5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #177

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. Angel Witch, by Angel Witch

I just discovered this heavily under rated hidden gem of a band recently. They are from the early 80's New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene and they definitely sound as such. What sets them apart from all of the other bands of that time though is that their music has a lot more memorable melody and tasty vocal harmonies. They are still heavy and fast as hell, but there is more to them than that. It's a shame they never made it as big as Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.

2. Be Forewarned, by Pentagram

I used to just sort of gloss over this song when listening to Pentagram's First Daze Here album. It's a compilation that has all of their unreleased 70's demos recorded by the original line-up. However, I went back to this song recently and was completely blown away by it. The vocal octave layering in the beginning is just so eerie, yet delightful. It gets intense musically and lyrically intriguing. It just draws you in and keeps you hooked from start to finish. There are so many layers to dissect, so I suggest multiple listens.

3. Killing is My Business, by Megadeth

So Megadeth a little while back put out this AMAZING remix of their 1985 debut album Killing is My Business... And Business is Good!. There is so much more clarity, punch, and raw energy in the songs now. You can hear stuff you wouldn't have noticed before on the original mixes. This tune in particular sounds absolutely killer (pun totally intended). I can guarantee you will be banging your head along to it as much as I did.

4. Holy Diver, by Dio

Do I really need to describe this song for you? If you are a metalhead or even a classic rock fan for that matter you know this song. It's one of Ronnie James Dio's most remembered and beloved songs of all time. It is the definition of a heavy metal anthem. I was at Uproar Festival back in 2010 not long after Dio died and they played the Killswitch Engage version of this over the PA in between bands and HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of us started singing along to it in unison in remembrance of the Man on the Silver Mountain. It was a powerful moment, for sure.

5. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, by The Shirelles

And now for something completely different. I'm going to end this week's playlist on a lighter note. This is the kind of music that I remember hearing as a little kid all the time while in the car with my mom. She would always play the oldies station to protect my innocence or whatever. Regardless, this is some of the first music I ever remember hearing and I LOVED it. I still do. Stuff like this no matter how intense of music I listen to will always hold a special place in my heart.