Frownland

You're not very good at being a metal fan.

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Isbjørn

Ouch.

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Wpnfire

I edited a few things from the review for Black Sabbath and Paranoid. I now consider Black Sabbath and Paranoid to be mostly even, and I now love "Black Sabbath," but now consider "Paranoid" to be the worst Black Sabbath song I have heard so far.

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Wpnfire

And for Wpnfire's 1000th post...

I am not a guy that listens to full albums, but once I play this album, it is hard for me to stop playing it, let alone simply pause it. I have few complaints with Born to Run, none of which are serious. I do not at all care for the first minute of "She's the One", but as it progresses and Bruce comes in with the guitar, we return to 4-star, then 5-star perfection with the second half of the song. "Thunder Road," "Born To Run," and "Backstreets" are some of Springsteens' most notable anthems, but the last two tracks are the highlights from this album for me.

"Meeting Across the River" is easily my favorite song from this album, and it could very well be Springsteen's most passionate performance ever in my book. The continuation into "Jungleland" is one of my favorite track orderings ever. "Jungleland" contains my favorite solo ever, by far, played by Clarence Clemmons, it is my favorite ending track of any album I have listened to, and the short violin introduction to the song is my favorite intro to a song ever. The album could not end any better than with those two tracks.

Overall rating: There is no doubt in my mind with this. 5/5 for Born To Run.

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Wpnfire

Cerebral Fix - Tower of Spite

Genre: Thrash, Death, Doom.
Release: 1990.

Possibly the most evil sounding thrash metal album in existence--if you couldn't guess by the album name. Heavily based in a technical thrash metal sound, Tower of Spite borders on death metal, but contains very extreme tempo changes that give it a very doomy feel at times as well.

Comparisons are futile. Slaughter in the Vatican meets Power from Hell meets Time Does Not Heal are the closest comparisons I can make, but it still does not match what Cerebral Fix achieved here--let alone account for the doom sound. Singer Simon Forrest is exquisite. He was born to sing on a doomy thrash/death album, and compliments the instrumentation pretty much as well as you can do. Every song is at least somewhat different than the last. "Unity For Who?" opens the album with an incredibly awesome riff, before speeding up to thrash, and then, borderline death metal. The evil sounding, "Feast Of The Fools," is one of the tracks where the doom metal sound materializes, opening with evil sounding maniacal laughter and a sludgy riff.

"Chasten Of Fear," and "Circle of the Earth" start at thrash speed, before descending into doomy territory once more. The album's second longest track, "Quest for Midian" contains a surprisingly epic and melodic solo, totally out of nowhere among the buzzsaw riffs. "Forgotten Genocide" goes crazy with blastbeats. "Culte Des Mortes" revolves on medium speed riffs, with a strong beat that sounds almost groove-laden. The last minute is heavily melodic, and, oddly, fades out. The final track, "Closing Irony" ends as well as "Unity For Who?" opened the album. An extended, introductory, technical thrash-fest complete with buzzsaw riffs, snare drums, and melodic soloing.

For an album that came out in 1990, Cerebral Fix shows that bands were still capable of doing new things in thrash metal. I can think of several thrash albums that have more variety, but none of them cover as much ground genre-wise as Tower of Spite. It is a technical album, but it does not go wild with bravado. It is a simplistic, and well-balanced album. If there is one album that deserves the title of heaviest thrash metal album in existence, it should be Tower of Spite.

Ever wonder what thrash/doom sounds like? Tower of Spite!
Don't like the singer of Dark Angel? Tower of Spite!
Like the intensity of technical death metal but don't like the vocals? Tower of Spite!
What is one of the most underrated thrash metal albums? Tower of Spite!
What does evil sound like? Tower of Spite!

I'm going to give this one a 4/5, because while the songs have pretty much no flaws, I think one or two tracks could be removed. However, I would not be surprised if I am the only one that thinks that, and other people give this a 5/5.

Favorite tracks: "Unity For Who?" "Feast of the Fools" "Quest for Midian" "Closing Irony"

Overall Rating: 4/5

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The Batlord

Alright, that was pretty cool, but Dream Death has them beat as far as doom/thrash goes. They're far more raw, and also hit that primitive black metal sweet spot I know you love. And that production is just tar-thick. Unfortunately they only had the one album (until they reunited recently that is), and it even has your band beat by being released three years earlier, in 1987.





Edit: Oh, and you wanna talk about technical death/thrash? Anacrusis is pretty much tops. They got pretty left field with later albums, but their debut is pretty brutal for thrash, but intelligent and mature as well. I'd say they actually qualify as progressive, rather than just technical, and while they aren't exactly Morbid Saint as far intensity, they still have a great dynamic going, with aggressive thrash melding seamlessly with melodic elements. If they'd caught on, I think they could have invented melodic death metal years before Carcass and At the Gates.


Straight-up death/thrash.




Something... a little different.




God damn it I keep editing this. I forgot just how awesome this band was, and I'm having trouble just recommending one or two tracks. **** it, this song has a bitchin' mid-paced riff, kickass thrash, and enough songwriting depth and uniqueness that it really could only be an Anacrusis song. Last edit... I swear.

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Re: your two Springsteen reviews. I would agree that the debut is a weak album, and my own particular favourites from it would be definitely "Lost in the flood" but then "Spirit in the night" and "It's hard to be a saint in the city". It's easily my least favourite Bruce album though. "The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle" was a huge leap forward for the man, and quite a gamble, given that the second side has only three tracks, all of which hit over the seven minute mark.

Moving on to "Born to run", I agree this is one flawless album, though I personally think "Meeting" is a weak track, also "Tenth Avenue freeze out". The rest of the album more than makes up for it though, a total classic through and through and I would agree with the solo on "Jungleland": is there a better sax player than Clarence? The SOUL he put into his playing, man it can bring tears to your eyes!

My own journey began with "Born in the USA" --- specifically, the single "Dancing in the dark" followed by the purchase of the album --- then moved on to "Born to run", "The river" and "Darkness" before I got his lesser albums as it were. After that I was a fan for life.

Good reviews. Watch for one on BTR in my own journal very soon....

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Wpnfire

Well, it is a glam metal CD, and I managed to make it through half the CD already without turning it off, and shockingly, without losing interest. We could be looking at my favorite glam metal album here folks. The first four tracks are really good, and "(Flesh and Blood) Sacrifice" is pretty bad ass for such a catchy song. The middle tracks take a dip in quality before "Come Hell or High Water" brings the CD back to par of the first few tracks.

Overall rating: 3/5

Moving on...









Well, this is a surprise. This is an overwhelming wall-of-space-age--sounding rock music. Unexpected. The guitar riff on this first song KILLS. This is fabulous. I apologize to prog. rock fans, please forgive me for my transgresses against you and your kind. "Entagled" sounds like a complete 180 compared to the previous song, and I like it only slightly less than the prior track. The mellow, synth-fueled ending is okay, but it is a tad too long for me, and it just plods along until the song is over.

We take another turn as we head into "Squonk" as the space-age, ambient sounding guitar riff comes ringing in bright and clear, followed closely by Collins. Those bass pedals are really heavy and distorted. The instrumentation does not always hold my attention, but Phil Collins helps to stave off boredom, for the most part.

I just realized how many instruments are on this album. I do not have any experience with synth, bass pedals, and mellotrons, so I apologize if I get the name of the instrument wrong.

Now "Mad Man Moon" tests my patience a bit. It is just a tad too slow for me. The space age synth returns in "Robbery, Assault and Battery." The combination of the grooving, thumping beat and Collins' singing blends very well. Eh, the second half of this song is also...lackluster. This seems to be a pattern.

Finally, "Ripples" breaks this mold, and has the best part towards the end. I do not care for the first few minutes, but the progressive breakdown around the four-minute mark with the fast cymbals, futuristic synth, and fast melodic piano playing, is highly addicting and sounds very epic and fanciful. Collins meets the rest of the instrumentation perfectly as well. Quite a ballad-esque ending.

"A Trick of the Tail" might be my second favorite track so far. For the most part, there is nothing about it that I dislike. Ooooh! The final track is an instrumental. Intriguing. The spaciest synth yet gets us going before wild congo-type drums propel the song ahead at full-speed, at least before stopping and yielding for a synth solo. The synth riff appears to be a variation of the riff from the opening track. That is a very unique idea to do a variation of a riff from the opening tack for the ending track, and I have only seen it done one one other album that I know of. Really makes the album seem like a huge story instead of just a bunch of tracks. A solid ending track to be sure.

Well, my first real experience listening to a progressive rock album went much better than I thought it would. Better than I hoped it would too. Obviously, I need to listen to more Genesis.

Overall rating: 4/5

Alright Batty, I'm mulling over that Dream Death album, and I shelved Anacrusis to listen to later.

RIP Clarence Clemmons. Thanks for the thoughts TH, I'll keep an eye out for those reviews in your journal.

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Pet_Sounds

Geez, I think I'll have to file for copyright infringement.

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Wpnfire

I think I would rather listen to Suffocation. Actually, I would rather listen to Suffocation than this, in a heartbeat. This has to be the most chaotic and aggressive album I have ever heard, and not in a good way. The vocals are easily the worst part of this. Hardcore vocals are probably my most hated singing style ever. I could never get into this.

Overall rating: 1/5

What?

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