This October, Machine “Fucking” Head will make 30 years!
In the early 90s, Robb Flynn decided to quit the band he was in, to start Machine “Fucking” Head, so he could call the shots and not have to answer to anyone.
Throughout the years he’s had different versions of the band with “The Blackening” line up being the most favored and then the “Burn My Eyes” line up.
Over the last three years, Robb’s motto is simple. If he has a song, or two, he’s going to get it recorded and released. And he’s still calling the shots.
Jared MacEachern on bass is still there, a dedicated right hand man.
In 2019, “Do Or Die” was released.
In February 2020, “Circle The Drain” came out.
In June 2020, the “Civil Unrest” single, featuring the tracks “Bulletproof” and the Jesse Leach collaboration “Stop The Bleeding” came out.
In November 2020, the stand alone “My Hands Are Empty” was released, a collaboration between Robb Flynn and Logan Mader from the “Burn My Eyes” version of the band.
And on 11 June 2021, the 3-Song digital single, “Arrows In Words From The Sky” dropped.
In total 8 songs have been released. They could represent an album that came out today, but we all got to spend time with these songs when they came out and make em special at that particular point in time.
On his blog, Robb said that, “these three songs represent Machine Head better than anything I could ever try to explain here.
The way these songs grew and took shape over time, tells us our future is more exciting than even we would like to admit.
Being able to corral all the chaos, pain, confusion, and yes, hope, into music has never made me feel more alive. These songs will hopefully do the same for you, after all, that’s who they were written for.”
Arrows In Words From The Sky
As soon as the droning open string tones and natural harmonics kick in, I was hooked.
It sounds sad and when the vocal melody comes in, it’s mournful. But all of this is the calm before the storm.
Centuries of pain, under a paper sword Arrows in words from the sky
When the distorted section with the vocal melody “breaking down (I am reborn)” kicks in, it’s desk breaking stuff. It hits a raw nerve and unleashes a lot of emotions.
Listen to the lead break.
It’s guitar hero stuff from Robb Flynn. His lead work is so underrated.
I was writing about streaming services and how all of those little streams add up.
Remember when Taylor Swift and Neil Young removed their music from Spotify. The narrative was very strong about poor artists vs big bad faceless tech giving the masses inferior sound quality and not paying enough. Then their music returned to Spotify and there was crickets.
In the end streaming is king. The sales charts had to amend their formula to include streaming and suddenly an artist can controlling the whole Top 10. And artists from the past have now returned to the Charts.
The old certification awards now include streaming in their formula and guess what, artists are getting platinum awards on streams alone. That’s right, no sales. Just listens. What a brilliant concept.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal” is the saying. We can paraphrase it to “Good artists try to sound original by hiding their influences”, while “great artists let their influences show”. It’s how the language of music is learned. We imitate our influences.
If you don’t believe me, what is the first thing a person does when they are learning an instrument?
They start by learning songs created by other artists.
Inspiration is not theft. Theft is taking something and the person who has it, does not have it to use anymore,
A new release called “Evolution” from an Australian band called “Burnside” had my attention.
I just checked Spotify and they released an EP called “Rise Pt.1” in 2016, which I haven’t heard yet and a post on Twitter from 2018 had them writing new music, which still hasn’t seen a release.
The lyrics from Brent Smith (Shinedown) had me inspired so I wrote about em. At the time was doing these kind of appreciation series called “What Do Ya Mean I Don’t Write Good Lyrics?”
The title was inspired by the verses from “Peace Sells” from Megadeth.
Well in the case of TesseracT and The Night Flight Orchestra, they kept writing and releasing frequently and for TNFO it certainly helped that the band members had other successful projects.
“13” from Black Sabbath was out. The problem that I have with it, is that it tries too hard to recreate the first four Black Sabbath albums.
Which isn’t a bad thing if that’s how you defined your career. Like AC/DC.
But Sabbath was more progressive minded and pushed boundaries. For an act that was considered “extreme” in the 70s, they played it really “safe”.
However, one thing I do like is that they have stayed away from the Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – Bridge – Solo – Chorus structure.
Which led me to write a post called “Risk Management”. The message of the post was basically this;
If you are not on the bleeding edge of society, you are just part of the fabric of society. You want to be a rock star, you cant do it working a nine to five job. You cant do it if you are beholden to your employer. You cant do it if you are beholden to the family.
The only way you can do it is if you throw all thoughts of risk management out the window.
Prime Circle from South Africa had my attention as I had just heard the 2012 album, “Evidence” and I felt the need to write about them.
And they are still pretty active, releasing studio and live albums.
Check em out as their brand of modern rock is anthemic and infectious.
Album number three, released in 1985. “In My Dreams” had MTV circulation, and it pushed the album to a Platinum certification in the U.S.
Neil Kernon and Michael Wagener are on hand to produce, engineer and mix. Don Dokken had a certain fondness to work with Wagener on his vocals. He met Wagener when he did a club tour of Germany in 1979.
Don then got a deal with Carrere Records in 1981 with the songs that Lynch and Dokken wrote and he did the Don Dokken “Breaking The Chains” album.
Fun fact, it was Gaby Hauke Hoffmann aka Deaffy who did the lyrics for those Accept records who got Don the record deal. There was another bass player who didn’t work out and Peter Baltes from Accept took over.
George Lynch and Mick Brown came over to Germany and did their bits and the album was re-released. It did good business in Germany and Cliff Burnstein from Q Prime picked the album up on import and liked it.
Burnstein then signed Don to a management deal. After a small tour in Germany with Juan Croucier on bass, they came back to the U.S. Lynch left the band and Croucier joined Ratt. It was just Don and Mick.
Don signed a deal with Elektra and Warren DeMartini was in the band for a short period before Lynch decided to come back in.
“Tooth And Nail” came out and the guys went back to their day jobs. But the album blew up. It started selling, “Alone Again” was in the charts and the label decided to put the band into the studio again.
According to Don, he wrote 80% of the songs for “Under Lock And Key” but got dipped on the credits as the band wanted the credits to state “all songs written by Dokken”. Lynch and Pilson also wrote a lot of music and A&R exec, Tom Zutaut had the most dangerous job in the world. To pick the songs to go on the record.
It was a time of excess. The album cost $150K to make and they then spent $250K on video clips.
Unchain The Night
The guitar intro immediately had my attention.
And Don was lost in the middle, running around in circles and unable to touch someone who had a knife in their heart.
Confused. Me too. Even the title confused me as I couldn’t understand how someone could chain something that isn’t an object.
But I didn’t care.
The music was excellent and the Lynch lead.
Wow. Its fast and shredalicious, but it’s got feel and emotion and melody.
And the outro, when the intro riff comes in, the power chords crash down around you and Lynch gets a chance to wail again. He’s playing for the song, its restrained and beautiful. Then the singing is back in and I don’t want to song to end. And they didn’t fade it out. They ended it like how they would end it live.
So I picked the needle up and replayed the song.
The Hunter
Lynch brought in the music and he wanted it to be his instrumental on the album. Don thought otherwise and he took the jam session home with him and wrote the lyrics. The instrumental then became “The Hunter”.
Don wrote a memorable hook for the Chorus and how good is the guitar lead from Lynch?
In My Dreams
According to Don, he wrote most of the riffs and lyrics for this song. With the opening vocal hook, this song was going to crossover into the mainstream. MTV loved it, played it and it pushed the album.
And for all its commercialism, you cannot take away the power of the metal lead break.
Slippin’ Away
After the first three songs, this was a letdown. The shining light here is Lynch’s “Journey – Neal Schon” like solo break.
Lightning Strikes Again
But they made up for the small slip previously.
This is my favourite song on the album and along with “Kiss Of Death” some of the most heaviest riffs committed to tape.
From the interviews I have read, this song is a collaboration.
The intro riff is part of the “One Riff To Rule Em All”. Just think “Power And The Glory” from Saxon and “2 Minutes To Midnight” from Iron Maiden.
And if you think the riff sounds similar to another Dokken song, it does. Check out “Unchain The Night”.
And also check out Lynch’s call and response lead break.
It’s Not Love
Don refers to this song as “their” song.
It’s got the Lynch like power chord to devils tritone kind of riff. The intro riff always gets me thinking of the “Warriors” movie.
And those street gang like vocals in the Chorus.
Jaded Heart
How good are the verses?
The acoustic riff, the vocal melody, everything.
Don’t Lie To Me
As soon as I heard this song, I thought of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”.
Will The Sun Rise
It’s like “The Hunter”. More mellow and subdued, about liberty, fighting to be free and how one mistake, could make it all go to hell.
Til The Livin End
It retains the metal edge of “Tooth And Nail” and “Turn On The Action”. If anything it’s a speed metal track. And I like how it finishes, like a live track. There’s no fade out.
P.S. Pilson likes this album, but in a recent interview he said that “Tooth And Nail” is his favourite.
P.S.S I also like this album a lot that I have it purchased it on three occasions.
Elektra wanted to drop em. Lynch and Dokken wanted to drop each other. Croucier dropped them for Ratt. Werman dropped the producing gig because of the baggage that came with it. Lynch dropped in and out of the band a lot of times. Eventually Pilson dropped into the band to replace Croucier on the recommendation of Shrapnel Records boss Mike Varney. Michael Wagner dropped in to record the vocals, while Roy Thomas Baker dropped in to do the rest.
For a band threatened to be dropped, the production team was top notch in Werman, Roy Thomas Baker and Michael Wagner. And then you have the record deal that Don Dokken got by using the songs Lynch and Brown had written. Imagine being in a band where Don Dokken would get the money and then he would need to pay Lynch, Brown and Pilson.
But they had Q Prime Management in their corner. In Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, Dokken had an influential team who could build them up into global superstars, organise the tours, the record deals, the funding, the video clips and what not.
The “Breaking the Chains” clip was all over MTV but no one was buying the album of the same name.
The band was doing an arena tour with Blue Oyster Cult and the label still wanted to drop them.
“Tooth and Nail” was Dokken’s last shot. Released in 1984. The band recorded it and Mick Brown and George Lynch went back to driving trucks while Don Dokken went back to buying, fixing and selling cars.
Then the album blew up.
Put aside the band politics and the legendary Lynch/Dokken wars. Just pay attention to the songs, especially the backs to the wall attitude that you can hear emanating from the speakers.
“Without Warning” kicks it off the one/two punch, with its ominius minor key build, before it breaks into the frantic “Tooth N Nail”.
The song is written by Mick Brown, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson and it is a definitive piece of hard rock and heavy metal. To me , the song is up there in the same throne room as the work that Randy Rhoads did with Ozzy.
Desperate living, driving me mad Writings on the wall Crushed all our hopes and the dreams we once had Just to watch them fall
What a lyric.
Dokken’s last chance. The hopes of a musical career are hanging in the balance.
Dokken delivered a speed metal anthem to open up their do or die album.
And with the rise of the “Guitar Hero”, George Lynch really announced his presence, when he delivered a Randy Rhoads inspired lead break that is reminiscent to “Flying High Again”.
Also isn’t it funny how in 1984, the same theme resonated. It was always that “us versus them” attitude. The “We’re Not Gonna Take It” message of Twisted Sister. In this case, “Tooth and Nail” is a protest song against the record label that wanted to drop them.
Seriously, what kind of life is it, when someone has so much power to make or break a career. But that is exactly what the recording business came to be. A business with gatekeepers who could crush dreams or make dreams. Like “Chainsaw Charlie” in “The Crimson Idol”. Or like “Mr Recordman” from Ugly Kid Joe.
MTV took the artists from the magazines and brought them into our lounge rooms. And it was free. Yeah I know there was radio, but if people wanted information on artists, they had to buy magazines or their albums. Suddenly, their TV set was doing it all for them. The reason why blank VHS cassettes sold like crazy was music and movies. People dubbed/taped their favourite clips from TV or from VHS to VHS.
“”Just Got Lucky” written by Lynch and Pilson came next and it was the single that announced the arrival of the album but it didn’t get as lucky as the label wanted it to on the charts. George Lynch’s playing is excellent.
“Heartless Heart” written by Brown, Lynch and Pilson deals with a heartless baby who lied.
And finally, lead singer Don Dokken gets a song writing credit for the side 1 closer “Don’t Close Your Eyes” co-written with Lynch and Pilson. Lyrically it could have been used for the first “Nightmare On Elm Street” movie.
“When Heaven Comes Down” is another Mick Brown, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson composition. This time they veer into heavy metal territory.
Ashes to ashes, sorrow and shame Look at the future again Angels in heaven walking the streets Searching for someone to blame
Again, when you don’t have the pressure to write to a formula and when you throw everything against the wind, you end up with something great. In this case the subject matter is darker. It is not the usual sex, drugs and rock’n’roll.
“Into the Fire” is a Don Dokken, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson composition and this is more in line with the LA Glam sound hence the reason why it became a single.
“Bullets to Spare” is written by the band and seriously it’s terrible lyrically, linking bullets to spare to a certain substance that comes out of a male.
“Alone Again” is a Don Dokken and Jeff Pilson composition and for a power ballad it is wicked.
How good is that solo section?
It is a song within a song lead break.
“Turn On the Action” is another speed metal song by the Mick Brown, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson composition.
I’m looking over my shoulder I’m running reckless through the night Forever young not getting older Satisfaction guaranteed tonight
Who didn’t do something naughty or slightly illegal in their youth and when we made our great escape, we laughed but constantly looked over our shoulder in case someone was chasing us.
“Tooth And Nail” was released at the right time of the hard rock movement and within 12 months it was certified GOLD for sales in the U.S. It paved the way for Dokken to become a household name.
On “Tooth And Nail”, Pilson is a co-writer on all of the 10 tracks and he is the true unsung hero of this album, the glue between George Lynch and Don Dokken. And if you listen to the album, you will hear speed metal (“Tooth And Nail” and “Turn On The Action”, heavy metal (“Don’t Close Your Eyes”, “When Heaven Comes Down” and “Bullets To Spare”), hard rock (“Just Got Lucky” and “Heartless Heart”), ballads (“Alone Again”) and mixtures of all those styles in (“Into The Fire”).
And while Lynch got a lot of press and front covers in the guitar mags, and Don Dokken got a lot of press and covers in Hit Parader, Metal Edge, Faces and what not, the real hero is Jeff Pilson.
Bassist Brian Marshall was out after giving up on communicating with Scott Stapp, so Tremonti stepped up and did the bass parts for the album.
“I couldn’t pick a single player who’d be a blue print but Jimmy Page is one of those guys that’d be in there.
Even though his playing is 70% blues oriented, I still feel close to him. I didn’t get into Zep till I was in high school.
In Junior High, I listened to Slayer, Venom, Mercyful Fate – real dark and heavy stuff.
Tesla was a big inspiration to me as well. I loved how they would have a little intro and a little outro like they do on “Love Song”. Those are the cool little tangents that took me away.” Mark Tremonti: Guitar One – January 2002
I’ve written it and said it so many times. Mark Tremonti is the reason why Creed became a favourite.
He is the modern day Jimmy Page, as he can move between fast metal riffs, blues rock riffs, heavy groove rock riffs, to folk rock and even classical. There is a lot of variation on the albums he’s involved in. Similar to how Page moved between so many different styles on each Led Zeppelin album. And Page did it by using various open string tunings which Tremonti also employs.
Four years ago, Creed was looking for a record deal. And by 2001 they had become one of the biggest acts on planet Earth. During this time, Tremonti graced the covers of Guitar One on four occasions and Guitar World on three occasions, winning numerous “Best Rock Guitarist” polls.
The third album “Weathered” was anticipated. And they didn’t disappoint.
“Bullets”
It’s a great album opener and a concert opener. A “grab you by the throat” full throttle metal tune.
After the clean tone bass riff plays, a speed metal like riff kicks in. It’s angry and its perfect. After the big anthemic hits of “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open”, this one is anti-anthemic.
“At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head”.
If you’re going to talk trash, than do it to their face.
There is also an interlude/bridge section here which was only brief but excellent and it is similar to the “Weathered” interlude/bridge section which is fleshed out a little bit better.
“Freedom Fighter”
It has this Texan blues groove but done in a Pantera style for the verses.
“Who’s Got My Back?”
It’s typical of the style of the Creed songs I like (think “Faceless Man”), with atmospheric finger picked riffs in clean tone percolating in the verses, which leads to open string tuned chords and eventually crunching and distorted chords across different intensities.
“Signs”
How heavy is that verse riff in “Signs”?
At one stage its reminding me of Stone Temple Pilots and “Vasoline” or Disturbed “Down With The Sickness”.
“One Last Breath”
Then you are treated to the excellent finger picked lines of “One Last Breath”.
On YouTube it’s got a massive amount of views. On Spotify, it’s at 135.3 million streams, higher than “Higher” which is sitting at 110.1 million streams or “My Sacrifice” at 127.3 million streams.
In a Guitar World issue, Tremonti mentioned how he would have devoured all the Classical/Baroque stuff, but subliminally his style developed by devouring the acoustic pieces from metal and rock artists, like the style of Frank Hannon or the fingerstyle stuff from Metallica on their slower tempo songs and instrumentals like “Call Of Ktulu”.
If you’ve heard the intro to “Love Song” from Tesla, then you would have heard the main riff to “One Last Breath”.
“My Sacrifice”
This song doesn’t get the respect it should. The riffs are stellar and the vocal melody is iconic.
It pushed this album to multi-platinum status in Australia and the U.S
And while I liked the song when I heard it on the album, it wasn’t until I saw Creed live that I really enjoyed the song and the way they played it.
It was the closer, it was delivered with power and a lot of pyro and they made sure they left you wanting more.
“Stand Here With Me”
“Stand Here With Me” came next and its similarity to “My Sacrifice” made me ignore it initially, but the riff stands on its own.
And there is a lead break in this song, which got me paying attention.
“Weathered”
“Weathered” is my favourite track, especially that whole interlude/bridge section from the 3.27 mark and that riff. It reminds me of heavy metal from the 80’s.
And don’t forget the Bad Company/Led Zeppelin like intro and verse feel and groove.
But let’s talk about the section which gets the head banging and the foot moving.
The metal like interlude and bridge from the 3.27 mark. Think of the song, “Fighting For The Earth” from Warrior. That’s the song which used the riff prominently throughout, however the riff appears in so many 80’s music.
Even Bullet For My Valentine used the riff for “The Last Fight”.
But what makes the riff different in this song is the groove. Its slower, its menacing and Tremonti builds it nicely, starting off with single notes and by the end of it, he’s combining single notes and octaves, heightening the intensity.
“Hide”
It’s “My Sacrifice” part 3 and although it is derivative, it doesn’t get boring.
How good is the verse?
The drums and bass stop, and it’s just the guitar with Stapp’s vocals.
The Chorus riff reminds me of “Goodbye To Romance” from Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.
“Don’t Stop Dancing”
It has a nice little melodic lead from Tremonti, who really picks his small lead break spots to perfection.
“Ready An’ Willing” came out on 31 May in 1980. In 2017 it was its 37 year anniversary. Just recently it had it’s 41st birthday.
Like many others, my Whitesnake fandom started with the 1987 album. I went forward with them and the “Slip Of The Tongue” period and backwards after that.
But I had heard “Fool For Your Loving” as the B-side track to the 7 inch single of “Give Me All Your Love”. And eventually I got the album it was on.
I believe that most metal and hard rock fans have relatively wide musical tastes. A lot of times we come across music that doesn’t necessarily form part of our normal listening habits, but we are still happy with it and enjoy it. The saying normally goes; meet a person rooted in metal and you will find other non-metal music that form their listening habits.
The “One Riff To Rule Them All” is a perfect example of how a lot of songs can have the same riff conceptually and still be able to stand on their own.
The riff is heard in “Hell Bent For Leather” by Judas Priest released in 1978, in “Power And The Glory” from Saxon released in 1983, in “Stand Up And Shout” from Dio released in 1983, the intro and main riff in “Two Minutes To Midnight” from Iron Maiden released in 1984 and the main riff to “Skin O My Teeth” by Megadeth released in 1992.
A small variation of “the riff to rule them all” morphed into “Welcome To Hell” from Venom released in 1981.
And this morphed into “Looks That Kill” from Motley Crue released in 1983 and became known as the Sunset Riff. So it was no surprise that other Sunset guitarists started using it.
“Young Girls” from Dokken in 1983 and “Tell The World” from Ratt, also have it.
Fans of Kiss smiled when they heard “Sex Type Thing” from Stone Temple Pilots. The main riff is influenced by “War Machine”.
Did you hear the one about me giving a shit?Cause if I ever did I don’t remember it.
I shared a photo of my Dream Theater collection. The soundtrack to my life.
And I was putting out Nostradamus like predictions about what would happen with certain bands and I was terrible with all of em.
I watched “The Great Gatsby” which got me googling about it and I was surprised to read that author Scott Fitzgerald, started planning the novel in 1923 and when the book is released in 1925, it sells poorly.
In 1940, Fitzgerald died, seeing himself as a failure and believing his work is forgotten. And at the time of his death, “The Great Gatsby” had sold only 25,000 copies. By 2013, “The Great Gatsby” had sold over 25 million copies worldwide and it still sells 500,000 copies annually.
And I wrote about “The Pirate Bay” and how it was still operating after so many raids and web blockades. And I imagined an alternative history if the music and movie labels purchased the technology in 2003 when it started operating.
I was listening to Dave Nadolski who has a voice similar to Chris Daughtry.
For those who don’t know, Dave Nadolski is the lead singer of the band Under The Flood.
Under The Flood have been doing the hard roads since forming in 2005 by brother’s Matt (guitars) and Dave (vocals) Nadolski.
The first album, “The Witness” was released in May 2008. “Alive In The Fire” was released in June 2010 and “A Different Light” in February 2012.
And I felt they would break through like Shinedown and Chris Daughtry did but they didn’t and I haven’t heard anything new from em since 2013.
“Revenge” made Kiss relevant again so I wrote my thoughts on it.
And I reminisced how I felt every time “Lick it Up” came on TV. It made me stop and watch. This was all about the music. The band had removed their make-up and they needed to make a statement. That crunchy and distorted guitar from Vinnie Vincent is what makes the song roll.
And I did another douche blog post on Mike Portnoy because he did nothing wrong except change bands from Adrenaline Mob to Winery Dogs but I knew it would be clickbait.
Douchebag posts are not what I would want the site to be so I stopped doing em. But then I blasted “Supercollider” from Megadeth. Lol.
Apart from the opener, “Kingmaker” and the cover, “Cold Sweat” from Thin Lizzy, I didn’t like it. For me to say that, it’s a big thing. If anything, I’m a Mustaine Fanboy. But the post then went on a tangent as to why are creators still following the old rules.
Since I was listening to a lot of a Five Finger Death Punch, I wanted to show my appreciation to Kevin Churko, the unsung hero behind the band.
And from Five Finger Death Punch to Imagine Dragons.
“It’s Time” and “Demons” are two songs that are just stuck in my head. They are catchy and they have enough rock in them to get my attention and keep it. But they haven’t done anything remotely close to those songs.
“Rock N Roll Daydream” is album number 2. It came out in 2020 on 30th March. By that time Australia had started its COVID-19 lockdown. Their tour from February to April was halted.
Riff Raiders are powerhouse vocalist Jenni Powell, Marty Powell on guitar and production, Ross Hetherington on drums, Josh King on guitars and Ron E. Smith on bass.
Loaded Gun
As soon as the riff kicks in I was hooked. If you like the ZZ Top blues rock and you like how Jake E Lee composed the riffs on Badlands debut, you will like this song.
Stop Looking At Me
A great modern rock tune, more like Stone Temple Pilots (think “Vaseline”), Shinedown and Nu-Metal with an Aerosmith swagger. Yes, it’s possible as Riff Raiders made it possible.
Samantha Jones
It tells the true story of a fan who left a vinyl copy of their first album on a train, and the efforts Sammy J went to to get it back to him. Musically it’s hard rock.
Best Day Ever
It’s a Foo Fighters like tune and I like it.
Light
A cool rock ballad.
When I’m Dreaming
This song reminds of the power and energy of Jet merged with Queens Of The Stone Age. It’s a perfect blend.
Stepping On A Cloud
If you enjoyed that Oasis hard rock period in the 90s then you will like this one. A perfect psychedelic groove for a song about sky diving.
Standing On My Own
It’s got that AC/DC vibe and a familiar vocal melody. A perfect song for the live arena.
Sunset To Sunrise
It’s got that Led Zep III acoustic vibe. Or Whitesnake on their last few studio albums.
Shade
What a slow sleazy groove to kick it off, merging songs like “Still Got The Blues” and “She’s So Heavy“.
Check out the guitar lead. It’s got Gary Moore and Richie Blackmore influences.
A perfect closer for a worthy album that showcases there is a lot more to Australian rock than AC/DC like acts.
And you hear a lot of classic rock influences like Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Beatles and Led Zep, and modern rock influences like Oasis, Foo Fighters, Shinedown and Stone Temple Pilots.
The early 2000s were a great time to be making rock and roll, in the same way the ‘70s were a great time for rock bands. Labels just couldn’t stop signing rock bands. Rock festivals were gargantuan. It was a great time to be a singer in the rock band. And there were a lot of rock bands. Rock was at a pinnacle. Country music was nowhere to be seen and nowhere to be found. Chad Kroeger – Billboard interview
“Silver Side Up” hit the streets on September 11, 2001. Yep, that September 11.
But nothing was going to stop this album from going 2x platinum in Australia, 3x platinum in the U.K, 6x platinum in the U.S and 8x Platinum in Canada. It was a monster album for the Roadrunner label.
And they had momentum.
Paying their dues since the mid 90’s, “The State” made inroads and their songs “Leader Of Men” and “Breathe” were doing the rounds on radio. In the guitar mags, those songs also got transcriptions, and those transcriptions got me interested in the band.
Rick Parasher is producing. He worked with Zakk on the Pride And Glory album in 1994, as well as “Ten” for Pearl Jam and “Sap” for Alice In Chains.
Never Again
The rumbling bass and drum groove kick off the song. It percolates until the octave guitar riff kicks in. It’s a riff that’s as good as any of the riffs that became Guitar Store staples.
Its metal, in the 2000 way.
Lyrically, it covers domestic violence. With all the knowledge available to people, it’s an issue that doesn’t seem to go away.
Its heavy metal and a perfect fit for a song about feeling like crap when you wake up in the morning, because life has gotten the better of you.
Too Bad
It deals with abandonment from a child’s perspective. The Kroeger brothers had their father leave when they were young and like all relationships, the father came back into their lives after “Silver Side Up”.
Just For
This song would not be out of place on a Fuel album.
Nickelback had a knack for merging metal with hard rock with grunge with nu-metal with alternative. This song is living proof.
Hollywood
The riff is heavy, reminding me of the “Sad But True” groove. Vocally, its more alternative, grunge like.
Money Bought
It could have appeared on a Nirvana album. These crossover tracks got purists upset.
Where Do I Hide
It sounds like Shinedown took this sound for their debut. Check out the verses call and response vibe.
Hangnail
It’s got a real heavy blues groove. And this part of their style gets missed or forgotten.
And it’s got a chorus which sounds really similar to “How You Remind Me”.
Good Times Gone
Country blues rock before it became massive again in the mid 2000’s and way before Jovi took the “Lost Highway”. Goddamn, it could have come from the vintage fingertips of Tom Keifer and his 1990 “Heartbreak Station”.
In the end, Nickelback had an algorithm. “Physical Graffiti” + “Eliminator” + “Nevermind” + “Superunknown” + “Ten” + “The Joshua Tree” + “Metallica Black” = good popular songs and potential success.
And this album captures the algorithm nicely but “All The Right Reasons” in 2010 would perfect it.
Guitar World (September 2001 issue): What guitarists have been most inspirational to you?
Daron Malakian: Dave Murray of Iron Maiden and Randy Rhoads. The thing about Maiden’s solos was they were melodic, tasteful and easier to play than Yngwie Malmsteen’s. But as much as I loved Randy Rhoads or Eddie Van Halen when I was young, I still never wanted to play like them. I always wanted to play like myself.
The answer made me depart with $20 for the “Toxicity” album. But System Of A Down took me a while to get into.
This band is capable of delivering whacked out but accessible instrumental passages, enormous riffs and bone shaking grooves, augmented by a vocalist with a style which is hard to describe.
“Toxicity” came out in September 2001 with Rick Rubin overseeing the production. The terror attacks couldn’t stop the album from selling and going Platinum within 2 weeks in the U.S.
In Australia, we made it 5x platinum. It was basically huge.
Let’s start with my favourites.
“Aerials”
I call it “Whisper A Prayer For The Dying” as the clean tone arpeggio riff in dropped D reminds me of the Coverdale/Page song. This familiarity made it a favourite straight away.
Hang around until the 2.30 minute mark, when that intro riff is played with power chords and Serj starts singing “Aerials, in the sky”. It’s powerful and a sing along.
Aerials in the sky When you lose small mind You free your life
“Toxicity”
The power of the music and the drumming.
Serj is again delivering a killer vocal.
Conversion, software version 7.0 Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub
How can you not like it?
No one was writing shit like this.
At the 2.40 minute mark, this Iron Maiden like riff comes in, which they then jam on.
“Chop Suey”
It opens with an acoustic guitar strummed riff, then the drums come in and a Spanish flamenco like feel is created. Then the madness starts when the distortion riff kicks in.
And the verses.
WTF..
The way the vocal line is delivered, it just doesn’t make sense. Then the pre chorus kicks in and it’s all melodic and somehow it all hangs together.
But it’s a song about suicide and they are trying to capture the frantic killer thought process about putting on your make up and leaving the keys on the table.
But the outro.
Wow.
Serj is nailing those melodies and when you think he couldn’t get higher, he goes higher. And Malakian is there as well, harmonizing. At 3.27, it ends. So I pressed repeat on my CD player just to hear it again.
And now for the rest.
“Prison Song”
It’s the opening track.
It has clean tone singing, rapping, death metal growls, high pitched falsetto funk and talking. They cover so much ground with this song.
They’re trying to build a prison for you and me
The private prison system needs inmates, so there are people doing time for minor drug offenses instead of being treated for their addictions.
Serj always writes about politics and this is basically a song on the three strikes law. The three-strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously been convicted.
“Needles”
I usually skip it.
Then again just listen to it, as the lyrics talk about pulling a tapeworm out of your arse.
Which Serj has explained is symbolism for releasing yourself from the toxic control of society.
Okay.
Next.
“Deer Dance”
This is what SOAD is about. Weirdness and still making it sound like a rock or metal song. At some stages it sounds like a Rammstein cut, with weird vocal lines.
Then at 1.41, this palm muted riff kicks in, and a vocal line from Serj which is catchy.
“Jet Pilot”
The way the music sounds, if you play it with clarinets and accordions, it sounds like an Eastern European folk dance.
But in this case it’s all distorted and Serj’s manic vocal line brings a crazed intensity about wiring eyes of a horse on a jet pilot while he flew over the bay.
Yes.
“X”
It’s less than 2 minutes long. Actually the majority of the songs are short. It’s like SOAD knew that streaming is on its way and having shorter songs means that you get paid more.
For example, you still the same cents if the song is 2 minutes or 4 minutes or 8 minutes long. The only difference is that 2 minute song can be played a lot more within the hour than the 4 minute or 8 minute song.
Then again they did mention that The Beatles songs structures played a huge part in condensing these songs . And if you look at the times of The Beatles songs, most are under 3 minutes.
“Bounce”
A song about a pogo stick and orgies.
And Disney had no idea on the content when they used it for the family-friendly animated film “The Secret Life of Pets”.
“Forest”
It’s got this Dio “Gates Of Babylon” vocal melody when Serj sings “Why can’t you see that you are my child / Why don’t you know that you are my mind”.
“ATWA”
It’s melodic and heavy and the vocals are chaos personified.
“Science”
The riffs in this song are excellent, hard rock like.
And the vocal melody is hypnotic, about science failing the Earth and the people and how letting the reigns go is what faith is about, not control.
Make sure you stick around to the 1.40 mark. That whole exotic feel.
“Shimmy”
It’s like classical and punk which rhymes education and fornication and indoctrination with nation.
“Psycho”
It movies between aggression and melody.
Like the lyrics which go “Psycho, groupie, cocaine, crazy”.
“Arto”
An instrumental using traditional Armenian instruments.
Check out the first three songs I mentioned and if you like then go deep and pull out that tapeworm.
I felt like I was the only W.A.S.P fan around during this period. Most of my metal head friends had jumped off the W.A.S.P train after “The Headless Children” or “The Crimson Idol”. But I kept going. Actually my cousin Mega and I kept going.
“Unholy Terror” is album number nine, released in 2001 and produced by Blackie Lawless, which from reading some of the reviews online recently, people hated, as they found the production flat. But I never did have a problem with it, as most productions circa 2001 sounded like this.
The band at this time is Blackie on vocals and guitar, Chris Holmes on lead guitar, Mike Duda on bass and Stet Howland on drums. But, the album was started in February 1999 and finished at the start of 2001. So during that two year period, the band was a bit different. Which means, you get some other players.
The late Frankie Banali plays drums on “Hate To Love Me”, “Loco-Motive Man”, “Charisma”, “Raven Heart” and “Wasted White Boys”. Basically, my favourite tracks. And Roy Z plays lead guitar on “Who Slayed Baby Jane?” and “Wasted White Boys”.
But.
Chris Holmes left the band during the recording process for this album. And even though he is credited, Holmes has said in interviews he didn’t play a note on it.
Coming into this album, I didn’t like “K.F.D” and “Helldorado”.
So, I was skeptical.
In the CD booklet, Blackie writes that “this album is similar to “Headless” in some ways with the social and political references but “Unholy Terror” brings my religious upbringing into the picture”.
“Let It Roar”
It’s got that “Love Machine” vibe merged with “The Headless Children” solo section.
Come on and stand for what you believe Oh you gotta get up on your feet Or die on your knees Let it Roar, cause I wanna be oh yeah
Before Kate Perry was telling people to roar, Blackie was doing it from way back.
“Hate To Love Me”
Blackie is channelling his Who and Jethro Tull influences.
“Loco-Motive Man”
It’s got that main theme from “The Crimson Idol” as its centrepiece. Think “Chainsaw Charlie” meets “Black Forever” from the “Still Not Black Enough” album. Its familiar, its flawless and I like it.
Oh God I’m coming Read my words I’m coming I got a gun I’m coming You won’t hear me coming
Inspired by the recent rash of school shootings in America. Then again, it’s still relevant today. Nothing has really changed in that regard. If anything, they have gotten worse and worse.
“Unholy Terror”
Crowned messiah, I crucified him And still ya don’t believe I am Kings – I am queens Unholy terrors me
It’s like a Tool song, with a repeating and percolating clean tone riff, sounding sinister as soon as Blackie’s whispered vocal line starts. As the vocal line builds in intensity, so does the guitar. And it bleeds into “Charisma” because “Unholy Terror/Charisma” is one song divided into two tracks.
“When I was writing the lyrics for “Charisma” and “Unholy Terror”, I was talking about the preconceived idea that most of us have about world figures such as entertainers, politicians or athletes that we admire.” Blackie Lawless in the CD booklet to “Unholy Terror”.
“Charisma”
I’m hooked as soon as the John Bonham drum groove and Zeppelin like guitar groove (which reminds me of “When The Levee Breaks” merged with “Kashmir”) kick in. It’s probably one of Blackie’s best songs of the 2000’s era.
I wrap myself in the American Flag And tell people I’m for which it stands I’m coming back till you know I’m God Till you believe, till you know my charisma
In the CD booklet, the first line is attributed to “Ronald Reagan” and the second line to “Richard Nixon and Al Gore”. Typical of politicians to proclaim themselves as Gods.
I’m a fear from a shadow land I seduce you all Here I come new messiah man To bow to me, make me your God
In the CD booklet, these four lines are about “The Anti-Christ”.
I got them all marching to the rhythm Believing me, oh yeah, their new religion I’m a racist with a waving flag Of domination with a fascist plan
These four lines are about “Adolf Hitler” which is bizarre, because if you didn’t have the CD booklet pointing that out and you heard this song for the first time in the last few years, you would attribute these to an ex U.S President that just got booted.
“Who Slayed Baby Jane?”
TELL ME NOW who slayed oh my Little Baby Jane Rolling down the stairs Her Little head has rolled away Put it in my hands
This is the stuff that Alice Cooper writes. And it works in Blackie’s world as well.
“Euphoria”
It’s an instrumental.
It has this “Hold On To My Heart” feel merged with “Albatross” from Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac and “Planet Caravan” from Black Sabbath.
In the CD booklet, Blackie wrote that its “one of the greatest little tunes I’ve ever done. I love it. It’s music to get high by. Enjoy!”
“Raven Heart”
From the intro riff, which reminded me of “Schools Out”, I was hooked.
“Evermore”
It’s interchangeable with “Forever Free”. It’s actually an demo that goes back to “The Headless Children” album. The CD Booklet mentions that the song was originally titled “Circle Of Legend” and it was meant to act as a reprise to “Forever Free”.
Do the shadows of my memory From a long ago time Lead a path to the other lives of me Souls of past great divides
The song is inspired by Native American Indian stories and mythology.
Who knows what kind of spirit world exists and if it does, how it all interconnects.
“Wasted White Boys”
Man, the whole W.A.S.P catalogue is in this song.
Throughout its six minutes, the song sounds like a derivative version of “Blind In Texas”, “On Your Knees”, “Dirty Balls”, “Mean Man”, “Arena Of Pleasure” and “I Am One”.
Wasted boys feeling no pain Howl at the moon in the night Just give me shooters and that demon cocaine I’m the devil alright
And the outro is like “Free Bird”, with “Wild Child Holmes” allowed to spread his wings and fly on this one. Or was it Blackie wailing away or Roy Z. I guess we will never know the true story because those wasted white boys are keeping secrets.
Now if you haven’t heard W.A.S.P previously, go and checkout, “The Headless Children” and “The Crimson Idol” first. If you are a fan and liked those albums, you will like this album as well. It’s W.A.S.P or Blackie doing what they do best. Rocking out.
“The message here in this album is think for yourself, seek out answers for yourself and not be manipulated (as I was) by some guy, selling you “prepacked” beliefs whether they are religious or political (which often times go together)”. Black Lawless in the CD Booklet to “Unholy Terror”
