Recap by Randy Metalwulf: So, early on in the broadcast Joe pointed out that I was wearing some form of bio-mechanical device. As much as I’d like to say it was something cool like that, it was really just a knee brace. Yep, been having some complications in recent weeks, and things came to a head when I got out of bed one morning and couldn’t stand up straight. As a matter of fact, the pain was so intense that I’m sure the neighbors heard me when I screamed...
As of this writing, I can confirm that it is a badly torn meniscus in conjunction with some floating debris in the knee joint that is most likely pieces of cartilage. Surgery is pending, and doesn’t sound like it’s going to be overly extensive or invasive. Keepin’ my fingers crossed!
Of course, Joe seemed to think that all of this was a result of Azkath beating me for smoking at Metal Fest, but my knees weren’t subject to any of that.
Speaking of Azkath, he has his own theories as to what’s wrong with my knee...as in, nothing is wrong with my knee. Yep, he seems to think that I’m making this all up to avoid my Three Stages Of Hell Death Match with Jeffie, which was originally planned to coincide with Joe’s birthday. This isn’t even remotely true, of course, but I can’t seem to get that through his head. In fact, Jeffie is convinced that I’m chickening out, which is completely laughable. I’m not afraid of that goof at all! In fact, I’ve been concocting all kinds of fun things for him to endure when he has to become my man-servant for a month. All of that is just going to have to wait until I’ve healed, that’s all there is to it. That death match is a go...just at a later date.
We confirmed that Josh is still a fainting goat when it comes to getting tickled, although he seems to have become a bit more resilient over the past couple years. In fact, I’m pretty sure this time he was able to stay seated, where before he’d just stiffen up and topple to the ground.
Joe had asked what happened to Nathan, who we hadn’t seen since Metal Fest, where he was running the sound board for the show. He even suggested that we take a road trip to kidnap him, but Nathan lives in Moravia, which is a tiny bit of a stretch from where we record. It was, however, suggested that if Joe wanted to make the trip, I should ride along and record it for posterity. I honestly didn’t think it was too terrible an idea, I’m sure it would have been worth more than a few laughs. Part road-trip buddy-flick, part docu-comedy, part...oh, who the hell knows how it would pan out. Truth is, Joe didn’t like the idea at all, so it didn’t happen.
The evening began coming to a close as Azkath shared a recent Tab story. Basically, it was Memorial Day weekend, and he couldn’t find Tab anywhere, literally having to make a trip to Canandaigua to pick up the last few cases they had in stock.
I shouldn’t have to describe where the night went from there, but I will...
Joe mysteriously disappeared after discovering that Azkath had Tab on the premises. He wasn’t gone long, only about five minutes, but something was kinda fishy. Our suspicions were confirmed when Azkath stated that Joe’s truck was full of empty Tab cans. Now, you may ask yourself how much Tab can a person possibly drink in five minutes. In Joe’s case, the answer would be approximately four cases. And, if you think back to late last fall, you’ll remember that Joe got ridiculously ill from chugging just two 2-liter bottles of Tab, swearing that he only got sick because it was leftover from 1978 or so. I mean, Joe puked EVERYWHERE that night, it was nightmarish.
Now...imagine what it would have been like when Joe started projectile vomiting four cases of Tab. And then imagine being the only target who can’t move out of the way fast enough because his knee sucks...

Started the night on a sad note, as we kicked the show off with three Megadeth tracks in honor of the late Nick Menza. Nick suffered a heart attack in L.A. while performing with his current band, Ohm, effectively checking out while doing what he loved. Menza played drums on four Megadeth albums, starting with 1990’s Rust In Peace and continuing on through Countdown To Extinction, Youthanasia, and Cryptic Writings. The Mustaine / Ellefson / Menza / Friedman era is widely considered the best Megadeth lineup, not that the band has ever suffered from a lack of talent. Nick was incredibly talented, and will be sorely missed.

This week was the first where the weather was suitable for setting up and recording outside. Honestly, we’d gotten off easy this past winter, but spring seemed to be dragging it’s feet a bit. Now, I’m happy to say that spring has absolutely sprung, and right now it feels more like mid-July than late May. No complaints!

Should probably take a moment to mention The Grindmother. This album surprised the hell out of us not only because it’s grindcore being performed by a sixty-seven year old grandmother (yes, you read that correctly), but it’s also just that good of an album. Worth looking into!

We spent a good deal of time discussing Finger lakes Metal Fest 2016, which was a blast, as always! This show just gets bigger and bigger every year. In fact, the estimated head count for 2016 was between 650-800 people. Bear in mind that within the past four years, we would see perhaps half that. Word has definitely traveled, and it’s always good to see new faces coming out to enjoy the vibe! The real highlight of the weekend, of course, is the bands. Solid sets from each and every one of them. Gotta say, one moment that particularly stood out for me was the intensity of the mosh pit during Thirteen South. This was their final show, and I’d promised R.J. (their vocalist) that I would do something crazy for them. I mean, being a full moon and all, it only seemed natural that Wulfie should jump into the pit for a bit! MetalFest did have it’s repercussions, though. It’s not uncommon to feel like you’ve been hit by a truck after it’s all over. And, for me, it only got worse.

Yes, I’d been stupid. After five months without a cigarette, I bought a pack of smokes for Metal Fest weekend. And Azkath found out. And bad, bad things happened to me.
Like having styrofoam broken open over my head...with a barbed-wire baseball bat.
Like being thrown into a barbed-wire net.
Like having particle board unsuccessfully broken over my head. I mean, it broke a little...especially after Rick took a swing at my dome. Apparently my eyes rolled up into the back of my head after his shot. Rick knows no restraint...
Like having my “bells” rung. Meaning that Azkath held a ten-pound barbell weight to my crotch while hitting it with a hammer. I think everybody suffered from that, as the ringing pierced the ears rather painfully.
Smoking sucks...

- Randy MetalWulf

This particular week wasn’t just special due to the fact that it was our Halloween show, but we also featured an interview with Chastain vocalist, Leather Leone. Gotta say, the new Chastain album is pretty incredible! But, yes, this was our Halloween show, and Jeffie had completely ruined the holiday for me. Honestly, my favorite day of the year. The one holiday I truly embrace whole-heartedly. And that goofy son of a bitch totally fucked it up for me. In previous weeks, the plant growth that was slowly spreading over my body was staying pretty well hidden beneath my clothing, but not this week. My face and hands were partially covered in what looked like mulch, along with some leaves. And, to top it off, a big yellow flower was growing out of my forehead... And, to make matters worse, I’d addressed the issue of the “twig and berries” literally turning into...a twig and berries... And let’s not forget the indignity of lactating maple syrup! Oh, yeah, that’s loads of fun! I may as well cover my nipples in velcro, the effect is pretty much the same! And based on Jeffie’s negative experiences when trying to eat pieces of me, I’m pretty sure Randy-syrup is not likely to get marketed by Aunt Jemima any time soon... Jeffie took a moment during the Leather Leone interview to put on his Halloween costume, and you can imagine my dismay as he came out with his goofy dinosaur hat, which had been adorned with Spanky’s horn. And he was also wearing part of Spanky’s hide over his back. Aside from those things, that is ALL Jeffie was wearing... And, of course, he just had to take it all one step further by mocking me in Spanky’s voice, suggesting that it was my fault that Spanky was dead, which I obviously know is not true, but still, that was pretty fucked up! Have I mentioned that Jeffie’s got a LOT to answer for in the coming weeks? We finally got the full story of what happened to Joe that week he was missing, which you’ll remember was also the week that Jeffie returned and revealed that he had murdered Spanky. Anyhow, it seems that Jeffie and Joe went on a picnic. Now, I find it very hard to believe that Joe willingly took part in this venture. This is the guy who complained weekly about recording outdoors during the summer! Aside from the occasional softball game and perhaps mowing the lawn, Joe doesn’t do “outdoors”. But, Jeffie insists that they went into the woods, got lost, and had a picnic. He even went so far as to suggest that Joe was snuggling a raccoon, which I never would have believed, if not for the photos. Oh, yeah, Jeffie supplied photographic evidence of the “picnic”, and to say that the evidence provided was shocking would be an understatement. Let’s just say that Joe wasn’t precisely conscious for the festivities. It certainly appeared that Joe had been roofied...and that nuts and tossed salad were on the menu at this picnic! And I won’t even go into what that raccoon was doing...

All of this was pretty much the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as Joe was concerned. Earlier in the evening he had mentioned possibly splitting off with Josh in the interest of forming their own show. Jokingly we’d all referred to that particular union as “Joesh” forming what would become the “Joeshow”...or would that be “Joesh Show”....hmmmmm... Anyhoo, Joe and Josh made good on their threat, leaving the studio once things started getting really out of hand, and the truth about his absence had been revealed. Oddly enough, Josh returned shortly thereafter, without Joe. And it wasn’t long after that someone burst into the building wearing a Richard Nixon mask, and proceeded to beat Jeffie to a pulp, concluding our Halloween festivities for another year.

- Randy Metal Wulf

Well, getting right down to business here, I should mention that Nathan returned to visit us on this evening, and he wasn’t the only company we had that night. Tim and Olivia from UnDead Messengers joined us as well, and this was their first time visiting The Metallic Onslaught. Not that they’re strangers by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve gotten to know them from seeing their band perform, as well as hanging with them on The Last Exit For The Lost periodically. Olivia actually proved to be very helpful to our resident stuffy, Gary, who still hasn’t quite gotten over the mistreatment at the hands of Eric Rodriguez last Christmas. Gary really did need a good supportive ear, poor guy... Nathan claimed to have dropped about five pounds from pooping, which likely makes him roughly 47 pounds with clothes on. Joe mentioned that he could possibly weigh Nathan with a set of postal scales at this juncture... Gotta say, poor Nathan put up with an abundance of abuse on this evening, mainly because he’s just that easy to pick on. And I thought I made a good target! Anyhoo, pretty early on he ran out of the recording area, as Jeffie had put on another “Retard-O-Tron” collection for our...ummmmm...entertainment... I guess Nathan has a low tolerance for girls doing Donald Duck impersonations. Things got a little weird when Jeffie broke out the gargantuan rubber band that he’d wrapped around my head earlier in the year. He got it around Nathan’s head easily enough, but Nathan went one better by pulling the rubber down all the way down his bony frame, essentially passing his entire body through it. And to think I used to think it was impressive to see Dano Voodie pass himself through a coat hanger back when he was in Stool! Jeffie took a moment to put that damned rubber band on my head again, pretty much causing Nathan to go fetal in disgust. It IS pretty grotesque what that thing does to my dome. To make matters worse, Jeffie got it in his head that he may be able to get MY body through the rubber band. He didn’t get past my neck, making breathing just a mite difficult...

Somewhere along the line Nathan felt that it would be a good idea for him to attempt lifting the anvil...which he did, much to our amazement. As a matter of fact, that little shit actually got it up to his shoulders! Almost as impressive was the fact that he continued to carry it throughout the building, pretty much crab-walking it from room to room. We’d been tormenting Nathan with various implements of destruction throughout the evening, but it really got disturbing when one particular piece of wrongness made an appearance. Once upon a time, on The Last Exit For The Lost (actually it orginated on The Metallic Onslaught one night, then went to LE), there was a little bathroom plug on a chain, and the chain was connected to a little plastic penis. Last Exit co-host, EVD, had taken this item and duct-taped it to a Whiffle Bat at one point, essentially creating what came to be known as the “D-Bat”...that’s “D” for “dick”, of course... Well, the “D” made an appearance that night, and Nathan was suffering a bit of abuse from it. I don’t think he got violated too horrifically with it, but it’s kinda hard to gauge that kind of trauma. I mean, it certainly wasn’t nearly as bad as Spanky puncturing his starfish over the summer! Speaking of Spanky... Jeffie had offered me some Gummi Bears during the course of the evening as a peace offering, and having s bit of a sweet tooth, I didn’t turn them down. Although, I did spit them out pretty quickly when he’d mentioned that they’d been made using Spanky by-products (gummi’s have gelatin...gelatin can come from horse remains...) Needless to say, that just adds to the level of payback that Jeffie will have to eventually endure. I mean, as if the Gummi Bears weren’t bad enough, he turned around and left some gifts around my apartment...one of them being Spanky’s horn, which he left sitting in my toilet bowl! Have I mentioned that Jeffie is a total fucking tool? I should also mention that his spore powder is continuing to make life very difficult for me. Bastard was even pulling flowers outta my ears throughout the evening! Anyhow, I can’t remember what we were discussing as the night came to a close, but I’d said a particularly naughty word, which forces Azkath to have to edit. He doesn’t really like having to bleep things out, and our videographer, Arydaea Insanity, took a moment to cut my tongue out as a lesson. That was pretty painful and gross, but on the plus side, I think this plant DNA from Jeffie’s spore powder is actually helping me to heal even faster!

-Randy Metal Wulf