The Metal Crusade Staff:

K. Dan Robinson
President
Jane Schuldiner
Secretary
Chris Steele
Photographer
Stagie Krupa
Art Direction
Heidi B Schomroo
B. McCLust
Mail Room

© 1995 DEATH, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The Metal Crusade is a quarterly newsletter printed, published and distributed by Death, Inc. No part of this newsletter is allowed to be reprinted in part or in whole without the express permission granted by the publisher.

Metalic greetings to all around the world! So, you got a chance to hear DEATH's new release 'Symbolic'? What did you think? There have also been some cool interviews with DEATH in magazines like GUITAR WORLD, METAL HAMMER, RIP, ROCK BRIGADE, MODERN DRUMMER, KERRANG... and did you see "The Philosopher" guitar and bass transcription in the March issue of GUITAR SCHOOL? Just what a lot of you guys and - even some ladies- were asking for! Send in some album reviews of your own, we'd love to read them! Who knows, maybe yours will be printed in the next newsletter.

Newsletter #5 is coming out a lot later than you might have expected. With the band on the road, it was difficult at times to get in touch with them for interviews and approvals. We wanted to include full coverage on the "FULL OF HATE EASTER FESTIVALS" in Europe, as well as including the U.S. tour coverage. Thanks for waiting. And while we're on the subject of newsletters, we would like to let you know about our new policy regarding memberships. Everyone will always receive 4 (four) newsletters per membership. It may be a little longer than a year as we put out newsletters when we can pack it with info. So, we will let you know -by sending you a blue slip- when your membership is complete. It will never be less than one year.

In this issue, we not only have first hand coverage of the Full of Hate Festivals and the U.S. leg of the world tour, but also the winners of the DINNER WITH DEATH Contest and an autographed picture of Bobby Koelble, DEATH's new shredder guitarist, a SYMBOLIC tour sticker, and updated merchandise catalogue with special offers and coupons. For new members, you will get a membership card signed by one of the guys in DEATH. And if you've been around for a while, you will get a BLUE renewal slip to renew your membership with the Metal Crusade. Send it in soon to renew your membership on time.

Death returned from "The FULL of Hate" Easter Festivals that traveled through Europe in April. The band reported they had a great time with the bands that accompanied them and seeing the fans, especially many Metal Crusade members who brought their membership cards to the gig for autographs...

GENE'S METALLIC JOURNAL

April 11 Orlando, Fla. USA... DEPARTURE
Crazy day but we got to the Orlando Airport smoothly. We were to hook up with the other two-thirds of our crew. "The Kommandants of Flamboyancy" otherwise know as "Uncle Danny" (guitars and jokes) and "Evil Steve" (drums and overal 'godliness') in Washington D.C. We already had Kommandant #3, our sound man, Paul. When we touched down in D.C. we found our crew and proceeded to party! Hazy flight to Amsterdam from there though. We wanted to pass out on the plane, because we knew we were arriving at 8AM Amsterdam time and our schedules were gonna be completely wrecked!

April 13 Amsterdam... "PARADISO"
The first show. It's always the 'hairiest' one in Europe, and today was no different. We met all the other bands who joined us for the festival -Unleashed, Grave, Hate Squad. Everybody's ruling! Our good friends, Gorefest are also with us. This is going to be completely wild! MTV showed up to tape the show for 'Headbangers Ball Europe'. The show went all right. Everything was raging! I'm playing in Doc Martens now, and boy, let me tell ya, they ain't no tennis shoes! Big blocks of cement are more like it! I don't know if I can do this. I'll keep ya posted!

April 14 Belgium Vosselaar... "GEMEENTEHAL"
Well, I guess we're in Belgium now. It's before sound check and I've just met our catering crew for the rest of the tour. Linda, Ann and Helen. These ladies will hold our guts in their hands for the next two weeks. Please don't kill us!... see ya later.

(post show) Good gig! Had fun. Loads more comfortable! I downsized my kit today. Thank God Pearl Drums kicked down a couple of extra toms, so I could play around with the configurations. Belgium is killer. Good crowd and everyone seemed to have fun. Before the show, someone handed me a note. It's Chris from Machine Head, wishing us luck. Rulin'! Chris is killer. Gotta write him one back. That's one cool thing about touring. Hookin' up with buddies. Dressing room walls are great places to communicate with pals who are also on tour... "Hey CARCASS! See you soon!", "Yo CANNIBAL dudes! DEATH says, what's up?" you know that sort of thing... to be continued...

Chuck: Nevermore was one of my main choices I had in mind. I felt they would be very refreshing seeing that they have a killer melodie and heavy approach, both musically and vocally. I think Warrels vocals were shredding live! I thought touring with these guys added variety to all the shows.

Chuck: Nevermore was a really cool band to tour with. Their music not only ruled but also as people they were great to hang out with. They really crushed every night and I feel they deserve a lot more recognition by the press. Jeff Loomis is the guitarist who played all the guitars on the album and is a total shredder. Check these guys out if you get the chance.

Chuck: California in general was a killer place with a great response. The clubs were packed! It was really cool seeing some people we had not seen for a while also. While in the Bay area we ran into the dudes from Forbidden and Machine Head and had a great time walking around in San Francisco eating bagels and pizza!
Bobby: Hard to choose... Rimouski and Montreal, Arlington, Minneapolis, Detroit, all of California, Albuquerque and Baton Rouge stick out in my mind as being real sick.
Brian: All of California. The crowds were sick and people were really into the music. That's what it's all about.

Brian: Those guys suck, forget them! (just kidding-again)... We have a CD coming out when I get home called "Till Someone Loses An Eye". It's our third independent release and it's gonna crush. I'd like to thank my band for not freaking out that I went on tour with DEATH. Touring with DEATH was a great chance to spread our demos all over the world. Our contact addres is:
Pain Principle, 1212 Asbury Ave. Orlando, Florida, 32803

Chuck: Actually a couple of non-music related things... going into Seattle we had a three day drive with no showers! Luckily, on the third day we came upon a river in the middle of nowhere and jumped in and went swimming for a couple of hours. It was a shower compliment of Mother Nature!... Also, our bus driver, Rod, found a little puppy for his kid and we got to have it for the rest of the tour!

Bobby: I got one... our support act Nevermore, who are awesome guys, got into a lot of 'shenanigans' with us. The best was when Warrel (vocalist) fell asleep leaning against the trailer. Their roadie, Joel, moved the van and trailer and Warrels hair got caught in the axle which pulled him under the trailer which ran over his legs. It was their first night on tour with us and he had to go onstage with a can for the whole next week of shows!

Chuck: For me it is leaving my family and my two dogs and two cats. Family is so important and on tour it can get pretty lonely at times. For some people it does not phase them but for me, it's leaving the people I love that is tough. It really makes me feel grateful for the things and people back home.

Chuck: nothing overly exiting. I wake up around 11:00, go into the venue in search of a place to brush my teeth, search for a place to eat breakfast or lunch. After that, it's time for sound check. We do a few tunes and then all try to find showers and get a bite of dinner. Then, the waiting begins. That part is a drag. Then it's show time -which is killer... then off to a new city.

Chuck: Thinking.

Bobby: "Damn, its'over already."

Chuck: I really can't do much writing on tour. I really need to be alone to be at one with the music. I prefer to be at home in my studio where the atmosphere is perfect. And same goes for the lyrics. Distractions on tour are just too much.

Matt Rosin was chosen the lucky winner of the "DINNER WITH DEATH" Contest for the U.S. leg of the tour. He and his friend, Ben, joined DEATH in Houston, Texas where they are with the band, hung out at the gig and got t-shirts that evening. Here's the scoop in Matt's own words.. He writes...

"My Near DEATH Experience"
It all started out when my friend Ben and I showed up at the club, "The Abyss" at about 7:00 pm. The staff at the club didn't know much other then I was supposed to get in free and be allowed to take pictures. They suggested I go to the tour bus. After waiting around for a little while, we finally found someone to let us in.

After everyone was ready, we walked across the street to this Mexican restaurant and we all ate a hearty dinner. Bobby had some interesting ideas about things to do to scare people in the bathroom... I think we scared some customers in the restaurant... Oh well... After dinner, we went back to the tour bus, along the way being apporached by numerous autograph seekers... for Chuck, not me. We hung out with the band and crew on the bus for at least two had a half hours, getting some autographs and pictures, along with some cool, informative and interesting conversation.

I'd tell ya. The BIOHAZZARD dues sure get creative with their backstage artwork. i've seen complete murals on some of these dressing room walls where we've both played!

April 15 Trier "EUROPAHALLE"
Today, people back home in the U.S. are going crazy paying taxes, and here we are messin' around in Europe! Today also begins about 8 or 9 shows in Germany. It should prove interesting. See ya after the show...

I met a whole load of cool people today! All sorts of killer fans but especially Nica an Jason a couple of American kids whose folks are in the service. They bought me a bottle of Apfel Korn (Apple Corn), an absolutely rulling booze from Germany, so yeah, got a bit tispy. They had a few friends with them and we all just hung out all day and had fun.

April 16 Munich TERMINAL 1
This venue was crazy! It was a terminal of an old airport! We played this place two years ago, but I just learned today that this was the airport from the movie "Goodfellows" -which was a true story! Godly! "Goodfellows" is one of my favorite flicks! The show went killer! Man, Bobby (who is the first guy to get sick out here) and Kelly are shreddin'. The both are completely ruling and I'm glad they're with us! Each show is getting tighter, as we knew it would, and we're quickly becoming a well-oiled machine. "Yield while we Wield", dammit!... Poor Bobby is sick as a dog though. This was not a slamming crowd. It was a headbanging one! There was this huge cable running front the stage to the mixing board out front, thereby preventing a pit, so everybody banged! We went to a Rave after the show...Trippy.

April 17 Stuttgart LONGHORN
Ah, the Longhorn. A gigantic German country western bar. Go figure. I switched back to tennis shoes on stage. Those boots might be made for walkin', but not for drummin'! Hell, I'll get back into 'em, I just gotta get back into touring first. I made my first major screw-up on stage tonight. I read the set list wrong and started playing "In Human Form" instead of "Zero Tolerance" Thank god it started off with drums, so I kinda faked like I knew what I was doing. We were laughing about it after the show and Chuck said, "Wow, I was thinking to myself, "Bonus! Gene's wielding a drum solo!" Yeah right. Gene was wielding a big pile of stupidity!

April 19 Nurnberg ALABAMA
Well, how do I put this? History has shown me that Nurnberg, Germany is the one place on this planet that just happens to be a bad luck place for me. To make a long story short, some dude in his brand new VENOM shirt decides he doesn't like us, so he moves right in front of Chuck and proceeds to flip him off. Hell, that happens, but this is Nurnberg, so it looked like it was time to do some "regulating" from the stage. We don't care if you hate us, but if you decide to throw something at us -like this guy was about to do, I will personally kill you.

Review a Death show in your area or write a review of "Symbolic". Keep it short, consice and objective. We will be printing some of them in an upcoming newsletter. Send them to The Metal Crusade, attention: review. remember to include your name and address and info legibly. They are due in by the end of the tour in you country.

If you own any video coverage of the band or anything to do with Death, send it in with a label on the video tape with your name and address. One guy sent in a video of a Halloween pumkin he carved one year... an actual Death logo right into the pumpkin! It was killer... what a die-hard fan! So if you have any creative ideas, we'd love to see 'em! You might see yours as a part of the Death home video!