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THE MELIAH RAGE STORY
In 1980 I loaned my guitar amp to Lexington High School classmate and future Meliah Rage founder Tony Nichols for a local battle of the bands. I had no idea that almost thirty years later I’d be sitting down with a beer, Tony’s music blasting from my PC, to write this bio for one of my favorite metal bands of all time. Nichols took his music farther than anyone in our hometown crowd and Meliah Rage’s story stands as a shining example of dedication to the art of heavy metal, musical integrity, and perseverance against a trend-driven market. In 2009, with the release of their seventh studio album, Masquerade, Meliah Rage are walking taller than ever and carrying a big metal stick.
Founded in Boston in 1987, Meliah Rage was a ferociously aggressive reaction to a local metal scene dominated by spandex-and-hair spray bands who spent more time in front of the mirror than in the rehearsal room. “It was more of a poser metal scene,” recalls Nichols, with notable exceptions Steel Assassin, Wargasm, Formicide, Bad Karma, Temporary Insanity and
Cardinal Sin keeping true metal on the local map. Nichols’ influences combined 70s hard rock like Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, AC/DC and Riot, NWOBHM heavyweights such as Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, and American thrash upstarts including Slayer and this new band called Metallica whom Nichols had seen opening for Raven in a local basement bar. From the twisted wreckage piled in the middle of this three-way intersection emerged a concept for a sound built on aggression, sinister riffs and dramatic guitar harmonies but which also emphasized song writing and arranging skills. "You have to make sure the parts flow together," Nichols points out. "Just my opinion, but there are some really good bands that write great parts but don't glue them together properly."
Nichols’ specific tastes carried over to his selection of band members as well. “I was never a big fan of the operatic high singer” he reveals, as evidenced by his choice of burly growler Mike Munro as band front man. “He has exactly what I like in a metal vocalist: a raspy voice delivered with attitude but also some melody.” I remember an early Meliah Rage gig at the Narcissus club in Boston: Munro was already intimidating while still a teenager and attacked the stage with a street-tough Conan the Barbarian presence you just didn’t question. "So many metal singers act tough but when you meet them, they're such fakers,” observes Nichols. “Mike on the other hand is the real deal. He has REAL attitude. I don't think the guy could order an ice cream without an attitude."
New Hampshire native Jim Koury, a veteran of Aerosmith cover band Last Child, was recruited as lead guitarist. Jim’s solos combine great phrasing and interesting transitions with an attention to detail reminiscent of Wolf Hoffmann and Randy Rhoads. Drummer Stuart Dowie proved to be a percussion powerhouse with the finesse to navigate every twist and turn of Nichols’ arrangements without sacrificing heaviness for frills. Bassist Jesse Johnson, a man of diverse musical influences, rounded out the original lineup. But why the name Meliah Rage? “We wanted to be in the record bins with all the other ‘M’ bands: Metal Church, Metallica, Motörhead and Megadeth,” Nichols reasons. “That way when metal fans went looking for them, they’d find us too.”
Meliah Rage’s big break came through Nichols’ involvement with Boston punk legends Gang Green. The two bands shared a rehearsal space, and when Gang Green decided to go metal they turned to Nichols for guitar support while he performed double-duty in his own band. During the next six months Gang Green’s manager shopped Meliah Rage’s demo around which resulted in several major label bids and ultimately a deal with Epic Records in 1988. “I’m pretty sure we were the first thrash band ever signed to a major for their debut album,” Nichols remembers, “though I still don't consider us a full-on thrash band. We were more power metal.”
The band hit the ground running with the release of Kill To Survive that same year. It was powerful and diverse, ranging from the wrist-breaking speed metal of “Impaling Doom” to the mid-tempo grind of “Enter The Darkness” to the clean guitar arpeggios that open the instrumental “Meliah Rage”. What really hit you was how seasoned the composing skills were for such a young band. “We were told by the guy who signed us to Epic that we had a really strong song-writing sense,” Nichols recalls. The lyrics, mostly written by Munro, were intensely dark and violent and earned the band a Parent’s Music Resource Center “Explicit Lyrics” warning label… which is always good for selling a few more albums. A video for “Beginning of the End” hit the MTV airwaves and the band took their musical arsenal “on the tourpath” in 1989, opening for Metal Church in over 90 cities in the US and abroad. Their show at Harpo’s in Detroit was captured for the Live Kill mini-album which includes the high-speed thrash gem “Kill To Survive”. This track with lyrics about an assassin was pulled from the US version of the Kill To Survive album by Epic due to the controversy surrounding metal lyrics and the Judas Priest trials at the time.
In 1990 Meliah Rage returned to the studio to record their second and ultimately last album for Epic, Solitary Solitude. I was stunned when I heard it. The band had clearly evolved, taking on more ambitious arrangements, longer songs, a greater use of dynamics, and more focused, potent lyrics. The title track opens the album with one of the most dramatic guitar riffs ever recorded and the lesson in metal craftsmanship never lets up. I’ve always considered Tony to be one of the most distinctive rhythm guitarists in metal due to his never-ending quest for the “undiscovered” chord voicing and his ability to come up with killer new riffs that don’t sound like his previous ones. I asked him years ago what his secret was and he simply replied “I sit in my room and work on ideas until I say ‘Now THAT sounds evil’”. The lyrics on Solitary Solitude addressed topics including government oppression (“Decline of Rule”), incarceration (“Razor Ribbon”), the payback factor of substance abuse (“Lost Life”), and Nichols’ personal loss of a friend to disease (“Deliver Me”). “When we visited him on his death bed at a hospital in Boston, he reached out in tears to a priest who came into the room. Hit me like a fucking rock! The band was working on Solitary at the time and I said to Mike ‘I have an idea for a song’. A man who has never been religious seeks God while in extreme pain and realizing he has little time left.”
By the early 90s Meliah Rage had played with metal legends Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, Manowar, Morbid Angel, and Nuclear Assault. Despite their big league status and a new video for “The Witching”, the changing musical climate and its effects on what the labels considered popular caused Epic to drop the band in 1992. “Grunge killed us” confesses Nichols. “Metal in ’92… if you weren’t Metallica with their sales, you were done.” Undeterred, an updated Meliah Rage including bassist Keith Vogele and future Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna on drums continued to record demos and look for deals. Nichols and Koury also started a side project called Cactus Land with vocalist Paul Souza. Although Cactus Land failed to secure a record contract, the collaboration yielded a music video for the excellent “Deadline” (check it out on YouTube) and the professional ties with Souza would prove to pay off in a big way down the road.
In 1996 Meliah Rage signed with independent label Backstreet Records and released the album Nichols considers one of their best, Death Valley Dream. Uniting Nichols, Koury and Munro with drummer Dave Barcos and former Wargasm bassist Bob Mayo, Death Valley Dream is an impressive and highly-energized work. The band utilized tighter, more streamlined arrangements and a slightly updated sound. The feel is intense and urgent, even bordering on hardcore in songs such as “Media” and “Wear + Tear”. “Madness and Poetry” exudes a chaotic, nightmarish feel with the help of creative whammy-bar overdubs by Mayo and as a bonus features a Hammond organ outro performed by Nichols’ father, Randolph. This time the lyrics are contributed by both Munro and Mayo yet they seamlessly blend in style and content, dealing largely with a world gone wrong. Although Death Valley Dream promised to be the band’s ticket back to the big time, the tour opportunities never materialized and Meliah Rage drifted into hiatus mode for the rest of the decade.
In 2003 the stage was set for a re-emergence by the release of Unfinished Business, a collection of B-sides and studio takes, on Screaming Ferret Wreckords. Nichols and Koury reunited with original bassist Jesse Johnson and added Wargasm drummer Barry Spillberg. Munro however, now with two young children and a devoted family man, declined to participate. The remaining members were challenged with finding a replacement for a front man as formidable and tightly associated with the band’s image as their original singer. They didn’t have to look far. Says Nichols, “Paul [Souza] was the first person we called. When a Meliah Rage singer walks in a room there's a certain presence. He’s the only one who could have stepped in for Big Mike and kept our image of having an imposing singer. ” But it wasn’t just Souza’s athletic 6’4” build or maniacal stage presence that made him Nichols’ first pick. “Paul is a real versatile singer and very talented as a writer. He wrote and arranged all his vocal parts in the studio, including the harmonies.”
The remodeled Meliah Rage released two albums for Screaming Ferret with Souza out front, boasting his singing and writing skills and taking on a tough, contemporary sound. Barely Human (2004) received strongly positive reviews; the title track earned mileage both as a video (shot on the God of Vampires film set) as well as having been used in the controversial FX Network television series “The Shield”. The Deep and Dreamless Sleep (2006) took their updated sound in an even heavier direction aided by the return of original drummer Stuart Dowie and the arrival of aggressive new bassist Darren Lourie. Two highlights for me are the dramatic opener “Permanently Damaged”, which barrages you with evil guitar harmonies piled thick on a foundation of jackhammer riffs, and the title track whose unexpected tempo change in the middle section hurls you right into the mosh pit. With newfound momentum and great material, Meliah Rage staged a glorious return to the road in January 2007, playing a 21-date coast-to-coast US tour in support of long-time friends Metal Church.
Despite all the touring, promotions and video shoots, Anthony Nichols doesn’t know what to do with himself when he’s not writing new metal. As early as June of the same year he revealed that the follow-up to Deep and Dreamless was already in progress, featuring faster, more aggressive and more progressive material than the previous two releases. This was great news for fans like me who loved the newer material but were ready for a return of some classic Meliah Rage ingredients as well.
In September, as if 2007 hadn’t already been a banner year, the band played one of their biggest gigs to date supporting Heaven and Hell, Alice Cooper and Queensryche at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. With this level of exposure and the buzz circulating around a highly anticipated next album, it seemed like the band had cleared its last road block.
And then…
On December 5, 2007 Meliah Rage announced that they and Paul Souza were parting ways. “The only reason for the split is that Paul's schedule makes it difficult for him to tour”, laments Nichols. “Paul has recorded two records with us and played over 100 live shows—we will always consider Souza a friend and an important part of Meliah Rage history.”
The search was on again. “We must have gone through 50 or 60 guys but nothing blew us away.” For some fans, however, a certain option was irresistible. “How about Mike? Have you asked Mike? Why don’t you talk to Mike? You should get Mike!” I bugged the shit out of Tony for months. Others had the same idea including producer Rich Spillberg who suggested it was time for the band to get back to their roots. “We had been in touch,” Nichols says of Munro, “and he was aware we were looking for a new singer. I asked if he was interested and he asked for a disc of the new material. He liked it and it evolved from there.” In 2008, Christmas came in July with the band’s official announcement that Big Mike was BACK.
The result of this reunion is 2009’s Masquerade, and it will knock you down. Adding Munro back to the mix was like tossing a match into a vat of chemicals; the music explodes! Like a trip both backwards and forwards in time, the classic ingredients (dark riffs, twisted guitar harmonies, adventurous arrangements) are all there delivered with youthful aggression and attitude but the musical craftsmanship bears the sophistication and maturity of the experienced veterans that they are today.
Mike Munro is un-mellowable. You will swear this was recorded just days after Solitary Solitude except he’s even better now. When he bellows a power vocal, you pay attention! When he sings a melodic passage, he nails the notes with authority and passion. “Seeker” and “Masquerade” are two of his finest moments in this respect and the lyrics reflect a deeply personal outlook on life that you only get through experience. “The whole album is about wrestling with your demons,” Nichols told me shortly after its completion. “Everyone in this band has had their ordeals.” As another fan put it to me, “I felt Mike was soul searching and it came out in his lyrics as well as his vocals.”
The band behind the man on Masquerade are a tightly integrated machine. I think Lourie and Dowie as a pair are the best and heaviest rhythm section Meliah Rage has ever had, and Jim Koury is playing like a madman (his solos in “Chosen” and “Whatever It Takes” are not only inspired, they’re possessed). At the root of it all is riff-meister Nichols, whose creativity and exploration within the usually narrow niche of “rhythm” guitar has given it a more multi-dimensional role than in any other metal band I can think of.
Every Meliah Rage album has a little something extra and the tradition continues here. There is haunting, Portishead-like piano providing atmosphere to “Masquerade” (performed by Voodoo Jets keyboardist and fellow Lexington High School alum Micah Sheveloff). “History Will Tell” includes a surprise left turn into a brief but very cool jazz passage - only Tony could make that work. And yes, there are the AWESOME guest vocals on “Last Rites” by brother-in-arms Ronny Munroe of Metal Church.
With Masquerade finally on the streets, Meliah Rage are looking at options for touring in 2010, more than two decades after their debut. So what keeps the fire burning after all this time? “The love of loud music!” Nichols asserts. “Good loud music I should say. I’m a metal head for life. Right when I think I'm too old to do this I see Lemmy, Dio, Glenn Tipton and others doing it in their 60's...What the fuck!! I'm a kid!”
~Caith Threefires (aka Keith Johnson, LHS Class of '83), September 2009
i just wanted to check in and see how you are doing. how's things in your world. Anyway, have a great day and please keep in touch. Hopefully its not too cold yet where you are
Cheers my friend. Just passing to wish you a great day. Sharing a cold one with your friends is some of the most fun you can have with you pants on !!! "Fear no beer" and always, Rock Hard... Timo kaarkoski - Temple of Sin
I want to welcome you as a new friend on my drummer page. I hope you enjoyed some of the music while you were here. We hope you come back and visit us often and look foreword to seeing you at a show some time.
I wish you a good weekend and seal our friendship with great respect, I am grateful to the winds of destiny by providing that it includes you like my friends hugs from brazilian underground metal scene!!!
You Rock
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Thanks so much for taking a listen to our music, support from our friends is what makes it all happen for us. Our E.P. is available on Itunes, check it out
Thanks, You ROCK!!! Getting the word out about my photo book, Metallica: The Club Dayz.. It's available though Amazon world wide. Amazon dot com Cheers Bill (Former Chief Photographer of Metal Rendezvous Int. Heavy Rock - Metal Magazine)
Hey my friends! How are you doing? thanx for supporting us! I didn't evne now that you were recording a new album. I'm gonna listen to it. Anyway, respect for what you've done in the past. We love your sound and hope to see you in Europe soon, and why not, give you the opportunity to play in France! Cheers!
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