Ol' Dirty Bastard, the film. Wu-Tang Free Styles

As some of you may have heard, Michael K. Williams will be playing Ol' Dirty Bastard in an upcoming documentary about the late ODB and his manager, Jarred Weisfeld.  Those who may not know Williams by his real name will know him by Omar from HBO's The Wire.  This should be exciting as anything involving either of these guys is always good.

To celebrate, here are two Wu-Tang Clan free-style sessions.

Protect Yo' Neck

Altamont/Acid King (Split)

It's funny but not surprising that these two bands made a split.  Dale Crover and Lori S were married at the time (!), and both bands shared drummer Joey Osbourne.  Why they just didn't create a whole new band is beyond me.  Back in high school I thought that Joey was Buzz's brother, or some kind of relative.  After doing actual research, my dumb theory was proven wrong.  Wouldn't that have been cool though? 

Here

Weakling 1998 Demo Tape.

If Dead As Dreams left you wanting more, here are come recordings from a 1998 practice.  I know there's another 1998 demo/practice tape floating around.  This version has a slightly alternate, shorter take of 'This Entire Fucking Battlefield'.  The recording quality on these three songs are a bit sharper than the other demo.   Based on how iTunes files these songs, there's suppose to be five songs total, but I was only given three.  Regardless, this is a great demo to have handy.

Here

No Anaethesia

The music output of Finland is a funny one.  Their metal exports vary from booze-fueled 'folk' metal, funeral doom and any kind of metal death/thrash/power metal.  In short, they're all over the board when it comes to metal.  But back in the 90s while Amorphis (and eventually Children of Bodom) was running the show for the most part, there was a band called Stone.  Stone was probably Finland's sole 'thrash' export, and quite a head of their time.

No Anaethsia, the band's second effort, came during a particular time, when thrash was on the way out, and Death Metal and the whole melodic thing was slowly taking over Europe, and eventually turning in the Gothenburg sound.  Looking back at this album played a major role in the melodic death and 'thrash' sounds that would come from the Norther European bands during the 90s (namely the Gothenburg sound) and early 2000s.  And why not?  It's the speed, finesse and technical prowess that has been the staple of Northern European Metal for over 20 years now.  They seem more concerned with song writing than speed and pure agression.  Which isn't to say this album lacks any of that.  Calling this album Thrash would be walking the grey line.  Finns, Swedes for that matter, are definitely good at place melodic elements into anything and making it sound good.  The late 80s and 90s were a good time for music like this.

If you're vision of Finnish metal has been tainted by recent exports, give this album a chance and you'll be rethinking things.

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Paranoid Times

With the current political climate; apes trying to gain control of the United Sates, this album seemed more than appropriate.  The San Pedro trio's debut.  This album says more in under 7 minutes than most albums with any kind of message.  It's shaky and agressive.  It's the truest musical personification of paranoia that I could ever think of.  Easily one of my favorite albums.

I edited the album so that it's all one track so the albums effect would seem more relentless.  If you cannot listen to six and half minutes of music in one sitting, then this is not for you.

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