Record Store Day is METAL!

Saturday, April 18, 2009, marks the second annual celebration of Record Store Day. A day that celebrates the little guy, those record stores that supply us with heavy metal CDs and vinyl. Listed below you will find some of the cool record stores/suppliers right here in Iowa City.

Check out more info about the day and events at the official Web site.

Do yourself a favor and visit one of these stores and let them know that they need to keep carrying the metal music!

Record Collector



Location:

116 South Linn Street
Iowa City, IA
(319) 337-5029

Why it rocks:

Record Collector has a big collection of, you guessed it, records. The store also carries new cds and has a special order service. They usually have some good metal releases in stock too. If you are an audiophile, then you can buy yourself a brand new record player there for the ultimate sound experience. Nothing represents old school thrash like vinyl does. Record Collector sells used record players too. Check this place out!

Real Compact Discs and Records



Location:

203 North Linn Street
Iowa City, IA 52245
(319) 341-7800

Why it rocks:

Real Compact Discs and Records is right inside the Northside Book Market. The store has a decent amount of new cds and vinyls, but it doesn't have much of a metal selection. However, you can call in to the number listed above and tell the store what you want and they will order it via one-day shipping and call you when it has arrived. Do this in advance of the new releases and they will get them in earlier than most retail stores would!

Now that's service!

Sweet Livin' Antiques and Art



Location:

940 Gilbert Court (not Gilbert Street)
Iowa City, IA
(319) 337-5015

Why it Rocks:

Sweet Livin' is home to largest selection of used vinyl in the area! It has a lot of variety and is the place to go if you are looking for old school vinyl. Also you can spin the vinyl in store before you buy it, which is a really cool thing for them to let you do.

Rusty Records



Location:

113 South Linn Street
Iowa City, IA

Why it rocks:

Look at the front of that store! It reminds me of the Megadeth "Rust in Peace" album cover!

This store is located right by Record Collector. It has a real "hippie vibe" if you will, but you should see it at least once. This place only sells used CDs and vinyls, but I saw Down- "Nola" for only 6 bucks used. That is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Also below is the coolest thing going for the day that I have seen so far...

Most Metal Record Store Event:



Florida death metalers CANNIBAL CORPSE will take part in a signing session at Exclusive Company in Greenfield, Wisconsin on "Record Store Day" (Saturday, April 18). The event will begin at 2:00 p.m.

The details are as follows:

Exclusive Company
5026 S. 74th Street
Greenfield, WI 53220
414-281-6644

Also check out this article discussing the "resurgence" of metal vinyl.

Remember to support local music and record stores!

New Streaming Tunes from Chimaira and Agoraphobic Nosebleed

If you are like me, you like to get your hands on all the new music you can, so here are links to two bands that are streaming music online RIGHT NOW! Although it's probably for a limited time only.

Chimaira has a new CD called, "The Infection", which is advertised as being "available at Target for only $8.99". While Target is not very metal, Chimaira is a decent metal band, although I admittedly, don't listen to em' much.

From what I have heard of the new album, it seems to be a decent album with lots of groove. This month's Decibel magazine gave it a 6 out of 10 in the reviews section, which is about right (starts to feel a little samey halfway through).

Check it out for yourself here.



Also the Massachusetts grindcore innovators in Agoraphobic Nosebleed are streaming new music on their Web site (album is called "Agorapocalypse". I usually am not a huge fan of grindcore and drum machines, but this stuff is kind of cool and full of energy.

Listen to it on the band's Web site now.



Have a rockin' weekend and crank the metal!

Slayer is METAL!

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, but I promise you there will be more and very soon! Until then, watch this awesome video from the metal masters in Slayer.

"Seasons in the Abyss" is one of my favorite metal albums and songs. Sometimes everything just connects in a piece of music and this is one of those instances.

Vader Gets the Big Label Treatment

So I read that Vader joined the ranks of Nuclear Blast Records today. Congrats to the dudes for rockin' death metal for so many years and keeping at it in the true spirit of all that is metal. To celebrate I am posting an old-school video, in fact, it's Vader's first music video for the song "Dark Age".

So enjoy in the true spirit of death metal, grainy video and all!



Also these guys do a mean death metal cover of "Raining Blood". It's faster than Slayer plays it and the drummer doesn't break a sweat! Check it out below.

Fear Factory Reunites... Sort of... (UPDATED)

I used to put Fear Factory off as nu-metal garbage until my former guitar instructor kept raving about the album "Obsolete". I decided to check it out along with "Demanufacture" and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a band with an interesting singer and machine-tight rhythm section.

Songs like "Edgecrusher" were dangerously close to nu-metal territory, but like some of the later Sepultura stuff it still somehow worked.

And no one can argue that a song with the intensity of "Shock" or "Demanufacture" isn't metal!

So it was good news when I saw today on Blabbermouth that the guys in Fear Factory were getting back together. Well more like starting a new band that is essentially modern day Fear Factory with Dino in place of Christian Olde Wolbers (who I actually like also, just check out "Archetype" one of Fear Factory's finest albums).

I am hoping that the guys will continue under the Fear Factory name with Wolbers, after putting out this new material with the as yet unnamed band. This would appease both old and new fans as well as myself.

Dino Cazares is still one large dude though, but he lets out a surprising amount of energy live considering his size.

Lets hope the new stuff is solid and the guys all get along when playing together. Now for some videos! Both are taken from a live show at Rock Im Park sometime in 1999.

UPDATE: This line-up with Dino on guitars, Burton C. Bell on vocals, Byron Stroud on bass and Gene Hoglan on drums is actually going to play as Fear Factory and record a new album. No idea what is going on with Christian and Raymond hopefully they are out by choice and not being forced to go, because they seem like good guys.

UPDATE #2: Nope. Looks like it wasn't by choice. Legal battle ensues.

"Demanufacture"

Demand Kiss in Iowa City! Plus Ace Frehley Anomaly clips.

I feel like I have been talking about Kiss a little too much for my own good on this here metal blog, but any true fan of heavy metal knows that the contributions these guys made to music and live performance are unreal.

First off, Kiss has announced that the new tour will be fan-routed, which means you can vote for the cities that Kiss will be visiting no matter what the size. They are taking into account the varying population sizes between cities in order to determine which cities to visit (I wonder if that means if a town with 50 people gets all 50 to vote they would go there, sounds unlikely).

So I made a widget to try and get people to vote for Kiss to come to Iowa City. I can dream right? Click on the link below to demand it.

View all Iowa City events on Eventful

Next it appears that Ace Frehley has updated his Web site with the first installment in a series of video blogs to fans. Frehley is actually a funny guy and he gives a sneak peak of two songs on the upcoming "Anomaly" album, entitled "Genghis Khan" and "Foxy and Free".

I don't know about you, but "Foxy and Free" sounds like a rockin' tune that captures the Ace sound perfectly. Lets hope the whole album sounds this good!

Who ever thought we might see the new Kiss and Ace Frehley albums released in the same year? And how cool would it be to see Frehley open for Kiss and get on stage for the encore? OK, so maybe that will never happen...



UPDATE: New Commercial for "Anomaly" due out September 15.

Metallica at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame

Metallica was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday April 4, 2009, marking the second time the awards ceremony recognized the contributions of a heavy metal band (the first being Black Sabbath).

"Master of Puppets" was the first album I heard from the band and it is what got me into metal. To this day it is still one of the greatest metal records ever and the guys in Metallica deserve every bit of recognition they get for the contributions made to the metal scene.

The Metal Masters:


Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist, Flea, inducted the band into the hall of fame. He kind of rambled on for awhile in his speech, but he had many kind words for the band and Cliff Burton (RIP).

Cliff Burton's father briefly took the stage in a cool moment and thanked one of the band's biggest fans, Burton's mother. Another highlight was when James Hetfield mentioned bands that should be inducted into the hall of fame, including Judas Priest, Motorhead, Rush and more.

Check out some videos of the band playing "Master of Puppets" and "Enter Sandman" below, with BOTH Rob Trujillo and Jason Newstead on bass. This is probably the most bass you will ever hear from Metallica!





Also included is a video of Lars and James giving acceptance speeches and a guitar jam with Jeff Beck (who was also inducted), Joe Perry, Kirk Hammet, James Hetfield and company. Together they perform the Yardbird's classic, "Train Kept a Rollin'."

UPDATE: Better video below with over 40 minutes of footage, including all the acceptance speeches and performances with Metallica. Easy to skip around on too. I left the two live videos up above in case you just want to hear those (plus those sound better I think). James Hetfield's speech was the best in my opinion.

Here's to Metallica for rocking for so many years!