Music industry logic predicts that with the advent of the illegal download craze, thousands of digital music friendly fans will rid of their record collections as fast as they can. But I haven’t seen the cutout bins getting fatter, or better yet, cheaper. Still, my finds are aplenty and this installment shows a wide gamut of extremists whose past outputs I got at bargain prices. Read on and spread the word.

Nothing really prepares you for the Guitar Wolf (pictured above) experience. Others will tell you that you haven’t listened to real rock and roll until you listen to Guitar Wolf and that’s completely true. Forget about Elvis! Listening to this brilliant and wild Japanese trio is akin to your first time experiencing an orgasm; it’s disconcerting but you know it’s good. Incredibly good. The thing about the Wolf’s music is that their music was so loose and ragged all around, the volume always seemed to be turned up to 11, the vocals were raw and jittery, the guitars on the verge of noise destruction. Turn the volume down and is just racket. Turn it up, way up and realize the genius of these sons of Nagasaki. This is how rock music is meant to be played, with total disregard for logic and order. When I saw a copy of their ‘greatest hits’ Golden Black retailing for $2.99 (Narnack, 2005) I nearly creamed my shorts. Essential.

I remember seeing Seaweed on the cover of Metal Maniacs magazine back in the mid 90’s. I also remember scratching my head. A couple of weeks ago I snapped their Spanaway album (Hollywood, 1995) for $0.99 and was immediately taken by an underwhelming wave of disappointment. Logic had always dictated that if Seaweed were the exception of their punk rock ilk and were so deservedly of the cover of an underground metal mag, they’d be a kickass band with a refreshing attitude. The truth is Spanaway is a decent 90’s melodic punk rock album with an indie rock spirit. It’s much better than most of the shit Green Day ever wrote but is hardly outstanding, let alone worthy of coverage in Metal Maniacs. It also predates the crappy pop punk wave, but I have little doubt of its influence on it and because of it I’ll take away half a sparrow. Seaweed also broke up in the late 90’s and, like many musicians whose post-whatever band day careers didn’t take off higher than Mentos foam in a Coke bottle, reformed in 2007. 

I usually try to stay away from the big metal bands but when I see their earlier, smaller, most likely, crappier, early efforts I can’t resist the urge to buy ‘em. Especially if they are sold for $0.99. Somber Eyes to the Sky is Shadows Fall’s debut (Lifeless, 1997) and features one of the crappiest album covers I have ever seen. Whoever designed this should have been fired immediately. It also features the vocals of All That Remains’ Phil Labonte; a dude I’ve seen in a lot of magazines but whose music I’ve never listened to. Musically, Shadows Fall actually rocks. Or most of the time anyway. There is a pretty nifty balance of technique and aggressiveness that definitely evidences these guys’ chops and subsequent rise in American metal. There is also certain bad taste and indecision as evidenced in some of the soft vocals in tracks like “Pure” or in the continual jumping from subgenre to subgenre. There is plenty of hardcore, some fluffy acoustic moments, death metal, a few black metal riffs and yeah, more crappy ridiculous and kinda stupid vocals. If you want to be all over the place you better be sure you are damn good and Shadows fall wasn’t there yet. Obviously, the talent was there, but the focus was not.

The first time I listened to Nuclear Assault’s Handle With Care I thought it was a masterpiece. A classic of strident and annoying thrash / crossover. The second time, mmmhhh, not so much. But still, to me that album still stands out as the best example of what Nuclear Assault was capable of doing. Plus, vocals don’t get more hysterical than John Connelly’s.  A couple of weeks ago I snapped a copy of Something Wicked (I.R.S., 1993), Nuclear Assault’s last pre-regrouping album and boy does it blow turd chunks in all directions. What the hell happened? Those that cried Sell Out!!! have a point. The songs lack punch, power, attitude and violence. The riffs are anything but creative and not even the high pitch of Connelly seems able to salvage this boring, tedious, tired and ridiculous album.  Frankly, it sounds like Connelly took vocal lessons before this recording took place, and that's just not right. By the time Something Wicked came out bassist Danny Lilker had deserted to form Brutal Truth. The man knew what was good and this feeble attempt to grow up and cash in was anything but. 

The Pavement Music logo in a CD is by no means guarantee that the  music will rule but this record by German old school trash act Fatal Embrace isn’t too bad.  That said, The Ultimate Aggression (Pavement, 2000) isn’t a fantastic record or a classic. Hell, it is nowhere near those tags but it’s far better than I ever expected it to be. Sometimes it helps to come with low expectations. The funny thing about this release is that everyone knows that German metal rules and that it is hard to find bad metal records made in Teutonic land. But it seems like the proverbial suits at Pavement were just unable to hit the nail on its head.  The Ultimate Aggression is a fun listen, if only because it ineptly apes the Slayer formula. Fatal Embrace finish this debut effort with a cover of Exodus’ “Bonded by Blood”. The band puts nothing of their own in the song, but the track is perfect as it is, so who cares?

I like free stuff. So every time I hit my local record store I make sure to snatch as many free publications as possible. One of the regular mags I used to read was Arthur, a magazine that covers mostly music I dislike or not care for. On one occasion I stumbled upon an interview with Pennsylvania’s Pearls and Brass in which the author pulled no punches and downright got on his knees and started sucking them off. I obliged and went out looking for their album but was unable to find a copy. A week ago I stumbled on a copy of The Indian Tower (Drag City, 2006), Pearls and Brass’ sophomore effort, selling for $2.99 at my local record store.  All I must say is that it lives up to the hype. Pearls and Brass played – the band’s status is set as ‘on hiatus’ - a very dexterous branch of stoner rock that’s as pure as early blues. What a rustic sound and classic sound! How the bluesy guitar notes bend and bend some more and how vocalist/guitarist Randy Huth sounds effortlessly soulful and relaxed as hell. Much of the sound must be credited to producer Tim Green (The Fucking Champs) who handled the job here, and who gets some juicy performances and stellar sound.

Malevolent Creation’s first two albums are precious reminders of everything that made Florida death metal great; brutal vocals speaking malicious lines; blurry guitars that were just as technical as they were visceral and atonal. So yeah, I was thrilled to find Retribution (Roadrunner, 1992) for $0.99 because I was instantly pummeled by the fat and blurry sounds of the Morrisound studios. I have never been a big fan of Scott Burns trademark production, and listening to Retribution doesn’t make me reconsider. But still, put some headphones on and is hard to get away from the killer guitars of Phil Fasciana and Rob Barrett. The duo dished out some of the sickest riffs death metal had to offer, building ugliness from simple escalations to angular anti melodic riffs and chugga friendly simplicity. In Brett Hoffmann, Malevolent Creation had a majestic and evil vocal representation. Florida death metal at its finest for only $0.99? I say, Yes!!!! 

Like Shadows Fall, Unearth hail from Massachusetts. Unlike Shadows Fall’s Somber Eyes to the Sky, Unearth’s debut The Stings of Conscience (Eulogy, 2001) is more focused and therefore more boring. While Shadows Fall had an early career that displayed a bold, if only undecided, musical approach that tickled almost every branch of hardcore and metal, Unearth were way more focused on playing some breakdown-enamored metalcore. The guitar technique of Ken Susi and Buz McGrath was at this stage blooming. The duo wrote some nice harmonics, but they still sounded like timid splinters of dull metalcore monotonous riffage.  Still, it’s useful to listen to The Sings of Conscience baring in mind its place in metalcore history. Because out of it, it has very little validity.