Friday, April 23, 2010

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 39: Metal Mayhem

This was another tape compilation I bought early on in my formative metal years. It was another favorite of mine due to the diversity of the bands and songs. I bought several of these compilations by Priority Records. This was among the best.

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM: "IRON TEARS"
This was the first time I had heard Flotsam and Jetsam and I was very impressed. The thrash/power metal band has a distinctive sound and vocalist and this song blew me away. It would still be several years before I picked up this album. It was tough to find at that time. I own it now though, as well as another album by the group. This band is notable for being the band Jason Newsted was in prior to Metallica. He does play bass on this track.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: "NOBODY HEARS"
A rare serious song by this otherwise humorous band. This one deals with teenage angst. It's also slower to accentuate the lyrics. Still a killer song. I already owned one album by this band prior to this compilation.

PRONG: "PROVE YOU WRONG"
This is off of Prong's album of the same name which is much more of a crossover album than most of the rest of the band's output. It's one of Prong's better early songs. The drumwork in particular is incredible. I own three albums by this band, including the one on which this song appears.

BANG TANGO: "SOUL TO SOUL"
This song is weird. It's not a metal song. It's more of a glam rock song meets jazz funk. I'm not kidding. There's even a saxophone part in it. It's a weird song but a decent listen. I never really checked this group out further. I don't intend to.

GWAR: "BLACK & HUGE"
Surprisingly one of the first times I had heard Gwar. I was familiar with them. They were on Beavis and Butthead frequently (ah the world I grew up in). A goofy, fun song by a weird group. I own one Gwar album.

WARRIOR SOUL: "THE WASTELAND"
I have no idea what this song is. I don't care for it at all. The vocals are annoying and the music fails to grab me. Pass.

VOIVOD: "ASTRONOMY DIVINE"
Kind of a weird one to put on this as this is a cover of a Pink Floyd song. Still an accurate representation of the science fiction, spacey weirdness this band become well-known for. Always a very creative band. This came right at the height of their careers. I have two albums from this band now, including this one.

PRO-PAIN: "FOUL TASTE OF FREEDOM"
This band was one of the early influences on the burgeoning tough-guy hardcore scene that was perfected (?!) with Hatebreed. It's defiant, angry, and aggressive. Pro-Pain always had quite a bit of metal influence, being more of a groove/hardcore band. This is their best song. I picked this album up.

MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE: "RITE OF SHIVA"
Industrial rock bands had such long, weird names. This song helped me in my desire for more industrial music. But, it's not really all that great looking back on it now. Pass.

1 comment:

  1. Machines of Loving Grace also had a decent song on the soundtrack to The Crow, which was one of the first twenty or so albums I ever owned. For other industrial stuff, it also had NIN and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. It also featured Pantera, Helmet, and Stone Temple Pilots, but the rest of the album was either forgettable or annoying.

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