Best of 2014 in Metal and Hard Rock – Part II

Counting down the top five albums of the year
By Peter Lindblad

Crowbar's 'Symmetry in Black' is
our pick as the best album of 2014

No where in the Farmer's Almanac did it forecast heavy landslides of sludge or days of darkened, apocalyptic skies portending doom.

Such conditions were prevalent in the world of heavy metal, however, what with the blackened, cataclysmic audio devastation wrought this year by the likes of Obituary, Yob, Goatwhore, Eyehategod, Wo Fat, Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity.

Old reliable alternative-metal punishers Prong brought forth another blistering, hard-hitting screed on the ugly state of the world, while one of the band's former guitarists, a veteran sideman named Monte Pittman who's played with Madonna, of all people, released a solo album that not only showed off a diverse set of chops, but also had some solid songwriting to boot.

And then there were the '80s artists that somehow succeeded, against almost insurmountable odds, to recapture the magic of yesterday, like Winger, Tesla, Sebastian Bach, House of Lords, Rubicon Cross and their frontman C.J. Snare of Firehouse fame, and Red Dragon Cartel, featuring the long-exiled Jake E. Lee.

Whittling the best of 2014 down to a final five was no easy task. Without any more delay, here then are the top five albums of the year:

Tesla - Simplicity 2014

5. Tesla – Simplicity: Trends come and go. Tesla remained steadfast in its adherence to the basics on Simplicity, choosing good, solid songwriting and well-executed, tasteful musicianship over flashy playing and experimentation. Gnarled, passionate, blue-collar anthems for "Freedom Rock" holdouts mingled with heartfelt, torn-and-frayed ballads – cobbled together with a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation – that soared made Simplicity a welcome throwback to their salad days, while the sunny Southern rock charm of "Cross My Heart" made it one of the best songs of the year. Keep it simple, Tesla.

Winger - Better Days Ahead 2014

4. Winger – Better Days Ahead: Nobody's laughing at Winger anymore, or at least they shouldn't be, not after striking musical gold on two strong LPs in a row. Building off the melodic complexity and surprisingly heaviness of Karma, Better Days Ahead showed even more diversity and maturity, positioning Winger as the most progressive and daring pop-metal band to survive the hair-sprayed glamour of the '80s. Time hasn't diminished their chops, and with Better Days Ahead, Winger combined power with precision on the rugged "Rat Race," while embracing funk on a bright, bouncy title track and swimming in the psychedelia of "Be Who You Are, Now." This is who they are, for better, not worse.

Goatwhore - Constricting Rage of the
Merciless 2014

3. Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless: Ferocious death metal with undercurrents of Southern boogie grooves – Constricting Rage of the Merciless is a holy terror of an album, as comfortable riding blazing-fast, charred thrash metal as it is crawling through thick, tar-like sludge with an evil grin on its dirty face. Highly combustible, brutal riffs are the order of the day, and they look to brawl with anybody that crosses their path of destruction. And for those who have the stomach for it, Goatwhore paints in bloody language grim scenes of torturous violence and horrific end-of-life struggles. Their rage is contagious.

Mastodon - Once More 'Round
the Sun 2014

2. Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun: Conceptually speaking, this isn't Leviathan. Aiming for more accessible and immediate rewards, Mastodon tightened up its song structures considerably and crafted big, muscular hooks for the vibrant, yet still intricate and massive Once More 'Round the Sun. They took a lot of heat for its video for "The Motherload," what with all that twerking going on. And not everybody's onboard with the band's sound evolving to become increasingly more radio-friendly. All that aside, Mastodon is still Mastodon, their mighty riffs are still enormous and blustery, Brann Dailor's drumming remains astoundingly intricate and powerful, and their guitar architecture, as always, is awe-inspiring.

Crowbar - Symmetry in Black 2014

1. Crowbar – Symmetry in Black: Underestimate Crowbar at your peril. This chugging behemoth, once a bit of a one-trick pony, has expanded its sludge-metal repertoire, thrashing with fierce intensity while also constructing mammoth, churning riffs that build slowly and grow to enormous tsunamis of doom. Expertly plotted, intricate movements crawl like primordial creatures, before evolving into thick, crushingly heavy monsters. What's surprising is how listenable it is. Calling it "melodic" might be a stretch, but every track is compelling in some way, hiding brawny, slow-developing hooks within its deeply blackened, impenetrable great walls of sound. What symmetry, what balance, what provocative lyrics – Crowbar has brought forth its masterpiece. Now go ahead and crown them kings of 2014.

CD Review: Winger – Better Days Comin'

CD Review: Winger – Better Days Comin'

Frontiers Records

All Access Rating: A-

Winger - Better Days Comin' 2014

Winger's Karma has decidedly taken a turn for the better. Once bashed by critics, constantly derided on "Beavis and Butt-head" and symbolically trashed by Metallica in the video for "Nothing Else Matters," where Lars Ulrich tosses darts at a poster of Kip Winger, these '80s purveyors of melodic metal had seen their career trajectory crash and burn in the '90s. And then grunge came along and finished the job.

Their reputation shot to hell, Winger disbanded in 1994, but the story doesn't end there. A damn sight more intelligent and musically sophisticated than the hair-metal crowd they ran with, a resilient Winger reunited in 2001, and eight years later, intent on restoring their good name, they issued Karma, their fifth studio album. 

Unexpectedly heavy and disarmingly alluring, with a series of intricate progressive-rock instrumental passages, Karma was remarkable, a stunning reminder of what Winger was capable of when properly motivated. Out via Frontiers Records, Better Days Comin' is more of the same, and perhaps even more dynamic than its much-praised predecessor.

Cementing its reputation as the "Dream Theater of pop-metal," Winger's compositions are artfully sketched out on Better Days Comin', where they trot out the sweeping, atmospheric epic "Out of this World" as the album's closer, its moody clouds pierced by the lighting bolts of a spectacular guitar solo. Guitarists Reb Beach and John Roth are as sharp as ever here, their byzantine leads and riffs biting down hard on sizzling, irresistibly crunchy rockers such as the gritty "Rat Race," the lust-filled "Midnight Driver of a Love Machine" – which has a memorable little earwig of a chorus – and the grinding "Another Beautiful Day."

Strangely colorful and maneuvering in the odd time signatures of a band like Yes, "Tin Soldier" weaves through prog-rock's twisting back roads and takes in beautifully diverse, ever-shifting instrumental scenery, while occasionally encountering slight dissonance. On the brighter, funkier title track, Winger embraces its inner Sly and the Family Stone and shining optimism, before settling into the drifting, Beatlesque psychedelia of "Be Who You Are, Now."

The genius of Winger is that they make challenging music that's also warmly human and accessible, all of it consisting of the tricky, yet powerful drumming of former Dixie Dreg Rod Morgenstein, silvery synthesizers, sure hooks and Kip Winger's gripping vocals. It seems Beavis and Butt-head had them all wrong.
– Peter Lindblad

Metal the next big thing in rock auctions

Goldmine Magazine

By Susan Sliwicki

Al Jourgensen's Buck Satan

Backstage Auctions is betting on the universal appeal of metal music and memorabilia among fans worldwide for its next auction. The Rock Gods and Metal Monsters Auction preview runs Oct. 24-30; the auction runs Oct. 31 to Nov. 6. 

“Heavy metal is a lifestyle, and it shows in everything; it shows in the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the haircut you have, the concerts you go to, the music you listen to, the friends that you have,” Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions said. 

When it comes to business, make no mistake. Van Gool has done his homework. Just because metal music has never really seen the light of day in the mainstream media doesn’t mean it lacks a following. Van Gool cited the massive number of Web sites and magazines dedicated to heavy metal worldwide, as well as a plethora of heavy-metal festivals and legions of incredibly loyal fans who follow their favorite acts on social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. 

“You have to go a little bit underground for this. I don’t see Fox News or CNN wasting their time saying Al Jourgensen of Ministry is going to put 100 items in a heavy metal auction, because they wouldn’t know what to do with that kind of news. But at the same time, the official Ministry database has 250,000 registered users, so, I’m going to forget about the Foxes and CNNs of the world. All that matters is that 250,000 Ministry fans know about it.” 

The market for heavy metal memorabilia is probably healthier than that of any other musical genre, he added. 

“Metal just doesn’t go away. It doesn’t die. Fans won’t allow it,” van Gool said. “The market for memorabilia from bands that are considered part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Motorhead, remains strong worldwide, van Gool said. 

In the past five years, van Gool has noticed younger metal fans expressing interest in the second- and third-tier bands of the NWOBHM that may sound obscure to non-metal fans. 
“From a collectible point of view, the original vinyl of these bands demands incredible, incredible amounts of dollars,” van Gool said. 

He cited original 7-inch records from Neat Records as being particularly hot with collectors. Records issued on Shrapnel or the original Metal Blade label also are popular in the U.S. 

“The very first Shrapnel album was called Metal Massacre, and Metallica is on that album, which was their first vinyl appearance before they got a record deal,” van Gool said. “In the early years, the Metal Massacre albums featured bands that were on their way to the next big thing, and everybody wants to have that.” 

The uniquely American hair metal phenomenon, which included acts like Cinderella, Poison, Motley Crue, Winger and Ratt, dominated mainstream music in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and those acts still have a strong fanbase here. However, overseas, hair metal isn’t as big of a draw as speed or thrash metal, which boasts bands like Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Exodus and Megadeth, van Gool said. 

One of the biggest “holy grail” items that collectors seek is Iron Maiden’s first 7-inch record a three-song EP called “The Soundhouse Tapes.” 

“That little 7-inch single can sell for $600, $700, which is an amazing amount of money for a single for a band that made it 30 years ago,” van Gool said. 

Autographs are another great collectible, although they are not always extremely valuable, van Gool said. 

“The great thing about most heavy metal bands is that they are, in my opinion, more approachable than most other artists you can think of,” van Gool said. “The moment you start to act like a superstar, you’re gonna lose fans. Your fans need to feel like they can associate themselves with you.” 

That means the desire to bootleg signatures isn’t as high in the metal realm as in other genres of music, he said. 

When it comes to stage-worn clothing, pristine isn’t always the most desirable state, he added. 

“The more an item shows wear and tear, the better, because the more use a piece of attire has, the more it will tell you that the artist really enjoyed wearing that piece,” van Gool said. “When you get something that has makeup on it or smudges on it or hairspray on it, or, even better, bloodstains on it, that, in my opinion, definitely adds value.” 


The focus of The Rock Gods and Metal Monsters Auction is near and dear to van Gool, who grew up listening to and collecting memorabilia from bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Saxon. 

The sense of history associated with the memorabilia featured in this auction is staggering, Van Gool said. 

“You have to look at an individual piece, and you’ve gotta think about on how many stages this microphone stand has been, or what songs were recorded through this particular guitar, or how many photos have been made of this individual wearing this shirt or boots or whatever,” van Gool said. “It’s not just a shirt that’s on a mannequin that you photograph. There’s a little bit of history in front of you.” 

The auction lots are continuing to evolve, as many of the bands are first getting off the road from the hectic summer touring season. Confirmed headliners including the Al Jourgensen collection, which features everything from amps and road cases for guitars to microphone stands, pins, jackets, rings, sunglasses, gloves, hats and boots from the early 1980s until 2008. 

“You name it, it’s in there. He even included original master recordings from the early Ministry days,” van Gool said. 

When Ministry officially retired in 2008, it played its final farewell show in Ireland. A concert poster from that last show, signed by Jourgensen, also is in the auction. 

Whether you dig autographed records, signed posters or stage-worn attire from your favorite artists, the one thing that really matters at the end of the day is a piece’s provenance, van Gool said. 

Pantera, White Zombie, Metal Church, Exodus, Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, Whitesnake, Dio, Quiet Riot, Mr. Big, Winger, Nelson, Queensryche, Alice Cooper and Rainbow also are represented, he said. 

The final auction lineup will boast about 400 lots that range from concert photos sold with negatives and full rights, to vinyl, stage-worn clothing, backstage passes, concert posters and instruments.




For more details on The Rock Gods and Metal Monsters auction visit Backstage Auctions. The auction goes live on Halloween.