Heavy Metal Daze Part 2: Lyrics! Quiz

Answer: "Running Free" - Iron Maiden

Long-standing Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was in French band Trust, but not on this track, which was taken from their (English language) debut, "Repression". Bruce Dickinson is probably Iron Maiden's best known vocalist, but he wasn't on this track from their eponymous debut. He was on the Samson track from "Head On" however!
Angel Witch epitomise the oft-used adjective "seminal", yet have never hit the big time. They've split up and reformed too many times to count, the mainstay being guitarist/vocalist Kevin Heybourne.

Answer: "Princess of the Night" - Saxon

All four bands know a bit about snow, Saxon, Raven and Venom all hailing from northern England, Anvil from Toronto, Canada. "Princess" is on Saxon's 1981 album "Denim and Leather" and is apparently about trains. It fast became a firm live favourite with fans, featuring on live albums "The Eagle has Landed" and "The Eagle has Landed Part II".
Venom's debut "Welcome to Hell" stunned punters and critics alike, arguably spawning a whole new brand of metal, explicit in the title of the follow-up album, "Black Metal".
Fellow Geordies Raven also started a whole new branch of metal, Athletic Rock, but the name didn't catch on.

Answer: "Manowar" - Manowar

From Manowar's debut album "Battle Hymns", this track is a pledge to the metal hoards that most would agree the band have fulfilled. In the 1980s they got into the Guinness Book Of Records for being the loudest band in the world. Underrated Manilla Road say what they mean, mean what they say, and say it mean!
New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band Diamond Head were much-lauded by the press, their peers and connoisseurs alike, but never quite got the commercial success they deserved.
"Dynamite" is from Scorpions album "Blackout", which was their commercial breakthrough, and to my mind, the end of their best work.

Answer: "Fast as a Shark" - Accept

"Restless and Wild" was Accept's fourth album and according to vocalist Udo Dirkschneider in the re-release liner notes is "the most important Accept album. "Fast as a Shark" is considered by many to be the very first speed metal song". Hearing "Fast as a Shark" for the first time as a ten-year-old boy was one of the most significant turning points in my life!
Queensr˙che's debut differs greatly from the sound they developed, being much more "old school metal".
Witchfinder General's debut "Death Penalty" has two claims to infamy; sporting one of the silliest sexist album covers in metal (and there's tough competition!), and giving thanks to a Neo-fascist bonehead band on the back cover. Great tunes though.

Answer: "Disturbing the Priest" - Black Sabbath

Taken from "Born Again", the Black Sabbath song actually starts with Ian Gillan's maniacal laugh, which he does again at the end. Gillan had the tough job of succeeding Ronnie James Dio. The band gained the derogatory name Deep Sabbath, possibly because they played a couple of Deep Purple numbers in their live set, something the purists despised. Ian Gillan wasn't too complimentary either saying "I saw the album cover and puked, then I heard the record and puked", but despite the lukewarm response the album got at the time, both cover and record have become a cult classic amongst many a fan, myself included. Gillan was succeeded by ex-Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes.

Answer: "We Rock" - Dio

From the album "The Last In Line". After leaving Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio formed Dio and debuted with "Holy Diver". "The Last In Line" was the follow-up. Title track of Judas Priest's 1984 album "Defenders Of The Faith" was actually an instrumental.
Germany's Grave Digger dressed up as monks on the back cover and had a really cheesy 80s metal front cover.
Loudness started in 1980 and are still going strong despite mainstream success evading them. "Revelations" is from their fourth album, "Disillusion".

Answer: "Bonded By Blood" - Exodus

"Bonded By Blood", from Exodus's debut of the same name also featured the line "murder in the front row", which has lent itself to the book "Murder In The Front Row: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter", by Harald Oimoen & Brian Lew. It was the only Exodus studio album to feature the late, great Paul Baloff on vocals, and is often found on "best thrash albums of all-time lists", as is Possessed's debut, "Seven Churches" which "Pentagram" is off.

Answer: "Ride the Sky" - Helloween

Helloween's "Walls of Jericho" opens with a comedy "London Bridge is Falling Down" played on pipes, then it's straight into "Ride the Sky". According to guitarist Michael Weikath in the reissue liner notes, guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen was never supposed have the singing role, but "it was the best we could do". Michael Kiske joined as vocalist in 1986, changing their sound dramatically.
"The Hermit" is off Attacker's stunning debut album, "Battle at Helm's Deep".

Answer: "Necrophobic" - Slayer

Slayer's third album "Reign in Blood" was a watershed for the band. Despite (or maybe thanks to) the controversy the album courted (leading to distribution trouble), it was a huge seller and really put them on the metal map. It was also the first to feature Larry Carroll's distinctive artwork.
"Ripping Corpse" is on Kreator's second album, "Pleasure To Kill", which is often cited as a huge influence by extreme metal artists.
"Method to Your Madness" is off "The Dark". It ends with vocalist David Wayne singing what I always thought was Japanese, leading to a mondegreen galore but I'm told he was repeating the line "twenty-one guns" from earlier in the song.

Answer: "Crystal Ball" - Candlemass

Candlemass recorded their debut "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" without a full-time vocalist and Johan Langquist, who provided the sterling lungs to the opus, was credited as a session musician. They had recruited Messiah Marcolin by the time they recorded their follow-up, "Nightfall", a year later.
Talking of vocalists, all the bands had a notable pair of lungs up front. Cirith Ungol's singer Tim Baker had a unique style that makes them instantly recognizable. This track is from their third album, "One Foot in Hell".

Answer: "Over The Wall" - Testament

Looking at Testament's past line-ups is a bit like "who's who" of thrash metal, with founding member Eric Peterson being the only constant. Steve DiGiorgio, Dave Lombardo, Steve "Zetro" Souza, Gene Hoglan and James Murphy, to name but a few, have all past through the ranks. "Over The Wall" was on their first album, which was an instant hit with thrashers hungry for all the new releases.

They supported Anthrax on tour to promote it, which boosted their profile immediately. Holy Terror, on the other hand, were totally underrated.

Their unique brand of sophisticated yet raw thrash with distinctive vocals should have made them huge.

Answer: "Deathcrush" - Mayhem

"Deathcrush" was Mayhem's first vinyl release. Vocals were mostly done by Maniac, who wasn't officially a member of the band at the time. He joined officially in 1994 and stayed ten years. There are loads of versions of the record, many of them bootlegs. Just before the title track is an intro written by Tangerine Dream's Conrad Schnitzler. Mayhem founding member and guitarist Euronymous often cited avante-garde Krautrock artists such as Tangerine Dream,and especially Klaus Schultze as a huge influence despite the huge difference in musical genre, he spoke about the feel of music.

Answer: "A Fine Day to Die" - Bathory

Before the internet, without a lyric sheet, metal was hard work. I spent hours trying to decipher the actually quite softly sung opening lines to this fine Bathory song, but was astounded when I later read what he was singing. This was Bathory's fourth album, "Blood Fire And Death", and sported an impressive gatefold sleeve showing the band dressed up like Vikings wielding weapons.

The band were always shrouded in mystery and rumours still fly around as to whether it was a one-man (Quorthon)show, his real name and so on. Whatever, the music rises above all that. Bathory mainman Quorthorn is often credited with "inventing" Viking metal. Sadly, he moved onto Valhalla in 2004.

Answer: "The Invisible Guests" - King Diamond

When Mercyful Fate split up in 1985 vocalist King Diamond formed a band named after his stage monicker. Lyrically he moved away from the occult slightly and concentrated on horror concept albums. Mercyful Fate reformed in 1993 he juggled both projects. Tormentor's "Anno Domini" was recorded as a demo, was meant to come out on Mayhem's Euronymous's label, but didn't emerge until 1995 on another label. Tormentor vocalist Attila Csihar recorded with Mayhem on the black metal classic "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" as their vocalist Dead had killed himself. With Tormentor he also recorded the experimental "Recipe Ferrum! 777", and was back in Mayhem for "Ordo Ad Chaos" in 2007.

Answer: "Maze of Torment" - Morbid Angel

This is from Morbid Angel's first album, "Altars of Madness". Morbid Angel were forerunners of the death metal scene, and the first death metal band to sign to a major label (in the US). They tend to release albums in alphabetical order, although "Abominations of Desolation" put a spanner in the works, coming out between "Blessed Are The Sick" and "Covenant", but it had been recorded back in 1986 and never released.
Autopsy's singing drummer Chris Reifert played on seminal Death album "Scream Bloody Gore" then formed Autopsy who released "Severed Survival", which includes "Charred Remains".