Lee Aaron - Two Masculine Names, One Mediocre Album

I'm not going to comment on the pic, since Mses. Pesch and Greening aren't looking their best here, and besides, it's not like I would have turned down a sexual favor from either.  However, if you were excited about Lee Aaron's inclusion over any of the other bands whose logos appear on the cover, you are a truly sick individual and should leave this blog immediately.

One of my eventual plans for this blog is a regular feature based on brutally honest reviews of females in metal bands (particularly '80s), both in terms of looks and music (Spoiler alerts: Acid and Holy Moses are terribly overrated, one of the greatest female contributions to metal ever was done by a pop/rock songwriter under a pseudonym, and you're probably safe from valid criticism withering misogynistic attacks if you're in a deathdoom band). This post could be considered somewhat of a precursor to that, except, well, Metal Queen...isn't very metal. Sure, there's some present, and given Lee's musical output both before and after, it's surprisingly heavy at times. But I suspect those who overpraise this and take the album title literally are more likely to consider Helix and Kick Axe to be classic '80s Canadian metal than Exciter and Anvil.

I never thought of Lee Aaron as a world-class beauty, but she was attractive in her 20s, and certainly hotter than most females associated with rock music. It could be argued that Lee's topless photos for Oui are more interesting than her music ever was, but given her smallish tits and severely overdone hair/makeup, I never found them all that titillating. Unfortunately, she remained clothed in later pictures with less exaggerated coifs, although she still had a penchant for odd photoshoots--posing with truck exhaust stacks, wielding a crowbar, and of course the whole Metal Queen budget barbarian thing.

The album's guitar sound may lean towards the heavy--yet polished--side, but there are only two actual metal tracks on Metal Queen. The solemn intro and epic aspirations of the title track initially point to Dio, although it clearly also wants to be a simplistic, catchy Twisted Sister/Quiet Riot-type anthem (complete with gang vocals in the chorus).   The solo section is genuinely great, and I also hear some Thor undercurrents in the main riff--with some minor tweaking, it wouldn't sound terribly out of place on Only the Strong. "Deceiver" is the album's speedy tune; it opens like Loudness circa '85 and then settles into the Priest veneration typical of the heavier strain of '80s mainstream metal.

As for the rest of the album, well, "Lady of the Darkest Night" is pretty catchy, and "Steal Away Your Love" is notable for its valuable information on dealing with rapists since Lee really sounds like Leather Leone at some points. The rest is rather unspectacular chorus-driven hard rock.  "Shake It Up" is a upbeat, goofy rocker that seems to take a mildly anti-disco lyrical stance.  The Cars' song of the same name is far more menacing.  The exceedingly corny "We Will Be Rockin'" may as well be titled "C'mon Rawkers Let's Rawk."

Lee would have been quite a formidable female metal vocalist had she had consistently heavy stuff to sing on. She reminds me of Jan Melanson from the first Reckless album (ironically, another Canadian release that typically has its metalness greatly exaggerated) mixed with Ann Boelyn and Leather Leone (though not quite as gritty and husky as either).

The two metal songs are solid quality-wise (PROTIP: get the Australian promo 7" if you want all killer, no filler) and I wouldn't hesitate to throw them on for some occasional variety. They were never in the running as contenders for truly great metal songs, though--female-fronted or otherwise.

Finally, the video of the title track:

The monk being set ablaze by the sort of flame-spewing prop you'd see at the end of a monster truck show is pretty neat, but the laughable green laser effect almost immediately negates it.  A certain level of schlockiness should be expected and even welcomed with any larger budget '80s videos, but this is frankly just C-grade shit compared to videos such as "Holy Diver," "Last in Line," or "Fear No Evil."

AMON GUITARIST ASSAULTS DRUNKEN RAPE ROCKER

 

Here's the full Deicide set; Duce appears during "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned" at 18:51:

Never seen Glen address this incident.  I would assume it was a non-event for him, but he definitely seems like someone who would have appreciated the Mentors.  On the other hand, I get the impression that the Hoffman brothers tend to be the humorless sort (although really, how true can that be if you allow someone named Jechael in your band?).

Of course, this wasn't the only Deicide-related drama during the '92 Metalfest--according to Ted Kirkpatrick, Deicide threatened not to play if Tourniquet wasn't knocked off the bill.  Yeah, in theory it's kind of lame, but it's hard to be sympathetic given Tourniquet's output after their first three albums.  Tourniquet wasn't the only no-show listed on the flyer, as Cirith Ungol had dissolved months before the fest; if I remember correctly, they were still listed on Metalfest promotional material for a deceptively long time.

The rising popularity of death metal combined with pay-to-play logistics and overstuffed band lineups made the 1992 iteration feel like an oddly transitional fest even before multi-stage antics.  Previous Metalfest rosters were largely thrash dominated and unerringly metal-focused for the most part, aside from weird genre-nebulous outliers (Last Crack) and the smattering of more HC/punk-associated bands (yeah yeah, I guess Ludichrist, '88 Cro-Mags, Impulse Manslaughter, etc. are defensible enough, but if you're the type of oddball who would prefer seeing Murphy's Law over a New Renaissance Rec. signee, why are you even here?).  By 1992, the focus was clearly on death metal, although as the musical extremity increased, so did the amount of non-metal acts.  The plot gradually shifted to a largely death metal fest with some odd shit added; by the mid '90s, it seemed less like a decent metal festival and  more like a gauntlet of numerous opening sets to be endured in order to catch Venom, Sodom, Exodus, or some semi-interesting mid-tier band.  I skipped on the final years, and while the lineups concentrated heavily on death and black metal, the bands were largely mediocre, either from their inception or through hanging around past their primes long enough to wear out their welcome (on the plus side, it seems like the overtly non-metal stuff was toned down, or at least seemed more diluted due to the huge volume of bands).

I didn't intend for this to be a general Milwaukee Metalfest post, but I wanted to get some thoughts down, as unfortunately I don't anticipate scraping together enough material for a separate dedicated post.  A reason for this is the lack of documentation--even after a few minutes of searching, I found nothing online about UFO's ridiculous 1995 soundcheck and the ensuing clusterfuck.  I feel reasonably certain Michael Angelo Batio played a quad guitar one year, but that also yielded nothing (was it ever documented by a primitive Geocities or Angelfire site that has been lost to time, or was it merely a Nitro-induced fever dream in my mind?).  

They may not be able to carry a post on their own, but witnessing Cronos' neat stripey pants and that weird version of Destruction fronted by the alternative rock-looking guy are metal memories to cherish and enjoy nonetheless.

Commercial Metal, Vol. 10 (part 2)

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.