Stompy's metal roundup for August
Exodus - Shovel Headed Kill Machine
New lineup apart from the guitarist who is the main songwriter. Ex-Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph is on board for this album. It's a mix between "Fabulous Disaster" (their best record) and "Tempo of the Damned" (their last CD, which had 2 great tracks, 2 OK ones and a lot of pus.) The new vocalist is OK, quite good actually. I loved the old Exodus vocalist, but this guy is an adequate replacement - modern thrash style but manages to be aggresive and not suck in spite of probably appealing to Pantera fans etc. A bit of old Kreator vocals too. One song sounds a bit like modern Slayer but moshier and better, the rest is Exodus with a modern production. Less dud tracks than the last album. The fast tracks are fun, the more southern rock riffs thrown into the galloping thrash the better. My favourite track is mid-paced "Shudder to think" with the hilarious refrain "You'd better start filling out your resume." Insert comments from my kids in the back seat along the lines of "Do you want me to start with most recent place of employment and work backwards, or the other way around" and "Dude, I'm only 11."
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
The coolest album cover I can remember seeing. Ex-Sleep dude's heavy metal band sounds like Zepplin/Motorhead fans who know how to play but still smoke too much dope. Steve Albini of Big Black fame produces but doesn't compress the guitar sound - its a live rock sounding album (even on mp3.) The best track has a stoner version of Angel of Death riff, and the drums are pounding throughout the album. It's good dirty rocking metal which sounds out of place in my car - it should be echoing through the Lord St bachelour pad while I stagger around drunk urinating on furniture and covering it with a cushion. This album really makes me want to drink, and the danger is after a few beers it would only sound better. Not something I'd expect to keep on high rotation in the car, but a must for the stereo one slab into our next BBQ.
New lineup apart from the guitarist who is the main songwriter. Ex-Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph is on board for this album. It's a mix between "Fabulous Disaster" (their best record) and "Tempo of the Damned" (their last CD, which had 2 great tracks, 2 OK ones and a lot of pus.) The new vocalist is OK, quite good actually. I loved the old Exodus vocalist, but this guy is an adequate replacement - modern thrash style but manages to be aggresive and not suck in spite of probably appealing to Pantera fans etc. A bit of old Kreator vocals too. One song sounds a bit like modern Slayer but moshier and better, the rest is Exodus with a modern production. Less dud tracks than the last album. The fast tracks are fun, the more southern rock riffs thrown into the galloping thrash the better. My favourite track is mid-paced "Shudder to think" with the hilarious refrain "You'd better start filling out your resume." Insert comments from my kids in the back seat along the lines of "Do you want me to start with most recent place of employment and work backwards, or the other way around" and "Dude, I'm only 11."
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
The coolest album cover I can remember seeing. Ex-Sleep dude's heavy metal band sounds like Zepplin/Motorhead fans who know how to play but still smoke too much dope. Steve Albini of Big Black fame produces but doesn't compress the guitar sound - its a live rock sounding album (even on mp3.) The best track has a stoner version of Angel of Death riff, and the drums are pounding throughout the album. It's good dirty rocking metal which sounds out of place in my car - it should be echoing through the Lord St bachelour pad while I stagger around drunk urinating on furniture and covering it with a cushion. This album really makes me want to drink, and the danger is after a few beers it would only sound better. Not something I'd expect to keep on high rotation in the car, but a must for the stereo one slab into our next BBQ.
posted by stompbox at 8/30/2005 04:18:00 pm
3 Comments:
High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings
I couldn't wait for Stomp to pass this on so I nabbed it myself, my thoughts on listening to track 1 . HOLY SHIT...
This immediatley puts all their previous releases (that I've tried really hard to like) by the wayside.
yup, I think I'm going to like this alot. & yup, this would have been on high rotation at Lord St. May the black lord help anyone that tried to turn it off.
ps. I really like what I imagine is Steve Albini's little joke at the start of track 1.
The drums sound flat as hell & terrible & anyone that's listened to HoF's 2nd release starts thinking "oh shit here we go again, good songs ruined by woeful production"
but then they slowly fill out over the intro until they take up your entire head.
I'm sure Steve was chuckling in his skinny nerd like manner when he divised that one..
SET ME ON FIRE!!!!
The Exodus CD is really good. I love that band. Considering it is an almost completely different lineup, and the vocals are such an important part of their sound, the new cd could so easily have sucked or been meh, but it's really cool.
They are the first thrash band I ever heard, a track off "Fabulous Disaster" on the radio (Toxic Waltz) and I loved the guitar tone and vocals, but the lyrics were cringingly stupid. And that is one thing that has never changed with this band. But they sit firmly on the 2nd tier of thrash bands next to Kreator, Tankard and others, below Megadeth and Slayer in my eyes.
The High on Fire cd has grown on me with repeat listens.
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