Single Of The Week: Zombie Ritual by Death

For our very last Halloween themed post for the single of the week, I wanted to turn to a band that was known for providing us with some classics in Death. Death is one of those bands that is credited with inventing what would eventually be called Death Metal. The track I chose for today comes from the band’s first album called Scream Bloody Gore and the song is called Zombie Ritual. “Vomit for a mind, maggots for a c–k, with his axe the corpse will chop…” That is an example of some of the lyrics in this bone crusher with a killer bass line and intro. Then it’s all out madness from that point on as the band as the band quickly turns the tempo up to a 1000 in the blink of an eye. The track is crushing, in your face, and it’s Don Jamieson of That Metal Show approved cause zombies are metal. Check it out below:

Tuesday Stand Up: Jim Norton: American Degenerate (2013)

There are comedians that come up in life that you enjoy because they are a little more harsh or are not willing to talk about things no other comedian is willing to talk about. I call these comedians the heavy metal comedians because they are brash and in your face and unapologetic about it as well. We’ve had some greats in the past like Andrew Dice Clay or even Sam Kinison, but now we have Jim Norton. In this comedy special that was an Epix Presentation, Jim Norton presents American Degenerate which was filmed at the Somerville Theater in Boston, MA. In this comedy special, Jim tackles every topic imagineable from Casey Anthony, the new Pope (at the time), crowds at concerts, the Middle East, stupid weather jokes, nice smelling guys, hitting on women, a hot girl at the gym, some a**hole at the gym whose always naked, massages, sleep apnea, angry bloggers, and why mainstream media sucks.

Jim Norton is definitely one of my favorite comedians who is undeniably funny and has a no holds barred approach to his stand up routine. As I said before, he tackles topics that most comedians won’t touch like how to know if you get a happy ending out of a regular massage or not to even defending John Travolta when it came to his massage controversy. One of the other funniest bits he has is when he is talking about the girl at the gym that he wants badly. He follows that one up with the old man at the gym joke which is also funny. His reactions and examples he gives while telling some of the jokes are amazing to the point that I consider him in that group of heavy metal comedians which also includes Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine these days. One of the funniest parts comes in the beginning when they play the intro that features fellow comedian Robert Kelly and actor Michael K. Williams (Boardwalk Empire) who looks like he had just finished violating Jim Norton. This is definitely a very funny comedy special that is worth checking out and it’s available to stream on Netflix as we speak. I am giving the comedy special an A for a final grade.

Rock Docs: Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back (2014)

It’s been a very long time since we last covered a documentary for Rock Docs and I love rock documentaries because they give you an inside look into your favorite artists. The one I chose for today is one of those and when I had heard that Frankie Banali was developing the film for quite some time since he restarted and rebooted LA Hair Metal legends Quiet Riot I was anxious to see it. The documentary is called Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back and it follows the story of how they started the band with Randy Rhoads to being the first heavy metal band to ever score a number one album on the Billboard Top 200 back in 1983 in Quiet Riot all the way to the band’s untimely downfall back to it’s Resurrection after the death of it’s most legendary member. It then follows how the band’s core member will try to resurrect the band with a new singer despite what the critics may think and it shows you the frustration that comes with rescuing a legacy. The film features interviews with Glenn Hughes, Steven Adler, Spencer Proffer, Alex Grossi, Chuck Wright, Rudy Sarzo, Dana Strum, Kelly Rhoads, Don Jamieson, Eddie Trunk, Dee Snider, Lark Williams (Kevin’s girlfriend), Matt Sorum, Mark Huff, Scott Vokoun, Sally Steele (Vegas Rocks), and it features archived interviews with Kevin DuBrow and never before seen backstage footage and photos. The film was written and directed by Regina Russell who was Frankie’s fiance at the time this was recorded.

It’s crazy to watch this documentary which I watched for the first time on Showtime and see how quickly the band rose with a performance at the US Festival in 83 to how quickly they sank after the media bated their singer into talking trash about other bands. It was very cool to see some of the people in the documentary like Randy Rhoads brother and sister who make an appearance since he was in the original version of Quiet Riot and if you’re into heavy metal debauchery this doc has plenty of footage to drive anyone to want to be a rock star. After the doc does it’s history lesson, it switches gears very quickly into the struggle that Frankie Banali faced with trying to restart the band and all the aggravation he went through to find a replacement for Kevin. The auditions segment of the documentary is actually pretty funny as it’s done American Idol style. I also didn’t know that Chuck Wright recorded the bass parts to Metal Health (Bang Your Head) and Don’t Wanna Let You Go. The only issue I have is I think they could have dived deeper into the history of the band, but the issue for the film was Frankie and his trials & tribulations trying to find a new singer while dealing with the pain of the loss of his best friend. I would definitely recommend checking this out if you’re a fan of 80’s metal. I am giving the documentary an B+ for a final grade.

The 2014 Revolver Golden God Awards Review

Everyone was looking forward to performances from A Day To Remember, Guns N Roses, and even Zakk Wylde’s, but nobody saw this coming at the 2014 Revolver Golden God Awards which was Slayer opening the show as the surprise performer. One of the things people expect at this particular awards show is to see who the surprise guest performer will be, but Slayer didn’t need it as the bulldozed their way through classics South Of Heaven, War Ensemble, and the premiere of a brand new track Implode. It was especially cool to see Marilyn Manson intro the band in. Right after Slayer was done with their set, it was time to meet this year’s hosts of the show since Chris Jericho wasn’t doing it this year. Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine of VH1 Classics That Metal Show were the hosts and their intro was horrible. Then it was off to the first presenters of the show as Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park came out to present The Best Vocalist Award (see below for complete list of winners), then that was followed by Dave Navarro and Jill Janus of Huntress presenting the Best Live Band Award.

Frankie Palmeri of Emmure came out next to present the next live band of the night which was A Day To Remember who brought something completely different than Slayer, but they pleased the crowd as the band performed hit songs such as Right Back At It Again, End Of Me, and their closer All I Want. They were the second band to perform and still no surprise guest on stage with which is unusual at this point in the show. Then there was some technical difficulties as we waited for the cameras to show us Tony Hawk and Carmen Electra who were presenting the best live band award which was won by Avenged Sevenfold. They weren’t at The Nokia Theater, but they were brought in via satellite from a gig in Minneapolis where they gave the award away to a fan from the crowd. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach and a couple of members from Memphis May Fire came out next to present the best new band award.

Then the legendary Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein along with the sexy brand new lead singer of Arch Enemy Alissa White-Gluz to intro The Pretty Reckless who were the next band to perform that night. Taylor Momsen is beautiful and very sexual on stage as most of you may know, but she has an amazing band that backs her up as they had one heck of a performance. The band performed their tracks Fucked Up World, Heaven Knows, and Going To Hell. Zakk Wylde would eventually come out to do a special Piano performance of In This River to pay tribute to all that have fallen over the years, but who was working the special video screwed up saying that Jani Lane was the singer for Motorhead. Then more technical difficulties plagued the show as we waited for Suicide Silence to take the stage to perform for the first time with their brand new singer Eddie Hermida. The band would play the tracks You Only Live Once and No Pity For A Coward, but it was their last song that was amazing. The band brought out Max Cavalera of Soulfly/Sepultura fame and they performed Roots on stage together that had me saying thank God someone finally had a guest on stage.

Alice Cooper presented The Golden God Award to Joan Jett who mentioned The Runaways. After her speech, she wanted to perform, but they nixed it so that Alice could introduce the performance. She opened up her performance with a rocking version of Bad Reputation which was tearing up the house. The next track she performed was a track that she had written with Dave Grohl called Any Weather which captured the spirit of the Blackhearts. Then Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were on fire with the next song I Hate Myself For Loving You for which she was joined onstage by Taylor Momsen. What I didn’t understand is that after the performance was done they performed it again to which Billy Gibbons would join them on stage to be the cheerleader. It was one heck of a performance anyways, but I believe they may have been shooting a version for television.

Andrew Dice Clay came out to present the video montage for Axl Rose while Nicolas Cage presented Axl Rose of  Guns N Rose with the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award. Of course from that point on, we were wondering how long it was going to take for the band to actual perform. The crowd was definitely anxiously awaiting the band to hit the stage as we also knew that Duff McKagan would be performing with the band. The band eventually came out and started rocking right away with It’s So Easy. The band would blaze through one of my all time favorite tracks Welcome To The Jungle with a killer intro by DJ Ashba. One thing I will admit is that Axl’s vocals were a little off tonight when it came to his high notes. Then for the third track of the night they would dig into their latest album Chinese Democracy with the Better. The band would then perform This I Love from Chinese Democracy. Then the band kicked into the kickass Use Your Illusion II track You Could Be Mine. The band would continue with Sweet Child Of Mine and a Babe I’m Gonna Leave You/November Rain medley after Axl introduced the whole band to the crowd. My final thoughts on the show is that I thought it could have been executed a little bit better than it had been in the past. I certainly miss having Chris Jericho hosting the show, but after a while the boys from That Metal Show did fine.

Awards:

Best Vocalist- Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age

Best Live Band- Rob Zombie

Most Dedicated Fans- Avenged Sevenfold

Best New Talent- Twelve Foot Ninja

Paul Gray Best Bassist- Chris Kael

Best Drummer- Arin Ilejay

Comeback Of The Year- Deep Purple

Best Film & Video- This Is A Wasteland by Pierce The Veil

Song Of The Year- Lift Me Up by Five Finger Death Punch

Most Metal Athlete- Josh Barnett

Golden God Award- Joan Jett

Dimebag Darrell Best Guitarist- Zacky Vengeance & Synyster Gates

Album Of The Year- 13 by Black Sabbath

Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award- Axl Rose of Guns N Roses