From mullets to marriage, junior high student to environmental risk assessor, I have remained a metalhead and plan to stay that way.
Year of World Entry: 1970
Current Location on Earth: Madison, Wisconsin
Year of Metal Baptism: 1984
First Metal Buy (*): VAN HALEN - 1984 (1983)
First Extreme Metal Buy: METALLICA - Master of Puppets (1986)
First Metal Concert: DIO / ROUGH CUTT (1985)
Most Memorable Gigs: DIO / ROUGH CUTT (1985) Bloomington, MN
JUDAS PRIEST / DOKKEN (1986) St. Paul, MN
QUEENSRYCHE / SUICIDAL TENDENCIES (1991) - Madison, WI (**)
PANTERA / SACRED REICH (1992) - Milwaukee, WI
CARCASS / PITCHSHIFTER (1994) - Milwaukee, WI
Started Wearing Earplugs: SLAYER / TESTAMENT (1991)
Most Obscure CD I Own: STATE OF MIND - Mass Persecution (***)
Most Embarrassing CD I Own: (tie) WASP - The Last Command, RATT - Dancing Undercover
Favorite Metal Subgenres: Technical Metal, Thrash, and Melodic Death
Least Liked Metal Subgenres: Doom, Atmospheric/Gothic, and Europower
Metal Pet Peeves: Calling bands like CANNIBAL CORPSE "technical" and bands like SUPERIOR "progressive". Europe gives the world Melodic Death, and the U.S. spits forth Nu-metal. (Oh well... at least we introduced the Bay Area Crunch.)
* = I had KISS tapes in grade school around 1980-81, but I only had them to be cool. I liked DEF LEPPARD - Pyromania (1983) in the sixth grade, but I also liked MICHAEL JACKSON - Thriller (1982) during this time, so I obviously had not yet become a true metalhead. :-)
** = This concert was recorded for the Operation: Livecrime disc
*** = High school friends' Thrash band - they were pretty good
Random Useless Information:
My downward spiral into the metal abyss began in junior high with VAN HALEN - 1984. I remember hating the song "Jump" when I first heard it on the radio, but at some point I must have decided that it spoke to me on many levels. VAN HALEN became my favorite band. I joined the ever popular Columbia House tape club and began my foray into the magenta colored world of Hair Metal. I quickly evolved into an aficionado of the more advanced works of art contributed by such chix and lipstix luminaries as MOTLEY CRUE and RATT. Around this time, I also began to appreciate some Traditional Metal artists like OZZY and DIO. Although I still liked Hair Metal, the mighty DIO became my favorite band at some point in 1985, and they retained that revered position in my personal metal hierarchy through the release of their excellent disc Dream Evil in 1987.
Despite my affection for hairspray and rainbows, the seed of enthusiasm for a new form of metal had been planted in my young mind. I first heard Thrash in the form of METALLICA's Ride the Lightning. I listened to part of "Fight Fire with Fire", ejected the tape I had borrowed, and immediately put TWISTED SISTER - Stay Hungry into my boom box in order to cleanse my ears of the harsh wall of noise to which I had stupidly subjected myself. I did not enter the Thrash fold until 1986 when I heard Master of Puppets. Throughout that year, I acquired a taste for the crunchy riffs of METALLICA, ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, S.O.D., and SLAYER. Reign in Blood scared the hell out of me the first time I listened to it. Of course, I subsequently succumbed and administered routine injections of riffage and double bass drumming from Satan's bullet belted minions. 1987 was a banner year for Thrash in my world due to classic releases by TESTAMENT, EXODUS, HEATHEN, OVERKILL, HOLY TERROR, CORONER, ARTILLERY, KREATOR, DESTRUCTION, and MORTAL SIN. I received invaluable aid in my quest for new Thrash bands from several writers for the incredibly cool British metal magazine Metal Forces. To this day, Thrash is one of my very favorite forms of music even though I cannot think of any relatively recent Thrash releases that I listen to all that often.
My need for Thrash was satisfied through the early 90s. Although I focused on Thrash, I also got into some of the Power Metal bands like CHASTAIN, KING DIAMOND, METAL CHURCH, and, of course, SANCTUARY (one of my all time favorites). I also dabbled in the growing Death Metal scene, but I was not overly fond of most of the bands. I liked some of the catchier and more musically skilled groups such as DEATH, PESTILENCE, and DISINCARNATE, but I was not at all impressed by the grunt and gore of DEICIDE, OBITUARY, or CANNIBAL CORPSE. Unfortunately for me, Death Metal became all the rage, and most Thrash bands either broke up or got dropped by their record labels. Death Metal's rise in prominence was the beginning of The Wasted Years in my metal evolution. I was discouraged by the popularity of the growling buffoons and my inability to find a lot of metal releases that I liked. Some excellent discs such as CYNIC - Focus and CARCASS - Heartwork came from this period, but music of that quality was very uncommon. The wave of Black Metal that subsequently rushed forth pissed me off to an even greater extent since I heard nothing of value in their satanic shrieking and wall of sound approach. I was not Internet savvy at this time, so I was unable to get a good idea of what was happening in the world of metal. I did not give up on metal, but I delved into the vastly more popular Alternative Rock world in order to try (unsuccessfully) to meet my hunger for new music.
However, my metallic soul was saved (or damned as the case may be) in 1997. I credit two people with my metal rejuvenation in the late 90s. I met my friend Ken shortly after I started grad school, and he introduced me to the wonders of the Web. I was pleasantly surprised to find all sorts of info on metal, and I quickly began my financially ruinous habit of purchasing music on-line. Ken also afforded me the opportunity to guest host on his metal radio show "The Void". I ended up co-hosting with Ken and later took over the show myself. "The Void" aired in the coveted Tuesday 3 to 6 am timeslot, but I had a blast.
My other metal savior during this time was Sylvain Moisan. I began trading with Sylvain in 1998, and he introduced me to the wonderful world of Gothenburg Melodic Death. This subgenre had emerged in 1993-94 with the debut discs from bands like IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILLITY. Since this period of time was during The Wasted Years for me, I was not aware that a new style of metal had emerged from the Black Metal scene that I detested so much. Melodic Death really reinvigorated my interest in active metal bands. My enthusiasm for this music and my newfound knowledge of the Web pushed me into the metal trading community, and I have been a very happy metalhead ever since.
The most recent stage in my metal evolution that has emerged is my love of Technical Metal as a subgenre. I had always liked bands such as WATCHTOWER, CYNIC, and ATHEIST, but I had never really grouped them together as Technical Metal. Through the help of Tech Metal guru Brian Meloon and a few other traders as well as my own research, I have amassed a collection of Tech Metal that provides me with some of my best metal listening experiences ever. I consider the relatively recent surge in Technical/Progressive Death Metal (bands like THEORY IN PRACTICE, MARTYR, SCEPTIC, GORY BLISTER, etc.) to be the best thing to happen to the metal world since the explosion of Bay Area Thrash in the 80s.
In their profiles, Chris and Matt listed some of their favorite bands. I don’t like to list favorite bands because bands are usually inconsistent throughout their careers. You can check out my top 20 of all time to get an idea of some of the releases that I put on a pedestal. I will reiterate that my favorite styles in metal are Technical Metal, Thrash, and Melodic Death. I also like quite a few American Power Metal bands (ANTITHESIS, NEVERMORE, ONWARD, etc.), many of the thrashy Death Metal bands (SOILWORK, WITCHERY, and CARNAL FORGE), and some truly progressive bands like ZERO HOUR, GRACEPOINT, and PYRAMID. I am not a fan of “Prog Metal” in general – a subgenre that I usually find to be sappy, cheesy, wimpy, and not actually progressive in nature. I am also quite sick of all the European Power Metal HELLOWEEN/MANOWAR clones that flooded the metal market in recent years. Some very good bands (NIGHTWISH, ELVENKING) have emerged from this movement, but I find the vast majority of Europower bands to be horribly simplistic and cheesy.
So on that note… TO THE REVIEWS, MIGHTY VIKING WARRIORS! READ THE WORK OF SCRIBES DEDICATED TO PRAISING THE STRENGTH AND MAJESTY OF METAL IN ALL ITS VIOLENT GLORY! (Sorry, I could not resist.)
Additional Nonsense: Top Releases of 2000
Top Releases of 1999