Vinyl Vednesday 9/14/2011

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. As always, e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Baroness’ First and Second (2008) on red, Black Tusk’s The Fallen Kingdom (2007) on mustard yellow, and Tool’s Opiate (1992) on black.

Place of Purchase: eBay. Interpunk. Hot Topic.

Thoughts: Baroness is the band that sucked me into metal, specifically the metal coming out of Savannah, Ga. First and Second collects the band’s first two EPs, forming a makeshift full-length not unlike Fugazi’s 13 Songs in structure; that is to say, these songs rule and I don’t care when they were recorded. That said, First and Second sounds a little different from the Baroness of breakthrough Blue Record. The vocals are more abrasive, and the tunes are generally faster. Over time, Baroness evolved into something a little jammier. I don’t have a preference for either sound, as both styles are great, but there is something to be said for the unabashed aggression of the group’s early material.

Speaking of “unabashed aggression,” I love Black Tusk. Other Savannah acts like Baroness and Kylesa have been experimenting more and more with their metal, but Black Tusk just keeps kicking ass. I am so stoked for Set the Dial next month. I’m also stoked on The Fallen Kingdom. Black Tusk recently saw their discography reissued on vinyl. Thanks to Interpunk, I now know that Black Tusk was pretty much always awesome. These guys specialize in writing wicked fast metal jams that border on hardcore. Isn’t that what thrash metal was supposed to be?

Closing out this installment of Vinyl Vednesday, I’d like to talk about Tool. I like Tool. I loved them in high school, and I don’t listen to them nearly as much as I used to. That makes me sad, because for the longest time, Tool made it difficult for me to like other metal bands. They wrote angry songs about Christianity and feelings and hookers with penises! That shit mattered to me! Opiate is a taste of what Tool would go on to achieve over the course of their first three full-lengths. An EP, the band hadn’t quite developed into an artistic powerhouse, but there’s still plenty of aggression and humor to be had. Granted, the lyrics lack Maynard James Keenan’s usual sophistication (“WHY DON’T YOU JUST FUCK YOURSELF?!” goes one memorable chorus). That title track is still one of my favorite Tool tunes, though, distilling all the rage I used to hold against organized religion.

Vinyl Vednesday 9/1/2010

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. This week’s installment is metal-themed because… eh, just because. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality (1971) on black, Black Tusk’s Taste the Sin (2010) on black, and Tool’s Lateralus (2001) on picture disc.

Place of Purchase: Master of Reality came from Siren Records in Doylestown. Taste the Sin was picked up during my last trip to Shore Things in Ocean City, N.J. Lateralus came from Repo Records in Philadelphia.

Thoughts: Master of Reality is probably my favorite Sabbath record. It’s the one I come back to most frequently (along with Mob Rules), and it was actually the first one I picked up on vinyl. Yeah, yeah, my love stems from John Darnielle’s book about the album, but it really is a great, focused heavy metal/hard rock record. It’s only 34 minutes long! It opens with one of my all-time favorite Sabbath songs, “Sweet Leaf.” It’s a love song about pot, but man is it catchy/rocking. Tony Iommi’s riff is so primal/kickass. “Children of the Grave” is another knockout, although this time the star contribution comes from drummer Bill Ward, who turns out a tribal rhythm, which is rare for Black Sabbath. This song is basically proto-Kylesa.

Black Tusk’s new album has steadily grown on me this year. I’ve fallen in love with Savannah metal this year, and Taste the Sin keeps rotating into my CD player ever other week. I’ve been trying not to double up on vinyl as much as I used to – I’m running out of room – but when I saw this on vinyl at Shore Things, I had to pick it up. Relapse puts a lot of effort into their vinyl, and Sin came on 180 grams with high quality printing and a download card (not that I need it). This record just kicks rump from start to finish, and right now it’s a lock for my top five albums of the year.

Tool was at one point my favorite band. I got into them before I fell in love with punk rock, and while I’ve only just recently started coming back around to more metal music, I’ve always loved them. Maynard James Keenan’s voice can go from a bark to a croon on a whim, drummer Danny Carey pounds out some sick fills, and the duo of Adam Jones (guitar) and Justin Chancellor (bass) is consistently raw. These are pretty awesome songs about alienation and anger. Lateralus was my introduction to Tool, and it remains my favorite album by them. The picture disc is pretty neat-o/gross too. My only problem with this record is that, nearly a decade later, the group has yet to top it.

Black Tusk - 'Taste the Sin'

The first words from the first song on Black Tusk’s new album Taste the Sin are “Time is coming / Heed the sound / Rip your face off / Thrash around.” That right there should let er’rybody know that they’re in store for a metal album, and one of the best released so far this year. Well, that and the album is called Taste the Sin. There are only so many genres that could pull off a title like that.

Hailing from Savannah, Ga., the power trio sounds very much like their sludge metal neighbors Baroness and Kylesa, and in describing Black Tusk’s sound, it is perhaps best to explain what they don’t sound like. They don’t pursue more expansive territory like Baroness. These songs do not have mellow sections and the band does not jam out (Although there is a sweet tribal drumming section on “Unleash the Warth)”. But their audio assault doesn’t have quite as many nuances as Kylesa’s. There are no female back-up vocals/screams to diversify the vox and there is only one drummer. What this means is that Taste the Sin is a very straightforward, very kick-ass metal record.

At just 34 minutes in length, Taste the Sin is filler-free, delivering 10 tracks that bash and thrash and grind. “Embrace the Madness,” which features the lyrics quoted above, opens the album. It takes about 10 seconds to kick into high energy. It’s striking how important every member is – everyone sings, everyone plays an instrument. The drums force the song along. Savannah metal needs a thick bottom, and Black Tusk delivers that as well. Being a metal band, Black Tusk has guitar on lockdown.

After “Embrace the Madness,” the group expertly tears through a series of skull-crackers. The record isn’t exactly the most original document ever created, nor does it aspire to be as such. So while the lyrics aren’t the greatest, the intensity is more than enough. There’s a certain beauty in such no-frills rock, in such meaty riffs and booming drums.

Scion A/V Video: Black Tusk - Red Eyes, Black Skies from Scion A/V on Vimeo.