Scott's Metal Track of the Day - From the Cradle to the Grave by Havok

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Havok. If you like thrash, you should check these guys out. I heard them on the radio awhile back and plan to do a little more research myself. This song is off of their 2012 EP Point of No Return.

These guys are from Denver Colorado and have been around since 2004. But it wasn't until after their two self released albums that they found a label from England, Candlelight Records.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation by Trivium

Today's Metal Track comes from Trivium. This one is off of their second album Ascendancy which was released in 2005. This was the first album of theirs I ever listened to after I saw them on Headbangers Ball.

This song features an epic solo and great riffs. I included  the official video as well but I chose not to use it as the main video because it cuts out parts of the song.



Official Video:

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Torn Apart by Valient Thorr

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by North Carolina natives Valient Thorr. This is off of their most recent album Our Own Masters which was released last year.

This is a pretty funny video. When I look at people over the cubicles at work and start headbanging they look at me funny too.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Marilyn Manson. This was the band's first major original hit following on the heels off of their cover of the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. It was the first single and video released of their second album in 1996.

The title of the song comes from Marilyn Bender's 1967 book The Beautiful People, which exposed the world of scandal within the "jet-set" lifestyle of the 1960s, and the culture of beauty as it pertained to fashion and politics. The phrase itself was popularized by Vogue magazine in the early 1960s and was particularly used to describe the Kennedy family, a frequent source of inspiration in Marilyn Manson's work.

Scott's Metal Cover of the Day - Frankenstein by Overkill (Edgar Winter)

Let's do one more cover to wrap it up. Today's Instrumental Metal Cover is brought to you by Overkill. This is a cover of The Edgar Winter Group's song Frankenstein. This is another one where I didn't realize it was a cover until later on. But I was 8 when this came out so I think I get a pass.

Both the original and cover are great songs. I personally prefer Overkill's version because it is heavier and uses guitars instead of a keyboard and saxophone. Which do you prefer? The original has a drum solo that is left out of the cover for some reason.



Original

Easy Like Sunday Morning Cover Track - Planet Caravan by Pantera (Black Sabbath)

Today's Easy Like Sunday Morning Cover Track is brought to you by Pantera. This is a cover of the 1970 psychedelic song Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath. It first appeared on their breakthrough album Paranoid.

Geezer Butler has stated that the song's meaning is floating through the universe with one's lover. This cover by Pantera was featured on their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven. Both versions are excellent. Such a relaxing song.



Original:

Weekend Wildcard Cover - Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Bruce Springsteen)

This Weekend's Wildcard is a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. This version, released in 1976, was a #1 hit and was so popular that most people probably assumed it was the original. I actually had never heard the original until making this post and I see now why the cover was more popular. I'm not a Springsteen fan to start with though.

When I listened to this when I was younger I always thought it was Elton John because it sounded like his voice. My favorite use of the song was in the movie Blow with Johnny Depp.



Original by Springsteen

Scott's Metal Cover of the Day - Helter Skelter by Motley Crue (Beatles)

Today's Metal Cover is brought to you by Motley Crue. This Beatles cover comes off of their sophomore album Shout at the Devil which came out the year I was born, 1983.

The original was released in 1968 on the Beatles' famous White Album. It is just as throw down as this cover minus the heavy distortion. It is considered by music historians as a key influence in the early development of heavy metal.

This song was also famous because Charles Manson referenced the Beatles White Album as a prophecy of an apocalyptic war. A war between racist and non-racist whites over the treatment of black people where the whites would ultimately exterminate themselves and allow Manson and his followers to come out of hiding and rule America. He named this process "Helter Skelter".



Original

Scott's Metal Cover of the Day - No More Mr. Nice Guy by Megadeth (Alice Cooper)

Today's Metal Cover is brought to you by Megadeth. This is a cover of Alice Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy which was originally released in 1973 on the album Billion Dollar Babies. The original was famously featured in the movie Dazed and Confused.

This cover version by Megdeth was recorded for the 1989 film Shocker. You can see clips from the film in the music video. The song was also released on the 1995 Hidden Treasures album which features previously unreleased songs by the band.



Original:

Scott's Metal Cover of the Day - Mercyful Fate by Metallica (Mercyful Fate)

Today's Metal Cover is brought to you by Metallica and comes off of their 1998 Double CD cover album Garage Inc. This particular track is a medley of Mercyful Fate songs including "Satan's Fall", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "A Corpse Without Soul", "Into the Coven", and "Evil".

These are all great Mercyful Fate songs but I think Metallica's versions are better. My favorite of the group is Into the Coven. The original version of that one was feature as a metal track in the past.

Scott's Metal Cover of the Day Antisocial by Anthrax

Today's Metal Cover is brought to you by Anthrax and comes off of their 1988 album State of Euphoria. This is the first song I remember hearing by Anthrax, when I was 5, and I didn't know until about 7 years ago that it was actually a cover song. The original song was actually in French and recorded by the French hard rock band Trust in 1980.


Here is the original:

Scott's Instrumental Metal Cover of the Day - Master of Puppets by Apocalyptica (Metallica)

This week's theme will be cover songs. To get us started off, today's instrumental metal cover is brought to you by Apocalyptica. This cello wielding metal band comes from Helsinki, Finland. "I say GENEVA, and you hear HELSINKI? /Freddy Got Fingered

This one comes off of the band's debut album which was fittingly titled Plays Metallica by Four Cellos. The album features the band playing 8 Metallica covers. The went on to write their own songs and have released numerous albums since then.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - Acoustic Medley by In Flames

Today's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is an instrumental track brought to you by the Swedish metal band In Flames. This song is a bonus track on a re-released version of their 1995 album The Jester Race.

Weekend Wildcard - Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy

This Weekend's Wild Card is brought to you by Thin Lizzy and was a suggestion by Johnathon Stone. This 1976 song was on the Irish band's Jailbreak album which was their 6th album but the first to break through on the US scene. Other hit songs on the album included Jailbreak and The Boys are Back in Town.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Selkies: The Endless Obsession by Between the Buried and Me

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Between the Buried and Me. As I have mentioned before, these guys were formed in Raleigh and their drummer, Blake, went to NC State (Go Pack!). This song is off of their third studio album Alaska which was released in 2005.

This song became a fan favorite mostly due to instrumental section at the end and the sweeps used in the guitar solo at the 6:28 mark.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Freya by The Sword

Today's Metal Track comes from The Sword. This was the first song I remember hearing form these guys and I was an instant fan. It is off of their debut album Age of Winters which was released in 2006.

A cover version of the song was featured as a playable track on the video game Guitar Hero II, and the original track was later released as the band's first single in September 2007.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Stargazer by Rainbow

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Rainbow. This band started as a side project by Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple. He recorded some songs with Dio's band Elf and they liked it so much that they recorded a full album and he eventually left Deep Purple.

This song is off of their second album Rising released in 1976 and features the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. By this time, Blackmore had already fired all of the Elf members with the exception of Dio.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Blood Like Cream by Red Fang

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by the stoner metal band Red Fang. This one comes off of their latest album Whales and Leeches which was released last October.

This is a pretty funny video about zombies that feed on beer instead of humans. Fred Armisen, from SNL, guest stars in the video. My favorite part is when all of the zombies actually grab solo cups to get beer out of the keg.

Scott's Instrumental Metal Track of the Day - Full Metal Contact by Fear Factory

Today's Instrumental Metal Track is brought to you by Fear Factory. This was a bonus track that was included on the digipak version of the 2001 album Digimortal. This song was originally written for the Playstation 1 game Demolition Racer.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Track - The Man Who Sold The World by Nirvana (David Bowie Cover)

Today's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is brought to you by Nirvana. This is a David Bowie cover that they performed as part of their MTV Unplugged show in 1993. Bowie's original was the title track on his third album, The Man Who Sold The World, which was released in 1970. Bowie called Nirvana's cover "heartfelt," noting that "until this [cover], it hadn't occurred to me that I was part of America's musical landscape.

Note: You can see Pat Smear assisting with guitar in this video. He would later join Dave Grohl in Foo Fighters after the death of Kurt Cobain the following year.

Weekend Wildcard - Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car by Billy Ocean

This Weekend's Wildcard is brought to you by Billy Ocean. This 1988 song was on his album Tear Down These Walls. It is based on a line from Ringo Starr's song "You're Sixteen". The song was also featured in the soundtrack of the 1988 film License to Drive.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - All New Materials by Periphery

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Periphery. This is the song that first made me a Periphery fan. The intro and first verse are just flawless in my opinion. This is off of the their debut self-titled album that came out in 2010. Enjoy!

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Over the Mountain by Ozzy Osbourne

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. This is the opening track off of his second album Diary of a Madman which was released in 1981.

This song is about astral projection, which is where your spirit travels outside of your body to anywhere you want. My favorite line is "You don't need a ticket to fly with me, I'm free!"

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Shake Your Blood by Probot

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Probot. This is Dave Grohl's side project where he invited numerous singers to provide vocals to songs that he had recorded music for. Grohl recorded almost all of the instruments on the studio recordings but plays the drums when performing live.

For this song, the legendary Lemmy provides vocals and bass. This video gained significant airplay upon its release on Headbangers Ball and ranked #2 on the list of the best metal videos of the new millennium in a vote carried out by MTV2.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - The Blister Exist by Slipknot

Today's Metal Track is brought to by Slipknot. This 9 piece masked band makes for some great on stage antics as you can see in the video. This is the second track off of their 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) which is still my favorite by the band. It was their only album that was produced by Rick Rubin.

Scott's Instrumental Track of the Day - Caprice No. 24 by Paganini

Today's Instrumental Track is brought to you by Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini from the early 1800s. This video shows Jascha Heifetz performing the piece. This composition is one of his best known and has served as inspiration for many modern composers. It is widely considered one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the solo violin.

People often laugh at me when I compare Heavy Metal and Classical music. This piece is a great example of how the two are similar. This guy shreds on the violin as he uses techniques such as arpeggios which are commonly used in Metal today. I first heard about him on VH1s Metal Evolution show where they talk about his influence on metal.

Easy Like Sunday Morning - Plush (Acoustic) by Stone Temple Pilots

Today's Easy Like Sunday Morning Track is brought to you by Stone Temple Pilots. This is an acoustic performance by Scott Weiland and Dean DeLeo on MTV's Headbanger's Ball back in 1993. This is considered by many to be Weiland's best vocal performance. Look how healthy he looks here compared to today.

The lyrics are loosely based on a newspaper article Weiland had read about a girl who had been found dead in an area outside of San Diego. Weiland has also said that the song's lyrics are a metaphor for a failed relationship.

Weekend Wildcard - Tomorrow by Silverchair

This Weekend's Wildcard is brought to you by the Australian band Silverchair. This was a major 90s hit that was released as their debut EP in 1994 and later appeared on their debut 1995 album Frog Stop.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Monkey Business by Skid Row

Today's Metal Track is a classic metal song from Skid Row. This is the opening track off of their 1991 sophomore album Slave to the Grind. Their singer, Sebastian Bach, has one of the greatest voices in 80s and 90s metal. He went on to perform in Broadway plays since leaving Skid Row in 1996.

Skid row or skid road is a shabby urban area with cheap taverns, dive bars, and dilapidated hotels frequented by lowlifes, alcoholics, and itinerants.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - Cantspeak by Danzig

Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Danzig. This comes off of their 1994 album Danzig 4. This has always been one of my favorite Danzig songs. I know it is not very heavy but it has a cool sound that is created from the guitar tracks being played in reverse. Inspired by accusations that their songs contained hidden Satanic messages, the guitar tracks for "Cantspeak" are those of another Danzig song, "Let It Be Captured", played in reverse.

Another fun fact: The drummer's name is Chuck Biscuits, lol. This was the last album featuring the original lineup. Glenn Danzig was the only member to continue after this album.

Scott's Metal Track of the Day - A New Level by Pantera

A New Year, A New Level! Today's Metal Track is brought to you by Pantera. If you are looking for a song to get you pumped up, no need to look any further. This brutal track is the second track on their 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power.

The intro of this song was used as the intro of the original Headbangers Ball.