Fate vs. Neurosis

Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath (1984)

Neurosis - Souls At Zero (1992)

Umlaut's old friends Big Wayne and Jack K were joking around way back in 1992 as they listened to the latest album by Neurosis in an apartment in San Jose, California. As they heard the slower end riff on 'A Chronology for Survival' Wayne remarked, "That's SO Fate!" and Jack got out Fate's Don't Break The Oath album and they made the following list of comparisons between Mercyful Fate and Neurosis lyrics. This list had been forgotten for years... until now..

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• Mercyful Fate: "You're only living on borrowed time.. They say you know the secret, the secret of time.." [from 'Don't Break The Oath']
• Neurosis: "The healing touch of time has abandoned me..." [from 'To Crawl Under One's Skin']

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• Mercyful Fate: "I was born in the cemetery, under the sign of the moon.." [from 'Evil']
  
• Neurosis: "I've slept in the dirt, under the light of the moon.." [from 'Souls At Zero']

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• Mercyful Fate: "Tonight seven souls are reaching Hell.. " [from 'A Dangerous Meeting']
  
• Neurosis: "I know our souls have perished.." [from 'Souls At Zero']

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• Mercyful Fate: "Life of the unborn, this one's for the unborn.." [from 'Night Of The Unborn']
  
• Neurosis: "The lost city, the lost child.." [from 'Stripped']

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• Mercyful Fate: "I see the gypsy wagons left in the snow.." [from 'Gypsy']
  
• Neurosis: "Through this wall of ice I see you.." [from 'To Crawl Under One's Skin']

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• Mercyful Fate: "Iron fists won't do no good against the evil eyes.. " [from 'Satan's Fall'... which is on the Melissa album and not Don't Break The Oath... but it doesn't matter..]
  
• Neurosis: "Destroy the eyes of the world.." [from 'Stripped']
  

===

• Mercyful Fate: "Tonight the circle is broken forever.." [from ''A Dangerous Meeting']
  
• Neurosis: "The cycles they are clawing.." [from 'A Chronology For Survival']

THANKS to Big Wayne and Jack for sharing this long-lost nugget of Music Geekdom. According to the Umlaut Archives, I saw Mercyful Fate 3x on the Don't Break The Oath Tour in 1984-85 and Neurosis at least 9x on the Souls At Zero Tour in 1992-93.

Don't Break The Oath Tour
(From the Umlaut Archives)

Souls At Zero Tour
(From the Umlaut Archives)

More Old School than you...

The First Day Of Spring

Acid King / Carlton Melton
Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco
March 20, 2011

The last day of Winter brought an intense storm that blew through the area the night before with shitloads of rain and crazy wind. However, today was the first day of Spring that delivered the good 'ol partly cloudy and mild thing. The first day of the new season also unleashed a storm of a different kind upon San Francisco: A rare hometown show by Acid King! This was only the band's 3rd S.F. show in 4 1/2 years; during that same time they’ve played more shows in Germany than at home. Sprechen sie Deutsch?

This was also a rare Sunday afternoon BBQ show at Bottom of the Hill and it brought out a good sized crowd that created an excellent vibe. There seemed to be a lot of Acid King newbies in the crowd, which was fine… because I believe that children are our future… teach them well and let them lead the way. Seriously though, why doesn't Bottom of the Hill have more of these afternoon BBQ shows?? Good times.

Carlton Melton started playing while I was out on the back patio chatting with friends so I missed their opening salvo. The band (featuring former members of that mighty fine band Zen Guerilla) weaved a compelling volume web. They won me over pretty quickly because their music shoved my head right into the Spacemen 3 section of my record collection. Carlton Melton dropped a thick curtain of psychedelic volume on the afternoon that was mesmerizing... and that made me want to buy something from their merch table. Mission accomplished, dudes.

Both Lori and Mark carried 6-packs of beer onstage... Then Acid King downshifted the afternoon and lurched into 'Busse Woods' > '2 Wheel Nation' and it was quickly obvious this was going to be an Acid King set for the ages. Not bullshitting: This was the best set I've ever seen the band play... Seriously... and I wasn't the only one who made the same comment later after the volume had settled. Lori's TONE has never been so all enveloping and the backing thunder of Joey and Mark has never been so crushing. As a volume beast, the 3 heads of Acid King were so locked and loaded in together it was scary.

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

It was an epic set that was highlighted by the 2 excellent new songs the band had unveiled at their last S.F. show almost 5 months ago: 'Red River' and 'Coming Down From Outer Space'. The set was rewarded when the crowd called for the band to perform an encore... which they obliged by leveling the neighborhood with a full 10+ minute version of 'War of the Mind'. WOW.. As I said at the beginning of this, there seemed to be a lot of Acid King newbies at the show… and this paid off handsomely with a heartwarmingly long line at the band's merch table after the set. AWWW... and so ended the first day of Spring 2011.

Yob shirts = 1 (mine). I didn't do a merch audit, but Acid King sold out of vinyl. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Besides being a special afternoon of beer, volume, and friends this was also a nice warm up show for Acid King and Carlton Melton before they head to Europe together in a couple of weeks. Europe is gonna have a total bangover...

ACID KING / CARLTON MELTON EUROPEAN TOUR 2011
4-1 Marbehan, Bois-Des-Isles
4-2 Rennes, Le Mondo Bizarro
4-3 Paris, Le Labo - Théatre de Ménilmontant
4-4 Geneva L'Usine
4-5 OFF
4-6 Stuttgart, Kellerclub
4-7 Wien Arena w/ Place of Skulls
4-8 Luzern, Sedel
4-9 Milano / Mezzago, Bloom,
4-10 Athens, Rodeo Bar
4-11 Jena, Rosenkeller
4-12 TBD
4-13 Hamburg, Hafenklang
4-14 Tilburg, O13, Roadburn, Midi Stage
4-15 Bielefeld, Falkendom
4-16 Berlin, Wild At Heart
4-17 London, Purple Turtle

Click HERE to see Photo Ray's shots from the afternoon!

Goodnight Dixie

"You can take a boy out of ol' Dixieland, but you'll never take ol' Dixie from a boy.." - Lynyrd Skynyrd

I named her Dixie because we got her in Alabama (long story).

Dixie in 2006

Despite the cute photo she wasn't a sweet dog; she was born behind a mobile home in rural Alabama and that was in her DNA. She didn't trust most people outside of Casa de Umlaut.. but she wasn't a bad dog.. She was a quirky personality who had issues... like most people. She cheated death a couple of times over her 14 years and despite her size she was a tough one. Rest in peace, Dixie.

"Turn it up.."

Murder In The Front Row

Indeed... Coming this Fall from Bazillion Points:

(Probably not the final cover..)

I don't want to spoil the surprise and fun, so all I'll say is that after seeing the epic Tom Gabriel Fischer book Only Death Is Real, Bazillion Points was the only publisher I even thought about working with on a project like this. The fact that Bazillion Points contacted me to do this proves, once again, that The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways. Harald and I grew up a mile from each other and have known each other since we were teenage Metalheads; the Circle of Life is completed again... for Metal.

In the meantime, click HERE for the official Bazillion Points press release and HERE for a brief interview that I gave to Noisecreep about the project. I'll post updates about this as they become official. Also, be sure and catch Harald on tour with D.R.I. throughout the rest of the year! Now cue Exodus:

Murder in the front row
Crowd begins to bang
And there's blood upon the stage
Bang your head against the stage
And metal takes its price
Bonded by blood

Sweet Emotion

Motörhead
House Of Blues, Boston, Massachusetts
March 1, 2011

Long story short, Umlaut found himself in Boston for work and at another Motörhead show. It had been many years since I was last in Beantown, and I don't think I've been to a Motörhead show where so many people were wearing the band's shirts! It seemed like 1/2 of the people in the sold out room were flying Motörhead colors! Pretty cool.

I ended up in the guest balcony overlooking stage left as the road crew set up for Lemmy & the boys. To be honest, I don't have alot to add to what I said after the band's great San Francisco show last month; click HERE to read that rant and simply replace "San Francisco" with "Boston". Lemmy, Phil, and Mikkey were as solid on the Right Coast as they had been on the Left Coast. Same setlist... but it didn't matter... and 'Killed By Death' was my favorite song of the night. I will say that on this tour I've watched Mikkey on drums more closely than in the past and he's become one of my favorite Metal drummers for the first time. In the past I didn't appreciate his Old School pounding of wood on skins, but in this age of blastbeats his genuine style of drumming is a rare talent in Metal.

A couple of songs into the set, Phil went to the lip of the stage and motioned to security to help a young boy in the front row who was being crushed against the barrier. Security pulled him out and, with Phil's direction, they lifted him onstage and the boy (probably around 10-years old, wearing glasses and a brand new Motörhead shirt) watched the rest of the show from next to Phil's guitar tech at stage right. A couple of times during the show Phil pointed at the kid and he'd flash the horns in return. Every time I looked to see how he was doing, the kid was either banging his head or flashing the horns. CUTE... That kid is a Motörhead fan for life... but let's be honest. Back in The Day being down front at Motörhead meant survival of the fittest... a band member would not have rescued you from getting the shit beaten out of you by the crowd action. I'm just saying... That being said, I was impressed how most the front row (old and young fans) sang along to practically every song, including the ones from the band's new album. Nicely done, Boston.

Before arriving at the venue my Boston colleague asked if I could help "Tom" get a backstage pass at the show. I assumed that "Tom" was just a random friend or something... so I politely said "I'll try" while in my head I was thinking "WTF, man.. You can't just ask for a backstage pass like it was a piece of gum..". However when we arrived at the venue I realized that the "Tom" my Boston colleague was referring to was fucking TOM HAMILTON of AEROSMITH. DOH! Long story short:

A nervous Umlaut with the guy who played the bass line in 'Sweet Emotion'... My get up and go must have got up and went.. but I did get Tom access. I almost told him how much the music that Aerosmith created when they were fucked up means to me... but I didn't. Checkmate honey, beat you at your own damn game..

Quote Of The Night: "This is going to be loud.." - Tom Hamilton while standing at stage left as instrument checks were being done prior to Motörhead's set.

Amebix back patches = 1. I didn't do a merch audit, but I will say the band's merch on this tour looks great.... On the way back to the hotel, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. After the show some cool shit happened. However, I can't post the details... but it included Aerosmith's bassist geeking out over Lemmy's Rickenbacker bass. Sweet Emotion.

25 Years Ago Today

Twenty-five years ago today, Master Of Puppets was unleashed.

1986 Tour Backstage Pass
(From the Umlaut Archives)

I went to Tower Records in Mountain View to buy it on the day of release. The first thing that made me realize the band was at another level was seeing that Ross Halfin had taken the band photos. I was especially hypnotized by the one of them sitting on the old stained couch in the front room of the Metallica Mansion on Carlson Avenue. It was only 3 years after I had sat on that same couch watching the band's first rehearsal jam with Cliff in that very same room. Then I played the album for the first time... Everything changed after March 3, 1986... for better and for worse.

"End of passion play... crumbling away.."