W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.

 

Cost: $2.00

Found this late '80s pressing with no bonus tracks and a rather sparse (aka blank inside) booklet, but hey, the price was right. I got into W.A.S.P. quite late comparatively because of a number of factors--their stuff never ever showed up in the used bins at the height of my CD hunting, I assumed most of their material was overly glammy/hair band-y, and I was way too focused on underground metal to bother to go out of my way to check them out. 

That's a shame, because no matter what they would become, this first album is great. "Hellion" alone is better than everything else they've done combined (so is "Tormentor," for that matter. "L.O.V.E. Machine" too.). Aside from some decent material on The Headless Children, I've never found anything Blackie has done after the debut to be particularly appealing.

I'm not a huge fan of the 3 tracks that close out the first side of the album, though. Always found "The Flame" to be overly upbeat and sappy, and in some ways it feels like it would fit better stylistically on one of the 2 albums after this. "B.A.D." has a cheesy chorus, but I do think the solo section is good. "School Daze" is just filler to me. 

Also, never even noticed the eyes on the sides of the cover until right before I typed up this post. 

Motörhead Tribute: Headin' for the North (1995)

 

Cost: $3.00

Found this one at a semi-local indie record store. They've never had a dedicated bargain bin, so I was quite surprised to find something priced as cheaply as $3--especially a disc I actually wanted to buy.

Nearly all-Swedish (the only exception I'm aware of is Havana Black) tribute. Was familiar with Lost Souls, Omnitron, The Hellacopters, and Entombed, but the rest of the roster was completely unknown to me. I was expecting the tribute to be on the punkier side overall, but the covers actually end up being somewhat varied in style.

1. Castaway - Killed by Death

Straightforward hard rock cover. Female lead vox don't seem like an optimal choice for a Motörhead cover, but these are serviceable.

 

2. Sator - Over the Top

Not bad performance-wise, but without the nasty guitar tone and Lemmy vocals, this feels very lightweight compared to the original. 

 

3. Cosa Nostra - Iron Fist

Solid, somewhat punkish cover. The vocalist manages to combine a little bit of Lemmy gruffness with some snottiness in his delivery without it sounding completely lame. 

 

4. Havana Black - We are the Road Crew

No complaints here. 

 

5. Livin' Sacrifice - Hellraiser

Out of curiosity, I checked out some of this band's original material. They started as a noisy all-female punk band in the early '80s, but the cover is in more of a late '80s or early '90s commercial hard rock style. The female vocals are probably better technically (though a tad oversung) than Castaway's, but they feel like a less appropriate fit. They aren't completely terrible given the song choice I suppose, but still way too clean and proficient for Motörhead.

 

6. Lost Souls - Sweet Revenge

Don't think I ever actually heard these guys, but I used to see their final album on Nuclear Blast around a lot. Never picked it up as it didn't seem like my kind of thing. Heavily industrialized groove/thrash cover. Wouldn't care about original music in this style, but the cover is an interesting interpretation.

 

7. Gone - Die You Bastard

Bouncy, groovy alt-rock sounding cover. Worst track on the tribute. Worth noting that the vocalist here is Björn Flodkvist, who was the late '90s Candlemass singer.

 

8. Omnitron - Ace of Spades

Only cover I had previously heard. Speedy rendition which is probably the most straightforward metal to be found on this tribute. Thumbs up. Because of the speed and lack of oddball songwriting, this reminds me a bit more of the later Krixhjälters material (although it's far less weird than that stuff, too) than the Omnitron debut CD (where this cover originally appeared).

 

9. Full Metal Jacketz - Eat the Rich

Another cover which is solid musically, but missing the filth and grit of the original. 

 

10. Nomads - Motörhead

Fun country and western version.

 

11. Cat Rapes Dog - Deaf Forever

Electronica/EBM cover, nearly unrecognizeable.

 

12. Hiroshima - Overkill

Not that awful, but they took a lot of liberties with such a well-known song and it just feels off. Though I will say, the mid-paced section they put in to replace the entire solo of the original is kind of cool in its own way.

 

13. Kurt Olvars Rebeller - The Hammer

Instrumentally one of the most faithful covers on here. Unfortunately it's brought down by the vocals, which are overly forced and way too shouty. Still good overall.

 

14. Röjkommandot - Damage Case

The guitar tone made me think this was the Entombed song for a moment. This is sped up to a nearly unrecognizable level, although it kind of works. However, the vocals aren't that great.

 

15. Hellacopters - Speedfreak

I had to edit my comments for "The Hammer" as this might even be a closer to the original by a hair or two. Annoyingly tepid vocals though. 

 

16. Entombed - One Track Mind 

Interesting choice of song, and sounds pretty much how you'd expect for mid '90s death'n'roll Entombed. The original song isn't a favorite of mine (and this era of Entombed certainly isn't either), but it's an okay cover.

Hitchhiker - Destination Unknown (1996)

 

Cost: $2.00

This CD is available for trade.

Hard rock indie. This doesn't really fit the concept of the blog and I wasn't expecting it to be metal when buying it, so I was debating whether to even post about it. So this is mainly to advertise that it's available for trade.

Even with all the photos of VW buses in the layout, I was a little surprised how '70s influenced this is at times (unfortunately, the keyboards often sound cheap and undermine this). But there are also very straightforward '80s style rockers like "Can't Walk Away" and "Love-Love-Love," and there's a good amount of AOR-sounding stuff as well.

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

 

Cost: $2.00

I mentioned in the Master of Puppets post that I had picked up a cheapo copy of Ride the Lightning, but getting around to this post took so long that I actually found another one. Both were in pretty good condition (one seems to have a minor printing defect since there's a blob of black ink on the disc face where some of the copyright text around the edge is supposed to be, but who cares for 2 bucks!). Again, this would have been unthinkable even a few years ago--I doubt you could even find a completely trashed copy for less than $5.

Everyone should know what this sounds like, but since I haven't listened to the album in its entirety for ages, I'll do some track-by-track thoughts. The highs here are some of the best Metallica material ever, but I don't think it quite matches the quantity of consistently great material on Kill 'Em All. While the songwriting has positively advanced in some areas, it largely comes at the expense of the sheer frantic energy from the debut.

1. Fight Fire with Fire

Great opener, always specifically loved the delivery of the "we all shall die" line. I'd consider this to be the most aggressive Metallica song, which is kind of funny when thinking about the broader thrash scene, as this seems downright quaint compared to something like "Chemical Warfare."

 

2. Ride the Lightning

If I remember right the title track was the first "deeper" cut on the album I heard after "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Creeping Death," and possibly "Fade to Black." Always especially gravitated towards the "Someone help me..." sections. 

 

3. For Whom the Bell Tolls

Terribly overplayed to the point where this track gave me serious ear fatigue long before I actually owned the album! Still, I don't find it as grating as "Seek & Destroy," and I recognize it brings some variety to the album.

 

4. Fade to Black

Meh for a ballad. "Sanitarium" is better. 

 

5. Trapped Under Ice

Fine, but never considered this essential early Metallica. It certainly sounds more Exodus-y than other Metallica tracks, but I knew about the "Impaler" connection before ever hearing the song. Would I have thought that if I didn't know of its origins? We shall never know.

 

6. Escape

Never had any sort of hatred for this track, but I do understand the general consensus that it feels out of place. It's better at giving the album some additional stylistic and tempo variety than being a particularly interesting song in its own right.

 

7. Creeping Death

Now we're talking! This song alone makes it very difficult for me to definitively pick Kill 'Em All above Ride the Lightning.

 

8. The Call of Ktulu

Obviously, a strong preview of their far more technical/progressive future, though without being as lame. I will admit that if they had been able to come up with more material on a similar level to  "Creeping Death" or the first 2 songs, I would have preferred that to a lengthy instrumental. But as it stands, it's good for what it is.

 

Perzonal War - Faces (2004)

 

Cost: $2.00

Was vaguely familiar with the bandname, and while I don't recall if I ever actually heard them before or not, I associated their name with thrash. Based on the look of the layout, the later band logo, and the band pictures, it looked like it was going to be more modern sounding stuff, and I wasn't terribly excited.

It's impossible to accurately describe the band's music without some mention of Metallica, because the vocals are some of the most blatant James Hetfield emulation I've ever heard in the entire metal scene. This is quite a varied album, and I suppose the mix of heavier and more mellow, accessible songwriting elements feel like the band are re-imagining some of The Black Album concepts in 2004, though this has way more actual thrashiness. That said, I wasn't overly impressed by any of the thrash elements here, and anyone approaching this as a straightforward thrash release would probably be disappointed (if they're more discerning, at least). "Devil in My Neck," "Into the Fire," "Just Some Pain," and "What We Call Progressive" are the fastest and thrashiest tracks, but in every case any straightforward thrashing is interrupted by more melodic choruses.

While there are the inevitable groove metal influences you'd expect for this kind of thing in the '00s, they're actually nowhere as prevalent as I expected. "Divergent" is probably the closest to being a straightforward groove/thrash song, and even then, it's not that bad--I think the vocal style helps make it work. 

The most memorable song on the CD for me ended up being "All I Gave," which ironically is the most Black Album sounding song. It's a slower track that definitely takes some influences from "Of Wolf and Man" and "Sad But True." 

The Apocalyptic Riders - Samurai (2004)

 

Cost: 50¢

Obviously, this is Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, but Nuclear Blast chose to translate their name for this US version. Their German name definitely sounds cooler as a plural, although Apocalyptic Rider wouldn't be a bad band name.

Previously, I was only familiar with the band's first 3 albums. While they were enjoyable and interesting for their weirdness, other than a few token tracks like "Metal Will Never Die" and the cover of "Dschinghis Khan," I never considered them to be a mandatory listen. While this continues the genre-mixing and convention-defying craziness, it's easy to tell from the music, cover/layout, and choice of label that things are slowly beginning to go downhill. Even without specifically classifying their music, some sort of extreme metal mix was at the heart of the early material. There's still some of that here, but many songs feel like groovier, more contemporary metal, and any extreme metal influences are secondary. Also, to be fair, with that comes some more rocking, catchier material too.

My favorite part of the album is easily the 4-song block of interrupted extreme material beginning with the BM-influenced "Der Teufel." "Reitermaniacs" has some nice doomdeath sections broken up by peppy part-folk, part-melodeath choruses. "Per Aspera ad Astra" has a very Morbid Angel-esque intro and breakdown later on, but the rest of the song is more like melodeath with Viking metal/folk metal-style male choir vocals.

Two of the most interesting tracks are the completely metal-free ones. "Lazy Day" is a pleasant summerpop-sounding tune that switches to full on reggae for the choruses. Then "Northern Lights" is an electronic-tinged ambient closer. It feels the most out of place here, but is a nice track in its own right.

Despite my gripes and unfavorable comparisons to some of their old material, there is some decent stuff on here, and the genre-mixing is pulled off more skillfully than other bands that make the attempt. Ultimately, while I wasn't super impressed, it's a far more interesting listen than a generic melodeath or folk metal band.

Thunder Fist - Pain

 Cost: 99¢

The hand grasping the lightning bolt on the cover immediately made me think of the logo/opening animation for the old Hard 'N' Heavy series of video magazines. I was going to pick this up regardless since it was so cheap, but it was a little worrying the band weren't on Metal-Archives.

The first few moments were very promising due to the heavy guitar sound, but it became quickly obvious this was going to be a hard rock CD rather than a metal one. The vocals were a nice surprise, as they sound like the ultimate cross between Udo and Brian Johnson. The accent and some of the strained tones are similar to Mr. Dirkschneider, but there are mannerisms and a swagger here that are clear Brian influences. That said, aside from the vocals, it's not really as close to AC/DC as one might expect, except perhaps "Down in the Blues," which has the most blatant bluesy/boogie influences. "Demon Night" in particular and perhaps the ballad "Walking Down the Street" wouldn't sound too out of place stylistically on the first 2 Accept albums. And no, "Demon Night" is not nearly as heavy as Accept's "Demon's Night." 

The guitar tone, solos, and vocals all really make me wish these guys had explored their metallic edge more. But for a hard rock indie, not bad at all.