Welcome all. I don't think this has been done yet but it's a good idea and I hope this can minimize some of the clutter for so many threads with small questions. This is not really a band or genre thread but more about suggestions for miscellaneous items and specific questions about metal bands not so much related to musical recs.
For example, there have been threads asking about "Recommend me some good metal zines" that tend to get lost in the mix or have been nuked.
Certain or trivial questions about bands(metal) that fall into the hard-to-classify catagory can be discussed here if you prefer. This thread will be a general directory as such. You can also ask to identify a song or vid clip here too.
With that, I have a myriad if questions of my own to kick it off:

1. I need some suggestions of good metal magazines that offer back issues.

2. Does anyone know of any Black Sabbath hand drawn concert posters from the 1970's?

3. The picture of Probot in the M-A is sort of hard for me to pick some guys out. Is the slightly flabby long haired guy on the left next to Dave Grohl Tom G? Whose the dude with the glasses?

4. Has anyone heard Rebel Meets Rebel? That project has some great riffs by Diamond Darrell. Couldn't it be accepted on the M-A as southern metal/rock at least?
b. Would anyone care to hear a follow-up to that band? There were rumors that Vinnie Paul might bring in Zakk Wylde or Kerry King to jam out some new songs along side him, Rex and David Allen Coe.

Good luck and hope to cooperate with each other on other miscellaneous general metal inquiries. Cheers!

These help threads were originally a good idea, but they're now a plague on the board. Please, please delete this. It's not too late.

I respectfully disagree. Certain other failed ones, yes but this can be productive and I want to consolidate some general discussion subjects regarding metal stuff. If you read my opening post, it lays some groundwork for it to work.

I used to be in the same boat as Caspian, but now I think these help threads have actually been pretty useful. A lot of people here really have a boner for black metal, and the help thread means I don't have to sift through a million threads about bands I really don't give a shit about. Likewise, none of you have to deal with threads I'd make about St. Vitus and Black Sabbath clones .

ok so i'm re-posting my question here,i hope someone can help!!
i remember watching a cool video where the band's guitarrist plays something and then a shadow on the wall plays something as though replying.i don't remember the band or the song.does anyone know what i'm talking about so they can tell me the band or the song's title??

To the OP: its Dimebag Darrell.

Uh, yeah I know that. He used to be called Diamond Darrell and I hadn't heard him called by his old nickname in awhile so I thought it sounded fresh. Plus, it seems more people around here like their Power Metal-era better than their CFH era for some reason.

Still looking for that old Santa Claus in metal thread. I like that King Diamond Xmas special to go with my spirited egg nog.

Reminds me, I need to get the Twisted Sister Christmas album.

Does that actually exist!? Could be amusing if you can find it.

Oh. I never knew that.

Yup! Heard a couple of songs on the radio and it was absolutely awesome, yet hilarious. There's also a DVD, but I want the CD mainly.

http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=131590
http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=170637

My sister has that outtake/gag reel demo with Ozzy Osbourne's duet with Kermit the Frog that she'd probably trade for something like that. Being the Twisted Sister fan that she is.

My friend has the DVD and the speech that Dee gives before "I Wanna Rock" is pretty funny. Plus the bonus stuff is cool and somewhat funny.

Even though I don't like his hair band, I always thought Dee was a great soundbyte. I don't know if he still has his House of Hair radio show going.

Dee Snider must be good at writing Christmas songs. He wrote one that Celine Dion recorded.

Yeah, I guess this is a pretty good thread for very small questions like "who's that dude with the glasses?" and stuff like that.

Exactly. It's better than someone putting up a whole thread for such trivial bits.
Did Sarah Jessica Parker..err..Dee Snyder really write a song that Celine Dion covered. If so, it must have been just a joke on her part.

He wrote the song "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Everyone)". The Snider listed as composer is in fact Dee Snider. He claims that Celine didn't know until afterwards who it was that wrote the song.

The only problem is a lot of people get skipped over, and trying to search these treads is a pain in the ass, it's a lot easier to search by topic to see if anyone had previously asked about pokemon themed metal or something rather then asking again and again in one thread.

Has anyone around here heard No Remorse (I want to Die)? It's a single and collaboration between Atari Teenage Rebellion and Slayer. It was released exclusively for the soundtrack of the 1997 Spawn movie.
Metallica also did a collab on there too along with another song that has Kirk Hammett and Orbital doing a collaboration.

You have a point here, WB. Searching the help threads is indeed difficult. However, the help threads have an advantage when compared to standard recommendation threads. They contain a vast amount of elaborated lists of unknown bands. Personally, I think that it's helpful to have these lists gathered in a specific space than searching for them all around the M-A forums. A sticky with these lists may solve most problems but something like that could be far-fetched.

I agree it's an extremely tough thing to tackle. But i feel a miscellaneous help thread defeats the purpose of the general thread itself. Will the Metal Forum simply turn into 6 subgenre help threads and 1 miscellaneous help thread?

Has anyone bought an X-Cops album? I hate GWAR but I was wondering if anyone has heard one of the side bands for some of those guys.

can someone recommend any metal Christmas-related albums? i already know X-mas Project and the Twisted Sister one. but since I'm making a compilation I wanna know more!

King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas demo

Trans-Siberian Orchestra apparently do a lot of Christmas stuff. Helix just put out an album called Heavy Mental Christmas. I don't know anything about either so if someone could let me know if they are worth listening to it would be appreciated.

I can't guarantee how good this one is, as I've never listened to it. All I know is it's Christmas themed: http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=176352

Hopefully that helps!

Trans Siberian's christmas albums are alright, although I personally don't like their debut. Lost Christmas Eve and Christmas Attic are both respectfully decent, however.

There's no metal to be found on that album.

Another Christmas album that I haven't heard yet.

We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year

It has Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, Chuck Billy, Tim 'Ripper' Owens, Geoff Tate, and Dug Pinnick. And that is just the singers! Take a look at the instrument side and you will find the likes of Bob and Bruce Kulick, Billy F. Gibbons, Dave Grohl, Vinnie Appice, Tony Iommi, George Lynch, Billy Sheehan, Tracii Guns, and Greg Bissonette, among others.

I recommend that one purely on the title and cover. Even if it's just a piece if metal nostalgia, it's good to have in a collection.

Just don't get the Twisted Sister christmas album, I hear its awful

Just as long as it's not as bad as that Hear 'n Aid single.

Hmm.. I actually though Hear n Aid was cool as an 80's thing.

My question though is about Metalpocalypse. I want to buy a CD of them and I am wondering if it can be recommended as a decent buy for under $14.
Doesn't that guy with the fu manchu look like Åkerfeldt?

Heavy metal Christmas albums are mostly good for a novelty listen anyways. It isn't really what I would describe as awful just not very good. The exception is "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" done to the tune of "We're not Gonna Take It." Puts a smile on my face for sure.

On "We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year" "Run Rudolph Run" sung by Lemmy and Alice Cooper's "Santa Claws is Coming to Town" are pretty fun. Chuck Billy doing "Silent Night" in his stupid pseudo death growl on the other hand is unlistenable.

That's what the forum is for, lolz.

I bid on the whammy bar from Alexi Laiho's LTD used from a NY show. It last stood at $177 but it sold an hour later for 200. Does that seem like a reasonable price?

I'm looking for metal covers of the Europe's final countdown only one ive heard so far is northers. What other bands have covered this song?

Off the top of my head, I know that Dispatched and Vision Divine both did covers of it. Other wise, search for "final countdown" under song title on MA. It appears 10 or so have done it.

I've found something good to use as the cover of your compilation . Print that up and put it in a nice jewel case, and give it to your nanna for christmas!