... I think the development of the feelings and the exploration involved with writing Scum have changed the way I think about heavy metal, and I think it has given me different ears as well. I used to buy 'landmark' albums all the time as reference material, even if I knew I hated them. I sold all of that off as I first prepared to move to Finland in 04 (ay ay ay, it's taken this long?). I think I need to revisit a lot of this earlier stuff. I'm selling off a bunch of random crap around the house to finance this little purchase... here's what I ordered that I'm going to listen to again with new ears when they arrive: BATHORY: Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart DIAMOND HEAD: The White Album (important to Metallica and Megadeth, they count. ) CELTIC FROST: Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion, Into the Pandemonium DEATH: Scream Bloody Gore HELLHAMMER: Apocalyptic Raids KREATOR: Endless Pain MÖTORHEAD: No Sleep Til Hammersmith (OK, I cheated getting a live album) NIHILIST: Nihilist (yeah, I complained about this in Scum but I this was el-cheapo, just what I needed) POSSESSED: Seven Churches SODOM: Persecution Mania/Obsessed by Cruelty VENOM: Welcome to Hell, Black Metal Plus some other cheapies: BLACK SABBATH: Heaven and Hell PESTILENCE: Testimony of the Ancients XYSMA: Yeah / First & Magical (hey, I'm in Finland...) All for 185 shipping included. There *are* bargains to be found in this country!
The Diamond Head album is very good. It's funny how Metallica got "inspired" by their song structures...What comes to my mind here is Satan's "Court in the Act" - heard that?
One band name you seem to be missing is UK's Discharge. I couldn't tell you which album to get. So I presume get the earliest of their catalogue.
The question is how much relevance they have directly to heavy metal. I don't want to go buying punk albums because Napalm Death wanked to them.
Discharge was a direct influence on almost every first generation extreme metal band, and deeply influential on the whole of exteme metal through that first generation. That influence is most readily apparent on Master/Death Strike, Slayer's Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood, the first three Bathory albums, Sodom's In the Sign of Evil, the first three Kreator releases and the early Brazilian black/death scene (notably Morbid Visions and the Bestial Devastation ep from Sepultura and Sarcofago's I.N.R.I.). If you want to understand the development of extreme metal, Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing is absolutely essential.
Key albums missing: Sodom In the Sign of Evil Kreator- Flag of Hate Master- Unreleased 1985 Album (one of the most heavily traded demos of the era) Death Strike- Fuckin' Death Sepultura- Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation Autopsy- Ridden With Disease (compilation of demos from 87/88) Morbid Angel- Abominations of Desolation Tormentor- Anno Domini
This is supposed to be included on the Obsessed by Cruelty/Persecution Mania thing, so that's covered. That's tacked on the Pleasure to Kill album these days but I couldn't get eeevveerryythhhiinnnggg ... I did look up Master at the place I made this order but no luck. I know I was breaking one of my rules by going through a 'normal' store but these prices were unbelievable. This was on my list to get but it wasn't bargain priced. I was going for as much as possible for as little as possible with this haul. Looked for but not carried by the shop. Already well familiar with Morbid Angel (and this release). Now this one I'd completely forgotten about.
I'm not sure how you feel about mp3's, but if you want, I can make the Master and Tormentor available for download (both are either OOP or rather difficult to track down). Unfortunately, my copy of Fuckin' Death is an LP and I don't have the equipment to rip it.
I'm not a fan of mp3... and I don't think tracking this stuff down will be too difficult, I found a couple places to find that Master in just a couple of minutes here. The Tormentor may be a bit harder, but I've got this pile of CDs on the way plus what I'm told is a 20kg box of various demos headed my way, so I think I'm good for the next little while.
... so what would be a good casual reference to this stuff rather than the Purple/Priest/Scorpions/Accept/Maiden/etc lineage for heavy metal?
I believe Peaceville had the old Autopsy-stuff released in a digipack format some years ago...I was actually interested only because of SteveDiGiorgio, but still, it is way better than Reifert's later ejaculations with Abscess, Eatmyfuk ("great" name), etc...
I would call a lot of it sloppy, blackened proto-thrash. Hell, I probably should revisit some of the stuff listed here since it has been 1987 since I've heard some of those albums. I'll never forget Tom Angelripper screaming, "masturbate to kill myself" for as long as I live though.
Sodom and Kreator are the only speed metal bands in the list, though I suppose Tormentor still had some superficial speed metal elements.
I saw a "vintage" Pleasure to Kill (1986) shirt the other day, and the backprint informed me that Mille Petrozza played "thrashing guitars." Out of all those what I really need to reacquire and revisit is Sodom Persecution Mania and Agent Orange as well--have not given those a listen in a very long time. As for modern practitioners of the mid-80s style of some of the albums above, I would strongly recommend Midnight Complete and Total F@#king Midnight and Sauron (unfortunate name choice) Thrash Assault is also a fine concoction drawing on the streams of this era complete with a cover of "Total Death"--nothing innovative, but their insane aplomb carries them over the top and sets them apart from other bands dealing in blackened and barbaric lo-fi attacks based on this era.
Yeah, 85/86 was when the 'zines and labels figured out it would be a lot easier to sell "thrash metal" to people than "speed metal" or "power metal", neither of which were nerely as nifty as far as labels go. Plus, it had the added bonus of glomming on to an existing subculture (skaters), and its origins were outside the range of interests of most metalheads, so no one was around to call them on the deception.
This is what I get for attempting to save money buying from a "regular store": Email from CDON, translated by the wife: "Dear Susanna Raggi, We would like to notify you that that the merchandise in your order has been delayed. We unfortunately can not give you an exact delivery date, but assure you that you will get your merchandise as soon as possible. The delivery delay is for the following products: 1555748202, Kreator - Endless Pain 1555601787, Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients 1555780855, Death - Scream Bloody Gore 1555743918, Xysma - Yeah/First And Magical + Bonus 1555088932, Sodom - In The Sign Of Evil/obsessed By Cru 1555748056, Nihilist - Nihilist 1555736497, Motörhead - No Sleep Til Hammersmith 1555740233, Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell 1555649710, Diamond Head - The White Album 1555604179, Possessed - Seven Churches 1555632216, Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark 1555649134, Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids 1555748187, Celtic Frost - Into The Pandemonium 1555674669, Venom - Black Metal 1555632210, Bathory - Hammerheart 1555674668, Venom - Welcome To Hell 1555649120, Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion 1555632209, Bathory - Blood Fire Death 1555649121, Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales The merchandise below will be sent today: You only pay one shipping cost per order, no matter how many shipments the order is sent in..." blah blah. That's right, low prices, NOTHING ACTUALLY IN STOCK. Holy fuckin' fuckity fuck, that is LAME. One order canceled. Coming up this week, a trip to Kråklund to get most of this stuff at least at a slightly higher price with much more satisfying service. Cunts.
Out of curiosity, I searched around in the net to see what this Kråklund was all about. Saw some photos and, man, does that place look ever clean and orderly. I was at the Metal Haven the other day and spotted some potato chip shards that looked to have been there since Reign in Blood was released--place has got character and class in my book though. Picked up a couple of Cianide LPs while I was there and can't say enough good things about this band that falls in the same broad category as more than a few of the bands above. They opened for Slough Feg last summer and won me over--it is rare for an old-school death metal band to tap Trouble as an overt influence and Cianide is some great heavy metal of death.
