Dr. Grind-Speechless

Eonian
2009



Seattle's Dr. Grind were playing hard rock in the early 1990's so that kind of put them in the wrong time and the wrong place. As we know grunge came from that area and stomped out much of the hard scene that had been so popular in previous years. These guys did knock out an album before disbanding in 1996. Now Eonian records gives us a chance to hear 17 songs by this band. Instead of the more popular hair/glam approach, Dr. Grind instead followed a more melodic metal approach similar to Dokken, early Queensryche, Icon and TNT. The vocals are strong as vocalist Rick Allen displays quite a bit of range. The guitar duo of Tom Moore and John Tippins are solid and they offer up a great sense of control and even some fine solos. All these songs were done around 93-94, but sound much more like they could have been done back around 84-86. So I guess they were playing what they liked more than anything. That approach shines through and helps the sound even if it didn't exactly help their careers in the early 1990's. The production is spectacular and helps their sound greatly. The booklet includes a brief band history and notes about their song topics. It's a shame Dr. Grind weren't putting these songs out a few years earlier because they may have found more opportunities then, but at they are getting a chance to have their songs put out now.