Jersey is f'n hot!

It's been hot as hell in Jersey the past few days.  Which really sucks if your central air isn't finished being installed.  So it sucked and I haven't felt like doing a damned thing.  But today I am going to post.

I know I haven't posted a review of the new John 5 yet, part of that is the fact that I can't stop listening to the new Slash.  It really is great.  I might be obsessed with it.  Anyway I started to work the new John 5 into the rotation and I'll have a post up shortly.  I need to really listen to a cd before I comment on it.  LOL.  That usually helps, right?

I'm still on a bit of a Maiden kick and would really like to see them on this Maiden in England tour, but the price for a ticket is over 100 bucks.  I just don't think I can spend that right now.  So it looks like I might have to pass.

I still don't have my Epiphone Zakk Wylde Bullseye guitar.  Was originally supposed to ship May 25th.  I call and now it's June 6th.  I hope I'm not getting the run around.  In the meantime I'm working on fixing this old guitar I found in the basement when I moved into my house 16 years ago.

The action was too high and the neck was not quite straight.  So I am going to raise the neck a little and hopefully be able to straighten the neck.  I've replaced the pickups and the machine heads so far.
Funny thing about this guitar, it's a Montaya, it's the exact same as the first electric guitar I had as a kid.  Exact same, even the color!!  Strange right?

Anyway check back soon, i'll review the John 5 cd.  I promise.

Peace out Earthdogs!

Slash and John 5

I have in my possession both new cd's from Slash and  John 5.  I've listened to them both for a few days and wanted to put up a quick review of each.  Let's start with Apocalyptic Love from Slash.

The cd starts off with a bang and never really lets up.  I love the first four songs, Apocalyptic Love, One Last Thrill, Standing in the Sun and You're a Lie.  Great riffs, Slash is killing it.  So right off the bat you're hooked, which is what all great cd's do.  I'm listening to it as I write this, did I mention Slash is at the top of his game here???

When I listen to a cd I usually group the songs in blocks and listen to it like that, slowly adding more of the cd.   So the first few times I would listen to the first four songs and go back and play them again.  Then I finally let the whole cd play and it really is great from start to finish.  Halo is a highlight, very GnR sounding, riffy tune.  It has that feel that it was just jammed on and recorded.  No retakes and overdubbing.  Actually the whole cd has a live, raw feel to it.

I could go track by track here and rave about each one, this cd is that good,  Anastasia is great, song just kinda builds and has tempo changes, classic Slash.

Listen the bottom line here is if you like a kick ass Rock and Fucking Roll cd this one is for you.  If you're a fan of Slash's sound, and who wouldn't be fan of a Les Paul and a Marshall played by the legend in the top hat, this cd is for you.  Buy it, crank it and get blown away.

I'll get you a John 5 Gold Told Me To review up later.

Play the guitar,

play it again, my Johnny.

Check out the video for the new John 5 single Welcome to Violence.  It is fucking hardcore.  I can't even count how many times I've watched it.  I'm hold his new cd in my hands right now.  It comes with a DVD that I scanned through real quick.  It has a bunch of video of him in the studio recording the cd.  Super cool stuff.  I only know the one song so far, I plan on listening to it tomorrow.  I'll report back in, but I can pretty much guarantee that it's going to be great.

Dancing with Death

As you know from reading my blog that I am a huge Iron Maiden fan and I buy everything they come out with. For some reason I skipped over  Dance of Death.  It's only recently that I've gone back to listen to it.  Damn its good a cd.  I don't know why I missed out on it.  I do that sometimes and then I go back and listen to it.  In fact i'm going to put it on right now.

My favorites right now are RainMaker, No More Lies, Paschendale and Dance of Death, but really the whole cd is great.











I got my tickets for Slash in August, that's going to be a great show.  I've heard some of his new stuff that he  is streaming on his Facebook page.  Doesn't blow me away, but I may need to listen to it a few times for it to grow on me.  He had a concert on HDNet over the weekend.  Slash was on fire, his playing was tight.  I think you can buy it, it's called Slash - Made in Stoke.  I DVR'd it but I think I will pick it up.

I'll try to get some cd reviews up soon.  I should have the new John 5 soon.  In the meantime I'm listening to The Art of Malice.  Truly amazing stuff.

Thanks for reading fellow brothers in METAL!

Rob and Dave

It's about time i'm blogging about Megadeth and Rob Zombie show I saw last Friday.  Been a little busy but that's no excuse so let's talk about the concert.  First here's a pic of me hanging out with Vic Rattlehead before the show.  

Talking politics and the state of the free world after many adult beverages.

As we got to our seats I still had no idea who would be going on first, well that was quickly decided as soon as I sat in my seat Megadeth came on.  Now before I get into the Megadeth show I have to preface it by saying I've probably seen Megadeth more than any other band.  Starting with the Peace Sells tour at L'Amours in Brooklyn in 1986.  So when they launched into Never Dead to open the show I wasn't sure what song it was.  That just doesn't happen to me at a Megadeth show.  I'm not a huge fan of the new cd Thirteen, it's a good record but not compared to it's predecessor Endgame.  Anyway,  he followed that up with Hanger 18, Wake up Dead and In My Darkest Hour.   Needless to say the place went nuts.  One thing about Megadeth live, there's no bullshit just one great fucking song after another.  No crazy stage show or long solos.  Mustaine brings it every night, I've never seen him have a bad show.  He closes out his set with Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells and Holy Wars.  He ends it with his customary " You've been great, we've been Megadeth".

Another great show by Mustaine and company.  My seats were right in front of Broderick and he makes shredding look effortless.  So after a quick piss run I was ready to see what Rob Zombie had in store.

Seeing Rob Zombie live is like listening to a soundtrack while watching a movie.  There are movies playing on the screens behind him while they perform.  Explosions, fire and strange creatures wondering around the stage.  The complete opposite of Megadeth.  Which makes this a curious pairing for a tour.  The tunes are cool and he did the obligatory ones, More Human then Human, Thunder Kiss 65, Living Dead Girl, SuperBeast and Dragula.  One cool surprise was the  song Pussy Liquor.  Like all Zombie tunes it has a cool, groovy beat to it.  The best part of the show was John 5's guitar playing.  It was hard to get a good picture with all the flashing lights but here's my best shot.

Overall Zombie put on an entertaining show but it's no contest when compared to Megadeth.

We'll talk again soon, Metalheads!

Really Axl?

Would it have killed Axl and Izzy to show up at the rock and roll hall of fame for one fucking night and play?  One fucking night the original 5 from Guns and Roses, it would have been great.  I just don't get it, put all the shit aside for one night.  One of the greatest rock bands in history that could have been the greatest.  It's such a fucking shame.  Anyway is was cool to see Steven Adler playing the old tunes.  Slash and Duff are as cool as ever.  Oh shit, just remembered I gotta tickets for Slash in August.  I'm outta here for now.

Megadeth and Zombie

Hey- What's going on?  Haven't checked in lately, been busy and playing a lot of guitar.  Anyway, tomorrow night is the Megadeth and Rob Zombie show at the PNC and motherfucker i'll be there.  10th row center bitches!!  LOL.  Can't wait, love Megadeth and I dig Rob Zombie but I really can't wait to see John 5 jam.  That dude is crazy good on guitar.  In fact I just ordered his new cd God Told me to.  I'm listening to his previous cd The Art of Malice all the time.  He is an amazing guitarist.

Speaking of amazing guitarists, can't wait to see Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick shred it up.  I've seen Megadeth a ton of times and they are probably my favorite thrash band.  I know they don't get the coverage or the crowds that Metallica do, but pound for pound Megadeth is the better band.  They are still putting out great records, I wasn't a big fan of Thirteen but I think that had more to do with the previous release Endgame being such an amazing record.  How often does a band this late in their career put out a record that compares to their early classics.  Endgame is right up the with Peace Sells and Rust in Peace.

I'll try to get some decent pictures from the show so I can post them here, maybe even record a song or two.  I'll review both bands over the weekend.  Until then I can't wait for some ice cold adult beverages in the parking lot and then a killer double bill!

See ya!

The House of Manson

I was expecting a great show Friday night and Manson did not disappoint.  He had a great set list, a nice mix of some new tracks and classics.  The stage show show was stripped down as well, as he went through wardrobe changes but not so much with the stage props.  I think it worked for him as his band was tight and his singing was right on point.  He opened with a new song called Hey, Cruel World and then jumped right into Disposable Teens.  The crowd was into from the beginning and Manson whipped them into a frenzy as he played tracks from the different points in his career.

He tore through Rock is Dead, Dope Show, Mobscene, The Love Song and pulled out a couple of covers as well as he did Personal Jesus and Sweet Dreams.  He ended the show by playing a bunch of songs from Antichrist Superstar which is the the album that broke him.  He played Tourniquet, Irresponsible Hate Anthem and the pulpit was brought on stage for Antichrist Superstar.

The crowd went ballistic as Manson took his place on top and proceeded to rip apart a bible.  He tossed it into the crowd and it was promptly thrown back at him.    He of course closed the show with Beautiful People.  
One interesting point was Twiggy was playing guitar, I had no idea he wasn't playing bass anymore.  He sounded great.  Manson's voice sounded great as he went from one song right into another.  I've seen Manson at least 7-8 times and this was the best he's been since I caught him on Ozzfest in 2001.  If you have a chance to see the show, do it.  You won't be disappointed.

It's a Manson Friday

What's up people?

I'm heading down to Atlantic City after work today to catch Marilyn Manson at the House of Blues.  I haven't seen Manson in a while, not since that weird pairing with Slayer, but I have seen him a few times in the past and he always put on a good show.  The best was at Ozzfest in 2001 I believe, Holywood had just come out and he was at the top of his game.  Stage show was amazing, it didn't hurt that I was right up front.  So we'll see what he does tonight,  I'll review the show in a future blog.

I was browsing Youtube the other day and I found some really cool full length live DVD's that some people had uploaded.  I watched live Whitesnake from 2006 and Dio when he performed the entire Holy Diver record.  Two great shows and Doug Aldrich was playing guitar for both bands,  Dude was amazing  I'm going to see what else has been uploaded.  Youtube is awesome!

I've been learning a lot of Guns and Roses on guitar lately, especially the solos.  It's reintroduced the awesomeness that is Slash.  The guy has such great feel when he plays.  Those Guns and Roses records are just so good.  I buy Slash's solo stuff but it's just not there like it was.  I guess I'm asking a lot, somethings just can't be duplicated.  I was listening to Dust and Bones last night, man what a great song.  

Love the Les Pauls.  Now I don't own one but I do have 2 Epiphone Les Pauls and one Montaya which is a Les Paul replica.


The Priest just came on my Pandora station, another metal band that's in my metal Hall of Fame.  I'll need to spend some time on them as well.  They were instrumental in making me into the Metal beast that I am today :)


I'm out.  Happy Friday Metalabangers!

Zakk is Stronger than Death

I have to admit the first time I heard Black label Society I wasn't a huge fan.  It was the 1919 Eternal cd.  I guess the main reason was it wasn't what I expected from the guitar player from Ozzy.  I heard some of the Pride and Glory stuff and this was as far from that as you can get.  The production sounded a little muddled and there wasn't a lot of hooks.  I just didn't know what to make of it and I listened to it a few times and kinda left it alone.  It wasn't until the the next year when The Blessed Hellride came out that I really became a fan of BLS.  The radio was playing Stillborn which I thought was a great tune so I picked up the cd and got right into it.  Stoned and Drunk and Doomsday Jesus two great tunes to start it off.  This is still my favorite BLS cd, just beating out Mafia for the top spot.  I've gone back and listened to 1919 and now I love it.  The only cd I don't really like is Shot to Hell.  The songs just don't stack up to what we've come to expect from BLS.  Fortunately they bounced back nicely with Order of the Black.

 
It's a return to the heavier BLS sound.  With tracks like Crazy Horse, Overlord and Parade of the Dead highlighting the 13 track offering.  It just happens that those three songs lead off the cd so you are hooked from the start.

Now as far as seeing Black Label Society live.  I've seen them more times than I can count.    I've seen them on every tour since the Blessed Hellride.  I have a picture from the Asbury Park show here:

I took this one amongst the Berserkers  in the pit.  They put on a great show and as a guitarist it's even better for me as Zakk really puts it all out there.  Extended solo's after songs and a great guitar solo during the set.  Never disappointing in all the times I've seen him. 

I'm out for now.  Remember SDMF and GIFD my fellow Berserkers!