Trillion Dollar Threats

Full Drive: 1 hour and 45 minutes from Tiverton to Kitchener

I’m not posting this with the expectation that anyone will spend an hour and 45 minutes watching me drive home from the cottage.  This is for me.

However, if you want to hear a live bootleg of Max the Axe playing their first gig with the current lineup…it’s here.  I actually didn’t intend to use it, but I clicked the wrong music folder and it will take hours to re-save.  So here you go!  The track list for this video is:

MAX THE AXE

Live on the Farm Aug 4 2017

“The Other Side” (Instrumental)
“I Don’t Advocate Drugs”
“River Grand”
“Next Plane to Vegas”
“Uptite Friday Night”
“Randy”
“Scales of Justice”
“Sick of Living”
“Thirsty and Miserable”
“Gods on the Radio”

Trillion Dollar Threats

“Overload”
“Guns To Iran”
“Daddy Was a Murderin’ Man”
“Labyrinth”
“I Don’t Advocate Drugs”
“Belljar Party”
“Blood Runs Red”
“River Grand”
“Uptite Friday Night”
“Immortal”
“Space Marine”
“Mutant Mind”
“More”
“Letter To Yourself”
“Livin’ the Country”
“Mexican Standoff”

Bonus track

“Scales of Justice” (Remix)

Points of interest:

  • Lots of passing
  • Weird castle at 9:50
  • Weird single-lane bridge at 12:15
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Sunday Screening: Drive to Kincardine 7/7/22 – Max the Axe “Immortal”

Enjoy “Immortal” by Max the Axe from Trillion Dollar Threats.  Quick drive with lots of passing.  Sped up 40x.

VIDEO: May 13-15 Weekend / Max the Axe “Space Marine”

Amazing weekend at the lake once again, and you can see it all right now, to the tune of “Space Marine” by Max the Axe from Trillion Dollar Threats!  This short metallic blitz of a song is a condensed and concentrated rewrite of “Hard Drive” from their 1995 EP Bodies of Water.  It’s a fantastic tune from Max with another killer riff.

This year represents the earliest “first swim of the year” on May 13, a record.  A sign of a hot summer to come.

In this video you will see my new Fender acoustic bass.  This originally belonged to Don Simmons of Helix and I am fortunate enough to have bought it from his sister Donna.  This will provide many hours of summer entertaining at the cottage as I slowly become acquainted with this lovely instrument.  Tomorrow you’ll get the full story of the weekend in Record Store Tales #987:  The Summer Awakens.

Sunday Screening: “Fort Max” unfinished clip

On Friday night’s LeBrain Train, G1 Fortress Maximus was my #4 favourite Transformer of all time.  I don’t have a G1, but I have an (even better) Encore reissue.  I mentioned during the show that although the figure is now in storage, I did film an animated Transformers movie starring the toy.  He featured in a big battle scene with Galvatron, an homage to their original fight in Marvel’s Transformers #79.  I filmed the whole thing on the May long weekend in 2013 but lost my script and never edited it together.

However I’ve dusted off a couple shots, edited them together and I present to you a clip from the unfinished film Transformers 4:  Fortress Maximus.*  Music is “Immortal” by Max the Axe, from Trillion Dollar Threats.

* The series is as follows:

  1. The Transformers:  Death and Rebirth of Optimus Prime (unreleased)
  2. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Schnauzers
  3. Transformers 3: The Ghost of Starscream (unreleased)
  4. Transformers 4: Fortress Maximus (unfinished)

 

VIDEO: Max the Axe – “Blood Runs Red” / Fall at the Lake

Always happy to showcase tunes for Max the Axe, local heavy metal hero and legend!

Here’s another video of cottage memories to help keep us warm during the winter.  A little dark, a little stormy, but a lovely if short fall weekend.  Headphones recommended.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures this time, so only a short song was necessary – “Blood Runs Red” from Million Dollar Threats.

REVIEW: Max the Axe – Trillion Dollar Threats (2010)

MAX THE AXE – Trillion Dollar Threats (2010 Mutant Music)

Max the Axe’s stellar new album Status Electric didn’t pop out of thin air.  Before he nailed it with that CD, Max had five prior releases.  Status Electric included a couple songs from the previous album Trillion Dollar Threats.  “River Grand” was vastly improved with Eric “Uncle Meat” Litwiller’s vocals.  Though it’s no Status Electric, Trillion Dollar Threats is still an entertaining slab of rock.

Trillion Dollar Threats features a variety of players.  There are several singers:  Geoff Dyke, Ted Moore, John Kelly, Mickey Straight, Ted Guirey, and Eric Litwiller.  That’s almost enough singers to staff the entire career of Black Sabbath!  Over the 16 tracks, there’s not a lot of cohesiveness, but there is a lot of rock.

“Overload” is a heavy-as-fuck opener, 80s thrash metal through and through.  It’s all about that chug, but the vocals seem like an afterthought.  “Guns to Iran” takes a spoken word approach, over a heavy riff, but when the singer (Geoff Dyke) attempts to sing…it ain’t good.  Mickey Straight improves things immediately on “Daddy Was a Murderin’ Man”.  There’s some punk rock in Max the Axe and this is where it comes out (guitar solo notwithstanding).  Maybe a little Faster Pussycat or LA Guns too.

Max is the master of the chugging heavy metal guitar.  “Labyrinth” has that, before meandering around a few different bits.  It’s a good groove that could use some editing.  “I Don’t Advocate Drugs” has a good riff coupled with entertaining lyrics.  For more amusement, there’s “Belljar Party”, the story of stuff going missing after a party.  “Whoever it was, they took my Walkman too.”  Other cool tracks include the spacey “Mutant Mind”, “Livin’ the Country”, and “Mexican Standoff”.

According to Litwiller, “Uptite Friday Night” is the exact same version as the one on Status Electric.  That’s OK because the sloppy drunk vibe is perfect.  The original “River Grand”  has Terry Guirey singing, but although this is the blueprint the Litwiller version is clearly better.  He took it in a more grungy Alice in Chains direction.

Look at Trillion Dollar Threats as a stepping stone to Status Electric.  All the band members (Max, Eric, Dave Haslam and Mike Mitchell) are there on one track or another.  Status Electric couldn’t be as great as it is without Trillion Dollar Threats laying the groundwork.  It needed to be cut down from 16 tracks (way too much for most albums), and some of the tracks need some tightening, but there is some decent rock on Trillion Dollar Threats.  If you like metal in the retro style, there will be plenty of riffs here for you to digest.

3/5 stars