Staff Infections – August 2020

Welcome to another edition of Staff Infections, friends. Unfortunately, it’s still 2020, and 2020 is still piling on the bullshit. If an ongoing global pandemic wasn’t enough to deal with, there was a recent devastating explosion in Beirut, and a derecho—something akin to a land hurricane, I’m told—ripped through the Midwest causing large-scale destruction, particularly in Iowa. If the pandemic doesn’t already have you in dire financial straits and you’d like to help out Beirut and / or Iowa, the following articles have suggestions as to where you might donate.

https://www.bustle.com/life/where-to-donate-to-help-beirut

https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/how-to-help-those-affected-by-the-iowa-derecho

In addition to these disasters, the past month has seen us lose some important names in rock music. Fleetwood Mac’s founder, Peter Green, died July 25th at age 73. Peter wasn’t a metal player by any means, but he was quite a prominent and influential musician in his day, before drug abuse and schizophrenia side-lined him for many years. I wrote a little bit about Peter Green in a Riffology article comparing Fleetwood Mac’s and Judas Priest’s versions of “The Green Manalishi”. Sadly, “The Green Manalishi” brings up another recent death, as Fleetwood Mac’s version of the song was produced by Martin Birch. Birch passed away last week at age 71. Many metal fans will be familiar with Birch’s work, as he produced most of the best albums from Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and Rainbow, as well as Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. Birch also worked as producer and / or engineer with a slew of other big-name rock acts, including Whitesnake, Jeff Beck, Wishbone Ash, Gary Moore and Blue Öyster Cult, to name a few. Finally, Pete Way, founding bassist of UFO, Fastway and Waysted died just days ago at 69. Pete might not have been a household name, but he was a hero to many a budding hard rock and metal bassist for his powerful playing and powerful stage presence. Steve Harris’s early penchant for tight-fitting vertically striped pants was directly inspired by Pete Way, and, to my knowledge, UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” is still played over the PA at every Iron Maiden Concert just before the band takes the stage. Enjoy a clip of Pete tearing it up with UFO below.

Now that we’ve finished the death and destruction portions of our program, let’s get to what the staff has been listening to over the past month or so. Captain and Megan made a hard push for Boris and Death, respectively, but they only had enough help to get each band into a tie for second place: Boris with its fifth album, 2003’s Akuma No Uta, and Death with 1993’s Individual Thought Patterns. First Place, however, belongs to High Spirits’ latest album, Hard to Stop. If there was ever a time when some uplifting hard rock would be welcome, I reckon 2020 is that time. Ryan Tysinger has the dirt on Hard to Stop here.

Be sure to share your own playlist in the comments. And while your at it, check out the staff-curated Spotify playlist embedded below. Until next month… Well, let’s just hope better days are ahead.

• Andrew Edmunds
  King Crimson – Starless And Bible Black (Steven Wilson Remix)
  Riot – Thundersteel
  Fates Warning – Parallels
  Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime
  Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time
  Dropdead – Dropdead (but which one?)
• Zach Duvall
  The Cult – Hidden City
  Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
  Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner
  Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
  Boris – Akuma No Uta
  Ningen Isu – Rashoumon
• Danhammer Obstkrieg
  Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
  Septic Flesh – Revolution DNA
  Incantation – Sect of Vile Divinities
  Life – Ossification of Coral
  Covenant – Nexus Polaris
  The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
• Ryan Tysinger
  Havukruunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
  Death – Individual Thought Patterns
  Siege Column – Darkside Legions
  High Spirits – Hard to Stop
  Uriah Heep – Demons & Wizards
  King Diamond – The Eye
• Manny-O-War
  Dropdead – Dropdead (2020)
  Westside Gunn – Pray for Paris
  Choir Boy – Gathering Swans
  Necrot – Mortal
  Bootblacks – Thin Skies
  Eric B & Rakim – Don’t Sweat the Technique
• Captain
  Boris – Amplifier Worship
  Boris – Pink
  Boris – Akuma No Uta
  Boris – Flood
  Boris – LOVE & EVOL
  Boris – Feedbacker
• Fetusghost
  Ixian – The Reasonablist
  Vous Autres – Champ du Sang
  King Buffalo – Dead Star
  Judicator – Let There Be Nothing
  sunnata – Outlands
  Fluisteraars – Bloem
• Lone Watie
  High Spirits – Hard to Stop
  Opus V – Universe of Truths
  Black Thunder – La Fine Creata
  Tiger Moth Tales – Still Alive/A Visit to Rockfield
  Logos – Sadako e le Mille Gru di Carta
  Mulatu Astatke + Black Jesus Experience – To Know Without Knowing
• Dave Pirtle
  High Spirits – Hard to Stop
  Primal Fear – Metal Commando
  Huey Lewis and the News – Hard at Play
  Clawfinger – Use Your Brain
  Rats Will Feast – Songs of a Racehorse
  Warkings – Revenge
• Spencer Hotz
  Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
  Faceless Burial – Speciation
  Incantation – Mortal Throne of Nazarene
  Incantation – Primordial Domination
  Meshuggah – Koloss
  Meshuggah – Chaosphere
• Megan Astrael
  Death – The Sound of Perseverance
  Death – Symbolic
  Death – Individual Thought Patterns
  Death – Human
  Death – Leprosy
  Death – Scream Bloody Gore
• Jeremy Morse
  Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
  Van Halen – Fair Warning
  UFO – Strangers in the Night
  Nile – Black Seeds of Vengeance
  Exhumed – Death Revenge
  Sam Black Church – Sam Black Church

Posted by Jeremy Morse

Riffs or GTFO.

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