PROTO-METAL: THE STORM

Todays Proto-Metal (read at the bottom of this post if you don’t know what that is) band Spanish hard rock-progressive band The Storm was formed in 1969, under the name of Los Tormentos by Luis Genil Rodríguez (keyboards, vocals), Diego Ruiz Geniz (drums, vocals), and José "Pepe" Torres Alcoba (bass, vocals). Active from 1969 to 1976 and since 1978 to 1981 with Ángel Ruiz Geniz (guitar), Diego Ruiz Geniz (drums), José Ramón Torres (bass), Manuel Muriel Rivas (keyboards).

They soon changed it to the definitive Storm at the request of their manager, José Luis Fernández de Córdoba. Regulars on the club circuits of Madrid and Barcelona, ​​they gained enough fame for the BASF label to record their first LP, titled The Storm, which mixes heavy and psychedelia, and alternates songs in Spanish, English and instrumental songs. On December 13, 1974, they shared the bill with the group Queen,1​ and they received a public congratulation from Freddie Mercury himself.[citation needed] During this period, they eventually introduced rhythmic elements of flamenco origin into their music, which is why some authors include them among the pioneers of Andalusian rock.

In 1976, the group broke up, because its members had to do military service, although before the end of 1978 they got back together and continued their tours. They would not release their next album, El día de la tormenta, until 1980, with a change on bass, with Pedro García entering in place of Pepe Torres. A year later, in 1981, the group retired permanently.

In 2004, their keyboard player, Luis Genil, passed away, and the rest of the band performed three tribute concerts in Seville, reuniting in 2011 to play at the "Rock por Palestina" Festival held on February 25, in the same city.

The group is active again since 2014.

The bands debut from 1970

Live from 1974

WHAT IS PROTO-METAL?

Read more about it here!

VENOM: AN INTERVIEW WITH CRONOS (OKEJ MAGAZINE, #11, 1985) TRANSLATED

English translation from the Swedish Pop Magazine OKEJ. OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school. Are you interested in the OKEJ magazine phenomena, read more here!

Click on the picture for larger image!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW:

OKEJ's Ulf Waldecrantz got an interview with

CRONOS FROM VENOM 

or was it a scolding? Hard to know…

After a week of hard detective work on the part of OKEJ, we finally managed to find the three Newcastle guys in the Black Metal band Venom. The three are currently on an extensive US and Canadian tour. Their first really long tour.

Most recently, the group released the mini-LP "Canadian Assault" which has found its way into the charts in several countries. Back home in Sweden, we found it as high as fifth place. | In Canada, it has already sold gold.

- We screwed up releasing "Possessed" last fall, instead we released "Canadian Assault", but now "Possessed" is coming anyway, says bassist Cronos on a crackly phone line from Winnipeg in Canada.

- We worked on "Possessed" for a whole three weeks, a record actually. But it doesn't sound any better for it, sighs Cronos.

He has his own explanation for why it didn't sound better, despite the extended studio time:

— Not even a master chef can make good food if there's a lump of poo in the ingredients. One explanation is that we are not the best musicians in the world. By the way, you should f**k off, you f**king journalist bastard.

March 31, 1985 at The Concert Hall in Toronto, ON (Canada)

If a normal musician had said those words to me, I would have immediately thanked me and ended the interview. But if you happen to know Venom and their image, you are prepared for all sorts of attacks from them.

Venom is the group that loves to curse and threaten everyone they talk to. When they came to Canada in mid-March, they were supposed to sign records in a large department store in Toronto. It all ended with them running around all the other departments and hurling insults at regular customers. Some older people were shocked and had to be taken to hospital. Cronos about the episode:

- The cops came and grabbed us, we had to sit in jail for a few hours until our manager got us out. That's what I call a strong opening to the tour, he says rightly.

The breakthrough has come for Venom, at least on the other side of the Atlantic.

- Damn, people are so gullible, I would never buy a record with us. It's just crap! But if people want to throw money at me, don't hold it against me.

Cronos, tell me about the tour instead of talking crap about your latest album.

- Forty gigs from mid-March to the end of May. Everything here in Canada is sold out, it's no wonder, "Canadian Assault" is doing really well. We have the biggest facility we've ever had. Twice as big as on "The Seven Dates Of Hell Tour". Come on, you idiot, he says as usual.

March 31, 1985 at The Concert Hall in Toronto, ON (Canada)

Venom are actually not as dangerous as they sound. They're basically three metal freaks who aren't very good musicians. They decided to start a band and since their attitude is that nothing is so fucking bad that it can't be made worse, that's how it went.

- We started the so-called Black Metal wave. By the way, there are no other Black Metal bands but us. Mercyful Fate are creepy and embarrassing. Just look at the rest of them except for singer King Diamond, look at how they look. They could just as easily be dance band musicians, laughable, says Cronos.

- The world is screaming for us. We're like a horror movie in real life, he says, and pulls out the old classic Venom story about the former Vietnam soldier.

- After a gig in New York, one of the guards came into our box and said "I thought I'd seen everything in Vietnam, but this was worse..." It's hilarious, then you feel like you're fulfilling a function, says Cronos.

When the album "Possessed" is released and has been out for a while, it's time for a long European tour.

- We're going to play festivals this summer. Then it's time for the rest of Europe. We're coming to Stockholm, we're going to scare the crap out of you! I talked to Blackie Lawless in W.A.S.P. and he told me that they had been noticed for their image — ha, ha. Then you would see us live - ha, ha, ha.

EXODUS WITH KIRK HAMMETT (CA 1981)

IRON MAIDEN ”NO PRAYER FOR THE DYING” PICTURE DISC AD (1990)

 

EXHORDER (METAL FORCES #57, 1990)

 

AUTOPSY (METAL FORCES #57, 1990)

 

WHEN KISS WORE KNUCKLEDUSTERS AND WERE NAZIS?!?! (1976)

This is some funny sh*t right here! When a Swedish journalist told the Swedish readers in one of the countries largest newspaper Göteborgs Tidning (Gothenburg Newspaper) that the band were nazis and that they apparently walked around with knuckledusters. Also if you live in the suburbs you’re likely to be more aggressive! … but the band is pretty good!?!?! 😆😆😆. Brainworms much? Can anyone look up the journalist Tomas Tengby and see what he does today … so we can go there and make fun of him until he develops some kind of eating disorder! 

What an idiot!

Note: Read the english translation down below!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

THE MOST GROTESQUE OF ALL GROTESQUE ROCK BANDS

By TOMAS TENGBY

GOTHENBURG (GT) The hard rock band Kiss from USA is the most grotesque of all grotesque rock bands. They are violent romantics and sell themselves with the help of Nazism!

They are coming to Gothenburg this summer. Despite having many fans, I wish the band wouldn't come here.

Kiss is a striking example of how rock music has completely gone off the rails in some places.

The four-man group from New York has been launched in a disgusting way. Of course they have make up. White faces with black "war paint". Their clothes are decorated with rivets and sometimes they wear knuckle dusters. (That they wear sky-high platform shoes hardly needs to be noted...)

Disgusting!

Their name is not spelled with two regular "s". No, instead they use a lightning-fast "s" that symbolizes the Nazis' murderous SS. Tough? No. Disgusting!

The inner sleeve of the band's new LP invites people to join Kiss' fan club. It's called "Kiss Army". The cover shows the band members happily jumping into the air. In the background is a completely destroyed and burning city…

Kiss is selling some kind of "stupidity" about war, violence and Nazism!

I wonder what's going on in the head of the person who came up with all this. There must be something wrong. Senseless….

The whole thing is a striking example of how senseless some parts of the record industry are. What other industry could think of associating their product with the Nazis? The sad thing is that Kiss is a pretty good band. They're better than many other hard rock bands. They're still being launched this way. Destructive!

The latest LP is called "Destroyer" and that's exactly what Kiss does. They're destructive.

Hard rock bands are most popular in the suburbs. That's because it's easy to get aggressive and angry if you live there. If you listen to Kiss, this anger disappears into violent romance. Instead of being directed at the fault.

No, we don't need Kiss!

TODAYS LESSON FOR THE BEGINNER … BLACK SABBATH WITH IAN GILLAN

In todays newbie guide we’ll talk about the short period with Ian Gillan as the lead singer for the mighty Black Sabbath.

It was a brief period in the band's history when former Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan joined Black Sabbath as their lead vocalist in 1983. This collaboration resulted in the album "Born Again" (1983), which marked a departure from the band's traditional sound. Gillan's powerful vocals and unique style brought a different energy to the band, blending his distinctive voice with Black Sabbath's heavy metal foundation.

While "Born Again" was not initially received with universal acclaim, it has since gained a cult following due to its raw energy and the unique fusion of Gillan's vocal style with the band's music. The album features songs like "Trashed" and "Zero the Hero," which showcase the experimental direction the band took during this period. The lineup was short-lived, as tensions between band members led to Gillan's departure soon after the album's release, and he was replaced by Tony Martin. However, the "Born Again" era remains an intriguing chapter in Black Sabbath's long and storied career.

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"Born Again" is the 11th studio album by the band, released in August of 1983. It is the first and only album the group recorded with lead vocalist Ian Gillan. It was also the last Black Sabbath album for nine years to feature original bassist Geezer Butler and the last to feature original drummer Bill Ward.

Side A:

A1 Trashed

A2 Stonehenge

A3 Disturbing The Priest

A4 The Dark

A5 Zero The Hero

Side B

B1 Digital Bitch

B2 Born Again

B3 Hot Line

B4 Keep It Warm

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SODOM ”MORTAL WAY OF LIFE” (VHS) LIVE 1988

Recorded live in Eisporthalle, Braunschweig, Germany 28th May, at the "Heavy Sound 1” Festival (with Destruction, Tankard and Rage).

It was only released on VHS in Germany.

I love this gig! Outbreak of F**kin Eeeeevil!

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DEEP PURPLE (METAL MANIA VOL.1, #1 (1985)

 

MALICE (METAL RENDEZVOUS VOL.3, #4, 1987)

 

CYCLONE (BEL) (METAL RENDEZVOUS VOL.3, #4, 1987)

 

ANTHRAX ”AMONG THE LIVING” AD (1987)

SAVATAGE (METAL HAMMER #2, 1987)

DISMEMBER (TERRORIZER #1, 1993)

Alright, let's have some more Death Metal from Sweden now with this old Dismember pic from the "Indecent and Obscene" album era.

Courtesy of Black Death Nostalgia

A DAY IN PELLES (DEAD) LIFE!

"I wish I still had my mother's cheap blue Ikea sofa that he (Pelle) drew gothic Santa Clauses on, it was really cool. He did write to me about this guy in Norway who was afraid of him. Pelle didn't mind the guy or anything, and had done nothing to scare him. So when the guy throws the birthday party, Pelle, being polite and considerate, brings him the present. A big knife. But the guy misinterprets Pelle's intentions totally and freaks out because he thinks Pelle is going to sta.b him! It was great fun for Pelle, of course, but he did actually seem a bit concerned about the whole incident... I don't think he was always fully aware of the impression he made on people."- Jens Näsström (Year of the goat)

Courtesy of The Old Mayhem

AC/DC (METAL FORCES #63, 1991)

 

OBITUARY (METAL FORCES #63 1991)

METALLICA ”CLIFF EM ALL” AD (1988)

 

DESTRUCTION ”RELEASE FROM AGONY” AD (1988)

 

MEGADETH (METAL RENDEZVOUS, #22, 1988)

UNPUBLISHED IMAGES OF QUORTHON IN SPAIN ... 35 YEARS LATER

Courtesy of Los Mejores Rock

In 1990, the band Bathory took an important leap in its international projection with the release of 'Hammerheart', the album published by Noise International that some critics consider the beginning of Viking Metal. This work once again evidenced the visionary character of the group's leader, Quorthon, who had already defined the foundations of Black Metal with his four previous albums - the eponymous one from 1984, 'The Return' (1985), 'Under the Sign of the Black Mark' (1987) and 'Bood Fire Death' (1988).

The company that distributed the vinyl in Spain was the independent DRO, which for a time was in charge of the Noise catalogue. His team did the same with the promotional visits of several of the label's leading artists - such as Kreator, Sepultura or Tankard -. His job was to organize in Madrid for all of them the round of promotional interviews with the specialized media in the capital.

Leo Cebrián Sanz, who at that time was an occasional correspondent for the Barcelona magazine 'Metalik.O', had the opportunity to be one of the journalists who interviewed Quorthon at the DRO offices. The same day that colleague Antonio Pardo, from 'Heavy Rock' magazine, questioned the Swedish musician, our collaborator took advantage of the fact that his was the last promotional engagement of the day to carry out an outdoor photo shoot that is now seeing the light of day again partially.

Quorthon and Cebrián walked around the neighborhood of Barrio de la Concepción until they exhausted the photo reel from which the images published by 'MetaliK.O', the historic newspaper directed with a masterful hand by music journalist Ramón Porta, would emerge. In that improvised excursion through the streets and adjacent parks Tomas Forsberg 'Quorthon' was most affable and willing to pose, as he did next to a Seat 600 with a sticker from Sweden or in front of the graffiti of an inverted cross that someone had painted on the wall of a nearby school. When the kids at the school saw the musician's appearance - leather pants, bullet belt and sleeveless shirt - their recreation was revolutionized by the presence of a character whom they logically assumed to be "famous" or relevant.

Five paper copies of those originals were sent to the editorial office in Barcelona and several of them were published in black and white. No less than thirty-five years later, those images now appear in their original color after a chance discovery in Leo Cebrián's archives. What happened to the negatives and the rest of the photos? Well, believe it or not, the editor of 'MetaliK.O' made the mistake of sending all the material to a Legion and Bathory fan who lived in the Canary Islands. As you can imagine, the 'blacker' in question was delighted with the gift, which was the generous fruit of a friendship by correspondence that never forged in a call or personal visit. Over time contact was lost... and until today.

At that time the figure of Quorthon was already prestigious, but he had not acquired that aura of legend that the passage of time has given him. His death in 2004 turned Bathory's ideologue into an absolute myth, which gave special relevance to any material related to his low visibility in the press media. Part of the value of these photographs lies in the scarcity of images of this nature that can testify to the public life of the myth, given that the musician was a reserved man and little friend of public exhibitions.

That day Cebrián and José Antonio Gómez - the person in charge of entertaining the international delegation, as well as a musician with Aviador DRO and the great supporter in the company of Spanish Rock bands such as Extremoduro, Platero y Tú or M-Clan - had the opportunity to sharing a table and tablecloth in a nearby restaurant with Quorthon and his manager, a very nice French guy, who videotaped some fragments of the interviews conducted that morning. The man who gave birth to Bathory was a vegetarian, an unusual circumstance at that time, and in close contact he was extraordinarily polite and courteous. He spoke almost native English and his manners were those of a cultured and somewhat shy person, but affable and with a serene sense of humor.

After the discovery of these documentary gems, the Spanish journalist continues to delve into his personal library to find the letters that communicated to him with the “heir” of those negatives. The world exclusive of this material is worth the effort of trying to locate the lucky owner of the rest of the photo session. Hopefully these efforts will prosper and the international community of Bathory fans will be able to enjoy and share with them a gallery of images of such unquestionable interest. Thanks to them we could learn more about this ill-fated genius, who died at the young age of 38, whose mysterious personality continues to fascinate people and those outside Extreme Metal.

NOTE: Since I don’t speak or read Spanish the article have been translated by Google translate so any strangeness I’ll blame on them.

Originally published here in Spanish on Los Mejores Rock

MORTAL SIN (METAL FORCES #27, 1988)

😂😂😂

 

BLIND ILLUSION (METAL FORCES #27, 1988)

THE FIRST LINE-UP OF IRON MAIDEN (1975)

Paul Mario Day - Vocals (1975-1976)
The first singer of Iron Maiden, he was fired in 1976 by Dennis Wilcock allegedly because his lack of stage charisma, Day then played in bands such as More and Wildfire. He moved to Australia in 1986 and kept on writing songs and singing there with local bands.

Steve Harris - Bass (1975-present)
No introduction needed!

Ron "Rebel" Matthews - Drums (1975-1977)
The first one to be called by Steve Harris; he was fired after two years and a half in 1977 when their singer Dennis Wilcock convinced Harris to renovate the band.

Terry Rance - Guitars (1975-1976)
Dave Sullivan - Guitars (1975-1976)
Terry Rance along with Dave Sullivan managed Eddie's Bar in Faro, Portugal from 2005 until it closed down around 2009/2010. Eddie's Bar was owned by Steve Harris, opening in 1989. The pub was decorated with old Iron Maiden memorabilia such as instruments, gold records and stage props.

SIX FEET UNDER AD (1995)

 

😂😂😂

POSSESSED / DARK ANGEL CONCERT POSTER (JANUARY 22ND, 1987)

Courtesy of Mutilador Fanzine

 

M.O.D. ”U.S.A. FOR M.O.D. [LP] (1987)

GENRE: Thrash Metal/Crossover/Hardcore Punk
COUNTRY: US

YEAR: 1987
STAND-OUT TRACK(S): Aren’t You Hungry, Get a Real Job

Billy Milano formed the band in New York after the disbandment of S.O.D.. S.O.D. eventually reformed in the '90s, but Milano had promised to keep on with M.O.D.. M.O.D. stands for "Method of Destruction", but Billy sometimes refers to it as "Milano's on Drugs" as a joke.

The band split up in 1997 and then was reunited in 2001. After that, they have split-up and reunited several times over the years.

"U.S.A. For M.O.D." is the bands first full-length release. US released LP. Some US released cassette and Compact Disc versions contain two extra tracks, "Confusion" and "You're X'd", that do not appear on the German/Canadian/French vinyl or cassette versions. Both songs are covers originally performed by the hardcore punk band Faith.

The album was recorded and mixed in 4 days at Pyramid, Ithaca NY and produced by S.O.D. bandmate and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian.

The band on the recorded:

Billy Milano - Vocals

Ken Ballone - Bass

Tim McMurtrie - Guitars

Keith Davis - Drums

OPINION: This is pure nostalgia for me, so it might be hard to be impartial. I’m usually not that found of comedic texts, but here it works for me. It might have something to do with the age I was when I discovered it! This is a record that we used to play a lot as 14-15 year old drinking beer before going out raisin hell in our neighbourhood. 

Yeez, the suburbs sucked as a teen. 

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