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

Seemingly Endless Time

Death Angel
Act III
1990

Death Angel were of the second wave of Bay Area thrash, and they released three albums in their initial run. Many people love The Ultra-Violence and Frolic Through the Park. I am not one of them. I think both of those albums are decent, with The Ultra-Violence being the better of the two, but neither are on par with records by Exodus, Testament, or many other second- and third-tier thrash bands of the time. They are corny and sloppy at times in a way that is not charming (in contrast, check Exodus's Bonded By Blood, which is both corny and sloppy, and still mops the floor with 99% of other thrash records). But on Act III, Death Angel got their shit together in a huge way, producing one of my favorite thrash records ever. This record is so good that not even the bullshit funk metal on "Discontinued" can bring it down. There are two ballads, and they're both good. I'm sayin! The opening track, "Seemingly Endless Time", sets the tone for this one and shows that these guys are done fucking around. They're tight as shit, firing on all cylinders for the duration (except for the funk shit, obv).

Then they broke up. They regrouped as The Organization, then regrouped again as Swarm (maybe some other time), then finally, in 2004 or so, regrouped as Death Angel. And what did they do next? Release two shitty records.

BUT, against all odds, they released Relentless Retribution this month, and it fucking destroys. There is one shitty ballad (sounds like Nickleback), and a coupl'a songs are a little too chunky and groovy for my tastes, but overall, it's a killer record, full of great thrash riffing and tight-as-shit melodies. So I figured it was appropriate that I celebrate their return to awesomeness by posting their masterpiece (forgiving the funk, obv).

So, again, I know you guys love those first two records. Please explain to me what I'm missing! Why do I love the early Exodus stuff, but not the early Death Angel records?

Act III

You & Me (Less than Zero)

Various
Less Than Zero OST
1987

I've been on a bit of a Danzig kick for a week or so. It started as a Samhain kick, and then before I knew it I was full on into the Danzig years. I'm trying to listen to everything after Danzig III with an open mind, as I've never paid any attention to that stuff. Love those first three records, though.

Anyway, this soundtrack features Glenn Danzig in full-on schmaltzy night club singer mode, doing a sort of precursor to Lucifuge's "Blood and Tears". The Power Fury orchestra backing Sir Glenn is the original lineup of Danzig, minus Eerie Von and plus George Drakoulias.

Other notable tracks here are Slayer's cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (seriously), The Bangles' fantastic "Hazy Shade of Winter" cover, and Poison fucking "Rock'n'Roll" right in the pooper. Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" is here without Scott Ian whiting it up. Oh shit, "Goin' Back to Cali" is on here too, so it's got that going for it.

All in all, this is a typical shitty soundtrack, but the Danzig and Slayer tracks are shit you gotta hear.

Less than Zero