(The Advantage of) Temporary Baldness

Hurl
A Place Called Today
1996

Hurl had the best drummer of any band ever associated with emo.

A Place Called Today

Birthday Party of Madness

Burger King Diamond
Upon The Red Wings of Phallic Delusion
2005

Swedish metal gods Burger King Diamond are all but unknown in the US, but in their native Sweden they headline festivals and sell out arenas, preaching the gospel of old school heavy metal with a hot beef injection of black metal imagery and King Diamond worship. Also most of their songs are about fast food. Frontman Sven Hellhammer has been struggling with the current state of the music business, but both this album and their follow up Kiss The Goat: The Anthology are available on iTunes. Hear the blazing leads from dueling guitarists Christofer Bartlett and Nocturno Frost, the thundering bass work from Culto Kathaarian, and of course the competent drumming of one Ásbjörn. HAIL!

Upon The Red Wings of Phallic Delusion

Cut Into Pieces

Vengeance Rising
Once Dead
1990

Vengeance Rising were one of the few Christian death metal bands back in the late 80s/early 90s. This is their second album, and I enjoy it immensely. The unusual subject matter really adds to the charm. Roger Martinez's vocals fall into one of my favorite styles for this kind of music, the strained rasp (as compared to the high- or low-growl). Think of Martin Van Drunen of Pestilence/Asphyx/Hail of Bullets and you get the idea. Musically, VR is pretty standard thrashy death metal of the time, but that's not a bad thing by any means.

It's interesting to note that after finding themselves in massive debt, the band split. Martinez reformed with new guys, put out a few more records, and eventually turned his back on Christianity and his earlier evangelical work. As a result, the later Vengeance Rising records feature more traditional satanic and athiest death metal topics, and for some reason his voice moved into that lower growly register. At some point the rest of the band reformed with a different singer, calling themselves Once Dead since Martinez owned the name Vengeance Rising. It's all very convoluted.

Regardless, this is a killer record.

Once Dead

George Walker Bush, Texas Ranger

Sadville
Make Ready The Cross
2007

Ok everyone, I'm back in action over here at Casa de Muck. Let's do this.

Sadville hailed from Tennessee, from Knoxville or Cookeville, depending on which band member you ask. Their style should be familiar to many readers of this blog: crushing, crusty metal with a healthy dose of sludge and grind. A little His Hero is Gone, a little Thou, you know the deal. You won't be disappointed.

Rumor is there's been idle chatter about the band reforming, but don't say you heard it from me. Or do, I guess. See if I care.

Make Ready The Cross

I'm still here

I've been pretty busy for the last coupl'a months, so the blog has been neglected, but don't delete me from your bookmarks just yet. I've got a kid due in like 2 weeks and all kinds of craziness, but I do have records lined up to post. Be patient, friends.

Everybody's A Liar

The Brood
In Spite of It All

There was a band called The Brood that formed sometime in the mid-80s that featured a few guys who would later be in Suicidal Tendencies. This isn't that band. These guys/gals also formed in the mid-80s, but were pretty far removed from the California crossover scene. An old friend of mine turned me on to these guys when we were talking about The Dwarves once. He told me The Brood weren't too far removed from early Dwarves. Upon first listen, I thought he was nuts, but then I realized he meant early Dwarves. Like Horror Stories-era Dwarves. So yeah, he was totally right. Warbly, creepy, sleazy garage rock, slathered in reverb.

In Spite of It All

Funeral Song for Earth

Boris Mikulic
Philia Phobia
1991

Sorry I haven't been posting. I've got crap to do sometimes.

Anyway, here's a pretty good industrial record from Boris Mikulic, aka Herman Gillis from Belgian art rock band Poésie Noire. I was big into tape trading through the Prodigy internet service back in the early 90s, and the other day I found some tapes at my mom's house. One of them was labeled "Al J. Bands and etc." and featured a side A of a bunch of Al Jourgenson's and some of the other Wax Trax dudes' projects, which at that time were often hard to track down. It had some live RevCo stuff, 1000 Homo DJs, Acidhorse, some Ministry b-sides, that sort of thing. Some good stuff. At any rate, the B-side of this tape had Boris Mikulic, and I had 100% forgotten about it. It's pretty good! It's a weird kind of industrial, and sometimes it veers off into noise in a way that is actually annoying, but overall I like it. One song is like heavy metal guitar behind the sounds of a couple boning. It's kind of corny.

But whatever, here's the record.

Philia Phobia