While conventional wisdom does dictate that “Screaming For Vengeance” is Judas Priest’s best album, there does exist an ongoing comparison with it’s follow up album “Defenders of the Faith.” Like a lot of Judas Priest fans, I am torn between “Screaming For Vengeance” and “Defenders of the Faith” as to which I love more. The back to back rocking of “Screaming For Vengeance” does make it Judas Priest’s best single sitting listening album, so in theory with that “Screaming For Vengeance” wins, but only in theory. In truth there are more of my favorite Priest songs on “Defenders of the Faith” and that means a lot. I mean come on, “Defenders of the Faith” has, what is possibly Judas Priest’s best song, “Freewheel Burning.”
“Freewheel Burning!”
My second earliest memory of “Freewheel Burning” was being at the gym in my hometown, it was a small town, we only had one gym. My best friend got his hands on the cd player and put in his copy of Judas Priest’s greatest hits and some guys working out continued to shout out for “Freewheel Burning” until my friend put that song on. The fellow exercise enthusiast was in no way rude, he was very upbeat about the music choice and very enthusiastically request his, presumably, favorite track. My earliest memory of “Freewheel Burning” was hearing for the first time listening to that same friend’s copy of Priest’s greatest hits.
Enough about me and my memories, let’s focus on “Defenders of the Faith” and “Freewheel Burning.”
“Screaming For Vengeance” broke Judas Priest into the mainstream, sort of, more or less, so the follow up album needed to be very good to keep that momentum going, and “Defenders of the Faith” delivered. More than anything these two albums established Judas Priest as the rock gods there were, and Rob Halford as the metal god. The first single off of “Defenders of the Faith” is the first track on the album, “Freewheel Burning.” Ideal was both the first song and the first single. The fast and powerful intro that comes fighting out of the gate letting everyone know exactly what to expect from the album.
Right off from the start “Defenders of the Faith” starts like a raging rocket, the intro the is a rapid-fire guitar sending us off into the intro song and the album with all the power in the world. At the two-minute ten second mark, KK Downing hits us with the guitar solo to end all guitar solos. It runs for almost a full minute and despite everything being so amazing, this somehow proves to be the best part of the song. I do not consider myself an expert on Judas Priest, just a very big fan, but this has to be KK best work, what more could human do on lead guitar?
One of my greatest joys is singing along with songs and thinking about the lyrics, however, I never paid much attention to the lyrics of “Freewheel Burning;” I have always been too busy headbanging along and singing the only part I could, the hollowing yell of the song title.
Singing along with Halford on this song is impossible. I have no idea how Halford managed to sign “Freewheel Burning” the way he does, the pitch he reaches and the way he does it over and over is not something most can ever manage, even with infinite time to train, only a god like Halford can sing a song like “Freewheel Burning.” By the third verse Halford is singing so quickly, that I needed to look up the lyrics for any hope of discerning his words.
Looking over the lyrics now, I get the same driving force to live life to the maximum, not entirely dissimilar to “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” but I cannot help but project some cosmic machine science fiction metal onto “Freewheel Burning.” No longer is Judas Priest singing about just charging through life with confidence and vigour, but from the opening line we are led to believe the ambition has been increased to include the entire universe. It is not entirely clear but given Halford’s word choice, a sensation of battle is strongly presented. This brings me to another song I love from “Defenders of the Faith,” “The Sentinel.”
So yes. I really like “Freewheel Burning” possibly my favorite or at least one of my favorite Judas Priest songs. However, “The Sentinel” is also such a song.
The Sentinel:
Once again, I was too busy headbanging, to pay a great deal of attention to “The Sentinel’s” lyrics. I also had this weird indeed that he robot lion tank on the cover of the album was “The Sentinel,” not for any particular reason, I just always put those two things together.
Upon further inspection, “The Sentinel” is about a warrior in post apocalyptic world seeking revenge; which is awesome. Very Mad Max.
So yes. I really like “The Sentinel,” but I should also probably mention real quick how awesome “Some Heads are Gonna Roll.”
Some Heads are Gonna Role:
With these three songs, we have gone from inference of combat, to road warrior like character, to a full-on war song. What kind of war? A metal war I presume. It is a warzone in the wastelands. And what a call to arms, “some heads are gonna roll.” The opening rift is like a gunshot, and the whole song is just metal as hell. Great song.
So yeah, that is why me and everybody else are torn between “Screaming for Vengeance” and “Defenders of the Faith.” Two powerhouse albums that helped define metal music forever. I hold these two albums, and controversially, I also hold “Turbo,” as the three big Priest albums. Those three albums all came out back to back, and they changed everything.
Conventional wisdom holds that Judas Priest’s eighth studio album “Screaming for Vengeance” is their greatest and the album that broke them out into the awareness of the general public. For most of my life I lived under the belief that Judas Priest made it big with their sixth album “British Steel,” as two of the three Priest songs the radio would play when I was young were on “British Steel,” “Living After Midnight” and the insanely popular “Breaking the Law.” The first Judas Priest song I ever heard was “Breaking the Law” and I must have heard that song thirty plus times before hearing another Priest song. With the passing of time and advantage of age, I now know fully and completely the truth of the matter. I know why everyone considers “Screaming for Vengeance” Judas Priest’s greatest album, and I know why “You Got Another Thing Coming” is considered Judas Priest’s biggest hit song.
The disadvantage of being born after the fact is missing out of some of the context of certain events as they happened. “Screaming for Vengeance” came out in 1982, one year before I was born, so I was unable to fully appreciate its initial impact and success for what it was. At the time I was taking in, what I believed to be all of Rob Halford era Judas Priest era, and those hits songs on the radio were what they must have been best known for. Right?
Judas Priest had a challenging start. Their first several albums were nothing to fantastic, I appreciate them, but they are weak albums compared to what would be to come. It was not until 1980 with the inclusion of drummer David Holland that Priest would have their first drummer to last more than a single album, and for the first time the band had some consistency, maybe that helped with the creative process, or maybe it just took some time for the band to hone their craft and improve their song writing. It is a rare thing for things to come together on the eighth attempt, but that is what happened.
“Screaming for Vengeance” was the first album of Judas Priests to connect the dots. From track to track, the entire album flows like no Priest album before it. The first track “The Hellion” is a short instrumental hard hitting opener that only last forty-one seconds, but it brings forth “Electric Eye,” this second track is the second biggest hit from the album and a great classic metal track about the destruction of personal privacy under oppressive rule, at least that is what I think it is about. It never gets dull, immediately following “Electric Eye” is “Riding on the Wind.” “Riding on the Wind” is an apex metal/rock song, one of the best on the album. The title track does not disappoint, “Screaming for Vengeance” has a perfect theme, not just in song, but to represent the album as a whole. Rebellion is always the heart of rock and roll, and vengeance often has a lot in common with that. Rob Halford’s vocals are killer on the title track, and this plays before the big hit, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.”
It really is a great album from start to finish, and I hate to predictable, but if I had to choose a favorite, it would be the big hit “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.” The first three Priest songs I knew included “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” and among those three champion songs I always did enjoy this song uppermost.
The clearest pull-through message for “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” is embracing life and living it to its fullest. It is a celebration of being alive, seizing your opportunities, and living your dreams, and never let anyone stop you from doing it. Defiance is also a strong theme in “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” and this attitude to stand up to, and against if need be, from the forces that stand in your way. The dream of being a rock star is rift with probable failure. Most dreams that are worth pursuing have a high probability of failure, which is one of the reasons they are so worth attempting. Halford’s words in “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” suggesting an antagonist of negative that is less an active force but more so an acceptance of submission, the sting of letting go and giving up.
The end of the chorus says all this in two simple lines:
“You think I'll let it go you're mad, You got another thing coming.”
There are a lot of dark themes in music, and metal music has fairly constant aggression to it that makes many songs develop an element of angst. What is rebellion without disdain for the status quo? What is revolution without a willingness to go to war? What is defiance with without potential violence? When an enemy can be pointed to, typically we expect some anger, but Judas Priest has something special in “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” all the aggression is positive, focused in on the motivation to live and prosper. All the angst is directed towards thoughts of giving up. It makes “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” a really aggressively upbeat song, and a great motivation to get out there and makes things happen.
I think this powerful defiance against apathy assisted in making “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.” Obviously the first and most relevant reason “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” is popular and so highly acclaimed is the simple truth that is a very well constructed and fantastically performed song, but often as we have seen too many times that is not enough to always connect with people. The general population often need something more, something special to latch onto, and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” manages that by being possibly the best, get off your ass and never give up on your dreams, sort of rock song.
Blacksmith Legacy is a heavy metal group hailing from Angelholm, Sweden, which I think is pretty cool because I have friends there. It is a fantastic name, Blacksmith Legacy, the world has always correctly held the belief blacksmiths are strong workers. There has been many stories and legends about blacksmith warriors forging their own weapons and accomplishing great things. It is very easy to make a connection to such myths to metal music, power metal, and that is where my brain goes when I hear a name like Blacksmith Legacy.
There is not a lot of information about Blacksmith Legacy online. They have a website and a facebook page, but they are not entirely in continuity with each other. On their website they have the most recent news is the tragic passing of their front man Otto Ed Hanson. I know they have a new lead singer, but I do not know what his name is, but he looks awesome, he looks like a Rockstar. This is the sort of band I like to write about, mostly because they are largely unknown and thus are going largely unappreciated, but also any overlooked ignorance on my part is largely forgivable.
The band itself looks like a healthy mix of older and younger men, this could, and so far, has resulted in a good mix of experience and ambition.
To date Blacksmith Legacy has released one album, “Let the Game Begin” (2013), and one EP, “Metal Never Dies” (2015), and this year, they released the single “Time to Say Goodbye.” Based on the title of the single, you might have been able to guess that “Time to Say Goodbye” was written in memory of Otto. It is a lovely metal ballad, full of the sadness and joy.
Time to Say Goodbye:
As beautiful as the “Time to Say Goodbye” is, it is not the single track that I most appreciate, that accolade goes to “Metal Never Dies.”
On the surface “Metal Never Dies” should come across as a straight forward metal fanfare, and it does work for such a purpose. The core message is true, metal music is going to go on indefinitely, and there is everything to celebrate and forever to enjoy it in. However, based on what little I do know about Blacksmith Legacy, I feel there is something a little more going on.
As I mentioned before, Blacksmith Legacy is a combination of older and younger guys, and those older guys, they have a had a bit more of a taste of the forever, and this is surely not their first attempt at a metal band. When your dream is making metal music, and your band, presumably not your first, is relatively unknown, one of the best proclamations you can put forth is the very real truth that the dream is not dead, and we will never die. Dreams do not vanish, so long as people do not abandon them. Based on the apparent approximate age of Blacksmith Legacy, they did not let the dream die, and that is where my brain goes when I hear “Metal Never Dies.”
Which brings us back to Otto. It is doubtful, that “Metal Never Dies” is some sort of prophecy about an later realized death, but in hindsight, that is a take away that I am now fixated on. Metal will never die, and through his metal music, Otto will now live forever. So that is pretty great. I barely knew much about the man, but his face is the logo for his metal band, so his passing feels like a big deal.
I wish I had more to say, but what we need to know is that there is a rocking metal band out of Angelholm that deserves more attention. I do not know what fate awaits Blacksmith Legacy and I have yet to learn from whence they originated, but that is all part of the adventure. It is something to look forward to.
Until next year, keep on rocking in the free world.
In case you did not know, we legalized marijuana in Canada recently. Naturally, I have been doing my part, and consequently, I have been listening to a lot of progressive rock.
For that review I looked up basically every rock album that came out year and listened to them all. It was a lot of work, but highly rewarding. I gained greater knowledge and appreciation of those rock bands that I knew but only so well. The band my respect for, that grew the most, during that experiment was the Moody Blues.
The Moody Blues are probably best known for their song “Nights in White Satin” from their second studio album, the 1967 “Days of Future Passed.” A fantastic song with a highly personal tome of emotions, whatever experiences songwriter Justin Hayward channeled to write this song, it resonated with a lot people in their own personal ways and managed to climb the charts and remain popular from its inception to now. “Nights in White Satin” is the obvious launching point for any conversation about the Moody Blues, so I could not avoid it now. This song started the Moody Blues experimenting with orchestra sounds with the mellotron.
I would be lying if I acted like I knew much of anything about what a mellotron is, but thanks to the Moody Blues, I know a mellotron can do. Before the advancement of the synthesizer keyboard the creation of artificial symphony was created by other means, and one of those methods was the mellotron. With the power of this instrument I do not fully understand, the Moody Blues embarked into progressive rock. The albums that followed would become Moody Blues most psychedelic. A lot of drugs were consumed and luckily everyone seemed to come out of it with little to no damage. The only side effect, of their drug use, great music.
The Moody Blue’s forth album, the 1969 “On the Threshold of a Dream” has become my favorite. It is such a trip. The concept album flows from track to track seamlessly, almost as if it were recorded in a single shot. Performed as if it was meant to be one long epic song. The deepest this experience swallows the listener is at the end of the album, the trio of songs that wrap things up are really one song, in three parts, like the acts of play; “Have You Heard, Part 1,” “The Voyage” and “Have You Heard, Part II.”
As I write this, I am listening to the ending of this album, smoking some mix of blueberry kush and meridian, I just let the music take me away on a voyage. Cosmic and strange, alien but comforting. Good times are being had.
The three songs do work as a perfect set. “Have You Heard, Part 1” serves deliberately as an intro, calm and slow introducing the theme of discovery.
“Now you know that you are real.”
This is a helpful opening line, you know, just in case you forgot. Obvious this is a single line, but I believe it works wonderfully as the first step on this song trilogy. So lost in the progressive rock that if you had made it to this eleventh track, a soft reminder of reality is nice.
“The Voyage” is the rising action and climax of this play. The second “The Voyage” begins the sound hardens, and it rises to the piano that dances away with itself, and this is instrumental solo that serves of opening and exiting of the climax. The exact middle of these three songs is the soaring drums and strumming guitar battling each other. The rapid piano takes over once more, until he reaches the strong strings of a cello, which brings up back to continuity.
“Now you know how nice it feels.”
This is the first line in “Have You Heard part 2,” and much like the opening line in part 1, this works a calming reset. The voyage and its excitement are over, time to relax once more; and relax we should. It is real mellow experience sitting back and listening to “On the Threshold of a Dream.” Everyone knows The Moody Blues, and every knows “Nights in White Satin,” but have you heard of “On the Threshold of a Dream?”
Long ago, when I was still in high school, some friends and I were hanging out listening to some rock and roll, as you do. It was the nineties, and we lived in a small town and none of us had much in the way of money so were still listening to cassettes, as the transition to CDs was only beginning. One of my friends had a copy of Blue Oyster Cults Greatest Hits. It was sixteen songs and apparently, they were all hits.
At that time the radio was our only venue to listen to music, and CJay 92 had only provided us with two songs by The Blue Oyster Cult, the legendary “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and the equally awesome “Burnin’ for You.” A few years later we would discover “Godzilla” which I believe we heard in the movie “Road Trip,” but I do not feel like researching whether or not I am remembering that correctly. Basically, between the three of us, we only knew three Blue Oyster Cult songs.
I wish I could tell you, we put that cassette in and listened to it and discovered the greatness of songs like “Astronomy,” but we did not, at least not while I was present. I would discover the depth of Blue Oyster Cult later in life.
When you only know three songs by a band and only really love two of them, but they have a bunch of supposed classics and fourteen studio albums, trying to decide where to start can be a paralyzing endeavour. One easy option would have been to purchase a greatest hits collection, but that is for posers, so that is no longer an option for me, I mean I have literally made writing about music a hobby, I cannot chance being a poser anymore. I did the next most logical thing I picked up the album with the song I liked most “Burnin’ for You,” was the song, and it was on the 1981 album “Fire of Unknown Origin.”
Loved it, I freaking loved it.
I listen to a lot of progressive rock and “Fire of Unknown Origin” was a perfect progressive rock album. My perspective of Blue Oyster Cult was not just enriched but I now saw them for what they always were, a highly experimental and creative progress rock band.
I have listened to a lot of Blue Oyster Cult since then. I learned to love songs from every point in their career. From their most recent album the 2001 “Curse of the Hidden Mirror” which has a song called “The Old Gods Return” which is Lovecraftian, so it really appealed to me. Or from the 1977 album “Spectres” mostly with the song “I Love the Night” a song I am enjoying so much I almost chose to write about it instead of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.”
On “Fire of Unknown Origin” there are many songs that I would call psychedelic, but the most out there, and probably the greatest for it, is “Veteran of the Psychic Wars.” The title tells you a lot about what you are getting into before you even hear the song, it is an inward journey of hardship and self realization.
“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” opens with drums like a military march, and very quickly it is joined by the synth keyboard with strange echoing calls. With these two sounds the two married themes are presented, war and the supernatural.
The very first opening line is thus:
“You're seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars,”
A thousand. A thousand psychic wars. The song title implied plural, but a thousand? That is a lot of wars. This song is already intense after only a single lyrical sentence.
I also really like this line:
“All the stars are on the inside.”
The chorus introduces all sorts of potential interpretations: “Don't let these shakes go on! It's time we had a break from it, It's time we had some leave. We've been living in a place, We've been eating up our brains. Oh please don't let these shakes go on!”
It was at this point in the song, on my first listen, that I began to really wonder what this song was truly about. It could be literal. These soldiers with psychic powers could be causing real damage to one and another’s brains, and the post dramatic stress of such an unorthodox, and perhaps intimate, sort of warfare could very believably leave the survivors with shakes. But this could also be a song about deep introspection, with the greater depth one soul searches, the more lost in their own thoughts they become. This second imagining of this song’s meaning fits comfortably with the use of psychedelic drugs, which were likely used to assist in the creative writing process.
I think my favorite line is this one:
“Wounds are all I'm made of!”
Once again marrying the two themes, this dark line introducing the final verse works perfectly for both. The literal wounds of a soldier dominate his memories and personality, which is made all the more harrowing when the wounds are from mind damaging psychic attacks. Or it works just as well to describe the exhausted philosophical introvert, voyaging into the violent recesses of their inner most thoughts; presumably with additional guidance from mind altering drugs.
As much as I like the idea of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” being about a journey into one’s inner self, I think I prefer the wacky concept of psychic soldiers engaging in some indescribable war across the cosmos, battling alien psychics with projected thoughts, and in that vast infinite battlefield, the war just goes on forever and it is nigh impossible to get any sort of break from it. That is a wild science fiction tale in waiting, the stuff of progress rock dreams. Especially drug induces dreams.
The Blue Oyster Cult has always been a highly respected band, but most people are unaware of the power of their song lists. Like any great band, the more you look into their work the more you discover just how great they are. For me, there was never any surprises about the quality of Blue Oyster Cult’s music, but the style, was just what I wanted from them, even if I did not know it ahead of time.
Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.
- King of Braves
P.S.
“Veteran of the Psychic Wars” was on the animated movie “Heavy Metal” soundtrack, because of course it was.
In the nineties the world experienced a sudden outpour of new music from Seattle, Washington. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, were all getting radio play, and were becoming massively popular. These three bands were instrumental in the creation of the subgenre of “alternative rock.” This was all happening during some of my most informative years, and the importance of these three bands is well remembered by me. The impact of their presence is well documented in my memories.
At the time there was a rivalry between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Kurt Cobain for reasons I never fully understood hated Pearl Jam. This created a cultural rift between their fans. Sides were taken, and war was declared. It was unofficially confirmed you could like one or the other, but never both.
This was a big deal. Here is a charming video of Arcade Fire’s Win Butler discussing this feud with his wife and band mate Regine Chassagne, how she could choose only one, Nirvana or Pearl Jam:
What is the resolution? Well for Win and Regine, despite Win’s insistence you can only choose one, they both, like them both; this is the reality for most people now. More than enough time has passed for everyone to realize there was never a dichotomy, we could enjoy both. The common census is that both bands were amazing.
Not me though. I am different. I choose Pearl Jam.
Maybe the impression this moment in time and my feelings about the situation has left a lasting impact on me, but once I chose Pearl Jam, I stuck to it.
I never liked Nirvana, primarily because I never liked Kurt Cobain, whom always came across to me as an ungrateful brat. I have always believed that if Layne Staley had killed himself back then, we would be talking about how great Alice in Chains were instead of Nirvana right now. However, after all this time I have come to realize there is nothing preventing us from appreciating all three bands, and whatever feud Cobain started never mattered. My dislike for Nirvana now feels more like a over zealous reaction out of loyalty to Pearl Jam more than anything else, and I can now appreciate the positive aspects of Nirvana and how they inspired so many others. However, nonetheless, Nirvana never really grew on me, unlike Pearl Jam.
I consider Pearl Jam to be one of the greatest rock bands of the nineties, if not number one. I hold them in very high esteem. I went through the same introduction phase as everyone else did back then. The album Ten came out and it was great, everyone enjoyed “Alive” and “Jeremy,” then Vitalogy came out three years later and with it their biggest hit song “Better Man.”
“Better Man” is not my favorite Pearl Jam song, in fact it is not even my favorite song from the album Vitalogy, I always really like “Nothingman” and “Immortality,” however “Better Man” is the first song I think of when I think of Pearl Jam. It has not happened very often in my life where I was just as impressed and happy with a hit song as the general public, and “Better Man” is one of the few times were the charts and I were in full agreement. It was a perfect song for radio play and personal listening, it met all criteria to impress. The popularity of “Better Man” is unrivaled in Pearl Jam’s discography. For some reason I vividly remember Pearl Jam playing a slightly modified version of “Better Man” to David Letterman on his show during his birthday. The song was a huge cultural phenomenon.
Another reason I like “Better Man” is that I can sing it respectably well, and I have successfully impressed strangers at karaoke on two separate occasions by singing it. So that is fun.
There are countless love songs in existence, unavoidably many, if no most, tread upon identical grounds, but few explore the sort of relationship depicted in “Better Man.” It is a complacent relationship, where the woman is largely disinterested but finds herself staying because;
“She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man.”
There is more to it than just that, there is an expression of loyalty, or at least consideration.
“She loved him, yeah, she don't want to leave this way.”
This is a curious study of human relationships, in my younger years I found it interesting.
I hold the belief that “Better Man” falls into the category of music that is about something sad but is performed with a positive expression. The scenario at hand is rather bleak, “she dreams in color” but her reality is loveless and colourless, but worse still, she is the beholder of the feelings of shame and guilt because she cannot find a better man, so she sadly stays. However, the melody and mood of the song is not so dark, but rather energetic. Like I said before “Better Man” delivers on multiple fronts, and it is enjoyable in so many ways as to end up being loved by virtually everybody… except maybe that Kurt Cobain guy… no wonder I did not like him very much.
Part of growing older is being surprised at how much has passed through the aging of media. I remember vividly “Better Man” playing on the radio, and now it is a classic rock song. Twenty-two years have passed. I was thirteen when this song came out. My peers let it sink in, along with every meme reminding you that your childhood is now a long time ago but take joy in knowing the lasting effect and timeless nature of your nostalgia has held up.
In the year 1994, White Zombie would release their final studio album, “Astro-Creep: 2000.” This would prove to be by far White Zombie’s most successful album, releasing their biggest hit song, “More Human Than Human.” This album made White Zombie the success they were in the nineties. This is the music that made Rob Zombie a household name and helped launch his solo career.
I have always assumed the album “Astro-Creep: 2000” was named after the Misfits song “Astro Zombies.” I have always put these two things together anyway.
White Zombie is presumably named after 1932 horror film of the same name. This old film stared Bela Lugosi, and I know I have seen it, but my memory is a bit foggy, but it predates the iconic “Night of the Living Dead” by many years and has the more folklore like interpretation of voodoo zombies.
“More Human Than Human,” is a reference to “Blade Runner” the excellent 1982 science fiction film staring Harrison Ford where he is hired to track down and eliminate rouge androids who, are arguably, more human than humans.
Rob Zombie, if that is his real name, it is not, his real name is Rob Cummings, is clearly a fan of cinema, and likes to take inspiration from many sources for his music.
It was the year 2001, and I found myself in the passenger seat of my friend’s Lincoln as he drove us around town. One of the few cassette tapes he had on hand that we listened to until we wore it out, was White Zombie’s “Astro-Creep: 2000.” To this day it is the only album of White Zombie’s that I have any meaningful knowledge of. Although I did listen to Rob Zombie’s solo album “Hellbilly Deluxe” countless times, whilst stoned in another friend’s basement right around the same time, but that is another story altogether.
I distinctly remember the huge popularity of “More Human Than Human,” upon the release of “Astro-Creep: 2000,” and how people in my generation were still listening to that song frequently by 2001. It is a half way coincide that my friend and I happen to be listening to that album at that time in that Lincoln, but it was clear that “More Human Than Human” has staying power. However, as much I as I enjoyed “More Human Than Human,” and I still do, the song I hold uppermost for White Zombie is their third single from that same album, “Super Charger Heaven.”
“Super Charger Heaven,” had much less presence on any king of top list, but it was popular and very well liked for a time. As I remember it, it was the clear second-best song on “Astro-Creep: 2000,” well according to everybody else it was the second-best song, I actually liked it more than “More Human Than Human.”
As determined earlier, Rob Zombie is a big fan of cinema, especially horror, so much so, he now spends more time making horror films then music. The point is, something Zombie does, that I appreciate, is throwing in film clips into his songs and he does this in “Super Charger Heaven.”
“Look, I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”
This comes from “The Haunting” 1963. I have not seen it.
“Insipientia corde suo, non es deus. Non est vita qui adorem, non es usque ad unum. Es excommunicatus, ex unione fidelium.”
This Latin translates to:
“Foolish of heart, thou art not a god. There is no life for those who do not adore, and to a man thou hast not. Thou art excommunicated from the union of the faithful.”
And comes from “To the Devil a Daughter” a 1976 Hammer film. Unfortunately, I have not seen this one either.
Then we get the best part:
“It is not heresy, and I will not recant!”
While this is a line from the same Hammer film, “To the Devil a Daughter,” what we hear in “Super Charger Heaven” it is famous actor Christopher Lee speaking. Christopher Lee was such an amazing man, and this would be one of the earlier examples of him lending his voice to a hard rock and metal music. More on that eventually.
As a fan of horror films and metal music, these sound clips do add an extra bit of charm to the song “Super Charger Heaven.” However, this alone is not what endears me so to “Super Charger Heaven,” we also got that killer opening.
We start with the ominous sounds and that first movie quote speaks, and then guitar. Electric guitar striking out in rapid slashes. The drums blast away at the same time rampaging through an intro like a thunder storm. That beat carries through the whole song, and at every bridge that rushing lead guitar leaps out and rocks out. At no point is there a guitar solo per say, which is uncharacteristic of most of the music I listen to, but instead there are many small moments when that great lead guitar pops in and wails. This is a good example of a heavy metal song that is balanced. Everything works together nicely, no one in the band it trying to outshine anyone else, they all play their parts perfectly and the result has a great flow to it. A runaway song of heavy sounds.
I have never completely understood the lyrics. I have tried to conjure together a coherent narrative or message, but I have been unable to so with “Super Charger Heaven.” Everything Rob Zombie says in “Super Charger Heaven” is cool. Every line sounds clever, but I cannot pin down what point, if any, is actually being communicated. Unlike other confusing lyrical tales, I am not convinced Rob Zombie is just sprouting gibberish, there is almost a demonic story being told, I just do not get the reference and/or am struggling to find the continuity of his original tale. None of that mattered to me when I was a young man though, because I always liked the chorus enough to not overthink the rest of it:
“Yeah Devil man Devil man calling, Devil man running in my head Yeah. Yeah Devil man Devil man calling, Devil man running in my head Yeah.”
Now remember, this song came out in 1994 and I was listening to it between the years of 1995 through 2002. This is mostly pre-internet. I only had the knowledge of my own person to fall back on when it came to conjecture. “Devil Man” I knew what that was, but at the time, I had no way of knowing if Rob Zombie knew, and even less way of knowing if he was referring to it in his song.
In grade school, I was the guy in my group of friends who discovered anime. As a young man I really enjoyed the excitement of cartoon violence, and nothing delivered on that better than the “Devil Man” OVAs. So, I always suspected, but never knew for certain if Rob Zombie was intentionally referencing that anime.
Well, now that internet is at full power, we can confirm in the affirmative that Rob Zombie was referencing the ultra violent anime “Devil Man” when he wrote “Super Charger Heaven.”
If grainy videos from fans cell phones of Rob Zombie’s live performances where he plays the origin scene of Devil Man OVA is not evidence enough, how about the LP cover art:
You know, I had never seen that LP art before until very recently. That is Devil Man, right there in the cover art. No one is getting sued. Everyone is having a good time.
It feels nice knowing that Mr. Zombie and I have some things in common, and that belief as a young man proved true about Devil Man. For years it felt like Zombie and I were in rare company, not a lot of people knew about Devil Man, at least not the complete story.
Something magical happened this year. In January Netflix sponsored, or produced, I forget which, “Devil Man Cry Baby.” This new telling of the old manga was so popular, that it was being declared the anime of the year, even though it was January when it came out. To the best of my knowledge this bold claim is still holding true. Everyone uses Netflix, so Devil Man had had a rebirth in popularity and the character and the story are now more popular than ever.
Devil Man Crybaby,
The first animated version
to tell the whole story.
One of the disappointing things about the original OVA of “Devil Man” is that is only has two parts, and after that they ran out of money and were unable to finish the story. There was a stand-alone movie called “Devil Man - Amon Apocalypse” which more or less serves as the third volume, but most people never saw it, and it did not complete the saga. Sixteen years ago, I read the manga, I found a fan English translation online and I read it with the upmost interest, and it floored me. I could not believe how it ended.
The ending is bleak.
It would be poor form to explain the whole story and ruining the twists for those who have not watched “Devil Man Crybaby” yet, so I will be vague. It is a very sad ending, terrible things happen, things that will make you cry. “Devil Man Crybaby” adapts the content to the current day perfectly and tells the story in full. For sixteens years I have been walking around with all this pain in my heart knowing how “Devil Man” ends, and reading and watching everyone’s reactions online now, was a very good time for me. It was amusing watching everyone else go through the motions, and it felt like I was making a connection with people. Sixteen years is a long time to keep spoilers to yourself, and an even longer time waiting for someone to experience it in a similar way.
Rob Zombie knew who Devil Man was way back in 1994, presumably earlier than that. I felt a connection to a fellow fan and it made me enjoy his music just a little bit more. But after the release of “Devil Man Crybaby” I look at Rob Zombie and the song “Super Charger Heaven” and I feel like, he knew. Zombie probably read the manga too, and I bet he knew the nihilistic ending as well. I wonder how many years he was walking around hurting before more the general public learned about it. And I wonder how much he is enjoying seeing everyone go through the motions after seeing “Devil Man Crybaby.”
It seems to me that life has been kind to Rob Zombie. His music remains popular and relevant, and I wonder if there will be a new wave of interest in White Zombie and “Super Charger Heaven” now that the Devil Man is more popular then every. I hope so. I have also really liked the Devil Man reference in “Super Charger Heaven.” I liked it before it was cool.
