Radical Research Podcast

This band is a major cog in the engine that powers us. We’ve said that about Voivod, King Crimson, and Arcturus, and will add Watchtower as a major ingredient of what compels Radical Research. Formed in 1982 by four maniacs whose handle on their instruments was far beyond their years, and with record collections spanning speedy heavy metal as well as wild prog rock and jazz fusion, Watchtower made perhaps the largest impact of any metal band with a mere two full-length albums to their credit. Listen in wonder right along with us, because we’re still trying to figure it all out!

Note I:
Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod

Note II:
The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Music cited in order of appearance:
“Meltdown” (Cottage Cheese From the Lips of Death compilation, 1984)
“Tyrants in Distress” (Energetic Disassembly, 1985)
“Energetic Disassembly” (Energetic Disassembly, 1985)
“Cimmerian Shadows” (Energetic Disassembly, 1985)
“The Eldritch” (Instruments of Random Murder demo, 1987)
“Mayday in Kiev” (Control and Resistance, 1989)
“Control and Resistance” (Control and Resistance, 1989)
“Life Cycles” (Control and Resistance, 1989)
“Coming Home” (Scott Jeffreys audition, 1990)
“Technology Inaction” (Concepts of Math: Book One, 2016)

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

It has taken light years of travel, but we’ve finally reached Arcturus. For our 140th episode, Radical Research dives into the catalog of one of Norway’s longest-running institutions. Over the course of five full-length albums and a clutch of odds and sods, Arcturus has defined and redefined the possibilities of experimental heavy metal. This episode goes all-in, exploring the entire body of work of this beacon of Norweird.

Note I:
We wondered who released the second Arcturus album, La Masquerade Infernale, in the US, and it turns out, no one did until 5 years after its initial release (Candlelight Records, 2002).

Note II:
Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is finally available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod

Note III:
The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Note IV:
we touched on Arcturus in these episodes, if you’re wanting more on these legends:
Episode 76: Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg Outside the Wolfpack
https://www.radicalresearch.org/episode-76-ulvers-kristoffer-rygg-outside-the-wolf-pack/Episode 79: Simen Hestnaes aka ICS Vortex – 25 Years of Agility and Quirk
https://www.radicalresearch.org/episode-79-simen-hestnaes-aka-ics-vortex-25-years-of-agility-and-quirk/

Music cited in order of appearance:
“My Angel” (My Angel 7”, 1991)
“Morax” (My Angel 7”, 1991)
“Icebound Streams and Vapours Gray” (Constellation EP, 1994)
“Naar Kulda Taar” (Constellation EP, 1994)
“To Thou Who Dwellest in the Night” (Aspera Hiems Symfonia, 1996)
“Du Nordavind” (Aspera Hiems Symfonia, 1996)
“Master of Disguise” (La Masquerade Infernale, 1997)
“Ad Astra” (La Masquerade Infernale, 1997)
“Deception Genesis” (Disguised Masters, 1999)
“Kinetic” (The Sham Mirrors, 2002)
“For To End Yet Again” (The Sham Mirrors, 2002)
“Evacuation Code Deciphered” (Sideshow Symphonies, 2005)
“Hufsa” (Sideshow Symphonies, 2005)
“Angst” (Arcturian, 2015)
“Demon” (Arcturian, 2015)
“The Journey” (Arcturian, 2015)

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

When we first announced this episode several weeks back, we received several queries from listeners all around the globe who phrased their questions similarly: "Realm? The Milwaukee Realm?": Oh yeah, freaks, the one and only. Near and dear to our hearts, as with other Wisconsin RR favorites Die Kreuzen and Last Crack, this one-hour and 14-minute episode explores, expounds and exhorts the mighty Realm…the Milwaukee one!

Note I:
NO JOKE: if you can identify another Wisconsin band referenced in the description above, and explain the reference, RR will send you a Norweird prize package of CDs by Arcturus, Fleurety, Solefald, and Virus. Contact us if you decipher the code…

Note II:
We forgot to mention “Dick”! We had a blast recording this episode and listening back to the great Realm. And we turned over a lot of stones, but left this one unturned: “Dick”! It’s a song on Suiciety, and it’s easily the worst idea on either of the Realm albums. In fact, it’s the only truly lamentable moment. And really, it’s only the horrid chorus the ruins things. It’s an M.O.D.-wanna-be, and…well, it should be self-explanatory why it’s lame. Otherwise: HAIL REALM.

Note III:
Finally, after years of toil, Jeff’s Voivod book is finally available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth…ONLY available in the US HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod European distribution is here, please visit: https://rekviem.no/en-us/products/always-moving-the-strange-multiverse-of-voivod-book-preorder

Note IV:
The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast

Music cited in order of appearance:
“Second Coming” (Perceptive Incentive demo, 1985)
“The Temple” (Final Solution demo, 1987)
“Endless War” (Endless War, 1988)
“Slay the Oppressor” (Endless War, 1988)
“Root of Evil” (Endless War, 1988)
“Eleanor Rigby” (Endless War, 1988)
“All Heads Will Turn to the Hunt” (Endless War, 1988)
“Cain Rose Up (Scream Bloody Murder)” (Suiciety, 1990)
“Fragile Earth” (Suiciety, 1990)
“Energetic Discontent” (Suiciety, 1990)
“The Brainchild” (Suiciety, 1990)
“La Flamme’s Theory” (Suiciety, 1990)
“One More Red Nightmare” (demo, 1992)

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

This short episode is one that Jeff has been promising Hunter we’d get to eventually…and we finally did. Herein, Hunter is granted 12 minutes to make a case for this lost and mostly-forgotten ‘90s alterna-metal album, 'Dead to the World' by West Virginia's Chum.

Music cited in order of appearance:
“Stepping on Cracks” (Dead to the World, 1996)
“Greetings (From the Inner Self)” (Dead to the World, 1996)
“Angels in the Snow” (Dead to the World, 1996)

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

“And she became a completely different woman…” With that line, Italy’s Monumentum sums up the Radical Research Christmas spirit circa 2025. Supernatural hokum or divine prophecy told by madmen? Either way, screw all this shopping nonsense and screw your reason for the season: this 1995 album by one of the most enigmatic of all Italian enigmas blasts a blasphemous light on everything sacred. And we, here, right now, at the end of a year that began in torture, shine a light. We don’t celebrate anniversaries -- not of the musings of Mammarella & company nor of the birth of the bastard child. Still, we acknowledge the 30 years this uncanny album has sustained us in a way no other can.

Note I:
Jeff’s Voivod book, 'Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,' is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth...Available HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod

Note II:
The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast
Thank you to Rob Kachluba and Joe for recent donations!

Note III:
Any mention of John Norum and the Monumentum song “Terra Mater Ofranorum” are purely coincidental.

Music cited in order of appearance:
all snippets taken from Monumentum, In Absentia Christii (1995), except where noted
Visage, “Fade to Grey” (Visage, 1980)
“Battesimo: Nero Opaco”
“A Thousand Breathing Crosses”
“Consuming Jerusalem”
“Fade to Grey”
“On Perspective of Spiritual Catharsis”
“Σελυνης αγγελος”
“From These Wounds”
“Terra Mater Ofranorum”
“Nephtali”
“La Noia”

Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.