Locked in. That’s what they were. Motorhead were so locked in at this point that they could have released a steaming pile of shit and somehow, someway it would still have tasted to the tongue like jailbait pussy. Supposedly Lemmy had gotten a bit lazy. Just mailing this one in. And cheap! Having his guitar guy "Fast" Eddie Clark produce the album just to save some coin and yada yada. Whatever. Didn't matter. Some bands are just chosen, my friends. And it’s just our job to lap it up!
A downright magical amalgamation of early Black Sabbath and NWOBHM. They not only stole the riffs (which let’s face it everyone was about to do) but the emotion & tone of both Iommi’s guitar and Ozzy’s vocals. People forget that Sabbath were not just blundering riff dinosaurs. They were emotive. Dynamic. Capable of surprising pacing and pulse quickening time signature changes. They often played with restraint, unleashing pastoral passages and emotive, gut wrenching wails from the heart by the Oz man. That's why people loved him so. That's why he was treated almost like a prophet years before the self parody and reality tv m(s)adness. Witchfinder General remembered. And were able to evoke the many sides of early Sabbath on Death Penalty and in turn crafted (in a tie!) the first bonafide Doom album. (Although if anyone gave Witchfynde's Give 'Em Hell that honor, I wouldn't bat an eye.)
NYC. There’s no other place like it. Especially in the early 80s. Before it got cleaned up. And Monowar IS NYC. They took Ted Nugent’s mid-70s sound into the back alley outside CBGBs with its urine puddles and gum crusted streets, rolled up his sleeves, heated the spoon, and injected it with a healthy dose of their 70s NYC punk smack. THEIR blue collar NYC attitude & street smarts. Battle Hymns is where it all begins. Ground zero for American Power Metal (although I’m sure Gowi may have something to say about that. I defer to her/them on these matters.) A sound which they would continue to fine tune and perfect for the rest of the decade.
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Personally, I like this just a bit better than Witchfinder General. Now we are talking Doom incarnate with virtually no NWOBHM influence to speak of at all. Which cost them a record contract at the time! At the time their slow, doomy Sabbathian riffs sounded hopelessly out of date in 1982. So this demo tape from 1982 was floated around the metal tape trading community for over a decade before eventually it just became too big, too heavy, and ironically too fashionable to be ignored as slow became the new fast with bands like Sleep mining similar territory. Easily one of the best Doom albums of the 80s, and Pagan Altar should be mentioned right alongside Pentagram, St. Vitus and Trouble as the forefathers of Doom.
I'd been racking my brains. Trying to figure out what made these guys so special. Unique. But, I just couldn't nail it. THEN, I went backwards. Checked out their recordings from the late 70s on their excellent ( and equally as essential) The Time Lord EP, and it all clicked. The lines were filled in. The singer reminds me of Roky Erickson. These guys are not just Sabbath clones. They also add an ample dose of late 60s Psychedelia and Acid Rock. Stuff like the 13th Floor Elevators.
One of those classics that just gets better with every spin, this is easily one of the best Doom records of the 80s, and absolutely essential for fans of that genre.
The leap from the distorted, bludgeoned Motorhead riffs on Welcome To Hell to the truly blackened, frosty atmospherics of Black Metal is nothing short of stunning in hindsight. The Motorhead influences have been mostly shed to create something completely new. Everything blends & bleeds together to create a thunderous cloud. The songs are better too. "Buried Alive" is told from a convincing, harrowing, & surprisingly emotive first-person point of view of that would make Johnny Cash proud. And that's like the fourth best song on the album! Diverse, bold, and original ( & even fun at times : see "Teachers Pet") Black Metal was a huge leap forward for both Venom and extreme metal.
No (rock) band has adjusted as well to middle age. None. Rush got married. Had kids. Moved to the suburbs. Bought a minivan (with heated seats and a real, live TV!). Picked up yoga and networked their way to a fairly decent country club with a few tough waterholes (The sand trap on the 11th is a bitch though. Don't let anybody kid ya.)
And then it gets even better, folks. They STAYED faithful to their wives. Were good Dads. (Coached the hockey team and didn’t even yell! That much. Ok! Sometimes. It’s ice hockey. In Canada! What do you want?)
Perhaps the greatest streamlined, tight-cornered, futuristic, plastic album of all time. A massive and never repeated accomplishment.
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mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Number Of The Beast is Maiden's most emotive record. Dickinson practically breaks your heart with his vocal delivery on such Maiden mainstays as 22 Acacia Avenue, Children of The Damned, and of course Hallowed Be Thy Name. These were the songs us early 80s suburban misfits had memorized. The songs that echoed in the school cafeteria after school while we waited for the late bus.
Judas Priest do NOT like losing. After taking a dip in popularity with their last release Point Of Entry (as I discussed recently in The Repo Zone) and with young upstarts like Accept and Maiden nipping at their heels, Priest hunkered down, regrouped and just positively exploded with cut after cut of high energy, ass kicking Metal. Every single track rules and every single track feels unique & different. Melodic & catchy as hell YET still undeniably HEAVY, this album ruled the suburban high school air waves back in 1982 and rightly so. This is Priest’s high water mark for the entire 80s.
1982 was the high water mark of the NWOBHM. And it crested high indeed since one could easily argue that Screaming For Vengeance and Number Of The Beast are the two definitive albums of that entire subgenre. Maiden AND Priest simply dominated the metal landscape in the early 80s and these two albums are a big part of the reason why.
It’s not sex. It’s just a conversation. Three people. Telling stories on the spot. Ellington, the gregarious one. Mingus ever the contrarian. And the ever flowing host of the party, Roach. Pouring drinks for everyone. “Can’t we all just get along, fellas!" Smooth. Mellow. There with that gentle, affirming laugh or "Oh yeah!" just when the conversation needed it. Keeping the glasses filled. But not TOO fill.
The Verdict: I can already tell this might be my gold standard. Three legends at the top of their respective games. Ellington pushing everyone just enough
The Rating: 😈😈😈😈😈
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
Great descriptions of both the Rush and the Ellington on this page!
Two very different trios from very different times and you nailed them both in very creative ways. Kudos.
Great descriptions of both the Rush and the Ellington on this page!
Two very different trios from very different times and you nailed them both in very creative ways. Kudos.
Thanks, Fischman!!!
Top Ten Metal/Hard Rock Albums of 1982?!? I'd LOVE to see it! 😁 >
You need to throw it away. All of it. All your preconceived notions of what Black Sabbath is & what they should be. Build yourself a little bonfire. I don't care where. Set it ablaze. Get close and light a cigarette.
Ok! RU READY? Because here. IS the most dangerous Sabbath album of them all!!! A total straight-up fucking MINDFUCK.
Metallica's Kill 'Em All changed everything. NWOBHM was out. Old news. Yesterday's papers. Speed Metal was our new master. Thus hooked, we jumped onto our trusty ten speeds and dashed off to the nearest dealer of these newly discovered dark arts. Searching the racks for albums covers that looked evil enough. Fast enough.
Luckily, 1983 had a ton of other contenders (see Exciter, Anvil, Satan, and, of course, Slayer), But, NONE sounded as close to Kill 'Em All as Oz's Fire In The Brain. The guitar tone, production, sequencing, and even the song titles. It's essentially Kill 'Em All's European Doppelganger.
Need proof?! It's right here below. Go ahead. Just CLICK!
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Repo
mickilennial
Fischman
