RATT (KERRANG #72, 1984)

 

MANOWAR ... TO A DESERT ISLAND?

… to a desert island (with electricity) for the rest of your life, out of these down below!

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

I'm probably in the minority, but I have to go with "Fighting the World" ... that's my ultimate energize-myself-album and always put me in a good mood. With that said, I really, really love all Manowar albums up until "Gods of War".

Go to our Facebook page at the bottom of this post an interact!

FACEBOOK

LEGION (ЛЕГИОН) (RUS)

DOLORES RECORDS AD (HAMMER OF DAMNATION #3, 1993)

NOT FRAGILE (GER)

 

GILGAMESJ (NLD)

AUTUMNS RUIN (US)

TRESPASS (UK) (METAL MANIA #4, 1982)

 

PSYCHICTHROB (CAN) (GIACOMINA ZINE #2, 1992) < TRANSLATED

Giacomina Zine was a Swedish fanzine written in Swedish, but here's an interview translated to English for you!

Can you tell us a little about your history and background?
- For this question I have sent a biography. (It's a shame that the readers don't have it./Ed.)

Your music is difficult to categorize, what do you call your music?
- It's hard for us too! But you could say deathrash metal.

Who are your main influences?
- We listen to a lot of different things, so we have many different influences, but some important ones are; Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Obliveon, Black Sabbath, Primus, Cream, King Crimson etc.

I think your lyrics are very dark and negative, why are they that way?
- I like to talk about tricky stuff and tell scary stories in my songs. I don't want to convey any special messages in my lyrics, just some stories. People who like to read Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft etc probably like what I write.

Can you tell us about your live experiences, the best, worst, greatest, etc.?
- The best one was probably at a death metal festival in Sherbrooke with five other bands. A big place, big stage and amazing sound! The worst one was at Barrymoré in Ottawa. I got sick before the gig and then I threw up 14 or 15 times that night and I wasn't drunk. We did the gig, but it was crap. 

How's the scene in Quebec at the moment, any more bands coming up?
- Yeah! Obliveon from Montreal is by far the best thrash band here, then we have gorguts from Sherbrooke. They got a contract on Roadracer, wonderful! Some smaller bands also look promising, and the whole scene here looks very bright. 

Have any record labels shown interest in Psychicthrob?
- First we want to spread our name as much as we can ourselves. But soon we will start trying to get a contract. A contract and better contacts. We don't want to do things too quickly before we are ready for it.

What do you know about Sweden and Swedish music?

-Almost nothing, but I hope you tell me a lot!

Future plans?
We're going to tour in the spring in Canada and the USA, about 30 concerts! Record some songs in the studio for promotion and to send to different record labels. Maybe a tour in Europe in the fall. Maybe we can meet then? (Maybe/Ed.). 

The last question is up to you?!
Yeah! First I would like to thank you for the interview, really cool interview, I wish you all the best for you and your fanzine...and of course, a big "hello!" to all Swedish metal freaks!

PATREON / DIGITAL SHOP 

You can download it for a couple of $ as mp4 video or as a support Patreon
member you can download it for free by clicking the logo down below.

Either way, thank you for your support, it means a lot!

BRUCE DICKINSON IN STOCKHOLM (1985)

Courtesy of Michael Johansson, visit him here for more information and licensing his photos.

Michael Johansson: I took this photo of Bruce Dickinson outside the Sergel Plaza Hotel in Stockholm back on October 7, 1985. Iron Maiden's 'Live After Death' was about to be released and Bruce was in Stockholm for some interviews.

Bruce was once arrested after a concert in Buffalo, New York back in 1983...  

During the performance of the song "22 Acacia Avenue," a local radio contest winner (Suzzette Kolaga) who had been crowned "Miss Metal" came onto the stage wearing a bikini. During the song she danced around Bruce and at the end he reached out and ripped off the top of her bikini, leaving her exposed to the crowd. The police arrested Dickinson immediately after the concert ended.

Following the concert, Kolaga hired a lawyer and filed a $350,000 lawsuit against Dickinson and Iron Maiden's management for damages to her reputation.

/ Michael Johansson (saguaro.se)

FIFTH ANGEL (US) (POWERLINE VOL.3 #2, 1988)

 

VENOM "LIVE IN LONDON 1985" [Full HD/50fps Remastered]

Filmed at Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK on August 10, 1985. Beautiful remaster by the amazing YouTube channel 'Fabrício Gabriel The Channel'. 

SETLIST

01 - 00:00 - Too Loud (For the Crowd) 

02 - 02:45 - Black Metal 

03 - 06:34 - Nightmare 

04 - 10:13 - Countess Bathory 

05 - 13:35 - The Seven Gates of Hell 

06 - 18:29 - Bass Solo (Cronos)

07 - 22:39 - Buried Alive 

08 - 26:23 - Don't Burn the Witch 

09 - 29:12 - In Nomine Satanas 

10 - 32:43 - Welcome to Hell 

11 - 35:19 - Warhead 

12 - 39:11 - Guitar Solo (Mantas)

13 - 43:55 - Schizo 

14 - 47:35 - Satanachrist 

15 - 49:45 - Bloodlust 

16 - 53:45 - Witching Hour

LINE-UP

Cronos - Bass/Vocals (R.I.P. 2026)

Mantas - Guitars

Abaddon - Drums

ACCEPT "ISSTADION, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN" (MARCH 1, 1985)

 

OBITUARY (NAGUAL #1, 1992)

 

BURZUM (HAMMER OF DAMNATION #3, 1993)

IMPURITY (BRA)

 

GHOSTORM (LIT)

Technical Death Metal band from Vilnius, Lithuania. They were formed in 1992 and were active during a couple of years in the 1990's. This is the bands first full-length album from 1995.

"FROZEN IN FIRE" [CD] (1995)

1. Fraud of Dark

2. There

3. Solitude

4. Frost

5. Dreamland

6. Come Back

7. The Sea

8. At Boundary

9. Unnormal

SUPPORT THE WORK

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CLICK THE T-SHIRT!

 

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MEGADETH (1988)

Photo taken in London, England on August 18, 1988. Photo by Tony Mottram.

TORA TORA (UK)

CREMATOR (AUS)

Thrash/Speed Metal band from Perth, Australia. They were active between 1986-1989. During that time they released one demo tape and this, a 6-track EP.

Side A

1. Butchers Son

2. Beer & Violence

3. The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Charlie Daniels Band cover)

Side B

4. Value Funerals

5. Burn or Rot

6. CRemrAP

 PATREON / DIGITAL SHOP 

You can download it for a couple of $ as lossless FLAC or as a support Patreon
member you can download it for free by clicking the logo down below.

Either way, thank you for your support, it means a lot!

SUPPORT THE WORK

If you have the possibility to buy one of our exclusive ”you can’t find them anywhere else” T-shirts, you would sure help us out a lot with all the research costs, web hosting, paywalls for newspaper archives etc … and as a bonus you would also be the coolest metalhead in town! 💀

CLICK THE T-SHIRT

ROX (KERRANG #60, 1984)

 

NAPALM DEATH (NAGUAL #1, 1992)

WIND OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS

 

FREHLEY’S COMET AD (METAL MANIA, VOL.2, #7 (1988)

 

MOTÖRHEAD

 

PLAYING RIGHT NOW ... OZZY OSBOURNE "DIARY OF A MADMAN" [LP] ... BUT WHERE'S OZZY?

Genre: Heavy Metal
Year: 1981 (1986)
Country: UK
Note: Awesome album, but where the hell did Ozzy go? During the military dictatorship in South Korea, a lot of things were censored and that also included record covers. This is the South Korean pressing from 1986. You can read more about that here!

GONE .... NEVER FORGOTTEN: EDDIE VAN HALEN (JANUARY 26, 1955 – OCTOBER 6, 2020)

Eddie Van Halen, born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen on January 26, 1955, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, is a highly influential guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen. He moved to Pasadena, California, with his family in 1962, where he developed a passion for music, initially studying classical piano before shifting his focus to rock guitar. In 1972, he formed the band Mammoth, which later became known as Van Halen after the addition of vocalist David Lee Roth. The group gained substantial popularity with their self-titled debut album in 1978, showcasing Eddie’s groundbreaking guitar techniques, particularly the two-handed "tapping" method.

The cover of Sweden Rock Magazines tribute issue to Eddie.

Throughout his career, Eddie Van Halen was recognized for his innovative style, which merged elements from various guitar types, and his influence extended beyond performance to shape electric guitar design. His notable collaboration with Michael Jackson on the hit "Beat It" further cemented his status in the music industry. Despite facing personal challenges, including health issues and substance abuse, Van Halen continued to perform and record, contributing significantly to the rock genre until his passing. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and imitated guitarists in rock history, alongside icons like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page.

Early Life

Eddie Van Halen was born Edward Lodewijk van Halen on January 26, 1955, in Nijmegen, Netherlands. His father, Jan, was a Dutch clarinetist, saxophonist, and pianist, and his mother, Eugenia, was originally from the former Dutch colony of Indonesia and was half Dutch and half Indonesian.

In 1962 the van Halens moved to Pasadena, California, to be near some of Eugenia’s family. Upon arriving in the United States, Jan decided to Americanize the family name, changing it to Van Halen. In Pasadena, Jan worked as a janitor at the Masonic Temple, washed dishes at Arcadia Methodist Hospital, and played in wedding bands, while Eugenia cleaned houses. Eddie knew no English when they arrived in the United States. He and his older brother Alex began taking piano lessons at the ages of six and nine, continuing for nearly a decade.

Eddie and Alex formed their first band, the Broken Combs, in elementary school, with Alex playing saxophone and Eddie playing piano. Despite their parents’ emphasis on classical music, Eddie and Alex were drawn to the rock and roll of their new American home by the time they were in junior high school. Reluctantly, their parents bought Alex a guitar while Eddie used the money from his paper route to buy a drum set. Alex found the guitar frustrating and took advantage of Eddie’s delivery schedule to play his drums. Eddie, as an act of revenge, began learning guitar solos on Alex’s guitar. By the time he was twelve, Eddie was studying guitar legend Eric Clapton’s solos from Clapton’s recordings with the Yardbirds and Cream.

Life’s Work

In 1972, the Van Halen brothers formed a trio called Mammoth with Alex on drums, Eddie on guitar and vocals, and friend Mark Stone on bass. They rented their sound equipment from a young singer named David Lee Roth. As Eddie became increasingly frustrated singing the lead, he decided he could save the band money by inviting Roth to join as the lead vocalist in 1974. That same year, bassist Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone. They soon discovered there was another band named Mammoth based in Los Angeles, so, at Roth’s suggestion, they changed the band’s name to Van Halen.

By 1977, Van Halen was a popular local band, playing night clubs all over California. It was in one of those clubs that Van Halen caught the attention of KISS bassist and cofounder Gene Simmons, who financed their first demo tape. The band signed with Warner Brothers Records in 1977 and released their eponymous debut album in 1978. It was successful and eventually was certified platinum, as were subsequent releases Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), and Diver Down (1982). Eddie Van Halen and Roth emerged as the group's primary songwriters and dominant personalities, earning fame for their wild on-stage presence while the band also became known for their hard-partying reputation. However, internal conflicts between the band members grew steadily.

Van Halen's success was closely tied to—and brought greater attention to—Eddie's innovative guitar playing. He was the highest-profile pioneer of the two-handed "tapping" technique, in which both hands are used to fret notes on the fingerboard, enabling extremely fast note runs. Unsatisfied with standard guitars and amplifiers, he continually customized his gear to allow im to achieve the sound and playability he wanted. Notably, he combined the lightweight and ergonomic but durable construction of the Fender Stratocaster guitar with the higher-output humbucking pickups of Gibson guitars, essentially inventing a style that would go on to be mass-produced by many companies. Together with powerful Marshall amplifiers that he modified to provide distortion even lower volumes, he was able to push the boundaries of high-gain rock guitar.

This innovation and popularity led to further successes. In 1982, Eddie was asked by producer Quincy Jones to perform the guitar solo on the song “Beat It” from Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. Though that album and song became best seller, Van Halen did not ask for compensation for providing the solo (and reportedly working on the arrangement as well), viewing it as a minor episode in his life rather than an important contribution to a seminal piece of music. Regardless, the credit helped boost Van Halen's popularity even higher, and the breakthrough to true superstar status was soon to come. The band’s 1984 album, 1984, produced their first set of number-one hits: “Jump,” “Panama,” and “Hot for Teacher.” However, following the release Roth left to pursue a solo career.

Sammy Hagar, who had been the lead singer of the rock band Montrose, was hired to replace Roth in 1985. Van Halen’s music took on a less aggressive, more commercial sound that featured Eddie’s keyboard playing over his virtuosic guitar playing. They released five albums before Hagar left in 1996. After a brief reunion with Roth, former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone joined the band for the poorly received Van Halen III album (1998). Following Cherone’s departure, the band announced they were going on hiatus.

Over the course of his career, Eddie suffered numerous injuries from onstage falls and crashes while performing the acrobatics for which the band became known. As a result, he had hip replacement surgery in 1999. In May 2000, he began treatment for oral cancer and was declared cancer-free the next year.

In 2004, Hagar rejoined the band for a brief reunion tour. In 2007, the band announced a similar reunion tour with Roth; however, this tour was delayed after Eddie entered a rehabilitation center for undisclosed reasons. He would later openly discuss being treated for alcoholism and drug addiction. The tour finally launched in the fall of 2007 with Eddie’s son replacing Anthony as the bassist. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year. Rumors persisted through 2009 and 2010 of an album of new material and a supporting tour, but none materialized until 2012, when A Different Kind of Truth was released. The band also continued to tour, though rumors persisted of an essentially nonexistent offstage relationship between Eddie and Roth. Van Halen's contentious relationships with Hagar and Anthony also provided ongoing fodder for the music press as part of the band's lore.

Significance

Eddie Van Halen is one of the foundational performers of virtuosic hard rock and heavy metal guitar styles of the 1980s. His combination of classically grounded technique and innovative performance techniques such as two-handed fretboard tapping made Van Halen one of the most decorated and imitated guitarists of the era. He is regularly regarded alongside Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Steve Vai as one of the most influential guitarists in rock. In addition to his playing, Van Halen's customization of his equipment had a major influence on the electric guitar industry, shaping the market for aftermarket modifications and popularizing the concept of signature models.

Eddie on stage at the US Festival 1983.

Personal Life

Eddie married television actress Valerie Bertinelli, popular for her role on One Day at a Time, on April 11, 1981. Their son, Wolfgang William Van Halen (named for the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), was born March 16, 1991. The couple separated in 2001, and Bertinelli filed for divorce in 2005; it was finalized in 2008. Eddie married his publicist, Janie Liszewski, in 2009.

Bibliography

Christe, Ian. Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 2008. Print. Band history and biography.

Klosterman, Chuck. "Eddie Van Halen on Surviving Addiction, Why He's Still Making Music and What He Really Thinks of David Lee Roth (and Other Past Van Halen Bandmates)." Billboard, June 19, 2015, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/6605231/eddie-van-halen-addiction-david-lee-roth-touring. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.

Monk, Noel E., and Joe Layden. Runnin' with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen. Dey Street Books, 2017.

Prato, Greg. "Eddie Van Halen." AllMusic, 2017, www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-van-halen-mn0000146544/biography. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.

Tolinsky, Brad, ed. Guitar World Presents Van Halen. New York: Leonard, 1997. Collection of interviews from the magazine on the band.

Zlozower, Neil, and David Lee Roth. Van Halen: A Visual History 1978–1984. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2008.

/ Text above courtesy of EBSCO

WHEN SOUTH KOREA CENSORED ALBUM COVERS ... OR WHERE'S OZZY?

Updated with more covers!

South Korea’s history of censoring records, media, and cultural materials is rooted in its geopolitical history, the rise of post-WWII authoritarian regimes, and cultural protectionism. While South Korea is now a vibrant democracy, this historical censorship was driven by several distinct motives.

National Security and Anti-Communism
Enacted in 1948, the National Security Act gave the government broad control over media to suppress pro-North Korean ideologies and prevent any information deemed a threat to the fragile state.

Regime Propaganda and Control
During the military dictatorships of the 1960s to the 1980s (such as under Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan), the government mandated that the media follow strict guidelines. Censors routinely banned records to suppress political dissent and forced pop artists to release "Healthy Music" that promoted patriotism and the administration.

Public Morality and Decency
Regulatory bodies like the Korea Media Rating Board and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) traditionally enforced stringent guidelines to protect "family values." Record covers containing suggestive nudity, violence, or references to drug use were routinely censored, edited, or mandated to carry 19+ ratings.

Cultural Protectionism
Following decades of harsh Japanese colonial rule, South Korea enacted sweeping bans against the distribution of Japanese records, films, and music to preserve and cultivate its own developing cultural industries. This embargo was only formally phased out in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Historical Impact on Foreign Music
Many classic western rock albums experienced bizarre cover and tracklist changes to comply with these local laws. For example, Ozzy Osbourne and King Diamond. I wonder what would have happened to Carcass "Reek of Putrefaction" 😬

ACHERON (ENIGMATIC DELUSIONS #4, 1993)

 

WINTERS BANE (US)

Heavy/Power Metal band from Akron, Ohio, USA. This is the bands first demo tape from 1991.

Genre: Heavy Metal 

Year: 1991
Country: US
Notes: Recorded at Primetime Studios in the bands hometown Akron, Ohio. This was their first release and what a release. A sure sign that true metal hadn't changed in quality because the calendar said the 80's was over, it was the media and the mainstream crowd that changed and wanted something new. 

The singer B.C. Richards is nothing short of amazing with his 'Michael Kiske-ish" voice. It's such a shame that he didn't have a better career in the scene. I really hope he had a good one outside of the metal scene.

Please report dead links!

Side A

The Haunted House

Damned Nation

Metal Rules

Pumpkin Heaf

SUPPORT THE WORK
If you have the possibility to buy one of our exclusive ”you can’t find them anywhere else” T-shirts, you would sure help us out a lot with all the research costs, web hosting, paywalls for newspaper archives etc … and as a bonus you would also be the coolest metalhead in town! 💀

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