Music from a Lifetime

"Coming off their previous album “The Ritual”, Testament began to feel the winds of change as it were. The first strike was the departure of lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, who decided that he wanted to experience other sides of music than just the thrash metal scene he had been a part of for almost a decade. Not long after, drummer Louie Clemente also left the band. This left holes in the framework that had to be filled. The first addition was guitarist James Murphy who had played with Death, Cancer and Obituary (and yes, those are band names not just a really bad run with his health), and drummer John Tempesta, who had played on the previous three albums for Exodus and with other solid work on his resume.

These two additions, along with what was happening around them in the music world, set up and interesting writing session when they converged to begin preparing for the new album. And while those thrash roots would remain on the music on this album, there is a more diverse sound once again bleeding through into their music. But while it had been an advancing maturity in the music that had been heard on the last two albums in particular, here there influences of the growing onset of alternative metal, but even more so of a death metal and groove metal combination".

"“Son of the Morning Star” follows and channels “How the Gods Kill” from the previous album, with its slow heartfelt beginning before breaking into the heavy blanketed second half of the song with John’s striking solo leading it out. “I Don’t Mind the Pain” moves back into a mid-tempo pace drawn along by Glenn’s vocals leading the atmosphere of the song. “Stalker Song” is another beauty, moving in and out of that slow maudlin tempo again, the great combining of guitar and bass here with the perfect input of drums helps give Glenn a terrific base on which to croon at his best throughout.

“Let it Be Captured” backs back into the low-tempo track, which is interesting because of the fact that, inspired by accusations that their songs contained hidden Satanic messages, the guitar tracks for "Cantspeak" are those of "Let It Be Captured" played in reverse. John Christ explained in an interview how Eerie Von had the idea of playing one of our songs backwards, but in the end, they became so obsessed that they were trying to play "Let It Be Captured" backwards, which ended up creating a whole new song, "Cantspeak". Well, that’s one way to do it!"

On this episode we are going to talk about “Danzig 4” by Danzig, the band’s 4th studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘til the coin that I pass to the ferryman’s grasp lets me leave my pain behind’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"On “6:00”, James LaBrie opens the album and comes in hard and positive with his vocals from the outset, setting the album off on a great note, with John Petrucci’s crawling guitar riff and Kevin Moore’s seamless keyboards linking everything throughout. “Caught in a Web” carries on with the heavier tones, dominated by LaBrie’s awesome vocal track and Petrucci’s heavy riff, with positive lyrics about deciding to live life the way you want to, and not feel as though you are trapped in the titled web. “Innocence Faded” follows and draws on similar themes from the opening track. “6.00” has lyrics written by Moore, while “Innocence Faded” is written by Petrucci, and those themes, of a relationship beginning to deteriorate from two different perspectives, is closer to home than anyone knew at the time. Lines such as “Beginnings get complicated the farther we progress, opinions are complicated, immune to openness” speak for themselves".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Awake” by Dream Theater, the band’s 3rd studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘echoes that deafen the mind will bury my voice in their wake’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"However, in the late 1980's and early 1990's there was stream of movies that, as a young male is his teenage years and early 20's, were so bad they were good, and also had good artists doing the music, which in turn encouraged you to go out and buy the soundtrack, as well as the film on VHS.

“Shocker” was one of those movies and soundtracks. The concept and story of the film is fairly typical of the B-grade horror films that were coming out around this era. Released in 1989, the story centres on serial killer Horace Pinker, played by future X-Files alumni Mitch Pileggi who would play Assistant Director Walter Skinner. In this film, Pinker has killed over thirty people, including most of the foster family and the girlfriend of the main protagonist Johnathan Parker, who we eventually learn in Pinker’s biological son. Parker has formed a psychic connection with Pinker, and he is able to help his police detective father in capturing Pinker who is sentenced to death. Pinker has however made a deal with the devil, which allows to him be converted to pure energy on his execution, and thus be able to possess other people to escape where he is and also continue his murder spree. And now not only do the good guys have to work out that Pinker can do this, but how to stop him".

On this episode we are going to talk about the original motion picture soundtrack to the movie “Shocker” containing contributions from artists such as Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and The Dudes of Wrath, released 35 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘we will have the power’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"For the follow up to that album, the band decided to record in Japan with Nick Launay staying on as producer. Their record company apparently pushed for the band to record a more commercial single so that they could push for better opportunities in the US, something about which drummer Rob Hirst was quoted as saying “this is the album, take it or leave it”. The opportunity was there for the band to continue with their bold statements, and this was certainly the case for the album cover, designed by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura, which depicts Sydney Harbour after a hypothetical nuclear strike. It is a stark image, and one that stood out in the record racks in the music stores. The end result was an album that again pushed the band’s boundaries, and also became their first number one album in Australia, and also charted in the US. And thus came the album that was appropriately named “Red Sails in the Sunset”."

On this episode we are going to talk about “Red Sails in the Sunset” by Midnight Oil, the band’s 5th studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘no end to the hostility, now they wanna be somewhere else’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"“We Want Moore!” contains ten tracks, recorded at four different concerts from around the world in 1984. The venues included Detroit, Tokyo, Glasgow and Hammersmith, and the songs are spread over four different Gary Moore albums, including their most recent one at the time, “Victims of the Future”, along with “Corridors of Power” and “Back on the Streets” and “G-Force”. All of the songs live versions here are superb, and are completely faithful to the studio versions. And not only is Gary’s guitar as brilliant to listen to as always, but his vocals are also sublime. And that’s one of the things that is sometimes looked over when it comes to Gary Moore’s career, the fact that his vocals are so terrific. It seems strange that on certain albums, in particular the “Run for Cover” album, that he utilised different vocalists on some tracks.

He is also joined on this live album by the talented and versality Neil Carter, who would be a mainstay in his band through his hard rock career in particular. As a musician who would switch from keyboards to rhythm guitar and back when necessary during liv shows, as well as lending his excellent vocals to back up Moore’s own singing, Carter was a major contributor to Gary Moore’s live show and albums, and he is excellent here in every role. Craig Gruber, who was best known for being in Elf and playing on the first Rainbow album, contributes bass guitar here and is also excellent, while the incomparable Ian Paice is on drums"

On this episode we are going to talk about “We Want Moore!” by Gary Moore, the band’s 3rd live album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘murder in the skies came without a warning’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"The other thing that had occurred during this time of course was the elevation of grunge music to the top of the charts, and the influence that that had had on other heavy metal and thrash metal bands throughout the world. Bands had changed their sound to incorporate the new wave, or to completely embrace it, with mixed results. Other bands had literally disappeared into the ether as a result of this change in the music world. Slayer, with Bostaph appearing on his first Slayer album, and with such a long time between releases, came out and provided their response to everything that had occurred in that time frame… by producing an album that sounded exactly like you would expect a Slayer album to sound. Aggressive. Topical. Heavy"

On this episode we are going to talk about “Divine Intervention” by Slayer, the band’s 6th studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘straight flesh lace adorns your neck, spilling your blood all over my flesh’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"From the outset this appears to be a continuation of what was served up for us on “Hear in the Now Frontier”. There is a healthy dose of a revamped or upgraded grunge sound rumbling throughout the album, but without the true inspiration that came from that scene a decade earlier. And given that Queensrÿche the band hails from Seattle you can understand how that has eventually developed into the music that they have created here. For the first half of the album, everything is of a mid-to-slow tempo, lacking any real fire or attitude. There are no scorching guitar solos, there are no breakout drum rolls, there is no real stretching of the vocal cords. There are touches of Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth and Soundgarden through the opening tracks like "Falling Down" and "Sacred Ground", along with repeated chorus lines that fail to ignite any passion or determination to sing along because the songs are so structured and similar all the way through that it is difficult to get enthused by it. Even without DeGarmo at the helm, the songwriting here sticks to the direction taken by the previous album".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Q2K” by Queensryche, the band’s 7th studio album released 25 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘I ain't no Romeo, I'm just the man for you’ on Music from a Lifetime.

"The production and recording of the album was a chaotic hot mess, and on the face of it, it is truly amazing that the album was made at all. Dokken himself wanted to use Michael Wagener again, who had produced the first album, but George Lynch was so dissatisfied with the way that album sounded he fought against it, and Pilson and Brown took his side. Instead, the record company brought in Tom Werman, most noted for Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” album. One wonders if that experience helped him for this job, because his troubles were about to begin. Due in no small amount to the copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol in the studio, relationships between engineers and band members alike were at fever pitch.

So difficult was Werman’s job, and so poor was the relationship between Dokken and Lynch, that he came up with a schedule to separate the parties at all times. Lynch, along with Brown and Pilson, would record during the day, while Dokken would come in and record on his own at night. It’s interesting that this arrangement, the fact that Lynch and Pilson never saw each other during the recording process, carried on for the entirety of their time together in the band, not just this album".

On this episode we are going to talk about “Tooth and Nail” by Dokken, the band’s 2nd studio album released 40 years ago this week, on today’s episode where ‘I believed your deadly lies’ on Music from a Lifetime.