July 27, 2006
10:30am EDT

Timo Tolkki of STRATOVARIUS will be calling in during today's show, which is on from 4:30-6pm EDT (22:30-midnight CET). He'll be on sometime around 5pm. You can tune in at www.wruw.org and send questions for him to metalmeltdownshow[@]mac.com.

- Doctor Metal

July 20, 2006
2:00pm EDT

Members of DRAGONFORCE will be making an in-studio appearance on the show this afternoon right around the beginning (4:30pm Eastern, 22:30 CET). Right now I'm still not sure who will be coming down, but it should be Herman and someone else. You can tune in at www.wruw.org and send questions for them to metalmeltdownshow[@]mac.com.

The band is in town for the second time this year and will be playing at the Agora Theater.

- Doctor Metal

May 5, 2006
Noon EDT

Herman and ZP of DRAGONFORCE will be making an in-studio appearance on the show this afternoon right at the beginning (4:30pm Eastern, 22:30 CET). You can tune in at www.wruw.org and send questions for them to metalmeltdownshow[@]mac.com.

The band is in town for the first time and will be playing at the Agora Theater.

- Doctor Metal

Henning Pauly called into yesterday's radio show, and we talked for quite a long time about An Absence of Empathy and some of his plans for the future. Obviously, we also talked about the whole dispute with Sebastian Bach as well. You can listen to the whole show (which also featured 3 Frameshift songs) by downloading the audio archive.

I had a good time talking to Henning, whose command of the English language is pretty damn good. I always enjoy interviews that are much more like conversations, and this was certainly one of those. While I hadn't ever talked to Henning before yesterday's show, the feeling I had during the interview (and on the phone while the songs were playing) was that I was talking to someone I had known for quite some time. He struck me as a very normal, genuine person.

As far as the whole Sebastian thing goes, I certainly have an opinion about who's telling the truth that I've formed from reading about everything that took place. I'm sure that's true for anyone else who has followed this thing as it has unfolded. But I don't think anyone can know with 100% certainty who's telling the truth without hearing the rough mixes or seeing the contract that was signed. Hell, if Henning wants someone who has a reputation for straight-talking to listen to the rough mixes and/or check out the contract for this whole deal, I'd be glad to be that guy. I know that he had someone from his forum out to the studio to take a listen to the rough mixes and report back, but I can see how people could dismiss that as "Well, she's clearly a big fan, so that's why she said those things."

I'd like to make it clear as well that I emailed Sebastian last week to ask him to call into the show sometime to discuss all of this stuff. So it's not like I'm only allowing one side of the story to be heard on this site and on the radio show. I'd be glad to give him equal time to say his thing. When he gets back from Europe, I hope he'll take me up on the offer.

Anyhow, take a listen to the interview and the show, especially if you haven't yet heard any of the Frameshift album. Putting aside the questions about who deserves credit for writing what, what you have here is one hell of an album. And as I told Henning on the phone, An Absence of Empathy is without a doubt the best thing Sebastian has been on since Slave to the Grind.

I'll be back later with some more comments about the whole Frameshift thing. By the way, check out www.frameshift2.com to order An Absence of Empathy or to read more about it. If you're interested in everything Henning-related, you can check out his personal site at www.henningpauly.com.

I can also report that you can count on there being an interview every week on the show. I'm in the process of lining up someone for next week's show, but I have Zak Stevens of Circle II Circle (and formerly of Savatage, of course) confirmed for an interview on July 1st. He called into the show about a month ago, but due to a screw-up on my part, the audio was horrible and no one could really hear him very well. That was a real shame, because he had a lot of interesting things to say, which is why I invited him back on the show. The audio issues for telephone interviews have been worked out (in other words, I'm doing them the right way now), so everything should be really high-quality from now.

- Doctor Metal

June 16, 2005
1pm EDT

Hey everyone,

At 5:15pm Eastern (23:15 CET) during tomorrow's radio show, I'll be talking to Henning Pauly, the mastermind behind FRAMESHIFT. You can send questions for him to metalmeltdownshow [@] mac.com or by using the contact form. Don't forget to tune in live at www.wruw.org.

We'll be discussing the second Frameshift album, An Absence of Empathy, which features Sebastian Bach on vocals. I've been listening to the album a lot recently. If you're looking for a balls-to-the-wall metal album, Frameshift 2 isn't going to do much for you. The album has a wide variety of sounds and styles on it, and I think that's why I like it so much. It's without a doubt Baz's best performance in many, many years.

As some of you know, especially if you're keeping up with all the he-said/she-said stuff on Blabbermouth, there's a big dispute between Sebastian and Henning over songwriting credits, with Baz claiming that he wasn't credited properly on the album. I'm sure Henning and I will discuss that during our interview, and I've emailed Baz to see if he'd like to come on the air sometime to give his side of the story as well.

It seems like so much of the talk about Frameshift 2 has centered around this dispute, which is a real shame since it's one of the better albums I've heard this year. There are a couple songs that I just can't get enough of.

In other news, I chatted with Mike Baker from SHADOW GALLERY on last week's radio show, which you can download at WRUW's audio archive. I'll be posting the interview on the site sometime as well, since they only keep shows around for a week there.

Mike was calling to talk about the new Shadow Gallery album, Chapter V, which came out last week on InsideOut. It's a continuation of the story from Tyranny, which is one of my favorite prog metal albums ever. As any regular visitor knows, I usually stay away from the prog stuff, but Tyranny, Ayreon's Human Equation, and Dream Theater's Scenes from a Memory all get played quite often on my iPod. It's always good to talk to a fellow Alice Cooper fan. (Unfortunately, I can't say I'm liking his new one, Dirty Diamonds, very much so far.)

I haven't spent as much time listening to Chapter V as I should, but so far I like it. Any fan of the material on Tyranny will probably enjoy it. I'll be talking to Mike and some of the other guys from SHADOW GALLERY on the air again sometime soon.

- Doctor Metal

May 29, 2005
Noon EDT

Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth and Demons & Wizards called in to yesterday's radio show, and we chatted for about an hour. I'm in the process of editing a higher-quality recording of the interview, but in the meantime you can swing over to WRUW's website and download the audio archive.

Jon spent a good deal of time talking about his plans for Iced Earth, but we did discuss the new Demons & Wizards album in the second half of the end of the interview. For those of you downloading the full show archive, the interview begins about 50 minutes into it.

Next week, I'm scheduled to interview Zak Stevens of Circle II Circle. Their new album is called The Middle of Nowhere and is out on AFM Records.

- Doctor Metal

May 27, 2005
7:00am EDT

Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth and Demons & Wizards will be calling into the radio show this afternoon at 5pm Eastern (11pm CET). You can tune in live at www.wruw.org. Also, feel free to send questions for Jon by using the contact link above or by sending email to metalmeltdownshow [@] mac.com.

Last week's interview was postponed, so please tune in today and send any questions if you have them.

- Doctor Metal

Download yesterday's radio show. It's 2 hours of mostly new metal (Megadeth, Rammstein, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, and more) and interviews. I talked to both Timo Kotipelto (ex-Stratovarius, Kotipelto) and Andy B. Franck (Brainstorm, Symphorce), who are both in Atlanta for this weekend's ProgPower festival.

Timo of course talks about his future plans, which don't seem to really include Stratovarius. His version of things is that things are on hold and that Tolkki has not been in touch with him at all recently. I've heard rumors to the contrary (to the effect that Kotipelto's already on board for another album), but those are just rumors right now.

Andy didn't have much time to chat since he was wandering the streets of Atlanta looking for a train back to the hotel, but I got the basics about his plans for the next year and such. He says they'll be playing "Amarillo" in tonight's set (one of my favorite cover songs).

Right now I just have the full audio for yesterday's show available, but I'll be editing out the interviews and posting them separately sometime in the next 24 hours.

In yesterday's show, I mentioned some news about Zak Stevens of Savatage injuring his finger and not being able to participate in the performance with Chris Caffery and Jon Oliva down at ProgPower. Here's the press release from the festival promoter/organizer:

Zak Stevens has been forced to withdraw from his appearance with Weapons of Mass Destruction at ProgPower USA this weekend. As reported in the media earlier, Stevens suffered an injury to his hand that has required multiple surgeries to date. He will remain hospitalized until next week on intravenous medications. "Obviously, I'm disappointed that Zak can't make it, but his health is far more important" stated Promoter Glenn Harveston. Weapons of Mass Destruction's appearance will go on as planned, but with some major changes. Vocalist Jon Oliva said, "People are going to need a plastic surgeon to remove the smile from their faces after this. We have some very special stuff planned including songs that we haven't performed live in over twenty years. It's time to go old school with Chris and Doc." Chris Caffery added, "We wish Zak the best and feel really bad for him. We know he is very disappointed, but his health comes first. The fans can still expect one hell of a show with some major twists."

Anyone down in Atlanta reading this? If so, send in an update about last night's performances (especially Jon Oliva singing all the classics - how's his voice?) to metalmeltdownshow [@] mac.com. Thanks.

Speaking of Savatage-related program activities, Jon Oliva has a new album coming out soon. He's doing his solo stuff under the name of Jon Oliva's Pain. The album is called 'Tage Mahal, and it will be released by SPV on October 25th in Europe and in the US on the 26th. You can find samples from 4 songs on his website. I hope to get my hands on a promo soon.

Also, Chris Caffery has a solo album coming out featuring him doing guitars and vocals. Black Lotus Records has released his 5-song EP entitled The Mold in Europe. The End Records will supposedly be carrying it, but I don't it listed on their site yet. There are samples of the songs on the Chris Caffery website, so check those out.

Finally, the new Trans-Siberian Orchestra album, The Lost Christmas Eve, will be out on October 12th here in the US. No samples yet, but I hope to have a promo and do some interviews soon for it. It's the last part of their Christmas trilogy. In addition, they've just announced the tour dates for this winter. It looks like they're starting a couple weeks earlier than usual (November 10th or so), and they're now playing big arenas in most cities. Their success has been nothing short of astounding when you consider that the first album came out in 1996 with very little fanfare, and their biggest song had already been released on Savatage's Dead Winter Dead. So, congrats to all those guys for the success. I'm really looking forward to the new album and to talking to them again. Here's the cover for the album, by the way. I love it since it includes the guitar from the Streets album:

(click the cover to preorder from amazon.com)

- Doctor Metal

Sean from Texas identified the speaker of the following quote as none other than George H.W. Bush. He said it in 1999 in a speech to Gulf War veterans. Thanks to the Rude Pundit for the great find. It's amazing that we haven't seen this used in a commercial yet. No longer must anyone wonder why our Fearless Leader didn't consult his daddy before playing cowboy and taking us into Baghdad.

Had we gone into Baghdad -- we could have done it, you guys could have done it, you could have been there in 48 hours -- and then what? Which sergeant, which private, whose life would be at stake in perhaps a fruitless hunt in an urban guerilla war to find the most-secure dictator in the world? Whose life would be on my hands as the commander-in-chief because I, unilaterally, went beyond the international law, went beyond the stated mission, and said we're going to show our macho? We're going into Baghdad. We're going to be an occupying power -- America in an Arab land -- with no allies at our side. It would have been disastrous.

- Doctor Metal

The first person to identify the speaker/year of the following quote wins a free CD.

Had we gone into Baghdad -- we could have done it, you guys could have done it, you could have been there in 48 hours -- and then what? Which sergeant, which private, whose life would be at stake in perhaps a fruitless hunt in an urban guerilla war to find the most-secure dictator in the world? Whose life would be on my hands as the commander-in-chief because I, unilaterally, went beyond the international law, went beyond the stated mission, and said we're going to show our macho? We're going into Baghdad. We're going to be an occupying power -- America in an Arab land -- with no allies at our side. It would have been disastrous.

- Doctor Metal

The link to last week's radio show has been corrected. However, due to an error in the archiving of the show, you can only download 1 hour of the 2-hour show right now. I'm working on getting that corrected and hope to have the other hour available for download soon.

Also, some info about this week's show - I should have members of Brainstorm and Edguy calling in from ProgPower in Atlanta. I unfortunately will be stuck here in Cleveland, but it should be pretty cool to get back into doing live interviews again now that the equipment is in place and in working order. If you have any questions for either band, submit them here.

A note about my email address - I'm moving away from anything with the @metalmeltdown.com address. The simple reason is that I get over 250 pieces of spam everyday along with another 10-15 pieces of metal-related spam/newsletters, and even the great filter Apple provides on its Mail program can't catch them all.

If you need to reach me by email, contact METALMELTDOWNSHOW [@] MAC.COM. I won't put a direct link, because the last thing I need is more spam.

New Releases

1) The new Megadeth album rocks. I hated Risk and didn't think much of The World Needs a Hero either. I was ready to write off the band for dead (and actually respecting Dave for showing some mercy on the fans by ending things before they got too ugly), but then Dave returned with The System Has Failed, which hit stores here in the US yesterday. Buy it. It's their best album since Youthanasia. If you haven't moved on from Rust in Peace or Peace Sells, chances are you're not going to think much of this new one. It's catchy and commercial in some places, but it is heavy. I dig it, and it'll be the Album of the Month for September once I get the graphic and a review up there. Dave Mustaine earns two thumbs up from me for coming back from the dead with a quality album that I as a longtime Megadeth fan can be proud of.

2) The next Angra album sounds pretty good. It won't be out for a couple more months (I think), but it's out on the net now. It sounds like they've opted for more of a straightforward, Gamma Ray-like power metal style. I don't know that I'd recognize them as Angra after hearing some of these songs, but it seems like a really good album from what I've heard of it. Lots of guest appearances too, by the way.

3) The new Dio album, Master of the Moon, rocks. Yeah, most of the stuff he's done over the last 20 years sounds the same (and that's why we love him), but this album really is good stuff. His voice sounds great, and fans will not be disappointed.

4) For any of you looking for something non-metal but still good, check out Bowling for Soup's new album, A Hangover You Don't Deserve. I first heard them on the Metal Sludge compilation (doing "The Bitch Song") and then heard "1985," the single from this new album. Most of their songs are pretty funny, which is a nice change from the sappy, whiny, stupid lyrics of many bands in the genre. I don't know the technical term for the genre, but take your pick - punk rock, hard rock, pop, whatever.

Politics

For any of you who might be annoyed by my support of John Kerry and Democrats in general this fall, screw you. I'm not going to sit idly by while a bunch of nuts run this country for another 4 years. As it is, we young people are going to be paying for 4 years of the Bush administration's policies for a long time to come. It's scary to think what these guys would do with 4 more years, especially when none of them would need to worry about getting reelected.

Let's review those 4 years, by the way - Iraq is a complete and total mess (and one we didn't need to get into), the guy who was responsible for 9/11 (Bin Laden - I'll name him since our Fearless Leader hasn't had the balls to speak his name for a long time in public) is still running around somewhere, there are more terrorists now than there were before we started this "war on terror," the number of people living in poverty is on the rise, jobs still aren't being created (not a single net job will have been created by the end of his 4-year term) and many are on the way out of this country for good, health care costs are going through the roof, the environment is being neglected at best (ruined at worst), oil prices keep skyrocketing, and the tax burden has been shifted more and more to the middle class while the richest people in this country have been given huge tax breaks (what has the President and his wife done with their $200,000 tax cut (or whatever it was) to help this economy?). Two words to sum up Bush's tenure as President: MISERABLE FAILURE.

If you're not registered to vote here in the US, you must do so in most cases 30 days prior to the election. You can find the form which is appropriate for your state at www.howardstern.com.

Expect much more in the coming weeks here at metalmeltdown.com and on the Metal Meltdown Show. Needless to say, I think this is the most important election we as citizens have faced here in the United States for a long, long time. I tried to argue as much in 2000, but no one seemed to think there was a difference between Gore and Bush. I hope that we as American citizens don't make that mistake again. Get out to vote on November 2nd. Don't forget it!

For news junkies or just those of you who are curious about learning more about this election (and politics in general), here is my favorite political site which I check out on a daily basis:

atrios.blogspot.com

There's enough there to get you started. I'll throw out some more recommendations in the next few days.

- Doctor Metal

I've made my two most recent radio shows available for download. You'll hear new music from Megadeth, Steel Attack, Jag Panzer, Silent Force, Rhapsody, and many, many more.

Remember, the show is now on live every Friday afternoons from 4:30-6:30pm Eastern (22:30-00:30 CET). Tune in live at www.wruw.org and request songs here.

- Doctor Metal

The radio show is still on the air, but its new time for the rest of 2004 is Friday afternoons from 4:30-6:30pm Eastern (22:30-00:30 CET). Tune in at www.wruw.org and request songs here.

More later today (playlists for recent shows, etc) - just wanted to let you know about the time change for the show. I'm hoping to start up the weekly live interviews on the show again, too. With luck, I'll have a few bands calling in from ProgPower next weekend. More on that as I get more info.

- Doctor Metal

I'm filling in for another DJ this week and several other weeks over the next 2 months. I'll be on today from 3-5pm EDT (21:00-23:00 CET). That's only one hour away. Tune in at www.wruw.org and request songs here.

- Doctor Metal

I'm back from Italy and will be returning to the airwaves today. Ace, who does the metal show before me, needs to leave early, so I'll be on from 3-5:30pm Eastern today (21:00-23:30). Tune in at www.wruw.org.

Also, check out some archived shows I just posted. More updates to come this weekend.

- Doctor Metal

I'm heading off to Italy and will be back on July 12th. If you need anything, email me, but it might take awhile for me to respond.

Check out the new contest here and also the Kotipelto interview MP3.

Take care, and stay metal!

- Doctor Metal

Heads up to everyone that I interviewed Timo Kotipelto late Wednesday afternoon (after he and I both finished watching the Germany/Czech Republic matchup in Euro 2004), and I'll be posting that sometime on Thursday. In addition, I have some other updates coming out, including a new contest and updated links, release dates, and so forth. I'm heading off to Italy on Saturday for 2 weeks, during which time I may or may not be able to do some updates. So my plan is to get some things taken care of before I leave.

In the meantime, do yourself a favor and go take a look at Lordi's website at www.lordi.org. I love these dudes. They have two quality albums out now, Get Heavy and The Monsterican Dream. They're hard to get here in the US, but if you're in Europe it seems they can be gotten at least on import from Germany or Finland. In any case, just take a look at the pictures of the band and the band's videos, especially Blood Red Sandman. Visually, they seem to be a mix of Gwar and Kiss. Musically, they're a pretty cheesy, old-school type metal/hard rock band. I highly recommend them.

I'll be back soon with that Kotipelto interview, which was good and fun as usual.

- Doctor Metal

First off, download the new radio show to hear my interview with Andy B. Franck, singer of Brainstorm and Symphorce, who was here in Cleveland to take part in the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles festival. The first half of the show features the interview (starts about 6 minutes into the show), while the second half of the show has a ton of new music, including tracks from Dark Tranquillity, After Forever, Therion, Beyond the Embrace, and others.

For pictures of Andy and me at the radio station on the air, click below:

Doctor Metal and Andy B. Franck (on the air)
Doctor Metal and Andy B. Franck (lobby)

This past weekend, I saw the North American debuts of both Brainstorm and Grave Digger (also saw Doro, but she's been here several times of course), and I'm sure many of you are curious about what the shows were like and want my impressions.

I've been fan of Grave Digger since 1998 when I heard Knights of the Cross and Tunes of War, so it goes without saying that I was pretty excited about seeing them live. They played a set which included some of my favorites, such as Son of Evil, The Grave Digger, Excalibur, Morgan Le Fay, and of course Heavy Metal Breakdown. The definite highlight of the night was Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching), which is probably my absolute favorite GD song.

While it was exciting to see these guys, I don't think they did a very good job of interacting with the crowd. Manni more or less stood there like a statue, though the guy plays a mean guitar, that's for sure. I dunno, their performance just didn't get me very fired up beyond the excitement of seeing the band for the first time.

Brainstorm, on the other hand, put on an incredible performance, and I was quite impressed. Much of that I think was due to Andy's energy and charisma on stage, but the band as a whole seemed to be having a very good time up there. Andy definitely was enjoying himself, and the crowd loved him. He really sang his ass off. He's been talking about the Cleveland show as a "dream come true" for so long, and that's definitely the impression he gave everyone in the audience that night. Their set lasted for nearly an hour due to some last minute rescheduling (which unfortunately meant they began one hour earlier than expected).

I'm off to physical therapy now (knee is healing fairly ok for those of you who are interested), but I'll be back later with some more updates.

- Doctor Metal

A couple days late, but here are the results of the Ayreon contest. 146 visitors voted in the contest, and the actual number of CDs was...918!

First Place: Octavio (Curitiba, Brazil) - guessed 923
Second Place: Dale (Amherst, Ohio, USA) - guessed 924
Third Place: Mick and Sharon (Bentley, Walsall, England) - guessed 923
Fourth Place: Nicolas (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - guessed 907

Thanks to all who participated, and thanks especially to the kind folks at InsideOut for donating the great Ayreon - The Human Equation prizes. If you didn't win the contest, pick up this album. It's definitely in my Top 3 of 2004 right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if it takes Album of the Year when all is said and done. It's one of those albums which only gets better with each listen. Sadly, that's not a statement that can be made very often these days with all the disposable and easily forgotten CDs which get released month after month. Trust me on this one.

On another note, many of you are probably wondering where the hell I've been for the past couple weeks and why I haven't updated. While there are a variety of things involved, my main reason for staying away from the computer and being out of it is that I went ahead and had knee surgery last week to repair the meniscal tear I mentioned a while back. The knee is recovering well, but it's still fairly uncomfortable for me to sit at my desk, and so I spend most of my time at home either in my recliner or lying in bed. Also, summer vacation begins for me in just about 10 days, and you can expect big updates at that point.

In the meantime, look for a new contest later today (Friday) in which you'll have a shot at winning one of 3 new great releases from Noise Records here in the USA: Cans - Beyond the Gates, Dragonforce - Sonic Firestorm, or The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed. There should be a contest here on the site every month or even more frequently, so don't go anywhere!

Next week, the Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles festival is going on here in Cleveland. If you're going to be in town for it, let me know. I imagine there will be a few special guests on the June 5th edition of the Metal Meltdown Show (at its new time for the summer of 3:30-5:30pm Eastern), and at the very least I'll be doing some in-person interviews with various bands. If you're unfamiliar with this festival, this year's lineup is pretty damn cool and features Grave Digger, Brainstorm, Doro, Primal Fear, and Metal Church (well, some of it), to mention a few. There are still tickets left from what I understand, and check out www.bravewords.com for more information.

Finally, if you're in Italy and know of any good shows or anything else to do between June 27th and July 12th, let me know. I'm going to be in Verona for a few days and then will be in Rome for most of that time. If you're in Rome and just want to grab a beer, that'd be cool too.

- Doctor Metal

As you can see, I've posted a special Ayreon - The Human Equation contest/giveaway. It's only going on for 2 weeks, so get your entry in right away. At stake are some nice packages, including the grand prize of an Ayreon t-shirt, CD, and EP. Big, big thanks to InsideOut for the hookup on the giveaways.

Although I haven't been commenting on CDs lately, I need to tell you that The Human Equation is a must-buy. It's one of the best CDs I've heard this year, a true masterpiece. I got the promo a week ago and heard it on the net long before that, and I've played it more frequently than any other album on my iPod for the past month or so, and it honestly gets better and better with each listen. Fans of the show/site know of my general distaste for most things prog, but this is really different. I love this album.

So, do yourself a favor, and enter the contest to win The Human Equation. The contest runs from now through May 24th, the day of the European release, and I'll announce the winners on the 25th.

Also, some of the results of the 2003 Readers' Poll have been posted. I'll announce winners when I get confirmation by email.

- Doctor Metal

There's a new radio show available for download. More tracks from some of the releases I played last week, like Dragonforce, Cans, and Debase. Also, I played a track from the new Ayreon masterpiece, The Human Equation.

I'm exhausted, but I'll be back later today with some updates.

- Doctor Metal

Hello all. I'm happy to report that the new computer (eMac) arrived, and I've now transferred most everything over from the Powerbook. Look out for regular updates from this day on. To start that off, check out the new radio show from Saturday. I played a ton of new stuff, including Dream Evil, Debase, Dragonforce, Norther, and Frost.

I'll be posting the Iced Earth (Ripper Owens) interview on Friday night, and expect several other new things over the weekend. I'll be doing a ton of interviews in the next two weeks and also running two contests. Keep checking this site for your chance to win copies of the new Ayreon, Cans, or Dragonforce album. All of them are awesome, by the way.

In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that I'll be speaking to Arjen Lucassen next weekend (one week away). If you have questions, please use this form to send them.

- Doctor Metal

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