Phil Hall (Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse): Six Songs To Die With

We have neither the budget nor the imagination of BBC Radio, so we've borrowed from their Desert Island Discs program to bring you our own scaled down version, dubbed Six Songs To Die With. We ask a noteworthy musical guest to select the six songs they'd be stranded with on an obligatory desert island. Hypothetically, said guest will be dying on this island, so they've been advised to choose wisely. Selections appear in no particular order.

Philip "Landphil" Hall is a busy guy. When he's not playing playing bass for thrash stars Municipal Waste, he's fronting marijuana-themed death metallers Cannabis Corpse. And if he does manage to carve out some free time, he spends much of it playing guitar for up-and-coming crossover outfit Iron Reagan. As if he didn't have enough to do, we asked Hall to participate in our Six Songs To Die With feature.

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Cannibal Corpse

"Staring Through The Eyes Of The Dead"

Phil Hall: This song was the first death metal song I ever heard. I can remember the moment I put on my friend's headphones and pressed play on his cassette Walkman. The first riff on that song melted my brain. The entire Bleeding record by Cannibal Corpse is fantastic. Obviously, I am a huge fan of their work. I think that magic happened on this album. Anyone that likes extreme metal in any way needs to listen to this record immediately.

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Trouble

"Psalm 9"

Phil Hall: Trouble is a band that gets overlooked sometimes when people talk about classic doom metal. This album by Trouble has grown to be one of my favorites of all time. The vocals and guitar riffs are so creative and cool. I saw that Trouble went on tour with King Diamond back in the day and that blows my mind. Guitar tone nerds out there take note, this album has the best sounding guitars ever recorded.

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Judas Priest

"Sinner"

Phil Hall: This song has everything, how could you top this as an opening jam on your record? I love the natural sound of this recording. Halford's writing and performance is totally stellar. I sometimes wonder how they came up with such amazing songs. I bet when this album dropped all the headbangers out there shit their pants. The solos are so well done and not overcooked. I don't think there will ever be another band as good as the band jamming on this album.

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Suffocation

"Jesus Wept"

Phil Hall: Now this is a brutal death metal song! It just steps on the gas and doesn't let up. That opening riff makes me want to smash everything around me; I feel like the attitude on this song is so pulverizing and extreme. The Suffocation style blast beat sounds like a 50 foot tall giant stomping humans into paste.

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Mayhem

"Funeral Fog"

Phil Hall: 'De Mysteriis...' is a great album, everything sounds so dark on the recording. It is an album that will live forever because of the history surrounding it. I feel like this is black metal done right. It's not overly melodic and has a very distinct atmosphere. Attila has to be given credit for being so original here with his vocals and lyrics.

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Unleashed

"Warmachine"

Phil Hall: This song is perfect for its simplicity and toughness. I think Unleashed write some great tunes. I love any band that is not afraid to just write a cool riff and rock out instead of trying to overcook everything. Sometimes I think that some people have a weird idea that metal is supposed to have a million riffs in one song and constantly be assaulting the listener with musical curve balls, but that can get really old fast. Unleashed sticks to writing cool hooks and staying tough as nails.