Cost: $1.25
This CD is available for trade.
This blog exists to document any metal CDs I come across cheaply, but when I started, I was particularly interested in covering two specific kinds of discs. The first are what I would consider to be less known roster-filler bands on medium-large indie labels. Titles that generally had decent distribution (think Crash Music, etc.), and while the type of music was usually obvious, there wasn't much in the way of reviews or press. I'm not going to pretend most of these are hidden gems, but there are some decent releases among all the mediocrity. One such $1 CD inspired this entire blog, but that's a story for another post.
I also wanted to blog about "local bands" (though they could be from anywhere) and independently produced CDs I happened to come across. Even with current online resources, sometimes there's just not much info on a disc. This can be problematic as musical quality varies widely, online music samples can be scarce or non-existent, and often because of the nature of these bands, any online reviews and comments (usually by friends or acquaintances) are extremely positively biased, and often don't even describe the music.
This particular Orcus disc is in the latter category but isn't terribly obscure. Initially I was cautiously optimistic as one online review claimed it was oldschool thrash, but then I saw the suspiciously overpraising metal-archives review that trumps this up as some sort of unfairly overlooked death metal gem. So given who both reviews were by, I figured it was probably neither of those. Indeed, it's '90s-style thrash, and while beefier with downtuning, it's not really anywhere in the death metal realm. The gruff-yet-intelligible vocals are perhaps more towards the extreme side (thankfully they're not aggro/HC style), but again, I hear no actual death metal in anything here--only slight superficial similarities at best. Considering when this was recorded, it's no surprise that groove metal influences have crept in, although thankfully they avoid the most annoying Pantera-isms. There's a fair amount of Metallica (MoP through Black Album) influence in the riffage, and although decent enough, it also seems a bit generic since that's such a well-travelled road. They're grounded enough in thrash where the music is not terribly off-putting or offensive, but at the same time, this seems far too modernized to be considered oldschool thrash.
Overall, an OK find for the price. It's a bit more straightforward than other groove-influenced stuff from the late '90s/early '00s like the Overkill and Testament material of that time, although I'd still pick those as being more musically interesting than this. I doubt most classic thrash enthusiasts would be particularly impressed with this, but it certainly isn't as bad as the drummer's Pantera shirt might suggest.
