Tag Archives: Heavy Metal

Friday Morning Metal – Venator – Steal the Night

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Oooh throwback metal from Austria. Venator’s Steal the Night sounds straight out of NWoBHM. Or I guess classic heavy metal at this point. These guys have been around since 2016 and have a good sound. Also apparently their themes are Fighting, Rebellion, and Horror. Encyclopedia Metallum has a lot of detail about bands. Including themes.

The song is off their album Psychodrome, which I think is the drome that Krang’s cousin used in Ninja Turtles. They didn’t show it in the cartoon because it was way more psychotic than the Technodrome. The song itself is pretty down the fairway chugga guitars and driving drums. The vocals have a bit of edge but fit in well, gives the song a lot of its classic feel. There’s a kickass not too wild solo 3/4 of the way through the song, definitely had the same feel as something you’d hear in 1983.

There’s a live version of the song so you can see just how well these guys time traveled from the 80s. Leather pants, high tops, they’ve got it all! But also they look like they’d be fun to see live so maybe they’ll come to the US at some point! So dust off your battle jacket, put one your fingerless gloves, and hop into your camaro! It’s time to rock.

And if you want to hear the album version, they got that too. Drums sound a lot better than the live one.

Friday Morning Metal – Battlesnake – I am the Vomit

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Happy Friday! This week is some fuzzy metal with a very public access-caliber video from Battlesnake. This band is from Sydney, Australia, and they seem okay throwing up to create some sort of Gollum-feratu monster.

I’m not sure what kind of metal they are. Encyclopaedia Metallum pegs them as Heavy Metal, which is kind of broad. I know it’s not necessarily fuzz metal, but it is plenty fuzzy. Sounds almost like Red Fang and Big Dumb Face smooshed together. Donno why I picked those two specifically, but here we are. For the most part it’s a solid chuggy song, singing about maggots and venom and yeast and stuff. The dueling guitarmony into the shreddy solo is totally great. There’s some good noodling and scale work before closing out the song. Ending a song with a solo is rad. More bands should do it.

The video is pretty grody, but has a great metal vibe. Apparently the Knights Templar, if they throw up into a coffin, can make a pale monster that might be The Vomit? Regardless, that dude is not keen on the knights and rips them all up. One of them is made of sausage links; I did not realize that Knights Templar have different internal organs than regular humans, that’s good to know. It’s also shot on what appears to be high-8 video? That kind of look that would fit in at 2am on public access.

Friday Morning Metal – Sanhedrin – Blind Wolf

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Oooh New York heavy metal! Sanhedrin is here this week with the video for their song Blind Wolf. This is another band with a cool bassist lady singing, which is pretty rad.

The video is a mix of studio shots and them looking for something out the woods. Maybe it’s the blind wolf. I bet they’re easy to sneak up on. Or the comet blinded the wolf. Poor wolf. In the band’s extensive YouTube description, it’s a symbol of losing your inner wolf because you follow someone else. I always thought there were two wolves inside you, one chocolate, and one peanut butter. But maybe there’s only one. Putting all the aging on the video and hard cuts helps make it feel occult & whatnot, props to the videographer for that.

The song kicks off with a pretty solid guitar lead in, kinda like something you’d hear at the start of an early 80’s thrash song, though it doesn’t kick full into high gear. The vocalist has a good set of pipes, fits in really well with the song, and also kinda reminds me of the singer from the 2nd wave ska band the Body Snatchers. Halfway through we get some solid rock posing, and there’s plenty of hair whipping from the guitarist and drummer. I’m digging on the solo, plenty of noodles on that flying v. I also did not expect the falsetto on the chorus to be the dude, but it’s rad he can hit those notes.

Friday Morning Metal – Blackslash – Heroes, Saints & Fools

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Oooh throwback metal from Germany. Heroes, Saints & Fools from Blackslash! I bet when they first started, Google really wanted to offer up “Did you mean Backslash?” Hell, even Youtube did it when I was trying to find the video. Encyclopaedia Metallum also wants to make sure you don’t get them confused with Backlash the heavy/power metal band from Bamberg, Bavaria, or Backslash from Freiburg, which is hard rock. Or also Back Slash which was a heavy rock band in 1991. Also don’t get them confused with Blackstreet, the R&B group known for No Diggity.

The song kicks off with a growly vocal intro, like an orc is trying to send you on the right path, before kicking into some dueling guitarmonies and driving drums. Clemens Haas’s vocals are interesting, not quite what you hear from other throwback bands, like a bit of a growl but not going falsetto or anything. He also kinda looks like Nick Wiger with the same haircut as Boo Boo from Bob’s Burgers. It’s fun to see the guitarist air guitar during the pre-solo breakdown, and then also during the soaring sweeps picky solo. Man that’s a good solo. All in all it’s a rollicking good time of a song.

The video itself is of the “rockin out at night in the forest” variety. That sounds oddly specific, but the woods seem to be a staple of heavy metal videos. I bet it’s because it’s spooky. Seems like there’s a new trend to use filters to give the video an aged look. It’s probably not a new trend, but I’ve noticed it a few times lately and it looks pretty solid. There isn’t a side story, just watching the band shred and have a good time. Hopefully they didn’t encounter the Teutonic-equivalent of the Blair Witch, that’d be a bummer.

Friday Morning Metal – Sammy Hagar – Heavy Metal

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I haven’t had Spotify for that long, so it makes sense they’d recommend stuff that may be a bit older. But apparently they wanted me to discover Sammy Hagar’s Heavy Metal. I feel like everyone’s heard this song by now, but hey I might as well share it up here too since it’s just a big dumb fun song. It’s also your one-way ticket to midnight!

Wow, this song came out in 1981. I did not know that. But it’s still a noodly, frenetic, fun song, that at this point would fit in one of the many late 70’s/early 80’s throwback band setlists.

Friday Morning Metal – Powerglove – Batman

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I’ve posted some Powerglove before, they do metal covers of cartoon theme music & other great stuff. Their album, Saturday Morning Apocalypse, has some great covers, including the Johnny Quest reboot theme, X-Men, and Batman: The Animated Series. There’s even a video for Batman: The Animated series. Behold!

Friday Morning Metal – Volbeat – I Only Want to be With You

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Internet turned me onto Volbeat the other day, they were referred to as “Death N’ Roll” which I guess is what happens when rockabilly goes into drop D and uses metal riffs. Anyway, as someone who digs on both Reverend Horton Heat and Pantera, these guys are right up my alley.

Here’s their cover of “I Only Want to be With You”