ALL THINGS ROCK N' METAL

 August 25,2023 is the 35th anniversary of Metallica's fourth record "...And Justice For All" the first with new bassist Jason Newsted formerly of  a metal band out in Arizona called Flotsam and Jetsam. After the tragic death of Bassist Cliff Burton while on a European Tour in late September of 1986.  "Justice" was recorded from January 28,1988 to May 1,1988 at One on One Recording Studio in Los Angeles,California initially Metallica hired Mike Clink to produce the record however he was fired and Fleming Rasmussen was brought in to oversee the album's production. Rasmussen had produced two of Metallica's previous efforts "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets" "...And Justice for All" was a much different record than "Lightning" and "Puppets" The Mixing of the album was different than the two previous albums according to Rasmussen himself he was not there when the mixing took place that was on Steve ...

 After firing Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson following their tour in support of their previous record "Peace Sells But Who's Buying?) Megadeth founder/frontman/guitarist and songwriter Dave Mustaine had hired Guitarist Jeff Young and Drummer Chuck Behler to start writing and recording what would be Megadeth's third album "So Far So Good So What?" But you see Hiring Jeff Young was not Mustaine's first choice matter of fact he along with David Ellefson brought in guitarist Jay Reynolds from the band Malice,but his skills were not up to task for recording and was soon replaced by his guitar teacher which turned out to be Jeff Young. Since then Mustaine stated that he regretted replacing Reynolds for Young. There were other guitarists considering joining Megadeth one of them was Guns N' Roses' axeman Slash. I found that tough to believe. When it came time to mix the album Mustaine who was skeptical of producer Paul Lani's "eccentricities" an...

 "Peace Sells But Who's Buying?" is Megadeth's second studio album. Released on September 19,1986 the record itself id highly regarded as a milestone of the American thrash metal movement along with two other thrash classics Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and Slayer's "Reign in Blood"  Founder/songwriter/singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine stated in a Metal Forces interview in December of 1985 that the band already began writing and recording music for what would become "Peace Sells But Who's Buying?" Songs like "Bad Omen" and "Black Friday" were completed and according to Mustaine they were a total blur being much faster than "Rattlehead" taken from Megadeth's debut "Killing is My Business and Business is Good" Speaking about lyrical content for "Peace Sells..." Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson stated that they were wanting to change the public perception of heavy metal...

 In 1982 Iron Maiden released "The Number of the Beast" (album review for another time) that marked the debut of singer Bruce Dickinson after replacing Paul Di'Anno. In 1983 Iron Maiden released "Piece of Mind" that marked the debut of Drummer Nicko McBrain. Following their World Piece Tour which was highly successful where Iron Maiden headlined large venues in the United States for the first time in their career. Following a three week break in January of 1984 Dickinson,McBrain,Guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray and Bassist/primary songwriter Steve Harris regrouped at Le Chalet Hotel in Jersey where they did a six week rehearsal. Most of the material written for "Powerslave" was done and later recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau,Bahamas (like their previous album "Piece of Mind") It took four months of writing and recording (February to June of 1984) The longest song it's the album closer the near 14 minute epic called ...