The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[Prog Snob]

People listen to DLR?

People that need cochlear implants. 

[Kwyjibo]

Joe Holmes sounds right, and Wikipedia just confirmed that he toured with DLR for A Little Ain't Enough because of Jason Becker's diagnosis of ALS.

Joe wasn't bad but he was no EVH or Steve Vai.

Eat em and smile, Skyscraper and A little ain't enough are all great records. Filthy mouth was a mixed bag, Diamond Dave is weird and DLR Band is really solid but more modern rock sounding probably thanks to John5 than I expected from Dave.

[BlobVanDam]

Joe Holmes sounds right, and Wikipedia just confirmed that he toured with DLR for A Little Ain't Enough because of Jason Becker's diagnosis of ALS.

Joe wasn't bad but he was no EVH or Steve Vai.

Eat em and smile, Skyscraper and A little ain't enough are all great records. Filthy mouth was a mixed bag, Diamond Dave is weird and DLR Band is really solid but more modern rock sounding probably thanks to John5 than I expected from Dave.

DLR Band was more modern sounding than what he'd done before, but I still wouldn't call it modern compared to what was popular at the time. This was the late '90s! It was less specific to an era than the early stuff though.
I was never really a fan of Joe Holmes. It seems he was always the backup, but never really managed to do much of his own.

[TAC]

Oh and Brent, the only thing getting me through my work day was knowing the Metal Church would be waiting for me when I get home.

But your review is not totally unexpected. But I do want something solid.

[bl5150]

Oh and Brent, the only thing getting me through my work day was knowing the Metal Church would be waiting for me when I get home.

But your review is not totally unexpected. But I do want something solid.

Interested in your thoughts........next time I listen I will start at Track 6 

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Eat 'Em and Smile was awesome.  You could not have put together a better backing band if you tried.

[TAC]

Joe Holmes sounds right, and Wikipedia just confirmed that he toured with DLR for A Little Ain't Enough because of Jason Becker's diagnosis of ALS.

Jason did the tour here.

[Prog Snob]

Eat 'Em and Smile was awesome.  You could not have put together a better backing band if you tried.

Seriously. That was some lineup.

[Lowdz]

I like a lot of the DLR solo material, not as good as Van Halen but still fun to listen to.

But when I saw him live he played only VH songs and maybe two of his solo songs. Seems he wasn't that confident on his own material. And VH songs without Eddie on guitar are just not the same. And it wasn't even Steve Vai but some touring guitarist whose name I forgot.

Probably Joe Holmes.

I like plenty of DLR (although some songs haven't aged well) - esp  songs off Eat Em and Smile and A Little Ain't Enough.  Can't say that I listen to them much these days though.

I play the 1st two solo albums regularly, though Skyscraper only really gets played because it's tagged onto the end of the same CD-R for the car  that was a letdown of an album overall. EEAS is a great album. Vai rules on it and I'd take it over any VH album. ALAE was excellent too. Becker did a great job. After that I don't think he made one decent solo song.

[bl5150]

Even if you don't like the song................the lyrics to Land's Edge


Here's a word about my ex-girlfriend
Towards the end conflict off and on
And I told her one night, "Honey every time we fight
I'll write a verse to this song"

Well, things got bad and things got worse
Still I struggled on
So sit back and get all comfortable
'Cause this little tunes six fuckin' hours long



 

[Lowdz]

Even if you don't like the song................the lyrics to Land's Edge


Here's a word about my ex-girlfriend
Towards the end conflict off and on
And I told her one night, "Honey every time we fight
I'll write a verse to this song"

Well, things got bad and things got worse
Still I struggled on
So sit back and get all comfortable
'Cause this little tunes six fuckin' hours long



 

That is a cracker. You can rely on Dave for a great lyric.

I really like

Float like a butterfly
Sting like a B52

And

I was born without a silver spoon but I'm gonna make a stir

[TAC]

Oh and Brent, the only thing getting me through my work day was knowing the Metal Church would be waiting for me when I get home.

But your review is not totally unexpected. But I do want something solid.

Interested in your thoughts........next time I listen I will start at Track 6 

OK One listen in.

And all I can say is 

Brent, a 79?? You couldn't give it one measly point to get to an 80?


I don't know how any fan of the Howe era could be disappointed with this album. What I like about it the most is that while I feared they'd keep Mike in his lower register, they do not. It is the classic sounds of Mike Howe Metal Church.

I agree with Brent that the second half of the album is far superior to the first half. Not that the first half is bad. Seems like they could've used a few choruses in the first half. But the first half still rocks. It's just that the second half is excellent.

But I was thinking. What do the classic 3 Howe era albums all have in common? They all have excellent first sides while tucking all of the weakest tracks on the second side. This simply does the opposite.

But by the end I am very happy.

Deserves an 80% easy!

[TAC]

So what do you get when you cross Chris Holmes and Suicidal Tendencies?
Apparently The Tracy G Band. WTF?

https://bravewords.com/news/former-dio-guitarist-tracy-g-releases-solo-album-tramp

[bl5150]

While we wait for Ben to get his shit together for another podcast , I thought I would just post to assure you that your  podcast host has been spreading the metal word.  On the weekend we had a family wedding at which Ben was page boy.

For the formalities he put on his best James Bond and kept things very smooth and sophisticated





When the formalities were over however it was a different story (none of these were posed for - just Ben being Ben    )

[jjrock88]

Metal Ben!!!

 

[Lowdz]

 

[wolfking]

Cool pics.  Super class kid Brent.

[Kwyjibo]

Awww, cute, but I'm sure that cute is the last thing he wants to be called 

How old is he?

[bl5150]

Just turned 8 

[Prog Snob]

Those are awesome photos.   

[wolfking]

I'm having a listen to the new Anthrax at the moment.  I have never really gotten into much of their stuff at all to be honest.  I have an old best of but that's about it and it never did grab me.  I've never really heard any of their new stuff but this new one is a great slab of heavy metal, not what I expected.  Might have to pick this up.  Is this a fair representation of what they have been doing in their later years?  Not sure how active they have been to be honest too lately.

EDIT:  Just saw this album has Jon Donais from Shadows Fall on leads, he's a great guitarist.

[Kwyjibo]

I'm a long time Anthrax fan. But not all of their records are flawless.

From the classic era I would recommend Spreading The Disease and Among The Living. From the Bush era Stomp 442 and We've Come For You All, the former being more trashy and aggressive than they used to be. And Worship Music is a great comeback record. The new one really grew on me after I was disappointed at first. I think it's a fairly good representation of classic Anthrax.

[Lowdz]

Just turned 8 

My 8 year old loves The Astonishing and both my boys were "playing" it today. Not the album, playing the game!

[wolfking]

I'm a long time Anthrax fan. But not all of their records are flawless.

From the classic era I would recommend Spreading The Disease and Among The Living. From the Bush era Stomp 442 and We've Come For You All, the former being more trashy and aggressive than they used to be. And Worship Music is a great comeback record. The new one really grew on me after I was disappointed at first. I think it's a fairly good representation of classic Anthrax.

Cool mate, thanks.  I'll think I'll definitely purchase this new one, it's great.

[TAC]

Yeah Kade, the new Anthrax is excellent. As was Worship Music.
Those are the only albums they have made since Joey came back to the band.
They have been very active touring and such.

Kwyjibo pretty much nailed it. I also think you'd really like Spreading The Disease. It's a classic.

And I also echo his call for Stomnp 442, which is not only my favorite of the Bush years, but is one of my all time favorite albums.

[wolfking]

Just having a bit of a listen of Worship Music right now before work Tim.  A bit more old school thrash on the first track it seems which is fine with me, I think the new one had more heavy metal elements which makes it appeal to me more I think.

Even though I don't know much Armored Saint, I'm interested in hearing the stuff Bush did with them.

EDIT:  Second song on Worship Music has the heavy metal feel so I'm liking this one too.

[bl5150]

Just turned 8 

My 8 year old loves The Astonishing and both my boys were "playing" it today. Not the album, playing the game!

Ben likes some Disney too occasionally    (sorry........you set that up perfectly )

[TAC]

Just having a bit of a listen of Worship Music right now before work Tim.  A bit more old school thrash on the first track it seems which is fine with me, I think the new one had more heavy metal elements which makes it appeal to me more I think.

Even though I don't know much Armored Saint, I'm interested in hearing the stuff Bush did with them.

EDIT:  Second song on Worship Music has the heavy metal feel so I'm liking this one too.

The four albums they did with Bush, not sure how to say it, but you can never find anyone to agree which one is better, or worse.

Still could never understand the decision to bring Bush in. To me, they just blew up two bands.

[TAC]

Oh and Brent, nice pics!

[wolfking]

Just having a bit of a listen of Worship Music right now before work Tim.  A bit more old school thrash on the first track it seems which is fine with me, I think the new one had more heavy metal elements which makes it appeal to me more I think.

Even though I don't know much Armored Saint, I'm interested in hearing the stuff Bush did with them.

EDIT:  Second song on Worship Music has the heavy metal feel so I'm liking this one too.

The four albums they did with Bush, not sure how to say it, but you can never find anyone to agree which one is better, or worse.

Still could never understand the decision to bring Bush in. To me, they just blew up two bands.

Is Bush like the Blaze Bayley of Anthrax?

Out of the new one and Worship Music, I like the new one a lot more.

[TAC]

Is Bush like the Blaze Bayley of Anthrax?

Out of the new one and Worship Music, I like the new one a lot more.

No no no, Bush is not the Blaze of Anthrax.

What was amazing was that Anthrax was still arcing in 1992. They were never more popular, and their current album, Persistance Of Time, was arguably their strongest to date. It really made no sense to bail on Joey at that time.

I think they could tell that with grunge getting more popular, they'd lose some appeal as Belladonna's "80's voice" wouldn't translate into the 90's. But to me, they completely panicked. Yeah, Armored Saint, though they also made there strongest album at the same time, seemed to be on their last legs as well.

So the move was made. Now John Bush is all kinds of awesome, so I was curious about this. I was a bigger Armored Saint fan than Anthrax, but I loved both.

The first album was Sound Of White Noise. It has aged very well, but I could not wrap my head around Bush singing for Anthrax and it took some time for the album to sink in. It a good album though. I saw the tour a couple of times, and they even had a big MTV Headbanger's Ball promotion on it. Original guitarist Dan Spitz left after the tour.

Stomp 442 was next, and I love it. A lot of the solos were done by Dimebag Darrell. This album, especially lyrically, has Bush's fingerprints all over it. I think that's what I like the most.

Volume 8: The Threat Is Real is completely all over the place. Not sure WTF they were thinking on this one.

and after a loooooong time, We've Come For You All was released and I personally cannot get into it. It's very heavy, but to me, it goes nowhere. Still a lot of guys I respect love it, so there.

One thing they did which was cool was release The Greater Of Two Evils, which was band rerecording live their older stuff with Bush singing on it. It's great.

I think all in all, during the Bush era, Anthrax could never figure out that kind of band they wanted to be, and just ended up wasting 20 years. I think ultimately it was a case of the Whole NOT being greater than the sum of its parts.


I feel like the new one is more immediate than Worship Music. It feels a bit more direct. But Worship Music is awesome.

[wolfking]

Nice writeup, thanks Tim.  Seems like the band just lacked consistency over time.  I'm actually looking forward to checking all these out.  Gotta go through and find the best of that I own and throw it in the car I think.

[jjrock88]

Tim said it well!

I love Armored Saint and Bush's vocals, but to me, something just always seemed a bit off with Bush in Anthrax.  I enjoy Bush's vocals more than Joey, but Joey fits the Anthrax sound better.

I would personally recommend getting Spreading the Disease (the best no question), Among the Living, Worship Music and Greater of Two Evils.  I agree with Tim that Volume 8 was all over the place.

But Wolf, make sure you check out samples of Armored Saint to get the full power of Bush's vocals.

[wolfking]

Might save Armored Saint for the roulette. 

[TAC]

Might save Armored Saint for the roulette. 

That's a good move.
Armored Saint Round!!