We spent a good portion of the evening discussing some old Metallic Onslaught playlists that Joe had come across. These dated back to roughly 1999 or so, and featured music from local favorite Hate Machine, not to mention Filter, Sevendust, the Go-Go's... Yes, you read that right. Apparently Joe was fond at one point of playing something not even remotely heavy, and then killing that track with something brutal. In this case, The Go-Go's were followed by a track from Mortician. Kinda fitting! And it sounds like something we should bring back from time to time, just for shits and giggles. Azkath also had one of his Last Exit For The Metallic Onslaught "Best Of" DVD's playing in the background, so there was a bit of commentary regarding some of the bygone days of both shows.

Rick had brought up our journey to The Lost Horizon in Syracuse to see High On Fire, which was an amazing show. We only caught a little of the first band, Venomous Maximus, but we liked what we heard. Lucifer were incredible, a very pleasant surprise, as I wasn't familiar with their material at all. Highly impressed with that band! Pallbearer were a bit of a letdown, only because their forty-minute set really didn't offer a lot of variety in tempo. Slow, trudging, doomy as hell (this is a good thing!), but really not overly distinguishable from track to track. What can I say about High On Fire? This was my second time seeing them, and they are the real fucking deal. One of the loudest, genuinely heavy bands out there. They are absolutely crushing live, and I recommend the fuck out of them. 'Nuff said!

Our old friend Tim Binder had come out to join us this evening, actually the first time he'd paid a visit to the Onslaught since our final night at the old studio, all the way back in July of 2014. This was actually the night when Jeffie had offered Tim some "goodies" that had been acquired at Grassroots Fest in Trumansburg. Tim started flipping out, thinking Jeffie was a monster, and had attempted to kill Jeffie. I actually took responsibility for that kill before it was all said and done. Anyhow, we were pleased as hell that Tim had come out to join us that night...right up to the point where he mentioned the Savatage/Tran Siberian Orchestra performances at Wacken. Don't get me wrong, Tim loves Savatage, but seems to hate TSO, even going so far to say that they shouldn't have played at Wacken at all. Now, we're all pretty open-minded, and we all pretty much realize that not all of our musical tastes are compatible. But...in this regard, Joe and I took strong offense. As a matter of fact, Tim ended up getting temporarily banned from the show by Joe. Ultimately, we let him back in, though. I mean, we kinda had to. He'd parked in a particularly soggy part of Azkath's driveway, and his car had sunk so far down that it was irretrievable. I'm sure things worked out well, in the long run, though, as I called Spanky over to give Tim a ride back to Canandaigua. At least, I assume Tim made it back okay...

Azkath brought up a little game they'd played on the previous edition of The Last Exit For The Lost, encouraging us all to share our earliest memories. Now, that's really not easy for me to do, because I remember quite a ways back, but it's hard for me to place events in the proper continuity. With that being said, Josh told us how he'd swallowed a penny at the age of four, and his dad going nuclear. On the plus side, it seems that everything came out alright in the end, pun totally intended. In fact, Joe even went so far as to ask Josh if he'd kept the Poop Penny... I was actually able to recall three early memories, the first being the time I broke my left arm. I was roughly three or four, and fell while stepping out of a wading pool at my grandparents old home in Fairville, NY. I'd been carrying a plastic fish that had filled up partially with water, lost my balance while carrying it as I exited the pool, and came down on the arm, resulting in a compound fracture...and a really frightening experience for a youngster of that age group! Seriously, I distincly remember screaming in horror while being x-rayed! There were a couple others I recalled, but I won't go into further detail here. Rick recalled a time when he'd bounced a padlock off the head of a classmate who'd tried to pick a fight with him...and then shared a particularly funny memory that involved him taking bites out of a pig's head (it was cooked!), and spitting the pieces out at people in the crowd. And, hey, if that's not metal, I don't know what the fuck is! Joe had the most difficulty really coming up with anything. We ended up using his first time hearing KISS or first time seeing Star Wars as reference points. He finally did recall a fairly early memory of getting pulled out by a riptide while visiting Florida. Azkath also recalled getting pulled under by a wave while visiting Long Island sound. Actually, it's kinda interesting how some of our earliest memories are of scary encounters in the water! Just serves to remind us that nature is VERY deserving of our respect!

-Metal Wulf

We had to bust Josh's balls just a little bit, as his computer seemed to be stuck on 80's music that night...and not particularly good 80's music, either. In fact, you could hear A-Ha's "Take On Me" in the background during one of our final talk breaks of the evening. Still, it could be worse...it could have been Bon Jovi. Which brings me up to what was probably the main topic of the evening. This actually requires a bit of background to explain, so here goes. Josh LOVES Iron Maiden. We know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. To one degree or other, we all like Iron Maiden...except for Joe, who no longer cares for anything past the Paul Di'Anno years. Joe and I also love KISS, which isn't so surprising, considering the time frame that we grew up in. We've had some fairly intense differences of opinion regarding where we stand when it comes to both bands, mainly because Josh has, for the most part, claimed to love everything that Maiden has ever done. Joe has actually accused Josh on more than one occasion of being a total shill for Iron Maiden. He just doesn't seem to be willing to admit that they have, indeed, released some stinkers in their time. And, in all fairness, most bands have done so. Something that Joe and I are more than willing to confess to when it comes to KISS. Cases in point being the entire Unmasked album (piece of shit, there is absolutely no redeeming or forgiving that album, especially the track "Shandi"...), anything in the 80's that came after Lick It Up (although Animalize had a few decent tracks), and Psycho Circus (aside from the title track, I thought it was the worst comeback album in history). Joe and I are willing to admit that those albums actually suck, to one degree or other. So, imagine our surprise when the discussion actually made it to the airwaves, and Josh actually admitted that he hates ONE Iron Maiden album! No Prayer For The Dying, to be precise! And the craziest thing about the whole discussion was Joe's reaction...he quit the show and made me the host! Yep, Joe was so shocked by Josh's statement that he seemed to feel that he couldn't continue as host, handed me the mic, and told me I was in charge! Kinda caught me off guard, to be honest!

Of course, this almost traumatized Josh and Rick, as their biggest fears were suddenly realized. That being that I would make the show one big Jackyl-fest. Now, I like Jackyl, I really do, but I also know that they're not the greatest fit for our show. So, rest assured, should I really ever take over the hosting duties, there will be no Jackyl...no Bon Jovi...no fucking Winger, as I hate them more than any other band on the planet. No disrespect to Kip Winger, in all honesty, I just thoroughly detested their music. But, it's really not that big a deal, as Josh actually retracted his statement in order to get Joe back in the hosting seat, so to speak.

Azkath joined us about mid-show, asking how I was feeling after the previous week when he beaned me in the head with a large ceramic flower pot. I'm actually doing pretty well, thanks to the ol' clone-healing thing I've got going on, but I still get a little confused. But, that could just be me, naturally. Not gonna deny it! Azkath also wanted to know how things were going with Spanky, and wanted to know when I was going to let him move in. I reminded him that he has, in the past, seen my apartment. There is NO ROOM for a mutant unicorn/centaur at all, and I sure wouldn't be able to corral him in the back yard. Besides, train tracks run behind my building, and I think that would terrify him.
Still...I could make a little money offering rides to the neighborhood children...hmmmm...

-Metal Wulf

Well, imagine our surprise this week when Josh actually took initiative during the first talk break, completely taking us off goard when he started introducing himself before Joe even began speaking! Honestly...this isn't like Josh at all. We really did NOT know what to make of it! We spent some time in the early potion of the show talking about the Gutted Alive CD release that we emceed at the Montage Music Hall in Rochester. It was a pretty spectacular night, with an exceptional turnout for a local band, which is always a great thing to see! Josh was particularly taken with Tyranitar, which was really no big surprise, as he's a big fan of the pagan/viking metal. Gotta say, one of the highlights of Gutted Alive's set was their performance of "Necrophiliac Chainsaw Rapist", featuring clowns...with chainsaws! And lots of smoke, courtesy of the diesel fuel powering said chainsaws. As a matter of fact, I had to step away from the stage for a bit, because that smoke started making me feel a bit nauseous... All in good fun, though! Joe seems to think that I'd taken that moment to take a run to Canandaigua to see Bran Adams, who was performing there while we were in Rochester. I had to continually assure everybody throughout the evening that I actually can't stand Bryan Adams. Although, I will admit to liking his music over Bon Jovi any day. Still...not a big fan. I mean, really, who cares what he was doing back in the summer of '69? I was three freakin' years old, for fucks sake... We'd also discussed a historical performance that took place at Wacken Open Air the previous week. One of those things that remind me that I live in the wrong part of the fucking world when it comes to my musical tastes. Nothing like this could ever happen in the states, let's face it. So, here's the deal. Tran Siberian Orchestra performed for what I'm pretty sure was their first time at Wacken. They did a 45-minute set, followed by a much-anticipated 45-minute set from Savatage, who hadn't played Wacken in over ten years. What followed was apparently nothing short of spectacular, as BOTH bands, who were performing side by side on two adjacent stages, performed ANOTHER set of music featuring material from both bands. Here's to hoping that all of it gets released in a CD/DVD format for the rest of the metal world to enjoy!

And, offsetting that awesomeness, we also discussed the sad passing of WWE Legend, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. We are all, to one degree or another, fans of wrestling on this show, and I know that I, for one, was, and always will be, a huge Piper fan. There will never be another like him!

Azkath arrived with plans of continuing my smoking punishment, as Joe had said the previous week that going through another table wasn't enough, and there had to be more. More turned out to be a heavy ceramic flower pot to the head. Luckily, my head turned out to be harder than the pot, so it was only the pot that shattered into a million pieces. I was, however, knocked completely loopy for the rest of the show. Actually, I was out cold for a bit. I actually awoke to the sensation of water pouring on my head. At least I sure hope it was water, considering who it was that was bringing me back to consciousness. Yeah, we'd gotten a visit from my spawn...who has apparently been dubbed "Spanky The Wonder Horse". Spanky was nice enough to give me a ride around the property for a bit as I somewhat regained my senses. I was actually concussed enough that I wasn't even sure that I was really riding the unicorn/centaur-...thing... Azkath had actually been remarking about how big he's gotten in the weeks since his birth, and suggested that we may have to take measures to keep him from breeding with the farm animals that live across the road. Which, let's face it, may be for the better in the long run. I'd rather not have any muitant grandchildren trotting around the area...

- Metal Wulf

Started this show off by affirming that Jeffie was, indeed, still dead. It's good to start things on a positive note!

We'd mentioned that as this show was being broadcast, we were actually in attendance at the Gutted Alive CD release show at the Montage Music Hall in Rochester, NY. We'd been invited up to emcee the show, and we had a blast! Like there was any doubt... Speaking of shows, we'll be hosting the End Of Summer Metal Meltdown in Clyde, NY, once agan to be held at Donselaar's! Free show, all ages, and ten bands. The lineup, as it stands, features Nazgul, Skinbound, Divinex, Ire Clad, Age Of Shadows, Never The Voiceless, Spit Nickels, Saints And Winos, Ruination, and Million Miles From Broadway. Hope to see a bunch of our local metal family in attendance!

Josh was wearing an Eagles t-shirt on this evening, although he was still trying to convince us he'd gone to see Deep Purple. I mean, the shirt even had wings on it! Had to have been The Eagles! Josh has actually sworn vengeance on Jeffie for this continuing debacle, as it was Jeffie who had mentioned that Josh had actually gone to see The Eagles. Of course, that's going to be a bit difficult until Azkath clones another Jeffie to unleash upon us. And, to be honest, I have my reservations about punishing a new Jeffie for the actions of a previous one. I mean, will it really be right to hold the new Jeffie accountable for what the old one did? I guess we'll find out!

On a less upbeat note, I was subjected to another beating for falling off of the tobacco wagon again. I guess even being an occasional social smoker is going to have it's consequences, and I was once again dropped through a table...with Azkath taking a running start and leaping from a chair, effectively putting us BOTH through... I'm happy to say that I came through with just some very minor scrapes, and absolutely no desire to light up any time soon!

-Metal Wulf