Friday: Chronologist - Bazooka

     Besides Sylosis (look at this segue, would you?) another thing you guys should know I'm into by now is proggy instrumental stuff. I say this now to any budding young musicians out there: if you're in a band that's writing some cool stuff, but you don't have a vocalist, and you're looking for something that fits your sound, consider that maybe your sound might be best without vocals entirely.

     Case in point: Boston's Chronologist manage to craft killer grooves and sprinkle them with such buttery smooth lead work that no words are necessary to draw the listener in. Even the biggest fan of soaring Bruce Dickinson-esque metal vocals or Corpsegrinder-style gutturals should find enough tasty riffage here to make them forgive the lack of vocals.

     To this end (ie: converting more of you to the wordless dark side that is instrumental) I'm suggesting you start with Chronologist's "Bazooka" from their four-track demo/EP from the summer of 2014. Why this particular track? Straight up groove for days, that's why.

Thursday: Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills

     As I've said many times before, sometimes the gods speak to us more loudly than others. This morning, the local rock radio station favoured me with some Iron Maiden, and in that moment I knew that the gods were telling me where (and when!) to go for last week's Throwback Thursday post.

     The Maiden song in question, and your Throwback Thursday song for last week, is the absolutely classic "Run to the Hills" from the 1982 masterpiece The Number of the Beast. From Steve Harris' galloping bass to Bruce Dickinson's as-usual stellar vocal performance, everything on this one is, as I said, classic. If somehow you know someone who doesn't know anything about Iron Maiden, this might just be the track to start them off on.