The Necrofile - Issue 36
by EC

Contents:
- Tony Taylor
- Year End Summary
- New Release Wrap
- Motorjesus

It has been quite a while since The Necrofile column has run active on MM. Jeers to me and the rest of the staff for our non-editorial attitude of late. Hopefully that will change in 2010 but I'm always a few clients away from having complete work domination, leaving MM completely abandoned on my end. Until then here is a few metal tidbits to ponder...

First on the agenda for this issue is the untimely passing of Tony Taylor. The former singer of Twisted Tower Dire and October 31 was killed in a motorcycle accident in Nepals, Florida on February 6. The talented vocalist was a popular fan and performer on the indy circuit and will sadly be missed. He left behind a wife and 2 children. I remember seeing Taylor perform live years ago with October 31 and was just blown away by his vocal power, highlight being a blazing cover of Priest's "Electric Eye".

Deceased and October 31 mainman King Fowley had a fond moment with Taylor that he posted on a discussion board:

"I'll never forget the time October 31 went on tour. Me and Tony drove together, we were cruising down the road on a 5 hour drive to our next gig and singing all the way. We'd do Triumph, Uriah Heep, Dio, Styx (Crystal Ball), Foreigner, Boston, all kinds of one hit wonders of rock and roll and metal. Just me and him, no music just having a blast!!! I wish I had a tape of that time! It was fun as hell! Damn rest in peace Tony".

Our 2009 year end awards are in and it looks like we had some consistent winners. Megadeth's "Endgame" was a crowning achievement and one that further establishes Megadeth as THE leader of US thrash metal for almost 20 years. Paradise Lost returned to prime form with what many would deem their career best with "Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us". What an amazing album that showcases the band in full doom-goth heaviness, one-upping skeptics who predicted the band would never reach their metal milestone "Draconian Times". The English act did and surpassed it in my opinion. Germany's Kreator and Denmark's Artillery proved that Megadeth and Slayer weren't the only thrash acts moshing the masses in 2009. Black Sabbath (I refused to call them Heaven And Hell) garnished a few lists as well as Behemoth, who had a career best year with a tour on Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest as well as acclaimed record "Evangelion". Let's see if Overkill, Astral Doors, Bullet For My Valentine, Testament, Blind Guardian and the new wave of thrash metal will dish out some winning efforts for this year!!

Speaking of 2010, there is a lot of great metal that has recently hit store shelves. Here's a small sample of what's at your Best Buy, FYE (what's left of them) and iTunes:

Fozzy - "Chasing The Grail" - Rich Ward and Chris Jericho team up again for a street ready, modern day approach to classic metal. This one has seen some great pricing of late through Best Buy. I bought my copy for $7.99. It's a great album and I'm sure you'll love it.

Overkill - "Ironbound" - Media press and fans alike are fired up regarding this comeback record from Blitz and DD. I've been spinning this one for months and it is probably the best Overkill has sounded since "W.F.O". The End Records has a great package deal to get the CD, shirt and LP together for $50. I saw the disc at Best Buy for $16.99. Don't forget to see the band on tour in April and May along side Vader and God Dethroned.

The labels are pushing some big releases right now:

Earache has White Wizzard's much anticipated "Over The Top" hitting shelves March 9th. Wormrot's "Abuse" hits a month later with Order Of Ennead's "An Examination Of Being" landing in the Spring. They have also had a couple of big releases in store shelves for the last few months with Evile's "Infected Nations", "Grind Madness At The BBC" and Cauldron's "Chained To The Night".

Century Media has Gothenburg metal pioneer Dark Tranquillity releasing their hyped "We Are The Void" on March 9th. I've been playing that one non-stop for a couple of weeks now and can't say enough good things about it (catch my review on MM).

Candlelight has Fear Factory's new album "Mechanize" on store shelves now. The label also is sporting sophomore release from The Breathing Process for March. Company releases already on shelves are Savage Messiah, Ihsahn, Ingested and some retro thrash for the backpatch wielders...Ramming Steel, Defiance and Onslaught.

Brand new for Nuclear Blast this month was new titles from Eluveite (excellent I might add!), Meshuggah, Arsis, Mnemic and a live Exodus. In coming weeks look for a new Immolation, Sonic Syndicate and Annotations Of An Autopsy.

AFM Records has the new Heavenly album "Carpe Diem" in stores this month. Also the Germans released the new Nostradameus entitled "Illusion's Parade", Brainstorm's "Memorial Roots", Paradox's "Riot Squad", Mob Rules' "Radical Peace" and a great unheard of called Dark Age and their fantastic "Acedia".

Other great titles to keep an eye out for...the new solo album from Blaze Bayley (riveting!!), High On Fire (stoner doom), Angels Of Babylon (US power metal), Icarus Witch (US power), Freedom Call (German Harry Potter metal) and Keel (comeback album called "Streets Of Rock And Roll"). I'll go into these more on next issue.

Okay, in wrapping up PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE WITH A PUSSY ON TOP...go to http://www.motorjesus.net/index1.html and check out Germany's Motorjesus. Goddamn I love these boys!! The band originally started as The Shitheadz and released one album for Locomotive Music. The band changed their title to Motorjesus and released "Death Rider" in 2006 for Locomotive. On any given day of the week the album is in my Top 3 of all time (with 20 other records sharing that award as well). The band had some ups and downs but have RETURNED IN A BIG WAY with new EP "100,000 Watt Survivor". You can download the EP and get your balls blown off for FREE. The band is 125% HEAVY METAL, with tons of Sabbath backbone, Anthrax's sensibility and Corrosion Of Conformity's dirty street grind. Throw in some Maiden melody and you have what could be the best Goddamn band on the planet peddling their goods in a back alley to a crowd of 20. Let's download this fucker and jam the planet! We want Motorjesus baby!

That about does it for this issue. Be safe, be calm, be collected...but rock out damnit.