First Spin Impressions

[Fat Freddy]

Various - Covered Like a Hurricane: A Tribute to Scorpions (2000)

 

I had sorta promised myself that I wasn't going to buy any more of these cheap ass assembly line Deadline/Cleopatra Recs. "tributes" full of out of work hair-metal dudes, but then I learned that my boy Kory Clarke of Warrior Soul performs "In Trance" on this Scorpions tribute aaaand...once a fanboy always a fanboy.

 

Kory's track is the major highlight, but Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate delivers a gutsy "No One Like You," Joe (Bang Tango) LeSte' does a nice job with "The Zoo" and John (Motley Crue) Corabi's rip thru "He's A Woman, She's A Man" is no slouch either.

 

Avoid the techno-remix take on "Big City Nights" with the late Kevin DuBrow on vox, which is barely even listenable for its humor value.

 

Final analysis: this one resides on the lower end of the Deadline/Cleo tribute pack but Scorpions fans may get a kick out of it nonetheless. If you can get it cheap like I did, grab it.

[Fat Freddy]

Rychus Syn - Rebirth (2009)

 

I snagged this disc from CDBaby's $5 sale bin cuz the samples sounded intriguing. I'd never heard of these New Yorkers before, but they're apparently yet another one of those long lost semi-legendary '80s cult bands who put out some demos back in the day and then disappeared off the face of the earth. (A second CD by this band which consists of said demos is also available via CDBaby.) This 2009 release was their "reunion" disc and it's pretty solid trad-metal stuff in the vein of early '80s Metallica, Metal Church, Anthrax, etc. Not the most original thing ever to come down the pike but for the price I paid I have no complaints (and I'm probably gonna go back to CD Baby at some point and order their demos CD too!)...

[Fat Freddy]

Exodus - Impact is Imminent (1990)

 

Exodus' major label debut is pretty much a carbon copy of their previous indie disc, Fabulous Disaster, right down to yet another song singing the praises of the mosh pit ("Lunatic Parade," which might as well have been called "Toxic Waltz Part II: Electric Boogaloo").

Impact Is Imminent may not be a must-have but it's still a semi-decent listen in that classic '80s bonehead mosh-it-up sort of way. As usual for this band, the walls of guitar riffing are brutally delicious ... but you'll be hard pressed to remember any particular licks or quote any lyrics once the CD is over.

Exodus juuuuust missed out on being part of The Big Four at the dawn of the '80s, and they were too little, too late for thrash metal's major label party too.

[Fat Freddy]

Petra - Wake Up Call (1993)

 

So this is my first ever Petra CD. I found it in Goodwill for 99 cents last night and figured what the hell, for that price I might as well give the godfathers of Christian rock a belated try.

 

Anyway... yeahhhhh, not really impressed with this one.

 

The first three or four songs were OK in a cheesy-on-purpose, Def Leppardy/Journey-ish arena rock sorta way (the opening song "Midnight Oil" is quite good, in fact), but around the halfway point the album got bogged down in waaaaayyyy too many sickeningly sweet & syrupy slow songs and ballads, placed one right after another. By the last track I was dozing off.

I wasn't expecting this album to be shredding, screaming metal or anything, but obviously I underestimated the amount of schmaltz big time. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh well, I tried (shrugs)...

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Petra - Wake Up Call (1993)

 

So this is my first ever Petra CD. I found it in Goodwill for 99 cents last night and figured what the hell, for that price I might as well give the godfathers of Christian rock a belated try.

 

Anyway... yeahhhhh, not really impressed with this one.

 

The first three or four songs were OK in a cheesy-on-purpose, Def Leppardy/Journey-ish arena rock sorta way (the opening song "Midnight Oil" is quite good, in fact), but around the halfway point the album got bogged down in waaaaayyyy too many sickeningly sweet & syrupy slow songs and ballads, placed one right after another. By the last track I was dozing off.

 

I wasn't expecting this album to be shredding, screaming metal or anything, but obviously I underestimated the amount of schmaltz big time. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

Oh well, I tried (shrugs)...

That was my first Petra album. On cassette. I love it. I love Loui Weaver's performance on this one. The drums are tight!

[phaffas]

 

Petra - Wake Up Call (1993)

 

So this is my first ever Petra CD. I found it in Goodwill for 99 cents last night and figured what the hell, for that price I might as well give the godfathers of Christian rock a belated try.

 

Anyway... yeahhhhh, not really impressed with this one.

 

The first three or four songs were OK in a cheesy-on-purpose, Def Leppardy/Journey-ish arena rock sorta way (the opening song "Midnight Oil" is quite good, in fact), but around the halfway point the album got bogged down in waaaaayyyy too many sickeningly sweet & syrupy slow songs and ballads, placed one right after another. By the last track I was dozing off.

 

I wasn't expecting this album to be shredding, screaming metal or anything, but obviously I underestimated the amount of schmaltz big time. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

Oh well, I tried (shrugs)...

That was my first Petra album. On cassette. I love it. I love Loui Weaver's performance on this one. The drums are tight!

 

Personally i love that album, and cant see you into it at all Freddy. It was the last album to feature the main band before young guys were brought into freshen up the image. Its the lesser known brother of Beyond Belief and Unseen Power and gets forgotten alot. There were quite a few eras of Petra and the band often sound completely different... the early Eagles twang, then very early 80s thing going on with Volz, followed by the Def Leppard/Journey esque albums with Schlitt (one of the best screamers in his time), then the "modern rock era"... which had more of a Matchbox 20 vibe? Followed by ripping our balls off with Jeckyll & Hyde. I really have trouble suggesting this band to anyone because they do change alot from album to album.

[Fat Freddy]

Personally i love that album, and cant see you into it at all Freddy.

 

(shrugs) Eh, it was worth a shot for 99 cents. When CDs are that cheap, I don't have a problem with trying bands/albums that might be a little bit out of my usual wheelhouse, so to speak.

 

There were a couple of decent tunes on it but nothin' that will make it a frequent spinner.

 

I really liked that "Jekyll & Hyde" track you PM'd me though, so I may have to look into that one!

 

Even so, I still liked it better than the other disc I picked up the same day, by the Russian band Autograf - good Lord, what a sleeping pill that thing is!!! I still haven't made it all the way thru that CD cuz I keep slipping into a coma at about the halfway mark

[Fat Freddy]

Rychus Syn - Deadly Syns (2013)

Another pickup from the CDBaby $5 sale bin. I snagged these New Yorkers' Rebirth (2009) album from CDBaby a while ago and liked what I heard, and this 2013 follow up is more of the same - nothin' fancy, just basic crunchy old school metal. While the Rebirth CD was more thrashy, there's definitely a bigger Black Sabbath influence on this album than on the last one - the opening of the track "Sorrows End" shamelessly rips off the beginning of "Black Sabbath," and the last track is a multi-song medley of B.S. covers titled "Sabbathon." At 14 tracks this one overstays its welcome just a tad, but for five bucks this was a decent pickup and one that will likely get more spins than Rebirth.

 

Forgotten Disciple - Last Train to Heaven

These Bay Area boys were originally known as "Disciple" and the lineup consisted of several former members of the cult heavy metal band Rellik (who I've heard much about over the years but don't think I've ever actually heard). They recorded a four track EP and an additional four song demo between '90 and '91 before disappearing off the face of the Earth.

Our pal Stormspell rescued those eight tracks from oblivion in 2014 and released them on CD under the new name "Forgotten Disciple," to avoid confusion with the long running Christian nu-metal act also called Disciple.

Anywhoo, this is tried 'n' true meat & potatoes heavy metal, fans of early Iron Maiden, Jag Panzer, early Queensryche, etc. should dig.

[Fat Freddy]

Reign of Fury - World Detonation (2013)

 

Debut by a pretty bitchin' old school thrash unit from the U.K. who can throw down some good pit-friendly violent fun ala Overkill, Exodus, or prime era Megadeth, with a death grunt thrown over the top once in a while just to give it that modern-era flavor. Good stuff that should appeal to old goats like me as well as the new jacks into retro-thrash like Municipal Waste, Skeletonwitch, etc. Me likee and I wanna hear more.

[Fat Freddy]

Steel Horse - Wild Power

A Spanish combo whose throw back sound brings to mind the gritty early '80s Priest, Saxon, early Maiden, Krokus, etc. Not original in the slightest but catchy, well played and enjoyable.

[Fat Freddy]

Various - '80s Metal Tribute to Van Halen

Yeah, it's another one of those assembly-line "tribute" albums farted out by Deadline/Cleopatra Records, packed with out of work heavy metal dudes. Unsurprisingly, given VH's enduring influence on the hair metal genre, most of these tracks are reverently played (former Iron Maiden legend Paul Di'Anno even pulls off a surprisingly legit David Lee Roth impression on "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love!") and don't sound all that different from the originals... the lone exception being Enuff Z'Nuff's pitiless butchering of the D.L. Roth solo track "Yankee Rose," which is simply godawful on every level. Worth a pickup if you can find it cheap like I did.

 

Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out

Zetro's back (yay!), there are flesh eating zombies on the album cover and song titles include sensitive love ditties like "Body Harvest," "Salt the Wound," and "Food For the Worms" - so yeah, it's business as usual for the Exodus Slay Team. Chuck Billy of Testament makes a quick vocal cameo on the chorus of "BTK." The album's a definite improvement over the last couple (which had the generic nu-metal screamer Rob Dukes on vox) but naturally it still doesn't come close to capturing the vibe of early Exodus attacks like Bonded By Blood or Pleasures of the Flesh.

My copy came packaged with a pointless bonus DVD of behind-the-scenes/making-of-the-album nonsense which bored me to tears within ten minutes.

[Fat Freddy]

Avtograf - Tear Down the Border (1991)

 

One word review: Zzzzzzzzzzzz.....

This is the English language debut by a long-running Russian AOR band and it's slick, bland and utterly faceless. This is the kinda peppy, synth laden schmaltz that TV networks used to use as background music for sports highlights. There's obviously talent here, too bad these songs are as generic as they come. For masochists only.

[Fat Freddy]

Coverdale/Page (1993)

 

I had this album on cassette when it first came out in '93, but I don't remember ever listening to it much, so therefore I was never in a particular hurry to upgrade it to a CD.

However, my interest in the back catalogs of both Whitesnake and Zeppelin have increased over the past decade so I figured it was high time to finally revisit Coverdale/Page and see if my opinion of it might have changed after all these years.

...aaaand nope. This is still dull-as-dishwater, formulaic stadium rock, released a decade too late. Good thing I got this CD cheap cuz I don't think I'll be playing it much. Zzzzzzzz.

[Fat Freddy]

Various - Metal Massacre II (1982)

Like all multi-artist compilation albums, the second volume of the venerable Metal Massacre series is a mixed bag, of course. Mixed in among no-names like 3rd Stage Alert, Dietrich (?), Hyksos (?) and Molten Leather (!) there are some tasty bits to be had, like Armored Saint's classy "Lesson Well Learned," Warlord's "Lucifer's Hammer" and the bruising "No Holds Barred" by L.A. combo Overkill (not to be confused with the long running New Jersey thrash band with the same name).

MMII is also notable for numerous appearances by future stars in their earlier bands, like Marty Friedman (Megadeth) on Aloha's "Heavy Metal Virgin," Mike (Loudness) Vescera on Obsession's "Shadows of Steel," Greg Chaisson and Jeff Martin (Badlands) on Surgical Steel's "Rivit Head," and Trauma's "Such a Shame," featuring a pre-Metallica Cliff Burton!

 

Various - Metal Massacre 4 (1983)

Once again, the fourth MM compilation features a couple of bands who went on to better things surrounded by a bunch of no-names (August Redmoon? War Cry? Sceptre?). Trouble ("The Last Judgment") and Lizzy Borden ("Rod Of Iron") are probably the best known bands to be found here (and both still exist today, at least the last time I checked). Some of the other bands like Abattoir and Zoetrope also managed to squeak out an album or two on Metal Blade or other indie labels when mid '80s thrash mania took hold. If nothing else, listening to the early MM volumes now brings back warm fuzzy memories of the pre-Internet days when teenage deviants used compilations like these as their main source of new band discoveries.

Side note: my CD copy mis-identifies track #11 ("Destructer") as being performed by "Trust," when it should be "Thrust" (note the "h"). I'm not sure how many people are nit-picky enough to still care after all these years but I just thought I'd mention it.

[Fat Freddy]

War Babies (1992)

 

War Babies was one of many "one-and-done" late '80s/early '90s bands that came to the hair metal party just a tad too late to make an impact. They apparently hailed from Seattle and had some connections to the early '80s Northwest hard rock band TKO, for whatever that's worth. I've been seeing this disc in cut out/bargain bins for years, but I never pulled the trigger on it till last night, when I stumbled across an autographed copy in a Goodwill Store (!), of all places.

Anywhoo, the War Babies cranked out some pretty competent hard edged sleaze rock not very far removed from fellow second/third stringers like Love/Hate, Bang Tango, JetBoy, Sweet F.A., etc., so if that's your thang, go nuts. The vocals sound a lot like Steven Tyler in his 70s prime. The harder rockin' tracks ala "Hang Me Up" are better than when these guys try to slow down and do the moody ballad thang ("Cry Yourself to Sleep").

This album apparently has a bit of a cult classic rep amongst hair metal aficionados; I wasn't as blown away by it as some people seem to be, but it was a decent listen and randomly landing a signed copy was a nice unexpected bonus. Worth the pickup if you can find it cheap.

[Fat Freddy]

Monster Magnet - Spine of God (1991)

 

Any album whose back cover slogan is "It's a Satanic drug thing, you wouldn't understand" has gotta be all kinds of awesome, right? Yup.

I'm more familiar with MM's latter period material (i.e. from Powertrip onward) which is less spacey/more straightforward and hard rockin' than this disc, but Spine of God still managed to grab me and take me on board the dope-fueled Monster Magnet UFO. This is some seriously groovy stuff, man. It's like listening to Hawkwind and Black Sabbath locked in some kinda outer space death duel while Galactus and the Silver Surfer look on. Whatever these fellas were on while making this record, I want some!!

Useless trivia, a re-recorded version of "Medicine" appeared on the God Says No album a few years later.

[Fat Freddy]

Various - Rock Star: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2001)

 

...yeah, I know. "What the hell took you so long to get this album, Keef?" ... well, I wasn't terribly impressed by the "Rock Star" film. I saw it once when it first hit DVD in the early '00s and have never felt particularly compelled to revisit it again...but when this soundtrack CD popped up in Goodwill for just a buck 99 I couldn't resist.

The major draw of this mixed bag of tunes are the half dozen tracks by "Steel Dragon," the fictitious Priest style band that Marky Mark's local yokel character joins in the movie. The Steel Dragon tracks were performed by a mini-hair-metal supergroup that featured Jeff Pilson of Dokken, Zakk Wylde of Ozzy/Black Label Society fame and Steelheart vocalist Milenko Matijevicus (or however the f*ck you spell his name). They all capture the "1985" metal vibe nicely, especially "Blood Pollution" and "Livin' The Life." Even the godawful ballad "We All Die Young" (which sounds like Jon Bon Jovi karaoke'ing new lyrics over a backing tape of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name") sounds like it fell out of a time capsule from back in the day.

Actually, this soundtrack probably would've been a whole lot cooler if they'd let the Steel Dragon guys cut a whole album's worth of tunes (ala Spinal Tap) instead of padding out the rest of the disc with a bunch of old bread like Motley Crue's "Wildside" (yawn), Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold," KISS' "Lick It Up" and INXS's "Devil Inside."

Maybe I should revisit the movie one of these days after all.

[Fat Freddy]

Backseat Driver - Son of the City (1997)

 

This was the second album by a semi-legendary (at least in my local area) NJ biker/sleaze/punk/metal band - I saw them open for the Ramones once about a quarter century ago, and they were a lot of fun. The disc is pretty basic one-two-three-four bar room rock, if you are into stuff like Manitoba's Wild Kingdom or Circus of Power then you should get a kick out of this one as well.

[Fat Freddy]

Powerman 5000 - Tonight The Stars Revolt! (1999)

 

I picked this disc up at Goodwill tonight on name recognition alone - I remember these guys got a lot of ink in Metal Edge mag in the late 90s/early 00s but I never actually heard them. Powerman 5000's main selling point seemed to be that frontman "Spider One" is Rob Zombie's younger brother, and PM5K do share a lot of sonic similarities with White Zombie. The main difference between the two is that while WZ got the bulk of its inspiration from schlocky horror films, PM5K's thing is schlocky science fiction films. Soooo yeah, in a nutshell, if you like White Zombie, you'll prob dig this, cuz it sounds pretty similar - crunchy 90s metal sprinkled with plenty of wacky "spacey" sound effects, jump riffs and hoarse vox. Some of it's kinda catchy but aside from a track or two it's pretty interchangeable. (Kudos for the badass cover of the Cars' "Good Times Roll," though!)
I doubt this will be a frequent spinner for me but for $1.99 I'm not gonna complain too much.

[Fat Freddy]

Steelheart - Good 2B Alive (2008)

 

I must preface these remarks by saying that I until I picked up this disc, I owned no Steelheart albums and in fact I have almost zero memory of them aside from whatever song(s) got radio/MTV play back in the day... but it was so weird to randomly find this indie at Goodwill for $1.99 that I couldn't leave it there.

 

Anyway, I've been told that this album isn't a "Steelheart" album; it's essentially a solo joint by vocalist Mike "Milenko" Mati-however you spell it, and supposedly Steelheart fans mostly hate it. After a couple of spins I could see why. This is watery alterna-grungy-hard rock/metal at its most generic.

 

Is it possible for an album to get worse with repeated listens? Cuz when I first spun this I thought, "Ehh, it doesn't sound too bad." On the second time thru I was like "Mmmm... y'know what, maybe this isn't very good after all," and by the third spin I was like "Holy crap, this sucks, it shall never darken my CD player again."

 

Anybody need a coaster?

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Steelheart - Good 2B Alive (2008)

 

I must preface these remarks by saying that I until I picked up this disc, I owned no Steelheart albums and in fact I have almost zero memory of them aside from whatever song(s) got radio/MTV play back in the day... but it was so weird to randomly find this indie at Goodwill for $1.99 that I couldn't leave it there.

 

Anyway, I've been told that this album isn't a "Steelheart" album; it's essentially a solo joint by vocalist Mike "Milenko" Mati-however you spell it, and supposedly Steelheart fans mostly hate it. After a couple of spins I could see why. This is watery alterna-grungy-hard rock/metal at its most generic.

 

Is it possible for an album to get worse with repeated listens? Cuz when I first spun this I thought, "Ehh, it doesn't sound too bad." On the second time thru I was like "Mmmm... y'know what, maybe this isn't very good after all," and by the third spin I was like "Holy crap, this sucks, it shall never darken my CD player again."

 

Anybody need a coaster?

Um...

 

I'm a Steelheart fan, and I love it. So, I'll take another one. ;}

[DaHun72]

 

Steelheart - Good 2B Alive (2008)

 

I must preface these remarks by saying that I until I picked up this disc, I owned no Steelheart albums and in fact I have almost zero memory of them aside from whatever song(s) got radio/MTV play back in the day... but it was so weird to randomly find this indie at Goodwill for $1.99 that I couldn't leave it there.

 

Anyway, I've been told that this album isn't a "Steelheart" album; it's essentially a solo joint by vocalist Mike "Milenko" Mati-however you spell it, and supposedly Steelheart fans mostly hate it. After a couple of spins I could see why. This is watery alterna-grungy-hard rock/metal at its most generic.

 

Is it possible for an album to get worse with repeated listens? Cuz when I first spun this I thought, "Ehh, it doesn't sound too bad." On the second time thru I was like "Mmmm... y'know what, maybe this isn't very good after all," and by the third spin I was like "Holy crap, this sucks, it shall never darken my CD player again."

 

Anybody need a coaster?

Um...

 

I'm a Steelheart fan, and I love it. So, I'll take another one. ;}

How does it compare to Wait?

[KarpetRydOFunk]

 

 

Steelheart - Good 2B Alive (2008)

 

I must preface these remarks by saying that I until I picked up this disc, I owned no Steelheart albums and in fact I have almost zero memory of them aside from whatever song(s) got radio/MTV play back in the day... but it was so weird to randomly find this indie at Goodwill for $1.99 that I couldn't leave it there.

 

Anyway, I've been told that this album isn't a "Steelheart" album; it's essentially a solo joint by vocalist Mike "Milenko" Mati-however you spell it, and supposedly Steelheart fans mostly hate it. After a couple of spins I could see why. This is watery alterna-grungy-hard rock/metal at its most generic.

 

Is it possible for an album to get worse with repeated listens? Cuz when I first spun this I thought, "Ehh, it doesn't sound too bad." On the second time thru I was like "Mmmm... y'know what, maybe this isn't very good after all," and by the third spin I was like "Holy crap, this sucks, it shall never darken my CD player again."

 

Anybody need a coaster?

Um...

 

I'm a Steelheart fan, and I love it. So, I'll take another one. ;}

How does it compare to Wait?

It's more or less Wait Part 2. Only more Steel than Heart.

[Fat Freddy]

Crawler - Knight of the Word (2011)

Crawler is an Italian metal band, so you know what that means - lotsa widdly widdly guitars and lyrics about Knights, Kings, Angels, yadda yadda yadda. The good news is that Crawler does this sort of thing better than many of their pasta chuggin' brethren, who tend to rely way too much on keyboards for my taste. This is pretty basic, no-nonsense traditional metal with an overwhelming Iron Maiden influence (circa Powerslave) - vocalist Claudio Cesari does sound very Dickenson-ian at times, though his heavily accented English (another hallmark of Italian metal) sometimes allows things to lapse into unintentional comedy.

Melodic rock types might be interested to know that legendary hair metal studio wizard Beau Hill (Ratt, Kix, Warrant, etc.) produced the last track on this CD. I'm not sure what brought Beau and this band together. I guess either Crawler won a contest, or Beau lost a Super Bowl bet.

 

Hammered - The Beginning (2012)

More Italian metal! You can more or less Xerox my comments about Crawler from up above and paste them here, except I'll add that Hammered, while still quite melodic, are more aggressive than Crawler, demonstrating some classic-thrash influence in their guitar riffing (think Ride the Lightning era Metallica) and therefore I dig'em. Not a bad pickup for 99 cents.

 

Icy Steel - Kronothor (2012)

Guess what? Even MORE Italian metal! Icy Steel have got the whole "heavy metal" image down pat (dudes in badass leather gear sneering at the camera) and the lead singer goes by the nickname "Icywarrior" (spelled as one word!), so you know Icy Steel must be tr00 to the bone. Too bad they're pretty dull Maiden/Iced Earth/Dream Theater inspired power/prog. I think this is supposed to be a concept album of some sort, but the lyric sheet is in pure "Engrish" and therefore I can't make heads or tails of it (sample lyric: "White beard of an old... echoes of archaic odors grow in me." Ummmm, okay!).

Kronothor doesn't totally suck but let's just say I'm glad I only paid 99 cents for this one. (fling, crash)

[Fat Freddy]

The Prowlers - Point of No Return (2013)
Meh. Competently played, but ultimately pretty dull, power/prog metal from Italy. Sounds OK while it's playing, but once it's over you'll be hard pressed to remember a lyric, a riff, or even a song title. I can see why Perris Records had marked this one down to 99 cents, though I gotta call bullsh** on their claim that this CD should appeal to "Iron Maiden and Leatherwolf fans," because the Prowlers sound like neither of those bands. Oh well, at least I'm only out a buck (shrugs).

 

Hell's Domain - s/t (2012)

OK, now this is more like it. Self-titled debut album by a Danish band who throw down some pretty sweet no-frills, straight up, old school thrash metal ala Slayer and Exodus. Not original in the slightest, of course, but sure to raise the pulse of the denim-vest-and-bullet-belt mosh pit brigade.
The band earns extra scene points for getting Ed ("Vic Rattlehead") Repka to do their album cover. You can't go wrong with a Repka!