Integrity - Seasons in the Size of Days (1997)

Cost: $1.00

Someone actually gave me a promo version of this album as a freebie around the time it came out, and I remember getting rid of it without even bothering to listen to it since it was a Victory Records release (heh heh).  I've heard a little bit of their stuff in passing, but I never really checked them out...One thing that sort of surprised me...they weren't a super obscure band by any means, I knew they had at least some metallic influences, and lyrically they sometimes covered some pretty esoteric and untypical-for-HC topics, including the occult...Yet I didn't really see them mentioned much all that much compared to other punk and HC bands, even by guys who like both metal and HC. 

This is a little better than I thought it would be.  The metal-to-hardcore ratio varies in each song, but the vocals are pretty much the cincher that make this HC...With different vox, this could ostensibly be called thrash.  Most interesting is that I'd heard before about how Integrity sounds like Slayer, and sort of dismissed it as someone just using Slayer to represent a generic metallic sound.  But lo and behold, "Season Decided Fate" opens and closes with a fast riff that is indeed very reminiscent of "Reign in Blood" material.  Otherwise, I wasn't specifically reminded of Slayer at any point.  Should also add that actual Integrity songs make up less than half of the play time on the CD...The last 27+ min. track has long sections of the Guyana "death tape" (supposedly the final recording of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple cult members as they were preparing to commit mass suicide) with tribal style percussion played over them.

Mars on Earth - Mars on Earth (2001)

Cost: Free

I got this as a freebie in an order, and initially set it aside, thinking that based on the cover it was a non-metal Red Stream release ala Koan or Nightmare Lodge.  I finally look it up months later and am alerted to the fact that it may be a metal release.

For some reason I had a strong notion in my head that this would sound like either Red Harvest or Oxiplegatz.  Nope.  Metal-archives labels this as "industrial black metal," which I think is misleading, as it doesn't really have the percussion-heavy and inorganic feeling normally associated with industrialized metal.  The first intro track is pure ambient, but what follows is black metal punctuated with spacey electronics.  Imagine a harsh-vocalled black metal band with symphonic elements.  Put ambient/electronica in there to replace the keyboards/orchestral effects, and you're getting close.  

This turned out to be a nice little surprise...It's not destined to be a favorite of mine, but it beats Darkthrone emulation any day.  The ambient/electronic influence lends a unique atmosphere but it never overpowers the black metal, and being just a mCD, it doesn't wear out its welcome.

Dokken - Dysfunctional (1995)

Cost: $1.00

This was Dokken's comeback album (well, for everyone outside of Japan, at least).  Some songs, particularly on the first half of the album, have a '70s rock influence ("What Price" goes back even further, as some of the vocals reminded me of Jim Morrison a bit in their delivery).  Most of what's left sounds like a modernized continuation of their '80s output, with '90s production sensibilities and darker musical/lyrical themes replacing some of the hair band cliches.  Some songs can be pretty heavy (see "What Price" again) and there's a general sense of heaviness in places, but face it, a lot of time had passed...The metallic edge of the first album is long, long gone, putting this out of my league.  George Lynch was always one of Dokken's biggest assets, but the only time he really shines is the short intro to "Long Way Home," which is a bit reminiscent of "Mr. Scary." 

Gotta love the updated look of the band members...Mick Brown in particular looks unrecognizable from his former long-haired self, it didn't even register that he participated on this album until reading the liner notes.

Piranah - New World Disorder (1996)

Cost: $2.99

This wasn't a great find, although for thrash I thought it was better than what the release year might initially imply.  A lot of the common modern thrash/post-thrash pitfalls are present here...Speed is completely sacrificed for groove, as the songs rarely exceed a mid-paced tempo.  The majority of the vocals are in a style similar to later James Hetfield, which wouldn't have been so bad except that they sometimes slip into an overly aggro mode.  Other than the vocals, the music didn't seem overly forced even for its more modern style, so it did come off better than the typical Pantera/Machine Head crap.