Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to That's Not Metal. We're your weekly
rock and heavy metal podcast. We are here with you
every single Friday, and welcome here to an edition of
Hyperblast where we hit you as fast as we can,
as fast as a shark, and we let you know
everything that's been going on in the world of news
for the last week and also give you the releases
that you're gonna want to hear about as well for
each week. So that's what we're coming up. We got
a nice little bit of a subject matter to dig
our teeth into, varied across the board of you know,
rock and even you know, slightly outside. I suppose music
this time, and we're going to get into that. My
name is Parenthish. My compatriot in news today, I suppose
is Mark s Anderson.
Speaker 2: I Mark, what is up?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I thought I would spend some of this show
reviewing the new Iron Maiden documentary. Yeah, that came out
this week. It's called Burning Ambition, and it's you know,
premiered last week and it's been out in cinemas for
the last week or so. And I am sure that
you know, many people, probably most of like the die
hard Maiden, faithful will have gone out, you know, first
week and seen this thing. But if there is anyone
who is you know, maybe just sort of wondering like
is it worth a what should I bother you know
seeking it out? I went to see it, so I
thought I would report you know, what my thoughts about
it over here, and you may remember like when this
was you know, announced a couple of months ago on
this new show. My third thought was, how much more
can we feasibly know about Iron Maiden? Like, what what
more information that the Maiden fan base, which is famously
one of the most you know, obsessive and knowledgeable about
their band fan bases that exists. Really, I can talk
to you right now. I can tell you exactly what
members are on which albums, which guys leave at which
points and join for other albums. I can talk to
you in depth about every single album and what my
thoughts are them are. I can talk to you about, like,
you know, the the highs and lows of their live career,
all this kind of stuff. So what more could a
documentary put in that would like make it, you know,
actually worth a watch for anyone who is already knowledgeable
about Iron Maiden. I suppose and going into this that
was my sort of you know, curiosity thought. But I thought, well,
you know, it's a big cinematic event, or at least
it's being pitched to such, so I'll go and check
it out. And I enjoyed it. It's is it an
essential watch? I would say no, But is it worth
a watch if you like Iron Maiden? Yeah, you know,
it's certainly. There are much worse things to do then,
you know, whether you watch it at home or even
if you make it out to the cinema right now,
there are worse things to do than sit and watch. Essentially,
are like cool archive Iron Maiden clips for a couple
of hours, right and then you know, here's some interviews
with the guys, and you know, various other people in
and around them and Iron Maiden fans and all this stuff.
It's enjoy it, but pretty straightforward in like it is
one of those I feel like the the high water
mark at least for like the most regularly seen like
band documentaries in our world, I think are things like
what the Banger TV. You know, like Banger Studios puts out.
So they made like the Rush documentary and the zz
Top one, and I think they have a judas prese
one coming out, Like those go really in depth on
the you know, the highs and lows of particularly the
musical output, you know, and actually like exploring catalogs and stuff.
This like doesn't do that so much. It is the
you know, fairly straightforward, you know, the Wikipedia style run
through the career with some added narrations and you know,
tidbits from the people who were there kind of style thing.
But in that it is far from the worst one.
And the fact that they have you know, access to
these archive clips and stuff means you do just like
you get to see some cool stuff that you might
not have seen if you are even if you are
like a really big Maiden fan. They unearthed some you know,
not very often seen you know clips and bits of
behind the scenes footage and stuff like that that are
pretty fun to see, you know. Named for a B
side burning ambition, which I feel like I one of
the things that again, if you are a hardcore Maden fan,
people probably know that B sides even though like it's
a you know, not one that your casuals would would know.
I suppose, like it's a pretty deep cut, I suppose,
and I suppose that you know when you name something
like that and the pull is like, you know it's
not called Iron Maiden, halle bev name or something right
like it is pulling it very much. Pictures it as
being like, you know, for the fans already, right, the
people who are already in the no so, like I said,
you're trying to get over that barrier of like knowledge
already existing basically, But it does like a decent enough
job off it. It has these like animated bits in it,
not like overwhelmingly, but it has these little animated bits
with Eddie in it which are kind of rubbish in
the way that all CGI made and visuals are a
bit rubbish, but in a sort of slightly endearing way
as well, and like they don't take over the film
too often. What it mostly is is asay archive footage
mixed in with in views mostly of fans of Maiden.
An outside documentarian sort of examining the phenomenon of Iron Maiden, right,
So it does interviews with like fans from all over
the world, famous fans and you know, averaged sort of
you know, you're on the street type Maiden fans. The
former category Javier Bardem is like the the flagship guy,
and like, honestly, he's like the Hollywood figure in it,
and it cuts back to him so often, it's like
every five minutes, it's like, what Doesavier Bardem have to
say about this Fountain of Full Maiden Knowledge? But you
know he comes across well in it. There's the standard,
you know, rocky musicians who get interviewed for every documentary
like this. So Lars Alric isn't it And Tom Morello
and Gene Simmons turns up to talk about how good
their marketing is with Eddie and I'm like, yeah, of
course that's the bit that you want to know about.
But then it also really interestingly, it mixes in, like
I say, people from kind of all different levels of
like I don't know the rock and metal industry pecking order,
I suppose, so alongside those people you have like Nina
from the band Lowen, it's just randomly in it, like
speaking a little bit, and like, you know, Don Lawson
from MetalHammer is in it speaking as like you know,
the music journalist perspective on it. The one that really
got me is and when I say these people are
in it, it comes up saying like you know, so
for example, Nina musician, but it doesn't say Hi, I'm
Nina from the band Lowen. It kind of leaves that
to only if you recognize them. The one that got
me is the Nifflheim brothers are in it, the heavy
metal bros from the Swedish like black thrash band Nifflheim,
who are like, you know, well renowned in their home
metal scene, but they're not internationally massively famous in the
way that Iron Maiden are, right, and it comes up with,
you know, the Niflheim guys, but it doesn't label them
as being from the band Nifflheim. It's just these two
and I'm like, you only recognize them if you know
Nipfleheim are and they only get they get like five
seconds of screen time each they turn up a line
and then it comes back to Heavier Bardem with like
his twentieth line of the documentary. But it's a real
like again mix of faces and people and stuff in it.
But yeah, intero essentially the insights of the documentary itself,
I say, lots of archive footage of them on their
tour bus in the eighties and stuff like that, and
some of it's quite fun. There's a great bit where
they're playing in Poland, and there's a whole kind of
section where it talks about them being you know, going
to essentially playing in Eastern Europe like behind the Iron Curtain,
right like in the sort of you know, early to
mid eighties, And there's a bit where they go and
play in Poland, but then they go and like crash
a Polish wedding after it basically and I don't know
if the people in this wedding knew about it, but
Iron Maiden basically become their like wedding band. So there's
like this amazing footage of them in the mid eighties
with Iron Maiden rocking up on stage at this big
Polish wedding and knocking out a deep purple cover. Well, like,
I don't think people around them know what's going on.
That's a lot of fun for me. Some of the
insight was that was kind of really putting across how
insane their touring schedule was back then, because you think about,
you know, Iron Maiden's itinery right where you particularly that
peak eighties period where they're putting out an album like
almost every year, if not every two years, pretty you know,
religiously at that point in time, and obviously in between
those albums, they don't have a massive world tour for
that record, and you think about how famous and long
tours like the World Slavery Tour are for Power Slave
in the eighties, and then it's like that tour again
and again and again for this like really extended period
of years, and it kind of just drilled in how
almost lucky we are that they're like they survived that,
you know, because you think about all the stories of
you know, people who have you know, really like grind
into that mindset and that that touring lifestyle who you
know turned to you know, substance abuse or had the
various troubles of some kind you know, surface along the
way or whatever. And the fact that Iron Maiden made
it out of that like period touring as like wildly
like living on the road constantly as they were, particularly
in that peak eighties period, is amazing and it kind of,
you know, it's certainly puts things like for example, Bruce's
decision to leave in the early nineties kind of in
a bit more perspective and makes it more understandable, I suppose. Interestingly,
some of the you see a bit behind the scenes
tension when it comes to things like, for example, around
the time that Bruce is leaving. And the most interesting
part of that for me is it mainly kind of
comes out in what the documentary shows between Bruce and Nico,
who are like the two members that you wouldn't expect
having beef I suppose, because I think you hear a
lot about the you know, the big the ego personalities
in the band of Bruce and Steve, right, that's the
classic sort of you know, the creative dynamic, I suppose,
But there's like a lot actually in the in the
relationship between Bruce and Nico and how Nicko was like
unhappy with Bruce around that time and then they had
to kind of like you know, kiss and make up
around the time that he was coming back for Brave
New Well. So that's kind of I guess the most
extensive like you know, unseen insight I suppose, like stuff
that you wouldn't already know going in. Otherwise, there are
some great like spinal tap style interview moments of them,
like capturing just lines and stuff of interviews behind the scenes.
So again do this peak eighties period and they don't
like and they play it up too much, But there
are lines where they just come across as quite comical.
It's an amazing bit where they're doing having an interview
and they're talking about the subject matter of their songs
and how they write about like you know, history and
literature and all this kind of stuff compared to what
I guess the most prominent thing at the time would
have been, like the glam Neill scene, right, And Bruce
says something all the lines of like, yeah, we don't
like to write songs about like, you know, partying and
drinking and getting drunk, because people do that all the time.
We like to write songs about things that people don't
experience very often, like death. It's just an amazing bit.
And there's another great line where Bruce is talking to
a fan or someone you know in sort of the
mid eighties, I suppose, and this fan brings up the
idea of using synthesizers, and Bruce is like, no, you
can't play heavy metal with synthesizers. You just can't do that.
It doesn't work obviously with you know us knowing that
their next couple of albums somewhere in time and seven
to the seven so go on to be like some
of the best metal records that including you know, synthesizing
of the Palette time. But again just like these fundy
little timbits that kind of they they let you the
viewer who are in the know, pick up on, I
suppose the humor or the irony, or the significance or
whatever in them. Otherwise, as I said, it spends a
lot of time with fans from around the world, and
you know the unique stories that they bring. So for example,
people in like like Kosovo during the you know, the
nineties Yugoslavia breakup conflicts and stuff, and there's a great
little bit where it talks about there was essentially like
an underground tape trading circuit in Kosovo in the nineties
where they're like sharing Maiden tracks with the Churdans. Like
stories like that which are cool. You know, like there's
there's an interviewee who is from Lebanon and talks about
like during the Lebanese Civil War, you know, her coming
to Maiden and all those kind of stories as well
as obviously then you get the really big ones that
we all know, like Rock and Rio in the eighties
and all the people who converged on you know that
at that point in time, but it just it flits around.
I suppose, like just these different subjects that are all
you know, pretty interesting, and they have like good, you
know voices. I suppose to you know, comment on these things.
And then as it's you know, speeding through the timeline,
not spending a lot of time on the individual records
or music of them, but more as I say, the
the sort of pop culture phenomenon of Iron Maiden, you
get into the you know, the present day in the
twenty first century and obviously talks about things like you know,
Bruce's cancer about and then you know, most recently Nicco
stepping back from the band and stuff like that, and
it's it kind of captures them as like, yeah, like
we've seen them go through all of these changes, all
of these periods that insane you know eighties touring, like
I was saying, and then by the end it's like, oh, yeah,
we have watched them, h you know, like we have
watched them kind of you know, be vulnerable people, I suppose,
whilst also embodying be much larger than life, larger than
any of them. Thing that is Iron Maiden, And it's
just such a crazily jam packed story where they like
they drop in at the end. It's like, oh yeah, Also,
Bruce became a qualified pilot and flew our band around
in like a seven four to seven jet for a while.
And it's such like a tidbit again, like it's such
a small detail that would be the craziest thing in
so many other band stories, but it's just some thing like, yeah,
that was a thing that we did. We flame Bruce
flow us around. So it's pretty enjoyable. Like I said,
it's not a central I don't think it will be
the you know, bar setter for insightful you know, change
in the game rock documentaries or like that. But if
essentially the question of being art here is if you
are a Maiden fan and you already have like a
decent knowledge base of Iron Maiden story, is it worth
a watch? Will you enjoy it? I would say yeah, fairly,
you know, a light recommendation, but a recommendation. So I
made Burning Ambition pretty good, pretty fun, pretty interesting?
Speaker 2: Ah nice, Yeah, I was interested in that. But I
do often feel with documentaries there is sort of a like,
like you say, it's like this is for the hardcore fans,
but there's nothing much in a documentary that can be
new information for a hardcore fan, like I don't know, yeah,
how many more times I need to hear oh, Tony
Iomi's fingers ah, the try tone in nineteen sixty that
you know all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the equivalent is this is when they're
talking about, you know, the creation of Eddie as the mascot,
and then you get everyone'shy the nber like like, oh yeah,
Eddie was like the mut you know, he was the
face of the band, that he's the thing that you
know on all the artworks. It was so crazy and
it drew you to the band as I was like, yeah,
we all know this. I know you have to include
this because it's is such a huge part of their
pop culture footprint. But there's no further interesting insight on
like the creation or the like wow, look here he's
a tree, here he's a pharaoh or whatever. But you
know that, Yeah, that's stuff is pretty standard. But like
I said, when it does peel back the curtain a
little bit more into specific periods or throwing around to like,
you know, specific fans experiences with it, I suppose obviously
are subjective and unique comverst to person. It moves along
like the Wikipedia top line, but it does go above
the Wikipedia top line at least.
Speaker 2: Okay, I want to see it. I love Iron Maiden.
I love watching footage of Iron Maiden when they were young.
I'm sure it makes me happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if that's all you need to, you know, feel
pleasure from it, then definitely it delivers on that. So
pretty good and just on that front. While he was
all talking about Iron Maiden. Also this week, Nicko McBrain
has announced that he has got and autobiography coming out
if you want to hear even more about Iron Maiden.
But you know, Nico is a not only a very
fun character. The book is called Hello Boys and Girls,
which is great because it's exactly what you can do,
like hear in his voice Nico titling that book. But yeah,
you know, I'm sure his insight from you know, the
point where he joined the band, the you know, the
specific point behind the kit that he brings to the band.
He'll have his own stories to tell for sure. And
I'm sure that you know, most of the Iron Maiden,
like hardcore faifer who will buy every one of their books,
will go out and get that, and yeah, jolly good stuff.
While we're on the subject of movies. Ghost. It looks
like this week there is some teasing that Ghost appear
to be having another film that's coming out at some
point later this year, in August. I don't have any
concrete details right now about like title necessarily or what
it even precisely is, but obviously, just two years ago,
which is the main thing about this twenty twenty four,
that was the right here, right now concert and it
looks like in August this year also being moved out
into Imax screens and Imax theaters, which the amount of
bands who have had like Imax concert films is, you know,
even smaller than the ones who've had standard concert films.
I suppose it looks like they've got another one coming
out right after, you know, in the scheme of things,
right after the previous one. Did you did you see
right here right now?
Speaker 2: No? But I listened to the live album because I'm
more interested in that, I see, I know, the narrative stuff, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the stuff that sucked.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, The actual concert film was you know, the concert
film parts of it were enjoyable, for sure, The sort
of narrative skip bits were the weakest and I did
have some nitpicks with just the I suppose the editing
and stuff to do with the actual concert film parts.
But the performance was spectat here because it's you know,
wasn't imperior era Ghost or whatever and into you know,
the skeletal thing if this were to be. But it's
mad that I suppose that they felt that was such
a success. You know, it did the necessary bank around
the world that they are going to immediately on the
following album cycle, you know, steamroll into another one and
taking it even bigger. This is just a regular thing
now that we can see from Ghost apparently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does harken back to sort of the olden
days where how many body live Iron Maiden albums are there? Like, yeah,
I do quite like that I missed. I love a
live album, and I you know, the concert film side
of it. I'm sure I'll watch it if there's you know,
because it'd be nice to have a document of something
where there's no other footage because obviously this tour there's
the no phone thing, so it would be nice to
have this tour is sort of just like almost just
like to document it and to have it preserved because
the show was so good, Like, yeah, I'd probably watch
it just to relive it. But like it's mad that
like an album, but everyone is a little colder on
like Skeleton. They're like, oh, no, big success, we're gonna
do the live the live thing when there's four extra
songs like the four Skeleton songs we had or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, true, I suppose that the question is how
much does it double down on again the narrative elements
or how much does it pivot into because the fact
that it's an Imax, right, Imax is the you know,
the film format that people like Christopher Nolan use, Right,
you can't have your YouTube skits in Imax, Like that's ridiculous,
you can't like putting those things on a normal movie screen.
Enough was a bit like slightly taking the piss hiring
out Imax screens when I don't know whatever Marvel film
that comes out is going to be wanting to use
those screens to to put like Papa Perpetua having his
little TIFFs with fucking you know whatever member of the
clergy will be fascical.
Speaker 2: This screen is for Red Hulk, have some respect.
Speaker 1: Yeah, precisely, how much it doubles down on those elements
or whether they feel like they have you know, can
improve upon the template, because I enjoyed right here right
now as a concert film. But I do feel there
is potential in the Ghost Show to make a better
one than what we got, and I would love to
see that emerge, you know, and build upon the template,
I suppose, and you know, do do bigger and better.
But I suppose we'll see if that's what it is,
you know, in August, when this currently unnamed ghost film
comes out, let's talk about new music. I would first
like to acknowledge we haven't heard it right now because
it's coming out on Friday as this scos out. But
Anthrax have got a new single out. It's called It's
for the Kids, and it is going to be the
lead single from their first record in ten years. I
suppose we will talk about this next week when the
song is you know, actually out for us to have
heard it. But I have no idea what the excitement
levels are for the first Antheats record in ten years,
you know, like that's such a long time. But when
you consider creatively where they were and stuff, how the
world has moved on, Like I would just be interested
to see how new Anthrax like at all impacts, I suppose,
but it is notable. As you know, I said that
longer period of time without a record, and we will
hear finally, you know, some new Aunttheuch music tomorrow. As
we are currently recording this, we'll talk about it next week.
Something we can talk about right now is a new
album announcement from Green Lung, one of the best and
certainly in terms of their you know kind of upcoming,
enterprising and so on, one of the most promising bands
in the world, but certainly in the UK right now.
They have announced their new record. It's got a brilliant
title of Necropolitan, and it's going to be out on
September the eleventh. It is the follow up, of course
to This Heathen Land, which was not their first record,
but it was their biggest breakthrough record to date. So
certainly the most eyes on a Green Lung record this
one will have of any prior to this. And we
are all on this podcast big admirers of certainly what
Green Lung managed to do with that last record. Like
we all loved it, I know that many people in
the audience will also feel the same there so I
think one of the anticipated records of the second half
of this year for sure. This Green Lung interesting concept
pabies before we get to the new song, because Necropolitan
the title, it's described as being basically all about the
city of London and it's you know, quirks and corners
as you can imagine within the Green Lung universe, which
is exploring of course, the stranger coorders, the occult, you know,
the folk culture, the spookier side of things, and this
even land with this you know, kind of looking at
like you know, old ancient Albion and going across the
country and stuff sort of sold itself on that, you know,
because you go into the British countryside and you can
already think of all of the stories and again the
folk horror and all that kind of stuff that really
naturally goes with it. But to go urban after that
and specific, you know, focus on a city like London
is an interesting your sort of mind's I image doesn't
immediately conjure up so instantaneously, but if you spend a
lot of time in London, you know, outside of you know,
the main central tourist areas and you go and search
it out. I think it's a brilliant idea because if
you ever go around you know, like Highgate Cemetery or
the you know various like again occult buildings and stuff
like that place is where these secret gatherings happened, or
like even non supernatural wise, you go to places like
Whitechapel and there's the whole the Ripper murder history and
all this stuff. Like London is, you know, the Victoriana
of it. London is a real hub of I think
many cities around the world you could do similar things
with it, just explore their you know, the natural darkness
and you know kind of more left hand path side
of life that exists in a city that has existed
for you know, centuries or millennia even. But London does
feel like immediately you can reel off things off your
head with it. So going from in the out in
the moors, as you know, one of their previous songs
said to centering into London but peeling back the most green,
lungiest elements of it, I'm excited for just the conceptual
side of this record and what could spill out of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so interesting. It's you'd never imagine listening to
Green Long that they've ever seen a skyscraper like it's that.
But and I'm not even like a London I don't
know that much about London. But even just you saying
those things, I'm like my brow brain is racing, like,
oh yeah, you could even like there's even like sort
of dark tragic, slightly more romantic things like John Keats's
Hams toad Teeth, Like sure, London is so massive that, yeah,
you could fall on the entire record with interesting little
things and stories. And I think, weirdly the song does
sort of reflect a more you know, urban environment.
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah. I just think it's just because it's
a hub of subculture as well. Like it is like
they're about to headline Desert Fest this weekend and that's
why they put this you know, announcement ahead of this,
and like scenes like that where people congregate even though
you know, London if you are a country you know person,
and you I don't know, look with skepticism upon the
big cities and the viewers being like you know, souls
or whatever. They're massive and people congregate there and people
bring their interest with them, and people you know, meld
their interest and just celebrate things. So you go to
any place like London or any similar city, and that's
where you will find record stores and you know bars
or whatever where people will hang out and share these
you know, again, subcultural interests so much more than in
most of you know, the countryside, to be honest. So
I think that you know, the spirit of that sort
of element of a place like them that could exist
in this record for sure. And you look down the
trap list and there's songs like Necropolitan Line, you know,
which that's just brilliant, Like I want to hear about that.
And you know, the video for the song they put
out the references and stuff that you can making it
like I was thinking about things like the Stone tape
and stuff like that that's coming out through you know,
just the video for songs like this. Yeah, the track.
So the song is called Evil in the House. It
is about a particular you know, reportedly haunted building in London.
What do you make of the song then, because you
were alluding to it there a little bit, and as
so we're all such fans of the previous album.
Speaker 2: I think it's cool. It's a weird choice as like
a lead single because it is more doomy, it's less
you know, the first song from the last record was
it Mountain Thrown, which is big. It's got this big
hard rock riff that anyone could get on board with.
This one that's more slower tempo. It's leaning back into
the doom a bit more. But in that that is
sort of cool that they have the confidence to be like, yeah,
this doom track is our lead single while we're on
the cusp of really breaking through. I think the solo
in it is really sick, as they always are. It
took a while to grow on me, but I do
really like it as a song.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like it. I'm not wowed by it. Yeah,
it's like a lead single. I think it's decent. I'm
hoping that again it has time to grow me because
I do. I like the vibe. It's very retro sounding
in that it doesn't feel like when the last record
they adjusted themselves to kind of feel you know, bigger
for one of the better word basically, like, you know,
there's a real opulence about that last record if you
compared it to the earlier Green Lung stuff. There's a
real grandeur about how those songs carry on big stage
and stuff, and even you know, when you think about
the doomy moments on that record, so you know one
for Sorrow or like the Forest Church, right, they do
have that just swell to them again, that grandeur where
this feels a little more dingy, and maybe it is
because it's like, you know, we're inside like a spooky
haunted house rather than you know, speaking to the congregation
on the Forest Church. But it has, you know, it
ticks the boxes of It's got a really you know,
charismatic sort of doom saying vocal line, some great geezery
bass playing. You talk about the solo, the synth solo
that comes in is the absolute business. So there are
these moments here that like really do like jump out
and you go, wow, that's awesome. And that's why I
still have, you know, lots of hope for the record.
And you know, nice little lyrical references to like you know,
in the there's the Haunting of Hillhouse reference here with
the whoever walks here walks alone, and I can imagine
again all these sort of the literate side of Greenlang,
which is something I really admire about them because that's
something that I like to you know, connect with in
heavy metal. I suppose, and I think that they are
keeping that flame very much alive. I like that that
again continue to live in here. I think it's essentially
what people largely want from them, Like if you are
a Green Lung fan and you like their you know,
retro classic doomy heavy metal type sound. This certainly is
a departure. It maybe just is a little, as I say,
more you know, interior rather than like absolutely walloping to
the masses the way that if you ever saw them
playing any of the last record songs on a festival
stage outdoors, they properly carried and this it maybe almost
sounds like a step backwards in that regard, But I'm
very curious about what the in the rest of the
record has to offer there, and you know, hopefully if
there's a similar variety across this record as there was
on the previous one. They've described it as there's less
of the folk stuff on this, which I guess makes
sense because again, the kind of the real folk horror,
you know, song of the Stones kind of stuff that's
on the last record is more right for that world.
But I'm curious what other things that are right for
this world. I suppose they bring into you know, this
record specifically and yeah, I like the track. It doesn't
strike me as the most immediately single out of what
they have kind of offered, but still very curious. September
the eleventh, the new Green Lung record, Necropolitan, coming out.
And I suppose, while we're on singles that we do
have if you listen to our award show last year
and you heard us talking about the project Lizzie in
the QT Pies is one dance super Campbell along with
like a class of school children. Basically, I don't want
to spend much time on this because obviously it's not
actually rock music, and also fundamentally it's a nice idea,
and I don't want to, you know, spend too much
time ragging on essentially a nice man writing a song
for school children. Hooray getting an interest in music. Bravo.
Cluck clap, But you heard Elliott's you know, fury over that.
Just the fact that there was a second song in
this guys, it seems to be a yearly occurrence. Now,
I thought some people might be curious to know that.
I suppose it might be interested. And if you are wondering,
does Dan super Campbell still sound absolutely distraught still here
now at the time on the subject of dogs in
space eating cheese on the moon. Yes he does.
Speaker 2: I'm standing on the ledge just thinking about it. I'm
gonna jump this thing because obviously Elliott had his worst
song of the year, Like I don't hate it's cute,
like you say, there's no reason to ever think about this,
but it's just so funny that he sounds.
Speaker 1: Like like he just can't adjust his voice at all.
It's still the same.
Speaker 2: I just checked out this song of curiosity to see
if it was any less suicidal. And the first thing
he does is this horrible voice crack, like is that
a funeral? There's gonna be kids singing in a second?
Speaker 1: Why are you going like they're reading Cheese on the Moon? Yeah,
there you go. And I I guess that this is
a topic of you know, some interest being you know,
one of the biggest, most critically acclaimed arists in the
world of the last you know, handful of years really,
but certainly the last like you know, two years, but
planting herself vaguely in our vicinity. Charlie XCX released a
track this week called rock Music, and I don't know
even going into it, I wasn't sure how much actual relevance.
I suppose this would have to our corner, but I
guess just that it's called that and it does have
some you know, rock elements in it means that maybe
people who are not so always plugged into Charlie, into
our you know, from our world, might have taken notice
and suppose, like what she doing with this one, So
it might be on people's minds. Is I guess what
I'm getting at here, So it might be worth a
little bit of a discussion here. Charliete c X I
am a big fan of when it comes to the
you know, the the really current you know pop artists
out there. She has been one of my favorites for
quite a while, like from around the time of the
Room Room EP about ten years ago, really up into
the twenty nineteen album Charlie. It's my favorite of hers.
I love that record always during that period a you know,
like recognizable popular but on the more experimental, slightly avant
card end of what you know, mainStreet pop music was
I suppose, and then Brat happened obviously, and that's a
record that kind of deals with a lot of the
subject matter. Is like being almost like a mid tier
pop star of being you know, famous and well known,
but not being like world conquering, and ironically that's the
record that she then conquered the world with. And this
like you know, again sort of mid tier pop star
went absolutely super nova. So there is like this real pressure,
I suppose, and like this, look at you know, eyes
on what Charlie might do next. And she's had you know,
songs out like the the tracks for the Watering Heights
soundtrack and stuff, which were also quite experimental in strange ways,
more like goth influenced, like strain stuff going on. But
after all of that, the Brat cycle winding down and
then going back being like this is a song. We're
making rock music now, Like I said, people might be
curious as to what's going on, Mark, what are your
thoughts on, uh, you know, Charlie overall, I suppose, but
then into specifically the track.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've been aware of miss x X for
like you say, since the Room Room era. I did
not like from Room.
Speaker 1: I always struggles.
Speaker 2: But Brat, you know, you can't deny Brat. I loved
Brat and really the only reason that people you know
in the rock world would even care about her releasing
a song called rock music is because of Brat. Like
if this came out before, I don't think anyone would. No,
you're tweeting it as if it's a rock song because
it's not. But yeah, I like Charlie x X. I
was very excited to see whatever she was going to
do next. Ah and this, I don't know, the song
was fine, Like, yeah, I think there is this.
Speaker 1: I think this phenomenon that's been going on for the
past several years where lots of you know, musicians coming
from the pop world dabble and include elements of rock
music in what they do. But it feels like this
kind of you know, this this unique sort of I'm
trying to think of a word that isn't varstallization, because
I don't mean it in a negative sense. I do
just mean it in a neutral sense of like it's
not really one thing or another, but this kind of
unique cross pollination that isn't really actually fully being rock music. Right. So,
for example, someone like Rina Sawayama several years ago, who
you know, rock people would be into and rock magazines
would cover her at times because she covered corn and
had some new metal riffs, but the records were still
basically pop records, like I don't think she made rock records.
She made pop records that had occasional rock rifts in
is what was going on there. And then the same
thing could be said for whether it's like Willow Smith
or you know, fucking Machine Gun Kelly or whatever, and
that sort of strange like in between taking bits from
rock music but not really being and being part of
rock music. I think maybe the strongest case of someone
doing that and actually, like you know, I suppose inserting
themselves into our culture has been someone like Poppy for example,
who was you know, in her own straight little corner
are pops in and then like basically fully transitioned into
being a metal artist and now that's where she lives,
right and she plays like festivals. That's never what someone
like Charlie XCX is going to be doing that particular
brand of like rock pop cross pollination. I don't know. Again,
some people really like some of those things. I am
not sure where how particularly interesting from our point of view,
any of those examples have to been like you know,
influential and game changing on our side of things. It's
what I'm kind of getting at there.
Speaker 2: It would sort of be like EDM people being like, oh,
there's this band Electric Coalboy. The album is called Techno.
Speaker 1: Oh is this part of our work?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And hearing this song, that's kind of what it is, right.
It is a using pieces of rock music but not
fully being rock music. And that is ultimately what Charlie
is trying to be, I think, because I don't think
her you know, reinventing herself and suddenly just doing like
a grunge era or something that's not very her. It's
going to be this again, cross pollination and cherry picking
bits of what she's into. And Charlie, who I said like,
I really like, and I really I think she's a
very interesting artist. I think she is in her personal
outlook and things does often make for example, all of
the lyrical content of Bratt a lot at the time,
like there is she makes them interesting. But she also
comes across as quite I don't know, maybe neurotic at
times and sort of she has a very like self,
very self concerned with how she kind of almost where
she fits in the world between like the mainstream in
the underground and stuff. And this track, which is by
the way, it's like one minute fifty five long or something,
I think this comes across me more her trying to
almost clean out shop before doing something like it's shedding
the trappings of suddenly being as popular as she was
with Bratt where she has been on the I say,
the sort of the forefront of like pushing pop music
into some experimental directions throughout periods like the twenty tens
and when she was working with PC Music and all
that kind of stuff, to suddenly be, you know, what
they might call a main pop girl around the time
of Bratton, you know, being so huge. I wonder how
much that might I don't know way on her, I suppose,
And this sort of has the feel of like I'm
not gonna put full stocking this because I don't think
it's like a I don't know, some people might call
it a bad on purpose track or something like that,
which I don't think it is. But there is something
almost like throwing a grenade into the midst of her
now much larger fan base about it, Like, you know,
when she says, you know, the dance floor is dead
and now we're making rock music. I don't think she
believes that, you know, I think she's just trying to
almost reinvent and shake something off for the sake of
it really, and because it is such a as I say,
the sort of strange you know, move the pieces around
in a dramatic way. There's a lot of takes, maybe
again from people on our side of the fence who
see a track called rock music and go what is this?
Where people have then come out and be like, oh
my god, this is like the worst song of the year,
like this is awful. My take is quite mild, like
the glitchy hook is kind of daft, and you know,
it's not great and I can't understand why that was
great on people. But the song around it, I think
is actually quite inoffensive. You know. I think that that
particular element being so jarring. It kind of goes back
to you know, when Vroom Room came out, a lot
of people hating it and that whole like you know,
hyper pop, when it was more underground, still basically PC
music type thing. People would listen to that and be like,
this is fucking unlistenable, what the hell's going on? And
now Vroom Room is like a fucking classic And I'm
not gonna say that's what gonna happen to this song.
But she has for a long time made songs and
you know, records that are quite jarring immediately to the
average person's ear, I suppose, and that has a bit
of that you know again compared to what Bratt was,
which was actually very listenable a lot of the time.
But then the rock music elements of this, I suppose,
because it's not fully embodying being rock. They do feel
quite cheaply put together. Like the guitar and the drums,
they do feel quite sort of stock and nath I suppose.
But like I said, I'm not convinced it's meant to
actually be music as much as that is the title
of it or feels a bit glib, and the fact
that it is like less than two minutes long, it
feels like it's something to get out there and sort
of shake the bushes up a bit before maybe going
and doing something else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, come at the song on its own terms. One
problem I do have with it is the drums, and
not even like, oh, they should have got Trey Cool
on it, because the drums are so far back in
the mix and they're so quiet and so basic and
nothing make that a beat that should be a dance beat.
Like That's my problem with it, like the drums completely
just make it sound so hollow, and yeah, it is
interesting sort of she's been placed alongside the Taylor Swifts
and whoever where. Nowadays there's such a focus on like
the era the next step are, Yeah, Taylor Swift's in
her Showgirl era or whatever. So there is this new
expectation on Charlie XX. And she's not an artist who's
ever moved like that. She's always thrown out a random
remix or thrown out a roundom ep like she just
does what she wants. She's not so much like And
now the random veiling of you know, it's brat.
Speaker 1: Very much became that that's kind of her moment where
because it was such an anointed moment, it had that
sort of expectation on it, you know, and so she
had to announce like this is when it ended, like
I'm going to do something else now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think there is almost a golden element
of this song. It does sound like it's like not
like a piss take, but like it's it's trying to
be gaarish and it's trying to be annoying ruffle feathers. Yeah, yeah,
and that's fine whatever, like good for her. I'm sure
I'm not going to be less interested in whatever she
does next.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I said, my thoughts on the song and
its quality are very mild for how extreme some of
the takes have been here. We are coming at this
from the perspective of like, yeah, we're both and to
at least you know, some areas of Charlie's music. But
we're speaking here on a rock podcast and sort of
going like, Okay, rock fans, how much if you've never
cared about Charlie ESX before, how much do you have
to care about this? And I would say not really,
not at all. Like the fact that it's called rock
music and it has like a bit of guitar in
it makes good headlines for rock publications basically because it's
one of the most talked about artists the last half
of years, you know, doing something that has, at least
on the surface, seemed to position itself in our vicinity.
But I don't think that's actually really the case. I
just think it's a strange quirk of an artist to
herself flits around a lot, and ultimately, you know, as
a fan of Charlie at CX, I think the theorizing
and the statement of this is more interesting than actually
listening to the song, which is, like I said, just
fine and occasionally a bit annoying, but you know, not
too much to get upset about really, But there you go.
Charlie ATCX rock Music. If the next record actually has
a pig destroyer feature on it, then we'll be back
and we will talk to you about it a little bit.
More tour news. Billy Corgan is doing a orchestral and
operatic tour of the Smashing Pumpkins album Melancholy of the
Infinite Sadness for its thirtieth anniversary, and it's gonna be
playing in London, Antwerp, Paris and Madrid later in this year.
You are a big Smashing Pumpkins fan. Do you have
any interest in watching Billy Corgan perform a orchestral version?
The fact that it's billed as Billy Corgan, it's not
the Smashing Pumpkins, it's Billy Corgan and an orchestra, I suppose,
I guess.
Speaker 2: I guess I would be. I just see the headline
and I think, yep, that's something Billy Corgan would do.
Speaker 1: Like that was my thought exactly as well. Yeah, very
very neutral on the whole enterprise, but it seems in character.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure it would be interested, Like he's a
he's an interesting bloke, it's very polite. Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure it'd be interesting, like the fact that it's
operatic as well as like is he doing operatic stuff
or is he just like conductor? Like how much involvement
vocally is he gonna have in this? That's what's interesting
about it.
Speaker 1: I would imagine he will be singing his own vocal
lines on the record, but then there will also be
like perhaps a female lot per singer, you know, bouncing
off of it, which itself, the idea of let's be
real pretty shit singer Billy Corgan harmonizing with like some
incredible trained op pro singer on nineteen seventy nine sounds
like a mad idea, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Actually, I'm trying. I do want to see it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Curious over into twenty twenty seven, the fact that
we're getting twenty twenty seven tours and now it throws
me every time now because I'm like, that's like two
years away, but it's not. It's not two years away.
In January and February, a Morphis are going to be
doing a headline tour for their record Boardland that came
out like towards the end of last year. Support bill
for it is the Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium,
so very in their wheelhouse again but also unto others
opening it, which unto others, are so like malleable in
who they tour with. It's incredible, like they'll they're a
gothic heavy metal band with almost no extreme elements I suppose,
but they will open for Behemoth and then they'll you know,
go and tour with Green Lung, which is maybe a
bit more of a sensible fit. And now they're back
with a MorphOS I think. I mean they're playing in
the UK. They're playing London and Manchester, and it's the
Forum in London and the Rits in Manchester, and the
fact that that was a venue that you know, the Rits,
and that might have been the Forum in London as well,
but certainly the Rits was like that's where they they
main supported when they were with Green Lung and now
they're back down to opening it for a MorphOS is
like a really like I just think, unto others, deserve
so much fucking better, you know what I mean, Like,
what have unto Ether's got to do to at least
fucking get back to main support in the Rits and
the Forum, if not headlining them, which they fucking should
be doing. But it's a good bill. I definitely I'll
be interested in, you know, hopefully seeing if I can
get out to it, because it is a good bill.
I haven't seen a MorphOS in ages, like over ten years,
I think, and I love a Morphis, but any tour
and to us has come around, and I will definitely
be like trying to make sure I can get there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not last the Morphous record is great. I'd be
really interested in going to this. Do you think it's
more of a case of not so much Unto Others
being bottom of the bill material rather than Insomnium have
to be main supported to Amorphous because that's obviously the
better fit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly. I think if it was a if it
were banned who are more closely aligned with unto Others
in the scenes that they run in, then yeah, I
imagine Ontwethers would be higher on the bill. It does
feel like a I mean, good on onto others like
the grind Right like they will go out and they
will support for and open for fucking anyone, and it
gives you access to see them, I suppose, which I
am annoyed at how little we've had headline access to
them over here. Basically it's almost always opening slots, and
I want to see you do more than eight songs,
you know what I mean, because they have a million
great ones, but yeah, really bizarre fit but ultimately a
good night, So you know January February that I'll be
rolling around. If you are more of the hard core persuasion,
you're like a morphist. Who the fuck are they? Then?
Guilt Trip, the you know upcoming hardcore band. They have
also got a quite large UK and European run and
they are bringing a support bill with them that features
a judiciary Justice for the Damned, which is the name
I haven't heard in a little while, and then a
more recent name Long Goodbye, who are one of those
you can tell from their logo they're one of those
like you know, late nineties Circle the millennium metalcore revival
type bands, but they're pretty good at that. So it's
a moshy bill for sure, Like I see Judiciary kind
of coming back as over as well, So if you
want to go and swing your fists, then that's the
place to do it. And if you are American and
you're like, oh my god, I can't believe Bringing the
Horizon will be playing Count Your Blessings in the country
that they are from rather than over here, then you
have a date as well. Furnace Fest twenty six, which
has announced a whole load a band onto its lineup,
all of the metalcore and metallic hardcore post article sort
of persuasion, but one of those dates is going to
be headlined by Bringing the Horizon performing another Count Your
Blessings date. The outbreak thing is mad enough, but Bring
the Horizon headlining a US festival playing the record with
I used to make Up with Meduca on it is
fucking daft. What a stupid world we're living in.
Speaker 2: Not that many of you can like that album that much.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: We spoke all about an album club and we made
maybe the case for why it does have a place
in history, but not that many people certainly over there
going to be into it. But there you go. That
is the news over on the live department. Speaking of
the album Club pac that is one of the more
recent things that we have over on the that's not
a Patreon right now. That Patreon is the best way
to support us. If you enjoy what we do here
every week and you want to know how to help
keep us afloat, then the absolute best way of doing
so is to go over and subscribe to the Patreon,
which we don't ask for for nothing because in return
we give you hours and hours and hours of extra
and in depth content. The album Club Pack featuring Count
Your Blessings. It also featured Kaladan Brood. It featured Rollo
to Massy Future, Municipal Waste with a lot of fun
to do. Our next thing that we are going to
be working on over the next week is the second
part of our Corn in Depth Band Special, where we
are currently in the midst of going through and reviewing
essentially every single Corn record that has ever been made
and giving an overview of their career. The first part
we covered obviously their origins and the birth of the
new metal movement. The next part that we are going
to moving to next week is going to be about
the peak of the mainstream success of the new metal
movement overall, but of course Korn's place as part. That's
all well, be looking to records like Follow the Leader
and Issues and Untouchables, and it's going to be a
pretty good time, I think so. Patron dot com slash
That's Not Metal is the place to hear that. Otherwise,
if you want to help us out, it means other
than just financial support over the Patreon. It would be
lovely as well if you could go and leave us
a review and a rating over on your podcast platform
of choice, whether it be Spotify or Apple Podcast or
whatever that might be, because that does help worm our
way into the algorithms I suppose and get put in
front of more people. So thank you very much to
everybody who chooses to do so. Let us end today
with the releases for the fifteenth of May twenty twenty six.
First up on the release roundup Periphery back with an
album called A Pale White Dot Mark. How are you
on the most recent periphery material?
Speaker 2: I love Hailstan from twenty nineteen whatever. The follow up
was from twenty twenty three. I like a bit less,
but I still really like it. I had no idea
this was coming out, and I'm like of people on
this podcast. The biggest periphery firm. It's just completely not
that I'm the most plugged in guy, I guess, but
I don't know. It's weird that it's just snuck by
under my radar. I'm excited to listen to it, like
I love Periphery, but there seems to be no chatter
around this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, genuine This week I was thinking the releases. I
was like, what's coming out? Just jungle rock, right, just
jungle Rot of all the bands, jungle rock. But then
saying Periphery was like, oh fuck, like actually, like you
know really bit of course, you know, tech metal trendset
of type bands. I had a brief flirtation with being
into Periphery around the three album, and then I quite
quickly realized that I wasn't actually that into And I
remember the last album, which we reviewed, being slightly exhausting.
But maybe this one will be a little bit more
to the point, perhaps a pale white dot by Periphery
into the pop punk world. The All American Rejects are
back with an album called Sandbox. Same question mark, how
are you on the modern day goings on of the
All American Rejects?
Speaker 2: Well, there is not. This is the first record since
twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: This is the big comeback.
Speaker 2: Parent, you're not absolutely pump in your fist, well, I'll
leave that to you. I mean, you know, there's a
pop punk band in the modern day. How excited could
you possibly be? But I did hear a song from
this a couple of weeks ago and it was horrid.
So that's exciting, all right?
Speaker 1: Good If you are maybe a little bit more up
to date in your pop punk interests, then you know
newer bands. There's a band called Super Sometimes with an
album called Show the World What's Underneath. That's that on
Pure Noise, which is where a lot of the modern
you know, kind of hypie pop punk stuff emerges from,
so sure there'll be some interest there. Then there is
a band called Held with an album called Gray. This
is a post hardcore band. It features Josh Eppard from
Cohiedon Cambria is one of the members of this, So
you know, go forth and investigate there if that sounds
like that's your area. Von Groove, which I had to
include just because they're a band called Von Groove. This
is also a long awaited come back like twenty years
or something, you know, sort of a nineties two thousand's
radio rock band, I suppose, but Von Groove with their
album Born to Rock is the name of it. Big
words there, But there you go. Pro Pane, who are
a long going sort of you know, hardcore and crossover
thrash band. They have got an album out called Stone
Cold Anger Mark you and nodding are you a Propane fan?
Speaker 2: There was a pay ten years ago. I can't remember
the name of it anything about it. I just remember
listening to a pro Pain album a few times and
being like, this is fucking sick.
Speaker 1: Ye fair enough. They do seem like one of those
you know, does what says in the ten fairly likable
type bands in the vein of you know, perhaps Buyer
Hazard and that kind of world of things. There you go.
Then the eighties UK thrash metal band Acid Rain are
back with days of the Week spelt as in oh
I'm in a daze because there they're punny guys. I
remember their last album, The Age of Entitlement, had one
of the most horrid album covers I've ever seen in
my life, Like It Lives in My Me is one
of the very worst album covers and title combos. I
suppose that you can imagine this one. I suppose is
at least better than that. So there you go the
massive record of the week. Of course, as I'm saying,
Jungle Rots, a very reliable, decent, very long running US
death metal band, you know, groovy kind of Meat and Potatoes,
does what it saysn't it in but you know, satisfying.
Their album Cruel Face of War is out. If you
want death metal of a slightly more underground stripe, then
there is a band at a Norway called a ned
Gravd or the day album called Ascension, And this is
like really like old school a cult Norwegian death metal,
by which I mean it kind of sounds like the
stuff that was coming out of Norway before the black
metal scene took over, so as big like Thou Shalt Suffer,
which is the like pre Emperor death metal band, or
like the earliest Dark Throne demos. Like if you're that
kind of goblin into like early you know, turn of
the nineties Norwegian death metal, then this, you know, newer
band of youngsters might be floating your boat with Ascension
then into the doom metal world very much like gothic
doom metal of in the Vein of My Dying Bride
and Your abands at Traconi and stuff like that. There's
a band called akem Mana with Threnedes and then finally
from Scotland, there is the band Tyrannus with a record
called Mornhold who are like a kind of your black
metal tinges of black thrash. That type of thing features
Alistair Dunn from Ashenspire on the drums on this record.
That's the vibe. I'll be checking that one out Tyrannus
with Mornhold out today. That is a lot. Thank you
very much for joining us and being with us here.
If you saw the Iron Maiden documentary Burning Ambition, what
with your take on it? Do you have any thoughts
beyond what we said about it earlier and those singles
that we discussed from Green Lung to Charlie CX. Of course,
what's your take? We will return next week. Between now
and then we will return with the second part of
the Corn Special running down all of their records over
on the Patreon. So join us there if you are
so inclined, and we will. Yeah, we'll see you around.
By everyone.