Archive for September, 2009

Nike SB Demo at Wilson Skatepark, Chicago. Theotis Beasley

King Diamond has to be the most unique character in the world of heavy metal. Having a career that has spanned a quarter century and divided between time in Mercyful Fate and his self-titled band, the man shows no sign of letting up. Metal Blade Records will be reissuing two classic King Diamond albums on October 13th, just one day before my birthday!

The Spider’s Lullaby and The Graveyard have both been re-mastered by King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque and are set to be released on October 13th. Each album will include bonus material that purchasers will be able to obtain digitally. Both The Spider’s Lullabye and The Graveyard will include live “bootleg” versions (with video footage) of the following songs: “The Spider’s Lullabye” from the album of the same name, and ‘Trick Or Treat’ and ‘Up From The Grave’ from The Graveyard.

The King had this to say about the upcoming reissues:

“Andy LaRocque re-mastered both records and you can really hear more details and sounds that I remember recording but didn’t come through in the original mastering. The records have much more bottom end this time around. There’s even more details and clarity than the original version and you’ll hear things you’ve never heard before in both releases. Andy did a great job re-mastering and improving these albums above and beyond my expectations. The artwork has also been completely redone for Spiders and Graveyard and is just amazing. I did not expect them to come out this good and am just completely thrilled with the result.

We originally were going to include bonus footage on the albums as a CD-ROM,but the sound and video quality was going to suffer tremendously and that is just unacceptable. Instead, the bonus footage is going to be available for download to those who purchase the albums. The video downloads will be available in multiple formats so everyone can see them”

In related King Diamond news, Both King Diamond and Mercyful Fate have worked out a deal with C1rca Shoes to have featured artwork on several of their sneakers, the first pair set to arrive in October 2009 with more to follow in 2010.

Related links:

King Diamond website

King Diamond on myspace

Metal Blade Records

The Accused – The Curse of Martha Splatterhead CD
Southern Lord Recordings

In the mid to late 1980s, The Accused were one of the premier “crossover” bands and probably played a large part in forming that style of music that became so popular back then, and later went on to influence such genres as grindcore. Their spin on the metal/punk fusion was unlike any other at the time and they dubbed their sound “splatter rock”. They put out a few albums back then that are now considered classics and genre defining. Eventually the band split in the early 1990s and reformed in 2003 for a brief time before 3/4 of the band left guitarist/founding member Tommy Niemeyer on his own as they formed a new band, Toe Tag.

After a break that lasted a few years, Tommy recruited replacement musicians and decided to continue on still using the name The Accused. He stands as the only original member left and historically only one member that isn’t the singer, whose sound was such an identifiable feature,  carrying on the band usually nets bad results (see Jerry Only’s version of “The Misfits” as an example). I was quite skeptical at the though of this new version of The Accused but when I found out they got signed to Southern Lord I became very curious to hear them because that label as some really good taste in bands.

Upon the first song starting, some of the sound had a familiar feel to it like The Accused I remembered. The new vocalist has a sound pretty similar to Blaine’s but not quite and screeching. The songs were pretty short, most clocking in under three minutes and while they were fast, they felt a bit less chaotic than early Accused material and the riffs sounded more deliberate and less like random chainsaw cuts. The music is still generally fast and heavy with some tempo changes in there and the vocals are hard, angry and powerful. This new guy while no Blaine certainly got the job done and if I just listened to the album with a clear mind not trying to compare it to the past, overall is is a pretty solid metalcore album with some satisfying riffs and one that packs a wallop.

While I will miss The Accused of old, I’m happy to report this new version taken with the mindset that it is just a whole new band did an admirable job of delivering the goods and was a pretty nice surprise.

Related links:

The Accused official website

The Accused on myspace

Order the CD from amazon.com

Southern Lord Recordings

The Weirdos were one of the first and one of the absolute best punk rock bands ever in the whole world. I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad Weirdos song and their Dangerhouse single is one of the best slabs of punk vinyl ever to be pressed.

When Frontier Records first released this collection of Weirdos songs, it was one of the most exciting days of my record buying life at the time when I walked into a record store and saw this on the shelf, not even aware that it was coming out. Of course this was on the inferior CD format, but at the time that was all that was available. Eventually it was released on the correct vinyl format and has been pressed on a couple of different colors. I was lucky enough to receive with my Rikk Agnew LP the latest color of this fine LP.

The Weirdos – Weird World Volume One on opaque pink vinyl

It was just pressed on limited edition opaque pink vinyl. I think it looks pretty sweet like bubblegum with white marbling in the pink vinyl. It also comes with an insert.

The album can be acquired for a very fair postage paid price direct from the Frontier Records website, or I’m sure your local store may have it if they have any kind of good taste in products. Thanks to the fine ladies at Frontier Records for sending this over.

Those wonderful ladies over at Frontier Records sent over a couple of new colored vinyl releases, the first of which is the first solo album by punk rock legend Rikk Agnew.

Rikk Agnew – All By Myself LP on clear vinyl

For those who don’t know, Rikk Agnew is a punk rock guitar pioneer who has played in some of the best bands ever including the Adolescents, D.I. and the original Christian Death! On this album he played every instrument himself and it includes his rendition of the classic D.I. song “OC Life”. This now comes on limited edition clear vinyl. Any fan of the bands Rikk has played in needs to have a copy of this in their own punk vault.

If you want one of these attractive see-thru records, you can get it straight from the label at the Frontier Records website.

Flipper – Love CD
MVD Audio

I can’t believe it has now been 30 years since the band Flipper started, which means I’m really starting to get up there in age! Of course it also means so are they as the members of Flipper all have about ten years on me but they don’t seem to let age slow them down as they are still at it, albeit after a 15 year hiatus from recording new material.

After reforming a couple years ago with Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic taking over the bass duties of the late Will Shatter and playing sporadic shows, the band finally sat down and wrote some new material. Love features ten new Flipper tunes that mostly prove the old men still have it, even though time has softened them up just a bit.

The sound of this album is a bit less abrasive than any previous Flipper albums (though admittedly I never heard the last one they did for American Recordings) and this is easily their most accessible album, however it still maintains enough of that classic Flipper feel to feel authentic. The songs are a bit on the long side, they are mid-tempo and dirgey. The rhythm section seems the most prominent in the mix, especially the bass and the whole thing has a dirty and gritty underlying tone. The vocals are still angry and honestly if you told me this was an early 1990s Sub Pop record I would believe you. It comes as no surprise that it has that feel since Jack Endino was the one who recorded this and he was at the helm for all those great old Sub Pop singles.

There’s not a whole lot of diversity in the sound between the different songs but Flipper songs always had a similar feel to me before so that’s nothing new. Overall this was a really good listen from start to finish and a lot more digestible than some of their early work (though once you acquired the taste for Flipper you understand the magic of those early albums and singles) and is a very good addition to the Flipper catalog. Not a bad comeback after nearly 15 years of lying dormant!

Related links:

Order the CD from amazon.com

MVD Audio

Flipper on myspace

Flipper official website