Delivering The Goods

Judas Priest – Single Cuts Box Set, The Chosen Few, Single Cuts

Metallians, no one can dispute that Judas Priest is the living embodiment of HEAVY METAL. They forged the template that legions of bands have followed – a charismatic front man with incredible vocal range; screaming twin lead guitars; thundering bass player; crushing drummer - with all members decked out in studs and leather. Priest has been gracing the grateful Metal world with pure steel all the way back to 1969. The band is as old, if not older, than the genre of Metal itself and has been releasing metal albums since their 1974 debut Rocka Rolla.

One would think that with a 40+ year history, the band would have a plethora of unreleased material including demos, b-sides and bonus tracks, but actually they have very little left over. Judas Priest is renowned for being very efficient in the studio; most tracks get used on the album. In fact, most of the band's unreleased material has its roots in the Turbo recording sessions when the initial plan was to release a double album entitled Twin Turbo. This was scrapped and most of the remaining tracks were re-worked for the follow-up album Ram It Down. The vaults were swept clean for the 2001 remasters, with the remaining unreleased tracks appearing as bonus cuts.

Contrast this situation with Iron Maiden, who have so many b-sides that they actually released a double disc set of b-sides, and even that wasn’t complete! Judas Priest is The Metal Blog Of Metal's favorite band, and most, if not all their rarities are in our vaults. The faithful are in luck because in 2011, the band has churned out 3 new releases -two are mostly worthless and one is a very cool collector’s piece.

When The Metal Blog Of Metal first heard that The Chosen Few was coming out, we assumed it was a collection of cover tunes by Metal luminaries such as Alice Cooper, James Hetfield, Lemmy, Accept and Ozzy. That would have been incredible! Who wouldn’t want to hear David Coverdale doing a version of “The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)?” Unfortunately, The Chosen Few is merely another greatest hits collection with each track chosen by one or more musicians. Yawn. The commentary is very brief and mostly uninteresting. Also, it’s absolutely unacceptable to have that shithead Jonathan Davis of Korn on any release involving the mighty Priest. He is a world-class douchebag who refused to appear on a magazine cover with Bruce Dickinson because he didn’t want to be associated with “old” Metal. He’s not even worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Bruce. So, in short, fuck you Jonathan Davis. The Chosen Few is as non-essential as a release can get.

Up next we have Single Cuts (The Complete Columbia UK A Sides) which is a single disc of exactly what it says – the UK A Sides. It’s really a sampler for the next release, and as a result it’s essentially another greatest hits collection. It does feature some cuts not normally seen on Priest collections such as “Evening Star,” “Take On The World,” and “(Take These) Chains,” but there’s really no reason to buy this disc, as it has nothing on it you haven’t heard before.

Unlike the other two releases, the Single Cuts Box Set is an excellent collection for the Judas Priest afficionado. It consists of 20 CDs which replicate every single that was released on CBS/Columbia in the United Kingdom. Each disc is a CD replica of the original vinyl single. The original A-side labels are reproduced on the CD itself, which are black and engraved with grooves to look like vinyl. Check out the photos above and you’ll see what they look like. All 20 discs are housed in a slip-top box, each one of which is numbered. The Metal Blog Of Metal has number 157, but the set does not mention how many have been produced and the promotional materials only say that the set is “limited.”

The B-sides are included as well and some of them are quite interesting. Of note is the B-side to “(Take These) Chains” which is the “Judas Priest Audio File (Biography).” This is a relic of the pre-internet age as it consists of about 8 minutes of audio clips from all the Priest albums up to that point, with a narrator introducing each track. It’s actually really cool to hear what the label selected as representative of the band’s catalog.

It’s also worth noting that there were no singles released at all for Ram It Down. The Metal Blog Of Metal remembers “Johnny B. Goode” being released as a video, but that was to coincide with the long forgotten movie - Johnny B Good. Compare this to Painkiller, from which three singles were issued, including the “Nightcrawler” single that came with a green rubber worm!

The set also includes a thick booklet with commentary by Geoff Barton, and a ton of photos and detailed liner notes for each single. The Metal Blog Of Metal's set also came with six Judas Priest magnets as a bit of compensation for the release date being pushed back three times. Unfortunately, we are sure most readers will be completely unaware of this box set's release, as there has been virtually zero promotion for it. It’s only available on Priest’s website for $99.

______________________________________________________

The Bottom Line: If you are a Judas Priest collector, you may want to pick up all three of these releases. Average Metal fans will have little reason to pick up The Chosen Few and Single Cuts. The limited edition Single Cuts Box Set, however, is a nice collector’s piece with slick presentation, and well worth picking up.

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.

Tales From The Crypt

Black Sabbath - Live In Paris 1970

Check out this live show in HD from Paris way back in 1970. In fact, this was filmed a scant two months after Paranoid was released. The quality is excellent and the band is one fire here. Watch this and witness the originators of Heavy Metal laying it down at the beginning of the genre.

Fat Beats

XL Rose

Welcome to the all you can eat buffet is more like it. Call Slash, Duff and Izzy and get back on the cocaine buddy. WTF is the yellow coat about - are you the Gorton's Fisherman?

Flying High Again

White Wizzard - Flying Tigers

Earache Records 2011

Bangers, one of the leaders of the NWOTHM is back with their second full length release and the question is did they succumb to the dreaded sophomore album slump or did they rise to the occasion. The Metal Blog of Metal is happy to report that White Wizzard’s new album Flying Tigers is even better than their superb first album Over The Top. The band has kept their core sound intact but has added some progressive elements to make one of the best albums of 2011.

Once again Jon Leon has written all the songs and plays all the guitars and bass on the album. Wyatt “Screaming Demon” Anderson is still on vocals and Giovanni Durst is back on drums. It should be noted that Anderson does not tour with the band and as a result, Mikey Gremio (formerly of Cellador) is the touring vocalist. I had the good fortune to see White Wizzard on tour this summer and Gremio does a great job with both the James Paul Luna tracks as well as the Wyatt Anderson material. He also works the crowd well and goes to great lengths to get the audience involved in the show. The picture belows shows yours truly (the bearded fellow with the super-awesome Acccept shirt) with the touring lineup of White Wizzard.

The new album, Flying Tigers, is composed of two parts with the first six tracks being thematically unrelated and the last six tracks are tied together by the same concept. Prior to the release of Flying Tigers, Jon Leon had mentioned in interviews that he was listening to a lot of Rush and my guess is he wanted to emulate 2112’s suite of seven songs. I admit that I had trepidation about the concept tracks before I heard them because I can’t stand concept albums. I find them to be turgid affairs full of crap tracks and end up being masturbatory wastes of time. Luckily White Wizzard knows both Metal and how to craft a killer album that maintains the listener’s interest.

The album kicks into gear with “Fight To The Death” which is a fast burner of a track with a message or fighting for what you believe in and never giving up. Next up is “West L.A. Nights” which is an ode to rocking in the City of Angels and hanging out at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. “Starchild” is not about Paul Stanley but is the first single from the album and it’s a ballad. Now don’t let this worry you as it’s a ballad in the tradition of Iron Maiden’s “Children Of The Damned” or Judas Priest’s “Beyond The Realms Of Death.” I really dig this song as it starts out slowly but builds to a fantastic climax by its end. I salute White Wizzard for having the balls to release a ballad as their first single. Check it out for yourself below:

The title track is a speedy number about the 1^st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force who fought against the Imperial Japanese in 1941-1942. “Night Train To Tokyo” is about a Japanese lady and is chock full of superb bass work and hooks galore. The non-concept portion of the album wraps up with “Night Stalker” which is an excellent track that would have been right at home on Killers with its cranking delivery.

The next six tracks are all linked conceptually with lyrics that involve Atlantis, ancient aliens, demons, The New World Order, warfare and a star man’s son. What’s it all about? I have no idea really as my promo copy has no lyrics but frankly, it doesn’t matter as each track is excellent and could stand on it’s own. That is high praise for concept albums which usually have tons of filler tracks as transitions in the storyline. White Wizzard have successfully crafted a concept suite that holds the listeners attention the entire time. My favorite cut off of the last album was the epic “Iron Goddess of Vengeance” and these six tracks remind of that song writ large.

Iron Maiden should listen to Flying Tigers for tips on how to craft another progressive album that is not a total snooze-fest (cough – The Final Frontier – cough.) We are served riff after tasty riff with varied tempos, shredding solos, a thundering bass and killer vocals. I can’t imagine that this is a Metal fan on earth that won’t like this album as it is pure metallic excellence with not one filler track. I never reach for the skip button in the car which is a real test of an album for me. It flows well with a superb mixture of the progressive and the aggressive.

__________________________________________________

The Bottom Line: Flying Tigers is an amazing slab of pure steel and is another superb release from White Wizzard. I encourage everyone to go out and buy this release when it hits the racks in the United States and if you are in Europe get it now because it’s already out. Jon Leon and crew once again have earned our support so back these defenders of the faith with your hard earned coin.

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.

The Spirit of ‘71

Orchid – Through The Devils Doorway

Church Within Records – 2009

Muthas, I don’t know how I missed this news but apparently a time machine was invented in San Francisco in 2009 by the band Orchid. Clearly these guys took a trip to 1971 and snuck into Island Studies in London while Black Sabbath was recording Master of Reality. Having soaked up the all the crushing doom that they could, the band hopped back in the time machine and headed back to 2009. Using all that they had learned on their trip through time, Orchid crafted the Through The Devils Doorway EP.

Maybe that’s not exactly what happened, but I'm having difficulty figuring out how Orchid managed to record 4 songs that perfectly capture the essence of Black Sabbath circa 1971. The guitar, bass, drums and vocals are all superb and the songs themselves are extremely catchy. The EP roars to life with “Into The Sun” which has an intro that recalls “Symptom Of The Universe” with its pummeling riffs. “Eastern Woman” is up next and it’s one of the hookiest songs I have heard all year. It will burrow into your brain and live there for days on end. It’s a totally badass jam of 70’s guitar tone heaven. Check it out below:

“Son Of Misery” is the next cut and it sails by quickly as it’s only 2:14 minutes in length. I really wanted this song to crank for about 8 minutes but alas, that was not to be. It’s a mellower tune a la “Planet Caravan” but it’s still two minutes of perfection. Lastly, Orchid serves up “No One Makes A Sound” which is an amazing track that obliterates lesser quality metal with its grinding riffs and hooks. This is doom metal of the highest quality and execution. These guys are talented as all hell.

Unfortunately it is somewhat difficult to obtain this EP at an affordable price. Luckily for us, the good folks at All That Is Heavy stock it for $10.99 and you can also get it from iTunes for a mere $3.96. Also, Orchid have released the LP Capricorn this year and it’s more of the same superb doomy goodness. The Metal Blog Of Metal will review the LP at a later date.

____________________________________________________

The Bottom Line: If you are a fan of Black Sabbath, Trouble, Witchfinder General, Candlemass and doom metal in general you must buy this EP. This band deserves your support for gracing the Metal world with these 4 amazing cuts.

As Always, MAKE MINE METAL.

Metal Mashup

Whole Lotta Sabbath

Now that's how you do a mashup. Sabbath and Zep actually did two shows in upstate New York back in the early 70s. As soon as my time machine is perfected, I am going!

The Boys of ‘79

Saxon – Call To Arms

UDR/EMI/Militia Guard Music – 2011

Hellions, during that most un-metal of times – the mid 90’s – many metal bands lost their way and succumbed to the temptation of staying “relevant” and tried to incorporate dreadful alternative music into their sound. This proved to be a complete failure for almost every band that attempted it. Old fans reacted in horror and fled in droves; alternative fans found old metal bands to be a joke; and MTV ignored them for the flavor of the day. Metal bands broke up and disappeared at an alarming pace and it seemed that metal would be discarded on the ash heap of music history with disco.

However, a few stalwarts rejected the alternative sounds and defended the true faith of pure metal; bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Testament and Overkill continued to crank out steel for the grateful legions of metalheads. One band in particular that kept the faith was the mighty Saxon, who not only survived the 90’s intact but became one of the premier traditional metal groups in the world.

Saxon was founded way back in 1976 as Son Of A Bitch but wisely changed their name to something that would actually be acceptable to a record company. They leapt to the forefront of the NWOBHM and released disc after disc of classic metal such as Wheels Of Steel, Denim And Leather, Strong Arm Of The Law, Power And The Glory, and Crusader. They had quite a bit of success in England and Europe but sales in the United States remained elusive. It was at this point that the band decided to incorporate more commercial elements into their sound in order to breakout in the US market.

This was a disastrous decision as the next albums — Innocence Is No Excuse, Rock The Nations, and Destiny — failed to break the band in the States but succeeded in alienating older fans. Those albums were, frankly, crap of the highest order and they were dropped by EMI. It appeared that Saxon was over but the band managed to stage a comeback in the 90’s really starting with Dogs Of War in 1995 and continuing throughout the 90’s and 2000’s. They actually got heavier and incorporated many elements from European Power Metal into their music and toured relentlessly.

The Metal Blog Of Metal had the good fortune to see them in 1998 in small club in Cincinnati with 20 other people. A sleet storm was in progress and very few people came out but Saxon came on and blew the roof off of the dump. They also hung out with the crowd afterwards and signed anything you wanted. I became a fan for life at that moment. I think they would have played a set just for me if I had been the only one to show up. Hails to Biff and the boys for keeping the faith and playing Metal when lesser bands wrecked on the shoals of alternative music.

The latest effort from Saxon is Call To Arms, and it’s another superb album of pure Heavy Metal. The cuts here are what you expect and want from a Saxon album. If you’re looking for turntables, jazz, harsh vocals, songs about how your life sucks, or any other weak-ass shit like that, you are out of luck. What you get is another excursion into songs about Vikings (“Hammer Of The Gods”), The brotherhood of Metal (“Back In 79”), overcoming the odds (“Surviving Against The Odds”), War (“Call To Arms”) and the Apocalypse (“When Doomsday Comes”). These are all lyrical themes that belong on a Heavy Metal album and Saxon does their usual classy and professional job on these tracks.

I’ve read elsewhere that this album is more “blues based” than previous efforts but I have no clue what the hell that means as this is classic Saxon with no modern elements or other fat clogging up the disc. Call To Arms has a great balance of fast tracks like “Hammer Of The Gods,” “Surviving The Odds,” “Afterburner,” and mid-paced fare like “Back In 79,” “Chasing The Bullet,” and “Ballad Of The Working Man.” The centerpiece of the album is the title track “Call To Arms” and it’s another in a long line of Saxon tracks that are about soldiers leaving for war. It’s an excellent cut and deserves a place alongside “Broken Heroes” in the melancholy Saxon war songs hall of fame.

Saxon has also released a video for the track “Hammer Of The Gods” and it can be viewed below.

Call To Arms is not scheduled for release in the United States until 9/27/11 and it’s unclear at this time what formats it will be offered in. I have the European two disc digipak version and it features a remixed and remastered Live At Donington 1980. This isn’t really essential as all of the tracks from this show have been released multiple times, including on the 2009 EMI remasters of Saxon and Wheels Of Steel.

_____________________________________________________

The Bottom Line: Saxon has once again crafted an excellent disc of traditional Heavy Metal and they show no signs of aging or slowing down. The band, like Motörhead, have been releasing material that is probably superior to everything they did back in the 80s. Be sure to pick this one up when it’s finally released because they deserve your support for their tireless efforts in keeping the Heavy Metal flag flying.

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.