Best/Worst blind buys?

Grimmo wrote:

Best: Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten - At the time of purchase, I heard they were death metal. It's a classic.

You didn't even need to hear that they were death metal, the album cover was a dead give away.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Hollow's Modern Cathedral - basically I read a few reviews which praised this album and band as some sort of saviors for the power metal genre. I fail to see what is so good about this band and album. To me it sounds like a subpar version of just about everything that is good in power metal. Luckily this didn't cost me much.

Wow, I think that's an amazing record. Surprised to find someone who doesn't like it.

They aren't really power metal, most of it is mid-tempo, but the songs are just perfection. Trademark and Lies are brilliant tracks. Great sound, great vocals. 10/10 album.

Best would be Maiden Japan. It was in the import bin and I thought the cover was cool. My first introduction to Iron Maiden and never looked back.

Worst: White Tiger. Recognized the guitarist and decided to give it a try. Never got past the first side.

Witchfinder wrote:

ShadowAngel wrote:

Hellfueled - Volume One
Has two good tracks (Let me Out and Midnight Lady) otherwise they try too hard to be like Ozzy Osbourne and his Band, the songs aren't good and the loud, noisy production is awful.

I love that album.

I like that one too. Too bad their follow-up, Born II Rock, blows chunks.

Quote :

At my usual CD haunt, I found a hard to find early 90s pop metal album, Wildside-Under The Influence that was almost $20. Not wanting to spend that much on a CD at the time, I got the follow-up self-titled album thinking it would be the same style if not a little different. Unfortunatly, that album was second rate grunge music. Obviously, Wildside was one of those bands that tried to change with the times. It's not too bad an album but from what I knew of that band it was a far cry from what I was expecting.

I bought that s/t album at a pawn shop based off the rep that Under The Influence has. Since it was .50 it wasn't anywhere near a bad blind buy - but yeah, not what I was expecting from a Wildside record.

I consider that Hollow - Modern Cathedral record a good blind buy. Think I got it off one of those buy three get a fourth free sale. Always meant to pick up their other record.

Bought this today, not knowing what they sounded like exactly...only that it was on Brainticket (a Doom/Stoner label):



This thing is badass!! Like a blend of Solitude Aeturnus & really heavy Soundgarden...

I remember one blind buy that I didn't care for at all, 8 Ball Cholos. I think the album was Satan's Whores or something like that. It featured Tracy G, who was in Dio at the time.

ultmetal wrote:

I remember one blind buy that I didn't care for at all, 8 Ball Cholos. I think the album was Satan's Whores or something like that. It featured Tracy G, who was in Dio at the time.

Man, with a title like that how could it NOT be awesome??

Worst was definitely Fastway- On Target. This was back when it was a new release. I had heard nothing about the album, saw it in the racks and thought, "Fastway kicks ass, this should be good!". Little did I know the band and sound had been completely overhauled. New singer, new shitty synth-pop rock sound. It still makes me nauseous to think about it.

Infinite wrote:

Worst was definitely Fastway- On Target. This was back when it was a new release. I had heard nothing about the album, saw it in the racks and thought, "Fastway kicks ass, this should be good!". Little did I know the band and sound had been completely overhauled. New singer, new shitty synth-pop rock sound. It still makes me nauseous to think about it.

yeah - they did have quite a change in sound.

DallasBlack wrote:

I think this would be my worst blind buy:

At my usual CD haunt, I found a hard to find early 90s pop metal album, Wildside-Under The Influence that was almost $20. Not wanting to spend that much on a CD at the time, I got the follow-up self-titled album thinking it would be the same style if not a little different. Unfortunatly, that album was second rate grunge music. Obviously, Wildside was one of those bands that tried to change with the times. It's not too bad an album but from what I knew of that band it was a far cry from what I was expecting.

Ha! Same experience here but I wouldn't classify it as a blind buy per se since you are already familiar with that band

I loved Under the Influence to Death and you have perfectly described what I felt too

I have numerously fell into that trap, bought those pathetic 'grunge' albums from Dokken,Steelheart,Danger Danger and amongst others.

T-Roy wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

I remember one blind buy that I didn't care for at all, 8 Ball Cholos. I think the album was Satan's Whores or something like that. It featured Tracy G, who was in Dio at the time.

Man, with a title like that how could it NOT be awesome??

It was a Christian project.

EmoElmo wrote:

I wouldn't classify it as a blind buy per se since you are already familiar with that band

Actually, I never hear of that band before and only knew what music they were by the band photo on the back of Under The Influence. So it was a blind buy.

ultmetal wrote:

I remember one blind buy that I didn't care for at all, 8 Ball Cholos. I think the album was Satan's Whores or something like that. It featured Tracy G, who was in Dio at the time.

I made the same mistake in regards to this one. I probably only played this cd 2 or 3 times. If I remember rightly, there was even some hyped up advertising in zines etc. Didn't one of the members - Burrito(?) start up a label? which then signed up the likes of Crimson Thorn etc? and then the bands either weren't really supported and/or the label changed direction?

My recollection is rather foggy on this one, as it was probably about 1997 or something ... seems like a long time ago. Maybe I tried to erase this from my memory.

Scary thing is, .... I think I still have that CD somewhere, ... terrible artwork.

my friend and i always reference the "mountains of dead babies" song.

Infinite wrote:

Worst was definitely Fastway- On Target. This was back when it was a new release. I had heard nothing about the album, saw it in the racks and thought, "Fastway kicks ass, this should be good!". Little did I know the band and sound had been completely overhauled. New singer, new shitty synth-pop rock sound. It still makes me nauseous to think about it.

Yeah, me too ! I loved Fastway and saw the cassette at the store. At that time, the radio was playing Tora Tora's "Walkin" Shoes" (a song I love) and I thought it was Fastway. The way the cassette was slid into those plastic anti-theft frames,I couldn't read any of the song titles. Bought it,took it home and was immediately disappointed. What a crappy album !

DallasBlack wrote:

Grimmo wrote:

Best: Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten - At the time of purchase, I heard they were death metal. It's a classic.

You didn't even need to hear that they were death metal, the album cover was a dead give away.

You're right there. Though if I hypothetically knew nothing about music, I'd probably mistaken this for a death metal album:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cypress_Hill-Black_Sunday.jpg



Seriously though, when I was a young lad, I came close to making the odd mistake along these lines. Fortunately, the music store used to let me have a listen before [not] buying.