RAMzine Classics

Lone Star are an underrated band, from Cardiff, forming in 1975 and swapping various members of the band for the line-up they had in 1977. I first spotted them on The BBC in Concert in December ’77, introduced by Pete Drummond. Their remarkable album Firing on all Six (which was the band’s second album, Lone Star being the band’s first and released ...

Grand Funk aka The Red Album was Grand Funk Railroad’s second studio album and was, according to bass player Mel Schacher, his favourite album. The band were also known as GFR or Grand Funk, the original name being taken from the Grand Trunk Western Railroad that passed through Michigan, the band’s home state. The band started out as a power ...

The first three albums by Tyrannosaurus Rex, that characterized the music of original duo of Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took, have been released as deluxe editions for the first time by Polydor / Universal Music Catalogue. These newly re-mastered versions generously update any previously released material. Long before Marc was a Jackie magazine teenage heartthrob and a fully-fledged Metal ...

Underrated, under appreciated, yet one of the best metal bands of the last 30 years. Anthrax are a band that everyone knows, everyone loves, yet not enough people truly love. With the marriage of heavy riffs and high sweeping vocals, they set the template for melodic thrash metal. No better was this shown than on their 1987 masterpiece ‘Among the ...

I always thought that grunge was an interesting concept. Plenty of bands came out of that Seattle hotbed in the early 90s, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. However, one band had that crossover appeal into metal and with their dark, brooding lyrics and melodies, became the thinking man’s grunge band. With their seminal album “Dirt”, the band bridged that ...

This is probably one of the most well known heavy metal albums in history. It catapulted thrash metal into the mainstream, with Metallica’s more commercially minded sound shining through. Affectionately referred to as “The Black Album”, to do with its predominately black artwork, this is the album the band are best known for. Released in 1991, it features James Hetfield ...

You wanted the best, you got the best. As the announcer proclaims over the PA before every KISS concert, I figured I’d paraphrase him at the start of this week’s RAMzine Classic. The subject this week being KISS’ seminal 1976 release ‘Destroyer’. This album included the band’s classic lineup, Paul Stanley (The Starchild) on guitar/vocals, Gene Simmons (The Demon) on ...

You may have read on RAMzine.co.uk this week that the great Jeff Hanneman, guitarist with legendary metal band Slayer passed away at the age of 49. This devastating news was met with a stunning reaction from the worldwide metal community, as everyone banded together to show their respects to a man who changed the genre we love so much forever. ...

Some people say Megadeth are in the shadow of Metallica, with singer Dave Mustaine being a former member of Metallica. To those naysayers, I say; “Nay”! Megadeth deserve to be considered as a top quality metal band outright, whatever their previous relationship with Metallica may have been. This is proven by the strength of 1990s “Rust In Peace”. The lineup ...

We’ve been through this all before. Black Sabbath were the first heavy metal band. Working the “diminished 5th” chord, or “tri-tone”, they created a sound that was simply more evil and heavy than their predecessors on their self titled 1970 debut release. However, it was with October 1970’s “Paranoid” that the band began to explore more commercial avenues, while still ...