Metal Nerdery Podcast

“No sink or nothing, right? You’re just gonna go free ball it…”   1989 was the very first year EVER that The Recording Academy recognized hard rock and metal music with the “Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental”. And other than the completely insulting “slap in the face” by The Recording Academy to Metallica (think Will Smith & Chris Rock, but even more child...

Death.    The word alone possesses the same tangible finality and permanence as the act itself. Death marks the end of one’s physical life & existence in this world and can come as a tragic, sudden, and untimely end, or as the sometimes “welcome” final resolution of life following a long, protracted period of illness and suffering.   “We got to live on the same earth at the same time as all th...

“I mean it’s June, so…”   Released September 29, 1992, CORE, the debut album from San Diego, California’s own STONE TEMPLE PILOTS (or STP for short) is one of those albums that doesn’t really fit into the “grunge” category, nor does it fit into the traditional “heavy metal” box either. It’s certainly not grunge but is definitely “more metal than Pearl Jam”, and while there may be some subtle simil...

The year is 1980. The U.S. National Debt is a paltry $900 Billion, the word “yuppie” appears for the first time in print, the Pac-Man videogame is released in arcades everywhere, Mount St. Helens explodes in Washington state, and Cable News Network (also known as CNN) becomes a thing.   In the world of metal, Iron Maiden release their self-titled debut album, Black Sabbath reinvent themselves with...

“I wanna hear THAT at my grocery store, when I’m going for the meat section…”   Whether it’s the song we all rise for at sports ball events,  the first song on Rush’s “Fly By Night” album (not to mention the first song on Anthrax’s EP of classic rock covers), or the sing-along, encore at the end of a rock show, ANTHEMS represent a clarion call, a rallying cry that unites fans in unspeakable joy, u...

“Today is all about 7’s…”   We can’t believe it…it’s officially been SEVEN years since we began our podcasting journey, and as of this episode, we are celebrating SEVEN years of heavy metal podcasting excellence!  And in the spirit of heavy metal greatness, what better way to celebrate and commemorate the completion of our SEVENTH year than a tribute to the best thing MTV ever did for metal heads...

“Would it be fair to say that horror metal and death metal are kinda…symbiotic?”   Released May 25, 1987, SCREAM BLOODY GORE, the debut album from Florida death metal pioneers DEATH, marks a dark and transformative turning point from thrash metal into something else…something with “thrash overtones” that “sounds like thrash” but also doesn’t. While it seemed to be the next logical evolutionary ste...

“I wonder how many modern bands still do it?”   Maybe the song is named after the band and referenced in the chorus. Maybe the song is named after the band but there’s no reference to the band’s name anywhere in the lyrics. Or maybe it’s a song with a completely different title than the band name BUT the band name IS mentioned somewhere in the lyrics.    “They mostly do it during their early years...

“It took me like a hard 16 seconds…but I got it down…I swallowed all of it…”   Released April 10, 2026, DEAD TO RIGHTS, the 14th studio album in 40+ years from the mighty METAL CHURCH, features a new line up and a return to the power metal infused thrash style that made them a force to be reckoned with back in the 80’s, during the heyday of the (then relatively new) thrash scene.   “I was proud of...

“If you were gonna be a stripper…what would your stage name be?”   When you think about 1986 , it’s almost hard to fathom that we are 40 years away from it. Four decades away from perhaps THE biggest year in metal, and we’re not just saying that because we were still young and impressionable, but because it was quite literally THAT epic of a year!    March, September, and October of 1986 gave us M...

“You like to hear how they have progressed or digressed…or either…or gressed…”   This episode is a lot like looking at pictures of family when everyone is much younger and then looking at recent pictures of family and realizing that after enough time, a LOT changes.    Just as people grow and age and (hopefully) evolve over time, no artist should currently be EXACTLY as they were when they first s...

“This is the 80’s before the 80’s was the 80’s…”   Released April 18, 1980, HEAVEN AND HELL, the 9th studio album by BLACK SABBATH (and the first to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals), marks a simultaneous sonic departure and rebirth for the Godfathers of Metal.    While some would argue that it sounds more like RJD’s solo output and NOTHING like the Sabbath of the 70’s, HEAVEN AND HELL is more t...

“If you’re gonna pick an album that’s supposed to be the album of the decade…”   The Grammy’s have proven over and over to metal fans over the years that their decisions are (more often than not) completely arbitrary and have absolutely zero basis in honor, truth, or reality whatsoever. And if you need to be reminded of this irrefutable fact, just remember who won the Grammy for “Best Metal Perfor...

Released March 20, 2026, GOLIATH, the newest behemoth to emerge from classic thrash masters EXODUS, feels a lot like 1989 but with some other added extras that are a bit different, experimental, and a little off the reservation relative to their earlier work. It also marks the return of Rob Dukes on vocals for the first time since 2010’s Exhibit B: The Human Condition.   Loaded with scathing socia...

“It’s like we’re missing someone…”   Released Friday, March 13, 2026, INTO OBLIVION, the latest offering from Richmond, Virginia’s LAMB OF GOD, features a new logo and an album cover that hints at the darker atmosphere that dwells within.   “It’d be wrong to do a clinky without Russ…”   Chock full of enough sick grooves, primal screams, and disgustingly brutal riffs to give anyone who hears it a h...

“Let’s keep the dumb fuhqery to a minimum today…”   EMBERING EFFIGY, the “Southern Fried Thrash Metal” threesome hailing from the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia are making some noise in venues all across the Southeast with their blistering live shows and their recently released new album, OUT OF THE WOODS, featuring 8 tracks of old school thrash infused with a generous blend of blast beats, high en...

Ever since compact discs came out in the mid-1980s, the concept of SIDE 1 and SIDE 2 on an album sort of fell by the wayside. And with this new quantum leap in technology, the entire process of consuming music began to transform.    By the late 80’s and early 90’s, CD sales began outselling vinyl records and cassette tapes, due in large part to convenience and technological innovation, as vinyl re...

“Wait a minute, is she your hall pass? Can we confirm that?”   Many folks in certain parts of the world have been calling the United States “The Great Satan” for decades, long before ROB ZOMBIE’s eighth studio album, THE GREAT SATAN, was called that.   “…and the first words out of her mouth when she pulls up: ‘Can I inspect your meat?’”   Released on 02/27/2026 on Nuclear Blast, the newest studio...

“He’s looking at me…”   Released on August 22, 1989, CLIMBIN’ THE WALLS, the major label debut album from Martinsburg, West Virginia thrash metal savants WRATHCHILD AMERICA, is undoubtedly one of the most uniquely profound thrash metal albums in all of heavy metal history to be crafted by one of the most extraordinarily talented (and criminally underrated) bands in the entire genre.    And to thin...

“If I hadn’t have known that was Anthrax, I would have guessed it was Alice In Chains…”   The early 90’s was a strange time for metal, most notably due to the change in the musical landscape with the emergence of the Seattle scene and Alice In Chains becoming one of the key crossover bands to bridge the transition from thrash to the next wave of darker, grungier sounding heavy metal.    “Every tim...

“That’s the buzz word: every time somebody says, ‘tipping point’, you must drink…”   Whether it’s measured by a string of commercially successful albums or one’s own personal preference, almost every metal band has (at a minimum) produced a TRILOGY of albums that represent a three-album run of back-to-back-to-back awesomeness.    “That’s the law, man…it’s gotta be three…rules is rules.”   Granted,...

“You know what I’m hearing? This sounds like it could have been…the sidepiece…to The Black Album…”   There’s almost a strange, sarcastic satisfaction in knowing that the new self-titled MEGADETH album will forever be known (at least in our neck of the woods anyway) as “The White Album”.    “Every time you keep talking, I just see shapes and letters…”   Released on January 23, 2026, MEGADETH is the...

Once you reach a certain level, there is no ‘better’…it’s different.”   Released on August 19, 1983, FLICK OF THE SWITCH (the 9th studio album by AC/DC and the 3rd featuring Brian Johnson on the mic) is what some fans might call their “White Album” (arriving after their “Black Album” and “Bronze Album”, respectively), showing a black and white grayscale drawing of a lone Angus pulling down some ma...

“Flat earth is just a troll thing, right? People don’t really believe that…”   Picking up right where we left off on our previous HEAVY METAL HIGH SCHOOL REUNION episode with even more stories of metal nostalgia and teenage retardity as we reflect on the pressing issues of the day during our high school residency.    “The bathrooms are over there, Everest is over there, and you’ve gotta be this hi...

“Forbidden and Death Angel at the Center Stage was my 2nd thrash show…”   Imagine learning about all of the latest and greatest metal bands without the help of Spotify or the internet. Back in THE METAL DAYS OF YORE , it was all about social networking (sans social media) and getting dubbed cassettes from your friends (or forming your own metal band with those friends) that helped you on your way...