Metallica - Creeping Death (1984) CS EP Music For Nations

 

I bought this cassette tape back in like 1986 when I heard Master of Puppets for the first time and thought it was the shit. 'Creeping Death' is one of the best tracks off of Ride The Lightning and the two covers here are classics by Diamond Head and Blitzkrieg respectively.

When Garage Days Re-Revisited came out in 1987, I remember wondering "where was Garage Days Revisited?" Well, its here. The two covers comprise all of the Garage Days Revisited side of the cassette. As a kid, I was always hoping for a lost, full-length release with two full sides of covers, which I was treated to later on Garage, Inc. At the time, I actually loved the covers on the b-sides of their singles almost as much as the actual songs, songs like "The Prince" (Diamond Head) and "Breadfan" (Budgie) got as much play as the a-side stuff and actually turned me onto both of those bands.

The cover art of the LP was amazing, with a very dark, foggy pass and the words "Creeping Death" below it. I always wanted to hunt down the LP just for the cover art and have yet to find a copy at one of my area record stores.



I was a huge Metallica fan growing up and it was the first arena rock show I saw, seeing them on the 1989 Damaged Justice tour in October in Minneapolis. They blew me away, even if I thought ...And Justice For All was a bit of a more commercial album than I was hoping for when it came out. I really didn't know what to think when I saw the video for "One" and hoped it was going to be their only forray into commercialism. Unfortunately, I was super wrong.

As it stands, Ride The Lightning is probably my favorite Metallica record and this short EP is a great taste of Metallica at a time when they had yet to hit MTV and still had Cliff and were the kings of the thrash scene, always a step ahead of their contemporaries.

Barkhard - Barkhard (1985/2007) LP Zorlac/Rabid Dog Records

 

Skate rock is one of my soft spots - no matter what I am focused on listening to, I can always take a break and bust out a JFA, Big Boys, McRad, D.R.I. or Drunk Injuns record and get a short fix and leave smiling.

When I first started skating, Thrasher's 'Skate Rock' series of tapes and vinyl were necessities for our driveway and curbside sessions. Those records turned me onto so many bands - COC, JFA, Septic Death, McShred (later McRad), MDC - and I still listen to them with great regularity.

However, I never knew about Barkhard until I stared looking at getting some records that I needed to fill gaps in my pretty solid skate rock section of my vinyl collection. Barkhard was the skate rock house band of sorts of Zorlac. Now, if you didn't skate in 1985, you would probably only remember Zorlac from the graphics which were done by Pushead, lead singer of Septic Death and later made famous by all of the artwork he did for Metallica. Pushead had done of a ton of art for so many bands at that point (including the Misfits and Samhain) and his style was instantly reconizable, so Zorlac gear was worn often, even if the boards seemed scarce.

Barkhard was comprised of four Zorlac skaters - vocalist Todd Prince, lead guitarist John Hancock, bassist Joe Nichols, drummer Scott Campbell, and probably the most well-known of the bunch, guitarist John Gibson.

John was the Christian Hosoi of the TX skate scene, an incredible vert skater and someone who went big all the time. His board graphics remain my favorites from Zorlac, and I'm certainly not the only one who enjoyed them - this pic of Kirk Hammet of Metallica (pre-commercialism) showcases them quite well - were also done by Pushead and just stellar.

The band itself is more direct west coast style hardcore punk with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. Tracks like 'Psycopathic Roach', 'Party Barkhard' and 'Beg Us To Stop'  all have a level of dumb fun in them and the more direct tracks are very reminiscent of MDC, tracks like 'I.C.B' and 'To Myself'.




It's raw and fast and actually talented stuff here, with diving guitar licks spicing up the songs even if the production doesn't. Exactly my kind of skate rock. This is a vinyl rerelease done by Rabid Dog Records in 2007 and there is also a CD reissue out you can get on the cheap at Amazon. Now, if I can only hunt down a John Gibson Zorlac board to adorne my wall...

Iron Reagan - Demo 2012 (2012) CS Tankcrimes

 

Iron Reagan is the side project of Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste and its a dense, fast thrash, more raw and stripped down than Municipal Waste and more in line with the '80's crossover esthetic than the party one. The demo is only four songs and its fantasticv. The guitars are raw, more unfiltered and JCM800 raw, like the sound on Slayer's 'Reign In Blood' with a good pedal in front. The songs are simple and fast and hard hitting. The riffs are direct with no fucking around at all. It feels like almost a better throwback band than Municipal Waste!



The demo is sold out on Tankcrimes' store now, but its floating around the net and should be easy to find to download. Highly recommended and awesome.