Daniel's Forum Replies
Make sure you submit your vote in the Hall of Judgement poll around that record’s avant-garde metal credentials if you haven’t already Andi.
How about "Rat Salad" then? Metal or not? What subgenre?
I'm going with heavy psych with a strong jazz-rock influence.
Now things start to get really interesting for the remainder of the tracklisting. What do you think of "Hand of Doom"? Metal or not? What subgenre?
Despite the doomy section at the start & end, I feel that this track simply "feels" more like rock than metal with the middle part sitting very clearly in the hard rock space. I'm gonna go with stoner rock on this one.
"Electric Funeral" then. Metal or not? If so, what subgenre?
Personally, I'd suggest that it's a heavily psychedelic dirge that's just as comfortable under the stoner metal or traditional doom metal tags.
The Hall of Judgement poll on the metal credentials of “Deep Purple in Rock” is evenly split at 3-3 at the moment which means that we’re gonna need quite a few more votes to achieve a clear majority & force a result. If you’re a member of The Guardians & are yet to submit a vote then I’d like to encourage you to participate.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Eclipse" (1990)
The first Yngwie record that I would buy upon release also happened to be his weakest to date. I don't recall having too much of a problem with it back in the day but in more recent times I'm finding myself struggling a bit. He's returned with an entirely new band (most notably missing the Johansson brothers) which has taken the more commercially accessible sound of "Odyssey" a little further for most of the album while attempting to balance it out with a few faster & more aggressive power metal numbers. It's the stuff that sits in between in the traditional heavy metal space that I really dig (see "Making Love", "Devil in Disguise", "What Do You Want", "Faultline") but I find the rest of the album to be pretty patchy, particularly the AOR/glam metal number "Save Our Love" which is nothing short of an atrocity. New frontman Goran Edman does a pretty reasonable job while keyboardist Mats Olausson struggles to compete with his well-known predecessor. The quality of the song-writing is noticeably weaker than on "Odyssey" with even the neoclassical metal instrumental title track falling short of the mark. "Eclipse" marks the first blemish on the guitarists resume for mine.
3/5
I also concur that Sir Lord Baltimore is just hard blues rock because I got a good Jimmy Hendrix vibe and such whereas if that's the case we would need to look into the 50's and 60's for some metal (which there probably is some underlying forgotten gem of a metal record then to be fair).
Outside of one clear Black Sabbath-inspired metal song, the influences are pretty obviously Jimi Hendrix-style psychedelic rock & Led Zeppelin's brand of blues/hard rock as far as I can see but I admit that there seems to be enough of a cross-section of opinions on "Kingdom Come" that we may need to include it anyway. Everyone will need to bare in mind that in order for it to be eligible for inclusion in the final list it'll need to go through the Hall of Judgement though.
Anyway... today's track is "Iron Man". It's the doomiest track we've looked at since "Black Sabbath"in my opinion. I'm going against the general consensus by choosing traditional doom metal on this one.
My newly created Top Ten Metal Releases of 1989 list:
01. Morbid Angel - "Altars of Madness"
02. Sepultura - "Beneath The Remains"
03. Faith No More - "The Real Thing"
04. Godflesh - "Streetcleaner"
05. Ministry - "The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste:
06. Kreator - "Extreme Aggression"
07. Dream Theater - "When Dream & Day Unite"
08. Annihilator - "Alice In Hell"
09. Sodom - "Agent Orange"
10. Coroner - "No More Color"
As to the next album, I kind of want to see Lucifer's Friend and I kind of don't. It's sort of weaseled itself into any conversation about early heavy metal and it feels like even if I don't think it's metal, it should still be discussed. Just the debut, since I don't think any of the later albums are much in the running AFAIK.
I'll need to take your guidance on the Lucifer's Friend debut as I've never heard it in full. I've only heard the opening track "Ride In The Sky". If you (or any other familiar members) think it's not a metal release then I'm not seeing enough evidence elsewhere to make it a necessity. Outside of Lucifer's Friend, here are the other remaining 1970 candidates (as per Metal Archives):
Flower Travellin' Band - "Always"
Sir Lord Baltimore - "Kingdom Come"
I haven't heard the Flower Travellin' Band record but RYM has a YES 2 NO 40 vote on heavy metal for that one so I would suggest that it's not worth pursuing unless someone tells me otherwise.
I'm not sure if all of you are across the old Metal Academy podcast but Ben & I did a trial episode before committing to creating the first legitimate show back in the mid-2010's. It was essentially a 45+ minute episode on Sir Lord Baltimore's "Kingdom Come" that went really deep into every aspect of that record. The reason it's not on the Metal Academy database is because (despite being really well acquainted with it) neither of us think that it's a legitimate metal record. It seems to have the strongest case of the three though so I'm open to other member's thoughts if anyone feels we're wrong & want us to take a look at it.
I was pretty close to going with just a "psychedelia" tag myself to be honest.
This is my old review of "Bark at the Moon":
Both of Ozzy’s first two solo records had ended up becoming heavy metal classics which was more than partially due to the contribution of the ridiculously talented neo-classical guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads. Unfortunately Randy was tragically killed in a light plane crash 1982 which left Ozzy & Sharon Arden with no choice but to rebuild Ozzy’s career with a new lineup. Thankfully Sharon is as tough as nails & she was able to pull Ozzy through this dark period & the result is 1983’s “Bark At The Moon” album. Ozzy had recruited Night Ranger guitar shredder Brad Gillis, Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo & Black Oak Arkansas drummer Tommy Aldridge for the “Diary Of A Madman” tour & the recording of his 1982 double live album “Speak Of The Devil” however Ozzy’s alcohol problems had been exacerbated by his grief over Randy’s death & he had taken a lot of his frustrations out on Gillis which resulted in him quitting the band at the end of the tour. Sarzo, who was originally recruited on Randy’s recommendation due to their prior relationship in Quiet Riot, also decided to leave the band after becoming disillusioned following Randy’s death so when tasked with the prospect of writing a new studio album Sharon & Ozzy needed to think long & hard about who would be the best fit to not only perform on the album but also to write it. The answer came in the form of 26-year old guitar shredder Jake E. Lee who had previously spent some time with both Ratt & Dio. Incidently, legendary Dokken shredder George Lynch was the other potential candidate & regardless of Lee’s undoubted skills I’m an absolutely huge George Lynch fan so I can’t help but feel that they made the wrong decision here . Strangely, former bassist Bob Daisley who had previously been unceremoniously axed from the band agreed to write & perform on the album too which is quite hard to believe given that he’d previously gone on holidays at Ozzy’s request only to find that he’d been replaced upon returning. If you look at the liner notes of the “Bark At The Moon” album you’ll see that all song-writing credits sit with Ozzy this time though. Bob apparently took a one-off payment for his credits while Jake was blackmailed by Sharon. She threatened to fire him & get another guitarist in to record his songs if he didn’t agree to sign over his portion of the song-writing credits. Such a nice chick!
The result is in many ways very similar to Ozzy’s first two albums but in others very different. Firstly, the production job on “Bark At The Moon” is incredibly ove rthe top featuring an extremely dated 80’s sound covered with cheesy Don Airey keyboards that make this album sound very much of it’s time. In fact I’d go so far as to say that this is the main reason that “Bark At The Moon” isn’t rated as highly as Ozzy’s earlier material. The other is the lack of Randy Rhoads but that’s not to say that Jake E. Lee doesn’t do a stellar job here because he certainly does. His style is a much more traditional heavy metal one but he’s clearly been heavily influenced by Randy in his improvisational approach to his rhythm guitar tracks. But the exotic neo-classical melody isn’t there & that’s what most people consider to be the missing link here. Personally I really like Jake’s performance as he’s got great technique & his sound is very exciting & very metal. In fact I find him to be the best thing about the album so I’ve never understood why some people seem to downplay his ability. I’ve never been a huge fan of Bob Daisley’s bouncy basslines however he’s now dropped those more minimal half-time efforts I took issue with on the first two Ozzy albums & his contribution is much more to my taste here even if I’d have much preferred to hear Rudy Sarzo. Tommy Aldridge takes a much more restrained & rock solid approach than he did on “Speak Of The Devil” which is a shame as I’d have loved to hear him play some more expansive stuff but it fits the songs pretty well regardless & ironically reminds me of Vinny Appice’s efforts on Black Sabbath’s recent efforts.
Musically “Bark At The Moon” features some great metal riffs that would comfortably have fit on “Blizzard Of Ozz” or “Diary Of A Madman”. Ozzy’s performance is par for the course although as the music gets cheesier with the additional keyboards Ozzy sounds more & more out of his comfort zone in my opinion. It’s only on the darker numbers that he seems to fit comfortably as his voice just doesn’t suit the more melodic stuff as well. The song-writing is as solid as ever but like earlier records we again have a horrible ballad in the middle of the album that brings the flow of the record to a grinding holt. I’m also not too fond of the pretty dumb “look at me, aren’t I a bad ass” approach of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel” as it comes across as lacking any sort of artistic credibility.
When all is said & done though this is a pretty good Ozzy album. It’s just not a great one. If the keyboards were more restrained & tasteful with some less bombastic arrangements we might be talking about it in the same breath as Ozzy’s greats but that element really does bring it down a couple of notches. All fans of the classic heavy metal sound will find some enjoyment in the album anyway though. The performances are great & there’s quite a few fun metal tunes to be found if you don’t take things too seriously.
3.5
Perhaps you might like to raise a Hall of Judgement entry to have Black Sabbath moved to Non-Metal too given that’s your stance on it?
Scatterbrain - "Here Comes Trouble" (1990)
One of my best mates at high school picked up the debut album from New York's Scatterbrain very shortly after it was released off the back of the super-popular novelty single "Don't Call Me Dude" which resulted in me receiving a dubbed copy. Even though there's a clear tongue-in-cheek attitude behind the album, I quite enjoyed it too & a lot of that has to do with the high-quality musicianship & the general thrashiness of the material. Despite "Here Comes Trouble" generally being tagged as a funk metal record, that's a misleading guide as to what you'll ultimately hear with only a couple of tracks sitting in genuine funk metal territory. The remainder is very much a hybrid of alternative metal & some really well executed thrash metal that clearly showcases the band members roots in crossover band Ludichrist. I'd describe the album as a combination of the funk/alternative metal of Faith No More, the classy thrash metal of Megadeth & the snot-faced crossover thrash fun of Suicidal Tendencies. The opening titled track is a 90's thrash classic in my opinion while songs like "I'm With Stupid", "Down With The Ship (Slight Return)", "Mr. Johnson and The Juice Crew" & the much-talked-about "Don't Call Me Dude" are all really solid too. There are a couple of stupid inclusions like neoclassical metal instrumental "Sonata #3" & comedy/novelty rock closer "Drunken Milkman" that bring things back a bit & the funkier tracks aren't as appealing to me personally but this is still a surprisingly decent metal record & I seem to remember every second of it too.
3.5/5
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
I've now posted the nomination for "Conclusion of an Age" in the Hall of Judgement. I've also passed the request for "Casting Shadows" as it now qualifies for inclusion in The Revolution.
These nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement (see the below link). I've also added "Casting Shadows" to The Revolution under the Melodic Metalcore subgenre as it now qualifies for inclusion.
Let's take a look at Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" today. Anyone bold enough to claim it as metal? If not, what non-metal subgenre do you think it should sit under? It's certainly not a rock track as far as I can see so the common feeling that it's a psychedelic rock song is incorrect in my opinion. I'm gonna go for psychedelic folk with tribal ambient & jazz influences.
In Rock was always going to be controversial, since in the end even if some of us think it's metal, it's also one of those albums your dad thinks is metal. I bring that up not because I think anyone said no because of it, merely that it's the kind of aura that hangs around an album like this one. I'm curious if that kind of aura is still going to show up when we do Lucifer's Friend or, I guess Bow Wow?
Side note, Daniel, do you have a plan should Youtube do to embeds what it's doing to stuff on the main site?
Interestingly, I first got into Deep Purple through my dad's albums back in the mid 1980's & we've even seen them play live together on multiple occasions. Dad was into hard rock in a major way & occasionally bled over into metal too on occasion (Note: his favourite record ever is Metallica's "The Black Album" just quietly) which is really where the roots of my heavy music obsession come from to begin with. I just happened to be with my dad when I read Morpheus' above post so I took the opportunity to ask him some questions about Deep Purple & "In Rock"s metal status. He said that he's never regarded any of the Deep Purple records he's aware of as metal. I asked him where he thought the line between hard rock & metal was & he said that the stuff that I was listening to in the mid-to-late 1980's when I drifted away from his hard rock albums was what heavy metal really is in his opinion. He was referring to the Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest records that first saw me branching out from the Def Leppards, Motley Crues & Guns 'n' Roses'. He also said that he didn't hear Deep Purple being spoken of as heavy metal back in the day either which is interesting because it seems to be pretty common knowledge that they were. None of that proves anything but it was intriguing to gain his insights nonetheless.
In regards to "aura", I don't think bands like Lucifer's Friend or Bow Wow can be compared as they're simply so underground. I'm not intending on us covering every single release listed on Metal Archives here as a large portion of those clearly aren't metal. IF a release isn't already listed on Metal Academy then it won't be an automatic discussion point. It'll need a recommendation from a member who thinks it should qualify as metal for us to investigate it. On that topic, what does everyone think should follow "Paranoid"?
On the YouTube topic, I haven't given it any thought. If the function is no longer there then I don't think it'd create a major issue for us to be honest. It's more of a "nice to have".
"Hard Lovin' Man" has a galloping triplet groove, which is close to metal ("The Trooper", "Raining Blood", etc.), but Heart's "Barracuda" uses it too; it isn't exclusive.
I would suggest that "Barracuda" is an example of a rock band utilizing a metal tool. I don't think it means that palm-muted, bottom-string triplets should automatically be added to the rock kit bag just because a rock band is using it as a one-off creative tool.
Moving on with Black Sabbath's infamous sophomore record, what do we think of the ridiculously popular title track then? Metal or not? What subgenre exactly?
Personally, I've always viewed this one as one as being pure heavy metal & that still sounds right to me.
Yeah, I’m not a fan of that song either.
Definitely one of my favourite Scorpions tracks & easily the highlight of “Lovedrive” in my opinion.
By its definition, I once again think "War Pigs" is closer to the modern stoner metal sound than it is to what we now know as your classic heavy metal one. This description of stoner metal from RYM seems like the perfect way to describe this song as far as I can see:
"Combines elements of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound."
So "Mentally Murdered" didn't end up living up to my nostalgic feelings to be honest. It's very much a grindcore record with the death metal component being mainly in the vocals & production. I love the blast beat sections but many of the thrashier hardcore riffs sound pretty generic. I like it but I don't love it. It's a 3.5/5 from me.
Here's my adjusted Top Ten Deathgrind Releases of All Time list:
01. Cattle Decapitation - "Monolith of Inhumanity" (2012)
02. Brutal Truth - "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" (1992)
03. Napalm Death - "Utopia Banished" (1992)
04. Napalm Death - "Mass Appeal Madness" E.P. (1991)
05. Full of Hell - "Weeping Choirs" (2019)
06. Lock Up - "Necropolis Transparent" (2011)
07. Cephalic Carnage - "Misled by Certainty" (2010)
08. Damaged - "Passive Backseat Demon Engines" E.P. (1995)
09. Napalm Death - "Mentally Murdered" E.P. (1989)
10. Misery Index - "Heirs to Slavery" (2010)
Thanks for that Shezma. Please let the conversation continue around the "Deep Purple in Rock" topic but at the same time let's start to look at the next significant metal-related record to have been released in Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". So... "War Pigs" then. Metal or not? If so, what specific subgenre?
Naked City - "Torture Garden" (1990)
I find this John Zorn project's sophomore album to be genuinely unpleasant. I've only ever enjoyed one Naked City album which is the very solid 1992 drone metal piece "凌遲 (Leng tch'e)" but the rest 0f their back catalogue does absolutely nothing for me . I'd suggest that 1992's "Heretic: Jeux des Dames Cruelles" soundtrack is probably their least appealing release overall but "Torture Garden" would come in a clear second. I've never been able to get my head around the use of general silliness to create art & this is as prime an example as you'll find. You can expect 42 songs & 25 minutes of insignificant & insubstantial noise that utilizes avant-garde jazz as much as it does grindcore.
2.5/5
The answer is that this forum thread does not override the parameters we've put in place for the site. These are the things that need to be taken into account:
1. "Deep Purple in Rock" was added to the site as "Non-Metal" due to that being the consensus at RYM which currently has 385 votes on the matter with 199 of those being negative votes. Now, I don't have any faith much in RYM's genre-tagging but we've gotta have some sort of guideline & that's the one we've chosen so it is what it is.
2. There is currently a Hall of Judgement entry to overturn that position which only has two positive votes from the two members that have nominated the release for consideration on this thread. The only other vote was a no.
3. There are only four members contributing to this thread which is obviously less than I was hoping for. Two of those members are the ones that nominated "Deep Purple in Rock" for consideration which meant that there was never any chance of the average outcome leaning towards the negative.
4. If the final list is incorrect then it reflects poorly on the brand that Ben & I have built up over the last decade. I haven't spoken to Ben about what we might do with this list as yet but if it turned out well then I was thinking we could attach it to the relevant clan/subgenre as a guide for new players so it's important that it's accurate.
At the end of the day, I've penciled "Deep Purple in Rock" in for inclusion but that's subject to the Hall of Judgement outcome as it just makes no sense whatsoever to have a release show as Non-Metal on the site database but to be in a list of the earliest genuine metal releases on the same site so I want that resolved before moving ahead. It would be exactly the same if I had nominated a Non-Metal release for inclusion myself.
Absolutely Rex. This track is the only track that fully indulges in metal in my opinion. It's much faster & more aggressive than the remainder of the tracklisting. It's where the Iron Maiden gallop originated & that could never be mistaken for hard rock.
After having given every track a detailed investigation though, this exercise has only once again proven to me that "Deep Purple in Rock" falls well short of the mark required for metal qualification. I know that Rex, Morpheus & Andi disagree with me on this but in my view it's only really one & a half tracks that have any reference to metal with the remainder being so clearly centered around hard rock that it seems absurd to be claiming it as metal. I'll be surprised if the Hall of Judgement vote ends in a YES to enable this release to qualify for The Guardians & our chronological list.
To our The Guardians clan members, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could give this release an unbiased listen over the next week or so & then contribute your vote in the below Hall of Judgement poll so that we can see how you feel as a group on this matter.
https://metal.academy/hall/394
Tomorrow we'll start on Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". I'd imagine it will be a little more straight-forward but it'd be great if everyone can keep an open mind on which subgenre & clan you feel each track should rightfully sit under. As with the debut, we've always accepted "Paranoid" as a "heavy metal" record but could it possibly qualify for another or an additional genre at the Academy? Who knows? Let's find out though.
So what about "Hard Lovin' Man" then? What are we thinking' there?
I ended up being offered that new job & accepted it. I start on Tuesday 31st October. I'll have plenty of metal time on the drive there & back every day.
Cuby + Blizzards - "Desolation" (1966)
If you wanna find out where Led Zeppelin stole (& I mean stole) their early sound from then look no further. Quality blues rock & traditional blues from The Netherlands.
It's only just heavy enough to be classed as hard rock in my opinion.
Cannibal Corpse - "Cannibal Corpse" demo (1989)
It's interesting how time can change your opinion on a release & Buffalo death metal legends Cannibal Corpse's initial studio effort is one such release for me. When I picked it up through the tape trading scene off the back of their first couple of albums back in the day I was largely disappointed. In hindsight I would suggest that a lot of that can be put down to the sound quality of the dubbed cassette version I received because the version that's included on 2003's "15 Year Killing Spree" actually sounds really clear, bright & vibrant. The music is admittedly not the same brand of death metal we've come to know Cannibal Corpse for though. Their 1990 "Eaten Back To Life" debut album was inherently thrashy but this demo is even more so, despite all five songs having been re-recorded for the album in largely the same format. A lot of that comes down to the vocal delivery of Chris Barnes who doesn't come close to a death grunt here, instead offering something very similar to that of your grimy & excitable crossover thrash front man. With the vocals providing a little more of a thrash context, the music actually sounds a little more thrash metal than it does death metal too although it admittedly sits on the more brutal end of the genre with bands like Demolition Hammer. The production & performances are very good which certainly helps the band's cause but you know what? This is actually a really decent demo tape & I think I've treated it a little unfairly over the years.
3.5/5
Our sample size in this thread is far too small to be making any firm conclusions based the outcomes of the discussion to be honest. If anything, the exercise is just proving that people have very different understandings of what metal music is so they aren't using the same criteria when forming their opinions. There were several senior members of our community that didn't feel comfortable taking part in the conversation simply because they felt it would prove to be divisive & they certainly weren't wrong. I thought it would be a bit of fun though & it's delivered in that regard. It's very clear to me that the Hall of Judgement needs to remain the overarching source of truth for genre/clan assignment though as it allows for a) a larger sample size & b) a level of anonymity. For the record, the Hall of Judgement votes from The Guardians members to date are not unanimous on the metal credentials of "Deep Purple In Rock" so we'll have to wait & see how that pans out.
Anyway, "Living Wreck" then. Metal or not?
To be clear Andi, this thread is just healthy discussion. The Hall of Judgement is the vessel for clan change requests as it’s not up to people like you or me to make decisions for The Guardians clan members. It’s gotta be a unanimous clan position.
Rexorcist has asked to be re-added to the monthly feature release roster so it'll look like this moving forwards with the bold names being the nominating members for the November feature releases:
THE FALLEN: Morpheus Kitami, Ben, Daniel
THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy
THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Shezma, Morpheus Kitami, Rexorcist
THE HORDE: Daniel, Ben
THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Rexorcist, Saxy, Shezma, Andi
THE NORTH: Ben, Daniel, Shezma, Xephyr
THE PIT: Morpheus Kitami, Rexorcist, Daniel, Ben
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel
Just listening to "Speed King" again now. I could be wrong but the verse riff sounds very much like a variation on the verse riff from Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" only with crunchy open-string guitar chords that wouldn't sound out of place on an AC/DC song layered over the top. The way the bassline goes into double-time was a technique that AC/DC used quite a bit to build tension too. Seems like Hendrix was a major influence on that song after the raucous intro's guitar histrionics which pay homage to Jimi's take on the "Star Spangled Banner". The chorus riff is a classic example of blues rock.
Nihilist - "1987-1989" (2005)
When I first started tape trading back in the very early 1990’s, I remember being somewhat dazzled by the rare demos & live sets that so many of my trading partners had gotten their hands on. I was completely infatuated with the scene & the proper releases that it contained at the time but the idea of discovering hidden gems that only a select few had experienced was enough to see me gorging myself on demo tapes from so many of the great extreme metal bands of the day. You’ve probably seen me revisiting a few of these over the last couple of weeks but one of the more consistent ones comes from Swedish death metal legend Entombed (or Nihilist as they were known in their early days). I vividly remember getting enjoyment out of all four of their demo tapes so the idea of a modern-day reassessment has seemed quite attractive for a while now, particularly given that there’s a compilation that not only draws them all together with superior sound quality but also includes a few unreleased tracks.
The ”1987-1989” compilation (or “Carnal Leftovers” as it’s more recently been retitled) contains fourteen tracks from the period specified & showcases the development of not only the classic Entombed sound but also the Swedish death metal sound in general with each successive release seeing them getting closer & closer to the filthy wall of noise they’d blow the metal world away with via 1990’s “Left Hand Path” debut album. It takes a chronological approach to its programming with Nihilist’s earliest demo tape “Premature Autopsy” from March 1988 kicking proceedings off. “Premature Autopsy” showcases a band that was still clearly searching for their sound with obvious thrash metal & hardcore punk influences infiltrating the death metal we’d come to expect from Entombed. Vocalist LG Petrov (who had been borrowed from his regular position as the drummer in fellow Swedish death/black metal outfit Morbid for the recording sessions along with band mate & guitarist Ulf Cederland) hadn’t quite developed a true death growl yet, instead sounding similar to a Teutonic thrash front man. Opener “Sentenced To Death” is very much a death/thrash hybrid too with a foot in both the early Death & the Slayer/Dark Angel/Kreator camps. “Supposed To Rot” is much more in line with the sound we associate with Entombed & is pure Swedish death metal while the title track is more like thrashy hardcore than it is death metal & is one of the weaker inclusions on the compilation overall. “Premature Autopsy” was certainly the least impressive of the four demos but I still quite like it nonetheless.
Nihilist second demo “Only Shreds Remain” was released early the following year & would bring with it some lineup changes. Petrov had now joined the band on a permanent basis while bassist Leffe Cuzner had switched to guitar which had allowed future Unleashed front man Johnny Hedlund to enter the fold. The sessions were also conducted at the now legendary Sunlight Studios which has become synonymous with the Swedish death metal sound & the result is a slightly more consistent three-song effort that now sits firmly in the death metal camp. Petrov’s vocals are now deeper & more deathly although there has always been some speculation as to whether these were actually performed by Hedlund given how similar they sound to the earliest Unleashed recordings. The guitar tone is much deeper, thicker & filthier too & is starting to resemble the signature Entombed sound. All three songs are worth hearing & I find “Only Shreds Remain” to be a pretty good release overall.
My personal favourite of the four demos though is definitely the two-song “Drowned” which saw the light of day in August 1989, this time recorded at Kuben Studio. It contains one of my favourite Entombed songs in “Severe Burns” which appeared on 1991’s classic “Clandestine” album & is probably my favourite track on the compilation overall. The other track “When Life Has Ceased” isn’t of the same quality but is carried by the quality of the opener to an extent. The production quality shows a step up in professionalism from the two previous demos & Nihilist seem to be becoming serious players in the death metal scene by this stage. This was probably helped by Ulf Cederland becoming a permanent member in place of Cuzner who had now departed.
The three unreleased Nihilist tracks appear before Entombed’s “But Life Goes On” demo in the tracklisting & are a real drawcard for the compilation in my opinion. Unlike so many similar releases, there’s some serious quality here with “Morbid Devourment” & Repulsion cover version “Radiation Sickness” being amongst my favourite tracks on the whole CD. Two of these were recorded as a part of the sessions for “Drowned” which I guess makes sense given that it’s my pick of the demos. “Morbid Devourment” in particular sports a super-thick guitar tone that’s now getting closer to the final product Entombed would go to market with on “Left Hand Path”.
Nihilist split up following the “Drowned” demo, only to be reformed under a new moniker with all but Hedlund. This was clearly a play to remove Hedlund from the band without having to formally sack him but he’d land on his feet & enjoy a long & rewarding career fronting Unleashed. Petrov, Cederland & band leader/drummer Nicke Andersson would record the “But Life Goes On” demo as a trio at Sunlight Studios with legendary Swedish death metal producer Tomas Skogsberg behind the desk & it’d be released in late 1989. Bassist David Blomquist & Nihilist guitarist Alex Hellid would join the fold after the recordings but were credited on the demo nonetheless. "But Life Goes On" is where that classic Boss Heavy Metal pedal guitar tone finally eventuates in all its glory & it gives this demo a slightly different feel & identity to the Nihilist tapes. It’s a very consistent three-song affair but I’m not sure I’d say that any of the three compete with the stronger material I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I’d probably place “But Life Goes On” on par with “Only Shreds Remain” in terms of appeal to be honest.
Overall, “1987-1989” is an interesting & engaging experience but perhaps not an essential one for me personally. The vast majority of these tracks appear on either of the first two Entombed albums & I’ve never rated the Swedish death metal model as highly as the US one either. I prefer a slightly more sophisticated & less punky style of death metal so the Nihilist & Entombed demos were never likely to be as life-changing for me as they were for others. The only essential Entombed release for me personally remains 1991’s “Clandestine”. Don’t mind me though, if you go absolutely nuts for those early Entombed, Carnage & Dismember records then you could do a lot worse than this compilation which is a stronger, classier offering than the Sarcofago & Darkthrone compilations I’ve explored over the last week or so.
3.5/5
It could easily have been taken from a Beatles record in my opinion but has a slightly more muscular blues rock vibe. There's no metal there as far as I can see.
I would suggest that these records were influential on the early European power metal scene Andi:
Warlord - "Deliver Us" E.P. (1983)
Warlord - "And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun..." (1984)
Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - "Marching Out" (1985)
Warlord are American but their sound was still influential on the European sound. For the record though, I consider "Walls of Jericho" to be the earliest true example of the genre.
Thoughts on "Into The Fire"? Metal or not?
Andi, by its very definition power metal is a combination of the melodicism of heavy metal & the fast tempos & techniques found in speed metal. Do you hear a speed metal component in “Rising”?
Nihilist - "Premature Autopsy" demo (1988)
Another band whose early demos I'd pick up early on in my tape trading days was Entombed under their previous moniker of Nihilist. Their earliest demo "Premature Autopsy" sees them still searching for their signature sound. The production quality is pretty reasonable for a first-up demo & so is the musicianship. Opening track "Sentenced To Death" is a death/thrash hybrid that combines the early death metal of Death with the more aggressive thrash of Slayer, Dark Angel & Kreator. "Supposed To Rot" comes the closest to Entombed's classic Swedish death metal sound & is also the best inclusion. Closer "Carnal Leftovers" is more of a thrashy hardcore effort with not much death metal on offer & sounds a little flat in comparison to the other two. L.G. Petrov's vocals are yet to acquire that deathly growl & sound closer to Teutonic thrash at this point but they're pretty effective nonetheless. It's actually a pretty decent first-up effort overall but I wouldn't say that it's essential listening.
3.5/5
David Allan Coe - "Penitentiary Blues" (1970)
Electric blues from Ohio, USA.
Darkthrone - "Frostland Tapes" (2008)
The early Darkthrone albums were so pivotal in my childhood that it’s kinda hard to explain their impact looking back now. I placed their “unholy trinity” on a pedestal that very few extreme metal artists can touch & also have a lot more time for 1995’s “Panzerfaust” than many people do too. This general passion for the band saw me hungrily seeking out Darkthrone’s demo tapes very quickly after hitting the tape trading scene & I found that it wasn’t very hard to secure them given their rapidly growing notoriety. I recall having mixed reactions to them at the time but are a little vague on the details so I thought I’d refresh my memory once I discovered this double CD compilation that includes all of Darkthrone’s demo recordings along with some unreleased live & rehearsal material.
“Frostland Tapes” begins with a chronological journey through Darkthrone’s four demo tapes, starting with 1988’s “Land of Frost”. The level of production & musicianship on “Land of Frost” is very ordinary but thankfully the youngsters seemed to have a decent pedigree in underground metal even at such an early stage in their development. This tape is generally regarded as being a death metal release but there’s definitely more to it than that with a strong traditional doom metal influence perpetuating all five songs & giving the cassette a doom/death feel overall. Unfortunately the song-writing isn’t anything to write home about so I was left feeling pretty flat about Darkthrone’s initial effort. The “A New Dimension” demo from later the same year isn’t much better to be honest. It begins with an effective dark ambient intro piece but the bulk of this cassette is made up on a nine minute instrumental piece called “Snowfall” that’s much closer to thrash than it is to death metal. It doesn’t make much sense from a structural point of view & I found myself getting a bit bored so it’s another fail for “A New Dimension”.
Darkthrone’s 1989 third demo tape “Thulcandra” sees the death metal sound they’d champion on 1991’s “Soulside Journey” debut album starting to take shape. It’s still a bit clunky to be honest but I have to say that closer “Archipelago” showcased the potential that the band had pretty well & is the earliest Darkthrone track that I find to be genuinely enjoyable. That potential would ultimately be fulfilled on 1989’s fourth & final demo tape “Cromlech” which is a good representation of the fully-developed product. Darkthrone’s brand of death metal possesses an eerie quality that differentiates it from the Swedes & it’s well & truly on display here, particularly on the very solid instrumental “Accumulation of Generalization” which was a new career high point for the band.
The second disk includes a crude recording of a 1990 live show in Denmark & an instrumental version of 1996’s “Goatlord” album as well as a couple of additional rehearsal recordings. The live show may be pretty rough in terms of both production & performances but it’s my pick of the releases brought together here. The material is very consistent indeed with every track simply oozing of death metal atmosphere, particularly the final track “Neptune Towers” which stands out from the rest due to its particularly dark & doomy atmosphere. The instrumental version of “Goatlord” is a little less consistent & suffers from the flat rehearsal-tape recording quality more than the live stuff did. I still get quite a bit out of it though, mainly because it saw Darkthrone returning to the traditional doom metal influence of “Land of Frost” only in a slightly more sophisticated & adventurous way. I can’t remember a lot about the “Goatlord” album now as I haven’t heard it since the mid-90’s but I do remember finding it to be a little tough going. Perhaps the lack of vocals has actually been beneficial here? I’m not sure but it comes across as a decent enough doom/death record in the purely instrumental format with only “Rex” & “In His Lovely Kingdom” falling a little flat. The two bonus tracks included are very mixed indeed with the instrumental rehearsal version of the title track from “A Blaze In The Northern Sky” being (perhaps unsurprisingly) one of the best numbers on the whole compilation & Fenriz’ drum solo being a complete waste of everyone’s time & space.
Despite what some may have you believe, there’s little to no actual black metal on offer here & I’d probably tag “Frostland Tapes” as sitting somewhere between your classic old-school death metal sound & a doom/death hybrid one. There’s some decent shit here but I can’t say that I find much of it to be essential listening. The first three demo tapes that kick off the release are a little tough-going & bring down my overall impression of the rest of the compilation, despite the rest of the tracklisting being pretty good. When taken in holistically though, I’d recommend that “Frostland Tapes” is only likely to interest the Darkthrone tragics out there.
3/5
Scorpions has had metal aggression as early as their 1975 album In Trance, which they've barely had any of after the second half of the 1970s:
I'd suggest that 1982's "Blackout" album is more metal than anything Scorpions released in the second half of the 1970's. In fact, it's the only Scorpions album I've heard that I'd tag as a metal record. It's still kinda 50/50 though.