Piece of Mind
April 17th, 2023
I mentioned in a previous post about trying to take advantage of nature now that I’m closer to cottage country, and I’m going to keep that up I think. Another thing about moving to a smaller city/town, is the thrifting can be better too. Last weekend we did both. Found a full set of these 70s encyclopedia-style hardcover books called The Family Creative Workshop that are very cool to me.
Lots of varying crafts, hobbies, cooking/jarring/etc. or other DIY stuff in them, maybe I’ll get into uhh I dunno, bottle cutting? Will report back.
For now, here’s a bunch of music reviews and recommendations. Lots of emphasis on thrash/metal this issue but there’s a good amount of non-Thrash content so don’t despair. I’ll leave with another question unsubtly designed to improve engagement with my posts lol.
What album from the last year or two do you feel deserved more fanfare, or a bigger audience?
As always, please reach out on the hellsite if you’d like or better yet join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again. You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie-rock and pop-punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off. Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
Rain Recordings - Terns in Idle (2024)
Genre: Chamber Pop, Midwest Emo, Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Shoegaze
Scrappy emo and indie-rock with some influence from 00s era blog indie rock (aka sometimes they use glockenspiels or clarinets or horns or whatever haha.) This is really well rounded, very nice stuff through and through. Retains enough of the guitar rock elements of 90s indie while leaning into the emo influences as well. You could pinpoint something like Built to Spill as an influence here as much as you could Elephant 6 bands or The Most Serene Republic (as one Rosy Overdrive Discord member referenced) while also sitting alongside modern emo acts like Oso Oso, Options, etc. It straddles a lot of different lines well, is what I'd say.
Schedule 1 - Crucible (2024)
Genre: Post-Punk
Gloomy, synthy post-punk stuff from Canada. Satisfies in the moment but not sure there's enough variety here to really sell me on them as a whole. It's all very well performed and executed but this just sounds a little well worn territory (says the guy who listens to hours and hours of pop punk, lol but still). I think this will far better for people who are always on the look out for this sound - bass heavy, some synthy moments, goth rock hooks, etc. It's not bad.
Necrot - Lifeless Birth (2024)
Genre: Death Metal
A lot of times with death metal I get very worn down by the lack of vocal diversity. The blast beats and tremolo riffing I can deal with but if the singer is just kind of belching out the same kind of vocal lines for some reason it just doesn't land for me.
I've never listened to Necrot before but in the new release bin this morning the album cover caught my eye, so I gave it a spin. I won't say that their vocalist doesn't do the standard thing, but with the band changing things up enough throughout these songs and with the mostly legible vocals (and sometimes lyrics!) here it rounds their sound out in a nice way.
Like dewtaylo brings up on Rate Your Music, there's something punk-adjacent about their sound that also works in their favour. And maybe it's more in attitude than sound! But it's there somehow.
Replicant - Infinite Mortality (2024)
Genre: Dissonant Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal
Another "pressed play because it looked cool" one for me today in the new release bin. I guess this is technical death metal but there's some dissonance in their riffs so it's also "Dissonant Death Metal." Again, I dunno because I'm no expert but I also feel like there's a bit of tech thrash/progressive influence in here too as well as some heavier groove moments that almost recalled metalcore breakdowns to me. I put this on while working and it kept me engaged with a good barrage of various riff types for sure.
More Vintage Thrash Metal Diversions
Yes, I’m back on my thrash / technical thrash metal kick and I’ve got the reviews to prove it. Here’s a smattering:
Arachnid - Self-Titled (1992, re-released by Headsplit)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Death Metal
Always nice to hear a crusty old demo tape that rivals (or at least matches) most bands of this era's actual albums! This seems to be labeled as a mix of thrash and death which seems right, though it's definitely further on the thrash side of things.
The death influence feels a bit more in the overall tone and vibe of this release as there's less of the gut-belching vocals that I feel like I expect when I hear something described as death metal. The singer really feels like they sit directly on the fence between death vocals and long haired thrash vocals in a satisfying way that leaves a good amount of grit while still having some semblance of melody. It does have the blast beats and the tremolo-riffing but they really mix it in with the thrash theatrics, which helps things not get stagnant to my ears.
Definitely above-average and it's a shame they didn't go on to release more material! For a "demo" this is pretty dang impressive.
Exorcist - Nightmare Theatre (1985, Cobra Records)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Black Metal
This is another one of those fake bands that released albums in the exploitation filmmaking style of attracting potential buyers using names and art that would pull them in.
Like a few of these kind of records - the second PileDriver LP, or Original Sin - David DeFeis of Virgin Steele was heavily involved here. It's mostly thrashy speed/power metal draped in spooky cheesy atmosphere about burning witches or exorcisms or whatever. They interestingly dip into blackened metal territory and vague death metal textures, but not so much that you could really label this as legitimately black or death metal. "Riding to Hell" also has a big of a Motörhead thing going on. Some real gnarly (I have to assume) digital tom sounds on here though, haha.
But in that way it's a nice diversion and I really find that when bands lean into their silliness with the over-the-top "WE'RE SCARY, BE SCARED OK" theatrics it often works well or at least can help with songs that are a bit more bog standard. I dunno, in the same way I like cheap exploitation movies, I find this sub-section of fake metal bands conjured up to make a quick buck really fascinating. This is a solid example of that.
Original Sin - Sin Will Find You Out (1986, Cobra Records)
Genre: Speed Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, US Power Metal
More exploitation metal from Cobra records. This was angled as the first all woman speed metal band, but it was in fact David DeFeis's sister on vocals and a bunch of session musicians such as Edward Pursino (Exorcist, PileDriver, Virgin Steele).
This sits pretty traditionally in the speed metal genre with some elements of power metal. They say thrash in the sub-genre tags but that almost feels like a pinch of a stretch but I get why it's there. This isn't as memorable because it isn't as draped in the oogie boogie spooky shit that Exorcist, or the basically satire of metal that is PileDriver, but they do open with a satanic style witchy chant and sing a lot about being "Bitches From Hell" and stuff like that. It's fun nonetheless while it's on.
Destruction - Cracked Brain (1990, Steamhammer)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Technical Thrash Metal
All-around solid technical thrash metal that feels a little faceless, but ultimately satisfies. The My Sharona cover here gets a lot of flak but honestly it's blink and you'll miss it kind of stuff, I barely realized it was over and at that point I was already halfway through the next track. They've got the measurements of their ingredients right here - good variety of riffage, fantastic solos that stop short of becoming wanky or indulgent, melodic enough to go down easy but they're not dipping into power choruses or anything. It's well rounded in the best kind of way.
Psychosis - Lifeforce (1992, Chase The Dragon Records)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Technical Thrash Metal
25 minutes of heavy, nasty riffing. Comment in the Rate Your Music shoutbox from nessonic about this sounding like ...And Justice for All-era Metallica only way nastier is pretty spot on. The riffs here are sick as hell there's some really dope head bang worthy rhythm section work. Real denim jacket ass thrash metal for sure. Made me want to drink beer in my garage. Underrated and overlooked!
Artillery - By Inheritance (1990, R/C)
Genre: Thrash Metal, Technical Thrash Metal, Speed Metal
I don't mind some power metal vocals in my thrash so this works for me. I wasn't sure about how much actual thrash would be in the foundation of this based on the intro and first chunk of the first song but they do get pretty thrashy throughout the record. Lots of technical showiness as well, but wrapped up in a digestible power/speed package. Definitely has a good whiff of cheese, but that doesn't bother me.
Razor - Shotgun Justice (1990, Fringe Product)
Genre: Thrash Metal
I know it's corny as hell to say but Violent Restitution's thrash metal assault felt like a precise chainsaw and this follow up is a shotgun blast of aggression. Violent Restitution had sprinklings of thrashcore and breakdown riffing where this feels to heavily skew towards the fast and aggressive, in your face capital "T" thrash metal sound. They still do that other stuff, but maybe in part with the lyrics being even more uber-pissed off (just check the song titles, "United by Hatred," "Violence Condoned," "Stabbed in the Back," "Shotgun Justice," "Cranial Stomp") it just feels even more over the top this time. The first four tracks in particular are relentless, only finally slowing things down a pinch on "Meaning of Pain" and the title track.
Or maybe I just haven't heard Violent Restitution and they're both pitched at the same level, but regardless Razor fucking rips so hard. I really hope the rest of their discography, or at least most of their 80s and 90s run, are of this quality.
Non-Thrash Content
Billy Cobham - Crosswinds (1974, Atlantic)
Genre: Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Funk
This is a lot more chill than Cobham’s Spectrum, which I guess is a bit more "challenging" and "out there" in part because Cobham's drumming is a lot showier and in your face on that album but also because it had more interlude-y drum solo tracks that didn't do it for me on an album-level. So, while this is maybe a much "easier" album it's also a smooth listening experience while still showcasing Cobham's talent. I could see an argument that this just sounds like any old jazz fusion record but for me, that was what I needed and wanted.
The Benjamins - The Art of Disappointment (2001, Drive-Thru Records)
Genre: Power Pop, Alternative Rock, Pop Punk
An interesting and underrated one considering it came out on Drive-Thru Records right around the time they were dropping records by bands like The Movielife, The Starting Line, Something Corporate and stuff like that. I suppose they also had Finch or RX Bandits, so they honestly didn't have a set-in-stone sound outside of "anything with big hooks and drippy emotion" I guess? There's absolutely a venn diagram overlap of this album and the stuff they were putting out, but this has a foundation in power-pop that isn't really present in most drive-thru stuff at this time.
Anyway, The Benjamins sit right on that dividing line between pop-punk and power-pop. I mean, they drop references to The Mr. T Experience multiple times here. There's a lot of big melodies and huge crunchy riffs and the expected uh-woah-ohs on "Sophia on the Stereo." The band takes some detours into mediocre jangly pop on songs like "Shine," and mid-tempo speak-singing on "Riverwest Creeps" but generally the hooks and choruses support most of their songs.
This is maybe another one of those "should have been a really dope EP instead of a pretty solid LP" kind of records because it can't hold its energy the whole way through, but it always stuck in my mind ever since I heard it in 2001 as being an outlier for the label/genre that it was borne of.
The Other - The Other (1997, Honest Dons)
Genre: Skate Punk, Progressive Pop Punk?!
Punk rock supergroup featuring members of RKL, Mad Caddies and later Lagwagon. There's definitely a Lagwagon thing going on here as they jump from riff to riff in a near-progressive kind of way while buttering up their sound with a Bracket-like penchant for ooh-aah melodies. "Cafes and Bombs" injects some light chugga chugga riffs unexpectedly, while a lot of this also brings to mind stuff like that Guns 'n' Wankers album. Lots of slappy bass on here too. Sometimes they sound like they're going for Genesis or something.
Mostly, this feels to me like one of those overlooked albums that I admire as I listen to rather than truly enjoy and want to come back to. I think it's a cool, weird mix of sounds and styles for the genre and likely would surprise anyone who landed here expecting something more like RKL or standard 90s skate/pop punk. I could see some listeners going hard on this as a hidden gem but for me it's more of an intriguing oddity.
Kemuri - 77 Days (1998, Roadrunner)
Genre: Ska Punk
This was a ska punk classic for me in High School and revisiting it I'm glad that most of this holds up really well. "PMA" is a ska-punk banger classic for sure. "Nite Drive" and "Father's Mountain" are nice enough instrumentals but that's not really what I come to an album like this for, (though I appreciate a couple subdued ska track as a breather.)
Otherwise it's just big guitar crunch, frantic clean upstrokes and catchy hooks. I think the closest comparison would probably be Less Than Jake when it comes to third wave bands you could point to with a similar overall vibe.
Worst thing to say about this would be that it maybe goes on two or three tracks too long. Cut one of the instrumentals and maybe one or two other songs and you'd have a concise top to bottom ripper.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
You ask: "What album from the last year or two do you feel deserved more fanfare, or a bigger audience?"
I answer: Omar Ahmad's Inheritance, my #3 album of 2023 - and it still has no tracks with even 10,000 streams on Spotify and only 60 purchases showing on Bandcamp! This is accessible, emotional music, with elements of ambient and electronic dance music but really works as art pop. Everyone I've introduced it to has fallen in love...
Nice dip into the metal today.