Helix – No Rest for the Wicked. Vinyl purchase for $3 at a flea market. Had it when it was released 150 years go. Canadian righteousness, featuring the solid gold smash “Heavy Metal Love.” Listened to it dead drunk in the middle of the night in my ratty recliner a few weeks back.

W.A.S.P. – The Last Command. Another $3 vinyl flea market purchase. Second album from the codpiece collective and inclusive of ripping rockers “Sex Drive” and “Ballcrusher.” Don’t be a d-bag and mention “Wild Child” and “Blind in Texas” as some attempt to be hip and informed. Nobody cares. See dead drunk comment above.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion – Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Old Kiss guitarist. A few good tunes, too goddamn much makeup and more treble than just about anything else you can imagine. Vinyl purchase for $3 at that same flea market.

Rush – Fly By Night. Scratched to shit. Vinyl flea market purchase for $3 gone horribly wrong.

Benedictum – Dominion. Upcoming third album from great U.S. trad-metal band. Veronica Freeman kicks all of your asses and then runs you over with that old pickup truck from Sanford and Son.

Voivod – Nothingface. Borrowed from Teeth of the Divine starlet Jodi Michael at a birthday party for a two-year old. Sounds refreshing in this year of your lord, 2011.

Scale the Summit – Monument. Borrowed from that same Jodi chick at the same event celebrating two years of existence on this toilet earth. That is, after I had given it to her, not realizing that after I reviewed new album The Collective that I really dig this band. And I usually give little in the way of a shit about instrumental acts. Go figure.

AC/DC – Flick of the Switch. Followed an overproduced For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), a lesser album than this raw, self produced, no frills bag of rawness and loud guitars. Its Lange-polished predecessor is one of my least favorite AC/DC albums.

Deicide – To Hell with God. Shocked at the sheer compact, concise, fast, brutal, blasphemous, well written and double-bass beaten box of violence. Easily the best thing they’ve done in years and, yes, it’s better than The Stench of Redemption. Kiss my ass.

Motorhead – The World is Yours. Solid Motorhead with even more of a traditional rock ‘n roll, boogie vibe, but probably my least favorite of the last decade. “Get Back in Line” and “I Know How to Die” were performed at a recent show in Kansas City.

Eternal Suffering – Recollections of Tragedy and Misery. Pathos Productions compilation purchased as a $4.99 download from MetalHit. Solid, groovy, chunky, and rubbed raw older USDM, but nothing that dented my cranium. Still deciding on a final verdict for this one.

Testament – Practice what You Preach. Borrowed from an Asian-women-obsessed hood in a sketchy neighborhood during a Superbowl Suckfest. Title track and “Perilous Nation” make me happy. That is all.

Blood for Blood – Serenity. “I fuckin’ surrender! Oh god, grant me serenity please!” Outstanding hardcore street punk and “Hanging on the Corner” never, ever gets old. Ben Affleck’s The Town actually reminded me of it; that whole Charlestown thing. Rob Lind is one of the best of all time. The guy’s vocals incite me to violence every single time.

Ramallah – Kill a Celebrity. Serenity reminded me of this one. Excellent militant, catchy hardcore that uses keyboards in places and somehow pulls it off. A big middle finger to all you vacuous flag wavers. See Rob Lind comment above.

Godflesh – Street Cleaner. Earache reissue. A classic from a band that I’ve come to appreciate far more than when I owned Pure 85 years ago and used it to torment my college roommates who thought it was the most horrendous noise they’d ever heard. Research line about Robert Deniro’s character in Taxi Driver cleaning the NYC streets of mortal scum and heroin needles.

Bullet – Heavy Metal Pirates. Please don’t insert the word “butt” between “metal” and “pirates.” This is great traditional heavy metal and hard rock with a sound that fuses AC/DC, Accept, Saxon, and Airbourne. Remember what anthems sounded like? You think too much.

Evoken/Beneath the Frozen Soil – Evoken/Beneath the Frozen Soil. Funeral doom done right. A great band and a good band (in that order), both of whom manage to keep the atmosphere dreadful and the pace crawling without causing listeners to shoot themselves in the face with that big ass gun from the Dirty Harry movies.

Hour of 13 –The Rites of Samhain. Vinyl 7” released on Yersinia Pestis Records late last year and limited to 300 copies. Title track is another gem from these old school heavy metal doomsters. The cover of Samhain’s “To Walk the Night” brings back fond memories of wearing out my November-Coming-Fire cassette. Put the crack pipe down and learn some heavy music history.

Until next time, keep your feet on the ground and keep scratching your bulbous head at the life of quiet desperation you’ve chosen to lead until dying a horrible death in a dilapidated nursing home with the words “we know you’re going to just love it here” ringing in your ears.