Archive for the ‘metal blade reocrds’ Category
Satan – Life Sentence Album Review
Growing up in a house where I had parents who weren’t so keen on me listening to heavy metal, I had to be careful of what I brought 
home to listen to. Certainly a band called Satan wasn’t going to do me any favors with mom, no matter that the band wasn’t “satanic” at all. I believe I had an unmarked dubbed tape version for years which got me through my teens.
Satan’s full length debut, Court in the Act, came out in 1983 and it didn’t grace my ears probably until about 1984 or 1985 after Metal Blade Records picked the album up for USA distribution. To be straightforwardly honest, Court in the Act is probably my favorite NWOBHM release ever, Iron Maiden’s back catalog notwithstanding. The album was perfect, mainly because of the clean vocal stylings of Brian Ross. Easily one of my favorite singers of all time. After Brian left, they followed up with 2 other releases, Into the Future and Suspended Sentence, and to be honest I thought they were terrible. Looking back, it was the new vocalist that killed it for me.
Court has remained in steady rotation for the last 25+ years and will continue to be. A year or so ago new came out that Satan was reuniting with the original lineup to record a new album. To say I was hesitant about hearing a new album by a band that hadn’t done anything in almost 30 years is an understatement. Typically reunion albums suck.
Satan’s 2013 release entitled Life Sentence, however, does not suck. Not in the least. To be truthful, this album is pretty stellar. I finally picked it up last week and have listened to it at least 4 times.
Ross’ vocals sound great and not over-produced or “fixed”. The album as a whole has a very raw sound. Very natural and a perfect followup to Court. Sure, Brian’s no spring chicken now and hitting those sweet high notes like he used to do isn’t really possible, but it doesn’t detract to a great vocal performance on Life Sentence.
The whole album just sounds like Satan should. Clean, powerful, melodic. True NWOBHM. The songs are catchy and memorable. I am 
quite pleasantly surprised as to how good the album is. Time to Die, Twenty Twenty Five, Tears of Blood and Another Universe are the standout tracks for me. If I had to pick a least favorite, it would be the title track, Life Sentence. Not a bad song by any means, but just didn’t grab my ear like the rest of the album.
That being said, if you’re even a minor fan of Court in the Act, get Life Sentence ASAP. You shall not be disappointed.
9/10
King Diamond – August 16, 2000
In 2000, I still had my online music store (Acacia Music) and was still getting into shows free that had bands on Century Media and Metal Blade Records as they were my 2 main wholesale distributors. Lucky me. This King Diamond show at famed Jaxx Nightclub was certainly one of them. Shdaows Fall, Deep and Babylon Whores opened up this show.
After the show I was hanging out behind the venue hoping to meet the King. I did get to speak with Andy LaRocque for a little bit and had him sign a few CDs for me, including my Death CD that he played on. He saw that both Chuck Schuldiner had signed it and asked me where I got his signature. Cool dude.
Someone tapped me on the should and said, “There’s King!” He was getting in a car, no makeup on and I just put my hand out and said, “King, thanks for all the great music over the years!” He shook my hand as he was getting in the car and said, “Thanks! Gotta run, man. Thanks for coming.” Perfect. I was totally happy with that.
Pentagram – Last Rites
The new Pentagram came out today! I had pre-ordered it a few days ago and right when I got up this morning, I fired up my PC and let the download start. All total today I’ve got 4 listens into it including letting it play while I am writing this and feel that it’s enough to give it a proper review.
I’ve got to say that I didn’t really care for any of the Pentagram stuff after Victor Griffin’s departure from the band in 1994 (no offense to Joe Hasselvander), it just was missing something special…and obviously it was VG’s guitar playing. He’s got a great style that is just right for Bobby’s vocal stylings.
I had heard 2 songs from the album already and had already acquainted myself with them pretty well in the last week or 2; those songs being Call The Man and 8. Both tracks have a great feel to them and sort of show a “mature” sound to the band. This album seems to be a little more melodic than albums past. Bobby’s voice sounds great…nice and strong. Clean living has certainly given his voice some power again. The song Into The Ground has some good vocal harmonies that I assume are Bobby’s. Having downloaded the album, I have no liner notes to check. That’s one drawback of going all digital these days. Victor’s signature sound is all over this album. His solos are great as expected.
The songs 8 and Windmills and Chimes really show a new side to their music that I hadn’t heard before. They are a little more progressive and not so typical stoner/doom like they get classified as. Windmills and Chimes (remake) is really quite a beautiful song and one of my favorites on the album for sure. The song American Dream sounds similar to 8 when it starts but quickly goes in a different direction. Walk In Blue Light (remake from First Daze Here) and Nothing Left really sound like they could have been used on Relentless or Day of Reckoning. Great classic sounding Pentagram! I have to admit that the only song that hasn’t grabbed me yet is Death In 1st Person. It’s not a bad song at all, but just doesn’t hook me in like the rest of the album.
The only negative thing I can say about the album is in the production. It’s a wee tad muddy and Bobby seems a little too low in the mix…but that’s just my opinion. Otherwise I think it’s an awesome return to form by the band.
In general, it sounds like Bobby and Victor had fun making this record. It’s got really good energy and positive vibes to it and I can undoubtedly say that if you have ever even remotely liked this band, you’ll like this album.
8.5/10 if I was forced to put a number on it.
*UPDATE* – I didn’t realize until yesterday (4/13/11) that most of the tracks on here are remakes. While I am a little disappointed, the album still deserves the rating I gave it. BUY IT! Don’t download illegally.
Track Listing:
1. Treat Me Right
2. Call The Man
3. Into The Ground
4. 8
5. Everything’s Turning To Night
6. Windmills And Chimes
7. American Dream
8. Walk In Blue Light
9. Horseman
10. Death In 1st Person
11. Nothing Left
12. All Your Sins – Reprise
Yours truly and Bobby before their first of 2 shows at SxSW 2011.
Metal Massacre VII
For many, Metal Massacre VII (MM VII) is considered the holy grail of the series put out by Metal Blade 
between 1982 and 2006. Did anyone really care about any of these after maybe Metal Massacre XI?
This one has some awesome tunes on it. Here’s the quick breakdown.
1. Heretic – Impulse: Pre-Mike Howe Heretic. This one has Mike Torres from the mighty Abattoir! Awesome song all the way around. Heretic was great from beginning to end. For as much as I liked the album with Mike Howe, I loved him in Metal Church.
2. Sentinel Beast – Sentinel Beast: Thrash! I’ve tried and tried to like this band and could never really get into them. The music is fine on this track but her vocals don’t do much for me at all.
3. Flotsam & Jetsam – I Live, You Die: Doomsday for the Deceiver, ’nuff said! This is really an awesome song. and you can actually hear Newstead playing, something that didn’t happen with Metallica. Love this song, love Doomsday. Saw them live a few times in the late 80s and early 90s and they always ruled.
4. Krank – Rented Heat: Wow. This was an awesome song. Absolutely love it. Krank’s debut album was called Hideous. Very fitting. This was the only listenable song on it. This one always reminded me of Accept to a degree. Rented Heat seems to be about a renta-cop. haha. Still awesome .
Krank. Hideous!
5. Mad Man – Backstabber: Mid-paced metal. Nothing really stands out for me on this at all.
6. Detente – Widow’s Walk: RIP Dawn Crosby. Great thrash from a highly underrated band. It’s pretty rare that I like female fronted metal bands, but this was one of them. Dawn was the real deal. Total hard luck woman who literally grew up on the streets and drank herself to death in the end. Detente re-released Recognize No Authority a few years back. Buy it.
7. Commander – High N Mighty: Another track that I love. I think the vocals are what hooked me on this one. The whole album is pretty good. I’ll upload it one of these days.
8. Juggernaut – In The Blood Of Virgins: I love Juggernaut but not this song so much. Features Bobby Jarzombek on drums.
9. Cryptic Slaughter – Reich of Torture: Blech. Awful. Some early forms of blast beats, sloppy as hell.
10. Have Mercy – The Omen: Great thrash! Great vocals! Great great!
11. Titanic – The Awakening: Not a bad song at all. The intro is way too long and the production was pretty crappy. But most songs sent to Metal Blade for this series were demos. I’d like to hear more by these guys. Some good progressive tendencies.
12. Lost Horizon – Troubled Ways: Great NWOBHM influenced song. Reminds me a bit of Tokyo Blade. Another band I’d like to hear a full album from.
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 Metal Files 
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