Archive for the ‘heavy metal’ Category
Dark Angel – Darkness Descends
I’m pretty sure it was spring 1987 and I was down on Atlantic Ave at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront hanging out for 
whatever reason. There was a little record store there that I can’t remember the name of. I’m pretty sure it was an independent store and don’t hink it lasted more than a few years. I can’t even remember if anyone was with me…maybe Robert S. Anyhoo, we were browsing the cassettes and I saw Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends. I immediately knew that this would be my purchase. I had seen the ads for this in various metal mags and it was on Combat Records which had a pretty good track record of bands so far.
I remember getting in my 66′ Nova 4dr and heading back home while the tape started. I was immediately blown away. The drums. Holy shit, the drums! I remember seeing fotos in magazines of the band and the big huge drummer in shades looming over them in every foto. I was fortunate enough to meet him earlier this decade and he was the coolest mofo in the world.
But back to this massive album. There’s not a stinker in the bunch but my faves are Burning of Sodom, Black Prophecies and Perish In Flames. Sure it’s a tad sloppy and severely underproduced, but it set a/the standard for early thrash and death metal in my opinion, especially for drummers.
When I finally saw them live in 1989, I got to help sing Merciless Death as the new singer said he didn’t know the lyrics that well. I was the happiest acne-faced, bad-haired kid in Virginia Beach that night!
If you’re into classic metal and especially early thrash, you NEED this album.
I finally found the foto of Gene and me from 2001. 
Thank You Metal Blade Records!
For giving me a lifetime of enjoyment from your early selection of albums.
- metal massacre 1
- bitch – damnation alley
- demon flight – s/t
- metal massacre 2
- warlord – deliver us
- savage grace – the dominatress
- bitch – be my slave
- metal massacre 3
- armored saint – s/t ep
- obsession – marshall law ep
- witchkiller – day of the saxons
- metal massacre 4
- slayer – show no mercy
- pandemonium – heavy metal soldiers
- 3rd stage alert – s/t
- satan – court in the act
- silver mountain – shakin’ brains
- trouble – assassin 12″
- trouble – s/t
- lizzy borden – give ’em the axe ep
- metal massacre 5
- total destruction (compilation)
- warlord – aliens 12″
- slayer- haunting the chapel
- fates warning – night on brocken
- voivod – war and pain
- omen – battle cry
- hellhammer – apocalyptic raids
- warlord – and the cannons of destruction have begun
- mad max – rollin’ thunder
- dark heart – shadows of the night
- thrust – fist held high
- celtic frost – morbid tales
- attacker – battle at helms deep
- sye – turn on the fire
- metal massacre 6
- slayer – live undead
- tyrant – legions of the dead
- destruction – sentence of death
- slayer – hell awaits
- trouble – the skull
- hallow’s eve – tales of terror
- lizzy borden – love you to pieces
- sodom – in the sign of evil
- hirax – raging violence
- nasty savage – s/t
- destruction – infernal overkill
- celtic frost – emperor’s return
- mark edwards – code of honor
- omen – warning of danger
- fates warning – the spectre within
- pandemonium – hole in the sky
- cryptic slaughter – convicted
- metal massacre 7
- bloodlust – guilty as sin
- predator – easy prey
- sound barrier – speed of light
- juggernaut – baptism under fire
- sentinel beast – depths of death
- lizzy borden – murderess metal road show
- best of metal blade vol 1
- cirith ungol – one foot in hell
- flotsam and jetsam – doomsday for the deceiver
- unknown
- unknown
- deaf dealer – keeper of the flame
- sacrifice – torment in fire
- detente – recognize no authority
- krank – hideous
- hallow’s eve – death and insanity
- exxplorer – symphonies of steel
- warlord – thy kingdom come
- sodom – obsessed by cruelty
- destruction – eternal devastation
- savage grace – after the fall from grace
- hirax – hate, fear and power
- speed (compilation)
- tyrant – too late to pray
- cities – annihilation absolute
- heretic – torture knows no boundaries
Man, there are surely some heavy hitters. The ones listed in italics are ones that I never heard and/or owned. Best info I have as to why 64 and 65 were never released was that there were some contract disputes. When I worked as a distrubutor for Metal Blade years ago, I tried finding out what 2 LPs those were, but no one seemed to know, including Brian Slagel. The contract dispute explanation was the only thing they could provide. At the height of my vinyl collecting I probably had 60/80. Now I probably have 5 or 6 of them. Sometimes I wish I had kept them.
The Best of Metal Blade Vol 2
aka “One Of The Greatest Compilations Ever”
Let’s just say that Metal Blade Records really helped shape my metalness during the mid-80s. For the most part up until about 1989, if it was on Metal Blade Records, there was about a 90%+ chance that you were getting quality metal. There were exceptions of course…like Canada’s Sye. Terrible. Really.
But Metal Blade was great at putting out cool compilations like the Metal Massacre series and the Best of Metal Blade series. Today we take an in depth look at the Best of Metal Blade Vol 2.
1. LIZZY BORDEN “Notorious” – Let’s make something clear here…right now. I’m a Lizzy Borden fan and have been since I first heard them. I’m pretty sure the Give ’em the Axe EP was my indoctrination. My interest was first piqued when I saw a little blurb in Circus Magazine about the band and there was Lizzy standing there with the band on a rooftop with this huge double-bladed axe. They looked totally badass. Great albums overall but I’ve always been a little partial to Menace To Society and especially to this song. Great hooks, cool lyrics, nice production. This song has it all.
2. OMEN “Teeth of the Hydra” – Not my introduction to Omen (thanks Daniel!) but one of my favorite songs by them for sure. JD Kimball’s vocals (RIP) really set this band apart from most metal bands. He could add a tone of despair in his voice that I have never heard too many other singers do. Mustaine had that quality on the first 2 Megadeth albums as well. Something about the way they wail, it’s a bit haunting. While not my favorite of the classic 3 Omen albums, this ranks as one of my top songs from them.
3. FATES WARNING “Prelude to Ruin” – John Arch. You are the man. Fates Warning offered us another treat with Awaken the Guardian. As good of a song as this is, it’s certainly not my favorite from this album.
4. HALLOW’S EVE “Lethal Tendencies” – Yes! Great song from a great album. Sure, not the most technically proficient thrash band, but they delivered it well.
5. SLAYER “Black Magic” – (classic) SLAYER! ’nuff said.
6. DESTRUCTION “Eternal Ban” – see below
7. SODOM “Deathlike Silence” – You know, these 2 songs never did much for me. In general, was never much of a fan of either band. I think the production really ruined them for me on this early stuff. One day I’ll revisit their back catalog again…maybe.
8. SENTINEL BEAST “Dogs of War” – Awful.
9. DETENTE “Holy War” – I always dug Detente. One of the few female fronted metal bands that I could tolerate. This album was pretty good as is this song. Dawn Crosby (RIP) was a rough one. My current guitarist lived with some folks from this band back in those days and the stories and video I’ve seen of them is trippy. Talk about drinkers? wow.
10. HIRAX “Criminal Punishment” – Another band I never got into mainly because I never tried. I don’t dislike this song, but I never really paid much attention to the band. I do respect that Caton is still out there proudly flying the flag of metal.
11. FLOTSAM & JETSAM “Der Fuhrer” – Oh man. One of the greatest thrash songs ever. Period. Everything from this album just rules. But this song…oh man.
12. JUGGERNAUT “Slow Death” – Juggernaut was always hit an miss. This song is no exception. Miss!
13. HERETIC “Whitechapel” – But this song is a hit. It’s perfect. It’s mid-paced fist-pounding metal. Nice shrill-style vocals and it was about Jack the Ripper. What more could one want in a metal song?
14. SAVAGE GRACE “Trial By Fire” – Love it!
15. SOUND BARRIER “Gladiator” – I think I am one of the few who actually like these guys. This is a cool song too.
16. CIRITH UNGOL “Blood & Iron” – Ahhhhh…Cirith Ungol. How I have always held a soft spot in my heart for these guys. There were the old men of metal in LA. very unique band, very dark. Plus they had the best album covers (Michael Whelan).
17. LIZZY BORDEN “Live & Let Die” – I detest Paul McCartney.
18. CITIES “Burn Forever” – Burn burn burn…burn foreveeeeeeeer! Awesome song. The album was pretty good too. Love the vocals on this.
19. EXXPLORER “Run For Tomorrow” – Again, out of my circle of metal metal head friends, I think I was/am the only one who got into these guys. Great vocals.
20. KRANK “Rented Heat” – This is one of those songs like Crazy Night (Loudness) or Balls To the Wall (Accept) that just makes you nod your head to the mid-paced beat and want to put your fist in the air and sing along. Too bad the album was one of the worst things Metal Blade ever put out.
21. DEAF DEALER “The Fugitive” – I adore this song. One of these days I hope to run across this on CD. Hey Kelz, you still have yours?
If I think about it later, I’ll upload this for your listening pleasure.
The Metal Files 
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