Meltdown - Demolition (2006)

Cost: 99¢

Pulled this one off the shelf after seeing the spine, and initially I was excited, since the cover definitely looked like something a retro thrash band might use, especially in conjunction with the band name (speaking of which, that style of the cross used in the logo makes it look so goofy!  It's bugged me ever since I saw it).  I was immediately disappointed when I turned it over as they were clearly a hardcore band based on the live photos.  Decided to look it up online anyway, and they were described as being pretty metallic, so I figured I'd buy it even if just for trade fodder.

The first track wasn't particularly impressive and made me think they were just going to be somewhat Integrity or Cro-Mags sounding metallic HC, but they can get surprisingly thrashy as the disc goes on.  Slayer seem to be the primary influence on their thrashiness (the end of "True Heroes" sounds like it was inspired by the "Hell Awaits" intro, although in simplified form) but I can hear a tiny bit of Souza-era Exodus too.  It's better than I expected and the thrashy riffs are pleasing, but I can easily get a superior thrash fix elsewhere without the HC-styled vocals and breakdowns.  May hang on to it for now and see if I revisit it but I don't anticipate it being a keeper.

Charlotte the Harlot - Agamogir (2016)

Cost: 99¢

Just a short mCD.  "Experiment Report" is black/death with a Japanese-sounding melody interwoven into the guitarwork and chanted background vocals, making it more Oriental sounding than the other tracks.  The other two songs are blackened (mostly due to the vocals) melodic death metal.  They use additional gang/chorus vocals (almost like what you might expect from Japanese punk/HC/thrash) more heavily on "Lick the Picture," which seems like an unconventional (but not that bad-sounding) choice.  The main vox themselves as well as the method of layering vocal styles reminds me a little of the vocals on early Chthonic stuff.  Quite a nice little find--the short length means they don't wear out their welcome, and the various backing vocals add just enough of an exotic touch to raise this above generic melodeath and cookie-cutter black/death hybrids.

B-Thong - Damage (1995)

Cost: 99¢

This CD is available for trade.

I'm not a groove metal fan by any means, but I did like some parts of this band's debut, particularly "Schizophrenic Pavement" and "Power Ranger" (admittedly, a lot of that has to do with the unintentionally humorous lyrics).  Some semblance of that would have been welcomed, but unfortunately this CD is a huge step (further) down.  While Skinned was energetic and pretty thrashy at times, this is far more moody and angsty, mixing many of the worst '90s elements that plagued Pantera and Chaos A.D./Roots-era Sepultura, such as aggro vocals and unfulfilling groovy riffs.  It's a lot more vocal-driven than the first album, and I didn't find any of the songs or riffage to be memorable.  The vocals are more forced, although stylistically there's not that much difference from the debut.  There's also some rather pointless attempts at atmosphere/weirdness, such as a didgeridoo section in one song.  None of these help.

I had wondered about the band's name and remembered to look it up before this post.  It's a play on the Swedish word for concrete, which at least makes some sense given their musical style.  Still looks really dumb as a band name though!

Enders Game - Game Over CD-R (2003)

Cost: $1.00

The first 3 songs are primarily melodic thrash, mixed with some slight progressive metal tendencies and unfortunately, some modern metal elements.  Considering that the band name is perfect for a prog. metal act, I was actually a bit surprised as how thrashy they really are. Sadly the vocals are mostly aggro nonsense, and when the vocalist attempts a cleaner style, he just sounds like he should be in a '90s alternative rock band.  The last track, "Systematic Killing of the American Dream," is quite generic-sounding groove metal. In short, this is not as good as the band logo suggests, but not as bad as the band pic suggests.

Goat Thrower - Cult of the Germanic Horde (1998)

Cost: $2.00

Distro/mailorder descriptions and the Gonkulator connection always made me curious about this CD.  When I finally saw the band photos and songtitles online, it was obvious they weren't a terribly serious band, and I assumed they'd just be a black metal parody with either ultra generic or ultra exaggerated music.  I saw some places give it a thrash descriptor, which I didn't take particularly seriously.

Let's not beat around the bush--the vocals here are crap. They're heavily processed (pitch shifted higher plus reverb, I think?)  They're a cross between cartoon imp and robotic voice changer, and since they're a weird style that doesn't really fit the music, they don't even have the comedic value that ridiculous vocals typically would.  The shame is, aside from the vox, the music seems like a fairly decent mix of black metal and thrash, which really surprised me.  At its best it's similar to a far more simplified, speedier take on Ritual's Soldiers Under Satan's Command album, although they unfortunately throw in some pointless blastbeat sections.  The main riff of "Battle Scars" also reminds me of the chorus riff to Sodom's "Witching Metal," though keep in mind I'm just recording my immediate thoughts as I listen, and this shouldn't seriously be compared to the greatness of early Sodom.  The Conan album intro and some of the acoustic guitar parts used to open songs are fine, but they can go overboard with the cheesiness (though given the look of the CD, what else would you really expect?) There's an untitled Halloween theme-ish interlude that sounds like it was cobbled together from a Halloween sound effects CD, and the "Praise Be Thy Goat" outro is silly mock ritual/incantation stuff (though they would have been better off letting the chick talking do the main vocals!).  Ultimately, the inept vocals completely neutralize anything positive about the disc.

The Gathering - Nighttime Birds (1997)

Cost: $2.00

Even though it's been 20+ years, this actually picks up right where I left off with The Gathering, since I bought Mandylion from a Media Play sale bin in the '90s not too long after it was released (and since then, the only The Gathering I've ever seen in a bargain bin is the remix version of Always...).  I'm aware their later material took a very non-metal trajectory, but I haven't heard any of it yet and have no great desire to.

This is far more stripped down and lightened up music than Mandylion.  I never got on the Anneke bandwagon and didn't go nuts for Mandylion, but the album has its positive points and is certainly atmospheric if nothing else.  Nighttime Birds is far less metallic and doomy.  I don't place much value on the more relaxed sound and rockish elements here, so there's really not anything here for me that the preceding album doesn't do better.  All that said, I did find the second half of the CD to be marginally more interesting overall.   Again, I haven't heard any of the material that came after this, but their shift from metal to rock doesn't seem particularly surprising based on a lot of the music here.