Metallic Onslaught Show Archive

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Recap by The Metal Wulf;
Not a lot of time for talk and/or random silliness, as this was our Best Of 2010 show. Considering there were five of us contributing this year, it filled the evening pretty completely, I must say!

Of course, if you tuned in at the beginning you may have been a little puzzled by the sounds of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" kicking off the evening, but it was all in tribute to Mr. Rafferty's passing earlier in the week. A few Y&T songs were in there as well, as we'd also lost bassist Phil Kennemore. Let's face it, both artists contributed to some fine, memorable musical moments over the years, and respects must be paid where they are due!

Despite the limited time for talk, Bill and I did take a moment to make sure Joe found his car in acceptable condition following it's return on Christmas morning. He seemed pretty put-off by the whole thing, although I assured him that I thought we'd gotten all the reindeer poo off of his windshield.
Seriously, I've discovered, after that night, that birds are NOTHING when it comes to pooping on windshields. Flying reindeer are FAR worse, leaving a much larger area of splatter...

Anyhoo, on to the meat and potatoes of the evening!

Starting with Josh and continuing throughout the night with Bill, myself, Joe, and Rick, we played selections from our favorite albums of 2010. Now, in some cases there was a bit of overlap (a LOT in the case of Bill and myself, actually, but we listen to a lot of the same stuff, so...), but overall, I think the final tallies show a LOT of diversity in styles.
What can I say? 2010 was a HELL of a year for new music, and for my money the strongest showings were from acts that have been around for years. Kinda tells me that these acts have no plans of packing it in any time soon, and that the younger lions may need to start roaring a little louder if they wanna stay heard!

So, starting with Josh's list, here's what the Metallic Onslaught thought kicked the most ass in 2010! Take notes and check them out!

Josh Nolin's Picks
1. Iron Maiden-The Final Frontier
2. Gamma Bomb- Tales From Grave Space
3. Spiritual Beggars- Return To Zero
4. Bonded By Blood- Exiled To Earth
5. Halford IV: Made Of Metal
6. Helloween- 7 Sinners
7. The Sword- Warp Riders
8. Enslaved- Axioma Ethica Odini
9. Mago De Oz- Gaia III Atlantia
10. Tank- War Machine

Bill Smith's Picks
1. High On Fire- Snakes For The Divine
2. Murderdolls- Women And Children Last
3. Cradle Of Filth- Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa
4. Triptykon- Eparistera Daimones
5. Dimmu Borgir- Abrahadabra
6. Watain- Lawless Darkness
7. Overkill- Ironbound
8. Rob Zombie- Hellbilly Deluxe 2
9. Black Label Society- The Order Of The Black
10. Flotsam And Jetsam- The Cold

Randy Smith's (aka Wulfie) Picks
1. Murderdolls- Women And Children Last
2. Rob Zombie- Hellbilly Deluxe 2
3. Black Label Society- The Order Of The Black
4. Overkill- Ironbound
5. High On Fire- Snakes For The Divine
6. Triptykon- Eparistera Daimones
7. Ozzy Osbourne- Scream
8. Stone Soul Foundation- Electric Valley
9. Cradle Of Filth- Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa
10. Dimmu Borgir- Abrahadabra

Joe Wyatt's Picks (in no particular order)
Hail Of Bullets- On Divine Winds
Venomin James- Crowe Valley Blues
Atheist- Jupiter
Widow Sunday- In These Rusted Veins
Fallen Angels- Engines Of Oppression
Flotsam & Jetsam- The Cold
First Blood- Science Is Betrayed
Black Label Society- The Order Of The Black
Overkill- Ironbound

Rick Horton's Picks
1. Dimmu Borgir- Abrahadabra
2. High On Fire- Snakes For The Divine
3. Cradle Of Filth- Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa
4. Death Angel- Relentless Retribution
5. Stone Soul Foundation- Electric Valley
6. Bleeding Through- Bleeding Through
7. Nevermore- Obsidian Conspiracy
8. Watain- Lawless Darkness
9. Enslaved- Axioma Ethica Odini
10. Kylesa- Spiral Shadow

Plenty of good music in there, let me tell ya! Makes me wonder if 2011 will be able to compete! But why stop there? Let's take a closer look where we overlapped, shall we? Because, when it all boils down, the following are the cream of the crop for 2010, and should be considered the true must-haves of the year.
Each title shows up on at least three of the previous lists. So, in no particular order:

Metallic Onslaught's Best Of 2010
High On Fire- Snakes For The Divine
Dimmu Borgir- Abrahadabra
Cradle Of Filth- Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa
Overkill- Ironbound
Black Label Society- The Order Of The Black

Yep, I'd say that pretty much sums it up! Now check 'em out!

Listen to the Show

Recap by The Metal Wulf; First and foremost, we had Stone Soul Foundation in the studio. As I mentioned in last weeks' recap, these guys will be releasing their new disc, Electric Valley, very shortly. It will also be available to order from CD Baby, if you're of a mind. I've got to say, the disc is incredible. If you're a fan of Seventies hard rock, you'll probably love Electric Valley. For me, it brings to mind bands like Deep Purple and Humble Pie, without actually sounding like either. It's just got that kind of great vibe to it, a flat-out smokin' album from front to back. Definitely gotta give major props to vocalist Sean Muldoon, who has one of the best voices I've ever heard in all my years as a fan of this music. No bullshit, not an attempt to kiss anyone's ass, the guy is just THAT frickin' good! In my book, he's right up there in the same league as Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, you get the idea, I'm sure! Yeah, check 'em out, if you haven't already!

So, once we got past the midnight hump, birthday greetings were in order as Josh turned another year older! He even ended up on the end of a birthday spanking courtesy of Bill, along with The Last Exit's Azkath. Within the next week, Rick will be celebrating a birthday as well, so he can probably look forward to similar treatment!

Above and beyond that, things got very confusing for me. Something went oddly wrong toward the end of the evening, and I can't quite place what happened. I seem to remember dreaming that I pushed Jeffie into a wood chipper, but Azkath assured me that I had actually killed Jeffie by beating him with a soda bottle, disemboweling him with fragments of a broken record, and then tearing him in half. Reminded of this, I was overwhelmed with guilt and ended up strongly lamenting the loss of Jeffie. I mean, really, how could I have done that? He was my best friend in the whole world, and I killed him! The Onslaught will never be the same without him! Seriously, I was fully prepared to find a bridge and join Jeffie, I felt so bad... Somehow, I got calmed down, so things are cool. Besides, I remembered something that Azkath had mentioned. He said he wouldn't send us another Jeffie unless we asked for it! So, maybe if I ask Azkath nicely...

Listen to the Show * Pictures

Recap by The Metal Wulf; Another peaceful, fun-filled night, which I still attribute to the lack of Jeffie to complicate things! And to think Azkath says we're gonna want another one eventually! HAH!!!

Speaking of Azkath, he and FMG were on hand Friday night, along with Syracuse band, Zadoc And The Nightmare. There seemed to be some confusion as to whether Zadoc was really Zadoc, due to the lack of face paint. I guess folks aren't accustomed to seeing the guy without his stage gear, and for added confusion there was actually facial hair! But, it was really him, and along with the rest of the band they treated us to a whole slew of acoustic songs, including a very cool cover of Rainbow's "Temple Of The King". All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I'm fully behind the idea of checking them out live one of these days!