Pandemic - Face the Enemy (1998)

 

Cost: $2.00

Was fully expecting this to be some sort of hardcore/punk. Nearly everything about the aesthetic and layout screamed HC to me, especially the picture of short-haired moshing fans that could easily appeared on any '90s Victory Records album. The band pics very much fit that bill too even with two longhairs. I would have likely bought it anyway since 3 more discs got me to $25/20% off at the store, technically making this a freebie. The thanks list does mention keeping "the METAL scene alive," which momentarily gave me some hope until I realized that it likely meant this was some sort of nu-metal no-metal.

Much to my surprise, the music is just straightforward groove metal (with a mellower balladish track to close out).  Far from my first choice, but certainly way better than what the album artwork or songtitles might suggest.  Of course, there's a catch. The vocals here are atrocious, especially if you hate the aggro style as much as I do. They seem very uncontrolled and aside from some chorus shouting, don't sync very well with the music. At times, the enunciation and delivery bring to mind the affected angry voice older wrestlers would use in promos.

Though the music isn't entirely to my taste, if this had better vocals, I could absolutely flaunt it as one of my most surprising "you can't judge a book by its cover" bargain bin finds. Sadly, as it is, Face the Enemy just gets an unenthused "not quite as bad as it looks" from me.

Mercyful Fate - Melissa (1997 gold disc remaster)

 

Cost: $2.00

I've always gravitated towards Mercyful Fate's pre-album output; I love the mLP (and by extension The Beginning) as well as most of the material on the Return of the Vampire compilation, and somewhat prefer them to Melissa overall (I was never able to get into Don't Break the Oath that much beyond a few songs, but that's a story for another time). Make no mistake though, "Evil" is one of my favorite MF songs ever.  "Satan's Fall" and the title track are also undoubtedly top tier. I've gradually learned to appreciate the album as a whole more than I once did, and while the remaining songs are fairly good, nothing ever rose to a "Corpse Without Soul" or "Doomed by the Living Dead" level for me.

Was happy to upgrade my old BMG club copy to a retail version of the 1997 remaster, although I've never been a fan of the modernized fonts (and some of the wonky layout choices) used for the Mercyful Fate/King Diamond remasters (and which unfortunately persisted on subsequent CD pressings). Of course, the real travesty is the wonderful Thomas Holm cover being darkened and oversaturated into oblivion, although that's a flaw hardly exclusive to this version. I remember thinking the darkened cover of later pressings was actually how the album was supposed to look--it was shocking to see the amount of detail on the teeth and horns the first time I saw an original Megaforce LP!

Altered Aeon - Dispiritism (2004)

 

 Cost: $2.00

While this wasn't a find I was particularly super excited about, I was quite pleased to find it still sealed in the bargain bin. Of course, that all changed when I opened it and discovered the jewel case had caught the last page of the booklet, giving an otherwise minty CD a particularly nasty tab mark. Ugh.

Considering the year of release and how this is a mix of thrash and melodic death metal with some Nevermore-ish touches, I'm genuinely surprised Century Media didn't put this out. The proficient guitarwork is based more in shreddy soloing than Maidenesque twin harmonies, and stands out positively. Vocals are typically gruff but there are some clean vocals and sparse highs which all bring Warrel Dane comparisons (sadly, no "Battle Angels" shrieks) to mind.  Overall not my favorite thing, but ok for the style. It's thrashy and energetic enough that I'd pick it over The Haunted and their ilk as well as any number of derivative melodeath bands, although I'd truthfully rather just play a solid melodeath-free thrash album instead.

As usual, the bonus tracks prove to be the most memorable and interesting. Despite the death/prog. sounding title," Cellular Disorganization" is a fantastic instrumental that conjures up images of exploring the abandoned halls of a haunted gothic castle.  Creepy and ponderous, if it were on a shred guitarist's album it would certainly be called something like "Return to the Dark Castle" and be the token "darker" track. Nothing like the rest of the album, yet the best track by far. The cover of "Welcome Home" is quite good instrumentally, but brought down by the drab vocals. Considering the occasional highs on the original Altered Aeon material, I'm surprised Kjell Andersson didn't try for a proper King Diamond falsetto (although it could be rightfully argued that it's better to pass on them completely than to botch it). Even putting the highs aside, the cover's vocals lack the over the top theatricality that make the original so fun.

Evil Bitch - Sin and Pleasure (2015)

 

Cost: $2.00 

This was quite a bit more meh than I was expecting for old school-styled stuff, especially with a Kat shirt on display. Two girls and a drummer playing simple, slightly-evilized-Motörhead metal. It's inoffensive, but nothing that killer either. One major issue rears its head immediately with the silly intro and is the same problem I have with bands like Demona--the heavily accented female vocals sound weak and rob a lot of potential power from the music. Speaking of Demona, would I classify Evil Bitch as speed metal? Not as a whole, unless you classify anything with a somewhat fast tempo influenced by Motörhead as speed metal (I don't). If someone were to call individual tracks like "Witch of Satan" and "Sinner" speed metal, I wouldn't put up any argument.  But make no mistake--this fails to even reach Acero Letal levels, let alone the terminal velocities of classic Agent Steel or Living Death.

By the way, the claw hands of the bishop on the cover art made me think of a Playmobil figure (a quick search confirms Playmobil did indeed make a St. Nicholas figure with a crosier at some point).

Dirty Lust - Dirty Lust (1998)

 

Cost: $3.00 

Threw this in with an online order as a cheapo add-on.  It was listed as "stoner metal."  Uh, okay...

Initially, I was mentally classifying this as some kind of strange mellow groove metal during the first two tracks, although I think overall it's most accurate to call it some kind of hard alternative or alternative metal. I realize that label itself doesn't really mean much.  One track has a saxophone part--they're that kind of band. The riffing is very groovy and bouncy, but most of it isn't particularly hard-hitting music, and with no real aggro vocals, someone expecting Pantera/Machine Head type stuff would probably be disappointed. And yes, while they are instances where the guitar tone and a groovy riff might be reminiscent of some sort of stoner metal, as a whole I suspect this would be very disappointing for someone looking for the standard sounds of that genre.

Most of this feels very unfocused, with odd musical tangents that feel silly, and not in an amusingly off the wall way as in something like Scatterbrain.  I will say to their credit, despite the year of release and one member's Rage Against the Machine shirt, this avoids most nu pitfalls aside from some overly bouncy riffs that are thankfully uncommon. The vocalist has a heavily accented, somewhat warbly default, but also seems fond of experimenting with various vocal histrionics (he even occasionally belts out some deep vox which remind me of Chuck Billy's guttural stuff from '80s/'90s Testament!) and using effects/distortion (sometimes this vaguely reminds me of Death SS, oddly). I wouldn't classify the singing itself as crappy per se, but the vocal style doesn't lend itself to me taking Dirty Lust seriously at all.

Highlights are few.  "The Century of Superstition" is an actual foray into doomy/stoner fare, and while it stands out positively among the other material here, it's not terribly impressive either. There's an extremely brief "brutal" section in "I Saw And Angel Last Night" [sic] and some cacophonous stuff at the very end of the album which make me think the musicians would do a capable job in an actual death or grind band. 

Based on where I bought this, I think it's safe to assume the "stoner metal" tag was just a quick, lazy descriptor rather than any sort of malicious deceit. But it's a lot more appealing and marketable calling this that than whatever it actually is.  It certainly worked on me!

Disassociate - Imperfect World (2000)

 

Cost: $1.00

Okay grindcore, alternating between punkier HC-influenced material and relentless blasting, with a smattering of dirgier/sludgier parts. Nothing particularly bad but 34 minutes of this stuff was fairly underwhelming, and admittedly, as someone not super into exploring all the niches of grind, I can't see picking this over Terrorizer or Assück.  The intros/interludes here tend to be more electic than your typical audio sample intro (although there is indeed a short clip of Bill Clinton), but since these are generally not directly integrated into the music, they don't really come off as an overly experimental band. I found track 6 slightly more notable than the rest because towards the end it segues into a VERY black metal sounding riff. There are also two covers here, "Fallout" by Nausea (NY) and "Bad Science" by Jesus Chrust (the NY crust band the Disassociate singer was in, not the Charlie Infection band who released EPs on Fudgeworthy Rec.). These covers feel more inspired and energetic than the original material here. Still, purely as a dollar bin grind CD, I'm satisfied with what I got.

Diamond Head - To Heaven from Hell (1997)

Cost: $2.00

My bargain bin history with Diamond Head goes back around 25 years, as I fondly remember finding the '90s Metal Blade reissues of Lightning to the Nations and Behold the Beginning for $2 each on a CD hunting trip. As far as I remember, that was the first time I ever found actual NWOBHM in a local bargain bin, which unfortunately has been a pretty rare occurrence over the years.

This is an EP with demos/early versions of "Dead Reckoning" and 4 ...Borrowed Time tracks. In the case of the latter, the songs feel slightly more similar to the sonic approach of the first album and its accompanying EP tracks. They're fun to hear, but it's not like the refined album versions aren't great too. The early long version of "Dead Reckoning" is probably the best track here, although it sounds like they were still hammering out the lyrics for the second and third verses. Awesome find.