Let thee not pass, Abaddon!

"His Slayer and Metallica covers weren't all that bad."

"I like Cronos' solo stuff, the first Mantas album is halfway decent, and it can't be as awful as that second Mantas album.*  I really should complete the trilogy."

"Industrial metal isn't so bad.  I love Mysticum and the first Fear Factory."

Look, justify it however you want, but just be warned--I don't see anyone getting much out of this unless they're really, really into industrial rock/metal (yes, rock).

My encounters with anything even vaguely industrial** usually involve BM bands with hyperactive drum machines, so I feel trying to make meaningful commentary on this album is a waste of time.

*It is.

**I think I may have a tenuous grasp of the concept of industrial music, as I knew someone who worked adjacent to a nightclub, and the muffled sound bleeding through the shared wall was described as being similar to Throbbing Gristle.  In all seriousness, in terms of any significant experiences with industrial music, I believe I heard some oddball Nuclear Blast signee that fit the bill on a compilation once, and occasionally when I pick up a cheapo CD that looks like something metal, it ends up being industrial or darkwave.

Skull Fist - Heavier Than Metal

Just by virtue of the style (NWOBHM-influenced '80s style/retro/New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal/not modern garbage), this automatically meets my personal quality requirements for a recording.  Obviously super-stringent.  Despite my innate positive bias, it's difficult to give this any overall praise beyond "fairly good."  

There's a certain atmosphere of unseriousness (or lack of self-awareness?) here that rubs me a bit the wrong way--the campy title, the purposely amateur genericness of the logo (it's hardly changed over the years aside from added bits to the Ss, perhaps to avoid associations with the naughty SS runic insignia), and the cover art (OK conceptually, but looks like a still from an Adult Swim show--and yes, I'm aware the cover of the first full length is even worse).   Unfortunately it's not purely limited to aesthetics, as the opener and last 2 tracks overuse silly, excessively high vocals that verge on parody.  The other two songs are more tolerable vocally since the extreme highs are limited to falsettos.  Even after getting somewhat used to the vocals, I still think the unnecessary helium only serves to lighten and weaken the music.  Otherwise things are solid if unremarkable musically, although they tend to needlessly overemphasize some choruses with gang backing vocals.  It's not an unpleasant listen and some of the stronger NWOBHM-sounding passages are quite enjoyable, but it often feels like there are somewhat forced attempts to be hooky and catchy-- and frankly, this mini-CD lacks truly killer songwriting.

Two of the members went on to Axxion, whose first EP is stylistically similar but comes off better with a rawer, more natural sound. The later Skull Fist material I have heard seems to tone down the vocals and places more emphasis on guitarwork, although like Cauldron, there's a perverse tendency to dip into very rock-based and commercial sounding melodies.

Danger - Keep Out

A lot of the online info about this album includes repeated reassurances that their extremely glammy/sleazy aesthetics don't extend into the music, and that they play real metal.  I was still quite skeptical--the band photos immediately brought Steel Panther to mind, and realistically I expected something like Crashdïet musically, or perhaps at best something like the heavier Priest-inspired tracks on Too Fast for Love.  I was quite taken aback when the opener "Enemy" turned out to be a speed metal tune, and I'm happy to confirm this is a legitimate heavy metal CD.

The bulk of the album is rooted in '80s traditional metal, though there are some injections of modern power metal influences and some general power metal overtones throughout the CD (they do indeed sound like they're the retro heavy metal sideproject of a Swedish or German power metal band).  Just by virtue of being '80s style metal, of course there are plenty of Maiden influences abound, but the galloping Egyptian melodies of "The Curse" are a clear homage to "Powerslave."  I also hear touches of "Strange World" early on in "The Fallen One," though it falls far, far short of that and ends up being more of a power metal power ballad.

This disc was definitely one of my most blatant "you can't judge a book by its cover" metal moments, since there isn't even a hint of L.A. influence here!  Sadly, some quick sampling on YouTube confirms their later material definitely fits their image.

Vöetsek - Infernal Command

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Premonition - We Are Metal

For years, the only Premonition track I had ever heard was their Ozzy cover; based on that and their other sensible cover choices, I assumed they were a standard '80s loving traditional metal band.  Then not too long ago I heard a song (from their first album, I think) that was unfortunately more like groove metal with gruff vocals.  Now as much as I disagree with some of King Fowley's intentionally inflammatory hyperbolic statements and the direction of Deceased since Fearless Undead Machines, I was very skeptical he'd release any shit like that on Old Metal.  I will be honest, though--the drummer's Pantera shirt had me somewhat worried.

Musically, this is close to what I originally expected--traditional HM with some slight power metal overtones.  The vocals seem to have some sort of unfortunate reverb effect applied that makes them sound unnatural and warbly, and they're generally a bit off-putting, especially in conjunction with some of the clumsier lyrical phrasings.  I actually tend to love unusual vocals in traditional metal (not just King Diamond and Nasty Ronnie crazyfalsettos, mind you--I actually actively seek out stuff like Living Death and Dark Wizard), but something seemed artificial about these.  I'm hesitant to make a comparison to vocals I actually enjoy, but my brain finds some slight similarities to Ape De Martini in approach.  There are also some hammy attempts to show "range" with lower vocals (including the aforementioned gruff ones) and some cringey falsettos.  I can dismiss the vocals on the originals as just an odd stylistic choice, but the singing actively brings down the Twisted Sister "S.M.F." cover, which would have been great otherwise.  

Dezibel Zero - Dezibel Zero

Wasn't quite sure what to expect here.  The band seemed to have a decent pedigree, with a bassist/vocalist from Desert Storm and (briefly) Minotaur, the guitarist from a relatively obscure but solid thrash band, and a drummer who would later do a short stint in Zed Yago.  I figured from the cover photo that the guys had jumped on the '90s groove bandwagon, but then I took a look at the back of the booklet:

HIP-HOP?  THIS SEEMS LIKE SNEAKY KRAUT PROMOTIONALSPEAK FOR KORN/LIMP BIZKIT EMULATION.

It's not, but it's nothing great either.  I can waste my time in far better ways than trying to thoroughly dissect the various musical influences here, but with the groove and funk influences I'm just going to use the bullshit "alternative metal" umbrella term and be done with it.  I can see some of the heavier sections being considered kinda thrashy prog. metal, but that's being extremely generous.

Based on the lineup and reuse of songs from this CD, it seems that Dezibel Zero effectively became a later Desert Storm lineup.

I thought the cover might be some sort of strange homage to the art on Holocaust's Heavy Metal Mania EP, but that's a pretty big stretch my brain was making.  Upon actual comparison, they only share the common theme of very unhappy-looking winged things getting impaled, and nothing else. 

Speaking of homages, the older pics in the booklet are already great, sure--obviously, it's hard to go wrong with Possessed and Slayer shirts and a length of chain.  But I was blown away to see the Prowler 7" in one of the pics.  ATTACK OF METAL STRIKE YOUR CUNT !!  It took me a few moments to figure out why there was a rather scantily-clad guy across the bottom of the picture, until I realized they were posing in a parody of the EP cover. 

Anyway, my main reason for this post is to ask if anybody has any further information on the unlisted bonus track at the end of the disc.  Let me know if you do.  My own searches didn't yield info on the mystery track, but did produce this autotranslation gem:

I dunno about Bathroom's Quorthon, but Quorthon's bathroom makes me imagine the Occulta recordings stashed behind a commode somewhere, though more realistically it was probably the place where Destroyer of Worlds was conceived.