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Reggie and Matt’s All Time Favorite Cover Songs: #1 Hallowed Be Thy Name covered by Machine Head
When we started our “best of” lists a while back, we never showed each other what our favorites were before we posted them. It wasn’t intentional nor was it a secret…it just ended up that we didn’t share our lists with anyone until it was time to post. Matt’s list of favorite albums and cover tunes was as much of a surprise to me as I am sure mine was to him. Despite being interested in many of the same bands, our musical tastes vary even though we are both huge fans of metal and everything under that umbrella. For the first time, we have actually picked the same favorite #1 on any of our lists. A few weeks ago, we both noticed that neither one of us posted this special cover that we both know each other likes a lot. Low and behold, it’s because it’s sitting at number one. -Reggie
Our thoughts after the jump.
Matt’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs: #3- Wasted Years covered by Ryan Adams
After I had heard that Djali Zwan cover of Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” I didn’t think acoustic lightning could ever strike twice with an Iron Maiden tune. And wrong I was. It struck twice and harder the second time around when my ears caught onto alt-country star Ryan Adams’ take on Maiden’s “Wasted Years”. Unlike the other cover, the shift into a more somber and stripped mood didn’t completely change the meaning of the song or make it depressing. Ryan’s arrangement still gleams with the positivity of the original but this time around it takes on a more everyman feel to it, something that even my mother could connect with (she’s not the biggest metal head in the world 
). There is loads of emotion and passion added to the song, and that’s a lot given how charged the original is. I really don’t have much else to say about this song other than it gives me chills each time I listen to it. Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!!
Ryan Adams Version:
Original Iron Maiden Version:
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Matt’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs: #10- Number of the Beast covered by Djali Zwan
The first time I heard this cover of one of Iron Maiden’s most celebrated songs, “The Number of the Beast”, it kinda of creeped up on me and caught me off guard. Me and a couple of buddies had rented a movie called Spun from the video shop (remember those?) and not to long after popping it in my ears and brain got a bit confused. I heard the moody acoustic guitars setting the rather depressing tone for the movie, but within a few seconds of the lyrics kicking I started saying this sounds really familiar. Didn’t take me long to catch on that the tune was an acoustic cover. And I don’t know if it was the context of the movie, which is about crystal meth addiction, or just an awesome job rearranging the song, but the lyrics of “The Number of the Beast” take on a whole new meaning in this cover. In the original Iron Maiden version they have a very literal feel to them as images of demons and monsters course through the mind. But here the demons that show themselves are grounded in real life alluding to the number of the beast being drug addiction.
If you have yet to see Spun, do check it out, it’s one hell of a mindrape of a movie filled with wacked out, yet sobering scenes and some terrific acting from Mickey Rourke, Jason Schwarzman, and Brittney Murphy (Trailer). Check out the cover and the original and let us know what you think of this take on The Number of the Beast. Peace Love and Metal!!!!
Djali Zwan version:
Original Iron Maiden Version:
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Monday Metal Madness – Grammy Nominations 2012
Last year, for the 2011 Grammy Awards (click here for our 2011 poll), there were some cool deserving bands nominated for an award. Dream Theater received their first nomination and Mastodon and Megadeth were also nominated. However, it was Foo Fighters who swept anything and everything related to Rock/Metal. Nothing bad on them, they deserve to be awarded for their work, they are a great band. But, it’s painfully obvious that the Grammy Committee is still unable to draw the line between Rock, Hard Rock, and Metal. They need to separate these categories completely. Incidentally, A Metal State of Mind voters wanted Dream Theater to win.
The 12 Days of Metalmas: Day 9: Nine Iron Maidens Screaming
On the 9th day of Metalmas my true love gave to me
Nine Iron Maidens Screaming
Eight Heads a-Banging
Seven Glam Bands a- Laying
Six Slayers Slaying
Fiiiiivveee Gooolllldd Riiinnnggsss (to rule them all)
Four Crying Birds
Three French Bands
Two Headless Doves
And an Opeth in a pear tree
If you’ve ever been to an Iron Maiden concert or watched any live video you should be well aware of Bruce’s favorite phrase to amp the crowd up, “Scream for me [insert city name here] !!!!!!”. It always works and he usually says it right before they go into the lesser played fan favorite song or simply a fan favorite, so usually after that bout of screaming, the crowd goes even more apeshit. Enjoy yourself some Iron Maiden (and thank you to my wonderful wife for a pair of Iron Maiden tickets under the Christmas tree!!!!)
Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #5-#1
Is it the end already?! That went faster than I thought it would. Well, it was a lot of fun actually sitting down and drawing the whole thing out and asking myself why I love these records as much as I do. While some I dug just cause they were f’n great albums, others I found I had quite a bit of history with. I loved catching up with some classics I may haven’t listened too in a while and also rediscovering some records (some of which missed the Top 100, but I’ll make an honorable mention post in due time). The other big fun I had with this list was as well as posting all of it in its glory here on Metal State I was posting entries on a Facebook forum dedicated to metal where many others were doing just the same thing. It was/is (many are still posting theirs and some other have just begun) great to talk about all these albums with many other people and also see what their lists had to offer. I have to say, my mind is inundated with a ridiculous amount of music to check out and I look forward to hearing it all. If you’re feeling like talking some metal and use Facebook you can join the group through this link. There are cool metal nerds within and some very fun metal discussions. If you don’t have FB, I’d still love to see your list so post it to your blog, write it in the comments, or send it to me through email.
Anywho, here are the final 5 entries in my Top 100. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it and I hope you discovered some cool new albums to check out or were inspired to revisit something you may not have spun in a while. So, without further ado, we come to the end of ‘The List’ (which I now feel slightly depressed is over, will make up for with my top cover songs list which will begin at the start of the new year). Drum roll please! Drtrtrttrrttrrttrttrtrrttrtrtrtrrttrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtr! Peace Love and Metal!!!!!!!
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Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #10-#6
Is it Top 10 time already!? It’s been fun recounting my favorite albums to you all. Thanks for reading! Doing the list was fun and gave me a great excuse, not that I need one, to go back and listen to some amazing records that I haven’t spun in a while. Here in the Top 10 is where the big dogs come out. My ‘stranded on a deserted island’ albums per say. Each one here holds something special for me and some have helped shape me into the man who I am today and some are just really damn great records. Here’s the first half of my Top 10 Favorite Albums of All Time with the second half including #1 to drop next Monday. Enjoy and if you have a spare couple of minutes, let me know what your favorite albums all. Sharing is caring! Peace Love and Metal!!!!
#10 Fly By Night by Rush
Picture if you will, a young and impressionable lower-middle class American suburb kid at around the age of 7 in the back yard of his neighborhood buddies home digging a big hole because, well, who really questions a kids motives on stuff like that. Then the older brother of the friend comes out back and does what any awesome older brother should do. “Hey, you kids really need some music to dig that hole to” he says as he plugs in his boombox and proceeds to play 3 albums for the youths. Included in that trio of albums are 2 records that would help shape the passions and interests of the visiting child.
The first to make a massive impact is a hard rocking prog rock album called Fly By Night by a Canadian band called Rush. The opener “Anthem” give him such a surge of energy that he attacks that hole at full force and the following tune, “Best I Can” makes him want to make sure that the crater he is making is the best damn crater in the world where people would travel around the world to see his magnificent work.
Tune by tune the sweet music connects with the dirt encrusted kid as he learns life important skills like quality ditch digging and the pleasures of air-drumming. Soon a period of rest comes as sweet sun tea is guzzled by the glassful in the warm sun and the chill sounds of “Rivendell” grace our ears and initiate a lesson on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (who would also go on to be another favorite of the impressionable child).
Even at such a young age, there are events in one’s life where the memory sticks vividly as it just had happened an hour ago. This was one of those days, especially when the other album, which will be talked about at a later date, was included. And in case you’re curious, the odd man out album was Appetite For Destruction, which the kid thought the music and songs were great, but the singer sounded like a pig getting his nuts stepped on and it kinda killed the album for him.
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Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time #15-11
As we journey down the path to my number 1 favorite album of all time, we have finally breached the top 20. From here on out, you will likely see more and more classic metal albums appearing on the list except for one or two that are relatively new (to me) compared to the rest. This all-time list is an ongoing effort started by our friends at The History of Metal page on facebook. Each day we list another album until we get to the end which should take us close to the end of the year. Below is my next list of five as we near our way to #1. Enjoy!
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Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #25-#21
Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
#25 Sailing the Seas of Cheese by Primus
As I look back at the Excel file with my ‘list’ on it one common theme that seems to be running through a large part of the albums is that they all include well pronounced bass and rhythm sections. One could argue that having heavy bass dulls down the music and muddies up the intricacies, but I digress and say that some well used bass adds a nice full body to the music that makes it even more tastier. Like a good whiskey, wine, beer, or woman. When it comes to bassists, one of the most skilled and eclectic that will come to many’s mind is Les Claypool. What that man has done with the low-end tones is unique to say the least, but as well as being a titan on the bass he also is a damn fine songwriter/storyteller/lyricist and collaborator. Without the aid of the other 2 members of Primus the complexities of his style wouldn’t come to fruition. Larry LaLonde’s trippy and shredy guitars work wonders when paired with Les’ groove accentuating rather than carrying. And to keep up with the insanity of Claypool a damn fine drummer is needed, and Tim Alexander’s jazz beats dance in tandem with the quirky bass. While the trio have released some damn fine albums, their second full length collects the best the band has to offer in one package. Not a stinker or a dull moment the whole record and this is always the Primus record I cram down everyone’s throat when they tell me they never listened to Primus. So, if you enjoy some thick bass in your music and for some strange reason never heard Primus before, I implore you to go get your hands on this album right now.
