Posts Tagged ‘1987’
Wild Dogs – Reign of Terror
I really can’t remember how I happened upon this band. I do know that I owned their early era vinyl stuff for quite a long time when Matt 
McCourt was singing for them. I never really liked that stuff that much except for the song Evil In Me. Not to mention Deen Castronovo’s drumming on that stuff was pretty good. But overall those first 2 are a bit average. Not bad, but not great.
And then came Reign of Terror. Holy crap! From beginning to end this album is great. Sure, some of it gets a little tedious in the lyrics department, but the music overshadows it by a mile. Deen is all over this on the drums and Jeff Mark’s guitar work is stellar. Another thing that helped this album a lot was the addition of a new singer, Michael Furlong. He always reminded me a little bit of J.D. Kimball of Omen. Sort of raspy, but clear.
My top picks on this album would be Call of the Dar, Siberian Vacation and Streets of Berlin. As stated earlier, there’s not a bad track on here and I never skip any of it.
A reissued version came out a few years ago with bonus tracks but I have yet to hear them.
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.
Tyton – Mind Over Metal
So back in the day there was this great music store at Military Circle Mall called The Music Man. That’s pretty much 
where we spent our allowances and paychecks in the 80s as thy typically had the coolest selection of metal. The Music Man was pretty cool and had a really cool staff. They also offered a replacement guarantee on their cassettes and CDs if they became defective. We knew the staff there pretty well and if we bought something we didn’t like, they would typically let us trade it in for something else. I was fortunate to work there for a year or so, an experience that I will never forget.
One of the cassettes I bought in 1987 was Tyton’s Mind Over Metal. I didn’t know anything about them but they were on an Enigma sub-label which usually meant you had a pretty good chance of buying something listenable. I played this cassette quite a bit. They weren’t over the top awesome but this album had some pretty good songs on it like Destiny Calls, Will You Follow Me (wimpy ballad but not too bad), and the title track. They were sort of mid-paced swords and shields style metal. I listen to it about once or twice a year still. It takes me back to some fun times with some former friends riding around Churchland trying to find a party or someone to buy us beer. Those were fun days and I am amazed that the 3 of us are even still alive. Come to find out years later that they hailed from Houston, TX and some people I know here in Austin knew those guys and even did a show or 2 with them. Living here in Austin and getting to spend time with guys that are metal legends (to me) is pretty incredible. Our metal round table discussions are pretty amazing.
I’ve attached the download to the album. It was never officially released on CD but some Euro label bootlegged it a few years back and I ripped the tracks from the CD.
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. 
Renee Reviews stuff.
So way back in 1987 when my first real band first got together, this beautiful girl with big hair (no offense Renee) 
and her gorgeous friend Carla used to come over to our house on the farm and hang out during band practice. Realize that my band practiced in my bedroom…9pc Pearl drum set, 2 guitars, bass and sometimes a singer, a bed, a desk and a dresser in a roughly 12×12 room. It was pretty cramped in there. It was always fun having them over there because they were a lot prettier than us sausage heads.
A few years later I started working for VDOT as a surveyor. I had met him a time or 2 back in the band days when we would either go to Renee’s house to pick her up or drop her off. It was never a pleasurable experience but we won’t discuss that any further. Renee’s dad was one of the survey chiefs and ultimately the big boss of the survey department during my tenure as one of the “grubs”. He was always a cool guy. He ultimately moved into a position in the design section and I moved to utilities shortly after. It was cool because I got to work with him more closely. I knew that Renee had moved to LA some years before and had lost touch with her, but her Dad gave me her number when I decided to make a trip to LA to do some business with a few record labels there (Century Media and Metal Blade). Renee graciously invited me to come over and I went there the evening after we landed in LA. We ultimately went to the Hard Rock to see Wayne Kramer (MC5) do a spoken word thing with some poet dude. It was a weird show but fun to meet Wayne and hang out. Before the show, we hung out at Renee’s for a bit and I got to speak to James Hong 
on the phone for a minute as he was friends with Renee. One of the folks hanging out with us that night was John Skipp who wrote Fright Night! The dude was super cool. Anyway, that night and next morning were the only times I got to see Renee when I was there as my schedule was pretty tight with the record labels, but she made my trip that much better.
We spoke a few times since 1997 but not at all in the last 5-6 years. Thanks to social networking we’re in touch again and I’m happy about it. She was/is always the coolest. Now she’s doing movie reviews for The Examiner website. Renee has a very creative mind and I highly recommend that you check out her stuff.
The Metal Files 
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