Apparition is a three piece band consisting of Brett Clarion (guitar), Andy Marchione (guitar, bass, vox), Mike Hymson (drums). The two songs on this 7-inch are both heavy, slow Death. Andy’s vocals are understandable, yet still rather raw. Very heavy. The overall effect is somewhat like a slower Entombed, but not quite as heavy guitar-wise. Or a faster Winter, although the beginning of “Curse the Sunrise” is easily Winter slow. This is worth the money.

Anthrax is back for another try, and this time they are supposed to be angry, not the happy bunch of guys who did “I’m the Man.” Yeah. Joey’s vocals are a problem and always have been. He tries to sing too slow for the song or he simply can not sound convincing. Only rarely do his vocals work for the song. I think Joey wants Anthrax to turn into Whitesnake or something like that, I think he would be more comfortable singing that shit. Perhaps it’s time to look for a different vocalist. Having said that, let me attack the actual songs. They, for the most part, just don’t grab me. I only found “Discharge” and “Got the Time” to be real moshers, although I also liked the instrumental “Intro to Reality.” Of these three songs one is a cover and one has no lyrics. Maybe this album would have been better off as a 12-inch single. I don’t know what happened to Anthrax over the years, but I guess they never did have an album in which all the tracks were good. This album is nowhere near as powerful as was needed at this point, but the potential remains.

{I was happy for this band when I heard that they finally wised up and got rid of Joey Belladonna, replacing him with former Armored Saint frontman John Bush, on their impressive Sound of White Noise album. However, their flirt with greatness wouldn’t last, as they recruited former-and-still-at-heart Glam Rocker “Douchbag” Darrell from Pantrea to “help” with their very next release, and so made me give up on them (again). Some bands are just destined to fester, I guess.}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

This album features new vocalist Coburn Pharr (ex-Omen), who replaced Randy Rampage. His vocal style shows some promise, but unfortunately, he doesn’t always deliver. Occasionally Coburn sings in an aggressive, fierce manner, which is how he should. Sometimes he sounds a lot like Steve Grimmett (ex. Grim Reaper & Onslaught), which isn’t really so bad, it’s just kind of annoying, knowing what he can do. Musically, Annihilator has always been interesting and often down right intense. The lyrics are especially stupid in one song, “Kraf Dinner,” but other than that, they are mostly acceptable. Some of the songs are very aggressive and heavy, while others are simply strange, like the title track (the weakest one on the album). I think that this LP would have been better suited as a five song EP, including the following songs: “Road to Ruin,” “Imperiled Eyes,” “Phantasmagoria,” “Reduced to Ash,” and “I Am in Command.” As far as second releases go, Never, Neverland is not bad, but it could have been a Hell of a lot better.

{It has always pissed me off when bands change their style to fit with what’s popular at the moment. I’ve been told Annihilator did exactly that, and currently sport a NWOHSCPM [New Wave of Homosexual So-Called Power Metal, which would eventually become known as Nu-Metal. -Editor] sound. But I wouldn’t know myself, since after this album I more or less gave up on them anyway.}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

About the first minute of the first song, “So Perfect,” has a strange production defect, at least on my copy. But after that, the rest of the song is very brutal Thrash. As are the other two songs, “Fit of Madness” and “Decayed World.” This demo has a color cover that depicts (I believe) a tube (from an amp) exploding at the edge of a graveyard. Weird. I have heard more original demos and demos that were more memorable, but Beyond the Decay is above average and worth a listen.

This five song Deathrash demo has a number of strong points: First, Abe’s vocals are interesting and you can understand the lyrics, yet they are still somewhat heavy. Second, the music sounds pretty mean and it’s fast. However, the production isn’t the best and although it’s not really that bad, it is enough to detract somewhat. Also, while the songs sound good and are heavy when you are actually listening to them, they are not very memorable. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like this band. I just think they could be better. And with a little fine tuning and some more money to blow on recording, they will be a major force. I have the feeling that Aftermath A.D. is probably better represented live, but you should still check this out.

On this demo, the band uses 6 backing vocalists, which help greatly. Most of the vox are done in a choppy Death style. The music is a rough and heavy Thrash. This six-song demo shows a lot of innovation, especially considering that it was recorded in April of 1990. Had I reviewed this then, I would probably given Resting in Your Grave a markedly higher rating. I hope to hear more current works by Abominog. If they continued to grow, they would be excellent.

Noisecore, Blurrcore: Meat Shits. These guys (and girl) are perverted as you can get. The songs (if you would dare to use that term) are just little bits of Death noise with some funny lines from various movies (porno and regular) thrown in for fun. This tape contains 134 “songs.” They are mostly the same, with only the soundbites having any difference. Meat Shits suck, there has never been any doubt, but I like it. What can I say? Favorite titles include: “Fuck Off Cunt,” “Use Three Fingers,” “Elvis Danzig” and “Satan’s Buttplug.” This is supposed to be funny, so sit back and have a good laugh on the Shits.

{After releasing numerous demos and 7-inch EPs, the Meat Shits finally recorded a full-length album for Moribund Records, entitled Ecstasy of Death. At least two more albums of new material, and an album’s worth of cover songs were recorded after Ecstasy…’s release, but thanks to some problems with ‘Shits main man Robert Deathrage, that material has (at the time of this writing) never been released. Mr. Deathrage has also disappeared from the Underground…}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

Ghost Story hails from Atlanta. The band is comprised of Chris Baker (lead guitar), Chris Cauble (bass), Devin Denuyl (drums) and Rob Thompson (vocals/ guitar). This demo is a little dated, it was released in 1989, and their new one should be ready about now. Anyway this band is extremely talented. Chris Cauble’s bass style reminds me of Steve Harris (Iron Maiden), that is to say: he fucking rules! No shit, Seeds of Destruction is excellent. Musically this band sounds like Iron Maiden (skill), Slayer (intensity), Nuclear Assault (vocals, style) and early Metallica (vocals, conviction). This combination of sounds is very interesting. The first song, the title track, has a cool bass solo, but I think my favorite is the last track, “The Enemy Within.” This four song demo is a must-have. Like I said, the new demo will be out any second now, so ask about it too!

{I really had high hopes for this band, but they could just never get a break. After just one more demo (which if I recall correctly, was delayed for a very long time before its release, and didn’t quite live up to the extremely high standard of this one anyway), Ghost Story broke up. Chris Cauble then joined his brother (who was then in the band Catacomb - at a time when I knew of at least three active bands worldwide using that name), and formed a new band called Monster. They released one demo, and disappeared. Hopefully I’ve not heard the last of the Cauble brothers.}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

This demo has only two songs, both of which show a lot of talent and creativity. The vocals are a small problem, but they grow on you. Fatal Sin has a real mastery of going from slow acoustical parts to fast slam parts. I only wish that there were more songs on this tape. The better of the two is the second, “Intense Distress.” The other song, “Fatal Sin,” is just slightly less great. The production is excellent, for a demo. This tape’s only real fault is that it only contains two songs.