Scott's Instrumental Metal Track of the Day - Vampires by Godsmack

Today's Instrumental Metal Track is brought to you by Godsmack. I don't listen to these guys much anymore but I still think this is a good track. This comes off of their 2nd album Awake which came out in 2000.

The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental although Sully downplayed it stating "I don't even know why we were nominated, because we were in a category with Joe Satriani and these other guys for best instrumental performance."

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Easy by the Commodores

Today's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is the inspiration behind this weekly posting; Easy by Commodores. This classic comes off of their 1977 self-titled album. Lionel Ritchie, who wrote this song, began his career with the Commodores.

This song has been covered numerous times. The version that I hear the most is Faith No More's version from 1992.

Weekend Wildcard - Keep Ya Head Up by Tupac

This Weekend's Wildcard is brought to you by Tupac. This song is from his second album that came out 20 years ago in 1993. I don't like a lot of rap but this is good stuff.

RIP Tupac

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Waiting for the Turning Point by Superjoint Ritual

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Superjoint Ritual. This is definitely the shortest song to make the cut so far and is one of the shortest metal songs that I know excluding intros and interludes.

This band formed in the early 90s but didn't record and album until a decade later after Pantera split up. The band includes Phil Anselmo of Pantera on vocals and Hank III on bass (Yes, Hank Williams Jr.'s son).

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Elimination by Overkill

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Overkill off of their 1989 album The Years of Decay which I still have on cassette. I remember watching this on MTV when it first came out. This song has some great lines from Blitz just like all Overkill songs.


"Laughing in a wind storm blowing all the cornstalks down"

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - We're in This Together by Nine Inch Nails

Today's Metal Track is brought to by Nine Inch Nails off of their 1999 album The Fragile. This video is an homage to the 1927 film Metropolis by Fritz Lang in Germany. The film is regarded as a pioneer work of science fiction movies and it was the first feature length film of the genre. When researching that film, I found that it has been used in many other songs and videos over past couple of decades.



Also here is a funny photo of Trent with Marilyn Manson in some magazine shoot years ago

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Brother by Dark New Day

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by the supergroup Dark New Day. I'll be honest, I had to search around on Google for a bit to find this song. I remembered the song but could not remember the band. I don't know any other songs by them. This song was a surprise hit when it came out in 2005. The band was comprised of members from various bands including Sevendust and Stuck Mojo.

Scott's Instrumental Metal Track of the Day - Epilogue by Opeth

Today's Instrumental Metal Track is brought to you by Opeth. This song is the closing track on their 1998 album My Arms, Your Hearse. Mikael Åkerfeldt stated that the band recorded this album while he was suffering from the flu.

The last word of each song on the album is the name of the name of the following song. Even the 3 instrumental tracks have short stories written for them in the form of "silent lyrics" to complete this.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Drive Home by Steven Wilson

This week's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is another one by the extremely talented Steven Wilson off of his outstanding album The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) that came out earlier this year.

This is a beautiful and emotional song and video. The animation is outstanding and unique and the solo at the end is just fantastic. The world needs more Steven Wilsons and less Justin Biebers.

Weekend Wild Card - Falling To Pieces by Faith No More

This weekend's wild card is brought to you by Faith No More. This is song if off of their first album with Mike Patton at vocals, The Real Thing. This album also featured the major hit Epic which has received heavy airplay over the years and continues to be popular today.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Immortal Corrupter by Gwar

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Beavis and Butthead's favorite band Gwar. In the old B&B video game the goal of the game was to get to the Gwar concert. This song is off of their 2001 album Violence Has Arrived.

This video contains comically bad gore and special effects. But if you were not expecting that already you must have never heard of Gwar.


Here is the ending of the Beavis and Butthead game:

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Progenies of a Great Apocalypse by Dimmu Borgir

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Dimmu Borgir out of Norway. This song comes off of their 2003 album Death Cult Armageddon. This song includes a great combination of metal and orchestra. I chose this video over the official video because it includes the orchestra.

Light up the Dance Floor Part 4, Punch Punch Punch Dance

For the last time, these dudes will be rocking faces at Cat's Cradle in a week. Today's track may confuse you if you're not comfortable with your sexuality as multiple sexy Abe Lincoln's lift weights and invite you to hang out. There's enough punk angst built up here to get you on your feet and it has that drive that should encourage you to dance fight a bit.

Want more dancin' fightin' and what not?
SUPER SET:

Death From Above 1979: Romantic Rights

The Death Set: Negative Thinking

The Faint: I Disappear

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - 13 Steps To Nowhere

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Pantera off of their 1996 album The Great Southern Trendkill. This is an awesomely brutal track with great work by the brothers, Dime and Vinnie, on guitar and drums.

Light up the Dance Floor Part 3, More Dancin', More Fightin'

Listen up dummies, Electric Six is coming to melt your dancing shoes! Are you ready to dance? Can you command the dance? Today's track answers that question and that answer is no, no you cannot command the dance, but there is a Dance Commander that gives the orders. "Dance Commander" proposes that "it would be awesome, if we could dance" and also the title character "went to store to get more fire for the war" what an awesome lyric.

Enjoy, thrash a bit, and throw something why don't you!

Need more punk infused dance music in your life? How about this track from Death From Above 1979 titled "Blood on our Hands". It's not too shabby.

'Djent'le Wednesdays: Benea Reach - Awakening

Benea Reach is from Oslo, Norway.  They have released three albums thus far.  This track is the opening track from the album "Alleviat" called Awakening.  Definitely a band worth checking out further if you're into the Djent genre or are fans of Periphery, Monuments, Tesseract etc.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Marilyn Manson

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Marilyn Manson. This Eurythmics cover was Marilyn's first hit and was featured on his 1995 EP Smells Like Children. He has been unfairly targeted and blamed for many acts of violence through the years. Despite what many think about Marilyn, he is a pretty intelligent and thoughtful guy.

When this video came out, it scared the pants off of every parent in America even though it was a cover of a song they probably sang along with hundreds of times. There were many other songs I thought about choosing from Marilyn but I decided to go with this one first because of how big of an impact it had when it came out.

Light up the Dance Floor Part 2

Let me remind you that Electric Six will be playing at Cat's Cradle in a couple of weeks and I'm going, you can too!

Part 2 of Light up the Dance Floor takes us into Electric Six's less metal, more hypnotic dance track "Synthesizer". There are so many things to say about this track that it necessitates the use of a top list.

1. It's all about the synthesizer, a literal ode to that magical instrument that defined the 80's. 
2. It makes me dance a little, not a lot, but just enough. 
3. That hook, thanks now that will be in my head all day. 
4. My new favorite quote is: "you can't ignore my techno"
5. Seriously, this video: 

Want another dose of dance-punk? How about a fun little track by The Death Set. A nice group of lads from Australia that don't really fit any genre, but dance-punk is close enough. Slap Slap Slap Pound Up Down Snap will make you want to dance fight, good luck with getting that aggression out. 

Scott's Instrumental Metal Track of the Day - Satch Boogie by Joe Satriani

Today's Instrumental Metal Track is brought to you by Joe Satriani off of his 1987 album Surfing with the Alien. Satch is rocking the hair in this video but I think the bald look works much better for him.

Joe was an instructor early in his career with students such as Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Steve Vai, and Alex Skolnick (Testament).

Light up the Dance Floor

My heroic return to the blog is marked by a few persuasive arguments. First, dance punk is a great genre. Second, you should go see Electric Six with me at Cat's Cradle on Monday, October 14th. It's gonna be fun, trust me.

So who is Electric Six? They're a dance-punk, garage-metal-disco band from Detroit. Front man Dick Valentine commands the audience to dance, set fires, and start wars while his band channels the 70's in all of the best ways. Their first album "Fire" included today's hit single and includes vocals by Jack White, who was also just starting out in Detroit back in the early 2000's. I challenge you not to dance a little while listening to "Danger! High Voltage".

This week I'm going to feature a little more of Electric Six's catalog and throw in some other likely suspects that fit that genre defying sound that they make up. Bands that have a lot of energy, a lot of aggression, and a lot of funk that urge you to dance, riot, and then have some tacos.

For a little more exposure to dance-punk, how about these guys? I'll feature them a little more this week as well but for now, enjoy this little number by The Death Set.

Instrumental Mondays: Chimp Spanner - Dark Age of Technology

Chimp Spanner is the stage name for one, Paul Antonio Ortiz.  He writes, records, produces all of his music and recently has started touring under the Chimp Spanner name picking up some great musicians along the way.  This is a great track from his All Roads Lead Here EP.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Love Interruption by Jack White

This week's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is brought to you by Jack White off of last year's album Blunderbuss. Jack is best known for his work in The White Stripes. They disbanded in 2011 and this album was his first solo album. The backup vocalist is Ruby Amanfu who was originally from Ghana but grew up in Nashville.

Weekend Wildcard - Sussudio by Phil Collins

This Weekend's  Wildcard is brought to you by Phil Collins. This is a catchy little tune off his No Jacket Required album in 1985.

The title and the main lyric came about as Phil was improvising lyrics to the drum machine for this song. After he couldn't find any better lyrics to fit the song he stuck with Sussudio.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Silent Flight Parliament by Between the Buried and Me

Today's Metal Track is honor of tonight's Between the Buried and Me concert in Winston Salem. This is my favorite BTBAM song and one of my favorite all-time songs. This is the next to last song on the 2012 album Parallax II: Future Sequence. It would take me too long to explain the full story behind this song and the album so go here for the long version.

In short, this song is about the Night Owls who are a seemingly all-knowing order of creatures, built by unknown alien gods, that guide humanity’s existence. Owls are know for their silent flight and a collection of owls is known as a Parliament of Owls.

The Night Owls have been playing a sick game with 2 prospects that live in two totally different planes of existence and are separated by billions of light-years and planets. The Owls guide them to destroy their own planets and humanity as a whole. The 2 prospects choose different paths and this song tells the end of that chapter.

Free for All Fridays: Mutemath - Armistice (live)

Mutemath are an interesting group.  They started off as a long distance collaboration between the lead vocalist/keyboardist and the drummer.  One being from New Orleans and the other from Nashville.  Eventually they got together and picked up a couple other members and here you have one of the more unique sounding bands in the industry today.

This is just one of the more entertaining live tracks they have, however if you get the opportunity, use Spotify to listen to Armistice Live.

Thrash Thursdays: Battlecross - Push Pull Destroy/Force Fed Lies

Giving everyone a two for one today!  Battlecross is a newer band on the scene, but they are pushing thrash metal to new heights.

This track is the first song I ever heard from these guys.  I was hooked and picked up the album Pursuit of Honor.  Great album from top to bottom.  This is Push, Pull, Destroy!




This next track is from their latest release, War of Will.  This is Force Fed Lies!

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - How Heavy This Axe by The Sword

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by The Sword. This Stoner Metal band sound like they are straight from the '70s. They sure do their best to look the part in this video. However, this is song is actually off of their 2008 album Gods of the Earth.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Clean My Wounds by Corrosion of Conformity

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Corrosion of Conformity from Raleigh. This is off of their 1994 album Deliverance and was one of there most popular songs. This album was the first to feature Pepper Keenan on lead vocals for all songs. He also covered the lead vocals on Vote With a Bullet on the previous album but that was the only song.

Pepper is good friends with James Hetfield and auditioned to replace Jason Newstead on bass even though he normally plays guitar. He ultimately lost out to Rob.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Lock Up the Wolves by Dio

Today's Metal Track is brought you by the legendary Dio! My brother actually got me into this song recently. It is a slower paced song but still packs a punch. This is the title track off of the 1990 album Lock Up the Wolves.

Scott's Instrumental Metal Track of the Day - (Anesthesis) Pulling Teeth by Cliff Burton (Metallica)

Today's Instrumental Metal Track is a bass solo by Cliff Burton which eventually made it onto Metallica's 1983 debut album Kill 'Em All. It's hard to believe that he is actually playing this on bass.

This song is actually how he got the gig with Metallica. James and Lars heard him playing this live at the Whisky a Go Go in LA and went searching for this great guitarist only to find out he was playing a bass.

Tragically, Cliff died in a bus accident in Sweden in 1986. He was 24 years old. You ever think about being able to go back and save one musician who went before their time? There are plenty to choose from but mine, with out a doubt, would be Cliff. He was creative genious behind Metallica's early albums and there's no telling what he would have went on to accomplish with the band.

RIP Cliff!!

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Home by Foo Fighters

This week's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is brought to you by Foo Fighters. It is the closing track off of their 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and features Dave Grohl on the piano.

Dave Grohl  stated that this was the best song he has ever written.

Weekend Wildcard - Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake

Today's Weekend Wildcard is brought to you by Cake off of their 2001 album Comfort Eagle. I've always loved this song but had never seen the video before. I love it, especially the first guy in the Nike hat. His reactions are priceless.

Great beat, funny lyrics, and great use of the horns! How can you not like this?

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Deadly Sinners by 3 Inches of Blood

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by 3 Inches of Blood off of their 2004 album Advance and Vanquish. I bet you never expected these vocals out of this singer. He kills it in this song.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Self Bias Resistor by Fear Factory

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Fear Factory off of their 1995 album, Demanufacture.

Biasing in electronics has to do with designing circuits to have certain voltages and particular points in the circuit in order to have proper operating conditions. However, this song and this album are inspired by the movie, The Terminator. It revolves around a man vs. machine battle in a machine controlled world. Both are pretty cool/nerdy!

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - My Tortured Soul by Probot

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Probot. This was a side project by Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters and Nirvana). He invited many of his favorite underground metal singers from the 80's to sing on the album including Lemmy, Max Cavalera, and King Diamond.

Dave recorded all of the music himself on the album with a few exceptions. He is a pretty talented guy. On this song, Eric Wagner of the band Trouble provides the vocals.

'Djent'le Wednesdays: Sybreed - Emma-O

Sybreed doesn't meet the typical requirements of what one might call a Djent band, however if you go back to my first post on djent, you'll see that the term is rather controversial and somewhat ambiguous as to what bands fall into that category.

I'm including Sybreed because they state Meshuggah as a primary influence in their music, and being that Meshuggah coined the term, I'd say guilty by association.

Sybreed is from Switzerland and have released four albums to date.  This track is the opening track from their album Antares called Emma-O.

Best Artist You've Never Heard Of - J. Roddy Walston & The Business

Soul Powered Tuesdays: Blood, Sweat and Tears - Lucretia McEvil

This song is from Blood, Sweat and Tears.  I was first introduced to this band from college marching band.  We did a full show of their music and this song was excellent.

Enjoy my second post of the day!!

Instrumental Mondays: Bulb - Not Enough Mana

This track comes from an artist called Bulb.  He's better known as Misha Mansoor, the guitarist from the increasingly popular band Periphery.

This track is very cool and one of the first tracks I heard from this guy.  He recorded all the intstruments himself.  He is actually a great drummer in addition to being an excellent guitar player as well.  He played a couple of the first shows Periphery had behind the kit.



I've linked Misha's Soundclick page (click Bulb).  Please head over there and check out many of his other tracks, some of which made it onto the Periphery albums.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Hangar 18 by Megadeth

Today's Metal Track is another in honor of tonight's Iron Maiden and Megadeth show. This song and Holy Wars were the first songs I remember hearing from Megadeth; both of them off of the classic Rust in Peace album in 1990.

This video has some pretty funny special effects in it. Keep in mind that it is 23 years old though.



Also, check out this performance on the Arsenio Hall Show.

Stone's Earworm of the Week - Do I Wanna Know by Arctic Monkeys

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Working Man by Rush

In honor of Labor Day, today's Metal Track is Working Man by Rush. This is the closing track off of their 1974 self titled debut album.

This song has a classic opening riff, great solos, and great lyrics. Great motivator for a hard day's work.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Silent Lucidity by Queensryche

This week's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is brought to you by Queensryche. This power ballad comes off of their 1990 album Empire which was at the height of the band's success.

This is a great song that continues to build and gets more and more powerful through the end.