The Fat Freddy Review Column

Dunno if I mentioned this in my introductory post a while back but I am an armchair metal critic too... I've been writing reviews and an occasional column called FROM THE MEGA-VAULT for the "Detritus" e-zine ( www.myspace.com/detritusezine) on and off for a couple of years now. While I was looking thru some stored items on my computer I came across this review I wrote a few months back so I thought I'd post it ... I have many others socked away so I'll post more from time to time... feel free to comment! Thanks!


LIGHT THIS CITY – FACING THE THOUSAND
Grade: C-
Prosthetic Records, 2006
10 Tracks, RT: 40:03

The sticker on the front of the jewel case promises AN EPIC THRASH ATTACK, and says that Light This City is “Metal’s Most Promising Young Band”… so why was I not excited in the least by this CD? Well… you know how sometimes a band/album sounds GREAT till the vocalist opens his or her mouth? That is unfortunately the case with Light This City. These young’uns hail from the hallowed ground of San Francisco’s Bay Area, known far and wide as the Birthplace of Thrash, so it would stand to reason that the ability to make a helluva racket is imbedded in their DNA. I’ll grant that musically, Light This City definitely have their you-know-what together. The guitar team of Brian Forbes and Steve Hoffman lay down some mean-ass riffage and drummer Ben Murray must have twelve legs, judging from the amount of drum abuse on FACING THE THOUSAND. For comparison’s sake, I’ll say that I can hear the strains of classic Metallica and vintage Testament in their music, mixed with a healthy dose of At The Gates/In Flames style melodo-death metal. It’s a potent musical package, but what kills this disc for me are the vocals of Laura Nichol. Before you bombard me with hate mail accusing me of being sexist, I want to make it clear that I have no trouble at all with female fronted metal bands; however, I have never been a fan of the grunted, “extreme” vocal style, and that’s what Miss Nichol trades in all over FACING THE THOUSAND. She seems to have only two weapons in her vocal arsenal – the death metal "WOOOOARRRRRGH" or the hardcore “bark bark bark bark,” neither of which have ever been high on my list of favorites, so when she cuts loose with her first scream at the beginning of album opener “Facing The Thousand,” I just went “Hoo boy,” and had a feeling that I was in for a long night when it came time to review this one. Light This City seem to be one of those bands that packs a helluva lot of lyrics into each song too, so after a while I found myself wishing for an instrumental track, or for someone to stick a rag in Laura’s mouth so I could just listen to the band for a while without her yowling over the top of everything. As a reviewer, I pride myself on listening to every promotional CD I receive several times over so that I can give it a fair and balanced review, but in Light This City’s case, it was a chore just getting through the CD twice. I suppose if you’re a twenty-something who goes to the Sounds of the Underground tour every year, or a high school mall rat that buys your CDs at Hot Topic, this will be right up your alley; however, for an old traditionally-minded bastard like me, Light This City merely had me wishing that the album would be over, and soon. Sorry guys, I wish Light This City all the luck in the world but I gotta call’em as I see’em.

We've got some really good writers here. This section turned out to be an excellent idea!

kmorg wrote:

We've got some really good writers here. This section turned out to be an excellent idea!

I guess that means you liked it?

Thanks for the kind words, I will post some other stuff from my archives when I have a little more free time ...

Here's another one of my recent reviews:

FROST- OUT IN THE COLD
Grade: C+
Screaming Ferret Wreckords, 2006
11 Tracks, 46:24

Does Jack Frost ever sleep? While keeping his full time band (Seven Witches) afloat, the New Jersey based guitarist has also found time to take part in a multitude of side projects (including but not limited to Bronx Casket Company, Speeed, Metalium, and Savatage), and he's now released his second solo album to boot! OUT IN THE COLD was released overseas in 2005 but is now available in the U.S. via Screaming Ferret. I enjoyed Frost's last solo outing, 2004's RAISE YOUR FIST TO METAL, quite a bit, but unfortunately I didn't find OUT IN THE COLD to be quite as impressive. As on RAISE YOUR FIST, Jack has assembled an all-star cast of rotating musicans and vocalists for OUT IN THE COLD, including Ted Poley of Danger Danger, Mike LePond of Symphony X, Mike Duda of W.A.S.P. and Joey Vera of Armored Saint, just to name a few, and the resulting tracks are sometimes killer, sometimes frustratingly half-baked. Where RAISE YOUR FIST was a virtual '80s metal smorgasbord from beginning to end (barring the Kansas cover track that stuck out like a sore thumb), OUT IN THE COLD starts out with its foot on the gas pedal but then wanders off into laid back, late 70s/early 80s radio-rock territory. Ted Poley kicks the CD off with the aggressive "Wasting Your Luv" (which has a nice chugging riff), and current Seven Witches vocalist Alan Tecchio keeps that aggression factor up on the thrashy "Hell or High Water." Continuing down the vintage metal trail, Frost taps original Anthrax vocalist Neil Turbin (where the hell has HE been for the last twenty-odd years?) for the heavy-as-hell "Crucifixation." This track is let down somewhat by the hilariously cheesy lyrics ("I am the crimson warrior on a mission from Hell, spilling the blood of damnation!") but it does prove that Turbin's pipes have aged surprisingly well. XYZ vocalist Terry Ilous takes over for the title track and Poley returns for a cover of the April Wine chestnut "Sign of the Gypsy Queen." This song has never been a particular favorite of mine but Frost and crew do it justice. Judging from the title, I'm assuming that "Peter and Me" is intended as a salute to Peter Frampton, especially since there's a talk box solo in the middle that could've come off of FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE. Jeff Martin contributes vocals to two songs, one being a smooth cover of the Foreigner classic "Cold As Ice" (very well done, although not much different from the original if you ask me) and a heavier track called "Covered In Blood" in which he takes on a shrieky, high-pitched voice that sounds like a twelve year old kid trying to imitate King Diamond. Great riff work in this song (and on the rest of the CD in fact) but the banshee wails had me reaching for the skip button after only a few spins. Frost himself sings lead on the cover of 38 Special's "Hold On Loosely" (another FM classic that I always found somewhat annoying), which brings the cover tune count up to three, and that's before you even get to the closing track, ANOTHER cover (though the label's promo sheet doesn't list it as such) of the Babys' "Head First" (with Poley back on vocals again). Four cover tunes (actually five, if you count the lovely "Passage to the Classical Side," which reworks a track from Seven Witches' PASSAGE TO THE OTHER SIDE) out of eleven total tracks seems like an awfully high ratio, doesn't it? I know that cover songs are a Frost trademark, but maybe he should've held off on releasing another solo CD until he had some more originals stockpiled, or maybe he should've just went all out and released an all-covers disc! OK, OK, I know that I'm probably sounding a bit harsh on Frost here, so despite my b*tching about the rather obvious padding on this CD, I still found OUT IN THE COLD to be a pretty decent listen and it should keep Frost's fans occupied till the release of the next Seven Witches disc.

And one more...

DEGREE ABSOLUTE - S/T
Grade: C
Sensory Records, 2006
10 tracks, 57:16

I have always had a strained relationship with "progressive" metal bands. On one hand I definitely admire the massive amounts of study, expertise, and instrumental dexterity that must go into creating music within this genre, but on the other hand I have yet to hear a prog-metal album that has truly blown me away, or even held my interest all the way through (Symphony X's THE ODYSSEY probably came closest.) I have little patience for the epic-length instrumental jams and endless noodling that seem to be part and parcel of the prog-metal experience, so most of the time I find such CDs to be more of an endurance test than a pleasant listening experience. (At this point, half of the people reading this are probably saying "This guy is an idiot!" aren't they?) Anyway, obviously I prefer my metal to be a little more "meat-and-potatoes," therefore the self titled debut by this American three piece (vocalist/guitarist Aaron Bell, bassist Dave Lindeman, and drummer Doug Beary) is not something you would normally find on my musical menu. However, if bands like WatchTower and latter-period Fates Warning make you salivate, then you'll probably get more out of DEGREE ABSOLUTE than I did. I do like the opening track "Exist" (even though it's at least two minutes too long), I found Bell's voice to be easy on the ears, and there are some guitar riffs and other bits and pieces scattered throughout the album that piqued my interest temporarily, but as a whole the CD didn't leave much of an impression on me after it was over. Instead of thinking "Hey, that song has a cool solo," or "Wow, I liked the chorus in that track," my mind would wander during these songs, to the point where I found myself wondering about things like why the song "Pi" only runs 3:09 instead of the expected 3:14 (get it?), or what inspired the odd title fo "Halfmanhalfbiscuit" (sic). I've probably listened to this album at least a dozen times now, but even after all those spins I still couldn't quote you a lyric from this CD if you put a gun to my head. Am I too dumb to understand this band, or are they simply a little bit too arty and pretentious for me? (Considering that there's an eleven minute song called "Ergo Sum" on this album, I'd say it's the latter.) If you're a fan of the progressive metal genre then you've probably already decided that I'm a tool and you've made up your mind to buy this album regardless of my opinion, so you can feel free to bump my rating up to a "B" or even higher. I'll be in the corner listening to some Overkill and Lizzy Borden if you need me.

Ahhh, what the heck, let's throw on one more before I log out:

THE MISFITS MEET THE NUTLEY BRASS - FIEND CLUB LOUNGE
Grade: A-
Misfits Records/Ryko, 2005
11 Tracks, 23:19

A word of warning before I dive into this review: if you're one of those stuck-up snotty metal/punk purists with no sense of humor, or if you think the Misfits should've been laid to rest for good when the Glenn Danzig era ended, then you are hereby advised to steer clear of this CD because it's only going to p*ss you off. (For that matter, if you ARE Glenn Danzig, then you're probably gonna want to skip this one too, otherwise you'll be hunting Jerry Only down so you can beat the crap out of him).
If, however, you thought Pat Boone's IN A METAL MOOD was a riot, or you've ever enjoyed one of Weird Al Yankovic's album-ending "polka medleys," then maybe, just maybe, you're twisted enough to enjoy FIEND CLUB LOUNGE, a truly unique Misfits tribute album that'll be perfect stereo fodder for your next Halloween party. I generally despise tribute CDs but FIEND CLUB LOUNGE is no ordinary tribute, because it contains eleven of the 'fits' finest horror anthems re-imagined by a swing/jazz combo from New Jersey called the Nutley Brass. You heard that right, LOUNGE VERSIONS OF MISFITS SONGS, as if the Misfits went on a ride back to the '50s in a converted time-machine DeLorean and took a gig as the house band at a swanky hotel!! Since this style of music is so far outside of my normal listening area, I honestly didn't know what to make of FIEND CLUB LOUNGE at first, but halfway through the first spin I simply gave in to the silliness of it all and wound up laughing so hard that I nearly drove my car into a ditch. Hearing classics like "Last Caress," "Astro Zombies" and "Skulls" being schmaltzed to death by the Nutley Brass hep-cats is a truly bizarre listening experience. "Where Eagles Dare" sounds like a swingin' set piece from the "Austin Powers" films (I can picture Austin dancing the Frug to it, backed by a bunch of hotties in go-go boots), while "Teenagers From Mars" features cartoony sound effects that I SWEAR remind me of the "Itchy & Scratchy" theme song from "The Simpsons!" "Die Die My Darling" could pass for a theme song to a Connery-era Bond film and "Skulls" starts off with some bubbling sound effects that I suppose could either be champagne flowing from the glass of an undead Lawrence Welk, or perhaps a mad scientist's chemistry set from an old Boris Karloff flick. The only thing that would've put a capper on this release would be if it had vocals. The album is mostly instrumental except for some occasional, dreamy "ooh's" and "ahhs," but if only there were a Sinatra or Dean Martin impersonator on here, crooning immortal (immoral?) lyrics like "Hack the heads off little girls and put'em on my wall..." or "I got something to say, I killed your baby today..." over such syrupy music, this disc would've gone completely over the top into "Cult Classic" territory. The free drink coaster inlcuded with the CD (featuring Basil Gogos' marvelous cover art of a 50s style glamour girl partying with a horde of zombies!) only increases the surrealism factor for me. I can't wait to throw this CD on when I have a roomful of unsuspecting friends so I can see how long it takes for someone to say "What the F**K is this?"
I honestly don't know how much replay value this album will have for me in six months or a year from now when the novelty/humor factor wears off, and with a run time of only 23 minutes I honestly can't recommend paying full retail price for this, but still, FIEND CLUB LOUNGE was a total Halloween hoot that will fit comfortably into my trick-or-treat season rotation, right next to my Van Helsing's Curse and "Rocky Horror" soundtrack CDs. Fiendish, goofy fun for everyone!!

That Degree Absolute album is one of the best prog-metal albums I've heard in a long time! I love it. Three instrumentals in a row, though, is a little odd. Great album, anyway.

You should break your reviews up into some paragraphs. =)

Eyesore wrote:

That Degree Absolute album is one of the best prog-metal albums I've heard in a long time! I love it. Three instrumentals in a row, though, is a little odd. Great album, anyway.

You should break your reviews up into some paragraphs. =)

I usually do break them up into paragraphs, but it looks like when I copy them from the Word documents I have stored @ home on my computer and paste them here, they somehow turn into one GIANT paragraph...weird.

As for Degree Absolute, ehhh, what can I say, I guess I'm not a prog-metal kinda guy. I've reviewed quite a few prog-metal CDs for Detritus over the last couple of years and none of'em have really turned me on. I finally asked the editor to cut back on sending'em to me cuz I didn't think it was very fair to the P.R. people and the bands to have me reviewing them...

Anyway, here's my latest review slab:

Screaming Ferret Wreckords was kind enough to send me their two latest DVD releases, Nuclear Assault's LOUDER, HARDER, FASTER and Seven Witches' YEARS OF THE WITCH, a while back, but since I rarely have time to watch DVDs, they ended up sitting on a shelf for over a month before I even peeled off the shrink wrap. (I have a four year old son who has a larger DVD collection than I do, so he monopolizes the TV most of the time!)
When I finally had a chance to sit and check them out, I preferred the
Seven Witches DVD, but then I'm a bigger fan of Seven Witches than I
am of Nuclear Assault anyway. If I'm not mistaken, both of these
videos were shot at the same venue (the "Crocodile Rock" nightclub in
Allentown, PA) during the "Louder Harder Faster" festival in 2004, so
the Seven Witches video was already out of date before it was even
released, since it features the James Rivera lineup of the band.
(Rivera is now fronting Vicious Rumors and his slot has been occupied
by ex-Hades vocalist Alan Tecchio for over a year now.) I've never
seen Seven Witches in concert but it looks like they'd be a lot of fun
in the live setting. On YEARS OF THE WITCH, Rivera (arguably the best
vocalist the band has ever had) leads Jack Frost and the rest of the
troop through a fun set of fist-banging favorites in front of an
appreciative crowd. Rivera's stage antics bring Halford and Dio
comparisons to mind, though his stage patter occasionally dips into
power-metal cheesiness (as when he tells the crowd "I salute you in
the NAME of METAL!" Hahaha!). The highlights of the live set for me
were the tracks from the then-current YEAR OF THE WITCH disc (which
included a cool detour into part of Priest's "Victim Of Changes"
during the excellent "Metal Messiah"), but the DVD is also packed with
a ton of bonus features focusing mainly on Witches guitarist/main man
Jack Frost, who seems like a genuinely cool dude. His enthusiasm for
his band (and metal in general) shines through as he takes us on a
"Behind The Music" style overview of the band's history (lots of neat
clips here), introduces us to the guy who owns Mix-O-Lydian Studios
(where all of the Witches' output has been recorded), and sits down
for an interview conducted by Mark Gromen of Metal Maniacs magazine.
You'll also find a selection of live clips featuring previous band
lineups (where we see former vocalists Wade Black and Bobby Lucas in
action... some of these clips have better sound quality than the main
program, too!), making for an occasionally flawed, but mostly
interesting program.

Meanwhile, Nuclear Assault's LOUDER, HARDER, FASTER video has its
moments, but it does have its share of let-downs as well. First, the
good news is that the N.A. guys seem to have aged pretty gracefully
(bassist Danny Lilker, a true metal road dog if ever there was one,
STILL looks exactly the same as he did back in the day!), and John
Connelly's gravelly voice has held up fairly well. On the other hand,
guitarist Anthony Bramante doesn't even look like he wants to be there
during this performance (he is basically nailed to the stage during
the entire set), and the crowd is a little on the lame side as well.
Back in the olden days, thrash classics like "Brainwashed" and
"Critical Mass" would've absolutely PULVERIZED an audience but the
people in attendance on this particular night seem a little too
reserved. Are Nuclear Assault fans getting too old to mosh? We see
some brief circle pit action during the more popular songs but even
those aren't as intense as you'd expect. It almost makes me wish
they'd released a vintage performance on this DVD instead (say, from
L'amour in Brooklyn, circa the GAME OVER or SURVIVE eras?) so we could
relive the days when these guys could really whip an audience into a
frenzy!! Still, it's funny to hear the semi-classic "Buttf**k/You
Figure It Out" performed live (especially when Connelly wades into the
crowd for the "blues spot" in the midsection, and rants about then-
current events like Terri Schiavo, the Michael Jackson trial, and the
"Runaway Bride") and even though Connelly seems a little embarrassed
to have to make an announcement at the beginning of the set that
whoever owns the "white Nissan" outside needs to move his car before
it gets towed (couldn't a roadie have done that instead of a band
member?), he eventually turns that into a running gag, asking "White
Nissan?" before the start of nearly every song. This DVD also has its
share of interesting bonus features, including an interview segment, a
photo gallery, two music videos (the vid for the country flavored joke
song "Long Haired Asshole" is hilarious), and tons of vintage live
stuff, most of which is pretty awful in terms of sound quality, but
which shows what a lethal live unit these guys were during their
heyday. Though I wasn't overly interested in Nuclear Assault back in
the late '80s, watching this DVD did prompt me to go track down the
bulk of their classic catalog (GAME OVER, THE PLAGUE, and SURVIVE all
totally rule, by the way!) so if nothing else this video helped me to
rediscover one heckuva killer old-school thrash unit.

Overall, it didn't take long for me to decide that it was probably
more fun to be present during the filming of these DVDs than it was to
actually watch most of them. If you're expecting slick, pro-shot,
multi-camera angle programs, I suggest you look elsewhere, because for
the most part the video on both of these DVDs is pretty bare bones,
shot with two or three different camera angles at most (the wide shot
from the back of the club, close up of the lead singer, close up of
the guitarist during solos, etc.), so neither of them are exactly Iron
Maiden's ROCK IN RIO, technologically speaking. I guess they're better
than an average bootleg video, however, and I'm sure fans and
collectors of both bands will find something to enjoy on each of them.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

That Degree Absolute album is one of the best prog-metal albums I've heard in a long time! I love it. Three instrumentals in a row, though, is a little odd. Great album, anyway.

You should break your reviews up into some paragraphs. =)

I usually do break them up into paragraphs, but it looks like when I copy them from the Word documents I have stored @ home on my computer and paste them here, they somehow turn into one GIANT paragraph...weird.

Aah, I should have caught that. You can see where some of the paragraphs should be. This forum seems to have some serious issues translating code, whether pasted or simply typed in here. It's weird, but it translates like crap way too often. I have cut and pasted anything in a while, but the paragraph breaks do translate if you use the fast reply, I think. If not the fast reply block then it's the other way.

Quote :

As for Degree Absolute, ehhh, what can I say, I guess I'm not a prog-metal kinda guy. I've reviewed quite a few prog-metal CDs for Detritus over the last couple of years and none of'em have really turned me on. I finally asked the editor to cut back on sending'em to me cuz I didn't think it was very fair to the P.R. people and the bands to have me reviewing them...

I'm a new convert. Three or four years ago I would have slammed these bands, but something happened over the past few years and I've just grown to love and appreciate this style of music. Of course, I've still come across some terrible prog bands.

Eyesore wrote:

I'm a new convert. Three or four years ago I would have slammed these bands, but something happened over the past few years and I've just grown to love and appreciate this style of music. Of course, I've still come across some terrible prog bands.

I don't slam the prog-metal stuff cuz obviously it takes a ton of ability to play that kind of music, but it just doesn't do anything for me. In fact, that's one of the reasons I asked the editor to stop sending me prog CDs, because I was getting sick of 'em and was afraid I was going to START slamming 'em just out of sheer boredom (i.e. "Oh great, ANOTHER frickin' prog metal CD, I am SO sick of these bands, gimme my shotgun damn it!")

The band that set me off was Zero Hour. Something about them just clicked. Do you like female-fronted bands? Try To-Mera and Echoes Of Eternity. They're progressive, but very different from the norm.

Some more recent opinions by yours truly...



The new CD by Spider Rockets, EVER AFTER (P-Dog Records) arrived in my mailbox out of the blue some time ago. Since the band hails from New Jersey, I thought that perhaps they’d picked me to receive it since I am a fellow Garden State resident. I later learned that my place of residence had nothing to do with it, because the rest of the Detritus staff had also received the CD…so much for feeling special, eh? (By the way, the mere fact that none of THEM have bothered to review it all these months later should tell you something…!) I don’t really know where to begin reviewing EVER AFTER because to be honest, I thought it was god-awful. This CD is hardly what I would call “Detritus material,” as Spider Rockets is a hard-edged alterna-rock band that features the squeaky voiced Helena Cos (who sounds like a pissed off Gwen Stefani) warbling over ten tracks of some of the most watery, generic tunes I’ve heard in ages. Spider Rockets’ web site compares their sound and attitude to Velvet Revolver, 7 Year B*tch, Audioslave, and Alanis Morrisette (!), but none of those artists are exactly my bag (what can I say, I’m just a dumb metal head!), so for me it was a chore to simply get through one spin of the CD. By the time the disc was done the only track that stuck in my head was the cover of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter,” and even that was only because I was imagining how cool it would be if John Lennon and George Harrison rose from their graves to exact terrible vengeance upon the band members for defiling their classic song. Anyone want a free drink coaster, or a skeet-shooting target? I’ll be glad to send you my copy of EVER AFTER just to get it out of my house. Sorry, Spider Rockets, I’m sure you’re nice people and all, but my New Jersey loyalty only goes so far…. If this sounds like it’s your bag at all, feel free to peruse http://www.spiderrockets.com, but don’t bother to tell them that I sent you.



Moving on to (thankfully) more metallic pastures… obtaining a copy of LAW AND PERSECUTION by Italian thrashers Nameless Crime (Powerzone Records) was a more high-tech process than I’m used to. Instead of simply receiving a promotional CD in the mail, I was e-mailed a link and a password to a special area on their record label’s Web site, which allowed me to download the entire album in MP3 format. This was a first for me, and I found the whole thing somewhat ironic considering that the music business is usually trying to DETER people from downloading tunes! Anyway, I’ve discovered several cool new bands from Italy over the past year (like Merendine Atomiche and Eldritch) thanks to my Detritus reviewing duties, and Nameless Crime is another winner. During the first spin of LAW AND PERSECUTION it became obvious that these boys must be big Dave Mustaine fans, as the album sounds a lot like COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION-era Megadeth. The guitar team of Mario Ruggiero and Alessandra Tuccillo especially impressed me; these guys can definitely lay down some seriously shredding old-school riffs and keep it tight too. Fabio Manda’s vocals took a little getting used to (his Italian accent was a little distracting for me at first), and the band’s lack of English expertise also provided some unintentional comedy. (I’m still trying to understand what the song title “Roadside Bison” could possibly mean, and lyrics like “With your warnings I clean my ass, my life is not for sale!” in the track “Mr. Stone” raised a quizzical eyebrow too!), but other than those minor complaints I’d say that Nameless Crime can be added to my list of cool Italian bands to keep an eye on in the future. The band’s web site, http://www.namelesscrime.com appears to be under construction at the moment, but you can find out more info at their label’s homepage, which is http://www.powerzonerecords.com …



Continuing on the true metal tip we have GRIMOIRE OF RUIN (Darkhaven Records) by Shadow Demon, a lavishly packaged indie release by a troop of headbangers who call the wilds of Washington State home. There’s an interesting mix of NWOBHM riffage, doom metal imagery, and Iced Earth-style grandiosity happening on GRIMOIRE OF RUIN, though some tracks tend to drag on a bit (only one song comes in under the five-minute mark) and overstay their welcome. I have a feeling that vocalist Blaine Hammond is going to be the make-or-break member of Shadow Demon for most first time listeners, as his voice is a strange cocktail mix of James Hetfield’s youthful snarl and Hansi Kursch’s oddball pompous delivery. I couldn’t stand his voice when I first listened to the CD but he’s slowly grown on me over time. I have no complaints about the rest of the band; they’re competent and do their jobs well, but overall Shadow Demon seem to be missing that special “something” that pushes them over the cliff for me from being a band that’s merely “cool” to a band that I’m crazy about. Maybe they’re trying to be a little too “epic” for their own good at this early stage in their career, maybe it’s a feeling that they should’ve spent a little less money on the amazingly cool artwork and calligraphy in the booklet and poured that cash into the rather dry studio production job. Whatever the case, GRIMOIRE OF RUIN is a decent first attempt by a band that definitely has its you-know-what together and is simply in need of a label deal that will hook them up with a killer producer. As they stand right now, fans of the grimy U.S. “true underground metal” bands like October 31st or Skullview will probably be happy to give’em a shot in their CD players. Check’em out at http://www.shadowdemon.us or http://www.darkhavenrecords.com



What do you get when you combine former members of Quiet Riot, Rainbow, Bonham, Lynch Mob and Dio? The right answer would be 3 Legged Dogg, a new band featuring guitarist Carlos Cavazo, bassist Jimmy Bain, drummer Vinny Appice, and vocalist Chas West, though personally my reply would be “Ehhh…not much.” Their FROZEN SUMMER debut (Perris Records) sounded decent enough while it was playing, but it unfortunately didn’t leave much of an impression after it was over. Going by the cast of musicians I was expecting a retro ‘80s hard rock fest, but FROZEN SUMMER is a decidedly modern rock CD, having more in common with Nickelback, Godsmack, or 3 Doors Down than with any of the members’ former projects. The guitars are low-tuned and grungy, the songs are melancholy, and Chas West delivers the lyrics in a slow drawl that gets a little monotonous by the CD’s halfway point. Even though I’m obviously not a modern rock guy, I will say that this disc is very well done. If these boys were signed to a bigger label and got some radio play they might see some success with this disc, but it’s simply not my style. You can always check out http://www.3leggeddogg.com or http://www.myspace.com/3leggeddogg to decide if it’s yours.

Some more of my recent scribblings (LOL)

"Let’s Boogie" would be an apt catch phrase for our first selection out of the chute, a compilation of 70s/ 80s hard rock favorites called MULLETS ROCK TOO! (Legacy Records) This is apparently a sequel to an earlier MULLETS ROCK 2-CD compilation, inspired by the music from David Spade’s mullet-centric comedy "Joe Dirt" from a few years back. Since I live in New Jersey, (which I often jokingly refer to as "The Home of the Mullet") I couldn’t stifle a hysterical cackle when I opened the envelope containing this disc and saw the god-awful cover art of a "Camaro-cut" dude in a half shirt and zebra-striped pants, with a blonde bimbo on each arm (set against a hot pink background no less!). Apart from the hilariously ugly art and design, MULLETS ROCK TOO! is a solid enough collection divided into two parts. The first 10 tracks make up the "PSYCHED!" portion and includes such dependable FM rock-radio fodder as Boston’s "More Than A Feeling" (fittingly enough, I received this disc the same week that Brad Delp passed away), "I Hate Myself For Loving You" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Ted Nugent’s classic ode to womanhood, "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang." The "BUMMED!" half turns on the tears and features over-the-top, heartbreaking power ballads like Nazareth’s "Love Hurts," Cheap Trick’s "The Flame," and Cinderella’s "Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Til It’s Gone)." Some of the selections are not exactly my taste (I have ALWAYS hated Bonnie Tyler’s "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and I was never big on Jefferson Starship’s "Jane" or Night Ranger’s "Sister Christian" either), but listening to this collection helped me re-discover some cool old songs that I hadn’t heard in a long time, like Aldo Nova’s "Fantasy," J. Geils Band’s "Love Stinks," and Blue Oyster Cult’s "Burnin’ For You." Since I would probably never get around to buying the individual CDs those songs came from, MULLETS ROCK TOO provides a handy-dandy, money saving short cut. Not only will this be a cool mix CD to play at my next outdoor barbecue, it would make a good gag gift for that guy down the block from me who’s always wearing a beat-up Journey tour shirt while working on his car, too!


Moving on to heavier things, we have LETHAL AGENDA by Temple of Brutality (Demolition Records), a self described "Pure F**king Metal!!!" band that features former Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and one time W.A.S.P. drummer Stet Howland in its lineup. The album art is festooned with pictures of American flag-draped coffins, barbed wire and a shot of a run-down looking White House behind a padlocked fence, so I’d say it’s safe to assume these guys aren’t big fans of the U.S. government. Sadly, the packaging is probably the best thing about this disc, as Temple Of Brutality (original name huh?) turned out to be an extremely average aggro-metal band. The flat, muddy production falls far short of the "kick-you-in-the-face" vibe that the band was probably hoping for, and the phleghm-soaked vocals of Todd Barnes got on my nerves VERY quickly. This guy sounds like Popeye with his nuts caught in a vise. By about the fifth or sixth track, listening to him yowling in his cartoonish, one-note voice over the top of these generic Pantera worshipping tunes became pretty comical. LETHAL AGENDA was a 24 karat disappointment (especially considering that there were several all-stars on board) and I doubt that it will be darkening my CD player ever again once this column is written! As for Dave Ellefson, I hope for his sake that he was brought into this project as a special guest and that he’s not planning on making Temple of Brutality his full time gig…


The gold star for this column goes to UK power metallers Intense and their impressive AS OUR ARMY GROWS disc (Napalm Records), which has been spending a lot of time in my player lately. The band’s bio sheet compares them to U.S. power metal kings Iced Earth, which I’d say is fairly accurate, though to me Intense comes off as a less thrashy, more "Maiden-y" version of I.E. (I also detect hints of Jag Panzer). Though I’d never even heard of Intense before this CD arrived in the mail, it turns out that AS OUR ARMY GROWS is their third release and the band even participated in the Eurovision Song Contest a few years back! Anyway, AS OUR ARMY GROWS quickly shot to the top of my playlist on the strength of tracks like "You Die Today," "Fear Is Not Enough" and the title track. Those of you who miss the days when Matthew Barlow fronted Iced Earth should find Sean Hetherington’s similar vocal style very satisfying, although Sean’s voice is bit smoother than Matt’s. The Intense guitar team of Nick Palmer and Dave Peak are the real stars here, playing off one another like the classic six-string tag teams of yore (i.e. Murray/Smith or Tipton/Downing), and though Intense occasionally revs up their RPM’s, thankfully they never go over the top into out-and-out high-speed wankery like their countrymen in DragonForce. The album-ending three part "epic trilogy" (gee, I wonder where they got THAT idea from? Heh heh!), "Chronicles of the New Flesh," is a winner as well. Overall I’d say AS OUR ARMY GROWS is definitely a keeper and I’m now on the hunt for the band’s other two CDs...wish me luck!


One last disc before I split for this week: My inner Jersey Metal Geek is anxiously awaiting the release of A ROOM FULL OF SINNERS by The Cursed, a new "supergroup" side project featuring two Garden State metal legends, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth of Overkill and former Hades guitarist Dan Lorenzo. The album will be out on Screaming Ferret Wreckords on May 22nd (my birthday!), and the label was kind enough to send along a one-track promo of the album’s first single, "Evil, In The Bag," recently. Obviously it’s impossible to guess what the rest of the album will sound like based on one song, but "Evil, In the Bag" sounds like a departure from what we’d usually expect to hear from two guys known for speed/thrash metal. This song has a heavy Sabbath-style groove and Blitz is actually sorta SINGING here instead of screaming his ass off! There’s even a harmonica solo! For comparison’s sake I’d say the song reminds me of Overkill’s "Spiritual Void," which was one of the few decent tracks off of the otherwise-unremarkable I HEAR BLACK (1993) album. "Evil, in the Bag" Sounds like a promising start and I can’t wait to hear the finished product!

I have to review a Spider Rockets album, too. I can't think of the name right now, though.

Another new one:


ENGINE OF PAIN – I AM YOUR ENEMY (C) Lion Music, 2007

10 Tracks, RT: 41:42

Whoa NELLY, how did this band ever wind up on Lion Music, a label known mainly for progressive/power metal and AOR rock? This Dutch band’s debut is certainly an unusual release for Lion, but I guess I can’t blame them for trying to get in on the melodic death/thrash metal craze while the iron’s hot. As modern thrash bands go, Holland’s Engine of Pain have all the right ingredients to compete in that extremely crowded field – tight-as-hell musicianship, frenzied riffing, ear splitting soloing, blasting drums and a pissed off vocalist who conveys an overall vibe of anger, chaos and destruction. Mind you, I love a good thrash record as much as the next guy, and Engine of Pain certainly deals out some serious musical punishment here, but I simply can’t wrap my ears around “extreme” vocal styles (never could and likely never will!), so once it became clear that frontman Nick Hameury (credited with “vocal implosions” on the bio sheet) was going to be stuck in “WOOOAAARRRGH!” mode all the way through I AM YOUR ENEMY, I knew that I was going to be in for a long ride from the opening title track all the way through to the final song, “XTRM FKVR.” (that would be “Extreme Fakeover” for those of you who aren’t hooked on phonics.) I’ll give Engine of Pain points for the rock-solid musicianship and for the cool samples sprinkled throughout the album (the clip of Eric Cartman of “South Park” screaming “God DAMMIT!” in the song “Fuel The Engine” caused the most chuckling), but aside from that I’d say that fans of In Flames, The Haunted, and the rest of the current crop of metal-core bands will definitely get more enjoyment out of this disc than this old soul did. By the way, it seems almost cruel that the label’s hype sheet states “US Porn star Tyler Faith will feature in the album inlay and promotional pictures wearing Engine of Pain t-shirts,” when all I got was a plain promo CD in a paper sleeve so I can’t see her for myself!!

Here's my newest:

ATROPHY – THE METAL MIND REISSUES – Roadrunner/Metal Mind/MVD, 2007
SOCIALIZED HATE (originally released 1988) Grade: B
13 tracks + enhanced video, RT: 53:26
VIOLENT BY NATURE (originally released 1990) Grade: B+
12 tracks + enhanced video, RT: 51:34


During the late-‘80s thrash metal explosion in the U.S., critics created three categories to sub-divide the hundreds of bands releasing CDs at the time: the “Big Four” (i.e Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer, who were the best-selling bands of the genre), the “Second Tier” (bands that may not have been mega-sellers but were still popular on a smaller scale, i.e. Testament, Exodus, Overkill, etc.) and the “third tier,” which consisted of… well, pretty much everybody else. Listening to Metal Mind’s classy reissues of SOCIALIZED HATE and VIOLENT BY NATURE from Arizona’s Atrophy (originally released on Roadrunner Records in 1988 and 1990, respectively) I can see how they fell into the “third tier” trap, as they were indeed a very competent, powerful thrash act, but perhaps they lacked that extra “special something” that would’ve made them stand out from the extremely crowded pack. Atrophy passed me by back in the late ‘80s, but then again, at that time it was virtually impossible to keep up with every new thrash band that was coming down the pike. Since good old-school thrash is hard to find nowadays, I’ve been discovering (or re-discovering) a lot of bands over the past few years that I missed out on back then and Atrophy impressed me right off the bat with their blend of high-speed, tightly controlled musical mayhem and smart, topical lyrics. Time has been kind to these guys! The band members are sporting Exodus, Dark Angel, and Flotsam & Jetsam T-shirts on the back cover of SOCIALIZED HATE, and if you combine those three bands, it pretty much describes Atrophy’s sound in a nutshell. Brian Zimmerman’s vocals were one part Chuck Billy, one part Steve “Zetro” Sousa, and guitarists Chris Lykins (who attended medical school after this band called it a day and is now a full fledged doctor, by the way!) and Rick Skowron were a hella tight six-string team that could lay down some serious shred. If you fondly remember the bullet-belted glory days when Exodus’ “Toxic Waltz” was getting MTV play, or if you regularly destroyed your bedroom with Flotsam & Jetsam’s NO PLACE FOR DISGRACE playing in the background, you will immediately find yourself transported back to Thrash Heaven with either of these two discs. The liner notes in each CD make it a point to mention Atrophy’s socially conscious lyrics, which were supposedly deeper than the average thrash band (though Megadeth and Nuclear Assault weren’t exactly singing about smiley faces and daffodils either, now were they?); after seeing the topics covered in tracks like “Urban Decay” (about life in the slums), “Chemical Dependency” (drug addiction), “Puppies and Friends” (the cruelty of animal testing) and “Process of Elimination” (overpopulation of the Earth) it’s pretty obvious that the Atrophy boys read the Op-Ed section of the newspaper every day while on the tour bus and were not exactly thrilled with the state of the world. (Lest you think they were a bunch of high-brow snobs, though, they were not above letting their hair down and writing an old fashioned slam-fest about getting hammered, called “Beer Bong,” either.) If I had to choose a favorite between the two albums I’d have to go with the band’s sophomore effort, VIOLENT BY NATURE (which sports a tighter, more polished production that made an already-good band sound even better), though SOCIALIZED HATE is no slouch either. Metal Mind Productions went all-out on these discs (as well as the rest of the Roadrunner Records classics they’ve reissued), presenting them in sharp looking digi-pak cases with full color lyric booklets tucked inside, digitally remastering each album and pressing them on cool looking gold CDs. Both albums are beefed up with several bonus tracks from the band’s demos (three extra songs on each album), a video clip (live renditions of each album’s respective title song), and both are limited to a pressing of 2000 copies worldwide, which makes them nice collector’s pieces as well. (NO, you can’t have mine!) The Golden Era of Thrash may be gone, but with reissues like these coming along almost every day, thankfully they will never be forgotten.

Even more new bla-bla-bla by yours truly:

SADUS – SWALLOWED IN BLACK (REISSUE) (B) Metal Mind/MVD,
13 Tracks, RT: 51.54
SADUS – CHEMICAL EXPOSURE (REISSUE) (B-) Metal Mind/MVD,
12 Tracks, RT: 35:44
SADUS – A VISION OF MISERY (REISSUE) (B+) Metal Mind/MVD,
11 Tracks, RT: 45:38
When listening to Sadus, the first words that come to my mind are “controlled chaos.” This trio of underrated Californian tech-thrashers could definitely whip up a frenzy back in their heyday, which I witnessed first-hand one night in 1990 when I caught Sadus as the opening act for Sepultura and Obituary. One thing I will always remember about that night was the unhinged onstage performance of guitarist/vocalist Darren Travis, who stood at center stage spitting out lyrics at a million miles an hour with a hateful snarl and an absolutely possessed, bug-eyed expression on his face. My friends and I thought “Damn, that dude looks like he’s gonna have a stroke right up there on stage!” Seemingly feeding off of the carnage going on in the audience that night, Sadus crushed everything in their path, slamming out their short set with admirable stop-on-a-dime technical precision. Their three CDs for the RoadRunner label – SWALLOWED IN BLACK (originally released in 1990), CHEMICAL EXPOSURE (a repackaged version of the band’s self-released, cassette-only ILLUSIONS debut, issued on the band’s own label in 1988 and then given the Roadrunner treatment in 1991) and A VISION OF MISERY (originally released in 1992), are now back in circulation as part of Metal Mind Productions’ series of limited-edition gold-plated classic reissues, and after listening to these three discs for the first time in umpteen years (my brother was the major Sadus fan in our family and he used to listen to them daily back when these releases were current), the only thing I can say is “F**K, these guys are FAST!” Actually, “fast” doesn’t even really begin to cover it. This band was about as extreme as you could get in the early 90s, blurring the lines between thrash’s technical musicianship and the sledgehammer brutality of the burgeoning death metal scene. (In fact, Sadus’ well traveled bassist Steve DiGiorgio was quite the death metal dude, having done time in Death and Autopsy before moving on to more recent, higher-profile gigs with Testament, Iced Earth, Dragonlord, and … Sebastian Bach??) If Travis had opted for a deeper, growling vocal style, Sadus probably would’ve been considered a straight-up death metal band (and they probably would’ve sold more records), but instead he stuck to a throaty, snarling, splatter-punk delivery, punctuated by occasional insane screeches. Musically, Sadus were akin to playing a Kreator album at 78 speed, having more in common with the more extreme European thrashers than with any of the bands in their Bay Area home base. Hyperspeed stuff like this always runs the risk of becoming a confused mess but Sadus always managed to stay locked together and remain tight as hell, which I’m sure was not an easy task!. Fueled by hemp (If memory serves, Sadus’ rallying cry back then was “Smoke more OB’s!”) and a general hatred for mankind, CHEMICAL EXPOSURE a.k.a. ILLUSIONS is the rawest sounding of these three discs and contains some of their most legendary songs, like the brutal “Sadus Attack” (Travis’ scream of “AAAAAAA-TAAAAACK!” here will peel the skin off your face!) and “Torture,” which features the immortal lyrics “We need D.T.P., Death To Posers is what I mean!” Can I get a hell yeah on that one? SWALLOWED IN BLACK (which, by the way, has one of the coolest CD covers in thrash/death metal history, hands down) continues the light-speed mayhem with a bigger production but absolutely no alterations to the Sadus sound, best represented by blistering tracks like “Black” and “Good Rid’nz,” but my personal favorite of the trio is 1992’s A VISION OF MISERY, which finds the band stretching into even MORE complex territory (if that’s even possible!), and even pulling the throttle back on occasion by inserting some slow doomy bits and mid-paced mosh parts into tracks like “Through the Eyes of Greed,” “Valley of Dry Bones” “Machines” and the awesome, epic-length “Facelift.” Like all of the Metal Mind/Roadrunner reissues, each of these albums has been beefed up with several bonus tracks on each disc (two per album, drawn from the band’s ’86 DEATH TO POSERS and ’87 CERTAIN DEATH demos) and thorough liner notes and lyrics, including some notes from Steve DiGiorgio himself. I’d recommend A VISION OF MISERY as the cream of the crop but you can’t really go wrong with any of these three CDs if you’re in the mood for some absolutely bestial, cranium-crushing, poser-killing classic thrash. The band sum it up nicely in the lyrics to “Kill Team” – “We’re all insane, so f**k you if you don’t like the way we play!” Amen!!

A fresh batch o'reviews that will be appearing in this week's Detritus issue:
POWND – CIRCLE OF POWER (B) Nightmare Records, 2007
11 Tracks, RT: 48:09

Let me get this out of the way first: What kind of band name is “Pownd?” Come on guys, intentional mis-spellings are SO 1987! (Upon my first glance at the CD cover, I thought the band’s name was “Pwnd,” as in the annoying chat-room catch phrase, “haha u got PWND!”) Anywhoo, I’ve spun CIRCLE OF POWER, the debut from this Detroit (by way of Kentucky) five piece, a few times now and found it to be an enjoyable, if not totally original, collection of traditional heavy/power metal. After a few spins I began to get the feeling that that in their home area, Pownd are most likely “that band”… i.e. the local metal band that gets to open for every national act that comes through their area, soaking up a bit of influence from each of the headliners and pouring it into their own original material. The band’s bio states that they’ve opened shows for Halford, Iced Earth, and Nevermore, just to name a few, and I can hear bits and pieces of each of these bands throughout the 11 tracks. The stars of this band are the brotherly duo of Michael and Ronnie Duncan (vocals and guitars, respectively). Michael has an impressive set of pipes (Though his Halford-esque higher-end screams, as witnessed in tunes like “Ellie” and “Slowly Drowning,” can be a bit grating) and his bro (in tandem with second guitarist Rick Sargent) can definitely shred on the six-string. The majority of the album is made up of catchy, mid-tempo pounders (sorry) like the impressive opener “Still I Bleed” and “Monster,” though the band mixes things up a bit with the album’s centerpiece, a seven minute-plus, acoustic-laced track called “Never Means Forever” (the opening of which, oddly enough, reminded me of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence,” though I’m sure I’m the only one who will make that connection…). This song ended up becoming a fast favorite of mine for its varied moods and changing tempos (plus a white-hot solo that is pure George Lynch-inspired goodness.) By the time I got to the album-closing speed burner “Swatting Flies,” I was reaching for the “repeat” button on my CD player and wondering how this band had managed to stay under my radar for so long, as this is the kind of stuff that is right up my alley. I’m even more pleased that they’re from the US, as the American scene can always use more bands like this. This one’s well worth seeking out. Shame about the silly name though.

CROWN THE LOST – REVERENCE DIES WITHIN (B-) Indie, 2006
9 Tracks, RT: 41:38

This is probably going to make me sound like a total jerk, but when I first received this disc I quickly and unceremoniously relegated it to the bottom of my “to be reviewed” pile, because I assumed it was going to be a screamy metal-core act due to the band name and album title. Imagine my surprise when I finally gave REVERENCE DIES WITHIN a spin several weeks later and found them to be a fairly impressive technical thrash metal act. Whoops, is my face red. Sorry guys! (To those of you saying, “You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover,” I only got a promotional copy in a paper sleeve, which didn’t HAVE a cover. So there!) These boys hail from Pittsburgh and were apparently formed by former members of the tech-thrash band Sinning Is Our Savior (Ever heard of ‘em? Me neither.). From what I’ve been able to gather, Sinning Is Our Savior featured most of the same musicians that make up Crown The Lost, with the exception of vocalist Chris Renaldi, whose cleaner vocal style replaced S.I.O.S.’ harsher vocalist. The instrumental first track, “Devoid of All Praise,” immediately grabbed my attention and prompted me to think “Whoa, these guys have got some chops.” A lot of the tech-thrash bands I’ve heard have a tendency to overdo it with showing off their instrumental mastery and forget that they need hooks to grab the listener. Crown The Lost, builds their compositions off of a base of vintage Metallica with an added shot of Nevermore-style weirdness. Interesting stuff. Renaldi’s vocal delivery might take a bit of getting used to (his warbling style would almost be better suited for a Euro-styled “true metal” band), but instrumentally this band is rock solid. My only complaint is that occasionally the drummer goes into bursts of one-note, death metal style speed runs that sound like someone shooting BB’s into a tin can (“bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam!”) which seem rather out of place behind the more traditionally-minded material. Aside from that, I’d say that the Progpower crowd should have a field day with this one. According to their web site, a follow up EP is already in the works. If the fellas send me that one, I promise it won’t go to the bottom of the pile this time.

CLUTCH – FROM BEALE STREET TO OBLIVION (B) DRT Entertainment, 2007

12 Tracks, RT: 48:30
Is there such a thing as a “metal jam band?” If not, Clutch may want to consider taking that mantle for themselves. Even though FROM BEALE STREET TO OBLIVION is Clutch’s eighth full length album (Their discography dates all the way back to the early 90s), this is the first time I’ve heard the band. Therefore I can’t compare this disc with the rest of their back catalog, but based on its own merits, I’d say that FROM BEALE STREET TO OBLIVION is a groovin’ good time. From what I’ve read about the band, it seems that they’ve been taking equal parts from the worlds of metal, punk, stoner rock, and 70s hard rock over their long career, which has made them a rather hard band to pigeonhole, but at the same time has earned them a large and loyal cult following. The 70s rock influence is the first and most obvious thing that jumped out at me upon the first listen to leadoff track “You Can’t Stop Progress,” which sounds like early Aerosmith bumpin’ nuts with old ZZ Top; straight up boogie rock with splashes of Hammond organ heightening the retro vibe. Seriously, you could slip most of these songs into the playlist of your local 70s rock station and nobody would even realize that they were recorded in 2007. Vocalist Neil Fallon reminds me of a less manic Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity), laid back when the tune calls for it, but when the band starts throwin’ down he picks up the intensity level BIG time. These songs sound like they’d have a helluva kick in a live situation. My favorite tracks were the aforementioned “You Can’t Stop Progress” as well as the catchy-as-hell “Child of the City” (the chorus of “Bang bang bang bang; vamanos, vamanos!” is irresistible!), and the oddly titled “When Vegans Attack” (no, I don’t understand what it’s about, but it sounds great!), but quite frankly they all sound great blasting from my car stereo as I cruise. This may have been my first taste of Clutch, but I don’t think it will be my last. FROM BEALE STREET TO OBLIVION should keep the dirt-rock crowd happy till the next offerings from C.O.C. and Monster Magnet hit the streets.

THE CURSED – ROOM FULL OF SINNERS (B+) Screaming Ferret/Locomotive, 2007
11 Tracks, RT: 37:17

Metal fans who live in and around New Jersey are sure to be familiar with the two principal members of this combo: vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth of the legendary Overkill and guitarist Dan Lorenzo of the greatly-missed Jersey thrash act Hades. This side project grew out of a long time friendship between the two Garden State residents that started when Lorenzo’s post-Hades band, Non-Fiction, toured with Overkill in the early 1990s. Blitz also contributed guest vocals to a track on Lorenzo’s NICE BEING ALONE solo CD several years ago, and now they’ve put their talents together on a full album’s worth of material (backed by bassist “Job The Raver” of Murder 1 and former Non-Fiction drummer Mike Cristi). Those expecting a balls-to-the-wall thrash CD based on Blitz and Lorenzo’s past associations may be a bit surprised when they first hear ROOM FULL OF SINNERS; it’s heavy as hell, but not exactly what I’d call “thrash.” Then again, why would these guys want to create a CD that sounds exactly like their day jobs anyway? Instead of simply thrashing its way to oblivion, ROOM FULL OF SINNERS has a laid-back heavy groove to it, like 1970s KISS being fist-f**ked by a combo of early Black Sabbath and Motorhead. If anybody out there is familiar with Dan’s self-released trio of solo albums or Overkill’s atypical I HEAR BLACK disc, ROOM FULL OF SINNERS comes across as a combination of the best parts of both. You can tell that these guys must’ve had a helluva lot of fun recording this album. Lorenzo’s guitar work is thick and chunky from beginning to end, and even the most hardcore Overkill fans have probably never heard Blitz swing (yes, I said “swing!”) like he does on this disc. It’s unusual to hear him actually “singing” after so many years of him screaming his ass off. He’s got a bit of an evil Bon Scott thing going on in tracks like “Sweeter” and the sinister-but-catchy single “Evil, In The Bag.” I have no idea what the title of “Wij Leven Als God in Frankrijk” means, but it’s one heck of a cool track. Blitz’s guttural vox on the chorus to the slow-n-creepy “Native Tongue” also raised an eyebrow; damn, this guy could go death metal on us if he really wanted to! I don’t know if The Cursed is going to become an ongoing project or if it’s destined to remain a one-shot deal (Blitz still has Overkill, of course, who will reportedly have a new CD out later this year, or so I’m told), but it doesn’t matter either way to me. ROOM FULL OF SINNERS has grown more addictive with each spin in my player so it’s likely to be stuck there for quite some time. Those of you looking for a groove-laden heavy good time should enter this ROOM as soon as possible. Good show fellas!

My newest piece of metal blah-de-blah:


RAT SKATES - BORN IN THE BASEMENT DVD (A) Kundrat Productions, 2007
RT: 60:06 (plus bonus features)
[ http://www.ratskates.com ]
[ http://www.kundrat.com ]
[ http://www.myspace.com/ratskates ]

Rat Skates (a.k.a. Lee Kundrat) is best known as the original drummer of Jersey thrash legends Overkill. Rat abruptly left that band in 1987 after touring for their classic second album, TAKING OVER, and then seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth for almost two decades. So where has he been all this time? It seems Rat married his girlfriend Lori (Overkill’s former merch-table girl!) and together they have gone into independent film and video production. Rat had a hand in the hotly-anticipated GET THRASHED documentary that is racking up awards on the indie-film festival circuit (and will be released on DVD later this year), and he's also just released his own DVD detailing the formative years of the Thrash Metal movement as seen through his own eyes, BORN IN THE BASEMENT. It's kinda like a homemade "Behind The Music: Overkill," but with a more personal touch than you’d get from one of those sterilized VH1 productions. Rat (still long haired and old school to the bone!) is the good-humored host and narrator of BORN IN THE BASEMENT and we join him as he tells the story of Overkill’s early days, going all the way back to their roots in Rat and Carlo Verni’s high-school punk band “the Lubricunts.” (Carlo eventually became D.D. Verni, of course. Wait’ll you see the Afro he sports in his high school yearbook photo… Bwahahahahaha!!) During their Lubricunts period, Rat and Verni gained their first on-stage experience and Rat learned about the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) punk spirit of self-promotion and marketing that would serve him well when the band eventually revamped its lineup, changed its name to Overkill, and “went Metal,” borrowing bits and pieces from such Tri-State Area favorites as the Ramones, Twisted Sister, the Misfits, the Dead Boys, and the Dead End Kids along the way to becoming one of the premier Thrash Metal outfits in the world. One thing I was surprised to learn from BORN IN THE BASEMENT was how integral Rat Skates was in getting that band’s name around in their unsigned days. You rarely think of the drummer as being the “go-to” guy in a band, but Rat lived, breathed, and busted his ass for Overkill 24-7 in those days!! He (with then-girlfriend Lori) designed Overkill’s logo, silk-screened the band’s first T-shirts, copied and mailed out thousands of demo tapes and press kits, filled merchandise orders, and designed backdrops and stage props, all on a shoestring budget! When you see some of the early live footage of the band, it’s amazing to think that their impressive, professional looking castle-and-dungeon styled drum riser and back line was made up of milk crates covered in homemade Styrofoam “bricks,” or that the gigantic “OVERKILL” logo at the back of the stage was made by Rat himself with magic markers, scissors, and a LOT of patience! In addition to those amazingly cool live videos of Overkill in their formative years (when they were a bit more, shall we say, "theatrical" looking than they are now…) you’ll see more killer photos of the other early thrash bands that played in Rat’s stomping grounds back then. The shots of Venom, Anvil, Metallica, Slayer and many others playing at such long-gone tri-state area dives as the Showplace in Dover, NJ, Club 516 in Old Bridge, NJ, and the Paramount Theater on Staten Island, NY (or hanging out at Rock N Roll Heaven in Clark, NJ, the metal record store owned by MegaForce Records honcho John Zazula) are worth the price of admission all by themselves! The overwhelming feeling I got from BORN IN THE BASEMENT was how much fun (and hard work) it must’ve been to get a band off the ground in the midst of the early 80s thrash metal explosion. (Sadly, even though I’ve lived in New Jersey for my whole life, I was a mere pre-teenager at the time so I didn’t get to experience the thrash movement till it was already in full swing…) It’s fascinating stuff for an old school metal trivia geek like myself, although I will admit there were a few moments where I found myself thinking "Careful with that ego, Rat boy!" My favorite "ego moment" came right towards the beginning of the video when a photo montage of all these Founding Fathers of Thrash pops up and Rat puts himself right in the middle of guys like Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian, Kerry King, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, etc., etc. ... OK, so I’ll grant that Rat was around when the whole thrash thing started, but does he really see HIMSELF in the same light as those guys?? With all due respect, Rat, you never hear anyone say "Yea, sure, Dave Lombardo was great back in the day, but how'bout that Rat Skates guy, huh?" Of course, since this is Rat's own video, it's HIS viewpoints and opinion, though I'm sure if you asked Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth or D.D. Verni about certain pivotal moments in Overkill history, their takes on things would probably be quite different than some of Rat's. It would've been a nice touch to see either of those guys make an appearance in this documentary, but from what I gather it didn't end well between them when Rat left the band so there's probably still some bad blood there. On the whole, however, Rat's DVD is fascinating viewing and it makes for a nice companion volume to Overkill's BATMEN: THE RETURN documentary that was included on the WRECKING EVERYTHING live DVD, because it filled in a lot of blanks about Overkill’s early history. I have been an Overkill fan(atic) since the FEEL THE FIRE days and I thought I knew everything about the band, but I learned a few new things from BORN IN THE BASEMENT!! Don’t skip over the bonus features on this DVD, by the way, because you’ll miss out on even MORE cool stuff, like the interviews with Lubricunts vocalist Billy Vector (abso-f**kin-lutely hilarious!!) and original Overkill guitarist Riff Thunder (no kidding), some clips from an unfinished Overkill video documentary from 1986 (“Escape From Stalag 13”), the unsigned Overkill playing live and being interviewed on a New York City public-access cable music show (“Rock Pipeline’) in 1984, and tons more… I usually ignore the bonus features on DVDs but I’ve actually watched some of this stuff more than once!

I guess it’s pretty obvious by now that I loved this video, huh? If I haven’t made it abundantly clear by now, BORN IN THE BASEMENT is well worth checking out if you've ever been an Overkill fan or if you grew up in the New York/New Jersey area during the 80s...or both, like me. Thanks for the memories, Rat, and welcome back!!

Hey Fat Freddy,
have you purchased any of the other Metal Mind reissues? I recently acquired Znowhite - Act of God, all three Xentrix releases, Solitude Aeturnus - Into the Depth of Sorrow. I still want to get the first two SADUS reissues as well. I have the original Atrophy releases, so I'm just gonna stick with those.

About the metal mind re-releases.... I heard they were all pressed without the permission of the bands involved. If that is true it basically sucks. Is there anyone who knows whether this is true or not?

I know Displeased records from The Netherlands also re-released atrophy, toxic and sadus.... all with bonus tracks and extended/improved artwork.

Oopsy... earlier today I had posted my review of Rat Skates' BORN IN THE BASEMENT DVD in this space, not realizing that I had already posted it a few days ago. Guess I just forgot. Duh. Ignore please.

ultmetal wrote:

Hey Fat Freddy,
have you purchased any of the other Metal Mind reissues? I recently acquired Znowhite - Act of God, all three Xentrix releases, Solitude Aeturnus - Into the Depth of Sorrow. I still want to get the first two SADUS reissues as well. I have the original Atrophy releases, so I'm just gonna stick with those.

Hey Scott:
Nah, haven't gotten round to checking out any of the other Metal Mind reissues... I'd like to get my hands on Heathen's VICTIMS OF DECEPTION cuz I only have a CD-R of that album but other than that, a lot of the stuff they re-issued doesn't really interest me much.

Seed of Pain wrote:

About the metal mind re-releases.... I heard they were all pressed without the permission of the bands involved. If that is true it basically sucks. Is there anyone who knows whether this is true or not?

I know Displeased records from The Netherlands also re-released atrophy, toxic and sadus.... all with bonus tracks and extended/improved artwork.

Dunno about this. I would think that the Sadus guys (or at least, Steve DiGiorgio) had something to do with the extras on the reissues of their stuff, because the bonus tracks all came from their two demo tapes and Steve D. wrote some liner notes for the booklets of each album.

But overall I'd guess that Metal Mind didn't really NEED permission from the bands themselves to do those reissues... just permission from Roadrunner Records. I would assume that in all cases, the rights to those albums are still owned by Roadrunner, so anyone who wanted to reissue them would just have to go to the label, not the individual bands.