Posts Tagged ‘fates warning’
Vauxdvihl – To Dimension Logic (obscure prog)
I really can’t remember exactly when I first heard this but it was undoubtedly via Kelz and Denis Gulbey of Sentinel Steel Records around 96 or 97. Doesn’t matter. This is a great album all the way around and pretty obscure. Vauxdihl hail 
from Melbourne, Australia.
I highly recommend checking this out if you’re a fan of Fates Warning’s Perfect Symmetry. It reminds me a lot of that album although not quite as good. No, this album isn’t particularly groundbreaking but it’s a nice change from all the trad and the death metal that I have been spinning lately.
Since this is very out of print and relatively hard to find, I uploaded it for your listening pleasure. Download here.
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.
Foodeater!
I guess it was late 1987. I went over to my friend Don’s house to see River’s Edge on HBO. He had cable and I believe it was a Sunday night showing of the flick. Unfortunately it was a 9PM 
showing and it was also a school night. I only got to see the first hour of it because of my stupid curfew.
The main reason any of us wanted to see the movie is because we had read that Slayer and Fates Warning were in the soundtrack. I finally got to see it in full about a year or 2 later when I found it for rent on VHS…or maybe I bought it. I don’t quite remember. I just remember watching it several times; both then and now.
This is in my top 5 or 10 movies of all time. not only because of the soundtrack, but because of the movie itself. Crispin Glover and Dennis Hopper have some great one-liners. “I know, Feck. You had to kill her. Women are evil.” “You…know this?” and the greatest line delivered by anyone in the flick was by *gasp* Keanu Reeves (worst actor ever? maybe). The scene (shown below) is between Matt and Jim (Matt’s mom’s boyfriend). Really it’s the whole conversation, but when Matt replies to Jim calling him a “mother fucker” with “foodeater!”, it’s simply awesome.
But yeah, the whole movie rules. I think I have watched it at least 50 times and watch it at least twice a year. Really, Glover’s character makes this movie what it is and Hopper’s performance is right behind it. Daniel Roebuck plays a perfect role as someone who really doesn’t give a damn about anything. The character of Tony has a great line too. He’s getting interviewed by a reporter talking about how it’s hard to be subjective because he knew the perpetrator in question…then he stops and says, “Oh, by the way I play guitar.” hahaha. Awesome!
Glover has another great line when he’s asking for gas money for his baja VW…”What, do you think this car runs on God’s own methane?”
Here’s a list of quotes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091860/quotes
If you’ve never seen it, please do so, especially if you were a metal kid of the 80s.
10/10
The Metal Files 
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