Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry

Back when Fates Warning formed in 1982 there really wasn't such a thing as Prog-Metal.  They started as a band heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and the NWOBHM and became more progressive as they matured.  After their classic albums The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian they had a near complete lineup change, save the founding guitarist Jim Matheos.  With new vocalist Ray Alder replacing John Arch they recorded the transitional album No Exit.  Up through and including that album, becoming more proggy and less thrashy each time, they had mostly stuck to traditional fantasy themes in their music, lyrics and art.  Enter 1989 and they had a quite significant change in style.  Deciding to drop the wizards and shit they went in a much more industrial and bleak direction with their overall sound.

Kicking off with "Part of the Machine" they certainly don't waste any time in showing the new direction.  New drummer Mark Zonder has a very unique style, using odd meters but not too many hits.  By using complex patterns yet not getting too busy or hitting too many drums he really defines the new style explored on this album.  The overall tone of this song, and the album as a whole, is very much like a machine in that it is mechanical, cold and precise.  Not to say it doesn't rock, it is just about as far away from Iron Maiden as you can get.

I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Ray Alder's voice, but he does come up with some great melodies.  His tone is just a bit too shrill for my taste, but it is certainly part of the package deal here and he is great at what he does.  Most of the album is definately in the HIGH vocal range, but there are occassions when he goes to a lower register and I actually enjoy that a bit more than when he's going balls-out wailing.

The guitars are brittle and harsh on this album, but again it matches with the new direction they were going.  A Les Paul / Marshall tone would just not fit in here.  Throughout the disc there are interesting chord changes and dual harmony lines.  Like the drums, they manage to dance the line between complex and simple by using unexpected notes and odd time meters but not going "whoodely whoodely" all over the place.

After the very appropriate opening track they kick into "Through Different Eyes".  I'm sure this was an obvious choice for the single and video as it is certainly the most traditional song on the album.  They still manage to sneak in some great loud / soft dynamics between the parts and some cool guitar solos as well. This track is a good indication of the more accessable direction they would go on their next album, Parallels.

"Static Acts" is next, not a bad song but for me it is one of the weaker moments on the album.  If you check out the lyrics it is a pretty scathing rip on the music industry and bands in general.  It does fit right in with the machinery theme of the album though! "A World Apart" follows it up, which is slower and has some interesting drums.  Other than that it is also one of the weak spots on the album, but we haven't truly gotten to the real good stuff yet!

"At Fates Hands" starts out with some strings and goes into a slow and quiet theme that makes me picture being on a ship out in the middle of the ocean.  The second half kicks up the pace and this is when the shit starts getting proggy.  There is some great violin work and some crazy dual keyboard / guitar soloing with Kevin Moore who at the time was in Dream Theater. This instrumental section, and the mellow half before it, is a nice change of pace (and break on the ears) from the harshness of the proceeding tracks.

"The Arena" gets it going again with a brisk tempo and pounding bass and drums.  This one is also a bit more traditional in its direction, but keeps it interesting with some tempo changes. It is a good lead in to the last two tracks, which are the best part of the album for me.

"Chasing Time" starts out as an atmospheric ballad and leads into some great violin and guitar solos.  Unexpected chords and timing keep them from being cliche, and they wisely stay away from the musical masturbation of far too many metal or prog bands.  Just because you can play a million notes a minute in Mixolydian mode doesn't mean you should.

The album closer is easily one of the high moments not just of the album but for Fates Warning as a whole.  "Nothing Left To Say" is an eight minute journey through the themes explored on the album, but wrapped up in a nice concise package that does not get boring despite its length.  This is easily Ray Alder's vocals at their most accessable and all the other players shine as well.  Of all the tracks, this one really brings their Rush influence to the front.  Like the boys from Canada, Fates Warning shows a real concentration on ensemble work rather than individual wankery. 

Definately a transitional album, Fates Warning made a radical shift in their sound on Perfect Symmetry.  It's true beauty is the way it dances on the lines between complexity and simplicity,  harshness and beauty.  Somehow on their most cold and mechanical album they managed to inject more humanity and introspection than they had previously shown.

Bauhaus - Mask

1981 was one hell of a year for music.  There are a number of albums from that year that defined not only the sounds of the 80's but also all the decades beyond.  I'm sure I'll get to more of these eventually, but for today let's talk about the Mask, the 2nd album from those 4 malnourished, pale corpses collectively known as Bauhaus.

Their debut, In the Flat Field, is simply spectacular, not only for it's more well known tracks like Double Dare or God in an Alcove but also it's more quirky fare such as Small Talk Stinks and Nerves.  It has a great combination of raw energy and innovative sounds, not to mention a healthy sense of humor.  It's follow up, Mask, also has these elements but the end result is quite different than it's predecessor.

Though of course they are generally referred to as the Godfathers of Goth, I don't think that they deserve the blame for the god-awful, self-indulgent crap that came around long after their demise.  Maybe I'm still bitter because in 1996 I spent $15 on a horrible album of Bauhaus covers.  Anyways, just like I don't hold Kurt Cobain personally responsible for the rise of Creed or Nickleback, I can't blame Bauhaus for Sisters of Mercy or any of the other absolutely horrible crap that falls in the Goth genre.

Bauhaus is without doubt my number one example of how minimalism can be a very good thing in music.  They had no need for two-handed tapping guitar solos, drum solos, or even shit that would normally be considered standard issue for just about any band like colored lighting, drum fills, or food. I think you could have given them a trash can, a couple sticks with some strings tied to a nail and a bare light bulb and they would have played music that would blow your fucking mind.  Well, it was still 1981 so you most likely would also have to cough up an eight-ball for them to really get going.

Anyways, I could write a book about how awesome Bauhaus is, but somebody already did that and quite a good job of explaining their history in great detail.

Before I get to the album itself, I should note that there has recently been a 3 disc re-issue which I have not yet purchased.  I'm only going to talk about the original tracks that make up the album itself, as I only have the L.P. and a CD I purchased while I was still in high school.  The bonus tracks on that disc don't really do a whole lot for me...

The album starts with some trademarked Daniel Ash feedbacky guitar squiggling before a simplistic drum beat and bass kick in to join him for Hair of the Dog.  The whole thing sounds like Peter Gunn on acid.  This brings up one of the things I love most about Bauhaus... They can take something already simple like a surf / spy or blues riff, strip it down even more, add some crazy noise and all of a sudden you have some strange, creepy, rocking beast of a song.

The mood lightens up a hair for the second song Passion of Lovers.  Here ol' Danny kicks things off again, but this time with some simple arpeggios rather than noise.  I've always loved that about his playing, either he's hitting some simple elegant stuff that you can totally figure out, or it's just a goddamn ball of noise that you will never, ever recreate no matter how many pedals you have.  This one really brings out their more pop side.  One of the other great things about this album is that every song is completely unique by itself.  Somehow the whole of the album doesn't seem disjointed, but by most standards they sound like they could be from different albums, or even bands.

Right about here is where things start to get weird, as only Bauhaus can do. Of Lillies and Remains is a kind of funky back beat with some weird ass narration by Peter Murphy recited on top of it.  I do usually skip over it, but it certainly isn't bad.  "Oh, you say you went to art school?  Well I NEVER!"  This is why their sense of humor is important, I think other bands would probably do this, except they would be 100% serious.

Dancing is yeah, I guess kind of dancey.  I skip over that one too.  There's lots of horns and shit. Makes me think back to a time when this album came out... I was 3 years old and all those cool older people were wearing crazy glasses and striped shirts, doing too much coke and hopping around to this type of thing.   Not bad, but not my style I guess.

Now that we've skipped over those two, it's time to get creepy.  REALLY creepy.  Hollow Hills is just simply badass.  David J uses that fretless bass like nobody's business with just one riff for the entire time.  The drums go "DUH DUH" every few seconds, and good ol' Danny is doing some low level screechy guitar in the background.  Peter Murphy does his thing, in this case his low and ominous voice.  This is really where Bauhaus comes unto their own, everything stripped to the absolute bone and it creates atmosphere the nobody else can replicate.  It's like Halloween every time you pop it in the player!  The album version is great, but I think the live version on Press Eject... and Give Me the Tape is even better. 

In Fear of Fear goes back to the horn-ey early 80's dance sound of the earlier track Dancing.  There is some FUNKY ass bass on this one from David J, but yeah, I skip over this one too.

Muscle in Plastic is also kind of dancey, but doesn't have all the horn business going on.  It's pretty speedy, a good combo of rocking, dancing, and weird ass, over the top vocals by Peter.  I usually don't skip over this one, but now we're getting to the last two tracks which are where this album really shines.

The Man with the X-Ray Eyes starts with some great arpeggios by Mr. Ash, which he more or less continues with throughout the song.  I fucking love the sound and style of the moving octave based riffs in this song, and I am not ashamed to say I have more or less ripped them off on more than one occassion in my musical "career".  It's not like somebody is going to come up to you after the show and say, "Duuuude, that totally sounds like the guitar riff in that Bauhaus song near the end of Mask!"  If they did I would surely buy them a beer and congratulate them on having exquisite taste in music.  On the aformentioned live album there is a waaaaay slower version of this song, which is cool, but not nearly as good as this version.

Now, it's time for the end of the album, and what a fucking way to close it.  The song Mask is hands down the most awesomely creepy thing that has ever been recorded, period.  I swear, if there could be a horror movie that could match the intensity of this song it would be the most badass movie ever.  If I were to try to summon a demon in my garage I would just blast this LP and read the bible backwords. The main portion of the song is just a pounding tom drum, a fuzzed out fretless bass playing two notes, some fucked up guitar noise, and Peter Muphy in top dramatic form.  In the latter portion of the song the clouds part and it opens up into some beautiful 12 string guitar plucking and more operatic singing, it is really a great turn around.  The video is pretty creepy as well...

It's important to keep in mind that Bauhaus were only around from about 79-82, during which they released 4 studio albums, and a ton of radio recordings, b-sides, etc.  Even though they do have songs that I like to skip over, the overall quality and sheer variety of their output is really mind blowing.  Like many other bands in '81 they were really venturing into unexplored musical territory, not only with electronic sounds, but also across many genres such as dub, punk and even blues.  Their minimalist experimentation (sometimes successful, sometimes not so much) is why we can listen to their music 30 years later and it still sounds vital and fresh.

N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton – Rap’s “Reign in Blood”

By Neil James

Spent much time in a metal band, or hung out with metal fans? Here’s something I guarantee you’ve heard before.

“I hate rap music! It doesn’t take any talent to make.”

I could probably pay off my house if I had the proverbial nickel for each time I’ve heard this statement or its countless variants. 

Interestingly, one might think that, given the child-like ease with which rap songs can allegedly be made, some metal guy out there would have created the best album ever in the history of rap in his spare time just to prove a point. After all, if Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and their neophyte-level understanding of music can sell millions of records, just imagine potential commercial dominance were someone capable of sweep picking through all seven modes at 212 beats per minute to sit in the producer’s chair.

Yet, for some reason, this has never happened.

Maybe this rap game does require a little bit of talent. And maybe, this talent resonates on a little different frequency that what your average metal fan is attenuated to detect.

All of this is somewhat sad, because rap and metal share far more in common than practitioners of the latter are often willing to acknowledge.

Yes, rap does not often have guys playing their own instruments. It does not have blistering guitar solos. It does not have hair-raising vocal arias. It does not celebrate rhythmic jackhammering through EMG active pickups.

Ultimately, what rap shares in common with metal can’t be seen through the mixing console or sheets of tablature. Good rap – classic rap – 80s rap – was dangerous music.

The greatest threat that shareholder-sanitized metal acts like Five Finger Death Punch and messianic self-preening artists like Kanye West have posed to their genres is that they have made people forget that their genres, at heart, are supposed to be dangerous.

The 80s and early 90s were certainly the golden period for dangerous metal. Motley Crue’s success was as derived from their excess as their music. Ozzy’s career was built on his ability to identify guitar players with iconic potential and his willingness to do things that nobody, even in a drug-addled state, would do. Guns’N’Roses represented pure non-acknowledgement of authority and order and personified this attitude in their music.

Interestingly, rap was a little slower on this game, but experienced a period of unprecedented dangerousness that reached its height in 1992 with “Cop Killer”, finally culminating with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

Rap music by its nature had always flirted with these dangerous elements, but did not see them fully come to fruition until 1988.

In 1986, Slayer released one of metal’s most defining albums, Reign in Blood. Kerry King himself states that if this album was released today, nobody would give a shit, but at the time, this album represented the ultimate in dangerous metal.

While many people consider the album’s lyrical themes and artwork to define this album’s evil, these were not the only aspects in which Reign in Blood pushed the envelope:

• The album itself clocks in at 29 minutes….an unheard of album length in any era.
• The album is almost entirely devoid of verse-chorus-verse structure.
• As a whole, the album’s average tempo is 210 beats per minute.
• There is little head paid to traditional theory or composition.

But perhaps most interesting, and likely unknown to Slayer fans, is that following Hell Awaits, Slayer and their management made the decision to leave Metal Blade Records for Def Jam Recordings, owned by Russell Simmons of hip-hop fame, and primarily a rap label. Jeff Hanneman himself was intrigued by Rick Rubin’s interest in the band and was an admirer of his work with Run DMC and LL Cool J. While Reign in Blood was ultimately released under American Recordings after Rubin dissolved his partnership with Simmons, one of thrash’s most seminal recordings owes its existence to a partnership between hip-hop and metal.

Throughout most of the 80s, rap was edgy, but it wasn’t dangerous. Public Enemy, despite being legends, were far too intelligent and cause-oriented to be truly dangerous. Run DMC reshaped the genre in terms of image and sound, but were a mainstream act at heart. LL Cool J helped establish the notion of a rap artist as a larger-than-life persona, but wasn’t necessarily trail-blazing.

The foundation for Reign in Blood’s lyrical content and artwork was laid by artists such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, and even Slayer’s own prior work. Each of these bands dwelled within the realms of the occult, sometimes as a metaphor for their perceptions of the world, other times for its own sake. To that end, Reign in Blood’s success wasn’t derived from its theme, but rather its visceral execution.

Similarly, N.W.A. wasn’t the first to rap about the abominable conditions of inner-city life – it was merely the first to do so through the lens of a YouTube documentarian. N.W.A’s music was entirely uninterested in how it should be – it was only concerned with how it was.

It is from this perspective that Straight Outta Compton derived its dangerousness. N.W.A.’s lines about life in South Central Los Angeles were dangerous because, well, life in South Central Los Angeles was extremely dangerous.

Consider the following lines:

• “More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger” – Straight Outta Compton
• “Young nigga got it bad cuz I’m brown and not the other color so police think they have the authority to kill a minority.” – Fuck Tha Police
• “Do I look like a mutha fuckin’ role model? To a kid lookin’ up ta me, life ain’t nothin’ but bitches and money.” – Gangsta Gangsta
• “Some musicians curse at home but scared to use profanity when up on the microphone. Yeah, they want reality but you won’t here none. They rather exaggerate, a little fiction. Some say no to drugs and take a stand, but after the show they go lookin’ for the dope man.” – Express Yourself

N.W.A. lyrics were illustrative of life of urban youth in Compton at the time and shone a light on a slice of American pie that few of its bakers wanted its customers looking at. In fact, Straight Outta Compton is the only album to have ever been condemned by the FBI for advocating violence against law enforcement officers.

Straight Outta Compton and Reign in Blood were both over-the-top records. To date, there is little evidence that Hanneman, King, Araya and Lombardo have ever forcefully separated muscle from bone, conducted rituals aimed at bringing about the return of the Antichrist or sacrificed any living creatures to satisfy an unholy deity. Similarly, I’m willing to bet that the actual murder count of Ice T, MC Ren, Eazy E and Dr. Dre is far smaller than reputed.

While both records were clearly dangerous, each was dangerous to the establishment in different ways.

For the Republican-driven PMRC, Slayer represented a threat to Christianity. Their flagrant blasphemy of religious tenets certainly encouraged immorality among impressionable youth, but perhaps more importantly, it reduces sacred spiritual bedrocks to comic books. The more bands like Slayer were allowed to exist, the more youth would view Christianity with the same reverence that the modern world holds for Zeus and Odin.

NWA posed no such threat to God and Jesus. Rather, Straight Outta Compton represented a threat to the other holy pillar of the right-wing establishment, capitalism. In the eyes of the establishment, it’s simply irrational to sell drugs and join a gang. You’re supposed to work through school, get a degree, and become a productive working drone whose labors institutionalize the wealth of white collar masters.

Yet, for many youth in South Central, going straight was simply too difficult to warrant pursuing. You dealt drugs and joined gangs as a matter of survival and a means to prosperity. You didn’t do it out of some James Dean Rebel Without a Cause sense. Straight Outta Compton brought to the surface that the system wasn’t working – an inconvenient fact for bureaucrats in power. Worse, Straight Outta Compton was so visceral, so crisply executed, that its power to galvanize people in the belief that the system did not serve them that it posed a significant threat to white people institutions.

In both cases, the impact on their genre was undeniable. Reign in Blood was the holy text that influenced and continues to influence the genres of black metal, death metal and thrash metal even today. Similarly, the most defining rap artists and albums in the 90s, (The Chronic – Dr. Dre, Doggystyle – Snoop Dogg, Me Against the World – Tupac) owe a significant debt to Straight Outta Compton.

How powerful was Straight Outta Compton? Three of its members (Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E) are considered among the most titanic figures in their genre. How many metal bands featured three individual members whose legacy is looked upon as genre-defining? Pretty darn few.

In all my years, I have never heard rap artists lamenting the critical success of metal musicians, yet this seems to happen routinely in the metal community, which is sad. Maybe Slayer fans don’t like Straight Outta Compton based on personal tastes – that’s fine – but they should absolutely have an appreciation for it. Serious metal musicians and artists understand that these divergent genres share much of the same pixie dust that makes their brand of music special.

Sadly, the marriages between metal and rap have been predominantly awkward and forced. Only twice have metal and rap artists at the peak of their powers and artistic credibility collaborated (Anthrax+Public Enemy, Run DMC+Aerosmith and yes I realize I’m stretching the definition of metal when I cite Aerosmith.) In both instances, their collaborations are considered legendary.

But for every Bring the Noise and Walk This Way, there are hundreds of rap-metal collaborations whose output is reminiscent of a dish that combined jellybeans and oysters. Most rap-metal collaborations involve untalented metal musicians (Limp Bizkit, Korn) or simply shoehorning a rapper who happens to be friends with a metal band onto a track (Mudhoney and Sir Mix-A-Lot), or sometimes both (Linkin Park and Busta Rhymes).

That said, I think there’s plenty of fertile ground for awesome rap-metal collaborations to take place. The key is to match like-sounding artists at the top of their game. Where does this start? Who knows, but if we had more tracks like this, perhaps the outright dismissal of rap by metalheads would finally wane.

Kix - Blow My Fuse

Disclaimer: I do not guarantee that you will lose weight by listening to Kix’s seminal album “Blow My Fuse”.  I can however assure you that there is no greater album in the history of mankind to listen to while you are working out.

Perhaps Kix did not realize this at the time of its release in 1988, because you won’t find any weights, exercise bikes or neon headbands in its lyrics or promotional materials.  Perhaps they were trying to distance themselves from the attempted pop / rock crossover album “Cool Kids” and its video single “Body Talk”.  I could probably write an entire article about that video itself… I still don’t know if the video is hilarious or creepy (actually, I’m gonna go with both) but that song will probably be stuck in my head for another week after writing this.

Let’s dive into a little ancient butt-rock history before we get to the album at hand.  Kix were indisputably the greatest thing to ever come out of Baltimore, at least until The Wire showed up on HBO many years later.  They started out in the late 70’s as a bar band covering things like AC/DC, Van Halen and other hard rock staples, and then branched out into original material.  They paid some serious dues at the local clubs and developed a reputation as an insanely good live band.  They were so good that Brett Michaels and some of the other guys from Poison would come all the way over from Pennsylvania to see them play.  The word on the street is that the Poison boys took really good notes, adopted Kix’s performance and musical style, brought it out to L.A. and then obviously enjoyed much more success than our boys from Baltimore ever did.  But one thing that Poison never managed to copy was Kix’s ability to write and record an album that had more than 2 good songs on it, which brings us to “Blow My Fuse”.

You are probably familiar with one track on this one, “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, an anti-suicide ballad that managed to reach #11 on the Billboard charts.  It’s the requisite power-ballad of the album.  But holy shit, they manage to craft a slow song that does not include thinly veiled metaphors for boning, in 1988 nonetheless!  They should probably get a medal for that alone.  Don’t worry though, the rest of the songs are all pretty much thinly veiled metaphors for boning.  Actually, even saying “thinly veiled” might be a stretch…

The album starts off with “Red Lite, Green Lite, TNT”, a straightforward up-tempo rocker.  What a perfect way to start out the 3 hours of cardio you need to do to work off that six pack of High Life tallboys you drank last night!

OK, now that we’re warmed up a bit it’s time to crank up the incline on that treadmill. For my money the album really starts out with track #2, “Get It While It’s Hot”.  This song in particular highlights just what it is that makes Kix kick ass.  It’s called a CHORUS, kids, and I’m not talking about that stompbox that your mom bought you. 

“No Ring Around Rosie” might just be the dirtiest song on the album.  It’s amazing just how dirty Kix can be without using any actual profanity.  AC/DC taught them well, and Kix takes it to the next level.

 After that they wisely take it down a notch with “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and then go into “She Dropped Me The Bomb”, which picks up the pace again in a nice poppy way. 

Then they get back to the business with “Cold Blood”.  Holy shit, THAT is how you write a goddamn chorus!  More people should follow Brett Michael's lead and try to copy this, maybe there would be some better songs on the radio.

The album continues with the songs "Piece of the Pie" and "Boomerang", which are probably the weakest on the album, but still quite enjoyable. The title track “Blow My Fuse” goes a bit slower and sleazier, good stuff because by now you've been doing that goddamn cardio for a while, are starting to get sweaty and ready to start winding down or moving to the weights or something.  

But before you're done you gotta give it one last run, so they pick up the pace yet again for the last number "Dirty Boys".  That one isn't quite so memorable, but hey, still an excellent way to close the album on an up note.  

What really makes “Blow My Fuse” stand out from the rest of the hair / pop / glam / metal / rock pack of the era is the consistency of the songwriting and pace of the album as a whole.  They do a great job of keeping momentum and there is enough variety between songs to get you through the entire album without getting bored. Certainly not every track is as good as the high points of "Cold Blood" or "Get It While It's Hot", but all are respectable and enjoyable to listen to.  

While certainly not the first band to mix some solid rock n’ roll with a little bit of blues and pop, they know how to do it right.  You can tell that Kix paid attention when they were paying their dues as a cover band. They realized what made the songs by rock bands like AC/DC classics and they applied it to their own work.  Sure, they pretty much stick to the formula that was established years and years prior, but they were wise enough to do it right.  Rather than one good single and 7 filler tracks, they really made an album that would stand up as a whole.  

Songs about Native Americans in 80's rock

Bono and the Boss weren't the only rock stars speaking out on social issues of the 80's.  Sure, you know about Live Aid, but Hear N' Aid definately had more mulletude and spandex.  Plus Ronnie James Dio was always way cooler than Bob Geldof.

One theme that appeared many times (at least on the tapes I had) was the plight of the Native American.  Lets take a look at some of these songs of the era that introduced listeners to U.S. history in a way that a text book never could.  After all, everyone knows that history is much more awesome with double bass, shredding guitar solos, spandex and Aqua-Net.

Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills

Easily the most well known of the songs we'll be looking at today, Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" is still a staple of their live show today.  Lyrically, it is written from the perspective of both the invading white men as well as the Natives and alternates between the two.  It uses this to illustrate the cowardly and inhumane treatment from the invaders.  The British metal bohemoths are the masters of the galloping rhythm, which definately helps audibly illustrate the clashing horseback battles between the invaders and native soldiers.  The video itself is made to be more humorous than you might expect given the lyrics and subject...   But that was probably a wise move as if they were to take a more dramatic approach it could have easily backfired.  Plus, they probably had to stick with stock footage in between the performance shots in order to keep the budget down. 

Europe - Cherokee

 Swedish rockers Europe had some pretty awesome subjects on their 1987 album "The Final Countdown".  The opening title track was about rockets and space and shit, plus later they dive into "Ninja" (try to guess what that one is about) and of course "Cherokee".  As discussed in my review of Wings of Tomorrow, deep and articulate lyrics are not one of Europe's many strengths. "Cherokee" is no exception, but they do go into a bit more detail than Iron Maiden did.  The song talks about the white men invading to search for gold, and then forcing the tribe on the Trail of Tears.  Even in a watered down elementary school textbook, even a youngster like me could tell this was obviously one of the most awful and shameful events of American history...  I don't think this song quite had the emotional impact of even those textbooks.  I still wouldn't call the song itself horrible, but the video.... yeah, that is horrible.

Anthrax - Indians

Now that we've looked at two songs and videos written by European bands, let's see how an American band stands up.  Anthrax seemed to be taking on more and more social problems in their songs on Among the Living (in between songs about Stephen King books and comics).  It's worth noting that lead singer Joey Belladonna is also of Native descent.  Unlike the first two songs we looked at, I don't believe that this one was released as a single.  Even if it was, it's not like Anthrax was getting a lot of radio or video play back then...  What I do remember is that at the time I listened to it, Among the Living was the heaviest and fastest shit I had ever heard.  "Indians" is definately the heaviest of the songs we're looking at today.  Rather than just looking at the past, the lyrics are more focused on the treatment of modern Natives with lines such as "Original American / Turned into a second class citizen".  While not considered a classic like "Run to the Hills", this song talks about racism and lack of equal treatment in the world of today, rather than just look back at what happened centuries ago.

White Lion - Cherokee

For the last song today we'll look at one from White Lion.  The original version was on their little known debut "Fight to Survive" but the acoustic version is cooler. Color me surprised, but somehow Danish singer Mike Tramp came up with some articulate, perhaps even poetic lyrics!  While not exactly breaking new thematic ground, Tramp actually uses the images of smoke, lightning, flame, blood and the moon to actually add some emotion to the song.  Wow!  This song does focus on past injustices rather than the modern day treatment of Natives.  But at least it isn't painfully ignorant, and you can tell that Tramp was trying to not just talk about the past but to try to describe the world in a way that a Native might.  It comes off as much more effective than just reading a couple paragraphs in history book, making it rhyme and calling it good.

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So what have we learned today?  Perhaps, good intentions aside, some metallers of the 80's might have done better to stick to the subjects they knew rather than try to take on one of the most painful subjects in American history. Particularly in the lyrics, they can come of as a bit simplistic or even juvenile.  I don't think that they could be considered particularly offensive, in that their intent was certainly not to glorify racism or inequal treatment. 

It seems like back in the day everyone wanted to at least have one song that they could point to and say "See, we're about more than just partying and girls!"   In the 80's that the Native American's plight was given a lot more attention in the media than it is today. You certainly don't see this many songs written on the subject anymore... most likely because it just isn't given the media attention that it once did.  As a whole, with a few exceptions,  I think most mainstream artists these days will just keep their mouths shut rather than risk offending anyone or being misinterpreted. Not to say that these songs would have been controversial when they were released... I think these would have been more the modern equivelent of writing a song about an oil spill or animal abuse.  Sure, it's an issue that is in the news, people are concerned with, and it may even have political connotations, but you stand very little risk of saying anything that anyone would disagree with.

Master of Puppets vs. Rust in Peace - Who's Better?

- Neil James

You’ve seen those Facebook posts. The one where a friend says something that appears to be innocuous, but just underneath, Facebook asks if you’d like to view the 46 subsequent comments. “What the hell happened here?” you think, as you quickly calculate whether you have enough time and interest to unfurl the conversation and digest the juicy gossip.

Such an event took place on my own Facebook page, and it was all started by a simple question by a friend: “Which album is better: Master of Puppets or Rust in Peace?”

Boom. Nearly fifty comments and close friends at throats later, it was clear that the passion that imbued these albums with their legendary statuses was as vibrant and lively today as it was in the 80s.

So which album is better? Master of Puppets or Rust in Peace?

Like any good opinion, your answer is ultimately determined by what you value in your headbanging, but let’s compare:

Songs:

MOP and RIP are packed with some of the top tracks in thrash metal history. Undebatable fact. But when you stack the two next to each other, what patterns emerge?

The high points: I don’t think anyone would debate that Holy Wars and Tornado of Souls are clearly RIPs high points, with Hangar 18 falling just a notch below. Depending on preference, Lucretia might also make the cut.

Meanwile, MOP gave us Battery, the incomparable title track, and Sanitarium. Again, depending on tastes, Damage Inc. might make the cut, but it’s clearly beneath those three.

A college thesis could likely be written as to which of these songs trumps the other. Again, this falls under the realm of value judgment. If memorable guitar riffs make the song, slight edge goes to Megadeth, as Holy Wars and Tornado of Souls feature some of the most powerful licks of all time.

But if memorable arrangements and vocals turn your crank, then you have to give the edge to MOP. Lyrically, MOP’s high points are definitively better than RIP. Vocally, not only is James Hetfield just flat out more talented, he crafted far more memorable, dynamic vocal lines. Consider this: if you’re singing a song to yourself, are you more likely to be cooing a Hetfield line under your breath or a Mustaine line? I thought so.

Unfortunately for RIP, in the genre of thrash metal, quality lyrics, songwriting and vocals are a far rarer commodity than high-quality riff-writing:

Very slight edge: Master of Puppets

The mid points: If Lucretia isn’t a high-point on the album, then it’s definitively in the album’s mid-tier. Same goes for Damage Inc on MOP.

On RIP, Rust In Peace….Polaris, and Take No Prisoners fall into the realm of “songs you wouldn’t skip on shuffle.” Orion and Disposable Heroes also fall into this category of tracks it would be nice to hear on your tenth time seeing the band in concertt as a surprise.

It’s at this point that a greater degree of separation begins to take place. While Lucretia is far and away the best of the mid-tier songs, slots two, three and four go to Damage Inc, Orion and Disposable Heroes in some order. Each of these tracks is more powerful, less hokey, and simply more memorable than Rust in Peace….Polaris and Take No Prisoners.

Slight edge: Master of Puppets

The low points: Yes, even legendary albums have their crappy tracks. Keep in mind that these crappy tracks are often superior to anything ever put out by Five Finger Death Punch or the Cavalera Conspiracy. That said, these are the tracks you sometimes have to make a tough decision on that grocery store run whether to skip to Battery or Holy Wars for a rockin’ ride home.

It’s at this point that the gap between the albums widens significantly. Few people would debate that Poison Was the Cure and Dawn Patrol are crap. Sometimes, you get people who swear by Five Magics, but at best, it’s marginally better than Poison and Dawn.

Yet on MOP, the album’s weakest cuts, Leper Messiah and The Thing That Should Not Be are still memorable, worthy of inclusion during a live set, and are several levels above Poison, Dawn and Five Magics. Many will argue that Leper and Thing are as powerful as the tracks I’ve ranked above them.

Herein is the one of the biggest differences: despite the fact that the top tracks Rust in Peace simply has more crap than Master of Puppets, which makes the whole album a slightly less pleasurable experience.

Definitive edge: Master of Puppets

Musicianship

No comparison between these two albums would be complete without an in-depth analysis of the musicianship.

RIP is generally considered to be the far more technical album of the two. This perception is largely based on the fact that, from an athletics and composition perspective, Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine beat James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett like Casey versus the bully. Friedman in particular turned in one of the genre’s all-time best performances with his leads on the album.

Beyond just the sheer technicality of the solos, however, the riffs on RIP, in general, are more memorable than the riffs on MOP. The lead lines to Holy Wars and Tornado of Souls should be in every guitarist’s repertoire. The lead line to Lucretia is one of the most brilliant guitar compositions ever. The guitar-work on RIP is just flat out more well-thought out, planned, and conceived than MOP.

But once you get past the complete-domination by guitars. the gulf separating MOP from RIP in musicianship is smaller than you would think.

As a whole, the metal community tends to undervalue a good arrangement. One of the beauties of Rush is their ability to weave complex mechanisms into their songwriting – key changes, time changes, tempo changes – and do so in a way that the listener is not aware of the actual seismic music shift that took place. Frequently, these compositional elements are only valued for their arresting ability to punch listeners in the jaw, a la the Dillinger Escape Plan.

Such is the case when you compare the arrangements of RIP and MOP. The complexities in songwriting are handled far more gracefully on MOP than they are on RIP. The track Master of Puppets alone is far and away the most sophisticated track from an arrangement standpoint, and yet, your average listener is largely unaware of the massive compositional sweeps taking place. Not only does RIP dwell in the land of 4/4 chromatic E for far longer than MOP, its attempts at reaching a more sophisticated plane come across more clunky and forced (see the abrupt shift to the syncopated rhythm in Hangar 18, or the schizophrenic “I don’t really have a plan here” arrangement of Five Magics.)

As a result, Lars Ulrich’s drumming on MOP tends to be underrated. Yes, he’s still a world-class cock gobbler. Yes, it’s unfathomable that someone of his limited abilities steered the ship for the most influential metal band of all-time. At the same time, those complex arrangements don’t sound as silky smooth as they do without a drummer of measured proficiency. A lesser drummer could have easily made MOP songs sound like shit – Lars didn’t pull anything off the table. Nick Menza’s performance still wins because, well, he’s just a better drummer, but let’s acknowledge that he had a much lower degree of difficulty to execute.

From here on out, however, the musical edges go to Metallica.

No offense Dave Ellefson: nobody’s outdoing Cliff’s performance on MOP.

The real elephant in the room behind Metallica/Megadeth debates is the quality of vocals. Those of us who have listened to and enjoyed Megadeth music for years have forgotten how much acclimation is required to appreciate Dave Mustaine’s vocals. Mustaine is the bitter beer of heavy metal vocalists: nobody enjoys Killian’s if it’s the first beer they ever drank. They had to have a gateway to get them there first.

No such acclimation is required for Hetfield’s voice. Prior to blowing his voice and being forced to croon his material, Hetfield was undebatably one of the five best vocalists in heavy metal (Dio, John Bush, Bruce Dickinson and a general pick ‘em rounds out the top four in a debatable order.) It was his voice that made Metallica music ultimately accessible, enjoyable and memorable. Hetfield’s flat-out superior vocal talent allowed him to create timeless vocal melodies --- anybody can sing Lucretia or Tornado of Souls in a cover band, but a shitty vocalist will simply ruin Sanitarium, Battery, or Master of Puppets.

Further, and while it’s far less concrete and far more subjective, Hetfield was simply the superior lyricist. In virtually every means by which you might critique a lyricist: command of metaphor, ability to evoke mood and emotion, construction of meter and rhyme, Hetfield’s work on MOP revealed a musician at the peak of his powers. Mustaine doesn’t shit the bed on RIP with his lyrics (a tendency he displayed with unfortunate frequency throughout his career), nobody’s listening to RIP for the lyrics.

As a whole, however, the chasm between the guitars of Friedman and Mustaine versus Hetfield and Hammett is so great that, despite the stronger arrangements, vocals and lyrics of MOP, RIP is generally and accurately perceived to be the more technical album. We’re not comparing Cynic to the Sex Pistols here, however – as a whole, the difference is far more marginal.

Guitars – Definitive edge: Rust in Peace

Drums – Slight edge: Rust in Peace

Bass – Definitive edge: Master of Puppets

Vocals – Definitive edge: Master of Puppets

Lyrics – Definitive edge: Master of Puppets

Songwriting – Definitive edge: Master of Puppets

Technicality as a whole – Edge: Rust in Peace

Legacy

MOP and RIP were two of the most important albums in heavy metal, and along with Reign in Blood, the best thrash albums of all time. How you choose to view these albums two decades later, however, is dependent on which lens you choose to look through.

Most people would view Megadeth and RIP as the more re-listenable band and album of the two. This opinion, however, has more to do with the band’s subsequent work than any intrinsic qualities of the album however.

Despite having released three of thrash metal’s premier albums (Ride the Lightning, MOP and Justice), Metallica has been (entirely fairly) perceived as the Judas of their genre. Metallica’s output following Justice is perceived as less of an evolution to their sound and more a deliberate disavowal of what made them great. Unlike Iron Maiden, who gracefully evolved their sound over time, adding elements to their core strengths, Metallica’s post-Justice work was a tacit acknowledgement of the fact that the genre no longer held any interest for them, despite their undeniable command of it.

Metallica’s outright dismissal and borderline loathing of what their fans adored and subsequent bizarre behavior tainted their attempts to return to the genre with insincerity. Nobody goes to a Poison concert wanting to hear the new stuff, and the band knows it. They’re a nostalgia act and they’ve accepted for them that live music is no longer an artistic endeavor but a punch clock that is served each working day.

To an extent, Metallica’s attempts to reconcile with thrash fans have been motivated by factors outside of artistic desire. Whether that’s desire for money, prestige, adulation or fame is anyone’s guess. But what’s evident, even with the surprisingly enjoyable Death Magnetic, is that Metallica’s return to thrash is definitively not a labor of love but one of expectation and obligation - similar to Poison.

In contrast, Dave Mustaine (who himself is no stranger to bizarre behavior) has never and will never stray from the altar of thrash. He has always been and will always be a true believer, and as such, is revered as the more pure artist today – Megadeth fans have forgiven Risk, whereas Metallica fans will never forgive St. Anger. His commitment to thrash and unwillingness to evolve his sound is reminiscent of the zealotry of religious fanatics that are openly mocked in Megadeth songs.

As a result, despite the fact that Mustaine’s post RIP-output falls somewhere between “past his prime” and “outright pedestrian”, RIP will always be more re-listenable in that thrash metal fans know they are listening to the sermon of a true believer. It’s virtually impossible to listen to MOP today and separate the greatness of the art from the fall of the artist.

Beyond how listenable the albums are in 2012, however, the impact of the album on the genre, its legacy, cannot be neglected in any comparison between the two albums.

Through this prism, the superiority of MOP becomes evident. Whereas RIP defined the greatness of Megadeth, MOP defined the greatness of the genre as a whole. While RIP got metal fans into Megadeth, far fewer people got into metal music because of RIP than did because of MOP.

Ultimately, Mustaine’s abilities only affected the perception of his band by fans of the genre. Mustaine could never convert someone from Depeche Mode to Phrygian Mode. Hetfield’s superior vocal, lyrical and songwriting talent was able to break people from the shackles of MTV pop music and make thrash metal – a genre that by definition whose conventions should be wholly inaccessible to the masses – a legitimate form of art.

It is in this sense that, while not as listenable due to factors outside of the time-frozen recording’s control, MOP’s legacy and impact on the genre is and will be forever greater than RIPs.

Re-Listenability: Rust in Peace

Legacy: Master of Puppets

Verdict

Comparing these two albums is similar to comparing Larry Bird and Magic Johnson – two of the greatest basketball players who have ever played – each with a set of accomplishments that rivals the other, yet wholly differentiated talents that fueled their greatness. The ascription of one as superior should never serve as a means of diminishing the other.

But if we’re gonna pick, 2,000 words can be very easily condensed into 50: Rust in Peace features far better guitar work, and is far more listenable today, largely because Metallica have transitioned from artists to businessmen. But because MOP has fewer weak spots, is subsequently more enjoyable front-to-back, features superior vocal, lyrical and songwriting performances, and ultimately came to be the nom de plume of the thrash genre, it’s safe to say that Metallica's work is indeed the superior album.

Thoughts?

Europe - Wings of Tomorrow

The year was 1988 and I was at the grocery store with my dad, looking through the cassette shelf at the front of the grocery store. I saw the name "EUROPE" in those big red bold letters that were on the side of most tapes of the era. It wasn't The Final Countdown, which was probably my favorite album at the time. I pulled the tape out and saw this awesome metal space bird on the front.

I ran back to the cash register and begged my dad to let me get the tape, which of course he did. Once home I threw that bad boy in my Walkman, put on the headphones and promptly had my mind blown. I didn't even know that Europe had an album prior to The Final Countdown, and after listening through the tape, it was obvious that this album was heavier, more raw, more guitar driven and WAY better...

Many years have passed since that fateful day at the grocery store. My neck is no longer kept warm in the winter by the fluffy glory of my mullet. Countless genres of music (or even just metal) have risen, fallen and risen again, but the metallic wings of this space hawk have not tarnished one bit over the years.

Obviously I have quite a sentimental attachment to this album. Dreams of one day playing the instrumental "Aphasia" was the catalyst to my ditching the piano and picking up a guitar instead. Literally, I had a dream about shredding the shit out of that song on a huge lighted stage and the next day I told my mom that I had to play guitar. The cassette was flipped back and forth countless times while I rode the charlift up and then blasted my way back down the mountain on my skis. Enough about me, lets talk about the album itself!

Europe is generally placed in the sub-genre of pop metal (or hair metal). While not entirely untrue, I don't think that is quite fair to them, at least when talking about this album. I wouldn't call this album metal, though you could make the argument that "Scream of Anger" is about as metal as a song can get. Arch Enemy even covered it. While there are some poppy tendancies, this album is straight up classic hard rock in the tradition of Thin Lizzy, The Scorpions, etc.

The album kicks off with "Stormwind", a straight up mid-tempo rocker. A good start, just thinking about it makes me want to shred down the mountain on my good ol neon yellow skis. Guitarist John Norum immediately kicks off the album with a huge melodic guitar line, not afraid to show his classic rock / blues influences. Vocalist Joey Tempest has a great voice for rock, with just enough of a raw edge backing his strong melodies. If you read the lyrics I don't think it is hard to figure out that English is not their native language, but who really cares about the words anyway... lets get to rockin!

Next comes "Scream of Anger", the fastest and most angry song of the album. Double bass drums, wah-filtered guitars, lyrics about a guy waiting for the death sentence, yup... that's metal.

At this point you know that a power ballad is absolutely neccessary (it is 1984 after all...) and Europe delivers with "Open Your Heart" Not too shabby at all, as far as ballads go. They later did a completely unneccessary re-do of this song on "Out of this World" but the original is much better.

"Treated Bad Again" kicks the heat back on with a monster Deep Purple-ish guitar riff. The song has a stomping, slow, greasy and bluesy feel (with a great, though brief interlude). Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, they aren't trying to reinvent the wheel here. Europe is smart enough to keep it simple, do it right and just play some ROCK!

Now comes the aformentioned guitar instrumental "Aphasia". In hindsight I have my suspicion that Norum wanted to show that Yngwie wasn't the only Strat-wielding Swede who could melt your face off. He is certainly more in tune with the blues and making each note count rather than Mr. Malmsteen though. I think this one might not have aged as gracefully as some of the other cuts on this album but it is a great way to close out Side A.

Flip that tape over and you come to the title track "Wings of Tomorrow". Moderately up-tempo, this one has some great guitar playing as well. Some cheesy backing vocals on the chorus have definately not stood the test of time, but still some good stuff.

Next up is "Wasted Time" which is another mid-tempo rocker. Again, not trying to re-invent the wheel here, it's just a straight up rocker with an absolutely blistering short guitar solo. John Norum can obviously deliver the shredding goods when he wants to, but luckily he doesn't need to constantly remind the listener of that.

"Lyin' Eyes" follows, which may be the strongest overall song on the album. A great chorus, strong lyrics (considering...) and great rhythm guitar that doesn't just stick to power chords. I believe this was the first single from the album, for a good reason. I would love to track down the vinyl version of that single, which had a different vocal track than the album itself...

We're getting close to the end, and it's time again for another ballad. "Dreamer" is piano / keyboard based. It's a pretty good, if standard, slow song for the era. The lyrics again are pretty cliche... OK, OK, it may have made the pre-teen me get misty-eyed a few times. Shut up.

Now, time to close it out with an up-tempo rocker "Dance the Night Away". This one actually does make me want to MOVE, as does a lot of this album. It makes me wish for the days that you could go to a night club, listen to awesome rock music, drink countless shots and beers and just get down and party. There would be pink neon lights and checkered tile floors, and of course lots of hot rocker chicks with Aqua-Netted teased hair, pegged Guess? jeans and 3 pairs of different colored socks on. I'd be sporting my lightning-dagger dangly earring, an awesome jean jacket, my mullet blowing behind me in the breeze from the fog machine, lasers cutting through all over the place...

OK, I'm pretty sure that club never existed, and even if it did the 10 year old me wouldn't have been able to get in.

I'm just a Dreamer I guess!