(August 2025) Episode 666 is SATAN. Of the many bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, their distinction was being among the fastest, playing a kind of thrash before that label became popularized in the Bay Area.  Even that is not enough, IMO, to get them close to the top tier of NWOBHM. A lot feels rote, and despite the opportunity provided by the name, they never go full evil on lyrics or imagery. Amidst lineup changes, they also recorded as Blind Fury and Pariah, probably trying to avoid stigma in the satanic panic era. They reformed in 2013 with their original singer for several albums which bored me.

Favourite album: Court in the Act

Favourite song: Trial by Fire

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums (under the Satan name) have a certain vintage.

(July 2024) Episode 589 of the “opus project” is ACCEPT. Accept was my entry into heavy metal, when a high school classmate gave me a mix tape of metal bands (it also included “Whiplash” which was my initiation into Metallica.) The song was “Fast as a Shark.” The children’s song, the record scratch, the scream, the thrash, the double pedals, the hooks, the fills, the lightning guitar solo – that song has EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, that (still) amazing song was the exception, not the rule. While some of their earlier stuff resembled Judas Priest (that’s a good thing), most of the rest is banal headbanging, which bores me. And there’s a lot: 17 albums up to the present year. But their influence on speed and thrash metal will always stand.

Favorite album: Restless and Wild

Favorite song:  Fast as a Shark

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall are the only albums you need to know.

(June 2024) Episode 576 is VENOM. They emerged late phase of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and became influential in extreme metal and thrash metal. And their album Black Metal gave the name to that subgenre. Lots of album and song titles featuring “Satan,” “hell,” “devil,” and “death,” and headbanging riffs, as we would expect. But listening from a four-decade distance, it’s hard to separate their music from the metal clichés that they helped create. I prefer the sound on the later (21^st century) albums with a cleaner production.

Favorite album: Metal Black

Favorite song:  A Good Day to Die

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Metal fans will want to check out their first couple of albums to hear the influence, but I think there are better places to get your fix for thrash or black metal.

(July 2021) Episode 343 is PANTERA. Heavy metal as it is meant to be: propulsive, aggressive and ear-bleeding. Funny thing is they started out in the 80s as a run-of-the-mill hair metal band, but flipped the switch in the 90s to metal goodness with machine-gun riffs, double pedal speed and throat scream vocals, owning the decade. Quality stuff.

Favorite album: Vulgar Display of Power

Favorite song: Slaughtered

Compared to expectations: ↑