Rainbow - "Rising" (1976) + brilliant meatballs

Metal Bastard's Spanktacular Meatballs!

500g minced beef
One red onion, diced finely
One carrot, grated finely
One egg
Breadcrumbs
3 dl bulgur (leave in water overnight to swell)
50-100g fried, finely diced bacon

If you live in some backwoods, uncivilized part of the world where the metric system still isn't in use: Figure those measurements out yourself.

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl, season with rosemary, coriander, a little bit of garlic and salt & pepper. Make the meatballs any size you like (I like big balls myself... *cough cough*) and in put them in the oven for 40-45 minutes (depending on the size), 175 degrees Celsius. What that is in Fahrenheit, I have no idea. Get with the program, neanderthals. Ten minutes before they're done, take 'em out, pour grated parmesan (or some other strong cheese) on top, and put 'em back in.

Serve with a salad and some red wine (I suggest Santa Ines from Chile, strong and full without being heavy and will a divine hint of black currants). If you can't find it, just pick a nice Cab Sauv. Enjoy, bitches.

Now go to Monkey Bastard's MP3 Blahg and read the same recipe all over again!

(mp3) Rainbow - Tarot woman (highly recommended!)

(mp3) Rainbow - Stargazer (highly recommended!)

Stargazer live:

Buy Rising @ Amazon.com.

10 Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #6

(mp3) Iron Maiden - Strange world
Available on S/t (1980)

(mp3) Nine Inch Nails - Getting smaller
Available on With Teeth (2005)

(mp3) Ministry - The fall
Available on Filth Pig (1996)

(mp3) Extreme Noise Terror - Damage 381
Available on Damage 381 (1997)

(mp3) Fear Factory - Concreto
Available on Obsolete (DigiPak version, 1999)

(mp3) Entombed - The antichrist (live Slayer cover)
Available NOWHERE!

(mp3) Motorpsycho - Seether
Available on The Return Of Jesús Part II (1996)

(mp3) No Security - Kollaps
Available on V/A - In Crust We Trust (1993)

(mp3) Refused - Coup de tat (live)
Official studio version available on Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent (1996)

(mp3) Zeni Geva - Heathen blood
Available on Desire For Agony (1993)

Tool - "Lateralus" (2001)

Quite possibly the most highly anticipated album of 2001.

At least it was for me - after five agonising years since their last album, 1996's Ænima. The moment this arrived in the mail I locked myself in my room, popped the cd into the computer and cranked that bastard right up. I'd been waiting and aching for it for (what felt like) fucking ages, I had read article after article on how good it was, what it sounded like, etc etc. The tension was unbearable.

I somehow resisted downloading it as I wanted the first listen to be absolutely fresh. And I wasn't disappointed. If it hadn't been for Opeth's Blackwater Park (scroll down for a post on that record), this would have been the best album of 2001.

As if the music wasn't monumental and fucked up enough, the cover art was the coolest I had ever seen, with a translucent booklet with layer after layer of a human body. Lateralus (which on my copy is mislabelled "Lateralis" - a far superior title in my opinion) quickly became a favorite of mine and I still consider it Tool's best song.

After this Tool took another five years to produce a follow-up, 10,000 Days, which I have yet to hear. And judging by most of the reviews, I doesn't seem like I'm missing out on anything.

(mp3) Tool - Ticks & leeches

(mp3) Tool - Lateralus (highly recommended!)

Lateralus live in 2006:

Buy Lateralus @ Amazon.com.

Daemon - "The Second Coming" (1999)

I have no nothing to add about this thrashy, death metal-y wonder than what I've already stated in my previous Daemon post. The fact that it's late and I'm drunk as shit has nothing to do with the fact that I don't feel like elaborating. Honestly.

So scroll down a few inches past the Tiamat post for Daemon info, or click links for brilliant metal mp3s so badass they will crack your skull right open. By the way: This blog is set up to only show 25 posts at a time and since this my 25th post, that means my very first post (the one on B-Thong's kickass album Damage) will disappear into oblivion by my next post. So take this opportunity to scroll down to the very bottom of the page and download the three B-Thong songs while you still have the chance. They're awesome, I promise.

Aw hell, download all the other mp3s I got here while you're at it. Every damn song on this blog is fucking brilliant. You'll do yourself a favor.

And have the decency to leave a comment once in a while. Seriously. This place has about +700 hits a month (which is pretty damn good by my standards; definitely more than I ever expected), and so far only three or four of you have left comments. That's really fucking sad, people. If you care enough to stop by and download free shit, at least show enough respect to give me some feedback. It will only take you a second, and I'm pretty sure it won't hurt you.

(mp3) Daemon - What if... (highly recommended!)

(mp3) Daemon - Come die with me

(mp3) Daemon - Make me bleed

Buy The Second Coming @ Amazon.com.

Tiamat - "A Deeper Kind Of Slumber" (1997)

This dude pree much summed up everything there is to say about this masterpiece:

(mp3) Tiamat - Cold seed (highly recommended!)

(mp3) Tiamat - Four leary biscuits

(mp3) Tiamat - The whores of Babylon

The video for Cold Seed:

Buy A Deeper Kind Of Skumber @ Amazon.com.

Daemon - "Seven Deadly Sins" (1996)

Ah yes! Another rarity from the vaults! Yes another criminally overlooked and sadly forgotten metal gem, just waiting for Metal Bastard to spread the word to the rest of mankind. You're welcome, world. You may thank me later.

Daemon was a death metal side project started by guitarist/vocalist Anders Lundemark (Konkhra) and drummer Nicke Andersson (Entombed, The Hellacopters, Death Breath). Their first album Seven Deadly Sins came out a year after the movie Seven, and is obviously inspired by it, with one song for each sin (and an instrumental "Eighth Sin"). The album even ends with a sample of Morgan Freeman listing the seven deadly sins. It also has assloads of samples from that crap movie The Name Of The Rose (which would have been less crap if Christian Slater hadn't been in it). And also a little thing or two from Pulp Fiction.

The album was written and recorded in virtually no time at all in Stockholm's Sunlight Studios. The relaxed sessions combined with the noisy, trademark Sunlight sound gives the album a very loose, almost punkish quality. This ain't Nile or Vader, folks. Those looking for technical precision death metal need to look elsewhere. This is death metal of the old school, with all that that entails in terms of rawness, aggression and attitude. With, of course, a few flourishes of that signature, hellraising rock 'n' roll groove of Entombed. The album was made during Entombed's struggles with record labels and fits just right inbetween 1993's Wolverine Blues and 1997's To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Speak The Truth. Take the song writing from the former and mix it with the sound and production of the latter and what you get is Seven Deadly Sins.

After this album Nicke Andersson left due all his other commitments, and Daemon released their second album The Second Coming in 1999. It's also absolutely brilliant, and I'll blog about that one too sooner or later. In 2002 they released their latest (last?) album, Eye For An Eye, which isn't death metal by any stretch of the imagination. It's a lot thrashier with a definite Bay Area tinge, and also quite often reminds you of Strapping Young Lad. But Gene Hoglan played drums on it, so I suppose it makes sense.

So folks: Since it's Sunday, you get no less than three mortal sins. Buy the album and get the other five. Buy it today, or else God wins. And we wouldn't want that, would we?

(mp3) Daemon - Wrath (highly recommended!)

(mp3) Daemon - Pride

(mp3) Daemon - Envy

Buy Seven Deadly Sins @ Amazon.com.

V/A - "Japanese Assault" (2003)

This was the sixth installment in Relapse's Assault series (this one and the Swedish one are my favorites). It features four insane bands: Senseless Apocalypse, Muga, Swarrrm (best band name ever!) and Realized. I was gonna write a piece about this compilation, but whilst doing some research I came upon a review over at Disagreement.net that just sums it up perfectly. So I'm just gonna copy & paste the whole thing:

Relapse's Assault CDs have already a long standing tradition, and it may only come as a surprise that the series needs a sixth instalment to make us discover four Japanese bands, knowing that it's exactly that country that has produced some of the strongest crust music in the past.

The cover artwork is also typically Japanese, what you would expect from a John Zorn or Naked City album, meaning: bizarre black and white illustrations of BDSM techniques that seem to be really popular in the far east.

First band on the compilation is Senseless Apocalypse who assault us with 14 songs in just under 14 minutes. Sounds chaotic, but isn't really. What you get here is good rocking grind crust, maybe not too original but played very convincingly. And when I am telling you now that this good band is still the weakest on the CD, then you know that you are in for some really cool stuff. Next band is Muga, whose 5 songs nearly average 3 minutes each. They work the well known grind aesthetics, combining rough vocals with a second vocalist who has a more high-pitched voice, but the music itself is not high speed all the time, but has room for a more emotional approach. Third band are Realized, who play again a more traditional kind of grindcore. This means 14 songs that more or less average one minute running time each. This is nothing original, but done with so much conviction that it's a sheer pleasure to listen to it. Finally the album ends with the 4 songs of Swarrrm, a band that isn't really grind to begin with. They have the typical Relapse sound, meaning they specialise in ultra brutal mathy screamo sounds. Nice way to end a four-way split album.

I must say that the Dutch Assault album left me rather disappointed, but the Japanese show that the idea behind this series isn't growing dull yet. A feast for friends of bonecrushing grind and crust.

(mp3) Senseless Apocalypse - Wedge

(mp3) Muga - Memory (highly recommended!)

(mp3) Realized - Good mod perdition

(mp3) Swarrrm - Vanish (highly recommended!)

Muga tearing it up in Japan 2006

Buy Japanese Assault @ Amazon.com.