DEFENDERS OF METAL

Friday, April 24, 2026

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METALLICA (1982)

TIRANT SIN (US/NY) (PRE-CANNIBAL CORPSE)

The legendary Pre-Cannibal Corpse band that was originally called Satan's Angel and consisted of Chris Barnes (vocals), Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums), Rich Ziegler (bass), and Bob Rusay (guitars) while they were still in high school. One show was played under this moniker in December 1985, where they performed covers of Accept's "Balls to the Wall" and Celtic Frost's "Dethroned Emperor". They would soon change their name to Tirant Sin.

In 1986, Barnes left to join Leviathan. Mazurkiewicz, Ziegler, and Rusay moved up to Absolute Storage. Practicing with a handful of singers only brought them disappointment. They eventually secured guitarist Cam V. and, in February 1987, vocalist Dennis John Glinski. By the summer, Cam had left and was replaced by guitarist Joe Morelli.

In late 1988, Mazurkiewicz, Barnes, and Rusay got together with Alex Webster and Jack Owen to form Cannibal Corpse. In 1989, Glinski, Zeigler, and Morelli formed Mayhemesis with drummer Jim Link and guitarist Phil Frost.

The lineup of Glinski, Ziegler, Mazurkiewicz, and live members Rob Barrett and Jim Nickles reunited on January 7th and 8th, 2012 for a two-date benefit show to raise money for Sons of Azrael guitarist Tony Lorenzo's medical treatment. Beyond Death, another pre-Cannibal Corpse band, also played.

The bands 3:rd demo tape with Chris Barnes on vocals.

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OZZY OSBOURNE'S 'DIARY OF A MADMAN' TOUR PREMIER (1981)

Photographer Harald Oimoen: First date of the Diary of a Madman Tour at The Palace of Fine Cows !!! The electricity in the air was palpable & it was one of those wild crazy shows were your feet weren't even touching the ground and the crowd would move you 5-10 feet in a random direction !! I took two or three rolls of film but only got maybe 10 shots in focus !! One of the wildest crowds I EVER experienced

PROTECTOR (GER) (NECRONOMICON #2, 1988)

BIFF BYFORD ABOUT THE STORY OF THE COVER OF "INNOCENCE IS NO EXCUSE"

Sweden Rock Magazine (SRM) is a brilliant Swedish metal magazine founded in 2001 and publish 11 issues per year. They write about the current scene, but never forget its roots and publish a lot of amazing stuff from the 80's.

The magazine is written in Swedish, but here is an article translated to English for you.

SAXON

You can hardly imagine a sharper contrast than that between what Saxon singer Biff Byford points out as the band's two most talked-about album covers. On the one hand, »Crusader« (1984), a painting laden with medieval battlefield romance: bald knights, bloody corpses and a fluttering banner. On the other hand, the sequel »Innocence is no excuse« (1985) with its on-paper, directly tame studio photo. Yet the image appears strangely provocative through the undercurrent of oral-fixated lolita sensualism. An odd, even startling aesthetic for a heavy metal band of the time.

– The idea itself was to try something different, says Biff. All metal, especially British metal, had lost popularity so we looked at several new presentation ideas. We could have done something more heavy metal-like, a bondage cover with heroes and slave girls in the spirit of Manowar. Instead, we went from heavy metal to something that I guess was more pretentious. We all liked this idea, simply.

An idea that, by the way, did not come from any of the Saxon members.

– Our manager at the time, Nigel Thomas, had been involved in some daring album covers, for example one with Tubes where toothpaste was sprayed over a girl's chest. He was the one who came up with the spread with the girl and the apple. Nigel himself went over to the modeling agency to check out possible girls. He chose one who I think was only 18 years old and had just started working professionally.

To carry out the actual photo shoot, Gered Mankowitz was engaged, a versatile photographer who had previously created covers for Jam and Gary Moore, among others. This particular request took him by surprise, however.

– I'm not a heavy metal fan, but I knew of Saxon as a famous band in the genre, says Gered. Unlike my friend Ross Halfin, I didn't photograph many hard rock bands. Creatively, I found it quite unsatisfactory, as I couldn't relate to the aesthetics. I was much more specialized in studio portraits, which few hard rockers asked for. However, this assignment came from EMI, who were one of my regular clients. The reason they asked me was probably because I was quite established as a fashion photographer and they wanted something striking and a little challenging. I didn't think much about how heavy metal or not the cover appeared. When I look at the image now, it literally screams advertising billboard.

The photo session itself was completed quickly and generated about twenty images that are now, according to Gered, gathering dust in EMI's archives. Incidentally, the image that now adorns the cover exudes a much more subtle eroticism than the image that Saxon originally chose.

- In the original image, white apple juice ran down the girl's chin, says Biff. The record company didn't like it, because it was too suggestive. I liked it, however.

– We tried all sorts of variations, Gered recalls. With juice, without juice, showing more of her teeth or the whites of her eyes – anything we thought would work.

The connection between the cover motif and the album title is so striking that no one seemed to understand the underlying point of the phrase »Innocence is no excuse«, Biff notes.

– We were in the middle of a lawsuit with our previous record label Carrere, who had sued us for breach of contract. Our innocence was apparently no excuse. That is the explanation for the title and the s from our logo, which can be seen on the apple. The girl taking a bite of Saxon is another example of symbolism.

EMI also failed to get their intended point across. The group's new record label wanted people to understand that the girl was a murderer by looking at the album cover and the black and white photos that Gered then took for various editions of the single »Back on the streets«. Few people made this connection, however, because it is very difficult to recognize her in the single images.

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– It was a strange session in the park of Hampstead Heath, not far from my studio, says Gered. It was the first and only time I met Biff. I never met the other band members. The picture I took of the girl walking along a brick wall was quite sadistic. She was wearing a very tight, metal-plated, goth-like dress and gloves in black. Very sexy, but she was dragging a man in a suit with a paper bag over his head and an apple falling out of his hand. On the back of the single there was a color picture of the apple, with the Saxon s: bitten off. Another picture was apparently supposed to be a Wilhelm Tell paraphrase. The same man was tied to a tree with an arrow in his skull and the girl was chewing on the apple – she had shot him instead. Finally, there was a rural scene with a picnic in the green, but the man was lying dead on the canvas with a butcher knife in his back. I don't remember who came up with all these ideas. In fact, I hardly know what I was thinking that made me agree to shoot them. The scope of what you can do is of course very large in the music industry and that's why it's such an attractive sphere. This is also a commercial job. Someone presents a concept to us and we will make a plan for how it will be implemented, is responsible for the props and gives the artist – in this case Biff – everything they need to get the campaign together.

Neither Gered nor Biff can remember the name of the apple-munching girl, even though the singer ended up meeting her again.

– We had her on stage with us. We invited her when we were in Birmingham, where she lived, and then took her to the Hammersmith Odeon. It went down very well with the male part of the audience. She got on in a very short miniskirt and I introduced her with the words »this is my wife«. The audience went crazy and I continued »okay, she is not my wife«. She didn't want to be, Biff concludes with a sad tone of voice.

Like the music on »Innocence is no excuse«, the cover has been the subject of strong emotions from the beginning. It is found on top lists of both the best and worst album covers in history, depending on whose website you visit. Biff has subsequently joined those who dislike the image, just as he dislikes so much else connected to ex-manager Nigel Thomas (who, incidentally, died of a heart attack in 1993).

So what does Gered Mankowitz himself think of his creation? Well, he is primarily surprised that the cover for »Innocence is no excuse« would have any buzz factor at all. For him, it just represents a job assignment, and one that he has not had reason to give a thought to in the past quarter of a century.

– I have never received any response to it and I do not have the faintest idea how high it ranks among Saxon's album covers.

As I said, the latter depends on who you ask. However, the fact that the cover is and remains Saxon's most discussed is a fact.

ERIK THOMPSON

GRAVE DIGGER (GER)

Thursday, April 23, 2026

MERCY (SWE) (1984)

From Top to Bottom: Messiah Marcolin, Paul Gustafsson, Magnus Klintö, Andrija Veljacas

VARATHRON (THE OATH #2, 1993)

ALICE COOPER "MONSTER OF ROCK, SAO PAOLO, BRAZIL" (1995)

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SETLIST
Under My Wheels

Billion Dollar Babies

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Sideshow

Desperado

Gutter Cat Us. The Jets

Feed My Frankenstein

Ballad of Dwight Frye

School´s Out

Elected

WITCH (US/CA) (1983)

MERCYFUL FATE "TEATRO PROVIDENCIA, SANTIAGO, CHILE (AUGUST 15, 1999)

On August 15, 1999, the "9 Tour" hit South America, and first out was this show in Chile. They also did Argentina and Brazil before flying to Europe and the 1999 Wacken Open Air festival.

Unfortunately the picture is pretty bad, but the audience audio sound is really good so I usually listen to it instead of watching it.

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SETLIST

Evil

Doomed by the Living Dead

Nightmare

Desecration of Souls

Burn in Hell

The Oath

Melissa

Last Rites

Satan's Fall

A Dangerous Meeting

Black Funeral

Come to the Sabbath

EXODUS (MIDWEST MILITIA #2, 1984)

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

QUORTHON ... PAINTED IN BLOOD

Quorthon from Bathory, painted with my blood (2016) / Maxime Taccardi (Artworks)

HEXENHAUS (SWE)

MAYHEM (NOR) (NECRONOMICON #2, 1988)

CJSS "THE FIRST CONCERT" A CLASSIC MOMENT IN 80'S US METAL

CJSS formed in late 1984 and played their first concert soon thereafter. Formed from the 2 biggest local bands, Spike and Prizoner. David T Chastain- guitar, Mike Skimmerhorn- bass & vocals and Les Sharp- drums came from Spike. Vocalist/guitarist Russell Jinkens came from Prizoner. While we are not 100% sure this is the first concert we have judged it is or one of the first from the lack of Marshall Cabinets on stage and the songlist which features numerous songs from Spike and pre-Chastain songs. In reality there are only 2 songs in this concert that made it to the first CJSS album "World Gone Mad." This was a fan video or a friend of the band's video shot on Beta. Audio gets a little better as the video goes on. Obviously the quality is not up today's standards but it is a "Classic Moment in Metal."

Unfortunately this YouTube channel have made sharing through
other websites restricted, but you can watch it on YouTube here!

SETLIST

00:01 Ready For Action

02:57 Caught You Red Handed

05:36 Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull Cover)

09:30 Thief of Hearts

13:35 Destiny

18:57 Ready For War

24:00 We Shall Overcome

28:26 Mystery of Illusion

32:56 Welcome To Damnation

37:25 Les Sharp Drum Solo

40:30 Lady Your Mine

44:00 The Black Knight

46:39 When The Battle's Over

51:00 Hellbound

54:45 The More You Get

57:30 Bloodlust

1:02:01 Radar Love (Golden Earring Cover)

Official site: http://www.LeviathanRecords.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leviathan-Records-566645503778515

BISCAYA (SWE)

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

CHAKAL (BRA) (NECRONOMICON #2, 1988)

CANCER (UK)

NECROPHOBIC "UNHOLY PROPHECIES" [DEMO TAPE]

On April 20,1991, Necrophobic entered the building’s basement at Sunlight Studio and recorded 3 songs together with sound engineer and producer Tomas Skogsberg, that later on got released as the ”Unholy Prophecies” demo.

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The demo came out in 2 versions. The first version is released by the band and was printed in 200 copies. The cover is digitally printed on semi glossy paper. The reason why this version was made was that the band didn't have the patience to wait for the version that Wild Rags Records would print, which took longer than stated.

The second version was printed by the American independent record label Wild Rags Records and the cover was professionally printed on thick paper and it sold amazingly more than 5000 copies.

The three songs on the demo are:
1. Sacrificial Rites
2. Unholy Prophecies
3. Inborn Evil

Source: Joakim Sterner

Sunlight Studios

RAVEN (UK)

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.”