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My final feature article on how awesome heavy metal is. It will go into the paper. Read it.

Heavy metal will be coming to Worcester, MA on the third weekend of April in the form of the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, but don’t expect a legion of fans in colorful tights, teased hair, and running mascara. The times they are a changing, and so too are the anthems of the times.

Fast music at abrasive volumes has often been the ridicule of the tactful and the tasteful. A legion of rockers caught in a frenzy sporting their favorite band t-shirts are banging their heads in unison to the beat of the drums and the rhythm of the guitars. To you they might look like uncivilized pseudo-barbarians with no morale character. Okay, so maybe a few of them do have a third world education, but by and large the extreme metal counter-culture has invited some of society’s brightest young adults.

In an age where the world seems to be crumbling down around young people due to the mistake’s of past generations, it’s no wonder why so many youths are becoming increasingly angered by the status quo. The next time you spot a long haired rocker in crotch hugging jeans and a Motorhead t-shirt, you should consider what he (or she, believe it or not) may have done for their community in the last few years. Patrick Keefe comes from scene of anarchists and libertarians fed up with the system. This year will mark his eleventh year going to local shows. Patrick is a MASSPirg student activist and has attended several rallies since the 2004 Republican National Convention. Loud music and adrenaline keeps his skin tough enough to deal with riot cops shooting at him with tear gas and spraying him mace. He says that many of today’s bands have been put together by kids who already had an interest in politics. Music is just a powerful means of spreading a powerful message. Since the mainstream media isn’t talking about important issues, younger people are taking it upon themselves to spread information through music.

Cam Mancini thinks somewhat differently. Cam is an eighteen year old student of Bristol Community College and is active in the Rhode Island hardcore punk scene. He says that he came upon his beliefs on his own, and fell in love with hardcore punk music because it fit his political beliefs. “A lot of people in music are complacent these days.” Cam said. “It’s not the same way as it was in the 60s.” Cam would like to see more changes in heavy music culture, and feels that right now that fans of his preferred style of music are either black or white. “You get two kinds of people in punk. They’re either really active or they’re complete nihilists.” Cam would like to see more people active, but admits that there is a lot going of social awareness right now with hardcore music compared with generations past.

Political and social consciousness has existed in the lyrics of metal bands since it’s early days in the early 1970s. Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” written in 1970 is perhaps one of the most famous and widely recognized of the genre‘s social satires. However; it wasn’t until the late 1980s that the music started to turn from anthems of sex, drugs, and the devil. Ironically it was an attack by members of Congress on the genre that resulted in a trend started by bands like Megadeth who sought to expose the hypocrisy of the P.M.R.C, a censorship committee started by Tipper and then senator Al Gore. “One” by Metallica kicked things off further as an anti-war ballad about a crippled war veteran who has suffered the loss of his arms and legs. Bands that got their start playing to the tune of generic adolescent rebellion began targeting the evangelical right-wing that had come to dominate American society during the Regan-era. With the rise of MTV and Headbangers Ball, many music videos were used as visual pieces of protest. Anthrax’s “Indians” and Nuclear Assault’s “Handle With Care” were about the dangers of global warming and the desolate life of a Native American.

The same sense of protest has continued today. Bay area band TestAmenT’s 2008 album “Formation of Damnation” include lyrics that attack the Bush administration and attempt to recapture the chilling experiences of 9/11. If anyone has benefited from the Bush era, it’s Virginia rockers Lamb of God. Their entire discography since 2001 has been a relentless assault on conservative America. Lamb of God vocalist, Randy Blythe, has even stated in an interview that one summer he wore the same anti-Bush t-shirt to every show of the Ozzfest 2005 tour. “This is a way to wake kids up to the fact that things are not okay right now. This is not time to turn on American Idol and forget that fathers and sons are dying for a lie. The only bombs in Iraq are the bombs landing on the homes of teachers and doctors.”


“The greatest weapon of a fascist is the tolerance of the pacifist” says Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies of the band’s song entitled Give It Revolution. The song is about the complacency of the general public during times of oppression. In an age that has introduced the Patriot Act as well as several other sacrifices of American liberties, Muir’s stance couldn’t ring louder. “The greatest crimes that history has saw were the crimes defended by the law.” The Nazi party extinguished the lives of six-million Jews because Adolf Hitler made it legal to do so when he signed off the Final Solution. Perhaps Mike Muir is on to something. Simply because the government says that it’s okay to do something horrible, does it really make it okay?

The most interesting fact surrounding all of this is that people are tuning in. Metallica charts in as the 18th highest grossing musical act of all time in the United States. That’s higher than U2 and Queen. Britney Spears, the poster-woman of the last decade, isn’t even in the top twenty. If you were to count their merchandise sales and gross from concerts, Metallica is the seventh biggest selling act in America history. Metallica’s recent album “Death Magnetic” was the sixteenth best selling album on the Billboard charts last year. Testament’s “Formation of Damnation” charted in it’s debut at fifty-nine on the Billboard 200. Megadeth’s “United Abominations” did one higher at number eight on the list. Slayer came out even further than their peers with their recent album at number five in 2006, selling over 62,000 copies in one week. With so many fans listening to this music, more and more people are becoming aware of the problems we face as a country and are equipped with the tools to make a difference in their communities. Although heavy metal doesn’t gain the attention of pop artists, the underground in America remains one of the ripest markets in the music industry. Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany draws over 70,000 men and women from all over the world and sold out a year in advance this season. Ozzy Osbourne’s Ozzfest remains one of the highest grossing tours in American history. Maryland Death Fest has featured 160 different bands in the last five years to sold out crowds. The numbers continue to grow.

“It’s the sound of power.” says Steve Souza, an English major from Emerson College. “When you want to say something meaningful, you need to say it loud enough for everyone to hear it. What is louder than heavy metal?”

Well, It is Lolz. That's what this blog is all about.

Total non-stop Lolz.

Get over it.

I used to be angry. I used to think my intellectualism made me better than other people, made me more righteous and deserving. At one stage in my life I believed that life came packaged with a line in the sand, and at one point of that line was the good and well to do and at the other end of the line was the evil soulless bastards that manipulate the people in the middle so that they can acquire wealth while everything sacred that the people on the good side stood for was anally raped. I used to blame the people in the middle for being so gullible. Gullible enough to feed the machine. I used to think I was better than them, because I believed in something complex that required some sort of self-perceived substantial thinking and effort to grow and maintain.

I used to think my anger meant something. I used to think that my self-proclaimed superiority mattered.

Then I realized that I was only as gullible as every one else who falls for the get-rich-quick schemes, every one else who hurries to the phone the moment they see an infomercial, everyone else who put in a vote just because someone on the television said it was the right thing to do. Then I realized that the self-righteous do-gooders are on the same side of the line as the selfish monopolizing pricks that manipulate the masses. I didn't stand for anything, because there was never anything there to stand for. I was empowering myself amongst a horde of shit. My screams of anger were no different than screams of attention. Look at me. Look what I know. Look what I believe...

There is no line in the sand. There is no objective meaning to stand and fight for. What you know, what you believe, what you think you know and who you think should care...

It's all in your head.

The "baaah-baaah-baaah" of the sheep is actually the sound of their laughter. The joke is on you.

This update brought to you by thin mint cookies and Nuclear Assault.

Updates have not seen the light of day recently due to whatever reason I decide to make for an excuse. I did after all disappear for like five days before and after Destruction, which was a mind blowing show, by the way. Although I should pursue some of my reading interests, I decided now would be a good time to commit to a blog entry since vacation is right around the corner and mid-term is all but over or something. I should have something to report and little time to do it!

So far I've breezed past my history and English classes. I'm pretty uncertain about my video class, but we've one more major quiz to go and then the projects can bounce me back up to a solid B+ or perhaps even ace the class. Newswriting and reporting is uncertain, because I seriously believe that my teacher thinks I'm some sort of strange drug addict or something.

I might be going to Florida for a day on Tuesday. I'm excited about this. I will probably sit on a beach and stare intensely at Latinos, hoping that if I stare hard enough that they'll explode and become nachos. Regardless, I will enjoy some decent weather, which doesn't really matter I guess because the warm weather here is finally rich enough for me to enjoy anyway. At least my car is up and running again, so I can at least DO something with my vacation. Sounds exciting.

- Nic

PS: Destruction again on April 7th in New York City, followed by Kreator's NYC show the day afterward. Fapfapfapfapfapfapfap.

PPS: Meeting on Thursday to see if I'm still cool enough to be employed by the government. Fuck.

Death, Destruction, Carnage, Mayhem, etc.

"You're beautiful, but you're beautiful like a brontosaurus on television. You're beautiful in a strange and foreign way." - Katelyn

This is a very interesting compliment. I've thought about it a bit since I received it last night, and I have decided that I am like a brontosaurus. I am already dead. I am extinct. What you see of me is just a display made for your enjoyment and held together by strings and bolts. Or something profound like that.

I saw Watchmen last night and I was a bit disappointed. I don't think there's any point to see a movie if you've already read the book it's adapted from other then to see how true to the novel the film played out, and criticize it if it digressed from the source material. Well that's what I paid to do last night. I paid ten bucks to be a critic. The movie didn't digress too far from the book, but it certainly did enough for me to be a bit disappointed. My favorite monologue was cut out as well as a few decent scenes in the book, the ending was all but completely butchered, and there some minor changes to Night Owl that made me wince. Take that into account the fact that the acting was sub-par, and you have a disappointment on your hands, which sucks because it's a three hour movie. I'm not sure I will bother seeing it again.

Destruction is tonight, but as of right now there seems to be uncertainty about transportation. I'd love to drive myself up there, but I just don't trust my vehicle is going to make it that far and back without giving me some sort of problem.

I need to get laid so badly right now. You have no idea.

//Nic

Now playing: Total Desaster - Destruction

PS: My tooth is hurting again. :(

2 bucks for hot chocolate? Fuck that shit!

With the coming mid-term crunch and the recent snow storm that began this past weekend firing my nerves into the redzone, I believe it is time for me to unleash yet another assault on the painstaking retardation that is the real world. That is afterall why Napalm Waltz was created - to relentlessly make a mockery of the way things really are.

Today I stepped into a fast-food coffee shop (the wonderful mecca of our local culture - Dunken Donuts!) to purchase a cup of hot chocolate as part of my snow storm tradition. I was absolutely flabbergasted to find that my hot chocolate cost me just over two dollars. It wasn't even the largest size, and only two weeks ago I was able to buy a medium for a dollar seventy-five. How far gone are the 90s when I could just walk into a Dunks and buy a cup for a buck and a quarter?

It would appear to me then that the six-year-old boys in Indonesia, the wonderful laborers responsible for farming those cocoa beans, are dwindling in number. Bengal tigers taking a cut out of the work force? It's a far more colorful explanation for increase in prices than the rather boring and morose depression (let's start calling it what it is.) that has been forced down my throat by the media every fifteen seconds. In this case I propose a garrison of commandos be unleashed into the jungles of Ghana and Indonesia to protect the mighty American Consumer Empire's investment in the region. These arent' just any crack troops by the way. They're a terrible force camoflauged in the most threatening fatigues an intergalactic clone combantant could muster from any flamboyant wardrobe.

MOTHERFUCKING TIGER FORCE!

I propose that we begin by enlisting the Finns and work our way through the rest of Scandinavia first. It's their fault that those five year old jungle boys are busting their chops in hazardous conditions in the first place. Of course, the United States will be the provider of logistics and special weapons, but have you ever tried to steal a cup-o-joe off of a Finn? Fuck that shit. I predict the extinction of Bengal tigers in south east Asia by mid-2010.

//Nic

Now playing: Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas (Don't fuck with Kansas.)

PS: I could just go to New Hampshire where the cost of goods is about 15% cheaper, but do I really want a 15% temperature decrease as well?

Yes. The struggle continues.

I'd first like to apologize to my five followers (Yes, I know, it's so many that I just have to show my courtesies.) for not updating my blog in the last few days.

Well, last night I went out with TheMetalGeorge to some D.I.Y show in the basement of some art gallery in Pawtucket (just outside our glorious city of Providence), and let me just ask a question; since when did hipster artfags become the key demographic of black metal's audience? I had thought previously that our legion consisted only of bitter cynical bastards and then of course the virgins. I was wrong.

Well, apparently black metal isn't minimalist enough, because now hipster artfags have drained the music of what little life it had, and they've turned it basically into some sort of dark noise marketed as ambient. No, it isn't ambient. It isn't black metal. It isn't art. It's totally fucking annoying and it was a waste of eight dollars. I digress; however, because KRIEG and Hexen were very awesome.

Destruction is in five days. It's going to be totally fucking awesome.

//Nicholas

Now playing: Jerry Cantrell - Settling Down (Nostalgia. Reflecting on the old days has become pretty constant these last few weeks.)

PS: Is it seriously snowing right now? It's fucking March already. Come on. What a horrible winter.

PPS: It's fucking March already?