Toxodeth: Mysteries About Life and Death (1990)

Wild Rags Records had something of a reputation for off-the-wall releases in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  They also had a reputation for fucking over customers, but that is neither here nor there at this point.  I have long been interested in gathering some of the releases over the years, but they are not super easy to come by in their original formats.  Some of that fucking over customers thing probably helps in that regard.  I did come across this one though and off-the-wall is a pretty good description for it.

Toxodeth is a Mexican death metal band with some massive Possessed influence and an obsession with horror movies.  The song lyrics each tell a different story, many of them lifted directly from movies or novels, including "Phantasm" which is a massively underrated horror movie and one of my personal favorites.  Several well-known horror movie themes also make appearances throughout the album.  

What makes this album sort of weird though is that it seems to be much more of a glamour project for Raul Guzman, who plays guitar and keyboards and provides vocals.  There are a drummer and a bassist, but Guzman even plays bass on the final instrumental track which, surprise surprise, features a bass solo.  Otherwise the album feels like a lead guitar solo album as the songs are based more around the lead guitar melodies and squealing solos.  Guzman is a hell of a guitar player, that is for sure and he sort of beats the listener over the head with his abilities on this album.

Toxodeth is still technically active, but have not released much new material since the follow-up to this album.  This one is an intriguing listen, with a lot of interesting elements, particularly the obsession with horror.  As a fellow horror fan, that definitely speaks to me.  This would be an appropriate album for Halloween listening.