SEPULTURA: "BENEATH THE REMAINS" AND "ARISE"

Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" (1989) and "Arise" (1991). Back in my teen years I was huge fan of thrash and death metal. Two of the bands from this genre that have really stuck with me over the years are Slayer and Sepultura. Sepultura may seem like they shouldn't be metioned in the same sentence with Slayer, but let me tell you they are just as good or better than than Slayer was in their prime. Sepultura on their first two releases "Beneath the Remains" and "Arise" crank out some seriously infectious, blistering, downright evil metal packed with anger, foreboding and apocalyptic lyrics, and plenty of addictive sinister grooves. Both of these albums I had on tape way back in the day. I lost all my tapes in a fire, and Sepultura fell by the way side. For some reason I never repurchased them. That is, until today. I just purchased them this morning. Both of these albums absolutely blew me away when I re-listened to them after almost fifteen years. They are more powerful today that they were back when they were first released, in my opinion.

Around the time my interest in really heavy metal was waining I began to get into Ministry. Their apocalyptic industrial thrash/metal in my opinion could not be beat. Well, let me tell you something. Sepultura's music from these first two releases is just as heavy and intense as anything Ministry has ever put out. Also they heavily draw on Slayer's best two releases "Reign In Blood" and "South of Heaven" without sounding derivative in any way. They crank out the high octane aggression that would make Al Jourgensen jealous and load it with the most evil riffs and grooves this side of hell.

Ok, let's get down to business here. 'Beneath the Remains" is Sepultura's first release from 1989. These guys were really young back then, most in their late teens. Man, is this a heavy album. Loaded with blinding tempos, speed and aggression that borders on hardcore, and always an ear for the apocalyptic, crushing riff. Nothing to complain about here. Vocalist Max Cavalera's Brazilian accent really comes through on here. In my opinion, one of the heaviest and enjoyable thrash/hardcore/death metal releases of all time.

Next there is what I consider to be Sepultura's masterpiece: 1991's "Arise". The perfect metal album. Just as heavy as "Beneath the Remains", but slowed down a little. The all mighty evil riff takes control here, but the aggression never lets up either. The songwriting has improved immensely, with complex texturing and dizzying winding riffs throughout. Everything on this CD flows seamlessly. The lyrics are very prophetic...they sound like something straight from a Ministry album.

If you're into metal, you need to pick up both of these. They are a must have for your collection. Here's "Inner Self" from "Beneath the Reamins" and "Dead Embryonic Cells" from "Arise".

SLAYER: REIGN IN BLOOD

Slayer's "Reign in Blood" (1986) is one of the most influential and powerful thrash/speed metal albums ever recorded. It is full of blindingly fast tempos, blazing, evil riffs and mid-paced sinister grooves. The vocals and morbid lyrics are delivered with a malicious intensity. The fast, seemingly atonal and out of left field guitar solos sound as if they came from hell itself. Not quite as morbidly melodic and addictive as their 1988 follow up album "South of Heaven" (my personal favorite) it packs a lethal punch just the same. "Reign in Blood" is an album that helped spawned the genre of death metal, and it is still widely imitated today. All tracks are great, bleeding together in a blinding burst of speed. Before you know it, it's over and you want to play it again. Highly recommended. Here's "Angel of Death", one of my favorite songs from the CD. Enjoy.

CORONER: MENTAL VORTEX

Coroner's "The Mental Vortex" (1991) is the group's finest release. It is a bit slower than their previous masterpiece "Die By My Hand", sacrificing speed for more power and a deeper more complex sound. The music is dark and dissonant, with slow to mid pace grooves and rich, complex, discordant riffing throughout. The album is chock full of evil grinding riffs. Ron Royce's vocals are stark and depressive, and Marky's guitar playing is adventurous, ranging from jazz fusion, to psychedelia, to churning, dissonant, mid-paced thrash. After this release, Coroner became harder to categorize than ever. Impossible to pin down to the trappings of thrash metal, on this release their sound is truly a form of art rock, mixing elements of jazz fusion, metal, and a machine like dissonance that is completely their own, and has inspired industrial metal bands such as Ministry and Skrew. "'The Mental Vortex" starts off fast and brutal with "Divine Step" then slowing down a bit but growing more intense until the final track...an excellent cover of The Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". An incredible album, and highly recommended. Here's "Sirens" and "Son of Lilith'.

VOIVOD: DIMENSION HATROSS

Voivod is a highly original French-Canadian, progressive, futuristic cyber-metal band. Their material throughout the 1980's was very guitar heavy and thrash metal oriented infused with psychedelia and highly experimental guitar work and rhythms. They got some of their strange sound by playing riffs from 1970's prog rock bands backwards, and their agonizing first album "War and Pain" demonstrates this. My favorite album of theirs from the 1980's is their masterpiece "Dimension Hatross"(1988). It is one of the heaviest, well written, addictive yet disorienting metal albums I have ever heard. The dissonant, psychedelic, and machine-like guitar playing of Piggy is inhuman. The relentless drumming of Away and the aggressive and distorted bass playing of Blacky add fuel to Piggy's guitar work. Snake's vocals are chillingly cold and cybernetic yet tuneful. The lyrics are creative and very science fiction oriented. "Dimension Hatross" is about a cyborg from outer space, The Voivod, who creates a micro-galaxy of his own design. As the album progresses you see some of the events that unfold in this galaxy and the problems that arise from being the creator of your own universe.

"Dimension Hatross" is an album that I have never grown tired of. Listening to it today, it still sounds at least 100 years ahead of it's time. In late 1989, Voivod would release "Nothingface", a highly melodic and polished prog-rock masterpiece, and would venture into a phase of more accessible sounding yet still adventurous and excellent music...but that is for another day. From their cyber-thrash days of the 1980's, "Dimension Hatross" is their best release. Highly recommended.

Here's "Tribal Convictions" and Psychic Vacuum".

MINISTRY'S "PSALM 69: THE WAY TO SUCCEED AND THE WAY TO SUCK EGGS"

Let's take a trip back in time to 1992. The time of the first Iraq war, the year I graduated high school. The music scene at the time was pretty good with bands like Soungarden and Nirvana starting to make it big. Anyway, I went to Lollapalooza 2 that summer and saw Ministry play live, just a few months after their devastatingly heavy new album "Psalm 69" was released. I remember Al Jourgensen came out wearing a big George Bush mask as "N. W. O." started playing and the whole crowd went wild. What a show!

"Psalm 69" is a masterpiece of industrial metal. Ministry were in perfect form on this album...at their peak actually. "Psalm 69" is the perfect blend of Ministry's brand of industrial rock and super heavy thrash metal. The production on this CD is so loud and full it is frightening and Al Jourgensen's angry vocal delivery is top notch. On "Psalm 69", Ministry create the perfect soundtrack to the apocalypse driven by an intensity that has never been matched sense. If you haven't heard this album, go out and get it now. It will not disappoint.

Here's "N.W.O" and "Just One Fix". Enjoy!

N.W.O. - Ministry

CORONER'S "NO MORE COLOR"

Coroner are a highly innovative progressive thrash/speed metal band that peaked in the late '80's/early '90's. Their sound is vicious and heavy, with blazing tempos, bizarre chords and tunings, and desperate, lost in a vortex vocals. Their music gives you the feeling of being lost in a cold, mechanical world that is spinning out of control. Their influence is far reaching. It is especially heard in the music of industrial metal bands Ministry and Skrew. Their best album is "No More Color". It is a stark, pleading piece of desperation and hopelessness. From beginning to end it punishes you, with songs such as "No Need to Be Human" and "Tunnel of Pain". You will not walk away from this album in a better mood, but you will want to come back for more again and again.

Coroner was one of those bands that pushed metal outside of it's limits, almost into the realm of art-rock. They were too strange to make it big in the thriving metal scene of their time. They sustained themselves throughout their career on a small but loyal cult following.

Give "No More Color" a try. You won't be disappointed.

Here's "Read My Scars" and "Die By My Hand" from "No More Color".

Read My Scars - Coroner

Die by My Hand - Coroner