San Francisco

Death Angel, The Bastard Tracks (Nuclear Blast 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Iconic thrash band Death Angel releases a live set of rarely performed songs aptly titled The Bastard Tracks.

The Bay Area thrash scene is the stuff of legends. If you have never heard about it then I am not sure we’re going to be close friends. So many huge acts came from that place and time, including the bands on the current Bay Strikes Back tour: Testament, Exodus, and my personal favorite, Death Angel. I have a deep and abiding love for thrash and I admire these three bands (and so many more) for the music they have created. Death Angel has always been special to me, though, and so I was excited to see this album cross my path.

The songs on The Bastard Tracks were recorded live at The Great American Music Hall in the band’s hometown of San Francisco on May 22nd this year. The set list was chosen specifically to highlight songs that had rarely been played live, including some that had never been performed on stage before. That is what sets this album apart.

You don’t hear any crowd noise on this set, but the live feel is there in all its energy and vibrancy. The track list is: “Lord of Hate,” “Where They Lay,” “Why You Do This,” “Fallen,” “Absence of Light,” “The Organization,” “Execution/Don’t Save Me,” “Succubus,” “It Can’t Be This,” “Let the Pieces Fall,” “Faded Remains,” “Volcanic,” “Falling Off the Edge of the World,” “Guilty of Innocence,” and “Alive and Screaming.” There are some real jaw-droppers in there for Death Angel fans; songs we have always wanted to hear live. Finally, here is the chance. Recommended.

The Bastard Tracks is out on Friday November 26th through Nuclear Blast Records in digital, CD/Blu-ray, vinyl, and cassette. This is a great item to pick up to hold you over until the Bay Strikes Back tour starts again next Spring.

Links.

Website, https://www.deathangel.us/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/deathangel

Nuclear Blast, https://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop/item/groups/51000.1.html?article_group_sort_type_handle=rank&custom_keywords=death%20angel

Death Angel, The Bastard Tracks (Nuclear Blast 2021)

Infex, Burning In Exile (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Bay Area thrash band Infex release their third album, Burning In Exile.

Ten years or so ago Infex started to come together piece by piece. Firmly rooted in the original sin of thrash, the music embraces the concept of speed and the ideals of metal. The band’s first album, Circling the Drain, came out in 2012 and Killing for Jesus followed in 2016. That makes Burning In Exile the charmed one. The band is now Jack (guitar, vocals), Adam (guitar, vocals), RC bass, vocals), and Corey (drums).

Nine crackling tracks make up the set and they all bristle with surging energy. “Blood of the Wicked” is a charging assault delivered at pace with insistent vocals and rollicking percussion. The concentrated guitars on “The Burning” are a potent combination with the singable lyrics – this will be a big hit on tour. “Exiled” builds an impenetrable wall from which to hurl flaming metal missiles and “Acid Reign” is a molten killer, my favorite on the album.

The second side features songs that are a little more succinct and piercing, then wraps the music up with the longest song as the anchor, “7.62.” That final track starts with a dialogue snag from Full Metal Jacket and runs amok with odd-angle constructions and ripping leads. It is definitely a different vibe in this second half but the music is just as hard-edged, precise, and inventive as the opening four. Infex has put out a solid thrash album here. Recommended.

Burning In Exile is out today, Friday the 13th. You can check the band out on YouTube and pick up the album at Bandcamp.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://infex.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Infexthrash/

Infex YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfs2Gp9MZaITOCuODKt2O9w

Infex, Burning In Exile (2021)

Old Grandad, Vol. 666 ~ OGD EP (Hectic Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Grooving stoner grunge from Old Grandad gets a re-issue.

San Francisco in 1994 is when the band came together. According to the story, “Will Carroll, Erik Moggridge, and Max Barnett created a thrash/death metal-flavored, Sabbath-inspired, Satanic-Floydian, groove-guzzling giant.” That is quite a confluence of influences and when you listen to the music on this re-issue you definitely hear them all.

In addition to the albums in question, Old Grandad produced The Last Upper in 1999 and Hocus Corpus in 2005. After that they were quiet on the recording front until 2019 when a new self-titled album came out. It is great to look back now with this new version of the early work and have a chance to take it all in.

The two albums included here are the first full-length Hectic Records release from 1995 and the 1997 EP. I hadn’t listened to Old Grandad very closely until I put this one on a couple times. It is a fascinating combination of those aforementioned elements, along with a considerable amount of screaming. The guitars are fuzzy, the rhythm is steady, and psychedelia abounds.

It is hard to take the themes seriously with song titles like “The Highs That Bind,” “Blatant Drug Song,” and “Don’t Call Me A Deadhead,” so instead settle in for a good time. I can’t say first-hand whether this music is an artifact of the time and place it was created in and therefore represents the circles Old Grandad moved in back in the day. I bet it does, though, and anyway we can all listen to it now no matter what. Recommended.

This re-issue of Vol. 666 ~ OGD EP is out now through Hectic Records. Bandcamp is the place to go.

Band photo by Lori Higbey.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://hecticrecords.bandcamp.com/releases

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/oldgrandadsf/

Hectic Records, https://www.hectic.com/

Old Grandad, Vol. 666 ~ OGD EP (Hectic Records 2021)

Mordred, The Dark Parade (M-Theory Audio 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

New music from Mordred is cause for celebration – witness The Dark Parade.

Mordred is a legendary Bay Area band that made a big splash when they came together 1980s. Their first album, Fool’s Game, hit the streets in 1989, followed by In This Life (1991) and The Next Room (1994). After that, there was a resting period for a few years. The band came back together and toured in the early 2000s, then again about ten years later. Since 1994, though, they did not release any new music until last year’s EP, Volition. And now there is the new long-player, The Dark Parade.

The music is heavy, riffy, hooky funk metal with a thrashing sensibility. The eight tracks on the new album all burn high-test fuel, bursting and cracking with energy and enthusiasm. The subjects themselves are not light-hearted – there is “Dragging For Bodies” as one example and the title track for another. Grim tidings grooving in on cross-over thrash jams.

I cannot think of other bands to compare Mordred with that would really tell you anything useful about them. I have already listed a long menu of aspects of their music, but it is not like they are all just thrown in a pot and heated up. This music really is its own thing, carefully constructed and genuinely unique.

The legend of the band will live on, of course; it will always be there. I would give this new album unencumbered consideration, though, not looking for glimpses and flashes of the past but instead embracing everything about what this music is now, because it is incredible. Highly recommended.

M-Theory Audio has The Dark Parade coming out on Friday, July 23rd. Preorders are available now through the label and at Bandcamp.

Links,

Bandcamp, https://mordred.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-parade

Mordred website, https://mordred.company.site/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/MordredBand/

M-Theory Audio, https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/store

Mordred, The Dark Parade (M-Theory Audio 2021)