Gods Of Grind - Entombed/Carcass/Cathedral/Confessor (1992)

This nifty 14-track cd originally emerged as four separate EP's by the four bands who at the time were being promoted by Earache records in support of the 'Gods Of Grind' Uk tour which was a real blast.

Admittedly, the idea of four EP's on vinyl was great, and it's hard to appreciate the quality as much on a cd with all the tracks jammed together, but make this a worthy addition to your doom/death/grind collection because you can't go wrong with these four bands.

At the time Cathedral were still churning out slo-mo quicksand doom, but 'Soul Sacrifice' and 'Autumn Twilight' certainly showed glimpses of the manic psychedelia to come, whilst 'Frozen Rapture' and 'Golden Blood...' are more akin to the early doom sludge we're accustomed to.

Carcass blurt out four glorified gore tracks, displaying technical wizardry, medical knowledge and a sincere perversion, whilst with Confessor we get that awkward, uncomfortable tangled web of searing doom which I absolutely loved, and Entombed produce three tracks also, 'the blistering 'Stranger Aeons' being my personal favourite.

Nowadays, you'd be lucky to get such a compilation album, so it's great to see all the tracks on cd, but if I were you I'd seek out the individual vinyl copies and wander the dark path...

7/10

Bad Brains - Rise (1993)

Probably the closest, and coolest thing you're gonna get to Mordred's 'In This Life', Bad Brains, who we all know and love for their thrashy-reggae rock have certainly mellowed out on 'Rise', this being my fave album by the band, and the recruitment of Israel Joseph on the vocals is a wonderful capture even if it was to only last for the one record. This has more of a commercial feel than the band's previous records, but I'm loving the crisp sound and almost lush arrangements, and the variety here is so refreshing, certainly lacking the speed of earlier efforts, and grit, this is simply cool rock with reggae thrown in for good measure like only Bad Brains can. The title track is a cruncher with a soaring chorus, whilst you'll be swept away by reggae numbers 'Love Is The Answer' and 'Yes Jah', but hardcore metal fans may not dig this diversity.

Israel Joseph has a set of relaxing, smooth pipes, his tones melting over the riffs, and whether he's rapping ('Miss Freedom'), rasping ('Unidentified') or singing a song for love on the awesome and subtle 'Without You', you'll find much to savour here from a band who've always awkwardly sat in the same hole that Fishbone occupy, being just too funky and soulful for metal to accept yet when the going gets tough, these boys can rock just as hard.

8/10