Skull Ash Trays

As I will always say before and always, travel is a natural trait amongst Metalheads. Think about it for a minute, the very first Metalheads, the Vikings, were known for being long distance voyagers, but why? For starters, they were looking for things, like food, clothing, jewelry and knickknacks. The modern Metalhead is not very different than their ancient Scandinavian predecessors, as we travel to look for foods we typically don't eat (Rock N Roll Ribs, Heavy Burger), clothing (The many shops and stores in Europe and their festivals), jewelry (let's be frank, the aforementioned stores have it) and knickknacks (Let's just go with the Haribo candy we typically don't find in the USA. I know, this should go under food, but still).

Todays find takes us to the recent Iced Earth 2012 Florida Tour I and some awesome friends embarked on. Introducing the Skull Ash Trays.


While filling up on some gas at a local Broward county Circle K, my travel buddy Alex Flores (of Sinistre Division) brought to my attention this porcelain of steel greatness, and needless to say, it definitely is a kick ass way of putting down your cigarettes while engaging in a conversation about Metal albums and hot chicks.


My personal favorite of the batch would be the square one with the Black Skull Iron Cross, as aside from one of my favorite symbols being emblazed on it, it also has black skull with wings on it.


I'm not a smoker at all, but I will be the first to admit that if I was, I'd definitely pick up one of these and have those conversations about Metal albums and hot chicks. Definitely recommended.

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Ed Beard Jr. Bookmarks

Reading. The stereotype of Metal fans is that we don't know how to read (like our Dreadnok counterparts in G.I. Joe, which we happen to look like us as well =D), but the cold reality is that we have a much more heavier sense of words than most plebeians can not comprehend nor appreciate. If you look at Metal albums, they are a classic literature nutcase wet dream, with stories that were either forgotten or lost to history, or in the case of modern schools, just not important enough to warrant due to the upcoming weekend at Bernies.

Aside from the lyrics of Metal albums, there are books Legions are known for harvesting for information, stimulation, or inspiration, and while the usual suspects comb the walls of a Metalhaeds bookshelf (Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, Run to the Hills: Iron Maiden - The Authorized Biography, White Line Fever), there are others that is a mandatory diet for the modern day Scandinavian Warrior (Lord of the Rings, Edgar Allan Poe, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, The hundreds of Viking Mythology books available today).

There's just one problem... With all the books we read, how do we keep track of the pages if we are fighting multiple manuscript fronts if all we have to mark such pages are yin-yang/Asian dragon/animal bookmarks (nothing wrong with these designs, they just don't have the "it" factor when it comes to being Metal). That's where Ed Beard Jr's bookmarks comes into the foray of keeping your place while making it Metal as an Iron Bath.


These were picked during my Iced Earth 2012 Florida Tour renaissance festival leg of the tour. I saw them at a booth that had the exact same art in portraits and other items. They also had other works of art that belong in a Metalheads adobe.

First up is the toothpick dragon. As you see, a sense of humor is needed to understand what is going on in this bookmark.

Next is the Wolf and Dragon howling at the moon. If you wanted 2 creatures that represent Metal in a unified glory, this is it.


Finally, and probably the most Metal of the 3 bookmarks I procured, is the horseman with his steed. To say this piece of art belongs on a Metal album would be stating the obvious.

Now I ask, what will you be reading tonight? Make sure to have that bookmark handy in case you have a last minute date that needs your attention.

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