Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 52: Pantera: Far Beyond Driven

Apart from Cowboys from Hell, I never really got Pantera.  To be fair I have not checked out their material prior to that album, their more glam phase was just not something I chose to check out.  That being said, I still bought most of the band's albums because I was a young metalhead and I felt it was my duty to check them out as Pantera pretty much was the be-all and end-all of metal in the mid 1990's.  I was in middle school and did not really have much exposure to the metal underground.

Far Beyond Driven was released in 1994.  By this point, Pantera had perfected their groove metal sound.  Of course Vulgar Display of Power was the release that got the band headed in that direction.  But this is the one that a lot of mainstream people think of when they think of Pantera, mostly due to the minor hit "I'm Broken".

There are some decent songs on this release, and by and large I do like it better than Vulgar Display of Power.  For some reason that album never really did anything for more.  I think the reason I like this one better is due to the fact that the songs on this one are not as stripped-down and simple as they are on the prior album.  Dimebag's riffs are generally more impressive on this release as well.

However there is one truly terrible song on here.  "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" is an absolutely horrible song.  There is no redeeming quality at all on that song.

I do tend to listen to this album occasionally, more than Vulgar certainly.  But this is not the Pantera I choose to remember.  Their tough-guy, macho image on this release is annoying.  I much prefer Cowboys.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 51: Wrathchild America: 3-D

Quite the trippy album cover, huh?

I have not done one of these in a long time. I recently picked up this album from a used record store. Having half-remembered some comments about Wrathchild America being a decent band, and it being fairly cheap, I bought it.

Wrathchild America is a largely forgotten band and that is a shame. They were around for a long time, but only really started attracting notice with the release of their debut album 1989, toward the end of the rein of thrash metal in the American mainstream. This album was released in 1991 and it was not much longer before metal got kicked back to the underground and many bands were forgotten. Wrathchild America falls into this category despite renaming themselves and continuing under the name Souls at Zero for a few more years.

As you might have guessed from the above discussion, Wrathchild America is a thrash metal band. They named themselves after the Iron Maiden track "Wrathchild" and then added the America part to avoid being confused with another band by the same name. Wrathchild America is more than just a straightforward thrash metal band though. They experimented with a lot of progressive structures and other non-metal elements in crafting this album. The band utilized elements of hard rock, funk, and jazz into their thrash metal foundation. It was an interesting collection of influences but would not prevent the band from fading into obscurity like so many others.

This is a grower. It's pretty unique but it was just released at the wrong time so Wrathchild America is barely remembered today.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 50: Testament: Low

What a great album this was, despite the massive change in sound. Testament started off as a run-of-the-mill thrash metal band from the Bay Area, sounding a lot like other bands from the same scene: Metallica, Exodus, Heathen, and Dark Angel. In the late 1980's they started experimenting with some more melodic, progressive music. Most of the thrash metal elements were gone. Testament was never really much more than a second (or third) tier thrash metal band. Despite all of that though, they were one of my favorite bands.

Then this album came out and it blew everyone away. This is quite possibly Testament's best album. It features a return to thrash metal, with elements of Pantera-style groove metal and even some death metal elements. The music is incredible and the musicianship is top-notch. Alex Skolnick was no longer with the band at this time, replaced by extreme metal mercenary James Murphy, who also did time in Death. The drums were capably handled by John Tempesta who would also handle those duties with White Zombie a short time later. Despite this, the music is incredibly tight.

The songs are great, featuring barn-burners like "Low" and "Hail Mary". It also includes the death metal-tinged "Dog Faced Gods" and bass solo "Urotsukidoji". This was an early favorite album when I was still buying cassettes because of its extreme sound and heavy riffs. It is still probably my favorite Testament album. It also remains proof that the mid 1990's featured some great metal albums despite popular conception.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 49: Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

If I were to pick one album to point to for people to realize just how good of musicians the original quartet were, this would be the album. In my opinion, this was the last great album Black Sabbath released with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. There are some songs that I do not particularly care for, but overall, this is a great album.

Several of the songs on this release should have been classic Sabbath tracks. "A National Acrobat" is actually my favorite song off of this album and is one of my all-time favorite Sabbath songs in general. In addition, "Sabbra Cadabra" and "Killing Yourself to Live" are also amazing songs. The title track is the most well-known song off of this album and appears on several greatest hits compilations, as well it should. But, there are other great tracks on here.

Sabbath was experimenting with some different types of music on this. "Fluff" is a very soft track and "Who are You?" features a lot of electronic keyboard effects. There is also some other woodwind instrumentation at various points adding to the experience.

As I mentioned, I don't particularly care for a couple of the songs, most notably the aforementioned "Fluff" and "Who are You?", but that does not mean they are bad songs. I just do not like them as well. The rest of the album though more than makes up for it. This was one of my favorite Sabbath releases for a long time, and remains so today.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 48: Metallica: ...And Justice for All

I don't want to spend a ton of time reviewing this album for the music so much as talking about what it meant to me in my formative metal years. This was the second metal album I ever bought, being beaten only by Ride the Lightning. This was an absolutely incredible album to me at that time. I had never heard anything so complex and fast and intense in my life. My older brother listened to Metallica, sure, but he listened to The Black Album. This was different. This was Metallica at probably their most aggressive and extreme.

I had fallen in love with Metallica from the first album I ever bought. This second album reinforced that and kept me looking for more. I would still end up getting Master of Puppets before I ever got The Black Album. Even though the songs from that album were the first ones I really heard, that was not the most exciting album to me.

I listen back to this album now, and it is still a very interesting listen. It does feature some of the best riffs Metallica had ever written and it was certainly their most difficult and complex album. The drums are perhaps too high in the mix, and let's face it, Lars Ulrich is not the best drummer in the world. The bass is also too low in the mix, perhaps the band was being unfair to Jason Newsted, still grieving the death of Cliff Burton. This is an extremely angry Metallica.

"One" is perhaps one of their best-known songs, and certainly their best-known video. Every other track on here is bludgeoning and suffocating, filling the listener's ears with riff after riff delivered at breakneck speed.

While Ride the Lightning was my first metal album, I believe it may have been this album that convinced me that metal was the music to pursue.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 47: Radio Mix Tape

I was digging through some of my old music that I never listen to anymore and came across this gem. This is a mix tape I put together sometime around the mid 1990's. This was a time when nu-metal was starting to rear its ugly head. I would have been in eighth or ninth grade at the time this was put together. Back then, I used to sit by the radio with a blank tape and tape songs off of The Blaze. If I liked them, I would frequently get the album. It was at this time that The Blaze had The Power Hour on Wednesday nights when they would play substantially more metal stuff. I loved The Power Hour, and it helped introduce me to Trouble, Voivod, Grave, Paradise Lost, Slayer, and Machine Head, among others. I was very distraught when that show was cancelled. That was the beginning of the end for The Blaze as a decent radio station.

PUBLIC ENEMY W/ ANTHRAX: "BRING THA NOIZE"
This was recorded off of my brother's Public Enemy tape. It's one of the early examples of the crossover between rock and rap. It features Anthrax thrash riffs and the political-minded rap of Public Enemy. I'm pretty sure one of the Anthrax guys takes an ill-fated stab at rapping too. Partially responsible for nu-metal. Not bad though.

DEFTONES: "BORED"
Slow-burning angst-ridden track off their debut. It was enough to get me to buy the album at the time. Not sure I still have it. Never liked it that much. I don't understand the huge amounts of praise this band has always gotten. NFM.

MARILYN MANSON: "LUNCHBOX"
Really? This is one of the better, harder tracks, before he got all gothic and weird. I think I taped this before Marilyn Manson was real well-known. NFM.

TROUBLE: "PLASTIC GREEN HEAD"
This is just a great song. It took me a long time, but I finally decided to pick up this album from the trad doom titans. I have done a post on this album before.

VISIONS: "IN THE MIND'S EYE"
This sounds more like a harder punk or hardcore song. Nothing terribly impressive. I haven't looked into this anymore. NFM.

VOIVOD: "EROSION"
I bought this album, but it didn't have this song on it. Apparently this was only on some versions of the album, which is a shame because it would have been the best track on it. Excellent example of progressive thrash. Voivod is a highly underrated band.

KILGORE SMUDGE: "METAMORPHOSIS"
This is a little-known early nu-metal band. It sounds as good as you would expect. God the vocals are awful. Next please. NFM.

MOTLEY CRUE: "WILDSIDE"
One of the earlier, more metal Motley Crue tracks, this one does sound more like sped-up Priest with some pop influences for good effect.

MOTLEY CURE: "LIVEWIRE"
See above, but even heavier than the prior song. This is the Motley Crue I enjoy the most.

KISS: "HEAVEN'S ON FIRE"
Ugh, what was I thinking? NFM.

KISS: "DOMINO"
I generally prefer Gene Simmons over Paul Stanley when I have to hear Kiss. But this song is really cheesy and a little gross. It's about a famous groupie. He sounds like my grandpa, and that is disturbing on many levels. NFM.

KING'S X: "SOMETIME"
This was disappointing, one of their more blues/rock oriented songs. Not bad, just not what I hoped.

VALLEJO: "BOOGEYMAN"
This has a great bass line, but the vocals suck. Not metal. NFM.

GRAVE: "WORTH THE WAIT"
I now realize this is not the best example of this band's work, but at the time, it blew my mind. Additional points for the Hellraiser 3 sample at the beginning. This thing was awesome. I do own the CD now and it definitely pales in comparison to their other work, but hey, this song got me into them.

PARADISE LOST: "ONCE SOLEMN"
I got the Draconian Times album off of the strength of this song and "Forever Failure". This is a much faster track and is not representative of the band's general sound. The gothic doom band usually plays much slower but they proved they were definitely capable of playing fast on this track.

VOIVOD: "VORTEX"
Another Voivod track off their Negatron album. Another track that does not appear on my version of the album. Disappointing.

MICHELIN SLAVE: "THIS SIDE"
This sounds like some sort of industrial rock. Reminiscent of Ministry at first, although the comparison doesn't hold. It's okay, but I wouldn't check them out. NFM.

SAVATAGE: "HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING"
I love this song. One of the all-time great metal riffs. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get this album, I picked it up early this year. I also did a post on this album.

SAVATAGE: "JESUS SAVES"
This was off one of their mid-era albums when they were more interested in putting together rock operas. Still a decent song, and tells a good story. You can definitely see where Trans-Siberian Orchestra evolved out of on this.

SAVATAGE: "HANDFUL OF RAIN"
This is a ballad from Savatage. It's off of a later album. Not bad, but I'm not a huge ballad guy.

CRUSH: "NOWHERE NOW"
This also appears to be some form of industrial rock. Not terribly interesting either. NFM. Next.

SLAYER: "GEMINI"
This track appeared on their punk covers album and is the only new track on it. A decent song, but it has absolutely nothing on their 1980's material. This is much slower, but still violent and abrasive.

CANNIBAL CORPSE: "MONOLITH"
The first time I heard this version of Cannibal Corpse, I didn't like it. I preferred Chris Barnes's vocals. Corpsegrinder's eventually grew on me, but the first several albums with him were not real great.

THE EXPLOITED: "BEAT THE BASTARDS"
The Exploited was a heavy punk band that began incorporating more and more thrash metal influences into their music. This track is from the height of their metal influence and is basically a crossover track. It's a hell of a lot of fun.

MACHINE HEAD: "DAVIDIAN"
Machine Head sounded real fucking heavy at the time. Now, I recognize they were just a groove metal band riding Pantera's coattails, but this was a time in which the major hard rock played on the radio was from groups like Korn and Soundgarden. This is still a decent song and it is off Machine Head's best album in my opinion.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 46: Faith No More: King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime

I am planning a longer post discussing the music of Faith No More's discography under the vocal theatrics of Mike Patton. It will probably be up next week some time, but here's a little precursor as I just listened to this cassette recently.

Faith No More is not an easy band to categorize, but they're not typically as difficult as they are on this album. The band has often used a variety of influences in their music, but they don't usually take over entire songs. Many songs on this album are from completely different genres, making this a bit of a shizophrenic listen. For instance, the band experiments with 1970's era R&B on "Evidence", country on "Take This Bottle", and big band funk on "Star A.D." Those are the two more outlandish examples. We even have saxophone solos on this thing.

However, the album is definitely based in metal. Half of the 14 songs are very clearly metal tracks. The band makes very good use of their always-present metal influences in presenting the metallic hardcore crunch of tracks like "Get Out" and "Digging the Grave". "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" features one hell of an opening thrash metal riff, and probably the greatest metal riff Faith No More has ever written. Even less metal tracks such as "Last to Know" and "Just a Man" feature strong metal elements. Some of these songs are the catchiest tracks Faith No More has ever written.

Guitarist Jim Martin, who was basically a thrash metal guitarist, is no longer with the band at this point, but Trey Spruance did an admirable job filling in and showed that he knew a thing or two about metal riffs as well. The metal tracks are much more straightforward this time around and are simpler riffs, but they are still energetic and get the blood pumping and the head banging.

How could we discuss a Faith No More album without mentioning Mike Patton? You were getting worried, right? Patton is easily one of the best and most interesting vocalists in rock music overall. He presents a wide variety of vocal styles on this album, from soulful crooning to blood-curdling screaming. His vocals can be calming and relaxing one minute and then filled with a terrifying malevolence the next. His screams are well-done and scary and his softer vocals show a range of talent that Patton has become well-known for over the years.

The only real issue I have with this album is its length. It is a very long album with 14 tracks. Some of these feel like filler, but I'm not sure if the album would have the same effect if any of them were taken away.

While this is not my favorite Faith No More album by any means, it is a very interesting album. It keeps the listener's attention even though it is a little long. The variety of styles keep the listener guessing as to what's going to be heard next. Faith No More is a very interesting band, and this album is just one example of this fact.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 45: Suicidal Tendencies: Join the Army

When I was just starting to get interested in music, my dad found a cassette carrying case full of tapes down by a pond at his work. After leaving it in his office for awhile waiting to see if anyone would come and claim it, he brought them home. This was in the early 1990's or so. Most of the music was of the new wave/post-punk/alternative variety. Most of the tapes just went into storage.

When I was a little older and getting into metal, I went through my parents' tapes looking for anything that would come close to my new favorite music. I only came up with one album which came in that carrying case: Suicidal Tendencies.

Suicidal Tendencies (ST from now on) was an important band in the crossover genre. The band originally played hardcore punk on their 1983 debut, with some metal influences. They did not release a follow-up album until this album was released in 1987. This album was one of the formative albums in the crossover genre with ST fusing their hardcore punk with thrash metal. The band had brought in guitarist Rocky George who was heavily influenced by groups like Motorhead and helped write much of the music on this album. The tracks therefore all have a faster metal edge to them that was missing on their debut.

This album is fast and short, featuring twelve songs and clocking in at under 40 minutes. All of the songs are aggressive, with youthful energy and lyrics about rebellion and social issues. They are usually crafted around fairly simple metal riffs and layered with some heavy bass and Mike Muir's often-shouted vocals, along with the occasional guitar solo. The songs are all very catchy, with some real hooks. It is this catchiness that keeps me coming back to the album. It's simple, but it's fast and fun.

The band would continue with these lyrical themes and musical directions for the rest of their careers. This was the album that really brought the band into the attention of metalheads and the band would continue to increase their metal influences. They are now looked back upon as one of the major bands in the crossover genre.

This is a pretty good album to listen to when I need something to get my blood pumping. Not bad at all for an abandoned tape found down by a pond.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 44: Corrosion of Conformity: Deliverance

What a great album this is. I remember that I was in eighth grade when I found this album. The local radio station had been playing "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds" quite a bit. The latter song was the real impetus for picking up the album. There's just something about the mix of heavy metal, southern rock, and hardcore. It's a unique sound that comes off extremely well. The songs are all incredibly powerful and catchy as hell.

This was one of the early albums in my metal collection. I still pull the tape out every once in awhile and I always think to myself "why do I not listen to this album more often?"

Corrosion of Conformity was an early band blending the aforementioned variety of styles. Bassist and vocalist Pepper Keenan is a massively influential figure in metal and served time in Down and was even offered the bassist position in Metallica at one point. Without Corrosion of Conformity, there would probably be no Mastodon, Baroness, or many of the other sludge metal bands that have achieved fame in the last few years. I still prefer C.O.C. though. This album is incredible.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 43: Metallica: Metallica

I guess it's time for my opinions on "The Black Album" by Metallica. As I have mentioned many times before on this blog, Metallica is the band that got me into metal. At the time that I was in fourth and fifth grade, "The Black Album" had been released and had proven to be enormously popular. I remember seeing the video for "One" off of the previous album quite a bit, but "Enter Sandman" and the other hits off of this album were the ones that really made me take notice of the band. My older brother bought this album and I heard it several times while he was going through a very short metal phase.

A few years later, when I was in seventh grade, MTV was showing videos from Metallica's live boxed set. It was at this time that I finally bought my first Metallica album. But, I chose Ride the Lightning. I followed that with ...And Justice for All and then Master of Puppets before I ever bought the self-titled album. So, it took me awhile before I got this album.

I always liked the early stuff better. It's not that I mind this album, I don't. I listen to it once in awhile. It just doesn't hold up to the band's first four albums. It's different. It's the album that made fans of millions, and lost the band lots of previous fans. It's a polarizing album. The band had made a calculated effort to change their sound and become more marketable. They brought in a big-time record producer and spent a long time in the studio recording and dissecting the music so that it was perfect for mainstream consumption. This album is a product, not a labor of love like the earlier albums.

It was huge upon release. The glam scene was on its last legs and grunge was on its way, but this album was a monumental album that showed that heavy metal could be marketable still. You just had to do the right things, which included not playing too fast, not being too controversial, and follow the rules of the record labels. This album, more than grunge, helped drive a stake through the heart of metal. Metallica was a hugely popular and influential band, and now they were softening their image for mainstream approval. It wasn't long before many of their contemporaries did the same. We had tamer sounds from Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, and many others. Thrash had become a bad word and would take years to make a comeback. Obviously death and black metal were never meant for MTV, but this album assured that they would not be seen. The fallout was almost as huge as the album sales.

When all is said and done, it was Metallica, not Nirvana, that pushed metal into the deep underground and lead to journalists claiming the death of the genre. Bands had to follow their lead to get anywhere and those bands that did not play nice were dropped from labels and not heard from again for years.

This is a decent album. It's catchy, the songs are good. But, it is not the be-all, end-all of Metallica's career, much less metal in general. Some of the songs are still very good. But, they don't hold a candle to their earlier thrash material. I don't mind this album musically, it's what it represents to the metal genre as a whole that makes it difficult to stomach. It set metal back years. I just hope that wasn't the intention.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 42: Hard Music Vol. 1

I bought this somewhere in Canada. I don't even remember where. It was at this music store in kind of an outdoor shopping center, possibly near Edmonton. I don't remember. Anyway, there's a lot of stuff on here. There's some good stuff, some great stuff, and some wretchedly horrible stuff (I'm looking at you Clawfinger). This is also noteworthy because it is the first time I heard Slayer and Ministry.

That Canada trip was fairly important in my formation as a metalhead. I bought several random cassettes during the trip, including the ever popular (mystifyingly enough) Quiet Riot. I also bought this cassette, the Sepultura Roots CD, my first metal t-shirt (also Sepultura which I have since lost), and my first issue of Metal Maniacs. This is probably when I stopped being a casual fan of the genre and became much more.

Anyway, enough sidetracking, on to the compilation!

MOTLEY CRUE: "SMOKE THE SKY"
This was a single off of the band's first release after Vince Neil was kicked out. John Corabi is actually a pretty decent vocalist and he lent a harder edge to the band's sound. The riffs had a heavier bottom end and were more powerful as well. Of course people didn't listen to the Crue because they were heavy so the album flopped. It's a decent song though and highly underrated.

ANTHRAX: "AUF WIEDERSEHEN"
This is a cover of a Cheap Trick song done when John Bush took over on vocals. I don't like Cheap Trick so I don't have anything good to say about this song. This was only available on the Japanese release of Sound of White Noise.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: "SEX TYPE THING"
NFM. But, this is my favorite song by Stone Temple Pilots. It wasn't long before Wieland descended into major drug addiction and completely flaked out. I like this song quite well even though it is a major grunge ripoff.

PANTERA: "THE BADGE"
This is another cover song, this time of the hardcore group Poison Idea. They actually pull this off quite well. Dimebag's riffs are razor-sharp as always and Anselmo's voice seems to fit the style. It's fast, nasty, and aggressive. I like this quite a bit better than I thought I would.

MINISTRY: "JUST ONE FIX"
I first heard Ministry on this song right here and what a mindfuck. This song is an absolute juggernaut. It features inhumanly precise riffs, pounding drums, and shrieking vocals. This was a great introduction to the band. For some reason though, I have never really looked much into them further.

SLAYER: "SEASONS IN THE ABYSS"
Also, this tape was the first time I ever heard Slayer. This song is not the most representative of the band's output, as it's a longer song and considerably more melodic. However, it got me hooked. I picked this album up very quickly and soon picked up everything else by the band.

DANZIG: "MOTHER"
This song single-handedly drew me to listen to Danzig. But, I had heard it some time before. I already knew this song well by the time I got this compilation.

CANDLEBOX: "CHANGE"
Grunge rip-off band. NFM. Don't care for it at all.

SKID ROW: "SLAVE TO THE GRIND"
Skid Row came out in the last few years of the hair metal/rock scene. They were never as irritating as their contemporaries of the time and were in fact, a whole lot more metal. This song is a blistering testament to that. This is a great song.

DREAM THEATER: "PULL ME UNDER"
This is my favorite track by Dream Theater. I had taped this song off the radio at some point and always enjoyed it. For some reason, I don't own the album this came from. I only ever bought one Dream Theater album.

HAREM SCAREM: "NO JUSTICE"
This is the opposite of the Skid Row song above. The verse parts are okay, but my god, the chorus is obnoxious. No thanks.

KING'S X: "BLACK FLAG"
King's X is a difficult band to pin down. Existing somewhere in the realm between heavy metal, hard rock, punk, and psychedelia, the band plays with a variety of influences. The one thing they could always do is play amazing songs. This is no exception.

FAITH NO MORE: "MID-LIFE CRISIS"
Faith No More was an early band that helped me get into metal. My older brother and some of his friends loved the band. This helped influence me. This is one of their better songs, which I already had on cassette prior to this compilation.

MY SISTER'S MACHINE: "ENEMY"
This is some sort of mix of funk, metal, and alternative rock. I don't particularly care for it.

CLAWFINGER: "TRUTH"
Awful mix of hard rock with rap vocals. This is just fucking terrible. Plus it's the edited version so we get "fucker" replaced with "sucker" throughout. Embarassingly bad.

BLACK SABBATH: "PARANOID"
Well, obviously this is one of Sabbath's best songs. Hard to believe that it nearly didn't get recorded at all. How different metal would have been.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 41: Monsters of Rock Vol. 3: Molten Metal

I actually got this one before I got Vol. 3. If I had gotten Vol. 2 first, I probably never would have picked this one up. But, this one was significantly better.

KISS: "UNHOLY"
You wouldn't know that from the first track though. I have never been much of a Kiss fan. This is a better song by the group, but it's not exactly good. I always preferred the songs Gene Simmons sang on than those by Paul Stanley. Not sure why. NFM.

L.A. GUNS: "DIRTY LUV"
Blech. Another glam rock song. Just terrible. NFM.

MOTORHEAD: "I'M SO BAD (BABY I DON'T CARE)"
Ah, that's more like it. Yes, Motorhead has been releasing the same stuff over and over again, but when it rocks like this, it doesn't fucking matter. This is just Lemmy being Lemmy and it's great.

WHITE ZOMBIE: "BLACK SUNSHINE"
Amazing song from a great album. I already owned this album so not much more to add. This was always one of my favorites from White Zombie.

MUDHONEY: "SUCK YOU DRY"
NFM. Nevertheless, this is pretty decent grunge rock by one of the better bands from the genre. I grew up with grunge so it doesn't bother me much. This isn't bad, it's just not metal.

FLOTSAM & JETSAM: "THE MASTER SLEEPS"
Absolutely no complaints here. I really enjoy F&J and this was one of the first times I heard their particular brand of power/thrash metal. Great song, very fast and aggressive. I need to find the album on which this song appears.

FEAR FACTORY: "SCAPEGOAT"
This song is off of Fear Factory's first album on Roadrunner. It's much more death metal-inflected than their later material. It's a great song and I did pick up this album later on.

BIOHAZARD: "PUNISHMENT"
NFM. The hardcore band has had a major influence on metalcore and nu metal due to their frequent collaborations with rappers. I don't particularly care for Biohazard, but this song is okay.

AVERSION: "LET IT GO"
This song is fast. I have not heard anything more on this band for some reason, but I am definitely interested. This is easily my favorite song on the album but they're not a well-known band. Shame.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 40: Monsters of Rock Vol. 2: Metal Masters

I don't even remember how I ended up with this. I went through a phase where I picked up a lot of compilation albums. I think I got Vol. 3, which I kind of liked, then picked this up. With a couple of exceptions, this one is pretty terrible. I guess it wouldn't be if I loved the hair metal/rock scene, which I don't. I like some bands, but not many. Very few of these bands are any good.

KISS: "I JUST WANNA"
Kiss was terrible and embarrassing when they did the facepaint thing. Then they took it off and somehow managed to get worse. This song is excruciatingly bad. No redeeming qualities. NFM.

SCORPIONS: "ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE"
Ah, this song I like. I have always loved this song. This might have been one of the reasons I picked this album up. Sure it's cheesy but this song is great.

KROKUS: "MIDNITE MANIAC"
Krokus used to be good. They were not good on this song, sounding like an unholy cross between AC/DC and Poison. Ugh.

ACCEPT: "BALLS TO THE WALL"
This is another great song. An early German metal band that had a major influence on power metal. This is the route mainstream metal should have taken, instead of the awful hair metal scene.

VIXEN: "EDGE OF A BROKEN HEART"
Okay, this song is supposed to be some hard-rocking song by a group of women. It's supposed to be sign that women could rock just as hard as men. Yet, it was written by Richard Marx. Enough said. NFM.

The whole second side of this is terrible, schlocky 1980's hair rock. I won't go into detail. Here's the track list. I hate all four of them. All four are NFM.
WARRANT: "MACHINE GUN"
FIREHOUSE: "HOLD YOUR FIRE"
TRIXTER: "GIVE IT TO ME GOOD"
STEELHEART: "I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO (ANGEL EYES)"

So, two worthwhile tracks on the whole thing. Metal Masters, indeed. Blech. I almost never listen to this anymore for good reason. Next Dusting Off a Cassette will feature Vol. 3 of this series which is a hundred times better.

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.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 38: Skullcrushers Compilation

I recently dug out some of my old tapes that were compilations. I bought this some time in either my eighth or ninth grade year. It was one of the first exposures to death metal I ever had. It blew me away and was a favorite tape in my collection. I have not listened to it for a long time, so this was pretty fun.

MEGADETH: SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN
I was very familiar with Megadeth already. This song is originally off of the band's debut album. It's fast and aggressive and really sets the tone for this compilation. Dave Mustaine's banshee wail at the beginning of the song is an absolute classic. I did pick up this album after hearing this song on the compilation. I also have all of Megadeth's full-length albums and a couple of their compilation albums.

EXODUS: THE TOXIC WALTZ
I knew the name Exodus but had not heard the band. This song is a tribute to the apparently quite crazy shit that fans did at their shows. Pre-dating moshing by several years and other pit madness. This is one of my favorite tracks off of this compilation and surprisingly I have not picked up this album by the band. I do have a couple of their other albums though.

NUCLEAR ASSAULT: CRITICAL MASS
From the pure thrash of the prior two tracks, we dive into a few tracks of hardcore-inspired metal. This song from the crossover greats Nuclear Assault is an extremely heavy tour de force. I am not sure why I have not gone further into this band's catalog. This remains the only song I have actually heard.

PRONG: BEG TO DIFFER
Prong has been pretty hit or miss with me. I own three of their albums, but even on those albums, they have great songs and some filler. This is a good song, but it doesn't match the power of some of their later material. It's a lot more simple than some of the stuff the band would come up with later. Still, a decent song. It's just no "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck".

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY: LOSS FOR WORDS
This one surprised me. I had two albums by C.O.C. already, so I thought I knew what to expect. To be fair, I was only in my early teens. C.O.C. started out with much more hardcore influences and changed singers a few times. The albums I owned were more sludge metal and traditional metal. This is one hell of a song though.

DEATH: PULL THE PLUG
This is it, the first real death metal song I ever heard in its entirety. And what a great first song it was. Obviously the first thing to take notice of is the extreme vocals, which are a little tame by today's standards. The music on this song is more of an ultra heavy thrash sound. That's what death metal was in the beginning though. I own four albums now by this band, including this one.

VOIVOD: KILLING TECHNOLOGY
Voivod is weird. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what their sound is as it contains influences from thrash, hardcore, and progressive rock. Quite an eclectic mix. This song also features a lot of keyboard effects and strange vocal effects. Still, it made an impression. I own two albums by this band.

CELTIC FROST: ETERNAL SUMMER
Hard to believe that this was the first time I heard this band. The guitar tone is what really grabs the listener. That and the crushing riffs and ramming speed. This is one of the better Celtic Frost songs. Tom Warrior's vocals are terrific on this track. I now own three albums by this band, one double album by their predecessor Hellhammer and one by their successor Triptykon.

OBITUARY: INFECTED
The vocals on the Death track were extreme, but these put them to shame. John Tardy has always sounded like he gargled with a glass of battery acid before singing. This song was shocking for a young teenager to hear. I now own four albums by this band, including the album from which this track came.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: YOU CAN'T BRING ME DOWN
Finishing things off on a lighter note, but by no means a slower one, is this Suicidal Tendencies track. This is the only other band I owned an album from prior to getting this compilation, but this track blows all of their other stuff out of the water. It's fast, complex, and metal as fuck. Plus, it's a rare song of triumph and hope in an otherwise bleak genre. What a great song and message.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 37: Nitro: O.F.R.

O.F.R. stands for Out-Fucking-Rageous. Ugh. Between that and the band's name, and the cover of this album, it becomes pretty obvious that this is a 1980's glam metal band. Sure enough, that is very much the case here. Glam metal is very inconsistent, sometimes really good, oftentimes really bad. This one is one of those rare cases which has positives and negatives.

The music does definitely have aggressive riffing, and it is often extremely fast. The production is not great, the bass cannot be heard terribly well and the drums are a little muddy. The vocals and the guitars are definitely at the forefront. The solos are amazing. Michael Angelo Batio is an amazing soloist and classically trained. The solos are fast and very well-played. This album is definitely interesting from a guitar player's standpoint. The solos are the highlight of the album.

The lowlight: the vocals. Jim Gillette is now a bodybuilder and husband to guitar goddess Lita Ford. However his vocals are obnoxiously high at most times. Even his normal singing voice is on the annoying side. They definitely take some getting used to.

This is an interesting album, certainly not one of my favorites, but I wanted to get something from the glam metal scene. Nitro is definitely a part of that. I don't bring this out too often. That will probably continue to be the case.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 36: Besatt: Hail Lucifer

Very subtle. Besatt is a black metal band from Poland, which is a surprising hotbed for extreme metal. The band takes influences from second wave Norwegian black metal and first wave black metal bands such as Celtic Frost and Bathory. The band's sound is an unholy combination of its influences.

Besatt's riffs are delivered in a buzzing, tremolo style, befitting the genre. There are often only one or two riffs per song. Again, fairly typical for the cult style of the music. The drums are almost solely blast beats buried underneath the buzzsaw guitar sounds. The bass cannot be heard at all. The production is extremely lo-fi.

The vocals on the album are delivered in a typical black metal shriek. The lyrics are about Satanism, the occult, and Anti-Christianity.

As for the songs themselves, "War" is probably the best track. It features samples of medieval warfare throughout the entire song while the music is playing. It gives the overall effect of absolute, massive chaos. Hearing people screaming and sword clashes throughout the music somehow fits the style. It really must be heard.

All of this basically means that this album is representative of its style. It could also mean that the album is very cliche. It all depends on the listener and their enjoyment of this particular style of black metal. I happen to enjoy the style, and this is an underrated, unknown gem.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 35: Blood of Kingu: De Occulta Philosophia

Blood of Kingu is an occult black metal band from the Ukraine of all places. Metal truly is a well-known form of music around the world, and that is further demonstrated here with a band from a somewhat isolated Easter European country. Metal is popular in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it has not been able to reach a worldwide audience to this point.

The lead member of the band, Roman Saenko, is also involved in other Ukrainian metal projects including Drudkh and Hate Forest. He is a very prolific musician, releasing two to three albums per year through various projects.

Blood of Kingu essentially sounds like De Mysteriis Dom Satanas-era Mayhem. The band relies on dark atmospheric riffs and tremolo picking. The music is eerie and intimidating. It's creepy, just as Mayhem was before them.

Not helping matters is the vocals which are often delivered in an ominous chanting like the Benedictine monks if they were chanting about evil and Satan. Combine that with the already unnerving music, and you have one hell of a frightening album.

The only real problem with the album is the low production values. The vocals in particular get kind of lost in the mix. In addition, the album tends to get a little repetitive. Riffs are repeated over and over again ad nauseum in the individual songs, each song generally only containing one riff.

Blood of Kingu has potential. They just have not reached it yet.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 34: King Diamond: The Spider's Lullaby

I have covered the lyrical content on this album in the past so here, I will just discuss the music. King Diamond is doing what the band does best here: powerful traditional metal in the vein of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The riffs are powerful and fast, the drumming precise, and the bass throbbing.

Of course, the vocalist is the star here. King puts forward one of his strongest vocal performances on this album. His falsetto is in top form and his other vocals are also powerful.

This is easily one of King Diamond's best albums. I would write more, but this album has been covered previously.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 33: Despair: Beyond All Reason

Despair is another band that is fairly obscure. They formed in the mid 1980's and lasted until the early to mid 1990's. Despair was an early band on Century Media Records, when the company was just starting out and had very few bands on its roster. Nevertheless, Despair is the least well-known of these bands. The band came from Germany and played technical thrash/speed metal, in the vein of groups like Heathen and Believer.

The music is fairly standard and comparable to the above bands. Despair does not really offer anything new, but it is nonetheless an engaging album. It does tend to carry on a little too long, however. The riffs, which at the time were probably somewhat innovative, but now sound a little stale are delivered with effective precision. The drumming is powerful and drive the speed and rhythm of the music. The vocals are fair, late thrash-styled yelling and occasionally out of tune wailing. It's a little tough to get used to, but anyone who listens to 1980's thrash bands (like me, and very much unlike my fiancee) probably would have no problem with them.

All in all, the album is okay, but ultimately forgettable. All of the band members have gone on to record with other bands, none of whom are particularly well-known. There's probably a good reason for that.