News From The Pit

By Laura Spaulding

Hey, people - hope ya checked out the killer metal that went on during the month of April! Got a little news for ya - so read on, read on. . . . . .

_ Hope everyone showed their support for the bands at the " Unsigned Extreme II" - definitely two killer nights of fine local metal! Now - let's get ready for an "Unsigned Extreme III" - sounds good to me!

__Check out two show reviews in this issue - Slayer at Bogart's and Fear Factory at The Toy Tiger - awesome!!!

__Don't have a lot of show news for ya for May - had an early deadline due to the Derby. Please check with local clubs for upcoming shows.

But I have a couple of quickie CD reviews for ya:

__ECW Extreme Music - Various Artists - You don't have to be a "wrasslin'" fan to enjoy this fun CD. This disc features some favorite metal artists covering some other favorite metal artist's tunes - cooking up some wrestling match music. This CD is better than I thought it would be. Check out Bruce Dickinson's great cover of The Scorpions' "The Zoo"; Monster Magnet doing "Kick Out The Jams"; a killer version of Metallica's "Phantom Lord," as done by Anthrax; and - picture this - Lemmy/Motorhead doing " Enter Sandman"! On a scale of 1 to 5 (five being best), I'd give it 3 skulls!

_ Feeding The Machine - James Murphy - This CD features James Murphy - metal guitar virtuoso and current lead guitarist for Testament - doing his second solo album. The CD features ten heavy tunes with some mean guitar work from Mr. Murphy and various guests musicians from other bands, mainly vocalists. The music on this solo release is heavy, with a few slower, moody tunes and some grittier material as well. The tune " No One Can Tell You," featuring Chuck Billy of Testament, rules, but definitely don't bypass the instrumentals. There is some amazing guitar work here. I'd give it four skulls.

Hey, that's all for me for now. See ya next month! Support ALL metal!!