The Benja-man Is Verbose

When writing about one of the standards of the subgenre like a Keeper  record, one would think that my niche as a relatively newer fan - discovered Helloween less than ten years ago, and really started picking apart the history of power metal less than two years ago - would be to divorce the album from its context and listen to it simply as a piece of music.  It's impossible, though.  The retroactive narrative that Helloween invented power metal as we know it with this record is too pervasive.  So listening to Keeper II , I spent a lot of time wondering when it became obvious to listeners at the time that Helloween were, well, what they were. I envy the astuteness of those who talk about Helloween's early work - confidently called by Wikipedia "speed metal rather than power metal," although I know many would dispute that - as having immediately stood out to them for its sense of melody and/or its sense of humor.  How and when would the average bear have realized...

I was aware coming in that Riot were literally a different band before Thundersteel , with only one member in common with the act that bore that name prior to going on a five-year hiatus.  Actually hearing it play out is still something, though.  By stream numbers and sales, their most successful record seems to have been their 1981 release, the embarassingly titled Fire Down Under .  I dabbled with that one as much as I could stomach, and went back and forth on whether it should be considered metal at all.  I don't necessarily object to lumping it in with metal, but the overall sound is way more reminiscent of the rock of the '70s to me: pulsating guitar riffs, warm production filling all channels with the same note, and the very simple choruses.  The stuff that was still part of the Riot's sound come  Thundersteel that I compared to Thin Lizzy in the last post?  Definitely a major emphasis in the early stuff.  A slower blues-based number li...

1986 is the "year" in question; all of their output on that label, such as it was, was from 1986.  By the time I got to listening to the Trees' first couple of releases, I'd recalibrated my expectations from viewing them as key steps in the evolution of Mr. M. Lanegan's songwriting to knowing that by his report, he had no creative hand in them beyond being the guy who sings.  It was still interesting to first listen to Other Worlds and realize that, at least at his point in their life, Screaming Trees are not about the vocal performance.  Like, at all.  Anyone could be the singer on a song like "Like I Said," and it really wouldn't matter very much.   At this point Lee presumably didn't know the kind of tool he had in his singer when he put these tracks together.  Honestly, even after he figured it out, knowing that the guy in question was constantly threatening to quit, it still might have still made sense to keep his songs from getting too voc...

Note about the different post formats:  The records from the "main" Metalstorm list I'll have already heard at least the songs on my sampler, and may well already know the whole thing, so those get a track-by-track dissection.  Whereas the records that come from the "also recommended" area of the list are more likely to be totally new to me, so those albums get the "early reaction"/"upon further review" two-post format.  Clear?  Well, just trust me, it makes sense if you happen to be me.     First impression of  Thundersteel , the record, is "Thundersteel," the song.  First of all, it definitely rocks. Second is how much I still think the vocals shape the feel of a song.  The riff is pretty straight ahead thrash stuff, even more so than with a band like Jag Panzer.  Then Tony Moore starts singing, and at first it's the kind of rasp-singing that fits the fiery verse riff, but then there's the chorus - not just the way he sing...

Just because I pretend to be on a first name basis with band members, the people I'm discussing here and their nicknames that they used in the '80s are William Tsamis [Destroyer] on guitar, Mark Zonder [Thunderchild] on drums, Dave Waltry [Archangel] on bass, Diane Kornarens [Sentinel] on keys, and Rick Cunningham [Damien King II] on vocals.  Spoiler alert: Every member is on fire, captivating in isolation but masterful together.  I think Bill basically wrote everything and that he and maybe Mark kinda stood over everyone's shoulders telling them exactly what to play, but however it came together, ridiculous amount of skill on this record. Track One:  "Beginning / Lucifer's Hammer" I'm glad that, unlike the original release, my streaming service actually separates the interstitials like "Beginning" into their own tracks.  Because I for one do not want to have to get through this ponderous spoken word bullshit thing every time I want to listen to ...

I like the idea of being a Mark Lanegan fan.  I've tried to be one as few times.  Rarely came away from any of his music unintrigued, but rarely ever fell in love either.  My thing when I don't totally understand something and want to know it better is to write at ridiculous length about it, so I decided that this would be a great opportunity to try a track-by-track dissection of an artist I don't click with as much, and pick apart what does and doesn't appeal.  In a moment of temporary insanity (and not realizing at the time that the book would only cover through the late '90s), I then decided to get to know where the music was coming from too, and read  Sing Backwards And Weep: A Memoir.   Plus, who the hell else has a parallel book and music blog?  This is a new experience and I don't know how it'll go, but go it does.   I have read the book already, so consider this a second reading.  Here are my comments on the first few c...

(Slightly edited project premise copied from the '70s post .) Shortly after I decided to start my explorations of power metal  and had started blogging about power metal, after months of wishing there were a conveniently explained "starter pack" of bands or records to check out, I came across a list at metalstorm.com  created by writer "ScreamingSteelUS," that I've been low-key obsessed with ever since.  A collection of power metal records that uses a very big-tent definition of the subgenre for maximum diversity?  Sounds like what I wanted.  Kept to a convenient number - ten per decade - in perfect chronological order?  I feel seen.  With explanations as to what exactly each record represents and what aspects of PM it can highlight?  Yes, please.   Sure, one can critique.  With the biggest critique being that it's just one guy's list and is prone to the quirks inherent to that.  Of note, ScreamingSteelUS...