New Renaissance
1987
I am sure that I have mentioned this album before but I don't believe it has gotten the Forgotten Gems treatment, but it certainly deserves it. This Executioner was a trio that hailed from the Boston area. I first heard them with their song "Victims of evil" on the Speed Metal Hell compilation in early 1986. Fast forward to the fall of that year and someone ended up loaning me a copy of a copy of the cassette version of their debut "In the name of metal". Now the production on this album and almost every album on this label was poor so it sounded even worse on cassette. However despite that the power of this band easily shown through. In the summer of 1987 they released their sophomore release "Break the silence" on the same label. Bassist Ari Vainio was gone from the band and the late Seth Putnam (Anal Cunt) was in on bass. Their debut was a mix of NWOBHM, easily thrash and even a slight punk edge. Break the silence has several songs that were re-recordings of tracks that originally appeared on "In the name of metal". Yet the overall sound on this album is heavier and faster. They had obviously been listening to more thrash albums since the time when they recorded their previous album. I bought this one on cassette the week it came out and loved it. It's messy at times yet the excitement they had for their music shines through. They won't earn a lot of style points, but they just got it and that kind of approach shines through. Every time I hear this album I wish that so many other bands had half the energy this band had. Unfortunately this releases and the band's debut have never been released on CD. You can easily find free downloads for it online. So if you never heard then you should give it a shot.
1987
I am sure that I have mentioned this album before but I don't believe it has gotten the Forgotten Gems treatment, but it certainly deserves it. This Executioner was a trio that hailed from the Boston area. I first heard them with their song "Victims of evil" on the Speed Metal Hell compilation in early 1986. Fast forward to the fall of that year and someone ended up loaning me a copy of a copy of the cassette version of their debut "In the name of metal". Now the production on this album and almost every album on this label was poor so it sounded even worse on cassette. However despite that the power of this band easily shown through. In the summer of 1987 they released their sophomore release "Break the silence" on the same label. Bassist Ari Vainio was gone from the band and the late Seth Putnam (Anal Cunt) was in on bass. Their debut was a mix of NWOBHM, easily thrash and even a slight punk edge. Break the silence has several songs that were re-recordings of tracks that originally appeared on "In the name of metal". Yet the overall sound on this album is heavier and faster. They had obviously been listening to more thrash albums since the time when they recorded their previous album. I bought this one on cassette the week it came out and loved it. It's messy at times yet the excitement they had for their music shines through. They won't earn a lot of style points, but they just got it and that kind of approach shines through. Every time I hear this album I wish that so many other bands had half the energy this band had. Unfortunately this releases and the band's debut have never been released on CD. You can easily find free downloads for it online. So if you never heard then you should give it a shot.
Here is an interview I did with vocalist/guitarist Marc Johnson a few years ago.
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2009/01/interview-with-marc-johnson-of.html
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2009/01/interview-with-marc-johnson-of.html
whoa ~ forgotten gem, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI've got this on vinyl back from when I used to be on the New Renaissance Records mailing list (when I published a little 'zine back in the late '80's).
I've always loved New Renaissance Records line-up and I'll never forget that it was that label that introduced me to Bathory (Under the Sign of the Black Mark).