Uccultum - Wheels of the Black Sun (2006)

Cost: $2.00

Very tasty guitar tone here that often reminds me a lot of old Cianide. Other than saying it's doom, I'm not quite sure what musical comparisons to make with this. While a few songs have it to a minor degree, it's largely free of the rocking vibe I'd associate with the more stonerish side of doom metal.  However, it's also pretty garagey and minimalist, so it doesn't sound all that much like any of the classic '80s doom metal bands or their descendants. My brain tells me I've heard a dead ringer for this vocalist in some other band, but I just can't place it at the moment. Solid clean timbre although there's a certain flatness that makes him feel like an uncharismatic Scott Reagers at times. 

While not a hidden gem of doom, this is competent enough and I can't see anyone who can appreciate stripped down Sabbathy stuff not finding this to be decent.  Nice find for the price.

Venom - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik 2CD (1999)

Cost: $2.00

Expect lots of upcoming classic metal posts, as I've been finding quite a high volume of it in the cheap bins lately.  I have most of it in some form already and there should be nothing I need to describe musically to any self-respecting metalhead, but it still feels great to find it.

I already have some older single-disc pressings of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik with the same tracklist, but curiously Deadline chose to needlessly split the tracks over two CDs even though there's no extra material.  The '85 gig is the Hell at Hammersmith show and has a few songs not on the video version and vice versa.  The '86 NY half is still a fine listen, but the song selection pales in comparison to the 1985 show.  The album did offer some live previews of upcoming material when it was originally released. The classic trio lineup plays "The Chanting of the Priests," and it's obvious their sound was beginning to shift a little even with Mantas still around, since it doesn't sound particularly different from the Calm Before the Storm album version without him. On the other hand, I do like "Buried Alive" seguing into "Love Amongst the Dead"--I think it's catchier than "Raise the Dead" and sounds a bit nastier and closer to the classic Venom sound than most post-Possessed material.  Of course the studio version (called "Dead Love") was eventually formally released on the In Memorium compilation later.  

Nothing bad I can say about this score except the minor inconvenience of having to swap discs out with this particular version.

Sam Kazerooni - Angry Planet (2003)

 Cost: $2.00

This was another instance where I grabbed a CD to reach the minimum purchase amount for a store sale without having to resort to buying a '90s R&B disc. I was happily surprised to find a listing for it on Metal Archives.  This is instrumental guitar stuff, certainly pleasant but didn't leave much of a lasting impression on me.  The majority of the 16 tracks are metal, but even the more mellow proggish tracks are enjoyable.  The album often feels closer to some sort of modern video game music than to '80s or '90s shred--it tends to be more song and mood based than riff and technique based, although I wouldn't have minded some more flash and pomposity to increase the memorability here.  Nice as a background listen but hardly anything essential.