other records in that vein from the nwobhm era you might like are the various artists comps 'metal for muthas vol. 1' and to a lesser degree, vol. 2, anything by the tygers of pan tang, holocaust, sledgehammer and witchfynde.

and coincidentally i broke out "behold the beginning" by diamond head last night, which is pretty great - must look into more NWOBHM when i have a full wallet and some time to research.

Actually, in listening to that Squawk last night, one thing that struck me was that - on that record, anyway - they really weren't as rhythmically lithe as I'd remembered. The structures are rhythmically creative sure; but Burke and Phillips at times sound a little stiff, like they really don't take enough advantage of the restless compositions - or perhaps it's just that they're a bit constrained by them.

ALso, to follow on what Stirmonster said - yeah, Tygers of Pan Tang were good, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend picking up "anything" by them; certainly the records made after John Sykes left are largely worthless (well, I've only heard The Cage, but it blows).

Best NWOBHM single ever might be "Rocks Off" / "Ride into the Sun" by Def Leppard.

Listening to the old tapes of "Kill Em All" with the Diamond Head cover and "Garage Days Re-Revisited" got me thinking about these couple of bands.

With Budgie, should I check the two CD compilation or go for the albums? At least from the reviews, the second disc on the Budgie collection isn't that great, but the first one is ace. Would I be better suited just checking out "In for the Kill" & "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend".

I'm also curious about Judas Priest records before "British Steel". Never heard any of their early records, I had on "British Steel", "Defenders of the Faith" & "Screaming for Vengence" on tape when I was a teenager.

I'm a bit of an obscure metal aficianao - don't forget the Tygers of Pan-Tang. But for PURE FUCKING EVIL, PLEASE check out Relapse Records compilation of rare PENTAGRAM songs, circa '72-'76, which came out about a year ago. Long-haired freaks from Baltimore, and every song makes some passing reference to Satan or evil women... lot's of B-Movie imagery, pitchforks and hellfire...

(Speaking of which, what was the huge deal with Judas Priest backwards masking of evil messages in the Eighties? Driving kids to do wrong through subliminal coaxings? What about Black Sabbath, who sang "My name is Lucifer, please take my hand..." - FORWARDS... or: "Satan laughing spreads his wings...")

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0030/smith.php

Diamond Head were awesome. I saw them live at this tiny venue in Sunderland, tyne & wear, where they played because they were on the way down - they'd sold like 1/10 of the city hall in newcastle, so they "downsized" haha. It's one of the best gigs i ever saw. I'm going to have to get the 1st album comp referred to earlier, and see if "Canterbury" has been reissued.

What about Demon? IIRC they were NWOBHM verging on prog, and they did this really great album called "the plague" which i haven't heard in a long long time. Any opinions, or recommendations w/r/t them?

What about Demon?

Some Demon stuff is reissued. It's absence did not make
my heart grow as fond as I had previously thought. "Night of
the Demon" is my favorite. It was their first and the most
direct. They were always on the light side -- false metal,
obviously, heh -- but the reissue has a number of bonus cuts
that were cut from the original.

These numbers should have stayed on. One or two sound like
sessions recorded with Elmer Gantry of Stretch on vocals.
They're great.

Although uncredited, I'm positive it had to be him
or an exacting imitation.

After that, Demon became progressively airier, "The Plague"
being the high point or the low, depending on your taste.

for PURE FUCKING EVIL, PLEASE check out Relapse Records compilation of rare PENTAGRAM

"Review Your Choices" from a few years back is good, too. Or
"Sub-basement" which came out a little before the Relapse thing.
These are recent recordings but Pentagram has been nothing if not
rigidly consistent for decades.

And Peaceville released a Pentagram anthology, "Turn to Stone"
which doesn't trample on anything in the previously mentioned.

It's literally a time of Pentagram bonanza.

And if five Pentagram CDs don't float your boat, there is always
Penance from Pennsylvania.

Can a Count Raven revival be far behind?

I'm also curious about Judas Priest records before "British Steel"

No Priest fan can do without "Sad Wings of Destiny." "Tyrant" is
on that recording and it is perfect. The invocation of "the
Destructor" in it as a monstrous fear comes straight from a
World War I reference to a mythical thing that ground up people and boiled them down into tallow. Or maybe Halford just liked the sound of the word.

"Hell Bent for Leather" is good and "Stained Class" is in the same
league as "Sad Wings." It has the song Priest was prosecuted over
in America, a cover of Spooky Tooth's "Better By You, Better By Me."

Two idiots decided to commit suicide to the song by shotgun blast
to the mouth, supposedly because Priest had embedded a subvocal
recommendation to "Do it!" in one of the choruses. One died
instantly, the other botched the job and succeeded in making himself
into a grotesque monster without a jaw. He died years later but
was the primary basis for the legal attack on the band.

If you listen carefully to the song, you can hear the part that is
referred to. It's some kind of random studio noise or vagary in
the master tape that, if you use a little imagination, sounds like
two one syllable words.

I was reviewing records at a daily newspaper when Priest's
"Painkiller" was issued. At the time, I wrote, "music to blow
your jaw off to" which seemed appropriate given the flavor of the
times and circumstances.

With fans like me, who needs enemies, eh?

that is definitely a great album, it actually lives up to all the vague mumbling about pentagram being great 'even in the 70s' and so on. at least two songs feature newly overdubbed guitar and second vocal tracks (and i suspect there might be a few more that aren't credited) and i would actually say it's well done. and i hate that kind of "hey, let's ADD some stuff" mentality, usually. there's also a vinyl version with a bonus 7" of the original versions of "lazy lady" and "be forewarned" (without the overdubs), originally recorded when they were called macabre. i _really_ want to know about the seemingly related band bedemon.

pentagram isn't really NWOBHM sounding at all though - total sabbath/blue cheer action.

"Review Your Choices" from a few years back is good, too. Or
"Sub-basement" which came out a little before the Relapse thing.
These are recent recordings but Pentagram has been nothing if not
rigidly consistent for decades.

well, i have _sub-basement_ and it's strong musically but there are some rather...odd...choices with the vocals. singing like mississippi gary on "drive me to the grave," for example. but they are definitely almost entirely overlooked, it seems, which is a shame.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005IB6Z/ref=sr_aps_music_1_1/202-4245033-2483045

Strangely, Amazon claim this CD is a live album, although it's actually not. It's just their debut, remastered, with a couple of extra tracks tagged on.
Personally speaking, I find myself weary of the vocalist's mannerisms by the time I'm two-thirds of the way through listening to the album, but I will certainly allow that he was precociously talented - I think he was 19 or thereabouts at the time of the recording. And the guitar performances throughout are phenomenal - a real pleasure.
As for "Am I Evil?", I must say that it's even more remarkable than I remembered, and gives absolutely nothing away to the Metallica cover in terms of menace or musicianship.

True enough, but "Buried Alive" / "Blitzkrieg" by Blitzkrieg should also be in the running for best NWOBHM single. The vocals are so weirdly nasal and laid back it sounds like midwest punk or something.

Does Venom count? Their best song is "Angel Dust".

I've gotta check out that Pentagram stuff...

I went ahead and got "In for the Kill" and "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend" and have really enjoyed them both. Budgie had a pretty wide sound, the acoustic and slower numbers are just as good as the big riff tunes. I'm definitely going to check out the first two albums sometime soon.

I also picked up the Sir Lord Baltimore CD, but it hasn't gotten to me yet. The riffs and music is pretty good, but the vocals bother me. On another thread someone said that these guys were a grower and it took a few listens before they really started liking the band.

"Social OverLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AD"

also saxon, witchfinder general, blitzkrieg, etc. i gotta get those 'neat records singles' comps.

revive

i am going to post about OBSCURE HEAVY METAL in this thread because that is mostly what i've been downloading.

lately i've been digging:

MERCY - WITCHBURNER (1985)
a little bit of vitus, a little bit of mercyful fate or something, with messiah marcolin singing. their first album had a pretty hilariously awful cover

http://i35.tinypic.com/1zzqp9x.jpg

and was more NWOBHMish.

NIGRO MANTIA - POETRY OF SUBCULTURE (demo 1984)
MANILLA ROAD - (ALL)
LAZARUS SIN - INTERCRANIAL MASS

all "epic" (DIS IS CODE FOR POWER METAL W/O OVERDUBBING AND LAME JOURNEY HARMONIES) 80s heavy metal stuff. the nigro mantia demo is pretty amazing and they never got around to doing an album. there are bands trying to play this style now (isen torr, atlantean kodex) but it doesn't really come off as well. ironsword is good, though.

SATAN'S HOST - METAL FROM HELL
these guys got back together again and signed to moribund and are pretty terrible death metal by all accounts. but they had vocalist from JAG PANZER and were TOTALLY INTO SATAN FOR REAL.

VARIOUS - HEAVY METAL MADE IN ITALY
pretty garden variety heavy metal stuff but none of these bands did anything better than the songs here (in fact the ones that did albums wound up being horrible, from what i've listened to). elektradrive sound like iron maiden w/keyboards, but in a good way. shining blade rock the fuck out, total street metal. black evil have a song called "hell's rats" and looked like this:

http://i34.tinypic.com/dyw0eu.jpg
DARTHS!

oh hey, black evil's demo was called GRAVY LUST. GRAVY.

also LORD RYUR from canada, their 45 was ace. when the hell are we going to get a pebbles of obscure metal 45-only bands?!

Black Evil are my new favourite band!

Seriously though, I've also been wondering about compilations of this kind of stuff. I posted over on the metal thread about the NWOBHM FOR FREAKS cassette comp. Think it was put together by one of the dudes from Funerot. Five bucks postage paid in the US. Contains the classic 'Dreamers of Fortune' by Mithrandir!

Not sure how new it is, but I've also seen a compilation called 'Live to Ride' on the aptly titled Heavy Metal records. Tracks by AGONY BAG, GEMAGE, LEFT HAND DRIVE, GROUND ATTACK, SATANIC RITES, STORMTROOPER, TORTURE, LIGHTNING RAIDERS, SILVER WING, MUTANTS, ROX and MARSEILLE.

http://revolverrecords.com/images/artist_images/covers/Witchfinder_General_-_Friends_Of_Hell_-_HMRXD13_(500x500).jpg

http://www.rockadrome.com/superstore/images/highvaultage/overdriveswordscd300.jpg
http://www.rockadrome.com/superstore/images/woundedbird/morebloodcd300.jpg

Two of my favorite discoveries in recent years.

Italian metal is so goddamn great.

"these guys got back together again and signed to moribund and are pretty terrible death metal by all accounts."

i like the new satan's host stuff! it's definitely still got that old school spirit.

"Italian metal is so goddamn great."

A really excellent Italian doom album from 2002 fell in my lap recently. It's the band Thunderstorm and the album is called Witchunter Tales.

Very strong Candlemass/Solitude Aeturnus classic doom with strong vocals and production. It's even got rain, thunder, lightning, church bells, and a cover of Electric Funeral.

And the singer's name is Fabio and he's written me back on myspace. :)

Italian metal is so goddamn great.

recommendations please! i'm familiar with bulldozer/fingernails type venom-y stuff and black hole... some thrash bands. but that's about it. gonna look for that thunderstorm album.

i like the new satan's host stuff! it's definitely still got that old school spirit.

given the omnipresence of moribund promos for like 50 cents, i'll probably give them a chance at some point... but you gotta hear their first one if you haven't.

Contains the classic 'Dreamers of Fortune' by Mithrandir!

that song is awesome. http://liveandotherwise.blogspot.com/ has turned me on to tons of these super-obscure 45-only (or excellent single followed by dismal album) metal bands. was just listening to silver mountain's first 7" and a band called shakespeare, who sounded like a ghetto mercyful fate with a singer who sounded vaguely like dave mustaine doing a king diamond impersonation.

don't guess this is really this thread but holy shit, why did i just discover grand magus yesterday?!

oh! and speaking of italians, early death ss and paul chain stuff is sooooooooo great.

paul chain is like psychedelic gothic doom metal. like, back when i rocked "only theatre of pain" constantly i would've been very, very happy finding his early records.

The Darths on the photo above are Hungarian band Pokolgep actually. From circa 1985. Their first lp Totalis Metal is a real classic of Priest/Accept style riff metal.

http://www.pokolgep.hu/images/Totalis_Metal.jpg

well, i'm going to write an angry letter to metal-archives... misreppin' black evil like that, they should be ashamed.

but it gave me the opportunity to attach one of my favourite album covers! i love the crow in the corner struck by thunder. a fantastic little detail imho.

struck by lightning. it is different isn't it? sorry for my english.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/223057.jpg

what am i supposed to be seeing, gnarly?

For some reason my album art disappeared.

More - Blood & Thunder (Atlantic) 82
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WHE474B1L._SS500_.jpg

Overdrive - Swords and Axes (Metal for Muthas) 84
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NZ0QRJT5L._SS400_.jpg

i've got to at least check out that more album. anyone with the balls to put that guy on the cover has gotta rock.

recommendations please!

can't go wrong with this one:

http://www.ondarock.it/images/cover/sadist.jpg

XPOST II HAWKWINDZ:
Does the image not show for you? It's Syar's bodacious "Death Before Dishonour" sleeve, which I'll readily admit to buying for the outstanding artwork alone. It came out on Mausoleum records, which seems to be a gold mine for similarly inept metal artwork.

http://www.geocities.com/minormind/Mausoleum/mausobqframe.html

Unfortunately, I know nothing of any of these bands!

doesn't show, no, but wow that's a hell of an album cover.

only one of those bands i've heard is cutty sark, who are okay. okay enough to be covered by deceased, i guess. but they were a little less RAAARGH than i was hoping for. i think i might need to check out ostrogoth...

also, SAINTS ANGER!

everyone knows about VIBRATIONS OF DOOM, right? they've got realaudio of a lot of superobscure old metal albums. not that realaudio is ideal, but i've used it many times before buying (or not) some overpriced LP.

ha, i spoke too soon - i have that tyrant LP on mausoleum, pretty cool almost-speed metal like IRON ANGEL or something. and i saw that tox LP once, it was a little more than i wanted to spend. but that fucking album cover...

Vibrations of Doom is cool. That and Spirit of Metal seem to be the only point of information for so many of these bands, save for the near-formulaic Geocities pages giving the same sad story about how band x was tragically misunderstood, screwed over, etc.

i have nothing to contribute here

except to say

my mum introduced me to budgie and i still think they rule

your mom rules.

also, ay mr fastnbulbous thanks for pointing out MORE, that shit is great. kind of scratches the same itch as the first fastway album but way harder.

http://vibrationsofdoom.com/test/covers/BlackHole.jpg

hell yeah. the unreleased thing that the same label put out is even weirder. less metal though.

heather leather rules too.

What's the label and what's the other release? Thanks.

the label is andromeda, the album's called living mask.

http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=45261

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXL-xIVs1U

REALLY liking mistreater lately. very 70s sound with vocals that are kinda charmingly amateurish and not too dramatic. the "hell's fire" album is absolutely worth DLing.

also, Dark Quarterer for ever and ever...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOMrTpB8FPI

... but put on a shirt, dude.

for the artwork's sake:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4600/victimpowerlp300di4.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y5YZBsm3LK4/SjkXENvF2xI/AAAAAAAAA20/vIXVUhK198g/s320/00_pandemonium-the_kill-vinyl-1988-front.jpg

A WHERRWOLF?

The lady in that last one looks like Prince; the purple top only enhances the connection.

i have a tshirt with a cartoon of prince on it, looks exactly like that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ho4pjIYYqg

Wow, how are they English? That vocalist is nuts.

I don't appear to have mentioned this blog yet on this thread, soooo:

http://strappadometalblog.blogspot.com/

It's a goldmine. A tinmine, too, but there's a lot of gold.

That's a cool site, thanks for that. It has Moose Molten Metal Vol 1! I still have the cassettes of both volumes. Plus it has the very odd Quebec band Eudoxis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58grciw1-Z4

I still have that Eudoxis album on cassette! Couldn't tell you where I bought it, or if I got a copy to review back in the day or what, but pretty cool stuff.

They played that video on Much Music so often to fill out the mandatory Canadian content quota, that I got so sick of that song.

I was nuts about this song back in 1985. Warriors were a Serbian band that signed to Attic Records in Canada, and came off as a combination of Scorpions and Accept, really melodic but damn heavy at times too. I loved the theatricality of this track in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUARgSKhX6w

man that is a solid track

li'l bit of "the passion of lovers" in the riff imo

Yeah that's pretty dope, also love the same synth-chimes that Samhain used.

This is a great thread. Listening to Diamond Head at the moment. "Sucking My Love" is repetitive as hell but damn if last two minutes don't make the whole thing worthwhile.

What got you back into budgie recently? Just a whim? I'm curious because my friend mentioned them yesterday and the last time I heard about them before that I was looking at the birdman records Japan website five years ago.

I'm a huge Budgie fan. And we are going to be main support to Diamondhead here in Portland in August at the nicest theater in town. Psyched!

Sweet Nate! Where's the show?

I see on Facebook - The Aladdin! Swanky digs are gonna spoil you.

Yeah. I've always wanted to play the Aladdin. And aside from being the Dj at the Stryper show, I never had the opportunity until now. Stoked!

Hey this just got reissued

http://i48.tinypic.com/28lsvft.jpg

Doom/heavy metal, with one song ("Kiss Me With Blood") that sounds like attempted death rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXWIQkos6TA

I had this compilation on vinyl back when I picked up all metal compilations... This song stuck out since it was the oldest (the back of the sleeve had the years) and this one dated back to 1978 or 79 I think. It also stood out because it boogied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNGQYnbP1us

This is another song I got on an old Neat compilation. I love this song, I can see a young Lars and James digging this and I also can envision what it would have sounde dlike had they rightfully included it on the Garage Days EP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrJzEcmQbJY

I always had a soft spot for the second Metal Massacre disc... Loved the cheesy synth during the chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azj8TAqx-rk&feature=relmfu

Warfare, who borrowed a lot more punk than most of their peers...

Actually that Axe cut was culled from the "Lead Weight" Neat compilation:

http://www.goodbadmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/p1060695.JPG

Here is the back:

http://www.goodbadmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/p1060696.JPG

I assume Axe and Fist were the same band, kinda...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY57GGvON50

Demon came up above.. I still have this debut on cassette. It's a lot more raw and decidedly non-proggy unlike the several hundred albums that the band would eventually churn out.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7WL8YT7JOT0/S7ch2CWKm_I/AAAAAAAAHPU/bfq-0O-Rk4A/s1600/cover.jpg

Another old compilation I used to own before the great flood of 2011. It had this, what I think is the oldest version of a song that has appeared in many places. It was made "popular" by Black Widow; here it is credited to Widow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tATWV8FtIAY

Funny story about this one... I made a post about the track in a thread here called Answering Machine about what one would put on one's answering machine.

Showing the power of ILM, a dude FROM the band actually sent me an email joking asking me for royalties from my answering machine and thanking me for the reference.

Here is a link where those Lead Weight images aren't loading...

http://www.goodbadmusic.com/2008/03/29/va-lead-weight-compilation-lp-neat-records-uk-1981/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wvNJD4bbQQ

Gotta let the makeup-encrusted types get some props... This track reminds me of early Leppard, really heavy with a great guitar tone and not one, no0t two, but THREE choruses, each of which gets progressively more awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT2X93BrKc

Glam bands used to sound like Motorhead...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNOUdQYvXIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFODk86oOY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnRAKu4CnBs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBVVcrZ9ZWQ

Got into these from the actually quite good NWOBHM double-disc that Lars Ulrich compiled for Metal Blade...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Nei5Axde4&feature=related

Just perfect...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzFQ8G3Q4Uk

Massively underrated band...

Had completely forgotten about Heavy Pettin' & AIIZ...saw both of them back in the day.

"trail by fire" http://www.varunaholzapfel.de/wbblite/images/smilies/headbang.gif

U dudes ever heard E-X-E?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkBJpB-hjD8

They had a really weird jumble of ideas (sort of like the muscle-bound Hercules looking cat on the cover with the green ghoul head grafted on), with speed metally, trad-HM vocal tracks like "Slayer" jumbled together with obviously Hell Awaits-influenced thrash/death stuff with an almost punk vibe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzASgaQnjYI

DEATH! CREATION! DEATH! AUTOPSY!

That's pretty good! I remember the name but never heard them. It came out in 1987 which is when thrash and speed was already somewhat established. My guess is that as all of those bands were moving past trad metal and pushing the envelope with technical ideas and speed that EXE's relatively throwback sound put them a little late and also a little early.

Apparently somewhat legendary metal producer Carl Canedy (he drummed for The Rods and seemed to be the in-house Megaforce producer, handling so many of that label's early stuff) produced it. Here is an interview with him ONLY ABOUT THAT RELEASE! WHich boggles my mind.

Leslie's Metal Blog

The interview sees him almost as bemused by the topic as I was that the interview even existed, but Leslis is obviously a big fan!

Also, the label that released it - Shatter Records - was evidently an early home of Monte Connor who would go on to sign a shit-ton of bands on Roadrunner.

I read that interview the other day! Provides more insight into the band and album than I've ever had before (I don't remember them being interviewed anywhere back in the day).

My guess is that as all of those bands were moving past trad metal and pushing the envelope with technical ideas and speed that EXE's relatively throwback sound put them a little late and also a little early.

Good point - '87 was when I was really getting into thrash and they already sounded a little old school (anathema to me at the time) but it was well done enough that it spent a lot of time in my Walkman anyway.

Upon further reflection, I got to say what were they thinkin' with "Canturbury". It's pretty much a prog throwback. I'd kinda like to hear what it would have sounded like with a meaner presentation. They did really have a heck of a debut record though, at least material wise.

Two other thoughts, I got to wonder about their indie (we are going to do it our way) method was a huge commercial mistake [obviously having their meager success in that their sound was about change that came] or was they a really a bit ahead of their time (i.e. the 90s/80s indie punk/metal development). Or what's it like watching other dudes take yer riffs and end up living in Malibu buying and profiting in the art game.

"the shape of stoner rock to come"