Bits and Pieces

Jakarta - I’ve accumulated a number of metal related tidbits over the past month, and that combined with three high-profile metal deaths this spring has compelled me to address it all in a crockpot-type post.

First, I’ll address the recent passing of three deeply entrenched members of the heavy metal community.

I was aware of Ronnie James Dio when I was a kid, watching his awesome/hilarious videos on MTV. If for some bizarre reason you haven’t seen the video for “Holy Diver”, do yourself a favor and watch in now. I didn’t fully appreciate his genius until later in life, when my own dedication to metal garnered more snickers than respect from my friends and colleagues. Dio was fully committed to metal in every possible way , and his contributions are too numerous to get into. I’ll leave the obit to the experts. For me, next to only Ozzy Osborne perhaps, he has to be the most influential metal vocalist ever.

Which leads me to Peter Steele. I never got into Type-O Negative, although to be fair I never really heard anything of theirs until the last couple of years. I found their music intriguing, and after reading and hearing a few interviews with Mr. Steele, I’ve become more intrigued. I guess what I’m trying to say is that from my limited exposure, he seemed like a genuine talent and a an important part of metal’s growth as a genre.

Finally, Paul Gray, bassist for Slipknot. I’ve never liked Slipknot, not even a little bit. But musical taste aside, this guy seemed genuinely nice. Also, he was only two years older than me, and had at least one young child from what I’ve read. That makes it a little sadder for me.

Now, on to my random bits of stuff:

I’ve been listening to Suicidal Angels lately, and I’m loving them. They’re a thrash band out of Greece. They sort of sound like Sepultura meets old school Slater. Let me just say that I’m aware that everyone supposed to think the the “New Wave of Thrash” is lame and played out and blah blah blah. Well, I’ve heard more new thrash bands that I like than ones I don’t like, so I say keep cranking it out, kids.