A Sound of Thunder - Out of the Darkness (2011)

 

Cost: $2.00

Wasn't expecting much from this. I'm generally not a fan of female vocals in metal anyway, but I was never motivated to check out A Sound of Thunder. I thought many of their themes and aesthetics were kind of corny, and some aspects of the band (including, obviously, the name itself) came off as a extremely contrived attempt to appear highbrow and nerdier-than-thou. Lord Weird Slough Feg, they are not. Also, especially considering they are fairly prolific in terms of releases, I've never seen them get much attention in classic metal circles or in any of the metal media I typically consume. It can't be just me, because as far as I know, this is the only album of theirs to have a non-self-released version (although the one I found in the cheap bin was the independent version and not the Nightmare Rec. press).

Ironically, I think having low expectations meant this made more of an impact. There are certainly plenty of traditional metal influences here, and although they aren't as retro as I would typically associate with the movement, I wouldn't have any issue with them being lumped in as a NWOTHM band. Still, this is hardly pure classic metal worship or '80s emulation, and the band don't hesitate using slicker, more commercial hard rock parts, as well as going the other way and getting pretty thrashy. Viewed solely as an oldschool metal album this would be a pretty big disappointment, but approaching it as a modern power/heavy metal album that blends some old influences with more contemporary elements, it's pretty good.

I have mixed feelings about the vocals. There's no doubt they're very powerful, but also very clean, and I have come to terms with the fact that I typically prefer metal frontwomen to have some sort of Leather Leone or Betsy Bitch grit to their voice. Her singing works a little better during thrashier parts in conjunction with the higher energy, but I thought her most expressive and emotive singing was a more mellow, restrained style used in the "This Too Shall Pass" ballad and a few other places. All that said, the best vocals on the entire disc are John Gallagher's guest appearance on "Out of the Darkness," which just made me keeping thinking how much more awesome the album would have been had he sung everything. 

Finally, not a real complaint or anything, just an observation. The beginning of the album seems to contain all the material that has more overt '70s Priest and Rainbow influence in the guitarwork, while the latter half of the album has the more mid-paced, galloping, and/or epic material that has more obvious Maiden/Manowar influences.

Worth the 2 bucks, and I'd even be open to revisiting this once in a while or checking out some of their other releases. It's not bad. But I also found myself asking if A Sound of Thunder was preferable to female-fronted bands that took a far more purist/traditionalist approach to metal, even if that admittedly made them more generic soundwise (I was specifically thinking of something like Savage Master). The answer was definitely no.

Power from the Vault compilation (1997)

 

Cost: $2.00

Wasn't expecting much from this, although one band in particular necessitated me picking this up.

 

The tracklisting swaps the order of Amboog-a-lard and Raped Ape, so the song order below is correct. Should add this CD only has the tracklist on the disc face and nowhere on the inserts, which is a layout/design choice I absolutely hate. It's only barely excusable if the CD doesn't have inserts or paperwork to put a tracklisting on, like say a promo or magazine pack-in disc.

 

1. L.U.N.G.S. - Mess Around (clean version)

2. L.U.N.G.S. - Kick the Can

3. L.U.N.G.S. - Around (I assume F**k around?, Mess Around explicit version)

I only know these guys because back in the mid-'90s, Pavement Music sent me a L.U.N.G.S. cassette single one time when I placed an order. While I consider nu-metal to be just some sort of heavy alternative rock with varying degrees of hip hop influence in the vocals, this has a dedicated rapping frontman, so it both leans more into the rap side (like Stuck Mojo) and the music, even if not totally metal, is at least somewhat groove metal adjacent. The two versions of "Mess Around" remind me of Biohazard during their Onyx collaboration days, while "Kick the Can" is full-on rap, just with some lead guitar in the backing track.

 

4. Raped Ape - Easy Way Out

5. Raped Ape - Self Made Man

Ugh. Their inclusion was the main reason I even bought this disc, but these aren't even technically Raped Ape tracks, they're from the 1995 Paingod demo (these 2 tracks were recorded in a different session from the rest, so perhaps they were originally intended to be Raped Ape songs. But the disc mentions the band name change, so no idea why the RA name and logo are used here).  Hardly anything of the thrashy Raped Ape sound left, as they went full in on groove metal. Huge disappointment.

 

6. Amboog-a-lard - The Wounded

7. Amboog-a-lard - Alone

While somewhat familiar with the band, I wasn't particularly interested with their inclusion here since I assumed they had gone in a completely weird and/or trendy direction. So I was very pleasantly surprised that these songs are still pretty similar to their earlier full length. '90s thrash with deep, sometimes nearly guttural vocals. Both tracks use limited sound samples and have some minor progressive touches, but it's nowhere near as avant-garde or weird as they have gotten. Among other thrash bands they'd probably come off as a slightly quirky oddity rather than anything all that great, but on a compilation like this they really shine.

 

8. Excessive - Spiritual Bliss

9. Excessive - Bored

10. Excessive - Manhole

First two tracks are a mishmash of rock, groove, and thrash elements. There are definitely metal influences in the mix but the songs don't give off an overwhelmingly metal vibe. "Manhole" is a punkier song. 

 

11. Quit - Remember

12. Quit - Did You?

13. Quit - Where Were You?

Pop punk. "Remember" has a pleasantly unexpected proggy mellow section in the middle. 

 

14. Bone China - I Think It Works

15. Bone China - Aliens

16. Bone China - Crystal Carry

The first two tracks are kind of oddball/quirky hard rock (especially "I Think It Works" could pass for a short Mike Patton-era Faith No More or even a Scatterbrain track).  "Crystal Carry" has a heavier, groovy swagger. Some definite metal influences in the guitars but they come off like a hard rock band.

17. In Your Face - Treading Water

18. In Your Face - Mother

19. In Your Face - Monkey

'90s hard rock, maybe even with some vague similarities to Bone China. The first two tracks have pretty impressive guitar solo sections, especially the very progressive sounding one in "Mother." 

 

20. Opposite Earth - Always Now

Kinda Sabbathy progressive metal with a thick, somewhat doomy guitar tone. In the company of other good bands this would be perfectly ok but probably not stand out as much. Here, it's one of the saving graces of the disc.

Demon Dog Sperm - Hopeless (2007)

 

Cost: $1.00

Figured I'd take a chance on this for a buck. The band name and cover art had me thinking some sort of stoner, doom, or hard rock, but the cursive script in the layout and the floral pattern on the back of the booklet made me think hardcore/metalcore. No band pic to aid me, either. 

The first track is very thick, rumbly sludge metal. I wasn't a huge fan of the ultra-forced guttural vocals, but they fit the music well enough. A sludge album wouldn't have been my first choice, but if the rest of the disc had been in the same vein as the opener, I would have been ok with it.

Unfortunately, rather than sticking consistently with straightforward sludge, there's a tendency to explore their stoner and groove metal influences with bouncy, chuggy riffs. Admittedly, some of the stoner metal elements are not unwelcome and give the album some variety, but coupled with the vocals, the groove metal parts just feel like generic aggro chugging. They also use secondary clean vocals in several places which come off as weak Southern metal vox, and I'm even less of a fan of these than the forced gutturals.

Also, just as a warning to anyone interested in checking out the band, I've seen an online review and some online shop descriptions paint this as some sort of stoner metal/death metal hybrid. I assume this is coming from the "growled vocals = death metal crowd."  Aside from the most superficial of similarities like extreme vocals (I neglected to mention they use a third type of BM-style backing vox in a few places) and downtuning, the more swarming guitar parts in "Dead Heart" are the only thing on this entire CD that could possibly be considered a tangible influence from death metal.

For just a dollar, not a big deal. Seriously doubt I'm ever going to relisten to it, though.

Virgin Black - Requiem - Fortissimo (2008)

 

Cost: $2.00

What a pleasant surprise. The other Virgin Black material I've heard was very symphonic and quite gothic-influenced. This album tones those elements way, way down, dials up the doom, and replaces the clean male vocals with gutturals, resulting in a very nice doom/death disc. As with the other parts of the Requiem trilogy, they recorded with a full orchestra, although since the symphonic aspects of the music have been scaled back, I really only took great notice during "In Winters Ash" and the string ending of "God in Dust." The choir backing vocals even seem more prevalent than the orchestral stuff.

The style here is not as unique as the band's older material, but that's no problem, as I personally prefer this old Peaceville 3-influenced sound much more.

Noctis - For Future's Past (2007)

 

Cost: $1.00

Quite morose and doomy progressive metal that primarily uses death metal style vox (as well as some black metal ones in "Eternity's Worth). The extremity of the vocals makes a world of difference to the sound, and beefs up the music considerably. They're certainly a doomy band, but I wouldn't say they have a particularly crushing guitar tone, and there's even a certain airiness to many of the riffs. But whenever those vocals kick in, everything seems way more doomdeath-like. There are also a fair amount of clean vocals, usually during the mellower, more progressive-forward parts. At these points, the music takes on somewhat of a (doom-adjacent) gothic metal character. Also really liked the "Nostalgia" instrumental, which is a great mix of ethereal and melancholic.

Nice little EP, glad I found it. 

White House Burning - I Am Hatred (2015)

 

Cost: $1.00

I wasn't really paying attention to the copyright date when I bought this, so based solely on the simplistic CG art, I kinda just assumed this was from the early '00s. I was a little shocked it was from 2015, because the cover would have already looked pretty dated in the '90s. The feel of the cheap-looking CGI art reminds me a little bit of the cover of the Corum CD I posted about ages ago, although the jail bars make me think of the 2nd Zoetrope album.

While the budget cover with non-logo and politically-charged band name would normally scream groove metal, I was actually quite optimistic about this disc. When I looked it up, I saw that the guitar was Damon Bernklau of Seventh Omen, who were a terribly underrated heavy/power metal band I liked quite a bit. 

I have mixed feelings about the CD depending on the song. For an old school metal devotee like me, the overall sound feels way too modern for me, and some of the tracks get pretty groove metal-ly or do too much playing around with vocal effects. They're obviously not trying to be an consciously old school band in any respect, from production to aesthetics. But at the same time, a lot of the individual riffs and solos don't feel very modern at all (the guitarwork is, as expected, very proficient) and there's a pleasing thrashiness to several of the songs, particularly "American Christ" and the title track. This comparison might be a bit of a stretch that is overly biased by the politically charged lyrics here, but a couple of riffs feel they should have been used in The System has Failed/United Abominations-era Megadeth. Even the ballad "Stay the Course" has a solid melody once it gets going, although it feels terribly out of place among the other songs. 

The vocals are a gruff, mildly hoarse style which I disliked at first, though you get used to them. Even without being overly HC or aggro-sounding, admittedly they're not particularly good vocals, although they work pretty well on "White House Burning."

In the context of a bargain bin find, I think there's certainly enough decent material here to justify spending a buck or two. But I would have been quite disappointed and/or livid to have paid normal used CD price or even worse, full retail for this disc. 

 

Avang'Hard 2 compilation (1994)

 

Cost: $1.99

Compilation with 5 obscure French bands who get 3 songs each:

Broken Arrow

The intro to "Highway Stranger" reminds me a bit of Anthrax's "In My World," then it becomes some kinda-thrashy-but-not-really-thrash stuff. The solo section is great though. "Sword and Sorcery" has some nice '80s sounding galloping trad. HM sections and an awesome solo, but it's let down by too many plodding parts and ill-fitting vocals. Last track is bass-driven, mellower, and has more of a proggy feel.

 

Hysteria

"La Raie Publique" is pleasant, rumbly metal. There's something in there that reminds me of a mid-paced Vulcain song, but it's not Motörheadish at all. From this, I had high hopes they'd be the best band on the compilation, but "Never Die" is kind of generic hard rocking, while "Extasy" brings back some heaviness but isn't nearly as interesting as that first song.

 

Queensway

Kinda disappointing. "Just Fight" seems hard-driving at first but the sleazy vocals and hair band touches put me off.  "No Excuses" seems like it's going to be cool with a very interesting Egyptian melody, but then the chorus parts drastically shift to very hair band-sounding stuff. "Don't Be Afraid" balances the metal and the L.A. influences a little better, but I'm not sure how I feel about the weird chorus and vocal effects. At least it stands out I guess...

 

Revert

Was not expecting this at all! Very shreddy all-instrumental stuff with a drum machine. These almost feel like stock music or backing tracks (I mean this in the best way possible) you'd hear in an older video game or other media when heavy music is needed. Even with no vocals and a drum machine, they're the most consistent band on here by leaps and bounds, and these songs come off as more fully formed and well-composed than the other bands. 

 

Daggers Drawn 

The name made me expect a punk/HC band. First 2 tracks are very alternative rock sounding. I suppose the last track starts to approach being some sort of prog./avant-garde/funk metal hybrid, but it's nowhere near interesting enough for me to want to further dissect it.

 

Not really that great in itself as a compilation, but somewhat interesting as a look at some unknown demo-level French bands. To the credit of the bands, I will say that with the exception of Daggers Drawn, any of this material would be believable as earlier '90s or even late '80s recordings.