’ material, you will know how crazy this show was.

4. Godflesh/Uranium: Godflesh played this small club in Philly on the Songs of Love and Hate tour. I got to meet them before the show and they were really cool guys.

5. The Musical Box Performing The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: It may seem odd to see a cover band on this list, but let me tell you, If you love old Genesis like I do, you owe it to yourself to see this band. They do a replication of the old Genesis shows complete with the same raps that Gabriel used to do in between songs. They have licensed use of the old sets and costumes so the show is like walking into a time warp.

6. Fishbone/Primus: Another great show. Fishbone had more energy than most metal bands that I have ever seen. Primus was just plain weird, which is how I like them.

7. Clutch: I have seen Clutch on several occasions but the best was when they were doing “An Evening with Clutch”. The show was 2 hours of pure Clutch. The theater was packed with fans who sang every word.

Other shows of note:

Danzig/Soundgarden

Seputura/Voivod: We were going to leave after Voivod because we didn’t want to see Seputura without Max. We stayed to see one song and they were so good, we ended up staying for the whole show. Their new singer killed and they blew the doors off the Venue.

Helmet/Henry Rollins: Pure testosterone!

I like to make lists. I think that most music lovers do this; kind of like that guy in the movie High Fidelity. What is your Top Ten this or that. Here is one for you.

There are so many great bands out there that I’ve never seen live. Here is my list of bands that I have never seen live, that I would pay any amount of money to see:

1. Celtic Frost: This dream may come true if they play in Philly during their reunion tour.

2. Frank Zappa: Sadly, I have never seen Zappa live. He played 3 nights in Philly on what would be his final tour and I could not get anyone to go with me. I should have just went by myself.

3. Candlemass: Why, oh why, can’t these guys tour the states? They are one of my all time favorite doom bands and they are better than ever!

4. Genesis with Peter Gabriel: A reunion would be nice but I would have loved to see them in their hey day. I was 5 when the broke up so I probably wouldn’t even remember.

5. Carcass during the Necrotism era: I would have loved to see these guys on the Gods of Grind tour. That must have been awesome!

6. Pink Floyd performing the Wall: I have a shitty bootleg of this concert and it may well be the most amazing thing that I have ever seen.

7. AC/DC with Bon Scott: Brian is good but Bon Scott was the fucking man!

What about you? You can pick any band, living or dead, during any era.