life, and a little more

Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden

Jul 29

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So I’m in my car yesterday and I catch the tail end of the local DJ saying “And that was Metallica’s new single, a cover of Iron Maiden’s Remember Tomorrow”.  Craptastic! How’d I miss that?  Metallica covering Maiden?  Can you say freakin’ awesome!

I do a quick Google search when I get home and find the album on which this song resides.  It is called Maiden Heaven:  A Tribute to Iron Maiden. Now this is a monster tribute album!  It is mostly great, with a few sucky covers thrown in for good measure.

Black Tide starts us off, and boy do they.  Their cover of Prowler is amazing.  Black Tide pulls off the energy and feeling of the song.

Next up is Metallica, covering Remember Tomorrow.  Awesome song!  Metallica stomps and pushes and thrashes their way through it.  Great to hear Metallica on top of their game again.

Avenged Sevenfold nails Flash of the Blade.  I’m liking them more and more as I listen to them.

Glamour of the Kill (who?)  tries to cover the classic 2 Minutes to Midnight and just can’t pull it off.  They sound like some bad 80′s glam band trying to sound tough. 

Coheed and Cambria step things up with their cover of The Trooper.  Although the singer’s voice is, um, unique, it still fits with the song.

Devildriver delivers one of the worst covers on the record.  Those cookie monster vocals just don’t give the song what is needed.

Maybe I spoke to soon….as Sign slaughters Run To the Hills.  How the crap did this band get onto the record?  I know covers are tricky.  You want to stamp the song with your own touch, but you have to pay homage to the original.  You would never ever in a million years recognize this song as the Run To The Hills that all Maiden fans love.

Thankfully Dream Theater does a phenomenal job on the next song, To Tame A Land.  Dream Theater is a natural fit on this cd.  They have their own bootleg album, where they covered the entire Number of the Beast record.  That is a must own for any DT or Iron Maiden fan!

Madina Lake (again, who?) gives us crap with a version of Caught Somewhere In Time that is sucky and horrible and should never have been made.

Gallows covers one of my all time favorite Maiden songs, Wrathchild.  This version is punky/hardcore, but still lets you know it is an Iron Maiden song.  Personally, I like Ultimatum’s cover way better.

Fear of the Dark is covered by a band named Fightstar. It isn’t bad.  They keep the feel of the song pretty well.

Machine Head rumbles in with Hallowed Be Thy Name and they rip it up (in a good way!)  This is a straight cover, almost note for note, and it sounds great!

Trivium brings us Iron Maiden and they do a good job too.  Again, the sound of the song is mostly kept, but with a lot of the growling vocals that Trivium is known for.

Year Long Disaster tries to cover Running Free, but like all of the alternative bands, they just can’t pull it off.  Sounds like a bad sleaze band trying to sound cool.

This last song, Brave New World, is performed by Ghostlines and it is soooooooooooo horrible that it barely deserves mention.  Sounds like The Cure or some crap like that.  How the heck did this even make it on the album?

All in all, this is a great tribute to one of the greatest Metal bands that has ever graced our planet.  It is worth the download!

Truly a Revelation!

Jul 29

metalman777music christian rock, music, rock, third day No Comments

Third Day released their ninth studio album entitled Revelation.  Third Day has been around a good while, and they have always created some good southern tinged rock and roll.  I have very low expectations for Christian music as it tends to be stale and boring.  Third Day breaks that mold with Revelation.  The production is excellent!

You could honestly put this album in a playlist with The Black Crowe’s Warpaint and Tom Petty’s recently re-released Mudcrutch and Revelation would hold it’s own.

This entire album is excellent.  Every song is awesome!  This Is Who I Am starts it off with a great old southern rock swagger.  When I first heard the song Otherside, I could have sworn it was Lenny Kravitz!  By the time you get to Give Love, you are jammin’ to some bluesy/bluegrass melodies.

Third Day has released a phenomenal album in Revelation.  Their faith is well presented in the songs without being preachy and the music is of outstanding quality.

Hellotxt.com – Cross Platform Greatness

Jul 25

metalman777Uncategorized, tech, www hellotxt.com, internet, status, tech, web 2.0 No Comments

WARNING: the following blog contains explicit tech talk and anyone not interested in geeky web 2.0 conversations (read: my wife) might just skip this edition of life, and a little more.

Try as I might, I just can not consolidate my online life into just one place.  I’m spread out all over the place.  Check out the sidebar to the right to see most of my online communities!

More and more I’m using this WordPress blog as my central web location, with all the aforementioned websites pointing here.  There have been some useful tools that let the Web 2.0 crowd interact with one another.  I’ve been using Facebook’s Twitter application to update my Facebook status from Twitter (as I can’t access Facebook at work, but can access Twitter).  I’ve been looking for something similar for Myspace.  Can’t access that website from work either!  What, my bosses actually want me to work?

So I finally stumbled upon hellotxt.com. It is a pretty useful tool if you are spread out all over the web like me.

To the right you can see all of the Web 2.0 services that Hellotxt works with.  Truthfully I hadn’t even heard of most ‘em!

Once you enter all of your information for all of your accounts you are presented with a text box to input your updates into.  I haven’t played with the picture or video feature, but it is nice to know that it is there if you need it.

Type in your update and it automatically sends it to the services you have selected.

Another nice feature of Hellotxt.com is the Social Time Line.  You can view all of your friends updates right in the Hellotxt framework.  Everything is centralized!  Facebook is not supported yet, but according to the website, it is coming soon.

Of course, Hellotxt wouldn’t be complete without the ability to send in updates via text messaging from your cell phone.  I only have a work cell with no ability to text, so I won’t be using this service.

All in all, hellotxt.com will be helping me out a lot. I’m just glad I can consolidate a little bit!

15 Years and Still Going Strong

Jul 24

metalman777Life, family anniversary No Comments

Fifteen years ago today, I made the best decision of my life…I got married.

Cindy and I were pretty young – me almost 21 and she almost 19.  Sure we were younger than most, but we had each other and that was all we needed.

These fifteen years have been an amazing journey.  There are so many wonderful memories and blessings that it would take too long to list them all.  Our 3 amazing kids would have to top the list of course.

So, here’s to Cindy, my beautiful bride of 15 years!  I love you and hope the next 15 are even better!

Pushing the Jesus Junk (another name for the International Christian Retail Show 2008)

Jul 17

metalman777Christianity, Life, money, videos Christianity, consumerism, jesus junk No Comments

13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”  Chapter 2 of John’s Gospel

The picture of Jesus frolicking in the flowers with a lamb over his shoulder is smashed after reading these verses.  Jesus-whip-angry-throwing tables-chasing people; those words are not normally found in the same chapter, let alone in the same paragraph.

He was outraged at the commercialism of Judiasm. These money changers charged exorbitant prices for their services.  They were making huge profits at the expense of the very heart of Judiasm.  Jesus was ticked, and rightly so!

So, how do I make the transition from Jesus whipping and chasing out the money changers in the Temple to one of the biggest events for Christian Bookstores in America?  Unfortunately, it is very easy.

The International Christian Retail Show 2008 is taking place this week in Florida this week.

The world around us is changing rapidly…from the way we communicate to the way we work and so much more. The world of retail is no different. Consider the technology challenges and increased competition seeming to come from everywhere. However, there is hope! We serve a big God, and we have a mission that is not of this world. You need to attend the International Christian Retail Show to work on how to achieve your mission and reach the fullest potential of what God has planned for your store in this New Day for Christian Retail.

Blogger and author Ed Stetzer is there and reporting on all of the ridiculous items that are peddled.  He has posted some pictures at his twitterpic site.

I’ve been wanting to write on this crass church commercialism for a while now.  Watch the video below to see some of the crap that is being sold in the name of Christ.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfQC8K4fA10]

So, we just slap a Jesus sticker on anything and that makes it Christian, eh?  I couldn’t believe the “Christian Poker Chips”!  But sure enough, they are a real product for sale! That is just unbelievable!  And the “Christian” tape measure and “Christian” flip-flops?  wow…

All In for Jesus!  Sure Bet Jesus!  Don’t Gamble With Eternity!  OY!!

And if “Christian” Poker Chips aren’t your thing, how about a Jesus action figure that is a bull rider or rides a Harley? Honestly, you have to click on that link to check it out!  I personally want to order the Jesus in camo fatigues holding a dove or the Jesus Rock Climber.

There is so much Jesus Junk out there that I could fill up way too many blogs writing about it.

Could you see Jesus with a whip at one of these conventions?  I think I could.

What would happen if all of the Christians who bought this junk actually gave that money away to help people who really needed it?

Please don’t get the impression that I am some sort of monastic stuff hater.  I sure have accumulated my share of junk.  And I’m not against poker playing or art.  I’m just saying, if you need some poker chips, then buy some poker chips!  Let’s just not justify our love of junk by emblazoning Christ’s name on it!

Leave some comments and let me know what you think.

Coverdale-Page=Awesome Hard Rock

Jul 15

metalman777lost but now found!, music Coverdale-Page, hard rock, music No Comments

Gotta chalk up another album to the “Lost But Found” category.  A friend of mine let me go through his CD collection and I picked up this gem of an album.  David Coverdale of Whitesnake fame teams together with Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin fame and together they make awesome music!  The album is simply titled “Coverdale-Page“.

Released in 1993, this entire album is an instant classic hard rock offering.  There are no filler or throw-away songs at all.  If you love the bluesy rock of Whitesnake with a tinge of Zepplin added in, you will absolutely love this disc.

Track Listings

Nostalgia No More

Jul 11

metalman777humor, music, videos No Comments

If you’ve read this blog for the smallest amount of time you’ll know that I’m an 80′s metal head through and through.

So I was super excited when I found out that we were getting VH1 Classics.  They block off a wedge of time, call it Metal Mania, and play nothing but 80′s metal videos.  I didn’t have MTV growing up and I only could watch Headbanger’s Ball when a friend taped it for me.  With much glee and anticipation I set our DVR to record Metal Mania so I could bask in all the goodness of 80′s metal, when music was really good and big hair ruled the world.

Once an episode (3 hours!!) had recorded, I quickly started watching…..

…..the first video to play was Judas Priest’s Breaking the Law.  I love this song and had never seen the video.  I sure wish I hadn’t!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYn5hxeFt10]

What kinda crap is this?  How did these metal gods let this video ever be produced?  It is painful to look at!  Make it stop!

After Breaking the Law comes Holy Diver by Dio.  One of my favorite Dio songs ever.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/TK-wznoUzog&hl=en&fs=1]

And one of the worst videos ever.  C’mon Ronnie! No one ever holds a sword like that! I just really had to laugh out loud at this one!

Next up was Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages.  Again, Pyromania is one of my all time favorite albums and should be required listening for anyone who calls themselves a child of the 80′s.  After seeing this video, I just shook my head.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/DvNOZegkVXo&hl=en&fs=1]

Now this is a craptastic video.  Like Holy Diver, there is a sword, but this one is clearly made of cardboard.  If there was an award for cheesiness, this video might take it!

The last video I will make fun of is Dokken’s Breaking the Chains.  Before I roast ‘em, I just want everyone to know that Dokken is one of my favorite 80′s metal bands and I think they personify that 80′s sound. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/nQb1t_Yw0S8&hl=en&fs=1]

Don Dokken sure needs a new make up artist! What the heck is that thing on George Lynch’s head?  Can you really play the bass by slamming your fist next to the strings?  Ugh…gotta love it whent the guitar strings turn into chains though!

So, my walk down memory lane turned a little sour.  No wonder the younger crowd doesn’t appreciate 80′s metal!  It looks so darn cheesy when you look at it!  But that’s what it was all about back then, eh?  Having fun, hanging out with your homeys and just banging your head.

But what would a critique of 80′s metal videos be without including my favorite, Stryper!  Always There For You actually got quite a bit of airplay back in the day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/ysCx-rjMIXk&hl=en&fs=1]

You gotta love that Yellow and Black Attack!  To Hell With The Devil! Honestly!

Another 4th of July come and gone..

Jul 05

metalman777Life, family, pictures 4th of july, kids No Comments

[slideshow id=576460752335104748&w=426&h=320]

Worms: A Space Oddity – Not A Necessity

Jul 02

metalman777Wii, videos video games, Wii, Worms: A Space Oddity No Comments

Summer is a great time to waste time playing video games.  I’ve been playing ‘em since I was knee high to a grass hopper and I’ll be playing ‘em in the old folks home.

One such game I’ve played over the years is the Worms series of games from Team17 Software.  These were quirky turn-based games where you controlled a small group of worms who’s sole mission was to blow up other teams of worms using bizarre and crazy weopons.

Admittedly, it has been some years since I’ve played this game, but I remember playing it fondly.  So it was to my surprise to see Worms: A Space Oddity released for the Wii gaming system.  I rented it from Blockbuster, telling my kids that they’d love it and love me even more for getting it for them.

We get home and start it up and right away I knew this game was not gonna be so good.  The interface was very clunky and way overcrowded.  I have a 60″ big screen tv and it was very hard to see what we were supposed to do in order to get the game started.

Once we did start the game, it was very tough to see your worms, even on a big screen!  All of the quirky fun weapons of old have been narrowed down to 10 different weapons that are boring to use after just a few turns.

I played about 2 or 3 times and that was all I could take.  I’m so glad I rented this game and didn’t impulse buy it!  If I were an official reviewer, I’d give it about 3 outta 10 stars. 

But if you wanna check it out yourself, watch the trailer below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xxYuZliRO8]