Revelations of a Music Junkie

Slayer.You've got to say the word with your eye balls protruding and a powerful voice with an expression of ultimate supremacy silencing the world around you.As evidently seen on this blog,I'm presently on a thrash metal listening spree and will now pay my respects to the band that defined thrash metal in it's true sense,arguably the biggest of "The Big Four".

Slayer is what you need when your mind thinks of blood,corpses,decapitations,painful deaths and the gory details.It's dark,sinister riffs get my mind on a voyage through some haunted cemetery under a pale grey sky.The vocalist,Tom Araya also brings a shade of pain in his extremely energetic voice.And of course,the brilliant solos by Kerry King and Hanneman are just unmockable.That's a factor that makes Slayer so different from any other band.

Slayer has proved it's worth right from their  first album,"Show No Mercy".You can almost imagine a brutal moshpit clouded with dust when you listen to the intro for "Black Magic".In their next album they gave us "Hell Awaits" and "Necrophiliac".However,their storming success came from their third album "Reign in Blood" in the year of thrash,1986.It succeeded in giving the world a kind of music never heard before.

While their lyrics might seem neo-nazi,the vocalist has made it clear that they are merely interested in Nazism,and do not necessarily advocate it's principles.Although a transition is seen in the band's music over the years,the energy in it has not reduced one bit.It now enjoys critical acclaim too having won the Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for two consecutive years.

The succeeding albums "South Of Heaven" and "Seasons in The Abyss" continued with it's dark spooky riffs.The title tracks of both albums are phenomenal.In the albums "God Hates Us All"  and "Christ Illusion",the music is a little different.Nevertheless,till date Slayer continues to give the thrash lovers what they yearn for,even in their latest album "World Painted Blood".

The music might not appeal to one and all.But if you listen too,then listen to and get slain:

Raining Blood
Angel Of Death
Altar Of Sacrifice
Blood Red
Seasons In The Abyss
South Of Heaven
Mandatory Suicide
Americon
Bloodline
Psychopathy Red
Eyes Of The Insane
Blood Red

peace,

Tyrant

Labels: Slayer, Thrash Metal

I go back to my third year addiction.Megadeth is what got me started in the thrash genre.With the start of this post,let's sincerely hope they come again to India and hope even more strongly that we don't miss them again.The only thought of being in their gig in insane moshpits brings clenched fists and pulling teeth to me.

Let's start with some gyaan on how Megadeth happened.An unfairly talented guitarist,Dave Mustaine played with Metallica in their early years.He was later kicked out of the band for not having control over his alcoholism and heroin addiction.An angry Mustaine left the band to form what's now Megadeth,which is the second-best selling thrash metal band in the world,much to his despair,second to Metallica.

While many argue that Mustaine in Metallica is a dream unrealized for the thrash junkies,I personally feel his departure was for the best.Had it not been for that,we would have missed the powerful riffs of Megadeth blended with his immense talent in vocals.We would also miss Hammett's solos for Metallica in the coming years.While it is natural to compare both the bands,I feel they are both good in their own place.Oh wait,Metallica was good.But we'll talk about that some other time.

While Mustaine's guitar skills are unquestionable,he has also earned a reputation as a bad-ass in the metal scene.With his tremendous ego and any abysmal level of humility,he can't come to terms with the fact that Metallica has been more commercially successful.Get over it,Dave.You rock more than you know!!You've equalled them if not surpassed them,when you just gave us the two albums,"Peace Sells" and "Rust In Peace".You don't earn a place in "The Big Four Of Thrash" for nothing.

And yeah.How can I forget Marty Friedman!I don't think Megadeth would have been half of what it now is,had it not been for him.His solos for "Hangar 18","Holy Wars","Peace Sells.." are simply phenomenal.Too bad Marty is now over with the metal genre and has begun a solo career.His solo albums too are awesome,only of a diffferent genre.

What's unique with Megadeth is their consistency with their style of music.While Metallica has outrageously transitioned from its fast,powerful style to a noisy,sluggish piece of crap,Megadeth continues to rock on like they did 20 years back.While they have had their peak when Marty Friedman played,even now their music has not changed too much.Their latest album,"Endgame" is proof enough to what I just said.

Lets list down some of the Megadeth numbers you ought to listen to,well right now.Later you can listen to some more:

Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
Hangar 18
A Tout Le Monde
Architecture Of Aggression
Train Of Consequences
Sweating Bullets
Kill The King
Peace Sells
Good Mourning
Prince Of Darkness

All hail Megadeth!!

cheers,

Tyrant

Labels: Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, Megadeth, Thrash Metal