Hey everyone!

So for the month of February it was really difficult to really figure out and find what I felt should be our "Retro Album of The Month". With so many great metal albums out there the choice is difficult so usually I just go with something that I have been listening to quite a bit over the last month or so. So this month we re-visit Jag Panzer's "Casting The Stones". Jag Panzer is a killer metal band hailing from right here in the USA and in a sense they have quietly gone almost un-noticed here in the USA. However this is a great band, and has been for years and I am happy to do a spotlight on them this month.

With every band out there all of us or at least most of us have that one iconic album that we think of first everytime you think of that band or someone brings them up. For example, when someone brings up Iron Maiden I always think of Powerslave, or if someone brings up Firewind I always think of the "Allegiance" album. You get the point of course. Casting the Stones by Jag Panzer is one such album and I will go as far as to say this is my favorite album that they have ever put out. I know they just reissued a lot of early stuff and many of you would love me to revisit albums such as Chain of Command or Ample Destruction. Maybe I will in the future but honestly when listening to this album the past month it was quite easy for me as a fan to pick it for the retro album of the month.

I remember it like yesterday........when Casting the Stones came out it ended up getting a lot of terrible reviews. I couldn't understand why at the time. Hell if you check out the couple of interviews I have done with Mark Briody of Jag Panzer he had a hard time figuring out why people didn't like it. Songs like "The Mission" and many other songs on the album for example have become some of my favorite Jag Panzer tracks ever recorded. In fact even to this day many metal fans read give this album a bad rap in many reviews online. . In the years I have done my radio show I have never had anyone say anything bad about this album in either calling me in the studio or writing me online. Luckily, I am not one who listens or cares much about people's music reviews, since music is so subjective there is absolutely no reason to not judge for myself first.

I will say this, if you hated this album at first, go back and give it a listen, if you have never heard this album before definitely give it a listen. This is one of those classic records that has never really received much recognition but totally should have. I would put this one in my top 100 albums of all time and it deserves no less than that!

-Tony Webster 2/27/2013

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