Thrash Videos of Varying Levels of Stupidity
I can't top that incredible Confessor video Brian posted a few weeks back. But at least I can post something stupider. Madness Reign (top left) is definitely the dumbest thing I've seen in a while and the finest example of bedroom metalhead parody I've heard. From muttered "sound effects" and cheesy graphics to pointless chugging guitar and malinformed vocals, Madness Reign is like the road trip that Bruce Dickinson, Weird Al and Jandek took together last spring break. I'm also a fan of this guy's dadaist stand up comedy bits - below is a sample. I'd strongly recommend checking out the webpage - he's got 14 (!) albums out and a ton of music videos, all in the same vein and pretty hilarious. Top right is Axemaster's "Slave To The Blade." No explanation necessary.
Madness Reign - Les 26 Caracteres from "Les Divines Jokes Du Diable"
I mentioned this Dum Dum Bullet (bottom left) video before, but it's really hit me how awesome it is. The guitarist is totally great, they've actually got a pretty unique sound and the singer keeps on showing up in different guises throughout the video! The song title is "Hey Mum, Who's The Junk?" Who indeed! Purgatory (bottom right) is the sort of band that makes me wish I owned a car, just so I could blast this shit while driving over the speed limit. Heavy midtempo thrash via Slayer with Iron Maideney fist pumping action. Add a healthy amount of progressive time changes, a bit of falsetto vocals, occasional shredding guitar solo-age and you're JUST under the level of smartness required to be ACTUALLY good. But this was only the beginning of a bright future: vocalist Jeff Hatrix went on to sing for seminal nu-metal giants Mushroomhead. Now that's smarts.
Dum Dum Bullet is pretty good, but I wouldn't say their sound is really all that unique-- just a poorly-recorded low rent Motorhead (right down to the bass player-singer-with mutton-chops).
Posted by: illlich | November 20, 2008 at 02:19 PM
Another classic if I might add:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/06/never-mind-tatu.html
Posted by: BrianTurner | November 20, 2008 at 02:28 PM
Axe Master wins the four way thrash competition!
Watching all four videos at the same time is a stunning visual overload of apocalyptic and mundane imagery!
Posted by: fatty jubbo | November 20, 2008 at 06:23 PM
I do have a car. Where can I get my hands on a copy of that purgatory record?
Posted by: Ace | November 21, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Any more information on Dum Dum bullet? Love em!
Posted by: Dave McMullin | November 21, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Dum Dum Bullet's the winnah (IMO). For more infos on these French "frashers":
1) http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=27864
2) (Uber-collector nerd perspective):
http://www.thecorroseum.com/rev/dumdumbullet.htm
Posted by: RagnarR in SF Bay | November 21, 2008 at 06:29 PM
Hey,
I'm late to reply to this post....
I live in Montreal. The Madness Reign guy is somewhat of a legend here. You either like it or hate it. Usually hate it. He always seem to infiltrate metalhead's conversations.
Have you seen his live set on YouTube? Worth looking at.
I can tell you something though: the guy is dead serious, he's not joking.
I think he's allright but the Jandek influence is way up there (but no metalhead here knows who the heck Jandek is).
Posted by: MG | November 28, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Perfect for the Crazy Mark cable TV show (from MI), a repository of cerebral damage and (mostly) bad music.
Posted by: Me | December 07, 2008 at 08:15 PM