Episode 72 marks the return of Mitch LaFon to the show. You usually hear bands cover Kiss, but during this episode we discuss tracks that Kiss has covered throughout their career.
Please remember to contribute what you can to Mitch’s Kiss Tribute album, not only will you be receiving cool music in return, but you will be helping a great cause. You can find out more here.
The episode you’ll hear snippets of songs Kiss has covered over the years.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
Episode 71 contains an interview with Joe Stump. During the interview Joe discusses his latest solo album Revenge Of The Shredlord, his inspiration after being in the industry for 20 years, his gear, and all things Ritchie Blackmore.
During the episode you’ll hear songs from Joe Stump, Dave Reffett, Impelliteri, Vargas Bogert Appice featuring Paul Shortino and Jorge Salan.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
The latest episode of Talking Metal is another joint release with Mars Attacks, and features yours truly along side Mark Strigl.
During the episode we discuss such topics as Symbolic, Mustasch, Mitch Lafon, Kiss, Black Sabbath and podcasting.
For more info on Mitch Lafon’s Kiss tribute album click here.
Help support TM by buying one of their T-shirts, I actually own two, the classic white with black trim, and the all black one which can be purchased from here.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
Episode 70 contains interviews with George Lynch regarding and Patrick Kennison of Heaven Below. George speaks primarily about his Shadowtrain project. The interview delves into, among other things, why he’s putting this musical project and movie together, what resistance (if any) he met while putting Shadowtrain together. He also takes time to discuss two new projects KXM with Doug Pinnick of King’s X, and Ray Luzier of Korn, as well as The Infidels that will feature members of Eric Burdon’s War playing along side George.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Shadowtrain, go here. You can also go to the campaign page on Indiegogo, and donate here instead.
Mr. Kennison discusses all of the aspects surrounding the new Heaven Below box set, how it came together, why it did, and he takes things a step further and discusses all of the projects the band is currently working on, and looking to release shortly. You can keep up with Heaven Below here.
The episode features music from Spiritual Beggars, Queensryche, Angelus Apatrida, T&N, Lynch / Pilson, George Lynch with Ray Gillen and Heaven Below.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
This episode features an exclusive interview with Mitch Lafon, regarding the pledge campaign he has started on Pledgemusic.com. This campaign was started in honor of his late father-in-law, who passed away a short time ago. It is Mitch’s way of giving back to the facility that took care of his father-in-law in his last days. At the same time, this campaign features some very well known artists paying tribute to Kiss, on the band’s 40th anniversary. To find out more about the campaign go here.
The episode features music from artists whose music is being featured in the campaign, such as Bumblefoot, L.A. Guns, Slaves On Dope, Kill Devil Hill, Killer Dwarfs, Union and Doro.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
This month’s Classic Albums Column focuses on Slayer‘s Seasons In The Abyss. Mars Attacks Podcast episode 68 features comments from Gene Hoglan, Alan Tecchio, Dave Reffett, Jon Leon and Giovani Durst of White Wizzard, author Martin Popoff, Mitch Lafon of Pure Gain Audio, Andrew from Metal Assault, and Roch from Radioactive Metal. As we established with the previous podcast we also discuss why this album was selected. You will find the podcast at the bottom of this post.
Remember that you can go here index page to find out further details on everyone involved in the column.
Here are the written comments that were submitted:
Dan Lorenzo – Well I’ve been awake for 25 straight hours as I just flew home from Italy. So let me throw on some Slayer so I can stay awake a bit longer. Slayer to me, are one of the most consistent bands with the most integrity. I would put South of Heaven and Reigning Blood at the top of their output, but I am listening to Seasons right now for you Victor. War Ensemble is classic Slayer, particularly the break at 2:35. Blood Red is bad ass. The opening of Dead Skin Mask is pure evil. The title track is probably the 2nd coolest intro they ever wrote. When I first heard it I actually thought it was Trouble! Great production, great performances, a bit more melody/singing from Tom than previously, but another classic by….SLAYER!!!
Jon Leon – The finest hour of Slayer in the charts. Rick Rubin and the band dumbed down the sound JUST enough to crack Slayer in the Billboard top 100. Slayers best will always be Reign in Blood though….seriously. Show no Mercy also pisses on this album. So does South of Heaven. Then again…only Master of Puppets can even hang with those 3. Slayer are THE masters of thrash PERIOD.
Mitts – An improvement in the thrash department from South Of Heaven. After Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven seemed like someone pulled the emergency brake. Seasons brought back the pace.
Scott Middleton – Most people will hail Reign in Blood as Slayer’s best record, but I had Seasons first, and really, this has all the best songs. The title track is certainly the catchiest and most hook laden Slayer has ever been. This is the Slayer sound perfected. Evil melody, brutally heavy, frightening lyrics, and terrifying artwork make this the quintessential Slayer record.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!
JL – Slayer have always been the exception. They have a lot of what I hate in other bands and yet how they present it they make it undeniably attractive. This album is a demonstration of full-fledged fierceness, from the very beginning “War Ensemble” it is clear exactly what you’re getting yourself into.
Fer Fakyea – Well, what to say about the legendary Slayer? Their career spans nearly 30 years and with 10 albums behind him, all heavy and known for their uniquely characteristic “speed metal”. Seasons In The Abyss is composed of long, elaborate songs, combining speed with half time playing, that helped drive the band to the monster career they are today. The album isn’t as fast its two predecessors, but it’s definitely a very complete and extreme album that brought us classics like “War Ensemble”, “Dead Skin Mask” or one of his most emblematic yet perhaps less know tracks due to how stylistically different it is, would be the title track, “Seasons In The Abyss”. I honestly would not recommend the disc to someone who had never listened to Slayer, but it is an album that any fan of the band should have in collection.
David Lozano – Dead Skin Mask is the first song I ever heard by the band, as a result I have special attachment to this album. Great album that came out during such hard times.
Chris Shrum – A piece of metal art from a deep, dark place.
Mikey Pannone – The first time I heard this album, I had to check my skull to make sure it was still intact…it wasn’t. That’s all I have to say. None more evil than the almighty SLAYER!
Sean Bryant – So evil!! there were a few tapes that I had in my VW bug and those were Slayer, Seasons, Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy, and probably Lenny Kravits Let Love Rule, all of which got significant amount of play time. I can say that when Seasons came out, I was certain that they were products of an under-worldly creation, especially when you heard the demonic chords of the title track and that first drum roll. My steering wheel was certainly abused by the pounding out of the drums while blasting this, windows down, rolling through the Mormon neighborhoods. 666!!
Will Carroll – I never understood the popularity of this album. Aside from the two video songs (War Ensamble, Seasons In The Abyss) its pretty generic. The follow up (Divine Intervention) blows doors over this one This is my least favorite Slayer album not counting anything after Divine..
Steve Smyth – Slayer really grew into something with this album, I think. Lots of powerful compositions, great ensemble playing from the team of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Tom Araya. Every song is a favorite of mine, I can’t pick favorites when it comes to Slayer! Ha ha!
David Ellefson – We did a lot of touring together during this time period and I personally liked that Slayer was doing more than just playing fast. To me, this album showed a lot of maturity in their song writing and broadened their scope of world views, which Thrash fans love.
Domonic Rini – Seasons In The Abyss is a natural progression for Slayer. This one really, in my eyes was one of the heaviest ones they put out. With tracks of “Skeletons of Society” and the title Track “Seasons In The Abyss” it made you want to break something whenever you heard it.
Niek – I love this album for only one reason: the title track! What a delicious piece of ass! For a band that spent 99.9% of its career on making lightning-fast but not all too intelligent Thrash, the song Seasons in the Abyss is an absolute masterpiece. And it would have been for any other band too. The long-stretched tension-building intro has a habit of making me very impatient, in particular because I know what’s coming. But never is what’s coming so amazing as when you’ve listened to the intro in full. When the main riffs breaks loose, there’s no helping the headbanging. The progression of chords and vocals in the chorus is tasty as bacon. But the best things in the whole songs are the heroic drum fills by Dave Lombardo and the characteristic tearing-up-the-sky guitar solo by Kerry King (still with hair) and Jeff Hanneman.
Jason Bittner – Just spent the last 5 1/2 weeks on tour with Slayer watching them every night…Still one of my favorite bands ever and they still crush every night! Seasons- not much need to be said about this album- its my favorite!!! Well maybe “Reign” is, but this is damn close!
Davish G. Alvarez – This is my favorite Slayer album, we’ve been talking about covering the title track live. The song is unbelievable, and is possibly my favorite by the band. When this album came out I was listening to a lot of Mercyful Fate, I was looking to discover something new, and you hear that song how it builds, little by little, how the arpeggios come in, and the song keeps building, to me it’s the perfect song. They were playing the song live while we were opening up for them, and I watch them do the song, and get almost like a holy shit type feeling. You see them play the song, and the guitar parts aren’t that complex, but it’s the entire composition, the whole package, how it builds, and changes, and then the end, just an awesome song.
Erun Dagoth – This album really blew my mind. When I started listening to extreme metal I started with Life And Death and Show No Mercy by Slayer. I started listening to them in like 91, so by that time they had release a bunch of albums by then. I started listening to every album Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits, all the way up to this album, and again, it just blew my mind. The album has a certain feel to it, a certain atmosphere that sound super satanic, especially the title track. At the same time I started discovering bands like Venom, and Bathory, and things of this nature, and it was like a extreme metal boom time for me. Then they put out Diabolus In Musica and it was the last album of theirs that really blew my mind. After that, things just weren’t the same, the band had changed. And a lot of people had criticized them over Divine Intervention because they had slowed down a little, but it still sounded really cool to me, it still had the same appeal.
Keith “Keefy” Chachkes – When the bands from the 80s Thrash scene era continued releasing albums into the 90s, and interesting split occurred among people. Many bands tried to shift with the already changing times in music to get further away from labels like Thrash or Speed Metal. Other bands were changing more naturally on their own, modernizing the sound of what had been a sub-genre with a growing cult following and making it more successful overall. SLAYER’s Seasons In The Abyss set a bench mark for the old-school American bands, which is saying a lot since both MEGADETH and ANTHRAX released great albums in the months prior to its release. Yes, there were unhappy fans griping that the totality of “Speed Metal” days of the band were lost to the past. Critics and fans that didn’t like South of Heaven, didn’t say they loved SITA when it was new. People were finding fault with a more grown up, better songwriting band that was trying to stay true to who they were and still progress further out. As it turns out SITA is one of the most complete and solid of the DAVE LOMBARDO albums, with better production, memorable riffs, sick solos and batshit insane, yet smart lyrics. “Dead Skin Mask” was even said to be a sellout by some at the time, but is one of the most enduring cuts by any band of the time. “War Ensemble” was a throwback to the early days of the group. Other tracks like “Spirit In Black”, “Expendable Youth” and “Skeletons of Society” have so much balls and groove to them, it’s tough to believe people at the time said they were lame. The title track is a masterpiece all on its own. Personally, I count SITA as one of the top four SLAYER albums ever and it still sounds fresh and vital to me today as when I first heard it.
Bruce Moore – I am a huge fan of Slayer especially their earlier material like Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits. Seasons In The Abyss is a mixed bag for me while it contains some of my favorite all time Slayer tunes War Ensemble”, “Dead Skin Mask”, and “Seasons In The Abyss other songs just fell flat for me and did not get my blood flowing.
The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:
For those keeping score Mars Attacks Podcast was asked to form part of the Cast Iron Ring a few months back. The various hosts of the shows associated to “The Ring” tend to talk quite a bit behind the scenes about each others show, guests etc. So when we started discussing things like the iPhone app, we started kicking around the idea of doing a joint podcast with various hosts. We sort of took advantage of the fact that Kiss was releasing their new album Monster, and decided to do a show centered around a band. A band that the four hosts featured have followed for pretty much their entire lives. The host in question are John from Iron City Rocks, Roch from Radioactive Metal, Scott from Focus On Metal, and yours truly Victor from Mars Attacks Podcast. Hopefully this will be the first of many Cast Iron Ring Podcasts. Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting the episode together.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
This episode concludes our two part interview which Mitch Lafon, who earlier this year did a five part interview regarding the 20th anniversary of the Kiss album Revenge. If you have not read all five parts you can read interviews Mitch conducted with Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, Dick Wagner, Kevin Valentine, and Tommy Thayer. Bruce Kulick also remembers the album on site as well, you can read those comments here.
In this episode we flip things around, and discuss with Mitch what stood out to me after reading his interviews. The show also features select tracks from the album.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
This episode kicks off a two part interview which Mitch Lafon, who earlier this year did a five part interview regarding the 20th anniversary of the Kiss album Revenge. If you have not read all five parts you can read interviews Mitch conducted with Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, Dick Wagner, Kevin Valentine, and Tommy Thayer. Bruce Kulick also remembers the album on site as well, you can read those comments here.
In this episode Mitch discusses things that stood out to him regarding his five part interview. Part two will feature things that stood out to me after reading his interviews. The show also features select tracks from the album.
Would like to thank Decibel Geek podcast once again for posting my 9/11 story, if you haven’t read it, you can find it here.
The episode can be streamed or downloaded from here:
The latest episode of the Mars Attacks podcast contains an interview with Chris Barnes of Six Feet Under and Matt Wicklund of God Forbid.
Chris discusses a bunch of things including the band’s latest album Undead, his inspirations after all these years, and how certain fans may no longer consider some of the bands he’s covered in the past as being metal!
Some of the items discussed with Matt include how he ended up joining God Forbid, if he had any apprehensions considering the blood connection of the person he was replacing, how working with God Forbid varied from withing with other projects, and what his prized possession is(it may surprise a few).
During the episode you’ll hear snippets of songs by Six Feet Under, God Forbid, Vision Of Disorder, and In This Moment.
The podcast portion can be streamed or downloaded from here:
