heavy-metal

The Devil has all the best tunes? My arse! Metalville just got a new sheriff.

Things began to go wrong when I was seventeen. My band__ twenty-year-old lead guitarist earned seven years in jail for a drug-fuelled spree of violence. The other band members were quick to let go of their musical dreams, but I never did. They did the __ature_ thing: after writing off the band as a teenage fantasy, they got real jobs and made some money. They called it growing up. I called it giving up.

I am the beast with a contorted grin, contracting down to illusion and dilating toward infinity, both growing and dying, delightfully suspended between hope for nothing and despair of everything, brought up among perfumes and poisons, consumed with love and hatred, killed by lights and shadows. My symbol is death of light and the flame of death. Sparks die in me only to be reborn as thunder and lightning. Darkness itself glows in me.

I lay in bed that night, a first-time drunkard at seven years of age, pondering the punishment I knew would arrive on callused palms. In the forest, as if sensing my plight, wolves howled nocturnal laments. The magnificent lunar lullabies of my lupine brethren wooed me into a deep and cleansing sleep.

He's reading a book called Great Warlocks of the 18th Century, and to get this ball rolling before Dean Devlin shows up and rains on our private parade, I snort and ask, "Good book?"I forget I'm pretending to be sitting behind my two-thousand-ninety-eight-page Highlights of Modern Chemistry book, so he snorts back. "Better than yours.

If I've got a Dad, and his name is Wormwood Rot, and he's in some heavy metal rock band called Grave Dirt . . . then I'm definitely meeting him!She stares at me awkwardly, and I'm about to ask again__aybe even insist__hen she says, "Honey, why do you think he's on the news? Wormwood, I mean . . . your father? Becca, he's . . . dead.

(This is from a tribute poem to Ronnie James Dio: Former lead vocalist of the band Rainbow, Black Sabbath. This is written with all the titles of the hit songs of DIO. The titles are all in upper case)You can __ATCH THE RAINBOW_ ___ RAINBOW IN THE DARK__hrough __OCK & ROLL CHILDREN___OLY DIVER_ will lurk__EFORE THE FALL_ of __LECTRA___LL THE FOOLS SAILED AWAY___ESUS,MARY AND THE HOLY GHOST_-__ORD OF THE LAST DAY___ASTER OF THE MOON_ you areWhen my __NE FOOT IN THE GRAVE__ith our __LACK_, __OLD FEET_,__YSTERY_ of __AIN_ you craveYou__e __AUGHT IN THE MIDDLE_,__ETWEEN TWO HEARTS__hen __UNGRY FOR HEAVEN___UNTER OF THE HEART_ hurts__ALLEN ANGELS_ __EED MY HEART___EVER DREAMS_ __EED MY HEAD___ AM_ __NOTHER LIE___FTER ALL (THE DEAD)__ot __UILTY_ if you __IDE IN THE RAINBOW___ith your perfect __UITAR SOLO___ON__ TELL THE KIDS_ to __REAM EVIL__on__ __IVE HER THE GUN_ to follow__ON__ TALK TO STRANGERS__hose __VIL EYES_ can see__ORD OF THE NIGHT_ __ISTREATED_;__Y EYES_ hate to fancy__HAME ON THE NIGHT_ __URN UP THE NIGHT__ow it__ __IME TO BURN___WISTED_ __OODOO_ does __ALK ON WATER__nd today its our turn__LOOD FROM A STONE_ __ORN ON THE SUN____ __ETTER IN THE DARK_ __REATHLESS__he __RISONER OF PARADISE_ you are!Forever you are deathless__ACRED HEART_ __HIVERS__aying __AKED IN THE RAIN___HIS IS YOUR LIFE_- _ WILD ONE_!Your __OLDEN RULES_ we gain__N DREAMS_ __ SPEED AT NIGHT____ __OSING MY INSANITY___NOTHER LIE_: __OMPUTER GOD__our __EAVEN AND HELL_- my vanity!By __ILLING THE DRAGON___ COULD HAVE BEEN A DREAMER____ __HE LAST IN LINE_ To __CREAM__ike an __NVISIBLE_ screamerNow that you are gone__HE END OF THE WORLD_ is here__TRAIGHT THROUGH THE HEART___USH_ __UST ANOTHER DAY_ in fear__HILDREN OF THE SEA_ _ DYING IN AMERICA__s it __EATH BY LOVE_?__ACES IN THE WINDOW_ looking forA __YPSY_ from aboveDear __TARGAZER_ from __TRANGE HIGHWAYS__ur love __ERE__ TO YOU___E ROCK_ __NE MORE FOR THE ROAD__he __THER WORLD_ anew__NE NIGHT IN THE CITY_ with __EON KNIGHTS___HE EYES_ __TAY OUT OF MY MIND__he __TARSTRUCK_ __UNSET SUPERMAN__s what we long to find__HE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING__s the __NSTITUTIONAL MAN___HOOT SHOOT_ to __URN TO STONE___HEN A WOMAN CRIES_ to planTo __TAND UP AND SHOUT__efore _ THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL__hough __OD HATES HEAVY METAL___AT YOUR HEART OUT_ to reach the goal.From the poem- Holy Dio: the Diver (A tribute to Ronnie James Dio)

- I didn't seduce her! OK, I didn't know exactly what I was doing. It seemed like fun and then... well, THAT happened. - said Ronnie. - It wasn't intentional. I did it for shits and giggles, alright? We never had sex. She was mortified at the thought of losing her job, but I told her that I wouldn't tell anyone. - Well... you just did. - said Tyler. - You two aren't just "anyone". That's the difference. - said Ronnie and resumed his task... until his ears caught a disturbing row of cries for help. - What kind of language is that? - Tyler asked. - It's... Hindi. Urdu, to be specific. - Ronnie answered. - How the fuck do you know? - Tyler asked. - Just found it out. - answered Ronnie. - Well, where does that lead us? - asked Tyler once again. - Pakistan. - said Garret. - We're not going there saving Muslims from the clutches of radical Islam and fighting for human rights, are we? - said Tyler. - No, obviously. But if their lives are in danger, we'll help. Not because some non-governmental organisation is obsessed with political correctness and equal rights, but because they don't deserve to die just because some delusional maniac decided to play God with their fate. - said Ronnie.