Voivod - Dimension Hatross (1988)

Way beyond Voivod's abilities to scrape the skull with their nuclear punk thrash, 1988 sees the band drift into new surreal stratospheres which no-one really expected, but then again, Voivod have never played by the rules. Even their iron monger style of thrash was a caustic nightmare, which, alongside Celtic Frost, was eerily avant garde, but 'Dimension...' sees the band career off into slightly more mellow and thought out voids, Snakes once rusted and spiky vocal sneer now a more psychedelic drone as he shifts through the gears of this concept machine, fuelled by Away's bizarre soundscapes. This is Voivod Mark 2, a phase seeing the band take on Pink Floyd but merging it with a hideous and robotic mutation. From here the band would stray heavily from any kind of thrash metal and descend into kaleidoscopic darkness, their very own bowels of Hell being a location far adrift from any known complex frontiers. Again, whilst the band have shed their armoured skin, 'Dimension...' proves that as a chameleon there is no greater diversity in metal than that of the mighty Voivod, brave, innovative yet at times unreachable in their quest for extraterrestrial music.

8/10

The Scream - Let It Scream (1991)

This debut being the only outing and featuring the talents of John Corabi who would feature on Crue's self-titled record. No doubting the guy's pipes, a quality metal singer who really deserved to be in a band as big as Crue, although his exploits with union and the likes never allowed him to reach the highlights. The Scream is ballsy rock 'n' roll, supplying deep hooks and salty sweat, if there's one thing Corabi always delivers, it's full blooded drive and commitment. Fans always refer to 'Man In The Moon' as their sublime favourite track, and there are plenty of brassy numbers to get your teeth into here. The Scream were short-lived but very cool, swallowed by the hair metal brigade who puked out senseless, lightweight rock, thank goodness for bands like this, keen to ram home the spirit of rock 'n' roll, and for taking the time to muster up a collection of anthemic but also well crafted songs to stick in the hearts and minds of many.

7/10

Saxon - Solid Ball Of Rock (1990)

Come on boys, take us to the front line and defeat the enemy...all opposers to straight-laced metal will be crushed by iron hands and metal horses. Okay, so the message from Saxon circa 1990 is the same as it ever was, 'Requiem(We Will Remember)' won't win any titles or any new fans in fact, but it will give those hardened Saxon troops a further dose of denim, leather and fire. 'Lights In The Sky', 'Aint Gonna Take It', and 'Crash Dive' are stuck in a time warp, and the Americanisms are also slightly awkward as here's a band as British as beef, but Saxon, love 'em or hate 'em will always play and have the right to rock.

6/10

Monster Magnet - Spine Of God (1992)

Monster Magnet were something different. Not oppressive enough for the doom crew, and too spaced out to confined to the metal cemetery, this is psychedelic rock 'n' roll, a mutation of Hawkwind, Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Hendrix, fuzz, crackles, whirlwinds, kaleidoscopes and multi-coloured comic book covers, kinda like White Zombie on acid and bereft of the horror. Monster Magnet supply a gargantuan sound, the giant riffs of 'Nod Scene' would fill a castle, 'Black Mastermind' a nudeswirl of dancing babes, polka-dot hell and lovelorn hippy-trips, a fat record of spacehopping magnetism, wind in the hair, sun rays reflecting off cool sunglasses, and Dave Wyndorf at the helm, commentating on the lagoons of the Moon and any other cosmic reckoning. It's retro-rock just how Hawkwind intended it when they believed the aliens were coming. Tune in and drop out, because these fuzzy burn out's in the form of 'Snake Dance' will leave you young, wild and reckless and seeking out those Hunter S. Thompson diaries for one more vivid trip into hallucinogenic Heaven...

7.5/10

Judas Priest - Stained Class (1978)

The opening ramble of 'Exciter' sounds dated if you ask me and I'll argue that toss forever, and also the fact that Priest and Kiss remain the two metal acts I just can't fully fathom. Sure, it's full of testosterone, pumping lead into the flesh, Halford's defiant cries will leave him alone on that mountain for many years as the guitar attack of Tipton and Downing fills the sky with a clinical tear that allows crimson to seep from the clouds, but in the halls of metal, I'm not grasping this so-called influential album. Sure, rumour has it that metallers had committed suicide after listening to its dark words, but I'm not feeling the true heat of this. The title cut plods, 'Invader' is predictable, and 'Savage' fails to move me. What am I to do ? Wholly confused by the legacy the band has adorned the metal world with. I appreciate the technical ability of the band, but early Manowar is far more potent, because through all the fist waving, all the leather, and all the motorbike fumes, I'm merely nauseous and reaching for something far heavier and wholesome. Priest are a band I appreciate in doses, some of the time loving their leathery attacks ('Painkiller') but yet I still find myself sitting awkwardly with the sound, as if a metal spike has been shoved up my arse...but to no effect!

6/10

My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans... (1993)

Majestically crafted, the last time I heard something this aged was The Nephilim record, this breeds more visions of stark Hell, sombre, malevolent, morose, beautiful, solemn and remote, breathing further darkness into the doom encrusted void which for too long has been inhabited by bands all too eager to mimic the magic of Sabbath. My Dying Bride construct their own padded cell of nightmares, achingly stretched over a canvas of loveless meandering and poetic cruelty, amid Poe-inspired hellscapes, violins whine and bicker over the downtuned guitar orchestrations, the weight of the title cut pouring dirty oil into the soil, slow dripping into some pitch grave where only smells and touch can surely give way to such complex emotions. Not sure how a band can come up with such ravenous and diabolical summonings, but as the church bells of 'Le Cerfe Malade' echo out across the courtyard, one look into the glassy orb eyes of the crows tells you that you're not going to get this for a long time, or forever remain paled, gaunt and tortured by the grim fragments of dreams. My Dying Bride spew out a horrific, ancient story that borders on madness, often reaching into dormant pits of silted genius but always leaving you lost in the dark, never to see again, but only to hear the viola strains of horrors past, but never truly letting you into a world that is truly theirs to behold, where hideous demons and writings once taught are now but whispers of some unknown terror that we can only suspect in our naivety. 'Turn Loose...' is a magnificent record that creaks with historical anguish, it's pages sagged by the tears it took to make.

9/10

My Dying Bride - As The Flower Withers (1992)

Beautifully weird doom metal from the UK, where doom metal is done best. My Dying Bride don't exactly match the weight of early Cathedral, or even the wretched sludge of Paradise Lost's 'Gothic', but the production here, particularly on the drum sound is rather weak, but this is one hell of a morose experience, but wonderfully stitched together like a patchwork quilt of gloom. Alot of the record is a nightmarish soundtrack to some grey, rain-battered castle through the trees, but when the band choose to doom rock ('The Forever People') they do it with the best of them, but it's on tracks such as 'The Bitterness & The Bereavement' that they excel at crafting surreal and gothic timewarps into dimensions unknown and caked in soil. Eight tracks of rusty, dramatic and often classically driven works, epitaph's to a great time in UK extreme metal and thankfully sporting that grim vocal delivery which bands such as Paradise Lost and Anathema gave up the ghost for. 'As The Flower Withers' is something akin to digging a grave on a rain-soaked night, wind howling through the woods, owls twit-twooing overhead, and the sodden pages of some long lost journal torn from the pages of a rotten corpse. You can smell the mould and the misery...

8/10

Bolt Thrower - Warmaster (1991)

Choke back the black smoke as Brit grindsters Bolt Thrower gather all armies once again for a siege upon the dark lands. Highly underrated as extreme metal kings, this band has been flattening all in their wake for decades now, bastardizing their chosen genre, somehow flitting between mutated styles of grim valour. There's no way out from the absolute pummelling majesty of this heavyweight tank which crushes bones and bursts blood vessels. Vocally, it's a terrifying rasp from some remote chasm, the bass of Jo quite simply ground shaking as they march on through such chaotic works as 'The Shreds Of Sanity' and 'Cenotaph' which is truly hideous, gutting its listener in the same way Entombed exploited that rusty chainsaw groove. Bolt Thrower have their own sound amongst a vast procession of death and grind bands, and they remain one of the only bands to hurt the soul.

7.5/10

Bonham - The Disregard Of Timekeeping (1989)

A wonderful record, certainly not the type of opus I would've thought about buying back in the '80s when my ears were being brutalised by the likes of Slayer and Voivod, but Bonham comes swaggering out of the stables, brash, bold and breezy, pumped full of Zeppelin soundscapes, and vocally in Jason MacMaster a heir to the throne of Robert Plant maybe ? It's an understated record in the sense you just don't expect such sensuality and wholesome coolness to emerge from the blackness of the disc, but once in full flow, and that doesn't take long, the shimmy of 'Wait For You' just filters through the soul, blessed imaginings and Zeppish human kindness. Hell, 'Bringing Me Down' IS Zeppelin, but so what, it's boldness enables it to conquer over the funky horns whilst 'Guilty' plays it slower, a sexual big bad groove from the dirt. Beautifully crafted, this is a crackin' rock record, a Zeppelin for the modern day, with wondrous guitar work and Bonham's more than classy drum skills. Somehow unpredictable in its nature, 'Just Another Day' drifts into Saigon Kick lushness, leaving you to wonder just how this record crept through the racks reasonably unnoticed. Fat, boisterous and moving, 'A Disregard...' is a mini-classic waiting to be discovered time and time again.

8/10

Brother Cane - Brother Cane (1993)

An overlooked band, somewhere between the southerly strides of Black Crowes and early '90s alternative metal. Breezy, swaying cool rock with grunge tinges ('Don't Turn Your Back On Me'), nothing too explosive, more so sleepy in its dream-like laziness, I hear Alice In Chains without the darkness, I Love You without the cleverness, although 'Hard Act To Follow' will have you foot-tapping on the porch, possible accidental hit here, 'Woman' has a Saigon Kick landscape running through it. Brother Cane don't have the sugary, bombastic wonder of so many bands mentioned on this blog, but in it's retro glory there's a kind of naive excellence and swagger but I'm sure this would have been lost on many at the time, it's piano struts and hip-shaking blues probably swallowed by so many other acts doing the same thing at the time. I can't say this is underrated, because it lacks too much to be a gem, but Brother Cane will delight even the most clogged of ears.

7/10

Legs Diamond - A Diamond Is A Hard Rock (1977)

Cool, struttin' glamour metal with plenty of balls from '77. These Californian's go straight to the throat with their trashy, sleazy but very likable groove rock. 'I Think I Got It' is a pleasure to hear, filling the smallest clubs with sweaty abandon, rockin' to the rafters, great use of the organ on 'Evil', and 'Live A Little' drives hard, sending clear messages, and that's what this record is about. Pure, communicative rock 'n' roll with no arty confusion or mixed messages, a free flowing hard rock record that'll have you grabbing your crotch under the stars. Shame the band never made it big because it's so easy to listen to.

7/10

Kiss - Hotter Than Hell (1974)

Let's face it, make-up aside, how on Earth did this band get a record contract and convince millions of rock fans that they were Satan's new breed of anti-hero ? I'm dumbfounded by the lethargic plod of these guys who somehow, even fresh out the blocks of their career manage to sound like old timers at the end of their careers. I see their bizarre reign over America as some kind of dumb initiation for metallers, people who tragically missed the boat with Zepellin, Sabbath, just check out Simmon's strains of 'Goin Blind', and the playground boogie of 'Let Me Go Rock n Roll', peculiar to listen to as anything more than entertainment that surely had the lifespan of a year or so and yet somehow still survives to this very day. The UK had T-Rex, The Sweet and Slade, and despite some cheesy, camp moments within their discographies, the atrocity of Kiss allows us to forgive small errors in our own artists and cackle a hearty laugh at the expense of such cracked glamour, because Kiss never were any good. Believe me, Satan himself wouldn't have owned up to holding such trash under his leather wing...

4/10

Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

This is more like it, a slab of molten metal which pummels from the outset, 'Sinner' rages and pumps up the volume, technically dazzling metal that soars above and beyond on 'Diamonds & Rust' but it's 'Stormbreaker' that mounts the challenge, a spiky attack courtesy of Halford's almost grim yells, early thrash spawnings here as the band crash and speed through the wire. 'Last Rose Of Summer' slows things down a little but 'Let Us Prey' is pure blackened vengeance, but the album's darkest moment has to be the fantastic 'Dissident Aggressor', somehow made even more pulverising by Slayer on 'South Of Heaven'. 'Sin After Sin' is quality British heavy metal played at such a high standard it's no wonder bands such as Metallica and Megadeth would find their feet by straying into such a void. You can see why the American's loved it, the polished aspect of the sound is big and ballsy, and from here Priest would master the '70s, supplying a tour de force of destruction that would play a significant part in metal uprising.

7.5/10

Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny (1976)

Okay, so I've never been overly convinced by Priest within the metal realm. Like Maiden, I've found handfuls of their recordings to be noteworthy slab's but certainly not records to die for. After the raging grey seas of the mighty Sabbath, I've never aimed my studded fist towards Priest although can see how they've inspired so many acts which I've grown to love over the years. Maybe it was Rob Halford's whine which out me off, or the fact that some of the remastered cd's were just tinny, and I kinda missed the boat with the debut 'Rocka Rolla', but always read rave reviews about this particular record. Sorry, but 'The Ripper' does nothing for me, finding no real menace in its plod and this is the problem with the entire album if you ask me. Sure, it's better than the sparkle strut of lame Kiss, but Priest have long been considered gods of metal, but the frail framework of 'Deceiver' leaves me empty, and 'Tyrant' lacks the beef of even lesser metal acts such as The Who, and 'Epitaph' leaves me cringing in its theatrical wake. I failed to see the frothing, salivating praise bestowed upon chief metal reviewer Martin Popoff who speaks of 'Sad Wings...' like some kind of masterful metal paradise.

Thankfully, Priest would get better but as a band they've always eluded me. I guess at the time, thousands of thirteen year old metalheads were as excited by 'Sad Wings...' as I were with the likes of early Slayer, but listening back this just sounds out of date.

6.5/10

Saxon - Dogs Of War (1995)

May as well be the mid-'80s, but Saxon don't care...only this time, it's light on the ballads, somehow the opener is a menacing slow pacer, but we're soon back to familiarity with 'Burning Wheels', Biff's warrior wisdom among a sea of solo's and crashing symbol's, Saxon doing what they do best. Any why not ? Better the Devil y'know sometimes...and let's face it, if these veterans had turned into an arty funk band we'd have been puking everywhere, so at least they stuck to their guns, even if for a decade or so they were a little rusty. 'Don't Worry' is pumped fully of Americanisms, a slow number for the porch attempting an almost sugary style and 'The great White Buffalo' is an Indian wardance as interpreted by Def Leppard if you ask me, but we're soon back on track with 'Demolition Alley' which greases up the gears and by the time 'Yesterday's Gone' leaves it's smoke trail, you'll simply be left knowing that once again you've listened to a Saxon record, simple as that. No earthquakes, no parting of the waves, just old school metal that may cause a slight tear in the ol' denim jacket...

6.5/10

Xentrix - Kin (1992)

I was never fooled by the Metallica suck off that was 'Shattered Existence', and these Brit thrashers have done it again, producing miserable, empty 'thrash' with a dull mid-pace that imitates Metallica and leaves no-one caring. Check out 'No More Time', an appalling plodder, every track I'm expecting the band to break into 'Enter Sandman'...thankfully it doesn't happen, and so I find myself caught up in this abysmal web of chug-a-ghug, thud-thud. Empty, cold imitation metal that does nothing for the soul nor the ears...Slammer did the same, but had better songs...

3/10

Exodus - Impact Is Imminent (1990)

Even in my die-hard thrash days I rarely lent an ear to the rumblings of Exodus, it was always the vocal delivery I found off-putting, that gravelled rasp against the backdrop of pounding mosh. Strangely, the same feelings do not emerge here, and I'm loving the far more dense sound of this record, as seeming long gone are the more party orientated funsters of 'Fabulous Disaster' which had me and my cousin stage diving onto our beds...for about one song! The title cut is a real bruiser, stirling guitar work, a thick cloud of heavy thrash on the horizon and an air of seriousness. 1990 may have been a time when thrash was being consumed by death metal, and metal in general was being consumed by a more arty and intelligent way of rockin', so no doubt this record wouldn't have made the impact it's title suggested, but I'm glad that many aeon's later I can revel in its power. Such bands were always meant to stick to their guns, or simply quit, Exodus, who were left behind when the 'big four' found their stadiums, remained rooted, almost stagnant, but they can be proud of this as a skull cracker. 'Within The Walls Of Chaos' is a major spine-splintering highlight whilst over on Side 2, 'Only Death Decides' is a hostile plodder if ever there was one. At times Anthrax come to mind in some of the construction, but gladly Exodus have cast aside the comical, which for me was Anthrax's worst enemy, and on 'Impact...' they've elevated themselves once again to the major thrash league, a league they really should have claimed all those wasted years ago...

7.5/10

Dr. Mastermind - Dr. Mastermind (1986)

There probably aren't many of you who will remember this record from the metal heyday. I first saw the cover in a magazine review but it took me many, many years to finally get a copy, and wasn't disappointed. To look at, 'Dr Mastermind' looks like it may sound a little like W.A.S.P. as Dr Mastermind himself poses on the cover in leather and spikes amidst a sea of leering ventriloquist dummies, an album cover certainly to stir the darkness within. Soundwise it's a real slab of heavy metal thunder, thanks to the clattering drum assault of Deen Castronovo and the amazing guitar shredding of Kurt James who throughout the record dazzles with unexpected velocity. Dr Mastermind is a bit of a dark character, somewhat a chimera of Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P. and the archetype '80s metal singer, but this record makes a heck of a rumble, a heedy mix of Twisted Sister circa 'Stay Hungry', Motorhead, particularly on opener 'Domination', and also W.A.S.P. at their rawest. 'The Right Way' is rather anthemic, fists to the air kinda stuff but the dense blanket of guitar twiddling makes this record far more engrossing than many image-based artists who've gone before, the hellish 'Man Of the Year' breathes fire through the smoke, featuring some thrashy outbursts, and a kind of theatrical stance along the lines of Lizzy Borden. Nine tracks of quality heavy metal that will leave you wondering why Dr. Mastermind remains only a dusty relic of a time that should never be forgotten.

7.5/10

Faith Or Fear - Punishment Area (1989)

This was one of those US thrash records that kinda missed the boat, but hearing it today I'm reminded of its freshness even if it lacks originality. Put alongside the likes of early Testament and Defiance for its chugging passion and sturdy musicianship, these kind of bands stuck to their guns but dissipated under the tides of innovative metal which by the late '80s had spawned so many bands, mainly due to the influence of Faith No More' 'The Real Thing'. Faith Or Fear, just like Slammer from the UK still deserve to be heard however many years later and remain proof that even the most regressive sounds don't sound overly dated today.

So, if you like your metal heavy, straight down the line, and call yourself a thrasher, then Faith Or Fear are for you, whether in 1989 or now.

6.5/10