It’s been a few years since I did my first list is this potential series. Whereas the first time it was seemingly a positive impulse in response to what a friend described about a certain style of metal music, I’m doing it again because things are getting worse & worse. Worse not just here in my home country, but in seemingly so many other parts of the world. Everybody is entitled to good in their life. Everybody is entitled to a little positivity. Everybody is entitled.....to a little soul. So, I’m here to give anyone that reads this a little bit of goodness, and right below are 10 more songs that my friend would describe as Soul Metal. Enjoy!
10) Bathory - Of Doom (Song)
Right away, anyone who’s familiar with one of the originators of Black Metal will laugh at the sight of them on a warm & fuzzy list will laugh immediately, and I would not blame you at all! However, even Quortion & the gang realized that perhaps a single happy song was in order. Playing loud & fast during the entire run time, it sounds like some of the most evil stuff that’s ever been released, but if you look at the lyrics you’ll see that it’s actually kind of heardwarming. Here’s just the 1st part:
“Hold high our banner black, the three flames in red
Brothers and sisters
Hail, proudly raise your heads
Through you we've reached out to just every nation
You kept us alive with your love and dedication
Bathory Hordes is the united force, we are all born of one womb
The mightiest of hordes born through faith and belief
Hail now the sign of the black mark and of doom...”
9) Cannabis Corpse - Dawn Of Weed Possession (Song)
Another song that’s absolutely brutal, this track from weed themed Death Metal icons Cannabis Corpse is hands down one of the funniest things I ever heard. Essentially, the song is about two college students toking up in their van, when a zombie cop (Just go with it) walks right up to their vehicle, pulls both of them out of said van, handcuffs them, kills them both.....and steals their weed. Not much else to say other than go listen to it!
8) Metallica - Escape (Song)
Another song that’ll get more than a few of you to chuckle, this song off of Metallica’s 2nd album certainly deserves some ridicule. For anyone not in the know, not long after the band were done recording Ride The Lightning, the record company came in & basically told them to record 1 last song, and make it a commercially viable song for radio play, and thus we have Escape. Now, I completely understand why the band still to this day doesn’t like it (Then only played it live once back in 2012), as it definitely comes across like something outside of their wheelhouse at the time. However, it’s actually an oddly uplifting track! Yes, it is far more radio friendly than anything else on Ride The Lightning. Yes, it is a little corny. However, at least how I see it, this is where the “You Can’t Tell Me What To Do” vibes in some metal tracks was born. Again, it’s hokey as hell, but there’s something uplifting about Escape that just grabs you. I completely understand why the band doesn’t like it to this day, and why many fans press the skip button when it plays, but there’s something oddly heartwarming about it. Definitely a divisive song, but certainly one of the more unique diamonds in the rough.
7) The Goff Rocker – Ere We Go (Song)
It is hard not to smile at this one.
By the time this wonderful Christmas parody came out in 2022, I had been a casual 40k fan for a few months, with a month prior receiving the Warhammer 40K MTG decks as an early holiday gift (Read Here). Hell, even if I wasn’t a fan of 40K, I would still be grinning from ear to ear! A tribute to (In my totally humble opinion.....hehe) the best race in the franchise, it’s a fun little Hard Rock/Heavy Metal song that’s full of hilarity, and even with all of the Dakka flying around in the air, there’s still just a touch of Christmas sprinkled around all of the shrapnel that cris-crosses the battlefield. Ere We Go is a great song to listen to around the holiday season, and it’s a great song to listen to outside the holiday season as well. DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!
6) Green Jello - Three Little Pigs (Song)
As Bill Manspeaker once said when talking about the music video: “I would have never imagined that this song would have such impact and success.”
To be honest, this song shouldn’t have become as popular as it was in 1993, and still shouldn’t be popular today. The instrumentation is rough. The vocal work from Manspeaker is harsh. Hell, even the claymation music video comes across as amateur, though the recording & production on the CD is oddly good. What makes this metallic version of Three Little Pigs a wonderful piece of Soul Metal is just how nonsensical the lyrics are, and how genuinely funny the premise is. It will make you laugh, groan, snort, and cry at just how genuinely funny it is. It’s definitely not for everybody by any means, but if you need something absolutely absurd to combat how awful life is, then Three Little Pigs is for you!
5) Bloodywood - Ari Ari (Song)
When I did my first list a few years ago, I had these metal masters from India at my number one with Jee Veeray, and for good reasons. It dealt with a genuinely real issue that many people go through all over the world, it was powerful, and it was incredibly well made. While I felt that putting them at no. 1 for a second time would be too easy, I definitely believe that they deserved to be on a list again! A cover of a cover by the Bombay Rockers, Ari Ari is a potent mixture of traditional Indian instrumentation, and heavy instrumentation. Jayant Bhadula’s growls are visceral & brutal, while Raoul Kerr has more rhythm and flow due to his rapping vocal work. It’s really something special to hear, so do yourself a favor & give it a listen to!
4) Ghost - Peacefield (Song)
If you were to tell me prior to 2025 that Ghost, a spiritual successor to Shock Rock legend Alice Cooper, would release a shockingly happy song, I would have laughed that off. However, fate is a funny thing sometimes, and on their most recent release, Peacefield is that happy song! Sure, there are still some sinister tones here & there, but it’s surprising that Tobias Forge & the rest of the Nameless Ghouls gave a song some equally wholesome vibes as well. There’s a feeling of hope throughout it’s runtime: even if you were defeated somehow, that hope could potentially spread if it moved somewhere else, and that hope could take down the most wicked of people with ease. From the instrumentation to the vocal work, there’s this light you can’t quite describe, yet you know that light warms your soul in so many ways. It’s such a contrast to what Ghost normally does that it stands out perfectly, and Peacefield is a tune I never skip.
3) Freedom Call - Metal Is For Everyone (Song)
Sometimes in life, we all need a little cheese to get through the day.
I had never heard of Freedom Call when I first discovered them in 2019 (I think it was that year), but upon listening to this tune that’s been out for almost a decade at this point, it’s a safe bet to say that my blood turned into Velvetta. Power Metal by it’s very nature is hokey, goofy, silly, and exceptionally heartwarming, and Metal Is For Everyone is all of that combined. Every single second just fills you with positivity and happiness, and the message of Heavy Metal being for everybody on this planet is incredibly comforting. With so many pricks online acting a gatekeepers of what they consider to be the “True Metal” (*Cough* Probably Right-Wing Hacks *Cough), it’s nice to hear a band say that it doesn’t matter what race your are, what gender you are, what your orientation is, what religion you do or don’t belong to.....HEAVY METAL IS FOR EVERYONE!!!!
2) Van Halen - Jump (Song)
Okay. Gotta address a little bit of controversy:
Though not a song about suicide, the lyrics were inspired about something suicidal. According to David Lee Roth, he was watching TV one day, and saw a person threatening to kill themselves by jumping off of a bridge, and he thought that someone in the crowd of onlookers was thinking “Go ahead and jump”. Another version of the story (That’s harder to verify) involves Eddie Van Halen receive a letter from a female fan, and the fan in question was incredibly obsessed with him & wanted to marry him. Apparently, Eddie said to someone that was with him when he read the letter that she “Might as well jump”. Definitely dark if it’s true.
But again, this song isn’t about suicide. It’s actually about jumping on the opportunity to hook up with someone (Sexually or not), and it has some pretty positive wording in it’s lyrics. Here’s a little bit:
“Hey!
I get up
And nothing gets me down
You got it tough
I've seen the toughest around
And I know
Baby, just how you feel
You've got to roll with the punches
To get to what's real”
Yet, this song’s positive can be used for so much more than that. Any opportunity to take a chance on something? Jump can be used for that. A chance to meet a new friend? Jump can be used for that. Getting inspired to do something adventurous? Jump can be used for that! There’s a multitude of things that Jump’s boundless positivity can be directed towards, and you’d be a fool not to!
1) Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween (Song)
Throwing a curveball at you with this one!
If any of you are familiar with the original version of the song, you’ll know that it’s the farthest thing from being Metal. Cut to 2025, and Uncle Al decided it should come back on The Squirrely Years, & while it’s still not metal, it’s far more in that realm than the original. As music writer Dave Thompson described it, it was “adopted as the anthem of America's disenfranchised Gothic community”, who were mocked for how they dressed, and it perfectly fits that community with ease. However, I’d present the argument that it’s a little more than that. I’d present the argument that Everyday Is Halloween is a song about being yourself. Screw the haters who criticize & mock you! You are you, and nobody is EVER going to take that away from you! As a way to close out the band’s career, this song was a great way to help with that!
And those were 10 more Soul Metal songs. As our world gets darker & darker, it’s more important than ever to find something that keeps the mind afloat. It’s more important than ever to keep our souls alight, just so we can keep going. And with that, I’ll start fixing up posts from 2015 a few days into March. See you soon!
***
If you didn’t see the first list, click on the link below:
Top 10 Soul Metal Songs (aka Feel Good Metal)
No comments:
Post a Comment