During this episode of the podcast our guest is author, musician, and host of the show Glory Is Noise, Joel Gausten. Joel discusses his latest book From Sabbath To Satan, the aforementioned show which can be found on RadioFreeSatan.com, his work with the bands like The Undead, Electric Frankenstein and Pigface. He also describes what it was like being seventeen, in high school and being asked to help out Doyle and Jerry Only while they were trying to resurrect the Misfits. He dispels any rumors regarding his exact involvement in the band, and references a few projects that he is working on, including one for this very web site.

If you are interested in purchasing any of his books, go to GaustenBooks.com

The episode features the following songs:

Misfits – Mars Attacks
Killing Joke – The Great Cull
Prong – Prove You Wrong
Bill Ward – Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)

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I have been waiting a few months to put this comparison together, ever since I spoke to Bruce Kulick back in December for episode 12. At that time I asked him to give me his opinion on both Anomaly and Sonic Boom. We went over things briefly, and at the time he mentioned that he’d like to see someone compare all three albums once his came out. So here we are, comparing all three. Interestingly enough, both of us share the same opinion of Sonic Boom, more on that in a second.

Kiss is my all time favorite band, I can remember looking at the book that came with Alive II, and seeing the picture of Ace Frehley in his Love Gun outfit with a yellow light shining right over top of him. That image mesmerized me, and made me want to listen to the band, and music in general. Mr. Frehley you are to blame for initially infecting me with music! Kiss as a whole. As a result I have always followed (to the best of my ability) the band, and all of its former members. Now, I don’t have absolutely every album that the former member have put out (I don’t have the White Tiger album, or the majority of Peter Criss’ solo work), but I do have everything Ace, Bruce, and Vinnie have put out, and most of the two Eric’s material. This includes official releases and bootlegs. Long before the internet, there were the tape trading days (some of you remember), there was a small store called Second Sighting Records (Ace reference) that had a nice supply of live or unreleased Ace and Vinnie material on vinyl and cassette (Bruce was still in the band at the time). If I couldn’t get my fill there, well there was the yearly Kiss Expo (back then held in Teaneck, NJ at Fairley Dickinson), that had a lot of bootlegs on CD. I bring this up because I purchased a CD at one of the Expo’s that contains the song “Sister”, which ultimately made it onto Anomaly. At these Expos I have also been lucky enough to meet Bruce, Vinnie, and Eric Singer. As a result I have a signed copy of AudioDog, an album that in my opinion should have received way more attention then it garnered when it was released. “Change Is Coming” was the only song that to my knowledge received any airplay. But this album had “Need Me”, “I Don’t Mind”, and “Dogs Of Morrison” which should have all been on your local station. Especially the first and last tracks that I mentioned.

In any event, on with the comparison, what I’m doing is focusing on the tracks that I really enjoyed off of each album. Each one has a few good to great tracks, and there are two that in my opinion are head and shoulders above the other.

Let me start out with Sonic Boom, tracks I really enjoyed:

- Modern Day Delilah
- Say Yeah
- All For The Glory

First of all I was pumped to hear Kiss was finally going to put out a new album. I was also thrilled to hear that Tommy and Eric were going to sing on the album as well. The opinion that I shared with Bruce was that the album was originally supposed to be a 70′s sounding album, which it isn’t. What I also agree with is that this album can be a launch point what is to come next with the band, which is a good thing. Now I see this album fitting in more with the Hot In The Shades, Animalize and Asylums of the catalogue. Which isn’t bad, but to me albums like Creatures, Revenge, and Carnival of Souls still tower above it. Detractors for me are the fact that all of Gene’s lyrics are practically the same, nothing wrong with that, but due to this the songs don’t hold up like the others on the album. There are also moments where the band inadvertently copies themselves, or others. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but it’s still there. I still would have preferred an angry or defiant Gene or Paul on this album, but it is what it is. I have personally always found Kiss’ rebellious lyrics to be very empowering. The line in Creatures where Paul says “Remember when the clock strikes 12, the losers always win” captivated me the first time I heard it. It spoke to me, it made me feel that no matter how down I was, that there would be a time where the tables would be turned. “I Love It Loud”, “Unholy”, etc. angry songs, with attitude that made me want to get behind them and…..Say Yeah! The album is good, but I just don’t feel that, outside of the three songs listed above.

With Ace’s Anomaly, tracks that enjoyed are:

- Foxy & Free
- Outer Space
- Pain In The Neck
- Too Many Faces
- Sister
- Space Bear

Twenty years had passed since Trouble Walking, my favorite Ace album. And although this album does show a kinder side of Ace, it also still shows his hard rocking side as well. All of these songs show off Ace’s meat and potatoes no non-sense hard rocking sound. The second I heard “Outer Space” I was hooked, hearing Ace tune down to D (something I hadn’t noticed in any of his other recordings) sucked me in. The album sounds fresh, with an edge. All of the songs listed above really kick ass. As a bonus I was able to see Ace at the Viper Room back in September, he did play “Sister”, “Space Bear”, and “Outer Space” during the show. “Sister” is a song I’ve enjoyed since I originally heard it on the bootleg CD I mention above, it is one of my favorite Ace tunes. “Too Many Faces” incorporates some signature Anton Fig playing, which brings songs like “Torpedo Girl” and “Whipped Out” to mind. “Foxy & Free” has a great groove to it, while “Pain In The Neck” has a chorus that is bound to get stuck in your head.

So, I was chomping at the bit to finally listen to BK3, and see if it at least to measured
up or surpassed the other two. I also wanted the album to at least live up to Audio Dog, or the Union albums Bruce had released. I initially purchased the EP he released on iTunes, and once I heard John Corabi sing on “No Friend of Mine”, I knew things were going to be alright! Here are the tracks I enjoyed off of BK3.

- Fate
- Ain’t Gonna Die
- Hand Of The King
- No Friend Of Mine
- I’m The Animal
- And I Know

First off this album is chalked full of guests, Corabi (as mentioned above), Gene and Nick Simmons, Tobias Sammet, Eric Singer, Steve Luckather, and Doug Fieger. “Ain’t Gonna Die” is the best Gene Simmons track since Unholy, it has that attitude that is missing from Sonic Boom. “Hand of The King”, with Nick, also sounds better than any Simmons related material since at least Carnival of Souls. If you’re not privy to the fact that it’s Nick you’d swear it was his dad. The melodies in “No Friend of Mine” remind you how good Union actually was, and leave you clamoring for a continuation of this partnership. I’m not the biggest Edguy fan, but “I’m The Animal” is one of the best tracks I’ve heard in a while, again an infection chorus that has Eric Singer backing Tobias up. Wrapping things up are two tracks sung by Bruce “Fate” which was written by Kevin Churko (Ozzy producer, makes you wonder if Zakk was in mind when the song was written), a fast paced hard rocking track and “And I Know” which harkens back to Bruce’s previous two albums.

I honestly think that both Anomaly and BK3 have surpassed Sonic Boom. Ace and Bruce have shown us different facets of their writing and playing ability, and have matured with both of these albums. Sonic Boom is good, but it leaves me wanting to listen to some of their other material to get my fill of the band (been listening to a lot of Asylum as a result). I can’t say the same for BK3 or Anomaly, I put each of these albums on, and I’m right there start to finish. At no point do I think, let me listen to Trouble Walking, or “Dogs of Morrison”. It is also hard for me to choose between either one of those albums, as I enjoy both of them immensely.

Buy don’t pay me no mind, check out all three albums out, and determine for yourselves which of the three you enjoy the most!

As voted by the listeners of Fusion Sonica and Mars Attacks:

Best Track of 2009 – Megadeth – 1,320′

Top 15 Albums of 2009

1. Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue
2. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
3. Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
4. Megadeth – Endgame
5. Deathklok – Dethalbum II
6. Rammstein – Liebe ist fur alle da
7. Ace Frehley – Anomoly
8. Black Crows – Before The Frost…
9. Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague
10. Converge – Axe To Fall
11. Heaven and Hell – The Devil You Know
12. Lamb of God – Wrath
13. Muse – The Resistance
14. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
15. Baroness – The Blue Record

Best albums of 2009 in my opinion:

1. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
2. Baroness – The Blue Record
3. Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue
4. Ace Frehley – Anomoly
5. The Crooked Vultures – S/T
6. Megadeth – Endgame
7. The Devin Townsend Band – Addicted
8. Heaven and Hell – The Devil You Know
9. Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. God Forbid – Earthblood

11. Lamb of God – Wrath
12. Warrior Soul – Chinese Democracy
13. City of Fire – S/T
14. Ripper Owens – Play My Game
15. Street Sweeper Social Club – S/T
16. Snail – Blood
17. Slayer – World Painted Blood
18. Autumn Hour – Dethroned
19. New Keepers Of The Water Tower – Chronicles
20. Swashbuckle – Cruise Ship Terror
21. Arkaea – Years Of Darkness
22. Throwdown – Deathless
23. Steel Panther – Feel The Steel
24. Seventh Void – S/T
25. Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive
26. High Spirits – S/T
27. Paradise Lost – Faith Divides Us (Death Unites Us)
28. Kittie – Into The Black
29. Struck By Lightning – Serpents
30. Kiss – Sonic Boom
31. Lacuna Coil – Shadow Life
32. Mob Research – Holy City Zoo
33. Shadows Fall – Retribution
34. Austrian Death Machine – Double Brutal
35. Divine Heresy – Bringer Of Plagues
36. Kreator – Hordes Of Chaos
37. Marilyn Manson – The High End Of The Low
38. Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder
39. The Agonist – Lullabies For The Dormant Mind
40. Immortal – All Shall Fall

Non-Metal

1. Franz Ferdinand – Tonight Franz Ferdinand
2. U2 – No Line On The Horizon
3. Wolfmother – Comic Egg
4. Pearl Jam – Back Spacer
5. Muse – The Resistance

Best albums in 2009 recorded by national groups from here in Spain:

1. Wayne – The Moon Effect
2. Hell’s Fire – Eleven Roads To Hell
3. Aloud – Regeneracion
4. Guldin – Moralia
5. Blood – Seppuku

Best tracks of the year in my opinion:

1. Mastodon – Divinations
2. Lamb Of God – In Your Words
3. God Forbid – Empire Of The Gun
4. New Keepers Of The Water Tower – Pursuit of Yeti
5. Ace – Sister

6. Seventh Void – Closing In
7. Fear Factory – Power Shifter
8. Megadeth – This Day We Fight
9. The Devin Townsend Band – Addicted
10. Mastondon – Oblivion

11. Them Crooked Vultures – Scumbag Blues
12. Alice In Chains – Check My Brain
13. Killswitch Engage – The Reckoning
14. Baroness – Swollen and Halo
15. Warrior Soul – The Fourth Reich
16. Lamb Of God – Fake Messiah
17. City Of Fire – Carve Your Name
18. Megadeth – 1,230
19. Municipal Waste – Mech-cannible

20. Snail – Mental Models
21. Ace – Too Many Faces
22. Devin Townsend – Supercrush!
23. Dream Theater – A Rite Of Passage
24. The Company Band – Spellbinder
25. Shrinebuilder – Science of Anger
26. Baroness – A Horse Called Golgotha
27. Street Sweeper Social Club – Promenade
28. Heaven and Hell – Neverwhere
29. Marilyn Manson – I Have To Look Up To See Hell
30. Alice In Chains – Your Decision

31. God Forbid – War Of Attrition
32. Them Crooked Vultures – No One Loves Me Like I Do
33. Swashbuckle – Scurvy Back
34. Trivium – Down From The Sky
35. Autum Hour – Techcceleration
36. Slayer – Americon
37. Sepultura – We’ve Lost You
38. Alice In Chains – Last Of My Kind
39. City Of Fire – Gravity

40. Snail – Sleep
41. Danzig – Thirteen
42. Austrian Death Machine – In Need Your Cloths, Your Boots, Your Motorcycle
43. Chevelle – Sleep Apnea
44. New Keepers Of The Water Tower – Rise Of The Lizard King
45. Devin Townsen – Awake!
46. Megadeth – 44 Minutes
47. Ripper Owens – Death Race
48. Alice In Chains – All Secrets Known
49. God Forbid – Walk Alone

50. Immortal – Rise Of Darkness
51. Mushroom Head – Your Soul Is Mine
52. Slayer – World Painted Blood
53. God Forbid – Stockholm Syndrome
54. Hatebreed – Ever Lasting Scar
55. Slipknot – Psycho Social
56. Bruce Kulick – No Friend Of Mine
57. Shadows Fall – Still I Rise
58. Them Crooked Vultures – Gunman
59. Echos Of Empires – Ten Swords

60. Steel Panther – The Shocker
61. Otep – Rise, Rebel, Resist
62. Wayne – Till Death Do Us Part
63. Alexis On Fire – Young Cardinals
64. Alice In Chains – Acid Buble
65. Street Sweeper Social Club – The Oath
66. Lacuna Coil – I Survive
67. Cycle Of Pain – Dead Man Walking
68. New Keepers Of The Water Tower – The Three Headed Cow
69. Mob Research – Tribe

70. Kiss – Say Yeah
71. Shadows Fall – King Nothing
72. CKY – Hellions On Parade
73. Dream Theater – The Shattered Fortress
74. Killswitch Engage – Never Again
75. Keator – Hordes Of Chaos
76. Halford – Get Into The Spirit
77. Living Colour – Ass Hole
78. Mastodon – The Last Baron
79. Heaven And Hell – Eating The Cannibal

80. Ray West – No State Of Grace
81. Seventh Void – Heaven Is Gone
82. Slipknot – Sulfer
83. Static-X – Lunatic
84. Sylosis – After Lifeless Years
85. Arkaea – Locust
86. Baroness – War, Wisdom and Rhyme
87. Warrior Soul – She’s Glaswegian
88. Lamb Of God – Set To Fail
89. Yngwie Malesteen – Live To Fight
90. Megadeth – Headcrusher

91. Arkaea – Beneath The Shades Of Grey
92. Throwdown – The Scythe
93. Swashbuckle – Cruiseship Terror
94. Lazarus A.D. – Last Breath
95. Marilyn Manson – We’re From America
96. Heaven & Hell – Bible Black
97. Ace Frehley – Outerspace
98. Chimaira – Frozen In Time
99. Satyricon – Black Crow On A Tombstone

100. Mastodon – The Czar
101. Municipal Waste – Wrong Answer
102. The Agonist – Thank You, Pain
103. ZO2 – Painted Lady
104. Believer – The Brave
105. Otep – Smash The Control Machine
106. Divine Heresy – Facebreaker
107. Leeches Of Lore – I Am The Raptor
108. Arkaea – Years In Darkness
109. The Agonist – Waiting Out The Winter

110. Anvil – Bombs Away
111. Rammstein – Rammlied
112. Evile – Now Demolition
113. Them Croocked Vultures – New Fang
114. Devin Towsend – Disruptr
115. Red Fang – Prehistoric Dog
116. Throwdown – Tombs
117. Struck By Lightning – The Watchful Eye
118. Paradise Lost – Universal Dream
119. Ace Frehley – Pain In The Neck

120. The Elite – Kill The Sun
121. Immortal – All Shall Fall
122. Freakshow – Everyone
123. Masters Of Reality – King Richard THL
124. Dream Theater – A Nightmare To Remember
125. Devil Driver – Pray For Villains
126. Devin Townsend – The Universe In A Ball!
127. Heaven & Hell – Eating The Cannibal
128. Killswitch Engage – Starting Over
129. Alice In Chains – A Looking In View

130. Lamb Of God – Contractor
131. Motley Crue – Saints Of Los Angeles
132. Queensryche – Silver
133. Satyricon – Wolfpack
134. Street Sweep Social Club – The Oath
135. Sepultura – What I Do
136. New Keepers Of The Water Tower – The Strafing Lobster
137. Slipknot – Butcherhook
138. Snail – Via
139. Kiss – Modern Day Delilah

140. Them Crooked Vultures – Mind Eraser, No Chaser
141. Trivium – Into The Mouth Of Hell We March
142. Leeches Of Lore – Black Cognac
143. Warrior Soul – Don’t Believe
144. Steel Panther – Eyes Of The Panther
145. Queensryche – Man Down!
146. Black Pyramid – Mirror Messiah
147. Kiss – All For The Glory
148. Motley Crue – Mother Fucker Of The Year
149. Autumn Hour – End User

150. Heaven & Hell – Atom & Evil
151. Autumn Hour – Everyday
152. Ripper Owens – Believe
153. Ace Frehley – Foxy & Free
154. Amorphis – Silver Bride
155. Cycle Of Pain – Cycle Of Pain
156. Dream Theater – The Best Of Times
157. Kreator – War Curse
158. Lacuna Coil – Spellbound
159. Marilyn Manson – Four Rusted Horses

160. Megadeth – Endgame
161. Mob Research – Wambulance
162. Seventh Void – Slow Decent
163. Austrian Death Machine – Gotta Go
164. Cave In – Retina Sees Rewind
165. Chevelle – Jars
166. Chimaira – Coming Alive
167. Divine Heresy – Bringer of Plagues
168. Gallows – Crucifucks
169. Ripper Owens – Pick Yourself Up
170. Sirenia – Path To Decay

In the latest episode we have a very special interview with former Kiss and current Grand Funk Rail Road guitarist Bruce Kulick. During this episode Bruce discusses the making of his upcoming solo album BK3, the special guests that appear on the album which includes Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and John Corabi among others. He also touches upon some of his favorite Kiss moments, the recording of several albums including Revenge and Carnival of Souls, dispels some rumors pertain to the recording of both albums, talks about his memories of Eric Carr, and his involvement in various Rock And Roll Fantasy Camps. He also goes on to discuss his relationship with Paul Stanley and former members of the band Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, and Vinnie Vincent.

Throughout the episode you’ll hear songs Bruce played on from Kiss, Union, and some of his solo work.

These are all of the items touched upon:

Kiss, Grand Funk Rail Road, BK3, Jeremy Rubolino, John Corabi, The Blue Room, Union, Niki Sixx, Revenge, Ferrari, Marshall P90, Les Paul, Orange Tinny Terror, Tears Are Falling, Forever, Unholy, Rain, Carnival Of Souls, Bob Ezrin, Steve Luckather, ESP, Tobias Sammet, Edguy, Gene Simmons, Nick Simmons, Eric Singer, Doug Fieger, Kevin Churkey, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Rain, Five Finger Death Punch, Tommy Thayer, Eric Carr, Ace Frehley, Vinnie Vincent, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, Mark St. John, Sophie Simmons, Shannon Tweed, Family Jewels, Anomoly, Sonic Boom, Tom Petty, Genghis Khan, Fox On The Run, Slade, Rob Zombie, The Elder, Tail Of The Fox, Rockology, Reunion Tour, Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp, Jack Bruce, Cream, Roger Daultry, Pete Townsend, Ron Wood, Audio Dog, Transformer, Judas Priest, Les Binks, Scott Travis, Dave Holland, Wikipedia

The following song are played during the episode:

Bruce Kulick (w/John Corabi) – No Friend Of Mine – BK3
Union – Tangarine – Live At The Galaxy
Kiss – I Walk Alone – Carnival Of Souls
Kiss – Unholy – Revenge
Kiss – Love’s A Deadly Weapon – Asylum

Behind my banter you will hear:

Bruce Kulick – Behind The Lines – BK3
Union – Do Your Own Thing – The Blue Room