Yes the semester is coming to an end but no fear METAL APOCALYPSE will still be here.
The show this week is going to a showcase of cover songs by metal bands. The covers will be of bands that have influenced METAL in one way or another. There will be covers of Black Sabbath, Beatles, Black Widow and more. So be warned some of the covers will be interesting.
Stay Heavy, Stay Proud!!
Metal Mark
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. Lyrics of thrash metal songs often deal with social issues, often using direct and denunciatory language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The “Big Four” bands of thrash metal are Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax who simultaneously created and popularized the genre in the early 1980s.
Among the earliest songs to be labeled as thrash metal are Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy”, which was recorded and released in 1974 (described as being “thrash metal before the term had been invented”), and Black Sabbath’s “Symptom of the Universe”, released in 1975 which was eventually covered by thrash metal band Sepultura for Nativity in Black. It was also the starting point for Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” Since then, NWOBHM bands directly influenced the development of early thrash. The early work of artists such as Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Motörhead, Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, and Angel Witch, among others, introduced the fast-paced instrumentation that became essential aspects of thrash. Featured on Judas Priest’s British Steel, “Rapid Fire” have been noted as a “proto-thrash” song.
In Europe, the earliest band of the emerging thrash movement formed in 1979, which was Venom from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Great Britain. Their seminal 1982 album Black Metal has been cited as the major influence on many subsequent genres and bands in the extreme metal world, such as Bathory, Hellhammer, Slayer and Mayhem. The European thrash scene was almost exclusively influenced by the most aggressive music both Germany and England were producing at that time. British bands such as Tank, and Raven, along with German metal exports Accept, motivated musicians from central Europe to start bands of their own, eventually producing German thrash exports such as Sodom, Kreator and Destruction.
The popularity of thrash metal increased in 1984 with the release of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, Anthrax’s Fistful of Metal, Overkill’s self-titled EP and Slayer’s Haunting the Chapel EP. This led to a heavier sounding form of thrash, which was reflected in Exodus’s Bonded by Blood and Slayer’s Hell Awaits. In 1985, the German band Kreator released their debut album Endless Pain and the Brazilian band Sepultura released their EP Bestial Devastation. Megadeth, which was formed by former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine, released their debut album Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!, and Anthrax released the critically acclaimed Spreading the Disease in 1985
Thrash metal has recently seen a certain degree of resurgence of popularity. The genre’s sense of recklessness and energy has been cited as a potential reason for its resurgence.
Also many bands that ended around the 1990s gathered again around 2000s, bands like: Dark Angel, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Defiance, Whiplash, Hirax, Forbidden and Possessed. Older thrash bands have continued to put out material such as Metallica’s Death Magnetic (2008), Megadeth’s Thirteen (2011), Slayer’s World Painted Blood (2009), Anthrax’s Worship Music (2011) Destruction’s Day of Reckoning (2011), Sodom’s In War and Pieces (2010), Kreator’s Hordes of Chaos (2009), Exodus’ Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010), Overkill’s Ironbound (2010), Testament’s The Formation of Damnation (2008) and Metal Church This Present Wasteland (2008)
Here are a few songs to tide you over.
Metal Mark….STAY HEAVY , STAY PROUD!!!!!!!
Mark here. I am not on the air this week (2-17-12) because of health issues. I can barely sit up or drive. I am having major back problems but there will be best of shows on until I can get this figured out.
STAY HEAVY
Metal Mark
I know it is Friday. I know my show is today. I know that I should have updated here . I also know that I have good reasons for not doing so. I have had alot of school work to do , my home computer is in the shop and I generally feel like crap. Had doctors appointment on thursday that almost sent me to the emergency room due to high heart rate , high blood pressure and high blood sugar. WTF?
I will be ok. My show is TONIGHT and I am excited as usual. Again this will just be a normal mixture of metal songs .
OK WE ARE JUST TWO DAYS AWAY! The second show will be a normal mixture of metal. SO BE PREPARED! BE WARNED! BE HAVE!
OK! The first show is done and it went rather good. In the coming weeks I will be showcasing Death Metal, Power Metal and Nordic Metal. So stay tuned for the insanity!
Here are a few videos of what is to come,
The term Black metal was coined in 1982 whenever VenomVenom – Welcome To Hell (Live 1985) released and album of the same name. The influential bands that were in the running with Venom were: Bathory, Celtic Frost (from Switzerland)Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales, Kreator, Sodom and Destruction (from Germany). The subject matter and themes within Black metal were of a dark and more evil side than normal Heavy metal.
Venom started the phrase Black metal when they released their album Black Metal. With its title track and songs like Countess Bathory (about Elisabeth Bathory)Venom – countess Bathory (Live 1985), Buried Alive/Raise the Dead and Leave me in Hell, venom lead the rush of bands included in the first wave of Black metal. Celtic Frost were another big influence upon modern Black Metal bands with their heavier and more brutal style of playing. Another band that influenced modern Black Metal was Mercyful fate, led by the corpse painted face of King Diamond. With songs like Satan’s Fall, Evil, The Oath and Come to the Sabbath, Mercyful Fate lead the anti- Christian movement in Black metal aided by Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer (who changed their name to Celtic Frost and also changed their subject matter).Mercyful Fate – Into The Coven (Live 1983)
In the early 1990s, a Second Wave emerged, primarily of Norwegian bands like Burzum, Mayhemmayhem – Deathcrush, Darkthrone and Emperor.Emperor – I Am The Black Wizards These bands concentrated on more primal recordings and more Anti-Christian beliefs. During the time of the second wave members of bands decided to take it upon themselves to try and rid their homeland, Norway, Finland and Sweden, of what they claim were the interlopers and the ones that held back their beliefs – the Christian faith. In the early 90s happened a series of events with great media coverage in Scandinavia, mainly Norway. These events made the “reputation” of black metal and its underground status. Norwegians Øysten Aarseth (“Euronymous”, leader from Mayhem)
and to some extent Varg Vikernes (“Count Grishnack”, from Burzum) are regarded as main pioneers of the black metal scene, because of their implication in the stylistic definition of the genre and through their acts. Euronymous was the first protagonist to be well-known and one of the most active in the scene. He was running Deathlike Silence Productions, which quickly became an estimated underground extreme metal label at the time
Here are some of the events that made history of Norwegian black metal famous:
Dead, vocalist of Mayhem, commited suicide in April 1991. He was well-known at the time for its self-mutilations and other macabre displays during shows. He shot himself in the head with a rifle after having slit his wrists with a knife. Its suicide was largely used by Mayhem members (mostly Euronymous) to promote the band and the newborn genre. Most notably, Euronymous took pictures of the crime scene before calling the police. One of these pictures was later used for the “Dawn of the Black Hearts” Mayhem album cover.
Faust
, former drummer of Emperor, killed an homosexual in December 1993, near the olympic parc of Lillehammer. He later reported that the guy was hitting on him in the parc, and that he “simply decided to end this parasite’s life”. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison (now freed).
Several Norwegian churches
were arsened by members of the Inner Circle (notably Varg Vikernes
and Samoth of Emperor
,(the latter sentenced to 2 years in prison). These arsons were the main reason for the black metal underground scene to be uncovered to the public, in Norway and everywhere in Europe and the rest of the world. They are still today a main event regarding the beginning of the movement and its development.
Euronymous was killed by Varg Vikernes on August 10, 1993. He was found dead in the stairs of his appartment, struck 23 times with a knife. Exact reasons for this murder are still ambiguous. What is certain is that he went to Euronymous’ appartment along with Snorre from the band Thorns during the night, they had an argument, and then Vikernes stab him in the stairs before running away. He will be caught soon after and sentenced in 1994 to 21 years in prison for murder, and Snorre to 8 years for complicity. He was freed in 2009 on parole and is now continuing with its band Burzum.
The bands regarded as the “second wave” of the black metal movement were not located in Norway only though. Lots of local scenes emerged around the globe in the early 90s. Although death metal was more popular in neighbouring Sweden at the time ,bands started to emerge, heavily influenced by the Norwegian scene. This included MardukMarduk – Panzer Division Marduk, Dissection, Lord Belial, Dark Funeral, Arckanum, Nifelheim and Abruptum. In Finland emerged as soon as the late 80s bands who often included death metal elements in their music (Beherit, Archgoat and Impaled Nazarene).In Eastern Europe the emerging scene was led by Graveland, BehemothBEHEMOTH – Prometherion, Master’s Hammer, etc. Across the Atlantic ocean also emerged a local scene in the USA, with bands like Von, Judas Iscariot and Profanatica.
By the mid-90s the musical genre was defined and most bands of the growing scene through the world adopted the influence of the Norwegian scene in their own music. Newer black metal bands would later expand the original sound of the music, include other elements (keyboards, mostly), make use of better production, etc. This expansion and diversification is thus regarded as the end of the “second wave”.
First black metal albums are associated with a “lo-fi” (opposed to “hi-fi”) quality recording. This was often the result of small recording budgets but also intended, so that the music matches the themes and atmosphere black metal bands wanted to create.
Most black metal bands have their music composed by high-pitched shrieks and screams (as opposed to the usual low-pitched growls in death metal), high-pitched guitar tones with lots of distorsion and tremolo picking, fast tempo and blast-beats, and bass lines following that of the guitar. The compositions can be either basic or very technical with different song structures. It can be noted that many black metal songs contain lengthy and repetitive instrumental sections though.
The most common lyrical theme in black metal is around the opposition to christianity, and to some extent to religions in general (although satanism can be promoted – either as a religion or a philosophy). Other themes are often depression, nihilism, misanthropy and death. However, many modern black metal lyrics have begun to focus more on nature, mythology, folklore, philosophy and/or fantasy
