Very High Frequencies

VHF-268 (The Sisters Of Mercy) is packed with B-sides and album deep cuts and covers. Rather than emphasizing the huge radio and dance floor hits that are perhaps a bit overplayed, Not Dead Yet Mike has dug up some obscure Sisters tracks from The Reptile House EP and other lesser known b-sides from their early singles. BBC cuts “Jolene” and “Good Things” demonstrate the unusual dark humor that was not always understood by critics and fans alike. Andrew Eldrith might have been a comedian in another life. But thankfully he was determined to learn how to program a succession of drum machines (Dr. Avalanche) and, according to him, pretty much play all the instruments in the studio.  With three studio albums and a compilation of early tracks released the band chose to no longer release any of their new music. The various live incarnations of The Sisters Of Mercy perform dozens of unreleased tracks as they continue to tour despite not releasing any new material since 1993.  VHF -268 (The Sisters Of Mercy) shows off some of the amazingly good deep cuts the band released. From 1980 to 1993 they created a body of work that deserves to be heard and recognized for its unique sound and perspective. Blast up the volume and tune in, turn on and burn out with this week’s Very High Frequencies.

VHF-266 (High On Fire) features selections from a half dozen of the nine albums the long running metal band out of Oakland, California has released. Since 1998 Matt Pike has been busy with his three piece outfit as guitarist and vocalist. Matt also plays guitar for legendary stoner band, Sleep.  Inspired by Motörhead, High On Fire may initially seem one dimensional but this episode should prove that is not the case. Occasional instrumental tracks create a fantastical mood and recent work has been dabbling in Eastern scales for a change of pace. Lyrics are way out there, aliens, messiahs and intergalactic time travel all get shout outs.  Not Dead Yet Mike has chosen a few tracks off of mostly the most recent half dozen High On Fire albums. They very well may blow your mind or blow your speakers! Have a fire extinguisher on the ready because VHF-266 (High On Fire) is burning up!

VHF-265 (Alice Cooper - 2025) blasts a bunch of brand new Alice Cooper tracks from the new album, The Revenge Of Alice Cooper. After 52 years Alice has made a full length album with the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group, Dennis Dunaway, bass, Neil Smith, drums and Michael Bruce on guitar.  In honor of this momentous occasion Not Dead Yet Mike has chosen a handful of new songs to play alongside songs from the band’s original run. We’re checking out the big hit albums like Billion Dollar Babies and Schools Out as well as a few bad trip tunes from the Frank Zappa era, prior to Bob Ezrin producing.  We’re also going to rock out with a couple pre- Alice Cooper songs that highlight the future potential of the young musicians. Early bands The Spiders and The Nazz were building blocks that would help create what would become Alice Cooper.  Creepy stuff from Killer, Love It To Death, and Muscle Of Love round out the show. The new album, The Revenge Of Alice Cooper, is amazingly good and the new tracks flow nicely with the late Sixties and early Seventies material.  Crack open a cold one and turn up the volume for a great legendary American band that has put out a new album after 52 years. The Revenge Of Alice Cooper even features the late guitarist Glen Buxton on a new song from some old recording that was discovered.  VHF-265 (Alice Cooper - 2025) combines some of the best songs from the original band alongside a choice selection of brand new songs.

VHF-264 (Type O Negative) is packed with the Goth metal legend’s repartee. Friend of the show Todd has recently been enjoying the band’s music so Not Dead Yet Mike has done a whole episode of everyone’s favorite Type O Negative tunes. Radio hit songs like Everything Dies, Black No. 1, and My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend helps keep the show rocking hard. We also have a six pack of cover songs. Sabbath is interpreted - not surprisingly - but some less expected bands and artists get the Type O treatment as well. Deep Purple, Seals & Croft, The Beatles, Neil Young and Santana all are represented.  Rounding out the show are some deep cuts from all of their studio albums that demonstrate the range in styles and subject matter that they explored. Tracks such as Creepy Green Light, World Coming Down and Dead Again make quite an impression. This episode is meant to showcase their unique style for friend of the show Todd but also for you on VHF-264 (Type O Negative).

VHF-263 (Down) samples the New Orleans, Louisiana band’s heavy metal music. Led by Pantera’s vocalist Phil Anselmo, the super-group consists of members of Corrosion Of Conformity, Eyehategod, & Crowbar. The music is inspired by the bands that were inspired by Black Sabbath. Groups like Trouble, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General. Expect guitar riffs and no apologies. Doom and gloom lyrics help the medicine go down. Phil has a lot to say about life and death and other deep subjects like drug addiction as well as a few stoner metal songs about smoking weed.  Down has 3 full length studio albums and 2 EP’s make up their fourth album. Not Dead Yet Mike has pulled a few of his favorite tracks from each of them for this week’s heavy episode featuring the hugely popular super-group. It’s a New Orleans party and you’re invited!

VHF-262 (Acid Bath & Dax Riggs) checks out the highly influential Louisiana Sludge metal band Acid Bath.  Amazingly after nearly 30 years the surviving members of the band have recently reformed and are currently touring the country to sell out shows.  Very High Frequencies also samples a few solo albums and related projects by Acid Bath vocalist Dax Riggs.  Acid Bath released only two full length albums in their history, 1994’s When The Kite String Pops and 1996’s Paegan Terrorism Tactics. Featuring provocative artwork by a notorious serial killer (John Wayne Gacy) and suicide machine proponent Dr Jack Kevorkian, the intent was to make a lasting impression. The music is a melting pot of various heavy musical genres, mixed throughout a song. Goth, industrial, death, hardcore, psychedelic, blues and punk are all touched on. Dax Riggs often sings in a Roy Orbison like high. Guttural grunts are fairly common too, so there’s an interesting range within the vocals and the music. Dark lyrics often mention graves and dead people, bones and drugs get a shout out too. It’s bad trip psychedelia devil mojo but with a melodic layer that keeps you bopping along for the ride.  Dax Riggs solo music is less abrasive but still creepy. A little more akin to Roky Erickson than say Johnny Cash. Lyrics are very imaginative often involving devils and angels or demons and ghosts.  Very High Frequencies 262 is a heavy episode featuring highly influential band Acid Bath as well as tracks by their vocalist, Dax Riggs, examining a few of his solo albums. Acid Bath are so fondly remembered by their fans from the nineties that they are packing venues on their headlining tour with High On Fire and Windhand. Be sure to see them live if you can!

VHF-261 (Jethro Tull) explores the well known UK prog rockers as they navigated through the late seventies and early eighties. Ian Anderson attempted to hip up the band a bit and sing some songs about the modern world. We check out 1979’s ecological themed album, Stormwatch. 1980’s “A” album was originally planned on being Ian Anderson’s first solo album. Record label interference prevented that from happening. Young electric violinist Eddie Jobson added a new sound to an old band. The Broadsword and The Beast came out in 1982. Sonically a heavy album by Tull standards, some critics accused the band of going heavy metal! Hardly so, but Not Dead Yet Mike always lets the listener decide; is it new wave Tull? Or vocoder prog perhaps. Led Zeppelin mastermind Jimmy Page famously referred to the band as “Jethro Dull”. Was his harsh assessment accurate or is this era of the band some of its strongest? Find out on VHF-261 (Jethro Tull). 

VHF-260 (Ozzy) is a show Not Dead Yet Mike didn’t wish to make. On Tuesday, July 22, 2025 the universe said goodbye to John Michael Osbourne, the Prince Of Darkness himself. While Ozzy seemed immortal we now must acknowledge his passing. It seems fitting that we blast a bunch of his songs, both solo and with Black Sabbath. With a limited amount of time NDY Mike picked out just one Sabbath track from each album. Of course that means a lot of great songs didn’t make it to this week’s episode. The first and second Ozzy solo albums get a little more attention than most. Randy Rhodes deserves the extra time. We certainly aren’t making a greatest hits show here, don’t expect the ballads and the over played like Paranoid and Iron Man. It’s heavy music from beginning to end. As we try to accept a world without an Ozzy let’s remember him through some of the amazing music he made on this Very High Frequencies, episode 260.

VHF-259 (Neil Young & Crazy Horse - The Catalyst Club 2/07/84 ) captures the Horse in a small venue in Santa Cruz, Ca. The band was in the midst of trying to record a new studio album. Neil wasn’t happy with the way the drums sounded, he wanted the big ‘80’s drum sound he heard on the radio. Frustrated, the band let loose in the live setting.  Neil Young biographer Jimmy McDonough raves about the shows in Shakey. “The band might’ve been intimidated by Young’s tinkering in the studio, but live, they delivered the goods. This was the wildest, most unhinged music the Horse would make anytime in the ‘80’s… easily the best NY record since Rust”  Interestingly the band never released the studio album from 1984. It was a complete bust. Neil went country in ‘85. So a bunch of these live songs performed at the Catalyst never were officially released as studio tracks. Neil has some insight about bootlegs in Jimmy’s book. “…Bootlegs? It doesn’t bother me. I don’t give a shit. I think for an artist like me they are essential. There’s just no way the record company’s gonna accept as many records as I would like to give them.” Check out VHF-259 and determine for yourself whether or not this rocking episode is essential. Not Dead Yet Mike thinks it is!

VHF-258 (Delerium) is a two hour trip through the long running Electronica project’s catalog. Created by Front Line Assembly main man Bill Leeb as a side project for ambient music it slowly morphed into a very club friendly sound. Occasionally Rhys Fulber has collaborated on Delerium tracks (as well as FLA). Guest vocals are often featured. Sarah McLachlan had a very big hit with the Delerium song Silence. It has been remixed a number of times over the years so it has had a long shelf life. Another notable Delerium song featuring Kristy Thirsk, Flowers Become Screens, also proved popular on the dance floor and has multiple remixes featuring a slew of DJ’s.  Delerium is not only two songs as Very High Frequencies demonstrates. Some of the other guest vocalists include the Mediaeval Babes, Jael, Rani, Julie Cruise, Kristy Hawkshaw, and Emily Haines. There are also a lot of samples of vocals and chants adding another layer to the audio.  Delerium may be the Yin to Front Line Assembly’s Yang. VHF-258 (Delerium) will definitely put you in a euphoric mood on this week’s episode. 

Very High Frequencies examines Skinny Puppy spin off project Download on this week’s episode. VHF-257 features tracks from seventeen different releases.   The band took its name from the Skinny Puppy song of the same name that concludes 1992’s Last Rights album. Noisy and long, it’s not easy listening by any means. The personification of a bad trip perhaps, an audio nightmare that haunts the listener. As the foundation for the Download brand the song actually represents the most extreme music that the band put out.  The band initially was a way for cEvin Key and Dwyane Rudolph Goettel to release their music that Ogre chose not to utilize for Skinny Puppy. Sadly after two albums and an EP Dwyane died from a heroin overdose in 1996. In 1997 cEvin recruited Phil Western as a musical collaborator in Download. At this time the band often created lighter dance or club oriented music. Big bass predominated and occasionally adding vocals or samples for a groove heavy mix. What constitutes a Download song can vary depending on what era it was released.  The story of Download unfortunately ends with yet another fatal drug overdose, in 2019 just as Unknown Room was released Phil Western tragically and unexpectedly died. Alongside cEvin, DRG and Phil’s music lives on. We are celebrating the music by Download and the musicians that created it on VHF-257 (Download). 

VHF-255 (Celtic Frost) presents the Zurich, Switzerland extreme metal band covering nearly all of their albums and EP’s except for their lost album, Cold Lake.  Initially straightforward thrash metal not too far removed from early Metallica, the band would quickly explore symphonic arrangements and female vocals. Tom G. Warrior has said he was heavily influenced by the first wave of American death rock and its English pale cousin, Goth. Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Sisters Of Mercy and especially Rozz Williams and his band Christian Death. Into The Pandemonium from 1987 sounds very inspired by Christian Death. That’s not to suggest the band was not original. The group’s sound evolved into its own unique style. Even when Celtic Frost covered a song they made it their own. Very High Frequencies features a whole set of cover tracks and they will certainly surprise the uninitiated. Heavy metal Heroes?!! From thrash metal to symphonic goth and much more, expect to be impressed by the quality of music Celtic Frost put out. Now only if Not Dead Yet Mike could find a copy of notorious “lost” album, Cold Lake. Get educated about an important band that is also highly influential on VHF-255 (Celtic Frost).

VHF-254 (Skinny Puppy) is a chronicle of the Canadian electro industrial outfit’s evolution in sound. Starting off with 1984 EP Remission, Not Dead Yet Mike selects two tracks from all of their official studio albums, concluding with 2013’s Weapon album.  Initially analog recording was the only option. Sampling from film and television hadn’t gotten prohibitively expensive. In fact, it was apparently often “free”. So some early SP songs had a bunch of quotes from all of your favorite movies and TV shows. By 1990’s Too Dark Park digital recording had become the norm. Sampling movie and television snippets became a pariah to the record labels that didn’t need the legal hassles and costs that had also become prevalent. As the sound of SP evolved so did Ogre’s vocal style. The early processed vocals slowly morphed into clean vocals. 1992’s Last Rights features all clean vocals that are actually sung.  From an evolutionary standpoint it’s not surprising that the biggest change in the bands sound occurred after keyboardist Dwayne Goettel passed away in 1996. In 2004 cEvin Key & Ogre reformed the band and put out The Greater Wrong Of The Right. It was a mellower affair. The lyrics were less bleak as well. Glitchy and highly processed music with an underlying groove. Still cool, but different too. The Skinny Puppy comeback lasted for four additional studio albums and a lot of touring. Not Dead Yet Mike will demonstrate the evolution of Skinny Puppy this week on Very High Frequencies. Can you Dig It?!!!

VHF-253 (Peter Murphy) manages to feature a track off of very nearly every studio album that the prolific singer and songwriter has released. Very High Frequencies highlights Peter’s new album, Silver Shade, produced by Killing Joke’s Youth. Beyond the new album tracks expect some favorites from solo albums as well as Bauhaus and Dali’s Car.  Not Dead Yet Mike also packed in a set of covers that show some of the UK artist’s inspirations. From Eno to Iggy, we have Magazine and Ziggy. A Fun Time indeed! As for deep cuts the song The Ghost of Shokan Lake (Youth mix) from the Lion Remixes EP is not to be missed and belongs on your next Halloween mix. BBC cut Poison Pen is a non studio album track by Bauhaus that’s a drug induced nightmare that should be a cautionary tale for anyone who’s dabbling with Dr. D.    Expect the big hits too. It’s not all obscurities and b-sides. This episode is jam packed with alternative music icon Peter Murphy. 

VHF-252 (Black Mountain) celebrates the Canadian psychedelic rock band. Not Dead Yet Mike handpicked  highlights culled from their twenty plus years long catalog.  Black Mountain just released an EP called Oscillated Pasts: Volume One. We’re checking out a couple tracks from that as well as some movie soundtrack tunes and even a cover song by Black Sabbath that is not called Paranoid. Somehow we also managed to get a song or two from all of their excellent studio albums. Perhaps Bright Lights, an epic live track from  Roadburn festival will demonstrate that the band can most definitely duplicate their music in the live setting. If you have the chance check them out live. This episode of Very High Frequencies is for all the space cadets and individuals seeking a truly psychedelic band performing audio based magical incantations. The world is a better place thanks to  Black Mountain, it’s as simple as that.