“Faith No More. Good girl.”
“Angel Dust,” she said, dropping into her recliner, next to mine.
“Great album.”
“I knew you’d approve.”
“Yeah. This may be the one album we actually agree on across the board…”
“We agree on a lot of albums. Don’t be a dick.”
She was right about that.
She turned it up as I passed her the joint. Summer was a serious audiophile. She had the motherfucking insane Wilson Alexandria XLF speakers, the six-foot towers in sleek white. They’d set her back a quarter-million dollars, which meant that besides her house and her Benz, most of her net worth was sank into these speakers.
And she still left a house key in an old coffee can under the bushes in her side yard, for her friends.
One of the reasons I loved Summer.
She was fucking crazy like that.
For a few years now, we’d been doing these “vortex” meetings whenever we could. Just the two of us. We’d listen to one album on vinyl, front to back. Analyze. Discuss. These past six months, we’d been doing it monthly.
Usually, we got baked while we did it, like we did now.
And usually the rule was no talking while the music was on. We’d discuss afterwards. Summer even took notes.
This time, she had no notebook in her lap, no pen.
And somewhere in the middle of the album, she turned the music down a little and started talking.
“One of the best metal albums of all time. Agree or disagree?”
“You’re talking,” I said, rolling my head toward her. “That’s against house rules.”
“Tell me this isn’t one of the best metal albums of all time, and I’ll turn it back up.”
“I’ll give it top twenty.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “See? Tell me what you hear.”
“Besides you talking? Everything. This album is psychotic.”
“In the best way. Like a fucking carnival on acid, right?”
“Good way to describe it.”
We listened some more, and then she turned the music down another notch. “It’s heavy. It’s melodic. It’s all over the fucking place, and it works. The production quality is fantastic. They’ve got heavy keys and sampling, which you know I love. And Mike Patton. Swoon.”
“You and Mike Patton.”
“Name me one other metal vocalist who can do what Mike Patton does, technically,andmakes you want tolistenlike that.”
“Rob Halford. 1984.Defenders of the Faith.” It was my favorite Judas Priest album, and Halford, on that album, was the greatest metal vocalist of all time. If you asked me.
“You and Rob Halford.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll give you Halford. But in my mind, Patton is king.”
“Uh-huh. Pretty sure Elvis is king.”
