Side One Track One

On my way home last night, my phone started going insane with the news that Jeff Hanneman had passed away at the age of 49 from liver failure. I didn’t believe all the text messages that people were sending around, knowing what kind of fan I am of Slayer even my Mom sent me a message and I knew this was real.

People die every day. Some too early, some too young, some you know others you don’t. When a legend passes, many people don’t know what it means to you, honestly I didn’t know how much he meant to me until I realized I would never see him play again.

Their music coddled me through some tough times, gave me hope for music in the dark ages, and inspired me to plug away each week on my radio show. The world of metal is so much darker without Jeff Hanneman in it, and he can never be replaced. If you have never had the pleasure of listening to Slayer, take a few moments and listen to a few songs I have selected, and for you fans, give hails to another metal legend gone too early. Peace be with you Jeff, we will always stay metal in your name.

:Slayer – Raining Blood:
:Slayer – South Of Heaven:
:Slayer – Disciple:
:Slayer – Seasons In The Abyss:
:Slayer – Hardening Of The Arteries:

After the death of the touring festivals for more mainstream music in the ‘90s, metal took the reins via Sharon Ozbourne and Ozzfest. It revived the tradition of pairing some of the largest names in metal with new up and coming artists, as well as local bands, and unfortunately some occasional crap, too.

The festival(s) in the last decade have taken on a new skin with parking in one location and getting fans, which have the cash to travel, to come to them. Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Voodoo, ACL and so on, have become an elitist haven for watered down lineups meant for the highest bidders to make a pilgrimage of douchery, and have an excuse to rip off their shirts and complain about how hot it is standing outside while waiting for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

For the rest of us punks and metalheads, a few smart people keep the big tours happening. Summer Slaughter, Vans Warped Tour, and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour maintain opportunities to see a lot of bands in one day in your city at a reasonable price. I wanted to take this month to give you a preview of the latter.

:Rob Zombie – Call Of The Zombie:
:Amon Amarth – The Pursuit of Vikings:
:Behemoth – Prometherion:
:Mastodon – Quintessence:
:Born Of Osiris – Recreate:
:Machine Head – Locust:
:Children Of Bodom – Bodom Blue Moon:
:Job For A Cowboy – Regurgitated Disinformation:
:Emmure – When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong:
:Five Finger Death Punch – Under And Over It:

Springtime officially begins this month and we celebrate so many things, Spring Break, March Madness and for many SXSW blocks off a major portion of the calendar. In years past metal has taken a prominent role as one of the major genres at play, and this year is no exception. Though the official showcases may be a little light in the metal field, there is no shortage of the extreme to be found during the music portion of the conference.

March has also been declared Metal Month by some blogger, or website or label or something, so since my proclivity to the metal art leads me to hail to our month of metal by drinking a lot of bourbon and jager, while at the same time giving you a nice list of SXSW metal to peruse at your leisure. If you are in Austin for the conference and you want to join in the metal mayhem, be sure to see my Big List O’ Metal for the latest updates too, and maybe I’ll buy you a shot as we jam to Clutch.

:A Life Once Lost – Vulture:
:The Beards – You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man:
:Chelsea Grin – Lilith:
:Skeletonwitch – The Infernal Resurrection:
:Clutch – The Mob Goes Wild:
:Pallbearer – Devoid Of Redemption:
:Exhumed – The Matter Of Splatter:
:Orange Goblin – Red Tide Rising:
:Howl – Heavenless:
:Norma Jean – Bayonetwork:
:KEN Mode – Obeying The Iron Will:
:Mutilation Rites – Realms Of Dementia:
:Lacuna Coil – Heaven’s A Lie:

The tendency to shy away from all things heavy happens every time a terrorist attack happens or a school shooting takes place. It is typical for people to want to be comforted by some crappy sappy tunes to console themselves in times of trouble, but with the recent round of shootings I have been disturbed with another trend happening. Guns, yeah, violent video games, yeah, mental health issues, all possibly culpable, but no one is blaming metal anymore and I am tired of being left out.

I want to hear Diane Feinstein or Chuck Shumer reading violent lyrics from Cannibal Corpse and Slayer in front of Congress, I want to see them try and vilify those they deem fringe again and be faced down in court. For some reason our music is not an influential force in creating chaos in the public arena anymore (if it ever really was), not since Columbine, and they blamed Marilyn Manson ugh. When is the NRA going to point fingers at us metalheads and grow our audience again…well, if nothing else, I will do my part. To grow the audience, not kill innocent people.

February is the month of love and crap, but it is also the time when all those albums that would get released the last two months finally hit stores. Here are some of the metal jams you need to be on top of this month, like your lover.

:Clutch – Earth Rocker:
:Zombified – Pull The Trigger:
:Cult Of Luna – I The Weapon:
:Tomahawk – Oddfellows:
:Devourment – Fifty Ton War Machine:
:Suffocation – Cycles Of Suffering:
:Ghost – Secular Haze:
:Rotten Sound – The Solution:
:Hatebreed – Put It To The Torch:
:Philip H Anselmo And Warbeast – Birth Of A Psycho:
:Helloween – World Of War:
:Lightning Swords Of Death – Chained To Decay:

A long time ago there was an ancient ritual, a rite of passage for young ones coming of age, a time when we believed in myth and circumstance, and suspended disbelief and left any notion of reality at the door, until you discovered that what your parents had been portraying for years were lies. Of course I am referring to Jesus. Actually I am really talking about Santa Clause, but you could go either way.

I hated Christmas for years, as a metal guy, the punishment of sappy songs and carolers sickens my earholes, yet many people would never think there was holiday music in the style of metal. Though there was a little resistance to doing a Christmas playlist, I could not help myself. You might not have known these songs were real, but now you can never unlisten to these gems. I hope you enjoy, Happy Holidays and stuff …

:ATHF – I Sure Hope I Don’t Have to Beat Your Ass This Christmas:
:Venom – Black Xmas:
:August Burns Red – Sleigh Ride:
:Spinal Tap – Christmas With The Devil:
:Austrian Death Machine – Jingle Bells:
:Psychostick – Holiday Hate:
:Bob Rivers – I Am Santa Claus:
:Lemmy – Run Rudolph Run:
:Corey Taylor – Merry X-M@$:
:King Diamond – No Presents For Christmas:
:Dio And Tony iommi – God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman:
:I Declare War – Jingle Bell Rock:
:Halford – Get Into The Spirit:

I didn’t get to do an ACL Fest preview for you this year, because they suck and have no metal in their lineup. I guess the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Cannibal Corpse don’t usually play together, but then again that is the essence of this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest 7. Weird collisions of music on several different stages all mashed into one festival, last year SLAYER headlined and this year Run DMC, totally insane.

I enjoy this snarky little festival of cool more than any other I have ever attended. The audience listens to live music regularly, they don’t just go to a festival every year, they go out every week and listen to music. It creates a completely different atmosphere of enjoyment that no other ‘fest’ has been able to emulate. So this month’s playlist are the bands I am focusing on the primarily metal Black stage. Some new music from Converge and BTBAM and favorites from Refused and Tomahawk, hope you enjoy!

:Between The Buried And Me – Extremophile Elite:
:Valient Thorr – Red Flag:
:Converge – Coral Blue:
:Turbonegro – Every Body Loves A Chubby Dude:
:Kvelertak – Nekroskop:
:Torche – Roaming:
:Municipal Waste – Mind Eraser:
:Tomahawk – God Hates A Coward:
:Napalm Death – More Than Meets The Eye:
:The Sword – Apocryphon:
:Pallbearer – Devoid Of Redemption:
:Refused – Refused Are Fuckin Dead:
:Red Fang – Prehistoric Dog:

Chuck hosts NO CONTROL Radio every Friday on 101.5 KROX in Austin, and he programs an HD2 stream of pure metal. Feel free to get in touch with him via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.

October is my month, all you other blogger buttholes can take it off; you got nothing on me and my metal during the darkest month of the year. We start down the spiral to winter, all things start to die and the shadows creep into the corners of the world as the stench of death rises from the ashes of what was once living. Serial killers, witches, mass murderers, ghosts, goblins and all things scary fill your imaginations for a few weeks as you peek into the abyss of our everyday lives.

Metalheads dream about Halloween, nay, we live for it. Not to dress up as some cartoon character or hero, but to douse ourselves in blood and dance under the harvest moon, all the while blasting the scary sounds of gore and death that are appropriate for these darker days. With this in mind, I have selected 13 of my favorite Halloween tracks for you to enjoy, some funny, some utterly disgusting, just remember what may appear normally docile on the outside, may be raging with destruction inside and ready to devour your soul.

:Acid Bath – Finger Paintings Of The Insane:
:Type O Negative – Halloween In Heaven:
:Cannibal Corpse – Meathook Sodomy:
:Slayer – Bloodline:
:Carcass – Corporal Jigsore Quandray:
:Rigor Mortis – Re-Animator:
:Death – Baptized In Blood:
:Mortician – Skin Peeler:
:Eat My Pumpkin – Trick Or Treat:
:Mayhem – Funeral Fog:
:Helloween – Halloween:
:Gorerotted – Can’t Fit Her Limbs In The Fridge:
:King Diamond – Halloween:

Chuck hosts NO CONTROL Radio every Friday on 101.5 KROX in Austin, and he programs an HD2 stream of pure metal. Feel free to get in touch with him via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.

September brings back the routine for all of you non-career folk, students and teachers, and it gets this nation back to its tedium.  Or, at the very least, it screws up the traffic again for all of us who have been slaves to the machine while you played in the pool or at the lake all summer.  It’s ridiculous.  And with hurricanes destroying our coastline, and politicians eliminating the need or ability to choose anything for ourselves, I’m thinking it’s a good idea to kick back and phone this month in.

In reality what I consider “phoning in” makes for some of my audiences favorite bits on the radio. Drones, for whatever reason, love cover songs. For me, it’s just easy, because in the metal world a good Slayer riff is better than anything you are ever going to write for your shitty band.  Also, here’s a pro-tip – don’t record your cover of Pantera, because everyone covers Pantera.

I stacked this list with some of my favorite covers over the years, and a bunch of new ones, too.  If you don’t know the original, you are probably stupid or something, but don’t be a douchebag – go look ‘em up, I can’t do everything for you.

:Anthrax – Got The Time:
:Sepultura – Orgasmatron:
:As I Lay Dying – War Ensemble:
:Pantera – Hole In the Sky:
:Between The Buried and Me – Malpractice:
:Ministry – United Forces:
:Children Of Bodom – I’m Shipping Up To Boston:
:Metallica – Breadfan:
:Crematory – Black Celebration:
:Jorn – Ride Like The Wind:
:FU Manchu – Godzilla:
:Havok – Arise:

Chuck hosts NO CONTROL Radio every Friday on 101.5 KROX in Austin, and he programs an HD2 stream of pure metal. Feel free to get in touch with him via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.

There have been strange things afoot this summer in the metal world, whether you are keeping up with the latest prison watch involving the lead singer of Lamb of God, pregnancies splitting up bands, or the CroMags stabbing each other at reunion shows, something about the heat makes people insane. In Texas we are used to both – the heat and the crazy people.

I never understood why all of the big metal festivals happen during the worst time of year to be outside. I know some human beings thrive in the 100+ degree weather, and I hate them. I choose to hole up with my Xbox and a good soundtrack and hide until October.

Metal bloggers have been running with a best of the year so far lately, but honestly that is too much work, and I don’t even know month it is. So I pulled down some good old classics like The Crown, Death Angel and Iron Maiden, with some of the best new releases of this last month from Down, Testament and Nachtmystium.

:The Crown – Death Metal Holocaust:
:Between The Buried And Me – Telos:
:Testament – True American Hate:
:Death Angel – Kill As One:
:Sepultura – Territory:
:Down – Witchtripper:
:Iron Maiden – Stranger In A Strange Land:
:Katatonia – Buildings:
:Necrophagist – Mutilate The Stillborn:
:Gaza – The Vipers:
:Nachtmystium – The Lepers Of Destitution:
:Gwar – Sexicutioner:

Chuck hosts NO CONTROL Radio every Friday on 101.5 KROX in Austin, and he programs an HD2 stream of pure metal. Feel free to get in touch with him via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.