Impetigo - Horror Of the Zombies (1991)

This is real basement gore metal. Back in the day bands such Impetigo and Necrophagia were churning out this kind of gurgling terror, complete with tales of serial killers, gut-munching zombies, salivating cannibals and maniacal butchery. It's all here, horror film samples, grinding guitars, often very heavy and thankfully mid-tempo and sludgy instead of too fast, and vocally it's pure sludge and festering phlegm. Adorned in Chas Balun artwork on the 2000 reissue, this sits nicelty alongside the watery gloom of Autopsy and medical carnage of Carcass. Some would say this type of old school death metal is cheesy, but alot of the horror-related stuff always was in a sense but just like the old '70s splatter movies, this has a guttural appeal that goes beyond the festering lyrics and downtuned, disembowelling grooves, so indulge yourself on the fetid pleasures of 'Boneyard' and spit blood at the drowning 'I Work For The Streetcleaner', and of course, wallow in the sickly mess of 'Cannibal Lust'.

Hail the gore metal scene!

7/10

Childman - Childman (1993)

For those of you who've never heard of Adam Sherburne, he was one half of cool hip-hop rock duo Consolidated. With 'Childman', he comes across like the white Jimi hendrix producing one of the best rock albums of the '90s and certainly one of the most criminally ignored. This is at once funky, emotional, groove-based, streetwise and psychedelic, with some excellent riffs and plenty of soul. Adam comes across as a hip-hop guru, not exactly rapping but the flow here is smooth, and the tracks are extremely clever, lyrics wise covering all manner of social subjects from sexually transmitted diseases to simple love and affection, check out the grilling men get on 'Refuse To Be A Man' and the amazing Lenny Kravitz jive of 'Without You'. There's everything here, and certainly an air of unpredictability with the moody 'False Positive' and several heavyweigt numbers.

You'll do well to search out this record, it was his only solo effort, but if you're after something real and with intelligence then dig this.

8/10

Naked City - Torture Garden (1991)

Okay, there's alternative metal...and there's just the plain bizarre! File Naked City alongside Exit 13, and Mr Bungle. It's the creation of jazz musician and all round freaky genius John Zorn, released on the Earache label, it coincided with a torrent of other surreal experimentation's from the industrial/avant-garde scene, and somehow slotted into a niche that metal would never have dreamed of some ten years previous. naked City would be pretty much unlistenable mayhem to your average metaller, so if you're a bit of a purist looking for head banging, fist clenching power metal, please walk away. However, if you're after 42 (yes, 42!!) songs of extreme epileptic genius then grab yourself a copy...NOW! There's no real point in trying to explain naked City's style of music, there isn't one. Whereas Mr Bungle created lengthy pornographic cartoon nightmares, naked City slap you in the face with twenty-second lumps of phlegm that mix jazz, hip-hop, spaghetti, slapstick comedy, horror soundtrack, thrash, folk, industrial, hardcore, county and western...blah blah...don't try to predict or get any idea from the song titles, 'Thrash Jazz Assassin', 'Perfume Of A Critic's Burning Flesh', Igneous Ejaculation' and 'Gob Of Spit' might as well be numbered or untitled, because in reality it's just a scary, freakish carnival of sounds, noises, jerks, twists, bumps, grinds and spastic mutterings.

Great!

8/10

Darkthrone - Transylvanian Hunger (1993)

The grim, snowy peak of black metal's fetid reign. 'Transylvanian...', complete with Fenriz adorned in corpse paint cover holding a fiery candelabra, was another black journey into the pitch pit of necro sound. The riffs remain cold, at times repetitive in their evil, and Fenriz drums like it's his last day on this grey planet. Everything is kept reasonably simple, yet somehow the band scrape back the hideous nightmares once created by Bathory and Hellhammer, but this is even more desolate and dark, often thick and suffocating like foul smog. All eight tracks have a similar, alienating structure, the title cut is simply a five-minute cold blitz of frost upon the face, but there's never any let up, a majority of the record is played at a disconcerting, unsettling pace, punctuated by the harsh, raw vocals.

Darkthrone created a cavernous feel to their early records, effortlessly painting some of the most grotesque imagery known to metal that, albeit for a handful of stark years, ripped the face of metal and spat in the commercial eye of music in general. The marches of war had truly begun within a scene that remains potent, but nothing will ever compare to those early '90s when the noise created from Darkthrone was seriously threatening and alienating.

8/10

Poison - Open Up And Say..Ahh! (1988)

I feel almost apologetic that I've included such a record, but my excuse is, it was bought for me one Christmas...obviously not the best Christmas, but this record is certainly an acquired taste. For glam heads only, it lacks the sleaze of early Crue, is bereft of the swagger of Faster Pussycat, and certainly has no trace of Marc Bolan's dandy charm, because Poison were almost like a manufactured band at the time, and frowned upon due to their often lightweight sound and feminine image...there were several so-called 'hard' kids at my school who all thought the band were women and admitted fancying them...that made a few idiots blush! Musically, well, at times it's embarrassing and there's no two ways about it. The inclusion of 'Your Mama Don't Dance' was appalling selection, 'Love On The Rocks' is a glam sham chant and acoustic ballad 'Every Rose...' attempted to claw some credibility back, but ended up a bit Bon Jovi. However, I've heard a lot worse, Poison certainly being at the top of the glam rock pile during the '80s, but the scene was quickly destroyed by bands with balls. Major issue with the record is that it's weaker in sound even than I'd expected, but certainly a record very much part of its genre.

6.5/10

Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog (1991)

Ex-Soundgarden frontman wrote his best ever material in ode to his old room mate and one time Mother Love Bone genius Andrew Wood. Temple Of The Dog is pretty much Cornell's tribute to a man, who for me, was one of rock's greatest frontmen. Released as grunge had taken a grip of the world and bands such as Pearl Jam were ruling the roost, TOTD, albeit a one-off project, remains one of the greatest pieces of music ever to have graced rock's depths. To call it grunge would be unfair, 'Say Hello 2 Heaven' and 'Call Me A Dog' are fitting masterpieces that Wood himself would have been proud of writing, and on the whole this album drifts effortlessly between mellow and hard rock, never once having a dirty edge but still supplying the occasional big Seattle edge on tracks such as 'Pushin Forward Back', but throughout this poignant record you'll sense the ease with which Cornell worked out this beautifully arranged trip, painting pictures of Andrew Wood's feather boa strut and blonde charm, the glitter, the glam, and streetwise stagger, all boosted by Cornell's wonderful voice which rises from banshee wail to soothing lullaby, 'All Night Thing' the perfect example of such grace, whilst 'Reach Down' is simply epic.

If you call yourself a rock fan, 'Temple Of The Dog' is essential for your collection even if you know nothing of the talent of Mr Andrew Wood. On its own merits this is a fabulous record, and better than any grunge album in the sense it was simply made from the heart instead of being part of a scene, and I'm sure Wood would have nodded approvingly, because Cornell can be very proud at what he achieved here, that being something so emotionally charged and rapturous, that only Mother Love Bone could have done better.

9.5/10

Trouble - Plastic Green Head (1995)

Considering Trouble, one of metal's greatest ever band's, releases an album about once every decade, 'Plastic Green Head' was a slight disappointment after the brilliance of 'Trouble' and 'Manic Frustration'. 'Plastic...' was sure to welcome the stoner crowd rather than doom-psych fans, as the whole record certainly has that lazy, dreamy feel as if too much of the weed had been inhaled during its creation. 'Plastic...' is crisply produced, but the band, now free from the reigns of Def American, seem to be lacking something on this record, but what, I can't quite put my figure on. There is still much to behold, the title cut and 'The Eye' are classic slabs of groove-based doom, and the now rather formulaic lamentable 'Requiem' sweeps in with pure majesty, but the the album seems to lack the darkness of 'Trouble' and blissful swagger of 'Manic...', the songs wistfully striding by to no real effect, despite every number being a reasonably heavy, riff based ground shaker. Wagner is on form as usual, only this time his sinister preachings are not as malevolent, and the two cover versions, of The Monkees 'Porpoise Song' and The Beatle's 'Tomorrow Never Knows' are frustratingly pointless when we could have had two more Trouble soundscapes to devour.

Overall, 'Plastic...' is a very good record, but the competition of the last two albums seemed to be just too big a shadow to emerge from.

7.5/10