VARIOUS ARTISTS: Standing on the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel

Released: 2007


Cold Chisel is one of the most important bands in the history of Australian rock music, a group that was so popular they actually sold more records after they split up than they did when they were together. During the 1980s, Cold Chisel probably got heard on more radio stations, more jukeboxes and at more karoake bars around the country by more people than any other Aussie artist, including AC/DC. This level of over-exposure probably led to a dilution their true importance as one of nation's defining rock acts. Indeed, as the 90s really got going, admitting to being a fan of Cold Chisel or that doyen of rock party animals, Jimmy Barnes, was akin to admitting to being a flanno-wearing, VB-slurping, Collingwood-supporting redneck bogan.


Almost another decade later however, and Cold Chisel fandom has enjoyed another resurgence with their songs being exposed to a new generation of listeners through the auspices of shows like Australian Idol and people like Tim Rogers teaming up with Barnesy. This long overdue tribute album was the culmination of this resurgence, and the results could hardly have been better. Standing on the Outside was one of the best albums of 2007, and had me singing along to several artists whom I would normally never even listen to. While quite a few are relatively faithful to the originals -- You Am I's "Houndog" for example, and "Rising Sun" by The Living End -- those that have been adapted to a particular artist's style are the real highlights. Troy Cassar-Daley turns "Bow River" into an upbeat country rocker and Paul Kelly offers a stripped-down, rootsy reading of "Khe Sahn", giving it back much of the meaning that so much over-playing had sapped from it. "Choir Girl's" careful treatment of abortion was always going to be given a paricular poignancy when sung by a female, and Katie Noonan does precisely this. The fact that virtually all of these tracks convert so well only emphasises how great these songs were in the first place.

Only occasionally does the album take a wrong step, and when it does it almost spoils everything. Alex Lloyd's strange acoustic reading of "You Got Nothing I Want" completely misfires. It just doesn't come across as the venomous pouring of spite that was the original and Something For Kate's rendering of "When the War is Over" in their typical gloomy style completely sucks all the hope out of it. If the other songs here weren't as good as they are, these two (particularly Lloyd) could well have killed the entire project. On every other level, however, Standing on the Outside is a masterpiece, one of the best tribute albums ever.

1. "Rising Sun" - The Living End
2. "Standing on the Outside" - Dallas Crane
3. "Forever Now" - Pete Murray
4. "No Sense" - Ben Lee
5. "My Baby" - Thirsty Merc
6. "Water Into Wine" - Evermore
7. "Khe Sahn" - Paul Kelly
8. "Bow River" - Troy Cassar-Daley
9. "Saturday Night" - Grinspoon
10. "Houndog" - You Am I
11. "Choir Girl" - Katie Noonan
12. "When the War is Over" - Something for Kate
13. "You Got Nothing I Want" - Alex Lloyd
14. "Cheap Wine" - Shane Nicholson
15. "Four Walls" - The Waifs
16. "Flame Tress" - Sarah Blasko
17. "Janelle" - Augie March
18. "Shipping Steel" - The Flairz feat. Dave Larkin of Dallas Crane

Rating: 92%

VARIOUS ARTISTS: We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year

Produced by Bob Kulick and Brett Chassen
Released: 2008

So if you'd ever wondered what it would be like if a bunch of metal guys got together and recorded an album of Christmas songs, here's your answer. We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year is a compilation of seasonal classics given the once over by a group of rockers and metalheads including Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper and Ronnie James Dio, and members of Shadows Fall, Testament, Ratt and ZZ Top among others, and the results are a lot of fun.

Fun is the key here, so anyone wishing to venture further needs to leave their serious side at the door. These kinds of albums are only to be taken with a grain of salt, but let's face it, it is hard to go past a version of "Run Rudolph Run" done by Lemmy, Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl. It's just really, really cool. Alice Cooper gets into the spirit of the project with his "Santa Claws is Coming to Town", whereupon the title character is then going to break everything and burn the place to the ground. And what could be more metal than a thrash version of "Silent Night" with Chuck Billy singing? Possibly only Dio and Iommi getting overly dramatic on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Doro Pesch and Michael Schenker team up for the traditional German carol "O Christmas Tree" and Stephen Pearcy, Tracii Guns, Bob Kulick, Billy Sheehan and Greg Bissonette offer a riotous "Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer".

Yep, the cheese is thicker here than on the average Domino's pizza, but this beats the hell out of having to listen to Mariah Carey on Christmas Day. And it's almost worth it just to hear Lemmy shout "Merry Christmas, motherfuckers!"

NOTE: There is a different version of this album that features only the first 11 tracks, with Mark Slaughter and Doug Aldrich on "We Wish You a Merry Xmas" instead of Soto and the Kulicks. Apparently the version I have has been pulled, but I can't find anything that tells me why. Most likely licensing issues are to blame, but I can't say for sure. Oh well. This is the one I have, so this is the one I'll review.

1. We Wish You a Merry Xmas: Jeff Scot Soto, Bruce & Bob Kulick, Chris Wyse, Ray Luzier
2. Run Rudolph Run: Lemmy, Billy Gibbons, Dave Grohl
3. Santa Claws is Coming to Town: Alice Cooper, John 5, Billy Sheehan, Vinny Appice
4. God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen: Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright
5. Silver Bells: Geoff Tate, Carlos Cavazo, James Lomenzo, Ray Luzier
6. Little Drummer Boy: Dug Pinnick, George Lynch, Billy Sheehan, Simon Phillips
7. Santa Claus is Back in Town: Ripper Owens, Steve Morse, Juan Garcia, Marco Mendoza, Vinny Appice
8. Silent Night: Chuck Billy, Scott Ian, Jon Donais, Chris Wyse, John Tempesta
9. Deck the Halls: Oni Logan, Craig Goldy, Tony Franklin, John Tempesta
10. Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer: Stephen Pearcy, Tracii Guns, Bob Kulick, Billy Sheehan, Greg Bissonette
11. Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree: Joe Lynn Turner, Bruce & Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright
12. Happy Xmas (War is Over): Tommy Shaw, Steve Lukather, Marco Mendoza, Kenny Aronoff
13. O Christmas Tree: Doro Pesch, Michael Schenker, Tony Franklin, Frankie Banali
14. Auld Lang Syne: Girlschool

Rating: 76%

VARIOUS ARTISTS: A Pirate's Life - Skull and Bones Records Sampler Vol. 1

Released: 2008

Skull and Bones is a label from Brisbane that has been extending its feelers into the burgeoning hardcore and related fields over the past few years, gathering up bands from around Australia and a couple from Britain and Japan. A lot of this music is outside my usual listening preference and some of it is beyond my tastes. Such as it is, I can't really give an objective opinion about some of the bands, particularly the more screamo-based acts like England's Johnny Truant who seem to exist just to make as harsh a noise as possible, but A Pirate's Life certainly gives a good overview of the label's aims and would surely be a good starting point for those who are looking for more underground and local alternatives to the foreign deluge.

First cab off the rank is Maroochydore's The Daylight Curse, one of those bands that blurs the definition between hardcore and metal to the degree where they are almost indiscernable from one another. Take away the breakdowns and core-ish gang vocals and "Stick to the Code" is a catchy melodic death metal song. There's no doubting which side of the fence an act like screamo outfit The Rivalry sit however with their very noisy and audaciously long "No Face for the Mentor", nor could fellow Adelaide lads Bloodsport be called anything but hardcore. Tokyo's Loyal to the Grave play a brutal mosh-heavy style of old-school metalcore that would please fans of bands like Vision of Disorder, and elsewhere The Amity Affliction come closest to any band here to a commercial prospect with the emo-leaning "I ♥ Throbsy". Art Vandelay and A Secret Death take a few leaves out of the early Neurosis copybook with their noisecore soundscapes. On the more metal side of things is Western Decay from Brisbane who tear out some speedy death metal and the time-signature defying The Abandonment. Other bands like Cross the Lips of Grace and Coma Lies create devastatingly brain-numbing attacks of dissonance that can't adequately be described but are fearsome in their pursuit of extremity.

Some of these bands would quite frankly drive me to ram a spike into my ears after more than a few minutes and terrify a casual audience, but those more attuned to it would probably find A Pirate's Life to be laden with some buried treasures.

1. The Daylight Curse - Stick to the Code
2. Anime Fire - Venom
3. The Abandonment - Digging Up the Dead
4. The Amity Affliction - I ♥ Throbsy
5. A Secret Death - idkfa
6. The Rivalry - No Face for the Mentor
7. Benneson Theory - I Trust Me
8. Johnny Truant - The Bloodening
9. Cross the Lips of Grace - Through Your Windows of Pain
10. Coma Lies - Paris, Wide On
11. Loyal to the Grave - Stagnation
12. Western Decay - Bloodclots and Clay
13. Art Vandelay - Donec Floruit
14. Bloodsport - Devoted to This
15. A Secret Death - Line of Progression
16. Infinite Thought Process - Moth Powder
17. Cross the Lips of Grace - Take Me to the Promised Land
18. Johnny Truant - I am the Primitologist, Mr Robrt Saposky
19. Naked Burn - Empty Hands
20. Loyal to the Grave - Endless Maze
21. Coma Lies - Take Me to the Stars... I Want to Go Home

Rating: 78%

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Nativity in Black

Executive Producer: Bob Chiappardi
Released: 1994

These days it's easy to be cynical about so-called tribute albums. Different ones seem to crop up all the time for various reasons, from fund-raising to memorials to plain exploitation by a label or artist. It's also fair to say that almost all of them are worthless beyond a couple of songs of two, if that.

But not this one. The second volume that appeared a few years later may have been just a cynical promotional tool for Ozzfest, but this one had some effort put into it. Indeed, according to the booklet, Bob Chiappardi spent two years on this. This amount of dedication really shows, because Nativity in Black is one of the best albums of its kind. Apart from Faith No More's rather flippant live reading of "War Pigs" (a song that Mike Patton reportedly really didn't like), all of the artists here treat the material with a deep respect and for the most part their versions are solid re-interpretations rather than attempts at straight covers. It's hard to pick a bad one out of this bunch, in fact. Clear highlights though are the ridiculously heavy version of "Supernaut" from Al Jourgenson's 1000 Homo DJ's and Type O Negative's creepily Hammer House of Horror-like "Black Sabbath" that ends with an invocation to Satan. Corrosion of Conformity's deliriously good "Lord of This World" is also a clear stand-out and Sepultura make "Symptom of the Universe" sound like one of their own songs. Bruce Dickinson was teamed with a flash-in-the-pan American thrash band called Godspeed for "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and made something special from it. Just as special though is track eight, a version of "The Wizard" by a conglomeration calling itself Bullring Brummies aka Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Rob Halford, Wino from St. Vitus and Fight's guitarist Brian Tilse. That's a slice of metal history right there people, and with this being the only recording they ever did together it makes Nativity in Black that much more significant. Versions released out the US also include a version of "Solitude" by Cathedral that was obviously stuck on as an after thought, although the band themselves didn't think of it as one and considering how much like Sabbath Cathedral is for them to mess it up would have been unthinkable.

Tribute albums come and go, but the truly great ones leave a mark of their own. Nativity in Black is one of those. It might be difficult to find these days, but it's worth the effort.

1. Biohazard - After Forever


2. White Zombie - Children of the Grave


3. Megadeth - Paranoid


4. 1000 Homo DJ's - Supernaut


5. Ozzy Osbourne with Therapy? - Iron Man


6. Corrosion of Conformity - Lord of This World


7. Sepultura - Symptom of the Universe


8. Bullring Brummies - The Wizard


9. Bruce Dickinson with Godspeed - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath


10. Ugly Kid Joe - N.I.B.


11. Faith No More - War Pigs


12. Type O Negative - Black Sabbath


13. Cathedral - Solitude

Rating: 95%

VARIOUS: Metal: A Headbanger's Companion

Released: 2007

Whether you have a friend to whom you wish to expose the extreme side of things or whether you are just testing the waters yourself and wish to explore further, Earache's massive 6-CD box set Metal: A Headbanger's Companion is a good place to start. This immense collection features every artist the label ever released, comprising a whopping 106 tracks spread over a range of genres. Indeed, calling it Metal is really a complete misnomer designed to attract that specific audience because not only are the tracks grouped together into their stylistic similarities, Earache has even labelled each volume according to what these are. Nevertheless, any collection with this many songs is going to have something on it to make it worthwhile and this is a pretty impressive bunch of tracks from some of the greatest extreme music acts of the last 28 years.

As mentioned, each volume features a different genre and what could be more appropriate than filling the first CD with 17 death metal songs? How about making the first five Deicide, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, At the Gates and Carcass? Want more? What about Decapitated, Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Hate Eternal, Akercocke, Vader, Blood Red Throne and more? If that wasn't enough, volume two is entitled "Grindcore", and what better way to kick that off than with "Scum" by Napalm Death. Grind was always at the heart and soul of Earache Records and this second CD is stacked with 20 tracks ranging in duration from Brutal Truth's five second "Collateral Damage" to December Wolves' gruelling six minute "Desperately Seeking Satan". Also here is more Napalm Death, two songs each from The Berzerker, Anal Cunt and Mistress, the immortal Terrorizer, more Carcass and Bolt Thrower and the excruciatingly insane Watchmaker, one of the most extreme bands ever.

Next up is the ambiguously titled "Metal/Rock", a somewhat uneven 19-track jumble of thrash, melodic rock, stoner, nu-metal, metalcore and rapcore stuff that couldn't be comfortably included anywhere else. This isn't to suggest there's not good stuff on here. Carcass appears yet again, this time in a more melodic guise, alongside The Haunted, Cathedral, Usurper, Confessor, Biomechanical and the awesome Sleep. New thrashers Evile get a spot too, but a good percentage of this CD is made up of radio rock like Shortie, horrible nu-metal like Addiction Crew and indescribable rap-metal like Dub War. Volume 4 provides further proof that Metal was the wrong thing to call this; indeed, even "Industrial" as the title of this chapter is utterly inappropriate. Most of the 15 tracks here would be more likely played at rave parties than on a metalhead's stereo. Ultraviolence is Hi-NRG techno with no metal element whatsoever, Generation X-ED, Scorn and Signs ov Chaos are industrial techno not industrial metal and Mortiis is ambient electronica. Sure, he used to be in Emperor, but Def Leppard used to play heavy rock too. Still, this CD does have Meathook Seed, Pitchshifter and the almighty Godflesh so isn't not a complete waste but, let's be honest, this one is as metal as a Prodigy album.

CD 5 is "Punk and Hardcore". Again, not metal but there's plenty here that a headbanger could throw themselves around to: Municipal Waste, for example, as well as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Clutch, Coalesce, Hellbastard and Extreme Noise Terror. And Napalm Death again, of course. In fact, this volume could well rip a new arsehole in much the same way as the first two. The sixth CD, "Leftfield" is a showcase of the more experimental acts that have wandered through Earache's offices, starting off with the sublime Cult of Luna and their creeping 11 minute epic "Finland". This one is indeed the CD to check out for those wanting to go beyond the standard limitations of rock and metal with such inclusions as Ephel Duath's twisted jazz metal, Painkiller, Godflesh, Carnival in Coal circus of craziness and, finally, the hilarious Crotchduster with their amalgam of everything, "Mammal Sauce".

This is an incredibly misnamed and exhausting set of CDs and if Earache were serious about pushing it as a metal collection and not just a catalogue-wide compilation of everything they could find then they could have ditched the "Industrial" CD altogether and kept half of the "Metal/Rock" one in the archives. Nonetheless, if you know someone who really wants to hear a bit more of this extreme music stuff and doesn't want to buy 50 different albums, then this may be the ideal recommendation.

CD 1 - "Death Metal"

1. Deicide - Homage for Satan


2. Morbid Angel - Maze of Torment


3. Napalm Death - Suffer the Children


4. At the Gates - Blinded by Fear


5. Carcass - Incarnated Solvent Abuse


6. Decapitated - Spheres of Madness


7. Entombed - Left Hand Path


8. Bolt Thrower - World Eater


9. Hate Eternal - Behold Judas


10. Akercocke - The Penance


11. Severe Torture - Endless Strain of Cadavers


12. Vader - Dark Age


13. Blood Red Throne - Mephitication


14. Anata - Downward Spiral Into Madness


15. Nocturnus - Droid Sector


16. Carnage - Infestation of Evil


17. Massacre - Corpsegrinder

CD 2 - "Grindcore"

1. Napalm Death - Scum


2. Brutal Truth - Walking Corpse


3. The Berzerker - Reality


4. Terrorizer - Dead Shall Rise


5. Bolt Thrower - Through the Eyes of Terror


6. Mistress - In Disgust We Trust


7. Napalm Death - You Suffer


8. Anal Cunt - Pepe the Gay Waiter


9. Mistress - Happily Ever Disaster


10. December Wolves - Desperately Seeking Satan


11. Watchmaker - Conference Call Immolation


12. Cadaver Inc. - Primal


13. The Berzerker - Mono Grind


14. Brutal Truth - Collateral Damage


15. Nox - Satan Ex-Machina


16. Anal Cunt - No We Don't Want to do a Split 7 Inch With Your Stupid Band


17. Carcass - Pyosisified (Rotten to the Gore)


18. Unseen Terror - Charred Remains


19. Hellbastard - Justly Executed


20. Filthy Christians - Zombie Holocaust

CD 3 - "Metal/Rock"

1. Carcass - Keep on Rotting in the Free World


2. The Haunted - Hollow Ground


3. Cathedral - Hopkins (Witchfinder General)


4. Adema - Shoot the Arrows


5. Candiria - Remove Yourself


6. Biomechanical - Regenerated


7. Society One - Hate


8. Linea 77 - Charon


9. Urkraft - Liberation


10. Evile - Enter the Grave


11. With Passion - Pale Horses Ride


12. Addiction Crew - What About


13. Shortie - Truth


14. Gandalf - L8X Queen


15. Sleep - Dragonaut


16. Confessor - Collapse Into Despair


17. Usurper - Metal Lust


18. Pulkas - Rubber Room


19. Dubwar - Nar Say a Ting

CD 4 - "Industrial"

1. Godflesh - Defiled


2. Mortiis - Parasite God


3. Pitchshifter - Triad


4. Society One - Everyone Dies (Rock Stars Don't Count)


5. Ultraviolence - Hardcore Motherfucker


6. Generation X-ED - Industrial is Dead


7. Scorn - Silver Rain Fell


8. Signs ov Chaos - Believe


9. Adrenalin Junkies - Holocaust Blast


10. Ewigkeit - It's Not Reality


11. Morbid Angel vs. The Berzerker - Day of Suffering


12. O.L.D. - Glitch


13. Misery Loves Co. - My Minds Still Speaks


14. Meathook Seed - Famine Sector


15. Ultraviolence - Strangled

CD 5 - "Punk & Hardcore"

1. Municipal Waste - Unleash the Bastards


2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - I Love Secret Agents


3. Clutch - Impetus


4. Candiria - Blood


5. Coalesce - A Safe Place


6. Heresey - Nausea


7. Napalm Death - The Kill


8. Extreme Noise Terror - Murder


9. Hellbastard - Death From Above


10. Disgust - Mother Earth


11. December - Umbilical


12. Beecher - Fucntion! Function!


13. Linea 77 -Touch


14. Fudge Tunnel - Hate Song


15. Iron Monkey - Supagorgonizer


16. Rabies Caste - Got it from Blake


17. Crowpath - Chased, Caught and Charged


18. Janus Stark - Enemy Lines


19. Lawnmower Deth - Do You Want to be a Chuffed-core?


20. Heresy - Visions of Fear


21. Intense Degree - Skate-bored

CD 6 - "Leftfield"

1. Cult of Luna - Finland


2. Callisto - Blackhole


3. Ewigkeit - It's Not Reality


4. Ephel Duath - Crystalline Whirl


5. Scorn - Days Passed


6. Painkiller - Dr Phibes


7. O.L.D. - Break (You)


8. Godflesh - Tiny Tears


9. Carnival in Coal - Right Click... Save as


10. Blood From the Soul - Guinea Pig


11. Akercocke - Prince of the North


12. Mortiis - I Am the World


13. Spazztic Blurr - Mexicali


14. Crotchduster - Mammal Sauce

Rating: 70%

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Thunda From Downunda

Executive Producer: Who Cares?

Released: 1986

Because it's Australia Day, I felt obliged to take a look at an album that truly represents our country's musical heritage. But instead, I have decided to bring you this. Thunda From Downunda has got the lot: a cheesy title reflecting some kind of "Australian-ness", Ned Kelly, and a totally pointless version of the national anthem played through an over-driven guitar.

I originally got this off eBay as a collector's item with no intention of ever playing it until a colleague dropped me an email about it. Without even having to listen to it I knew what I was letting myself in for. The title, the cover art and the inane lyrics to some of the songs by a group of bands very few people have ever heard of all screamed "cheese" but they were screaming it in a pretty bad way.The cover of Thunda From Downunda features a guy in a Ned Kelly helmet, a leather jacket and a bullet belt, except instead of bullets in some of the slots there are TRS plugs! If that wasn't enough, on the back he's standing on top of a sand dune, throwing the horns. AND HE'S WEARING BROWN TROUSERS! I knew there was a reason I didn't buy this when it came out in 1986.

With the art out of the way, let's take a look at the music. Thunda From Downunda features ten tracks from eight artists, only half of whom I've actually heard of or remember. All the songs feature that typically thin 80s metal production that even more accomplished acts like Mortal Sin and Virgin Soldiers had to endure due to the fact that no one in Australia back then knew how to produce metal. Unlike those more accomplished acts, most of the groups collected on "The first all-Australian heavy metal compilation" really have nothing to recommend them.

Red Alert is the first of these and lo and behold it also happens to be the musical venture of the fellow who put the record out. They therefore get two songs on here, the first a bog-standard NWOBHM-inspired shout-along number and the second a ballad so dire that my awful meter buried its needle and stopped working. Lightning Rock was a band that seemed to be on every bill there was for a few years. Their track "The Quest" is energetic, anthemic 80s metal that's likeable but forgotten as soon as it's over. Godspeed was one of the first Sydney bands to try their hand at speed metal and their two contributions are both pretty reasonable. The first of these, "Lest We Forget", is apparently a tribute to Randy Rhoads and as such contains a suitably extended instrumental break with piles of guitar soloing. Side One is closed by a perfectly odious and completely unnecessary rendition of "Advance Australia Fair" by guitarist Warren Mason, who would later go on to join BB Steal. I have no idea what this track is meant to achieve, but that's a criticism I could expand to cover the entire album.

The Lotus track "Heavy Petting" opens side two in an impressively heavy and speedy fashion, showing them to have been the most prominent and competent band on the whole collection. After such a promising start, the second half of the album ends up being even worse than the first. The very strange and terrible "Honeymoon in East Berlin" by a mysterious bunch of clowns called Metal Mercenaries plumbs nether regions of awfulness unexplored by man or god. If the Sex Pistols had come from Blacktown, and had even less talent, they would have sounded something like this band. The next two songs aren't even metal. "Mesmerized" by Scott Abrahams (a guy who would go on to sing for a Hush reunion a couple of years later, or so I believe) is just bad rock and"Feelin' Fine" by Dearrow isn't much better. Things lift a little at the end thanks to Godspeed returning to close things off with "We Are Forever", a somewhat ironically named song considering nothing on here is particularly memorable.

Thunda From Downunda was, according to the survey sheet that came with my copy, supposedly the first release from a label that was to be "releasing Heavy Metal from around the world which is unavailable in Australia" (sic). Somewhat unsurprisingly, however, both Ocker Records and this compilation disappeared virtually without trace. To paraphrase the Metal Mercenaries, nice idea, shame about the result.

1. Red Alert - Red Alert
2. Lightning Rock - The Quest
3. Godspeed - Lest We Forget
4. Red Alert - To Love You
5. Warren Mason - Advance Australia Fair
6. Lotus - Heavy Petting
7. Metal Mercenaries - Honeymoon in East Berlin
8. Scott Abrahams - Mesmerized
9. Dearrow - Feelin' Fine
10. Godspeed - We Are Forever

Rating: 38%

VARIOUS ARTISTS: A Blaze in the Southern Skies

Executive Producers: Glenn Dyson and Brad Wesson

Released: 2007

Prime Cuts is perhaps currently Australia's most prolific metal-specific record label and presently the home of a solid raft of bands from as far apart as Perth, Melbourne, Wagga Wagga and Auckland. Coupled with the Sound Works Touring arm of their operation, the Prime Cuts lads are doing more than almost anyone to fly the flag of Down Under metal at the moment, and to further prove this they have just unleashed an enormous double CD of what this part of the world has to offer. Those who still believe that metal begins with Slayer and ends with Celtic Frost may not be impressed by some of the artists represented, but, apart from the surprising omission of any really melodic bands, A Blaze in the Southern Skies is perhaps the most all-encompassing domestic metal compilation released in Australia in a long time and probably ever.

Disc one of Blaze features all the bands attached to the label's now quite expansive roster.

Among the 16 cuts that make up this first CD you'll find the irreverent hard rocking of Psychonaut's "Rosemary's Baby" (complete with a 'Hail Satan!' chorus), The Furor's slab-like "Rebirth Mark", Vespers Descent's sinister dedication to the immense Night's Dawn trilogy "Reality Disfunction" (sic), blast-beat fuelled black metal from Mytile Vey Lorth, classy metalcore hammering courtesy of Left Ablaze, technical brutality from Grotesque, complete porno-grind mischief from the wonderfully-named Cuntscrape and melodic thrasharama from Pathogen and Frankenbok. Dawn of Azazel and Malignant Monster make punishing contributions, Noctis delivers a short but stunning order of progressive death metal and Claim the Throne has some sort of interesting pagan thing going on. Only Human Extinction Project seems out of place with possibly the weakest track on the entire album; Humonic and Dyscord are also somewhat less remarkable.

The second disc contains 17 bands that Prime Cuts or Sound Works has dealt with in some significant way over the years. So here you'll find the berzerk technical blur of Psycroptic's "Alpha Breed", an uncharacteristically aggressive Alchemist serving up "Tongues & Knives", the insane blitzkriegs of Terrorust and Five Star Prison Cell, Ruins being thoroughly ominous, the legendary Mortal Sin and 8Ft Sativa sounding more brutal than ever. But it's the lesser known bands that bring a new dimension to what could otherwise have been just a collection of big names. And so we also have Picture The End's technical deathcore, Double Dragon, Black Asylum and Enlightened By Darkness opening up with some catchy thrash and Synthetic Breed throwing off some of their Fear Factory worship with a nicely developing style. The excellent Chaos Divine blend genres seamlessly with "Still Bleeding" and Darkest Dawn fuse a subtle trash element with dark melodic rock highlighted by contrasting male/female vocals. Tzun Tzu's thunderous death metal onslaught is surprisingly tempered by a female vocal track towards the end and Be'lakor's "Neither Shape nor Shadow" shows why they are becoming one of Melbourne's most talked about progressive extreme bands. Finally Guild of Destruction wraps thing up with a quirkily-arranged mixture of shrieking, growls, black metal tremolo picking and a stumbling death metal riff.

All in all A Blaze in the Southern Skies is a comprehensive and enjoyable journey through the best that the Aussies and the Kiwis have to offer and anyone who's into metal should find plenty to like. Every home should have a copy.

Disc 1:

1. Pathogen - Identity Theft


2. Frankenbok - Failure to Learn


3. Grotesque - Pulsating Cosmos


4. Dyscord - Senjo


5. Dawn of Azazel - Fornication Revelation


6. Malignant Monster - Drive the Nails


7. Vespers Descent - Reality Disfunction


8. The Furor - Rebirth Mark


9. Psychonaut - Rosemary's Baby


10. Mytile Vey Lorth - Caves of Blood


11. Left Ablaze - Step Inside


12. Humonic - The Prayer


13. Noctis - Remembrance of Death


14. Human Extinction Project - Consequence (Thanks for Fuck All)


15. Claim the Throne - Triumphant March of the Draconic Legion


16. Cuntscrape - Cactus Sack

Disc 2:

1. Psycroptic - Alpha Breed


2. Picture the End - They Swarmed Like Locusts


3. Alchemist - Tongues & Knives


4. Terrorust - Harvesting the Blood


5. Chaos Divine - Still Bleeding


6. Double Dragon - Dead But Still Killing


7. Ruins - Suicidal Pulse


8. 8ft Sativa - Emancipate


9. Five Star Prison Cell - M


10. Mortal Sin - Tears of Redemption


11. Darkest Dawn - Inflection in Bloom


12. Tzun Tzu - Kunoichi


13. Be'lakor - Neither Shape nor Shadow


14. Enlightened by Darkness - Whitechapel 1888


15. Synthetic Breed - Techno Sedation


16. Black Asylum - Don't Beg for Mercy


17. Guild of Destruciton - Prey

Rating: 95%