mixtape: Mouse Presents Heavy

I am your host the doormouse, coming to you from the Isle of Misfit Toys bringing you the metal punk and hardcore from within the mosh pit hell.

And, this week’s show is in honor of yours truly, the doormouse, dirty metal fuck and the anniversary of my mother expelling me from her birth canal ass first. Most importantly, thank you mom and dad for having coitus, mom especially for incubating me within your womb, and the world for most of the time accepting me for what I’ve become. Too many years later and here I am, compiling some of my favorite music and sharing it with everyone. It’s as if I never made it out of middle school…

The legacy of how I got into music is much discussed already throughout this blog, so I’ll spare you the details about learning percussion in elementary school or my dad and uncle’s influence on me with 70s hard rock or joining Columbia House Record and Tape club and discovering Iron Maiden, the band that made me metal. The more contemporary version of this story will be told through a glance back from my current point of view.

There is no way I could possibly do a two hour show and get every song that deserves attention to be included in it. Even if I just played some call out hooks and intro riffs I’d probably miss quite a few quintessential mouse listens just in the extreme music side of things as related to the show.

This week’s shout out on the not-for-profit front is the Mr. Holland’s Opus foundation. Although none of the music organizations I participated in were recipients of their generosity, their work is something near and dear to my heart. Music greatly shaped who I was in my youth and the longstanding positive influence it has had in my life determines much of who I am today. MHOpus.org and other similar groups provide opportunities for students who aren’t as lucky as I am because their local politicians in their short-sighted ignorance have reduced or eliminated music education, because private instructors can be expensive and difficult to find, because there aren’t enough local institutions dedicated to music performance, and so on.

The rest of the show revolves around what I am listening to now.
Some long time favorite artists have newer albums out now, such as Opeth and Rise Against that were impossible to overlook. Some are old stalwarts that will always be at the top of my listening pile like Iron Maiden, Testament, Death and Vision of Disorder. Some are bands who have me riled up right now just because and some are classic favorites that I found myself coming back to quite a bit in the last year and some were included because when talking about the show to friends these bands came to the top of mind due to our shared interest in them.

What I love about a show like this is the theme is me, so anything really goes. I did try to group genres together and give the two hours some stylistic flow which makes the insanity in my brain much easier for you the listener to digest. It also means, unfortunately, some bands didn’t make the cut, not because Dream Theater or Savatage, for example, aren’t important to me right now, but because I just ran out of time because KAOS radio Austin does have me on a strict two hour time limit 😉

#MousePresentsHeavy

Testament “DNR” the Gathering

Zao “the Lesser Lights of Heaven” the Funeral of God
Living Sacrifice “Symbiotic” Conceived in Fire
Extol “Grace for Succession” Synergy
Norma Jean “Bayonetwork” Oh god, the Aftermath
Your Memorial “Vanquished” Seasons

Opeth “Cusp of Eternity” (2014)
Soilwork “a Predator’s Portrait” APP (feat. Mikael Akerfelt)
Dark Tranquility “Hedon” the Mind’s Eye
Amon Amarth “We Shall Destroy” Deceiver of the Gods
Meshuggah “Corridor of Chameleons” Chaosphere

Rise Against “the Great Die Off” the Black Market (2014)
the Bouncing Souls “That Song” How I Spent my Summer Vacation
Stretch Arm Strong “For the Record” a Revolution Transmission
Boysetsfire “Our Time Honored Tradition” After the Eulogy (edit intro & outro!)
Most Precious Blood “Shark Ethic” Merciless
Vision of Disorder “12 Steps to Nothing” Imprint

Death “Scavenger of Human Sorrow” the Sound of Perseverance
Atheist “Fictitious Glide” Jupiter
Origin “the Aftermath” Anthesis
Cryptopsy “Adeste Infidalis” Once Was Not
Sepultura “Dead Embryonic Cells” Arise

Iron Maiden “Hallowed be thy Name” Live After Death