Commercial Metal, Vol. 11

Seeing Taking Over in a TV ad feels very odd, as it's a great (and fairly musically un-commercial) album.  While the Commercial Metal posts are fun to do, I'm fully aware that the majority of bands were too small/underground to have TV commercials, so the metal hawked on TV in the 80s/90s was typically the mediocre/lower quality output of bigger bands who justified the expense.  

1987 Overkill doesn't deserve to be shilled alongside an album more for Heavy Metal Parking Lot types and '80s rawkers (to be fair, "Rock Soldiers" is ok for what it is, and it's not the band's fault Atlantic marketed Frehley's Comet as metal here) and the album that marked the start of Manowar's musical decline.

Of the Ephemeral

Your thoughts: do you think people will still be creating and listening to black and death metal music 100, 200, 500 years from now?

"There's this romantic notion of metal continuing indefinitely as some deep musical or cultural achievement.  But humanity always finds ways to express taboo and dark subjects, whether musically or not.

Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Possessed, etc., and the bands that came after resonated with us a lot, and for a variety of reasons.  Future generations will have to decide for themselves if there is anything relevant in that music, and that will say a lot about the world in which they live at the time."

Because There's No Shame in Reusing a Good Idea, Vol. 4 - Hellfire

 

Despite Quorthon's colossal influence on extreme metal, it would take 15 years for a full-fledged musical homage to the first Bathory album. Prior to Into Fire, I'm unaware of any truly blatant early Bathory worship--the Viking era always fared a little better in terms of tributes. While the '90s Norwegian and Swedish black metal scenes were built largely on the progression (or more often, regression) of ideas and elements culled from first 3 or 4 Bathory albums, there weren't any truly accurate pastiches aside from some particularly well-done covers or the odd isolated influence in individual songs.  Even in the '80s, the notable instances of Bathory influence came alongside Venom, Hellhammer/CF, Sodom, and/or general thrash and speed metal influences.  Nowadays, with the proliferation of '80s emulation, black'n'roll, and punk-infused black metal bands, it's somewhat easier to find music that approaches the Bathory s/t sound*, although again, finding early Bathory as the sole or overriding influence is rare--most of the current recordings approaching a '83/'84 Bathory-esque style owe just as much to Venom, Motörhead, and Bulldozer as to Quorthon.

There's no ambiguity with Into Fire; within a few seconds of the intro ending, it should be extremely obvious that one particular album from 1984 provides the musical template here.  The vocals (which show up right away) aren't anything unusual in a general black metal context, but they impede accurate Bathory emulation a bit, as they sound slightly artificially modulated and overly screechy. The title track is strange, as it's just "Armageddon" with minimal changes, so it seems somewhat unusual it's not just a proper cover version--why go to the trouble of creating a new title and lyrics if you're going to play the main riff unaltered anyway?  

Otherwise, the earlier tracks on the album are very good at capturing Bathory stylistically, although compositionally the songs are quite simple, with riffage that seems on the primitive side even by early Bathory standards!  The Into Fire version of  "War," titled "Rise of the Dead" (yeah...) stands out as the best track.  Obviously, this can't hold a candle (much less 13) to the Bathory album, but taken in context as a musical homage or compared to more modern sounding black metal recordings, it's still quite enjoyable. However, the final two tracks are a shame because they suddenly deviate from the formula.  "Witchride" is a slow/mid-paced number which feels very out of place--I assume it's an attempt to provide some tempo variety, but it sounds more like a plodding track from a minimalist black metal band than anything approaching "Raise the Dead."  Closer "Final Offense" is even worse, largely dispensing with the '80s stylings and sounding far more like some generic Bathory-influenced '90s Nordic BM track.

Of course, there can be no discussion of Hellfire without pointing out their MYSTERIOUS ANONYMOUSBAND status.  While it would be kind of interesting to know who's actually behind Hellfire, the main reason I want someone to spill the beans is to shut up all the ridiculous uneducated guesses being made online.  I know, I know, the ruse is that Hellfire is actually from Sweden...But teenage black metal authorities insisting it was the Nifelheim twins?  Or the Nödtveidt brothers?  Seriously?  I'd personally always heard that Hellfire was an old school diversion for either the Falkenbach fellow or one of the Veles guys, which seems plausible given the No Colours connection.  But ultimately, Into Fire is what it is, and given the persistent mystique of early Bathory, Hellfire's anonymity is only fitting.

*"Necromansy" cover notwithstanding, I will say while they're not 100% Bathory sounding, the older Occult Burial material (particularly the demo) is probably the most consistent stuff I've heard at capturing the aura of Bathory's debut, even moreso than Hellfire at times.

Because There's No Shame in Reusing a Good Idea, Vol. 3 - Guillotine

So back In a Time of Blood and Fire in the mid-late '90s, during that first retro-thrash wave, two of the Nocturnal Rites guys (rendered nearly unidentifiable thanks to thrashpervert mustaches) decided to worship Endless Pain musically.  Exactly why isn't a tale of mystery requiring much imagination--OLD KREATOR IS OBVIOUSLY KILLER.  While there are plenty of Kreator influences--particularly vocally--abound in death/thrash and more violent strains of thrash, I can't think of that many examples of truly focused and undiluted classic Kreator emulation.*  And as far as bands paying homage to the debut in any significant way?  Only the Guillotine demo and debut album come to mind; Under the Guillotine also personally ranks as my favorite retro-thrash album and ties for my favorite Necropolis Rec. release.**

Typically when music is tagged as "Kreator worship," it's a gross exaggeration.  Most often it seems to be used as a cheap marketing tactic to compare (usually far lesser) recordings to Pleasure to Kill, but it's also fairly common to see anything remotely thrashy with raspy vocals get a Kreator comparison.  Guillotine have something in their favor though:

THEY ARE BLATANTLY UNORIGINAL.

Yes, the main reason this is so Endless Pain sounding is--suprise, suprise--a good deal of the material is based on slightly changed Endless Pain riffs and chord patterns.  "Executioner" is clearly derived from "Living in Fear," "Leprosy" from "Tormentor," and "Guillotine" from "Bone Breaker."  The individual song homages are kind of dispensed with by the middle of the album (though the chorus of "Total Mayhem" definitely evokes "Pleasure to Kill"***), and instead there are multiple variations on [Kreator's] "Tormentor" mixed with slightly broader Teutonic thrash influences.

As much as these tracks sound like debut-era Kreator, Guillotine doesn't quite emulate the entire Endless Pain album as a whole.  Unfortunately, there's no attempt at Ventor-style caveman vocals, and while Spider's snarling vocals work just fine, they aren't particularly Mille sounding, either.  There are also sadly no Guillotine equivalents for some of the more speed metal-influenced songs such as "Son of Evil" or "Cry War."  Under the Guillotine is tighter and more streamlined than Endless Pain and vicious in its own way, but also less barbaric. There's a wonderful atmosphere of embryonic extreme metal savagery to the Kreator debut; it's not quite as untight as early Sodom or some of the South American stuff,  but there are definite moments where the band seem to be about to go off the rails.  Frankly, Guillotine is a bit too musically proficient to really replicate that effectively.

In most cases, clone bands are good at mimicking the sound and style of the target band, but end up writing far more mediocre (or worse) material.  I'm not going to pretend Guillotine are always fully on par with old Kreator, but simply dismissing them due to unoriginality is to overlook some fine thrash.  They are especially good at coming up with killer choruses ("Violence," "Night Stalker"), and Guillotine's own "Tormentor" is a surprisingly great non-'80s addition to the songtitle's legacy.

As if having a whole album of old Kreator sounding tracks wasn't enough, the '80s veneration even extends to the CD layout and disc face.   The Grim Reaper on the cover could have easily adorned a volume of Metal Massacre, the inner booklet tracklisting looks like it came straight off a cheapo LaserLight CD, and there is a page dedicated to CD care and handling instructions (thoughtfully provided in several languages).  REMEMBER TO USE A CLEAN CLOTH AND WIPE FROM CENTER TO EDGE.  Unfortunately, the Necropolis website/email info on the back ruin what is otherwise an impeccably done retro layout.

As with the whole Scandinavian '90s retrothrash movement as a whole, the album seems to be a bit divisive.  I can understand decrying its pure unoriginality to certain extent, but then again, that's the entire point, and hardly a quality indicator.  Amusingly, the band name alone is apparently quite triggering.  I'm also confused as to why sloppy lo-fi Destruction emulation is acceptable but Kreator emulation is not, or how someone sober could conclude Desekrator's Metal for Demons is a superior album.  Perhaps these people don't like old Kreator, which is a concept I have trouble grasping.  For the record, I've never been particularly bothered by musical emulators, clones, homages, or ripoffs, as long as the results were good.  There are exceptions, of course, but I feel there's a lot more good metal coming from bands trying to emulate old sounds and aesthetics than from bands trying to be "original" and push boundaries.  I am far more interested in enjoying a quality listening experience than broadening my musical horizons.

"Back when we did the first album, we deliberately tried to make everything sound and even look retro.  We wanted every aspect of the album to breathe the 80s - and it truly did."
- Nils Eriksson****


*I obviously haven't heard every demo out there (hopefully there's more great Kreator worship to be discovered), but prior to Guillotine, I think the best and most notable example was Necrodeath's Fragments of Insanity, which would have been a better followup to PtK than Terrible Certainty was.

**Tied with the Nifelheim debut.  Special mentions to early The Black too.

***The only real instance on the album.  I remember when this was released, I saw some reviewers and distro blurbs call it Pleasure to Kill worship--either they didn't actually listen to it and just made a false association between the band name and "Under the Guillotine," or they're nitwits who weren't well-versed in thrash metal.

****I have yet to hear the entire thing, but what I did hear from the Blood Money album was personally disappointing.  It sounded far more like newer Destruction than old Kreator glorification.  "War" lifts that riff about midway through straight from Death's "Left to Die," so at least they're still showing some commitment to rehashing classic stuff.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Yep, I finally got around to watching the Anvil documentary (much like the official Treblinka boxsets, better late than never!).  I enjoyed it for what it is, but it wouldn't rank among my top movie-watching experiences, so forget about a formal review.  It being about Anvil is a bit of a double-edged sword--certainly, I was positively predisposed towards the film just from liking their music.  On the other hand, it doesn't go into much depth about the band or their history, and it's not a metal documentary per se; it's obviously framed as a human-interest documentary about two aging bandmates trying to persevere.  Clearly the intent was to appeal to a much wider demographic than metal fans, which is no issue in itself.

It's hard for me not to be cynical about the portrayal of the band's situation.  A major narrative here is the little guy--er, band--overcoming the odds and succeeding, but the documentary makes Lips and Robb seem like overexaggerated underdogs.  Now, I'm not privy to their record sales or their post-Attic relationships with labels and management, but they were consistently releasing albums (and licensing foreign pressings*) on established labels, so clearly things were not as dire as they're made out to be in the film.  Perhaps they were not getting the visibility and recognition they desired, but there were bands far worse-off and/or crippled by obscurity than Anvil.  They wrote songs about the value of autonomy and not succumbing to trends, so it's difficult to believe they were that naive about the state of metal and the music industry 15+ years after having any significant commercial attention.  I realize Sacha Gervasi had to create a compelling story for viewers whose prior knowledge of Anvil was nonexistent, so a lot of a the footage maximizes sympathy for the band out of not-that-uncommon band situations such as low gig turnout or label rejection letters.  Maybe it's the film, maybe it's his stubborn doggedness, maybe it's a mixture of both, but Lips unfortunately comes off as a bit oblivious and Spın̈al Tappish.

I wonder if the film really had that much of a lasting impact on the band's status.  I remember the expected temporary spike in interest back when it was released, but the band appear to have been too heavy and cartoonishly lewd for even the VH1 Classic/Heavy Metal Parking Lot-20-years-later demographic.  I've personally never met or heard of anyone who became a fan of Anvil (or metal in general) just from watching the film; several non-metal fans have told me they really liked the documentary and people in it--but not the band's actual music.   It seemed to me like Juggernaut of Justice had a higher profile upon release than any of their albums since the '80s (though that impression largely comes from all those advance 2-song CD-singles ending up in the sale bins), and around 2010, one of my local record stores suddenly stocked copies of the Metal on Metal reissue.  Perhaps the visibility helped them get a Japanese licensing deal again, as coincidentally This is Thirteen and subsequent albums have all had Japanese pressings (the previous 3 did not).

Does Anvil really deserve more?  Hard to say.  Obviously I overwhelmingly favor their '80s material, but I don't consider them to have ever made any unforgivable musical missteps.**  Quality over longevity any day, but really, don't writing "Metal on Metal" and "666" earn you some slack when even your newer stuff is still fairly solid?  I'm not sure.  I can understand being repeatedly told that Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire are heavy metal classics isn't much consolation if you want a certain degree of commercial success to validate your career as a musician.  Still, Anvil haven't fared that badly; most metal bands will never be loaned a Chris Tsangarides-production-budget amount of money or have a former roadie make a critically acclaimed documentary about them.  And yet had no documentary ever been made, I don't believe anything would be significantly different--still a new album every couple years, with alliterated title of course...

Random post-viewing thoughts

• No matter how brief the appearance, any movie is immediately improved by inclusion of footage of one of the Nifelheim twins and/or Carmen Appice.

• Honestly, onstage persona aside, Lips comes off as...very boring.  I realize the blue collar family man thing fits the context of the documentary, and it's well past the heyday of the band when the majority of any debauchery was likely to happen, but c'mon...The guy's gimmick is playing guitar with a vibrator, and he came up with some fairly raunchy sex-themed songs to boot!  It's pretty disappointing that serving mac and cheese to his kid is the best footage of his home life they could come up with.   At least Robb's painting hobby was somewhat interesting.

• Speaking of raunch, were either of these chicks subject to the activities of any of the more colorful Anvil songs?  They've got kids, so they clearly weren't Backwaxing all the time, and neither of them look like they could fill a D cup:

Anvil Wives: Have They Been Doin' the Butter-Bust Jerky?

Solid fashion choices compared to the Sabotage cover

*I was extremely annoyed that the Canadian and European versions of Plenty of Power had mutually exclusive bonus tracks.

**What happened to the bawdy sex songs that used to be an Anvil staple?  I just realized when writing this post the last overt one was "Mattress Mambo" on Speed of Sound over 20 years ago!

(Should note that the first pic had nothing to do with this post, as it was created 10+ years ago (Robert Culp was still alive!) when I had the time to Photoshop metal into random images.  Since it includes Lips, I thought I may as well put it to use.)