Tattoo the Earth: The First Crusade compilation (2000)

Cost: $1.00

I paid $1 solely for the live version of Slayer's "Chemical Warfare."  Yeah, there are newish Slayer/Sepultura songs and a Nashville Pussy track, but who cares?  This is similar in concept and excecution to the Ozzfest compilations (i.e., filled with nu-crap and rock) and just as terrible.

Rosanna's Raiders - Clothed in Fire (1989)

Cost: $1.00

I originally saw this in the regular racks and even debated buying it (thinking it was rarer than it was), but I'm glad I waited until it was marked down.  Their debut was a little heavier, but they're very much hard rock here.  It's good for what it is, but even an extremely lax classification of heavy metal wouldn't apply to most of this material.  The vocals remind me a bit of Ann Wilson (during Heart's '80s/early '90s stuff) or Ann Boelyn's clean '80s vox. 

El Diablo Ninos - Into the Night (1999)

Cost: $1.00

Date: Aug. 30, 2014

As you can tell from the blog, I don't have a great track record with independent releases.  If something looks like it has a chance of being metal, I will generally buy it to be on the safe side.  Since these are bargain bin discs, taking a chance is no big deal, but let's be honest--most of the time blind purchases end up being disappointments.  This on the other hand, was a total victory.

I will say the silly band name made me hesitate a little even though the layout (in all its pixelated, photoshopped glory) and songtitles looked promising.  I was worried this would just be hard rock, but nope--solid Sabbath and Maiden (especially in the first song) inspired straightforward heavy metal.  I have no problem with the vocals, but they're in a style I would associate more with doom metal, rather than typical traditional HM vox.