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It's the world's loudest podcast as hosts Steve Davies, Richard Napthine and Mark Norman take their collective 120 years of worship at the altar of golden era hard rock and heavy metal (1970-ish to 1996-ish), cut the ribbon on their newly-built Hard Rock Hall of Fame - and debate the albums that have earned their places in its gilded rooms.
Episodes
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Episode 66 - Alive,Too! (ft. Cheap Trick, Saxon & Nuclear Assault)
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
The lads were having such a good time, dipping a gnarly toe into the cool waters of the late 70s and early 80s, when Steve decided to spoil the party with a dirty protest in the form of a thrash album that burned through 14 songs in fewer than short - albeit painful - minutes.
Luckily, you, dear listener, have dodged the bullet that Mark and Richard took on your behalf, and you'll only have to endure about 2 minutes of Nuclear Assault's live offering, Live At The Hammersmith Odeon.
Before that, though, the boys consider the altogether more sophisticated (by comparison, at least) 1978 commercial behemoth At Budokan from Cheap Trick and every NWOBHM aficionado's favourite live offering, The Eagle Has Landed from Yorkshire's finest, Saxon.
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Friday Nov 25, 2022
A landmark moment for the Sadmen as listener Tony, from Australia, picks three albums for the boys to cast their ears over - and what an eclectic three they turned out to be.
First up, novelty sensation Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction with their debut, Tattooed Beat Messiah. With their 'out there' look, hilarious alter ego names and chart-bothering single Prime Mover, was this British oddity just a very clever joke - or is there more to it than that?
Following hot on the heels of Zodiac comes the pod's second encounter with The Cult who in 1989 executed a smart right turn away from their Gothy native American roots and headed off down the metal highway with Sonic Temple.
And the show closes out, fittingly, with an old-fashioned, heads down rock and roll band. Proving there's more to Oz than the Young brothers (or is there?), we say hello for the first time to The Angels and their breakthrough album Beyond Salvation.
It's no spoiler alert to say the boys enjoyed Tony's selections very much - so cheers mate!
If you've got 3 albums you'd like the lads to review, just find us on Facebook, on Twitter or at www.entersadmen.co.uk and let us know!
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Episode 65 - Supergroups (ft. Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve, Lionheart & Phenomena)
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
In their latest journey down hard rock and heavy metal's Memory Lane, the boys are checking out supergroups - those bands formed by musos who made their names in other bands.
There were some obvious ones to choose from - Bad Company, Audioslave and, erm, Revolting Cocks, for example - but the boys dived deep and came up with three outfits that were all new to at least one of them.
Anything involving Sammy Hagar and Neil Schon was probably dependably good (or was it?) so they all felt comfortable with Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve's Through The Fire from 1983.
But then Mark rocked up with Dennis Stratton side project Lionheart and their eponymous 1984 debut, and Steve went full toto and picked a band that, in a different genre, might have had a lot in common with One Direction (insofar as they were manufactured for the purpose of achieving commercial success).
It was promising to be an interesting chat ...
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Friday Sep 16, 2022
Episode 64 - 1989 (ft. W.A.S.P., Bang Tango & Faith No More)
Friday Sep 16, 2022
Friday Sep 16, 2022
After a short hiatus, the Sadmen are back with the latest instalment of the Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Hall of Fame - an ongoing mission to create the definitive best-to-worst list of hard rock, heavy metal and prog released between 1970(ish) and 1995(ish).
The Hall of Fame unique's selling point is the fact that each and every track on each and every album is marked individually, with the averages of those scores calculated to give the album as a whole an overall score - often to 5 decimal places.
And because the boys each have different tastes - Steve likes his metal delivered at pace, Richard is the professorial wise head with a penchant for prog, and Mark is a simple man who's happy with a big fat riff and a glorious hookline - each is a check and balance to the others' hyperbole.
For this edition of the show the Tico Torres Tombola of Topics and Themes threw out the year 1989, setting the lads the task of finding three albums released during that year worthy of being pulled apart.
Welcome, then, W.A.S.P.'s The Headless Children, Bang Tango's Psycho Cafe, and Faith No More's genre defining The Real Thing. Let the arguments commence.
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Episode 63 - Humans Being (ft. Coney Hatch, Spinal Tap & Metallica)
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Human biology is the theme of the 63rd instalment of the lads' quest to compile the ultimate 'best of' list of hard rock and heavy metal albums. It's also an episode that sees debut appearances for two bands, along with the fourth of the six Metallica albums that are eligible for consideration under the pod's strict 1970-1995 (okay, 1996) parameters.
The task was straightforward: parts of the human body. Steve went for 'hand'. Check. Mark went for 'spine'. Check. Richard went for ejaculate, blood, and urine. Hmmm. And not for the first time.
Enter, then, Outa Hand, the second album from Coney Hatch, the Canadian wing of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, released in 1984; another sophomore release, this time from Spinal Tap with Break Like The Wind, the follow-up to 1984's seminal (that's seminal, not semen-al) This Is Spinal Tap; and last but not least Metallica's last properly decent album (in our humble opinion) Load.
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Episode 62 - All About That Bass (ft. Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe & Megadeth)
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
So often pilloried and made to be the punchline of heavy metal jokes (Q: Where's the best place to hear a bass solo? A: In the bar/bog), this episode of the Enter Sadmen podcast celebrates the 4-string virtuosos without whom much of the music we love would either not exist at all, or be significantly poorer.
The lads were tasked with finding three bass players who each personified their band's sound. It was a remarkably difficult choice, with Geezer Butler, Lemmy, Geddy Lee, Phil Kennemore, JPJ, and Roger Glover all in contention.
But in the end, our threesome narrowed the field to an eclectic, but influential trio (whilst also vowing to return to this much-maligned instrument before too much time could pass).
Mark kicks off proceedings in 1980 with Iron Maiden's guvnor and chief songwriter, Steve Harris, and the band's self-titled debut; Steve followed suit with Mötley Crüe counterpart Nikki Sixx and their debut, Too Fast For Love; and Richard served up Dave Ellefson, whose effortless genius helped Megadeth to 1990s superstardom courtesy of '92's Countdown To Extinction..
Sunday May 29, 2022
Episode 61 - 1974 (ft. Epitaph, Blue Ӧyster Cult & Sweet)
Sunday May 29, 2022
Sunday May 29, 2022
For their latest journey down the time tunnel of hard rock and heavy metal the lads fired up the Tico Torres Tombola of Topics and Themes and found themselves transported back to 1974, where they discovered just how broad this church of hard rock and heavy metal really was.
First up - and not for the first time on the pod - a bunch of German musicians who had hitched their wagon to that of an English vocalist. Epitaph's Outside The Law reflects a broad tapestry of influences that range from Southern Rock to prog to jazz and funk. A case, then, of 'so far, so early 1970s'.
For the second time in the pod's history Rich and Steve rebuffed Mark's attempt to bring The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway into the Hall of Fame and sent him away to try again. Which was probably for the best, since it opened the door for a true classic in the shape of Blue Ӧyster Cult's Secret Treaties - a record fans and critics widely regard as the band's best release. Mark, on the other hand, prefers Fire Of Unknown Origin. Or does he?
And finally, if you thought Sweet were just another early Seventies UK glam pop-rock band from the same stable as Mud, The Glitter Band, and Wizzard, think again. Desolation Boulevard features on more rock 'Best' lists than you can shake a stick at. Which was enough to convince Richard it deserved an airing on the pod.
Saturday May 14, 2022
Episode 60 - Supernatural (ft. Black Sabbath, White Spirit & Fates Warning)
Saturday May 14, 2022
Saturday May 14, 2022
The latest edition of the Enter Sadmen podcast heads off in search of hard rock and heavy metal band names, album titles, or cover art with a distinctly spooky flavour to them.
Richard manages to push the envelope (again) by picking Sabbath's fifth outing, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath from 1973, on the basis that the images on the front and back of the cover depict a man being watched over by demons and angels respectively. Oh, and the whole shebang was recorded in a haunted castle. But when you're dealing with cuts as epic as the title track, A National Acrobat and Sabbra Cadabra, who's going to argue?
Mark offers up the overlooked White Spirit with their self-titled 1980 debut, also their only release after the band imploded shortly after the departure of guitarist Jannick Gers to Gillan (and thence to Maiden). The band were lazily categorised as NWOBHM, but did their roots really lie back in the mid-70s and hard rock prog?
And Steve sticks with the prog theme to bring in Fates Warning, a band once considered one of the so-called 'Big 3' that also included Dream Theater and Queensrÿche. In the spotlight, their 1991 release Parallels.
With the Hall of Fame now approaching 200 albums, where would the three land in the list of best hard rock and heavy metal albums of all time?
Sunday May 08, 2022
Episode 58 - Angels & Towers (ft. Angel, Angel Witch, & Death Angel)
Sunday May 08, 2022
Sunday May 08, 2022
The latest episode of the Enter Sadmen Podcast turns its attention to three albums that feature either either angels or towers, or (in two cases) both.
First up is the ambitious 1975 self-titled debut from American progressive band Angel, famous for both their white and outrageously angelic stagewear and for having Greg Guiffra as a member.
We then spin forward 5 years to the birth of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (at least in its recorded form) and one of its most influential releases - the self-titled debut from London outfit Angel Witch.
Finally, we bridge a 17-year gap to the third and final debut release of the show - Death Angel's 1987 release The Ultra-Violence, which is notable for the fact that at the time it hit record stores every member of the band was under the age of 20, and their drummer was out Philthy-ing Phil Taylor at the tender age of just 14 ...
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
The lads head into outer space for the latest trip down hard rock and heavy metal's Memory Lane as they investigate and appraise the merits - or otherwise - of three very different albums boasting some sort of connection, however tenuous, to the worlds beyond our own.
First up is Deep Purple with Fireball from 1971, the staging post between the previous year's In Rock and the genre defining Machine Head released in 1972. The band have since confessed to not being particularly enamoured with it; so how would it fare under the Sadmen spotlight?
Next up, an album where you can almost taste and smell the drugs that went into making it as rock's ultimate beatniks, Hawkwind, serve up a sprawling space rock epic in Hall Of The Mountain Grill from 1974, released less than a year before their bassist, one Ian Kilmister Esq, was given his marching orders in what would turn out to be one of rock's most famous blessings in disguise.
Having started at one end of the 25-year epoch that reflects the music that's covered by the Enter Sadmen podcast, Richard takes us all to the other, with Monster Magnet's Dopes To Infinity, released in 1995.