While I wait for my recently downsized local store’s cutout bin to grow back I decided to give another store a chance. Drove about 45 minutes to the north side, located on a seedy part of town, right next to a massive Salvation Army thrift store there is a big record store that hopefully still thrives through sales of actual physical records. By the number of patrons I saw there that may just be the case. This is what I found, all under $3.99.

This one snapped my attention for obvious reasons. The moniker Dellamorte is undeniably metal and the stark black and white cover artwork is a winner; a shot of a girl, cig in mouth injecting her left arm with a needle containing an unknown substance. What’s in the needle? Heroin? Urine? Air? Those are all disturbing ideas that got me curious about how would Dellamorte sound. Judging by the little information contained in the back cover I could find out two more things about them; Dellamorte hailed from Sweden and they were at one point in time signed to Finn Records, a label I had never heard about. In all actuality Everything You Hate was recorded in 1996 at no other place than the renowned Abyss Studios. At some point Dellamorte featured Hypocrisy’s Peter Tägtgren in its ranks and its last known line up included musicians that have played in other pretty well-known bands like Centinex, Katatonia, World Below and Scar Symmetry to name just a few. Now that I know that, I am not all that surprised that Dellamorte sounds like it does; its closes sonic kin would be The Haunted. This band delivers a pretty hefty no frills take of one gear only Swedish death thrash metal. There is a bit of hardcore for jumpy effect; “In Your Face” for instance is a pretty melodic song, unlike the rest of those included has a sing along chorus and groovy rock and roll guitars. Everything You Hate is a solid record, but my expectations, especially considering the cover, were not met.

The name Nightmare Visions caught my attention in a second; I thought it was a bit cheesy but we’ve seen worse. Once I saw that this album (Suffering From Echoes) was actually released in Norway’s Head Not Found (this is Metalion’s label, the same guy who run Slayer Magazine back in the day) I knew I had to get it. Some labels are just a bit of a must. The cover artwork also intrigued me; there is no information relating to it in the liner notes but it’s got a very Edward Munch quality to it.  Apparently Nightmare Visions have been together for over twenty-five years and the release in question dates back to 1996.  Suffering From Echoes followed three demos (the first one Prophecy dates back to 1987), and basically features the kind of mid tempo metal that was produced to great effect by Samael in their classic Ceremony of Opposites. Nightmare Visions lay it very simple, with blunt guitars, cymbal happy drums and cold and frosty vocals. There is a light gothic touch to some of the songs; particularly in opener “My Quiet Grave” where the crystal tearing guitars give way to short riffs and a couple of different passages; melodic solos, changing tempos, etc. Nightmare Visions has since released three more albums, the last of which came out in 2006 and was titled Gates of Delirium.   

The next band I feel a bit close to. I was a huge fan of 1994’s Troublegum back in the day and truth be told Ireland’s Therapy? has never exactly disappointed me. I really feel like the reception to their music has always been a bit like a slap in the face from a friend.  The thing is Therapy? has never been very consistent with its releases and its lack of a uniform sound between albums has been a put off to fans.  Shameless is the band’s eighth release, came out in 2001 and was produced by Jack Endino (Soundgarden, Nirvana). Sonically, it leans more towards the melodic and pop but always heavy guitar laden work Therapy? has been perfecting since Troublegum.  “Gimme Back My Brain”, the opening song, is a bit of a let down with a weak chorus but Shameless grows stronger with “Dance” and its sensible chorus line ‘welcome to fuckland’. The rest follows suit; strong two-and-a-half-to-three minute rcatchy songs. This is exactly the type pf material Therapy? should have made back in 1995 with the misstep that was Infernal Love. Truly, Therapy? is one of those bands whose Greatest Hits, or I mean Best of release, is going to have at least two records to cover all their unpolished gems contained in all their little heard records. 

The eighth release by Southern Lord Records came from Internal Void, a Maryland quartet that was formed in 1987. Not sure what is it with Maryland and quality doom, but the members of Internal Void certainly have some chops that they make sure to show off here. Each song from Unearthed is an impressive display of downtuned blues licks and salacious solos. The guitars are grand and massive with crude vocals courtesy of JD Williams making Unearthed absolute must for any stoner/doom fan. Internal Void has had an interesting story; their first album came out in 1993 and was titled Standing On the Sun on Hellhound Records, then they toured with genre icons Saint Vitus and released Unearthed a year later.  2004 would mark the return of Internal Void with their self-released Matricide.  Guitarist Kelly Carmichael, bassist Adam Heinzmann and drummer Mike Smail have since joined the legendary Virginia doom band Pentagram.

I knew Orquesta Del Desierto by name and knew that it included former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez and former Wool/Goatsnake frontman Pete Stahlin its ranks, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the flowery sounds of Dos, (that’s ‘two’ in Spanish), their second release. And I mean this is some laid back hippy friendly stuff. I was totally put off by the first track “Life Without Color”. Really, I was almost ready for some calypso sounds to break in and then the fucking steel drums would make an appearance and I’d be prepared for some heavy duty puking. But these are pros we are talking about and Pete Stahl is such a great vocalist he does wonders for standard easy listening acoustic songs like “Summer”, which has some electric guitars towards the end that should have been upped a little for greater effect. This is what it is though; no heavy guitars, no stoner riffs, no massive drum sounds but yes, probably a lot of the whacky tabaccy flowing for this ‘desert rock’ project, and a lot of acoustic guitars, slide guitars, a bit of organ and piano and even some saxophone. In hindsight, Dos has some good moments but is quite uneventful and I am not just saying that because it has no heavy moments.  

This one had such a funny cover artwork (the wide cheek boned face of a gothic looking hot vamp) I had to get it. Diabolique’s Wedding the Grotesque is the band’s first full-length following two EP’s and features a pretty morose heavy take on gothic metal or dark metal or Transylvanian metal, whatever that may be. There are deep vocals which are delivered in what I guess could be called morbid elegance and simplistically constructed songs, with open chords and undulating guitar lines.  The songs in Wedding the Grotesque also feature a lot of organ work, which gives this an even darker flare, but as a whole the album is pretty boring. The deep vocals of Kristian Wahlin do very little to charm, instead provoking a bit of slumber. Diabolique came to be in 1995, after Swedish musician/artist Kristian Wahlin came off Liers In Wait.  Wahlin was actually part of Grotesque, the band that also featured a young Tomas Lindberg, the vocalist who would then go onto forming the vastly influential At The Gates. I was very surprised to find out that Wahlin is actually quite the accomplished artist. He is responsible for the artwork of Wedding the Grotesque and has also done some famous pieces such as the cover for Dissection’s The Somberlain and Storm of the Light’s Bane, Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse and At The Gates much revered classic Slaughter of the Soul. 

California’s Eyes of Fire (pictured above) are hands down a pretty great band. Their latest Prisons (2006) was such a massive and expressive album I was surprised the band didn’t win more accolades. For those few that back in the early 80’s got around hearing Mindrot, the great short-lived Relapse band that would release two full-lengths and one EP on Relapse, well Eyes of Fire features guitarist and vocalist Dan Kauffman and bassist vocalist Matt Fisher, both of whom, obviously were part of Mindrot. Mindrot actually broke up after drummer Evan Kilbourne departed for ska punk band Save Ferris with whom he’d find mainstream success.  A bit of trivia there. Anyway, I was lucky enough to snatch a copy of Disintegrate, Eyes of Fire three-song EP. This was the band’s introduction to the world and expands via a better recording on some of the massive muddy sounds of Mindrot. Alas, Eyes of Fire make it with much more propulsive energy. Disintegrate is driving and violent, there are drums everywhere and its aggressions are channeled by way of weight and sheer force. “Hopeless” is such a contrast; it’s a tender track with post-rock elements and some Neurosis and Katatonia influences.  Quality music.

I don’t remember exactly what but I know I had read some pretty good press on this California band. I shouldn’t have believed it. OC’s Mikoto plays what is dumbly called screamo and they truly annoy the fuck out of me. Playing screamo entails that there is a big quotient of emo in your music, which in this case means there is one main throat going for the whole violent, bitching and virulent approach and there is also his counterpart, a sensible vocalist that delivers his lines kind of like he is talking back or making the other pissed off vocalist chill out with the argument that maybe things are not so bad and that he must understand that girls and bad friends are kind of like the same thing and that why not, try a new thing like ‘let’s kiss each other in the mouth. You know you want to’. Anyway, the music itself is OK, some of the riffs are great and when the tender one shuts the hell up Mikoto are actually easy to swallow, like on closing track “Traditional Anthem”.  

Go to Tales From the Cutout Bin VIII