The Japanese CD has two unique differences compared to other versions of the album:
Notice anything weird about the tracklisting above? A tad short perhaps? Yeah...They actually took "Khomaniac" off the CD. There's a note about the omission in the booklet, but my Japanese isn't good enough to translate it. This is the very first time I've ever seen a Japanese press of a musical recording that is objectively inferior to other world pressings released at the same time. Even more of a letdown since it's the best track, too.
The other difference is the cover logo. It's not as striking in this photo, but the border and edges are hot foil stamped in gold as opposed to the black print on other versions. I will say while it does look much cooler, the aesthetic difference is hardly enough to make up for the missing song.
Sample copy. Sticker on the back insert covers Jeff MacDonald's hand.
Every Japanese sample CD I've ever seen previously had "Sample" pro-printed in English around the center of the disc (usually with some additional Kanji) but this has a dot matrix printed "SANPURU" in katakana.
A complete set of the Japanese pressings would have been nicer of course, but the first 6 are all that really matter. Pressing-wise, they aren't terribly interesting since they're so similar to the '94 US CD versions. They suffer from generic back insert layouts which don't use the art/layout of the original LPs, and the tracklistings are the same ("Hit the Lights" on MM1 is the re-recording, the MM8/9 2-on-1 still has the 4 tracks taken off--but at least the Japanese press actually mentions this). The liner notes are more substantial with a write-up about Metal Blade and brief band infos, but all in Japanese of course.
A few weeks before getting this I was lamenting how I didn't have their first two albums, since they represented a huge gap in my '80s classic metal collection, so this was definitely my best score. As for the inevitable comparison, the early Chastain albums are more underground sounding with more aggressive vocals, while these have a bit more popular traditional metal/Priest influence. The guitarwork is also flashier than Chastain, though not in a particularly better/worse way.
Already had an obi-less Japanese press. One of the two CDs in the group with actual Japanese bonus tracks.
Already had. Several years ago I hunted for this CD intently and ended up picking it up in a lot of Japanese Silver Mountain discs at auction. Fine for what it is but like Universe itself, just makes me hunger for the sound of that first album even more.
Not a particularly big fan in the first place, but even so, the tracklisting seems kind of weak. All the recordings are from '85 but strangely nothing from Mean Streak is included, which would have probably helped.
Like the Metal Massacres, this suffers from a rather generic mid-'90s Metal Blade layout, and a classic should deserve much better. Still hoping for a CD version with the Par Rec. cover someday.
Not a very interesting album for me, but at least it's a not very interesting album pressed in Japan.
Technically this would probably rate as the second or third best disc out of everything. Of course after looking for the first two CDs for a while, a few days after getting this I find out they've been reissued with plenty of bonuses. Not bad by any means, but not as cool as their first album and not as classy and developed as the first Angra.
Solid power metal, terrible cover.
Now we're talking! And the title track is the best metal song ever to throw in a random keyboard solo.
Previously I did not really remember the band's 2nd and 3rd albums despite owning them, so I'm glad that the Japanese press allowed me to revisit this one. It's not quite the US answer to Painkiller that some claim (Priest were out for blood at the time and it just lacks that frantic aggression). That said, the choruses for "Cyberchrist" and "Psycho Zoo" have been firmly stuck in my head for weeks. RED A-LERT! RED A-LERT!
Haven't listened to it yet (I suspect it's not going to be as good as their older material), but it feels weird to see that Rodney Matthews art on something other than Am I Evil, even if band-name-appropriate.
Sample copy with no obi, and the sample sticker was partially removed from the back. I don't seem to have much luck with this CD. The first time I tried to buy one that was listed as the Japanese press with bonus tracks, the seller sent me the regular US version.
Don't get me wrong, I like this album, but at times it feels strangely disconcerting since very hooky parts will suddenly come into music which is for the most part otherwise very uncommercial, complete with those mournful Scandi-HM vocals. Also, while popular opinion seems to set this as the crown jewel of Finnish traditional HM, I far prefer Fire in the Brain, Robot Stud, etc.
Haven't given this a full listen yet. Based on some initial sampling, it's nowhere as good as the first 2 Crimson Glorys, but better than their later stuff. Hey, speaking of which...
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