Up The Irons! Heavy metal appreciation thread.

[Whisper-Kitten]

One of my favorite “second tier” thrash/speed metal bands was Metal Church. “Watch The Children Pray” hooked me IMMEDIATELY.

David Wayne left the band to form Reverend:

While MC soldiered on with a new vocalist Mike Howe.

The history of both bands after that is full of lineup changes, good music and sad stories.

The Dark!!!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

The Dark!!!

Yup - that was the one I owned on vinyl. I can still recall Ton of Bricks. Not sure why it had faded from my memory, until TODAY! Thanks!

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Yup - that was the one I owned on vinyl. I can still recall Ton of Bricks. Not sure why it had faded from my memory, until TODAY! Thanks!

It's one of those classic albums that is well under appreciated imo.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This was just brought to my attention. (I’m not going.)

Louis Noguera on Instagram: "Yesterday I visited the EddFest site as they were putting the final pieces together for the festival starting tomorrow! Which of these legendary Eddie’s are you most looking forward to seeing at Knebworth? @ironmaiden

71K likes, 336 comments - battlejacketslondon on July 9, 2026: "Yesterday I visited the EddFest site as they were putting the final pieces together for the festival starting tomorrow! Which of these legendary Eddie’s are you most looking forward to seeing at Knebworth? @ironmaiden...

www.instagram.com

 

[Mad_Jack]

So, this is one of those "Am-I-the-only-one-on-the-planet?" kind of things, lol...

Back in the tail end of 1990, when I was hanging out in the student union in college, somebody had left a cassette in the stereo.
It was a legit cassette, not somebody's dub.
It was a Christian metal band called Legion of the Faithful.
(I considered taking it, since nobody seemed to know whose it was. But a few hours later when I came back after class, it was gone.)

So apparently, they were popular enough to get a record deal, and somebody released their album.
And yet, in the more than thirty years since then, not once have I ever come across anyone anywhere else knowing about them despite having done extensive research...
New England had a huge music scene in the nineties, across all genres, and I'm convinced at this point that they were clearly some local-ish band, but you'd think if they managed to put out a tape that there'd be some sort of evidence it existed...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So, this is one of those "Am-I-the-only-one-on-the-planet?" kind of things, lol...

Back in the tail end of 1990, when I was hanging out in the student union in college, somebody had left a cassette in the stereo.
It was a legit cassette, not somebody's dub.
It was a Christian metal band called Legion of the Faithful.
(I considered taking it, since nobody seemed to know whose it was. But a few hours later when I came back after class, it was gone.)

So apparently, they were popular enough to get a record deal, and somebody released their album.
And yet, in the more than thirty years since then, not once have I ever come across anyone anywhere else knowing about them despite having done extensive research...
New England had a huge music scene in the nineties, across all genres, and I'm convinced at this point that they were clearly some local-ish band, but you'd think if they managed to put out a tape that there'd be some sort of evidence it existed...

Local scenes are filled with bands that have come and gone with little evidence today that they were ever there, no matter how good a band was, how passionate their fans. Lots of those records labels were tiny, too. In the 90s, it was pretty easy for an indie label to release a professional-looking cassette. CDs were more costly, because they had much larger minimum pressing runs back then.

Heck, a lot of bands released their own tapes and put something like "Redhammer Productions" on them, even if that wasn't actually any sort of record label.

I've still got a ton of cassettes and zines that document the past, that I will never get rid of, because they are real and tangible evidence of the past.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

This was just brought to my attention. (I’m not going.)

Louis Noguera on Instagram: "Yesterday I visited the EddFest site as they were putting the final pieces together for the festival starting tomorrow! Which of these legendary Eddie’s are you most looking forward to seeing at Knebworth? @ironmaiden

71K likes, 336 comments - battlejacketslondon on July 9, 2026: "Yesterday I visited the EddFest site as they were putting the final pieces together for the festival starting tomorrow! Which of these legendary Eddie’s are you most looking forward to seeing at Knebworth? @ironmaiden...

www.instagram.com

Woo! I want the Ed from the killers album.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Local scenes are filled with bands that have come and gone with little evidence today that they were ever there, no matter how good a band was, how passionate their fans. Lots of those records labels were tiny, too. In the 90s, it was pretty easy for an indie label to release a professional-looking cassette. CDs were more costly, because they had much larger minimum pressing runs back then.

Heck, a lot of bands released their own tapes and put something like "Redhammer Productions" on them, even if that wasn't actually any sort of record label.

I've still got a ton of cassettes and zines that document the past, that I will never get rid of, because they are real and tangible evidence of the past.

Lots were terribly managed as well. Black Dragon, Mercenary, etc..... When Sentinal Steel first came out they rerecorded a demo from a band called Axehammer, that had the chops back then, but just never got a deal. Probably didn't help thay they were in LA playing traditional metal in a time when you were either glam or thrash out there.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

So, this is one of those "Am-I-the-only-one-on-the-planet?" kind of things, lol...

Back in the tail end of 1990, when I was hanging out in the student union in college, somebody had left a cassette in the stereo.
It was a legit cassette, not somebody's dub.
It was a Christian metal band called Legion of the Faithful.
(I considered taking it, since nobody seemed to know whose it was. But a few hours later when I came back after class, it was gone.)

So apparently, they were popular enough to get a record deal, and somebody released their album.
And yet, in the more than thirty years since then, not once have I ever come across anyone anywhere else knowing about them despite having done extensive research...
New England had a huge music scene in the nineties, across all genres, and I'm convinced at this point that they were clearly some local-ish band, but you'd think if they managed to put out a tape that there'd be some sort of evidence it existed...

The tape trading scene was huge back then. Bands would self produce albums, and either distribute them for free, or sell them via mail order, in an effort to get record label interest in them. Some bands put a lot of effort into it, and others recorded their demos in bathrooms, and then used their kid sisters artwork for the cover.