Metal On Metal Records:Compendium Of Metal Vol. 5

Metal On Metal Records
2012


Since the day I first stumbled upon, and then bought, my first heavy metal compilation (the excellent K-Tel release "Rising Metal"-see link below) I have loved these sorts of sampler releases. Chances are you do too. For the price of one album you can get a great sampling of different heavy metal bands and then, should your heart desire, hunt down the ones you like most. They have not always been great (yes, I'm looking at you "Metal Massacre Vol. XII"!) and, let's face it folks, in this day and age where digital media is at the push of a button many simply feel there is no longer a need for these sort of release anymore. I'm an old school guy though and always will be. I'm going to be 39 next month so I'm pretty set in my ways (or at least when it comes to metal) so there will always be room in my heart for a good collection. Especially like this one. Having reviewed Mortalicum's "The Endtime Prophecy" (link below as well) and, having decided to pick up a copy from Metal On Metal Records themselves since I found it to be cool 70's hard rock meets doom, and Skelator before I was curious to hear more from this label.
Honestly, having heard that there was a new Heretic track on here two didn't hurt matters much either. So, we start off this compilations with Skelator's track "Agents Of Power". Simply put this is fun, old-school metal. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc. Just cool stuff. Next is Sacred Gate who also play a nice brand of traditional heavy metal (same thing, link below) followed by Mortalicum. Moving right along we have Frankenshred with their Exodus meets Metallica number "Hard, Fast And Loud". This track is due to be on the band's new album and if you love old thrash then you will love these guys! Heretic's "Betrayed" was the reason I wanted this compilation so bad to begin with and it didn't disappoint. These walk the line between US power metal and thrash without so much as a blink. Killer stuff. Arkham Witch sound promising (said to be a mix of heavy/doom metal and NWOBHM), but I didn't care for their track "For Metal". It came across like a bad attempt at making a eighties heavy metal anthem. After Oblivion (death/thrash) and Heathendom (dark power metal) are both good in their own right even if nothing to lose sleep over. Wishdoom (a name I find frankly kind of strange) give us "Zeus The Thunderer". Normally I'm not sure a would go for a band like this (who are described as epic heavy meets doom metal), but there was just something about the number that clicked. "Downward Spiral" by Catch 22 is good and solid power metal/thrash while I am always excited to see a Meliah Rage number on a compilation. "Awaken Sorrow" find these guys attempting the same kind of heavy power metal/thrash as the early days and pulling it of without too much of a fuss. "Burning Bridges" by Bitter End was take or leave for me. They sure sound like they have the talent and all, but I just didn't take much away from the final result. Thankfully I thoroughly enjoyed the last three cuts with Battlerage's "Return Of The Axeman" being the best of the bunch. This is another true blue heavy metal act the way heavy metal used to be. Outrage gave the cut "Black Metal Attack" which I liked and then doom metal outfit Nomad Son finished things off with "Can’t Turn The Tide". All said this is over 70 minutes of metal running the gamut from old school metal to black metal/thrash. As such there is something for everyone here so I highly recommend this compilation. This certainly makes me want to track down the label's first four compilations if they are anywhere as solid as this latest one is.


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http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=Mortalicum-The+Endtime+Prophecy

http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=sacred+gate