The Random Ten #5

Testament - "Henchmen Ride" - The Formation of Damnation (Nuclear Blast, 2008)

From their latest opus, 2008's The Formation of Damnation, this is Testament doing what Testament does best: melodic, anthemic, riff-y thrash metal. The Gathering, their last album (from 1999!) was arguably my favorite metal album of the 1990s, and I thought there would be no way of topping it. For that reason, I wasn't too interested in The Formation of Damnation. I saw Testament live this past summer with Judas Priest and Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath fronted by Ronnie James Dio), and they played 2 songs from Formation, and they fit right in with the rest of their 80s thrash classics they put on display that night. I decided to give the album a shot, and I'm very glad I did. "Henchmen Ride" isn't the best song on the album (that would be the title track or "More Than Meets the Eye") but it's a solid thrash metal anthem with great riffs and a great guitar solo by returned axe-god Alex Skolnick.

Anthrax - "Hog Tied" - Volume 8: The Threat Is Real! (Tommy Boy, 1998)

A lot of Anthrax's John Bush-era material gets the shaft, but I don't really understand why. As I've said before, John Bush was my favorite Anthrax vocalist. Musically, they may not have been thrash metal any more once Bush joined, but they were still certainly metal, with an even stronger emphasis on vocal melodies and heavy grooves. "Hog Tied" is not a great Bush-era 'Thrax song, but it's not bad, either. I think a lot of Volume 8 was focused on gimmicky production techniques and not as much on the great riffs and songs that made Sound of White Noise and this album's follow-up We've Come For You All great. This song does feature a good guest guitar solo from the late, great Dimebag Darrell Abbot, of Pantera/Damageplan fame. Bush's vocal delivery, as always, is powerful and emotional, but I'm just not too into the riffs and music in this song.

Testament - "The Haunting" - The Legacy (Atlantic, 1987)

Well, here we go again, more Testament. This being from their classic debut, The Legacy, "The Haunting" was the type of thrash song that really set Testament apart from their peers. Musically, the opening riffs are more reminiscent of progressive metal/New Wave of British Heavy Metal stylings, not so much the straight ahead speed and chugging of a Metallica or Anthrax. Not that the song doesn't provide a lot of groovy chug at about the 2:05 mark, but right from the get go, Testament focused a lot on the groove and the power of metal, and not so much the insane speeds of Slayer and Megadeth. This song does pick up the pace during the 2nd guitar solo, but it was evident from the beginning that Testament were on the verge of greatness, something they achieved with their follow-up album, The New Order. I tend to forget how high Chuck Billy's voice used to sound on the early Testament material but his screaming and singing are absolutely sinister here.

Iron Maiden - "Killers" - Killers (Capitol, 1981)

Maybe my favorite song from the Paul Di'Anno era of Iron Maiden, the title track from their second album, Killers. Opening with a trademark galloping Steve Harris bassline, the slow buildup of the drums by Clive Burr and the guitars of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, when the song kicks into full gear, it's impossible to not want to pound your fist in the air or bang your head. I knew people who didn't even like metal that would constantly ask me to re-play the first two Iron Maiden albums when I was in college, simply because it was hard to NOT have a good time when rocking out to the grooves they laid down on the self-titled debut and Killers. This song was raw, brash and powerful, like most of the pre-Dickinson Iron Maiden, and Clive Burr shows that he was just as good of a drummer as Nicko McBrain, although with a much more swinging, heavy-hitting style. To think that this album was recorded in 1981 and still sounds like a kick in the face nearly 30 years later is mind-boggling. Paul Di'Anno was by all accounts a punk from the streets of London, and he sounds like he would punch you right in the teeth if you messed with him or his gang, and with menacing lyrics like "You walk through the subway, his eyes burn a hole in your back," you can feel Di'Anno himself as the "killer." Great song from a great band.

Death - "Mentally Blind" - Individual Thought Patterns (Combat, 1993)

Probably Death's most prog-influenced album aside from The Sound of Perseverance, I've always found Individual Thought Patterns to be a little "too much" at times, with the exception of "Overactive Imagination," "Trapped in a Corner" and "The Philosopher." I've always had a hard time sitting through the whole album, non-stop. However, taking a song like "Mentally Blind" on its own, I can see the brilliance that Chuck Schuldiner had when it came to songwriting and guitar playing. The "marching" section of the song about 1:45 in is really captivating, and gives a raw, stripped back feeling to the song, before erupting into more progressive harmonizes guitar and fancy fretless bass work via Steve DiGiorgio. A lot of this album's problem is the lack of dynamics, something they corrected on follow-up Symbolic. Early Death didn't really need dynamics, as they were DEATH METAL, and wrote great, short songs. Once they started getting into longer tracks on Spiritual Healing (not to such a great effect) and Human (THAT'S how you mix prog and death metal), they either became overwhelming or engrossing. "Mentally Blind" isn't overwhelmingly technical or anything, but it's not really that engrossing, either. Not terrible by any means, but if you want to hear greatness from this album, check out the songs I listed above.

Iron Maiden - "Running Free" - A Real Dead One (Capitol, 1993)

Wow, iTunes is being real diverse today. I've criticized A Real Live One and A Real Dead One a lot in the past, and for good reason. They were recorded across their Fear of the Dark tours of Europe and Asia, and Bruce Dickinson was ready to jump ship at any moment during those tours, which he ended up doing following their conclusion. This performance of the classic from the band's self-titled debut sounds like a singer who wanted the crowd to do his job for him (which they pretty much do), and has a really un-inspired middle section where he tries to pump up the crowd with clapping. Having seen Maiden 4 times since they've reformed in 1999 with Dickinson back at the helm, I know when Bruce is really feeling it and when he's going through the motions, and this performance of "Running Free" is him really going through the motions. Also, Janick Gers's guitar improvising is distracting, and he has one of the worst live lead tones I've ever heard. Anyways, this performance is mediocre and on the verge of just plain "bad." If you want a good Maiden live album, get Live After Death or Rock in Rio.

Megadeth - "A Tout Le Monde" - Rude Awakening (Sanctuary, 2002)

Another live performance, this one of Megadeth's French-chorused "hit" from 1994's Youthanasia, "A Tout Le Monde." The vocals on this version are audibly re-recorded in the studio, as you can hear two Dave Mustaines singing during the verses, and it's definitely NOT just reverb. I can't say I blame him, however, as he is almost as bad a singer in the live realm as Billy Corgan. Musically, this was from their first "comeback" lineup, on The World Needs a Hero tour, which was Megadeth trying to forget they recorded an adult soft rock album named Risk in 1999. The live performance is pretty good, as Al Pitrelli does a passable attempt at Marty Friedman's melodic solo. The crowd's attempt at a singalong during the quiet chorus near the end is laughable. I mean, really, who asks an American crowd to sing in French at a metal concert? Anyways, a good performance of Megadeth's only good "ballad." I can take it or leave it.

Machine Head - "Death Church" - Burn My Eyes (Roadrunner, 1994)

Opening with a distorted sample of what sounds like some sort of religious preacher (I'm assuming, given the name of the song), "Death Church" is one of my least favorite songs off Burn My Eyes, an otherwise powerful album. The "clean" riff that opens the song just sounds kind of dumb, like a bad take on the Halloween theme song. Some of these mid-90s metal songs tried so hard to be political and anti-conformity, and had lyrics that were on the verge of laughable. We get it, televangelists are bad, greedy politicians are bad, taxes are bad. Yeah, Megadeth covered that back in 86. You're not being profound, you're being redundant. I have a love/hate relationship with Machine Head. I just saw these guys live opening for Metallica in January, and Robb Flynn is still just as much of a metal-poseur-douche as he was back in the 90s. But the guy can rip on the guitar and write great tunes when he wants to (2007's The Blackening is proof of that). Anyways, "Death Church" is not nearly as bad as anything on The Burning Red or Supercharger, it's just boring.

Damageplan - "Wake Up" - New Found Power (Elektra, 2004)

Ah, Damageplan, the band that Pantera's brothers Abbott formed in 2002 while Phil Anselmo was off doing lots of drugs... I mean, playing with Superjoint Ritual (who pale in comparison to Down, the other, better Anselmo side project). "Do you think that you're better than me? You better wake up, 'cause you know it's a lie." That's the chorus of this song. Now, Pantera were never known for their great lyrics, but at least Phil Anselmo tried to be creative. These lyrics are just atrocious. Pat Lachman, former Damageplan vocalist, was a GREAT lead guitar player/backup vocalist for Rob Halford's group titled, duh, Halford. When I heard he was going to sing in Damageplan, I wasn't too excited. Their debut album has maybe 3 or 4 okay songs, but it made you realize that Phil Anselmo kind of was the heart and soul of Pantera. He might not have written all of the music but he had a good ear for good metal and could mold the Abbott Bros. into writing innovative stuff. This album showed that they could only write boring, uninspired rifffs without him. This song is almost nu-metallish, and it just doesn't work on any level. Dime doesn't even have a good solo in this song, making it all the more worthless.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Fire" - Mother's Milk (EMI, 1989)

One of my favorite cover songs that the Chili Peppers have done, this blazing take on Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" shows just how energetic and explosive these guys were in their younger days. While some of their later output can bring me to snores, this take on "Fire" is pretty faithful to the original, but a lot faster and with a lot jumpier bass work from Flea. John Frusciante also does a great take on Jimi's leads, something he still does to this day on songs like "Dani California." Clocking in at a whopping 2:03, the Chili Peppers leave you wanting for more at the end of this great cover.

All in all, this was a pretty bad random 10. I'd probably only listen to "Fire," "Killers" and "The Haunting" on a regular basis, and maybe a few others within the context of their respective albums, but that's the risk you run when your music library consists of close to 10,000 songs, I suppose.

Matt Steele