Church of misery-Master of brutality

Rise Above/Metal Blade

2012

This album was originally released back in 2001 on Southern Lord. There have been other re-issues prior to this edition as well. Japanese band Church of misery play stoner rock/doom with many of the songs being about serial killers. This is fairly typical swirling down tuned fodder with basic structures nd not many turns and twists. However the tones and the way they hit on every note and beat is what helps make this one better than just ordinary. They chug and churn their way through their songs with a definite 70's influence s underneath the layers of sound. One of my favorite tracks was their cover of BOC's Cities on flame. I have heard so many bands of this genre misfire on covers because they put nothing of themselves into it. However these guys remain faithful to the original, but put their own stamp onto it as well. Hearing most of the songs being about serial killers isn't really my thing, but I loved the music and on that level they certainly kept my interest throughout the album. I didn't hear this when it first came out, but certainly enjoy it now. This re-issue from Rise Above includes bonus tracks.

Forgotten Gems-Arabia-1001 Nights

Having been released in 2001 this album isn't quite as old as many of the other albums we feature in this segment. However it certainly is forgotten or just overlooked, but more importantly it really is a gem. I believe I won something form a seller on eBay like 7-8 years ago and saw this CD going from the seller for a buck with no bids on it so I picked it up too hoping the music would be as good as the album cover. This is an album that either came out too late or too early depending on how you look it. Too late in that the style here was first popular around the late to mid 80's so they were too late for that. However 80's hard rock has seen a slight resurgence in recent years that wasn't quite as big back 11 years ago when this album came out.So first who were these guys? The only two guys you may have known from other work are drummer Bobby Marks (Keel, Scarecrow and others) vocalist John Blaze also of Scarecrow. The sound here hard rock/melodic metal along the lines of Whitesnake, Blue Murder and Dokken although there are some AOR touches too. Blaze's vocals are wonderful, the kind of marvelous pipes this style of music really needs to make it stand out. The music is very much together and catchy. It's an album where you hear it wonder why you didn't hear of these guys sooner? I would guess part of the reason for that is the one I mentioned above. They probably didn't get a great deal of noticed 11 years ago, but it's worth tracking down now. Fans of this style will likely take to this album right away. These guys did knock out a second album just last year with only Blaze returning from the first album. I have not heard that one, but did read in one source that it had more of a modern rock sound than "1001 Nights".

Turbo-Awatar

Metal Mind
2001/2009



There have been several bands going by the name Turbo, but this Turbo hail from Poland and formed way back in 1980. They started out with a classic metal style, but quickly switched to thrash and stuck with that sound until they broke up in the early 90's. Almost a decade later they reformed and this was the first album after reuniting. Right away it's obvious that they chose to mainly skip the thrash style and go for a more mid-paced classic metal style which is actually closer to their roots. At times they remind me of John Bush-era Anthrax only with an even thicker sound and stronger bass lines. I know that some fans didn't openly embrace this album because of the change in style, but quite honestly they handle it very well. It's direct, heavy and to the point. Hearing this now it's a shame I didn't hear it when it first came out. It's also quite possible that Turbo are underrated for sure. Not everyone handles different styles well, but these guys are highly capable of handing differnt sounds. Even though it's primarily straigh metal here there are a few thrash moments tossed in for good measure. This re-issue includes four bonus tracks. Two of the four are cover tracks and they do a fantastic job of putting their own brand onto Deep Purple's "Burn" and Dio-era Sabbath's "Neon Knights". A fine album and a good job on the re-issue as well.

Testament-First strike still deadly

Prosthetic
2001/2008 Re-issue



I never actually heard this when it first came out years ago, but back in 2001 Testament decided to re-record some of their early songs. I am not usually big on the idea of a whole album of re-recorded songs and that was the main reason I didn't pursue this CD back then. Yet as the re-issue came out I decided to check it out because by the second half of the 1990's Testament had gotten way heavier and their music had become more involved. There seemed to be enough of a reason to believe that doing their old tracks might result in some fairly worthwhile results. I put in the disc and was immediately puzzled by the rather dull production values that really were not quite as sharp as this band's material back in 1987-88. That's just production though, the real key is what they do with the music. The answer is unfortunately not a whole lot as the changes here are surprisingly minimum. There are a few flourishes here and there, but most are minimal and the misses are more than the hits. The misses are that on a number of the critical pace changes they don't hit it nearly as sharp or as bold as they did the first time around. This makes them sound a little old as it's like saying you can hit a home run like you used and then swinging just enough to get a single. Chuck Billy's are fine if he was only aiming to do the songs just as they were originally done. Yet his style had changed to a more death metal growl on Testament's mid-late 90's efforts. I was hoping for at least a little of those growls, but he just kind of stays the course and rolls it out like he did way back then only slightly less aggressive. Really this is just an alright album that doesn't add a whole lot to what they did on the original versions. I just can't imagine anyone except real Testament diehards who want everything by the band feeling the need to buy this album.