Working on some updates right now, but I wanted to direct your attention to 2 new radio shows now available for download. Yesterday's show was packed with new stuff, including songs from W.A.S.P., Edguy, Dragonforce, Cans, Nocturnal Rites, and Persuader.

Also, I'll be doing a 4-hour edition of the show next Saturday (May 1st), so make sure and tune in then.

- Doctor Metal

Odd happenings with my laptop, but the good news is that it's functioning properly right now. I'm hoping it'll continue to do so until my eMac arrives sometime next week or so.

I just returned home a short while ago from the Iced Earth show here in Cleveland. Tonight is the first night of their US tour with Evergrey and Children of Bodom. Earlier today, one of the other metal DJs from WRUW went down to the venue with me to interview Ripper Owens. That interview should be available sometime this week. I ran into Jon Schaffer outside the venue, and he recognized me and said hello. I got a picture with him, and he and I tentatively agreed to do an interview once the tour is over, since we didn't talk when The Glorious Burden came out. I hope that'll happen, because I have a lot of things I'd like to ask Jon. Here are the two pictures from earlier today:

Doctor Metal and Jon Schaffer
Doctor Metal and Ripper Owens

Since Jon asked me this when I saw him, I'll explain it to those of you who just checked out the pictures and are wondering what the hell is on my shirt. Jon said the guy looks like Deadpool, who's a Marvel comic book character. In fact, the guy on my shirt is Strong Bad. He's the coolest guy at www.homestarrunner.com. If you check out the site, you must check out Strong Bad's Emails, especially these two: Dragon and Guitar. Those emails are hilarious, as are the cartoons there. Check them out.

So I went to the show later tonight, though I skipped Evergrey and Children of Bodom. I injured my knee a couple weeks ago playing hockey. I'm still not sure what's wrong with it, though the doctor I saw thinks it's possible that I tore my lateral meniscus. In any case, it's been hurting quite a lot and also swelling up whenever I stand on it or walk on it for any length of time. Considering that, I figured it was best for me to just check out Iced Earth's set tonight. They began the show with The Star Spangled Banner, which led them to Declaration Day. From there, Ripper handled his first Barlow song with Burning Times from Something Wicked This Way Comes. I didn't write down the order of songs, but here are the ones I remember them playing:

Violate
Vengeance Is Mine
Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
Greenface
Red Baron
Dracula (pretty sure of this one but not positive)
My Own Savior
The Reckoning
Angels Holocaust
When the Eagle Cries
Something Wicked (trilogy)
Gettysburg (1863)
Iced Earth

Those last three entries are in the right order. I really don't agree with them devoting about 1/3 of their set to two epics, but I guess Jon thinks the fans want that. I thought it made for a weaker end to the show, as the crowd seemed to be disengaged for much of both Something Wicked and Gettysburg. I thought Ripper sounded fine on the Barlow material, and it's no surprise that they're sticking to the heavier, faster stuff, since that suits his voice better. I was also quite pleased to see that Ripper has dropped the shadow boxing routine from his stage show. There was a brief appearance of it at one point for about 10 seconds or so. He seems to have replaced it with a little bit of air guitar, which is far less annoying in my opinion. All in all, a very solid show. The rest of the band sounded great tonight. More thoughts at a later time, as it's way past my bedtime.

- Doctor Metal

Back from NYC with bad news. My beloved Powerbook G4 is basically out of commission with some hardware problems. I can use it for about 5-10 minutes at a time without it freezing. It's making some weird noises at startup as well. I'm taking it to the local Apple Store later today to have it looked at, and I'll probably have it in for repairs early next week, meaning I'll be without a regular computer until Thursday or so. In the meantime, I've also ordered a new eMac, which is a real bargain since the model with the DVD burner is only $999 right now. Unfortunately, it's a new product, and in true Apple fashion, they won't even have them in stock for another 2 weeks. So the computer situation is temporary. It does mean, however, that it's quite possible there won't be any new updates here in the next few days or so.

Some metal-related good news, however, is that I've managed to establish contact with the good people handling Noise Records stuff in the US, so expect full coverage of the new Cans and Dragonforce albums, both of which are due here on the 11th of May. I should also be participating in an Iced Earth interview with another DJ from the radio station this weekend when they're in town with Children of Bodom.

Another piece of good news (at least for a diehard Avs fan like me) is of course that the Avs are up 3 games to 1 against the Stars in the first round of the playoffs. Game 5 is on Saturday afternoon, so check it out on ABC if you get a chance. Nothing's more exciting than playoff hockey in my opinion. Go Avs!

- Doctor Metal

Just a quick note to let you all know that I'll be in New York City this weekend and will return on Monday. I'm taking my laptop and hoping to be able to post some updates while there, but that all depends on my internet access there. If I can't do updates while there, then expect significant updates on Monday evening (including the poll numbers, which I'm going to finish up on the plane in the morning).

Two words to leave you with: Go Avs!

- Doctor Metal

It's been a busy week so far, as my 2-week vacation came to an end and I'm back to work. However, I just posted the Dionysus interview, which you can download here. It's with Ronny Milanowicz, the drummer, who is an interesting fellow and had a lot to say. He's involved in a couple of things aside from Dionysus, so it was cool to find out about that from him as well. Take a listen.

I'm just about done with the results of that 2003 poll, but it's late, and I need sleep, so the results will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon. Hey, it's been 3 months, why not wait one more day?

Before I hit the sack, some political stuff. I'm sure many of you have noticed the Kerry plug at the bottom of every page. That'll be there until the election. Also, expect a politics-only page sometime in the near future, with links to articles and such. This country is really f-ed up right now and getting worse by the day, and this election is way too important for me or anyone else to keep silent. In the meantime, a couple of my favorite places on the net for political stuff and news:

Counterspin Central
The Daily Howler
Eschaton
The Moderate Independent
Talking Points Memo

Check out Jesus' General for a good laugh. Finally, if you have XM or Sirius satellite radio, tune in to the O'Franken Factor on Air America Radio weekdays from noon-3pm. The show just started last week, but Al (Franken) is getting pretty good at the radio thing and has had some really good guests so far. You can also get the show in a half-dozen cities across the country and on the internet at www.airamericaradio.com. The show is repeated every night from 11pm-2am. Finally, don't miss The Daily Show every night at 11pm on Comedy Central. Although it's a comedy show, it's sadly a better source for news than any of the cable outlets out there.

- Doctor Metal

Some advice to guestbook spammers (signers): considering I screen all the entries before posting them, you might want to at least pretend that you're up to something other than promoting your CD/site/demo/whatever. If you cut and paste a press release into your entry filled with review quotes and such, I'm either going to delete it outright or at the very least edit it. For those visitors lacking common sense, here's an example of a quick and easy entry that doubles as a plug:

"Hey Dr. Metal! Nice site, I like the new design. If you have a minute, stop by our website at www.someband.com and give us a listen. Stay metal!"

Is that too much to ask? Same goes for the forum...my inbox already gets filled with spam. I don't need to pay hundreds of dollars a year for this website just to share spam with people worldwide.

- Doctor Metal

Welcome to the new and improved Metal Meltdown! The site has needed a new look for a long time now, and I want to thank Nick from New Zealand for designing the layout and graphics. If you take a look around, you'll notice that much of the content from the old site is currently missing. Well, in my rush to get the site launched, I didn't have time to go back through all of that stuff. Rest assured I'll be doing that in the coming days and weeks, and at the same time I will be adding some long-overdue new content, especially interviews and reviews.

Speaking of interviews, you can download my recent interview with Nils Eriksson of Nocturnal Rites. I'll be adding a really good interview with Ronny Milanowicz of Dionysus on Monday, so stop by again for that. In addition, the results of the 2003 Readers' Poll will be posted on Monday as well.

In the meantime, check out what's here, and feel free to share any comments. I'd especially like to hear from you if your browser is having difficulties with any aspects of the new design.

Thanks for visiting, and thanks for all the support over the past 6 years!

- Doctor Metal

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