Metal Nerdery Podcast

A lot can change in sixteen years…

The last new FORBIDDEN album we were blessed with, Omega Wave, was released on October 22, 2010, which by any measure seems like an incredibly long time ago. But to give that span of time just a bit more perspective and weight, Omega Wave was released a mere sixteen days after Instagram was launched (which was on October 6, 2010). 

Fast forward sixteen years plus a day later to Friday, October 23, 2026, when FORBIDDEN unleashes their eponymous 6th album, FORBIDDEN, their first new album since 2010’s Omega Wave and also th...

Released on May 29, 2000, BRAVE NEW WORLD is the first IRON MAIDEN album to feature the return of Adrian Smith & Bruce Dickinson since their respective exits from the band following No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark and is also the first album to feature the band as a sextet (or sixsome, if you prefer).

While the concept of three guitarists (Janick Gers, Dave Murray, & Adrian Smith) seems like a dream come true for fans obsessed with the legendary dual guitar harmonies of their 80’s output, BRAVE NEW WORLD features a more cinematic & pro...

“It sucks that he’s gone, but what a legacy!”

The recent passing of VENOM bassist & frontman Conrad “Cronos” Lant came as an unexpected shock, especially given the recent release of INTO OBLIVION, the 16th and final album from the godfathers of extreme metal and undoubtedly the most well produced and best sounding album in the band’s discography.

Released May 1, 2026, and featuring all of the signature elements that VENOM fans would expect, INTO OBLIVION sounds modern without sounding dated and maintains the themes & imagery of darkness and evil that have been the band’...

1976. The year of the American Bicentennial. The year that brought us “The Tale of Two Steves” (Jobs & Wozniak) who created the Apple Computer Company, Evel Knievel who successfully jumped 7 Greyhound Buses at the Kingdome in Seattle, and Bruce Jenner who took home the gold in the men’s decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. 

1976 was all about being “on the train to Bangkok” and getting “super Asian” (so to speak) in your buddy’s Trans Am before catching The Song Remains The Same at the Midnight Movies. It was the year that brought us Kansas’ progressive “pre-metal” breakthroug...

“Was it as good as The First Six? No…”

Released on September 25, 1976 (exactly 4 years to the day after the release of Vol. 4), TECHNICAL ECSTASY, the 7th album by the mighty BLACK SABBATH, is one of the most mysterious, polarizing, and perhaps confusing albums from the legendary Ozzy Osbourne era of the band.

First of all, the album cover depicts two robots having a fling and exchanging “lubricants” with each other on an escalator; a pretty massive departure from the darker album art featured on any of The First Six albums.

A...

A lot can happen in a decade…

If you go back to 2016 and mention the terms “TikTok” or “AI Slop” in casual conversation, nobody will have any idea what you’re talking about, mainly because TikTok had just launched and the AI Slop that we’ve all come to know and loathe was still a few years away from becoming a nightmarish reality.

Released September 18, 2026, CURSUM PERFICIO, the 12th studio album by New York thrash veterans ANTHRAX, represents the band’s first new music since 2016’s For All Kings and a return to the world...

It’s DEATH MATCH season again, and it’s time to take two of the very best PANTERA albums and make them battle it out in the Bunkerpoon Octagon, featuring 1992’s multi-platinum VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER against the 1994 Billboard Number 1 follow-up, FAR BEYOND DRIVEN.

VULGAR was under construction throughout the band’s relentless tour for Cowboys From Hell in the states and following their legendary performance at the Monsters of Rock show in Moscow at Tushino airfield in 1991 in front of more than a million people after the fall of the Soviet Union. Possessing a far heavi...

Very few bands in the history of recorded music have managed to maintain the same lineup for as long as Atlanta, Georgia’s own progressive metal titans, MASTODON. After Brent Hinds’ departure from the band in 2025 and the tragic permanence of his untimely demise which followed just a few months later, it seemed that after 25 years the band which Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher, and Troy Sanders had launched with Hinds was finished.

Thankfully, the remaining three were able to transmute their tragedy into a new era for the band by introducing two new members (Nick Johns...

In early July 1985, ¾ (or 75%) of the “Fistful of Metal” era of Anthrax (Charlie Benante, Scott Ian, and Dan Lilker) joined Billy Milano in the studio to form the legendary crossover thrash band S.O.D. (aka STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH) and in less than one week, recorded and mixed one of the most notoriously hilarious thrash albums of all time, SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE. 

In the highly unlikely event that you’re thinking “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of S.O.D…”, just think back to the good old days of Headbangers Ball in the late 80’s, w...

“On a scale of 1 to 5 Honks, how many Honks would you give it…for their performance at the show?”

The STRAP IT DOWN TOUR (featuring Spirit In The Room, Helmet, and Down) kicked off in relentlessly heavy fashion on Saturday, August 15, 2026, at The Eastern in Atlanta, Georgia, and we made our way down into the heart of the city to experience opening night firsthand, in the flesh.

“I don’t wanna say anything off-putting…”

The turnout was incredible, the venue was awesome, and the whole vibe of the entire evenin...

New York City. A place where the subways never close, you can hit any deli, diner, or pizzeria in town at all hours (“in the middle of the night”) for a bite to eat, and your soul will become properly calloused with a “G.F.Y.” mentality and attitude in the most hard core, New York way imaginable. 

And when it comes to infusing that kind of attitude into metal, NYC’s PRONG has quite literally turned that into an artform.

Formed in “The City That Never Sleeps” in 1986, PRONG had two independent r...

“It’s been a while since we’ve been to a show together…”

The STRAP IT DOWN Summer Tour kicks off on Saturday, August 15, 2026, at The Eastern in Atlanta, Georgia, featuring DOWN, HELMET, & SPIRIT IN THE ROOM, so naturally, we decided to engage in a little PRE-GAME preparation to get in the right headspace for the show. 

As you may recall, we last traveled to The Eastern back in 2024 when we saw King Diamond and Overkill, and the sound and layout of the venue made for one of the best concert experiences w...

“Chimpanzee, he said it…he said chimpanzee…”

PRIMUS is always a fun stop on the road to Relaxerville (especially if you’ve got something to inhale), and PORK SODA (the band’s 3rd official studio long player) is the perfect soundtrack for just such an occasion. 

Released on April 20th, 1993, almost 50 years to the day after Albert Hofmann’s legendary trip on Bicycle Day, PORK SODA ups the dosage of weird that was previously experienced on Sailing the Seas of Cheese with a unique formulation that only PRIMUS is capable of delivering. If an...

“How many people do you think go into a bar and say: ‘I’d like an Everclear on the rocks, please…’?”

Looking back, 1997 seems utterly surreal…

To put things in perspective, 1997 marked the debut of South Park on Comedy Central, the release of Radiohead’s breakthrough, third album, OK Computer, the beginning of the final season of Seinfeld, and (of course) the arrival of Metallica’s conclusion to The Loads with Reload.

Perhaps one of the most surreal (and tragic) parts of 1997 was the time a bunch of children in a band...

“It’s the most readable death metal logo I’ve ever seen in my life…”

Dave and Joe Haley.

If you’re trying to understand the importance of this particular drum & guitar team, just think of some of the other legendary “band of brothers” in the metal community that come to mind who have gone on to elevate and transform modern music as we know it…brothers such as Alex & Eddie Van Halen and Vinnie & Darrell Abbott. 

Formed in 1999 (“the year of the Matrix”) and hailing from Hobart, Tasmania, Australi...

Summary:

“Have you ever been to a buffet where you literally try everything?”

Sometimes the best way to find your new favorite things is to just sample a lot of different things until you find the things that you enjoy the most. As with a buffet…or even dating, you just “grab something” you think you might like and “give it a taste”. If you like it, you keep going back for more. And if it’s not your thing, you simply continue the process of sampling and tasting other things until you find something yo...

“No sink or nothing, right? You’re just gonna go free ball it…”

1989 was the very first year EVER that The Recording Academy recognized hard rock and metal music with the “Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental”. And other than the completely insulting “slap in the face” by The Recording Academy to Metallica (think Will Smith & Chris Rock, but even more childish, petty, and completely unnecessary), there were no other Big Four albums or happenings in 1989.

(SIDEBAR: Y’know, maybe it’s just speculation, conspiracy theory, or just good old-fashi...

Death. 

The word alone possesses the same tangible finality and permanence as the act itself. Death marks the end of one’s physical life & existence in this world and can come as a tragic, sudden, and untimely end, or as the sometimes “welcome” final resolution of life following a long, protracted period of illness and suffering.

“We got to live on the same earth at the same time as all these dudes…”

Regardless of how it presents, death impacts every single human on earth. Whether it’s the death of a lov...

“I mean it’s June, so…”

Released September 29, 1992, CORE, the debut album from San Diego, California’s own STONE TEMPLE PILOTS (or STP for short) is one of those albums that doesn’t really fit into the “grunge” category, nor does it fit into the traditional “heavy metal” box either. It’s certainly not grunge but is definitely “more metal than Pearl Jam”, and while there may be some subtle similarities here and there, they are as different as apples and apple sauce.

“It’s June, man. Knock yourself out…”

Of the STP discography, C...

The year is 1980. The U.S. National Debt is a paltry $900 Billion, the word “yuppie” appears for the first time in print, the Pac-Man videogame is released in arcades everywhere, Mount St. Helens explodes in Washington state, and Cable News Network (also known as CNN) becomes a thing.

In the world of metal, Iron Maiden release their self-titled debut album, Black Sabbath reinvent themselves with new frontman Ronnie James Dio on vocals and release Heaven and Hell, and AC/DC regroup after the tragic loss of Bon Scott and release Back In Black featuring new vocal...

“I wanna hear THAT at my grocery store, when I’m going for the meat section…”

Whether it’s the song we all rise for at sports ball events,  the first song on Rush’s “Fly By Night” album (not to mention the first song on Anthrax’s EP of classic rock covers), or the sing-along, encore at the end of a rock show, ANTHEMS represent a clarion call, a rallying cry that unites fans in unspeakable joy, unity, and celebration. It’s almost always the song that EVERYONE knows (even your grandmother) and is very much NOT a deep c...

“Today is all about 7’s…”

We can’t believe it…it’s officially been SEVEN years since we began our podcasting journey, and as of this episode, we are celebrating SEVEN years of heavy metal podcasting excellence!  And in the spirit of heavy metal greatness, what better way to celebrate and commemorate the completion of our SEVENTH year than a tribute to the best thing MTV ever did for metal heads that started way back in the late 80’s: HEADBANGERS BALL!!!

“It was the novelty, because that was the only place where you could get i...

“Would it be fair to say that horror metal and death metal are kinda…symbiotic?”

Released May 25, 1987, SCREAM BLOODY GORE, the debut album from Florida death metal pioneers DEATH, marks a dark and transformative turning point from thrash metal into something else…something with “thrash overtones” that “sounds like thrash” but also doesn’t. While it seemed to be the next logical evolutionary step for extreme metal, we weren’t exactly sure what it was. It was still thrashy, yet there was a much darker presence to it than the thrash to which we were accustomed.

 <...

“I wonder how many modern bands still do it?”

Maybe the song is named after the band and referenced in the chorus. Maybe the song is named after the band but there’s no reference to the band’s name anywhere in the lyrics. Or maybe it’s a song with a completely different title than the band name BUT the band name IS mentioned somewhere in the lyrics. 

“They mostly do it during their early years…”

Whatever the case may be, A METAL BAND’S TITLE TRACK ultimately becom...

“It took me like a hard 16 seconds…but I got it down…I swallowed all of it…”

Released April 10, 2026, DEAD TO RIGHTS, the 14th studio album in 40+ years from the mighty METAL CHURCH, features a new line up and a return to the power metal infused thrash style that made them a force to be reckoned with back in the 80’s, during the heyday of the (then relatively new) thrash scene.

“I was proud of myself…that I finished that much…in so little time…”

Featuring David Ellefson (formerly of Meg...

“If you were gonna be a stripper…what would your stage name be?”

When you think about 1986, it’s almost hard to fathom that we are 40 years away from it. Four decades away from perhaps THE biggest year in metal, and we’re not just saying that because we were still young and impressionable, but because it was quite literally THAT epic of a year! 

March, September, and October of 1986 gave us Master of Puppets, Peace Sells… (But Who’s Buying?), and Reign In Blood (respectively), and that’s only 3 albums of thrash greatness...

“You like to hear how they have progressed or digressed…or either…or gressed…”

This episode is a lot like looking at pictures of family when everyone is much younger and then looking at recent pictures of family and realizing that after enough time, a LOT changes. 

Just as people grow and age and (hopefully) evolve over time, no artist should currently be EXACTLY as they were when they first started, as there should be an obvious evolution and progression of their style and sound over multiple albums and decades, from their very FI...

“This is the 80’s before the 80’s was the 80’s…”

Released April 18, 1980, HEAVEN AND HELL, the 9th studio album by BLACK SABBATH (and the first to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals), marks a simultaneous sonic departure and rebirth for the Godfathers of Metal. 

While some would argue that it sounds more like RJD’s solo output and NOTHING like the Sabbath of the 70’s, HEAVEN AND HELL is more than just “the next Sabbath album”.

Featuring fantastical & medieval lyrical themes coupled with a revitalized songwriting style and renewed vigor, HEAVE...

“If you’re gonna pick an album that’s supposed to be the album of the decade…”

The Grammy’s have proven over and over to metal fans over the years that their decisions are (more often than not) completely arbitrary and have absolutely zero basis in honor, truth, or reality whatsoever. And if you need to be reminded of this irrefutable fact, just remember who won the Grammy for “Best Metal Performance” in 1989. 

“This was a little difficult and it was the first time…and there was no science behind this…”

...

Released March 20, 2026, GOLIATH, the newest behemoth to emerge from classic thrash masters EXODUS, feels a lot like 1989 but with some other added extras that are a bit different, experimental, and a little off the reservation relative to their earlier work. It also marks the return of Rob Dukes on vocals for the first time since 2010’s Exhibit B: The Human Condition.

Loaded with scathing social commentary against the modern philistine monsters of our time, GOLIATH is sure to get the blood & adrenaline pumping and the fists & heads banging with revolutionary glee and righteous vengeance. Amidst all...

“It’s like we’re missing someone…”

Released Friday, March 13, 2026, INTO OBLIVION, the latest offering from Richmond, Virginia’s LAMB OF GOD, features a new logo and an album cover that hints at the darker atmosphere that dwells within.

“It’d be wrong to do a clinky without Russ…”

Chock full of enough sick grooves, primal screams, and disgustingly brutal riffs to give anyone who hears it a healthy case of “stank face”, INTO OBLIVION checks all of the prerequisite boxes necessary to maintain the interest of the most loyal fans while a...

“Let’s keep the dumb fuhqery to a minimum today…”

EMBERING EFFIGY, the “Southern Fried Thrash Metal” threesome hailing from the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia are making some noise in venues all across the Southeast with their blistering live shows and their recently released new album, OUT OF THE WOODS, featuring 8 tracks of old school thrash infused with a generous blend of blast beats, high energy punk, filthy breakdowns, and even some old school “mosh parts” for good measure.  There’s enough fast stuff, heavy stuff, and sick stuff on this album to give anyone who hears it a compl...

Ever since compact discs came out in the mid-1980s, the concept of SIDE 1 and SIDE 2 on an album sort of fell by the wayside. And with this new quantum leap in technology, the entire process of consuming music began to transform. 

By the late 80’s and early 90’s, CD sales began outselling vinyl records and cassette tapes, due in large part to convenience and technological innovation, as vinyl records (albums) were limited to a maximum of 20 minutes or so per side and cassette tapes maxed out at around 30 minutes per side. But prior to compac...

“Wait a minute, is she your hall pass? Can we confirm that?”

Many folks in certain parts of the world have been calling the United States “The Great Satan” for decades, long before ROB ZOMBIE’s eighth studio album, THE GREAT SATAN, was called that.

“…and the first words out of her mouth when she pulls up: ‘Can I inspect your meat?’”

Released on 02/27/2026 on Nuclear Blast, the newest studio offering from ROB ZOMBIE, THE GREAT SATAN, has a much heavier, darker, and more aggro feel than past albums, and the al...

“He’s looking at me…”

Released on August 22, 1989, CLIMBIN’ THE WALLS, the major label debut album from Martinsburg, West Virginia thrash metal savants WRATHCHILD AMERICA, is undoubtedly one of the most uniquely profound thrash metal albums in all of heavy metal history to be crafted by one of the most extraordinarily talented (and criminally underrated) bands in the entire genre. 

And to think, for many metalheads back in the day, their very first experience with this album was in a LIVE concert setting, opening for Testament. Just imagine how blessed one would be to s...

“If I hadn’t have known that was Anthrax, I would have guessed it was Alice In Chains…”

The early 90’s was a strange time for metal, most notably due to the change in the musical landscape with the emergence of the Seattle scene and Alice In Chains becoming one of the key crossover bands to bridge the transition from thrash to the next wave of darker, grungier sounding heavy metal. 

“Every time you do that, I have a less chance of getting laid…”

While ANTHRAX began the 90’s with a much...

“That’s the buzz word: every time somebody says, ‘tipping point’, you must drink…”

Whether it’s measured by a string of commercially successful albums or one’s own personal preference, almost every metal band has (at a minimum) produced a TRILOGY of albums that represent a three-album run of back-to-back-to-back awesomeness. 

“That’s the law, man…it’s gotta be three…rules is rules.”

Granted, we’re all very well aware that some bands have far exceeded such a phenomenal feat THRICE in a row. But to keep things fair, we limited ou...

“You know what I’m hearing? This sounds like it could have been…the sidepiece…to The Black Album…”

There’s almost a strange, sarcastic satisfaction in knowing that the new self-titled MEGADETH album will forever be known (at least in our neck of the woods anyway) as “The White Album”. 

“Every time you keep talking, I just see shapes and letters…”

Released on January 23, 2026, MEGADETH is the 17th studio album from Dave Mustaine and Company and represents the final chapter in the 40+ year history of the angriest, snarliest, and mos...

Once you reach a certain level, there is no ‘better’…it’s different.”

Released on August 19, 1983, FLICK OF THE SWITCH (the 9th studio album by AC/DC and the 3rd featuring Brian Johnson on the mic) is what some fans might call their “White Album” (arriving after their “Black Album” and “Bronze Album”, respectively), showing a black and white grayscale drawing of a lone Angus pulling down some massive power, so to speak.

“That’s literally ‘Bad To The Bone’ and ‘In My Time Of Dying’…”

While self-produced by the band and containing...

“Flat earth is just a troll thing, right? People don’t really believe that…”

Picking up right where we left off on our previous HEAVY METAL HIGH SCHOOL REUNION episode with even more stories of metal nostalgia and teenage retardity as we reflect on the pressing issues of the day during our high school residency. 

“The bathrooms are over there, Everest is over there, and you’ve gotta be this high to ride the ride…”

From the discovery journeys that led us to our favorite bands to the band that was co...