My Heavy Metal Journey

 I'm going to do something a bit different this week. I went to a Bayside show on Monday. I know I know. Not metal. But fuck you they are great! It's also a band my wife is very much in to and my son fanboys over. His first ever show by the way.  So anyway I am going to do a review of this show in a way. I'll start from the top.  Bayside did a battle of the bands via the Internet for every stop on their tour. First of all this is an amazing thing for any band our package tour to do. The exposure a local band can get from something like this can't be overstated. The band that won the Dallas stop (fan voted) was Mother Freud. So let's get into this. Mother Freud  Alright! I had looked up who won this stop but just figured I would hear them when I got there. My mistake. I wish I had been more prepared. I wish I had learned some songs. I wish I had been right up front headbanging and screaming their lyrics back at them.  To say I was shocked ...

 I have to be honest. When Pantera was in their hayday I had no idea who they were. As I have stated before I got into metal late. This doesn't change the impact Pantera, especially Dimebag Darrel had on my taste in music.  Dime was truly a generational talent. Maybe a lifetime talent. His guitar tones and riffs are truly unique. Even today, when any guitarist, in any metal band, anywhere in the world will point to Dime as an influence.  I don't remember specifically which song or songs got me into Pantera. But I know the first Pantera album I bought was Cowboys From Hell. I couldn't make that disk play loud enough. No car stereo or boombox had the power to match the legendary riffs Dimebag was putting out.  I am a drummer. My brother plays bass. We spent countless hours jamming just bass and drums as as teens. So the rythm section was always the part of a song or band that got me hooked.  Pantera was different though. Dimes work on the guitar ow...

 We are quickly approaching the year 2020. As in I am getting old and there are a ton of "this was popular 20 years ago" articles and videos. I was entering high school in 2000. So the next 4 or so years were the most formative years of my life. Music, of course, was a huge part of this.  This is when I really started getting into metal. As I have stated before nu metal was hugely influential to my taste in music now. It was the gateway drug if you will.  But this post isn't about nu metal specifically.  Rather this is about the power of music. Music has a way of sticking with you in ways nothing else can. Think about hearing a song you haven't heard in years. It can bring back memories you had long forgotten. In some cases you can smell a time and place in which that song was playing. It can remind you of exactly what emotion you were feeling at the time. Nothing can do this like music. I think we can use it to our benefit.  For me a song like P...

 We as metal heads are one of the tightest groups of people who aren't actively involved in one another's day to day lives. Most metal heads will defend another when attacked by a normie for our taste in music. I don't have to know anything about you other than you are wearing a Gojira shirt and you actually know who they are.  So why then is there so much hate within the community. Especially online. It's constant on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Hell even on Instagram. The nicest social media site on the web.  I see comments all that time that belittle or straight up spew hate because someone likes a band the commenter doesn't. Why. It's so easy for you to just say nothing. Or dissent with the opinion without being a hard boiled dickhead about it.  We have probably all heard "you can't really like that music" from someone. But we do bitches. So why when a fellow metal head who has dealt with the same thing we have get berated by the c...

 Here we go with some normal metal blog shit!  I'll give you my picks for the best metal albums from each month of 2019. I'm not pretentious so I don't expect everyone to take my opinion as gospel. Nor will I use this as some kind of platform to show off how deep my metal knowledge is. This will not be an in depth breakdown of every album either. Just listen to them and decide for yourself.  That said check out my favorite albums from each month this year. Playlist - Album of the Month 2019  January  Born of Osiris - The simulation  How could you possibly pass on this majestically crafted symphonic prog djented melodeathcore offering? Ok. You're right. That may be a bit much. But it isn't inaccurate.  Eleven days into the new year Born of Osiris dropped 25 minutes of face slapping heavy metal on us. It lives up to everything we have come to expect of the band. Well written, composed and produced. It's what they do and it's what I love a...

 I'm not going to lie. I started this blog with no vision of where it's going to go. No plan, no format, no specific ideas in mind. I just wanted to write about metal and how it fits within my life. So that is what I'll do.  It's a trope that young metalheads are always told "it's a phase, you'll grow out of it". This is of course false. For some it may be true. No two people are the same. Just like any other aspect of life a person's tastes can, and often do change. Sometimes this means you begin to desire a thing less. Sometimes it means your desire becomes deeper. Maybe it broadens and becomes more complex. Maybe cheese pizza is still delicious but you find that you frequently crave something more.  That's a bad analogy to be honest. But it does represent my ever expanding taste in music and the desire to experience more of it. After my initial dive into metal and all it had to offer I became content with what I had discovered. It was...

 I didn't plan to write today. But as I was thinking about veterans day it brought some things to mind.  As I stated in my first post I am a veteran. Just barely, but it counts in the government's eyes. My personal opinions are different. I don't feel I deserve any credit for my service. I didn't do enough to deserve that.  In any case the experience did give me a lot of insight into what military life is like. Most importantly what brotherhood means.  In the short time I was enlisted I grew to connect to men I never would have otherwise. There were plenty of people in my platoon I didn't care for. In fact some of them I despised. But when it came down to it I would have done anything for every one of them.  This feeling starts immediately. In basic training you are spending every second of every day for 3 months with the same 60 or so guys. At some point very early you begin to realize they are all you have to rely on. In turn they rely on you. ...

 I'll start with how I got to the point of worshiping at the altar of metal.  I grew up in a strict religious home. My parents (really my father who dictated what the entire family did for most of my young life) listened almost exclusively to Christian music and oldies. I'm talking Amy Grant and The Temptations were "heavy". I guess I liked it at first. As one would if it was all they were ever exposed to. I was exposed to some country when I was with my grandparents and some pop when I was around my cousins. That was really about it though. Around the time my youngest cousin started listening to his dad's music, my dad started to listen to the classic rock station in the car with me around. (Honestly am sure my dads work truck was full of the melodies of Van Halen and AC/DC. But I have no way to prove that.) So I got my first taste of hard rock between those two scenarios. The "heavier" it was the better.  The first moment I remember metal really...