Hollywood Metal Episode 23 (audio)

Friday May 30th 2008:  A show for the metal history books occurred today. Got to play 2 of my favorite bands from Finland, the next great melodic black metal band from Germany, a band with the absolute best band name in metal, a prog metal powerhouse and a n epic Norwegian viking metal band! Oh and did I mention that the infamous METAL SANAZ was on the show today?!!!  Yup, we’re one step closer to crushing all other music shows and world domination in the name of metal! Things got started a few minutes late due to brutal LA traffic. To buy some time I played an 8 minute epic masterpiece by DOOMSWORD. It’s ok… go ahead… you know you want to say DOOMSWORD! out loud in a death metal voice… it’s a perfectly normal reaction upon hearing the name of this band… Sometimes I find myself saying it to myself randomly thoughout the day… so metal! Anyway, the song was “Deathbringer” from their 2003 release Let Battle Commence. It features epic clean vocals, extremely catching, marching guitar riffs and an excellent melodic section starting at 5:17. A true masterpiece! When the song ended METAL SANAZ was in the studio with us.. time to rock!.. I first met her outside the Whiskey a few weeks ago and she said she had just moved to West Hollywood so we talked a living in Hollywood and being so close to the metal scene in LA. We also talked about her recent trip to Kuwait with Myspace to visit the troops overseas. It was an excellent story and a great thing that Myspace did for the soldiers, I bet that concert was crazy. The second song played was from my absolute favorite melodic death metal band INSOMNIUM. From Finland, these guys have a supreme sense of melody and pacing. The simple words in this account cannot possibly do this song the justice it deserves.. just listen to it at high volume and let the guitars own your soul… all internal pain will dissipate. Next we spoke about www.MetalSanaz.com and the various features that will be included on the site when it launches. It’s going to be a cool metal site with a lot of resources for bands and metalheads. Be sure to check that out when it launches in the next few weeks. The 3rd song was from my second favorite melodic death metal band KALMAH, also from Finland. The song is called “My Nation” and it alternates between soft melodic keyboard melodies and just the heaviest of heavy death metal! KALMAH rules they just released a new album too which is excellent, definitely check it out! After that we talked about the kinds of things that Sanaz looks for in a metal band. Obviously the music is the most important element but things like imagery and packaging are pivotal in getting your music in front of people who can appreciate the “music.” Since there is so much metal to choose from around the world I often will have to make a decision on which cd to get or which myspace band page to listen to based on things like band names, images and content themes. I’m sure I haven’t heard a ton of great metal music because the bands failed to catch my attention visually which is unfortunate but a definite fact. We also talked about how important it is for bands to put their best material first on the album. I can usually tell within the first minute or two of the opening song whether or not the whole album is going to rock and worth the end to end listen. With so many albums presented to me daily I can’t waste time hoping that a mediocre album will recover at the end of the cd and rock my face off. The next band played was DYRATHOR from Germany. I played these guys two weeks ago because they met the great metal requirements just mentioned… I’m really excited for a full length from these guys and definitely can’t wait to see them in concert someday. I choose a song that I couldn’t pronounce but I gave it my best shot… it’s called “Schicksalsschlacht” and it features great black/viking melodies with excellent violin accompaniment for a epic folk sound. Later, Sanaz and I talked a little bit about how metal Hollywood is, contrary to what many would believe based on the pop music of the day. This town is full of metalheads working hard towards the goal of getting to rock faces nightly in the name metal! I’ve been living here for less then a year but I can’t see myself leaving this metal haven anytime soon. We also talked a little bit about how to often metal heads express dislike for other metallers and bands. I can’t stand when I get drawn into negative conversations about metal. Save the angst for non-metal forms of music. If a band is out their rocking and doing their thing, it doesn’t have to be the best metal or even your favorite kind of metal to appreciate it. I’m not saying I like all the metal I hear but I’d never write something off based on pre-disposition. Nor would I waste my time to try to express dislike for a band for any reason. Close-mindedness is for non-metallers who make decisions before they have truly listened. I guess the point I’m trying to make here is be open to all metal and all forms of instrument driven music. It’s the ultimate thing you can do to promote metal because it’s the exact opposite mindset of non-metallers. Plus it shows people that we’ve considered everything and come to know that metal is the best form of music… metal musicians have to be highly skilled and technically sound, the best play metal. I wanted to show some range on the show today because I don’t want people to think that I’m locked into the forms that we play most often on Hollywood Metal (viking, black, folk, and melodic death). PAGAN’S MIND is one of my favorite progressive metal bands. “Entrance: Stargate” was the song we played and this is a hard band to forget once you’ve heard the vocals of Nils K. Rue. It’s really hard to write what you hear when listening to this band but even if prog metal isn’t your thing, and cosmic, overly fantastical, futuristic space themes don’t strike a chord with you, this band still rules and the musicianship is amazing. Following this inter-galactic gem we wrapped up the show with Sanaz talking about where you can find her on the net. I pressume that our shows audience is probably already fully aware but just in case, check her out, she’s doing great things to promote metal around the world. I closed the show with a viking metal band from Norway called GALAR. This band came out of nowhere with a great album in 2006. The song we played was “Ragnarok”, classic viking metal with and excellent main riff and good usage of folk instruments.