Testify! The Best of Christian Metal compilation (1988)

 

Cost: $2.00

Yikes...Just a quick glance at the tracklisting shows how ridiculous that "The Best of Christian Metal" subtitle is. Still, this ended up being way more valuable than I thought and I wasn't terribly familiar with some of the bands on here, so I went ahead and got it.

Even keeping in mind this CD was released on Arrival Records, the Christian sub-label of K-Tel--who are no stranger to shoehorning all sorts of rock and hair band stuff on their "metal" compilations--it's quite the stretch to call some of this metal (and yes, I'm fully aware the bands probably had no say about being on this compilation). Let's see just how off-topic things get: 

1. Barren Cross - King of Kings

I find this to be one of the tamer, less interesting tracks off Atomic Arena, but I have a feeling it's gonna be one of the heavier tracks on here... 

 

2. Shout - Winners or Losers

AOR. Nothing to pique the interest here except the solo. 

 

3. Whitecross - Love on the Line

Seems kind of plodding at first but catchy chorus. This is from an EP between their first two albums and they still had some (L.A. style) heaviness to them. Vocals remind me a lot of Stephen Pearcy.

 

4. Jerusalem - Dancing on the Head of the Serpent

I'm only familiar with a few songs of earlier stuff, which were hard rock, but heavier than this. The synths make this overly poppy, though I will say I'm amused what a happy and jubilant-sounding song it is given the title. 

 

5. Mark Farner - Judgement Day Blues

Blues rock. Definitely the strangest inclusion. 

 

6. Ruscha - Come Alive

More AOR. This band had two Russian brothers whose parents were supposedly exiled to the Siberian coal mines (the dad became a Christian there), and eventually the family fled the U.S.S.R. to escape religious persecution. Always sounded like an exaggerated tall tale to aid in their evangelizing. I believe the entirety of their backstory as much as I believe Ruscha is metal.

 

7. Bloodgood - She's Gone

I would have much rather heard something heavy from one of the first 2 Bloodgood albums, but if they had to pick something from the then-current (and much more commercial) Rock in a Hard Place album, this power ballad was probably one of the better choices.

 

8. Neon Cross - (This Is The) Right Time

Very poor song choice. Just about anything else from their debut would have wiped the floor with the rest of the comp., but Arrival had to pick the token commercial track. Even so, it still sounds super heavy compared to the pure AOR stuff. That chorus, though. Yech.

 

9. Mastedon - Wasn't It Love

Commercial hard rock. This was also on the California Metal compilation, but it stands out much less negatively here in the company of some other lighter stuff. 

 

10. Gardian - I'll Never Leave You 

On the commercial side--not the heaviest of their material but not quite the lightest, either. Splits the difference between melodic metal and L.A. hair band stuff (especially the saccharine chorus). 

 

Khthoniik Cerviiks - SeroLogiikal Scars (Vertex of Dementiia)

 

Cost: $3.00

Actually, this find is from around early 2020, because I picked it up on the last major CD hunting trip I made before Covid really hit (the news was covering how quickly it was spreading, but there were no lockdowns or mask mandates yet). Finds were really scarce compared to all the places I went--before this, I had only found an Italian symphonic power metal disc (by a band I can't recall offhand), and a copy of the Gigantour double-DVD (it was super minty and even included a third bonus disc, so I couldn't resist). My favorite CD watering hole had literally nothing to offer.

Then I found this at the last store of the day. I was actually back there again not too long ago, and unfortunately their bargain bin was reduced to a shelf of less than 2 dozen CDs with nothing of interest. Anyway, at the time I bought this, they actually had a couple of metal discs in the bargain bin--all I remember now is the Emperor debut and a Nile album--but all of other discs were so scratched up that I had to pass on them. This is one of the most underground releases I've ever found locally, and while I was pleased to find something so eclectic, truthfully I wasn't expecting much from the band. Yeah, there's a Hellhammer shirt in the band pics, but the spelling of the band name and titles seemed corny, and I was prepared for war metal or generic black/death.

I remember some vague associations struck me when seeing the logo. The weird spellings immediately made me think of Sadistik Exekution, although the calligraphy and cover art realistically owe more to Away than Rok. My brain keeps telling me there is another band with a logo very similar in style to Khthoniik Cerviiks'. It might be Katharsis and I misremembered just how spiky their logo was.

The music took me by surprise. From the start, there are strong Voivodian overtones to the riffage, like some Killing Technology/Dimension Hatröss idea applied in the context of death metal (with some minor black metal influences at times). In fact, the two parts of the title track sound very much like Voivod meets Altars/Blessed Morbid Angel, though without the chaotic Azagthoth shredding. The twisted and somewhat weird nature of the music also reminds me quite a bit of early Sadistik Exekution, although Khthoniik Cerviiks lack the crazed Altars of Madness/Seven Churches-on-crack feel of The Magus and don't come off nearly as unhinged. While there is some weirdness here, to be fair, on the full spectrum of extreme metal, this isn't particularly crazy or experimental especially compared to something like say, Portal, but that's probably why I enjoyed it. Despite some of the unusual songwriting and atypical elements, one foot is always grounded in more straightforward extreme metal composition, so it never meanders off into overly progressive nonsense.

Can't say this is my favorite kind of metal, but this is the only death metal release I have discovered with any sort of weird/oddball elements that I've genuinely enjoyed in recent memory.

Assimilation - Tainting the Purity (2020)

 

Cost: $2.00

I feel bad about not liking this more, because strictly as a bargain bin find, it's fantastic, but based on my own expectations, I was a little disappointed. The Evil Invaders shirt on the back and the Disciples of Power t-shirt (never seen one before, even on the band themselves!) in the booklet as well as seeing them called a "death/thrash" band online made me anticipate wonderful things.

Rather than the late '80s death/thrash I was hoping for, this venerates early '90s death metal. While there are thrash influences in the music, I don't think there's enough to warrant it as part of their genre descriptor in any way (at least for this album). After listening to the album, I was somewhat shocked to see that no reviews I could find mentioned Morbid Angel. There are certainly other bands that take more direct inspiration from MA, but at times this definitely has that swarming MA feel. The very lead guitar-forward feel of the music and some of the vocal cadences also immediately brought Morbid Angel to mind. There are of course other influences, but I hear those to a lesser degree. There are some tastefully shreddy leads and solos, and the guitarwork reminded me a bit of the Suffocation EP and debut in that the guitarwork is quite proficient on a technical level, but the songs themselves are more traditional and not technical death metal. There's even some early Cannibal Corpse in their sound too.

The King Diamond cover is fine, although they bury the falsetto backing vocals way in the background. I read that the band wanted to do something other than a death metal cover, which is great, but "Welcome Home" seems so cliche. Especially with the decent guitarwork, it would have been cooler to hear a deep cut off Fatal Portrait or even one of the faster-paced Mercyful Fate songs.

So yeah, unfortunately maybe I just don't find their songwriting that interesting, because there's nothing I can really point out as a particular misstep here, especially considering they draw major influences from an era of death metal that, while not quite my favorite, I still actively enjoy very much. The CD is good but falls short of being great for me. But again, to find something like this in the cheapo bin is amazing.

Battlecross - Pursuit of Honor (2011)

 

Cost: $2.00

I was under the mistaken impression Battlecross was straightforward retro thrash, which I would have greatly preferred. Instead, it's a melodeath foundation with metalcore, modern thrash, and groove influences added on top. The blatantly Slaughter of the Soul-influenced parts are alright and no better or worse than any other band in a similar melodeath style, but the vocals on the album come off as overly forced to me. Even considering sections that show potential, I would never pick this over a more modern sounding death/thrash release from say, The Haunted or Carnal Forge, even though I'm not the biggest fan of those types of bands.

White Lion - Fight to Survive

 

Cost: $2.00

This CD is available for trade.

Bought this intending to trade, but I was curious if there was any heavier material on it, since the only White Lion songs I'm familiar with are "Wait" and "When the Children Cry." Of course they get a meaningless metal classification from the people who automatically categorize all hair and glam band stuff as heavy metal, but was slightly optimistic since Greg D'Angelo was in Anthrax and some of the songtitles sounded promising ("All Burn in Hell" and "The Road to Valhalla"--the latter ends up being an decent ballad). Unfortunately, no repeat of the Great White disc here. "Kid of 1000 Faces" and "El Salvador" have comparatively heavy riffs, but this is typical mid '80s hard rock hair band stuff.

Black River - Black'n'Roll (2009)

 

Cost: $1.00

I noticed that most of the information about Black River online emphasizes that the Dimmu Borgir live drummer and current Behemoth bassist are in the band. Perhaps it makes marketing sense to mention them, but those associations have nothing to do with the music here, and since neither member played on the '90s material of those bands, I don't personally care at all. What I did find more interesting is the band is a continuation of a later lineup of former Adipocere signee Neolithic (only one guy from their early doom/death stuff appears here, though).

Nothing extreme here, just hard rock with varying amounts of stoner/Southern influences. The guitars are generally heavy enough to give it a fairly metallic feel, although much of the songwriting feels relatively mainstream. The more straightforward hard rocking material isn't exceptional, but it's pleasant enough. I almost wish they had stuck to it more because their attempts at more emotive stuff (sometimes incorporating very mild gothic metal elements) are kind of sappy and weak, and whenever they try to go for heavier material they generally resort to modern groove metal riffage. The title track stands out because it's far, far punkier than anything else on the album. The verse sections sound a lot like Graves-era Misfits (the rest of the song, not so much). Not an awful use of a dollar but lacking quite a bit as a diversion from full-on metal.

Bümbklåått - Ciegos (2003)

 

Cost: 99¢

Raging metallic hardcore. The main vocals are more guttural, which admittedly made it much easier for someone like me--far more into death metal than punk/hc--to get into. Unfortunately, the secondary vocals are weak shouting. They're about the only thing I didn't like about it, but of course the band has to constantly use them.

It was interesting trying to look this up in the store before buying it, because it's labeled as all sorts of subgenres depending on the reviewer or distro (metal is often mocked for pedantic classification, but you eventually realize almost every form of music suffers from this to some extent). Calling it simply punk or hardcore really says nothing and ignores the metallic influences here. It's generally pretty fast but falls well short of crossing into grind or powerviolence territory. Because of the metallic nature I can see similarities but I definitely wouldn't consider it crust, either.