WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:05.220 Metalhead Podcast, Metalhead Podcast, Go! 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:27.980 You must listen. 00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:30.140 You must listen. 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:32.540 You must listen. 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:38.740 Now, here is the podcast. 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:39.980 Metal Heads Podcast. 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:40.500 Go. 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:42.880 Hello, and welcome to the Metal Heads Podcast. 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:43.800 My name is George. 00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:45.320 This is Jay. 00:00:46.080 --> 00:00:46.700 This is John. 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:48.980 Wait, was that a belch or something? 00:00:49.030 --> 00:00:49.400 I'm sorry. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:50.340 That was really good. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:52.120 This is Jay. 00:00:52.130 --> 00:00:52.260 Three. 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:52.580 Please. 00:00:53.150 --> 00:00:53.280 Yeah. 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:54.840 This is John again. 00:00:55.480 --> 00:00:55.800 There we go. 00:00:55.860 --> 00:01:25.680 Matt is still here. And this is Markisan. And with us tonight is Luke Orem, who is a visual artist from the UK. He has illustrated some amazing album covers for bands like Sludge and Firelink. He's a musician and a comic book artist. He has a new graphic novella called Planet Loss, which accompanies the band Wallowing's latest record. Welcome, Luke. Hello. Thank you very much for having me on this esteemed Metalhead. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:26.720 Related Podcast. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:33.760 Thanks for coming on, and thanks for putting up with the fact that we just did this twice because I forgot to hit record the first time. 00:01:34.880 --> 00:01:37.720 That's why I hit it with more energy the second time. 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:40.140 That's why everybody was laughing. 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:46.400 Luckily, we only got about this far in before we realized the problem, so you didn't miss much. 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:48.040 But anyway, welcome. 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:54.580 And Markazan, I believe you asked how he got into art. 00:01:55.340 --> 00:02:24.460 But maybe before we go there, tell us where you're at. So you're an artist and you live in... Yeah, okay. So I'm an artist and I live in a village near a city called Bristol, which is in the southwest of the United Kingdom. It's roughly parallel with London, but it's on the other side of the island. Gotcha. And can I just ask, are you primarily doing art as your means of survival these days? Yeah. Okay, great. 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:53.360 Okay, well, great. Glad to have you. And I apologize. I just wanted to get the basic facts. Now, Marcus, please take it away. Yeah, I mean, the first question I had was, you know, what got you interested in art in the beginning when you were young, I assume? So, yeah, as we got cut off, I'll say just previously, it's a combination of several things. First and foremost, my mom and my aunt on my dad's side were quite, 00:02:54.600 --> 00:03:24.560 quite a lot of drawing was done as a pastime for fun. In terms of being inspired to do something with it, when I was about three years old, I was in a newsagent, like a corner store, where I lived with my parents. I went into there and I saw an early copy of 2000AD, which had Kevin O'Neill 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:54.100 Drawing Nemesis and just a little kid at the time. I couldn't read at the time. I just thought it looked great and then started copying it and stuff. And then a little bit later than that, I really liked the music of Iron Maiden when I was a kid and I loved the artwork on the cover of that. So kind of those three things really, sort of comics, album artwork that I was exposed to just as a kid and also a family that had an appreciation for classical art and painting and that kind of stuff. 00:03:54.140 --> 00:04:24.080 just in the family as a culture, you know. So it sounded like you were immediately attracted to just dark images and landscapes and metal covers. Yeah, when I was small, you know, a little, I really liked dinosaurs. Like when I was a little, you know, sort of three or four, I was really into dinosaurs and I'd learn all the names of dinosaurs and I'd draw the dinosaurs. And, you know, I think my mom and dad just, 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.400 encouraged it because they thought it was a way of expressing yourself and 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:30.600 potentially something that could be enjoyed throughout my life. 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.420 And I also, at that fairly young age as well, 00:04:36.940 --> 00:04:40.420 Zoids came out, the toy. Do you know what Zoids are? 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:41.440 Sounds familiar. 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:47.340 It was a Japanese toy that was released in the West 00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:52.600 where you construct a robotic dinosaur that's clockwork with a little pilot in the head. 00:04:53.320 --> 00:05:22.980 And at sort of age three or whatever, that sort of cemented dinosaurs and science fiction because it was like they were robots as well. Just in my mind, I just really loved from then on science fiction, robots, dinosaurs, monsters, that kind of stuff. More so than it being necessarily dark. I think that like we would recognize that as dark now. But when I was a kid, I just thought it was cool, you know, like cool robot monster with like guns and that kind of stuff, you know. Yeah, I was going to just shout out real quick that you mentioned 2000 AD. 00:05:23.320 --> 00:05:53.040 And in perusing your website, there's a very cool Judge Dredd image that you have put together there. Thank you. Have you ever been lucky enough to do anything with 2080? Nope. Sorry. I'll try to think of all the things you failed at and ask those questions. Yeah, I saw that Dredd as well. And I was going to ask you, you know, if you liked Judge Dredd, because I like Judge Dredd. And that was pretty badass looking. So well done. Thank you. Thank you very much. I do like Judge Dredd. It's not my favorite. 00:05:53.300 --> 00:06:22.400 stripped from 2018, but it is the one everyone knows. And, you know, especially across the pond, you know, like Dread, because Dread has his own magazine and stuff, whereas the other 2018 characters maybe aren't so well known outside of the UK. I don't know. What is your favorite character? It's Nemesis the Warlock. I was going to say, do you like Nemesis? I love Redemaw. It's the best. Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill, and then Redondo a bit later. 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:52.400 It's just fantastic art. I also really like DR and Quinch, which was written by Alan Moore. Oh, yeah. A comedic strip, but it's just really funny. Halo Jones, again, that's Alan Moore. Slane, which is Pat Mills. Oh, I love Slane. Yeah, Simon Bisley, Mick McMahon. It's fantastic. I grew up reading that stuff. I live not very far from Glastonbury, which is where a lot of Slane is set. Oh, wow. So let me ask you a question. I really am a Nemesis fan, so I have this 00:06:52.420 --> 00:07:22.380 and then I have the color version of it. Is that the whole of it? Did they finish it and they were done? They did finish it. I have not read all of it, I'm afraid. Like many, this is going to get me really in trouble in Britain, but like many British 2000 AD fans, I dropped off of it when they brought the Stallone movie out. I didn't like it and it put me off the comic for a long time. I didn't read it again until I was an adult at all. This is the nemesis. 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:25.400 I understand that but they continued Nemesis 00:07:25.700 --> 00:07:27.220 into about the late 90s 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:27.860 I see 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:31.260 the art's really good in the late Nemesis I would say 00:07:31.260 --> 00:07:33.160 I can't remember the name of the artist it might be 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:35.320 Glenn Fabry it might be one of those slightly 00:07:35.320 --> 00:07:36.520 more painted looking guys 00:07:37.520 --> 00:07:39.360 really good I just never really 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:41.360 quite kept up with that after the movie because I felt 00:07:41.460 --> 00:07:42.300 disappointed in it 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.520 I did like the second Dread movie very much 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:46.740 the late modern one 00:07:47.260 --> 00:07:48.580 the Carl Urban one 00:07:48.940 --> 00:07:49.960 I thought it was great 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.400 that's fantastic I wish they'd make another 00:07:52.400 --> 00:08:22.340 I really enjoyed that movie. It's perhaps, it's interesting because that film is a much, it's a much better film than the Stallone movie. But something it doesn't have is that, you know, and I think like there's probably, probably Pat Mills is on record as saying the same thing and maybe Wagner as well, who wrote it, that it doesn't quite have the satirical humour that Dread has. It has also now. It's much more, well it has a bit of it in there, but like I think you might almost need to be, 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:51.860 either British or having spent a lot of time in Britain to get a lot of the humour and dread because it's like an English short, actually John Wagner is Scottish, it's a British person's send-up of Americans, you know, like this kind of like big powerful guy and he's like this fascist guy, you know, and it's like it's all kind of embedded in that sort of punk rock, you know, two fingers up kind of attitude that I don't know how well that gets across a lot of the time. But the urban movie at least got, like the tone of it was much better, like it was, 00:08:52.020 --> 00:08:52.480 You know, 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:56.180 Dread is a badass in that film and the action was really good. 00:08:56.760 --> 00:08:57.880 It reminded me of 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.000 Assault on Precinct 13 or something like that, 00:09:01.140 --> 00:09:01.340 you know, 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:02.580 like a Carpenter movie, 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:04.040 like a sort of slow, 00:09:04.620 --> 00:09:05.740 things getting gradually worse. 00:09:05.920 --> 00:09:07.120 I really did quite like it. 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:07.300 Yeah, 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:07.860 I thought it was good. 00:09:08.560 --> 00:09:08.740 Yeah, 00:09:08.980 --> 00:09:09.480 it was good stuff. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:10.420 You know, 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:11.520 one of the things that brought you, 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:15.820 one of the reasons you're on our radar is because you've done some album covers. 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:17.120 Have you done quite a few album covers? 00:09:17.580 --> 00:09:17.920 Many, 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:18.180 yeah. 00:09:19.300 --> 00:09:20.000 I don't know. 00:09:20.020 --> 00:09:20.560 I've lost track. 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:20.960 Like, 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:21.920 it's the main, 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:24.060 It's the main thing I've done for probably 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:25.780 10 years or so 00:09:26.380 --> 00:09:28.340 Who's reaching out to you? Is it the bands themselves? 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:30.240 Usually the bands themselves 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.260 Who was your first album cover commission? 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:36.420 Oh god 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:38.380 Right 00:09:38.770 --> 00:09:40.440 So if we discount silly nonsense 00:09:40.660 --> 00:09:41.020 I did 00:09:41.290 --> 00:09:44.520 Like proper someone paying me any kind of real money 00:09:45.180 --> 00:09:46.280 There's a band 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:49.240 So I'm not 100% sure 00:09:49.560 --> 00:09:51.180 There's one of the following two bands 00:09:51.180 --> 00:10:18.940 There's a sort of death grind band from Exeter, which is another British town called Human Cull, and they hired me quite early on to do some artwork for their first album. And there's a similar sort of death metal band from Newcastle called Rat Bastard, who they hired me, and they were like teenage kids, like probably 14, 15. They went on to become Life Burial, who are now a much bigger deal. Oh yeah, we know that. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:51.160 when they were younger with a slightly different bass player. You know how it is, but the main guys are the same guys. This is before I even bought a Wacom tablet. It's like when I just did everything on paper. That was probably about 10 years ago, I think. How did they find you? Did they know you? Were you friends with them? In the case of those bands, it's because I knew them because of my own band's activities. They just saw that I could do some art and needed some 00:10:51.200 --> 00:11:20.840 to do art. So I ended up, it's really weird. Like I didn't intend to do album covers particularly. Like I just really love art and I also love music. And then as is the case with a lot of things, just because I'm on that social scene to more or less extent, people just go, Hey, I've seen you do this thing. Do you want, can you help me out with this? And we've got an album coming out or a seven inch or whatever. You know, how much would you want for this? And of course, you know, 10 years ago, I'd be like, Oh, 20 quid, you know, just, just, you know, 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:46.400 Thank you very much. 00:11:52.279 --> 00:12:20.880 I don't think they're that good anymore. Sometimes because I've got one foot in metal and one foot in punk, a lot of my more punk mates don't want a painted album cover of a demon, but they do want graphic design. So you end up getting roped in just to lay up the text and lay up a nice photograph of the band playing live or something. So I've done a lot of that as well. I don't love that as much. I like painting and drawing. Speaking of your website, I was looking at it and going through it. 00:12:20.900 --> 00:12:50.760 And I saw the following text. I work on the border of the traditional and digital worlds, frequently exploring how new tools can be used with a traditional sensibility. Looking back whilst thinking forward. Can you talk about what that means to you a little bit? Basically, it's my way of saying the reason this stuff doesn't look very digital is because I learned to paint and draw traditionally and later adapted those skills to using a computer when it, you know, 00:12:50.900 --> 00:13:20.860 because I can't quite afford a big studio to do all painting or something like that so I ended up just downsizing just getting a decent computer and a decent Wacom tablet and just transferring over but because I learned the traditional way I to be honest don't know how to do all the sort of shortcuts that a lot of the concept art type guys know how to do they can sort of bang stuff out in a day and it looks you know it looks great but they do it using a different sort of mentality whereas I literally sit painting and drawing all those things just using 00:13:20.900 --> 00:13:50.620 a different tool. So, you know, I would like to think that that classical approach does carry over a little bit. You know, often people ask me if they can buy an original, but it doesn't exist, as we already said. So, yeah. You did a painting for me. Yeah. I think that's worked. I saw the section on masterclasses on your website of the more classically inspired stuff. Yeah. So that makes sense. 00:13:51.740 --> 00:14:20.700 So when you're starting a new piece, given that you used to be doing it physically and now you're doing it digitally, what's your method for starting something new? Do you start sketching something out on paper and then move to digital or do you just jump right into digital? What do you do? What's your plan for starting something? Your process, thank you. Okay, so the answer is whichever I feel like. So I do like drawing it like a, 00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:49.780 You know, obviously this isn't going out live, but I've got loads of sketchbooks and stuff here that I just sketch ideas down on really quickly. And then if it's half decent, I might scan it or photograph it, dump that into Photoshop or, you know, not sponsored by Photoshop, you know, dump that into a digital program and take it from there kind of thing, you know, like, and sometimes I'll just jump straight in with the digital, you know, it's a bit faster, but for kind of generating ideas, it's, I don't think it has a lot of advantages. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:15:19.540 It's much faster and more efficient to make finished work digitally and takes up less space. But if you're just sketching ideas, you know, having some nice pens or brushes and a sketchbook, you can go out, you can go for a walk, you can go to a cafe. When there's not a pandemic, you know, you can do all these kind of things that are perhaps a little more creative in approach than the sort of clinical setting of working with a computer. But I've done both of it all the time. I do either or basically. 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:49.100 It's not much of an answer, I'm sorry. No, it's fine. It's nice to have options. You don't have to be locked into doing everything a certain way. So when people come to you with a commission, as someone who has tried commissioning art and logos and things for the podcast, I sort of feel the pain of the people trying to pull out of me details about what I'm looking for. Do you have, you know, 00:15:49.860 --> 00:16:19.800 For album covers and stuff, do you get people coming with fully formed ideas? Do you have to really kind of pull things out of them? Or do they just go, here's a basic idea, let you go? I mean, I'm sure it's probably a mix of all of these. It's a mix of all of them, yes, you are correct. As you say, I would say that more often, yeah, I would say it strictly falls into two general categories. 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:49.800 Like every stage in between, but most are either one of the two following types of thing. The first one is someone says, I really like how this feels. And they send me a link to one of my own pieces of work. And they say something that has this kind of feeling. It might be, you know, maybe it's a spaceship. So they want an ethereal kind of thing, or, you know, it's a demon or a monster or skull man, you know, the typical metal stuff. And that's, you know, that's, that's, 00:16:49.860 --> 00:17:17.579 That happens a lot. The other thing that happens a lot is someone emails me with a, you know, a 26-page dossier of information about their entire concept of what their band is, the backstory, and all this stuff. And it's like, that's great, man, but I'm not going to read that, you know. Tell me what you want, you know. How many Skullmen? How many Burning Dice? Yeah. 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:49.780 a hundred and two skull men. Not a hundred and one, not a hundred and three, a hundred and two. You do realize how funny that sounds when you're like, hey, send me a 20 page dossier. Just tell me how many skull men. You just reduce that down to like one line or one paragraph. When I was trying to commission the current podcast artwork we have of the, we call him the Reaper preacher guy standing in front of this like tree thing with the microphone. 00:17:49.940 --> 00:18:19.800 and all this. And I was trying to convey this to the guy. And I sent him a picture of Sanctuary's Refuge denied album cover. Because that's got like a guy with like a podium and like a gun and a Bible or whatever. And then I took like paint and like drew over top of it what I was looking to do. And it actually came out pretty good. Even though I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Well, the thing is, you're hiring someone that's got the artistic ability. But what you have is, 00:18:19.860 --> 00:18:49.820 the ideas and that's what's important right so yeah you know the person you hire when you work as a commercial artist you know you are doing a job and that job is to get your clients thing the best it can be so they're happy with it and that's that's how I approach it you know like obviously I care about my art and I do a lot of my own work just for things I would like to make but you know when I'm hired I take it very seriously and I really care that they you know because it's because of well I mean that's just a general professional attitude that I think anyone ought to have but 00:18:49.860 --> 00:19:19.820 But also, because I've been in bands, like, for much longer than I've been doing art commercially, I've been in bands, and I know what it's like to put your heart and soul into some awful piece of rubbish that no one's ever going to listen to. I understand, like, spending all your money on 600 CDs that just go under your bed, and that three people buy them at a gig, and one of them is your mate. So I've had that experience. So I know that it means something to the people that, you know, the bands that are putting it out. It's their, you know, it's their hopes and dreams, and that has to be taken seriously, and has, you've got to give 00:19:22.120 --> 00:19:47.800 If you grew up like us in the 80s and 90s, a good album cover artwork is the line between somebody buying it or not. I can't tell you how many albums I've bought just because their album art was cool. How many kids do not buy because of the art? If you think of those Riot albums, I looked at it and I was like, nope. I don't know why this guy's got a big seal head and I don't care. 00:19:49.840 --> 00:20:19.260 I know. That's my point. That's exactly right. Should have gone with the skull, man. Exactly. But I mean, I still do it. I'm like, you know, like scrolling through Bandcamp going, ah, that looks dumb. That looks dumb. Wow, that terrible font on that thing. Okay. And then you go and you see something. I'm like, oh, well, that looks good. Let's listen to that. Do you ever do the thing where you try and guess the band? Oh, yeah. Based on the artwork? What's my favorite? Usually with the logo, I'll tell you, you know, if it's a black metal logo or a death metal logo. Sorry, Luke, you were saying something. Yeah. 00:20:20.840 --> 00:20:49.760 I was going to just say that I think it is still the case now that people judge books by covers and for, you know, we can lament it, but that's people, people are visual. I can be 100% sure to the point of demonstrating this with like clippings that where I've done, you know, some of my better pieces have gotten the band more features because the magazine just wants to print the art bigger. So they automatically get more real estate. 00:20:49.860 --> 00:21:19.820 on the page and that's people reading about their album and then they're going to go and check out that band and the people buying that are going to be fans of that band. They're not going to necessarily be fans of whatever I've done or the producer or the master. The band is who they're going to care about in the long run. I think it's really important including material production. A lot of bands, their album will come out and it's like on the cheap 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:25.340 I get it but when you buy it it feels cheap I don't want to you know I'd rather spend 00:21:26.360 --> 00:21:31.660 10 pounds more and it and it deluxe a nice nice vinyl you know what I don't know whatever 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:35.680 guess that's just me being bougie but I care about the quality of things and 00:21:36.100 --> 00:21:41.560 I think people don't think the buying public do as well and yeah I don't think that's bougie at all as you say 00:21:41.710 --> 00:21:48.080 and one of the reasons is I'll even I think back in the 80s um judging a book by its cover 00:21:48.080 --> 00:22:17.440 was a little easier, quite frankly, because there was a team of fucking, you know, corporate scientists putting together and backing the thing financially. Now, when anybody can put an album out, and we know there's millions of them out there, I'll judge something by its artwork. I'm like, if this is their best vision for what's going on in here, I don't even know if I'm going to try this out, you know? I don't even know how Flotsam and Jetsam recovered from Flotzella, I mean. That doomsday for the Deceiver cover? Come on. Yeah. But in any case. 00:22:17.540 --> 00:22:47.380 But you know, we do a top five album covers as part of our mid and year end lists. And I know at least two of yours have been on there. The sludge and the fire link. Right, yeah. Okay, brilliant. Thank you. You know, are you printing the stuff? Are you the one who sends out the stuff from your website? And the follow up question is here. Will you sign the sludge thing for me if I order it? Or is it coming from a company? No, it's not. 00:22:47.520 --> 00:23:17.440 No, it's coming from a company. If you'd like that, I can arrange it. Just email me and I'll sort it out. I'll go and get a printer. Look to me. Yes, I do want that. I will reach out to you. Yeah, the shipping might be a bit more because right now we're in a Brexit land over here, so shipping has gone through the roof. Sure, sure. No problem. I'm made of money, man. No, I'm going to do that. I will reach out to you post pod. No worries. I would love to have that. Esoteric Molecology is my favorite records and I love the cover. Quick story about that. That was based, Matt sent me a sketch of that image. 00:23:17.540 --> 00:23:44.700 that he had drawn himself, which I have. Ooh. Nice. It's quite fantastic. He's like, oh, I can't draw. I reckon you can, mate. Just give it a draw. We'll see. Do you keep in touch with Matt? Oh, yeah. I spoke to him this week. I was wondering. I haven't heard much. I know he got COVID and he was sick, and that's the last I heard. He's not been very well, unfortunately, but I think he's doing better now. 00:23:47.540 --> 00:24:17.080 I don't want to jump the gun and undercut any messages from Miloska himself, but I do think that there is some rumblings in the works coming from that direction. I was thinking we should reach out to him again and find out, because it seems like we, and the collective we, the world, needs a new sludge album. Well, I would say so. I still reach out to him from time to time, but the truth is they made the very first sort of positive-seeming comment quite recently on their Facebook. They just re-released all the old stuff on cassette. 00:24:17.840 --> 00:24:47.360 and made a reference to while you're waiting for the new stuff, which they have not even said that much. So, you know, yeah, I think rumblings are rumblings. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, you know, I fear the wrath of the elders love gods to reveal any information, but I'm fairly sure that something will be, something's going on on that camp. Yeah. Just one more thing about him, and that is that I had to talk to him maybe six months after the COVID thing. Right. Or at least after the initial thing. And I know even then still he had laryngitis. So he was like, yeah, soon. So he was stuck for a while. 00:24:47.520 --> 00:25:17.240 Yeah, like he definitely had long COVID. A few people, a few of my friends did actually, you know, didn't do too well with it. So that's really unfortunate. You know, I hope he's over the worst of it. Have you dodged the ball yourself? I've been, no, I've been fine. I've vaccinated now as well. So hopefully that's the end of it. You know, I don't know. It's been an easy year, but. Oh yeah, join the club, dude. I'm glad to hear you got your shot. I think everybody here has had at least one and maybe two for most of us at this point. I think we're all good. Yeah. 00:25:17.320 --> 00:25:46.160 That's great. Yeah, we're all good. Not done. You're not? But you did get one, John. I had one, yeah. Oh, I thought you got your second one before Bob got her second one. Okay. Nope. That was your first. Okay. Well, get on it, boy. We got a mid-year to do next month. I got to share an observation about Luke, if I may briefly, and I hope you'll take this tongue-in-cheek, Luke, but in looking at you, and you're from Bristol, which is, I know, not the same area of the country, but is that just me or does Luke look like every member of Judas Priest smashed into one person? 00:25:51.400 --> 00:26:16.620 I'm happy about that. It's an English thing. I mean, I see a lot of them from different angles. Well, I mean, like, you know, like, they're not that, you know, like England's not that big. You can drive across it in a few hours. So yeah. Yeah. What is Scott Travis fitness, Jay? Well, we can't see how tall he is from here, but I assume Luke is like 6'5". Yeah, let's assume that, yeah. 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:20.900 I'm assuming that really hard. 00:26:23.560 --> 00:26:28.640 So, Luke, obviously you've done a lot of different covers. You've illustrated fantasy, horror, sci-fi. 00:26:28.900 --> 00:26:36.200 Do you approach those genres differently when you're painting? And do you have a favorite genre that you like to do? 00:26:36.900 --> 00:26:40.640 Well, that's a good question. The answer is yes, I do approach them differently. 00:26:41.840 --> 00:27:11.420 The material process of making science fiction imagery is a little bit different to fantasy or horror. So like science fiction has a lot of hard edges in it and straight lines and that means if you're making it in real space a lot more using rulers and mouth sticks and French curves and things like that or if using a computer you know maybe using measuring tools within a computer or even like sometimes if I've got a really complicated spaceship. 00:27:11.860 --> 00:27:41.820 I'll model it in 3D to get a reference to base the painting on or something like that. I wouldn't do that with fantasy or horror because it's the lineage of art in fantasy or horror even though it's like the two sort of genres that are converged in our culture the lineage of fantasy imagery comes from a different place I think and has a different essence or you know quality to it that is much more 00:27:42.680 --> 00:28:11.260 So I would care less about things like accurate, large scale, multiple angle shapes in 3D space and creating loads of depth. And I would probably lean more on traditional perspective and then, for want of a better term, brushiness to create atmosphere in the texture of the work. Right. Though I have been trying to combine that back into sci-fi recently because it's something that there's a British artist called John Harris. 00:28:11.840 --> 00:28:41.820 who may or may not know who paint he's painted um like 70s science fiction book covers and that kind of thing and he he's still you know he's still alive and kicking he's still putting out really good work but in his life he's gotten more and more you know from a guy that's kind of like a contemporary of chris voss or someone like that they painted big spaceships he still paints those things but they're more brushy they're even more like the process turner went through becoming just more and more impressionistic and i think it i think that's a good direction so i've been trying to explore that a little bit you know 00:28:41.860 --> 00:29:11.820 as much as I can get away with and I'm able to do. I love how you do different media like you do digital or sometimes you'll paint and it seems like a lot more artists are going digital these days so as an artist what is it about the digital aspect that really attracts you to it and other illustrators you think? I think it's predominantly economic if I'm honest you know like using digital is cheap 00:29:12.780 --> 00:29:41.680 In a number of ways, it's really easy to iterate things and alter things digitally, right? So in a world where that is an option, most producer or art director or client just expects to be able to like you send them the thing and go, that's great. Can you just change this one thing? And that's really possible in a digital context. It's not so possible if it's an oil painting, like that's a lot of work at that point. So I think it's that, you know, 00:29:41.720 --> 00:30:11.680 You can get up and running with a digital setup for the cost of a decent computer and about 300 pounds or less for a graphics tablet is all that would really cost. Oil painting, you know, a tube of oil paint like that big costs 30 quid. You know, it's just really expensive. It's really expensive. What software do you use to paint in? Predominantly Photoshop. Okay. I'm interested in this concept of, and I don't mean to make you my IT guy, but this tablet, like what is, I'm not 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:40.080 I'm not even really sure how those work. Can you briefly describe that? It is a piece of plastic about, I don't know, 14 inches by maybe 10 or 8 rectangular that you connect to your computer that's a little bit bigger than a laptop would be in terms of size. And it's thin, you know, it's like this thin. And you have a pen and within the pad is our sensors that read the movements of the pen. 00:30:40.140 --> 00:31:10.120 It's how hard you're pressing, rotation, that kind of stuff. And the software interprets that to make marks in a painting or drawing program or graphic design program or whatever you're using. You could just use it to use on a computer instead of a mouse if you wanted to. For some reason, I wouldn't do that. Yeah. As I have no talent whatsoever, I do actually have one of those, though. Wacom tablets or whatever. Well, I'm intrigued by it because 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:40.100 Your stuff lacks no look of the human hand at all. And so hats off to how advanced that technology must be. Yeah, I mean, it really... That is a really interesting point. So lots of... Something that you commonly encounter if you're an artist who works digitally, I would not describe myself as exclusively digital, but I do like it. I think it's a good tool, is that certain people will just undervalue the art you've made. 00:31:40.140 --> 00:32:10.000 with the implication that a computer has done it for you. And it is like saying that a brush does the painting for you. Like, clearly, if you've ever held a brush and, like, you know, properly tried to paint, the movement of the brush and its own physics and dynamic change what's going on to a canvas. And you work with that to create something you like the look of. And that essentially is no different to using a digital tool like a graphics tablet. You know, the really good ones that freestand, 00:32:10.140 --> 00:32:40.120 you can hold in the tradition you can't see what I'm doing but you know traditionally hold a brush like this with it out forward like an extension of the radius you can do that with the best ones and it's just like you're getting all the motion getting all the gesture into the line that kind of stuff that's an important for an artist and often your signature comes from that yeah like yeah one wonders how Jackson Pollock would have dealt with one of those things if you've been paying attention to the news you can certainly see how David Hockney's are dealing yes I have no there's a commercial I think that features 00:32:40.160 --> 00:33:08.600 or something I saw on my Facebook page or something that... Anyway. He's just done... Go ahead. He's just done a bunch of designs for the London Underground in a digital format and they're really... Upon looking at them, one must question whether or not he's taking the mick a little bit. They're really shoddy. David Hotton's work generally is very good. I'm not casting any aspersions on the body of who is a great artist. 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:40.060 feels a little bit thrown off and people aren't very happy because it costs a lot of public money. Yeah, it's been a bit, it's been in the news a bit this week. Understood. Do you have a favorite artist or somebody that inspires you? Oh, a number of artists. God, that's a really hard question. So classically, I really like Titian, the mannerist from Italy, famous for painting, you know, like, like, like Greek legends. 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:48.700 and bible scenes like classical academic painting matter i just really like the look some of the um i copied his his david and 00:33:48.760 --> 00:33:57.220 goliath on my website that that's a tishin copy um really like that um i really really like um 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:03.679 the names and i'm really bad with names this will come up later when we talk about albums and track titles i'm 00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:32.740 Not very good remembering names of things. The artist who illustrated all the 70s June covers. British artist. It's really, it's doing my head in now, I can't remember his name. Anyway, it's fantastic. It's got this kind of really sort of almost psychedelic in a way that crosses over with late Dali, like the look of a late Dali painting kind of got reimagined because he was influential in illustration culture in the 70s. 00:34:32.940 --> 00:35:01.440 and it's in there. I really like that guy's work and I can't remember his name and that's embarrassing. Oh dear. Comics wise, Dave Gibbons, Kevin O'Neill. People like that. Cool. Do you have a favorite metal album covers? Oh, okay. Yes. Son of the Seventh Son by Iron Maiden. Beautiful. That looks like you could have done it, quite frankly. 00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:32.820 Big, big influence. King of the Dead by Sirith Ungol, which is a painting by Michael Whelan of Ulrich, I think. So I know I keep interrupting you, but I have to stop you there because on your website is a very similar painting to The King of the Dead. And it's, let me tell you what the title is so you can see what I'm talking about. I'm sure you probably know already what I'm going to say, but it's, it is entitled, sorry, I'm just letting the image, Grievous Moraine. Ah, yes, brilliant, yes. 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:33.240 Thank you. 00:35:33.380 --> 00:35:33.500 Yeah. 00:35:33.980 --> 00:35:36.020 That has a very King of the Dead feel to it. 00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:39.140 I absolutely love the image that's on King of the Dead. 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:40.760 I don't know why it just has, 00:35:41.600 --> 00:35:43.020 it emanates a strange energy. 00:35:43.110 --> 00:35:43.600 I don't know. 00:35:43.700 --> 00:35:45.740 It's just a really great piece of art. 00:35:46.540 --> 00:35:47.760 Michael Whelan is really good. 00:35:48.120 --> 00:35:51.340 He did the illustrations in the Gunslinger, 00:35:51.839 --> 00:35:52.820 the Stephen King book, 00:35:53.090 --> 00:35:53.640 which were awesome. 00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:54.180 Oh yeah. 00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:55.860 And you mentioned Elric too, 00:35:56.020 --> 00:35:56.080 right? 00:35:57.220 --> 00:35:57.400 Yeah. 00:35:57.640 --> 00:35:57.700 Yeah. 00:35:57.820 --> 00:35:58.440 Michael Moorcock. 00:35:58.700 --> 00:35:58.880 Yeah. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:35:59.500 The Moorcock stuff. 00:35:59.680 --> 00:35:59.740 Yeah. 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:00.480 Let's get some more. 00:36:00.490 --> 00:36:02.500 You were on a roll there and I'm enjoying it. 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:31.400 So those two. Next up. That has interrupted me a little bit. Oh, God. So Death Metal, Illustrator, did lots of albums. Dan Seagrave. Oh, yeah. Dan Seagrave. What's the album? It has a left-hand path. Yeah. Sure. I really like that. That's phenomenal. 00:36:32.520 --> 00:37:02.480 Another one a bit later for Entuned as well. Not Wolverine Blues album before that maybe? Clandestine. Maybe Clandestine. I liked all that stuff anyway. That was all really good. Other album covers? I mean, if we go outside of metal, the next thing that would be Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds. With all the tripods and the... I don't know if anyone's seen that. You get a whole... 00:37:02.500 --> 00:37:07.200 book of like the story of war the world's invading all these like martian death 00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:11.900 machines and all this stuff my parents bought it when i was a kid i just loved it so much growing up i can't 00:37:11.980 --> 00:37:16.380 remember the name of the artist at all but uh i will just say this it's the it's the image you guys 00:37:16.410 --> 00:37:20.260 are all picturing in your heads right now very very famous one i'm looking at it right now when i think 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:30.780 of tripod i think i will i'm sorry oh jeez who will hopefully be joining us soon yeah well i definitely 00:37:34.160 --> 00:38:00.680 I want to talk about music a little bit because I know you're in a band called Atomic. You've been in other bands. Can you talk a little bit about that? Okay, so I'm going to go on record here. Melhead's podcast exclusive. The name of that band is Atomsk, which I've refused. Basically, we picked a really stupid name. And that band is, I don't know, like more than 50. 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:05.080 years old you know like we picked a really stupid name and then i after a certain point i just 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:09.640 refused to correct anyone so i've always just gone yeah whatever they said that was your band's name 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:15.560 atomical yeah you know like i thought it was funny but you know obviously this is this is the met heads 00:38:15.740 --> 00:38:21.500 podcast now so one must pay the correct level of respect um that that band is a grindcore band um 00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:29.100 what do you play guitar okay uh play guitar yeah in that band i do play some other instruments as 00:38:29.120 --> 00:38:59.020 well, but not quite to the standard where you record with. That's that band. When I say my band, I'm talking about Atomps because that is the band that's still active that still does stuff. I was also in a band called Spider Kitten for a while, which is a sort of... They're still going as well. They kicked me out. It's a doom band. Kind of Sabbath-y, real singing, you know, like none of this screaming. It was real singing in that band. It sounded a bit like Sabbath or Alice in Chains, somewhere between those two. 00:38:59.100 --> 00:39:28.860 It was grunge-influenced, but very Sabbath-influenced as well. Lots of psychedelic wig-outs and people playing through effects rather than playing solos. That was good fun. Before that, I was in a band called Cementer Mental. They were still going, just without me. But that was a noise band, like circuit bending, harsh noise. That was when I was at art school. It was like, oh yeah, well, I'm art school now, so it can't be. 00:39:30.279 --> 00:39:56.800 I wouldn't deign to play an instrument. I'm just going to, of course, go on stage and plug in some circuits and let it make noise. Why are you kicked out of so many bands? I know. I'm starting to think maybe he's like the Pete Best of Gojira and that's what's going on there. I mean, it's because I like to work a certain way, ultimately. And like with a lot of bands, you know, there is a way of doing stuff that's set by the dominant person. 00:40:01.300 --> 00:40:05.880 I've only ever joined bands because I've liked the people involved and if I don't like 00:40:06.180 --> 00:40:10.400 working with them I don't want to fall out with my friends so I just tend to go it's not working you know 00:40:11.400 --> 00:40:18.580 as more often the case they'll tell me first because you know I'm complaining about them turning up late or whatever so they're like look you know this isn't for you mate you know 00:40:19.980 --> 00:40:22.260 right we're all we're always late so yeah 00:40:25.820 --> 00:40:52.060 Well, so let's go into the Planet Loss comic, because you just completed your first comic book called Planet Loss for Wallowing's album. You know, what is that comic book about, and how did that project come about for you? Okay, so first question, what is it about? So Planet Loss is a kind of dystopian science fiction story set on a world that's been, you know, it's dominated, 00:40:52.100 --> 00:41:22.060 or subjugated or in some way controlled by what is seemingly an evil or malevolent force. And in the story, a character who's just like an everyday guy becomes aware of it around him, tries to do something about it, and then I don't want to reveal what happens. So it's a story of coming to the realization that things around you aren't what 00:41:22.080 --> 00:41:51.060 they necessarily are explained to you as being or purported to be and how you react to that. That's what I think it's about. I didn't actually write it. Tom and the guys in One Wing wrote it. So obviously they've got their own ideas. But yeah, it's kind of a story of an uprising that happens on a planet. In the sort of tradition of, you know, typical British, it sounds so snobby, you know, like, 00:41:52.080 --> 00:42:19.740 It's a little bit satirical in the way that Judge Dredd is. It's obviously about real things, but just not in a direct way. We really didn't want to be sanctimonious or lecturing to people or anything like that at all. It's a story that just has some stuff in it that you could think about if you like. The way it came about is many years ago, my band of Thompson were on tour and we played in Brighton and we played in someone's kitchen in Brighton. 00:42:22.080 --> 00:42:51.980 who'd put us on in his kitchen was this young chap. And we did the gig and we slept in that house and all the, you know, the whole DIY touring bit. And the next day, he was quite a shy guy at this point. He came up to me and said, oh, I've got, I'm doing this project for a band and, you know, I need someone to do art. And I was like, okay, yeah, fine. Just like give me a week on tour, send me an email and we'll just discuss it, you know. And I've got to be honest, like that happens a lot. You know, lots of people will approach you and just say, I want you to do this. And it's just tire kicking. 00:42:52.080 --> 00:43:21.120 It doesn't ever go anywhere. So I didn't expect anything. And it transpired that he actually was serious. And that's how the original cover for that album, the Heartloss album, got done that way. I met him at this gig in his kitchen and he commissioned me to do that. That was years ago. And it took a long time for that album to come out. It took years and years for it to come out. And it came out maybe 2019 or something. But he must have done it in 2015, 2016, maybe. 00:43:22.100 --> 00:43:51.280 And I'd kind of forgotten about it. And the whole band was friends with him. And then that Wallowing album came out and it did quite well in Britain. They got a good reception, I would say. And yeah, that was going on. They started talking to me about maybe doing the next album. This would have been before the pandemic. So when the pandemic happened, everyone's gigs and stuff got cancelled. Everyone's tours got cancelled. Everyone's recording got cancelled. 00:43:52.100 --> 00:44:21.080 because in Britain it was quite draconian, you know, like the quite severe lockdowns. So Tom and the guys just said, well, we quite like the story in the first album and we quite like comics. Do you want to do a comic? And I just went, yeah, all right, you know, fine. Yeah. And then about a year later, it took about a year until I had the time to do it. And then, you know, we just did it. And in the meantime, they'd organized the whole, you know, like all this good PR and all this kind of back end. And it was really well supported by the people in the project. 00:44:21.200 --> 00:44:51.180 I actually like the people they had the different labels involved and kind of DIY punk labels and they were really hands-on getting the printing sorted out getting the packages sorted out it was right because there's three different covers well it's one big image but broken up right yeah there's three different covers so so this is your first full comic what was the process like for you drawing sequential images which is a lot different than than doing covers you know how much of a challenge was that what was it like for you I found it quite challenging 00:44:51.220 --> 00:45:19.840 I had to change my mindset entirely. So for me it was a case of I need to produce 40 pages of this. I have about eight weeks to do that and I've got to do all of it including the text and the print job setup. And the only way I'm going to achieve that is if I just go hell off a leather and just get on with it and almost not think about it. So that's what I did. I just kind of like, 00:45:20.960 --> 00:45:22.760 I took a really simplified, 00:45:23.420 --> 00:45:24.720 unprecious approach to the drawing. 00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:25.960 It's quite scratchy. 00:45:26.020 --> 00:45:27.000 And I was like, I just don't care. 00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:29.840 I don't have time to make this be pretty necessarily. 00:45:31.220 --> 00:45:36.660 And tried to use my understanding of color that I know from painting to do a lot, 00:45:36.740 --> 00:45:38.040 to achieve a lot of the look of it. 00:45:38.120 --> 00:45:41.020 You know, like the actual drawings kind of bunk in a lot of places. 00:45:41.240 --> 00:45:41.880 I've got to be honest. 00:45:42.320 --> 00:45:43.440 I did as best as I could. 00:45:43.620 --> 00:45:47.300 But I was, you know, like just trying to do two pages a day and stuff. 00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:48.160 It was just horrendous. 00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:49.320 Oh, man. 00:45:49.780 --> 00:45:50.700 Yeah, it was really brutal. 00:45:50.720 --> 00:46:20.280 Oh, it came out great. It looks good. Thank you. Reminds me a lot of Mobius, actually. It is. There is a reason for that. When I was maybe four years old, there was an animated movie called Time Masters that was made in France that's designed by Mobius and directed by René Lallou. And it was broadcast on British television. The BBC did a British voiceover cast. So there was like an English version exists. 00:46:20.520 --> 00:46:49.380 is just not available anywhere. And my mum recorded that to Betamax when I was three or four. And I watched it. Yeah, I watched it hundreds of times. Like me and my brother had watched that and the early edit of Nausicaa, The Valley of the Wind, the Ghibli movie. That's my favorite Miyazaki movie. It's my favorite film. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's my favorite movie. And Time Matters is in my top five for sure. A big animation fan. 00:46:50.540 --> 00:47:19.320 I saw Time Masters, the Mobius design thing, so many times as a kid. Before I knew what Mobius was, I actually learned about the comic art much later, after I got out of university. I'd seen Arzac, but I didn't know anything about Mobius. At this point, this stuff wasn't that available, because heavy metal wasn't being published in the UK. It's teen old heavy metals in comic shops, but they're really expensive and fusty collector's items that when I was a teenager, I couldn't really afford or anything like that. 00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:49.320 So I don't know, the influence on the drawing in Planet Loss comes from Time Masters, the Movis-designed film, and from watching Ghibli. I feel that if you look at the Nachika manga, it has that quickness of drawing that I just had to do. I had no other choice. I could just draw quickly, and there's a lot of energy in it for that reason. I also must state that I have a degree in animation, so I studied at animation at university, so it wasn't the first 00:48:12.060 --> 00:48:19.320 and the guys in Wallowing and the Associated Labels are 00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:49.300 They were really good because I had promised it by October of last year and I did not get it done by October of last year because of other, you know, like I had to take better paying, you know, I had to earn money to live, you know, that kind of thing. And they were very understanding and very accommodating and really supportive. Like it's one of the, in terms of a project where I, where it's not totally mine, it's one of the best experiences I've ever had of just being very supported by everyone involved. You know, I made a big fuss about getting sent a proof before they actually 00:48:49.340 --> 00:49:19.300 I actually did the print job and they actually sent me a proof which almost never happens in album covers I always say please before you send this off set print it out and send me a proof so we know that if it's too dark or too light and that's never happens with an LP you know it's so hard to get anyone to take that seriously and then sometimes they get slightly subpar product because of it you know because you don't get a chance to make adjustments because printers aren't all the same so yeah it was really good for that respect well I saw it's going to second print and you're 00:49:19.340 --> 00:49:21.320 You illustrated a new cover for it. 00:49:21.800 --> 00:49:22.320 Yes, indeed. 00:49:23.340 --> 00:49:28.420 What did you want to try and capture in the new image that you didn't have in the original one? 00:49:28.420 --> 00:49:30.440 Because it is a lot different than their original cover. 00:49:31.020 --> 00:49:32.960 Yeah, a number of things. 00:49:33.200 --> 00:49:40.180 So first and foremost, when I did the original cover, I hadn't finished the book yet. 00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:44.420 Like, they needed the cover for promo a month before the book was finished. 00:49:44.640 --> 00:50:12.260 So I just know the story better now than I did when I did the original cover. So with the original cover, they sort of wanted this. Well, they is the wrong. No, that's not right. We agreed as a group needed was to promote this thing with like, you know, a movie poster like a Star Wars movie might have or something like that. You know, that's what. So the original cover has that sort of just more classic lineup of some characters that are in the story. It doesn't tell you anything about what's going to happen. 00:50:14.640 --> 00:50:44.620 it really fast forward you know to now we're doing the the second press and it's the opportunity i didn't want to just use the same one again because i didn't want people that bought the first one to feel you know like robbed or whatever you know something else um and i just took the opportunity to make an image that i felt sums up the tone and the mood of the story better like a lot of planet loss is empty and it's about a guy who doesn't understand his world so it's not just 00:50:44.660 --> 00:50:45.460 It's an action story 00:50:46.099 --> 00:50:47.420 and I kind of just 00:50:47.470 --> 00:50:48.360 yeah I kind of just took that 00:50:48.410 --> 00:50:48.940 a little bit 00:50:49.160 --> 00:50:50.140 and you know 00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:50.840 I don't want to reveal 00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:51.840 what happens in the book 00:50:52.020 --> 00:50:52.780 obviously in case anyone 00:50:53.320 --> 00:50:54.000 gets hold of it 00:50:54.160 --> 00:50:55.800 but there's a moment 00:50:56.080 --> 00:50:57.300 in the book 00:50:57.520 --> 00:50:58.160 where the character 00:50:58.400 --> 00:50:59.880 you don't see his rifle again 00:50:59.970 --> 00:51:00.780 like there's a whole build up 00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:01.800 to him getting his rifle 00:51:02.020 --> 00:51:03.420 and you never see him shoot it 00:51:03.600 --> 00:51:04.280 and then it's gone 00:51:04.700 --> 00:51:05.160 and I just thought 00:51:05.240 --> 00:51:06.060 well I know what he's 00:51:06.140 --> 00:51:07.340 you know I know that he's seen 00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:08.500 but you know 00:51:08.560 --> 00:51:09.960 this option of fighting 00:51:10.140 --> 00:51:11.020 and violence is wrong 00:51:11.200 --> 00:51:11.780 to some extent 00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:13.160 or not going to help 00:51:13.360 --> 00:51:42.620 And that's not explicit, but I just wanted to show that kind of moment in the new cover. You know, that was the kind of thing, really. The atmosphere more than setting it up. Yeah. Right. You keep calling a guy, but he actually has a name called the Wobblenaut, which I think is freaking awesome. Yeah, that is pretty cool, actually. Yeah, that kind of came about later. Like, I didn't know that that's what he was, you know, yeah, Wobblenauts. Well, you have an action figure for the Wobblenaut coming out, too. There is now an action figure, yeah. 00:51:42.660 --> 00:52:12.640 Yeah, that's right. I'm quite happy about that. I'm looking forward to seeing that. It's already sold. I really want one of them, but it's sold out already. It's crazy. I think that the new one that's orange might be able to take some additional orders if anyone... Oh, I want one of those. Save one for me, Luke. Yeah, yeah. See if I can make that happen. Yeah. Nice. Well, since this was very hectic, it sounded like you were under the gun to do this. Do you plan to do more comics in the future? Hopefully it hasn't 00:52:14.260 --> 00:52:16.800 I would love to do more basically 00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:19.400 I really enjoyed it and 00:52:20.240 --> 00:52:21.540 it did remind me 00:52:22.230 --> 00:52:23.440 why I did animation at uni 00:52:23.610 --> 00:52:25.420 it reminds me about the inherent 00:52:25.800 --> 00:52:27.720 pleasure of just staying with your own 00:52:27.730 --> 00:52:29.440 little project and telling a story 00:52:29.740 --> 00:52:31.320 that you want to tell you know and I had 00:52:31.740 --> 00:52:33.580 I didn't write Planet Lost but I had a lot of 00:52:33.710 --> 00:52:35.560 input in it and a lot of the things that happened in the comic 00:52:35.630 --> 00:52:37.660 were my idea you know like they gave 00:52:37.660 --> 00:52:39.640 me a rough outline with some lyrics and then I thought 00:52:39.740 --> 00:52:41.200 how can I show this 00:52:41.200 --> 00:52:45.660 this concept of whatever it's saying visually, trying to tell everything 00:52:46.360 --> 00:52:49.360 in a few words as possible to make it work visually, make it read visually. 00:52:50.140 --> 00:52:52.840 It did remind me of how much I love that sort of thing. 00:52:53.040 --> 00:52:57.880 So I am quite interested in doing more along those lines. 00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:01.400 There's plans to do more Planet Loss. 00:53:01.660 --> 00:53:02.380 There's more story. 00:53:03.880 --> 00:53:07.000 We need to find a way of making it work and all that kind of stuff. 00:53:07.060 --> 00:53:36.860 But it seems to have been quite well received by my standards that I'm used to. So that also is encouraging. I'm also, you know, like I did with By the Horns, I'm really interested in doing more covers for other people, you know, for getting involved that way because it combines the, you know, like I feel my painting is the more high value thing I can do. Like I'm a better painter than I am a drawer. So I'd also like to bring that to comics and that kind of thing as well. 00:53:39.100 --> 00:53:43.060 I don't know how to make it happen. My network is mostly in music industry so 00:53:43.740 --> 00:53:47.420 I have all that to learn really but I did really like it. I'd like to do more. 00:53:48.360 --> 00:53:51.300 Well I'll definitely ask you to do some more for my projects. 00:53:52.500 --> 00:53:57.740 I hear the cover for By the Horns is my comic for people who might not know about it but 00:53:58.240 --> 00:54:03.740 Luke did a wraparound cover for that and it's awesome. It's the Scout Comics exclusive. 00:54:04.140 --> 00:54:34.060 It's online and I heard it's selling really well. That's fantastic. Yeah, that's always good to hear. I put a word in for Scout for you. So, you know, they got a lot going on, but hopefully it'll reach out and you can do some more work because it would not be nice for you to kind of break into more comics type just covers because when I was doing that project, I was like, I have to get a metal cover artist that I really like for my project because metal to me and the cover art, they just go hand in hand. 00:54:34.120 --> 00:55:03.280 And I think some of the painters, the artists, and metal are some of the best around, but I don't see that crossover in the comics that often. You know, maybe more so in England, but not in America. I think it really doesn't, because I think that, you know, for some reason, I really don't have a good explanation as to why this may be, but, you know, these are non-overlapping magisteria of nerddom, like the metal nerds don't like the comic book nerds or something. I really don't know. 00:55:03.320 --> 00:55:27.200 I've seen that in my life. I've definitely seen if you like, you know, in one context, you're in a comic book shop and talking about, you know, the latest Carcass album or whatever, it's like people look down their nose at that and then vice versa of that is like you're at a gig and someone's, you know, thinks comics suck or whatever or just has that attitude. That's probably in the past. Like I am old. 00:55:27.240 --> 00:55:56.160 So that's kind of true. Once I did the cover with you, I was like, oh, I'm going to reach out to another metal cover artist to see if I can get some more. And I won't say who the person was, but I sent him the information about By the Hornets. He's like, I'm not really interested in this kind of art, comic art. And I was like, well, I don't want you to draw like the comic. I want you to draw in your style, but your interpretation. He's like, nah. 00:55:57.240 --> 00:56:27.180 I don't want to do that. Nah, fuck off. I think that part of it might be that people that work in album art, their relationship to the business practice is more like do what the client wants and if they send you comics, you've been asked to make something that looks like that and if you might not just think I can't quite do that so I'm going to say no. Right. Another aspect is that obviously if you've got bigger clients like album art, 00:56:27.240 --> 00:56:31.080 does pay more because it's a you know like if you get a metallica or 00:56:31.200 --> 00:56:35.580 something like that it's going to pay a fortune compared to most comics i think that 00:56:35.600 --> 00:56:40.500 there's an amount of money chasing involved which is understandable but you know i i try and make 00:56:40.610 --> 00:56:44.720 choices based on what i think is going to be good you know like what's a nice thing that's going to 00:56:44.850 --> 00:56:49.420 exist that people are going to enjoy i should do that if i can you know if it's not enough money i 00:56:49.470 --> 00:56:55.999 just find some way of doing it i think it's worthwhile you know like i don't i'm just kind of i think 00:56:56.000 --> 00:57:25.980 the product and the product and the product. You know, whatever. That really is the case. But I suspect that it might be with many artists. Certainly some of the more famous ones ask quite a lot of money per image. And some of them recycle. They work quite a lot in those images as well. Interesting. Do you have some new metal covers coming up that you could talk about? Yep. I'm doing... 00:57:26.020 --> 00:57:54.940 The next cover I've got to do is another Firelink album. It's called Firelink Remastered or something like that, which is a play on Dark Souls Remastered. They've basically, yeah, there you go. They've taken their first LP and I think they've re-recorded it, but with real drums and stuff now. So they've done the first LP again, but properly, you know, yeah. 00:57:55.000 --> 00:58:24.300 So just a bit better sound, better dynamics and stuff. And I think that, yeah, I'm just kind of reimagining that art just so it stands out and it's different and, you know, gives them something else. And then I've got, I don't know, like there's a whole list of other album covers, you know. This is terrible. I'm bad at remembering. I just have like a list and do them in order, you know, like that's done. What's the next one? You know, that sort of thing. Cool. So you mentioned Iron Maiden. 00:58:24.340 --> 00:58:51.900 and obviously Derek Riggs artwork, you know, standing out to you as a kid. But was that what got you into metal in general? Or what, you know, what bands got you into metal? So you started with Iron Maiden? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Iron Maiden and Metalhead. Okay, right on. So what kind of stuff do you listen to? What do you listen to now? You know, I mean, you've mentioned a variety of bands like Carcass and stuff. So what kind of stuff do you listen to now? 00:58:55.160 --> 00:59:23.140 I obviously still like a lot of metal and punk and always will. I stay contemporary with that as much as I'm able, which is ultimately defined socially. If friends of mine are going on about some new thing they've heard, I'll probably listen to it because they're telling me about it. I'm a bit lazy. I'm not very active to see stuff out. I also really like just very broad. 00:59:23.240 --> 00:59:53.160 I also really like jazz. I also really like classical music, synthesized music, big prog rock fan, that kind of thing, whatever really. That's not very specific, I'm sorry. That's fine. We're getting ready to do our top 25 albums at mid-year for 2021 next month. I was wondering if there's anything this year that's particularly caught your eye, or ear rather, metal or otherwise. Yeah, a couple have, but I've noted them down to mentally. 00:59:58.080 --> 01:00:00.580 I always forget about that when I ask this question. 01:00:01.250 --> 01:00:02.160 So, all right, yeah. 01:00:03.580 --> 01:00:07.200 What three albums would help people better understand you as a person? 01:00:09.300 --> 01:00:10.460 Okay, so it is as follows. 01:00:11.100 --> 01:00:16.120 Number one, no surprise, Seventh Son of the Seventh Son by Iron Maiden. 01:00:16.470 --> 01:00:19.280 It is the reason I got into heavy metal, 01:00:19.500 --> 01:00:21.700 and it is the reason I ever did album artwork at all, 01:00:22.080 --> 01:00:22.940 is because of that album. 01:00:22.940 --> 01:00:52.740 I think it is a phenomenal album and is my favorite Iron Maiden album. I think it is their best in my view. The second album is The Inalable Dreamless by Discordance Axis. It is my top three grindcore albums and I'm a huge grindcore fan because grindcore is where punk and metal meet. So I really love it. I love stupidly fast nonsense. I like that the music is kind of avant-garde. It appeals to the artist. 01:00:52.960 --> 01:01:22.920 me as well. The sonics of that stuff appealed to like, this is like some wild experience hearing it, you know, it's not, it's formalist in that it plays with the elements of sound, you know, like that album. And the third album is Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, because it reminds me massively of my childhood. And it has this sort of melancholy British countryside tonality that just speaks to me about 01:01:22.940 --> 01:01:52.840 of where I'm from. I'm from the countryside and it sounds like that. It has that sort of nostalgic aspect to it. I want to listen to that now. Awesome. Two comments I would make. One is Infinite Dreams from Seventh Son. I don't know that it's underrated. There's a lot I like on that record. I love that record. But I think it rivals Revelations. That is such a good fucking song. I don't know why. 01:01:52.940 --> 01:02:20.980 It's got like amazingly good like Hendrix guitar playing in it as well. Like the riffs are really classic rock, really prog. Firing and also that's one of my favorite albums. Evil that men do. And my other comment is just, and it's purely about me, but I was having been to England a few times. I had one of the things that I really, and I can't listen to them without being in England. 01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:51.860 and myself to England, which is Jethro Tull. Whenever I hear Jethro Tull, it seems like it's so fucking English. And it sounded so right on some cross-country buses I was taking through the country and stuff. I've had that exact experience years ago. For a long time, in all of my 20s, I lived in Wales. I went to the University of Wales. That's where I studied. And one summer, me and some mates got a bunch of money from the Arts Council to go to this arts meeting in North Wales. 01:02:52.840 --> 01:03:21.860 up in Gogland. And we drove up in my mate Rhys's car, blasting Zeppelin the whole way. And we got to the point where we were going through Snowdonia, which is where the mountains are in Wales. And it's like we had this kind of like, you know, I'm not spiritual at all, but like the nearest you can get to a spiritual experience. Driving up this slate valley with this huge mountain looming over me and this cloud is hitting the mountain and it's all the rain is pouring out of this cloud. 01:03:22.240 --> 01:03:50.260 And while the levy breaks comes on, it was fantastic. Oh, man. Well, and a lot of, and, you know, Led Zeppelin 3 was written around there. Right, right, that's right, yeah, Bronner Wynn or whatever. Which I think is still there, by the way, the building itself. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome, man. I've had the Zeppelin experience in England, too, and, yeah. I also love Jethro Tull, like, thick as a brick. It's fantastic. Awesome. I put him on for the first time in a little while the other day and was, sorry, I hadn't done it in a while. 01:03:51.700 --> 01:03:52.760 So much music. 01:03:54.300 --> 01:03:54.420 Yeah. 01:03:55.120 --> 01:03:55.240 Well, 01:03:56.000 --> 01:03:56.360 wait, 01:03:56.410 --> 01:03:57.540 I have to show one more thing with you. 01:03:57.620 --> 01:03:58.580 Cause I got up a few minutes ago. 01:03:58.720 --> 01:04:02.620 Cause there was a knock at my door and it was a record that came from sword 01:04:02.700 --> 01:04:02.940 worship. 01:04:04.460 --> 01:04:04.820 Nice. 01:04:05.740 --> 01:04:07.840 So if you're confused at all by who that is, 01:04:07.900 --> 01:04:10.540 the sword worship records and it's the eternal champion record. 01:04:10.780 --> 01:04:10.900 Nice. 01:04:11.220 --> 01:04:12.540 And speaking of a cover art, 01:04:12.680 --> 01:04:12.820 you know, 01:04:12.880 --> 01:04:14.360 it's like pretty slick cover. 01:04:14.920 --> 01:04:15.660 It's all it's all champions. 01:04:15.820 --> 01:04:18.320 It's a really good Sega mega drive game for the night. 01:04:19.779 --> 01:04:21.280 It's a direct reference to that. 01:04:21.440 --> 01:04:51.360 It probably is. I would not be surprised if it was. You know, I remember playing that. I never made that connection, but I remember playing that. Yeah. Well, they are super tongue-in-cheek, so I bet it is. Yeah. In any case, Marcus, you were saying? Yeah, I was just going to say, because I don't want to forget at the end, Luke, can you tell people where they can find you, what your website is, your social media? Yeah, if you go to lukeoram.com, that's it. There is links there to a number of things. There's a lot of work there, and in the contact, 01:04:51.420 --> 01:05:21.340 There's like a, you know, you can find my, my Instagram. Um, I don't remember what it is on Facebook. Um, it's Luke underscore Oram at Instagram. And I, you know, I could really use the Instagram follows guys. Like I'm not, I'm not doing very well on that platform. And for you, for those of you who want spelling, that's O-R-A-M. Well, I have to congratulate Marcus and pronounced it correctly. You know, like almost no one gets my surname, right? Well, at least I got one out of two. Cause I definitely didn't get the bend. 01:05:23.620 --> 01:05:50.420 I still don't understand the bad name. Atom. Atom. It's like fake Russian, isn't it? You know, like. Yeah. Right. We are already following. I'm just glad I got Luke right. You never know. Right. Right. Right. Luke. But it's like, it lets me, um, it lets me drop my most metal fact, which is Aurum is Norse and means serpent. Fuck yeah, dude. That's very good, right? That's very cool. I was, I was, uh, 01:05:51.480 --> 01:06:21.380 something, an interview with Richie Faulkner of all people recently, and that is of course, and Rob Helford calls him the Falcon because that is a bastardization, not bastardization, but down through the years Ellis Island version of Falconer is Falconer. Right, right, yeah. So that's awesome. Or maybe Faulkner was quite literally Falconer in the day, I don't know, but in any case. Yeah, yeah. So that's pretty fucking metal. Yeah, but so could you say it again, what is Serpent what? Aurum. My surname, Aurum. 01:06:22.000 --> 01:06:48.280 is the Norse word for serpent. Viking for serpent, basically. God knows, mine is Dickinson, and I just don't even want to know the origin of that. You know what I mean? Sounds pervy. You know what it is, Jay. I do, I do. You know what it is. And so do we. Yeah, trust me, I did not have a cool job in whatever that town was back then. 01:06:51.440 --> 01:07:21.200 It was work. This is Satan. And when I'm not busy tormenting the souls of the damned, I tune in to the Metal Heads podcast. And so should you. All right. So now it is time for t-shirt and beer check. Luke, I don't know if you drink. 01:07:21.440 --> 01:07:49.000 Are you drinking anything? I don't consume alcohol. I'm drinking some water, which is pretty rock and roll, I'd say. Well, so you and Jay are on the same boat. Yeah. But I'm drinking mine out of a Judas Priest cup. Judas Priest like 12 times in this episode. I don't know why. That is a lot cooler than my dad gave me. Is there a My Little Pony on that? 01:07:51.420 --> 01:07:52.100 I think it's a unicorn. 01:07:52.100 --> 01:07:55.780 I think you'll find there are some My Little Ponies plural. 01:07:56.620 --> 01:07:57.200 Oh, nice. 01:07:57.580 --> 01:07:57.720 Nice. 01:07:58.820 --> 01:08:00.560 Well, it looks like there might be something on your shirt. 01:08:00.680 --> 01:08:02.400 What kind of shirt are you wearing? 01:08:03.240 --> 01:08:05.000 This is Insect Warfare. 01:08:05.400 --> 01:08:05.800 Nice. 01:08:06.800 --> 01:08:07.740 I love that album. 01:08:08.740 --> 01:08:13.760 So my band supported Insect Warfare when they toured the UK in the Cardiff. 01:08:14.500 --> 01:08:17.920 And that is a gig where we had to end at 10.30 because a DJ came in. 01:08:19.259 --> 01:08:49.160 And it was, you know, because it's Insect Warfare, it was rammed. Like, everyone went and this DJ had no crowd and they had to turn out like, you know, like a hundred crusties were like, you know, come for this gig and they were like just standing outside after. They should have just let them play more. Yeah, it was phenomenal. That's pretty legendary. I love that album. It's one of the top three grindcore LPs, I think. For sure. I'm a fan of grindcore myself, so I appreciate that. Good, yeah, that's a man of taste, I see. 01:08:49.220 --> 01:09:18.080 Yes, yeah. Something like that. Napalm Death, Nazem, all kinds of good stuff. Yeah. All right, then we'll move on to Markasson. What are you drinking? What are you wearing? I see what you're wearing. I'm wearing the Firelink shirt. Strong. So I had to wear it because, you know, Luke did that album cover. It's cool to know that he's working on more for Firelink because I did that logo as well. Like the logo. Oh, you did? Firelink logo I did. Even though it's just like, it is just the Dark Souls like font but modified. 01:09:19.220 --> 01:09:23.220 I still did it. And then I am drinking 01:09:24.200 --> 01:09:24.839 brimming horns. 01:09:25.480 --> 01:09:26.040 Inningarter. 01:09:27.220 --> 01:09:28.140 Does it look like this? 01:09:29.660 --> 01:09:30.580 It does! 01:09:32.819 --> 01:09:33.380 Skull! 01:09:34.740 --> 01:09:35.680 It's very good. 01:09:37.339 --> 01:09:38.339 Wait, number three, right? 01:09:39.560 --> 01:09:39.799 Huh? 01:09:41.240 --> 01:09:41.779 Number three. 01:09:42.040 --> 01:09:42.359 Number three. 01:09:43.960 --> 01:09:44.900 Number one. 01:09:47.080 --> 01:09:48.600 I probably have a number three, too. 01:09:48.680 --> 01:09:49.759 I have two of these. 01:09:50.940 --> 01:09:52.200 You might have two and three. 01:09:53.600 --> 01:09:55.400 Because we've gotten them three in a row now. 01:09:55.560 --> 01:09:58.460 Or three of the last X number of... 01:09:58.980 --> 01:10:00.000 Maybe I drank one already. 01:10:00.120 --> 01:10:01.680 But I know I have this one and another one. 01:10:01.680 --> 01:10:02.440 They're all from the Mead Club, yeah. 01:10:04.060 --> 01:10:06.760 So, Luke, because you were probably not aware, 01:10:06.940 --> 01:10:09.320 we're nerding out over Brimminghorn Meadery, 01:10:09.920 --> 01:10:13.540 which is local to John and I. 01:10:14.260 --> 01:10:16.800 A meadery that makes very awesome mead. 01:10:16.840 --> 01:10:44.100 Also collaborations with metal bands and people who do comic books like, say, Markisan. By the horns, man. Yeah. Funnily enough, I got an email from earlier from a couple of guys that run labels going, Luke, do you know anyone in Hawaii? Because we've just sold a planet lost. Wonder who that is. Yeah. I know someone in Hawaii. Yeah. 01:10:46.840 --> 01:11:16.800 I might. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh, that would move us to Matt. I'm wearing King of diamond. Hey, fuck yeah. I get a good look at that. What is it? Yeah. Which one is that? From the tour shirt. Okay. Right. I think I might have that one. I think that was the last live show I was at. Sadly. It was one of my last for sure. Met King diamond. So that was wonderful. Uh, tonight I am drinking. It is called a stout of mind. It's a collaboration between pontoon 01:11:17.380 --> 01:11:18.080 and wild leap. 01:11:18.920 --> 01:11:27.500 It is a barrel-aged imperial milk stout, barrel-aged in Jameson select barrels for 18 months with coconut, graham crackers, cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel. 01:11:28.720 --> 01:11:29.800 Did you get anything else in that? 01:11:30.960 --> 01:11:33.060 Yeah, I was hoping for some marshmallows and maybe a curry. 01:11:35.100 --> 01:11:36.580 There's some Skullman in that, actually. 01:11:36.920 --> 01:11:38.080 I'm going to hold it with a jam fire. 01:11:41.880 --> 01:11:42.800 All right, John. 01:11:43.420 --> 01:11:43.780 All right. 01:11:44.480 --> 01:12:14.180 You can't probably see the design, but it's my Demon of the Fall. What is it? What do they call these now? Pay to print shirt that they have on their site. So you can, they just got a bunch of designs and you make it worth your while and get a few if you want, whatever. A lot of bands are doing it now. So I got that on. Yeah, let's see. I started with my standard zombie dust. Gotta ease in. And I moved on now to Droid Theory's. 01:12:15.800 --> 01:12:18.560 Mythopathy Ghost 996. 01:12:19.020 --> 01:12:20.080 So we're coming on 1,000. 01:12:21.080 --> 01:12:21.280 Nice. 01:12:21.620 --> 01:12:22.720 What kind of beer is that, John? 01:12:23.320 --> 01:12:24.120 It's a double IPA. 01:12:24.680 --> 01:12:25.360 Of course it is. 01:12:26.180 --> 01:12:26.260 Yeah. 01:12:26.740 --> 01:12:30.880 So, well, no, I mean, they might have some crazy stout, but, yeah. 01:12:31.660 --> 01:12:33.540 It's not, well, it's pretty hazy. 01:12:34.780 --> 01:12:36.020 Uh-oh, good thing Will's not here. 01:12:36.460 --> 01:12:39.300 Yeah, but, come on, why wouldn't you get this? 01:12:40.060 --> 01:12:41.100 Oh, yeah, I mean, I love all your beers. 01:12:41.100 --> 01:12:41.780 It's got skulls. 01:12:43.560 --> 01:13:11.260 That's a skull man. That's a skull man right there. Is it also got an element of machinery? Because that's even more metal if it's got an upside down cross and what looks like something from Rob Halford's collection of leather with studs. Yeah, that's pretty good. If it's got a lion or a tiger tearing through the surface revealing machinery or another dimension, then that's additional points as well. 01:13:14.260 --> 01:13:40.080 All right. I actually, not actually, I just don't always drink at the pub because I don't drink in the daytime. But I did. I stopped and got something that I had a little while ago and I got another one. And I also found a place that had Maine beer company lunch. So I picked up a lunch today and I got one of these. I liked this so much the last time I had it. And this was the rare release, bigger batter Baptist with the Imperial, let's see, whiskey, Mascall barrels, coffee. 01:13:41.520 --> 01:14:11.020 Yeah, cinnamon, cacao, and vanilla added. So that's going in the fridge. Have you had lunch before? I have, yeah. Luch sent me a bunch of it one time, and I sat here one other time, and I just stopped at the shop I like to go to today, and they had it, and I've never seen it. I've never seen it there before. Lunch is awesome. You love the Baptist, too, Jay. Well, you know, I went to Epic, and so I guess... And Salt Lake, he went to it? Yeah. Yeah, Jen's been there before, too. It's close to my heart for some reason, but I just love what they do, too. 01:14:11.080 --> 01:14:40.640 Now that stated, uh, I've got, because I got Judas Priest on the brain, I was wearing my screaming for vengeance shirt today. Under your brimming horn. And my brimming horn, because it's as John can attest to, we're having one of those annoying fucking Bay Area days where it's seems to be 70 degrees, one minute and 50 the next, because the fog is coming in. So, so look what, what that means. Uh, cause I'm from San Francisco is that you wear a sweatshirt with shorts. Yeah. And then you laugh at all the tourists. I do that around here. Yeah. But it, 01:14:41.080 --> 01:15:11.000 It's not the same. Luke knows the weather. I would say that San Francisco's weather is similar to a lot of parts of England. You can walk around like, hey, this is awesome. Whoa, where did that fog just come from? Why am I freezing my ass off all of a sudden? Actually, I've been here 20 years now. The last week has been one of the weirdest weeks. The fog came in and just fucking stayed. It's not going out at all. Now there's some blue sky for the first time in three days. Anyway, it's fucking cold here today. Then hot the next minute. I know what you mean, Jay. 01:15:11.080 --> 01:15:41.040 Two shirts and shorts. Yeah, indeed. It's nice here. We haven't gotten any of the cicadas yet. Apparently, John and Will are getting them. I have not seen a one. I'm in the country. I should be overwhelmed with these fucking bugs, but apparently not. Yeah, it's probably because it's just warm today for the first time where it's really humid. Yeah, it was like mid-70s here, but yeah. Do you know cicadas, Luke? Do you know what a cicada is? I understand that it's a type of insect or beetle 01:15:41.080 --> 01:16:10.720 There's a long gestation cycle underground and emerges every 14 or 15 years. This one's a 17 year. They come out twice. This one's the long one, meaning the long period. And they're like kind of like giant, they're not like grasshoppers, but they kind of look like it because they're kind of like, they're like this on my watch today. They're monsters. And then they leave these, like they, they molt and leave their shells on trees and stuff. Oh, that's great. Yeah. It's spooky. And the noise is, 01:16:14.920 --> 01:16:40.860 The noise of cicadas and the noise of bullfrogs I've heard because American movies have them in as background sound no matter where the movie is set. It sounds like that here at all but I know what they sound like because I've heard it in films. I've never seen one. I like the idea of it. Well it's fun to think that you guys think we're overrun with cicadas of bullfrogs at all times too. Well some of them are tree frogs. 01:16:41.440 --> 01:17:10.940 We have three frogs and those fuckers are loud. I think it's maybe because they happen to be fairly close to where all the studios are that make your media. You know, like three frogs are close to Hollywood or whatever. This is neither here nor there nor a claim to fame, but have you been to America? I'm curious. Yes, I have been to America twice. Once merely as a stopover on the way to Canada because I have family in Canada that emigrated there, you know, like in the 80s. And when I was 17, I think, 01:17:11.080 --> 01:17:40.960 where I went to New York, went around the art museums, you know, it was with the art, this was like my sixth form, which is, I don't know what you'd call that in America, like we have like a stage of school that's like kind of not quite college, but not university, I don't know, it's hard to explain, sixth form is like 17 years old, it's what, you know, high school, yeah, high school, yeah, we, the art class went on a trip to New York, and it was, 01:17:42.040 --> 01:18:11.000 I was blown away by how great it looked. It looked like all the movies I'd seen. All the Corsese movies and stuff. I was just kind of taken aback by it. Even just going into a deli and ordering a burger, it just felt like I was in a movie or a Tom Waits song or something. It was fantastic. I've seen Tom Waits. I'm one of the few British people that's seen Tom Waits, by the way. I've seen Scotland. It was incredible. 01:18:11.080 --> 01:18:41.020 I have not seen him. I missed him by like two weeks in Atlanta. It was great. He's one of my favorite people of all time and I would kill to see him. Same, yeah. I really like his music. Well, I don't have cause to bring this up very often, but now two episodes in a row I have, which is I ran into him on the street. That's right. That's right. Wow. Wow. I didn't talk to him. I mean, he was behind me. I should have taken a photo, but I was just like, no. Yeah. Hopefully you run into him again. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. I saw him at the musical. 01:18:41.060 --> 01:18:46.060 I mentioned to you guys the the match the train stone thing whatever that fucking thing was 01:18:47.480 --> 01:18:54.040 Book of Mormon yeah and because we walked out the way with the way we did the thing I said to my wife was I said see that we had better tickets than Tom fucking weights 01:18:58.080 --> 01:19:01.040 yeah that's actually happened to me before once at a basketball game 01:19:02.300 --> 01:19:09.620 long story short was NCAA during the tournament and we had better seats since some of the coaches that had just gotten knocked out of the tournament 01:19:09.620 --> 01:19:39.020 They were sitting off on the side. I just looked at her and said, not only did you get knocked out, your seats suck. Also, when I did go to Canada, I went with my whole family, went over to visit our other family. My aunt basically moved to Canada. So where in Canada, by the way? Vancouver. It was lovely. We drove over a week. We went for two weeks or something like that. Me and my family. 01:19:39.640 --> 01:20:07.060 I drove to Seattle for a couple of days. So that was like, I must have been, I think I was 20, so it's like 2000, something like that. I just thought everyone back home, I've been to Seattle, they're going to think I'm the shit. All the grunge guys. Of course, ironically, when you come to America as a 20-year-old British person, you're a kid again because the drinking age is different and that kind of stuff. 01:20:09.620 --> 01:20:39.400 This is before I stopped drinking. Age 20, I used to go to pubs and stuff, and then suddenly you go to America, and it's like, oh, I can't do that anymore. Please, I would ask you to let the fullness of the picture of your impression of America be just Seattle and New York, and you'll be fine. You're pretty much at two of the best spots. Yeah, that drive from Vancouver to Seattle is beautiful. It was, yeah, the Sea to Sky Highway, I think I remember it being called. We also, from Vancouver, got a train. 01:20:39.640 --> 01:20:46.900 and like a ferry up and a train back to Squamish I think like where they filmed some of 01:20:46.940 --> 01:21:09.000 Twin Peaks at X-Files and that like north of Vancouver it was just yeah I really liked it you know I drove past Mount Baker I think this is a long it's 20 years ago but yeah yeah you know it struck it it was really nice looking you know and like I remember at that time Queens of the Stone Age rated R had just come out and like you know I got my dad to listen to it and everything you know like it was rock enough that he could like it 01:21:11.260 --> 01:21:38.940 Yeah, Canada's beautiful, man. Beautiful. George, I think we're on to you. What's the fuck up with this shirt, dude? Maybe the rest of the country doesn't know it, or the world, but today is day one of the motherfucking NHL hockey playoffs, Washington Capitals versus the Boston Bruins, which to me is kind of a win-win. It's the only game today, by the way, George. 01:21:39.020 --> 01:22:08.980 There's no other games in the bracket today. Why would there be? He said because he's a cocky motherfucker. So because of that, I am wearing my Stanley Cup Washington Capitals Champions 2018. Trying to give us a little bit of luck tonight. The game starts in about half an hour. And while I did start with the Inningarter Brimminghorn that Marcason mentioned, I am now on to 01:22:09.020 --> 01:22:38.260 Rock the Red Imperial Red Ale, which that is a Washington Capitals hockey stick right there. So I'm wearing the shirt. I'm drinking the beer. They're totally going to fucking win tonight. If they don't, I'm going to look really stupid by the time the episode comes out. What game is that? Hockey. Ice hockey. Is that what you mean? Yep. Yeah. 01:22:42.000 --> 01:23:08.980 For your reference, it's sort of like if you mash polo and football together. I've seen one ice hockey game, like Cardiff Devils. This was at university, and it was close to Cardiff. Randomly, some of my friends said, let's go watch ice hockey. I went, yeah, all right. I'm not really sports guy. I went with them because I liked it. It was quite good fun, yeah. When I was a kid, hockey, you'd play with canes and a ball on the 01:23:09.660 --> 01:23:38.460 That's what we call hockey, right? Do you have that as well? For sure. Hockey's great because it's like, you know, in baseball, okay, I mean, I guess there's fighting in baseball and stuff, but and like true hockey fans don't like the fighting, but I like that in hockey, if somebody fucks with you, the enforcer comes over and kicks their ass. Right. You know? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I like that they take the shit into their own hands. They're like, you know, that wasn't cool. So we are going to fuck you up. 01:23:38.600 --> 01:24:08.540 And we have the greatest enforcer of all time in Tom Wilson. I don't give a fuck what the New York Rangers think about him. By the way, I saw the total respect start to that game. The slap shot start the other night to that one game where they literally dropped the puck. It just went down. It just started brawling right there at center. Yeah, man. Fuck the Rangers. You know, we hate it. Another good reason Will's not here. We hate the New York Rangers. We hate the Philadelphia Flyers. 01:24:08.580 --> 01:24:38.560 and we hate the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins are at least semi-classy. But the Rangers and the Flyers are fucking dirty fucking bastards. Can I ask a question about American sports culture that I've been wondering? Certainly. Do you have a setup in America whereby your rivalries with your team are between another local team that plays the same sport, or is it another 01:24:38.580 --> 01:25:08.560 a team in a different town or a different state? It's a different state. It depends. I mean, if you're in California, you have 12 teams. The way I think it usually plays out, and this is both in baseball and hockey to my experience, is it's usually somebody in your division. Regional. Yeah, though, and I know that the A's and the Giants, or excuse me, well, that's the way it tends to be to me. They tend to be in the same division, and it's somebody who's 01:25:08.600 --> 01:25:37.900 He's got a fucking dirty fucking guy or whatever. And then it just ends up being history for the rest of your life. We don't have any derbies here. Yeah, it's all derbies. If there's two teams in a city, there are going to be different conferences here, unlike where you got Liverpool and Everton are literally a mile apart. It's not like that. So it's a different rivalry. The derby, and I'm not really in football culture or anything like that, but my dad played rugby, likes football, so I know a little bit about it. 01:25:38.020 --> 01:26:07.980 But in Bristol you've got two football teams and they're not in the same division or anything. But the fans hate. The culture is having enemy to the opposite team support. To the point where for a lot of people in Bristol the fact that I've never been to a football match is irrelevant. Am I City or Rovers? Is my family a City family or a Rovers family? The Yankees-Mets is kind of like that in New York. The Giants-Dodgers is like that. 01:26:09.020 --> 01:26:10.080 I've heard of that, I think. 01:26:10.360 --> 01:26:11.560 Yeah, that's a real one. 01:26:11.920 --> 01:26:19.400 But like here, we have the Orioles in Baltimore and 45 minutes away, which is, you know, minimal. 01:26:20.440 --> 01:26:24.720 We have the Washington Nationals, and they're in different leagues, so it's like, it doesn't matter. 01:26:25.220 --> 01:26:25.860 You know, I like both. 01:26:26.700 --> 01:26:27.440 So it's all right. 01:26:27.440 --> 01:26:28.200 It's the same with the Giants, yeah. 01:26:29.480 --> 01:26:29.580 Yeah. 01:26:29.960 --> 01:26:30.980 So it depends. 01:26:31.340 --> 01:26:31.660 It depends. 01:26:32.000 --> 01:26:35.000 But I don't think, I mean, it's not Scottish soccer hooligans. 01:26:35.060 --> 01:26:35.820 You don't see much of that. 01:26:35.880 --> 01:26:36.220 You know what I mean? 01:26:36.320 --> 01:26:36.720 Right, right. 01:26:37.000 --> 01:26:37.080 Yeah. 01:26:37.160 --> 01:26:55.580 I mean, I was born in Pennsylvania. I should like the Penguins. I should like the Flyers. But they're a bunch of fucking bastards. So fuck them. You know what I like? Metal. Metal. That's true. A good point. Shall we move on to the news then? Indeed. 01:27:08.500 --> 01:27:09.300 All right. 01:27:09.860 --> 01:27:11.500 So first news item. 01:27:12.220 --> 01:27:18.120 Iron Maiden and BrewDog are collaborating on a Hellcat IPA. 01:27:19.020 --> 01:27:27.580 Now, I don't, I'm not familiar with BrewDog, but I, of course, am familiar with Iron Maiden, and I am a fan of IPAs, so I would like to try them. 01:27:27.580 --> 01:27:28.240 They're actually pretty good. 01:27:29.800 --> 01:27:29.880 Yeah. 01:27:30.140 --> 01:27:33.000 So, like, in Britain, in the British machine, BrewDog is hated. 01:27:33.760 --> 01:27:34.160 Oh, really? 01:27:35.500 --> 01:27:35.600 Yeah. 01:27:36.080 --> 01:28:04.780 That's because they expanded pretty fast, didn't they? Yeah, because they're successful. That's why they hate it. But if I'm not mistaken, because when I was there in 2015, the craft beer like it was in the States was really starting to explode. It was a lot of collaborations with American breweries, and all the ones I dealt with were English, so it was really kind of cool to see these collaborations, and it was growing. 01:28:04.820 --> 01:28:34.800 But Brew Dogs were all the hot spots to go because they were all over different parts of London. So I could see why people would feel that way. There is a Brew Dog in Bristol, at least one. What I would say is the reason it's not liked in the British, I say this scene, I mean my friends who are in their 40s. That's what I mean by the scene. It's because Brew Dog venues are trendy places and if you're a punk or a metalhead, you don't go there. You go to the metal bars and the metal bars or the 01:28:34.840 --> 01:29:03.360 punk venues, it's always either just a standard brewery or it's camera, if you know what that is. Like real ale, you know, like traditional British real ale. And that is the enemy of IPA. Like the two things are very opposed. And I don't drink, so I have no dog in the fight. But, you know, like camera is very, it's very Dungeons and Dragons-y, if you know what I mean. Like quite laughy. And like, 01:29:04.820 --> 01:29:34.800 It's trendy and it calls itself like it had a punk IPA and just everyone I know that's like really strongly like a punk got really upset you know got really online about it. So that's in American terms that would be like the Kardashians Iron Maiden IPA. No. I've been to a couple of bird dogs and what I know what he means it's they're very popular spots so what you're probably getting are a lot of people who aren't beer drinkers they're just going to hang out there too. Yeah. But they're also John they're kind of 01:29:34.820 --> 01:30:04.540 They're kind of modern looking too though. I just looked it up on the website. They're kind of stilted and they just look like. Yeah, but those two guys are interesting because they did that show in the US where they came over here and they were like brewing like on a train. They get they have like the episode hour to brew a beer and they would do all these crazy things in these different places. One episode like I said was on a train. They were always trying to brew something in a really fast amount of time with limited supplies. It was kind of funny because they were kind of sarcastic about all of it and everything. 01:30:04.820 --> 01:30:33.360 Well, I read this is the first American-produced Iron Maiden beer, though. Right. Because Iron Maiden have the Trooper, which is an India Pale Ale. We've had all their beers. Some of them haven't made it over here. People I know really like the Trooper IPA. Loads of my friends said that was really good. Even my friends that don't like Iron Maiden were like, oh, yeah, fair play. The Trooper beer is really good. That's a conversation I actually had in real life. 01:30:33.540 --> 01:31:02.980 I don't like most of the Iron Maid. I like the red and black, but I find most of them are just like session beers. So it's not really what I drink. It's a super light mainstream, which makes sense with BrewDog, actually. Yeah, it is. So, George or Marcus, because you mentioned it too, Marcus. Did you hear what kind of IPA it was? Did they say? Is it West Coast? No, I just said it. They called it a lager IPA, which is weird, and it's a 6%. Okay, yeah. I did notice that. 01:31:03.560 --> 01:31:33.300 But 6% actually I think is higher for them. It's probably the highest one so far, yeah. Because I think the red and black was the highest before that. And I think maybe that was 6% or like 5%. They're on the low end. They're kind of almost close to, some of those are close to session peers. Right. Yeah. Well, in any case, we'll try it when it comes out. We'll still try it because it's Iron Maiden. Exactly. Completely tangential and of interest to no one but myself. I, I, I, I, 01:31:33.540 --> 01:32:03.160 I texted a picture of this to the guys. I took, okay, so I have a bike, like a mountain bike that we ride around here, and I just got a little bell that you can ring so that people know that you're coming when you're going down the trail, and it's called a bottle cap bell. And so it's like, it's got a little thing, and you can take a bottle cap and put it on top of it to ornament it, I guess. And I took one of the Trooper beers. It's basically Eddie from the Trooper, like his face. 01:32:03.260 --> 01:32:33.180 These are like, and so now my bike is metal as fuck because it has eddy on it. Sick. Have you considered having eddies on it, though? Because that would be more metal. Well, there's only room for one. Well, I don't know, because the last time I saw Iron Maiden, they had at least three eddies came out. That's true. You know, your handlebars could be like the first album or something. You're one of those seat bags, you know? They're like fanny packs. 01:32:33.260 --> 01:33:03.060 for your bike. And maybe I can put a flag on the back or something that comes out behind me. The bike fanny pack is what I want you to have. No fanny packs here. I did actually attach a water bottle today. I could get an Iron Maiden water bottle. Yeah, see? You can get real creative with it, George. Yeah. You could probably get an Iron Maiden anything, you know? Yeah, pretty much. Possibly only outdone by Kiss. Probably only Kiss have more. 01:33:03.260 --> 01:33:33.160 Yeah, probably. You're right. Get it straight. That's Gene Simmons, not Kiss. Okay, yeah, bad enough. Come on, you're going to have a lawsuit on your hands here in a second. Yeah, that's true. Better be careful. So, moving on to another British band, Rob Halford has apparently enough material for a solo blues album. Now, you know, clearly Priest is amazing, and some of, you know, Rob's done Halford, 01:33:33.240 --> 01:34:03.060 and some other stuff that was good. And he's even done Christmas albums that I thought were, you know, fair. But like, blues album? What do people think about that? I mean, it's Rob Halford. I'll listen to it. But I'm just curious where that's going to go. I like blues. I think Halford can sing. And like, Halford can really sing. You know, like, obviously, in Priest, you know, 01:34:03.140 --> 01:34:32.460 There's a sort of gimmicky high aspect, which is fantastic. They're a great band. I love them. But if you think to like 70s stuff that they put out, it's more melodic and it's lower tonality in his singing. So I think he could probably pull it off. I also think he's earned the right to do whatever he wants at this point. For sure. There is a mainstream metal musician who has just fully delivered most of his life, not sold his fans out at any point. 01:34:32.500 --> 01:34:34.180 and stayed very true to it. 01:34:34.320 --> 01:34:39.200 And he's earned the right to do a Metallica and Lou Reed if he wants. 01:34:39.560 --> 01:34:40.480 He's delivered the goods. 01:34:42.280 --> 01:34:43.520 He's delivered the goods. 01:34:43.970 --> 01:34:47.420 Well, you know, first off, I agree with everything you just said. 01:34:47.520 --> 01:34:50.440 But to your point about his voice, and I agree with you, 01:34:50.530 --> 01:34:55.180 that there are some of his performances that are in the middle of his range 01:34:55.210 --> 01:34:56.480 are some of my favorite performances. 01:34:56.480 --> 01:34:57.160 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 01:34:58.160 --> 01:35:01.660 I'm convinced that Andy Sneap made a wonderful producer for them 01:35:01.680 --> 01:35:31.280 because he told Rob, you're good right here, dude, because there's not a lot of super attempts at high singing on firepower. Though there's some, and what he does, he does great. But in any case, I agree with you. The guy's got a beautiful voice and still fully intact in that middle range, and even in the higher range when he wants to. Yeah, and then do it while he still can, you know, get it recorded, yeah. I like that he's going to try something else. Yeah. You know, yeah, why not try things, and he clearly probably loves the blues. I would say that, like, 01:35:31.660 --> 01:36:01.580 in British musicians that were coming up around and just after the time of the Beatles, which Halford probably was because of his age, like American blues and including lots of the real genuine, you know, like solo black guy stuff was hugely popular here. Like it was really, really popular. So genuine. Yeah. Like I imagine he genuinely loves that stuff, you know? I'm sure he does. I'm still, my head is still off to all. I think nobody did it, threw it back at us as good as the British did with people like John Mayall and all those guys. 01:36:02.160 --> 01:36:31.260 Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. Yeah. All that stuff. And then just slightly more, you know, you add a little acid and you got Hendrix. And that's what those guys really fucking love, dude. You know, like all the priest guys were huge Hendrix guys. But it all comes from us. So good for you. I didn't read the details. Is this going to be a blues cover album or is this like original blues music? Do we know? I believe it's original. I thought it'd be covers. 01:36:31.660 --> 01:37:01.480 No, no, no, no. The quote was, as you put it here in the news, George, that he now has enough material. Fair enough. Well, apparently he says he has the whole album on his phone. So I thought that was weird when I saw that quote, but. Nice. Well, hopefully he doesn't lose it like a certain famous guitarist from a certain famous band. Also, if he recorded it on his phone, it could sound just like an old Robert Johnson album or something. He might mean that he's noted all the lyrics down on his phone though. Like, do that? Could be, yeah. 01:37:01.660 --> 01:37:02.000 Yeah. 01:37:02.760 --> 01:37:03.240 Oh, I was. 01:37:03.300 --> 01:37:03.440 Yeah. 01:37:03.560 --> 01:37:04.860 I could just have demos on it. 01:37:04.980 --> 01:37:05.040 Yeah. 01:37:05.160 --> 01:37:05.640 Kirk Hammett. 01:37:05.940 --> 01:37:07.480 What a thousand riffs or something. 01:37:07.520 --> 01:37:09.140 He claimed that was painful, man. 01:37:10.260 --> 01:37:13.240 A thousand, a thousand of the same lick with a wah. 01:37:14.840 --> 01:37:15.020 Wow. 01:37:15.480 --> 01:37:15.860 Wow. 01:37:16.620 --> 01:37:19.040 That James just like, I got, I got riffs. 01:37:19.080 --> 01:37:19.360 Don't worry. 01:37:20.040 --> 01:37:20.180 Yeah. 01:37:20.420 --> 01:37:20.700 Basically. 01:37:21.120 --> 01:37:22.160 Hey man, they're, they're talking. 01:37:22.300 --> 01:37:22.500 They're good. 01:37:22.620 --> 01:37:24.920 They got a new album coming after COVID. 01:37:25.000 --> 01:37:27.580 I can't wait for Will to shit on that one. 01:37:27.660 --> 01:37:28.100 Real quick. 01:37:28.960 --> 01:37:30.780 Interesting addition to the blues story there, 01:37:30.840 --> 01:38:00.820 just because I did want to kind of find out some of the extra information. The bass player that he is writing this material with is his nephew, which would be somebody. John's got to know. Ian Hill's son. Oh, yeah, right. His sister was married to Ian Hill. Wait, so he plays bass. He's the son of Ian Hill. So we're never going to see him once on stage. He's going to stand in one spot and never move. That's right, dude. You can't count Ian 01:38:00.880 --> 01:38:30.820 appearance on any given pre-concert video with one hand. Yeah. He's like those, what do you call those air float things? Like the dealerships? You know, you get up in the morning on Saturday and that thing's just going like this. But the leg, they just do this the whole time. They don't move. That's him. He's the constant. So you can tell it's a slow news week by this next item that Hulu is going to be releasing a limited series called Pam and Tommy about Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's 01:38:30.880 --> 01:38:31.600 sex tape. 01:38:32.510 --> 01:38:42.000 The only reason I'm at all tweaked by this is that the Winter Soldier guy, Sebastian Stan, is going to be playing Tommy. 01:38:42.280 --> 01:38:44.380 I'm like, ooh, I like him. 01:38:44.380 --> 01:38:44.780 Oh, really? 01:38:45.370 --> 01:38:46.780 Well, the picture they released. 01:38:47.560 --> 01:38:48.820 He looks way better than Tommy. 01:38:49.860 --> 01:38:51.140 He looks pretty good. 01:38:51.450 --> 01:38:51.560 Yeah. 01:38:52.220 --> 01:38:53.560 Is there going to be a prosthetic? 01:38:53.740 --> 01:38:54.220 That's my question. 01:38:54.600 --> 01:38:55.880 No, they're going to have to get a whole other actor. 01:38:55.880 --> 01:38:56.280 Dirk Diggler. 01:38:57.800 --> 01:38:59.600 Dirk Diggler plus somebody else. 01:39:00.120 --> 01:39:29.780 And then just use the footage from the sex tape. Oh, I'm just curious. Is there like a huge demand for this? No. Exactly. I'd like to go on the record and say, I do not give a fuck about this. I'm sure I'll watch it. I mean, I watched The Dirt and that was actually pretty amusing. My notes on this story say, we'll never watch. Well, unlike us who kind of have to comment on 01:39:29.820 --> 01:39:58.940 shit. You're lucky. You don't have to. Yeah. I will now, though. I'll get inboxed about it. I'm bound to know some people that think it's cool. I mean, I think it's going to be one of those things where people say they don't want to watch it and they're going to watch it. Like, it'll probably get a big viewership. Well, you know, what's interesting to me is it's a series about a sex tape where there's probably not going to be any sex because it's Hulu. You know? The sex tape isn't that great anyways. Yeah. 01:39:59.800 --> 01:40:29.780 I've been there, seen that, whatever. I mean, it's a giant strong, but you know. Yeah, I mean, it's like 45 minutes of vacation. Yeah. Are they on Lake Havasu when that happens? Yes, that's where it takes place. Oh, God. I mean, no, I mean, that's where the sex tape. Yeah, I said, I don't know if the fucking. If anyone knows the story behind Lake Havasu and, you know, spring break and all that, so. No. It becomes an absolute just debauchery of all 01:40:29.820 --> 01:40:59.360 these college students on the lake. Right. It's just bad news. I have no interest in Tommy Lee whatsoever. Thoroughly boring. I quite like Pam Anderson, though. She's quite fun. What's that movie she's in where it's called Barbed Wire? Barbed Wire. Oh, yeah. Oh, Barbed Wire, right. Yeah. Like, Barbed Wire is just, it's effectively a remake of Casablanca. 01:40:59.820 --> 01:41:27.880 It's just the story of Casablanca. You can watch it with that sort of critical eye and enjoy it, I think. I'm not going to watch this. She's already slammed this new miniseries as a... Oh, she did. I bet she has, yeah. I don't blame her. She fought the video too, didn't she? When that was all coming out big time. What a garbage, awful thing to put out. 01:41:29.820 --> 01:41:59.780 Like, fuck yeah, look at me. Well, those guys, I don't, yeah, like, I don't know, they weren't big over here, so I just don't know, I don't understand the fascination with them at all. Like, it just seemed like annoying douchebags. I'm not sure there is a fascination here, to be blunt. I think it's one of those, like, media. I mean, listen, you got British royalty, I don't understand any of that. I don't care about any of that. It's really easy. Well, then let's move on to some British douchebags. Okay. And people that are 01:41:59.840 --> 01:42:01.880 And we'll go with Sharon Osbourne. 01:42:03.740 --> 01:42:07.400 Who says she may revive the Osbournes after leaving the talk. 01:42:07.640 --> 01:42:08.820 Now, I know she was on the talk. 01:42:08.840 --> 01:42:13.060 I know she like, didn't she like get fired or some shit because she said something or. 01:42:13.120 --> 01:42:14.700 No, she got canceled. 01:42:15.020 --> 01:42:15.840 Canceled or whatever. 01:42:16.140 --> 01:42:17.720 But I mean, she's Sharon Osbourne. 01:42:17.940 --> 01:42:18.360 She's offensive. 01:42:19.100 --> 01:42:20.780 You know, what a surprise. 01:42:21.300 --> 01:42:24.200 I never watched the Osbournes despite my love for Ozzy. 01:42:25.440 --> 01:42:28.480 So I can't imagine I would watch this either. 01:42:29.300 --> 01:42:59.260 I've got a picture in the chat, if you get a chance to look at it, just along those lines, and it's that Ozzy was on the cover of British GQ apparently this week or something, and he's sort of embracing his age there. It's kind of a cool picture, to be blunt. Wow, he looks like an old woman, eh? He's got gray hair, yeah. Oh, yeah, he looks really old. He sort of is. He's, what, 71 or 72 now, I guess, isn't he? Yeah. You know, I saw these pictures online just recently on my Facebook feed that kind of went by, and it was like, I think I must be in somewhere 01:43:01.580 --> 01:43:29.260 and it was them on a sailboat you know back in the randy days and sharon was there and i'd forgotten how rough looking she was before she started getting surgeries man like she like you know kind of plump and looked like a real estate agent in missouri or something but uh anyway i don't get all that look jay the real estate is a good look i know it well like i really love you know i love black sabbath you know like yeah one of the greatest 01:43:29.300 --> 01:43:59.260 Not just metal bands, but just bands. Just phenomenal first four albums. Having said that, I think Ozzy Osbourne is a textbook example of when someone's fading celebrity has just been exploited over and over and over again. This is a guy who has problems and has all these difficulties and hasn't effectively been allowed to enjoy his success because he's got to continually 01:43:59.300 --> 01:44:29.240 cycle it through this awful media landscape. It's really abyssal. It's horrible to see. Just let him enjoy his older life. As if being less famous was somehow a bad thing. He's got the money, so just fucking retire, dude. He doesn't seem to enjoy it as well. Every time you hear him, he just seems like he's old and tired. He can't sing anymore. It's sad, but it's true. He can't do it. I don't want to hear a busted Aussie covered in auto-tune. I want to go and watch the 1974 live in Paris. 01:44:30.260 --> 01:44:59.260 where they do that really awesome fast version of Warpix. That's what I want to hear. I'm not going to... Good for you, dude. I feel the same way, especially since he was a figure in my youth and Johns and the other guys too. So I did watch the Osborne's George, which was well after my youth, but I watched it because up until that point, he was still fucking Ozzy, you know, and then it became this whole other thing. That's where it really fell off the fucking track. I just wasn't watching TV at that time. I probably would have watched it too, but I just... 01:44:59.280 --> 01:45:29.260 I watched TV at all. But I have to tell you a very, very short story about it. I had a friend who had a friend who worked on the show. Oh, nice. And it was before the show really took off. I mean, I think it was probably big right away, but it was like it was coming on and it hadn't started yet, but there was commercials for it. And this friend of mine said, yeah, my buddy's working on the show. And it was working with all these little MTV interns and stuff. And they moved him into that house to film the show, though I think they legitimately bought the house. So they're moving all their shit in and they're kind of there as they 01:45:29.320 --> 01:45:59.260 moving it in and there's all this stuff and there's all the Sabbath stuff that Ozzy has when it's past the stuff and I kid you not my friend said his friend said one of the interns said to him was Ozzy in a band or something the thing is like like that that tells you everything doesn't it you know like this is someone who exists as a as a as a mockery of a celebrity he's a product now yeah yeah not someone who is respected as he rightfully should be for his contributions to culture which like 01:45:59.280 --> 01:46:28.580 Those guys, not just Ozzy, the rest of the band, all of them, phenomenal and should be respected. In Britain, they are. Early Sabbath is revered, and it's a united band. It's popular in both metal and punk. Everyone loves Sabbath. That's interesting you say that, Luke, because I see more and more. I'm probably the oldest person here, but I know George and Jay remember Ozzy from the 80s, and I remember when Blizzard of Oz came out and Diver Madman. 01:46:28.600 --> 01:46:30.580 and they were just massive albums 01:46:30.900 --> 01:46:32.660 when they came out and he was considered 01:46:32.920 --> 01:46:34.740 metal. Now I see people 01:46:34.780 --> 01:46:36.520 who don't know that Aussie 01:46:36.560 --> 01:46:38.500 they know the TV caricature and they're like 01:46:38.580 --> 01:46:39.580 it's just shit rock. 01:46:41.100 --> 01:46:42.420 No it's actually not. 01:46:43.440 --> 01:46:44.740 It's hard to convey that point 01:46:44.840 --> 01:46:46.100 to people who don't know 01:46:46.620 --> 01:46:48.120 the Aussie, the singer 01:46:48.900 --> 01:46:51.020 or musician. They know the Aussie 01:46:51.160 --> 01:46:52.480 I think 01:46:53.700 --> 01:46:54.420 that you have to 01:46:54.680 --> 01:46:56.620 to be perfectly fair we must recognize 01:46:56.640 --> 01:47:26.380 is Ozzy's responsibility in this himself. So if you go and watch footage of Ozzy in early to mid-70s playing, he is on stage and he is so into his band. He's looking at the band when he's not singing. He's turning around and headbanging along with Iommi. He's going over to Giza. He's going over to Bill. He's really into his band and it shows. It 100% comes across the performance. Five years later, he's got a stupid outfit on and he's just prancing around the front of the stage, probably heavily, 01:47:27.180 --> 01:47:56.520 medicated. And it shows. It's not as good by that point. He's lost touch. He's just going after, well, I'm popular because I'm a singer of this band. He's still good. I think it's more Sharon, to be honest with you. I think she's the one who created the thing. I don't know. I mean, I don't know for sure. It reminds me of, there was an OK song a few years back by Suicide of Tennessee. It's called Clap Like Ozzy. I had the good fortune to meet Mike Mueller from a suicidal, 01:47:56.620 --> 01:48:26.160 because he was hanging out by his merch booth when I saw him. And I was like, hey, dude, what did you come up with that title, Clap Like Ozzy? And this really goes right to your commentary, which was he said, well, he said, I watched the Texas Jam when I was a kid in the 70s. So this would have been like what year was that, John? Do you know? It would have been probably before Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but they played. If that was 73, so be right after Volume 4, right between Volume 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. 01:48:26.180 --> 01:48:27.320 It feels right to me. 01:48:27.600 --> 01:48:27.840 Roughly. 01:48:28.060 --> 01:48:35.780 Mike Meara said as an impressionable youth, he was watching this and he saw all these self-important rock stars come out and do their thing or whatever. 01:48:35.900 --> 01:48:36.660 He watched it on television. 01:48:37.420 --> 01:48:37.500 Yeah. 01:48:37.620 --> 01:48:40.340 And he said an Aussie came out and looked like he was having the time of his fucking life. 01:48:41.020 --> 01:48:42.840 And he's, and Aussie is, you know, claps and stuff. 01:48:42.980 --> 01:48:46.600 So his advice to people was clap like Aussie, man, go out there and just fucking. 01:48:46.800 --> 01:48:46.840 Yeah. 01:48:47.180 --> 01:48:48.360 So I love that story. 01:48:48.500 --> 01:48:50.040 But I also think you're absolutely right. 01:48:50.220 --> 01:48:51.580 Aussie used to have this enthusiasm. 01:48:52.500 --> 01:48:52.620 Yeah. 01:48:52.940 --> 01:49:20.180 It really comes across in those, you know, these are things that happened before I was born. I've just seen them on YouTube like everyone else, you know, or like seen them growing up because, you know, members of my family liked Sabbath and stuff. But it's so great. The early stuff is so good. And the magic is just not there. You know, it's sad. It's sad. And he should be allowed to, he should have been allowed to just leave that. If he wasn't feeling that anymore, just let him leave it, you know, like don't keep dragging it back. 01:49:20.260 --> 01:49:49.680 And I agree with Jay. I think Sharon has a lot to do with it. Because when we had this news item, well, she announced it. So she's saying that they're going to revive the Osbournes after the talk. Right? But she's not the most famous Osborne. So the first thing I thought when I saw this news was, does Ozzy even know about this? Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, I am just judging off of seeing them, you know, seeing them in footage playing. And, you know, one thing I do think I know through a lot of experience of gigging is I think I can tell when a band's enjoying it. 01:49:49.740 --> 01:50:19.700 and they're working together and when they're not and they don't like each other and the idea that bands hating each other is good and produces good albums is absolute rubbish it's horrible if you don't get on with your bandmates the best bands that last get on and make good music you know so i think i think for me though too is and this is funny because there's a few bands like there's a lot of bands like this but this is one of them which is because i think the bad period of ozzy is so much longer than the good period at this point yeah that's true but it doesn't undermine his legacy for me but i could 01:50:19.720 --> 01:50:49.380 I totally understand why it undermines it for a lot of people. Especially if they did not live through the proper portions of it. Yeah. Whereas, and John's right, like my first experience of Ozzy was the 80s, so it would have been Blizzard of Oz and Dive of Ammon, which are great. But also then I just, then I rediscovered the old stuff. And then, and that was it. That was all we had at the time, and it was great. And it was, so that'll always, I'll always be able to relive that in my head and respect him for that. But it's been fucking trash. And I don't think, I don't know if that's going to change until he dies. 01:50:49.720 --> 01:51:19.360 When he passes away, I think you might find a newfound respect for Ozzy in the mainstream. But that's totally right. I'm sure it colors a lot of people's opinion of him. Especially since it's the first thing so many of them. Well, I would say that I think that good period Ozzy, the legacy lives on in Sleep. And the Melvins maybe, these bands that take that aspect and keep going with it, all the good Doom bands, 01:51:19.420 --> 01:51:20.680 all that, you know, like, 01:51:21.960 --> 01:51:25.240 it's probably a good chance that lots of younger kids that are getting into that 01:51:25.440 --> 01:51:28.320 don't even understand that that's a Sabbath thing, you know, like, 01:51:28.700 --> 01:51:32.220 they possibly don't even know that, you know, they've heard Paranood, 01:51:32.260 --> 01:51:35.080 which is a fast song, you know, it's like atypical for them, you know. 01:51:35.340 --> 01:51:37.480 They don't even know that Sabbath started metal. 01:51:37.780 --> 01:51:39.520 Like, people just don't even understand that. 01:51:40.080 --> 01:51:40.240 Yeah. 01:51:41.420 --> 01:51:43.840 They'll go back and listen to some old Sabbath and be like, 01:51:44.340 --> 01:51:46.720 oh, this sounds like High on Fire. 01:51:47.540 --> 01:51:47.840 Yeah. 01:51:48.560 --> 01:51:48.960 Exactly. 01:51:49.360 --> 01:52:18.760 That's a good point. But it also, like, weirdly, it also sounds like Jethro Tull. You know, like, it has that British pastoral quality in it on some of the quieter songs that have vibey moments and sort of like, you know, someone's, like, hitting a Congo or whatever, you know. Solitude and all that. Planet Caravan. Planet Caravan was what I was thinking of. Yeah, like, it's got this vibe. I don't know. Maybe it's just because of how they recorded them. I really like it. I really, really like that. Oh, no, dude, it's haunting. They're haunting. They're haunting. I mean. 01:52:18.780 --> 01:52:48.740 Something's been lost from metal. The way it's done now, it doesn't have that anymore, which is a massive shame. I totally agree. One last point to what you're saying, Luke, if anyone doesn't understand this, just go listen to the Past Lives version of Megalomania. I don't know if you guys know that song. It's off of Sabotage. Yeah, of course. Yeah, absolutely. The Sabotage version for me is like, eh, it's okay. I mean, it's a decent song, but if you listen to the live version, that's probably the best I've ever heard Ozzy sing. Yeah. And it's also, that's probably the best the band has ever heard. 01:52:48.800 --> 01:53:18.500 played a song. Because there's a lot of shows out there that kind of sound like shit. Right. But that one particular song sounds amazing. The power of what they could do. I'm the sort of rock fan that a lot of my favorite albums are live albums. Me too. Fuck you. Like the Who Live at Leeds is the best Who album by a hundred. Just listening to that the other day. Awesome. That's great. I absolutely love. The Live at Leeds is incredible. Yeah, really, really good. It's as good as everybody says it is. It was like the live album of all time. It really is that good. 01:53:18.780 --> 01:53:48.760 It's so fucking good. It's like you're there, you know. Can I just say, this is what I love about the Metalheads podcast before I was even on it, is that I thought this was like a throwaway item, and then we just had a massive discussion about Aussie's relevance in, like, pop culture and just metal culture, and it's cool to have Luke on and have that British perspective as well. It's awesome. You know, like, Aussie, Aussie is important. We've lost Lemmy. Like, Aussie is important. He's culturally important to the world and fans 01:53:48.800 --> 01:54:18.760 of his music and me as a Brit, he's a Brit who succeeded and he is from nothing. He's from Birmingham, the poor part of Birmingham. Those stories are bullshit, man. Yeah, they're real. That wasn't made up just to create the persona. That's real. They shared a pair of shoes kind of thing. It's an interesting thing I have to throw out real quick since Luke brought up a couple of things there. But one is, have you seen the Rock and Roll Circus, the Rolling Stones thing, Luke? I actually haven't, no. I'm not necessarily recommending 01:54:18.780 --> 01:54:47.560 but I have two things to say. One is that Tony Omi actually plays it in Jethro Tull in that movie. Wow. Yeah, he was in the band for about five minutes. I think I may have seen that clip actually. Yeah, and it is what it is. But that movie was not released for years and years and years because it was the Stones Endeavor. But The Who came out and did a quick one while he's away and blew them off the stage. And so they were too embarrassed to release it because it was like the best thing in the movie. That's a great record of quick one while he's away. 01:54:48.780 --> 01:55:18.700 nowadays, it's very evidently the lyrical content of it is probably, will be looked on with a certain way, because it has a certain 70s British carry-on campness that probably is not politically correct anymore, let's be honest, but just the playing is phenomenal, and the sequences and the changes that they're going through, it's really, it's a band coming up with stuff, and they're firing an all-cylinder, and you can hear it, that's what I like, I like to hear that, it's not even heavy, 01:55:18.760 --> 01:55:48.740 the album like it's heavy for its time but it has this quality i don't know i yeah heavy for its time but it is kind of fucking heavy i mean pete the bass playing is great like it's got this power yeah yeah yeah that's true yeah i yeah that was a shame when he died anyway i love that record so i love to hear it referenced that's known it's known as uh who like in my in my in my crowd it's known as who mixing like if you just have guitar one side and bass the other hard panned in a mix like uh no means no also have who mixing like if you know the band no 01:55:48.740 --> 01:56:18.060 It just sounds like the Who is great. And yet it still just fucking fills the room somehow. It's awesome. You can indeed see that performance of A Quick One While He's Away from the Circus. You can see it on YouTube or something. It's almost a carbon copy to the Leeds version with a slightly smaller, more stoned audience. I'm a much smaller, more stoned audience. 01:56:18.760 --> 01:56:19.420 Yeah. Nice. 01:56:19.700 --> 01:56:22.720 Oh, here come Will. 01:56:24.760 --> 01:56:26.340 50-50 chance that he's muted. 01:56:27.760 --> 01:56:28.400 There he is. 01:56:28.700 --> 01:56:29.900 He's still not wearing his pants. 01:56:30.240 --> 01:56:31.360 Who are all these people? 01:56:32.940 --> 01:56:34.500 I can't control the volume of my voice. 01:56:35.500 --> 01:56:36.700 Will, meet Luke. 01:56:37.120 --> 01:56:37.760 Luke, meet Will. 01:56:38.400 --> 01:56:38.900 Hey, Luke. 01:56:39.220 --> 01:56:39.460 Sorry. 01:56:39.860 --> 01:56:40.140 How are you doing? 01:56:40.420 --> 01:56:41.580 I was just talking about sleep. 01:56:44.980 --> 01:56:45.160 True. 01:56:47.020 --> 01:56:47.620 All right. 01:56:48.260 --> 01:56:48.360 Yeah. 01:56:48.460 --> 01:57:17.740 So we're just about to go to the next news item. Yeah, let's do it. Oh, wait, did you guys do t-shirt and beer check yet? We did. What do you got? You guys been doing this for like two hours and you just get you. I know we moved along. We're in the news, man. Come on. Whoa. Let's just take a quick news break. And what are you drinking? What are you wearing? So up until about two minutes ago, I was wearing my little league baseball shirt because I coached two baseball games today. 01:57:18.940 --> 01:57:46.620 Today, this is what I was wearing earlier this morning. I just threw it back on. My coronavirus death metal looking shirt that's got like tour dates on the back that start with like China, Asia, Europe, North America, Middle East, South America. I've got a variation on that, but I haven't seen it in months. I wonder where it is. So, Will, that's the world tour shirt? Yeah, yeah. All right. And what are you drinking? 01:57:49.500 --> 01:58:17.440 I'm having a glass of water. I haven't had a beer in probably a week because I've been sick as a dog. I've had three COVID tests. They're all negative. Something's wrong with you. Well, yeah, I got some virus. Today's the first day I feel like a human being again, so I'm going to have a glass of water, and then after that, I'm going to have an Atlas Ponzi IPA. Nice. Ponzi skin. All right, well, you're just in time for this next news item, which should be interesting. 01:58:18.440 --> 01:58:46.820 Or maybe not. We'll see. Behemoth is collaborating on an NFT collection. Now, Markisan wanted me to put this on here. And on the script, it says WTF is NFT. What the fuck is NFT, Markisan? I bet it's a children's choir. Well, I can tell you. I mean, it means non-fungible token. So it's basically just a record that proves you own a unique piece of digital content. 01:58:48.440 --> 01:59:18.420 a vehicle title which shows that you own a specific car. Who cares? But it's for digital content. Who cares? So in theory, any piece of digital content can be minted into an NFT. You know, you do a photo, video, art, music, comic book, podcast. So I am not as interested in it, but I see the value in it because it gives artists a way to sell their work that they might not be able to otherwise, especially if they're digital artists. And I thought this would be really good because Luke is a 01:59:18.460 --> 01:59:26.500 I have some direct experience with NFTs if you'd like me to recount it for you. 01:59:26.550 --> 01:59:26.960 Yes, please. 01:59:27.210 --> 01:59:41.980 So basically, over the lockdown, a friend of mine who I went to university with got really into this stuff like 12 months, like a year ago, basically. 01:59:42.250 --> 01:59:47.100 And he was like, around the end of last year, he was telling me about it. 01:59:49.640 --> 01:59:52.760 I'm making really good money selling this stuff and it's great because 01:59:53.480 --> 01:59:56.340 there's an audience for my art and I was like, that sounds great. 01:59:58.360 --> 02:00:01.800 I don't know anything about crypto or anything like that at all. 02:00:02.140 --> 02:00:05.760 So I said to him, can you explain to me what the deal is and how 02:00:06.420 --> 02:00:09.320 do you know what to make? I knew nothing about it. 02:00:09.980 --> 02:00:13.080 And he went, oh, it's very easy. You should get on this platform 02:00:14.080 --> 02:00:16.980 which is a specific NFT art platform. 02:00:17.440 --> 02:00:47.040 And he actually set me up on there, right? So he got me an account because he knows the people, and he actually paid for two pieces of art that I put on there. Now, that's all the initial thing out of the way. So what transpired was that when this was set up, I, you know, looking for the catch, read all of the documentation on their website, and it, you know, there seemed to be nothing 02:00:47.060 --> 02:01:14.160 that was particularly bad. I initially assumed that whoever bought the NFT would get the natural rights to the art, like if I sold a painting, but they don't. They just get this piece of information that says they own it. So I thought, well, OK, if someone wants to pay me money to say they own something I've made, then I don't have a problem with that at all. And so I sort of, you know, put up those two things that my friend had paid for, which I'm very thankful of still. He didn't need to do that. You know, thanks very much. 02:01:15.100 --> 02:01:44.920 And then a month or two, and nothing happened at all, like no one bought it, and I took a sort of look at the community that was growing around this thing, and it seemed to be just full of the worst kind of attention-seeking meme culture, you know, really not me at all, you know, like not focused on originality or quality, focused on iterating like Elon Musk memes, you know, like trash basically, not even the good kind of trash. So I sort of looked and thought, okay, well, this isn't for me, this market isn't interesting, anything I can do, 02:01:44.960 --> 02:02:14.920 what they want is like pictures of elon musk and you know fair enough and then um a month or so ago so this is this is quite a while later someone published a report into the carbon release uh that the nft minting uh costs and it is astronomically high so there's all this hidden environmental impact that they don't make you aware of whatsoever when you sign up for it you know and you know i i'm i'm an old lefty so i i don't want to harm the environment 02:02:14.960 --> 02:02:44.740 Basically, if I could get away with it, I understand that you have to do a bit, you know, like, as a society, we release carbon and blah, blah, blah. I don't know. I don't think we should stop doing anything at all. But it does seem rather like, do we want, you know, because like to mint an NFT releases like the same carbon a regular person would use in several years of life and activity in like five minutes. Yeah, it's crazily high. But how is that? I mean, it's digital. How is digital creating? I saw this too, and I'm not, 02:02:44.940 --> 02:03:14.920 I'm like contradicting you I'm I'm literally asking how is it that something that's digital is creating this this waste I mean I'm not I'm not you know I'm not a computer engineer anything like that but my understanding is that to perform the the puzzle solving crypto blockchain aspect of it to determine the unique value of the NFT computers have to run all these math problems to prove like it's like a proof of work type thing and it just running those computers releases a vast amount of carbon 02:03:14.920 --> 02:03:44.480 And the real kicker is, every time that NFT is sold again or transferred, it does that process again and again and again forever. And I'm not joking when I say that it's the equivalent of several years of life. So I would never judge. And I understand people need to make money. I'm not stupid. I'm not going to judge people that felt that was the best way they could do it because they need to feed their families, that kind of stuff. 02:03:44.980 --> 02:04:14.880 But I do wonder if we need to be spending that much carbon for like a picture of Elon Musk. No. The answer is no. Yeah. But the value of it is still weird to me. I still misunderstand the value of it. It's basic FOMO. It's a Ponzi, right? Yeah, that's what I figured. Do you guys remember 90s comic books? Yes. Image Comics in the 90s. 02:04:14.920 --> 02:04:44.080 where they were worth like 400 pounds for no reason. And then like 10 years later, they're in a, you know, in a tray for like 50p. That's why I stopped buying comics in the 90s because it was like ridiculous. It happened with baseball cards. It happened with Pogs. It happened with... It's a little different though because they made millions and millions of copies of those comics. Right. So people were freaking out because it was so popular, but there's so many copies that the demand is not high. 02:04:44.360 --> 02:05:14.340 This is different in that it's a unique thing. Jay was talking about buying original art from Luke. Right? It's one thing. So that's what this is. Obviously, there's some consequences to it with this carbon footprint and all that. However, it's digital, yes. And that's weird to wrap our heads around, especially because we're old. But it's very similar to buying a piece of artwork that is an original thing. Sort of. I mean... I think it's... I've got to be honest to say, I think 02:05:14.340 --> 02:05:44.320 it simulates that. I think it is false ownership. There's two ways you can own something, right? Possess it or have a government say you own it, right? Those are the two ways you can own things, really. So both are types of force, like the force of I have this, you can't take it from me, it's mine. The force of the institutions around me say that this house is mine. Those are the two ways. With something like an NFT, the problem is that you have a certificate that says you own it, but one that doesn't 02:05:44.340 --> 02:06:14.320 give you physical ownership also one that no government will support because it's crypto so a lot of people that have bought stuff are going to find that it just vanishes and i think that's a huge shame you know like people are going to invest in things for many people with nft things they actually genuinely liked and wanted to own as markinson suggests like a genuine oh this is cool i like the energy of it i like the fact that there's all this art is going being popular i also think that was good to have that in the press a lot you know like people spending money on art is inherently good thing but i think there's 02:06:14.360 --> 02:06:42.740 There's going to be a lot of letdown, unfortunately, because the reason the prices are so high is because of that speculation, not because of inherent value of the thing, you know. And it's a totally false, totally created scarcity, you know. One that's really broken, probably. It's a created value, too, because it's a new thing. Everybody wants to jump on because they think maybe this is going to be the next wave. This is the future of things. That's what I meant by FOMO, like fear of missing out, you know, FOMO, fear of missing out. 02:06:42.780 --> 02:07:12.620 And also get rich quick. And the other thing is, the intrinsic value is the real cute thing you said there, because mixed up with any number of quality things are these fucking memes of, what's this fuck? And that's nonsense. And so it's just bizarre. Don't get me wrong. There are people in that space doing some really great art that deserve everything it gets, for sure. Well, listen, there's a comic book that came out that I really like, and they put it up as an NFT. It was never released, and they made a lot of money on that. And I think that's great. 02:07:12.760 --> 02:07:42.440 because I love the creators. I want them to make money. The person now owns it and then they released it to the public so everybody could have it. So, you know, it can be a good thing. I'm not as interested in doing it, but I can see some of the benefits. Obviously, it's new. There's going to be complications to it. It reminds me vaguely of a story that I love and it's that, and I'm not a fan or anything, but people love this Wu-Tang Clan, the rap band. 02:07:42.480 --> 02:08:12.260 And you guys may be aware that they had a record, they made one copy of this record, and they sold it to that douchebag guy for a million bucks. Martin Shriekelli, was it? Someone like that? Yep. That farmer guy? Martin Shriekelli? Yeah. Something like that, yeah. I think another guy, yeah. The only reason I tell the story, though, is that I loved that what they did, there was, this is true, that they sold him the one copy, he has the one copy or had it or whatever, I don't know where it is now. But they had written something to the, the Wu-Tang Clan wrote into the contract that this belongs to you. But, 02:08:12.480 --> 02:08:42.140 If Bill Murray, this is true, if Bill Murray can sneak into your house and steal this back, then you can't, there's nothing you can say about it. And it's no longer yours. That was written into the contract of stealing this thing. And I always thought that was such a brilliant thing to put in a contract. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so, yeah, like it really, really, I think, you know, as far as I'm concerned anyway, of course, everyone is attached to their own view. You know, I take the environmental impact quite seriously and I worry about it. 02:08:42.220 --> 02:09:09.860 So I think if we can find a way of getting those creators that money they deserve in my view that is often taken from them by industry and denied that they should get that money really that's the value of their work if someone's willing to pay it. If we can get that to them without just having a really deleterious environmental process then that's fantastic. I want to play devil's advocate just for a second just so I can comprehend the whole environmental impact. Is it because it's the electricity involved? Yeah. 02:09:12.240 --> 02:09:42.180 There's no impact. It's just like if it's basically some sort of coal power plant. Because if it's a natural gas plant, it has zero carbon emissions. But coal power, oil power, something like that, that's where the carbon offset is, correct? Yes, you're right, Will. But here's the thing. And I only know this because my brother-in-law works for Lawrence Livermore Labs here at Berkeley. And they do these kinds of, they don't do the Bitcoin stuff, but they do these 02:09:42.220 --> 02:10:12.100 these calculations that take sometimes years to do. And so it's the amount of energy that I don't think you could sustainably run, the amount of atmosphere control, the sheer amount of money that goes into these computers. Yeah, it's like all the air conditioning and stuff that goes into it. Yeah, but also it's like a PC times a million. You know what I mean? These are computers we don't even fucking know anything about. Well, there's one of the factors with this as well is that we could collectively, 02:10:12.220 --> 02:10:42.180 the United Kingdom and America develop an entirely carbon-free system of making electricity for running blockchain, but it will be more expensive than doing it in a country that just burns coal. Yeah. And that's like all the... China! China! Yeah, it's in countries and they're just going to burn cheap fuel and that makes the electricity cost cheaper and makes it more profitable for the people running there. Yeah. And I don't have an objection to people making profit and doing things, obviously. I just... 02:10:42.220 --> 02:11:12.180 It's just more of like a social conscious thing for me. Like, oh, I don't know about this. You know, like, can we make it a bit better? Certainly with Behemoth doing it, it feels like they're cashing in on a, you know, a bit of a popularity. And that's entirely in line with what I expect from Behemoth, you know. We didn't even talk about what they're doing. So they're doing an NFT that consists of a unique image with looping animation and remixed audio from the Satanist. Yeah. So you get like this limited master edition print that 02:11:12.220 --> 02:11:40.720 signed by them and the artists. Yeah, that's cool. You know, that's great. Yeah. You know what I love about The Satanist? Nothing. No kids singing. Yeah. I'll confess that the only behemoth album I like at all is the very first one that actually sounds like a black metal album. I don't really like it. Fair enough. I think it's called Strom or something like that. Yeah. I mean, there's other ways to do it. I know just from comics, 02:11:42.220 --> 02:12:12.180 who draws my books my new book by the horns and did voracious he's a digital artist so what he's done in the past is he's printed like a cover but just done one print edition of it and then sold that um so he makes money off of that it's not it is it's not the original because he's doing it digitally but only one person can own that thing i think that's great you know like he could sign that you know like he could do a unique thing or unique process with it a certificate 02:12:12.180 --> 02:12:13.700 that says this is the only one. 02:12:14.220 --> 02:12:17.560 But anything that's digital can be copied. 02:12:18.480 --> 02:12:20.920 So if you have an image or you have music, 02:12:21.540 --> 02:12:25.480 even if you have something that says it's signed or whatever, 02:12:26.060 --> 02:12:28.920 anything that you can bring up on your screen, you can copy. 02:12:29.480 --> 02:12:30.660 Yeah, but that's true of print, though. 02:12:31.040 --> 02:12:33.900 Like if Luke gives me the original painting of something, 02:12:33.950 --> 02:12:36.060 if he did an original painting that wasn't digital, 02:12:36.640 --> 02:12:40.640 you could scan it and you could put it up online and make it printed. 02:12:41.520 --> 02:13:11.500 There is a further wrinkle to this as well, which is like a lot of the criticisms of NFT that I've seen are saying like, well, people spending big bucks on it aren't really art collectors. They're just, you know, what's the words? Opportunists? House flippers? Speculators? Yeah, basically that, you know, they're speculating, right? And I've seen that a lot, but it's like guys, fine art is also that, so it's no different, you know, like... Good point. No, that's a good point. Yeah. You know, like something like... 02:13:11.560 --> 02:13:39.440 The Last of My Dollars Cooper recently unearthing Andy Warhol in his garage or something. He's putting it up for sale now for several million dollars. Yeah, you know, like something like a Warhol or a Pollock or a Rubens or something, you know, for me, you and everyone else, normal people is a beautiful thing we like to look at. But for very rich people, it's an object that can be installed with value to preserve value and, you know, get it later. It's a way of banking. You know, also like trading art is tax free, you know, like. So I don't know. 02:13:40.300 --> 02:14:10.260 Is that all just a big Lars Ulrich reference? A little bit, yeah. I think Lars has a really interesting taste in fine art, you know, like why isn't that evident in his other words? I don't know, isn't the cover to load a piece of fine art? It is. It's the only one I can think of that has contemporary fine art on it, you know, like, yeah, weird. You guys will appreciate this as I'm coaching a baseball game. There was like a 15, 16-year-old 02:14:10.300 --> 02:14:40.260 baseball game going on a much larger ballpark right next door and all i hear is them blasting enter sandman oh yeah you guys are 15 you have no idea how much this sucks uh let's be honest they never will will right so our next two uh news items our final two news items are not any less bitchy unfortunately so uh next up we have the rock and roll hall of fame continues to suck by failing to induct iron maiden 02:14:40.760 --> 02:15:10.240 Yet Again. And aside, I mean, every first. Sorry, go ahead. That was their first nomination. I thought they were nominated last year, too. No. All right. That trust me on this. I went back and looked. No, well, I was reading an article and I swear it said they were nominated last year, too. No, Judas Priest was nominated last year. OK. Yes. Anyway, it literally doesn't make it any better because Iron Maiden is probably considered the biggest heavy metal. 02:15:10.300 --> 02:15:39.500 in the world. As far as ticket sales, album listens, all that stuff. Influence, which is a key ingredient to getting. Not even heavy metal, though. Like any band. Yes. So I made a note on this, which is Iron Maiden's call is contingent on not accepting institutional endorsement. Yeah. Yeah. But you know something, though? They would be lying if they didn't say they wouldn't still accept it if they got in. Of course they would. Yeah. 02:15:39.580 --> 02:16:09.060 They take it's just cool that they don't. When I was a little kid, I just think, oh, why? Whenever there's an Olympics or so many, they'll have some pop guy on. Why don't they get Iron Maiden on? The older I get them, I think, oh, please don't get them on. I lived through seeing Queen play with Five at some royal thing. It's like, oh, don't do that. A band that I love, Queen. For me, 02:16:09.600 --> 02:16:39.059 The Lineage is Queen, Iron Maiden, because Iron Maiden take Queen's pop tendencies, the singing, the guitar harmonies, they really sound sort of similar to my ears, you know, anyway. And it sucked when Queen did that. It really sucked. I don't think Maiden will, though, and here's why. There is a point, you guys will remember this, there was a point, they used to say Metallica, and this would be years ago, 80s. People were like, they're getting big with no help from airplay or videos or anything like that. And they used to eschew that stuff, they'd be like, yeah, we'll never make a fucking video. 02:16:39.780 --> 02:17:08.380 And then Metallica kind of bought into the system a little bit and took off. Maiden is still one of the biggest fans in the world and they never give a fuck. They've always done what they wanted to do. They've never bought into any dumbass. Oh, I disagree. I agree with John. They made a beer with BrewDog. If they get into the Hall of Fame, they will accept that. I agree. No, they'll accept it. I don't mean that. I just mean they still managed to be outside of the more accepted versions of the music industry. 02:17:09.620 --> 02:17:38.599 They're huge, I know that. Because Bruce can always say, fuck you. That's why. It's the nearest can always say, fuck you. I was there when Bruce was stupidest corporate rants and they were throwing dollar bills at him, if you'll remember that. Oh, yeah. Something that I don't know is obvious to my American friends is that in Britain, punk music has institutional endorsement. The Sex Pistols or John Lydon or any of these guys will be on the TV. 02:17:39.580 --> 02:17:40.420 to go on TV. 02:17:40.559 --> 02:17:46.900 Now, like if the guys in public image limit, any of those older punk guys, if they have a new project, that will get on TV. 02:17:47.519 --> 02:17:47.599 Sure. 02:17:47.740 --> 02:17:52.360 You know, they've barely ever got even on BBC, like top of the pot. 02:17:52.460 --> 02:17:53.260 When they had a number. 02:17:53.860 --> 02:17:54.800 Yeah, like they were in the top 10. 02:17:54.900 --> 02:17:55.260 They had a number. 02:17:55.780 --> 02:17:57.660 Bring it all to the slaughter was, I can't remember. 02:17:57.700 --> 02:18:03.820 It was, you know, it was in the charts and they showed like a few minutes of the video max, you know, like because it was Satan music. 02:18:05.619 --> 02:18:08.139 So, like, I really hope that that never happened. 02:18:08.139 --> 02:18:08.460 I'm actually shocked by that. 02:18:08.639 --> 02:18:13.960 I thought that they would be I thought no but I was the same but you know what that was the same thing 02:18:14.240 --> 02:18:18.240 for Zeppelin you know what I mean like really think back about it like Rolling Stone hated Zeppelin dude 02:18:19.120 --> 02:18:20.860 which by the way Rolling Stone runs the fucking 02:18:21.599 --> 02:18:23.980 they run the voting yeah 02:18:24.739 --> 02:18:27.240 I have to say something real quick Luke you just 02:18:27.570 --> 02:18:31.260 this is just take a second you just said John Lighton and George and I literally 02:18:31.620 --> 02:18:33.660 just had a conversation about public image 02:18:34.080 --> 02:18:36.000 and John Lighton the other day and I was telling him 02:18:36.000 --> 02:19:04.920 I went to school at the University of San Francisco and they have, Jay knows this, I think he does, there's a famous radio station at the school, KUSF. It was like considered one of the best college radio stations in the country. They got all kinds of huge people to come in there. I mean, there's pictures of, you know, was it Lars wearing KUSF shirts back in the early 80s. Anyway, I bumped into John Lighton as he was going into the studio at KUSF because I lived in the same building as the radio station. 02:19:05.300 --> 02:19:30.679 Have you seen him lately, dude? He's fucking huge now. He's like a big fat guy. Yeah, he lives down in Santa Monica. Which is neither here nor there. I don't know, but he's married to some kind of weird trailer trashy looking woman. Dude, no. His wife was like a model. He's been married to her for like 30 years. I think he's down there because I have friends that see him on the beach all the time. I just read his book, Anger is Energy. 02:19:35.280 --> 02:20:05.260 I always thought sex pistol I mean I love sex pistols and I love some public images to a public image limited too but I never expected him to be as academically minded and intellectual as he actually is until reading this book and I'm like wow what was that look you know do you feel you've been ripped off you know like that's the whole point yeah yeah the whole thing was deliberate you know like yeah the first generation of 02:20:05.280 --> 02:20:35.260 Punk is a pop music the following generation that you know which is why I prefer the crusty stuff and all the discharge and stuff like that wasn't they took it seriously but yeah sevens like the guys in the damned and stuff you know like they're pop acts they're just like good a good pop rock act basically I'm gonna get really in trouble and people hear that well I you know I read the Steve Jones book back to back with this I read the Steve Jones book and I was like all right and you know it was interesting he's good I liked him but but the the the 02:20:35.300 --> 02:21:05.200 Johnny Rotten John Lydon book was much more interesting. Well, yeah, again, I say this interesting guy, you know, I'm sure he is. I say this again, though, this is neither here nor there, but look him up, dude. The dude's gained like three pounds. He's a big, he got big. Yeah. I just, I want to reel it back in about if you guys don't mind back to this hall thing. I know people say who gives a shit metal does, but shouldn't care about the hall, but you know, it does help if metal bands get in, it gives them more exposure, at least in the States where it's hard. If you're a metal band, 02:21:05.280 --> 02:21:06.960 to even get any kind of sponsorship. 02:21:07.590 --> 02:21:12.680 But I want to see Maiden get in, as well as Priest, obviously, for a couple reasons. 02:21:12.890 --> 02:21:14.320 One, Will brought it up the other day. 02:21:14.590 --> 02:21:19.360 Why are there seven hip-hop artists and there's two metal acts in the Hall of Fame? 02:21:19.700 --> 02:21:19.840 Yeah. 02:21:20.400 --> 02:21:21.100 That's the first thing. 02:21:21.530 --> 02:21:27.880 Second thing is I want to see Maiden, as well as Priest, but I want to see Maiden get in because their fans are similar to Rush fans. 02:21:28.400 --> 02:21:29.980 If any of you guys watched when Rush went in. 02:21:30.480 --> 02:21:31.240 Yeah, Die Hards, yeah. 02:21:31.780 --> 02:22:01.740 Jan Werner could not even talk because 75% of the audience were Rush fans. They were cheering so loud and they booed him. They literally almost booed him off stage. And I think Maiden fans, if they could get back into the venue, Maiden wouldn't go in so much for themselves as they would go in for their fans. And that's why fans get so upset because they hold it so close to their heart. And I think that would Bruce would just eat that alive. Like, yeah, we're going in, but we're going in with you to the fans. Cause he's always about getting to that fan in the audience. 02:22:01.860 --> 02:22:31.760 The fans definitely are like that. One time I saw Iron Maiden, they were being supported by two bands, one of which was Trivium, the other of which was Steve Harris's Daughters Band. The experience of that was me being in the C.I.A. Cardiff International Arena and having the entire room just say Maiden over and over again. To the point where 02:22:31.780 --> 02:23:01.240 Matt Heafy, the guy from Trivial, he got upset about it. He actually got upset on stage and said, well, screw you guys. I remember thinking he's kind of got a point. It's super disrespectful. You don't want to open for a maiden, you don't want to open for Slayer. You don't want to open for a priest either. It's almost like no one gives a shit who you are. I want to see maiden, priest, and Slayer. They shouldn't have opening events. 02:23:01.780 --> 02:23:31.720 You should like made and shouldn't as far as I'm concerned. Just play doctor to doctor four times and then come out. Yeah. By the way, if any of you have ever seen Alex Lifeson's induction speech for Rush, it's called the blah, blah, blah speech. Literally, for two or three minutes, all he says is like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, literally, and that's his speech. And it's just a total fuck you to the hall for the way they treat it. 02:23:31.800 --> 02:24:01.760 Rush and Rolling Stone for all those years. If Bruce would do the same thing if they ever got in and literally for three minutes would just say blah, blah, blah, blah, I would just be ecstatic because it would be his way of saying fuck you. He should just say whoa. I think we should do something different. Whoa. Did you guys see, I mean there's a lot of people who are coming out and saying this is wrong. I saw that Kiss. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Yeah. Right and Luke brought up Kiss and Iron Maiden as you know because they do a lot of marketing so it's interesting that 02:24:01.780 --> 02:24:02.380 It comes back around 02:24:02.510 --> 02:24:04.680 Yeah, you can say what you want about KISS 02:24:05.320 --> 02:24:07.800 But if you want to put a band in that had influence 02:24:08.060 --> 02:24:10.220 They're hugely influential on a lot of musicians 02:24:10.320 --> 02:24:11.280 Whether you like them or not 02:24:11.690 --> 02:24:13.800 The fact that they made KISS wait as long as they did 02:24:14.060 --> 02:24:14.480 To get in 02:24:14.740 --> 02:24:16.060 I have a list right here, real quick 02:24:16.580 --> 02:24:17.800 These are the bands that have gotten in 02:24:17.810 --> 02:24:19.620 And Maiden and Priest have not gotten in yet 02:24:20.460 --> 02:24:21.240 Guns and Roses 02:24:21.880 --> 02:24:22.160 Really? 02:24:22.540 --> 02:24:23.460 Please, one fucking album 02:24:23.760 --> 02:24:25.420 Yeah, they have one good album 02:24:25.600 --> 02:24:25.680 One 02:24:26.140 --> 02:24:26.500 Nirvana 02:24:27.080 --> 02:24:27.700 I get it 02:24:27.870 --> 02:24:28.880 But really, before them? 02:24:29.340 --> 02:24:29.460 No 02:24:29.880 --> 02:24:30.320 Pearl Jam 02:24:31.060 --> 02:24:31.260 Really? 02:24:31.560 --> 02:24:31.740 Never 02:24:31.740 --> 02:25:01.580 They never should have gone in. Managed Nails, I get it, but still before them, the Foo Fighters, come on. It just pisses me off, you know. And I get those bands, why people like them, but... I quite like most of those bands. I don't like the Foo Fighters particularly, but you know, I quite like the grunge stuff. But let's be honest. I do too, yeah. Do they deserve to be in before Priest and Maiden? Not before, absolutely not. No, probably not. I have no problem with them being in there. I bet you any money, Dave Grohl would be the first person to tell you, Maiden and Priest, 02:25:01.780 --> 02:25:02.660 it being before us. 02:25:02.820 --> 02:25:03.000 Yeah. 02:25:03.220 --> 02:25:04.260 I'm sure you would say that. 02:25:04.440 --> 02:25:04.500 Yeah. 02:25:04.660 --> 02:25:06.360 I think a lot of those bands would say that, 02:25:06.460 --> 02:25:06.540 you know, 02:25:07.120 --> 02:25:08.140 would say that too. 02:25:08.479 --> 02:25:08.940 Axl Rose, 02:25:09.140 --> 02:25:10.220 we deserve to be in here. 02:25:10.900 --> 02:25:14.380 The reason I bring those bands up is because they all went in and their first or 02:25:14.560 --> 02:25:15.700 second year of eligibility. 02:25:16.140 --> 02:25:16.280 You know, 02:25:16.280 --> 02:25:18.460 I mentioned this once and I've always liked this. 02:25:18.540 --> 02:25:19.580 I'm not a huge Pearl Jam fan, 02:25:19.680 --> 02:25:20.060 but yeah, 02:25:20.260 --> 02:25:20.320 whatever. 02:25:21.140 --> 02:25:22.040 But I always liked that. 02:25:22.120 --> 02:25:23.720 When they went into the rock criminal hall of fame, 02:25:23.720 --> 02:25:26.680 it was right when they were having their spat with ticket master. 02:25:26.820 --> 02:25:26.960 And they, 02:25:26.980 --> 02:25:28.600 and the first thing he said in his speech was, 02:25:28.680 --> 02:25:28.740 well, 02:25:28.780 --> 02:25:58.140 First off, somebody played a joke on us by putting our table right next to the Ticketmaster table. They really were. They sat right next to the Ticketmaster. Well, I've always just sort of been uncomfortable about the Rockman Hall of Fame. I've never quite accepted it as a thing. It's there. I get it. Honestly, if I go to Cleveland, I'll probably go look at Jimi Hendrix's guitar or whatever the fuck is there. I've been there. I've always been a little weirded out by it. It's hard to look at it with any respect. You're right, Marcus. 02:26:00.239 --> 02:26:28.420 It should just be like this popular music hall of worship. There you go. Hall of music. I'll buy that. That's better. There just needs to be a metal hall of fame that we can go to. There is one. There is a metal hall of fame now. There is one. There is? Like a physical place? Well, I don't have a physical place, but there is a metal. It started out as the hall of heavy metal history, heavy metal and hard rock history, but it's now changed to the metal hall of fame. It's like revolver related. 02:26:28.800 --> 02:26:58.480 This is my biggest issue with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There's hardly any metal in it. Wait, Marcus, hold on. Is it actually a real place, John? It is a real organization. I will say that. They have a ceremony. They have a ceremony. I mean, they've inducted a number. They've done it, I think, for four or five years. Any troll gets involved with it. In other words, we can make one up. No, it's legit. I mean, they've had actually big names show up and get inducted and everything. 02:27:00.219 --> 02:27:01.880 We talked about this actually. 02:27:02.280 --> 02:27:02.360 Yeah. 02:27:05.159 --> 02:27:05.960 They're trying. 02:27:06.480 --> 02:27:08.060 There's a museum in Birmingham. 02:27:08.700 --> 02:27:09.800 I was going to mention that. 02:27:10.380 --> 02:27:12.420 They have a website. You should go check it out by the way. 02:27:12.520 --> 02:27:13.960 A lot of the exhibits are on the website. 02:27:14.580 --> 02:27:16.380 It obviously was driven by Sabbath. 02:27:16.580 --> 02:27:18.580 But it's not Sabbath exclusive by a long shot. 02:27:21.219 --> 02:27:23.160 You can probably speak about it better than me. 02:27:23.360 --> 02:27:24.660 I just happened upon their website. 02:27:24.920 --> 02:27:26.561 I enjoyed going to look at all the 02:27:26.560 --> 02:27:56.540 Yeah. The old like priest ticket stubs and stuff they have in there. But go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's called House of Metal or something like that. You know, like. Oh, I've heard of this. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a museum exhibit in Brum that was successful. So they span it out into like a permanent. I haven't been. I'd like to go. That's awesome. Yeah. Because like you've got to remember that like, you know, Napalm Death is from Birmingham, you know, like. Oh, it's like a cradle of metal bands basically. Yeah. Like so many good stuff's come out of Brum. When you go to Birmingham and Birmingham's only 02:27:56.540 --> 02:28:26.440 two hours, not even that, from me. It's the next major city north of Bristol's Birmingham. If you go to Brum, you get out of the train station, and the first things you see is a massive graffiti mural of the original Sabbath lineup. That is a city that understands the importance of what it's produced. It really cares about its metal there. It'd be good to go, for sure. I'll find the link and send it to you guys, because again, they put a lot of it, not all of it, but a lot of the exhibits are online. 02:28:26.560 --> 02:28:55.020 And it's really cool because what it is, it's just all this memorabilia and shit. They've collected everything from people's personal outfits or whatever it was to, like I say, weird ticket stubs and stuff. And it's not just Priest and Sabbath. I don't remember who else represented there, but it's a lot of people. And I was like, oh shit, I got to go there someday. So. They've got like loads of old, like vintage battle jackets from 1986. You know, like classic stuff where they, where people have like a testament patch and, you know, but also like. UFO. 02:28:56.580 --> 02:29:26.460 Yeah, exactly. But also like GBH, you know, like the UKA2 wave, because it's a lot of the same people involved in it, you know. So in Brum, there was a crossover with that. Those two things collided a little bit, you know. I mentioned the UFO one kind of jokingly because there was this weird time in the early days of New Wave of British Heavy Metal where for a while you would see maybe a UFO patch and a Judas Priest patch. Like there was always like these bands that were kind of like what's like a deep, 02:29:26.540 --> 02:29:56.480 You know what I mean? Like that was still kind of happening. They straddled the edge. Yeah. They straddled the edge. And then now that's now there's just so much it doesn't, you know. Markisan to answer your question. There's only two metal bands, true metal bands in the hall hall two. Right. I know. And that's the, that's the thing that gets me the most is that I don't like the hall. I don't like the decisions, but there should be more metal bands like that. They're overlooking that. And that is really a crime. And if anyone, it's, it's Sabbath and Metallica. 02:29:56.540 --> 02:30:26.240 And if you read the comments from the CEO of the hall, that's why people are really pissed at this one. Because his comments were so, I don't even know how to describe it. Dismissive. Extremely dismissive to both the industry of metal and the fans. And to say, let's get them nominated. Literally, there's only been three other nominations. The thing is. Freeze twice and Maiden once. That's it. They don't need to be nominated, though. They should just be in the hall of fame because of everything they've done for music. 02:30:26.540 --> 02:30:55.100 I also think it just shows an obliviousness and a lack of understanding of the very field these people are supposed to understand. Well, it's also Rolling Stone has a significant influence on who goes in. They will lie through their teeth that they do, but their editors are very much influential in that. To play devil's advocate, though, it's not that surprising that a music form that has an incredibly performatively antagonistic relationship to the establishment isn't that accepted by the establishment. 02:30:55.739 --> 02:30:56.960 I see why. 02:30:57.320 --> 02:31:01.420 But if you want to follow their criteria of sales and influence and longevity, 02:31:02.760 --> 02:31:06.140 literally these bands are the poster childs for it. 02:31:07.239 --> 02:31:09.080 Your point is well taken, Luke. 02:31:09.180 --> 02:31:13.540 And metal has always been funny in that way in a lot of fields. 02:31:13.720 --> 02:31:15.020 It's not just the Hall of Fame. 02:31:15.020 --> 02:31:16.340 I mean, it is an odd. 02:31:17.100 --> 02:31:19.120 We're like the weird kind of redheaded stepchild of. 02:31:19.900 --> 02:31:20.480 A little bit, yeah. 02:31:20.980 --> 02:31:21.760 It's totally true. 02:31:21.960 --> 02:31:23.680 We want to be the outsider. 02:31:23.940 --> 02:31:53.720 We revel in that fact, but yet we still want metal to be accepted because we know how fucking good it is and how much better it is than most of those fucking bands. Because we're tired of being dismissed for so many years, too, on top of that. That's the perfect word. It's that dismissal, John. It's a lesser art form, and it's not. I always say it's superior. Guys, like the Magic Flute, the Mozart concerto was written to be performed by a baldy house, right? 02:31:53.920 --> 02:32:23.860 It wasn't ever performed in like an actual opera. It was performed by common musicians. Like, it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't matter. You know, we talk about this now, but we don't give a shit about the Hall of Fame to be honest. I don't even know what it is. Like, I've never heard about it before. Oh, perfect. That's even better. Yeah. All right. Well, before we move on, I just want to mention that the caps are up one nothing. Yo, Tom Wilson for the goal. Well, you are just jinxing this. 02:32:25.920 --> 02:32:53.900 Well, not only are they up 1-0, but Tom Wilson, the Satan of the fucking league, got the goal. George, John's not wrong. That is a little bit like calling a no-hitter in the first anybody. I would kind of keep your mouth shut. I don't care. Jay, we haven't heard one fucking hockey comment the whole year, and now they get in the playoffs. Oh, like I'm a fucking Fairweather fan or some shit. I've only given George shit because when they 02:32:53.920 --> 02:33:22.660 When the Caps won the Stanley Cup, I was getting these text messages, fuck them, man, they're going to blow this. I'm like, just wait and see what happens. Well, they usually do. Then they'd win and he'd have the audacity to say to me, well, I went with the opposite so that they would win. I was like, fuck you, no, you did not. I'll go you one further, and that is that I remember both that and the Nationals, the only one too. And George was like, well, they suck, I'm not even going to bother watching it. And I was like, what? He said that, but he was still watching. 02:33:24.600 --> 02:33:51.960 That's because I was trying not to jinx them. Now, we have a cup. I don't care. We have a cup. I don't care. We win. We don't. I don't care. All right. So last night. Wait, I have to. Did you see what the I'm sorry? I know we're going on long here, but the NHL had a commercial for the playoffs and I'm not making this up. The 16 teams go in, right? That's how it starts. And this was the motto. Bear with me. The motto of the commercial was 16 teams, one cup. 02:33:55.279 --> 02:33:56.160 Hockey Thunderdome. 02:33:59.220 --> 02:34:00.440 You understand the reference. 02:34:01.130 --> 02:34:01.980 I hope I trust. 02:34:02.840 --> 02:34:04.140 And I don't think that was a mistake. 02:34:04.210 --> 02:34:05.640 I think somebody in marketing was like, 02:34:05.760 --> 02:34:07.080 let's see if we can slip this by. 02:34:07.620 --> 02:34:08.720 That's that one guy where I'm like, 02:34:08.760 --> 02:34:09.560 I'm not using that cup. 02:34:09.680 --> 02:34:10.660 I'm not kissing that cup. 02:34:10.820 --> 02:34:11.360 Wait a minute. 02:34:12.840 --> 02:34:13.640 I'll buy my own cup. 02:34:14.760 --> 02:34:15.120 All right. 02:34:15.180 --> 02:34:17.560 The next time someone says America. 02:34:17.560 --> 02:34:18.320 This is my cup. 02:34:20.660 --> 02:34:22.320 Next time someone says America what? 02:34:23.320 --> 02:34:52.140 Next time someone says Americans are crass, I'll reference that. Oh, we are. We are. Go ahead, George. All right, so our last news item, this is something that John pointed out to me the other day. A reviewer at Progressive Music Planet posted his final review and was like, this is my final review because bands, labels, and reps don't share his reviews. 02:34:53.040 --> 02:35:22.540 And, you know, John sent this to me because I am particularly bitchy about the fact that people that come on the podcast, remember this, Luke, don't share our episodes. They don't share our episodes on Facebook and various other platforms after we post the episode. And every time we have somebody on, I always send them the links and I'm like, hey, here's the links to all the places you can look. 02:35:22.940 --> 02:35:52.900 Listen to the stuff. And some people, like Matt from Sludge, like within two minutes of me sending to him, he was like, boom. And he posted that shit everywhere, which is why we love him so much. Other people, not so much. Luke will definitely do that. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yes. So I can totally relate to this guy's pain in that he's like, why am I even fucking bothering if nobody, you know, why am I trying to promote you if you're not even 02:35:52.940 --> 02:36:22.720 going to take literally two seconds to share a link. George, did you read through the rest of his comments? Because what he said, basically, if I remember correctly, he's like, look, I don't really like writing these things. They're not easy to do. No. And I put a lot of time and effort into them. And I feel like I'm just wasting my time. I'm like, you know, dude, I sympathize. And he's like, I don't even care about ranking albums when I do this stuff. Yeah. You know, it's like we're here to share what we like, but at the same time, and you know, we've never made a penny. 02:36:22.940 --> 02:36:52.420 off of this podcast and probably never will. That's not the point. The point is, if we're going to talk about you, it would be nice if you at least share it and give us the consideration that you thought what we did was good enough to share to the people that like you. Well, maybe they don't think it's good enough. Well, and that's, you know, if not, then I guess we fucking suck. I blame Matt. 02:36:52.480 --> 02:37:21.600 Yeah, shut up, Matt. I followed this guy's site for a while, and he's cranked out a ton of material. So I can see him just finally saying, no, fuck that. I just want to enjoy the music now and not worry about this stuff anymore. I get it. I suppose the irony is that the thing he's describing is also what it's like to make most music. You know, like you spend ages making music and no one reviews. Yeah, it is. You know, I'm sorry that most people just don't care about anything you say. 02:37:22.460 --> 02:37:22.800 This is true. 02:37:22.800 --> 02:37:23.080 This is true. 02:37:23.360 --> 02:37:24.860 They just don't care. 02:37:25.620 --> 02:37:31.000 It's funny because he gets a lot of interaction with the people who follow him, the fans. 02:37:31.900 --> 02:37:33.180 And I just get it. 02:37:33.500 --> 02:37:35.240 At some point, you're like, let's just talk about the music. 02:37:35.360 --> 02:37:38.220 I don't need to worry about the industry anymore. 02:37:38.380 --> 02:37:38.960 So I get it. 02:37:39.600 --> 02:37:39.880 Yeah. 02:37:40.080 --> 02:37:48.560 I mean, I think we get a lot of people who do post stuff or repost whatever we put on there. 02:37:48.760 --> 02:37:49.700 Yeah, we get a fair number. 02:37:49.840 --> 02:37:50.500 Every once in a while. 02:37:51.380 --> 02:38:20.100 One of the biggest ones that kind of bothered me is Incantation. So it was our number one album. Was that last year? I can't even remember. I don't have time. I don't think they ever retweeted or posted. But they weren't actually on an episode. I understand. But they post a lot of other stuff. They post a lot of reposts. And that's what I, that kind of bothers me. Like we, we went through all of these albums. Like we are by far the most exhausted. 02:38:20.560 --> 02:38:49.620 the most metal of anything, any entity ever, I think, in the history of metal. And we chose you as number one, and we didn't even get a repost on that. And not that I expect it, but it was just a little bit disappointing. And so I don't normally care about any of that stuff because I just want to do the podcast because it's fun. I like hanging out with you guys. I like hanging out with guests like Luke. But I get what this guy's saying. You're putting a lot of work into it. But at the same time... Sorry. No, go ahead, Luke. 02:38:50.340 --> 02:39:19.580 I think there's a sense of common courtesy. If someone's helped you out, then you should reciprocate that. It's just out of decency. For myself, I repost especially bad reviews. I think they're funny. Any review is felicity, right? That's kind of my point. If it's somebody that comes on and they don't post anything by anybody, then whatever. Maybe they're not socially media, whatever. 02:39:26.841 --> 02:39:50.320 But if it's somebody that posts everything that people send them, and then they don't post us, and then they continue posting things from other people, what the fuck is that? To me, that's an insult, and I take offense at that. While we're not doing this for money, we're not doing this for fame or fortune or whatever, it would just be 02:39:50.340 --> 02:40:19.240 It would be nice to be just take two seconds and click share. Come on. So we're sort of kind of all doing this together on this small little plane that we're on. Yeah. I mean, listen, there's so much going on on social media. Everybody is like competing for attention. I mean, whether it's for like my comic, whether it's for Luke, his comic or his art, you know, you're always he's talking about not having enough Instagram followers. It's always hard to get people. I followed you just now while we were on. 02:40:21.520 --> 02:40:22.400 So, you know, 02:40:23.419 --> 02:40:24.140 we're complaining, 02:40:24.420 --> 02:40:26.140 but I totally understand it too. 02:40:26.320 --> 02:40:26.720 But, you know, 02:40:26.840 --> 02:40:28.980 it's not like we're going to stop doing what we do, 02:40:29.640 --> 02:40:30.800 what we hope that people will. 02:40:30.880 --> 02:40:32.320 No, it's not going to stop us. 02:40:32.410 --> 02:40:32.920 But, you know, 02:40:33.120 --> 02:40:35.620 there's people that are going to get calls back and there's people that 02:40:36.479 --> 02:40:37.720 aren't, you know? 02:40:39.100 --> 02:40:40.200 So speaking of calls, 02:40:40.250 --> 02:40:43.220 I literally got a call from Dan right now while we're on the cast. 02:40:43.600 --> 02:40:43.920 Oh, no. 02:40:44.410 --> 02:40:46.540 Do I have a tweet? 02:40:47.460 --> 02:40:47.820 Excellent. 02:40:48.380 --> 02:40:49.000 I've got a bunch. 02:40:49.060 --> 02:40:49.880 I've got a bunch for you. 02:40:50.160 --> 02:41:19.880 All right, send them over. Dan does are like end tags, like at the very end of the podcast, after the music. He does these calls and talks about them. The Easter egg of the episode. The other one that did the Justice League uncut. Yeah, yeah. The Snyder cut, yeah. Yeah. So you heard that. You got to an end of one. Yeah, he just went to the end. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, is this the longest news we've ever done? Probably. 02:41:20.160 --> 02:41:49.600 Good job, Luke. In that time, Luke, I've joined your newsletter. I did that too. I did that too. I don't use that very often, only when there's something important or interesting. You mean like being on the Metalheads podcast? Of course, yeah. Yeah, see, now you're under pressure to share it everywhere. Way to put them on the spot, George. I know. By the way, we're seeing a news item for every episode. 02:41:50.160 --> 02:42:19.780 And just force the guest to share. I like it, Will. I like where you're going with this. We should do an NFT for that. That's quite advanced marketing skills. Let's move on to new releases. And now that Will's here, somebody but me can comment on this. 02:42:19.840 --> 02:42:49.660 The First New Release is the band Akhenaten. And their fourth album, The Emerald Tablets of Toth. They're a Colorado band that does Middle Eastern, Egyptian, Nile-style death metal. And I know Will likes it. So why don't you say something? I love these guys. I love their last album. I'm pretty sure. 02:42:50.319 --> 02:43:19.620 This will make my list at some point. Next month? Yeah. Less than a month. Top 25 at mid-year is like what? Did we do 19th? June 19th. Do you like the new Hakana? Yeah, I do. There's a little bit of extra. I mean, they always have a little bit of filler. I feel like this one has a little bit of extra filler in it. You know, with like the kind of Egyptian sort of musical. 02:43:19.840 --> 02:43:48.920 A Little Bit Much. Yeah, kind of like the new Gojira. A lot of filler. We may get to that one. I don't know if you already talked. We are not yet. It's okay. But out of cotton, these guys. Did you say avocado? They do like, you know, they're kind of like Crescent, which I think are actually from. They're from Egypt. Yeah. Yeah, they're from Egypt. And I love those guys. And Niall, like I just, they're up there. I mean, the music. 02:43:49.640 --> 02:44:18.260 The music is phenomenal. The production is phenomenal. I think Akonatan. Akonatan. Avocado. At the condom. Anaconda. Things are opening up, so Will's thinking about that GH. I told you I was coaching baseball. And we told you the dick jokes were going to double when he came on. Yeah, and they have. I'm not the one who said GH. 02:44:21.399 --> 02:44:48.460 But no, I think these guys do like the Egyptian death metal. Maybe the best. I mean, Nile's a superior band, but these guys probably nailed the best. I love these guys. I think their sounds more atmospheric than Nile. Nile's got a very technical aspect to their music, which makes them amazing as musicians. I listen to it, George. I just, I'm not as big on the production as you guys. I thought it was okay. I agree with that. You mentioned that. 02:44:48.540 --> 02:45:18.440 That sounds tinny. A little tinny to me. Okay, you got that too, Marcus. I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do more of a black and death. It reminded me of Melakesh, if anyone saw it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I like Melakesh, yeah. So they've been quiet for a while. Their last record was, we liked it, but we haven't seen things in four or five years. Hey, Will, what were you going to say? Well, I was going to say, like, the atmospherics of, like, actually, like, Egyptian music. Yes. I think these guys do it the best. I agree with that. I actually like, that's what I do. 02:45:18.520 --> 02:45:48.480 like about them. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of Egyptian influence in the extra instruments and stuff that they put in there that I think is really well done. But, you know, I can do without some of the filler. Yeah. I get the production thing because, like, the first time I listened to the album, I was like, yeah, okay, I get this production thing. It's kind of tinny. But the second time I listened to it, maybe it was better headphones, I don't know. But it wasn't great, but it was definitely not as bad as I thought it was. 02:45:48.520 --> 02:46:18.480 was the first time. So just going to say, I mean, it's not horrible by any means. I think like Marcus, I said, I just got a little tinny to me. I was just like, yeah, I get it. I would. Maybe I just want it to be a little more lush because they are incorporating such cool atmospherics into the sound. I kind of want to maybe pull that out a little fuller. So I listen to it on really good headphones the first time because I want to have that pure experience. I want it the best I can get. And yeah, I felt a little tinny to me, a little too bright for the music. So, but it's still good. 02:46:18.540 --> 02:46:42.300 It's good. It's so good. And I agree, too. I think that they put out those Mesopotamian instrumentation type stuff better than most bands who do it in this genre. When I listen to this band, though, I do want to just listen to Niall because Niall is my favorite, you know, and they're just heavier. This band has more of a black and death sound. And Niall's like death, you know. 02:46:43.120 --> 02:46:49.940 I did quite like this like what I would 02:46:50.180 --> 02:46:54.720 describe as a soupy synthesizer texture in a lot of it. I actually quite enjoyed like a sort of 02:46:55.280 --> 02:47:05.000 very black metal type synth like a cheap DX whatever synth from the 90s. I quite liked having that in there. I thought it was quite interesting. Little long winded. 02:47:06.740 --> 02:47:11.581 You know, when I was listening to it, I was wondering, I was like, you know, it's cool having all this like 02:47:11.860 --> 02:47:41.560 Middle Eastern atmospheric stuff. But I'm like, how much of that is actually Hollywood dictating what Middle Eastern music sounds like? Because I mean, do we even know what Middle Eastern ancient music actually sounded like? Or is this just like 1920s American Hollywood? Good question. Like, do they do research on it? You know? Yeah. Or is it just stereotypical? And you probably have to assume 02:47:41.600 --> 02:48:11.340 That after all the Egyptologists have done all their archaeological digs, that they've been able to somehow, and through the either oral or musical tradition through time, they've been able to figure out some aspect of it. I don't think it's like some Hollywood made-up thing. I think they're... It's probably that Egypt left NFTs for us to discover. It wasn't the Egyptians, it was the aliens. It was NPT, 02:48:15.241 --> 02:48:41.520 I suspect that tradition though is rooted I would suspect that first of all I think that's Middle Eastern classical music it's not because there's Middle Eastern pop music too so I think that is probably pretty close to what it was I think that it's probably those traditions have lived on and on and on I mean people like the Bedouins have been running around in those yeah I would say that like the you know there's sort of scalar intervals in the music and I'll do this as well 02:48:42.421 --> 02:48:47.280 probably are derived from a sense of understanding contemporary and classical 02:48:48.220 --> 02:48:53.880 islamically influenced music of the middle east so yeah you know like persia as well persian music as 02:48:53.940 --> 02:48:58.820 well which is a separate tradition and also like sudan as well is another one that there's this old 02:48:58.960 --> 02:49:05.360 tradition of music that has that eastern sound has that exotic extra notes that isn't in western music so much 02:49:05.780 --> 02:49:10.321 and i think the same could be said of indian music indian classical music and i think those are 02:49:10.360 --> 02:49:38.880 lineages that are pretty unbroken. So I don't think that there's like a big blank spot there where they had to make some assumptions. I think that's what they're playing there. Interesting. Just a real quick sidebar. I don't know if you guys probably don't know this. Maybe Jay and George might remember this, but when Peter Gabriel was starting to experiment, he actually toured all around that part of the world in Africa to get rhythmic sounds and to bring those musicians in to play with him. And you hear some of that in there and some of these bands that kind of focus on that. 02:49:41.700 --> 02:50:09.360 He got in a lot of trouble because he used South African. I was just listening to that. Paul Simon. Paul Simon. Yeah. Who are you talking about? Peter Gabriel. But point taken. It's the same deal. He brought in a lot of actual percussionists from those parts of the world to play with him. It's amazing how 02:50:09.380 --> 02:50:39.280 So it has continued on and on for as long as it has. Yeah, it has. Yeah, it's funny. Zeppelin kind of tried to do that. They had a big thing about Cashmere. That was a place where they really liked to go and they really wanted to. When they got back together. Yes, for that live show. No, before that, it was the Plant Page thing. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That first live show. He said, the only way I'll do this is if we do what we said we were going to do back then is incorporate some of this music from Cashmere. Is that where they had the guy with the sitar? 02:50:39.480 --> 02:51:09.240 All of that, yeah. And that was something that he wanted to do back in the day, and they didn't make it happen. That's a fucking great album, by the way. It's really good. I love that album. It's a great reimagining of a lot of cool stuff. And it's what, again, what he said he wanted to do. And then they did it. And it was good. Yeah, it was cool. And I was like, ooh, they're back together. I think you're, I don't just, I'm not going to argue the point, Will, about these guys might be the most Egyptian. But I think Niall used to put in more of that stuff back, you know, 02:51:09.360 --> 02:51:36.100 And their earlier records have a lot more purely Middle Eastern rhythms and things on them. Like literally in Middle Eastern instruments. They're not doing that so much in the last couple. But I think some of the earlier records. They varied it on each of those older records. Not to mention, by the way, Carl Sanders has like two solo records that are purely that shit. Yeah. It's just like sitar music and stuff like that. That's cool. All right, let's move on to our next new release. 02:51:39.440 --> 02:52:07.260 All Light Swallowed. This is the second album from a Lithuanian death metal band. That was a weird noise. I haven't heard Lithuania and death metal put together. Let's see where he's going with this. I don't know. It's pretty cool. I've seen a lot of people digging it on Bandcamp and I kind of dig it too. 02:52:09.360 --> 02:52:39.340 on this album. Well, speak about it. Oh, really? How come, Matt? It just sounds good. It's just, I don't know. It was just like some good, just dirty death that came out of nowhere. Just hit me in the face. Dirty death. I keep coming back to it. Dirty, dirty death. Exactly. You know, I haven't been able to give it the time I want just because it's one of those albums that you listen to and it's like, this is fucking great. This is going to end up on my list probably. I really love it. I'm just going to set it aside and listen to 02:52:39.380 --> 02:53:08.800 these 56 other albums that came out today. I hope to get back to Crypts of Despair. So that's kind of my story. I mean, it's pretty badass. What's that, Luke? I liked Crypts of Despair, yeah. I've written good Cyclopean Tomb Atmosphere, great putrid realm of unending torment energy, and good brutality. I like the brutal blast beats were on point on that LP. That was good. Yeah, man. 02:53:09.140 --> 02:53:35.640 Fuck yeah, Lithuania. It's brutal, it's unrelenting, and the production's really good on that album. Eastern Europe's always the best for that kind of stuff, you know? Baltic metal! Lithuania! Fuck yeah! Raise your hand if you've been to Lithuania. Raise your hand if you're willing, you've been fucking everywhere. 02:53:42.599 --> 02:54:09.100 I did a backpacking trip around Europe in 1998 between undergrad and grad school and I went like everywhere and ended up in Lithuania. As one does. Yeah. Cool city. I like it. All right. Everything about this release is cool. I mean, it's really good death metal. The cover is awesome on it. It's a nice package. I think there's a lot of porno movies 02:54:09.120 --> 02:54:12.160 that have that plot will i was gonna say speaking a nice package 02:54:13.480 --> 02:54:17.760 you know jay i was i was gonna say something like you know let's just let this one go 02:54:18.600 --> 02:54:25.280 let's just do it and here comes jay you're right picture jay is more of an exclusively 70s porn guy for some reason 02:54:27.060 --> 02:54:33.121 porn stash not that he has one is that because young frankenstein was released in the 70s 02:54:33.699 --> 02:55:03.080 That fucking movie is awesome. I don't hear anyone say anything about that movie. No, I love that movie. I love it. It's the Marty Feldman resemblance, unfortunately. Yeah. That is gone after there. All right. Next up, we have Feed Them Death. Negative. It's their third album, his third album. It's the UK Death Grind Band. Perhaps you're familiar with them, Luke? I'm actually not the first time I've heard them. Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, thoughts? I like it. 02:55:04.079 --> 02:55:33.100 Yeah, I've been a fan since the last album, I think. I thought it had really interesting, what I would describe as bitonalism, where it's like the music's around two different keys almost at the same time. In a metal context, you'd hear a lot in Gorguts and you'd hear a lot in Pestilence. Pestilence and Gorguts have that awesome thing where the bass is such a part of the music, but it's playing something else other than the 02:55:33.140 --> 02:56:03.100 guitarists and it fills it out in a nice way um also you hear that in captain beef heart like that same that same thing happens in captain beef heart reference i haven't heard that name in like 10 years i love it um and i've i've never heard it in a british accent which is better yeah nice captain beef eater heart yeah uh yeah i liked this i liked this record uh fair bit yeah like it was um just interesting you know like 02:56:03.120 --> 02:56:32.740 some bits on it reminded me of Carnate or something like that. Like these slower textures and they're really like a creepy sense of threat or dread. Like Carnate have this sense of like, oh, the guy, he's weird and he's in the same room as me. Like this had that a little bit. Or if you know like dance music at all, there's an artist called The Caretaker that sort of came from the square pusher, you know, that kind of world that does these kind of, 02:56:33.120 --> 02:57:03.080 Albums have slowed down music. It's really weird, but it has that same creepy atmosphere. It's really vibey and sort of like you're in a Kubrick movie or something like that. I liked it. I'm glad that somebody other than me liked this album because this was one of my personal, like, I'm putting this on here. So, thank you. It also reminds me of Confessor a little bit, if you know Confessor. Oh, yeah. There's bits in this Feed Them Death album where all the riffs kind of go up to 02:57:03.100 --> 02:57:30.480 an ascending line and the vocalist just over the top of it like the guy doesn't confess. Nice. All right. Well, our next item is one that we've already established is a favorite of Luke. Luke's talking about it before he's on the cast. And that is Gojira's seventh album, Fortitude. So, so Luke, what do you think of Gojira? Okay. 02:57:33.080 --> 02:58:03.040 So to be perfectly honest, there's nothing wrong with it. It's fine. I just don't, I find it boring. Like, as I said to my friend, like, it gujira-fine, but I would rather listen to 20 minutes of atonal riff salad with a solo in the wrong key produced badly. Like, I'd rather listen to that than, than like this, like what, you know, I think gujira need to decide what they're trying to do. Like, is it, it doesn't sound like metal to me. It's so produced. And the playing is phenomenal. 02:58:03.120 --> 02:58:10.520 like well okay it is and it isn't you know like it's really good but the drum style it's one of 02:58:10.520 --> 02:58:15.200 these kind of like jazz fusion like rock fusion licks but if you actually go and listen to those like 02:58:15.700 --> 02:58:20.000 holdsworth albums and stuff they're nowhere near as good as that you know so it's like why would 02:58:20.000 --> 02:58:26.960 you listen to this like vaguely commercial vaguely rockist form of this 70s fusion music with kind of 02:58:26.990 --> 02:58:33.060 out of place metal vocals really yeah just can't get into them at all sorry so i i 02:58:33.080 --> 02:59:02.920 I sort of get an impression that maybe you used to like Gojira. No, I've never been a fan. Can I even Mars the Serious? I just not really listen to it. I'd give it a bit of a listen for the way it sounded like. I would say give a listen to Mars the Serious. It's their best by far ever. Well, yeah, that's the problem with every album that's come out after that is that that album is so good. If you're a fan of them, it's almost impossible to put out another album. I stand by that. 02:59:03.060 --> 02:59:32.920 I'll back up that comment because I've been pretty much disinterested. The one after that I kind of liked and I've been disinterested since. There's none of that I felt like I'm going to put it on and enjoy it. I find I have more interest in the newer albums because I've heard them live. Yeah. So I think some of the songs, even in the last album, are fucking really good live. They're way better live. Way better. Yes. And so I go back to those albums. Like maybe I listen to them, like, eh, I don't know about this. And then I re-listen to them and then I like that album better just because I've heard it. 02:59:33.080 --> 03:00:01.920 and that live setting. This album, I'm disappointed because I feel like there's a couple of very strong tracks on it. It is very produced. But then there's chanting or something like that. The middle of the album is kind of a disappointment. It drags it down, man. It just really drags the album down. But there are some really good tracks on it. I'll be honest, I didn't make it all the way through this. I listened to everything you guys sent me and I could not make it through this. I got bored. 03:00:03.079 --> 03:00:31.700 I get that whole thing. I haven't listened to the whole thing. It's a front and back end album. The middle hurts it. And Luke, when I saw those comments, I was like, oh boy, this is going to be rough. But then you just said something to me that really kind of puts it in perspective because I mentioned this to George. The playing is very good. And there are moments where it is actually heavy. But the production of the album doesn't help those heavy parts. 03:00:31.700 --> 03:01:01.460 Right, right, right, right. You mentioned that earlier, John. Now that I listen to it again and you said it, you're 100% right. The opening track is as heavy as anything I've ever done, and I'm like, where is this heaviness? And so I probably like the album the most because I've been a fan going all the way back to the mid-2000s, but I totally, this is way down at the bottom of my list for their albums. There's no doubt. But I said to George, this album needs a Red Bull. Yeah. It really does. 03:01:02.180 --> 03:01:31.540 I think if the production had made some of these songs sound better, we would think of this album a little differently. And I get, look what you're saying. There's so many fans that are comparing it to their better stuff. I'm like, that's impossible to do. It's like, for me, comparing Mastodon music to Leviathan, I'm like, just stop, because in my opinion, nothing's better than Leviathan. Yeah, I was going to say, is it like Mastodon, where they're really good for two albums and they're kind of boring? Yeah, I love Leviathan. Yeah, I saw that. 03:01:31.720 --> 03:02:01.400 When they toured the UK, I saw that, and it was like a tiny club. It was phenomenal. The next time I saw them, it was boring. Like Marcason said, George and I actually went and saw the... First of all, I've seen them a bunch of times by myself. I saw Will one of the first times we hung out. The first time we went to a show together was Gojira. They were fucking heavy as fuck. Then George and I saw them on the Magma tour, and I know people didn't dig Magma as much. Heavy as fuck. Yeah, it was good. Definitely better live. 03:02:01.700 --> 03:02:31.560 And I think Marcus made a good point. I think that this album will be better live. I just don't want to hear that middle section. Yeah. Which I thought. You're right. You're right. But I think the Mastodon comparison is great. And they, I just don't feel like this is a band who's lived up to their promise. It's one of those bands. It's one of those bands who've gotten so big. Less. Yeah. They overproduced their albums. So they always sound better live because they're overproducing loose. Luke mentioned this. Like it just sounds, 03:02:31.700 --> 03:03:01.680 It's just too commercially produced. They need to get a producer who really understands them. Is this their black album? No. Nobody needs to go there. It's not a bad album at all. There's good songs on the album, but there's some clunkers. And Will, you said it before, I think a while ago, at least they still play some metal and Macedon is just kind of... I don't like the Macedon reference because at least Gojira is still harsh 03:03:01.720 --> 03:03:31.640 vocals. I mean, there's not, there's some like clean gang-y vocals on this, but I don't remember listening to like pure, like Magma had a lot of like pure, straight, clean vocals on it. This one doesn't have that. And there's the whole Sepulatura thing on this album too. There's kind of an ode to Sepulatura because they're big fans of that. So that whole chant thing in the Amazonia thing is kind of to the roots and I get that. I have to ask you a question, John, real quick. And it's because I know you bought that Faconis record with the parrot on the front. 03:03:31.700 --> 03:04:00.820 You know what I'm talking about? Odyssey. Oh, yeah. Does that not make you wish? Doesn't that first track make you wish that a mastodon was like they used to be? Because that first track is like such a throwback mastodon tune. Jay, I'm... They almost basically stole Blood and Thunder. I think that album's going to come up a little later. I gotta tell you, Jay, there is a moment where Will and myself and Dr. Lang were drinking one night. Dr. Lang? 03:04:01.700 --> 03:04:31.400 I heard from Dr. Lung today. Oh, nice. Well, you probably don't remember this. This was at a former brewery. I won't name any names. And you threw it on the PA and we sat there and I was like, what is this? And you're like, the new Mastodon. And we both just looked at each other like, those days are long gone, man. And we were both so disappointed. You know, I... Because we were such big fans of that early stuff. I saw a post for Metal Injection today. 03:04:32.699 --> 03:05:01.680 that apparently Mastodon released a new song. And it was like their song of the week. And they're like, this is so funny. I didn't even listen to it because I don't fucking care about Mastodon anymore. But I just laughed because I was like, yeah, song of the fucking week. Come fuck yourself. I did and you don't need to listen to it. It was for the DC Comics death metal album, which by the way, has no death metal on it. So there's a comic book that came out called Death 03:05:02.739 --> 03:05:31.140 And they did a soundtrack for it and just decided not to put any death metal more of a commercial sounding stuff. And it really disappointed me. Do you remember when Helmet was considered death metal? Yeah. Mark decided they were considered death metal. No, they were. When, when, when, when, uh, what was the second album? I believe so, John. The album is out to purchase. Is it open on that? You're talking about Meantime, George? Yes. When Meantime came out in Rolling Stone, it was reviewed as a death metal album. 03:05:31.240 --> 03:06:00.420 Yeah, I do remember that, George. Those people are dumb as fuck. Yeah, and I was like, this is not death metal. Did you just say the word Rolling Stone? Yeah, or something like that. Yeah, I don't know. Or like tumbling shit. Go ahead. Anyway, please. I remember when, what's the album after Leviathan? Is it Crack the Sky? Blood Mountain. Actually, I don't mind Blood Mountain, actually. No, Blood Mountain is actually. Yeah, when Crack the Sky came out, 03:06:01.260 --> 03:06:29.740 It's a fine prog album, but it's not really as good as actual prog albums, which I've got many of. Thank you. Yes, thank you, because I'm a huge prog guy. I felt the same exact way as you. You made John's night. It's fake prog. When John says he's a huge prog guy, he's just saying he's a huge prog fan, not that he's a huge guy who loves prog. Oh, but you are the only other person on planet Earth that feels the same way about that. 03:06:31.280 --> 03:06:32.140 to a lot of prog rock. 03:06:32.820 --> 03:06:33.120 Yes. 03:06:33.560 --> 03:06:36.340 Like, I honestly thought they'd sacked their drummer, 03:06:36.670 --> 03:06:40.600 because that guy's drumming is phenomenal on the first couple of Mastermind albums. 03:06:41.120 --> 03:06:42.480 It's just not ever done it anymore. 03:06:42.490 --> 03:06:43.680 It's like, where's all the fills gone? 03:06:44.880 --> 03:06:45.700 It's because he's singing. 03:06:46.440 --> 03:06:48.580 Yeah, but the band in the early albums, 03:06:49.360 --> 03:06:51.620 the band are just playing riffs and not doing anything, 03:06:51.710 --> 03:06:53.080 and the drum's doing all the solos. 03:06:53.130 --> 03:06:54.860 And it's like, yeah, this is rad. 03:06:54.960 --> 03:06:56.080 I really enjoyed it. 03:06:56.180 --> 03:06:57.320 And then it's just gone. 03:06:57.420 --> 03:06:58.220 It's dull as hell. 03:06:59.660 --> 03:07:01.120 Crack This Guy was the last one I liked, 03:07:01.160 --> 03:07:30.400 And I do like it. I will not argue against those points. They fell off the cliff after that to me. Everything else at that point. I'm not even saying it's bad. It's just the promise is not fulfilled. There's so much promise in that early sludgy riffs but with great fusion fills and it makes it fast. They went up the mountain with Blood Mountain and then they went back down. Right. Okay. This conversation is a little bit of a continuation to the conversation we had from my Thunderdome. 03:07:31.160 --> 03:08:00.280 This conversation is why I chose that Thunderdome. You know, you have these two bands who aren't really that similar, but they're actually quite similar in their trajectory. It is funny because we were talking about Gojira and now we're talking about Macedon. Well, and it was in those records where it was Blood Mountain versus... Versus The Way of All Flesh, which... I like both of those albums just as much as Leviathan and Morris the Sirius. That makes me a weird guy, but that is also the beginning of their trip. Do you think that's what makes you a weird guy? 03:08:01.140 --> 03:08:31.040 It's one of many things. I have a notepad full of things as well. I felt like I hung on with Gojira a little bit longer. I feel like I gave, I mean, in some ways I feel like I completely gave up on Mastodon. I'm always a little bit like, oh, you know what? There's going to be some good things. And I probably approach it with a little bit of a lower bar, which is why I'm, you know, when I listened to this last time, I'm like, not bad, not bad. Fully agree on, you know, it's kind of bookended with good stuff and that middle part's, you know, a good, 03:08:31.140 --> 03:08:32.760 a good bathroom break time. 03:08:34.180 --> 03:08:35.700 Yeah, that's a drum solo at the concert. 03:08:36.060 --> 03:08:36.460 Yeah, exactly. 03:08:36.720 --> 03:08:38.780 But I agree these will be good live, you know. 03:08:39.260 --> 03:08:42.660 That's the thing, I think, with those two bands and why it keeps coming up, 03:08:42.780 --> 03:08:44.780 because they're on similar trajectories. 03:08:44.900 --> 03:08:48.300 But with Gojira, like, when that album comes out, like this one, 03:08:48.860 --> 03:08:50.140 I'm really interested in it. 03:08:50.200 --> 03:08:52.700 I think that they could get back to what I thought before. 03:08:53.160 --> 03:08:55.740 A new Mastodon album comes out, and I'm like, 03:08:56.020 --> 03:08:57.160 I don't really care that much. 03:08:57.220 --> 03:09:00.520 But I have this feeling with Gojira that they're going to capture that magic 03:09:00.520 --> 03:09:30.480 that I've had before, but this album may have killed it for me. I don't think it's a bad album, but I'm not excited for the next album at all. Those are really good points, and I would argue, by the way, that both of these bands have gone on to have really pretty good careers, and I would reference here that the only really good Metallica records are like the first three or four ones, so you know that out there, but also, and yet the biggest part of their career is after that, but also, it's interesting to hear you guys lost interest, because from our students, 03:09:30.520 --> 03:10:00.140 I liked the way of all flesh and then I kind of lost interest. Yeah. The savage elephant wasn't bad. I liked and I went a few records further with Mastodon. I got to crack this guy. I really liked him. But I still think that's for me. That's probably because I was a little more forgiving with them because I still think Leviathan is like one of the high water post 2000 metal marks without question. Any of us disagree with you, Jack. No, in fact, we did. Remember, we did the best post 2000 albums and that was my number one. And I think it was yours too, John. 03:10:00.240 --> 03:10:30.160 No, it was my number two, and my number three was From Mars, the series by Gojira. I do really like, I like Leviathan, but I do agree they fell off. Like, the last time I saw Mastodon, they were supporting Tool on a big stage, and I remember thinking, like, okay, guys, you are not on the level Tool R in terms of playing to a big crowd. Like, your music just doesn't, it's better for a smaller room, and it sounds terrible, and I wish them all the success in the world, you know, like, don't ever hold that again. 03:10:30.440 --> 03:10:57.780 it did not cut it. Tool absolutely slayed them on that gig. And that's because the music is a bit more basic and you feel it more. It's not trying to show off. I saw ISIS with Tool and it was the worst time I ever saw ISIS. I was just like, this does not work in a fucking arena. Yeah, because ISIS isn't there to perform outside of the music. Tool performs outside of the music. I mean, there's a whole aura to their sound. 03:11:02.239 --> 03:11:29.500 - from Tool, ISIS is a better band in my opinion. I've seen ISIS live and they're just off the charts. - Well, no, that's why I say it though, John, because I like ISIS better than Tool and I saw them with Tool and I was like, this is not working. - Tool is a machine. I'm not a big Tool fan. I mean, I've got everything, but they are a machine on stage. - This is it. It's a live band. It's hard to beat live bands. You know, like, again, I'm not the biggest Tool fan. I like the records, but I didn't know anymore. - But their rhythm section is just, you can't. - It's phenomenal. 03:11:30.220 --> 03:11:59.860 Other than Rush, in terms of rhythm section, bass and drums. John, I'm disappointed. I thought you were a fan of Big Tools. Only yours. I'm a fan of Big Will. But no, I will say two things. Going back to Gojira is that I felt that, I almost felt like this with the Camel Corpses. They released so many songs before the album came out that it's like, okay, skip, skip. I think they released three songs before the album came out and then you're already skipping over them. 03:12:03.079 --> 03:12:30.160 But Will, those were three songs over the course of, what, a year and a half. I know. They made a video for the One Another World. Another World, you're right. It's a decent song. It's a pretty good song, one of the better songs on the album. But it's like, you got tired of those songs already. I'm like, I've heard this like 20 times. I heard it on Liquid Metal. I heard it on SiriusXM. I've heard it on everything. And then the other thing is, it's funny that we brought up Tools. I felt like on this, 03:12:30.220 --> 03:12:59.520 I think Gojira's been listening to too much Tool. There's these Tool aspects where it's like all this atmospheric stuff and these chants and stuff. Somebody said Roots. They started out as a Sepuletura cover band, I think, didn't they? Well, Roots is their worst album. No, but I think that was a huge influence on them. Here's the last thing I'm going to say about Gojira and Macedon. 03:13:00.220 --> 03:13:30.200 that progressed metal in different directions. They were on a trajectory to really change metal. They did change metal with their seminal albums. And then they just didn't fulfill that promise. I feel like that was such a high watermark. They did so much with those albums. And I don't know if it's impossible for them to fulfill that and sustain it, but they did not. And that is part of the problem for the 03:13:30.699 --> 03:14:00.200 That just goes to show you how hard it is to do that after you put out that kind of an album. Yes. It's really hard to follow up a huge album. Like the Black Album. Yeah. Well, there you go. I think it's also why we discuss them so much is because we know what they've done before and we hope that they are going to pull off something as good, but the chances of that are very slim. I'll say one last thing. Did you bring up the Black Album because they said 03:14:00.240 --> 03:14:30.100 a huge album and then you said the black album. No, he just wanted to bring it up because you like it so much. Yeah. I'll say one last thing. It goes to both bands. I'm not at all concerned about the next Mastodon album. Even after this Gojura album, and I probably like this album the most, like I said, of anyone on here. I at least am looking forward still to listening to it and hoping that there's something that will come out just because there are a few songs on this that still remind me of that they can. And I'm fine with them doing something different. 03:14:30.240 --> 03:14:30.840 Yes. 03:14:31.090 --> 03:14:32.140 It just felt that 03:14:32.830 --> 03:14:34.640 they didn't help their cause on this album 03:14:34.860 --> 03:14:36.200 as much as they have in the past. 03:14:37.200 --> 03:14:37.420 All right. 03:14:39.520 --> 03:14:39.780 All right. 03:14:40.580 --> 03:14:41.160 Oh, that wasn't that. 03:14:41.260 --> 03:14:41.500 Wow. 03:14:42.020 --> 03:14:43.100 The tribe has spoken. 03:14:43.560 --> 03:14:44.140 How you doing? 03:14:44.170 --> 03:14:44.420 I don't know. 03:14:44.480 --> 03:14:45.340 I might make my top 20. 03:14:45.460 --> 03:14:45.720 Who knows? 03:14:46.520 --> 03:14:47.320 How you doing, Luke? 03:14:47.500 --> 03:14:48.740 I know it's getting later there for you. 03:14:48.820 --> 03:14:49.400 You doing all right? 03:14:49.740 --> 03:14:50.380 I'm good, yeah. 03:14:50.620 --> 03:14:51.560 It's for metal, dude. 03:14:52.640 --> 03:14:52.920 The dog. 03:14:54.080 --> 03:14:55.500 I wonder if this is a long cast. 03:14:55.940 --> 03:14:57.900 Lay down your soul for the gods rock and roll. 03:14:58.330 --> 03:14:58.420 Yes. 03:14:59.760 --> 03:15:29.720 All right, well then, let's move on to the next album. Which is the new Panopticon album, which came out today. It's their 10th album called And Again Into the Light from Minnesota via Kentucky. And I spun this twice today trying to get it into my head before we go. 03:15:29.740 --> 03:15:58.760 We talked today and I'm digging it so far. I also liked this. I liked it quite a lot. Yeah. Well, I've never heard them before. I've never even heard of this band. Oh my God. We had you on this podcast. Totally out of the loop on the Panopticon. You got to go back to the trilogy albums. Oh my God. Yeah. Okay. I plan to because I really thought it was quite beautiful and yeah, like a brilliant mix of like, 03:15:59.760 --> 03:16:29.460 this kind of miasmatic, you know, like vapors of sound, but these kind of heroic old school Norwegian style riffs underneath the heroic melodic structure. This album is absolutely stunning. I listened to it when you guys were asleep because it got released on the 15th and it's still early for me. Well, that was kind of annoying considering all the new albums came out yesterday. Yeah, I know. I don't know why they did it a day later. But yeah, as soon as it came out, like midnight, which is like, I don't know, early evening. 03:16:29.560 --> 03:16:59.500 Three. I love it. I think it's stunning. I think it's one of the best Panopticon albums. And that's saying a lot, because Panopticon has amazing, amazing records. Listening to it actually makes me feel like, it's called A Get Into The Light, it actually makes me feel like I'm being pulled from a shadow pit into the warm rays of the sun. It's fucking great. I felt like it was a much fuller sound than we tend 03:16:59.540 --> 03:17:29.400 I get from Panopticon, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, I love pretty much everything. The transitions from the light to just the black metal. I mean, what was the second song, I think it was? The Loons, Dead Loons, something like that. That's a great track. It's like it starts off and it's very pretty and melodic, and then it goes into fucking doom metal for a while. 03:17:30.180 --> 03:17:31.240 It's very doomy. 03:17:31.739 --> 03:17:32.900 It's called Balloons. 03:17:33.210 --> 03:17:33.340 Yeah. 03:17:33.520 --> 03:17:36.300 Once the metal actually kicks in, it was very doomy. 03:17:36.330 --> 03:17:37.120 I was like, whoa. 03:17:38.640 --> 03:17:39.820 It's a phenomenal record. 03:17:40.120 --> 03:17:45.340 When we talked to Daniel, didn't he say that he got to hear this album and that it was his favorite Panopticon album? 03:17:46.980 --> 03:17:47.240 Really? 03:17:47.370 --> 03:17:47.880 Did he say that? 03:17:47.880 --> 03:17:48.340 I feel like he did. 03:17:48.420 --> 03:17:48.980 I feel like he did. 03:17:49.100 --> 03:17:51.040 Because I was like, oh, that's all right. 03:17:51.420 --> 03:17:51.660 Interesting. 03:17:51.820 --> 03:17:52.560 That sounds familiar. 03:17:53.240 --> 03:17:54.540 Granted, I've only spun it once. 03:17:54.740 --> 03:17:56.120 But I mean, I'm with you guys. 03:17:56.160 --> 03:18:26.120 And, you know, in life, I love contrast. And that comes from, I didn't mention it, Luke, I'm a graphic designer by trade. Okay. So I'm just hell bent passionate about typography. And the key to good typography is contrast. And I find that with all art. And the same thing is with music. And, you know, you have these, with this album, you have some spaciness, you have some folk, you know, almost that, those bluegrass feels. And then you just kick into that traditional, you know, panoptical. 03:18:27.440 --> 03:18:55.800 with those melodies, you know, and yeah, I love it. I think it's fabulous. It really reminded me of listening to the first Oliver album for the first time. Nice. I can't remember the name of the album, and it's in Norwegian, so I can't pronounce it. It's like... Yeah. Exactly that, George. It has that whole moment where it's just someone running through a forest, and it's like, oh, this is really quite something else of an experience, you know, like it's reaching to a different place in music. 03:18:55.840 --> 03:19:25.680 It's not just entertainment. This is a piece of art. And I've got that sense from this Panopticon LP. Or the first Taka, Natasin Sip or Tim Veed. And I know the guy's a bad guy. Sorry, I don't support. Canceled! Yeah, but that's a phenomenal piece of music. And this had that classic romantic feel. It's romantic. I'm actually jealous of you, Luke, because you're discovering Panopticon for the first time. Right, okay. Didn't know him. 03:19:25.840 --> 03:19:53.920 But this is, I mean, this could rival my favorite. My favorite album there is Autumn Eternal. But I also love Roads to the North. We've discussed Pan Amplica not too long ago. I think Roads to the North is Matt's favorite. It is. So I think this might top it, actually. I've listened to it three times already, and it just came out. So I don't know yet, but it is a phenomenal work. And I don't know if you guys read the liner notes there. I did. 03:19:55.080 --> 03:20:23.840 Mastered by Colin Masterson. No, Colin Marston. It was Gore Guts, Behold the Octopus. Yep. All that, you know, dysrhythmia. Yep, yep. And also all of that stuff about mental health and like not being there for other people. And I didn't know that when the album was coming out and then it comes out, you know, and again into the light. It's somebody trying again, trying to be a better person. 03:20:25.080 --> 03:20:54.920 And the music reflects that. Sometimes when you read about that stuff, it doesn't influence the way that you perceive the music. But in this case, when you listen to it, and then you read some of that story about why this is created or what it's dedicated to, it makes it even more of a phenomenal record. Yeah. Yeah, I have nothing bad to say about it. I really enjoyed it. Really atmospheric. 03:20:56.440 --> 03:21:25.020 Yeah, you know, great. More of that, please. You have a whole catalog to go through now because this is your first panoplyle. Yeah, but you've got to understand that, like, you know, the path I've taken through metal is that of the British extreme metal, which is very, very punk scene influence. Like, and a lot of black metal is, you know, not discussed because of the politics of it. So I just don't know. Like, I know all the 90s stuff. 03:21:25.100 --> 03:21:53.820 that came out and then when it transpired what happened a lot of people just kind of avoided it after that so I've got chunks missing from my knowledge right and there's this I mean this is American black metal so it's a whole different kind of a thing you know but of course there's a stigma of black metal I like um Weakling yeah we've talked about them recently too they're fantastic yeah that's really good that's good band do you like Bolt Thrower I love Bolt Thrower you are good then that's all you need that's all you need 03:21:55.939 --> 03:22:23.800 Hey, look, one last thing about Panopticon. I think everyone would agree. If you tried their trilogy albums, which is what? Kentucky, Roads to the North, and Autumn Eternal. Those three, I think, if you like this last one. Actually, I haven't listened to all of it. I've only listened to a couple songs. You'll probably dig those. I'm definitely going to check that out next week. Yeah, you know, the bluegrass thing was, like with Kentucky and stuff, that was sort of 03:22:23.820 --> 03:22:24.780 a thing. 03:22:25.060 --> 03:22:26.700 Because there's like some banjo in there and stuff. 03:22:26.740 --> 03:22:31.540 Because it's like black metal mixed with Kentucky bluegrass. 03:22:31.940 --> 03:22:33.580 I think it's Appalachian metal, basically. 03:22:33.660 --> 03:22:34.360 Appalachian, yeah. 03:22:34.800 --> 03:22:36.080 That totally works. 03:22:36.320 --> 03:22:40.840 Because the original Norwegian, we have to say that there is a black metal before 03:22:41.140 --> 03:22:41.740 Norwegian black metal. 03:22:41.960 --> 03:22:43.000 You've got Venom and stuff. 03:22:43.640 --> 03:22:49.960 But Norwegian stuff, the sound of it, even though it's like a rock song playing, it 03:22:50.240 --> 03:22:53.340 sounds like wind blowing through trees or over a mountain. 03:22:53.380 --> 03:22:55.100 It doesn't sound almost like music 03:22:55.440 --> 03:22:57.520 like the aesthetic of how it's recorded 03:22:57.520 --> 03:22:59.680 in a sort of echoey shittiness 03:22:59.780 --> 03:23:01.340 of it almost is evocative 03:23:01.520 --> 03:23:01.920 of those things 03:23:02.140 --> 03:23:03.080 Echoey shittiness 03:23:03.520 --> 03:23:03.680 Yeah 03:23:04.961 --> 03:23:06.620 It's evocative of 03:23:07.360 --> 03:23:07.680 you know 03:23:07.860 --> 03:23:09.640 of outdoor spaces 03:23:10.080 --> 03:23:11.460 and nature 03:23:12.160 --> 03:23:13.860 not really but in a fake way 03:23:13.980 --> 03:23:15.620 in a dreamlike way it is 03:23:15.700 --> 03:23:17.740 and this Panopticon album 03:23:18.020 --> 03:23:18.400 with its 03:23:18.880 --> 03:23:20.840 like Americana folk music aspects 03:23:22.241 --> 03:23:23.360 reconstructs that 03:23:23.380 --> 03:23:53.340 It fully I was like, yeah, I totally get this is about where the guy's from or has been, you know, like in the music. Yeah. Great. That's cool. When John and I saw him at Shadow Woods, that was one of the most that was one of the most like unique sets I have ever seen. Yeah, because we're in the like, they hardly George, what would you say? There was like maybe 10 lights on the stage. There was hardly any lights like everybody. Everything was dark. You couldn't 03:23:53.380 --> 03:24:23.300 You could barely see the band. I could barely see George sitting next to me. That's how dark it was. And we were sitting on logs. It was like, you know, if you're at Renfest, you're at Renfest with the logs. That was no log. No, that was Will. I didn't realize Will was there. That's Atlas. But it was so dark. I mean, you couldn't even see the band other than like in silhouette. Right. And the lights were low, I think, too, weren't they? There were like one or two lights. 03:24:23.360 --> 03:24:53.260 literally on the stage. It was like being at a Renfest kind of thing, but in the dark. That was a great show. That set was phenomenal. And it was, I think, everyone that was at that, it was this festival in the woods, and it was only like, what, 300, 400 people max, I think, for the whole thing. Yeah, totally. It wasn't much. And it was all these different, they had three different setups, stages to watch. I think everyone that was there, and you camped out there, by the way, 03:24:53.400 --> 03:25:23.060 I think everyone that was there was there for that set. What a perfect setting for Panic. Oh yeah. I mean when the set ended you literally had to use your cell phone to walk through the woods to light the way back to the main area. Yeah it was wild. It was it was crazy. They also sell something called flashlights you could have used but all right. But we didn't know we needed. Who knows who goes to a show thinking you need flashlights. They brought flashlights. Yeah. Oh God. 03:25:23.360 --> 03:25:53.320 Well, I have my flashlight. I have mine. All right, let's move it. Yeah, yeah. All right, so our last new release, because we are talking about new releases, this is the new Vryde album, Wild Northwest, and it's not talking about Northwest United States, talking about Northwest Norway. This is their ninth album. They're a Norwegian black metal band, and I dig this. I mean, I've loved these guys for years. You're a big fan of these guys. 03:25:53.380 --> 03:26:22.600 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, this is the guys from Vindor. When the dude from Vindor died, these guys were like the backing band, and they became Vryde. And everything they've done is just fucking awesome. I quite enjoyed this. This might get me in trouble. So in Round My Way, this style of vocal is known as pedo-wizard. You know, like... What's that mean? Like pedophile wizards. 03:26:22.600 --> 03:26:52.540 That's where I thought you were going. I think it's a fun vocal style, like this kind of nasty goblin sound. I quite enjoyed it. I thought the drumming was authentic black metal style drumming, which I appreciate. It's maybe a little derivative though, but it's their ninth album or whatever. One thing I found really interesting about this LP is the clean sections were much better than I thought they were going to be, because you hear it go clean and you think, oh, here we go. 03:26:52.600 --> 03:27:21.720 It actually sounded like mid-career Voivod quite a lot. Nice! It was interesting. Oh! Voivod? Voivod. That's right, Voivod. Sorry, there's a debate on the podcast about the pronunciation there, so. No, there's not a debate. There's not a debate. George pronounces it wrong. He just said Voivod. That's how I say it. No, you say Voivish. Oh. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Anyway. 03:27:24.040 --> 03:27:24.440 Sorry. 03:27:25.360 --> 03:27:29.140 You know, it's interesting because I was listening to this again this morning and 03:27:30.859 --> 03:27:36.640 like you get to the second to last track and like three quarters of the way through it goes like 03:27:37.520 --> 03:27:45.020 pop, like electronic drum stuff. It's like, yeah, I'm like, what the fuck is this? And then it kind of gets black 03:27:45.220 --> 03:27:49.640 medley again. I was like, I thought I was quite, I like that, you know, it's quite fun. 03:27:49.800 --> 03:28:18.740 Not very well integrated as an artistic vision. It's a bit gimmicky maybe, but they're trying something else at that stage. I was like, ooh, they're going to go Ulver on us. Which I dig the new Ulver stuff, even if it isn't metal, but... Right, yeah, fantastic. Yeah. Enjoyable vocals. I would say that overall, I found almost all of these records other than Panopticon were too long. That's like a grindcore guy's view. 03:28:19.820 --> 03:28:49.600 I don't need an hour-long thing. Just 40 minutes or 20 minutes does the job. I find it overstays its welcome a little bit. So you like EPs, is what you're saying? Kind of, yeah. But in my world, 20 minutes is an album. It's a grindcore album, yeah. Yeah, 20 minutes. How long is Rain in Blood? It's not that long. That is literally our standard. 28 minutes is what we call an album. If it's 28 minutes, it's an album. 03:28:50.479 --> 03:29:17.320 No, no, that should be the upper limit. Well, there have been situations where it's slightly less that I'm like, it's still an album. I think we have been liking shorter albums, though, because we've seen a lot of death metal albums are like 37 minutes, 40 minutes. I'm loving that, Marcus. That's my wheelhouse right now. That's all I agree. Yeah. Now the Panopticon is an exception. I could listen to that all day. 03:29:19.900 --> 03:29:48.980 are like 30 minutes long. Ultimately, like when I'm listening to it, I'm not looking at the, I'm doing something else, you know, I was listening to it while I was working. So if I feel it's long, it's because I've noticed it's repeating itself, you know, not because I'm looking at how long it actually is. So yeah, I, you know, like, I just don't know how many band metal bands can, or any kind of bands can sort of, you know, especially faster paced stuff can last an hour without repeating itself to, to the detriment of the whole thing as a, as a whole, you know. 03:29:50.919 --> 03:30:19.620 I was peeing, so I didn't get to comment on Rita. I thought it was decent. I think I liked the last album better. Yeah, yeah, I can get with that. But I really like the album artwork since we have an artist. It is cool, although I was looking at the guys like Crotch Gap. I was like, I feel like there's a little more crotch gap than should be really necessary. George's eyes are drawn. Hey, Gap is a thing now, apparently. 03:30:22.161 --> 03:30:49.740 I was like, if that was me, I would not be standing with my legs quite so far apart. Lug, lesson learned. Watch the crotch cap. I think, you know, those who are unafraid embrace it. George is now going to refer to the taint as Vryde because that's how he pronounces it. Look, we've sure fulfilled your vision of Americans being crass. Yeah, we'll be crass. We're fine. 03:30:49.820 --> 03:31:00.640 Oh, Luke loves every second of this. Mind the crotch tap. All right. All right. Well, let's move on to what we are listening to. 03:31:24.600 --> 03:31:48.540 Luke, as the guest, you are unfortunately having to go first. So what have you been listening to? Some albums I've been listening to recently. So first off, there is an album called Nowhere by a band called Victory Over the Sun. A friend of mine recommended to me and said you should check this out. And it's kind of like somewhere between black metal, but it's quite gore gutsy and weird. 03:31:48.580 --> 03:32:18.040 It has all this kind of weird, strange, scalar relationships in the notes and things like that and all this kind of unusual chord structures. Really quite enjoyed it, you know, quite energetic, full of ideas, very indie, you know, like some band on Bandcamp, but really thought it was very good. There's a new album by my friends. Some friends of mine are in a band called Anta. 03:32:18.560 --> 03:32:47.560 who are like a British psychedelic rock band. And they've got a new album out called Church of the Second Son, which is pretty rad. And it's very mid-career King Crimson-y, like loads of organ sounds and Mellotron sounds and sort of big guitar riffs and stuff. And something that I think you guys, especially you, Marcus, I might find interesting is that they did the album. What's the album called? Church of the Second Son. 03:32:48.580 --> 03:33:18.020 And it's ANTA, A-N-T-A. Yeah, but you said mid-period King Crimson, and I just was like, whoa. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I'm not saying it's as good as that, of course. No, no, no, but any reference to mid-period King Crimson, I'm all. Right. So it has that kind of almost gospelly choir sound keyboard in places that mid-career Crimson were doing, right? Yeah. But what's really interesting about this is they did, you know, funnily enough, 03:33:18.580 --> 03:33:48.540 They did this album in conjunction with a writer who's written a story that goes with it. It's just kind of similar to other things that I've been involved with and Marcus has been involved with. Concept album type stuff behind it. I think it's quite cool. It's worth checking out. It's more rock than it is metal, but it definitely... If you like the old... There's Sabbath-y moments on it, that kind of stuff. Something else that I listen to all the time is 03:33:48.580 --> 03:34:18.240 Genesis, selling England by the pound. Wow. Favorite Genesis album. I listen to it all the time. I know that's a, I know that's a Peter Gabriel album, but I just got Genesis tickets. Right. There you go. I don't know who's in Genesis anymore. Yeah. And then it's back to, and then there were three. Back to that. Hey Luke, I just looked up Anta and it's Church of the Second Son. It's Antony, 03:34:20.080 --> 03:34:47.840 Sorry, I'm like, I got all my glasses on. It is that, yeah. Tony is a composer that works with them on it. Like, he's a synth and music composer, who I also actually know because he's also from Bristol. So he's done that in conjunction with them. And yeah, it's definitely worth the... No, I just listened to a couple seconds of it. I'm kind of digging it. It kind of reminds me of... Yeah, well, like, I love, like, I don't know what the kind of organ is. 03:34:47.860 --> 03:35:17.840 It's the kind of organ that Perihelian ship plays. Like a Mellotron. You're talking about the organ, the penis, right? Yes. The only organ. The only organ that's always on your mind. Well, I believe you're thinking of a Mellotron. Yeah. More of a Star Trek-y wee-wee. Even though they did it with keyboards. It's definitely those things that if you put it on and get into it, it's going to do the 03:35:18.699 --> 03:35:47.840 I kind of dig it. I listened to a handful of seconds. It's cool. Yeah, it's not necessarily the most immediate type of music, but I do think it's good quality and interesting and stuff. Yeah, what else have I got? Yeah, Genesis. It's one of my favorite LPs, selling by the pound. And finally, Grind, Faster Than Life, Louder Than Death. Phenomenal Czechoslovakian, actually Czech Republic, Grindcore band, one of the apps 03:35:52.399 --> 03:36:17.840 I've put that one down because that's the LP you can get but they've actually got like a bunch of rare seven inches which are even better just you know just utterly savage George needs to check this out yes I do savage stuff G-R-I-D-E so like yeah like grid with an E on the end grade it's all in Czech language and it just sounds absolutely brutal just guys 03:36:17.880 --> 03:36:21.280 Scream in their head off about post-communist Czech Republics. 03:36:21.290 --> 03:36:21.860 Oh, jeez. 03:36:23.300 --> 03:36:29.340 The final recommendation is called Disappointment by a band called Nothing Clean. 03:36:30.180 --> 03:36:36.240 And they are like a UK, I don't know what you call it, like, we call it hardcore, 03:36:36.390 --> 03:36:38.880 but I think in America you'd call it fastcore or something like that. 03:36:39.080 --> 03:36:42.500 Like, almost grindcore, but a bit more punk, you know. 03:36:43.240 --> 03:36:47.740 But this band are just fantastic, like, just utterly raging. 03:36:47.820 --> 03:37:16.900 as the kids say, just really go. All the songs are really short and really blasting. No production value at all. Utterly fantastic. Nothing clean. Disappointment. Nothing clean is like Will's religion. It's an Arnie quote, right? It's off Terminator, isn't it? Nothing clean. Yeah. It's actually a really good band name. They're phenomenal bands. The sort of thing where it's a punk band, but you might get the odd slayer bit. 03:37:19.180 --> 03:37:46.720 Before we move on to Markisan, I just want to say that it's a caps up to one in the second. Who are they playing? Boston. Boston. Okay. There was just a nasty fight. Somebody was fucking up Ovi, man. I hope they got a penalty. Anyway, fully gray now. Yeah. Yeah. He's all. Well, his dad is like completely white. So that's. And he's like 35. Yeah. Hey, I've been gray since I was. 03:37:47.800 --> 03:38:17.720 I'm not making fun of him. He just started so early. Now he looks fucking badass. He's the second greatest. He is Ovechkin. Gretzky may be the greatest. He's the second greatest for sure. All right. Mark is on. What are you listening to? You're done with the hockey? Yeah. I've been listening to Perennial Isolation. 03:38:18.160 --> 03:38:47.700 Portraits on non-servium records. This is an excellent atmospheric black metal album. It's both eerie and majestic. I really like this because it has a core of traditional black metal, but the band will shift into tech metal riffs or they'll slow it down to more of a mournful, reflective crawl. It's just really great dynamics throughout the album that I enjoy. Had It with Joy, 03:38:47.800 --> 03:38:52.400 and ardor through the incommensurable path from sentient 03:38:53.060 --> 03:38:56.400 ruined laboratories. This is a fantastically dark 03:38:57.220 --> 03:39:02.940 ritual-esque death metal album. It's like an album that a necromancer might conjure at a 03:39:03.460 --> 03:39:09.120 cosmological altar of chaos. It's one of my top death records this year. 03:39:11.500 --> 03:39:14.160 Dordeda. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing this right. 03:39:14.240 --> 03:39:14.840 Dordata. 03:39:16.280 --> 03:39:16.840 Dordata? 03:39:17.000 --> 03:39:18.140 No, I'm just making that up. 03:39:18.140 --> 03:39:19.460 Or is that just your pronunciation? 03:39:19.620 --> 03:39:20.980 That is my George pronunciation. 03:39:21.260 --> 03:39:21.980 Dordata. 03:39:22.320 --> 03:39:22.580 Yeah, yeah. 03:39:23.460 --> 03:39:26.200 My suggestion is just do what George just did. 03:39:26.380 --> 03:39:30.360 Let's just do each syllable slowly because I have no clue either. 03:39:30.960 --> 03:39:34.020 I don't know, but I love the album title because it's horror. 03:39:35.221 --> 03:39:37.620 And it's on Prophecy Production Records. 03:39:38.700 --> 03:39:43.860 The name Dordata combines the word door, which is Romanian for longing. 03:39:43.960 --> 03:40:13.900 and duh, which is the term for spirit. And that's a pretty apt moniker because this album feels like a, like a soul search through the lens of, uh, I guess I'd say black metal, prog, electronic folk, all that's in there. It's really an immersive listen. I'm actually not sure if I like it yet. It's something I need to spin a little bit more. I joined the, um, prophecy productions has a, like, 03:40:13.980 --> 03:40:14.660 a subscription. 03:40:15.330 --> 03:40:18.560 So I joined it because I knew there was a couple albums that were coming out this year. 03:40:18.680 --> 03:40:21.800 And the cost for the subscription was like the cost of what the albums would be. 03:40:22.780 --> 03:40:26.500 So I got this album and I spun a couple of times and it's cool. 03:40:26.750 --> 03:40:27.040 I just, 03:40:27.170 --> 03:40:29.140 I don't know how I feel exactly about it. 03:40:29.280 --> 03:40:30.420 I know John digs it. 03:40:32.359 --> 03:40:33.240 Body void. 03:40:33.820 --> 03:40:37.760 Bury me beneath this rotting earth on prosthetic records. 03:40:38.140 --> 03:40:41.300 And it's a seething sludge spiral of doom. 03:40:41.640 --> 03:41:10.940 I really love the horrific atmosphere, the horrific dripping atmosphere, really, that Body Void evokes in their records. Even their name, Body Void, kind of creeps me out. I've liked pretty much all of the records that have come out. Universally Estranged, reared up in spectral predation from Blood Harvest Records. And John gets the credit for this because I saw that he bought it on Bandcamp. So I spun it yesterday and it's a really dynamic, 03:41:12.961 --> 03:41:18.980 It's like a chuggier, cybernetic, space invader version of Tumult. 03:41:19.330 --> 03:41:23.380 So if that sounds intriguing to you, then give that one a spin because it's really good. 03:41:24.720 --> 03:41:29.420 We mentioned this earlier on the cast, Volconis Odyssey on the Sign Records. 03:41:29.570 --> 03:41:32.720 This is a really great progressive Stoner Doom album. 03:41:33.450 --> 03:41:37.520 The mix of styles on this record is just fucking molten hot, man. 03:41:37.600 --> 03:42:07.400 And it's like super heavy, fun riffs. And then they intersperse that with like slower meditative passages. I really enjoy this. I liked it from the first spin. And then on subsequent spins, I feel like I like it even more. It's heavier than you would consider normal stoner doom. You know, there's, there's, there's, you know, it's, and it has the old Mastodon vibes to it, you know, which is cool. Yeah, it's cool. Oh, that, what'd you call that? 03:42:37.600 --> 03:43:07.440 Just a tremendous amount of color on this EP with cool prog moments and melodies. It has these rasp, husky growls. I believe that there's members of Horrendous on here and some other bands we know that are doing this. It's a great little EP. And then another EP I'm listening to is Catan. It's self-titled on Prosthetic Records. This album is by a duo and one of whom is in a band. 03:43:07.580 --> 03:43:37.560 I really like called Astronoid which is they kind of started off more metal and not I would say that they're more rock now but I still really like that band and uh um I was looking forward to this one and Catan is a it's like a pummeling growled death metal played in front of a waterfall of shoegazy like layers of sound synth and just sung voices so the record has this really cool texture to it that draws me in it sounds 03:43:38.560 --> 03:44:07.540 Incredibly modern and almost futuristic to me at times, but it's still brutal. I love the production on this record. It just doesn't sound like anything else I've ever heard. I think it might be my top EP right now. If we do top five EPs, it's definitely going to be on my mid-year list and probably be on my end-year list. I really like this one. And then the next one is Project Rowanwolf, Edge of Saturn on Diablo. 03:44:07.640 --> 03:44:37.060 F-bomb records. This is the first power metal record of 2021 that's really slayed me. I love the Titanic guitars on this beast, but it has some really great vocals and progressive moments. It's a little bit Nevermore, a little bit, I would say, John Arch era Fate's Warning in there, propelled by heavy Bay Area thrash metal riffs. That is great. 03:44:37.080 --> 03:45:07.060 I wasn't going to spin this because the title project, Rowan Wolf, doesn't sound great to me. But one of the band members is from another power metal band, which for some reason is escaping me, that I liked before. So I decided to spin it. I love this. This record is really good. You had me at Arch. And then, you know, especially that Fate's Warning stuff was quite good. So I'm also spending a lot of time on 03:45:07.080 --> 03:45:36.780 my mid-year list to get it in shape. Because as we discussed, it's coming in less than a month. And the year is really strong, so I've been kind of staying on top of my list on an ongoing basis to just listen and re-listen to albums that have really grabbed me. It's kind of insane that we're almost there. I haven't even started my list yet. Yeah, I decided this year that I was just going to work on it every week. Because I don't want to get caught with my pants down. That's smart. Smart, but I'm not. 03:45:37.080 --> 03:46:04.500 Nobody's ever accused me of being smart, so, you know. Your pants are going to be down. Don't worry, Marcus. I mean, pants are down now, but I mean, Luke Oram is on the cast. Come on. So that's what I got. Cool. All right, Maddie. Good list. Thanks, John. Much like Marcus, I have begun the arduous task of, you know, kind of whittling down mid-year. I'm finding myself, I mean, I'm not just bitchy. I'm bitchy 2021, which is a whole different level. 03:46:07.560 --> 03:46:11.140 I'm trying to figure this shit out. But I can't talk about any of that stuff 03:46:11.960 --> 03:46:13.100 for another month. 03:46:15.040 --> 03:46:17.380 One that popped up on my radar band is Decoherence. 03:46:17.700 --> 03:46:20.060 The album is either System 1 or System I. 03:46:20.660 --> 03:46:22.840 They are a UK industrial black metal band. 03:46:23.300 --> 03:46:25.220 I checked out their last album. I really dug it. 03:46:25.880 --> 03:46:28.460 I'm not loving this one just as much. 03:46:30.219 --> 03:46:32.720 But I think they stood out in my mind 03:46:32.860 --> 03:46:35.180 because I'm like, industrial black metal, that sounds pretty fucked up. 03:46:35.320 --> 03:47:05.160 And then I listen, I'm like, oh, Blued House Nord, right? That could be considered industrial black metal. And I love Blued House Nord. So this is why I love them. I cannot stop listening to the first track off the upcoming Bosque album. It is called The Beer. The album is Migration. Just really aggressive, heavy sludge metal. You know, I mentioned when I was sharing that, and I know you probably knew about it before I shared it, but I mentioned it because I know you like old man gloom, right? 03:47:05.300 --> 03:47:34.280 you do. And it's got a little taste of that to it. That thing's heavy as fuck, dude. I might be more excited about that release right now than anything else coming down the pike, at least in the near future. Can we just mention that Bossk is one of the bounty hunters from Star Wars? Is that like the band Bossk years ago my band supported? But they didn't shock because the band broke. 03:47:35.320 --> 03:48:04.700 So it's just like the other bands on the bill and not them. Aww. Like in 2007 or something like that. Oh, that's sad. Great question. What species in Star Wars is Basque? It's a lizard, isn't it? It's a reptile. Something reptilian, yeah. Like what Star Wars, not species on fucking Earth. Uh, Jawa. I don't fucking know. Come on, he's a Trandoshan. Why do you need to know this? A what? A Trandoshan. 03:48:05.300 --> 03:48:06.000 What the fuck is that? 03:48:06.700 --> 03:48:08.480 You know, I really see a lizard, dude. 03:48:08.630 --> 03:48:09.760 It's the lower species that Bosk is. 03:48:10.280 --> 03:48:13.180 It's like a lizard guy with a tan suit on. 03:48:13.270 --> 03:48:14.220 Yeah, he's ugly, dude. 03:48:14.440 --> 03:48:14.980 That's all I know. 03:48:15.560 --> 03:48:17.320 I have the action figure. 03:48:18.560 --> 03:48:18.740 Yeah. 03:48:19.270 --> 03:48:20.420 I see him for like two seconds. 03:48:20.810 --> 03:48:20.900 Yeah. 03:48:21.380 --> 03:48:23.180 He's like, and that's it. 03:48:23.300 --> 03:48:23.780 There he is. 03:48:23.860 --> 03:48:24.360 There he is. 03:48:24.410 --> 03:48:25.300 Yeah, there he is. 03:48:25.720 --> 03:48:26.180 Oh, shit. 03:48:26.360 --> 03:48:27.000 That's Bosk. 03:48:27.220 --> 03:48:28.440 What suit is he wearing? 03:48:29.920 --> 03:48:30.180 Yellow. 03:48:30.180 --> 03:48:31.080 I'm going to tell you, Will. 03:48:31.160 --> 03:48:32.200 That is a codpiece. 03:48:32.580 --> 03:48:33.280 Holy shit. 03:48:33.640 --> 03:48:33.980 Hey, Will. 03:48:34.120 --> 03:48:37.760 I gotta say he looks like the uh the lizard that uh William Shatner 03:48:38.200 --> 03:48:45.600 fought in the uh Star Trek scene the gore the gore the greatest fight music ever 03:48:47.561 --> 03:48:57.240 it was gore or something you guys ever see the movie enemy mine yes yeah I love that movie that's uh 03:48:58.720 --> 03:49:27.260 Yeah, it's such a great movie. And Dennis Quaid. I've got the novelization of that somewhere, like, you know, the Alan Dean Foster, who's a science fiction writer, like, does all these movie adaptations. He did the, like, the Alien book, too. Yeah, Kroll, that kind of thing, you know, like, Kroll was a terrible movie, but... Looks great. But it makes a great album by Keith D. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. The Kroll album, yeah. 03:49:27.380 --> 03:49:55.880 I'm sure this is not going to win me any Instagram followers, but you know, unlike Aussie, Star Wars, its continued work has destroyed its legacy, I think. The existence of post-original Star Wars. I agree and disagree because they have the cartoon series. The Clone Wars, which are phenomenal. I think those are the best Star Wars that have ever come out. People do say it's good. 03:49:55.960 --> 03:50:25.300 The Best Character Development, just the best storylines. So those are coming out when some of these movies that are not very good are coming out. That's fair, yeah. I just don't like the films anymore. I agree with you. I like all the non-storyline ones. So I like the Rogue One and I like the Han Solo. Luke, do you like The Mandalorian? Didn't see it. Oh, I think you would like that. It's very different and just fun. It is pretty good. Spaghetti Western. 03:50:25.940 --> 03:50:54.480 I don't know if it's fair, but I'm really, and this is partially the project of as I go into my 40s, as I'm now 40, I'm really fearful of my, well, I'm fearful of how I'm being sold nostalgic memories of my past by the media, and like the Mandarin is that, it's do you remember this, and it's like, oh, I don't know, I want to engage with it, because like, it's like a weird simulacra that isn't reality, that prevents you from accessing stuff in a weird way. 03:50:54.800 --> 03:51:22.360 I might have shared this once, but did you guys see when Taiki Waititi signed on? He's going to do some Star Wars something. And it got posted on Twitter or whatever, and then he shared the tweet and he said, I'm already furious about what I'm going to do to this. Yeah, I saw that. I love him. He's hilarious. Like that Jojo Rabbit thing was... Oh, I haven't seen that. Oh, it was so good. But I think you're going to be okay with The Mandalorian because I actually don't like the nostalgia in Star Wars. 03:51:24.780 --> 03:51:54.760 movie that came out where it was basically the exact same movie. Yeah. The Force Awakens. I hated it because it's just a rehash of everything that happened before. I like the new shit. And I feel like, yeah, there's some nods to things that happened in the past in Mandalorian, but it is a new character. It's a new storyline. It's a different way of telling it. You know, it's funny. The Force Awakens of the new trilogy is probably the best one. I thought the last one was pretty good, to be honest with you. It might be that I'm something 03:51:54.800 --> 03:51:56.420 of a refuse, Nick. 03:51:57.479 --> 03:51:58.240 No, no. 03:51:58.840 --> 03:52:00.640 We're all older than you, so... 03:52:00.820 --> 03:52:01.500 It's not even that. 03:52:01.620 --> 03:52:04.200 It's just like when stuff gets so big and so popular, 03:52:04.220 --> 03:52:06.040 I just think, oh, I'm just bloody bored of it. 03:52:06.140 --> 03:52:06.640 Oh, right, right. 03:52:07.060 --> 03:52:08.540 Hearing about it all the time, 03:52:08.720 --> 03:52:12.780 and my mates who've got kids texting me about the Mandalore, 03:52:12.780 --> 03:52:14.740 and I'm thinking, how's your kid doing? 03:52:16.840 --> 03:52:18.360 Tell me something about reality. 03:52:18.480 --> 03:52:18.880 I don't know. 03:52:19.040 --> 03:52:21.360 That might be just a bad tendency I've developed with age, 03:52:21.440 --> 03:52:24.760 but I don't... 03:52:24.820 --> 03:52:54.660 to a lot of stuff, you know, that's just out there. And it's not. And I just think, who's this? You know, is this? Am I, if I engage with this, am I becoming, as I've seen my parents, just rewatching stuff they watched when they were children in the 70s and the 60s and don't engage anything new and don't understand the modern age at all and have all these outdated views? Hey, Luke, as the oldest person here, don't fight it. It's going to happen. Here's the thing, though. You don't have a choice, Luke. 03:52:54.760 --> 03:53:24.740 It's happening. So Luke has this kind of punk mentality where he doesn't want to go into the mainstream. But you know what's more metal and more punk is not giving a fuck and just watching what you fucking want. That's true. Give it a shot. And if you like it, great. If you don't, that's fine too. Yeah. I guess it's more of a critique of the culture around it than the thing itself. You know, like... Without... Oh, go ahead. Ah, fuck! No, I had nothing. 2-2. God damn it. Are we still... 03:53:25.080 --> 03:53:25.720 Markasson's top five. 03:53:25.800 --> 03:53:26.280 No, no, no. 03:53:26.520 --> 03:53:27.300 I was going to say this. 03:53:27.660 --> 03:53:29.020 Without him playing anyway. 03:53:29.520 --> 03:53:31.980 How is Will complaining when he just came on the cast? 03:53:33.220 --> 03:53:34.040 Like an hour ago. 03:53:34.080 --> 03:53:35.120 Did I fucking complain? 03:53:35.360 --> 03:53:38.520 All I'm saying is, are we still on Markasson's top five? 03:53:38.720 --> 03:53:39.200 No, we're not. 03:53:39.280 --> 03:53:39.500 That's a complaint. 03:53:40.680 --> 03:53:41.880 Matt, did you start yet? 03:53:42.340 --> 03:53:42.680 He did. 03:53:43.000 --> 03:53:43.340 I'm too in. 03:53:43.480 --> 03:53:43.900 I'm too in. 03:53:43.980 --> 03:53:44.400 Okay, all right. 03:53:45.180 --> 03:53:47.620 The good thing is I don't say much, so we'll get through this really quick. 03:53:49.100 --> 03:53:52.400 My next one, Panopticon, we've already discussed. 03:53:54.340 --> 03:54:23.980 They are a band called, well I don't know how to say it, E-R-D-V-E, they have a track out called La Vondimise from their upcoming album Savigalia. Sounds French. They are a Lithuanian post-metal band. Or Lithuanians. Fun fact. Fun fact, I believe because their last album was either on my 2017 or 2018 Top 25, probably my first made-up band. Fun fact. So they might not be from Lithuanians, is what you're saying. 03:54:24.060 --> 03:54:24.360 Exactly. 03:54:24.880 --> 03:54:25.180 Lithuania. 03:54:25.180 --> 03:54:29.540 Lithuania is a fake country. 03:54:31.280 --> 03:54:32.900 One band I've really been digging. 03:54:32.980 --> 03:54:34.260 They only have three tracks out, 03:54:34.420 --> 03:54:38.200 but it makes me feel like all bets are off with the rest of my mental life. 03:54:38.740 --> 03:54:40.020 That band is Silver Talon. 03:54:41.340 --> 03:54:42.120 Oh, yeah. 03:54:43.260 --> 03:54:45.920 I do not gravitate towards really good singing. 03:54:47.240 --> 03:54:48.200 And I'm loving this album. 03:54:48.520 --> 03:54:51.140 I mean, in most cases, I don't gravitate towards good singing. 03:54:51.280 --> 03:54:51.840 Loving this album. 03:54:52.700 --> 03:55:22.540 There's only a couple songs out yet. I like shitty singing? Three, I do. The shittier the singing, the more I like it. But there are exceptions. I agree with that. Like Crip Sermon. And they kind of fall into this elitist group. Chemists. Speaking of chemists, talking about the Decibel show from last week. Oh, yeah. I went on a huge, horrendous. I mean, there was so much. 03:55:22.720 --> 03:55:52.100 I went on a huge horrendous bin. I agree. I did the same. Could not stop listening to it. Dropping my kids off at school. That's all that's cranking. I mean, I just could not shut it off. I thought horrendous and awake were just phenomenal. Both those two. All the bands were good, but those two bands in particular, I thought were phenomenal. Yeah. And that's it for me. I wouldn't know. I didn't watch. What? George. I don't watch live streams, yo. I might watch it later. 03:55:52.340 --> 03:56:20.700 I intend to, but I haven't yet. By the way, I think you're trying to be cool just made you not cool. Who? You. I've never tried to be cool. I've never been cool. No, you're trying to be cool. He's wearing a hockey shirt on a medal show. Fuck yeah! Except we're tied up 2-2 in the second with one minute left. Stealing Cup champions, are they medal? Yeah! 03:56:22.140 --> 03:56:51.700 I was shipped. Trophy is. I think the cup is metal. I think it's made out of metal. It is, man. You know, I was looking through my shirts, my all black, like walk-in closet of all black t-shirts. And I'm like, hmm, what band can I wear today? And I was like, wait, it's the first day of fucking playoffs. I'm wearing my fucking hockey shirt. Which reminds me, we have to do our top five metal shirts that we own right now. That's got to be one. Yeah, right. 03:56:52.140 --> 03:57:22.120 Like, I'm going to figure that out. You can't, John. No, I can't. You can't, so. All right, that brings us to John. Yes. So I got two public service announcements before we start. One, I agree with you guys about Horrendous on the Decibel Show. They actually opened with the song Sentence, which was on one of the Flexi discs. What the fuck? Was that awesome? Yeah, it was. My second public service announcement goes to Luke. While I love selling Inga by the pound, I'm a Fox trucker. 03:57:24.779 --> 03:57:51.720 I respect that. Yes, I cannot argue selling England by the pound. So I was glad to hear you say that. All right. So my list. Marcus has mentioned a lot of them already, but I'll go through them as well. That's okay. As we said, let's do the syllables. Do-de-do? Do-de-do? Who knows? The album is Har. It's the second album from a Romanian atmospheric progressive black metal band with a ton of folk, 03:57:51.860 --> 03:58:21.840 They are former members of, and I'll butcher this name myself, Nagura Bunjit. Is that how you say it? Yeah, Nagura Bunjit, good. And the album Om, which is their watershed album, at least in my opinion, it follows in that same vein, and it's their first album since 2012, so I was really excited when I heard this was coming out. I was a little surprised. I absolutely love this album. I've spun it a lot since we got the promo and since it dropped. I knew you would. I knew. My listener was like, oh, John's 03:58:21.880 --> 03:58:51.540 I love this. And there was a couple moments I was like, oh man, there's a lot of just kind of meandering moments, but you have to really put the time in to like this album. It's a lot of work. It's the atmosphere, though, that they create on it. And it's, I made a joke to George, I can't like this album. It's not sung in English. What the fuck? And then I wrote back, I was like, just kidding. So, I love it. We already mentioned Gojira, so no point to go into it. I actually have spent a lot of time listening, so that's probably why I probably, 03:58:51.660 --> 03:59:21.640 I like it the most of everyone but hey I get everyone's opinion on it. Markisan mentioned Catan, Catan, whatever. It's just crazy dystopian black and death metal and I agree Markisan the sound is just it's hard to describe there. Some of them like I think it's the second song that riff is some of the heavy shit I've heard all year. I know the riffs are so heavy and but but then they have that wall of. Yeah, it's very kind 03:59:21.680 --> 03:59:51.520 It's kind of cybernetic almost. It's really interesting. It's almost like a cybermetal, but it's not. It's hard to describe, but I like it. But it's heavy. Oh, it's fucking, yeah. It's really good. And look, it's right in your wheelhouse. It's about 20 minutes long, so it's perfect. You know, I just finally figured out why this sounded familiar, and I was like, Settlers of Catan? Yeah, yeah. This one's spelled K-A-T-A-N. I know, it's K instead of C, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you could, 03:59:51.660 --> 04:00:21.600 You can draw that second A out if you want. It's up to you. They can put umlauts over all the A's to make it more metal. It's true. And I still wouldn't know how to pronounce it then. My fourth album is Subterranean Masquerade, Mountain Fever. I'm a big fan of these guys. I suspect that this might not be in everyone's wheelhouse. They're Israeli, progressive metal, rock. I've been a fan of these guys going all the way back to the early 2000s. 04:00:23.060 --> 04:00:51.540 Tomer Pink is the guy from the band I know. He used to work with the End Records, if anyone remembers the End Records. I do. Yeah, he used to be with them. And they've had Paul Kerr from November's Doom was a vocalist for them for a while, and the guy from Green Carnation. Now they are strictly 100% Israeli as a band. I like this one. The last few I haven't been to as much, but this one I actually liked a lot. Again, it's not for everyone. 04:00:51.680 --> 04:01:21.620 It takes a little bit of listening if you want to get into it. There's some very kind of rock opera-ish moments in it. But there's some heavy moments. It's cool. I listen to it, John. I agree. It's not really for me, but it is an interesting record. They definitely put a lot into this one. Yes, I agree. But like I said, I've been a fan going all the way back to the EP that came out in 2004. My next album is Falls and Luke West. 04:01:21.680 --> 04:01:51.600 talking about these short albums. This is another one that's short. It's sweet. It's about 35 minutes. And I'll see if I can say this right because I can't see the name. Terminalist, The Great Acceleration. This is a fucking insane, speed-driven technical thrash album from Denmark. I mean, it's just a blitz of speed technical thrash. I can't even say anything more about it. Other than that. Sci-fi. A lot of sci-fi on there. Yeah. I was just going to say the interesting aspect of this. 04:01:51.680 --> 04:01:56.100 is that the album cover is similar to Will's Dissolve Echoes a little bit. 04:01:56.500 --> 04:01:57.580 Oh, yeah, that's true. 04:01:57.740 --> 04:01:59.480 It opens that like a portal. 04:01:59.480 --> 04:02:01.300 They're going into a black hole, a portal, yeah. 04:02:01.660 --> 04:02:01.940 Yeah, yeah. 04:02:02.959 --> 04:02:03.900 Wormhole, Wormhole, John. 04:02:04.060 --> 04:02:04.480 That's what it is. 04:02:04.860 --> 04:02:08.900 And the album actually, they state the album is based on speed, and it cranks. 04:02:09.140 --> 04:02:11.380 But there are some slower moments on it. 04:02:11.420 --> 04:02:12.300 It's a solid album. 04:02:12.300 --> 04:02:16.760 It's about, like I said, 35 minutes of just, I'm really big on technical thrashes here for some reason. 04:02:16.760 --> 04:02:17.300 I don't know why. 04:02:18.280 --> 04:02:48.000 I haven't listened to this yet, but I did pick it up based on your recommendation and listening to a little bit of it and going, yeah, this is good. It's cool. I mean, it's really good. Yeah, I agree. I think, Sean, some of this technical thrash that's coming out has a lot of prog in it, too. I think that's kind of putting it over the top for you and for me as well. You're getting something a little bit different than you normally get with thrash albums. I like that quite a bit. It's almost like the late 80s just decided to show up in the 2020s. 04:02:48.000 --> 04:03:17.960 all of a sudden say, hey, we're going to do that technical proggy thrash stuff. And I'm like, sign me up. All right. This one's been mentioned a couple of times. And I have a feeling it'll show up on a few lists at the end of the or mid year and year. And that's the Volcanist Odyssey. I'm not a big stunner metal guy anymore. I mean, I like some, but fuck this album is just killer. It's just there's fast parts. There's these unbelievable proggy keyboardish deep parts. 04:03:23.000 --> 04:03:47.260 It's got my favorite death keyboardist of all time, Pierre Weiberg from X Opeth, Spiritual Bakers. He's on the album as a guest. I don't know if I'd like the rest of their catalog, but this one I love. Well, this is their best record by far. I think they've been able to merge the different sounds into just a really cohesive, dynamic record with this. I also really love the cover art, too. Oh, yeah. That's cool. 04:03:48.020 --> 04:04:17.840 And the interesting thing is, they added the keyboards and harsh vocals for this album. And yet it's progier, which is really kind of, which is, but it works. If I could just go, this is a weird callback, but like the second side of Hounds of Love by Kate Bush has death metal vocals out. Like it's got that alien demon voice on it. And I listened to it loads as a kid. And that's why I liked, started hearing death metal. You know, that's a prog album, but it has that demonic voice, you know, 04:04:18.000 --> 04:04:47.960 It makes perfect sense to me that it fits into the story. It's like really prog thing to do. Now I really need to listen to this. Yeah, and I'm a huge fan of Paris playing, you know. I was fortunate to spend a little bit of time with him during some of my Opeth touring days. And super nice guy, but he's just an unbelievable player. And he has, I know Jay would appreciate it, he has that 70s deep purple-ish kind of feel to his playing. He's got the John Lourdes. 04:04:48.020 --> 04:04:50.100 It's kind of just death organ sound 04:04:50.719 --> 04:04:52.380 I assume it's an actual 04:04:54.120 --> 04:04:55.240 Hammond to be honest with you 04:04:55.250 --> 04:04:57.380 That doesn't sound programmed to me on that album 04:04:58.260 --> 04:04:59.240 If you're talking about his 04:04:59.960 --> 04:05:00.960 Hammond sound on this album 04:05:01.350 --> 04:05:01.480 Yeah 04:05:02.100 --> 04:05:03.380 It sounds legit to me 04:05:04.140 --> 04:05:04.940 And he does it right too 04:05:05.240 --> 04:05:07.720 It's funny because I was listening to some Deep Purple thing the other day 04:05:08.619 --> 04:05:09.400 He used to 04:05:10.160 --> 04:05:11.360 Put some distortion on his 04:05:11.800 --> 04:05:13.380 John Lord is the original 04:05:14.100 --> 04:05:15.900 Heavy metal keyboardist I think 04:05:16.619 --> 04:05:17.980 Without being heavy metal 04:05:18.520 --> 04:05:38.340 So, yeah. 04:05:38.460 --> 04:06:08.280 It's fucking great, dude. Yeah. I don't know the cover as well, but yeah. I'm sure it's, you know. And my last one, Marcus, I didn't mention it. I literally just found this yesterday, although I had seen the album cover for a while. Universally estranged, reared up in spectral predation. Wow. That's really good. Yeah. And at first when I heard it, I was like, oh man, these vocals are going to kill this album for me because I wasn't big on them. But as the album goes on, they became more an instrument to me. 04:06:08.360 --> 04:06:38.060 the vocals. I got used to them. It's like these heavy riffs of old school death metal, but it's got that early 90s death metal with prog slant to it. I know it's not for everyone, but it's not. It's very death metal oriented, even though they've got these kind of synthy moments and synth wave moments. It's very cosmic. If that's if you want to think of a good way to describe their death metal. It's not like scenic or something like that. Not that. Not. No, not that. Not that. 04:06:38.440 --> 04:07:08.320 style, but how do you describe that, John? It's almost like Atheists and Gorguts met each other somewhere. I like both those bands. Atheists and Gorguts are good. I'm so cynic. But then it's also got kind of an old, I guess, and I've read this, I'm not an expert in these bands, but it has like an emulation or incantation feel a little bit, maybe. Yeah, I mean, it's death metal forward, but then they have these like flourishes of very sci-fi, almost like future 04:07:09.780 --> 04:07:38.220 There's a lot of sci-fi death metal bands, and they don't go that far. This one, I feel like, goes a little bit more. What was the band that did Master of Climate Control? That was a sci-fi death metal band. I think that's the Master of Climate Control. What is that? I don't know. 90s, maybe? I think it's an American band. That had that sci-fi thing in it. It was little flourishes of other stuff. There's a lot of sci-fi death that's been coming out in the last couple of years, for sure. 04:07:38.340 --> 04:08:08.200 But the last thing I'll say about is if you're a fan of Blood Incantation and Tumult, Marcus, I'll mention Tumult, they kind of would fit in that umbrella. They don't sound like those bands, but they fit in that umbrella with them. No, they have that chunkier sound. Like the riffs are just real chunky, like separate. You know, you can hear them like a chuggy sound, which is not like a Tumult, but yeah, it's still in that style. Yeah, and it's about 31 minutes, so you just get enough. 04:08:08.360 --> 04:08:38.320 That's plenty. It's too much after that point. They don't want to cut it off. That was a great discovery, John. I was like, I got to fill my top 25 because I'm hurting here. Are you really? This year, I decided that I'm not going crazy and buying tons of shit that I'm not going to listen to ever again. What? Yeah, I just don't need to have all that extra shit sitting around. It's a lot of stuff we listen to. Yeah, that's the problem. I'm trying to hone it in. I've got 25, but I wanted something that I 04:08:38.520 --> 04:09:07.040 I wanted some more stuff. Can you say the name of that band again, John? Universally estranged. You know what? Just go to, I think Marcus has got it at least in his wish list. I bought it. I bought it. You can't miss it. It's some dude's head exploding in space. That's literally the best way. Like tentacles just shooting out of his head. You had me at blood incantation. You'll dig it, Matt. The thing is, it doesn't sound like blood incantation or tumor. 04:09:07.120 --> 04:09:36.380 But it kind of is in that same parallel universe with them. Yeah. All right. And Will. I'm going to do my. I thought you were muted. I am not muted. Are you enjoying your pina colada? It's a little hazy. Go fuck yourself. You can have Buffett on your list. 04:09:37.140 --> 04:10:04.620 I like penis a lot. I like sperm in my beer. Well, that didn't take much. I may skip over this while I'm going to say it, but I think Jay may talk about it. Kanan Fever. Oh, good. I'm glad you like that, too. Are you going to talk about that? Yeah, I was going to, but I mean. I'm going to skip it. I'll let you talk about it because I have a bunch. I'm going to skip over. 04:10:07.140 --> 04:10:11.640 The Emerald Tablets of Thoth. 04:10:12.440 --> 04:10:12.740 Thoth. 04:10:12.760 --> 04:10:13.000 Thoth. 04:10:13.160 --> 04:10:14.180 Because I have a lisp. 04:10:14.520 --> 04:10:14.780 Thoth. 04:10:15.100 --> 04:10:15.640 It's like the fifth. 04:10:18.180 --> 04:10:20.820 And then, so my first one's going to be Horndoll. 04:10:21.380 --> 04:10:21.480 Yeah. 04:10:21.760 --> 04:10:22.980 It's a Swedish band. 04:10:24.440 --> 04:10:26.340 The album is Lake Drinker. 04:10:26.520 --> 04:10:29.320 It's heavy doom with gruff vocals from Stockholm. 04:10:30.640 --> 04:10:31.440 How bad is that? 04:10:31.640 --> 04:10:33.280 Fucking Lake Drinker. 04:10:34.500 --> 04:10:34.660 Yeah. 04:10:34.880 --> 04:10:35.920 Lake Drinker. 04:10:36.360 --> 04:11:04.160 That's fucking badass. I'm really digging this one. Every half year, I always crave some sort of just heavy doom band. And this one's fitting my bill right now, Horndole, Lake Drinker. Conclave, Dawn of Days, another kind of harsh vocals, doom band. 04:11:05.460 --> 04:11:34.440 The next one is Portal of Pazuzu. It's a self-titled album. The main guitar player from Battlecross, Huron, is one of the main guys in this band. And if you look on my wall over there, the giant guitar on the left is Huron's guitar that I got at Atlas. Anyway, it's a great death metal album. Check it out. 04:11:34.500 --> 04:12:04.420 Portals of Pazuzu. Next from all the way from the Skålen Hellslave from Sulfur Depths. I think maybe some of you guys have listened to this one. It's kind of like a old school thrash death outfit. Check that out. And then my album of the episode, My Good Friend that none of us have ever met, maybe Matt, have been the same. 04:12:04.520 --> 04:12:34.080 Wait, are we doing an album of the episode now or later, George? Because you had it on the script later. It doesn't matter. Okay. I mean, well, all right. Then skip on. I'm done. Okay. That goes to Jay. I'll be fairly brief. Some of the things I might mention were already mentioned by others, but two worth mentioning that were mentioned by others were Odyssey, 04:12:34.520 --> 04:13:04.460 The Vaconis album, I like that too. I say again that they almost ripped off, the first riff is almost a backwards or slightly dumbed down version of Blood and Thunder. And then it actually goes into a very Mastodon style opening track. But as John said, it's all over the map too. It does a lot of different stuff. It's just one song, but I'm going to mention The Bosque again. I'm really excited about that record. That song is so fucking cool. A bunch of stuff that I found on my own, but also stole from some of your fans. 04:13:05.199 --> 04:13:34.440 So feel free to shout out if it was something that you're like, yeah, that was me. That Conclave record I've been listening to. I thought Will turned me on to that one, I think, from his list. I can't remember. The Gastly record, which we got the promo for, I've been listening to a little bit more. Let's see here. Let's make sure I don't miss anything important. The last new kind of release, even though this has been out since February, but I had tried to push this in on everybody again, and Will mentioned it. 04:13:35.359 --> 04:14:03.660 I want to say that's got to be the German word for cannon fodder. That's what you're talking about, right? Well, I didn't look it up. I used to be almost fluent German, but cannon is definitely cannon. I don't know what Fieber is. I didn't look it up, but it's probably cannon fodder. If I had to guess from the way the album comes across, it's like stuffing old German soldiers into a cannon. I would say. 04:14:04.520 --> 04:14:32.460 I would also say that the sound of the album, there's some real sad stuff on there. And I wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting a Nazi sympathizer. Right, yeah. That's the problem. Yes, yes. Me too. When I saw Jay had this, I'm like, oh, well, he's probably a Nazi. I mean, Jay's a Nazi. So I don't know if I can listen to this. I checked it out. Jay is not a Nazi. Jay is not a Nazi. This is their own personal description of the album. 04:14:32.500 --> 04:15:02.440 This album is intended to commemorate the countless victims of World War I. Men were thrown into a differing reality from only survival, blah, blah, blah. It goes on from there. But the record is that thoughtful. And yet it's a it's also kind of a death metal kind of record. Not even kind of. It's a death metal record. So that's fucking great. And definitely that's going to be high on my list. So I've been listening to that a little bit more lately. I am not going to drag it out except to say it is very ironic, John, that you brought up the Riot records because I follow Kate and DePayne. 04:15:02.500 --> 04:15:31.240 on Facebook, the dude from Hyrix. And he posted Fire Down Under recently, and I was like, I know I've listened to that, but I'm going to check it out again. And I know I avoided it because of the cover. Totally did. I downloaded it. That's a great record. So I've been kind of working through Riot a bit of a deep dive. That's probably the best one, just so you know, if you care to follow me down this rabbit hole. We'll follow you anywhere, Jay. That's what I like to hear. That, and I also 04:15:32.000 --> 04:16:00.740 did not have a copy for the longest time of Witchfinder General's Death Penalty, which I used to listen to a lot. I don't know recently, so I must have listened to that 10 times this week. That's a great fucking record, dude. I got the vinyl because of the boobs. Yeah, well worthwhile. The digital also has the boobs, but on your phone it's not very effective. I like Marc Gasan's reaction on the video. He shakes his head to dick jokes and boobs. He's like, boobs. 04:16:00.780 --> 04:16:30.600 I'm not shaking my head to boobs. I, of course, enjoy breasts. I just find it funny that George decided that he was going to get it because of those, not because of the music. I'm kidding. Was it because ironic because this time it was boobs and not penis? Is that the dichotomy that you're saying? Yeah, well, yeah, it's confusing. I just thought it was ironic that, not ironic, but interesting that in the early, what, 80s, early 80s, you know, there were boobs. 04:16:32.119 --> 04:17:00.740 By the way Jay. I'm from America. Do not do a deep dive to your left again because look at you just went down on loop by the way. So that's it for me but I do want to mention I had mentioned this recently I've been taking more advanced guitar courses and stuff like that and really like improving my lead playing. So I recently got all three of the tablatures for the radio. Including this which has a tablature of the live 04:17:00.760 --> 04:17:30.500 Woodley Woodley Woodley stuff. And so I've been learning that. So, but I've also been listening to all three of those records quite a bit. How do you get any better? You're already a kick-ass guitar. I know I was going to say, you know, I will say this. I'm not the greatest lead player, but the last couple of months of work have made me very comfortable with, I'm a way better lead player now. And I intend to keep going. I will, I will, I will only say that in my nascent years of guitar playing, 04:17:30.760 --> 04:18:00.140 Picking up actual tablature books and reading tablature, you become such a phenomenon. Like if you pick up hard tablature and you want to like, I don't know, I'm rambling, but yes, you can become way, way, way better. Like if you're already good, you'll become better if you pick up hard stuff too. And what Jay just put up, yeah, dude. Yeah. That's the tough stuff. Fuck yeah, dude. That's awesome. I love it. Solos are hard. 04:18:00.180 --> 04:18:30.060 And I think I will say this though. I've learned a lot more theory in the last 10 weeks or something like that. And once you really fill in some of the holes on your understanding, this changes everything. When do we get to hear it? I hope soon. You know, my bass player is vaccinated, so. He was very classically trained, Randy Rhoads. He was, indeed. A lot of the lines in those songs are like classical approaches to arpeggiating scales. 04:18:30.180 --> 04:18:59.220 and stuff. No, you're right on the money and there are guys who will kind of break that down for you and some of my, some of the lessons I've been taking are a foundational understanding of how those things work. Yeah. And it has helped so much more than just like going, well, I think I could get my fingers to do that. Yeah. If you understand the modes and the patterns and the scales you're playing, it's a whole different story. So if you know what to play, it's not hard to move your fingers quickly. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And there you go. And so I've just been trying to widen my palate. But also, George, I wanted to share these with you. 04:18:59.520 --> 04:19:29.300 Since I'm showing you things I bought, this is not a love for this man. Did you just say widen your palate and you said George? My drawers are filling up. These are the Yngwie J. Malmsteen designed humbucking single coils that sound kick-ass. I'm not an Yngwie guy much, but I find the best ones I could. What are you going to put that in? My Stratocaster. 04:19:29.500 --> 04:19:56.220 Okay, well, if one plays a strat, I mean, I have several, but, you know, but I don't play them because I have Gibsons. Inve has the single best, like, totally self-oblivious social media presence of any guitar player. It's incredible. Like, the guy is so, he's so oblivious to how up his own ass he is. 04:20:00.040 --> 04:20:29.440 He's a phenomenal player. Trying to play anything Yngwie has played is very, very difficult. And it's also why I trust these. A, I read the reviews and listen to them, but the other thing is, he really fucking knows tones, dude. So I'm like, if anybody's going to know, it's going to be him. So I'll give you a full report, George, but I heard them on a YouTube video and they're pretty amazing. He's a pretty good singer, too. He is a pretty good singer. He's not. Well, that's not what I've heard. I've heard that he's not good. He's as good as Zach Wilde. 04:20:29.520 --> 04:20:59.420 He's on some of his own records. Yeah, well, you know, he throws all his former great singers under the bus and says they couldn't sing. And I'm like, yeah, it also sounds like I'm supporting him and I'm not believe me. Yeah, I think they're Jeff's. What is it? Jeff Scott Soto. Jeff's go to Scott. Scott Soto. Yeah, I'm going to go. Graham Bonnet. He had in his band. Yeah. Come on. Even even Mark Bowles, man. Come on. You know what? Yeah, exactly. I'm convinced he's such a worshiper. 04:20:59.500 --> 04:21:02.780 of Richie Blackmore. 04:21:04.000 --> 04:21:06.100 So he wanted to have all the vocalists he had. 04:21:06.390 --> 04:21:07.020 So he had them all. 04:21:07.020 --> 04:21:07.880 He had Julian Turner. 04:21:08.520 --> 04:21:09.340 No Ian Gillen. 04:21:11.020 --> 04:21:13.460 No, but he made a big point of becoming friends with Ian Gillen. 04:21:14.300 --> 04:21:17.100 Ian probably would have kicked his ass after the first recording session. 04:21:18.299 --> 04:21:20.580 Honestly, he's probably one of the few guys that intimidates him. 04:21:20.680 --> 04:21:22.380 He's probably like, I can't ask that guy to be a man. 04:21:23.819 --> 04:21:25.420 Ian's a big guy, too, on top of that. 04:21:25.850 --> 04:21:27.960 Yeah, but he holds those guys as gods. 04:21:28.020 --> 04:21:57.300 And I shouldn't even know that much about Yngwie, but one of my favorite articles in The Onion ever was Yngwie Malmsteen officially and legally changes his middle name to fucking. Because presumably all of his fans, that's the way they say it. Yngwie fucking Malmsteen. Let's just like, imagine being that good at a guitar, at an instrument of any, you know, like he's very, very high level play, but instead devote your persona to being that. It's hilarious and terrible. 04:21:57.380 --> 04:21:58.860 It's tragic in a way. 04:21:59.840 --> 04:22:01.580 Yeah, but all the best ones, I think I like that. 04:22:01.840 --> 04:22:04.400 Honestly, Michael Schenker is kind of a doofus dude, 04:22:05.260 --> 04:22:07.220 and Richie Blackmore is a huge asshole. 04:22:07.420 --> 04:22:08.500 Yeah, he's intolerable. 04:22:08.960 --> 04:22:12.660 To be good, you have to be so full of yourself that you're relaxed all the time, 04:22:12.840 --> 04:22:15.000 because I'm convinced the best players are the most relaxed players. 04:22:15.010 --> 04:22:15.580 You know what I mean? 04:22:15.620 --> 04:22:18.140 People hated Chuck Scholdinger. 04:22:18.960 --> 04:22:19.080 Yeah. 04:22:19.660 --> 04:22:20.980 I think he was kind of an asshole. 04:22:21.300 --> 04:22:24.680 Well, I mean, Luke's full name is Luke fucking Orem. 04:22:24.770 --> 04:22:25.980 I didn't know if you guys knew that. 04:22:28.859 --> 04:22:29.400 Go ahead. 04:22:30.160 --> 04:22:31.780 No, I was going to say, it's really funny you say it, Jake, 04:22:31.900 --> 04:22:34.240 because then I think of a guy like Alan Holdsworth or Jeff Beck, 04:22:34.580 --> 04:22:37.180 and they don't have to worry about that because they're just that much better. 04:22:37.180 --> 04:22:41.880 I was going to say, in my view, Alan Holdsworth is the greatest guitar player that has ever lived. 04:22:42.000 --> 04:22:45.700 He's phenomenally good. Nothing he's done is bad playing. 04:22:46.840 --> 04:22:47.920 UK is incredible. 04:22:49.000 --> 04:22:53.520 16 Men Attain, Road Games, phenomenal records, and he's utterly unassuming. 04:22:54.260 --> 04:22:55.420 He looked like a schoolteacher. 04:22:56.060 --> 04:23:24.320 You know, it's funny, since we're doing best ever, and this guy is kind of full of himself, but I think he's a pretty nice guy. But I would argue Jeff Beck needs to be at the very top. He's great, yeah. He is good, yeah, for sure. Yeah, but that's a good point about the... There you go. John's bringing out props. I've got the guitarist magazine or guitar player magazine that has that photo shoot in it, like where Alan Holds thought he was going to have a pop moment around the release of Joshua. Right, right, right. Secrets is the album. 04:23:25.000 --> 04:23:54.960 I'll accept that input into my theory, because my true theory is that you have to be relaxed to play well. And I think those guys are relaxed because they're full of themselves, but you can be relaxed for a lot of reasons. Yeah, he's very relaxed. Like what, drugs? No, no, I mean, just like a real low-key nervous system, because the more intense you get, the worse you play. If you want to see a great clip of Holdsworth, there's a clip of him on YouTube where he's playing with Soft Machine when he was in Soft Machine, and he's quite young in it, and he's playing a Gibson. 04:23:56.520 --> 04:24:24.340 He's not one of his silly little guitars. He's on a big 70s guitar. And you can see how utterly fluid and effortless the playing is. And it's just notes. It's so many notes. They don't make sense, but they do. I saw him play one time. And towards the end of the show, he said, I'm really sorry. I apologize for my performance tonight. I'm sick. And I looked over at my friend and he looked at me. He says, he's a guitarist. He says, that might be the greatest show I've ever seen in my life. 04:24:25.020 --> 04:24:54.960 I'm sorry, I'm sick tonight. Did you just see him as Alan Halsworth or what did you see him as? It was a trio and it was him. What is that Soft Machine video? Is it for one song or is it a live show? It's for one song and the song is off of Bundles, which is the Soft Machine album that Halsworth plays on and it's my favorite Soft Machine album. And it's like he's wearing like a white and like a nerdy jumper. 04:24:55.020 --> 04:25:00.060 Yeah, and he's playing a SG, and it's called Hazard Profile Part 1. 04:25:00.420 --> 04:25:02.480 Yeah, it's phenomenal playing. 04:25:03.000 --> 04:25:04.800 Cool. I just want to make sure I get to see it. All right, cool, thanks. 04:25:05.840 --> 04:25:07.120 With that, I'll hand it off to you, George. 04:25:08.320 --> 04:25:14.720 All right. I don't have much. I haven't actually been listening to a lot of metal lately. 04:25:16.200 --> 04:25:24.180 I did want to mention that I picked up a book that I have not read yet, but it's from Decibel. 04:25:24.560 --> 04:25:54.360 It's the Rotting Ways to Misery, the History of Finished Death Metal. I haven't read yet. I think I'll go for a walk. Marcus Maconan and Kim Strom's home. I'm a big fan of Finished Death Metal, particularly Sentenced, which is featured in the book. In fact, they named the book. So I'm looking forward to reading that. 90% of what I've been listening to lately has been The Remote. 04:25:55.480 --> 04:26:24.140 I've been reading the I Slept With Joey Ramone book by his brother Mickey Lay. I'm about 90% done with that book. It is a phenomenal book for punk rock music and just in terms of like rock music books in general. There's like so much good shit in there. It's ridiculous. So much so that I decided that I was going to record a 14 song Ramone's tribute album. 04:26:25.560 --> 04:26:52.780 that I'm 13 songs into guitar-wise. Not that anybody gives a shit and nobody's ever going to hear it. Can I come into the part where it says, party in the backseat? My kids love the Ramones, by the way. Yeah, that's awesome. But yeah, I am like, as I mentioned to a friend of mine the other day, I am all Ramones all the time. That's pretty much me right now, like the last few weeks. 04:26:54.560 --> 04:27:23.620 I would venture to say that the Ramones are my favorite band of all time across all genres because I fucking love the Ramones. And based on that, I did listen to a few other things. The Dead Boys and the Lords of the New Church, Steve Bader's bands, they were mentioned in there. And I've heard them before, but because of the book, I listened to some of that stuff again, which is good. And I discovered a new band. 04:27:24.540 --> 04:27:51.560 A New Old Band. They're called The Saints. They're from Australia. And their first album came out six months after the first Ramones album. It's called I'm Stranded. And it's pretty fucking good. And I'd never heard this band before until I read this book. And it's good shit. I mean, if you like old school punk, like real punk, not like hardcore punk, but like Ramones style punk, it's good shit. 04:27:53.420 --> 04:28:23.320 But I do have two other albums that are actually metal. The first one, ironically, Jay is not here. The band is called Bus. And I picked this up because it was on his Bandcamp Friday list. The Unknown Secretary. And then I also listened to their newest album called Never Decide. They're an Italian doom band. And it's, I wouldn't say it's quite stony. 04:28:23.400 --> 04:28:53.140 It's kind of sabbathy, but it's kind of stoner. It's really fucking cool because I'm not like, I haven't been very extreme medley lately. Um, it really kind of hit the spot for me and I bet Will would dig it. And as soon as Jay sits down in about three seconds, he's going to go, Oh yeah, I fucking dig that band. Uh, I'm talking about bus. Jay. Oh, the secretary thing. Yeah. Well, 04:28:53.420 --> 04:29:22.320 They have another album, a more recent album called Never Decide, which is also good. Although, honestly, the production is better on the first album. Okay. I think I bought that because it was in Will's feed. Just to say, did you buy that, Will? Maybe not. The Unknown Secretary? No, I don't think, no. Okay, I must have got it from George then. No, I got it from you. That's what I was just saying. Oh, you got it from me. Okay, then you know what? I was just shopping then. Yeah, yeah. But Never Decide, their more recent album. 04:29:22.400 --> 04:29:52.380 I remember seeing this when it came out because it has like two giant chickens in like a they're like these buildings and they're just like giant chickens with like cars and buildings George when you're describing you can call them cocks cocks giant cocks two giant cocks actually there's only one giant cock on this podcast it's Will but you know what I was you know what I think that George I did think Will would like this yeah no it definitely this is a Will it's like it's kind of sabbathy 04:29:52.420 --> 04:30:22.380 but it's a little more modern so I dig it oh you're talking about the music not the two big giant cocks yeah exactly exactly it's right up your alley yeah I'm just tracking yeah whoa hey hey hey and those two big cocks are right up your alley yeah and the last thing of course has been mentioned a bunch of times already and that's the new Voconis album odyssey uh I'll I picked that up because I found it on John John's list and uh I dig it as well so it doesn't 04:30:22.440 --> 04:30:51.940 that cover, Call to Mind, is it... What was Yanni's band, the dude, our buddy? Parallelian Ship? Is there a Parallelian Ship cover that looks a little bit like that or something? That cover is super familiar to me. Not really. Maybe just stylistically, even? Maybe. I like that you guys are trying to cut me some slack. I really appreciate that. You're like, okay, sure, Jay. I can kind of see it sideways. I understand what you're saying. 04:30:52.979 --> 04:30:56.900 I don't see it literally but I understand what you're saying. 04:30:57.900 --> 04:30:58.780 If that makes any sense. 04:30:59.980 --> 04:31:02.540 Okay. I'll keep looking because that record calls something. 04:31:02.960 --> 04:31:05.060 But there's also a badass cover dude if nothing else. 04:31:06.000 --> 04:31:06.160 Yeah. 04:31:06.760 --> 04:31:09.280 By the way I don't think that record sounds anything like that. 04:31:09.450 --> 04:31:10.960 By the way I don't think it sounds like the cover. 04:31:11.780 --> 04:31:12.580 No it does not. 04:31:13.700 --> 04:31:14.000 Yeah. 04:31:14.659 --> 04:31:17.320 But good stuff. And I like some of the earlier stuff too. 04:31:19.100 --> 04:31:19.860 Alright then. 04:31:20.580 --> 04:31:49.780 Let us move on to Metal Thunderdome. Oh my gosh. We're coming to the end here. Isn't this tough? Luke's doing good. It's really late for him. I know. He's a trooper. Luke, what time is it in the UK where you are right now? It is 2.45. Oh my god. That's usually East Coast time. We're doing shit. We started early for you, man. Let's get it going. 04:31:50.000 --> 04:32:19.160 Let's tackle this beast so we can get this boy to sleep. Will? It was my turn to do the Thunderdome and I conversed with George via text messages because I had a couple ideas and then we shot them down because it was too close to what John did recently. So my first idea was to do with the breakup of Black Sabbath with Ozzy leaving, not the breakup of Black Sabbath, but with Ozzy leaving Black Sabbath, we'll do Blizzard of Oz versus Heaven and Hell. 04:32:20.020 --> 04:32:49.980 And then we realized that that was too close to Diary of Man Man and My Rules. I also think I'm a more clear-cut winner in that one, too, at least in my mind. But go ahead. Yeah. So I rocked my brain for a while. Then I came up with this idea of like, well, okay. So we had not around the exact same time, but within a couple years of themselves, we had Anthrax came back with an album called Worship Music, which is the first album back with Joey Belladonna, who was the 04:32:50.020 --> 04:32:52.780 I was the traditional singer for Anthrax. 04:32:58.420 --> 04:33:00.820 The most notable. The one you would consider. 04:33:00.820 --> 04:33:03.360 Right, yeah. When you think of Anthrax, it'd be Joe Billadonna. 04:33:03.890 --> 04:33:04.920 Right, the classic singer. 04:33:05.670 --> 04:33:12.279 So John Bush left, and then they brought, well, I should say, they brought Joey back in, then John Bush left. 04:33:14.619 --> 04:33:15.840 And then kind of the same thing. 04:33:15.891 --> 04:33:17.480 So then I picked Exodus. 04:33:18.600 --> 04:33:47.619 somewhere around the same time within a couple years. Yeah, it was close. Yeah, so Exodus came out with an album called Blood In Blood Out, which was the first album back with Steve Zetrow, where he was not the first singer, but he's the traditional singer you think about with Exodus after a few albums appear with Dukes, Rob Dukes, right? His first name is Rob? Yep, that's right. 04:33:47.900 --> 04:34:17.699 Rob Nukes. So like, okay, I'll put these two together. So we have Anthrax's Worship Music versus Exodus's Blood In, Blood Out. So that's the Thunderdome. Pick one. So the first sort of comeback albums with each band's classic singer. Yeah. Even more interesting, Will, because they both were not the first singers in those bands either. Right. That's why we kind of, George and I, 04:34:17.881 --> 04:34:19.500 the term classic singer. 04:34:19.900 --> 04:34:21.400 It's not the first singer in the band. 04:34:21.480 --> 04:34:24.699 It's the singer that you most think of when you think of these bands. 04:34:25.080 --> 04:34:25.920 Yeah, so interesting. 04:34:26.090 --> 04:34:26.859 Yeah, okay, cool. 04:34:26.859 --> 04:34:27.301 I like it. 04:34:27.631 --> 04:34:31.721 All right, so Luke, of these two albums, which do you pick? 04:34:33.580 --> 04:34:33.980 Exodus. 04:34:35.119 --> 04:34:35.699 All right. 04:34:37.400 --> 04:34:42.141 I've not heard either of these albums before, and I'm not that familiar with Exodus. 04:34:42.680 --> 04:34:45.301 Anthrax I've seen live in years ago. 04:34:46.260 --> 04:35:13.979 I thought the Anthrax album was fine and I thought Joey Sound did good on it but it is a bit I got bored of it it's too long and it's a bit repetitive I just thought the Exodus thing had more really fun you know chuggy hardcorey breakdown bits and gang vocals and was more yeah more of a mosh vibe going on to the extent was I was around my friend's house today and I made him put it on so I've listened to it twice voluntarily so it deserves to win 04:35:15.980 --> 04:35:21.141 All right, Markisan. 04:35:23.221 --> 04:35:44.500 Yeah, I mean, usually I build up my pick, but this time I'm doing the exact opposite. It's Anthrax for me. Like a lot of people, I think worship music really rekindled my interest in the band and definitely enjoy Belladonna specifically. He is, of course, considered a great singer, but I honestly did not think that about him until worship music came out. 04:35:44.820 --> 04:36:14.301 Because he kind of sounded like a punk to me on those early anthrax albums. Fucking punk. And when he came back to the fold in, I guess, that was probably 2010 or so, he had that deeper, grittier voice. Fight him till you can't, motherfucker. It's just he has greater vocal control, and I just like that a lot better in his vocals. And I'm actually really partial to the John Bush anthrax albums, because that's when I came to anthrax. But this album would be pretty high in my all time. 04:36:14.840 --> 04:36:43.881 Album Ranking. It's definitely my favorite Anthrax record from the Belladonna era. But also, Joey Belladonna was born in Oswego, New York. I lived there when I was young, and I went to college there. He plays drums and sings in a cover band called Chief Bigway, and they do gigs in Syracuse, New York, which is where I was born. So he's a local boy. I'm good. And he's still doing it. 04:36:43.900 --> 04:37:13.760 I am not picking Exodus over a hometown hero. There is no way in hell I'm doing that. I would pick Anthrax anyways, but that puts it over the top for me. Right on. Matty. I'm going to go with Mastodon's Leviathan. I'm kidding. For this one, I have to go. I mean, I think we can all agree. Of all of us, I have the most fucked up metal journey in the sense of like some of these bands. 04:37:13.900 --> 04:37:43.801 I came into Anthrax and the John Bush era. That is all I knew of Anthrax. And then looking back retroactively, I realized like that was almost kind of an out-of-body experience in terms of like the Belladonna. I think of like Among the Living, Stadia Euphoria, those albums, which I grew love. With Exodus, the first time I knew anything of Exodus, well, I knew of them, but my first musical experience with them was with Rob Dukes live playing at a, 04:37:44.379 --> 04:38:13.881 a club within a strip mall on the Jägermeister tour. And Rob Dukes did not look like the Rob Dukes. I know his hair was longer. He had a beard. I was mildly fearing for my life at the time. But they sounded great. They were touring a shovel-headed killing machine. Yep. Sure. That's a great record. It's a fabulous record. And so... It's almost like a fabulous disaster. But I'm... Long story short, of the two bands, earlier era, I 04:38:13.900 --> 04:38:14.980 I probably would connect more with 04:38:18.600 --> 04:38:20.900 Exodus even with the singer switch over 04:38:22.539 --> 04:38:26.740 you know like when I say the John Bush era was like an out-of-body experience strangely enough 04:38:26.980 --> 04:38:30.080 listening to worship music I felt like Belladonna's voice reminded me 04:38:30.900 --> 04:38:34.119 it just felt a little bit more similar to John Bush than I'd ever realized 04:38:34.600 --> 04:38:36.480 that album was written for John Bush 04:38:38.359 --> 04:38:43.078 but I would also back up Markisan that Joey sounds better I think now than he did 04:38:43.100 --> 04:38:44.061 in the old school days. 04:38:44.061 --> 04:38:44.641 I like his singing. 04:38:44.811 --> 04:38:46.180 He's better now than he's ever been. 04:38:46.760 --> 04:38:48.340 And he's amazing live, by the way. 04:38:48.439 --> 04:38:48.961 He's so good. 04:38:49.119 --> 04:38:49.520 Yes. 04:38:50.420 --> 04:38:52.760 As you said, I saw him on the Slayer Farewell tour. 04:38:52.961 --> 04:38:56.400 I mean, I had been jonesing to see them for years, and I thought they sounded fabulous. 04:38:56.920 --> 04:38:57.359 Yeah, they were great. 04:38:58.279 --> 04:39:00.881 That said, though, I do have to go with Blood in, Blood Out. 04:39:01.340 --> 04:39:01.539 Nice. 04:39:02.920 --> 04:39:03.660 Two to one. 04:39:05.461 --> 04:39:05.760 John. 04:39:10.521 --> 04:39:12.801 So, I didn't really know these two albums that well. 04:39:13.301 --> 04:39:19.881 just a little bit and so it was a good chance for me to go back and listen and i will say that 04:39:22.461 --> 04:39:26.900 i'm not the biggest anthrax fan in the world i get why people like him i just don't get it 04:39:27.109 --> 04:39:32.600 to be honest with you but i wanted to give them a fair shake and i listened and the album is fine i mean i 04:39:32.760 --> 04:39:40.878 agree with everyone joey sounds great he's a very good singer um but i went with exodus because i 04:39:40.900 --> 04:40:10.720 I think the music's better personally. I absolutely hate the vocals on this album. I can't stand them. I mean. I'm the opposite. I really like the vocals on Exit. On the Exit album? On the Exit album. I can't stand it. It sounds stupid, but I liked it, you know, like. I kept hearing like Udo from Accept and what's his name from Overkill. He's an acquired taste. Yeah, he is. And I'm not trying to disparage him. It's just because I like the music. 04:40:10.920 --> 04:40:40.860 so much. I just wasn't matching for me, the vocals and the music, but I thought the music was better. I mean, and the anthrax, I agree with you a little bit. Look, I liked it, but after a while, I kind of just, I heard that song already. So, yeah, I agree. I think, I just want to say, I think the excess music is fantastic in it, but I think the vocals suck. It's like the whole part. I mean, you got to take that into account when you're listening. And this, this, this one reminded me a little bit of Markisan 04:40:40.880 --> 04:41:10.660 first Thunderdome. I absolutely loved the music from Merciful Fates album. Absolutely just love it. And I just couldn't get past some of the high-pitched stuff. And that's why I went with Dio on that one. But I loved the Dio album too, though. But in this one, Exodus, I thought the music was way better, personally. So it's three to one. Yes. I tell you, I thought it was going to be the other way around, but okay. Let's see what I know. I'm usually wrong. Will? I respectively request to go last because it's my Thunderdome. 04:41:12.798 --> 04:41:38.720 I will keep my comments fairly brief and I will keep them fairly brief. We have a very tired UK resident here. But I do want to say a few things about them. One is that I really liked Worship Music when it came out. I thought it was great. I still don't understand why people can't get on board like me and George and admit that For All Kings is, I think, possibly even better. Frankly, I think For All Kings is a really good record. Very good record. 04:41:40.900 --> 04:42:09.820 I was a Rob Duke's Exodus guy, but an Exodus guy in general, but I am definitely into this outro thing these days. Also, Gary Holt is super underrated. I don't think people understand how fucking good a guitar player that dude is. Awesome shredding on that album, yeah. And I would add one other thing about the guitar playing, which is, it's too bad we didn't talk about this in advance, because if you listen to Blood In, Blood Out again, listen to the solos. 04:42:09.840 --> 04:42:36.200 to me, it's one of the few records that I can think of in the last 10 years where they sound like they're having a contest. Where it's just like, dude, I'm going to do something weirder and cooler than you, and then you go, you got 30 seconds. The solos on this record are amazing. And so honestly, it's pretty easy for me. I actually think this could be Exodus' best record. So Blood In, Blood Out for me. I fucking love that record. And I can't wait for the next one, because I hope it builds on this. This was their most recent record. 04:42:36.240 --> 04:43:05.600 It also has a painkiller tribute drum fill, which I really liked. Yes. It's so good. I love this fuck record, man. Damn. So I'm going to Exodus. Wow. And it's not to shit on worship music, but honestly, if it was between this and For All Kings, it would have been harder for me. Yeah. I actually like For All Kings more than most people do. Not more than George. We like it together. I like it. I don't think it's better than worship music, but it's really a good record. They're both good. They're both good. Yeah. 04:43:05.660 --> 04:43:35.560 Yeah, I mean, I love Joey, and I love Zitro. I mean, you can't go wrong with either of these. You can't. You know? I mean, unless you're talking Paul Bailock, you know? I mean, fucking Bonded by Blood is the Exodus album. I don't care what anybody says. But Zitro, I love the Zitro shit, too. But I love Joey. I do not. I like Bush. 04:43:35.660 --> 04:44:05.000 in Armored Saint. I don't like Bush in Anthrax. Sorry. That goes back to though, just to first, and I think you guys ought to recognize this, but George and I probably, we came to Anthrax through Joey, so I totally understand the John Bush comments, but they don't. Yeah, I liked him when he was in Armored Saint. I like him now that he's back in Armored Saint. I just never liked him in Anthrax. So when Joey came back to Anthrax, that was like, oh, it was fucking, it was fucking beautiful. 04:44:05.400 --> 04:44:35.220 So I'm going to side with Markisan this one, buddy. I got to be alone. No, man. I have a friend. I got to have worship music. I like both albums. I like both singers, but I got to go worship music because that when that album came out, that like blew my fucking mind. I was like, it was like, you know, they were back. It was the perfect fit for that band. You know, I, I, I'm partial to the John Bush era, but. 04:44:35.300 --> 04:44:40.440 I recognize that there's a really good relationship between 04:44:41.300 --> 04:44:48.060 the playing and Belladonna's vocals for Anthrax. I think that's probably the perfect fit for the band. 04:44:48.360 --> 04:44:52.600 I've seen them several times with Joey and they were amazing. 04:44:53.800 --> 04:45:04.360 Yeah, me too. Since he's been back. But I also wanted to kind of quickly say, sadly, the new Exodus record has been pushed because of the cancer thing. So that's a bummer. It's getting pushed in November. 04:45:04.980 --> 04:45:32.340 And also, there's a picture floating around, a very charming picture of Tom hunting with his hair all short now because of the treatments. He looks good. I saw that picture, yeah. Anyway. Pass to Tom hunting. That brings it to you, Will. All right, so I thought I was going to feel very, very strongly about this one way, and then the more I thought about it, I kind of went the other way. And so I look at it this way. 04:45:33.540 --> 04:45:59.340 So you have the reason why I kind of picked this is, you know, I told you earlier that I went with one. I went with like the whole like Ozzy first album with the Black Sabbath first album that didn't work out. So I'm like, OK, what can I what can I what can I pick that's going to be as interesting? Because you guys have all had some of these amazing like there's a competition. Like I have to find something sort of interesting and cool and amazing like the rest of you guys have picked. 04:46:00.520 --> 04:46:29.900 So I decided with this pick. And so when I looked at it, I was like, okay, you had... Anthrax had Joey Belladonna, right? Great musical singer. They had some great albums. And then it went with the John Bush era. And I love John Bush, but I love John Bush with Armored Saint, right? But I don't think it's John Bush's fault with Exodus. Sorry, with Anthrax, because I think it's just Anthrax in general, 04:46:29.960 --> 04:46:59.880 just became a pile of shit for a while. I mean, you could put any phenomenal singer in there. I just think their music just didn't do great. They were trying to survive the 90s and they didn't do the best job at it. Right, yes, exactly. And you know what? The only band that did worse than them was Metallica. And yet they survived much better. Right, yeah, somehow. So then I looked, 04:46:59.960 --> 04:47:29.920 I'm like man I have blood in blood out man I love this album like this is so good I mean it's just ripping start to finish there's no filler this just is like just awesome I'm like I was thinking about like okay but I really liked Rob Dukes like Rob the the the atrocity exhibition one and two and you shovel help shovel head to kill machine I mean these are some phenomenal albums 04:47:29.960 --> 04:47:31.580 It was always like a different band like yeah 04:47:32.480 --> 04:47:33.920 Fuck these albums are awesome 04:47:34.400 --> 04:47:36.100 If you take them out of context of like 04:47:36.200 --> 04:47:37.720 the Zitro bail off era 04:47:38.000 --> 04:47:40.100 They're great. Yeah, they're awesome 04:47:40.460 --> 04:47:41.780 So I kind of thought about like 04:47:42.360 --> 04:47:45.260 And I know I know they were like separated by like three or four years 04:47:45.400 --> 04:47:46.060 But I was like, okay 04:47:47.600 --> 04:47:49.860 And what it came down to me is I'm got I'll tell you right now 04:47:49.890 --> 04:47:51.680 I'm going with anthrax because 04:47:53.960 --> 04:47:56.580 When Zetro came back and did blood in blood out 04:47:56.810 --> 04:47:59.920 It was like it wasn't like this transformational period 04:47:59.940 --> 04:48:00.780 to me. 04:48:01.230 --> 04:48:02.300 Because you had Rob Dukes. 04:48:02.300 --> 04:48:03.520 And Rob Dukes made some really. 04:48:03.780 --> 04:48:07.800 He made three albums that were phenomenal in my opinion. 04:48:08.640 --> 04:48:09.440 Like classic. 04:48:11.320 --> 04:48:12.080 I was going to say Mexican. 04:48:12.620 --> 04:48:12.960 Exodus. 04:48:14.702 --> 04:48:15.140 Albums. 04:48:16.622 --> 04:48:18.740 But when Persistence of Time. 04:48:18.860 --> 04:48:20.400 I think it was the last album they had. 04:48:20.710 --> 04:48:22.760 That Joey Billadon was on. 04:48:22.960 --> 04:48:24.100 In Anthrax. 04:48:24.800 --> 04:48:27.920 And then it was like 10, 15 years of garbage. 04:48:28.340 --> 04:48:29.500 Even though John Bush is awesome. 04:48:29.580 --> 04:48:32.000 It was just like this music is garbage 04:48:32.050 --> 04:48:33.620 Like who cares about this shit 04:48:34.050 --> 04:48:35.340 And then Joey came back 04:48:35.770 --> 04:48:37.240 Even though that album was written 04:48:37.860 --> 04:48:38.600 For John Bush 04:48:39.220 --> 04:48:40.400 When Joey came back 04:48:40.840 --> 04:48:41.720 It made it magic 04:48:42.040 --> 04:48:44.540 It really made Anthrax magic again 04:48:45.320 --> 04:48:46.180 And even I think 04:48:46.570 --> 04:48:48.840 For All Kings is a flaming pile 04:48:48.880 --> 04:48:50.420 Is a dumpster fire of shit 04:48:50.430 --> 04:48:51.460 That I did not like 04:48:51.860 --> 04:48:53.820 But if I look at 04:48:54.110 --> 04:48:56.060 What impact the singer had 04:48:56.600 --> 04:48:58.542 On their first album back 04:48:58.560 --> 04:49:27.280 Joey made a bigger impact on how I looked at Anthrax than when Zetra came back on Exodus. And I thought initially when I looked at this, Exodus all the way. I love that. I'm going to back you up there, Will, and just say this, that even though I chose Exodus and I think it's the superior record, I think the Exodus record would not suffer if it had Rob instead of Zetra on it. But I do think the Anthrax record would be much worse if it didn't have Joey on it. 04:49:32.342 --> 04:49:57.240 So the return was key is the point. That's why. And keep in mind, it was like eight years or something before the previous album was like eight years before. So it was a long time before they came back with that one. And it was a big comeback album. Certainly more impactful than the Exodus album. I think this was the right choice of album. But there was another interesting take on this, which was, 04:49:57.400 --> 04:50:26.840 that Tempo of the Damned was the first record Exodus made in 12 years. And that was the last record to have Zetra on it. But technically it was sort of a comeback record for all of them. But Zetra had never left. So they didn't make a record for 12 years. And then he left and robbed and all that. But yeah. I'll say this though. Both of them have new records coming out and I'm excited about both of them. And another close Thunderdome. I mean Exodus wins 4-3? 4-3, yeah. But still close. I thought it was going to be Exodus across the board. We'll see what the listen is. 04:50:28.180 --> 04:50:57.120 When I first started this, I'm like, I'm picking Exodus. Because I actually... But I try to be weirdly scientifically objective about this. And I factor all those things in. I'm like, but... I did my scientific calculations. This didn't factor into mine, Marcuson. But I also did go with my hometown band. So we could kind of hold it there. I knew as soon as he said it, I was like, oh, Anthrax, for sure. 04:50:57.620 --> 04:51:27.340 But I like them both. Dude, I was actually, when I first thought about this, Exodus all the way. Me too, and I never changed. This album, the Exodus album has Chuck Billy and Kirk Hammett on it, which I was like, Kirk Hammett on it? Yeah, yeah. Well, this might be like the last Thunderdome that gets overturned by the listeners. We'll just see. That's true. I have to say, I am not a big Exodus fan. You guys have forced me to listen to Exodus. 04:51:27.400 --> 04:51:28.660 for a couple of these. 04:51:28.920 --> 04:51:32.040 And so I definitely have a greater appreciation for that band. 04:51:32.160 --> 04:51:34.600 I think the music is pretty amazing. 04:51:34.800 --> 04:51:36.120 It's the singing that I, 04:51:37.540 --> 04:51:38.360 it's hard for me. 04:51:38.440 --> 04:51:38.680 It's kind of like, 04:51:38.780 --> 04:51:41.300 it's kind of like a Bobby Ellsworth from, 04:51:41.718 --> 04:51:42.120 from, 04:51:42.520 --> 04:51:43.080 from Overkill. 04:51:43.700 --> 04:51:43.780 Like, 04:51:44.420 --> 04:51:46.740 like if you listen to it when you were like 15, 04:51:47.000 --> 04:51:47.680 like I did, 04:51:48.120 --> 04:51:48.440 you're like, 04:51:48.620 --> 04:51:48.820 yeah, 04:51:48.920 --> 04:51:49.560 this is awesome. 04:51:49.820 --> 04:51:50.760 If I had to listen to it now, 04:51:50.760 --> 04:51:51.060 I'm like, 04:51:51.900 --> 04:51:52.300 well, 04:51:52.600 --> 04:51:56.360 I liked it because I, 04:51:56.460 --> 04:51:57.260 I thought I get, 04:51:58.020 --> 04:52:25.800 I don't know Exodus very well. Anthrax I know a bit better. I've never been that into them. I'm a Slayer guy when it comes to Thrash. Oh, there you go. We all are. Yeah. But the Exodus guy, his vocal sounds more like Heria. It's evil sounding and nasty, whereas Anthrax always sound like bros. Melodic. Those are relevant. I can accept those comments. 04:52:27.380 --> 04:52:57.320 You need to listen to bonded by blood because that is the greatest Exodus album with Paul Bailoff. The one album with Paul. I'll check it out. That is the shit. It's from the 80s. So brace yourself. Yeah, I'm sure you can take that, but it doesn't have. I say Gary Holt is an underrated guitar player. Kerry King calls him the Glenn Tipton of, you know, right. The playing was phenomenal. And like, because, you know, because I'm in, I'm in a grind context. So often I'm really used to high pitch screechy nonsense, vocals or grunts. Like it doesn't bother. 04:52:57.420 --> 04:53:27.000 I don't listen to the vocals in music anymore. He is sticking on my nerves too, but I actually like him now. And I think he's great. Yeah. So it's like, he's doing it on purpose. Cause when you listen, like it's this weird voice, when he starts sustaining a note, it becomes like a real singing note for a little bit. Yeah. And that's the opposite of most, like most vocalists is the opposite. They sort of sing kind of normally and then have to scream to get a sustained note. Yeah. Yeah. It's the opposite way around. It's so weird. Yeah. By the way, 04:53:27.380 --> 04:53:57.300 does a podcast and some other stuff. And he recently went on a physical fitness kick and he's really slim. Yeah, he did. Look good, take good care of himself and stuff. So good for him. Yeah. You know. All right. All right. Well, we've come to the end of the. Well, we still have to do on the episode. We still have to do our album of the episode. So. And I like how you put this at the end, George. That makes more sense. It does. It's like, why talk about it in the middle? And we haven't talked about everything yet. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Luke, what would be. 04:53:57.420 --> 04:54:27.340 What's your album of the episode? In terms of anything that anyone has talked about on this episode, what album would you pick as your favorite for this episode? I'm going to cheat and give two. So it's either Panopticon, but if you have heard that or you want to hear something different, check out Victory Over the Sun with No Wearer, because it's kind of similar, but slightly different approach. All right. Mark us on. Yeah, it's Panopticon for me. I mean, this is going to be 04:54:27.360 --> 04:54:32.940 pretty high on my list. I guess I'm giving a little bit away, but it'll be high on my list for 04:54:33.400 --> 04:54:38.740 maybe your next month. It's just phenomenal. And I've only listened to it a couple times, so 04:54:39.060 --> 04:54:42.880 I can only imagine it growing in my heart 04:54:43.760 --> 04:54:46.220 the more I listen to it. Matt, would you like to repeat those sentiments? 04:54:48.478 --> 04:54:49.280 Mastodon's Leviathan. 04:54:51.400 --> 04:54:53.580 No, I'm kidding. I too would go with Panopticon. 04:54:54.580 --> 04:54:56.100 All right. And that remark sounds good. 04:54:57.000 --> 04:55:26.540 Yeah. Then, John. Three syllables. Door de do. Heart. That's my opinion. I get that much. Interesting. I definitely have to listen to it again. I waited a long time for it. You might want to check out their other full-length release if you like it. I just waited a long time for this release, and I was excited to hear it came out, and I enjoyed it. Awesome, John. Will? Mine is also three. 04:55:26.980 --> 04:55:56.380 Three syllables. It's called Creeping Fear. Creeping Fear. Has that even been mentioned? Did you mention it? No. No, because we had to wait till the end, right? Oh, well, I thought you were going to mention it. Well, technically it's been mentioned now, so here you go. I just allow myself to introduce myself. Fair enough. Fair enough. Dang, Cladging Car, Clown Car, Clancher. 04:55:57.000 --> 04:55:58.840 told me about these guys. 04:56:00.542 --> 04:56:01.880 Although they're from Paris, 04:56:02.160 --> 04:56:02.400 France, 04:56:02.580 --> 04:56:04.540 but a creeping fear is a band. 04:56:05.820 --> 04:56:08.920 It's kind of like an ever so slightly blackened death, 04:56:09.260 --> 04:56:09.982 but a blackened, 04:56:10.680 --> 04:56:13.320 but truly in the vein of death metal. 04:56:14.340 --> 04:56:16.420 The album is called hate God triumph. 04:56:16.780 --> 04:56:18.040 And I think they had me a hate. 04:56:18.130 --> 04:56:18.440 Oh yeah. 04:56:18.620 --> 04:56:18.680 Yeah. 04:56:18.840 --> 04:56:19.900 That's a great fucking record dude. 04:56:20.240 --> 04:56:20.320 Yeah. 04:56:21.320 --> 04:56:21.920 But yeah. 04:56:23.340 --> 04:56:25.380 Dan in Winnipeg told me about this and I, 04:56:25.480 --> 04:56:26.520 I fucking love it. 04:56:26.620 --> 04:56:56.380 Now that is one I bought that was in Will's feed for sure. Yeah. Well, Dan told me about that. So I picked up because of Dan. Fucking Dan rules. You clown car. All right. Well, then, Jay, what you got? Well, it might surprise you guys to hear me say this, but I was a late comer to this to this phenomenon. I did buy like the last chemist. Really? Never. I'll take that one to the grave. 04:56:56.620 --> 04:56:57.600 But I, 04:56:57.790 --> 04:56:57.880 I, 04:56:57.880 --> 04:56:58.100 um, 04:56:58.240 --> 04:56:58.800 I'm panopticon. 04:56:59.070 --> 04:56:59.600 I love it too. 04:56:59.600 --> 04:57:00.800 I think it's fucking really good. 04:57:01.040 --> 04:57:01.120 I, 04:57:01.970 --> 04:57:02.620 I have, 04:57:02.860 --> 04:57:03.240 like I said, 04:57:03.240 --> 04:57:05.260 I was a late adopter with these guys, 04:57:05.420 --> 04:57:10.120 but the last like two or three records I bought and I knew you guys were all gonna be freaked out about this one. 04:57:10.120 --> 04:57:11.600 So I figured if I listen to it, 04:57:12.050 --> 04:57:12.140 uh, 04:57:12.420 --> 04:57:13.040 it will be on my list. 04:57:13.100 --> 04:57:13.500 Most likely. 04:57:13.780 --> 04:57:16.960 I'm also going to give an honorable mention to that pre-release bask just cause 04:57:19.300 --> 04:57:19.860 giving me, 04:57:20.070 --> 04:57:20.160 uh, 04:57:20.460 --> 04:57:21.440 the best kinds of headaches. 04:57:23.580 --> 04:57:24.660 And that brings us to you, 04:57:24.820 --> 04:57:26.560 George with a lizard in my mind. 04:57:26.560 --> 04:57:56.440 It's funny that will. Actually, you know what? One more honorable mention by me. Blood in, blood out. There you go. Mine is one that I can't believe nobody's mentioned yet, but I'm just going to go with it because nobody's mentioned it, and it's four syllables, and it's pan-op-ti-con. I see what you did there. So, yeah, no doubt on that one. That's fucking badass. Let's wrap this shit up. 04:57:56.580 --> 04:58:24.820 All right. So here we are at the end. I will step out first and say it's been a treat to have you, Luke. Thank you for being so free to share your thoughts and opinions. Willing to spend five hours with us? Well, thank you for coming. You're a treat to have. This is the part where you say the favorite guest thing. I traditionally tell this to everybody, Luke, at the end of an episode. 04:58:26.560 --> 04:58:56.540 I think you're the best guest we've ever had. You are a tremendous guest. I really appreciate you coming on. I love working with you on the By the Horns cover and just talking to you. When we talked about that cover, I was like, man, Luke would be a really good guest on the Metalhead's podcast. And of course you were. I love how involved you are in every aspect of this cast. I know it was long. You had all kinds of opinions and we really appreciate it. And you added a lot of great insights to all of us. 04:58:56.600 --> 04:59:15.800 All the pieces of this cast. I'm very pleased to hear that that was successful. Thank you. Thanks so much for coming on. Peace, dudes. All right, guys. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Talk to you next time. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye. 05:00:00.340 --> 05:00:10.520 Hey, this is the Metal Heads Podcast. Thanks for calling. We're not available right now, but if you want to leave the message, we may or may not get back to you. Thanks a lot, and have a nice day. 05:00:13.000 --> 05:00:24.740 Hey, I'm almost done with my first full Metal Heads Podcast episode. I don't normally listen to the whole thing, but I almost made it through this whole one. 05:00:24.920 --> 05:00:37.440 I had to stop just a few times to eat and twice to sleep. It's a Lewis and Clark type journey and I've almost made it. I feel good about it. Watch you later tonight. Bye.