Radioactive Metal

The annual Montreal black metal festival Messe De Morte is in the books. We never made it out to La Belle Province ourselves, but it's a yearly trek for our good bud and sister show Wrestling Night in Canada co-host "Ducky" Dustin Maruca.   So this week we sat Mr. Maruca in the hotseat to the get the 411 on the fest. We go over the line up, the highs and lows and and the presence of Antifa (!). We...

Remember when you were a kid and you hated brussel sprouts? As you got older, your palette may change and evolve to where those evil little veggies may not taste so bad. The same can be said for musical tastes. Particularly towards specific artists or even entire subgenres.   We all have those specific bands that really didn't turn our crank at the time. But now you find yourself front row centre....

Dec. 6th is the last Bandcamp Friday of the year .   One Friday a month, Bandcamp relinquishes their cut of all the sales on the site. Effectively giving the artists 100% of the profits. We've been big supporters of BCF for years now. So this week we figured we'd throw out some of our recommends to add to your collection. But don't just take our suggestions. Run, don't walk, to Bandcamp right now....

It's no exaggeration when we state that we grew up in record stores. From our early teens right up to this writing, we had a variety of shops that were/are our homes away from home.   These hallowed halls come with a variety of memories you just don't get with streaming. So this week we figured we'd give these cherished shops a "Horns Up" and share some memories. For instance, some of the cool alb...

We admit it. We're old.   Actually, we prefer "music veterans". We're veteran enough to have consumed out music on all three physical media formats - vinyl, cassette and CD (and even a few 8 tracks lol). So with these formats we have a number of special albums that we shelled out for all three. Generally the lineage would be from vinyl to cass. to CD. But of course there's no tried and true formul...

We here at RAM have always been vinyl conisseurs. But more and more people are discovering the joys of vinyl. It's really heartwarming when we see the youth of today (that was totally intentional lol) digging thru the racks. That means there's a lot of fertile minds that we feel, as veterans, should be doing our part to enlighten. Vinyl records have basic terminologies every collector should know....

The passing of ex-Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno was the major topic on the hearts and minds of Metal Heads the world over. Mr. Di'Anno wasn't just a great artist, he was a frontrunner and influence on an entire generation. So it's only appropriate we dedicate our discussion segment to this legend.   We go over how we first discovered The Man. Our fave tunes. And where we think he would be haun...

Happy Halloween! We love this time of year. But not only for all the spooky season goodness. Our annual Halloween episode is always a barnburner. For the festivities this year we test Aaron's horror film knowledge with an appropriate number of 13 trivia questions. We also pose the question "Would you buy any records from a serial killer's collection?" And of course, we discuss the Ozzy HOF inducti...

Love it or hate it, "Hair" Metal is always an interesting topic. Often the subject of ridicule from more modern fans, the impact the subgenre has had on music as a whole cannot be denied. So when Paramount+ dropped the new docuseries "Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of 80s Hair Metal", we jumped right on it.   We go over all three episodes. But not with a fine toothed comb, of course...

Halloween isn't just about collecting candy and cringy Wednesday costumes. Music plays a big part of the spooky season.   Whether it's awesome horror film soundtracks or horror related guitar rock n roll, music provides the perfect atmosphere sounds for your October. But over the years we've noticed some people's idea of "Halloween" music doesn't quite cut a drunken teenager at Summer camp. So thi...

Dec. 31, 1973, in the wilds of Australia, the legendary AC/DC played their very first gig. Effectively making 2024 their 50th (!!) anniversary.   So obviously this is a big f'n deal. So we decided to give Angus and the Boys some time in our "Spotlight" episode. We go over some of our fave songs and albums, how we discovered the band and the (non) controversies. And of course the age old question -...

We now return to our regular programming.   The legendary Iron Maiden are one of the greatest musical artists of all time. And the 80s is where they reigned supreme. Not just on the live front where they still do. But on the record racks as well.   "Powerslave" was the epitome of 80s Maiden. And it recently celebrated its 40th anniversary! So it's a great time to feature this awesome album in our...

We just lost one of the greats in one James Earl Jones.   It's true doing a deep dive about a legendary actor is a bit out of our format. But we figured "Why not? Let's embrace our geekhood and pay tribute to a man that has a large following in Metaldom."   Unfortunately, Aaron could not join us this week. So we brought in a couple ringers. Matt Copper is no stranger to the show. We've had him on...

Break out your poison of choice! Welcome to Episode 8 fn hundred! It's time to celebrate!!   When we first went "on the air", nobody really knew what a podcast was. And now we remain one of the longest podcasts, Metal or otherwise. So this time we decided to sit back and relax and shoot the shite'. And of course, crank a fistful of Metal.   We discuss Jason Newstead's reverb shop , some cool flix...

Our series on those amazing albums celebrating their 40th anniversary continues. Legendary hardcore/punks Black Flag had a productive '84, releasing three full lengthers. Probably the most renowned is "Slip It In". So we tapped this classic album for a deep dive. We go track by track and share as much info and opinions as possible. Particularly, "the bars" and tattoos. We learn that one of our coh...

As music connoisseurs, we all have those past gigs we wish we would've caught. We were either to young or the venue was on the other side of the globe. Either way we'd all like to jump into Doc Brown's DeLorean and live those magical moments.   How 'bout the Ramones at CBGBs? Or KISS in the 70s? Or how about a little band called Mantas during the demo days? Musical Nirvana for sure. Which gig did...

Our coverage of amazing albums celebrating their 40th anniversary continues.   70s glam rockers Slade were over big in the UK/Europe, but it wasn't until the "Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply" album that Noddy and the Boyz breakthrough on the side of the pond. It's been a favorite of ours since the get go. To celebrate we're giving the record a track -by-track going over, and throwing in a bit...

Canadian legends Rush are obviously huge around the RAM offices. And our own Aaron is a badass bassist as well. So of course we both got sucked right into the Paramount + mini series "Geddy Lee Asks 'Are Bass Players People Too' ". The bassist extraordinaire spends time with four major music movers and shakers that strum the four strings. The program sent our imaginations into overdrive. This week...

Pop culture figures venturing into the Music World is hit and miss. Legendary actor Christopher Lee hit it out of the park. While Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy - not so much. Once again a casual point in conversation inspired this week's discussion. And we came up with our own athletes, actors, etc that we'd like to see take a shot at Metaldom. Elvira doing a Goth project? Or even Samuel L. Jackso...

It's no secret that we love music related documentaries. It's always interesting when the talking heads get their brains picked on an equally interesting subject. One particular doc that has gotten attention is the "Records Collecting Dust" and it's sequel. Being vinyl fanatics, it's so cool diving into some our fave artists record collections with them. These amazing docs have inspired us to do o...

On the live front, the front person has arguably the most important job. As the voice, they're basically running the show. Over the years, Metaldom has had so many awesome performers filling that position. And we all have our faves. Then week we gave ourselves the Herculean task of whittling down our choices to a mere ten. What are some of your faves?   In our "News, Views and  Tunes", we talk "Gh...

The classic album "Stay Hungry" from the legendary Twisted Sister is one of Metaldom's most celebrated efforts. The singles spoke to us. Some songs creeped us out. Most importantly, it scared the hell out of the non-believers that needed the fright. It also turns 40 this year! So we gave it the deep dive treatment in our continuing '84 Anniversary albums. We go over how we discovered this platter,...

We all love Metallica here in the RAM offices. But those first four 80s albums was when our fandom burned brightest. And depending on the day, Record #2 "Ride The Lightning" is one of our faves. The combination of brutal thrash, brilliant musicianship and songwriting and bombastic attitude also makes it one of the more influential underground albums of the day. And this amazing slab 'o wax turns 4...

Last episode during our conversation about Yngwie Malmsteen's ripping debut, we causally mentioned the classic G3 tour. The G3 was a triple threat attack feat. Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. It's a concept that had musical affianiodoes all abuzz. So we figured we'd share some of our fantasy G3s. Not only more traditional, but multiple subgenres as well. Which three axeslingers would you...

'84 saw the solo effort from axe virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. "Rising Force" is an appropriate moniker as the record took the Metal World by storm. Not to mention it was kind of a trailblazing release. The 80's was definitely the era of the flamboyant frontman. But Malmsteen chose to let the music do the talking...literally. So this week we go through this musician's musician album. And Unleash The...