Podcast #130: Nog

A nicer, humbler guy you may never meet than Andy Timmons - and you can take that to the bank. The MONEY bank.It’s that time of year again; Merry belated Christmas! It's time once again for Genghis and Ragman to pull out their annual Kicks and Kisses lists, so join G & R while they discuss the hits and misses of the past year.

Next the boys warm up the egg nog for a one on one with guitarist extraordinaire Andy Timmons who discusses what it was like tackling a Beatles classic with his instrumental interpretation of Sgt. Pepper’s [It's fantastic! - Genghis] and much, much more…

Ragman's Kisses

• Pagan’s Mind - Heavenly Ecstacy
• Dream Theater - Dramatic Turn of Events
• Iced Earth - Dystopia
• Asking Alexandria - Reckless Relentless
• Sebastian Bach - Kicking and Screaming
• Beggars and Thieves - We are the Brokenhearted

Ragman's Kicks

• Death of Jani Lane
• Steel Panther - Balls Out
• Metallica - Lulu
• Edguy - Age of the Joker

Genghis' Kisses

• Dream Theater - Dramatic Turn of Events
• Symphony X - Iconolast
• Animals as Leaders - Weightless

Genghis' Kicks

• Disturbed breaking up
• Megadeth - 13
• Big 4
• KK Downing leave Judas Priest
• Matt Barlow leaves Iced Earth
• Nevermore loses key members
• RUSH signs to Roadrunner Records

DVD of the Show: Pagan’s Mind - Live Equation

Beer of the Show: Gnomegang (Brewery Ommegang)
		Presentation: 3.0 Alcohol: 3.5 Taste: 4.0 Drinkability: 3.5 Overall: 3.5

Featured Tracks: NLO - God Was Born a Baby; Twisted Sister - Deck the Halls; Lemmy - Run Rudolph Run; Pagan’s Mind - Follow Your Way; Warrant - Family Picnic; Dream Theater - This is the Life; Sevendust - Last Breath; Iced Earth - Anguish of Youth; Symphony X - Lords of Chaos; Animals as Leaders - Do Not Go Gently; Asking Alexandria - Dear Insanity; Sebastian Bach - Kicking and Screaming; Beggars and Thieves - We Come Undone; Andy Timmons - Cry For You, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, A Day in the Life, Within You Without You, She’s Leaving Home, Electric Gypsy, Turn Away

- Ragman was worn out after mixing this one...

Podcast #130: Nog

New Year, New Shows

UStream.TV is pretty cool, but we're not sure how the new sound board will work with it.Our first taping of the year happens tomorrow night with some of our new equipment. Don't misunderstand, it's nothing fancy; just a new Alesis mixer and the ol' iPad 2 kicking in some real-time effects processing. Not sure if we'll have the wherewithall to do a live stream on UStream as we've done in the past, but as our setup becomes the norm, and we really get into the swing of things, we'd be happy to do so.

Looking forward to revitalizing the show and the site in the coming months, so thanks for listening and keeping those HORNS UP!

- Genghis is kinda stoked about the new studio setup's potential...

Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

If you like a little blood in your beer, then Skeltonwitch's blend of death and thrash ("dash"?) metal is prolly up your alley.Athenian (OH not GA) metallers Skeletonwitch are best known - to me at least - for having one of the coolest album covers of late (2007's Beyond The Permafrost) back when John Baizley's Mucha-meets-Lovecraft style was all the rage. While I was hugely drawn to the artwork (I'm a huge Alphonse Mucha fan), I knew nothing about the band until now. Some call them a thrash band, others death metal, but I think they're somewhere in between.

Either way, their sound on Forever Abomination [Prosthetic Records] is classic thrash, in terms of short, breakneck paced tunes while the lyrical themes and Chance Garnette's singing style (seemingly the lovechild of Cookie Monster and Cobra Commander) are straight out of the death metal playbook. If you ask me, the bands with the most potential in metal these days find a niche to dominate, old or new. With the old, there's a pre-established pantheon of bands with loyal followings to consider, while a new niche sound takes a while to cultivate. Skeletonwitch does a fine job with the latter, cuz they know what sort of sound they do well with and they make it happen; managing to pack a whole [old] Metallica song's worth of grit and energy into less than 3 minutes, and I say good on ya, SK.

The Bottom Line: If you like a little blood in your beer, you're probably the demographic for a band like Skeletonwitch. I get the feeling this band puts on a helluva live show, and I hope to get to see 'em one day soon.

Standout Tracks: To be honest, they all kinda sound the same. So all...or none of them?

- Genghis cranks this sort of music at work - especially when he's coding on a deadline...

Eagleheart - Dreamtherapy

Try to ignore the cheesy 80s cover/logo on this CD jacket, and get yourself ready for some killer, Bohemian power metal.It's funny how there always seems to be a place for certain types of bands. Take the Czech power metal band, Eagleheart. You might be tempted at first to dismiss their latest effort, Dreamtherapy [Scarlett Records], except that behind every sparkly synth chord, screaming chorus, neoclassical guitar solo and thundering double bass, there is an earnestness that can't be ignored.  These guys love what they do and it shows.  

The influence of bands like Stratovarius (whose song Eagleheart was no doubt the inspiration for this band) and Helloween (erstwhile guitarist Roland Grapow actually produced this album) are obvious, but there are times when you can even hear a little of Symphony X's Olympian riffage even if the band never quite steps into prog territory.

The Bottom Line: Yeah, I know: "Do we really need more power metal in the world? It's not like there's a dearth of power metal bands putting out new product every year".  But if you dig the likes of Stratovarius (and who knows where that will end up with Jörg recently announcing his departure, leaving just Kotipelto and Johansson as the oldest members), Edguy, Helloween, and others, Eagleheart is ready and willing to take up the torch for power metal. To je dobré!

Standout Tracks: Taste My Pain, Creator Of Time, Dreamtherapy, Burned By The Sun

- Genghis just knows Ragman is gonna flip for this band...

East Of The Wall - The Apologist

If you guys are down with some chunky, psychedelic tunes, this is a great band to groove to.Following in the recent (and hopefully growing) trend of technical bands that have a strong sense of melody, East Of The Wall, is a New Jersey band made up of a lot of different influences that manages to make something greater than just the sum of its parts. Their latest CD, The Apologist [Translation Loss Records], is a great example of what the next generation of progmetal can do.

Now to be clear, the metal part of their progmetal categorization is a little misleading. They're really more like a heavy The Mars Volta with less of an ethnic feel, or maybe a heavy, modern, American version of Pink Floyd. So while there's less "balls and chunk"tm to their overall sound as far as metal is concerned, the familiar dynamics, driving grooves, and instrumental exchanges are there in spades. Incidentally, this is one of those bands where the constituent members seem to be constantly involved in playing and writing music - if not in this band, then in one of the many side projects they're all involved with (like the guys in Dream Theater or Symphony X).  So you can't help but get the idea that their songwriting muscles get regular exercise, leading one to think that's a major component of the better musicians'/bands' success in the field.

Standout Tracks: The Apologist, False Build, Underachiever

The Bottom Line: Call 'em progressive stoner metal, melodic technical metal, or whatever, but either way you slice it, East Of The Wall is a band replete with great ideas and talent. Fans of this niche sub-genre should run out and get this album ricky tick.

- Genghis loves to groove and loves crazy talented musicians...