Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales (1984) LP Combat/Noise Records

Morbid Tales, originally released in 1984, shortly after the demise of Hellhammer, is possibly the most powerful work from Celtic Frost and a statement from the band at the time, looking to distance themselves from Hellhammer's simple (but very effective) garagey sound.

The album opens with a series of screams looped over each other for about a minute and then the album kicks forward into 'Into Crypts of Rays,' a blistering black metal fusion of punk driven by over distorted guitars. The sound is so raw, it sounds other worldly. To achieve this, Tom took his Marshall JCM800 and finally found a pedal to really give it the punch he was looking for - an Ibanez Tube Screamer. It's become a staple of blues and rock guitarists for its ability to push the tubes of a given amp into distorting and with his Marshall on 10 and this pedal at full voice, the amp cranks out some howling tones.


Morbid Tales was first released in Europe with only 6 of these tracks and was filled out with songs from the Emperor's Return EP when it was released for the states, making it a full LP.

There is no filler here - every track is hard-hitting and much more developed than any of Hellhammer's previous material. It includes 'Danse Macabre,' a type of song which was to become somewhat of a staple of the band - an etherial piece that's way more avant guarde than metal and from here on out, they would wear that avant guarde metal tag like a badge, really pushing every album to include tracks in this realm alongside their more metal offerings.

For me, this is the most killer album they released - its raw and direct and the production is suitably free of reverb or other effects and just kills me everytime I hear it. 'Return to the Eve' and 'Procreation of the Wicked' are just killer tracks and even though the band definitely got more talented, that driven punk-influenced Hellhammer sound is still there.



For those of you reading this review who have never listened to Celtic Frost and have records from any black metal after 1989 in your collection - give this a listen. You can hear so many other bands imitations of them in this record - that heavy death and roll sound of Emperor, the tight, focused thrash metal that was being born then and certainly in a lot of the Norwegian and Scandanavian bands that came after them. Celtic Frost were true pioneers and really defined a genre before it truely existed.

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion (1985) LP Noise Records

After the Morbid Tales EP and Emperor's Return EP, Celtic Frost finally dropped their first official full-length record, To Mega Therion. Fans found a record with the raw, unfettered approach previous efforts were full of, but also a maturing Frost - one with a great depth of sound and more intricate arrangements - and a true masterwork.

The beautiful and dark cover art and inside gatefold is original artwork by none other than H.R. Giger, whom Tom (Warrior) Gabriel Fisher convinced back in his Hellhammer days to let them use it for one of their future records and its quite an impressive way to present your first LP.

In Are You Morbid - Into The Pandemonium of Celtic Frost,  (essentially the biography of Tom and Celtic Frost, long out-of-print), Tom mentions that he wanted to put distance between Celtic Frost and Hellhammer at the bands outset and you can see where with each new release, they take big leaps forward, trying to outrun Hellhammer's reputation. This record is no exception.

There are female vocals on a few tracks, some additional instruments added to the mix to fill out some of the more epic arrangements, like the album opener, 'Innocence and Wrath' and 'Dawn of Meggido' and much more complex song writing like the six-minute and change 'Necromaniacal Screams'.


They still have driving punk-inspired riffs on tracks like what may be my favorite track, 'Jewel Throne' and also brutal, direct tracks like 'The Usurper' making the whole record much more varied and intense.



It's an album that I have loved for years, but it marks for me the transition to the avant-guard sound they became known for on Into The Pandemonium. Where I wanted more dark, punk-influenced thrashy tracks, Frost started putting in more progressive tracks with much more varied songwriting - seemingly moving away from the raw emotion so expertly conferred through their earlier records. And it wasn't due to the influx of capitol that usually accompanies a band breaking out and having a few successful records. In Are You Morbid Tom later talks about how Noise was terrible at giving advances, making royalty payments, financing tours and so forth. Bills were stacking up, getting money together to tour was getting harder and through all that, they put out an emotionally charged, expertly written and brutal record, one that still amazes me so many years after I first heard it.

It is a record that almost defies description - its part thrash, part death metal, part black metal, part punk, part gothic. It's no wonder they got labeled as avant-guard.

Metallica - Metal Militia (1983) LP Metal Records

Sometimes I'll buy a record knowing I could be in for a total piece of shit in terms of quality, just to have something that is either A) rare or B) somehow noteworthy or C) the one record I need to finish a band's catalog. This purchase was actually all three.

This happens to be an LP version of the infamous No Life 'Till Leather casette demo that was passed around in the underground - the one that got Metallica a record deal with Megaforce. It also has the Whiplash demo on it, which was a pre-studio recording demo made specifically for Megaforce - sometimes known as the Megaforce demo or the Whiplash/No Remorse demo as it is only those two songs.

The later demo is actually clear on this LP and probably the only reason to own it. The No Life Till Leather demo is pretty poor interms of quality as it is presented here. You have to dime the volume to hear anything on my stereo (and my stereo shakes the windows at about 6). Its taken from pretty washed out source material.

On the plus side, its got bitchin' cover art and its the only copy of the Whiplash demo I have. It did also fuel me to find a good copy of the No Life 'Till Leather demo, which I did just a bit ago...



It does highlight Metallica at the beginning of their career, at a time when they kicked serious ass all over the metal scene. The recordings were made with Dave Mustaine on the guitar, so you get to hear his original leads and 'The Four Horsemen' is actually 'The Mechanix', Dave Mustaine's version he later recorded with Megadeth.

You also get some of the vocal highs James was trying for early on as he was still trying to emulate Diamond Head's Sean Harris.



I love these demos and the raw feel from a band so known for their studio cleanness. Say what you will about what they have become - yes, I cringed pretty much all the way through 'Some Kind Of Monster' - what they were was something that will never be repeated.

Celtic Frost - Emperor's Return (1985) EP Metal Blade Records

If I were to have to pick a top five bands of all-time, as tough as it might be to narrow down, I know that Celtic Frost would make that list. Not only are they the godfathers of black and death metal who left an indeliable mark on the exploding aggressive US metal scene, but they abolutely slay. There is so little filler material that each album feels like an express train roaring through your brain in the best possible way.

Celtic Frost evolved from the seminal garage death metal band Hellhammer and while they got much better at playing and arranging their material, they kept a rawness sorely lacking in the late NWOBHM scene. Their recordings from their early years are clean and raw and dark. The vocals are unique, certainly for the time, and have Tom growling and uttering gutteral heys. ows and ughs, which do so much more than you would think to puncuate the music.

'Dethroned Emperor' is by far one of my favorite tracks here and may be my favorite Celtic Frost song period. It's got a deep, driving riff and a great breakdown section.



As 1985 was happening, the US scene was in a full on thrash love affair, with speed and dexterity being paramount, but Celtic Frost stayed slow and plodding - more Sabbath than Saxon in their speed. Their dedication to that very distinct detuned, overdriven, heavy sound laced with so much aggression is what makes the first five Celtic Frost records so impressive and its ramped up to its fullest here.



This EP came out shortly after the Morbid Tales mini-LP and has subsequently been added to the CD versions of Morbid Tales - so you may have been listening to this EP and not known it! It's also got some of the best cover art of the 1980's by far.

This EP is still available on CD with Morbid Tales and an easy find and a must own. Seriously. Go by it. Now.

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.