Megadeth

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Background information Origin Genre(s) USA Thrash metal Speed metal Heavy metal

Years active 19832002 2004present Label(s) Combat Records (19841986) Capitol Records (19862000) Sanctuary Records (20012006) Roadrunner Records (2006Present) Metallica Cacophony Damn the Machine Eidolon www.megadeth.com Members Dave Mustaine Glen Drover Shawn Drover James LoMenzo Former members David Ellefson Marty Friedman Nick Menza Gar Samuelson (deceased) Chris Poland Chuck Behler Jeff Young

Associated acts

Website

Jimmy DeGrasso Al Pitrelli James MacDonough

Megadeth is an American heavy metal band led by founder, frontman, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. Formed in 1983 following Mustaine's ejection from Metallica, the band has since released ten studio albums, three EP's, and two live albums. As a pioneer of the American thrash metal movement, Megadeth rose to international fame in the 1980s, but were plagued by constant lineup changes, due in part to Mustaine's notorious substance abuse problems. After finding sobriety and securing a stable lineup, Megadeth went on to release a string of platinum and gold albums, including the Grammy nominated, multi-platinum Countdown to Extinction in 1992. Megadeth disbanded in 2002 after Mustaine suffered a severe nerve injury to his left arm, but following extensive physical therapy, Mustaine reformed the band in 2004 and released The System Has Failed, which debuted at #18 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Megadeth is known for their distinctive guitar style, often involving complex, intricate musical passages, and trade off guitar solos. Mustaine is also known for his original "snarling" vocal style, as well as his recurring lyrical themes, often involving politics, war, addiction, and more recently, relationships. As one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands of all time, Megadeth has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, including five consecutive platinum albums, with seven consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance. In their 21 active years, Megadeth has had 18 official members, with Mustaine remaining as the driving force, main songwriter, and sole original member. Megadeth is often mentioned as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer.

Contents
[hide]

1 History o 1.1 Early years o 1.2 Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good o 1.3 Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? o 1.4 So Far, So Good... So What! o 1.5 Rust In Peace o 1.6 Countdown to Extinction o 1.7 Youthanasia o 1.8 Cryptic Writings o 1.9 Risk o 1.10 The World Needs a Hero o 1.11 The System Has Failed

1.12 Gigantour 1.13 United Abominations 2 Lyrical themes 3 Controversy 4 Legacy o 4.1 Popular culture 5 Discography o 5.1 Studio albums 6 Members o 6.1 Session musicians 7 Notes
o o

8 External links

[edit] History
[edit] Early years
In the summer of 1983, just a few months after lead guitarist Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica due to alcohol problems, drug abuse and personality conflicts,[1] Mustaine, bassist David Ellefson, guitarist Greg Handevidt, and drummer Dijon Carruthers formed Megadeth. Mustaine later said, "After getting fired from Metallica, all I remember is that I wanted blood. Theirs. I wanted to be faster, and heavier than them".[2] Fueled by the desire for revenge,[3] Mustaine elevated the intensity of Megadeth's music, speeding up existing songs such as "Mechanix", which was previously performed with Metallica at a much slower pace. After unsuccessfully searching for a vocalist for nearly six months, Mustaine decided to handle lead vocal duties himself, while also serving as the band's primary lyricist, main songwriter, and rhythm guitarist. Carruthers was soon replaced by drummer Lee Rausch, and guitarist Greg Handevidt left the band in late 1983 to form Kublai Khan. Early in 1984 Megadeth recorded a three song demo, featuring Mustaine, Ellefson, and Rausch, which contained early versions of "Last Rites/Loved to Death", (sample (helpinfo)) "Skull Beneath the Skin", and "Mechanix". Megadeth added second guitarist Kerry King (of Slayer fame), who would only be a temporary member, covering a handful of live dates while a permanent replacement was sought. After just a few shows in 1984, Lee Rausch was replaced by fusion drummer Gar Samuelson.[4] On the strength of their three song demo, Megadeth signed with the New York based independent label Combat Records, and in December added second guitarist Chris Poland, a friend of Gar's from the fusion scene.

[edit] Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good

Megadeth, 1986: Chris Poland, Dave Mustaine, Gar Samuelson, David Ellefson Early in 1985, the band were given $8,000 by Combat Records to record and produce their debut album.[2] However, after spending half of that budget on drugs and alcohol, the band was forced to fire their original producer and produce the album themselves.[2] Despite the resulting poor production, Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, released in May 1985, was a well-received effort that blended elements of thrash, speed metal and punk rock.[5][6] The album features the first of many cover songs performed by Megadeth; a speed metal version of Nancy Sinatra's classic "These Boots Are Made For Walking" (sample (helpinfo)), with lyrics altered by Mustaine. The song sparked controversy in later years when the song's original author, Lee Hazlewood, deemed Mustaine's changes to be "vile and offensive",[2] and demanded that the song be removed from the album. Under threat of legal action, the song was removed from all pressings released after 1995. In 2002, however, the album was re-released with a partial version of the song, though with the altered lyrics censored by a "beep". In the Killing Is My Business.. deluxe edition liner notes, Mustaine is strongly critical of Hazlewood, and notes he received royalties for almost 10 years before objecting to the altered version.[2] In the summer of 1985, the group toured the United States and Canada for the first time, supporting Killing Is My Business... with Exciter. During the tour, new guitarist Chris Poland abruptly left the band, and was replaced by touring guitarist Mike Albert.[4] Poland later rejoin Megadeth in October 1985 however, shortly before they began work on their second album with Combat Records.

[edit] Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Megadeth's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, released in 1986 Originally completed in March 1986, Megadeth's second album again suffered from Combat Records' small recording budget, and the band was initially unhappy with the final mixed product. Frustrated by the small independent label's financial insufficiencies, Megadeth signed to major label Capitol Records, who also bought the rights to the new album. Capitol hired producer Andy Somers to remix the recordings, and in November 1986, more than a year after recording began, Capitol released Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?.[4] The album marked Megadeth's commercial and critical breakthrough,[7] eventually selling more than a million copies in the US alone. Considered to be a landmark thrash metal album, All Music Guide cited Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? as "One of the most influential metal albums of its decade, and certainly one of the few truly definitive thrash albums".[8] The album's title track "Peace Sells" (sample (helpinfo)) was chosen to be the bands first music video, receiving regular airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball. "Peace Sells" ranked #11 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs[9] and the opening bassline was used for years as the theme for MTV News. Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? was the first Megadeth album to feature art by Ed Repka, who redesigned the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead to the current standard, and designed much of the bands artwork in later years. In February 1987 Megadeth was added as the opening band on Alice Cooper's Constrictor tour, followed by a brief tour supporting Mercyful Fate in the US. In March of that year, Megadeth began their first world tour as a headlining act in the United Kingdom, which featured support bands Overkill and Necros.[4]
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After years of problems stemming from substance abuse, both Gar Samuelson and Chris Poland were fired from Megadeth in July 1987, following the final show of the tour in Hawaii. Mustaine claimed that Samuelson had become too much to handle when intoxicated, and even had replacement drummer Chuck Behler flown out for the last few dates of the tour, fearing that Samuelson would not be able to finish with the band's

commitments.[10] Mustaine claimed that Poland had sold band equipment to fund his increasing drug habit, detailed in the song "Liar", which is also dedicated to Poland. He was initially replaced by Jay Reynolds of Malice, but as the band began work on their next album, Reynolds was replaced by his own guitar teacher Jeff Young, who joined Megadeth six weeks into the recording of their third album.[10]

[edit] So Far, So Good... So What!

With a major label recording budget, and producer Paul Lani behind the desk, Megadeth spent five months recording their third album, So Far, So Good... So What!. The recording process was again plagued with problems from the beginning, due in part to Mustaine's ongoing battle with addiction. Mustaine later said: "The production (of So Far, So Good...) was horrible, mostly due to substances and the priorities we had or didn't have at the time".[11] Mustaine also clashed with producer Paul Lani, beginning with Lani's insistence that the drums be recorded separate from the cymbals (an unheard of process for rock drummers).[12] During the mixing process, Mustaine and Lani had a falling out, and Lani was replaced by producer Michael Wagener, who remixed the album.[11]

Megadeth in 1988, Chuck Behler, David Ellefson, Jeff Young, Dave Mustaine In January 1988 Megadeth released So Far, So Good... So What!, and while the album was eventually certified platinum in the US, it was initially panned by critics, with All Music Guide complaining that the album "lacked conceptual unity and musical bite", and that it "wants to sound threatening but mostly comes off as forced and somewhat juvenile".[13] So Far, So Good... featured the single "In My Darkest Hour", (sample (helpinfo)) with music written by Mustaine as a tribute to fallen Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. The song remains a fan favorite, and has been performed at nearly every Megadeth show since. So Far, So Good... also featured a cover verson of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK", with lyrics altered by Mustaine (who later admitted to hearing them wrong).[12] In June 1988, Megadeth appeared in Penelope Spheeris' documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years, which chronicled the Los Angeles heavy metal

scene of the late 1980s, mostly focusing on glam metal. The video for In My Darkest Hour was filmed by Spheeris (who also directed the "Wake Up Dead" and "Anarchy in the UK" videos), and appears in the final scene of the movie. In Megadeth's 1991 Rusted Pieces VHS, Mustaine recalls the movie as a disappointment, which aligned Megadeth with "a bunch of shit bands".[14] Megadeth began their world tour in support of So Far, So Good... opening for Dio in Europe in February 1988, later joining Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son summer tour in the US. Noticing problems developing with drummer Chuck Behler, Mustaine brought drummer Nick Menza in to act as Behler's drum technician. As with Gar Samuelson before him, Menza was to be ready to take over for Behler in the event that he could not continue with the tour.[15] In August 1988, Megadeth appeared at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donnington in the UK, alongside Kiss, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, and David Lee Roth, performing to an audience of more than 100,000 people. The band was soon added to the "Monsters of Rock" European tour, but dropped out after the first show. Shortly after that appearance, Mustaine fired both Chuck Behler and guitarist Jeff Young, and cancelled their scheduled 1988 Australian tour. "On the road, things escalated from a small border skirmish into a full-on raging war" he lated recalled, "I think a lot of us were inconsistent (on the 1988 tour) because of the guy we were waiting for after the show".[16] In July 1989, Nick Menza was hired to replace Behler on the drums. Unable to find a suitable lead guitarist in time, Megadeth recorded a cover version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (sample (helpinfo)) as a three piece band. The version later appeared on the soundtrack to the 1989 Wes Craven horror movie Shocker. While the band was holding auditions for the new lead guitarist in the summer of 1989, Mustaine was arrested for driving while intoxicated and possession of narcotics, having crashed into a parked vehicle occupied by an off-duty police officer. He entered court ordered rehab soon after, and got sober for the first time in ten years.[4]

[edit] Rust In Peace

Megadeth's Rust in Peace, released in 1990

Following Mustaine's new found sobriety, Megadeth enlisted lead guitarist Marty Friedman, who had played in Cacophony with Jason Becker, and released a solo album on Shrapnel Records called Dragon's Kiss. Friedman was initially rejected by Mustaine for having multicolored hair, but after undergoing what Mustaine called "Rock Star 101", Friedman officially joined Megadeth in February 1990.[17] A revitalized Megadeth entered Rumbo Studios in March 1990 with co-producer Mike Clink to begin work on what would become their biggest selling album to date, Rust In Peace. For the first time in their career, the band worked sober in the studio, alleviating many of the problems faced recording previous albums. Clink was also the first producer to successfully produce a Megadeth album from start to finish, without being fired.[18] Released worldwide on September 24, 1990, Rust In Peace was a hit with fans and critics alike, debuting at #23 on the Billboard Top 200 in the US, and #8 in the UK.[19] The album showcased a much tighter sound, with Mustaine's writing style adopting a rhythmically complex progressive edge, prompting All Music Guide to cite Rust in Peace as "Megadeth's strongest musical effort".[11] The album featured the singles "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", (sample (helpinfo)) and "Hangar 18", (sample (helpinfo)) both of which received music videos, and remain live staples. Rust in Peace went on to sell more than a million copies in the US, and received Grammy nominations in 1991 and 1992 for Best Metal Performance.[20]
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In September 1990 Megadeth joined Slayer, Testament and Suicidal Tendencies for the European "Clash of the Titans" tour, and in October, they were added as the opening band on Judas Priest's Painkiller tour, culminating with a performance to 140,000 people in January 1991 at Rock in Rio 2 festival in Brazil. Following the success of the European tour, a "Clash of the Titans" US tour began in May 1991, featuring Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and opener Alice in Chains. In July, Megadeth's "Go To Hell" (sample (helpinfo)) was featured on the Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack, and shortly after "Breakpoint" was featured on the Super Mario Bros soundtrack. In 1991 Megadeth also released their first home video, Rusted Pieces, which contained all six of the band's music videos, along with a video interview with the band.

[edit] Countdown to Extinction

Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction, 1992 In January 1992, Megadeth entered Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California with coproducer Max Norman. Norman, who had mixed Rust in Peace, would be integral in Megadeth's resulting musical makeover, pushing for shorter, less complicated, radiofriendly songs.[21] The band spent four months in the studio with Norman, writing and recording what would become Megadeth's most commercially successful effort, Countdown to Extinction. The album was the first to feature writing contributions from each band member, and was even named by drummer Nick Menza.[22] On July 14, 1992, Capitol Records released Countdown to Extinction. The album was an instant hit, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts in the US, and #5 in the UK.[23] Anchored by the Mainstream Rock hits "Symphony of Destruction" (#29), sample (helpinfo) "Foreclosure of a Dream" (#30), and "Sweating Bullets" (#27),[24] the album quickly went double platinum in the US, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1993.[20] The album's title song, "Countdown to Extinction" also gave Megadeth the distinction of being the only metal band to ever win the "Doris Day Music Award", presented to the band by the Humane Society of the United States in 1993 for "spotlighting species destruction and the horrific 'sport' of canned hunts".[25] The band released their second home video Exposure of a Dream, in November 1992, continuing in a similar to fashion to Rusted Pieces, the release featured all music videos previously released from Countdown. Megadeth began their world tour in support of Countdown to Extinction in December 1992 with Pantera and Suicidal Tendencies, followed by a North American tour beginning in January 1993 with Stone Temple Pilots. Just one month into the North American tour, however, the band were forced to cancel all remaining shows, including dates scheduled in Japan, as Mustaine again fell into substance abuse, and ended up in the hospital emergency room.[26] After a seven week stint in rehab, Mustaine emerged clean once again, and the band returned to the studio to record "Angry Again", (sample (helpinfo)) a song which was featured in the 1993 film Last Action Hero, and later nominated for a Grammy in 1994.[20] In June 1993 Megadeth returned to the stage, appearing as "special guests" at Metallica's Milton Keynes Bowl Festival, marking the first time the former bandmates played the same stage in ten years. The pairing prompted Mustaine's on stage announcement that "The ten years of bull is over between Metallica and Megadeth!", although problems would later resurface between the long-feuding camps.[27] In July, Megadeth was added as

the opening act for Aerosmith's Get A Grip US tour, but due to contractual disputes, and on stage remarks made by Mustaine about Aerosmith's "advancing" age, Megadeth was removed from the tour after just seven dates.[28]
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Following their cancelled US tour, Megadeth returned to the studio to record "99 Ways to Die", (sample (helpinfo)) a song that appeared on The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience, a compilation album featuring songs intercut with commentary by Beavis and Butt-head, released in November 1993. The song was later nominated for a Grammy in 1995 for Best Metal Performance.[20]

[edit] Youthanasia
Early in 1994, Megadeth again teamed up with co-producer Max Norman to begin work on the follow up to Countdown to Extinction. With three members of the band now residing in Arizona, initial work began at Phase Four Studios in Phoenix. A few days into pre-production, problems with Phase Four's equipment forced the band to seek out an alternative studio. Mustaine, however, insisted on recording at his home state of Arizona, and no suitable recording facility could be found in time. At the request of co-producer Norman, the band opted to construct their own recording studio inside of a rented warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona, later dubbed "Fat Planet in Hangar 18".[29] For the first time in their career, the band wrote and arranged the entire album in studio, and included basic tracks recorded live by the whole band at the same time.[30] Recording of the album was captured on video, and later released as Evolver: The Making of Youthanasia.

Megadeth's Youthanasia, 1994 Following eight months in the studio, Youthanasia was released on November 1, 1994, debuting at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the US.[23] The album was certified gold in Canada in just thirty minutes, and was certified platinum in the US faster than any other Megadeth album. With producer Max Norman still pushing for a slower, more commercial sound, Youthanasia followed the stylistic shift that began with

Countdown to Extinction.[31] While still retaining core metal elements, the album focused on stronger vocal melodies and more accessible, radio friendly arrangements.[32] The band even enlisted noted fashion photographer Richard Avedon to further their new image, dropping their jeans and t-shirts for more style conscious look.[30] A sticker on initial releases of Youthanasia advertised the then-new concept of a band website, affectionately known as "Megadeth, Arizona". Fans could chat in the "Megadiner", correspond with the band through email, request songs to be played live, and read columns and tour diaries written by band members.[33] Youthanasia's first single, "Train Of Consequences", reached #29 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts, and in November 1994, Megadeth appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, performing the album's second single, "A Tout Le Monde". (sample (helpinfo)) [33] "A Tout Le Monde" also received a music video, which was banned by MTV due to its lyrical content, thought to be a promotion of suicide.[29] Live support for Youthanasia began in South America in November 1994, and would span eleven months, becoming Megadeth's most extensive tour to date. The band were joined by Corrosion of Conformity in both Europe and the US, and Flotsam and Jetsam, Korn and Fear Factory in the US. The tour culminated with an appearance at the Monsters of Rock festival in Brazil, co-headlining alongside Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne. In January 1995, Megadeth appeared on the soundtrack to the horror film Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight with the song "Diadems". Megadeth also contributed a cover version of "Paranoid" (sample (helpinfo)) to Nativity in Black, the first Black Sabbath tribute album. The band's version of "Paranoid" was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for Best Metal Performance, Megadeth's sixth nomination in as many years.[20] In March 1995, Megadeth released a special edition of Youthanasia in Europe, containing a bonus disc entitled Hidden Treasures. The bonus disc featured every one-off song by Megadeth, from film soundtracks, compilations, and tribute albums, including a new recording of the Sex Pistols' "Problems". Due to fan demand, the bonus disc was released as its own EP in the United States and Japan in July 1995.

Megadeth in 1996, David Ellefson, Marty Friedman, Dave Mustaine, Nick Menza

[edit] Cryptic Writings

Following an extensive world tour in support of Youthanasia, Megadeth took time off late in 1995. Mustaine began work on MD.45, a side project with vocalist Lee Ving of Fear. The band underwent changes on the business side, signing with ESP Management, and hired a new "creative manager" Bud Prager, a previous manager of both Foreigner and Bad Company.[34] As with Max Norman before him, Prager would go on to be highly influential in shaping the direction of the band. He pushed Megadeth further into the "commercial rock" field, and convinced the band work with Nashville pop producer and former Giant guitarist Dann Huff.[35] In September 1996, Megadeth began working on songs for their next album in Nashville, tentatively titled Needles and Pins. The writing process was closely supervised by new manager Bud Prager, who also contributed musical ideas and lyrics to the songs. Many lyrics, and even song titles were changed at the request of Prager. Regarding Prager's writing influence, Mustaine later wrote "I figured maybe this guy (Prager) could help me get that intangible 'Number One' record I so badly wanted"[35] Due to a problem with the album's original artwork, the album cover was replaced with a "voodoo symbol", and renamed Cryptic Writings. The album features a lack of the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead in any artwork, sharing this quality with the albums Countdown to Extinction and Risk. On June 17, 1997, Capitol Records released Cryptic Writings. The album debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200,[23] and was Megadeth's fifth consecutive studio album to be certified gold in the United States.[36] Cryptic Writings scored Megadeth their highest charting single to date, the #5 Mainstream Rock Track, "Trust", (sample (helpinfo)) which was also nominated for a Best Metal Performance Grammy in 1998.[20] Press response to the album was mixed,[37][38][39] but the album would go on to score four top 20 Mainstream Rock Tracks, including "Almost Honest" (#8), "Use The Man" (#15), and "A Secret Place" (#19) sample (helpinfo).[24] When asked about the eclectic nature of the album, Mustaine later said "We divided it into thirds. One part of the record was really fast and aggressive, one third of it was the really melodic, in between stuff, and then the final third was really radio orientated music like Youthanasia".[40]
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After more than a year away from the stage, Megadeth returned as a live act in June 1997, beginning a world tour with The Misfits, and later touring in the United States with Life of Agony and Coal Chamber. In July Megadeth joined Ozzfest 98, but halfway through the tour, drummer Nick Menza discovered a tumor on his knee, and was forced to leave the tour to undergo surgery. He was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso, temporarily at first. Following the tour, however, DeGrasso replaced Menza permanently, after Mustaine claimed that Menza had "lied about having cancer".[41]

In 1998, computer game development company 3D Realms announced that they would be using two unreleased Megadeth tracks on their promotional album Duke Nukem: Music To Score By. First was a rendition of the Duke Nukem theme song "Grabbag", originally composed by Lee Jackson, and second was a Megadeth song originally recorded in 1995, "New World Order", which later appeared on the remastered edition of Youthanasia.

[edit] Risk
Following the band's first real radio success with Cryptic Writings, Megadeth opted to again work with country pop producer Dann Huff in Nashville on their eighth studio album, which began in January 1999. The writing of the album was again supervised by manager Bud Prager, credited with co-writing on five of the album's twelve songs.[42] Prager convinced Mustaine to grant producer Dan Huff more control over the recording process. "When it comes to Risk," Mustaine later wrote, "there'd been people in there playing and I wouldn't even know who they were or where the parts came from, and I'm not used to that. I was a little bit intimidated by the success we had with Cryptic Writings, so when it came to creating new material after that, it's like being "power-drunk" - you want more. After the success with "Trust", I thought to myself "wow, we've had a number one hit". We'd had four top five hits in a row, so why would I not want to give Dann even more control when it comes to the producing part on the next record? So I did, and it backfired".[43]

Megadeth's Risk, 1999 Released on August 31, 1999, Risk was both a critical and commercial failure, and led to a backlash from many longtime fans.[44][45][46][47] Although recent Megadeth albums had incorporated mainstream rock elements alongside a more traditional heavy metal sound, Risk was virtually devoid of metal, featuring instead dance, electronica, and disco influences.[44] Risk was Megadeth's first release since 1985 not to be certified gold or higher in the US.[36] The album's lead-off single, "Crush Em", (sample (helpinfo)) appeared on the Universal Soldier: The Return soundtrack, and later became an official NHL song, played during hockey games.[46] Megadeth began their world tour in support of Risk in September 1999, playing alongside Iron Maiden during the European leg. However, just two months into the tour, longtime

guitarist Marty Friedman left the band,[4] citing musical differences. As Mustaine later explained: "I told (Marty) after Risk that we had to go back to our roots and play metal, and he quit".[48] Megadeth enlisted guitarist Al Pitrelli, formerly of Savatage, Alice Cooper, and currently of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, as Friedman's replacement in January 2000.[4] The new line up recorded a cover version of the Black Sabbath song "Never Say Die", which appeared on the second Nativity in Black tribute album. Megadeth returned to the studio in April 2000, to begin work on their ninth studio release. However, one month into production the band was given the opportunity to join the "Maximum Rock" tour, alongside Anthrax and Mtley Cre. Megadeth put the recording on hold, and toured North America throughout the summer of 2000.[4] Megadeth and Capitol Records parted ways in October 2000, after fourteen years. The label returned the band's newest recordings, and in return released a greatest hits record, Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years. The album also featured two new tracks, "Kill the King", and "Dread and the Fugitive Mind", (sample (helpinfo)) both of which showcased the band's return to their metal roots following Risk.

[edit] The World Needs a Hero

In November 2000, Megadeth signed with new label Sanctuary Records. The band returned to the studio in October to put the finishing touches on their next album, which had been near completion before the band joined the "Maximum Rock" tour six months earlier. Following the overwhelming negative response to Risk,[49] Mustaine fired manager Bud Prager, and decided to self-produce Megadeth's next album. The World Needs a Hero, the first Megadeth album since Rust in Peace to be written entirely by Mustaine (with one contribution from Al Pitrelli on "Promises"), was released on May 15, 2001 to mixed reviews.[49][50] While the album marked a return to form following the attempted mainstream rock direction featured on Risk, some critics felt the album fell short of expectations.[51][52] Mustaine himself likened the album to be the first major turn of a huge ship at sea, trying to right itself and get back on course. The albums lead off single, "Moto-Psycho", (sample (helpinfo)) reached #22 on the Billboard Mainstram Rock charts,[24] also receiving regular airplay on VH1's Rock Show.

Megadeth in 2001, Al Pitrelli, Jimmy DeGrasso, David Ellefson, Dave Mustaine

Touring in support of The World Needs a Hero began in the summer of 2001 in Europe supporting AC/DC, followed by an American tour with Iced Earth and Endo in September. The tour was cut short however, following the attacks on America on September 11, the band were forced to cancel all scheduled dates, including a DVD shoot set in Argentina. Instead the band played two shows in Arizona in November, which were filmed and later released as Rude Awakening, Megadeth's first official live release. In February 2002, Mustaine remixed and remastered Megadeth's first album, Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, with vastly improved sound quality, and added bonus tracks.[4] In January 2002, Mustaine was admitted to the hospital to remove a kidney stone. While undergoing treatment, he was administered pain medication, which triggered a relapse. Following his hospital stay, he immediately checked himself into a treatment center in Texas.[53] While at the treatment center, Mustaine suffered a freak injury causing severe nerve damage to his left arm. The injury, induced by falling asleep with his left arm over the back of a chair, caused compression of the radial ulnar nerve. He was diagnosed with radial neuropathy, also known as Saturday Night Palsy, which left him unable to grasp or even make a fist with his left hand.[54] On April 3, 2002, Mustaine announced in a press release that he was disbanding Megadeth, officially due to his arm injury.[54] For the next four months, Mustaine underwent intense physical therapy five days a week.[53] Slowly, Mustaine began to play again, but was forced to "re-teach" his left hand. In order to fulfill contract obligations with Sanctuary Records, Megadeth released a posthumous compilation album, Still Alive... And Well? on September 10, 2002. The first half of the album contains live tracks recorded at the Web Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 17, 2001. The second half of the album contains studio recordings taken from The World Needs A Hero.

[edit] The System Has Failed

Following nearly a year of recovery, including physical and electric shock therapy,[55] Mustaine began work on what was to be his first solo album (not counting his MD.45 album). The new material was recorded with session musicians Vinnie Colaiuta and Jimmy Sloas in October 2003, but the project was put on hold when Mustaine agreed to remix and remaster Megadeth's eight album back catalog with Capitol Records. In addition to improving overall sound quality, Mustaine re-recorded some parts that were lost over time, or altered without his knowledge in the initial mixing process.

Megadeth's The System Has Failed, 2004 In May of 2004 Mustaine returned to his newest recordings, intended as a solo effort, but due to outstanding contractual obligations with the band's European label EMI, he was forced to release one more album under the "Megadeth" name.[56] Mustaine decided to reform the band, and contacted the fan favorite "Rust in Peace lineup" to re-record backing tracks on his latest songs. While drummer Nick Menza initially signed on, Marty Friedman and David Ellefson were both unable to come to an agreement with Mustaine. [56] Regarding longtime bassist Ellefson not returning to the band, Mustaine said: "David lied to me in the press, he said that my arm injury was fake, went around town and slandered me. We made him a really good offer (to rejoin the band) and he said no. I mean, if I give you an offer and you dont take it, it means no, right?"[55] The new album would be the first ever Megadeth recording not to feature Ellefson. To fill in for Friedman, Mustaine hired former guitarist Chris Poland to contribute guitar solos to the new album. Poland would only serve as a studio musician, however, as he opted to focus on his own jazz fusion project OHM. On September 13, 2004 Megadeth released their comeback album, The System Has Failed on Sanctuary Records in the US and EMI in Europe. Heralded as a return to form, [57] Revolver magazine gave the album four stars, calling The System Has Failed "Megadeths most vengeful, poignant and musically complex offering since Countdown To Extinction".[58] The album debuted on the Billboard pop albums chart at #18,[23] and was led by the single "Die Dead Enough", (sample (helpinfo)) which reached #21 on the US Mainstream Rock charts.[24] Mustaine announced that the album would be the band's last, followed by a farewell tour, after which he would focus on a solo career. Megadeth began the Blackmail the Universe world tour in October 2004, enlisting touring bassist James MacDonough (Iced Earth), and guitarist Glen Drover (Eidolon, King Diamond). While in rehearsal for the tour, newly returned drummer Nick Menza once again parted ways with the band, as he was unable to prepare for the physical demands of a full US tour.[59] He was replaced just five days before the first show by Shawn Drover, brother to new guitarist Glen Drover, and also a member of the Canadian thrash metal band Eidolon. The band toured the US with Exodus, and later in Europe with Diamond Head and Dungeon.[4]
Audio samples:

"Die Dead Enough" (file info) play in browser (beta) o "Die Dead Enough" - The System Has Failed, 2004 Problems playing the files? See media help.

In June 2005, Capitol Records released a greatest hits album to replace the now out of print Capitol Punishment, entitled Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, which featured the new remixed and remastered versions of songs from the first eight albums.[4]

[edit] Gigantour
In the summer of 2005, Mustaine organized an annual heavy metal festival tour, dubbed Gigantour. Megadeth headlined the inaugural run with Dream Theater, Anthrax, Fear Factory, Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore, Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex. Performances from the Montreal and Vancouver shows were filmed and recorded for a live DVD and CD, both of which were released in the summer of 2006.[4]

Megadeth take a bow at the Sauna Open Air Metal Festival in Tampere, Finland in June 2005. Left to right: Shawn Drover, James MacDonough, Dave Mustaine, Glen Drover. On October 9, 2005, following the successes of The System Has Failed and the Blackmail the Universe world tour, Mustaine announced on stage in Argentina to a sold out crowd at the Pepsi Music Rock Festival that Megadeth would continue to record and tour. In February, 2006 bass player James MacDonough parted ways with the band for what MacDonough called "personal differences".[60] He was replaced by bassist James Lomenzo, who had previously worked with David Lee Roth, White Lion and Black Label Society.[4] On March 16, 2006 the new Megadeth lineup made their live debut headlining the Dubai Desert Rock festival held in the United Arab Emirates, alongside Testament and 3 Doors Down. On March 21, 2006, Capitol Records released a two disc DVD titled Arsenal of Megadeth, which included archive footage, interviews, live shows, and many of the band's music videos. Due to licensing issues, movie soundtrack videos, as well as videos not released by Capitol Records were not included on the DVD.[4]

[edit] United Abominations

In May 2006 Megadeth announced that their eleventh studio album, entitled United Abominations was near completion. Originally scheduled for release by Roadrunner Records in October 2006, Mustaine announced in August 2006 that the band were "putting the finishing touches on it", and the album is now scheduled for a March 20, 2007 release.[61] United Abominations will be the band's first studio release to feature brothers Glen and Shawn Drover, as well as new bassist James Lomenzo. The album will feature a song titled Gears of War which was written for the Xbox game "Gears of War" as well as a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Out on the Tiles". On Jan. 8, 2007 Dave Mustaine announced the names of more songs:[citation needed]

Washington Is Next United Abominations Amerikhastan Blessed Are The Dead Never Walk Alone

2 more songs were introduced in a message posted on the Megadeth forums:

Sleepwalker Burnt Ice

[edit] Lyrical themes

As Megadeth's primary lyricist, Mustaine is known for his often controversial, political, and more recently, personal lyrics.[57] War and nuclear war are common topics, including the military-industrial complex ("Architecture of Aggression", "Hangar 18", "Take No Prisoners"), and the aftermath of war ("Ashes In Your Mouth"). The name Megadeth is a deliberate misspelling of the word megadeath, a term coined in 1953 by RAND military strategist Herman Kahn to describe one million deaths, popularized in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War.[62] Politics are also a common theme to many Megadeth songs,[57] [32] such as Mustaine's scathing assessment of Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and music censorship in the song "Hook In Mouth".[63] Mustaine takes an environmentalist stance in "Countdown to Extinction" and "Dawn Patrol",[64] and shuns dictators in songs like "Warhorse", and "Symphony of Destruction". Mustaine's general cynicism regarding politics shines through on tracks like "Peace Sells",[7] "The World Needs A Hero" and "Blackmail the Universe".[57] Controversial and misunderstood lyrics have also caused problems for the band, as the music video for "In My Darkest Hour" was banned from MTV in 1988 when the music channel deemed the song to be pro-suicide.[12] The music video for "A Tout Le Monde" was later banned by MTV, again wrongly interpreted as being pro suicide, when in fact it was written from the perspective of a dying man, saying his last words to his loved ones.
[29]

Addiction is also a common theme, as in "Use the Man" and "Addicted to Chaos", about a former substance abuse counselor who died of a drug overdose.[35] Recently, some lyrics have taken on religious themes, including "Truth Be Told", which tells the biblical story of Cain and Abel, and "Shadow of Death", with spoken lyrics taken directly from Psalm 23 of the King James Bible.

[edit] Controversy
For more details on this topic, see Dave Mustaine. Dave Mustaine is notorious for making inflammatory statements in the press,[48] usually regarding feuds and problems with former bandmates and other bands, including Slayer and Metallica. Perhaps most well known is his long standing feud with Metallica members James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, stemming from his ejection from the band, and the method in which it was conducted, as well as disagreements on songwriting credits.[27] He has claimed to have written some material on their Master of Puppets album, which Metallica has repeatedly denied. Mustaine has also made several comments about Metallica's "selling out" following their commercial metal style they have undertaken since the early 90's. In July 2004, former bassist David Ellefson sued Mustaine for $18.5 million in Manhattan Federal Court. Ellefson alleged that Mustaine short changed him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth over to him when the band broke up in 2002. [65] Ellefson also accused Mustaine of locking him out of merchandise and publishing royalties. The suit was dismissed in 2005,[66] and Mustaine filed a countersuit, which was later settled out of court. Also sparking minor controversy was Mustaine's announcement that Megadeth will not play certain songs live anymore, due to Mustaine's new identification as a born again Christian.[67] In May 2005 Mustaine also threatened to cancel shows in Greece and Israel with extreme metal bands Rotting Christ and Dissection, due to the bands' perceived Satanic beliefs, which in turn caused the two bands to cancel their appearances.[68]

[edit] Legacy
With over 20 million albums sold worldwide, eight top 40 albums,[23] 18 top 40 singles,[24] and seven Grammy nominations,[20] Megadeth remains one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time.[69] Of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands: Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, Megadeth is second only to Metallica in sales and commercial success. Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? is considered a landmark in the history of thrash metal, with All Music Guide calling the album "One of the most influential metal albums of its decade, and certainly one of the few truly definitive thrash albums," as well as "one of the

best beginning-to-end metal albums ever".[70] In May 2006 VH1 ranked "Peace Sells" #11 on the 40 Greatest Metal Songs of all time countdown.[71] In 2004, Guitar World magazine ranked Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman together at #19 on the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.[72] As an early pioneer of thrash metal, Megadeth helped pave the way for the burgeoning extreme metal movement of the late 1980's and early 1990's, and is often cited as an influence by later metal acts, including Pantera, Arch Enemy, Lamb of God,[73] In Flames, [74] Machine Head,[75] Trivium,[76] and Avenged Sevenfold.[77]

[edit] Popular culture

Megadeth has been mentioned in many films and television shows, including The Simpsons, Mad About You, The Drew Carey Show, The X Files, and Duck Dodgers, where the band made an appearance (in cartoon form) on the 2005 episode In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Rock.[78] The fictional cartoon band Dethklok poses the same way as in one of Megadeth's pictures. Megadeth is mentioned in the film Wayne's World 2, Honey Hornee (Kim Basinger) asks Garth (Dana Carvey) "Don't you just love music?" to which Garth replies "Got any Megadeth?". The band is mentioned in the 1991 film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, when the two are in Hell, Bill (Alex Winter) says "Ted, you know, if I die, you can have my Megadeth collection".[79] The band has been namechecked by author Dean Koontz on at least one occasion, albeit with the incorrect spelling "Megadeath", reflecting the band's mainstream cultural prominence and name recognition, despite an obvious lack of actual familiarity. In the Beavis and Butthead episode Sperm Bank, the two main characters go to a sperm bank to offer their services, and are at first each given a multiple choice test. Butthead marks his test so his marks resemble a skull, while Beavis marks his so the marks form letters to read "MEGADETH". Megadeth is featured on the soundtracks Shocker, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Last Action Hero, Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, Super Mario Bros., and Universal Soldier: The Return, and the band's music has also appeared in video games. Peace Sells is featured on the radio station V-Rock in the 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, as well as in the 2003 video game True Crime: Streets of LA. "Symphony of Destruction" appears in the Playstation 2 video games Guitar Hero and WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006. A version of "Hangar 18" appears in the 2006 Playstation 2 game Guitar Hero II.[78] Megadeth have also written the song Gears of War for the 2006 Xbox 360 game of the same name, with the song also set to appear on the upcoming United Abominations album.

[edit] Discography
Main article: Megadeth discography

[edit] Studio albums

Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! (Combat Records, 1985) Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? (Capitol Records, 1986) So Far, So Good... So What! (Capitol Records, 1988) Rust in Peace (Capitol Records, 1990) Countdown to Extinction (Capitol Records, 1992) Youthanasia (Capitol Records, 1994) Cryptic Writings (Capitol Records, 1997) Risk (Capitol Records, 1999) The World Needs A Hero (Sanctuary Records, 2001) The System Has Failed (Sanctuary Records, 2004) United Abominations (Roadrunner Records, 2007)

[edit] Members
Year(s) Vocals Lead Guitar Rhythm Guitar Bass Guitar Percussion

1983

Dave Greg Handevidt Mustaine

Dave Mustaine

David Ellefson Dijon Carruthers

1984

Greg Handevidt, Dave Kerry King (tour Mustaine fill-in)

Dave Mustaine

Dijon Carruthers, David Ellefson Lee Rausch, Gar Samuelson

19851986

Dave Mike Albert (tour Dave Mustaine fill-in) Mustaine

David Ellefson Gar Samuelson

19871988

Dave Jay Reynolds, Jeff Dave Mustaine Young Mustaine

David Ellefson Gar Samuelson

19891999

Dave Marty Friedman Mustaine

Dave Mustaine

David Ellefson

Nick Menza, Jimmy Degrasso

20002003

Dave Al Pitrelli Mustaine

Dave Mustaine

David Ellefson Jimmy Degrasso

20042005

Dave Glen Drover, Chris Dave Mustaine Poland Mustaine

James MacDonough

Nick Menza, Shawn Drover

2006

Dave Glen Drover Mustaine

Dave Mustaine

James Lomenzo

Shawn Drover

[edit] Session musicians

Drummers

Brian Howe - Appears on a re-recording of "I'll Get Even" for the Songs of the Witchblade soundtrack (1998) Vinnie Colaiuta - Appears on The System Has Failed (2004)

Guitarists

Chris Poland - Appears on The System Has Failed (2004)

Bassists

Jimmy Sloas - Appears on The System Has Failed (2004)

[edit] Notes
1. ^ Cecolini, Vinny. "Foreclosure of a Team", November 1998, Metal Hammer, reported
by The Realms of Deth; last accessed January 20, 2007. 2. ^ a b c d e "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good" remastered album notes. May 2002, Loud Records, 9046-2. 3. ^ Ling, Dave. "At the Start It Was About Revenge", September 1999, Metal Hammer, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed November 28, 2006. 4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Megadeth's Official website, "Timeline", 2006, at Megadeth.com; last accessed October 11, 2006. 5. ^ Huey, Steve. "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! AMG Review", at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 6. ^ Bregman, Adam. "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" Remastered version AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 7. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006.

8. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" Remastered version AMG Review, at All Music Guide ; last accessed November 23, 2006. 9. ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006. 10. ^ a b Gomes, Celesete. "So Far, So Good for Megadeth", August 1988, Rock, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 11. ^ a b c Birchmeier, Jason. "So Far, So Good... So What! Remastered Review", All Music Guide, at AMG.com; last accessed November 15, 2006. 12. ^ a b c "So Far, So Good, So What!" remastered album notes. July 24, 2004, Capitol Records, 72435-98626-2-0. 13. ^ Huey, Steve. "So Far, So Good... So What! Review", All Music Guide, at AMG.com; last accessed November 15, 2006. 14. ^ Megadeth: Rusted Pieces VHS, released January 1, 1991 by Capitol Records/EMI, Inc, UPC 077774001335, at UPC Database; last accessed November 20, 2006. 15. ^ Doreian, Robyn. "The Big Four", September 1990, Hot Metal Magazine, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed November 16, 2006. 16. ^ Niles, Eric. "Rust in Peace", September 1990, Music Connection, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 17. ^ Stix, John. "A Founding Forefather of Thrash", 1990, Guitar for the Practicing Musician, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 18. ^ "Dave the Human, Mustaine the Artist", September 1990, Holy Wars... The Punishment Due single, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 19. ^ Rock Detector's Official website. "Rust in Peace chart positions", at Rock Detector.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 20. ^ a b c d e f g Rock On The Net's Official website. "Grammy Awards: Best Metal Performance", at Rockonthenet.com; last accessed October 13, 2006. 21. ^ Huey, Steve. "Countdown To Extinction" AMG review, at All Music Guide; last accessed November 20, 2006. 22. ^ Summers, Jodi. "Deth Metal!", March 1992, Metal Hammer, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 22, 2006. 23. ^ a b c d e Billboard's Official website. "Megadeth album chart positions", at Billboard.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 24. ^ a b c d e Billboard's Official website. "Megadeth singles chart positions", at Billboard.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 25. ^ Humane Society of the United States' Official website. "1993 Genesis Awards", at HSUS.org; last accessed October 13, 2006. 26. ^ Chirazi, Steffan. "Trial by Fire", October 1993, RIP, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 27. ^ a b The Realms of Deth. "Megadeth Vs. Metallica", at The Realms Of Death; last accessed November 16, 2006. 28. ^ Ling, Dave. "Get in the Van", January 1998, Metal Hammer, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 21, 2006. 29. ^ a b c "Youthanasia" remastered album notes. July 24, 2004, Capitol Records, 7243598623-2-3. 30. ^ a b Merkle, P.J. "Megadeth: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" , May 1995, Hit Parader, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 22, 2006. 31. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Youthanasia" AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 32. ^ a b Birchmeier, Jason. "Youthanasia" Remastered version AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006.

33. ^ a b Boerio, Jeff. "Megadeth: Online and Onstage", 1995, On Eleven Magazine, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 22, 2006. 34. ^ Nalbandian, Bob. "David Ellefson & Marty Friedman Interview", 1998, Hard Radio.com's Shockwaves, reported by Hard Radio.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 35. ^ a b c "Cryptic Writings" remastered album notes. July 24, 2004, Capitol Records, 7243598625-2-1. 36. ^ a b Blabbermouth.net Official website. "Megadeth - Album Sales Update", at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 16, 2006. 37. ^ Weiderhorn, Jon. "Cryptic Writings" Rolling Stone Review, at Rolling Stone.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 38. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Cryptic Writings" AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 39. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Cryptic Writings" Remastered version AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 40. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon. "Last Men Standing", June 1998, Guitar World, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 13, 2006. 41. ^ Ferres, Nick. "An Ugly American", March 2001, Rockmetal.pl, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed November 16, 2006. 42. ^ "Risk" album notes. August 31, 1999, Capitol Records, 7243-4-99134-0-0. 43. ^ Hjelm, Fredrik. "It Wasn't Fun Anymore", 2001, Shockwaves Online, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 21, 2006. 44. ^ a b Birchmeier, Jason. "Risk" Remastered version AMG Review, at AMG.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 45. ^ Metal-Observer.com. "Risk" Album Review, at Metal-Observer.com ; last accessed November 16, 2006. 46. ^ a b Music-Reviewer.com. "Risk" Album Review, November 1999, at MusicReviewer.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 47. ^ Billerey-Mosier, Roger. "Risk" Album Review, September 1999, at ssmt-reviews.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 48. ^ a b Blabbermouth.net. "Dave Mustaine Slams Former Bandmates, Defends His Current 'Boys' ", at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 16, 2006. 49. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "The World Needs A Hero" AMG review, at All Music Guide; last accessed November 20, 2006. 50. ^ Engels, John. "The World Needs A Hero" Review, June 14, 2001, at OrlandoWeekly ; last accessed November 19, 2006. 51. ^ Eldefors, Vincent. "The World Needs A Hero" Review, 2001, at Tartarean Desire.com ; last accessed November 19, 2006. 52. ^ Chandrasekhar, Chaitra. "The World Needs A Hero" Review, Published In "The Tech" newspaper on May 15, 2001, Volume 121, Number 26, archived at The Tech official site ; last accessed November 19, 2006. 53. ^ a b Epstein, Dan. "Die Another Day", August 2003, Guitar World, reported by The Realms of Deth; last accessed October 21, 2006. 54. ^ a b Megadeth's Official website, "Megadeth Disbands Press Release", 2006, at [1]; last accessed November 15, 2006. 55. ^ a b "Interview with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth", July 20, 2004, Metal-Temple.com, reported by Metal Temple.com; last accessed November 19, 2006. 56. ^ a b Nalbandian, Bob. "Dave Mustaine Interview", August 28, 2004, Hard Radio.com, reported by Hard Radio.com; last accessed November 19, 2006.

57. ^ a b c d Birchmeier, Jason. "The System Has Failed" AMG Review, at All Music Guide ; last accessed November 19, 2006. 58. ^ Megadeth's Official website press release "Megadeth: Announce dates for BLACKMAIL THE UNIVERSE TOUR and band line-up as new CD THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED hits stores", September, 2004, reported by Megadeth.com; last accessed November 19, 2006. 59. ^ Brave Words.com "MEGADETH Tour Manager Talks About Drummer Nick Menza's Departure", November 5, 2004, reported by Brave Words.com; last accessed November 19, 2006. 60. ^ Blabbermouth.net "Ex-MEGADETH Bassist MACDONOUGH: 'There Is No Animosity Here' ", February 20, 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 20, 2006. 61. ^ Blabbermouth.net "MEGADETH: New Album Pushed Back To 2007", 23 August 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 27, 2006. 62. ^ Kahn, Herman. On Thermonuclear War (Princeton University Press), ISBN 0-31320060-2 63. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "So Far, So Good... So What!" Remastered version AMG Review , at All Music Guide ; last accessed November 20, 2006. 64. ^ Palmer, Robert. "Rust in Peace Rolling Stone Review, at Rolling Stone.com; last accessed November 16, 2006. 65. ^ Blabbermouth.net "Former MEGADETH Bassist Sues DAVE MUSTAINE For $18.5 Million", July 15, 2004, reported by Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 20, 2006. 66. ^ Blabbermouth.net "MEGADETH: DAVID ELLEFSON's $18.5 Million Lawsuit Dismissed ", January 16, 2005, reported by Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 20, 2006. 67. ^ Blabbermouth.net "DAVE MUSTAINE Says He Won't Play PISTOLS' 'Anarchy' Because Of 'Anti-Christ' Reference", August 1, 2005, reported by Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 20, 2006. 68. ^ Kerby, Jeff. "Dave Mustaine Speaks to KNAC.com From Gigantour", 24 July 2005, at KNAC.com; last accessed October 11, 2006. 69. ^ Megadeth's Official website, "Megadeth Behind the Music Press Release", 2001, at Megadeth.com; last accessed November 15, 2006. 70. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" Remastered version AMG Review, at All Music Guide ; last accessed November 23, 2006. 71. ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006. 72. ^ "Guitar World's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time" , January 23, 2004, Guitar World Magazine, reported by Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006. 73. ^ Blabbermouth.net, "MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, LAMB OF GOD Members Discuss GIGANTOUR", September 16, 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006. 74. ^ Blabbermouth.net, "IN FLAMES Bassist Says Meeting RONNIE JAMES DIO Has Been An Inspiration", October 19, 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006. 75. ^ Blabbermouth.net, "MACHINE HEAD Guitarist PHIL DEMMEL Is 'Extremely Proud' Of Band's New Material", August 8, 2006, atBlabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006. 76. ^ Blabbermouth.net, "TRIVIUM Are Making 'A Pure Ass-Kicking Metal Record'", May 27, 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006. 77. ^ Blabbermouth.net, "AVENGED SEVENFOLD Get Props From METALLICA, PANTERA", January 4, 2006, at Blabbermouth.net; last accessed November 23, 2006.

78. ^ a b Internet Movie Database "Dave Mustaine IMDB webpage", reported by IMDB.com; last accessed November 20, 2006. 79. ^ Internet Movie Database "Memorable Quotes from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey", reported by IMDB.com; last accessed November 20, 2006.

After he left Metallica in 1983, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine formed the thrash metal quartet Megadeth. Though Megadeth followed the basic blueprint of Metallica's relentless attack, Mustaine's group distinguished themselves from his earlier band by lessening the progressive rock influences, adding an emphasis on instrumental skills, speeding the tempo up slightly, and making the instrumental attack harsher. By streamlining the classic thrash metal approach and making the music more threatening, as well as making the lyrics more nihilistic, Megadeth became one of the leading bands of the genre during the mid-'80s and late '80s. Each album they released went at least gold, and they continually sold out arenas across America, in addition to developing a strong following overseas. By the early '90s, they had toned their music down slightly, yet that simply increased their following; all of their proper '90s albums debuted in the Top Ten. Throughout Megadeth's many lineup changes, the two core members were bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine (b. September 13, 1961), who was the band's official leader. Mustaine grew up in the suburbs of Southern California, where he was raised by his mother in a broken home; frequently, his mother left him to be raised by aunts and uncles, who never encouraged his musical inclinations and often belittled him for his fondness for heavy metal. In 1981, he formed Metallica with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Mustaine spent two years with Metallica, developing a strong cult following in California's underground metal scene, before he was kicked out of the group in 1983, allegedly over his substance abuse. Immediately following his firing, he formed Megadeth with Ellefson, Slayer guitarist Kerry King, and drummer Lee Rauch. This lineup was extremely short-lived, and Mustaine and Ellefson soon recruited guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson. For the next few years, Megadeth toured and gained a following, signing with the independent label Combat in late 1984. The following year, the group released their debut, Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!, which received strong reviews, not only in metal-oriented publications, but also in mainstream music magazines. The album sold very well for an independent release, which attracted the attention of major record labels. By the end of the year, the group had signed with Capitol. Megadeth's first major-label album, Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?, was released in the fall of 1986. Like its predecessor, Peace Sells was greeted by strong reviews and sales; it eventually went platinum. Although the band's fortunes were on the upswing, Mustaine was beginning to sink deeper into drug abuse, specifically heroin. Soon, his addictions began to affect his work. Many stories concerning his erratic behavior were circulating within the metal community, and they seemed to be proven correct when he fired both Poland and Samuelson before the recording of the band's third album; they were replaced by Jeff Young and Chuck Behler, respectively. The new lineup debuted on So Far, So Good...So What!, released early in 1988. So Far, So Good peaked at number 28 on the charts and also eventually went platinum (despite less enthusiastic reviews); it also featured a notorious cover of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK," with incorrect lyrics. In the years immediately following the release of So Far, So Good...So What!, Mustaine was impaired by his drug addictions. In early 1990, he was arrested for driving under the influence and entered a rehabilitation program. By the end of the year, he was not only sober, but he had reconvened the band; firing Young and Behler and replacing them with guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. This lineup recorded Megadeth's fourth and most progressive album, Rust in Peace. The record peaked at number 23 on the American charts and went platinum. 1991 saw Metallica break through to the mainstream, and sensing the possibility for similar success, Mustaine followed suit in stripping down the band's sound, though it remained as technically perfectionistic as Rust in Peace. The result, Countdown to Extinction, was released in 1992, entering the charts at number two; the record went double-platinum and became the band's biggest hit, confirming that they had retained their audience in the wake of grunge.

Now one of the most popular metal bands in the world, Megadeth moved farther toward the mainstream with Youthanasia in 1994, which entered the charts at number four and, like its predecessor, went platinum. The following year, the group released Hidden Treasures, a rarities collection which featured some of the soundtrack tunes that had helped expand the group's MTV audience in the early '90s. 1997's Cryptic Writings found Megadeth fully embraced by album rock radio, which formerly would never have touched the band. Ex-Suicidal Tendencies drummer Jimmy DeGrasso signed on in 1998, in time for the following year's Risk. In 2000, following the release of the best-of Capitol Punishment, Marty Friedman followed Nick Menza out the door; he was replaced by former Savatage and Alice Cooper guitarist Al Pitrelli. After signing with the BMG subsidiary Sanctuary, Megadeth debuted its new lineup on 2001's The World Needs a Hero. While on break from touring, Mustaine suffered a serious injury in January 2002 while staying in Texas. He was diagnosed with having radial neuropathy shortly thereafter, a condition that prevented him from playing guitar. The compressed radial nerves in his left arm and hand were strained, leaving Megadeth little recourse but to disband in April 2002, after almost 20 years in the music industry. During his time off, Mustaine prepared an elaborate reissue campaign, remastering each album and reissuing them all with bonus material. This campaign set the stage for a Megadeth revival, which came in 2004-2005 with a surprising comeback album, The System Has Failed, and some heavy touring. Capitol released a new bestof, simply titled Greatest Hits, just as Megadeth hit the summer concert circuit, headlining Mustaine's own Gigantour festival. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
(This biography is from CyberArmy) Megadeth has remained a vital element in continuing to define and redefine the sound and the fury of metal music. When Dave Mustaine met up with David Ellefson in 1983, several months after Mustaine departed from Metallica, the musical beast they conceiv ed was Megadeth. As co-founders of the band, Mustaine and Ellefson have devised a musical creature that, with each new album, forges new ground and stretches the very boundaries where metal lives. As the creative genius behind the music, Mustaine writes lyrics that are pr ofound and that analogous to his sharp, cynical view of modern society. "It's not like I am this frustrated bleeding anarchist," Mustaine remarks. "I am just telling a story of how my life is. I grew up in a broken home. I was latchkey kid. I want our fan s to have better lifestyle than the one I grew up in." Mustaine's intelligence and talent, combined with those of Ellefson and the other players who have graced the formation of the band thoughout the years, have spawned authentic, raw, unruly music. "Our music is very stimulating, aggressive music, that cont ains influences all the way from blue to jazz fusion to speed and thrash metal", explains Mustaine. With intricate, furious guitar licks and heavy drums and bass, Megadeth continues to reign as a premier speed metal band of the 1990's, personifying metal music itself with every song reeling in ferocity, honesty and powerful thrash induced rhythms. Their meteoric rise to forefront of the metal genre began in 1985 with Killing is my business... and business is good released on Combat records. This powerful debut propelled them straight into a deal with Capitol records. Their next album, Pe ace Sells... but who's buying, was released in september 1985. This sophomore release was a veritable onslaught of pure aggression and went gold. In 1988 So far, so good... so what was released. The album was harder, more forceful and maintained an even punk feel, unleashing such monsters as "Mary Jane" and "Set the world afire." After the So far, so good...so what album, with Nick Menza on drums and Marty Friedman on guitar, Megadeth began yielding songs, fueled by Mustaine's fierce intellect and supported by superior musicianship, that spiraled Megadeth towards its best a nd most creative period. "When the four of us got together and made the record Rust in Peace, we knew we were on to something special," says Ellefson. "Since then we have really honed our sound and we have learned how to write and record together." The unique bond that resulted changed the face of Megadeth's future. "This lineup is more successful than any other because the vision is the same," says Dave Mustaine, a sentiment concurred by Marty Friedman who notes, "We are lucky because we are all a similar age, have a similar vision and share a chemistry. When the four of us strap on our instruments it just sounds like Megadeth." The four embrace a soulful commonality, especially regarding what their music is about. "We are focused and in alignment with what we wan t to do and how we want to do it," says drummer Nick Menza. "We have always been the type of band that makes music for ourselves foremost. That is why there is so much substance to it. It is not contrived. It is real. It is reality." < br> Megadeth has done very well at bringing their music to new audiences. Countdown to extinction was released in 1992, taking them on a world tour. The year also saw Mustaine as a host on MTV for

"Rock the vote" covering the Democratic Convention - a job which coincided perfectly with Mustaine's penchant for political commentary and social awareness. Also keeping the band in the limelight, the band's single, "Angry Again" from the Last Action Hero soundtrack made a major breaktrough and "99 way s to die", the lead track on the hugely successful The Beavis and Butthead Experience compilation album, became an MTV and metal radio staple. The release of Youthanasia brought Megadeth to new heights and also to parts of the world never before ventured, including Israel and Eastern Europe. It represented a departure in many ways for the band. "Killing is my business... and business i s good" up to Countdown to Extinction were all written while performing previous material," explains Mustaine. "Youthanasia was written totally and 100% in the studio. We weren't playing any old cataloged material. None of the past influenced the new record." The album contains songs that explore the depths of Mustaine's darker, deeper thoughts and feelings - songs such as, "The Family Tree" a song about child abuse and the deep pain of lost love described in "Addicted to Chaos" while also delving into his inner fear of nuclear war in "Black Curtains." The band withstood controversy after controversy with the release of Youthanasia, "A tout le monde" being banned by MTV for its suicidal overtones. "This is coming from an institution that is supposedly for your mind and says that censorship is un- American," says Mustaine. "We don't write music that makes suggestions of taking one's own life. It's more saying - we have a problem here, let's be part of the solution." The cover art for the album, decipting babies hanging from clotheslines, caused a m ajor stir as well. "We never do anything for shock value or to get controversial press because that is basically a pain in the ass," says Marty Friedman. "We like it and that is what we wanted our album cover to be." Youthanasia has gone platinum. The band released a new album, Hidden Treasures, in the UK an March 13, 1995 to coincide with the European leg of the Youth tour. In addition to a new Sex Pistols cover, the album contains songs only previously released on complation and soundtrack albums. A version off Hidden Treasures was released in Japan and the U.S. as well. 1995 also found the band on-line with Megadeth Arizona. "We use it as a communication tool between us and our fans. We are more accessible and more able to communicate with include our fans within Megadeth's world," says David Ellefson. On Cryptic Writings (1997), Megadeth's eighth album, the band's unwavering conviction mixes with a desire to explore new territory, characteristics which mark their career as true musical pioneers. Recorded in Nashville, TN, Cryptic Writings ranges from Mega-rock (the melodic "Trust" and "Almost Honest" with their relationships-going-to-hell vulnerability), balls-out powerful (the monsterous thrash of "the Disintegrators" and the fight for freedom of "FFF") and hard pummeling metal ("Masterm ind" and the edgy "I'll get even"). Cryptic Writings was written during 1996 and the last three months of the year were spent in the recording studio with producer Dann Huff. When Megadeth went in search of a cutting edge, not necessarily well-known producer - They found Huff, the si nger-guitarist of hard rock's Giant in the late '80s to early '90s, who was also a student of famed producer Mutt Lange. "I wanted to take guitar lessons from Dann six years ago. I'd heard a Giant record and said, 'Here's a guy who knows where to put the notes.' He sounded awesome," Mustaine says. But Huff instead offered to jam with him. Recalls Mustaine, "I didn't realize that he was a session player and what he meant was 'I'll give you a free lesson.' So I turned him down." Now Mustaine wanted him as a producer and flew to Nashville. "I never heard anything he'd produced or even any music from him recently. He had really short hair and he got us lost driving from his house to the studio. But I thought, 'He's the guy.'" Recording far from home, he says, was the best it's ever been for a band that has been nothing short of volatile over the years. "There was a congeniality and a level of trust in each of us created an enviroment of cooperation. This was the most painless experience we ever had in a studio." In the time between Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings, the members of Megadeth kept their fierce work ethic in full tilt. Mustaine collaborated with Lee Ving of Fear on MD.45, the full length album, The Craving, on Capitol. Marty Frie dman released a solo album entitled, True Obsessions. In addition to contributing regularly to Bass Player Magazine with the column "The Real Deal," Ellefson's book "Making Music Your Business" is now available, published by Miller Freeman. Nick Menza put together a band called SOMA, which has recorded 14 songs, played a gig opening for Dokken and has yet to release any material. Megadeth touring plans for Cryptic Writings have the guys on the road for much of 1997. After promotional touring of Europe and the US, and then rehearsals, the havoc began in Mesa, AZ on friday,

June 13. The summer of 1997 included rock festivals such as the Waldrock Festival in the Netherlands, Graspop festival in Belgium and Midtfyn Festival in Denmark. With Megadeth's dedication to their fans, they fit in gigs at smaller venues as well. July through September marked Megadeth's return to the US where they continued their onslaught from state to state, leaving sold-out venues in their wake. Additional dates will take Megadeth all around the world where they can expect to remain as the reigning beasts of metal music.
1982 Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield form Metallica. Dave Mustaine leaves Panic and joins Metallica. Ron McGovney is hired as Metallica's bassist March, Metallica's first gig at Radio City in Anaheim March, Metallica opens for Saxon on their "Denim and Leather" tour April, Brad Parker (a.k.a. Damian Phillips) is hired as Metallica's second guitarist. He leaves band after one gig, Metallica's only as a five-piece band. May, James Hetfield takes up rhythm guitar in addition to vocals. June, "Hit the Lights" is included on Metal Massacre compilation Rare demo album No Life 'til Leather is released. December, Cliff Burton leaves Trauma to replace Ron McGovney 1983 March, Cliff Burton's first gig with Metallica April, Dave Mustaine is fired from Metallica, Kirk Hammet leaves Exodus to replace him Metallica's first album, Kill 'Em All, is released Dave Mustaine gets together with bassist David Ellefson, guitarist Kerry King, and drummer Lee Rausch to form Megadeth Kerry King assists Megadeth on tour and then returns to Slayer December 31st, Mustaine becomes Megadeth's singer 1984 Lee Rausch is replaced by Gar Samuelson Chris Poland is hired to fill the gap Kerry King helped with. November, Megadeth is signed to Combat records 1985 May, Megadeth releases Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! 1986 Cliff Burton dies in bus accident November, Megadeth releases Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? Capitol Records signs Megadeth, gets rights to Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? from Combat Overkill opens for Megadeth on "Wake Up Dead" tour Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson are fired after last show of tour in Hawaii 1987 February, Megadeth opens for Alice Cooper's "Constrictor" tour Megadeth tours with Mercyful Fate Chuck Behler hired as Megadeth's drummer Jay Reynolds of Malice helps out Megadeth until they find a suitable replacement for Chris Poland, guitarist Jeff Young 1988 March, Megadeth releases So Far, So Good... So What! Megadeth opens for Dio on US and Canadian tour Megadeth featured in acclaimed documentary, Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years August, Megadeth plays Castle Donnington with KISS, and Iron Maiden as the headliner Megadeth opens for the "Monsters of Rock" tour. Megadeth cancels Australian tour Dave Mustaine helps produce Sanctuary's Refuge Denied 1989 Jeff Young and Chuck Behler are fired

Mustaine is arrested for impaired driving, forced to clean up in 12-step program July, Nick Menza, is hired as Megadeth's drummer 1990 January, Megadeth covers Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" for Wes Craven's Shocker soundtrack, their only song as a three-piece band February, Marty Friedman is hired as Megadeth's lead guitarist October, Megadeth releases Rust in Peace October, Megadeth joins Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, and Testament for "Clash of the Titans" tour 1991 March, Megadeth opens for Judas Priest, in support of their new album Painkiller April, Dave Mustaine gets married to Pamela Anne Casselberry April, Rusted Pieces video is released July, Megadeth's "Go to Hell" featured on Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack US "Clash of the Titans" tour featuring Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and opener Alice in Chains 1992 May, Megadeth's "Breakpoint" featured on Super Mario Bros soundtrack July, Megadeth releases Countdown to Extinction November, Exposure of a Dream video is released Megadeth tours the USA with Stone Temple Pilots Dave Mustaine covers Democratic national convention for MTV Dave Mustaine's son, Justis, is born 1993 Dave Mustaine makes a guest appearance on Diamond Head's Death and Progress Megadeth plays Milton Keynes Bowl with Diamond Head and Metallica Megadeth opens for Iron Maiden for a few dates on their European Tour Aerosmith kicks Megadeth off their American "Get A Grip" tour, Jackyl takes their place Pantera opens for Megadeth's "Countdown to Extinction" Tour June, Megadeth's "Angry Again" featured on Last Action Hero soundtrack November, Megadeth's "99 Ways to Die" featured on The Beavis and Butthead Experience soundtrack 1994 Halloween, Megadeth releases Youthanasia, plays on MTV's "Night of the Living Megadeth" October, Megadeth covers "Paranoid" for Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath 1995 January, Megadeth's "Diadems" featured on Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight soundtrack January to February, "Youth" worldwide tour with Corrosion of Conformity March, Megadeth releases Hidden Treasures compilation in Europe May, Evolver: The Making of Youthanasia video is released July, Megadeth releases Hidden Treasures compilation in USA and Japan July to August, "Reckoning Day" tour with Flotsam and Jetsam, Korn and Fear Factory 1996 Dave Mustaine collaborates with Lee Ving of Fear on MD.45, The Craving David Ellefson's son, Roman Alexander, is born David Ellefson produces Helstar's reunion album, Multiples of Black 1997 June, Megadeth releases Cryptic Writings Remix of Megadeth's "Almost Honest" included on Mortal Kombat Annihilation soundtrack 1998 January 28th, Dave Mustaine's daughter, Electra, is born Megadeth takes part in "Ozzfest'98" July, Nick Menza and Megadeth have parted ways July, Jimmy DeGrasso is hired as Megadeth's drummer October 23rd, David Ellefson's daughter Athena is born

1999 Megadeth enters the studio with producer Dann Huff in Nashville to record their follow up to Cryptic Writings. Megadeth spend the summer playing radio shows, and eventually join Iron Maiden for a European tour in September. "Crush 'Em" is released on the Universal Soldier 2 Soundtrack and eventually makes its way into NHL arenas and WCW. Risk is released on August 31, 1999 2000 Al Pitrelli joins the band replacing Marty Friedman. The band starts work on it's 10th release. Megadeth leaves Capitol Records. Megadeth signs with Sanctuary Records. "Kill the King" is number one most added song at rock radio. Megadeth releases Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years. The band returns to the studio in LA to finish recording their new release. Megadeth closes out the millenium in Anchorage, Alaska with the promise of a web broadcast of the New Years Eve show. 2001 March, Dave Mustaine and Al Pitrelli begin a world press tour for the new album April, Megadeth shoots the video for Moto Psycho April/May, Megadeth begins a short U.S. acoustic tour sponsored by local radio stations. May, The World Needs A Hero is released. June, Megadeth spends the summer on a world tour playing festivals, opening for AC/DC September, Megadeth tours the US, with Endo opening on the west coast and Iced Earth on the east. October, Megadeth's VH1 Behind The Music special is released on dvd. November, Megadeth plays last two shows of TWNAH tour in Arizona filming both for a live album and dvd. 2002 February, Killing Is My Business ...And Business Is Good! is re-mixed, re-mastered, and released March, the double live album Rude Awakening is released. April, Megadeth disband after Dave Mustaine suffers a nerve injury in his arm, leaving him unable to play guitar. September, Still Alive..And Well? is released by Sanctuary. 2003 February, Dave Mustaine announces his departure as an endorsee for Jackson Guitars April, Mustaine performs four Megadeth songs acoustically at a benefit for John Calleo July, Mustaine attends the summer NAMM convention in Nashville to unveil his new signature ESP guitars. October, Peace Sells ...But Who's Buying? is released as an audio dvd presented in Dolby 5.1 surround. 2004 January, Dave Mustaine makes an announcement about his good health, the future of Megadeth and upcoming releases. A new Megadeth album is recorded with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassist Jimmy Sloas and guest soloist Chris Poland. Megadeth's back catalougue is re-mixed and re-mastered.

Megadeth has produced 10 studio albums, two "greatest hits" albums Capitol Punishment and Greatest Hits: Back To The Start, a live album Rude Awakening, a compilation live and studio Still Alive... And Well?, a reissued DVD-Audio of Peace Sells...But Who's Buying, 8 of the studio albums remixed and remastered, and the compilation album Hidden Treasures, which features the band's movie soundtrack singles and b-sides. In Japan, they've released Live Trax, a complilation of live songs, and Cryptic Sounds, which features instrumental versions of songs from Cryptic Writings.

Shop for all Megadeth CDs Here.

Greatest Hits: The System Has Back To The Start Failed

2005 2004

Risk (Reissue)
2004

Cryptic Writings (Reissue)

2004

Youthanasia (Reissue)
2004

Countdown To Extinction (Reissue)

2004

Rust In Peace (Reissue)

2004

So Far, So Good, ...So What (Reissue)

2004

Peace Sells... But Who's Buying (Reissue)

2004

Peace Sells... DVD-Audio

2003

Still Alive... and Well?

2002

Rude Awakening
2002

Killing Is My The World Needs Capitol Business... A Hero Punishment: The 2001 (Deluxe Edition) Megadeth Years
2002 2000

Risk
1999

Cryptic Writings Hidden Treasures

1997 1995

Youthanasia
1994

Countdown To Extinction
1992

Rust In Peace
1990

So Far, So Good, ...So What

1988

Peace Sells... But Who's Buying

1986

Killing Is My Business
1985

Killing Is My Business... (Deluxe Edition) (Loud Records, 2002)

Dave Mustaine: lead guitar, vocals, piano Chris Poland: lead guitar David Ellefson: bass guitar, back-up vocals Gar Samuelson: drums, tympani

Last Rites/Loved to Deth 2. Killing is My Business...And Business is Good! 3. The Skull Beneath the Skin 4. Rattlehead 5. Chosen Ones 6. Looking Down the Cross 7. Mechanix 8. These Boots
1. 9. Last Rites/Loved To Deth (Demo) 10. Mechanix (Demo) 11. The Skull Beneath The Skin (Demo)

Last Rites (Instrumental) Loved to Deth Your bodies empty now As I hold you Now gone I miss you But I told you I remember bad times More than good There's no coming back

Even if we could I loved you to deth If I can't have you Than no one will And since I won't I'll have to kill My only love, something I've never felt Now you've gone to heaven And you'll burn in hell I loved you to deth Solo-Mustaine And now I'm down below And what do I see You didn't go to heaven Your down here with me And now coming back, Baby, take me, please! I really think I would If you weren't such a sleaze I loved you once before You kept me on a string I'd rather go without Than take what you would bring I loved you to deth

Killing is My Business... And Business is Good! I am a snyper Always hit the mark Paid assassin Working after dark Looking through the night Using infra-red My target on you Aimed at your head $10,000 up front $10,000 when I'm through And I know just what to do And ya know I'll do it too Then I'm coming back for you Back for you! I do the "getting rid of" Don't tell me why Don't need to hear the truth Don't need the lies Now pay me quickly And now we're through It brings me great pleasure To say my next job is you Don't you know that Killing is my business And business is good (Repeat) You'd better believe it Solo-Poland

The Skull Beneath the Skin Solo-Mustaine

Mean and infectious The evil Prophets rise Dance of the Macabre As witches Streak the sky Decadent worship of Black Magic sorcery In the womb of the Devil's Dungeon trapped without a plea Solo-Mustaine See thing in agony Necrosis is the fate Pins sticking through the skin The venom now sedates Locked in a pillory Nowhere to be found Screaming for your life But no one hears a sound Hellpp Mmmeeeeee Prepare the patients scalp To peel away Metal caps his ears He'll hear not what we say Solid steel visor Riveted cross his eyes Iron staples close his jaws So no one hears his cries The skull beneath the skin Now your drawn and quartered Your bones will make the x Symbol stands for poison And it's chained to your head And as we fold your arms To make the holy cross We cross the crucifix Religion has been lost The skull beneath the skin Solo-Mustaine

Rattlehead Well, Here I come Stand up and plant your feet Listen I'm letting off steam Now throw your hands in the air Let loose I don't fuckin care Solo-Poland Rattle Head A dose of metal you need To bang your head til you bleed It's time for snapping some neck Slashing, thrashing to Megadeth Solo-Poland Rattle Head You, Your head, is pounding with pain Winning, sinning, beginning Feeding, the needing for bleeding Bashing, smashing, crashing Fraying, annhilating you!

Solo-Poland There's someone back in the shadows You feel though you can't see his eyes He'll bash your head if you cross him Ain't quite your average guy Don't wear no leather to "fittin" Don't wear no spike to be "cool" Don't want no woman beside him Just make it fast, Loud and Rude Rattle Head Solo-Mustaine I'm a Rattle Head Rattle your Goddamn Head!

Chosen Ones You doubt your strength or courage Don't come to join with me For Deth surely wants you With sharp and pointy teeth An animal so vicious No others fought and won So on the fields of battle We are the chosen one Human bones blanket the dirt of the heathens lair That we must pass this den of deth The only path from here But I walk in the light The time to die has come No one shall take my life I'm of the chosen ones Black shadows till the sky As the creatures eyes grow near Raise the shield of the holy pilgrims High into the air Heavens powers fill my arms Onward now to fight I'm sent Oh the beast is coming To put you to the test Solo-Mustaine Lookout! Now this land is mine to pilage Rape, and steal, and take at will Never let you cross this path I reign, for now, I say to Kill

Looking Down the Cross Solo-Mustaine Now before they take me And my blessed life Now you'll know why Deth Was summoned here tonight I'll recall my perils They'll kill me in pride

No, I can't run away There's no place to hide Though too much to live for I owe enough to die Ask not for salvation My Deth shall mean their lives Hatred and guilt the alter they've built High preists of sin Destiny, fate the wicked ones gate Beckoning you in Down the walkways Through the blood stained town Looking down the cross Bleeding from the crown Led to stay To die besides the thieves Kill the king Of the world to be And now to you, this will come A putrifying pestolence More noxious than the serpents breath Male violently destined More corrupt than the malice of choronzon More disease than the wind Of the moonlight sun Putrification you have caused No need for confession Now you wish you had a gun to stop the demolition Swinging the judgement hammer Man, woman, child no-one is safe The heads of the dead are the banner and this was all you got So don these broken wings Sands of time run out Bells of Hades ring Is this a nightmare To unhallow thy name Smell of brimstone Dancing in the flames No help now As you fulfill his task Chief of evil Has got you by the ass Set free To sit upon the throne Just a dream? Your weeping all alone Solo-Mustaine Looking down the cross (speak no evil) I'm looking down the cross (speak no evil)

Mechanix Imagine you were at my station And you brought your motor to me Your a burner yeah a real motor car Said you wanna get your order filled Made me shiver when I put it in Pumping just won't do ya know luckily for you Whoever thought you'd be better At turning a screw than me I do it for my life Made my drive shaft crank

Made my pistons bulge Made my ball bearing melt from the heat We were shifting hard when we took off Put tonight all four on the floor When we hit top end you know it feels to slow I'm giving you my room service And ya know it's more than enough Oh one more time ya know I'm in love Solo-Mustaine These Boots Solo-Poland You keep saying you got something for me Something you call love, but I call sex You've been kissing when you ought-a-be-a Screwing and now someone else can Kiss your ass These boots are made for walking Thats just what they'll do And one of these days these boots Are gonna walk all over you Solo-Poland You keep lieing and there ain't no believing And you keep stayin when you ought-a-be-a leaving Now what's right is right but you ain't been Right yet These Boots... Solo-Poland You keep dressin ways you shouldn't Be dressing And you keep thinking that you'll never Get burned Ha! I just found me a brand new Box Spring Mattress What you know bitch you got a lot ta learn These boots... are you ready boots Solo-Poland And you think I'm kiddin, Don'tchya!

MEGADETH LYRICS
album: "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" (1985)
Last Rites Loved To Death Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! The Scull Beneath The Skin The Boots Rattle Head Chosen Ones Looking Down The Cross

Mechanix

album: "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" (1986)

Wake Up Dead The Conjuring Peace Sells Devil's Island Good Mourning/Black Friday Bad Omen I Ain't Superstitious My Last Words

album: "So Far, So Good... So What !" (1988)

Into The Lungs Of Hell Set The World A Fire Anarchy In The U.K. Mary Jane 502 In My Darkest Hour Liar Hook In Mouth

album: "Rust In Peace" (1990)

Holy Wars...The Punishment Due Hangar 18 Take No Prisoners Five Magics Poison Was The Cure Lucretia Tornado Of Souls Dawn Patrol Rust In Peace...Polaris My Creation

album: "Countdown To Extinction" (1992)

Skin O'my Teeth Symphony Of Destruction Architecture Of Aggression Foreclosure Of A Dream Sweating Bullets This Was My Life Countdown To Extinction High Speed Dirt Psychotron

Captive Honour Ashes In Your Mouth

album: "Youthanasia" (1994)

Reckoning Day Train Of Consequences Addicted To Chaos Tout Le Monde Elysian Fields The Killing Road Blood Of Heroes Family Tree Youthanasia I Thought I Knew It All Black Curtains Victory Millennium Of The Blind New World Order (Demo) Absolution Tout Le Monde (Demo)

album: "Train Of Consequences" (1994)

Train Of Consequences Crown Of Worms Black Curtains Ashes In Your Mouth (Live) Peace Sells (Live) Anarchy In The U.K.(Live)

album: "Hidden Treasures" (1995)

No More Mr. Nice Guy Breakpoint Go To Hell Angry Again 99 Ways To Die Paranoid Diadems Problems

album: "Cryptic Writings" (1997)

Trust Almost Honest Use The Man Mastermind

The Disintegrators I'll Get Even Sin A Secret Place Have Cool, Will Travel She-Wolf Vortex F.F.F

album: "Risk" (1999)

Insomnia Prince Of Darkness Enter The Arena Crush'Em Breadline The Doctor Is Calling I'll Be There Wanderlust Ecstasy Seven Time: The Beginning Time: The End

album: "Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years" (2000)

Kill The King Dread & The Fugitive Mind Crush 'Em Use The Man Almost Honest Trust Tout Le Monde Train Of Consequences Sweating Bullets Symphony Of Destruction Hangar 18 Holy Wars... The Punishment Due In My Darkest Hour Peace Sells

album: "The World Needs A Hero" (2001)

Disconnect The World Needs A Hero Moto Psycho 1000 Times Goodbye Burning Bridges Promises

Recipe For Hate. . . Warhorse Losing My Senses Dread And The Fugitive Mind Silent Scorn Return To Hangar When

album: "The System Has Failed" (2004)

Blackmail The Universe Die Dead Enough Kick The Chair The Scorpion Tears In A Vial I Know Jack Back In The Day Something That I'm Not Truth Be Told Of Mice And Men Shadow Of Deth My Kingdom Come

2. Symphony Of Destruction [Mustaine] You take a mortal man, And put him in control Watch him become a god Watch peoples heads a'roll A'roll... [chorus:] Just like the Pied Piper Led rats through the streets We dance like marionettes Swaying to the Symphony ... Of Destruction Acting like a robot Its metal brain corrodes You try to take its pulse Before the head explodes Explodes... [Chorus] [Solo - Marty]

The earth starts to rumble World powers fall A'warring for the heavens A peaceful man stands tall Tall... [Chorus] 7. Countdown To Extinction [Mustaine - Ellefson - Menza - Friedman] Endangered species, caged in fright Shot in cold blood, no chance to fight The stage in set, now pay the price An ego boost don't think twice Technology, the battle's unfair You pull the hammer without a care Squeeze the trigger that makes you Man Pseudo-safari, the hunt is canned ... The hunt is canned All are gone, all but one No contest, nowhere to run No more left, only one This is it, this is the Countdown to Extinction Tell the truth, you wouldn't dare The skin and thophy, oh so rare Silence speaks louder than words Ignore the guilt, and take your turn Liars anagram is "liars" Man you were never even there Killed a few feet from the cages Point blank, you're so courageous ... So courageous [Chorus] One hour from now Another species of life form

Will disappear off the face of the planet Forever ... and the rate is accelerating

News Tour Band Discography Fans Links Contact

Welcome Diamondbangers to the completely renewed CovenWorldwide site. The only official King Diamond & Mercyful Fate website! As you can see the site has been completely renewed. Hope you all like it. There are pages which under construction which will be updated soon enough. Just give us the time to complete those. The most important pages are online: NEWS, TOURDATES and the DISCOGRAPHY! Please don?t forget to chat with us in the forum. Thanks for your patience. Please if you have anything on your mind, criticism (good or bad) just let us know! Renzo

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NEWS 2007-01-31 Update new King Diamond CD NEWS 2007-01-12 New band for Andy CONTESTS 2006-12-14 Christmas WINNERS Deadly Lullabyes contest NEWS 2006-11-22 Brazil releases NEWS 2006-11-19 Mercyful Fate win AWARD OF HONOUR

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Update new King Diamond CD

NEWS by Renzo 2007-01-31 King is at the moment still writing lyrics. Mixing of the new King Diamond album will commence on March 5 in Dallas, TX. We hope to deliver the master by April 1st. No firm release date is given yet. More news as we have it!

ial King Diamond and Mercyful Fate Fanclub 1996-2006 THE COVEN WORLDWIDE All rights reserved. No part of this cation may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any means, electronic, mechanical copying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher: 'THE COVEN WORLDWIDE'.

Foreword In 1986, I was only 8 years-old and I accidentally heard the first album of Iron Maiden, which completely changed my life: it was my first contact with heavy metal music, which

is still by far my biggest passion ever. Two years later, as we just got cable TV, I've seen this video, with its made-up singer in this kind of haunted house. That video, "Welcome Home", showed me another side of metal which I didn't know yet. Later, as I was looking for something about this strange and intriguing artist called King Diamond, my sister?s friend gave me the tape of King's latest album, which was just released: "Conspiracy". After having listened to the whole album, it was clear this band was really not as common as the others. There was something special, something frightening that stucked in my mind and made it become my favourite band ever.

In 2001, my passion for King had just grew up through all those years as I probably became the biggest King Diamond fan ever. Even though I already knew many things about him since all those years, I was looking for some works on the Internet to learn more. So I've realized that I?ve known more than all the existing biographies, so I had this crazy idea: writing the most complete history of my long-time idol. In the following summer, as my work was finished, I've contacted Renzo Van Soelen, The Coven Worldwide webmaster; my goal was to see my work on King's official website, and it happened in August 2001. In late September 2003, as King was about to release "The Puppet Master", I decided to improve the work I've done two years earlier. Then my quest for always getting some additional informations never seemed to end. For about six weeks, I've been working on it on average ten hours a day, six days a week. I've been reading hundreds of interviews with King and his former and actual band members, going at every King Diamond and Mercyful Fate websites I could find (did I missed any?), and re-arranging all the informations I've found. Finally I wrote it down as it would be in the more logical way as possible. Actually, its size improved by being nearly eight times bigger than its original version with its 28,000 words.

Then I had this even crazier idea; giving my work to King personally. The show in Montreal, which is at three hours from my home because I live in Quebec city, was planned on the next November 5th, so I began to work on the artwork, to give it the better look possible (I'm a professionnal infographist so this part was quite an easy task for me!) At the Montreal show, I didn't had the opportunity to meet King, however, just before I got kicked outside by security guards before the show while people were waiting in line to get in, I had a few seconds to give a copy to Andy LaRocque. I never had the chance to take a picture with Andy, or ask him for an autograph, I just had enough time to simply tell him that I wrote this book in honor of King, and ask Andy to give it to him for me. After the show, we had the chance to meet guitarist Mike Wead, bassist Hal Patino, drummer Matt Thompson, actress/dancer Jody Cachia and, I also briefly talked with manager Ol ang. They all were incredibly cool, some very good memories remains from that evening. Mike and Matt told me that Andy gave the book to King, just like I asked him to do, Mike asked me for a copy for himself as he thought it was very interesting. Wow, what an honor!!

Two years later, on November 30th 2005, Arch Enemy came to my hometown, Quebec City, and as I'm a big fan of that band too, it was a show not to be missed. I asked the promoter if I could get a private talk with Sharlee D?Angelo concerning my work on King's life. He told me there would certainly be no problems with it. Around 4 or 5pm, he told me it was ok and I did a kind of interview with him, asking him many things mostly about his days in King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. He was very cool and relaxed,

willing to take all the time for me that was necessary. At the end, I asked him to autograph my whole Mercyful Fate and Arch Enemy CD collection on which he plays, then we went outside smoking a cigarette, where my girlfriend and two friends of us were waiting. They took pictures with him and asked autographs too. Nice show, and mostly, nice meeting. Thanks again Sharlee!

Now, after many other dozen hours of work, here is the final result. I dedicate the whole work to you, dear King Diamond, as a matter of respect for all your hard work since over twenty years now. For many people, your achievements could have been only the albums, but to me, it's much more than that; it's the greatest masterpieces ever, as it contains incredible stories, filled by all the emotions that can be felt, and brought it the best music anybody can create. You have brought so much in my life, more than what you could think, and here is a way for me to say thank you. Thank you for all you've done, and most of all, thank you for being the one you are. I simply wish you'll always keep up the great work because you are, without any doubt, the most innovative and talented metal artist of our time. Your biggest fan ever, Sincerely, Andy Allen I'd like to personnally thank some people which all helped me, in a way or another, to make this work being possible. First of all, a huge thank to you my beloved Cindy, you always been there to encourage and understand me, and you always find the right words to keep me going. You're my love, my inspiration, my reason to live. Thanks to Genevi Claveau for her help with the review of the english vocabulary. Thanks to Renzo Van Soelen for being so cool allowing me to put my work on King Diamond's official website. Thanks to Sharlee D'Angelo for the nice meeting I had the privilege to have with him before the Arch Enemy show in Quebec City on November 30th 2005. Your time and kindness were highly appreciated. Thanks to Alain Gagnon, a promoter of Capitale Du Metal, here in Quebec City, for his help to have this private meeting with Sharlee. Thanks to Patrick Johansson (drummer for Yngwie Malmsteen and Kinlin) for some

additionnal informations. Thanks to Andy LaRocque, Mike Wead, Hal Patino, Matt Thompson, Jody Cachia and Ol ang for being so cool at King Diamond?s show in Montreal in November 5th 2003. It will always remain for me a very precious moment. Last, and mostly, the biggest thanks goes to King Diamond himself for all the great albums and the main contribution he gave to metal since over 20 years. You are the supreme master of your art, the greatest musical genius ever, and this work is dedicated to you. Keep up the good work King, you're by far the best!

In the Beginning... King Diamond is born in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 14th 1956, under the name Kim Bendix Petersen. He has a brother, which is 3-year younger than him, with whom he used to share his bedroom when he was kid. Along with his brother, he was raised in the small town of Hvidovre, right outside of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. He considers he had a good childhood, a bit strict, but still a lot of freedom. He had a lot of trust from his parents as he really was a type of an Angel-person, he never gave them many reasons not to trust him though. Even though his parents considered themselves christians, they always been very proud of what their son would became. During the Second World War, King?s dad was a freedom fighter in the Danish resistance against the Nazis, then he was discovered and had to flee to Sweden to escape the Gestapo as he and some of his group were almost caught. He told King some horrible stories about what he experienced back then, and King often dreamed about this, like if he was in his dad's shoes. At the age of 15, in 1971, King got his first turn-table and bought his first two albums: "Fireball" by Deep Purple and "Master Of Reality" by Black Sabbath. Another band which really got King into music was Led Zeppelin, especially with their first album, as King really liked Jimmy Page?s guitar sound. That's actually what pushed him to buy his first guitar. King probably started to smoke cigarette at this time, actually before he started to sing, but however, he never really was interested about taking drugs. He smoked pot twice, but it wasn't really his thing. Also, during his youth, he had almost started a career as a professional soccer player. He has been playing for quite a while, and he was so good that

he even became player of the year in the club that he played in, one of the years. After he finished grade school, he went to secondary school, but he was missing often; he preferred to listen to old Mountain records at a friend's home instead. He wasn't very hard-working as a student, but he received good grades because he could easily memorize things; he only needed to read through his friends' homeworks before writing a test. In school, his behavior was good and his classmates respected him. He have been in a clique of three or four rock fans in his class who were more or less left alone as long as their grades were okay. They used to play tricks on their teachers sometimes, or they skipped class a few times, but they were quite harmless. At some point, the music really started to be an interest for him, just playing for fun. He didn?t think much about what would happen, but it was hard to balance both soccer and music, so he had to give one u. He gave up the soccer at that time and started concentrating more on the music. His first bands He began his musical career in 1973 when he entered as a guitarist in a four-piece band called Brainstorm. It was with this band that he did his first concert, in 1976; the community had a big place where there was about 10 different bands that rehearsed. They allowed to have a concert in that place. Each band had to bring their own equipment and play 3 songs. Brainstorm already had their reputation, with make-up and everything on; it was really different from all the other bands that were all playing pop music. King first had the idea of wearing make-up after seeing the Alice Cooper show "Welcome To My Nightmare" in 1975, probably when Alice performed at The Falkoner Theater in Copenhagen, on September 3rd of that year. Even now, Alice Cooper remains King's greatest influence. But not only Brainstorm came and played metal, but at this first time, they played so loud that no one else were even half as loud as them. It was already very different as the members of Brainstorm thought they were going to be huge in their time, so they decided to not use their real names, so they used artist names; one was Mike Wist, another was Jessie James, and Kim was King Diamond. However, King has no clue where this name came from, but it stuck to him quick. During this time, King also had his first job; he worked as a chemist for two years after he had left school at the age of 21. In the meantime, in March 1977, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a young man called Ren rolmark got his first guitar, a LesPaul copy. He got into music in school where Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were played at the parties. Later, he got hooked on Kiss, that inspired him to pick up the guitar; he wanted to play like Ace Frehley. Then he discovered Judas Priest, which really had a huge impact on him. That would always remain a great inspiration in his songwriting from this moment. Then Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth surfaced in his life and became huge inspirations too. Ren ould later

have a major impact on King's musical career as he formed the punk-metal band Brats with some of his friends in May 1978. Ren hanged his name for Hank De Wank, and the other guys in the band were Franz De Zaster (real name: Michael Gorm; vocals), Mickey Rat (real name: Michael Hillerup; bass) and Eddie Haircut (real name: Milan Balsgaard; drums). With its new line-up, Brats gained some attention from the Danish punk scene, and appeared on the "Paere Punk" sampler with 3 songs, which was released by a local Indie label called King Pear. Then the band went much or less into dissolvement, and in spring 1979, as Hank was improving his musical skills, he recruited two new musicians, both friends of him: Yenz (real name: Jens Arnsted; vocals and bass) and Monroe (real name: Lars Nybo; drums). As they were rehearsing, it became obvious that they needed a second guitar player to sound heavier, so another friend of Hank joined the band: Denner (real name: Michael Denner). Hank and Denner first met during a punk concert in 1978. Denner noticed Hank was wearing a leather jacket with Black Sabbath and Kiss patches. In those days, it was a big thing to meet someone with the same musical tastes, so they were introduced and later became friends. With these new members, the band took a heavier direction, and in January 1980, they signed a 3-album contract with CBS who first released the song "B-Brains" as a free single included in a CBS sampler LP with well known foreign artists. Brats then were the first Danish hard rock band to secure a record deal of this kind. In February and March 1980, they entered Metronome Studio B in Copenhagen to record their first album, which was later mixed at Sweet Silence Studios. While they've been waiting for their album to be released, Brats began touring within Denmark right away in spring 1980. In the following month of August, the self-titled album "Brats" was released. There has been 2,000 copies of this album made. Basically it was an heavy metal album tainted with a punk feel, out of the 12 songs it contained, 8 were metal, 3 were punk and 1 was a Russian folk song, sung in Russian by Denner. This album was very useful to them as it gave them some very important studio experience; a good deal of exposure on TV and radio throughout Europe, through a quirk of fate, it brought them together with English manager and publicist John Kibble. Contrary to all expectations, it didn't sold very well in Denmark, although it made some good sales numbers in France, so much that at a certain point, they were in the process of setting-up a French tour. Two months later, in October 1980, some tensions within the band caused Denner to leave, who has been replaced by guitarist Carsten Van Der Volsing. The main part of criticism of the band was aimed at Yenz's vocals; the band needed a new vocalist.

Black Rose Coming back to King Diamond, he left Brainstorm in 1978 to join another local band called Black Rose, but this time, as a vocalist. Originally, King was looking for another band to play guitar in, however, he saw an advertisement in the newspaper of this band who was looking for a singer. He tried to talk with them, saying he was a guitarist and a singer. He was lying as he wasn't a vocalist at all, but he asked if he could do both in the band, but they said that the guitarist prefered to play alone and that he was really good. King, who didn't have anything else to do at this moment, said he would give it a try anyway. It may have sounded a bit weird in the beginning as it was more screaming than singing when he tried to do high notes, but it started to sound better and better after some time, even though his voice wasn't very developed yet. At that time, they used to cover bands like Deep Purple and Rainbow, but they wrote some songs on their own too. At one point, a thing happened that made King and the guitarist go their own way, they found three new guys from another band: a bassist, a drummer and a keyboard player. When they joined forces, it was the first time they had a keyboard in the band, which really turned them into a direction where they started to write their own songs. They still did a couple of covers when they were doing live shows, mostly Deep Purple songs, which they considered as the greatest rock band around back then. They used to play more unusual songs like "Living Wreck", "Fools" and songs like that, but not "Smoke On The Water" and so on; they only played the harder stuff. To

perform these songs, King had to hit a lot of Ian Gillan high notes. Once again, it was mostly screaming, but with practice it started to develop, and he began to hit the notes very clearly. One night, after one of their gigs, a guy came up and told King that he should use falsetto more, as he referred especially to the song "Road Ride". At first, King didn't even know what this word meant, but still he tried to use that voice more, and King forced himself to go higher and higher. King is purely self-taught, as he never wanted to take any vocal lessons; he considered he had no use to go in and rehearse scales or having some guy telling him how to breath instead of how he was breathing. He liked the way he did his vocals, and if he had to go in and breathe a different way, that would probably be destructive. It's also in this band that the character of King Diamond as we know now really began to take shape, as Black Rose's biggest influence was Alice Cooper. For example, King was carried on-stage wearing a straight-jacket by two male nurses, and placed in a wheelchair. After the first song, King would throw off the straight-jacket, toss the wheelchair into the audience and get on with the rest of the show. They used various props, like to split open a pig's head before they went on stage and then filled up a doll with the entrails and blood. After the gig had starded, King would ritually sacrifice this doll in a satanic manner, again smearing himself in blood, and throwing the guts in the audience. He had made explode bombs which he made himself from stuff he stole from the lab he worked in developing medicine; he used some of those powders and stuff to make it, he would take a live torch and stick it into the holder to make it explode. It was very dangerous, but yet extremely effective. At the time, it was controversial enough as we could have seen them in the biggest Danish rock magazine with the headline saying "Black Rose: Violently Insane Musicians???", with a photo showing King in full make-up, holding a human skull, while being stabbed by the drummer. It was, and still is King's philosophy that when the audience pays to see you in concert, they expect more than just a perfect reproduction of the album they have; rather they come to see a show and a showman. Alice Cooper was one of the great showmen of his time and King aimed to emulate him; that's why an audience expect a visual and aural experience when they come to see them. At the opposite of what some may have thought, Mercyful Fate never played Black Rose songs at all, and nobody did ever heard the Black Rose material as King had the only copies of it that exists, or, at least, until the Black Rose rehearsal CD came out in February 2001. However, King, which is a fully-educated and fully-trained chemist as he has all his diplomas, still used to work in a laboratory in Denmark. He was working on developing medicine to increase the blood flow to the kidneys. He had to test this stuff on three rats a day. Here is what he had to do in this job: first of all, he had to sedate these rats. Then, putting them on a wooden plate, with one thing under their teeth and their little legs were spread out and tied down. Then he had to open up the neck and insert little airpipes so it wouldn't choke. Then he had to find the main vein in the neck and isolate it to cut it. It was such a tiny work, with little scissors and stuff. He had to make sure that they had a little testing tube into the main vein where they could give it this medicine with a syringe. Once that was ready, then he had to go down to the front near the leg, go in there, and find his way all the way back to the kidney. He had to find the main vein going to the

kidney, and then put a little magnet around that vein that would measure the blood flow to the kidney. They were hooked up to all these electronic machines and then whenever he finished one of these things, he'd get a seismograph type thing writing out all this stuff. When he finished one of these projects, he would give the rat a shot of air, which would simply give it a heart attack. It was under, so it would never feel anything, but still it was pretty gross to do. Once, he even assisted the main doctor operating on a dog, doing the same thing on it. Even though King thought it was a great job with secure income, he didn't have the time for both his job and music, so he had to make a choice, which wasn't easy for him to decide back then. He finally left his job to concentrate more on his music, but then he had to live on the social security for the two following years. In November 1980, King left Black Rose after about 10 gigs. The whole thing started when the keyboardist showed up to the rehearsal one day and told the band that he sold his keyboard because he just got a new apartment with his girlfriend and so he needed the money to afford it. Then King got a phone call from Brats's guitarist Hank De Wank and his manager. They were looking for a new singer, and they knew of Black Rose and saw them live as well, so they approached King. King was not totally unknown in the entourage of the band as he used to hang out a lot at a record shop in the middle of Copenhagen. He knew one of the guys that ran the shop, Ken Anthony, who was also working with the guys of Brats, and suggested to King to meet the guys and to try out. So King then entered the band and gave it a try. Brats With King Diamond joining Brats, the band had an initial talk about what the band was gonna be about. As their style was half punk and half metal, King didn't want to sing punk and just wanted to sing the heavier stuff; that was a criteria for him to join the band. Hank and most of the guys were into that, so they started working together and writing extremely heavy metal songs. They didn't have demos of a lot of stuff back then, they did it for some songs, but many of them were never recorded on any tapes; they just remembered them as they've been rehearsing a lot, something like three or four times a week. It was also at this time that Hank De Wank changed his stage name to Hank Shermann. In January 1981, Brats invited a representative for CBS to come down to their rehearsal room in Copenhagen, to give him a listen to the material that was written for the upcoming second album. They had 9 songs ready, including "Death Kiss", "Combat Zone" and "Love Criminals". The new songs were definitely not what CBS had expected them to be. The next day, King and Hank were asked to come to the label's office. They were solemnly informed that the new material was far too heavy for them, and that if they wanted to cut another album it would have to consist of far softer material. King and Hank immediately refused this on behalf of the band. In addition, they were offered a ridiculously low budget to make a new album, so that led to the end of the band's relationship with CBS. In the two following months, the band rehearsed some new

material and performed two more concerts; one in Denmark and one in Sweden, which is actually their first show outside of Denmark ever. As they were not really happy with what happened with CBS to drop the band, Yenz and Monroe left the band in March 1981. At the end of this same month, the three remaining members recorded a 3-track demo tape at The Rocktape Studio in Copenhagen. A good friend called Jan Musen helped out with the drum parts, as the bass parts were split between both Hank and Carsten. The songs they recorded were "Death Kiss", "You Asked For It" and "Running Away". The result was so much heavier than anything the band had ever done before that they decided that a change of the band's name was necessary. The name Back To Hell was considered for a while, but then the girlfriend of their manager suggested Merciful Fate. The name was chosen, but changed to Mercyful Fate when the classic gothic lettered logo was created, still in March 1981.

Mercyful Fate By sending the new demo tape plus some choice tracks off the Brats' rehearsal tapes to various labels and radio stations, one of these radio stations, the Holland-based Radio Hilversum, was the first to put some Mercyful Fate stuff on the airwaves and led to create a strong fan base for the band in Holland. In April 1981, King and Hank were being asked by Michael Denner to help him out recording a 5-track demo for his new band called Danger Zone. This demo, also recorded at The Rocktape

Studios, contained songs such as "M.D.A." (which actually stands for Mission: Destroy Aliens), "Killed For Love" and "Not Amusing". There's some other songs which were recorded at that period which King finds very funny and guarantees no one will ever hear; songs like "Truck Driver", which talked about a guy driving a truck, were so far from the kind of thing King was doing; King didn't seemed to really enjoy Michael's songs. Rounding out the band was drummer 'Old' Nick Smith and bassist Timi Hansen, who is also known as Timi 'Grabber' Hansen. 'Grabber' was just a joke and put as a middle name some time later on tour when presenting him as a musician. The new demo turned out so well that it became obvious that the two bands should become one. The new lineup then featured King Diamond, Hank Shermann, Michael Denner, Timi Hansen, and 'Old' Nick Smith. However, the chemistry wasn't quite right and soon Ole Frausing replaced 'Old' Nick on drums. This new version of Mercyful Fate played their first live gig in the following summer in Taastrup, a small suburb of Copenhagen. Right from the start, the stage show included the classic visual effects of the exploding nun and the burning of a cross, all designed to give the crowd their money worth. During the next autumn, in Herlev, another suburb of Copenhagen, the band rehearsed and played one more gig. Once again, another lineup change took place. Michael had some problems finding the time to play with the band because he had a day job and a frustrated girlfriend so he left the band and was replaced by Benny Petersen, better known as 'Bennett'. Around the same time, Ole Frausing was asked to leave the band, and his replacement was Kim Ruzz, who have previously played with Benny. Kim Ruzz was flashy with a cool drumming style and hard-hitting playing, but was very different as a person compared to the rest of the other guys. He was younger and immature but was working very hard in the beginning, always six days a week. In early 1982, Mercyful Fate had recorded two 4-track demos. The first one contained "Walking Back To Hell", "Running Free", "Black Masses" and "Hard Rocker", as the second one contained "Curse Of The Pharaohs", "Return Of The Vampire", "A Corpse Without Soul" and "Burning The Cross". Then co-manager John Kibble had been knocking on all the major label doors, but even though these demos received some attention from the underground tape-trading circuit, nobody was willing to take that big chance, although a lot of the A&R people liked what the band was doing. Prior to that, the band had already performed a few more headline shows and had also opened for a show of The Gillan Band in Copenhagen, on March 26th 1982. Throughout his career, strange and occult things always happened to King, and one of those happened shortly after Mercyful Fate recorded these demos. That one happened in King's old apartment in Copenhagen, which some people already told him that it was haunted. There was King, his brother, as well another guy of the band (Timi or Kim); they were discussing whether they should listen to the demo right now or whether they should wait for the other guys to arrive before. They were sitting there, everybody opened their first beer; King's brother was sitting on the couch while King was sitting at the opposite to him on a chair. Suddenly, King's brother's glass rose something like 30 inches off the table out of thin air. It just came back down very slowly and landed on the table again without spilling a drop of his beer or anything. They just got all quiet. Nobody said a word, and they started looking at each other, as they quickly realized it wasn't their

imagination; the three of them clearly saw the same thing! King usually feels very comfortable when things like that happen around him, because he sees the spirits as his protectors, almost as guardian angels, he feels very comfortable knowing that they're still around him. King later used that experience with the glass two years later in the song "Welcome Princes Of Hell" on the album "Don't Break The Oath", which was actually mispelled to "Welcome Princess Of Hell". The song "Ghost Of Change" on the "Into The Unknown" album is also related to that experiment in this song; this spirit or ghost came back to him and gives him another chance to change his path. King is actually being given the chance to relive his life, and as it all passes by, he's sure he doesn't need that ghost of change anymore. In the following month of May, the band flew to Hull, England, to record a session for a newly established label Ebony Records, their A&R man, Daryl Johnston, liked a lot the material he heard from the band. He offered them the opportunity to do a session for 2 upcoming compilation albums on his label. The band then recorded "Black Funeral" and "Walking Back To Hell". "Black Funeral" was included on the "Metallic Storm" compilation album that came out during the following summer, which was the first album on which the band appeared. However, "Walking Back To Hell" have not been used at this time for a release. It was later renamed to "Death Kiss", and it is actually the song known as "A Dangerous Meeting". This version have later been released on the "Return Of The Vampire" compilation ten years later. A different version of this song have also been released: titled "Death Kiss" once again, a demo version have been added as a bonus track on the remastered version of "Don't Break The Oath" that Roadrunner Records later released in 1997. That version was actually the first known Mercyful Fate recording ever. There, the band stayed in a private house, all of them in one room. The lady who owned this house provided them bed and breakfast, but she had only cold water to drink, which the band much or less enjoyed. On those two songs, Hank played both rhythm guitars because Benny, who got mad at his girlfriend, didn't show up in the studio the second day. While the band was staying there, they decided to go out to the cemetary opposite the house, just walking around getting some inspiration. Even though they were not doing anything criminal, they were not supposed to walk around there and when the police came around and saw them, five long-haired guys hanging around in the cemetary, they tried to catch them as the band ran away across the graves. They finally got back safely. During the summer that followed, Benny left because of his girlfriend, and Michael Denner went back in the band. From this point, this line-up had to remain the same until the demise of the band. Nuns Have No Fun Then came the Dutch label Rave-On Records, offering the band their first record deal. Rave-On Records was based in the same city as Holland's leading heavy metal magazine Aardshock, which was a very supportive magazine of the band since hearing the demo recordings; that's what introduced the band to the label. So, in the

following September, in Stone Sound Studios, Holland, the band recorded and mixed, in two or three days only, the 4 songs that had to become their classic eponymous EP, also known as "Nuns Have No Fun". While making that EP, the guys of the band all slept in one big room with a bunch of beds, a kind of dorm. During the recording, they really had a serious lack of time as some things have been made in such a rush that the EP didn't turned out as good as the band wanted. Some of the guitar solos on it were first takes, done under a lot of pressure. Producer Jac Hustinx, who was also the owner of the label, often allowed only one take for a lot of stuff Hank was doing, among others, such as the intro solo on "A Corpse Without Soul". No matter what they should have played, it would end on the record anyway because they just got no more time to do it. Even though the band was left dissatisfied with the quality of production, it was a major selling point to many fans who really liked its raw sound. This EP, which gave the band a lot of pressure, came out in the following month of November, but only in Holland. A song featured on this album, called "Devil Eyes", is actually the only Mercyful Fate song King doesn't like, because the beat reminds him of this kind of disco thing on the high hats; it just feels amateur to him and he always refused to play this song live. The cover art of the EP got some controversy, as at the time, the band got a flack because of their satanic stance. There was a priest in Denmark who really tried to finish Mercyful Fate's career, before the first EP came out, and they had the chance of appearing on national TV in Denmark. That was a big break, because back then, nobody knew them. This guy heard of them and wrote to all of the national papers trying to stop them. So King got really tired of listening to this guy, so the band did this EP with this nun being burnt by this coven on the cover, which was made purely to discredit that priest. King knew what he'd said when he saw it. He was all over the newspapers saying how dangerous Mercyful Fate were to the kids. Then King got his turn because they wanted to hear his side of it; King said to look at reality, as the cover was just a painting, while the Church burnt people for real. At this time, Mercyful Fate used a live 'nun' during their shows in Denmark: they were doing naughty things to her, as well as stripping her on stage. However, they didn't made a habit of the latter because there were not that many women prepared to go through such a ritual, as we can understand. During the same month, the band had the opportunity to perform their first shows outside their native Denmark under the name Mercyful Fate. The first one took place at the famous Dynamo Club in Eindhoven, Holland, on September 23rd, as the club was packed with 300 people. That night, the crowd wanted to hear more and the band started to play their set again. The second show was at Ulicoten, still in Holland, two days later. The next day, the band returned to Copenhagen, where they were booked to support the English allfemale band Girlschool. While Mercyful Fate was on stage, at one point, King said something like "We're gonna bring Satan into this house tonight". Then, when Mercyful Fate did ended its set, the guys went back into the dressing room. Some mimutes after that, King

distinctly heard some strange noises coming from the PA; he still got a tape of it at his home, it was very strange. Then, one of the Mercyful Fate roadies came to tell them about the noises, and for some reason that King still doesn't understand, he turned to him and said "I know, and the band will have to stop playing in a few minutes and they won't play another note tonight!". Why that came out of his head, he can't explain. A few minutes later, while Girlschool was performing, their singer, Kim McAuliffe, who was using the same microphone as King used earlier that night, was electrified on stage and had to be taken to the hospital toward the middle of the set. What was even stranger was that the police called in some expert electricians to go over all the gear, and they could not find absolutely nothing wrong. The promoter of the gig went to the radio and said that he'd felt a very strange atmosphere surrounding the hall on that night, the like of which he'd never before come across. He told the DJ it was almost like something had to happen, it had been decreed by forces beyond human comprehension. Then came an invitation from Tommy Vance, who asked them to record a live session for the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1, in England. For the travel, the band bought an old blue Mercedes van, which they put their gear on the top of it. They could barely fit in these themselves with guitars on their laps and stuff like that; that's how they have been travelling back then. They arrived in London on March 18th, where they also performed their first show in England on that evening at The Moonlight Club in front of a small but very enthusiastic audience. This is on the next day that the band recorded the 3 songs for the BBC session: "Curse Of The Pharaohs", "Evil" and "Satan's Fall". These songs, recorded in only 8 hours in The Maida Vale Studios, were later mixed and produced by BBC engineer Tony Wilson. Just by the nature of live recording as opposed to a more involved studio production, these versions sounds a little more raw and in-your-face than the versions that would later have to appear on the album "Melissa". That same evening, they managed to perform at The Clarendon Ballroom, also located in the heart of London. In early April, they returned in Holland to perform some shows that were set up by the people of Rave-On Records to coincide with the recording of their first full-length album. However, at that time, Mercyful Fate decided to leave Rave-On Records because they considered the label was too small, so they couldn't get the funds and the better terms for recording a full-lenght album, such as enough studio time to do full justice to the potential of the songs. Following that decision from the band, the label announced that the shows had to be cancelled because King had broken his leg, which of course, wasn't true. However, a good friend of the band, who worked for Aardshock magazine, had taken over the promotion of these gigs, and subsequently Mercyful Fate was able to perform as scheduled. Of course, that made Rave-On Records look rather ridiculous in the process. Having returned to Denmark, the BBC broadcast of "The Friday Rock Show" was aired on April 22nd. After the broadcast, BBC had so many requests for a re-broadcast that they did it, and it really helped the band a lot. Among the listeners, there was also some people of Roadrunner Records of Amsterdam, Holland. They were then interested in signing the band for a long term contract and so, they contacted Mercyful Fate in May 1983. An agreement was reached and all the paperwork was left to the lawyers. On June

1st, the band then played a show in Copenhagen, and on June 25th, they were performing at the annually held Aardshock Festival in Holland. They played along headliners such as Accept, Raven, Vandenberg and Trance. In front of a crowd of over 6,000 crazed spectators, they really did a triumphant performance as they then signed a recording contract for 5 albums with Roadrunner Records. The next day they played in Bochum, in Germany, before returning home to start preparing the material for the upcoming recording sessions of their first full-leghth album.

Melissa On July 18th 1983, Mercyful Fate started recording at Easy Sounds Studios in Copenhagen for the 13 next days with producer Henrik Lund, which was the co-owner of the studio along with his brother. The band asked Henrik to produce the album, he was paid 1000$ by the record company. Even though the band had more time than when they did the first EP, time was precious and by chance, the band knew the songs very well before entering the studio and made it very quickly. They had to plan and calculate right as they had less than two weeks to record and mix the whole thing, so they really had not much time fooling around. It was an interesting challenge to prove themselves they could do it. While Henrik was mixing the album, the band were not allowed in the room; they had to wait outside the door, leaving him alone. He then had to come out, telling the band to come in listening to the mix he just have done. Then, when the band had comments, like putting less guitar or whatever, they had to leave again, waiting outside the door once more, waiting for him to do another mix, then come in again with more comments; the band

found it very irritating. On the other hand, as Hank now recalls, it was wise on his part because with experience, you realize that too many people in the mixing room is not a good idea because everybody wants their own instrument louder or whatever, and that's probably why Henrik wanted to be left alone doing the mixing. When came the time to do the lead vocals, Henrik found it pretty different from what he used to know, as King brought a little altar in the studio, and some red lights as there was a specific feeling he wanted to create. It was a little spooky, and at first, when Henrik heard the lyrics, he was quite perplexed about it. After talking with King, and seeing everything was so natural for King, it was fine. At that time, the label asked the band to do a cover song, so the band tried Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". The band skipped it because they didn't felt it was working very well. According to Hank, King's vocals were very surprising; it came really close to Robert Plant, so much that you could trick a lot of people into thinking it was actually Led Zeppelin. It's on the following November 26th that "Melissa", the first full-length album was released. It have been very well acclaimed by both fans and critics and quickly became a huge hit, and this was also the first Mercyful Fate effort to get an official release in the United States, as the self-titled EP was a highly sought after import, and the BBC sessions were only availlable on bootleg tapes. "Melissa" was the name of a skull the band was using at the time in their shows, and that we can see on the cover of the album. Originally, someone gave this human skull to King. Something happened to this person as it had a heavy blow on the forehead, the top had been cut off but it was still there, attached with a little hook. In the inside of the skull, there had been a big piece that had gotten loose but had grown back onto it on the inside, and there was a tiny little hole that you could see through from the outside to the inside. So, that person should have been hit with an axe or something, right in the forehead, and didn?t die from it obviously. So King started wondering what should have happened to this person, what fate could this person have had. For some reason, King had to make up his own little story to put his own mind at peace and that?s where the song ?Melissa? came from, it was inspired by that skull. King thinks this could?ve been a witch, just like it could?ve been anything in fact, but that was just something to put himself at ease. At a certain point, it almost seemed like the title-song was like the Bermuda Triangle, as something weird happened to this song: it did not have vocals over a certain part of the song when the album was originally released. But when Roadrunner Records later rereleased it, suddenly there were new vocals over that same segment. Also, the first version had a very thick reverb on the voice, whereas the second version had no such processing on the voice. There was also a backwards message where King is saying "What message is this?". King finds it very interesting as maybe there are even more powers to that song. He still says that there is no way that it could have happened, which is mind-blowing to him. King has absolutely no clue about what could have happened with that, as it's a physical impossibility since you just can't add to vocals. The band have the 24-track master, so Roadrunner could never have gotten a hold of that, first of all, as they only have a finished master. They would never get a 24-track tape as it remained in the studio. What they would get could be a 1/2" master, which means that everything is

mixed down. It's what they master the album from, so the only thing they could have done there, if somebody thought it was funny or whatever, go in and add some extra reverb or something. But then it would be through the entire thing; it would be guitars, bass, drums, everything, because you can't divide up tracks on a 1/2". Someone must have been interpreting King's vision, but probably not humans because it's physically impossible. Some of the material on the album had their roots in even earlier demo recordings done during the Brats days, such as "Curse Of The Pharaohs", which was originally titled "Night Riders" on some old Brats demo, but retitled after King changed the lyrics to it as the original lyrics were written by the Brats bassist. There was also "Love Criminals", which is actually the first song Mercyful Fate ever written, that have been finally availlable for the first time on this album, but under the title "Into The Coven", which was originally meant to be the title of the album too. Also on this album, there was a song called "Satan's Fall" which, as Michael recalls, took ages to learn and had this eerie feeling the few times he heard it. As usual, Hank did the music for this song, and most nights, he would go out of bed going into his living room, sit there with his Stratocaster and compose. The band kept rehearsing it each time he added something until finally the song stopped, but as it always opened new doors, it always still grew more and more. There's something like 16 different riffs, and not only this was the band's longest song with a running time over 11 minutes (at least until the band released "Dead Again", on which the title track is 13 minutes long), but this song was actually written upon a book that would have a major impact on King's spiritual thoughts and philosophy; "The Satanic Bible", written by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1969. Fascinated by some occult experiences that happened to him in the past, King decided to read books about the occult, and a lot of things followed that. But most of the books he did read had the same view of Satanism; slaughtering babies, drinking blood, etc. He thought it was sick, but when he came across LaVey's Satanic Bible, he had the openness to read it anyway and to see what the hell was really going on. That was exactly what inspired the song "Satan's Fall"; discovering LaVey's Satanic Bible. After that, he began to investigate more deeply into the mystical side of life. King always lived by the Satanic philosophy even before he knew it was called like that. Even at that period of time, King used to have a black altar in his home, with two black candles always burning. In the middle of it was a human skull, and a gold, inverted cross. Concerning religion, King doesn't believe in any God or religion, for the simple fact that no one has any proof that what they believe in is the only true thing. If anyone had that, of course everyone else would believe in that because it was proven, and that?s why there is all these different religious directions, just as well as no one can prove that they believe in the right God, no one can prove that there is a God or that there is no God. King always been very openminded to what the others may believe in and respects that; as everybody is different, he considers that its normal that everybody have their own beliefs as we can't all believe in the same thing. It also goes concerning the universe, which King believes we can't be alone as there's so much more we don't know yet.

On stage, King always wore the same type of make-up because it represents Death and it actually made him feel rather maniacal. They also used a few props to get people into a certain mood at their gigs rather than just nodding their heads to the music. One of King's favourite tricks was a thing the band once did in Eindhoven. One of their roadies gave them a small volume of his own blood, which King have put into a glass vial. They had two crossed goose feathers on their altar that night, and they would perform a Satanic ritual whereby human blood would be sprinkled on the feathers to make them alive. When they did it, King smashed the vial onto the altar, and then smeared his face in the blood. The fans obviously thought it was theatrical blood, and reached out to touch his hands. It was only then that they realized this was real blood, and some of them turned visibly ill. Unfortunately, they had to drop this part of the act, because although it had a great effect on the kids in the first two rows, anyone further back in the hall wasn't aware of anything happening. In December 1983, the "Black Funeral" single was released. It contained a B-Side called "Black Masses", which was recorded during the ?Melissa? session, but has been deleted from the album. As the first song recorded for the ?Melissa? session, the sound wasn't there so the track was reduced to a B-Side only. During the same month, Mercyful Fate was booked to support Ozzy Osbourne in Copenhagen, but due to an illness on Ozzy's part, the show was cancelled. Later that same month, the band performed a headline show in Copenhagen as preparation for their upcoming European tour. It was also in 1983 that Mercyful Fate first met the guys of Metallica, with whom they stayed very good friends since then. It all began when Metallica, while recording some of its albums in Copenhagen, asked Mercyful Fate amplifiers and other borrowed equipments from them. The European tour started in Holland on January 19th 1984 at The Dynamo, in Eindhoven. The next day, they performed a set at The Countdown Cafe in Hilversum, which was broadcasted live on local radio. In January 21st, they performed in Amsterdam, at The Paradiso Theatre, where the skull of Melissa has been stolen from the altar on stage by a fan due to very incompetent local security. Then the band went touring Italy on February, where they performed 6 shows, and on the following March 3rd, they started their UK tour supporting Manowar. Originally, 11 shows were booked, but it turned out that Mercyful Fate would only play one. That first and only show was taking place at St. Albans City Hall in Hertfordshire. When Mercyful Fate's crew arrived at the venue with their equipment at 2:00pm as agreed, Manowar's tour manager told them to leave the gear in the street until Manowar were finished with their soundcheck. At 7:30pm, they were finally allowed to bring in their equipment, leaving them only 30 minutes to do so; the doors opened at 8:00pm. Then, when the show started, Mercyful Fate have been told that they could only perform for 25 minutes, as opposed to the 45 minutes that they were guaranteed. Upon entering the stage, the band realized that their sound-engineer was denied access to the soundboard, naturally resulting in a terrible sound. At a certain point in the set, Manowar's sound-engineer began playing around with Mercyful Fate's sound. Then, it's been enough; they had no option but to demand some drastic changes if the tour was to go on. Even though Mercyful Fate's demands were backed up by their common record company, Manowar refused to comply. This forced

Mercyful Fate to leave the tour and at a great financial loss to themselves. Not to mention the great dispair of their British fans. On April 5th, the band played a sold out headline show at Saltlageret, in Copenhagen. There, for the first time, they were able to present their new chapel; a fantastic stage set in which the band had invested a lot of their earnings in their never ending quest to deliver the ultimate show for the fans. Then on April 30th, they began to work on the next release for the next 19 days, once again at Easy Sounds Studios. On June 10th, the band performed at the prestigious Heavy Sounds Festival in Poperinge, Belgium. Beside Mercyful Fate, the bill also featured Mot?ad, Twisted Sister, Metallica, Baron Rojo, Lita Ford, H-Bomb and Faithful Breath. It was actually the first time the band played outside during the daylight. Playing when the sun is shining doesn't really fit to the songs which are quiet dark, so it loses too much of its atmosphere, but its a necessary evil as the band had to do it anyway, even though they prefered playing in the dark.

Don't Break The Oath In May 1984, Mercyful Fate returned to Easy Sound Studios with producer Henrik Lund for the recording of their second full-length album. Once again, Henrik asked the band to stay outside the studio until he was done, but this time, the band refused and came in anyway; they just didn't care if he liked it or not. Having everyone there came in handy, though, because there was a lot of production stuff on that album where they had to change reverbs and echoes, stuff like that. There was a lot to do with the vocals too, because there were no automated

mixing boards at that time; everything was so manual, so it was a lot more difficult to mix back then. It's finally on August 10th 1984 that was released the album "Don't Break The Oath", which had to become another heavy metal classic album. The response to the album was phenomenal as the reviews were unanimous saying they had surpassed themselves again. Soon after its U.S. release on Combat Records, the album became the first underground metal album to reach the Bubbling Under section of the prestigious Billboard magazine album chart; it came in at #202, just two slots of making the Top 200. Many songs on the album previously appeared on some of the band's earlier demos, sometimes under different titles, with different lyrics and arrangements. Some of them were actually written even before the "Melissa" was done, such as "Come To The Sabbath" among others. That song, as well as "The Oath" were ready by the time the band did the "Melissa" album, but they prefered keeping it for the following album; sometimes the band ended up in fights over whose songs were going on the album, because everybody wanted their own songs on the album, of course. Another song that was written for a while and ended on this album was "A Dangerous Meeting", which was originally called "Walking Back To Hell", and then retitled "Death Kiss". Lyrically, the song "Nightmare" is pretty intriguing as it describes a dream King previously had a few years before. It was rather nasty: he dreamed he saw a big black book and a picture of a strange lady on the back, and as he looked, she suddenly came to life. He tried screaming for help to his brother who shared the same bedroom at the time, but no sound came out. The mysterious lady beckoned him to follow her, and he felt compelled to do so. He then found himself in the center of a coven of thirteen hooded, shadowy figures, all of whom were pointing at him saying "You are living on borrowed time". King woke up in real sweat as it was a truly horrifying nightmare. Also, according to some, the song "Gypsy", which was featured on "Don't Break The Oath" too, would be autobiographical for King. Shortly after the release of the album, the band fired co-manager John Kibble as they discovered that he recorded their gigs and sold the tapes falselly pretending these were real albums, which pissed off the band due to the lack of quality of these recordings. The authorities found it and destroyed the whole lot, which represented around 5,000 to 10,000 copies. Most of the early bootlegs of the band were actually recorded by him. From now on, Mercyful Fate became self managed with the help of Ol ang, a friend of

the band who was involved with them since the very beginning. Ol irst met Hank on his way back to Copenhagen, coming back from a Judas Priest concert in Hamburg, Germany. Ol ent to the show taking photographs, and Hank, who was playing with Brats at the time, saw Ol cameras and equipment and asked if he could come around his rehearsal room and take some shots of his band. They kept in touch and Ol as working with the band since then. In the following month of October, some American promotors were finally convinced to book the band for an American tour as they gained always more and more success over there. The initial plan was to do 15 shows in 3 weeks, but as the ticket sales far surpassed expectations, the tour was extended for 19 additional dates. Mercyful Fate headlined their own club tour, then opened for Mot?ad on a trek through theatres. The band headed to the USA on October 18th, as their first show was scheduled two days later in Portland, Oregon. On the October 26th, the band was performing in San Francisco, California. That night, as the band was supposed to get onstage, Hank was still asleep in his motel room. The American tour manager called him up, and Hank felt so bad and tired, so he took his stage clothes and just walked down the street. There was a kind of a new place, and when he went to the place, he couldn't get the way in, finding out where he should go in. It was a big mess, but however, the show turned out right, in addition that their friends of Metallica joined them on stage for a jam during that same evening. The American Tour then ended on December 16th in Providence, Rhode Island. Further dates in Norfolk and Pittsburg were cancelled as local promotors were pressured by religious groups to ban the group from perforing as Mercyful Fate's reputation had actually preceeded them. The band even landed on the front cover of the biggest news papers in America, USA Today and The Globe, stating in a headline "Satanic rockers threaten our kids". The American Tour was now completed with success, but some frictions within the band began to arise regarding the musical direction the band had to take after that. A rift had sprouted between Hank and the other members, leading to the fabled reports of Hank wearing pink sweatsuits onstage while his bandmates still prowled the boards in black leather and spikes; it seemed like if he didn't know where he stood all of a sudden. Anyway, the band then came back home for a well-deserved Christmas break, but pretty short as they were booked to appear on the German Christmas Metal Meeting Tour, which lasted from December 26th through December 30th. The bill also comprised of Mot?ad, Helix, Girlschool and Talon. In the beginning of 1985, the band was preparing material for their next album. At the end of February, Hank stopped by King's apartment to play him a tape of riffs and ideas he prepared for the upcoming album. King also had 5 tracks ready which were a direct continuation of the style displayed on the previous albums. However, the material Hank had was in a completely different direction as it was much softer and even funky in certain places. Hank was a big-time joker, and King thought it was a practical joke that he recorded a couple of these songs and presented them to the band, unless until he found out that Hank was serious. At this time, he suddenly wanted to try a lot of other stuff as he was listening to a lot of funk and it inspired him to write some stuff that completely shocked King, and also Michael, and it became obvious to King that mixing these two styles would never work on a Mercyful Fate album. Neither Hank and King wanted to

compromise, and this situation left King with only one sensible choice; leaving Mercyful Fate and starting a band of his own. However, for the next month, he kept his decision a secret from the rest of the band while laying out plans for a future on his own. In the meanwhile, Michael and Timi were hanging out with a drummer called Mikkey Dee, who was playing with a band called Geisha. King have heard he was a very good drummer, and went to Mikkey, telling him he would soon break-up Mercyful Fate and start a new band. He asked him if he would like to come with him. Mikkey thought it was an interesting challenge and accepted. Mikkey also talked about it to his friend Pete Blakk, but Pete wasn't interested at this time. Then on April 11th 1985, the band performed what had to become their last show at The Saga Theatre, in Copenhagen. The day after the show, King called up the other members and told them of his decision to leave the band. The next day, it became official; Mercyful Fate was no more. At this point, the band was supposed to go touring Germany in the following days, so, of course, the planned tour was then cancelled due to the break-up. Even after its demise, Mercyful Fate was still causing controversy as in the summer of 1985, an organization, formed by American senator's wives, called the P.M.R.C. (The Parents Music Resource Center) published the infamous Filthy Fifteen List. This was a list of the fifteen songs that the P.M.R.C. considered the most harmful for young people. Among others, such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and W.A.S.P., there was also Mercyful Fate on this list, regarding the song "Into The Coven". The P.M.R.C., by way of their political connections, managed to have a Senate hearing arranged later that year. It would prove to be the initiative that would later lead to the current American policy for the use of warning-stickers on albums that features what some people might consider as explicit lyrics. Now that the band was no more existing, Hank went on his side forming his new band called Fate, along with drummer Bob Lance. Bob previously was asked to join Mercyful Fate in the early days, but refused as he was already playing in a band, a progressive band with whom he was happy back then, so Mercyful Fate did choose Kim Ruzz instead at this time. At a certain point, Michael Denner was supposed to play on the Fate album too, but however it never happened. King, on his side, started on a new band simply called King Diamond; it seemed logical to name the new band after him, this giving it an instant identity with the Mercyful Fate fan base. In this new band, not only King brought with him the style that Mercyful Fate had, but also two of its members: guitarist Michael Denner and bassist Timi Hansen. The other remaining member, drummer Kim Ruzz, decided to call it quits for the musical scene as he was not asked to follow King because Michael did not get along with him at all; they even had a fist fight on tour. King once had a fight with him too, on the street in front of King's apartment, in Copenhagen. Kim lived for some years in the USA, working as a postman, but then he moved back to Denmark a few years later. He then still played drums but kept away from the music industry. Now on his own, King was looking for two additional members to complete the line-up of his new band, as he needed a second guitarist as well as a drummer. Then, as it was already planned, Mikkey Dee entered the band, bringing with him guitarist Floyd Constantine, who also played with him in Geisha.

Did you know... King Diamond has a younger brother who lives in Denmark. King's father passed away in 1986 or 1987. His mother is still alive. King has a girlfriend, and also a black cat called Magic. last time King went on vacation was in 1993. He spent one week in Jamaica. King's favourite food is the national Danish Christmas dinner, which consists of roast pork, goose or beef and dessert is always rice pudding (Julgrot) which has a lucky almond hidden in it. his favourite drink is coffee. He just can't live without coffee. he smokes Prince cigarettes, specially imported from Denmark. the thing he hates the most in life is the lack of respect, the lack of tolerance beyond the differences of others. King can't sleep in tour bus. King almost died in a plane travel. He was convinced he would die, but at the last minute, everything turned out right. beside music, his biggest passion is car racing. He loves fast and noisy cars. His own car sounds like a race car. the two first albums King bought were Deep Purple's Fireball (1971) and Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality (1971). the album he likes the most is Uriah Heep's Look At Yourself (1971). some of King's favourite movies are The Shining and The Hunger. although he doesn't often have time to read, his favourite writer is the english horror writer James Herbert. He also likes the Stephen King novels.

Albums

Mercyful Fate E.P.

Melissa

Don't Break The Oath The Beginning

Return Of The Vampire In The Shadows Time

Into The Unknown

Dead Again

Singles & EPs

Black Funeral

The Bell Witch

Albums

Fatal Portrait

Abigail

Them

The Dark Sides

Conspiracy

The Eye

In Concert 1987Abigail

The Spider's Lullabye

The Graveyard

Voodoo

House of God

Abigail II:The Revenge

The Puppetmaster

Deadly Lullabyes Live

Singles

No Presents For Christmas

Halloween

The Family Ghost

Compilations & Boxed Sets

A Dangerous Meeting

Massacre Classx Shape Edition

Nightmares In The Nineties

Decade Of Horror

The Best Of King Diamond

Platinum Edition Box Set

Mercyful Fate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Mercyful Fate

Origin Country Years active Genres Labels

Copenhagen Denmark 1981Present Black metal Heavy metal Combat Records Roadrunner Records Metal Blade www.covenworldwide.org

Website(s)

Mercyful Fate is an influential Danish heavy metal group that helped inspire the black metal, thrash metal, power metal and progressive metal genres. They are noted as being a pioneering band of the first wave of black metal.

Contents
[hide]

1 Biography o 1.1 Origins o 1.2 Reunion o 1.3 Legacy 2 Melissa 3 Members o 3.1 Current members o 3.2 Former members o 3.3 Session members 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Biography
[edit] Origins
The band was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980 from the ashes of Hank Shermann's band Brats and King Diamond's band Black Rose. Shortly thereafter, in the Spring of 1981 they helped out a fellow Dane, Michael Denner, with demos for his band Danger Zone. Soon it was apparent that Shermann, Denner, Diamond and Denner's bassplayer, Timi Grabber (real name Timi G. Hansen), fit well together as a unit and those players performed under the Mercyful Fate moniker for the first time in Denmark. There were the usual member changes for a young band; Denner left and then returned and drummers came and went, but finally Kim Ruzz established himself as the drummer. The band recorded their first material on vinyl late in 1982 for the Dutch label "Rave On" titled Nuns Have No Fun. This release included such heavy and evil material that a new genre was born: "black metal" (although Venom, who released Welcome to Hell' the year before should also be considered as the forefathers of black metal, though their approach was semi-satiric). In contrast to other bands who used pseudo-Satanic imagery purely from an entertainment standpoint, King Diamond is a professed Satanist and member of the Church of Satan, and most of Fate's early lyrics were in favour of Satanism and hostile to Christianity ("Don't Break The Oath"). Following their first album (actually a four song EP) the band released two albums: Melissa and Don't Break the Oath. Both albums featured the distinctive sound of Shermann and Denner on guitar, the unique rhythm section of Grabber and King Diamond's falsetto vocals. Both albums are now considered to be classics in both the power metal and black metal genres. Internal differences forced the band to break up in April of 1985. Diamond, Grabber (now Hansen) and Denner formed the King Diamond solo band which continued the tradition of Mercyful Fate, albeit with a more progressive,

conceptual theme. Shermann went towards a more AOR-type approach with his band "Fate".

[edit] Reunion
But these Danes always stayed in touch, even helping out in each others various solo performances. And as the years passed the cult following of the band refused to die off and, in July of 1992 the band reformed and signed a contract with Metal Blade (an independent Heavy Metal label led by Brian Slagel who released the debuts of Mercyful Fate influenced bands Metallica and Slayer). All the original members, minus Kim Ruzz, who was replaced by Morten Nielsen, were back for a second chance. In 1993 they released In the Shadows, and, in the years since have released four more albums; Time, Into the Unknown, Dead Again and 9. As in the past band members have left and been replaced. Michael Denner left and was replaced by Mike Wead, Drummer Nielsen was later replaced by Snowy Shaw who was then replaced by Bjarne Holm, Bassist Timi Hansen left quickly and was replaced by Sharlee D'Angelo. King Diamond has, since the initial split, also kept together a very successful solo band. Currently, Mercyful Fate are on a hiatus; the band reportedly still owes the record company one more album, but when it will occur is unknown. There is also talk of a DVD release of early Mercyful Fate audio and video material which is highly anticipated by the fans of the band. Additionally, Shermann, Denner, Holm and King Diamond soloband Bass player Hal Patino have formed Force Of Evil, a band that incorporates many of the themes of the original Mercyful Fate.

[edit] Legacy
Mercyful Fate will always be remembered for their unquestionable mark on the history of metal, with their new innovative sound, complex arrangements, memorable melody, and their influence on bands that later took the genre to new heights. In 1998, Metallica paid tribute to Mercyful Fate by recording a medley of classic Mercyful Fate songs on the album Garage Inc. Entitled "Mercyful Fate", the medley included parts from "Satan's Fall", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "A Corpse Without Soul", "Into the Coven", and "Evil". Lars Ulrich of Metallica (a fellow Dane) also played drums on a new version of "Return of the Vampire" on the In the Shadows album. Ulrich was also said to be instrumental in securing Mercyful Fate a new record deal with longtime friend Brian Slagel's label, Metal Blade[citation needed].

[edit] Melissa
Melissa is the name of a skull King Diamond used to carry on stage and also a fictional deceased witch that appears in three songs. Before the recordings of the album Melissa King Diamond had acquired a human skeleton that he named "Melissa". He used the

femur bones to make his trademark microphone handle. The skull was apparently stolen during a show in the Netherlands. The song "Melissa" is the title track of Mercyful Fate's first release Melissa and the climax of the album. Musically, it is very different from the rest of the album. It is much slower than the other songs which are speedier and more aggressive, with King Diamond singing with greater melancholy and a somber and emotional embrace. The lyrics tell of a male protagonist (usually identified as King Diamond himself by fans) who lost the love of his life, named "Melissa". She is a witch who was burnt at the stake by a Catholic Priest. The story builds itself up around the emotions of the protagonist, who first feels sadness and uncertainty, hope for her to still be alive, and then rage over his loss. He swears revenge on the priest who burnt her, proclaiming that he must die in the name of hell. The song ends with a whisper that hints Melissa's spirit is still with the protagonist. The second song Melissa appears on is on the album Don't Break the Oath in the song "Come to the Sabbath" once again at the climax of the album. The lyrics tell about a satanic coven holding a sabbath, in which the protagonist emerges to perform a ritual to "put an evil curse on the priest who took the life of Melissa". Though she is not the focus of the lyrics this time, because of her mention the song is known as a "Melissa song". The final song Melissa appears in is on Mercyful Fate's reunion album In the Shadows on the song "Is that you, Melissa?". The lyrics tell of the protagonist once again in sorrow about the loss of his love. He begins to hear her voice and goes to the coven to have them perform a ritual to speak with her ghost. The coven objects, saying that it is against the rules. The protagonist is visited by Melissa's spirit who shares a kiss with the protagonist. The subject of the song is argued by some; one side says the lyrics are not a continuation of the Melissa story but a tribute by the band to their past, while the other side sees it as the end of the Melissa story. Melissa's image is on the cover of the album Melissa, tied to a stake. It is also widely accepted that she is the girl on the album cover of "In the Shadows" facing the old oak tree. After In the Shadows, Melissa has not been mentioned in the lyrics or featured in artwork. Other songs such as "Lady in Black" are claimed to be Melissa songs. This is disputed because there are no mentions of the name "Melissa" in it or in the rest of the songs. Additionally, one of the main characters on the King Diamond solo album Them was named "Missy", a common diminutive of Melissa.

[edit] Members

Mercyful Fate logo

[edit] Current members

King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen) - Vocals, Keyboards Mike Wead (Mikael Wikstrm) - Guitar Hank Shermann (Rene Krolmark) - Guitar, Bass. Bjarne T. Holm (Bob Lance) - Drums Sharlee D'Angelo (Charles Peter Andreason) - Bass

[edit] Former members

Carsten Van Der Volsing - Guitar Souris - Guitar Michael Denner - Guitar Timi 'Grabber' Hansen - Bass Kim Ruzz - Drums Snowy Shaw (Tommy Helgesson) - Drums "Old" Nick Smith - Drums Morten Nielsen - Drums Jan Mulsen - Drums Johnny Marshall - Keyboards

[edit] Session members

Lars Ulrich - Drums

MERCYFUL FATE LYRICS

album: "Mercyful Fate" (1982 MCD)
Doomed By The Living Dead A Corpse Without Soul

Nuns Have No Fun Devil Eyes

album: "Melissa" (1983)

Evil Curse Of The Pharaons Into The Coven At The Sound Of The Demon Bell Black Funeral Satan's Fall Melissa

album: "Don't Break The Oath" (1984)

A Dangerous Meeting Nightmare Desecration Of Souls Night Of The Unborn The Oath Gypsy Welcome Princess Of Hell To One Far Away Come To The Sabbath

album: "The Beginning" (1987 MCD)

Doomed By The Living Dead A Corpse Without Soul Nuns Have No Fun Devil Eyes Black Masses

album: "Return Of The Vampire" (1992)

Burning The Cross Curse Of The Pharaohs Return Of The Vampire On A Night Of A Full Moon A Corpse Without Soul Death Kiss Leave My Soul Alone M.D.A. (Mission Destroyed Alien) You Asked For It

album: "In The Shadows" (1993)

Egypt The Bell Witch The Old Oak Shadows A Gruesome Time Thirteen Invitations Room Of Golden Air Legend Of A Headless Rider Is That You, Melissa Return Of The Vampire... 1993

album: "Time" (1994)

Nightmare Be Thy Name Angel Of Light Witche's Dance The Mad Arab My Demon Time The Preacher Lady In Black Mirror The Afterlife Castillo Del Mortes

album: "Into The Unknown" (1996)

Lucifer The Univited Guest Ghost Of Change Listen To The Bell Fifteen Men (And A Bottle Of Rum) Into The Unknown Under The Spell Deadtime Holy Water Kutulu (The Mad Arab Part Two)

album: "Dead Again" (1998)

Torture (1629) The Night Since Forever The Lady Who Cries Mandrake Sucking Your Blood Dead Again Fear Crossroads

Banshee

album: "9" (1999)

Last Rites Church Of Saint Anne Sold My Soul House On The Hill Burn In Hell The Grave Insane Kiss The Demon Buried Alive 9

Moonspell - formata in anul 1992 in Lisabona, Portugalia. Perioada de activitate: 1992 - prezent. Membrii trupei: Fernando Ribeiro (voce), Ricardo Amorim (chitara), Pedro Paixo (clape, chitara), Mike Gaspar (tobe), Aires Pereira (chitara bass). Ex-membri: Niclas Etelvuori (Bass), Srgio Crestana (Bass), Mantus (chitara), Joao Pedro (bass), Luis Lamelas (Malah) (chitara). Stiluri abordate: Gothic - Folk Metal Discografie Moonspell Moonspell s-a format in anul 1992, dupa ce a cunoscut mai multe nume, ca urmare a unei munci continue pentru a produce ceea ce avea sa devina cea mai recunoscuta trupa de metal din Portugalia. In 1993 Fernando Ribeiro (solist), Aires (bass) si Mike (baterist) au inregistrat singurul album demo Moonspell Anno Satanae", care a avut aprecieri foarte bune, atragand atentia unei case franceze numita Adipocere, permitand trupei sa scoata un mini cd "Under themoonspell" in 1994. Acest mini cd a fost considerat o adevarata amprenta a industriei underground portugheze, ingloband influente ale unor trupe ca Bathory, Celtic Frost si Dead Can Dance, ca si muzica traditionala arabica si portugheza, toate astea rezultand in ceea ce Moonspell considera "coplesitoarea muzica mediteraneeana, imensa putere atlantica, tristetea si solitudinea graite de vanturile marii". Pana cand mini cd-ul a fost lansat, Moonspell a suferit modificari, noutatea fiind - un clapar in persoana lui Pedro Paixao. "Under the moonspell", ce poate fi descris ca black metal (dar asta e o parere a unui suflet portughez, nu o copie a modelului scandinav) a captat atentia casei curente, Century Media. Astfel Moonspell

a inceput sa cante live alaturi de trupe ca Cannibal Corpse, Samael si Anathema. Moonspell a muncit mult pt a amesteca toate influentele si sa creeze un sound intunecat dublat de lirica erotica. Aceast evolutie a rezultat in albumul "Wolfheart", inregistrat in Germania si produs de Waldemar Sorychta. In Portugalia, acest album nu a avut amploare sau nu a fost recunoscut, dar de indata ce Moonspell a inceput turneul european ca trupa de deschidere pentru Morbid Angel, adevaratul potential a devenit clar. Desi conditiile pe care le-au avut de infruntat trupa nu au fost usoare, publicul european a fost foarte multumit de aceasta formatie, iar vanzarile albumului "Wolfheart" au crescut considerabil. Intre anii 1995 - 1996, Moonspell a cantat pe aceeasi scena cu formatii ca Tiamat, Kreator si Testament, concertand in turnee prin intreaga Europa. La scurt timp, dupa ce au cantat cu Crematory si The Gathering, Moonspell s-a intors in Germania pentru a inregistra al doillea album, produs de acelasi Waldemar Sorychta. Rezultatul a fost albumul "Irreligious", care arata o trupa mai matura care a evoluat si a devenit diferita, starnind controverse pe scena metalica portugheza. In anul 1996, cu primul lor videoclip la piesa "Opium", prin care s-a dorit exprimarea adevaratul spirit portughez prin evidentierea strazilor inguste ale Lisabonei si poeziile unui mare poet portughez, Fernando Pessoa, Moonspell se remarca ca un fenomen portughez muzical, cu vanzarile ajungand la 10 000 de exemplare pe plan national, inedit pe scena muzicala portugheza. A urmat un nou turneu, cu Type 0 Negative, care a fost o experienta numita de Moonspell "unul din pasii vitali ai istoriei noastre ca trupa". Cand Moonspell s-a intors sa inregistreze albumul urmator, in decembrie 1996, cateva conflicte in interiorul trupei au avut loc, si Ares pleaca intr-un mod total neplacut. Asta s-a intamplat in 1997 si au urmat o serie de conflicte legale intre el si trupa. Totusi, Ares a fost inlocuit cu Sergio si in 1997 "Sin/Pecado" a fost publicat. A fost un album care a starnit si mai multe controverse, in principal datorita mixului intre heavy si dark cu sunetele electronice. Turneul ce a urmat a fost facut in America de Sud, extinzandu-si si mai mult aria fanatica. Cu noul producator, Andy Reilly, Moonspell a inregistrat un nou album in 1998, "The butterfly effect". Fara indoiala albumul a fost diferit si elementele electrice pareau mai impresionante ca niciodata. A urmat un nou turneu in America de Nord cu In Flames. In 2001, Moonspell lanseaza "Darkness and Hope", orientat cel mai puternic spre gothic de pana acum, creand niste piese metalice emotionale si cateva scenarii foarte complexe. A urmat o serie de concerte in SUA, in compania celor de la Lacuna Coil, iar in martie 2002, turneul a continuat, de aceasta data in Europa, alaturi de Tiamat si Flowing Tears. In aceeasi perioada, trupa renunta la serviciile lui Srgio Crestana, locul la bass fiindu-i luat de basistul trupei finlandeze Amorphis, insa doar pt sesiunea de inregistrare a noului album - Antidote, impreuna cu producatorul Hiili Hiilesmaa, in Helsinki. In iunie este cooptat ca basist Aires Pereira. ANTIDOTE a fost o premiera pentru Moonspell, datorita colaborarii cu un scriitor care ulterior a scris o carte bazata pe tema acestui album. Trupa a continuat seria concertelor, in SUA cantand alaturi de Type O Negative si Cradle Of Filth, iar in Europa alaturi de Lacuna

Coil, Passenger, Poisonblack, si apoi..din nou in America impreuna cu Opeth. In aprilie 2004, Moonspell se retrage in studio pentru a incepe lucrul la un nou album, insa in luna mai aceasta activitate este intrerupta pentru a intreprinde un turneu in America de Sud, in tarile - Mexic, Chile si Brazilia. Pe langa doua colaborari cu niste trupe portugheze, Fernando Ribeiro isi publica al doilea volum de poezii, sub numele 'As Feridas Essenciais' ('The Essential Wounds)' . Anul 2005 gaseste trupa Moonspell cu planuri de a lansa un DVD, bazat pe inregistrarea unui concert din Katowice, Polonia. De asemenea, in primavara acestui an, vor concerta in Europa impreuna cu Cradle Of Filth, si spre bucuria fanilor romani, Moonspell va trece granita pentru a concerta in data de 11 martie, in Timisoara, in deschidere - cea mai importanta trupa metal din Grecia - Rotting Christ. Momentan Moonspell lucreaza la noul album, si un DVD va fi lansat in curand. Oricare ar fi succesul sau insuccesul celui de-al 6lea album, Moonspell poarta coroana celei mai bune trupe portugheze, iar originalitatea si geniul membrilor face trupa un nume de marca pe scena internationala metalica. Exceptand faptul ca vin dintr-o tara sudica fara traditia in metal, ei refuza sa urmeze sablonul scandinav, si-si formeaza propriul model, cantand uneori in limba natala (Alma Mater), si exprimandu-si mereu individualitatea ca trupa si ca reprezentanti ai unei natiuni. Fara indoiala, Moonspell mai are multe de oferit si va fi o influenta extraordinara asupra altor trupe portugheze. UPDATE: In 2006, Moonspell a lansat albumul Memorial.

Discografie Moonspell

Moonspell - Wolfheart 1995

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) 7:43 Love Crimes 7:34 ...Of Dream and Drama (Midnight Ride) 3:59 Lua d'Inverno 1:48 Trebraruna 3:30 Vampiria 5:36 An Erotic Alchemy 8:05 Alma Mater 5:38

Moonspell - Irreligious 1996

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11.

Perverse... Almost Religious 1:07 Opium 2:48 Awake 3:06 For a Taste of Eternity 3:53 Ruin & Misery 3:48 A Poisoned Gift 5:34 Subversion 2:44 Raven Claws 3:16 Mephisto 4:58 Herr Spiegelmann 4:35 Full Moon Madness 6:47

Moonspell - Sin/Pecado 1998 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. Slow Down! 0:40 Hand Made God 5:33 Second Skin 4:50 Abysmo 4:59 Flesh 3:02 Magdalene 6:16 Vulture Culture (Gloria Domini) 4:59 Eurotica 3:49 Mute 6:00 Dekadence 5:49 Let The Children Cum To Me 6:53 The Hanged Man 6:26 13! 2:42

Moonspell - The Butterfly Effect 1999 01. Soulsick 4:16 02. Butterfly FX 3:51 03. Can't Bee 5:11 04. Lustmord 3:44 05. Self Abuse 4:16 06. I Am The Eternal Spectator 3:31 07. Soulitary Vice 3:27 08. Disappear Here 3:33 09 . Adaptables 3:00 10. Angelizer 4:27 11. Tired 5:23 12. K / O Mal De Christo 12:40

Moonspell - Darkness and Hope 2001

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10.

Darkness and Hope 4:47 Firewalking 3:02 Nocturna 3:52 Heartshaped Abyss 4:08 Devilred 3:25 Ghostsong 4:21 Rapaces 5:31 Made of Storm 4:09 How We Became Fire 5:47 Than the Serpents in my Arms 5:53

Moonspell - The Antidote 2003 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. In And Above Men 4:11 From Lowering Skies 5:25 Everything Invaded 6:16 The Southern Deathstyle 4:07 Antidote 4:45 Capricorn at Her Feet 6:04 Lunar Still 6:55 A Walk On The Darkside 4:44 Crystal Gazing 4:52 As We Eternally Sleep On It 7:11

Moonspell - Memorial 2006 01. In Memoriam 4:25 02. Finisterra 4:09 03. Momento Mori 4:27 04. Sons of Earth 1:51 05. Blood Tells 4:08 06. Upon the Blood of Men 4:55 07. At the Image of Pain 4:21 08. Sanguine 5:50 09. Proliferation 2:39 10. Once it was Ours! 4:53 11. Mare Nostrum 1:56 12. Luna 4:43 13. Best Forgotten 6:48 14. Atlantic (Limited edition bonus track) 12:43 15. Phantom North (Portuguese edit. bonus track)

Moonspell - Demo, Singles & Eps

Demo
Morbid God Promo '92 (1992) Anno Satanae (1993)

Singles & EPs

Goat on Fire (1993) Opium (1996) 2econd Skin (1997) Everything Invaded (2004)

Moonspell
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Moonspell

From left to right: Ricardo Amorim, Mike Gaspar, Pedro Paixo and Fernando Ribeiro

Background information Origin Genre(s) Years active Label(s) Website Portugal Debated 1992present Century Media SPV Steamhammer http://www.moonspell.com Members

Fernando Ribeiro Ricardo Amorim Mike Gaspar Pedro Paixo Aires Pereira (live only) Former members Niclas Etelvuori Srgio Crestana "Mantus" Joo Pedro (Ares/Tetragrammaton) Lus Lamelas (Malah)

Moonspell is a Portuguese band. Moonspell was formed in 1992 and released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before of the release of their first album Wolfheart. The band quickly gained status and became one of the most recognizable metal bands from Portugal.[1] Moonspell reached the Portuguese tops first with their album Sin/Pecado and were, along with Metallica and Iron Maiden the only metal band to reach the first place of the Portuguese charts after the release of their latest album, Memorial in 2006.[2] With Memorial, Moonspell also became the first Portuguese heavy metal band to have a record certified gold status.[3] They are also very popular in Germany, where Memorial entered in 68th in the Top 100 Chart.[2]

Contents
[hide]

1 History o 1.1 The early days (1992-1994) o 1.2 Breakthrough (1995-1997) o 1.3 Experimentation (1998-2000) o 1.4 "Darkness and Hope" and "The Antidote" (2001-2005) o 1.5 "Memorial" (2006-present) 2 Portuguese culture influence 3 Band members o 3.1 Current members o 3.2 Previous members 4 Discography o 4.1 Albums o 4.2 Demos o 4.3 Singles and EPs o 4.4 Music videos

5 References 6 External links

[edit] History
[edit] The early days (1992-1994)
Although they had been playing since 1989 under the name of "Morbid God",[4] the band became Moonspell in 1992, the same year the released promo track Serpent Angel. In 1993, singer Fernando Ribeiro, drummer Mike Gaspar and bass player Ares (not to be confused with Aires Pereira) released the demo Anno Satanae, which caught the attention of French label Adipocere. It was for Adipocere that Moonspell released in 1994 a miniCD entitled Under the Moonspell. The record was a considered a landmark in Portuguese metal[1] and sold more than 5000 copies, becoming Acidopere's record with more sales.[4] Shortly after the release, they supported Cradle of Filth in a concert in Lisbon.

[edit] Breakthrough (1995-1997)

After the release of mini-CD Under the Moonspell, Moonspell signed with Century Media for six CDs. Wolfheart was recorded in Germany with producer Waldemar Sorychta and was released in 1995 and was followed by an European tour. Although the album had little or no recognition at the beginning, it was later recognized as a "milestone" by heavy-metal reviews site Metal-Observer.com.[5] During the tour, guitarrist Mantus quit the band and was replaced by Ricardo Amorim. Irreligious came out in 1996 and was recorded again with producer Waldemar Sorychta. While previous album was considered Black Metal, this one fell into the genre of Gothic Metal. The song Opium became the first Moonspell single. It quoted one of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms, lvaro de Campos, on his poem "Opirio" and its music video, featured the character of poet writing in a bar with the band playing. Along with the launch of the album in a convent, the Convento do Beato, there were factors that helped the band selling 10.000 copies of the album in their homeland.[1] After conflicts with the band involving lawsuits, bass player Ares left the band and was replaced by Srgio Crestana.

[edit] Experimentation (1998-2000)

Sin/Pecado (pecado means sin in Portuguese) was released in 1998. It had a bigger experimenting nature than its predecessors. The song 2econd Skin was released as a single. By this time, the side project Daemonarch, composed by all Moonspell members at the time, but drummer Mike Gaspar, released its only album, Hermeticum. The album was seen as a return to their Black Metal roots and its lyrics were all by singer Fernando Ribeiro between the age of 14 and 16.

Sin/Pecado was followed in 1999 by The Butterfly Effect, recorded in London and produced by Andy Reilly. This album was considered very experimental was well and featured "down-tuned guitar riffs, eerie synthesizer passages".[6] The album was composed mainly by guitarrist/keyboardist Pedro Paixo and was not very well received by metal critics.[7][8]

[edit] "Darkness and Hope" and "The Antidote" (2001-2005)

Fernando Ribeiro during a live show in Spain in 2006 Darkness and Hope was released in 2001 and was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, producer of Apocalyptica or HIM. The album reached 79th on German charts[1] and special editions included covers of Madredeus, Ozzy Osbourne's Mr. Crowley and Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart. Nocturna was released as a single and music video. In 2003, the band released The Antidote, with Niclas Etelvuori from Amorphis playing as a session musician on the bass guitar. The album was released with a book with the same title written Portuguese writer Jos Lus Peixoto. Both the CD and book share the same concept and story and each song in the CD is sister to a chapter in the book that enhances the story in the lyrics. Everything Invaded was released as a single and music video. The band toured extensively around the world, playing at Rock in Rio Lisbon in 2004, a concert that brought them to more mainstream attention in Portugal. From this album on, the tours feature Aires Pereira on the bass. In early 2004 the band recorded a cover of the jazz standard "I'll see you in my dreams" for the soundtrack of a Portuguese horror movie of the same name. There is an official music video of this song featuring footage from the film itself.

[edit] "Memorial" (2006-present)

Memorial was released in 2006. Recorded with the producer of their first three albums Waldemar Sorychta, who also recorded the bass guitar parts, it was the first to be released under their new label SPV Steamhammer. The album topped the Portuguese album chart on its first week and also broke into the German Top 100 at number 68.[2] Memorial achieved gold status in Portugal after selling 10,000 copies, making Moonspell the first Portuguese heavy metal band to achieve that.[3] On 2 November 2006, Moonspell won a MTV Europe Music Award in the category of Best Portuguese Act.[9]

[edit] Portuguese culture influence

Portuguese influences can be found on Moonspell music, mostly through lyrics. Although most of their songs are in English, "Trebraruna", "Alma Mater" and "Ataegina" from "Wolfheart", "Full Moon Madness" from "Irreligious" and "Than the Serpents in my Arms" from "Darkness and Hope" are in Portuguese or feature parts in Portuguese. Opium cites lvaro de Campos, a heteronym of one of the major Portuguese poets Fernando Pessoa in his poem "Opirio". "Trebaruna" and "Ataegina" are about the goddesses of Lusitanian mythology. Moonspell covered Madredeus' song "Os Senhores da Guerra" (The War Lords).

[edit] Band members

[edit] Current members

Fernando Ribeiro (Langsuyar) - vocals Ricardo Amorim (Mantus) - guitar Miguel Gaspar (Mike/Nisroth) - drums Pedro Paixo (Passionis/Neophytus) - keyboard / guitar Aires Pereira - bass (tour only)

[edit] Previous members

Lus Lamelas (Malah) - Guitar Joo Pedro (Ares/Tetragrammaton) - Bass 1989 - 1997) Srgio Crestana - Bass (1997 - 2003) Niclas Etelvuori (Amorphis) - Bass 2003 (Studio Only)

[edit] Discography

Cover from the classic Wolfheart (digipak version).

[edit] Albums

Wolfheart (1995) Irreligious (1996) Sin/Pecado (1998) The Butterfly Effect (1999) Darkness and Hope (2001) The Antidote (2003) Memorial (2006)

[edit] Demos

Serpent Angel (Morbid God Promo) (1992) Anno Satanae (1993)

[edit] Singles and EPs

Wolves From The Fog (1994) Under the Moonspell (EP) (1994) Opium (1996) 2econd Skin (1997) Nocturna (2001) Everything Invaded (2004)

[edit] Music videos

"Opium" from Irreligious "2econd Skin" from Sin/Pecado "Magdalene" from Sin/Pecado "Butterfly FX" from The Butterfly Effect "Nocturna" from Darkness and Hope "Everything Invaded" from The Antidote

"I'll See You in My Dreams" (Movie Soundtrack) "Finisterra" from Memorial "Luna" from Memorial

[edit] References
1. ^ a b c d Moonspell Biography. Rockul.info. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. 2. ^ a b c 03 May 2006 - Moonspell breaks into the chars and live news. Moonspell.com.
Retrieved on 2006-11-16.

3. ^ a b "Moonspell: Memorial certified gold in Portugal", Blabbermouth.net, 2007-01-16.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Retrieved on 2007-01-17. ^ a b Moonspell's Biography. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. ^ Moonspell - Wolfheart (9,5/10) - Portugal - 1995. Metal-Observer.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. ^ Butterfly Effect - Overview. AllMusic.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. ^ Moonspell - The Butterfly Effect. MetalStorm.ee. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. ^ Moonspell - The Butterfly Effect (6/10) - Portugal - 1999. Metal-Observer.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16. ^

Biography of Moonspell With The Antidote, MOONSPELL present to the world their seventh album and again the Portuguese combo shed their skin as occurs after every reptilian growth period. While their only demo Anno Satanae (1993) was still deeply rooted in Norwegian style black metal their debut mini-album Under The Moonspell (1994) countered the Nordic gruffness with the heavy powers of seduction of nocturnal eroticism. Still, MOONSPELL changed again and catapulted themselves right to the top of the growing gothic metal scene with the disturbing Wolfheart (1995). The album was swaying between nightmares, seductive rhythms and aggression all qualities that condensed to a climax of deepest emotion on

their break-through album Irreligious (1996). Instead of taking the safe path to success, MOONSPELLs restless creativity lead to a phase of searching. You can call Sin/Pecado (1998) almost strangely subdued and dark, whereas The butterfly effect (1999) attracted attention with its brutal electronic experiments. Within two years the band had changed dramatically maybe even a little too dramatically for some of their fans. This turned around with the release of Darkness and Hope (2001): At first sight the album seemed like a step back to their gothic metal roots, but it really turned out to be the next step in their development. For the first time the band recorded with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, Sentenced) in Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland. The result was an extended, atmospheric soundpicture which displayed the Portugueses emotional strengths. During festivals and tours (in Europe with their labelmates Tiamat and Flowing Tears) the fans embraced their favourites with open arms back from darkness, their experimental phase was obviously soon forgiven and thus the bands hope fulfilled. Now, The Antidote is released and again MOONSPELL gratefully eschew delivering a simple sequel to its successful predecessor. Instead, the Portuguese hired their old producer Waldemar Sorychta, who had looked after all their albums from Wolfheart until Sin/Pecado, for the preproduction in their own Inferno Studio in Portugal. You can find fierce eruptions of harsh vehemence like In And Above Men or The Southern Deathstyle which had almost seemed lost to MOONSPELL. For the recording they went back to Finnvox Studios and recorded with Hiili Hiilesmaa, ensuring the phenomenal sound of songs like the single and video-track Everything Invaded or Lunar Still. The long maturation that MOONSPELL experienced and went through despite their continuous release of records becomes obvious in the lush richness of details as well as a dynamic tension which leads through The Antidote like its central thread. By now, Fernando Ribeiros vocals pull out all the stops of expression, from whispered fear or heavy melancholy to brutal belligerence. With the introduction of a new, Mediterraneanlike dancing rhythm (From Lowering Skies) drummer Mike Gaspar has seemingly developed another new, unmistakeable trademark for the Portuguese. The string-fraction delivers the necessary background between acoustic tenderness and deadly rage, staged by Hiili with great transparency. Additionally, their line-up was strengthened by Amorphis very own Niclas Etelvuori on bass. But MOONSPELLs artistic demands always spread further than just music. With Irreligious they had already set literary models to music. The Song Herr Spiegelmann was influenced by Patrik Ssskinds novel The Perfume, while Opium was based on the works of the Portugueses poet Fernando Pessoas. Unfortunately the song brought up false moral watchdogs who accused MOONSPELL of glorifying drugs which was definitely not the truth. Nonetheless, the rumour-mongers managed to have them banned from MTV. The press in Portugal was enraged and the whole thing turned out to grant them

more promotion rather than causing any real damage. For The Antidote, MOONSPELL are taking the opposite direction and conquer new grounds. On the basis of the lyrics, music and spirit of the new songs the Portuguese upcoming, young author Jos Lus Peixoto wrote a collection of short stories that form a novella which will be published by the publishing company Temas e Debates, as well as released as strictly limited Digibook including MOONSPELLs CD in Portugal. An English translation (by Richard Zenith) will be available as multi-media feature on all other versions of The Antidote. Jos Lus Peixoto is one of the most promising young novelists from Europe and has already been awarded several literary prizes in Portugal. For example he won the Jos Saramago Prize (one of the most prestigious prizes for literature in Portugal) for his novel Not Even A Gaze, published by his publishing company Temas e Debates in 2000, while his work has been translated and published in many different languages worldwide. With The Antidote, MOONSPELL present themselves in a new shape in the world of music after another stylistic and textual transcendence. This new shape is rooted in all traditions and phases of the band, but also represents another step in their artistic development. Perhaps some words from frontman Fernando Ribeiro assist the attempt to approach their shimmering work and the classification of this band, which has always been tough to pin down: What is MOONSPELL? Even I have problems with the answer to this question. Id say we are representing a mixture of horror and beauty, heaviness and melody. The Antidote starts off very brutal and ends very melodic. This way we close the circle. This is MOONSPELL.

MOONSPELL LYRICS
album: "Serpent Angel" (1992 EP)
Serpent Angel

album: "Anno Satanae" (1993 EP)

Goat On Fire Ancient Winter Goddess Wolves From The Fog

album: "Goat On Fire" (1994)

Goat On Fire Wolves From The Fog

album: "Under The Moonspell" (1994 MCD)

Allah Akbar! La Allah Ella Allah (Preludium - Incantantvm Solstitium) Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento I / Erudit Compendyum) Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento II / Erotic Compendyum)

Opus Diabolicum (Andamento III / Instrumental Compendyum) Chorai Lusitnia!

album: "Wolfheart" (1995)

Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) Love Crimes ...Of Dream And Drama (Midnight Ride) Lua D'Inverno Trebraruna Vampiria An Erotic Alchemy Alma Mater Ataegina

album: "Irreligious" (1996)

Perverse...Almost Religious Opium Awake! For A Taste Of Eternity Ruin And Misery A Poisoned Gift Subversion Raven Claws Mephisto Herr Spiegelman Full Moon Madness

album: "2econd Skin" (1997)

2econd Skin An Erotic Alchemy (Per-Version) Sacred 2econd Skin (Edit) Alma Mater ...Of Dream And Drama (Midnight Ride) Awake! Opium (Herr) Spiegelman Ruin & Misery Mephisto

album: "Sin (Pecado)" (1998)

Slow Down Handmade God 2econd Skin

abYsmo Flesh Magdalene The Vulture Culture (Gloria Domini) E666U666R666O666T666I666C666A Mute deKadance Let The Children Cum To Me... The Hanged Man 13

album: "The Butterfly Effect" (1999)

Soulsick The Butterfly Fx Can't Bee Lustmord Selfabuse I Am The Eternal Spectator Solitary Vice Disappear Here Adaptables Angelizer Tired K / O Mal De Cristo

album: "Darkness And Hope" (2001)

Darkness And Hope Firewalking Nocturna Heartshaped Abyss Devilred Ghostsong Rapaces Made Of Storm How We Became Fire Than The Serpents In My Hands Os Senhores Da Guerra Mr. Crowley

album: "The Antidote" (2003)

In And Above Men From Lowering Skies Everything Invaded The Southern Deathstyle Antidote Capricorn At Her Feet

Lunar Still A Walk On The Darkside Crystal Gazing As We Eternally Sleep On It The Darkening

album: "I'll See You In My Dreams" (2004 SINGLE)

I'll See You In My Dreams

album: "Memorial" (2006)

In Memoriam Finisterra Memento Mori Sons Of Earth Blood Tells Upon The Blood Of Men At The Image Of Pain Sanguine Proliferation Once It Was Ours Mare Nostrum Luna Best Forgotten Atlantic

6. Vampiria Vampiria, you are my destiny My only Love and true destiny Vampiria... You're a beast, evil one Above your head lays a Star In your heart is buried the jewel of a Serpent who wished to die your red long tongue has her poison And you will spread it as you breed In a Unique transylvanian dream Conceiving the creed of all creeds Vampiria, fly Vampiria In your eye burn, defying All those who in silence sleep

In a city once named Desire Dreaming with the entombed dear The lady has fallen in a blossom Spread far away by undesirable winds To females conspiring in gloom Hiding your pearls from the pigs So open your arms! They were shaped as wings A serenade of revenge draw on your lips The sombre hill you're staying in Is now defined And your Star had start to shine Depart now on your bright wings The world envy The skies have always seduced you Precious Queen and you know your time has come To fly away with Me, so far... 7. An Erotic Alchemy Queen of all my sleepless nights For whose beauty I, Faun have played my pipes, with heart Queen in white silk, skin like milk Horns of Faun, lips of dawn You are now honoured you with my presence As I'm honoured by your sight I crown your perfection The predator in your breast, I devour Tempted is now my light body From where it burns spirals of exotic scents Rose, sandal, jasmine, all kinds of incense Aged fragrances only dreamed of once Dragons do dream far beyond the sense We make love in the dusty throne of a Modern Sodoma

"Come to Me, step further into my nakedness Caress me in your breasts of Fire" "Breed my flame, have no fear or weakness I welcome you in my hole of desire" "Have me now, Prince, have me here" Your beg still whispers in my ear Daylight has broken into a strange nostalgia Night tired candles seem like two lovers Melt in a embrace of conspiracy Between us there is this strange chemistry but would you die for me? would you die for what I've longed to be? "Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination of the like which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism, there you have me in a nutshell and kill me again or take me as I am, for I shall not change." (De Sade) "Breed of a nameless force, origin of our Sin We are as large as Gods, we are their tragedy We are the four arms of the solar Cross Lightning in incredulous faces the flames of Uthopy" Would you die for this? 8. Alma Mater Mother Tongue speaks to Me In the strongest way I've ever seen I know that she sees in Me Her proudest child, her purest breed She speaks to Me in colours That I can't really understand I only know that they are ours And to those I'll proudly bend

For I am your only child And you my dearest mystery From an ancient throne I defy the world To kneel before the Power within. For I am your only child And you my dearest mystery World can't you see it? Am I alone in my belief? Virando costas ao mundo Orgulhosamente ss Glria antiga, volta a ns! ALMA MATER! Breaking waves announce my Bride It is the only way the Sea could sing Legends of Lusitanian pride He sings the words I cannot spring At the Moon Mountain six wolves cry Your lost glory we'll regain or die For I am her only child And she is my dearest mystery Pagan Gods in conspiracy For the sword of Tyranny Mother Tongue has spoke to thee In the strongest way they've ever seen World can't you see? I am not alone in my belief. ALMA MATER! Virando costas ao Mundo Orgulhosamente ss Gloria Antiga, volta a nos! ALMA MATER! Mother Tongue has spoke to Me In the strongest way I've ever seen

I know that she sees in Me Her proudest child, her purest breed She speaks to Me in colours I can't really understand I only know that they are ours and to those I'll proudly bend For I am her only child And she is my dearest mystery From an ancient throne I defy the world To kneel before the powers within. For I am her only child And she is my dearest tragedy World can't you see it? I am not alone in my belief. Virando costas ao Mundo Orgulhosamente ss ALMA MATER! 9. Ataegina [bonus] Na Ara da Vida jaz uma morte A ti te lanco a minha sorte Ataegenia triade fatal Palida Deusa, doce e teu mal Centenas de corvos sobre a rochedo Cantam em coro historias de Medo De Primaveras que a morte abraca Em ti encontram a sua desgraca Devotio Ver Sacrum Devotio Consecratio Capitis Dirae Rainha da Noite, Rainha Natura Saudoso berco primaveril

Ja se choram filhos perdidos Para terras amargas sem retorno Onde a voz dos Deuses Perdidos Bebe o povo o sangue do corno Corcas alvas trazen esperanca Lembram destinos, a vitoria Nobre Guerra, furiosa danca Do po sai um rumor de gloria Devotio Ver Sacrum Devotio Consecratio Capitis Dirae Rainha da Noite, Rainha Natura Saudoso berco primaveril
A Line of Deathless Kings by Matthew Vickerstaff

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History

My Dying Bride were formed in June 1990, by Calvin, Aaron, Andy and Rick, and after only six months of intense rehearsing, their now legendary demo 'Towards the Sinister' was launched upon an unsuspecting world. Shortly after the release of the demo, a 7" single was released by the band on the small French label, Listenable. The 'God Is Alone' 7" went on to sell out almost immediately, which caught the eye of Peaceville Records, who offered the band a deal just one year after they had formed. 'Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium' was the bands' debut release (an EP that featured the bands latest recruit, Ade, on bass), followed shortly by their first full length LP, 'As the Flower Withers' , which saw the band pushing the frontiers of Avant Garde Doom Metal, even further than on their earlier releases. After shows throughout the UK and a short tour of Europe, the band were in the studio yet again recording their Kerrang! chart high flyer, 'The Thrash of Naked Limbs' , the bands second EP. While filming the video for this single, drummer Rick fell badly, damaging his wrist, which sadly lead to the cancellation of their planned full length European tour with label mates G.G.F.H. Recognized throughout the world now as a pioneering Gothic Metal act, My Dying Bride went a step further in recruiting long time session musician for the band, Martin, an acclaimed violinist and piano player. In late 1993, a mammoth European tour began, to coincide with the release of the bands latest full length opus, 'Turn Loose the Swans'. The tour was a huge success as far as the actual live shows were concerned, but serious automobile accidents in thick snow, theft of equipment & illnesses, marred an otherwise fruitful outing. In '94 the band went to ground. Not much was heard about My Dying Bride but they were far from idle. Apart from releasing the EP 'I am the Bloody Earth' , the year was spent preparing material and fermenting a sound that was to become the opus 'The Angel and the Dark River' . Six epic tracks averaging around nine minutes each, immerse the listener in My Dying Bride's sinister glory. A rich tapestry to the ear and a deep trouble to the soul 'The Angel and the Dark River' is My Dying Bride's most challenging and assured release to date. 'The Angel and the Dark River' was released by Peaceville Records on May 8, 1995, and was followed up with an extensive European tour, including major festival dates such as the Dynamo Open Air festival in Holland. During the Autumn of 1995, My Dying Bride's first three EPs were re-released on a single CD compilation, titled 'Trinity'. The end of the year saw a successful tour in support of Iron Maiden in the UK and Europe. In 1996 My Dying Bride released 'Like Gods of the Sun'. Extra attention had been paid to production, which resulted in a much 'cleaner' sound. The release of

this album was followed by two European tours, one in 1996 with Cathedral, and one in 1997 with Sentenced. In 1997 the band also hopped over the ocean for the first time: a US tour as support act for Dio was launched in April. Despite this support tour being a success, the last few weeks of the tour were canceled when drummer Rick became ill. Sadly, his illness prevented him from staying in the band altogether and My Dying Bride had to go and look for a new drummer. In 1998 hard work was done by the band on the new album, which got the rather unorthodox title '34.788%... Complete'. During rehearsing the band lost yet another member, Martin. In the meantime a temporary drummer had been found in the person of Bill Law, drummer of Dominion. So with a drastically changed lineup My Dying Bride went into the recording studio. After release of the album things went quiet again around My Dying Bride. The silence was broken by the announcement that the band planned to start working on their sixth album rightaway instead of touring. Another revelation was the fact that a new permanent drummer had been found in the person of Shaun Steels, former drummer of Anathema. With Johnny Maudlin helping out on keyboards, My Dying Bride recorded 'The Light at the End of the World' , which was released in November 1999. This album is basically a return to the sound of My Dying Bride in the period between 'Turn Loose the Swans' and 'The Angel and the Dark River', but with a whole new perspective on this sound. The band also recruited Hamish Glencross as second guitarist, though his work can not yet be heard on 'The Light at the End of the World'. In 2000, the band celebrated its 10 year anniversary with tour in Western Europe and the creation of two compilation albums titled Meisterwerk 1 & 2. Shortly afterward, the band went back into the studio, to record the next opus 'The Dreadful Hours', which was released in July 2001. Again, Johnny Maudlin was recruited for sorting out the keyboards. In addition to seven new tracks, the album featured a new recording of the 14-minute epic song "Return of the Beautiful', renamed 'Return to the Beautiful'.

A Line of Deathless Kings 2006 CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 150 To Remain Tombless 6:06 L'Amour Detruit 9:08 I Cannot Be Loved 7:04 And I Walk With Them 6:37 Thy Raven Wings 5:22 Love's Intolerable Pain 6:14 One of Beauty's Daughters 5:40 Deeper Down 6:28 The Blood, The Wine, The Roses 8:21 Total running time: 61:10

Songs of Darkness, Words of Light 2004 CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 110 The Wreckage of My Flesh 8:45 The Scarlet Garden 7:49 Catherine Blake 6:32 My Wine in Silence 5:53 The Prize of Beauty 8:02 The Blue Lotus 6:33 And My Fury Stands Ready 7:45 A Doomed Lover 7:54 Total running time: 59:13 The Voice of the Wretched (Live) 2002 CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 117 She is the Dark The Snow in my Hand Cry of Mankind Turn Loose the Swans A Cruel Taste of Winter Under Your Wings and Into Your Arms A Kiss to Remember Your River The Fever Sea Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium The Dreadful Hours 2001 CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 90 The Dreadful Hours 9:24 Raven and the Rose 8:13 Le Figlie Della Tempesta 10:09 Black Heart Romance 5:24 A Cruel Taste of Winter 7:36 My Hope the Destroyer 6:45 The Deepest of All Hearts 8:56 Return to the Beautiful 14:24 Total running time: 70:51 Meisterwerk II 2001 Compilation CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 85 Sear Me MCMXCIII 7:24 Follower 5:12 Vast Choirs 7:30 She is the Dark 8:27 Catching Feathers 3:42 Two Winters Only 9:00 Your River 9:18 Some Velvet Morning 5:54 Roads 5:04 For You (bonus video track) Total running time: 61:58

Meisterwerk I 2000 Compilation CD Peaceville/Snapper CDVILE 81 Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium 8:55 (demo version) The Crown of Sympathy 12:11 The Grief of Age 4:10 A Kiss to Remember 7:32 Grace Unhearing (Portishell mix) 7:07 For You 6:37 Unreleased Bitterness 7:42 Sear Me III 5:27 The Cry of Mankind (bonus video track) 4:36 Total running time: 59:40 The Light at the End of the World 1999 CD Peaceville/MFN CDVILE 79 She is the Dark 8:27 Edenbeast 11:26 The Night He Died 6:29 The Light at the End of the World 10:45 The Fever Sea 4:13 Into the Lake of Ghosts 7:11 The Isis Script 7:11 Christliar 10:33 Sear Me III 5:27 Total running time: 71:11 34.788%... Complete 1998 CD Peaceville/MFN CDVILE 74</TH< tr> The Whore, The Cook and the Mother 12:00 The Stance of Evander Sinque 5:31 Der Uberlebende 7.39 Heroin Chic 8:03 Apocalypse Woman 7:38 Base Level Erotica 9:55 Under Your Wings and Into Your Arms 5:57 Total running time: 56:42 Like Gods of the Sun 1996 CD Peaceville/MFN CDVILE 65 Like Gods of the Sun 5:41 The Dark Caress 5:58 Grace Unhearing 7:19 A Kiss to Remember 7:31 All Swept Away 4:17 For You 6:37 It Will Come 4:28 Here in the Throat 6:21 For My Fallen Angel 5:55 It Will Come (Nightmare)* 5:37 * bonustrack (digipak ed. CDXVILE 65 only) Total running time: 54:10

Trinity 1995 Compilation CD Peaceville/MFN VILE 46 Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium 11:39 God Is Alone 4:51 De Sade Soliloquay 3:42 The Thrash of Naked Limbs 6:13 Le Cerf Malade 6:31 Gather Me Up Forever 5:17 I am the Bloody Earth 6:37 The Sexuality of Bereavement 8:04 The Crown of Sympathy (Remix) 11:10 Total running time: 64:04

The Angel and the Dark River 1995 CD Peaceville/MFN CDVILE 50 Cry of Mankind 12:13 From Darkest Skies 7:47 Black Voyage 9:46 A Sea to Suffer In 6:30 Two Winters Only 9:00 Your Shameful Heaven 6:58 The Sexuality of Bereavement* 8:04 * bonustrack (digipak ed. CDXVILE 50 only) Turn Loose the Swans 1993 CD/MC/LP Peaceville VILE 39 Sear Me MCMXCIII 7:25 Your River 9:18 The Songless Bird 6:57 The Snow in My Hand 7:05 The Crown of Sympathy 12:13 Turn Loose the Swans 10:06 Black God 4:50 Total running time: 58:15

As the Flower Withers 1992 CD Peaceville VILE 32 Silent Dance 2:00 Sear Me 9:00 The Forever People 4:03 The Bitterness and the Bereavement 7:28 Vast Choirs 8:09 The Return of the Beautiful 12:45 Erotic Literature 5:05 Total running time: 49:26

My Dying Bride
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My Dying Bride

Background information Origin Genre(s) Years active Label(s) Website Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK Doom metal Death metal 1990present Peaceville Records www.mydyingbride.org Members Aaron Stainthorpe Adrian Jackson Hamish Glencross Andrew Craighan Sarah Stanton

Former members Martin Powell Yasmin Ahmed Calvin Robertshaw Bill Law Rick Miah Shaun Taylor-Steels

My Dying Bride is a British doom/death metal band formed in 1990.

Contents
[hide]

1 Biography 2 Members o 2.1 Current members o 2.2 Former members o 2.3 Session members 3 Discography o 3.1 Demos, singles and EPs o 3.2 Albums o 3.3 Compilations o 3.4 Video releases 4 External links

[edit] Biography
My Dying Bride were formed in June 1990 after lead guitarist Andrew Craighan left his former band Abiosis to join Aaron Stainthorpe (vocals), Calvin Robertshaw (guitar) and Rick Miah (drums). Adrian Jackson would join later on bass. After six months of rehearsing, the band recorded and released their demo, Towards the Sinister. Its title was taken from a line in the song "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium". During the early 1990s My Dying Bride were part of what was known as the death/doom Great Three with Paradise Lost and Anathema - all three bands hailing from the north of England. Their music is characterised by romantic, sensual lyrics and an obsessive attention to atmospheric detail. Early demos were death metal in a traditional sense, though much slower than most. However, their debut album As the Flower Withers saw the addition of violins and keyboards. Turn Loose the Swans built on that foundation, utilising clean as well as death grunts and, unusually, lead violin on several tracks. Trinity is a compilation of the three early EPs and a 7". The Angel and the Dark River saw the abandonment of

death grunts altogether and added a more gothic feel to the songs. Like Gods of the Sun continued in that direction. The highly experimental 34.788%...Complete was widely regarded as an extreme detour from the bands other works, and split fans down the middle. The vast majority of longtime fans that had listened to the band since Towards The Sinister have dismissed the album as not being made by the band at all, but by a group of impostors. Especially cited as a reason for this is the song 'Heroin Chic' - one fan has stated, to almost universal agreement, that the reason he so enjoyed the band was the lack of repetition in their material. For this reason, Heroin Chic, with its frequent repetitions of lyrics of the "nah nah nah yeah yeah yeah" variety, as fans like this describe it, has been written off as a spit in the face of fans. It is interesting to note that reactions to following albums are often sharply divided along the lines of reaction to 34.788%...Complete. Those accepting of it deride The Light at the End of the World as being a complacent exercise of treading water, while those who refuse to acknowledge 34.788%...Complete as canonical consider The Light at the End of the World to contain some of their best material since Turn Loose the Swans. My Dying Bride entered something of a hiatus after this, releasing two retrospective albums Meisterwerk 1 and Meisterwerk 2. These albums lay halfway between best of albums and rarity compilations and had no clear target audience. Completists of the band, while appreciating the early demos and rare tracks, bemoaned the many album tracks included, while those new to the band acquired a peculiar, careerspanning introduction which lacked coherence. It was not until 2001's The Dreadful Hours that My Dying Bride managed to win round the bulk of their former fans. More innovative than The Light at the End of the World, yet retaining all the key elements of the My Dying Bride sound, The Dreadful Hours was slightly darker, although a long way off the intense darkness of the first two demos. 2004's follow-up Songs of Darkness, Words of Light showed a band continuing to expand and refine their sound and purpose. A substantial increase in live performances - once an unheard of rarity - has lead to much greater recognition by a new generation of fans. In 2004, the band's label, Peaceville, re-released their entire back-catalogue in digipak format, with rare bonus tracks (demos, remixes, live performances etc.) added to each release. The band's next release came in May 2005, when they released the fancifullytitled Anti-Diluvian Chronicles, a fully-fledged best of box set featuring three discs and thirty tracks. My Dying Bride toured the UK in November 2005, playing shows at London Astoria (18) and Bradford Rio (19). The band spent the winter of 2005/2006 writing material for new studio album A Line of Deathless Kings. The album was released on October 9, 2006. It was preceded by the "Deeper Down EP" on September 18. An "I Cannot Be Loved" EP will follow at a later date. Shortly before the release of A Line of Deathless Kings, Shaun Taylor-Steels announced his permanent departure from the band due to persistent problems with his ankle.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current members

Aaron Stainthorpe - Vocals (1990-) Adrian Jackson - Bass (1990-) Hamish Glencross - Guitar (1999-) Andrew Craighan - Guitar (1990-) Sarah Stanton - Keyboards (2002-)

[edit] Former members

Martin Powell - Keyboards, Violins (1992-1998) Yasmin Ahmed - Keyboards (1999-2002) Calvin Robertshaw - Guitar (1990-1999) Bill Law - Drums (1998-1999) Rick Miah - Drums (1990-1997) Shaun Taylor-Steels - Drums (1998-2006)

[edit] Session members

John Bennett - Drums (2005-) Bennett from The Prophecy is currently standing in as a temporary replacement for Steels, who has now left the band after suffering an ankle injury in 2004. Bennett appears on the album A Line of Deathless Kings, though he is not credited as an official member at his own request. It is unclear at this stage how long Bennett will remain with the band.

[edit] Discography
[edit] Demos, singles and EPs

(1990) Towards the Sinister (demo) (1991) God Is Alone (7") (1991) Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium (EP) (1992) The Thrash of Naked Limbs (EP) (1993) Unreleased Bitterness (7") (1994) I Am the Bloody Earth (EP) (1994) The Sexuality of Bereavement (7") (2006) Deeper Down (EP)

[edit] Albums

As the Flower Withers (1992)

Turn Loose the Swans (1993)

The Angel and the Dark River (1995)

Like Gods of the Sun (1996)

The Light at the End 34.788%...Complete The Dreadful Hours of the World (1998) (2001) (1999)

The Voice of the Wretched (2002) (live)

Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (2004)

A Line of Deathless Kings (2006)

[edit] Compilations

The Stories (1994) (box set)

Trinity (1995)

Meisterwerk 1 (2000)

Meisterwerk 2 (2001)

Anti-Diluvian Chronicles (2005)

[edit] Video releases

For Darkest Eyes (1997)

Sinamorata (2005)

MY DYING BRIDE LYRICS

album: "Towards The Sinister" (1990 DEMO)
Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium

Vast Choirs The Grief Of Age Catching Feathers

album: "As The Flower Withers" (1992)

Silent Dance Sear Me The Forever People The Bitterness And The Bereavement Vast Choirs The Return Of The Beautiful Erotic Literature

album: "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" (1992 EP)

Symhonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium God Is Alone De Sade Soliloquay

album: "Turn Loose The Swans" (1993)

Sear Me MCMXCIII Your River The Songless Bird The Snow In My Hand The Crown Of Sympathy Turn Loose The Swans Black God

album: "Unreleased Bitterness" (1993)

The Bitterness And The Bereavement

album: "The Thrash Of The Naked Limbs" (1993 EP)

The Thrash Of Naked Limbs Le Cerf Malade Gather Me Up Forever

album: "I Am The Bloody Earth" (1994 EP)

I Am The Bloody Earth Transcending (Into The Exquisite) Crown Of Sympathy (Remix)

album: "The Angel And The Dark River" (1995)

The Cry Of Mankind From Darkest Skies Black Voyage A Sea To Suffer In Two Winters Only Your Shameful Heaven The Sexuality Of Bereavement

album: "Trinity" (1995)

Symhonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium God Is Alone De Sade Soliloquay The Trash Of Naked Limbs Le Cerf Malade Gather Me Up Forever I Am The Bloody Earth The Sexuality Of Bereavement Crown Of Sympathy (Remix)

album: "Like Gods Of The Sun" (1996)

Like Gods Of The Sun The Dark Caress Grace Unhearing A Kiss To Remember All Swept Away For You It Will Come Here In The Throat For My Fallen Angel

album: "Live At The Dynamo" (1996 EP)

Your River A Sea To Suffer In Your Shameful Heaven The Forever People

album: "34.788%... Complete" (1998)

The Whore, The Cook And The Mother The Stance Of Evander Sinoue Der Uberlebende Heroin Chic

Apocalypse Woman Base Level Erotica Under Your Wings And Into Your Arms

album: "The Light At The End Of The World" (1999)

She Is The Dark Edenbeast The Night He Died The Light At The End Of The World The Fever Sea Into The Lake Of Ghosts The Isis Script Christliar Sear Me III

album: "Meisterwerk I" (2000)

Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium (Demo) Crown Of Sympathy The Grief Of Age (Demo) A Kiss To Remember Grace Unhearing (Portishell Mix) For You Unreleased Bitterness Sear Me III

album: "The Dreadful Hours" (2001)

The Dreadful Hours The Raven And The Rose Le Figlie Della Tempesta Black Heart Romance A Cruel Taste Of Winter My Hope The Destroyer The Deepest Of All Hearts Return To The Beautiful

album: "Meisterwerk II" (2001)

Sear Me MCMXCIII Follower Vast Choirs (Demo) She Is The Dark Catching Feathers (Demo) Two Winters Only Your River Some Velvet Morning

Roads

album: "The Voice Of The Wretched (Live)" (2002)

She Is The Dark The Snow In My Hand Cry Of Mankind Turn Loose The Swans A Cruel Taste Of Winter Under Your Wings And Into Your Arms A Kiss To Remember Your River The Fever Sea Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium

album: "Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light" (2004)

The Wreckage Of My Flesh The Scarlet Garden Catherine Blake My Wine In Silence The Prize Of Beauty The Blue Lotus And My Fury Stands Ready A Doomed Lover

album: "A Line Of Deathless Kings" (2006)

To Remain Tombless L'amour Detruit I Cannot Be Loved And I Walk With Them Thy Raven Wings Loves Intolerable Pain One Of Beauty's Daughters Deeper Down The Blood, The Wine, The Roses

1. Sear Me MCMXCIII Pour yourself into me, our time approaches so near, that I sigh. What danger in such an adorer? We dance and the music dies. We carry them all away, as we glide through their lost eyes. You lift me above myself, with the ghostly lake of your mind. Arise from your slumber in my arms. Your beauty

took the strength from me. In the meadows of heaven, we run through the stars. Romantic in our tastes. We are without excuse. We burn in our lust. We die in our eyes and drown in our arms. . The Cry Of Mankind You can't expect to see him and survive You'll swallow his tongue of thorns His mouth, dripping with flies In his glorious kingdom of fire But I believe he wept I will make them all lie down Down where hope lies dying With lust, you're kicking mankind to death We live and die without hope You tramp us down in a river of death As I stand here now, my heart is black I don't want to die a lonely man This is a weary hour This is a weary hour . For My Fallen Angel As I draw up my breath, And silver fills my eyes. I kiss her still, For she will never rise. On my weak body, Lays her dying hand. Through those meadows of Heaven, Where we ran. Like a thief in the night, The wind blows so light. It wars with my tears, That won't dry for many years. "Loves golden arrow At her should have fled, And not Deaths ebon dart To strike her dead."

BIOGRAFIE MY DYING BRIDE

Anul infiintarii: 1990Anglia Anul desfiintarii: In activitate Gen: Doom, Death Metal, Gotic Metal Componenta actuala: Merita ascultate : Din aceeasi zona: Paradise Lost Lacrimas Profundere

Aaron Stainthorpe (voc) Icon Memorandum Ade Jackson (bass) Andrew Craighan (chit) Hamish Glencross (chit) Shaun Steels (bat) Yasmin Ahmid (key)
Discografie: Like Gods Of The Sun (LP/Peaceville/96) The Light At the End Of The World (LP/Peaceville/99) Meisterwerk 1 (LP/Peaceville/00) Meisterwerk 1 (LP/Peaceville/01) The Dreadful Hours (LP/Peaceville/01) The Voice Of The Wretched (live) (LP/Peaceville/01)

Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium (EP/Peaceville/92) As The Flower Withers (LP/Peaceville/92) The Thrash Of Naked Limbs (EP/Peaceville/93)

Turn Loose The Swans (LP/Peaceville/94) I Am The Bloody Earth (EP/Peaceville/95) The Angel And The Dark River (LP/Peaceville/95)

Denumit cand doom / death, cand gothic death, cand gothic metal, avandu-si radacinile undeva in perioada de glorie a grupului Black Sabbath, asortat insa cu multiple influente tinand uneori chiar de clasicism, acest veritabil gen al anilor 90 a capatat in doar cativa ani din ce in ce mai multi adepti, atat in randul muzicienilor, cat si in tabara ascultatorilor de sonoritati metalice. Dar, desi au aparut multe titulaturi valoroase, mai mult sau mai putin originale din punct de vedere al conceptiei muzicale, amenintand insa serios popularitatea pionierilor genului, acestia din urma au reusit sa-si pastreze o personalitate proprie, evoluand fara a trada conceptia initiala. MY DYING BRIDE a ocupat inca de la debutul din iunie 1990, un loc aparte in scena britanica, pozitie consolidata de-a lungul anilor pana la obtinerea unui loc rezervat la nivel european. Insasi titulatura trupei definea o orientare aparte adaptata in muzica si texte, "My Dying Bride" reprezentand in doar trei cuvinte o stare sufleteasca greu sondabila, un amalgam de sentimente depresive, moarte, durere, suferinta, iubire, pierderea fiintelor apropiate. Iar intentiile celor patru muzicieni Aaron

(voce), Calvin (chitara), Andy (chitara), Rick (tobe) erau clare inca de la inceput: crearea unui sound original, care sa nu permita asemanarea cu alte grupuri ce se orientasera in aceeasi directie, pentru ca, sa nu uitam, in acea perioada pornisera la drum alte doua trupe britanice ce aveau sa faca senzatie ulterior: Paradise Lost si Anathema. Un an de zile, timp in care au fost editate caseta demo "Towards The Sinister" si un 7 EP intitulat "God Is Alone", a fost de ajuns pentru a arata ca My Dying Bride are ceva de spus, urmarea fireasca fiind obtinerea unui contract pentru trei albume, oferit de Peaceville Records. Cu forte noi, prin aducerea bassistului Ade, grupul s-a pus serios pe treaba, primul rezultat fiind EP-ul "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium", lansat in 1992. In acelasi an avea sa apara si primul LP, "As The Flowers Withers", care consacra de o maniera fara echivoc numele My Dying Bride printre titulaturile aflate in avangarda genului metal. Poetic, depresiv, transant in momentele dure, vechi proverbe engleze si diverse idei exprimate in latina dandu-i un aer misterios, albumul nu a trecut neobservat, permitand grupului sa efectueze un prim turneu european. Asteptat cu nerabdare de fani, cu interes de critici, cel de-al doilea album, "Turn Loose The Swans", avea sa fie precedat de EP-ul "The Thrash Of Naked Limbs", ambele realizari fiind concepute intr-o maniera personala ce explora noi teorii muzicale. Este momentul in care Martin, violonist si pianist de exceptie, care-si adusese contributia si pe realizarile anterioare, devine cel de-al saselea membru al grupului. Desi incununat de succes in privinta concertelor propriu-zise, turneul european, inceput la sfarsitul anului 1993, nu a fost in nici un caz o perioada de care muzicienii sa-si aduca aminte cu placere. Accidente rutiere datorate caderilor masive de zapada, imbolnaviri neasteptate, furtul echipamentului de scena au umbrit iesirea europeana a britanicilor. Care insa si-au continuat drumul muzical, dupa o perioada in care nu s-a mai auzit nimic despre ei. Un an de zile, in care a fost pregatit cu minutiozitate urmatorul material muzical. Cele sase compozitii incluse pe albumul "The Angel And The Dark River" sunt cat se poate de edificatoare pentru actuala conceptie muzicala, purtand marca My Dying Bride. Experimentul a fost desavarsit, astfel ca acest album depaseste cu siguranta granitele domeniului muzical, fiind o adevarata experienta ce solicita din plin psihicul ascultatorului. Valente noi pot fi descoperite la fiecare noua auditie, iar atmosfera invaluitoare te transporta intr-un univers melancolic. Depresiva poezie muzicala a celor de la My Dying Bride, solid ancorata in vechiul romantism, este poate o punte de legatura cu trecutul, o descatusare a sufletului, cel mult prea supus agresiunii tehnologice a anilor 90, o cale de a evada din realitateoare mai putem numi asa ceva cu un singur cuvant, "muzica"? "Like Gods Of The Sun" este o noua evadare pe un taram neobisnuit, o alta incursiune intro zona cu totul deosebita, dar fara a mai putea spune ca avem de-a face cu o evolutie, ci chiar cu o stagnare din punct de vedere muzical. Nici in ultimii ani My Dying Bride nu au stat degeaba, editand doua compilatii, ''Meisterwerk'', 1 si 2, un nou album de studio, ''The Dreadful Hours'' (2001), si cel mai recent un live, ''The Voice Of The Wretched''.

Aaron Staintorpe (voc): Nascut la Dewsbury, si crescut in Germania, datorita faptului ca tatal sau a facut parte din armate britanica stationata pe Rhin. Aaron s-a reantors in Anglia in anul 1983 pentru a-si termina liceul. La scurt timp el a inceput sa se ocupe serios de My Dying Bride. Initierea in tainele rock-ului a inceput cu "The Number Of The Beast" (Iron Maiden) si putin mai tarziu, cu "Possessed" (Bathory). Este o persoana retrasa care uraste sa apara in public, mai ales pe scena, este pasionat de arta si iubeste Scotia.

Andrew Craighan (chit) Nascut la Bradford. Ani de-a randul a schimbat multe meserii, dar in final a ales My Dying Bride si este alaturi de Aaron, managerul trupei. Andrew locuieste cu familia sa (mama, sora, fratele), si din cand in cand, cu prietena sa de la care are, de curand, un copil pe nume Connor. A inceput cu Kiss si a continuat cu Slayer. A cantat alaturi de bateristul Rick cu trupa Abiosis, cu care atras un demo. Lui Andrew ii plac filmele, mai ales cele miliatre si, de asemenea, este un mare fan al fenomenului UFO. Adrian Jackson (bass): Prietenii ii spun Ade. De-a lungul anilor a calatorit destul de mult, punctul culminant fiind o sedere de cativa ani in Ghana. In prezent locuieste la Otley, oras situat la cativa kilometri de Bradford. A lucrat ca asistent in domeniul petrolifer, iar acum lucreaza ca inginer de sistem pentru o firma din Leeds. Este de multi ani un mare fan al lui Satriani si a fost memmbrul unor formatii locale cu mic succes la public. Adrian asculta VoiVod, Dead Can Dance si All About Eve. Este pasionat de computere si ii place sa repare sculele electronice ale colegilor sai din alte formatii. Martin Powell (vioara & key): Nascut si crescut la Sheffield. Canta la vioara si pian inca de la varsta de cinci ani si a participat cu multe orchestre la diverse concerte de muzica clasica. Cu toate ca a urmat cativa ani cursurile Universitatii din Bradford, Martin a renuntat in favoarea grupului My Dying Bride. El locuieste, impreuna cu familia prietenei sale, intr-o casa mare in apropiere a Sheffield-ului. Este fan al grupului The Swans si un mare pasionat de filme si carti. Richard Miah Rick (bat): Nascut si crescut la Bradford. A lucrat multi ani alaturi de tatal sau in doemniul pictura si decoratiuni pana cand a devenit muzician profesionist. A cantat cu Andrew in grupul Ambiosis care a deschis o data un concert pentru Paradise Lost. Este un tip retras caruia nu-i place sa vorbeasca cu oamenii. Este un inflacarat fan Slayer si ii plac trupele cu bateristi trazniti. Traieste alaturi de prietena sa intr-o suburbie a Bradford-ului si este interesat de tatuaje si body piercing.

Adrian Popescu

Tommy Lee

While rock historians imagine what Keith Moon or John Bonham could have achieved had they not checked out early, another legendary drummer (who despite his excesses managed to flip the finger to the Grim Reaper) is enjoying a heap of midlife success. His third solo album due in August along with a new TV show, not to mention a best-selling memoir and sold-out shows leading off the 2005 Mtley Cre reunion tour, Tommy Lee hasnt simply beaten the odds. Hes damn well thrashed them, making it improbable for any rock percussionist to follow. Did we mention hes happy, too??? His latest album stands as a sonic accomplishment by itself. Tommyland: The Ride, due on store shelves August 9, is a highly listenable collection of rock-driven tunes, some infused with pop, electronica and other flavors, that chart the foibles of romance, celebrity and life in general. The album follows two distinctly different solo efforts: Methods of Mayhem (1999), a mlange of rock, hard house, industrial and hiphop that reflected Lees desire to do everything I ever wanted to do after 20 years with the Cre; and Never A Dull Moment (2002), a more focused, from the heart album including the tune Blue, written for his father who had recently passed away. Tommyland: The Ride will satisfy rock devotees and others with its solidly constructed hooks and performances by such artists as Dave Navarro (Janes Addiction), Joel Madden (Good Charlotte), Carl Bell (Fuel), Derick Whibley (Sum 41), Andrew McMahon (Jacks Mannequin / Something Corporate), Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) and Butch Walker. The albums first single, Trying To Be Me, is a driving-rock grievance against fame in the age of cell phone cameras.

Its second, the yearning, mid-tempo Good Times, will be the theme for Lees new NBC show, offering an appropriate paean to his Cre roots. Bearing Lees mark as a writing collaborator with his guest artists, Tommyland also bears his vocal skills, heard with Andrew McMahon on the equally wistful and hopeful Hello Again, as well as Say Goodbye, a breakup ballad which surprisingly shares the microphone with pop icon Nick Carter (It turns out hes a huge fan of rock music, says Lee, who originally wrote the song for Carters solo album, then purloined it when The Backstreet Boys reunion sidetracked it). Another track revealing Lees willingness to lampoon himself is Tired, with Joel Madden belting the tongue-in-cheek chorus: Tommy got tired of Pamela, Ed got tired of Salma, Puffy got tired of JLo and Ben did too, working its way to the everyman complaint, Im just tired of you. Comfortable with poking fun at his own celebrity, its a purposely awkward, fish-out-of-water approach that defines Tommy Goes To College, the NBC reality show to premiere August 16. The show, which Lee also produces, finds him spending an unlikely semester in middle America at the University of Nebraska: finding a roommate, trying out for the marching band, cramming for finals and, of course, finding the time to party (allowing some lucky Cornhuskers to boast, Dude, I slammed one with TOMMY LEE!). While the presence of a rock star in Lincoln, Nebraska had the desired effect, Lee experienced a degree of surprise when his American Literature professor elected during one class to dissect his autobiography Tommyland, which had recently landed

on the New York Times best-seller list. The candid memoir recounts the personal details of an iconic rock rebel: from his childhood in suburban California to his meteoric rise as the drummer for Mtley Cre, to his headline-making life in the fast lane. An unflinching glimpse behind the tattooed exterior of a man revealed as a passionate musician and devoted father, Tommyland remains in the Top 100 Memoirs of Amazon.com as of May 2005, more than seven months after its publication in October 2004. And then theres the reunion of Mtley Cre, which has energized thousands of fans worldwide, recalling the zenith of the bands fame in the 80s and 90s. The Red, White & Cre Tour 2005: Better Live Than Dead, presented by VH1 and VH1 Classic, has already sold out U.S. arenas and is currently working its way toward Europe and Australia. It returns to the U.S. to hit more than 40 amphitheatres in August and September before wrapping up in southeast Asia this November and December. After being away from each other for more than six years, I was real apprehensive about this tour, says Lee. But it was comfortable the first day we got together, and given the fan response, the whole thing has been way above and beyond my expectations. Motleys recently released anthology album, Red, White & Crue, is certified platinum. A native of Athens, Greece who moved to Southern California with his parents two years later, Thomas Lee Bass surely raised expectations in his parents early on when he was tall enough to reach the silverware drawer he wasted no time transforming eating utensils into drumsticks. While his parents provided young Tommy with drum and piano lessons, his father, a mechanic,

showed an extra measure of support by giving up the garage and building his son a soundproof room within it to practice. The rest, of course, is rock history... At 17, Lee teamed with bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist Mick Mars and singer Vince Neil, naming themselves Mtley Cre (the umlauts were intended to make them look tough). With a knack for creating fists-in-theair anthems, the band recorded their first album, Too Fast for Love, which was released in November 1981 on their own Leathr Records label. An insanely catchy, riff-driven record, TFFL turned rock fans expectations upside-down and ultimately led to the formation of an entire glam-metal movement based in Los Angeles. Picked up by Elektra, the Cre released a string of classic albums in the 80s, beginning with Shout at the Devil (1983), controversial for its satanic elements, and Theatre Of Pain (1985), a slightly darker, more introverted record. However, Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) was as rock n roll as anything theyd done before and, together with 1989s enormous Dr. Feelgood, catapulted the band into the mainstream. By the 1990s Mtley Cre was a full-blown stadium act, with all the freedoms and hindrances that that entailed. Neil left the band in 1992 and it was Scream singer John Corabi that provided vocals for the 1994 album Mtley Cre, which attempted to match up to the angst and power of newer metal bands. However, by 1997s Generation Swine, Neil was back and the Cres fortunes revived, leading them to issue Greatest Hits (1998), Live: Entertainment Or Death (1999) and a rarities collection, Supersonic and Demonic Relics (1999). By New Tattoo (2000), the band was working at full steam again, though

with a notable exception: that of Tommy Lee, who by then was recording and touring with his own band, Methods of Mayhem, and ducking the paparazzi in the wake of his home video high-jinx with his thenwife, Pamela Anderson. With each original member of Mtley Cre contributing to their 2001 autobiography The Dirt: Confessions of the Worlds Most Notorious Rock Band, the book quickly took hold with readers and spent a record-breaking ten months on the New York Times bestseller list (its currently being made into a feature film, to be released this year by MTV Films/Paramount). Finally, the fans themselves persuaded Lee to reunite with his bandmates, initially to record three new songs for their 2005 anthology album, Red White & Cre, then to launch an official reunion tour which has been met with resounding success. Tommy Lee devotes most of his free time these days toward his two children, Brandon and Dylan. While appreciating a more normal life, he nonetheless bemoans the lack of originality among rock stars. Everyone kind of sounds the same and looks the same. I mean, where are the Mick Jaggers, the David Bowies? laments Lee, who also notes how comfortable rock performers have become. In rock theres got to be some element of danger, like, Is this guy going to make it through the show tonight? Beyond the music, thats what makes it exciting. Come on, guys! Step it up a notch! Children: Brandon Thomas - May 6, 1996 Dylan Jagger - December 29, 1997 http://www.tommylee.tv

Mick Mars
After playing for years in various bands around the Los Angeles area, Mars placed an ad in a local paper to which Mtley Cre founder/bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee responded. Mars was hired on the spot. The band went on to add vocalist Vince Neil and proceeded to gig around Hollywood creating a buzz with their outrageous stage show. A show which included Mars' spitting blood la Gene Simmons-style and Sixx lighting himself on fire. The band eventually landed a record deal with Elektra Records and Mars began what would become a very tempestuous but rewarding songwriting collaboration experience with Sixx -- one that would propel the band into super stardom. Mars was often perceived as the overly reclusive and quiet member of the band; however, this perception was created by a degenerative bone condition called ankylosing spondylitis. This disease caused the guitarist to appear hunched over on- and off-stage, resulting in his image as the shy and mysterious member. The disease also spawned a serious alcohol addiction that landed him in rehab years later. After signing their record deal, Elektra went on to reissue the band's self-produced first album, Too Fast for Love, in 1982. The follow-up album, 1983's Shout at the Devil, put these Hollywood bad boys on the metal map as Mars and the band dominated '80s metal. They released three multi-platinum albums in a row; 1985's Theatre of Pain, 1987's Girls, Girls, Girls, and their most commercially successful album to date, 1989's Dr. Feelgood, the end result of Mars' catchy rock riffs (while

frequently intoxicated) and Sixx's rebellious and sexually driven lyrics. As the '90s loomed on the horizon, Mtley Cre was at a crossroads. Neil left the band and alternative/grunge rock became mainstream. John Corabi soon replaced Neil, who in addition to singing was also an accomplished guitar player. Corabi proceeded to play some guitar parts on the band's 1994 self-titled album. This infuriated Mars. He didn't have to worry for too long, as Corabi was subsequently fired when the album did not sell. Neil was rehired, and the original lineup was once again intact. The reunion album, Generation Swine, was released in 1997 and New Tattoo followed in 1999. ~ Eric Linden, All Music Guide (VH1.com) Mick was born Bob Allen Deal in Terre Haute, IN on May 4th, 1951. His family moved to California when he was eight years old. Children: Les Paul Stormy Lynn - September 4, 1973 Erik http://www.mickmars.tv/

Vince Neil

Mtley Cre established itself in 1981, when it came roaring off the strip with Too Fast For Love, an independently recorded slab of crunch that mixed metal with punk and melodic pop sensibilities -- a blend that would become THE rock sound of the `80s and influence scores of other bands. Too Fast For Love created a buzz around Mtley that culminated in a major label deal and 1983's Shout at the Devil, a triple-platinum blast that only added volume and velocity on subsequent multi-million sellers such as 1985's Theatre of Pain, 1987's Girls, Girls, Girls and 1989's Dr. Feelgood. After over a decade fronting Mtley Cre with great success, VINCE and the Cre separated. VINCE signed a deal with Warner Bros., and released his first solo album Exposed in 1993, which was produced by Ron Nevison (Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne). With 11 tracks and multiple singles, the exposure for Exposed was strong. The first single (and video) was the successful "Sister of Pain". Other singles included "Youre Invited But Your Friend Can't Come," "Cant Have your Cake" and "Look in Her Eyes". VINCEs 2nd solo album, Carved in Stone attracted the Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys, Beck) as producers, taking VINCE into some newer directions. VINCE and the Dust Brothers experimented with hip-hop and industrial beats, layered onto the classic VINCE NEIL sound that draws his core audience.

Carved In Stone also featured "Skylars Song," dedicated to the memory of his young daughter who passed away around the time of the album's release. For the last several years, VINCE has hosted an annual charity golf tournament in her honor, The Skylar Neil Memorial Golf Tournament. VINCE NEIL rejoined Mtley Cre in 1995. Since then, Mtley has set up its own label, Mtley Records, and rereleased expanded editions of its entire catalog as well as two new studio albums, Generation Swine and New Tattoo, a Greatest Hits CD and DVD, the Supersonic & Demon Relics rarities collection, the Live: Entertainment or Death concert album, and most recently a Greatest Video Hits DVD, and four disc boxed set, Music To Crash Your Car To, Vol. 1. Their best selling tellall autobiography, The Dirt, will soon be made into a feature film. While the band takes a well-deserved break, and before beginning work on a new Mtley Cre album and tour, VINCE has been keeping busy with a number of side projects. In 2002, he filmed the hit reality show The Surreal Life for The WB, and has since been on a few other network TV shows, like CBS's Still Standing and The WB's Greetings From Tucson. He was recently a camp counselor at Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp in Los Angeles, and in between rounds of golf for the last couple of years, has been on the road performing solo concert dates. He recently released a live concert disc, Vince Neil Live at The Whisky, on Image Entertainment, chronicling his

solo performance at the legendary Whisky A Go Go on Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip. Vince Neil was born Vincent Neil Wharton on February 8, 1961 in Hollywood, CA. Vince was the last to join Motley and he actually blew off the first audition because things where going pretty well with his band Rock Candy. A few weeks later Vince was asked to audition again and this time he came right over! Vince left Mtley Cre in early February of '92 and released two solo projects. After disapointing records sales for both Vince and Mtley, Allen Kovac helped reunite the band in '96. The original Mtley Cre line-up released their final Elektra album "Generation Swine" in '97. Children: Neil Elizabeth Ashley Skylar Lynnae - March 26, 1991 August 15, 1995 http://www.vinceneil.net

Nikki Sixx
NIKKI SIXX was born December 11, 1958 at 7:11 a.m. (just like the White Trash Convenant Store, he says) in San Jose, California. In Mtley Cres The Dirt, Nikki described his mom Deanna Haight as an Idaho farm girl with stars in her eyes witty, strong-willed, motivated and extremely gorgeous with an untamable wild streak. Like mother, like son. Sixx was named Frank Feranna by and after his father, who would abandon the family after a few years. Nikki learned later he also had a

sister, Lisa, whom he was told he couldnt see because she was placed in a home for the mentally ill. Nikki wouldnt lay eyes on his sister, who was born with Downs Syndrome and blind, her growth stunted, until her death more than 35 years later. Nikki lived with his mom in Hollywood for awhile, but was often shipped out to stay with his grandparents, who moved between Texas, Idaho and New Mexico while Deanna lived the life of a gypsy. At various points in her life, she sang back-up in Frank Sinatras band, dated Richard Pryor and was a card dealer in Sparks, Nevada. Today, Nikki insists his parents did the best they could with the tools they were given in life, but it wasnt always so easy for him to wax poetic about his relationships (or lack thereof) with his mother and father. While in high school, Nikki was taunted for his eclectic clothing style, a mix of glam and punk rock, which he reacted to with violent retaliation. His troubled upbringing came to a head, with Nikki eventually running away from home and getting kicked out of school. Looking back on that troubled upbringing has led to his compassion for other abandoned youngsters and his recent establishment of the Running Wild in the Night fund-raising initiative for Covenant House. Having experienced life as a runaway myself, I wanted to do something to help kids put in this position through no fault of their own, said Nikki, who admitted that music was perhaps the single most important factor in saving him from an inevitable tragic death on the streets. He had to leave Seattle after getting arrested for selling drugs at a Rolling Stones concert. Nikki knew it was just a matter of time before he ended up locked up in juvenile detention until he

was 21 which didnt exactly sit well with his dream of becoming a rock star. All I had was an Aerosmith tape, a stolen, beat-up boom box, a Greyhound ticket to Idaho and my dreams, he says. Back in Idaho, Nikki hauled irrigation pipe on farms while living with his grandparents. He used the money he earned to buy a fake Gibson Les Paul guitar in a gun shop for $109 before catching yet another Greyhound , this time to L.A. to pursue his destiny. Cutting his teeth on L.A.s late-70s punk-rock movement with one foot firmly on the heart of 70s English glam and the other in heavy metal, Nikki looked for the perfect partners to take on the world. After a slew of auditions, false starts and a short run in a band called London, Sixx met drummer Tommy Lee in 1981. Responding to an ad in L.A.s Recycler for a loud, rude and aggressive guitarist seeking a band, the duo found what they were looking for in guitarist Mick Mars. Tommy then introduced them to a blond-haired surfer dude with a gnarly, high-pitched yowl named Vince Neil and Mars christened the resultant outfit Mtley Cre. Mtley Cre played their first show together January 17, 1981. That same year saw them record a debut album, Too Fast for Love, on their own Leathr Records label. Twenty-five years and some 40 million albums sold later, it all culminated in this years Red White and Cre and Carnival of Sins worldwide jaunt, named Pollstars #6 grossing concert tour of the year. At this point, it looks like no end in sight for the Cres wild and colorful career. Sixx has also participated in a pair of solo projects, in 58 and Brides of Destruction, releasing albums that showed different sides of his

songwriting ability. He supplied several songs to The Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Rock n Roll Musical and recently cowrote hit songs for Meat Loaf, Saliva and Marion Raven, among others. Sixx helped co-write the N.Y. Times bestseller Dirt, the history of the Cre, which has become a sacred text and bible for rockers all over the world and will soon become a major motion picture through MTV and Paramount Films. In addition, Sixxs autobiographical The Heroin Diaries, compiled from his 1986-87 writings during the height of his drug addiction, will be published by Simon and Schuster next year. Sixx plans on taking the concept of a book to a different level, and with Nikki, these words should not be taken lightly. As with all things Sixx, all we can do is wait and see. Children:5

ALBUMS
Too Fast For Love December 1982 With a gritty reputation that was arguably equaled only by Guns N' Roses, Mtley Cre's infamous antics made them a force to be reckoned with in the '80s. As one of the first and most influential hair metal bands of the '80s, Mtley Cre had a series of hit albums, the biggest and most noteworthy being 1989's Dr. Feelgood. ~ Barry Weber & Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Shout At The Devil October 1983

Theatre of Pain July 1985

Girls, Girls, Girls June 1987 Dr. Feelgood September 1989

Decade of Decadence October 1991

Mtley Cre April 1994

Generation Swine July 1997

Greatest Hits November 1998

Supersonic & Demonic Relics June 1999 Live - Entertainment or Death November 1999 New Tattoo July 2000

Millennium Collection October 2003

Music To Crash Your Car To, Volume 1 November 2003

Music To Crash Your Car To, Volume 2 June 2004

Red White & Crue February 2005

Carnival Of Sins Live, Vol.2 February 2006

Carnival Of Sins Live, Vol.1 February 2006

Mtley Cre
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Mtley Cre in 2004 (from left: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Tommy Lee)

Background information Origin Genre(s) Los Angeles, California Glam metal Heavy metal Hard Rock 1980 Present Mtley Hip-O Elektra Beyond Leathr 58 Methods of Mayhem Union Supernova Brides of Destruction www.motley.com Members Vince Neil

Years active Label(s)

Associated acts

Website

Nikki Sixx Mick Mars Tommy Lee Former members John Corabi Randy Castillo Samantha Maloney

Mtley Cre (IPA pronunciation: ['mot-lee kru]) is a popular American rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band is made up of Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, and Vince Neil. Mtley Cre is considered one of the most successful American heavy metal and hard rock bands, having sold over 41 million albums worldwide and 24 million records in the US alone. Their ninth studio album is due to be released sometime in 2007.

Contents
[hide]

1 History o 1.1 1980s o 1.2 1990s o 1.3 2000s 2 Legacy of Mtley Cre 3 Personnel o 3.1 Current Members o 3.2 Past Members o 3.3 Temporary Players 4 Discography o 4.1 Studio albums 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] History
Mtley Cre was formed in California during 1981, after bassist Nikki Sixx left the band London which he had started in 1979 after he was fired from Blackie Lawless' band Sister. Drummer Tommy Lee had previously played in a band called Suite 19 with vocalist/guitarist Greg Leon. Sixx, Lee and Leon started rehearsing but Leon decided not to continue, and the bassist and drummer looked for new members.

Sixx and Lee met guitarist Mick Mars at that time still performing in blues based heavy metal acts under his name Bob Alan Deal through an ad in The Recycler reading "Loud, rude, aggressive guitarist available." When they first met Mars, Sixx's first reaction was, "I can't believe it! Here's another one like us!", and Lee later said in interviews that Mars "came in looking like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family." Mars' equipment was quickly set up and shortly after, he was playing the opening riff to "Stick to Your Guns". Mars proceeded to, according to Lee, "play the shit out of his guitar." After getting drunk and jamming for an hour, Sixx and Lee hired Mars, and Mick fired the band's guitarist, who was a musician known only as Robin (a "pansy" according to Lee). It was Mars who came up with the band's name. While in his former band, White Horse, one of the band members walked in and called the group "a motley looking crew." Mars copied the name down on paper, with the original spelling Mottley Kru. The name was later applied to the band he was to join in 1981 with Sixx and Lee. However, there is much talk about the band floating the name "Christmas" before they settled on Mtley Cre. According to Nikki in the band's VH1 "Behind The Music" episode, it was his suggestion, thinking that a familiar, popular word for a name would attract fans by itself. Lee and Vince Neil originally knew each other in high school (Royal Oak H.S.) in Covina. They had performed in different bands in the garage-band circuit. Mars suggested Mtley Cre hire Vince after seeing him perform with the band Rock Candy at the Starwood in Hollywood. At first Neil rebuffed the band when they asked him to audition. Then, as fate would have it, Rock Candy dissolved; Vince broke down and agreed to audition for Mtley Cre after Lee called him once more.

[edit] 1980s
They soon met their first manager, Allan Coffman. Coffman's brother-in-law was one of the band's roadies, Robert "Stick" Crouch, and Coffman owned a contracting company in Grass Valley, CA and was looking to invest some money in an entertainment venture. The band's first release was the single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town," which was released on their own label, Leathr Records, which had a pressing & distribution deal with Greenworld Distribution in Torrance. In November 1981, their debut album Too Fast for Love was self-produced and released on Leathr, selling 20,000 copies. Coffman, and his assistant GG Allin, set up a tour of Canada, while using the band's success in the Los Angeles club scene to negotiate with several record labels, eventually signing a recording contract with Elektra Records in late spring 1982. At Elektra's insistence, the debut album was then re-mixed by producer Roy Thomas Baker and rereleased on August 20, 1982, two months after its Canadian WEA release using the original Leathr mixes, to coincide with the tour. During the 'Cresing Through Canada Tour '82' (dubbed the 'I'm in Hell' tour by the band members), there were several widely-publicized incidents. First, the band were arrested and then released at Edmonton International Airport for wearing their spiked stage wardrobe through Customs and for Vince's small carry-on filled with porn magazines

(both PR stunts) - considered 'dangerous weapons' and 'indecent material', Customs eventually had the confiscated items destroyed. Second, a spurious 'bomb threat' against the band, playing Scandals Disco in Edmonton, made the front page of the Edmonton Journal (June 9, 1982) where assistant manager Greif and Lee were interviewed. This ended up being a PR stunt perpetrated by Greif. Lastly, Lee threw a television set from the upper story window of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Popular myth was that the band were "banned for life" from the city. In 1983, the band changed management from Allan Coffman to Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee. McGhee is best known for managing Kiss, starting with their reunion tour in 1996. Greif subsequently sued all parties in a Los Angeles Superior Court action that dragged on for several years, and coincidentally later re-surfaced as manager of Nikki's former band, London. Coffman himself was sued by a couple of investors for whom he had sold 'stock in the band', including Michigan-based Bill Larson. Coffman eventually declared bankruptcy, as he had mortgaged his home at least three times to cover band expenses. After famously playing the US Festival, and with the aid of the new medium of MTV, the band found rapid success in the United States. They were also known as much for their backstage groupie antics, outrageous clothing, extreme high-heeled boots, heavy makeup, and seemingly endless abuse of alcohol and drugs as for their music. Their mixture of heavy metal and glam rock stylings produced several massive-selling albums during the 1980s, including Shout at the Devil (October 15, 1983), Theatre of Pain (July 13, 1985), and Girls, Girls, Girls (June 13, 1987). The band has also had their share of scrapes with the law and life. In 1984, Neil wrecked his car on his way to the liquor store. He was in a head-on collision, and his passenger, Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, was killed. Neil, charged with a DUI and vehicular manslaughter, was sentenced to 30 days in jail (though he only spent 18 days). In 1987, Sixx suffered a near-fatal heroin overdose. He was declared legally dead on the way to the hospital, but one medic refused to give up and gave Sixx two shots of adrenaline to the heart, bringing him back to life. His few minutes in death were the inspiration for the band's song "Kickstart My Heart," which peaked at #18 on the Mainstream U.S. chart, and was featured on their album Dr. Feelgood. Their decadent lifestyles almost shattered the band, until managers Thaler and McGhee pulled an intervention, and refused to allow the band to tour in Europe, fearing that "some [of them] would come back in bodybags". Shortly after, all the band members underwent rehabilitation, except for Mick, who cleaned up on his own. After finding sobriety in 1989, Mtley Cre reached its peak popularity with the release of their fifth album, Dr. Feelgood, on September 1, 1989. On October 14 of that year, it became their only No. 1 album and stayed on the charts for 109 weeks after its release. McGhee was fired in 1989 after breaking several promises to the band in relation to the Moscow Music Peace Festival, with Thaler soldiering on as sole band manager.

Mick Mars, Vince Neil & Nikki Sixx

[edit] 1990s
On October 14, 1991 the band's 6th album Decade Of Decadence was released. It was supposed to be just something for the fans while they worked on the next "all new" album. After Decades release though, Neil left the band in February 1992. A controversy exists to this day over whether Neil was fired or quit. Sixx has long maintained that Neil quit the band. However, Neil disputes this and insists that he was fired. Neil was replaced by John Corabi (formerly of Angora and The Scream). Mtley Cre's commercial success waned throughout the 1990s, although their self-titled March 1994 release made the Billboard top ten (#7). Thaler would manage the band alone until 1994, after the band did a mass-firing when their album, Mtley Cre, failed to meet commercial expectations. The band reunited in 1997, after their current manager, Allen Kovac, and Neil's manager, Bert Stein, set up a meeting between Neil, Lee, and Sixx. Agreeing to "leave their egos at the door," the band released Generation Swine. Although it debuted at #4, and despite the band performing at the American Music Awards, the album was a commercial failure, due in part to their label Elektra Records' lack of support. The band soon left Elektra and created their own label, Mtley Records.

Nikki Sixx In the 1990s, Mtley Cre was perhaps better known for the women married by three of its members. Both Lee and Sixx married former Playboy Playmates and stars on the TV show Baywatch. Lee married Pamela Anderson and Nikki wed Donna D'Errico. Not to be

outdone, Vince married former Playboy centerfold Heidi Mark. Both Lee and Neil's marriages ended in divorce, and Donna D'Errico filed for divorce from Sixx in early 2006. In 1994, Neil's daughter Skylar Neil died of cancer. Neil along with former wife, stripper and mud wrestler Sharise Ruddell, would later sue the company Rocketdyne for dumping cancer-causing chemicals near their former Simi Valley home. Lee would go to prison for six months after being accused of abusing his then-wife Pamela Anderson. In 1998, Mtley Cre's contractual ties with Elektra Records had expired putting the band in total control of their future. This included the ownership of the masters of all their albums. In announcing the end of their relationship with Elektra Records, the band became one of the few groups in history to own and control their publishing and catalogue of recorded masters. In 1999, the band re-released all their albums, dubbed as Crcial Cre. The limited-edition digital re-masters included demos and previously unreleased tracks. In 1999, Lee left the band to pursue a solo career due to increasing bad tension between himself and frontman Neil. He was replaced by Randy Castillo, who drummed on several Ozzy Osbourne albums. Randy died of cancer on March 26, 2002. No replacement had been named which sent the band into a hiatus following a 2000 tour in support of their most recent studio release, New Tattoo. New Tattoo charted at #41 and sold less than 150,000 copies. Drummer Samantha Maloney filled in on drums during the tour for this album. (This served to be a bad idea, as it's been rumoured that Sixx and Maloney had an affair and then-wife Donna found out about it.) She is perhaps best known for her work with Courtney Love after she replaced original Hole drummer Patty Schemel in 1998. Maloney later toured with Love in 2004 in support of the latter's solo album America's Sweetheart. The Cre released the DVD Lewd, Cred & Tattooed after a performance in Salt Lake City.

[edit] 2000s

Mick Mars on stage Within the following six years, Sixx played in the bands 58 and Brides of Destruction, while Lee formed Methods of Mayhem and performed as a solo artist. Neil continued touring on an annual basis as a solo artist, singing mostly Mtley Cre songs. Mars, who suffers from a degenerative back condition called ankylosing spondylitis, went into seclusion in 2001. A 2001 autobiography entitled The Dirt told their full story. The book made the top ten on the New York Times best-seller list, and spent ten weeks there. It also introduced the band to a whole new generation of fans. The Dirt has become a sacred text and "bible" for rockers all over the world and is set to become a major motion picture through Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. Neil reported to ABC on November 6th, 2006 that Oscar winning actor Christopher Walken will make a cameo in the upcoming movie playing Ozzy Osbourne, and Val Kilmer will play David Lee Roth.) A promoter in England, Mags Revell, started the ball rolling for Mtley Cre's reunion when he started a promotion that basically revealed how fans wanted the band to reunite. After meeting with management several times, in September 2004, Sixx announced that he and Neil had returned to the studio and had begun recording new material. In December 2004, the four original members announced a reunion tour which began February 14, 2005, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The band's latest compilation album, Red, White & Cre, was released in February 2005. It features the band members' favourite original songs plus three new tracks, "If I Die Tomorrow," "Sick Love Song," co-written by Sixx and James Michael as well as a cover of The Rolling Stones' classic "Street Fighting Man." A small controversy was caused when it was suggested that neither Tommy nor Mick played on the new tracks (duties were supposedly handled by Vandals drummer Josh Freese and ex-Beautiful Creatures guitarist DJ Ashba). However, a VH1 documentary of the band reuniting would later show that Lee did indeed play on some of

the tracks. The Japanese release of Red, White, & Cre, includes an extra new track titled "I'm a Liar (and That's the Truth)." Red, White & Cre charted at #6, and has since gone platinum.

[edit] Legacy of Mtley Cre

Mtley Cre are often cited by many contemporary artists as an inspiration. Artists such as Marilyn Manson, Towers of London, Moby, Murderdolls, Backyard Babies, The Living End, Mana, Green Day, and Papa Roach have cited them as an influence in recent years, most notably for Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil. They've also been parodied for their early look in music videos by a variety of artists such as Bowling for Soup, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Backstreet Boys.

Mtley Cre band line-ups

(1981-1992)

Vince Neil - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Tommy Lee - drums, backing vocals John Corabi - lead vocals, rhythm guitar Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Tommy Lee - drums, backing vocals Vince Neil - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Tommy Lee - drums, backing vocals Vince Neil - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Randy Castillo - drums John Corabi - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar

(1992-1997)

(1997-1999)

(1999-2000)

(2000-2001)

Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Samantha Maloney - drums John Corabi - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Vince Neil - lead vocals Mick Mars - lead guitar Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals Tommy Lee - drums, backing vocals

(2001-2004)

(2004present)

Besides music, Mtley Cre also set the scale for decadent rock and roll behavior. Since the release of "The Dirt", the band has been known as one of the most decadent and selfdestructive groups in rock music history, if not the most. The band has also been featured on a number of VH1 countdown shows, 'Dr. Feelgood' was ranked the #10 Greatest Air Guitar Song, 'Live Wire' was ranked the #17 Greatest Metal Song Of All Time on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs, and 'Home Sweet Home' was ranked the #12 greatest power ballad of all time.

[edit] Personnel
[edit] Current Members

Vince Neil - lead vocals (1981-1992, 1997-present) Mick Mars - lead guitar (1981-present) Nikki Sixx - bass, backing vocals,(1981-present) Tommy Lee - drums, backing vocals (1981-1999, 2004-present)

[edit] Past Members

John Corabi - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1992-1997) Randy Castillo - drums (1999-2000) Samantha Maloney - drums (2000-2001)

[edit] Temporary Players

Harvey Warren - drums (2006) (Played April 5 at the Enmax Center in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada when Tommy was injured)

Will Hunt - drums (2006) (filled in for injured Lee on the last few dates of their just-completed North American tour)

[edit] Discography
Please see Mtley Cre discography, for a complete discography

[edit] Studio albums

Too Fast for Love (November 10, 1981) Leathr (August 20, 1982) Elektra 60174 #77 U.S.

Shout At The Devil (September 26, 1983) Elektra 60289 #17 U.S.

Theatre of Pain Girls, Girls, Girls (June 21, 1985) (May 15, 1987) Elektra 60418 Elektra 60725 #6 U.S., #36 UK #2 U.S., #14 UK

Dr. Feelgood (September 1, 1989) Elektra 60829 #1 U.S., #4 UK

Mtley Cre (March 15, 1994) #7 U.S., #17 UK

Generation Swine (1997) #4 U.S.

New Tattoo (2000) #41 U.S.

[edit] Trivia

Two fictional Mtley Cre roadies in the movie Beavis and Butthead Do America are unknowingly the fathers of Beavis and Butthead. At one Mtley Cre performance in Germany, the entire audience started chanting "/mtli kry/". They did this due to the band's use of umlauts over their name. Larry Flynt appears in the music video for "Afraid".

James Hetfield of Metallica once said about Mtley Cre, "One time we saw some hookers, but when we got closer, we realised it was Mtley Cre." Denis Leary mentions the group on one of the tracks on his CD No Cure For Cancer in a hostile manner while discussing drug overdoses. Leary's exact quote was, "Every time you hear about some famous guy overdosing on drugs, it's always some really talented guy. It's always like Len Bias, or Janis Joplin, or Jimi Hendrix, or John Belushi. You know what I mean? The people you wanna have overdose on drugs never would! Like Mtley Cre would never fucking overdose man, never!" The album Theatre of Pain was originally going to be titled Entertainment or Death. The album Shout at the Devil was originally going to be titled TV & Violence. The album Motley Crue was originally going to be titled Til Death Do Us Part. The album Generation Swine was originally going to be titled Personality #9. After Metallica's infamous battle with Napster caused major controversy, members of Mtley Cre decided to cooperate with Bob Cesca, creator of the Napster Bad! cartoon, to raise their voice for MP3 distribution and to promote their upcoming tour and album. Camp Chaos also created the music video for the song Hell on High Heels, the song available for download at the end of the cartoon. [1] Tommy Lee had a spinning drum set during the Girls, Girls, Girls tour, and a drum set that went out into the audience during the Feelgood tour. During the Carnival of Sins tour, he had two different drum sets high above the stage that he swung back and forth from. This is a nod to one of his boyhood heroes, Peter Criss the drummer of Kiss, who had levitating and moving drumkits throughout his tenture in Kiss. Among the names the band members considered before settling on Mtley Cre were Bad Blood, Suicidal Tendencies, Trouble and CHRISTmas. There were rumors floating around that Mick was going to be replaced on the Better Live Than Dead tour, so for the first performance of the tour he came out fully dressed and covered with a mask. According to Nikki, he could see people in the crowd saying 'That's not Mick'. Mtley Cre was the first band ever to have two singles released at the same time on MTV, Anarchy In The UK and Primal Scream in 91. In 1998 Mtley Cre performed at WWF RAW is WAR. Wrestler Test made his debut on that show, as one of the band's "bodyguards." Every album (except Raw Tracks I & II) has a different "Mtley Cre" logo. In its continuing effort to shed its stodgy image, the New York Stock Exchange invited Mtley Cre to ring the closing bell on Wednesday March 2, 2005. Nikki Sixx wanted a souvenir; as they left the podium, he picked up the gavel and slipped it into his pocket. The band inspired the Aerosmith hit single "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" for their glam appearance and frequent use of the word "dude". Steven Tyler of Aerosmith also wrote the song about Vince Neil, for whom he thought looked very female at certain times.

Mtley Cre was the first headlining act at the Steelback Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on 2006-12-06 The band Bowling for Soup mentions them in their song 1985 in a hostile manner, "When did Mtley Cre become classic rock?" , the band also appears fully dressed as them in the video for the same song. The song Shout At The Devil is featured on the Playstation 2 game Guitar Hero II.

Be warned. The story of the most destructive band in history isn't a pretty one... With the possible exception of Ozzy Osbourne, no band has consumed as many drugs and as much booze without dying as the LA quartet Mtley Cre. The story of their career (which the band elected to tell in graphic detail in their unmissable 2001 autobiography, The Dirt) is one of dirty needles, damaged minds and sex -- lots of sex. And the miraculous thing about the Cre is not that they lived to tell the tale (although that is, in a way, a kind of unholy miracle): it's that all of their wildly uncontrollable habits are clearly audible in their music, now available from Universal. Just listen to these albums: if you concentrate hard enough, you can hear the sound of the coke coming off the tables, the squeak of the bed-springs and the sheer sleazy grind of California rock over the last two decades. In 1981, bassist Nikki Sixx left his glam-rock band London and met up with drummer Tommy Lee. Both were strung-out adolescents in search of good times and a record deal (in that order) and had a knack for creating fists-in-the-air anthems that didn't require a high IQ on the part of the listener, although they did know how to play loud and dumb. Recruiting a guitarist, Mick Mars (who reminded Sixx of Cousin Itt from The Addams Family) and singer Vince Neil (who Mars referred to, perhaps unwisely, as a 'blonde b*tch' at their first meeting), the band named themselves Mtley Cre (the umlauts were intended to make them look tough) and recorded an album, Too Fast For Love, which was released in November 1981 on their own Leathr Records label. An insanely catchy, riff-driven record, TFFL turned rock fans' expectations upside down, and ultimately led to the formation of an entire glam-metal movement based in Los Angeles. Without Too Fast For Love, there would have been no Bon Jovi and no Guns N'Roses. Picked up by Elektra, the Cre released a string of classic albums in the 80s, with Shout At The Devil (1983) controversial for its cod-satanic elements and Theatre Of Pain (1985) a slightly darker, more introverted record (perhaps stemming from Vince Neil's car crash with Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle, who was sadly killed in the incident). However, Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) was as rock 'n roll as anything they'd done before it, and together with 1989's enormous Dr. Feelgood (which also marked the Cre's wake-up call into rehab, after Sixx 'died' and was revived with adrenaline after a heroin overdose) catapulted the band into the mainstream. By the 1990s Mtley Cre were a full-blown stadiums act, with all the freedom (big production budgets, a string of models and porn stars) and hindrances (censorship issues, management and inter-band strife) that this entails. Neil left the band in 1992 and it was Scream singer John Corabi that provided vocals for the 1994 album, Mtley Cre, which attempted to match up to the angst and power of newer metal bands, and -while it's a strong record by any standards -- failed to match the sales of its predecessors. However, by 1997's Generation Swine Vince was back and the Cre's fortunes revived, leading them to issue Greatest Hits (1998), Live: Entertainment Or Death (1999) and a rarities collection, Supersonic And Demonic Relics (also '99). All offered a unique perspective into the life and work of the Cre, with remixes, live and demo recordings and unissued tracks all part of the package. By 2000's New Tattoo, the band were working at full steam once again, despite the departure of Tommy Lee (himself now a tabloid star, thanks to his infamous home-video high-jinks with his then-wife, Pamela Anderson). How important are Mtley Cre? Very, very important -- they made rock'n'roll what it is today. Without the Cre, stadium rock in the 1990s and today would have been all about Journey, Foreigner, Kansas and REO Speedwagon. Think about that for a second, will you? Motley Crue are also one of the only bands in history to successfully acquire ownership of all their master recordings. In 2003 they licensed their catalogue to Universal Music and saw re-issues of all their albums as well as the first instalment in their box set, "Music to Crash Your Car To-Volume 1", a 4 CD set that is the

first of three volumes chronicalling the bands storied career. Volumes 2 and 3 come in May and October of 2004 respectively, and the first ever video greatest hits DVD on the band was also release in 2003, entitled "Greatest Video Hits" On the horizon for Motley Crue is a film version of the NY Bestselling book "The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band" by Paramount Films set for release in 2005, as well as a stadium "reunion/farewell" tour by all four original members in 2005.

MOTLEY CRUE LYRICS

album: "Too Fast For Love" (1981)
Live Wire Come On And Dance Public Enemy #1 Merry-Go-Round Take Me To The Top Piece Of Your Action Starry Eyes Too Fast For Love On With The Show Toast Of The Town Tonight Too Fast For Love (Demo) Stick To Your Guns

album: "Shout At The Devil" (1983)

In The Beginning Shout At The Devil Looks That Kill Bastard God Bless The Children Of The Beast Helter Skelter Red Hot Too Young To Fall In Love Knock 'Em Dead Kid Ten Seconds To Love Danger Shout At The Devil (Demo) Looks That Kill (Demo) Hotter Than Hell I Will Survive

album: "Theatre Of Pain" (1985)

City Boy Blues Smokin' In The Boys Room Louder Than Hell Keep Your Eye On The Money

Home Sweet Home Tonight (We Need A Lover) Use It Or Lose It Save Our Souls Raise Your Hands To Rock Fight For Your Rights Home Sweet Home (Demo) Smokin' In The Boys Room (Demo) City Boy Blues (Demo) Home Sweet Home Keep Your Eye On The Money (Demo)

album: "Girls, Girls Girls" (1987)

Wild Side Girls, Girls, Girls Dancing On Glass Bad Boy Boogie Nona Five Years Dead All In The Name Of... Sumthin' For Nothin' You're All I Need Jailhouse Rock (Live) Girls, Girls, Girls Wild Side Rodeo Nona

album: "Dr. Feelgood" (1989)

T. N T. (Terror 'n Tinseltown) Dr. Feelgood Slice Of Your Pie Rattlesnake Shake Kickstart My Heart Without You Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) Sticky Sweet She Goes Down Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) Time For Change Dr. Feelgood (Demo) Without You (Demo) Kickstart My Heart (Demo) Get It For Free

album: "Decade Of Decadence" (1991)

Live Wire (Kick Ass '91 Remix) Piece Of Your Action (Screamin' '91 Remix) Shout At The Devil Looks That Kill Home Sweet Home ('91 Remix) Smokin' In The Boys Room Girls, Girls, Girls Wild Side Dr. Feelgood Kickstart My Heart Teaser Rock N' Roll Junkie Primal Scream Angela Anarchy In The U.K.

album: "Motley Crue" (1994)

Power To The Music Uncle Jack Hooligan's Holiday Misunderstood Loveshine Poison Apples Hammered 'Til Death Do Us Part Welcome To The Numb Smoke The Sky Droppin Like Flies Driftaway Hypnotized Babykills Livin' In The No

album: "Quaternary" (1994 EP)

Planet Boom Bittersuite Father Friends Babykills 10.000 Miles Away Hooligan's Holiday (Extended Holiday Version) Hammered (Demo) Livin' In The No (Demo)

album: "Generation Swine" (1997)

Find Myself

Afraid Flush Generation Swine Confessions Beauty Glitter Anybody Out There? Let Us Prey Rocketship A Rat Like Me Shout At The Devil '97 Brandon Afraid (Remix) Wreck Me Kiss The Sky Rocketship (Demo)

album: "Greatest Hits" (1998)

Bitter Pill Enslaved Girls, Girls, Girls Kickstart My Heart Wild Side Glitter (Remix) Dr. Feelgood Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) Home Sweet Home Afraid Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) Without You Smokin' In The Boys Room Primal Scream Too Fast For Love Looks That Kill Shout At The Devil '97

album: "Supersonic And Demonic Relics" (1999)

Teaser Primal Scream Sinners & Saints Monsterous Say Yeah Planet Boom Bittersuite Father Anarchy In The U.K. So Good, So Bad Hooligan's Holiday (Remix)

Rock 'N' Roll Junkie Angela Mood Ring Dr. Feelgood (Live)

album: "Live" (1999)

Looks That Kill Knock 'Em Dead Kid Too Young To Fall In Love Live Wire Public Enemy #1 Shout At The Devil Merry-Go-Round Ten Seconds To Love Piece Of Your Action Starry Eyes Helter Skelter Smokin' In The Boys Room Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) Wild Side Girls, Girls, Girls Dr. Feelgood Without You Primal Scream Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) Home Sweet Home Kickstart My Heart

album: "New Tattoo" (2000)

Hell On High Heels Treat Me Like The Dog That I Am New Tattoo Dragstrip Superstar 1st Band On The Moon She Needs Rock & Roll Punched In The Teeth By Love Hollywood Ending Fake Porno Star White Punks On Dope

album: "Red, White & Crue" (2004)

Live Wire Piece Of Your Action Toast Of The Town Too Fast For Love

Black Widow Looks That Kill Too Young To Fall In Love (Remix) Helter Skelter Shout At The Devil Smokin' In The Boys Room Use It Or Lose It Girls, Girls, Girls Wild Side You're All I Need All In The Name Of... Kickstart My Heart Without You Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) Dr. Feelgood Anarchy In The UK Primal Scream Home Sweet Home ('91 Remix) Hooligan's Holiday (Brown Nose Edit) Misunderstood (Successful Format Version) Planet Boom Bittersuite Afraid (Alternative Rave Mix) Beauty Generation Swine Bitter Pill Enslaved Hell On High Heels New Tattoo (Single Version) Street Fighting Man If I Die Tomorrow Sick Love Song

1. Wild Side Kneel down ye sinners, to Streetwise religion Greed's been crowned the new King Hollywood dream teens Yesterday's trash queens Save the blessings for the final ringAMEN Wild side I carry my crucifix Under my deathlist Forward my mail to me in hell

Liars and the martyrs Lost faith in The Father Long lost in the wishing well Wild side Fallen Angels So fast to kill Thy kingdom come on the wild side Our father Who ain't in heaven Be thy name on the wild side Holy Mary Mother may I Pray for us on the wild side Wild side. Wild side Name dropping no-names Glamorize cocaine Puppets with strings of gold East L.A. at midnight Papa won't be home tonight Found dead with his best friend's wife Wild side Fatal strikes We lie on the wild side No escape Murder rape Doing time on the wild side A baby cries A cop dies A day's pay on the wild side Wild side, wild side Tragic life on the wild side Wild side, wild side Kickin' ass on the wild side 20. Home Sweet Home You know I'm a dreamer But my heart's of gold I had to run away high

So I wouldn't come home low Just when things went right It doesn't mean they were always wrong Just take this song and you'll never feel Left all alone Take me to your heart Feel me in your bones Just one more night And I'm comin' off this Long & winding road I'm on my way Well I'm on my way Home sweet home Tonight tonight I'm on my way I'm on my way Home sweet home You know that I seem To make romantic dreams Up in lights, fallin' off The silver screen My heart's like an open book For the whole world to read Sometimes nothing-keeps me together At the seams I'm on my way Well I'm on my way Home sweet home Tonight tonight I'm on my way Just set me free Home sweet home 36. If I Die Tomorrow I wake up to find myself After all these years And where all the time has gone Still seems so unclear 'Cause there's no one else Since I found you

I know it's been so hard You should know If I die tomorrow As the minutes fade away I can't remember Have I said all I can say? You're my everything You make me feel so alive If I die tomorrow It brings out the worst in me When you're not around I miss the sound of your voice The silence seems so loud 'Cause there's no one else Since I found you I know it's been so hard You should know If I die tomorrow As the minutes fade away I can't remember Have I said all I can say? You're my everything You make me feel so alive If I die tomorrow I spent all my life Looking for our innocence I've got nothing to lose One thing to prove I won't make the same mistakes Now I know That everything will be ok When I die tomorrow If I die tomorrow As the minutes fade away I can't remember Have I said all I can say? You're my everything You make me feel so alive If I die tomorrow

You make me feel so alive If I die tomorrow If I die tomorrow

To see past the secure foundations of convention and into an entirely new state of being demands the strength, conviction and true sense of purpose possessed only by a chosen few. They are the innovators, the leaders, the ones who transcend perceived limitations. In their decade-plus reign as death metal's leading creative force, MORBID ANGEL have consistently succeeded in shattering the musical, spiritual and ideological boundaries of extreme music while unquestionably retaining their core element of brutal and inspirational excellence. With their seventh offering, the band that shaped an entire genre has redefined it yet again. 'Gateways To Annihilation' marks the opening of a new door for MORBID ANGEL - a new path and a new state of mind. Musically enveloping itself within the natural rhythms of the universe, the album flows with the enduring spirit of infinite possibility. The luminous virtuosity of guitarist, founder and song writer Trey Azagthoth, the astonishing battery of legendary percussionist Pete Sandoval and devastating bassist/vocalist/song writer Steve Tucker, along with the classically-inspired workmanship of

guitarist Erik Rutan, combine to weave sinuous, striking, and dark grooves around timeless truths and questions that have been asked since the dawn of consciousness and shall be asked forever more. Produced by MORBID ANGEL and Jim Morris at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, FL, 'Gateways To Annihilation' will become another indispensable landmark on the heavy metal landscape. The standards have been raised and exceeded, but that is what MORBID ANGEL have done since their inception. The world was introduced to the furious intensity of the Tampa natives in 1989 with the release of 'Altars Of Madness.' The album was a revolutionary and unprecedented statement in extreme metal at the time, its strong song writing, finely tuned musical firewinds and uncontrollable lyrical rage finding so many eager ears that it catapulted to #1 on the UK Independent chart. Their debut has gone on to be unequivocally acknowledged as one of the most influential death metal albums ever recorded, a whirling vortex of searing anger and unstoppable energy. 1991's 'Blessed Are The Sick' cemented MORBID ANGEL's (and songwriter Azagthoth's in particular) reputation as truly innovative and visionary composers, infusing prevalent classical undercurrents within their exceedingly powerful material. 'Blessed...' retained the devastating windstorm of sound that had become their trademark and took it to another dimension. With two already-classic albums behind them and a relentless global touring schedule, the band had become a force destined for recognition further outside of the growing death metal community. In 1993, they reached a milestone within that community by becoming the first and only death metal band to be signed to a major label. 'Covenant' proved that a band as uncompromisingly brutal as MORBID ANGEL could not only release an album within the major label system, but thrive in that world as well. 1995's 'Domination' further proved that point, with it's slime-ridden guitar mastery providing a statement to what the band had become: an everexpanding organic machine, fueled by an unquenchable thirst for evolution and driven by an unstoppable will. 1997 signaled a major turning point for the band as Steve Tucker joined as bassist and vocalist. His passion, expert musicianship and true death metal vibe helped to make 1998's 'Formulas Fatal To The Flesh' a grand return for MORBID ANGEL and ushered in a new prosperous era for the entire death metal movement. Their exhaustive touring of nearly every continent saw Tucker quickly become an integral part of the band and also proved that, in this day and age, supreme music can still create a supreme response. With 'Formulas...', the continued resonance of the first two classics, two major label triumphs that have sold a half million albums worldwide and a heralded live album ('Entangled In Chaos'), the masters have set the stage for themselves once again. In the year 2000, another death metal masterpiece has been given to the

world. Emanating strength with its dynamic and sweeping passages, intensely dark melodicism and intricate percussive flair, 'Gateways To Annihilation' represents all of what was, is and will be - in both death metal and beyond. It is the mirror of the true self. It is the rhythm of existence.

Present Band

Trey Azagthoth Guitars

Pete Sandoval Drums

David Vincent Vocals/Bass

Tony Norman Guitar

Past Band Members

Richard Brunelle Guitars

Steve Tucker Vocals/Bass

Eric Rutan Guitars

Morbid Angel
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Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel logo

Background information Origin Genre(s) Years active Label(s) Website Tampa, Florida, USA Death metal 1983present Earache Records Giant Records www.morbidangel.com Members Trey Azagthoth Pete Sandoval David Vincent

Morbid Angel is a Florida-based death metal band assembled in 1983. They were crucial in the development of the death metal genre and its standards. Their songs are complex in arrangement, owing to the considerable technical skills of guitarist Trey Azagthoth and drummer Pete Sandoval. Morbid Angel was one of the original death metal bands signed to Earache Records, and were also influential in the transition of death metal from its thrash metal roots to its current form by adding uptempo blast beats, inspired by grindcore, and groove-oriented rhythms. They were also the first death metal band to have a touch of mainstream

success, such as being signed to Giant Records in 1993 and having the music video for the song "God of Emptiness" shown on an episode of Beavis and Butthead. Morbid Angel could also be considered one of the first death metal bands to be overtly influenced by classical music. Their original lyrical themes dwelled mostly on Satanism and anti-Christian subject matter, but from second album "Blessed are the Sick" onward, the lyrics slowly moved toward the Ancient Sumerian Gods, though much of this is a nod to the Simon Necronomicon, which was influenced by Sumerian mythology as well as author H.P. Lovecraft[1]), as well as a fascination with the Roman Empire, though anti-religious elements continue to permeate the lyrics. Morbid Angel albums have been released in alphabetical order, the latest being 2003's Heretic. The band is currently writing and recording a new studio album, due for release sometime in 2007, and likely to keep the trend with a title beginning with the letter I.

Contents
[hide]

1 Line-up o 1.1 Former members 2 Discography 3 External links 4 Notes

[edit] Line-up

Trey Azagthoth - Lead Guitar, Guitar Synth, Keyboards, Vocals Pete Sandoval - Drums (1988-Present) David Vincent - Vocals, Bass (1986-1996, 2004-Present)

[edit] Former members

Mike Browning - Drums, Vocals (1983-1986) Wayne Hartsell - Drums (1986-1988) Thee Unright Dallas Ward - Bass, Vocals (1983-1985) Richard Brunelle - Guitar (1985-1992,1998(live)) Kenny Bamber - Vocals (1985) Sterling Von Scarborough - Bass (1986) Steve Tucker - Vocals, Bass (1997-2001, 2003-2004) Jared Anderson - Vocals, Bass (2001-2002) (Died at age 30 on October 14, 2006) Tony Norman - Guitar (2003-2006)

Erik Rutan - Lead Guitar, Keyboards (European Tour Only) (1993-1996, 19992002, 2006) John Ortega - Bass (1985-1986) Michael Manson - Vocals (1986) Phil Anselmo - Guest Vocals

[edit] Discography
Album Cover Date of Release Worldwide Chart sales [citation positions needed]

Title

Label

Altars of Madness May 12, 1989 (24-bit remastered re-issue on Earache Feb. 25, 2003, with bonus video Records track of Immortal Rites; limited edition of 5000 pcs.) (Dual CD/DVD Reissue in 2006) Blessed are the Sick July 5, 1991 (24-bit remastered re-issue in Earache 2003, with bonus video track of Records Blessed are the Sick, liner notes of Trey Azagthoth and some rare photos) Abominations of Desolation September 2, 1991 Earache (self-financed debut recorded in Records 1986, actually released in 1991) Earache Records Giant Records Giant Records Earache Records 500,000+ 500,000+

June 22, 1993 May 9, 1995 May 11, 1996

Covenant

500,000+

Domination

500,000+

Entangled in Chaos (Live)

February 24, 1998 March 2, 2000 September 22, 2003

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh

Earache Records Earache Records

500,000+

Gateways to Annihilation

300,000+

Heretic

Morbid Angel
Original Death Metal - Spinoza Ray Prozak's Pick of the Aeon
Formative genetic material of death metal, this band formed in 1984 and released its first album in 1987, being inspired by Slayer but eventually moving on to more progressive works with the genre-definitive Blessed Are the Sick in 1991. Progressive, rhythmic, complex and evil death metal with lyrics well-crafted from Sumerian and Lovecraftian domains. Not surprisingly, Covenant was the first death metal album released on a major label as even musicians outside the genre found the band technically and artistically impressive.

Abominations of Desolation
Earache

1986/1991

Production: Demo-quality production enhanced by the good judgement of its producers. Review: Early versions of songs made classic on the first two Morbid Angel releases and one song of the third. If you are a collector these reveal several things: 1) the development of older rock style riffing (a la Judas Priest) mutating into more acerbic progressive styles, 2) the lead guitar of Trey Azagthoth in a more rationalistic mood, where it works through all of its phrases before concluding rather than elliding movements for listener clarity, and 3) where the development of strum-based riffing occurred (negative space from memory).

Tracklist: 1. Invocation / Chapel Of Ghouls 2. Unholy Blasphemies 3. Angel Of Disease 4. Azagthoth 5. The Gate / Lord Of All Fevers and Plague 6. Hell Spawn 7. Abominations 8. Demon Seed 9. Welcome To Hell Length: 40:19

Copyright 1991 Earache

As in all Morbid Angel releases, the point of focus is the fast and flagrantly complex guitar fiendishness from Azagthoth, both in the form of architectural, nihilisitc, Slayer-style riffing and in organic solos of massive complexity. Mike Browning plays drums and does vocals, while Sterling Scarborough handles bass, but neither of these players are as strong as their more familiar replacements. In some instances, Browning's vocal inflection of rhythm seems more polished than the later work of David Vincent, but overall the style is far less defined. Starting with a nonsubtle introduction of evil chanting (and response) in the rain of a storm, this release also reveals the album-wide goals Azagthoth had for his albums in their introduction, agitation, statements and resolution. The invocation enters the listener into a new world of sound; afterwards it is a lightning fast filmstrip of different geometries in riffs marching past the listener, in ripping bridges or speedy verses. Amazing artistry struggling in its nascent glory, "Abominations" is a classic need for every Morbid Angel fan.

Altars of Madness
Earache Records

1989

Production: Speed metal stylings keep production clear but bury the bass in high-end frequency guitar sound. Lead guitar is immaculately preserved and acoustic depth is reasonable. Review: Raw origins of death metal carved from deliberately minimalistic power chord metal, inspired by both the roughest of the savage and primitive black metal bands and the most architected of modern music. In the style of death metal pioneers Slayer this band wraps a sequence of quickly-strummed notes into a phrase or melody, working the rhythms and atonal similarities to integrate chromatic and dissonant tonal combinations. Strumming power chords in speeding columns of energy, guitars synchronize with bass to communicate multiple rhythms through complex and violent stroke patterns. Rigid precision percussion nails emphatic moments and gives significance to fills, otherwise lost in the speeding alteration of phrases. Of all the bands to attempt this ambient style of composition, where percussion becomes the matrix and the lead instruments change the rhythm in a "riff salad" of recombinant phrasing, Morbid Angel are the most eminently qualified in the simple wisdom of their phrase construction, the elegance of their minimalism, the patterned refractive

complexity that gives evidence to their conceptual mastery. Tracklist: 1. Immortal Rites 2. Suffocation 3. Visions from the dark side 4. Maze of torment 5. Lord of all fevers and plague 6. Chapel of ghouls 7. Bleed for the devil 8. Damnation 9. Blasphemy 10. Evil spells 11. Maze of torment (Remix) 12. Chapel of ghouls (Remix) 13. Blasphemy (Remix) Length: 51:23

Copyright 1989 Earache

A strong narrative voice guides each song through its developments as its conflict is unveiled, leading through the seemingly chaotic front to the implications of what will be the revelation. Like black metal and some death metal to follow, Morbid Angel use extensive epiphanies to unify their songs much in the style of later Ozzy period Black Sabbath, although at a much faster pace. Their abilities to encode several rhythms into any part of a riff create songs of boundless potential, aggression and energy unified in a mystical force under a moving rhythm.

This release is foundational to death metal and highly influential on much of the underground music to follow, including unrelated genres. Trey Azagthoth's maniacal atonal lead guitar inverts symphonies into nihilistic and expressive masterpiece works of sculpture, using technique and composition in liberated ways at high speed and high density complexity. Rhythm, as liberated in this album, freed guitar to intermix the speed of chord changes (and the form of the main riff) with the hummingbird wings of strumming frequency, in which was interwoven the wrist motion of the player, adding another layer of whipping, driving tempo to the mixture.

Epic and meaningful lyrics depoliticize evil in favor of encoding darker more confrontational elements of the human soul, namely our weakness and destructability in face of the energy gained through the metaphorical "ancient ways" of mystical power. Complexity in lyrical meaning hides under metered verse with an intense study of metal vocal rhythm with elements of rock music titrated out, and meta-composition shows on the song and album level that through careful cutting and layering of work into the songs from their youth, Morbid Angel made a vast masterpiece.

Blessed Are the Sick

Earache

1990

Production: Clear and rigorous with contrast-defined guitar and a generous, ominous balance of silence.

Acoustical separation is well preserved and, although bass is sometimes flagging, a friend to individual instrument tone. Review: Seeking to outdo the intensely conceived and designed "Altars of Madness," Morbid Angel moved their music from continuously flowing speeding death metal to counterpoint creations using rhythmic and textural offsets to reflect the cyclic conflict of epic battle. Violent and contorted, these riffs use all of death metal's lexicon plus add muffled chords to end phrases, single-note harmonizations, and different types of chords in fast combinations to create an abstract, challenging, and ambiguously multifaceted sense of composition. Tracklist: 1. Intro 2. Fall from grace 3. Brainstorm 4. Rebel Lands 5. Doomsday celebration 6. Day of suffering 7. Blessed are the Sick / Leading the Rats 8. Unholy Blapshemies 9. Abominations 10. Desolate Ways 11. The Ancient Ones 12. In remembrance Length: 39:33

Copyright 1990 Earache

Like progressive rock bands of the previous decade, Morbid Angel use elongated and cryptographic song structures to repeat patterns occurring over a wide span of events. In the style of older witchcraft bands each motion in the song corresponds to an alteration in a vast world of ideas, and in that capacity can introduce a range of items corresponding to its structure and to the greater harmonic structure of each song. With respect to that mode of composition Morbid Angel acquit themselves brilliantly by extending the chromatic nihilism of a Deicide into a classical structural level. Song tempos range from creeping decadent dirges of doom to rippingly fast infernal battles of blasting snare and riveting guitar riffing. Azagthoth's guitar establishes dominance from the beginning with an almost parasitic ability to manipulate the music around it, creating centerpieces of harmonic motion which overlay and resignify the rest of the song. Other individual performances are strong, from Commando Sandoval's endurance battering (a conglomeration of jazz and grindcore styles) to David Vincent's lucidly clear, strikingly savage and vividly distorted vocal to accompany his fearless of complexity bass playing, and the classical and lead contributions of second guitar Richard Brunelle.

Covenant
Giant

1993

Production: Fleming Rasmussen of Metallica fame did the production on this album, and it's good spacious

acoustic material with attention paid to guitar sound but perhaps not enough to guitar distinction.

Review: Morbid Angel rocked the death metal world with their first two albums, each revolutionary, the first from death metal, the second from the first. With most of the genre being at the non-virtuostic stage, Morbid Angel, with their characteristic oddball progressive bach rock approach, are extremely distinctive. Noone else creates music like this and nothing quite sounds like it - a tribute to the playing of Trey Azagthoth, a guitar genius in his own right, but also to the talent and musical prowess of the other bandmembers David Vincent on vocals and bass and Pete Sandoval ("the man with eight arms") on drums. Tracklist: 1. Rapture 2. Pain divine 3. World of shit (The promised land) 4. Vengeance is mine 5. The Lions Den 6. Blood on my hands 7. Angel of Disease 8. Sworn to the Black 9. Nar Mattaru 10. God of emptiness Length: 41:11

Copyright 1993 Giant/Warner

This album almost continues the progression of the first, but isn't as daring as their second, Blessed Are the Sick (the first, Altars of Madness, is mostly straight-up death metal in the Morbid Angel signature style) although it is a strong and well-conceptualized theory of songwriting in its solidity and yet openness as demonstrated in these impressive works. If the first four tracks don't tear out your rectum, the rennovation of tone in doom metal of the final four will probably appeal ("dirge metal" is perhaps the best name for this style).

There are quite a few experiments, from the use of real sung vocals on "God of Emptiness" to the experimental guitar work of the first half of the album. The punch drops out of it toward the end, however, even to the instrumental, which is interesting but like many black metal experiments, lacks the punch of its metallic counterpart. Be wary, however, that the "happiest song in metal," Angel of Disease, is here after previously appearing only on "Abominations." While the power of conception and instrumentalism behind this work remains powerful, it is not as tangibly far ahead of the rest as its predecessor, but stands undefeated by time as excellent and satisfying death metal; highly recommended.

Entangled in Chaos
Earache

1996

Production: A competently recorded live album that captures the tone and power of their instruments while maintaining the roughshod live feel which gives this album a sometimes vertiginous aspect. Review: A competent live album spanning Morbid Angel's career to date, "Entangled in Chaos" is a tribute to departing bassist/vocalist David Vincent as well as one of the few worthy metal live albums. The

recording is excellent, clarity making it worthwhile to hear, and the song selection reasonably favors the more influential work of the band. Tracklist: 1. Immortal Rites 2. Blasphemy 3. Sworn To The Black 4. Lord Of All Fevers & Plague 5. Blessed Are The Sick 6. Day Of Suffering 7. Chapel Of Ghouls 8. Maze Of Torment 9. Rapture 10. Blood On My Hands 11. Dominate Length: 41:46

Copyright 1996 Earache

Domination (Earache, 1995) This album completely degenerates. Although the lyrics are evocative and hateful to a degree of emotional seizure in logical warlike completion of ideals, the vocal track is nearly monotonous and relies too much on textural technique while tone is reduced, tightening itself simultaneously around a 1. Dominate consistent sound and eschewing the flaring bursts 2. Where The Slime Live and seething pseudoharmonies expressed in the 3. Eyes To See, Ears To Hear 4. Melting roaring shout, trademarks of earlier albums. Clearly 5. Nothing But Fear designed to be more listenable, the style on 6. Dawn Of The Angry "Domination" approximates a jazz-metal hybrid 7. This Means War comfortable within the power chord techniques of 8. Caesar's Palace death metal, emphasizing slowly building melodic 9. Dreaming 10. Inquisition (Burn With Me) and rhythmic collaboration with plenty of emphasis 11. Hatework on traditional speed metal techniques. As such, Length: 44:41 songs resemble the friendlier tonal patterns of mainstream work, solos face the pentatonic in a new light, and drums rumble at pleasant tempos and lower bpm at their peak speed than ever before. Interestingly a powerful doom metal influence emerges as a result, in music evocative of the darker emotions of Black Sabbath and the accompanying reliance on familiar associations of tone and symbol. What has changed most on this album is a loss of focus and simultaneously, a desire to join the larger social structure above the band in edge

mainstream heavy metal. Consequently, while this album can be instantly appreciated on a listening level its vitality declines over repeated listens, as its musical figures are joined to an uninspired on-thefly poetry of convenience, where earlier epics had a passion unmatched by most career bands. These musicians are still top-notch, and the soloing on this album more conventionally controlled and worthy of purely musical academic analysis. so for any student of metal this is required listening; however, its intensity lags and thus does the degree of fluidity with which it is assembled, and through which it communicates. Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (Earache, 1998) A massive improvement with a fatal failure that will cause it to not lead anywhere, this album shows guitarist Trey Azagthoth experimenting with previously unknown "studied" modes and scales in his solos and the development of a progressive heavy metal instinct in this band now that, through 1. Heaving Earth member changes and necessary 2. Prayer Of Hatred administrative/public relations tasks, Azagthoth has 3. Bil Ur-Sag 4. Nothing Is Not become the decision-maker and his initial short list 5. Chambers Of Dis of targets is reduced. Comfortable now in the ideals 6. Disturbance In The Great of Tony Robbins and ancient Qlippothic mysticism, Slumber he and his band wander without a clear direction 7. Umulamahri and so his work becomes strictly musical, with little 8. Hellspawn: The Rebirth 9. Covenant Of Death conceptual unification except the abstract 10. Hymn To A Gas Giant relationship of sounds. In this, Morbid Angel 11. Invocation Of The Continual succeed with a potent album: riffs are powerful One 12. Ascent Through The Spheres twists of phrase to render melodic similarity, drums 13. Hymnos Rituales De Guerra a rigid backbone with concentric ribs, and vocals 14. Trooper taughtly on each beat courtesy of newcome Tucker Length: 51:30 also punching out a faithful stream of eight notes. Songs individually are self-designed and disconnected from other songs, with a rate of incidence of sequencer/noise interludes increasing as the album progresses. The filler is not as obnoxious as the basic dearth of refinement in these songs, or in much investment into the artistic side of being a musician, but for those who appreciate the pure finesse of guitar the soloing of Azagthoth is as delicious as any guitar album.

1. Kawazu 2. Summoning Redemption 3. Ageless, Still I Am 4. He Who Sleeps 5. To The Victor The Spoils 6. At One With Nothing 7. Opening Of The Gates 8. Secured Limitations 9. Awakening 10. I 11. God Of The Forsaken Length: 44:25

Gateways to Annihilation (Earache, 2001) This album borrows liberally from former tourmates Pantera, squeezing classic rock through a death metal filter and making bouncy, hookish, and easily comprehensible thunder music. Where there was previously some underground metal there is little left, but, like all output from such a talented group of musicians, this album has its moments of clarity and brilliance and can develop accordingly with power, but as a whole represents no significant challenge to the conscious mind and seems like a product, as if Morbid Angel have hit mid-life stages and averaged all of their internal settings to create a normative output. This is slower and richer in harmony than many earlier albums, with a reversal of the overly indulgent jazz-inspired guitar jam sessions, but often seems template cut with ease from the hands of these old schoolers. It is probably wiser to celebrate earlier works with a second purchase than to explore this album, but students of guitar might seek mp3s for as usual a display of excellent technique and musical understanding in lead guitar and certain rhythm portions of the stringwork here.

MORBID ANGEL LYRICS

album: "Altars Of Madness" (1989)
Immortal Rites Suffocation Visions From The Dark Side Maze Of Torment Lord Of All Fevers And Plague Chapel Of Ghouls Bleed For The Devil Damnation Blasphemy Evil Spells

album: "Blessed Are The Sick" (1991)

Intro Fall From Grace Brainstorm Rebel Lands

Doomsday Celebration Day Of Suffering Blessed Are The Sick / Leading The Rats Thy Kingdom Come Unholy Blasphemies Abominations Desolate Ways The Ancient ones In Remembrance

album: "Abominations Of Desolation" (1991)

The Invocation / Chapel Of Ghouls Unholy Blasphemies Angel Of Disease Azagthoth The Gate / Lord Of All Fevers Hell Spawn Abominations Demon Seed Welcome To Hell

album: "Covenant" (1993)

Rapture Pain Divine World Of Shit (The Promised Land) Vengeance Is Mine Lions Den Blood On My Hands Angel Of Disease Sworn To The Black Nar Mattaru God Of Emptiness

album: "Laibach Remixes" (1994)

God Of Emptiness Sworn To The Black Sworn To The Black (Remix) God Of Emptiness (Remix)

album: "Domination" (1995)

Dominate Where The Slime Live Eyes To See, Ears To Hear Melting

Nothing But Fear Dawn Of The Angry This Means War! Ceasar's Palace Dreaming Inquisition (Burn With Me) Hatework

album: "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh" (1998)

Heaving Earth Prayer Of Hatred Bil Ur-Sag Nothing Is Not Chambers Of Dis Disturbance In The Great Slumber U-Mu La Mah-Ri Hellspawn: The Rebirth Covenant Of Death Hymn To A Gas Giant Invocation Of The Continual One Ascent Through The Spheres Hymnos Rituales De Guerra Trooper

album: "Gateways To Annihilation" (2000)

Summoning Redemption Ageless, Still I Am He Who Sleeps To The Victor The Spoils At One With Nothing Opening Of The Gates Secured Limitations I God Of The Forsaken

album: "Heretic" (2003)

Cleansed In Pestilence Enshrined By Grace Beneath The Hollow Curse The Flesh Praise The Strength Stricken Arise Place Of Many Deaths Abyssous God Of Our Own Divinity Within Thy Enemy

Memories Of The Past Victorious March Of Rain The Conqueror Drum Check Born Again

1. God Of Emptiness Lies - And you fill their souls With all oppressions of this world And all the glory you receive? So, What makes you supreme? Lies - Your crown is falling I offer fantasy And you, you creator are Blind with envy Let the children come to me Their mother loves me, so shall they Woman, bleeding, ate my gifts Man was close behind Just like a snake I'm slithering Thru my world divine And like the cat I'm stalking I'll take your soul and You'll Be like me In emptiness, free Just bow to me faithfully Bow to me splendidly

Macbeth (band)
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Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Macbeth (disambiguation).

Macbeth is an Italian gothic metal band. Signed to Dragonheart Records, they have been releasing albums since 1998 and have toured Europe and Mexico. [1]

[edit] Discography

Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo - 1998 Vanitas - 2001 Malae Artes - 2005 New album - 2007

Short Bio

1995 the band was formed by the drummer Fabrizio 1997 Macbeth Embrace 1998 Macbeth records 1998 Macbeth Crescendo 2001 Macbeth released the first and only demotape Nocturnal signed a deal with Audioglobe s.r.l./Dragonheart released the debut album Romantic Tragedys released the second album called Vanitas

2004 Macbeth recorded the third album Malae Artes released in March 2005. 2005 After the release of the album the band started touring Italy and Mexico

Read More...
Macbeth born as group of players of the arcane darkness. They debuts with "Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo" after releasing a very successful demo tape called "Nocturnal Embrace". They got some very good feedback with their debut album Romantic Tragedys Crescendo, with great reviews everywhere. The band supported Amorphis during their Tuonela Tour dates in Italy. After these important live dates the band went through some painful line-up changes that lead to the change of both singers and bass player. With a new line-up, Macbeth entered the studio to work on their second album Vanitas. The album shows a more aggressive approach, without losing the romantic side of the bands style. MACBETH becomes one of the leading bands of the Italian GOTHIC METAL scene. Vanitas

is a theatrical and violent opera in 10 acts, a masterpiece of GOTHIC SYMPHONIC METAL plunged in melancholy with the perfect fusion of power and atmosphere. Macbeths music is more diabolically charming than ever and it becomes the harmonic torment of your sleepless nights.

MACBETH come back with Malae Artes After a few years of silence the GOTHIC METAL band from Milan, Italy presents their best and more mature album ever.With a new and stronger line-up, consolidated by many gigs, MACBETH have recorded 10 fantastic tracks with catchy melodies and diabolic charm.MACBETH has developed its style, putting more and more emphasis on the theatrical atmosphere of the whole album but keeping the songs catchy and powerful. Songs like Lifelong Hope, Henceforth, Down-Hearted and Miss Murderess have solid and heavy rhythms with irresistible performances by singers Andreas and Morena and a more modern and direct sound and production. With this new attitude, the band has covered the song How Can Heaven Love Me by English New Age/Operatic diva Sarah Brightman. The album is enriched by an elegant and charming artwork in a digipak packaging, following the tradition of previous album.Malae Artes is the definitive consecration of the band as one of the best example of modern Gothic Metal.

- Malae ArtesCD 2005 Dragonheart Record /Spv -> Order Now <-

- Vanitas -

CD 2001 CD 1998 Dragonheart Records / Dragonheart Records / Spv Spv -> Order Now <-> Order Now <-

- Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo -

Compilations

- Beauty in Darkness vol.4 CD 2000 Nuclear Blast

- Metal Dreams vol.2 CD 2000 Nuclear Blast

- Demons Of The NigthCD 1999 Angel wings

MACBETH LYRICS
album: "Nocturnal Embrace" (1997)
A Dying Dream Sweet Endless Sleep Shadows Of Eden Eternity Silence Nocturnal Embrace To My Dark Muse

album: "Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo" (1998)

A Gothic Overture

Forever The Dark Kiss Of My Angel Black Heaven The Twilight Melancholy Thy Mornful Lover Moonlight Caress Shadows Of Eden Sweet Endless Sleep

album: "Vanitas" (2001)

13 November Crepuscularia (Agony In Red Minor) Lady Lily White Fables Aloisa El Diablo Y La Luna Pure Treasure Green Orchestra (Sonata For Leaves & Trees) Romanzo Nero Haeresis Dea Hall Of The Scarlets

album: "Malae Artes" (2005)

Nuda Veritas Lifelong Hope My Desdemona Miss Murderess Good Mourning Henceforth Keep The Secret Down-hearted Dead And Gone

7. Moonlight Caress [Lyrics by: Vittorio - Music by: Alex, Andrea] [Arranged by: Andrea, Cristina] Set like a jewel in the black velwet of the night, you'll listen to my breath in this clear quiet darkness and you'll see a warm tear run down my cold face. Oh, virgin silk-skinned moon dance with me until the dawn

oh, virgin queen of the night, up there on your enchanted throne and I gaze at your whiteness reflected in the lake waters ...and I'll see my image in the weak waves and I'll be able to hear your plaintive voice comfort my soul. Oh, virgin silk-skinned moon oh, virgin queen of the night.
Cine nu a auzit de trupa Mondial? Erau extrem de popu-lari in anii '70, iar acum, copiii acelor studenti care mergeau in Club A sau in oricare alta sala de spectacole din Romania as-culta aceasta muzica cu aceeasi placere, desi nu stiu prea multe despre cei care au interpretat-o cu mai bine de 30 de ani in urma. Istoria grupului Mondial este foarte incalcita, chiar si membrii care au facut parte din trupa inca de la inceputurile ei nemai-putand sa o descurce. Acest lu-cru se intampla si din cauza fap-tului ca in acea perioada (sfar-situl anilor '60 - inceputul anilor '70) "migratia" muzicienilor de la o trupa la alta era ceva frecvent. Trupa Mondial a luat fiinta, dupa cum spun chiar membrii ei, la o discutie pe terasa clubului Poli-tehnicii, supranumit si 303 sau Trei gaura trei, numele formatiei fiind dat de Filip Merca. Acest fapt se intampla in 1966. Com-ponenta originala a trupei ii cu-prindea, pe langa Filip Merca, pe Dragos Vasiliu (chitara), Dan Panaitescu (chitara solo), Florin Dumitru (tobe), Gabi Dragan si Mihai Constantinescu (solisti vo-cali). Mondial cunoaste imediat succesul datorita cantecelor foarte melodioase si versurilor extrem de sensibile. Un lucru demn de cunoscut este faptul ca textele pieselor erau alese dintre poeziile unor poeti precum Eminescu sau Minulescu. Dupa acest moment, istoria se amesteca, nici unul dintre cei care au facut parte din trupa de-a lungul timpului neputand furniza vreo data exacta. Ceea ce se stie insa este faptul ca in toti acesti ani in Mondial au cantat nume mari, printre care Mihai Constantinescu, Marius Teicu, Marcel Dragomir,Gabriel Litvin sau Vlad Gabrielescu. In 1960, Florin Dumitru paraseste trupa, in locul lui fiind cooptat Mihai Cernea. Mondial lanseaza succes dupa succes, printre care si remarcabilele Atat De Frageda, Departe Sunt De Tine, Pe Harta Europei, Vara sau Romanta Fara Ecou (cunoscuta de marea majoritate si sub numele de Iubire Bibelou De Portelan). In 1971, postul de chitarist este preluat de Vlad Gabrielescu, care ii ia locul lui Dragos Vasiliu. Popularitatea Mondialului continua sa creasca, trupa lansand piese precum Codrul si Romanta Inimii. Totodata, primul LP al formatiei ajunge intr-un top de vanzari alcatuit de the New Musical Express pentru Europa de Est. In perioda ianuarie-august 1972, formatia este nevoita sa-si schimbe numele in Jam Grup Mondial. Dupa acest moment are loc prima "remaniere masiva", dupa cum a numit-o Romeo Vanica, in noua componenta a trupei Mondial activand, Mihai Cernea (tobe), Nicu Enache (clape), Filip Merca (bas) si Iuliu Merca (chitara si voce). Plecat din trupa, Mircea Dragan infiinteaza formatia Romanticii, perceputa de multi ca un al doilea Mondial. Intre timp, grupul compune piesa De Ce Ai Plecat, care va fi interzisa de cenzura acelor vremuri, in care spiritul culturii socialiste se facea simtit din ce in ce mai puternic. Astfel, cele doua grupuri care aveau o existenta aproape paralela (Grup Mondial si Romanticii) ajung sa cante impreuna. Spre sfarsitul anilor '70, politicul a inceput sa influenteze vizibil cultura, in toate formele ei. Multi dintre artisti incercau sa plece si, printre ei se aflau Nanci Brandes (liderul grupului Rosu si Negru), formatia Phoenix, dar si Florin Dumitru, Radu Stoica sau Sorin Tudoran (cu totii, fosti componenti ai Mondialului). In 1976 grupul il coopteaza pe Doru Tufis la chitara si voce dar, in 1979, Mondial este nevoit sa se desfiinteze. Cu toate acestea, membrii formatiei raman activi din punct de vedere muzical, unii in cadrul altor trupe, precum Mihai Cernea in Sfinx, sau Iulian Merca in Semnal M, altii incercand cariere componistice (Romeo Vanica).

La cativa ani dupa Revolutie, Mondial se reuneste pentru a lansa un CD Best Of - Remember Mondial. Se intampla in 1993 si avea sa fie pentru ultima oara cand vocea regre-tatului Gabi Dragan avea sa se mai regaseasca pe o imprimare ce poarta numele grupului. Dar si acestea nu erau decat ve-chile piese, remasterizate. In acel moment, multi dintre cei care facusera candva parte din Mondial erau, unii, plecati din tara, altii - dintre cei vii. Din pacate, in curand avea sa vina si randul lui Iuliu Merca sa-si ia ramas bun. Totusi, in 1998 fanii vor avea un nou prilej de bucurie: prima editie a Festivalului Mondial - Iubire Bibelou De Portelan. Trupa se reunea pentru un su-perconcert. Pe scena se aflau alaturi trei generatii de muzicieni. Prima, reprezentata de Romeo Vanica, Mihai Cernea, Dragos Vasiliu si Mircea Dra-gan, o imbratisa pe a doua, prezenta prin Vlad Gabrielescu si Doru Tufis, si amandoua o ridicau pe cea de-a treia. Cei doi "copii" ai Mondialului se nu-mesc Radu Gencea si Claudiu Mirica si atesta perenitatea trupei. Cei opt s-au reunit si in anul 2002, pentru a ne mai incanta o data. Iata cum un vis capata contur, studentii de acum 30 de ani incurajandu-i pe studentii de azi sa faca muzica. Acesta este scopul declarat al Festivalului Mondial Iubire Bibelou De Portelan, care a revenit anul trecut cu o a doua editie. Astfel, dupa cum spun si membrii grupului, Mondial nu mai este o trupa: a devenit, deja, o stare de spi-rit. Una care incurajeaza tinerii sa faca muzica buna, precum parintii lor acum 30 de ani.