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MetalMike
Name: Mike Baird
Age: 58
Languages spoken: English, with occasional difficulty
Day job: Mindless corporate drone
Instruments/bands: Guitar, albeit very poorly
Into metal since: 1983 - the year I bought Piece of Mind on cassette
Joined The Metal Crypt: December 2008
Number of reviews: 2937
Number of interviews: 58
Number of editorials: 10
Favourite Genres: Traditional (obviously), NWOBHM, Epic, Power, Progressive, some Viking (when the vocals are not too growly)
Dislikes: Black/Death/Doom
About MetalMike:

I was born into a world where the metal choices were Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. Not bad, but not a lot of variety. I made do with AC/DC and Kiss until 1983 when I discovered Iron Maiden. Judas Priest was next and the California "metal" scene. Mercifully, I discovered IMPORTS in 1985 and bands like Raven, Tokyo Blade, and Helloween, and INDEPENDENT labels like Megaforce (Metallica) and Combat (Megadeth) and I was on my way. I was the metal show DJ for my college radio station (where I picked up my extremely cliché posting name). I spent 5 years entertaining the masses, including the denizens of the local house of correction, who used to call in their requests via collect call ("you have a collect call from 'SLAYER!!' calling from 'REIGN IN BLOOD!!', will you accept the charges?"). Anyway, Nirvana and Cannibal Corpse killed the show for me, and besides, isn't 8 years in college enough? Not that I use it or anything, but I did manage a master's degree in that time.

I drifted away from the metal scene for many years as the death/grind/nu/-core metal of the time wasn't working for me and I (incorrectly) assumed no one was making metal that I liked anymore. I was on the Internet about 3 years ago looking for some old NWOBHM music on CD, to replace vinyl, that I hadn't heard in a looong time (Battleaxe, Weapon, Loudness, etc.) and I kept reading comparisons to bands like Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica and the like. I found Sentinel Steel, ordered some Sonata Arctica, Edguy, Labyrinth, Pagan's Mind, and Nightwish and my eyes were opened! Yes, MetalMike, they DO make melodic metal like you remember. Now I'm making up for lost time and discovering all the excellent (and not-so-excellent) music I've been missing out on.

I still enjoy (what is now) Power Metal the most, but also like Traditional, NWOBHM and Progressive. I am also discovering some Epic and Folk/Viking stuff that is pretty cool. Who knows, maybe Black/Death someday?



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