Archive for the Heavy Metal Category

Great Rock/Metal Albums of 1989: House of Lords

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2024 by 80smetalman

House of Lords has now made it onto my list of American artists who didn’t crack Britain. Yes, they appeared on the “Protect the Innocent” compilation album but after that, zero. However, when I researched the band and the album, I discovered that they had a rich discography that carried on until 2022! So they must have been somewhat known in the US.

The other surprise came when I watched the video for the single, “I Wanna Be Loved,” which appeared on the compilation. The camera seemed to home in on the keyboards player quite a bit. Now that I know who it is, I’m not surprised. Gregg Giuffria. In the mid 80s, he had is own band, which was named after him and originally this was supposed to have been another Giuffria album, but producer Gene Simmons, yes that Gene Simmons, persuaded him to go another way.

The intro on the opening track, “Pleasure Palace,” sounds as if it could have been a classic progressive rock song from out of the 1970s, ala Yes or Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Gregg definitely has skills on the keys. However, the track develops into a more 80s synth rock song, something you might hear from Survivor but it’s not bad. The track from “Protect the Innocent” is more a rocking track so any thoughts of the album disintegrating into a pop album is quickly erased.

House of Lords really show their worth on “Edge of Your Life.” This is a nicely done melodic rock track with everyone firing on all cylinders. It’s the first track where Larry Cordola is let off the leash and he bangs out a great guitar solo. My personal opinion, this one should have been released as a single. “Looking For Strange” sounds like it might be a little all over the place but the chaos has plenty of hard rock swagger with some cool piano chops from Gregg and nice drum fills from Ken Mary.

Was it a thing in 1989 for bands to have their power ballad at the mid point of the album? It was like that with Femme Fatale and the same happens here. “Love Don’t Lie” is a really tender ballad without being too soppy. James Christian really pours his heart and soul out with the vocals and the rest of the band support with piano, a hard drum beat and a good guitar solo. Well done boys.

“Slip of the Tongue” is the first true hard rock song. They really take things up more than a few paces and rock it out. Just a great metal tune and one Rick Nielsen helped write the song. Still, it has me banging my head at a rapid pace. But it’s the cool intro on “Hearts of the World” and what happens after which convinces me that House of Lords can be considered a metal band. This one too has me headbanging away and while it’s not as fast as “Slip of the Tongue,” the power of metal is there to be heard. This one and its predecessor can both be considered hidden gems.

More 70s sounding progressive keyboards bring in “Under Blue Skies” but this time, it goes into a more heavy metal vibe. Enjoyable but I think the repetition at the end goes on a little too long. Both of the final two tracks could have been closers on the album. Both have that lets end the album in the right way and everybody sing along to the chorus vibe. I don’t see anything wrong with two songs which could be considered closers ending an album on an absolute positive.

Track Listing:

  1. Pleasure Palace
  2. I Wanna Be Loved
  3. Edge of Your Life
  4. Looking for Strange
  5. Love Don’t Lie
  6. Slip of the Tongue
  7. Heart of the Worlds
  8. Under Blue Skies
  9. Call My Name
  10. Jealous Heart
House of Lords

Gregg Giuffria- keyboards

James Christian- lead vocals

Larry Cordola- guitar

Chuck Wright- bass

Ken Mary- drums, percussion

Additional Musicians:

Jeff Scott Soto- backing vocals

Well, I’m convinced, I don’t know about the rest of you. I will explore House of Lords further albums.

Next post: Lenny Kravitz- Let Love Rule

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition to have Bruce Dickinson knighted, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Great Metal Albums of 1989: Femme Fatale

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2024 by 80smetalman

As promised, I am posting about one of the albums from 1988, although it didn’t get really going until 1989, so I am still being accurate here, from the “Protect the Innocent” compilation. First up is the self titled album from Femme Fatale. Question: Am I the only one who, when hearing the bands name and the vocals, immediately jumped to the assumption that they were an all female band? Well, they’re not but saying that, lead singer, Lorraine Lewis has so much presence that it’s very easy to make such an assumption.

I can see why the song which appeared on the compilation album, “Falling In and Out of Love,” was the single from the album, It has that hard rock meets commercial viability vibe which such a song should have. I hope when you listened to it on the last post, you could feel Lorraine’s energy on it and the shredding is done well. I wish there was some note as to which guitarist solos on which track but there’s none. However, all of the first four songs on the album can fall into such a category. They are all in the same vein, although “Waiting for the Big One” is the right choice for the opener and “My Baby” has a sharper edge than the others.

Separating the more commercial first four songs from the harder final five is the power ballad, “Rebel.” While the other members of the band do their part well on it, it’s the charisma of Lorraine that makes the song. The power ballad is the stop gap between the two halves of the album as “Fortune and Fame” kicks off a more heavier sound for the remainder and gets your head banging straight away

I’ve also learned something new here. The track, “Touch and Go,” was also on the soundtrack for the film, “License to Drive.” I’ve never seen the movie but I enjoy the song. It does start with a pretty cool bass line. However, the hidden gem goes to “If.” This is the one where they put it all together and make a great metal tune. It sounds down and dirty, the band was definitely firing on all cylinders here. Great rhythm, cool shredding and of course, the vocals. “If” marks the final peak as while the two closing tracks are good, they don’t quite reach the dizzy heights.

Track Listing:

  1. Waiting for the Big One
  2. Falling In and Out of Love
  3. My Baby
  4. Back in Your Arms Again
  5. Rebel
  6. Fortune and Fame
  7. Touch and Go
  8. If
  9. Heat the Fire
  10. Cradle’s Rockin’
Femme Fatale

Lorraine Lewis- vocals, tambourine

Bill D’Angelo- guitar

Mazzi Rawd- guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Rick Rael- bass, backing vocals

Bobby Murray- drums, backing vocals

Like with many a band’s debut albums, this showed that Femme Fatale had the chops to go further but bad luck prevented this. The band dissolved and didn’t record another album until 2016. Shame really but with so many metal bands out there at the time, it was easy to fall through the cracks. As for Lorraine, well she now sings in an all female band called Vixen. You might have heard of them.

Next post: House of Lords

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

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Great Metal Albums of 1989: Protect the Innocent- Part 4, The Wanton and The Warriors

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2024 by 80smetalman

Here’s the fourth and final installment of the greatest metal compilation album of 1989 and possibly all time. The sad part of this is that some of these bands have faded into obscurity.

Dream Theater- The Killing Hand
Acid Reign- Goddess
Femme Fatale- Falling In and Out of Love
Tigertailz- Love Overload
Wrathchild- (Na Na) Nukklear Rokket
Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction- Backseat Education
House of Lords- I Wanna Be Loved

Well, that completes it. I hope you all loved this entire album. If there was any one compilation which caught the entire essence of heavy metal at the time, then it was “Protect the Innocent.”

Next post: I haven’t fully finished with this album yet. There are two tracks from the final installment which are from albums I missed on the tour of 1988. Therefore, I’m going back and covering those albums. So the next album is Femme Fatale.

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition for a knighthood for Bruce Dickinson, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Great Metal Albums of 1989: Protect the Innocent: Side 3- The Wild and the Willing

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2024 by 80smetalman

The “The Protect the Innocent” saga goes on with side three, “The Wild and the Willing.” However, there seems to be no let up in the great metal this album has.

Magnum- Start Talking Love
Vow Wow- Helter Skelter
Megadeath- Rattlehead
Saxon- Back on the Streets
Lita Ford- Kiss Me Deadly
Lisa Dominique- Rock ‘N’ Roll Lady
Exodus- Fabulous Disaster

I hope you’re continuing to enjoy. Three sides down one more to go.

Next post: Protect the Innocent- Side 4, The Wanton and the Warriors

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition to give Bruce Dickinson his knighthood, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Great Metal Albums of 1989: Protect the Innocent- Side 2, The Second Reign

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2024 by 80smetalman

Now that you’ve heard the first side of “Protect the Innocent,” I hope it’s left you hungry for more. Here’s side two, titled “The Second Reign.”

Rush- Prime Mover
Cinderella- Gypsy Road
Scorpions- Rhythm of Love
Dio- Dream Evil
Kingdom Come- Get It On
Dogs D’Amour- How Come It Never Rains?
Anthrax- Metal Thrashing Mad
Mammoth- Fat Man

I hope you’ve enjoyed, that’s only half of this magnificent compilation albums so far.

Next post: Protect the Innocent- Side 3, The Wild and the Willing

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition to give Bruce Dickinson a knighthood, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Great Metal Albums of 1989: Protect the Innocent- Part 1, The First Chapter

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2024 by 80smetalman

Like I said, I’ve been snowed under with everyone wanting me to do Continuing Professional Development courses, (CPD), that I’m not able to give albums my full attention. In some of my most recent posts, I have made reference to a compilation album which came out in 1989. The album is called, “Protect the Innocent” and you will see what a magnificent album this really is. Because there are 30 blockbuster metal tunes on it, I’m going break it down like it’s done on the record. Therefore, you get side 1 called, “The First Chapter.”

Steppenwolf- Born to Be Wild
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
Deep Purple- Fireball
Motorhead- Ace of Spades
Judas Priest- Breaking the Law
Ted Nugent- Scream Dream
Ozzy Osbourne- The Ultimate Sin
Blue Oyster Cult- Don’t Fear the Reaper

There you have it, enjoy!

Next post: Part 2- The Second Reign

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition giving Bruce Dickinson a knighthood, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Spoiler- Unfortunately there are no Iron Maiden songs on the album.

Great Metal Albums of 1989: Mass- Voices in the Night

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2024 by 80smetalman

It’s rather amazing, at least to me, how much difference production on an album can make. On Mass’s album, “Voices in the Night,” the production is much better than their 1986 debut, “New Birth.” Then again, “Voices in the Night” was produced by one Michael Sweet. You might have heard of him, he’s with some band called Stryper. The difference in production between the two albums is like chalk and cheese and we get full appreciation of Mass’s potential, which I knew they always had because I had seen them live on the debut tour.

Thanks to my sister, I already knew the opening title track and it does give an indication of great things to come. That is followed by a straight forward “Nine Tonight,” which is no doubt about meeting someone at nine o’clock. I don’t know if the date goes well but the harmonizing on the song is done very well, almost like Stryper. The better production does allow you to hear what a good singer Louie St August really is.

“Voices in the Night” takes a more metal direction on “Reach for the Sky” as we get some real power chords. It’s the rest of the band’s turn to shine here. Kevin Varrio and Joey Vadala prove what a great rhythm section they are together and Gene D’Itria hammers out the first of many great guitar solos. After that, things slow down as we get the first of two power ballads. In this case, it’s “Chance for Love.” We get more cool harmonizing and Louie doesn’t break a sweat with the change in vocals and Gene hammers out a great solo. It’s a good song but as far as Mass power ballads go, “Do You Love Me?” from the debut is by far their best one.

After that little lull, things go back to some more serious hard rocking on “Turn It All Around” and “Carry Your Heart.” Both are those fist pumping anthem type vibes with some more great harmonizing. They’re those songs you would want to hear played live, especially with the guitar solo as it fades out on “Carry Your Heart.” They go more melodic metal on “Miles Away.” Don’t be fooled by the melody here as it is backed up by some serious power chords. This one could be the hidden gem.

“Call Out Your Name” is the second power ballad on the album and at the beginning, while Louie is singing tenderly, it lures you in with the expectation of a power chord which doesn’t happen until the chorus. When the chords come, they really come and Gene nails the appropriate guitar solo and by now, the harmonizing is without question.

“Follow Me” gets you to do exactly that as it’s the first three songs of the hard rocking exit to the album. It’s nothing spectacular but it does the job, a good straight up rocker. “Staying Alive,” and no it’s not a Bee Gees cover, carries the torch as it’s a great metal tune. It too is a candidate for hidden gem. As for the closer, “Still of the Night,” I get the feeling that I’ve heard this one before but can’t find it. It doesn’t appear on the debut nor the 1988 EP, “Take You Home.” Then again, it doesn’t matter because it rocks the album out to the end.

Track Listing:

  1. Voices in the Night
  2. Nine Tonight
  3. Reach for the Sky
  4. Chance to Love
  5. Turn It All Around
  6. Carry Your Heart
  7. Miles Away
  8. Call Out Your Name
  9. Follow Me
  10. Staying Alive
  11. Still of the Night

Louie St. August- lead vocals

Gene D’Itria- guitar

Kevin Varrio- bass

Joey Vadala- drums

Michael Sweet- backing vocals

True, we could go for days listing great metal bands which escaped with little notice. Mass was certainly one of those bands who had the potential to go farther than they did. “Voices in the Night” showcased this band’s true potential.

Next post: I’m finally going to post about this compilation album which has contributed to some of the albums I’ve visited recently. Now is a good time because everyone from my employers to the supply teaching agencies I also work for to even the British American Football Referees, which is my hobby I get paid for, all want me to do courses and exams at the moment. So, now is the perfect time to post a compilation album and because the album has 30 songs and on vinyl has seven or eight on one side which are chapters, you will have:

Protect The Innocent: Part 1- The First Chapter

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Great Metal Albums of 1989: Vow Wow- Helter Skelter

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2024 by 80smetalman

Let’s start with the obvious, yes, Vow Wow’s album is named after a famous Beatles song and the one which can be said was the Fab Four’s contribution to heavy metal. Saying that, Vow Wow’s cover of the song is very good and it does appear on that compilation album I keep going on about. It also gives me another idea which I’ll talk more about at the end of the post.

Another point about Vow Wow, which I’m sure I stated when I posted about their previous album, “V.” They were to England what Loudness was to America, a great Japanese metal band which everyone thought kicked ass. It’s a bit of a shame that either band didn’t seem to get traction in the other country. I guess it proves that the US and the UK are two peoples separated by the same language.

The first two tracks of “Helter Skelter” are decent tracks but I also think they were more oriented for commercial radio. For me, the album doesn’t really kick into gear till the third track, “Spellbound” and no it’s not a cover of the Triumph classic. This is a great tune, my favourite on the album and I guess you could call it the hidden gem. From the kick ass guitar intro you get a good steady rocking with some great vocals and backing vocals and you get a cool keyboard/guitar solo tradeoff between Kyoji Yamamoto and Rei Astumi.

After the title track comes the first of two power ballads, “The Boy.” Genki Hitomi does pour his heart into it but I must say, I think he and Minoru Nihara are cut from the same mold in regards to their vocal styles. This is no way a bad thing. One ever so slight disappointment comes in the form of “Rock Me Now.” This track would have rocked me more if the keyboards had been turned down and the guitars turned up! Fortunately, the next track, “Turn on the Night” does rock out and rocks out totally although it does sound a little Kiss-ish. Kyoji’s guitar solo is top notch.

“Never Let You Go” is the second power ballad and Genki sings it with the same conviction as he does “The Boy.” There is some good drumming from Toshihiro Niimi. Then we get back to some rocking with “Night By Night.” However, the album ends as it began with two more commercial friendly tracks although there is a bit of swagger to the penultimate track and the closer is the perfect choice for the job.

Track Listing:

  1. Feel the Power
  2. Talking ‘Bout You
  3. Spellbound
  4. Helter Skelter
  5. The Boy
  6. Rock Me Now
  7. Turn on the Night
  8. Never Let You Go
  9. Night By Night
  10. You’re the One For Me
  11. Sign of the Times
Vow Wow

Genki Hitomi- vocals

Kyoji Yamamoto- guitars

Rei Astumi- keyboards

Neil Murray- bass

Toshihiro- Niimi- drums

“Helter Skelter” is a solid offering from Vow Wow. Somebody should have suggested a joint tour between them and Loudness, this way we would have had a double whammy of great Japanese metal.

On the subject of the song “Helter Skelter,” there have been so many covers of this classic Beatles song that I propose a post of deciding which one we like most or the original. I formally invite all of you to contribute to a massive joint post on the subject.

Next post: MASS- Voices in the Night

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Some Historical Points I Missed

Posted in 1980s, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2024 by 80smetalman
Tipper Gore

Part of me thinks I should be shot. After all, it was the second biggest musical event if 1985, Live Aid being the biggest. I mean, in my recent post of historical events mentioned in “Rock and Roll Children,” I missed this out. In fact, back during the tour of 1985, I wrote an entire post about it. I’m talking about the dreaded Parents Music Resource Center, (PMRC), who wanted to stick warning labels on all the records. It resulted in a Congressional hearing where Dee Snider, John Denver and Frank Zappa testified. It was big news back then. To read the post:

The perceived censorship of music was a big fear for the main characters in “Rock and Roll Children.” One character stated that America was heading towards a Nazi police state. On the other hand, when a DJ stated what he thought of the PMRC hearing, the answer was a load of bodily functions coming through the radio.

On the subject of radio, back in the 1980s, and almost every Saturday night at midnight, the characters would all gather around the radio to listen to a programme called “Metal Shop.” Living in the Philadelphia area at the time, the show was on WYSP and was hosted by Mean Ed Green. I have since discovered that many stations around the country had their own metal shops.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer

By 1985, except for a few stations, commercial radio totally sucked. The Atlantic City station was called Rock 104 but it should have been renamed Top 40-104. The best stations were in Philadelphia. Anyway, when there was no decent music on the radio, we could tune in an listen to Dr. Ruth. She was a top therapist on sex and was full of great advice, although the Jeff character makes the wise crack that his sister won’t be calling Dr. Ruth saying she doesn’t orgasm.

Hopefully, you now have the full version of historical events mentioned in “Rock and Roll Children.” Knowing me, I probably will be back with more I missed.

Next post: Vow Wow- Helter Skelter

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition giving Bruce Dickinson a knighthood, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson

Satan’s Plan to Take Over Rock Heaven

Posted in Death, Heavy Metal, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 10, 2024 by 80smetalman

In case you missed it over at Mike Ladano’s blog, I am putting on my latest story. Satan plans to take over Rock Heaven and sets his plan in motion. Will he succeed? Read on and find out.

Takeover of Rock Heaven

Part 1- The Plan

Somewhere in Hell:

Satan walked into the room waiting to address the assembled gathering, when he was distracted by a commotion. His security was holding back Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein, who were demanding to be let into the meeting. Calmly, he walked over to where the commotion was coming from. “Look,” he said sternly, “I said clearly that you two aren’t coming in here.”

“You need us,” Hitler argued.

“No we don’t ,” Satan returned. “This isn’t a military operation, otherwise Julius Caesar would be here. Even it if it was I still wouldn’t have you two in here. You both demonstrated your military incompetence while you were on Earth.”

“But you have Vlad the Impaler here,” Hitler protested.

“He’s here for a different reason,” Satan explained. “Besides, if we have to kill any prisoners, we have your man Werner Poetsche. Now go before I go back to shoving pineapples up both your asses. “

With that, Hitler and Saddam were marched away and the door was closed. Satan let out an exasperated sigh before sitting at the head of the long table. As he sat down, Vlad questioned, “Why is he here?” pointing to Dave Holland.

“Because I should be in Rock Heaven,” Dave snarled back. “I’m only in Hell because of a bollocks conviction. Fucking Elvis used that to not allow me in, damn him.”

“Enough!” Satan boomed, his thunderous voice shaking the room. It achieved its goal in silencing all. “Mr. Holland is here at my request. He will help us in rounding up all the key members of Rock Heaven and he can get some revenge.”

That’s right,” Dave affirmed. “They’re all a bunch of assholes. They wouldn’t let me in but I bet when that woman beater Tony Iommi dies , they’ll let him in.”

Satan sighed again. “They probably will. Some religions look favourably on men hitting women. That’s another reason why I plan to take over and have summoned all of you here. There should be no Rock Heaven, most of those rock stars should be with us here in Hell. You are all going to help plan my takeover. I have had a mole there since 2003 and he’s been feeding me information whenever he can.”

“A mole, that’s a brilliant idea!” Al Capone complented. “Who is he?”

“You’d be very surprised,” was Satan’s reply. “My mole did get me into Rock Heaven when some mortal went back in time to try to wipe out heavy metal. So, now it’s the perfect time to act.”

“Couldn’t we take our legions and just storm the place?” Vlad suggested.

“It’s not that simple,” Satan explained. “The other side has a fail safe. If we simply invade, we risk all out war with Heaven, I mean the real Heaven. We don’t need that, so we have to be more cunning.”

“Is that why Julius isn’t here?” Caligula inquired.

“Exacty why!” Satan affirmed. “And why we can’t risk an all out war with Heaven. The last time that happened, Heaven’s forces were commanded by George S. Patton who studied Caesar’s strategies and thwarted him at every turn. We got our asses kicked.”

“So tell me exactly how we are going to take over Rock Heaven?” Charles Manson probed.

“Yeah, you know once we act, those two Canadian super-heroes and their companions will try to stop you,” Dave Holland pointed out.

“I know,” Satan conceded. “But I have a plan. Those two super-heroes will be on a wild goose chase and while they’re distracted elsewhere, we will make our move. Besides, once we take over Rock Heaven, I think the town of Thunder Bay will thank us. They’re not happy with those super-heroes or the musicians in Rock Heaven for putting on that concert which nearly destroyed their town.”

Somewhere in Rock Heaven:

Martin Suplee’s head was pounding once again. He hoped he might have had a reprieve this time around. After all, Rory Gallagher and Jeff Beck were more blues guitarists, likewise with Dusty Hill on bass. Even with Razzle on drums, he thought it might not have been the metal he was constantly being bombared with. However, he couldn’t have been more wrong. They turned up the amp and bombarded him with power chords and blistering guitar solos. His head was throbbing by the time the session finished.

The throbbing began to ease as he was escorted back to his cell. In one way, he was lucky. Most of the time, he was subjected to sessions involving Lemmy, Jeff Hannemann and Cliff Burton. Those sessions left him with the feeling his head was going to explode in scanners fashion. “I guess I should be grateful,” he thought to himself as he entered his cell.

He needed no force to go into the cell, it gave him respite from the constant jamming of decesased musicians from the genre he tried to erase from history. Had it not been for this time alone, he would have gone mad ages ago. Several of his hench-persons who had travelled back in time with him urged him to admit that he was wrong in trying to erase metal from history. He stubbornly refused. If anything, constantly being bombarded with heavy metal from dead metal musicians only strenghtened his belief that his cause was right.

Suplee was still thinking this over, at least when he could because even in his cell, he was still able to hear those musicans playing. At that moment, it was Warrell Dane, Eddie Van Halen, Lorne Black and A.J. Pero who were assaulting his eardrums. Suddenly, he was distracted by shuffling at his cell door. Suplee turned and saw a singer, who didn’t sing heavy metal and he admired somewhat, standing at his cell’s entrance.

Before he could say anything, the singer put his finger to his lips and whispered, “I’ve come to get you out.” With that, the singer beckoned and Martin Suplee followed. Stealthily, the pair tiptoed through Rock Heaven and somehow, nobody noticed them. They carried on until they came to a huge door.

“This is the way out,” the singer directed.

“Where will I go?” asked a rather perplexed Mr. Suplee.

“Why, to Hell of course,” the singer responded, trying to keep down the volume of his voice. “Why, if anyone leaves Rock Heaven, the only place they can go is Hell. My boss is expecting you. He will assist you in ridding the world of heavy metal.”

Suplee opened his mouth to ask for more details but the singer had mysteriously vanished from sight, leaving him on his own. Not knowing what else to do, he thought to himself, “It’s worth a try” and pushed the door open and stepped through. As he entered a strange void, all he could think was “Maybe there was still a chance that he could wipe heavy metal from ever existing.”

Back in Hell

Satan waited along with those he assembled as the figure materialised before them. “When it did, he addressed the confused new arrival, “Welcome to Hell, Mr. Suplee.”

Bewildered, Mr. Suplee looked around the room. Why he actually was in Hell! He recognized Satan as he was responsible for him being in Rock Heaven. If that wasn’t enough, he recognized some of those with him, chiefly Al Capone and Charles Manson. Plus the were two other men and a woman, who he assumed was Lizzy Borden, due to her clothing. One man was in medieval dress, the other in a Roman toga. However, the remaining man bothered him. He was dressed in heavy metal attire. Therefore, he sensed a trap.

“Who’s he?” Suplee asked pointing to the metal clad Dave Holland.

“Why, he’s part of my plan to take over Rock Heaven!” Satan laughed louldy sending vibrations around the room. “All those metal musicians should be suffering here in Hell. Don’t you agree?”

Mr. Suplee nodded, “What do you want me to do?”

Satan explained, “What you didn’t know when you went back in time to destroy heavy metal from existence is that when those in Rock Heaven created heavy metal, one of the blueprints they used was Nazereth’s “Hair of the Dog” album. What you need to do is go to this Metalman’s house and steal his copy. You can get your revenge on him as well for his assistance in Tee-Bone Man and Superdekes defeating you. When you steal that album, Metalman will call for the super-heroes and they will come to stop you and you can defeat them.

“How can I defeat them? Last time, I had a special device but they neutralized it. Now I’m just an ordinary human.”

“That’s where I come in!” Satan boomed. “I can give you powers that will help you defeat them.

“Then give me those powers,” Suplee demanded. “And I shall defeat those meddlesome super-heroes and wipe heavy metal from history!” His laughed resembled those from cartoon villians.

“Very well,” Satan chortled. He pointed his trident at Mr. Suplee and the transformation began taking place. Suplee let out a long blood-curtling scream as large black wings began growing from the middle of his back. However, he took the pain as a new aura overcame him. When the wings had fully grown out, his clothing mysteriously changed to black robes. A few seconds later, the transformation was complete and Suplee felt different.

“Arise,” Satan commanded.

Mr. Suplee stood tall. He spread out his new wings fully, nearly knocking into Al Capone.

“Your transformation is now complete,” Satan informed. “You can know go and destroy Tee-Bone Man and Superdekes.

“Yes, I will have my vengeance on those two,” Suplee snarled before he mysteriously vanished.

Once Suplee had gone, Caligula asked, “Do you think he’ll succeed?”

Satan mischievously replied, “He doesn’t need to. All we need is for him to keep the super-heroes busy long enough so we can make our move on Rock Heaven.”

I hope you enjoyed. Once again, I’ve been covering a lot of colleague sickness at work so I haven’t been able to post as usual. Hopefully, that will change soon.