The Ember Tide - self-titled (1999)

Cost: $2.50

This was a distro purchase, and while it was described as death metal with no additional descriptors, I was a tad skeptical...The band name sounds rather atmospheric or avant-garde, and the cover art just screams "progressive band."  It's even distributed by Warhead, who have slapped their logo on some really disappointing Australian stuff, mostly of the overly-modernized sounding variety.  However, it is indeed death metal, and after a Rambo: First Blood Part II intro, starts off quite furiously.  Final track "No Will" has slightly thrashier guitarwork compared to the other two songs.  Dual vocal styles are used (death grunts and also raspier vox); this works fine, but they don't really provide all that much contrast.  If I hadn't read the lineup info I would have just assumed it was the same guy doing both.

 

The band certainly doesn't overstay their welcome as the whole thing lasts a mere 10 minutes.  Not a hidden gem, but solid stuff and worth snagging if you can also find it on the cheap.  By the way, Japanophiles take note: Monkey Magic lineup pics and Demon City Shinjuku audio clip also contained within.

The Mother of All Tribute Albums (1998)

Cost: Don't exactly remember, either 10¢ or 25¢

Got this at a pawn shop's going-out-of-business sale, hence the cheap price.  Christian artists doing covers, including a couple of white metal bands.  Not being familiar with some of the songs, I tried to give the originals I didn't know a brief sampling, which generally wasn't a great idea.

1. Tourniquet - Dogman (King's X)

Don't like the original or the cover either, for that matter.  They did succeed in making the main riff much heavier (the guitars are tuned even lower than the original), but that's about it.

2. Doug Pinnick - I Will Follow (U2)

King's X guy.  U2.  Zzz.

3. Echo Hollow - Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)

Guy Ritter and Gary Lenaire's post-Tourniquet band.  Haven't heard anything else of the band but they're supposed to play metal.  This is not a metal version.  I'm no U2 fan, and this pales in comparison to the original.

4. Spy Glass Blue - Song To My Parents (Keith Green)

I had never heard any of Keith Green's actual music before, I just knew him as late-'70s-bearded-Christian-music-guy-who-died-in-a-plane-crash.  The cover translates the piano melody of the original to electric guitar pretty well.

5. Reflescent Tide - Hold Me Jesus (Rich Mullins)

Well then.

6. Justin Fox - Do It For Love (The 77's)

Moving on now.

7. Paul Roraback - 2112 Overture (Rush)

Feels like it's missing a little something that can only come from the '70s.  Still excellent, though.  Best track on here.

8. Crimson Thorn - Loud 'N' Clear (Stryper)

In all seriousness, The Yellow and Black Attack EP has some great songs despite the lyrics.  I can even see how "Loud 'N' Clear" could have potential done in a more extreme manner, as thrash or death metal.  But this is just too unenergetic and cheap sounding for a serious cover.  It sort of works as a funny cover--I have to admit I laughed a little bit when the, uh, guitar solo started.

9. Guardian - C'mon Rock (Stryper)

Not terrible, but nowhere near the original.  Always thought it was odd these guys chose to cover the entire Stryper EP well after they had moved on from playing anything remotely metal.
  
10. The Channelsurfers - God Is Bigger (from Veggie Tales)

I found this interesting as a cover, but not as a song itself.  Very telling that a cover of a Christian kid's show song about how one shouldn't be afraid of monsters isn't the worst tune on the album.

11. Blackball - Message In A Bottle (The Police)

Decent attempt even though it kind of falls apart at the choruses.  Great bassline, and even though he doesn't sound too much like him, the singer nails Sting's cadence.

12. Atomic Opera - Water Grave (The Imperials)

I used to think these guys had released a metal album...I think I was mixing up their band name with Barren Cross' Atomic Arena album in my head.  Anyway, they do "Water Grave" as a somber acoustic number, very Collective Soul sounding.  Interesting take on it, though I like the Imperials version better.

13. One Bad Pig - Cosmic Cowboy (Barry McGuire)

Prior to this the only Barry McGuire song I knew was his most famous, the definitive version of the '60s protest song "Eve of Destruction."  The original "Cosmic Cowboy" is very weird, with almost spoken-word main vocals.  The cover unfortunately takes a more rocking approach--it loses a lot of the odd charm of the original, which the nice guitar solos don't make up for.

14. The Violet Burning - It's All Too Much (The Beatles)

In contrast to the previous song, this one actually captures the weirdness of the original quite well, albeit with inferior vocals.

15. Larry Norman - Jesus Freak (DC Talk)

...That should wrap up this post.

Tapping the Vein - The Damage (2002)

Cost: $1.00

This CD is available for trade.

Found this in a pretty good-sized haul...Not knowing what it was, I picked it up solely because it was on Nuclear Blast.  The band mix rock and electronica and hold no interest for me, so straight to the trade stack for this one.  I have no reason to badmouth their music because they are not metal or attempting to be, but let's put it this way--this album makes Lacuna Coil look heavy by comparison.

Kryoburn - Enigmatic Existence (2005)

Cost: $3.00

The main point of reference here is Demanufacture/Obsolete-era Fear Factory.  They don't get as mechanical-sounding and inorganic as Fear Factory does, but it's still very much industrial metal, which is a definite turnoff in my case.  Furthermore, any slight preference I might have had for them is eliminated by the clean vocal sections they occasionally throw in, which seem more fitting for a metalcore band.

Extreme Brutal Terror - Voice of Demon (2008)

Cost: $3.00

Although the price qualifies it for the blog, I hadn't really planned on doing a post about this, but there are absolutely no reviews or decent descriptions of the music anywhere else online.  Following the standard set by the band name and album title, the CD layout is ultra-generic, and provides no information on the band whatsoever.  Metal-archives lists them as being from Sweden, and distro/shop descriptions mention EBT having members from Scariot, Satyricon, and Grave...I'm assuming Daniel Olaisen was involved in this band, in which case the Satyricon mention is a stretch.

The band plays melodic death/black, but the EP seems like it's divided into two slightly different halves.  Vocals across the entire thing are raspy BM-style, with deeper backing vocals.  The first 3 tracks use keyboards and have more BM influence, though death metal is the dominant genre in the mix.  The death metal component is generally more melodic, but at times there are very contemporary Scandinavian DM riffs that are not very Gothenburg inspired (and certainly not in the vein of classic Swedish DM, either).  The last 3 tracks drop the keys and are straight-up melodic death metal, with the vocals providing the only black metal element.  The drums throughout the CD have an oddly inorganic, overly precise sound, so I'm pretty sure it's a drum machine or sampled drums.  Not terribly off-putting, but it doesn't do the music any favors.

Worth what I paid and better than what the crappy cover/layout may indicate, but nothing exceptional, especially for a style overrun with too many bands.

Acetylene - Elements of Insanity (2000)

Okay thrash, but the vocals really drag this down.  The main vocals are a sort of clean, rhythmic talking with through-a-megaphone type distortion added.  I cannot think of a single metal band offhand that has ever used anything like this as primary vocals, and stylistically the closest thing that comes to mind are less aggressive Rage Against the Machine vocals.  Barf.  If that wasn't enough, the singer does the whole schizophrenic bit and will quickly alternate the aforementioned vocals with screechy ones.  They fit the music a tad better, but largely come off as being too forced.  Occasionally when doing them, the singer will inadvertently slip into sounding a bit like Gary's high vox from Blood Feast or Blaine from The Accüsed, but it never lasts for more than a line or two.  Growly death metal vocals--which ironically end up being the most natural sounding vox on the album--are also used in a few spots, and these work better than the other vocal styles.

Musically, there's nothing particularly old school here, but most of the negative elements of post-'80s thrash are avoided.  This makes the strange vocal styles even more bewildering, as one would expect to find them in an overly modern band.  Acoustic guitars are used sparingly for intros and in the final instrumental track, and on rare occasion (usually to accompany the aforementioned growling vocals) the band will briefly hit death metal velocity (such as the beginning of "Reality Decays").

My Ruin - The Shape of Things to Come... (2003)

Cost: $1.00

I was a bit pissed off after getting this EP because I was familiar with the band and used to have one of their full albums, but no warning signals went off in my brain at all when I saw this.  There was a vague familiarity with the band name which I couldn't place, but I saw the Century Media logo and the mention of a Plasmatics cover so I passed it off as some gothic metal act.  Now, honestly, since this was only a buck, I would have still bought it just because of the Plasmatics cover, but I was still disappointed I failed to recognize this as Tairrie B.'s latest project.

I find her history as a female rapper to be hilarious on a personal level, but ultimately, I don't care too much.  I remember Manhole and Turu Satana from ads in mid '90s 'zine(s) (Pit, I believe?), and I thought they were terrible aggro bands regardless of whether you took her rap career into account or not.  My Ruin continues this trend with female Anselmo-wannabe vocals over an uninteresting groovy alterna"metal" base.  Coupled with this are cringeworthy ham-fisted (pun intended) lyrics about female self-image acceptance.  If there was ever a band for angsty ostracized fat girls, this is it.  The cover of "Sex Junkie" is musically okay, but whereas the original had a very snotty punk vibe, the ultra-forced vocals just steamroll over what little worth is here.

The Holy Mountain - Entrails (2005)

Cost: $1.00

Of course I automatically associate the band name with Sleep.  Even though it was pretty obvious what this was going to be given the other stuff I found with it and that it was released on No Idea, I still held on to a faint hope that it would end up being more metallic.  Things didn't work out that way, but this isn't bad for what it is.  Certainly in a d-beat vein, although I'd say they're not as crusty as some of the other Dis-bands, adding in touches of classic US hardcore instead.