Cannibal Corpse - Created to Kill (1995)

Ahhh... what could have been...

I understand that Cannibal Corpse is perhaps the most divisive band in death metal history and I am one of those who prefers the Barnes era, for sure. To be exact, I really only like the second two albums from the band. 'Eaten...' was a bit too thrashy for my tastes and was released during a transitional period in my life where I was dropping much of the "happy" thrash shit for the likes of Bolt Thrower, Carcass and Entombed. 'The Bleeding', for me, was an end to an era for a variety of reasons, chief and most obviously the changing of vocalists.

As much as I am not the biggest supporter of Cannibal Corpsegrinder, I wasn't very fond of The Bleeding either. Barnes' vocals sounded a wee bit tamer than usual and the music just had too much "bounce" and not enough venom. After such a morbid display of delinquency in the form of their previous full length, 'Tomb of the Mutilated', 'The Bleeding' just sounded fucking weak. As a direct continuation of that album, 'Created to Kill' pretty much carries with it the same anemic quality as its forebearer.

Had these songs been released in full length format as originally planned I probably would've had the same amount of disdain for them as I have 'The Bleeding', but since they were not and given the fairly tumultuous history that has surrounded them I cannot help but prefer them on this "lost release" over their formal appearance on CC's 'Vile' LP.

As expected, the sound quality here is a rocky road yet it is not as horrible as one would expect from a demo level release. Hearing Barnes' vocal crunch haphazardly strewn over these songs really makes me long for the old days as Corpsegrinder's Tom Araya-esque lyrical flow has just never quite fit Cannibal for me. Then again, musically, Cannibal is pretty much an entirely different band now and has been for many, many years, so...

While 'Created to Kill' is not a terrible listen by any means, it doesn't really transcend it's standing as a novelty release, either. It's not something I find myself compelled to listen to other than my initially comparing it to 'Vile'. If anything, it serves as a reminder of how "vile" sounding Cannibal truly was and how tame they've become regardless of how "shocking" they've struggled to make their lyrics throughout these long years.

Emperor/Enslaved - Emperor/Hordanes Land [ep] (1993)

This is the -ep- that made me ever so slightly warm up to black metal... the Emperor side, to be exact. The Enslaved side is gay as fuck. Yeah, yeah, right, right, sure, sure... I get that all of the homos who think that every one of their thoughts is important would love nothing more than to be homo-sexually assaulted by each and every "member" of Enslaved, but for me they've always sucked... at least until 'Monumension', which, ironically enough is the one album that all the fags just can't quite get into. Ha. Go figure.

I remember not having high hopes for this but being that I was "trying" to get into and "understand" black metal way back when (which I don't think I ever will, fully) I gave it a go nonetheless. The one song that stood out for me was 'I Am the Black Wizards'. There's a riff in there towards the mid-section that really seemed to open up my sub-conscious and lift my spirits up into the sky. The piece is truly something akin to a spiritual awakening. Following this truly majestic riff is one of the grimiest breakdowns known to Man. The rest of Emperor's side wouldn't really "stick" until years later when I obtained their 'In the Nightside Eclipse' album. Then I would truly be blown away by the absolute brilliance of this great band.

Unfortunately, the Emperor side is extremely tinny, which has always been my number one gripe against black metal bands. I have always abhorred the weak and faggoty flavored guitar sound employed by the panda bear elite. The other complaint is that it seemed as though someone turned down the volume during the mixing process. I don't know if this was some erroneous attempt on the band's behalf to sound "necro as fuck" but it doesn't. Instead it's annoying as hell and I'm grateful that the band decided to re-record these songs for their debut album.

I'm not going to say much about Enslaved's side of the split other then it sucks and I'll never understand why people speak of them as if they were the embodiment of gods. I mean, seriously, Enslaved is 'ok' at best, whether you like black metal or not. They are a perfect example of the power of hype. Endless praise from a bunch of nerds with shitty taste in music which somehow taints the minds of those who should know better.

Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

I first bought this way back in the late '80's at 'Record Breaker' (R.I.P.) in Meriden, CT. It was the pink cassette version. All I know is that the big "thing" in those days was being the fastest! At some point, D.R.I. were the unbridled kings of speed, then of course Slayer with songs such as 'Necrophobic' (probably their fastest to date) bolstering their cause and raising them to mythological levels. When I heard that there was a band called Napalm Death, I knew immediately that they were going to kick my fucking face off. I mean, Napalm fucking Death??!! How could you go wrong with a name like that? You couldn't... Just on the strength of the band's name alone I went and vamped a copy of their debut and was immediately blown away.

I always preferred side-B (with Lee Dorrian on vocals and Bill Steer on guitar) as the violence was considerably ramped up. Nothing wrong with side-A and actually after all these years I am rather fond of the occasional listen what with all of the memories it awakens, but the Dorrian/Steer version of Napalm is perhaps the most caustic that ever was and will be. A fact cemented by the band's next album, 'From Enslavement to Obliteration'.

Scum is and will always be a very important album in my life as it was a giant leap forward and away from a lot of the "happy" thrash that I admittedly had a good bit of in my tape collection. It pretty much set me on a one way journey to seek out other extreme releases and my tastes were forever altered from then on. Oddly, Scum is an album that I grew out of fairly quick, at least once I began to discover albums that I considered to be more to my liking such as Deicide's debut, Pestilence 'Consuming Impulse', early Obituary and pretty much the entire Earache catalog in those days. Scum quickly became more of a novelty record. Something you put on to blow your friend's minds with by its sheer velocity and rage. When alone and out for a walk, etc. I found myself craving something a bit less chaotic. I'm probably one of the very few people on Earth who prefers the Greenway/Pintado/Harris era starting from Harmony Corruption and (for me) ending with Inside the Torn Apart. After that album everything just sounded like one long continuous tired retread of the band's early-mid '90's releases.

After the band's sophomore album I couldn't see them going on like that. They gave it one last go with the Mentally Murdered -ep- before Steer and Dorrian flew the coop to pursue wildly different musical paths. Carcass maybe not so different (in the beginning at any rate) but ND would permanently change their sound, style and technique for good after that, essentially becoming a completely different (and in my opinion, better) band.

For what it's worth, Scum is a milestone of anything to be considered "extreme" within the metal genre save for perhaps doom. Every time you hear a blast beat, be it in a black metal song, death metal or grindcore, rest assured that that is the result of the influence of this album. If there was no Napalm there would be no Terrorizer or Morbid Angel and without the latter death metal bands worldwide may very well be relying on the good old "skank" to get their speed across, even to this day. So while I may have grown bored with Scum many moons ago, make no mistake... it is and will always be one of the albums that changed my life.

Andrei Chikatilo as a clown

Sodom - Persecution Mania (1987)

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure a bunch of faggy thrash "enthusiasts" will find their hineys in an uproar after I proclaim this album to be mediocre at best. Fuck 'em. The fact of the matter is that listening to this after the insanely vicious 'Expurse of Sodomy' -ep- was like having some kid come up to you and tag you with a squirt gun right after you just had your head blown off by a bazooka. I mean, talk about anti-fucking-climactic.

Don't get me wrong, this aint a "bad" album, it's just fucking weak, not to mention predictable. If there's one thing that annoys the fucking shit out of me it's a predictable thrash album loaded with riff sequences that seem as if they will not end. Obituary's real fucking good for that one. Don't believe me? Try 'The End Complete'. If you disagree than you are a bonafide fucking moron.

Personally, I think the boys should've held out a little longer until the release of 'Agent Orange', then again, maybe making this stupid fucking album is what was needed in order for things to come full circle.

Persecution Mania is also where Sodom started throwing in annoying punk songs sung in German. The only real winner hear is the guy with the gas-mask on the cover as he so obviously came prepared for this stinker of an album.

Sodom - Expurse of Sodomy [ep] (1987)

Perhaps the anomaly among Sodom's releases as the band were beginning to hone their skills as musicians yet still managing to retain that evil vibe of their earlier works. Hell, I'd even go so far as to deem this their most evil sounding release to date. I'll never forget hearing the beginning riff of 'Sodomy & Lust' and then hearing for the first time Tom Angelripper's evil witch cackle chime in (yes, this was my first excursion into Sodom). I was fucking mesmerized and blown away at the same time. Prior to this 'Reign in Blood' was pretty much the "be all end all" of metal to me, so to hear the stakes raised like this was a bit shocking to me. I had pretty much assumed, hell, I'd have even guaranteed that NO ONE would have been able to surpass the aural bestiality committed on Slayer's crowning achievement until my soul was ripped out from within me, raped and spat upon by this hostile little 'ep'.

Admittedly I was a wee bit bummed when 'Persecution Mania' came out. I was expecting the same ripping savagery of 'Expurse...' yet I did, and still do find 'Agent Orange' to be a masterpiece and perhaps the band's pinnacle moment, but for the experience of sheer violence, nothing quite does it for me like 'Expurse of Sodomy'!