Update: Sunday Night Videos Will Return Soon!

Man, it's been a while, hasn't it? Almost ten months to the day, to be exact.

If you're a fellow '80s music fan who only knows me through this blog, you might have been wondering why Sunday Night Videos just kind of stopped happening.

Well, it's an interesting story.

After that post in January, I was pretty busy with book stuff. I released the latest novel in my Parted Veil horror series (Lovecraft's Pupil) in March of 2015, so the couple months before that were filled with edits, rewrites, cover design and the like. When I looked up from that, it was April.

And a very cool thing happened in April.

My friend Antony Johnston had started a fantastic new podcast called Unjustly Maligned, and he asked me to be a guest on it. The premise of the show is that each guest comes on to defend something they love that most other people think is awful. Being a huge music fan, I chose to defend Megadeth's 1999 album Risk, widely considered to be their worst (at least until 2013's Super Collider). I had a blast on the show talking metal with Antony (you can hear that episode here), and the response to the episode from listeners was pretty great.

Which led to another great thing.

Antony invited me to start a new podcast with him, one in which we would discuss a different metal album each episode. That podcast is called THRASH IT OUT, and we just finished the first 12-episode season of the show. The response has been wonderful, and we'll be starting up season two of the show in early 2016. In the meantime, you can listen to all the episodes at www.thrashitoutpodcast.com, talk about he podcast in our Facebook group, and if you're so inclined, support our Patreon here.

So, what does that mean for Sunday Night Videos? Well, it means that I will not be posting as regularly as I did when the blog first started (which you've clearly figured out already), but I do plan on doing new posts in between seasons of THRASH IT OUT. So, I will be posting a few installments between December and January.

I'm also going to go back through the old posts and try to update videos where I can. The problem with the YouTube vids is that sometimes they get pulled down, so the links in the posts go dead. I'll try to fix that where I can.

In the meantime, go check out THRASH IT OUT, and follow me on Twitter (@SeeBrianWrite) for updates on Sunday Night Videos!

Episode #27--Yngwie Malmsteen

While the words "Guitar God" were thrown around quite a bit in the '80s and early '90s, the truth is that few players ever really deserved such a title. But the Swedish maestro Yngwie Malmsteen is perhaps the textbook example of what rock and metal fans meant when they used the term. When Yngwie released his first solo album Rising Force in 1984, he blew people's minds. The neo-classical shredding approach he brought to metal has a mystical aura to it that made you feel like you were witnessing actual magic when he played. From 1984 to 1990 Yngwie released five studio albums, each of them filled with blistering and beautiful guitar work. And while not every single song was a hit, each album featured tunes that are  still remembered by metal fans today.

Tonight we celebrate the Swedish Guitar God with a look back a song from each of his first five albums.

Black Star


I'll See the Light Tonight


You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget


Heaven Tonight


Making Love



Bonus: Here's an in-studio video of Yngwie playing another cut off of his first album Rising Force, "Far Beyond the Sun."


I'll be back in two weeks around 6:30PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos. You can also come back here to the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 8PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!

Episode #26--My Favorite Albums of 2014--Part 2

Picking up right where I left off last episode, I'm continuing by look back at my favorite rock and metal albums of 2014. One of the things I loved about this year in music was the great mixture of old and new that we got. Legends like AC/DC and Judas Priest put out great albums. We got new albums from '80s and '90s mainstays Winger, Tesla, Marty Friedman (Megadeth, Cacophony), Sebastian Bach (Skid row) and Smashing Pumpkins. Modern bands like Lacuna Coil and Sister Sin put out great albums, and we saw Wovenwar rise from the Ashes of As I Lay Dying. Truly a great year for rock and metal, with something for fans of every genre and age.

These last two episodes have not been about ranking my favorite album of the year, but I will say that my absolute favorite album of 2014 is Sister Sin's BLACK LOTUS. In the past couple years they have vaulted to the top of my "favorite bands" list, and they continue to put out amazing albums. I just wish they'd tour the United States sometime soon.

Here's some more of my favorite music of 2014:

AC/DC--Rock or Bust


Winger--Queen Babylon


Overkill--Armorist


Lacuna Coil--Nothing Stands in Our Way


Sister Sin--Chaos Royale


Bonus #1: former Megadeth and Cacophony guitarist Marty Friedman released a fierce solo album this year called INFERNO. If you're a fan's of Marty's shredding, you will absolutely love this album. This video for the short cut Hyper Doom is just a taste of what you'll get if you pick up the full album.


Bonus #2: I was never a huge fan of the band As I Lay Dying, but the new effort by former members of that group is called Wovenwar, and it's pretty freaking great. This song "All Rise" is a good representation of their sound,m which is heavy and melodic.


So, that pretty much wrap[s up 2014 for me, but I will be back in the New Year, and I'll be getting back to the '80s rock and metal goodness Sunday Night Videos was founded upon. Happy and safe holidays to all of you! As always, you can catch previous episodes here and on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite). You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!

Episode #25: My Favortie Albums of 2014--Part 1

As we wind down the year that was 2014, it's time for me to look back at some of my favorite albums of the year. This was an excellent year for rock and metal, no matter where your interests fall on the spectrum. We had '80s bands like Winger and Tesla release new albums. We had thrash mainstays Overkill and Exodus release new albums. We had two of the greatest bands of all-time--AC/DC and Judas Priest--release new albums. Those alone would have made for an amazing year in rock and metal music. But throw in Sister Sin, The Pretty Reckless, Slipknot, Lacuna Coil, Black label Society, Wovenwar, Sister Sin, KxM, Alter Bridge, Altitudes & Attitude, Marty Friedman, Michael Sweet, Sebastian Bach and a ton of others (those are just some of the ones I bought this year).

So, to recap--fantastic year in metal. And for the next two episodes, I'll be looking at ten videos from my favorite albums of the year. I'm not ranking them, and I'm not getting into the "best" albums of the year, because all of that stuff is subjective. My hope is that something on this list may lead folks to check out an album they didn't pick up this year. I just want to spread the love.

Without further ado, here's the first five:


The Pretty Reckless-Going to Hell


Black Label Society--My Dying Time


Exodus--Blood In, Blood Out


Judas Priest--Redeemer of Souls


KxM--Rescue Me



BONUS: Two of my favorite bass players of all time, Frank Bellow (Anthrax) and Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) put together a side project called Altitudes and Attitude earlier this year. They released a 3-song EP, and it's pretty fantastic. They recently they played a couple of songs live at Metal Masters 2014, and you can check that out below (they start around the 6:00 mark). there's some great cameos in here as well.



I'll be back in two weeks at 6:30PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos. You can also come back here to the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 8PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!

Episode #24: Sister Sin

As a lifelong metal fan, I am almost ashamed to admit that I didn't discover Sister Sin until around a year ago. In that time, they have quickly become one of my favorite bands, and their new album BLACK LOTUS--which drops this week--is my most anticipated album of the year.

Sister Sin hails from Gothenburg, Sweden, and while they originally formed in 2002, they might as well have formed in 1984, because they are 100% old school. Seriously, I cannot think of another modern band that so perfectly and consistently captures the feel of '80s metal. And I'm not talking about nostalgia here--I mean this band has '80s metal woven into their DNA. Crunchy riffs, fierce vocals and anti-authoritarian anthems that make you want to throw your fist in the air and bang your head.

If you haven't heard Sister Sin before, I envy you for two reasons. One, because after you check out this episode's videos you have their whole back catalog dive into. And two, because their new album BLACK LOTUS arrives on Tuesday. So enjoy these five kick-ass videos from Sister Sin and then go support one of the best metal bands out there today.

One Out of Ten


Sound of the Underground


Outrage


End of the Line


Fight Song



BONUS #1: Sister Sin waers their influences on their sleeve, and it's easy to see that lead singer Liv Jagrell brings a healthy dose of '80s metal icon Doro Pesch (Warlock) to her onstage persona. Sister Sin recently teamed up with Doro to cover Motorhead's "Rock 'n' Roll," and it's pretty great.


BONUS #2: As I mentioned before, BLACK LOTUS drops this week, and you can get a taste of it here, with a lyric video for the album's first single, "Chaos Royale." It jams.

I'll be back in two weeks at 6:30PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos. You can also come back here to the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 8PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!

Episode 23: David Lee Roth

Zippity BOP!

Yeah, yeah--I know we haven't done a Van Halen episode of Sunday Night Videos yet, but I've been on a Ray Luzier kick ever since picking up the amazing KXM album earlier this year. Luzeir played drums for David Lee Roth, and was just one of the many amazing musicians Roth surrounded himself with during the golden era of his solo career. Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, Jason Becker, James Lomenzo--the list goes on.

Another thing I love about Roth's solo career is that he took his Van Halen theatrics and flair to a new level. Many of his videos featured intro skits that saw him dressed in elaborate costumes and featured well-known character actors.

Roth's showmanship is something we really don't see a lot of anymore in the rock and metal scene. It's sorely missed, and so tonight we are celebrating David Lee Roth with five of his most well-known videos.

Just a Gigolo



Yankee Rose



Goin' Crazy



Just Like Paradise



A Li'l Ain't Enough for Me



BONUS: Back in 2002, David Lee Roth teamed up with the guy who replaced him in Van Halen, Sammy Hagar for the "Heavyweight Champions of Rock" tour. His entire set from the Hartford, CT stop on the tour was recorded, and you can watch it right here. The video quality isn't great, but the sound is just fine.




I'll be back in two weeks at 6:30PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos. You can also come back here to the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 8PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!

Episode 22: Britny Fox

Britny Fox is a textbook example of 1908's glam rock. Mixing equal parts KISS and Cinderella, Britny Fox had some success with their first album, which contained hits "Girlschool" and "Long Way to Love." Britny Fox was actually formed by some of the original members of Cinderella, and they definitely invoke a similar sound. They never enjoyed the same level of success however, and they disbanded in 1992.

Tonight, we're looking back at five of Britny Fox's videos from their first two albums.

Long Way to Love


Girlschool


Save the Weak


Standing in the Shadows


Dream On



BONUS: Britny Fox toured with Bon Jovi and Ratt back in 1989, and one of those shows was on New Year's Eve in Tokyo. Bon Jovi closed the show by having all the bands come up on stage for a cover of "It's All Over Now." Enjoy!


Tune in next Sunday night at 8PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos, and right here on the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 9PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!