Song of the Day: War Pigs (by Black Sabbath)

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Arleigh

“War Pigs” is the classic heavy metal song by the godfathers of heavy metal itself, Black Sabbath. This song will kick you in the nuts from it’s ominous bass heavy intro right through one of the best guitar solos in the middle right up to it’s epic ending. It’s not a surprise that many heavy metal fans both new and old still consider this one of the best heavy metal songs ever. It also highlights Ozzy Osbourne as a frontman who became a template for future metal frontmen everywhere. Hearing him sing out the lyrics reminds us that he wasn’t a mumbling, drug-scarred reality tv show personlality. Ozzy was the face of metal and his voice in the early albums of Black Sabbath was one of the best in the business.

The song itself is actually an anti-war song despite many uses of it in films, tv and trailers highlighting war and violence. Last year’s 300: Rise of An Empire literally reveled in using this song for it’s end credits. Which makes me wonder if those who actually listened to this song actually listened to the lyrics after the first verse.

The lyrics speaks of the inequality of war and how those most willing to begin one are the rich and powerful (meaning they would never ever be put into harm’s way) while those who do the killing and dying are the poor and downtrodden. The interesting thing about this song is how it’s early version was not an anti-war one but just a metal song about witches and black magic rituals. The early name for the song was “Walpurgis” but with the band already being seen as Satanic by puritanical groups in England and in the US they were convinced to change the title to “War Pigs” and adjusted the lyrics to make it the anti-war song it is today.

No matter it’s history and backstory, “War Pigs” remain one of the essential heavy metal songs that any prospective heavy metal newbie needs to listen to and study.

War Pigs

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death’s construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait ’til their judgment day comes
Yeah!

(guitar solo)

Now in darkness world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgment, God is calling
On their knees the war pig’s crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing spreads his wings
Oh lord yeah!

(guitar solo)

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Rock You Like A Hurricane (by Scorpions)

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Arleigh

Here I am!

I think I’ve been saying that all day and it’s all because of a very catchy and classic hard rock song from my youth. It’s also the latest “Song of the Day” and marks another entry in the current series of great guitar solos.

“Rock You Like A Hurricane” by Scorpions was one of those rock songs during the 1980’s that really help propel a very good rock band into the next level of epicness (yes, that’s a word I decided is a real one). It was also a song that took advantage of the new visual media called music video to help market it to a much wider audience.

Many people tend to just fixate on the chorus of the song and tend to not remember the bulk of the songs lyrics. If they did they would realize it’s quite the raunchy bit of songwriting. The song is pretty much about someone looking to hook up and once partner has been chosen…well we know by the chorus how the encounter will develop and end up.

For a song about no-nonsense one-night stands it also has a classic guitar solo in the middle by lead guitarist Matthias Jabs that has been admired by listeners since the song’s inception. Jabs might not be as well known outside of the hard rock and heavy metal community, but his guitar playing talent was and is just as good as any of his contemporaries during the early 80’s.

Rock You Like A Hurricane

It’s early morning, the sun comes out
Last night was shaking and pretty loud
My cat is purring, it scratches my skin
So what is wrong with another sin?

The bitch is hungry, she needs to tell
So give her inches and feed her well
More days to come, new places to go
I’ve got to leave, it’s time for a show

Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane

My body is burning, it starts to shout
Desire is coming, it breaks out loud
Lust is in cages till storm breaks loose
Just have to make it with someone I choose

The night is calling, I have to go
The wolf is hungry, he runs the show
He’s licking his lips, he’s ready to win
On the hunt tonight for love at first sting

Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane (Are you ready, baby?)
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane (Come on, come on, baby)
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane

Rock you like a hurricane

(guitar solo)

It’s early morning, the sun comes out
Last night was shaking and pretty loud
My cat is purring, it scratched my skin
So what is wrong with another sin?

The night is calling, I have to go
The wolf is hungry, he runs the show
He’s licking his lips, he’s ready to win
On the hunt tonight for love at first sting

Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane (Are you ready, baby?)
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane (Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on)
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane

Here I am

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Rainbow in the Dark (by Dio)

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Arleigh

It’s just appropriate that we follow up the previous “Song of the Day” that was one of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo tracks with one who replaced him for a brief time as frontman of OZzy’s previous band, Black Sabbath.

Ronnie James Dio will always be one of the metal gods. People may disagree but they will always be wrong. Some would say it’s the height of arrogance to name one’s band after themselves and, for the most part, I would agree with them. Yet, if there as ever a musician who deserved to have their arrogance as part and parcel of their immense talent it would be Ronnie James Dio and the band he would form after his stint with Black Sabbath. A band that he would simply call Dio.

It would be remiss not to include the second track to be released as a single from the group’s debut album, Holy Diver.

I speak of the song “Rainbow in the Dark” which remains one of my favorite Dio songs and, I honestly believe, his best one. I’m not the only one who seem to think so, but even the song’s mass appeal to it’s heavy metal and hard rock following doesn’t dismiss the fact that it’s Ronnie James Dio at his best. Not to mention has one of the best guitar solos ever.

A guitar solo which comes midway during the song and performed by group guitarist Vivian Campbell.

Rainbow in the Dark

When there’s lightning
You know, it always brings me down
‘Cause it’s free, and I see that it’s me
Who’s lost and never found

I cry out for magic
I feel it dancing in the light
It was cold, lost my hold
To the shadows of the night

No sign of the morning coming
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
A rainbow in the dark

Do your demons
Do they ever let you go?
When you’ve tried, do they hide deep inside?
Is it someone that you know?

You’re just a picture
You’re an image caught in time
We’re a lie, you and I
We’re words without a rhyme

There’s no sign of the morning coming
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark, yeah

(guitar solo)

When I see lightning
You know, it always brings me down
‘Cause it’s free, and I see that it’s me
Who’s lost and never found

Feel the magic
I feel it floating in the air
But it’s fear, and you’ll hear
It calling you, beware, look out

There’s no sight of the morning coming
There’s no sign of the day
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow

Like a rainbow in the dark, yeah-yay
You’re a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark
No sign of the morning
You’re a rainbow in the dark, whoa

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Mr. Crowley (by Ozzy Osbourne)

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Arleigh

Why is it that those with creative talents that border on genius tend to die young and much too soon. This has become almost synonymous with the premature passing of some of the greatest musician of the last 50 years. Most seem to be from the rock and metal corner of the musical landscape. Some has been due to the very lifestyle led by these musicians. A lifestyle of libertine excess that catches up to their talent way too soon.

One such individual who went before his time yet made such an impact on the music scene that he’s considered one of the greatest metal guitarist of all-time (I say one of the best guitarist in or out of metal). His name was Randy Rhoads.

Only 25 when he passed away not due to a life of excess (he was actually quite responsible a rock star in his era where sex, booze and drugs were commonplace) but to a tragic accident that didn’t need to happen.

While some always point to his guitar work on the Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train” from his solo debut album, I always thought one of his best guitar work was on another song from that debut album. The song I speak about is “Mr. Crowley”.

The song itself is one of those songs that drove parents crazy when they first heard their young teenage sons listening to it. I mean it’s a song about self-proclaimed Anti-Christ, libertine and sex magick user Aleister Crowley. Yet, it’s not Ozzy’s vocals that make the song memorable. It’s Rhoad’s lead guitar performance with special focus on the two guitar solos which rise up in the middle of the track and closes it out.

Mr. Crowley

Mister Crowley
What went down in your head?
Oh, Mister Crowley
Did you talk to the dead?

Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic
With the thrill of it all
You fooled all the faithful with magic
Yeah, you waited on Satan’s call

Mister Charming
Did you think you were pure?
Mister Alarming
In nocturnal rapport

Uncovering things that were sacred
Manifest on this earth
Oh, conceived in the eye of a secret
Yeah, they scattered the afterbirth

(guitar solo)

Mister Crowley
Won’t you ride my white horse?
Mister Crowley
It’s symbolic, of course

Approaching a time that is classic
I hear that maiden’s call
Approaching a time that is drastic
Standing with their backs to the wall

Was it polemically sent?
I wanna know what you meant
I wanna know
I wanna know what you meant, yeah!

(guitar solo/outro)

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Powerslave (by Iron Maiden)

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Arleigh

It took me awhile to get into Iron Maiden. I listened to them somewhat during the 80’s but it wasn’t until later in life that I truly appreciated the band for what they were and that was one of the great metal bands of all-time. “Powerslave” continues the mini-series in the “Song of the Day” series as another song with a great guitar solo section.

It’s a song steeped in Ancient Egypt imagery and mysticism and one written by band front man Bruce Dickinson. From the fifth and album of the same name, “Powerslave” is over 7 minutes of classic Iron Maiden that spoke not just to its headbanging followers, but to another group that was pushed even farther into the fringes of society when the album first came out: nerds.

Iron Maiden’s songs have always been more about lore, mysticism, history and classic literature than it was about sex and drugs the way 80’s metal (hair and glam metal movement) in the U.S. focused on. These things spoke to the geeks and nerds who spent time on AD&D and reading ancient and military history instead of parties, sports and the high school social scene.

The has two competing guitar solos that come midpoint in the song’s playing time with both Adrian Smith and Dave Murray getting a chance to shine and show-off their guitar skills. And yeah, Bruce Dickinson’s vocals were pretty amazing, as well…

Powerslave

Into the Abyss I’ll fall – the eye of Horus
Into the eyes of the night – watching me go
Green is the cat’s eye that glows – in this Temple
Enter the risen Osiris – risen again

Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don’t wanna die, I’m a God, why can’t I live on?
When the Life Giver dies, all around is laid waste
And in my last hour, I’m a slave to the Power of Death

When I was living this lie – Fear was my game
People would worship and fall – drop to their knees
So bring me the blood and red wine for the one to succeed me,
for he is a man and a God – and He will die too

(guitar solos)

Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins
Silent the terror that reigned – marbled in stone
A shell of a man God preserved – for a thousand ages
But open the gates of my Hell – I will strike from the grave

Great Guitar Solos Series

27 Days of Old School: #21 “One” (by Metallica)

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Arleigh

“Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me”

Yeah, my taste in music see-sawed back and forth from one end of the spectrum to the other. Yesterday, I reminisced about one of the best R&B ballads from my time as a teenager in high school during the late 80’s. Today, I focus on one of the songs on metal end which remains (in my opinion) one of the best metal songs ever put out there.

“One” was the final single released from Metallica’s fourth album, …And Justice For All.

The song also had the distinction of being the first ever Metallica song which was accompanied by a music video shot for it. Metallica had avoided making music videos of their songs for years. Their success as a band never needed the assistance that MTV could provide. They saw it as a badge of honor that they’ve never made a music video, but that change in January 1989 when the single for “One” was released and a music video followed soon after.

A music video that combined elements from the 1971 anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun and the band playing inside a warehouse. It was an effective video that more than convinced many skeptics that when done properly a metal music video was possible. This wasn’t a video using garish colors, over-the-top imagery of hair metal music videos. It was a video that was just as heavy and through-provoking as the song it was made for.

27 Days of Old School: #14 “The Trooper” (by Iron Maiden)

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Arleigh

“The Bugle sounds and the charge begins”

I didn’t hear #14 the year it came out in 1983. I wasn’t too much into heavy metal at that age (still just 10). Now, once I got into high school and expanded my circle of friends (still not much but did include a couple who were into metal) I was finally introduced to heavy metal.

One of the first songs I really got into was Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” from their Piece of Mind album. Even from the first time hearing the song I had an idea what the song about. I was already a huge hoarder of all things military history in my teen years and I knew the song was about the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.

What I didn’t realize at that time was that the song itself was using a famous poem about said charge. So, in addition to getting me into heavy metal (which waxed and waned in the years since until meeting necromoonyeti online), I ended up learning about Tennyson and his poem about that fateful charge of British Light Cavalry against a well-defended and heavily-armed Russian artillery battery.

Also, seeing the cover for “The Trooper” with Eddie in full light cavalry regalia waving a cavalry saber and a bloodied, tattered Union Jack just hit me right in my wheelhouse.

27 Days of Old School: #5 “Welcome to the Jungle” (by Guns N’ Roses)

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Arleigh

“Welcome to the jungle. We’ve got fun n’ games.”

Quite the extreme reversal from #4 to #5 but then my taste in music between junior high and high school was pretty much all over the place. I could be listening to the latest teeny bopper, LAtin-freestyle dance track one month then I’m picking up that hard rock or metal song that I knew my parents would never approve of (especially my mom).

Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” was one such song though I was surprised that my Dad actually liked it as much as I did. My first memory of ever hearing “Welcome to the Jungle” was watching the latest and last Dirty Harry film with my dad. It was The Dead Pool and this song was used as a sort of soundtrack in the fake horror film in the film. I’m not sure if my dad liked the song because it was in a Dirty Harry flick or he just liked it because he grew up in the 60’s and 70’s listening to hard rock.

I don’t think my dad was too keen on the Guns N’ Roses look though. Even then he knew the hair metal, glam look was no bueno.

So, “Welcome to the Jungle” was my initial introduction to Guns N’ Roses and pretty much opened up my ears to a whole new spectrum of music. I never abandoned the R&B, dance pop and freestyle songs from junior high and even years later, but hard rock and metal soon joined the LP (and later CD) rotation.

Song of the Day: GWAR – The One That Will Not Be Named

Posted on October 31, 2014 by necromoonyeti

In the past, I have always taken the opportunity on Halloween to feature some song or compilation respectful towards the pagan roots of the holiday. Halloween is, after all, a celebration of all those things traditionally taboo in a society which derives its moral perspective from Christianity.

Not this year. In honor of the late, great Dave Brockie, who passed away earlier this year, I offer you the grand finale of the most epic B-side horror-comedy album in the history of heavy metal. On Beyond Hell, GWAR are forced to retreat underground when their fortress in Antarctica is nuked and overrun by a global military task force (“War is All We Know”). They happen to stumble their way into Hell, and decide to spend their time in exile overthrowing Satan and claiming his armies to reconquer Earth. “The One That Will Not Be Named” is their final confrontation with Satan:

We’ve crossed creviced chasms vast,
And endless plains of unshaven ass.
Our time in Hell draws to the last!
We call upon the Master of the Pit:
“Have you got a toilet? I must take a shit!”
“Open your gates, Lord of Hate,”
“Or your front porch is gonna get it!”

“Very well, I’ll use my sword.”
“It’s very good as smashing doors.”
“We call you out!”
“Overrated Overlord!”

The root of all evil and hatred and shame,
So many victims, so many names,
But they are all the same.
“Ereshkigal!”
“Charun!”
“Helel ben-Shachar!”
“Lucifer! Satan! We know who you are!”

He is the one who will not be named
He is the one who will not be blamed

The realm of the sun we have left far behind,
And damned in the darkness we’ve groped with the blind.
Cannot remember time.
“We summon the Lord of Hell”
“So come forth now! I have your smell!”
“Cologne?! Cheap shit, and lots of it!”

He is the one who will not be named
He is the one who will not be blamed
He is the one that is turning the screws
The Lord of the Underworld. Let’s give the Devil his due!

(Lucifer): Welcome, GWAR, to my domain.
It’s nice to be called on by so many names.
What’s this I hear about you kicking my ass?

(In the live show, this is where Oderus fights a guy in an eight or nine foot tall Satan costume and chops his head off, drenching the audience in fake blood.)

He is the one who will not be named
He is the one who will not be blamed
He is the one that is turning the screws
The Lord of the Underworld. Let’s give the Devil his due!

We crossed chasms vast…
and endless ass…
Our time in Hell draws to the last.
The Legions of Hell lay broken and shorn.
The brothers of GWAR have slain through the storm.
The gate, it is riven. The Master is slain.
The fortress of GWAR is now ripe to reclaim.

We wasted Hell in the name of GWAR!
Though we really don’t know where we are…..

Happy Halloween everyone!

RIP Dave Brockie, 1963-2014

Posted on March 24, 2014 by necromoonyeti

One of the greatest minds in music passed away yesterday at the tragically early age of 50. You’ve probably never heard of David Brockie, but I bet you have at least seen a few images or video clips of him on stage as Oderus Urungus, the well-endowed Scumdogian leader of GWAR. Beyond masterminding the band’s famous in-your-face stage antics, Brockie managed to infuse America’s most politically incorrect band with some incredibly clever lyrics and a sardonic whit that seemed to criticize the real atrocities in this world even while pretending to glorify them.

Here is a look at the more human side of the late, great David Brockie. You will always be my favorite live musician, and you’ve taken us beyond hell! I hope you can rest more peacefully now.