March 2005-

Judas Priest- Angel of Retribution

There is no way a metal site can have a new Metal Minute without mentioning the new Priest-Judas is Rising-is the fitting first track to the soon to be classic Priest CD which begins with the Metal God screaming the intro to the song- what better way to celebrate the return of Halford than have him scream into the first track!!. We have been fortunate enough to be sitting with this Cd for a few weeks now, and metal fans will not be disappointed with the long awaited new Priest. The Metal God is back and so is the melodic metal that Judas Priest fans of old all know and love. One can tell that the Roy Z production & influence is strong (Halford/Dickinson)- and the crisp clean metal sound that Roy seems to bring out of Metal bands. Also are killer solo's, the right blend of catchy /riffy tunes and of course the token ballad. All in all- it is a metal CD that is long needed with the real opportunity to break into mainstream rock radio. The mighty Priest have done it and metal fans old will be excited to hear them back and this is the one new metal CD that can convert all those new young Slipknot metal kids into appreciating classic metal!. Some will argue that the new songs are a little “safe”– but all in all, it won't disappoint- welcome back to the MG!

Queensryche- Operation Mindcrime –Live!
Beacon Theatre NYC

We had the opportunity to check out Queensryche at the famous old school Beacon Theatre in NYC. After a first set of mixed Queensryche classics and a quick intermission- the main act of the night was underway. Operation Mindcrime performed in its entirety complete with stage props and actors. Pamela Moore- the original vocalist on the classic Operation Mindcrime is on the tour to perform all of Sister Mary's vocals- and she is fantastic live! It is a must see show for any Queensryche and metal fans a like. It is also very cool and refreshing to see a metal show with actors performing to add to the theatrics. The show certainly gets fans back interested in Operation Mindcrime, which makes perfect sense since Operation Mindcrime 2 is due to hit stores this year. If this tour comes to your town, you need to go check it out!

Behemouth /Suffocation- NYC

“We are Be-he mouth & we come to play metal music for you”-shouts Poland's Nergal- Behemouth's front man. Many metal fans may or may not like death/black metal- but as a metal fan you owe it to your self to check out a black metal show for the experience alone and one cannot do wrong checking out Behemouth. Great guitar riffs, crunching drums & fantastic stage presence- one can see why there is a buzz circulating this metal band. Strangely enough- we found the black/death metal fans somewhat “mellow”- mellower than expected for a black metal show.

Following Behmouth- NYC's own Suffocation took the stage- it appears some of the fans departed after Behemouth- however Suffocation's faithful stayed to watch them pound out their version of death metal. It is not my personal favorite and it is tough to differentiate the songs- especially without being familiar with their studio work- however they seem to have a strong following of fans.

Tesla Live- acoustic set

Thanks to our good friends at Sanctuary records, we had the chance to check out Tesla live doing all their hits acoustic style. Tesla is always a very good live band; they play very tight & clear. It was great to see Frank Hannon & Tommy Skeoch up on stage trading guitar riffs. Only comment was- how cool would it be to see an acoustical set- followed by a full on electric set??? Half way through the acoustic set, true metal heads start craving some plugged in tunes. Anyway- if you haven't seen Tesla unplugged- it is a great opportunity & you should check it out.

New Metal CD's arrived
We had the chance to check out some killer/crazy new metal- some sent in by friends at metal labels, great PR agencies such as Chipster PR & Maser PR-as well as some ordered via CM Distro-In this month Arch Enemey- Dead Eye's See No future (available at MF.com)- killer new EP with live tracks, cover tunes by Arch Enemy, new Overkill- pre-release- Realix V-straight forward Overkill Metal, Children of Bodom- Strung out EP & hate Crew Deathroll (all killer speed/thrash metal- available at MF.com shop)- Wolf Evil Star (maiden esq. Metal), the New Testament DVD, new UDO- straight forward UDO CD, Soilwork- crisp metal and the new American Head Charge- band getting some good buzz in the metal underground (check out www.headcharge.com for song downloads & info). We wouldn't mention these new releases if they weren’t worthy!

Overlorde- Underground metal- “Return of the Snow Giant”
Finally, we were happy to receive a cool CD from an underground band called Overlorde and their latest- Return of the Snow Giant from an relatively unknown band –turns out these power metelars have been around since 1987 & have around 7-8 CD's Classic metal fans should check them out- the vocalist is very strong –at times sounding very Michael Kiske like (ex. Helloween) & at times very Maiden & Queensryche like as well- solid riffs, catchy melodies & good solos- We were happy to check out Overlorde's version of Metal!- check them out www.overlorde.com

Until the next Metal Minute- Metal On!!!