Celtic Frost: Danse Macabre (2022)

Oough! Is there another band more vital to so many different metal genres than Celtic Frost? So many (including my beloved Darkthrone) have been inspired by the band, yet no one sounds like them (Darkthrone by their own admission has moments of pure Celtic Frost worship, but never a full song). In typical fashion I came to the Swiss machine from a myriad of roundabouts: finding a cheap used compilation back in my early 30s, falling hard for Tom G. Warrior’s post efforts in Triptykon, and then going ALL the way back to the early Hellhammer releases. But it was only recently that I really started getting deeper into the band’s seminal releases, and when the Danse Macabre box set was announced I finally jumped at the chance to get better acquainted. TL;DR – it’s a great package, containing remastered versions of Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion, and Into the Pandemonium, the Emperor’s Return EP, and the Grave Hill Bunker Rehearsals from 1984. There’s also a great booklet going through the band’s history and patches and pin for your battle vest, but the real find are these albums. So, similar to my review of the recent Black Sabbath set, let’s get dirty, baby.

Are you morbid?

ChrisJune 17, 2024June 16, 2024Leave a comment

Black Sabbath: Anno Domini Box Set (2024)

I was familiar with the Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath, but “familiar” definitely isn’t the same as “knowledgeable” – at that point in my life my musical tastes had run to different, newer sounds: jazz, indie rock, and my discovery of 80s hardcore and punk. It didn’t help that by the time I went back to metal and Sabbath the Martin albums were nowhere to be found (to say nothing at the time of the sole offerings with Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes on vocals), so onward and upwards to other things. With the release of the Anno Domini: 1989-1995 box set not only did I now have a legit option for checking out these albums more closely, but with the added benefit of remastered audio and – in the case of one – a total remix. With that in mind it was finally time to dive headfirst into the hitherto “lost” era of Black Sabbath, so let’s dig into Headless Cross, Tyr, Cross Purposes, and Forbidden.

ChrisJune 11, 2024June 11, 20242 Comments

Vinyl

Dischord: The First Six Records (2022)

Day 23 of the #mayvinylchallenge asks for a limited edition/signed/numbered or otherwise rare album. I’ve been talking a lot about my love for the Dischord label, and was lucky enough to get in and order their limited edition box set of the First Six Records back when it was $40 and not the $250+ it’s going for now on Discogs. Covering the entire spectrum of music from bands I’ve never listened heard before now to bands that were a formative part of my youth, there’s a lot to unpack here, and that’s besides the great booklet, original liner notes and lyrics/posters, not to mention the careful job of sleeve and colored vinyl recreation, so let’s jump in here with some thoughts.

ChrisMay 23, 20221 Comment

CD, Vinyl

Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (1969)

We’re back with the #mayvinylchallenge, and Day 1 is all about introducing yourself. And while there were plenty of artists and albums that made me love music, the first artist whose music made me obsessive about it was definitely Frank Zappa. A deep dive on his music has been a long time coming, and I still plan on it (between vinyl, CDs and box sets I’m over 70 albums) but if I were to introduce myself by way of a record, there’s no better artist. And even though Hot Rats wasn’t my first exposure to Zappa (that was Apostrophe (‘)) over time it’s become one of my favorite and most listened to records, regardless of artists or genre. So let get to it.

ChrisMay 1, 2022May 1, 2022Leave a comment

Miscellany

The Latest Haul / Fast and Furious

About an hour after I took this picture of the albums and CDs that came in the past week, the mail arrived. More boxes. Always a good thing – so much to sift through and digest and just consume. I’ve been on various kicks pouring through Ty Segall and the records from the awesome Dischord label (including the First Six Records boxset I haven’t listened to yet), so there’s a lot of that represented here. But there’s so much more, so this quick blog entry is just a placeholder marking off what came in and what’s on deck fro the next few weeks. The plan is go back to shorter, impressionistic reviews to get all this listened to and logged.

Any chance to enjoy some music, you know?

ChrisApril 17, 2022Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Tag: box set