Feb 22 2009
Metal Monday - Toxicity
In the late 90’s, there were a lot of really bad nu-metal bands that came out, as well as some really good new metal bands. Unfortunately, some of the good ones fell through my cracks until much later since at the time I was way too much of an indie rock dork to acknowledge my metal roots. Years after they came onto the scene, I kept hearing System of a Down songs on the radio without realizing who it was and I really liked them. It’s metal with a lot of crazy time signatures and switching around from grinding and thrashing to melodic and harmonic. And the lyrics were a bit more heady than a lot of what was coming out at the time, political without being quite as heavy handed about it as say Rage Against the Machine. They’re also very LA, but not like the hair metal bands coming out of LA in the 80’s. No, they’re like the guys who grew up there watching people move there with their hopes and dreams of fame and fortune, only to wind up beaten and broken. They disbanded a couple years ago and their singer has a solo album which doesn’t quite do it for me like SOAD did. So here’s Toxicity for your metal monday listening pleasure.
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This is one of my fave songs by SOAD!
Great pick!! I agree with you that they can be melodic and harmonic as well as grinding and thrashing!
Excellent choice! Love it!
I saw SOAD live open up for Slayer and Clutch in 1997 or 1998. My first impression of them when they were on stage was that they were absolutely horrible. It wasn’t until a few years later when this album came out that I started to dog some of their stuff. This is the only album that I truly like, although there are a few songs off of their other albums that I dig. I can honestly say that I don’t miss this band, but with the failure in popularity of their solo acts, they’re bound to have a reunion soon.
Somebody did a cover of this song where every word was replaced by “baba booey.” It’s quite possibly the best baba booey song ever. Check it out, right around the 6 minute mark of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRj46Ui3srk
Powerslave, great handle and great blog you’ve got there! I’ve always been a Maiden fan, and when I started taking bass playing seriously and paid closer attention to Steve Harris, I became an even bigger fan.
As far as SOAD go, I really like the first two albums a lot and a few later songs here and there.
That should say Dig” not “Dog” up there. Oops. Maiden isn’t like my most favorite band but I do love them and I just can not wait for yet another best of compilation (kidding).
Steve Harris is a bass god! While there are other bass players out there that do some amazing things, he has the passion in the music that holds Maiden together.
I figured that. They definitely put out a few too many compilations, though I think that’s more the doing of the record companies than the band. Did you know Steve Harris has his own signature set of rotosound strings? They’re super heavy flatwounds. I would try them, but my bass is short scale and these only come in long.
I’ve been thinking about stinging up my LTD with Flatwound. I’ve used flatwound on a regular electric before. They take some getting used to and they kind of sound a bit different. The string I have on there are only a few months old so they still have plenty of time left in them as seldom as I play and as expensive as Bass string are.
I’ve got medium flats on my Applause acoustic/electric bass and really medium light rounds on my Fender Musicmaster. I think I might like to experiment with some heavier gauge flats on the Fender, though I wonder if that would require a full setup. In theory, I’d like a really deep and warm tone with lots of thump, but I’m a bit wary of playing with such high string tension. And yeah, those things are not cheap, so experimenting with a bunch of different kinds of strings and setups is not really an option.
Warmer, that’s the best way to explain the sound. On Bass guitar thats what most go for. I think when I had them on my Les Paul (Epiphone) I had heavy gauge. I don’t go heavy anymore on electric. I recently bought a 7 string that I’m playing around with but I don’t care for how muddy the low b sounds. I’m thinking about dropping in a hotrail style pickup to brighten up that sound a bit.
I have a Line 6 LD 150 for my bass. I love that amp because it has modeling built in and I like playing around with the heavy distortion and powerchords on bass. That thing rattles the hell out of the house.