Metal Nerdery Podcast

After catching Damage Inc. live in concert a few weeks back, we felt inspired to investigate the vast conglomeration of artists who have performed their own cover versions of songs originally written by the biggest cover band to have ever blessed heavy metal, the mighty METALLICA.

Even though METALLICA have come a long way from their old school “dirty thrash” sound, modern artists continue to create their own interpretations of s...

Before OM and High On Fire, there was the marijuana infused, Sabbath worshipping, stoner metal power trio hailing from San Jose, California known as SLEEP. Just saying the name transports you to a land filled with THC infused riffs, the sweet aroma of sinsemilla, and enough smoke to indicate that the pyramid sized bong is fully loaded and ready to transport you to another dimension of audio stonerdom. 

Imagine Black Sabbath (circ...

Ahhh, the joys of 1994 and the youthful days of yore. Y’know, there was a time when 1994 actually seemed relatively “recent”, like maybe a couple of decades ago, but we’re actually 30 years beyond 1994, the year when Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his garage, Quentin Tarantino released an ultra-vulgar display of cinema with “Pulp Fiction”, Sony forever changed the gaming landscape with the PlayStation, Slayer returned with a new drum...

It’s safe to say that 1990 represented the absolute zenith of thrash metal greatness. All you have to do is thumb through everything released that year and you’ll have irrefutable proof. Thrash was at its peak when SUICIDAL TENDENCIES unleashed their 5th studio album, LIGHTS…CAMERA…REVOLUTION! their first to feature “future Metallica bassist” Robert Trujillo and also their first album to be sonically dominated more so by pure thras...

Although they formed in Ventura, California in the early 70’s just a few short years after Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, CIRITH UNGOL (which, if you know anything about J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings lore, translates to mean “Spider’s Cleft”) sound like a band “out of time”. Whether they’re releasing 70’s sounding albums in the 80’s or releasing 80’s sounding albums in the 90’s, it should be noted that CIRITH UNGOL are ...

With the release of their 4th album (a.k.a. one of the finest albums in thrash metal history), MEGADETH conquered new levels of greatness with their progressive thrash masterpiece RUST IN PEACE, featuring Marty Friedman on guitars and Nick Menza behind the drum kit who, along with founding members David Ellefson and Dave Mustaine, would become known as “the classic lineup” of the legendary band.

Jam packed with crushing riffs, ma...

After hair metal all but destroyed heavy metal in the late 80’s and early 90’s, things were a bit grim. Grim in the same sort of way that Birmingham, England was grim in the late 60’s. Perhaps one of the silver linings to emerge out of the make-up and hairspray laden aftermath of glam was the down to earth, retro metal infused sounds emerging out of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, specifically, the “Seattle scene...

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Metal Nerdery Podcast “Bootleg Edition” series, recorded deep within the echoey underground confines of The Bunkerpoon, direct from The Bunkerpoon video feed. While we strive to be “The Black Album of Podcasts” (in terms of sheer production quality), we decided to see what it might sound like if Bob Rock produced the podcast equivalent of St. Anger (which is still Bob Rock btw…just sayin’). T...

Given that it was produced and released without the band’s involvement (and likely lacking the front to back awesomeness it would have otherwise possessed), WE SOLD OUR SOUL FOR ROCK ‘N’ ROLL was “technically” BLACK SABBATH’s 7th release; a greatest hits compilation covering “The First Six” albums from the legendary Ozzy Osbourne era of the band.

Having said that, we decided to build what WE believe woulda/coulda/shoulda been the...

Spring, 1991. Thrash had hit its apex as a genre and was beginning the transition into what would become “the next wave” of thrash with a sound and identify located somewhere between the thrash, groove, and death metal genres. With SEPULTURA’s 4th album, ARISE, emerging a mere 2 years after their 1989 thrash masterpiece, Beneath The Remains, the Brazilian metal shamans continued to refine and intensify the evolution of their sound,...

1984 was the year that saw the introduction of the Apple Macintosh, the launch of the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference, and the year the world learned of the terrifyingly destructive potential of A.I. courtesy of Skynet and The Terminator.

1984 is more than just the title of George Orwell’s cautionary, dystopian novel or Van Halen’s wildly successful 6th album. 1984 is the year that heavy metal began to intensify expo...

Originally formed in the thrash metal mecca known as The Bay Area a year before Metallica was even a thing (shortly before relocating to the Tri-County, metropolitan Seattle, Washington realm), METAL CHURCH continues to bless congregations of faithful metal fans with their own unique brand of thrash infused progressive power metal which has relentlessly persisted and triumphed for more than four decades. While we acknowledge “we ca...

“And in THIS corner…”

Already knowing (going in) that our 1988 HEAD-TO-HEAD DEATH MATCH was gonna be “bigger than China”, the Bunkerpoon oversight committee made the executive decision to break this “hog” of an episode into a two-part cliffhanger dangler.

At this point, we’ve covered side 1 and now we’re tackling side 2 of Metallica’s …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL and Slayer’s SOUTH OF HEAVEN. And let’s just say that since “the upstairs and...

The Bunkerpoon is all about passion and “Love Excretions”. Enjoy all the likes and the loves of this year’s Valentines Day Massacre and Happy Valentines Day to all!

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“In THIS corner…”

Throughout the thrash community, there’s always been a battle line drawn between the progressive, harmony laden sensibilities of METALLICA and the darker, eviler shades of SLAYER. For many of us, the two albums from these two thrash titans that are most synonymous with summertime and high school are Metallica’s …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL and Slayer’s SOUTH OF HEAVEN, two undisputed thrash classics released in the Year o...

Back in the early 90’s (along with hometown thrash titans Ghost Story, Akathesia, and Nihilist) one of the most unique bands to have dominated the local metal scene and trailblazed the path for rap metal before it was even a genre was Atlanta cross-over, groove metal pioneers, STUCK MOJO. 

Armed with the aural onslaught of Rich Ward’s behemoth guitar sound and the “no bones about it” ferocity of Bonz’s rhymes, STUCK MOJO were def...

Eleven years before Metallica released “The Black Album”, AC/DC released “The FIRST Black Album”, BACK IN BLACK, their seventh studio album overall and their first album featuring new vocalist Brian Johnson following the tragic and untimely passing of former frontman Bon Scott.

While AC/DC always had an aggressively intense, hard rock sound throughout the 70’s on their rise to glory during the Bon era, BACK IN BLACK is arguably t...

When addressing the concept of the THRASH FAMILY TREE, there should be a handful of bands and musicians which immediately come to mind. This week’s docket is a reflection on the vast interconnectedness of the THRASH FAMILY TREE, consisting of The Big Five of Thrash and beyond. 

Whether we’re talking about musicians snatched up by other bands, replacements for original members, or “hired guns” with the chops, credentials, and expe...

As of this episode, we will have covered each and every era of every EXODUS vocalist, from Paul Baloff to STEVE “ZETRO” SOUZA to Rob Dukes (and back again) to ZETRO. As the 2nd vocalist for EXODUS, STEVE SOUZA’s voice gave the band a distinct sonic ferocity which set them apart from their “Big Five” counterparts, spewing forth some of the most brutally savage lyrical imagery in all of thrash. While we’ve already touched on a couple...