Black Sheep - Sacrifice (1999)

Cost: Around $2

"Love's Not Enuff?"  "Someone Like U?"  "Love Warrior?"  "Which Side R/U On?"  It's hard to be optimistic when 3 songs sound like Prince song titles and the only grammatically correct one has "love" in it.  Yet, the disc itself has a "100% American Metal" disclaimer...

I can't recall for sure if I'd heard of the band before, but I had a vague notion of reading about them in some article or forum post about '80s metal bands with black members.  For some reason Sound Barrier came to mind when I saw this disc, and sure enough, frontman Willie Basse did do a project with one of the Sound Barrier guys, so I'm thinking I did read about them somewhere before.  Black Sheep previously released an '85 LP with a young and uncredited Paul Gilbert playing guitar on some of the tracks.

Half of the mini-CD songs dabble in more commercial, rock-based stuff--not all that interesting for me--but the others pleasantly surprised me and delivered real heavy metal. The two best tracks are re-recordings of tunes originally on that '85 album.  "Love's Not Enuff" and "Love Warrior" musically remind me of uptempo stuff from Dio/Martin era Sabbath.  I read a YouTube comment on one of the '85 songs mentioning that there was a Paul Stanley vibe to the vocals, which I can very much hear.

As for the two other tracks, the slower "Someone Like U" kills the energy of the opener and shows a more standard rock influence.  "Which Side Are R/U On," while heavy, is also unfortunately overly groovy and modern. Still, the two good tracks make this far better than I was expecting.

I should add as a personal point of interest that while researching the band for this post, I noticed Willie Basse played bass on the Ozz No Prisoners album (which often makes those internet "worst/silliest rock album cover" lists largely due to the rather, uh, flamboyant pose of the singer).

Farewell from the Gallows - Luck of the Draw (2012)

Cost: $1.00

There was little doubt this was going to be -core of some type (yes, yes, say what you want about dressing and expressing yourself however you want, but gauged ears and hipster looking members generally aren't a good sign if you're wanting to hear actual heavy metal), but I spent the buck as a precaution.  I was ultimately pissed off because the word "metal" is part of the band's facebook link...That helped push me towards buying this, especially since it was an indie release with no label info and no thanks list, but it was clearly false advertising.

I suppose this is best labeled as some type of post-hardcore--I hesitate to even call this metalcore.  They follow the typical formula of contrasting extreme and mellow material (both musically and vocally), but the disc is only EP-length, and they go a bit overboard with the clean vocalled melodic sections. I found nothing particularly compelling or interesting about the -core sections either.

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. 

Free the West Memphis 3 compilation (2000)

Cost: $1.00

Only reason I picked this up is that I saw Zeke covered Iron Maiden's "Wrathchild" on it (it's just an ok version, not great).  I don't care about Steve Earle, L7, Tom Waits, etc., so the majority of this tribute is of zero interest to me. The included cover songs may be the most interesting out of the lot, but aren't generally that good.  Nashville Pussy's "Highway to Hell" is only appealing due to the familiarity of the song, and Murder City Devils' version of The Misfits' "She" is phoned in.  Kelley Deal (the chick from The Breeders) does Pantera's "Fucking Hostile"--no love lost for the original, but I find most of these mellowed-out and female-vocaled trying-to-be-ironic deconstructions of aggressive music to be ridiculous.  My favorite track on the whole thing ended up being The Supersuckers' (with Eddie Vedder on vox) cover of X's "Poor Girl," which I even prefer to the original.

I'm hoping the Zeke cover shows up on something else so I can ditch this piece of crap.

The Second Coming: A Millennium Tribute to 80's Hard Rock/Heavy Metal (1999)

Cost: Don't remember, a buck or two

I do appreciate that this is called a tribute to hard rock AND heavy metal, as typically glam and hair bands are casually lumped in together with metal.

As the cover helpfully points out, the hammy and cliche-ridden liner notes are by Martin Popoff (though to be fair, I doubt this was a priority project for him). 

1. American Dog - Under the Blade (Twisted Sister)

I quote: "featuring true rock dudes from Salty Dog and Dangerous Toys."  Except it's only one dude (see how crappy those liner notes are?), who was a touring bassist for Dangerous Toys.  Decent cover.  The vocals aren't bad per se, but they seem kind of unenthused and lack the sneer of the original.

2. Cage - Freewheel Burning (Judas Priest)

Solid, straightforward cover.

3. Southern Rock Allstars - Don't Believe A Word (Thin Lizzy)

The cover clearly says '80s, but this is the first of two '70s songs on here.  Great cover, but I can't decide if I really like the talkbox effects on the guitar or not.

4. Guttersluts - Welcome to the Jungle (Guns N' Roses)

Odd rendition.  The whispered/moaned vocals and the piano accentuations almost give it somewhat of a dark Type O Negative feel during the verses, even though as a whole it doesn't seem terribly gothic sounding.

5. Premonition - I Don't Know (Ozzy Osbourne)

Solid cover, and the Ozzy emulation is pretty darn close.

6. Straightjacket Smile - Photograph (Def Leppard)

Very good cover.  Not necessarily a negative, but the vocals are much less distinct than Joe Elliott's.

7. Wraith - Bang Your Head (Metal Health) (Quiet Riot)

Seems like an okay cover, though I'm not a huge fan of the original.

8. Salvo - Orgasmatron (Motörhead)

Industrialized cover.  The slower tempo could have made for an interesting take on this song, but unfortunately they made the poor choice of putting robotic effects on the vocals.

9. Tempered Steel - Revelations (Iron Maiden)

Yep, the old '80s band.  Decent cover.

10. Detox Darlings - Smash Alley (Faster Pussycat)

Musically okay, but lacks the riotous feel of the original, and despite all the jokes that can be made about the femininity of glam bands, the female lead vocals here just don't have the same amount of sleaziness.  This cover did make me realize how much the main riff sounds like a spy theme.

11. Black Widow - When Heaven Comes Down (Dokken)

This is the female-fronted Maryland band that released a couple of albums.  As with their original material, the vocalist has a strong voice but tends to oversing.  Instrumentally, don't really have anything bad to say about the cover, though Mr. Scary is the only post-debut Dokken I care about.

12. Red Hot - Kickstart My Heart (Mötley Crüe)

If the name wasn't a giveaway, apparently this is an actual Crüe cover band.  Considering that, this is pretty average.

13. O.C.D. - I Love The Dead (Alice Cooper)

Another '70s tune (the liner notes excuse it by noting Alice Cooper was best known in the '80s for "Poison").   Has a much funkier feel, and I agree with Popoff that, at least at the beginning, there's sort of a Butthole Surfers vibe (but then again, he calls O.C.D. "grind merchants").  At first I wasn't into this but the chorus is catchy enough where I rate it as an alright cover.

14. Mudbone - Wait (White Lion)

Not a fan of the original, but okay as a cover.  The guitar solo falls a little short and the vocals are whiny at times.

Medusa Oblongada - Medusa Oblongada (1995)

Cost: 25¢

I was expecting this to be more avant-garde than industrial (which I would have preferred).  This band was made up of members of (the then recently broken up) Viogression.  I do like Expound and Exhort, but this is a radical departure from that so it's pointless to make musical comparisons.

Metal-archives labels this as industrial thrash metal, which seems to be a fair general description, although the amount of industrial influence in the music varies a lot.  The guitarwork is pretty thrashy and at times the drumming is the only industrial element to the music, while they go full-on industrial metal in some places.  Many times there were sections where I thought I would be getting some relief from the industrial sound (beginning of "Galen," for example),  and then it comes back in full force.  The vocals are unfortunately either overly aggro or in the stereotypical industrial metal style with distortion added.

The Viogression/Medusa Oblongada musical trajectory reminds me a lot of Demented Ted/Beyond.  I liked both bands' death metal output but not their later industrialized material.  Their earlier sound had no hints of what they would experiment with later, and the industrial stuff doesn't carry any noticeable influences from their old sound.

Shredding Across the World Volume One compilation (2008)

Cost $1.00

As far as shred guitar stuff goes, I thought this was pleasant enough to listen to.  Despite being an indie release, the playing and compositional quality of the tracks overall is quite good.  More importantly, the majority of tracks are based in heavy metal style and guitar technique.  This makes it far more appealing than say, some of the later Shrapnel compilations that are just general guitar showmanship with a lot of proggy and jazzy stuff to wade through.  As to be expected, lots of neo-classical Yngwie worship on here.  Liked the Hitoshi Nakamura and Darin J. Moore tracks the best.

Frost Bite - Icy Hell (2009 reissue)

Cost: $2.99

This CD is available for trade.

This is Jack Frost's (of Seven Witches fame) old band, so I was expecting standard heavy or power metal.  Even the band photos (every member clad all in black with a leather jacket) didn't hint at anything amiss, but I found it very disappointing.

The combination of rocking sensibilities, commerciality, and overuse of balladish material here make it seem more like an '80s hair band record than a real heavy metal album.  They're not commercial in the typical glammy/sleazy L.A.-style metal way, but there are just some awful musical choices here..."Wish" and "Spotlight" brought Tesla to mind, and at the end of "2nd Time Around," the band suddenly switches the chorus to Sha-na-na-na-na, something that seems more appropriate for the Bay City Rollers.

Know how in the '80s, even smaller and more underground bands would generally put a ballad or an overly commercial/light/mellow/whatever-you-want-to-call-it track on a release?  Imagine a full-length made up of nothing but songs like that, and that approximates this release.  The kindest thing I can say about it is that it was released in 1994 but seems completely believable as an '80s recording.

I guess there was an older independent press which Locomotive used scans of for this reissue, because on the inside of the booklet, they neglected to crop out the original page edge and tab mark damage from a CD case.  So there are actually indentation marks printed onto the booklet, making the layout look cheap and rushed.

Rebellion: A Tribute to Queensrÿche (2000)

Cost: $1.00

Yes, as a Dwell Records tribute the bar isn't set that high to begin with, but what's with the especially awful layout?  It looks like something a gothic or industrial band would use.

 

This is a bit unusual for a Dwell metal tribute as the only extreme band here is Darkside, who do a doom/death version of "Someone Else?"  The other bands all pretty much do straight up covers, so I'm not going to bother doing a track-by-track review.  This is also one of the later Dwell tributes where the band lineup is pretty obscure--aside from Darkside I only knew Ion Vein and Shadowkeep.  Tracklist slightly favors Mindcrime I with 4 songs, but covers everything up to Promised Land with the exception of Rage for Order (which gets no coverage).  Moot point anyway since all I truly care about from Queensrÿche is the debut EP...

Dollar-bin finds

These are all from an early 2013 trip (didn't keep track of the exact date).

Geoff Tate - Geoff Tate
I picked this up (obviously) for the Queensrÿche associations, and yes, I was sort of expecting Queensrÿche-lite.  Also keep in mind, apart from the first EP (which I find excellent, but not exemplary), I don't find the notion of Queensrÿche to be terribly exciting.  Listening revealed it's very far removed from Queensrÿche.  I'm not going to crucify this album, but it may as well not exist, because it holds no meaning for me one way or the other.  Let me stress that there's no metal on here.  A few songs are darker in tone, but there's nothing even remotely heavy here by metal standards.  It's rock/pop with widely varying influences from electronic/trance to jazz--very mellow and inoffensive stuff.  The variety of sounds here don't automatically translate into progressive music, so apart from the total ballads, it's not that comparable to Queensrÿche's more mellow material.  Executed well but not in my realm of interest.

Lord Belial - Unholy Crusade
This is the first album by the band I've ever found, and I'm surprised it took so long.  Was even more surprised that this was the original No Fashion version, not the Metal Blade press.

Sceptic - Pathetic Being
Melodic technical death metal with (mostly) raspy vocals, though it wasn't as technical as I expected.  There's a very strong melodic death metal uncurrent here, and they don't really go full out into the realms of jazz influences or extremely freeform song structures.  Much of the riffing is quite reminiscent of later Death material.  The cover of Nocturnus' "Arctic Crypt" is at the respectable-quality-but-doesn't-even-compare-to-the-original level, and I feel the same way about it as I do for the whole album: lukewarm. 

Silent Civilian - Rebirth of the Temple
This didn't look like anything I would want, but I happened to look inside and noticed a Testament shirt on one of the band members (as it turns out, the guy from Spineshank), so I felt compelled to get it.  Standard metalcore.

Metal Meltdown compilation (1989)

Cost: $2.00

Rather than being a true compilation, this is a Pure Metal label budget sampler.  There are no full songs on here--each track has samples of a couple of songs interspersed with spoken word interview stuff.  The interviews (which are just the artists' answers) are mostly boring--just talk about who the bands are hoping to reach, how they're doing it, heavy metal imagery, and secular acceptance.  Nothing deep there.  Some of the inclusions are kind of surprising for a label called "Pure Metal":

Whitecross - I thought their earlier stuff was heavier than this.  The first song ("Because of Jesus") sounds like a Christian version of Ratt, and the second one is a ballad.

Scarlet Red - Female fronted glammy stuff.  Not all that heavy.

Tempest - Knew of them but never heard them.  Again, much lighter than I was expecting.  Point of interest: the interviewee thinks Mötley Crüe are trash.

Bride - The only worthwhile stuff out of the 5 USA-based bands on here.  Their tracks are from the "Live to Die" album.

One Bad Pig - Referred to by the narrator as "thrash punk."  Well, maybe there's some of that in the second song.  The first track is the silly genre mashup stuff they're known for, reminding me of something like Green Jelly with '80s gang choruses.  Not very interesting.

Jerusalem - I previously only knew these guys for their late '70s/early '80s hard rock stuff, but the late '80s material is much heavier than I expected.

Leviticus - Material from the "Setting Fire to the Earth" album (which is okay melodic metal, but I prefer their first 2 albums far more) and some Björn Stigsson solo material.

Lightforce - Easily the best band on here, which is no surprise, since "Mystical Thieves" was the best Pure Metal release.  I think Steve Rowe's interview here is the best one, too.

Rosanna's Raiders - As the name implies, female-fronted.  The material here is from their first album and I usually see that classified as hard rock, although I think it really straddles the fence between hard rock and melodic metal.

Logical Nonsense - "Soul Pollution" (1995) & "Expand the Hive" (1997)

Cost: $1.00 each

Didn't get these together--Soul Pollution (the original 1995 Tee Pee press) is actually from the August 25, 2012 haul, and Expand the Hive is from a June 22, 2013 haul (which I'm STILL working on the post for). 

Another case of I band I'd heard of but not heard.  I had the notion that they were thrashier/punkier/more crossoverish, but both albums are quite raging hardcore. I often see them compared to old Neurosis, and especially for Soul Pollution, that's not too far off.  I'm relatively satisfied since each disc was just a buck, but I can't deny I'm a bit disappointed these aren't more metallic, as I would probably be into them more. 

Was kinda surprised Soul Pollution was from '95, as the DIY-looking layout (and even the music to some extent) scream early '90s.  Expand the Hive has an unlisted outro track with the "weapons giveaway program" monologue from the movie Slacker.

Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky - Subhuman Empire (2007)

Cost: $1.00

Had heard OF these guys but had not actually heard them, and everything I had heard about them was always in reference to one of two things.  Either their name was (rightfully) mocked, or the mention of them being the new band of some Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus members. 

I was expecting some sort of metalcore drivel, but apart from the 2 humorously odd "The Proud American" interlude tracks, it's standard modern death/grind.  It's ok for what it is, but I didn't find it particularly interesting--I was just happy I hadn't thrown away my dollar.  Much like Job for a Cowboy, I'm not fond of their cutesy phrase name, as you expect the bands to be crap based on their unique but ultimately dumb sounding names.  As is the case here, the band names end up being more inventive than the music itself.

Blood Everywhere - Left for Dead (1996)

Cost: $1.00

This CD is available for trade.

This looked like it could go any number of ways musically, and I ended up taking a chance on it because there were three longhairs in the band.   

...And it's a miss.

It's groovy heavy rock (think less grungy Alice in Chains).  As if they wanted to decrease my interest even more, every single song has a section set aside, be it part of the chorus or a moshy part, where they throw in a short "aggressive" part with the ultra-forced, pissed-off aggro vocals.  I don't know how much appeal they'd even have to those more tolerant of the groovy modern metal trends that began in the '90s, as the music here really isn't metal.

Aeon Zen - The Face of the Unknown (2010)

Cost: $1.00

Each time I go to one particular CD shop, there's usually a single progressive metal CD of some sort in the bargain bin.  Whether I'm getting a stack of discs or just the one, the trend has kept up pretty regularly for a couple of years now, and this is one of the more recent finds.

Aeon Zen is essentially a solo project (one Rich Hinks plays all the instruments on the album, and is helped out by several guest vocalists).  Especially considering that, the music is rather layered and complex, and I think it easily holds it own against many prog. metal bands with full lineups.  So I'm not going to pretend that on a musical or compositional level this isn't impressive stuff.  The music is well-balanced for the most part, and never really goes off onto any unpleasant modern or strange tangents.  Things do get very melodic ala Dream Theater at times, but it's still very much a progressive METAL album, and there was enough heaviness to satisfy me.

Using guest vocalists was probably a good choice, as I thought the last four songs had the worst vocals (coincidentally these are the vocals with stronger English accents), and two of these have Rich himself singing.  His voice isn't terrible, but it's rather plain and better suited to busking than to progressive metal (I noticed there seem to be more prominent effects added to his own vocals compared to the other singers, too).  The other two are handled by Jonny Tatum of bands Timefall and Eumeria.  Again, it doesn't sound like he's an awful vocalist--he's better than Rich, at least, but his singing just didn't seem to be the best fit for the songs.

I can appreciate what's being done here, but that said, I'm not a huge, huge fan of most progressive metal.  This is not an album that changes my stance.

Punk Goes Metal compilation (2000)

Cost: $1.00

One of these.  Oh, goody.  Apparently the definition of metal here includes hair bands and hard rock:

1. Divit - Breakin' the Law (Judas Priest)

They wrote it as "breakin'," not me.  Music is pretty good even though they take some liberties with the song.  Vocals are kind of weak.

2. Jughead's Revenge - Talk Dirty To Me (Poison)

Vocals are relatively clean.  Would have been interesting to seen this done with snotty punk vocals.  Pretty straightforward, but lacks the glammy sleaze and fun of the original.

3. AFI - My Michelle (Guns N' Roses)

Lacks the grit and rawness of the original, both musically and (especially) vocally.

4. Bigwig - War Ensemble (Slayer)

Actually very good!  Apart from a diversion in the middle, they play it pretty straight up.

5. A New Found Glory - Heaven Isn't To Far Away (Warrant)

Again, their spelling error, not mine.  Pop-punk version that's at least a change of pace from the sappy original.

6. Strung Out - Bark At The Moon (Ozzy Osbourne)

Okay as a punkier version.

7. The Ataris - I Remember You (Skid Row)

Again, while I don't necessarily like it, the original is so overplayed and cheesy at this point, this pop-punk take on it at least gives it some freshness.

8. Link 80 - Harvester Of Sorrow (Metallica) 

The main deviations from the original are a horn section, and the sections under the verses are sped up.  Decent overall.

9. Guttermouth - Sexual Abuse (St. Madness)

Super obscure compared to the other songs (also very new--I think it was only a couple years old at this point as the album the original song is on came out in '98).  The original song isn't anything to get excited about, but the cover is well-done, the most faithful cover version on here.

10. Dynamite Boy - TNT (AC/DC)

Singer doesn't sound and doesn't attempt to sound like Bon Scott, but excellent, energetic cover.

11. Death By Stereo - Little Fighter (White Lion)

Had to look up and listen to the original since I was only familiar with "Wait" and "When the Children Cry."  Don't like the song, but as a cover it's pretty good and done straight up.

12. Swindle - Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row)

This is both the most punk-sounding song on the album and also the cover most altered from the original...It was hard for me to recognize other than the chorus.  Not bad at all for what it is.  Especially given the lyrics, if you had no knowledge of Skid Row, you could easily mistake it for being an actual punk song.

13. Turnedown - I Don't Know (Ozzy Osbourne)

A more faithful cover than "Bark at the Moon" (and comes off as being a bit better).  They even try to emulate the Ozzy vocals a bit.

14. Diesel Boy - Looks That Kill (Mötley Crüe)

Very good cover.  I've heard versions by metal bands, '80s glam cover bands, and Crüe tribute bands, and this is probably the best regular cover version of it I've heard (I say regular because I love Oppressor's death metal take on it).

15. Rx Bandits - Holy Wars (Megadeth)

I was a bit surprised at how well they did the intro.  Musically it's a great cover, though the vocals detract from things as the style isn't right at all for thrash.  There's a subtle horn section and they throw a reggae-like groove into the slow part of "The Punishment Due."

16. Ten Foot Pole - Love Song (Tesla)

Done as a fast punk number.  The change doesn't seem quite as radical as with Swindle's cover since I could easily recognize the chorus melody.  Other than the novelty factor of the first listen, didn't really like the cover.

17. The Aquabats - Why Rock?

This is credited to "Leather Pirate," but it's just an original faux-rock song.  At first I was pretty neutral about it since the main riff was alright, but the parody went on far too long so they could throw in over the top epic bits and spoken word.  

Overall, not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Scrotum Grinder - The Greatest Sonic Abomination Ever (2001)

Cost: $1.00

At first the band name on the spine caused me to pull this out for a better look.  Sounds like a goregrind band name, right?  The cover and layout looked more like some sort of extreme industrial or experimental music, but I still ended up buying it as trade fodder.  Than I poke around online and it's often described as grindcore.  Uh, not quite.  Hardcore here, somewhat discordant at times, but not all that extreme as far as hardcore goes.

The main vocals are from a chick--it sounds less like she's pissed off and more like she's trying to shout herself hoarse.  The last listed track is a slightly oddball cover of Slapshot's "No Friend of Mine" where they substitute a kazoo for the chorus...Yeah.  There's also a hidden track which is just a cacophony of noise, and that track actually DOES sound like actual grindcore.  I actually would have preferred if the whole album was of that kind of stuff, because then at least I could appreciate the album somewhat for its extremity.

I'm not gonna mark this one as being up for trade, but if you're interested in swapping for it, I probably would do so.  The only reason I hesitate is due to side-project reasoning...the bassist/co-vocalist here played bass on Assück's Misery Index.  And no, before you ask, there's not a trace of that sound here.

Spawn - Round 2 (1998)

Cost: $1.00

Date: Feb. 14, 2013

At first, the logo and Ripper Owens production credit got me excited about this...I thought it was going to be an obscure indie power metal or heavy metal band.  But it's very disappointing, as it goes down the '90s groove metal path.  About the only nice things I can say about it are a) the vocals aren't ultra-forced (I still don't like them though), and b) it's occasionally not too bad musically.

The cover is different from the one I see elsewhere online (hence no thumbnail).  It's a b/w picture of two boxers.  Since there's no label info, this may have been the first pressing done independently.

Scanner Vs. Signs Ov Chaos (1997)

Cost: $1.00

This CD is available for trade.

Bought this as trade fodder only.  You can tell just by looking at the cover this isn't anything metal, but I thought I'd do a quick post as a warning since this was released on Earache.

Both acts are solo techno projects.  At first, it seems that Signs Ov Chaos is harsher, with a more industrialized, experimental feel and heavy use of spoken word samples, while Scanner is more ambient influenced.  But then on each of their last tracks they flip-flop those characteristics to some extent.  

Not my cup of tea, but I chuckled at the Signs Ov Chaos tune "Michael Jackson," which consists of distorted samples of the King of Pop's name being spoken put to upbeat techno.  Scanner also does a "Michael Jackson" track with the same kind of general concept, but I didn't find it as absurdly humorous.

Ghost (B.C.) - Secular Haze CD-single (2013)

Cost: 99¢

This is one of those 2-song CD-singles that retails for $2, but includes a voucher so you get $2 off if you buy the album it's designed to promote.  Anvil also had a similar CD-single which I plucked from a dollar bin a while ago (hopefully the full-length albums will show up in the bargain bin eventually).

I'm rather apathetic towards Ghost's music.  They remind me of Opeth in that a lot of the elements in the music appeal to non-metal fans, but they are weird/avant-garde enough to avoid the stigma of being mainstream and thus have some underdog appeal.  I don't actively dislike their music, but it doesn't really satisfy my metal hunger, and the throwback parts of their sound don't really kindle any flames of '70s nostalgia.  Just from being online, I know they're quite popular right now, but in my area you'd never know it, as I've never heard any discussion of them at all.  Watain is still the big thing with the kids. 

The two songs on here are less heavy than the material on their debut.  I wouldn't classify the music as such, but it almost evokes the same feeling as listening to gothic rock for me.  The title track has an opening (and recurring) keyboard melody/guitar riff that sound like demented carnival music.  Their version of ABBA's "I'm a Marionette" sounds like a Ghost original and if I had first heard it randomly without knowing the songtitle, I probably wouldn't have recognized it.  I don't like it as a cover, though--I think the ABBA version actually has a weirder atmosphere that fits the theme of the song, and I miss all the little orchestral effects in the background of of the original.

Jeff Scheetz - Dig! (1992)

Cost: 10¢

Pawn shop find.  Pretty obvious from the art that it's a guitar instrumental/shred album.  This was released on the Pure Metal sub-label, which is misleading in two ways.  First of all, as with some of the later Pure Metal titles, it's not a pure metal release!  It's a bit heavier than I was expecting, and though quite bluesy at times, mostly stays within the general hard rock spectrum.  But it's definitely not instrumental metal or neo-classical Yngwie cloning or anything like that.  

Secondly, it's not heavy-handedly Christian at all--very surprising for Pure Metal.  In fact, I would say the two Jeff Scheetz albums are the least overtly religious releases the label ever did!  Jesus gets a mandatory shout-out in the thanks list and one of the songs has a clear Christian title and theme, but this could have easily been released on a secular label.  I suppose they were trying to cater to all the lost souls in Steve Vai's fanbase.  Though I have nothing bad to say about the playing, I'm generally not a huge fan of this sort of stuff.  The major players of the instrumental rock guitar scene don't interest me, let alone this guy, so this is another disc doomed to fill up shelf space.

Testament - Electric Crown CD-Single (1992)

Cost: 50¢

Date: July 20, 2013

This CD is available for trade.

Nice find for the price, but I already picked this promotional CD-single in a bargain bin years ago, so I wasn't terribly excited about it as a duplicate.  Edit and album versions of "Electric Crown," plus the short little "Signs of Chaos" (which was the intro to The Ritual album). 

Except for The Legacy, I think I've hardly listened to any Testament studio album all the way through after the initial exploratory spin (yep, that includes The New Order--I usually just end up playing "Disciples of the Watch" over and over).  In my head I rate The Ritual a little bit above Practice... and Souls...just because I like the song "Agony," while from the latter two nothing really stood out all that much.  The Ritual is often referred to as being Testament's version of the black album, and between this single and my somewhat vague recollections of the album as a whole (slower tempos, much less thrashy sound), that definitely seems to be the case.

Blo.Torch - Blo.Torch (1999)

Cost: $1.99

Let's get the obvious out of the way.  The band's name is terrible and off-putting.  The cover and logo are as well, for that matter.  I don't know where the idea came from, but for a long time I had heard OF the band but not heard them, and I thought they were in the Misery Loves Co. vein.

I'm a little surprised Wicked World/Earache released this, especially as around this general time period, Nuclear Blast had a pretty sizeable melodic death and modernized death/thrash roster.  The band plays melodic death metal with black metal styled vocals.  Compared to the Gothenburg melodic DM archetype, this album is a tad more musically aggressive, focuses less on guitar harmonics, and uses tempo variation to a greater degree...Though used sparingly, I thought the best parts of the album were the doomier sections, and it makes me wish these guys had formed a doom/death band instead (a style the Dutch have excelled at, after all).  On the negative side, there are unnecessary clean vocal sections in "King of Karnage" and at the beginning of "Bloodstains"--they just served as momentum killers.

Deride - First Round Knockout (2002)

Cost: $1.00

Not that he's a quality indicator, but Frediablo is in the band (as well as the Grimfist guitarist).  I don't recall if I even bothered looking through the booklet before buying, though.  I think I picked it up since it looked like some sort of hardcore or extreme rock CD.  If it was crap, I could just use it as trade fodder.  Modern aggressive metal here, full of groovy, crunchy riffs.  Sometimes there will be more straightforward thrashy riffs that bridge the groovier sections--these might have been okay on their own, but in this context they're just wasted.  The vocals are surprisingly varied (there are even some black metal style backing vocals at times), but the main vox are reminiscent of Max Cavalera.

Gandalf - Rock Hell (2001)

Cost: $1.00

I already had a general idea that this album was supposed to combine death metal and rock.  It's melodic death metal that does incorporate some '70s hard rock influences or bluesier rocking riffs at times, but for an album named Rock Hell there was much less rock influence than I was expecting--and it greatly tapers off during the second half of the album.

The songs here are pretty varied...For example, opener "L8X Queen" uses a slightly slowed-down version of a melody Twisted Sister used on "Under the Blade."  Closer "Castle of the Stars" has an epic, almost viking metal feel with its use of male choral vocals in the background.

Overall, not bad for a buck.  I do appreciate they were trying to do something different than just straight In Flames or Children of Bodom emulation.

Thyrane - Travesty of Heavenly Essence (2005)

Cost: $2.99

The cover art for this one confused me at first when I saw it online.  Then I got the actual CD and I realized it's supposed to be Homeless Jesus!

It's rare for bands to recover when they've taken on non-metal influences, especially so quickly, but this album is one of those examples.  Previously they had mixed symphonic black metal and industrial/electronic influences on the Hypnotic album, but this reverts back to the melodic black metal vein of their earlier stuff, which I find far preferable.  I want to say there's a very slight industrial feel to the drumming in a few sections, though had they not released an industrialized album I probably wouldn't have taken any note of it.