Considering that every film directed by Takeshi Miike is better than 98% of anything else, and that Deadly Outlaw Rekka is one of his best five movies, I’m surprised that his cinematic homage to Japanese proto-metal freaks Flower Travellin’ Band isn’t better known. Here’s a clip of the first five minutes of the film, set entirely to FTB’s eerie “Satori Pt. I.” I always describe this song as King Diamond singing for Slayer in 1971. Joe Yamanaka and Yuya Ichida from FTB also appear as gangsters in the movie.

I tried to see the reunited Flower Travellin’ Band in New York last winter, but they didn’t show. I guess I’ll catch them on the spritual plane.

Here’s my rough attempt to capture the spectacle of 42,000 Iron Maiden fans streaming into Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before losing their minds on March 28. Click that image for the full 3240-pixel-wide panorama. Actually, there should be another panel to the right to show the rear seating section — another giant flank of 8,000 or so fans.

This entire experience could not have been more huge. My intrepid she-woman and I walked many miles to the outskirts of the city, limping the last mile or so. We could hear Sepultura playing inside as the sun went down, but had to negotiate a line about two miles long before entering. Everyone arrived late—turns out Argentina was playing Venezuela in soccer. Of course Maiden knew that, and they stalled until well after the game was over. Hilarious.

The crush as the intro tape rolled was intense. You can see a tall chain link fence in the photo. Three small doors in that fence were the only passage to general admission. People were losing their heads pressing forward while Churchill’s voice rang out through the dusk. The funny thing was that this show was part of a Quilmes beer-sponsored music festival — but they didn’t sell beer. We accidentally entered through the wrong door, and access to our better seats (on the left in the photo) was blocked by a tall barbed-wire fence and a moat.

Then came Iron Maiden, playing classics to a sold-out crowd of 42,000 South Americans. Imagine a Superbowl game with every spectator cheering the same side, and without any dull moments. People were crying. The mood was a cross of jubilation and reverence. Since there was no room to move, a few thousand people just pogoed during the fast guitar bridge, evidently triggering earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the world in the weeks that followed.

Bruce Dickinson had his usual sharp words for Madonna fans and the authorities, but let’s face it — Iron Maiden has really conquered each and every country in the world like no other metal band.

Here’s a rip from the Sirius live stream of my slickly-produced July 19, 2008 interview with singer Tomas Lindberg and guitarist Martin Larsson of AT THE GATES. This has been floating around the black market for a while, so I might as well give it a legit home. Plus it’s a good blast from the recent past while my Bloody Roots radio show graciously steps aside for the surprise “Mandatory Metallica” month on Sirius XM.

Needless to say, this was produced for a nation of 9 million subscribers driving around in cars, so there’s a big difference in tone compared to the highly personal demo posts around here, but I hope you get a kick out of it. Regardless, At the Gates set a super-tall standard for reunion tours — I’ve pretty much since sworn off oldies acts.

From the Blabbermouth description: Vocalist Tomas Lindberg and guitarist Martin Larsson of the reactivated Swedish metallers AT THE GATES will appear on this week’s “Bloody Roots” show on Sirius Satellite Hard Attack channel, discussing their 12-year hiatus, the decision to reunite for a number of summer 2008 shows, the rise of the fabled “Gothenburg” melodic death metal sound, and the upcoming U.S. release of Daniel Ekeroth’s Swedish Death Metal book.

Highlights from the interview:

* Lindberg on the band’s 1996 break-up: “We had a couple years of hard touring, and getting sick of each other on tour. Basically, if we would have been the age we are now, we could have just taken a break and chilled for a while. We were just so immature and totally at our own throats.”

* Lindberg on the “Gothenburg sound”: “There’s a huge difference between AT THE GATES and IN FLAMES, as I hope everybody notices. We have a focus on the brutality. We’re not only melody, we’re a death metal band. The Gothenburg sound is to me like a non-existent entity. AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, and DARK TRANQUILLITY, it’s like three different worlds.”

The interview includes music by AT THE GATES as well as Lindberg’s DISFEAR and GROTESQUE and Larsson’s THIS QUIET EARTH. “Bloody Roots” is a “heavy metal history lesson” airing four times weekly on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Hard Attack, hosted by Ian Christe (Bazillion Points Books, Bazillion Points demoblog, author of “Sound Of The Beast”).

AT THE GATES: Bloody Roots Interview on Sirius XM 07/19/08 [60 mins., 81.6MB MP3]

Playlist:

AT THE GATES – “Slaughter of the Soul” from SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL

AT THE GATES – “Terminal Spirit Disease” from TERMINAL SPIRIT DISEASE

AT THE GATES – “The Swarm” from TERMINAL SPIRIT DISEASE

GROTESQUE – “Blood Flows From the Altar” from IN THE EMBRACE OF EVIL

LIERS IN WAIT – “Liers in Wait” from SPIRITUALLY UNCONTROLLED ART
DISFEAR – “Get it Off” from LIVE THE STORM

THIS QUIET EARTH – “Wizball” from 2008 DEMO

THE HAUNTED – “DOA” from ONE KILL WONDER

AT THE GATES – “Blinded by Fear” from SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL

TYRANT – “Hell Has Broken Loose” from RECLAIM THE FLAME

I’ve been doing a lot more talking and book publishing lately than demo posting, I’ll admit. That’s about to change. But tomorrow’s reserved for talk.

Dee Snider and his Fangoria Radio co-host Debbie Rochon (a cast member of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, and a good friend of Lloyd Kaufman) invited me to come talk about the connections between horror and heavy metal. Well, I think about that a lot, as we pretty much watch at least one horror or exploitation film in our household daily. So I’m ready to go talk about everything from Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath to scapegoating to John Fasano’s Black Roses to the new remake of Last House on the Left.

And when the night is through, horror fans shall remember the date Friday the 13th!

Best of all, listeners can call in live at at 1.888.4.102.102

Sound of the Beast author Ian Christe on Fangoria Radio
Friday, March 13th at 10PM Eastern on Sirius 102 / XM 155
hosted by Dee Snider and scream queen Debbie Rochon

Horror and heavy metal — the twin hounds of hell! After all Black Sabbath was named after a horror movie, and that was only the beginning…

UPDATE: I scored a recording of the broadcast (thanks, Danny). So now you can squirm to the sound of your humble (and dangerously laid-back sounding) narrator as he is thrown to the blood ghouls of Fangoria Radio:

Ian Christe on Fangoria Radio, Friday March 13, 2009 [21.7MB MP3]

Beast wishes!

My dad doesn’t historically have the coolest taste in music, but a funny thing happened when he came to New York last year for a visit. I took him up to Sirius for a survey of the 36th floor view and more importantly a gorging on gear, glamor, and satellite tech photo ops. While we were talking to Jose Mangin, telegenic Hard Attack metal channel founder and prophet, a dapper clean-shaven Andrew WK walked in and started shaking hands. Before Mr. Hard Party Kit Kat could get a word in edgewise, though, an idea popped into my dad’s head and he sprung into a lecture to us young ‘uns about the Shadows and Hank Marvin, the original guitar hero. That’s Hank with the long face with 1960s instrumental outfit the Shadows up above.

I inherited a Shadows CD somewhere, but I really only knew them from interviewing Tony Iommi for Sirius. Turns out he’s an unsung hero of the Sabbath sound, I think his rapid-fire approach to the Strat is an overlooked indirect influence on metal guitar playing. Joe Satriani covered a Shadows song, so he knows. Tony Iommi knows. Look at the synchronized steps the Shadows use in the video — you can bet the Scorpions know. The suspenseful James Bond theme used from Moonraker through the N64 Goldeneye game is played by Hank Marvin, so 007 knows. Now you know, too. I’m impressed that the Shadows were a hit machine as an instrumental guitar group, that’s uncommon. I guess I like the gunslinger approach to the six-string, from Hank Marvin to Link Wray to Andy McCoy. Add your own distortion, and those triplets are Slayer.

Hip hop music cut its teeth on the drum break in “Apache.” So did Lemmy Kilmister, who began his life on stage doing Shadows covers. If you see him at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, and want to drag him away from the video poker, pull his ear about Hank Marvin.

The first free Ozzfest is today at White River Amphitheater in Seattle. Jose and Mario from Sirius Hard Attack are there handing out T-shirts and dodging water balloons. So is RockMyMonkey.com, who has already delivered this great gallery of Chthonic live shots.

Ah, energy drink sponsors paying for corpse-painted Taiwanese symphonic black metal bands to praise death and abuse a screeching erhu (see above) on a bright sunny summer afternoon. The system is working just fine today.

LINK

Photo by Mark Carras

This week’s episode of BLOODY ROOTS, my weekly heavy metal history show on Sirius Hard Attack, is based entirely on demos digitized for this blog. Here’s the playlist:

AT WAR – “Eat Lead” from EAT LEAD
DEFCON – “Descenders From Hell” from FIRST
FORCED ENTRY – “Thrash or Die!” from THRASHING HELPLESS DOWN
HOLY TERROR – “Distant Calling” from 1986
SACRILEGE BC – “Crucified” from PARTY OF GOD
DREAM DEATH – “Dream Death” from 1986 DEMO
INCINERATOR – “Mass Genocide” from LIVE INTO THE CREMATORIUM
PORN ORCHARD – “This Reflex” from HIT THE RIGHT PEOPLE HARD
INSECTICIDE – “Overpowerd” from 1987 DEMO
LEVIATHAN – “Leviathan” from LEGIONS OF THE UNDEAD
SAMHAIN (DK) – “The Courier” from THE COURIER
INCUBUS (FL) – “Engulfed in Unspeakable Horror” from 1987 DEMO
DEVASTATION (IL) – “Devastation” from A RE-RECREATION OF RIPPING DEATH

Airtimes are 9PM ET on Tuesday 6/5, 3PM ET on Friday 6/8, and Noon ET on Sunday 6/10.

The show is generally based on my book Sound of the Beast, and I can’t think of a better use for $500 million worth of satellites. Look over all the past playlists for 2007 here: LINK.

I’m putting together a Women in Metal episode of my Bloody Roots show for Sirius later this month, listening to lots of Gallhammer, Détente, Girlschool, and 13. So I guess I’m feeling extra-receptive to this fair green 1986-87 demo from all-woman Swedish quartet Ice Age.

With its stop-start songwriting and relentless melodicism the band’s second demo “General Alert” is like a very tame precursor to the hometown Goteborg sound. Though their feathered hair is piled high, and their pouty faces are slapped on the cover of this cassette case, don’t be distracted — Ice Age knows their metal theory. Despite carrying loads of of baggage from before the girls discovered Exodus, they patch together rollicking good upbeat metal.

The first three tracks come from 1987, and evidence more thrashisms like shoutalong backing vocals, E-string chunking, and song titles like “A Case of Cerebral Death.” Sounds like the title of a Swedish crime film, doesn’t it?

The final two tracks came from side II and were recorded in 1986, and are of a much more classic style. Competent Yngwie classicism and gutsy Doro wails dominate. Point these songs at your nearest Euro-metal purist and they’ll gush all over you. I can’t help but think that Ice Age was thrilled to discover thrash, though, so they could be part of sculpting something new instead of joining the tail end of the legions of the past.

ICE AGE * “General Alert” 5-song demo 1987 [32.5MB .rar]

The band’s founder/guitarist/vocalist Sabrina Kihlstrand has launched an Ice Age MySpace page, which features a technical Coroner-esque 1989 song called “Instant Justice” that is truly astonishing. Though Ice Age traded talent across the seas and eventually recruited past and future members of Rock Goddess and Sentinel Beast, there isn’t any vinyl available.

If you’re looking for photos of these heartthrobs picking their noses, check an old SLAYER mag from Norway. Ice Age melted the heart of editor Jon Metali0n, dominating coverage in early issues — thus possibly delaying the second wave of Norwegian black metal for a few years? (Ha!)

If I owned a deli or a pizzeria, I would frame this photo and hang it on the wall. And I’d be wearing an apron.

Hard Attack listener Sage wrote me to request Goatwhore, and passed along a Flickr link to her hell-possessed eyeball. She’s obviously infected with the Rage Virus, but some genetic mutation makes her a carrier instead of a full-fledged zombie, as she seems completely lucid.

Sage: “Disgusting, isn’t it? Well, yes, and it feels much like it looks — like being kicked in the face repeatedly by someone with a serious grudge.”

Link to Sage’s Flickr & full explanation of her traumatic iritis