Welcome one and all to episode 438 of Signals
from Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this
episode, Jeremy and Ed are back. We are discussing
albums that came out in December of 2025. Getting
ready for two nights. Livestream where we do
our 2025 countdown. Talk about it next. I'm ready.
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Sean Richman, Tony Espin, Anthony Mackey, Ed
Ferguson, Johan Edestrum, Metal Dan, Chris Vaglio,
Gabriel Ruiz, Mark Striegel from Talking Metal,
Brad Dahl, Mike Jones, Jeremy Weltman, Steve
Hoker, and Steven Saylor. Thank you all you guys
for your support. We've got a... tight -knit
group here it's a small group uh it is a troll
free group you can join us on patreon for as
little as two dollars a month you can appear
on for example the show that we're recording
tonight uh where we will be doing the 2025 countdown
and these episodes the for example the the monthly
album reviews is us just trying to share what
We were into for that month, you know, for people
that say, oh, there's no good new music. I say
this over and over again ad nauseum, but there's
always good music coming out. You just have to
search for it. So we try to do our part to help
out with that whole thing. And yeah. Okay. So
listen, we recorded the episode in the middle
of January. The audio. Podcast is coming out
on the 30th of January. It's coming out shortly
after recording this. And you know what? The
music lives on. So even if you jump on that train
when the album comes out, that's awesome. But
if you jump on it afterwards, who cares so long
as you got into it. So hopefully we're doing
our part to help promote music that hopefully
will end up becoming part of the soundtrack of
your life. And yeah, and I always say this. It's
always fun to hear people say, hey, my wife's
going to kill me. I spent too much money this
weekend because I picked up all these albums
that you guys were talking about. So share that
with us. We love it. Also, remember to subscribe.
I'm trying to push to getting a thousand subscribers
on YouTube. Please help. please like please subscribe
please share any of these episodes we're getting
there we're chipping away at the stone per se
uh little by little and we are trying to climb
that mountain man still doing it um getting great
reception with the shorts uh getting about um
just on youtube alone close to uh like 25 000
views a week which again if you're comparing
it to mr beast or something like that it's peanuts
uh but for a little independent podcast that's
been around since 2009 it's not too shabby folks
and i'm pretty happy about it so maybe it's just
me being naive and little things um making me
happy whatever anyway let's get on with the show
welcome one and all to the latest episode of
signals from mars i'm your host victor and joining
me today are jeremy and ed how are you guys doing
doing well thanks yeah really good doing good
here too awesome so we are here to talk about
uh music that was released in december 2025 yes
i know it is the end of january 2025 but we want
to make sure that we Got this month in there
before we discussed our favorites of 2025. Joining
us in the chat is Edgar Winterson. If there's
anyone else checking us out, any familiars that
we have, any patrons, please let us know. So,
yeah, so December every year. there's always
a condensed list of things that are released
just because of the holidays. That said, Ed is
the master of Metal Storm and other sites that
have a much more diverse release schedule than
stuff that I'm used to seeing. Metal Storm over
the years has helped me with Picking out certain
things, but then sometimes they have. It's just
filtered in a weird way, so it's sometimes hard
to digest for me, but I'll just piggyback off
of you. But if there's anything that I'm missing
out and anything that you think is worth our
while to discuss, feel free to mention it along
the way. And yeah. I unfortunately don't have
a lot to share with you this month. Yeah. As
you said, there's not a whole lot that gets released.
Yeah. And live compilations and re -releases
and stuff like that. There's two weeks directly
that there's nothing that was released, which
is the 19th and the 26th of December. You can
tell from. The Metal Storm site that Buckethead
released about another 100 EPs and singles. I
mean, it's amazing. I swear, for several days,
his releases were filling up the screen. Yeah,
wow. I don't know what all he's up to, but he's
a busy man. Always a busy man, yeah. All right,
so let's start out with December 5th. I have
two releases. I have Phantoms of the Future.
and Gray Fox Conspiracy. And unfortunately, on
Apple Music, I couldn't find Phantoms of the
Future. I could only find Gray Fox Conspiracy,
so I listened to that. Is there anything that
I'm missing there, Ed? Is there anything else
that you listened to for this first week in December?
Yeah, there was one death slash thrash metal
band. called Nahum, N -A -H -U -M. I think I'm
pronouncing that right. Of course, Nahum was
a minor prophet from the Hebrew Old Testament,
so that might be where they got that name. I'm
not sure. I don't know a lot about them. I know
they're from Ostrava. Does that sound familiar?
O -S -T -R -A -V -A? Okay, somewhere in Scandinavia.
Somewhere in, yeah. But it's like, it's your
basic death thrash metal album, you know, nothing
spectacular, but I did end up listening to it
and still am because the songs were really good.
They seemed to, the songwriting is keeping things
interesting throughout the record. They kind
of, you know, pick up the energy in all the right
spots to keep you in the song. But that's about
all I have. If you're just looking for another
death thrash metal record to add to your collection,
you might want to check that one out. Yeah, and
I actually forgot to mention that Scorpion's
released Coming Home Live on December 5th as
well. I thought it was the following week, but
it was the 5th. Jeremy, for you, what did you
listen to and what do you recommend here? Yeah.
Well, Ostrava is actually in Czech Republic or
Czechia. Yeah, I was trying to say that again.
It's where? Czech Republic? Yeah. It's listed
there, but I'm not too sure how to say it. My
Kentucky tongue is feeling a bit insecure. So
thanks for the help. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe
Ostrava. Yeah, I don't know. Good band. I listened
to the three albums that you kind of mentioned
so far. I listened to all three. I listened to
Forever Dark, Phantoms of the Future. This was
kind of quite an interesting sort of goth album,
goth rock, I'd say. It's a cult German band.
I didn't really know much about them. Going in
the 90s, apparently. I got married in the 90s.
Our first daughter was born. So, you know, I
wasn't so into metal in the early 90s. Maybe
they were out then. They made a comeback. They
disbanded for a while. It was just an interesting
listen. I mean, let's face it, you know, there
weren't many albums to listen to. So, you know,
it was something to get my ears around. I did
listen to The Preacher Man by Grey Fox Conspiracy
as well, partly because they're from South Wales,
which, as you know, is where Phil Campbell comes
from as well. So, yeah, what was interesting
is that there were five -piece traditional sort
of heavy rock stuff, bit of southern rock influence
in there. So it was kind of in my ballpark, as
you might expect. It was easy listening without
being particularly great. I reckon in another
week, another month, I would probably have passed
it by. So, you know, my only choice really for
the month out of the three would be the Scorpions
live album, just because, you know, it's Scorpions.
We know their ages now. We know where they are
in their career. It sounded fine. I think Klaus
Mein does sound his age a little bit, you know,
a little bit forced occasionally. He's not got
that excitement in his intonation anymore. But
hey, you know, they still play big city nights
and still play rocking. rock you like a hurricane
and all all those stuff that we like uh and it
was a nice you know nice collection of songs
on there um you know if you think about it klaus
mine's going to be 78 this year And Rudolf Schenker,
also 78 this year. So, you know, it's fantastic
that they're still going. I still want to see
them live because I think they're still a great
live act, given their ages. So, yeah, if you've
not got a live album by Scorpions, why not just
go out and buy it? Because, you know, you're
going to get a late career sort of concert, which
sounds fine. Yeah, I listened to two of the three.
I couldn't find the Phantoms of the Future. But
I listened to the Scorpions album a few times
this week. Music is great. And I think you're
a perfect assessment with regards to the vocals.
There are points in time where you're listening
to that. And it doesn't seem like they've overdubbed
much because there could have been like big,
huge choruses and stuff like that. And the only
song that really has. Like the gang vocals is
big city nights outside of that. It's big city
nights or blackout. I forget. It's one of the
two. It's all the way at the end. And I thought,
wow, you know, they really could have touched
this up if they wanted to, because Klaus's voice,
as you've said, sounds like he's a 78 year old
man singing some of this stuff. Some of this
stuff he's, he's like mumbling as well. There's
there things where in the past they would have
cleaned it up and, and whatnot. To me, that's
kind of cool because, as you're saying, they're
not lying to anybody. And at the same time, you
know, do we want something that sounds exactly
like Worldwide Live, where it sounds like it
was recorded in the 80s, where they've played
with his vocals and brought it up a few octaves?
and stuff like that. So, um, I enjoy what they've
done. I don't know that I'll listen to that album
a whole heck of a lot. Um, and it made me think
also cause Scorpions. Yeah. So they had Tokyo
tapes worldwide live. Then they had, um, an album
in the nineties, which depending on when you
got it, you either got a hidden bonus track or
not with them doing. And I remember there was
a big to do with Eddie trunk because people were
buying it and it wasn't on there. And people
were like, no, we want this song on there. You
know, where is it? And he would play. He's like,
no, it's on every, every release. And I bought
it and I didn't have it either. So I, I forget
what it was called. It was. still stinging live
or something like that. Uh, I've, I, I don't
remember. Um, and I've actually done exactly
what I didn't want to do and open up all my browser
tabs. Okay. Uh, anyway, uh, yeah, for me, it,
it's going to be, um, it's going to be scorpions
as well. I mean, I thought the gray five, Fox
conspiracy was, but it was, I don't know, not
something that I would readily listen to. Um,
you know, as, as you like to say, uh, Jeremy,
it was kind of like, uh, a pub band. Hmm. But
by the way, I'd just like to mention, as we mentioned
in Scorpions, you know, Francis Buchholz died
today. Yes. You know, we should, we should, Yeah,
we should honor him. Obviously, he was in the
band for quite a while and out of the band with
Michael Schenker for a bit as well. It's a shame
we've lost another one. Yeah, they didn't end
on great terms. There was a lot of nastiness
back and forth between them when he left the
band. And, you know, whatever. Whatever happened,
I mean, it's something that we're never going
to really find out, you know, as usual. There's
multiple sides to a story. So anyway, Ed, what
did you say your album was? Nahum. And the name
of the album, I don't even think I told you.
It's called Old World Dead. It looks like they
go back to about 2012 as far as major releases,
but this is my first time hearing them. And,
yeah, they put out a solid record. You know,
I don't think bands really care when you jump
on the train so long as you do. That's right.
And it's another reason why we're doing this
in January as opposed to doing it, you know.
Instead of not doing it. How about that? So,
I mean, and with interviews and different things
that I do, I, at least my way of approaching
things is that the albums are still out there,
you know, so you can always check them out at
any point in time that you want to. If you're
listening to this episode in mid March, you know,
it's still going to be, they're still going to
be cool albums to check out. Yeah. And it'll
be fresh for you if it's the first time you're
hearing. Absolutely. You know, the music. Yeah.
So. So. All right. So December 12th, we had releases
from Lord of the Lost, Opus Noir, Volume 2. Volume
3 is coming out in March, if I'm not mistaken.
Volumes released. Mirror Touch, Glasgow Kiss
released Down in Flames. They're live albums
from Jimmy Jameson, 1998 live hits. And Graham
Bonnet Band released live in Hollywood, again
live. Or Lost in Hollywood, again live. And then
there are reissues from Bring Me the Horizon,
Pink Floyd, Static X, and Clutch. Ed, anything
that we missed out here that you consider a worthy
listen? No, this was an empty week for me. There's
one thing that came out on the 17th, so I'll
just save that for the next week that we talk
about. Okay. But, yeah, nothing that week for
me that I liked. Jeremy? Yeah, I did listen to
the Graham Bonnet Band live album. Actually,
I actually thought it was pretty good. I've seen
Graham Bonnet live where his vocals were pretty
terrible, to be honest. I've seen him twice live
where his vocals were terrible. But I thought
it sounded good on this album. Now, obviously,
we don't know how much he's engineered for it,
you know, to put it on disc. It sounded as if
he was probably singing along to his own backing
track because you kind of heard it on one or
two songs. You could hear his voice and then
him kind of singing over the top. that's fine.
You know, if he needs to do it, he's a certain
age, like they all are. I mean, he's 78 already,
actually. So, you know, he's pushing on a bit.
The other thing about Graham Bonnet, of course,
is that he doesn't, he always said in the past
he didn't like heavy rock much and he always
liked, you know, rock and roll and all the sort
of early stuff that he used to do. So the fact
that he's still doing it is a bonus. And, you
know, there's some good songs on this album.
You remember a lot of the Alcatraz stuff that
he used to do and, you know, the Schenker stuff.
And, you know, there's some good tracks. And
it's kind of like one of those albums that you'd
play in the car on a long journey and just sing
along to and kind of enjoy. So, yeah, I quite
enjoyed it. But my album of the week is definitely
going to Down in Flames by, as you would say,
Victor Glasgow Kiss. which is actually Glasgow
Kiss. I was going to say it's Glasgow. That's
the one. That's the one. You know I always rib
you on your pronunciations of the British stuff.
Your female friends who band from Norway. they
describe themselves as old metal i don't know
i'm not entirely certain what old metal is really
but uh to me it was just sort of eight songs
uh that had sort of two defining features for
me one was the lead singer uh charlotte marlon
midton um I thought she was really good for this
kind of music and reminded me a lot of Sanhedrin,
which, you know, as a band, I've mentioned a
few times in the past, that sort of type of music.
The second defining feature for me had a very,
very good underlying groove to it. You know,
the riffs had a real groove. And so, you know,
there's a lot of classic rock metal riffs thrown
into the mix there. I thought it was very tight.
It had a lot of energy. And, you know, I thought
the songs... were pretty good. You know, I wanted
to go back and listen to them again. So, um,
there's a lot of, a little bit edgy as well at
times. So yeah, really enjoyed it. I thought
it was a good album. Probably we'll give it another,
another go at some point. Okay. Uh, I listened
to the, um, volumes mirror touch, uh, definitely
a very modern sounding album. Uh, your mix of
gent prog metal. with some a little bit more
commercial type stuff that uh a lot of these
bands are dipping their toes into um so that
and i listened to the lord of the lost opus new
year um volume two that's going to be my album
of the week and i mean if you've come to love
lord of the lost it's lord of the lost i mean
there's really It's them experimenting a little,
but it's still within their realm. I mean, you
can definitely, you know, anything with Chris
Harms' vocals on it is going to sound like Lord
of the Lost. Even his solo album that he released,
which was more of like 80s synth wave stuff,
still sounded like Lord of the Lost because he's
got a very specific voice. Ed, you mentioned
something that had come out on the 17th that
you wanted to discuss. What is that? Yeah, this
is another death thrash metal. It's a three -piece
band. They've apparently been around for a while,
formed in 2000, but they're from Japan. So it's
a little something different. I got to impress
my half -Japanese wife with some Japanese death
metal this month. they have assumed the name
of an ancient samurai warrior, so their name
is Gatsu Tatsu Katsu. I don't know what that
sounds like coming from a Kentucky boy, but it's
something like that. And if you like sepultura
a lot and you like death metal, you would like
this because, as I said, it's death. It's more
on the death metal side with, you know, lots
of thrash metal inspired riffs. But the vocals
kind of remind me a bit of Sepultura. There's
a lot of death metal bands that when I hear them,
a lot of them will remind me of that kind of
Sepultura vocal, you know, with the death metal
growl on top of it. And they're one of them.
I've enjoyed this album. I don't know anything
they're saying because it's all in Japanese.
You'd have to get on the internet to interpret.
Now, the name of the record, though, by using
Metal Encyclopedia, they translate it as being
immortality. So you can write that in your notes.
It came out December 17th. The songs have quite
a bit of groove, which, you know, is always something
that catches my attention. So that's another,
you know, death metal album, that little something
different for you. So it was Gatsu, Katsu, Datsu?
No, that's with a T, Tatsu. Tatsu, okay. But
the rest I got right. Let me look it up again.
I lost my spot. Yeah, gatsu, tatsu, katsu. So
it's a G, and then T is in tango. The last one's
K is in kilo. Gotcha. All right. Who says we
don't branch out with things? Yeah, a little
Asian flair for everyone. Yeah, there you go.
So cool. So just recapping here, and we're doing
this because next week we are doing our favorites
of 2025. So if you're watching this live or listening
to the replay, if you're listening to the audio
version, this is being released on the day that
we are recording the 2025 albums countdown. And
the picks that we had here. December 5th, Ed
picked Mayhem and Old World Dead. Jeremy and
I picked Scorpions Coming Home Live. For the
12th, Jeremy picked Glasgow Kiss with Down in
Flames. I picked Lord of Lost Opus Noir Volume
2. And then coming along on the 17th was Gatsu,
Tatsu, Katsu with immortality, which is what
Ed had picked. So again, December is a short
month and you guys definitely have your work
cut out for you to send us in your 10 favorite
albums of the year. You can email those to signals
from Mars at signals from mars .com. Or if you've
reached out to me on social media, feel free
to do that there as well. Been getting a lot
of different comments on YouTube for the shorts
that I've been doing. And Ed, you helped me out
yesterday and been getting... Stirring up trouble
again. Yeah, it's interesting because people
were saying, oh, why don't you give more information?
I'm like, well, this is kind of to, you know,
the incentive for you to check out the long form
video and subscribe to the channel and all that.
It's like what we're talking about in the short,
the short's great. And obviously it's giving
signals from Mars, a ton of platform, you know,
a ton of traffic to the platform, but you've
got that whole long form video that the three
of us have, you know, sat around listening to
music in our car, at home, in our headphones,
through our speakers, and we're doing these episodes
for you guys. And hopefully, again, there are
little glimpses and pieces of things that stand
out to you, and hopefully it gets you to not
only check out the long -form video, but also
check out the bands in question. So that's ultimately
the goal. I've said it a bunch of times where
when people say to me, oh, my wife's going to
kill me because I spent I don't know how much
this weekend at the store picking up records
that you guys were talking about. That to me
is a thrill. That means that I'm doing my job.
How's your wife doing, Jeremy? You've been sharing
lots of new vinyl on Facebook and such. She's
next door. I could bring her in. Has she put
any limitations on you yet? Not yet, no. I do
hide the odd one that comes through in the box,
of course. You've been showing some nice stuff.
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, it's all collected over
a period of time, obviously. This week, but yeah.
So it's not all brand new stuff you just bought?
It's not all brand new, no. It's all over the
past few years or whatever. I thought you'd been
shopping after Christmas or something. No, no,
no. It's just a lot of it's in the collection.
But yeah, there's probably one more that I need
to get this week. And as Victor was saying recently,
the prices of vinyl is going up and up, which
is not a good thing, really. So you've got to
be careful what you select. I don't know if the
excuse was for a long time the bottleneck in
the supply chain, but that's how many years ago
at this point. I get that there are less big
factories that are making vinyl, but, for example,
I have the Wolf Tooth album here. That was printed
in Lithuania. And it was sent to me from there.
So there's a lot of small like record plants
around the world that are servicing, you know,
local acts and smaller acts and stuff like that.
So, I mean, there are other ways of being able
to print your albums up. I mean, like everything
we are. We were at the mercy of these big corporations
that are, you know, the ones behind most of those
factories and most of these labels. But, you
know, it's a shame because it just seems like
it's skyrocketing. The prices are skyrocketing.
And I don't get it. You know, I looked up on
a newsletter today where I received. uh the uh
pre -release for two old um albums from uh from
a spanish band that i'd seen live back in the
day and i have the albums on cd actually i thought
it was kind of neat wow you know i could get
these on vinyl all these years later and and
so on and they're one's a double album and it
cost 26 euros. The other one is a single album
and it's 22. So you're looking at like a little
bit more than $25 and close to 30 for a double
album. I think that's reasonably priced. That
is, you know, but some of these other, if it's
something you like, yeah. Some of these other
albums that are coming out where it's in the
forties and fifties. And way out there. The one
that really caught my attention was the New Depeche
Mode live album. It's 100 euros for the vinyl.
Wow. Regardless. So how much is that in dollars?
That's like $120. Wow. Yeah, that's mad. That's
a lot. I've paid $100. Twice. I've paid $100
and over. One was years ago on Kickstarter, and
I've never opened it. It's a Frankie Goes to
Hollywood box set for their first album, Welcome
to the Polterdome, which I absolutely love that
album. And then there's the Creatures of the
Night box set that's right over here. Yeah, but
those are box sets. Yeah, they're box sets. Iron
Maiden released, I forget if it was Book of Souls
or Shinjitsu, and it was about 100 because it
was four vinyls. It's just, it's too much. Yeah,
especially if you don't spend it a lot, unless
you're just doing it for collecting purposes.
I told you all about that Hope Deferred record,
and this is the most I've ever spent on a single
record. It's like you said, they're a small,
getting started band so they're using uh probably
an independent company and they did do a pretty
cool i usually just like you know black vine
right but this one is kind of like a it's like
a gravestone kind of a slate gray color and it's
actually looks really cool um but yeah i think
i spent after shipping 45 to 50 dollars on this
uh but i did it because of who it is you know
i told you about that band embodiment right and
this is the guy from embodiment and the uh i
told you how embodiment started off as a death
metal band and then they released an album on
solid state records which uh where they changed
the vocals that kind of kind of black metal sounding
vocals and The music was a little more deathcore
-like. And they're kind of credited with influencing
deathcore bands, even though they're kind of
an unknown band. And then Solid State put out
a compilation where Embodiment had put out a
new song. And the album that they had put out
is a classic. Ten songs. It's great stuff all
the way through. They put out a... new single
on this compilation, and it was even better.
And it got all the embodiment fans just really
excited for what was about to come. It was just
perfectly produced. It was probably the best
song we'd ever heard. And then they pulled a
total Metallica on everybody and completely switched
their genre. It was crazy. The singer left, and
we heard about that in the news. And people started
saying that the new music was sounding more like
the Deftones and things like that. And sure enough,
when they released an album in 2000, it was completely
different. It was just alternative metal and
just one of the biggest bummers for us lovers
of embodiment that we'd ever experienced. And
they did that to try to have a career, I think.
Because it was kind of hard making music in the
Christian death, you know, metal chorusing back
then. And they spent several years, probably
until 2008 or so, just as this kind of alternative
metal band. Now, that first album they put out,
and Victor, I'm going to have to remember to
send it to you because it's an album that I think
you will really love. Luckily, the songwriting
on that first album was so good that once I got
over my bitter feelings. of the changes, I ended
up liking the album and I still have it and enjoy
it, but I'm not really liked anything else they
put out. So anyway, after they broke up, I told
you the guitarist, he had started a new band
called the famine. He did that for a couple of
years, spit out a couple of records, and now
he's got this band hope deferred. And for me,
this is the closest thing I'll ever have to embodiment
on vinyl. Because back then they weren't printing
vinyl. I think there may, you know, if I do a
Google search, there may have been a time where
they released it and I missed it. So unless they
repress that again someday, I'm never going to
get that. But the guitarist from embodiment,
he crafted a guitar tone that is completely his.
And when you hear it, it's different than all
the other bands. It kind of reminds me of Wolf
from Accept. how, you know, he's playing Marshall
and Gibson guitars, but he's somehow crafted,
especially on Balls to the Wall, a distortion
that's just all Wolf Hoffman, and you know it's
him when you hear it. And this Hope Deferred
record, none of you guys would like it. It's
only people that like, you know, death metal
and technical. It's very technical, lots of riffs,
you know, lots of drumming going on. There's
not a lot of breakdowns. There's hardly no melody.
So it's not something that a lot of you guys
would like. But for all you guys that do like
that kind of music, if you want to hear something
that just it's going to sound different, you're
tired of everything else and you want something
that sounds a little bit different, even though
it's the same kind of music. Check out this Hope
Deferred album because he's still, you know,
rocking with that same tone that he's always
had. It's nice to be able to put a vinyl on my
stereo here in my office and jam it that way.
That's probably a longer story than you all wanted
to hear. No, that's fine. I'm not going to give
you a technical review of the music because that
would bore you. But anyway, that's the most I've
spent, and that was my reason why. There's a
reason why I spent that much. But Best Buy, man,
they hurt me. I had some reward points to use.
And so I got on the website, and I see that all
the prices were up. I told you how all the records
were now minimum $28, $29. I also noticed that
all the CD prices had gone up. Yeah. So I ended
up settling on buying that indie pop band, Wet
Leg. Oh, right. And I bought their first album.
I love that record. And I spent $28 .99 on it.
Well, they shipped it to me with the $22 .99
sticker still on the front, just to make it hurt
a little bit more when I opened the box that
I spent the extra five bucks. So, yeah, I mean,
the price is just getting to be – the only reason
I bought that, though, is because I had rewards
to spend on it. So with them raising these prices,
I'm definitely buying less stuff, going to be
more selective. Yeah. And so they'll be getting
probably less of my dollars that way. Yeah. And
like I said, even the CD prices, CDs that I used
to buy for $12 are now back up to $18. Yeah.
Yeah, same here. Some CDs here are like sort
of £20 for a CD, which is what the vinyl price
was a few years back. I think also if you wait
a little with some albums, there's quite a lot
of supply, so you can get them cheaper. And a
few of the eBay sellers will sort of accept offers
on new stuff. It's a question of how quickly
you want it as well. I've done that with Megadeth
on the previous album. the death the dying and
the and the whatever yeah that's the one yeah
um so yeah i got that one uh reasonably cheap
because there was a lot of supply of it and obviously
you know a lot left over so i'm thinking whether
i might do the same with the new one um you know
i do want to get hold of it i want a copy of
it and i will play it but so yeah you just you're
balancing you're balancing all these issues aren't
you where you know how much you want the album
Is it a must buy? There are some out there that
are still must buys because, you know, you really
love every song on the album. There's some of
those still out there, aren't there? And also
you probably have to say to yourself, you know,
you might go out for a meal and you've had that
meal and you won't see that meal again. But with
an album, hey, you're going to see it again and
again and again. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Exactly.
I'm wondering, now that you mention that, Jeremy,
is Megadeth on Bandcamp? Yeah. They are, but
the only thing on here is the live in Buenos
Aires and unplugged in Boston. So that seems
to me that it's more of... By the way, while
you're looking at that, there's another issue
as well, which isn't just the price. And this
applies to the new Megadeth album. There's so
many different versions. Which one do you choose?
You know, I've seen a splatter version that looks
great. I've seen the picture disc. There's three
or four color versions. And then there's an HMV
exclusive version. Et cetera, et cetera. It goes
on and on until there's about seven or eight
versions of the same album. And it's very tricky
sometimes to say which one do you fancy out of
the lot. But, hey, I guess it's the same as when
you go and buy shampoo in the supermarket. There's
about 30 versions out there. What do you think?
It's a lot cheaper, though. That's true. That's
true. So you just mentioned the wet leg. How
many albums did they have out? well they got
a second one now that they released last year
yeah which which which uh you know and and that's
that's a group man they that first album they
put out is like elite level stuff i mean it's
set the songwriting is so good yeah um it's you
know it's obviously uh it's like a two girl band
mainly i mean they've got some other people not
anymore actually now they're they're um They're
a four -piece now. Yeah, well, that's what I
mean. But I think the main songwriters are probably
those two singers, right? And, man, the music
that they wrote on that first album, it sounds
like they were born with it. It's just like songs
they've had their whole life and just crafted
perfectly by the time they recorded them. It's
like a five -star record. So anticipating their
second one, you know, it was like, how are they
going to live up to the first one? And so as
usual, listening to the second one, it was hard
for me, you know, not to compare it to that one.
And it was hard to enjoy as much as I probably
could because of how good that first record was.
But as the year has gone on, it's been growing
on me more and more. And I am seeing it was their
second one is a really good effort, too. But
it's just it would be amazing if they could ever
match the same level of songwriting they did
on that first record. I have to check the first
one out because I did check the new album out
due to the fact that. A bunch of different. And
online music sites voted that the new Wet Leg
album as the album of the year. Okay. Yeah, I
could see that. So I checked that out. And I
mean... Yeah, it's one that's growing on me and
I'm starting to enjoy a lot more. Yeah, I'm trying
to think. I know CPR is the one song. which is
being played a lot. And then there's another
song that I've been playing a lot recently. I
don't remember the name of the song, but what
caught my attention after they mentioned how
it was the album of the year was that she's playing
an acrylic BC Rich bitch. That's something that
I've always wanted to, uh, back in the nineties,
I always thought that they were great. And I
remember I, when I interviewed, um, Patrick Kennison,
who is Lita Ford's, uh, guitarist. And he's also
got a band called, um, heaven below. He was in
a band called the union underground. Um, he used
to play acrylic BC riches all the time. And I
will pick one up once. And I was like, nah, it's,
too much, you know, I'll wait, I'll wait. And
a lot of times you wait and they're just gone.
Yeah. That was another thing that I wanted to
discuss was other things that we listened to
this year that weren't necessarily metal albums.
What are some other things that you guys checked
out? throughout this year that you think is worthy
to mention that isn't exactly hard rock or metal?
Ed, anything else besides wet leg? Yeah, I was
just going to give Jeremy a chance to talk there.
I'm not sure I listened to a hell of a lot that
wasn't hard rock or metal, to be honest. I can't
think of anything. I'm such a metalhead, such
a rockhead. I do. This is not. I have a couple
of songs that I absolutely love that in one of
them I sent to you last January. I got sick with
something for a couple of weeks. And I'm on TikTok
and I started seeing a video clip from. This
gal named Eka Van Vandel. Okay. Her first name
is E -C -C -A. And it was, I don't know if that's
her name. She has a whole band behind her. I
don't know if that's her name and they've named
the band that as well or not. I have a hard time
knowing exactly what their story is. But they
had a song called Cruising to Self -Sooth. And
I tell you, I think it's one of the best rock
songs that I've heard in years. Okay. I can't
remember enjoying a rock song this much since
maybe probably Weezer 10 years ago or, you know,
that Queens of the Stone Age song that's so popular
that I'm forgetting the name of now. Yeah. It's
that good. You know, a song that'll get stuck
in your head. for hours. This one gets stuck
in my head for days on end after I heard it.
And it's just, it's the, the song itself, it's
kind of, it's, it's got a mix of sounds that
take me back to like the late eighties and early
nineties with both alternative and grungy Nirvana
type sounds. So like in, in the verse, you'll
hear these, uh sounds in the guitar playing that
makes you think of stuff like the pixies almost
and then when she gets to the chorus you get
a raging nirvana -like chorus and the melodies
are going up and down and in ways that get stuck
in your head and it's got some very inspirational
lyrics to it as well um now if i go to itunes
trying to learn more about them they don't have
a lot of music and the other songs that i listen
to are completely different So when I first heard
this, I thought it was like an alternative rock
band of some sort. But a lot of the other songs,
it's like a whole other genre. So I'm guessing
she just likes to shake things up and do different
styles of music. Anybody out there who wants
to school this on Echo Vandal, please do. I'd
like to learn more about them. And also, Jeremy,
have you thought of anything yet? Well, only
one that I did listen to, actually, in the last
few weeks was the Robbie Williams album. And
one of the reasons, of course, was because Tony
Iommi was on there. And also because my wife
likes Robbie Williams. And we have actually seen
him live together. And he was excellent. You
know, he is Robbie. You know what you're going
to get with him. And I thought the album was
pretty good. I thought it was very typical of
his stuff. A little bit old school. mix of songs
uh perfectly listenable if you like that sort
of thing so yeah that was okay yeah i'm i'm trying
to look through my 2025 uh playlist here to see
what kind of stood out that um that i've in here
that isn't exactly metal There are some things
that are hard rock and metal. There's songs off
of the Last Lady Gaga album in here. There's...
I mean, for the most part, almost everything
in here is as... mark would say loud rock because
i'm seeing hardcore i'm seeing you know stuff
that even like sick puppy or mammoth which is
still kind of radio rock you know it's still
in the vein of what we tend to discuss i listen
to the faces album you know the early faces stuff
i think they released an album of um Just sort
of stuff that never got released in the early
days with Rod Stewart on and obviously Ronnie
Wood. And that was just interesting to hear.
I mean, it was stuff that you wouldn't necessarily
buy. It was kind of, you know, off cuts and studio
outtakes and all that sort of stuff. But just
very interesting to hear all that early stuff
as they were crafting it and, you know, building
their name. So that, you know, that sort of thing
could be of interest. Yeah, I've got a lot of
that last album by The Hives. I mean, The Hives
is something that kind of crosses over because
it, yes, it's rock, but just it's so energetic.
There's just so many elements to it that isn't
that far removed from, say, like the helicopters
or stuff that's more. you know, more marketed
towards us. Whereas shit, the singer of the hives
was one of the possible replacements for Brian
Johnson and ACDC. So it ultimately went to Axl
Rose. I've also got Twisted, which is a – they're
more known as a hip -hop band. They're kind of
parallels with the Insane Clown Posse. Yes. You
know, my friend's CD collection that I've been
going through, he had some Twisted CDs. Okay.
So, yeah, they've been around probably. Oh, yeah,
yeah. But I've never heard of them until then.
Lo and behold, you mentioned. Yeah, there are
songs off of this last album of theirs that remind
me of like in the 90s when Everlast, who was
a member of House of Pain, put out some albums
that had rap on it. But he kind of jumped on
what Johnny Cash was doing at the time as well,
where he got some pretty decent airplay. in my
area because it was acoustic music with him with
some like sampled beats behind it and with some
of it was singing some of it was him rapping
over and you know with the advent of new metal
and stuff like that that became more accessible
to classic rock and because it's an acoustic
guitar you had other bands like I'm going to
say Tantric, but there was a band before them,
Days of the New, which is where Tantric came
from, which was kind of that acoustic music with
different percussion instruments behind them.
Right. I'm looking at what I listened to most
this year, stuff that came out this year. And
it's interesting. It looks like I listened to
a lot of Killswitch Engage, The Halo Effect,
King Witch, who I interviewed their singer, Laura
Donnelly. I released that over the summer. Italian
band Sick and Beautiful, Stick to Your Guns,
Alien Weaponry, Brainstorm, Deftones. Brainstorm
and Deftones are bands that I mentioned to Mark
on. I think it was Talking Metal when we talked
about some releases that came out this year.
It's kind of weird. I know that I listen to a
lot of Spirit Box as well. I'm thinking Arcade
Fire had a record last year that I've been liking.
Am I wrong about that? Let's see. Arcade Fire.
Their last album was Pink Elephant. It was released
in May. Yeah. Okay. So I can say if you're an
Arcade Fire fan, which I am, that's a good album
so far. The stuff that they released after Reflector,
I have not liked at all. Okay. No interest in
those records. I just did not like the songwriting.
But this new one. I'm enjoying more. But I haven't
listened to it enough that I could give you any
good comments about it. Okay. But check it out
if you like that band. Their album, The Suburbs,
is one of my favorite indie rock records ever.
Okay, cool. Ed, did you get to check the Megadeth
out, or are you still waiting to do something?
So I started on that today. Okay. I'm kind of
doing like I do with my Kerry King album and
digesting it slowly. So I've sat with four of
the songs, the first four songs, driving around
in the car. And so that will be on our next review.
Right. January album. Okay. Yeah. I've got the
rest of the record to go through before I have
anything to say about it. Okay. No initial thoughts
so far? We can compare to what you ultimately
say for the January review? Well, okay. Everyone's
said great things about it, and I agree. So far
in the four songs, I've not heard something.
better than what I've heard on the last album.
But that doesn't mean what I'm hearing is not
great so far. And the guitar soloing is just,
like I said, magical. I'm starting to think Dave
Mustaine has even gotten better, even though
his hands are giving him trouble. Because sometimes
I'm hearing guitar solos that I think is the
new guy, but I know they're going back and forth.
I'm going to have to sit down with it, you know,
the notes sometime. And there's some things that
I'm thinking or that I can't tell if it's Dave
or not, as if he's maybe taking a few lessons
from this guy. Yeah, that's. You might be too
proud to hear somebody say that. That's interesting
because there. There were reviews that I read
beforehand that said that Teemu did the majority
of the soloing. And I'm listening to the songs
today. I'm like, that's Dave soloing. That's
Dave soloing. You know, there's definitely, I
think Dave is soloing on every track. Is Teemu
soloing more than Dave on the tracks? Maybe.
Yeah, I think he probably is. Yeah, I think I
would be. Pressed to have a Megadeth album that
Dave isn't going to put his stamp all over, you
know, that he isn't going to be doing the soloing.
Another thing that helps me gauge the Megadeth
record are songs on there that I might be excited
enough to want to learn to play. And usually
there's two or three that I enjoy learning to
play. And I think I am excited maybe to learn
how to play Tipping Point. Not guitar solos.
I'm a rhythm guitar player here. I'm a wannabe
guitar soloist. So that's a good sign of me liking
that record. I just lost my thought on the second
thing I was going to say about it. So continue
on. I'll have to jump back in. Yeah, there's
a song all the way at the end of the album that
may be catchy and you may want to... Now I remember.
I keep hearing people complaining about his voice.
His voice sounds the same damn way it's always
sounded. There's nothing different about it.
I think people are just... You know, TikTok is
starting to kind of piss me off with... You know,
for a while... Okay, I'm not going to go on a
tangent. I'm ready to, but I'm going to not do
it. But talking about metal on TikTok is starting
to be ruined for me. Because there's people just
looking for stuff to complain about to make videos.
Right. And so you're getting a lot of videos
of people wanting to complain about things on
this album, like his vocals, that there's nothing
different there to be complaining about. And
so people are just making this stuff up. Now,
like I said, I only heard four songs. And one
of those songs is that I kept seeing TikTok videos
of people complaining about the, I don't care
about, you know, X, Y, and Z. Acting like he
sounded really cringe. His voice sounded cringe
in that. And, you know, we were all chatting
about it before and, you know, reminiscing on
P -cells and songs, you know, very similar to
it. I mean, his voice actually sounds, you know,
better and more mature than it does on, you know,
peace cells. I mean, the peace cells, his voice
is probably a little whinier than it is on this
record. Yeah. So I don't, I think people are
just, they're just looking for stuff to attention.
Take you off of that. They're looking for attention.
Like I posted earlier today where a lot of people
are complaining about their. Ride the Lightning
cover. I think it sounds good. Is he doubling
the vocals like Hetfield did on the original
in parts? No, he's not doing that. But it's fucking
Dave Mustaine. I mean, he's not going to sound
like Bruce Dickinson all of a sudden. He's not
going to. Dave's voice has always been Dave's
voice, and you either got it or you didn't. And
that's the thing, you know, there's so many thrash
bands specifically where you can look at Dave
Mustaine. You could look at Blitz from Overkill.
You could look at Zetro from Exodus, you know,
where it's an acquired. That's hard to handle.
So to the voice, you either like it or you don't.
I've always liked. Yeah. Mustaine's and Blitz's
voice, and I've never really cared for Zetro's
voice. Me too. You know? So it's, listen, two
on their last album, 40 years in, you're going
to start to complain about his voice? Well, duh.
Did he sound like a crooner on Killing Is My
Business? Did he sound like Tom Jones on that
album? Did he sound like Pavarotti on Countdown
for Extinction? You know, that all of a sudden
it's become an issue? Get at it. Yeah. Yeah,
I actually thought his voice sounded as least
cringed as it ever had on those four songs. I
don't know what people are talking about. The
album is possibly the best album they've released
sonically. Everything sounds so clean on it.
And you know what? The album you can compare
it to the most right off the bat is Endgame.
It's got that same kind of distortion and tone,
and the way they mix everything is very similar
to that record there, except even better. Yeah,
I think it sounds, to me, and we'll talk about
this more next month. To me, I think it's, for
my taste, It's the most listenable album for
me since United Abominations, which to me, United
Abominations is one of my favorites by the band,
but it's the last, in my opinion, the last great
album they've released, where from beginning
to end, it's the most consistent as far as the
songs are concerned. That doesn't take anything
away from... dystopia the sick the dying and
the dead i just think those albums yeah you know
i may have to agree with you on that when i think
about it that there are songs that i like better
than the songs on united abomination on the later
records but as a whole just sitting down to listen
to it the whole record non -stop you're right
that's probably one of the best ones yeah yeah
I think that the previous two to this, there's
a point with some of the songs where they're
kind of going Judas Priest route. When Halford
came back to the fold, it just felt to me that
they were lost for some time, where they were
putting out albums where... They were almost
imitating themselves where it was, okay, let's
put out a song that sounds like painkiller. Let's
record another song that sounds like living after
midnight. Like those first few albums all needed
to have like touchstones that went back to something
else. And it seemed like to me, dystopian, the
sick, the dying and the dead, they needed to
prove that they could still be a thrash band
after super collider. Which is fine with me.
Yeah. Which again, I don't think that they're
bad albums. I just think that this album to me
overall is better because I think those other
albums, they kind of worried too much about being
over the top thrash and kind of some of the other
songs are just kind of okay. So I don't know,
just my. Yeah, I do have a lot more to say, but
I'll say that. Yeah, that's fine. Even just with
the four songs, I have quite a bit to say. I'm
excited to listen to the rest. Hopefully I'll
have power to be able to listen to the rest.
We've got a big snowstorm starting tomorrow,
and I'm right where we're going to have the heaviest
snow, I think. But luckily, I think the ice is
supposed to be further south, and that's what
causes you to lose power the most. Well, let's
hope that either one of two things, either that
forces you to stay inside and listen to the album.
That's the plan. Or what would happen to us is
you would end up shoveling snow and listening
to the latest album that you got. That's what
I'll be doing. When it's out snowing, it puts
me in a mood for black metal. I'm not a huge
black metal fan, but that's when I do get in
the mood, when the snow is flying around. You
feel like you're in one of those album covers,
you know? So if anyone is in the Lexington area,
if they drive by somebody who's shoveling snow
and has Norwegian black metal face paint on.
You'll know it's Ed Ferguson. That'd be a sight
to see with this big honker of mine in the middle
of the woods. Oh, man. Hey, so here's something
different. A movie. But it's a movie that's so
heavily musically influenced. I got to see if
you all have ever heard it. So the movie actually
is from 2020, but I didn't hear about it until,
again, last year at this time when I was sick.
And again, it was TikTok. People were making
videos with a song in the background that I was
hearing, a very simple two -chord song. And I
heard this video. A few times, and then the song
got stuck in my brain for like two or three days.
I couldn't get it out. So I looked it up and
found out that it's a song called The Watermelon
Song. It's just called Watermelon. The artist's
name is John and Jane Q Public. I don't know
exactly. Now, that's not a band, I don't think.
This comes from a movie. Okay. And so I discovered
the movie through this TikTok video trying to
chase down where this song comes from. And it's
called Dinner in America. Okay. Have you ever
heard of that or watched it? So, man, it's like
a dark comedy, but it's super intense. It's about
this wild punk rocker kid who's in all kinds
of trouble for, like, starting fires. It starts
off with him in some kind of hospital taking
drugs, you know, for money, you know, for scientific
reasons, you know. And he ends up meeting this
extremely odd girl who is actually his biggest
fan. He actually plays in a hardcore band. And
so it's this intense movie of this guy trying
to hide from the police. And then in hiding from
the police, he runs into this girl who has a
huge crush on him. She's one of the strangest.
It's like these two extremely strange characters
getting to know each other. And there's just
tons of intense hardcore and punk music throughout
the movie. But there's this one. spot in the
movie where they break into this home and there's
a bunch of music equipment it's actually his
parents house he's been kicked out of and um
the two of them start playing this song that's
called watermelon and of course in the movie
they're just kind of making it up on the fly
but it's just this real simple tune that is fun
to listen to and i've been had it on my itunes
all year and i've watched the movie two or three
times so If you just want a fun musical -based
kind of, like I said, it's a dark comedy movie
to watch, check it out. You might like it, especially
if you kind of like hardcore music and stuff.
And it was called Dinner in America. Or it's
D -I -N -N -E -R. Is that Diner or Dinner? That's
Dinner. Yeah. Okay. And I saw it on Hulu. If
you have that, I think it's on there. Yeah, Hulu
for me is Disney +, because it's owned by Disney.
But then licensing varies from country to country.
So it could be on there. It could be on something
else. I'll check it out. 91 % on Rotten Tomatoes.
There you go. Yeah. And especially if you're
the kind of person that's grown up feeling out
of place and insecure and odd and strange and
all, you'll definitely connect with these characters.
Yeah. So, yeah. So next week we're going to be
doing the 2025 albums countdown. There are a
bunch of interviews that have already been recorded
that will be coming out. Throughout February,
I got to figure out how we're going to schedule
everything because we're going to have a January
albums episode as well. But so far, you guys
can look forward to interviews from bands like
Greyhawk, Struck a Nerve, a Wilhelm. I released
Struck a Nerve already. A Wilhelm Scream host.
And next week, I'm going to be talking to members
of the band Tail Gunner. So, yeah, I've gotten
back into the groove of doing interviews and
I've got PR people that are trying to get me
to interview a lot more artists. Again, I think
those shorts are helping out because I'm getting
a ton of traffic that way. And so be it. I mean,
we can mix up interviews with this type of music
discussion, which is... for me is always fun
to do. Yeah. Awesome. So, yeah. So send your
votes in. If you want to vote for your favorites
of 2025, as usual, even if it isn't 10 albums,
send us three albums, send us one album, send
us five, whatever it is I'll work with. But either
way, it'll be a fun episode for you guys to check
out and hope that. You're in the chat. Join us
next Friday. Any parting words, Ed or Jeremy?
Just that there's been some great albums this
year again, and it's been wonderful to hear such
great music month after month, week after week.
Let's hope it carries on in 2026. Yeah. Go ahead,
Ed. Yeah, you know, 2026 has started off kind
of slow, actually. I don't think I've liked anything
yet that much besides, yeah, the Megadeth. And,
of course, I'm listening to the Creator, too.
But, yeah, it's been kind of lightweight so far.
But, yeah, I'll keep listening. And if you can't
find me next week, everybody come dig me out
of the snow. Well, hopefully when we do the January
albums episode, you'll change your tune and you'll
find some things that have stood out. Yeah, we
got one more week left, so we'll see. I just
added a new list of stuff today that came out
today. Okay. Well, hopefully something catches
your ear. I also add everything that you have
on the spreadsheet, too, in case there's... you
know, something else there that I find. So I'm
going through it all the best I can. That's all
we can ask, Ed. Awesome. So on that note, I do
want to thank Ed and Jeremy for joining me. I
want to thank Edgar for joining me in the chat,
joining us in the chat today. There are a few
other people that have joined us tonight also.
I don't know if Tony, if you're there. as you
usually are. Hopefully all is well on your side
of the world, on your side of the country, actually.
And that's basically it. We will see you next
time right here on Signals from Mars. See if
I said that right. I don't know why I keep thinking
I'm going to spout out the old name. But anyway,
thank you, guys. We'll see you next time on Signals
from Mars. See you, folks. For more information,
this includes our show.