Anti-NATO Metal

[shaberon]

Here is one that had slipped from memory. I didn't follow the direction this band went, but this was quite good in the early days.


Helloween (Germany, 1983)

Judas

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TYcdcTuVcJQ

You promise us a bright golden future
You say you will save the world
That there will be no more hunger and pain
But we only see your golden hands
You say you take care of our survival
Sending us missiles instead
But you just betray us, deny us and lie
And you always say you would

Fight for freedom, fight for rights
I see treason in your eyes.

Judas - rulin' with an iron hand
Judas - sittin' in the government
Judas - I am not a Jesus Christ
Judas - you will be the one who's crucified

Your worship money and economy
There's nothing that you wouldn't do
If the payment is right you don't care about life
'Cause economy is your truth
You are the one selling terror and pain
In all the parts of the world
You are preparing the final grand slam
But you keep on tellin' you'll

Fight for freedom, fight for rights
I see treason in your eyes.

Judas - rulin' with an iron hand
Judas - sittin' in the government
Judas - I am not a Jesus Christ
Judas - you will be the one who's crucified

Judas, Judas - are you still human?
Judas, Judas - I can't believe it
Judas, Judas - dealing with evil
Judas, Judas
You'll keep on telling you'll

Fight for freedom, fight for rights
I see treason in your eyes.

Judas - rulin' with an iron hand
Judas - sittin' in the government
Judas - I am not a Jesus Christ
Judas - you will be the one who's crucified

Judas - rulin' with an iron hand
Judas - sittin' in the government
Judas - I am not a Jesus Christ
Judas - you will be the one who's crucified

[shaberon]

I will let this digress from a narrow topic, because I never picked a piece of music for the message. I go for sounds that I like, which are of different kinds, and then for whatever reason, things that catch my ear are not usually saying something ridiculous, in fact I cannot think of anything that is in some way supportive of the status quo.

A lot of the stuff is hugely critical, but, if you sing something outside of the scope of politics, then I think of it as a complete political rejection. Concentrating on that stuff is not the point of life. Songs about love and relationships are a-political. Metal encompasses every possible musical idiom. But of course that is far from all I listen to. It however is amazing that now one can find good metal from places like Turkey, Iran, China...but I lost my archive, and all of those things are harder to remember.

Sadly we can thank the Covid shutdown for ending a number of careers. It seems to have stopped Krokus and Rock Goddess. Unfortunately at the same time, we lost Golden Earring, which was due to the guitarist coming down with ALS.

I have usually thought of them as "the rock band, inside which all other bands exist".

People would have used to say it was The Beatles. Certainly they were a huge success first, but, in actuality, they didn't last very long. Admittedly, I don't like them. They might have two or three songs that are not nerve-wracking once in a while, but, it's not something I would sit around and listen to, like The Doors, or Bad Company. Those are all kind of flat and just don't grab me.


But I think Golden Earring was an absolute titan, from early times even until recently. They formed in 1961 as The Tornados--meaning they had a sixty-year career.

They changed their name because it was a conflict with an existing band. They took "Golden Earrings" from an instrumental tune by a British band they had toured with, and later dropped the "s". The song itself was inspired by a 1947 spy movie, which had a title track with lyrics, which was soon covered by Peggy Lee. She invented the album. Until then, the twelve-inch format was reserved for orchestras and Broadway musicals--and finally someone could just come along and write songs and get a bunch of them released. She had a fifty-year career.

Peggy Lee is also the driving force behind Lee Aaron's "Slick Chick" album, where she dives into jazz wholeheartedly, and some of it is quite good. She just released another, and is up to nothing less than a forty-year career. Her first album is heavy as bejeezus even in its use of blues (Willy Dixon).

I didn't really like her self-titled or Body Rock albums, they have more of that record company sound of metal being "professionally polished" which knocked things around in the 80s. Even her grunge and 2precious is better than that stuff.

So I am just going to put stuff of personal interest here, which generally is going to be from outside the mainstream, because for some reason, a lot of the more successful bands just don't do it for me. In the metal world, I never paid attention to Anthrax, Megadeth, or Metallica after Cliff. Generally, the more commercial, the less the appeal.


Also since I found the first page is slow-loading, I guess it needs to be a limited number per post.


In honor of the Earring, here is what cost them American success, ten years after Radar Love. These were the early days of videos, which would make or break a band. The video is hilarious and does not really reflect the meaning of the song. However it has a shot where Barry rips the clothes off a nun. That was "too strong" and got it pulled. Due to, um...magic, here is the original.

When the Lady Smiles

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XHIM83lc0bk

This is the blues track from Lee Aaron's 1982 debut:


Should Have Known

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=eU-ycsykEXE

[shaberon]

Here is new stuff from Brazilian girls trying to see if a new line-up works. I believe they have pulled it off here.


Nervosa

Endless Ambition

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BWAhkHdXAVI

A dark world
Where desire blinds
A life spent
Turning lies into facts
Driven by discontrol

They only care
When there's profit and gain
All they want
Is a troop of slaves
No future
No mercy

Prophets of Cruelty

Nations built on betrayal
Endless ambition

Vulgar fabrications
Tear us apart

Barren horizons
Age of decline
Degeneration
Meaningless lives

Nations built on betrayal
Endless ambition

Prisoner, urban decay
A world of hate
A moving grave

Fake idols
With no emotion

Blessing their weapons
By the holy hand
Behold the youth
Dead on command

Distorted
Unreal

Prophets of cruelty

Nations built on betrayal
Endless ambition

Endless ambition
Endless ambition
Endless ambition
Endless ambition

Sick society



Live version of one that had Schmier on the album--

Genocidal Command

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=F47Ov1ryDNE

Eliminate opposition, killing their rights
Crushing everything in the way (Changing the truth)
Ruling with Lies
Build an army to fortify

Scorn
Revenge
No remorse for the kill
Torture
Deceive
We are treated like trash

They are coming

They are genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command

Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command

Fascist speech, inspiration divine
Sticking in their mind like a leech (Only care about cash)
Servants of death
Raising a militia of slaves
Scorn
Revenge
No remorse for the kill
Torture
Deceive
We are treated like trash

They are coming

They are genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command

Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command
Genocidal command

Liar
Racist
Scum of humanity

Dictator
Murderer
It's time to combat death
Liar
Dictator
It's time to combat death

[shaberon]

As mentioned above--currently Nervosa touring the states.



In the mid-80s, what we saw was a whole heap of bands being worked over by the industry in a certain way. Most of it was as literally told to Krokus--"the bass is a background instrument, take the edge off that guy's voice". They wish to make a genre of "radio hits", and so marketing takes over.

It put me in somewhat of a crisis. I didn't really get into Metallica without Cliff Burton, and everything else was kind of losing its way. This is one of the last bands in that kind of music that seemed like it might go somewhere, but only had this one song.

Witness (1989)

Do It Till We Drop

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dTk3dOfE8Hw

Metal is a land of many contrasts, and we start finding waves of stuff called Doom Metal influenced by Saint Vitus and a few others. With this type of material, you have rein to go plodding slow so that nothing really happens, that just lacks musical gravity. So I can't say I'm a huge fan "of" this wave, but, *some* things under the category are put together better. One of the first ones is a four-track EP. At first maybe you think it's just going to drag and drone, but, the songs build, they have some energy that is fairly hard and heavy and never sounds like Metallica or Slayer.


Soulsearch (Austria 1994)

Die Essenz

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ahjhEpshI_0

[shaberon]

After posting some Skyclad which was probably one of the first serious additions of a violin, the first cello that I know of comes from a more meditative doom-sounding band.

Going to line up a few things of this nature and see if this works.

This begins in one of the most open-sounding riffs, and moves to a funeral.



Celestial Season (Netherlands, 1993)

Soft Embalmer of the Still Midnight

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=INzk5ZCZ1xE

I took the tuning from that album and ran with it.

This also grabbed an unusual sort of melody that sticks with you.

Sirrah (Poland 1996)

A U Tomb

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=W393uU5v8xQ

Beyond that level is the "symphonic metal" created by Therion. This becomes almost completely "symphonic" with a little background guitar and drums. But as the sonic fusion aspect, "Theli" is probably the excellent example of an album, here is a meditative piece from it.

Siren of the Woods

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=u604jpsgVwM

And while we are at it, this is not the Geffen re-master, this is the original Kitaro "Kaiso" with mainly strings.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZnA0zn44DtU

[shaberon]

I noticed some songs had dropped, so I re-loaded most of those.


One of the other things you notice, if you "discover" music as a kid, further down the road, songs about youth angst and rebellion are a little weird. Aside from that, the overall sensation of the primordial impact stays with you. That means I am still into the same stuff although it is forty years old.

After some health issues, another person who seems to feel the same way is Abaddon. If you are familiar with this music, it will make sense what he told recently to Echoes and Dust:

I like playing ‘Seven Gates Of Hell’, ‘In Nomine Satanas’ when it goes into ‘Don’t Burn The Witch’, I love how that rolls together.



It does. They have a way of playing some songs that are "stuck" together, but, those had a creative transitional flow. He winds up saying that playing in the original lineup would be awesome. That is a bit surprising considering everything that happened. The whole interview reflects a legacy of youthful inspiration, mixed with the satisfaction of carrying it into age. You don't necessarily change that much! Just that some naive ideas are outgrown.

With enough tracks to more or less make a recent album, he says:


It’s very, very old school Venom. I can’t really help that! It’s got that punk kind of throwaway feel to it, especially in the drums. It’s all first time takes. We don’t sit in the studio for weeks on lodged. The guitar riffs are all pretty much logic in the 80s, we really want it to sound like fun and that’s exactly what it sounds like.



There is some Venom they have recently played Live, which is a good energetic effort. The newer material seems to have been auto-arranged as the system itself seems to do, making a Playlist. This is the title track.


All That Remains

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iEBWEJwpBH8

At greater length, he also discusses growing up around City Music Hall and making electrical grids for Sudan and Dubai, followed by the disappearance of all major industries.

It leaves the other two as sounding a bit strange. But it's not about animosity.

If anything, Clive Archer was the most Venomous.

They broke something open, that much is for certain. It could be argued that the "heaviest band" idea next moved to Slayer, although Dave doesn't particularly mention Venom as an influence. Surprisingly he says Angel of Death was influenced by Tito Puente.

Past that point, it seems you get a lot of people trying to re-make and outdo Reign in Blood. For me, at least, it eventually becomes of more interest to vary the sound of metal.

[shaberon]

In those recent Abaddon interviews, he didn't mention The Runaways:


November 10, 1977 City Hall New Castle


He talked about it somewhere before, and it got my attention because it closely follows this part of their itinerary:

June 2, 1977 Shiyaba Public Hall, Japan
June 4, 1977 Osaka Music Festival, Japan
June 5, 1977 Koseinen Kin Kaikau Tokyo, Japan
June 6, 1977 Koseinen Kin Kaikau Tokyo, Japan
June 8, 1977 Koseinen Kin Kaikau Tokyo, Japan
June 9, 1977 Nogoya Civil Center, Japan
June 12, 1977 Shibuya Kokaido, Japan
June ? 1977 Tokyo Music Festival (without Jackie; Joan on bass)


For which they do a new thing, record a live album intended for Japan.

This is a "made" band, their first shows are at The Whisky, The Agora, CBGB's, etc., and they are all over the place. And then their main fan base is in Japan! What is this? This was a huge deal for the time, you couldn't just put together a band and go to Japan. It's not a political band, whatsoever, it is their very existence that has a pioneer effect on a social or international level. It didn't last, because here Lita is going to do her thing that pushed their envelope. Cherie did not want to sing it every night because of the high notes. This has a hard edge that would topple, say, Van Halen if that is an example of their contemporaries.



Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin (1977)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-XKH6KZ1Y

Here is the opposite match. The following year, Japan was treated to Germany's Scorpions. This is put on a double live album called Tokyo Tapes. And here, Uli Roth does something that is not from Germany and the Scorpions have never been. Eventually, the band Therion comes out of this song. You don't know what's happening, and then it becomes profoundly meditative in a way the Japanese seem to have liked.



Fly to the Rainbow (1978)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FnLgsQF9B2I

That's real "normalization", not a political one but a free choice of people. I in turn am one of those who is grateful for what I have gotten from Japan, so this is a very natural circle for me. As a music fan, I have seen Joan Jett perform, and, she is not just a little chick with a big mouth, she's a power, it's like there's this spark shining through but it is too big to fit in everything she's ever done.

[shaberon]

Usually any mention of music history with a political dissension is going straight to Black Sabbath and War Pigs. I figured this goes without mention. I realized I am not the biggest Sabbath fan. They have some great songs, but, I won't really listen to a whole album because it is a bit removed, has a narcotic effect. That is of course true. Sometimes, they do really good in songs with extended riffing, like War Pigs, Black Sabbath, or Iron Man, and then past a certain point, it is a bit unreachable to me.


Reading those music history articles is a little weird. They talk about "genres" as if they were coherent entities. That's not how it worked. When I got into music, Venom had created Black Metal and there wouldn't have been any question what it meant. Maybe ten years later someone starting adopting the idea for themselves, which is a bit of flattery. At the time no one did, you just had all kinds of bands turn around and pull from the influence. And so the thing I got into when it first came out was Slayer.

The reviews tell us that Dave Lombardo was first given a double bass setup by Gene Hoglan during Haunting the Chapel.

Then for the most part, Hell Awaits is where they think the band's sound took off. But on this again, it is a case where they have turned to extensive riffing, which, to me, did not fit what they had done with Show no Mercy. They attribute the extension to Mercyful Fate. Well, that points to the strength of that band--Fate can play extensively because they do it really well, in a way that, to me, at least, works better than Sabbath or Slayer.

As a player, I am still in the camp of those who took something from Black Sabbath. This is strange but true. I re-arranged this hook from Dio's Sabbath into what was probably the second-fastest song we were playing. That was true only because I had added one more trying to go as fast as possible. But for a long time we were based on a sped-up version of this next one.


Country Girl

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=myP_u2Uj7aQ

And so I'm trying to play all this stuff 2-3 times a night, and, it just pushes the envelope of the supporting players. We do this stuff, some leave and I play with the drummer for a while, until it is just me that keeps on playing, because that's what I do. A girl used to watch me, sitting in her car or something, I had no idea she existed. I literally hypnotized her or somehow overwhelmed her, she was really nervous to meet me, and the band didn't work out, but this song came true, pretty close to how it is.

A singer who is directly influenced by Dio is Noora Louhimo. This is a really great job of pushing a classic metal Sabbath-style melody pretty close to Slayer intensity. Back to an acerbic, post-apocalyptic lament.


Battle Beast (Finland, 2008)

Raven

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZzTBXtZuMIw

Night sky is glowing, city ablaze
Worldwide chaos spreading like a fire
Cybernetic fingers rewiring human brains
Obedient and evil
Freedom's calling
Raven, the witness of mankind's destruction
Raven!
Raven, black symbol of death in the sky, wow!
Cutting-edge technology, a tool of self-demise
Brain-dead cyborg armies terrorize
Virtual reality, Hell or paradise?
Once you're in you can't get out
Freedom's calling
Raven, the witness of mankind's destruction
Raven!
Raven, black symbol of death in the sky
Some of us escaped to sewers and caves
Living with the rats in nuclear waste
Cybernetic soldiers demolishing our homes
Run or die
Freedom's calling
Raven, the witness of mankind's destruction
Raven!
Raven, black symbol of death in the sky
Raven, the witness of mankind's destruction
Raven!
Raven, black symbol of death in the sky
Raven fly! Yeah yeah yeah yeah!

[shaberon]

Interesting. The top of the page is right around a year ago when I found that Prika taking over vocals in Nervosa brought it where it needed to be. I just got to see them play and they are superb. They have a new drummer and said the bass player joined for the tour until the other one can get through something. They fit perfectly.

I got fist bumps from Prika and Gabriela and a card from the bass player, I don't know where Helena slipped off to, she is really small but she can destroy an instrument. I would follow them anywhere if I could. They are headed up north and into Canada.



Seed of Death

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=oP9nI9cNREU

Jailbreak

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_GgUoAN0NGQ

I get through the wire
To the other side
Sailing rivers of blood
To escape their control

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

Black sheep
Mind police
Outlaw
Heart of danger

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

The best way to break the rules
Is to pretend that you follow them
Sick and tired of apologies
Empty heads full of fools
Full of fools!

March to the beat
Of your heart
This is your destiny's call
No need to compromise
Be your own god

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

It's my Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak
Jailbreak

[shaberon]

Sometimes things change for the worse, and, this time it turns out that after a second heart attack, Jeff "Mantas" will no longer be a part of Venom Inc.; here is an extensive talk with Tony Dolan about having continued the band which has lost both founding members.

He was in Venom originally because the other original member did not want to do it any more. This 2015 version was kind of the same; fan request put the band together. And so it's an odd position to be in. I don't see why he shouldn't keep doing it. Here's something unusual for them from his third album.

Cursed

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VtqEHPr9a1o

1980 - NL Sad Iron continues to release:








Rather impressively Kate's Acid continues to release Blowing Your Ears Off which is a live recording of classics where she also plays Stand up and Shout by Dio.

That's really something, to have a band that is basically in its 40s and you can still keep doing this. You are doing it with people who were not born when the songs were made. And that was playing at two or three festivals and other shows. Just to quickly pick an opener:

Kate's Acid

Maniac/Hooked on Metal 2022

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bYx_qRrUJO4

Unfortunately for me, that's Europe. Some of those shows are over an hour of just old music.

She opened the first Venom show, so this was a thing. I listened to Acid a lot more than what other people around me listened to. There's a sort of timelessness in this.

[shaberon]

This is not surprising after...leaving the band they were in...



Notice the location after some life-threatening health issues in their 60s:






This starts because Cronos decides to sue over some logos or something last year.

So, they start a defense against that, and a counter-suit for...rights on their own material...


There is in part, crowdfunding with excess proceeds donated to charity.


On the other hand, they are also going to play their own music, regardless of two other bands using it.


After almost dying, there are not many people who can just turn around and go to Tokyo November 30:


The show will see Dunn and Bray performing classic VENOM tracks alongside some of Japan’s top black metal musicians: Masaki “Gezol” Tachi from SABBAT on bass and vocals, Mirai Kawashima of SIGH on vocals, Shinji “Samm” Tachi from METALUCIFER on drums, and Noboru “Jero” Sakuma from ABIGAIL on guitar. Supporting acts for the night include SURVIVE and HELL FREEZES OVER.


The same will be done at Keep it True next April with:


Tom Angelripper and Andy Brings (SODOM)

Tom G. Warrior (CELTIC FROST, HELLHAMMER, TRIPTYKON)

Schmier (DESTRUCTION)

Attila Csihar (MAYHEM)

Danny Lilker (NUCLEAR ASSAULT, S.O.D.)

Diva Satánica (BLOODHUNTER, NERVOSA)

Blake “Bulldözer” Arendell (INTERCEPTOR)


It implies a type of "Anniversary tour":

As the duo gears up to celebrate the 45th anniversary of VENOM’s groundbreaking debut, Welcome to Hell (1981), at festivals in 2026...

I don't think I've ever heard of just getting anyone to play that. A band with a theoretically unlimited number of singers. Interesting.

...now we’re getting offers from other places to do the same thing.

Of course.

Easy math:

Unless you’ve got two members of that three-piece, you can’t call it VENOM because it’s Cronos and some other blokes, or it’s Dolan and some other blokes. If you’ve got me and Jeff, you’ve got two-thirds of the original f**king band. That’s as straightforward as you can get.

It was with Clive Archer 1980:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=X2BxnqOV_1c

The actual first song was Red Light Fever.


Cronos first gave them Senile Decay, recorded with Bloodlust in 1982:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=p823zjrglQM

Fallen Angels had its moments, but, I didn't really get much from the last two albums. His momentum stopped around 2011. He doesn't deserve anything besides a share in the original material.


No one can argue that it's not forty-five years of musical calamity erupted by that notorious first album. It changed everything. Certainly it "belongs" more to two co-founders than any individual. Whatever Dolan does "can't hurt", if he focuses on "his era", it's something additional. No reason not to. He is able to say they both effectively dropped out of his line-up. There's no bickering going on there. They may have something Beyond the Black.

But, here we go, Forty-five Years of Welcome to Hell.