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Heavy Metal Ketchup #11: Korpiklaani, Kosmos, Khold, more

Not all four of the fine bands below come from Europe, but the one that doesn't still comes from a place where people talk French a lot -- and you can tell. I'm not gonna say metal is only any fun these days outside the United States. But it sure does seem that way sometimes.

Q&A: Girlschool

In 1978, one of the first all-girl bands known to heavy music formed in London, and now, as Girlschool's original frontwoman Kim McAuliffe puts it, “After 30 years, we are the longest running female rock 'n' roll band in the world!” McAuliffe, along with original bassist/vocalist Enid Williams, original drummer Denise Dufort and newest member (with 10 years of service) guitarist Jackie Chambers are still kicking out the hard rocking jams with a new album. Legacy is a diverse offering commemorating their anniversary and the death of original guitarist Kelly Johnson, who passed just last year. And they did it with a little help from friends like Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Fast Eddie Clark, Twisted Sister's JJ French and Eddie Ojeda, and Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell's Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio. See what Kim and Enid had to say about Legacy, their career highlights (so far) and their new outlook on life and music.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Heavy Metal Ketchup #10: Kampfar, Into Eternity, Intronaut, Kayo Dot, more

Oh well, guess we don't get a metalhead for a Vice President after all. But hey, you can only break so many barriers at once, right?  And it's not like Caribou Barbie named her kid after Voivod. So stop whining (unless you're dancing in the streets like me), and check these:

Heavy Metal Ketchup #9: Iced Earth, Hollowpoint, Holy Moses, more

What does it mean that, of the five ear-bleeding albums accounted for below, the two I get long-winded about are both by bands of manly men from Tampa, Florida -- neither playing especially sun-shiney music? Yes, it's a major swing state. No, I won't get superstitious.

Funny Money Kix-Starts Your Heart

It’s been well-documented, most notably in a couple books I wrote a few years back, that perennial Hagerstown, Maryland Nerf-metal also-rans Kix were my favorite (which is a polite way of saying “the best”) rock band of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. I believed that then, I believe it now, and I’m still waiting for somebody to prove me wrong. (Explanation? Let’s just say crossing AC/DC with the Cars and shouting dirty jokes about explosions on top was an awesome idea. Plus, their tunes rocked.) Anyway, Steve Whiteman, who used to sing like the most snot-nosed clown in your 8th grade class for Kix, has for the past several years been fronting a somewhat less visible act called Funny Money. (Not that Kix were super visible in the first place, but they did put out six albums on Atlantic Records rather than Fizz Donkey, after all.) Funny Money’s third, best, and most recent album, it turns out, is available on Rhapsody. So you wouldn’t expect me to ignore it, would you?

Heavy Metal Ketchup # 8: Harvey Milk, Gigan, Grand Magus, more

Submitted for your approval: three slow bands, two fast bands and one band that can't make up its damn mind. At least two albums below are better than the one that the notoriously unreliable site metacritic.com ranks among the best-reviewed albums of 2008. And at least two have song titles that pay tribute to soul music, even if they don't necessarily get their groove on.

Jamey Jasta's Commemorative Metal Playlist

In honor of Headbangers Ball's 20th anniversary, we caught up with Hatebreed/Kingdom of Sorrow frontman and former host of the Ball, Jamey Jasta. "These were really hard to choose," said Jasta when asked to pick his favorite metal songs. "I wouldn't say these are my all-time faves or the order I would would list my top metal songs. This is what I would say right now off the top of my head and I included some metal-influenced hardcore songs, too. Here's my 15 jams. Enjoy and be inspired by them like I have!"

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Dee Snider's Commemorative Metal Playlist

This week, MTV2's metal sanctuary Headbangers Ball is celebrating its 20th anniversary. To mark this momentous occasion, we caught up with Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, former host of Heavy Metal Mania -- the Ball's first incarnation in the '80s -- to talk about his top 15 metal songs. We'll let him tell you all about it:

"Top 15 Metal Songs? This is an impossible task. Why only 15? And how do I chose from the decades of great metal that I've lived through, loved and still love? This needs to be broken down into decades, then categories. Deep cuts and hits. THIS SUCKS!

"Alright, I've chosen these songs because of the effect they had on my favorite music. The fact that my list ends in 1985 doesn't mean I don't love a lot of the metal that's come out since then. I LOVE METAL. Don't know what my parents did to me when I was little to f*ck me up ... but I'm glad they did! Here are 15 metal songs that mattered and in my view effected the metal world more than others. I know they're mostly hits -- that's why they reached and affected the masses."

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Heavy Metal Ketchup #7: Finntroll, Extreme, Fu Manchu, more

You know what would be really horrible? If all the happy metal bands started touring with all the sad metal bands and cheering them up, so they weren't sad anymore. Fortunately, a number of the albums analyzed below suggest that, so far, that has yet to happen.

Rhap Session: Early Man

When the Judas Priest-worshiping Early Man emerged in 2004, combining New Wave of British Heavy Metal swagger with punk speed, no one could have guessed they'd be instrumental in bringing about a new retro-inspired direction in heavy music. But with the underground success of their 2005 debut album, Closing In, that's exactly what happened.

It hasn't been all smooth sailing since their debut, though. While vocalist/guitarist/bassist Mike Conte and drummer Adam Bennati have been constants (even performing as a duo for a time), it seems that the band's many lineup changes stifled their identity, while an indie label specializing in all things not-heavy may have stunted their potential.

Now, after recently relocating to Los Angeles  from New York City and signing with The End Records, Early Man resurface refreshed, embarking on a national tour and awaiting the release of their new EP. Here, Conte, aka “Early Mike,” takes us through what the last couple years have been like for these purveyors of vintage metal, and what’s on the horizon.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]