Jag Panzer - "Ample Destruction"

Last fall, I attended "Nosferatu with Radiohead" at the Naro Cinema (the local art house theater).  It was excellent, and it reminded me of how fun the word "N-o-s-f-e-r-a-t-u" is to say -- it just rolls off your tongue. Then I was reminded of a HS-era metal song that incorporated "Nosferatu" into the lyrics, and then I disappeared into a rabbit hole digging up an LP I probably haven't listened to in over 30 years.  After some digging through the haze and cobwebs of time, I was able to remember the song, LP, and band. 

Courtesy of Scott, I had a taped copy of Jag Panzer's 1984 debut LP "Ample Destruction".  Taping each other's LPs is how we could build a large music collection without having $$$ (a tremendous amount of our HS budget went to music, in a way that "the kids today could not understand", but that's a discussion for another time).  What I didn't realize some 40 years ago is how rare "Ample Destruction" was; this was only revealed after reading some of the reviews at Encylopaedia Metallum.  It wasn't a complete surprise, since Scott was (and still is) the most plugged in person to the metal scene that I personally know.  

Combining the best -- and worst! -- parts of Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, and Manowar, "Ample Destruction" is a perfect blend of NWOBHM and the emerging Power Metal scene of 1984.  With LP title itself,  the mispronounced/misspelled WWII "tank destroyer" (Jagdpanzer) reference, and song titles like "Symphony of Terror", "Harder Than Steel", "The Watching", and "Reign of The Tyrants", the LP is 3 parts teenage awesomeness and 1 part unintentional Spinal Tap.  

It's not really possible for me to listen to this LP in 2025 and be completely removed the nostalgia from 40 years ago, but I'm still pretty sure this is an objectively great LP.  Listening to it makes me feel like a teenager again. And to be fair, I think all of them were still teenagers when they made recorded this LP.  Conklin's vocals are distinctive and powerful (far better than King Diamond, as far as I'm concerned), the music is legitimately good, and they earnestly commit to the bit. You really can't ask for more. 

Stand out tracks: All are good, but my favorites include: "License to Kill", "Symphony of Terror", "Reign of the Tyrants", "The Crucifix".  

Skip 'em tracks: none.

Final score: 9/10.  I probably would have gone 10/10 back in the day, but I'm trying to account for my nostalgia lens.

Bonus links: the 1983 four song EP "Tyrants" (sometimes self-titled), which is included in some reissues of "Ample Destruction". 

Pat Benatar - "Promises in the Dark"

 

We saw Pat Benatar at the Beach about two weeks ago at a brand new venue called The Dome.  They had only had the first concert earlier that week.  The facility was nice, if a bit soulless because it was brand new. A lot of our concerts lately have been at places like The Birchmere in Alexandria, and the Warner Theater in DC.  The setlist on May 7, 2025 was pretty similar to the show at the Warner almost a year ago, but at the Beach they did the song "Precious Time", the title track from their 1981 LP.  

It's an excellent song, and not one that they often do, so I was pretty excited to hear that night. I was going to blog about that song, but then realized I blogged about it seven years ago.  Since "Precious Time" was never released as a single, but it was the B-side to the "Promises in the Dark" single, this post is then about the A-side. "Promises in the Dark" is an excellent song, still a concert staple, and the was in high rotation on MTV back in the day. And yes, Neil still counts off "1-2-3-4" coming out of the break.

Pat Benatar - "Promises in the Dark", "Precious Time": both songs feature Neil Giraldo's finest guitar work.

What a terrible pic ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The marquee changed right as I snapped the pic; we were racing to beat the crowd out of the parking deck and did not pause to wait for "Benatar Giraldo" to cycle back around, 

Explosions in the Sky - Live at the 9:30 Club 2016-05-19

 

Another recommendation I make on a regular basis is this full concert, courtesy of NPR, of Explosions in the Sky.  I saw them at the Norva in Norfolk on May 17, 2016, and this professional, multi-camera shoot at the 9:30 Club open May 19, 2016 is basically the same show.  The only difference is that Norfolk got "Infinite Orbit" as the 5th song, and DC got "The Ecstatics".  

I've blogged about EITS before, and my 2010 review of "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever" gives a more in-depth description of their aesthetic.  In addition to the influences I listed then, I'd now add shoegazing, as well as Sonic Youth and "Lesson No. 1" era Glenn Branca. 

The show should really be consumed as single, 84 minute experience. But if you don't have 84 minutes, I'd say "Greet Death" and "The Birth and Death of the Day" are highlights.  

That night at the Norva, I was moved, transformed even.  A YouTube video can't even begin to capture the live experience, but I hope this will give you insight into what I felt that night.  

Sleep - "Dopesmoker"

 

Danette is on a two week cruise with her mother and friends, so in her absence I have resumed what is now a tradition when she's gone: listening to Sleep's "Dopesmoker" on repeat while doing things around the house. This is an LP I've recommended to many friends and colleagues now, so I guess I should blog about it. 

Sleep is a stoner/doom band from California, and I'm not 100% certain how I first heard of them.  They're in the same circle as Earth and Sunn O))), so perhaps I learned of them from Butch.  Or maybe I just read about them online -- it's all appropriately fuzzy, given the cannabis connection.  

The story of this LP is a little bit complicated.  Recorded in 1996, their record label at the time did not want to release it because, among other things, the "album" is just an hour long single song.  In 1999, an unauthorized edited version of the LP was released as "Jerusalem", with six different tracks, all named "Jerusalem".  In 2003, a version was released as "Dopesmoker" with a single eponymous track, and in 2012 another version was released (the 2012 version on Southern Lord Records is the one I have).  

One of the best things about the doom metal genre is that they don't shy away from their Black Sabbath roots, and this LP is no exception. I mention this only because many bands seek to deny or obfuscate their influences, but doom metal is perhaps the only genre that can agree the canon is dominated by the first six Sabbath LPs. The production is cleaner and heavier at the same time (these production dimensions are often in conflict) than the early 70s Sabbath, but the through line from "Master of Reality" to "Dopesmoker" is obvious. 

So yeah, slow, plodding, detuned guitars are what you get. There are vocals, and they're borderline Cookie Monster, but not distractingly so.  They do obscure the lyrics, which is fortunate because apparently there's a story about the "Weedians" or some such; I've made it a point to not look up the lyrics because I'm sure they'd only disappoint.  Cisneros's voice works well as another instrument, and exactly what he's saying isn't important.

Regardless, it all comes together in a hazy, hypnotic, slowly evolving repetitive swirl that has to be considered a high point of the genre.  Despite, or perhaps because, being a single hour track, it holds up to listening to it on repeat all afternoon.*

Standout tracks: "Dopesmoker" 

Skip 'em tracks: The 2012 release comes with a bonus live version of "Holy Mountain", which is not necessarily bad, but clearly doesn't not fit the original artistic vision of the LP itself. 

Score: 10/10. Again, it's absolutely central to the genre, but before you listen, you've got to buy into the conceit of a single track that's 63 minutes long. 

* "Repeat all afternoon" works best when your spouse is not home.

The Spaniels - "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite"

My mother died last month, after a lengthy battle with cancer.  That event is mostly beyond the scope of this blog, but in my eulogy I mentioned the 1954 hit "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" by The Spaniels. When I was young, she used to sing this song to me when it was time for me to go to bed.  It wasn't until much later in life, presumably I was an adult, that I realized this song was an actual song from her youth and not a song that she made up to shepherd me into bedtime. It's a perfectly fine doo-wop song, but for me it will always be associated with my mother and my childhood bedtime. 

The Spaniels - "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite".