The Liberals Vs. Christianity

Lately, there have been groups of people in this fine country whining about everything religious. I'm actually reaching the point of not quite caring anymore that they hate my guts because I believe in God. In fact, I would like to point out Christians are the only targets of this incessant bitching. No one seems to care what the Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, etc. are up to, (they only care about Muslims because Muslims seem to want to take over the planet right now.)

First, it was the whole 10 commandments thing. Some drone got upset, called the authorities, and within a week, we had a court order to remove the monument. Then it was the atheist from Utah who didn't like that "...under God..." exists in the pledge. So immediately, there was a hearing which has now lead to more hearings, and in the end, we'll probably remove God from the pledge as well. Why can't we get this kind of action when our own rights are being attacked? Or when some jackass breaks into our cars? No, if he was parading around town with an assault rifle claiming to steal in the name of God, then you'd see people move.

I'm so sick of this two-faced garbage coming from the Liberals. God sucks. God needs to leave. God can kiss my ass. Blah blah blah. This whole thing is targeting the Christian God, no one else. The real issue here is this country hates Christianity and because it has a stick up its ass, everyone's going to try to make the Christians miserable. Well this is one non-passive believer who says, "You can kiss my ass." Frankly, I'm un-impressed with your feeble attempts to get at me. It's un-effective and pointless. Or, "It's like trying to catch the wind." Idiots. In the event that I'm right and your wrong, what did you accomplish? Personally, I've never preached at any of you, and yet, because I'm associated with the Christian name, I'm also a target.

If you are going to target a deity, target them all. But I don't think Washington has the nerve to do that. They know the Muslims would bomb them, the Wiccans would Hex them, and the Buddhists would probably wage a holy war. So target the Christians, I mean all they do is pray a lot on the countries behalf, and that's just evil.

Kazaa Plagued With Decoys.

First they tried shutting down individual file sharing sites. Then they tried taking individual users to court. Now the RIAA has released music on its own. Medleys to be exact. An entire album worth of music crammed into 3 minutes to tell the user, "You really want the song? Go buy the album."

And it gets worse. The RIAA is allowing those who encode these aptly named, "RIAA DECOYS" (check your Kazaa Scour List, you'll find users tagging them), to give them titles off the album. For instance, if you're after the latest Britney Spears album, let's use "Oops" as an example, the titles would be "One Kiss From You", "Dear Diary", "Stronger", etc. Except every song you can download is one of these medleys.

The bottom line is this: The RIAA will not win this war. In this case, it is merely an issue of having information. Users can upload the correct song, Title it AAF (Actual Album File I believe) - and other users will know this is the actual song, not another decoy.

What the RIAA needs to do is this:

*Lower the price of CDs. (They've done this.)

*Make Music-On-Demand more user friendly. EG: Instead of limited use windows media files, make everything MP3, once we've paid for it, we should be able to do what we damn well want, as long as it doesn't violate copyright.

*Stop prefabricating bands and categories. As much as I hate to say it, this is the bottom line. All the labels are turning out such mindless crap, they are causing their own problems. Even a kid doesn't want the latest by Limp Bizkit (or however the f you spell it), if all but one track sucks. And you know something? Everything by Fred Durst does suck.

Music needs a revamp. Period. And the sooner these sheep at the RIAA catch on to this, the more of a chance of succeeding they will have.

Elizabeth Smart Exploited Again.

Smart, now 15, was abducted at knife point from her Utah home last Nov. 9, then was found and her alleged kidnappers arrested nearly eight months later. Her disappearance dominated the news, as did the good news of her safe return, a rare happy ending in a missing child case. -A/P

And now she's up for a curtain call. The release of a made for TV movie should do it's best to bring back a flood of horrible memories. Whoever came up with this idea less than 6 months after the ordeal came to an end, should be dragged out into the street and beaten with a sledge hammer.

But then, you have to ask, how much are mom and dad getting? You know there's a payoff, because the movie cannot be filmed without the consent of the parents. In this sensitive situation someone was asleep at the wheel when they were driving the common sense bus, because there was a 26 car pile-up on "Human With A Heart" Highway.

If consent was not given it will be a major lawsuit and forget I said anything about Mom and Dad. However, if they actually approved this notion, then they are scumbags and I ask, where is DSS now? To busy seizing custody of toddlers from first time parents who won't force feed their kids, I imagine.

Cracking Down On Illegal Immigrants

Read the latest Wal*Mart news At MSNBC.

Look, all of us know what a problem illegal immigration is. The fact that we have allowed it to get this bad is disturbing. I realize how bad some countries are and how poorly they treat their citizens. I further understand that the only way for them to free themselves is to make a run for it. However, this cannot be allowed anymore. In retrospect of 9/11/01, we need to tighten down loose bolts on the boarders and see to it people can't use the U.S. as their escape pod OR cross hairs.

Yet, in the recent madness in California, people actually raised the issue of rights for illegal immigrants. They wanted them to have such things as state licenses so they could drive, medical aide, and welfare benefits. Sorry, here's where I have to draw the line. I'm a citizen and when jobless, I get nothing. I can't get medical from the state of Massachusetts unless I have a kid, or a permanent disability. I never qualify for welfare, and I can barely get free care from UMASS Medical.

Yet, these potential threats waltz into the country crying about oppression, and possibly endangering us at times, and we just hand over benefits our own citizens can't even get? Has everyone lost their minds in this country? I can't imagine what group of politically correct tools conceived this notion but it solidifies my point: Politically correctness is destroying our country.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but, the Liberals are at fault for this whole mess, no matter how you slice it. They conceived the whole politically correct platform and this is the result. We can't even go to war without Liberal media asking stupid questions like, "Is it politically correct to tell an enemy, 'Surrender or be killed?'"

Such questions were asked when we invaded Afghanistan. Try and tell me this P.C. garbage isn't ruining this country.

New Look.

Revolver is now fully loaded. Besides a new hitcounter, we have a new newsfeed at the bottom, and you may now comment on opinions by clicking "Bullets" below the article PLUS the newly added "Amber Alert" ticker at the top. If you direct your attention to the left side you will see a "1 Marksman" tag, this tells you how many minds are being polluted by my extreme right ideas at once.

Thanks to Webmistress Lady Lisa for her help on tweaking up the page.

Enjoy. -Vince

Apologies

While I try to get this stupid HTML code to behave, the page will be off proportion. My apologies. Should be fixed by Friday. -Vince

PLEASE NOTE!!!

Amber Alert has just been added to the top of the blog page. All readers check it periodically. Thanks, and lets protect the kids from the perverts. -Vince

Republican Survey.

This - fish wrap - came in my mailbox yesterday asking me to tell the Republican Party how I felt about their job and what changes I would recommend. Oddly, there was no section that would let me to suggest allowing a Libertarian run things for a while.

They asked questions about education, how I felt about Bush's dealings with Iraq, taxes, the economy. All that happy horse crap. The problem with the Republican agenda, as if everyone didn't know, is the fact that their pockets are filled by big business. Oddly, the same big business that has shipped a number of jobs to Toiletstan where they can pay the exploited people in that country about $4.00 a week instead of the paycheck an American Citizen gets.

If the Republicans won't stop these seedy CEO's who wipe their asses with one-hundred dollar bills from moving to India and other countries, then we need someone in office who will grow a pair, put the almighty U.S. foot down and say, "You can't do that. If you do, there will be no jobs, and hence, no one will have money to buy your blasted products." I know ONE party that would do that.

Can anyone say Libertarian?

Advertising Sucks

Nothing is more irritating than pop up ads, mouse traps, and other vicious ways of getting you to read ads for some product you would never buy. As if pop-ups weren't bad enough, now we have to deal with "Flash" Ads. The hackers of the disgusting advertising industry have broken out noisy, resource sucking, flash ads that take forever to load on a dial-up and waste your time - because really - what metal fan wants to buy the stupid latest "Redman" cd?

"Flash" is great on websites. It gives them pizazz, flair, and most of all it steps away from the drab frames format of yesterday. But it didn't take long for some marketing loser to decide this same software could be used for the new wave up pop-ups, the screen blocker.

The Add scrolls down, slides in, or by some other way appears in your window playing an animated sequence telling you to buy the latest "Viagra Alternative", "Hip-Hop CD", or how you can make millions a month "Just By Sitting On Your Ass!" All the while blocking the view of what you actually came to see, Where Annihilator's next tour stop is.

As a society we've made it clear, we have no interest in seeing the graffiti like advertising we are pummeled with every day by purchasing TiVo, downloading pop-up blockers, and getting Spam filters. But the Advertising industry insists it knows what's best for all of us and continues to assault us with ads everywhere. Even good old fashion baseball stadiums can't have decent names like "The Polo Grounds" anymore, now it's f?!@ing Microsoft Park. Ugh. Someone put out my eyes, and make me go deaf, that's the only way I'll win.

Yankees Nation. Chew On This.

I'm sick of bandwagon fans, they really bug me. Outside of New York, I cannot believe for one minute, any NY Yankees fan is a genuine article. I think they are a bunch of phonies, following a team because it's record is a pretty safe bet for future games.

The Yankees have won more World Series bids than any other in the MLBA. So anyone routing for this team is going to be safe to assume that they will win more games than any other. Now they play my beloved Boston Red Sox. Unlike my New England counterparts who follow the Yankees because of Dynasty value, I've always been a red Sox fan - even in the bad times.

Bandwagon fans are a plague, worse than the ones to hit Egypt. They follow a lucky team, trying desperately to quote statistics about a team they wouldn't follow if it were dead last. These fans have no loyalty, even in the case of the Yankees. Were baseball to finally instill a salary cap, you'd see the Yankees be dropped from peoples "Favorites" list like a bad habit because now they'd be as even as the rest of the league and not this New York super power dynasty.

So don't call me singing the praises of the New York Yankees because I think you're full of crap. There is nothing to prove me wrong. Pick a team you like for better reasons than history alone, and stop plaguing my streets with NY shirts because you look like a tool.

atheism: A Cop Out

The latest headline comes out of Washington as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguements on why the Pledge Of Allegiance is un-constitutional. Point and case:

Three years ago, Sacramento, Calif., atheist Michael Newdow's pro se campaign to strike the words from the Pledge seemed merely quixotic. Now, the case is on the agenda for the nation's highest court, likely to be argued early next year amid an intense debate over issues of religion and patriotism in a time of war. - A/P

Except that this guy is obviously using atheism as a cop out. This is all about the Christians Vs. The People Who Hate God. A group of angry suburbanite pieces of garbage that haven't been vocal enough about other things they like to bitch about, such as, the war in Iraq. Now, they target Christians. And contrary to what the Liberal news media feeds you, most of us are pretty peaceful. We don't hang around outside abortion clinics with automatic weapons. Nor do we talk to our God on a two-way-radio.

The ultimate goal, however, is to eliminate religious expression from our country and slaughter thousands of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans and whoever else because the sophisticated so-called atheist believes we are the cause of all his problems. Step one: Get God eliminated from all government items from the Pledge to the twenty dollar bill.

Upcoming Elections Part 1: Mud Flinging

It's amazing. Every 3 years we start the whole presidential process again. And every 3 years we get the same load of horse crap. Delivered straight to your door and dumped on your head - courtesy of the screws who want your vote. They assault our televisions with hate laced ads intended to make the other guy look bad. And all courtesy of your friendly first amendment.

Well fine. I'll accept the first amendment argument, but I'm going to counter with a little logic.

Yeah, you can call the other guys losers and liars, but you're wasting your thirty seconds to one minute of airtime on an ad campaign that causes the voters to switch stations. I've yet to speak with one person who says, "Oh man! I just loved Ted Kennedy's ad against his opponent where he calls him a liar and a hypocrite. That got my vote!"

Yet every time we vote we are molested by these heartless, pointless, angry, and utterly childish smear campaigns created by people who don't have anything better to do than sit around thinking of ways to try and make the other guy look like a pile of refuse. In the end, we know nothing of the guy who paid for the ad. How can we vote for anyone when we don't know what anyone stands for?

The point of the whole electoral process is to give your platform interests, not ring the fight bell and come out swinging. The first time a guy runs a clean campaign, will be the first time the majority of the country votes for him - because it will be the first time.

Bullies: Snot Nosed Little Brats.

Whenever I turn on the news and I hear about some kid threatening to shoot someone and getting arrested for it, I get very irritated. Not because the kid was violent or even had evil thoughts, but because some parents don't get it. Bullying is not the result of anothers child's in-ability to fight for himself. It's bad parenting by the bullies parents.

Bullies usually have no self-esteem. They find a weaker link and exploit them on a daily basis. It gives them a high and makes them feel like king of the mountain. But their high is a false one on another's expense. And in today's society, the victim is fighting back.

He loads himself up with heavy artillery. Not because it's the answer, but because the circumstance makes him snap. He can't take anymore. The "abuse cylinder" has hit maximum capacity and gone into meltdown. And then everybody says their shocked.

Teachers don't intervene, officials don't intervene, and parents don't intervene. It is the job of every parent to make sure their kid is not tormenting someone at school every day. But because we are the "teletubbies" generation, we shirk our responsibility in child raising, and this is the end result. Kids taking out their hurt on other kids.

Musical Differences.

People are adamant about what they listen to until it reaches ludicrous levels. Teenagers get into fights over it, sometimes, even physical ones. Doing wedding over the summer as a DJ I experienced first hand the human stupidity that arises when a group of people can't agree on a genre. It's ridiculous. People conduct themselves as a bunch of 5 year olds with a toy taken away that they wanted.

People walked off the dance floor in a huff when the wrong song was played, making comments such as "This song really blows," as loud as they could to ensure the DJ could hear them. Except their DJ was Vince Wylde and he didn't give a sh** because the majority of people were dancing.

What happened 150 years ago to people when your choices were either Bluegrass or Classical? You liked one or the other. And in most cases, it was to your advantage to choose both because there simply weren't hundreds of sub-genres to choose from.

I think it's our society filled with self-righteous know-it-all lunatics who think they are God's gift to the rest of us. They act like a bunch of pompous asses and make scenes like the one mentioned above because they think they are saying something. Instead, they are ruining someone else's good time because the music isn't to their tastes. This also seems to go hand-in-hand with people who always think the sound is too loud and will make 2 visits to the DJ stand an hour to remind you to "please turn it down." Hey lady, you didn't shell out the money to pay for this, so sit down, and deal with it. You only get married once.

What Happens When Someone Doesn't Agree?!

Right now the first 3 months of Revolver (formerly The Soapbox) are making their way around a girls dorm at a College in Massachusetts as a proof-reading and feedback project. Evidently, it's creating quite a bit of controversy. And now doubt, some of those girls now log into this very page to see what I have to say.

They read my works and then discuss it at Dinner. Ok. Never thought of myself as dinner conversation BUT... I know the question has been asked - "What if someone doesn't agree?" Well, I thought people simply bowed down and worshiped at the throne of Vince Wylde...

Ok. Fair enough question. As a radio personality I know I'm not always right. And I have to be open to other viewpoints if I'm going to make a show out of it. But I will never agree with someone when the topic is a challenge to my own personal morals or beliefs. One of the topics that created intense controversy was my attacking the Episcopalian church for electing a gay minister. As a Christian, this challenges what I know about the church. It's making a compromise via the bible - and if you call yourself a God-fearing organization, you cannot do this.

I do not hate gays, nor do I break out the shovel and go gay hunting on weekends. It isn't like that. I believe like it or not, they are integrating our society and we can either accept it or lose our minds, commit ugly hate crimes, and ultimately, land in prison.

What I do have a problem with is them trying to change what the bible says which I quoted. For note it was, 1Co 6:9 Don't you know that wicked people won't inherit the kingdom of God? Stop deceiving yourselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins, who worship false gods, those who commit adultery, homosexuals,
1Co 6:10 or thieves, those who are greedy or drunk, who use abusive language, or who rob people will not inherit the kingdom of God.

My argument is completely logical. If the handbook for an organization says, "When you come to work, please be dressed in the company uniform," then everyone will comply. Unlike long hair and fast food, this is not sex discrimination, it's a team policy to get everyone to look like they are working together.

As such, you cannot expect a religious order to rip pages out of a writing that is a total of 10,000 years old. If you passed the Christian bible around the country to do this very thing, you would have an empty book when it came back. If you do any of these things, you compromise your own faith.

That was my point, and unless I'm being misled by my readings and insight, it's very hard to argue with it.

Crappy HMOs, Bad Company Benefits, And The Rich Idiots Responsible.

I'm so sick of hearing people tell me how their benefits just changed and their co-pay just went up to a lucrative amount for E.R. visits. Most people in this country can't afford a $200.00 co-pay because they don't drive a Hum-V, buy gold candle sticks, and they can't afford to wipe their butts with one hundred dollar bills.

The problem is, with our toilet of an economy everyone is cutting expenses. People are losing jobs by the hundreds, benefits are being slashed to what the companies can afford OR they are axing benefits programs all together. And HMOs aren't helping because every day they raise their rates to pay for the CEO's new F-1 McClaren he just had to buy to go with the other 36 cars in his driveway.

Well guess what. I'm sick of paying for ALL the CEO's ridiculous lifestyles which are beyond greed. They are a representation of what happens when you simply have too much money lying around. You want more. And as a result you inflict your greed on the people under you who struggle to make ends meet.

Yes, it's safe to say capitalism has turned into a beast that cannot be fed. Should we try another option? If you ask THIS personality, he says, "Yes." However, Socialism, Communism and all the other existing "isms" are not the answer. We need to make a new system because this one could self destruct.

News Ticker Added. Scroll Down For Latest Headlines.

When I'm In Charge Vol. 1

When I'm in charge, people who drive recklessly and rudely in traffic will have their licenses revoked for a minimum of 15 years.

I'm not kidding. This past weekend alone I ran into people who speed excessively, assume the right of way in a situation where they shouldn't, and cut people off leaving no room for error potentially endangering other people's lives. I've found when you're forced to give up your car for any length of time, you tend to appreciate it more when you get it back.

Except some are slow learners. You have to really deal them a swift hand of intense justice in order for them to get the message. In Massachusetts, it's no secret that people don't give a crap. You're in their way, get the hell out of the way. They will cut you off, tailgate, even do 3 lane no signal switches in order to get around you. They are almost always the reason an SUV was totaled beyond recognition in an accident where "excessive speed was a factor".

I'm tired of suburbanite yuppie pieces of filth running people down in their Jaguar because they have a busy life and need to get from point a to point b in 12 minutes when they really need about 30 to get there.

And drunk drivers? I think we all need a 3 strikes and your out law. That's right, if your license is revoked twice, the third time, you don't get it back. EVER. You take the damn bus.

I suppose some will accuse me of being far to radical for this topic. But ask yourself this: Who's rights are more important? A six figure making ingrate who drives way to fast and aggressively everywhere he goes? Or your own son or daughter who might be killed by this tool?

Enough Already, Nuke Them.

Today I'm citing this article from MSNBC News.

I'm not sure if it's just that North Korea feels they aren't garnering enough attention from the US or if they feel they are important enough to necessitate the kind of attention they seem to be trying to get. In any case, I will say what I thousands of Americans are thinking. Bomb 'em. Level the country, and turn it into a parking lot.

Now all the leftist kumbiya - la - la - la morons who protest every five minutes, will stand up and say, "No, because if we start dropping nukes, they start dropping nukes and then the planet will be decimated." Wrong. What will happen if we drop a nuke and annihilate a population of people is everyone will back off for another 50 to 60 years and refer to us as the sleeping giant you don't want to wake.

The problem is that this country has allowed the Liberal idea of politically correctness to run rampant so that even war has to be politically correct. The only problem with this is that war cannot be politically correct. It's war. It isn't pretty. Angry, stupid, power-hungry people do violent things and you have to step up to the plate, grow a pair, and stop them. And this cannot be done if we are running around under the veil of Liberal ideas.

Someone needs to stand up and tell the Liberals to sit down, shut up, and watch how the game is sucessfully played. We didn't get where we are by playing cute little mind games. And we won't continue to be a force to be reckoned with if we allow this small minded, neandrathal system to continue to convert us.

Marriage.

For the summer, I was employed as a contract DJ who primarily did wedding receptions. Something about marriage bugs me. At least in other people. There seems to be a very primal inability to say to oneself, "I can't marry this idiot, we don't match at all. We have nothing in common. I hate Pasta and he owns an Italian restaurant." etc. etc.

In America, and, I imagine also abroad, people toss conventional common sense out the window and marry because of instinct. More to the point, they get married because they think they're supposed to.

For women, their biological clock goes off early. Seems to be around 22. They get the voice. You know the one. "Got to get me a man..." Over and over again in their head repeating and intensifying until they find one. And half of the time (statistically) he's the wrong one. I saw one wedding this year where I believe the couple were truly in love. They knew each other since high school and were simply gaga eyed over each other.

Men are different. Statistically now, men are waiting until around 30 to tie the knot. This, according to "experts", is because men are focusing on job and career goals first, and then worrying about a wife and family. So you ladies have to endure the biological screaming until he's 30.

The statistic I quoted earlier, you know, about women marrying the wrong guy - has to do with the staggering divorce rate in this country. Most couple literally utter the vows, hoping they really don't have to be kept, thinking in the back of their mind, "If this doesn't work, I can always get divorced."

This whole thing, and I mean marriage in general, strikes me as a very selfish idea in our society. It's fine to get married because you're truly in love and have found your soul mate. However, it's a bad idea to marry if you simply think of the whole thing in a half-assed kind of way. After marriage comes kids, then a divorce destroys their world and sends them into a lifetime of late night counseling sessions, and neither parent cares. They just want out!

This country needs to start taking this ceremonial proceeding the way it was originally intended. As a life time commitment, not as something they can get out of later. Don't let your marriage be "just another statistic" - use your friggin' head for a change.

The Top 10 Bands of 2003

This list was a bitch. But I was very careful not to log anyone from the American Record Labels. These are tough to do becauseyou can just have a top 1 list and list 20 bands. This one will be long so sit down, wring your knuckles and read on.

10. Angel Dust - I don't know much about this Thrash / Punk band other than to say their music rattled my stomach and re-alligned my perception. From the web: Angel Dust was created in the middle of the achtizger years, before 1989 there was a temporary conclusion. In this time two albums were brought in, the debut "Into The Dark Past" and "ton of Dust You want for Decay". With the debut album Romme Keymer singing and playing guitar took over but it then became too much and he concentrated only on the guitar. This had the consequence that a singer had long ago. This was also found with S.L. Coe. The second album was brought in, did not achieve however despite best criticisms not the commercial success of the Debut. Various smaller tours and single appearances with Blind Guardian, tank pool of broadcasting corporations, paradox, Sodom and Destruction followed. After the sold off tour with Running game provided in January 1989 for a further high point in the career of Angel Dust, it found a sudden end in the autumn of the same yearly: because of in and external problems dissolved the volume. To let revive in the Neunzigern more frequent tried those volume again, times with a new singer, times with a new guitarist. Only 1997 were it then so far, it a Promo CD were brought in. Were from the Ur-members only Dirk Assmuth (drums) and Franc Banx (bass) represented. In addition Franks brother steven (keyboard) came, Bernd Aufermann (guitar) and Dirk Thurisch (vocals - guitar). Then actually everything went quite fast. Since Angel Dust is resident exactly the same as Skirt the Hard in Dortmund, Dirk Assmuth brought a copy to that CD in the RH office past. Afterwards several offers of other disk companies, after a comparison were actually received, Century Media was the best. One signed and in the late summer 1998 the album "Border OF Reality" was published. Angel Dust Website.

9. Dragon Force - Epic Metal, Soaring Vocals, downloaded like crazy on MP3.com. They amaze anyone who come near them. From the web: There is definitely a formula we stick to, catchy and fast. We personally think the faster songs of all the Power Metal bands we listen to are the coolest. We think, so why have two fast songs and the rest midtempo? Why not have all the songs fast and the whole album be good, that was our idea, the way we wanted to do it. The next album will be the same formula, fast like now. There's kinda two sides to this, some people say "All the songs are fast, there's no variety", but when you make too much variety people criticize you for having no personality and not having your own sound. We stick to our formula to what we think sounds good so the next album will definitely be very fast, catchy and melodic and plenty of guitar solos and things like that. Apart from a ballad there is pretty much not going to be a midtempo song. Dragon Force Website.

8. Kamelot - More of a Neo Classical sound here. Also Epic Metal with a guy who should just get over it and grow long hair like his band mates on lead vocals. From the Web: Thomas Youngblood and drummer Richard Warner founded Kamelot in Tampa, Florida back in 1991.
In 1994 the band signed a deal with Noise Records, and the release of the debut Eternity followed in August of the next year. Press praised the album as one of most promising debuts of all time.
In 1996 the successor Dominion hit the stores, an opus that was even more diverse and varied than the debut.
Then in 1997, drummer Warner as well as singer Mark Vanderbilt had to be replaced. Kamelot found more than just mere replacements in Casey Grillo and former Conception singer Khan, who had already joined the band during the production of the third album Siege Perilous. The new line-up undertook an extensive tour of Europe during the fall of the same year only to return to the ´Gate Studio` in Wolfsburg twelve months later to produce the fourth studio effort The Fourth Legacy.
The summer of 2000 brought the ´New Allegiance Tour` through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece and Spain during which the recordings for Kamelot´s first live album The Expedition were made. Only a few months later the band presented their fifth album entitled Karma, which took Khan, Youngblood, Grillo and Barry on yet another European tour.
Now the new opus Epica follows seamlessly; here Kamelot combines all the fortes of the previous productions with new ideas and majestic sounds. Kamelot's Web Site.

7. At Vance - This band is very influenced by the Classical sound. So much in fact, they've done between 3 to 5 classical covers. Along with that they did (get this) an Abba tribute. A very diverse band who's lush mix of guitars, keyboards and vocals leave little to be desired. Maybe a rock opera? That would top it off ahd rocket this band to the top of the list. AFM Records - Home Of At Vance

6. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Music with a full orchestra plus a heavy metal band. A Christmas fan's dream! From The Web: Trans-Siberian Orchestra was formed in 1996 by Paul O'Neill who immediately approached long time friends and collaborators Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva to form the core of the writing team.
While producing and writing for a number of years with various rock groups Paul was always looking for ways to make the music have greater and greater emotional impact. He tried to write the music that was so melodic it didn't need lyrics. And lyrics that were so poetic that they didn't need music but once you put the two of them together, the sum of the parts would be greater than the whole, and you couldn't imagine them apart. Once he'd done this, he was still looking for a way to take it to even greater heights and he realized that putting the songs within the context of a story would give it a third dimension that would make that additional emotional impact possible.
Hence, he started writing not just albums, but rock operas.
He realized then, that there was an inherent problem recording rock operas within the standard rock and roll band makeup. Rock operas by their nature need the voices to change as the characters change. Rock bands normally only have one (or if you're lucky) two great vocalists to work with, therefore limiting how far you can go. You're forced to make the music fit the band, as opposed to allowing the music to go wherever it needs to.
With Trans-Siberian Orchestra, first the music is created with no artificial limitations, and then we seek out within the classical, rock, Broadway and R & B worlds, the very best singers and musicians to bring each song to life. This also in many ways forces us to operate on a higher level. This environment has the additional benefit of causing a cross pollenization of musical ideas, creating hybrid forms of music that normally never would have occurred, such as an R&B singer doing a classical style melody and bringing gospel touches to it that causes it to glitter in ways that even the creators could not have predicted. Another very important aspect in the creation of the band, is that there could be no limits on the members; we mix all races and ages.
The young get to mine the experience of the old musicians, while they can't help to be inspired by the enthusiasm of people just entering the business. This has created a vast constantly changing musical group that even we do not know what it is going to do next.
Once when asked what Trans-Siberian Orchestra was about, Paul O'Neill replied, "It's about creating great art. When asked to define what great art was, Paul said, "The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art. And there are three categories of art; bad art, good art and great art. Bad art will elicit no emotional response in the person that is exposed to it, i.e.; a song you hear in an elevator and it does nothing to you, a picture on a wall that gives you the same emotional response as if the wall had been blank, a movie that chews up time. Good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before; you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad, you hear a song about love and you remember the last time you were in love. Great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before; seeing the pieta, the world famous sculpture by
Michelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they've never had one. And when you're trying for these emotions the easiest one to trigger is anger.
Anyone can do it. Go into the street, throw a rock at someone, you will make them angry. The emotions of love, empathy and laughter are much harder to trigger, but since they operate on a deeper level, they bring a much greater reward.
The Official TSO Web Site.

5. Ken Tamplin - Wow, what a voice. Don't let his music get away from you. You'll miss great guitar playing, great harmonies and great song writing. From the web: Ken Tamplin has always been referred to as a "singer's singer" while guitarists have hailed his playing, songwriting and production among some of the biggest names in the business. At a very young age Tamplin joined his first professional rock group Joshua and has expanded on to other well known groups such as Shout and the famed rock group Magdallan which he partnered with long time friend and guitar virtuoso Lanny Cordola.
Tamplin then went on to be asked to sing for such groups as Foreigner, Skunk Baxter, Jeff Lynn, Geazer Butler, and even Peter Frampton. In time, Ken became known for his production abilities which has led to many film scores and source music for such features as Inspector Gadget, Perfect Storm, The Waterboy, Charlie's Angels, Mod Squad, Wild America, Major League III as well as a host of TV series' such as Melrose Place, 90210, The X-Files, Baywatch, the theme for Ace Ventura (Nickelodeon), Spin City, On Disney Now!, and Entertainment Tonight.
Ken has also found success in national television commercials for Nestle, Hotwheels, and Acura, as well as Japanese TV commercials for Ford, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Japan Airlines, Lux, and Shakey's. Tamplin has even written header spots for people like Rush Limbaugh.
Ken's Home On The Net Free Samples Of Tamplin Tunes.

4. XFACTORX - A band from Connecticut who's re-lighting the new England Metal fire with a little Napalm. Very Iron Maiden. From The web: Despite the main scene in metal music seems to be only devoted to progressive metal or extreme & dark bands, ther's like a new wave of heavy metal growing slowly but surely. The U.S. scene seems to know a burst out of new talents , like Enertia, The quiet Room, & mainly more. X Factor X is surely one of the bands that will meet a large success in the forthcoming years. No prog metal, this time, just heavy rock played at its best. In fact, X Factor X remains me the cult U.S. band Obssession that relased excellent albums in the 80's. It's impossible to let insensible to this kind of groovy songs, with an excellent play & composition. More, the band innoves ( like on BAMF) & owns qualities that are rare for such a youg band like in the song "Nightmare 7", that is surely one the best one they composed. . Their musicianship is totally impressive & they all have an over the average technical level. One of the best point in this band is surely the singer. Main ones in melodic metal band are copying some famous singer. This one has got his own voice & he knows how to use it at its best. Everytime, he succeeds in finding the best vocals line that suits to songs. His voice can be aggressive, raw like on "Lie" or sweet & hot like in the superb power ballad "Shadow". More, the guitar works is amazing & guitarist John masters his instrument & technical level. For the rythm section, they bring lots of arrangements in songs by a bass line "Lie"or a various play in songs " Devil's lobotomy". XFACTORX Web Site.

3. Tuff - Tuff is a band that never got as big as some of the names from Classic Metal (or the 80's if you must), but had some great songs that really delievered the goods. From the web: In may of 1987, a moderate amount of flyers were handed out on the sunset strip by the band to look for their new singer. One of these flyers made it back to little old Oshkosh, Wisconsin and after reading "singer wanted, David lee Roth, Vince Neil, Bret Michaels type" local guy Steve Lauxes (thats sexual spelled backwards) decided to give it a try. After spending a few years playing locally in Wisconsin the former frontman of "X-iter" and "talon" (a.k.a. "Tomi Gunn" not the Chicago/L.A. based Tommy Gun) realized it was time to make a move. "i flew to L.A. On a one-way plane ticket on June 26, 1987 and was confident I could fill the shoes" says Stevie, "after a few minutes in the same room we all knew it was right and I was the missing piece to the puzzle". That by chance flyer circulated two thousand miles to the middle of nowhere and look what happened. The first band meeting which took place at an apartment in Van Nuys, CA in early July 1987 would launch tuff almost overnight into the local, westcoast and national spotlight. Tuff played their first show with warrant at the Roxy theater in late august of 1987 and that would lead to one more support slot at the troubadour a month later. Then a headlining gig at the whisky a go-go on sunset strip in early November was the beginning of a Hollywood domination second to none. Tuff was soon to be known as the biggest unsigned band in the world. Undoubtedly the biggest southern California act since Posion or motley crue it wasn't long before tuff found them selves in tour buses and Winnebagos headlining clubs all over the west coast. All this and getting paid $ 500.00 to $ 2,000.00 a night. Tuff soon found second homes in phoenix, Tucson, san Francisco, Fresno, San Diego, salt lake city and several other cities along with ruling Hollywood. Tuff, along with establishing itself as a force in the Hollywood scene, never let up with heavy promoting, playing and eventually signed a recording contract with Titanium/Atlantic records in the late summer/early fall of 1990! Hooray! This contract came after 5 years of hard work and 3 years plus of pounding the streets of Hollywood with the lineup that would make tuff a household name. "bigger than batman", "better than sex", "in your face" & several other slogans adorned all of the tuff ads and flyers that covered sunset strip in the late 80's. However none was more gratifying to the band than the 2 page centerfold bam and rock city news ads that read "hell just froze over" Atlantic/Titanium recording artists! These ads hit in July of 1990 and the band played 2 sold out nights at the Roxy theater to announce the big news. The Tuff Homepage.

2. Thunder - Thunder is a metal band lead by a vocalist who has more soul than a Baptist Minister when he sings. Everything Thunder does is good. They have not done a lousy album. Thunder Online.

1. SPIT LIKE THIS - It's official. This is THE band to see, hear, taste, experience. Lord Zion and his crew of un-wanted houseguests will re-awaken your inner child and scare the crap out of your kids. You must buy their CDs. NOW. Radio's Avenger commands you. Go now to Spit Like This Dot Com.