Radioactive Metal

All Hail the Exalted Piledriver!! The career of the influential Canadian outfit Piledriver was short but sweet. Two fantastic albums of Quality over Quantity. This year marks the 40th (!) birthday of record #2, "Stay Ugly". So it's appropriate to tap this record for our "40th Anniversary Album Spotlight Series". We discuss all things Pilely then do a track by tack deep dive into this amazing platt...

We all gotta start somewhere. For underground Metal bands in the 80s, the Metal Forces magazine "Demolition" section was a great place to start. It exposed artists demo tapes to their readers and got them going in the tape trading dept. And a number of then unknown artists appearing would go onto become known. Namely legends like Slayer and Megadeth. But that's just the tip of the Metalberg. This...

Around the RAM offices, vinyl is King. The CD is our silver medalist. And finally, the cassette is still a thing in metallic lives. So this week we're discussing all things cassette. Do we still collect and how many do we still have? Our first and faves. And our mix tape making abilities. Don't hit the FF button in this episode. In our "News, Views and Tunes", we take in our first "Black Flag" gig...

We're not exactly spring chickens around here anymore. Retirement from our "money jobs" will be here sooner than later. So what are going to do with all our free time? Maybe start a fanzine. How about volunteering with our local indie promoter? For you tech types, how about gear restoration? There's so much a dedicated Metalhead can do for the betterment of Metaldom. We hope this episode gives you...

The vocalist is the face and voice of a musical group. The Wonderful World of Heavy Metal have a gazilion frontpersons that are both super talented and are quite the characters. This week we figured we would once again call upon the fantastic "High Infidelity" flick and present our "Top 5" of Metal vocalists. We share some legendary names. And have a few dark horses too. In our "News, Views and Tu...

NWOBHM legends Iron Maiden recently got tapped to go into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame. So with Bruce and the Boyz on the minds of Metalheads the world over, we figure it's a great time to discuss one of their classic albums. "Somewhere In Time" recently turned 40. So we decided now was the time to feature the effort in our ongoing "40th Anniversary Album Spotlight". We go over the "this and thats...

Believe it or not, the classic Judas Priest album "Turbo" recently celebrated its 40th Bday! This is an interesting album in the whole JP discography. Fans were split as the band experimented with more modern sounds and images in an effort to look more "80s". So its a great time to feature "Turbo" in our "40th Anniversay Album Spotlight Series". We do a track by track deep dive. And share how we d...

There's this old adage of "Opinions are like aholes. Everyone has one and they all stink". So in that spirit, we thought we'd share some of ours this week. As teens, the British tome, Metal Forces, was a fave. Every year the magazine presented their "Reader's Poll" results. And we recently stumbled on the results from '83 in Issue 3. So we figured we'd give them the once over and cast our own ball...

Inspired by our Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame discussion last week, we decided to test our Metal. Being trivia buffs, we came up with the idea of Aaron testing Snowy on his knowledge of said HOF. Essentially, Aaron threw out an artist and Snowy had to take an educated guess as to the year they went into the Hall. You'll be able to hear the wheels turning through your device. In our "News, Views and Tun...

The nominees for this years Rock n Roll Hall of Fame hopefuls was recently released. Of course, we're squarely behind the mighty Iron Maiden getting their log overdue accolades. But there's also a number of other artists that both nod and shake our heads. So this week we go through the list and play our most comprehensive game of "Should and Will" yet. Namely who we think should go in. And who we...

Heavy Metallers have traditionally been complete package type people. The tunes rule, of course. But we also enjoy the physical product as a whole. And the album graphics could serve two purposes: for both art and/or promotion. And this week we go deep into the discussion. How 'bout for you. Do the album covers make or break a record for you? In our "News, Views and Tunes", we go over Seb Bach as...

The '86 Alice Cooper album "Constrictor" is a rather important effort. This album #17 (!) is a comeback album of sorts for Cooper. The shock rocker spent the 80s up to this point battling demons which resulted in some terrible records. This record showcased a clean, reinvigorated Alice. And the result was a masterpiece. And as for RAM, this album was basically our starting point in our Alice fando...

1986 was an interesting year in the Black Sabbath camp. Fan interest was waning. Bands that Sabbath influenced were leaving them in the dust. And the band's 12th album "Seventh Star" wasn't doing them any favors. At this point, Sabbath was basically the Tony Iommi Project and the Sabbath sound was abandoned for something a little more 80s friendly. So this week we decided to tackle this forgotten...

Record Store Day is once again on the horizon. RSD is easily one of our fave days of the year. And part of the countdown is the release of the RSD list of special releases. So as is tradition around here we like to go over the list "on the air" and share which records are on our own (want) list. Go to www.recordstoreday.com and make your own picks. Musically, we crank some new and used from Obitua...

The verdict is in! The new self titled Megadeth album has found a regular spot on our stereos. And it's awesome! If this record is indeed the swan song for Dave and the Boyz, they can go out with their heads held high and their Horns in the air. This week we decided to take a cue from the amazing "High Fidelity" flick and share our Top 5 Megadeth albums from their vast discography. And where exact...

1,2 F You! The crushing debut from the Canadian thrashers Slaughter is an all fave around the RAM office. "Strappado" is also the one of the most influential albums in the Death Metal underground. And, this platter of splatter is celebrating its fourth decade (!) of existence this year. So this week we're featuring it in our "40th Anniversary Album Spotlight Series". We do a track by track deep di...

We're a little late off the mark. But we finally go the amazing "Stranger Things" series in the books. So this week we decided to discuss all the strange goin-ons in Hawkins. Apart from the usual thoughts about the show, we discuss the power of music, the Kate Bush fandom in Metaldom, share our own trials and tribulations from high school and ask the question - "Eddie Munson - Maiden or Metallica?...

1986 was an absolute barnburner of a year. Numerous, now veteran bands and artists hit the garage for the first time. So many now classic albums hit the racks then onto our turntables and ghetto blasters. And there were new stories that rocked all of Metaldom. As well, this year, believe it or not, 1986 turns 40 years young. So as is tradition 'round here, we're doing a deep dive into this banner...

It's that time again! 2025 is in the books. So around here that means it's time for our annual Rammy Awards! To our newer listeners hopping aboard this year, there are the Radioactive Metal version of the Grammy Awards. You know, R.A.M...Rammies...Grammies. We're so clever. To the winners, sorry, there's no trophy or place in Metaldom infamy. We basically kick back and share our faves of '25 in th...

Over the years, the legendary Motorhead has been one of the most covered artists in all of Metaldom. But as beloved and influential as they are, Lemmy and The Boys are music fans too. So Motorhead has done their fair share of covers as well. Recently, we celebrated Lemmy's Bday and mourned his passing on the 10th anniversary. So this week we decided to discuss our favorite Motorheaderized cover so...

Obviously, we love doing this show. For so many awesome reasons. One of our negative duties we take upon ourselves is the announcements and dedications for those of our fallen Metal comrades. Now its Year's End and we decided we wanted to dedicate this episode saying "Horns Up" for those who left us. Its a tough listen but well worth it. In our "News, Views and Tunes", we discuss vinyl reissues an...

Metal Forces magazine, the amazing UK tome, is a fave of ours from our teens. They covered all the great underground HM, Thrash/Death and Hardcore outfits. One of their awesome features was the "Penbangers" section. Basically, the pen pal section looking for communication with other readers via the written letter. Some of the ads were pretty entertaining themselves. So this week we figured we'd re...

Corrosion Of Conformity's second full lengther "Animosity" was a benchmark effort. The C.O.C. of today is very different from forty years ago. Along with contemporaries like D.R.I. and The Accused, the then trio helped spearhead the "crossover" scene fans take for granted today. This year this amazing record also turns forty (!). So this week we're featuring it in our "40th Anniversary Album Spotl...

Whenever you're on social media, you get bombarded with memes. A lot of them can be quite annoying. While others like to pose questions and make you think. So lately we've been gathering some questions related to our beloved genre and are taking this opportunity to share our thoughts. Makes for great conversation. Be sure to play along too. In our "News, Views and Tunes",  we discuss the (in)famou...

It's Black Friday! Around here we're really not to concerned about the whole rigamorole. Standing in line at 6am with a bunch of normies for a cheap toaster just isn't our idea of a good time. But Record Store Day is in on it. That's where we come in. It's tradition here at RAM that every RSD and RSD: Black Friday that we go over the list of special releases and share our Most Wanted list. Which r...