07042014 - Anguished "Cold"

Oh, the totally blood curdling screams of Anguished's vocalist and handler of all instruments except for the drums on this most chilling of black metal albums! Possessed Demoness, for it is indeed a woman behind those tortured wails, ice cold riffs and howling solos, has not chosen her name randomly, because she does indeed sound both possessed and demonic on these hymns to Satan and suicide, that in addition to sounding like pained cries of despair from a truly tortured soul, also possess a haunting and melodic dark - oh, so very dark - beauty! On some tracks, such as "Come to Me Satan" and "September Nights", she uses different voices, to great effect, making the spine chilling shrieks sound even more darkly deranged next to the more - dare I say - human sounding singing. Although I am positive that this Finnish hell siren will be far from everybody's cup of sacrificial virgin's blood, I really enjoy this in some sick and deranged way!

06042014 - Acid "Maniac"

I have not listened enough to this Belgian band that existed during the first half of the eighties. It's been one of those cases where, whenever you hear a song by the band, you say "I really need to check them out properly!" and then time goes... Well, finally I have taken the time to check out a full album. And I love it! The riffs, the songs, Kate De Lombaert's amazing voice - it's all so very good! This was their second album, of three in total, released in 1983. In my ears there's no good reason why Acid could not have gone on to the same success as, say Warlock, apart from bad luck and perhaps poor management or an inadequate record label? The songs are as strong as those on "Burning the Witches" and De Lombaert's voice is just as commanding as those of Doro Pesch, Chastain's Leather Leone, Hellion's Ann Boleyn or Zed Yago's Jutta Weinhold, simultaneously strong as steel and full of heart and soul! Apparently she's not done rock or metal since this band, which is a shame, but at least with an album like this on your CV there's bound to be a huge interest should they decide to get the band back together again! And with Hellion having resurrected these days, why not Acid?

05042014 - The Ceyleib People "Tanyet"

Today we go psychedelic! This 1967 album blends experimental blues with traditional Indian music and is at least as heavy on the sitar as the guitar, the latter partly courtesy of Ry Cooder. It has been described as Captain Beefheart meets Ravi Shankar, and I suppose that's not too far off. The album consists of two pieces, "Aton" and "Aton II", both divided into shorter parts, much like a classical composition. It is intriguing and mildly hypnotic at times, and some parts are pretty catchy, which is relatively impressive for an instrumental album! In addition to Cooder, there are musicians here who went on to play with artists and bands such as Bread, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond and The Dillards, to name a few. Psychedelia heaven for some, hippy hell for others, probably an amusing footnote to most.

04042014 - Electrocutes "Steal Yer Lunch Money"

Electrocutes were basically The Donnas, but still not the same band. The four members started out as The Electrocutes, then formed The Donnas some years later and kept the two bands going simultaneously. This album - their only - was even released a year after the first Donnas record, and this album was released in the same year as The Donnas' second! So, what's the main difference? This is way rougher, punkier and more abrasive, and the 14 songs here are angry explosions of fuzz, noise and shouts. None of these songs break the 2 minute mark, and the shortest are a mere 47 seconds long, so there's no time to get bored here. One could argue that it's not very well played and the songs are the tiniest bit repetitive, but that would just be admitting to be a boring old fart. However, it's understandable why they decided to focus fully on The Donnas...

03042014 - Agent Orange "Living In Darkness"

Why have I never checked out this band before? From the opener "Bloodstains" (Their first single, not originally on the album in its original version, but included as the first song on this re-release), this is brilliant, angry, raw and slightly melodic punk rock with the tiniest metal edge. And what do you know - all of a sudden they tear into a rough version of the Dick Dale chestnut "Miserlou"! I'm gonna make this a short post since it'a a short album, but if you like american punk rock from before the skate punk revolution (even though Agent Orange bassist Steve Soto was a part of that as well, as a member of The Adolescents) you will enjoy ever so bleak piece of Orange County (pooh - clever name) music history!

02042014 - Wild Bill Davis & Charlie Shavers "The Music From Milk & Honey"

I really just stumbled across this album, looking for something else, but started listening and this is pretty cool! We have Wild Bill Davis, an artist I had never heard about, playing the organ like nobody's business and trumpeter Charlie Shavers, blowing that instrument with a whole lotta heart and even more soul. It's relatively basic stuff, and musically not very complex, but the two instrumentalists complement each other in a way where the sum definitely is bigger than the two parts. Shavers comes across as the virtuoso of the two, while Davis is more an efficient lounge jazz musician, but all in all this album should go perfectly well with a dry martini.

01042014 - The Dogs "The Tears Are Voodoo"

Talk about opening with a punch! The first song on "The Tears Are Voodoo", the hard hitting "You Drive", is all farfisa, guitars and semi-distorted vocals with the line "I would have hit the bottle/if it didn't hit back" a strong contender for Lyric of the Year! Apparently nobody in the band, except vocalist Kristopher Schau, are playing their usual instrument of preference, but it's obvious that they all are more than capable of handling their chosen instruments in The Dogs as well, because this is as tight as hell! The brilliantly named songs "Armed And Fairly Well Equipped" and "Crime Is Sexy" are even cooler than their titles suggest, and "Do You Remember Me Now" sounds both dangerous and sexy, being lifted towards the end by a nifty harmonica solo! If you're not hooked by the last song on the album, the brooding "Is This Any Better", you clearly don't love wonderful rock! With this being a relatively short album there's no risk of getting bored, but chances are pretty high that you want to hit the repeat button. Repeatedly!