DEFENDERS OF METAL

Monday, April 20, 2026

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN W. ALCATRAZZ "EVIL EYE" INSTRUMENTAL

ZEN VENOM (AUS)

TOMMY BOLIN FAN CLUB LETTER #1

Background: John Benzinger was a Sioux City resident and was a good friend of Johnnie Bolin’s for a period of time. He was working in the news department at the local Sioux City television station and he was the one who was able to access the super 8 footage of Tommy‘s funeral that I put into my Tommy Bolin: The Ultimate Documentary. John, like me was motivated to try to support the family in getting their act together in terms of exactly what this speaks about but it never really got off the ground much and no - no CDs were ever released.

So as the early 90s unfolded, and there was nothing happening - there was no ongoing merch company set up. There were no releases being forthcoming. Nothing was happening and that’s when I got the idea to do the Tommy Bolin Archives after Bob Ferbrache, who had helped organize all the tapes the family had gathered back in the late 70s and early 80s for Pudge. Bob had gotten copies of all of it for himself and that’s what served as the foundation for the Archives, which of course Johnnie was our full partner in. And that was the foundation of our relationship with lasted all the way up until I was a pallbearer at his funeral - one of the sadder days in my life.

I had an ongoing relationship with John and he wound up being promoted into working at various news departments at local TV stations until he got all the way up to major East Coast markets.

He wound up being in possession of one of Tommy’s guitars and he always told Johnnie that he was just keeping it for safe keeping and in the last years of Johnnie’s life he shared with me more than once that he was frustrated with John because he had tried to takeJohn up on what he had told Johnnie previously and get the guitar back, and that didn’t happen. I always wondered if there was some kind of misunderstanding, but I have no idea.

Anyway, I haven’t spoken to John for years. I’m not sure what his current situation is. I always had a great connection with him and he was always very helpful. He’s the one who interviewed Rich and Barb and Pudge for my Ultimate documentary.

/ Michael Drumm

JUDAS PRIEST "FOUNDATION FORUM, LOS ANGELES, CA" (SEPTEMBER 14, 1990)

Foundations Forum 90 took place at the Sheraton Plaza La Reina Hotel in Los Angeles from September 13–15, 1990. This was the first year the event was open to the public and there were over 4,000 registrants.

Tying in with this theme, a big topic of conversation at the forum was censorship and the keynote speaker for the event was Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford. At the time, Judas Priest had just been involved in a civil action whereby it was alleged they were responsible for the suicide of one youth from Nevada and the attempted suicide of his best friend via subliminal messages placed on one of the songs from their album, 'Stained Class'.

Foundations Forum was the first exclusively heavy metal music industry convention, held annually from 1988 to 1997 in Los Angeles. The convention was set up by Concrete Marketing who had in January 1988 created the first industry trade magazine for the heavy metal world – Foundations. Realizing there was little or no attention or focus on this growing market, and having seen the far reaching distribution of the trade magazine, they decided to put together an annual meeting, bringing together key industry personnel, vendors and artists (and in later forums fans as well) offering advice on surviving the industry, discussing the changing climate of the scene and business, and allowing people to network.

Executive Director Bob Chiappardi summed up the purpose of the Forum:

"The way heavy metal is growing, we want to be careful not to have it blow out. By sitting down and talking about the genre, the good and the bad points, having the indies interacting with the majors, it makes for a healthy industry in general."

AUDIO:

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PHOTOS:

TICKETS/PASS:

SETLIST:

01. Riding on the Wind

02. Grinder

03. Heading Out to the Highway

04. Between the Hammer & the Anvil

05. Bloodstone

06. Better by You, Better than Me

07. Leather Rebel

08. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)

09. Hell Bent for Leather

10. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT:

- This was the very beginning of the 'Painkiller' promotional cycle, before the tour started. JP played in a hotel ballroom to a thousand or so people. One of the cooler PRIEST shows I've ever seen - they opened with "Riding On The Wind", played some Painkiller songs, the hits and a few deep tracks like "Bloodstone", as well as "Better By You Better Than Me" from 'Stained Class'!

/ John Moore

ADDITIONAL:

BLACK SABBATH "BLACK SABBATH" [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

PLAYING RIGHT NOW ... VADER "DE PRODUNDIS" [LP]

Genre: Death Metal

Year: 1995

Country: Poland

Note: This is one awesome album, 34 minutes of blasting Death. When a lot of other early 90's Death bands started to go down the Gothic/Doom road or took the Death 'n Roll path, Vader became even more violent. And surely they set the blueprint for Death Metal from Poland, which I'm a big sucker for.

Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek comment on the vinyl release:

“‘De Profundis’ was never released on vinyl before. The Mid 90s were already dominated by CD albums. The original tape from Modern Sound Studio was lost with no chance to recover. So we made a new master using a Telefunken professional tape studio recorder to give the whole record a warmer sound, a more analog feel, and dynamics, but without altering the original version of course.”

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CRONOS (UK) (KERRANG #232, 1989)

Sunday, April 19, 2026

MORBID ANGEL "GINÁSTICO, BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL (APRIL 12TH 1991)

Courtesy of Mutilador Fanzine

The Concert in unfortunately pretty bad quality, but still it's Morbid Angel in it's prime!

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KATAKLYSM (SOUNDS OF DEATH #3, 1993)

CJSS (US)

URIAH HEEP "LIVE IN OSLO, NORWAY" (1974)

Courtesy of Kjetil Gjøen

TOMMY ALDRIDGE'S LEGENDARY DRUM SOLO (1973)

A drum solo from Tommy Aldridge, the legendary drummer. Here with Black Oak Arkansas, but for us, the Metal audience he is mainly known for playing with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Vinnie Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen.

From the Uploader:
Today, we journey back to 1973, to witness a televised performance of Black Oak Arkansas's song "Up", featuring a drum solo by the legendary Tommy Aldridge. This performance stands as a testament to Aldridge's groundbreaking drumming style and his significant contribution to the evolution of rock percussion.

🔹 The Performance: In this 1973 broadcast, Aldridge delivers a drum solo that is both technically proficient and emotionally charged. His use of double bass drums, a technique he helped popularize, is on full display, showcasing his ability to blend power with precision. This performance not only captivated audiences at the time but also influenced countless drummers in the years to follow.

🔹 Tommy Aldridge & Black Oak Arkansas: Aldridge joined Black Oak Arkansas in the early 1970s, marking the beginning of his rise to prominence in the rock world. His tenure with the band was marked by extensive touring and recording, during which he honed his craft and developed the unique style that would define his career.

🔹 Why This Performance Matters: This particular performance is significant as it captures Aldridge at a pivotal moment in his career. His innovative approach to drumming, characterized by the use of double bass drums and a high-energy playing style, set a new standard for rock drummers. This performance serves as an early example of his influence on the genre.

*Pioneering Technique: Aldridge's innovative approach to double bass drumming set a new standard in rock, influencing countless drummers who followed.

*Televised Impact: Being broadcasted in 1973, this performance brought Aldridge's groundbreaking style into living rooms across the nation, expanding his influence beyond live venues.

*Career Catalyst: This solo helped cement Aldridge's reputation, leading to collaborations with major acts like Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, and Thin Lizzy

KISS (KERRANG #371, 1991)

Saturday, April 18, 2026

LED ZEPPELIN (THE PROVIDENCE SUNDAY JOURNAL, JULY 8, 1973)

SLAYER (MIDWEST MILITIA #2, 1984)

THRUST (US) (1983/84)

(from L to R): Price Sowers (bass), Ron Cooke (guitars), John Bonata (vocals) and C.B. Sebastian

REPUGNANT (SWE) (2001)

Repugnant in the rehearsal room at Enskede Gård, Stockholm, Sweden in the fall of 2001, a few months after the group's second demo "Draped in Cerecloth" was released: drummer Thomas "Tom Bones" Daun, singer and guitarist Tobias "Mary Goore" Forge, guitarist Johan "Sid E Burns" Wallin and bassist Gustaf "Carlos Sathanas" Lindström.

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OZZY OSBOURNE AND TONY IOMMI ONSTAGE AS EARTH IN 1969

JOHAN EDLUND OF TREBLINKA (SWE)

TSJUDER (NOR)

JUDAS PRIEST "SIN AFTER SIN" ALBUM ART

"Sin After Sin" was the follow-up to their second album, "Sad Wings Of Destiny". The cover, which seems at first like your run-of-the-mill graveyard artwork, is actually the mausoleum of Colonel Alexander Gordon, who was killed at the battle of Waterloo.

“The only sin here is that we have gone our entire lives as Priest fanatics yet we have never seen these photos – until now!” writes Monte.

“We all thought the Sin After Sin cover painting was created from scratch, but in reality it was based on an actual photograph of the Gordon Mausoleum, built in 1910 for Colonel Alexander Gordon, located on the grounds of Putney Vale Cemetery in London.

I just learned of this myself recently when Bob Mayo (of thrash legends, Wargasm) unearthed this amazing find – the first photo you see below.

“The cover was the work of the late British photographer Bob Carlos Clarke, who (along with Hipgnosis) pioneered the process of taking black and white photographs and then airbrushing them with colored inks for the final result.

Another key figure involved in the cover’s creation was Rosław Szaybo, the Polish painter and photographer who served as the European art director of CBS Records from 1972 to 1988.

In addition to his art direction on Sin After Sin, Szaybo also designed the covers of Stained Class, Killing Machine (known in the U.S. as Hell Bent for Leather) and British Steel (apparently, that is Szaybo’s own hand you see gripping the razor blade on the cover!).

He also created the diagonal Judas Priest logo that debuted on Stained Class and is still in use today with only minor modifications.”

/ Courtesy of Kerrang & The Metal Realm