Archive for the ‘album reviews’ Category
Many Have Tried and Many Have Died…
Omen never really got their due. Three brilliant albums and one EP between 84 and 86 and when you hear people talk 
about classic metal, especially when mentioning the early Metal Blade stuff, it seems that so few people talk about them. It’s a bit of a shame. It was nice to see that metal Blade did do the Omen box set a few years ago. The live footage is enjoyable.
Omen had a very unique style and sound, especially in the vocal department. There was something in the way that JD Kimball could wail…like you could really hear the desperation in his voice. I remember the first time I heard them. Daniel had ordered Battle Cry through Metal Blade. I was blown away by the whole band. Kelz had made me a dub tape of Battle Cry and Warning of Danger. I can still see that tape sitting on the seat of my old Nova. I believe there was some Metal Church at the end of one of the sides.
But there was something special about Omen but I don’t think it was just any one thing. The sum of the parts just made them perfect. The music was great, the vocals were great and overall they had good lyrics. That was difficult to do back in those days. Even Be My Wench and Bring Out the Beast are great.
For as much as I love Battle Cry and Warning of Danger, in recent years I find myself listening to the Curse more often than the other 2. Teeth of the Hydra is one of my favorite songs of all time by any band.
Then 2 years after The Curse they released Escape To Nowhere with Coburn Pharr (Annihilator). My god what an awful album that was. I revisited it a few years ago and it still sucked.
All in all, you can’t go wrong with any of the first 3 albums. I listened to Reopening the Gates when it came out as well…it just didn’t work for me. Omen was more about JD’s vocals than anything else for me. RIP.
I’m the worst Venom fan in the world!
Yes, I admit it. I really have a hard time listening to Venom’s early work. From their debut up to Possessed, I just don’t 
like it. It was/is borderline awful…at least from what I remember. I haven’t laid ears to that stuff since…well since probably 1995.
All that being said I absolutely love the 3 albums after Possessed: Calm Before The Storm, Prime Evil and Temples of Ice. Calm Before The Storm finally brought some melody a band that needed it IMHO. Chanting of the Priests is such an awesome track…albeit sloppy.
After Cronos left, they hired the Demolition Man to handle the bass and vocal duties. I thought his first 2 albums with Venom were pretty good, at least by Venom standards. He has an Udo-esque type vocal style which works well. Prime Evil is better than temples of Ice but has some typical Venom silliness like Skool Daze. Their cover of Megalomania is kind of neat.
I catch grief all the time for not being a “true” Venom fan. To that I say ‘just be happy I even like any of their stuff at all.’ I do have to admit to liking the hooks in Black Metal. Venom was never known for having great lyrics, but these make me grin. I remember having to return a compilation cassette (Metal Killers Kollection II) back to the department store because of this song. My mom was having no parts of that! hahahha
L’Amour Rocks CD (1987)
Super rare closet classick! This was put out by Mercenary/Celluloid Records in 1987 and I’ve probably owned it for 
about 15 or so years and until today I don’t think I have listened to this in about 10 years. Not even sure where I found it. Doesn’t matter. It’s got some cool stuff on here like Wrathchild (who changed their name to Wrathchild America), Attacker and Halloween etc. Those bands ended up being relatively well-known at least in the underground metal scene. Matriarch is pretty decent. Jett Blakk is pretty average thrash. The Lethal Aggression is pretty bad…but then again if you’re into skate core/thrash/NYHC/punk, you may dig this one. Meanstreak is about as average as hard rock could be. The final track by The Boys is pretty awful.
1. “Armed To Deliver” –Wrathchild (3:56)
2. “Red Dawn” –Matriarch (3:53)
3. “Battered Child” –Jett Blakk (3:39)
4. “Generic Punk” –Lethal Aggression (2:21)
5. “Emanon” – Attacker (4:04)
6. “Come and Get It” -Halloween (3:18)
7. “Lost Stranger” –Mean Streak (2:38)
8. “The Boys Keep Rollin'” –The Boys (4:14)
I’m posting this since it’s pretty rare and has some decent songs on it.
Enjoy.
That woman, she was on old flame of mine…
When I look back at Thin Lizzy’s catalogue, it blows my mind that the Johnny The Fox album wasn’t more popular. 
Other than the final track, Boogie Woogie Dance, it’s damn near perfect. Phil sings his heart out on this. Oddly enough the album is played a half-step down from standard tuning. I had read a while back that Phil wrote most of while recovering from Hepatitis and tuning down made the songs easier to sing.
Thank God for Hepatitis, eh?
There’s a lot of romanticism and sadness on this album of varying degrees. Borderline and Old Flame always tug at my heartstrings for various reasons…loves from days gone by. Phil really had a way of stringing words and phrases together.
Selected verses from Borderline:
Midnight in the big city
At the bar drinking all on my own
Just thinking about that girl and me
How something’s going wrongSeven beers and still sober
It’s time to change to something stronger
I cannot take this scene no longer
She could have told me it’s all overBack in my home town
The old place is still the same
But time can cast a spell over something
You can’t go back again
It’s just love or rejection
For this borderline case
No shit, Phil. I feel ya. And from Old Flame:
Once this flame it did brightly blaze
Among the ashes there still remains
A glowing spark in my heart
For that old flame of mine
Dude, that’s what I mean. Old crushes can sometimes die hard (with a vengeance?) . OK, that was weak.
Then the sarcastic tone of Don’t Believe a Word:
Don’t believe me if I tell you
That I wrote this song for you
There might be some other silly pretty girl
I’m singing it toDon’t believe me if I tell you
Not a word of this is true
Don’t believe me if I tell you
Especially if I tell you that I’m in love with you
The man…a lot of it is in how he sings it too. Such a unique vocalist.
Then you have Fool’s Gold. The romantic notion of leaving your homeland in hopes of finding gold, only to end up with fool’s gold. Oddly the song takes some odd lyrical turns and tells some other stories that don’t seem so related to the initial subject, but it’s still a great tune.
Then…Massacre. This song rules. It’s very metal for 1976. Iron Maiden did an incredible cover of this.
The song Johnny, Rocky and Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed and are 3 great rocking tunes as well. Rounding it out is Sweet Marie. A nice little love song about missing his woman while he’s out on the road.
If you’re even mildly a Thin Lizzy fan, this is one album that needs to be in your collection.
Enjoy the tunes.
RIP Phil.
Death To False Metal Vols I and II
I don’t even know when these came out but I’ve had the first one forever it seems. It’s definitely better than the second one. Basically it’s a bunch of underground punk/garage bands playing 80s metal/hard rock stuff. It’s fun stuff to listen to every now and then.
Enjoy.
The Metal Files 
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