5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #140

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. The Prince, by Diamond Head

If you want to know where bands like Metallica and Megadeth got their early inspiration from, look no further than Diamond Head. A lot of techniques, riff and solo styles, lyrical themes, etc. are lifted pretty much almost entirely from this band. They were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (or NWOBHM) movement that spanned the late 70's into the early 80's. Without them, we wouldn't have TONS of the metal bands we know and love today.

2. Saurusarmeija, by Hevisaurus

Finland has a heavy metal band for kids. They dress up in dinosaur costumes when they perform too. Ridiculous? Yes. Awesome, though? You bet your sweet ass. Even though the lyrics are all in Finnish and made for kids these tunes are still just as heavy, rocking, and awesome as anything made for adults. It's too silly, radical, and out there for it to not be. Quite frankly I wish we had something like that here in the States.

3. The Last Song of My Resting Place, by Black Country Communion

Super group Black Country Communion recently put out their first album in five years after a temporary split up. They're back with a vengeance with all of the strong heavy rock song writing you would expect from the combined forces of Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian. This particular song has Joe on lead vocals. It's an emotional fictitious retelling of the story of the violinist on the Titanic who kept playing in order to keep everyone calm while the ship was going down, sacrificing his own life to do so.

4. In My Darkest Hour, by Megadeth

This tune is the gem of Megadeth's third album So Far, So Good... So What!. The lyrics and music were inspired by two separate things. The music was inspired by the death of front man Dave Mustaine's ex Metallica band mate bassist Cliff Burton. The lyrics are more about loneliness and isolation. It's been played at every Megadeth show for nearly 30 years now and Mustaine always dedicates it to the memory of Burton.

5. Disturbing the Priest, by Black Sabbath

This in my opinion is Black Sabbath's most under rated album of all time. Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan did a phenomenal job as front man for this record and this song in particular is where he shines the brightest. This has the darkest tone of any Black Sabbath song out there. Gillan goes from hauntingly soft to frighteningly high and loud, giving off some of the most terrifying screams. What makes this song even more amazing to me is the parts where screams actually harmonize. It hits me just the right way.