Victor Augusto’s (Not Quite a) Mix Tape

Victor Augusto’s (Not Quite a) Mix Tape
By Victor Augusto

Hello, my Ever friends who spend (waste) valuable time reading all of my nonsense words here. Today I won’t talk about nostalgia, because the topic to be debated is not exactly a thing that I miss, but it was important in my life for a few years. The cassette tapes, or K7 as we used to call them in Brazil.

I know that the tape trade had its importance in years when it was the only way to exchange information and music. Here in Brazil, many bands did it during the 80s, and they could achieve good results with that. In my case, I entered this world of listening to music when LPs were starting to lose space to CDs, in the early 90s. 

I didn’t use it to create Mix Tapes as we do with playlists nowadays, but I used it to save songs that I couldn’t have on CD. I lived for six years in a poor neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It happened between 1997 and 2003. At that time, access to new releases was almost impossible if the band didn’t have a major label around them, such as Iron Maiden had in EMI. There were a few CD stores that imported material from Europe and the US, but it was so expensive that I couldn’t afford it. 

So, when a great friend appeared with a new album, we immediately grabbed a K7 to copy the album or the songs we enjoyed the most. 

Considering my low budget during this time, I had it as an option for years.

There is one specific tape I will mention, I recorded in 1996, 2 months before I moved from Brasília to Rio de Janeiro (in this poor place). It is made mostly of songs from the first band that made me love Heavy Metal. 

By the way, I stole the title article from my friend and reviewer Laura Barnes, considering it is not exactly a Mix Tape. I hope you have fun!

SIDE A:

01 – Manowar – Wheels of Fire

Ok! I know that Manowar is as famous as controversial, but let me remind you that I’m talking about a tape recorded by me, back in 1996, when I was just 12 years old, without any information about the band. I remember how this album “Kings of Metal” hit me when a friend of my older brother brought it to our home.  

Manowar CDs weren’t so hard to find, but it was possible only in very specific CD stores, dedicated only to Heavy Metal stuff. Other mainstream bands, such Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden, we could easily find in any store. So, I immediately recorded the songs I loved the most. 

This track I enjoyed because it is fast and brutal, and later I ended up becoming a fan of this kind of music, more specifically in the Thrash Metal style.

02 – Manowar – Heart of Steel. 

Still about the same album, but this time with an epic song. I believe this song is the only one that brings me nostalgia and strong memories from my childhood. Every time I hear this song, I clearly remember myself holding my younger brother in my arms, in the backseat of an old blue Volkswagen Brasília* when I was 12 and he was a 3-month-old baby. I was listening to it on a Walkman, while my mother was driving at night. The safety in the nineties here in Brazil was very weird, but we all survived it. 

The song itself is very beautiful, and Eric Adams shows why he is one of the best singers in the world, even today, when he is more than 70 years old. He gives a masterclass about interpretation.

* Volkswagen Brasília is a car that I believe Volkswagen only did in Brazil, in honor of our capital that carries the same name.

03 – Manowar – The Crown and the Ring (Lament Of the Kings)

Another epic song by Manowar. Only the church organ and a choir, while Eric Adams (again) gives his masterclass about singing. It was completely new to me, and I decided to put on my “Mixtape”.

04 – Manowar – Sting of the Bumblebee

If you are a true Manowar fan, born with a heart of steel (maybe balls too) who drinks the blood of your enemies with your breakfast, you probably stopped to watch the Valkyries flying to spell a few cursed words over me right now. Why am I saying it? The answer is because I changed the order of the album’s songs on my mixtape. Why did I do it? I have no clue.

What really matters is how impressed I was with Joey DeMaio playing this version of it on his bass. It is an iconic song rearranged to DeMaio’s bass unique world, which nowadays I can feel all the cliches around it.

05 – Cannibal Corpse – Stripped, Raped and Strangled

Are you surprised by this sudden change from Manowar to Cannibal Corpse? I still get surprised until today, so I can imagine that you are all feeling the same way. Again, I have no idea why I chose this song to be here. I just remember there was space for more songs there, and I remember someone listening to this ‘love ballad’ from Cannibal Corpse, and I decided to put it there mainly by the powerful guitar work on intro. 

At that time, I was a fan of Classic Heavy Metal, but I was already enjoying a little Slayer and Brujeria stuff. It was the seed of all brutal stuff. I became a fan later, but let me highlight that I was lucky to have zero knowledge about English when I recorded this tape, and so did my mother. I don’t think she would allow me to listen to this song if she knew what the name of the song means. 

06 – Ozzy Osbourne – Over The Mountain

To finish the side A of my tape, I had space for one more song, and I confess I can’t remember how this album appeared for me, considering I was never such a huge fan of Ozzy in his solo career. What I clearly remember is myself cleaning the bathroom on a Saturday morning while listening to this song.

And when I say cleaning the bathroom, I don’t mean I drank too much to make it dirty, it means that in my healthy and lovely family, kids must clean the house when they are 12 years old. Do you remember when I said that things in the nineties were a bit weird?

SIDE B:

1 – Manowar – Thor (The Powerhead)

Again, another album that wasn’t so easy to find to buy, and someone brought it to our house was “Sign if the Hammer” from 1984. This time, I couldn’t pay proper attention, and I grabbed a few songs that I thought were great in the first listening session.

Maybe the recording production sounded a bit raw and old for me, after listening to “Kings of Metal”, which has way better recording production, but it is still one of my favorite albums from the band. 

2 – Manowar – Sign of the Hammer

Another powerful track that caught my attention on a first listen. At this time, Manowar used to have tons of epic songs that sometimes could sound a bit repetitive. For me, it was like great hymns for many years.

3- Manowar – The Oath

This one is indeed a Side B from the band. Probably they barely played it live, but my older brother has a unique way of making your life a hell when he loved a song, and he wanted you to love it as well. 

Someday, I will tell you about his “Bullying Collection,” which is formed by songs that he put on repeat mode to let the same song play for 24 hours.

Guess what? He loves this one and stayed hours saying that I must include this one too…He repeated the song 6 times or more to convince me… I put it as a way to say “ok! You win! I Give up!”.

4 – Manowar  – Thunderpick

Just an intro for the next one, played only by bass, which I love. Again, nowadays I see it as a cliche from Joey DeMaio, who is the main songwriter in the band. 

5 – Manowar – Guyana (Cult of the Damned)

I had no idea why I put this song on my mixtape. I mean, it’s a cool track, but it is not even close to being my favorite one.

6 – Manowar – Mountains.

Ahh…Mountains!!! Again, I say sorry for the true Manowar fans that I mentioned their balls…oops… heart before. I put it out of the album’s order, as the final one of my tape, because ‘Mountains’ is one of the songs I love most in my life. It is a calm and beautiful song. 

Maybe I’m being repetitive, but it is impossible to not mention how Eric Adams shows his versatility of singing beautifully in calm moments, also in aggressive moments with his high range notes. 

That is it my friends. This tape stayed with me from 1996 until 2003 and helped me to overcome those harsh years from my life. After that I moved back from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília, but the MP3 era was around me and I didn’t listen to this tape anymore. I don’t know where this tape is exactly nowadays, but it is probably safely well stocked at my mother’s house into some dust box.

I don’t have Spotify, so I will post a YouTube playlist here.

Disclaimer: This article is solely the property of Victor Augusto and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this article, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.