Ride in the Underground 3 compilation (1995)

 

Cost: $3.00

Split CD of some obscure German bands. Bought this for one reason only...

S.A.S.T.

Rap rock. The harder edged stuff is more Rage Against the Machine style, but a lot of it sounds like mainstream '90s alternative rock with rap vocal sections. 

 

White Heat

"Rough Days" and "Incorruptibility" are swapped on the tracklisting. Their first track, "Rotten to the Core," is some sort of groove metal, and I was mildly amused that the vocal pattern for the chorus very vaguely sounds like the Overkill song of the same name despite the completely different music. I was even more amused that the harsh main vocals made me think of Gerre from Tankard having a tantrum and screaming at the top of his lungs. The other songs have rap vocal sections that give them more of a Biohazard feel, especially "Jump in the Rumble." 

 

Souls of Doom

Yes, even if you are on a split CD of '90s trend crap, if you look like an actual metal band in your pics, I will find you (thanks for wearing the Vader shirt!). First track is good mid-paced death metal with typical guttural vox (maybe a slight touch of van Drunen to them). The subsequent songs add faster, thrashier sections and seem more varied. The second song also introduces a snarlier Jeff Walker vocal style (because of the time frame, it might have very well been more of a black metal influence), and in the thrashy "Depressive Aggressions" there are even quite Mille-sounding vocals.

 

All of the songs are good, but let's not pretend they're amazing unknowns. It's nowhere in the league of any of the classic '80s/'90s death metal cornerstones, but they're not wallowing in mediocrity either. Many people tend to think of the US and Sweden as being the only ultra-prolific death metal scenes, completely overlooking how saturated the German scene was with indie DM bands from the mid to late '90s. Having heard a fair amount of that stuff, this is definitely above average.  

 

Impact Squad

The band name obviously sounds like something more appropriate for groove/aggro stuff. The first three sample-laden tracks are, respectively, punky alternative, alternative rock, and then a ska track. Then the comparatively heavier riffing and more melancholy feel of  "Crumbled Page in My Diary" makes it feel more like a somewhat metallic gothic rock song. 

 

Red Ink 

I vaguely remember hearing some of this band's material before, and it too modern, groovy, and industrialized for me. I assume it's considered to be in the Neue Deutsche Härte. They only get a single track here which is pretty straightforward gothic metal, aside from the "extreme" section during the solo that has angrier-sounding vocals. It's heavier and more interesting musically than the three non-metal bands, but had Souls of Doom not been on the split, I wouldn't have bothered picking it up for just this track.