Saturday, June 11, 2016

I've had this CD for years, and the vocals were as perplexing as they were terrible.  Why would any label bother to release it and not just let Unsung Heroes press a few dozen CD-Rs?  How is it possible the singer was not sacked?  Then I listened to bits of the obviously fake Death Beast "live" recording and a couple of Rampage tracks, and when coupled with the band pics/pseudonyms, it's clear that this album is not by an actual band, it's another Lord Vic solo work.  It's not a conclusion that takes any investigative genius, so I realize I am not uncovering some Exorcist-was-David-DeFeis level metal secret.  It's just another case of someone showing a profound lack of self-criticism and quality control.

The vocals are what might result if you asked someone with a limited sense of melody to sound menacing (and them failing).  Most of all they're very uncontrolled, often breaking into shrieks and yelps.  They remind me of drunken/overzealous people at concerts that badly sing along to the music more than any actual metal vocalists.  I have to confess that I'm not sure if this is some sort of trolling attempt only the old Usenet crowd is in on, and the vocals are just an overexaggerated send-up of OTT singers like Baloff or Nasty Ronnie.  At the same time, I can totally see Mister Schindler hearing the shrieking and coming up with some "sounds like old Exodus" distro list blurb hyperbole.  

Although the vocals aren't of the so-bad-they're funny variety, one of the tracks has a "1-2, 1-2 FUCK YOU" Slaughter count off as well as the line "tell your god he can suck my motherfucking dick," both of which made me laugh the same way I did upon seeing the red sweatered kid crowdsurfing in Ultimate Revenge 2.

The music itself is fairly good Motörheadish black/thrash, and I was surprised how comparatively focused and competent sounding (vocals aside) it was compared to Lord Vic's other music experimentations.  Still, there's nothing special enough about it to make up for the impediment of the vocals.  The unlisted Nasty Savage and Twisted Sister covers are good choices conceptually but the vocals ruin them.  You know how there are certain body language cues and vocal mannerisms that can help determine when someone is being dishonest?  Note that the there's no room for the wannabes, the has-beens or the bad line in the "Stay Hungry" cover is literally stumbled and mumbled through.   Even this album's creator has trouble uttering words that so blatantly contradict his own material.

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