It’s weird how bandnames cluster around certain letters of the alphabet. De and E were lousy with bands I like and so will M & S be, but bands with a name starting with “F”? Though the BNR Metal Pages list eightytwo I could only think of one that I actually knew and liked. You know this one and you know this song, as it was inescapable back in the early nineties:
Faith No More – Epic
I always thought poor old Faith No More were a victim of the rise of grunge. Like quite a few bands from around that time they were busy mixing up metal with rap with hardcore punk and along came the sullen Nirvana boys with what was basically just more mopey guitar based rock and that was the end of that.
Carl Macek, somebody I really only knew from the opening credits to Robotech, has died. He was somewhat of a object of hatred in hardcore anime fandom for his butchery of various unrelated anime series (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA) into the Americanised Robotech, but as the linked to eulogy says:
Carl had his critics. But one thing is certain: the popularity of anime in the North America would not be where it is today without Macek’s groundbreaking work on Robotech and his efforts on behalf of Streamline Pictures.
Myself, I had no idea about any of this controversy when I first discovered Robotech on Superchannel, back in 1987? 1988?, early on Saturday mornings. Sandwiched between all the crappy American cartoons its quality stood out and it’s led to a lifelong interest in anime.
Entombed knew their audience. ‘Eavy Metal might look tough, but it’s a decidedly nerdy music genre, so what would be more appealing than have your favourite lite Death Metal band sing about your favourite badass hero?
Entombed – Wolverine Blues
Gimmicks and MTV friendly image aside, Entombed has always been a good death metal band, but one that quickly grew bored with the somewhat limited reach of the subgenre, mixing other influences, especially hardcore punk — something that came natural for a lot of metal bands. This might be my favourite song in their original style.
Left Hand Path:
And this of their more modern style. In both cases the introduction sets the tone for the rest of the song, the long drawn out scream of Left Hand Path, the tching-tching of The Hollow Man, grabbing your attention before all hell breaks lose.
If y’all been following Metal Monday the past couple of weeks you may have noticed the preponderance of death metal. This is not just because it’s one of my favourite subgenres, but also because so many of the better death metal bands seem to cluster in the early part of the alphabet. Today we have the classic Florida death metal band, Death itself, now sadly defunct after founder Chuck Schuldiner “pulled the plug” in 2001, having died of brain cancer. Though he denied it himself, he and his band were incredibly influential in shaping the genre and you can do worse than to buy their first two albums, Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy. The latter album is represented here with the title song:
Diamond Head was a New Wave of British Heavy Metal band who never quite made it into the big time, but gained fame because Metallica nicked all their best songs, including this one: Am I Evil:
Finally, another Death Metal band, Deicide, with “Lunatic of God’s Creation. Unlike Death, Deicide is a seriously anti-religious, anti-Christian band; their name of course means “god murder”. It’s all so much posturing however, despite the socalled satanic messages in their music, Deicide doesn’t actually believe any of it, unlike the more extreme Norwegian Black Metal bands. The latter’s loathing of bands like Deicide and touring partner Gorefest might actually have led to an attempt to blow the band up live on stage in Stockholm…
That last video also nicely shows off the “death metal grunt” voice.
Always sort of oscillated between annoyance and admiration about Malcolm McLaren, for his self promotion, ideas and undeniable knack for spotting new talent. If nothing else, I’ll always be grateful to him for the following song/clip easing puberty a lot…