Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Lesser of two evils

Ah, it's time again for Lesser of two evils. I listen to a pair of stinkers and match them-up to see which is the lesser pile of dung. This month it's two L.A. bands that were featured in the film "Decline of western civilization 2". So it's

London's Don't cry wolf (1986)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

versus

Odin's Fight for your life (1988)

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

So on to the categories.

Vocals

We get Nadir D'Priest from London and Randy O. for Odin. This is a tough one because both singers are honestly horrid. Nadir D'Priest is all over the place hitting every sour note you could imagine while Randy O. has very little clue as to what a melody is or how to find it. It's close, but I'll go with the one that makes me cringe less.

Point to London


Guitar
It's Lizzie Grey on guitar versus Jeff Duncan of Odin. Lizzie Grey is sort of okay at times, but the hooks aren't sharp and there is not much feeling to his playing unless you count that I begin to feel nauseous the more I listen to it. Jeff Duncan hits some good solos here and there, but his biggest problem is that everything seems rushed. You never really get a sense of him having any style. Still Duncan hits a few good chops so...
Point to Odin


Rhythm section
For London we have Brian West on bass and Wailin J. Morgan on drums versus Aaron Samson and drummer Shawn Duncan for Odin. The London pair aren't the worst part of this band, but they don't do nearly enough to help matters either. Duncan and Samson manage to be consistent enough and even keep things going at times. Easy decision as it's ...
Point to Odin

Production/Originality
Neither band sound a whole like any other bands. Yet in this case just because it hasn't been done before doesn't necessarily mean that it needed to be done. As far production goes I would say that the London album is kind of spotty and low in places. The Odin album is alright overall with a very strong sound on the slow songs.
Point to Odin


Who rocks more?
Perhaps this should be who sucked less because the worst thing about both bands is the writing. London are clunky and have no clue about hooks or style or technique. Odin are better players, but they lack sense of timing or how to plug emotion in because they just try to fly through too many of the songs. Yet Odin hit a few moments here and there because the three guys with instruments do have a clue as how to play them.
Point to Odin

Odin wins it 4-1.

London were all too often known for the fact that Blackie Lawless, Nikki Sixx, Slash and Izzy Stradlin were all in this band at one time. Yet all left and went on to greener pastures while London struggled and got passed up by bands that started years after they did. The true reason is obviously that the band wasn't that good. So anyone with any talent soon realized that and then they left. Nadir D'Priest later formed D'Priest out of London and did briefly get a major label deal. Lizzie Grey went on to form Spiders and Snakes. Odin also struggled for years and never managed to get a major label deal. However Randy O. got a major label deal with his band the Lost Boys. Guitarist Jeff Duncan later ended up in Armored Saint. Honestly these two albums were hard to make it through, but I soldiered on for the sake of the segment. I'll be back again with some more gems next month.


**The pictures I used are not the covers of the albums I listened to. I could not find a good image of the London cover and the Odin cover is very dull. So I went for an alternative shot of the London cover and the back of Odin's "Don't take no for an answer".

17 Comments:

Blogger Bar L. said...

I like wolves so I pick them :)

8:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd have to go with Odin here. London never impressed me but, then again, neither did Odin. I guess I'll go with Odin because Bill Gazarri called him the next David Lee Roth in Decline 2. I still have it on VHS, I need to search out a DVD copy.

11:27 PM  
Blogger bob_vinyl said...

When London won that first category, I was worried. I don't remember Odin all that well, but they couldn't be as bad as London which I suffered through recently when I recorded it for you.

4:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah....but didn't the guy in Odin say he would kill himself if he didn't get a deal??? Is he still with us???

Thanks for the flashback....I remember seeing Decline part 2 at the theater when it came out...I haven't watched it in YEARS....can you get it on DVD???

5:31 AM  
Blogger aXe mAn said...

Both bands kick ass!

6:25 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

barbara-The wolf here looks better than the one on the actual cover.

Steve-I don't think it has ever been officially been released on dvd, has it?

Bob-Thanks for recording it for me. I thought Odin might sweep it, but Randy O's vocals were killing me.

Robert-Randy O. did say that, but heis very much alive. He did an interview with Metal Sludge maybe a year ago and Odin have done a couple of reunion shows in recent years. The Duncan brothers currently have a new band going as well.

axe man-You are entitled to your opinion and both bands do have some following. I am just glad I don't have to listen to these two albums again for a while.

I need to do four more segments of this feature before the end of November so I can begin to determine which album will be the "Grand Stinker". That means I have to do two in one month at some point. So I have decided to do another Lesser of two evils next week to stay on track. That's good for you if you like to read them, but bad for me because I have to listen to these albums. Still it will be fun.

6:40 AM  
Blogger bob_vinyl said...

Axe man, you must be deaf! It's one thing to like the best bands in a genre, but the bands Mark features here are the very worst (these two may be the worst of the worst). I admit that I don't have any great fondness for hair metal, but there's a big difference between this crap that no one in their right mind can find redeeming and something like Poison that is sketchy in some ways, but at least has something to offer. Opinion can only go so far.

7:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like they all could be coming soon on DVD

http://www.declinemovies.com/

Steve
Heavy Metal Addiction

8:17 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

bob-London might the worst band out of the dozen I have listened to on this segment so far. Some of the bands I have featured here were just lacking originality. London sounded like they should have had their instruments taking from them because they sure didn't know what to do with them. Odin just lacked songwriting skills. What's worse is both of these bands had played in LA for years at this point and neither of these albums are debuts. So they really should have learned something about writing and structure by this point.

Steve-We'll see, they don't have a date yet. It's really a goofy movie with a few good parts, but it's entertaining. They should shoot to get it out next year and do some interviews now to show what these people are doing twenty years later.

9:01 AM  
Blogger captain corky said...

The third guy on the right of the Odin album really, really scares me!

9:04 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Captain Corky- That is "vocalist" Randy O. Looks like he's going to hurl and he also looks like he's wearing an 80's style Laser Tag harness on his chest.

9:11 AM  
Blogger DPTH International said...

Another fun read! I have not heard either and feel blessed by that.

9:45 AM  
Blogger Hard Rock Hideout said...

I haven't been able to hear the London releases, but have been interested only because of the people who have played in that group.

I don't know Odin either, but I am looking forward to Jeff Duncan's new stuff in DC4.

11:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You need to collect more stuff, dude.

4:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The same...

5:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is remarkable, rather the helpful information

7:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is delightful

8:34 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home