5-31-2012: Sleeze Beez - Stranger than Paradise

It was 2001, I was trying desperately to find the most obscure, kick-ass 80s metal bands out there.  Quite the challenge at the time because the internet simply wasn't what it is today.  Rolla, MO had a great station that played hair bands late every Saturday night and I happened to be visiting my buddy Chief for the weekend.  They played this gem and I was blown away!  While I can't say that the rest of their catalog holds up to this song, if you've never heard this song, and you like 80s/melodic metal, give this song a good listen and prepare to be vaulted back to big hair and great sounds!

5-30-2012: Lion - Lock Up Your Daughters

I only just realized that this is a Slade cover song.  For some reason, it made me like the song even more.  I've loved this band since the epic Crispin Glover did the infamous dance in Friday the 13th Part IV!
These guys are highly underrated, and I can't stress enough that fans of the more hard-rock laden, melodic metal MUST check these guys out!

5-28-2012: Dokken - Standing on the Outside

I love me some new Dokken!  When this album came out, I was blown away.  I had wanted catchy, melodic music out of at least one of my favorite 80s bands since I had become hooked on that music in the 90s.  Well, as we all know, many 80s bands turned shitty or weird in the 90s and Dokken was right there with such crap as Shadowlife and Dysfunctional.  They made a good album with "Erase the Slate" in 1999, but it still wasn't quite the same.  This was a real return to form and it looks like they haven't looked back (I got to hear the sample of Burning Empire before they pulled it and it's BITCH!)

5-26-2012: Firewind - Wall of Sound

I've been wanting to do this song since the single came out a few weeks back, but I was in the middle of a theme.
This song is just a no-frills, epic metal song.  No BS, just a straight ahead, get stuck in your head ass kicker!  The album came out Tuesday and it's equally good.  The album takes a slightly harder edge compared to their previous albums, which is exactly what Gus G says they were going for.  They were highly successful IMO.  This is easily my favorite album of their entire catalog already.  For those who have never listened to Firewind, this is an excellent starting point.  For those who have, well, you won't be disappointed!

5-25-2012: Y&T - 25 Hours a Day

Another track I've never heard, but this blog has been void of Y&T until now, so it was long overdue.  When my "May Number Month" is over, I'll have to post some of the Y&T songs that got me going on them.

5-24-2012: Savatage - 24 hours ago

Back to it!  The opening track from the epic "Hall of the Mountain King" album.  This is one of the first Savatage songs I ever heard, and it's a beaut!  I had no idea this thing had a real video until just now.  Not nearly as epic as Hall of the Mountain King, but back in the 80s, most "2nd single" videos weren't.

5-23-2012: Tarot - Descendants of Power

OK, I'm finally fucked.  I couldn't find a song anywhere with 23 in the title, so I give you another Tarot song!  Sure, I've been posting the shit out of them since this blog started, but with good reason!  They kick so much ass, that I have been listening to them rather consistently now for almost a year.  Tarot rules, this song rules...not much else to say.

5-22-2012: Iron Maiden - 22, Acacia Ave.

I thought I was screwed on this 22nd day of May!  But holy shit!  If I would have missed this, one of my all time favorite Maiden songs, I would have been pissed!  This song is pure, kick-ass Maiden.  A song that really just sums up what early Maiden is all about.  Great vocals, great lyrics, great riffs and catchy as all hell.  22, the avenue, that's the place where we all go!

5-21-2012: Rage - Twenty One

This song is from this year, has already been posted, and just generally kicks ass!  I've had a lull for a couple of days with 19 and 20 that I had to pull out of my ass.  This song, however, is worthy of an actual post.  Enjoy this one!

5-20-2012: Montrose - Twenty Flight Rock

Off the first non-Sammy album, I've never heard this song and I don't think I'm going to listen to it now.  Doesn't Montrose without Sammy suck?  Someone comment on this thing if I'm off and should listen to this...

5-19-2012: Angel Witch - Flight Nineteen

Another song I've never heard, but I'm sure it's good. Shit, it's ANGEL WITCH!

5-18-2012: Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen

One of Alice's classics that's for sure!  Been covered countless times by countless metal bands, but I had to go with the original for this 18th day of May!

5-17-2012: Winger - Seventeen

You knew it was coming!  I for one, am not ashamed to admit I am a Winger fan!  Reb Beach kicks the ass, and they are incredibly underrated musicians across the board.  I'll have to post some of their newer, more ass-kicking stuff when May is over!

05-16-2012: Primal Fear - Six Times Dead (16.6)

I'm going to tap into Steve's ongoing theme since this is the first song I thought of the other day when I knew the 16th was coming up.   Thanks buddy for introducing me to the awesomeness of Primal Fear.  German metal bands rule!

5-16-2012: Kiss - Christine Sixteen

A "metal" song with fucking piano!  Still, few metalheads will say they hate this song.  And virtually none have never heard it.

5-15-2012: Mercyful Fate - Fifteen Men (And a Bottle of Rum)

Another song I've never heard.  What?  Mercyful Fate existed in the 90s?!  You're damn right!  Like most metal bands, they were around in the 90s even when people were shitting on metal.  Raising the big middle finger to all the nay-sayers.

5-14-2012: Guns N Roses - 14 Years

On Use Your Illusion II, it's the song you hit next on after "Civil War" is over to get to "Yesterdays"!

5-13-2012: Megadeth - 13

One of the more mellow tracks from the most recent Megadeth album of the same name.  Megadeth rules all.

5-12-2012: Gary Hoey - 12 Days of Christmas

Yeah, going on a limb a bit, but this is a metalized version of the Christmas classic!  It makes Christmas music suck just a bit less!

5-11-2012: Fates Warning - The Eleventh Hour

Another song I don't think I've ever heard, I just found that it had 11 in the title.  Fates Warning rules, so it's obviously a good time to jam some 90s Fates Warning eh?

5-10-2012: Iced Earth - 10 Thousand Strong

When I first heard this song, I thought we were going to have the best Iced Earth album of all time on our hands with Framing Armageddon.  Wrong.  It's not bad, but nothing like the albums that led up to it.
Anyway, this fucker rips!  If you've never heard it, now is the time to listen.

5-9-2012: Saxon - Cloud Nine

A good song from one of Saxon's lesser known albums "Forever Free".

5-8-2012: Tony Iommi - Not the Same

I couldn't find shit with 8 in the title, so we get the first track from Tony Iommi's Eighth Star album, Not the Same.  I've never even heard this fucker, so I guess I'll listen to it today.

5-7-2012: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

And what else for our 7th day of May?  This is a classic Maiden album, front to back.  Not a bad song on it.  This is the epic title track for anybody who is reading this who's never heard it before.  Which I'll bet is no one.

5-6-2012: Iron Fire - Enter Oblivion OJ/666

This is from the latest Iron Fire album and contains...a 6.  This is the album opener and probably one of the album's better tunes.  I really like their older stuff that Pandora puts no a basic repeat, but this thing was kind of a let down.

Again, no YouTube, so Spotify it is.

Iron Fire – Enter Oblivion OJ-666

5-5-2012: Domain - Five Way Switch

It doesn't get too much more obscure than this here in the US, folks!  I discovered these guys because at one point in time, Evidence One's singer Carsten "Lizard" Schulz sang for Domain.  Apparently, these guys are active and well.  This comes from what their 1991 album "Crack in the Wall", which is generally pretty solid.  Check that one out!  It's available on Spotify, so what the hell are you waiting for?

I can't even find this bad dog on YouTube, so you get the spotify link only.

Domain – Five Way Switch

5-4-2012: Stratovarius - 4th Reich

This is a great song from early Stratovarius, which is incredibly hit or miss at best.  I bought this album from the Missing Link on a gamble and like most of their early stuff, it's got great songs and some shit.  This is probably my favorite pre-Episode song though.  Enjoy!

05-03-2012: Rainbow - Kill The King

This was my introduction to Rainbow (via 8 track tape no less) and this is one of my top favorites from them.  This particular performance is pretty amazing.  I'll take old school Rainbow from the 70's over any of their later stuff anyday

5-3-2012: Warlock - Three Minute Warning

BrettRox got me into Warlock about a year ago.  I have had Triumph and Agony for a long time, but never really listened to it much.  Solo Doro is OK, but nothing like the older Warlock catalog!  This is the second track from Triumph and Agony, and one of the few metal songs I could find with a 3 in it!

5-2-2012: Disturbed - Two Worlds

OK, so it's a stupid little theme that I wanted to do, for every day of May, we'll do a numeric song that fits with that day.  This is a damn fine song from Disturbed's latest.  Disturbed is good shit, despite not really being "pure" metal, I get into these guys.

5-1-2012: Metallica - One

For May ONE, 2012, I give you the song that really broke Metallica out back in the late 80s.  I still love the infamous story of how fuckin Jethro Tull managed to win the first Hard Rock/Metal Performance Grammy award over And Justice For All.  WTF!?  Jethro Fucking Tull?!