Summers always recall those dope-hazy days of high school when three months of freedom seemed to stretch out like a John Bonham drum-solo. During the summer our music of choice usually wasn’t the heavier stuff – well, maybe a little “Master of Puppets” or “Number of the Beast”. But even the mighty Slayer generally took a back seat in the summer to something with more of an AC/DC beat. You know – something with that back beat, you can’t blues it? You know what I’m saying? I’m talking about when “Heavy Metal” was still synonymous with “Rock and Roll”. Remember when you could tell someone that you were into the new Scorpions or Van Halen album without fear of derision? Yeah, well…those days are kinda gone, but I remember them, dammit. I may have gone around school for nine months with pentagrams and upside-down crosses scratched across the surface of every book, Pee-Chee© and sleeveless denim jacket I owned – loudly and proudly screaming out lyrics such as “The ghosts of sin/Torment the priests/Their altar will soon be destroyed/Heaven’s palace turning black/The church now belongs to the dead” (©1984 Slayer) as if I were some satanic tourette’s victim, but come summer it was out with the Motley Crue and Twisted Sister. That’s right – from June through August blasting out of Dan’s diesel-powered Chevette’s stock speakers would more than likely be “Blackout” or “Women and Children First” or at least some Ozzy—“The Ultimate Sin” was big in the summer of ‘86. Somehow, driving down Pacific Avenue in Tacoma with the windows rolled down and the rock ‘n’ roll noise pollution of “Shout At The Devil” blaring out for everyone else’s annoyance just made sense in the summertime.

Of course, come autumn and the bleaker months, the dark stuff would always creep back in…

But glorious summer was made for rockin’ out, dude. So time to pony up two bucks for the keg and gimme a ride outside of town—I know a guy who’s got some good homegrown for sale. There’s gonna be a party at the Sandpits tonight and everyone’s invited. Bring along your favorite SUMMER METAL and don’t forget to vote on the poll!

The Accüsed - “Martha Splatterhead’s Maddest Stories Ever Told”

From the ashes of the Seattle hardcore band, The Fartz, rose this monster - Tommy Neimeyer and Blaine Cook’s mutant bastard, The Accused. Their first album was a raw and still very punk offering that nevertheless showed their new Metal leanings, even down to the photo on the back of the record of the drummer wearing an EXODUS t-shirt. By this, their third album, the band was fully ensconced in the Heavy Metal realm and purveying an original form of thrash they dubbed “Splatter Rock”. Blaine’s “I’m puking up my Schmidt and Dick’s cheeseburger” vocals are spewed nicely across playful thrash lines and breakdowns before breakdowns were cool and then not cool and then cool again. Legend has it that Tommy locked himself in the basement and listened to Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” over and over to teach himself how to better wield his axe. Standout tracks include “Starved To Death” a nice cannibalism hymn and tribute to eatin’ yer buddies, “Scared of the Dark” complete with Vincent Price sample from the film The Tingler, and lots of fun covers such as the Angry Samoan’s “Light’s Out”, Ten Years After’s “I’d Love to Change the World” and the title track, “The Maddest Story Ever Told”, the theme from the movie Spider Baby (or The Maddest Story Ever Told) from 1965. Also contains special guest appearances from Kurdt Vanderhoof of Metal Church and Sir Mix-a-Lot!

Voivod - “RRROOOAAARRR!!!”

Voivod’s second album is thrash that’s been run through a grinder, exploded to smithereens by nuclear warheads and then raked into piles of radioactive ash and possibly smoked by the band. Motorhead meets Venom meets B-Horror/Sci-fi movies. Vocalist/lyricist, Snake, screams and howls his way through this sludge while the rest of the band, Blacky, Piggy and Away churn away with gut-wrenching emotion. Yes, I believe their early albums are a back-handed tribute to Jonquiere, Canada. Build Your Weapons!!!

Overkill - “Feel the Fire”

I first saw Overkill as the opening act for Slayer on Halloween night, 1986. The only Overkill songs I knew came from this album - “Rotten to the Core” and “Hammerhead”. I really liked both songs. During the band’s set, the audience relentlessly flipped them the bird, which the band returned in full. I thought it strange that although everybody was flipping them off, they were still cheering for them as well. Later I learned that the band consider “the bird” an unofficial salute, so I guess all was well. This is the classic Overkill line-up, with vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth , guitarist Bobby Gustafson, bassist D.D. Verni and drummer Rat Skates, who has one of the greatest “rock names” ever. Rat has recently resurfaced with the documentary, Born In The Basement, which chronicles Overkill and other early progenitors of thrash. Oh, and the rest of this album is pretty good, too.

Slayer - “Hell Awaits”

Slayer’s unjustifiably forgotten album, “Hell Awaits” shows the band at probably their most progressive and experimental. A musical leap forward from their debut, “Show No Mercy”, this sophmore effort established Slayer as THE preeminent thrash band. Lyrically, their preoccupation with Satan, necrophilia, vampires and Satan is given nary a rest. Musically it’s a relentless speed-fest of riffs that take some surprising and unexpected turns. Their next album, “Reign In Blood”, cemented Slayer’s status as DARK GODS OF THRASH and showed the band getting even speedier, while quelling their progressive leanings. It’s too bad that they never quite revisited “Hell Awaits” territory again, though. Track 3, “At Dawn They Sleep” is a classic. So is the never-ending into to the title track.

The biggest Metal news in the last fifteen years has got to be the much-anticipated/feared release of Metallica’s upcoming album, “Death Magnetic”.  Today, the first taste of Death has been made available with the single, “The Day That Never Comes”.   You can check it out here.

Now, it’s going to take a lot to erase the painful memories of the Metallica of 1991-2007. The “Load”, “Reload” and “St. Anger” era, which saw the band gain huge worldwide commercial success, also alienated and confused many longtime fans, like myself. The fact that they cut their hair and started wearing eyeliner and getting tattoos didn’t hurt as much as the fact that their records had just become bloated, boring, mid-tempo alternative rock with a country flavor. Plus, it took them an entire decade to produce such crappy music! The much-heralded “return to form” of the sloppy, badly-produced and utterly ridiculous “St. Anger” was the final nail in the coffin for most of us.

Luckily, it was also the final nail in Bob Rock’s coffin - the castrating, dumb-it-down producer of everything the band has done since their megamonster “Black Album” that turned them into superstars. Face it - the guy took all the guts out of a once-mighty engine of destruction. He turned the ferocious beast that was HETFIELD into the crooning, mewling pussy-pants that was yodeling dreck like:
“Hmmm, now, see the black cloud up ahead
that’s me
And this poison ivy chokes the tree
Again it’s me
And I’m the filthy one on Bourbon Street
You walk on by
I’m the little boy that pushes, pushes
Makes him cry”

Uggh! This is from the man who once proudly growled “Bang your head against the stage like you never did before/Make it ring/Make it bleed/Make it really sore…”

As documented in the true-life horror film, Some Kind of Monster, the Metallica train had clearly left the tracks by the end of the nineties. Heart and Soul of the group, Jason Newsted, finally had enough of Jaymz and Larz’ bullshit and left the band, after stoically suffering their slings and arrows all because he just happened to not be dearly departed original-bassist, Cliff Burton. Subsequently, the rest of the band brought in their own Dr. Phil to creepy-crawl his way into the tightly-locked attics of the boy’s mind’s. The resulting stew of hodgepodge nu-metal/alternative crap that was “St. Anger” seemed to be the end. For whom does the bell toll, Metallica? It tolls for thee.

Or does it?

As I sit here, listening to “The Day That Never Comes” for the eighth or ninth time, I’m experiencing a strange sensation. One I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

I think I…yes…yes, I am…I’m enjoying a new Metallica song.

Is it the hoped-for return to their roots - the missing link between the classic “Master of Puppets” and their most progressive album, “…And Justice For All”, that everyone has been claiming? Well, no…not really. But it is the best thing they’ve put out since the “Black Album” (not counting the double-album of covers, “Garage Days Re-Revisited”, which had a lot of good shit on it, including the most METAL song they released in the nineties, a medly of Mercyful Fate tunes called simply “Mercyful Fate”).

The song clocks in at over eight minutes, which shows promise. It starts off in “Fade to Black”/”Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” style, with a clean, crisply-picked melody over which Hetfield’s vocals sound properly pissed-off and mournful, before launching into a heavy riff with crunchier guitars than anything found on their last three records. But then, after an agressive chorus, the song really takes off, heading gleefully into thrashier territory. At this point, something that was missing entirely from “St. Anger” kicks in - guitarist Kirk Hammett’s solo! And rumbling nicely throughout is the “new guy”, Rob Trujillo’s amazing bass-playing. If they had to lose Newsted at least they had the sense to hire a really, really good replacement. Rob adds an energy and vitality to a band that, frankly, has just sounded tired for many years now.

And speaking of new guys…when the band finally got their spine back and tossed Bob Rock out on his Bon Jovi-producing ass the Metal World rejoiced at their choice of producer for “Death Magnetic” - none other than the legendary Rick Rubin. Why would that make such a huge difference? Well, did Bob Rock produce Slayer’s magnum opus, “Reign in Blood”. No. Did Rick Rubin? Yes. ‘Nuff said.

So, is Metallica back in true form? Well, the full album will be released on September 12th and I’ll be interested to hear the whole thing. But if recent events are any indication, such as Metallica’s headlining stint at this year’s Ozzfest, including a live rendition of the Mercyful Fate medly as sung by former Mercyful Fate frontman himself, King Diamond, in full satanic corpse-paint…then I’d say that it might just be time to dust off your leather and your spikes.

Be sure, we here at Clods will keep you posted.

Just ask Gaahl of Gorgoroth, Satan is the wind beneath the wings of many Metal bands.

According to a recent interview, Gaahl also has a thing for Norwegian modeling agents, but thats another story.

Here is Gaahl explaining his inspiration in Metal A Headbanger’s Journey.

Thats right, a long dramatic pause and then answering ‘Satan’ makes for a good interview answer. I don’t care what they ask you.

Remember kids, while Gaahl might take you to court over a band name or be designing your clothing, he doesn’t have any exclusive rights to Satan.

Winnie the Poo does.

From RichManofAction, I give you Heavy Metal 101- How to Finger Tap

Packed with insight seldom found on Youtube, RichManofAction makes no excuses of why to learn such a revered Heavy Metal Art as Finger Tapping

Watch and learn

…we do hope that KARMA visits some heavy bad shit on these assholes:

According to The Detroit Free Press IGGY AND THE STOOGES’ equipment was stolen on Monday, August 4 outside the Embassy Suites Hotel (2008 Saint Antoine Ouest) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The equipment’s dollar value is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, said Eric Fischer, the band’s road manager. But he described some items as priceless — including the vintage Gibson bass that had been Mike Watts’ go-to instrument since his MINUTEMEN days in the 1980s.

“That bass would go in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame someday if we could find it,” said Fischer. “We’re all just gutted.”

The yellow, 15-foot Penske truck was discovered missing by Fischer about 7:30 yesterday morning. It had been parked on the street directly in front of the Embassy Suites hotel in Montreal, where Iggy Pop and his band mates had lodged after their Sunday night concert — their first Canadian show in more than three decades. Inside was everything from Scott Asheton’s drum kit to Ron Asheton’s guitars and amps.

List of stolen goods:

Red roadcase containing:
Red Gibson 1963 EB-3 bass (this is mike watt’s bass!) USA No serial number

Black roadcase containing:r
Reverend Flying V guitar - Volcano black USA #08001

Black roadcase containing:
Reverend Orange guitar USA 03416 ZSL7

Black fibre case containg:
Gibson red SG short scale bass USA No serial number

Black roadcase containing:
Marshall Vintage/Modern Amplifier UK M-2007-07-0926-2 RoHS

Black roadcase containing:
Marshall Vintage/Modern Amplifier UK M-2007-07-0927-2 RoHS

4x Marshall 4×12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #1 Slant: M-2007-05-0149-0

4x Marshall 4×12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #2 Straight: M-2006-49-0380-0

4x Marshall 4×12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #3 Slant: M-2007-05-0150-0

4x Marshall 4×12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #4 Straight: M-2006-49-0381-0

Orange Calzone road case containing:
Guitar pedal board and pedals USA/Japan No serial number
Assorted leads USA/UK No serial number
2x mic stands Germany No serial number
Assorted strings and spares USA No serial number
plus:
2x Boss TU2 Chromatic Tuner
Boss CH1 Super Chorus
Fulltone OCD Overdrive
Crybaby Wah
Peterson Strobo-Stomp Tuner Pedal
Whirlwind A/B Boxes
Whirlwind Cable Tester
and many many istrument cables
various tools ( screwdrivers, soldering iron, pliers, etc… )
tambourine and maracas

Cardboard box containing:
Assorted replacement drum heads USA No serial number

Gretsch Silver Sparkle Catalina drum kit USA No serial number
26″ Kick Drum No serial number
13″ Rack Tom No serial number
18″ Floor Tom No serial number
4x Cymbal Stands No serial number
1x Snare Stand No serial number
1x Hi Hat Stand No serial number
1x Drum Throne No serial number

Eden D810 Bass cabinet USA D810RP4 0703E5001

Eden D810 Bass cabinet USA D810RP4 0703E5002

Cardboard box containg:
Eden VT300 Bass amplifier USA 0601E5115

Cardboard box containg:
Eden VT300 Bass amplifier USA 0507E5033

Floor Fan CHINA No serial number

Floor Fan CHINA No serial number

Green clamshell suitcase containing:
Yamaha snare drum JAPAN No serial number
Yahama kick pedal JAPAN No serial number
Zildjian Mega Bell cymbal USA No serial number
Zildjian 15″ Hi-Hats USA No serial number
3x Zildjian 18″ 19″ 20″ crash medium cymbals USA No serial number

Brown Epiphone guitar case:
Black Epiphone EB3 short scale bass KOREA F300503

1 x Wheeled Black Pelican case (50cm x 28cm x 20cm) containing :
A selection of microphones and microphone accessories, most of which are in separately labeled black pouches. All of the microphones are of Shure manufacture, also a BSS DI box. Inside the Pelican case there is also a Ferrari pencil case containing an iPod, iPod accessories, various small cables and adaptors, a Leatherman Charge, a Stooges AAA tour laminate, some pain killers, some sharpies, some electrical tape, some business cards (Mr Rik Hart). Within the case there is also a big pair of Sony headphones (model MDR7506) with a long curly cable and three very long XLR to XLR mic cables. Here’s a more specific list of the microphones :
2 x SM91
5 x SM98
2 x B98
2 x SM81
2 x KSM32
1 x KSM27
2 x B52
3 x SM57
8 x SM58
1 x BSS AR-133 DI Box
(all manufactured by shure)

If anyone has ANY information, please contact:
Eric Fischer at:
nycentral13@gmail.com
cell phone: +1 646 932 1907

all equipment was in a rented penske 15 foot yellow truck
with u.s. (michigan) license plate number AC46493
parked immediately outside the embassy suites hotel
in montreal. the theft had to have happened in the morning, between 6:30 and 7:30 am - truck and all gear stolen

‘ >
Iggy and The Stooges - I Wanna be Your Dog

James Hetfield is 45 today so I’ll give him a break and not say anything derogatory about Metallica. In fact, I’ll even wish them luck with their upcoming album:

Have a Hella Birthday, Hetfield!

Thats right. Next time you are in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stop by the KISS Coffeehouse.

What? You’ll be down at Broadway at the Beach, 1320 Celebrity Circle #CS7 on September 6th?

Well hot damn, you can see KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer (fake Ace).

So go grab yourself a Demon Dark Roast or a Iced Rockiato (I’m sure those are trademarked) and enjoy rocking Kiss Coffee Party with contests, live music and Tommy Thayer (not Ace).