2023

Metal Roger’s Top 5 Albums for a batsh*t crazy 2023

TOP FIVE OF 2023 BY METAL ROGER

Hey, Metal Roger here (holy shit, I have way too many nicknames)!  My picks for 2023 tell a bit of a story about my year. What a batshit crazy year it was. Each month had crazier shit than the last.  These albums helped me get through this crazy year.  Here’s my list of my favourite albums of 2023

#5. Blink 182 – One More Time

Blink 182 is a bucket list band of mine.  I’m finally seeing them in 2024.  I love this album.  It sounds like a Blink-of-old album.  It also sounds like an evolved version of Blink.  When the “One More Time” single was released, boy did everyone cry.  What a beautiful message behind the song. Whoever is reading my words right now — Hey, if you have friends or family that you care about, and you haven’t talked to them in awhile for whatever reason, don’t wait for something shitty to happen tell them you love them and how much they mean.

#4. Better Lovers – God Made Me An Animal

It’s an EP, but it’s my rules.  The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die had a baby — I HAVE to mention this.  Good God does this kick ass.  “God Made Me An Animal” makes you wanna run through a wall and punt the first person you see across the room. I can’t wait for the full length to come out in 2024, and throw around more heavy weights while it’s on.  [Roger lifts weights – Mike]

#3. Sleep Token – Take Me Back to Eden

You either love these guys or cannot stand them, to the point you would rather listen to Nickelback.  Just kidding — nothing is that bad.  This album makes zero sense.  The songs are made in the most random ways you can possibly conceive in your brain.  There’s singing, there’s eletronic parts, there’s heavy-as-hell something out of a death metal album parts, and there’s even jazzy parts. The vocalist Vessel is an awesome singer, who should be applauded for his vocals. Seriously, i have no idea why i enjoyed this so much because its out there. I bet Harrison the Unicorn loves this album.  It’s that out there.

#2. Beartooth – The Surface

Speaking of demons. This might be the first CD ever to make me wanna cry.  The lyrics — holy shit do they ever resonate with me. At the time of my life that I listened to this album, I NEEDED to hear lyrics like these. A little background about me is that I could have had everything in my life that I wanted and more, but I decided I would let my demons drive for awhile. When I first heard the song “Riptide”, I cried. Then when I listened to it again, I said to myself its finally time to let go and become something people are proud of. Enough is enough. No more excuses no more saying I’m back, only to fall down again. Then when I heard the whole album I thought, “Holy shit, this is exactly how I’m feeling right now.” That it’s time to rise. “When I Was Alive” is the perfect way to end this album. It has the lyrics:

Not gonna be on my deathbed
Knowing I’ll be buried in regret
Thinkin’ ’bout the things I never did
While I’m taking my last breath
No need to fear the end
‘Cause I’ll know I didn’t just live
When I die, I’ll know I didn’t just live
I was alive, I’ll know I didn’t just live
I was alive, live
Not gonna be on my deathbed
Wondering why I was always scared
To say those words I never said
To the ones I loved while I was there
When I die, I’ll know I didn’t just live.

There’s so many things times I’ve held myself back because of fears or taking chances. No more holding myself back. 2024 will be the year this koi swims up the river and becomes a dragon. I want my wife to meet the true me. That song woke me the fuck up.  If I wasn’t so biased towards Metallica, this likely would be number 1.

#1. Metallica – 72 Seasons

If you have watched some of the shows I’ve been on (for whatever crazy reason), you would know my love for Metallica has no bounds. Actually, it does.  St. Anger is garbage, and Lulu is some kind of alien abomination that should have never been created. If you take this CD for what it is, it’s a great hard rock/NWOBHM-inspired love letter in my opinion.  “Lux Æterna”  (I’m not doing that stupid font, Mike you do it!):  Very Diamond Head-ish.  “Inamorata” is a Black Sabbath sound-alike to me. The lyrics on this album are both dark and uplifting. To me it tells a story of a man that had demons from his father abandoning him, and eventually fighting back his demons, realizing he’s not too far gone, and not needing the pain and misery to keep carrying on. Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but it sure helped me get through a beyond crazy situation, that whenever I tell people they yell “What the fuck!”  Thank you Metallica for helping me keep pushing through this year

Honorable mentions:  some heavy shit

Unearth – The Wretched; The Ruinous
Fires In The Distance – Air Not Meant For Us
Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite

 

The Best and Worst of 2023

2023:  what a year!  I have personally not experienced highs and lows like this since back in 2018.  We’ll get into that in a minute.  For now let’s talk music.

It was interesting to see both the Beatles and the Stones back on the charts.  What year is it, anyway?  Last I saw this happen, it was 1995.  The Beatles Anthologies were coming out one per year, and the Stones had their latest CD Stripped on the Top 40.  It was my second Christmas at the Record Store.

There were a number of new releases that I never got to in 2023, either due to time or budget or both, including the Beatles and Stones.  I saw some people writing lists of their top 50 albums of 2023.  My 2023 haul was much smaller.  However, as usual, I do have a Top Five of banger albums that you absolutely need to own.  Not stream – own!  People who have Spotify accounts have been posting lists of their most streamed songs.  That’s nice, but I don’t stream and I don’t just listen to songs – I listen to albums.  Good songs, bad songs, the whole album without skipping.  CD, vinyl, and cassette were all played and enjoyed here in 2023, with no apps tracking what I heard.  Too bad!  Support the artist in a real way, and buy physical product!  They say CD is making a comeback.  Let’s see what happens in 2024.  As for 2023, here are my lists!

Top Albums of 2023:

#5:   Sven Gali – Bombs and Battlescars

#4:  Neal Schon – Journey Through Time

#3:  Arkells – Laundry Pile

#2:  The Defiants – Drive

#1:  Extreme – Six

 

Still need to get:  Winger – Seven

Top albums I discovered in 2023, but released earlier:

#5. Arkells – Blink Once

#4. Mystique – Black Rider

#3. Arkells – Michigan Left

#2. Night Ranger – High Road

#1. Arkells – Morning Report

#1 single of 2023:

The Forrest Williams Democracy – “The Optimyst”.

Hoping for a new physical EP in 2024!  Check out this amazing uplifting track, because bad times will get better!

OK, so I guess I stream a little bit.  2023 was the year of the Arkells here at Ladano HQ.  There are a lot of great Arkells live performances on YouTube, and some cool music videos as well.  Here’s what YouTube had to say about that in 2023.

Top 3%.  Heh.  Cool!

Worst album of 2023:

Def Leppard – Drastic Symphonies

 

 

 

Sorry, Def Leppard.  It has been a long and winding road with you, but this has not been a good year for us.  I have not truly enjoyed a new Def Leppard album since 2015.  This isn’t our first dry spell.  I felt similarly negative towards you after Euphoria and X, but this latest album has only warranted two listens.  I’m actually sorry that I bought it.  This is one of the rare cases where I can justify skipping an album.  (Think This Left Feels Right by Bon Jovi.)

I think it is possible that Def Leppard and I are through.

For me, 2023 will be the year that I learned to better trust my gut.  I think we all know what I’m talking about here.  Mistakes were made, and I chose to trust someone, over the screaming alarms in my head.  She still generates massive hits and views, to this day eight months after the fact, but the cost was my happiness.  I cannot apologise enough for foisting this person upon the community that I love.  It was not worth it.

On the other hand, my instincts told me that Jex Russell is good people.  I credit Jex for helping me keep Grab A Stack of Rock going last summer during the most painful of months.  The Friday afternoon shows were a true joy.  His enthusiasm and friendship redeemed 2023.  And of course, Harrison was there too, as always, helping me keep the ship afloat with his incredible art and willingness to go live even when he didn’t care about the bands we were discussing.  He even got to do a dedicated Blaze Bayley episode, and it was one of our most successful ever.  Amazing!  We had so many wonderful friends who guested in 2023, bringing light to my days and nights.  Friends, old and new.  Thank you.  Thank you to everyone who helped me in this year.  You know who you are, but what you don’t know is how much I needed you.

Jen had her struggles and nearly broke her jaw, but she keeps getting up and getting back in the saddle.  Jen is my real #1.  You’ve never seen someone fight so hard.

Rest in peace to Uncle Paul.  I will wear your hat with pride at your beloved Lorne Beach this summer at the cottage.  You will be with me in spirit.

We survived it all.  Here we are.  Allons-y.

In 2024 we look forward to new Judas Priest (Invincible Shield), Ace Frehley (10,000 Volts), Bruce Dickinson (The Mandrake Project), and maybe even Guns N’ Roses.  Now where have I heard that before?

Please join me in 2024 as I continue to review music from my humongous collection, live stream with friends, and hopefully have a laugh or two.  I’ve been knocked down, but I get up again…

Happy 2024, one and all!

 

#1061: Musical Flashbacks and Flame Throwers (VIDEO)

RECORD STORE TALES #1061: Musical Flashbacks and Flame Throwers

I know how to pick the tunes.

Trip up:  Of course, it had to be High Noon by the Arkells.  Had to be.  That album has become too important to me.  And so we played and I sang along, and really struggled and failed to hit the one “ooo ooo ooo” in “Never Thought That This Could Happen”.  One of many signs of my aging body this weekend.

Three day weekends are really special.  Sure, we didn’t get to finish everything we wanted to.  But we did have fun.  For the first time, we checked out a local shop called the Beef Way.  We picked up a delicious tomahawk steak and some apple pie jam.  Highly recommended.  We are all done with Robert’s Boxed Meats in Kitchener.  For the second time, he sold us steak that had gone bad.  Never again, Robert!  Beef Way has our money now.  Guy was super helpful.

When we arrived on the front porch, it was all about the music once again.  I captured some on video for you to enjoy, and I hope it gives you that “being there” feeling.  The idea this weekend was, once again, to travel back in time.  Listening to albums in the place I first heard them:  the cottage.  Priest…Live!  Misplaced Childhood by Marillion.  White Lion’s Big Game (who Jen understandably confused with Bon Jovi).  This time it just made me glow.

The biggest deal about this weekend was the unprecedented spotting of wildlife!  I managed to capture all of it either on photo or video.  There was a beefy raccoon.  We had a turkey.  There was a beautiful skunk.  Best of all, our fearless little chipmunk friend returned to visit us on both front and back porches.  On Saturday we had a Lego session, and he came right out to help.

A word about Lego:  It sure has changed a lot since we were kids.  Now there are angles for every degree and orientation, slopes we never had before, lots of pieces that have both right and left-handed counterparts, and building techniques that involve going sideways just as often as upwards.  It was challenging for both of us.  But we’re both making progress!  And I thought we’d be done in a weekend….

If YouTube allows the music, then check out my picks.

2023 is off to a banging start!