The Random Ten #10

Black Sabbath - “The Sign of the Southern Cross” - Mob Rules (1981)

One of the few Dio-era Sabbath tracks that captures the doomy, eerie vibe of some of the darker Ozzy-era compositions, “Sign of the Southern Cross” is probably my second-favorite Dio-era track (behind “Heaven and Hell”, of course). Opening with a minor key acoustic guitar arpeggio and Dio’s subtle, understated vocals, the song erupts about a minute and a half in, into one of Tony Iommi’s heaviest, strongest riffs. Vinny Appice’s work on the drums is solid and as a rock, not as unpredictable or free-form as Bill Ward, but just as explosive. I think this lineup of Sabbath really hit their stride on this album, but it’s a shame they imploded shortly afterwards (before reuniting in 1992 for the underrated Dehumanizer album). This lineup of the band is now touring and recording under the Heaven & Hell moniker, and they just released The Devil You Know, an album I look forward to checking out. If you’re a fan of Ozzy-era Sabbath but haven’t heard too much with Dio on vocals, start with “Sign of the Southern Cross.”

Anthrax - “Lone Justice” - Spreading the Disease (1985)

Opening with a punky, manic bass riff from then-new addition to the band, Frank Bello, “Lone Justice” is a solid, punky metal tune. It’s hard to think that Spreading… was the first album with their new bassist and also-new vocalist Joey Belladonna, as the band sounded completely tight and seasoned, having worked out the kinks and rust they displayed on debut Fistful of Metal. I’m more partial to this album’s follow-up, Among the Living, but Spreading is a great record through-and-through, and “Lone Justice” is a song full of some great riffs and great energy.

Opeth - “Windowpane” - The Roundhouse Tapes (2007)

“Time for the song that will get us chicks backstage,” opens vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt before this live rendition of the opening track from the all-mellow Damnation album. Damnation is one of my favorite albums of all time, sounding almost nothing like any other Opeth album, as it’s their one release barred of any death metal, or any metal in general. It’s solid progressive, folky rock throughout. This version of “Windowpane” doesn’t sound too differently than the studio version, but it’s a great performance, and is even more impressive when you realize that Akerfeldt screams his way through the majority of the band’s songs, yet he can throw this in the middle of a set and still sound great. New drummer, Axe, might not have the subtlety or touch of Martin Lopez from the studio version, but he doesn’t overpower the song either. If you like Opeth’s mellower material but can’t stand the death metal vocals, check this song out.

Rage Against the Machine - “Year of tha Boomerang” - Evil Empire (1996)

Tom Morello opens this with a nails-against-the-chalkboard sounding guitar riff, before Zach De la Rocha starts rapping with his signature flow. This song isn’t one of my favorites from Rage, and it’s from what is probably the weakest of their three studio albums, as there’s no real big instrumental or vocal hook to latch onto, although the explosive middle section around 1:35 is fun to listen to. The verses just seem a little repetitive and not too captivating as opposed to some of their earlier or later material. Decent track, but not the best thing Rage has done.

Cradle of Filth - “The Promise of Fever” - Damnation and a Day (2003)

Remember when Cradle of Filth were signed to a major label? Well, it didn’t last too long, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t. Back in 2003, after some successful stints on Ozzfest, Cradle of Filth were picked up by Epic records. Fans were afraid of a drastic toning down in their over-the-top style of theatrical blackened metal, and first single “Babylon A.D.” was very much that. However, one listen to the rest of the album, beginning with first proper track “The Promise of Fever” showed that Cradle hadn’t sold out by any means, and had just gotten a bigger budget to record their patented sound at a much higher quality. While I don’t think this album was nearly as good as its predecessor, Midian, “The Promise of Fever” is one of the band’s best (and last truly great) songs. For fans only, as Cradle of Filth are the epitome of an “acquired taste” band.

Foo Fighters - “See You” - The Colour and the Shape (1997)

One of the things I love about The Colour… is the usage of little “ditties” in between the longer, rocking songs. “See You” is one such ditty, as it’s a folky, acoustic-based number that leads into “Enough Space,” which is one of my favorite underrated Foo tracks. On its own, the song is nothing special, but it just shows the diversity with which Dave Grohl can write a song. In the context of the album it works much better, but on its own, it’s nothing too special.

Megadeth - “In My Darkest Hour” - So Far, So Good, So What?!! (1988)

This song was immortalized in The Decline of Western Civilization Pt. 2, and for good reason – it was the only song/band featured in the movie that didn’t reek of cheese-balls. This was Megadeth’s first “ballad” of sorts, even though it’s pretty heavy throughout. Mustaine wrote the music upon the passing of his friend and former band-mate Cliff Burton (Metallica), even though the lyrics deal with lost love (see: immortal line, “You just laughed, ‘Ha, Ha!’ You bitch!”). This song made So Far… Megadeth’s biggest album yet (which was blown away by subsequent releases), and made them into worldwide superstars. The song is dynamic and full of great riffs, tempo changes and solos, and even though the reverb-soaked production reeks of the 1980s, the song itself is timeless, and an all-time hard rock classic. If you haven’t heard this song and you consider yourself a fan of metal and rock, check it out IMMEDIATELY.

Oasis - “Little by Little” - Heathen Chemistry (2002)

I feel this album gets overlooked a great deal when examining the Oasis catalogue, and that’s kind of a shame, as “Little by Little” is one of their better ballads. I tend to enjoy the ballads when they are sung by guitarist/main songwriter Noel Gallagher, as opposed to his frontman brother Liam, and this song showcases Noel’s emotive vocals quite nicely. Featuring classic nonsensical lines like, “You know I didn’t mean/what I just said/but my god woke up on the wrong side of his bed”, “Little by Little” has that signature Oasis-ness to it, and while a song like this might sound boring or stock in another band’s hands, the Gallagher bros. and co. make it work.

In Flames - “Metaphor” - Reroute to Remain (2002)

I was a bit apprehensive when this album was released, as the band talked a lot about experimentation with clean vocals and electronic instrumentation in preceding interviews, and coming off the streak of 4 incredible albums in a row – The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony, Clayman – I didn’t think In Flames would be able to live up to their past glories. Well, I was right. This album isn’t terrible, but it hasn’t actually aged well, either. It brought them to their greatest popularity in the US, but they dumbed-down their sound a great deal on the heavier material. I do respect them, however, for bold experiments like “Metaphor,” an acoustic song that has a lead fiddle playing over the choruses. Musically, it fits in with some of their acoustic interludes from past tunes, but they made a full song out of that sound here, and it actually works a little bit (even if the clean vocals are slightly lacking). I kind of like “Metaphor,” as it was a bold step in a new direction, whereas they played it way too safely with the heavier songs from this album.

Iced Earth - “Angels Holocaust” - Night of the Stormrider (1992)

The opening track from what is probably my favorite Iced Earth release, “Angels Holocaust” is over-the-top, theatrical, bombastic power/thrash metal, that brings to mind epic battle scenes. As the band matured, they dropped some of their overtly gothic, European-tinged influences for a more hard rock/thrash approach, but this album is a perfect example of a band that did their own thing and created a progressive, experimental masterpiece. This song is just epic part after epic part, without too many refrains or a chorus, but it still feels cohesive. This is the original recorded version, not the re-record with Matt Barlow on vocals from Days of Purgatory, and while Barlow is a more versatile vocalist, you can’t beat the original performance by John Greely, whose screams and singing have a rough edge that Barlow didn’t quite possess (though Barlow certainly proved himself as the voice for Iced Earth, eventually being brought back into the fold in 2008 after the departure of Tim “Ripper” Owens).

Matt Steele