It started in 1973, the year he was born and, incidentally, the year of Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. But if we’re really being honest, it started in 1982 when an older kid down the street gave Chris a tape that had, wedged between The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” and Gary Numan’s “Cars” a little song called “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne. All aboard, indeed…

From Ozzy he travelled to the Sunset Strip, hitting the power and glam and hair bands in their prime, subsisting on a steady diet of Mötley Crüe, Ratt, and dozens of others when not paying oblations at the British altars of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Then came 1986 and Master of Puppets and everything changed again, as does when you’re a kid and everything is new and the past and present make no difference as long as it’s loud and fast. His love of metal survived the grunge explosion, survived his numerous forays into rap, “alternative” (as they called it in the 90s), and college experimentation with jazz. It even survived his girlfriend and eventual wife, whose love of U2 and the Monkees probably influenced him as much as anything with a blast beat.

Since 2001 it’s only gotten faster, heavier, and more varied. Having a kid didn’t stop it; reaching (and passing) 40 only made it worse. When he’s not cramped in his office listening to metal and writing for Nine Circles, Chris is cramped in his office, recording music as Necrolytic Goat Converter, FirstForgiveness, and probably a few more bands by the time you read this. He has no tattoos, but he naps quite a bit.

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You can follow Chris on Twitter (@cmvoss042) or Instagram (@cmvoss), where he will likely be doing his best to tweet positive things as he strives to be something better than he is.  To be honest, he fails more than he succeeds…