 Here we are. Alan, we are live. Live, my friend. Live. Live. We got the special duds on. We're dressing. We have to dress for success. We're building up to the big nut. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a big, big, big buildup, my friend. Big buildup. Best of 2023. Thank you everybody for joining. It's a big night. And that's why we're wearing our duds. Is that what they wear? Is it two times top five or is it a top ten? So this is the layout to the lay of the land. First of all, I want to ask everybody, is the audio okay? Am I me and Alan coming on at a balanced level? Please reply. This is the lay of the land, Alan. I know you guys in Halifax are getting a terrible, terrible weather today. And I hope everything works out great down there. Okay. Yeah. Same here. We look like politicians, Jim is saying. Oh, we're gonna change that. That's almost an insult. That's a really bad insult. Alright, so this is the lay of the land. So that means our top ten list, we don't answer. We go around. We don't give an action. Alan, Alan, what's your number five? You know, it's a great choice, Jim. That's a great question. And I'll get back to you on that after I study the rest of the albums that were released, but give a real politician's answer, which is always a non answer. I'll give you my number five. Look, it's like this. I could have a number five, but maybe I won't have a number five, but all the albums are great this year. And I love the people out there. Thank you for watching. Alright, here we go. The lay of the land. It's gonna be a yes, it's called the top ten, but what we're doing is since we can't agree on anything, it's five, four, three, two, one. That's how it's running. That's how it's going. Five, four, three, two, one, which makes up ten. That's ten, right? Plus, later on in the show, Kenny Castle all the way in New York, the man on the street on the east coast. Kenny will be joining us. I got a haircut too. I got a haircut just for the show, Alan, just for the show. Just a haircut. Yeah. I'm losing my hair and haircut. That's right. Alright. So what we do every year, you can care to comment what happened in 2023, first of all, and the sad news of people who passed away in 2020. Another terrible death today you were telling me about. Yeah. Yeah. We'll start off on the big events. Twisted Sister on January 26 reunited. They say it's the last time they reunited at the Metal Hall of Fame on January 20th, 26, 2023. Another big event in February 27th, Marty Friedman joined Megadeth for three songs in Budokan, Japan. Another massive event on October 25th, Dream Theater announced the departure of Mike Majini and the return of Mike Portnoy. What do you think about that? Well, I think it was only a matter of time. No, no disrespect to Mr. Majini. He did a great job, but I think Mike, you know, he's got DT tattooed somewhere in his body. I would imagine. What do you think about Marty Friedman rejoining Megadeth? Do you think any possibility of that? He also did stuff with Rita Strauss. So, as well, right? He helped her out with that. So, it was a busy year for Marty, somebody we haven't heard from in a while and I mean, that's, it's always great news when he's ever to get on stage with those guys and relive a few of the glory years. But the biggest news of all the year was on December the first and the second kiss said goodbye. Goodbye to their organic bodies. Hello to their avatars. That's a big news you said. That was the big news. They said goodbye. This is their farewell, farewell, farewell tour. Okay. What'd you think about that? I guess it's, you know, they've been talking about it for forever. So, I guess it really happened and and at least we'll have another form of entertainment so that we can all become guest fans once again to a new, a new method, a new way of presenting the music. I guess we have to get used to that, Jim. Yes, sir. I want to ask you though. Yes. You finally got to see them after. Yeah, yeah. Ever since you were this tall? Yeah, yeah. I never saw a kiss and now I never saw a kiss. And I saw him. So, the band is over. What's the, what's the story? What's the highlight? What's the, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it very much. I mean, it was a, it was a great gig. I was really happy to see them at the end or I guess, I think at the end, but I did enjoy the show. I had this band, this 40-year band on them, but the band has been lifted at the last show. I went to see them and I enjoyed it very much. So, and it was everything everybody said it was. Explosive. Sure, there's a couple of lips sinking here and there, but you know what? The sort of entertainment value made up for it. How's that? All right. Now the sad part of the show, 2023, we saw a lot of deaths. Sebastian Marino, former guitarist over, over Killin' Anvil, he died at the age of 57 on January the 1st, 2023. Oh, so young. Yeah. May 22nd, Kirk Arrington, the former drummer of Metal Church, died from an unspecified illness at the age of 61. August 21st, 24th, Bernie Mardsen, former guitarist of White Snake died from an undisclosed reason at the age of 72. The great blues guitarist in his own right. I mean his solo albums before or during and after White Snake are fantastic. Just a great guitarist. October 24th, Steve Riley, drummer of Riley's LA Guns and former drummer of Wasp, died from, I believe, pneumonia at the age of 67. November 17th, Charlie Domenici, I'm not sure if you pronounce his name like that, but former vocalist of Dream Theater died. He was on their first album at the age of 72. And a big one for you and me is Miles Goodwin at December 3rd, you know, songwriter, singer, guitarist of April Wine and co-founder as well. We have all their albums. We had Brian Greenway on. We never, we try to get Miles on the show a few times. He's a difficult interviewer, a guy to tie down for an interview, but he's very nice. And that was a hard hit for so many of us here in Montreal growing up with them being a local band and getting them to sell the sold out performances at the old Montreal Forum. And that was, like you said, a really tough one to swallow. So I know I was taking some of my friends to speak and they're really taking it bad as well for unfortunate past Miles Goodwin. You know what, you still see people, people are still talking about in the newspapers and the news about Miles Goodwin all across Canada and I'm sure around the world but more so in Canada because he was an iconic, a cultural icon here in Canada. A hit maker. Yeah. Can he really hit that guy or what? Yeah. Yeah. And last, yeah, absolutely. And last but not least, just announced just today, Mahogany Rush is a drummer, long-time drummer, Jimmy Ayub, who many of you may or may not know, who was on Mahogany Rush's 70s albums, I guess. And wow, what a drummer. He passed away. I'm not sure how or why, but he did die as of today or yesterday. Sad news. But let's flip those bad news into some good news and let's talk about Walnut. Who will get the Golden Walnut this year, Alan, or who's, who's, who's will change your list another 10 times? Who knows? All right. Let's get things going. Let's count them down. Alan, you're going to start off? Sure. No problem. Okay. Hold on. Let me just get the graphics ready. Kenny Kessel. Kenny Kessel, as I mentioned, he will be joining us later on in the program to announce his number one pick of the year. He changed his mind too, Alan, just like I changed my mind. He started this way, then he went that way, then he went this way again. So let's just see what's going to happen. All right, Alan. Let's see. Okie-dokie. My number five. Whoops. Getting get it. Boom. Good. Go on. With Pyramase bloodlines released in June of the 2023. It's described as progressive power metal. I mean, for the melody of the title track, right into the last song, Wolves of the Sea, is ten powerful, very rhythmic, very well played musicianships and vocals. It's a band I've been kind of keeping an eye on, but this year I think bloodlines deserves to be in our top ten. It was a pleasure to listen to. Highlights for me is taking what's mine. I can't get that melody out of my head after listening to that. The midnight sun, and they had a ballad. On their call of reliance, I believe. And that's with the ad infinitums vocalist, Melissa Bonney. It's just a great, great, great song. So one, I don't know if you had a chance to check it out, Jim, but I would give it a listen. I did. Very cool. Very cool indeed. I remember Matt Barlow played with him and he sang actually on one of their albums is on. It was in the band for about a year, a year and a half. If you remember that or not, that was back maybe eight years ago, something like that. Yeah. Just the musicianship, the production, everything. It's just, it's a pleasure to listen to. All right. You're ready for my number five as we count them down. Go ahead, Jim. Go ahead, Jim. Go ahead, Jim. Because you don't even know what my number five is. Let me get the graphics here. Bada Bing. Within temptation bleed out. What are you getting with this band? You're getting a little gothic. You're getting some down tuning, some heavy, heavy guitar work. You're getting a lot of political and social messages about war, about freedom, women's rights perhaps. Sharon Den Adele is out of your prouncer name. What angelic voice or these heavy, heavy guitars. You know, it's melodic. It's catchy. It was written over a certain amount of time and then they put it together as an album and they released it in 2023. They opened for Iron Maiden on their last tour. What a band live. I truly believe, Alan, you know, like I'm not one to follow this gothic kind of style of music, but I have to say that if I had to think about the most played albums, this would probably be one of them. I just enjoyed it. It's just catchy melodic. Good stuff. Hallelujah, man. Great band. Great band. I've been listening to them for years. This seems to be a really darker album. Yeah. You know, we went from the poppy tunes and the unforgiven and now we're going to really kind of another extreme with this album. So again, with what a voice, always a pleasure to listen to Sharon sing. And you got a great interview with her this year. Great interview. And you know, she was a very charming and very nice and she's very smart and the band is just on fire. I think they're first album to cut away from the major, major labels. They released it on their own and they should because that's what you got to do things. You got to reinvent the model to get your music out there. Yeah. The way they did it, releasing all the songs way in advance. It seems to build, like you said, build interest. Yeah. And maybe one of the most listened to albums of the year. Yeah. I got songs that stand out for me. We go to war, bleed out, wireless, the purge, unbroken. I mean, there's just so much. There's just so much good music on this album. So I recommend everybody, if you're not into this band, maybe you don't give them a try, you know, it does not disappoint. All right. Alan. Well, let's go to your next one. Hold on a sec. It started with one song and I'm like, who the hell is that? Fantastic. And it led me to listen to the whole album. Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, Kings of the Asylum was released in September of this year. Let me just say, you know, hard driving, rock and roll. And I mean, you got the match. That's the song that almost made my top 10 best songs of 2020. Too much is never enough. Love that song. And the Hammer and Dance were my top three from that album. Just the vocals. They're so strong and hard driving, like I said. And then you got Phil's guitar solos that everybody's come to appreciate and love over decades and decades. It just, it's just relentless driving, driving album. And it's, I just, I enjoy it so much. I mean, first really time, I really took the time to listen to them. And this is just a great album. You know what I would agree. And it's a big sound. The albums are really well produced. There's just this certain, it's done so well. It's just so produced so well. It captures the spirit of Phil Campbell and that rawness. But at the same time, it's a little slick. That makes any sense. That's it. Does that make any sense? I don't know. All right. Raw is, you know. It was raw, but it was, it captured, how about this? The production captured that energy, that raw energy. That's right. That's well said. That's well said. How's that? Okay. There you go. All right. You ready for mine? What's Jimmy? What are you up to? Let me get your list out. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Well, you don't know what my list is, but I will do it anyways. All right. Here's my number four. Girl's school. What the F 45? What the F 45? You know, I think the sound went under the radar. What the 45? What the 45? What the 45? What the 45? The sound went under the radar. Here's these ladies that've been around since, oh boy, the late seventies. And, and, you know, speaking of motorhead, right? Let me took them, took them under his wing, right? They're like the female version of motorhead. I do that. That'd be terrible. Okay. Anyways. The new wave of British heavy metal. These were the ladies of the women of new wave of British heavy metal. And it wasn't back with the, you know, the, the, they were the sort of, like the women of today, you know, they're just really dressed up like super models. They were just, just getting on stage with their jeans. And, you know, just the way they are, you know, off stage is the same way they went on stage. Their music is punky. It's catchy. It's metal. It's fast. It's furious. And you know what? It's always toe tapping and it's got a groove. So that's kind of why I like it. We're all you, we're always used to metal this way. A power metal and thrash metal and speed metal. You know what? This is a nice, we're coming back to what we listened to in the eighties. This could have come, this could have been their fourth album after screaming blue murder. Those three first three classic albums they have, this could have been the fourth. It would have fit in so nicely in the early eighties. Anyways, this is my pick. What the 45. Go get it. You hear songs like it is what it is. The bump in the night. You really hear that punk influence coming over those songs right from that late seventies Britain. Whereas there was a little bit of a merge with some bands. And of course, motorhead bleeding that between the metalheads and the punks. And I think those songs really go back to Goal Schools roots as well. And those you who don't know. Dark Heart was another standout on that album for myself. And there is a Born to Raise Hell by Motorhead. They're doing a cover, Biffs on it. I think Duff McKagan from Guns and Roses on it. Who else is on it? I forgot. But anyways, great album. Go pick it up. But anyway, if anybody could tell me, please leave it in the comments. Okay, I'm going to get Kenny as we get down to your third pick. All right. Let me just get Kenny. I know you're watching. You're listening. Mad on the street, Kenny. All right. Jump on Kenny. In the Champlain Valley. All right. Here he comes. Kenny. Sometimes he disguises himself up as Michelle. Let's see what happens. Here he comes. Here he comes. Michele. Michele Kessel. Kenny Kessel. Kenny. That's the thing about doing stuff live on. You just don't know what's going to happen. Kenny, can you hear us? Kenny, can you hear us? Maybe I should change your name while we're at it. It'll be a well anticipated choice. Okay. A metal voice correspondent. New York City area. Champlain Valley. Kenny, are you there? Turn on your video if you can hear us. Okay. I'm here. All right. There he is. I'm trying to get the video along. All right. All of a sudden he said, oh, we'll go to Kenny. Well, maybe Kenny was already there too. Kenny's there. Kenny, press the little button that has a video sign there. Oh, you're almost there. Here comes Kenny. You're almost there. All we got to do is see you now. Okay. Call in Michelle. She's here. Different computer. Stop touching that. Alan, should we do your, should we do a number three as we wait for Kenny to figure this out? The number three. All right. We're going to do this. We're going to be a choose either or correct Alan. So my number three, there's two albums. That I can't choose one over the other. So I will throw out my two choices for the third spot. I'll let all our millions and millions of viewers decipher themselves, which one they prefer. And I'll give you the first one. Yep. It's an album that I kept going back and listening to throughout the year. It's all for metal. The album is called legends. It's Tim Schmidt from ease and blood. And Antonio Calana, the former vocalist of the vicious. They blend that gruff and then you got the powerful clean vocals, high clear melodic vocals together. And it just, you know, man of war disciples, power metal at its best. And goddess of war made my top 10 songs. All for metal and born in Valhalla. That's another one that I flip flopped with the top 10. That's just, you listen to that once you can't get out of your head. So that's, that's tied for third with. Bloodbound tales from the north. So Alan, this is kind of like an epic battle in a sense, right? From the epic battle bands. Sweetest band. I've been following for years. I'm glad they had a headlining tour in Europe. I don't know why they're not bigger here or if they come to North America at all. Bloodbounds tales from the north. I mean, you know, drink with the gods. 1066 the last song. It's, it's what you came to expect from bloodbound over the years. They've been around forever. And another, another solid, strong release from them. Tales from the north. So we'll let you guys decide which one you prefer. And whoever gets the most votes. I'm cool with that because I'm stuck on those two. I like them equally. It's kind of like you're cheating, right Alan? You're cheating. You're saying like, you know what? Two albums in, but I'll let everybody decide. Yeah. I can't, I can't. It's like flipping a coin. I like them both. So I'll let, let everybody out there decide which one should be on the top 10 list here in the middle voice. On a side note, I'm laughing at the comments about Kenny though. Kenny, turn the light on. Is Kenny in the bathroom? Kenny, you there? Where are you? It's okay. Don't worry about it. No pressure. Me and Alan, we'll sing and dance all night until you get on. Go to year number three and we'll just build up the audience. No, my number three. We're not doing my number three. That's next show. We're getting Kenny's now. Okay. So let's go back to your, your two choices. Okay, Alan? I just did my number three. No, but we want to know what people think. Do you want blood bound? Tales from the north. Tales from the north. All for metal. Which is legends. So I'll do, I'll do the, the, the old fashioned count. I see one blonde bound. Right here. Yes. We've lost Kenny's microphone. Analog, analog. Lost this microphone. Analog. Blood bound or all for metal. So far a blood bound is in the lead. Power metal bound. So far a blood bound is in the lead, Alan. One spot. Blood bound ties in more with anti kind of power metal, whereas blood bound is winning. Definitely the matter of war of the world. Oh, uh, check out Patrick from blood bound other. Oh, blood bound too. Look at this. This is what's happening, Alan. Look at the, look at the meter. Look at the meter. Look at the meter. Blood bound or all for metal as we try to find Kenny. Okay. Now he's on mute. There we go. Kenny, you've changed. Kenny, you've changed now. Kenny. You've improved. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. You've improved Kenny. That's my IT department. I'm happy or dress for success. I'm happy or dress for success. That's what it is. I'm sorry. No. It's like we're having a zoom. Corporate beating or something. This is a prestige. You're fired. You're fired. What? Well, I'll always be a pleasure to have Kenny on the show. I hope you're doing well, my friend. I'm, I just got in the door. I've been waiting for this all day. If I have to just go with one. The way, hold it, hold it right there. We're gonna announce Allen's winner right now. The meter says four to zero for bloodbounds. So I think bloodbound is the winner. It did not get a lot of votes, but you know what? Four to nothing. All four metal just did not do it. So there it is. That's your number third, your third pick, correct, Allen? Five, four, three, yeah. So my third pick will be on part two, not the show, next show. But Kenny, that's why you're here because we wanna hear your topic and your runner up. See what I did there? See what I did there? You see what I did? See what I did? I have a lot of runner ups because I have tons of stuff. I mean, just ready to go. But if I had to take one and it goes back to Allen's rule, what I listened to the most and Winery Dogs, Winery Dogs three. Since it came out of the rotation, it's been in the car. It's been in the house. It's been all over the place. So yeah, from start to finish, I love this album. Xanadu leads it off. Gaslight, my favorite song on the stars. It's just a complete album for me. I love these musicians, all three of them. Billy Sheen, Mike Portnoy, Richie Cottson, great album. That would be my number one pick of the year. That's Kenny Castle, The Man on the Street, The Man on the East Coast, pick of 2023. Let's get some runner ups there. Yeah, yeah, because I did listen to one of your runners up. I got the wrong list from you today, so. I got some runner ups. I had, of course, Overkill and a new wave of British anime, The Tigers of Pankang. This album is great. Another one, it was between this and The Winery Dogs. It was going back and forth quite a bit. But I also had Winger and Extreme and Metal Church. So those would be my top grouping. But if you had to pick your top three, like, okay, number one would be? Winery Dogs. Winery Dogs, number two would be? Odd Lines. Stop right there. Stop, pause. Alan, did you notice that Parames has the exact same album title as Tigers of Pankang? That's Bloodlines. Well, they both had to say, yeah. What are the odds? Someone didn't do their homework. So back in the day, Kenny. What did you think? Thanks for bringing Tigers of Pankang, right? A legacy band been around since new album days, and we were all trying to find our own bands. And my good friend, Yupyup, that was his band. He had all the Tigers of Pankang. And I didn't even know they released them. Thanks to you, I was able to listen to it today. And what a great album. Making all the rules. Fantastic song. Edge of the world, those that are too strong I got to be honest, Tom, Milwaukee Tom turned me on to this. He really, he turned me on to that early on in the middle of the summer, I think. Good, good. You know what's amazing about that band? Like Alan said, they've been around since girl school, right? That's how long they've been around. They're like the new wave of British heavy metal and they have. And they have. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, there's another great album. Lots of great stuff. But number three would have to be overkill. Oh, yeah. Overkill edged out a metal church. It did. It was I saw them live at the chance and they just ripped the wall off. They played a lot of new songs, at least two or three. I think three off that album. And they it Scorched is a great title. Because it's a it's a it's a Scorcher. It's a Scorcher. It's a Scorcher. One of my favorite bands. Kenny, the chance is no longer. It closed. Where are people going to play? I don't know where we're trying to find out. I went to Daryl's house last night. I saw Marquis Ramon, but that's a smaller venue. The chance is about a 900 cedar held a lot of people. It was just in a terrible neighborhood. But, you know, it was our place. It was my place for the past 20 years. So it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. I'll be traveling a little more now than they're just taking that ride up to the county. So that's something else that happened in 2023. The chance closed. We were doing the deaths and the celebrations and the things that happened in 2023. But that's another 2023 event. The chance closed like many other venues, right? Yeah. Yeah, they're not coming back. They said post to come back as like maybe an art venue. But I don't think we're going to get hard rock metal acts there. I think once all of a sudden done, they're going to try to upscale the venue like the city winery type of thing. That was a staple on the circuit, right? Anybody come out of New York and work in their way north. The chance, I was in Poughkeepsie, right? Yeah, it's going to be missed. I never got a chance to be there. I just thought about it a few times but the schedule never worked out. I wish you guys would have got down more often. I was actually at a show with Orlando, a couple of shows, but we didn't know each other back then. And we were at a lot of the same shows. Orlando used to take the trip down quite a bit. My biggest problem with Poughkeepsie is trying to spell it. We'll say it. On that note, so guys, just to summarize our corporate event here, Alan, you had number five? Pyramase bloodlines? Just like Tiger's appendix. We've been in it for sure, bloodlines, yeah. Number four was? Phil Campbell and the bastard's son with Kings of the Asylum. Number three? Well, it looks like it's bloodbound Tales from the North that went out over all for metal legend. So, you know what? They were both released on July 7th. So maybe that's another reason I can't decide what to do. All right, this was my number five, bleed out with temptation. Girl's school was number four. And here's the cliffhanger. And Kenny, tell me, the cliffhanger for next show is, what is my number three? What is Alan's number two? What's his number one? That is the cliffhanger. That's why we're leaving it here. They're saying, what? We don't get to hear everything. No, that doesn't work like that. This is part two. This is part two. Kenny, let's summarize your number one pick. Was binary dogs. All right, binary dogs. Number two was tigers a pang-tang. Yes. Bloodlines. Number three, overkill, scorched. All right, on that note, fellas, I think we've done our duty. It's an honor to be here, guys. Thank you. Great seeing you again. I just want to show the nut one more time. Kenny, you've never actually touched the nut, have you? No, I will come up. I will try to get up there this year. I need the whole thing. Alan refuses to touch my nuts. I don't know why. I'm not touching anything. Hope I'll take the ride up. All right, Kenny. All right, guys, thanks for watching. Thank you. Stay tuned for part two on Thursday. All right. Have a nice day. Part two is coming soon. Stay well.