Welcome one and all to episode 405 of signals from Mars.
I'm your host Victor and during this episode we are going to do our 2024 countdown.
Joining me will be a bunch of my patrons.
The countdown will consist of lists that you guys have sent in.
Join us, enjoy and let us know what you think.
I was kind of laughing when I was saying my name.
I listened to the Entourage podcast, was a fan of the show back in the day.
Regardless of what people say about it, I think it was a good encapsulation of what
Hollywood was like, at least me not being an actor, that's what people seem to always
say.
Kevin Connolly, a guy that runs Action Park Media, a place that I actually submitted a
resume two years ago to do audio production.
But anyway, he always says at the beginning of their podcast, are we still saying our
names?
Yeah, there's, you know, I'm doing this 15 years.
There's always going to be somebody new checking your shit out and it takes two seconds.
I'm not too cool, not too cool for school here, man.
I'm hoping that there are people checking this episode out, trying to figure out what
albums they missed in 2024.
Hopefully me and my esteemed guests will help you guys out, figure what you missed and there
are going to be some albums that you guys are going to think.
What the hell were they thinking?
I'm going to be running down my personal top 25 on my VMR podcast on Patreon.
Yeah, that's one of the perks that you get.
If you do check out the Patreon, you can go to signalsfrommars.com and find links over
to the Patreon merch, social media platforms, other ways that you can subscribe to the podcast
or check out the video version, which is live on YouTube and a bunch of other platforms
as well.
In any event, if you just want to go straight to Patreon, you could just go patreon.com forward
slash signals from Mars.
If you don't like the whole Patreon thing, well, you can do a PayPal donation.
You could buy March, as we mentioned.
You could also go and use the Amazon links among other things.
In any event, again, go to signals from Mars.com and go to the top menu and click on support
and you can find various ways how you can help the podcast out.
I do want to send the shout out to all of my patrons.
Some once again did join us for this episode and I used to have this closed down so that
only they could vote, but now I've reached out to other people.
Just because I think it helps broaden things and helps bring more interest to the episode.
At least I'm hoping that those voting do check this out and say, Hey, how'd my album only
end up at number six?
It was my number one.
What are you guys crazy?
Yeah.
So any of that stuff you want to let me know, just drop me a line signals from Mars at signals
from Mars.com.
If you do want to get involved in other voting in the future, just check out the website,
check out the social media or just continue to listen to this podcast.
Up next, we're going to be talking about a genre in February.
At least that's what's scheduled.
We could switch it up to talk about a band or a year and its releases.
Got a lot of cool stuff lined up for this year.
So if you guys do want to participate and have your voice be heard, continue as I choke,
continue to listen to signals from Mars and join us.
If not, just join us during the live stream when that takes place and you can join us
in the chat and just let your comments be heard.
There's a lot of great people that join us and I continue to choke as we get on with
the episode.
Thanks once again for joining us and enjoy.
Welcome everyone to the January 10th, 2025 edition of signals from Mars.
This is the first show of the new year and we start the show out by doing a countdown
of our favorites from 2024.
Joining me from our illustrious cavalcade of frequent guests is Jeremy Weltman in the
UK, Ed Ferguson in Kentucky, the cavalierish Brad Doll in Idaho, and Metal Dan out there
in California.
So we had a bunch of people vote for their favorites of the year.
If you're new to the show, trying to figure out what the hell we've done.
Essentially people submitted their 10 favorite albums.
Just the album ranked number one for you.
It got 10 points.
Number two got nine points all the way down to number 10, which received one point.
I tallied all the scores up out of the 77 albums that were voted on.
Wow.
Look at that.
Brad is giving his list away there.
And I will say this, at least the plan at this moment for me, if you subscribe to Patreon,
is that I do have a top 25 for me and I will try to do an increments of five albums at
a time.
I will be sharing tracks off of albums until I get to number one.
Hopefully that will appease some people.
Maybe they will be entertaining.
It will be enjoyable, enjoying.
And I won't be fumbling and bastardizing the English language.
All right.
You can sit right in Idaho doing that though.
I'm just saying.
You can't do that in Idaho?
No, you can't.
I used to say that the greatest thing about living in Utah was that you could pronounce
things any way you want and nobody would argue with you.
Like they didn't know any better.
Well, it's even down a step here.
So cheers.
All right.
So there are 77 albums, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to recap real quickly.
Twenty to eleven.
If anyone wants to jump in and comment on any of these albums, please do so.
Please let me know.
And the meat and potatoes will discuss ten through one.
All right.
So at 20, we have Impelatory with War Machine.
19 Hammerfall with Avenge the Fallen.
18 The Southern River Band with DIY.
17 Scarefield with The Quiet Country.
16 Alcest with.
This is French, folks, and maybe I should have had my kids prepare a sound sample for
me as they're both studying French, but Les Champs-Elysées.
Close enough.
You guys know what the.
What the number one sold video game console is in France.
The Wii.
You got it, Brad.
I'm going to drink that.
You just showed his peak.
It's all down here from here.
Oh, man.
All right.
This is why we need Trivia Tuesday back.
I wish I could squeeze more hours out in the day.
We'll see.
I was today.
I'm still advertising Trivia Tuesday and almost on all my social media posts.
So maybe maybe at least once a month.
We'll see.
14 knocked loose with You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To.
Talk about squeezing things out.
Yeah, there you go.
14 praying mantis with defiance.
What the hell?
You're just making this stuff up now.
I am not.
I know pre-manus is.
I didn't know that other band, though.
Not loose.
Not loose is that man that people got upset over them being on Jimmy Kimmel.
Oh, yeah.
Because because it's a metal band with a very screamy lead singer.
Oh, OK.
So all bent out of shape.
And as a result, I forget what metal band they booked the following week just to kind
of give a middle finger to all the people that complained about it.
Let's see.
13 is Tuck Smith with Rogue to Redemption.
12.
Chris Ninsack.
The Cure with Songs of a Lost World.
And at 11, we have Dustbolt with Sound and Fury.
Wow.
So all right.
You know, one album that didn't make it in the top 10 is this one by Kansas.
Oh, damn.
It did not come out in 2024.
And to my knowledge, nothing from Kansas did come out in 2024.
It's a shame from the greatest American rock band to come out in the 70s to release anything
in the 70s.
But it kind of is what it is before going on with the with the top 10 here.
There are a few things that.
Not exactly new, but were for sale in 2024.
They would include a Signals from Mars t-shirt.
A hoodie.
Windbreaker.
Bomber jacket.
The Jeremy baseball cap.
I hear it's cold.
There are beanies.
If you want to be in style like Brad, there's a bucket hat.
And we've got the two distressed here, the the woman's V neck and the the hoodie.
So you want to support the show, you can always pull the trigger on one of those or you can
just go to Signals from Mars and join us on Patreon or use one of the Amazon links, et
cetera, et cetera.
Anyway, I'm going to vote for joining on Patreon.
That would be the smartest thing anybody could do with their that should be a New Year's
resolution for everybody.
They're here.
Get that's a New Year's resolution that is easy to actually hold up.
Yeah.
So easier than a gym membership.
Better for you than buying a cup of coffee every day.
So anyway, so let's continue with this countdown here.
Number 10 at number 10.
I have to put some sound effects behind that.
Anyway, at number 10, someone who whose music I'm into, I've been into the last few albums
was voted on by quite a few different people.
It is the album Negative Space by Poppy.
I understand that it's not for everyone on here.
Kind of a little bit more modern.
It kind of goes between pop influences to hardcore type influences to more of a electronic
type thing.
It's a little all over the place like a lot of her music is.
But for me, still rather entertaining.
All right.
Next up, number nine.
Hey, I've never heard this girl.
Okay.
So you're saying that her songs are so good that she's actually in the top 10 better than
those multiple other great metal albums.
77 through 11.
This is strange news to me.
I'm going to have to check this out.
Is it really that good?
I think it's good.
But I mean, I'm into a lot of different elements that she normally adds into her music.
Okay.
Who here voted on this is one of their top 10 albums.
Okay, cool.
All right.
So Steve did as well.
Yeah, you are.
Okay, yeah, and I think that's great.
I haven't listened to it.
So I've only heard the stuff that Victor's posted on the Patreon group that you can join
for $2 a month here, Singles from Mars.
It's along the lines of what I've posted on Patreon.
So if you're not into what I've posted on Patreon, then the album isn't for you.
If some of it intrigues you, give it a shot.
I'm going to go against that, though, because you said that she's all over the place.
I mean, you're not talking about just all over the place in every song.
So it kind of sounds like an album you really need to listen to the whole thing.
Yeah.
And I would say that that's, for the most part, what she's always released.
Like there are certain things that are common, but there are things that are definitely pop
related.
But there are other things that are totally on the other side of the spectrum, which are
not radio friendly at all.
And I forget she appeared with Bad Omens on another show this year as well.
And again, they received some type of flack because it was a song where she's screaming
all over the place.
So I'll check it out.
Yeah, I guess I'll have to now.
And surely more than one person will ask, what the hell did you guys vote on?
Anyway.
All right.
Number nine.
All right.
Number nine.
It is Hailing from Sweden.
Also in my personal list.
Brad, you ready?
I'm ready.
I'm hoping it's the only Swedish band I have in my top 10.
So go.
The Quill.
Yes.
Illusion.
Brad, you're going to tell you.
Okay.
So first of all, I have to say that I only discovered the Quill because of Victor and
being in his Patreon group.
The Quill came up years ago.
I think I have all of their albums and I think I've been like, yeah, they're okay.
I mean, you know, I like them.
But this album, this album, I don't know.
To me, it's just like they nailed it.
They, you know, and Wheel of Illusion, is that what we're dealing with here?
Yeah.
It's, Amy, you kind of expect it maybe to be a little Sabbathy.
Oh, it is in a good way.
In a good, good way.
I give them, yeah, this album is fantastic.
Had to be in my top 10.
So if you, if you, yeah, if you like Black Sabbath, you better, you better like this
album or you could be like somebody who's, well, it sounds too much like Black Sabbath.
And I don't know, but it's great.
I mean, the songs, I mean, every, every song I listened to, I was like, holy crap, I like
this one.
I like this one.
I like this one all the way through.
It was one of those albums that when I put it on, I wasn't like, is this going to be
the last song?
Or can I move on to something else?
That's the way a lot of these albums that came out this year, I got tired of the band
after a little while.
But this one, no.
I, I coast to coast, man.
Every song did it for me.
So good job, everybody else who voted for the quilt.
Yeah.
There, I echo a lot of what you said.
I think it's probably their strongest album start to finish.
Oh, for sure.
Each of their albums really has four, five, six tracks that are really good.
And then it's got a few kind of throwaway tracks where you're like, okay, I've already
heard this one.
It feels like it was them trying to do this other song a different way.
This adds stoner elements, has doom metal elements and has straight up classic 80s heavy
metal influence.
And it's funny because I saw someone, somebody locally here that posted that they picked
the vinyl up recently and somebody, somebody responded to them.
Oh, it just sounds like like some heavy metal from the 80s as if that was a bad, you know,
and I was like, and you stupid fucking elitist purist.
Yes, it does.
And it's entertaining as hell.
So I really enjoy the album.
I don't I don't get why these keyboard warriors have a problem with stuff sounding like a
throwback.
So long as it entertains you, who cares?
Preach.
You know, that's that that's the whole thing.
So whatever he did, that person can just go in their little cubby hole and go listen to
some black metal.
So whatever.
I need to get CEO Dave to listen to this and get his two cents.
He'll probably enjoy it.
I would I would like to think so.
But he's such a goofball.
He tried to watch the ghost movie while he was back from China this week on the on the
airplane.
He says, what was terrible?
I said, what was terrible about it?
He said, well, he says they just had all this and he said they didn't play any good songs
and he only listened to the first song right over here, right above the Fastway album.
I have it right there.
Yeah.
So I stick it up.
I didn't I didn't put it on the list because it's a live album.
But holy crap, the I got the Blu Ray and it's fantastic.
So that's the four a version.
So I'm a little bit more definition than your Blu Ray, sir.
So since since we're on that subject, I will say that this is the first live album in a
long time that has entertained me, where it feels like an old school live album where
you listen to a lot of live albums from bands in the last 20 years.
Are you like they're just cashing a check and just whatever.
They're just going through the motions.
This feels that goes down and feels like I'm listening to live after death, feels like
I'm listening to a live Strangers in the Night.
Is it going to replace any of those albums?
No, but it has that same kind of like feel to it.
So I agree with you.
I think it's one of the best things that was released this year.
Yeah, for sure.
I spent a lot of time in the States listening to that album.
Dan, weren't you at that show?
Never.
I've never seen Ghost.
Oh, this would have been a good time to go.
We'll talk.
We shouldn't belabor the rest of this stuff with this, but we'll have to have a chat about
that.
Yeah.
Now, because listen to this, I booked Mark the Quill and I'll check that out this weekend.
Okay, cool.
Cool.
Very cool.
And maybe with number eight, Dan will have a little bit more to discuss.
I think that personally, out of our group, we've seen certain members of this band, probably
more than anyone else here.
So at number eight, I didn't think this album sounded anything like Thin Lizzy, as they
originally said, but it is category seven.
Oh, with Mr. John Bush on lead vocals, Jason Bittner on drums, Jack.
Gibson from Exodus on bass, Phil Demmel from Machine Head and Violins Fame on guitar, as
well as Mike Orlando.
Unfortunately, they canceled their tour and shame on anyone who for years has been clamoring
to see John Bush do old Anthrax live and didn't pick up tickets for this because this would
have been your chance.
And now I don't know what other outlet there's going to be for him to do that, but we'll
see.
Category seven, Dan, your thoughts?
Yeah, I saw Armored Saint at the Palladium, Hollywood, California about four weeks ago
when standing in line with a very talkative chat with somebody and he asked me what I
thought of this album and I said, no, I can't get into it.
There's no hooks for me.
It sounds just not.
It doesn't mix well for me.
Bittner is an amazing drummer.
I discussed Bittner leaving Overkill that you provided.
I did the meet and greet with John and people were bringing the album to him.
That's great.
I can't get into it.
So if I had seen this band play live, maybe the album would make sense to me.
But without that happening, it's not in mind.
Can't get into it.
I will say that I think had they played this stuff live, I do agree with you.
It probably would have been a better sell.
I like part of the album and I'm glad that people voted for it.
And I do have it over here.
I did purchase it.
It gets to a point where for me, the album is kind of metal Olympics where they're just
trying to show off.
I can do this on the guitar or I can do this on the drums.
Yeah, especially the drums.
I mean, while they're just really good, I think the songs suffer from it.
I felt fatigued after listening to like four or five songs.
I'm like, I need a break from this and I'll come back.
I mean, one song at a time, like I play it on yard metal.
It's awesome when a song comes on because then you go on to something else.
But the whole album was really tough for me to sit through all the way and enjoy it.
But not that it got bad or anything.
It just wore me down.
The drums are just like, I mean, the dude's nuts.
But it's like, okay, somebody's got to produce this.
Somebody's got to stand in there and say, okay, you know, songs should be first.
You know, everybody's going to get their chance to shine in here.
We're going to have you're going to have your spots.
And yeah, I think you nailed it on the head.
Can you say that?
Yeah.
Put it in the taint.
Exactly.
You said it just right.
You put the taint right in the middle.
It's a metal Olympics.
Yeah.
And I'm going to give them a gold for that.
Yeah.
That's why sometimes you need outside input and not have one of your members of the band
producing.
Because sometimes you just don't know when to say no.
That's what I think the case was here.
You know, you know, the Kerry King albums sound so much better to compare having an
all star singer in a band.
So what you said, Brad, is spot on.
Also Phil Demmel on that album.
So I mean, you've got some musicians that cross over.
And even, for example, the Impelatari, which was 20, which had Paul Bostoff as well, speaking
of Kerry King, it was Bostoff playing, but it still fit the music.
You know, it helped enhance the music and take that album to another level, I think,
gave it another kind of gear of heaviness to it.
Where, yeah, Bostoff is still doing a lot of the classic stuff that you hear from Impelatari
music.
But at the same time, he kind of added his own thing where I think with here, again,
Bittner kind of and I love Bittner as a player.
It just, it should have gone somewhere else, in my opinion.
But anyway, yeah, still our number eight.
Do you know, Victor, if this is going to be a band going forward or is this just like
a one off thing?
I guess, yeah, I mean, Armour Saints got another one coming out that they're slowly talking
about and the brotherhood of the band.
There's no reason to do it other than that live show, which didn't happen.
They're going to need to play.
If they play Europe and festivals, maybe they have a chance.
Yeah.
Fair point.
Well, that's what I think their outlet is going to be.
I think that it'll end up being that they end up doing festival dates in Europe because
if they can't tour on it, festival dates, they'll get money.
They can show up, do 10 shows, see the response.
And it's also different.
It'll be similar to like Tony Martin did a few shows.
I think he might have done Bloodstock with another band behind them or he came out as
a special guest and did like two or three Sabbath songs.
I think that could work where if people start to see, oh, shit, you know, they're doing
only.
They're doing certain anthrax songs.
They're doing, you know, I don't know.
And Bender's going back with his band as well, too.
So they could do that band that I can't think of.
Shadow's Fall.
Exactly.
But I mean, I could see as you're saying, I could see Armored Saint going out one year,
this band going out the following year, that type of a thing where Bush can play those
obscure songs that he hasn't played in a long time, where he's kind of in a different part
in his life as well, where at first he didn't want to tour as much because of his kids.
Now his kids are 20, I think.
So it's a different situation where now he has more time to go out and do shows.
So you know, had they would they go out and after two albums, after three albums and still
play some other stuff?
Maybe they would, I don't know, cover some Rainbow songs, cover some stuff that they're
all really into.
I don't know.
That could be an interesting sell.
But without that live show, I don't see that this band could do much more.
So.
All right.
Give us something for Jeremy to chime in on.
And Ed.
I have nothing to say on that one.
I was going to pull up a quote from Winston Wolf, but I didn't think it was it was good
for that specific outburst of yours, Brad.
OK.
All right.
So number seven.
This is a band that no one here voted on, but several people did vote for.
It's a band that my kids are into.
Tell you that.
It is Bring Me the Horizon.
Oh, what a cover.
With Utopia.
Bring Me the Horizon is a UK band that is extremely popular with.
I don't want to say just younger people because they have been around for like 20 years at
this point or close to it.
They've been accused in recent years because they've started experimenting a lot with their
music about becoming too polished, too straightforward metal, too popular.
Every every one to put it.
One of the people that voted for this talked about how they felt that it was great, how
much they experimented on this album to try to give the band a new element that they haven't
had in the past and not make them kind of seems.
Jeremy, this is a band that's been popular in the UK for a while, right?
I think it's delay.
Jeremy, Jeremy.
Sorry, did you ask me?
Yeah, there's a huge delay.
I might have to come in iPad in a minute to rectify it.
Yeah, you're right.
They are extremely popular over here, particularly amongst the younger crowd.
I kind of missed out on them because, you know, just kind of older than their normal
fan base.
But yeah, they're releasing some good stuff.
I thought that that latest album was pretty good.
You know, I wasn't overboard on it.
I didn't vote for it.
But you know, it's a pretty decent album.
You want to give it a listen?
OK, all right, I'm going to give it a listen.
The album cover is beautiful.
Whoever did that drawing, I love it.
The colors in that is great.
Yeah, they've always been known for having covers that stick out for different reasons.
I think the previous one used a lot of sacred geometries, it's called.
And then I forget what band Coldplay, I think, put out an album like a year later that had
almost the same design.
And they at the Brit Awards just came out and said, hey, you know, you guys could have
picked something a little bit more original, especially a year after we released our album
with almost the same cover.
So Victor's bringing the knowledge here.
This is a good show.
Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
These shows are always fun.
As opposed to all those other shows.
Yeah, let's learn something cool.
Dropping the knowledge.
Victor does.
What a dork I am.
Let's see.
No, no, no.
I don't.
I wouldn't say that.
Let's see if Jeremy jumps back in here because as you said, Brad, the next album is something
that he's going to want to come in on.
Figures that isn't that the way it is?
Wait, he's back.
He's back.
Oh, he's over here.
All right.
He's iPad ready, he says he had to fix the audio.
Yeah.
All right.
So moving on here.
Number six.
It is an album that on a lot of websites, forums on the Internet was voted number one.
For us, it is number six.
No people here voted for it.
It is Saxon with Hellfire and Damnation.
Mr. Doll, there you go.
Ready for the occasion.
What a ship.
Mr. Welman comments.
Yeah, well, yeah, I think I voted for it quite high up anyway.
Yeah, I thought it was a really good album.
I thought it was a better album than the previous album.
And I thought that, you know, yeah, having Brian Tatler on guitar, he's added something
to the band.
I think he's contributed a couple of songs this time, two or three.
But I think in the next few albums, you're going to see the difference.
There were some really good songs on it.
I really like that Roswell song.
I like Madame Guillotine.
There was, you know, it's just I think they put a bit more energy back into the band again.
So that was something.
And it's just a very listable, very typical Saxon album and I liked it.
Cool.
Brad, your thoughts on the album?
Yeah, I think the last one, you know, a couple of years ago when we did this show, it wasn't
even going to Carpe Diem is the album, their previous one was two years ago.
And that wasn't even going to make my top ten because I was just so disappointed because
it just kind of sounded like I've heard all this before.
There's nothing new here.
Nothing.
I don't know.
Nothing really just jumped out at me.
This album, though, I realized they got the same producer too all the way through.
But you put this like you listen to a song by another band and you throw this album on
and just throw one of these songs on.
I mean, sonically, it's it's huge.
God, the guitars just sounds so great.
The drums great vocals.
The whole thing is really, really well produced.
And I think Jeremy's on point with I like to call him Tats.
That's my nickname for Tatler.
He's he's done some of this band is kind of like when Mickey D joined Scorpions, how he
just infused them with some energy and something.
And that Brian's done that.
He's come to this band and he's brought a little little something with him.
And I mean, I've seen them play five of these songs live now four times.
Fantastic.
So in the opening song just gets me and just totally gets me.
The other thing to bear in mind is that Biff on the previous album was ill, wasn't he?
He had heart problems and he's got over most of his illnesses now.
I think he might have just done another procedure recently for something.
I think his stomach.
But he wasn't very well.
So that was a little bit turgid.
The previous album was this one a lot more exciting.
Yeah, I think also that was during Covid and I don't know that they did much together
as a group.
I think they probably pieced it pieced it together.
So you're missing that kind of camaraderie and bouncing stuff off of each other.
Yeah, this album, this area, it's so much better.
I'm not going to say it's the best saxon album ever.
My favorite since let's see, let's see Sacrifice maybe.
Yeah, I was going to say that as well.
I agree.
It's a great, great sounding album.
But yeah, if you can't enjoy this album, well, I don't know what to tell you.
And I'm seeing Saxon in March in San Antonio, Texas.
Got my tickets.
I'm seeing them in November.
Yeah, I'm kind of hoping to see them in November too.
We'll see.
All right.
Moving on here to number five.
All right.
Mexican trio, Mexican sisters.
This is Mexican radio.
The warning with keep me fed.
I have to say I didn't vote for this album.
I like a lot of their previous work.
And although this album has some good stuff on it, in my opinion, it's kind of fallen
flat in comparison to what they've done in the past.
The singles that they've released are good.
But some of the deeper cuts on the album are just kind of same.
And I was hoping that they would take things up a notch in comparison to what they'd done
in the past.
But anyway, I got enough votes for it to make it to number five on the list.
Yeah.
I think it's a good album.
I am.
But I'm with you, Victor.
I didn't.
In buying music for yard metal, normally I just buy the whole album.
But this one, as I listened to it, I'm like, I don't want to buy the whole album.
So I just went and cherry picked a few songs and bought those.
Yeah.
Makes sense.
They're very well marketed around here.
They play in the California area often and advertisement.
So they're doing well branding and keeping it going, keeping it alive and in the magazines.
Yeah.
And here in Spain, they toured last year, sold out a bunch of smaller theaters.
They're coming back in the spring and they're playing larger venues and in bigger cities.
Cool.
And those tickets have sold pretty well also.
So I mean, they are growing their fan base pretty much everywhere, which is good.
I'm happy.
I think that they're a good band.
It's just like I said, I was hoping for something else.
I was hoping for them to take another step forward.
And I think this is maybe if they covered a Kansas song, maybe if they covered a Kansas
song.
There you go.
That's something that's never said.
Never ever.
I got I got one taint in the wind.
I'm going to write that song tonight.
That's all we are.
We're all taint in the wind.
You close your eyes.
Anyway, all right.
Number four.
I've got the the cool AI voice here and I forget to use it.
Number four.
I got to say something about that.
I want to I want a recording of these that that voice doing the numbers and I want to
go to a public restroom and just lock myself in a stall and just play random numbers.
So people try to what the hell is that guy doing in there?
The mind Brad doll.
They're waiting for number two to come up.
I know it.
There is an old bit of Kevin and Bean morning radio where Kevin went in stalls and he would
ask questions like that almost to the point of getting in a fight because you go, hey,
how you doing?
Hey, what are you doing?
You're going to get your ass kicked is what's going to happen is it came close.
It's funny at first.
And yeah, be careful.
They're going to think you're weird.
You do try it old man.
He is in.
I was wrong.
That's true.
One of these days, I'm going to have to tell my story about using the ladies restroom by
accident in Home Depot.
But that's that's for another another show.
Yeah, you have to understand, Dan, there aren't a lot of Cholo's out in out in Idaho.
So no, they're not.
They all stopped in Utah when they're heading.
They circle their wagons and stayed there.
Anyway, number four.
Also coming from Sweden.
Too bad, Johan isn't here because this was Johan's number one.
This is on my list.
I believe this is on Jeremy's list as well.
What?
What is it?
It is Cemetery Skyline with Nordic Gothic.
Jeremy, this is on your list, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a great album.
I really like it.
In fact, I actually played it again today.
A part of it.
Just maybe three, four, five songs and still liked it.
I think it's great.
It's got that old sort of 80s gothic feel to it, hasn't it?
And really well produced.
It's not a typical metal album, but it's in the top 10 on merit because it's really good.
It's a super group, really, isn't it?
Of various band members from that sort of genre, that scene.
And yeah, they've done a good job, I think.
Yeah, it's been an interesting year for gothic metal.
I mentioned a few weeks ago on my VMR podcast how I started putting together a gothic metal
playlist.
They're definitely on there.
But there are other bands that have put out really good albums.
For example, in my case, Onto Others released a new album called Never Neverland, which
I think is stronger than this Cemetery Skyline album.
Tribulation also, which is more of a mix of gothic with black metal.
If you miss stuff like Type O Negative, if you miss stuff like Sentenced, there are bands
along those lines.
As Jeremy mentioned, 80s gothic hard rock, stuff like early cult, for example.
If you're into any of that stuff, check out Cemetery Skyline.
It is a very strong album.
So it did make my list also, and for the listeners here, it got all the way to number four.
So cool.
I still need to listen to this album.
I will.
It's on my list.
I've been meaning to.
So I think there are going to be some surprises in this top three.
Yes, I don't think people are going to expect at least two of these three, but maybe I'm
going to be wrong.
But in a second, I think we're going to get some comments from the...
This one?
We'll see.
I think we're going to get some comments from the contingent, from the senator in Kentucky.
I think he's going to comment in a second.
Sean Richmond, thanks for joining us tonight.
As was mentioned, he's finally on here.
Number three, Kerry King, F3 from Hell.
I rise.
Way to go, Kerry.
I didn't expect it to be even in the top 10, really.
So I'm impressed.
See that?
A lot of people have really enjoyed this album.
Again, like the Saxon, I saw it ranked high on a lot of different other sites.
It was the only metal album that Rolling Stone included in their top 100 of 2024.
Didn't they really?
Wow.
So it was like 49 or something.
I'm still listening to it.
I listened to it again today.
And I got the vinyl earlier this year from my local record store.
They actually gifted it to me for taking a bunch of merchandise to them to resell.
So that was nice.
And yeah, pretty much besides that intro I told you about, I think is kind of pointless.
I love the whole record.
I was trying to think, why do I like it so much?
But there's something about Kerry King or Dave Mustaine.
When Dave Mustaine is doing it right, or Kerry King most all the time, I just love their
style of songwriting when it comes to thrash metal.
And yeah, this album was just tickled my slayer bone all year long.
I really liked it.
And it was kind of cool to hear the fellow from Death Angel doing those vocals.
I'll be interested to hear if he'll shake it up with Death Angel a little bit when he
goes back to that.
But yeah, great album, good guitar solos, good production.
Paul sounds pretty good.
Yeah, it's a good record.
When it came out, everybody was giving it like two and a half stars.
So I thought it'd be like in the 20s or something.
So I'm happy.
There you go.
It is number three here.
And I've listened to an interview with Kerry since talking about this album.
And we had talked about this on the show previously, Dan, you had been on when we talked about
Mark singing on the album.
And Kerry essentially said that Mark came into the studio and just started singing like
that.
Like he just did it on his own.
He could do whatever he wanted.
I heard Mark talk about it.
And he said that he envisioned the songs being heavier, that he's always kind of had that
heavier voice, but has never had a spot where he could use it.
So he felt like this was the place to really show that other dimension in his voice, which
I thought was really cool.
And there were some good thrash metal songs throughout the year.
But I think he won the prize with everything I hate about you, that one and a half minute
thrasher on this record that takes the gold.
Yeah.
I think the other cool thing is that the album really isn't one dimensional either.
Like it isn't just him trying to do Slayer.
There are songs that sound like, again, old school 80s heavy metal, just slightly heavier.
I think he's trying to show his influence and trying to sell people on the fact that
he's more than just what he did in Slayer.
Yeah, you can hear the Sabbath and the Judas Priest.
Some of the hard, like there's a song on there that sounds very much like the hardcore record
they did, that undisputed attitude.
Yeah.
He mixed it up real well, kept it interesting the whole way through.
Yeah.
I also think it's cool that he did bring Phil in because he could have done the same solos
as he always has.
But he's I think this is the first time that he's well, obviously with with Jeff Heneman
and with Gary Holt, not to not to say that neither one is isn't a good guitarist, but
Phil is really a shredder and can really play like almost anything.
Yeah.
So I think it's cool that he brought someone in to add a different element to his music
like that.
Yeah, that was a smart idea.
Yeah.
I agree.
Yeah.
If I was paying more attention, I spent about two minutes this time putting this list together.
I forgot this album, so it would rank even higher.
So it's very listenable album all the way through.
I've listened to it.
I can at least say that of a new release in twenty four, I've listened to it more than
once.
You know, didn't just start and put it away.
And the good thing is, is Death Angel has stuck around.
So they were like afraid that they would split up over this and they played their annual
Christmas shows in Frisco and onward and upward.
I think there's room for both, especially since Death Angel doesn't play enough live
as it is anyway.
So somebody's got to pay for the what do they call it?
The toilet or something.
The pool, the pool.
To heat the pool.
There you go.
All right.
So number two.
Number two is something that.
Number two.
Just for you.
I need that voice to say, tickled my slayer bone.
Can you do that?
I can do that.
I love having my slayer bone tickle.
That'd be a T-shirt.
Signals from Mars T-shirt.
Give me a second.
Number two.
You know what's really cool about this list while you're working on that is that I actually
watched a lot of other people's other podcasters top albums for twenty twenty four just to
see if I've missed anything.
And we've got a lot of stuff on this list that I saw nobody else's list.
So that's pretty that's pretty cool.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think a lot of.
A lot of people just voted for the same stuff.
Yeah.
And again, this shows the diversity of the people that listen to this show.
And it's a credit to that.
It's a credit to.
When these lists always come around, I always mention it, how people just I'm going to pick
something obscure.
I'm not going to pick this album because I can't vote for this.
It just seems kind of silly to me where people just won't go with something just because
they enjoy it.
There needs to be some type of ulterior motive.
Yeah, I kind of get the feel sometimes people are voting for the band and not the album.
And I think that kind of messed up.
I feel like these these albums were voted on because of the album for the most part,
not the band.
But we'll see.
We'll see with number one and number two.
We'll see who's going to get stuck.
Number number two, which is what I'm about to take care of.
OK.
Diggle my slayer bone.
Perfect.
I love having my slayer bone tickled.
OK, that that I need that for my head out on the internet.
Rest of the experiment.
Yeah.
All right.
Let it go.
Anyway, so number two, number two.
Surprise the shit out of me because it is an album that I kept going back to.
Oh, wow.
And I kept thinking, do I really like this album this much?
And I kept listening to it and listening to it.
And I'd listen to other things.
I've listened to a lot of these albums really deliberating, especially the last two months.
And I kept going back to this song, this album, because there were songs that just kept coming
back into my head.
Number two is Fire by Kitty.
It's a shock.
I voted on that.
Yeah, you voted on it.
Ed, what what drew you to this album?
The songs.
You know, I've never listened to them much.
You know, I've checked them out throughout the years, but never listened to it a lot.
But when you posted videos that they first released for this record and I put it in my
Apple Music playlist, the songs are good.
I think this is the best I've ever heard them sound as far as for the kind of metal that
I like.
You know, I'm hearing all the aggressive stuff that I like.
And they're good musicians, you know, for they're all just great at what they do.
I thought you could say they can write some damn good metal songs.
Yeah.
I like your vocals, too.
I would have to say that I think this is probably much like I mentioned about the quill before
each album has always had three, four or five songs that have been good.
But I think this is their first album.
They took a long time to record this.
It's been like years between albums, something like that.
But I think it was worth the wait because.
For the most part, the entire album is good.
Yeah, it is.
So I'm happy that it got the number two.
I'm surprised I got the number two, but quite a few people voted for it.
So yeah, Steve, I'm happy.
What's that?
Steve Hoker.
He probably like this.
He looked like this one.
Yeah, shocking.
Shocking as as as the quote went the other day in a
in a wrestling group that we have, somebody said to him, surprising, it has boobs and
you like it.
So
I've got to catch up with him.
There's several, a few indie rock bands, I think, from this year that makes me think
of him when I listen to him.
Yeah, there's going to be here and check in with us.
Yeah, there's there's quite a few indie rock bands that he voted for.
I'll post the entire list.
Yeah, I want to see that.
Yeah.
So good job, Steve.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's just recap here real quick before jumping on to number one.
Number 10.
It is Kitty.
Not Kitty.
It is Poppy with negative space.
Number nine.
The Quill with Wheel of Illusion.
Number eight.
Category seven with category seven.
Number seven.
Bring Me the Horizon with Utopia.
Number six.
Saxon with Hell, Fire and Damnation.
Number five.
The Warning with Keep Me Fed.
Number four.
Cemetery Skyline with Nordic Gothic.
Number three.
Kerry King with From Hell I Rise.
Number two.
Kitty with Fire.
And at number one.
Number one.
I figured.
Judas Priest.
Invincible Shield.
Jeremy, you called this essentially when the album came out.
Maybe it was even before the album came out.
You mentioned that this was going to be your number one.
Jeremy, your comments on Invincible Shield.
Yeah.
I've probably got a lot of comments about it.
I mean, just a few.
It's amazing that they could produce such a great album so late in their career.
It's better than Firepower.
And obviously, Firepower is an improvement on Redeemer of Souls.
So they've just kind of got better over the last three albums.
It's incredible because there's been so many illnesses in the band.
At least three members that we know of have been quite seriously ill at some point.
They seem to have gone over their sort of back catalog and drawn on influences through
all their previous albums.
But they've got this energy on this album.
It's just amazing.
The production is incredible.
You can play it again and again and it still sounds fresh.
I know you, Victor, were not so keen on Panic Attack, the very first single that came out.
You liked you.
You then went on to like songs after that.
I really like Panic Attack because I get excited when it comes on because I think I'm going
to hear the whole album again.
And I saw them play a few of these tracks live.
They knit into their set really well.
I wouldn't mind if they played the whole album.
And I don't normally like that with a band.
I know Iron Maiden have done it in the past.
Not all fans like that sort of thing.
But I would actually go and pay and listen to this whole album because I think it's so
fresh.
I actually think it's probably in their top three albums that they've ever made.
Because I'm just enjoying it so much still after it's been released.
And I play some of the older albums and I think, yeah, I like songs on the other albums,
but I don't like necessarily the entire album.
So I just think big thumbs up to Judas Priest.
They're killing it.
And it's amazing what they're doing.
And the other major bands are not producing stuff as good as they were, whereas Judas
Priest are.
Metallica, I wouldn't say are.
I don't we know that Iron Maiden are not, but Priest are.
Yeah.
And I will say that Panic Attack has grown on me because over the last two months listening
to this album over and over again, I'm like, yeah, I don't get why I didn't like this
song initially.
I guess I was scared that they were going to be revisiting Turbo with the album because
of the intro.
Also I think you thought that it was quite repetitive.
But if you listen, it's a live enough to midnight one, isn't it?
Not live enough to break in the law.
It's a break in the law where they keep repeating the chorus.
Or Firepower.
Firepower was similar to that.
And the thing is, Firepower, for example, was probably the song that I liked the least
off of that album as well because of that, because it was so repetitive.
Tony is saying today to number one, to number one for Judas Priest on two podcasts I follow.
Wow.
OK.
Cool.
Yeah, I think the most remarkable thing is that again, they're putting out quality material
this late into their career.
And they're the one band out of all the bands that I said, please work with Andy Sneep that
listened to me somehow through osmosis because it wasn't through me actually talking to them.
But these last two albums have proved it.
And it makes you wonder, you know, had Andy Sneep have been with them on Redeemer of Souls
or even with Angel of Retribution, Nostradamus, God forbid.
How different those albums may have been sonically.
Maybe also, I mean, I don't know what type of input he has with some of these songs,
but let's be honest, he's getting the best that's come out of this band in decades.
These last two albums.
And again, Jeremy, you said it.
I think this is the blueprint.
There have been albums over the years where I've said, you know, for me, Rat Infestation,
for example, or Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth to meet more albums to say, hey,
look, bands from the 80s.
This is what you need to do to put out a great album nowadays.
Well, I think Judas Priest has done that not only for 80s bands, but 70s bands and just
bands that we love.
Like you brought up Metallica.
I mean, I wish Metallica would work with an Andy Sneap to hone them in and kind of get
them back on track.
It's not to say that I don't like 72 Seasons, but I've mentioned this a few times.
To me, 72 Seasons is Metallica becoming Motorhead where they're, yeah, the album is decent,
but they're kind of just treading the same terrain over and over again.
Whereas Priest here is pushing what they're doing.
I still haven't decided if I like this album more than Firepower or not, but I will say
that it does make one hell of an album combining the two, or one hell of a playlist.
So there you go.
Anyone else want to mention something about Invincible Shield or Judas Priest?
Great job.
Yeah.
It's a really, really good album.
It was my number two.
Okay.
Yeah, me too.
Number two for me.
Cool.
And if I wasn't such a thrash metalhead, it would have been my number one, I'm sure.
Cool.
Hey, number two isn't shabby either.
No.
Not bad.
Good stuff.
Good list.
Well done, people who voted.
What's that?
I said, well done, people who voted.
Yeah, I think we got the kind of cross section of what was voted on was very different.
And I think at the end of the day, this gets us all to talk about music, to turn us on
to different things that maybe we hadn't listened to.
Otherwise throughout the year, there's definitely some things that I need to check out that
people submitted.
And there are other things that throughout the year, I thought that I liked more.
But when I went back to really listen to them over and over again, they just weren't, they
didn't have the same kind of staying power.
So when I do post this entire 77 album list to the website, hopefully you guys peruse
it and find other albums that maybe you say, hey, you know, I don't know who that is.
Let me check that out.
Or hey, I didn't know so-and-so released an album this year.
Let me check it out and see if I like it or not.
So yeah, so that is our countdown for 2024.
Once again, Judas Priest Invincible Shield, our number one.
2025 is shaping up to be a really good year as well.
Jeremy and I will be back discussing monthly reviews.
Hopefully some of those has helped you guys shape some of your lists and hopefully turn
you on to some music.
And as I mentioned earlier this week, when I got to talk to the guys from Hooligan Nation,
I said one of my favorite things is to hear people say, you know, thanks to you, my wife
is going to complain about me emptying my pockets, picking up some new albums that you
turn me on to.
So that's always a thrill to hear that kind of stuff.
So hopefully we continue that trend in 2025.
We help continue to turn you on to new music and different things and bands you love, bands
maybe you never heard of before.
But Singles from Mars is here to help continue to, you know, put gasoline on the fire.
I was close to quoting Gene Sinz.
But yeah, gasoline on the fire.
How about that?
This is a really good show.
I listen a lot of times to the podcasts at the beach or taking walks and I realized with
you and Jeremy, when you do the new albums coming out, that I can't do that because I'm
like, I want to stop and like, what are you guys talking about?
I want to search and listen.
So I now those shows, I have to specifically do it while I'm live in front of them or not
live while I'm from my computer to track since the man is keeping us down with playing snippets
of whatever, but hey, this is a good episode.
My live feedback without me having to write in what I'd be saying right now at the beach
while I'm lying there.
Hey, Victor.
Yes.
Can we go around the group and if Sean and Tony are still there, I want to hear everybody's
number one for the year.
Oh, I can read them off if you want.
Okay.
Well, I'm just hoping those guys just type in there.
Come on, everybody get the voice.
They're number one.
We can start with the man in black over here.
Jeremy, Jeremy's number one.
Go ahead, Jeremy.
Judas Priest.
Judas Priest, yeah, of course.
Nailed it.
My number one was Saxon.
Okay.
Number two is Judas Priest.
Dan.
I put it together.
I think it was Tuck Smith.
Is that what I wrote?
Let me see.
You know what?
It's such a listenable record.
The songs are just well crafted.
They're easy to listen to.
It's rock, but it's moody and it's what I'm into right now.
No, again, I listen to Slayer and Kerry King, but yeah, I really enjoyed the record.
It came out of nowhere.
Not well, it surprised me and it's just they're just they're just hooks.
So that album is one that I had written down to check out.
It's one of those things where there's just so much stuff coming out that things just
slip through the cracks.
So that's definitely something I'm going to go back and check out.
It's now on my list.
So thank you, Dan.
Yeah, we should add your number one.
Kerry King for me, of course.
Yeah.
Let's see.
Sean and Tony haven't responded, but Sean's number one was The Warning.
Okay, cool.
And Tony's number one.
Yeah, there he is.
He just mentioned it.
BMTO.
Bring me the horizon.
Or O-Ryzen.
Bring me the O-Ryzen.
The H-S-I-L-A-N-D in Spanish.
Makes sense.
If it was my band, it would be Bring Me the Oreos.
I want to join that one.
Speaking of then of you and Jeremy, I mean, what I'm looking forward to is the new Anthrax
album and hopefully a new Roxanne album.
Go ahead.
Oh, yeah, Roxanne.
I still need to see Roxanne, Dan.
I just saw him two weeks ago.
You weren't there.
You need to give me more of a heads up.
I hear they're coming back later this year.
So I'll see you there.
All right.
Well, watch from Vegas.
I'll just need to keep an eye on Vant.
They don't always play there, though.
Not always.
I think their last album was fantastic.
So yeah, so the new Anthrax hopefully comes out in 25.
Yeah.
Supposedly, it's going to be 25.
That's OK.
A new testament.
Good.
Yeah, a new testament.
Yeah, there's a bunch.
I actually have to start to put together the list that we that Jeremy and I usually pull
from.
And yeah, there's going to be a lot of stuff that I need to start to add this weekend.
And we'll we'll be talking about new releases shortly.
We won't.
We'll keep that going.
How about that?
So yeah, that's one of my favorite podcasts, by the way.
I mean, I listen to everything you put out, of course, Victor.
But that's the one I get really excited when I see we've got a new one.
That is fun.
But I'm with I'm with Dan, too, because I listen while I'm walking and I'm like, wait,
wait, wait a second.
I got to write this down.
I got to.
Yeah.
That he like again.
Crap.
No.
Yeah.
Well, that's that's similar to me as I'm out for walks or whatever.
And I'm like, oh, that's a great topic for the show.
I'll write it down.
Now, remember when I get back to the car and then I get back to the car.
So what was I talking about?
So I did the same thing.
So those of you who are not part of the Patreon group, if you were, you would get the almost
weekly VMR podcast.
And I usually listen to that when I'm out walking as well.
And I'm like making mental notes.
OK, I need to make a comment about this and this and this and this.
And then I get back home and I'm like, what was I wanted to comment on?
Yeah.
So those are, by the way, really, really fun and interesting podcasts.
So well, two bucks, two bucks a month, people.
Come on.
I'm glad I'm glad to hear that the that the effect is that it tickle my Slayer bone.
That's what those episodes do for you.
Oh, I got to you.
It's not as good as that, dude.
This is why AI will never replace people because Ed is so much better at saying that.
See that I'm going to have to have Ed record the sound.
I love having my Slayer bone tickled.
I love it.
I want that.
And then I'm going to play every time I play a Kerry King song on Yarg Metal, I'll put
that right before it.
Yeah, there you go.
That'd be great.
Yeah.
Either that or number two.
All right.
Excellent.
So on that note, I do want to thank Jeremy, Brad, Dan and Ed for joining us live here.
I want to thank Sean and Tony for joining us in the chat and anyone that happened to
join us on any of the various platforms today, we did go out for the first time on Rumble
and TikTok.
We'll see if that has anything to do with people checking out this episode live or maybe
any repeats.
And yeah, share the episode with your friends.
Let us know.
Do you agree with the list?
What did we miss?
And check out the 77 albums.
Did anything that you enjoy?
Did that fall criminally low or did it not even make it there?
Or did any album that you thought was kind of too high should have been lower?
So and if you thought something should have been higher vote next time.
Damn it.
It's not as if I'm not telling people that these shows are coming up.
So anyway, on that note, I got one thing to say before we go, Victor.
What's that?
Rumble sounds like it's the Steve Hoker number one dating app.
Yeah.
That's a good one.
I'm not sure, but yeah, oh, definitely.
We'll see in any event.
Thanks once again for joining us.
We'll see you next time right here on signals from Mars.
See you folks.