Never meet your heroes, proclaims Markus Wikander...as he holds his signed Anthrax album. The pooch sniffs hypocrisy... Recently I premiered a new feature for the GTGC reviews page, something which I dubbed "My Wreckord Collection". It's a simple premise, artists and band members from all walks of life take a break from plugging and promoting their own material, and instead get to nerd out over their own personal tastes and private record collections. On our first entry we went in hard and heavy, literally, as Mike Churry, drummer from Philadelphia death metal outfit BASILYSK briefly talked us through five of his favourite obscure death metal albums. In this installment, we'll be hearing from Markus Wikander, vocalist / guitarist of Swedish hardcore thrashers LEACH, who released their newest album "Hymns For The Hollow" in 2018...lets percolate through his personal picks and see what inspires him.
IRON MAIDEN - "The X factor" (Picture Disk)
"The first one with Blaze Bayley and I guess the most hated Maiden album (Might be Futureal). To me this is when I first discovered them and a total classic. Might have been the first album I ever bought but not sure. Love the lack of distorted guitars yet such a dark production. Got it as a picture disc a few years back."
Favorite song: "Fortunes Of War."
"The first one with Blaze Bayley and I guess the most hated Maiden album (Might be Futureal). To me this is when I first discovered them and a total classic. Might have been the first album I ever bought but not sure. Love the lack of distorted guitars yet such a dark production. Got it as a picture disc a few years back."
Favorite song: "Fortunes Of War."
ANTHRAX - "Penikufesin" EP
"First vinyl I ever bought and the album that made me wanna play guitar. Bought it at a second hand store and I got to borrow my dads player. Played the B-side over and over again (Only had three songs). First one with Anthrax for me and didn't have a clue that most of the songs where covers!."
Favorite song: "Parasite" (KISS).
"First vinyl I ever bought and the album that made me wanna play guitar. Bought it at a second hand store and I got to borrow my dads player. Played the B-side over and over again (Only had three songs). First one with Anthrax for me and didn't have a clue that most of the songs where covers!."
Favorite song: "Parasite" (KISS).
ANTHRAX - "Spreading The Disease"
"So after that I got really into Anthrax. A few years later they reunited as the "classic" lineup (2005?). They were coming to Sweden Rock Festival and I was really stoked about it. They were having this signing booth so I was standing in line with a friend. He had this patched up jeans vest with his favorite bands and he was a power metal guy which I thought was kind of dorky. For some reason he left the line going somewhere, but he asked me to hold his vest 'cause it was hot, so I did. Finally finished the line and I was standing there with them asking if they could sign my copy of "Spreading The Disease", which they did. But they also pointed at the vest and a patch with Swedish power metal band HAMMERFALL and asked me "Do you like that band?". I was so fucking nervous and didn't know what to say so I said "Yeah, sure". They looked at each other and started giggling, probably thinking "Who is this lame fuck". I wanted to disappear, I was so embarrassed! Never meet your heroes..."
Favorite song: "A.I.R"
"So after that I got really into Anthrax. A few years later they reunited as the "classic" lineup (2005?). They were coming to Sweden Rock Festival and I was really stoked about it. They were having this signing booth so I was standing in line with a friend. He had this patched up jeans vest with his favorite bands and he was a power metal guy which I thought was kind of dorky. For some reason he left the line going somewhere, but he asked me to hold his vest 'cause it was hot, so I did. Finally finished the line and I was standing there with them asking if they could sign my copy of "Spreading The Disease", which they did. But they also pointed at the vest and a patch with Swedish power metal band HAMMERFALL and asked me "Do you like that band?". I was so fucking nervous and didn't know what to say so I said "Yeah, sure". They looked at each other and started giggling, probably thinking "Who is this lame fuck". I wanted to disappear, I was so embarrassed! Never meet your heroes..."
Favorite song: "A.I.R"
MEGADETH - "Killing Is My Business..."
"'Peace Sells...' is without doubt my favorite 'deth album but I gotta' pick this one because it's so goddam ugly. Everything is bad about this cover. Found the original Combat release so I had to have it!"
Favorite song: "Killing Is My Business"
"'Peace Sells...' is without doubt my favorite 'deth album but I gotta' pick this one because it's so goddam ugly. Everything is bad about this cover. Found the original Combat release so I had to have it!"
Favorite song: "Killing Is My Business"
NUCLEAR ASSAULT - "Good Times, Bad Times"
"If the "Killing.." cover is bad in a bad way, this one is bad in a good way! Don't know what I like about it really but there's just some punk ingredient that I just like. With their faces badly pasted on there with the exploding Hindenburg. Works well with the title!"
Favorite song: "Hang The Pope" (Live)
"If the "Killing.." cover is bad in a bad way, this one is bad in a good way! Don't know what I like about it really but there's just some punk ingredient that I just like. With their faces badly pasted on there with the exploding Hindenburg. Works well with the title!"
Favorite song: "Hang The Pope" (Live)
MASTODON - "Crack The Skye"
"If somebody put a gun to my head and I had to pick ONE album that I had to listen to for the rest of my life, I'd pick this one. There's so much nuances that you discover for each listen and I think I can never grow tired of this one."
Favorite song: "The Czar"
"If somebody put a gun to my head and I had to pick ONE album that I had to listen to for the rest of my life, I'd pick this one. There's so much nuances that you discover for each listen and I think I can never grow tired of this one."
Favorite song: "The Czar"
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