Captain Howdy

Judas Priest - Firepower

So far I have: Mick Mars Judas Priest Crazy Lixx Durbin Which were all cracking albums Already on preorder or on the must buy list are: The Warning Rolling Quartz Maverick Sebastian Bach Gun Lipz Diamante (no release date yet) And the must not buy until its cheap list: Bon Jovi I should also say I was gonna buy the new Wicked album but they wanted $46 for postage, which is an absolute joke. And Strypers acoustic CD was overpriced as well. So yeah, not looking like a bad year to me, and we have only scratched the surface with new album announcements so far.

I think him, Danny and Jens Anderson were the only ones to be there from the first album. After the self titled album they finally found a stable line up, but sadly things like this happen when you least expect them. I did though like a suggestion in the replies on FB, Hessu Maxx is a free agent ha ha I mean Finland and Sweden, it's all the same right?

Preorders are open. Due for release 21st June https://www.maverickofficial.co.uk/store-1

From FaceBook Crazy Lixx Statement from Joél: Dear all! It's been a rollercoaster ride from day one and still is 20+ years later. The places I've seen and people I've met has been nothing short of amazing and I feel a great pride in this! None the less its time to say goodbye! It has not been an easy decision and I have given this a lot of time and careful consideration. My final gig will be in Copenhagen in May then I’m out. I know the boys will find a more than suitable replacement and will be stronger than ever! I want to thank everyone that has been a part if this over the years. Promoters, clubs, crews, festivals…all of you! I want to thank my boys in the band, Chrisse, Jens, Danny and Jens, for all this we have shared over the years. It's been great! And lastly I want to thank you, the fans, for sticking by us for all this time making it possible for this dumbass drummer to be so privileged and see the world! Thank you! Joél

Not a video, but sure one will drop soon

Funny thing is, a few years back when Pledge was a big thing, before it went under, Falling Red did a campaign for their Empire of the damned album. One of the options was to get a special edition of the CD that was only available to those who pledged specifically for it. It included an alternate cover, bonus track, signatures and your name and the name and photo of everyone who paid for it inside the booklet. Unsurprisingly, I have that version. And yes, it cost extra but was worth it.

classic python

Stefan does love his budgie smugglers so I can see him going down under

As I said before, I get them reissuing the first two albums due to record label issues, and even kinda get adding bonus tracks to encourage people to buy the reissues, but there really is no excuse on the last two albums. People are struggling for money and have to choose more carefully what they spend their money on. It's one of the reasons I stopped buying Japanese releases of Frontiers albums. I used to buy them for the bonus tracks, but since they changed to only including alternate versions of songs already on the album, the Jap imports are an unnecessary extra spend. I can understand big labels pulling shit like this, but smaller labels and bands thrive on grass roots fans, and if they start taking advantage of them, they will lose them. Another example I saw recently is a US based band charging $46 postage to UK for one CD. Most US based bands/labels charge between $20 to $30 but this bands answer to me was "We dont control postage costs". I ordered another CD from a US site and got charged $9 for postage.

The thing is Rhodes real name was Virgil Runnels, and he chose that name himself. His oldest son is named Dustin though, and better known as Goldust.

Jon has consiously decided to move in this musical direction and he is so controlling with the band that I really don't think anyone could sway him to do something even close to anything from their first 20 years or so. Even the likes of Desmond Child or Bob Rock would not be able to do it.

I have so far picked up four releases this year, and started as early as Feb. Last year the first albums I bought were not until March. As I have said before, I am seriously behind on album pick ups from the last four years due to health issues, so it really does not bother me that new albums are not pouring out like water as it gives me a chance to play catch up. Plus I also know I have several other albums coming out this year with Sebastian Bach, Rolling Quartz and The Warning all confirmed for new releases. Four new albums and eight catch up albums so far this year has in my mind been great as it's allowed me to devote more time to new purchases rather than giving them one spin and then move onto something else. If anyone really thinks this year is the year music has died, well quite frankly that is on you, not the bands and the music.

Couldnt agree more with this probably being the "heaviest" song on the album And yeah I agree, Jon may be a bit of a ruthless business man when it comes to the band, but he is a decent bloke. The amount of work he has done for the homeless is admirable. I know his voice is shot and he is having some kind of throat surgery that he says may end his touring career but I don't think that is really an excuse why his music has been so mid the last decade or so. As for Richie, I would love to see him back in the band but I don't think he would fix anything. I mean Phil is a great guitarist, and he is being wasted in the band and Richie has barely put anything out since leaving the band, with the only thing I can think of being that awful RSO album he did with Orianthi, where two fantastic guitarists seemed to almost give up on actually playing guitar. His last solo album was twelve years ago when he was still in the band, and even that was a let down with only a few stand out tracks on it. Plus his history with alcohol has done him no favours.

Yeah Mick is metal, but Durbin and Priest are classic metal where Mick is more modern imo. All great albums though.

Haven't picked up Saxon yet, but as far as metal goes, I love the new Durbin album as well.

I remember my early days on the internet joining a group on Yahoo (yeah thats how long ago it was) and the woman who created the group was trying to persaude me how great Creed was, so much so that she sent me the first two albums on CD. I had no idea what they sounded like. When I played them all I could think is that they sounded like Pearl Jam, and I fucking hate Pearl Jam. I ended up trading them for something better. I can't remember the ins and outs of it, but I somehow shared my CD collection online and she noticed straight away that the Creed CDs were not listed. She asked me why and I said I sold them as really did not like them, and got something I did like. She never spoke to me again after that

I have always been an on/off fan of Priest. Loved Ram it down and Painkiller, then kinda lost interest when Rob left. Only newer albums I ever got around to picking up were Angel of retribution because I saw it real cheap and Nostrodamus as I found the deluxe edition cheap as well. With this one though I was interested in what I heard and saw the deluxe edition looked cool. I then saw they were selling copies on the JP website with a signed art card in both standard and deluxe format, but baulked at the price of the deluxe as they were charging an extra £10 over the unsigned version, and postage was lumpy ... plus I was a few days from getting paid. By the time I went back on there the signed deluxe was gone but they had the standard version with the signed card and it was the same price as the unsigned version (guess nobody was buying it) so decided to buy that and order the deluxe from Amazon, keep the artcard and sell the standard CD on eBay as it is still sealed. So yeah, been playing the album today and on my third (or is it fourth) playthrough, and absolutely loving it. When bands like Bon Jovi are getting soft as shit with age, Rob and the guys are still full on metal gods. At 72, Rob should not be able to still perform like this, but he fucking well is, so more power to him. Really good start to the year so far with the 2024 albums I have picked up.

I still have the original version of Skin that came with a bonus CD with a lot of those tracks on. Take me down to the river was always a bit of a weird one back in the day as was unusual at the time for an artist to release a single that did not feature on any albums or soundtracks, but has become more common place these days. I have the two CD singles and maybe still have the 12" picture disc if it wasn't one of the ones I sold, and a lot of the live tracks on this reissue are from the b-sides of the single (all three formats had different tracks)

Judas Priest - Invincible shield Bought the standard version from their website as it was normal price and came with autographed card. Selling the CD on eBay as got the deluxe version coming tomorrow (over here the American Target exclusive is available from all retailers). Their website had sold out of the deluxe version including the autographed card, but was actually much cheaper doing it this way, as I will add the signed card to my deluxe copy, and as long as I can sell the standard CD for a reasonable price, I will have paid about £10 less than what they were charging (unsigned deluxe is £20 signed deluxe was £30 plus postage was double on deluxe over standard versions and both had the same autographed card.)