Radical Research Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 115 – Hexx Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

We celebrate musicians and bands that rapidly evolve and challenge their audience with newness each endeavor. But the abrupt left-turn San Francisco metal band Hexx took between 1986 and 1987 is beyond fascinating, and beyond the norm. It culminates in one of our favorite albums of the early ‘90s, the mighty, seething, adrenaline-injected Morbid Reality. Strap in, freaks, this will be a bumpy ride!

Note I:

The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Note II:

All past Radical Research episodes can be found here, where you can also find Jeff’s Peter Steele and Fates Warning books…and more to come soon!

Radicalresearch.org

Music cited in order of appearance:

“Terror” (No Escape, 1984) “Edge of Death“ (Under the Spell, 1986)

“Edge of Death” (Watery Graves 12”, 1990)

“Sardonicus” (Quest for Sanity, 1989)

“Fields of Death” (Quest for Sanity, 1989)

“Twice as Bright” (Quest for Sanity, 1989)

“Morbid Reality” (two moments) (Morbid Reality, 1991) “The Last Step” (Morbid Reality, 1991)

“Blood Hunter” (Morbid Reality, 1991)

“Persecution Experience” (Morbid Reality, 1991)

“Watery Graves” (Morbid Reality, 1991)

“Spider Jam” (Morbid Reality, 1991)

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

Episode 114 – Mourning Sign 1992-1996: Triangulation Jun 02, 2024

Show notes

Radical Research can’t stay away from Scandinavia for more than a brief spell. To that end, your hosts find themselves in Sweden, digging through the short but robust initial run by Mourning Sign. Over the course of a demo, an EP, and two full-lengths, Mourning Sign twisted and bent metal into a wide variety of shapes. Neither exclusively brutal, progressive, nor melodic, but rather an alloy of all three, Mourning Sign, in the tradition of Sweden’s best and brightest, staked out their own territory and defended it with might. Join us on this, our 114th journey into the vortex of radical sound. Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Note II:

Buy Mourning Sign stuff at Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/268458-Mourning-Sign

Note III:

We appreciate Chris Warunki, and you can find his myriad of music projects right here: https://warunkimedia.bandcamp.com/artists

Music cited in order of appearance:

“Inner Calmness” (Last Chamber, 1992 demo)

“Supressed Past” (Last Chamber, 1992 demo)

“Redeem” (Alienor, 1993)

“Desert Sun” (Alienor, 1993)

“Godsend” (Alienor, 1993)

“I’ll See to That” (Mourning Sign, 1995)

“Like Father Like Son” (Mourning Sign, 1995)

“Seems Endless” (Mourning Sign, 1995) “I’ll Be Dancing” (Multiverse, 1996)

“Subtle Climax” (Multiverse, 1996)

“Seed of Revival” (Multiverse, 1996)

“Neerg” (Multiverse, 1996) Episode 115 preview: Hexx, “Fire Mushrooms” (Morbid Reality, 1991) Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

Episode 113 – Thief’s ‘Bleed, Memory’: What Was Your Original Face Before You Were Born? May 20, 2024

Show notes

For our 113th episode, we dispense with the usual exhalations of the past in favor of the thrills of the tense present-future. Thief, the Los Angeles-based brainchild of visionary producer, Dylan Neal, has released one of 2024’s most extraordinary albums, Bleed, Memory, a harrowing journey through the late stages of the human mind and spirit. Without giving away all of the album’s treasures, this episode can be considered an act of seduction, a persuasion. We dare even the heartiest will to resist the siren strains of Bleed, Memory.

Note I: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We offer tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Note II:

Some insight into Dylan Neal’s note to Jeff, mentioned in the early part of the episode (and the question that we borrowed for this episode’s title): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_face

Note III:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

all songs from Thief, Bleed, Memory (2024)

“Apparitions”

“Cinderland”

“Paramnesia”

“Prankquean”

“Dead Coyote Dreams”

“Dulcinea”

“Behemouth”

“Pissing” “To Whom It May Concern”

Episode 112 – We Mean You Harm: Hail Spirit Noir 2012-2021 Apr 25, 2024

Show notes

For its 112th episode, Radical Research travels to balmy Greece to investigate the cryptic evildoing of Hail Spirit Noir, whose hellbroth of black metal, prog, psychedelia, and witchery strikes a special chord with your hosts. We take a deep look at the band’s first four albums and find ourselves more spellbound than ever before. There is no warding off the spell, so give in and join us in this most dangerous of meetings.

Note II:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

“Mountain of Horror” (Pneuma, 2012)

“Into the Gates of Time” (two moments) (Pneuma, 2012)

“Blood Guru” (Oi Magoi, 2014) “Satan is Time” (Oi Magoi, 2014)

“The Mermaid” (Oi Magoi, 2014)

“Mayhem in Blue” (Mayhem in Blue, 2016)

“Lost in Satan’s Charms” (Mayhem in Blue, 2016)

“The Cannibal Tribe Came from the Sea” (Mayhem in Blue, 2016)

“Alien Lip Reading” (Eden in Reverse, 2020)

“Crossroads” (Eden in Reverse, 2020)

“Automata 1980” (Eden in Reverse, 2020) “On the Loose Again” (Mannequins, 2021) ep. 113 preview: Thief, “Prankquean” (Bleed, Memory, 2024)

Episode 111 – Immortal’s Blizzard Beasts: Convoking Nebular Dimensions Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

For episode 111, Radical Research returns to its spiritual homeland of Norway. But on this trip, RR steers clear of the usual avant suspects and instead climbs the Mountains of Might to take a closer look at Immortal’s twisted and divisive fourth album, 1997’s Blizzard Beasts. Though optically outside of RR’s usual territory, the hosts make a compelling case for the album’s inclusion in the annals of the weird. Please tune in but beware of Nebular Ravens and Frostdemons.

Note I: Although we failed to mention it, along with a resemblance or two to various riffs from Hellwitch’s Syzygial Miscreancy, we find parallels between Blizzard Beasts and any given Order From Chaos era, both vocally and musically. Not that Hellwitch or Order From Chaos directly influenced this album, but if Immortal had said so, we could see it. As you were.

Note II: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We offer tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Note III:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

[all songs are from Immortal’s Blizzard Beasts, 1997]

“intro”

“Blizzard Beasts”

“Nebular Ravens Winter”

“Suns That Sank Below” “Battlefields”

“Mountains of Might”

“Noctambulant”

“Winter of the Ages”

“Frostdemonstorm”

Episode 110 – Steven Wilson’s Intrigue Compilation, Dissection Part 2 Mar 17, 2024

Show notes

We continue our wander through the 4CD Intrigue compilation. This installment features 15 UK bands, several which we’d never heard of before (Art Nouveau, New Musik, Section 25). We hope this episode helps prove curator Steven Wilson’s note that Intrigue operates on the “idea that conceptual thinking and ambition didn’t suddenly evaporate after ’77…ambitious, weird and thrilling music was all around you in the ‘80s – if you looked in the right places.” Amen.

Note II:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

Intro: Brian Eno, “Third Uncle” (Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), 1974) [all snippets below are taken directly from the Intrigue compilation; the following indicates where the songs originally appeared]

The Sound, “I Can’t Escape Myself” (Jeopardy, 1980) Joy Division, “The Eternal” (Closer, 1980) Swell Maps, “Big Empty Field” (…In “Jane from Occupied Europe”, 1980)

Art Nouveau, “Enemies” (unreleased, 1980)

Gary Numan, “The Joy Circuit” (Telekon, 1980) 23 Skidoo, “The Gospel Comes to New Guinea” (single, 1980)

Echo and the Bunnymen, “All My Colours” (Heaven Up Here, 1981)

The Specials, “Ghost Town” (single, 1981) New Musik, “They All Run After the Carving Knife” (Anywhere, 1981) New Order, “The Him” (Movement, 1981) The Associates, “White Car in Germany” (single, 1981)

Section 25, “Hit” (Always Now, 1981)

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “Sealand” (Architecture & Morality, 1981)

Japan, “Talking Drum” (Tin Drum, 1981)

The Cure, “Faith” (Faith, 1981)

Episode 109 – Sigh’s Weirdest! Let the Strangeness Do the Talking Mar 01, 2024

Show notes

Sigh is unquestionably one of the weirdest bands in the metal realm. And since Radical Research skews weird, and since we are both fans of Sigh since the mid ‘90s, it seemed obvious that we would eventually do an episode featuring some of the very weirdest of Sigh’s weird moments. So…if you are down with our motto of Keep Metal Weird, you know what to do.

Note II:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

"Hail Horror Hail" (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)

"A Sunset Song" (Imaginary Sonicscape, 2001)

"Scarlet Dream" (Imaginary Sonicscape, 2001)

"Heresy II: Acosmism" (Heir to Despair, 2018)

"Satsui - Geshi No Ato" (Shiki, 2022)

"12 Souls" (Hail Horror Hail, 1997) "Amongst the Phantoms of Abandoned Tumbrils" (In Somniphobia, 2012)

“Invitation to Die” (Hail Horror Hail, 1997) “Diabolic Suicide” (Scenario IV: Dread Dreams, 1999)

“The Molesters of My Soul” (Graveward, 2015)

"Seed of Eternity” (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)

Episode 108 – Non-Classic-Logo-Era Napalm Death, 1994-1998 Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

The body of critical study - and fan adoration - around the music of Napalm Death has concerned itself principally with the band's pioneering grindcore and its transition into the death metal of Harmony Corruption. But what of the band's wilderness years, the mid- to late-1990s? The 108th episode of Radical Research digs into what its hosts consider to be Napalm Death's most radical music, the four-album futurist blitzkrieg spanning the years 1994-1998. Get ready for some serious side-eye, Legions, as we cross over into the torn apart.

Note I:

In the episode, Hunter mentions Ian Christe's writing on the band's 1994 album, Fear, Emptiness, Despair. In Christe's Sound of the Beast, he writes that the album, "...started a fresh chapter in the history of a band whose membership half-life had once lasted no longer than an album side. Previous urban hardcore noise blasts were mowed by sophisticated guitar layering and innovative drum patterns. Their dissonance became a conscious component of the composition, not merely a side benefit of chaos, and the marriage of intense anger and calculation yielded a masterpiece of passionate, politically minded, negative realism."

Note II:

In an act of gall, the scalar dimensions of which could only be compared to the Pacific Ocean, Mont Blanc, and John Holmes' ballistic member, Christe includes Fear, Emptiness, Despair in his list of the 25 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. The list includes other controversial entries, such as Morbid Angel's Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, and Dream Death's rarely-trumpeted but mighty Journey Into Mystery.

Note III:

In our excitement, we failed to mention the men who produced these albums. All were produced by the estimable Colin Richardson, except Fear, Emptiness, Despair, which was handled by Pete Coleman. Only one of these gentlemen have played flute on a Skyclad album.

Note IV: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We offer tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Note V:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

“The Infiltraitor” (Words from the Exit Wound, 1998) “Plague Rages” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994)

“Primed Time” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994) “Fasting on Deception” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994)

“Ripe for the Breaking” (Diatribes, 1996)

“Take the Strain” (Diatribes, 1996)

“Diatribes” (Diatribes, 1996)

Episode 107 – The Saturnine Sleep: Tiamat’s A Deeper Kind of Slumber Jan 28, 2024

Show notes

For a podcast that traffics in all things wild and mind-expanding, the subject of our 107th episode makes everything else feel stone-cold sober by comparison. The fifth album by Sweden's Tiamat, A Deeper Kind of Slumber, luxuriates in the wan, reclined possibilities of Leary biscuits and Psilocybin dreams. This episode paddles along the hallucinatory waters of Tiamat's final masterpiece and resolves itself to the album's irreconcilable mysteries.

Note II:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

Intro: “The Ar” (Wildhoney, 1994)

“The Southernmost Voyage” (The Astral Sleep, 1991) “A Caress of Stars” (Clouds, 1992) “Do You Dream of Me?” (Wildhoney, 1994)

“Cold Seed” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997) “Teonanacatl” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997) “Trillion Zillion Centipedes” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

‘The Desolate One” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997) “Atlantis as a Lover” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Alteration X 10” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Four Leary Biscuits” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Only In My Tears It Lasts” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“The Whores of Babylon” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Kite” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Phantasma De Luxe” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“Mount Marilyn” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

“A Deeper Kind of Slumber” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

Episode 106 — New Metal Massacre: Horrendous, Afterbirth, Laster & Vemod Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

We tend to skew toward the past in our explorations with Radical Research, uncovering sounds we feel are overlooked and/or underrated. We’re breaking our usual time travel approach and focusing solely on some new metal music that thrilled us in 2023 and one very fresh entry for 2024. It’s not 1986 or 1991 anymore, obviously, but 2023 was a great year for new music, metal and otherwise. Herein, we delve into the greatness that is Ontological Mysterium (Horrendous), In But Not Of (Afterbirth), Andermans Mijne (Laster), and The Deepening (Vemod). Metal lives? Metal lives!!!

Note II:

Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:

https://www.radicalresearch.org/shop/

Music cited in order of appearance:

Horrendous, “Neon Leviathan” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)

Horrendous, “Preterition Hymn” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)

Horrendous, “Exeg(en)esis” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)

Afterbirth, “Devils With Dead Eyes” (In But Not Of, 2023) Afterbirth, “Vivisected Psychopomp” (In But Not Of, 2023)

Afterbirth, “Hovering Human Head Drones” (In But Not Of, 2023)

Laster, “Poëtische Waarheid” (Andermans Mijne, 2023) Laster, “Onzichtbare Muur” (Andermans Mijne, 2023)

Laster, “Doodgeboren” (Andermans Mijne, 2023)

Vemod, “Der Guder Dør” (The Deepening, 2024) Vemod, “The Deepening” (The Deepening, 2024)

Ep. 107 preview: Tiamat, “Atlantis as a Lover” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)

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