Give this one a moment to settle in. There’s a good chance if you aren’t a folk metal fan, you haven’t encountered something like this. The band is called Turisas and they are from Finland. They incorporate traditional folk music into heavy metal, and while to some American ears it could be strange, it is actually quite infectious. If you have trouble understanding the lyrics, don’t worry. They are in Finnish. If you know Finnish, then well, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I like to think of folk metal as being the slightly off-kilter cousin to Celtic punk like Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys. If you do like what you see here, then check out Finntroll and Korpiklaani – especially the latter’s “Beer Beer” or “Happy Little Boozer.”
I can’t help it. I love me some old school rock and roll. I always have. Sometimes I think I was born too late. What I really love is going back and finding bands that have become kind of lost, bands that were once popular in the day but the public, fickle as ever, moved on and forgot about. Budgie is one of those groups. Here in the States their chart impact was minimal, but their influence on others was an ever-flowing current. If you’ve heard of Judas Priest or Metallica, then you can trace them right back to Budgie.
Back in the 70s Budgie was playing everything that would in time become hallmarks of NWOBHM, classic heavy metal, thrash metal, stoner rock, stoner metal, grunge and alternative. They formed way back in ’67 in Cardiff, Wales, the UK. They were a power trio taking cues from Cream, Blue Cheer, Taste, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and other acts of that period, building around the sparse, primal power of guitar, bass guitar and drums. Burke Shelley on the bass had a voice similar to Canada’s Geddy Lee, whom of course we know from Rush, another similar, heavy, blues-driven power trio* that debuted around that time. Their tunes were hard hitting but could drift out into space, reflecting the influence of psychedelic bands.
The video features the modern Budgie lineup. Burkey Shelley remains and now has ex-Dio guitarist Craig Goldy on guitar, along with stalwart “Syco” Steve Williams on drums. The video of course answers the question of whether or not Budgie are still alive and kicking. They very much are, but from their touring page it looks like you have to be in Eastern Europe if you want to catch them, and sadly it seems Shelley is convalescing at the moment. The poor man suffered an aneurism and the band’s future hasn’t been determined.
Nonetheless Budgie are definitely, from at least this side of the pond, one of the forgotten greats of hard rock and early heavy metal. Anyone who digs Led Zeppelin, Cream, Rush and Black Sabbath would like this band very much. Should you be a fan of groups like Red Fang, Fu Manchu, High on Fire or Clutch, definitely give Budgie a try. You’ll be glad you did. If you want to know some more about their music, Grooveshark and Allmusic are great resources to reference.
*Before anybody points it out, Rush on their debut LP were very much a heavy, blues-rock band and had not yet become the prog rock act everyone recognizes.
Defender are putting an EP out called WWIII pretty soon. It is a side project featuring current and former members of power metal bands like Cellador and Desire to Destroy (Listed over in the links section if you want to check them out).
Below is a preview of the upcoming EP if you want to get an idea of what Defender sounds like.
This here is a band from St. Louis, MO called Fister. They are part of the Pissfork recording group/project/blog, which also includes Ashes and Iron, Black Dwarf, Harkonin and other sorts of death/doom/sludge/ambient death/black/fartcock metal. It’s hard to talk about Fister singularly because several of the members are longtime friends and appear on multiple shows together. Under the Pissfork banner they share a common love for metal and a wry, sardonic sense of humor. They are fond of making 7″ vinyl and cassette tape releases – though they do make their material available for download too, as the tapes and records are limited releases that go out of stock pretty fast.
Recently Fister put out a cassette called Bronsonic – yes that is Charles Bronson’s face on the tape cover superimposed over Beezlebub – which disappeared after its release. Again it is available online, or you can track down someone who has the cassette and they can dub it on some ancient, twin-deck stereo.
Below is the first Fister video, “Bronsonic,” the title track from the cassette.
I don’t listen to much Christmas music, and it’s really because so much of it is overdone. Additionally I’m not exactly the “Jingle Bells” type, though I do dig the hell out of Christmas tunes done by Tom Petty, the Boss and Elvis. From time to time though I get the desire to hear a specific, Christmas tune though. “Blue Christmas” normally sates this but today I wanted to hear, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Trying to find it made me wade through the surfs of schmaltz that I realized greatly pervades holiday music.
First I tried a basic one. I don’t know who did it. The video was posted by a user called reelworship, so this person is either a film lover or Christ lover (Maybe both?) Anyway this version is your basic, synth-driven version you’d hear at the mall. It’s pretty harmless, just a tad too basic and cold for me.
Yeah, not feeling that one. So I moved on and came across Loreena McKennitt. My wife loves her vaguely Celtic-New Age music. McKennitt’s music has a very defined, unifying motif to all of her songs and arrangements. That motif is basically that at any moment, a group of neopagans are about to strip to their pasty, pale bare bottoms and have a Wiccan orgy. All her music is slow drumming, hurdy gurdies and keyboards. So basically if you want to feel slightly naughty about a fairly staid Christmas traditional, then go with Loreena’s hippie orgy version.
Okay have you toweled off and put your clothes back on yet? Let’s move on then. Alright so I still want to hear a good version of this song that won’t a) make me sick from the saccharine; b) have sex at an inappropriate place and time. So I came across Metal Xmas, and wouldn’t you know it, my heroes Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi did their own take on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
“Awesome!” I think, “Let’s give this a whirl!”
OH MY GOD THE STAR SPAWN OF CTHULHU HAVE DESCENDED!!! SULFUR IS FALLING FROM THE AIR! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR SANITY! Oh wait, this isn’t a Black Sabbath song. Dio/Iommi are out then. This is way too much sturm and drang for Christmastide. After this I decided to try old, Christmas stand-bys Manheim Steamroller. Bear in mind to this point I’ve never listened to them before in my life. In college I worked at Target and there was always a display in the seasonal section full of Manheim Steamroller’s numerous Christmas albums.
Okay I’ll give the Steamroller some credit here. Leading with a french horn is pretty cool just because hardly anybody does it. The rest though is way too muzak and not enough music. Maybe I have heard these guys before after all: in about a dozen different grocery stores during the Christmas season. Sorry, Manheim, but it’s just too vanilla.
I started to get a little disappointed by this juncture, because I’ve already tried several versions of this song and nearly every one is well, pretty damn ridiculous. But I did come across something that was unexpected, and promising. Jethro Tull has a version! This I had to try.
You know what, Tull’s version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” isn’t exactly traditional, but it’s not mall music, it’s not over the top, and it’s not really even schmaltzy. It’s just the band diddling around with a simple, catchy tune. At this point I called it: winner – Jethro Tull. Maybe they should do a special, “Ian Anderson Saves Christmas?” I never thought the world’s only rock flautist would make my Christmas just right.
Peter Steele here in 1995 doing the studio-length version of “Black No. 1.” It’s the perfect Halloween song. Creepy, crawly, heavy and spooky, about a goth girl for whom, “Everyday is Halloween.” Type O Negative really was the best at darkly comedic, gothic, pop metal.
