DutyCast Episode 27: The Duty Lives!

We're back, and with our most musics-filled episode yet! Matt and Devon have lots of new tunes to play for ya, great stuff like:

• Goatwhore, DevilDriver, and new Alice in new Chains.
• Judas Priest tours on British Steel and delivers their finest encore yet.
• Creed's Mark Tremonti is secretly br00tal.
• Best Queens lineup yet?
• A List o' Top sure to keep ya live 'n kickin'...and
• A Whatcha Listenin' To that's both super scary and super-duper!

Listen now:

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Queens of the Zep Fighters

Ummmm.... fuck yes! As much as Patton + Homme sounds amazing, this lineup is as good as it gets for me as a music fan. JPJ supplies the tastiest of bass in yer face, Grohl a sideman extraordinaire, and everything Josh touches is mighty.

Now, normally with all these projects goin' on I'd be worried when a new Queens record would materialize. But this shit has the potential to be so Heavy Duty, I don't care if these guys ever get back to their main gigs.

S Is For SLLAAAAYYYYYYERRRRR!

Just when I thought Early Man couldn't get any cooler, Early Mike posts this video on his blog. Fucking awesome.

DutyCast Episode 26: Brother, Can You Spare Dime?

Not everyone died this week! Matt and Dev are back and ready to dive in. This episode:

• We get into some serious dead duty.
• Patton + Homme = holy shit.
• Slayer's new song titles are dissected.
• Goatwhore carves out a new album.
• Pantera keeps getting heavier.
• The suckiest top six we've ever done.

Enjoy:

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The Face That Launched a Thousand....ummmm....

The photo so great even Dylan wrote a tune about it! Salut, Farrah, you kept many a budding used-ta-duder warm on them cold junior high nights.

Michael Jackson, We Hardly Knew Ye

Here's hoping there's rhinestone socks and an FAO Schwarz in heaven.

DutyCast Episode 25: Shirt Happens

To celebrate the DutyCast's silver anniversary, we've come to talk about t-shirts! What we like, what we don't, and what rock tees we rocked as teens. Cool! Also on this episode:

• Travis Larson Band comes to town, this time with gifts!
• Anthrax snags a slot on Slipknot tour.
• Helmet axe-man learns ya on some Joe Pass-style licks.
• Priest promises a British Steel live DVD, threatens Nostradamus performance.
• We rank the six non-shirt merch items we've owned, and...
• I Spy Kerry King, sez Sr. Timmons.

Enjoy!

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The Duty's Top Ten Metallica Songs

Yesterday Duty hero Early Mike posted his ten favorite Metallica songs on his faboulous blog Whiplash. Being the fanboy I am I had to post a response. First up here is Mike's list:

10. Dyer's Eve - Lyrically my favorite Metallica song.
9. Fight Fire With Fire - The most genius verse vocal pattern ever of all time.
8. Seek and Destroy - How can the opening riff to a song possibly be this strong????
7. Whiplash - Best song to hear when wasted at a bar EVER. I will kill you.
6. For Whom The Bell Tolls - This jam proves its not always about speed. Very important.
5. The Thing That Should Not Be - Pure evil on every level.
4. Shortest Straw - Chorus vocal pattern with backing vocals (shortest straaaaaaw!) un-fuck-withable.
3. Master Of Puppets - It's overexposed but still every time I hear it I want to punch babies.
2. Ride The Lightning - As far a straight riffing goes, the ones in this jam are my faves.
1. The Four Horsemen - The guitar break at the 2 minute mark is why I started playing.

And now mine:

10. No Remorse - Always wanted to do a stoner-rock version of this one.
9. All Nightmare Long - 'Bout time they wrote another song that sounds evil.
8. My Friend Of Misery - Cowbell on the chorus. 'Nuff said.
7. Fight Fire With Fire - Fastest riff of all time.
6. The Outlaw Torn - I love the jam outro. Epic shit.
5. Wherever I May Roam - The first 'Tallica song I got into. Still kills live.
4. Dyer's Eve - Brutal thrash at its best.
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls - My favorite song to play on the drums.
2. Damage Inc. - Fuck it all and fuckin' no regrets.
1. Blackened - When they rip into the intro riff with half-time drums after the solo it is the finest metal moment of all time.

So how about you guys? Lets hear from you in the comments.

Enter the DutyDome: Years of No Light VS "The Years Without Light"

Welcome to a potentially new feature for The Heavy Duty -- The DutyDome! You know the drill: two things enter, one thing leaves, and no dirty pool allowed. Here's our contenders:

Years of No Light: France's entry into the Pelican/Minsk/Isis/Baroness/Mouth of the Architect/Giant Squid post-metal genre.




...up against...

"The Years Without Light": Fifth track on GWAR's Scumdogs of the Universe.


Leave us some comments and let us know what ya think.

DutyCast Episode 24: Torture Is Metal

When it comes to bringin' the heavy metal thunder even Jack Bauer couldn't stop us! This week:

• We riff on band chemistry.
• Faith No More returns with a great setlist.
• England's loudest band gives us something funky.
• Down ceases to be a side project for all involved.
• We pick our Heavy Duty house band for the List 'O Top.
• Crimson Ghosts and White Rhino creep into our playlists.

Listen now:

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Time For Some Saviours

I just finished listening to the super fantastic Into Abaddon, the 2008 release by Bay Area gruff metal band Saviours and it got me thinking, holy shit, we've never done a proper Duty on these guys! So here ya go:

Now if you remember last year's "Breast Of," then you'll also remember how we called Saviours "Oakland's The Sword" since the band's sound is equal parts tough guy 'tude, Matt Pike screaming, and uber-heavy Guitar Hero riffin'. I gotta say that I still stand by that statement, and after this morning's listening session, I still love the record's galloping guitarwork, netherworldly brimstoned lyrics, and good-natured thievin' of some "Am I Evil?" arrangements. I mostly just like that Into Abaddon is some great heavy metal, the type of thing that slipped under everyone's radar but totally fits the mood whether you're feelin' some High on Fire burliness or Exodus-style fist-pumpin'.

I also think it sounds great in the car.

So do yerself a favor and check out this bike-tastic video for "Narcotic Sea." Then ring us on the Duty phone so we can make plans to catch Saviours and Skeletonwitch on next month's "Stone Dead for Summer Tour." First round on us!

Tourdates:

7/9 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
7/10 Portland, OR @ Satyricon
7/11 Berkeley, CA @ 924 Gilman St.
7/12 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
7/13 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brew
7/14 Fresno, CA @ Starline
7/15 Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
7/16 Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
7/17 San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe
7/18 Phoenix, AZ @ The Phix w/ Landmine Marathon
7/20 Austin, TX @ Emo's
7/21 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
7/22 Little Rock, AR @ Vino's
7/23 Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
7/24 St. Louis, MO @ Firebird

DutyCast Episode 23: Riffin' Ain't Easy

Howdy folks! This week The DutyCast brings you all the metal news that's fit to print talk about on the show!

• Pearl Jam gets a new Target.
• Ratt and Extreme team up to amplify the irrelevance.
• Nile and Fu Manchu go back into the studio and the world rejoices.
• Oderus Urungus enters the squared-circle.
• We give everyone a head start naming their metal bands.
• Another Deep Band Cut from Dev and Matt still loves him some Kyuss.

Listen now:

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DutyCast Episode 22: Catch This!

With the mercury hittin' the big eight-four, it's time to take off yer shirt, crack a Michelob, sit back and listen as we reveal our official Band For Yo Summer 2009! Cool! Also:

• We judge the scariness of Slayer's new album title.
• New tunes from Killswitch Engage and Job For a Cowboy.
• Hey, we know nuthin' 'bout The Cult. Do yooouuuu?
• A List o' Top so great Matt trips over his own tongue.
• We get hot n' nasty talkin' 'bout Black Oak.

Listen and enjoy:

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Ham It Down

After I found out that we weren't getting this summer's British Steel era reviving Judas Priest tour I had a serious case of the Bummer Duty. The Dutiest band not assaultin' the Pacific Northwest with a rejuvenated Coverdale and Co? Fuck that. Adding insult to injury is the fact that they're playing the goddamn podunk Midstate Fair in SLO county, where Dev and I grew up long ago. The Fair? Whole Lee Shit. Nothing goes better with classic metal than pig shit, fat chicks in sweaty tube tops, and deep fried everything.

So what's a Priest-o-phile to do when we ain't getting any in person live action? Well, how about a cobbled together live album to make up for Nostradamus' shitty sales? You got it:

1. Judas Rising
2. Hellrider
3. Between The Hammer & The Anvil
4. Riding On The Wind
5. Death
6. Beyond The Realms Of Death
7. Dissident Aggressor
8. A Touch Of Evil
9. Eat Me Alive
10. Prophecy
11. Painkiller

Well, I'll never turn down a live album, and this has got some rarer cuts on it to entice the fans who have everything. Shit, they know us all too well. I guess I'll just eat it up like a pig in slop.

DutyCast Episode 21: Doublin' Down on Death

Time for another Heavy DutyCast, this time with extra learnin'! This week:

• A heartfelt apology to Pops Duty.
• We introduce "Ask Heavy Duty" and break down metal's most extremest sub-genres.
• Godsmack promises the heavy.
• Devildriver brings the heavy.
• Huh, we defend Blink 182?
• And a List o' Top that'll do Eddie Money proud.

And keep your ears peeled as Devon takes a disastrous turn off-script!

Listen now.

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More Like All Shall NOT Fail

Immortal aren't only Norway's frostiest band, they're also the Dutiest band around! I totally love these guys with their panda-aping face paint, frostilicously demonic lyrics, and awful guitar-toned thrash-metal breakdowns, which is why I'm totally super fucking excited about their new album. Looks like Immortal'll have a brand new record out this fall called All Shall Fail! Hell Helvete yeah! Looks like we'll have a great new soundtrack to this winter's impending Northwestern Darkness, and I for one can't wait.

Here's a clip of the band doin' "One By One," the lead off track from their 2002 album at last year's Graspop Metal Festival. Enjoy!

The Duty's Live Evil: Gojira!

Gojira/The Chariot/Car Bomb/Book of Black Earth

El Corazon, Seattle
May 18, 2009


Now you podcast listeners already know how much I love French metallers Gojira, about how 2006's From Mars to Sirius goaded me to check out tons of other great extreme metal acts, and about how The Way of All Flesh gets exponentially better each 'n every time I listen to it, right? So chances are you're also already prepared to hear me say how fucking killer and face-slayin' Gojira's hour-plus headlining slot was so I don't need to spend too much time on that.

What I do wanna spend some time on is how great it was to see the Corazon completely packed with metalheads of all shapes 'n sizes, all of whom came out to see Gojira and Gojira only, who jumped up and down and circle-pitted their way through every single song of the night, and who all knew they'd waited far too long to see these guys headline their own tour and completely tear the place down. I woulda been excited just to see the band rock the hell out of "Backbone" and "Ocean Planet" regardless of who was standing next to me, but seeing a guy in an Entombed baseball tee next to a kid in woman's pants next to a thirty-something used-ta-duder with a power gut and mortgage bill made me love the band even more than I already did, and that's something I didn't think could happen.

I also liked how Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier dished out some ultra-nice-boy stage raps about Greenpeace before launching into a brutally heavy song where he'd run across the stage and headbang face sweat into the front row, how merch problems had the band spray-paintin' shirts minutes before showtime, and how the guys had a tenth as much gear as the opening bands and yet sounded a hundred times better.

So the whole night, what'd it mean to the Duty? Easy! Great band. Great live show. Great songs. I went in knowing how I thought Gojira was a life-changing band in it for the long haul, but I left confident that any- and everyone who likes heavy music now or liked it in the past or who doesn't like it at all should pick up the Gojira catalog and turn it up loud 'cause it's just that good.

Here's some super-shaky fan-footage of "Clone," a song from the band's debut album Terra Incognita. Although I never ever listen to this one, it turned out being my favorite song of the night.

The Sunday Cool Down Shuffle: Time To Go To Bed

This is a feature post for the Duty, known as The Sunday Cool Down Shuffle. We load up the iTunes, hit shuffle, and write about the first 10 songs that come up no matter what. Got it?

10. "I'm The One" - Black Flag - Almost as good as Van Halen's "I'm The One."

9. "Allen's Wrench" - Kyuss - Puntastic.

8. "Fix It" - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - My favorite Sensitive Duty.

7. "Neurotica" - Meshuggah - Saw them live three months ago and I have no idea if they played this song.

6. "Badlands" - Genghis Tron - Now we gotta listen to some Jake E. Lee.

5. "Spook City, USA" - Misfits - Sweet bass tonage.

4. "1000 MPH" - Witch - I want to like this more than I do.

3. "Wurkin'" - Fu Manchu - I think the Fu have been on every Cool Down.

2. "To Young To Know" - UFO - I loved the Schenker cameo in Anvil: The Movie.

1. "A Friend's Place" - Isaac Hayes - Oooooh a little Sensual Duty to play us out.

DutyCast Episode 20: Cover to Cover

Matt and Devon are back this week with an extra loopy edition of the 'cast. Fueled by post-surgery painkillers and Folgers' drip, we get into some our trademark ramblin' on such great topics as:

• The 'cast turns 20 while we celebrate a 17 year bromance.
• If dudes talking music is so fun, how 'bout when bands do it?
• Chickenfoot? More like Chicken-Fiasco!
• Early Man starts an Early Blog.
• Bob Daisley finally gets his due.
• Sepultura haunts our heavy metal memories.

Listen now:

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With (Out) Teeth

I got all four wisdom teeth pulled out yesterday. As much as I think I'm a bad-ass and the show must go on and such, Dev and I are going to postpone recording Episode 20 until tomorrow. Hopefully then I won't sound like I'm doing a bad Vito Corleone impression. Until then, enjoy this:

It's All Duty To Me

It began 3 years ago today, and I'm surprised, excited, and a little hungry that I'm writing this post. I started this little blog just to do something creative every day, and spread my love of heavy metal all over the internets. Since that day I've come close to posting everyday, not posted for months, got Dev to co-write this shit, almost quit doing it altogether, and started a podcast.

If you are new here, awesome! Read some old stories in the archives and have a good time. There's three years of wacky for you to pour through. If you are a Duty Disciple, thank you for sticking around. Let's keep it going, and always heavy duty.

DutyCast Episode 19: Duty on Duty

Holy shit! The DutyCast is back with our best episode yet! Matt and Devon shoot the shit on metal on film, hot music news, and oh so much more. This week:

• Movie trailers used to be cool, maaaan.
• We dissect the new Anvil documentary so you don't have to.
• The Scumdogs are back, and this time in spaaaaaaaace!
• Anthrax reaches out and touches someone.
• We don't need an excuse to go see more shows, but here's a List o' Top full of 'em.
• Close out with Booth on Gojira and Timmons looped out on mighty riffs.

Listen now:

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Sunday Cool Down Shuffle: Special Time to Clean Up the iTunes Edition

This is a feature post for the Duty, known as The Sunday Cool Down Shuffle. We load up the iTunes, hit shuffle, and write about the first 10 songs that come up no matter what. Got it?


1. "Disgruntled Reporter" - Mojack - Greg Ginn project, this time with saxophone! Shuffle loves "treating" me to Greg's guitar stranglin'.

2. "On My Way to the Cage" - Rollins Band - First Ginn and now Rollins? What's next, the Chuck Dukowski Sextet?

3. "Sisters" - Deep Wound - This death metal book says Napalm Death played fast 'cause of Deep Wound. Guess that means we have Grandma Mascis to thank for Dying Fetus and Pig Destroyer.

4. "Are You There?" - Mono - The soundtrack to a night spent alone.

5. "Fighting My Way Back" - Thin Lizzy - Hell yeah! I'm back in the game now, suckas. Lizzy rocks so hard you forget all the songs are ballads.

6. "Dai the Flu" - Deftones - When I taped Around the Fur in '98 I wrote this song title as "Dad the Flu."

7. "Big Train" - Mike Watt - It's funny how much I got into Watt before hearing his music. Flannels go a long way, my friends. A long way.

8. "10, 000 Days (Wings Part 2)" - Tool - I like talkin' shit on Tool and Maynard, but they ain't all bad.

9. "Island 5" - G.Blaster - Droney guitar from Steve Smith, close personal friend of the Duty. Before I met Steve I listened to Danzig and Priest and after I met Steve I listened to Rollins and Built to Spill. But years and years later I got into all the ambient post-rock stuff he'd told me about when we were 20. Thanks, dude!

10. "Universal Corner" - X - Thank for sending us out with something rocking, Shuffle. Tunes like this make me wish I had a car to work on.