As the Palaces Burned: King Diamond - House of God

On September 24, 1991 Nirvana released Nevermind. Nine years later, a reunited Iron Maiden played Madison Square Garden. The time in between was one of metal's bleaker periods, where the genre's mainstream face all but disappeared and it retreated not just underground, but underwater. To celebrate the rare gems of this dark time - and remember our fortune now that metal has ceased to be such a dirty word - we present As the Palaces Burned, a weekly series published every Wednesday that covers notable metal albums released between 1991 and 2000.

Today's entry is King Diamond's 2000 album House of God.

It should be pretty obvious by now that I love talking Metal. A lot. All the time. And if you have a table full of seasoned Metal-heads drinking beers and eating BBQ before a show you are guaranteed a lot of lively debates. A common one is King Diamond solo versus Mercyful Fate. Another is which King Diamond album is better, Abigail or Them. For the first question my answer is always King Diamond, by a mile. There is one exception, and it will be a future As the Palaces Burned entry. However for the second conversation, most recently sparked in my presence this past Sunday, I usually remain quiet. It is easiest because my answer is neither popular nor expected. While I enjoy all stages of King Diamond's career my favorite is the work he did for Metal Blade, starting with The Spider's Lullabye in 1995. I am going to eventually cover all four albums he recorded during this period, but will start with the album that got me to revisit this era, House of God.

The first thing you have to understand about Metal Blade era King Diamond is that he and Andy LaRocque changed their sound. The technical and sometimes jerky song structures of their earlier work was replaced with a heavier and more direct approach. Personally I think asking anyone to sit through a full length horror themed fictional concept record with a singer who uses multiple characters and voices is already asking a lot. Streamlining the riffs and concentrating on song structures has been a great asset.

The other awesome thing you hear during this iteration of the band are the awesome sound textures that pepper the record. The standout example for me on this album is the track "Goodbye." It is a nice two minute guitar harmony and synth texture which propels the story along without overstaying its welcome.

So....the concept behind House of God. Fun silly little story about Jesus being kept alive in a French Chateau where he has children and legacy and some traveler who is seduced by a she wolf learns that God and Satan are pawns in a larger game. This story has been covered by everyone from the comic book "Preacher" to "the Da Vinci Code." King's twist? Glen Drover from Megadeth playing guitar opposite Andy LaRocque. That beats Dan Brown's shitty writing any day.

Anyone who enjoyed the early King Diamond material and started listening again for his last two albums The Puppet Master and Give me your Soul...Please should check out this masterpiece. And now that all four of these albums are nicely remastered by Andy LaRocque there is not better time like the present.

House of God:




The Trees Have Eyes:



Black Devil:



Piece of Mind:



Goodbye:

I'm Pretty Sure They're Trying to Kill Me

Last month, Megadeth announced that they'd be filling the time originally scheduled for the Canadian/American Carnage shows with a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Rust in Peace. At the same time, they roped in Testament (another victim of the Carnage Tour scheduling changes) to open playing The Legacy in its entirety. This announcement caused a great deal of consternation for us at Baroque Bleak Brutal, because a.) we love Rust in Peace, and b.) the closest NYC date was in Scranton, PA, two and a half hours away.

Then, a few weeks ago, following Tom Araya's successful back surgery, the bands rescheduled American Carnage for this summer and Megadeth seemed to indicate that they'd continue touring Rust in Peace. Slightly less consternation here in NYC...until we read that the show would still happen in New Jersey. New Jersey, you see, is difficult to get to on a weeknight, and the venue in question is a hockey rink that has (among other things) a history of idiocy when it comes to guiding visitors to the entrances. Not to mention that the show has now been on sale since late last year and the remaining tickets are two levels up in nosebleed territory.

Now Dave Ellefson announces he and Mustaine have patched up their second massive feud with a simple telephone conversation and he's returning to Megadeth. Fantastic news, but it doesn't open up any new tickets. Right now I think I'm living on the hope that his return spurs such an uptick in demand that they add a second show in NYC and I'll get to see one of my favorite albums performed in its entirety from somewhere closer than an overpriced nosebleed seat.

Lifetime: The Most Metal of All Women-Focused TV Networks

At least when it comes to movie titles. A friend of mine sent me a link to a quiz earlier this morning that challenges you to answer a seemingly simple question: Lifetime movie title, or Megadeth song title? The resemblance, as it turns out, is more than a little uncanny, but as the quiz's introduction points out, "given their shared preoccupation with kidnapping, family dysfunction and untimely death, it’s sort of surprising that Lifetime and Megadeth don’t share more fans." I scored a 90%, but if that's the cost of not knowing the titles of the tracks from The World Needs a Hero, I'm happy to pay.

Soundtrack to a Battle Epic

The more I listen to "This Day We Fight," the first complete track on Megadeth's new-ish record, Endgame (now with more Roadrunner bashing, non-ironically reported on Roadrunner's quasi-official speech organ!), the more I think that Mustaine must have written the lyrics after watching Nathan Explosion pile up bodies Conan the Barbarian-style in the opening to the first episode of Metalocalypse - or after reading about the bloody, bloody adventures of Attila the Hun. A sample:

Bathed in blood up to the horses' bridle
It's death to retreat, there's no chance of survival

Whet with your blood, I sharpen my sword

No turning the other cheek like a coward
Come tomorrow I may lay down and die
But not this day, this day we fight!

Strip the fallen heroes, finish off the wounded
Collect the spoils of war and send them back dead

Pretty brutal, right?

Song Review: Megadeth - Headcrusher

Remember your favorite parts of The System Has Failed and United Abominations? I'm thinking "Tears in a Vial," "Kick the Chair," "Sleepwalker," "Burnt Ice;" the songs with that desperate energy that pervades those selections of Mustaine's modern work where he's actively writing good music and not clearing the disease-infested phlegm from the lungs of his still-recovering composing body. I've listened to "Headcrusher" (available for the next 24 hours or so at this location) five times in the last hour and I'm happy to report that the first track from Endgame is firmly in the tradition of Megadeth's better tracks. The lyrics are a little on the cartoonish side of violence - a bit like the tales of sleep-borne murder in "Sleepwalker" - and the riffage bears more than a passing resemblance to other Megadeth songs, but that's never really the point with Megadeth: their best work moves quickly, shuffles riffs like magician, and puts enough twists on metal idioms to have mass appeal without becoming repetitive and be innovative without abandoning the core value of rocking out. "Headcrusher" moves in this proud tradition; if its fellow tracks follow in its wake, I'll be very excited to hear the results.

Dave Mustaine Tempts Us With "Best Since Rust in Peace"

Dave Mustaine has graced us with an announcement of the title of the next Megadeth album. Because it's Mustaine, it comes complete with a statement about the meaning behind the album's name that either borders on the lunatic fringe or lets us know this next one is going to be based on a concept: apparently there's some law/document out there called "Endgame" that details President Bush's legacy in terms on par with the Final Solution. Guess we'll have to hear it to see what's what. In any case, picking through Mustaine's odd verbiage aside, what caught my eye was the promo quote: "This new album is my proudest moment since the famous (or infamous) Rust in Peace album."

Now, I am normally happy to cast a jaundiced eye on anything so hype-heavy, but things have been building in a pretty steady progression in Megadeth land since Mustaine's nerve-damaged hiatus, and I see no reason why they shouldn't continue with the next release. Even if Endgame is nowhere near the career peak that is Rust in Peace, it should make for some good listening.

Via About.com Heavy Metal

Mike Alpert, this Google News Alert is for you.......

Ever since Eric put up his blog post about Blabbermouth hitting the bottom of the Megadeth posting barrel with their story on Mike Alpert's upcoming solo record the real Mike Alpert has been spamming our comments under the name "megadethfan." You only need to click his Google/Blogger profile to realize it is him.

It looks like his album came out today and he left another post on that ancient old story to let us know.

So Mike Alpert, while you are popping the champagne tonight with your special someone tracking Google News Alerts for your name, this hit is for you. Enjoy.

I'm going to go back to not holding up my end of writing posts for this blog by marveling at the obscure C list Metal celebrities who now follow my Twitter feed.............

Blabbermouth Needs To Cool It With The Megadeth Connections

Look, we know Dave Mustaine is a difficult guy to work with (or an ego-centric douchebag, if you like) and as a result the metal landscape is littered with guys who used to be in Megadeth. We also know that those guys will probably end up making music on their own and they might even trade a bit on the Megadeth name, which is fine: they should probably just put out a "I worked with Dave" patch you can put on your press releases to demonstrate how you've paid your dues. But when Blabbermouth starts using headlines like "Former MEGADETH Guitarist MIKE ALBERT To Release 'Afterlife'," I think things have gone a bit too far.

See, thanks to Wikipedia, we can see the entire list of Megadeth band members. And look! There's Mike Albert, who played guitar (on a touring basis, from what Blabbermouth tells us) in 1985 when Chris Poland was on the outs with Dave for the first time. So yeah: at one point, almost twenty-five years ago, this dude was in Megadeth. Very briefly. Why does that warrant inclusion in the headline again?

Heaven and Hell, you disappoint me.....

Apparently Coheed and Cambria are opening the next Heaven and Hell tour. Heaven and Hell, the band with AWESOME bills.

1st time I saw them: No opening act at Radio City Music Hall.
2nd time I saw them: Megadeth and Machine Head
3rd time I saw them: ALICE FUCKING COOPER and Queensryche
4th time I saw them: Testament, Motorhead and Judas Priest

Who doesn't fit in here? Oh yeah FUCKING COHEED AND SHITTY ASSED CAMBRIA.

Guess I'm just going to have to show up late....

Mustaine and His Cryptic Writings

Seth and I were speculating last night on the "squashing a feud" news that Dave Mustaine hinted at the other day, wondering if it might mean - since the openers are still swirling in rumor and speculation - a spot on the fall Metallica tour or a tour with Slayer. Since Anthrax and Alice in Chains are both active at this point, we thought the later could very well turn into a revisit of Clash of the Titans (pending a suspension of egos, of course). Of course, now I re-read Mustaine's post and see it's a "potential" feud getting put to rest, so the entire speculation might be moot, but what do you all think? Would you want to see either one of these tours happen? Which would you prefer?

Dave Mustaine - Sleepwalking through Metal

Tonight started the Priest Feast tour in Europe with Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Testament.

I saw this tour in 1990 at Nassau Coliseum. Priest was promoting Painkiller, Megadeth was supporting Rust in Peace, and Testament was supporting Souls of Black. Great show! And Megadeth played a much better set than this:


01. Sleepwalker
02. Take No Prisoners
03. Wake Up Dead
04. Skin O' My Teeth
05. Washington Is Next
06. In My Darkest Hour
07. Hangar 18
08. Tornado of Souls
09. Symphony of Destruction
10. Peace Sells
---------------------
11. Holy Wars

Sleepwalker indeed! They have been doing a variation of this set since they first Mustaine started playing live again around 2003! This is why I can't get fired up about seeing them anymore.

Why don't you surprise me for once? I would be fine if you pulled Tornado of Souls if it would net me Hook in Mouth, or Liar, or maybe something spicy like Skull Beneath the Skin!

How many times can I see you play this same boring assed set with that weird thin live sound I have heard you use in too many small indoor rooms and large outdoor venues to blame anyone but the band?

Even Judas Priest gets it enough to pull out new tunes every few years to keep people interested. Why not throw me some surprises like Metallica did this year? Oh yeah, I went there........

Somehow, I'm Not Surprised

Headline from Blabbermouth on Friday: "MEGADETH Bassist Says New Album Has 'Old-School Kind Of Thrash-y Vibe'." Not that having a thrashy vibe is a bad thing - although was there really a lot about United Abominations that wasn't thrashy? - but is anyone really surprised that six months after Metallica does their best to go back to their roots with Death Magnetic, Megadeth is putting out press like they're following suit? Congratulations on following the trends once again, guys.

Requiem for a Dream

I see that Opeth is taking their tour back to the US again this Spring, which is great, because I wouldn't mind establishing the same see-once-a-year pattern with them that I've done with Dream Theater or Megadeth. They're bringing Enslaved with them, which is also cool because a.) I wouldn't mind seeing what those guys can do live and b.) while the metalgaze/black indie metal tag-team of High on Fire and Nachtmystium wasn't so much of a musical stretch paired up with Opeth's progressive black magic, going with another Swedish act might keep the douchebags at bay, or even - one can only hope - out of the auditorium entirely.

However, I'm also sad, because Opeth's tour announcement puts the final nail in the coffin of one of my fondest hopes: an Opeth/Ihsahn double bill. I won't give up hope, though; some day, I'll see these two play together, even if I have to travel to Oslo to do it.

Metal Fallout 3

I started playing Fallout 3 last night, which - if initial experience is any indication - means that I've just signed away my free time for at least the next three weeks. Those of you familiar with the game will remember its opening sequence, where an old radio plays an old song in a deliberately chilling contrast (emphasized with the ironic dig of the lyrics) to the environment of devastation. Those of you like me cursed to a life of song association no doubt had the same thought as I did within the first few seconds: 'this song sounds like it would be a perfect lead in to Megadeth's "Set the World Afire"!'

Remember how Mustaine garnered a Gears of War sponsorship for Gigantour? He should get Bethesda to sponsor his next time out. Nuclear devastation is such a better fit for Megadeth than battling giant alien locusts and I would have no problem seeing them play "Set the World Afire" live.

More Thoughts on Death Magnetic

I'm supposed to be "reviewing" Death Magnetic for Walmart this week (which should give you an idea of its pre-orders, as I'm only offered albums on the Billboard 200), but my copy isn't here yet and I just read through the various takes on Metal Sucks. I wouldn't say this post is a reaction...more of an "inspired by."

For the record, I like Death Magnetic. I do not love it; love is a word I reserve for albums I develop addictions to, that I have to listen to once a day when I first get them and return to on a regular basis afterwards. When I fall in love with an album, it's generally the first thing that catches my eye when I'm scanning through a list of mp3s or a stack of CDs and when I see it, I get that warm fuzzy feeling that's a physiological reaction built up from all of the other times I've listened to the album and enjoyed what I've heard. I love Empire, or Rust in Peace, or Master of Puppets, or (to use a more recent example) Slania. I like Death Magnetic.

Much of the disparagement directed towards Death Magnetic focuses on disappointment, even if the reviewer doesn't come out and say so explicitly. People who don't like the album are disappointed that after all of the hype about Death Magnetic being a return to the old form, it sounds like a mix of recycled riffs from the 80's album quartet, Hetfield's blown out voice, and some garbage lyrics. I'm pretty sure anyone who espouses that view is deluding themselves for a few reasons.

First, consistency is for Slayer, who, metal gods love 'em, haven't made an album that pushed their creative boundaries since South of Heaven. Christ Illusion was fine, but that band found their niche 20 years ago and they haven't felt the need to leave it since. Metallica was special because they never copped to that game: all four of the classic period albums are different in very obvious ways. Perhaps the expectation of a "return to form" really means a return to the time when the band wasn't afraid to create the brilliant experiments that redefined the outer reaches of thrash, with the emphasis on brilliant: every Metallica album has been an experiment, but (to put it charitably) not every experiment worked. Death Magnetic may not have the brilliance of the classic period, but it's a far cry better than S & M or St. Anger and the signs of life seem to be reemerging. When Megadeth put out The World Needs a Hero, Dave Mustaine supposedly (if Wikipedia is to be believed) quipped that the album was "the first major turn of a huge ship at sea, trying to right itself and get back on course." I see Death Magnetic as fitting into the same metaphor.

Second, give up on Hetfield's voice: it's never going to sound like it did on the first four albums. Blowing out his voice during the Black Album recording sessions has to have scared him into changes; taking singing lessons during the same time period probably emphasized new habits that gave him the sound he's had since Load. It may not be pretty and it certainly isn't as powerful, but I can't see Hetfield wanting to risk more damage just to recapture a favored singing style.

Third, it's a rare Metallica lyric that's particularly deep: most of their songs have meanings that are very easy to piece together, with the simple themes that made thrash great. The lyrics were and are a simple counterpoint to what's going in the music and when the music fails to satisfy, the lyrics fall from powerfully utilitarian to simplistic.

In sum: Death Magnetic won't stand up to the classic albums, but it's the best thing we've seen Metallica put together in a long time and represents a big step in the right direction.

Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden

What to say, what to say...well, this happened, which pretty much sums up anything I could say about how awesome this show was. Playing soccer on stage while the crew deals with a blown speaker (during "Powerslave"...the irony is gigantic) and making it fun for 20,000 people to watch does take a special talent. Hell, watching a band play the exact same set list three months apart and loving every minute of it because they managed to make their show that much bigger the second time around (Madison Square Garden: big frickin' space with decent acoustics that sounds massive) is proof positive by itself that Iron Maiden is one of rock's premiere live bands. See them live, but don't take all of the tickets because I'll be coming back for more.

Before the show, I was explaining the rules of t-shirt wearing at concerts to my brother-in-law. Many people don't understand these rules, so it's worth going over them here, if for no other reason than that I was validated for following them immediately after the show. So, here we go:

1. Do not wear a t-shirt put out by the band you're going to see. Doing so makes you look like a poseur who lacks a deeper knowledge of the subtleties of the music scene, or at least the understanding that there are other bands out there who play the same kind of music. On a corollary, don't wear a shirt put out by a fan of the band you're going to see paying homage to that band (like this shirt, for example. By the way, this picture makes me happier than I can say), for the same reasons. You'll just be That Guy, and no one wants that (although the legions of people I see buying shirts at a show and then wearing them during the show might disagree). Also, variety makes people watching far more interesting between sets.
   
   
2. Don't wear a shirt of a band that has a long-standing disagreement or feud with the band you're going to see. For example, if you're going to see Megadeth, don't wear a Metallica t-shirt; if you're going to see Iron Maiden, don't wear an Ozzy t-shirt (or a maybe just a shirt with Sharon Osbourne on it, which would be pretty lame anyway); if you're going to see Dream Theater, don't wear a Queensryche shirt, etc. Much like breaking rule one, breaking rule two makes you look like a tool who doesn't pay attention to the subculture you're invading. Chances are this means you cost some fan who really does care about the music a ticket, which means you're an evil person. It's also possible you just don't care about feuds, but then you're missing the point.
   
   
3. When picking a shirt to wear, the goal is to choose something that's either old or obscure or (preferably) both. Both factors give you credibility, and can help you strike up conversations with random people during the show. Having an old tour shirt (we're talking a piece of clothing that's a minimum of 20 years of age) can even let you break rule number one. I'm pretty sure I saw a shirt from the original Somewhere in Time tour last night, and even though it was a Maiden shirt, it was an old Maiden shirt, which made it pretty cool. People with shirts like that tend to have interesting stories.

Anyway, those are the rules. Follow those rules, last night I chose to wear a GWAR shirt I picked up during the We Kill Everything tour, and sure enough: walking back to my car, I was hailed by two guys who thought my shirt was the coolest thing they'd seen in the past half hour. Instant validation, at only pennies a day!

Gigantour III at Hammerstein Ballroom

I was pretty excited about this show before going; it was Megadeth, after all, and even though I've seen Dave Mustaine and his latest group of instrument-wielding henchmen far too many times over the past three years (Six! Six! What the hell is wrong with me?), they've made up for my terrible first viewing so many times at this point that it's hard not to get psyched up about the upcoming thrashing. Then I found out that Children of Bodom was on the bill.

As I've mentioned in the past, Children of Bodom exerts a strange and powerful influence over me, not unlike that of Megadeth. Putting the two of them on the same bill was a stroke of pure genius, and while people make jokes about a show being too much rock to handle, in this case it was nearly the truth: I thrashed and banged so hard during the two sets that I couldn't sleep properly for the next two days from my aching neck and shoulders and had to call in sick. It's a measure of a good old metal time when you're not only physically exhausted but slightly damaged, too.

What's odd - for me, anyway - about seeing any band (whether I know them well or not) live is that I don't remember very much of the music afterward. Take this show, for example. I know Job for a Cowboy played some wretched-sounding sludge that made anticipating Bodom that much sweeter, like an upcoming feast for a starving man (seriously, they were that bad). I know I was making up words to "Angels Don't Kill" and "Sixpounder" because I was so hyped up I had to scream something, even if they weren't technically the right lyrics. I know my friends and I retreated to the downstairs bar while In Flames played because they were in serious danger of becoming the crap sandwich between two buns of awesome and we had some bullshitting to do. And I know I nearly removed my skull from my neck during "Hangar 18," and that I thought that Chris Broderick did a better job on the Spanish guitar bridge in "Holy Wars" than Glen Drover, and seemed to have more stage presence, too. But I don't really remember much else, and when I try to think of the songs I do know, I just hear the studio versions. Soon enough, the mental pictures from this show will merge with those from other shows, and - if I'm lucky - I'll be left with one framing shot from the whole night, and the feeling that I had a great time.

Megadeth at Irving Plaza

It's a good night to be out; the weather is cool without being cold, with a little too much humidity that makes any time outside uncomfortable only with some exertion. We're not outside for any real extertion; we wander with a purpose in the Union Square area, waiting for the 9:45 hour, when the bands with metalcore names leave the stage and Megadeth comes on. We sit in a bar, and drink, and talk about music. The sound system is high-end, large sound-reinforcement type speakers dominating a room so shitty-looking it could be out of a punk documentary. The speakers and the room are diametrically opposed in quality; they shouldn't be in the same two block radius, let alone the same room, but the whole thing works. Maybe it's because of the weird mix of tracks: Jawbreaker, Minor Threat, Embrace, James Brown. I'm told to expect "The Trooper" to come on at any second. We talk about Ian MacKaye and his DIY ethic, Blake Schwarzenbach and how he now teaches English at Hunter College. It's a good way to warm up for a concert; a much better way than listening to whatever crappy bands Roadrunner's packaged on this tour.

Seeing Megadeth has become a common occurrence; five times in two years far outstrips my frequency for any other band. It's a little ironic; I remember thinking after I heard that Dave had hurt his wrist that it sucked I would never see that band live. Maybe I'm making up for lost time.

Irving Plaza is packed, almost to the gills. We start out below the overhand, where the sound sucks and for some reason they're not using the extra speakers they've added. As Megadeth takes the stage we squeeze our way through the crowd and into an open area near one of the doors. The difference in sound between the overhand and the open room is palpable. The sound still sucks, but it's gone from a dull roar to a wall, a wall of high frequency fuzzed harmonics and deeper guitar distortion, interspersed with the rhythmic smashing of the drums and the indistinct wailing of whomever is singing. It's like having your head cut off with a sound wave. The air is electric and it feels good.

Mustaine has a cold, or some sort of sick thing that makes it hard for him to sing; he apologizes but tells us he didn't want to cancel. We love him for it and we let him know, just like we let him and the band know how happy we are to be there after every song. The crowd - whatever the capacity crowd is for Irving, small but not insignificant - doesn't sound like 1,000 people in a club when we cheer, but 5,000 or 10,000 or more in an arena or a stadium. It's huge; it reverberates from the ceiling of the old concert hall and startles me every time it happens. It adds to the atmosphere, to the excitement of seeing this band do their thing and do it well once again.

Megadeth, as always, plays a mix of the very new and the very old; think "Washington is Next" meets "Hangar 18" meets "Kick the Chair" meets "In My Darkest Hour" meets "Symphony of Destruction" and you'll get the idea. The crowd doesn't know the new material as well and no one can hear Dave, so the new tracks turn into respectful silences and physical breaks for the crowd, who throw everything they have into every old track the band plays. I sing at shows, when I know the songs; it helps me let myself go into the music more. I'm singing - but I'm always singing - but it feels like everyone else is, too. It's communal, unifying, and it makes the show that much more memorable, because we're all getting our faces melted together and we all know it. They play the new version of "Toute le Monde," and I realize that Dave's little remake trick must be working; there are a lot of women in this crowd. They play "Tornado of Souls" and the fifth time I hear it live is just as good as the first. I lose my shit; I love that song.

It's 11:20. The night's over, the set finished just on the cusp of going too long. We stumble out into the street, swap stories of other shows and other good times built around music and metal. I walk back to the subway, thoughtful. Nights like these are why I go to shows, I decide, in search of the high that only good live music can bring. It's a good addiction.

Countdown to Darkness

I came back from the gym this morning with a real yen to hear "Architecture of Aggression" - or, as I was calling it until recently for some reason, "Architecture of Regression" - and eventually put on the whole disc for my sonic enjoyment. About three-quarters of the way through, I realized something that's been in the back of my mind for years; probably ever since I bought the CD as a lad: Countdown to Extinction is very dark record.

It's not the lyrics per se; Mustaine had been writing lyrics about war and destruction for years and Countdown... fits right in that same mold. The difference is in the music; for the first time there's not much thrashing, so the sound timbre doesn't have the frantic brightness that thrash brings to the mix. Instead, it's gloom and doom in both the words and the music. I remember listening to the spoken word part in the middle of "Countdown to Extinction" and freaking out thinking about all of that life disappearing, faster and faster. Previous Megadeth albums were like the Mad Max world of post-nuclear apocalypse, disease, death and the fight for survival. Countdown... was more like the moment the bombs go off, when your old life crumbles around you and you wonder if it's better to die in the fiery flash or try and survive with what's left.

It's also got Dave Mustaine singing about selling man pussy, which is a comic highlight to a Megadeth album if there ever was one.

Film Review: Get Thrashed

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of attending the New York City premiere of Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal, a documentary about - you guessed it - the history of thrash from its origins in the 1980s to whatever form it's still kicking around in today. Directed by Rick Ernst, Get Thrashed featured Rat Skates, formerly of Overkill, as associate producer.

The showing took place in a theater on the East Side as a part of the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival. This association probably made the whole showing possible, but it lead to a few problems that very nearly killed the fun of this party before it got started.

First, there was the matter of seating arrangements. Because New York City is one of the world's original thrash capitals, many of the members of the NYC-area bands featured in this film wanted to come to the premiere. Because New York City is a place where class equality is a convenient lie, the organizers decided to reserve the front four rows for the bands and their families, even though there weren't really enough chairs for all of the ticket holders and this wasn't a crowd for acting star struck. Clearly, fire code be damned when there are rock stars involved.

But then the organizers went too far: they informed us - less than a minute before the show was supposed to start - that Get Thrashed would have an unannounced opener, a piece called Bang Bang You're Dead about an indie rock band from Utah. And they even had the director, a neophyte giving his first showing, in the audience to make an introduction.

As you can no doubt imagine, the result was a disaster. The film itself wasn't that bad - it reminded me a bit of Instrument, if Instrument had been Jem Cohen's first film - but anyone with half a brain would know that showing a film with no real narrative and a bunch of disassociated imagery about a group of college-age indie kids to a crowd of mostly 30+ metalheads would go over like a lead zeppelin. I was impressed: the crowd managed to maintain a sullen silence for the first few minutes before the conversation rose to low roar, people started actively booing the endless transitions or announcing loudly they were going out to get popcorn. The film's end after half an hour was a mercy killing overdue by about 25 minutes, leaving us to wonder if we had been the victims of a last minute switch due to poor ticket sales for Bang Bang Your Dead or some sort of bullheaded stupidity by our hosts.

Thankfully, the rest of the evening's awesome was proportional to the beginning's suckitude: Get Thrashed is an excellent, excellent film that gets even better when you watch it with a room full of fans not afraid to show their love for a nostalgia trip down heavy metal memory lane. Focusing on the world's four big thrash areas (LA, San Francisco, New York and Germany) and moving in a rough chronological order that tied the US Big Four (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) and German thrash giants Kreator to the scenes they helped spawn, Get Thrashed happily traced the progression of thrash from its roots in Metallica's garage in LA and Exodus's brutal live shows in San Francisco in 1980 to the movement's apogee with the 1990 Clash of the Titans tour, using photos, video and interviews with everyone from Blitz Ellsworth and Rat Skates to Dave Mustaine to Zetro to Lars Ulrich to the members of Dark Angel to those crazy bastards from the Old Bridge Militia to tell the tale.

While all of those interviews are informative, a few go beyond and become truly memorable. Blitz Ellsworth, for example, is either really funny or really, really crazy, but in a way that makes you want to have a beer with him so you can hear some stories. Dave Mustaine is...well, Dave Mustaine, the strange cross between super arrogant guitar god and comic book geek. My favorite moment in the movie was when Mustaine goes on a short rant about how he made the careers of everyone in Megadeth, could play better than everyone in Metallica, was, in fact, responsible for thrash music as we know it today - cue a gasp from the crowd - and then the film makers cut to Scott Ian, who tells the camera, "if it wasn't for Dave Mustaine, thrash music probably wouldn't exist."

There were some nice tribute moments, too: moments of silence written in for the memories of Cliff Burton, Paul Baloff and Dimebag Darrell made even more poignant by the sentiment of the crowd, which gave each man a full round of applause. These moments underscored how much of a community metal can be when it's brought together around something good; when in-fighting and external attacks aren't part of the equation and the mood turns to celebration of what's been done.

All of these moments underscore what seems to be Get Thrashed's underlying purpose: to set down the official story, such as it is, as a monument to one generation of metalheads and the bands they loved. It's a huge strength for the film, but it also underscores the film's one weakness: Get Thrashed puts thrash metal's foundations in a near vacuum, as if it sprang fully formed from the minds of a few guys who liked playing loud and fast, tiptoes around the more difficult issues and ascribes everything that's going on in metal now to what started 27 years ago. Historically it makes the film a little skewed, but that one problem pales in comparison to the enjoyable experience Get Thrashed provides to the viewer. If you can go see it, do; you'll have a great time.